Broken Fan

Chapter One: Wooden Floors and Unlit Candles

He couldn't even hear him breathing.

His nii-san, his older brother, the person he had looked up to, the man he had felt envied hatred for, the brother who Tou-san always paid attention to, and the one who had killed his entire clan.

Sasuke's parents.

Dazed and stunned into muted shock, he watched Itachi's feet tap soundlessly onto the branches of the trees as he made his way through the thick forest. His speed was rushed yet graceful, his long legs jumping effortlessly, his chest inhaling and exhaling evenly yet Sasuke, even held tightly and bound by piercing wires, could not hear him breathing.

Sasuke's black eyes were so dry he felt it difficult to blink. He snapped them shut, willing himself fiercely not to feel the quaking onslaughts of fear and the never-ending tremors of anxiety. It threatened to overwhelm the seven year old boy. Sasuke, beyond the wind, could not escape the ringing words Itachi had spoken to him before he kidnapped him and stole him outside of Konoha's gates. The words rebounded inside his skull, parading and marching around endlessly as he automatically tried to decipher the vivid threats laced inside them.

"You are weak. Too weak and pathetic to kill, little brother. I have made arrangements for your future, and you will learn through those arrangements. You will strive and see to it that you have the will needed to survive so that one day I can use you to test my own capacity…when you face me with eyes matching mine…

…Till then, I leave you at that hissing open door. And I close it."

A part of Sasuke couldn't believe this was all really happening. His heart prayed for him to wake up in his bed, his Kaa-san smiling at him and his Tou-san reading the morning paper…yet his Uchiha mind told him this horrid bloody nightmare was all too true, and all too real. Good things were never real. Bad things always were.

Pain spiked along his arm once more, delivered by a kunai his nii-san had thrown at him earlier on. The young Uchiha knew though that this small pain was nothing compared to the hatred he felt for this man in his chest, and the churning disgust at the paralyzed fear he felt because of him…he was so scared…

Where is he taking me? Is…is he going to kill me…?

His bruised knees were shaking. His roughed up hands were trembling. Sasuke's wide eyes squeezed shut as Itachi leapt from the top of the tree onto the solid ground. There was, at last, a break in the woods.

It unveiled what looked like a large, towering fortress. Two wide double doors were located at the front of it, and Sasuke was only able a short upwards glance at what looked like men stationed on the top of it before Itachi dropped him suddenly to the ground. He roughly grabbed him once more and picked him off the ground by the back of Sasuke's high collared shirt.

"Wh…where are we…?" Sasuke turned his frantic gaze onto his brother's menacing red mangekyou eyes, "Where did you take me…?"

Sasuke knew they'd been traveling for hours…and he'd been unconscious a long, long time. The unfamiliar atmosphere only left him more afraid and wary.

The big doors abruptly opened.

"Welcome." A voice hissed from the inside. The first thing Sasuke saw was yellow eyes before a shadowed figure appeared into the light of the doorway. "I'm pleased to see you have honored our deal, Itachi-kun. I do hope his eyes carry the potential yours seem to inspire."

The man looked almost snake-like in appearance, wearing a loose white yukata with a dark purple bow strapped around his waist, which brandished a katana. His long black hair contrasted harshly against his pallid skin.

"Orochimaru," Itachi greeted lowly.

Sasuke looked up at his brother when, at a flick of his brother's wrist, Sasuke was thrown directly at Orochimaru's feet. The snake man's gaze finally drifted away from Itachi down to the small boy at his feet. Orochimaru gaze him a sickly smile, his eyes darkening slightly.

Sasuke's heart pounded in fright, looking at this person wide-eyed before he snapped his startled gaze back to his brother, uselessly struggling at the wires that kept his hands and feet tied together.

"Now, as the deal goes, you will officially withdraw from Akatsuki. Understood?" Itachi inquired.

"Of course," Orochimaru replied silkily, "I have all I require."

Itachi gave a simple nod before his eyes briefly slid to Sasuke. The younger Uchiha's black eyes stared at him helplessly, half confused at what his brother was doing and what was going on, and still half so helpless with fear he could barely speak.

