CHAPTER 1: Academy Arc 1
For all the myth and legend that surrounded the infamy of the Ino-Shika-Cho, Ino did not meet either of her fellow clan heirs until she joined the Academy. But she had heard of them.
According to village gossip, the rather unabashed civilians that flittered in and out of the Yamanaka flower shop, they were exactly as their stereotypes predicted they would be. The Nara boy was smart and lazy. The Akamichi heir loved food.
She wondered what village gossip said of herself. Was she the typical Yamanaka? Another square peg in a square hole. How boring. What was a stereotypical Yamanaka? A people pleaser and really into their flowers, apparently. She wondered if the civilians knew anything at all of the ninja clans if they really thought that was all.
Listening to ninja gossip was a lot more interesting, although it wasn't so much eavesdropping as it was shinobi regaling tales of glory days over the counter to ask Dad about later over dinner, their hitai-ate glinting in the light. There was no chance she'd be able to listen in on the conversation of ninjas unless they wanted her to, no doubt. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio that Dad made up one third of was an example of the Will of Fire and Konoha's best teamwork.
Ino only really had to step into the shop behind her Dad to see that. The amount of people from even outside the clan that turned starry-eyed to "Yamanaka-sama" was enough to make her head swivel. The war they had been famous for fighting in was long over, but it didn't stop people from nodding respectfully as he passed by.
"Why have I never met Shikamaru and Chouji, Dad?" Ino asked, lifting her rice bowl up to eat. "Everyone always thinks we know each other already."
Across the table Dad hummed, chewing on a mouthful of eggs and rice. "Shikaku was wondering which of you would be the first to ask," he chuckled. "Of course, it would be my flower."
"I'm going to be an Academy student, Dad!" She groaned at the pet name. "You can't call me that anymore!"
Dad's grin widened and he barked out a laugh. "You're not that grown up yet, flower." He placed his empty bowl down, setting his chopsticks on the rim. "To answer your question, if I told you I wanted you to tidy your room, would you do it?"
Her room upstairs was… a tip, to say it kindly. Last she'd seen it, the bed had been strewn with clothes in preparation for her first day at the academy, her pencil case had been packed and re-packed at least five times with the collateral scattered across the floor, not to mention picking the best notebook to bring with her - which nearly resulted in the bookcase being upended all across the carpet. "…right now?" She winced.
Yamanaka Inoichi quirked an eyebrow. "I'll pretend that I'm not imagining how bad it is." Instead of meeting his eyes, she took another bite of her eggs over rice. "It's unlikely, right? If I asked it of you, you may do it but not until several hours later." She tried her best to look innocent. "But, if you wanted to tidy your room – say to find your missing eraser – would you do it?"
She paused, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. And frowned. Actually, where was her favourite cupcake eraser? It was pink and sparkly and the chibi-cake had the cutest looking eyes, and…she hadn't seen it at all whilst she'd been packing her new school bag. "Dad…"
He shrugged, smiling pleasantly and then stood to start clearing away the dishes.
She scowled. "Thanks for the food! I'm finished!" And left him there to dart up the stairs to her bedroom. Point well made, Daddy. She toed open the door and stepped gingerly into her room. Ino had already stubbed her toe on a book on the way down to dinner, no need for a repeat performance. She detangled a few clothes' hangers from the pile and set about hanging up her dresses and smoothing out their creases. She stacked the notebooks back onto her shelves and dropped the sparkly purple one she'd chosen into her new backpack, Princess Gale beaming brightly on it's front. By the time she was done, there was a little pyramid formation of cute erasers on her desk, her pencil pot was full again, her clothes were away in their proper places, she could see the carpet again and she was sweaty from exertion.
Who knew it took so much longer to tidy a mess than it did to make it in the first place?
She flapped the duvet over the bed, until it floated down to nestle perfectly atop the mattress. Something dropped from the sheets, landing right by her pinky toe. Ino glanced down and then scowled again. The cupcake eraser.
She glared at the door. Was the lesson here that if it was Ino that wanted something done, she got to it faster than if someone told her to or that her Dad was a hundred times smarter and sneakier than her when it came to getting her chores done?
Carefully, she placed the lost stationery into her pencil case and deposited that into her bag. "Done." She said to nobody in particular, eying the finished product with satisfaction. She wondered if Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji had spent as long on their school bags as her or if they were the type of people who did their packing last minute? Or were they the type to let their parents' pack for them?
"Hmm… it's surprisingly neat."
She looked up. Dad was peeking his head around the door and surveying the room with, she narrowed her eyes, bemusement.
"I found Mr Cupcake."
"And the tidy room is a lovely bonus," He laughed outright this time.
