Truth Well Hidden

Ino's Experiences with Homophobia

"Nothing! I'll be going out to the library!" Ino said hurriedly as she ran from her mother's shop, her cheeks dusted in a pink hue.

Just as Ino was passing an alleyway on her way to the library, she heard a slight commotion in the shadows of the alleyway.

"Where do you think you are going?" shouted a boy's voice, rude and mean.

Ino turned around in confusion, looking in the direction of the voice, only to realise that the words were not directed at her. Rather, it was directed at Haruno Sakura, the very pretty girl she had asked her mother about earlier.

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps I'm going home? Maybe to the library? Even you uncultured swines should know what those are, right?" Ino heard Sakura say in a sarcastic tone, her voice melodic and lilting.

Ino felt herself take a sharp breath as she stared at the girl, pretty sure that her mouth was hanging open at the sound of Sakura's voice.

"Oh, now you are just asking for it!" another boy's voice growled.

This snapped Ino out of her stupor, instantly jumping into action as she dashed toward Sakura, shouting, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Ino ran straight to the bullies, grabbing the arm that was almost an inch away from Sakura's tender cheek. She twisted it viciously behind his back, angling it so that it would hurt. She proceeded to kick the boy in the shin with all the strength she could muster, letting the boy gain momentum and swing around before letting go of his arm. This made the bully fly into the wall, hitting his head with a resounding thwacking sound that Ino secretly enjoyed.

Without pausing to take a breather, she spun around and elbowed the other bully in the stomach while making sure her entire body weight had been propelled into the boy. This made the boy let go of Sakura, bending slightly over his stomach as he clutched it in pain. Ino kneed him in the crotch with a sickening crack, watching in satisfaction as the boy fell to the floor and immediately curled up in a ball. He clutched at his crotch, moaning in pain as several tears escaped his eyes.

Ino grabbed Sakura's soft hand, barely smaller than her own, pulling her along as she ran toward her favourite flower patch in a secluded area beside a stream. Once there, she pulled the other girl down with her onto the soft grass. Both of their chests were heaving from the long run.

Ino heard a giggle, a beautiful sound. Ino snapped her head around to face the source of the sound, Sakura. Sakura too turned to face her.

"Thank you for saving me back there. I could have handled it but... it is nice to meet someone new," Sakura told her, a small smile dancing across her lips.

"No problem!" Ino replies, her pitch rising at the end, wincing internally -- it felt almost like a question despite its enthusiastic tone.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino!" Ino introduced cheerfully, holding her hand out to Sakura.

"Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you," Sakura replied, clasping her hand with Ino's as they shook hands, Ino unable to help but notice that Sakura's hands were soft and delicate.

"Let's be friends!" Ino declared.

"Why not?" Sakura answered with a wider smile.

And so they played together in the flower patch, playing a game to see who can name the most flowers. Ino was confident that she could win, having learnt about them for almost her whole life. Sakura did not look confident in her ability to do so, however, she did not seem worried about losing.

They played, naming all the flowers in the flower patch and a few more. Sakura was the only one of the two to remember both the scientific names of the plants and the common names of the flowers. Ino just called them what she knew them as. When they finally finished, Ino started telling Sakura about what she knew each type of flower represented as well as the meanings behind the different colours. Sakura listened carefully, nodding now and then. After Ino told Sakura all she knew about the flowers, Sakura started explaining to her all the various medicinal values of each flower. She told Ino about how the flowers and the leaves of the same plant often have different properties, how they could be used as cures for diseases, to enable accelerated clotting of blood, to multiply red blood cells, to make anti-venoms to various insect bites as well as those of reptiles, to make antidotes to certain poisons and even to reverse ageing!