Disclaimers are like swear words: they eventually lose their value when used too many times.

Correction notice: I had forgotten that the snake that always accompanies Kabuto (yes, it's him) is actually attached to his body.

"We never leave our chosen. We're not a virus you can sweat out, not a parasite you can vomit away. We are not inside you, Jackie, we never were. You are inside us. You were born in us and you will die in us." The Darkness to Jackie Estacado, The Darkness: Accursed Vol.1.

More disturbing and depressing content in this chapter, just so you know.

Chapter 21: Achluophobia*

"You've changed." Sasuke noted to the person that stood before him.

"Yes, well," the snake person answered, "I guess this is what happens when you absorb Lord Orochimaru's cells and let them take over after a period of a few days."

At least Sasuke now knew just who he was talking to. He said, "I assume you didn't come here by accident, Kabuto."

"No, I didn't. I'm here to help Madara win his war."

"Why? What would you gain by helping him?"

Kabuto chuckled darkly and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He answered, "Why, you, of course. I've wanted an Uchiha as a test subject for some time now."

"And the Darkness, too, I take it?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Kabuto tensed. He said icily, "No. I see why Lord Orochimaru wanted the Darkness, but this is one desire of his that I cannot accept. Ever since you absorbed him, ever since the Darkness looked at me, I don't want anything to do with that monstrosity."

"You can't deal with me without dealing with the Darkness." The twin demon snakes rose out of his shoulders and hissed at Kabuto. Kabuto's eyes widened and his legs wobbled. The snake that was with him withdrew its head. Sasuke saw his heart rate skyrocket and he could hear the Darkness chuckle at Kabuto's reaction.

This one is afraid of us. Fear makes their hearts all the more delectable.

"G-get rid of those things." Kabuto stammered slightly as he took a step back. "I didn't come here to see you anyways. I came here to see Ma-."

"Scared, Kabuto?" Sasuke smirked. "You weren't so afraid earlier. You're scared of the Darkness, aren't you?"

Kabuto said nothing, but he continued to back away. Sasuke took one step forward and Kabuto bolted. Sasuke stayed where he was and decided to let him go. In his mind, that man was too pathetic to kill. The snakes shook their heads, their hisses sounding like disappointed sighs. Though Sasuke didn't really care about Kabuto, the Darkness did, but why? Was it because Kabuto was so afraid of it, or was it just that hungry for another heart?

Sasuke walked out of the cave and underneath the early afternoon sun. The demon snakes hissed in pain and retreated inside their host while the armor vanished. The sunlight stung Sasuke's eyes, but they quickly adjusted. He wondered whether he should start pursuing Naruto now or try to find Kabuto.

His thoughts and emotions conflicted with each other. His mind was set on finding Naruto, yet some sadistic side of him wanted to see Kabuto suffer. No matter which one he would decide, however, he would have to find them first. An idea crossed his mind, but he would have to find a dark, secure place that was far from Madara first. Then again, no matter where he went, Madara always seemed to find him.

Another idea struck his brain. Sasuke saw a tree up ahead and he walked up to it. Standing underneath the shade, he shut his eyes and he sank into the shadows. Hovering in a dark void, Sasuke figured that unless Madara had the ability to delve into darkness, then he would not be found in this space.

If Sasuke could put his mind to it, then he could look around different parts of the world from every existing shadow present*. However, if he waited until night, then he could search the whole world at once. The latter choice sounded better to him, so he decided that he would wait.

Several hours passed, and from the shadows, Sasuke could see the sun finally setting. When it vanished under the horizon, he finally opened his eyes.

To say that the whole experience was overwhelming would be a grand understatement. Millions of images flashed before his eyes and in his mind all at once. Save for lit cities and rooms, Sasuke felt like he was truly omnipresent. With the Darkness, he felt like he had the powers of a god.

Sasuke had no problem finding Naruto. He was inside a dark cave on a gigantic island turtle. An unbelievable amount of power was emanating from his body and he was glowing a golden yellow. His eyes were shut, his heart was beating in a steady rhythm, and he was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Looking like that, it almost seemed like he was meditating.

