So, the slightly long-awaited chapter 2! You guys all suck, I didn't even get my 15 reviews! Lazy!

Still, thanks to all of you that did review, I absolutly love hearing from you, actually, if you guys didn't review, I'm not sure I would've ever gotten around to finishing this! I really like the way this chapter came out, it's a little violent and stuff, but I think you all can handle it! WARNING-Anyone who minds mild sexual content and moderate violence, LEAVE NOW!

I tried to keep the characters IN character, hope you all like it!

Shikamaru's battle raged on, both nin attacking with their few remaining kunais, a few other discarded, slightly bloody weapons littering the floor.

"This, from Konoha's top strategist! Your mind doesn't seem to be all in one place tonight, does it, genius?" The nin cackled, sending a wave of shuriken down upon Shikamaru, followed by an exploding tag.

'Shit!'

Shikamaru dove out of the way and into a nearby tree to escape the blast. He glanced back at Ino, now laying almost defenseless near Chouji, who also had his hands full with another assailant. His eyes widened as a shuriken buried itself into her arm.

He glared furiouslyat his opponent, who was laughing madly at his little joke.

"Is that what's distracting you? That woman? Maybe I should just kill her, so you won't worry anymore? Then you can fight seriously." He joked, twirling a kunai in his fingers and throwing it in the direction of the unconscious girl.

Shikamaru jumped towards Ino, the kunai impaling his forearm as he barely managed to shield her.
He winced at the pain and noticed the blood splattered on her face, his blood. He moved to wiped it off when he felt three more kunai dig deep into his back and arm. He screamed in pain and slowly reached behind him to remove the weapons from his back, wincing as they sprang loose. He felt his warm blood ooze from his deep, open wounds, flowing freely under his netting shirt. He was burning with anger and pain, but seriously doubted that he would have the strength to perform any of the plans formulating in his head.

He had to do something, though, for Ino's sake.

Ino strolled causiously down the corridor leading to the room where Tsugaya resided, waiting for the return of his wife.
She entered through one of the large double doors and quickly scanned the room, looking for the target.

She found him sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, his feet propped up un a stool, sharpening a small knife. He looked up to meet her gaze for a moment, then sheathed the blade and tossed it onto the desk before him. "Good trip?"
He asked, slightly sarcastically, as he began to walk up to her, an evil grin spread across his features.
Ino nodded, trying desperatly to keep calm.
"Good." Was all he said before forcefully taking her hand and tugging her further into the room. He flung her into a sitting position on the desk and sat down before her.

"Things have been going well here. We're about to set one of the more major jobs into action. If all goes well, we should get rid of a few of those Konoha nin. I'd even be happy with just one."
Ino stiffened. "A-any one in particular?" She asked, trying to sound convincingly interested.
"Not really, the strategist would be nice, or that Byakugan user. Any one of them would be good out of the way." He said casually, cupping her chin tightly. "I missed you. None of the other girls around here are as tempting as you are." He grunted, running his other coarse hand up her thigh, obviously not caring if he was being too rough.

At that moment, a guard entered, carrying a scroll and placing it on the desk. Tsugaya completely ignored him and resumed his explorations, now beginning to scratch the surface of her skin, making her wince a bit.

Ino's mind raced, Niomi had said to wait until he told them not to be disturbed, but he was already getting feisty.

Before she knew it, he pushed all of the papers and weapons on the desk onto the floor and grabbed her by the knees, pulling her down and to the end of it violently, causing a trickle of blood to escape her lips as she bit down on them. He was now standing between her legs, still scratching her as he began to tear at her dress. Ino let out a small squeak of surprise at his sudden actions, not knowing how to react.

'THIS is how he treats his wife?'

He kissed her neck furiously, biting every so often, Ino was sure he was close to drawing blood.

Thankfully, they were interrupted a second time, this time by two nin, obviously rushing to report something important.
"What the hell is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" Her assailant shouted at the two men.
"Sir, one of our scouts has found a few Konoha nin on the outskirts of the camp, a report says that one of them is a target, the strategist. The other man is unfamiliar and he seems to have an unconscious woman with him."

Ino felt a pang run through her as she heard the blast of an exploding tag in the distance and felt a slight pain in her arm, they had found them! What was she going to do now? She began to fidget against the man above her, trying to think of what to do. Her mind wandered to the knife he had been sharpening on the floor, and she tried to reach for it, as inconspicuously as possible.

"And you felt that you needed to bother me? You should know what to do. Once he's dead, bring his body to me. They can kill the others too, if they want. Now leave me alone, I don't want to be disturbed again, you understand?"
The two nin nodded and disappeared.

