Chapter 18

When I woke up I was chained to a table, which did not feel good at all. And these were some seriously real metal chains, and were pretty damn snug to boot. When I looked up I could see that my hands were in metal shackles, and so were my legs when I look down. Damn and double damn. Not again. I immediately attempted to summon chakra to break free, but couldn't. The chains or else the table must have some sort of property that dampened chakra. Of course.

Giving up on that for the moment I looked around, craning my neck to see. On the table next to me was Temari, in a similar situation. She was also awake and looking around, totally pissed off and terrified, which was about where I was on the scale of feelings. I hissed softly to get her attention. She looked over and I motioned with my eyes, to see if she saw anyone over on her side of the room. She looked and then shook her head and I nodded. Then I tried to see if I could see anyone, which I couldn't. I shook my head to indicate that I also didn't see anybody.

While nothing was happening we both worked on trying to get free from our chains. I couldn't use chakra, but I could sure as hell try to get my hand through. I knew it wouldn't fit naturally, but if I could just break something maybe I could force it. It wasn't a particularly pleasant prospect, but it was the only thing I could think of, and I had dealt with shit like that before.

I worked and worked, tugging and pulling and yanking and bending any way I could possibly think of, forcing myself to not pay any attention to when the metal cut into my skin, the blood only serving as a lubricant as far as I was concerned. I could hear Temari doing something similar, our soft grunts and the sound of our bodies moving on the tables and the clink of our chains the only sounds in the room.

Unfortunately neither one of us had enough time, because several people came in at that point, a man in a white lab coat, several ninja, and several medical ninja. "Well look what we have here, a couple of escape artists. You've certainly gotten further along than some of my test subjects."

I snarled at him and he just laughed moving on to Temari who went further than I did and gave him several choice words. "You fucking asshole! What the hell?! Where are we and what do you want?"

"Yes, yes. Indeed." He simply chuckled and mildly agreed with her, going about his business.

"Alright we'll start with the blond one, prepare her for testing."

I craned my head to see what they were doing. They removed her top amidst her cussing and struggling. My neck cramped but I forced it to keep my head up, unable to do anything else but offer Temari support through my gaze. Well that, and add to her litany of cusses.

"You fucking bastards what do you think you're doing?!" She hollered, sounding more pissed off than I had ever heard her.

"Yeah perverts, let us fucking go! Stop that right now damn it all!" I added.

"Fuck you all to hell." She yelled, thrashing in her chains.

"And back so you can make the trip twice." I shouted.

"Exactly!" She agreed.

And so forth.

But it didn't do us any good. They had soon striped her top half, leaving her underwear alone thankfully.

"First we must test her endurance for the seal. If she cannot even bear the seal then she is worthless." White Coat #1 gestured for several ninja to step forth.

Then a younger person came in, carrying some sort of what looked like an artifact or something, but it was sharp. It looked like some sort of fancy knife, which did not bode well for us. One of the ninja took the knife and carefully carved a sealing jutsu into Temari's chest, right above her breasts. She yelled and cussed and yelled and screamed and cussed some more. I joined her for support.

Then while the first ninja held the blade, the second made a whole lot of complicated hand signs, most of which I didn't even recognize. And that probably meant it was a forbidden jutsu. We both watched in trepidation as his hands started glowing an unnatural shade of blue with red edges. It certainly wasn't normal chakra.

He slammed his hands down on the sealing symbol carved into her chest and she immediately bowed off the table and screamed. I had never heard such a scream before, it made me understand the meaning of the word blood curdling, because that's what it felt like it was doing. It was so high-pitched, unnatural and full of pain that it literally felt like the blood in my veins said 'oh hell no to that' and then 'fuck you' and promptly started to flow backwards, which would explain why I suddenly felt really dizzy. It also made me immediately sick to my stomach and want to pass out.

I went limp, unable to hold my head up any longer, my body shaking too badly. It went on and on and eventually her voice went hoarse and then disappeared altogether, but I could still hear her trying to scream, the air rushing out silently.

