:: Fish Tank ::

By: Phoenix Equinox

"Hey, hey you up?" she whispered, shaking his arm. Shikamaru frowned, her breath smelled like a combination of blood and fruit which made his nose scrunch up: already a dead giveaway that yes, at dawn Shikamaru was up because of her. He'd been awake since he heard the squeaky scrapes of his bedroom window being lifted up and the soundless entrance of Ino Yamanaka who had snuck into his bedroom so often she needed no candles of light from the dawn to slip in.

"Yeah, I'm up," he shoved his arm away from her, before sitting up.

"Hey, um…how was your sleep?" she asked, trying to be polite and all since she just woke him up. She sniffed, and clasped her hands together in her lap as she sat cross legged on his bed.

"Fine," Shikamaru said in a dead pan tone, reaching over for what he knew she wanted and what half brought her here in the early hours of the morning. "Want a cigarette?" he asked, pulling two out.

"Thanks," Ino sighed, eager to take one wedged between his index and middle finger. "How'd you know?"

"Just a stab…in the dark," Shikamaru frowned. "You're arm," though it was murky he could see her bloody wraps around both of her arms. Her fingers shook as well, so something big must have happened this time. Part of him didn't want her to explain, because he already could guess, and part of him hoped today wasn't the day Ino Yamanaka started cutting herself. So he asked. "Was she drinking again?"

"When doesn't she drink?" Ino moved the cigarette to the corner of her mouth and leaned forward for him to light it up. Even the tips of her fingers had cuts on them from picking up broken glass and being hit by shards of empty glass bottles that used to be filled high with alcohol. "I even tried to protect Haruhi, the little shit, and she was screaming at me that it's my fault Ma's drunk, like I had a fucking choice between getting kicked our or getting another bottle."

Ino fell back onto the bed, giving a huge sigh that blew smoke into the air. "Even I feel like having a drink, damn." She stared at her bloody arms in the dark, shaking her head, then taking another puff.

"Don't. Ever. I'd be damned if you turned into your mother," Shikamaru growled, leaning back so that he lay next to her. "You always have a bed here, you know that."

"Yeah, but I don't feel like staying in it tonight," she headed for the window, one foot on the ledge, "I'm going for a walk, do you want to come?"

Shikamaru said nothing, he only got up and pulled on his jacket, wondering how in the hell Ino expected to stay warm the way she was dressed in the bitter part of winter, with no more than a long short sleeved shirt and shorts and bare feet. He used the door instead of the window because he was too sleepy to plummet two stories and would rather risk waking up his parents.

"You're the only guy in the world that'd skip sleep, being as lazy as you are, and take a walk with me halfway through January." Ino meant it as a compliment, but there was disdain in her voice, so she punched his arm to show her affectionate thanks.

"Don't mention it," Shikamaru pulled up his turtle neck to try and reach his pointy ears. "So I take it there's trouble brewing in the perfect relationship?"

"Nah," Ino snorted. "Sasuke's great and all, but he wouldn't do this. He'd just glare at me and pretend like he couldn't hear me. Maybe if I wore him down, he'd walk, but not like this. He wouldn't really talk."

Shikamaru smiled. "Did I ever tell you he's the perfect boyfriend?"

Ino shoved his arm, not helping but smile. "Shut up, I know you love him."

"Love is too strong to be confused with hate, Ino," Shikamaru scowled. As they passed the Ramen shop Shikamaru's stomach growled. "Come to think of it, couldn't you have waited two hours to take this walk?"

"I'll buy you breakfast as soon as it opens, yeah?" Ino stuck close next to Shikamaru, needing his warmth like she needed her next icy breath. The cigarette helped to calm her down, but it barely kept more than her mouth warm. They passed a park bench a few minutes later that Shikamaru wanted to sit on, but Ino didn't slow down, her mind was racing in a speeding thunderstorm of thoughts, mostly thoughts of escape.

She stopped only when she came to a discarded, half-finished can of beer. Pain flickered in her heart, and she sent it flying with a kick.

It landed against a rattling fence.

"Have you seen this fence before?" she asked Shikamaru, ignoring the scorching hurt taking over her body as her wounds seemed to flash alive again. Her back hurt from Haruhi jumping on it, scratching at her, screaming at her. She was ungratefully lucky Ino caught more than half of the flying shards with her fist. Mom aimed it right at Haruhi's head, it would have torn apart her already poor eyes; Ino sacrificed the feeling in her hands for the unthankful rat.

Shikamaru broke her thoughts. "No, I don't travel much farther than I have to."

