I really considered waiting to post this one until I had it all written out… But the motivation behind that would be so it wouldn't take away any time that would have been spent on my other unfinished stories… But unfortunately, I've had to realize that logic is flawed. This idea hit me out of nowhere, and I began writing as soon as it started to solidify. (So it's already been taking time away from my other stories.) A lot of ideas hit me like that, but I tend to try to file them away. As a result, so few story ideas actually get brought to life, and as much as I want that satisfaction of completing the ideas I've already put out there, that loss also saddens me in a way. So here we are.

This one was brought about by a few things. For a while now, I've been looking for an excuse to explore Ino's character in a different way than I (and I think a lot of people) typically headcanon her. And this was inspired, at least a little, by A Silent Voice. (Which is a beautiful movie in general,) but it was the depiction of bullying, in particular, that really stuck with me. The characters felt like relatable people, even when they were at their worst. And the main character going from being the bully to the victim—and how that changed his view of the world—was really striking to me. And it was something along those lines that I wanted to recreate and explore for myself. So, without further ado…

Part One: The Longest First Day

Chapter One: Starting Over

Her hands were sweating. Perhaps it was some sort of defense mechanism—her mind not allowing her to take in everything at once—but this was the detail she zoned in on. She gripped the strap of her bookbag a little tighter, only making that awareness even more keen.

Even just two years ago, the idea that Ino could be this unnerved just by joining a crowd of her peers would have been ludicrous. In the future she'd once envisioned for herself, this crowd would have parted of its own accord. Everyone else would have been hyperaware of her. Her friends would have already designated her locker as the early-morning meeting spot, their chatter and laughter there to greet her. She'd always have someone to sit with at lunch, to walk with between classes. Her place in the world would be loud and clear to all who so much as glanced her way.

But she hadn't grown up to be that girl. And this Ino was suddenly feeling very lost and more than a little overwhelmed. Self-consciously, her hand jumped from the strap of her backpack to the end of her ponytail, just inches away. Her hair still had not grown back to a length she was comfortable with. This was hardly a reassuring thought, and she yanked her hand away.

Ino kept moving. She'd come in to tour her new high school over the summer and was confident in where she was going, at least. And truthfully, the crowd really wasn't jostling her that badly. She seemed to be blending in better than she'd hoped.

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind than it happened. Her gaze swept over the row of lockers to her right—once she turned the corner, her own would be in view—accidentally sweeping through someone else's line of sight in the process. Their eyes caught, and her heart leapt into her throat.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment before both girls quickly rescinded this connection, snapping their gazes away. But not quickly enough. Ino had seen Yuna's jaw drop. And, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Koharu join the other girl at her locker. She couldn't help glancing back as she turned the corner… just in time to see them hunch forward with their heads bent, blocking out the rest of the world as they began whispering a mile a minute. And there was no questioning who her old friends were gossiping so furiously about.

The sinking feeling in her core was almost her undoing. It was all too familiar by now, and hadn't the purpose of this fresh start been to put all that ugliness behind her? It was only day one. Not too late to return home and admit defeat, tell her mother she'd been wrong, transfer to a school where no one knew her after all. Her pride would recover.

"Hey, Ino! Over here!"

Her eyes shot up from where they'd sought the floor. Immediately, a weight lifted from her. It was not quite the welcome she'd once imagined for herself, but it was warm and friendly and exactly what she needed just then.

Her eyes found Choji easily. He was also the type who could part a crowd, though this was due to the way he was nearly twice the width of most of their other classmates. His personality was actually quite unassuming. Really, the only fierce thing about him was his loyalty to his friends. But that was the quality that mattered, and it put a renewed skip in her step. It came out as more of a stumble, really, as she hurried his way.

Once she was almost upon him, she was able to see another boy slouched against the row of lockers beside him. He looked distinctly unimpressed by all the hubbub around them, and Ino felt another surge of affection at the sight of him. Here was the extent of her circle of friends these days, and this wasn't the depressing realization it had once been.

"How can you look this exhausted already?" she asked Shikamaru as he moved aside so she could get to her locker. "Class hasn't even started."