The next morning Ino was awake before even the sun and she tumbled out of bed, scrambling for her clothes. "Academy! Academy!" She sung to herself in the mirror, pinning her hair back with flowery clips. Her hair was short now, like cool kunoichi Dad worked with, and it bounced as she shook it. Dad had said that she could pick her clothes if she wanted, but they had to be func-tion-al too, not just pretty.
So, underneath her skirt she was going to wear shorts too, that was about as much as she was willing to stand.
"Dad!" She called, snagging her backpack once she deemed herself ready. She bounded down the stairs, taking a few steps at a time and jumping down the last three, landing with a heavy thump. "Morning!" She skidded into the kitchen where the smells of miso and grilled fish were already wafting through.
"Morning, Ino-brat." She paused suddenly, as the figure cooking span to greet her.
Ino pouted. "Morning, Minoru-baka." She dropped her bag on a chair and manoeuvred her way into a seat at the table. "Where's Dad?"
"Your dad told me to tell you that he was called away this morning, but he'll pick you up from school." Minoru's long hair was scooped up into a bun at the base of his neck, his eyes fell on her clothes. "And that your gramps is going to lead you through your morning exercises today."
"W-WHAT!?" She spluttered. Hadn't Dad said she could skip them yesterday?
Yamanaka Minoru, her dad's favourite babysitter to call on, if only because he lived across the street, snickered in reply. "Breakfast isn't going to be ready for a while yet, better get going, before you make him grumpy!"
Ino hopped off the chair and headed out the back of the house. The Yamanaka clan wasn't the biggest clan in Konoha, nor would it ever be. The clan members that resided in the village were about half the size of the Nara or the Akimichi clans. They rarely had big families and in fact, if she tried to count them, she only knew of two families in the clan that had more than two children. Despite their modest numbers, the clan still resided on a fairly large plot of land, even though most of it was for plants and not people.
Yamanaka Inojirou was waiting for her on the back porch, his fingers curled around his ever-warm pipe and puffing a lazy stream of smoke into the morning air. Ino took a deep breath inhaling the strange scent of his tobacco and the comforting smell of fresh grass, still dewy from the morning mist.
"Morning jii-san!" She chirped.
"You're late, Ino."
He was grumpy as ever, gesturing her to follow him further into the garden and away from Dad's favourite flowers. There wasn't much to do in the way of morning exercises for Ino. Dad had said that she was a little too young to begin learning kata and practice any form of taijutsu no matter how basic, but he had taught her to do stretches and tumbles so that she wouldn't hurt herself. However, she had seen Minoru occasionally practicing kata before bed, or dad whipping around the clearing like a whirlwind, once she was older maybe that would be her morning exercises too?
There was a sharp rap on her shoulder. "Concentrate."
"Yes, jii-san." She sighed, bending backwards in her best attempt at being a limp noodle.
"More strength in your legs!"
She pushed her stomach up, feeling the strain in her thighs and calves, fingers gripping the grass and roots beneath her hands for purchase.
By the time she finished running through all the stretches, and her grandfather was satisfied, her knees and elbows were grass stained and Ino was more than grateful that she had a spare set of clothes upstairs. Minoru bustled her into the shower and told her to hurry down before the food got cold.
With her initial outfit ruined, she scowled and had to make do with a different one – a pair of blue overalls over a pink t-shirt with matching socks. She threw her grass-stained outfit into the hamper in the hallway and trundled back downstairs feeling a little irritated at the bad start to the day.
At the dining table in the kitchen, Inojirou-jii was already eating, his cane resting against the table leg. She eyed the stick suspiciously as she slid in to her seat. She'd just seen the old guy demonstrate her stretches, there was no way he needed a cane.
"Itadakimasu!" She chirped. It was probably there to chase her out the house if she was late, knowing him.
After breakfast, Minoru checked her bag one last time, whilst Ino slipped her shoes on and bounced up and down by the door, excitedly. He sighed at her prancing and took her hand. Outside, the street was busy, the hubbub of daily life starting up anew. She waved to the civilian lady across the street setting up her jewellery stand for the day, an array of sparkly metals and polished stones gleamed in the morning light.
"Starting the Academy today, Ino-chan?" The lady called, hands on her hips and a bright grin.
"Un!" She nodded back.
"Good morning," Minoru said above her as they continued past.
They passed a few other merchants opening shop, greeting them as they went. Minoru pointed out the Akimichi shops as they went by, the mouth-watering smells of fresh bao and roasting meats and charcoal ovens wafting in the surrounding air. Did the Akimichi Clan Head's family live above one of their shops? Or did they live in a fancy house in a compound nearby?
She kept an eye out for the clan heir as they walked. The Yamanaka lands and the Akimichi lands were fairly close to each other, so maybe he was taking the same path to the Academy too. It would be fun to walk to and from school together! The Akimichi that came into the flower shop were very distinctive looking compared to civilians. Apart from their bulkier shapes, they usually had red swirls on their cheeks – clan markings, Daddy had said – that made her eyes cross when she tried to follow them. She'd seen something like that in a manga once, where the bad guy had a swirly patterned disc that hypnotised the heroine's side kick. Wouldn't that be cool if Akimichi Chouji could do that?
