Theme #1: Introduction

Setting: AU


It was just like any other day at their relatively peaceful neighbourhood; the sun hung against a backdrop of cloud-dotted blue sky, the flowers grown by the residents of Konoha Lane had awakened to full bloom in greeting of the day, and the morning rush to get to work and school now over the sounds that generally surrounded the area had fallen to a murmur with the laughter of children breaking the peace every now and then. A typical scene for this particular area, though not so typical for at least one of its residents, a young girl who was none other than Ino Yamanaka.

At the age of just four years old, the young Yamanaka already had a long list of ambitions, of things to achieve in her life.

She wanted to become a florist, she already knew so much about them and her life was positively filled with flowers what with her father running a flower shop.

She wanted to become a botanist, knowing just the beauty and symbols of flowers was not enough. She wanted to learn about the properties and uses of plants as well.

She wanted to become a singer, a model, an actress! She was already so cute and talented, so why not? All of these were perfect for her.

She wanted to become a doctor, a nurse. She had always liked helping others, and there would be no better feeling than the swell of happiness from seeing a patient walk out the doors healthy.

With the number of things on her list, it was a good thing that she was an excellent multi-tasker- or so she thought.

And of course, the last thing but by no means least on her list, was that she wanted to get married. She had it all worked out. Her husband-to-be would be gorgeous, a super talented dark-haired beauty with a high-ranking job, and he would be head-over-heels in love with her. It would be love at first sight. And their children? Their children were going to be just as beautiful and wonderful as their parents. There was no doubt about it.

Yes, Ino Yamanaka had it all planned out, and she was going to have it all. With her brains, skills and looks, how can she not?

Except…

There was just one thing.

It was just that, the one that she had picked out to be her husband-to-be (without him knowing, of course, but what Ino said goes so he had no say whatsoever on the matter if she wanted to go through with it) …

Well, her best friend had a crush on him too.

So it was with this knowledge in mind that the young blonde sat on a particularly soft patch of grass, chin resting on her knees as she poked at a dandelion every now and then before she finally released a near inaudible sigh. Today, she was not among the group of girls that currently surrounded Sasuke Uchiha. Not today. She just wasn't in the mood to, not for any of it, strangely enough, and she was normally the leader of all of those girls when it came to cheering Sasuke on in just about everything he did. It was a position that she was proud to have taken on for none of the other girls cheered as hard as she did.

Or perhaps it was not so strange, seeing that this had to do with her beloved friend Sakura.

And she just couldn't keep going for him when she knew all of this.

So imagine Ino's relief when she caught sight of her father's car driving up to the kindergarten that she attended. Finally. Now she wouldn't have to pretend not to hear all the giggles and chatter of excited conversation that were coming from the girls who were still watching Sasuke trounce Naruto in yet another arm-wrestling match. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Ino quickly plastered a smile on her face as she hurried over to meet her father, the sound of her footsteps muffled by the patches of grass beneath her sneakered feet. Even if she didn't really feel like smiling, she could only mope about this thing for so long, right? After all, what was important was that Sakura was happy, and besides, there were far more boys – Oh, that one is pretty cute. Who is that? - around that—

"Oof!"

She had just walked right into a tree.

Well, that was embarrassing.

Pain drummed in her temple, and where she had hit herself when she had accidentally walked into it surely must have left a glaring red mark. Ow, ow, ow… She winced as she raised herself from the ground a bit, hoping there weren't any scratches at the very least. –But, she supposed that the sight that greeted her when she opened her eyes made up for things somewhat, for the one who was standing over her with a look of utmost worry on his face was the very boy that she had spied on earlier, the same one that had caused her to walk into said tree. Said stupid, stupid, stupid tree.

Though right now, it was a good tree.

"Are you alright?"

She blinked, bringing her vision into focus. At first, she had thought that it was Sasuke – they really looked quite similar, though this boy had a milder note to his expression and mannerism—from what she had managed to see of it so far, anyway. Save for the fact that this boy was taller and had a fringe, the physical differences between the two were more subtle, but still there. His skin was fair, though not as, and his dark hair was a shade lighter than Sasuke's inky black. And his eyes, those wide innocent eyes were framed by long eyelashes that would be the envy of just about any girl. Ino blinked once more, feeling her skin prickle slightly with heat.

He was cute.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ino managed to grin after he helped her up.

He only smiled kindly at her before handing over one of the books that had fallen from her bag.

The quiet type, huh?

"That's good," he said politely.

Not that Ino particularly minded.

"Take care of yourself, alright? You might actually hurt yourself next time."

Kind, polite, caring, good-looking… A dreamy sigh. Though Ino had tried to get more information out of him about himself, he only gave her short, simple answers, ones that made the girl want to pout. He didn't even tell her his name! How stingy! Did she look like a stranger that was trying to tempt him away with candy? She was just a little girl with excellent taste in clothes, thank you very much, there was no need to be so secretive around her. Just what was his problem?

Needless to say, this behaviour only served to pique young Ino's interest even further.

It took Ino quite a while to tear her gaze away from her new find, even when she was being driven off home in her father's car. It was only when the mysterious new boy was truly out of sight that she reluctantly pulled herself from the car window and finally settled down in her seat.

...

The silence in the car was promptly broken by Ino's chatter about her new "friend".

It looked like Ino Yamanaka may have just found herself a new future husband.


Dior: "One Hundred Petals" will be a series of short stories and drabbles with different themes. Part of the 100 Themes Challenge that I'm doing with a friend, theglassalchemist, who'll be posting her own fics for the challenge on her account (I'll only be doing ItaIno, she'll be doing ItaIno, ItaDei and ItaSasu~). This will be updated randomly. As always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks!