First of all, thanks to DedKake for betareading this; I hope it improved the quality of this work.

I wanted to take a break from the other two stories that I've been working on, so I did the only logical thing...I started writing a new one. I mean, honestly, it's hard to update stories...they grow on you, then lose their novelty, then become less fun to write...but if I start a fic, I plan on finishing it, just maybe not in the same time frame as I originally anticipated.Anyways, I have an econ midterm this week, so don't actually expect an update until maybe...two weeks from now, when I have spring break? Don't hold me to that, though...I'm not the most dependable person when it comes to actually updating. Now I feel like I'm jumping the gun a little...I'm expecting you guys to care before you've even read the fic. If I'm lucky, you didn't read the AN, so...I'm good, right?

While you're here, read my other fics.

-LightPoetry

"Mitarashi-san! Get down!" Anko didn't stop to think, didn't pause to wonder who was shouting at her and why. The note of concern in the voice was real. She ducked.

Black fire erupted where her head had been a moment earlier. The heat from the flames blistered her body, the mesh shirt she wore doing nothing to protect her. "Shit, that was close!" she swore, then spun away, leaping from branch to branch in an effort to avoid any more oncoming jutsu.

A blonde ninja wearing a fox mask flashed in front of her. She hadn't sensed his presence, hadn't even realized he was there. She skidded to a stop as she struggled to avoid a collision, nearly falling out of the tree. "This fucking bastard must be the guy who attacked me…" she thought to herself as she began ranting. "What the hell was that for? What the fuck do you want with me, ANBU-san, that you couldn't just say hello like the rest of the fuckers?" The blonde turned away, ignoring her. Anko seethed inside. "Hey…" she began, then trailed off as the blonde turned to face her.

"Sasuke!" he shouted into the dark forest that loomed behind her. His voice was swallowed by the overarching trees. "Damn that bastard…" Anko thought to herself. "I thought he was going to answer me. That son-of-a-bitch…I'll castrate him for sure!" she readied herself to unleash her fury on the unsuspecting man when an ominous chuckling, ringing laughter with no warmth and no mirth in it, filled the air.

Anko felt a chill sweep through her, making her shudder violently. She felt fear for the first time in a long time; her shivering grew worse as a deep, emotionless voice rang loudly over her quick, shallow breathing.

"Anko-chan, you are weak trash. I am feeling generous today, generous enough to not take want to take out pathetic trash like you. Now leave, trash, before I change my mind and kill you alongside this bastard and the village scum he wants to protect…"

"So it wasn't the ANBU who attacked me…it was that guy, whoever he is…" She continued to tremble, her hands shaking. She hadn't felt this raw emotion since her torture at the hands of Orochimaru, and now she couldn't control herself. Something about that voice, that terrible lack of any emotion, reminded her of her former sensei, and the snake-like aura around him made her writhe. "He's not Orochimaru…but it's somehow much, much worse…and I…I…I'm afraid…so afraid…" she thought.

She wanted to flee, to escape the inhuman monster that could not feel, but her body was held fast by the killer intent rolling from all directions. She sank to her knees.

"Run, you weak kunoichi. Run away, before the real ninja get serious," the voice hissed. "You are pathetic…you are weak…you are just another ill-dressed whore who had the opportunity to gain power but turned it down…you are nothing…your life means nothing…your death means nothing…"

"Sasuke…" the blonde in front of her growled.

Anko finally recognized the name, and trembled, her emotions spinning rapidly out of control. The name meant power, the power to kill without looking back, and fear began to cloud her mind and wrest control of her man, the last Uchiha, had just pronounced her death sentence in front of her, with no regard and no feeling, like he was just crushing another insect that happened to be in his way—and she felt so weak, so pathetic, so useless, just like she did when she had been Orochimaru's slave.

The memories of his abuse surged forth, manifesting as a grimace on her face. The still unseen man let out another burst of low, mocking laughter. "Perhaps you need more of a reason to flee?

"Leave Anko out of this," the blonde shouted back, a note of fear, not for himself, but for her, creeping into his voice. "Your fight is with me, Sasuke! Leave her alone or I swear, you'll pay!"

"Just who is that punk?" Anko thought to herself. "He's no ordinary ANBU, to challenge the Uchiha like that…" Then she heard the voice shout out "Tsukyomi!" and her world was replaced by a nightmare.

Flashback/Tsukyomi

"Anko-chan, why don't you come with me? I see a lot of potential in you, young one…and with my continued help, you could go even further…"

The twelve-year old paused in her daily training routine. "Really, Orochimaru-sama? You think that this trip could help me with the Chuunin Exams?"

"Of course, Anko-chan…I will be helping you, after all…and why else did I pick you to be my apprentice? Out of all the young genin in this village, you are by far the most promising, with the most promising mind and skills…"

The smirk on his face said otherwise, but Anko was too excited, too happy with his praise to notice. "The truth is, Anko-chan…you're the one with the least connections…I take you away, I do what I want to do, and no one will ever question because you're not a member of their precious clans…you don't really have a family…you're always so quiet, so alone…you have no friends…" The smirk grew wider. "No one will care if you die, or if you just…disappear…your life means nothing…your death will mean nothing…"

The same cold voice from before intruded into the world of her memory. "But you knew that, didn't you, trashy slut? You knew it, and still you went…"

The older version of Anko was sitting in the front row of a movie theater, watching her memories unfold on the gigantic screen in front of her. The rest of the room was empty darkness, darkness punctuated only by the sounds echoing in front of her.

Her arms and legs were manacled, her neck securely padlocked to the head of her seat. Strange metallic clamps kept her eyes open, forcing her to keep her gaze on the screen. She couldn't turn away. She couldn't even blink. All she could do was watch the pain repeat itself, watch the feelings of the past manifest themselves on the screen and in her heart.

"That bastard's thoughts…I can hear them…" she whispered in her mind. "I…I don't want to see this… I can't see this…I don't want to remember…this was all supposed to be gone, gone for good…"

"But it's never gone, is it, you pathetic slut?" the voice continued, this time from behind her. "This is who you are, this is all that you will ever be…"

The purple haired girl was oblivious to everything, her mind whirling as she processed Orochimaru's words. She pressed him for information. "When are we leaving, what should I pack, where will we be going…the mission description, Orochimaru-sama?"

The pale-skinned man made a hideously wet choking sound that the girl realized was laughter. Finding her sensei in such good spirits, she cocked her head, her eyes locking onto his. "Orochimaru-sama? Are you amused by me?"

"It is nothing, child…we will be going to the Land of Tea, where we will be doing some advanced research that will push the boundaries of science even further… we will be there for a long, long time…and you will help me…" his voice trailed off ominously.

Anko didn't notice. "That means I'll have a lot of supplies to pack," she said seriously, pausing to think before remembering her manners. "Thank you, Orochimaru-sama…"

"It's nothing, Anko-chan…" the man hissed with mirth. "Nothing at all…"

"Just like you, Anko-chan," the voice continued mockingly as the scene on-screen shifted. "You're nothing but trash, and no one has ever thought differently…"

The two of them were on the road, Anko shouldering a large pack while Orochimaru's shoulders were devoid of any additional weight. "Orochimaru-sama, is the Land of Tea far enough away to facilitate the possibility of your teaching me a new jutsu?"

"Yes, Anko-chan," the man said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "How astute…and I have one technique in mind for you already…"

"And what do I have to do to get you to teach me this technique?" she asked, going straight to the point. "Do I have to do that weird thing where I get on my knees in front of you…or that other thing, where I…"

Orochimaru cut her off.

"Not this time…" he said in a mocking, lilting tone. "Now, here are the hand signs for the jutsu…" He showed them to her. "Keep in mind that you must be holding onto something before you activate it…it's a special jutsu, that you only need one hand to use…"

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama…"

"Just don't forget to use it when we go exterminate the wayward robbers…," he smirked.

"I won't let you down, Orochimaru-sama!"

