Disclaimer: Oh shut up already. Disclaimers are a waste of text. I don't own it. I just download it.

The dreary sky up above stared back at her almost in mockery as she lay there. It was as if not even the sun would look down upon her in such a state, nor would rain fall to wash away the sins below. Focusing on the pallid grey above just couldn't distract her from the pain of her circumstance. Nothing could. She couldn't even scream anymore. She'd been at it for so long that her raw throat forced a taste of blood into her mouth. For all she knew, though, she may have had heavy internal injuries. They certainly weren't being kind as their assault continued. There were three of them. One with an arm each and the remaining one had his turn in destroying her. Dimly, in the back of her mind, she wondered when she could finally pass out. The pain was great enough but it seemed fate wasn't so kind. It seemed she would have to continue to endure her rape.

…..

Trees raced by as the two ninja leapt from branch to branch with practiced ease. There was no real reason to be running through the trees. It wasn't like they were chasing a missing-nin or anything. No, the reason they took to the trees was for the sake of fashion. Even after all this time, Ino wasn't willing to get mud on her shoes when she could avoid it. Her companion didn't put up any kind of fight though. He'd been so bored throughout the mission that anything that would bring them home more quickly brought quick agreement. He'd been complaining almost the whole way about how boring the mission had been and how his time would have been better spent training, or chasing Sasuke, or any number of things besides a courier mission.

Naruto was still obnoxious sometimes despite his own metamorphosis over the years. He was an incredibly powerful ninja now, much to Ino's chagrin. She'd been one of those to look down on him in the Academy, thinking he was dead-last for pure lack of skill or potential. He'd proven her wrong on more occasions than she could name or even remember. Now, however, he had her in awe more often than not.

The things he could do were just part of it though. It was something indefinable. Anyone who knew him could just tell that, somehow, they were better for knowing him. The incident with Gaara was the most prominent in anyone's mind. Who else but Naruto could look up at a monster and see only the little boy inside that was so like himself?

It was things like this that made her a little jealous of her best friend. Naruto had always had eyes only for Sakura and would look at no other the way he did her. He was stubborn on a level that even Sakura had to throw up her hands in defeat more often than not. There was no greater indication of that than their current status as a couple. He'd never once given up on the girl, despite their rocky past and that had been what broke through Sakura's last bit of resistance. She'd relented and given him a real date, and then another and then, a week later, her first kiss. Now, they had been a couple for two months and, Ino had to admit, both looked happier than they'd ever been in their lives.

Ino looked at her own life and only wished that she could have something so perfect as what they'd seemed to develop. She'd never even had more than a kiss from a boy and she knew that her best friend was already at least one base ahead of her. They were both still virgins, Sakura had confessed one night, but that wouldn't last much longer according to her pink-haired friend. They were just waiting for the time to be right. Ino cast a brief glance at her companion and studied him just a touch.

The training trip had done him well and he was quite attractive, even to a girl of Ino's allure. The change in clothes, the onset of minor amounts of maturity and his overall growth were something that had gained him no small amount of attention from anyone who would look at him.

She felt a little ashamed of herself as she looked at him. How much had she changed while he'd been gone? Her choice of clothing was hardly any different, though she now filled it out in more pleasing ways but she felt like she was still the same old brat that would race Sakura into the classroom to gain the attention of a boy. Even Sakura was leaving her behind now. If things worked out, Sakura would eventually come to her for help with the wedding and then the children and then….

And then, the air was forced from her lungs as a large log swung into her midsection. She had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Naruto, it seems hadn't been so distracted as he leapt over the log to catch her as she began to fall. That had turned out to be a mistake.

"Don't worry, Ino! I've got you!" he called down to the girl in his arms.

She tried to speak, to thank him, but it was hard enough to try and draw breath back into her lungs, especially with the pain. If she had to guess, she'd have to say she had at least one broken rib, if not more.

They landed softly on the forest floor and Naruto gently propped her against a tree. "You ok, Ino?" he asked, looking into her grimacing face. When her eyes went wide, he mistook the look for pain rather than terror. She gasped at him and was only able to utter a scream when he fell forward onto her, a kunai lodged deep into his back, dead center on his spine.

She looked down at him and frantically grabbed at him, trying to find out if he was alive or not. Before she could do anything though, three landed before her and immediately began to tie her hands to the tree with wire. Finally, when they were sure the job had been finished, one of the ninja spoke through his black, cloth mask.

