Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Sub Rosa	By : TwinEnigma Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1732 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters therein. I do not do this for profit or monetary gain.

Chapter List
- 1-Mukyū
- 2-Jukkyū
- 3-Kyūkyū
- 4-Hakkyū
- 5-Nanakyū
- 6-Rokkyū
- 7-Gokyū
- 8-Yonkyū
- 9-Sankyū
- 8
- 9
Inoichi feels the landscape of Karin's mind shift violently around him. It twists and turns, contorting into something new even as it tries to pitch him out on his ass, but he hangs on by his fingernails and rides out the first wave of the storm. He's a professional, after all, and this isn't his first dive into the dreams of another. He knows what he's doing.
...Which is why he should have never allowed Ibiki to make him rush this job in the first place. He knew better than that. And yet, in this situation, what else could he do?
"I told you this would happen," he bitterly remarks, sotto voce.
Push too much and the subject's subconscious pushes back. Sometimes, it can push back pretty hard, especially when the subconscious is already feeling threatened by something else, like a genjutsu. And a genjutsu executed by a competent Uchiha with the Sharingan is the mother of all nasty genjutsu.
Make no mistake, Karin is feeling quite threatened.
The second wave of the storm threatens to bear down on him and he lets it because he knows how to move here. Karin must think he's no danger for the time being. She must think it is safe once more. Inoichi lets his form go, reshaping himself into mist, sunlight and butterflies in the face of the ever-shifting subconscious.
I am not a threat. I am not a threat.
He lets himself spread into the ground, sculpting daisies and forget-me-nots laced with friendly feelings and kindness.
See, I am a friend. You can trust me.
Inoichi is trees and grass, flowers and sunlight, butterflies and warmth. He radiates calm and the safety of familiarity in allies. He twists and shapes and spirals his form and will until the seething, roiling wall of what-is-her-at-her-most-animal turns in on itself and begins to calm.
He is left alone in the middle of a clearing in an overgrown forest, a flowering tree in a patch of warm sunlight. A child's doll sits at the base of the tree: it is old and stained with tears. Slowly, Inoichi begins to push through the bark, resuming his true shape.
The forest shadows lengthen ominously and a large crow lands in the tree branches. It stares at him with glowing red Sharingan eyes.
"Interesting," he notes, pausing.
Again, he surrounds himself with the sense of safety before pushing forward. This time, it is the safety of a father figure. He can feel his topknot drop away as her subconscious reshapes him, his hair turning a deep, brilliant red and his clothes shifting to those of a Grass jounin.
You can trust me. Your father will protect you. You can trust your father, can't you?
The crow caws.
Trust me.
The crow's shape practically melts as it reforms into a cloaked humanoid shape, face concealed beneath the cowl of a hood. It skitters down the tree unnaturally with pale, too long human arms and eyes that remain unnervingly fixed on him. The cloak and hood defy gravity entirely, clinging to the figure and flowing like a trail of dark ink in its wake.
Trust me.
It stares at him, the Sharingan glowing and whirling almost contemplatively. I am watching you, it seems to suggest.
Inoichi smiles and radiates trust and safety in the form of a man most likely years dead.
The trees sway gently in the breeze as they stare at one another. At last, it points a too-long, childish finger at him and slowly curls it. "This way," the eerily mature voice of the crow-creature says and it turns, flickering across a forming path.
Inoichi follows, careful not to stray from the path. He has no doubt that had Karin considered him a threat, then the creature before him would have attacked without warning. But it appears to trust him for now and so he follows, idly considering his odd guide.
The creature Karin's subconscious has created is a curious amalgam of the monstrous, the familiar and the mythological. The Sharingan was intimidating, indicative of anticipation and seeing the unseen patterns, and he suspected that the form of the talented Uchiha boy would be what lurked under the cloak, albeit distorted and warped by Karin's own fear and horror of what the once-trusted ally had become. Inoichi can also see elements of the skilled warrior Tengu of legend and folklore in the birdlike movements and the almost strange way the cloak moves, as if it were part of the creature and not fabric at all.
The cloak ripples and he notes that it is, indeed, feathers.
