AC: Warning this chapter contains graphic descriptions of child molestation. Also i do not own Naruto.
As per pairing questions I choose to not disclose pairing(s) this early in the story.
Pure darkness.
Primal, linked to humans mind and soul. Few can say they have experienced a complete darkness devoid of any sort of light yet here Tayuya was amidst a never ending sea of total pitch black as she drifted as if sinking into the bottomless abyss.
"Am I...dead?" Her mind had become the only sound she could make as her mouth didn't make a sound, all she could do was look outwards into the abyss as she drifted headfirst into the nothingness.
"Fuck...I'm dead." All she could do was move her brown eyes down to where she was falling for the rest of her body felt numb and lifeless.
In the midst of all the darkness figures clearly came into view as if illuminated of their own free will. One of the figures was a tall well built man possibly in his mid thirty's with sharp brown eyes and a rugged dark brown hair style. He had oddly pinkish cheeks and noes and wore the painfully obvious cloths of a poor nobody.
"Dad...what the fuck is your drunk ass doing here?"
She could only watch with frigged eyes as the image came clearly into view of a small hobbled shack by a waterfront appeared into view as if the blackness creeped off like mist. A womans body came into focus, slender, fair skinned and with long red hair flowing off her shoulders down her back. Her cloths were much better then the mans who seemed as if he was shouting with anger in his face.
"Mom...this is...the day you left isn't it." A somber look was plastered on the girls near emotionless face as she remembered what happened that faithful day.
A small child appeared who was being carried by two guards behind the man who Tayuya had identified to be her father. The child couldn't have been no more then a year old. It took the redhead a few moments but the identity became crystal clear.
"Thats me...the day that worthless drunk had mom expelled from Wave, when that ballless fucker kept me and treated me like shit and you' you fucking bitch left me!" Yes that day unfolded in the young girls mind with perfect clarity as the town guard kept her from leaving with her mother who was threatened by the edge of blades to leave both the town and her only daughter behind. But Tayuya knew she wasn't kept in her fathers keep out of love no, he no longer viewed her as the bundle of joy he once did when she was born. Now to him she was just free labor and just another way to hurt his wife for choosing not to stay with him any longer. Though at the time the small child had no real awareness of what was going on the memory still remained in the child's mind which was the only reason why Tayuya could understand what it meant.
As Tayuya's rage rekindled in the darkness so did the image she saw. Her house was now covered in flames and inside somewhere lay her fathered butchered corpse, something she wished she could have taken credit for after the years of abuse she had been dealt by his hands
"I never understood why you were killed your worthless bastard back then but I understand it now, you were nothing but a gambling drunk fuck who insulted to many Kami damned scum by not paying on time." Though Tayuya could not form words out of her mouth she still was able to form as smile as she watched her younger self sit in the snow and watch her home burn to the ground as empty tears froze to her rosy red cheeks.
As the snow picked up in the wind the image was gone and the blackness returned once again and enveloped everything other then the kunoichi. But just as fear was setting in at the presence of the endless oblivion threatened to swallow her another image haunted her mind like a phantom. This one she knew all to well for it was the one event which changed her life forever.
"My my, you must be frozen to the core dear child. Have you no home?" The serpent like voice hissed through the darkness and was soon accompanied by a tall pale figure wearing a heavy black coat buttoned up the midsection all the way up to the long black scarf that was wrapped and draped around his neck and hung off his chest. His long sleek black hair passed his shoulders and his head was crowned with a large black colored dyed conical straw hat that covered his face down to his snakelike yellow eyes.
"I d-don't have a home a-any more." The young girl replied with a frozen stutter in her voice.
Tayuya stared at the young version of herself that sat hunched over a knocked over garbage can as the child scrounged for food like a wild animal while only wearing a filthy rugged brown shirt that looks almost too much like a potato sack with holes cut into it for clothing use and nothing more then her old under wear. The only possessions the child had were the only things that weren't destroyed in the fire, which were the cloths on her back and her mothers flute which was luckily kept under the floor boards hidden in case her husband tried to pawn it off for beer money...or worse.
"And family dear child?" His lips practically smiled as he asked and awaited the answer he hoped to hear.
"D-dead and g-gone." Was all the child Tayuya could say.
"And the village does not take care of you?" His tone was filled with a sick joyful tone as he used his words carefully.
