Warnings for abuse/physical and mental torture on children. This is going to be a rough story- kohona takes its security very seriously and does not care which enemies it hurts to protect itself. Please be aware of this.

Sakon was reeling. He was tied to something, a chair most likely, and the cell was spinning. He thought the dizziness was from dehydration- he'd been locked up for what felt like days, which probably meant it'd been a few hours since he first woke up. Or, wait- when I woke...I was lying down...which means…

"Oi!" said a loud voice in his ear, "don't go falling unconscious!" A heavy hand smacked Sakon's cheek, and the stinging woke him up. Sakon gasped and choked on a whimper. I remember now, fuck...

The Leaf nin wanted information. And Sakon could give it. So they'd strapped him to a chair and began working on him. They'd taken his fingernails first.

And now the interrogator was pinching his cheek and demanding, "Why did they send you? Who is your master?"

Sakon shook his head. I won't betray Orochimaru-sama. I won't. I won't.

The man chuckled. "You have a high tolerance for pain, don't you? Hm. I wonder how they trained you." He pressed his thumb, lightly, over Sakon's swollen eye. Sakon swallowed, thickly.

"Don't." Sakon hated how weakened and scratchy his voice was.

He could practically hear the smile in the interrogator's voice. "Then answer my questions." The man pressed a little harder, and Sakon's breath caught on the edge of agony.

"Don't." Sakon was desperate.

"You know," the man said, conversationally, "you can't be a ninja if you're blind."

And then he jammed his thumb into Sakon's eye, and the world narrowed to just that agonizing point on his face. Sakon tried wrenching away, backwards, anywhere, anything was better than this pain-

It took a few moments for Sakon to realize he was the one who was screaming. His eye was raw and throbbing. His breathing was ragged and wrong. I need...I need… Sakon wheezed.

"Where's- where's-"

"Answer me!" The voice was strong, loud, overwhelming, and something pressed hard against his other eye. Sakon screamed in horror and yanked his head sideways out from the interrogator's grip. NOT AGAIN! Ukon...I need Ukon…

"Why did they send you?!"

Sakon whimpered. He could feel something slick and warm running down his cheeks. It could've blood or tears or pus or-

His breath was rapid, and Sakon knew that he'd have to get the words out before they stuck in his throat in his panic-

"Where's- where's-" Sakon took a shuddering breath, "-Ukon?"

"Answer my questions," the voiced growled in his ear, "and I'll tell you." Something hard and unforgiving pressed against his throbbing eye, and that was too much. Sakon sobbed, and jerked his face to the side to dislodge the weapon, and then lunged forward to bite. His curse mark was burning, burning, burning, but he did not have the chakra to release it. Something hit him hard across the face, and after a moment of flashing pain, the world got dark.

"Oi," a new voice said, "don't push too hard- dammit, Frog, he's-"

Sakon let the darkness take him.

Ukon's eyes had been throbbing on and off all day. I wonder how Sakon is doing, he thought. He needed to piss, badly.

Kidomaru was sleepy. The mattress was soft, comfortable. And he was warm. Too warm, to be honest. And everything was..fuzzy. He forced his wandering eyes to glance at the I.V. stand that hovered near the side of his bed. He squinted- his eyes were oddly blurry- and managed to count one more I.V. bag than there had been a few hours ago. I must've fallen asleep, Kidomaru thought, even though I tried not to. And they must have hooked me up to something to disarm me… Kidomaru remembered his restraints, and the chakra binders, and the gauze forcing his fingers far apart, and thought, damn, they really didn't need to drug me, too.

But then there was a noise behind him, a door creaking, I think… And a woman dressed in white walked to his bedside. She smiled. It was too wide and stretched and reminded Kidomaru of some of the kids he'd met at Orochimaru's laboratory. They didn't quite know how to smile, either. "Hello," she said in a soft voice, "how are you feeling?"

Kidomaru would've felt angry had he not been drugged to hell and back. As it was, he felt only a vague prickling of unease. "M'okay," he said, before realizing that it was probably better not to speak at all. Because the Leaf will take any information it can get.

"Well," the woman said with an even wider smile, "that's excellent. Now, are you comfortable?"

Kidomaru blinked sluggishly. Was he comfortable? And then realized he was playing into her game, and so said nothing.

