A/N: I'm kinda nervous, but excited as well: this is my first ChoIno! So far everything I've written has been ShikaTem, so this should be pretty interesting. Hopefully I can live up to the expectations of Miamay Tsuikia-Kage no Miamay, who requested this. Alright, let's do it!

Disclaimer: All named characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

--

Ino clutched her over-shoulder book bag closer to her, almost using it as a wall between her and…well, the rest. She kept her eyes down, walking quickly, just trying to get to her next class without being noticed. She was going for invisible.

Casting nervous glances around her, she tried not to make eye contact with anyone. She hugged the book bag to her body as she walked by the lockers. She never went to her locker. It was just too risky. Someone giggled meanly as she hurried by. She didn't know who it was, and didn't care to find out. All she wanted to do was get to a place where there was a teacher, where they wouldn't dare harass her.

Ino walked as fast as she could without flat-out running, weaving her slim body through the crowds of loud, obnoxious teenagers. Someone stuck out their foot just as Ino rushed by, and she fell hard, landing on her wrist. She gasped as a jolt of excruciating pain shot through her arm, and she heard raucous laughter from above. Suddenly the bell rang, and the sea of people quickly dissipated, leaving Ino alone on the ground.

--

She walked into the main office, cradling her wrist with her good arm. The secretary glanced up. "Shouldn't you be in class?" she said sharply, looking back down at her paperwork.

"Yes, but--"

"Do you have a teacher's pass?"

"No, but I--"

"You need a pass. Go back to your class and get one from the teacher." The secretary then ignored her, filing through her stack of papers. Ino gaped in disbelief.

"But I think my wrist is broken!" she exclaimed, shocked at the secretary's callousness.

The secretary glared at her over her glasses. She studied Ino for a few long moments, then jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at a door behind her.

"Thank you," Ino murmured. The secretary just grumbled something and went back to her work.

Ino cracked open the door carefully, looking inside. There was a bed by the wall, a sink covered in medical supplies, and a stool in the corner, but no nurse. Ino stepped in, glancing around her. A voice from behind startled her. Ino jumped as she heard, "What do you want?"

She whirled around, wincing in pain from her wrist. The nurse sat there next to the door on another stool, glaring at her.

"Um…I think I broke my wrist," she said hesitantly, hoping beyond hope that the nurse would prove to be nicer than the secretary.

She was wrong. The nurse stood and put her hands on her hips. "How'd that happen?"

"Well, I was--"

"Fooling around in the hallways, hm? Playing with your little friends, you get rough, you fall down the steps or something?"

"No, that's not how it happened!" Ino protested. I don't have any friends, she thought to herself, noticing that the thought didn't affect her much anymore. She was used to it now.

"Oh really? Then what went on?" the nurse asked, shifting her weight to one hip.

"I…I was…" Ino tried to think of a way to tell her without sounding like a snitch or a baby, but in the end she couldn't.

"Just as I thought," the nurse grumbled. "Come on over here so I can wrap it up. You kids are just so reckless, don't have a care in the world, and you always come to me to fix you up after you've gone and hurt yourselves…" Ino tuned out as the nurse ranted on and on, riffling through the drawers. Finally she pulled out an elastic bandage. Ino yelped as the nurse roughly grabbed her wrist, pulling it towards her. The nurse quickly and deftly wrapped the bandage around Ino's wrist, fastening it in place with Velcro attached to the end. "Go back to class," she ordered.

"But…don't you need to call my dad to pick me up?" Ino asked hopefully. "Shouldn't he take me to the hospital for an x-ray or something? You know, just to make sure?"

"No," the nurse said flatly. "You'll be fine for the rest of the school day. Now go to class."

"Please!" Ino pleaded. "I'm really in a lot of pain. Please just let me call him."

The nurse glared for a few moments, then gave an irritated sigh. "Fine," she relented. "If you must. But if you're on the phone for more than five minutes, I'm going to tell the secretary you're skipping."

"Oh, I won't," Ino said happily. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Whatever," the nurse muttered as Ino rushed over to the phone. She dialed her father's cell number, praying that he would pick up. She heard it ring once…twice…three times… Finally, after ringing six times, she heard it pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, daddy!"

"Ino? What…why are you calling? Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"Well, yes, but I need you to come get me."

"Why? What happened, princess?"

"I broke my wrist." There was a pause. Ino worried he wouldn't come. "It really hurts, daddy. And it's starting to swell. I think it needs a cast."

He sighed. "Alright. I'm coming. I'll be there in ten minutes."

Ino almost sobbed with relief. She wouldn't have to suffer through school today. "Great. Make sure you call the office, okay? Otherwise they won't let me leave."

"Got it. See you in a few."

"Bye." Ino hung up, feeling happier than she had felt all day. The nurse looked expectantly at her. "He's coming to get me," Ino explained. The nurse just snorted and went back to organizing her supplies.

Ino left the office with her first genuine smile of the week. She started to go back to class…then she decided that since she was leaving in a matter of minutes, it wouldn't matter. Instead, Ino wandered around the hallways for a while, finally hearing the loudspeaker: "Yamanaka Ino, please come to the main office, Yamanaka Ino." If her wrist hadn't been killing her, she would've done a cartwheel.

Her dad was waiting for her at the door. He hugged her when she ran up, holding her arm. They walked out to the car together.

They were on their way to the hospital to get her wrist checked out when Ino said, "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Is it…well…what I mean to say is, do I have to keep going to that school?"

They stopped at a red light. He sighed. "Ino, we've talked about this. I don't understand why you just can't give it a chance."

