Sasuke/Ino (Naruto)
Title: In Bloom
Author: Carrie (nextstephm)
Fandom: Naruto.
Pairing: Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino, aka SasuIno.
Spoilers: The whole series is pretty much spoiled in some way or another in this, so if you haven't seen the whole series and you don't want to be spoiled, you may want to stay away. Otherwise, enjoy!
Notes: I'm using both manga and anime canon for this.
Naruto: What's It All About, Anyway?
Naruto is an anime and manga series that truly can't be described as anything other than a phenomenon. It enjoys massive success in its home country of Japan, where the anime runs in the "golden time" (the equivalent to prime time in North America) slot and two movies have been produced with a third on the way. The manga is also printed weekly in Shonen Jump, which has a circulation of anywhere from three to six million copies a week. In North America, the show has become the #1 show for ages 12-17 on YTV in Canada, and on Cartoon Network in the US. The manga is also printed in the North American Shonen Jump, which sells almost 300 000 copies a month. Besides the weekly and monthly circulations, the manga is collected into volumes (tankubons in Japan) that sell a lot of copies upon their release.
Now, onto the actual story itself; Naruto is, on the surface, a series aimed for boys about ninjas. So, as you can imagine, it has lots of fighting and action. When you get underneath the surface, the true core of the story is the characters and the decisions they make. The main characters are Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and their sensei, Hatake Kakashi. At first, it's all about their graduation from the Ninja Academy, and their subsequent attempts to become stronger and enter the Chuunin Exam. But when that is interfered with by Orochimaru, Naruto pushes aside his dream to become Hokage to save his best friend. Anything more than that would give it away entirely.
Uchiha Sasuke
Uchiha Sasuke is considered a genius by many, and considered an avenger by himself. In a series full of tragic pasts, his is arguably the hardest and most tragic for a young boy to go through. When he was eight, his older brother who he looked up to immensely, did the unthinkable. He massacred the entire Uchiha clan, and left only Sasuke alive.
"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way, run, run and cling to life."
These words that Itachi tells him while psychologically torturing him are the words Sasuke takes to heart, using them as his catalyst to get better so he can one day defeat him. Sasuke is arrogant and very much a loner - by his own choice. He doesn't want to let anyone get close to him again. However, as time goes on, he begins to realize that he can't always do things by himself, and that it does take teamwork to complete some tasks.
Sasuke has also been a victim of Orochimaru's cursed seal. Orochimaru wants to take over Sasuke's body for himself and use his forbidden technique to basically transfer himself into Sasuke's body. Since Sasuke is an Uchiha, he possesses the Sharingan, which is his family's bloodline limit. The Sharingan allows the user to see everything, even the way a person is moving. Ultimately, you can predict what they will do next and prepare yourself for their attack before they can even approach you. All of these appeals to Orochimaru, who would like nothing more than to see Konoha be destroyed. Not to mention, Sasuke's body is filled with potential, which just lures Orochimaru in even more.
After Sasuke displays a great willpower to hold back the cursed seal, he is exposed to a series of events that revert him back to when he was driven only by revenge, instead of caring for his friends. It starts when he slowly becomes jealous of Naruto, who has become noticeably stronger. The fights that Sasuke could not win, Naruto is able to. After he suffers a horrible defeat at the hands of Itachi, it drives him completely over the edge. He focuses on nothing but becoming strong enough to defeat his brother and get the revenge he so desperately craves. He decides to take Orochimaru up on the offer of power, and leaves Konoha for what we assume is for good.
After attempts to rescue Sasuke and bring him back, Naruto catches up with him at the Valley of the End. Sasuke then admits that Naruto is his best friend, and that's why he must kill him. After he kills him, he will be able to obtain the ultimate form of Sharingan, the one his brother has, which should be enough to defeat him. Naruto is knocked out by Sasuke at the end of the fight, and Sasuke can't kill him because he refuses to do what Itachi tells him to do. He leaves his scratched forehead protector with Naruto and then he walks away to find Orochimaru.
