Dosu watches the blonde bimbo from the other side of the market. She had just finished a run around the village- from the amount of loops she did he would guess around 10 miles. Now she was buying a water bottle from one of the local vendors, brushing sweaty hair from her flushed cheeks and smiling brightly.
Damn shame I am going to kill her. She's easy on the eyes he thinks to himself for the umpteenth time as he slips between a few civilians just as the kunochi turns in his general direction.
His previous assassination attempts so far had been for null- although he will chalk a majority of those up to dumb luck on her part with her teachers and teammates always in the way. And since she had stopped traveling alone at night; attacking and killing a fellow shinobi in the daylight is a much trickier feat with too many witnesses and not enough hiding places.
He had hoped that his scare tactics would be effective- he knows for a fact that she is afraid of him, terrified even. Yet he has to give her credit; she is either stupid, stubborn or unnecessarily brave.
Stupid. He eventually decides.
He will admit that her little stunt trying to get him to attack Kin threw him for a loop, but that would allow her to defeat him. In fact, it was all the more reason for him to kill her within the next three days or the second that the proctor says fight. But he wants to kill the Uchiha himself.
She begins walking down the crowded marketplace and he finds his chance, he slithers between baskets, shinobi, and children before he ends up at her side, casually linking his arm through hers.
"Yamanaka." he purrs. She tenses, but does not fall out of step. He can feel her struggling against his grip.
"Kinuta." there is a slight tremor to her voice.
"Why don't we take a stroll?" he says as he begins to steer her towards the outskirts of the market.
She stumbles slightly and he holds her up. They are moving closer and closer, only a few more stalls until they will turn left and then take another right to an ally behind a fish market. The smell of fish will cover up the scent of decay for at least a few days.
He is caught off guard when using what can only be a chakara infused pull, Ino yanks him to the front of a stall that is selling gaudy jewelry. "Oh, let's look at this stall!" she says much too loudly pointing with her free hand.
He doesn't have time to react when she suddenly grabs a sapphire blue pair of earrings and using her now free arm turns her full body towards him and holds them up to her ear. "What do you think?" she asks.
He narrows his eyes, immediately figuring out what she is doing. He spies a red necklace with teardrop shaped gems dripping down like blood and instead holds it up to her "I think that this red necklace is more your color, it would look great dripping down your neck."
Luckily she is smart enough to pick up on the hint because she slowly, shakily lowers the earrings.
"Why don't you go on ahead? We can catch up later." her voice is shrill, a hint for help that would only be heard by those who know how to listen.
"Ino! It's so good to see you again, I just received an order of purple bracelets that I think you would love!" the shop keeper greets. The plump woman then notices Dosu "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know that you were on a date. Let me know if you need anything!"
"Of course she will." Dosu answers before Ino can send out a plea for help.
"Like I said, Dosu. Go ahead, Mrs. Aiko and I have a lot to talk about. I would love to see those bracelets!" Ino raises her voice even higher, yelling for the meddlesome pedestrian.
Dosu narrows his eyes, once again grabbing the girl's wrist tightly. He can't help but enjoy the wince that crosses her features, nor the fear that is still apparent.
"Yamanaka, is this guy bothering you?"
Dosu inwardly groans, how many people does this girl know? Is she that much of a tart and flirt that men just flock to her? Is she this much of a gossip that all the pedestrians seem to know her? He releases her arm and quickly moves a comfortable distance away from his target.
"Ah, no. He is just trying to get me to go to the teahouse with me. You know how persistent shinobi can be when they think that a girl is cute." she teases and waves.
Dosu momentarily sees red.
"What can I do to get you to go on a date with me?" the teenage boy is obviously a civilian.
Ino lets out a ridiculously flirtatious giggle. "Maybe one day, Jii!"
Dosu narrows his eyes at the girl before leaning in. "Clever. You're about to run out of luck, Yamanaka." he whispers before pulling away with a smile. "See you!"
Ino releases a shaky breath, only realizing that the other boy is still standing in front of her. "Oh! Um. Nothing, I am not dating right now. I have to focus on my training!" she answers quickly.
"I'm sorry for wasting your time Mrs. Aiko, I need to go!" Ino bows quickly to the shop owner and gives the boy a wave before running to the training grounds.
Her hands are bloody and legs bruised by the time she drops to the ground panting and crying. Sweat and tears drop down her face as she looks down at her bloodstained hands. Dosu had been right, she had been lucky so far. Every time she had managed to either outrun the other boy or was with someone else.
Today was no exception.
"Ino?" the Yamanaka girl would recognize that soft voice anywhere. She looks up to see Hinata standing over her, the blue haired girl quickly drops to her knees next to her.
"What happened?" Hinata demands, as she quickly begins to rummage through the bag on her shoulder.
"I- I guess I over did it." Ino whispers.
Hinata pulls a jar out of her bag and hands it to Ino who takes it gingerly between her fingers doing her best not to get blood on it.
"This will help. Let's get those hands cleaned up." Hinata says gently as she pulls a roll of bandages, a water bottle, and to Ino's surprise two cinnamon rolls from her bag. Ino feels her stomach clench in longing for the cinnamon roll that she can only assume that Hinata had baked herself.
"I know for a fact that you ran 10 miles this morning. And you've lost weight. I think a cinnamon roll might be a treat."
Ino smiles and blushes when her stomach releases a very unladylike grumble.
Hinata gives the blonde a knowing look. "Well, I'll wrap your hands and you think about it."
Hinata's touch is as gentle and kind as she is, and she quickly tends to Ino's hands.
