Ino is a bitch.

She gained that name from the other girls in their last year at the Academy. The fist girl who said it ended up poisoned by lunch. The second and third developed horrendous body odor. Then, it ceased to bother Ino. After all, the girls were right.

She was a bitch, and she was going to be proud of it.

She was mean, she was hard, she didn't take flak from any boy, girl, woman or man. She thought much of herself, and why not? She was Ino Yamanaka, and no one had better forget it. It took a tough woman to be a Kunoichi, and that was what Ino was going to be. Sure, she liked boys, she mooned over Sasuke, but that was because Sasuke was the pinnacle. He was the top of the class, and if Ino could get him, she'd win. What she'd win wasn't so clear, but it would be a win. Oh, it helped that Sasuke was hot and all mysterious, but it was mostly because he was the best. Ino wasn't the best herself, but she could certainly have the best.

By Gennin, she had embraced her title of bitch, though fewer people used it. Shikimaru only called her that once before she knocked him out. Chouji never did, though he might have thought it. Ino was just trying to whip her sorry boys into shape. They were her team, and if they didn't make a good showing thay'd be letting down the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition! They had to make a good team. iHad to./i

Ino was a bitch, and you didn't mess with a bitch unless you wanted to get bitten.

She knew her limits. She wasn't the best, she needed work, and she would never be the best. She did have things she was going to do. Like never let her team down. Drilling endlessly past exhaustion to get their formations right and learn everything about eachothers techniques. They were going to be a team, and maybe if they couldn't be the best alone, they could be the best together.

"I'm a bitch, you're lazy, and Chouji's fat." Ino sat tucking flowers into Shikimaru's hair.

"Sorry your team's not glamorous,' Shikimaru muttered, not really awake.

Ino laughed. "It just makes me look better."

And she wanted to look better, because maybe that school girl crush on Sasuke was something more, and gods he was so hot. He excelled and made every around him look bad-especially those in his team. Ino was no glad they hadn't been placed on a team together for that reason. Chouji and Shikimaru saw her at her worst, rarely at her best. At this point, she couldn't take that risk with Sasuke. Her resolve to make Sasuke hers was even stronger now. Goals? Let Sasuke know she was interested and show him she was the best kunoichi for the job. Bloodlines were important to clanners, something Sakura couldn't understand. It gave Ino an edge. Sasuke wasn't looking for a nice personality (not that Sakura had that, but...).

Her edge walked out of Konoha when she was thirteen. Sasuke left. Her boys couldn't bring him back, and now he was a Missing-nin. A bad guy. It was one thing to moon after an 'bad boy' another to pine after a village betraying criminal. Childhood affections still held on, but fourteen was young, and ther were hot boys aplenty in Konoha, all willing to have a litle fun. Winning Sasuke had just gotten harder, and Ino wasn't going to give up. She trained twice as hard with Sakura and Chouji to make Chuunin, getting all the silly sad little Team 7 stories she could stand, which made it easier to put Sasuke on the back burner. Chuunin first, then think boy.

Then get your heart broken. What did you know? Even bitches had hearts.

"You can have him."

Sakura looked up at Ino, who felt more like a ninja than she ever had in the new uniform. "Who?"

"Sasuke," Ino shrugged when Sakura flinched. Oh, she'd cried when she's heard about everything he'd done, but that had been more for something she'd known was dead for years. Ino knew how villages and loyalties worked. Missing-nin were not people you could trust or love. She practically deserved getting hurt like that for hanging onto Sasuke for far too long. It had taken her too long to let go of someone who didn't deserve her. Hadn't she always wanted the best?

"He's an ass," Ino flipped her hair over her shoulder and shrugged.

Sakura still gave her that dumbfounded look for five seconds longer, then she smirked. "Donkey and the pig? Sounds like a good match to me."

Ino scoffed, waving a hand. Her nail polish was chipped. Probably wouldn't get a chance to fix that for a while. "Funny billboard brow, really funny. I've got my own boys to look out for, so you've got to take care of yours on your own." There was love, then there was team love. Sakura looked at Ino, clouded green eyes, and Ino knew Sakura had never given up. Sakura would never understand how to let go of a missing-nin who didn't deserve anything anymore.

Ino couldn't blame her. Sakura didn't have ninja parents, she didn't have the edge Ino had when it came to knowing these things. Also, she was a bleeding heart, not a cold bitch who knew when to kick some bastard in the nuts for break her heart, her best friend's heart, and throwing himself into the wrong side of a war that would get them all killed.

Ino was a bitch, but that was the way to survive this world.