Disclaimer: Naruto is Kishimoto's toy... I simply borrowed it to have my twisted way with it ;)

Warning: Rated M for language mostly, mentions of torture and future graphic scenes.

A/N: Not much will happen in this chapter, so please bear with it ^^

Hope you enjoy :3

Edit 21/10/2017: Corrected the greammar mistakess and fishy sounding sentences

Chapter 4: Into The Snake's Den

For my sixth birthday a few weeks ago, my parents threw me a small party that was only attended by my mother, father and myself. Despite being an "active" child who always went out to play (read: beat up children), I had not formed any bonds with the children I met up with. I couldn't even remember their names!

Even though I was as vertically challenged as the other children, I simply could not stand befriending any of the other brats I forced myself to play with every day. In my previous life, I always harbored a dislike for children, annoying little shits that they were. Devils really. An hour with someone below the age of 13 was more than enough for me.

Thus, I refused to invite any of the children I met during "play time" for my birthday and thankfully my parents respected that wish.

I had come to notice over the years that my parents began to distance themselves from me. I would have thought that they were just giving me more space to let me develop on my own if not for the looks they gave me when they thought I wasn't paying attention to them, which varied between worried, disgusted and frightened. Honestly, it did not feel nice being under such stares.

Of course, I couldn't really blame them for their reactions. If I alternated between child genius (yeah, right) and socially stunted child (except during the times I was in Orochimaru's presence, which made the situation ten times worse), it was completely understandable that they would be nervous around me. After all, I wasn't truly a child, and I never would be truly their child either. So naturally, they would try for a second baby and hope they would not end up with the same result as little old, messed up me. After all, this child turned out to be a complete failure in their eyes. Or maybe too much of a success? I mean, Orochimaru did hold them now in a higher "position" because of me. But then again, being in the focus point of Orochimaru never was any good.

To be honest, it hurt. Of course it hurt. I had hoped to finally have a true familial bond with others, one where I wouldn't be judged for my weird quirks. This was a ninja world, where murder was seen completely normal and at times even praised. If no one was judging you for killing, how could they judge you for anything else?

Apparently, they could. And they did. They didn't even try to understand me. If anything, with each interaction I had with Orochimaru, they seemed to retreat further away from me, no questions asked.

Hope soon turned sour. After I realized that they would never be my family, the sadness that had been growing inside me slowly turned into anger. And anger finally turned into disgust. I started despising them. Now, they weren't the only ones throwing looks at their direction when they weren't paying attention. So much for good parenting. Spineless idiots, the two of them! I bet the reason they even fed me was because Orochimaru would have their heads if I starved to death, not because I was their child. In the end, our relationship became much like the one with my former parents. No… not even that. It felt so much worse.

I could blame Orochimaru, of course. From my point of view, he was the prime reason that destroyed a possible happy future with my family. He was the reason for all this.

I didn't though.

It was horrifying to admit but I actually looked forward to the meetings with Orochimaru. He had become from creepy terrifying monster to less creepy, still terrifying teacher. Oh, and he finally had gotten rid of his female body! His creepiness factor went down a notch with him having a dick again.

I still wanted him very much dead, mind you, but now I appreciated his presence for the invaluable information as well as the skills he possessed. Being under this man's tutelage would make me grow that much stronger. Hopefully, he wouldn't decide to experiment on me any time soon. On that field, Orochimaru was unpredictable.

But back to me being six years old. This beautiful number right there represented the age on which I could finally attend the ninja academy of Otogakure. For months, I had been thinking what I would be learning there, the types of jutsu they were going to teach and the taijutsu style that would fit me the best (if they even taught different combat styles. I only ever read of the standard).

I had already set my heart on the Sound Release techniques (Sound jutsu being the main branch of jutsu executed in Otogakure). I had read plenty of books on them and they seemed powerful enough. Enough to maybe keep up with the monsters that were to come. As soon as I became aware of my chakra, I started training myself in chakra control. It would be a crucial part for my ninja path, so once I had the basics down I went to learn the tree walking technique. Unfortunately, it had much more difficult than I had initially thought! However, the reason could also be because I was so young and undeveloped. With the coming years this could change.

