Ino
After dropping the kids off at the tea shop, Kurenai couldn’t help but to feel as though she hadn’t done as much to fulfill the task Guy requested of her. She frowns as she remembers his words from this morning all too clearly…
“Kurenai!”
“What is it?” she inquired with as little annoyance as she could on her one day off, “Shouldn’t you be training Neji by now?”
He smiled yet it felt forced to her, “I should, but that’s not a big deal right now. Well, not to me anyway…can you do something for me?”
Whatever it was, it had to be something pretty damn important for him to not only stop her on the street at random and say in the same breath that training isn’t important right now, “What do you need me to do?”
“I won’t be able to be with Lee this next month as much as I want to be. Please, keep an eye on him for me and try to figure out who it was that left the bruise on his face.”
Now she’s intrigued, “There’s a bruise on his face? When did he get that?”
He grows serious as he stands straight as a rail, his eyes filled with an angered fire in them she wasn’t used to seeing off the battlefield, “Last night…after the sudden death matches were over, he went to speak to his parents for the first time ever since he made Genin at the Hyuuga home. I wasn’t in the room when it all happened, but when he came out, he had a bruise on his face. I know it had to be his parents who did this…all the same, I won’t ever know for fact because Lee won’t ever tell me anything that could stand a chance of upsetting me. He’s been taught to place alphas and betas above himself no matter what; I know he’d put my potential happiness over his own comfort.”
It's times like these where she realizes how cruel the village’s policies are not only to omega children, but to the alphas who want to save them from their awful homes. It seems the elders and past hokages never took this into account. She wonders if they did, would they have enacted these laws in the first place? She doesn’t believe they would.
“I’ll do as you wish, but keep in mind, I cannot force him to talk.”
“Thank you so much, Kurenai! I would hug you, but I really should get going. Keep in touch with me about Lee, okay?”
“Okay, Guy.”
She really should’ve done more to get more information out of Lee. She knows she should’ve yet speaking to the omega about his clan and potential mate…it was heartbreak fuel she couldn’t seem to break through.
Oh well, she can always try another time. She did tell Guy she’d keep an eye on Lee for him and she will. She may not know what’s going on with him—scratch that, she doesn’t know what’s going on with him. It does not mean she will not give up on her agreement with Guy to keep an eye on him while he’s busy with Neji.
As she was leaving them at the tea shop, the omegas were at a table in the traditional shop—the workers were in kimonos, the floor was tatami mats, and the tables were all made of dark wood with the typical traditional seating arrangements.
Ino couldn’t help but to comment to Lee in a whisper, with her hand covering her mouth so the workers couldn’t see, “Are you comfortable here? Because I feel really awkward being here.”
Lee, on the other hand, was at ease with the tea shop. It was traditional and reminded him of his home—though if he thought too much on that, it would only upset him. As such, he settled for focusing on the beauty of the traditional setting around them in order to put himself in a more positive mindset, “I am perfectly fine being here. My parent’s home is a lot like this, but nowhere near as nice or beautiful.”
She feels like an idiot then for having forgotten for a moment how strict and conservative his clan is, “I should’ve figured you wouldn’t feel so out of place here…my clan is so against traditional gender roles that I grew up without ever having to go to a traditional setting like this. Deidara and I would wear kimonos for special occasions like festivals, but other than that we never had anything traditional at home. Being here feels a bit weird for me because of it.”
“I can understand the feeling…I felt that way for a long time after I joined the academy.”
She listens intently because she wasn’t used to hearing Lee speaking so openly about what he felt back then or possibly to the present time, “I was raised to never meet an alpha or beta in the eye when speaking, so having to do that was incredibly hard for me at first. I couldn’t help but to feel weird when I saw other omegas doing it too—if it weren’t for Iruka sensei, I wouldn’t have been able to meet their eyes now.”
“Why weren’t you allowed to meet their eyes?”
“Because that’s what proper omegas do; they show their submission by not making eye contact and bowing in front of an alpha or beta until ordered to kneel. If an omega breaks this rule, then they are disrespectful and don’t know their place.”
To Ino, this is incredibly backwards, ancient thinking.
To Lee, this is simply a fact of life from his childhood.
“Lee, that is so wrong.” she didn’t even bother to hide the disgust or disdain in her voice to what she heard, “I cannot believe you were raised to think that way. I knew your clan was conservative, but I didn’t think they were that backward.”
