Ino
Ino’s time with Sakura at the hot spring was not at all awkward, tense, or dramatic. All that happened was they chose the co-ed option as opposed to being separated into alpha only and omega only springs.
Sakura wasn’t particularly stunned by her choices. When they were kids, Ino always chose the co-ed options whenever they went to the hot spring. Her parents trusted her being alone with Sakura—Deidara not so much—and Ino herself didn’t feel afraid being around alphas and betas in the hot spring. Her brother had taught her how to defend herself and she was always more than confident being alone with her in the coed hot spring.
To be fair, Sakura understood why she chose this option. Ino had always been the one to save her from bullies when they were kids. She’s always been strong, confident, and fierce when it came down to protecting herself or anyone else from someone predatory. It always made her see herself lesser than as an alpha because while she always will appreciate and be in awe of these traits Ino has, she knows for a long time she failed in being any of the above and it took her a long time to get to her level on it.
Ino would’ve never cared if she wasn’t. She knows she wouldn’t, but the whispers she heard over the years from other alphas and betas in the village mocking her for not being ‘a real alpha’ to Ino was enough to knock down her view of herself.
“Heh, look at Haruno! Can’t even stand up for herself like a real alpha and hiding behind that omega—may as well be not be an alpha at all with the way she acts. How pathetic, I want to feel sorry for her but I can’t.”
…She remembers the teasing all too well if she’s allowed to be honest on the topic.
Being an omega in Konoha meant being constantly compared to Deidara. While he is said to be a criminal, he is still said to have been the most beautiful omega to have ever been born into the village. Many omegas are held up to his standard in conservative clans to this day despite the way they constantly slander the Yamanakas for the way he was raised. Sakura’s not too certain about clans like her own—her clan is mostly betas and alphas; while they are conservative, they are not as strict as other conservative clans—but she does know it cannot be any better than it is for the strict clans.
(She knows her parents were over the moon when they heard about her befriending Ino. They were convinced she would have a chance at mating another Deidara, but she didn’t want Deidara. She didn’t quite see the hype around him and to be honest, she still doesn’t to this day.)
On the alpha end, they are constantly compared to Itachi Uchiha, with Sakura being no exception to the rule.
She remembers her mother’s disappointed glances and her father’s exasperated scold, “How can you ever wish to mate the Yamanaka girl if you can’t be the alpha she needs? You need to be strong, someone who can confidently her from the horrors of our world—she’s an omega, she needs you to be her protector and provider. You ought to try to be her Itachi Uchiha. Now that’s an alpha anyone would want to have as their mate; he’s handsome, powerful, confident, intelligent, and comes from one of the best clans around. If you try to be more like him, then she’ll come to want you as a mate.”
She still struggles with not blaming herself for telling them of her crush on Ino back then because thanks to this, she got the idea into her head that she had be just like Itachi in order to win her over. Looking back on it, being raised around parents and society who enforced the ideals of what it means to be a ‘real alpha’ to alphas like herself didn’t do her any favors either.
In the end, she cannot complain too much.
What’s done is done. All she can do is be proud at herself for the progress she’s made since being confronted by Neji at the exams.
Before, she couldn’t handle coming to the hot spring with Ino without feeling territorial, clingy, jealous, and otherwise insecure of other alphas and betas around her. She couldn’t go long without snapping at someone and upsetting Ino or talking Ino into leaving early either.
Today, she was able to come to the hot spring with her without feeling any of the above. She didn’t feel the least bit territorial, clingy, jealous, or insecure around other alphas and betas concerning Ino. No, for the first time ever, she was able to have a conversation with not only her, but a nice beta couple without wanting to hold Ino close to herself and shriek at them to stay away.
Such a feeling is something so freeing that it makes her have a certain energy and pep to her step she otherwise never had in the past when here with her.
Ino herself noticed it right when they got in the water and were able to speak to each other alone for the first time since arriving here, “Wow, this is the first time you’ve come here with me actually relaxed for real! I didn’t think it would ever be possible after, you know…everything.”
Sadly, she cannot blame her for thinking this way, “I didn’t think I would either unless if we were mated, but after everything that happened at the exams, I am trying to make myself a better person. I even apologized to Sasuke at the hospital and helped him out with Naruto—if that isn’t a major life change, then what is?”
For Sakura, this is a far greater deal than anyone will ever know.
Sasuke and her never got along back at the academy. After he discovered Naruto had a crush on her—a crush she rejected more than once in front of everyone, mind you—he began his crusade of hate against her.
