Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Closer ❯ Chapter 15

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

It was raining hard. Each drop echoed in the small secluded cell she was in. A low burning lamp lit the confine she shared with one other. A fellow Leaf ninja named Rei. He was older than her, looking to be in his late twenties, early thirties. He had bright orange hair with shrewd looking forest green eyes. His nose was crooked in a dashing kind of way and he was tall and slender. He was the one who explained to her that they were most definitely in Sound Village. He had been captured coming back from a mission in Lightning Country. The rest of his team is said to have been killed, but he suspected that at least one had survived.

Around their wrist and ankles were silver bracelets to subdue their chakra. She had tested them, channeling some chakra but the bracelets just vibrated against her skin and absorbed it, leaving her weak and frustrated.

“How long have you been here?” She asked, wincing as she touched the back of her head where a tender knot lay.

“It’s been two weeks give or take a few days.” He rumbled in a smooth, dark voice that made her blood heat a little. Kind of like her dad’s voice. “You came last night.”

The small, single bed she sat was actually kind of comfortable. When she had awoken, face down in her sheets, she noticed that they were clean and crisp like the linens had just been changed. The cell they were in had a smooth concrete floor and the door from their side looked nicely carved and simple. It was more like a room than a cell except for the small slot at the bottom on the door where the guards would slide their food in. Rei had said the meal was safe when she took a few concerned sniffs at the grilled pork and steaming rice. He was eating heartily, himself so Ino shrugged and ate as well. After lunch, they sat idly in their cell.

“This is boring. Is this what you do all day?” She whined.

“Not all day. They let us out for a few minutes to stretch and use the bathroom.” He paused, a little smile on his lips. “Though I should warn you, Leaf ninjas are not very popular among the rest of the prisoners.”

She glanced up from her hands playing with the ends of her hair. “What do you mean?”

“Orochimaru has a certain favoritism for Leaf ninja, so does his little jerk-off sidekick Kabuto since they were both Leaf.” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “This cell, the food, our treatment is way way waaaay better than the rest.” At her frown he rolled his eyes. “You’ll see when they come.”

It wasn’t long before she would. She and Rei were led out by some Sound nin into a place that reminder her very much of the mission to Flare Valley. The mission where she first learned of Kabuto. Where she killed for the first time. Anko had told her most of Orochimaru’s hidden bases were under ground, in the middle of nowhere. If Rei had been here for two weeks, how long did she have to be here? She had to make an attempt to escape or Orochimaru would grow suspicious. But how to do that with these suppressing bracelets? They had taken her weapons too.

The dim hallway opened up to a wide, circular court lined with rows and rows of rusted bar cells. Each cells had grumbling, eye piercing, dirty, smelly men in them. Off to the far left was a cell with just women, but in a similar state as the others. She and Rei were the only ones in the court.

“For our own safety.” He explained when she asked. He smiled at her wide eyes. Ino felt the anger and outrage from the others. The Sound ninja who led them from the arena to the far side of the compound were talking in low murmurs in front of them, not really paying attention. It was a small bathroom that they were left out. Rei went first, and after a few minutes she went in. Alone. She smiled to herself. What losers. She immediately went to the sink and ran the water over her wrists. Quietly, she began working her hands out of the bracelets, gritting her teeth as she contoured her hand to fold over. She kept looking to the door to make sure that it was closed, her blood pulsing with nerves. Her struggles were growing fervent, and her jaw ached from clenching her teeth against the pain.

“Hurry up!” A sound nin yelled through the door. She twisted the bracelet, managing to break her wrist free. The left one came off much faster than the first, and she dropped the silver restraints in the sink. Immediate, she tried to create chakra, swallowing a relieved, but nervous giggle at her success when she felt the warm power warm her finger tips.

“Did you hear me?” The impatient sound nin violently threw the door open, blinking in surprise at her family seal.

“Mind surrender jutsu.” She murmured pushing her chakra to him and making him stagger back. His once cold eyes became softer, darker. “Success.”

“Hey Giro! What’s going on?” The other Sound came in and Ino moved her seal, catching the other off guard.

“Mind surrender jutsu.” It connected just as easily as the first and the guard smiled charmingly at her. It was a special jutsu that she and Ibiki worked hard on. It only needed one spark of attraction from her victim and she could capture them in her power. They surrendered to her, became her slaves and would do anything for her. Two was her max for now.

“Are you the only ones on duty?” She asked with a little smile.

“Yes, until three then two more come.” The brown haired guard, Giro, said dreamily, unable to tear his eyes from her. His cheeks were flushed with excitement and shyness. Cute. The other was a younger one, about twenty with long black hair and expressive mahogany eyes.

Ino put a hand to her mouth in concern, schooling her features perfectly to express her vulnerability on the information. “Are they nice? Will they hurt me?”

Giro stepped forward. “No! I won’t let anyone hurt you!” He proclaimed heatedly.

“Yeah, no one will lay a finger on you. I promise.” The black haired guard stepped forward daringly, taking her hands in to a gentle clasp. “Trust me. I will protect you with my life.”

She allowed tears of relief to shine in her big blue eyes. “Really? Thank you.” She looked down at her feet, shyly taking her hands from his. “Do you think you can get my things for me? They’re really important.” And necessary for her to keep control over them.

“Of course! Come on!” The black haired guy eagerly reclaimed her hand and pulled her along behind him. Giro followed closely. Outside, Rei waited with unhidden curiosity. She flashed him a smile and waved him to follow. He hesitated for a second before shrugging and following them. Ino stayed a safe distance away from the yelling prisoners as they passed the cells into a room that looked to be guard quarters. They rooms looked just as nice as the Leaf holding block. They popped open a metal foot locker.

“Which ones are yours?” Giro asked, falling to his knees and picking through the loot of stolen goods.

“There.” She pointed to her weapon’s pouch and bag pack engraved with her initials. “Where are yours?” She asked Rei who was hovering over her.

“Hey, back off.” The black haired guy growled at Rei when he saw he was just a bit too close to Ino. Rei raised a brow and immediately held up his hand in defense.

“Fine. Fine.” He pointed to a battered grey bag. The black haired guard tossed the bag at Rei’s feet and then slammed the locker closed. Ino strapped her kunai holster to her leg and her pouch to her side. Kneeling, she unzipped her bag and loudly rummaged through it, partly to make sure that all her stuff was there, and partly to find the special notes embroidered with the delicate strands of her hair. There were only six she had prepared. She hoped she didn’t need more because they were a bitch to make.

“Here.” She held them out to the guards. “They’re presents.” She said sweetly. “You have to hide them in your pockets so the others won’t get jealous.”  

Both took them eagerly. “Of course.” They chorused together with a beaming smile.

Ino gave a sly wink to Rei before turning back to the guards. “What are your names?”

“I’m Giro.” The brown haired guy said with a cute blush.

“My name is Shoji.” The other said. “You’re Ino right? Yasuo and Mintobi told us when you were brought here.”

“Is it true that you killed Katsu?” Giro asked with a troubled frown. Ino looked away, tears pricking her eyes.

“He was trying to hurt me.” She reasoned. “I-I didn’t want to!” She cried, sniffling back her gathering tears.

“He was? Then he deserved to die. If I had been there, I would have killed him myself!” Shoji declared hotly, clenching his fist in anger.

“Ino are you hungry? Thirsty? I can make some tea. What kind do you like?” Giro pushed in front of Shoji.

“I’m a little thirsty. Whatever you have is fine. Can I sit here?” She was about to pull out a chair but Giro quickly did it for her with clumsily eagerness. He was hulking mass, cute in a boyish kind of way. His hairy knuckles were the only thing that really hinted at his manliness. Shoji was tall and well built. Ino knew he took a lot of pride in his image because his goatee was trimmed closely to his smooth face. His black hair was slicked back with stiff gel and his clothes were well tailored.

