disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything else affiliated with him or Kishimoto-sensei...I do, however, own my as of yet unnamed female character and her miserable life.
Chapter 7
Sasuke carefully patched the tears in his clothing, squinting against the darkness of the cave and using the light of the fire before him. He sighed to himself; it had been almost 3 months since he had seen anyone other than his trainer. He would even have put up with Kabuto at this point. Orochimaru hadn't said anything else to him after informing him of his deficiencies when he had come to check on Sasuke after the first 4 months of training. The snake had simply left after discussing something with the flame haired woman.
Sasuke still didn't know her name. She had said nothing to him after their fight so he had said nothing to her in return. The silence had continued throughout the past weeks. She had continued to spar with him, driving him to get better and better. He sighed again; he hadn't felt this kind of need to get better since he had been on Team 7. He scowled to himself; of course it was because he felt the need to get better that he had left Team 7. He had thought that it was impossible to become stronger while remaining in Konoha as a member of said team. Now, he wasn't so sure...
He shook his head and slipped his shirt back over his head and ducked as he felt the air behind him stir. He spun and rested his eyes upon the flame haired woman. She did not attack him; her eyes held his as she lifted her hands and performed a few simple hand signs. She waited patiently for him to copy the signs that she had presented. He ignored the signs and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him with her dead amber orbs.
He sweatdropped as he realized that this was the first time since Orochimaru's visit that she had looked him in the eyes. She had battled with him, almost killing him several times since he had been tested in front of the snake, but she had refused to make direct eye-contact since.
His eyes widened as he realized that she had not used any chakra when showing him the hand signs. He slowly copied the movements, but with chakra this time. His eyes dilated as a torrent of pain was unleashed from the curse-seal near the base of his skull. He did not scream although his hand moved jerkily towards the mark in a futile attempt to stop the pain. He hunched over, nearly losing his balance as another torrent swept through his body from the pulsing mark.
She stared at him showing no more emotion than she ever did. Her eyes held nothing, hiding nothing. Showing no response to the pain he was in.
He dropped to his knees as memories that he had suppressed resurfaced in his mind.
He saw his brother killing their clan, their parents…
His pupils dilated and he whimpered as he remembered staring into those blood soaked eyes for the first time…
He felt overwhelming fear in his heart as he saw senbon needles finding their way towards his first friend, his only friend…
He felt the pain of death as it threatened to engulf him as he 'died' for that friend…
He felt the anguish as he realized that he couldn't protect his friends from the monster that the sand-nin was becoming…
His mind burned with humiliation as he realized that he was weaker than someone he had always considered far his inferior…
He did not scream. He did not cry out. No sound was heard from him other than that first whimper.
Then he remembered what it felt like to push his hand through the body of the one that he cared the most about, the first person he had let inside his heart since the betrayal of his brother…
He screamed as he remembered the desire to kill the one that had become more a brother than ever his real blood…
She stared at him as he collapsed to the floor, clutching the throbbing curse-mark on his shoulder. Through his fingers she could see the swirl of angry colors as the curse-mark began to dissolve off of his skin.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes opened and met his before turning to look over his shoulder towards the entrance of the caves. He turned his own gaze parallel to hers and started when he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer.
A/N: I know...this chapter was, like the ones before it, miserably short...the next shapter is short too, but they need to be short so I can get them up without overloading myself before I get to the more story-progressing chapters. These short chapters help to set the base for the rest of the story, although I am planning on having later chapters be longer...hopefully sweatdrops...I'm not very good at this...