A/N: So I've been a good little writer and gone through the entire story to standardize the formatting (Shikamaru would mutter something about measure twice and cut once here) and i'm glad i got those chapter numbers all in order! that must have been confusing for you guys and i apologize!

Since you guys have all been AWESOME with your dedication to read this story, (already over 2000 total hits and it hasn't been a month since it went live!) I want to thank all my readers (I only call you readers cause i don't know your names individually!) and reviewers (TheMissMalave, Kurtulmak, Kukirew, SilentE, Echo Uchiha, JeNaHee, , Indigo Yamanaka, Newt-ish, Celeste Carla, Haylin-chan, DolceNana, KeitorinNara and Alyssa009) You can wake up to yet another chapter! You guy's constant support and readership and feedback makes me feel like a million cookies!

And without further ado, you may board the Ship...puuden.

Chapter 10

Rescue

Ino felt a chill deeper than she'd ever felt it in this forsaken town. She wanted to blame it on the cool evening breeze. Or the fact that she was wearing little more than underwear in an attempt to sneak into Goro's lair.

But she couldn't shake the sense of foreboding that hung over her. It was Mayuri's words that did it.

Don't be afraid of what you find.

She was afraid to find out he was already dead before they could do so much as lift a finger to pull him out of that hell. But that didn't seem to be the meaning she wanted to convey.

Ino trudged toward the contact point, ignoring the jostling of the crowd of villagers around her. They went about their daily routines without so much as a twinge of apprehension for the events that were about to occur. She fought through the crowd, most of whom were traveling the opposite direction. She felt like a fish fighting the current, swimming hopelessly upstream to return to something that was only a memory.

Fighting back tears – she'd be damned if she were to ruin her makeup now – Ino pushed through until the crowd tapered off and she came upon a dimly lit apartment building. She double checked the address to make sure it was the right place before stepping carefully to the door and knocking. She was vulnerable, she knew, having given her equipment pack to Temari before they split up. She didn't have so much as a single shuriken on her person.

A short, pudgy man answered the door. He was balding on the top of his head and just seemed… greasy. He was the kind of person Ino would never associate herself with, willingly or intentionally.

"You here for the pageant?" he asked with a smirk, taking in her long blond hair and soft features. "You sure are a pretty one."

He reached out to stroke her cheek roughly. Ino inwardly recoiled at the touch, though she permitted it, not wanting to give herself away. She was supposed to be a concubine. Concubines didn't flinch when they were touched. Stay in character, she reminded herself. It was one of the basics at the academy; never break character until the mission dictated.

"Come on, girlie. You just made it. They're about to pick for the night."

It didn't escape her notice that the original mission parameters had called for her to infiltrate Goro's hideout by means of seduction. Here she was, fulfilling the mission, all by herself. Without Shikamaru.

She looked around the poorly lit apartment he ushered her into. A naked red light bulb cast the only light. A bed, desk, and two chairs were already occupied by a half dozen other women, all of them wearing even less than Ino.

The pudgy man yanked off her cloak and pushed her roughly into the room.

The women glanced at her, looks of contempt obvious on their faces. Ino tried not to think about the things that these women did for a living and merely stood in the center, unwilling to move closer to any of them.

A few quiet minutes later, the door opened again. A taller man came through it, his bald head nearly brushing the door frame. He wore a long trench coat and had an air of confidence, even cockiness.

"Alright," he said, quickly glancing around the room. His eyes lingered on Ino before moving on. "Goro wants two today. Said so himself. So I'll take you-" he pointed out a woman whose hair was dyed an unflattering shade of red- "and you," he finished, pointing to another girl with tattoos covering most of her body.

"That's it. The rest of ya'll can go home."

The two chosen girls made superior faces at the rest as they followed him out of the room. Ino began to panic. This wasn't right. How had they not chosen her? I look a thousand times better than the tramps in here!

"Hey, wait, what about me?" she called desperately to the tall man.

He merely smirked over his shoulder. "You? You're new. Plus, you look like you'd break after one rough night."

Laughing at his own joke he turned away again.

"Wait!" she called. "I need the money!" What the hell, it couldn't hurt.

"Too bad, sweetie. Today ain't your lucky day. But hang around. When I get back, I could offer you some cash if you clean out my pipes."

As he left, he nearly bumped into some of Goro's thugs and Ino rushed after him. To her surprise, both of the thugs froze and stared at her.

They glanced at each other incredulously before looking back at her.

"It can't be," the first one said, looking like this night had taken a turn for the strange.

"Couldn't hurt to ask. You, girlie, what's your name?" said the other one, looking right at her.

"Who, me?" Ino asked, her voice smaller than she intended it to be.

Of course me! Who else?

"I-Ino," she stammered nervously. "What do you want with me?"

