Sakumo had stumbled across her on the way back from a mission. Literally stumbled across her, face first on to the ground, he was only glad that it had been a solo mission and she had been unconscious or else he might not have lived it down. She had just been laying there, her pink her cut short, cuts littering her body, matched only by the bruises near them. He had considered the thought that it was a trap, especially when he saw the Konoha headband clenched in her fist; after all he would have remembered someone with pink hair. He had been ready to leave her there when he heard some mumbled words come out of her mouth, which he quickly realized was a prayer, before she fell back into unconsciousness. He had stared at her for a while after that, considering bringing her back to the village; it went against his better judgment and Konoha's White Fang didn't make bad judgment calls he did what he had to too protect his village, but when he turned her chin to look at her face a small piece of his heart fluttered and he went against his better judgment. He picked the small, thin, pink haired girl up in his arms and taken her back to Konoha with him.

He had deposited her in the office of the Third, who had quickly called for a medical team followed up by a team from the T &I department. Sakumo had simply left, knowing that he had saved the girls life and carried on. He didn't see her for months after that, and she slowly drifted out of his mind until he was assigned a mission to Suna and she was assigned to his team. He had stopped when he saw her, her body had fleshed out after what he supposed were more than a few good meals, her hair was longer and pulled back in a stubby pony tail, long gone were the cuts and bruises, and on the top of her head was the same forehead protector she had been clutching on the day he had found her. She introduced herself as Sakura.

The mission wasn't easy; it called for stopping two of Suna's best puppeteers, a married couple with the husband being the son of one of Suna's best medics, Chiyo. Sakumo had planned for the mission very carefully, making sure everything was accounted for, well almost. He had worked with every member of his team before with the exception of the pinkette, and he had no idea how she operated or how good of a Kuoichi she was and that worried him. He liked knowing what was going to happen and he loved his plans.

To his ever grateful surprise the mission was carried out with all the rigorous planning Sakumo had so thoroughly gone through. So when the Pinkette, a woman whose life he had saved and who was his subordinate, threatened to castrate him if he killed the two Suna puppeteers who were unconscious in front of him, he couldn't help but be a bit dumb founded. So much so, that when she knocked them out and injected them with something that would seal their chakra until she gave them the antidote, he was more than a little impressed with her moxy. Of course he couldn't just let her get away with insubordination so he made her carry the two unconscious Suna nin back to Konoha by herself. So when she had simply lifted them over her shoulders with barely any effort and given him a saccharine smile he had just glared. When she dropped them in front of the Third Hokage and he simply smiled and nodded in approval, Sakumo was more than a little dumbfounded and more than a little intrigued. So much so that when they got through with their reports and had handed the two nin over to the T & I department he asked her out on a date.

Well howdy there! For those of you new here this story is going to be based off of a one shot I did during my 80 day challenge back in late 2012 and early 2013, I believe it was chapter 15. This first chapter was expanded from a continuation of the prompt in my new 80 Day Challenge: Take 2 and is chapter 5. One real quick noted difference, this chapter has been fleshed out a bit more from the original and is a bit longer. Also I really like this chapter because I get to use words like moxy, pinkette and saccharine; you don't usually see those words in a story.

I'll stop rambling now and get down to it. The way this story is going to work is pretty simple, it won't have the conventional chapters and will basically be a series of in order one shots, using the original chapter 15 as its guide. This story, in the way of structure, will be a lot like my story Marriage of Convenience; a Hiashi Hyuuga X Sakura story. So stick with me and we'll see how it'll turn out.