"N-no they call me a s-street rat and a lost little b-bitch, good for nothing thief and f-fucking disappointment." The child shivered ferociously as a gust of freezing wind and snow blew into the small alley way passed both her and the pale man.
"I see, Tell me child what do you know of snowflakes?" His straw hat reeled back as the snake Sannin looked up to the white clouds that showered them with ceaseless snow.
"W-well there f-frozen water drops that crystallize as they are frozen solid during their d-decent from the clouds to earth."
"A fine description little one, you know much for your age but tell me...what happens then?" His gaze fell down to the frigged child's eyes.
"T-then they melt and turn back into water t-that is evaporated back into the clouds to form more moisture m-molecules."
"They always melt child?" His sinister voice was watering as his trap nearly being set.
"Y-yes always sir."
"Look onto my hand child." With that the pale Sannin stretched his right hand out in front of the young child's face and opened his palm as a single snow flake fluttered down onto it and after moments had passed still retained its form and glowed bright white.
"Do you know why it does not melt? It is because I will it not to. I have the power child to preserve this snowflake that was fated to melt away and perish before anyone could notice its beauty. By my will it will not melt. Now tell me child, do you wish to be like this snowflake? To shine as it does and exist sustained simply by my will in a world that would pass you by as nothing more then a flicking of the wind?"
The young Tayuya stood motionless as she watched the snowflake stay on the mans hand and not melt despite his body's heat. She gazed into the heavenly glow which illuminated from the it and marveled at the impossible act. There was no explanation she could gather giving her intellect which she accumulated over the many books she had read over the years despite her fathers abuse and constant efforts to scold her and tell her it was useless for a worthless girl to educate herself.
"Well little one do you not want to show this world just how brightly you can shine?" Coaxed the albino warrior.
"Y-yes I do! I do want that power to shine and show them I am not a street rat b-bitch! What do I have to do sir?" Hey brown eyes lightened with what is know as hope filling her empty void.
"Orochimaru my dear girl but you shall call me Orochimaru-sama from now on if you are willing to follow my every command as a member of my village of Sound! Only then will I grant you all the power you wish."
As the girl nodded gleefully and hugged her saviors leg her new master opened his coat and wrapped the freezing girl with his vestments as they began walking in the alley away from her home village. She never noticed that once the snowflake had served its purpose of luring her into Orochi's world it had began to melt and was crushed with in his cold pale hand. Soon the alley dispersed and the snow turned black and melted into the darkness leaving the kunoichi alone in the void once more.
"That day...I was fucking happy, So fucking happy to have hope in life once more. I'm such a dumb bitch to believe such shit."
A dimly lit room manifested itself around Tayuya as she fell, the entire room was made out of large stone blacks with flags and murals hanging from the ceiling and off the walls depicting various clans and organizations insignias. In the center of the room stood a large velvet throne with a pair of torches illuminating in front of it giving scarce light to the musky chamber. From the entrance of the door to the main chamber two shadows flew off the wall and formed her master guiding her younger self into the chamber towards the throne.
The red haired kunoichi noticed she had stopped falling and was now standing in the center of the room watching as her master sat down and let himself sink into a comfortable position on his throne and motioned her younger self to him. Tayuya's eyes widened immediately at the memory as it burned its way back into her mind.
"No!, not this I don't want to see this shit again! Kami no you damn bastard?!" Her mind was on fire while her body was stricken with a ghostly frigged paralysis. "Why the fuck do I have to see this! God damn it, god damn it!"
"Come Tayuya and have a seat on my knee." Hissed the Sannin in an alluring tone.
"Stop it!"
"Hai Orochimaru sama!" The mini Tayuya eagerly hopped on her masters knee.
"Stop it!"
"Tayuya would you play for me a song?"
"Damn it stop already!"
"O-of course Orochimaru sama." The little girl cheerfully agreed.
"..."
Placing her brass flute to her lips the young Tayuya slowly began to play a soothing melody, slow at first but increased in pace as she heard her master ex hail with a pleased tone. She was happy her only ability was appreciated by her savior and didn't mind him placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as she played. In a few moments however she was positioned back over his lap causing her to look up at him and see his reassuring smile and nod for her to continue. She did so and continued to play the same tone until her master began to shift his legs and position the small child on his lap while she tried to play.