Something whined in the background, just beyond the fence, catching Ino's attention. She squinted, cursing the dim street light as she peered through the wires of the fence. Unless she was out of her league seeing in the dark, it was a horse weakly whinnying in the brutal wind and cold. Ino grunted in frustration, trying her best to see if that was really what she thought it was.

"Fuck it," she took three steps back before running and leaping onto the fence and started to climb. Shikamaru shouted at her, wondering if she actually had lost her mind, sourly thinking her mother had beaten sanity out of her at last. Ino jumped sideways over the sharp tops of the fence, the end points sliced into her sides, ripping into her skin and clothes. She landed without even noticing it.

The horse dug its nose into the ground, desperately trying to gather warmth from the ground. Its body shivered to the point where at first Ino thought it was convulsing into a seizure. Its back bone peeked from just barely beneath the dark brown skin.

Rage swelled inside Ino with heat. She looked around for a blanket, but only found the chains wrapped twice around its neck nailed to a post deep into the ground.

The fence behind her rattled violently, but Ino didn't look. Soft and cautious, she ran her hand against its side, cooing gently in a warm embrace as she wrapped her arm around it. The horse didn't move, it stiffened in her arms, unsure of whether she was a threat or not.

Ino searched the ground for heavy stones, and with great effort yanked one from the ground. Raising the block of stone high above her head, she—

"Are you crazy?" Shikamaru heatedly whispered, grabbing her wrist. Ino swung down hard against the chains, making the horse jump from its knees to its feet. Trying to get distance from the sharp bang, it attempted to take a few steps, but was pulled back by the length of the chain.

Shikamaru held Ino, pulling her away from the chains. "Damn it, Ino, it'd be better off with you just killing it. What do you expect to do with the horse? How many people do you know own a horse? No one; the owner will call for blood if you set this thing free."

Ino fought against him, pushing the rock over and over against the chains until the rock itself broke to pieces. She tried to use the sharp edge of the rock against the chain to saw it off, but fury blinded her with hot tears. "You don't know what it's like, to-to have to fight for survival, chained to your owners, your masters—you've led a great, passive existence and all, but you don't…you don't understand." Ino wiped the tears that fell with the roughness of her wraps, "You don't understand."

"Maybe I don't." Shikamaru sighed. "But you can't take the law in your own hands—"

"The fuck I can't!" she yelled, "If you won't help, then go! Get away from here and run!"

Shikamaru grit his teeth. "If you want trouble, then you handle it." He turned around with the sound of Ino scraping away at the chains, and walked off.

A shadow loomed over Ino, just like she knew it would. "Here, grab a rock and we'll—"

The unmistakable death hiss of a drawn weapon made Ino's heart drop. She felt the greasiness of his shirt before his meaty arm slithered around her neck and lifted her off of her feet, the kunai tip at her jugular vein. His voice was deep, gruff. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ino struggled not to be suffocated to death, already panting from panic. She twisted in his arms, trying desperately to look for Shikamaru. He pulled harder, choking her now. "I asked you a question, girl."

If Shikamaru hadn't heard the second voice, he would have never turned around. His fingers were in the loops of the fence when he heard Ino's panicked squeals and the man's deep voice booming. He turned back around, cursing.

The man was slimy with fat, making it all the harder for Ino to snake out of his death grip. His words mumbled together as deep distress took over. Ino tried to kick his shin or knee caps but only came into contact with the softness of his body. She gasped, needing only so much energy to scream, to call Shikamaru back.

"You got something to say to me, girl?" he lessened up, in no mood to kill a young girl, but he had to admit with her warm body moving on him like that, he had a few other ideas in mind to do to her with no one in sight.

"F…" Ino's voice was smuggled by the thick hairs on his arms, and he lessened up even more, even taking the kunai away from her throat. She felt helpless, vulnerable; hating how she knew what could come next. "Fuck off!"

"Aw, you shouldn't have said that," he gripped her jaw, dropping the kunai. He held her so tightly that Ino thought her jaw would snap in half and she'd swallow her own tongue, choking to death. She stopped thrashing, hoping he'd ease up like before, and began to pray.

Shikamaru tore his sleeve, quickly pulling a lighter from his pocket. Ducking all the way to the ground so that his chest was in the dirt, he stretched beneath the fence to grab the half-downed beer can. It teetered out of his grasp just barely, but he shoved his entire arm, shoulder and all, underneath when Ino screamed. He pulled out his arm, leaving a vicious wound to drip some of his skin and blood down his arm as he lit the fabric and stuffed it into the can.

