Chapter 3 - Finally Broken

Male and female- two sides of the same coin. Each one needs the other to display full potential.
The female- graceful and cunning.
The male- strong and robust.
Both genders are each at the mercy of the other in a never-ending game that neither is aware has no end. Teasing, flirting, sex- all physical pretenses for what the mind wishes. But does the mind know for what it wishes? Forbidden gestures, taboo touches, feelings that border on insanity, yet remained controlled for those who are at least ‘aware’ of the game.
When the traits of the two genders meet, a rare event occurs. Physically, new life is given to each. Martially, the practicioner becomes complete. Grace meets strength; cunning become robust. Those who can master both female and male- yin and yang- in and yo- in and out- are those who can truly master their craft.



The next morning came without incident. It was a bright, clear day. The sun danced on Azami’s bed, kissing her face sweetly. She had kicked her covers off during the night, revealing her black half-tank and shorts. She opened one eye sleepily, checking the room by habit for any potential threats. She didn’t see any threats, but she did see something out of the ordinary.

“Good morning.”

Yuji’s voice came from across the room. To Azami’s surprise, he walked right over to her, the belt already around his neck. He handed the loose end to her, then got on his knees and put his hands on his head.

“What’s this?” she asked, pleased despite herself. She always dreamed about waking up next to a handsome boy. And this one-
Handing me himself on a leash? Well, it’s refreshing to know he hasn’t given up yet. Still trying to throw me off by giving me exactly what I want. Good tactic.

“I…attempted to cook for you,” Yuji said shyly, indicating a variety of food on the table. It was only now that Azami noticed his swimsuit was wet. The fresh fish on the table explained what had happened there.

“I’m not the greatest cook, but I figured that we’ll both need our strength today,” continued Yuji, oblivious to the very real smile Azami was trying to suppress.

He’s making more progress on me than he knows. The one weak spot I know for sure I have is that I want some sort of stability. He’s acting like the perfect boyfriend. I don’t think he’s aware of what he’s doing yet, but he’s smart. He’ll figure it out eventually. I need to prepare for that eventuality.

Allowing herself to smile at her captive, she said “Well, I’m not in the habit of wasting food. Itadakimasu!”

Yuji raised an eyebrow. In spite of himself, he couldn’t help but ask: “Did it occur to you that I poisoned that food?”

Azami shrugged. “My clone kept an eye on you. But even so, you aren’t that type of person.”

“Oh? What type of person am I?”

Swallowing a bite of fish, Azami wiped her mouth before answering. “You are the type who makes damn sure your enemy has a fighting chance. Unless there are lives at stake, you always give your enemy a good look at you. So they always know who it was that bested them. Poison…no. If you were to assassinate, I would say your style is…kunai at the base of the neck.”

Yuji cocked his head. She was right, of course. But how? So he asked her.

“How do I know? Well, it’s efficient, and death is instant and painless. You understand suffering, so you don’t wish it on anyone else.”

She was dead-on. He had expected that. It wasn’t so surprising. It just proved Yuji’s suspicions that Azami was a very good observer, and that he’d better start either lying more or letting her find out only what he wanted her to find out.

“Are you hungry?”

Yuji had to admit he was. He began to sit opposite her, but she tugged him back in her direction with the leash.
“No no. I’m going to take care of that. I couldn’t trust you to bathe yourself, so I’m not going to trust you to eat by yourself, either. Now, come here and sit next to me. Formally, please.”

Yuji did, blushing already. Again she was treating him like a little kid. But on the upside, she was feeding him with the same chopsticks that she had used.
An indirect kiss! Is she sending a message here?
--

This time, Azami had Yuji tied up, wrists and ankles together, legs spread. She put her foot on his throat, releasing the pressure when she asked a question, then returning it when he didn’t answer satisfactorily. Soon, fearing damage to his throat, she switched positions and simply hung him by his wrists, his feet weighted down by a rock.

“Troop number?”
“Never.”
SMACK!

“Commander’s name?”
“No.”
SMACK!

“Location of headquarters?”
“…”
SMACK! SMACK!

The second day was worse. Yuji’s wounds from the first day were still very fresh and raw, and this treatment was reopening them, plus creating new ones. Azami had planned on this and doused Yuji with water every ten minutes. But really, that wasn’t a kindness- the hot pain came back feeling even hotter once the initial effect of the water wore off.

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!

Exhausted, Azami leaned one arm against the dock, breathing in and out somewhat heavily. She was actually sweating from the exertion.
“Damn it. Can’t you be less stubborn?”