By this point the elder Tayuya had tears forming from the corners of her eyes at the sight of her confused younger self trying to play while her master reassured her everything was okay and to continue while he got into a comfortable position.
"No more...please..." She called out in her mind to the unseen being who was inflicting such torture on her but received no response only the image to grow louder as it brought her to her knee's to watch her younger selfs eyes grew wide as something pressed against her legs from underneath her. Her younger selfs music cracked in tone and she looked up to her master who only reassured her that everything was okay and for her to continue. The little child continued playing as tears formed under her eyes for a reason she couldn't explain, she just felt something was wrong but her savior acted as nothing was wrong so that meant nothing was wrong but that didn't seem help her feel any better as her mind began to become frantic. The object that pressed against her legs moved to her bottom slowly sending a shudder to run both up the little girls spine and her older self who was forced to watch on and shudder herself as if feeling it move up in between her legs and press against her causing the melody to break and look to her master frightened.
"Why did you stop child it was such a beautiful song." his snakish grin widened as he hissed.
"S-something feels w-wrong Orochimaru sama."
"Nothing is wrong my dear, I am merely enjoying your performance." Stretching out his pale hand he wiped of the tears out from underneath her eyes and caressed her cheek lovingly causing her to smile and bring the flute back to her lips and blow more of the melody's notes while her master slumped back into his seat and leisurely enjoyed the rest of her company as she finished the song uninterrupted and the Sannin complimented her and motioned her out of the room.
"Why...why the fuck did I have to remember that?! Answer me Kami you sick fucking bastard! Isn't having to endure it once enough?! And...all of the other times...weren't they enough?"
Her broken distraught rage filled voice now echoed into the amassed void of eternal darkness. The notion of her own body's movement surprised and amazed her and Tayuya wildly searched the dark void and felt the nothingness that solidified beneath her feet to test her surroundings only to feel absolutely nothing other then what she was touching made no sensations of touch to her skin. This newly acquired freedom didn't meet the kunoichi well as it only strengthened the notion that she wasn't alone in her entrapment.
Before she could enquirer the shapeless being once more she received an answer in the form of flashing memory's that nearly blinded her in such a way that pierced through her very soul even should she forcibly close her eyes to them. Voices as loud as thunder soon matched the images bring the once great kunoichi of Sound, Orochimaru's hand picked child, down to her knee's in agony holding her hands to her ears in a bitter futile manner.
The blur of memory's slowed into a single moment that painted it self before young girl as if a canvas of her own mind.
Another musky chamber larger then the last filled with benches rowed side by side and filling the immense space as if a zealot's hidden church closed off from the world which wasn't too far from the truth. In the barren end of the chamber stood a single brown podium with the speaker. Tayuya found her self standing in the back of the class as shadows took the form of students she knew and once knew all young no more then the ages of six and seven. They all waited patiently for their lord and master to begin speaking but the pale figure only looked over his flock with a wide grin. There were forty children in the room and the Sannin soon had them grouped into sets of ten and took them to four separate chambers, Tayuya's younger self was in the first group as she walked with the other candidates who were all confused as to what was going on once he ordered them to separate and go into four separate chambers. The older Tayuya watched in horror as she relieved Orochimaru entering her younger self's chamber and begin applying his fangs into the children one by one as he quickly came to her younger frightened self and smiled widely before leaning and placing his mouth on the terrorized shaking girls neck then moved and sunk his fangs into her flesh then releasing her as the seal began to form.
One by one the children began screaming in pain as their seals burned at their flesh and minds, the weaker ones dying in mere minutes while the more capable endured much longer periods of suffering. Tayuya's younger self curled into a ball among the other nine captives and curled herself on the floor gripping her neck as if pulling a parasite out of her body that hungered for control. She cried, she screamed, she thrashed...as did they all but the pain was becoming to much for her and she lost consciousness as she laid in a sweat covered heap. In the younger girls subconscious she saw fire. Raging fire devouring her childhood memory's as if they were mad with hunger. They burned a family photo on the wall of the day she was born. They tore at the walls which protected her in her youth, they covered the corpse of her father and in the opposite side of the room the flares of fire and ember danced around the ghostly image of a warped version of the young red head. The warped versions long red hair blew wild in the fiery wind that scattered flames, her eyes as black as night besides the yellow pupils and her head crowned with horns. Yes this was the image of herself that found satisfaction in the destruction of her youth, the was the image of herself that smiled sadistically as the fire raged and over took another area of the shambled hut she once called home. As the current Tayuya stood behind her younger self helplessly to the vision the curse mark on her own neck flared to life as if responding to its own astral image. This creature spoke out to the younger self in a harsh voice.