I closed my eyes and felt tears slide down my face, unable to do anything to help her, except yank on my chains harder and harder, driven by every scream to somehow, someway, make my hands fit through those damn holes. I twisted on the table, using my whole body as torque to try and rip something free, whether my hands would be intact was beyond anything I cared about at the moment.

The screams died out before I could free myself though and I immediately poked my head up again, checking to see if she was still alive, which she was. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well it looks as though she can hold the seal, even if it's a little unstable. Let's try the other one, see if she can hold it any better than this one."

I heard Temari try to weakly protest, but I immediately shushed her, telling her to just try and rest. She had done it and survived, and so would I, damn it. I wasn't going to die here. I would live to see these bastards rot in hell for what they had done to her. Which was the only thing I said to them, and then I simply lay still and stared at them, glaring with all the hatred I felt. A few of them got a little nervous.

They cut off my shirt but left on my bandages mostly intact, although they cut a slit in the top to get down a little further on my chest, and I watched as they cleaned off the blade with some sort of ceremonial ritual. I took a deep breath and watched as they approached, bringing the sharp point down on my chest and began to cut into my flesh. I flinched but attempted to not make any noise, aside from muttering curses under my breath. It hurt for sure, but I knew this was the easy bit, and anyway I had dealt with this particular pain many times before. Once done, the one held the knife and I braced myself for who the hell knows what, but whatever it was had made Temari scream like they had been skinning her alive or something.

His hands began to glow blue just like before and then they slammed down on my chest, momentarily taking my breath from my lungs. The pain was indescribable, and I lost all sense of anything outside of it, simply unaware that I too was screaming. I was unaware of thrashing or writhing, only knowing the pain in my chest and slowly running through my veins.

It felt like fire, like a live fire had been set on my chest and it was slowly seeping into my body and then traveling through my veins, muscles, and tendons. It felt almost as if it were alive, like some sort of parasitic fiery plant making a root system within me, the little spears branching out and grabbing on hard as the fire burned hotter and hotter. It felt as if my flesh should be melting, like I shouldn't be able to breathe because now my lungs were on fire, like I simply should not be alive because now my heart was on fire.

It lasted forever, time ceased to mean anything, and all I knew was pain.

Eventually though, it did end, leaving me shaking uncontrollably and dizzy, my vision blurry.

"Well now, this is the most promising we've had! It took to her like a child to a mother! Perhaps we've finally found the perfect host! Bring her in boys."

After a moment of catching my breath I managed to turn my head so I could see Temari who was now the one craning her neck to see if I was alive. I gave her a weak smile and she returned it.

"Piece of cake…" I wheezed, and she chuckled weakly in response, knowing exactly what a huge, nasty, spiky, piece of bullshit, cake I had just dealt with.

After only a moment the men returned, carrying some sort of box between them. There was something in that box. I could feel it, and it was not happy. There were sealing marks all around the box.

"Deactivate the blond one's seal, but leave it intact, just in case." One ninja nodded and went over to Temari, touching her chest, and she screamed, one short loud shriek. The mark on her chest flashed blue and then died, and her scream stopped as she slumped back to the table.

As they brought the box closer to me and I could feel the mark on my chest and the weird root like structure underneath vibrating. I shuddered, really not wanting to know what was in that box.

They placed the box into some sort of contraption above me, some sort of structure rigged up to hold it in place. I watched with horror as they fiddle with it and then stood back to draw a sealing circle, with me in the center. They stood on the edges and started to make hand signs as the box began to glow blue and then red.

I watched as a hole began to appear on the bottom of the box and something started to trickle out, some sort of vapor that was drawn to that mark on my chest. I gasped as it touched me. It felt strange, like pure chakra and it made that mark burn and vibrate so intensely I had to grit my teeth to prevent myself from screaming again. It sat there for a moment and then another group of people started doing a different hand sign and it felt like a hole had been popped open in my chest. The weird chakra substance started to go inside. This time I did scream, the sensation beyond pain, beyond fear, beyond wrong. It felt like being stabbed in one long continuous movement that never ended.

