Mika finally has a chance to speak her mind! However, she has no memory of how to use ninja techniques and the lack of training is making her weak. Hm, what a recipe for disaster.
Chapter 21- The Confession.
"Get off me you sick, lying son of a bitch," Mika sneered when for the first time in a long time, she remembered the truth of her imprisoned presence. Madara's eyes narrowed dangerously and in a second, he had both of her hands pinned to the bed.
"What did you say?" he asked in a tone of warning.
Mika's fists became clenched and she hissed, "You heard me, you disgusting liar. I don't know what you did to make me forget, but I remember everything you did to me. You are the reason I'm a canvass of scars!"
For a second, Madara was speechless so she took advantage of the situation and pushed upward with all of her might. She was about to break free from his grasp when he snapped back into reality crushed her resistance with his chakra. Her wrists went limp and stabs of pain shot up her arms, causing her to grit her teeth.
"If that's so, then surely you remember I won't let you get away that easily," he replied with a frown. The night had been going so well until then and he was not pleased to have the mood ruined.
"I don't care! I won't let you take advantage of me anymore! I'm not your wife so get your filthy hands off me!" she yelled and continued struggling, even though it only made things more painful.
He was about to say something when she let out a monstrous scream and consciously started to activate her chakra shield. However, since she did not actually remember how to use the technique, her chakra was unstable. Madara knew what was about to happen so he let go of her, but she lost control of her energy and it erupted violently. The force of the explosion threw her to the floor, while Madara was able to land gracefully by the foot of the bed.
Mika staggered into a standing position and wiped blood off her face. Her entire body felt sore, but that was no surprise since she had not been training for a full week. Small cuts were itching her skin and she decided not to use that technique again until her full memory came back.
The elder Uchiha took a step toward her so she hastily glanced behind her and said, "What are you going to do to me? Make me loose my memory again? Torture me? Kill me?"
Madara sighed and stated, "I will not hurt you unless you resist."
Shaking her head, she retorted, "More lies. I've had enough of you trying to pull wool over my eyes. I'm done with you, Madara."
He was going to say that he would never let her go when she turned around and with a burst of chakra, smashed through the bedroom window. Outside, it was pitch black and she could barely tell what was going on as she tumbled down the cliff side. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated the distance of the jump so instead of landing on horizontal ground, the nearly vertical cliff was her point of impact. On top of that, the glass from the window had slashed even more injuries on her skin and the stone hard cliff was battering her body with bruises.
Somewhere, she remembered that ninjas could use chakra to hold onto upright surfaces. Gathering chakra into her hands, she seized hold of an outcrop. Though, the momentum of her previous motion made her loose her grip and the power of jagged rock ripping her flesh made her let out a sharp scream.
Her head came in contact with yet another rock and her sense of up completely escaped her. Pain was bursting in her mind and she thought she was going to go unconscious when she suddenly collided with a completely flat surface. At first, she thought it was a rock, but when two arms wrapped around her, she realized she was not that lucky.
"Do not struggle," Madara said as she understood that he was standing at a ninety degree angle to the cliff-face. So she had been right, ninjas could use chakra to hold onto surfaces. A shudder went down her spine when she felt hot, sticky blood coating her from head to toe.
Madara also noticed her injuries because he muttered, "Why did you have to be so reckless?"
She groaned when he took a step up the wall and tried to gather some of her previous strength. The images of her brutal torture flashed back into her mind and she felt complete repulsion to the man carrying her to the place she once called home.
"So this is it, my grand escape," she whispered hoarsely before coughing up blood. A wave of shame swept through her when she vaguely recalled that she once used to be a great ninja. She used to able to fight. But now...
Suddenly, something in her mind clicked and she knew what she needed to do. Unstable chakra could be manipulated in a way that it would explode and if were able to do that, she would be able to escape.
Shakily, she put her bloodied hand on Madara's chest and she was about to pour her chakra out when he grabbed her hand and said, "Do you really think you would be able to fool me twice using the same trick?"
Flinching, she tried to wrench her hand out of his grasp while he continued, "Did I not make it clear enough that you are not to resist me?"
Then, before she could plead her case, he jumped up to the surface and shoved her against the wall of their house. Even though it was unbearably dark, when she looked into his eyes, she could see the crimson red Sharingan of a heartless captor.
"This is a perfect chance to teach you a lesson, Mika. I was nothing but nice to you for the last week so don't you dare blame me for hurting you now. After all this time, you should know the consequences for going against me," the elder Uchiha threatened as he pressed himself up against her.
