The broken blossom

A/N: Look at me go, running away from canon like that.

There was a weird silence around the room. She assumed that the smell of blood that had assaulted their nostrils when the first combat begun was a pretty powerful subduer to ordinary conversations. There was the usual banter and sarcastic remarks between opposite sides of clashes, but silence predominated around the boxes where they watched down at dismembered limbs. Shino had left the sound-nin almost pulverized, arm bent in an unnatural way were it hang from what was left of his forearm, the other one resting on the place on the ground where it had fallen. Ino couldn't help the sympathy that arose on her despite the bruise on her cheek, watching the hand that had harmed her lying on the tile, away from its fainted owner.

The puppeteer hadn't been particularly better, but he was stopped before he could completely crush bones, they had been lucky enough no to see completely what had happened behind the puppet, but the sounds it made weren't muffled by it, and the expectancy of another limb falling off had been nerve-wracking until the proctor called it off.

What had been worst, however, was the first fight. It hadn't been particularly violent, Shino held –up to that point-, the trophy for the grotesque spectacle he made with the sound-nin (and what an awful thing that she knew Sakura had told her his name, but she couldn't remember it). But the way she had felt Sasuke's chakra leave his body when the other gënin touched him made her panic. She glanced around, desperate for someone to intervene, but saw adults watching calmly and gënins not concerned enough, even Sakura seemed oblivious to what Sasuke was going through. She felt alone in her crippling fear.

But then in the time it took for her to blink twice, the whole situation reversed, and a nauseating, dark, thick chakra emanated from Sasuke's pores, she brought her hands to her mouth to stop herself from gagging at loud and Asuma gave her a pointed look. It would be so much easier if she could just pinch her nose and stop herself from feeling, but nature was against her wishes, and stopping herself from sensing completely was an impossible task for her. What she felt was a similar wave of power than the one he emanated on the forest, weaker, but just the same in nauseous essence. Luckily it didn't last long for her to grow more concerned, and he was escorted out by his sensei shortly after his winning fully conscious, and that's the last she knew about his health state.

"Is Sasuke okay?" She asked to team seven while walking down, her name and Sakura's displaying on the screen. Sakura did not acknowledge her presence, full-on resolution, and mask of resentment back on –perhaps it wasn't a mask, perhaps it was real, Ino couldn't bear the thought. She did not respond to her question, but Ino chose to believe that either she did not hear her, or she was on full rival's mode. Kakashi did replied to her concern, perhaps sensing her trembling hands, and nodded reassuringly, his visible eye squinted, mask stretched as if concealing a smile. Oh, the way her heart jumped in relief, she touched her bosom where she felt her pulse and exhaled, reaching her place in front of Sakura.

"I'm not going to fight you over Sasuke," Sakura told her, and Ino was pushed to the reality of the moment with the suddenness of a slap.

"What was that?" She replied, perplexed.

"You and Sasuke-kun don't go together anyway, and I'm completely stronger than you right now. I don't even need to be concerned with you."

Ino was hotheaded. Ino was stubborn. Ino knew perfectly well who she was and how she was, and was also perfectly capable of controlling her emotions to submission –to some extent. The world was ruled by masked people, manipulating impressions were the core of her clan, and mind-control was a deeper, and fragile artwork where patience and perseverance were key. Her clan techniques allowed her a faster, precise, and temporal seizure of another mind, but that didn't mean that they didn't control and shaped the impressions others had of them without the use of it.

She would have allowed Sakura to toy with her if another reality existed, she would even let her punch her first, Sakura was never a match for Ino when it came to physical combat, but what the girl lacked in strength she compensated with adamancy and resistance to Ino's fists. There were more ways to win a battle than mere, raw power, and people loved to downgrade her talents with a glance to her skinny arms.