He would try to one up her all the time, humiliate her in front of others by pointing out how much ‘weaker’ she was than him, and worst of all, he started trying to tell Ino “You can do a lot better than someone like her—if Naruto can, then so can you”. That was the last straw for her. She stopped shrugging off his petty actions as simple alpha territorial behavior and started fighting back by telling Naruto in return to his brazen attacks on her around Ino “I would listen to Ino when she says to avoid Uchihas like the plague. I’ve heard horrible things about them from Deidara back when he was still around”.
Her finally getting along with Sasuke after spending most of her time barely being able to stop herself from making snide comments and backhanded compliments in response to his barbs is huge for her. Particularly when she remembers how at one point she had said to him, “I’d rather make you not end up with Naruto then to ever allow you anywhere near him after what you did to my chances with Ino”.
Sasuke and her are not friends. They’re not even acquaintances, but with time maybe they could become work acquaintances with a civil relationship at best someday. She’s not certain if she could ever like Sasuke all that much, but who knows? Maybe they’ll both change and grow enough to one day become friends. She won’t count on it for now.
“You’re telling me! I never thought you’d ever be nice to that guy.” Ino remarks with a chuckle as she leans back into the warm water.
Sakura asks without any fear or desire to secretly try to follow through on her instinctual commands to see her naked, “Can I wash your back, Ino?”
“Go ahead, I don’t mind.”
She’s quick to grab the white cloth she had brought with her to the springs and dampen it up just enough to wash the omega’s back. Things were going good, until Ino decided to ask, “I’ve missed doing things like this with you, believe it or not. You were always such a good friend to me for the longest time—then out of nowhere you unleashed that sexist rhetoric on me and insulted my brother. I felt so betrayed by you for the longest time, like I had been deceived to the entire time…it took me a long time to ever trust any alpha again after that. I can only do it now thanks to my clan and Shikamaru. I know I may be asking for too much here, but why did you change so quickly? What made you into the person you were to me for years?”
It’s not something she expected to hear out of her, but she does answer her, “I was raised in a conservative clan that is open to change…after a while at least.”
Ino didn’t say anything, which led her to believe it is safe now to speak up on the answer to her question, “I thought I had to be a real alpha in order to be good enough to mate you. Everyone always mocked me for hiding behind you, for not being as confident, strong, or fierce like you are. They used to say I may not as well not be an alpha at all for having to rely on you to defend me from bullies. It’s why I tried to stand up for myself more after a while when we became friends—it was to prove I was just as much of an alpha as anyone else. Then I made the mistake of telling my parents about my crush on you and they told me I had to be a real alpha in order to win you over and…I took their advice to heart.”
She slows her motions in washing her back when admitting through a small sigh, “Alpha children in this village are constantly held up to Itachi Uchiha’s standard in conservative clans, even one like mine. For years, my parents pushed me to be like him so I could be good enough for you like he was for Deidara. As much as Deidara’s beauty standard was a bad thing for those clans to force their omega pups to live up to, Itachi’s real alpha standard was just as bad for us alpha kids in the same clans. If we weren’t exactly like Itachi, we were seen as worthless by our clans, by other alphas around us, and by far too many in society as a whole even after he left with Deidara. I did all that I could to outdo everyone else so you’d like me, I really believed I wasn’t sexist because I didn’t talk exactly like Neji Hyuuga, but then he called me out and I realized I wasn’t any better. After that, I made it my personal mission to change so I can be a better person for you.”
Ino turned around suddenly and hugged her tightly. Now, Sakura won’t deny blushing or having a sudden to obsess over the feeling of her naked body against her own because her inner self is practically jumping in joy at it. However, what Ino said next caught her off guard completely, “You never had to be a real alpha for me! You were always good enough for me, Sakura!”
“What?”
Ino pulls away from the hug to confess to something she had repressed for years, something her own brother would kill her over, “Please, please don’t ever tell Deidara this when I do bring him home. He’d kill me if I ever thought this way.”
“I won’t tell, but what could it be?” she wonders when trying to figure out what the hesitant gleam in her eyes meant.
“Sakura… If you would have confessed your feelings to me back then without any sexist claims, I would have accepted them and I would have…I would’ve…I…” she pauses out of frustration, looking away for a brief moment before taking a strong inhale and practically forcing the words out of her mouth, “I wouldn’t mind being mated to you someday.”