"Damn, that was easy!" he sighed in relief. "I was all worked up for a good fight but the idiot lowered his guard so fast!"

His companions, dressed similarly in black clothing, hoods and black, cloth masks laughed, one of them kicking Naruto's body off of Ino.

"Hey bro, now that the mission's complete, what should we do with her?" asked one of the nin as he rifled through Naruto's pockets, looking for anything of value.

Even through his mask, Ino could see the man before her smirk as his gaze turned lecherous, "This one ain't too bad looking, Kuma. Let's have some fun before we kill her."

The larger of the three nin chuckled darkly as he looked down at the helpless girl. "Sounds good to me. I get first, bro!" he called to the one that was obviously the squad leader, "You got first last time!"

The leader put his hands up defensively, "Ok, ok! Don't freak out. You can have her first and Yu gets her next. He hasn't had any in forever!" A small stick came from the direction of the last attacker and hit the leader in the head.

"Oh shut up, Kosaku!" This brought a laugh from the other two.

All the while, Ino looked on in terror. She couldn't even speak she was so afraid. She was at their mercy and she knew it. Naruto was dead and there was no one else around. When she'd heard that they were going to kill her, she was afraid, but that was dwarfed by the fear she felt when they looked at her like a piece of meat.

They were going to rape her. Being a ninja, the thought was always at the back of her mind. Enemies weren't always so kind as to just let you die. Torture was part of life for a ninja and kunoichi were no exception. The exception lie in what was more often done to the fairer sex. Even in the academy, they were warned that they may be raped on missions but death always seemed a more frightening prospect. Now, faced with it, she knew that rape was far worse. She was so afraid her throat had closed up to the point where she couldn't utter a single sound.

That all changed when she felt strong hands begin to paw at her clothes.

…..

……

Finally, it seemed as if they had all had their fill. The laughter had stopped and so had the beatings, though the pain still lingered. Ino couldn't move at all. She didn't want to. She just hoped that they were done and would finally kill her. She didn't want to feel anything anymore. She just wanted to stop hurting and stop feeling anything. Killing her would be the only kind act any of these men would probably ever do.

She closed her eyes when she felt the cold steel of a kunai pressed against her throat and actually sighed in relief, knowing it would all be over soon.

Suddenly, she heard a strange gurgling noise and felt some sort of warm liquid fall onto her battered body. She just hoped they weren't covering her in their diseased seed. It was only then that she felt the intense heat roll over her body and the dead weight of the smaller man hitting the ground beside her.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and took in the sight before her. Standing there, shrouded in a crimson chakra that could only be described as malignant, stood Naruto, Yu's heart clutched in his hand. In front of Naruto, the two other ninja stood in complete fear, urine even running down Kuma's leg at the intense rage emanating from the boy before them. Their trembling only increased when Naruto's clawed hand squeezed the heart, crushing it to a pulp that oozed from his fist.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto stood before the two men and grabbed them between their legs, "You two are more demon than I will ever be! If only I could give you even a taste of pain that you've caused her, but I will settle for ripping your fucking balls off!"

Naruto was true to his word if the screams were any indication. Even if she doubted his words, the smell of blood was enough to let Ino know that they weren't going to leave this clearing.

The heat in the clearing began to dissipate slowly and she could feel someone kneel next to her. Again, she felt a warm liquid land on her skin, though only her shoulder. Finally, she turned her head to look into the tear-stained face of her teammate.

"Oh god, Ino. I'm so sorry," he cried, his hands slipping beneath her and lifting her into his lap, "I should have been there to stop this. They shouldn't have been able to surprise me like that and now…." He couldn't even finish. He didn't have any idea what to say. He could see the pain in her eyes and began to caress her bruised face, "They won't hurt you anymore, Ino. I made sure of that. Just relax now. Everything will be ok."

She knew, though, that everything would not be ok. She didn't think she would ever be ok after this.

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Decidedly darker than anything I've ever done. I hope I've done justice to this idea that's been rattling in my head. I'll say this right now. I'm male and I can't understand what a woman can go through so please forgive me this bit of fiction. I warn you as well, that I don't update with any regularity so if you want to see what happens next, toss this story on your alerts.

Oh yeah. I'm completely insecure so please review.