Yuji was breathing heavy and sweating, too. After she had finished with his neck and back, she had turned his butt into one giant, searing whip mark.
“No. Sorry. Ask me something else. I’ll be happy to tell you what I can- just not about the war.”

SMACK! Across the stomach, this time.
“Well, we’re both doing our jobs, that’s for sure. But that idiot Raikage will be plenty pissed when he finds out I haven’t cracked you.”

“So let me go?” Yuji asked hopefully, raising his bound wrists up as much as he could.

Azami bent down toward his face, actually looking kind.
“You know I can’t do that.”

“Come with me, then!” Yuji insisted. “If you hate the guy so much, to hell with him! Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll match it!”

“Trying to escape torture?”

“No,” he replied flatly. “I don’t care if you torture me the rest of my life. But if this clown is as big a jerk as you say, he won’t stop with killing me. He’ll take you out to. Unless we both get the hell out of here!”

Azami rubbed Yuji’s aching back gently; soothingly. “Don’t flatter that blustering fool. He couldn’t take me out on his best day. And I won’t let them kill you, either.”
shoot! He just got me to say something I shouldn’t! Now I’ve lost some of my leverage.

Yuji smiled inside, but he couldn’t let her get flustered now. It was a delicate balance- he was going to need her to escape, but at the same time he needed to guide her in the right direction. He liked her; genuinely liked her, but survival was too far ingrained into him for him to just give up.
“I didn’t hear that,” he said, giving her a half-smile. “As far as I know, I’m going to be turned over to the Cloud authorities if I don’t talk.”

Azami smiled at him, running her fingers under his chin.
“You’re a good guy, Yuji.
…
Bet you never get the girl, though.”

Yuji rolled his eyes, but felt the reed rubbing against his butt again. He winced, waiting for the pain.

“Everyone tells you that you’re a good guy, but you always go home alone. Now I wonder- is that by choice? By design? Or are you as afraid of women as I think you are?”

“I fear what I don’t understand. You’re the great, unknown, whip-wielding goddess. But I can’t tell what you see when you look at me.”
He looked up, eyes grim and determined, with an energy he hadn’t displayed in a long time, and a hopefulness in his voice that betrayed his mental barriers against emotions.
“I can’t tell if you see a target, or if you see…something else. I’m no threat to you, but you’re still keeping me at arm’s length. From what I can gather, either YOU’RE afraid of ME, or you don’t want to get closer for some reason.”

Azami nearly lost it there. He had hit in the on the head. She had taken him too lightly, and now he was onto her. If she told the truth, he lost the weapon he’d just gained, and might feel even more helpless. So that route was easiest.
“I am a tad intimidated by good-looking, intellectual men. Usually, of course, they’re just like girls- so superficial that they’re easy to manipulate. They think they’re being smart, when really they’re so transparent it’s pathetic. You know- you see things too.”

Yuji gave a forlorn chuckle. “Yea, I see things. But nothing I want to see. And certainly not into the hearts of women like you do.”

“It’s a girl thing, ‘kay? Probably the most pleasant girl thing, besides ‘women’s intuition’.”

“Girls DO have it rougher than guys,” Yuji admitted. “At least, from where I sit.’

“Mmm. Maybe so. But then again, men are born blind, and they stay blind. Women are blind, but they DO eventually see, to some degree, at least. We all know how it goes, and how to keep men guessing. It‘s instinct.”

“Killer instinct.”

WHAP.
“Ow.”

“If I were using my ‘killer instinct’, your manhood might not be so intact.”

“Then how could I keep you warm at ni-”
WHAP!

“You only need one, remember,” she told him, using that seductive little purr voice that made him snap to attention.

“No.”

“No? You need two?”

“No, I mean that’s not why you’ve avoided my genitals. You could have done any number of sexual things that hurt worse than what you’re doing. It’s not that you don’t know what they are- you’re avoiding them. Which brings me back to my question- Why are you keeping me at arm’s length?”

shoot! I beat around the bush, but he got around to the other side quicker! I don’t have any good answer!
Wait, yes I do!
“Is that an invitation? I DID say I wouldn’t rape you…”

Yuji looked over his female captor. She was wearing a black gown today, slit far up the sides. She held the reed like an accessory to that outfit. From his vantage point, he could see toned calves up to inner thigh, and the bottom of fabric-covered breasts.
It was temptation in female form.
But…
“I didn’t say that. But because I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

Azami laughed. Seeing Yuji’s situation right now, how could she take him seriously? He was tied up, naked, in front of her, completely helpless. How could he take advantage of her?