Itachi's red eyes narrowed, "Live, my foolish little brother. Survive in an unsightly way so that one day your eyes can match mine, and fight against them when you finally face me with your hatred."

"Nii-san…"

Itachi took a step back and the heavy doors closed in on Sasuke. He could hear his own deep, uneven breathing, panting and gasping with suffocating fear.

A wooden floor and unlit candles near a solitary window. Sasuke huddled into himself in the far, right hand corner of the room. His tiny arms were wrapped around his knees, his dark, teary eyes peering from behind his cage of black bangs every so often. It was an empty room. It was where the man called Orochimaru had dragged and locked him inside of with the simple order to wait.

His temples were aching. The loss of his family, his parents and the parricide was crushing all the thoughts in his head, and his own self-preservation instincts were kicking into overdrive. His mind felt like it was going to explode. Sasuke felt utterly lost, mentally pleading for help to find him but he didn't even know where he was.

Just where had Itachi taken him? What was "Akatsuki", the thing that his Nii-san had mentioned? And… had he really killed the clan just to test his own capacity?! Sasuke couldn't even stomach that simple reason. But he knew he wouldn't have been able to stomach any reason Itachi could have offered. He could stomach his own weakness even less…

Why did he let me live…? Was it really to fight him one day…? Oh God, Sasuke knew he wanted to kill him. He thirsted for revenge…and he also desperately wanted to know where his brother had put him, and what deal he had made with the snake man called Orochimaru. Where am I? So many questions and no answers…

The door slid open and shut.

Sasuke felt his entire body tense as his eyes snapped to see the calm figure of Orochimaru. His arms were folded as he casually made his way over to Sasuke's form in the corner till he was only a few feet away.

Sasuke didn't even move, let alone breathe. His black eyes remained fixed on the man's yellow ones.

"Uchiha Sasuke-kun…do you know why you're here?" The snake man asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Sasuke regained himself enough to shake his head no, his innate curiosity demanding to know his situation.

"Your older brother Itachi-kun made a trade. He gave me you for my withdrawal from the organization Akatsuki…well; I dare say it was a group decision that was constructed with Leader-sama. Nevertheless, I'd say Itachi-kun left Konoha on a rather bloody note, wouldn't you?"

The seven year old boy gripped his knees tighter.

Orochimaru gave that twisted smile again, "I'm sure being an Uchiha yourself, you would agree. Do you know why I accepted Itachi-kun's offer?" He continued to inquire, but this time didn't wait for a response. "I want your eyes, your soon-to-be sharingan. From this day onward you are my apprentice, Sasuke-kun. And I, your master."

Sasuke's onyx eyes were hooded now, his spine stiffening.

"…Where am I…?" The raven boy's voice came out rasped and quiet.

"Oto. In my base." The snake man responded with a flash of white teeth in another smile. "My name is Orochimaru, the legendary sannin who you will see as teacher."

A sannin…? Oto… All Sasuke knew for sure was that he was a long way from home. Home where his parents were dead corpses on the wooden floor in the main room of his house. Home where his family's blood was splattered against the Uchiha district street.

"I will train you and, under my tutelage, you will become strong…and your sharingan shall awaken to its full power." Orochimaru stated, his yellow eyes seeming to gleam.

"And as my prodigy, you will bear my mark. Consider it a welcoming gift. I do hope you survive its wrath, for it will be a testament to your usefulness in the future if you do, Sasuke-kun." His sharp eyes were locked on Sasuke's as he spoke.

The snake sannin walked a few paces until he was directly in front of Sasuke, who was already trying to get away but he yanked on his spiky hair and formed a hand seal. Sasuke's eyes shot open as Orochimaru's neck seemed to expand from his body, sharp teeth stunning him with sudden pain as they sunk into his neck. Orochimaru's head snapped back into place as Sasuke held his bleeding neck, his knees smacking to the floor as he let out a strangled scream.

