Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto

A/N: I wanted to try writing something a little different. The chapters will be short but I will update a little more frequently, how is that for equivalent exchange?

I'm going to have to mention this: Ino is a little different here and the story is carried out in a much more sardonic manner, but I made sure to imprint that unforgettable fluff, because where in the world would we be without it? This is my first REAL attempt at humor, I hope it went well. Reviews and criticisms are always welcomed! Thank you!

Ino waved, reaching over the counter to emphasize her gesture. A bright smile lit up her features as she watched the elder man being pushed by the nurse, luckily away from her. Even as the man turned to wave back, he held his wicked stare, his eyes traveling rather quickly from Ino's face towards her…

As soon as the swinging doors settled in front of her she let out an exhausted groan, sinking slowly onto the counter in front of her. "Old dirty bastard," she murmured against the cold counter top. What followed afterwards was a trail of profanity that was left unheard save for the young woman who stood next to her.

"That's quite attractive, Ino." Sakura rolled her eyes, nudging her friend with her hip. "Keep laying there, I'm sure no one will notice."

Ino reluctantly lifted her head, her long bangs partially covering the tired scowl she shot in Sakura's direction. "My bad, I just can't seem to deal with lousy patients the way you can."

Sakura chuckled softly, latching her small hand onto Ino's wrist. Encouraged by Sakura's soft tug, Ino pushed herself off the desk, sighing while doing so. "This is just temporary-"

"Right" Ino asserted, "temporary." She nodded in Sakura's direction, watching as her friend smiled in agreement. Relief easily washed itself onto Ino. As much as sheutterly despised being the temporary medical-nin having Sakura around was not always a bad thing.

"Right," With a nod Sakura pressed a square manila envelope into Ino's hand before promptly turning on her heel to walk towards the far end of the room, heading towards the direction of the hallway.

Correction-

"What-!" Ino felt her teeth grind together in her sudden flair of rage. That Sakura, she fumed, right when I was complimenting her! She stared angrily at the object in her hands, quite hesitant to open it. "Sakura, my shift is over!"

"What is that?" called a voice that echoed from afar, "Is that an EMS call? Gee, I better take this!" The voice dwindled into nothing more than a mere whisper as Ino faced a now empty foyer.

Ino grimaced, creasing the envelope with her bare hands. This was only temporary, she reminded herself one last time. Right.

Ino Yamanaka, age 19. Like any young Konoha woman her age, she was simply enthralled with working temporarily under the Hokage, Tsunade-sama herself. Except she wasn't; not that she wasn't attracted to medicine, she was fascinated by it, but the infirmary was only a hub of ailing people in her perspective. As much as she enjoyed healing others, she always felt helping out there was far better than helping in here. She was meant to be in the middle of the battles, not wiping off the mess left behind.

She was an essential part of the usual trio of nin sent for missions of any like. Yet, because of the sudden shortage of medical nin (or the more accurate reason: Tsunade simply loved to fuck with her) she was stuck here. Again. A place she was all too familiar with only years ago during her schooling years. Yet, nothing has changed, the same old dirty bastards and the same young injured ungrateful nins. Although it was only her fourth day in this temporary 'mission', as Tsunade jokingly put it, she was more than anxious to leave-or completely shred the uniform offered to all working nurses in this hub of misery-

er, medical center.

Anyway, as Ino casually stomped her way towards the room number she found written on the front of the envelope she dwelled further into her seething thoughts.

Why in the world did Sakura enjoy this job so much? As soon as Ino was eligible to take the Chunin exams again, she willingly did so. And although she was not Jounin level like the rest of her male colleagues, her skill at medicine was nothing to be ignored.

Ino turned the knob and opened the door disregarding the way it creaked loudly. The figure continued to sleep soundly, she watched as his chest raised and lowered gently. An eyebrow arched as she finally came into a conclusion that there in the far end of the room was Naruto Uzumaki. She felt the sudden need to march back out into the hallway.

No, bolt.

….Okay, so it's been a few years since she last saw him. So what? Uzumaki was, in the words of Shikamaru, troublesome. She will forever remember him as the loud pre-teen back in the days of her childhood. Why couldn't Sakura take him, she thought bitterly, after all they were practically best friends were they not?

