AN: Okay this is my newest story! The chapters are a little short but I already have the story mostly done so please stick with me through this whole process! 3
Please read, review, and enjoy.
"Oooooh! Mother, that HURTS!" Ino whined. "Why do I have to do this anyway? I hate it! And this kimono...! ARGH!"
Her mother was finished dressing Ino and had moved on to styling her hair. "You have to because your father said so. You know that!"
Ino was dressed in a rather attractive dark violet kimono--so dark it was almost black, which fit Ino's mood. Her mother fixed her hair so that her platinum blonde locks were in a long braid down her back and the shorter part of her hair was tucked and clipped behind her ear. She wore makeup that made her eyelashes dark and her cheeks look flushed, and her lips were a practically non-existent pink. She had on some ornate necklaces that were a little over the top.
"Mother..." Ino whimpered a little. Her mother was in a similar getup of a dark navy kimono that made her sandy blonde hair seem much lighter than it really was and simple makeup. "Does Daddy have a reason? He won't tell me."
Her mother shrugged her shoulders. "Inoshi said nothing much about it to me, although he mentioned he was good friends with the father."
Ino stood up and pushed her mother's arm away. "God, how CAN he? How can Daddy just market me off to a pal like this?! Did he loose me in a game of poker, huh?! Or did I just get sold to the highest bidder?! Was he drunk?!" Ino shrunk down to her knees. "I thought Daddy loved me..." She said painfully. Her mother knelt down and hugged her carefully, trying not to mess her appearance up, which made Ino feel oddly perturbed. Weren't her feelings more important than how she looked?
"Come now, dear. Daddy knows what he's doing!" Her mother tried to console her.
Ino jumped up. "OH? So now, turns out it's really an orchestrated attack on me?! So he's thought out how to absolutely and utterly RUIN MY LIFE?!" She stormed over to the mirror and hastily undid her braid and shook her hair out. She hadn't gotten a haircut for five years--not since she was twelve and had done so on a bet with her best friend Sakura--so it was incredibly long and fell gracefully into place. Her mother leaped over to her and tried to fix it.
"INO! Ino, honey, stop it!"
"NO!" Ino slapped her mother's arms that were reaching for her hair again. "If I have to go through with this than I am going to go about it my OWN way! You probably didn't give a second thought to marrying off your only daughter when Daddy told you that he had already sealed the deal! How dare you try to touch me when you didn't fight for me at all! You act like it's such a smart thing and how I should be pleased that I am a married woman without even having to go through with saying my vows!" She undid all her jewelry and angrily slammed it down on her dresser and stared into the mirror. She could see her mother behind her looking upset and angry and also undecided on what to do.
"...Fine, be like this. But you're only making it worse for yourself." She sighed and went for the door. "I'm going to go to see your father. By now, our guests have probably arrived. Be in the foyer in five to ten minutes or else, Ino." She opened the door and turned back towards her daughter with a sincere look on her face. "I am sorry you aren't happy with your father's arrangements, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I'm proud to have such a beautiful daughter married so young. The least you could do is show your husband and his family the proper hospitality." and with that she was gone.
Ino's shoulders sagged a little and she turned to the door. "God, my HUSBAND...!" she ran a hand through her hair that was looking attractively tousled, even if that wasn't the effect Ino had hoped for. "I can't believe I have a husband! And I've never seen hide nor hair of him..."
Ino paced about her room for a minute anxiously. She checked her reflection a few times--she had realized with sudden anxiety that she WANTED to look good for her husband--then, with a long-suffering ragged sigh, she walked out her room and down the dimly lit hallway to meet her new and unwanted family.