"Why isnt you cry little bitch? Arnt you glad that fucker is dead? Arnt you glad our home is ash in the wind? Arnt you glad you no longer have any bonds to cause you pain and suffering any longer? Well fucking arnt you?!" The twisted image screamed causing the girl to shiver and fall to the floor in the burning hut.
"Ohhh poor baby, are you scared of me? You know you shouldn't be after all I am you...yes you. That sick fucking part of you that knows no suffering or pain, the part of you that is bound to Lord Orochimaru. Accept me and all I am, accept me as that part of yourself and you like I will not know the suffering of broken bonds, you will find enjoyment from the suffering of others and find contentment in serving Lord Orochimaru completely in body and mind and all you have to do is accept me and all that power is YOURS!" The twisted version held out her dark skinned hand as if calling out to the young girl to walk through the fire to take it and though she feared the flames the young Tayuya slowly stepped her bare feet forward threw the passage of fire which separated them and felt no pain and reached out to her twisted self opening taking her hand.
As soon as they touched she found herself in the small chamber again surrounded by the dead bodies of her fellow students of Orochimaru and though she was drenched in sweat and her body felt as if it was on fire she slowly walked her way to the door and opened it revealing the light of the main chamber where her lord and master stood with another child at his side who had a head growing out of his back. Not before long the other chamber opened and two more children emerged, one being a giant of a boy and the other being an arachnid born into a humans body. Despite their differenced Orochimaru beckoned the children with loving open arms to gather before him. As they did one by one he motioned for them to kneel which they did either from respect, fear or the inability to stand any long.
"Congratulation my dear children, on this day you shall be known as the Sound Four and be heralded as my personal elite ninja. Rise my Sound Four for the true path of your servitude has been granted to you by your Curse marks that not only brand you as my personal guard and most capable of shinobi as well as grant you immense power and make you extensions of my will!" The snake sannin declared as he instructed them to follow him into a dark passage way where they would begin their true training.
As the four children followed their master as if their souls were stolen from them the elder Tayuya was bound to the center of the room and as everything dissipated into the eternal darkness she was hurdled downward into the abyss as it glowed red as if the the embodiment of hate itself and illuminated the darkness around her. Below among the murky black ocean of ebony stood a figure in a pure state of delight as the girl hurdled towards her at full speed. The figures crimson blood hair enveloping her, black eyes with yellow slitted pupils.
"Don't forget partner, were one now and I cant just let you die just yet!" The curse sealed Tayuya shouted to the normal stated one as she fell uncontrollability towards her cursed form in a head on collision with the sadistic grinning face as she awaited the normal Tayuya's decent.
They had collided in a eruption of light.
"AHHHHH!" Yelled the crimson haired Sound kunoichi was she awoke suddenly drenched in sweat and blood only to be further injured as the suns rays burned immediately into her unprepared retina's forcing her to yell in a sharper tone as she quickly covered them and shut her lids tightly and rapidly blinked to adjust her sight till her vision centered and the blurred glare dissipated leaving her to slowly take in her surroundings before she recoiled to the pain like pure fire that enveloped her lower body.
Fire ants, a shitload of them had taken to feeding off her unclosed wounds as they used their mini razor fangs to peel back and tear at her flesh while she was unconscious and in the split second as she saw them she realized she was not dead...yet. With out thinking Tayuya immediately began to swat her bruised hands over her legs while in intense pain to kill and drive off the hungry army and after a large portion of their ranks have been cut down the remaining insects scattered away clenching what skill skin flakes they had managed to tare off her as they dispersed.
"Fucking useless mother fucking shits!" She screamed while clenching her bloody legs before she immediately silenced herself and took an intense look around her and the surroundings.
It took but only a moment but she was still in the same spot she was last time she was awake. She still was leaned up against the tree and the dent in the ground caused by the Suna whore was still present in front of her yet there were no signs of her or the bastard Leaf nin who had humiliated her so forgivingly by aiding her. Tayuya scanned the tree line more focused then she had ever before to spot out even a hint that they or other nin's were present waiting for her to lead them unknowingly to the Sound base where her lord and master was so perfectly concealed. That thought alone put her body on complete edge. She didn't know why both the Leaf bastard and the Suna whore let her live but she refused to simply believe it was out of pity, no there had to be more but the luxury of time was far from her grasp as the threat of immediate discovery.
