Chapter 6
She knocked on the door three times, sighing. At least Yuuko had done one thing right. That's choosing this place to stay in. Ketricken swept her eyes over the big Uchiha house, that looked kind of... old. Well, it had lots of room, which meant she would certainly be able to stay here as well. Nobody opened the door. Irritated, she knocked again, this time instead of three sharp knocks, there were three loud bangs. While waiting, her eyes turned to the whole compound. It looked deserted. Eery. And silent. Deadly silent. This was the place where Uchiha Itachi had murdered everyone except Sasuke. Now, that was very confusing for Ketricken.
Why him, Yuuko? Why Sasuke?
The girl could have very easily stayed with Kakashi, or maybe even Sarutobi. Of course, knowing her she didn't want to bother them. And yet Yuuko didn't seem to realize that she was obviously bothering Sasuke. Weird girl.
The door opened and two glaring eyes stared at her.
"Finally! What, did you get lost while coming to answer the door?"
The glare deepened. And the boy still said nothing. Nor did he step aside, so she could enter. Ketricken sighed again, now feeling very annoyed.
"Where's Yuuko? She's here right?"
Now there was a look of surprise on his face before it was masked with indifference.
"And what if she is?"
"Well, I need to see her. Didn't she tell you that somebody would come and help her hide or something?"
He frowned, looking as if trying to remember something, before recognition shone in his eyes. Of course it was soon masked with indifference again. How can Yuuko live with this kid? The boy walked away further into the house, leaving the door open. Guess, I can come in then.
Ketricken entered and politely slipped off her sandals. She then headed to the nearest room, which turned out to be the living room. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. She rolled her eyes. He better be getting Yuuko.
She went to sit, but stopped when she heard a scream.
-
-
No.
Not the cell.
The air was humid. Yuuko sat there, surrounded by glass walls. She couldn't move much.
Please, no.
She was sobbing. Kabuto came into view. She screamed at him to release her. He only smiled and headed for the machines. Yuuko watched as he pressed the buttons, knowing what was coming next. Gas came from the ground. Poison. She choked, feeling the air around her fill with toxic gas. She lost conscious.
I don't want to see this again.
She awoke to find herself lying on a table, in a room so white it was blinding her, worsening her vision. The gas had made her weak. She couldn't move. She tried to talk, but only a groan came out. Something was stuck deep inside her arm. A needle. They were taking her blood. She felt dizzy.
Her father's face hovered above her, smirking cruelly.
"You will do as I ask, when we are finished with you. You will be my greatest achievement."
She opened her mouth in a silent scream as something was injected in her right thigh. Her muscles spasmed. Her whole body cramped. It felt as if her throat had closed itself. No sound came out of her mouth, when she tried to shout them to stop. The pain was excruciating. She couldn't stand it. Her back arched up. Her father's voice called her.
"Yuuko!"
No... It wasn't her father's voice.
"Yuuko, c'mon stop trashing around like an idiot!"
-
-
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the red-head, who was kneeling on the bed-her face hovering near Yuuko's. She was breathing in short gasps, and cold sweat was covering all of her skin. Tears were leaking from her eyes, and she let out a soft sob. Ketricken's eyes softened.
"It's okay. You're not there. You escaped long ago, remember?"
Yuuko nodded weakly, and sat up. But found that her strength failed her and would have fallen back on the bed, without the supporting hand on her back. Her eyes found Sasuke's, who was sitting on the other side of the bed. She nodded in thanks and shifted slightly so she could lean on the headboard. Her breathing calmed and she sighed.
"Better now?"
She nodded at Ketricken's question. The older girl stood and motioned for Sasuke to follow her.
"We'll go get you some tea, okay?"
She nodded again, not trusting her voice.
The two left and she finally broke down crying silently.
I'm supposed to be over it! Why can't I be over it!
-
-
"Okay, what the hell happened? I saw that injury on the back of her head. What did you do to her, you little brat!"
As soon as they had reached the kitchen, and far away enough from Yuuko's room, so they couldn't be heard, he found himself held by the collar, a really angry girl demanding answers from him. He did, what he would do in any situation like this. He glared.
"Let. Go."
The girl frowned and released him, but still looked menacing, so he decided to satisfy her worry.