Sasuke couldn't believe how much power Naruto had in his body, yet it still paled in comparison to the Darkness. Still, seeing him in a vulnerable position in near complete darkness made Sasuke think that Naruto had disregarded his earlier advice of staying out of the shadows. If it wasn't for that bright golden glow of his, then Sasuke would have killed off Naruto there and now.

Naruto suddenly opened his eyes, which were now orange, and he stared at one particular direction. Sasuke tensed up. It was as if Naruto was looking directly at him. He had sensed his presence in the shadows, but how? Sasuke looked away from the cave and the island turtle and decided to look for Kabuto.

From the shadow of an unconscious kunoichi, he found Kabuto. Unfortunately, the room was completely lit, so he couldn't see too much out of this woman's shadow. He didn't even know why this woman was unconscious and present, but it didn't matter to him. He eyed Kabuto and somewhat saw what he was doing.

He was sitting on the floor, hunched over a large piece of paper with little wooden figurines placed on top of it in various places. Sasuke could hear him mutter something about the war and battle positions, so he figured he was looking at a map. Occasionally, Kabuto would look at the white snake that was with him and nod at it, as if they were having a telepathic conversation.

Sasuke thought that he had a better chance of getting Kabuto than Naruto. After all, with Kabuto still wearing his cloak, there was still darkness that Sasuke could use to his advantage. In the dark space between the cloak and Kabuto's back, a black hole appeared. From the void, Sasuke reached through it, grabbed his victim, and pulled him into the void, leaving his cloak behind.

Ever since seeing the bloody aftermath of The Darkness's awakening, Kabuto had started to fear the dark. When the Darkness glared at him after the failed Transference Ritual, the fear became much worse. In those red eyes, he had seen his own future flash before his eyes, as well as all the terrible tortures that could only originate from Hell. Since that moment, he always stayed away from dark places.

He turned the lights on in every room he entered, he never slept in the dark, and he always had nightmares of the Darkness. He kept an eye on every shadow he passed by, as if expecting something to jump out at him at any minute. Even after absorbing his master's remains, Kabuto was still afraid.

Like Orochimaru, he wanted to study and experiment with the Sharingan, and that meant getting Sasuke. With the boy possessing the Darkness, however, Kabuto felt like he had a better chance with Tobi. Nevertheless, he started looking into ways of possibly getting rid of the Darkness, or at least separate it from Sasuke. So far, he figured that only sealing jutsus would be effective.

Kabuto wanted to try one of these jutsus when he found Sasuke earlier that day, but his fear of the Darkness overcame him and he ran. For the rest of the day, he tried to keep his mind off of Sasuke and the Darkness. He tried to capture both the EightTails and the NineTails on that island turtle, but he only managed to capture Naruto's guardian, Yamato, instead.

Knowing that Yamato had the First Hokage's cells inside him, he turned him over to Madara, saying that they can use him to strengthen the army of White Zetsus. He knew that one army was killed off by Sasuke earlier, but Madara revealed that he had more Zetsus in another spot as backup, just in case something like that happened. Kabuto then went off again and captured Orochimaru's former pupil, Anko Mitarashi. Because she had a curse mark, Kabuto was able to draw power from her to use for his own purposes.

That night, though he had the lights on in the room, he was afraid to fall asleep after seeing Sasuke hours earlier. Instead of resting, he went ahead and started summoning dead shinobi for his army. He had just brought out the majority of his troops and started marking their positions when he felt someone pull him into the dark folds of his own cloak.

As of right now, Kabuto had no idea where he was, but he knew it was completely dark. His eyes widened and he started hyperventilating as his fear reached its peak. He tried to run, but he couldn't move, he tried to scream, but he had lost his voice, he tried to think, but his mind had become a hopeless mess of intelligible thoughts.

"Kabuto…" A familiar voice called out to him.

Kabuto stiffened at the sound of that voice. On one hand, it sounded like the Darkness from his nightmares. On the other, it sounded just like Sasuke Uchiha. Either way, it was a voice that was all too familiar to him.

"I know you're afraid of me." The voice whispered in his ear. "Your heart says it all. You can't run, you can't hide, so are you going to beg for mercy? Never mind, I'd rather not hear it."

