Ino prides herself on her kunoichi skills.
They're often looked down upon, kunoichi. The female ninja who are stand out, who are seen as strong, capable of hard work, are those who emulate the shinobi ways. Sakura and Tsunade's godlike strength; Tenten's weapons mastery- those are distinctively trying to play the game the way shinobi do.
Ino can't count the number of times she's been dismissed or passed over because, while she is more than capable in combat or assault, it's not the talents she has chosen to master. Jounin will roll their eyes to each other when she comes into the barracks to pick up a mission. It's a subtle feeling, that one of you don't belong. Even the Hokage falls into that mindset occasionally- his offhanded comments like when she delivers a report, dismissing her with a "thank you for your work Ino and enjoy the time off- go get a makeover or something", as though a makeover is the height of Ino's desires and dreams.
But Ino wears this all with a quiet self-confidence, because she is proud of her skills.
She is a Yamanaka, and has taken her clan's specialisation in mind arts and combined it with the exquisitely traditional female arts.
Make no mistake, they are skills.
Just like everyone else, she has had to learn her own body and her opponents' bodies. Rock Lee has spent hours learning balance and muscle control in order to increase reflex speed and strike impact in his taijutsu. Ino has spent hours learning balance and muscle control to entice arousal, to distract, to appear meek and harmless while carrying weapons.
She can raise a blush to her cheeks and banish it again within five seconds.
She can elevate her heart rate, make herself sweat, knows the exact breathing patterns to mimic breathlessness and can fake an orgasm better than anyone. She knows exactly how to appear in a daze of lust and not get lost in it.
She profiles her targets, predicts how an encounter will go. The flexibility and balance from taijutsu often serve her well for picking a pocket or disarming someone subtly mid-act.
She has lost shame in those overt skills. Men and women both often joke about how easy seduction missions are- "Oh Shikamaru, is Ino lazing around with you again? not like you need training to spread your legs right?" they giggle- but there are many more tricks of the trade to master.
Ino personally dislikes the maintenance of grooming herself. She'd love to just pick her look for the day and never have to worry about the upkeep of her appearance- but appearance is everything for her line of work. Her hands have to stay smooth and unscarred. Her eyes have to be bright and clear, her face unblemished, her hair soft and unruffled.
It's not just her own appearance that has an impact. She can subtly alter a target's mood by their environment. It's small things, like the service they get at a restaurant and the food they eat, the music they play. She has to be an aesthete herself and sensitive to the target's own preferences. Her conversation must be light, draw out information without being obvious; sometimes she wants to draw attention to herself and other times she just wants to be a vague pretty face in a bar.
She is both spy and femme fatale, and she wonders how it can be that the civilians Konoha shelters can fantasize about women like her in blockbuster movies, yet she never gets to be acknowledged by her comrades for her real life work.
All of this hasn't explained yet why the rest of the Konoha Twelve fall silent when she walks into the room.
As a Genin, Ino had to be the star-of-the-show. She needed the limelight because that was what being beautiful was, attention, and that was what good little girls were; beautiful. As an apprentice in T&I, Ino laughed and thought really shouldn't a Yamanaka psychologist for a father know better than to give his daughter such obviously sexist approval-mechanisms? As an interrogator, she began to learn that humans were often hypocrites, that the cobblers' children really do go barefoot, and that maybe even her father was sexist without realising. She resolved to do better, until she realised that doing better was choosing whether or not to have attention without linking it back to her self-worth.
So now, she wonders why she has the Konoha Twelve's attention without choosing to have it.
Naruto is the first to recover, raising a cup of sake to her. Neji is behind, still in his ANBU uniform- it's been hastily wiped of whatever grime from his mission, but she can still see the green grass stains on the chest armour. Tenten blushes red from where she's leant next to him, her western drink with its layers of coloured alcohol gleaming in the mood lighting. Lee and Sakura call out a greeting hastily, as if recalling their manners. Hinata and Shino and Kiba, ever the close knit team, have Akamaru laid out between them, Shino with a pipe lit in his hand.
She smiles and instantly brushes her chakra across all their minds. Just enough to pick up the surface layer of thoughts, any images or impressions that they're momentarily thinking of.
