#this is like barely even a naruto meta anymore and more just musing but yaknow

[jaguarys]

Ino and Sakura's dynamic obviously has a lot going on but one thing that I connect with it a lot is the experience of 'falling behind' growing up as a girl. It's an experience of having to accept this transition of growing into a woman where everything you had before –– a play at equality, the ability to be rough and immature and dirty and be with the boys –– is no longer accepted anymore. Suddenly there are all these expectations and conventions and things that are no longer cool or acceptable for you to do and it can be confusing and embarrassing and messy. You're no longer like the other kids around you. You're distinctly other. You're not a kid anymore, and instead you're distinctly a Girl.

But then, when you feel like you're struggling, you look at your friends and see that they're not. They've adapted to this transition, embraced it, and suddenly you're also outcast from them. Maybe they're embarrassed by you. They've been accepted into the ingroup, and you have not. It's remarkably easy to let that divide ruin a friendship, and remarkably easy for the both of you to become resentful of the other for having what you don't. Because they have acceptance, but you have yourself