Fandom High // Ino and Cable // Prompt: Relationships
Title: Pass It On
Author: Killaurey
Word Count: 655
He’s not her father.
Ino knows that. Her father, her dad, is back in Konoha running missions and doing floral arrangements for her mom to sell.
She doodles a bit; absently, in one of her notebooks while all curled up in His chair and waiting to see if she’ll have any customers today. It’s hard to tell, since Lana left, and she’s not in the mood to study.
Tether’s sleeping by her feet, and every now and then she’ll grin down at him. No longer, really, a puppy but she still calls him that. Tether doesn’t mind.
He’s not her father. He’s made it clear that he doesn’t think of her that way. He cares, sure, but not like that. Not the way her dad does, even though she’s been away from home for more than a year now.
Sometimes she gets confused though. Between what is and isn’t and where the line for a father is. It’s drawn in the sand and wind is blowing it apart bit by bit, and she can’t keep track. He doesn’t wake her when she falls asleep during her shifts (she did it again last week, but Ino consoles herself with the fact that it had turned out to be a fever and so, couldn’t really consider it her fault). He gives her advice, both asked for and not, but lets her fall and try to figure things out on her own-only helping when and where she really needs it. Even then, just enough to let her struggle back to her feet under her own power.
What is that, but a father?
Asuma-sensei taught her. Helped her learn how to work with others, how to be more effective in a team, but he’d never lectured her about her taste in boys. She’d never hugged Asuma-sensei, and she’s hugged him.
She’s cried on him too. Even if it had been one of those weekends when no one was their right selves. She’d cried, he’d picked her up and held her and talked to her.
Her dad did all of that.
He’s not her father. She knows that. Pass it on, she’s got the idea. He’s not hers, it doesn’t matter what in her heart.
But now he’s coming down the stairs, and in the next minute he’s got spears out, and he tosses one to her, ordering Tether out of the way. She catches it; grinning. Her notebook is disregarded in a heartbeat.
She’s going to hurt after this. It’s the same every time. The spear is too big, really, for her-or she’s too tiny, and Ino hasn’t decided which it really is yet-and the weight of it is still a strain by the end of their lessons.
But he’s patient while he shows her how to stand, where to grip it, and how to swing it. He watches her while she fumbles with it, working to get it right, and letting her try to hit him. She never does, isn’t quick enough, but slowly she’s getting the idea of it, getting the feel of it, and finding a rhythm that works for her.
And he’s smiling. Slight, but there, and all of a sudden she’s stupidly grinning, ducking her head to hide it and messing up again. But it’s alright. He doesn’t mind much, she can tell, even as he explains what she did wrong. Again.
She’s still grinning a bit.
He’s not her father. Or her dad. But he comes close. A blanket when she’s sleeping. Advice when she’s upset. Lessons, and rules. That’s what she gets from him. Small stuff, stuff that makes it past her mental designations. Caring in stupid, little ways that prove that he thinks about her even when he doesn’t say anything when she asks him what he feels about her.
Ino’s stopped asking, but she wonders if sometimes she comes close to being his daughter.
She’s not his daughter. He’s not her father.
But she wonders. And tries.
Author: Killaurey
Word Count: 655
He’s not her father.
Ino knows that. Her father, her dad, is back in Konoha running missions and doing floral arrangements for her mom to sell.
She doodles a bit; absently, in one of her notebooks while all curled up in His chair and waiting to see if she’ll have any customers today. It’s hard to tell, since Lana left, and she’s not in the mood to study.
Tether’s sleeping by her feet, and every now and then she’ll grin down at him. No longer, really, a puppy but she still calls him that. Tether doesn’t mind.
He’s not her father. He’s made it clear that he doesn’t think of her that way. He cares, sure, but not like that. Not the way her dad does, even though she’s been away from home for more than a year now.
Sometimes she gets confused though. Between what is and isn’t and where the line for a father is. It’s drawn in the sand and wind is blowing it apart bit by bit, and she can’t keep track. He doesn’t wake her when she falls asleep during her shifts (she did it again last week, but Ino consoles herself with the fact that it had turned out to be a fever and so, couldn’t really consider it her fault). He gives her advice, both asked for and not, but lets her fall and try to figure things out on her own-only helping when and where she really needs it. Even then, just enough to let her struggle back to her feet under her own power.
What is that, but a father?
Asuma-sensei taught her. Helped her learn how to work with others, how to be more effective in a team, but he’d never lectured her about her taste in boys. She’d never hugged Asuma-sensei, and she’s hugged him.
She’s cried on him too. Even if it had been one of those weekends when no one was their right selves. She’d cried, he’d picked her up and held her and talked to her.
Her dad did all of that.
He’s not her father. She knows that. Pass it on, she’s got the idea. He’s not hers, it doesn’t matter what in her heart.
But now he’s coming down the stairs, and in the next minute he’s got spears out, and he tosses one to her, ordering Tether out of the way. She catches it; grinning. Her notebook is disregarded in a heartbeat.
She’s going to hurt after this. It’s the same every time. The spear is too big, really, for her-or she’s too tiny, and Ino hasn’t decided which it really is yet-and the weight of it is still a strain by the end of their lessons.
But he’s patient while he shows her how to stand, where to grip it, and how to swing it. He watches her while she fumbles with it, working to get it right, and letting her try to hit him. She never does, isn’t quick enough, but slowly she’s getting the idea of it, getting the feel of it, and finding a rhythm that works for her.
And he’s smiling. Slight, but there, and all of a sudden she’s stupidly grinning, ducking her head to hide it and messing up again. But it’s alright. He doesn’t mind much, she can tell, even as he explains what she did wrong. Again.
She’s still grinning a bit.
He’s not her father. Or her dad. But he comes close. A blanket when she’s sleeping. Advice when she’s upset. Lessons, and rules. That’s what she gets from him. Small stuff, stuff that makes it past her mental designations. Caring in stupid, little ways that prove that he thinks about her even when he doesn’t say anything when she asks him what he feels about her.
Ino’s stopped asking, but she wonders if sometimes she comes close to being his daughter.
She’s not his daughter. He’s not her father.
But she wonders. And tries.