I choked and cried and sobbed and screamed and made all sorts of noises I wasn't proud of. And again it lasted forever. White Coat #1 directed everyone to take it slowly, to not rush the process, to let it happen at its own pace, blah blah blah. I screamed at him.

I began to feel strange, like there was something inside of me that didn't want to be there.

LET ME OUT!

"Oh I would if I could believe me…" I answered gasping on a sob, not wanting it there anymore than it did.

THEY WILL DIE!

"I agree." I answered the mysterious voice again, cringing as more of that stuff was shoved inside of me.

I was only moderately aware of someone rushing in, "We must hurry, we've been discovered!"

"Oh dear. Well, we're almost done. Do the last bit now."

The last bit was shoved in unceremoniously and both me and whatever was now inside me screamed, not liking it at all. It now felt crowded in my own skin, and I could only imagine what it felt like for whatever was now holed up in there.

I gasped, wheezing as I tried to adjust to the strange sensation. My head flopped to the side as I struggled to come to terms with the weirdness and I notice absentmindedly that I could see Kankuro, Gaara, and the boys in the hallway, fighting past the ninja that had been placed there for security purposes.

Kankuro had all three puppets out and about creating mayhem and destruction. Lots and lots of iron maidens happening in a row. Kaoru had his bow out and was sniping off the guys behind them, while Hikaru had his whips out and blazing, sending waves of enemies this way and that.

And of course Gaara looked absolutely crazy and homicidal, his sand snarling through the little hallway off of our room with all the grace of an enraged octopus, which was actually pretty darn graceful, if terrifying.

My eyes met Gaara's for a moment, and I experienced relief, feeling as if now everything would be okay.

Until someone slammed their hands on my chest again, and my vision cut out entirely as my body went into spasm. I could no longer control any muscle group, and a vicious scream tore out of my throat, different this time, sounding deeper, having a note of a wild animal somewhere in my own voice.

Chapter 19

I must have blacked out, because when I woke up, I was not myself anymore.

All I felt was fury, destructive uncontainable fury. I just wanted to tear everyone and everything to shreds, literally. It was like I was in a haze, my mind so full of bloodlust that everything felt a little fuzzy. There was something there, something not me, something new and frightening and deadly. And it was in the driver's seat. But I wasn't really aware of that, it just felt like me, like I was the one furious and bloodthirsty.

I felt the chains on my wrists, and it enraged me, my only thought to get free so I could hunt and kill, my only goal was to seek revenge on the ones who did this to me. A sound tore from my throat, and it didn't sound human, it sounded like a roar, a feral animal sound of pain and fury at being bound. I didn't notice my teeth sharpening or my nails lengthening into claws.

I pulled, yanking viciously at my bindings, the thick chains creaking, and I dimly felt the metal slowly cutting deeper and deeper into my flesh, grinding against the bones in my wrists. My chakra overflowed the chakra absorption jutsus on the chains, violent wind starting to gust through the room, knocking over furniture and making a low growling sound. Another shriek escaped me, the frightening sound echoing strangely with two voices, one human and one decidedly not, and my whole body heaved, intent on getting free.

The chains broke.

I was off the table before I knew I was moving and landed in a crouch, already hunting my prey. The people there, the comrades of the one who chained me and the ones who had performed the jutsu, they were still in the room, milling around in disarray. Many of them were already in combat with my comrades, but I didn't really recognize my own friends anymore. The white lab coat, the leader of this little experiment had managed to escape, and that only sent me into a higher rage.

I grabbed the nearest person to me and dug my claws into them, easily ripping them to shreds, and blood spattered everywhere. Another roar tore from my throat, a glorious sound of battle and rage and pain.

I didn't fight. I hunted and I killed.

My claws lengthened into deadly blades of wind, shredding anything in sight. I snarled and leapt into the fray, killing indiscriminately, and thankfully all my comrades got out of my way, otherwise I might have killed them. I went for the first person I saw, my blade claws easily sliding into his stomach while my fangs closed on his neck. He was dead before his body hit the ground. I went to the next person, and the next and the next and the next. The blood ran so thickly that had I been me, I would have vomited simply from the smell.