He ran up close to the man with a blazing fire wrestling inside the can. He only had one shot at this. He kicked the man so hard in the elbow that he heard the bone snap and fizz.

Ino dashed out of his arms and before she knew what happened, the man was in flames, jumping around in a wild dance of fire, heading for the ground.

"Come on, let's go!" Shikamaru grabbed her arm, not even minding that he was gripping her wound, and they ran for the fence. Shikamaru held his hands out for Ino to use to jump over the fence. Ino hesitated before stepping on him and jumping over the fence, scared that she'd get caught by the sharp wires at the top. Seriously by a hair, she made it clear over the fence with only seconds to get out of Shikamaru's way as he came down.

Shikamaru took off, but something inside of Ino slowed and she turned to look back at the horse. The man isn't on fire anymore and heads straight for the horse. Her first impulse is to go back for the animal, but instead she rushed to catch up with Shikamaru who was steaming.

"I'm so sorry—"

"Are you hurt?" he asked, whipping around to face her. Her eyes widened as she saw his bloody arm, but he grabbed her shoulders, making her look at him. "I said: are you hurt?"

His voice was dark with seriousness, and Ino wriggled beneath his grasp, and muttered. "Only my side and my neck are injured."

He took in a deep breath, "They aren't too bad right?"

She wanted to say, "No sir," because he seemed like a figure of authority, but she actually said. "No, I'm fine."

"Then I'll walk you home."

As usual home was a mess. Actually, home was not really a home at all; it's a shoddy apartment complex with walls that are basically double layers of cardboard. It's nice enough on the inside, or it would be, if someone ever thought to clean it once and awhile.

Ino had no shoes on to begin with, but she couldn't just walk in with grime from beyond the fence strapped on tight all over her feet. So she stuck them in her house slippers that were worn and used to be pink but was now grey fuzz with bottoms thinner than sheets. Her legs shook and her blood was still rushing as she tried to keep silent. She headed for the kitchen, her throat raw with thirst and her stomach empty of even lunch from the previous day. The sun was out a bit more, so she didn't need a light to dodge all the crap on the ground—

Ino fell to the floor. She wanted to be quick to get back on her feet, but a foot and an arm kept her down. "Where've you been, out whoring again?"

Again? There was never a first instance.

"Get off of me," Ino growled, already livid with rage about the horse. Rei Yamanaka kept her daughter on the floor, pushing more of her weight on Ino's exhausted, drained body. She gripped Ino's pony tail, in the process raking her sharp fingernails against Ino's scalp. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Ino rolled her eyes. She hated when Mom thought she was a gangster because she got drunk watching gangster films, "A clown. Who do you think I think I'm talking to?"

"You bitch!" Rei dragged her nails across the back of Ino's neck, making Ino thrash under her. "I'll teach you to talk to me like that!" She slipped off her shoe and began to hit it against Ino in swift, angry blows.

Ino, utterly enraged, rolled over, knocking her mom off of her. She kicked because she knew Rei would lunge at her. Rei dodged it and sat wide eyed for a moment. "What happened to your neck?"

Ino wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist, "Nothing."

"Nothing my ass—"

"You got that right," Ino smirked as Rei came at her again, roaring with hatred and the bottom of her heeled sandal. Ino threw down Rei's wrist, and launched her fist straight at her, already feeling how good it'd be to connect all knuckles in that pale, slender, twisted face.

A plate came crashing against Ino's back, making her lurch her back at the impact. The plate didn't shatter, but it was raised again and Ino knew exactly who'd attack her. Ino rolled, bumping into her mother who stood up, ready to doing nothing, but watch it all unfold.

Ino rushed to her feet, arms up as Haruhi tried again to hit her with the plate. Haruhi's ten and feisty, but she's not stronger or faster than Ino.

Ino smashed her head into Haruhi's face, her forehead connecting hard against her younger sister's nose. Haruhi screamed in response, falling against the side of the stairs, "Mommy!" she screamed as she gripped her left eye and her nose.

Ino smirked, "Dumb brat."

Before her mom could attack or say a word, Ino ran past her and up the stairs as Rei went into the kitchen without a word to fetch cold vegetables.

Ino collapsed against her bed, not caring if she took her bloody injuries with her. A sob tore up, but she didn't release it. She clamped her greasy hand over her mouth and with the other hand grasped for a picture of Sasuke that rested on the table.

At any moment Haruhi would storm in here with some sort of crazy retaliation weapon because she was crazy like that, they shared a room, and there was no lock on their bedroom.