Kabuto felt several sharp claws plunge themselves into his chest. He opened his mouth to scream, but he felt several long, slimy things wrap themselves around it. He still tried to scream, but they only came out as muffled cries. He could feel the claws cradle his heart for a few seconds before they slowly started to pull it out. His eyes widened as he felt all of his major arteries and veins stretch and tear like worn rubber bands.

Even with his heart absent, Kabuto was not dead. No, he knew the Darkness wouldn't allow him to die yet. In the void, he heard something munching on the tissue of his heart and slurping up the blood that oozed out of it. Never in all of his life did he want to die so badly.

"Should I let you die now?" The voice asked. "I could continue, but I'm already tired of you."

Kabuto had heard of people losing all sensation of pain when they are dying, but this was not the case for him. Excruciating pain ate away at every cell in his body until he finally passed away into death. Though he felt right at home in the void, Sasuke figured that he should move on to another location.

He didn't know why, but when Sasuke crawled out of a shadow, he found himself in one of his old rooms of one of Orochimaru's hideouts. He didn't really know how he knew it was one of his rooms, he just felt like it was. Maybe with Kabuto on his mind, he had unconsciously teleported to one of the hideouts.

The room was like the others: one bed, one dresser, and one unlit candle, leaving the room in complete darkness. Unlike the others, however, it had a mirror hanging on one wall. Sasuke walked up to the mirror and stared hard at his reflection.

The first thing he noticed was that the yellow glow he had in his eyes had now turned a dull orange. Blood stained his mouth and the expression on his face seemed emotionless. While he wiped the blood off his mouth, he now realized that he had left Kabuto's remains back at the void. The Darklings can have him, he thought to himself as he turned away from the mirror.

Another thought crossed Sasuke's mind and he turned back to the mirror. Now looking at his reflection, he had to wonder if that was really him. He put his hand to the mirror, as did his reflection. He leaned close to his reflection and stared at his eyes once more. Since when did that yellow glow start to look more like a color from a sunset? What did this color change even mean? Did it have something to do with Sasuke just now eating hearts?

He fished out the two pieces of the Uchiha family photo out of his pocket and held them next to each other. Looking at his younger self, he now saw just how much he had changed over the years. Once more, he let his past memories flood his mind.

Back then, when he was a little boy, he had wanted to join the Uchiha police force and become a great ninja, just like his big brother. Back then, he had only thought of his future as a bright one, with nothing bad ever happening. Who would have thought that his whole family would have been murdered on a single night by his older brother, who was ordered to do so by the elders of the Leaf? Who would have thought that he would leave his home village just so that he could get power? Who would have thought that he would have received the most vile and powerful force in the world? Who would have thought that he would one day seek to destroy the very village that he grew up in?

Sasuke wished he could go back to those happy years. If it weren't for the Leaf, then Itachi would have never killed the entire Uchiha clan, Sasuke wouldn't have spent the majority of his life on revenge, and he never would have received the powers of the Darkness. If it weren't for the Leaf, then Sasuke would have been happy. Tears dripped down Sasuke's face. Because of the Leaf, he was slowly losing himself.

Your family, your bonds, your humanity…

The eyes of the younger Sasuke in the photo seemed to shimmer. Did Sasuke's tears drip onto the photo? No, the "shimmer" spread out of those innocent eyes and started to flicker. A black ember ignited the face and the tiny flame stretched to the other faces in the photo. Before Sasuke knew it, the two pieces had turned into ash in his hands.

There was nothing he could really do for his family…could he? If the Darkness could really do anything, then couldn't he go back in time and kill the elders before they ordered the massacre? If he did that, then everything would be back to normal. Right away, Sasuke sensed hostility from the Darkness.

No.

"You can't do it?" Sasuke asked out loud.

I will not let you separate me from you.

Yes, if Sasuke did do this, then he will never acquire the Darkness. Still, if he could have his family back, then it didn't really matter. Besides, he could just ignore the voice and use its power to do it anyways.

When has that ever worked for you? You are just the vessel that channels my power; I am the one who allows you to use it in the first place.

Sasuke mentally swore at this. Yes, the Darkness had withheld its power on several occasions before, he couldn't deny that. However, what if he wanted to bring his family back to life? Surely even that must be possible for the Darkness.

Their souls are in the light.