"If it were up to Shikamaru, he would've skipped today altogether!" Choji chimed in good-naturedly. He already had one hand lost in a pack of chips, she noted.

"It's only the first day!" Ino rifled through her bag for the slip of paper that had come in the mail with her class schedule, the one containing her locker combination. It was still at the top, and she set to work on the lock, trying to ignore the malicious little voice in the back of her mind. Hypocrite. Five minutes ago, you were ready to quit too.

She'd grown familiar with the boys' little habits and personality quirks over the summer. She didn't have to turn around to know Shikamaru was rolling his eyes at their chiding. "Exactly. Nothing important ever happens on the first day. Each class will probably just go over the syllabus, expectations for the year. Show up to class, do you homework… all the stuff anyone with half a brain could have figured out themselves. But good luck telling my mom that…"

Ino had to laugh a little at the thought. She doubted he'd even tried. Yoshino Nara was a force all her own. Her lock clicked into place with a heavy, metallic clunk, the door swinging open.

"Wow," Choji commented. "First try."

She glanced around and saw, all up and down the freshman hallway, her classmates struggling with their own lockers. Of course. The Konoha school system had a combined elementary and middle school. There weren't real locks on the lower school's 'lockers.' All textbooks were kept in the classrooms. She could remember the abundance of homework worksheets from her own younger years, the crazy lengths the school had gone to in order to avoid spending the money on new equipment. (An expense that surely must have been outdone by the cost of the worksheets year after year—something even the youngest students had come to mock.)

"Oh, yeah… My middle school lockers were just like these."

28-32-14. She remembered her first day there. She'd spent that entire homeroom period struggling to get her locker open. Only for her homeroom teacher to later call down to the office and find that they'd had the wrong combination on file. 28-32-16 had been the combination to really get her locker to open: First try then, too. Not that any of her giggling new classmates had been around to see that part of the story.

"Oh…" Choji said awkwardly. Shikamaru eyed her for a moment but didn't comment. And she couldn't really blame them for their awkwardness, she willingly broached the topic of her middle school days so rarely.

"Well," she said with a forced brightness. "Where are your lockers, then? Maybe I can give you some pointers."

As it turned out, the lockers had been assigned alphabetically, effectively separating the three of them. But they shared a homeroom, at least, and she couldn't have been more relieved. Boxed into this smaller room, Ino spotted more and more familiar faces, and they all seemed to be turned her way. It was comforting to have Choji and Shikamaru on either side of her.

Their homeroom teacher was laid-back to the extreme. The type of professor who would have insisted everyone just call him by his first name, if he taught college. This wasn't even much of a speculation, really. Mr. Sarutobi's new students watched, a little bewildered, as older students filtered in and out before the first bell, the casual "Hey, Asuma"s floating off their tongues as they did. His reprimands only got more half-hearted over time.

Asuma Sarutobi didn't teach any freshman classes. He had a few of the mandatory sophomore histories but mostly got to teach the junior and senior electives. Specialized courses in things like the reign of the samurai and entire semesters devoted to the impact of a single battle in a war. 'Fun' classes for the few who truly loved the subject.

Bewildered at first, the sight quickly set his new students at ease. Ino saw a few glancing at each other with something akin to giddiness. A silent sense of victory passed amongst them. They'd gotten the cool teacher.

Except… Ino found herself eyeing his casual posture almost distrustfully. Mr. Sarutobi was clearly the teacher students let their guard down around. He was the teacher who'd overlook foul language, to whom regulated seating charts were a foreign concept. Students felt pressured to do his class's homework because… Well, come on, it was Asuma—what kind of asshole gave him a hard time? Kids behaved during his lectures because he was the kind of teacher you wanted to do favors for, not because anyone held serious fears of repercussions.

But just how much did he overlook to earn that kind of standing?

Shikamaru glanced her way as she physically shook her head to dislodge that thought. Stop it. This is a fresh start, remember? Let's not create problems before the day's even begun.

Ugh. When had her inner voice started sounding so much like her mother?

The bell rang then, and the class settled down. She couldn't help noting that it sounded more like an alarm than any sort of bell, this sound that was about to start dictating her life. But it wasn't too sharp or grating a chime.

