TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR: conditioning, Stockholm Syndrome, rape/non-con, M/M, PTSD, graphic violence/torture, trauma

i.

When Sasuke opened his eyes, it was dark out. There was a source of light to his left, and he was lying on something hard and unforgiving, painful against the various bruises and cuts scattered all over his body. It felt rocky. Perhaps the floor of a cave or something. He was sore all over. He tried to shift against the rocks into a more comfortable position, and found that his movement was being restricted by something.

Rope.

He cursed internally, wriggling in his bonds and trying to loosen the knots. His wrists were bound together behind his back, and his ankles had been secured as well. Who was it? Was it Naruto? No, Naruto wouldn't have left him alone. Sasuke didn't sense any other presences in the vicinity, so if he could get the ropes off he'd be able to escape.

But the rope wasn't budging. He was beginning to think that maybe it was some kind of special rope or something when he heard a pair of heavy footsteps crunch against the rocky floor. He hadn't sensed them approaching at all. He twisted awkwardly to see his captor as they walked up to the fire, never even sparing him a glance. For a moment, he was expecting it to be Itachi.

It was a man. His hair was long and white, held together loosely in a ponytail that reminded Sasuke violently of his late brother. When he finally glanced away from the fire he'd been stirring and looked to Sasuke, the Uchiha was met with cobalt blue eyes that showed nothing but disinterest.

If you're not interested, you should let me go.

Sasuke glowered at the stranger, "Who are you?" He snarled. "Untie me."

Those piercing blue eyes just stared at him for a moment, before the man returned his attention to the fire. There was a long silence, and Sasuke was getting more and more furious by the second. Was he being ignored? This low-life piece of-...

"Teara." Was the response he finally got. Sasuke's glare intensified.

"Untie me." He repeated. Teara didn't answer him. Sasuke tilted his head back against the rocks beneath him, staring at the roof of the cave as he twisted his wrists, trying to angle them so he could use a jutsu to get out of his current bind.

"Stop that." Teara suddenly said, and when Sasuke looked over at him, he met the white-haired man's gaze. It was smoldering, and if Sasuke had been much of anyone else, he might've shrank back and been nicely cowed. Instead, he only got angrier. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Once Sasuke got out of the rope binding his arms, the bastard would be dead.

Flatly refusing to stop struggling, he continued trying to twist his wrists into an angle he could work with, pointedly not replying. He was beginning to make what felt like it might've been the beginnings of progress when Teara moved suddenly. Sasuke looked over at him again, seeing that he had stood up and was staring down at the Uchiha as if he were less appealing than a slug.

Sasuke scowled darkly, "Untie me and let me go." He spat venomously, "If you don't, you're gonna regret it when I get out of this."

Teara just stared at him, his gaze icy, for a long moment. Sasuke didn't look away, though after about twenty seconds he found himself wanting to. He refused to give in, however, and continued to glare at the man who had confined him

Abruptly, Teara stooped forward, giving Sasuke only enough time to start shifting away before he had grasped a handful of the Uchiha's black hair. Sasuke yelped in pain when Teara yanked his head off the ground, quickly following the undignified sound with a slew of even-less-dignified curses. The grip on his hair tightened, pulling at his scalp where it was already straining plenty as it was.

"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut and sit still, could you?" Teara said frostily. "You'll regret it."

"Fuck you!" Sasuke snarled in response, trying to find a way to brace himself against the floor so he wasn't being held up by his hair. There really wasn't any way, though. Not with how his arms and ankles were bound. "Fuck you and whatever fucking hole you crawled out of!"

"Shut up."

The next thing he knew, Teara yanked on his hair again, pulling him further off the ground, and then slammed his skull into the ground. Sasuke's whole body jerked in response to the immediate pain, before going limp. His eyes stared at the stars floating around in his field of vision, and he tried to say something insulting and angry, but the words that came out of his mouth were completely incoherent. He made a thin sound of defeat, and darkness swallowed him whole.

...

"Hang on a second, Naruto!" Kiba's called, and Naruto stopped on one of the strong branches they had been jumping through on their search for Sasuke. The blond looked back to Kiba, who was looking around with a very serious expression on his face. Akamaru barked, turning eastward briefly before looking back at Kiba.

"Yea, me too, bud." He replied to the animal before turning back to Naruto. "I can smell him. Sasuke, I mean."

Sakura, who had stopped on the branch directly behind Naruto's, stared at Kiba in surprise and maybe a little bit of disbelief. She looked over at her and Naruto's sensei, Kakashi. The silver-haired man was watching Kiba attentively as he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yea," Kiba said. "Positive. The trail is kind of faint, but its coming from that-a-way." He pointed in the same direction Akamaru had been indicating moments earlier.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "Lead the way, Kiba!"

The dog-boy nodded, turning to the east and taking off. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were right behind him, none of them falling more than one step behind the other. They moved quickly, scanning the area as they went for any signs of hostile movement. Sasuke had last been seen traveling with three other people, and while Kiba hadn't mentioned any other scents, it was wise to assume that there could be three highly dangerous people with the Uchiha.

