Author's Note: I once again foray into the world of fanfiction. Please review, feel free to flame, or throw in some constructive criticism. I know there'll be a lot of flaws as I'm still improving. For now this will be a one shot but I may expand it if reaction is positive. Thanks for Reading.
Crack!
The barbed whip mercilessly separated flesh from his body as it cut through the still air. The wounds began healing just as quickly they were inflicted. The pain remained.
Crack!
The partially healed wound ripped open at the "gentle ministrations" of the Oto ninja. He was feeling particularly generous today.
Crack!
He relaxed his shoulders as boredom set in. As far as torture went, this was rather tame. It was the wait that was killing him. When was the signal?
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Damn it, Tayuya! What are you doing?
A sudden wailing scream pierced the dull monotony of the typical torture. Screams were common in this place but this particular scream was different. This was the scream of a guard. The man wielding the whip stopped suddenly and rushed to the door as the riot bell of the prison began ringing.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
The guard slowly turned as sweat dripped down his Oto forehead protector. The room was lit by a single bare, flickering bulb at the center. Drips of blood and bodily fluids covered the dirty walls along with the last tortured signs of struggle from the damned. Many had graced this room, attempting to break out or simply end the suffering. One such guest stood in the center.
The Oto-nin's breath came out in sharp, shallow exhalations. What had happened? Just a moment before, the prisoner had been strapped to the spiked table. His body had been completely immobilized and broken from Lord Orochimaru's tender care.
The prisoner cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. He limbered up and balanced spryly on the balls of his feet. It felt good to be able to move again. He turned his attention to the trembling Oto-nin. The whip lay discarded at his captor's sandals.
"You're not so confident when I'm not strapped to the table."
In the span of a moment, the Oto shinobi found his throat pinned to the crumbling wall by the prisoner's stronger than expected hand. He could not breathe or speak as the boy slowly crushed his windpipe. He came close to losing consciousness.
"No, no, no. Let's have some fun first. I've got a bit of time."
Tayuya traversed the winding corridors and passages from hazy memories. The rough ground cut into her bare feet but she could not allow herself to slow down. A guard suddenly appeared around the corner. His fist shot out with a blast of chakra. Tayuya dodged, clumsily because of her injured limbs, and retaliated without mercy. Using the pilfered kunai, she slit his throat without breaking her stride and turned down a darkened corridor.
Orochimaru had designed this place with all the cunning of the fucking snake he was. Twisting, coiling snakes lined the edges of the walls in impossible patterns and optical illusions to make it impossible to get one's bearings. Nonsense symbols and phrases lined each door in an unrecognizable language. There was a reason this place had never had a successful escape. Not till today, at least.
The damn prison might as well have been pitch black for all the light it had. A single flickering lamp was hung haphazardly by a thin chain every twenty feet or so. In some areas, the lights had been broken and the glass littered the floor. She felt the shards dig into the soles of her feet as she sprinted along. She needed to count each corridor, hallway, and door exactly if the plan was going to succeed. She needed to find him in 3C.
1… down one corridor, through a wall, kill the guard.
2… through the experiment room, ignore the screaming and the pleas
3… break the lock and climb through the rusted ladder
A… he's already killed the guards here. Good. She's getting tired.
B…Oh God…what if she miscounted? Where's the room? Where's the room!?
C…c…this is it!
Tayuya stood outside a nondescript, grey concrete door set deeply in the earthen walls of the underground prison. It was indistinguishable from any other door lining the maze like corridors and in a flash a mountain of doubt had crashed down on her shoulders. What if this had all been just another one of that damn snake's tricks? A year of planning, of waiting, of…special care from Orochimaru and it could all be for nothing.
"My eyes!"
"Who gave you permission to bleed!?"
Thank Kami.
A wave of relief passed through her. She knew she had the right room. Tayuya pushed open the door and saw a sight so beautiful she could've shed a tear.
The room was one of the many from Orochimaru's cookie cutters. No larger than ten feet by ten feet with a high ceiling that stretched well into the darkness. The smell of sweat, blood, and a dank arousal hung in the still air. Dirt and bodily fluids coalesced into sticky grime at the foot of the cell. The limbs of the Oto-nin lay stacked neatly in a corner. Upon further examination, Tayuya saw one of his eyeballs had been tied to his ear akin to an earring. Tasteful.