The remembrance of Howard pushed to the front of her mind and she blinked her shock, not understanding the reason why her subconscious thought him to be a fair comparison. She shook her head and saw Sakura tying her hitai-ate on her head, fulfilling a promise they did a while ago. It could have been something to congratulate her if it was her attempt at emotional manipulation, but Ino knew better than to believe this was a mere spectacle. Again, in another reality, she would have done the same, letting her emotions for her former best friend to cloud her mind. Now, with the pain on her ribcage that didn't allow her to move as freely as she once could and the remembrance of fallen limbs, under no circumstance could Ino keep subduing to Sakura's wishes.

"Not even his type," she crossed her arms, keeping her hitai-ate secured around her waist, Sakura's green gaze didn't ignore the movement and the cloth still attached to her mid-section, her lips pursing in distaste. "I guess you should know, you talk to him almost on daily basis, being his teammate and all, right? Since you were lucky enough of me being who I am."

Did Sakura want Ino to take this fight seriously? Fine, this was Ino being serious, furthermore, this was Ino being pissed. "What?" Sakura bared her teeth and red color tinted her cheeks and neck in pure fury, the silence of the room was almost deafening, there was a line Ino swore to never cross when they were friends that now laid blurred in between them.

It was part of the fight, she decided. "Are you too far gone on your self-believe of importance that you didn't pause to think why they put you there?" She pointed her head to the place Kakashi was standing, a smirk on her lips, "I was –am better than you, better grades in almost every single department, second best to Sasuke-kun, the only reason why I wasn't put in team seven was solely because of the role that I have to fulfill." She pointed now to her own team, swallowing the trembling of her voice. Sakura's will was crumbling, it was easy to see in the way her lips curled down as understanding reached her. Her self-esteem (such a volatile, fragile little thing Sakura hadn't mastered to build on her own, using both Sasuke and Ino's perception of her to either love or hate herself), falling deeper down, Ino opening her mouth to end it all. "Even this part of yourself that makes you so proud is my doing."

In the silence, Sakura's tears seemed to resound on the floor, maintaining her decency enough as not to weep, Asuma whispered a low "Kamisama," that was probably intended to keep secretly between those under his command, but little did he succeed in not shattering the quiet that followed her cutting words.

"YOU LITTLE BIT-" Naruto's insult was interrupted by a palm over his mouth, Ino didn't hold that against him, it was just natural to want to protect the girl in front of her, she knew better than anyone how it felt. A shuriken made its way to her fingers, tossing it was a natural occurrence after her skin felt the cold metal of the star, Sakura's reaction was slow –tears blurred her vision, and barely dodge the attack, a line of blood marked the place where it had kissed her skin.

In her stumbling to the side, Ino moved towards her, if she was barely better than Sakura in strength, then she left her in the dust when it came to speed, she punched, hard, Sakura's nose yielding to her power, splashing her knuckles with blood. Back she flew, colliding with the wall behind her, her back making a dull sound at the brutal contact. Ino quickly took the cable she stole from the Kusa team and ran again towards her, in the background Naruto and, perhaps, Lee –it was hard to know for sure given the blond boy's volume-, were screaming for Sakura to get up, to not quit, to make her bit the dust. It was a fine sentiment and it seemed to work to an extent, but none of them had the hold on Sakura that Sasuke has, so she wasn't able to properly get her head on the game once more.

Ino tried to kick Sakura's ribs and felt the effort on her own torso, the attempt useless when Sakura was able to move aside, her sadness became pure anger with the desire to prove herself of her worth. It would be trickier to exploit, but it was better than having her reasoning smoothly. Both of them started a dance of dodges and attacks that barely connected to the other one's body to inflict much damage, Ino used mostly her arms to attack and her feet to detour, moving gracefully in-between Sakura's openings but unable to hit her. Sakura, on the other hand, was raw resolution and fire, there was no grace on her movements but the pure craving to hurt and reach conclusion, their styles of combat equally unable to overpower the other.

But in her fury, Sakura failed to see the purpose behind Ino's dance and it was only when Ino pulled and Sakura's body was trapped in between her wire, stumbling forward and falling to her knees, that she understood. "Forfeit." She commanded, "it's over." Ino knew that her advantage was quickly fading and she pushed the girl's buttons to end the match, Sakura was smart enough to force herself to cool and see reason, and it will do her no good to have come this far only to allow her strategy to vanish.