The woman pursed her lips. "Hm," she sighed, "I surely hope so. ...Now, I've got a few questions for you."

Here it comes. Kidomaru would not let his guard down. He narrowed his eyes. The woman smiled at him back.

"What's your name?"

I see. She'll start with the easy ones to lull me into a false sense of security. Hmph. It won't work if I don't say a word. Kidomaru smiled back at her, all teeth and sagging cheeks, and shrugged slowly, which was about the only way the drugs would let him.

The woman was not fazed. "I sure hope you remember, soon. Which village do you belong to?"

Are you serious? Kidomaru squinted at her, and then rolled his eyes up to his hitai-ate- which was gone, along with the rest of his equipment, of course-and then flushed. Shit. Now she knows I was just fucking around with her first question and not too drugged. Dammit!

The woman's smile widened with too many teeth. Kidomaru swallowed, thinking of those teeth and his throat and rusty smell of blood. "Ah, well, we both know your name hardly matters."

That's her way of letting me know that she knows.

"Why were you sent to attack the Village?"

Kidomaru wrinkled his nose. It wasn't an attack on the village proper. ...She must be trying to get me to respond, to correct it…

"What is your relationship with Orochimaru? Is he your master? Your teacher? How did you come by your arms? What is the nature of your interest in Uchiha Sasuke? Tell me about Orochimaru's interests? What are his future plans?"

Kidomaru frowned. The woman's face was completely blank, and she was reciting the questions like she was reading them off some sort of mental list. What the hell kind of interrogation is this? She's not even giving me time to respond…

The words started to blur together. Kidomaru closed his eyes to focus. The noise was heavy in his ears, like thickened water. There was a clicking sound, small in the barrage of noise, and then something was flooding into his veins and making him woozy He groaned. And then-

"How old are you?"

The question caught Kidomaru so off-guard that he responded without thinking. "F-fourteen?"

Suddenly his eyes were open and he was staring hazily into the face of the woman, who was smiling. "Very good," she purred, "now tell me about Orochimaru."

Kidomaru's tongue was heavy, and he struggled not to answer, but he couldn't ignore the question. His response grew in his throat and bubbled out, all slurred and heavy, but recognizable- "Orochimaru's th'master. He sent us here t'recruit that kid."

The woman's voice was honey-sweet as she compelled him to answer her every question.

Then, a strange one, accompanied by a knowing grin: "What are your teammates greatest fears?"

Kidomaru's throat closed up.

"Go on, tell me," she said, "I want to know what scares them the most."

No, Kidomaru thought, you'll hurt them. Don't, he told himself, but his mouth was already opening, beyond his control. Kidomaru would rip out his throat to stop the talking, but he couldn't move. So instead he closed his eyes against the tears and listened to his voice tell the woman every single thing he knew.

The next time Kidomaru woke, the fog in his brain was gone. First, he noticed he was still strapped to the mattress, but on his belly this time. He guessed that was because he'd develop bedsores if he was left on his back all the time. Next, he remembered that he'd unintentionally sold his teammates out. I sold Orochimaru out. The thought brought bile to his mouth, and before he knew it, Kidomaru was dry heaving.

He lay in a puddle of his own vomit for hours before anyone came to check on him.

Kidomaru swore that if he ever saw that woman again he would skin her, and then kill her. Slowly.

They did not visit Sakon for what felt like days after.

Food was left for him at the front of his cell, pushed through a slat under the door. Sakon was expected to relieve himself in any corner of his choosing.

The swelling of his eyes had not gotten better since that man had shoved his thumbs into them. They were sensitive beyond belief, and that made it impossible for Sakon to sleep anywhere but on his back. On his sides his face would press into the bench and send fiery agony down his spine. They must be infected, Sakon thought. All of his wounds. There was a bad smell coming from the slice in his leg in particular. And it hurt to move it.

On top of that, Sakon had a fever. At one point it got so bad that he thought Ukon was still within him, hiding away from Sakon, and if he called loud enough, Ukon'd come out.

Sakon missed his brother. Aside from the pain, he thought about Ukon the most. It was like missing a vital organ. Terrifying.

Without his brother grounding him Sakon felt lost and, worst of all, alone.

It took two more meal cycles for Sakon to curl in a corner and refuse to move. I'd rather starve than live without Ukon.

One meal cycle passed, and then the medics came.