A/N: Okay, so basically I totally forgot about this story until I got a review and got my butt kicked back into shape! IM COMING BACK :D
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Ino stood up from her spot in the grass and wiped the dripping sorrows from her face. With a determined look, she remembered the jerk who just told her off a few minutes ago. 'Damn brat.' She thought angrily. She hadn't even seen his face properly! What kind of a ninja was THAT?
Letting out a deep breath, she started doing some warm-up stretches. She decided to go for a few jumping jacks (10) and some pushups (20). Not a lot, but realize, she's not using her chakra at the moment.
Ino opened her eyes slowly and took in the sunlight that seeped through the treetops. Nodding in determination to catch up, she started throwing the knives.
An hour passes. Ino is completely wiped out.
"Only a freaking hour." She pants and wipes her forehead free of pouring sweat, "I really have been slacking off these days." She fell to the grass, exhausted.
"But this is okay. I can take things my own pace." The hard look was still in her eyes, "How about, and hour today, and every day from now on, I add 10 minutes?"
Even though she felt awkward talking to herself, she agreed with her plan. Progressing slowly but surely is best, after all. "I suddenly feel like I can do this!"
Her endorphines were coming into play. She grinned cheekily and sprinted back to the village, still drenched in sweat, her black sports jacket hanging off her hips, oversized t-shirt stuck in some places to her sweaty body, and shorts blowing breezily in the wind.
"INO-CHAN!" A few little boys called out, grinning like mad. "INO-HIME!" They found their flower princess. They ran towards her before she could lay a finger on the doorknob to her flower shoppe.
"DANG IT YOU GUYS! I WAS SO CLOSE!" She snarled playfully and proceeded to wrestle with them outside of the store.
"GYAAAH!" Some more boys came running down the street and tackled her from the side.
These little boys were orphans down the street, across from her flower store. They used to cause ruckus wherever they went and were hated by the villagers, but Ino soon changed that. It all started when they made the dreadful mistake of attempting to destroy her flower shoppe.
FLASHBACK
"Look guys!" A little boy with rusty red hair and freckles pointed his skinny little finger at Ino's flower shop, "That girlie thinks life is about pretty, sparkly things and flowers!"
They all took a turn guffawing and making rude comments about her store. Then, the red head spoke up again, "Who wants to go show her that life isn't fair?"
A loud raise of cheers broke out from the crowd of little youngsters.
"Let's go"
"Crush it"
"RAAID RAAAAAID!!"
They ran into her shop like a storm and ALMOST destroyed her beautiful flowers. However.
"What do you. brats. think. you. are. doing." A dark ominous aura from the back counter loomed over them all and froze them in their places.
The boys stuttered and turned to look at the dark cloud approaching.
It was Ino, and boy was she mad. She looked like a constipated cow that realized it was eating beef. The glass vase in her hand shattered in her tight grasp.
The boys were scared. Some peed in their pants. But then Ino's cloud dissipated and she immediately beamed at them, innocently,
"Would you like to purchase some flowers :3 ?"
Yes, the boys were terrified. They ran from her shop screaming.
A few days later, they tried again. But this time, they looked through the window to see if she was there first.
She was there alright. But she wasn't what she looked like before, the first time they met her. She looked like a princess! There were water sparkles in her hair and she was holding a cute green teapot to water her flowers. The dewdrops on the flowers around her only enhanced her beauty.
Her long strands of hair were captured in a sloppily done bun, but amazingly looked meant to be and her blue eyes looked like sapphires shining in the sun. Her light blue sundress and lack of shoes finished off their "Fairy princess" look of her and they all turned back to the orphanage, swearing never to speak of the scene again.
However, the next day they went to go see her, she was normal again, and they decided to raid her store again. But, their plans were thwarted when they saw her glaring at them. She whacked them all in the head hard with a metal vase. Ouch.
"Do you think life is like sparkles and roses!?" Ino growled at them. Their jaws dropped. They were going to say that to her!
"Hypocrite!" Some of the boys shouted and another said vengefully, "Says you. In your little heaven of flowers..."
He got another smack of the metal vase.
Ino sighed like a mother and reprimanded them, "Aren't you guys the ones with the sugar coated reality? Do you think that your lives will become better if you ruin my store?"
The boys looked at each other and some looked sorry.
"I've been watching you guys ruin the village every which way you felt like it. But if you think you're going to ruin MY flower shoppe, think again. If you want to improve your lives, start now." Ino threw some watering cans and brooms at the boys. "You can work here until I've decided that your rehab process has been complete!"
The boys hesitantly caught the items and looked at Ino again.
"It's your life, choose how you wanna live it." Ino winked and went into the back to get more flowers.
Once the day was done, the boys were prepared to make a break for the door. But just in time, Ino came from the back with a bundle of flowers in her arms. Despite her old want to be like an "older woman", she still looked like a little girl. This obviously attracted the little boys. So when she gave each of them flowers, one by one, they all blushed and averted their eyes.
She mistook it for a gesture about her being ugly and she pouted. Rude, ungrateful brats.
"Okay, I guess you can go now. But promise you won't go back to the way you were?" She had such a cute look on her face that none of them had the courage to say no.
They never told Ino, but they gave her the utmost respect. They steadily changed their reputations from "Those damned orphans" to "Those cute boys that help me carry my groceries home!".
They were all proud. This was all for Ino.
--End FLASHBACK--
Ino was still 5'2", you see, and still really tiny. So when the boys jumped on her, she still fell down hard.
"Oww." She whined and rolled onto her back. She just came back from training darn it!
"Sorry Ino-chan!" A red-head with freckles grinned and offered his hand down to her. He pulled her up and into his chest.
Wrapping his arms around her, he attempted to whisper manly-like, "You and me, babe, let's go have lunch."
Unable to restrain her laughter, she let out a big, "PFFFFFFT!" and laughed into his chest. His head rested on hers and he sighed.
"Why don't you take me seriously?"
"How can I!? That was incredibly lame!" She was starting to calm down. "Jeebus, Kay! You got tall!" She stood back and looked at him.
"How tall are you now?" She asked.
"5' 7"" he said, offhandedly.
"DANG! I'M SO JEALOUS!" She threw a punch at him. Of course, it caught him on the stomach and he laughed at her attempt to harm him. She wasn't using chakra.
"SHORT STUFF!" He yelled and ran back to the orphanage.
"DAMN YOU! I'M OLDER THAN YOU BY 2 YEARS!" She shouted back as loudly as she could. But she was still unsatisfied, "RAwR!"
"Rawr?" A masculine voice resonated behind her.
Ino flipped around only to see someone she ranked #2 on her hate list. Sasuke Uchiha.
"YEAH RAWR! MAN, I'M SO PISSED RIGHT NOW!" Ino raged and shot a meaningful look towards the window of the orphanage that had a curious lump by the windowsill.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, thinking this was part of her fangirl act. Yeah right.
Ino said a quick ,"Gotta go then." and went into her flower shop.
Sasuke was now very confused. Wasn't the girl supposed to jump at him? Hug him? Attack? WTF? Oh well. Better for him. He stuffed his angsty hands in his pockets and proceeded to stroll down Konoha.
This was just the beginning of Ino's metamorphasis, though :