Recently, he has been found by Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato. He seems to have no intention of leaving Orochimaru’s side, nor does he have any regrets about his decision. He is focused solely on revenge, and nothing more.
Yamanaka Ino
Yamanaka Ino is a fellow ninja of Sasuke at the Konoha ninja academy. She is outspoken, popular, and sometimes-rivals, sometimes-best friends with Sakura. Unlike many of the other characters, Ino is relatively normal. She doesn't have a tragic past to speak of, she's never faced real danger, she has a good relationship with her parents, she has a job working at her family's flower shop on the side, and above all else, she's just your average girl.
She is a part of the rookie nine from Konoha, and is placed on Team 10 with Shikamaru and Chouji, like their fathers before them, and their sensei is Asuma. Her jutsu is all based around mind techniques, with her signature move allowing her to transfer her mind into her opponent's mind and take them over for a few minutes.
Ino was a participant in the Chuunin Exam, and when her team is looking for Naruto's team (deeming them the weakest - except Sasuke, of course), they come across the fallen Sasuke and Naruto, with Sakura desperately trying to protect both of them. Ino is torn for a moment, but decides that she should help her former best friend, and they join in the fight against the Sound Ninja. Later in the exam, Ino and Sakura are pitted against each other in the preliminary matches. The match ends in a draw, with both of them being of equal power. They're both knocked out of the tournament, and in a touching moment, Ino tells Sakura that she has bloomed into a beautiful flower. That is what rekindles their friendship.
In the anime filler, Ino isn't seen too often. She comes to the rescue on one mission, where they are after the escaped prisoners, and in another mission, she is sent with Shino and Naruto to the Sea Country with Anko, who is a sensei. In this arc, we see Ino's opinion change on Naruto and she comes to respect him, whereas before she always found him to be rather annoying.
Sasuke and Ino
Sasuke is the most popular boy in school, due to his good looks and mysterious attitude. Everyone knows that he is the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre, and because he is a lone wolf, it makes him even more appealing to the girls in school. He has amassed many "fangirls" who swoon over him even though he just ignores them.
Ino is one of those fangirls. She swoons over Sasuke's good looks, and would do anything to have him all for herself. When she is little, you can always see her in pictures from the Academy where she is cheering him on, and telling him how cool he is along with all the other girls in their class. While they don't have too much interaction in the series (especially when compared to other people), what little interaction they do have is telling.
The first time we see Ino in the manga, she has thrown herself at Sasuke from behind and happily hugs him. Sasuke doesn't look pleased, but one thing that I've always noticed is that he doesn't tell her to get off him, nor does he make any moves to push her away. He allows her to cling to him for as long as she wants. From the general reaction, and the way she tells him that she hasn't seen him in a while, I've always assumed that this was a common occurrence and he has become accustomed to her doing it. While he may tell himself that he doesn't like it, and we all know that he really doesn't care about love at this point in his life, the seeds are there.
I find it even more telling that she tries to get under Sakura's skin by announcing that "Sasuke-kun is mine!" with one arm still around Sasuke, and he never protests. He's not one to keep what he's thinking to himself in situations like this - he's told Sakura that she's annoying, and constantly turns her down for dates. However, he doesn't say a word to Ino, or try to push her off of him.
In the anime, we know right from the start that Ino is infatuated with Sasuke. This comes into play in the third episode, which is where most of the supporting cast from Konoha is introduced. When Sakura and Ino first get to class, they argue about who will get to sit next to Sasuke and are promptly joined by just about every other girl in the class, much to Sasuke's annoyance and dismay. When Naruto and Sasuke have their infamous accidental kiss, Ino and Sakura predictably get infuriated, and then they (along with all the other girls) beat poor Naruto up.
After that, the teams are announced and Ino is noticeably dejected when Sakura is put on Sasuke's team. She even wonders out loud why she gets to be with him. The last moment in this episode involving the two comes when Shikamaru asks Ino why girls like a guy like Sasuke. She is offended, and tells him that he wouldn't understand because he's not popular.
