Perfect

A/N: Rewritten and removed lyrics :) Ino needs more love, I like her better than Sakura.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, the song is by Pink, I am not holding ownership of anything in this story.

Warnings: language, some drama and angst, possible OoC-ness

Perfect

Ino wasn't the type of girl to make smart, solid decisions. She can't even be called a team leader even in the Academy. She often always takes the wrong turn. Those wrong turns often bought brought her and her team against enemies, rivals, fires and on and on and on. . . Honestly, she thinks its all right; mistakes are made so you could learn from them, right? Wrong, as her teammate said, "Mistakes may be there to make you learn, but if continue on making them, you don't learn anything." Well, that just makes her life all the better, since it was built on mistakes.

Of course, she didn't cry about it—something she did, but she kept it in the confines of her room. She clutched a pillow tightly to her as she tried to hold back her tears, but she can't hold it anymore; she let it all out. She was mistreated like some Sasuke fangirl, but she was; only the others were harsh to her, cruel even, until she met Sakura. Sakura was like the sister she never had, sure she had a crush on him too, but it's fine, until she knew that they're two best friends fighting over some guy.

"Sasuke-kun's mine!" "No, he's mine!" "He's my teammate! It's destiny!" "I saw him first!"

She was just misunderstood, she went along with Sakura's aggressive behavior and they started bickering almost all the time, but, it's all good; they're still best friends, right? Right?

Nope, she was mistaken, the Chunin exams came and the fire her "best friend" had in her eyes wasn't anything she's seen before. It was like she was telling her to back off Sasuke, she wouldn't do that, right? They're friends and they've got each other's back no matter what, right? She guessed so, then again, she second-guessed, Sakura was aggressive in her attacks, she really was telling her to back off. Too bad she underestimated Ino, the strong flower of the Yamanaka clan, using her clan's bloodline, she almost won, but not by her. She underestimated Sakura, sure she had no bloodline, but she's got some form of strength, and she lost, by the "Inner Sakura" inside her best friend.

She visited Sakura after the exams in the hospital, with a fresh bouquet of lilies, pink lilies. She tried to bring their friendship back, with great results. That was until she asked her, "Ino, am I weak?" The question struck her like an arrow struck a pillow. "No, you're not, you're strong." She wanted to add, "And freakin' perfect." But she chose not to.

"Really?" She asked, beaming, "I know so." She replied with a smile, but Sakura frowned after "Because I think I'm no good. . . for him." Ino's happy exterior was about to crack, "No good? No good! How could you? You're already perfect! Perfect, dammit!" She wanted to scream out loud. "Don't worry," She said, wanting to add, "You're perfect compared to me." But again, she chose not to.

"Perfect." She spat out, drying her tears as she sat up on her bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Perfect isn't something to describe her, at all.

Sakura was her best friend, no doubt about it. No matter how hard they argued, how harshly they gave each other glares and silences, they were still inseparable; until it snapped, until she snapped. It was all friendly gossip and rumors, and she believed it, Sakura believed it. Those mean rumors of her being pregnant, those rumors that she was working part-time as a prostitute, those rumors that her mother was a prostitute, it broke her, it nearly destroyed her. She told Sakura many times of how they were never true, of how they were just made up, but she was stubborn, she was slapped with a sharp, stabbing reply;

"You slut." Her voice was dark, as she felt tears well in her eyes, "First Sasuke and now this? What's next? You'll whore yourself up the ranks?"

She didn't understand what Sakura had told her, honestly she didn't do anything. Surely Sakura didn't understand as well, but that murderous look in her eyes told the whole story; she hated her.

And now her life became harder than it already is. Her "best friend" hates her, rumors about her soared, her teammates thought lowly of her, what next? Her father disowning her? She couldn't take it, she couldn't go outside and humiliate herself in front of her so-called colleagues. But she did, she went out, showing the world just how wrong they are. She shoved her emotions down by day, and cried her heart out by night as she trained. She trained herself in the darkness of the cellar; growing stronger, quicker, more accurate, better—but her heart grew weak.

She shoved every rumor down the drain. She ignored every snide, insulting comment her way. She fought to live her life every day. She promised to grow better, to be better, to be perfect. But she's seen Sakura being hundreds of times better than her. She's more acknowledged, more known, more popular, more loved. She couldn't take it so she tried harder. She used energy pills to keep awake, she ignored the dark circles around her eyes, she didn't feel the fatigue from training sessions—more likely, she refused to feel. So there she was, stronger, finally stronger, people were growing fond of her, the rumors stopped, and everything seemed to be alright. Not.

She tries her best, and she sees that girl—that bitch. Always, always better than her, always more noticed than her, always, always her! They noticed her, yes, but they would eventually revert to Sakura.

"She's gotten so strong!"

"She's more beautiful than ever before!"

"She's a perfect match for him!"

"She's the best kunoichi ever! I wanna be like her!"

Like her. Why, why, why couldn't she be like her? All she wanted was the attention she deserved. She rarely slept, while she got eight hours of it everyday. She trained in the darkness alone, while she's got volunteers wanting to train with her. She ignored all the insults to her and her clan, while she rarely got them. She deserved more praise; she's worked her ass off every single day while the bitch got compliments without even doing anything.

She sighs, deciding that hating and loathing will never get her anywhere. So she tries to be content, trying to swallow every bit of fear and need within her. She tries to be happy. She tries to let the people she loves know her better, to know her by the real her.

She starts with her teammates, since they seem to be the only ones looking out for her. She was weak before, unable to do anything right, but now she isn't. She offers her help, they decline, telling her to run for her own safety, she ignores them, she attacks the enemy ruthlessly, proving them wrong. The next missions, they tell her to defend herself, she doesn't listen, she saves them from traps that she's studied by herself, she attacks the enemies when they should run, she's gotten injured, but opted to heal her teammates first. She's gotten their praise, their respect, and maybe even their love. She realizes, she just had to ignore the world and do what must be done.

Next on her list was everyone else. They criticized her, insulted her, and went against her. But she opted to ignore them because she knew they were wrong. They only knew her by all those rumors made by bullies, not the real her. So she helps them, assisting even when they declined, volunteering for work, aiding the old, healing the sick; she changed their view of her. She felt loved. She finally felt loved.

But she seemed plastic. She changed herself, this wasn't the real her, the exact her, this was just a refined version of her. But she opted to keep it that way, the "real" Ino was the old her; mean-spirited, emotionally weak, wanting to grow stronger, wanting to be perfect. . . That isn't her, she realizes that everything was now changed for the better; she was now what she would call perfect.

She sees Sakura again, that stabbing feeling in her heart. She's just a degraded version of her. But she doesn't mind, she realizes that she is perfect on her own. She didn't need to be someone like her; she just needed to be who she is. She just needed to let the people she loves know who she really is.

I'm alright, I'm perfect, just the way I am.

She tells herself, reassuring that she need not try any harder to be loved, to be understood. She just needed to be who she is.

She is perfect. She is understood. She has left her past behind her in a trail of fallen rose petals.

A/N: I feel like crying, does this suck? Tell me what you think with a review. So. . . review please?