Meanwhile, Ino is having an internal debate with herself about the delicious and what she can only assume still warm cinnamon roll teasing her.
Well you did run 10 miles, that's about 1,000kcals.
But a cinnamon roll is about 800 kcals
So skip lunch.
"Have you made up your mind?" Hinata asks as she pulls pulls the second cinnamon roll from the small basket and places it on a handkerchief in her lap.
Ino sighs again and accepts the cinnamon roll that Hinata offers her with an embarrassed nod. "How are you feeling?"
Hinata releases a soft sigh.
"Still rough, huh?" Ino asks through a bite of the pastry.
"Better though." Hinata replies.
"If I'd known how seriously you were still injured, I wouldn't have helped Kiba train you that day."
"I am glad that you did." the blue haired beauty blurts between bites.
Ino smiles and takes a large bit of the cinnamon roll, she savors each chew. Chewing each bite for at least 20 chews before swallowing. One of her fashion magazines had mentioned that it was a good trick for eating slower and tricking her stomach into feeling full.
There is a friendly silence between the two and for once Ino doesn't feel the need to fill in a silence with conversation, instead she focuses on her already half eaten cinnamon roll Eating trick my ass.
"Ino."
The blonde haired girl looks up, too shocked that Hinata had been the one to initiate the conversation that she does not have a reply.
"D-Do you think that N-Naruto kun will be able to d-defeat Neji?"
Not in a million years the blonde thinks to herself. "Maybe." she lies.
"I k-know that N-Naruto is outlandish, but he he has always b-been kind to me." Hinata says softly as she begins to twiddle her fingers.
"Can I be honest?" Ino asks after another large bite of her cinnamon roll.
"You usually are."
"I think that you are wasting your time on Naruto. Kiba obviously has feelings for you. And I think that he is more handsome. Not as handsome as Sasuke of course."
Hinata furrows her brow. "K-Kiba only sees me as a sister."
"If you say so." Ino smiles before taking the last bite of her cinnamon roll. A feeling of remorse washes over her, but she quickly shoves it back. Nothing tastes as good as thin feels she reminds herself for the tenth time in two days.
"H-how is your t-training?" Hinata asks.
"I don't think I have ever heard you make this much small talk." Ino giggles.
Hinata blushes.
"It's obviously going in all kinds of directions. I had a fight with Asuma sensai, and Anko has taken it upon herself to train me."
"A fight?" Hinata is appalled.
"He is favoring Shikamaru over me and it's not fair. Why should Shikamaru get special treatment when I have qualified for the same exams?"
"Anko is insane." Hinata answers instead.
Ino giggles. Hinata certainly isn't the first person to make this statment. "This is true. But she is helping."
Hinata sighs softly. "I have been fortunate enough to have Kurenai-sensai. She sees me and believes in me. Kiba and Shino are both amazing teammates as well."
Ino smiles enviously. "Ino-Shika-Cho has been traditionally trained by a Sarutobi for seventeen generations. I wish that I could have something different."
"Don't say that, Ino. There is something beautiful about tradition."
Ino sighs. "Tradition says that there should always be a male Yamanaka in Ino-Shika-Cho. I'm already messing that up. It would be nice to have another sensai."
"Your feelings are hurt."Hinata says sympathetically.
Ino pauses. She can't help but take the moon eyed girl's statement to heart. It's true the past month she has had her feelings hurt. Sakura, Shikamaru, Asuma, Neji. Hell, half the damn village. And she has responded with anger, sarcasm, sass, and feigning ignorance. It's hard to not take that much criticism to heart. She's been raised and trained to be, for lack fo a better word a bitch. The world of ninja is a male dominated industry for sure. That is certainly why Sakura's growth had taken her by surprise; she'd never expected the pink haired, big foreheaded, even less outspoken than Hinata to become an actual opponent.
Then again, Hinata had proved to the Rookie 9, Team Gai, and the entirety of the Chunnin exams by surprise. Hinata has the heart of a lioness.
The blonde girl looks at her friend. She suddenly understands why the Hyuuga Clan views her as weak. That she is compassionate and loving. She understands the blue haired beauty's infatuation with Naruto of all people.
Although she has to admit that she is Team Kiba.
"Thanks Hinata." she eventually says after a much longer silence than she ever thought she'd have.
"Ino…I know that. That y-you are an u-under dog. B-But I think that you have as good of a c-chance as any…anyone else."
"Really!?" Ino can't help but exclaim.
"Y-You are f-full of surprises."
Ino smiles brightly and can also feel the flush of embarrassment warm her cheeks.
"I never thought I'd see the day that Ino Yamanaka blushed as much as I do" Hinata teases.
Ino knows that her jaw drops. "Hinata if I didn't know better, I'd think that you were flirting with me. I have never heard you speak this much without a stutter."
It's Hinata's turn to blush.
Ino laughs loudly. "I'm kidding. I and the rest of the village know that you have a crush on the blond bozo."
The Hyuuga girl's face changes from a rosy pink to a deep scarlet.
"I'm still Team Kiba." Ino says bluntly.
The other girl quickly hides her face in her hands.
Ino laughs and to her relief, Hinata hesitantly joins.
Hinata climbs to her feet and Ino slowly follows.
The navy haired girl takes Ino's hands in her own. Ino notices how slender and refreshingly cool the others girl's hair is. "Y-You've got this" she stutters with her tranquil voice.
Ino blushes again. She can't remember the last time that she had blushed this much. For a brief moment she wonders if she has a crush on Hinata. But then she thinks of Sasuke and forgets about the other girl completely.
"Hinanta, you have no idea how much that means to me."