Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. DUH. If I did I wouldn't be sitting on my ass writing these stupid fanfictions.

Pairing: Ino & Shikamaru... The best couple in the series. All you Temari fans can kiss my ass. 8D

Please enjoy.

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Chouji had told him everything that she was going through, and how bad she had it. She had moved into the apartment (that she really couldn't afford in the first place) for the sole purpose to get away from her father. He was an alchoholic, and a violent one at that. She'd constantly have bruises and black eyes from where his fist would plant itself against her delicate face. You could still see the scars from the pieces of glass from the beer bottles that would often be smashed against her head. She'd always lie though, saying that she'd fallen down, or that she had been clumsy; she always worried about others more than herself.

And he never noticed. Once it was shown to him, he realized it clearly. He cursed at himself for never knowing, he felt stupid; even though he was quite educated on the fact that he was a genius. And for some reason... he just felt sad. Not just for Ino, but for the fact that he wasn't there for her, when she needed him most.

When they were younger, they had a great friendship; and over the years that friendship had strengthened. He was now 22 years of age, she being one year younger than he was. On a couple of occasions she had shown up at his door, her breath smelling strongly of alcohol. She would stumble in, mumbling inaudible nothings, and her cheeks would be stained, and flushed from the tears that had leaked from her eyes. He would catch her as she passed out, and fell into his arms, and he would pull her close, wondering all the while why she had done all of this to herself. He would take care of her, and lay her down in his bed, while he fell asleep on the couch. She would be gone before he woke the next morning, and the next time she saw him, she would apologize to him, with tears dwelling against her eyelids. He would tell her that it was no problem, and he would overlook everything.

And now he knew why she resorted to the same pain-numbing substance that her father used so frequently.

And then Chouji told him about the horrible place where she spent most of her day.

He followed close behind her, unaware of the circumstances that lie ahead. She was dressed in a black miniskirt that came up mid-thigh, and a tight button-up, white colored shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her smooth blonde hair was pinned back into a bun, instead of her usual ponytail.

The doors she stopped in front of, belonged to a place that Shikamaru identified as an old, fight tolerant, and skanky bar. He watched her closely as she stopped for a moment in front of the door. Her knuckles were white as she clenched her fists together tightly, to hold back the tears. She shakily stepped into the bar. He followed her inside and walked to the opposite side of the bar, so she wouldn't spot him. As she walked behind the counter, he could see her talking to another woman in the same outfit, he assumed that they were waitresses. He looked around for a moment. The bar smelled heavily of the alcohol that it sold, and even more heavily of smoke, it was a bit hard to breathe. Old beer advertisement magazine ads were posted up on the wall, which were slightly stained yellowish-brown from all of the years of soaking in nicotine. There were bits of glass all over the floor, and many of the tables and chairs were busted or broken.

She caught his eye again, as she carried a tray over to a table of drowsy loud men, he could hear them from all of the way from across the bar.

"Hello gentlemen, is there anything else that I can get for you tonight?" She put on the fakest smile that he'd ever seen.

"Yeah... How 'bout a little head?" He slurred the disgusting remark. His friends just laughed triumphantly at him.

Her smile turned to a frown, and she turned around to head back to the counter. Suddenly, she felt the man behind her roughly slap his hand across her ass. She turned around, and slapped him as hard as she could, and he fell to the ground. Shikamaru just stared in disgust at the man, oh, how bad he wanted to get up and snap the fucker's neck.

She walked behind the counter, and a man came out of the office that was behind it. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her up close to his face. He said something in her ear, that made her talk back to him, in which looked like an angry tone. He pointed out towards the table, yelled at her, and then disappeared back into the office, slamming the door. She sighed, and quickly walked back over to another table. He assumed that the man was her boss.

"Anything you want this evening, sir?" She put on another fake smile.

"I'll take some of that ass." He laughed at her, Shikamaru could already tell that he was drunk as hell. She rolled her eyes, and turned around. He came up behind her, and reached his arms around to grab her chest.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" She turned around and punched him in the stomach, he bent over and grunted in pain. After a second or two he straightened back up, and quickly punched her right in the face. She screamed and fell backward, hitting the floor hard, and knocking over a couple of chairs on her way down.

"Bitch! You never fuckin' raise your voice to a man! I will fuck you up!" He almost inaudibly screamed at her, and grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her up off of the floor. He fumbled around at his back pocket, and pulled out a large pocket knife, and put it to her throat, her back to him. He yelled at everyone in the room.

"Everyone! Get the fuck out, before I slit this bitch's throat!!" Everyone started panicing, and he kept screaming curse-stained slurrs at them. After a short while, the bar was empty, except for Shikamaru, he was hiding under a table, waiting for the perfect moment to strike him. He was shaking with anger, his fists were clenched tight.

"Now, you're gonna get what's comin' to ya!" He still kept the knife at her throat while he started pulling her skirt down, and unbuttoning his pants.

"No! Please! Let me go!" Tears were now streaming down her cheeks. She wiggled around a bit, causing the knife to cut slightly into the soft skin of her neck, she held back a scream, as he pulled her closer.

The adrenaline pumped through Shikamaru's veins, as he closed in on the drunkard. A loud sound of smashing wood sounded from the man's head as a chair was slammed over it. The man fell forward, knocking Ino over, and landing on top of her. He groaned in pain, and Ino took the opportunity to try to wriggle out from under him, and pull her skirt back up. She stared wide-eyed, still trying to fully interperate what had just happened.

"Get the fuck off of her!!" He screamed as he roughly clenched the drunk man's shirt and pulled him back so hastilly, that the man crash landed into another table, crushing it in two. The man was so drunk, it was hard for him to interperate pain, so he slowly rose to his feet. He mumbled something about kicking Shikamaru's ass, and stumbled toward him quickly. He caught him off guard with a punch, but Shikamaru countered with a kick to his chest, knocking him backwards again, and into another table. He stood and stared at him for a moment; the man finally seemed to be unable to stand, still concious. He looked over his shoulder at a teary-eyed Ino, and his eyes swiped across hers, seeing the sadness, and shock in them. He turned and walked over to the man. He grabbed the collar of his shirt, and held his fist to his face.

"Listen. If you EVER fucking touch her, or even come within a fucking MILE of her again, I swear to God I will slit your GODDAMNED throat!! You GOT that?!" The man drowzily nodded, and Shikamaru pushed him back down roughly.

He turned around to face the woman he had protected.

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More chapters coming soon. 83