Chapter 5 - 'Captured' Arc; Chapter 5

Please note: This is one chapter that justifies the heavy advisory content I put on this fic. Please enjoy while keeping that in mind. If you don't enjoy parts like that, skip down six paragraphs. Please enjoy!
-NG

Keeping the needle at my neck, Azami raised her right hand. Without even one handsign, in it was a flame. The flame looked normal, but I could feel it’s heat, even while I was covered in water. Gradually, the flame died down until it was simply resting on Azami’s fingertip.

“This is what it means to have total mastery over your element of chakra. Now then, where should I put this? Hmm… I could burn your penis off. Singe your nipples. Crisp your armpits… Believe me, even someone as tough as you would feel it and beg me to stop.”

She whispered all this into my ear, her voice both threatening and almost sultry. I suddenly felt a mix of things: Shame at being caught like this. Anger that I let myself get caught. Rage that I couldn’t do anything about it. And even turned on. This girl owned me, and I enjoyed it. I had really liked her the night before, too. The ‘sweet little girl’ act was cute. Now she was stronger than me, and totally hot. This made me feel even more shame.

“Interesting to think that I feel like I know you. I feel guilty making somewhat sexual threats to you. You clearly are the chivalrous type when it comes to women. So where can I put this just to teach you a lesson without killing your sex appeal…I know!” she said happily. “Turn over!”

I did. Even knowing what was coming, I couldn’t think of a way to escape. She had demonstrated that she was better and stronger than me. In. Every. Way.

Roughly, she pushed me up against one of the bamboo walls around the hot spring. I bounced off it painfully. Her powerful left arm held me against the wall roughly after catching me on the recoil.

“If you move,” she hissed in my ear, seizing my hair roughly, “Things will get worse. You can take this pain. There are others in this village that can’t, and they‘re much easier targets. Now, hold still.”

I felt the flame lick my back, high up on my right shoulder. Her needle hand was over my mouth, so I couldn’t scream. But I wasn’t going to. I would take this like a man. If I was even a man anymore. I closed my eyes against my better judgment. The pain was that bad- I had to do something!

After a minute or so, Azami had ‘branded’ me.

“There now. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Oh! Did I ever tell you why I took this approach with you to begin with?”

She pushed me into the water, where my back sizzled and my new mark of shame cooled. I couldn’t tell what it was yet, but it didn’t feel good.
“Why? Why not just kill me?” I asked. I felt tears in my eyes, and became angry that I couldn’t control my emotions anymore.

“Because…” she cooed, straddling me as I leaned against the wall. She put one hand under my chin, tickling it and teasing me.
“Because I wanted to see your spirit broken. I’ve shattered your resolve.”

It was true. I didn’t feel anything anymore. I hated myself. And yet, I didn’t. I couldn’t figure anything out. I had given up.

“Isn’t it nice to be able to just give up?” she asked me. “Isn’t it just so free? But I can still see a spark of fight in your eyes. That spark must come from that other girl? Or perhaps another reason you have to fight? Well, either way, I’ll put that spark out right now.”

She leaned forward and kissed me. It was a passionate, open-mouthed kiss. But with each bit of joy I felt, I felt an equal amount of shame. I didn’t even want to fight her anymore, and I knew that was wrong. I should have gone down swinging. Instead, I let an enemy take my first real kiss. I felt my resolve to fight shatter like a pane of glass.

I had never been so completely defeated and humiliated.

She seemed to sense that as she released my lips from hers. She stood over me, smiling at my helplessness.

“Now I own you. But I’m interested to see if you can come back from this. You’ve been called a great warrior. “Heaven’s Temper”; the “Dragon Boy”; the list goes on. Will you abandon those monikers? Or will you show me your fangs, ‘Little Tiger‘, as your old master called you?”

I didn’t even say anything. I just sat there at her feet. Would it be so bad to just give up? To let her own me? I really liked her, and she was beautiful, and she even liked me. Why couldn’t I just submit to her? Would it be so wrong?

“You can give up now and become my property. If you do, I won’t kill you or your friends. You’ll just serve me, and be my husband. If you consent to this, bow to me and tell me that I own you.”

I froze. I was ready to give up and do anything she wanted. Maybe this was love? I really liked her. So maybe that kiss was okay? And all the abuse? I really found I wanted her to continue.

