Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Eyes to See
Prologue
Those were the eyes she remembered most. Not out of a need to remember, but because no one else had those eyes. Eyes of twisted need and longing. A drastic change from a few years ago during the Chuunin Exam. His eyes had seemed kinder then--detached, but surely kinder than eyes haunting her today.
A visible shudder wracked her body just from the memory of those eyes gazing at her. She bit back the force of a retch, the memory mixing with the nauseous scent of mildew and rotting corpses wafting in the air. Stale and musty would've been preferable to this.
The cave, dark and threatening enough to any child innocent enough to believe in monsters lurking in a dark closet, was anything but for her. Her bent figure stayed silent and still as possible. Taking short shallow breaths to minimize her gagging reflex, she continued to study her surroundings like she had been since he dumped her body--bound and secured with rope after knocking her unconscious during the altercation.
She gagged again, remembering his fetid breath choking her lungs, his voice whispering to her as she slipped into the darkness. Or, rather, their voice.
"If I cannot have his eyes, then your's will suffice."
Yakushi Kabuto was certainly the last person she thought she'd see after the destruction of Konohagakure. His face, even more distorted than the last time she saw him, sneered down at her after the dust settled. He hadn't hesitated to lung at Koh, his hand emanating blue light as he slid his had right through his abdomen, slicing right through his back and severing his spinal cord.
She'd tried fruitlessly to protect herself and get her guardian someplace where he could get medical help, but the speed with which Kabuto moved was more than she could have hoped to match. He'd bound her within his embrace, her arms pinned to her sides as his breath heaved in her face.
His voice resonated with his own tenor, but also with a higher-slimier-undertone. It rang through to her even as she slipped into darkness. He was going to take her eyes and use them against the prey he hunted. After all, what better way to defeat the Sharingan than with its own evolved rival, the Byakugan.