Naruto reclined against the wall idly swinging another eyeball around his fingertips. At the sight of Tayuya, he cast his distraction aside and embraced her. Tayuya allowed herself to relax for the first time in forever and let loose a breath she did not realize she was holding. It was time to go.
"Damn it!" Tayuya raged as she rushed through the rugged terrain surrounding the prison. "How many of these fuckers are there!?"
Suddenly, Naruto stopped and looked back with a perplexed expression. "Why are we running?"
"What!?" Tayuya hissed. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Orochimaru is long out of the country and we're almost to the border…Why the hell are we running from those punks!? I'm not backing down from them, no way in hell! I couldn't look myself in the mirror, Tayu-chan!"
"Shit for brains…your goddamn nindo is going to get us killed."
"Please, Tayu-chan," he begged. "We can kill them and go across the border. It'll be fun!"
Tayuya took a deep breath and turned toward their rapidly gaining pursuers. For one surreal moment, she allowed herself to remember the Naruto who had first been through in her cell and compare him to the shinobi who stood before her. Same cocky grin, same utter defiance against anything resembling an attempt to force him to back down.
"Fine, let's do it"
Naruto did not wait patiently for their opponents to close the distance. Two years in that hellhole had done nothing to damper his enthusiasm. The poor Oto samurai had no idea what hit her before she was pinned to a tree by his throat. Naruto was particularly fond of this position. He had experienced it on the other side enough times to know it was quite uncomfortable.
The other kunoichi faced down Tayuya. Tayuya scoffed at the look of inexperience on the girl's face. Orochimaru was recruiting younger and younger. She looked into her eyes. For a moment, she saw a future. She saw the girl dragging their bodies back. She saw her being rewarded personally by Lord Orochimaru, shooting through the ranks until she was an Oto jōnin. She'd be uncomfortable with the murder at first, but slowly her sadism would develop. It would have to. She'd justify it, she'd hide it, and eventually she'd lose herself to it. Tayuya saw it all.
The girl never saw the kunai that pierced her throat before it left Tayuya's hand. It was the same kunai that allowed them to escape. The young Oto girl with a future that would never be sank to her knees while a gurgling murmur escaped from her mouth. Tayuya walked calmly towards the girl and pulled the kunai free from her gullet before ending the annoying racket she was making. She examined the body and kicked it dismissively.
"Trash."
Usually, Naruto liked to play with his food. However, he knew Tayu-chan would get angry if he wasted time right now. Plus, they were strapped for time. He reigned in his excitement for now and killed the samurai quickly, with little fanfare. One crushed windpipe later and they were on their way with a few new accessories.
The two knew they had crossed into the Land of Fire when the rough, rugged terrain and paddies of the Sound turned into soft grass and the young saplings of a budding forest.
Exhilaration filled Naruto and Tayuya. For a moment, they were silent. They stared at each other in disbelief wondering if either one of them would wake up or if this would turn out to be another of Orochimaru's cruel machinations.
A soft rain washed away two years' worth of grime, blood, and pain onto the delicate foliage underfoot. The light from their journey had been fading for some time, creating dancing shadows on their bodies through the forestry. Wind roared between the curved boughs and trunk, seeming to carry the sickness from Sound across the border. The scent didn't last long before dissipating in the sweetness of the burgeoning forest. Naruto glanced at Tayuya, taking the time to actually look at her in the light.
Her long, untamed hair fell haphazardly across her face as the gentle rain washed away the filth that caked her visage. She was only clothed by dirty rags and the cast off pants they had procured from the kunoichi along the border. Her once tanned skin had lost most of its color underneath the lowest levels of the prison and she had taken on a ghastly pallor. She had been starved and forced to do heavy labor until the sound of breaking bones became a daily symphony. By all rights, she should have been an emaciated corpse. By all rights, she should have been dead. However, Orochimaru's experiments had not been without their results. Despite the sheer impossibility, she was covered in toned muscle. Tayuya could've been mistaken for a Taijutsu specialist. Even the laws of nature were malleable in that snake's insane hands.
The pale flesh of her arms and legs featured the raised scar tissue of manacles, hand cuffs, chains, and all manner of restraints. The tattered tunic she wore did nothing to hide the burns splayed across her chest and arcing along her back. She was a canvas of pain.
