Author: Thanks so much for the reviews you guys! I really appreciate it ^_^

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

*Ino's POV*

After draping Sakura's arm over my shoulder, I casted one last glance to Mebuki as the woman sat in the grass with her back pressed up against the gate. She was sneering up at Naruto's back as she rubbed at her bruised neck, wincing in pain when her fingers brushed over a particularly sensitive spot.

I found myself frowning as I looked over the woman I barely recognized from 2 years ago. What happened to the high strung woman that held an air of finesse and confidence? She was nothing more than a rundown broken image of herself.

To see this woman I had once admired stare her daughter down with so much hate and disgust... and to watch her put her daughter to the ground and beat her senseless...

It was all so...mind-blowingly unreal.

I turned my gaze from the wretched woman in distaste and began leading my friend back towards the school.

As we got closer to the steps my eyes fell upon the few students that remained by the stairway were all grouped together, wide eyes locked onto Sakura as they whispered amongst themselves.

I felt my blood boil.

All of these people were standing out here and not one of them thought to run and get help or to intervene and stop Mebuki...they just stood there and watched.

It made me sick!

If I hadn't of gotten Sasuke and Naruto when I did...Sakura would be dead and I had no doubts about that. I saw with my very own eyes as Mebuki raised that liquor bottle over Sakura's head and the psychotic gleam in those blood shot blue eyes.

She had every intent of killing her...

The mere thought caused my heart to clench painfully in my chest and my eyes darkened when I glared at the small crowd.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!" I yelled, becoming more pissed off by the second. "Instead of standing there and watching like a bunch of idiots you should have jumped in and helped!"

The students jumped at my outburst and quickly turned their gazes elsewhere and shrunk away from me. I felt a hip bump against my side and I immediately turned my attention to Sakura. Said pinkette wasn't looking at me, though she did have a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Don't get so worked up Pig, it's cool."

I felt my eyes grow twice its size as I looked back at her in shock. "No it's not fucking cool!" I snapped. "They just stood there!"

Sakura shrugged which annoyed me to no end. "They are not entitled to do anything for me."

"She was going to kill you." I hissed, hoping my words were sinking in.

"I know."

I abruptly stopped and stared hard at Sakura.

"I knew what her intentions were the moment she held that bottle over my head. " spoke pinkette softly.

I frowned deeply as a sudden thought came to mind. "Why didn't you put up a fight if you knew what she was doing? You were just lying there...I've seen you beat down men twice your mother's size. Now that I think about it...you didn't put up a fight at all."

Sakura furrowed her brows at my words as we continued walking and entered the school building. I soon began leading us to the nearest bathroom.

"Well for one..." started Sakura. "She's my mother and I can't bring myself to hit her back...despite how bad she treats me. Secondly I feel like I deserve it sometimes and lastly...maybe a part me wanted an end to all of this misery."

Once again I found myself frozen in my steps as I stared at my friend as if she grown another head.

What the hell was she babbling about?!

"You want to die?" was the only logical question I could come up with.

"No." Another smile tugged at her lips but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I don't want to die I'm just over of dealing with all of this mess. I mean...I'm…I'm tired mentally, emotionally, physically and maybe a part of me wanted a means to an end."

I stared back at her in horror and she arched a brow at me.

"What?" she questioned.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing..." I whispered, looking at Sakura as if I was seeing her for the first time. Sakura once again shrugged her shoulders.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore because you saved me...so I live to see another day." Sakura smirked and turned her head back forward.

I continued to stare at her as my mind tried to wrap around the words that came tumbling out her mouth. I was deeply disturbed by how nonchalant she was about all of this...and to welcome death with open arms was what caused goose bumps to form on my bare arms.

Trying to shake the feeling off I turned from her as the bathroom came into view.

"Ino!"

Stopping, I turned and arched a brow when I spotted my friend Tenten running down the hallway towards me. Her brown locks were falling out of their customary buns and she was adorned in cleats, basketball shorts and a sports bra.

