This story was inspired by "Perfect" by P!nk. I was listening to this and I thought that Ino would be a good example of this. So, I wrote this in about thirty or so minutes. R&R please. The second chapter of Bruised And Scarred is up now! READ THE STORY INSPIRED BY A SONG!
Rating: K
Warning: Implied anorexia and self hatred
Summary: Ino wants to be perfect. She starves herself so she could be skinny and no one notices except Sakura. Can Sakura make Ino realize that's she's killing herself?
I stared into the mirror which showed me a girl. A blonde, blue eyed kunoichi that could handle anything. She handled the chunnin exams. She handled killing all those people who had families and friends. Who were somebody in their village. Hell, she even handled the killing of her sensei before her own eyes. She was strong and brave, but I could see what's on the inside.
I was a monster. A creature from Hell. I wasn't beautiful I was ugly. My soul was ugly and my body was ugly. I was fat, had to big of a nose, and had lanky legs. I killed to protect my people, but I risked the person I killed's family. I teased and ridiculded others. Most people thought I was shallow, but beautiful. Snooty, but perfect. I wasn't perfect and I only hid what I felt inside. I hid that I was alone n this world because no one would understand how I fell. My father only put me in charge of the flower shop because he wanted to drink himself to death. I wasn't responsible, but everyone thought I was. I was ugly. A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts. My mom opened the door and poked her head in.
"Sweetie. Dinner's ready." she told me. I smiled my perfectly fake smile.
"Okay. I'll be down in a second." I said. She left and I looked back in the mirror. I let my hair down out of it's ponytail and smoothed out my clothes. I walked down to the kitchen where the smell of barbecue pork and noodles was prominent. On my plate was more vegetables than pork. I sat down and so did my father. I noticed that there was an extra plate set on the table.
"Mom?" I called her attention.
"Yes?" she asked. I glanced at the plate again.
"Why is there an extra plate set?" I asked. Mom smiled faintly.
"Your friend Sakura is coming over for dinner. She has to bring over some medicine." she explained. I nodded. Sakura has been coming over a lot lately. Father came and sat down right when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." mom said and went to get the door. Father and I were quiet while mom went to get Sakura. I could kind of hear their conversation which consisted of greetings and mom getting the medicine out of Sakura's hands. They walked in.
"Hey Ino. Mr. Yamanaka." Sakura bowed slightly to my father and he grunted a "Hello".
"Hi." I said. Sakura sat down and we ate in silence. I barely ate anything since I was on a diet. I picked at my pork and ate only a few pieces of broccoli. Soon dinner was over and I excused myself to the bathroom.
I closed the door behind me and sunk to my knees hugging my sides. I breathed in deeply and sighed. Even though my stomach was growling, I knew I couldn't eat. I went to the toliet and threw up the few things I had eaten today. I flushed and went to brush my teeth. When I was in the middle of it, I heard a knock at the door.
"Come in." I said through a mouth full of toothpaste. Sakura came in looking worried. She closed the door behind her.
"Are you alright, Ino?" she asked me. I rinsed my mouth out and put on my best fake smile.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked. Sakura just stared at me. I could feel my smile wavering.
"You don't have to keep wearing those smiles, Ino. It's just us." Sakura said. I tried my best to look confused.
"What do you mean?" I asked. Sakura sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. I could tell she was agitated.
"Don't try and act like you don't know what I mean. You're always wearing those stupid fake smiles except no one notices like everyone notices Sai's. Now drop the act and tell me what's wrong because I know I heard you throwing up in here." Sakura stomped her foot. I finally broke down and I crumbled to the floor, crying. Sakura clearly didn't expect my reaction because she rushed over to me apologizing.
"I'm sorry. Don't cry. I should have known you wouldn't want to talk about it. Don't cry, Ino." she said. I laughed a little, but it came out more of a sob.
"Don't apologize, Sakura. You had a right to ask." I said through tears. Sakura sat down and let me cry on her shoulder. She held me until I stopped bawling.
"Tell Dr. Hurano what's wrong." Sakura said. I sighed.
"I don't know. I just feel...imperfect." I said. Sakura looked at me.
"No one's perfect, Ino. I know you try to be, but you don't have to. No one expects that much of you." Sakura said. I shook my head.
"That's not true. My father always told me when I was little that I was too fat or too tall. That I had too blue of eyes or too white of hair. He expects me to be the perfect daughter." I said. Sakura's gaze turned to pity and I hated that look.
"But your dad's wrong. You're perfect just the way you are. You're not too fat or tall. You're eyes are beautiful and your hair is so shiny that you're every girl's envy. Wait, is that why you keep starving yourself? It's not for the boys?" she asked. I cringed.
"Yeah." I mumbled. Sakura stood up, suddenly in a rage.
"Honest to Kami, Ino! That's not good for you! You should know that. Stand up." Sakura commanded. I gave her a confused look, but did as I was told. Sakura grabbed my hand and led me to my bedroom and in front of my mirror.
"Tell me what you see." she ordered. I looked in the mirror and saw the fat and ugly Ino again. I told her that.
"What part of you is ugly, Ino? Help me understand what you think is ugly." Sakura said crossing her arms over he chest.
"My nose looks like a pig's nose. My hips are too wide and my arms are to fat. My stomach is bulging." I told her. Sakura rolled her eyes and put her hands on my shoulders.
"Look harder, Ino. Concentrate. See what's really there." Sakura whispered. I stared at my reflection long and hard and what I saw was shocking. I was super skinny. My arms looked like noodles and my legs were chicken legs. My eyes had dark circles under them and I could see a faint outline of my ribs.
"Oh my Kami." I whispered. Sakura spun me around.
"Exactly. Ino you're slowly killing yourself. You don't have to starve yourself. You don't have to show your dad that you could be what he thinks a perfect daughter is. You're perfect just the way you are to me." Sakura said hugging me. I hugged her back and started crying on her shoulder.
"Help me, Sakura." I cried into her neck. Sakura let go of me to look at me.
"I've always been here and I always will. You don't have to be perfect, Ino." Sakura said. She kissed me on the forehead in a motherly way. I hugged her tightly.
"Thank you." I whispered.