Ch. 3

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly, looking around. He was in a barren andempty desert, with only the sand and the sun to keep him company. He frowned, standing up and turning around slowly, looking for a landmark.

"Where am I?" His voice echoed out over the sands, but no answer came to him. He spied a small form off in the distance, and began to head towards it. When he himself was barely more than a small dot, a wind picked up, sweeping away his imprints in the sand, blotting out all traces that somebody had been there.

Sasuke stopped, bending over and panting hard. He had been walking for what seemed like hours, and the far-off shape was only a little bit bigger.

"K'so… How long is this going to take?" He straightened back up and began to stagger towards the shape again. He had not been walking for long before he felt a terrible presence behind him. Terrible and familiar. His eyes narrowed as he whipped around, and there he was, his mangekyou sharingan spinning menacingly.

"Itachii… What do you want?" The older man chuckled.

"I'm glad to see that we are still on first-name terms, little brother…" Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he rushed at his brother.

"Shut UP! I'LL KILL YOU!" Itachii's chuckling turned into outright laughter as Sasuke hurtled towards him. He was still laughing when Sasuke fell through the sand, and down into a darkness so powerful, so suffocating that even Sasuke cried out in fear. His eyes widened as his hands when to his throat. No sound had come out of his mouth. The blackness absorbed everything, even his thoughts, everything that was, except for one menacing voice, whispering constantly into Sasuke's ears. It was too much for Sasuke, and he curled himself into a ball, tearsbeginning to runfrom his eyes as he clamped his hands over his ears, but nothing could drown out the whispers.

"You think that you're worth something, you little brat? Well you're wrong! You're nothing compared to Itachii! You should've never been born! You'll never defeat Itachii! You're worthless!"
"Worthless!"

"Worthless!"

"You're worthless!"

Sasuke curled up tighter with each word spoken, as though a thousand needles were piercing his stomach, his heart, his very soul. Though he couldn't speak, his mouth moved, forming the word 'No' over and over. The darkness moved closer, beginning to take over the teenager's body itself. His eyes snapped open, and he turned his hands frantically to his feet, trying to rip the dark presence away. But the more he ripped, the faster it grew. Soon, it had covered up to his elbows, and he couldn't even cover his ears from the harsh whispers anymore. He floated there, tears falling unabashedly from his eyes, the whispers echoing in his head as the darkness inched up his neck. It had reached his chin, and he just lay there now, eyes open and blank, his mouth forming the word 'worthless' again and again. The darkness had covered his chin, and was about to plunge into his mouth, but a pinprick of light appeared suddenly, shining gold onto Sasuke's mouth, making the darkness move back. The golden light grew brighter, stronger, and the darkness receded farther from the boy's body. But Sasuke never noticed, still mouthing 'Worthless'. The light could sense this, and grew urgent, growing even faster then before. It grew larger, and larger, swallowing the darkness, and, when it reached Sasuke, crushing the whispers. The light surrounded the boy carefully, as if he were a new-born babe, and a song began to echo from somewhere, soft and sweet.

"Come little wolfling
Come now sweet wolfling
The moon is shining
The stars are singing

Let them embrace you
and hold you tight
Let yourself be surrounded by night

A new dawn awaits you
Silent and sweet
Come now tiny wolfling
Come prance on your feet"

Sasuke slowly began to become himself again, the song flowing around him all the time. His tears stopped, his mouth ceased to move, and his eyelids slid down as he let himself fall asleep to the song, the light drawing him closer and closer to its core. It got to the point where one strand of his hair just barely brushed against the core, then…

Aori slowly drew her hand back from Sasuke's sweaty head. She carefully moved from his bed, slipping her glove back onto her hand. She turned to look at the now calm figure of Sasuke once more, before sliding his door shut. Walking over to the window, she opened it and jumped up onto the roof. Alighting carefully, she looked around for any of the tall man's stupid ninjas, and seeing none lay down, gazing up at a full moon. There was a slight frown on her face. It worried her that Sasuke was having such dreams… It meant that his mind was less stable than most people thought. He was still just a fifteen year old, for all that he acted like he was 20. Aori shivered slightly, although the night was warm. Sasuke's dreams were worse than most too. If she hadn't intervened when she had, he would've gone into a coma…

She tensed slightly as she felt a soft stroke against her cheek, then recognized the chakra and relaxed. A bodiless voice, feminine and eons old, whispered into her ear.

"Rest easy small one… We shall make sure that he is all right…" Aori smiled slowly and let her eyes close, falling asleep to a bodiless voice singing a ghostly song.

"Come little wolfling Come now sweet wolfling The moon is shining The stars are singing…"

Months had passed, and Sasuke had not had another nightmare since Aori's intervention. He had been training diligently, and Orochimaru was growing happier and happier with the passing of each day. Sasuke was in fairly good spirits as well. Aori had been coming to watch him train with Orochimaru lately, and he had found her presence calming, for some unknown reason. He could always spar better when she was around. Orochimaru had noticed this as well, and so he had stopped giving the girl glares when she came to watch.