"Tayu-chan…you're so cute." Naruto stepped forward and caressed her cheek with his palm. Tayuya leaned slightly into the contact.
She regarded him through half lidded, but remarkably sharp, eyes. He had come a long way from the little shit that had been thrown, bloodied and bruised, into her cell and her life more than two years before. He had shot up to just a bit over six feet. For a brief moment, she allowed her mind to wander and wonder. She wondered if it was natural growth, the Kyuubi, or Orochimaru's fucking experiments. His body was even more scarred than hers as a result of special attention from Orochimaru himself. There were no small scars on him. Orochimaru experimented until he found a way to inflict pain that would outlast the Fox's healing chakra.
Demon. Angel. Kami. Devil. Redemption. Salvation. Revenge. Pain. Darkness. Light. Heaven. Hell. Earth. Water. Wind. Fire. Lightning.
He had been branded with dozens of kanji and seals. She ran his fingers across his muscular chest as the rain washed down the deep brands. Several of them were still open and raw. Her hands ran across broken flesh and burned muscle. She used to believe scars were ugly.
Tayuya's eyes drank in his body like an elixir. His eyes were a deep azure with tinges of pure crimson. His teeth had elongated, either due to the Kyuubi or Orochimaru's influence, to give him an almost wildly feral appearance. His hair had been close cropped. Rain cascaded down his body and baptized it in an eternity of pain. She loved every inch of damaged flesh and muscle on his frame.
"Yeah, well you look like shit."
He couldn't help it. It was too much, too soon. He threw his head back and roared with laughter. It was a deep, boisterous laugh. One of those laughs that came from the heart and the stomach before exploding out of the lungs. She cut him off by pinning him against a tree so roughly the bark splintered. Tayuya and Naruto embraced in a searing kiss.
Reality is only governed by how much control a shinobi's mind can exert on their surroundings. Passion, pain, pleasure, love, and hatred coalesce into one overwhelming force known as emotion that seeks to overwhelm your reality. And then it all comes tumbling down.
The meadow had seen better days. Divots of grass were torn to shreds and ripped from the earth. Several of the younger saplings had suffered serious damage and the larger trees had gouges of bark ripped from their boughs.
The sun shone through a crack in the overgrowth against one of the few trees left undamaged. Naruto reclined against the strong bark. Tayuya's back rested against his bare chest, now bearing a few extra bruises and scars. The remains of their clothing lay strewn across the meadow.
"I think…you dislocated…my shoulder." He spoke through deep, tired breaths.
"Don't be such a pussy. You'll heal. You bit me, bastard." She would've continued to berate him had he not currently been running his fingers through her hair. It felt way too amazing to bother saying anything. She'd never admit it, of course.
Her fingers lightly traced the outline of brands and kanji through his tanned, muscular flesh. They were rough, they were passionate. They left their mark on each other's bodies the same way they had left their mark on each other's souls.
"I love you."
He chuckled to himself but she felt the vibrations through her body. A flush of embarrassment rushed through her and she elbowed him sharply. She had never said those words to anyone before. She had never thought she'd need to. He groaned a bit in pain before speaking.
"We're targets now. Me, especially. If you wanted to lea-"
She didn't allow him to finish the sentence before twisting around in his arms and passionately kissing his open mouth. For just a moment, her tongue teased his before pulling away.
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up. I'm staying with you, that's it. Promise of a fucking lifetime!" She winked at him before leaping to her feet.
Naruto stood. The whole world against them and all they had was each other.
He smiled and winked back. The world didn't stand a chance.
Promise of a fucking lifetime.
Edited (6/29/13)
Author's Note: All right, what do you think? Leave a review or throw me a message. I know my writing isn't too great and I'd absolutely love some constructive criticism.
In addition, if someone would like me to try my hand at writing the lemon between Naruto and Tayuya in the meadow, I'd be happy to oblige
Naruto/Tayuya is my single favorite pairing and I just don't see enough of it on this site. This is just a one shot for now but I do have some interest in expanding it. Probably not a multi-chapter for some time (not nearly a good enough writer for that yet), but I will definitely write some more one shots and expand this universe. Off the top of my head: a few on the tortures Naruto and Tayuya experienced, being captured, life in the prison, and of course planning the escape. Thanks for Reading and Reviewing.