I could totally see these types of jutsu also fitting with my personality as well as body type. I mean, music plus me blasting enemies to oblivion? Hell yes!

Speaking of body type, I discovered that my body was not built for strength or durability. I was still a child, but some things could be easily spotted early on in development. When I sparred with the older kids, sometimes I took heavy hits which would leave me on the ground for several minutes despite my more advanced skills; on the other hand, my blows did not do enough damage to my opponents as I would have liked them to. This meant that my opponents could easily continue fighting even after getting hit by me, while I needed to avoid each of their attacks if I even wanted to have a speck of a chance.

I had enough stamina; I had trained myself for exactly that every single morning for the past five years. However, one good hit could easily deplete my stamina, which would mean instant death on the field.

I concluded that I needed to incorporate a hit-and-run type of fighting style. And for such a taijutsu I would need incredible speed.

When that thought crossed my mind, my brain immediately clicked as it solidified my resolve to learn Sound jutsu. If I was going to incorporate Sound Release jutsu into my style, what better way than to increase my speed using the same principle: sonic speed.

Immediately, I had gone to the library and looked over every single book for a similar technique. I spent hours and hours trying to find the jutsu I wanted, only to come across one scroll which briefly touched on the subject and a technique similar to what I had in mind but at the same time it wasn't.

Sound breaker was the name of the jutsu which could give me sonic speed. It was a jutsu where the user could swiftly focus swift release chakra into their legs. Anything behind the user would be hit by the sound wave, basically catapulting them forward and helping them gain incredible speed.

The technique was useful but it was also easy to lose control. It wasn't like I would be running effortlessly at the speed of sound; without precise chakra control, I would simply be thrown all over the place with incredible speed. It was not a stable technique. I was looking something closer to shunshin. Something where I could control my mobility as well as use it for high speed attacks. Something long lasting.

But even after exhausting all of my resources I found absolutely nothing. And the thought that followed my desperation was that if I wanted such a technique, I would most likely need to develop it myself since there was no record for anything like that.

I was smart. Really smart. But I was no genius. I had absolutely no idea where to begin. I lacked the knowledge as well as experience for creating such a jutsu. My only source of hope for developing this technique before I died of old age would be Orochimaru.

Lately, it felt like my entire world revolved around Orochimaru… Nope, dropping that thought, I wasn't going to think any deeper on Pedo Snake's involvement in my life. It would only depress me further.

As to why I already was depressed to some degree… I asked my parents today when I would attend the academy. Their reply… was far from what I had expected.

(To Love a Song)

"You are not going to attend the academy, Aika," my father said in a stern voice.

For several minutes I stood dumbfounded, trying to let it sink into my brain what atrocity had just been said. It felt like the world had stopped around me, the information refusing to process in my mind.

And then… I felt cold rage run through my veins.

I had trained. I had studied. Had meditated, spared myself almost no free time to perfect myself in the arts of a shinobi. Preparing myself to be the perfect soldier!

Almost five fucking years were dedicated to me becoming a ninja! Freaking Orochimaru was helping me on that for fucks sake!

And they were denying me my right to go to the academy?

"Why?" I asked blankly.

"A…Aika-chan. It's for your own good, sweetheart," my mother tried to sooth the tension in the room. She always tried to appear so innocent and right. Just like my former mother, whenever she tried to claim control over my person.

At that moment, I wanted to do nothing more than snap both of their necks.

"Explain."

My patience was running thin. My mother glanced worriedly at my father. There it was again. That look. That scared and disgusted look.

Sakumo cleared his throat.

"If you become a ninja, Orochimaru-sama might take you away from us. He has far too much influence on you. Few have returned alive from the missions he sent them, Aika-chan. Please, you must understand that we only wish for your safety, honey." He tried to reason with me.

"Sweety, we just want you to live a normal and happy life!" My mother added.

A happy and normal life, she said. Orochimaru might take me away, he had too much influence on me, he said… What kind of bullshit were they spitting out of their mouths? Had they lost their marbles? Did they hit their heads just before my freaking birthday?

