A few days after receiving the green flak jacket of a special jonin, Senju Shinichi was assigned his first official mission. It was not a classified Hokage order relayed through ANBU, but a handwritten note delivered directly from the Yamanaka Flower Shop. The pale yellow paper bore neat, restrained handwriting: "Lord Senju Shinichi, there is an intelligence mission in the coming days that requires your sensory and combat abilities. If convenient, please come to the flower shop tomorrow morning for a discussion. Inoichi Yamanaka."
Shinichi turned the note over and found that a small piece of pressed lavender had actually been attached to the back. That detail was clearly not Inoichi Yamanaka's doing—Ino had probably secretly stuck it on while her father was not looking.
The next morning, he arrived at the Yamanaka Flower Shop on time. When he pushed open the glass door, the wind chime above it rang several times. There were no customers in the shop today, and the faint fragrance of snapdragons and baby's breath mingled in the air. Inoichi Yamanaka sat behind the counter leafing through an old ledger. Seeing Shinichi enter, he nodded, then called upstairs, "Ino, Shinichi's here."
A rapid patter of footsteps immediately came from the stairs, and Ino ran down from the second floor, her ponytail swinging high behind her. She wore a light purple short-sleeved top today, with a ninja tool pouch tied at her waist. She looked far sharper than she usually did in class. When she saw Shinichi standing at the door, she suddenly slowed down and changed the "What took you so long?" that had reached her lips into, "You're pretty punctual." Then she casually pulled a sprig of baby's breath from the vase beside the register and handed it to him.
"Here. My mom said you