"F-fuck...need to g-get the fuck out of here bef...!" Tayuya was cut short as she made an attempt to stagger forward to her feet only to fall face first towards the hard ground barely able to guard her face with her battered arms.
"Arghh w-what the fuck?!" She shouted suddenly as she recovered and looked around wildly around her surroundings to catch an invisible assailant behind her but found no one. Glaring coldly into the nothingness Tayuya decided to swallow her pride for the moment and try again only to move a foot forward before dropping forward an inch away from the assorted grass and stones that made the patch of ground beneath her.
"Get up!, d-damn it get up!?" Her cries became filled with frustration and fear as she could not stand or walk forward. Turning behind her the red head quickly noticed her splinted right leg was not moving when she wanted it too. Turning around and sitting on her back side she punched the side of her thigh to feel nothing but the connection only on her fist. Punch after vicious punch with no pain or reaction left Tayuya wide eyed and in disbelief.
"No...Fuck no! NOT ME!? NOT FUCKING ME?!" Her voice was hysterical and filled with rage as she repeatedly punched and slammed her leg till she no longer could bare to anymore.
"...I'm fucking crippled, I don't believe this shit...I cant believe this shit!" The redhead spat as she desperately regained balance and bobbed side to side on her good left leg to scan the surrounding area for something' anything to aid her. All she found was a tree branch the blond bitch had create when she had cleared the area when she had arrived, it sickened Tayuya to have to resort to using something the blond had created but she needed a crutch and this was better then the thin branches and twigs that lay all around her.
Slowly limping towards the branch soon became a degrading crawl on all three's as her right leg sluggishly dragged behind her with each thud and scratching sound it made against the earth causing Tayuya to flinch bitterly till she took hold of her target and rested the blunt part under her arm and the pointed part to the ground carefully lifting her back on her foot.
Step by step she slowly trudged taking every few seconds to look over her shoulder for any sign of trackers or life in general. The feeling of helplessness never sat well with the girl in her entire life and she refused to get used to it now. She had nearly jumped out of her skin for just a few birds that had flew out of their nest mistaking them for a Konoha flunky. After composing her self with a few hushed swears the great Sound Ninja known as Tayuya trudged on for what seemed like an eternity of pain as her muscles screamed under her flesh to stop but as if inflicting pain to silence pain she continued as a t estimate to her own strength and will power. It was enough to make her grin crookedly as she stopped to take her first rest in order to take in her surroundings and estimate just how far she was in terms of boarder territory.
"I'm past those Konaha fuckers territory now...to the east is the valley of the end and north is Oto base but f-fuck I cant make it there while I am in this shit ass situation. Orochimaru will k-kill me for sure for being late never mind that d-damned mission." Tayuya took a moment to look to stare past the tree line and lean on her crutch. "F-fuck it I don't give a shit anymore let him kill me, that bastard can wait till I get back!" Lowering her head with a cracked smile Tayuya trudged on resigned to her dismal fate.
Tayuya was soon drawn from her ever spiraling thoughts by the sounds of life off in the distance ahead of her where the sounds of village life rose from. Carefully she closed the distance and staked out the village. It was small, only a handful of houses and the 'rich' side of town was a single house in the center of town. The market area consisted of two shops and a few shabby vender's and to her surprise no patrols were present making rounds.
"Back water shithole...fucking fitting for my ass to rot." The red heads smile twisted in pain as she continued towards the village seeking sanctuary to tend to her to her wounds before surcoming to them.
But entering now wasn't an option. A wounded bloodstained girl dragging herself into a strange town wearing the uniform of the nations most wanted village in broad daylight. She might have been slightly delusional from blood loss but not retarded.
Nightfall was not far off and she was content for the moment to rest her tired body in a nearby hallowed out tree trunk. Slumping back into it Tayuya rested her wooden crutch aside her and began to make hand signs and brought her right palm to the entrance of of the tree trunk "Henge!" The illusion was cast which formed the image of a whole tree protecting her from being found.
She only had one thought before her contentiousness blacked out.
"Come on T-tayuya you can wait till nightfall. Hold it t-together."