Crystal Maze

A/N: Quick warning for explicit sexual content at the beginning of the second scene. I probably won't be giving a warning next time, since the story has been rated M for this same reason, but I thought that, since it was the first time of something that specific, I owed you this much.

There was no other sound amongst her violent breathing, mouth unable to shut as a silent scream was still trapped in her throat and voice ruptured by begging mercy that she still mumbled just in case. In her cheeks, a dry path of shed tears decorated her countenance and cleaned the dust clinging to her skin. Mouth dry. Lips broken.

The truth of his father's treason had not shocked her, because although in denial, she had always known (or should have known) that being able to enter someone's landscape wasn't as common as she thought it was. It was a gift, a Jutsu created in between clans' alliances and shown to only those inside the Torture & Interrogation building but, for some reason, perhaps love or fear, he allowed her to see the steps necessary to perform such a secretive Jutsu.

It was his landscape that she visited the most, a library so vast and warm she always felt safe in between the threads of his memories. It was an illusion, for there was no true library inside Inoichi, an illusion created and perfected by Yamanaka who couldn't afford weak-minded amongst them. They instructed their youth on how to conceive an image from nothing but shreds of consciousness, so they could manipulate their knowledge and protect their treasures under heavy barriers, so genjutsu users couldn't force the truth out of them.

Ino hadn't known that landscapes' technique was a direct consequence of the creation of Saiko Denshin. But it had been so long since both their conceptions, births that could be traced to the first generations settled in Konoha, that she thought nothing of it even now.

It had been Yua who made the man's mind plummet, the foundations of his entire being cracking and crumbling by the sparkle of her unwanted presence that lit the gunpowder trail of the trap. A seal activated at her intrusion, at her attempt to force him to access a memory that was buried deep inside him through her genjutsu, and it retaliated by combusting everything that he once was. That, of course, if Yua was to be believed.

Ino has never heard of seals being planted inside someone's brain –Yamanaka possessed no technique of sorts, and as far as her memory allowed her to, she retained no knowledge of her family knowing anything about sealing techniques. How was it possible for such protection to exist? Had the man (the pang of guilt at her lack of memory of his name was barely more bearable than Itachi's illusions –she had consoled his son, but retained no knowledge of his identity), created such trap? Had someone implanted it?

Perhaps the woman was lying –trying to cover her missteps, she might as well used too much genjutsu against him and burned his entire being.

He had disappeared weeks ago and died merely days before her arrival, how much did he have to endure? Ino was collapsing after just a week. Did Ita-the monster torture him too? Or were Yua's attacks softer?

Her eyes scanned the darkness above her, gaze accustomed to the lack of light –she had woken inside the room that she remembered leaving but not returning to, he must have dragged her inside it after his torture.

The pain –it was far too real to have been a simple work of mimicry, Ino brought her hands to her face when the fear climbed through her muscles, fingers twitching. How much time had she spent simply touching her skin, brows, eyelashes, mouth? It must have been hours –the feeling of his teeth against her flesh far too real, far too fresh.

It was the woman that came skipping while singing a happy tune, leaving food and water close by. It was the woman that came and told her about the missing pieces of the breathing corpse at the other side of the corridor that used to be a parent, a shinobi, a Yamanaka member; her who had turned him into nothing but a shell, a puppet; her who had lied and manipulated them and dragged them both towards Itachi Uchiha and his damn, awful eyes. Ino felt little and was sure of even fewer things, but what she was sure she felt, what she was sure she knew –was that she couldn't kill Itachi, yet she could kill Yua.

"Oh, don't be a baby –you weren't under even five minutes." She had giggled when seeing her still as marble, her nails drummed in the plate as a base for the song she whistled.

Ino was barely able to move –still exhausted, still terrified. She merely watched the woman's figure from the corner of her eyes –the pads of her fingers were still touching her face, still expecting to find chunks of her flesh gone.

It was the first time Ino wanted –truly wanted, to kill, she itched for it, the palms of her skin ached with a desire so raw it brought a quicker pace to her heart and filled her veins with resolution. Yua's face pooled above hers and Ino could see herself sawing her neck with her broken, short nails, blood cascading down towards her mouth and threatening her to choke her life away alongside her victim's –Ino really could sacrifice herself in order to satisfy this primal urge. How curious.