This should’ve made Sakura happy enough to give a better reaction than her deadpanned, “Did Deidara really hate me that much? I know he didn’t like me, but that much? Who knew?”
Ino does something then Sakura would never thought in the past could’ve ever happened: her crush criticizing her big brother, the same big brother she remembers her idolizing growing up, “I may not be held to the same beauty standard my brother made as other omegas are, but I was held up to a standard of my own. My parents are okay with us mating; it’s Deidara who always had a problem with it. He always, always said the most degrading, self loathing thing an omega can do is to get mated to anyone in general. He said omegas who do choose to get mated are either victims of a sexist society or they are pathetic, spineless creatures who don’t deserve respect. He viewed mating as being legalized sexual slavery and I never saw it that way myself.”
“Then why didn’t you debate him on it?”
“Because I didn’t want to disappoint him.” she’s nearing tears when recalling it, “My brother was my personal hero. He meant so much to me that I never wanted to let him down or become an object of disgust to him. I wanted his respect, I wanted his pride, I wanted him to always look at me and say, ‘that’s my sister’ with a smile on his face. I could never fight with him, not when we were so close that I almost considered us to be more like twins than average siblings. Even after he left, I never wanted to disappoint him…to this day, I don’t want him to ever look at him in disapproval. Deidara is my world to this day and the whole reason why I am willing to kill Itachi Uchiha now with my bare hands.”
Sakura grits her teeth, hardly hiding her own contempt while doing all that she can to keep her pheromones under control, “Ino, this is why I could never like Deidara no matter how hard I tried.”
Ino was about to stand up for him—she knows she was—only for Sakura to keep talking before she got the chance to, “Deidara did look out for you. He did stand up for you. He was a pretty good brother to you, but if he really cared about you, he wouldn’t ever have allowed you to feel as though you had to agree with him completely on everything just to have his respect and everything else you wanted out of him. He would be willing to listen to you, to debate with you, to not leave you feeling like you have to agree with him completely or else earn his hate. He’s your brother; he should have done more to make you feel comfortable with speaking to him freely without fear. For all he did to bash my clan for being conservative and conforming, he wasn’t any better himself in his own way. I’ve seen him shut you down in the past when I was at your place to spend the night and I couldn’t stand him for it then. I’m telling you right now, I will help you bring him back, but I won’t tolerate him treating you poorly ever again no matter how badly you want me to.”
All Ino can do is divert her eyes from her, a soft question spilling freely from her currently bitten lips, “Do you think he’s guilty? Do you really believe he’s a criminal?”
“I used to think that without evidence because I didn’t care for him. I don’t think that way anymore; I will need to see the evidence before I decide whether or not he’s guilty. I wouldn’t be shocked if he is, though… You never knew Deidara like I did and I don’t think you’re as open to criticizing him as you should be.”
This brings with her a long pause in the air which leaves her anxiety building up inside of her, waiting to burst at any moment, only for Ino to break it by making one request of her: “Tell me about my brother then, Sakura. I know you won’t overexaggerate and I know you’ll be nothing but honest with me. Please, let me know what you know so I can find something that I may have overlooked back then, something that can help me bring him back.”
Sakura looks at the omega girl in front of her in pure concern, not wanting to break her heart at their first good outing to a hot spring, “Do you want me to? Because I don’t want to break your heart in a place with so many people… Maybe I could tell you elsewhere, somewhere more private; what do you think?”
Ino doesn’t hesitate to tell her, “I think I’d rather hear this somewhere more private too. How about you tell me it on that one trail we used to go on whenever we wanted to be alone? Would that work?”
“Yeah, that one would work great actually.” Sakura pauses to place a hand on her shoulder and release some calming pheromones in the air, “Is everything okay? I should’ve kept my mouth shut, I’m sorry.”
“Sakura, I don’t want you to apologize. All I want out of you is the view of my brother you’ve always had. If I know about it, then maybe I can figure out what went wrong, what led into him being stolen away from my home by that damn Uchiha monster.”
She sees the omega’s determination burning brightly in her eyes, yet there’s an undercurrent of hurt there that catches her off guard.
She’s not sure if telling Ino how she remembers Deidara is a good idea or not, but she knows she can’t back down now, not when she’s already made it clear she wants to hear what she has to say.
“There’s no need to worry about it. I’ll tell you everything I remember of him.”
She hopes Ino won’t disown as a friend and future potential mate over this, because what she has to tell her about her brother is not the most flattering information around.