Somehow through the cool and collectiveness of Sasuke Uchiha, she felt calm and secure, hoping he'd be back for his mission tomorrow afternoon like he was scheduled to. She closed her eyes, but it wasn't long before she was out of bed, weary of anyone trying to be silent on the creaky hallway. Haruhi thought she could get the upper hand by sneaking around, but that was an old trick Ino had overcome back in the Academy. Plus, Haruhi only knew how to fight dirty.

Ino was angry. She had felt weak three times in the past twelve hours: she had been beaten three times, and though she vowed months ago to never feel so vulnerable again, it was irresistible to shrink in fear and cower. Ino closed her eyes, willing the pain of dread away. By the time she opened her eyes again, she was out of her window and onto the streets.

Ino didn't stop walking until she came to where she wanted to go. Crumpled and damp in her fist was a flyer for the Konohagakure Intense Fight Club that guaranteed a full initiation with them meant the end of helplessness and insecurities; it promised strength and a future. All the things she lacked.

Ino itched for a cigarette to calm her nerves as people passed her and went into the building. She gulped, but didn't move. Her eyes ached for sleep, prickly with the strain of always watching her back. Well, no more, not if the KIFC had anything to do with it. With a giant swing of the door, Ino entered in with no more than a 20% off coupon if she joined within the month of January and her ruined clothes.

Kakashi Hitake drooled onto his book as he slumped on his side with only the sounds of males cleaning to open up the Club daring to interrupt his sleep. So when Ino's soft, slender fingers shook him awake, his eyes popped opens, red veined and all, "Yeah, what?"

When he realized it was a girl, a hot girl at that, he sat up straight, smoothing back his silver hair. "I mean, how can I help you?" he took her hand for good measure and kissed it, before noticing she was cut all over and wrapped in bandages.

"You're all banged up," he stated, half curious and half in pleasure of seeing a female materialized out of one of his favorite romance books. "Have you always been here? I don't think I know you."

"N-no, I'm new," Ino said, thrusting the coupon out at him. "I need to get strong."

"Look if you have boyfriend abuse issues, there's—"

"No, it's not that…or anything," she couldn't possible slew out her tragic family life without feeling even weaker, and it was troublesome to explain. "I just want to be here."

Kakashi laughed, easing back into his seat. "You want to be here? Look around."

The males were buff or getting there, and at first Ino almost missed what he meant. The place looked as brutal as the people did. Fighting rings were everywhere and some placed looked like they didn't even need a ring to have had a fight go down. It scared Ino a little who fluidly they all worked, quick and efficient with faces of minimal expression, except for determination. Ino felt threatened just by catching one of their gazes.

"You sure you want to get started?" Kakashi held the coupon the way Shikamaru held cigarettes. He put it in her palm. "You might want to do some self-training first, sunshine; we'd only break you to pieces. You get beaten to half to death, we don't offer medical teams. Even asking for one gets you kicked out, no refunds."

"Um…I-I…I do want to be here."

"Then you have the money?" Kakashi asked, sighing.

Money?

"Like a monthly payment?"

"Something like that. First down payments of 150, then you pay us to stay here that's 80 a month."

Ino swallowed. "I…I don't have that kind of money," weakness was already crawling in her hollow heart. She wanted to punk out now as the sand was being thrown on the mats for grit.

"That's fine. You'll earn your keep then. Just give me your life: basically your time, your dedication, your heart, your everything, until you pay me back, yeah?"

Ino wanted to ask if she could have time to think about that. "How long until I can't back out anymore and no refunds?"

Kakashi laughed. "You might want to get out then."

"Will I be the only female?"

"We have Tenten and Temari, some of our best," Kakashi said. "But they went through hell to get there. If you're squeamish by men trying to make passes at you, or getting in your pants, then leave."

Ino shuddered at the thought. She had a boyfriend to think about, after all. Sasuke was on his way from his mission that very afternoon." Can I just have an introduction day, or something."

"Like they do at Guy's Center?" Kakashi scoffed. "Sweet heart, even one "introduction day" would have you wanting to slit your own throat."

"Well, Tenten and Temari had to start off somewhere didn't they?" Ino said. "I could be just as good as them."

"Tenten came to us as already a weapon master and Temari could pay us because her father rules over an entire village, and was pretty powerful. Don't compare yourself with them."

Ino felt discouraged, but she fought on, "Well then, get me to where they are if what you say on your flyers is true, get me there."