"I didn't do anything. My fan-girls ambushed and kidnapped her, dragged her into an alley where they beat her for living with me. She got the head injury from the vase they used to hit her head with, to get her unconscious."
She didn't move for a second. Her left eye twitched and he tensed, wondering if she was going to attack. In some ways, he guessed it was his fault after all. Yet the girl didn't attack. Nor did she shout, scream, glare. No, she... chuckled. And the chuckle turned into hysteric laughter as the girl slumped and held her stomach as she laughed like a hyena.
He frowned, "You're friend's hurt and that's funny?"
She shook her head, managing to calm her laughter, but not removing the grin on her face, "No it's not that. Just the idea of Yuuko getting kidnapped by fan-girls. Like... impossible. I wish I could have seen her expression when she realized just who had caught her off guard." And she started laughing again.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, starting to prepare the tea.
-
-
She wiped her eyes after she stopped crying.
This is stupid. Crying never helps.
Yuuko got out of the bed and stretched, moaning in pleasure when her tense back relaxed slightly. She put her black pants and tube-top on, before heading downstairs. She stepped down from the stairs and could hear someone madly cackling. She frowned. Stepping into the kitchen, she stopped at the weird sight that greeted her.
Ketricken was now lying on the floor, holding her stomach while laughing like crazy and Sasuke was calmly making the tea.
"What the hell is going on?"
Ketricken immediately stopped laughing, took one look at her... and broke down giggling again. Yuuko frowned, agitated. Sasuke put three cups of tea onto the table and sat before explaining, "I told her what happened yesterday."
Her eyes widened as it hit her. OH god no.
"Did.. the.. ahahaha... fan-girls... scare... ahaha.. little Yuuko?" Ketricken received a kick in the face.
"What the fuck? THAT HURT!"
"DON'T JOKE ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT THEN!"
"WHY THE FUCK NOT? IT'S FUNNY!"
Both girls growled before charging at each other. Ketricken's jump had more strength so Yuuko landed on her back with the other girl on top of her. She was trying to catch her breath when Ketricken straddled her waist and started punching her face. She grabbed both wrists and head-butted her. Ketricken swayed a little and Yuuko knocked the girl off of her. They both stood, unbalanced from their heads crashing together and glared at each other. Then Ketricken smirked.
"And how did they manage it anyway? You're like a hellcat when angry."
They relaxed and straightened, "I wasn't exactly angry. More like annoyed as hell. Only you and one other person can make me angry."
Ketricken rolled her eyes, "So, done crying now?" She sat at the table and Yuuko joined her, taking the seat next to her.
"Who said I was crying?"
"Your eyes are red."
"Ah."
They sipped their tea calmly for a while before noticing that Sasuke was staring at them as if they had two heads.
"What?"
"What the fuck?" They asked simultaneously.
He kept staring.
"Oh. This is Ketricken. I'll be leaving with her some time during the next three days or so."
"What about training?" The boy had stopped the maddening staring and turned to Yuuko when he asked his question that even now sounded ... indifferent. Yuuko looked surprised.
"Oh, right. I had completely forgotten about that. Hm."
"Training?" Ketricken was now copying Sasuke with her expressions and movements. If he was annoyed, he didn't let it show.
"Yeah, I promised Sasuke that if he would let me stay here, I would teach him some jutsus."
"I could help."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea. You okay with both of us teaching you, Sasuke?"
He nodded.
"How about today?"
He nodded.
"After we have cleaned up?" Both girls had some blood trailing down their foreheads and Yuuko was surprised her other head wound hadn't opened up again. But she still wanted to make sure before going ahead and doing some real work-out.
He nodded.
Ketricken's right eye twitched. "How about using words, asshole?"
"Now, now Ketricken. Not in front of the child." She received a glare that actually made her shiver slightly in fear. "Damn, you're good, Uchiha." The boy raised a brow in a silent question, but Yuuko didn't bother to explain her reaction to his angry stares. "We'll just go and get ready then. How about we train in the garden, it looked big enough."
He nodded.
"Great. Come on, Ketricken and stop staring at him like you're about to murder him or something. Some people aren't as loudmouthed as you, y'know."
The "murder-glare" turned to her now and she squeaked before hurrying out of the kitchen, Ketricken silently following.