The tattooed girl clicked her tongue in annoyance and tried to shoo the big man onward, but he was too intrigued by the events to move just yet.

The first thug replied, looking like he'd just gotten Christmas early. "Goro told us to look for someone wit' your description yesterday. Someone blonde, blue eyed, n' pretty named Ino."

Her gut instantly fell. Shikamaru. It had to be. He spilled our mission and our allegiance. But that thought hurt a lot less than the fact that he'd singled her out. He'd betrayed her and gave her up to the man who was torturing him. In a million years, she never thought he'd do that. But it didn't matter. If he had done that, then he was just providing the means for her to get inside and rescue him. She steeled her resolve.

"Oh, okay. Well… that's me," she said, smiling lamely and holding her arms out as if to show off her scandalous outfit.

"Yeah, we can see. We ain't stupid."

She highly doubted that, but kept her comments to herself.

The bald man tsked in annoyance and motioned for the tattooed girl to get lost. She shot an acid glare at Ino before storming away, muttering curses under her breath.

Ino didn't understand that in the slightest. How anyone could want to see Goro was beyond her. The only reason she wanted to see the guy was to kill him.

They all trudged outside, marched around the corner, and down a few blocks until the dingy pub came into sight. It was the first time Ino had seen it since the day of Shikamaru's capture, as she and other girls had determined it was too risky for her to stake it out. If she was caught, or even seen, they would be in a worse situation than before because she would be unable to perform the infiltration.

But all that fell away as her mind brought back the painful memories of Shikamaru's broken arm and agonized screams on that rooftop.

"Walk up," the bald flunky snapped at her, though there was no problem with her pace. He pushed her roughly forward by her ass, and she fought down the urge to snap his neck like the twig it was. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she picked up her pace, not to be compliant but to distance herself from the pervert.

For Shikamaru. He was enduring kami knows what hells for her, so she could endure this for him.

Enduring them for you? He gave you up. You heard the guy. He sold you out.

Ino focused on the door closing behind her, on the slight warmth the pub offered with its evening occupants beginning to trickle in. The smell of liquor and vomit and musk. And her finely tuned nose picked up another scent, though she was no Inuzuka. Blood.

Tayuya's intelligence had been right. He was here. She had no idea what they were doing to him and didn't want to find out, but she had to for his sake.

She ignored the jeers and catcalls that came from the assembled men at her current state of undress. It was a small burden to bear, she reminded herself for the millionth time. When they finally passed through a door in the back and went down a dark flight of steps until they were much farther underground than an average basement, her heart began pounding. The smell of blood became stronger, mixed now with a scent she took a moment recognizing. It was a decoagulant; a medicine (or poison) designed to keep blood from clotting.

She thanked her medic-nin training for that bit of information even as her stomach turned flips at what it might mean to Shikamaru. They plunged further into the labyrinth. She secretly hoped that Temari and Tayuya were up to their parts of the plan. She still didn't trust the two, but she had no more time to think about it as they went down a hallway toward a guarded door.

"There you go," said the bald guy, reaching to grope her again. Ino nimbly dodged his hand. He looked angry for a brief second, as if he were going to strike her. If he thought she'd let him get away with that, he had another thing coming.

"Che. He's in there. Hope you enjoy yourself, bitch."

Ino's pulse thundered in her ears. This was it. She had to do everything perfectly. As she stared at the guard that stood at attention, she realized that she could make good use of Kurenai's genjutsu to keep commotion to a minimum. Walking behind the bolder, scarlet-haired woman, she quickly performed the necessary hand seals and brushed her exposed back with her finger ever so gently, placing her under the spell. She kept walking as if nothing had occurred, since Ino had pushed her into a fantasy that so closely mirrored reality that she couldn't tell the difference. Maintaining her chakra levels to keep the genjutsu active, she brushed the back of the guard's hand as she passed him as well.

He was a shinobi and she had to exert herself much more to place him under the genjutsu, but his second of hesitation wasn't noticeable and he closed the door behind her without incident. Inside, she found a rather lavish bedchamber. An enormous bed took the center of the room, replete with shag covers and more pillows than ino had ever seen in one place.

This guy is a piece of work, she thought.

Expensive looking paintings decorated the walls and equally expensive furniture littered the room. On the wall to her right, a small set of stairs led to a Jacuzzi tub that was bubbling invitingly. The other wall had a faux window – a screen that displayed "weather" conditions – and it was storming heavily. But it was what was underneath the window that made her heart stop beating for a bare moment.

A cage. They were keeping him in a cage. In his bedchamber, with all the luxuries in the world all over the rest of the room.

She barely recognized Shikamaru. His body was tattered and broken. He had no clothes, and scars, bruises, and burns covered every inch of him. His hair was nearly gone, most of it ripped from his scalp and leaving angry red welts in its place. She took in the details with growing horror that it would be fatal to express, because Goro was standing over the cage. He glanced up at the two women, both of whom were eyeing the bundle of scars and bones that used to be a proud ninja.