But something stopped me. The sight of Sakura-Ojousama and Naruto-dono in my mind. All the times we had fought together. My commitment, however hard to bear, to keep them safe. I couldn’t just abandon them.

But for once, I could only struggle to my knees. I had even forgotten I was naked now. I forced all my strength into my voice.

“In three months, I’ll fight you again. If you win, I’ll leave with you quietly, because I’ll have no business protecting people if I can’t even win back my own resolve. I’ll remember this humiliation, Azami. I’ll remember that I enjoyed it, and that I even really like you…”

I stood up, my fist clenched. I met her eyes. There was a small spark back in my own eyes.

“…I will remember all that, and cast it aside! I won’t let you threaten my village, or my students, or my friends! I won’t allow you to trample on me, or the Will of Fire! I won’t stand for it! I’ll stop you- even if my life is the price!”

Azami smiled at me, then patted my head. It was such a condescending gesture, but done so gently I didn’t even think of reacting violently.
“Good luck with that. In three months, then. We’ll battle on top of the Hokage Faces. That way everyone can see the outcome, and your humiliation and defeat will have thousands of witnesses.”

With that, she disappeared. With her gone, my weak resolve crumbled. I fell to my knees in the water, then just laid down. As I laid there, shame all over me, I thought one more thing:
I can’t let her win. Even if I might be in love with her.
--
--

That day in training, I was different. I had always worked hard. But today, I made things even harder.

I had a friend who could seal chakra. She was this beautiful Shinto Priestess. A Miko. Asuna was her name. With long, brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and clothed in a cosplaying otaku’s dream costume, a Miko outfit, she was cute. She had dark, inquisitive eyes, and she was an incredibly strong female, mentally speaking. She and I had thought about dating, but after talking a few times, there was no spark. We were the dreaded ‘just friends’.

She was almost tomboyish, but a sweetheart beneath her tough girl exterior. I was one of the few privileged to see that side of her. For now, though, I asked her to give me her worst.

“Seal my chakra. Please, Asuna-chan. I have to get stronger. My leisurely pace before…it’s not cutting it.”

Asuna could tell something was eating at me, but she was courteous enough not to pry for details. Instead, she sealed my chakra with one of her chakra wards. I wished I could learn that technique. Not that she hadn’t tried teaching me; I just couldn’t quite get it.

Sealing chakra was a painful thing. The tag had to be placed on your bare skin. Then it sizzled and dug into your skin. Kind of like an acid. After that, your chakra was gone. You could move, but you felt ten times heavier. It was perfect training. I, who had no time to lose, took this extreme method and hoped it would work.

“Naruto-dono; Sakura-Ojousama- attack me when you’re ready. We’ll spar like this for an hour. After that time, will you please jump in, Asuna-chan?”

“Asuna-chan? When did I say you could call me that? …But, whatever!” the Miko said, going over to the side to stretch herself out. In her mind, though:
He gave me a pet name! No one’s ever done that before…
--

Sakura didn’t like this. Ryouko-sempai was never this serious about training. Not when it was with her and Naruto. By himself was different. After last night’s deal with avoiding her hug, Sakura couldn’t deny it any longer: Something was bothering Ryouko.

But he hasn’t told Naruto or me. And no way he’d go to Lady Tsunade… ! What’s that? On his back?

As Ryouko went to pull off his vest, his shirt pulled up in the back. There, Sakura had seen the burn Azami had given him. She decided she would confront Ryouko about it. And if he wouldn’t tell her, then she would play hardball- even pull rank, if it came to that.
--

I just got my vest off and folded it up when Sakura came over to me. I gritted my teeth- I hadn’t worked out my explanation to her yet. Not to mention last night’s image of her in that yukata was still fresh in my mind. And of course, my humiliation at the hands of Azami was in there, too. My nasty little mind starting to imagine Sakura in Azami’s place. I found that both girls were attractive to me, but in different ways.

“Hi Ryouko! Um…I’ve got a question…”

She was so cute when she was asking me like that! She looked a little timid. In her little skirt and vest outfit, she looked really cute. And she was so polite, too. A quality female.

Azami, on the other hand…she was sexy, worldly, and dangerous. Most guys would pick her over Sakura any day, in an instant.

“Sure, go ahead, Ojousama,” I hear my self respond automatically.