The breath was forced out of her lungs when he crashed his lips onto hers. She let out a muffled scream as he bent down and bit her neck. His hungry, human teeth tore at her fragile skin and left a morbid wound in their wake. There was no denying it; Madara could not be her husband. He simply didn't have the heart to be.
She tried to push him away as his hands trailed up her tattered body, but he did not take it well because he grabbed her by the neck and cut off her breathing completely. With an open mouth, she yearned to suck precious oxygen in.
No remorse was evident in his tone as he said, "You always were a slow learner."
In a flurry of movement, she was suddenly flying through the air. Her first response was to draw in a deep breath, but the instant she realized she was plummeting down the cliff again, she used that air to let out a horrified scream. Since Madara had thrown her, she was far from the walls of the canyon and there was nothing she could use to impede her fall.
Mika's muddled mind scavenged for a plan, though, it was all in vain because moments later, she collided with rushing water. It was so cold and unexpected that she nearly gasped underwater. Sheer luck allowed her to hold onto her breath before she reemerged at the surface of the racing torrent.
Her arms and legs weakly protested against the current, but the flow was too much for her. Like a flag in a hurricane, she was swept downstream with absolutely no way to resist the brutal force of nature. When her head wasn't bobbing under the water, she was able to see jagged rocks prodding out. This served simultaneously as good and bad news since it was great if she could hold onto one of these rocks, though it was terrible if she smashed into it instead.
A wave swept her beneath the air again and her heart skipped a beat when it donned on her that if this continued, she would drown. Was this the lesson Madara was trying to teach her?
Her chakra was almost gone and as she spotted a somewhat flat rock, she knew it was her last chance to save herself. Kicking hard with her feet, she propelled herself in the direction of her one hope and her hands shot out. Mika felt an overwhelming sense of relief when the solid stone came in contact with her stomach. She was going to pull herself up, but the river had other ideas because a sudden wave rose over the rock and pushed her to the back of the stone rather than the front. The current was now working against her and her grip was quickly diminishing. As she desperately clawed at the stone, her heart let out a dull ache when she saw a pair of shoes land in front of her.
"Pathetic. You can't even save yourself," Madara spat and she felt like bursting into tears. The frigid ice temperatures of the river were making her legs go numb and all the effort of staying afloat caused her already injured limbs even more pain.
He crouched, glared into her pleading eyes and continued, "I can save you if you swear never to do anything that displeases me again."
A sob escaped her lips and she barely managed to say, "You know I can't do that."
She could do nothing as he snatched her hands and separated them from the stone. Pure, unmitigated terror seized her whole mind as for one, wretched second; she actually thought he was going to send her rushing to her death.
"That's too bad," he said as he yanked her out of the water and onto the stone. She drew in a sudden breath and clutched to the boulder as if her life depended on it. Feeling like a drowned, half-dead rat, she risked a glance at Madara, who was looking down on her with something akin to impending fury.
Mika barely had a chance to recover before he wrenched her up by her hair and crushed her toward him with his other arm. She was so lightheaded she barely noticed as he jumped up and emerged at the altitude of the house once more.
"Since you refuse to submit, I have no choice but to erase your memory and leave you with absolutely nothing to remember," he said in a tone that almost implied that he didn't want to turn her back into a drugged zombie. A sense of hopelessness washed over her as he dragged her back into the house and into the living room.
Gathering her courage, she begged, "You don't have to erase my memory again. Can't you just lock me up in a jail cell?"
Though it would be terrible to be confined in a bleak cell, she would rather retain her knowledge than be a brainless puppet. There was a large blotchy bruise on her right cheekbone and blood was trickling down her cracked lips when Madara gently stroked the side of her face.
"This isn't how things were supposed to turn out," he stated as he looked over his handiwork: her broken body.
Recognizing that his anger was dissipating, she cautiously whispered, "Then how were things supposed to be?"
He sighed and closed his eyes, acknowledging only for a moment that he had made a mistake. Opening his eyes, he searched her face for any signs of the affection Mika's eyes used to have.
"You don't remember do you?" he asked, only to get confusion as a response.
"Seven years ago, we rode a hawk all across the ninja world together. Four years ago, I took you to the crystal caves of Lightning country. Last year, we spent a week on an uninhabited island. Don't you remember any of the good times?" he said, but still, none of his words meant anything to her. All she could recall was the arduous torment and the sadistic captivity.
His eyes lost their softness and he said, "Then you are not Mika."
It was as if a knife stuck right into her chest and she was frozen by the harshness of what he said to her.
