The Dragonfly and the Lily








No one is weaker than us.


He was probably right, but that did not make Ino any less frustrated by her lack of progress. Sure, she can do basic skills easily, but her special technique is just so... so... how did Shikamaru put it? Situational? Meaning what, useless?


Ino just gritted her teeth and tromped through the dirt towards Mizuda, a restaurant specializing in sushi for two reasons: one, she didn't have to hear Chouji pigging out, two, hearing Shikamaru complain, and three, Asuma chiding them for not getting stronger. She never thought Asuma's comments annoying until very recently, when she hit a wall in her training.


Everything she does, results in nothing. Everything her team does to help her, results in nothing. Even her father attempted to help, but it was all for nothing.


Usually, she wouldn't mind, as long as she could see Sasuke.


But...


Even she was losing interest in him.


It kind of scared her, actually. What was she looking for, an empty bag? Good lucks on the outside, but basically pointless to take, considering she couldn't put anything in the bag, which in this case, would be Sasuke.


She stopped in front of the Mizuda.


She wasted two years of her life chasing him, and she knew she was bound to regret it.


She took a long, saddened sigh, and went in.


She was immediately greeted by the cook, he exclaimed happily.


Ino looked around. There was hardly anyone in here except for a ninja with his head in his arms at the sushi bar. In fact, he was the only one there.


The ninja was obviously roused at the cooks greeting, and raised his head in mild curiosity.


She recognized him as that creepy bug guy from Team 8, and stifled a shudder. He freaked her out to no end. He says nothing, he just sort of stands in a corner, where, unless you know him and he knows you, you get ignored if you approached him. Plus, he has bugs living inside of him, which made Ino's skin crawl.


From her limited dealings with him at the Academy, all she could pick up from him was he didn't like people crushing insects. Some boys immediately tried to pick on him, but for some reason, avoided him like the plague the day after. Ino thought he must have been lonely, but he seemed perfectly content in his solitude, and graduated immediately behind Sasuke.


Funny how one remembers things when not thinking about Sasuke.


Ino paused, then with some hesitation, made her way and sat down next to Shino.


Hello, what might I get for you?


A waitress greeted her with a smile. Ino looked around. This was her first time here, so she really had no idea on what to get. She would normally ask for some soup, but she didn't feel like adhering to her diet today.





She didn't have any idea on what to get, and looking around soon gave her the information that there wasn't a menu handy.


I recommend Dragonbacks.


Shino's gruff suggestion caused Ino to look at him warily. The back of his head was still turned towards her. When he didn't say anything else after, she looked to the waitress and nodded.


The waitress then turned around and gave the food order, and Ino sat in silence for what seemed to be unbearably long. She snuck a look at the area around Shino. It seemed that this was the place Team 8 came after training. So Sakura's team ate at the ramen place, Ino's ate at the barbecue restaurant, and Shino's ate at a sushi bar.


An interesting fact, to be sure.


Some more time passed, and Ino got tired of looking at the cooks work. She thought of how weak she was, and how she resented working at her family's flower shop when other genins were doing more grueling work. Her head bowed down to the placement mat in front of her.


There had to be a way to be stronger. There just had to be. She heard of rumors that Sakura was being trained by the 5th Hokage, Tsunade. If those rumors were indeed true, Ino would be left far behind. Stupid forehead girl would actually be better than her...


And there was nothing Ino could do about it.


She felt an odd prickling on her arm, and she glanced at it, and cringed. Some insect was on her arm, and moving about slowly. She thought of smashing it, but for some reason, she went against it. Let the bloody thing crawl over her, she just stopped caring... Wait...


She lifted her arm, and it was covered with insects.


Time out, she just started caring.





Ino started to wave her arm erratically, and to her horror, the bugs wouldn't let go.


Calm down... They are just attracted to your Chakra...


Ino stopped swinging her arms around, and looked at the insects with something of a nauseous look on her face. she she stuttered.





Shino shifted his position, and looked at Ino.


You work at a flower shop, correct?


Ino nodded, and raised her eyebrows.


Shino raised his arm slightly above the bar, and the insects crawled off of Ino and back into Shino. When they were all gone, Shino stood up straight and looked at Ino.


The pollen from the flowers make your Chakra sweet, and to the Destruction Bugs, it's a delicious nectar. It is odd to see them go unbidden onto another person, it must have been ambrosia to them.


Ino just stared at him. She didn't know whether to be flattered or grossed out.


Your Dragonbacks, miss! the waitress announced, and presented Ino with a lovely set of sushi rolls with red bell pepper slices on them.


Thank you...


She turned to her meal, and ate. She was halfway through when she had an idea. A farfetched one but an idea nonetheless. Perhaps, if Shino graduated second in the class, right after Sasuke, maybe he can help her.


Um, Shino? Ino said, turning around.


But Shino was no longer there. She blinked and looked around. He seemed to have vanished without her knowing, and she was sitting next to him.


For some reason, that reinforced her idea. Maybe some training from another person would help her.


She wouldn't become weak at all. With any luck, she'll be the strongest female genin.






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Unlike my others... -_- ...This one will, and I mean WILL, be updated, or I'll forfeit all my fics and my account. Black Emporer Butterflies is on hold pending completing outlines and characters. That will be all.

And yes, I believe any coupling in Naruto can work out, given the right circumstances. So, with that in mind, put away the torches, ShikaIno fans.