An hour later.
Uzuki Yugao lay sprawled on the underground bed, her hair a mess around her shoulders, pale skin streaked with faint marks, chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath.
She didn't move. Her mind was blank.
I've gone bad, she thought numbly.
She had been forced into this. She knew that. And yet… somewhere in the middle of it, she'd started to… like the sensation.
That was wrong. Completely wrong.
But her body's reaction hadn't been a lie.
Yugao was utterly confused.
Evan, for his part, really did seem to have business elsewhere. As soon as he finished with her, he had just gotten dressed and left—didn't even bother hiding the existence of this underground chamber.
After a long time, Yugao finally calmed her breathing enough to sit up, her limbs still shaky.
She realized something scary: if there was a next time… she wouldn't be as afraid.
Because, if she was honest with herself, it had felt disturbingly good.
One piece at a time, she gathered her scattered clothes and dressed.
Standing in the middle of the chamber, she sighed and turned toward the exit.
But then her gaze paused.
There weren't just one doors down here. There was the exit she came through… and another one, deeper in.
Her eyes lingered on that second door.
Does he… keep his secrets back there?
Curiosity reared its head.
Moving carefully, she approached the inner door, pushed it open, and stepped through.
"What is this…?"
She murmured under her breath.
Behind the door lay a much larger, clean, and well-arranged space.
Strange equipment lined the walls. Glassware, tubing, storage tanks. Bits of biological tissue floated in containers.
A laboratory.
Yugao frowned. She didn't understand much of what she was seeing and, honestly, didn't want to.
She was just about to turn and leave when something pale at the back of the lab caught her eye.
She turned again.
Is that…
A person?
She was pulled deeper into the room almost against her will, feet carrying her toward it.
Up close, she saw it clearly:
A huge, upright tank filled with greenish liquid.
And inside it—a person.
A woman.
Yugao's eyes flew wide.
A naked woman was suspended in the liquid, long black hair drifting around her, skin almost unnaturally fair. Her figure was beautifully proportioned, everything about her composed and unreal, like a doll carved too perfectly.
Then Yugao's gaze reached the woman's face.
"Huh…?"
She froze.
It's her.
The woman's eyes were closed, expression peaceful, as if fast asleep.
The apparent age didn't quite match the memory in Yugao's mind—but they were too similar. It had to be her.
Why is she here?
She's supposed to be dead.
That night, the sky was low and heavy.
Clouds smothered the moon, the air thick with the feeling of an oncoming storm.
Behind the Hokage Monument, in a quiet, shadowed area overlooking Konoha—
"Jun."
A rough-looking middle-aged man, his face marked with strange painted patterns, stood above the village, looking down at the lights buried beneath the darkness.
His expression was unreadable.
"I'm here, Captain," came a soft reply.
A hooded figure appeared at his side. This was Jun, kunoichi of Sunagakure.
The man was Hisada, the Sand's representative for the current alliance talks—a trusted subordinate of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
"You're certain he'll release Lady Pakura tonight?" Hisada asked, voice low. "You know as well as I do—he isn't someone who necessarily obeys Konoha's elders."
"That's what he told me," Jun answered.
Her mind flashed back to the man who approached her at dusk, casually instructing her to gather the Sand nin in secret.
If Pakura was truly being released… why would they need to assemble like this?
Hisada frowned. "That man…"
He remembered the crimson-soaked figure he'd once seen on the battlefield, cutting down Sand shinobi like a reaper.
Even now, the memory made his scalp tingle.
The name Evan was a taboo in Sunagakure.
Jun's heart was pounding.
Is it really happening?
Are we really getting sensei back?
"Captain, wait here for a bit," she said, unable to contain herself. "I'll go check first."
"Fine," Hisada nodded. "Be careful."
Jun launched herself away into the night, heading straight for Konoha Prison.
He watched her go, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
Pakura and the Kazekage didn't exactly have a good relationship.
This rescue was… complicated.
At the gates of Konoha Prison.
Evan stood behind Pakura, arms wrapped around her waist, face buried in her hair, inhaling the faint scent that clung to her.
The night breeze lifted the hem of her black dress and sent her long hair fluttering. Near the tips, a few strands held a hint of red, as if they'd been stained with dried blood.
Her striking face showed a mix of hope and quiet bitterness.