They had let him visit me for six entire years. Six fucking years! When I had been crapping my fucking pants thinking about how to escape his fucking influence! And they told me now, when I had finally solidified my resolve, when they had done nothing to keep Orochimaru at bay, that they did not want to expose me of his influence? Now they thought of protecting me? When the damage had already been done?

I laughed. I laughed in front of their stupid faces. Hysterically so. Their stupidity knew no bounds. Who were they to stop Orochimaru from getting what he wanted. They should know better than me what a cruel, ambitious creature that fucking monster was! If they couldn't stop his visits for these past six years, what made them even consider the fact that they could stop Orochimaru at this exact moment?

I couldn't even… How did they even come up with that thought?

My mother had stood up ready to take me into her arms even as her eyes filled with tears. She was terrified of me.

I stopped laughing.

"Don't touch me!"

With those words, I left the room before I became so sick of them that I would empty my insides in front of their feet.

(To Love a Song)

I was out in the forest, practicing my shurikenjutsu. With kunai I had found across training grounds, abandoned by the academy students, I had collected a nice set of them to use on self-made targets.

Shurikenjutsu was, possibly, my best skill out of all. In taijutsu I was good, but not good enough; I could still be beaten. Brute force was definitely not my forte. Speed was my second most favored skill, but yet again, I was good, not great. Ninjutsu I had yet to practice, so I could not comment on that. Chakra control was as of now so, so. Tree walking exercise had taken me the better part of my years to master (and Naruto and Sasuke did it in a week. Hell, Sakura did it on one freaking day).

But shurikenjutsu. I would even dare to say that I was just as good as Itachi when he was around my age, if not better.

I could easily see myself being a long-range fighter. I always preferred the sniper classes when I played games. As a long-range fighter I would not have to worry about strength and speed and all that close combat stuff. However, I refused to be just a long-range fighter. Most fights happened unfortunately way too cuddly close for my liking. My goal was to become a monster; I could not afford weaknesses. And having no skill in close combat would be the biggest weakness a ninja could possibly have.

It would be a nice skill for assassination, though. Nothing better than to avoid fighting all together and simply kill your enemy in one go from a safe distance. Easy peasy.

I smiled at that thought. I wondered what my first kill would be like. Would I be frightened by what I had done? Would I feel joy? Sadness? Anger? Satisfaction? Fear? Or simply nothing?

I had no doubt that I would become a ninja. If my parents refused to let me visit the academy, then so be it. I could train by myself and if need be, I would even go as far as beg Orochimaru to train me. I would not deteriorate from the path I had laid for myself. I had invested too much time in this life for that goal. Besides, I enjoyed feeling like I was the one in control. There was something appealing, holding one's life on the palm of your hands.

Ugh… That sounded villainous.

Um… yeah… I swear I am a nice person! To certain people at least… Which in this life was no one, except for maybe Orochimaru? Okay, this was getting worse and worse by the moment.

ANYWAY, bloodthirst and superiority complex aside, I needed to concentrate on throwing these kunai. I was trying to mimic a certain someone's training.

Namely Itachi's throwing kunai, twisting backward flip thingy I had watched so long ago on YouTube. Ah, was very much missed this time around. No Google to help me file quickly through information. Instead, I had to sort through boring books and scrolls left and right. So tiring! You never realize the value of one thing until you lose it.

But back to training.

I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly. This would determine the skill level between Itachi and myself around this age range. With this, I would test myself how good I truly was in the art of shurikenjutsu.

In the middle of the forest, surrounded by targets, I jumped as high as I could, kunai grasped tightly between my fingers. Standing midair, my head now finally facing the ground, I let the kunai go with a violent twist of my body. Each kunai, except for two, flew toward its destined target. Swiftly, I grabbed the two other kunai I had prepared from my pocket and threw them at the ill-thrown kunai, changing their direction.

I landed on the ground less gracefully than I would have liked to but quickly lifted my head , my eyes scanning the targets. One after another I looked at the kunai in the center of the targets, a smug smile gracing my face. Until I looked at the two last targets. Both kunai had missed the black dot by mere inches.

