She is tired. Way too tired to be training with Santa Yamanaka, her strawberry blond haired cousin who is thirteen years her senior, and a jonin to top it all off.
"Like a majority of our clan, Ino, you are a sensory kunochi. It is time for you to hone in on those skills." Santa explains.
"I think that I will have full visibility during this fight." Ino yawns "It's not like Dosu can produce a way to hinder my sight." Her cousin is renown among her clan as the best sensory ninja; Ino is referring to the way that her cousin can use his sensory skills even without the use of sight.
"But you might loose your hearing. Temporarily of course." Santa explains patiently.
"But I'll still be able to see-" Ino begins.
"You will still be without one of your key senses, Ino."
Ino realizes that she is too tired to argue and instead nods to her cousin, "Fine. What do we need to do?"
Santa smiles at his younger cousin, "First we need to set your chakara to 'sensory mode' he explains.
Ino nods. "How do we do that?"
Santa smiles again, "Let's sit."
She sits down across from the jonin.
"Have you ever seen someone else's chakara before?" Santa inquires.
Ino tilts her head to the side.
"Like in your peripheral vision? Or have you ever associated someone with a particular color before, like their aura?"
Ino thinks about her her surprise it is not her teammates but Naruto who pops into her head first. The hyperactive blond and his overwhelming red aura, she always seemed to see him glowing bright, but figured it was just his obnoxious jumpsuit.
"Naruto." she mentions.
Santa nods. "He has a lot of chakra, that's a great place to start, who else?"
Ino pauses. She always associated Sakura with a cool green color, and Shikamaru with a darker aura. Shikamaru wasn't evil per say, just had a darkness, like his shadow.
"Sakura and Shikamaru." Ino tries.
Santa nods again, "What do you see?"
"Sakura's chakara has a green tinge, and Shikamaru just seems like a dark color?" she tries, her answer ending in a question.
Santa nods. "I can see both of those too. Now Ino, let's focus. I want you to close your eyes and take three deep breaths. While you are doing so, I want you to clear your mind and allow yourself to sink into your surroundings. You are perceptive, Ino, block out all the other distractions."
Ino does as she is told and closes her eyes. She takes three deep breaths, allowing her body to sink into the ground around her.
"Yamanakas are natural sensory types. You just need to fine tune it. Now open your eyes and look at me, not directly at me, but around me. What do you see?"
Ino opens her eyes. Across from her, she can see Santa, only Santa.
"I don't see any-"
"Keep trying." he interrupts.
Ino sighs tiredly and exhales loudly, both to show her growing frustration and her sleepiness.
She lets out a yawn, and then she sees it. A small flame about the size and color of a violet in the middle of Santa's forehead.
"I see it!" she cries out before it immediately disappears.
Santa smiles at her. "Wonderful."
Ino moves to stand, but Santa grabs her wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Bed?" she asks.
Santa chuckles. "Your dad mentioned that you had a late night. That's too bad. Now sit."
Ino moans dramatically. "But Santa, I'm exhausted. We were up all night doing one of Asuma's stupid team training exercises."
Santa rolls his eyes at his cousin. "Your teammates are vital. Your father mentioned that you were all beginning to drift apart, Ino you are on an elite team. The sixteenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. You are part of the rookie 9 and you wouldn't be there without your teammates."
Ino groans. She was not in the mood to hear about the power of love and friendship. Especially since she was still mad at Shikamaru. "Cut the crap, Santa. Let's just get this over with."
"Don't be such a brat, Ino." Santa shoots back. He knew that Ino had an attitude and was hot-headed, a trait that she came by honestly from her father. However, Santa's own mother is Inochi's sister…he too had inherited that same trait.
Ino glares at her cousin once again, she hated being called a brat. She knows she is being one. She knows that her father spoils her, hell he still does. She is not a fool, it's something she is working on. Not acting like a spoiled brat.
She inhales and exhales loudly, trying to use some of the deep breathing techniques that Hinata was trying to teach her. Ino wasn't patient. She never would be. "Fine. I'm sorry Santa. You have my complete attention"
Neji sighs loudly, the last thing he wants to see is the Yamanaka princess. And yet here she is, doing yoga with his cousin. Since when did Hinata and Ino get so close? They were in class together, but Hinata never mentioned her. Well he and Hinata never talked, but he was sure he would remember seeing the blonde hair amongst the sea of dark hair at the compound.
