She was that girl.

The one that bravely stared down a line of shuriken that was thrown at her. The one who fearlessly threw her body in front of an opponent, demanding to be acknowledged, to not be ignored.

She was that girl.

The one who was the object of other's sneers. The girl who walked down the street, hearing the ill concealed whispers that shredded her apart with the sharpest points. Wearing her head high as the old bags sadly shake their heads, commenting that since someone who was that pretty could only be one of 'those' girls that her father should get her hitched before she could disgrace her family's name.

Ino had heard it all.

She knew that most of their comments were from terrible jealously or envy, that they really were just reflecting on their own flaws. That they were unhappy with themselves and sought to feel better by tearing her down at the seams with their cruel words and subtle connotations. She should just ignore them and move on, taking little heed in what the snakes whispered.

Still, it hurt.

Walking through the village flanked by Chouji and Shikamaru, Ino felt the accusing eyes burning on her as they headed towards the squat building in the middle of the small city. They had barely made the trip in three days and each member was beginning to feel the wear of the travel.

Ino especially fought hard to keep her chin up and her eyes blank as a group of young ladies raked her outfit before shaking their heads and whispering rudely behind their hands.

Tch, ladies? Right.

Slowing down a bit, she felt the comforting presence of Shikamaru on her right, his elbow brushing her arm as he looked around with bored curiosity. As if this was not worth his time and his had better things to do, like sleep under the clouds. While Chouji was wearing his good natured smile, nodding pleasantly at passersbys, purposively ignoring the stares and comments. Ino was amazed at how well he took insults, only ever getting upset when she or Shikamaru were slighted.

She felt an odd sense of completion with them so close. As if she could withstand anything as long as they were with her.

"Look at her outfit; do you think she's a prostitute?"



Ino felt her gut tighten in cold fury at the voice. Barely glancing she saw the culprit to be an extremely pretty girl that had to be around their age. Her fist yearned to blacken the girl's malicious eyes but instead she plastered a smirk on her face and quirking a brow in a condescending manner.

Shikamaru watched as Ino took the comments with a straight shoulders and sassy expression, as if daring the world to deny her and sighed. No wonder she has such a double personality, what with all the shit she was subjected too.

"See that girl, yeah the blonde? See how fat she is? "

Shikamaru raised a brow as the voices around them rose and fell. They were visiting the Grass Country on a mission, low rank and not difficult. Ino's extremely slender form was in front of him, as usual, her shoulders stiff and head high as they slowly progressed through the street.

Asuma was frowning at the women who were verbally attacking his student, obviously torn between confronting the girls or leaving it alone.

Ino decided for him with a slight shake of her head. He could tell that she was apparently used to this type of attention. That didn't stop it from bothering the guys.

"Are they suppose to be the ninja? Konoha isn't sending very good help. See the huge one and the skinny one; they don't look like they could win anything."

He frowned at the comment, unable to pick out the person who said it, not that he really cared what he said about him but Chouji was a good ninja. Ino obviously did though and in the next second she had the teen girl slammed against a vendor wall, feet frantically trying to touch the ground as the slender hand gripped her by the neck.

"I do not care if you insult my looks or possible career, but do not think you'll get away with talking badly about my team."

He watched in frightened awe at her cold voice, all sugar coating gone as the girl's eyes widened with added pressure. Ino leaned forward and whispered something in her ear before dropping her to the ground, leaving the girl trembling with terror. Instinctively he followed her as she turned away with her smile back in place.

When what he mentally called 'real Ino' emerged, she was a force to be reckoned with.

But maybe that's why he was so drawn to her.



Today though, 'real Ino' didn't come out and he felt a twinge of disappointment before he brushed it away. Now was not the time for this, he had to get prepared for meeting with the village's council. Later he could put his plan into action.

"This it?"

Looking up at Ino soft question, he saw that they had finally reached the medium sized building.

"Yeah, let's go and get all this over with."

The mission shouldn't be too hard right? Go find the brat, bring him back, watching him till the ceremony, then leave and pursue better things. The sound of Chouji carefully folding up his half eaten bag of chips was faint to Shikamaru's ear as Ino swung the door open, leading them in. He wished Asuma had been back so he could have come and been leader, that way he could have slouched in a corner and been unnoticed the whole time. Politics was not his favorite thing to be involved in.

"Can we help you?"

Two official looking guards were standing in front of them, looking polite and helpful but with wicked looking weapons hanging casually at their belts.

Ino smiled at the men in what she hoped was a pleasant matter, earning a shy smile from one and a grin resembling a leer from the other. It was so predictable that she almost rolled her eyes but stopped in time and gestured towards the door that they were guarding.

"We are hired ninja from the village Konoha."

They watched as the two men shared a glance before returning their appreciative eyes on the blonde, not bothering to keep their admiration a secret.

"Only the head may go in."

Ino paused, not expecting that kind of answer, but was saved when a husky voice to her right spoke up.

"We're a three cell team, we are the head."

His tone wasn't unpleasant but nor was it nice, laced with lack of interest but firm in its answer. Ino couldn't only wonder at how he managed to pull that kind of thing off. To her left, Chouji muttered in ear.

"Either it's a natural gift or an acquired skill, hard to say eh?"

Turning her head slightly to peek a glance at her friend, she winked quickly before focusing on the men in front of them. They were obviously torn between arguing and giving in.



"We don't go in unless we all go, go tell your masters that."

Her voice could have been deemed as sympathetic, but in reality Ino was growin impatient. She wanted to sit down and rest, maybe even eat a meal before trooping off to catch a kid and standing here all day did not appeal.

Shikamaru lips twitched with the grin that he was keeping in check as the one guard slipped through the door.

"So you're a shinobi then?"

His good mood froze as the remaining guard smiled at Ino in a way Shikamaru could only gather was supposed to be flirtatious.

Troubling jerk.

A/N: I just noticed that almost all the chapters start off with "she was that girl" or "he was that guy" or a flashback…..hm, odd. I hope Shikamaru wasn't out of character..

To my faithful reviewers (you know who you are) I'm so happy that you've stuck with this story! Thank you! D