Orochimaru's eyes pierced into his coldly, "I'm sure you won't disappoint me, Sasuke-kun…"

Those words where the last things he heard, along with the opening and closing of a door signaling that Orochimaru had left the room. Utter blinding pain was shooting through every vein and nerve in his body. Sasuke didn't know what the man had done to him, but he knew it was bad. The throbbing, acute torture that sparked in the back of his neck was enough proof of that.

Kaa-san… Sasuke thought, his eyelids closing over wetness.

His weak body shook as his vision darkened, his screams continuing to echo into the empty room as he felt the cold hands of death enclose themselves around him…tiny breaths puffed out of his chest, trembling limbs curling into a fetal position on the floor as he emptied himself into the awaiting darkness.

"That mark is called a curse seal. I can teach you how to control it so you don't suffer from it so…" the sickly voice murmured into the room. "I must say, I'm delighted that you managed to survive, especially at your age. Perhaps you soon shall exceed my expectations…"

The small boy could only stare at Orochimaru from the corner of the room, his fingers over the throbbing curse mark on his pale neck. His body was drained, and felt almost feverish after the side effects of that…curse seal. Even his limbs felt feeble and weak. Sasuke didn't know how long he was out from that "curse mark", but it was now night outside the tiny window.

The sannin Orochimaru walked over and knelt down in front of him.

"Don't you agree, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke's back pressed into the wall behind him, still holding his knees to his chest.

"Please…" his voice cracked, "let me go…let me go home…"

The man laughed. It was high and cackling.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Sasuke-kun. It would do you well to accept your fate and not entertain thoughts of home or escape. This is your home now, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, his eyes burning once more. He felt a hand grab his hair and force his head up, meeting Orochimaru's yellow gaze.

"What a pretty boy you are, Sasuke-kun…" The man murmured to himself. The grip on Sasuke's spiky head tightened as Sasuke tried to scramble away instinctively, gasping in pain when Orochimaru yanked him closer. The snake sannin's other hand gripped him firmly by the back of his shirt and slammed him onto the wooden floor. Sasuke blinked, his left cheek pressed up against the floor as the man laughed, high and cold once more.

"What - ? Stop – let me go!" Sasuke yelled, struggling to break free.

Orochimaru scoffed lowly, "Screams can be so entertaining…"

Sasuke's eyes shot open wide when he felt his clothes being ripped off – panicked, he struck out wildly with his leg. It connected with Orochimaru's knee, earning him a hiss of pain as Sasuke leapt to his feet. His black eyes, doubly confused and hysterically afraid, trained on the door as he ran for it. Sasuke gripped the doorknob, trying to force the locked door open, slamming his weight upon it.

"You shouldn't try to run away," the voice said from behind him, "that does not please me, and will only aid in making me angry."

Tears were leaking from his eyes, Sasuke's own horror making him sob as he felt himself be pulled away from the door and thrown aside –

"NO – SOMEBODY HELP ME - !"

Sasuke screamed again as his head was slammed once more onto the wooden floor, forehead first. He was crying so hard he couldn't even breathe, his fingers scraped and dug into the waxed floor – his screams silenced into panicked sounds as a hand clamped over his mouth. A knee to his back kept him in place as his black eyes roamed the wood floors, the shadowed man above him, the unlit candles –

He was kicking, thrashing, then his arms were likewise pinned in a strong grip as his mental screams reached their peak. Sasuke could hear him laughing, the high toned cruelty pounding into his ears, mixing with sudden grunting sounds. The smell of the wood beneath him filled his lungs, the need to scream and fight coursing – more ripping sounds, more shadows, more laughter –

Sasuke mentally screamed as his broken mind suddenly shattered.

A kick slammed into his chest as he was bodily thrown off his feet, crashing into the wall with a dull thud. He slid to the floor, coughing up blood from the blow.

Sasuke wiped his mouth mutely as Orochimaru sneered at him.

"Again. You are not leaving these grounds until you can perform this jutsu. Now – again!" Orochimaru hissed, straightening once more as Sasuke stood up shakily, his small hands coming together as he tried to breathe through the pain.

He had been in this place two weeks. He had been Orochimaru's apprentice for two weeks. He had lived in this Oto base for two weeks.