“Of course!”

“I’ll get the tea.” Shoji said quickly, bolting out the door before Giro could. When they were gone, Ino let out a sigh and propped a foot on the table with a smug smile.

Rei took a chair from across her. “Mind telling me what you did to those guys to make them so eager to please and protect you?” He ruffled his spiky red hair. She found in their short time together, that it was a habit.

“I’m a Yamanaka.” She simply said.

His eyes widened in realization. “Ah. And the charms you gave them?”

“A medium for my chakra.” She paused. “Though I don’t know how long they’ll last.” She had four more charm notes, but she didn’t really want to use them. “When is Orochimaru supposed to hit this base?”

Rei shrugged. “Don’t know. I heard he’s making his way back this way from Tea Country.”

“We don’t have much time then.” She said, biting her thumbnail. But how could she get Rei out of here? The mind charm didn’t work for him. How far could she sway Giro and Shoji to help her? It depended on their loyalty. While they might be mind slaves to her, her persuasion could only work so far. She had to find out. Maybe she could bargain herself for Rei’s release. Once he got back to Leaf, he could tell the Lady Hokage of her progress.

Giro and Shoji returned, brandishing a box of tea bags. She was impressed with the variety and chose blackberry and lemon. “I know this is asking a lot, but it there anyway for us to escape? I-I miss my family and I heard that Lord Orochimaru is so scary. He might hurt me.”

The sound guards exchanged looks. Not good. Damn it. “That is not possible. If you escape, then we could be punished. Lord Orochimaru is not lenient on slack guardsmen.” Shoji said in a low voice. Fear in Orochimaru was much greater than her charm over them. “I’m sorry Ino.”

She lowered her eyes, twisting her tea cup in her hands. “I see.”

“Hey!” A new voice made her jump. She stood up quickly, a little nervous about the newcomers. There was no way she could control four of them. She hoped that Giro and Shoji were in good standing in the ranks. And they were strong enough to keep her safe.

“They’re early.” Giro muttered hurriedly to Shoji. The door opened and two familiar faces entered. They were Sound ninjas who had captured her. Yasuo and Mintobi. Both men stopped dead in their tracks. Mintobi, the short guy who had knocked her out looked like he saw a ghost. Yasuo, the hummer, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

“What are they doing out of their cells?” Yasuo demanded angrily. Ino quickly sought shelter behind Giro’s massive frame. Shoji stepped up.

“You’re scaring her. Stop yelling!” He said in authority. Ino watched Yasuo’s jaw clench angrily. It made her beam in side. She unwittingly nabbed a leader in her charm. Good for her.

“Why are they out of their cells?” Yasuo asked again in a much calmer voice, glaring menacingly at her and then tossing another glare at Rei. “This is against protocol. Even Leaf are not allowed in headquarters.”

“She was thirsty for tea. Generosity to Leaf pleases Lord Orochimaru.” Shoji said nicely enough.

“Why did you give them back their weapons?” Mintobi asked a little shakily. “Especially to her? Don’t you know that she killed Katsu?!” He protested his round pancake face growing red with unchecked anger.

“I know. But she was just protecting herself. Any ninja would want to protect themselves and using physical force is allowed.”

“But you didn’t see! You didn’t see what she did!” Mintobi protested. Yasuo held up a halting hand.

“Lord Orochimaru is due anytime this week. Once he sees that you let them have their weapons back, he would not be please.” His hazel eyes connected with Ino’s. “Leaf or not.”

“I will explain to him.” Shoji said defiantly and turned to Ino still cowering behind Giro. “I’ll explain. But he is right. You and Rei must return to your cell.”

“It’s for your protection.” Giro said with a smile. “The other prisoners don’t really like Leaf ninja because of your special treatment. They will try and hurt you.” He explained softly.

