(A/N Hehehe consider this a little Christmas present from me. I wanted to get this chapter to you as soon as possible, so it wasn't checked by my beta reader yet. So be perpared for some mistakes! ^_^ I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Now on with the story!!)

Last Time:

Ino started walking away from Sakura, but she stopped suddenly and looked back at her friend.

"Hey forehead."

"What." Sakura shot back glancing at her friend in confusion.

"If you manage to die I'll never forgive you." Then with that she turned away from her.

"Same to you!" Sakura shouted back.

Both girls smiled to themselves preparing for the upcoming fight. Sakura stood proudly as the steam started to clear. 'As long as Ino's safe my life doesn't matter. I'll protect her with my life.'

Ino slowly went into a crouching position to make herself disappear. She decided to hide behind a huge bush, thinking that she wouldn't be seen as easily if she hid behind a tree. 'I'll never forgive myself if Sakura gets hurt. I better end this soon. Don't worry Saku I'll protect you with my life.'

Finally the steam cleared up revealing the pinkette to the two brothers. "Lets get this party started." Sakura replied before all three shinobi disappeared into thin air.

Regular talking and in present

Thoughts, lyrics, and flashbacks

'Inner Sakura'

Chapter 17: My Life Is You

Ino watched for any opening as she watched her best friend fight. So far the pinkette was doing very well, but it didn't really look like the other two were trying. All they have been doing is weak taijutsu moves that academy kids could do.

'What the hell is Sakura doing? We need to get this fight over with as soon as possible.' Ino thought to herself, shifting a little so that she could get comfortable.

Ryo suddenly ran at Sakura catching the girl off guard. Smirking to himself he pulled back his right fist and managed to land a hard blow to Sakura's right cheek. The girl was sent flying into a nearby tree.

"So where did the blonde go? I was having fun playing with her." Ryo cockily stated, dusting his hands off.

"She looked like the type to run so she probably did that." Raiden stated matter of factly from a top of a tree.

The red head scoffed in detest. "Didn't Konoha have a saying of never leaving their comrades behind? Looks like blondie didn't listen. Sucks to be you pinky."

"Yeah yeah sucks to be you pinky." Raiden copied.

"Raiden."

"What is it Nii-san?"

"Suck the fuck up!" Ryo screamed at his younger brother making him jump a little.

"You know for being brothers you sure do fight like a married couple." Sakura replied wiping the blood that was dripping down her chin. Just as she was getting up Raiden appeared before her and elbowed her in the stomach so hard that her back went through the tree.

"I wouldn't talk so big if I were you." Raiden harshly informed her.

The brothers expected Sakura to be moaning in pain as she layed there, but when they heard laughing coming from her they instantly got on their guard.

Suddenly the Sakura on the ground exploded in a puff of white smoke. "Son of a bitch Raiden!!! Can't you do anything right!" Ryo exploded in anger.

"How the hell was I supposed to know it was a fucking shadow clone!!!" Raiden yelled back.

Before Ryo could yell back Sakura appeared in front of him with a kunai in her hand. The man was thrown off guard by this turn of events. Using her time wisely Sakura stabbed him in the stomach, making sure to hit a vital point. As he was screaming in pain the pinkette pulled the kunai out of his stomach and stabbed him again in his right arm.

Sakura was just about to finish him off but Raiden appeared right behind her and roughly grabbed her wrist. "You're going to pay for that." Raiden respoded as his grip around her wrist tightened.

Ino was watching the scene in awe. Sakura managed to fataly wound Ryo and render one of his arms completely useless all in a matter of 5 minutes! 'Damn she's really good for someone who's suffering from blood loss. I doubt she'll last for much longer though. Arg! If only their was a freaking opening!' The blonde felt so useless.

No matter how hard she tried Sakura couldn't get out of Raiden's grip. 'He's pretty strong. I guess there's no other option except for that. This is going to hurt so bad.' The pinkette mentally prepared herself for what was going to happen next.

Using her other hand Sakura gripped her arm that was being held by the blue haired brother. Then in one shift movement she broke her arm. Pain instantly washed over her as everyone heard the loud crack of her bone breaking.

Raiden's grip loosened slightly enabling Sakura to get away from him. She jumped onto a nearby tree branch. As she was jumping she threw an exploding tag in the brothers direction. Raiden grabbed his wounded brother and jumped away in the other direction.