The light? Sasuke figured it must be talking about the light he saw just after he died that one time.

I can bring back your brother; he is drowning in the darkness.

"No!" Sasuke didn't want to believe what he was hearing. When he died, he saw his brother in the light along with the rest of his family. Yes, Itachi did kill off his family, but he never really wanted to do it in the first place. Why should he be left to suffer in some sort of hellish afterlife? Sasuke said to the entity inside him, "He was there! He was in the light!"

That was just own your stupid delusion. Now, do you want your brother back or not? I'm sure he'll be very happy to see you…

The Darkness laughed. Sasuke shook his head. He decided that it would not be the best idea to bring his brother back to life after all. What would Itachi think if he saw his brother now? He would probably say that he had turned into a monster that wanted nothing more than to destroy everything and devour the hearts of anyone who stood in his way.

Before Sasuke could think any more on the matter, he sensed that someone was here. Through the walls of the hideout, he could see two people wandering around the hallways, their hearts beating anxiously. He walked out of the room and quickly intercepted the two wanderers.

To his surprise, it was Suigetsu and Jugo. The two shinobi were more surprised to see Sasuke here. Suigetsu was the first to speak up and he said, "Whoa, never thought we would find you this fast, Sasuke."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Looking for you and Karin, what else? We didn't really know where to start, so I thought we should start by looking through all of Orochimaru's old hideouts. First hideout and we've already found you, but…where's Karin?"

If Sasuke were to tell the truth, then they would immediately turn on him. Instead, he lied, "She died in battle."

Jugo lowered his head, but Suigetsu merely shrugged and said, "Sucks to be her."

"One of us was going to die eventually." Jugo muttered.

"Yeah…" Sasuke lowered his gaze. "We have to move on, though."

"So, what now?" Suigetsu asked. "Are we still working for that Madara guy?"

"No." Sasuke now wondered if it was even a good idea to keep Suigetsu and Jugo on his side. He was now so powerful, he could do without them. Now, should he let them go or kill them? On the one hand, they never did anything against him. On the other, if they were to be captured by enemy shinobi, then they might leak out something about Sasuke and his powers. He quickly made up his mind on what he should do.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke slowly said, "I need a word with you. Jugo," he turned to Jugo, "wait outside for us."

Jugo gave a single nod and he walked away. When his footsteps could no longer be heard, Suigetsu asked, "So what's this all about?"

"Suigetsu…" Sasuke paused before saying, "What if I told you that I killed Karin?"

"Huh?" Suigetsu's eyes widened. "What did she do to piss you off?"

"She was weak. With my power, I no longer need you or Jugo either."

Suigetsu scowled at this. He asked, "So, are you just too good for our help now? Why didn't you want Jugo to hear-?"

From the ceiling, a giant black wolf's head lunged downwards and snapped its jaws shut around Suigetsu's whole body. Acting fast, Suigetsu liquefied his whole body and slid out from the gaps between the wolf's teeth. Sasuke had temporarily forgotten that he could turn his body into water at will. Suigetsu's head poked out of the puddle of water and he growled, "So that's how it is…"

As the wolf head rose back into the ceiling, Sasuke said, "You're more of a threat to me than Jugo." From the orange glow of his eyes, the Mangekyo Sharingan pattern could be seen, except there were three-pointed stars inside of each ellipse.

The puddle was quickly covered in black flames. Knowing that there was no way to put them out, Suigetsu's form rose out of the puddle and he charged at Sasuke. Sasuke glared into his violet eyes and he came to a sudden stop. The flames extinguished themselves and Suigetsu simply stood and stared off into space, his mind trapped in the Tsukuyomi.

Sasuke raised his arm and brought out a Chidori. He was actually looking forward to seeing Suigetsu bleed for the first time. He pulled his arm back, ready to strike, when his eyes spotted something.

Standing at the end of the hallway was Jugo. His eyes were wide and he was trembling violently. Sasuke's arm stopped sparking with electricity and he now approached Jugo. Not entirely believing what he was seeing, Jugo's voice quivered, "S-Sasuke… w-what are you-?"

"I was actually thinking of letting you live at first," Sasuke said coldly, "but now that you saw, you're going to have to die too."