"You just get out of soccer practice?" I asked as Tenten stopped in front of me and was bent at the waist trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah." She replied before taking another large gulp of air for her deprived lungs. "I was hoping to catch you before you left."

"Why what's up?"

Tenten straightened her posture, brushing her dark bangs from her face. "I wanted to know if I could catch a ride with you to Temari's; my mom has to work late and can't get me."

"Of, course." I replied with a grin.

"Awesome! I'll go change and...woah..." Tenten's dark brown eyes widened when they fell on Sakura, finally noticing her presence. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Fell down the stairs outside." lied Sakura easily as she brushed back a few matted locks and avoided making eye contact.

Tenten narrowed her eyes, seeing straight through her lie. "Oh, really? Looks more like you fell into a fist a couple times."

Sakura flinched before sneering at the brunette. "Well, you're wrong!"

Tenten arched a brow with a mocking smile. "Am I? Those steps outside are concrete and you have no scrapes on you at all and by the looks of how bad your eye is swollen, that definitely didn't come from the stairs."

"Shit happens." growled Sakura.

"I doubt that! So who'd you piss off?" asked the brunette, grinning as Sakura started to turn an interesting shade of red.

"None of your business so go fuck yourself!" snapped Sakura as she pushed away from me and limped her way towards the bathroom. When the pinkette disappeared behind the swinging door I turned to Tenten incredulously.

"Damn...what crawled up her ass and died?" muttered the brunette.

"Tenten what the hell!?" I about screamed.

The soccer player snapped her head towards me and arched a brow in confusion. "What?!"

"Did you really have to start with her!?"

"What do you mean? I asked a simple question and caught her in a lie and called her out on it. What's the problem?"

I found myself sighing heavily, brushing my bangs to the side. "The problem is...you were right."

Tenten arched a brow "What?"

"You were right about her not falling down the stairs."

"I still don't see the problem in this Ino." muttered Tenten as she absently scratched at her cheek.

I chewed on my bottom lip trying to decide if I should speak on this or not. It wasn't my story to tell but several students did witness this and would definitely be around the school by morning whether I said anything or not.

"Her mom jumped on her out front." I stated bluntly.

Tenten gapped at me before frowning deeply. "Damn…now I feel bad. What happened?"

"I don't know…" I sighed. "She went outside to go talk to her mom and the woman suddenly attacked her. When her mom got her down to the ground I finally snapped out of my shock and ran for help. I found Naruto and Sasuke and by the time we got to the front, her mom was about to bash her head in with a bottle."

"Oh my God." muttered Tenten,

"Yeah." I replied. "It was bad."

"Now I feel really bad." sulked my dark haired friend. "I need to go apologize."

"That would be good, but she needs a minute. You really pissed her off and her storming off like that was a telltale sign that she had to stop herself from punching you in the face."

Tenten snorted with a roll of her eyes. "I think I can take her."

I stared back at my friend with much doubt. "Sakura isn't one to take lightly; you maybe great with your martial arts but Sakura is amazing. She's a 3rd degree black belt in Tai- Jutsu and Judo. She was also Boxing and Mixed Martial arts champion in the Eastern Division and 2nd in Wrestling."

"Was?" questioned Tenten.

"She quit when her Dad died."

"She's definitely having it rough." Said Tenten lowly before her eyes widened suddenly. "Holy Shit, is that Sakura Haruno?"

I slowly nodded my head, a bit startled by her outburst. "Yeah."

"And her dad is Hiashi Haruno?"

I once again nodded.

"Oh my God! That guy was a legend! Sakura was falling right into his footsteps too; I used to follow all of her fights back home." Tenten suddenly looked at me and grinned at me deviously. "Oh My God! Isn't she the girl you're madly in love with?!"

I literally choked on my spit as I began sputtering; knowing my face was flushed in embarrassment. "W-what the fuck Tenten?!"

The brunette grinned. "Well it's the truth isn't it?"

I scowled as I felt my face flush in embarrassment. "Who the hell told you that?!"

"Temari."

"That Bitch!"