-
-
He sat beneath one of the larger trees in his garden, watching silently as the two girls stretched and prepared themselves for a fight. Yuuko had told him that what he saw in the kitchen before is a common thing that happens every time they want to blow off some steam. She still had some slight bruising on her face from Ketricken's punches and her forehead had a band-aid on it just like the other girl. She told them that her head injury isn't that bad and won't trouble her, but he knew that he wasn't the only one doubting her words.
Ketricken was in the same clothes as before - the maroon, knee-length cargos and the forest-green tank top. Only now her wrists were wrapped with bandages making it clear that she preferred to use the strength in her arms unlike Yuuko, who had her ankles wrapped with supporting bandages and who obviously preferred kicking. Yuuko was wearing the same pants as well, but had changed into the shirt that had the yellow snake on the back. Both girls had their hair tied back, Ketricken's bun messy with strands sticking out and Yuuko's silky hair was up in a perfect ponytail that swiped around with each turn she made.
They had told him to watch first, how they fought using taijutsu and ninjutsu, so he could later tell them which techniques he wanted to learn. Ketricken said that they wouldn't use genjutsu, although he had some trouble believing if the girls could actually do any genjutsu. It didn't matter, so he stopped pondering about it and instead focused on the two ninjas that were now getting into their battle stances, which were also quite different.
Ketricken stood, her legs slightly bent at the knees, her fists held up - one across her chest and the other stretched out before her. She was positioned side-ways her right shoulder directed at Yuuko, who was standing, one leg bent at the knee the other stretched out before her, both her hands were above her head - one bent at the elbow and the other straight - pointing at Ketricken. She was also positioned side-ways her left stretched out leg directed at the red-head. Their bodies were tense and their faces held no emotion.
For a while it seemed as if neither of the two wanted to make the first move, but then Ketricken took two quick steps and then struck her left fist out, Yuuko dodging it by bending her back to her left. She quickly responded by punching the other girl in the ribs. Ketricken swore loudly before cuffing the other girl in the head and then punching her in the stomach. But Yuuko blocked it with her arm and using it as leverage leant down and kicked her right leg out. Ketricken jumped and avoided being swept down. Sasuke recognized that move as the one Yuuko had used on the fan-girls.
The red-head landed on Yuuko's shoulders, making the girl lose her balance and fall on her ass, at the same time losing her grip on her opponent's arm. Ketricken then quickly - before she would lose her balance - jumped into the air, doing a back-flip - her right foot hitting Yuuko's face, before landing and then stepping back, putting some distance between them.
Her yellow eyes glinted in the sunlight when she spit out some blood and grinned at the other girl, "Show off." Ketricken's smug look was swiped off when she started to do hand seals and the red-head quickly moved out of the way when she realized just what jutsu Yuuko was going to do.
"Katon, Housenka no Jutsu!"
Multiple fire balls were blown out of Yuuko's mouth as Ketricken jumped around the garden, swiftly trying to avoid getting hit by one. Sasuke sat there, and watched on with interest and with some suspicion. That technique was a Fire technique. And if he remembered correctly, it was in one of the scrolls that Yuuko had read. Had she mastered it that soon or had she known of it before-hand. He decided to think about it later when Ketricken started to do her own seals, while still dodging the last of the fireballs.
"Kaze no Yaiba!"
A blast of wind was sent towards Yuuko, whose eyes widened in shock before she hurried out of its way. "So now you're trying to kill me?"
"I made it easily blockable so stop whining and get on with it."
Yuuko frowned before charging at Ketricken, while doing another set of seals. "Katon, Karyuu Endan!" Then she exhaled and produced a very wide stream of flames that moved towards Ketricken as a huge wall. The red-head cursed, before crouching.
"Suiton, Suishouha!"
A great wall of water appeared out of nowhere and put out the flames before they reached their target. Ketricken was about to stand, but was stopped when Yuuko jumped through the water and hit her. They both fell to the ground, this time with Yuuko on top and she grabbed the red-head's collar, shaking her. "Are you mad!? What the hell were you thinking, using that here? What if someone saw?"
"Oh, like you didn't use a some-what highly dangerous and suspiciously difficult jutsu on me?"
"You used Wind Blade, I got frustrated!"
"Quite a poor excuse, don't you think?"
They both huffed in frustration before Yuuko stood and stepped back so Ketricken could stand as well.
"This wasn't such a good idea after all."
