A/N: Well, I really should write the next chapter of The Cursed Bottle, BUT BUT! I have a good reason! I just got a new computer and the ONE thing I forgot to back up was, you guessed it, my fanfics folder. I was SO annoyed! I had basically finished it, you know, all I had to do was write a few more paragraphs and check it. But now, it has gone to where all lost computer files go… Anyway, I wanted to write something fresh, and a different pairing too. So, here it is! This is going to be a multi-chapter fic, so lets hope I don't loose inspiration! And as always, read and review my pretties, read and review…
Disclaimer: It's MINE! It's all miiine…miiiine…miiiiiiineee fades away wakes up Oh, what a nice dream.
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Ino has always hated the rain.
When she was a kid, it meant that she had to come inside and that meant that her mum would tell her to help with the chores. When she became a teenager, it meant that all that time she spent straightening her hair in the morning for Sasuke-kun was wasted. And now that she was on the brink of exiting teenager hood, she hated it because it meant that she would have to come back home and stop training with Sakura.
Yeah, laugh all you want; Ino-training! That was the response in general she received when she told people where she and Sakura disappeared to every second day. They would either laugh at the absurdity of the idea, or raise their eyebrows, thinking 'Yeah right, more like shopping you mean.' Either that, or they thought some kinky thoughts, which shall not be entered on this page.
Anyway, you might be wondering why Ino would want to train. And not because of Sasuke, she had gotten over that particular phase when her 14th birthday passed. She had decided that chasing was not her cup of tea, she would be chased, and not the other way around.
It was because she thought she was getting fat.
What, you really thought that Ino would want to become an ANBU? She wanted to pass her jounin exams, if only to know that she hadn't wasted ALL her childhood. Who wants to know that all those years were for nothing? Only Shikamaru, and she didn't want to think about him at the moment.
Yes, the reason why Ino was training every two days was because she was getting worried about the fact that nobody seemed interested in her. I mean NOBODY. Sakura was taken of course, and no one wanted to experience the wrath of the blond haired boy that had been crazy about her for over 6 years now. Tenten wasn't taken, and got her fair share of interest, but most people had the sense to know that there was a Hyuuga lurking in her shadow somewhere. So that was two taken care of. Hinata was quite popular with the 'dominant' males, the ones who wanted to wear the pants in the relationship. But then of course, there is that whole family thing. And that left basically all the eligible men of a reasonable age range all for Ino. So why, she thought irritably, were all of them staying away from her with a 10-foot long pole? The only reason that she could think of was that she was either unattractive, or didn't have a steady job, apart from her part time shifts in the flower shop, which she only got payed a fifth of the normal salary, just because she was family. So, in an effort to kill two birds with one stone, she was training for her jounin exam in 5 months time with Sakura.
So now we find Ino walking through the village on a beautiful summer's day. The sun is shining; the sky is a wonderful shade of blue, dotted with small fluffy clouds floating along at their own pace. There is a very small breeze, just enough to tease the ends of Ino's ponytail. It was not as long as it had been, barely reaching her shoulders, and had a slight wave to it now that she was not religiously straightening it every morning. The sun was beating down, making the air uncomfortably hot. Even so, the day was glorious.
Ino was in a very good mood. She had woken up to the sounds of birds singing outside her open window, and had just lain in bed, watching the curtain flutter and the sunlight dance across her flawless skin. Her mum was not shouting for her to get up, and instead was causing a mouthwatering smell to waft up the stairs. She had got out of bed and stretched luxuriously, before heading to the bathroom. Her day was getting better and better. There was a brand new tube of unopened toothpaste, and she took great delight in making the first dent in the middle of it. Then she swept her blonde hair up into high ponytail. It fell nicely, with just the right amount of hair coming out to make it look like she hadn't tried. She grinned, examining her reflection in the mirror. All the exercise was paying off; she now constantly had a rosy glow about her. Humming a tune, she got changed into her favourite pair of shorts, before pausing to look critically at her usual attire of a navy blue T-shirt. Deciding it was too hot even for the extra 4 centimeters of material, she pulled on a white singlet and mesh tank top instead.
"Hi mum!" she sang, sitting down and helping herself to breakfast.
Her mum smiled. "You're in a good mood today sweetie."
Ino giggled, sweeping her arms around her. "Well with such beautiful weather, how could I not be?"
After eating breakfast, she set out to grab a box of chicken teriyaki and rice for lunch later, and then headed towards the training grounds. On her way, she saw Tenten and Hinata and stopped for a chat. Then on the next street, she saw Naruto, Kiba, Lee, Sasuke, Neji and Chouji, all crowded around something. Neji and Sasuke were obviously supposed to be on lookout for someone, and kept sneaking quick peeks at whatever they where huddling around, when they weren't busy trying to look bored and uninterested that is. Ino jogged over, her curiosity awoken.
"Hey guys! Whatcha looking at?"
They jumped, and Naruto quickly shoved whatever it was into his pockets.
"Nothing!"
Ino raised a finely plucked eyebrow. You didn't need to be Einstein to tell that they were lying. "Aw, c'mon guys, gimme a look!" She pleaded.
They all flushed and replied at the same time, "No way!"
Looking at each other in bewilderment at their sudden physic powers, Ino took the chance to grab a corner of it and pull it out of Naruto's pocket. "Ah hah! I've got it now!"
