"Here's your supper Sasuke." Kabuto grinned cruelly as he set down a bowl filled with some unrecognizable substance in front of the glaring fifteen-year-old Uchiha before him.
Sasuke gave a deep-throated growl and would have lunged at Kabuto if it hadn't been for the fact that he was chained to the wall.
Kabuto chuckled. "Well look at Orochimaru's favorite apprentice now." He jeered.
"I guess you're back to being the favorite now eh?" Sasuke spat.
Kabuto's smirk disappeared and his expression darkened considerably. "Unfortunately not. No Orochimaru has found another he considers more worthy to be his apprentice and future vessel."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to smirk. "Oh? Who did he find this time?"
Kabuto shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't met her yet."
"Her?" Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow, he's getting kinda desperate huh?"
Kabuto glared at him. "Shut up! You're in no position to be talking!" His derisive smirk reappeared. "Enjoy your meal… prisoner."
He laughed and walked out of the cell, letting the door slam with a resounding bang!
Sasuke clenched his fists and strained for the ten thousandth time against his bonds, but to no avail. How had things gone so wrong?
Just one week ago he had been the apprentice to Lord Orochimaru, one of the most feared men in the land. He had received choice instruction and specified training and had been highly respected and second in command to only Orochimaru himself.
Then he had made his big mistake. He had decided that he had learned everything that he could from the snake-man and had turned on his master, challenging him to a life or death battle to which Orochimaru had accepted.
Sasuke soon realized that he had grossly misjudged his master's strength and skill while overestimating his own.
Orochimaru had easily triumphed over his brash, young apprentice. But instead of fighting to the death, Orochimaru had knocked him unconscious and had him imprisoned in the dungeon.
Sasuke really had no clue why the brute had not killed him and he had even less of an idea of what Orochimaru could possibly have planned for him. But, knowing the snake-man, it was bound to be ugly.
Sasuke frowned. If only he hadn't been so extremely overconfident. Of course he had always been that way, but he had really believed that he could defeat his master. He now realized that Orochimaru must have suspected his treacherous plans for some time and had disguised his true skill so masterfully, that Sasuke had never guessed how great his master's abilities really were.
Sasuke sighed. Well, there was nothing to do now but sit back and wait, while trying to choke down the horrid, sickening stuff that Kabuto had christened his 'supper'.
Three days later, Sasuke's eyes snapped open as the prison door swung open and letting in a beam of bright sunlight. Temporarily blinded by the intensity of the light, it was a few moments's before Sasuke could look at the men standing in the door. It proved to be Kabuto and a fellow sound nin.
Sasuke glared fiercely at them. Kabuto smirked and snapped his fingers. The other sound nin stepped forward and unlocked Sasuke from the wall. Then, with Kabuto's help, he attached shackles to Sasuke's wrists and ankles, and locked a thick, iron ring around Sasuke's neck and then attached a heavy chain to the ring, creating a sort of "leash and collar" effect.
Sasuke seethed, but remained silent. He had attempted to fight Kabuto the day before only to have the gray haired boy use a nerve attack on him, causing him to writhe in agony for several hours before the effects of the jutsu finally wore off.
Still, even with that memory fresh in his mind, Sasuke found it tremendously difficult to come quietly when Kabuto gave his "leash" a sharp jerk. He bit down hard on his tongue and willed himself to keep silent.
He followed Kabuto and the other sound nin out of the dungeon and through the main house to the armory in which Sasuke had trained with Orochimaru many times.
Sasuke glared at Kabuto's back as the boy gave another sharp yank on his leash. Once inside they halted and Kabuto handed the leash over to the other sound nin before advancing into the fighting area. Sasuke could hear the sounds of someone training.
He growled and glanced down only then noticing what a terrible state he was in. his clothing was torn and bloody from his fight with Orochimaru and the dungeon floor on which he had been laying for the past ten days was anything but sanitary.
Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. What did that disgusting snake want with him?
Before he had any further time to reflect, Sasuke heard the snake's voice. "Weeeeel, hello Sssssassssuke." He hissed.
Sasuke grit his teeth and remained silent, not daring to raise his eyes.
"Have you been enjoying your new position as my prisoner?" The brute was obviously enjoying Sasuke's predicament.
"Oh, where are my manners? You haven't met my new apprentice yet, have you? You've been to… preoccupied." Sasuke could here the malicious smirk that he knew was playing on the older man's lips. "Allow me to introduce, Tsukiyo."
Sasuke refused to acknowledge the introduction and continued to glare at the floor.
Orochimaru chuckled coldly. "Really Sasuke, you know it's impolite not to respond when you meet someone. Mind you're manners now, or I'll have to order Kabuto to give you another dose of that nerve attack jutsu!"
Sasuke growled but his head lifted and he raised his eyes to meet those of Orochimaru's new apprentice. What he saw made his blood run cold. Next to Orochimaru stood a girl around the same age as himself. Glossy, strait locks deep purple hair obscured one of her eyes. The visible eye was akin to that of a cat and stood starkly against her pale skin. A pair of black, cat ears sat atop her head and two, black, whip-like tails were visible behind her back. Her entire outfit, boots and armbands included, was made of black leather. (A/n: The outfit is perfectly modest.) Her lips, which were super dark red, were set in a hard line. All things considered, she was a rather imposing person. Her eyes- or eye- especially were intimidating and somewhat hypnotic, they were hard to look at and yet, Sasuke found it difficult to look away. And the longer he looked at them the harder it became to tare his gaze away.
An anthro! Sasuke thought as he looked at her. I didn't think they still existed.
"I'm sssssure you noticccced that Tsukiyo is an anthro, probably the lassssst of her kind. I must sssssay, she certainly isssss an improvement over you Sssssasssssuke. After all, a real anthro issss better than an Uchiha any day."
Sasuke grit his teeth and looked away.
(A/n: If you didn't already know this, an anthro is a human with animal traits. They are said to have enhanced abilities, far surpassing those of humans.)
Orochimaru turned to the girl. "Tsukiyo, thissss is my former apprenticccce, Uchiha Sssssassssuke. He will be your sssslave from thissss point on."
Sasuke's head snapped up. "WHAT?!"
Orochimaru glanced over at the enraged Uchiha. "That'ssss right Ssssassssuke. You had your chancccce. You chosssse to throw it away and now you mussst reap the consssssequencessss." He nodded to the sound nin. "Kenji?" The man tossed the end of Sasuke's leash to Orochimaru who turned and handed it to the cat girl. "He's all yours."
The girl nodded and spoke for the first time. "Thank you Lord Orochimaru. Is this the conclusion of today's training?" Her voice was rich and deep, as well as being surprisingly melodic.
Orochimaru nodded. "Yessss. You may go now. Take the boy with you."
Tsukiyo nodded. "Hai." She turned and headed down the hall, giving a slight tug on Sasuke's leash as a signal for him to follow.
Sasuke trailed behind her as she made her way down the long, twisting halls, glaring daggers at her back the entire way.
Well, this was an idea I had the other night and I decided to see how it went.
Review and let me know what you think. (No flames please.)
I hope everyone liked it. I'll try to update as soon as possible.
Later.
~MidnightAnimeAngel