Oddly enough, while Lee wasn’t at all offended by the word ‘backward’, there was at least one waitress who had managed to have overheard her rant while not having heard rest of the conversation beforehand. She was going to bite her tongue until she heard Ino say: “Traditional views like that are so gross—I cannot understand why any omega would like anything traditional when it’s so steeped in sexism against us. I don’t get why the person who owns this place went with a traditional theme; all I know is, whoever they are, there’s no way they’re an omega. They must be a beta or an alpha looking to perv on omegas.”
She approached them without any fear, interrupting when she knew she shouldn’t despite the hot rage coursing through her at what she’s overheard, “Actually, Yamanaka, our owner is an omega. An omega who happens to like traditional clothing, tea making, aesthetic, and food.”
Ino is stunned by her sudden intrusion into their conversation. This was the reason why she didn’t reply for a while as she ranted further, “Yes, traditional views on omegas are deeply sexist and have no place in any time or place, but that doesn’t mean an omega cannot like the fashion, food, tea making, or festivals of traditional times and reinterpret them in a way to fit their own personal style and beliefs. My boss is nowhere near a wallflower and was not raised in a conservative home, nor does he hold any conservative views himself. He made this place the aesthetic it is because his loving alpha grandma raised him with it without any of the sexism you associate with it. He loves what he was raised with—he knows how wrong the sexist views associated with it are, but he reinterpreted it in a way that fit his own modern liberal views on omega’s rights. So before you go off making any more outrageous accusations, think before you speak and shame other omegas for liking something you were raised to abhor no matter what.”
Lee was about to say something to ease the tension in the air until Ino nodded slowly and said to her, “Okay, as long as this place wasn’t founded by some alpha or beta wanting to perv on omegas, then there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so quick to write this place off the way I did, and I’ll do my best to never do it again.”
“Good.” the waitress was quick to recover with a smile, “Now that we’re done with this, is there anything you two want to drink?”
“I’ll have the cherry blossom green tea.” her pale blue eyes landed on the omega across the table from her, “What will you have?”
Lee was frozen for a minute there, having flashed back to the traditional way he had been raised in that moment and bowing, not making eye contact with the waitress as he spoke softly, “Green tea, please.”
She was left to reel in his sudden actions in response to the question and environment he was in, stammering slowly, “You can speak up, you know…we’re all omegas here.”
When he wasn’t replying, Ino was getting out of her seat to go over to his side, “Lee, are you alright?”
The waitress was confused as well, “Is he okay? What’s wrong with him?”
“He was raised in a very strict, conservative clan with very sexist views on omegas. He said this place reminded him of his home but nicer…” immediately, the waitress’ eyes widened as a hot blush of pure shame colored her face, “We were talking about it before I made the comments I did. I think something here must have triggered him to act like this.”
“I-I…had no idea…I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you! I shouldn’t have been listening in! If you want, I can get someone to help—”
“No, it’s fine! I shouldn’t have insulted this place or the omegas who like it here. You were right to call me out, but I think this place isn’t the spot for him.”
Lee, meanwhile, was trying hard to snap himself out of the memories of his mother punishing him so severely for acting improper at traditional places such as this. Doing all that he could to bring himself to the present, he pinched himself as hard as he could so Ino wouldn’t feel the need to leave.
“No, I’m fine! We can stay!” he announced loudly when instantly snapping out of his bowed position, “I like the aesthetic of this place enough to make myself stay no matter what.”
He faced the waitress and with a slight waver in his body, addressed her as confidently as he could, “I’ll have a plain green tea, please.”
“…Yes, I’ll be sure to get that for you right away.”
As she scurried away, Lee was left with a feeling of accomplishment he couldn’t help but to revel in. To know he had broken out of a bad flashback to assert himself to the best of his ability in a traditional setting was enough to make him want to cheer and dance.
He smiled while Ino went back to her seat, “Are you sure you’re okay being here? We can leave if you want.”
“No, I’m fine!” he pauses while looking around the place, trying to familiarize it with something other than his clan, “I do have bad memories of being raised in a traditional setting like this, but I also have good memories as well. I know it sounds strange to you and you will never fully get it… The fact is, I like the traditional aesthetic as well. I just never knew it was possible to separate it from some of the worst of what I was raised with. I can respect the owner here for being able to do just that and I will do my best to do the same moving forward.”
Ino cannot help to be anything other than in awe of Lee. Despite how he was raised and what he continues to struggle with, she can easily say he’s the toughest person she knows right after Deidara.
She was stunned when they left at how well Lee handled everything despite how triggering it must have been for him to be there. She couldn’t stop herself from being proud of him as he announced he would go there every morning so he could one day be in a traditional setting without scaring her like that again.