After that, we don't see her again until the scene before the first Chuunin exam, which is mentioned above. The scene plays out the same as in the manga.
Sasuke never mentions anything about Ino one way or the other, so we don't actually know what he thinks of her. My best guess is that he just sees her as a fellow ninja who he might have to work with at some point, and that she's just another one of those annoying girls who like him so much. What we do know, are Ino's thoughts about him.
She's incredibly defensive of him - even to her own team mates. In the second part of the Chuunin exam, Shikamaru makes the mistake of saying that Naruto's team is weaker than their team. Ino immediately gets angry (Shikamaru refers to it as "flying off the handle.") and insists that Sasuke is a genius. The situation is only made worse when he says that geniuses can crumble in the real world. He apologizes and complains inwardly that she always does this if someone says something bad about Sasuke. She also appears disbelieving when Chouji says that Sasuke has been knocked out cold in the battle and must see for herself. That's when her team jumps in to help out Sakura, although she does tell Sakura that it's simply because she couldn't let her be the only one to look good in front of Sasuke.
After Ino gets kicked out of the tournament in the Chuunin exams, she is free to watch the Genins who did advance onto the final rounds. When Sasuke doesn't show up in time for his match, she is visibly concerned as she asks what's going on, and if he is there. When he is not disqualified, and his match is pushed back, she is relieved that he will be allowed to continue.
He eventually does show up for the tournament, just in time for his match. When he first appears, Ino looks surprised, along with everyone else around. She starts to ask if it's Sasuke, but Lee confirms it for her, and you can just see her light up.
In the next chapter, which his match is about to start, Ino very happily cheers him on. It leaves Chouji to remark that she's already forgotten Shikamaru in favour of Sasuke to himself, which shows that Sasuke is always at the forefront for her. She then turns to Sakura and tells her how amazing her team is, not just because Naruto defeated Neji in their match, but because Sasuke is an elite ninja and everyone is excited to see his match. In the other panels you see her in, you can still see her cheering him on.
In episode 101, she once again throws herself at Sasuke in a hug, this time when Sasuke is with Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura at the ramen shop. She's obviously very excited to see him, but everyone else really isn't. Sasuke, like earlier, doesn't complain at all, but Naruto and Sakura get really angry due to the fact that they are trying to see Kakashi’s face without the mask on. It's interesting that he's the only one to not complain about her hugging him, even though again, his face shows that he's not particularly thrilled by her doing so.
In episode 107, Ino is with her team at the celebration of Shikamaru's promotion from Genin to Chuunin. Chouji is, as always, eating a lot, and she says that she wishes she could eat like him. When questions, she tells them that she is on a diet to impress the guy she likes. She then thinks of Sasuke as she speaks about impressing him.
Okay... so, why SasuIno?
To me, Sasuke and Ino are the pinnacle of "what if" in Naruto. We know that Ino absolutely adores him. She shows it all the time, with her constant hugging and cheering him on. What we don't know is what Sasuke thinks of her. Besides the annoyed glances, he's never done anything to show that he does - or doesn't - like her. He considers Sakura an important friend, and he's been annoyed by her as well.
Sasuke isn't one for love. He has no room for it, with all the thoughts of revenge. He's seen too many ties broken by his own family's hand, no less. Yet, one of his goals, though a much lesser one in the grand scheme of things, is to restart the clan. So, at some point, he may be anticipating the ability to love again. He'll have to get past the revenge in his heart to do so, but he's shown the ability to love before. It's just unfortunate that his inferiority complex got in the way of his growth and he found himself regressing.
Also, while their personalities seem different, I think Ino is just what Sasuke needs. Ino is brash, bold, and described as rather foul mouthed by her team mates. She's also bossy, loyal, protective of those she cares about, and she doesn't take anyone's crap, to be blunt. Sasuke is arrogant, sarcastic, insecure, and he has more complexes than you can shake a stick at, plus he's not particularly the most open person in the world. He needs someone to almost keep him in check and not let himself get too caught up in his problems. Ino could do that, because she won't mince her words and she's proven that she's willing to fight for him before. If she was with him, I think the urge to protect him and fight for him would be even greater.