"Ahh," Goro said, smiling broadly and brandishing a sword he'd been holding at his side. "You've finally arrived. I have been waiting for you, Ino."

...

Tayuya stared at her watch. Thirty minutes. It had been thirty minutes since Ino had gone in, and she hadn't seen so much as a glimmer of Temari. She was late, and Tayuya had no idea why. She felt rage seething in her gut, but she forced it down for the sake of her master. It wouldn't benefit her to explode just yet. She had plenty of targets to destroy once the blonde one secured Shikamaru-sama.

Patience. She scoffed at herself. There was a time when she would have leapt out as soon as he had been captured. It was too immature, too stupid to wait and watch. But Kabuto had taught her differently. He'd seen something in her that no one else thought was worth saving. It was why she'd survived this long. Why Kabuto had survived this long.

Patience.

The door to the apartment she was waiting in burst open and Tayuya leapt at the intruder, kunai in hand and a feral snarl on her tongue. But it was Temari, and she let the weapon fall to her side.

"You're late," she snapped.

"No shit," Temari shot back. She wasn't one to be trifled with, being not as docile as the other blonde (though Ino wasn't exactly submissive). She crumpled something in her hand and slipped it into her pouch.

"Just had to stop and get something is all. My part is done," the Suna nin continued. "I'm ready whenever you are. Just try to avoid using offensive jutsu outside. The last thing we need is whatever this sorry villages' excuse for ANBU is on our ass."

Temari pulled her hair out of its trademark ponytails and tied it down before pulling an ANBU mask and hood on over her head. She couldn't be identified. As such, she was wearing a full ANBU uniform that Tayuya had no intention of asking where she'd gotten. She had left her tessen at the inn along with a simple clone that would pass as an alibi if anyone came calling.

Ino's and her own equipment pack were affixed to her waist, with the smaller girl's pack ironically being much larger. Both knew that it was for the inclusion of medical supplies and soldier pills that Shikamaru would desperately need to escape.

"Ready to do some damage?" Temari asked the redhead, smirking at her.

Tayuya returned the grin with a savage look of her own. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm only ready to kill."

Temari smirked appreciatively before pulling the bird mask over her face and disappearing in a flicker of superhuman speed.

It was time. Tayuya bit her thumb and felt the pain swell through her. It had been so long since she could cut loose…

She tossed her flute into the air, and its lazy spin made a low whistle above her head as she flew through hand seals. One spin, two…

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Behind her, the three huge ogres appeared in a puff of smoke, destroying the floor above her and causing a shrill voice to screech in terror. Tayuya reached out and deftly snatched the flute from the air, pressing it to her lips. Shimogakure would learn to fear her song.

...

Ino felt a crash shake the entire underground cavern they were in. Her eyes snapped back to Goro. He moved toward her and she stepped back, only to see him aiming for the girl who was with her instead.

A head rolled across the floor, stopping at Ino's feet. The blood that pooled from its neck matched the bizarre color of its hair, and Ino watched the light die from the woman's eyes. She gulped as Goro turned toward her. Her hands already forming a single seal before she turned them sideways so her right palm faced him and her left faced herself. He leapt as she finished pushing her chakra out.

"Shinranshin no Jutsu!" she cried, leaping away from him.

He crashed into the wall, but soon stood and turned to face her again. Her hands remained in the position, keeping him bound to the jutsu.

He stood there, unmoving, and Ino glared daggers at the man. His eyes twitched angrily but that was about all he could do. For all his quickness and strength, he was no shinobi. There was no way for him to fight. When he realized that, his anger dissipated, and the only emotion she saw in him was fear.

"You took away my friend's freedom," she said, seething as she forced him to raise his sword. "But I'm going to take away far more than that from you."

He was starting to panic, and she could see it. This prolonged use of Shinranshin was quickly draining her chakra, but this was an afterthought in her mind. She could only think of revenge for what he'd done to Shikamaru. She glanced at the broken, limp body in the corner and her anger spilled over.

Her breath hitched and a tear fell down her cheek. She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't.

"You took away his freedom, but I'm a Yamanaka. We have power you could never fathom. Right now, you've figured out what you lost, and it's more than your freedom. It's your free will."

The man's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as she forced him to turn the sword until it was facing down at his legs. He brought it down through his thigh, stabbing himself clean through. But he didn't scream. Tears welled in his eyes at the pain, but no sound escaped him. She wouldn't permit that. This was her torture.

The guard, finally free of Ino's genjutsu because of her efforts to control Goro, yanked the door open and took in the scene. He had exactly one second to register surprise before Goro stabbed his own lieutenant through his gut, impaling him on the blade.

