A/N: Okay, This story is about Ino. Ino only! She's awesome. Admit it.

Pairings: SasNaruNeji x Ino x KibaShinoShikaLee AND MAYBE MORE! Yeah, I'm a loser.

Naruto is to Kishimoto as this story is to me! 3


A lonely little yellow daffodil swayed by the darkened foliage near the Konoha Genin Academy.

It had been a few years.

All of the rookie nine were around 16 years old.

Footsteps neared the little daffodil.

"Why are you all alone? You are so vibrant, yet you cannot shed your beauty in this place. It's too dark. You'll wither and die." A soft voice said.

Sway

Sway

Snap. A sound was heard.

The yellow daffodil had been cut from its spot, taken into the tender care of the holder of the soft voice.

"Don't worry. I'll be your friend." The daffodil was hugged tightly into a delicate grasp and promptly whisked away from the horrid darkness.


Ino sighed. Since her fourteenth birthday, she had come to see the light. Life wasn't about the theatrics. The drama. The looks.

Her long, blonde hair was down, not in the high ponytail she had kept it in a long time ago. The soft strands blew across her face as she stared out the open window in her kitchen.

A yellow daffodil was present in a clear glass vase, in the center of the kitchen table.

The wind blew softly. Her hair swayed back, tickling her shoulders. The daffodil shook.

Ino was wearing a normal black jacket and normal shorts. Normal.

No longer would she go back to being that self-absorbed girl she was in her pre-teens.

I wasn't that bad back then though. She thought.

It was true. She had still saved Sakura from becoming a nobody and had swallowed her pride to say that Sakura had bloomed into a flower even more beautiful than Ino herself.

Ino sighed again. She absently twirled a strand of hair around her index finger.

I wonder what I should do today.

She stared at the daffodil, who was staring quite contently back at her.

I should…I should train.

She quickly covered her face with her jacket sleeves and blocked off any tears that threatened to drip out of her weak tear ducts.

Weak.

She gasped and sniffed. She swiftly stood up, pushing the chair she was sitting on behind her. Bravely trying on a little smile, she told the daffodil to wait for her until she had gotten home.

As if nodding, the daffodil swayed and a water droplet fell from one of its petals.

Ino grabbed her shuriken holster and departed, carefully closing the door behind her.


"Ino-PIG!" A faintly annoying voice rang in Ino's ears. It was obviously Sakura. Ino turned away and picked up her slow walking pace to a swift stride.

"Hey, hey, what's up? Don't brush me off like that piggy!" Sakura teased and mocked.

Ino's tear ducts trembled again.

Hiding her face from the pink haired menace, Ino stopped in her walk. Sakura skidded to a halt behind her.

"Go away Sakura. I need to go t-train…" Ino tried to keep a straight voice but as she spoke, her words faltered.

"Humph! How RUDE." Sakura huffed and kept pestering Ino about manners.

Ino snapped.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She rushed off into the forest, leaving a trail of fallen leaves and a confused Sakura in her wake.


Ino finally reached a clearing in the thick forest near the Hokage Monument. She panted and then took a deep breathe. She had gotten away from Sakura.

Sakura had gotten more annoying as the years passed. She used to be nicer.

I guess all the friendliness and fun went to her head. Ino sighed but then realized It doesn't matter. She's still…she's still stronger than me…

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" She screamed at herself. Birds flew out of the trees.

"I can do it too! She's not special…She's not." Ino trailed off and fell to the ground, putting her face in her hands. "UGH!" She screamed out again in frusteration.

A figure stepped out of the shadowed foliage behind her.

"Ugh, stop yelling. You're annoying voice makes my ears hurt." A deep voice.

Ino's head snapped up to look at the newcomer. She then blushed and mumbled a sorry.

Wait.

"Just let me train in peace." The voice demanded and started moving away.

Hold on, buddy. Just a MOMENT.

"Hey." Her voice stopped the figure in its tracks. The figure turned its head to look back at her. Her blushing stopped immediately.

"Don't look down on me as if I were weaker than you." She stated and closed her eyes, letting her anger seep away.

"Hm…" The voice said. "Maybe if you weren't weak, you could say that with strength to back it up with."

WHAT!?

Ino was pissed!

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ino stuffed her face in her arms and yelled again in frusteration.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK IM WEAK! I'M NOT! I'M NOT!" She kept yelling and screaming.

The figure sighed and then glared. "Then prove it."

In a flash, the figure was behind her, holding a kunai to the back of her neck.

Ino gasped in surprise.

"You're not even worth my time." The figure 'feh'ed and walked off, leaving a very sad, lonely, and crying Ino behind.

Why is it only me?

The other rookies had become Jounins. Even Sakura and Naruto! What about her? Still. Chuunin. Yeah. Not. Good.

Why?