Hinata is thinking of Neji's shaking head, judgement clear in his eyes.
Sakura has Hinata's shocked face over a steaming cup of tea.
Naruto has smug and... worry? She knew he didn't have internal vizualisation too strongly, perk of the Kyuubi perhaps, but she gleans from him a sense of not-right twisting in the chest.
She saunters over to Lee and Sakura first, a quick nod at the bartender to say she'll come order in a moment. They hug. Sakura is not nearly as good as Ino is at her kunoichi skills; Ino can tell her welcome is fake somehow. She neglected her self control in favour of a destructive temper.
Ino asks about the hospital and Sakura begins to prattle, immediately relaxing into a comfortable topic. Lee sits at the bar stool next to her, like a loyal pet. Ino wonders if he knows that Sakura still isn't in love with him as strongly as she is Sasuke. Sakura is good at lying to herself, but Ino has studied how to recognise attraction in both men and women. No ninja has the luxury of choosing their targets or enemies, be that by age, gender or skill.
She adds in a couple of comments and then excuses herself with a delighted 'listen- I'm absolutely dying for a drink and they do the most amazing liqueurs here, I'll pop back in a sec', and an impish hair toss, before wandering over to the bar tender.
He checks her out, and she lets him, smiling shyly and asking what his favourite drink is.
Men so often like the illusion that you can't help yourself, that your body betrays your real interest. He may not have heard about her as kunoichi tend to be overlooked, but she doesn't think he'd have any useful information. He's still fairly new; the previous bartender, who must have been pushing 55, was one of her first targets when she was learning her skills.
While he takes her payment and she sips her drink she idly muses over the lessons that wrinkly ass taught her; if you're going to play a sweet innocent card, you can't let them take everything physical all at once. Repeat interactions with a target are slightly harder- you have to come across as the exact same person while also seeming to reveal more of that person's true self every time.
On her 'off-duty' time, Ino comes across as mindless and chattery, but she's actually pensive under there. Shika and Chouji know this part of the guise shouldn't be broken, so she isn't surprised when a hand gently rests on her shoulder. She twists her head and beams at her spiral-cheeked friend.
"How you doing, darling?" He asks, softly.
She bobs her head and shifts her body language to be animated, cheerful- conveying to the world that she is talking to a teammate.
"Did you see how cute Lee and Sakura are together?" she gushes, "I swear we're going to see little taijutsu monster babies soon," and he laughs and mock swipes at her hair and she huffs and calls him Undie-head, because let's face it that hitai-ate definitely looked like he was wearing pants on his forehead.
"I really did despair of you back then darling, honestly- talk about things that are not aesthetic!" and they giggle together.
She straightens up back into a posture that is still playful, and cocks her head. "Maa, Chou-kun, what did I miss? Everyone looked like they were talking about some drama before I came in!"
Chouji's face freezes, just for a second, and she pouts. He's so readable. Diplomats and politicians are more of a challenge.
"It's about me, isn't it?" she presses, and he just kind of sighs and looks at her awkwardly.
"Uh- you better, uh, talk to Hinata on this one," They both look over to where Team 8 are sat close-knit, and for some reason Chouji decides to add, "I'll winkle her out for you in a bit, don't worry."
Well, Ino can live with that. She turns on a little dazzle for him as a reward, bouncing up to kiss his rather high-up cheek.
Still curious. She prowls through Neji and Tenten in the meantime, swapping anecdotes as Temari makes an appearance, sipping on her drink and enjoying the warmth that fills her. Naruto buys her two shots, since "his constitution" means he can't enjoy it so easily so he might as well spend on people who can. She learns from him that Sasuke is distantly sighted, somewhere. Off on one of his trips doing god knows what. She rebuffs yet another overture from Sai to draw her; they do however have an interesting chat about ikebana. They agree to disagree over several points, and Ino asks him about incorporating some designs she's seen on expensive wall art her patrons/targets frequent into his attack ink drawings.
She's finishing the fourth drink of the night, Sakura just having gone for another round, deciding whether or not to push past comfortably tipsy, when Hinata pops up. She moves with such grace that it makes Ino smile- the Hyuuga heiress has at the very least one part of kunoichi skills down, and Ino approves of it. Too bad she never switches out of that meek mode.
