Disclaimer: I own nothing, damn it all. I don't own Naruto, belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.


An approaching abyss
It's empty darkness inviting
In this time of agony
That cuts deep into my Mind . . .
Soul . . . Heart . . .


Chapter 13

Sasuke shifted, now that he felt a little more conscience than when he'd first woken up, not that it was really much of a choice since he'd been promptly knocked unconscious shortly after wards. He quickly tried to access his surroundings. He was feeling very sore and knew his wounds had been tended to, somewhat, but refused to give any words of gratitude considering who he knew had most likely treated them. He was still in that damn cave he'd noticed he was in before, since his memory was coming back to him as he woke more fully by the second.

He shoved down the sense of panic he was feeling at being held captive by a very pissed, vengeful, powerful, ancient Uchiha that had been reincarnated repeatedly. There was a small fire somewhere behind him, but as his wrists and ankles were tied, tightly and painfully so, it was rather difficult to maneuver towards it.

Sasuke was wary that if he sat up and tried to move, Madara, wherever the asshole was, would be there to greet him. So instead he glanced where he could see and noticed that they were pretty deep inside this cave, it was humid and he could make out some of the glistening look the walls had. The cave floor wasn't pointed and jagged, but rather smooth and slick beneath him.

He suppressed the urge to sigh in exasperation as he felt, as well as heard Madara approaching from somewhere past where he believed the fire to be. Close to ten or so paces, the echo of his feet on the ground told him he was walking through a narrow passageway towards the left of the cave. He eased over onto his other side and was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the small fire. It was nine paces away which made him want to roll his eyes as he suddenly thought of what Naruto would have said to that if they'd been conversing and his thoughts were said aloud.

He smirked at his thoughts, Here I am, being held captive by a twisted, insane, overly power, really old, Uchiha that has a thirst for vengeance against me and I am thinking of what that dobe would say to not being exactly right about how far away the fire was.

His smirk was gone the instant he saw Madara in the opening at the back of this spacious cave to the left. Madara stopped upon seeing Sasuke facing the fire, his features relaxed and his eyes closed. He smirked to himself and walked over to sit cross legged on the other side of the fire from where Sasuke was lying.

Madara tended to the fire silently and then said casually, "Sasuke-kun, how're you fairing?"

Sasuke shifted, but he refused to open his eyes or acknowledge the question. Madara just smiled to himself and got to his feet. Then he walked over to where Sasuke was lying and abruptly kicked him in the shoulder. Sasuke winced very slightly and was forced to lay uncomfortably on his back with his ankles and wrist tied. He stubbornly said nothing, but intense, angry, hate filled onyx eyes glared at him.

Madara chuckled, "So, you're going to act the petulant child and give me the silent treatment? How old are you exactly Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke clenched his hands into fists, but his expression remained stoic, even as his eyes stayed just as intense. "Hn."

Madara sighed and looked down at him with a condescending look, "I asked you a question Sasuke-kun, you should know to respect those better than you and answer me."

Sasuke dug his nails into his palms to fight back the sharp retort that came to mind and said coldly, "I am fine."

Madara nodded and backed away from him coolly, he stopped only a few steps away with his back turned to Sasuke. Sasuke tried to keep his expression impassive even though he couldn't keep himself from tensing. The fact that Madara had said nothing else and had stopped before returning to his original spot by the fire had him weary.

In that short moment, a dark memory of a snake sannin's cool demeanor before he went ballistic made him wince when Madara sighed. Sasuke berated himself for thinking of that memory and then for wincing. I am an Uchiha, I will not show fear, regardless of whatever this bastard does.

Madara turned towards him and Sasuke felt a knot form in his stomach at the impassive black eyes and the relaxed stance he had as he passively looked him over.

Then Sasuke felt himself tense even more when Madara made those few steps back to his side and knelt down next to him. Sasuke watched him wearily, but his gaze was focused instead on the shadows of the fire on the cave wall behind Madara. He refused to meet his eyes because he knew that to an Uchiha, his forcefully suppressed fear would be seen.

Madara suddenly seized his chin in a painful grip and Sasuke's onyx eyes locked onto him with an angry graze. Madara smirked and Sasuke sneered, he truly detested that this insane individual was in his half brothers' flesh. The painful pang to his heart was no longer there, only seething rage at the face and those damn eyes looking at him, black as coals, very unlike Kuro.

"You will learn to respect your elders soon enough, Sasuke-kun" they way he let his name roll off his tongue made Sasuke feel sick to his stomach, even though he never let it reach his expression or his eyes. He only continued to sneer in rage at him.

Then, before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth, he spat in a viciously cold tone, "Like hell I will." Sasuke regretted those words when he saw the flash of red that made that pang return and the rage he noticed in the flash. He mentally cursed, Fuck, all Naruto's influence has caused me to speak too openly, where the fuck is all that damn Uchiha control now damn it?