“You’re as lonely as am I,” Yuji challenged. “Maybe even more so. I thought I was isolated, but I was wrong. I have a few friends. I think it’s you who’s more lonely. And I wish I could do more for you. But raping me won’t do anything except give you a moment’s satisfaction.”

Azami didn’t know what to say, so Yuji pressed on.

“You said that it was okay for you to hit me like this because you owned me. Because you owned me. You wouldn’t have said that unless I actually meant something to you. And believe it or not, you mean something to me. You mean…well, a lot to me. But our roles are stopping us from playing that game.”

“Duty before pleasure,” she agreed, sighing for what felt like the millionth time today. “Well, we ARE loyal, aren’t we?”

“Yeah. Loyal to the point of being stupid,” Yuji confirmed.

“Well, like you said, you belong to me. Maybe I can work in the best of both worlds here.”

For a minute, Yuji’s heart fluttered. Did she mean that she was going to have sex with him after all.

“You’re going to get a tattoo.”
--

“OW!”

Azami smiled at Yuji. She had tied his feet together, with his wrists over his head, and had him laying on his back. That way he could watch as she began to carve a tattoo on the bottom of his foot.

“This hurts worse than that damned reed!” Yuji growled. Azami sighed and grabbed her half-tank pajama top from the previous night.

“Here, bite this. The pain will pass.”

Yuji opened his mouth and accepted it gratefully, concentrating on the cloth. It dawned on him that this very shirt had been against Azami’s very body last night. He could taste the tiniest bit of a cold, odorless sweat. He wondered what part of the fabric between his teeth had been stretched over her breasts.

It was over after a few minutes. Azami smiled at her handiwork.
“Since you can’t see it, I’ll explain it to you. It says ‘Property of Azami’ in a gothic sort of writing. I didn’t know you could even make a mix of kanji, hiragana, and katakana look ‘gothic’, but I took a try.”

“What would have happened if you’d messed up?” Yuji wanted to know.

“Well, I own your whole body, so I think I could have found another place to put it. Maybe your armpits… That would hurt. A lot.”

“So, this tattoo means you own me, right? It’s just proof?” Yuji played with his foot, trying to get some of the stinging pain to stop.

“That’s right.”

“..That is SO hot, on so many levels.”

Azami, taken aback, managed to ask “You like being domin-; er; ‘owned’ that much?”

Yuji blushed and nodded. “It’s humiliating. But somehow so hot. A kunoichi captures me- fantasy one. Decides she owns me- fantasy two. She’s mature, independent, and a total knockout- fantasy three. Need I go on?”

“No, I get it. I’m glad you’re enjoying this.”

“May I make a request?”

“Sure, what?”

“Can we get me some knew clothes? If I’m going to fight, I’d rather not do it naked. Not unless you and I are sparring.”

That was an interesting point. The Raikage would be furious over this development. So maybe she should help Yuji. It was return investment- if she helped him get stronger, but not as strong as her, then he could help her escape, too. Because at this point, she wasn’t going back to the Raikage.
-

The nearest outpost town was five miles away. That was about a thirty second run, if Yuji had been allowed to use chakra. But since he was still a captive, Azami kept a tight leash on him- literally.

“This is so humiliating…” he murmured under his breath. He was wearing a long, black coat with his swimsuit underneath. Oh, and the collar around his neck.

“You could always be naked,” Azami told him pleasantly.

They found a place with clothes. Azami did the picking, and she forced Yuji to try the clothes on- without the benefit of a changing room. He’d never been so thoroughly humiliated. Strangers seeing his naked body…but he was at the command of the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. So he stomached it. By the end of that embarrassing tenure, he had found himself with a slew of clothes that Azami wanted to see him in. He wouldn’t have picked many of them himself, but then again she was paying, so it was her choice. He prayed that the miniskirt and various panties were for her.

“Okay sport, you pick your combat clothes,” Azami told him at the end of that. “Anything you need. And our friend you-”
She gave the clerk a dangerous look, suggesting she had some big secret on him.
“-will be giving us excellent discounts. Yes?”

“Yes, of course!” the clerk bowed several times.

So Yuji wandered around the store, opting to be naked rather than try on more of Azami’s clothes. He picked out a few things. A new trench coat, black in color with three metal buckles holding it closed across the front, a charcoal gray shirt, black pants that had a good amount of pockets, and a thick belt (which Azami seemed to like herself. He wondered what she would do with it, and that made him shudder). Finally, he picked out a pair of sunglasses. That wasn’t normally his style, but he decided he could fashion mirrors in them, so he could peer behind him. He figured he would be spending at least some time as a fugitive, so the move made sense.
Last, he chose a study pair of boots that went up just past his ankle and that were adorned with a few straps and buckles to hold them in place. He figured that he would need to scale rough terrain to escape his captor, including mountains and forests, and he didn’t want to have ten bleeding toes by the end of it. All it took was meeting with a rock the wrong way, and his ability to run or fight as necessary would be impeded.