Kakashi liked her spunk, but he could see right through her shaking shell, this one had no clue what she was in for. She thought they would take it easy on her because she was new? He spat on the ground before taking a morning swish of cold water. "Alright, I'll give you that "introduction day" but you're going to pay for it, understood? It'll cost you thirty."

Ino dug into her pocket, "Dollars? I can scrounge that up—"

Kakashi shook his head, "No, hours. Thirty hours cleaning for us, helping us out with cooking, washing, the female's jobs," Kakashi smirked. "Think you can handle that?"

"Of course, when is introduction day then?"

"Stop calling it that and you can begin early tomorrow morning," he picked up his whistle that hung around his neck. All it took was one blow and everyone paused as if they had suddenly lost motion in their bodies. "Where's Temari?"

Tenten was worried. She had already covered for Temari twice that morning alone. The first time being when Temari woke up late and Leader came barging in, she lied saying Temari was in the bathroom with diarrhea. Saying she was dressing wouldn't work, in the Fight Club women have no modesty, it wasn't even conceivable. Then, she covered for Temari when she ate someone else's breakfast plus her own. And she had to eat the biggest guy there's morning gruel. Tenten said Temari suffered from a concussion lately and the guy barked if she wanted another one eat his shit again.

And now this.

God knows where Temari went, but wherever it was, it wasn't in the rec room where she was supposed to be. Anyway, what could Kakashi want with her so early in the morning?

"Kakashi-sensei, Temari is…she's um," busy? Yeah right, she went to take a second shower, but it was best if Kakashi didn't know that, "She…still has diarrhea."

Temari was going to kill her, but Tenten couldn't really bring herself to care much. The men began to laugh, and some broke their composure to make faces.

Kakashi's eyes widened. "I hadn't realized the gruel was that bad, fine then, Tenten come here."

Tenten cursed beneath her breath and walked over, "Yes, sensei?"

"This is Ino, you and Temari tomorrow morning will show her a good time, a Fight Club time. She's all beat up now, but hopefully a good hospital treatment can fix her, yeah?"

Tenten looked her over. If the girl was a fighter according to how bloody she was, then she must be a damn good hustler, because she looked so shaken up if Tenten barked, she'd probably jump.

"If you say so boss," Tenten smirked. She hadn't gotten fresh female meat since Temari three years ago. This could prove to be interesting.

Sneak Peek for Chapter Two:

The bed was spacious and warm. A dusty sash of sunset covered the bare lower back of Ino Yamanaka. Sasuke took another drag of his cigarette, pausing only to reach over to the desk to pop his Curse Seal medication pill and down it with two sips of tea gone cold. Ino sat between his legs, thumbing through the heavy stack of money he had just given her. Didn't he know he could have her for free? But, deep within Ino was too ashamed to hand it back when the electric bill was nine days overdue.

"Is it enough?" Sasuke asked, having already downing his pill. He ran his fingers against her back, his eyelids lowering in pleasure as her roguishly attractive body leaned back against him.

"It's more than enough, thank you," Ino smiled, not minding his wandering hands. This happened every time Sasuke came back from a mission, they'd make wild love, half lost in ecstasy, half pushed by medication pills. Ino knew it was probably dangerous to be taking pills prescribed to him to fight off the dark curse chakra, but it made her forget all of her troubles and she could carelessly drown in his body, it was just an extra chakra boost, right?

Plus, it kept Sasuke content.

And she never asked for the money, he just handed it to her.

The golden orange sunlight washed over Sasuke Uchiha's bedroom. The silence felt nice as Sasuke admired her body, touching it as he pleased, and Ino fell asleep. She woke up when he finally spoke.

"I'm leaving again tomorrow."

Ino's body snaked up, leaning on her elbow, her arm in a 90 degree angle to look at him, "What? Why…" she moaned, rubbing his chest with the tips of her healed fingers. She couldn't show up with a banged up body so she had bit down her pride and asked Sakura for help. Her hair was a hot mess from sex, but to Sasuke it was sexy, but apparently not sexy enough to stay.

"Jugo can't hold up his end of the deal to control the New Akatsuki and Itachi doesn't like him," Sasuke took another drag. "I'm just getting updates."

"So you'll be back soon?" Ino rested against his chest, opening her mouth for him to share his cigarette. Ino felt anxious, worried that he'd be betrayed or hurt by his new group. She puffed, the smoke nestling against the wandering dust.

"Sure I will," Sasuke said, though part of Ino didn't believe him. He leaned over and turned off the lights. In her ear, he whispered: "Round two?"

A/N: Please review, I'm kind of nervous about this story. I hoped you enjoy it ;).