Kankuro barely had time to dive to the side of the hall as whirlwind of blonde hair, tanned skin and palatable anger stormed past. The look in her eyes made the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention, a primal warning of danger. That and the string off death threats she was muttering continually under her breath.
A peculiar sight it was, Ino seeming to moving at an incredible speed while her movements in all actuality were much slower, more deliberate. Baffled and bemused, Kankuro opened the door to his brother's classroom in search of answers. Afterall, there was no one quite as adapt at damaging and/or pissing off a girl as his baby bro; not even himself.
"Yo Gaara! Sup with you girlfriend?" Kankuro called out in front of the entire class (minus one seething blonde), tactful as always.
Now, the shocker for Kankuro was the fact that his younger brother seemed even more bewildered than himself, and he had actually been in the room!
"She blinked," was all Gaara could manage, staring at the door Kankuro had just entered by. Or that Ino had disappeared through, depending on your point of view and general charitableness of the good of humanity.
It actually struck a nerve in Kankuro to see Gaara like this; his eyes, usually so old and wise, hadn't looked this young and at a loss for the answers to life's questions in all the time they had been brothers.
XXXXXXX
After Ino had bolted from class, all she made was a quick stop at her room to throw on some stretchy shorts and a sports bra and then she was on the run. Literally. Hoping the cool air would help calm her brain and her temper, Ino continued to run at a back-breaking pace. Even after her lungs were on fire her legs were all pins and needles from the effort.
The flashback to her former life would have chilled Ino had she let herself think about. Instead, she ran, just like she used to, just like nothing had ever changed. Only it had.
Everything had.
Her failures were no longer perfectly etched on the faces of those around her, demanding she perform better. It wasn't Anko pushing her, not her mother, not her father; no one. Her life was once perfectly planned out for her, down to the very last minute detail. But not anymore, there was no set path, no track lined up for her, no paint by numbers patter.
Now she was travelling full-steam ahead, barreling out of control, driving in the fast lane with her lights off. No one to slow her down, but no one to control her either.
No one to judge her.
But still, old habits die hard as they say, and Ino still felt that restless tension build up in her legs, same as it had always been like when she felt like she was about to lose her grip with reality. So there she was, in minimalistic clothing, freezing her ass off all over campus after having her demons thrown back in her face.
Gotta keep moving forward. Failure is met with laps; failure is met with laps, failure-
Ino became so wrapped up in her bubble of fury's mantra she became deaf to the world, not even hearing her name being called out with a truly astonishing level of volume.
Quickly losing patience, Temari filled her lungs with air for one last shot at a shout. "INO, FOR THE LOVE OF PANTS, FREEZE!"
And freeze she did, mid-bound in fact, causing Temari to wince. That had to be hard on your legs.
"-shall be met with laps!" popped out of Ino's mouth before she could fully come to terms with her location. Looking around, Ino realized she was on the outer edges of the campus, twenty steps away from the female sibling of Satan's offspring. Ino waved off the puzzled look on Temari's face, not wanting to get into explanations.
"So what happened with him?" Temari asked, not unkindly, deciding to get right to the point. Ino had always struck her as a 'grab the bull by the horns' kind of girl. Which begged the question, what was she running away from? Literally. The opposite sex always seemed to be at the heart of every reckless action, so that's where Temari began.
"I assume by him you mean that spineless, gutless ass whom I would only restrain myself from spitting on if he were on fire." The venomous quality to Ino's normally musical voice threw Temari; there was quite obviously a lot more to the story than Ino would be willing to share.
"Yep, that'd be the one." May as well give it a shot though.
"Then I have no comment," Ino said disdainfully and turned to leave.
"I thought you said you weren't going to give up on him!" Temari's desperate accusation halted Ino in her tracks for the second time.
"I didn't give up on him; he gave up on me," Ino said emotionlessly, with her back still turned and her hand clenched in a fist.
Temari watched Ino's fast-disappearing form with a heavy heart.
Oh Gaara- what did you do?
XXXXXXX
"Okay, sure- maybe she's a little looney tunes but is that really a deal-breaker?" Kankuro persisted, hot on Gaara's trail as he stormed into their kitchen. "I mean, we all have baggage. Take yours for example- it would cost a fortune at airport security."
"She's a brat, what else is there to say? Not only is she weak of body, but also mind. I highly doubt she has been able to complete my simple assignment from day one, and unlike you, I prefer to converse with someone possessing and actual brain in their head," Gaara retorted, slamming cupboards open and shut in search of food.
"Okay, first of all- have you actually gotten to know her? You label her a brat, yet you haven't even made the effort to see what she's like as a person. Other than, you know, friggin' hilarious.