Sure enough Madara released his hold on his chin with a rough push that made his head collide with the very hard, he assessed through a hiss, cave floor. Once his eyes focused again Madara was still knelt next to him, he looked thoughtful and that brought that sickening feeling back full force. He hated being vulnerable, and he had to use his stubbornness that Naruto had beaten back into him, literally, to keep the disgust rising to his eyes and expression.

Madara looked at him suddenly, a glint in his eyes Sasuke didn't want to think about. He smiled in what Sasuke could only say was a disturbing smile that sent chills down his spine. Then he roughly lifted his head by a fist in his hair and a painful jerk that forced him to sit up. He was now very barely not nose to nose with Madara and the stench of his rotted breath, like that of a corpse, made that sickening feeling worsen and Sasuke's lips thinned to suppress the urge to vomit.

"You. Will. Learn. Some. Respect." The way he punctuated each word and how his breath managed to slip into his air waves forced him to stubbornly hold his breath without any indication that he'd done so. Sasuke responded to the words with a hardened glare and he dug his nails into his palm even more, to suppress from saying anything more.

Madara smirked at his silence and made to stand, pulling Sasuke to his feet, to which he tried in vain to remain where he was. But the pain and forced of Madara pulling him by his hair and how sore he felt didn't leave much room for restraint. Sasuke felt a wave of dizziness and his knees nearly buckled from the sudden movement, but Madara let go of his hair only to roughly grab his right arm to hold him upright.

Then Sasuke let out a sharp gasp and bit his lip to suppress a cry of pain when he was suddenly turned and slammed against the wall. If his wrists and ankles weren't tightly bound, he would have retaliated, but as it was, he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Madara glared at him angrily and the hand not gripping his arm in a bruising hold shot to his throat stealing what air he had managed to force into his lungs from the sudden pain. Then Madara said in a much calmer, and more chilling voice; "You are free to stubbornly fight me all you wish, as an Uchiha, I would expect nothing less. But it is a vain effort. You could simply answer my questions and show me some respect and you would have it a little easier."

Sasuke remained silent, the glare in his dark eyes his only response. Madara released his throat and grabbed his other arm tightly, reminding Sasuke that he had a cut there. Then he was pulled away from the cave wall only to be slammed back against it. A sharp intake of breath and a very low hiss left his lips, now he knew that the entire cave was very hard, and rougher than it looked. He felt the sting of a particularly sharp rock pierce the left side of his lower back, not to mention the piercing pain shooting through his head and obscuring his vision and the metallic taste of his own blood on his tongue.

Sasuke licked the blood from his lips and smirked with a dark glare in his eyes. He remained silent, he refused to give in and he sure as hell refused to give the man what he wanted. He wanted a reaction, if he didn't he wouldn't have mentioned his silence or been so pissed about it. He would bite out his own tongue before giving him the satisfaction, if he could help it.

Madara glowered and released him, Sasuke's legs couldn't support him, so they bent as he slid down the wall. But the glare and smirk never left his face and he never broke eye contact. Madara glared darkly at him, a hint of rage barely suppressed in his expression, but evident in his now crimson eyes.

Sasuke relaxed into the wall, he really didn't have the energy to do much else. Madara sneered and then turned and walked briskly over towards the fire. He stopped just outside the opening and turned his head to look at Sasuke over his shoulder, that bone chilling, twisted smile back in place.

Sasuke watched him walk back down the path with an impassive expression, a mask saying he didn't give a damn and wasn't worried in the least. When he could no longer hear Madara's footsteps echoing down the path he let out a sigh and leaned his head carefully against the cave wall behind him.

Then he twisted his wrists in his bindings, he had to get his hands free before he could attempt to free his legs. He let out a low hiss as the twisting started to rub his wrists raw, but he kept trying, eventually loosening them a small amount. But it still wasn't enough to get free. He stopped when he heard Madara's footsteps coming back.

He heard the scraping sound of metal running along the cave walls, Fuck, this is going to be a long . . . His mental comment was cut short when he saw that Madara was standing by the fire brandishing a katana, his katana. The one he had long since lost in that fight when Kuro had died. His thought was confirmed as the sword was held up in the light of the fire as Madara seemed to be admiring it.

Sasuke closed his eyes momentarily to calm the rage, and that inner fear that was rising up in him that he'd never admit to or let show. Madara let his arm down touching the tip of the blade to the ground as he casually walked over to where Sasuke was. At the sound of the blade's end touching the ground Sasuke's eyes opened and he glared sharply at Madara. But Madara didn't act as though he'd noticed.

