Prelude

By RyoushintekiAikou

A/N: This is something I'm going to try. It's a prelude to a story that is soon to come. Hopefully you like it because I'm nervous about writing a prelude. I've never written one before but I think I've chose the right song…

Warnings: Blood, implied rape, graphic images, yaoi, yuri, and romance as well as angst and heavy language.

Pairings: OC x OC, Sasori x OC, Sasori x Deidara, Orochimaru x OC, and Deidara x OC.

Copyright/Disclaimer: I do not take copyright for Naruto, it belongs to its respective creators. I do take credit for my made-up character Izaki. The story is in no way associated with the recording artist or recording company. This is purely for my, and the reader's, amusement.

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This is what I brought you, this you can keep

This is what I brought, you may forget me…

A low hiss of the door to the seven year old girl's room split the night like a knife. The only thing was, the ebony-haired girl silhouetted against the night on her windowsill was the only one who heard it. With a kunai gripped in pale, slender fingers, the young kunoichi glanced around the darkness cautiously with amethyst adorned irises. The room felt colder than it had just moments ago, and even the crescent moon seemed to shine a little less.

"Who's there?" she called softly, thin lips set in a frown. A cold, merciless chuckle filled the room, sending shivers down the girl's spine.

"Your lord and master as of today, my dear, sweet Izaki Mukura," a snake-like hiss of a voice drawled through the darkness seductively. Swallowing hard, Izaki tried to keep her reactions under control. She knew that voice. It belonged to the man that'd slain her cousin right before her very eyes when she was only five years old…

I promise to depart, just promise one thing…

A snow-white hand wrapped around her trembling wrist, sending icy shockwaves through Izaki's entire body. Stifling a gasp, she tried to pull away from this person. Eyes appeared out of the darkness, golden yellow like a cat's against the black night. Oh yes. She knew who this was all too well…

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

"It's been a long time, dearest. The last time we saw each other was when…hmm… I do believe it was when I killed your cousin…Lanai, wasn't it? Yes. That was him. The reckless fool…" the voice continued nonchalantly. Izaki resisted the urge to struggle against this man. It would do her no good. She'd know this night would come since the day she was old enough to understand her parents didn't love her.

This is what I brought you, this you can keep

This is what I brought, you may forget me…

"You understand why I'm here, don't you?" The question required an answer. There was only one answer to this question, but Izaki refused to allow herself to give it. She was scared half to death already, but she still had her wits and refused to be goaded into saying what the man wanted. Turning her face away from those soul-piercing eyes, she tried to pretend he would go away if she didn't look at him. Moonlight bathed her face, illuminating her soft pale skin. Unknown to her, a cruel smirk spread across the snake-man's lips.

"Hn." There was no answer she was willing to give. Whatever she said otherwise that the man didn't want to hear would be considered a lie. But she didn't want to say it. Izaki didn't want to admit she knew what was supposed to happen that night.

"I'll answer my own question then, my darling Izaki…" the man drawled as his grip on her wrist tightened enough that she dropped the kunai out of sheer pain in her wrist. Subduing the urge to flinch away from him, Izaki kept her eyes trained on the tree outside. Cold fingertips brushed along her cheekbone. "I'm here because today you turned seven years old. Your cousin Lanai Mukura agreed that every seventh child in the Mukura clan would be mine to test my curse mark on." He let the words hang in the air.

"I know," Izaki replied stoically. Sharp canine teeth reflected moonlight dangerously.

I promise you my heart, just promise to sing…

Icy breath danced along the back of her neck, raising goosebumps. She shivered out of the entire unexpected turn of events. "Which means that you are mine," the man continued with an arrogant air to his words. "And mine alone." The words chilled Izaki to the bone. The way he said it…so sure of himself that Izaki would always be faithfully by his side… It wasn't true, though. She'd prove him wrong…

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

The rest was filled with darkness following those words. All she remembered really was screaming, blood, and heartless laughing ringing in her ears. It was later, as she woke up with a bloodcurdling shriek, that Izaki knew the night wasn't all darkness. It was true what had happened. Deny it as she tried, there was nothing to erase the hard truth from her mind. The screaming she heard in her mind was only her own and the blood belonged to her. Though Izaki never really thought she was alive, the blood proved that her heart was still beating.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

It'd been a long road since that night. Seven years later and Izaki still couldn't erase the details from her mind. The night had been repeated several times in those seven years. Those who were supposed to love her never did. They turned their backs to her, ignoring her screams and cries in the middle of the night as the torment continued without any end in sight. He promised her a better world. He told her everything would be alright if she just took his hand.

This is what I thought

I thought you need me…

At first she thought he loved her. He told her she was beautiful. He showed her a world that offered solace to her when no one else would. Although she wanted to prove him wrong that she didn't belong to him, Izaki found herself growing more attached to him day by day. It was a cruel attraction that brought nothing but pain and grief upon her with every waking moment and nightmares before night broke. He said he'd never leave her. It was a promise she always thought he intended to keep to her.

Izaki needed him to survive in a world that proclaimed her to be worthless and horrific. He said he needed her to bring peace to the wretched world once more. It was all just lies in the end. He never meant what he said. She said what she meant. In the end it only brought pain.

This is what I thought so think me naïve

I promise you a heart you'd promise to keep…

"Stay, please…" she begged, tears running from her eyes as she lay battered and broken on the cold forest floor. A chill set in ever one of her bones, making her blood feel like ice in her veins. Izaki knew why he was walking away. He'd told her this was the last time. His last words still felt like lead bullets in her heart, poisoning her and killing her with every day that passed by.

His back was turned to her and she knew now he never meant anything he'd told her. She'd never mean anything to him. She was just another worthless lost cause, to be used and then thrown away once her purpose was fulfilled. Her only purpose in life, it felt, was just to be used and then tossed away recklessly. Screams threatened to pour out from her constricted throat. She couldn't seem to make a sound as his footsteps slowly faded into the darkness.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

The sky was ablaze with the slowly setting sun, the trees standing proudly amongst the sea of flames. Her eyes traveled across the horizon, watching the colors bleed in and out of the sky. It was a sight she came to see almost every night. The only solace that she had was that something that ended always had to start again, just like the sun. It set, but it always came back again to bring a new day with it.

Her hands were folded on her lap as a heavy black curtain finally started to settle over the rolling hills dotted with pine trees swaying softly in the night breeze. Eyes half-closed, she let the caress of the wind take her mind far away.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

It had been her promise to never love again after what he'd done to her. The one who dared to call himself her teacher, yet had only taught her that life was a meaningless thing. He'd showed her things she wished she'd never had to learn then. But it could never be taken back. The damage could not be undone. The scars would always be there to remind her that the past had really happened, deny it as she tried.

Pursing her lips and frowning into the darkness surrounding her like a blanket, Izaki released a soft sigh that almost extinguished the flickering candle across the room from her. Unbuttoning her Akatsuki cloak, she laid it on the end of her bed and stretched her arms high above her head. The faint light caught on dozens of scars on her arms and legs. They were all reminders that love did not exist to her.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep…

She always did everything she could to avoid falling in love again. Izaki killed and betrayed just so she could never feel her heart break again. Her scars were the physical reminder of the times love had hurt her beyond all reason. Her heart was the emotional reminder of all the torment she'd been put through time after time just for the sake of love. It was her personal crusade to prove to herself and everyone around her that love was truly dead.