Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, merchandise, TV rights, ect… (I think you get the point.)

Summery

ONE SHOT – They said that at times glass could sparkle more than diamonds, they said it was because glass had more to prove, but he thought it would shine more if it didn't try so hard.

Like all of my work this is just something that happened to float through the empty void inside my head. Like it or hate it please R and R as honest opinions are always welcomed, as are random acts of worship.

Lamb: So this is not my normal sort of thing, well that is to say it's not normal for me to write about Shino but what the hey. I got the idea and just had to write it.

Muse: Could you be more unhinged if you tired?

Dedi: Unfortunately she probably could. This is dedicated to jin. toshikazu, because it was reading her fics that made Lamb want to try and write something other than SasuIno. So jin. toshikazu, this is for you.

Lamb: Also I would like to say a big thank you to my beta reader, hakuisagirl.

Muse: On with the fic!

What's new,
How's the weather,
Is it stormy where you are,
You sound so close but it feels like you're so far,
Oh would it mean anything,
If you knew,
What I'm left imagining,

Flawless Imperfection

Detention sucked, which Abram Shino figured was kind of the point. And it wasn't even as if he had done anything to warrant being there in the first place. It had simply been a case of wrong place, wrong time. Also possibly the wrong friends, both of whom would be joining him in detention tomorrow assuming they were given the OK from the hospital. No doubt they both would be. There was just this indestructible quality that both Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba seemed to possess, which was lucky since the pair had decided that jumping off of the roof of the gym would be a cool thing to do.

The whole escapade had resulted in bruises, possible concussions and him here. Guilty by association.

Shino glanced up at the clock, the hands of which seemed to have frozen in place, he could have sworn it said it was a quarter to four ten minutes ago. Kakashi-sensei was basically ignoring everyone, just looking up occasionally and glaring at the chatty first-years when they made so much noise he could no longer read.

He didn't like first years at the best of times, and being stuck in detention with them wasn't doing anything to make Shino change his mind. Apart from the brats and himself there was only one other student there, a girl from his year.

Yamanaka Ino.

With blonde hair and blue eyes she looked like the stereotypical Barbie doll. Shino could have called her popular, but the word didn't even come close to describing the reality of the situation. Most girls would kill to be like her and most guys would kill just to be with her. To him the whole situation seemed too stupid to be real. And she didn't seem to be real either if it came to that.

She was leaning back in her chair, so far back that it was just resting to two legs and for one long moment Shino feared that she might fall, but she didn't. She leaned forwards and the chair settled back on all four legs and she dropped down the manga she'd been reading and picked up another before tilting her chair back once more.

From behind his dark shades Shino rolled his eyes at her display. He shouldn't give a damn about her anyway and it might do her some good to fall flat on her butt. Maybe even knock some sense into her. Pretty little wanna be prom queen that she was.

She didn't really seem to care that she was in detention; she was acting as though she was just killing time before she headed off somewhere else. And maybe she was, Shino reflected. She certainly never acted like she cared about anything much. With the exception of two or three of her friends, with those select few she was almost overprotective, while she didn't seem to give a damn about the rest of the population.

All or nothing seemed to be the way she lived. Someone either meant the world to her and that 0.01 percent of the human condition got treated with more care and respect than could be adequately described by mere words. But as for everyone else, well they could all go and drop dead in the street for all the blonde with the pastel colouring seemed to care.

It was said the beauty without a flaw was not true beauty. Well the Yamanaka was certainly flawed enough; she was vain, shallow and arrogant, and those were just her good points. But she wasn't stupid and that was a fact that irritated Shino to no end. He thought he could have handled it better if she really had been a dumb blonde. What he disliked was that she was smart but acted as if she wasn't. She had the brains, he'd seen the test scores to prove it, but she acted as if she had an IQ of somewhere around room temperature.

Being smart wasn't what made people popular, that's what good looks and charm were for. And both were things that the Yamanaka had in abundance. She always looked so perfectly turned out, never so much as a hair out of place and invariably flawlessly made up. In that one seemingly perfect package was everything that in his heart and soul Shino knew he both loathed and detested. He shouldn't have given a damn about her; she should have been no more than a passing blip on his internal radar so why was it that his was devoting so much of his attention to her?

It was raining, fat drops landing on the window and rolling down the glass and his thoughts were wandering. Why was he still thinking about her anyway? He had far more important, not to mention worthwhile, things to occupy his time without needing to dwell on someone who spent the majority of their time acting like a brainless doll. No doubt the girl's favourite hobby was admiring herself in any and every reflective surface she happened to pass.

"Ok, clear off, you lot." Kakashi-sensei suddenly said, and Shino was relieved to realise that time hadn't frozen after all.

Everyone had gone by the time Shino left the room, the first years bolting almost before Kakashi-sensei had finished speaking and the blonde following swiftly after them. But he didn't really care and there was no point in rushing around, especially not in weather like this.

He just happened to look out of one of the windows as he walked down the hallway and froze. A slight smile touched his lips as observed the unusual sight that greeted his eyes.

She was out there, but he should have been able to guess that. For how could he have forgotten how much she loved the rain? True it had been years, many, many years, but there had been a time when they were both young. When their worlds had been connected. A time when they had moved in the same circle of friends, when things were simple and carefree, but most of all a time when they had all been so desperate to grow up. But now that they all had, more than anything Shino wanted to go back to that time and as he watched the blonde he wondered if perhaps he wasn't the only one.

She was messing around, like a little kid. Everyone else had gone, and she'd suddenly let go of her perfect image. She was spinning around her arms raised above her head as she danced through the puddles. The raindrops were sliding down her face leaving dark streaks on the creamy skin as her mascara ran. The water darkened her clothing and caused the fabric to stick to her body.

And that perfect ice-blonde hair was nothing more than a sodden mass of rats' tails.

Shino hadn't seen her drop her mask in so long. The last time she stopped playing the role of the prefect school princess seemed a million years past.

And in that moment he remembered why it was that he cared.

It was because when she wasn't trying to be, Yamanaka Ino could be so damn beautiful.

Lamb: So there it is, such as it is and I'll try and post something else soon. Also just so you know, if you have your privet message system switched off it means I can't reply to your reviews.

Muse: As if anyone would want to hear from you.

Dedi: Whatever, but, jin. toshikazu, we hope that you liked it.

Please R and R I'd love to know what you thought.

Big love and inspiration

Lamanth