After they had their tea, they ordered some mochi and took up a conversation with the waitress. Then when they were done, they parted ways but it wasn’t without asking something that currently on her mind despite having left him to go home a while ago, “Lee, what happened when you didn’t obey the rules of your clan? Were you punished severely for it?”
Lee would simply blink, his hand coming up to cover the bruise on his face when he told her in all seriousness (as serious as he could get with that goofy grin of his), “I was punished, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle then or now. I would like to talk to you more, but I should get going. I need to get my food still and I don’t want to put that off too late—I wouldn’t want to rush my meeting with Gaara.”
She has a bad feeling about what happened there, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to pry. Lee already looked uncomfortable from her asking about it, she can only imagine how much worse it would’ve been if she had pried for more information out of him.
As she was nearing her home, she had an alpha clearly nearing their rut grabbing her firmly by their wrist, using her alpha voice clearly on her, “Come, omega, you’re going to be my slut for the week.”
She fought against the grip even with her instincts going haywire in an effort to make her submit in order to survive a possible brutal attack from this, “No, I’m not doing that!”
She fought against the grip, only to be pulled into her chest and have her breast groped as her perpetrator cooed in her ear, “Don’t be so difficult now, we both know you want it deep down… All you omegas—no matter how independent you claim to be—want to be knotted and bred. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to treat you right…unlike those people were said to have done at the Chunin exams, I will mate you with a real mating mark when we’re at it.”
Her voice was enough to make Ino’s stomach churn, but it didn’t stop her from trying to free herself.
Before the woman could land a kiss on her, she heard a low, deep growl which should have terrified her yet didn’t.
The alpha behind her froze for a moment before chuckling at the sound, “How cute…a baby alpha trying to scare me away. Nice try, but if anyone’s gonna break a Yamanaka omega, it’s gonna be me!”
This taunt ultimately got her nowhere in the end.
Ino couldn’t stop herself from being impressed as Sakura used shadow clones to attack her captor from behind and in front of her, making her loosen her grip on her in order to avoid being stabbed by kunai knives being held by each of the clones. With this loosened grip, Ino freed herself and got enough distance to land an attack on her…except, she wound up not needing to when she did just this.
Because she was nearing her rut, her movements were instinctual yet sloppy and predictable, which made for an easy target for Sakura to attack. It didn’t take much to take this woman down: all she needed was her shadow clones along with some well placed kicks, punches, and uppercuts in order to get the alpha woman nearing her rut to retreat before she passed out.
“Are you okay, Ino? Did she hurt you at all? Were you marked anywhere by her? Did she leave a Neji mark on you?” Sakura immediately asked when it was all over, having rushed over to Ino’s side to be certain there were no injuries or marks on her person.
In the end, Ino was overcome with a strange feeling of joyful pride at Sakura’s display of strength, “No, Sakura, I’m fine she didn’t get the chance to do anything to me before you showed up…”
She doesn’t quite know what propelled to do it, but she wound up saying, “You did a really great job there, Sakura! Thanks for stepping in and saving me.”
In response to her praise, the alpha stands tall as her shadow clones disappear into puffs of smoke, “It was no big deal, I was just coming over to your place to see if you wanted to do anything today—not as a date, but to hang out since we’re both free.”
She thought it over before telling her, “I’ll tell my mom about this first and then we can go. She’s been dying to hear about Hinata ever since she learned about what happened at the sudden death matches. If you want, you can come in and we can leave together when we’re done speaking to her.”
Sakura now feels the proverbial rug being pulled from underneath her feet as she realizes what all Ino has just said, “Wait—your mom wants to see me again? I thought she didn’t like me anymore after our fallout.”
“I told her we’ve been mending our relationship and you’re doing a lot to change. The fact you saved me just now without making any sexist comments or trying to pressure me into a date is major proof you’ve come a long way from where you were back when we were in the academy together.” Ino doesn’t hold back when giving her the news she’s been dying to hear, “You really are making great progress Sakura and I’m proud of you for it.”
She really does mean this when she says it. Sakura has come a long way from when they were back at the academy. Had this been the old Sakura—the one from before the Chunin exams—she would have made some backhanded sexist comment to her and pressured her into a date on the spot. To see her standing tall without having done any of the above has her optimistic about maybe one day having that date if she keeps this up…
No, she cannot date now! Not when she needs to bring Deidara back!
“Well, aren’t you going to come in with me? It’d be awkward to go in alone and then tell her you’re waiting outside for me after a while.”
Sakura nods, following her over to the flower shop, “Of course I will! I won’t mess this up for anything.”
Somehow, Ino can believe every word she’s saying this time around as opposed to the many time she’s heard this in the past from her.