AN: Please don't kill me for this! but now you find out why Tenten doesn't like Ino! That counts for something, right? And Shika finally appears!


Ino follow Sakura and Tenten to the main doors where they met Hinata. The girls went and sat down on the grassy banks next to the steps leading up to the building. Ino had just started to get comfortable when she heard someone shouting her name.

She looked up to see Temari sitting on the other side waving to her. She scrambled up and apologised to the other girls. Tenten said "Whatever." And the other two were silent. Ino shrugged and walked over to Temari. Temari was sitting with that girl Naruto fought, Kin, Ino thought her name was, and two boys. Ino sat down next to Temari. Temari introduced her to the other people. "Ino, this is Kin. Kin, Ino."

Kin took a quick glance at her, and then went back to filing her nails.

"Ino, this is my brother, Kankuro." Kankuro leered at her and smirked.

"And this is my boyfriend, Shikamaru."

The other boy was lying down, so Ino couldn't see his face. Temari sighed and kicked his leg. "Oi, Shikamaru, get up and say hello to Ino."

Shikamaru grumbled but sat up. He looked at Ino and she looked back at him. She got a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. It seemed that Temari saw it as she frowned then put on a fake smile and squealed, "Oh my God Ino! You and Kankuro would be so cute together!"

Ino was squicked out. "We would?"

Kankuro put his arm around her, "Of course we would, baby."

Ino was disgusted and shrugged his arm off.

"Please don't touch me."

Kankuro mimicked her in a voice that sounded nothing like hers.

"Ooh! Don't touch me!"

Everyone but Shikamaru laughed and Temari said, "Don't be so uptight, Ino."

Ino laughed sheepishly.


On the other side of the steps, the three girls sitting together were talking about Ino. Tenten being particularly harsh.

"I bet she's just like Temari. Except worse, 'cause she's a rich snob. She'll pretend to be your friend for a while, and then screw you over."

Sakura sighed, "She's probably nothing like that. You're just being prejudiced because she was talking to Temari."

"Whatever. We all better watch our backs just in case."

Hinata piped up, "She seems really nice, and I like her."

"Hinata, you see niceness in everyone. It's a good thing, but you can be a little naive."

"Mm…"


Kin and Temari started talking about a new store opening in the local mall, while Ino sat there and occasionally glanced at Shikamaru. God, he was hot. But she wouldn't do anything, he was Temari's boyfriend, and while she wouldn't have thought twice about it before, she was determined to play nice. But it didn't hurt to imagine, right?
Soon the bell rang and Ino ran to catch up with Hinata, Tenten and Sakura.

"Hi guys. So what's next?"

"You've got Physics next. We're all in that class."

"Anyone else I know?"

"Well, Kiba's in that class too. And you know Temari's boyfriend, Shikamaru? He's in that class too."

Tenten muttered, "A lot nicer than Temari."

Ino asked, "Why don't any of you like Temari?"

Sakura as about to answer when Tenten jumped in, "Simple, she's a bitch."

Ino frowned, "Well, she hasn't been anything but nice to me, and she's my friend so don't say anything about her when I'm about, alright?"

"Whatever" and Tenten stalked on ahead.

Ino stared after her and Sakura rushed to explain.

"You see, Tenten and Temari used to be best friends. They hung out all the time. Then Tenten got her first boyfriend, and then Temari stole him from her. She flaunted him for a few weeks, then dumped him, saying he wasn't worth her."

Ino drew in a sharp breath.

"So you can see why she doesn't like her, or anyone else who hangs out with her."

Ino nodded.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Sakura shrugged.

"You couldn't have."


AN: I'm SO SORRY that it's SO short! But I have a good reason! I was writing it and it was a lot longer, but when I was reading it over, it just didn't feel right, and so I'm leaving it for another chapter.

Chapter Five I haven't started writing yet, but it will be up as soon as possible.

Anyway, tomorrow, I have to do this Danceathon thing at my school, and we get to dress up, so I'm going as... Tsunade! Yay! Probably no one will know who I am ( . ), but I can deal with that.

Please review!