Maid of Honor - Someone who's duty is to support the bride's efforts and best interests during the wedding planning and ceremony. Usually is someone the bride is extremely close to such as a best friend or a sister.
Ino sat in front of her mirror, meddling with her newly cut hair. Her mother had fixed the edges and evened it out since the initial cut was haphazardly done with a kunai. It was not as short as she initially feared; it brushed her shoulders. Ino grumbled as she stared at her reflection and concluded that she did not appreciate short hair on herself. No, definitely not her look. It made her look too young.
She almost looked like her younger self. The one who befriended a sad little girl with pink hair and a prominent forehead. Ino couldn't help it. Ever since the chuunin exams, she found herself thinking back to her childhood and Sakura's place in it.
What added to Ino's annoyance was that Sakura had cut her hair too. It was much shorter than her own, yet instead of looking like the crybaby, she remembered Sakura looked grown and mature. It suited her really well.
It wasn't just her appearance that had changed; Sakura's entire being seemed to sprout. She was fearless. She was brave. She was reckless, but Ino supposed that was a Team 7 trait. Sakura single-handedly fended off three skilled ninjas from the Hidden Sound. Yeah, Rock Lee had shown up to help, and so did her team, but Sakura survived and protected her team without hesitation. It was annoyingly impressive.
Ino's mind was instantly forwarded to the preliminary matches. The match she should have easily won once she controlled Sakura's body. No. It ended in a draw because Sakura was some sort of monster who could expel her at will. How the hell did she learn that? It was aggravating! It was dangerous! She brought it up to her father, and he suggested she speak with Kakashi on behalf of the clan to inquire about the technique.
So that's exactly what she's doing.
Ino quickly tied her hair and placed a pretty cover over it to disguise how it stuck up. Taking one last glance at her appearance, she dashed out of her window, searching for Kakashi.
It took an annoying amount of work to find the elusive jonin. Ino asked nearly every higher-ranked ninja in the village before she finally found Guy sensei.
"Kakashi, huh?" He mused. "I think he's training out in one of the specialized fields. I don't know which one, though."
Ino thanked the green-clad teacher and dashed off to the fields. As she made her way, however, she quickly spotted a patch of pink hair along one of the walk ways.
"Hey, forehead!!" Ino called out to the young kunoichi as she landed on a nearby tree.
Sakura looked up in surprise to see Ino's sudden appearance. "What do you, pig?" Sakura snapped back but without as much venom as she used to have. That surprised Ino a bit.
"Where's your sensei?" Ino said, keeping her tone haughty.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. A student asking to see another sensei wasn't uncommon, but it was a bit out of the norm in most cases. "Why do you need to see him?" Sakura asked curiously.
Ino placed a hand on her hip. "Clan business, forehead. Guy said he was at the training fields but didn't say which. My time is valuable, so I don't want to be looking around for him all day." She mimicked the tone her father used during clan meetings. To her chagrin, Sakura just scoffed and rolled her eyes. Her stupid hair must've made her look like a toddler. "So where is he?"
"He said he would be at the rock gorge training ground for most of the day," Sakura said to the indignant blonde. "Your dad's got you doing more and more clan duties, huh?"
"Yeah. As he should." Ino said, her head lifting higher in pride.
Sakura smiled slightly. "Good. Hey, Ino?"
"What?"
"We should have a sleepover."
Ino's head snapped down toward the other girl in surprise. Her eyes squinted to examine Sakura's face for lies. "Why?" She asked suspiciously.
"Just feel like it." Sakura shrugged. "Maybe we can invite Ten Ten. And Hinata if she's well enough." She carried on lightly.
Ino stared at her with more confusion. "We barely know them."
"Yeah, I know, but," Sakura shrugged again. "Maybe that should change? I mean, we're the only kunoichi on the entire rookie 12. All the boys are getting to know each other better thanks to the exams. Why shouldn't we?"
The young blonde was quite surprised by her former friend. It was true that the boys seemed to bond while they exchanged fists during the exams. Perhaps this was a good idea. "It's not a bad idea, forehead. If the others are for it, we can have it at my house."
Sakura smiled wider, a familiar sparkle in her eyes that took Ino back to when they were kids. "I'll let them know! Talk to you later, pig."
"Whatever, billboard brow." Ino couldn't help smiling back as she turned away. They waved at each other before heading their own ways, Ino heading toward the gorge training grounds.
Ino had been wandering through the gorge for half an hour looking when she finally found the jonin. Much to her annoyance, he was lounging on top of one of the large boulders. As she approached, his face rose away from the book it was buried in.
"Ah, Miss Yamanaka." He acknowledged with a hidden smile.