This is where all those "what if's" come into play. There's so many things we still don't know - three years later, does Ino still have feelings for Sasuke? If he were to walk through the gates and back into Konoha, what would she do? What about if Sakura/Naruto becomes canon? Sasuke will still have that urge to restart his clan, won't he?
Speaking of restarting his clan, they would have some seriously powerful children. With Ino's mind switch techniques, and Sasuke's Sharingan, no one could come close to the power they could inherit.
As much as Sasuke can outwardly say he doesn't want the affection, and no matter how much he tries to push everyone away, he's never really pushed Ino away. That's why I think that they could be a great couple one day, if he ever returns to Konoha, that is.
Fan Fiction Recommendations
Ten by K*Star.
Aconite by Kilerkki.
Hollow by link no miko.
Rumor by Melpomene the Muse.
Forever by K*Star.
Estimation by seaouryou. Scroll down about halfway through the page to get to it, because it's in a collection of drabbles.
untitled by chibirisuchan - this is a great little drabble.
Fan Art Recommendations
http://cg.freespace.jp/noan/ - This site has some of the best Naruto fan art I've seen online. Not just SasuIno, so everyone can find something they like.
http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/uchihahime/SasuIno%20Manifesto/Fan%20Art/ - I uploaded some fan arts that are no longer on the previous site here, because they're gorgeous and worth a look.
http://sasuino-fanclub.deviantart.com/
http://www.vay-works.net/home.htm - Only a few SasuIno pictures, but they're gorgeous.
General Fandom Recommendations
_sasuino_ - A community dedicated to the pairing.
NarutoFan.com Forums - There's a SasuIno fan club on here, though it's not all that active. Still a good forum, nonetheless.
Acknowledgements
kawaiimetalchik for providing some fan art links, thank you!
Author: Carrie (nextstephm)
Fandom: Naruto.
Pairing: Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino, aka SasuIno.
Spoilers: The whole series is pretty much spoiled in some way or another in this, so if you haven't seen the whole series and you don't want to be spoiled, you may want to stay away. Otherwise, enjoy!
Notes: I'm using both manga and anime canon for this.
Naruto: What's It All About, Anyway?
Naruto is an anime and manga series that truly can't be described as anything other than a phenomenon. It enjoys massive success in its home country of Japan, where the anime runs in the "golden time" (the equivalent to prime time in North America) slot and two movies have been produced with a third on the way. The manga is also printed weekly in Shonen Jump, which has a circulation of anywhere from three to six million copies a week. In North America, the show has become the #1 show for ages 12-17 on YTV in Canada, and on Cartoon Network in the US. The manga is also printed in the North American Shonen Jump, which sells almost 300 000 copies a month. Besides the weekly and monthly circulations, the manga is collected into volumes (tankubons in Japan) that sell a lot of copies upon their release.
Now, onto the actual story itself; Naruto is, on the surface, a series aimed for boys about ninjas. So, as you can imagine, it has lots of fighting and action. When you get underneath the surface, the true core of the story is the characters and the decisions they make. The main characters are Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and their sensei, Hatake Kakashi. At first, it's all about their graduation from the Ninja Academy, and their subsequent attempts to become stronger and enter the Chuunin Exam. But when that is interfered with by Orochimaru, Naruto pushes aside his dream to become Hokage to save his best friend. Anything more than that would give it away entirely.
Uchiha Sasuke
Uchiha Sasuke is considered a genius by many, and considered an avenger by himself. In a series full of tragic pasts, his is arguably the hardest and most tragic for a young boy to go through. When he was eight, his older brother who he looked up to immensely, did the unthinkable. He massacred the entire Uchiha clan, and left only Sasuke alive.
"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way, run, run and cling to life."