For a moment, there was no one left to kill, and I stood panting, dripping in blood, looking for more victims, not fully satisfied.

My eyes landed on Gaara, and something twitched inside my mind, a memory. It temporarily knocked me out of the mindless bloodlust, and I became aware that I was not in control of my body. I felt a presence inside my mind, and felt buried beneath this presence. Now that I was aware of myself, I realized that it was the one feeling the fury and bloodlust. It was like waking up.

I saw Gaara and for just a second I was me again, and swayed, slightly off balance by the shift. I whispered, "Gaara?" confused and frightened by the unfolding events.

Then I was shoved aside again, and it was like looking through a filter, watching and hearing the events happen, but not at all in control of my own actions anymore.

"Well hello there." I purred, in a voice not my own.

I still had access to my senses. They were sharper now, much more so than I could believe. I could smell Gaara, even from this distance. He smelled like sand, and salty sweat, body heat, and something distinctly Gaara. Being able to smell him did something very strange to me, to me and to my body, and that had nothing to do with the odd being in my mind.

But there was something in his scent that caught the attention of what I was beginning to suspect was a multi-tail demon of some sort. It was the scent of another demon. Shukaku I suppose. Apparently the new presence inside of me liked this scent and started to stalk towards Gaara, bloodlust put aside for a different kind of lust. I was too shocked to really do much of anything, her mood changes left me with a bad case of whiplash.

I could definitely feel that it was female, her instincts leaving little doubt of that in my mind. She got up close and personal to Gaara, a good foot inside of his personal space. His eyes widened, but aside from that his face remained stoic.

"Hello Shukaku …" She purred from my throat, again in that strange voice.

Gaara's eye flashed black and gold, responding to the voice of my demon.

My hand reached out to him, and I knew that her intention was to draw him into some sort of embrace, or possibly a kiss. But undoubtedly it would be inappropriate. I panicked, throwing my consciousness mentally against the presence blocking me from the outside world. It was oddly kind of furry.

Suddenly I could strangely "see" the inside of my mind, me standing there facing off with a large cat-like creature with a strangely reptilian tail. Ad yet I could still see through my eyes, still somewhat aware of what was going on outside my own head. It was very odd, a sort of split-vision that made me dizzy. Inside my mind, I threw myself again at the creature, fighting for control. I must have jarred her, because our body stumbled back a step, thankfully away from Gaara.

"What the fuck is your problem?" She said through my mouth, addressing me verbally for everyone to hear. "You want him. Why are you fighting me?" My inner self dropped my mental mouth open in horror, nearly blanking out for a second. Did she really just say that? Out loud, right in front of Gaara?!

A quick blurry dizzy peek through my eyes and at Gaara's ever so slightly confused expression, told me what I needed to know. My horror was such that I gained control of my body, for just a second, just long enough to groan and do a face palm. And then I was back inside my mind looking out through my eyes like windows, a passenger in my own body. She snarled, her claws raking my face from where my hand had been placed from my face palm. I could still feel the pain from the cuts and flinched mentally.

Her attention was once again drawn to Gaara, much to my horror. His scent, mixed with Shukaku's seemed to be attracting her, sparking both cat-like curiosity and unfortunately other emotions that I daily experienced while around him, but certainly not when I was being controlled by an impulsive, instinctual creature. It seemed as though my love and lust toward Gaara, which was ingrained inside my body at this point now, was affecting my body's new passenger, and she wasn't inclined to deny herself.

Fuck.

She got closer to Gaara again, and I could feel her intentions, once again lustful, and I knew she planned on humping him into the next century, right in front of both of our siblings. Once again I reacted quite strongly, panicking and fighting her for control. My fear was strong enough that it caused my chakra to surge, causing little bursts of wind to spiral around us in fits and spurts.

She backed off again, growling. "You want him, just give in." This time, she extended the word 'want' into a very suggestive purr, leaving very little doubt as to her meaning, and utterly humiliating me.

