DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THIS IS JUST A FAN-MADE STORY!
All he could hear was a loud buzzing sound in his ears, the deafening silence like a tortuous melody. His body felt so numb that, for one crazy moment, he wondered whether he was dead. But the sound of a slither and a venomous hiss reminded him of the previous events. He remembered fighting the newly possessed Kabuto and the snakes that bound up his body. He remembered falling unconscious as the venom paralysed his muscles, and that was probably how he had ended up here.
"Hey Sui-chan..." said an unpleasantly familiar voice.
Suigetsu moaned weakly and shivered, trying to open his eyes. All he could see when he managed to force them open was a thick, hazy blur that blinded his vision. He felt so groggy...his mind so clouded...his limbs so stiff...
"Hey water boy, get up already," the voice spoke again. He felt something like fingers tickling his bare stomach and tried to twist away, but something stopped him immediately.
"Nah-qah-qah, not getting away this time..." the voice taunted.
Finally Suigetsu's vision began to clear and the mess of colours before him began to sharpen and arrange themselves into lines and shapes. He could make out Kabuto's hideous face floating before him, the cold, icy glare in his slitted eyes staring hungrily back at him.
Suigetsu pulled at his arms but found them tied behind him with what felt like extremely tough rope twisted several times around his wrists. He soon realised he was bound to a pole which was dug in the ground, more of the harsh ropes wound around his chest and securing him to the wooden pole. His ankles were also bound.
"You're my toy again, just like old times! What fun, eh?" Kabuto snickered.
"Gnnph...Nmmph?" Suigetsu tried to speak but found that a thick cloth was obstructing his mouth, muffling his voice.
"I told you, there's no escape...Sui-chan..." Kabuto began stroking the boy's hair with a false gentleness that made Suigetsu sick. He tried his best to focus his chakra and liquidize himself so that he could escape, but his chakra network felt so messed up that he couldn't make heads nor tails of it.
"Aaww...what's the matter? Can't turn to water and run away?" Kabuto laughed: "Those ropes I tied you up with are infused with my chakra. They prevent you from using your own. Face it, you're not going anywhere!"
Suigetsu closed his lilac eyes and sighed painfully, barely able to withstand the touch of Kabuto's hand caressing his face.
"Your friends don't know where you are...and your dear Tsubaki is severely wounded. Who knows...she may have died already!"
"Nnnh!" Suigetsu growled, glaring daggers at his captor.
"You should've seen the blood gushing out from her body...stained the grass red, just like Karin's hair," said Kabuto.
He took out a kunai knife and placed it against Suigetsu's exposed neck.
"Wanna see the colour?" he asked with a grin.
Suigetsu stood still, careful not to make the slightest move. If he angered Kabuto now...it could cost him his life.
"I have your beloved sword you know, it's locked up in my private quarters. I own it now, it's quite handy," he continued: "And besides, what would a freak like you need something as awesome as that for?"
Look who's talking...Suigetsu thought in annoyance, staring down at his white laps.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Kabuto grabbed his captive's chin and wrenched it up, forcing him to meet his eyes: "You're afraid of me, you know I'll show you no mercy. You know exactly what's going to happen to you, and you don't want to face it, do you?"
*Flashback*
"Stop! Stop please!" the fourteen-year-old boy screamed as the whip was smacked repeatedly onto his raw back.
"Stop? You kidding?" Kabuto let out an ear-splitting laugh as he cracked the bloodstained whip onto his captive's back.
"Stooop! Please I'm begging you, just stop!" the boy burst into tears, the unbearable pain causing him to shiver convulsively. The watery feeling of blood trickling sickeningly down his ripped back nauseated him.
"You're not stopping now, are you?" the red-headed girl beside Kabuto spoke in an emotionless tone.
"Stop? As if! Here, you wanna go, Karin?" Kabuto handed her the whip.
"Forget that! I got a better idea!" Karin moved in front of the panting boy and bent down, grabbing a fistful of his red and white hair: "Tell you what freak, how's an hour without any water sound? Sounds good to me!"
"N-no...y-you c-can't..." the boy pleaded.
"Why, excellent idea Karin! An hour will be enough to torture him without killing him! In fact, why not give him some salt while you're at it, too? It'll drive him insane with thirst," Kabuto smirked.
"Bitch...!" the boy muttered, earning him a vicious slap on the face.
"Oh you'll pay for that, bastard!" Karin took out a small, leather pouch from her pocket and pulled its strings open. She dug her fingers inside and clasped a handful of the rough salt, getting ready to shove it into her victim's mouth.
"Open wide!" she said as she punched him hard in the stomach. The moment he involuntarily cried out, she stuffed her hand into his mouth and held it shut with her hand while Kabuto quickly tied a cloth around his mouth to prevent him from spitting it out. His muffled screams rang throughout the cell as he trashed about on the cold, stone ground stained with his own blood. The salt shrivelled up his insides, his body screaming desperately for water. But he knew he wouldn't receive any...