Hinata was healing. Albeit, she shouldn't have been out and about nearly as quickly as she had been. Kiba had carried her home after she passed out training with him a mere two days after Neji had almost killed her.
That was the rumor at least, Neji himself had not been home. Doing something so reckless had indeed pushed Hinata's healing time back, but watching her and the Yamanaka girl doing yoga together pulled at his heart. Hinata with her dark hair, pale skin and celestial eyes reminded him of the moon. Ino with hair that shown like gold and teasing eyes was the sun. Seeing the two of them together was like watching the sun and moon goddesses interact.
The sound of Hinata's bell like giggle brought him out of his reverie, it seemed as if Ino had once again tried a yoga move that she could not conquer. His mind went back to when he saw Hinata demonstrating an advanced yoga technique. The way that she preformed the movements of downward dog and crow before moving effortlessly into a handstand, how flawless she looked.
Ino notices him. "Hyuuga."
"Yamanaka." he replies just as coldly.
Hinata's giggles die and she quickly begins to roll up her mat. He is about to mention his frustration about having to find the Hyuuga Princess, but notices something in her eyes.
The is no longer fear in her eyes. Instead there is something entirely different, there is annoyance, he is taken aback by this sudden change. He had grown so used to Hinata fearing him. His eyes landed on Ino, who is not even trying to hide her annoyance or dislike.
"Do not blame me for cutting your time with Hinata short, Yamanaka." he chastises.
He glances back at Hinata, the annoyance in her eyes is gone, instead there is obedience. He prefers it that way.
"It's for the best." Hinata chimes.
Ino turns her glare to Hinata. "What?" she demands.
"Ino. You are t-t-tired. G-get some rest." Hinata explains softly.
Ino groans. "Hinata, the exams are two weeks away!"
Hinata give her a serene smile, "I know, but you look exhausted. Go home and do some reading." she encourages gently.
"Run along, Yamanaka." Neji scoffs.
Ino's pretty eyes narrow as she lunges to her feet. She is ready to leap into what she knows would be a fruitless fight with Neji, but Hinata catches her arm quickly. Neji looks at her with his arms crossed, not even bothering to get into a fighting stance.
"Ino, don't." Hinata whispers to her friend.
Ino throws another glare Neji's way but removes Hinata's fingers from her arm. "Thanks Hinata. I"ll be going home now."
Hinata smiles and follows Neji in the opposite direction.
What an asshole. Ino thinks as she rolls up her own mat and begins the trek home.
"That was a close call." Ino looks above her to see Shikamaru lounging on one of the branches above her.
"How long have you been there?" she demands
"Not very. I saw you and Hinata doing yoga and thought I'd watch. You aren't very good." Shikamaru drawls.
"Screw you." Ino replies suddenly self conscious of the booty shorts she'd been wearing.
"Hinata is amazing." Shikamaru muses.
Ino knows what her pineapple headed teammate is doing, he is trying to rial her up. He knows how competitive Ino is. She breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth. "She is much better than I am."
"Is that modesty, Ino?" Shikamaru teases as he jumps down from the tree. He lands silently next to her.
"Ugh! You are such an asshole." Ino cries out before storming away.
"Ino, wait." Shikamaru cries out as he quickly catches up.
"What?" Ino yells at him. "I don't need or want to deal with you telling me I can't do this!" she rants angrily.
He ignores her temper tantrum. "Sheesh, calm down."
Ino turns and shoves him away from her. "Leave me alone!"
Shikamaru stumbles back a step but quickly regains his balance.
"God, you are so troublesome!" he raises his voice ever so slightly.
Ino crosses her arms over her chest. "What?" she demands.
"I just wanted to say." Shikamaru pauses. "I wanted to say that you did good last night."
Ino's eyes widen at his compliment. Shikamaru had criticized the ever living hell out of her idea. "Thanks?" she asks.
Shikamaru rolls his own chocolate brown eyes. "Jeez, just take the compliment."
Ino rolls her eyes. "I'm going home."
Shikamaru sighs. "I'll walk with you."
Ino didn't turn down his offer.