Gaara's eyes opened wide for a second, then narrowed into glittering slits, an expression of deep contemplation on his face. I really didn't want him to think too deeply into what my new alter ego had just spat out. My humiliation quickly turned into fury rivaling the cat-demon's when we first woke. This was completely unnecessary and I had had enough.

I snarled and attacked her with a viciousness that took her off guard. Our inner battle, chakra crackling against each other, mental bodies locked together with vicious intent, threw our real body into a frenzy. I staggered this way and that, randomly fighting the air, in what was probably quite a display. I was slowly and painfully climbing to the top of my consciousness, gradually gaining control, feeling her mental claws raking me as I went. A particularly violent thrust sent my body to the ground, where I stayed and writhed, every muscle straining against her.

Suddenly I was in control. Well, I was in the driver's seat at least, but I still had an enraged, enlarged, freakishly strong cat-creature behind me in the backseat. The world's worst backseat driver. She was still there, still clawing at me, still causing immeasurable pain behind my eyes. I could hear her screeches in my ears. I clawed at the ground, barely feeling my nails breaking bloody. My torso arched, heels digging into the ground. I struggled to retain control but I could feel my sanity slipping, the intense pain and stress too much for anyone's mind to handle.

Abruptly a weight landed on my hips. My legs were abruptly shoved to the ground under the weight, my thrashing limited to my upper body, which stilled from shock. My eyes opened, and I was stunned to see pale green eyes meeting mine.

Gaara was sitting on me. Sitting on me! What the hell? Even the cat-demon was silent from surprise.

"Gaara?" I choked, my voice my own thankfully, but coming out rough and scratchy from screaming.

He said nothing, his face stoic, but his eyes were fierce. I was the sole focus of his entire attention. I didn't think I had ever seen him quite so focused, and being on the other end of that focus was startlingly terrifying. His eyes felt like they were piercing me with their green light.

The cat didn't stay quiet for long, she was almost immediately clamoring again for release. The sudden screech through my head and the accompanying sensation of having claws quite literally raking through my brain causing my eyes to shut again in agony. I scrunched my eyes shut tightly, head thunking back into the ground under the force of the onslaught. My entire upper body arched off the ground, nearly bucking Gaara off with the violent movement. His legs tightened nearly painfully. My head tossed, almost physically trying to shake her out, though it was pointless.

During a slight break, I cracked my eyes opened, head limply turned to the side now, and panting. I caught a glimpse of Kankuro, Temari, and the twins off to the side staring back and forth between Gaara and me with their mouths open in shock. The sight was rather humorous, and I suppose it made sense. Gaara rarely touched anyone, so to see him sitting on me must have been quite the sight, even if they had probably seen something similar when we had sparred.

I was only temporarily distracted, the odd thoughts flashing through my mind in the span of a second, which was the only time I was allowed before the pain started back up in full force, worse even if that was possible. During the brief reprieve, which was less than a minute, it became obviously apparent that she was building up strength for a stronger assault. My head abruptly felt like it was going to split open from the pressure, the sensation of claws ten times worse, and now it felt like she was actually causing physical damage.

My hands clawed at my face, uncaring that it probably wasn't a good idea, what with my eyes being in my face and all. My wrists were immediately clamped into vise like grips and slammed to the ground at my sides. I was able to slit my eyes open enough to ascertain that Gaara was now pinning my hands to the ground. I wasn't allowed to dwell on that fact though, since I was much too involved with trying to keep the cat under wraps. She was so strong and so fucking violent.

I arched again, but my torso was slammed back to the ground. I was unaware of the fact that my hands were now shackled in sand, leaving his hands free to press into my chest, directly over the fresh seal that was easily visible due to me not wearing anything aside from my bandages, which had a V cut into them now.

I certainly became aware of the now much too familiar feeling of having a seal branded into my flesh though. My skin, right between my breasts, was once again charred with the sensation, same place, but even worse this time. It felt like it went right through me, burning a hole through my skin, bone, muscle, lungs, and reaching my backbone, the pain spreading to every part of my body from there.