"Now let's see how the poison works on a ninja and on normal people…it'll tell me how poison affects the different tissues making up the body…since ninja have far more muscle than the ordinary villager, that information will be very useful…I'll also be able to find the rate it spreads through the body, then apply that to height and weight...with that information, I can tell whether this technique will actually be an effective one to use in a real battle…"

"No, Anko…you will not be letting me down…"

"Yes, pathetic girl," the voice echoed. "You are nothing more than an experimental subject…but you already knew that, didn't you? Didn't you?" The voice rose to a murderous pitch until it hurt Anko's ears to listen. She could not turn away. She was trapped, just like the characters on the screen that continued to act out their lives, oblivious to the two observing them. The scene changed again.

A kunai flashed into the face of a scarred man, pushing his head into the wall. He slumped to the ground, clearly dead. Another flurry of kunai flew into the seemingly abandoned house, hitting multiple targets and leaving behind a trail of blood. The purple-haired girl throwing the weapons wore a disturbingly familiar bloodthirsty grin as she continued to slaughter the bandits.

"Good, Anko…remember, show no mercy…they must all be killed!"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama!"

Finding no more visible targets, she charged headfirst into the building. Orochimaru walked slowly after her. He paused in the hallway to open a storage scroll, moving from corpse to corpse and carefully depositing them inside.

Anko rushed deeper into the house, throwing kunai at everything that moved. She entered the dark rooms faster and faster as she searched for remaining targets to kill. So intent was she on her task that she didn't hear the door open quietly behind her, didn't see the giant of a man emerge from the darkness, and didn't react in time.

He grabbed her by her waist and pinned her arms tightly behind her back. One massive hand closed over her wrist, exerting crushing pressure as he forced her to drop the kunai that she still held. The other hand pulled out his own kunai, which he held at her throat. "Orochimaru-sama!" she was about to shout before the kunai twitched and a thin line of blood appeared on her slender neck.

"Orochimaru-sama told me to take care of myself," she thought. "And I can't let this pathetic slime get the best of me…I must find a way to kill him!"

"I wouldn't try anything, if I were you," the man said in a quiet voice. "I wouldn't want to have to a little girl like you so soon… at least, not until I punish you for killing all of my friends…" A strange note of discomfort was audible in his tone.

Anko had no idea what the man was talking about. She struggled in his firm grip, trying to escape without slitting her own throat while her free hand reached for her kunai pouch, trying to pull out a weapon…

The same mocking laughter rang all around her. "Ah, the pure virgin, the one who has no idea of anything…or so she appears to be…so she thinks she is…"

Anko twisted and writhed, trying to close her eyes and cover her mind, but the voice refused to let go. The words, every one of them, struck home, and still his voice continued to torment her, to push and poke and prod until nothing was left, until everything was battered away. She shuddered. She wished someone would save her, and knew that no one could.

"That's right...no one can save you…no one wants to save you anyways, you trashy, worthless bitch…"

The gigantic man kneed her in the kidney before letting go of her wrist and striking her in the stomach. Anko doubled over in pain; she felt as though all the air had been knocked out of her. The man kicked her again, this time square in the middle of her back, and she crumpled to the ground. "Don't move, little girl," he spat, the calm façade gone. "If you try to escape again, you'll die a slow, painful death…" The kunai in his hand moved in a blur, slicing open the inside of her left thigh and causing her blood to trickle onto the floor. "That is something that I am comfortable doing…"

Anko curled up into a ball, trying to escape her attacker. "Orochimaru hasn't trained me to withstand pain yet…and this hurts so much…" Anko thought. "Now, now," he said, grimacing. "We can't have any of that, can we?" Grabbing her by her hair, he pulled her up until she was inches away from his face, until she could count the number of teeth missing in his mouth and feel his foul breath washing over her face. She shuddered, trying to spit out expletives, before she was hit hard by a vicious backhand slap to the face. "Shut it, bitch," he said.

"That was…the first time I ever heard that word…" the adult Anko whispered to herself. "The first time someone called me a slut…the first time…that I found out what it meant…"

"And that is who you are," the voice finished for her. "You haven't changed because you can't change…slut…trashy little slut…"

"How do you know any of this? How do you know who I am and what I've seen? You're Sasuke Uchiha, the last Uchiha..." her voice rose in pitch. "You are he, are you not? You know nothing about me! You were born after all this happened…so how can you know? How could you have seen?!" the last part came out as a scream; whatever fortitude Anko had left was slowly beginning to fade away.