Scared, yet not really wanting to harm the person who he considered to be his best friend's reincarnation, Jugo ran. His thoughts ran wild in his head, Why is Sasuke trying to kill Suigetsu? Does that mean he killed Karin too? What's wrong with him? Why is he doing this? As he ran, he noticed that he didn't hear Sasuke running after him. Nevertheless, he didn't dare stop.

When he first arrived at the hideout with Suigetsu, several birds flew at him and told him not to enter, saying that there was something evil down there. Somewhat hoping that they were just referring to the Darkness and not Sasuke himself, he ignored their warnings and went on inside. When he left Suigetsu alone with Sasuke, halfway out of the hideout, something in Jugo's mind told him that he shouldn't have left his ally behind. When he did backtrack, he saw Sasuke trying to kill the person he had once considered to be his teammate. Jugo now regretted not heeding the birds' warnings.

After several twists and turns in the corridors, Jugo skidded to a halt. In front of him was a black wall. That couldn't be right. He had memorized the turns, so how could he have come to a dead end? He turned around, thinking that he should find another way out, and was shocked to find another black wall present. Trapped between the two walls, he now knew that this was Sasuke's doing.

The walls started to shift and move like a mirage and several Darklings of different sizes and shapes crawled out. Jugo knew that if he were to survive, then he would have to give in to his killing instincts. The curse mark spread across his body and he transformed into his second state. With his bloodlust smothering all other thoughts, Jugo laughed menacingly and started to tear the Darklings apart with his claws.

With each Darkling torn to shreds, two more appeared. They all dog-piled on Jugo and stared to tear at him with their claws and teeth. Even with his immense strength, Jugo knew that he couldn't keep this up forever.

"Oooh, a feisty one." One Darkling licked its lips.

"I love it when our food fights back!" Another laughed.

"Save me the liver! Save me the liver!" A smaller Darkling pleaded.

Jugo managed to fight his way out of the pile, but more Darklings came out of the walls. He tried to punch one of the walls, but he may as well be punching diamond, as it didn't even crack. He was now up to his knees in Darkings as they once again piled on top of him. They were all slowly eating him alive, and it was agonizing. In his pain and fear, the bloodlust vanished and, for the remaining few minutes of his life, he could think again.

Jugo knew that he was not going to make it out alive. Out of all the deaths possible, he never imagined that Sasuke would turn against him and have his Darklings kill him. Dying was torturous, but at least one good thing would come out of this. Maybe, just maybe, Jugo would be able to see Kimimaro in the afterlife.

The walls vanished into smoke and all the Darklings crawled off the blood-stained bones of what used to be a shinobi named Jugo. Sasuke walked down the corridor and inspected the bones. He didn't really want to kill Jugo, but he did not want another enemy after him. He asked the Darklings, "Did you get enough to eat?"

"Hell yeah, Sasuke!"

"I'm about to explode!"

"I didn't get to eat the liver…"

"Sasuke…" A familiar voice spoke up.

Sasuke turned around and saw a masked figure standing a few yards away from him. He wore an Akatsuki cloak and a light purple mask over his face with rings on it. There were three tomoe on it, one being painted near the top and the other two making up the eyeholes of the mask. Behind the right hole, there was a Sharingan eye. Behind the left one, there was a light purple eye that had rings inside it. Despite the change of masks, Sasuke still recognized the voice as Madara's.

Depressed? Scared? Read something happy before continuing on. Next time, a shocking (but fictional) revelation about Madara is revealed. Also, Sasuke gets an idea that could change the tide of battle between him and Naruto.

*= Achluophobia is the fear of darkness.

*= Jackie did something similar in "The Darkness: Resurrection", except he only had to search New York City.

"Whaaaat? You killed Kabuto, Suigetsu, and Jugo? You're ruining the timeline of the whole story!" I already said that I was going in a different direction once I caught up with the main story.

"This is too depressing! Why are you turning Sasuke into such a sadistic emo bastard?" It's a tragedy. If you don't like where this is going, then you are welcome to stop reading.

With each chapter, I am getting closer to the end of the story. If I have to guess where I am in the story right now, I would say I'm about three-fourths of the way there. Are you excited for the end? I know I am; once I'm done, I can get to work on more stories.