These words that Itachi tells him while psychologically torturing him are the words Sasuke takes to heart, using them as his catalyst to get better so he can one day defeat him. Sasuke is arrogant and very much a loner - by his own choice. He doesn't want to let anyone get close to him again. However, as time goes on, he begins to realize that he can't always do things by himself, and that it does take teamwork to complete some tasks.
Sasuke has also been a victim of Orochimaru's cursed seal. Orochimaru wants to take over Sasuke's body for himself and use his forbidden technique to basically transfer himself into Sasuke's body. Since Sasuke is an Uchiha, he possesses the Sharingan, which is his family's bloodline limit. The Sharingan allows the user to see everything, even the way a person is moving. Ultimately, you can predict what they will do next and prepare yourself for their attack before they can even approach you. All of these appeals to Orochimaru, who would like nothing more than to see Konoha be destroyed. Not to mention, Sasuke's body is filled with potential, which just lures Orochimaru in even more.
After Sasuke displays a great willpower to hold back the cursed seal, he is exposed to a series of events that revert him back to when he was driven only by revenge, instead of caring for his friends. It starts when he slowly becomes jealous of Naruto, who has become noticeably stronger. The fights that Sasuke could not win, Naruto is able to. After he suffers a horrible defeat at the hands of Itachi, it drives him completely over the edge. He focuses on nothing but becoming strong enough to defeat his brother and get the revenge he so desperately craves. He decides to take Orochimaru up on the offer of power, and leaves Konoha for what we assume is for good.
After attempts to rescue Sasuke and bring him back, Naruto catches up with him at the Valley of the End. Sasuke then admits that Naruto is his best friend, and that's why he must kill him. After he kills him, he will be able to obtain the ultimate form of Sharingan, the one his brother has, which should be enough to defeat him. Naruto is knocked out by Sasuke at the end of the fight, and Sasuke can't kill him because he refuses to do what Itachi tells him to do. He leaves his scratched forehead protector with Naruto and then he walks away to find Orochimaru.
Recently, he has been found by Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato. He seems to have no intention of leaving Orochimaru’s side, nor does he have any regrets about his decision. He is focused solely on revenge, and nothing more.
Yamanaka Ino
Yamanaka Ino is a fellow ninja of Sasuke at the Konoha ninja academy. She is outspoken, popular, and sometimes-rivals, sometimes-best friends with Sakura. Unlike many of the other characters, Ino is relatively normal. She doesn't have a tragic past to speak of, she's never faced real danger, she has a good relationship with her parents, she has a job working at her family's flower shop on the side, and above all else, she's just your average girl.
She is a part of the rookie nine from Konoha, and is placed on Team 10 with Shikamaru and Chouji, like their fathers before them, and their sensei is Asuma. Her jutsu is all based around mind techniques, with her signature move allowing her to transfer her mind into her opponent's mind and take them over for a few minutes.
Ino was a participant in the Chuunin Exam, and when her team is looking for Naruto's team (deeming them the weakest - except Sasuke, of course), they come across the fallen Sasuke and Naruto, with Sakura desperately trying to protect both of them. Ino is torn for a moment, but decides that she should help her former best friend, and they join in the fight against the Sound Ninja. Later in the exam, Ino and Sakura are pitted against each other in the preliminary matches. The match ends in a draw, with both of them being of equal power. They're both knocked out of the tournament, and in a touching moment, Ino tells Sakura that she has bloomed into a beautiful flower. That is what rekindles their friendship.
In the anime filler, Ino isn't seen too often. She comes to the rescue on one mission, where they are after the escaped prisoners, and in another mission, she is sent with Shino and Naruto to the Sea Country with Anko, who is a sensei. In this arc, we see Ino's opinion change on Naruto and she comes to respect him, whereas before she always found him to be rather annoying.
Sasuke and Ino
Sasuke is the most popular boy in school, due to his good looks and mysterious attitude. Everyone knows that he is the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre, and because he is a lone wolf, it makes him even more appealing to the girls in school. He has amassed many "fangirls" who swoon over him even though he just ignores them.