"Whoa! Chill out. Look, I asked her and she told me. What's the problem? The girl is hot and is a bad ass mixed martial artist; so go for it!"

My blush intensified. "That's beside the point! She shouldn't be putting my business out there like that."

Tenten smiled sheepishly. "Well I did ask and Temari doesn't lie."

"That she doesn't." I muttered in annoyance.

The brunette laughed. "Oh quit pouting!" She said before wiggling her eyebrows mischievously. "So did you ask her out?"

"Yea it's very appropriate to ask her out while her mom is going psycho on her ass."

Tenten scowled at my sarcasm. "Well you did say you were talking to her before her mom showed."

"Yeah; attempting to rekindle our friendship."

"And?"

"We are back on good terms and then all of this shit happened." I sighed heavily looking towards the bathroom door. "I should really go and check on her. Can you do me a favor?"

At this Tenten perked up. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Can you go to the nurse's station and get the first aid kit."

"Gotcha! I'll be right back." Tenten quickly turned and left to retrieve the needed necessities. Watching the brunette disappear around a corner I finally made my way over towards the bathroom.

Entering, I immediately spotted Sakura standing at the sink with the water running. She had both hands upon the counter as she stared blankly at her bloodied reflection in the mirror.

I cleared my throat and she flinched, blinking rapidly for a moment than suddenly dipping her hands into the water. She leaned forward and proceeded to splash water onto her face. I walked around her and over to the paper towel dispenser. Pushing down on the lever a few times I snatched up the paper towels and turned to Sakura, just as the pinkette stood erect and turned off the water. I handed her the paper towels and she dabbed at her face gently before drying her hands and tossing the paper in the trash.

"You're not planning on going back home are you?" I asked seriously.

Sakura shook her head, leaning back against the counter heavily. "No."

"Where are you going to go?"

"My grandma asked me to come live with her a while back, so I'm going to see if that offer is still open."

"That's good." I smiled in relief as I saw the corner of Sakura's lip twitch upwards.

"Enough about me." mumbled Sakura as she stared at me intently with those emerald orbs of hers.

"How's life going for you?"

I shrugged, a little taken aback by the question. "Nothing much really...I did just move into my new place a few weeks ago."

"As in by yourself?" questioned Sakura.

I nodded. "Yeah, I have an apartment."

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion. "You lived in a huge mansion, why would you want to live in an apartment?"

I shrugged, helping Sakura jump up on the sink's counter top and retrieved some more paper towels to dab at the girl's still bleeding nose.

"Well you know my parents are never home being that they're always on business trips. I hated coming home to a big empty house every day. I talked my parents into letting me have my own place."

The pinkette furrowed her brows. "I bet they didn't take to that very nicely."

I shook my head. "Hell no, my mom cried and my dad was furious; claiming that I was too young to take care of myself. I had to check him because I've been taking care of myself since I was 7. Once that was said he finally let it go." I sighed softly. "It hurt his feelings but it needed to be said and we finally talked it out and made some agreements."

"You still have rules to follow?"

"Yeah. Pretty much the same as living back home; I have to keep my grades up at least a 3.0gba, check in with them every day and stuff. Plus things are much better now, my parents make it a priority to be home at least a week every month instead of being gone for months at a time. "

Sakura nodded slowly, lost in thought. In the semi-comfortable silence, I cleaned and dried the rest of Sakura's face. I eyed the small cut above my friend's brow that connected to heavy bruising along the right side of her face that ended at the sharp curve of her chin. Her right eye was now completely swollen shut and the bridge of her nose was swollen to a dark purple. Her bottom lip was split in three different places and her top lip had a small cut on the right side. The left side of her face wasn't anywhere near as bad as the right, with a slight bruise on her left cheekbone.

I grabbed some toilet paper and had the pinkette press it against her still bleeding nose.

"Lift up your sweatshirt."

Sakura flinched before scowling at me. "What for?"

I arched a brow at the look. "I saw when your mom punched you in the stomach; I want to make sure you are alright."

"I'm fine."

"Sakura lift up your shirt."