The seven year old shook lightly, his mind coming up with the mental picture of the hand seals for the new jutsu he was learning from the snake sannin. That's how it was, every day this man would train him, he had already taught him two other jutsu.

Sasuke had also tried to escape thirteen times. All, of which, were failed attempts that ended up in harsh beatings. He had never even gotten far. Sasuke stared at his hands in a strained manner as he readied himself to do the jutsu.

He'd give anything to escape from this place, this Orochimaru, this hell…God…he wished Itachi had just killed him. He'd take death over being here.

He could still see his fingers trembling slightly, the shame and humiliation rotting and festering inside him. The raven haired boy felt the rice he forced down that morning start to threaten to come back up again. The nausea did nothing to help his stressed nerves; he could never stomach food anymore.

I…I…oh, God…

"Perhaps you need more of an incentive to learn this technique. Shall I visit you tonight, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru mused aloud, chuckling darkly.

Sasuke's eyes, trained on his pale hands, went wide. Fear sewed with dread shot down his spine.

He preformed the jutsu flawlessly.

He was crawling.

Sasuke limped slightly, making his way over to the corner of the empty room again. He pressed his forehead against the white wall, squeezing his eyes shut. Tears stained his cheeks and his hands were fisted so hard they were bleeding. It was over – but no, it was never over. He'd been here three months – three…and it was always the same.

Sasuke turned his head to the side and vomited the contents of his stomach, dry heaving until there was nothing left. Nothing. Just like what he was – nothing.

He inhaled a shaky breath and pressed his forehead once again to the wall, his hand coming up to rest over his curse seal mark.

I…I want to die.

He wanted to die so badly. So much that he could feel envy when he stared at the corpses that rotted and littered the halls of the sound base. He could even envy his clan, the ones that Itachi had seen fit to kill. But not him. Not Sasuke. Sasuke was pathetic in his eyes…trash…nothing…useless…pathetic. I wanna die. I wanna die.

The small boy gripped his pitch black hair and pulled, a dead scream draining out from his burning lungs as he fell over, falling limply onto the wooden floor. He shuddered.

Sasuke shut his eyes, willing himself. Finding his nerves. He couldn't live like this – nothing could, he'd rather die. No more. That man – Orochimaru – no more! He pleaded to the invisible to save him, for the shadows to swallow him, for death to take him…

He was rotting away. Even his revenge felt so far from his reach…to kill his brother…and to kill that snake sannin…to kill himself…

If I kill myself, Sasuke thought weakly, I might be able to see Kaa-san and Tou-san again.

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, staring at the white wall with wide, blank eyes. Maybe his soul had already left him. He felt so empty. So numb, so…he turned his head to the floor, willing himself not to think of those things. Thoughts of his clan made him burn with shame.

Sasuke cracked his eyes open once more, attempting to not think as he slid his tongue in-between his teeth. All he'd have to do would be to bite down hard. Bite through his tongue. He knew this, he knew this. He applied pressure, clenching his fists as he tried to do it…to kill himself…

A muffled sob broke free from the small boy.

Even now, even like this…

He was too cowardly.

Sasuke could only feel hate…for his own cowardice.

His hands were clamped around the man's neck, his kunai that was sunken into the side of the ninja's head clattered on the ground when he had fallen. The Oto-nin was not breathing, but Sasuke was. His hands were trembling slightly but they stayed steadfast on the older man's neck, expecting him to spring to life and attack him again.

It had come out of nowhere…he had just been walking down the hall…the attempted assassination had nearly succeeded, Sasuke could feel some of his ribs were broken, and could feel the wetness of his blood pouring down his right arm from a nasty gash. This nameless ninja had nearly killed him.

Sasuke stared down at the man who he had killed instead, his mind saying it was self-defense, his Uchiha blood flaring to life, his brain telling himself that even if he was only seven, he was a ninja… A ninja who had just taken his first life.

"It seems I was right to order that attack, Sasuke-kun."