They didn't see the Akimichi boy on their way though, so perhaps he'd left earlier than she did. She pouted, they might have met up if Inojirou-jii had let her skip her morning exercises though. The walk to the Academy was quite a fair distance, and by the time Minoru told her they were close, her feet were starting to tire.
The building was right next to the mountain and the Hokage's Tower. Next to the brightly coloured Tower, with its red tiered roofs and massive fire symbol, the Academy building looked almost like it was squatted by the tower's ankles. It was the closest she'd been to the Tower ever and the mountain too – the faces in the rock were a lot more intimidating up close and also kinda ugly when you had to see it from the chin upwards.
There was a small entrance ceremony in the courtyard, with plastic chairs set out in rows for the adults and the kids. Minoru stayed to watch and nudged her quiet when the Hokage took to the small wooden stage and podium set up at the front. Ino was sure it was probably a very good speech, very in-spi-ra-tion-al and all that, but it was also veeeerry long. Her eyes drifted from his wrinkled face somewhere between the work hard part and the Will of Fire part. There were so many children here!
She knew from the customers, that wandered in with their kids, that lots of them usually met to play at the park, but Dad wasn't particularly keen on letting her wander and he always made an especially funny face when he heard how many of children in the playground were boys. So, usually she played with her cousins or dragged Minoru into buying her new paints to splatter the terracotta plant pots in or helped in the shop. Ino had never seen this many kids before in one place!
And this was only the ones in her year – there were another three years on top of that. She lost count by the end of the fifth row, straining in her seat to see.
"Ino…" Minoru patted her shoulder, an eyebrow quirked. "Stop fidgeting."
Finally, the Hokage stepped down from the podium to the sound of applause and two ninja made their way onto the stage. They had similar green flak jackets on, hitai-ate fastened to one's forehead and the other's neck in blue. The one with a scar on his nose and, she eyed his hair thoughtfully, hair like the Nara that Minoru had stopped to speak to, cleared his throat. "Okay, so. With me, are: Aburame Shino…"
Minoru made a shushing sound, pointing forward to the stage. "This is probably your class, brat. Pay attention."
Ino rolled her eyes. Yamanaka was always bound to be at the very end, it would be ages before they said her name.
"…Akimichi Chouji…"
She perked up at the sound and scanned the crowd. There were only a few kids stood in a small cluster by the foot of the stage, but there was a bit of movement a few rows away. Eventually, a round boy with blushing ears as red as the swirls on his cheeks joined them, clutching a bag of snacks and fluffy ginger hair like his head was on fire. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, eyeing the watching crowd with some nervousness, gaze flitting left and right until they landed somewhere a few rows behind her.
She could make out the figure of the Chouza a few rows down now that the seats were emptying. His hulking shape was sat in a chair next to his pretty looking wife. He occasionally dropped by the shop to speak to Dad, but she wondered if he still recognised her, it had been a while since he'd visited whilst she was there. She hadn't met Chouji's mother before, but from this distance she looked kind and warm.
She tried to follow their son's gaze back, he wasn't looking at his parents, but Minoru rapped her on the head and told her to sit still.
"…Haruno Sakura; Hyuuga Hinata; Ito Hiroshi…"
The cluster was getting a little bigger at the front, but everyone was standing quietly even if some of them look as excited as Ino was feeling.
"…Nara Shikamaru…" At the front, the Akimichi perked up, shoulders slumping in relief as a slouching boy padded forwards. Shikamaru had spiky black hair like most of his clan. Unlike Chouji's bright red shirt, he was wearing muted grays and blacks, the Nara insignia stamped on the left side of his chest. He made his way straight up to Chouji, bumping shoulders with a faint grin before languidly settling in amongst the rest of their future classmates.
Ino gaped from her seat. …They knew each other! Why didn't Daddy tell her they already knew each other before the Academy? So unfair, now she had so much catching up to do! They were probably already best friends! Why did they get a head start?
She barely paid attention to the rest of the names before – finally – "Yamanaka Ino" was called out. Surprise, surprise, the last name on the list.
She resisted the urge to stomp up to everyone. Right, first day – she wasn't going to let some boys ruin it just because stupid Daddy hadn't told her they knew each other. Minoru gave her a firm squeeze on her shoulder and told her to "behave" and then she was walking towards her new class, head up and nose in the air.
She ended up sandwiched between a blond boy, wearing a faded t-shirt and orange shorts and another boy with blue hair and glasses, both looking around nervously as they followed their new teacher inside as she fumed silently.