He stopped when he was standing in front of Sasuke and knelt down in front of him raising the katana up to rest on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and a grimace flickered across his face before it went back to the impassive mask. It didn't go unnoticed by Madara who smirked and then said in a condescending tone that made Sasuke dig his nails into his palms again, ignoring the pain of the already cut hands because of his rage.

He'd made that katana with his own two hands, refusing to take any offer from the snake sannin, he'd learned medical jutsu to heal his scorched hands after beating it out of Kabuto, whom he'd become considerably stronger than by that time. It was something that belonged to him and he'd had a possessiveness with, another trait that Na . . . he stopped the thought before it finished.

Madara raised the katana gingerly, the cold blade brushing across his cheek and through his bangs, slicing thin strands with the sharpness of the blade easily. Madara smiled, "It seems this katana's previous owner had some impressive skill with crafting the sword."

Sasuke wanted to sneer and say, No shit, it took me over year to perfect that sword you fucking bastard, but settled with darkening his glare, his eye brow twitching very slightly since he was using a lot of self control at the moment. He was grateful the war had managed to perfect his self control, and everyone's efforts to bring him back to somewhat of his old self since he'd returned to Konoha.

Madara barely flicked his wrist and Sasuke felt the blade swiftly, and quickly slice his left cheek from just under his eye to end at the bottom of his ear. Sasuke didn't even blink, he continued with his cold expression and his narrowed, hateful glare. Madara only gave a low chuckle, one that sounded so much like Kuro that Sasuke suppressed the urge to try and perform katas and set him on fire right then. His depleted chakra and his injured state was the only thing keeping him from doing so at the moment.

"It seems you have some attachment with this sword, and since you are the owner . . . it only seems appropriate that I use it to scar your flawless skin. Ne, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke in turn gave him and cold stare, the intensity in his eyes there, but merely a flicker and appearing as a trick of the dancing fire reflecting off his eyes. Madara sighed and slowly moved the blade down the hollow of his neck and then up to rest under his chin, leaving a thin line of blood in its' wake.

Sasuke held still, he refused to lift his chin at the slight implication of pressure of the blade and remained stoic as it dug into his skin a little more until he could feel the warmth of his own blood trailing down his neck and chest. Madara moved the sword with the feather like pressure down to the opening of Sasuke's shirt just above his chest plate, the shirt had been ripped and showed the middle of his chest now.

Madara swiftly and gracefully cut a straight line across Sasuke's chest, managing to slice a thin line in the torn shirt as well. Sasuke still remained impassive and gave no implication at all that he'd done anything. Madara's eyes flashed crimson once more, but then the cool, calm look returned.

He pulled the katana back and stood turning his back to Sasuke for a second before he turned and thrust the sword straight through the still healing wound in Sasuke's left thigh, Sasuke's legs had moved to stretch out in front of him. Sasuke still gave any indication that Madara had done anything. Madara left the katana in his leg and let go standing up straight at Sasuke's feet.

He grimaced and turned to walk over to the fire. He stopped just beside it for a moment and then a evil grin spread across his face as an idea came to mind. He looked over his shoulder at Sasuke's still stoic form and then briskly walked back down the path to the left.

Sasuke remained still until he could no longer hear Madara and shifted. He closed his eyes and bit down on his lip as he carefully focused on the pain to give him the energy he needed to move. He managed to work his arms enough to move them around his hips and down to his thighs, short of where the katana was run through his leg, having to bend over to do so.

He clenched his hands into fists as he forced his leg to move up the katana enough to manage to get the rop to touch the bloodied sword. In a careful push against the blade he managed to cut the rope around his wrists. He let out a relieved sigh and gathered the ripped rope and pocketed it then rested his leg on the ground again before his right hand gripped the hilt of the katana tightly.

He pulled the katana free with a low hiss and sliced through the rope tied around his ankles. He then quickly made a make shift tourniquet for his leg before using the wall to get to his feet, never once releasing his hold on his katana as he did so.

Sasuke grimaced upon feeling Madara making his way back to where he was quickly. Shit, how in the fuck am I . . . He cursed his hazed thinking as he looked at the fire burning to his left. He turned to it and walked over to it. He closed his eyes and calmed after slipping the katana through the sash on his waist and held perfectly still. He had to remember the training of natural energy focus Naruto had managed to teach him about.

He felt the warmth of it course through him before he felt the strength it granted and then he felt completely calm once more. When his eyes opened Madara was glaring at him in rage and Sasuke smirked and performed the kata's for Dragon Flame Jutsu quickly and then aimed it at Madara, it hit him directly and then Sasuke focused on the mountains of Iwagakure. He felt that familiar pull as he used teleportation jutsu.