His wide black eyes looked up to Orochimaru who was suddenly there, leaning up against the opposite wall with a twisted smile on his snake-like face. He was accompanied by a boy with glasses and sliver hair.

"You…you ordered him to kill me…" Sasuke said, staring at the man warily. He wasn't that surprised, there was nothing that could really faze the young Uchiha these days. Besides, Orochimaru was unpredictable; he just didn't understand the reasoning behind it. Why take him on as a student and torture him so much if he was just going to kill him…?

"Of course I did. Certainly you must have realized why by now…" The snake sannin said with a pleased expression on his face.

Sasuke didn't understand. His hands were still gripping the dead man's neck.

Orochimaru's warped smile widened when Sasuke didn't answer.

"Can't you see? You've awoken your sharingan," said Orochimaru, tilting his head to the side.

Sasuke blinked and slowly, so slowly raised one of his bloody hands to his eyes. He closed them and –

It was true. He could feel his chakra fueling and traveling through the vessels in his eyes, he could feel his bloodline limit in all its latent power. The sharingan.

"I knew the only way to rush the awakening of your sharingan would be to have someone try to kill you. Make no mistake though, Sasuke-kun. If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed you. I don't train weak students, after all, and he was well within your ability to kill at this point." The sannin explained.

Sasuke's red sharingan eyes faded back to black as he looked down at his first kill and then up at the smirking face of Orochimaru.

He wished the ninja had been stronger.

"Your eight years old today, Sasuke-kun."

He turned to the bespectacled boy he knew was Kabuto. Sasuke glared at him before he continued walking down the narrow hallway, passing Kabuto by silently.

Kabuto stopped walking just as he was about to pass him, giving him a polite smile that made the young Uchiha sick. Kabuto was a bastard who put getting into Orochimaru's favor above everything. Sasuke couldn't care less.

"You must be quite at home in the sound base by now, Sasuke-kun. After all, you've been here a year, no?" Kabuto questioned, pushing up his glasses on his nose.

Sasuke tuned and faced the older boy with a look of extreme contempt. Even so, the polite atmospheres the young spy was radiating off did not diminish in the slightest.

"Shut up," said Sasuke, narrowing his eyes in warning.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to a person." Kabuto admonished lightly, "I mean, really. One would think after everything Orochimaru-sama does for you, you would learn to acquire better manners."

Sasuke's sharingan activated as his temper flared, "I'll kill you." And Sasuke knew he meant every single word of that statement.

"Now, now, I don't think your words are necessary." Kabuto said with an arch of his brow, "You know, just because your Orochimaru-sama's favorite doesn't mean you can say and do whatever you want, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke was now seeing red, taking a step forward towards the older boy as Kabuto laughed lowly. Sasuke charged at that, going for him with an outstretched right hook before Kabuto caught it with his own hand, kneed him in the stomach and flipped him over his shoulder. Sasuke landed hard on the ground, his muscles already sore from his earlier training that day.

Kabuto faced him with an amused demeanor as Sasuke quickly got back on his feet, glaring at him levelly.

"I would like to stay and spar with you, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto began, "but I'm afraid I am a bit too tired after today's work and would much rather prefer a good night's rest. Surely you can understand?"

Sasuke said nothing, his red eyes trained coldly on him. Kabuto smiled nevertheless and turned around, walking away calmly as Sasuke stood there, fisting his hands. He knew the older boy was stronger than him…but at the same time he really didn't care and his comments were more than a bit –

"Oh, and by the way, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto called out as he looked at him from over his shoulder. "I am quite interested to see if I'll be hearing your screams tonight. They are so loud, you know…but, well. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see."

Sasuke's eyes went wide with rage and shock, shame in the form of redness creeping up along the back of his neck as he blindly went for Kabuto, doing the hand seals for his Katon at a rapid pace –

As soon as the roaring fire from the Katon hit the silver haired boy he burst into a puff of white smoke. A bushin… Sasuke thought wildly, looking around the now empty corridor. Something tightened in his chest as he felt knots strangle him from the inside, his fists still fisted with silent fury. He added another name onto his mental list of people he had to, had to kill. Kabuto was number three.