Ino wanted to cry a little. Just a bit. Dad always told such cool stories about being part of a team, but not only were they both boys but Chouji and Shikamaru were already friends! She was going to be left out of all their games! This would totally suck!
She sniffed angrily, not looking up. Well, fine. Who needed them anyways! Genin teams were ages away. And maybe if she made cooler better friends they would see that she didn't have to be paired with those stupid boys anyways! She squared her shoulders, patted her hair to make sure her hairclip was still in place and then grinned. That's right! She was totally going to make them regret not being her friend and become super pretty and popular and the most kick-ass of kick-ass ninjas.
And then, they'd be begging her to be their teammate! Ha! The boys next to her shifted warily at her sudden mood change but she ignored them.
The classroom the teacher led them to was pretty big, with huge windows that overlooked the village and let the light stream in. There were benches arranged in rows on a slant so that the furthest seats were higher than the ones in front and no matter where you sat you could see the blackboard. And the teacher could see you. The back seats filled up first, Shikamaru and Chouji finding a place with their backs against the wall. The blond boy she'd walked in with let out an excited yelp and dashed forward to crash into a boy with a white puppy in his hood and made for seats by the back corner, laughing loudly.
"You can pick your own seats for now!" The teacher yelled belatedly, with a heavy sigh afterwards.
Ino eyed the quickly filling seats and found one next to the inner wall on one of the middle rows. Ignoring the pair of eyes probably watching her – if she knew about them, they probably knew about her, which only made it all the more infuriating th- she sat herself down and took out her pencil case and her notebook before making herself turn to her seat partner with a grin.
"I'm Yamanaka Ino, nice to meet you!"
The startled girl next to her jumped and then smiled back widely. "I'm Miura Nao!" She had dark hair and a pink dress on, and a Princess Gale pencil too.
"I love your hair, purple's my favourite colour!" She chirped back in reply.
"Thank you, I'm trying to make it longer like my sister's!" Nao blushed.
Ino leant forwards to rest her chin in her hand. The other kids still weren't settled yet, busy sizing each other up and telling each other who should sit with who. "Is your sister a ninja?"
"Oh, no," Nao giggled, "She's still an Academy student like us, Ami is in the year above."
"Cool! Has she taught you loads?" It sure sounded handy to have a sibling who knew exactly what happened next.
Nao wrinkled her nose. "Ami is really good at ninja tag, but she says I'm too little to learn her tricks."
Finally the teacher – who introduced himself as Iruka-sensei – called for quiet and introduced the other teacher who would be helping – Mizuki-sensei. He wrote their names on the board and told them three facts about themselves. Ino sat up to listen more closely. The trick was that one of these facts was a lie and the class had to guess which one.
Mizuki started first, smiling pleasantly. He was pretty handsome, with a pointed jaw and silver hair that shook as he spoke. "I am Mizuki-sensei, I am a chunin of Konoha, my favourite colour is green and I had miso for breakfast. Which one is my lie?" He smirked at them all, and even from this distance Ino felt herself blush.
Right, he was probably a chunin – he had the green flak jacket, and none of the typical jounin-blues. So fact number one was probably true. His face hadn't looked like he was obviously lying when he'd said his favourite colour or food. She frowned. Around the classroom, silence had fallen as everyone tried to work it out.
"Two guesses only…Yes, you, what's your name?"
"I'm Inuzuka Kiba!" She craned her neck to see. No one else had put their hand up. The boy stood up at his desk and Ino recognised him as the boy with the puppy in his hood. "The third one is a lie! Ha, I can't smell miso soup on you at all!"
Next to her, Nao made a sound of confusion, cocking her head right. "He's an Inuzuka," Ino whispered. The purple haired girl looked even more confused.
"I see," Mizuki smiled and clapped his hands. "Very good, so you can tell I didn't have miso soup this morning. Good job."
The boy barked out a laugh and sat down, whispering to the blond boy next to him.
Iruka's lie was a little easier to spot. He told the class that he was a medic, that his bedsheets were blue at the moment and that he looked forward to teaching them. His flak jacket was clear of the medic badge that most of the medic corps wore in the village, Nara Shikamaru pointed out – the teacher had picked him much to her annoyance, even though her hand was actually up!
Once he'd answered, the boy slumped back in his seat, eyes half-shut sleepily. Lazy, too!
They went around the class, getting rowdier as more thought up their facts and raised their hands to guess other's lies. It was pretty fun actually. Ino found out that the shy Hyuuga girl was the heiress to her clan, which was cool to know because most of the other clan heirs were boys much to her distaste; and that the Inuzuka's sister once tore out someone's throat with her teeth which was gross but also kind of awesome. Some of the kids were really bad at lying and made up really strange or unbelievable lies. Like a skinny, tall boy sat at the very front who panicked and said his goldfish had taken him to school this morning. Or a girl with glasses who had enthusiastically proclaimed that she didn't know how to speak and mimed so, but had spoken for her other two facts.