Ino swallowed hard and nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

Shoji and Giro began to lead them out. Rei was behind her, a look of thoughtfulness on his thin handsome face. Ino turned to a fuming Mintobi and Yasuo and flashed them a smug grin. Rei looked back at them for a second before raising a red brow. Yasuo pushed Rei ahead of her, but Ino felt safe with her weapons and felt safe under Shoji’s watchful gaze as the leader held open the door for them.

“This jutsu won’t last for very long.” Yasuo whispered to her. He was right, but Ino simply shrugged.

“It will last long enough.” She murmured softly back to him, trying to keep her triumphant saunter to a minimum.

Yasuo gave a chilling smile. Ino realized that he liked the challenge between them. What a strange guy. If things had been different, she would have probably befriended him. “We’ll see.”

The quick trip back to the cell was quiet, full of tension. Before the door was closed, Mintobi leaned in, a look of hatred shining in his beady blue eyes. “You’ll pay for what you did to Katsu bitch. Just watch, those two can’t always keep an eye on you.” He vowed before slamming the door closed.

Sasuke was tired. Training with Orochimaru always made him go beyond his limits. But that was what he wanted. The more he pushed himself, the more power he gained. His training in Tea Country brought him one step closer to mastering his cursed seal and mastering his bloodlimit.

“We’ll be stopping at base 714.” Kabuto told him. Sasuke ignored him, too tired to care. Though, he never really cared what Kabuto had to say. He was nothing to be concerned with.

The afternoon sun was beating down on them, but the faint touch of evening was creeping up over the mountains. From what he remembered, base 714 was about an hour away from their current position. He rubbed his eyes. The more he worked his eyes, the more they burned. He had gotten used to the stinging, but when he was tired, they always seemed to burn more and longer. He would need to use his special eye drops before he slept tonight.

Orochimaru and Kabuto talked quietly amongst themselves ahead of him. No matter how long he had been around the two, he still was unable to totally be relaxed around them. They were always up to something, always planning and plotting. He was never personally curious about those things but not caring was different than being forced to know. He wasn’t the only one who had revenge on his mind. The bitter and humiliating defeat Orochimaru suffered was always relayed to him. Every time they would train, or when Orochimaru would talk about the body transfer, he always mentioned his intentions like Sasuke should learn to feel the same way. After all, his revenge was going to be delivered in his body. Leaf would be torn apart as he gleefully watched.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the pair ahead of him. He didn’t hide his dark mood from them. He didn’t have to. Orochimaru turned.

“Bad mood?” He mused. Kabuto looked nervous as usual in the presence of his practiced killer intent.

“Your useless chatter is slowing us down.” Sasuke bit at them. “I want to rest.”

Orochimaru’s lips turned upward. “Of course. You worked hard today.” He said airily, not intimidated whatsoever by Sasuke’s mood.

“It’s just ahead.” Kabuto said, motioning them to continue. Sasuke spotted the well camouflaged base and strode purposely forward. At the entrance, two Sound guards straightened respectively at his presence and bowed.

“”Open it.” He ordered making one of them jump. He glared at them which made them work faster at unlatching the heavy bar to grant him entry.

“Before sleep, we must visit the underground spring. Kabuto will prepare the water for you.” Orochimaru told him. The underground spring? He cursed mark burned with the thought.

“Fine.” He turned to Kabuto. “Be quick about it.”

Kabuto smiled in his fake nice guy kind of way. “I always am.”

“Prepare Sasuke’s room.” Orochimaru ordered one of his ninjas. “And I would like some tea. Bring it to my lab as well as the list of our guests. New and old.” Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes. Why call them guest? Prisoners were the right word to describe them.

Kabuto was indeed fast. The underground spring had warm water bubbling from it. It was a humid place lit with low burning candles. The water smelled of Kabuto’s secret concoction of all natural herbal remedies (though Sasuke suspected there was nothing natural about them) and cedar oil. The bath was used to make his cursed seal to flare to life. Whatever herbs Kabuto used made his body more accepting of the dark chakra so when he went into his second stage, his chakra would have less of a hard time mingling with the dark chakra of his seal.

