Warnings:mild torture - not explicit, angst

LAUGH

BY LUNAR-KUNOICHI

I wasn't to be considered a bully – that role would go to 'old, tough Ami'. She and the gang used to haunt Konoha like ghosts, wheedling and taking unnecessarily. She picked on whomever she could. When I was loud and obnoxious, I was being myself, the outgoing, laughing blonde, Ino. I never really wanted to fight with anyone, but if I would, those three would go to the top of my list. No one could be worse than them, even my old, and now best, friend Sakura.

She owed everything to me back then, at least in the public eye. When people teased her for her wide forehead, it was me who would raise her self-esteem yet again. When she started crushing on others, it was also I who braided her hair, coloured her cheeks and made her look pretty like the flower she was named after. But in the end, she betrayed me. For what? Some guy who would betray her later in her life? Who almost killed her other team mate and betrayed Konoha to the Snake Sannin? Then again, I liked him too, though I kept my thoughts to myself on the subject. The day she handed back the hair-ribbon I gave her on our second meeting was one of the most heartbreaking in my life.

But not completely. I've handled it, and its in the past now, though it hurt more than I could bare back then. Here, while I sit, I think of what turned the laughing girl into a laughing, cold, assassin with a withered flower for a heart. For she betrayed me again, that friend. She's run, I could see it in her eyes while she packed, averted her eyes, and told me she would be going on a mission for 'an unknown' amount of time to 'an unknown' place. She was lying, to me, her best friend, whom she'd just repaired bonds with. Though I suppose she wasn't completely to blame. If I hadn't messed with her mind… I can see she wouldn't have trusted anyone, even after that. And Hinata' example showed too, as she and her father disappeared. They say she killed him, as there was no one else who could have done so like that. But Sakura could have studied me, or Tenten, and stayed.

It still hurt, even through those honeyed words I told myself.

I wasn't ready to leave just to follow my friend. But it is an impulse I resist. There is so much here for me, but somehow, I just can't grasp it. My team mates have drifted away, though we still keep contact. I suppose, for Shikamaru, its understandable. Somehow, the lazy and unmotivated stick I had for a team mate had made it into ANBU. It's understandable that he wouldn't want anyone to hurt us. But he still kept tabs on Temari, for political reasons, he excused, when I asked. He didn't fool anyone. It was obvious he likes the Kazekage's sister. I wouldn't really blame him, though. Temari's okay when you get to know her, though a little too violent and much too possessive. Meanwhile, the other, Chouji, didn't have an excuse, but I understood his reasoning. He just wanted to be a ninja, find a wife who could cook, and eat chips all day afterwards. And he mentioned his wife had to be quiet and shy. Unfortunately, Hinata was the only Konoha kunoichi who truly fit into the category. I think.

I lived well, working as a ninja, and afterwards, looking after the flower shop. But then, like all good things, the period of happiness ended. Today, in fact. They came. My team mates were missing. And Temari was blaming me for an incident I never even knew about. She was too furious to explain anything, so the accompanying ANBU, wearing the face of a fox, talked instead. She produced the note, curiously in my handwriting, which had led them away from the scent of my former team mates. She let me see the long wisps of blonde hair. She showed us the flower, and a note in Shikamaru's handwriting, saying:

"She is a liar, who led me off the scent. I will catch her, and avenge my team mate who was killed by my other.'

All I could do was stare. I was lucky the ANBU member was as kind as they got, when she warned me I would be interrogated. It wasn't like they could afford losing one of their own members, right, even if it hurt someone else. She gave me the chance to tell the truth. I did. No one believed. So I spent a night in the holding cell with its dark, damp corners and numerous torture weapons in view. It was to scare people enough for information, and after they had enough, for the more sadistic ANBU to torture the mission. I knew, and had shuddered, as well as everyone who was listening, when Shikamaru had explained it to me a few months ago.

And when I still refused to speak when the interrogators came, they had their fun. It was too traumatic, but due to training, somehow, each detail had been etched into my brain. There were many weapons and devices in the room. One that my torturer seemed to prize was the 'Catherine's Wheel'. But it was worse, far worse than the pathetic simulations they showed when we learnt it to pass the Chunnin exams. I was strapped, not to hard at first since I was legally a Konoha ninja, while they brought out sharp objects. One would cast an illusion, where they dug them hard into my body. I screamed until my throat was hoarse, and then more, until when dawn came, I was reduced to tears. But I stuck to my story. It continued, until the end of that day, with no breaks.

I guess I had less, and more, friends than I thought. When Temari came, and along with her the Frog Hermit, Jiraiya, neither showed much mercy. It seemed they valued Shikamaru more – and as Temari pointed out, to value an elite fighter and genius strategist, not to mention probable boyfriend more than a mere Chunnin was not uncommon. They let me go though, since I had before proved my loyalty. And despite warnings, in five minutes, I was ready and packed at the gate.

"Stop!" someone growled, but with an almost casual flick of my wrist, I cut his throat. They run, but none are a match for me, not when I hardly care how much I hurt myself. I only know, somehow, that I must find my team mates. Maybe this will be a beginning, or an end – I do not know.

I laugh as the last one collapses. They are pathetic, to be defeated by a Chunnin, just fifteen years of age. "I'll find those two," I breathe with another giggle.

0000000

A/N: this story should probably be chaptered, but because I wanted to create a one-shot for angst-Ino, I won't. You can imagine what happened and whom the hair belonged to. I won't do one for Tenten because she isn't one of the Rookie Nine kunoichi, even though she is, in every right, as close as the others are. I might continue, but I want to get this out. Anyway… hope you enjoyed the three-part series, and R&R