Pile instantly rushed up to Sakura's mouth as her arm throbbed in pain. With much willpower she pushed it back down her throat. Her arm was hanging loosely to her side and it was starting to turn a nice shade of purple. Quickly she set the bone back into place and healed it until it was as good as new.

She flexed her arm to test it out. Seeing that it was working perfectly she smiled at her handy work. 'Hmmm...this is one intense fight. I really wish Ino would hurry up already. This wouldn't have been a problem if I wasn't so wozy from all that blood loss. Damn I really have to reserve my chakra or else.'

The young girl scanned the area looking for the brothers, but they seemed to have disappeared again.

"Looking for me?" A voice huskily whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened in shock but before she could really react Ryo stabbed her in the back with a kunai. Sakura gasped in pain as the kunai was extracted from her back. Luckily he didn't puncture her organs because there was no way she would be able to fight.

Ryo brought his leg back and kicked her off the tree branch. Like any ninja Sakura landed on her feet and went on guard. That's when she heard the familar sound of birds chirping. She turned her head to the right and gasped at what she saw.

Raiden smirked evily as he brought his arm back and charged straight towards Sakura. "CHIDORI!!!" He screamed over the noise of the attack.

Just as Sakura was about to move out of the way she felt two strong arms grab her arms from behind. Wait...two! "I thought I destroyed your arm!" Sakura yelled at Ryo.

"That's just the thing you did, but your not the only one that knows healing jutsu." Ryo said calmly before he licked Sakura's earlobe. The girl made a disgusted face at the feel of his tongue on her ear. "I can't wait to see your blood spill all over the ground. Just the thought of it turns me on."

"Your one sick fuck you know that!" Sakura shouted making Ryo cackle evily.

"Oh you have no idea."

'Dammit where the hells an opening! Sakura's this close to being killed and theres no.....wait.' Ryo's back was right in her line of vision and he wasn't moving at all because he had to hold Sakura. Ino smiled as realized that this was the opening she was looking for. This was her only chance to save her best friend! Quickly she formed her hands into a rectangular shape and got into position. She made sure that she was aiming right at Ryo as she whispered. "Mind Confusion Jutsu."

Just as Raiden was nearing them, Sakura felt Ryo let go of her. She looked at him in confusion but as she saw the look of shock on his face she knew what happened. When Raiden was 2 feet from attacking them Sakura jumped out of the way.

"DAMMIT RAIDEN STOP!!!!!! STO.........." Before Ryo could finish his sentence Raiden accidently plunged his chidori into Ryo's heart, killing him instantly.

"RYO!!!!!!!!" Raiden screamed at the top of his lungs, watching the last remaining light of life leave his brothers eyes. Tears slowly cascaded from his eyes as his attack slowly started to die down. Blood oozed from the red heads wound making a small crimson puddle around his feet. Raiden slowly pulled his arm out of his brothers body wincing at the sound it made.

"How could this have happened? Everything was going according to plan. Why did you let the girl go?" Raiden fell to his knees in dispair. The one person that was always there for him was murdered by his own hands.

Raiden brought his hands in front of his face, noting all the blood covering his right arm. He looked at his brothers corpse, but looked away quickly. He couldn't bear to lay eyes on him.

That was when he heard a slight rustling to his right. Slowly he turned his head to a bush and caught a glimpse of light blonde hair. That was when Raiden finally understood what happened.

His stomach knotted up in rage as his vision started to go red. "You........." He whispered dangerously, the hairs on the back of his head standing up.

Ino gasped when she realized that that look was directed at her. 'Shit did he figure out what happened? Crap what am I supposed to do now?' She looked to figure out where Sakura was and spotted her on all fours breathing heavily. 'Oh no! Those wounds must be getting to her. ARG! What am I supposed to do?'

Before Ino could actually formulate a plan Raiden quickly unsheathed his sword and stood up. "I'M MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY BROTHER!!!!" The blue haired ninja quickly charged towards her.

Ino tried to get away or even prepare herself but Raiden was way too quick for her. The red eyed young man smirked evily as he pulled his sword high above his head. "DIE BITCH!!!!" He swung down harshly as Ino closed her eyes and brought her hands up to cover herself.

Instantly her life flashed before her eyes. All her memories growing up with Sakura, being on squad 10, finally becoming a chuunin, her realizing that she was in love with Sakura. 'Well it was one hell of a run, but at least Sakura is going to be okay.'

