Yamanaka Ino; 2 Years Later

Age 14

-He Likes Short Hair-

The morning of the Chuunin Exam.

I knew this day would come, but I figured I'd be more ready than this. I looked at myself in the mirror and grabbed a pair of scissors. It had to be done if I was going to be a great ninja.

I cut as much hair off as I could. I wanted to keep it all out of my eyes and not worry about it. It put the golden strings into a plastic bag and tucked it under my bed. I loved my hair long but that's what had to be done.

I went downstairs, knowing full well that my mom would throw a fit once she saw that I had cut my hair again.

"Ino!" said my mom. "You cut your hair again! Why?!"

"I just did mom!" I said with an exasperated sigh. "It gets in the way! Don't worry, though! Hair grows back!"

"You're not LETTING it grow back!" my mom exclaimed unhappily.

My dad only looked at me with one eye over his newspaper.

"I'm leaving now." I said, going to the door. "I have to go to the exam."

"We'll be there." My dad said. "We'll walk down with you."

"No, I want to go alone." I said, opening the door. I didn't let them respond and shut the door behind me. I wasn't intentionally alienating myself from my parents, but they did have a hand in holding me back by babying me as their only daughter.

I hadn't planned on bumping into Sasuke that morning. But I saw him in front of me, walking slowly. At my pace, I was probably going to catch up with him in a few minutes, but I didn't want to look like I was trying to creep up on him. So, after much consideration and evaluation of consequences, I finally yelled out, "Hey Sasuke!!"

Sasuke turned around. He saw me and I think, at first, looked surprised. I guess my appearance shocked him at first.

Finally, he said, "Hi Ino." That had been the best response I had ever gotten from Sasuke. Maybe I had confused him enough to make him respond politely like that.

I didn't know what else to say so I only caught up with him and started to walk. I assumed that he didn't mind because he didn't say anything about me walking next to him and didn't speed up or slow down at all. We walked together for a little while.

I thought maybe I should say something. "Sasuke, maybe we'll fight each other in the tournament!" I tried.

"Maybe."

"All I have to do is win my fight against Hinata and I KNOW you'll win your first fight!" I continued. "It'll be so fun if we get to fight each other!"

"Yeah." He replied. "Right."

I got the impression that Sasuke didn't want to have any small talk. So I promptly shut my mouth and we continued silently all the way to the stadium. We were one of the last ones to arrive, but we weren't late.

Sasuke's fight was first. I wished him luck, but I didn't worry about him at all. He was fighting against some kid from the Mist Village who hadn't done anything impressive in the preliminaries and was just in the tournament because his opponent had been weaker than him. Actually, now that I think about it, I think his opponent was Sakura…

I watched Sasuke's fight. He fought with much speed and precision, and he hadn't even activated his Sharingan. I didn't expect anything less from him. After all, he as the famous Uchiha Sasuke.

I saw Hinata standing by herself. I was fighting her in the first round, so I figured I'd go over and say hi.

"Oh!" Hinata said before I even greeted her. "Hi Ino! I hardly recognized you at first. You cut your hair a lot shorter."

"Yeah…" I said, feeling as though I was going to have to say that a lot today. "It got in the way…"

"We're going to be fighting each other in the first round!" Hinata said.

"Yeah, I know!" I smiled. Hinata's sweet and stuff, but I had read the program of the tournament and she was expected to win our round so I had to do my part to show everyone that I was better than her, even though we used to kind of be friends. "I'm not going to go easy on you, though! Have you read the program? You're the predicted winner of our fight?"

"Me?" Hinata said, looking nervous.

"Don't worry about it though." I laughed, noticing she was upset to hear that since she obviously hadn't read the program yet. "But just so you know…"

I smiled.

"I'm going to prove everyone wrong!"

That's when Sasuke returned, the obvious winner.

"Oh wow, Uchiha Sasuke, your name has gotten all the way to my village and I have to say you certainly live up to it and I'm really surprised that you're not already a chuunin and I have to say that you are really really cool and strong too!!" a girl from the Sand village screamed.

I shook my head at her. I could remember when I was like her. And I knew Sasuke did not respond to comments like that, and he didn't.

He suddenly looked at me. "Ino, you're up next, right?" he asked.

I was surprised. "Yeah, I am!" I said.

Hinata and I went out together. I didn't want to hurt her, but I couldn't let up on her just because she was weaker than I was. If that was the case, then the weak would be promoted and the strong would be held back. It was now time to show everyone that I am a good ninja too.

"Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata." The examiner said. Hinata flinched and looked at the crowd. She struck a timid battle pose. I knew this would be a lot easier than I originally thought.

The moment I heard the examiner say, "Go," I jumped on her. I attacked her as quickly and consistently as I possibly could so I wouldn't give her any time to do her special chakra based Hyuuga attacks.

It seemed to be working because Hinata was letting out a yelp every now and then. As sorry as I felt to beat Hinata so badly and so easily, I knew it had to be done. After all, if I beat Hinata, then I would be Sasuke's next opponent in the following round.

"Winner; Yamanaka Ino."

The medical ninjas took Hinata away. I tried not to be affected by it, and I also tried not to look at the Hokage. If I looked at the Hokage, then it would look like I was desperately seeking approval and that's a sign of weakness. So I took myself back over to the overhang where everyone else was waiting.

"Nice job!" said the Sand girl.

I looked at her. That was nice! "Thanks!" I said.

"I hope I can fight you later on!" the Sand girl continued.

I was going to respond, but I was interrupted by Kiba who had something to say on the matter. "Hey! You're fighting ME next and I'm going to beat you!"

With that, the two of them left.

I looked at Sasuke who was still sitting in the same spot. Did he even watch my fight? Did he know I was going to fight him in the next round?

"Sasuke, I am really excited to fight against you." I said, sitting down right next to him. "I think it'll be enthralling!"

He gave a slight roll of the eyes and didn't respond. I guess that comment was a mistake on my part. On the bright side, he didn't get up and walk away or anything. He stayed there and allowed me to sit next to him.

I didn't want to say anything else to annoy Sasuke so I was quiet. I didn't even get a chance to watch any of the Sand girl and Kiba's fight. But when it was over, no one returned to the overhang so I assumed it had just been a double knockout.

"ALL RIGHT!!" cheered Naruto and Lee at the same time. "NOW I AUTOMATICALLY GET TO FIGHT SASUKE!!!"

I wasn't about to get offended. I know they expected Sasuke to win in his fight against me. I wanted to beat him, but I was extremely intimidated. I tried not to be because if I was then that would hinder my fighting ability, but I couldn't help it.

The two of them went out to fight so now it was only Sasuke and I. My heart was pounding up in my throat. I was so close to him that I could reach out and touch him, but I was going to keep my hands to myself.

Suddenly, he cleared his throat and stood up.

"Sasuke, are you thinking about a strategy to defeat me?" I asked him as he started to walk away. I wanted him to come back and stay.

He turned around. "No." he answered. I didn't care about what response I got, as long as he stayed.

I didn't even realize I was smiling. "Well you should." I said. "Because, otherwise, you won't be able to beat me."

"Something's different about you." He said suddenly. I looked up. I was a bit confused.

Finally, I gave my generic answer. "It's the hair." I said. "I know you like long hair better, but it was always getting in the way whenever I trained so I had to cut it."

"Whatever." He said. He turned around and watched the fight. I wondered if he was actually watching the fight or if he was just trying to not watch me. Maybe I was giving myself too much credit.

"We will now begin Round Two." I heard the examiner. "Yamanaka Ino and Uchiha Sasuke."

It was over already?! Who had won??

Lee came back into the overhang. Oh, I guess Lee had won.

I stood up and walked with Sasuke out to where the crowd could watch us. I caught sight of Sakura looked jealous, but I pretended not to see her.

"Sasuke, would you hate me if I beat you?" I asked Sasuke to help get my mind of Sakura.

"That's not an issue, so I'm not going to bother thinking about it." Sasuke said.

I'd just have to prove him wrong.

"Ready?" said the examiner. "Go."

Under normal circumstances, I think I would be worried if Sasuke used his Sharingan. But he turned on his Sharingan and I was flattered. That meant that he considered me to me a real opponent.

He came to me first and threw a punch. It was a terrible punched that he obviously had intentions to miss, though I had no idea why. He probably assumed that I was a girly girl and I wouldn't be able to take a real punch. I hit his fist to the side easily, which caught him off guard, and then went to kick him in attempt to help him realize that he didn't need to go easy on me. However, he dodged my attack.

"Sasuke, you don't have to go easy on me!" I said. "I can take a hit or two! I'm a ninja after all!"

I think he was now taking me seriously because he formed the hand seals for the Katon Housenka. I knew he planned to use it only as a distraction so I activated my speed and came up behind him before he even realized it. I went to hit him, but he ducked almost as if he knew I would do that. He went to counter attack me, but I sped away once again.

