Bringing Down the House

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I got this idea from a story called, Poison My Pain by CeceLovesTy.

I hope you like this!

XOXOX

Love never came easy for a guy like Shikamaru. In fact, nothing ever came easy for him. With a missing mother and a drunk father, his life is in the dark. He concludes that there's only one way to get away and that's drugs.

XOXOX

"Hey, honey. How 'bout you and me get a motel room." the hooker that sauntered over to him said in a low and husky tone.

"Why should I?" the dark-haired male pressed on.

"'Cuz I think I can make your dull life more fun." Smiling up at him, she wrapped her thin arms around his waist. Leaning up as far as she could with her high heels, she whispered, "What'da say, handsome?" The dirty blonde haired woman leaned back just to lean back in and press her lips to his.

"As much as I'd like to I got a girlfriend, babe." he replied when their kiss ended. "Maybe some other time, hun."

The blonde pouted. "That's too bad, I bet we could have lots of fun together." She turned and smiled as she began sauntering away.

Shikamaru, who was leaning against a cold wall, kicked off it and grabbed the prostitutes arm. She fell into his warm chest when he pulled her with into him, a lot of force. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. "Think you won this time, Temari?" he harshly whispered.

Temari merely smirked at him and stood up properly. "I know I did, Shika. I totally had you wrapped around my finger. You were practically falling over your own feet for me."

Smirking, he replied with, "Yeah right. None of you "charms" worked on me and I had you walking away if you didn't remember. And... stop calling me that, Temari, you know I hate that stupid name."

"Maybe, but you didn't let me get too far, did you?" She purposefully ignored his last statement, knowing that she didn't care what he said, she was still going to call him whatever she wanted.

He wanted to wipe that annoying smirk off her fake face. "What would be the point to that? I'd have to find some other slut to screw instead."

"Ha-ha, Shikamaru. Very funny." Temari laughed dryly. She suppose she deserved that knowing that he hated when she called him Shika.

Shikamaru leaned in close to her face. "If you get to go whoring around town then you can bet your pretty little ass that I'll go fuck some other girls I like." He slapped her ass and she frowned at him. Turning on her heels, she left Shikamaru there as she went to go find another street corner. Smirking at her reaction, he also left.

Walking around the late city streets, he wasn't really sure where he was going. His crappy little apartment was behind him, but he kept walking with his hands in his pockets. The night air was a bit chilly, but he was so used to it by now that it didn't even bother him like it used to when he was younger and more ignorant. His taught himself how to stay distant from everything and everyone; thinking that was safer from the alternative. He saw how broken his father was when his mother left them and how he used alcohol to help him with his broken heartache. Shikamaru wasn't going to let that happen to him, so he didn't even let anyone even see his true emotions. And girls like Temari, he used them just for sex. He had to admit that she was his favorite one though. He even kept her around longer than the rest and loved it when they played games like the one they did tonight. Though he did not love her, there was something about her that he did like and maybe that was why he kept her around.

As Shikamaru neared and alleyway, he heard muffling voices. He didn't think anything of it until he heard a scream that was abruptly muffled and heard a sound like smacking. He walked faster, now worried the tiniest bit. When he finally stood in front of the alleyway, he saw what was very expected by the sounds and in this part of the city.

The lighting wasn't the greatest from the street lamp but he could tell that a lanky man was holding a petite woman up against the wall. He had her hands above her head with one hand, while the other traveled down the length of her body and looked like it entered beneath her pants. From her facial features, he was pretty sure that his guess was correct. He was about to walk away when she spotted him and locked eyes. He saw the panic in her eyes and the help she was asking without saying anything, due to the cloth wrapped around her mouth. Shikamaru knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he walked away from this woman who was in so much need of help.

Walking up, very quietly, to the lanky man until he was right behind him, he roughly grabbed a hold of his coat's collar and yanked him back so he fell on his ass. The woman, she looked blonde, fell to the snow-covered ground in a heap as she watched the man who was trying to rape her and the man who saved her fight it out. The lanky like man didn't give up much of a fight and ran away after the other man punched him square in the face. She watched in amazement and took off the dirty cloth that was wrapped around her mouth.

Shikamaru looked at the woman and sighed. Leaning down near her, she looked carefully at her dirty face. Her bright blue eyes shined in the gloomy alleyway. She was kind of pretty even with the tears streaming down her face. "Are you okay?"

She slowly nodded to the dark-haired man and swallowed. "T-Thank you."

He had to strain to hear her fragile voice. He never remembered another time when someone thanked him for something he did. He was so used to people yelling at him or looking at him with disgust. He liked being thanked, it felt somewhat good. And just for that he was going to help her up. She took his offered and slightly smiled. Shikamaru then put his hands in his pockets again and went to walk out of the alleyway without a second glance.