The smug look immediately wiped off my face.

Again.

I repeated the routine. The result, much the same to my annoyance.

Again.

Again.

Again!

AGAIN!

Why? Why did I always miss those targets?

"You are always too eager to throw your last kunai."

I turned around so fast I almost broke my neck. Fucking hell!

"O…Orochimaru-sama?" Shit shit shit, how long had he been standing there? Oh fucking hell, he was sitting! SITTING! How long had he been sitting there?

"Did you listen to what I said, Aika-chan?"

"I… I…" I really needed to stop stuttering. I took a deep breath, calmed my racing heart before it EXPLODED and I tried again.

"I was too eager to throw my last kunai."

He nodded.

"Again." He said.

Was it really that simple? Was it simply because I had been too eager to throw the last kunai which always ended barely an inch away from the center of the target?

I jumped. Repeated the whole thing, only this time, I slowed my momentum before throwing the last two kunai.

It hit.

"YES!" I jumped with joy and to my horror, I realized a second too late that I had Orochimaru staring at me, fucking creep!

When I looked at him, he simply gave me a nod.

I felt oddly… satisfied and proud of myself after having seen that nod.

Wow… Never thought I'd be this happy with anything Orochimaru approved.

I shuddered at the thought.

Shit, it was horrifying enough that I would tolerate his presence, but that I would start to enjoy it… Nope, that's where I crossed the line.

"I heard you are not attending the academy." His words brought me out of my thoughts. A vein popped on my forehead in response. The way he said it made it sound so final.

"That was not my wish." He nodded once again.

"You will be coming with me then," he simply said.

My brain had at that moment short circuited.

"W…What?" I managed to choke out.

"You heard me, child. By tomorrow, I expect you to pack only the most vital things. Say your goodbyes to your family." A creepy smile bloomed on his face.

With those words he disappeared.

I stood there for quite a few minutes. This was a repetition of earlier today. However, instead of feeling anger, I was filled with dread.

Orochimaru was taking me to one of his hideouts.

My mind filled with the worst possible scenarios. I was too young, too inexperienced to be of any use to him right now. I had no real skill, could easily be taken down by a barely passing genin. I had potential, but that was the extension of my usefulness to him. Why the hell did he want me to leave from here?

It was difficult for me to imagine that he was going to train me at such an early age where I had barely mastered the basics!

So it brought me to one conclusion. He was going to perform some type of experiment on me. But what? WHAT?

He couldn't possibly dissect me, perform forbidden or untested jutsus on me. I should be too valuable to him by now to simply kill me off for some shitty experiment!

No. NO! I refused, refused to simply end up as another dead body in Orochimaru's laboratory. I had spent so much valuable time to make myself worthy in his eyes.

I did not want to die. Not again. I might not be afraid of death, but I wished so desperately to live my life. A life I would not regret living!

Not like the previous one.

And if I died now. I would regret it. I would regret for having died so young, powerless and purposeless. I had yet to find a meaning to this life.

Damn it, Orochimaru! Why must he always push me to such desperate measures.

In the middle of the forest, darkness slowly creeping on me, I cried for the first time in many, many years, my young body shaking in fear. I honestly had no idea what to do. I was at his mercy. If I tried to run away now, he would catch me in a blink. I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. I was utterly alone and no one could protect me from his madness.

I was afraid.

(To Love a Song)

It had been several hours since Orochimaru left. I went home, finally accepting my miserable fate and simply going with whatever Orochimaru needed of me right now. My knuckles and feet were badly bruised, having vented my frustration on beating down the trees and rocks surrounding me.

When I opened the door, my mother came rushing out and hugged me. I wanted to push her away, snap at her and say awful things to her, but found no strength left in myself to neither be angry nor spiteful.

"Orochimaru is going to take me with him tomorrow." I simply said.

My mother slowly let me go, looked at me, ran to my father and broke down in tears.

Wow. Way to comfort your child, mom.

I ignored my parents, even when my father started calling out to me. They didn't even bother to check on me after I went in my room.

I started packing. A few pieces of clothing here and there, some of my notebooks where my most important notes were written. He did say to bring only the most vital things, after all.

