Thinking back, Ino couldn't remember exactly what had been going through her head when she had decided to pull a Sakura and run off looking for Sasuke by herself. In hindsight, it had been a very dumb move. Abandoning her teammates, disobeying her commanding officer, then heading out alone into hostile territory. She deserved to be in this situation, really.

Lunging out from the thick bramble patch that had been serving as her temporary base, Ino threw the smoke bomb to the ground, and without checking to see if it had the desired effect, she sprinted away as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

Smoke bombs, pathetic. She hated having to turn to such an elementary technique, but she was all out of fancy tricks. He had left her with no other choice, and it was humiliating. What had the past decade of training been for then if she was still this helpless against a single enemy? It was obvious now, that she would never be able to get Sasuke back, she simply wasn't good enough, and never would be.

Ino skidded to a stop as the ground in front of her exploded. In a heartbeat she switched direction and was headed at top speed back the way she came. But after only a few metres, another snake hurled towards her, this time, she was unable to fully dodge the attack. The scaly creature clipped her shoulder and sent her hurtling to the ground.

On impact, Ino felt her tooth go through her lip. On any other occasion, this would have warranted a pretty big freak-out, but there was no time for that now. Bracing her hands on the ground, she pushed off, only to come crashing back. The snake had wrapped around her ankle, and was steadily creeping higher. Shrieking, Ino pulled a kunai from her belt, intending to hack off the serpent's head. But suddenly, a gloved hand appeared around her wrist.

"Don't be hasty, now" His soft voice came from behind her, much to close for comfort. Ino panicked, and threw her free fist towards the sound. He caught it easily, of course, but she had expected that.

Leaping straight up, she twisted into a mid-air roll, forcing him to break the grip on both her arms. Ino stretched her arms upward, fingers desperately grasping as she flew towards the tree canopy. If she could only catch hold of a branch, she could try to escape through the treetops.

No such luck. Below her, he swept his arm forward, sleeve billowing as another snake sprang forth and wrapped her body tightly in its coils.

Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. But the snake was holding her so tightly that her lungs could only expand halfway. She gasped shortly, the feeling of suffocation increasing her panic.

"Loosen up darling, we don't want to hurt her" He said, gliding forward. "let's see what we've caught!"

The snake obeyed its master, and Ino breathed easier. She arranged her face into what she hoped was a mocking sneer as his eyes met hers. He stood a few inches taller than her, but with the snake holding her a foot off the group, he had to tilt his head back slightly to look into her face, causing his silver bangs to fall away from his eyes.

He took a moment to study her, and recognition flashed across his face. Damn, she had been hoping that he wouldn't remember her from before. A wide grin stretched across his face, causing the scales around his eyes to crinkle and catch the sunlight filtering through the trees, "well, well, well, the little konoichi from the chunin exams, what a pleasant surprise."

breakbreakbreak breakbreakbreak breakbreakbreak breakbreakbreak breakbreakbreak

I know I'm probably going to get a lot of strange looks for putting these two together, but I was just re-watching the chounin exam arc, and over night I fell in love with the pairing.

Please let me know what you think, even if you think I'm crazy. The story will get better, I promise, and the chapters longer.

Oh and, I disclaim. Characters and world belong to the creators of NARUTO