"Secondly- that body is pretty damn fine. No- more than pretty damn fine, perfection at its ultimate and anything with a stick would agree with me. And don't say you disagree, 'cause you don't count seeing as I'm not entirely certain your human."
Gaara rested his forhead against the cool steel of the fridge door and squeezed his eyes shut, holding onto his patience with both hands. Kankuro was shaking with silent laughter, quickly catching on his brother's discomfort.
"Okay, but her indecency makes me uncomfortable. The amount of skin she bares on a daily basis- it makes her seem cheap," Gaara trailed off, not quite able to put his finger on what he felt was so off about the blonde.
"You know Gaara, most guys would be thrilled about that, lining up for blocks just to take a good look at that rack," Kankuro ventured, deciding to drive Gaara's blood pressure up a few more notches. He would never admit it, but he had always wanted to see his baby brother lose control of himself because of something other than anger- hormones, for instance, would be an entertaining start.
Now Gaara began to thunk his head repeatedly against the fridge, much to Kankuro's amusement. It was like having a fun new toy!
"Come on Gaara, your girlfriend's a babe, admit it!"
"What about Gaara's girlfriend?" Temari asked, breezing into the kitchen and dumping her large emerald green (and highly impractical for a teacher, in Gaara's opinion) leather bag onto the island.
"How she's got beauty, brains and a body," Kankuro explained, ignoring the eye-buldged look of disbelief that currently adorned Gaara's face.
"I keep telling you she doesn't have brain!" he said, as close to exasperated as his siblings had ever heard him.
"So then you admit she has a body?" Kankuro probed, thoroughly enjoying backing Gaara into a verbal corner for once. It was a pleasant change of pace. God bless Ino Yamanaka's ass!
"And beauty," Temari prompted.
Ignorance seemed to be the best approach so Gaara decided to ignore his siblings by changing the topic to something more suited to his current interests.
Food.
"Temari, supper?" he asked, having finally got fed up with his search.
"Gaara, marking," she refuted, brandishing a thick sheaf of papers in his face. Kankuro and Gaara winced simultaneously, noting several seemed to be recorded with a colorful wax medium. Why some students still considered crayon an acceptable writing utensil was beyond comprehension.
Gaara turned to Kankuro, who was already shaking his head. "No go, baby bro; it's your turn to do the food shopping."
Sighing in resignation, he grabbed his leather jacket off the back of a chair and walked out of the kitchen, snagging his keys off a hook on the way.
XXXXXXX
"No, no, no, no!" Gaara pleaded in vain as he felt his engine begin to sputter. Coasting several more feet, the shockingly orange truck came to a dead stop on the side of the road. In the absolute middle of nowhere.
Damn you, Trix cereal, only being available miles off campus.
Gaara slammed his door shut, completely infuriated, and wrenched the hood up. Not that there was any reason to, seeing as he didn't know the first thing about cars. Nevertheless, he gave it a look-see.
Okay, engine seems to be here. I think. So maybe it's… Nope, I have no idea what else it could be.
Gaara raked his fingers through the all-ready chaotic disarray that was his hair and swore to the high heavens upon discovering the charge on his phone. Or rather- the lack there of.
"Problems?" a sarcastic voice drawled from behind him.
Whirling around, Gaara came face to face with one Ino Yamanaka; possibly one of the last people he wanted to see.
Without even bothering with trivial things like words, Ino breezed past the scowling figure of Gaara and peered into the machinery under the hood.
"Yeah, I see what your problem is," Ino said after several minutes of silent surveying.
"So you can fix it?" Gaara asked, forgetting to conceal the hope in his voice.
Ino simply snorted.
I'll take that as a yes…
As Ino worked, Gaara took in her outfit, despite his violent teeth chattering, and almost couldn't believe what he saw- bootie shorts and a white sports bra. And in this weather! She had to be crazy. Didn't she ever cover up?
"Do you want to know why I dress the way I do, Gaara?" she asked mildly, seemingly reading his thoughts yet again. "My parents always had high expectations. And as their only child, I was raised as their little princess. Or doll rather, because even princesses are allowed to make their own decisions.
"Either way, failure was not an option growing up in my household. And so one day, when I came home and told them I was pregnant, they kicked me. No questions asked. I didn't even get to tell them what happened."
Gaara attempted to hold back a snort of laughter- he could see where this was going.
Or at least he thought he did.
Ino paused her tinkering until Gaara straightened his face.
"I was raped. It happened one night, when I was walking home. He just pulled me into an alley and then it was over. I tried to fight back but I just couldn't get away." Ino's voice became very quiet, forcing Gaara to strain his ears if he wanted to catch what she was saying. "I was raped and I didn't even get a chance to tell them."