I screamed, the sound ripped from me, and was joined by the sound of the cat inside of me shrieking in pain. It created an echo in my voice, the scream turning unearthly, inhuman, and hurting even my own ears. It was over much more quickly than the first time though, the initial pain barely lasting a minute, leaving residual pain, thrumming through my flesh.

I must have blacked out again, because I found myself surfacing from an abyss. It must have only been a few seconds that my mind shut down, but my mind was blessedly silent. There were no claws raking through my head or screaming in my ears. Upon further self-inspection I could still feel her dimly, but I was much too tired to go searching for her. I opened my eyes, slowly due to my pounding headache. My blurry gaze was immediately consumed by jade eyes, eyes that were much to close.

My eyes popped open, which I immediately regretted because the light caused a new shaft of pain to pierce my poor head. Gaara's face was less than a foot from mine, his piercing eyes just inches from my own. Close enough that he could probably see every bloodshot vessel in the white of my eyes, which were probably quite visible, given how widely my eyes were opened in shock.

He sat back, still on top of me, much to my surprise, embarrassment, and secret delight. It really must have only been brief seconds that I had blacked out, because even his hands were still pressed to my chest, which was still pulsing in pain.

He took his hands away and his gaze moved from my face to where his hands had been, closely observing the new, much larger seal. He appeared satisfied, the fierce concentration in his eyes softening. The sand that I only became aware of now, slithered away from my wrists and he stood, for a second his entire standing form directly over mine, giving me quite a new view of his muscular legs.

And then he stepped off, moving a few feet to the side, giving me room to get up. I didn't. The pain still pulsing through my body, and the fact that my head felt like it was one big bruise, inside and out, prevented me from moving for the moment. I took inventory in the few moments I allowed myself to lie still, recovering.

My head hurt, my chest still felt like I had been branded, my face hurt from the clawing, my whole body was sore, my throat felt raw, and I became aware that my wrists were also thrumming with sharp pain. Not really remembering why they hurt so much, I slowly lifted my arm up, bringing my wrist up for inspection. In my dazed state I was only somewhat confused by the mess that was now my wrists. They were red, beyond raw, the flesh cut into deeply, skin peeled and dangling in a few places, and even some white that I didn't realize was bone right away. I probably should have been horrified, queasy, and such, but really I was mostly just curious as to how it happened. I was too emotionally numb for much of anything else.

I watched, detached, as big red drops of blood slowly oozed down my arm and dripped off the wound. I was mostly unaware of the blood spattering onto my face.

The twins rushed over, tearing strips from the bottom of their shirts as they came. One of them took my raised wrist, breaking my concentration, dazed as it was, and I looked over at him. I could feel the other wrist being gently picked up by the other twin. I watched as Kaoru busied himself bandaging my raw flesh with strips of cloth, trying to keep his face impassive and somewhat failing when he grimaced at the view of bone. I felt the weight of unconsciousness forcing itself upon me and slowly gave in, my vision slowly going black and my eyes sliding shut.

End Chapter 19


Author's Note:

Two of my wonderful reviewers got very, very close to guessing this chapter, so I did as promised and published sooner than I had planned. Winter break is a wonderful thing...plenty of time to write. :)

And yes, I know the kidnapping thing is a bit repetitive, but it turns out that Ren has a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so this might actually happen again. But rest assured, she is a bad-ass, and (except for the first kidnapping/rape incident) she always gets free and takes out the enemy. It just goes to show how dangerous the life of a ninja is. And even Temari got kidnapped this time. Just, suffice to say, almost everyone gets kidnapped at least once.

So anyway, what do you think? Now do you see why I was waiting? I wanted to make Ren and Gaara equals.

So yeah, as you can see, there are some complications coming up. As you got a little hint of here, Gaara's scent becomes a problem for Ren. And that's just one of the fun new things Ren gets to experience.

Someone recently asked me for more tension. Well, more tension is about to happen in a big way. You think teenage hormones are bad? Try adding into that lovely, pubescent mix a cat in permanent heat and see what that will do to ya.

Poor, poor Ren.

;)