The thought should have terrified her because, in truthfulness, she wasn't ready to go –she wasn't ready to die and leave so many dreams behind: reaching validation, becoming clan head, giving Sakura one more hug…

So it was a good thing that despite her wishes, her body trembled hard enough not to allow her to even stretch her arm as to graze Yua's delicate neck. "Now, now, my love-" she smiled, showing all her teeth, "eat! You need to be healthy!" How kind, Ino thought bitterly, she was being gentle with the only person that could save her now –Ino knew, Ino had heard: if she failed, Itachi will likely kill them both. Hurray!

The woman's smile shrunk slowly, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing while she moved closer to Ino –hands on her hips, clearly oblivious to Ino's urge –oh how much she wanted to be able to reach out! Yua clicked her tongue after she brought her knuckles to Ino's forehead, "fever again?" She huffed, looking at her as if Ino offended her, "but I just fixed that!" She tsiked again, wandered the back of her hand through Ino's nose bridge, through Ino's lips –her expression changed, became softer like a lover's delight; "neh-" she whispered, "what did he show you?"

So cruel –really, cruelty and curiosity picked through Yua's touch, was that her true nature? Did she enjoy people's pain? Ino had enough strength to turn her head sideways, glancing at the line of light that picked through the open door –lamp resting on the floor outside the cell. There was no moisture enough to spear a tear, so Ino simply felt the burning clinging to her eyelashes.

Yua huffed –like a child, and stood. Her knees cracked and she dusted off her kimono, bright red against her paleness. "Fine. Be like that." She mumbled, "I'll come later to treat that. Treat that again." She didn't leave without a last play, slightly moving Ino with her foot, toes digging on her arm. Ino hissed and Yua's lips twitched.

The gasp that left Ino's mouth would have been reason enough to feel ashamed that she showed her fear to the enemy, "hey, it wasn't that hard!" Yua complained, almost jumping back. Ino didn't even care -her body froze with untamed panic (what was the point of faking?), she could hear the drums of her heartbeat and feel her blood thickening inside her veins, making it harder for her heart to beat.

By the way the door was ajar, she could only see the lower half of his body -it was incredible how the simple look of his sandals had her quivering in her feet, "Yua don't be rude with our guest." Guest, Ino repeated in her mind, trying to hold onto anything to distract herself from the figure lurking just outside the door.

Teeth -his teeth against her skin. His mouth and his hot breath and how he tore her flesh–

Ino gasped again, the two figures standing suddenly shushed their whispers, Ino raised her eyes and saw them standing close, Yua just a step away from the hallway and Itachi just outside the room.

She saw her trying to reach for Itachi, how he grabbed her hand with one of his hands while he folded a dirty handkerchief with the other. Moving a step closer, Yua glued herself to him until most of his body was blocked from Ino's gaze. Ino pursed her lips as not to do something as stupid as thanking her.

"You scare her, My Lord." Yua giggled, Itachi might have hummed -Ino shut her eyes forcefully and ground her teeth to block their voices. She wasn't strong enough to fight her fear. She wasn't ready to push her limits and disdain in order to hear his damn voice.

"Very well," he said, and Ino wasn't sure if he was pleased with her reaction or simply acknowledging Yua's statement –perhaps he was doing both. Whatever it was, the next thing she heard was the heavy door closing, leaving Ino (once again) in darkness.

She was starting to feel comfortable in the shadows' embrace.

Fine, he thought, I'll concede this.

He wasn't surprised by Yua eagerness, after all, he had been a witness to her unseemly advances and the reason behind naughty whispers; to an extent –he could admit, Itachi enjoyed her passion and her need to devour him, it was difficult to bury such a basic essence of his.

It was almost funny how little it took, how easily she would open for him, like a blossom in spring, just the simplest and slightest motion on his part, merely putting his hand on her waist and bringing her closer to him turned her into a puddle of pure ecstasy.

Itachi cleaned the corner of his mouth with the handkerchief, now brown by the dried blood. Yua's kisses were sloppy, wet, and rather painful, he didn't enjoy having her saliva around his lips. He didn't bother to rinse his mouth after the last bloody cough, and the moan Yua elicited when feeling the metallic taste that remained in his tongue told him that she was particularly adept to it.

He passed the cloth through the outline of his mouth once more to get rid of her spit while staring at her –Yua let out a growl that resonated deliciously in his cock. "So adamant to clean me off of you," she breathed against the skin of his head, tracing kisses through his length. Itachi rewarded her with a smirk.

When she dug back in without another word, Itachi exhaled and pushed his hips slightly up to show her what a good decision that had been, "good girl." He groaned, Yua was so pleased by his praising that she just sucked him more eagerly, her desire escalating so much that she started to touch herself through her clothes. Good, it saved him time.