Sakura bit with her molars, tears of frustration and anger pouring down her cheeks, "never." Ino tightened her hold and pumped chakra through the wire to keep her steady, it was visible how it burned a little bit of her rival's skin. Sakura pursed her lips and squinted her eyes shut in pain, but didn't speak again, the proctor glanced at both of them, cocking his head to the side in wait, perhaps Sakura had another trick on her sleeve and, for a moment, Ino swallowed in fear.

"If you don't, I will possess you, your mind is weak enough for me to control at my will. I'm trying to save you from that humiliation, or is it that you want me to see what's inside you?"

Sakura gasped at the threat, arms trying to free her form of Ino's hold, if it came down to it, Ino will be forced to use her jutsu on her because she wouldn't last long by holding her down. "N-no… you promised, you-"

"-whatever I promised back then," Ino was quick to interrupt, her heart beating painfully inside her ribcage, "it was between me and my best friend… and it has been years since she ceased to exist."

Green eyes opened slowly, shinning with new tears that they will soon share, and looked at her, none of them spoke, and the few seconds that passed was a battle of spirits that Ino knew she had already won. Sakura had succumbed to her defeat the moment she had let Ino define her. In between trembling lips, it escaped "I forfeit," so low and so soft that she believed it had never be spoken, and she was only sure of its real condition when Hayate marked the end of the match, announcing her as the winner.

She opened her hands and the wire fell from Sakura's figure but she didn't stood, her head low and tears pooling on the floor under her face, Ino didn't move either, watching the precious person that she had now destroyed. "I'm s-" she wanted to apologize, her vocal cords trembling with the effort it took to construct another thought that wasn't full of Sakura's tears.

"Ino," Asuma's voice cracked the space between them as a lightning bolt, reaching the deeper parts of her soul. "Come, it's over now." She opened her mouth to protest, to let him know that she will try to make amends, but he spoke again, preventing her to voice her wishes, "it's not the time. Let her heal on her own."

It was a slap, at least in how it hurt, Ino flinched and glanced back at where Sakura was standing, head still low, Kakashi patting her head reassuringly, Ino had made that, Ino had stripped her from basics reassurances, she had built her while infants only to destroy her when she saw fit. She had been cruel and convinced herself to be doing it out of respect and not out of malice, she had wanted to hurt Sakura as much as she did when she abandoned her, destroying her identity in retaliation.

Ino Yamanaka went up the stairs while fellow Konoha-nin glanced at her sideways, hiding her head under her bangs despite being unnecessary since, from their distance, they couldn't see how tears fell down her cheeks.

He found her in the corner of one of the resting rooms, forehead resting on her knees and hands embracing her legs, seeking solace. She had not stayed much after her fight's conclusion, biting her upper lip at the display in the main screen where her name was, followed by a winner. It was around the middle of the next round –Tenten jumped high and heads moved back to appreciate her movements- that she slipped away and vanished in the background's lack of light, disappearing behind an open door.

It had been smart on her part to seize the others' distraction to get away, harsh looks of former classmates were what followed her arrival at the upper floor and not even Asuma's reassuring pat on her shoulder made her look up from her bangs. He had seen her shadow move from the corner of his eye, it was pure luck really, but he hadn't been able to follow her retreating form, the match between the girl from Suna and Tenten was over all too quickly and his name popped out in the next draw.

It was weird to fight against a girl and weirder to do it in such a soundless fashion. There has been no cheers for him, which wasn't something he minded, but Chöji's shy congratulation seemed wrong without Ino boisterous nature. He had told Asuma that it would be a good idea for the teacher to find his pupil and have a talk, but he had brushed him off because he needed to stay in order to support Chöji if his name was to be chosen for the next fight.

At that, Chöji was quick to grab his forearm, pressing his fingers against his flesh with careful strength, closing the space between them and bringing his mouth close to his ear, his warm breath tickling the sensitive skin there. "Go Shika, I'll be fine."