Adding him to the list only helped him a little, the utter knowledge of Kabuto's words slicing him open and leaving him bare.

Blood was starting to get under his fingernails.

Sasuke didn't care. He continued scratching his arm, again and again, over and over. The pale skin was breaking away, the area on his right arm becoming painfully raw. Still, the sharingan-user continued. He could still hear that voice, no it wasn't even a voice – that, that disgusting hiss, that sound…

You can squirm all you want, Sasuke-kun. It pleases me.

Sasuke continued his scratching, his utter skinning, with wide, wide eyes that were devoid of anything other than a familiar coated panic and sickening disgust with bottled black hatred. Red blood was now seeping from his self-inflicted wounds, but it didn't matter, he couldn't even really feel what he was doing over the ache of the curse seal anyway…

He thought he saw the bone for a moment. No, it was all too bloody. At least he couldn't see his scratch marks anymore, Sasuke thought to himself; at least he couldn't see that thing's sharp indents into his skin anymore. That was better, that was worth it…but, still, he had to keep going because even so it was still underneath all the blood and skin somewhere. The marks were there.

Sasuke had to get them out. He had to get rid of them. He scratched even harder, raking his broken nails into his skin and under it. He had to get rid of the signs, the marks, the imprints, the scratches…

He had to make it go away. He had too. Needed to. Couldn't see it, didn't want to see it, couldn't stomach it, God, I'm going to be sick… No, not yet – he had to continue, he had to get rid of the marks that were under the skin.

He shifted on his knees, broken white candles littering the wooden floor and Sasuke paused only for a second to wipe his red eyes before continuing.

Where were they, where were they… Where are they…! Sasuke thought, swallowing a bit before he dug his fingers in even deeper, feeling the bone and flinching a bit. Where was it…?

He had to get it out.

Explosions sounded in the distance.

Sasuke sat there, completely quiet and immobile. He sat there in the empty room with a wooden floor and unlit candles. He waited and listened to the mass commotion happening outside. It sounded like a battle. Half of him wondered if someone was attacking the base, and half of him blindly prayed Orochimaru would be killed in the onslaught.

The nine year old shook his head no, telling himself that no one would be able to kill the snake sannin. He no longer could believe in lies that only held a few seconds of wishful thinking. He heard a loud crash at the end of the hall outside his room, and the sounds of footsteps running down the hallway.

Sasuke's bare feet curled into the wood below him, his head lying upon his arms that were wrapped around his knees. He heard voices now, shouts on top of the roof and through the walls – more explosions sounded and the entire base seemed to shake on its feet. Sasuke's dull eyes continued to stare ahead, blocked only slightly by his raven bangs that fell in front of his gaze.

"We've secured this floor!" A voice shouted from outside. "Get the reinforcements on the line – hurry! We need to leave!"

"We've set up the explosives – come on, we got to check these rooms quickly!" A deeper one commanded.

"I'll check this one."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as his limbs tightened around him, his eyes staring wide as his locked door suddenly broke open. A lean figure stepped through the wreckage, Sasuke saw the person take a step forward.

It was a tall man, wearing an ANBU uniform with a white dog like mask over his face. He had sliver spiky hair shooting to the side of his head and Sasuke could see the light pouring in from the hallway reflect off a leaf hitae-ate that was strapped around the ninja's head.

Black eyes blinked at the stranger.

The ANBU was at his side in a second, reaching down and picking him up effortlessly. Holding the nine year old tightly to his chest the leaf-nin turned and dashed out of the room with a wooden floor and unlit candles. He ran over to his other ANBU members who nodded - some cursing in relief as they broke a window and jumped.

When Sasuke regained his bearings and looked up again, he was a mile away from the Oto base and looked up just in time to see it explode and go up in flames. The same base he had been imprisoned in for two years. Startled and stunned numb, he gazed upwards at the white dog masked ANBU who carried him.

It was only when he could no longer smell the smoke and the fire from the burning base did Sasuke realize he had been saved.

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Feedback is welcome.

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Twitch and Spaz