He was tired, but the woman in between his legs provided him with a nice enough spectacle, he glanced up to the ceiling and focused on feeling her hot mouth against his erection. "My Lord," she whined against him. Itachi furrowed his eyebrows. "Please-", she begged, "I need you."

Ah –well, that was bad luck. "No, Yua." He said, "you have done nothing to deserve having me inside you." Never mind that he was, technically, inside her. He hoped that she would drive him to completion with her mouth but, apparently, he had underestimated Yua's desire for him. "Hop on the bed." It was rather comical to see how she went from crestfallen to absolutely delirious with hope; Yua jumped on the bed and opened her legs for him –exposing her wetness.

"Touch yourself," he said, half-hard by Yua's ministrations, and stood. She watched him move away from her and, when she tried to grab him, he simply slapped her hand away. "Touch yourself while I watch." In fairness, Itachi wasn't exactly turned off by the idea of seeing such a pretty girl reaching orgasm, but he had grown both tired of Yua's attention and annoyed at her constant insistence. He put on his pants despite the pain that elicited in his groin and sat on the closest chair –the woman still watched him with her eyes shining with lust.

"B-but…" she mumbled.

"Oh, Yua-" Itachi moaned, "let me see, would you?"

It was… so easy. So stupidly easy to make her do his binding, she didn't even notice the real reason behind his request, she didn't even realize that Itachi's lips weren't smiling but rather, grimacing. She rubbed herself quickly, so starved for his touch that it send a pulse of pleasure to his groin when seeing her so devastatingly under his command. Itachi cocked his head to the side and thought about how much it turned him on to see her so weak for him, she panted and moved her fingers through her sensitive spots with enough ferocity to hurt, when she reached orgasm it was with his name on her lips.

Yes, he decided, borderline stupid loyalty truly turned him on.

He stood and walked towards her, saw her trembling under his shadow. He passed the pads of his fingers through her climax, taking the fingers to his mouth and washing the taste of his blood by replacing it with hers instead, she moaned. So easy.

"Itac- My Lord…" she sounded exhausted, her cheeks pink and smiling, Itachi scratched the skin under his lips with his clean hand to stop himself from furrowing his eyebrows.

"How is the kunoichi?" He asked, cleaning his fingers on his pants, Yua looked hurt; he was well past feeling pity for her –she had committed so many crimes on innocents, she was no different from him, but he had a bigger purpose than mere survival.

"She…" she took a breath, clearly trying to regain her wits, "she has a fever, I think that it's the constant use of genjutsu that it's triggering it."

Itachi hummed, "it's that so?"

"Well," she paused, swallowed, "it isn't uncommon, furthermore, your Sharingan-induced ones can't be broken, so I believe that the fever is a response to any residue that your technique might have left."

Itachi kissed his teeth, Yua wasn't wrong, he had subjected the kunoichi to entire days of genjutsu in order to interrogate her –her brain had been under a lot of stress, fever was to be expected, and with the potency of his illusions, it wouldn't take long for the fever to escalate and simply kill her. Yet, Itachi still had to question her through his eyes if he wanted the complete truth once she ventures inside the mind of her relative.

"How many more genjutsu will she be able to resist?"

"Without giving her brain time to recover?" Yua closed her kimono and kneeled on the mattress, "one from your Sharingan, maybe two normal ones –it doesn't matter how strong they are."

One –fucking pitiful. "Very well." He said, he wasn't sure how long it took a brain to recover, but he was confident that it took more time than he had. If he couldn't interrogate the kunoichi after each session, there was no other way but to allow her to perform several visits to the man's mind before questioning her.

Itachi gritted his teeth. He will have to make it count.

"My Lord?" Yua's voice reached him before he closed the door of the room, she wasn't stupid as to follow him when he displayed this quantity of resolution.

Outside, he was greeted with the smell of flames and smoke, the torches strategically placed across the space fought against the darkness to prevent it from taking over. A single drop of water fell from the ceiling, giving a constant tick that echoed through.

He moved slowly, choosing to tease –to sell his display and his calamity, turning his eyes red; his gaze was able to see her chakra figure even from the distance, she was still on the floor –but she had moved closer to the door; when he turned a corner to reach her cell, her body tensed and crawled away. So she was sensing him, she was feeling him move around (was she trying to map her whereabouts by using him and his large pool of chakra as a compass? –ah, clever girl).

"Kunoichi," he said, gently clicking the door open. He glanced around and was able to see two things of great importance, one –there was no food and no water left, so she had decided to indulge her human needs; two, she was trying to make herself small in the darkest corner of the cell. Both things were good. Itachi fought the smirk that wanted to pick through his lips. "We should get acquaintances." The joke came easy to his lips, ah, he was so starved for the wits and comebacks of Konoha's citizens!