She peered down, attempting to read off the rest of the printed sheet of paper. But, there lay nothing but his name, age and drabble of that like. Nothing important like, say, illness?

As she approached the sleeping Naruto, she reflected on just how unusual it was to see him so peaceful in his sleep. But that did little to convince her, she knew deep down he was still as hyperactive as always. She then, reluctantly, brushed her palm under his forehead, hoping to find a fever.

That contact was alone to have him a bit startled; after all, he was a pretty light sleeper. Confused azure eyes pierced open as Naruto quickly pushed against whatever it was that was touching him. He sat up;

feeling rather hot as he peered down to see himself bundled in pallid blankets. What? He thought. He could have sworn he was definitely not here just a minute ago…

Before he could utter any words of protest a thermometer was shoved into his mouth. He blinked, deciding that she was definitely not Sakura. He was quite accustomed to having been treated by Sakura, so having this other young woman in front of him was more than peculiar. Blinking again, he wordlessly observed her, his eyes darting in her direction. She was blonde, that was painfully obvious. "What?" he blurted out, dumbly.

"No fever," she appeared unfazed, pulling out the thermometer with a yank. She shook the rod in front of her, a frown forming on her face. "Nevermind. 105." she shrugged to herself, tossing the plastic thermometer into the trashcan behind her.

Naruto found it to be strange, the way her eyes were fixated on him. Her expression was unreadable but by no means was it friendly. He studied her glare, switching from the way her left eyebrow wrinkled, to the way her mouth curved into a slight grimace. Before Naruto could study her face much longer, she suddenly snapped at him,

"What?" she questioned, with a dash of irritation. Without a second thought, she quickly spun herself around, suddenly finding interest in the panoramic view of Konoha from outside the window. Her palms pressed against the sill as she leaned onto the ledge of the window.

Finding the silence too stressful to cope, Naruto chuckled, it was but the only natural reaction he could dispel in this sort of situation. Instead of asking the evident, he did quite the opposite and remained composed, "Tell it to me straight, doc, will I live?" he bit back a playful grin.

Sakura always told him off with questions of that like.

"Maybe" Ino responded flatly, without a flinch.

Suddenly, Naruto became defensive, "Gee, I'd expect a more optimistic answer from a nurse…" he blurted out.

He then became aware with the way her shoulders dropped and shuddered unexpectedly.

"Oh? Well, my condolences, Uzumaki." She finally spun around, taking a step forward. The document enveloped in her hand was now rolled with negligence, "No identified illness? Figures…." She mumbled bitterly.

Ino could easily trace the wicked smile on Sakura's face right at this moment.Right, she thought, give me something unbelievably time consuming on the last few days I'm staying here. That makes but perfect sense! Oh Sakura, how I should have known….

Naruto couldn't understand the way her face contorted with each passing moment, but he figured that it wasn't anything pleasant running through her mind.

Unidentified illnesses were ordinary, especially in this hospital. Most of the illnesses, at least nine out of ten that Ino's treated, always resulted from environments outside of Konoha, say something a patient shouldn't have eaten, extreme use of chakra, some form of poison from another hidden village….

Now that was interesting. To be honest she got a kick out of things like this only it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Besides the idea of being somewhere else at this moment was much more appealing.

"…Ino?" Naruto blurted out, he was a bit confused by the way she changed expressions with each passing moment.

"What?" she asked, this time with much disdain. She narrowed her eyes at him, closing her mouth in a scowl.

"No, really," he smiled, "That's quite attractive." A snort was followed afterwards.

Now while she could have asked him (or herself) just where exactly she had heard that before she did just the contrary and only sighed.

Although it could not be explained, she felt herself suddenly becoming a bit composed as she answered, "It's just been a long day."

Explanation? As if he needed any.

But before she could pull out some sort of subsequent retort, she watched him nod and agree with her. And if that weren't strange enough, she felt that scowl once wedged onto her face now disappear into a smile.

Idiot. And with that passing thought, she decided to tread heavily out of his hospital room despite the fact that it she didn't even make any attempts at diagnosing his illness.