She waited for the blow to come but for some reason it never came. That was when she realized that there was a warm liquid all over the front of her clothes. Hell she could feel it dripping on her arms. Wait this blood was definitely not hers, but then whos........

Ino quickly opened her eyes only to see pink and red. "Sa........Sakku.......SAKURA!!!!" The blonde screamed at the top of her lungs. Sakura stood in front of her, but the horrifying slight was the sword that was engraved deep within her left shoulder. If the sword would have gone any further than the young girl probably would have had her left arm sliced clean off.

The pinkette weakly smiled at her friend, but winced at the pain that it caused her. Blood flowed towards the ground at a steady rate from the sword wound that Sakura sustained. "Ino......ar..e.....you.....alright?" The couragous girl asked her best friend. With each second that ticked by she found it increasingly hard to take a breath.

Tears fell from the blondes eyes as she shook her head in disbelief. "Sakura you've just been fatally wounded and your asking if I'm alright."

Before Sakura could answer back Raiden brought them out of their little conversation. "Why....why did you get in the way? That attack wasn't meant for you so why did you protect her?" The poor boy used his free hand to grab a lock of his hair and tugged at it harshly. "How could you risk your life for her?"

Sakura turned to look at him before she smiled softly. Raiden looked at the young girl in amazement. "Because she is my life." She simply stated making Ino blush a little at her remark. "The people that I hold dear to my heart are my life." She took a ragged breath as her vision became hazy.

Raiden suddenly pulled his sword out of Sakura's body making the girl grunt in pain before she roughly fell in Ino's awaiting arms. The blonde carefully wrapped the pinkette in her arms and lowered them to the ground. She made sure not to cause much stress to her shoulder wound.

"Well if thats what you think then your life just took mine away from me!" Raiden shouted at the top of his lungs, tears staining his cheeks. "Its only fair that I take her life as well!"

Once again the blue haired ninja raised his arm above his head and swung down as fast as he could towards the two girls. Quickly Ino shielded Sakura with her body, but just as the sword was a foot away from slicing Ino's head off Raiden suddenly stopped.

Ino looked at this turn of events in shock while Raiden tried to figure out what the hell happened. "Why can't I move my body at all? What did you do to me!!!"

"Shadow Bind Jutsu success." A strangely familar voice lazily stated fronm behind Raiden.

"Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed in happiness as she saw her old teammate. Boy was she glad to see him, but wait wasn't he on a mission with the others?

"RASENGAN!!!" Naruto screamed from the top of his lungs as he appeared right in front of Raiden. Since the boy was stuck in a shadow bind he couldn't protect himself from the direct blow to his chest. Almost as soon as the attack connected with his body he was sent flying in the other direction and thrown through a tree.

"Heh. That's what he gets for trying to pick a fight with our girls." Naruto boasted to the others. "So are you girls al.......OH MY GOD SAKURA-CHAN!!!" The blonde boy screamed once he lied eyes on his teammate who was now uncousious.

Ino decided that enough time was being wasted so she quickly started barking orders. "I'll tell you what happened to Sakura later we have to get her to a hospital. NOW!"

Naruto nodded his head in agreement as he summomed five shadow clones. "Okay Shikamaru and the others can deal with that guy. While you and me take Sakura-chan to the hospital. We're going to need Tsunade-baa-chan's help on this one." The hyper ninja pointed a finger at his shadow clones. "You go get Tsunade-baa-chan and HURRY! You transform into a stretcher. The rest of us will be carrying Sakura-chan."

The one shadow clone fled the scene in search of Tsunade, while the other clone transformed into a stretcher. Ino gently lied Sakura on the stretcher. Once that was taken care of the rest of the Naruto's quickly grabbed one side of the stretcher and slowly lifted the girl up. When they figured out it was going to be safe they ran off with Ino right on their heels.

'Sakura please pull through I don't know what I would do without you.' Ino prayed in her mind hoping for some sort of miracle.

(A/N That's it folks, chapter 17 is done. Yes I know its super short. I was going to go further but I realized that what I wanted to happen next could wait cuz I wanted to get this done by Christmas. Soooooo......please read and review. Also a head's up currently I'm writing another InoSaku story but don't worry I won't neglect this one cuz I know how much you guys love it. Hey check out this ShikaSakuIno vid I just made, heres the url: .com/watch?v=9K4RVnmPO7I&feature=channel_page I think I did a good job on it. XD MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!)