Naked, he lowered his aching body into the water a little at a time. The hot water made his muscles spasm and his chakra stir uncomfortably. As soon as the water hit his cursed mark, he felt his coils expand forcefully. Usually when he did this kind of treatment, he relished in the silence that enveloped him. Kabuto would fade, Orochimaru would fade. It was actually pretty relaxing. Even the herbs Kabuto used smelled sweet and tangy. But this time his head began to buzz and his insides quivered.

…escape from this place is not going to be easy….I have to get out of here….Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sasuke…are so close. They’ll be here sometime this week…

Sasuke’s eyes snapped open and in an instant, he was out of the water. He pulled pants on his wet body and ignored Kabuto’s calling out to him.

I don’t like this…She was beginning to panic.

His bare feet slapped loudly against the cement floor of the arena. People were staring at him in confusion as he raced past them to reach that person. How could she be here? How long had she been here? His mind wasn’t playing tricks on him right?

….Mintobi…bastard ambushed me…is Rei okay? Then he felt her thoughts fade from him. No, No, keep thinking Ino…let me find you…But her thoughts were silent, replaced by her feelings of caution and a bit of fear. Sasuke whipped open a door to the Leaf cell block only to see that Orochimaru was already there. He turned to Sasuke, with an odd look in his eyes. Beyond the men who stood by the Snake Sannin, he saw her, surrounded by men. He rushed to get to her but was suddenly held in place by a restraining jutsu. A strong one. Orochimaru looked serious.

“Don’t interrupt.” He told him quietly, his voice laced with killer intent. Sasuke struggled in his hold, but he was too wiped out to put up much of a fight. “I want to watch. I’m curious about what she can do, aren’t you?”

Sasuke gave the most frigid and intimidating glare he could muster. If anyone else beside Orochimaru had been on the receiving end of it, they would have most likely pissed their pants. “If anything happens to her…” Orochimaru held up a hand.

“I’ll stop it if she looks like she’s about to die. That’s all I can promise.” Orochimaru caught one of his ninja’s gaze. “Move so he can see.” He ordered. The man bowed and moved to the side, giving Sasuke a front row view.

A red haired man was slumped against the wall with blood tricking down his temple. Ino (it was really her!) was surrounded by two pissed off prisoners and one Sound nin. She was blindfolded with a thick red scarf, crouched to the ground in tense alertness. Silence descended on everyone in the area, even her thoughts were silent. Her tied hands slowly moved to her kunai holster on her thigh. One of the prisoners started after her, but she spun on her heel to the left, out of reach, still crouched in surprising speed. One leg was outstretched to keep balance, the other tucked under her. Even though Sasuke was restrained, he managed to activate his Sharingan.

She tilted her kunai, cutting the ropes around her hands. With that kunai in her hand she took out another. Instantly he saw the special star engraving in the hilt. She poised it on the concrete ground, with a fingertip on the hilt. She was feeling the vibrations of her opponents, so when the two prisoners decided to do a group charge, she swept her long leg and tripped one of them, and in the same motion threw her regular kunai at him as he fell. It buried itself in his chest and he fell dead off to the side. The remaining prisoner took his time after he saw what she had done to the other. Ino tugged at her blindfold, but it was tied tightly and the knot only tightened at her efforts. She cursed silently and took her special kunai from the ground. It was what the Sound nin was waiting for. While Ino cut off her blindfold, he started after her with the prisoner close behind.

Ino rolled to the side to avoid the angry hacking arcs of the Sound ninja’s short sword. On her feet, she gave one last tug at her blindfold and it was finally pulled off with a loud rip. The sound nin and prisoner stood side by side. Ino put a hand to her special kunai and waved her hand over it like she was doing a magic trick. The one kunai turned into four, a basic trick taught to them at the Academy. Ino had always been good at kunai and shuriken tricks. He noticed with his Sharingan that her kunais were normal ones and that her special kunai wasn’t among them. When she threw them the Sound nin easily bashed them away, but the prisoner was not as skilled and one grazed him on his neck. The kunai was a simple distraction. He watched as she went through some seals. Black characters appeared around her left wrist.