"What?" Shikamaru blinked without understanding what was asked of him, Chöji pressed more forcefully his hold, white pressure marks contrasting with the brown of his skin.

"Go and find her, I have to stay for my match." He spoke in almost a whisper, Naruto's shouts against Kiba providing their conversation with some needed privacy. Up to that point, none of them were sure where Ino stood in their comrades' eyes, what she did was nothing worst than what Shino had done to that boy from sound, but Sakura was one of them. It was clear by the way that Naruto screamed and looked at Ino during and after the fight that he was deep in his negativity towards her, for which Shikamaru couldn't blame him, but he also believed that it wasn't his place to take sides when Ino and Sakura's relationship was concerned.

He glanced back at the match that was currently happening, straightening the lines of his shirt and a scold forming in his face. Kiba and Naruto were weirdly evenly matched, Naruto showing a strength that he lacked back in the Academy, he wondered if team 8 will be as harsh in their disdain towards Naruto if Kiba was to lose, but then again, Naruto was an idiot, not particularly cruel.

He wanted nothing more than to object and stay alongside Chöji to offer his own support. He wasn't up to the task, he decided, furthermore, out of the three of them, he was the worst possible option when it came to both giving comfort and providing comfort to Ino specifically, so he failed to see where the logic in sending him was.

It was better to leave her to her own devices, she will know how to put herself together enough to drag herself from her sulking to Sasuke's bed in the infirmary. Ino will undoubtedly tell him all about her most recent feat, boasting her victory against who knew to be her best friend once and now defeated rival, Sasuke's weak teammate, Sakura Haruno. Regardless of his logical decision, there was a bitter taste in his mouth that had nothing to do with the exhaustion he felt. He had not being able to rest properly yet, finishing the second round of the test just the day before. He yawned and leaned his weight on the wall when Asuma's elbow pushed him to the side, "go, Shikamaru."

He was about to protest, he really was, but both Chöji and Asuma's expressions darkened, leaving small room for arguments. He allowed the scowl to deepen before reluctantly taking the same path he saw Ino take, passing Sakura and giving her a sideways glance. She was red on her cheeks and her eyes shone still, her hiccups subdued sometime during Tenten's match, Sakura watched the match below, a small smile on her lips at Naruto's antics, her skin drawn with the red lines of Ino's wire.

Following Ino had not proved to be an easy task, she was quiet when she wanted to, surprisingly enough. Having seen where she went gave him a really small advantage because the door took him to a corridor with many doors, and there was no distinguishable Ino-sound behind them. As so, he was forced to open the ones he could and pick inside quietly, but his efforts provided no fruition, so he had to repeat the process once more, this time caring less for secrecy. He only saw her because she had yelped at his entrance, but hadn't pay further attention, perhaps believing he was someone else. He took short, quiet footsteps towards her, expecting her to snap at him for interrupting such an intimate moment, but she picked at him from her armpit and covered her face again in between her arms, there were tears in her skin and wetness on her clothes. She looked small, a ravishing contrast to her previously shown cruelty.

"Don't be mean…" it was surprising how soft her voice was when pleading, Shikamaru had pictured her asking for favors, but it paled in the face of reality. He felt no pleasure at the pain in her tone, no desire to push her further down with witty remarks. It was the very core of their relationship and yet he couldn't bring himself to enjoy her fall from grace.

He sat next to her, his legs stretched and arms crossed, back firmly pressed against the wall, he positioned himself far enough not to touch her, even by accident, but close enough to be able to hear her if she whispered; it was the closest he will allow himself to be from her. "I won't…" he responded because he considered himself to be an impartial person. "You were cruel."

Ino groaned and finally brought her face away from the warmth of her own embrace, rolling her eyes widely despite the wetness on her skin, as if it didn't break the purpose of her annoyed gesture. "Really," she sniffed, "Shikam-"

"-Wait, you didn't let me finish," and surprisingly, she shut her mouth, sniffing again and glancing openly at him, her arms still tightly grabbing her knees, still looking to comfort herself, still seeking for warmness. "You were cruel," he repeated and saw her deflate a little bit more, "but you weren't unfair."