Today, Orochimaru was especially happy. It had been about four years since Sasuke had come to train with him, and his power had increased immensely. He did not regret waiting to take over the boy's body. The wait had been worth it. But today, today was the day he decided that he would take Sasuke's body.

"Good Sasuke, very good. You have improved greatly. In light of this achievement, I am going to allow you to have the rest of the afternoon off." Sasuke frowned.

"What if I don't want to have the afternoon off?"

"That's just too bad, because you do. Go have a nice fuck with your pet if you want exercise…" Aori, who had been watching Sasuke spar, glanced over at Orochimaru, hatred in her eyes. She had gotten up from her seat in the rafters of the room and was waiting for Sasuke by one of the many doors that lead into other parts of Orochimaru's domain. Sasuke too had turned to glare at Orochimaru.

"She isn't my pet!" Orochimaru paused at the door he was opening, turning back to Sasuke with raised eyebrows.

"What did you just say?"

K'so!

"I-I said that she isn't my pet… She's my…er…my slave…" Orochimaru snorted, a smirk forming on his lips.

"Pet, slave, what's the difference? She's still just a fuck toy…" Sasuke glanced over at Aori from the corners of his eyes. She was standing as stiff as a statue, her hands in fists and her whole body shaking from rage. Sasuke swore quietly too himself. He couldn't let Orochimaru see that she wasn't in the least bit submissive. He would relish in breaking her.

He walked over and quickly grabbed Aori's upper arm. She spun her head to look at him, and seeing some sort of look in his eyes, she calmed, making herself look afraid.

"You make a good point Orochimaru… Come, my slave. I wish to have a little fun." To finish the effect, Sasuke proceeded to run his tongue along Aori's ear. She shuddered and Sasuke couldn't tell if it was real or part of her act. Orochimaru snorted lightly.

"You're supposed to wait until you're in your rooms, Sasuke..." Sasuke turned,glared at Orochimaruand then made a show of dragging Aori from the training room, leading her back to his chambers.

Back in his rooms, Sasuke sat down on his bed, huffing slightly.

"That was too close Aori! You have to keep your feelings under better control around Orochimaru, or he'll figure it out and take you away for his personal pleasure." Aori had sat down a few feet away, just staring at Sasuke with slight annoyance in her eyes as she rubbed at the ear that he had licked. He grimaced at her.

"Well what else was I supposed to do? Kiss you!" Before he had finished speaking Sasuke realized that he had said the wrong thing. Aori's face had gone deathly pale, and she disappeared with a slight displacement of air, the only sign of her departure the window banging open. Sasuke blanched.

K'so! I haven't seen her do that since when I first met her! How does she do it? Why did she do it? Sasuke stood up and walked over to the window. Aori was nowhere to be seen. He growled slightly.

"I guess I should go find her…" So saying, he jumped out the window, landing on the ground.

Aori alighted on the roof, her hands in tight fists. Her jaw was clenched tight, and she began to pace back and forth along the roof. How could he! Stupid Sasuke! He just didn't understand! He couldn't… Aori stopped pacing, her eyes widening at her discovery. He couldn't understand… Her lips pulled up in a feral snarl and she turned, bashing her fist into a tower right behind her. When the dust cleared, a hole clean through was revealed. Aori shoved her hands up into her hair pulling tight. Her eyes showed anguish, and her carefully maintained mask had slipped. Why her! Why couldn't she be like a normal person! Why?...

She collapsed to the roof, shaking badly and cradling herself. She wasn't crying, because she couldn't… She had not cried for many, many years. As she lay there, the wind began to blow around her, dead leaves lifting from the roof to twirl and swirl softly around her. Amidst the wind and leaves a ghostly voice came. The motherly, old voice.

"My daughter… You must not give up. The tree begins to grow again, another ring shall be added, another part of the story concluded. You have found one of the two whom will share your destiny, but he is still in grave danger… Both are. You must get up. Listen to what is happening around you, with a heart not blinded."

The wind died down, the leaves coming to rest on the roof again. Aori lay still for a few moments more, then stood up, all signs of emotion gone, her mask back in place. She closed her eyes, and picking up voices in the air, she silently crept over to the side of the roof. Lowering herself over the edge, using her fingers to keep herself flush to the wall, she listened to the conversation, frowning. She recognized one of those voices… It was the tall man that Sasuke was always sparring with…

"Tonight! Tonight is the night that I take what is mine! His body has grown, matured, and it is in its prime! There is no riper time for the ritual."

"Orochimaru sir, are you sure that it must be tonight?"

"Of course! I have waited four years for this body, and I will not wait any longer! There are a few preparations left, and then I must rid the body of the soul that currently resides in it. Ah! By tomorrow, Sasuke's body will be mine!"

The voices died away as Orochimaru and the other went through a door. Only when their voices could be heard no more did Aori dare to move. She pulled herself back up onto the roof, shivering as she recalled the excitement in Orochimaru's voice. She had to find Sasuke!

Well, this is my first ever fan fiction; Please, tell me what you think, comments, criticisms, all is welcome. I would greatly like to improve