The woman took one glance at his eyes and closed hers so forcefully the movement couldn't possibly be void of pain, she even went as far as to put her palms over her face, crushing her eyelashes.

Itachi blinked before deciding that the warning had been clear enough and turned his Sharingan off –it was just so easy to downgrade her to a withering mess, people around him always became what he wanted; they either shattered to pieces because of dread or bliss –both the kunoichi and the woman still lying on his bed were proof enough (he could simply imagine it, he knew that if he turned around and glanced at his room, he will see Yua's figure smelling his sheets).

Walking further inside made her dig her nails harsher on her skin, "there's no need –I promise I won't put you under now," he said, reaching her side. She didn't budge, merely letting a soft moan out of her lips, he crouched beside her and she immediately tensed, he would have relished on it a little longer hadn't been so pressed with a timeline.

"Trust me, kunoichi, I might be cruel –but I do keep my promises, there's no reason for me to use my gifts again so soon." It was slightly untrue –but it was enough, he was adamant on keeping his word until the very last moment, it wasn't a promise not to use his Sharingan on her ever again, but not to do so now.

The simple touch of his fingers faintly brushing her skin had her recoiling until she was flush against the wall, he moved closer, not giving her space to run or move further, and placed his knuckles gently on her forehead. "Ah –I think we can still work with your fever," he said and saw how his breath made it to the delicate skin of her lips –which she pursed. He moved his touch lower, placing his hands on hers and commanding them down with slight pressure. The kunoichi obeyed.

"There. Isn't it easier to do as I say?" He asked, cocked his head to the side, and brushed his thumb on her lacerated skin, her nails did little damage, and the marks will be gone in a day. Suddenly, the kunoichi's eyes widened, she wrinkled her nose in disgust and swallowed, Itachi was taken slightly aback by the reaction, but he masked it well with indifference.

He stood and fixed the collar of his shirt, the faint scent reaching his nose –ah. "Apologies," he said sincerely, it wasn't like him to oversee such things, such was his eagerness, "Yua can be slightly… suggestive." He explained and saw the grimace take over the woman's delicate features.

He offered his hand to her –the other one, "shall we?"

It took a beat of silence for her to follow –her gaze drifted from his hand to the door and to his hand again before she stood. Her legs trembled, but she didn't take his help, Itachi turned and walked away, guiding her to the cell where the other man was.

She, again, followed him slowly –he could hear her labored breath and feel the heat radiating from her sick form, it wasn't the best to force her to do something so demanding when she was in this state –but he could wait no longer. Just a taste –just a simple taste.

He opened the door of the chamber and was hit with the stench of mold, Itachi knew that the man inside wasn't completely brain dead –his body would have shut down quickly following the brain's demise, and he made sure that Yua took care of him with delicate precision to prevent such thing from happening. The kunoichi probably knew too, her face was so agonizingly sad that Itachi did feel a pang of pity –yet he forced the feeling down, thinking of the greater good. For Konoha.

"I've never done this." Was the first thing the woman said, face red and covered in sweat with fever, "I've never…"

"Your dad showed you how," Itachi said, "the seals are in your memory."

"But—"

"You will obey me." He didn't raise his voice, but his patience was running low enough to hiss. The woman flinched and took a step back. "Get. Inside." She took a shallow breath, bit her lip until blood fell from the corner, and walked inside until she stood in front of the shinobi.

"I can show you –" she sounded pleading, she didn't look at him, "you can copy seals, can't you? Sasuke… could." Her voice dropped to a whisper when remembering his little brother's achievements. It was a testament to her disdain for the task he asked her to do that she was willing to face the Sharingan in order to escape seeing inside her relative's mind.

"I will." He said, "but I wouldn't know how to move –what to do. There's no shame in admitting weakness." Itachi's life was too precious to risk it over this, there were things he simply could not and will not do. Let others deal with the dangers and consequences. "There was a trap before, what isn't to say there wouldn't be another?"

The way the kunoichi's face fell told him that she already knew that possibility existed –little rat, wanting to trick him into diving inside a territory he never went to. He knew how to take people's minds apart, how to trick them in order to uncover their truths, he knew nothing of how to read them, how to expertly explore them. What good would it do to him to trick a man that could not speak?

"Just a taste," he said, approaching the woman from behind and whispering in her ear –he grabbed her trembling fingers and pressed his chest against her back, she was hot under him, a consequence of her condition. "A little taste…" he repeated, accompanying the movements of her hands with his own. She started to move to perform the seals, and he turned his Sharingan on.