"I know because I can read your pathetically simple mind, trash. That is all there is to it."

The man dropped her to the ground, then kicked her in the face. She reeled, moaning, closing her eyes and curling up again. He took advantage of her collapse to slowly unfasten the cracked strip of leather belted around his waist, then, hesitating, he pulled his pants off entirely.

She opened her eyes again, her face level with the dropped articles of clothing. Confusion was written all over her face as she heard him shout angrily above her. "Are you ready for this, little girl?" the man snarled, an unfathomable look on his face. "Are you ready to be punished for killing all my comrades? Are you ready to take your damn punishment, to suffer as they suffered…?!"

"What's he talking about? What punishment? Is he going to kill me?" she asked herself. "I don't want to die yet…I don't want to disappoint Orochimaru-sama…"

Her thoughts were interrupted as the man again grabbed her by the hair and pulled her closer to him, until he was touching her and she was touching him, until the lone jutting piece of the man's flesh was pressed hard against her cheek and she felt a shudder run through him. She turned to face it, uncertain as to what the man was trying to do. To her, it was a dirty and dark mess that smelled worse than his breath, but there was nothing else remarkable about the thick brown stick that stabbed at her face.

"Grab it with your hands," the man shouted at her. "Do it now!" She reached for it. "Hesitate, and I will make you feel pain like you've never felt it before! Stop, and I will tear out your pretty little eyes and pull out your fingernails one by one…" he ended with a whisper. "Because those are things that I can do…"

"Why would I hesitate?" she wondered. "What's so special about holding a part of his reproductive system, his penis? What makes it any different from holding a man's finger, or his nose, or his bleeding eye socket? Is this supposed to be the 'punishment'? Am I supposed to care?"

Her mind continued to coldly question the man's motives in the way that Orochimaru had trained her to do.

"Even if he were to try to have sexual intercourse with me, with impregnation and the subsequent decrease of mobility as the suitable punishment that he has in mind, such a method would take months before reaching fruition…and even then, Orochimaru-sama told me that I am not capable of ovulation yet, so such a course of action is impossible! So what is he really trying to do?"

"Now slide your hand along the shaft…quickly!" A tremor ran through his voice, causing his words to momentarily lose their distinction. She accommodated him, her hands gliding along the length of his member. Back and forth they went, a blur of motion that pushed and pulled and made the man groan and close his eyes. Again, he trembled, shaking for some reason that he alone could decipher. She slowed, wondering if he was distracted enough to risk pulling out another kunai, when his eyes flickered back onto her. "Stop!" he commanded. She stopped. "Now open your mouth, little girl…"

She complied with his request. "This is wrong," he whispered to himself. "I shouldn't do this...but I must…"

"Even so, even if it is my duty, I will not take you there...I cannot…"

He leaned forward, intent on his task, intent on thrusting his member into her wetness, but she closed her mouth and it bumped hard against her lips. The man frowned, something akin to rage flickering on his features."Damn, she's making this harder than it already is! If she keeps doing this, I can't force myself to keep going!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing, girl? Accept your damn punishment!"

"Why are you doing this?" she asked bluntly.

He stopped. It was as if she could read his thoughts, could sense his hesitation. "I will not falter," he thought to himself. "I cannot falter…"

"Because it's your punishment," he said viciously in an honest attempt to convince himself. "You killed my comrades…my friends…and the least I can do to ease their passage into the next world is to make you suffer like they suffered, before I kill you as painfully as possible and offer you up as a sacrifice to their souls…" his voice softened unexpectedly. "Don't try and tell me that this is wrong, and expect me to take pity on you. I already know that it's wrong…I'm doing it because I must…even if I don't want to…"

"How will this act make me suffer?" Confusion was obvious in her voice. "Killing me will make me suffer, for I will die without having accomplished what I wished to do… but the act of fellatio itself has no affect on my physical state of well-being, merely bringing the recipient pleasure… it is no different from using the suction of one's mouth to stop the flow of blood from an open wound…

"Orochimaru-sama has already taught me this, and it is one of the simpler things that I have to do in order to learn new jutsu…therefore, it cannot be the 'punishment' that you claim it is…and so I cannot comprehend what your purpose with this exercise is…"

The man gasped. The girl was so cold, so calloused, so indifferent, and yet still so very young.

