When Hinata was little she was even more awkward than she is as an adult.
Her stutter was terrible, not to mention that she often wanted to crawl inside of herself, like a turtle, and never come out.
She's grown a lot since the days of hiding in corners, and as much credit as she is learning to give herself, she also knows she didn't do it on her own…
Kids can be cruel.
Intentionally or not, and more merciless than people realize.
Hinata can remember very well being cornered on the school playground, being mocked for her stutter and her shyness that was mistaken for a learning disability.
Her home life was cold and brutal. Her little sister too young to offer solace, and her father often ridiculed HInata's attempts to bond with both him and Hanabi.
She remembers crying and crying and feeling so alone.
And then she remembers a new voice. Over the taunts...over her tears.
"Hey, you jerks! Pick on someone your own size."
Ino.
Tiny, blonde, slayer of foes.
Standing in front of a cowering Hinata, her fist raised, her chin high as she sniffed disdainfully at those mocking Hinata. She refused to be cowed or bullied or made to feel insecure. She smiled-a shark smile even at the age of six-and vowed terrible retribution on anyone that dared hurt Hinata.
Then, turning to Hinata, she held out her hand and smiled.
Hinata had never understood why Ino had chosen her to be her friend. Sure, their fathers were acquaintances, but that hardly mattered to the other children in similar circumstance. Sometimes Hinata would get worried-waiting for Ino's inevitable disappointment in her...waited for Ino to leave.
She never did.
Her hand was always there for her to hold.
High school was only marginally better than elementary school, and in some ways worse. Ino had her clubs and sports and activities and those youthful tormentors that delighted in making Hinata feel worthless and stutter swooped in whenever they caught her alone.
Hinata never tattled or told, and yet, somehow, Ino always knew.
And retaliation was swift.
Reputations shredded, relationships destroyed with little more than a word from Ino's lips.
And yet, as vicious as Ino could be, she was never venomous with Hinata. Honest-yes-sometimes brutally so, but never cruel.
When Hinata had left her abusive home without a penny to her name and no idea of where her future was headed, it had been Ino's hand she'd reached for-and it had been Ino that told her that Hinata could do anything she wanted. "Fuck what he think, Hina. You're not anything he says you are. He tried to starve the kindness out of you and you didn't let him."
Hinata was smart-she had a full ride in college-but there were still nuances she couldn't navigate and her social skills were abysmal. Even so, Ino never shied away from her. She always introduced her as "My best girl, Hinata."
When Hinata fell in love with Naruto, Ino had been wary. Not because she disliked Naruto, but because she saw what Hinata was too enamored to notice. Naruto's infatuation with Sakura. Sasuke's damning influence on both of them.
Sasuke had a hold, she tried to explain once, that was hard to break. He was...alluring, Ino had told her. In that bad boy needs fixing way. Only, "There's no fixing him," Ino said, solemnly. "There's broken, there's hurt, and then there's Sasuke. He doesn't want to be better. He likes the spiral. He likes dragging everyone down because then he can stand over them. He's sick in the head, and I don't think even my dad could work through all of his issues."
Ino and Sakura had some weird sort of rivalry-at least where Sakura was concerned-stemming from the fact that ino had dated Sasuke first. Of course, knowing this, Ino was not at all shy about using it to shut the other girl down any time she felt she was getting 'uppity'. In particular where Naruto was concerned.
"I could tell him to stand on his head naked in the middle of the street, and he'd do it," Sakura had said one day. "He's hopelessly in love with me. Can you imagine? Thinking he stands a chance? I mean, who would even want a deadbeat like him?" And then, falsely sweet. "Oh, sorry, Hinata."
It was never a secret where Hinata's heart was. At least not to those around.
It was a joke to some.
Okay...to a lot of them.
Especially Sasuke.
He thought her infatuation was 'comically pathetic'.
Ino told him that his dick was 'comically pathetic'. Which, of course had started a fight with Sakura, but had taken the focus off Hinata.
Sasuke, though, had not glowered at Ino. Instead his gaze-dark, brooding-had remained fixed on Hinata.
He didn't just dislike her, she realized.
He loathed her.
It would have been far easier to just cut and run, but that would mean leaving Naruto in the den of vipers by himself…
So she stayed.
And because she stayed, so did Ino.
Ino refused to abandon her, even if that would have been the smart thing to do.
No matter what.
And Hinata had the same philosophy where Ino was concerned.
She would go to the ends of the Earth for her, if needed.
Ino was her sister just as much as Hanabi was, and closer in a lot of ways. They'd been through so many milestone moments together-so Hinata wanted her at this one, too. She took a look at the sketches Sai had dropped off, and making her decision, she dialed Ino's number.
Ino answered on the third ring, a sing song lilt in her voice. "Ink time?"
Hinata giggled. She knew her so well. "Ink time," she smiled into the receiver.