Shikamaru had boredly drawled that he liked sleeping, watching clouds and playing shogi. Ino wanted to be the one to guess correctly, just to see his super shocked face. She narrowed her eyes to watch his face as he said it but, apart from his moving lips, it barely twitched. In the end, no one guessed right and he said that "I don't just like sleeping, I would die if you didn't let me sleep." Completely deadpan, before drooping into his seat.
Chouji was not as good as Shikamaru at keeping a straight face and kept glancing at his seatmate, his packet of crisps and his hands. He lied about not liking barbeque flavoured crisps, which Ino guessed correctly, confessing that he liked all crisps, no matter the flavour.
Ino's facts were pretty good if she could say so herself. She stood up, like Nao had seconds ago when she'd lied about having a brother, and smoothed out her skirt. "My favourite ice cream is strawberry flavour," She beamed, focusing on her classmates faces screwed up in concentration. "I like gardening and baking!"
"And your name?" Iruka smiled kindly at her.
"Oh!" She blushed. "I'm Fujiwara Taeko!" And then sat down, red faced. It was a bad lie admittedly. There was no Fujiwara Taeko in the class because she'd just made up a name, but she was sure nobody was really concentrating on the class register when there were so many people in the class. There were two guesses – which asked if she was lying about her favourite ice cream (she was not) or if she really liked gardening, which was boring (she glared at the boy that said that, rude, it was not boring at all).
"Alright, Taeko-chan," Mizuki asked from the front. "Tell us which one was your lie then?"
She bit her lip, in effort not to giggle. Ha! She'd got them all! She bowed her head. "Ano, my name is actually Yamanaka Ino, sensei!"
There was a roar of angry muttering around the classroom and Ino suddenly wondered if this was exactly the opposite of what Minoru meant when he told her to "behave". Her hands suddenly felt a little sweaty. "Um, you… you didn't say we had to give you only two truths, just that one of them had to be a lie…?"
Iruka let out a small chuckle, "Right, I guess we should have been more clear, then?"
Ino nodded, a little more hesitantly.
"Very sneaky, Ino-chan." He smiled before turning to her seriously, "But next time try and follow the instructions?"
Ino nodded again, feeling her face flush for real this time. Next to her Nao giggled – wasn't it lucky that Nao hadn't given her away? And Shikamaru and Chouji, they probably had known exactly what her name was. She glanced back up at them but Chouji was already focusing on the next person speaking and Shikamaru had his cheek on the desk. Okay, maybe they weren't stupid…but she still didn't like them!
After the lying game, the teachers hushed the class again and went over what textbooks they'd need in the future and making sure that everyone knew what stationery they needed to bring to class. They didn't need to bring kunai or shuriken or any weapons to school for lessons, the Academy had equipment for everybody – anyone caught with live metal outside of practice would be punished. There was a school shop for people that didn't bring lunches but they had to bring money with them. And running through other school rules. Girls were to stay behind tomorrow after class for kunoichi lessons.
Ino tried to take neat notes. Her kanji was still a bit shaky and ugly, but it was readable. And, if she decorated it with flower doodles and love hearts then that made it infinitely better. Some of the others were taking notes diligently too and listening raptly – a girl with pink hair (Harada? Haruho?) was filling her pages so fast you could hear the whoosh every time she turned the page – whilst others were doodling or even making paper planes. Nao had drawn a very ugly picture of something that had wings but Ino couldn't tell what it was.
Finally, after taking pity on the class and letting them design their own nametags – no sequins or stickers but they were allowed to use coloured pens and pencils if they had any and Ino had loads – Iruka clapped his hands again and announced loudly, "Alright, class 1-A," The roar of noise quietened, a little, "You have an hour for lunch so grab your bentos! Mizuki-sensei will take anyone that needs to buy a lunch. I want you all lined up by the entrance when the bell rings!"
At lunch, Nao introduced her to her other friends from the other classes, who all knew each other from playing at the parks and wandering the streets while their parents worked. There was Nao's best friend Suzu, a mousy brown haired girl with hair shorn short and a blue tracksuit with butterflies, and their friend Izumi, who smiled wanly. The other girls in 1-A clustered towards them so by the time Ino's bento was unpacked their little circle had become quite a lot larger than just Nao and Ino.
She set out the sections of her lunchbox – a little box with a riceball wrapped in seaweed, another with carrots chopped up into sticks and a strawberry pudding.
"Oooh! That looks yummy, Ino-chan!" Suzu gasped. "Did your mum make it?"
Ino shook her head and took a chomp out of the rice ball. "Minoru-baka did, he's my neighbour." Suzu had a box of fried rice, topped with eggs and vegetables and an apple resting to the side. "Your lunch looks good too!"