"And already a slut, at such a young age…" the voice whispered by her ear.

"She's…a product of Orochimaru…? That bastard…so she's not the real enemy here," he thought to himself. "She's a victim of his, just like we were…he's turned her, an innocent little girl, into a monster…"

"A slut and a monster…" the voice continued, dripping with saccharine sweetness.

"No, that's not true, she is no monster yet…she kills because he ordered her to kill…he must have taken everything from her, forced her into this state of abject servitude…"

"Who is this man?" Anko asked frantically. "I don't remember him…I don't remember this…! How can you know things about my life that even I do not? And why does he pity me? I killed his friends!"

"The little slut here is so stupid," the voice laughed. "I know because your mind is weak before my will…you force yourself to forget, but the walls that you erect are flimsy barricades before me…"

"As for your other question, he will answer it for you…"

"From what I've heard from the girl, that monster must have been using her all this time…promising her power and advancement, no doubt, with that honeyed tongue of his, in exchange for her soul…"

"Using you? No, you were using him, eh, Anko? And he's given you the perfect excuse that you use to live the rest of your life with…how utterly pathetic…"

"She's been punished enough as it is…day in, day out, the abuse that she must have suffered at the hands of that blasted snake…"

"Punishment? Abuse? Oh, but he lies, right, Anko-chan? You enjoy it, don't you, Anko-chan?"

"And despite all my vaunted honor, I've done the wrong thing to her…just like I did the wrong thing for my people, when I listened to that snake-bastard's twisted words…and this little girl's soul is on my head…"

"Soul? You have no soul…you are nothing but weak trash, and weak trash has no distinction from other weak trash…surely you were aware of this, Anko?"

Anko tried to shake her head, to still show some spirit and some semblance of defiance, but the contraption that held her in place kept her from moving. The voice chuckled with dark amusement. "So glad to see that you agree with me…" it continued. "So glad to see that you can still suffer more…"

The man coughed, embarrassed. "I see." He stepped away, reaching to retrieve his fallen garments. "My name is Sentaro, and I am sorry, little girl."

"Here in the Land of Tea, we have a custom, a law onto itself, a law that transcends all else. A murdered man cannot rest until his murderer is meted out a suitable punishment, a punishment that had been decided by the god of the Sun, the great and powerful Duos. A woman must be raped, a man castrated before death can be allowed to claim them as its own. That is the punishment that was supposed to befall you…"

"Rape, the carnal consent of a woman without her permission…that would have been your punishment. And your soul's blood would then have been on my hands, had I carried it out."

"But Duos has told me that you are not guilty, and that the one who is guilty waits outside for his punishment. His name is Orochimaru, and it is he who must suffer for his crimes…"

"What crimes?"

"Ah, exactly the question that should have been asked and answered. What crimes? What has he done that you have not? He is guilty as you are…guilty of the crime of pathetic weakness, weakness that holds us back and keeps us insane…"

"Why are you doing this? What do you gain from torturing me?" Anko rasped, her voice already beginning to weaken.

"What do I gain? Nothing. So why do I do it? Because I can do it, weak trash, I can do it and it is just so much damn fun to mess with the minds of weak trash that mean nothing to the world's flow, trash like you!"

"What he has done to you, little one, is a crime in and of itself. He has raped you when you were innocent, when you were pure under Duos's gaze…that is a crime. He treats you like his possession, like a tool that he can use at any point in time, for any purpose…that is a crime. And for what he has done to us…"

"What is your name, little one?"

"My name is Anko Mitarashi."