With that in mind, he began to pick out some female clothes. Azami was certainly interested at that, wondering if she’d really broken him this time.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” he told her flatly. “I want to make sure you’re prepared to run or fight, too.”

Azami sighed happily, savoring the feeling of someone genuinely caring about her for- what, the first time? Quite possibly, actually.
It was too bad she had to break him.
--

Back at ‘home’, two days later, Azami had been working on Yuji for three hours, pushing the limits of his endurance. He was sweating, panting, and exhausted- for all the wrong reasons. The whip marks on his body were now less individual gashes and more like one continued mark that ran the length of his body.

“Come on, will you tell me something?! ANYTHING! Lie if you have to!” she begged him, even as a proper whip this time met his embattled flesh. He grimaced, but refused. She dropped the whip.

“I hate to permanently mar your body, Yuji. But you aren’t leaving me with much choice.”

In her hand was a butterfly needle. Yuji recoiled as much as he could, being tied up as he was. He couldn’t help but blatantly show his fear.
“What’s that for?”

She reached forward and grabbed a nipple.
“You’re about to get some piercings…”

Yuji pulled away as hard as he could, but she yanked him back.

“Don’t squirm if you don’t want me to pierce a more available target,” she warned dangerously.

“Will you please just kill me?” he begged finally. His limit had been reached. Abruptly, without warning, he couldn’t play this game anymore. He went limp in his restraints. “Just kill me. If you have any mercy in you, end it. Please…”

Azami dropped the needle and held the boy’s head to her breast, making soothing sounds and stroking his hair. She could feel him shaking from pain and fear, and she knew that he wasn’t lying. This was no game on his part.

It had taken five days, but she’d cracked all his mental barriers. He had lost weight, despite being well-fed and being allowed to exercise. That was the scariest part; the dangerous way the mental strain effected him.

“It’s alright now, Yuji. It’s alright. Just rest.”

Sobs wracked his body, with no strength left to reign them in. This was what Azami had been waiting for. And yet…
And yet…

There was no feeling of joy. No ‘victory’. Only the battered husk of one of Konoha’s war heroes. And that, to her, was no trophy.

The days spent with him took it’s toll on Azami as well. She had been detached emotionally for too long. Now those emotions came flooding back, more powerful than ever. She wondered when she had grown cold enough to torture someone she loved to near insanity. What had happened to the idealistic girl who did what she could to help people? She just happened to be deadly good at her work. But where had her morals vanished to? Maybe she had heard the hype that she was ’ruthless’ and ’never missed a mark on an assignment’, and enjoyed the praise. Praise she was missing from parents, long dead.

Whatever the cause, she found that she too had no more tolerance. She just held his head protectively, near tears herself. After a few more moments, she raised his head back up. He didn’t fight her; so devoid was his body of strength.

Her own emotions running over, for the first time, she kissed him truly lovingly. There was no psychological ploy behind it; simply pure, unadulterated love and desire.
Even as her lips met his, she was untying his ropes with one hand; the other steadying his back. She could feel the rise of flesh where cuts were left in the wake of her whip. Her hand traced the patchwork of these cuts, and each time she touched one, she thought:
I’m sorry.
Another one; another ’I’m sorry’. And again, and again.

He fell into her arms, now free of his bindings. She laid him on the floor gently, setting him down as though he were made of glass.

Between her own emotions and her surprise at wanting to save him, she found herself pulling off her black, one-piece dress and flinging it aside as she knelt down and straddled his body on her hands and knees. In two more moves, she had removed her bra and panties, matching his naked state. What began as a genuine, sweet kiss soon turned into passionate lovemaking. There were no inhibitions- she’d broken those mental barriers as well, both on herself and him. There was no point to being shy now- not at this stage of the game.

Once they were able to move, that night, for the first time, they shared a bed. She held him protectively, occasionally feeling a shudder or another round of cold sweat despite the mental and physical therapy they’d just shared together. Come the next morning, his head would be once again in her chest, cradled there protectively.

It was during the first night, though, that she’d made a decision:
I won’t let those bastards take him. Not after what I’ve done to him. Not after what I’ve learned he means to me.
If they come and try to take him, they’re be facing all the fury I can muster.

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