"Thanks! My mum made it!"
Four other girls from their class joined them, although the Hyuuga heiress was not one of them, Akari, Ichika, Yui and that crazy note-taker with the pink hair who was, ironically, called Sakura. They were mostly chatty enough, and when there was awkward silences Ino happily piped up to get the chatter going again. Akari and Yui were seamstress' daughters, and Izumi's dad worked in administration in the Tower. Sakura haltingly said her parents were retired-chunin-turned-merchants. Ichika was an orphan and determined to become a ninja, and Nao and Suzu seemed to just be in it because it seemed cool.
"I want to be a super strong ninja too, Ichika-chan!" She said. The other girl's face brightened from its thunderous expression at the lack of ambition in the group and Ino hoped her face didn't show her thoughts as much as this girl's did. "Dad was a super strong and cool ninja during the wars, and everyone that comes into the shop always says so." The other girls made amazed sounds.
"Aren't you scared of getting hurt?" Sakura said quietly, voice scarcely above a whisper, her cheeks red at having spoken out. "My mum got hurt and that's why she's not a ninja anymore."
Ino shook her head. "No way, I just have to get really strong and then, tah-dah, there's no way I'd get hurt then!"
Some of the other children were sat in groups too. Ino's group had formed a little circle under a tree, but a little way away she could make out a group of boys roughhousing, the hyper blond ("I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!") and Inuzuka Kiba (the dog-boy) from earlier among them. Another boy with dark sunglasses on and a high collared trench coat – Aburame, for sure – was beyond that looking at something in his hands. And there was Hyuuga Hinata at a bench by the entrance back into the Academy, swinging her legs and eating lunch alone.
"- okay, I mean it could be worse –" Nao was just saying as Ino tuned back into the conversation, "Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei seem a lot nicer than Nee-chan's teachers, apparently Dazai-sensei made one of her friends cry because she wouldn't let her go to the toilet!"
Ino wrinkled her nose. "Isn't that really bad for you anyways, to hold it in for too long? It's not fair for a teacher not to let her go." She sighed, "Hey guys," the other girls turned to look at her, "Should we ask Hyuuga-san to sit with us?" She gestured over her shoulder. "She looks lonely by herself."
"Hyuuga?" Nao grimaced while Ichika shuddered. "She's kind of creepy though, always whispering and staring and her eyes are super weird." As one the group looked up. The Hyuuga girl met their eyes for a moment before snatching her gaze back, cheeks blistering red, shoulder shrinking.
Akari shook her head. "…and don't her clan have that weird eye thing, how gross!"
There was crescendo in noise as most of the class finished their lunch and joined the roughhousing boys in a game of tag. At the fringes of the playground, under another tree she saw Chouji turn to say something to Shikamaru and they dusted themselves off to join the fray. There was a bit of a stall as the group squabbled to get settled before the two boys found themselves welcomed into the fold. Ino turned away, disinterested, focusing on Shino, who seemed to have retreated further into the bushes he had been sat by, and Hinata, who was resolutely staring at her hands.
After lunch, signalled by the bell, Mizuki led the class back into the classroom to drop off empty lunchboxes and then guided them to a wide open and dusty courtyard on the other side of the building. It was a taijutsu class, and Iruka cheerfully got them to run through several stretches.
It was easier than she thought it would be, a lot simpler than Inojirou-jii's exercise and his stern glares at her bad posture. "Good job, Ino-chan." Mizuki said at one point and Ino was sure she fairly glowed. Glancing around, it was obvious who had done stretches before and who was completely new to it all.
Most of the clan kids - Hinata, the Aburame boy, Kiba, the Uchiha boy - looked comfortable, barely breaking a sweat as they moved from one position to the next. Shikamaru and Chouji were one of these as well, although Shikamaru looked like he would much rather be sleeping and Chouji was looking longingly at bag of crisps Iruka had confiscated.
By contrast, the girls she had eaten lunch with were sweaty and groaning by the end. It baffled Ino. She knew that most clan kids were made to do a bit of exercise before coming to the Academy, but surely the civilian kids weren't that far behind?
On the running track, it was a similar story. On the surface there wasn't much of a noticeable difference. Kiba and Naruto took off, unheeding of their teachers yells to "pace yourselves!" leaving dust clouds in their wake. Everyone kept a mostly even speed apart from that, a mild jog that kept Ino moving and warm but comfortable. It was as they were doing their third lap that the signs became more pronounced. Kiba and Naruto slowed to jog alongside the rest of the class, panting lightly, but even more of the class began slowing from the steady pace they had previously kept, dropping further and further back, until by the fifth, Ino had passed Nao, Akari and Yui twice. Ichika and Sakura were keeping up, but only just.