"Anko, Orochimaru is a monster…"

"No more a monster than any one of the pieces of trash…no more a monster than you, little Anko…you know this deep down, because it is true…"

"We were in a drought the likes of which had never been recorded…he asked us for our help in a battle against the Hidden Village of Amegakure, and in return promised us the necessary technology to produce the food we needed to survive. We trusted him. We fought by his side. Our strength was his strength, our kekkei-genkai his kekkei-genkai. And we won."

"He gave us the technology we needed, and we asked him to stay. He agreed. But soon after, children began disappearing one by one. We had no idea what was going on, no idea who could have been committing such crimes, but we knew that Duos would not let the souls of the children rest until the murderer was punished."

"It was Orochimaru…the elders in the clan knew it, they had reports…but I was the leader, and I trusted him to be what he was supposed to be. I convinced them to give him a chance to prove that he was not the kidnapping murderer, that his suspicious behavior was well-founded. He came before all of us, and laughed in our faces. He told us that he needed the children to research our kekkei-genkai, the Fuuta that gives us control over the wind and the sky, but that his research was failing and that he would need all of us to participate as well."

"I knew then that he was mad, and that I was a fool to believe in him. We confronted him…and the strongest of our men died that day, and we were left with those who only had the potential to unlock the kekkei-genkai, but had not unlocked it themselves. Them, and me…we were all that was left."

"Because of Orochimaru's treachery…because of his words and his deceptions…we have fallen out of Duos's favor. If we are to keep the world balanced, we must right this wrong and end his evil..."

"Anko, will you help me? I am sorry for what I have done to you…and I am sorry that you have become what you have had to become…"

"See, Anko, even the nice man still thinks you're a monster…and he's right. Except he's just so stupid that he can't see that he's a monster too…"

Anko was strangely silent. "You said that Orochimaru has committed crimes against me," she asked in an oddly dead sounding voice."You said that he treats me like his possession, like a tool that he can use for anything…"

"He does, Anko-chan…he does. And I am sorry. I know how you must feel…"

Anko's mind was a turmoil of doubt, of questions that could not be answered. The cold intellect that had been honed under Orochimaru's tutelage shifted gears, attempting to find the truth amid all the words. "Orochimaru can't be a monster…he has been kind to me…he has been my friend…"

"And once again, you prove that you are nothing but a weak fool that whores herself out for attention," the voice continued lightly. "How stupid and weak you are, to not see the deceptions that fly around your blind eyes…"

"This man…this man makes these absurd claims, yet it is he who lives like a bandit, unaffiliated with any village and loyal to no one but himself…if I were in his position, and I had lost all of my men, I would attempt to immediately recruit others to deal with threats…threats to his safety, like Orochimaru-sama! He is lying to me…he tells me of punishments that are no punishments, of gods that do not exist…he must die, if I am to keep Orochimaru-sama safe, if I am to follow his orders!"

The deadness in her voice did not go away, as though a certain part of her had died upon making that decision. She spoke."A ninja is a tool to be used as the owner sees fit," Anko said. "That is what I have been taught, and that is the rule that I must follow." One hand flashed into the seals that she had been taught as she grabbed Sentaro's hand. Something flashed between them, and when it passed, dizziness viciously set upon her. Sweatiness, clamminess, blurring of vision soon followed. The world flickered before her eyes as she collapsed, but she heard Sentaro collapse next to her. "That must have been…some jutsu he used on me…at the last moment…" she thought to herself as the darkness began to claim her. She heard him speak, one last time. "I forgive you, Anko Mitarashi, for you are not my murderer…I did not believe either, until I saw with my own eyes…"

Orochimaru stood smirking over the two bodies, but Anko was already unconscious from the poison circulating through her bloodstream. "Now, for the calculations," he thought to himself. "And then I'll harvest that kekkei-genkai of his…"

"Stop, please stop, don't show me any more of this!" Anko screamed as she broke down sobbing. "Please, Sasuke, please, I don't want to see anything else…please…"

"Aww, too weak, like I said. Too pathetic, like I said. Too much of a slut, like I said. Right on all counts." The tone in his voice was chill. "Nothing will stop this," he whispered. "And it's only been one second here in my world…"