Hinata is rosy, pearl-lavender eyes blinking, and her gaze keeps darting up at Ino before sinking back to the floor. She's at least removed the stutter when alcohol comes. They exchange greetings and Ino hugs her, the most distant of embraces to cope with such a curvaceous chest.
Ino figures the best strategy is to keep pretending like nothing is wrong, ply Hinata with just a little more alcohol and wait for the problem to come out. She steers the conversation through potential avenues, asking about clan business, healing, water manipulation, how pretty Sakura is, Neji and Tenten. It's only when she gets to a sly little joke about Naruto that she finally gets more of a reaction.
"...ano, Naruto-kun is such a gentleman, he's better than I would ever have hoped- you know, I always thought men were meant to be the problem types? But honestly he's been wonderful..."
That. There.
There's a dig there. Time to push.
"Oh I don't know, us girls like to have a little fun now and again, right?" Ino bumps Hinata's shoulder playfully, and keeps her breathing even.
"There's fun and then there's problems Ino. I never would have expected it from you."
Ino pouts, "aww, c'mon, what have I ever done that was so bad?" she wins this confrontation as long as she stays light and playful. Given that Hinata is steadily turning beet-red, it looks like this is a guaranteed victory.
Hinata takes a steadying breath, and the stutter is back for a moment.
"You- you a-and Kiba. He's really hurt."
Ino flicks her eyes over to the muttball of Team 8. He looks fine. She has no idea what Hinata is talking about.
"I should go say hi."
Now Hinata looks stubborn, and Ino can sense the chakra shift in her, getting ready to protect, to fight; "No," she mutters, "that wouldn't be a good idea."
She nods, accepting the compromise instead of conflict, and mentally resolves to find a discrete time to chat to Kiba later on this evening, after Hinata the lightweight leaves early with Shino and Neji. To her surprise, Kiba and Shino leave first instead, Akamaru trailing along.
Well, then. She flirts with the bartender some more, just to give people a misdirection, and then almost a little too obviously announces she's leaving for an early night. It's only just after eleven.
Sakura takes the bait, her eyes darting to the bartender, and this passes around. The silent judgement is back, but then everyone gets back into the swing of their own lives and stories, and Ino is free to slip out and walk home.
She walks home by herself at night, because she is unafraid. The monsters out there she has stared into the souls of many many times. What else is left to discover?
She's aware that there's a few eyes on her from alleyways, and she lengthens her stride, tilts her hips up a little more, adopting an easy sway that is too casual to be a strut and too effeminate for a swagger but keeps people looking. Her legs are long and lean and the gleam of street lights shine highlights onto the front of her shins.
This is all appearance and performance, and skill.
When she makes it home, she strips off her casual clothes and pulls on a night robe, flopping on her futon, toothbrush protruding from one corner of her mouth as she's lost in thought.
She exhales, slow and calm.
By the inhale, she mutters a 'fuck it', and hauls herself up again.
It's time for a midnight visit.
Kiba's clan smell stuff, so it's not easy to sneak in.
Ino fortunately doesn't bother with sneaking in. She makes sure everybody in the clan can guess she's there with an eye on one of the men. It pays to be underestimated sometimes.
She had hastily showered away the bar smell, keeping her hair out of the water's reach, and now wears a sleeveless rollneck, leather jacket and jeans. Good for showing off her delicate shoulders, casual enough to play coy or more forward or friendzone as need be.
Its easy to spring up to the second floor window of Kiba's building. It's easy to listen and identify him inside, rustling around with something. Akamaru stops and scents her, and gives her a look. She presses her finger to her lips, and he sinks into the best sit.
"What is it Aka- Oh shit-"
Kiba comes padding into view, holding a packet of beef jerky loosely in one hand. It's not just a reaction of surprise. There's clearly some strong emotions going on from seeing her; and attraction threaded in too. It's more than the appreciative glance that the rest of Konoha Twelve get sometimes, or even an accidental boner once or twice- that's a reaction of actual want and she hasn't even moved from her sprawl across his window sill, embraced by shadows.
