4 YEARS LATER
Ino slowly walked towards the kitchen where her father is cooking lunch. She sat at the dining table and watched his cook in boredom
"Daddy, I want to play" Ino said with childish voice.
"Huh? okay, then go on and play" Inoichi said and smiled sweetly before returning his attention to cooking.
"But, me want outside" Ino said
"You can play in the backyard sweetheart" He replied.
Ino sighed and stood up and headed to their backyard, Ino sat on a wood plank.
She only wasted time, staring into nothingness and making weird faces. Inoichi finally called her for lunch so Ino stood up and hurriedly went to the dining table. We both said their thanks before digging in to their food.
Ino quickly finished eating and rested her satisfied belly for a while before tugging on her father's sleeves.
"Yes?" He said and picked Ino up and held her.
"Daddy, I want play outside" Ino said and he looked at her in confusion
"You don't want to play in the backyard?" He asked and she nodded.
Ino pointed the entrance door of their house
"playy" She said in a childish manner. He smiled sweetly
"Okay then, just wait here for a second" Inoichi said as he put her on the ground. He then went upstairs,
"What's he going to do?" Ino thought wandered for a second before shrugging. She went to the living room and sat on the couch.
Minutes later, he came down and told her that we're now going.
Ino held onto my father's hand the whole time, we would stop a few times when someone approaches them and talk to her mother, they would also pinch her cheeks and compliment her a lot, though the pinching part was very annoying.
Inoichi led his daughter to a playground where other children, along with their parents are. Ino let go of her father's hand and went to sit on an empty swing, Ino swung herself, trying to find entertainment but failed.
Ino stopped the swing from moving and sat still and observed her surroundings, her father is talking to the other adults, the children all had playmates, while she sat still, all alone.
Ino then heard shouting from the bushes, curiosity took over her and so Ino went to check it out. She entered the bush and saw a boy wearing sunglasses getting insulted and beaten up by other kids, her eyes started burning at the sight.
"What are you doing?" Ino asked directly, they all stopped and looked at her
"Huh? who are you?" The leader asked, Ino thought
"None of your business" Ino replied, He stared at her in confusion
"Whatever, get out of here" they shooed her and turned their attention back to the boy, Ino instinctively pushed them away, they all turned to her with an annoyed expression and started beating her up instead. Until she can't take it anymore, Ino bearing red eyes. The red glow grew stronger. Ino charged the them when Ino was close enough, seeing as a group of ANBU and her father along with two unknown jōnin ninja appeared in from bushes, the ANBU group splitting up; one to stop Ino, the other to calm other kids down.
"Ino dear, calm down." Inoichi said, calming his daughter down with his presence. The red glow disappeared, and Ino returned to normal.
"Oh, hi Daddy!" Ino said, before passing out on the floor. Two ANBU in particular, seemed worried about the young girl.
"Yamato and Tokuma escort my daughter back to Yamanaka compound and stay next to Ino's side. All of you are to stand guard for other kids, and take them to the hospital to have them checked out" the Inoichi ordered, receiving a 'Hai' before they disappeared.
"Um.. Sir, your daughter gonna be ok?" The boy with sunglasses named Shino asked, only witnessing the part where Ino collapsed. The Yamanaka clan head sighed. He didn't know how much of that he saw, but he'd have to go out on a limb.
"She'll be fine. your name is Shino right?" Inoichi said and young Shino nodded
"Ok, I'll be go-" Inoichi was cut off as a brown long-haired man with sunglasses came barreling towards him.
"Shino-sama, are you ok?" the man says panted.
"Ah, Muta-san, glad your here. Shino is fine, but, as you can see so far, your cousin saw it. Sit down, and I'll explain everything," the Inoichi said, gesturing for the man to sit.
"What about the-" Muta shut up, remembering that Shino was there with him.
"Like I said, I'll explain it all" the Yamanaka clan head said, truth on the spot to tell them everything.
ONE WEEK LATER
Ino was on her bed, staring at ceiling. She got off and headed to the background then decided running around for at least 2 minutes.
A few days passed and Ino usually run around the backyard for 3-5 minutes. That's all she could do as of now. Before lunch, she decided to run around the backyard again, and noticed that Tokuma her nanny watched me from a distance, but Ino ignored him.
FLASHBACK: THREE DAYS AFTER THE INCIDENT
13-year old boy named Tokuma sighed, taking long strides towards the assigned destination. The mission scroll says he has to babysit some kid for a few hours until her mom arrives. Finding missing pets and weeding garden seem to be more interesting than this now.
He arrived at the given address. It was in the Yamanaka district. The house was modest. Tokuma walked over the stone pavement and stood in front of the main door. He knocked softly at the door with his knuckles. Soon he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The door opened, revealing a middle-aged man. He smiled and gestured him to come inside.
"Hello ninja-san, I am Inoichi Yamanaka. Thank you for accepting my request to look after my daughter" The man said, guiding him towards the living room.
"Hello sir, I am Tokuma Hyuga. Serving the citizens of Konoha is our duty" He said as internally screaming at Muta sensei for assigning him a boring mission.
