Fighting With One's Self

Chapter 15 - Torture

A/N: Sorry if there were a lot of mistakes in the previous chapter. I forgot to proofread it before uploading.

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I start trembling due to panic. If what Pein says is true, then I know I am in for big-time torture. I was out cold for three entire days. Who knows what the people at the hospital could have planted inside me during that time? Why would they plant something in me? A single word comes to mind.

Sakura.

Of course. That's why she let me go so easily. She would never have betrayed her village like that if she didn't have a reason for it. Geez. She lectures me and threatens me, and then she's the two-face.

"What will you do to her?" Yume-chan asks softly, bringing me back to the conversation.

"We do not know what is inside her, so we will have to exterminate every possibility. Kakuzu will have to perform every operation he knows of-"

"You'll mutilate her, un!" Dei-kun bursts out, "Kakuzu knows of every possible way of planting a tracking device inside a person! What if she doesn't even have-"

"If it turns out that there is no device inside her, then we will know for sure. Otherwise we will continue running forever, or possibly until all of us are dead," Pein says simply.

"Some of us can't die," Hidan's head says, "Speaking of which, Kakuzu, get your fucking ass over here and stitch me up."

"Even if you cannot die, they can still seal every part of your body within a concrete block and bury you fifty feet underground," Pein says, "Is that how you want to spend the remainder of eternity?"

Everyone is quiet, and I know that they all agree with him. Not even Dei-kun or Yume-chan say anything. I really do not want Kakuzu to dig and carve into my body. What if I do not survive?

"You are my soldiers, and I want all of you healthy," Pein says after a long pause, "Yoku will be unconscious while Kakuzu works, so she will not feel any pain. Then he can work slowly and accurately without having to worry about her pain. We will start as soon as Konan found-"

"Pein," Konan's voice says, and with a flurry of paper, she appears behind him, "I already found a place. Follow me."

Pein looks at me, disappears, and my vision turns black.

***

Yume's POV.

Pein knocked Yoku out the moment Konan announced that she found a hideout for us. It turned out to be one one of Orochimaru's old laboratoriums. It consists of cells, not bedrooms, and the room we use for a sitting room is his old bedroom. Hidan is at the entrance to the underground building, all stitched up and ready to fend off unwelcome guests. I spend most of my time outside the room where Kakuzu is working on Yoku. I took a few glimpses during the first few hours, but after that, I couldn't anymore.

The room is soundproof, so luckily I cannot hear her screams. Pein said the operations would be painless, but it clearly isn't. Even though she isn't conscious, it's clear that that doesn't mean anything.

Kakuzu has been carving into her skin, digging into her flesh and probing into her head for two days straight. Every time, after he finished, he would heal her up with his medical jutsu and just start all over again. It's like something out of that TV show Supernatural, where the main character went to Hell for four months, but in Hell it felt like thirty years.

Thinking about that only makes me worry more. How awful must it be to be her right now? She never asked for this. I never thought the people in Konoha would be so heartless. To let an innocent girl suffer just on the off chance she might lead them to some missing nins. They were bound to know that Pein would figure out the device is inside her.

More days pass. On the morning of the third day, Kakuzu roughly shoved a thick needle into the inside of her elbow and connected it to a drip. I do not even want to think about where he got it from.

Explosions and shouting and grunting can be heard after some time, from the direction of the entrance. Hidan must finally get the excitement he's been looking for. Deidara visits a few times a day, but every time he leaves again without a word, with a downright miserable expression on his face. I never liked him much in our world, but I pity him now, because I can relate.

Five days into the operation on Yoku, Pein appears with a puff of smoke.

"How much longer?" I ask him. I feel no need to respect him enough to greet him first.

"He is almost finished," he replies, "He sent me a message."

I fold my arms around myself. Only a few more minutes, Yoku, I think, somehow hoping she would hear it, only a few more minutes.

"Why have you made so many bonds?" Pein asks me abruptly. The question catches me off-guard.

"What?"

"You have befriended every person in this organisation apart from myself," he says.

"I'm not Hidan's friend," I say stubbornly, avoiding the question.

"Rivalry is still a form of friendship."

"So? What's wrong with having friends?"

"It breeds weakness," he replies, "You have barely eaten and slept in all this time, and you have not trained at all. You and Yoku are weak because you care too much-"

"All right," I interrupt, "First of all, can you please stop being so condescending? We're trying as hard as we can, ok? We learned techniques within weeks that most other ninjas take months to perfect. And second of all, friends care about each other. They protect each other. So, where your 'soldiers' will leave you to die if the odds are against them, they will try to save us."

"And die trying."

"Exactly," I say angrily, "They will die trying to help a friend, as opposed to living in regret."

"Why regret at all? Why not just move on, like me?"

"You're not human," I tell him.

"It is done," Kakuzu says. I did not even notice him coming out of the room. 

He holds out his hand. At first I thought it must be some kind of joke, because there is nothing there. But as I look closer, I notice the tiniest silver glimmer in the palm of his hand. I look at him expectantly.

"They forced her to swallow this," he explains, "It cannot be digested, but it has been travelling through her digestive system. I found this halfway through her intestine. That is why they have been so eager to find us. They only had a week or two before this exited her body."

"Destroy it," I say angrily. This tiny piece of smuck has been the subject of Yoku's torture. I want it wiped from existence.

"Do not test my patience, weakling," Pein says menacingly. I shut up. "Send it with Hidan and accompany him, but from a distance. Let him lead the Konoha ninjas further in the direction of the Country of Rice. When they catch up with him, he can light a few exploding tags. You can stitch him up and then return to our base."

"Which will be?"

"Our previous base. The one near Konoha."

"Very well."

"How is Yoku?" I ask Kakuzu.

"She was dead for several minutes. Her body could not handle the pain anymore. But I revived her. It would be best if she is left alone for another day or two, so that she can regenerate. Carry her when you travel to the base, but do not talk to her. She cannot handle any more excitement."

I nod. "C-can I at least stay here until we leave?"

"Yes," he replies. He closes the door and I hear a lock click.

I slump back down against the wall as the two emotionless nin walk away. It's over. Finally.