"They're the ones who won't give me a chance!" Ino burst out. "It's awful there! I hate it!"

"Maybe you should stop hating it so much, and you might see that it's better than you think."

"I only hate it because everyone there hates me." Ino crossed her arms.

"Oh, that isn't true," he said, as if she were exaggerating.

"Yes it is! You just don't understand. Nobody likes me. I'm always alone, no one talks to me except to make fun of me," Ino defended, trying desperately to make him see the truth.

"I just can't believe that. Back in your old school you were one of the most popular girls around," he said.

"Yeah, at my old school. Why can't we just go back to Suna, Daddy?" she pleaded.

"You know why, Ino," he said sternly. "We've discussed this many times. It's been almost four months now. You need to move on."

"But I--"

"It's a new town, a new house, a new school…why don't you try and make it a fresh start?" he continued.

"Daddy…" She tried to think of something that would get through to him, something drastic, something… "Daddy, the reason my wrist is broken is because someone tripped me."

"What?"

Ino, encouraged, continued. "I was just trying to get to class, and someone stuck out their foot so I would fall. And after I fell, they all just laughed and didn't even ask whether I was alright. They didn't care. None of them do."

Her father was silent. She felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe he would let her be home-schooled now. Or even go back.

"Ino…" he began.

"Yes?"

"I think you're being paranoid."

Ino felt her heart drop. "Wh…what?"

"You're imagining things. I'm sure that was just an accident," he said. Ino's jaw dropped as she stared in astonishment at her father. He continued, "You always think they're all laughing at you. Teenagers laugh all the time. I'm sure they weren't even thinking about you."

"That's the point, Daddy, nobody even--"

"You think nobody cares, but that's because you won't let them in and give them a chance," he interrupted. "You're holding on to your old friends and your old life. How is anyone supposed to get past that?"

Ino was hurt. "You…you really think this is all my fault?" she whispered, searching his face.

"I'm not blaming you, princess," he said gently, "but I'm just saying that maybe it's time you let go. It's holding you back."

Ino turned away from him and looked out the window, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears. "At least in Suna I had friends who would understand."

"I know you were very close to Temari and her brothers, Ino," he replied, "but sometimes, you just have to learn how to adjust."

Ino didn't say anything. A tear escaped and ran down her cheek.

--

The next day, Ino was in the same place, rushing through hallways, this time to get outside. It was lunchtime, but Ino always ate outside because it was just too lonely in the cafeteria.

Surrounded by people, but more lonely than when I'm outside, Ino thought. How ironic.

Hurrying past the lockers, she didn't see one of her main tormentors standing there, staring at her. Haruno Sakura watched Ino rush by, and in a split-second decision, decided to follow her outside. Maybe she could have a little fun and put Ino in her place at the same time.

Sakura didn't see a boy watching her, wondering what was going on and worrying that it wouldn't be good. He followed.

--

Ino sat down under the oak tree, pulling out her lunchbox. It was nice out here, peaceful and quiet.

Usually I would be the loudest one in the cafeteria, she thought, shaking her head. But now I'm the biggest outcast they've got. She took a bite of her apple, fighting back tears.

Ino heard a sound behind her. She stood and turned, and there was Sakura, standing there with her hands on her hips, smirking maliciously. Her bright green eyes were full of bad intentions.

Ino took a step back. "Wh-what do you want?" she asked, willing her voice not to quaver but failing miserably.

Sakura didn't say a word. She just kept coming closer, that frightening smile on her face.

Ino, panicking, backed away faster, and tripped over a thick tree root. She fell backwards, and in seconds Sakura was over her.

Ino closed her eyes as Sakura yanked her up by her collar and wound up a fist. Ino waited for Sakura's fist to smash into her face.

And waited. And waited.

Ino opened her eyes to see Sakura's arm being twisted away from her by a brown-haired boy standing between them. Sakura grunted as she struggled to free herself, but the boy easily held her back.

"Leave her alone," he said in a soft voice, completely calm. He squeezed Sakura's arm for good measure. She yelped and yanked her arm away, glaring resentfully at him, then at Ino.

"This isn't over," she promised, turning and walking quickly away.

The boy turned to Ino to see her staring at him in amazement. "You…you protected me?" He nodded. "But why? I've never done anything for you."

He gave her a small, sad smile. "Because I know what it's like to be on the wrong end of a fist," he said softly. He touched her shoulder, once, gently, then turned to go.

He was almost back inside the building when Ino got her wits back. "Wait!" she shouted, holding out her hand. He turned. "How can I ever thank you enough?"

He looked at her, and for the first time she saw him grin. He shook his head as if she were crazy for wanting to thank him, and went inside.

Ino stood there for a while, wrapping her mind around all that had happened. Eventually the bell rang, and she packed up her lunch and went to class.

--

A/N: Wow. That was interesting, if I do say so myself. And I do. :) So Ino and Chou-- excuse me, the "mysterious brunette boy" (lolz) finally meet! Gosh, isn't Ino just the most miserable person you ever saw? And Ch-- "mystery guy," what's his deal? And Sakura. What a bitch! (I never liked her much anyway…) I hope that was good enough to grab your attention for the time being, entertain you a bit. I'm going to be writing this one simultaneously with my other new ShikaTem ("So This Is Hell?") so I don't know if I can update every day or anything like that, but I'll try. This is totally going to test my writing skillz; I usually don't do really serious fics. I'm a goof. But I'm ready to see how this will turn out, and I think you are too.

Enough talking for now. Love ya! XOXO