Ino blinked, perhaps she hadn't grasped what he was trying to say, which wasn't her fault, she was mopping in the corner of an empty room after winning the match she had wanted to have since a little kid, she wasn't exactly at the best state of mind, "I mean…" he continued, "you took her seriously enough to bring her down in your own fashion. You played with her mind and she couldn't handle it, she'll grow from that."

"But – I was so… and she's a comrade and she- she is…"

Shikamaru licked his lips, nodding, "yes, I never said that what you say was right. I said it wasn't unfair. You knew her insecurities and exploited them to get under her skin and defeat her, it isn't something unheard of."

"But Sakura-"

"She'll get over it." He licked his lips again, watching her nod at his words, her lips still curled down, the light green color of her eyes barely visible in the lack of light in the room, "did you think about it?" He asked, unable to withhold his curiosity, it might not be the time for him to indulge in this need, but he wasn't known to be patient with Ino.

Ino looked at him without responding, it might be that she didn't know what exactly he was asking that she thought about, he opened his mouth again to expand, but she nodded before he could, the response clear. "It's just an excuse I told myself to feel better…" it was soft the way the words left her mouth and it didn't occur to Shikamaru until then that the formation of Ino-Shika-Cho had led Ino into believing herself not good enough for another team.

"Uhm… might be true," the reassurance was out of his mouth before he could actually think about it, it wasn't far-fetched to see the logic behind Ino's words, but it wasn't as if Sakura wasn't the next best kunoichi of their class behind Ino. Maybe Sakura was the only name that had popped into Iruka's mind when forming the teams since Ino-Shika-Chö was a given, but if Ino hadn't been forced into it, well… hard to imagine her going another place than in a team next to Sasuke and Naruto, unless Sakura brought something more to the team that Shikamaru wasn't aware of. Regardless, it was clear that Ino had used the shock of her statement to manipulate Sakura, not allowing her to think deeper about it, because the claim couldn't sustain itself if analyzed. The truth was that Sakura was there and Ino was not.

And as it stands, Shikamaru had to admit that Ino had played marvelously the game, a strategy that not even he was able to look through until it was over, it's true that Ino knew Sakura like the palm of her hand and used that knowledge to her advantage –what would she do against someone she didn't know as well, he wondered-, but if that's true for Ino, then the same could be said the other way around, but Sakura hadn't known how to use her cards, too used to only get Ino's reassurances. "Do you think she will forgive me?" Ino asked him, tightening her hold on her legs.

"Did you?" He replied with a question on his own, "when she left?"

Ino sighed.

They stopped talking after that, comfortable enough to stay in silence, Shikamaru breathed in and out through his nose, closing his eyes for a moment, enjoying the quietness and darkness of the room. Ino sniffed once or twice in the span time of perhaps ten minutes, so she still was deeply sad. He could understand if his mere attempt at consolation proved to be unsatisfactory, but took comfort in the fact that she, at least, hadn't reacted violently at him.

How much time it passed was a mystery, he could have sworn that he just closed his eyes when Asuma shook his shoulder as to wake him. He had drooled on his shirt, his skin pinking in shame, Ino was seated where he left her when drifting off, still awake, still sad and beside him, still. It was, if anything, an improvement. It only took to receive the disdain of her peers. Laughable.

"You didn't tell me you won your fight," she scolded with no real malice, almost asking permission to use her usual tone with him, he blinked the tiredness out of his eyes.

"Oh…" was his response, and he glanced at their teacher, "Chöji!" He was fully awake now, filled with guilt and adrenaline. Asuma stopped him by shocking his head, Shikamaru's heart sank.

"He's alright, it was quick, ego more bruised than body."

"Oh no… I should have been with him!" He slapped his forehead, chastising himself for falling asleep, his exhaustion from his previous encounter with the limits of chakra depletion and minimum rest felt more an excuse than a truthful reason, but he knew better than to argue that with the people around him.