"I won't be Mika either if you delete all I know. But if you keep me like this, I will eventually remember our time together. Please, don't kill me again," she finished and her last comment made him let go of her and turn around. His back was toward her and with nothing else to hold onto, she felt her knees start to shake. The injuries reminded her of their existence and her vision became blurry.
Her bottom lip quivered and her legs gave way as she fell to the ground. Still, Madara did not turn around. A hacking cough broke though the silence and she was disappointed to see that blood traversed up her throat. If the injury was as serious as she thought it was, the internal bleeding could be the end of her.
The elder Uchiha was soundless as he marched over to a cupboard, opened it and drew a medical syringe from within it. When Mika saw the pointy object, she gasped and crawled backwards.
"You brought this upon yourself. If you hadn't fought back when you remembered, I might have let you recover completely," he said, void of emotion. His calm, fluid steps reduced her mental clarity into dust and she began shaking.
"If you're really going to do this, just tell me why you're doing it. Is the reason the war? Or do you just want to live a perfect life with me because you can't make it work in real life?" she pleaded and when he did not reply, she continued, "You're about to erase my existence, it's not like I'll be able to tell anyone."
He crouched in front of her and reached for her arm so she blurted, "Please Madara! After causing me so much pain, you at least owe me this much!"
"It's complicated," was all he said as he positioned them in a way that made her back come in contact with his chest and his arm wrap around her waist. She struggled feebly, but his grip was that of iron.
The blood loss was making her desperate and she didn't even think as she said, "You like hurting me, don't you? If you drug me, you'll have to go back to pretending to be a loving husband."
After a dry laugh, she continued, "Wouldn't you rather keep me around as a punching bag for when you're stressed out? I remember you used to smile when you saw my bleeding body."
Madara paused and his eyes trailed along her dripping wet, limp, red body and he could not imagine being pleased by such a sight. Things had changed.
"Or maybe you would like to keep me around for the sex instead? I know you like it rough," she tried from a different angle and that time, he could tell that she was not herself. Mika would have rather died than submitted in that way.
"Be honest!" she exclaimed suddenly, "You were bored by my blank, stupid wife personality so why would you want to have to deal with that again?"
His needle-possessing hand became raised and instantly, she chattered, "I can be really entertaining! If you want, I can put on performances for you. Or maybe you like a slave better? I could do all of the cleaning and the cooking! You can feed me as little as you like!"
Her words revealed just how desperate she was and he felt the tiniest bit of remorse flutter in his chest.
Realizing that her words were having no visible impact on him, she switched tactics and yelled, "Fine! Drug me you damn escapist! Destroy all that is left of me so that you can feel satisfied in your pitiful life! I hope you loose the war and some heartless moron makes you forget what you've worked for your entire life!"
The needle entered her arm and she flinched, but it was too late. He pressed the end of the syringe down and as the toxin entered her blood stream, she felt a burning sensation. Her heartbeat quadrupled, though, she nearly forgot how to breathe.
With a shuddery breath, she whispered, "You've killed me."
"You'll wake up in a couple of days," he corrected, and that was the moment her final threads of sanity snapped. She shook uncontrollably and small wails come from her lips.
"It doesn't matter! My body will wake, but I will be dead! And I'm not even Mika! She died the first time you stabbed her with a needle!" the distraught female announced.
"How could you be so cruel? Hurting me is one thing, but this is just inhumane," she continued as tears streamed down her face. Part of her wished the drug would take over and end the slow process of mental death, while the other part wanted time to stop so she could pour her heart out.
All Madara could do was watch as the woman he had come to care for so deeply broke down in his arms. Apprehensively, he gave her hand a light squeeze, but that only made her weeping increase.
"I don't want to die! Please tell me there is some way to reverse the effects!" she pleaded and tightly held onto his arm.
"I'm sorry," he said and a fresh surge of anguish swept over her, causing her to cry out.
"No you're not! You don't have a heart! You can't care for anyone else except for yourself! How can you possibly live with yourself?" she continued yelling, but her voice was starting to fade and the darkness was coming for her mind.
"You're a monster. But I..." she trailed off and whispered, "I actually thought you loved me."
With those words, her eye lids drooped and the last signs of life escaped her eyes. Her chest rose steadily, but for the second time, he had to admit he killed her. Madara put the needle down and buried his face in her hair, tightly pulling her closer.
When the gravity of what he had just done finally sank in, he whispered, "I do."
To be continued...!
Yet again, Mika is swept behind the barrier of chemicals. Will they ever get to be together for real?