"No! I said I'm fine!"

"Sakura!"

"Ino!" snapped back the pinkette as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

I clenched my jaw and just as I was about to forcibly yank Sakura's sweatshirt off, the bathroom door swung open and in came Tenten.

Sakura growled lowly as Tenten stepped towards us with the 1st aid kit in hand. She raised it out in front of her defensively as the pinkette balled her hands up into tight fists.

"Chill girl, I just brought the kit and..." Tenten chewed on her bottom lip as she shifted uncomfortably. "I also wanted to apologize about earlier."

Sakura gaped at the brunette, tilting her head to the side slightly. "What?"

Tenten scratched at the back of her head. "I'm sorry; Ino told me what happened and I was out of line earlier."

Sakura went from confused to angry as she snapped rage filled eye towards me. "You told her!?"

I frowned in return. "You do realize that this happened outside of school and that other students saw. This will be around the entire school by morning; I'd think you rather her know the truth than the ridiculous rumors that will be spread."

Sakura clenched her jaws and turned from me heatedly and I turned Tenten at a loss for words.

"Hey, Ino didn't mean any harm. In all honestly she chewed my ass out when you came in here. Besides that, I can relate to what you're going through."

The statement caused both Sakura and I to stare at the brunette incredulously. "What do you mean you can relate?" I asked.

Tenten shifted her stance. "I'm not supposed to talk about it but my mom and I didn't move here because we have family here; we are on the run from my dad."

"Are you serious?" I questioned in shock; this was definitely news to me.

"Yeah." muttered the brunette. "My dad has got some screws loose. He's done some really twisted shit to my mom and I; I'd have to say target practice was the worse. He always made sure to hit us and hit us where it hurt."

"Made sure?" I couldn't help but ask.

"My dad was a weapons specialist in the Anbu strike force back home. My dad never misses his target, so I know every hit I took was intentional."

"So you guys left? You couldn't make him stop?" questioned Sakura.

Tenten laughed bitterly. "There was nothing we could do...he enjoyed torturing us. I mean he wasn't always like that but his line of work changed him. He's witnessed and done too many things and now he is who he is and he doesn't want to change and we couldn't take it anymore and all that was left to do was leave or possibly die by his hands."

"What if he finds you?" I asked now becoming afraid for my friend.

"I don't know, but he'd be crazy to think I'd willingly go back."

I furrowed my brows lost in thought. I've known Tenten for a year now and I thought that we were pretty close; why did I not know any of this? I frowned as I casted a quick glance at Sakura; I had known her nearly all my life and is just now scratching the surface of the drama she is going through.

I really needed to get to know my friends better.

"Does Temari know?" I asked suddenly.

"She's the only one I've ever told before you guys."

Sakura arched a brow in confusion. "What does Temari have to do about all of this?"

"Well...she's my girlfriend."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Are you fucking serious?!"

Tenten scowled, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No I don't have a problem with it...it's just...when the hell did she start liking girls? I thought she had a thing for Shikamaru."

I snorted. "Shikamaru is too damn lazy and sleeps far too much for Temari's wild nature and they're just good friends. "

"Oh...hmmm..." muttered Sakura before she looked up at me curiously. "So are you dating someone too?"

My face flushed immediately at the unexpected question and I could see Tenten grinning at me from the corner of my eye.

"No...no I'm not." I managed to squeak out and scowled when Tenten snickered.

"Oh." Spoke Sakura softly as the corners of her lips curled up slightly. As I began to wonder at it, the smile was gone and she was looking at me curiously again.

"And Tayuya?"

I shook my head. "No, she's single too."

"Well she was dating that weird guy not too long ago." added Tenten.

"Oh! That psycho Zetsu!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah! That guy was so weird." said Tenten as she blanched at the thought of him.

"Whose Zetsu?" asked Sakura being that she was the only one lost in the conversation.

"He's this older guy that Tayuya met at a concert a few months back. At first he was real cool and then we started to see another side of him…" I paused, trying to get my thoughts straight. "He pretty much had an alter ego."