He also felt the last minute jolt that his concentration had been broken when his leg suddenly searing in burning pain. The loss made him land five feet above a narrow ledge. A short yell shot through him as he fell and he reached out to catch the edge of the ledge. His fingers digging into the ledge painfully to try and hold on. He started to pull himself up and slipped falling a few more feet, his right elbow being clipped by a jagged rock and sending a painful jolt through to his shoulder before his left hand caught hold of a something and held it for dear life.

Sasuke sighed as he looked down to the ground, seemingly miles below him. He looked up at the ledge and saw Madara smirking at him. Sasuke scowled and held on to the ledge. Madara called down to him mockingly, "So, Sasuke-kun, whatever will you do now?"

Sasuke tried to look around him, but he slipped again and didn't manage to grab anything until he'd fallen another twenty feet, scraping and cutting up his arms, legs, face, and chest in the process. Pained and pissed his grabbed the ledge with both hands biting back the pain shooting through his already injured right arm.

Madara laughed above him, the sound echoing all around him and filling Sasuke with rage. Shit, what the fuck am I supposed to do now . . . He stopped when his eyes caught sight of a small crack in the side of the mountain, a cave opening, thirty feet to his right and about ten feet down.

Sasuke let go of the ledge with his right hand and reached for another ledge to grab hold off, once again having to ignore the pain in his arm and thanking Naruto for teaching him the way to summon natural energy. He grabbed it and let go of the other ledge. He grabbed the new one with both hands and moved again, slowly making it to the thirty feet above the cave entrance.

The laughing from Madara ceased, but Sasuke could still feel his eyes on him. He tried to find a ledge for his feet to rest on, but when he tried he slipped again and stopped just above the cave's entrance and the ledge in front of it. Sasuke sighed and let go to land in a heap at the entrance. It was narrow and he would just barely be able to get through. He lunged for the entrance upon hearing and feeling the chakra and heat headed his way.

He eased into the entrance just as a powerful fire ball jutsu destroyed the ledge out the cave. Sasuke grimaced, That damn, so now I'm going to be trapped in here. Fucking wonderful.

He made his way through the narrow opening and after moving close to six or seven paces, he wasn't sure and didn't care, he finally came to a larger cave. It was round and large, and there was cool air inside it, and a glint of light from water it seemed.

Sasuke took in a deep breath, the cooler air relaxing him somewhat before treading carefully deeper and he stopped as his foot rested in cold water ten paces in. He continued forward, not really bothering to try and walk on water, a bath would feel nice about now anyway. He found that the water reached up to his shoulders and could already feel the soothing cool of the water caressing his skin. He wasn't concerned about the red in the water from his own blood as he made his way through the water. He continued through until he felt a chill at his feet indicating the water was deeper.

He activated his first level of the Sharingan, and could see in a red tint of light. The pool he was in filled most of the cave and there was a narrow opening at the back of the cave. He dove under the water and focused in the direction of the opening, it widened under water and looked as though it continued through to another cave. He came back up for air and dove back under just in time to avoid another fire jutsu.

Sasuke swam as fast as he could, the Sharingan was draining what little energy he'd gained fast and he had to move. He felt his sword slip as he swam and barely managed to grab it before it fell into the dark abyss of the water beneath him. He made it to the opening, his oxygen supply was dimming as quickly as his energy and he worried over whether he would make it. He swam quickly to the surface just as he passed through the opening drinking in air in searing gasps.

Then he made his way towards the waters' edge, another passageway, three to be exact not far from where the water stopped. He made glanced quickly at the three pathways and decided on the one to his left, his grip on his sword tightening.

He ran through it as he felt Madara's chakra moving towards him again. Damn, stubborn bastard. He ran quickly through the twisting, narrow, and rocky passage and slipped scrambling to his feet, he knew Madara was in the cave behind him now and slowed to a careful walk, catching his breath. He'd made it a quarter of a mile through before he felt Madara arrive in the cave.

He turned with the twisting passageway as it curved to the right, darkened more as the air thickened. With a short cry he fell from a sudden dip and landed in a deep pool of freezing water below. As he came back to the surface gasping and clutching his sword he tried to look around him.

The Sharingan blinked back and forth, what he could see was that he was in a deep cave, going up for miles and the water was dark and deep. There didn't seem to be anything in sight. Sasuke dove under the water again and saw nothing around him, his Sharingan had faded.

He rose to the surface a suffocating darkness and cold wrapping around him at the loss of the Sharingan and the natural energy. He could barely keep his head above water, but his hand still managed to grip his katana tightly in his hand. He turned in the water when he suddenly heard a low, angry growl behind him. Then the cave erupted in orange and red light, fire again.

Fuck. Sasuke dove beneath the water and then a scream of pain left him in the water, his air being ripped from him by the action as he felt electricity course through him. It sent burning pain throughout his entire body and he blacked out from the agony of it.