"Yeah. All of our big fights turn out like this. And these jutsus are supposed to be Hokage level." The girls chuckled before tensing, eyes widening in terror when they turned to Sasuke, who had heard and seen everything. Ketricken pointed her finger at her, "You heard nothing, brat. Got it?"
He shrugged before he stood and moved towards the other two who were watching him warily.
"So, how about Katon, Housenka no Jutsu?"
Yuuko looked a little surprised at first before grinning happily, "Sure! And maybe you can fight one of us later as well. To practice your taijutsu."
He shrugged again and Ketricken growled while Yuuko - who knew that was an affirmative gesture - only smiled and rolled her eyes.
-
-
Yuuko sighed - tired - when she sat down leaning on the tree Sasuke had sat under when he had watched the fight between her and Ketricken. It was quite hard sometimes to forget that these jutsus they knew and that came naturally to them were very difficult to master for everyone else. Hokage-level. She shook her head. She wasn't sure if it was a gift or a curse that the Hokage-level practically didn't exist for them because it was so reachable. Considering the circumstances that made them so natural at this, she guessed it was more of a curse. Most jutsus they know were of so high level that they couldn't use them in front of people if they wanted to avoid being questioned.
"Hey, I'm gonna go and get something to drink. You coming?"
"Naw." She watched as Ketricken jogged back into the house in search for a cold drink. She heard someone sit next to her and turned, unsurprised to see Sasuke staring into nothing with that indifferent look back on his face. The boy had done good. After some rough hours of practicing he had managed to breathe out four fireballs before his breath ran out. She assured him that the more he practiced, the more fireballs he would be able to produce and he looked a little less disappointed. During the taijutsu battles he had lasted twenty minutes against Yuuko and fifteen minutes against Ketricken, before losing quite elegantly on both times. Sasuke's stamina and chakra levels were high, but they were nothing when compared to theirs, but his skills and his improvised movements in taijutsu had impressed both of the girls.
"Hey," She waited before he looked at her from the corner of his eye, "When will you become a genin?"
"Tomorrow."
"Really? You haven't mentioned it before."
"Hn."
She sighed in disappointment. He was back in silent-mode. She often had wondered just why did Sasuke let her stay with him when he didn't trust people easily. And she didn't blame him as well. If her childhood had been fucked up by a member of her family she would be just the same. Wait. She almost laughed at herself when she realized that this was just the case. Her childhood had been fucked up by her father no less. So she guessed that this was something they had in common.
"Hey, Sasuke. Why exactly did you agree with me staying here?" For a moment she thought he wouldn't answer, when he started shifting as if standing up, but she was proven wrong when he just lay down - his arms behind his head.
"I thought.. maybe.. you would tell me about Itachi."
She looked down at the hands on her lap before voicing a soft, "Oh."
"Could you? I mean, how do you know him?"
Yuuko breathed in deeply and glanced at the entrance to the house hoping to see Ketricken who would interrupt this conversation she didn't want to have, but there was no one. "I told you already. He captured me and tortured me for information I didn't have."
"What information?"
She looked up at the intensity in his voice and saw that his whole attention was now directed at her and she swallowed nervously.
"It's complicated."
"Try to explain."
"Ah, okay then." She glanced at the house again and she knew it didn't go unnoticed. "My father.. he does experiments. On people. I was one of his.. achievements I guess. I mean, that's what he called me." The nightmare came to mind again, but she shook her head softly, refusing to think about the pain. "Ketricken had the same.. procedures done on her as well. But she had gotten a slight overdose on... well I don't know how to call it.. we call it 'chakra-fluid'... and she managed to escape, I guess. I wouldn't know exactly, cause I met her after my escape. My father.. he planned to make me just as powerful, or maybe even more. But he was doing other things as well. Things that would make me obey him. So I wouldn't end up like Ketricken."
Her voice was shaking slightly and she paused, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves and now kept her eyes on the entrance. "They didn't work though and I still escaped. But I... got caught again. By some organization. Can't remember the name. Soon after I met Itachi, my personal torturer. He had been assigned with getting the information on the procedures and because I was a result of one of them, he thought I knew what they were and how they were done. When I tried to explain that I had been heavily drugged and couldn't possibly remember what my father and.. his assistant did to me it fell on deaf ears. After a while it came clear that I was of no use to them. And so they decided to expose of me. But I managed to escape and after that Ketricken found me wandering in the woods around the organization's compound. She took care of me and helped me to recover."