Ino is one of those fangirls. She swoons over Sasuke's good looks, and would do anything to have him all for herself. When she is little, you can always see her in pictures from the Academy where she is cheering him on, and telling him how cool he is along with all the other girls in their class. While they don't have too much interaction in the series (especially when compared to other people), what little interaction they do have is telling.
The first time we see Ino in the manga, she has thrown herself at Sasuke from behind and happily hugs him. Sasuke doesn't look pleased, but one thing that I've always noticed is that he doesn't tell her to get off him, nor does he make any moves to push her away. He allows her to cling to him for as long as she wants. From the general reaction, and the way she tells him that she hasn't seen him in a while, I've always assumed that this was a common occurrence and he has become accustomed to her doing it. While he may tell himself that he doesn't like it, and we all know that he really doesn't care about love at this point in his life, the seeds are there.
I find it even more telling that she tries to get under Sakura's skin by announcing that "Sasuke-kun is mine!" with one arm still around Sasuke, and he never protests. He's not one to keep what he's thinking to himself in situations like this - he's told Sakura that she's annoying, and constantly turns her down for dates. However, he doesn't say a word to Ino, or try to push her off of him.
In the anime, we know right from the start that Ino is infatuated with Sasuke. This comes into play in the third episode, which is where most of the supporting cast from Konoha is introduced. When Sakura and Ino first get to class, they argue about who will get to sit next to Sasuke and are promptly joined by just about every other girl in the class, much to Sasuke's annoyance and dismay. When Naruto and Sasuke have their infamous accidental kiss, Ino and Sakura predictably get infuriated, and then they (along with all the other girls) beat poor Naruto up.
After that, the teams are announced and Ino is noticeably dejected when Sakura is put on Sasuke's team. She even wonders out loud why she gets to be with him. The last moment in this episode involving the two comes when Shikamaru asks Ino why girls like a guy like Sasuke. She is offended, and tells him that he wouldn't understand because he's not popular.
After that, we don't see her again until the scene before the first Chuunin exam, which is mentioned above. The scene plays out the same as in the manga.
Sasuke never mentions anything about Ino one way or the other, so we don't actually know what he thinks of her. My best guess is that he just sees her as a fellow ninja who he might have to work with at some point, and that she's just another one of those annoying girls who like him so much. What we do know, are Ino's thoughts about him.
She's incredibly defensive of him - even to her own team mates. In the second part of the Chuunin exam, Shikamaru makes the mistake of saying that Naruto's team is weaker than their team. Ino immediately gets angry (Shikamaru refers to it as "flying off the handle.") and insists that Sasuke is a genius. The situation is only made worse when he says that geniuses can crumble in the real world. He apologizes and complains inwardly that she always does this if someone says something bad about Sasuke. She also appears disbelieving when Chouji says that Sasuke has been knocked out cold in the battle and must see for herself. That's when her team jumps in to help out Sakura, although she does tell Sakura that it's simply because she couldn't let her be the only one to look good in front of Sasuke.
After Ino gets kicked out of the tournament in the Chuunin exams, she is free to watch the Genins who did advance onto the final rounds. When Sasuke doesn't show up in time for his match, she is visibly concerned as she asks what's going on, and if he is there. When he is not disqualified, and his match is pushed back, she is relieved that he will be allowed to continue.
He eventually does show up for the tournament, just in time for his match. When he first appears, Ino looks surprised, along with everyone else around. She starts to ask if it's Sasuke, but Lee confirms it for her, and you can just see her light up.
In the next chapter, which his match is about to start, Ino very happily cheers him on. It leaves Chouji to remark that she's already forgotten Shikamaru in favour of Sasuke to himself, which shows that Sasuke is always at the forefront for her. She then turns to Sakura and tells her how amazing her team is, not just because Naruto defeated Neji in their match, but because Sasuke is an elite ninja and everyone is excited to see his match. In the other panels you see her in, you can still see her cheering him on.