"I figured since my parents thought 'Hey, our daughter's a slut!' I may as well act like one. Childish and petty, I know, but I was angry. And hurt. So I wore short skirts and tight shirts and too much eye makeup and I was exactly the person they thought I was."
Gaara felt his jaw hanging half-way to his feet but he couldn't seem to pick it up. This fragment of information was so far from what he expected he could barely process it. Ino continued to bang about under the hood, the sharp metallic clangs punctuating the cold (physically and emotionally) night.
"So, Professor," Ino drew the word out mockingly, "I guess you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I am nothing like you think I am. And don't you ever forget that."
Oh, that definitely wouldn't be something he'd be doing anytime soon. Gaara prided himself on never making the same mistake twice and the cold malice in her voice more than cautionary enough.
It took Gaara several tries to clear his throat enough to ask his next question. "So how did you end up here?" he blurted out, immediately wincing. That could have been more tactfully. Perhaps he should stop spending quality time with Kankuro…
"Now that's a slightly longer story. As I said, my parents kicked me out so I spend some time on the streets, turning some tricks, doing some acrobatics, blah, blah, blah, to earn some money, pay for the doctor's visits. And food, if I could manage."
"And by doctor, do you mean an abortion?"
Ino laughed but the sound was hollow.
"Funnily enough I didn't even get to make that decision. Had a miscarriage." Ino's movements became more jerky, but she seemed no less unsure in her movements, which highly impressed Gaara. Obviously, she knew more than a thing or two about cars.
"There were some…complications… that followed," she went on flatly, breaking Gaara out of his reverie. He studied her closely; her voice may have been emotionless but Gaara could see the anger in her eyes.
"And that was the end of my gymnastic career. And, by extension, my scholarship. So, I shopped around, talked to a few people, and-"Ino paused to slam the hood down, "here I am."
Gaara continued to stare at Ino even as she wiped her hands off, seeing the girl he thought he knew rapidly disintegrating, leaving behind a totally stranger.
"I hope you learned something this lovely night, Professor," she said, mocking him again, as she backed away and disappeared into the bitter darkness, leaving Gaara there to stand staring after him.
XXXXXXX
Gaara slammed the front shut behind himself and collapsed onto the living room couch, wide eyed and still completely stunned from his conversation with Ino. Temari and Kankuro looked up, alarmed at this out of character display.
"Did you know Ino was a gymnast?" Gaara dove right in, not even bothering to wait for the accustomed interrogation for the history of their household.
"Yeah, a competitive one. Elite level, if I remember correctly; haven't you heard any of the other staff buzzing about it?" Kankuro began carefully, wary of what might set his brother off.
Gaara shook his head mutely.
"Which explains what she meant about failure is punished with laps!" Temari said, slapping her forehead in sudden realization. "Intense training and intense coaches- that probably resulted in a lot of conditioning running-"
"-thus creating the habit of running when things don't go right!" Kankuro finished. "Speaking of running- what took you so long, I thought you were just running out to the store?"
"My car died 'bout six miles out," he explained. Kankuro and Temari nodded, used to their brothers abrupt way of speaking. Greatly surprising them, Gaara continued without coaxing. "Luckily Ino passed by jogging; she fixed it for me. Which was kind of weird-"
"WHAT? YOU MEAN SHE WAS STILL RUNNING?" Temari shrieked as she leapt to her feet, hauling Gaara from his own seat in the process.
Shoving him to the door, Temari began to list her orders for the next hour. "It is freezing out there for goodness sakes, and I saw what she is wearing. Do you want to know what?" Temari didn't even wait for a reply. "Not nearly enough, that's what.
"Young man, you are going to march right back out there and escort that girl home into a warm building. No manners, I swear…" Temari commanded, just like a mother instructing a child to do their homework.
Not so surprising, considering she practically raised him.
"But- uh- I mean- NO FAIR!" Gaara whined, not acting like an old man of the age of thirty for once in his life. Once again, Gaara grabbed his jacket and the door he was, rubbing his hands together briskly to ward of the icy temperature.
XXXXXXX
Barely made it, but that's a week. Quite surprising, considering what school has done to me lately. Anyway, this was the first insight into Ino's past, extreme I know, but I wanted to see if I could pull off a totally crazy scenario with my writing so please, please let me know what you think.
Also, since I know where my plot is going, I kinda want to hear what you all think is going to happen. Next chapter MAY take some more time, as I am back into their classroom antics and maybe so more humor. Tell me what you think, please and thank you =)