"How does that feel?" Ino asked him darkly, her voice seething with rage. She wanted to kill. She wanted this man dead. And she had all the power in the world to make it happen. So she took her time, driving Goro's own sword through him until he could no longer move despite Shinranshin's effects. She dropped the technique and took up the sword herself, driving it in and out of his chest until all that was left of him was a bloody mess on his bearskin rugs.

She dropped the sword and calmly washed her hands in the sink next to the Jacuzzi, watching the red run off of them until she could see them. They were shaking.

When she finally felt as if she'd regained her composure, she trudged over to the other side of the room, ignoring the crashes and sounds of battle above.

Ino knelt beside the cage, peering in at the battered, broken man inside. She reached inside and touched his hand as she worked the lock with her other. He twitched when her hand pressed against his own and recoiled, waking up with a fearful look in his blackened eyes. His gaze appeared unfocused and even his very consciousness seemed unsteady. Blood seeped slowly from a dozen fresh cuts even as a hundred old ones tried in vain to close themselves.

Ino's voice caught in her throat, and a sob choked her up. "Shikamaru," she whispered as tears began streaming freely down her cheeks. "I'm here, Shikamaru. I came for you."

He blinked slowly and his eyes focused on her as she yanked the lock off. "You- ya- you…" he murmured, looking down at the hand affectionately caressing his own. "Are you Ino?"

That broke her. Her sobs came loud and fast and she pulled her hand back, working with both hands to pull open that horrible cage and reclaim her lifelong friend.

"Yes! Yes, I'm Ino. Shikamaru, I'm so sorry!" she murmured as she helped him crawl from his cell. His foot kicked a metal platter from underneath him and Ino glanced down at the dirty water mixed with blood. Was that what he's been drinking?

"Shikamaru, I'm so sorry!" It was all she could say as she helped him to his feet. As much as she wanted to stay in that room, hold him until all of his injuries were healed, and he looked at her with his most bored expression to tell her she was troublesome, she had to move. The whole place would come crashing down sooner rather than later if Tayuya had her say, and Ino was not eager to get on the girl's bad side.

"You're nice," he replied to her, his eyes drooping. And he fainted.

Ino barely caught him, her hands peeling the torn skin from his back like it was tissue paper with the simple friction required to stop him. She couldn't imagine what they'd been doing to him and she didn't want to. All that mattered was that Goro was dead and he would not hurt Shikamaru anymore.

Suddenly the door burst open and Ino looked up, eyes wide and fearful. But it was Temari who burst through the door, taking in Shikamaru's state with an audible gasp. She glanced at the carnage that was the rest of the room, her eyes finally settling on Ino's tear-stained orbs through the bird mask.

"We've got to go," Temari said quietly. "I've killed four, but Tayuya's got at least eight as we speak and soon there'll be more."

She tossed the second equipment pouch to the floor at ino's feet. "Here. Get him the soldier pill and let's go. You have to head straight out. You can't stay at the inn."

"But Hibiki and-"

"Forget them! I'll take care of them. You three have to go now!"

That silenced Ino. In her distress, she'd forgotten that Temari would be staying on under her original cover to keep them updated with the situation. Meanwhile, Shikamaru could obviously no longer manipulate the happenings around the town or the country, and they needed to get him into Tsunade's care.

Ino nodded and fished out the energy pills before gently rousing the boy. Temari grabbed a glass and filled it with water, which Ino fed to him carefully before convincing him to swallow the nutrient ball.

Five minutes later, she could carry him safely, but…

"He needs clothes. It's freezing out there. He'll be dead in seconds."

Temari tsked in annoyance before her eyes settled on the bed.

"Lay him down."

"What?"

"Lay his ass on the bed, Barbie! Hurry up!"

Ino lifted him carefully, shooting Temari her most withering stare as she safely deposited him on the mattress. Temari ignored her and began to wrap the topmost cover around him. Ino quickly helped her, and soon he was wrapped securely inside. Ino lifted the Shikamaru bundle and held him in her arms, using chakra to keep her strength and dashed out of the room after Temari. Only Shikamaru's head was visible sticking out of the black cover, but even that was too much for Ino. She couldn't look at his face without wishing that he'd smirk knowingly at her just once.

"Are we leaving?"

Ino almost tripped. She slowed down to steady herself and looked down at him, feeling her heart rip neatly in two as she did so.

"What?"

"Are we leaving? Is this the rescue?"

"Yes." She couldn't stop her voice from cracking. "Yes, we're leaving." Finally. Finally we're getting you out of here. I'm sorry it took so long.

"Good. That hurt." Shikamaru's eyes closed slowly and a tiny smile crossed his cracked lips. "Ino. I knew you would come."

Oh noes! Shikamaru's pretty messed up! What will Ino do? Will Shikamaru live to see another cloud? I mean sunrise? Find out next time on Shikamaru: Shippuuden! Paperazzi 0uT

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