Sakura scoffed. "Like a super hero?"

I scowled. "No you idiot…it was like he had another person inside of him!"

"The hell?" Sakura arched a brow at us to explain.

"It's true." said Tenten. "His voice would get really deep and creepy and he'd get this psychotic gleam in his eyes. It was scary as hell."

"Yeah and we would catch him arguing with himself in different voices. Than once we heard rumors that his family is cannibals, Tayuya dumped his ass."

"Cannibals?!" Sakura nearly screeched in horror.

Tenten nodded. "Yep and she had to get a restraining order against him because he used to hide in the trees and bushes outside her house and watch her. It was creepy as hell!"

"That's crazy." muttered Sakura as she leaned in closer to me as I spread ointment over the cut above her left eye. Sticking a bandage over the cut, I dropped my hands to my sides. Sakura didn't immediately pull away and instead turned her gaze to me. I felt a blush heat my face as I realized just how close she was to me and just as I was about to pull away she smiled.

"Doesn`t this remind you of old times?"

I arched a brow in confusion. "Come again?"

Sakura smirked. "Oh, so you forgot about all the times you bandaged my boo boos after my fights?"

I scoffed at her words, crossing my arms over my chest. "Oh I definitely remember fixing up all your "boo boos" but I'd prefer to do it after your fights, not under these circumstances." I bit out, playfully flicking the pinkette in the nose.

Sakura jerked back and grabbed her nose with a scowl and I couldn't help but snicker at her demise. Her scowl intensified by a tenfold and just as she was about to open her mouth and most likely screech "Pig" the bathroom door was thrown open and Naruto came sliding in.

"This is the lady's room you idiot! Get out!" I yelled, throwing a wad of paper towels in Naruto's face.

"Well there are no ladies present so I think I'm good." grinned Naruto as he came to stand beside Sakura before the said pinkette punched him upside the head.

"Watch it idiot." Sakura muttered. "Where's Sasuke? Is he alright?"

Naruto rubbed at the back of his head with a pout. "The bastard is fine; he's in the car talking to Dad. Plus your Mom is gone and we really need to get going if we're going to get Angel in time."

"Who's Angel?" I questioned as Tenten perked up at the name as well.

Sakura immediately paled which piqued my curiosity. "Nobody." She rushed out as Naruto and I helped her down from the counter.

I frowned knowing damn well that she was lying but I decided not to push the issue; after all, I did find out a lot today and definitely didn't want to overwhelm the girl in revealing all of her secrets.

Sigh...

I will just have to wait another day.

"Will you be at school tomorrow?" I asked, becoming all the more curious at Sakura's attempt to rush out of the bathroom. The pinkette froze at the doorway while in mid process of stepping out and turned towards me.

"I don't know...probably not."

"Oh..." I mumbled.

"You have my number now so you can hit me up later."

I perked up at the thought. "Okay, I will."

"Alright, well I really have to go so I'll catch you guys later." She said with a small smile, with her gaze trained on me. "Thanks for everything Ino...you really saved my ass." With that said she gave a small nod towards Tenten before she and Naruto made a quick retreat.

I sighed heavily and turned back to the counter as Tenten came to stand beside me and helped me clean up the supplies from the first aid kit.

"So...you have her number now?" asked Tenten obnoxiously.

I felt my eye twitch. "Yes Tenten."

"I see...so when are you going to call her?"

"I don't know...maybe tomorrow if I don't see her at school."

"Which translates to tonight or most likely as soon as we get out of here." stated my friend as a matter of fact. I clenched my jaw and glared at her as she grinned at me cheekily; sometimes I really wanted to strangle her.

"Stop trying to set me on fire with your eyes and hurry up! My Temi is waiting for me and I'm pretty sure you're dying to proclaim your undying love to your pink haired goddess through text."

"TENTEN!"

The brunette grinned at my rapidly reddening face. "What? I'm just saying!"

I growled lowly under my breath; it was going to be a long ride to Temari's.

Author: please review and let me know what you think!