"I'm sorry," Ino mumbled without touching him, it still surprised him how those words didn't make him feel what he often fantasized they would, "where is he?"

"Outside, he's fine. Don't worry over him. Now listen," he quickly changed his expression into something more serious, "you both missed the last part of the preliminaries, your names were drawn again with whom you are to fight next." He licked his lips, glancing at both of them with contemplation, it was clear by his body language that a speech was making its way out of his throat, pushed down again by share force of his will. Perhaps it wasn't the place, perhaps the time –Ino was still affected enough to be nice to Shikamaru of all people, but it was obvious that it will, eventually, come. "I'll make this short and you two will go back to your house to rest. Two days. That's all I'm giving you." He breathed, "Shikamaru, you will fight Dosu, he was the one who defeated Chöji, he's from sound, but you knew that already." Shikamaru nodded, "we'll discuss his techniques later. Ino, you will fight Temari, now, she's unbelievably dangerous, I don't want your back almost broken like Tenten did, she's also a long-range fighter, and you don't know her at all like Shikamaru does Dosu. So, in your case, we will need to prepare carefully our strategy, what you used with Sakura won't work with her."

Ino's mouth suddenly shut, her hands trembling, "oh Kami…"

"Don't panic." Asuma said, "I won't let anything happen to you. Plus, you two have a month to prepare."

"Oh, oh Kami," Ino was not to be deterred from her fear, new tears rolling down her eyes, "I can't… I won't… she broke Tenten's back?!"

"No, Ino-"

"She -I can't –I'm not good –oh Kami…"

Asuma kneeled in front of her, hands on her shoulders, his thumb gently caressing her skin to reassure her, "you need to rest." He whispered, his expression gentler, "don't worry about Temari now, I promise Ino, I won't let her hurt you." He said.

Shikamaru wondered if Kakashi had made that same promise to Sakura before Ino came, crushing her down.

A/N: Ino was shown to be, during Sakura's memories and by Asuma's words, an exceptional ninja, the first official Fanbook stated that she was the best female ninja in their class, second best only behind Sasuke. The reason why Ino was canonically instituted as the best kunoichi during the Academy was both to establish her rivalry and superiority to Sakura while infants, and to "show" how much Sakura has improved in the chünin exams. Mirroring Naruto and Sasuke's dynamic.

The only reason why Sakura was able to break free from Ino's jutsu was thanks to her second personality, a trait that disappeared soon after. As it stands, and while Ino's character was solely created to give Sakura deeper characterization, I don't see how Sakura is at the same level as Ino is. Both showed the same skill at taijutsu, which is either because Ino didn't train at all on it during that time, her score being a B when graduated, or because Sakura (who scored a C) trained her but off –which she canonically didn't-. Furthermore, strategically speaking, Ino showed to be superior. Sakura having a second personality that saved her from Ino's jutsu is no feat. She didn't develop it while training nor it was the visualization of her will, it existed previously and was "awoken" by Naruto's cheers during her combat.

It's true that is shown in the first Databook that Ino had three points in "latent ability" while Sakura had four (which is a projection of how much she could grow from the point they were already in), which isn't to say that Sakura was going to surpass Ino, but that she had more room for improvement. That's proved right when in the second Databook Ino still "surpassed" Sakura in everything but genjutsu, intelligence, and hand seals but in the manga is stated they were even in the chünin exams. Should stats matter in a fight? Not particularly, Sakura has always been smarter than Ino and yet Ino canonically outsmarted her during their fight. That being said, I'm not committing the same crime Kishimoto made for the sole purpose of giving Sakura a "development" he wasn't bothered to show until then. Shame on him.

Why did I erased the hair Ino used in canon to trap Sakura but kept the nature of her attack (that is, being able to hold Sakura down with basically the same system) will be –sort of, justified in the next chapter.

That's my take in their canon fight, you're more than welcome into leaving your views in the comments, and while you're there, let me know your thoughts on the chapter! It helps a lot.