Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Naruto Fanfiction

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CHAPTER SUMMARY: In which loses track of time

~Sacrifice~
By: Sandlewood996

Chapter 3

The heavy weight of returning consciousness was beginning to drag him upwards through the blanketing cocoon of oblivion. His senses were slowly beginning to return to him, bringing the strong, metallic scent of blood to his awareness, nearly gagging him with the cloying intensity of it. His body ached with a sore stiffness that had recently become all too familiar to him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd awakened without pain. Had it been days? Or perhaps months since he'd last had the freedom of moving without feeling recently healed broken bones shifting beneath fever-taut skin? He didn't know. He couldn't remember.

Every time he awakened to his living nightmare he'd stare at the cold, blood-stained stone floor beneath him and wonder if his memories of his life before were merely dreams conjured by his desperate mind. Within the dark confines of his cell he would whisper to himself with an edge of desperation tinging his hoarse voice, vocal chords strained from hours of agonized screams being torn from his raw throat. "I am Uzumaki Naruto. I am a shinobi of Konoha." Over and over he would repeat the same words until he'd managed to convince his wavering mind that no, he wasn't a nameless mass of bone and tissue.

Somewhere deep within him a second voice whispered with dark seduction, telling him that freedom, salvation, retribution were all within his grasp if only he'd reach for it, release it, embrace it. At first he'd been afraid of that deep and terrible voice coming from within his mind. A part of him shied away from it, terrified by the horrors reflected in the deceptively soft tones. He knew...he didn't know how he knew, only that he did...that that voice wasn't to be trusted, that rather than finding the salvation it was offering by giving in to it, he'd be even more lost, far beyond the reaches of all he held dear. On the other hand, he was so tired...both physically and mentally exhausted...that he was sorely tempted to give in just to make it all go away.

Hours would pass...or perhaps it had been weeks, his strained mind would whisper...as he remained huddled on the floor in the centre of his cold and dank cell. The sound of his ragged breathing was loud in his ears, his heart thudding loudly in the silence and drowning out the scrabbling scratches of clawed feet scurrying along the edges of the damp walls. The echoing, questioning squeaks of tiny creatures with beady black eyes and sharp, pointed teeth asked him why the moon hated the sun and the rivers rushed to their own destruction at the end of the world in deep, dark pits of fluttering wings drifting on a cutting breeze driving cool sand through thick trees staining the sky with red.

Occasionally heavy, booted feet would drive the questioning monsters back into the shadows as garbled voices asked meaningless questions and icy steel would caress his abused flesh, drawing more of the sickening, beautiful crimson life to patter gracefully to the already large pool beneath him. As always, he'd answer with hoarse screams of agonized bliss as the deep and terrifying voice soothed him with pretty words of death and destruction. Seduced him with visions of rotting corpses and severed heads with empty, gaping sockets staring at him lovingly, the screams of the dead and dying worshiping him and offering crimson displays of homage.

When he became a shuddering, sobbing, screaming mass huddled in a trembling ball lying in a pool of his own blood, the blades disappeared and the feet retreated, leaving him alone with the muttering creatures huddled just out of sight watching him with greedy black eyes. Whispered pleas would ghost over cracked lips stained crimson with flecks of blood as blue eyes stared with hopeful fixation at the reflection of red fur and gleaming fangs in the dark puddle beneath him. "Let me in, let me in, let me in..." The hoarse litany would repeat in raw whispers of helpless need. The sanctuary held within, just beyond his reach, locked and sealed with the sacrificed hopes and dreams of a glorious golden flash wavered just beyond his reach.

The damp chill of his cell retreated and he found himself standing before the enormous cage again. He drew in a shuddering breath and reveled in the fact that it didn't bring sharp, jabbing pains to his chest. Before him loomed the larger than life bars of the locked prison held within him. Pacing just beyond the shimmering metal barrier, the monster creature of legendary terror lurked, angry growls and pained whimpers thundering in the confined space. Red eyes turned to him, fixing him with a heated glare. Glistening white fangs were bared in a fierce snarl as the fox demon halted its movements. "Oh." Hot breath washed over him as he cautiously approached the cage. The angry lifting of black lips slowly melted away as the creature watched him warily. "You're back." Slowly, the beast lowered its head to regard him through slitted eyes glowing in the semi-darkness. "What do you want this time, brat?" The rumbling voice caressed him with its soothing timber.

"Let me in." He whispered tearfully, hands clutching the warm bars until his knuckles turned white. "Please, please, please..." He repeated brokenly as he slowly slid to his knees. His shoulders shook with the heavy, wracking sobs being torn from what felt like the depths of his soul. "It...it hurts...so much..." He pressed his forehead against the bars, tears falling unchecked down his cheeks to drip off his quivering chin. "Let me in...it's safe in there." Impossibly blue eyes lifted, shimmering with anguished tears. "In there...they can't hurt me..."

"Let me out and I'll make it so they can't hurt you." The Kyuubi pressed its black nose against the bars of the cage. Its tails twitched in anticipation as its crimson eyes stared fixedly at the blond form kneeling before it. The nine-tailed fox rested its massive head on its forepaws in a deceptively relaxed pose as its lips pulled back in a sinister smile, sensing that its jailer was wavering, being driven ever closer to the breaking point. It was only a matter of time, the Kyuubi knew, before he would finally give in and it would be free at last. Free to exact its long anticipated revenge on the puny humans that had dared to imprison it in such an undignified way, stripping it of its power and destroying its rightful body. "Let me out..." It rumbled almost gently, vicious cunning reflected in its glowing red eyes. "And I can protect you from those foolish weaklings that have dared to torment you."

A part of him wondered why it was so important to resist the dark temptation the creature before him was presenting. After all, the giant fox was offering him protection from the pain and fear, telling him that it could save him and make it all go away. He knew the Kyuubi had the power to follow through with its promises, so why was he hesitating? Unbidden, a blurred image of green eyes and pink hair formed within his mind followed by a glint of silver above a dark mask. Frowning, his grip on the bars tightened as more fleeting glimpses of barely remembered people and muted hints of vaguely familiar voices echoed through is broken memories. "No...no no no..." He shook his head in denial, his forehead pressing against the glowing bars of the sealed prison within him. Unfocused blue eyes lifted to regard the monster before him, staring at him with a predatory gleam reflected within the depths of its terrible red eyes. "I..." He faltered, face scrunching up into a pained, frightened frown. "I can't..." In a heartbeat the nine-tailed fox demon surged to its feet with an enraged roar. He fell back from the cage, heart thundering with renewed terror as the enormous beast ranted and raved unintelligibly, throwing its bulky weight against the bars separating them. Throwing his arms up, he covered his head as he cowered before the monster's terrible rage. Colours spun together creating a dizzying whirl as a wind that wasn't there rushed by him, through him, with crushing force. Sound muted and he felt himself falling, the ceiling rushing up to meet him as the stone of the floor burned him with icy intensity that stole his breath from his battered and abused body. With a choked, wordless scream he was slammed back into the dismal, pain-wracked reality of his cell.

A/N: Reviews, much like Pocky, definitely make my world go round.