Kiba looked horrified, and made a swipe for it. "Don't look, please!"
Ino grinned slyly and peeled open the covers of the small book, and glimpsed the first sentence when there was a poof and suddenly Hatake Kakashi appeared. He looked quite flustered for once, and turned towards Naruto asking,
"Hey Naruto, have you seen my Icha Icha? I'm worried Anko's got it…"
Noticing Ino, he blanched and snatched the book from her hands. "Have you read any of it?" He asked, trying to act natural. Ino was confused, what was so special about this book?
"No, but-" she replied, and was about to ask what was the big deal when suddenly she found herself coughing in a mixture of dust and smoke.
'Stupid…boys…secretive…' Stumbling out of the cloud, she continued towards the training grounds.
---
As Ino walked, she noticed how all the little things counted. She used to spend all her time and thoughts on Sasuke. Back then; she would never have realised how beautiful life could be, without all the materialistic things. Her infatuation with Sasuke had also ruined her friendship with Sakura, who she couldn't imagine living without nowadays. She realised that she had been selfish and shallow, and that had cost her a lot of friendships.
Ino frowned, and kicked a pebble frustratedly. For some reason, whenever the topic of friendship came up, Shikamaru suddenly popped up into her head. And the most vexing thing was that it was always so goddam random.
She could be just having a glass of water and he would pop up, usually saying something like 'Troublesome'. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the situation! And sometimes at night, she would just be lying in bed, and she would suddenly see him, usually frowning with that ever-present crease between his eyebrows.
Ino kicked at a twig, then scowled as it lodged itself between her toes. Who's bright idea had it been to make the boots toeless anyway?
Her good mood quickly evaporating, she bent down and hurled the stick away into a nearby bush, muttering about psychopathic twigs and damn incriminating thoughts.
She could have sworn that the bush was muttering too.
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"Hey Sakura!" Ino called, as she entered the grove of trees where they trained.
"Hi Ino! Over here, look!"
Ino turned around and jumped back as she saw Sakura hanging upside down from a tree branch right in front of her, holding a bunch of flowers. Laughing, she somersaulted to the ground and shoved the flowers into Ino's face.
"Show off" Ino joked, sniffing the bouquet. "Who gave you these?"
Sakura blushed."Naruto. It's one of his 'surprise' presents that he loves to give me all the time."
Ino smiled for her best friend. But even as she did, she felt a pang of sadness that she had no one like Naruto to surprise her with gifts all the time.
Sakura saw the look on Ino's face and asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"
Ino shook her head. "Nothing!"
Sakura placed her hands on her hips and frowned. "If you don't tell me what's wrong Ino-pig, I'll go around and tell every old lecherous man that you're desperate for a relationship."
Seeing Ino flinch and turn red, Sakura gasped.
"What, you-you actually like old men!"
Ino blinked owlishly, then burst out laughing. "NO! What, did you think that I-I actually-" She broke off, laughing too hard to continue talking. Sakura flushed, and poked Ino in the shoulder. "Well, your reaction made it seem like that was the case!" She replied in her defence.
Ino sobered up as she remembered that Sakura had pretty much hit the nail on the head.
"Yeah, well about that," she said, hanging her head in shame, "you're not that far off…"
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Ino paused and tried to gather her thoughts, "it's just that, um, I kind of am desperate…that was one of the reasons that I started training seriously again."
She looked up at Sakura, who was looking quite blank and confused. As she opened her continue her explanation, there was a slight rustling in the bushes behind her. She spun around, a kunai clutched in her hand. Beside her, Sakura had got into a fighting stance, and quickly flicked a shuriken into the bush. But there was no expected thump, and small rabbit tumbled from the leaves, hopping madly away. They relaxed. Ino exhaled, blowing a stray strand of hair from her eyes. Quickly jumping over to check, she confirmed that there was nothing there.
"Anyway, we're well within the borders."
"True. Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh, yeah. Well, you see, the fact is that absolutely no one seems attracted to me! It's as if I'm off limits or something!"
Sakura smothered her giggles, under the pretence of coughing. She knew exactly why all the males were keeping away from Ino. 'Trust her to think that she's been getting out of shape as an excuse! Geez. But, this could be fun!'
Arranging her face into an expression of mild concern, she commented, "Have you got your eye on someone in particular? Because we could always try-"
Ino shook her head violently, but not because of what Sakura had said. It was because at that exact moment, Shikamaru had decided to make his daily rounds again. 'Damn you Shikamaru! Get out of my effing head already!' She was half tempted to hop on one foot and whack her head too, but thought that might have looked strange.
"No! That's not what I meant, it's just…Oh, I don't know, and frankly, I don't really care at the moment. Let's start training already!"
And before she gave Sakura a chance to reply, she jumped backwards to the other side and pulled out 3 shuriken. Sakura sighed and followed suit, wanting to continue the conversation further.
Ino, on the other hand, just wanted to get one lazy-ass shinobi out of her head.
A/N: So, did you like it? Next chapter is Shikamaru's one! Oh yeah, and don't you just hate when sticks get stuck between your toes when you kick them? growls Can't even enjoy a good kicking session with getting scratched by some damn twig. Anyway! Make sure you leave a review! They really help me keep going you know nods wisely. Anyway, thanks for reading it!