At the tip of the group was the Uchiha boy, the white and red uchiwa fan emblazoned on his back and a deep frown on his face as he glared irritated over his shoulder at Kiba and Naruto bickering behind. Every time the two boys started gaining, the Uchiha would scowl a little deeper and put on a burst of speed. All three of them were starting to pant heavily but didn't let up at all.
Ino kept to the middle of the pack, trying to keep her pace steady and her breathing controlled. Chouji and Shikamaru were somewhere near the back no doubt – the pineapple head sure lived up to his clan name.
She sped up a little so that she was running alongside Hinata. "Hi," She panted out, glancing at the other girl after a breath and then bringing her eyes back to the track so she wouldn't trip. Hinata did nearly trip, she was so startled, like that bunny that used to visit Cousin Asahi's garden much to his ire. "I'm Ino!"
Hinata's blush spread down from her ears to flower on her cheekbones. "Um!" She took a deep breath, eyes facing forwards but looking unsure. "Hinata!" The red intensified. "I mean, um, that's my name?"
"Nice to meet ya!" Ino grinned and then went back to focus on her running.
Eventually, once the whole class had finished ten laps – by which point it didn't matter whose kid you were, everyone was sweaty, panting and gulping water like they were dying. Ino flopped down between Ichika and Nao, drinking from her water bottle.
"Right, that's enough of a break! Everyone, up!" Iruka half-yelled into the courtyard as the class let out a chorus of groans in response. She took it back, Iruka was the worst and Mizuki, no matter how pretty he was, wasn't much better!
They went through another series of stretches before starting push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and even an obstacle course full of dry dirt and dead leaves. Ino had to fill up her water bottle twice, she drank that much, and by the time they were led back to their bags at the end of the day, she was more than ready to jump into a cold bath.
She scooped up her bag and waved goodbye to the other girls, smiling at Hinata as she went out the doors. Outside the Academy building, parents were crowding the gates and mingling with each other. There was a man with dark red hair and she wondered if he was related to Sakura? Her dad perhaps? It seemed that the ninja families didn't mingle too much with the obviously civilian ones. The red haired man was not wearing a flak jacket or a headband but neither were the other adults he was talking to. By contrast, the Uchiha parents stood together, speaking lowly and looking stiff and awkward amongst the exuberance of the other parents.
Ino scanned the crowd quickly, looking for someone tall…very blond… and… "Daddy!" He was standing a little further away, but his blond hair was pretty obvious in the bright afternoon sun. She darted through the crowd. If she had any more energy left, Ino would have totally done a run up to leap at him, but as it was she was tired and achy and she had nearly lost her hair clip today on top of everything.
It wasn't until she was nearly next to him that she realised who he was standing with. "How was your day, flower?" He smiled and leaned down to hug her. She hugged him back, trying not to stare at his companions.
Of course, Ino-Shika-Cho. Slouched next to him was the tall figure of Nara Shikaku, sharp eyes not looking at her but scanning the crowd for his son, probably.
"Ah, so here is Ino-chan, how are you?" Akimichi Chouza boomed, his wife giving him a fond smile.
Suddenly shy, Ino tentatively nodded back. "I'm good, Chouza-oji! How are you?"
"I," He announced loudly, "am very well, but in need of a snack!" He winked, even as his wife swatted him.
"Chouza! No more anpan! You'll give yourself a heart condition!"
"You know your husband, Aiko. His sugar addiction is intense." Dad laughed, grasping her hand in his. Ino eyed the rest of the draining crowd a little enviously, but he didn't make any move to leave. She tried to resist the urge to squirm where she stood. She'd done so well in avoiding them all day and now…
"Chouji! Shikamaru!" Akimichi Aiko called out, waving her hand in the air and two boys made their way out of the crowd.
They both looked as sweaty and exhausted as Ino felt. There was a trail of dirt across Chouji's knees and Shikamaru's hair was even messier, if that was possible. Chouji immediately headed for his parents whilst the spiky haired boy turned to the Nara head.
"How was school, boys?" Inoichi asked as she clutched his hand, trying not to peer to curiously at them. She'd not really seen them this close and they'd never approached her throughout the day either, always keeping a distance. Now that they were within range, there were a few things she'd not noticed before. Like that Chouji had a nice smile or that Shikamaru's eyes were constantly sharp and observant, in spite of looking like he was about to take a nap.
Chouji smiled a little, happy to tell them. "Inoichi-oji! We met some new people, and our teachers are nice!"
"Troublesome." Shikamaru huffed out at the same time, but it seemed to be habit rather than irritation at their first day at school. Everyone laughed a little at his reply.
"Does Yoshino know he says that?" Chouza rumbled with amusement.
Shikaku groaned, hand lifting to pinch his brow. "She already nagged me about it when he was three, I think she thinks he's beyond saving now."