He was looking around for me, so I figured I'd use an advanced jutsu that my father taught me. "Shinranshin no Jutsu!!" I yelled.

Sasuke dodged on the ground and threw some shuriken at me. Three, total. I caught all three of them and threw them right back as he was in the middle of an attack.

He caught them and threw them right back at me.

He continued to attack me and I attacked him right back. The crowd was mostly cheering for him, but I wasn't letting it put me down. He was expected to win.

I would like to say that I lost my balance in the middle of performing a difficult jutsu, but I tripped on just a tuft of grass. And, in the split second it took me to recover, Sasuke formed a hand seal and yelled out, "Shinranshin no Jutsu!"

I didn't have time to move. I suddenly lost control of my body. I don't believe Sasuke knew what attack it was since he had obviously just copied it from me. He didn't do anything so the two of us just stood there. I would have liked to attack him while he stood there trying to figure out what the jutsu was, but I couldn't.

"Winner; Uchiha Sasuke." Said the examiner.

"What?" I said as I dropped to the ground, realizing that Sasuke had let go of the jutsu.

"It's over?" Sasuke said.

"Oh…" I said once it set in that I had lost the fight. "I was hoping to win…"

"The final round will begin in ten minutes." The examiner said. He had probably assumed that I was unable to fight anymore. He probably knew what the jutsu was and figured that Sasuke had practically won. But, in my opinion, he had called the fight a little early.

The medical ninjas came out.

"I don't need it." I said.

"You have to come to the medical building." Said the ninja.

"No, I don't need to go to the medical place!" I said as I stood up to show them I was fine. I looked at Sasuke and knew that I had to congratulate him and not be a sore loser. "Nice job, Sasuke! I don't know why I ever thought I could beat you."

"You're a good fighter, Ino." He said. "You have an even blend of ninjutsu and taijutsu." My heart went aflutter.

"I guess I have to work on genjutsu then…" was all I heard myself saying. I pushed some hair out of my eyes. I guess I missed a few strands…

"Your hair looks better short." Sasuke said.

I felt my face get very hot. "Really?" I said, feeling my girlish emotions all fly back into me at once. "I thought you liked long hair."

Sasuke didn't look away, he only shook his head.

All this time, short hair is what he liked.

I felt very happy and very relieved, but also very disappointed as well.

Then I started to feel pain in my arms and legs. Sasuke had landed many more attacks on me than I had thought. I looked back at the medical ninjas who were still waiting for me. "Actually, I think I do have to go." I said.

I didn't get on a stretcher or anything. They just took me over to the medical place where I sat up on a bed to get tended to. I was sad that Sasuke had beaten me, but I felt as though it was worth it because of what he had said to me.

"Your hair looks better short," he had said.

Which meant…he had noticed me when my hair was long too.

Was that too much to hope for?

Was I looking too much into just a little comment?

I knew I wanted to watch the finals. I wanted the medical ninjas to hurry up so I could go and watch and root for Sasuke.

I knew he'd win, though. Sasuke is an excellent ninja and deserves to be a chuunin. He deserved it two years ago and, as I look back on it, even I get a little angry that he didn't become one then and I'm not even him so I can only imagine how he felt about it.

I sighed. Maybe I wasn't in as much pain as I had thought.

"Hi Ino!" I heard.

I searched the room for the person who had called me. Then I saw Chouji coming over to me. I was happy to see him and glad that he had come to the tournament to watch me.

But I was even happier that he had come to the medical tent to make sure I was all right. That was more than big-shot jounin Shikamaru was going to do, after all.

"Oh, hey Chouji!" I smiled.

"You fought really well!" Chouji said. "I heard a few guys talking about how you were more impressive than Sasuke!"

He was obviously just trying to make me feel better. And, as much as I appreciated it, I didn't need to hear something like that. "I don't know about that." I said.

"What's wrong?" Chouji asked. "You did great!"

"I was hoping to win." I answered, feeling a rant suddenly coming on. "If I had won, no one… not even Sasuke would be able to deny that I am a good ninja. And maybe, if I had won, Sasuke would have realized that I'm doing this all for him so that I'll grow up to be the woman he'll marry!"

"Ino, you should do it for yourself, not Sasuke!" Chouji said.

I shook my head slightly. Chouji had no idea what it was like to be so deeply in love with a man that you'd do anything to make him happy. "Chouji, you'll understand once you find a woman you love." I said.

"I guess I will." Chouji said with a shrug.

In the distance, I heard the crowd cheer. Sasuke's fight was starting.