A maze of shattered crystals, of mirrors without beginning nor end –Ino saw herself reflected ahead, behind, under, and above; her figure twisted in unnatural places and her features distorted. She saw herself beautiful, she saw herself broken, so many echoes of her and of prettiness and ugliness that Ino had to breathe deeply not to lose her mind and let her wander around the maze.

She wondered how much of this destruction was Yua's doing. She parted her lips and admired the remains of a landscape perfectly made to trick whoever was not welcomed. Even her own mind, and endless sea where nothing was around nor above but under, looked too easy to understand in comparison.

Ino did not walk, any step she took in order to move further in could mean an instant loss at the hands of whatever or whoever stood still. She turned, felt a tremor pass through her muscles as a soft breeze and leave just as suddenly –a faint small shadow was hidden in between mirrors.

"I know you." The figure didn't have a voice, there were vibrations that danced through the infinite space between them and pressed against her skin, yet she knew everything it spoke. "Cold petals against the skin," they whispered.

Ino pursed her lips, she had forgotten how her chakra felt for others, it was only once that someone told her how her energy transmitted to others when she was a little child. Her mind abandoned the knowledge of her own feeling and allowed the memory to fly away like threads of smoke, how curious. "I'm a Yamanaka. Like you."

The shadow didn't move, but its energy twisted, the crystal around them creaked, "Yamanaka? Am I? Me? Family?"

"Yes." She swallowed, "family."

"I don't believe you." More mirrors shattered, the landscape's pressure hardened. "You're one of the woman's tricks!"

"No! I swear!"

"You're an intruder! You're going to hurt daddy!"

"Wait! Stop!" She begged when the pressure forced her to her knees, glass shattered around her and she brought her hands to her forehead. "I'm not—"

"LEAVE!"

The pressure became unbearable and she was forced to stop her Jutsu. She was thrown out, exhausted by how much chakra it took to simply access his mind and trembling, sweating, head exploding in pain. She breathed and felt the faint scent of smoke, warmness enveloped her while her muscles spasmed, when she opened her eyes, her lashes brushed pale skin –and she returned to her senses enough to notice to whom she was pressed against.

Itachi's chest supported her back, her cheek tightly pressed on his collarbone. The trembling doubled and fear made her choke on a whimper. "I –I'm sorry, I—"

"You'll do better next time." Did he reassure her? Ino felt the vibrations of his soft voice against the bridge of her nose, she blinked again, her eyelashes still moving against his neck, and felt the slight tension on his jaw.

"A little taste," she breathed, felt his head cock towards her, and passed out immediately after –not allowing his reply to reach her ears.

A/N: There's a mention of Ino's chakra in CH 17 – Tick Tock (The Crow). Apologies for updating after a month, my pc broke and I lost my work, so I have been depressed about having to write this whole chapter again.

(To the Guest that keeps leaving reviews in Portuguese: Gracias por dejarlas, las aprecio mucho. Mi idioma natal es el español, así que entiendo casi perfectamente todo lo que dices!)

There aren't Yamanaka clan techniques that specifically can destroy/influence someone's brain in the same manner a genjutsu does. That's merely fanon speculation –in the same manner, the mind-landscape I created is, while… possible (given their knowledge of the human brain and constant work in the T&I department), also an invention of mine.

The Jutsu mentioned (touching someone's forehead and entering their mind to read their memories) isn't a Yamanaka technique –but a Konoha's ANBU technique: Saiko Denshin, introduced on CH 418 –therefore, a Jutsu not specifically Yamanaka. In that sense, Inoichi is the one who performs the Jutsu with the assistance of a device connected to four other Anbu members –it is to be believed from Ino's line in CH 428 when seeing one of Pein's bodies reading Shizune's mind ("it's the same Jutsu as father's! But he was able to search her mind in seconds without any device…?!"), that the technique requires a huge amount of chakra –therefore, why Inoichi needed the assistance. However, we only see Inoichi exploring the man's mind and overcoming the different genjutsu placed on them –so the Jutsu doesn't seem easy as to be performed by everyone (Ibiki stood next to Inoichi, but didn't interfere).

I will be exploring some more this technique but I did tune down the quantity of chakra Ino needs to perform (if the theory of the size of chakra needed is correct, and I know it could be said that Inoichi needed a lot of chakra because he needed to explore the man's mind in a short period of time, but that's a discussion for other space; not FFNET), otherwise, she wouldn't be able to perform it without assistance.