"Hello, Kakashi sensei. Do you have time for an inquiry?" Ino asked, a formal tone in place as her father taught her.
Kakashi raised a single eyebrow. "This sounds serious." He started as he stood and placed his book back into his pocket. "I'm assuming this is clan business?"
Ino nodded. "I have a few questions to ask you."
"What are they about?" Kakashi asked cautiously.
The young blonde's eyebrow twitched slightly. What was with the guarded questions? "It's concerning a technique you taught one of your students."
The older man's eyebrow drew downward. "Ok?"
"I'm sure you recall the preliminary round of the chunin exams." Ino elaborated. Kakashi nodded at her to continue. "By all means, I should've won the match against Sakura when I possessed her. Instead, she managed to push me out completely."
Kakashi made a noise as he understood where the line of questioning was going. Typical clan behavior. "You want to know what she learned to render your family jutsu useless," Kakashi smirked as he saw the Yamanaka heiress grit her teeth slightly. "Well, it's simple. I didn't."
Ino stared at Kakashi, who was beaming brightly under his mask. "What do you mean you didn't?" She exclaimed.
"Just as I just said. I didn't teach Sakura anything." Kakashi said, his voice going a few speeds slower.
Ino sputtered slightly. "That's not possible! That technique should have been impossible for her to break unless she was instructed on ways to break it." She argued. "And no one better to teach her that but you, her sensei."
"I'm flattered, Ino, but I'm telling the truth. I didn't teach her anything to fend off your technique. It was all Sakura." He couldn't stop the bit of pride in his voice. The spectacular event replayed in his mind.
Sakura's match with Ino was expected to be short and predictable. His student didn't come from any particular lineage, nor did she have any secret power. She was just an ordinary girl from a civilian family. To his great shame, he didn't give her any particular attention to her training. At first, it was due to her lack of specific circumstances, which his two boys had in surplus. Now? Well, he would have to wonder more about that later.
Sakura had tremendous potential, but her motivation was never there. Kakashi could do much but force her to find the proper motivation for her ninja career? That was something no one could do. But Sakura changed coming out of that forest, and it wasn't just physically.
His sole kunoichi was a graceful monster at that preliminary match. Sakura's taijutsu was spot on and deceptively powerful despite her thin frame. She kept a noble ninja clan heiress on her toes the entire time. He called the match over when Sakura was captured under the Mind Transfer Jutsu.
And then Sakura shocked them all by expelling Ino and reclaiming her body. The match ended in a draw but Sakura definitely won something that day.
Ino was silent in awe at the revelation. Her mind was going through everything under the perspective that it was all Sakura's doing. It was Sakura who found a way to break the jutsu. That other being that forced her out was pure will power.
"Huh." Ino sighed. "That. That changes things."
Kakashi titled his head, listening earnestly. "What do you mean?"
"She really has changed. Or maybe she's finally embraced this side of her no one knew about?" She mused. "Did you know that Sakura fended off 3 sound ninjas on her own before my team could help? My team could barely handle them, but she was able to protect her teammates all on her own for a good while." Ino rambled on, almost forgetting that Kakashi was there.
"Sakura never told me any of that."
Ino sighed in annoyance. "Aw man, now I gotta find the stupid forehead! I just saw her too!" She kicked the ground slightly. "Thank you for your time, Kakashi sensei." She bowed slightly in respect.
Kakashi returned the gesture. "Good luck." He said jovially as she dashed away into the distance. Moments later, once the kunoichi was out of sight, another figure landed next to him. "Shall we continue your training, Sasuke?" He turned to the young boy next to him."Or do you also want to find Sakura and ask her how she got out of the mind transfer jutsu?"
The Uchiha looked up at him with mild irritation. "You didn't mention that part of the preliminaries."
"Oh?" Kakashi scratched his chin in thought. "I thought I did…"
"Not a lot of people can break out of such a jutsu without advanced training, right?" Sasuke asked, completely unamused by his teacher's antics.
"That's right. At the time, I assumed it was chakra fatigue that allowed Sakura to force her out. Ino's inquiry about a technique confirms that it shouldn't have happened." Kakashi sighed slightly.
Sasuke scoffed slightly. "Sakura's not weak."
"I never said she was." Kakashi defended. "But my, my, doesn't someone sound proud." He teased. The young boy huffed and walked toward where he was originally training. "Don't think I didn't notice you move in closer once Ino said Sakura's name." He called out after him.
Kakashi grinned in victory when Sasuke turned back to glare at him. He couldn't help the slight chuckle as he thought about how Ino unknowingly talked Sakura up in front of their shared crush. He wondered for a moment if she would've spoken so freely about her if she knew Sasuke was listening nearby.
Probably not.