Title: Health
Characters: Sasuke, Orochimaru
Warnings: Character Study
Words: ~ 200
Summary: Please. Yes, he thought. Make it end.
Notes: Written for naruto-meme on livejournal. Prompt: Orochimaru, Sasuke - painkiller
It feels like a drug, at first. Sasuke isn't used to this feeling anymore.
Physical pain is a part that can be avoided or learned how to be endured.
Very early he has started to built a tolerance and in puberty his body starts to adjust.
One day he will be the perfect warrior, like all his relatives.
His mind on the other hand ... words don't describe his suffering.
Itachi buried his claws into his brain and tore it open with the talons of a hawk. (Or a raven, depending how you look at it.)
Wounds may heal, bodies may scar, but his mind remained damaged , barely held together by his will not to degrade completely into madness.
Perhaps Itachi actually effected his brain or Sasuke just skipped an important part regarding social communication. He was never able to articulate his needs. Especially not the citizens of Konoha.
Lies, his fractured mind provided every time he tried.
When Orochimaru's unethical honesty washed over his burning need for answers, Sasuke buckled under the cooling effect it had on him.
Please. Yes, he thought. Make it end.
He left Naruto behind on the Valley of the End, screaming. And no matter what else may be said about Orochimaru, Sasuke lived in bliss for three entire years.