In episode 101, she once again throws herself at Sasuke in a hug, this time when Sasuke is with Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura at the ramen shop. She's obviously very excited to see him, but everyone else really isn't. Sasuke, like earlier, doesn't complain at all, but Naruto and Sakura get really angry due to the fact that they are trying to see Kakashi’s face without the mask on. It's interesting that he's the only one to not complain about her hugging him, even though again, his face shows that he's not particularly thrilled by her doing so.
In episode 107, Ino is with her team at the celebration of Shikamaru's promotion from Genin to Chuunin. Chouji is, as always, eating a lot, and she says that she wishes she could eat like him. When questions, she tells them that she is on a diet to impress the guy she likes. She then thinks of Sasuke as she speaks about impressing him.
Okay... so, why SasuIno?
To me, Sasuke and Ino are the pinnacle of "what if" in Naruto. We know that Ino absolutely adores him. She shows it all the time, with her constant hugging and cheering him on. What we don't know is what Sasuke thinks of her. Besides the annoyed glances, he's never done anything to show that he does - or doesn't - like her. He considers Sakura an important friend, and he's been annoyed by her as well.
Sasuke isn't one for love. He has no room for it, with all the thoughts of revenge. He's seen too many ties broken by his own family's hand, no less. Yet, one of his goals, though a much lesser one in the grand scheme of things, is to restart the clan. So, at some point, he may be anticipating the ability to love again. He'll have to get past the revenge in his heart to do so, but he's shown the ability to love before. It's just unfortunate that his inferiority complex got in the way of his growth and he found himself regressing.
Also, while their personalities seem different, I think Ino is just what Sasuke needs. Ino is brash, bold, and described as rather foul mouthed by her team mates. She's also bossy, loyal, protective of those she cares about, and she doesn't take anyone's crap, to be blunt. Sasuke is arrogant, sarcastic, insecure, and he has more complexes than you can shake a stick at, plus he's not particularly the most open person in the world. He needs someone to almost keep him in check and not let himself get too caught up in his problems. Ino could do that, because she won't mince her words and she's proven that she's willing to fight for him before. If she was with him, I think the urge to protect him and fight for him would be even greater.
This is where all those "what if's" come into play. There's so many things we still don't know - three years later, does Ino still have feelings for Sasuke? If he were to walk through the gates and back into Konoha, what would she do? What about if Sakura/Naruto becomes canon? Sasuke will still have that urge to restart his clan, won't he?
Speaking of restarting his clan, they would have some seriously powerful children. With Ino's mind switch techniques, and Sasuke's Sharingan, no one could come close to the power they could inherit.
As much as Sasuke can outwardly say he doesn't want the affection, and no matter how much he tries to push everyone away, he's never really pushed Ino away. That's why I think that they could be a great couple one day, if he ever returns to Konoha, that is.
Fan Fiction Recommendations
Ten by K*Star.
Aconite by Kilerkki.
Hollow by link no miko.
Rumor by Melpomene the Muse.
Forever by K*Star.
Estimation by seaouryou. Scroll down about halfway through the page to get to it, because it's in a collection of drabbles.
untitled by chibirisuchan - this is a great little drabble.
Fan Art Recommendations
http://cg.freespace.jp/noan/ - This site has some of the best Naruto fan art I've seen online. Not just SasuIno, so everyone can find something they like.
http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/uchihahime/SasuIno%20Manifesto/Fan%20Art/ - I uploaded some fan arts that are no longer on the previous site here, because they're gorgeous and worth a look.
http://sasuino-fanclub.deviantart.com/
http://www.vay-works.net/home.htm - Only a few SasuIno pictures, but they're gorgeous.
General Fandom Recommendations
_sasuino_ - A community dedicated to the pairing.
NarutoFan.com Forums - There's a SasuIno fan club on here, though it's not all that active. Still a good forum, nonetheless.
Acknowledgements
kawaiimetalchik for providing some fan art links, thank you!