"Wait!" the blonde yelled to him and ran up to his side. "Don't I get to know the man that saved my life's name?"

He looked down at her, noting that she only came up to his shoulder. Why did she want to know his name? It's not like she offered hers at all. Either way he really didn't care, it wasn't like he was going to see her ever again. "Shikamaru."

Again he went to walk away but she grabbed a hold of his elbow. "You didn't tell me your last name."

This woman had to be the most annoying chick he ever met and persistent for that matter. "Nara, now let go of me." Before she could let go, he yanked his arm out of her tight grip, he was surprised that she could even hold on to him tightly. He made it on the sidewalk when she rant to catch up to him again.

"Don't you want to know my name, Shikamaru? After all, I know yours." She walked by his side and tucked her hands into her warm coat. He didn't answer her so she took it upon herself to just tell her name to him. "It's Ino Yamanaka... in case you were wondering."

He expected her to leave him, but she didn't. After about ten minutes, he stopped and looked at her as she stopped as well. "Why are you following me?" he asked harshly, causing Ino to take a step back.

She looked at the snow on the sidewalk for a moment before looking back up to her savior. "...I-I, uhm, don't have... a-anywhere to go." She looked back down to the ground, tears falling once more down her face.

He watched her as she sniffled and cried by herself. Was he suppose to feel bad for her? Did she want his help again? What a very troublesome girl he met; he was regretting not walking away from her now. "Then where were you going before you were in that alleyway?"

Sniffling, she looked up at him. "I-I was... sleeping there. I d-didn't have anywhere e-else to go... M-My father," sniff, "kicked me out."

Shikamaru furrowed his brows, wondering why her father would kick his own daughter out on these streets. Especially considering it was below ten degrees or so out. "Why?"

More tears spilled down her pale face. "H-He's a drunk... A really mean drunk and he b-blames me for my m-mother's death because she d-d-died giving birth to me." Ino could barely talk by now and she rushed into Shikamaru's arms as she cried into his chest.

Shikamaru was dumbfounded, which rarely happened to him. Why was this girl, who he barely even knows, crying into his arms? Was this her way into making him feel bad and offer her a place to stay for the night? If so... she was doing a pretty good job at it. Troublesome...

Shikamaru awkwardly patted her head and said, "You can stay the night with me if you really need a place to stay."

Ino pulled away to look up to his face and smiled through the heavy tears. "R-Really...? Are you sure that it would be okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. C'mon, you're filthy and need a shower." He grabbed her hand and started leading her to his small apartment that him and his father lived in.

Ino blushed when he grabbed her hand. She was never used to kindness since she was born. Her father hit her a lot when he was drunk, which was about everyday, and guys just wanted a good lay from her and got mad when she refused. Even if she grew up on the rich side of town, she was never happy. Her friends used her and guys never really liked her. Her dad hated her so he never really paid attention to her unless he was drunk of course. Her best friend, Itachi, was the only one who never tried to use her and comforted her when she needed it from him. Sasuke, Itachi's little brother, was not like him very much. He and her dated, but it never worked out for them. He was too focused on himself and didn't really care for Ino, unlike his older, sweeter brother; who was in love with her. Ino had to admit that she was somewhat surprised when Itachi declared his love for her. They had always been best friends and he was like an older brother to her, so she could never accept his love. She cared too much for him to let anything ruin their relationship and they stayed as best friends till this day.

Looking at Shikamaru's back, she saw how his dark, brown hair was put up into a messy hair tie. She also noticed his old, dirty clothes he wore. His thin jacket was ripped all over and dirt covered the entire jacket. Even though his coat looked like it didn't provide too much heat for him, he didn't look cold at all. And his hand was a little warm whereas hers was very cold when he first took hold of it. She smiled at him. He really did seem like a genuinely nice guy, but it seemed like he liked to be played off as aloof and hard to people. Ino could easily tell, after all she did major in psychology before she dropped out of college.

Shikamaru, could tell that Ino was staring at him, but he said nothing as he stopped in front of the building complex and opened the door with his free hand to go up to his apartment. His dad shouldn't be there tonight, he usually stayed with this married woman when her husband was away or something; he didn't really care to listen to him when he told him why he might be away for while. Letting go of Ino's hand, he fished for his key in his pocket and opened the door to his apartment and a door that would lead to Ino's new life from there on out.

XOXOX

Sorry if the ending started to drag on but I really wanted to get over 2,000 words in this story. I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter so far and please leave a review before you leave. ^.^

~ShikaIno1