Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Naruto.... or Sasuke... or Neji, Kimimaru, Kakashi, Shikimaru, temari, Tenten, etc.... (i'll stop talking now....)
The room smelled different. Like an aged disinfectant spilled and no one bothered to clean it up. Who was the last to use this room? A soldier, a visitor, a prisoner, her mother...?
Tsukiko awkwardly sat in the middle of the room, amongst a few boxed and necessities. She didn't like the lower chambers. They were deeper underground with paper thin walls and wooden flooring. It was cold... Would it always be cold?
The very aura of the room screamed prison, yet lights were everywhere and inmates that looked nothing like prisoners. They were the lavished entertainers of the layer. The only females that were not fighters.
Why was she there? Why was she moved form her hole in the wall room on the upper level, closer to the sun?
....Because she had no say in the matter.
---
"Shall I tell the soldiers of their 'treat' for tonight?" Kabuto stood in the corner.
"No," the master simply replied. Orochimaru's eyes were closed, as if asleep.
"What? But-"
"I said, no, Kabuto. She's deeply scared of the new surrounding. I am giving her a night or two to settle down. She'd be more willing to submit then. You can kill a cat with fear."
Kabuto's eyes were hard, yet he bowed his head to his master and left the room.
"Very well..."He was resolute in his decision, Kabuto wouldn't fight it.
---
The flame flickered above the pool of liquid wax, desperately holding onto the last of the wick. Nearly a half inch still protruded from the base, it would last a good ten minutes more... maybe...
Tsukiko still sat in the middle of the room, unmoving. She had long since sat, staring at the candle in silence. Arms wound around her lags, with the candle at the base of her peeping feet.
Footsteps approached her door. Someone slid the door open with no knock of courtesy. A tall shadow cast over the candle's small light.
"Still mopping, child. No one's going to unpack your junk for you," a woman spoke. Her face was as white as snow and exposed neck as long as a bridge. Beautiful... but creepy...
She talked as if the lower chambers belonged to her, that she was the head of all the women in the lair... And she might as well have been...
"Oi! I'm talking to you," she neared, "Are you listening? No one is going to help you." A hand grasped the roots of her braid, pulling the oracle towards the wicked woman.
"I won't repeat myself again." Her breath was of flowers and death. "You're lucky that I open my room to you. You're lucky that I don't throw you in my closet. Orochimaru Sama might not appreciate it, but who says he has to know..."
The lavishly clad woman thought to herself for a second, before pushing Tsukiko to the ground. "Get out of my sight." She made her way towards the exit. Tsukiko didn't move for the cold floor.
"Clean up this mess!" She slammed the door, Tsukiko felt the vibrations through the floor.
The dying flame dance in her eyes. Contrasting the dark orbs with the yellow and red flame. It drew smaller... and smaller...
'Are you listening? No one is going to help you.'
... Until finally becoming an insignificant ember... and disappearing into nothing... Leaving the girl in the darkness, cold...
---
It was a hallway of doors, behind each sliding door, a bedroom. Lantern lit the way with an ominous glow. Footsteps made not a sound as his shadow passed the paper screened walls. It was a different world in the lower levels.
Shadows flickered on the walls; but his overcame all others as his slow footwork led him down another row of lantern lit hallways. They almost resembled a small town with a raised walkway surrounding the outside of them, binding them together, unwillingly.
"Clean up this mess!" A woman shouted, lamming the door in the process before muttering incoherent words. The woman's attire was nothing less than extravagant, but the sneer across her feature was nothing of the welcoming sort.
The woman's gaze turned to Sasuke, only momentarily eying him, he was not familiar to her memories.
"Who are you? This is a restricted area during this hour."
Her eyes lingered on him a moment more before looking off to the side, as if debating a thing or two. He just stared at her.
"...But, this seems like your first time down here. Why don't you come along with me and I can show you a good time." Her red lips curled into a smirk, creasing perfectly along her mouth.
Whatever it was about this woman, rather her voice or appearance, he wanted her to leave. But that didn't mean that we could be of the slightest help...
"A girl moved down here, where is she?"
The maiko's eyes seemed to noticeably widen as her smirk fell into a slight gape. Until finally resolving into a frown.
"What is your business down here. Leave!"
She was going to make it complicated... So it shall be...
A hand grasped her white neck before anything else could pass her lips. She stared up at him with eyes the size of the lanterns and pupils the shape of a pin.
"I'll ask again," he said slowly, "I'm looking for a girl that has recently been relocated from the upper levels. Where is she?"
He applied pressure to her neck through his thumb, a gag escaped. Her eyes lowered and her arm pointed in the direction of a sliding door to her left.
Sasuke's eyes traveled from her face to the dark door. He released her jugular and tossed her aside to the ground without another glance. Just as she had done...
---
Tsukiko still lied in a heap on the floor, in the dark. She didn't look up to the intruding light, nor the cause of it. She still stared at the dead candle, still omitting a feeble stream of smoke from the wick.
Pathetic....
Sasuke stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with only the minimal amount of movement. Once again, the room was thrown into darkness.
"Are you just going to lie there all day?"
Tsukiko shifted, barely lifting her head off the cold floor boards to look at the intruding figure. She squinted in the dark , attempting to make out any sort of physical significance.
"Sasuke..."
She sounded tired... she looked tired...
"What are you doing down here?" Even if Tsukiko couldn't see it, he was staring at her.
Tsukiko lowered her eyes back to the depleted candle. Did she really want to tell him? She shifted her position back to her previous, wrapping her arms around her legs. She had nothing else to hold onto.
"Orochimaru wants me away from the other people. This is a better place for what he wants to happen. People who don't know, won't ask any questions... He doesn't like questions..."
He still didn't move from the door. What was he waiting for? Why was he here? His silence could almost drive her crazy. And if his silence didn't do it, other things might...
"I don't like it here..."
Her voice seemed to be consumed by the room, as it once again became silent. Only to be broken...
"Why?"
Tsukiko, to Sasuke, was speaking in riddles. No detail, no reasoning... He may not have shown it, but he was confused.
She looked up at him, her eyes holding a liquid shine. Did she even have to debate on telling him? She's told him so much, why stop now?
"The memories..." she whispered out, "I can see the memories of the people here... I know that when I close my eyes, they are just waiting to play in my head."
She grasped her own head, around her ears, "And I can sometimes hear voices out of nowhere. They aren't from the girls next door either because you can't hear through the walls. They're spirits of the people that were once killed by Orochimaru. They want someone who can listen and share their despair... But I don't want to listen..."
Somehow, Sasuke knelt in front of Tsukiko, placing a hand on he shoulder. She didn't seem to acknowledge it until her eyes met his.
"The smell is foul here too. Like they're trying to cover the smell of death with flowers and incense. It doesn't work... It's also always cold in here, I don't think anyone can get warm here..."
She turned her gaze away but Sasuke turner her eyes right back to his. Even in the darkness, his eyes still held an intensity like no other. His hand was against her cold cheek, it was warm...
"There's no butterflies..."
He smirked only slightly before it disappeared into a frown once more.
'Always with the butterflies...'
Tsukiko's head fell onto his chest, he wrapped her in his warmth without a word. He couldn't do anything for her now, but her could try and keep her warm for a moment...
'Only a moment...?'
Well, thank you very much for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Please I would love to hear from you. Any comments, questions?
Special thank you to earthstar695 and Skye Sasuke for their great reviews! You keep me motivated!
I really want to hear from more of you! It would really make my day. Anyways, the next one should really push the 'relationship' between Tsukiko and Sasuke to a whole different level... I'm hoping...
-Sin