He was looking at her in a way that sent chills down her spine, the look clearly said that he knew Yuuko was leaving out something. Something very important. But she couldn't tell him. Or she'd lose his trust. And he probably wouldn't believe her anyway.
"Why did you come here?"
She bit her lip, wondering if she should lie but then decided the truth would be best, "Ketricken's hide-out was soon found by my father's... minions and they attacked us. I was in no condition to fight, but she managed to protect the both of us. We escaped. She told me, that she had a trustworthy friend in Grass country and that we would be able to hide there. But I wanted to come here and meet up with a few old friends before going into hiding. I picked you as a 'house-mate' because I knew that if you were anything like Itachi you wouldn't bug me with questions unlike everybody else. Ketricken went to Grass so the place would be ready when she would come and get me. Since she is more powerful than I am, we agreed that we would go to the hide-out together in case those minions found us again."
He finally looked away and Yuuko found she could relax again. That stare really wasn't good for her body, she thought when she rubbed a little at her tense legs.
"So, that's why you can do those jutsus. And you didn't know about the Phoenix Fire technique before you read about it in my scrolls."
"Yeah... I wonder where's Ketricken." She stood and took a look at the perfect picture of the sunset before rolling her eyes at the corny way it made this conversation look almost romantic. Too bad we talked about torture. And of course too bad he's only twelve. She smirked at the thought and winked at the now confused boy before heading back into the house, determined to find her red-headed friend.
And find her she did. Ketricken was watching television while slouching in the couch, a glass full of ice and juice in one hand and the remolt-control in the other. Yuuko went and stood in front of the TV.
"Hey, what the fuck!?"
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm trying to watch a movie."
"I was out there being interrogated, hoping you would come and help me and you're here drinking orange juice?"
"Hey, I offered you a way out. But you didn't take it. And afterwards I decided to leave you two to your 'conversation'"
"Wait. You knew he was going to question me?"
"Apparently you didn't see the look he gave you when you were off in la-la-land."
"What look? And I'll have you know, I was thinking about our miserable past you nincompoop."
"The look that clearly said that he was suspicious and had his mind set on getting some answers from you. And... nincompoop? Girl, I need to teach you some new insults."
Yuuko rolled her eyes and moved out of the way. She took Ketricken's legs and threw them on the floor, ignoring the girl's angry shout while taking a seat on the comfy couch. "Never mind that. You deserted me. What kind of a friend are you anyway?"
"The sadistic kind."
"Ah."
They sat there, quietly watching the movie and enjoying the relaxed environment. About an hour later they heard Sasuke come in and go to his room. They glanced at each other, shrugged and turned back to the movie. When it ended Yuuko showed her friend to her room and went to take a shower. After cleaning herself from the sweat and the dirt she changed into her clean underwear before climbing into the bed. She was soon sleeping.
-
-
Darkness engulfed her, choking her. She couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. When she thought that this was the end - that she would die, that this empty darkness would kill her - it suddenly retreated. The light in the underground cell that before had seemed dim and dark was now blinding her as she struggled to breathe again. Genjutsu.
"Ready to answer yet?"
She let out a broken sob and then cursed herself for showing weakness in front of her captor. "I... told you. That I was drugged... I don't know what they did to me!"
The man came closer and she tried to crawl away but the stonewall hit her bruised back and she whimpered. Three weeks of being beaten, having genjutsu crumble her mind - it was all too much and she was starting to lose control over her emotions. The walls she had built around her mind during the procedures were crumbling with each genjutsu the man threw her in.
He knelt down and grabbed her chin making her face him. "You really don't know."
It wasn't a question, it was a fact and Yuuko was shocked for after weeks of explaining the same thing over and over, was he finally believing her?
He stared at her with that same impassive look he gave her every time he 'visited'. Then he stood and left the cell leaving her to her messed up thoughts.
-
-
She slowly blinked in the dark, letting her eyes get used to the moonlight that came in through the window. Another nightmare. No. Another memory. Speaking about Itachi had made this one come forth, she knew that. She sat up and pressed her face into her hands, refusing to think about this particular memory. That was where it all had began.