Ahead, the shadows grow longer and the air takes on a distinct chill. The trees grow older and more barren, mist begins to creep over the dead leaves, and, soon, a stronghold appears on the horizon.
The cloaked figure stops at the doors and turns to him. "The enemy ghost is shut in this place. If the poison is not purged from these walls, the ghost will live forever."
"I will destroy the poison, do not fear," Inoichi says, truthfully. He radiates his intention to help with an easy smile and a flood of reinforcing feelings.
The stronghold door swings open, the darkness and silence beyond deep and foreboding.
Inoichi starts forward and pauses a moment, looking over his shoulder at the guide. He vaguely wonders if it will accompany him.
A wind blows back the hood and cloak of the creature and he is at once taken aback. It is both Sasuke and Itachi and neither. The transitions and lines between them are blurred in frightful harmony. Slowly, their features melt into those of Karin herself and then her form melts into the crow once more, but the Sharingan remains a vigilant constant.
"I have him trapped here. Without her, he cannot spread his poison," the crow says. "Take care, mindwalker. You have only power where we allow it within those walls and she is not aware as I am."
Inoichi feels a chill run up his spine. This crow, he realizes, is not a creation of her subconscious: it is something much greater.
The crow flies away before he can utter a sound, disappearing deeper into her subconscious mind.
"You clever girl," he murmurs at last and turns to enter.
Karin is definitely a fighter.
Inoichi presses on, deeper into the stronghold. It shifts ahead of him, the corridor branching into another, and then slowly rising as stairs wind in an upwards spiral. Out of the corner of his eye, he notes insects and vermin crawling along the base of the walls, and there is a distinct bitter chill to the air the further he climbs.
The stairs end at a set of heavy wooden doors with rusted iron hinges. Were this the real world, Inoichi would use a basic fire jutsu to destroy it and catch the enemy on the other side off guard, but this was not the real world and he couldn't do anything that Karin herself did not allow. Instead, he shifts himself into sand, pours himself through the lock and reforms into the shape of her father once more.
It's a dark room, impossibly large, and there is but one visible thing in the room: a throne of marble with the Uchiha fan carved into it. Behind it, the wall bears the circled kanji for fox and a number of spirals – nine, something whispers in his ear and he knows it's her. He can hear quiet sobbing from somewhere in the darkness, but he cannot discern the direction.
"Karin?" he calls out, again pushing feelings of safety and family around him. "Where are you?"
Trust me, it's safe. Your father will protect you.
"Let me help you, Karin," he says. "I know you're hurt, but I can help."
Come here, come to father, and he will fix up all your cuts and scrapes and give you hugs, like he did when you were little and it will all be better.
The sobbing now shifts to his left, closer to the doors, and he turns, slowly starting towards that corner. "Karin?" he asks gently.
He can just barely see her feet and a hip and immediately knows by their positions that she is sitting on the floor with her legs drawn close to her chest. The darkness lightens a little and he resists the urge to gasp.
Karin is pale and battered, her flesh bruised with the imprints of fingers and crisscrossed with small cuts. She shivers in her clothes and when she finally raises her head to look at him, she is suddenly both a child and not. He is almost unprepared for the way she lunges at him, sobbing and throwing her arms around the form of her father's.
"Shh, shh, you're safe now," Inoichi tells her. In the back of his mind, he remembers comforting his own daughter like this, and he lets her truly believe he is her father. "Where is the Uchiha?"
Karin stiffens, her fingers clenching against his shoulders.
He can hear the scuttling of vermin again, louder, and his breath comes in great icy puffs.
Karin slides away from him with an eerie fluidity, moving towards the throne. "Even if I did know, why should I tell you?"
"He's dangerous," Inoichi replies, "He hurt you."
A bad feeling settles in his gut: something isn't right.
"And that's why I should tell you everything I don't know?" she retorts, rolling her eyes. "Don't make me laugh."
She is standing in the manner of a man and there is something eerily familiar in the way she holds herself, the way she sneers.
Inoichi frowns, pushing more of the sense of parental concern around him, and he can feel the shape of her father become clearer, stronger. "I want to help you, Karin."