I left my bag at the corner of my room and I went into my futon even though I knew tonight I would not get a wink of sleep.

(To Love a Song)

I was dead tired, which put me in a terrible mood. I had "woken up" at around five in the morning, headed to the garden to do my usual routine and wait for Orochimaru to arrive. Said snake made his presence known half an hour later, interrupting my training.

Whatever, I wasn't really into it anyway.

My parents were funnily enough still asleep. I did not tell them goodbye, too bitter and engulfed in my own self-pity. Maybe I would regret it later on, but as of now, I couldn't care less for both of them. In the end, what was family? Just because they shared the same blood didn't automatically result in a happy, united family.

My previous life had taught me that. Having hoped that this one would have been different, especially with Orochimaru breathing down my neck, had been a silly wish. In the end, I was never truly a child. A normal family would have been out of question.

I sighed. Orochimaru raised his brow.

"Good morning, Aika-chan," he said.

"Good morning, Orochimaru-sama," I said listlessly. Orochimaru's brow was still raised but he did not question my current state. What for. I would be dead meat soon enough.

He turned his back and walked away. I immediately followed him.

(To Love a Song)

It was a long and quiet journey. No words were exchanged and Orochimaru was walking slowly enough for me to keep up with him.

We made camp a few hours after the sun went down. The first night I had difficulty sleeping because he was creepily staring at me. Like… I was already a bundle of nerves, but him watching me like a piece of cake was so unnerving. I tried to ignore it. Oh how I tried to ignore it but to no avail. On the second night, sleep finally took me into the land of dreams, my body too tired from the lack of sleep the previous night.

After three days of walking, we arrived at one of his hideouts.

My first thought was that it was tiny. Of course, that was simply the outer appearance of the hideout. I was betting it was much, much bigger on the inside.

I wondered if this was the hideout where Orochimaru would be keeping Sasuke once the time came.

Actually, I should be worrying if I would be alive at that point of time. After all, this monster right here held my life into the palm of his hands.

Must be a nice feeling to be that powerful.

A sigh escaped me.

"You've been sighing a lot lately." His pedo voice broke my thoughts.

"I apologize, Orochimaru-sama," I replied quietly.

"I would have thought you to be happy. After all, from now on you'll be under my tutelage."

I looked at my now-to-be sensei apparently.

"Am I truly here just to be trained?" Orochimaru only smiled.

"Clever girl."

My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. I bit the fear down.

"I'll be bestowing you with a gift, Aika-chan." Orochimaru had never looked this menacing in my entire current life. Swallowing the bile that rose to my throat, I nodded.

"Come, child. I'll be showing you your room." I did not reply and simply followed. At that very moment, my body was functioning on autopilot. Fear had taken a tight grip on my body.

A gift, he said. Did he mean the seal? Was I not too young to take the seal? But then again, the only thing that would determine if I survived it or not was my DNA. How powerful I was did not matter. The best case scenario right now would be taking the seal of heaven or whatever it was called. In the worst case scenario, he would test something new which would be ten times deadlier than the seal.

"Leave your bag here and then follow me." The room given to me was… well… bleak. It had a bed, a nightstand and that was it, basically. It was big enough, I guess. I left my bag on the bed and followed Orochimaru, my heart pounding harder and harder with each step I took.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. I looked around, countless bodies hanging around the room, surgical instruments littered all over the place. His laboratory… I fought down the tears threatening to fall at the corner of my eyes. I was going under the knife.

"Stretch out your arm."

The metal of the needle shone under the white light of the laboratory. I did as I was told, knowing resistance would be futile. I prayed, I prayed to whatever deity ruled this land, Hagoromo, Kaguya, Kishimoto, God, SOMETHING! I prayed that I would survive this. I prayed that I would come out unharmed. I felt the needle prick my skin and seconds after the liquid entered my system I felt my body getting limp, darkness slowly engulfing my vision.

Fuck.

At least it got confirmed that it was not the seal I'd be getting.

And with those dumb thoughts, I went into oblivion.

A/N: Aika's worst fears came to life! So whaddya think Orochimaru will do to her xD