Naruto's gut churned with apprehension. He'd been disappointed on the Search For Sasuke so many times so far, he didn't know if he wanted to hope for the best or just assume the worst. He didn't want to sound like a pessimist, but he had begun to lose faith in his own abilities lately, specifically because Sasuke was so elusive. Whenever they were almost there, something would interfere, someone would get in the way, something would happen to prevent them from catching up.

It was really just a wild goose chase. Maybe he'd never catch up. Maybe Sasuke would always elude him. Maybe Sasuke would never return to Konoha. If Kaisuki continued to refuse to help him, it was extremely possible.

But he tried not to let such thoughts dishearten him. He would try as long as he could, and keep up his hopeful facade.

...

His level of discomfort was close to pain.

Sasuke shifted slightly, wincing at the strain on his shoulders. He tried to twist his hand so he could get a feel for the texture of the rope that was binding his forearms behind his back, only to find that it felt like his fingers were taped together. He wouldn't be able to make hand seals. If he couldn't make hand seals, he was going to have a very hard time getting out of the rope, assuming it was possible at all. It felt like his arms were well-secured. He couldn't reach the knot at all, and the rope felt tough and thick. It'd take weeks for him to get through it with a fingernail.

His ankles were equally secured, and he'd been gagged and blindfolded. He shifted again, grunting slightly as he sat upright, finding a wall and leaning against it. He was much more comfortable sitting up. He wriggled a bit, but he really just couldn't get out of this particular mess he'd gotten himself into. He huffed angrily. Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo would likely be looking for him, and Karin was a sensory-type kunoichi. Eventually, she would be able to sense his chakra, and then they would be on the way.

He didn't know how long that would take, though.

Judging by the hard, flat surface he was leaning on, he could figure that he was in a room. That was about all he could conclude, though. The blindfold was pretty thick, though he could see a bit of light from underneath it. The angle was bad, so he couldn't see anything if he tried to look through said sliver of space between his cheeks and the edge of the blindfold, but he could tell that it was day if he cracked his eyes open.

Internally cursing his predicament, he leaned his head against the wall. That man... Teara didn't seem to be around. He didn't know where the bastard had gone off to, but he could imagine that he'd probably be back soon. Well, maybe not soon, but likely within the next few hours. He wouldn't have gone far when his prisoner could potentially escape at any moment.

Sasuke let out a sigh through his nose. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going anywhere unless someone found him. All he could really do was hope that it wasn't Naruto.

...

The cave was huge, but it didn't go very far back. The four of them were standing in the back of the cave, Naruto staring at the remains of a fire. Kiba was sniffing around the cave, looking more and more bewildered by the second. The blond was guessing that that was bad news.

The dog-boy looked over at him briefly, frowning deeply before returning to his task. Kakashi was also walking around the huge cavern, looking around and evidently searching for more clues. Sakura stood beside Naruto, silent as the grave. It was beginning to look like they had somehow lost Sasuke's trail.

"What the hell, man," Kiba suddenly groaned. Naruto looked up at him, suddenly feeling extremely tired of the whole charade. "Like, the scent definitely comes in here, and the source of that scent obviously doesn't stay here, but this is the end of the trail. Like, what the hell? Did he teleport? Can he do that? Do you know if his new teammates can do that?"

Sakura looked downcast. Kakashi looked like he'd already known that answer, and considering he had a nose almost as good as an Inuzuka, Naruto wasn't surprised. The blond resisted the strong urge to sigh loudly, instead turning back to the mouth of the cave.

"Well, there isn't anything left for us here, right?" Naruto asked quietly, deciding not to even try jokingly answering Kiba's question. "Let's go. Maybe we can figure out which way he went from outside."

Sakura hummed in agreement, and the rest of the mismatched team stepped out into the light. The sun was shining overhead, but the threat of a thunderstorm loomed in the distance. They were going to have to set up shop somewhere for the night soon.

He didn't want to risk the storm destroying any evidence of where Sasuke had gone, but he didn't really want to lead them too far from this cave, since they didn't know if they'd see another one for miles.

Despite Naruto's reservations, they spent nearly an hour looking for some kind of a clue, and didn't find anything around the cave. They'd looked everywhere around that cave, and there was nothing. As the rain started to fall, they retreated back into the cave that Sasuke had been in, and set up a small camp in the back.

"Do you think it was just a false trail?" Sakura asked quietly. Naruto didn't reply immediately, instead staring at the fire. It was chilly that night. He was wrapped up in a blanket, his cloak, and he was still dressed, and he was still cold. The fire was helping a lot, but he wanted to be closer to it. He crossed his legs and scooted forward, holding his hands up to the source of heat and light.

"False trails don't usually just end like that," Kiba explained. "They had to get that scent here somehow. If they walked here and then doubled back, the trail would've gone in two separate directions, with this one being a dead end and the other one leading to the real Sasuke.

"If they'd tied something that smelled like him to a bird or a squirrel like they did that one time, that bird or squirrel would have kept the trail going. There's no way it was a false trail," The dog-boy said conclusively. "But I don't know how the trail just disappeared like that. It's crap."