"You're not my father, mindwalker," Karin says, sneering. "Get out. Sasuke Uchiha is none of your fucking business."
He can see the Sharingan in her eyes. Unlike before, however, there is an unsettling sense of profound wrongness.
This is not Karin.
Inoichi scowls. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Sasuke Uchiha?"
It's his genjutsu, to be most specific, but it is a projection of the twisted prodigy's will and, in many ways, is the very real thing.
Karin's lips quirk, her eyes gleaming unnaturally. "Oh, so you've figured it out, have you? Give it up, old man. I've already won, the bitch is mine."
Inoichi does not move.
The girl's smile is nigh masturbatory as the Uchiha controlling her runs a hand down her body and between her thighs, palming the crotch of her shorts. "A few sweet words and some kisses, then she just spread her legs and let me in."
"Let her go," Inoichi practically growls, none of his anger or disgust feigned. Karin is very nearly the same age as his daughter and Ino, too, had once loved this twisted, monstrous boy. There but for the grace of fate...
He feels it vaguely, a sudden distant sense of betrayal and spiraling fury, and gets the impression of beating wings and crows cawing.
Karin's still fighting. The Uchiha brat hasn't won yet.
Inoichi surges forward, his limbs moving of their own accord in a way he does not recognize, and he resists the urge to fight it. Instead, he channels his intent to protect and save her around himself like a shroud and allows Karin's memories of the father whose shape he wears to translate his intent to action.
Fight him! You can do it! He does not control you!
Seals burn across the floor in red, bloody streaks of light and Sasuke screams in rage, his presence diminishing.
Karin staggers dizzily and slumps forwards into Inoichi's arms. "I'm sorry, daddy, I'm so sorry... Everyone was gone and he was so nice... He saved me and I..." she manages, sobbing. Her body seems to fold in on itself, curling down and into an almost fetal position, and the sobs become louder.
"It's all right," Inoichi says and rocks in his arms her like she was his own flesh and blood. "You're safe now."
Her tears begin to slow and her sobs peter into soft hiccoughs. At last, they stop and she merely clings fast, shuddering like a leaf.
"There, there, you're safe," he says soothingly. "Now let's take care of those wounds, okay?"
Karin nods numbly, allowing him to take her hand and help her to her feet.
Inoichi smiles gently as he guides her slowly towards the doors.
Something skitters through the shadows and Karin's step falters.
"Are you all right?" Inoichi asks, looking over his shoulder.
"No," Karin says. "I let him sleep with me. It's like... I can still feel him inside me."
Inoichi knew from observation that there was definitely an erotic element between Karin and Sasuke in her dreams, but it wasn't uncommon in girls her age to have fantasy dreams. Still, in his many years of mindwalking, he's seen many instances where sexually themed dreams played on subconscious fears or worries of the dreamer. That Sasuke's genjutsu would use it to exploit Karin's weaknesses as it had was particularly troubling.
"I don't feel too good," Karin murmurs and suddenly her hand falls away from his.
Inoichi turns, watching as Karin's body drops backwards.
His eyes widen in horror.
The very clear shape of a human hand presses out from underneath the skin of her abdomen, stretching the pale flesh painfully. It disappears a moment later, only for fingers to trace along the underside of her skin. Then, in a grotesque parody of a surgically-delivered birth, a hand plunges up and through her skin, followed closely by a second and then arms and a head, dark hair plastered against the flesh by gore. Inoichi can only watch, resisting the urge to be ill as the figure crawls from the heavily bleeding, screaming girl's body and stands, smiling cruelly.
"I thought I told you, mindwalker," Sasuke says, his eyes shifting from the Sharingan to a pair of six-pointed stars that shine with unholy light. "I've already won."

AN: And with this chapter, I complete the move of this story from FFnet to AFF and can go ahead with taking it off FFnet. As I've told members of Ice and Spice, I could redact elements of this, but it'd become a lesser story for it and I refuse to sacrifice a good story for vague guidelines on what constitutes an acceptable "M" versus unacceptable "MA" rating on FFnet. That being said, I can't promise a speedy update, but I do intend to eventually finish this.
- 8
- 9
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Sub Rosa