Hmmm.
"What are you doing here?" His voice is tightly neutral. Tension spreads down his shoulders and into his arms- there is a small crinkle as the beef jerky gets grasped more tightly.
"Hinata had the most interesting things to say about you, I thought I'd come see for myself." It's firmly past midnight now, so she keeps her voice low and smooth. It invites insinuation, suggestion.
"Yeah, is that right? Haven't you seen enough already?" He's shifting into hostile, a very common Inuzuka reaction. They're volatile, easily provoked, passionate in all its forms and expressions.
"I don't think I know what I'm looking for", she murmurs, amused, and he visibly growls back a, "Damn right you fucking don't. Get the fuck out of here."
She reaches out with her chakra- and there it is, memory, lain out for her both fresh and deep, something he obviously has thought over a lot.
Ah.
It's a jumble of sensation- memory isn't recalled in a strict chronological order, particularly when emotional weight is attached to it. But Ino is a practised interrogator, and she finds herself in the flow of it quickly.
There's coy flirtation, teasing, Kiba working up the courage to push for more, an unexpected high when she appears to look at him over the cup of her coffee and double think before encouraging the move, building lust and a self-doubt and excitement and looking down at his hands and a great inhale, walking her home, a sense of anticipation and disbelief and so many layered glimpses of her, imagining what she likes and desperate to please and - well, Kiba has a thing for her collarbones and her back and clearly a very aural memory, and Ino sees herself in his head as this unholy object of sex, feels him shaking vulnerable and impatient to taste her and his pleasure at making her make certain noises, before an abrupt jarring removal and she hears her own voice, clinical and measured- "Oops, guess I've got a mission. See ya." and a quiet sickening dawning that she never smelt quite right.
She pulls her chakra back, satisfied. Mystery solved.
She hasn't moved since Kiba asked her to get out and he by now has realised she saw his memory. He turns away and hangs his head, a little embarrassed and still defensive.
"Did you really not feel anything?" he asks, in a small voice.
She shrugs. It's unusual that someone sees or finds her out, so she thinks she'll answer honestly.
"I know what arousal is; I've torn it from people's heads and I've studied it and I can make myself that way- of course, right, because my body reacts right." What goes unsaid is, it's always... distant. She has trained herself to be able to control her reactions consciously, and that means the reality is so very... faint.
She didn't really remember the issue with Kiba happening, but she reckons that mission was about three months ago. It must have taken him this long to mention it to people and make its way through the Konoha Twelve.
"That's sick."
"It is what it is," she says, "you turn into a half-Akamaru, I turn into a nymphomaniac."
"But why did you say yes... if you didn't really want anything to happen?"
It's a good question. Ino can't really remember, so... probably practice? It's good to switch up targets and keep your skills fresh. But that cannot be said.
"You felt a lot. In your memory, I mean," She says instead, "is that how you are every time?"
Kiba's shoulders bunch up. She absently admires the play of shadows on the muscle while he battles his discomfort.
"I, uh, I really wanted you."
She feels a quiet compassion for him, because Kiba hasn't done anything wrong. He isn't her target, he's loyal to Konoha and Team 8 and her to a lesser extent, and they're friends. From his perspective, it was probably a vague wet-dream come true. Ino is normally a selfish person, but here, she doesn't have much to lose, and he deserves to be compensated.
"You can still have me," she offers without any shyness. But that just makes Kiba angrier. He swears at her and tells her to fucking get out again and she slips off the window sill and as she moves away she hears his breathing hitch in a way that has nothing to do with lust and everything to do with a badly suppressed sob.
There aren't many kunoichi skills to fix that.
A/N: yeah so I was playing around with women&sexuality themes, and Ino comes to mind as the obvious kunoichi to be the protagonist for this. I've read a similar story or two where Kiba suddenly gets on her mind and she gets magically healed, but I wanted Ino to play more as a competent badass with a dash of god she's a bit of a psychopath- like, sexual content beware but I didn't want pwp lol.
Anyways, Please Review/Fav/Follow if you enjoyed and want it to continue!
Thanks,
~Featheredblades