Just as Ino was about to reach the knife when she felt Tsugaya's hand slam unto her wrist, stopping her attempt. She gritted her teeth and looked up to face his narrow, glaring eyes.
"Now, now. You wouldn't happen to know why those nin are out there, would you, darling?" He asked, almost spitting the words, the grip on her wrist tightening.
Before Ino had time to react, his other hand slapped across her face, causing more blood to spurt from her mouth.
Not knowing what else to do, Ino balled her other hand into a fist and brought it up to his face, causing him to roll off of her unto the floor, him grabbing the knife she was originally reaching for as he began to rise again.
Ino scrambled off the desk and sprinted across the room, grabbing a katana hanging on the wall, unsheathing it and turning to face her opponent.
He lunged at her, raising the knife above her head. She parried it, sending the blade spinning across the room and into a wall.
Now unarmed, Tsugaya knelt before his wife, arms spread, his expression soft and pitiful. "Niomi, darling. You don't really want to kill me do you? I've never done anything but love you." Ino raised the blade above her, her arm shaking.
"Please, Niomi. Things have been rough, but I still love you." He said, his eyes beginning to water.

'Is he faking…?' She thought, holding the blade suspended above him, still shaking furiously.

Shikamaru was reaching his limit. This ninja moved too fast for him to catch in his shadow bind alone and he was loosing too much blood to concentrate properly.
He had to end this, fast, and before anymore enemies arrived. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Chouji deliver the final blow to his own opponent and rush over to check Ino. He pulled the shuriken from her arm and checked her pulse. After determining that she was alright, he motioned a thumbs up and lifted her body, replacing it under the cover of some bushes.
Shikamaru turned back to his opponent, who was also obviously at his end, breathing heavily. Chouji joined him, armed with a few shuriken. "What's the plan? We need to get out of here, fast." He said, glancing over at his friend. Shikamaru's eyes were beginning to blur, but he forced himself to think.

Wordlessly, he formed the seals for a kage bunshin, now six Shikamaru's stood in a line beside eachother. The group all formed another set of seals and shouted, in unison,

"Ninpou, Kage Mane no Jitsu!"

A wave of shadows spread across the ground, each heading for the nameless nin before them. The target darted about, trying to evade, but it wasn't long before one of the shadows caught him. With a 'pop', the shadow replications disappeared and only Shikamaru was left, still holding his jitsu.

He was breathing heavily but still managed to form the remaining seals and whisper; "Ninpou, Kage Kubi Shibari no Jitsu." A hand appeared and began to strangle the nin, until he fell to his knees, gasping for air.

Shikamaru weakly nodded to Chouji who doubled the size of his hand and brought it down upon the defenseless ninja, instantly breaking the majority of the bones in his body, he crumpled to the floor in a heap, as did the exhausted Shikamaru, his shadow retreating back to normal size.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji rushed to turn his friend over, examining him. He quickly set to work dressing his many wounds as best he could.

Ino began to bring the blade down, closing her eyes, when she felt herself stop.
Inside her head, she heard a voice say, "I can't, Ino-chan. I can't do it…" She felt hot tears stream down her cheeks as she began to lower the sword to her side.

Tsugaya ginned and lunged at her, seeing the open opportunity.

Ino noticed his movement and moved to block from reflex, forgetting that he wasn't armed.

In a swift motion, she swung the blade across his oncoming form. Unable to stop, the sword impaled him, sending a stream of blood unto Ino's trembling form.

She gaped at Tsugaya, blood flowing from the gaping wound in his chest, as he fell to the floor, gasping. Ino's grip on the sword loosened until it fell to the floor, landing at her feet with a 'clank', yet she continued to gaze, wide-eyed at the horrific scene unfolding before her. This was the first time she had seen someone dying before her eyes and she found the whole experience...absolutly terrifying.

Inside her head, she heard the internal wails of Niomi as she stared at the writhing man before her.

Suddenly, she remembered about Shikamaru and Chouji and tears flowed from her eyes as she moved to cancel her technique. 'Cancel!'

Her mind lingered in the room for a moment before departing. She watched as Niomi, now back in control of her body knelt over her husbands' form, near death.

Hardly able to contain her tears, she took the discarded blade, still wet with her husbands' blood and raised it above her head. The last thing Ino saw as her mind departed was Niomi, bladeracing towardsher own chest, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the pool of blood she knelt in.

I know, I know. Cliffhanger...again. It's not over, but this is a really sad fic. It'll get better, I promise, it's sad but not tragic. (For the protagonists, I mean. Obviously it's pretty tragic for Niomi and her husband...) I've already started on the next chapter, which may end up being the last one, I haven't decided yet...You'll just have to keep reading!

Please review, It really does make me update faster, knowing that people are actually looking forward to reading my fics. Thank you, minna!