After all this time…
It looked like she might finally be going home.
"When you leave," Evan murmured beside her ear, "will you miss me?"
"Miss you?" Pakura's voice was cold. "I'd rather kill you."
Evan smiled. "So heartless. I've taken care of you all this time, and your first thought is murder."
Pakura flushed in anger.
"These days… do you know how many times you've humiliated me?"
"That wasn't humiliation. That was affection," Evan replied, unbothered. "Besides, with my personal guidance, your combat strength has risen quite a bit, hasn't it?"
He nuzzled lightly against the pale skin of her neck, still smiling.
"And each time, you cooperated very nicely. What now? Mission completed and you're pretending you don't know me? That's a bit cold, don't you think?"
"You're disgusting."
"Men and women enjoying each other—that's normal," he said. "And you know perfectly well how I've treated you. You really think you can pretend otherwise?"
He tightened his hold around her.
Pakura's beautiful face flickered with confusion.
Because… he had a point.
As shameless as he was, in a twisted way he really had saved her life.
On top of that, he'd taught her a frighteningly powerful sword style.
She'd only grasped the surface of it, but her strength had skyrocketed.
What kind of man is he, really?
Why does it feel like there's nothing he truly cares about? Nothing that matters to him?
Is there no one he holds dear?
Her expression grew more complicated.
After a long internal struggle, she finally spoke.
"Once I leave… don't stay in this prison any longer," Pakura said quietly. "And… take care of yourself."
"Hm?"
"If you ever want to see me again…" She hesitated, biting her lip. "You can come to Sunagakure. But you must keep your identity hidden."
"Oh?" Evan laughed. "So you lure me over there, and then your Sand comrades can take revenge for you, is that it?"
"I won't tell them what you did to me."
This time, there was unmistakable softness in her voice.
After so many days and nights together, there was no way she'd come out of it feeling nothing.
She just didn't want to admit it.
Now that they were on the verge of parting, a dull ache pressed at her chest.
Flashes of memory flickered through her mind:
The narrow prison bed.
The disorder of sheets.
The countless breathless nights where this man had been closer to her than anyone ever had.
It was Evan who had taught her what it really meant to feel pleasure as a woman.
Evan brushed his lips against her ear.
"My girl's all grown up," he murmured.
Pakura's cheeks warmed. She turned her head slightly, awkward but determined, and closed the distance herself.
She kissed him, clumsy and hungry, as if she was afraid she'd never get another chance.
"Let go of sensei!"
A shout snapped through the air.
A figure rushed toward them—Jun.
Seeing Evan and Pakura locked together, her first reaction was simple:
He's forcing her.
"Sensei!" Jun cried, voice breaking.
Pakura's eyes filled at the sound.
"Jun…"
Jun was her only student. In many ways, they were like mother and daughter.
After so long apart, seeing her here suddenly made Pakura's heart twist painfully.
"Sensei…" Jun's eyes were red.
Her teacher was still as cool and beautiful as ever—if anything, even more dazzling.
Evan chuckled. "Right on time."
"Let go of her!" Jun shouted.
"I can," Evan said calmly. "But first, you're going to eat this."
He flicked something toward her.
Jun caught it on reflex. It felt icy in her palm. She looked down and realized it was a thin shard of ice, faintly glowing with cold.
"What did you give her?" Pakura demanded, turning to glare at him.
"A little something I refined myself," Evan said, almost lazily. "A life-and-death talisman. Once you take it, you'll need the antidote every three months. If you don't get it…"
His tone darkened.
"You'll experience pain like your bones are being eaten from the inside—like tens of thousands of ants tearing through your nerves. You'll beg to die, but you won't be able to."
Pakura's face went pale with fury.
"Why would you make Jun take that?"
"Because she can expose me," Evan said simply. "I need her to be obedient."
He glanced at Jun.
"If you don't take it, I won't let Pakura leave. Your choice."
"Konoha has already decided to release my teacher," Jun snapped. "You dare defy the Hokage's orders?"
"When," Evan asked quietly, "did you get the idea that I listen to the Hokage?"
"You're a coward," she spat.
"Save it. Are you eating it or not?"
"Don't eat it!" Pakura shouted. "Jun, don't!"
Jun's face went chalk white.
She didn't hesitate.
She lifted the ice shard to her lips and placed it in her mouth.
It melted instantly.
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