There was a nearly unnoticeable pause before he turned to Ino. "And how was your day, Ino-chan?"
"Great!" Ino beamed. She was totally going to show these boys that she had friends and who needed them anyways! "I made a bunch of friends and we talked all the way through lunch. And did you know Nao's older sister is in the year above, cool, right?" She swung around to face her dad. "And Yui and Akari are really good at sewing! And their name badges were really pretty, although mine had the most colours – " She tilted the badge on her chest up. "- see? It has butterflies and a rainbow and the leaf symbol and I wrote my name super neatly. And –"
Ino continued talking even as her dad swung her up into his arms so she wouldn't have to walk. She would have made more of a fuss if Chouji hadn't been placed on his dad's shoulders or Shikamaru hadn't slumped onto Shikaku's back. As it was, it made the whole walk home a lot faster and a lot more comfortable - so really, there was no reason to complain. The adults listened to her prattle, she noticed, with an indulgent or, in her dad's case, a fond look, but did glance occasionally at their own silent children. For a second, she contemplated asking either of the boys if they'd made any friends but, she scowled, they hadn't asked her anything either.
"Ah," Dad said, his voice humming in her ear from where it was pressed against the crook of his neck. "Say bye, Ino," He directed at her before turning to the others, "We'll see you at Yakiniku Q, later?"
"Seven, right?" The adults confirmed.
Ino glanced away from her Dad's shoulder to look at the two boys. Shikamaru had his head down, lolling against his own dad but she was sure she had seen him twitch earlier. And Chouji would meet her eyes and then shyly glance away. Never mind, they were stupid! "Bye!" She chirped and then tilted her head into Dad's shoulder so she could hide a little.
The sound and rhythm of her dad's footsteps started up again, and the voices of the two other families faded away as they continued on. There was a moment of silence before Dad let out a soft sigh. "So, how was school, really?"
"'kay." She mumbled. "The girls in my class are fine, even if none of them apart from Ichika and Hinata, probably, want to be actual kunoichi." She scowled at the freckle on his neck. "And I thought our teachers were nice until we had taijutsu class. They suck."
"Mmm," Dad said, shifting his arms a little but not reacting apart from that. There was another beat of silence and then, carefully, he said: "And Chouji and Shikamaru?"
Ino felt herself stiffen. Poop. Instead of saying anything, because if she opened her mouth it was one-hundred-percent going to be calling them stupid, she shrugged.
"…did you have a fight with them?"
Incredulous, Ino sat upright in his arms, swivelling to face him and pinned her hands on his face. She fixed him her meanest, meanest glare and hoped he got the message. "Daddy! Why didn't you tell me they were already friends? They didn't – " She felt her face start to crumple and eyes sting. "They didn't even say hello!" Her voice trembled as Inoichi tensed up beneath her. And to her horror, Ino wailed. "They- they hate me!"
It wasn't even fair! She hadn't even said hello yet and they were already best friends, she was going to end up left behind all the time! And they'd always gang up on her! Everyone knew it was always boys against girls – and there were more boys than girls, she'd lose!
"Flower, darling," Dad's voice was soft, "I'm sure they don't hate you."
"Daddy, they're already friends and I'm going to be left out!" She just wanted to go home and go to bed. Crawl under the sheets and not come out. "They do hate me!"
He set her down on the step as he unlocked the front door to the house, ushering her in. "Just because they're already friends doesn't mean they can't be friends with you too."
Ino lifted her hand to rub her eyes angrily. "Why didn't you take me to meet them before?"
Dad sighed, "They met at the park once and that's how they became friends. Their parents didn't take them to meet each other, sweetheart."
"It's not fair!" She kicked her shoes off, watching them smack into the wall with some satisfaction. "I'm always going to be the odd one out now!"
"Ino." There was a stern look on Dad's face, his brow furrowed and tense. "Do not kick your shoes."
She felt her cheeks redden and, grudgingly - because she was still angry at him but also because it made her tummy twist when Dad got angry at her – picked her shoes up. "Sorry, Daddy." She set them down by the door in a neat row. "I – I just!" He looked alarmed as her breath hitched. "I just thought we'd be best friends!"
His face softened and he knelt down to pull her into a hug. His shoulder was wet under her cheek. "Ino-flower, just because I was in a team with their dads doesn't mean you'll instantly be friends." He said, "And if, you don't want to be friends with them, that's fine. No one tells my daughter what to do." He held her at arms length for a moment and then ruffled her hair. "But, if you want to try, then maybe you should start with saying hello first, hmm?"
A/N: Purely self indulgent, id explain myself but thats really all the explanation needed... Lol
In other news, i have exams soon and ive blocked myself out from AO3 on my laptop bc i know theyre important exams and here i am, posting from my phone w v low self control... Why. Why.
