First chapter in a drabble story!
Rating: K/K+
Dragon
Ever since Ino was a little girl, she expected a tall, dark prince to save her.
She blamed her mother, who had named her after a boar in the family tradition and then made sure she knew she was a princess. A princess deserved a befitting prince, of course, Ino knew, so she picked the best one.
His name was Sasuke.
He would climb up her long hair, defeat the dragon, and fall in love with her.
Of course, there wasn't really any dragon around. Ino's life was peaceful and plentiful, and she almost always got what she wanted. She found that she didn't lack enough to care about what she didn't get. Except for Sasuke. She couldn't have him, and she found that she could never forget that.
When Sasuke was abducted, she was tormented, longing to go out and find him, as though she was losing years of her life without him.
It took her first near-death experience to wake her up to the fact that there was indeed a dragon in her life.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Asuma were away, combing through the woods to find the enemy shinobi and find out all they could, all while Ino nursed a sprained ankle and "guarded" the camp.
Guard what, the pots and pans, the tents and sleeping bags?
Ino grew bored and chose to hop around to see the little wildflowers at the edge of the clearing, lifting them to the sun to look at the veins of fire in their orange petals. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have seen the red eyes staring down at her.
She threw the flower in her hand like a kunai and caught the man off guard, and not waiting for him to make the first move, she took him down, chakra charging the sole of her one healthy foot and her arms – a tiny slip of a girl, barreling over a two-hundred-pound man – and scrambled atop him to perform the mind-body transfer.
He struggled. They all struggled at first.
When she was done taking over his mind, she gleaned from it what information she needed, had him take Ino to the center of the clearing (she was pleased to find that she weighed nothing) and bind himself up.
When Shikamaru, Asuma, and Choji returned, bedraggled, muddy, and dejected, she was there, waiting with a prisoner whose mouth she'd stuffed with the mildly poisonous flowers, smiling innocently.
"What are you cooking for us?" she asked Choji brightly, enjoying their looks of shock.
It was her.
She was the dragon.
Whatever prince wanted her would have to get through her first.
Hope you enjoyed!
The Natto Chronicles will be full of stories that happen simultaneously with Miso Soup, and once I've finished Miso, full of stories that follow.
Ino is another one of those powerful kunoichi whose powers I wished Kishimoto had developed further. She was an advanced kunoichi during the Chunin exams, according to Asuma, and then she's forgotten. Even her part in the Hidan/Kakuzu arc was paltry, especially compared to Shikamaru.
Some of these will be self-discovery, like this one, while others will be humor or romance or friendship or family or even some darker themes. I'm always open to ideas, so let me know your favorite characters and what you want for them!
R&R and stay safe out there, everyone :)