Asuma came around to seat himself atop his desk so he could better look out over them all—and so they could better see him. He grinned in that wry, almost patronizing, Oh, you poor, naïve freshmen sort of way. And most of them were playing into that already-familiar role, their returning smiles holding a touch of nervousness.

"Welcome to your first day at Konoha High. I'm Mr. Sarutobi. If that's not the name at the top of your schedule, you're in the wrong place." There was a moment of silence, where everyone looked around to see if anyone would get up and have to be awkwardly redirected to the right room. The first social blunder of the year. When no one did, Asuma picked up the clipboard beside him on the desk with that same grin. "I guess we'll see."

He proceeded to take attendance, and Ino had never been more relieved that her name would fall at the very end. She raised her hand when it was finally called… and had to resist the urge to immediately pull it back down again. Her scars nearly shone in the classroom's harsh lighting, and she hoped they weren't quite so visible to everyone else. But her name didn't cause the stir she'd been dreading. She let herself look around the room for the first time and felt another weight slowly lift from her shoulders. She didn't' see any faces belonging to the members of her former inner circle.

"Good," Asuma concluded when everyone was accounted for. "You've all overcome the first hurdle. Homeroom has been extended today, to let you all get settled in. So… how many of you managed to get your lockers open?"

This question was lighter, not quite so mocking. There were soft chuckles all around as very few hands made it into the air. Their trio sat back while most of their classmates got to their feet for another shot, Asuma following them out into the hallway with friendly advice.

"Well," Choji said once the quiet had settled over the few remaining in the classroom. "That wasn't so bad."

This was mostly directed at Shikamaru, who made a sound of confirmation as he stretched his arms over his head with another yawn. "Mmm. Too bad he won't be teaching any of our classes."

Ino had pulled out her schedule, looking it over for the umpteenth time. Asuma was right. She'd passed the first hurdle. But it was just the first. "Hey, what are you guys' first classes?"

"Biology," they chorused together, and her heart sank a little.

"Freshman Literature," she answered the unspoken question, trying not to sound too despondent.

"It'll be fine," Shikamaru said once that had settled in around them. "It's class. No matter who's in it with you, you'll be busy."

Ino nodded, twisting the little silver ring on her pinkie around and around. "I know. You're right."

And he was. It would be the study halls, the journeys between classes that held the real potential for stress. At least she knew she'd have her friends by her side for lunch. The school was small enough that there was just one lunch period, shared by all the grades together.

"One hour at a time," Choji coached, somehow managing not to sound like a cheesy cliché.

The end of their extended period came all too soon. Ino parted ways with the boys just outside the door. Nearly all of the science classrooms were on the other side of the building, but her first class was just down the hall.

Mr. Hatake's college prep freshman literature. Most of her classes fell in that 'college prep' sphere. It was considered the middle ground. The step between the 'general' and the 'honors' courses. She knew, if she pushed herself, she probably could have handled a few honors classes. But with everything going on that last year, her grades didn't really reflect that right now.

It was probably for the best anyway, she told herself. It wasn't like she didn't still have a lot on her plate. One hour at a time.

She found her first class without any trouble and slipped into a seat by the door. Again she was suddenly hyperaware of the slump of her shoulders, how habitual it had become to keep her eyes glued to the floor, and she made a conscious effort to relax. This was her fresh start, unbound by any status quo of the past. She got to choose who she wanted to be.

But all that resolve flew out the window a second later. There were two girls already seated on the opposite side of the room, chatting amiably. Ino found herself tuning in almost automatically.

"I was really surprised to see you here. I always pictured you in all honors classes."

The second girl laughed, a little awkward but clearly flattered. "Thanks. I almost am, but classes like this… where it's mostly interpretation instead of solid, straightforward answers… they've always been my weak spot."

All of her muscles tensed back up at the sound of that voice. No. It couldn't be. Of all her fears for today, this possibility had never crossed her mind. But when she dragged her eyes up, they immediately locked on to the shocking pink hair she remembered. She was fully expecting it when her insides froze too.

Review please!

I don't own Naruto.

I'm sure it's become clear already, but this is based around an American school system. It's just easiest for me, having one less thing to keep track of. But I figure I can get away with it, this being an AU and all.