A/N: In the beginning, the word 'Whichet' is pronounced like 'Whish'. The 't' is silent.
Whichet
Whichet
Whichet.
The crackling of a whip sliced through the still air, punctuated by the sound of heavy breathing. The girl whose voice belonged the breath was hunched over, her shoulders shaking. Her dark hair had long since fallen out of their usual bun style and her expressive brown eyes brimmed with tears of pain. Luckily or unluckily she was still clothed. Her white shirt was wet with perspiration and water which their captor had thoroughly doused her with before torturing her. The white of her shirt had now been stained red with her own blood. The sweat sticking to her body making every nerve in her system hypersensitive.
Whichet
Whichet
Whichet
Every time the whip came down on her, it lashed at her back, curling around to hit her chest as well. She had her arms wrenched behind her and her muscles ached from having to endure such inhumane treatment. Her fair skin was marred hopelessly by cuts and wounds where the whip had made contact with her skin and only her unwavering will kept her from crying out. That and the person across from her.
He had his brows furrowed in angst and pain. He knew that the only reason he wasn't the one being whipped was because they knew that he could take the pain. The thing that he couldn't handle was watching his teammate be struck right in front of him and he helpless as to easing her suffering. His pale eyes were closed. He hadn't been able to watch her torment for very long.
There was barely any light in the dim room and only the silhouette of their tormentor was visible. Neji watched as Tenten continued to be submitted to the painful interrogation of their captor. He heard more than he saw, but from the sound of it, she was on the edge of consciousness. All at once, the relentless lashings stopped and a voice somewhere above them called out.
"Are you going to tell me why you are both here?" the voice was familiar, though Neji couldn't put a name to it.
The Hyuga remained silent. It wasn't he who was going to be harmed if they were to choose not to answer their captor.
After a moment of silence, Tenten lifted her head up feebly and looked at her comrade.
"Don't tell him anything, Neji. I'll be fine, really," she managed in a hoarse voice.
A second later and a slap to the back of her head silenced her and she fell over onto her side, her eyes closed in an uneasy state of sleep.
"She has a strong will, but you aren't so lucky, Neji. Answer me. Who sent you here and what is your mission?" the voice was harsher this time.
Neji didn't dignify the question with a response, in fact, he didn't even look up. His eyes were locked on his friend who was lucky not to have coughed up so much blood. It smudged the tile beneath her still form, but was otherwise still inside of her body.
"If you value Tenten's life, you will answer me!" the voice was shouting.
"You know that I would never disregard her wishes. Do as you wish, Tenten knows the consequences of failure," Neji replied after a moment.
"Fool! You sound so calm now, but what if I told you that Tenten will be the one to pay for your stupid mistake?" the voice was shouting again, its owner's temper flaring. "If you don't tell me, I'll bring her with me tonight. She may have resisted from screaming out earlier, but she wouldn't last very long with me," there was a smirk in his voice now, as his implications were perverse.
Though Tenten meant a lot to Neji, he didn't necessarily feel for her in the romantic sense. However, this didn't stop him from being protective of her in her weakened state.
"You wouldn't dare," he growled.
"If you don't answer, I will," the smirk was back in place.
None-the-less, Neji was adamant about betraying her. Tenten would be able to take care of herself.
"Take her then. Every shinobi knows that the most severe form of punishment for a failed mission is losing his life. Tenten is no different." He bluffed.
"We'll see about that. Take her to me," the voice commanded their torturer who had been standing over the kunoichi's listless body the entire time.
He scooped her up easily and took her out to the more lighted area of the confine.
"As for you, you'll be locked up until you decide to talk," the voice said with malice in his tone.
A guard came through the door and jerked the young ninja to his feet. His arms were wrenched behind him and he was made to walk to another area of confinement. They walked through the corridor in silence, though the guard enjoyed striking him in the back every so often when the grey-eyed boy slowed. Once they reached his cell, the guard roughly pushed him through and slammed the door shut. It rattled on its rusted hinges for a moment before becoming still.