“…That burn on your back. It looks like a tattoo. What does it mean?”

I gasped- I had forgotten about that! It hadn’t hurt or anything since it was seared into my skin. And as for what it said…who knew? It was in a place I couldn’t see without a mirror. I had spent the entire morning lying down, feeling defeated, depressed, and still a little turned on. But that was fading as I felt shame more predominately.

“…” I had already been naked in front of a girl today. So why not let this girl, one I actually trusted, take a look at my back. That in mind, I pulled off by blue jonin shirt.
“…Ojousama, can you draw the burn on the ground? I’ll explain it later, but I need to know…what does it look like?”

Sakura took up a stick and began to pen out my tattoo in the dirt. I watched it take shape. My face paled. I could have cried. The tattoo read: (loosely translated from the katakana used to write it) I own you. –A (Katakana: Ai oun yu)

I buried my face in my hands. I just sat down on the ground, right there. This girl…each time I gained a flicker of hope or resistance, she had my move pegged and knocked me down again.

“Who’s… ‘A’?” Sakura asked me. She made sure none of the others saw this. I was so touched by her kindness that I immediately told her the whole, humiliating story. Every last detail.

“…and she said that, in three months, we’ll fight again. If I lose, she owns me. If I win…I don’t know. I guess she doesn’t own me. But I’ve never been so utterly defeated and embarrassed! And worst of all…I…liked it…”

Sakura didn’t try to comfort me. I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t bring myself to blame her. But she did finally speak:

“…Tell me why you pulled Naruto in the way when I went to hug you.”

I looked around carefully. Naruto and Asuna were off by the woods, arguing about something. The two actually got along pretty well, but they both had strong personalities. When they were left alone, they tended to fight.
But that wasn’t important. What was important was me having to tell Sakura the truth about that. I had been so beaten today, mentally and physically, that I just flat-out told her:

“I couldn’t let myself get hurt again. You see, I’ve had a crush on you for three years now. But I never felt like there was a good time to tell you. And now that I’m your servant…it just didn’t seem right.”

I sighed heavily, and just bowed my head.

“And this isn’t the way I wanted to tell you how I felt…feel. But I’d rather you understand why I did what I did. This way, you don’t have to wonder if it’s something you did. Because I promise you, as lame as it sounds…it’s not you. It’s me.”

Sakura was clearly shocked, at least at first. But little by little, she seemed to understand.
“Of course! The blushing around me! The constant desire to protect me! I can’t believe I didn’t notice! But why didn’t you tell me?”

I looked away. “I’ve always been intimidated by girls. Even you, who was always so nice to me. What if you said you didn’t like me back? We have to work together. It’d be akward for you and embarrassing for me. Neither of us needs to be put through that. And…I’m afraid of change. What if things changed for the worse? …I’m a fool.”

Silence.

It seemed both of us had something to think about. Well, we could do that during training. I had a deadline to meet.
--

That night, I lay in bed bruised and exhausted. I had fought for a full hour without chakra. Then I sparred with chakra for another hour- against a tag team of Rock Lee and Might Gai, no less- but still only taijutsu. Finally, I spent hours on my ninjutsu. That meant that tomorrow would be a lot of genjutsu training. Especially as I remembered how much better Azami was than me at it.

I needed my rest, but my body wouldn’t accommodate. I jumped at every sound; every flash of light. I tossed and turned. I couldn’t take anything, because I was a wanted man. If Azami came back, I couldn’t even give her a fight.

But after a cup of tea and a cigarette (a real one, as opposed to my healthy chakra cigs), I finally drifted off. I’m not sure how long I was asleep for, but it didn’t feel like more than an hour.

“Gotta pee…” I mumbled, kicking off my blanket and stumbling to the bathroom. I felt something around my neck. I thought it was just some straw from my mats, but then I felt some cold metal hit me in the center of the chest.

A chain? Wait…

My brow was suddenly heavy with sweat. I felt the chain with my hands. I followed it up to my neck- a collar?! As I tugged it, a piece of paper fluttered down to the floor.

“Huh? A note?”

I bent down and picked it up. My hands shook as I read it’s contents.

It’s three o’clock am. Do you know where your Ojousama is?
You’d better find her. Do not attempt to remove this collar. If you do, it will be your charges that will suffer.

-Azami

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