Hidden Villages

1: Flowering Friendship

For most of the children in the village the chance of entering the academy was a dream come true. Some children didn't come from families with shinobi ties, so their dreams and aspiration's seemed far-fetched compared to the children who actually came from a family with one or more shinobi. For those who came from one of the shinobi clans becoming a shinobi was in fact something which went without saying, yet the dreams of their parents were still a big deal.

Ino found herself waking in the morning excited for the big change which marked in her young mind an integral point of growing up in any hidden village, yet her voice boomed out letting her parents know she was up at the crack of dawn. Her rather proud father lifted the small child up onto his shoulders so that she might see every sight on the first day of entering the academy.

Her father's presence also turned heads and her small hand waved at the people who smiled back up at her. Upon arriving at the academy she took a deep breath at seeing the academy as her excitement grew. Her father chuckled. "Excited at making new friends."

"Someone other than the lazy Shikamaru and fat Choji? Of course I'm excited." Ino's chipper voice made her father laugh.

"Now, now. You should know Choji doesn't like being called that. As for Shikamaru..." The man paused in thought before letting out a rather loud laugh. "I doubt he'd care and would rather you spent your energy in any pursuit that didn't involve him."

The small girl's mouth pressed into a frown as her small fingers twisted into her father's blond hair. "Not funny. They're disgusting boys."

"Yes. Boys are disgusting. I hope you always remember that."

Ino's attention turned towards scanning the playground looking for the other girls entering the academy. There were various groups of girls waiting for the entrance ceremony to commence. Her fingers twisted painfully into her father's hair making him let out a yelp. "Ino. Careful up there. You know our hair is the pride of our clan."

"Pride of our clan." Ino piped up. "If it is the pride of our clan then why don't you let me grow my hair out?"

"Uh..." The man didn't say anything, yet her attention was drawn to three girls standing by the tree.

One of the girls had short, purple hair which she would reach up and flip back. Her brown eyes looked in a specific direction on the playground, but Ino couldn't help but notice the rather nasty look on the girl's face. Her friend with spiky brown hair and her friend with curly orange hair also looked in the same direction with similar nasty looks. Even from where Ino sat on her father's shoulder she could see the girl giggle followed soon after by her friend nodding in agreement.

Ino turned her head to see what the girls were looking at and she saw a pretty little girl with hair a color she'd never seen before - pink. The shy little girl stood next to a woman with blond hair watching as her delicate sea-foam colored eyes stared out at the entire playground. She watched who she assumed was the girls mother nudge her gently towards the other students which mingled getting to know each other.

The girl walked a few hesitant steps forward before looking back at the woman as her lip quivered. Ino was sure the woman mouthed something encouraging the girl to move forward and the girl smiled and stepped forward. The girl found herself in a sea of other children which seemed quite outside of her comfort zone. She passed by a child holding the hand of someone who looked like his older brother and ended up in a spot which was off on its own.

One of the other mothers suddenly swarmed over to the girls mother and started gabbing with her, but something told her this was the mother of the girl who kept pointing and giggling at the pink haired girl. As if on cue the purple haired girl walked over and crossed her arms and said something which seemed to obviously upset the pink haired girl.

Ino yanked her father's hair painfully making him let out a yelp before she climbed down. She passed by a little girl with short black hair and violet eyes holding onto the hand of a boy who didn't look much older than her, but also looked like her brother. She didn't notice the small girl open her mouth to say something and simply walked right over to where the three girls were obviously tormenting the other girl.

"Do I need to repeat so you'll leave? This school doesn't need any billboard brow outsiders, so run along back to your mommy." The purple haired girl waved her hand in a manner which told the pink-haired child to scram. Ino saw the sea-foam green eyes start tearing up at the corners, but also how the pink haired girls' lip began to tremble.

"Hey!" Ino's voice drew the three girl's attention towards her.

The three girls turned, their eyes widening upon recognition of the heiress of the Yamanaka clan. Smiles spread across their faces, but the girl with curly orange hair leaned over. "That's Yamanaka Ino. She's so pretty."

"Hey. Why don't you tell billboard brow the outsider she's not wanted."

"How about you stop bullying others?" Ino crossed her arms and glared at the two girls.

"Why? I'd rather be friends with you than her."

Ino watched the girls lip continue to tremble. "Why? Because I don't want to be friends with bullies. I'd much rather be friends with the cute little girl the bullies are jealous of."

With that, Ino grabbed the girl's hand and hurried off towards where the other students were gathering to head up to the roof so they might hear the Kage's opening speech. On her way she passed by a rather chubby orange haired boy standing next to a boy yawning his head off, yet paid them no mind.

When they arrived on the roof she turned to the girl. "My name is Ino. What's yours?"

The girl let out a small hiccup. "Why would you want to be my friend?"

"Why?" Ino tilted her head slightly. "Why not?"

"I'm an outsider."

"Why do those girls call you that?"

"I don't know."

"Well, it's probably just because you're an outsider to their group, but I'd rather be an outsider of that group than an insider."

A smile spread across the girl's face. "My daddy said something like that."

"Good. As I said, my name is Ino and I am officially your first, but bestest friend at the academy. So, what is the name of my first, but bestest friend at the academy?"

"My name is Sakura."

"That's a pretty name."

"So's your name."