"You are very dedicated Tokuma-Kun. Please have a seat, I will get you some tea" Inoichi said
Before Tokuma could refuse, he left the room to fetch tea. Tokuma sat down on the cushion near the low table, examining the interior of the room. The room wasn't cluttered or filled with furniture too much. Most of the furniture was usually low, modern, laconic and there were floor cushions. There were few antic pieces and a couple of indoor plants. The large window provided a decent amount of sunlight in the room. There was a corner table, a family picture was placed on it. He got up and walked up to the table. After examining the photograph, he recognized Inoichi-san, a woman standing beside him, probably his wife holding her belly by one hand while other hand is Inoichi's hand.
"Dammit, am I supposed to look after a baby? I don't wanna be here." Tokuma cursed under his murmured
"I am not a baby and I don't want you here either." Ino said
Tokuma jumped at the voice and looked at the doorway. A girl with blonde hair was standing at the doorway, glaring at him.
Her glare was making him feel uncomfortable.
"C'mon Tokuma! She is just a kid, you can handle this" He thought reassured himself.
"And you call yourself a ninja? You didn't even notice me coming," Ino mocked him.
"Maybe you aren't that capable" She further added smirking at him.
At that moment, Tokuma knew two things. One, he didn't like the kid, not even a tiny bit. Second, her smirk was as annoying as his teammate Shisui and he so wanna wipe it off her face. Before he could say anything, her father came back with tea. The switch in Ino's behavior in Inoichi's presence was instant. She was acting like a bashful and timid girl. The smirk was replaced by a shy smile. Ino wasn't even making full eye contact with him. Tokuma openly gaped at her acting skills.
"Glad you met Ino-chan already. Please have your tea. I am running a little late so I will talk to you once I return Hyuga-san," Inoichi said, handing him a piece of paper containing his tasks as a babysitter. He then kissed his daughter on the forehead
"Be good Ino, Daddy will come back soon." Inoichi said
"Okay, Daddy!" Ino replied in a happy tone. Tokuma ignored the exchange between father and daughter. He came here straight after team training. He was tired. Tea will help him relax a little. Once Inoichi left the house, Ino turned to Tokuma.
END OF THE FLASHBACK
He called her for lunch and Ino ran inside and drank plenty of water. They started eating, and while at it
"Ino-chan, I've noticed that you've been running around the backyard everyday" Tokuma said and Ino smiled before answering,
"Yes Nanny-san!" Ino said
"Why is that?" He asked raised his eyebrows at her.
"I heard the other kids that there are ninjas, and they are powerful" Ino said
"And?" He asked
"And I heard them say that ninjas run fast!!" Ino said as he chuckled in amusement and patted her head
"Okay then, but what are you planning?" Tokuma asked and Ino was in deep thoughts.
Ino looked at him with her eyes lit up
"I am going to be a ninja!!" Ino proudly exclaimed, He stayed quiet.
The following weeks went pretty normal, besides running, Ino started doing push-ups as well, but she only do them in her room, Ino wouldn't want her father or Tokuma-san to see a 4 year old innocent girl do push-ups. But besides that, she didn't get to go out of the house, Inoichi was being too worried. Inoichi will be back home for dinner so Ino decided to ask him instead.
"I'm home!" Her father announced, Ino got off the couch and ran towards him and engulfed him in a hug, he picked Ino up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. They started eating dinner and father talked about his missions, so Ino gave him the look of excitement and interest, that way, maybe he could give her training and acknowledge her interest in ninjas.
After eating dinner, Ino went to her father's side, a memory during the war flashed through her mind, Ino smiled sadly and rested her head on his lap. Ino looked at him
"Daddy" Ino said
"Hm? what is it?" Inoichi asked
"Can I go outside the house?" Ino said in her childish tone and he thought about it for a second.
"Sure, but only when Tokuma or me around okay?" He said as Ino nodded excitedly and embraced him, which he returned.
"Okay, time to go to bed" he said and picked her up
Inoichi set her down and Ino fixed herself on her bed, he went to pick a book to read, then sat down and started reading, while Ino listened. And so later on, she slowly drifted off to sleep
The next day, Tokuma and Ino were in the playground where the incident happened. Tokuma was observed from under the trees while the girls were looking at him but he basically ignore them.
Ino was collecting the flowers to make a flower crown but when a shadow blocked her sunlight, she looked up and gave a look at him confused.
"Hi, you may not know me but I was the boy who you saved and I want to say thank you for saving me the other day." He said shyly
"Ahhh, okay I remember you that day and don't worry it was nothing. I'm happy to help you ummm" Ino says ads she tilt her head
"Sorry we never have a proper introduces each other." Shino says blushed
"Hi, I'm Shino Aburame, the heir of Aburame clan." Shino said smiling eye
"Nice to see you Shino, I'm Ino Yamanaka, the heiress of Yamanaka clan" Ino said as they both have a long conversation about the things they both like, dislike, hobbies and etc. as they gotten to know each other.
Tokuma was watching from the very beginning and he relaxed for a while and smiled at the sight he seeing.
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Words: 2084 totals