The long haired shinobi lay on his side, staring aimlessly at the wall. They were bare and in a state of decrepitude. The floor was dirtied by blood and the ceiling seemed to be far above his head. Besides, even if he could reach the top, there was no way that he would be able to free himself from his bindings. Not only were his arms bound tightly behind him, but a chakra inhibiting bracelet was tied tightly around his wrist, which prevented him from even trying to save them during the time he was subjected to watching Tenten's physical torture. His white robes were stained with dust and damp with sweat. He closed his eyes for a moment and their captor's voice rang through his mind.
"If you don't tell me, I'll bring her with me tonight. She may have resisted from screaming out earlier, but she wouldn't last very long with me,"
He wasn't sure how he felt about that statement. He didn't have a romantic relationship with his female teammate and as such, didn't feel the way their captor thought he did about her.
I don't love her, you know. He smirked at the thought, but a moment later, felt remorse for leaving her so carelessly with a man who may really have the intention of raping her.
She'll be fine. I need to figure out a strategy in order to escape first. He thought firmly. But no matter how hard he tried to formulate a plan, he could only concentrate on one thing and that was the mission itself. The mission had been how they had gotten into this mess.
"Neji Hyuga and Tenten, you two are jounin now. I feel that you are able to handle the responsibilities that this an S ranked mission calls for," The Fifth Hokage Lady Tsunade had told them.
The two young shinobi stood in front of her anxious for their newest mission. Though Neji had completed S ranked missions before, the process was still new to Tenten and she was eager to show Neji that she too, was qualified to become a Jounin.
"This may be my first S ranked mission, but I can handle it!" she said enthusiastically to her idol.
"That's good, Tenten," the woman smiled at her.
"Yes, we shall do our best," Neji knew enough to never be so blind as to promise a success, especially when the missions was as high ranked as this one was.
"Very well, let me explain to you the details of this mission. You will go to a country very far from here in order to obtain information on an organization that's been wrecking havoc on the other nations…"
That was as far as Neji got before he felt the cloud of unconsciousness overcoming him.
Tenten awoke in a pitch dark room. She was lying on a bed of some sort and her back was screaming out in pain. Quickly, she tried to maneuver herself so that she was on her side when the sound of movement somewhere beside her caused her tired muscles to freeze.
"Are you awake?" the voice of their captor called out somewhere on her right side.
"Yeah, no thanks to you," she spat, surprised that her voice no longer sounded cracked.. "How long have I been asleep anyway?" she wondered out loud.
It was too dark for her to make out the face of her keeper, but his voice sounded familiar to her. She just couldn't make out his name or face and it irritated her.
"You've been unconscious since after you were whipped. Since you refused to talk, I thought that I should try a different approach," the voice became colder and she felt a movement on the edge of the bed.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"That's irrelevant. Now, do you want to talk or would you like to repeat your ordeal tomorrow?" he threatened.
Tenten gritted her teeth, nervous as to the intentions of the man hovering so close to her.
"Why don't you just kill me? It'll save you time because I'm never going to talk!" she hissed.
"Is that the case?" she felt his hand reach out to cup her cheek and she turned away.
"Don't touch me," she snapped.
"Tell me your purpose for coming here and I'll let you and your teammate go," he commanded her.
"Never. It's not like you can do anything worse than what you've already done, anyway," she retorted.
"Really?" she felt him come closer and lean to kiss the juncture of her neck where it met the collarbone. "If you tell me, I'll heal you too. You don't want scratches like those get infected, do you?" he seemed to take pleasure in her animosity towards him.
Tenten tried to push him away, but her hands were still bound behind her and had no such luck.
"Don't you dare touch me!" she yelled at him.
"That's what your friend said too, but both of you fail to realize that I would dare," there was a hint of malice in his voice and Tenten was sure that he had a much bigger plan that what she had originally thought.
"Start talking, because I have all night before having to deal with your comrade as well," the voice hissed.
"Good luck. Neither of us will ever betray our village!" she insisted, but a moment later was cut off as he pressed his lips to hers, preventing her from saying anymore.
"Like I said earlier, I have all night," there was a smirk in his tone and his intentions were beginning to scare Tenten slightly.
What have I gotten myself into? She thought frantically.
A/N: So this is a much darker fic than the ones I usually write. The inspiration for this story came from another one called "Torture" by Anatidaephobia81. I'm actually quite happy as to how this turned out so I'd like your opinions please! And yes, this will be a multi-chapter story.