“Summoning jutsu!” From the sky, a summon portal opened up and a water fell from the sky. In her hand, a long weapon began to form.

“Hum. Interesting.” Orochimaru observed softly, totally engrossed with the fight. The water solidified and in her hand. It all happened in seconds really. As soon as she had possession of her scythe, it was too late for the Sound ninja and prisoner. One smooth, graceful twirl and a wide arch combined with a heel spin later, two heads were rolling on the ground at her feet.

“Ah, I knew he would die. Fucking Mintobi thought a girl would be easy prey.” One of the guards muttered. Ino clenched her hand and her scythe caved in, turning to water that fell to the ground like raindrops.

It took mere seconds for Sasuke to realize that Orochimaru had let him go. “Let’s leave them.” Orochimaru told the people who had witnessed the quick slaughter. He saw Ino stiffen. She had been so intent on her survival that she had failed to see the group standing in the shadows of the building. He stayed where he was, watching her turn slowly. He knew she could see the glow of his red eyes, so he didn’t change them back. Now, with just the two of them and the unconscious red head, he took in the sight of her. He was aware that his heart was beating just a little faster than normal. She was taller. The small face he remembered had matured, so did the rest of her. Her purple uniform showed off the slenderness of her waist and the curve of her hips. Her hair was longer, but she wore it in the same style. For the first time in a long time, he felt his heart soften. Her eyes were the same though, endlessly blue and so easy to read.

Sasuke stepped from the shadows, carefully approaching her on rubbery legs. He made sure he held her gaze. She didn’t move, even when the red head behind her moaned awake but Sasuke ignored him. He stopped, inches from her and gently touched her cheek with a warm, shaking hand, smearing a few drops of blood over her pale skin. He cupped her face, tilting her chin up so he could stare more fully into her eyes. He read a million emotions in them, shock, unease relief, joy, and hurt…they probably mirrored the darkness in his own e

Very slowly, he lowered his mouth to her trembling lips (or maybe his lips were the ones trembling?). He half expected her to push him away, but she didn’t. He should have wondered why. After all, it wasn’t normal to be separated for some two years and then act like nothing changed. His seal wasn’t active, so he didn’t know what she was thinking as he pressed his lips more firmly against hers. What was he thinking? That he had missed her so much that if he let her go, he would wake from a dream?

But it wasn’t a dream he thought when she opened her mouth. He greedily and instinctively took the invitation, plunging his tongue into mouth tightly wrapping his bare arms around her waist, pulling her as close to him as possible. Her arms slithered around his neck. Their breaths mingles, tongues wrestled, hands clung. It was a needy kiss, a wild clumsy one. But it didn’t matter. Nothing matter but this moment. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but when they broke for breath, he leaned down and touched their foreheads. His thumbs brushed her wet, swollen bottom lip.

“Sasuke…” She breathed his name, fluttering her eyes open. He had almost forgotten how much joy came to him when she had just said his name. It had been so long since his blood had warmed with happiness.

“You remembered.” He murmured, closing his eyes, content with just having her sweet breath on him, surrounded by the smell of roses.

“I promised.” She whispered and he opened his eyes. “If—”

“Not if.” He interrupted. “When.”

Ino’s mouth lifted into a little smile. “When we meet again, it had to be like that time. When we kissed.”

He gave a soft smile as well, stroking her cheek with his thumb before wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into his bare chest. Her cheek rested, where his heart was.

They both knew they couldn’t stay like this. Sure they had made that promise, but no promise was made as to what would happen next. She was a Leaf ninja, and he was a missing nin. But for now, he didn’t want to think about it. All he wanted was to hold her just like this, hold her like this forever…