A/N: This chapter is rated a very high M for descriptive violence. If you have a weak stomach, you are strongly advised to skim through the first two paragraphs.

Important: This follows an eight months time skip from the last chapter.

It is both the epilogue of this story and the prologue to the next installement. I mentioned last chapter that it would be the last chapter situated in Sound. There should be two stories following this one, The Sound of Pain and The Sound of Fury.

The Sound of Fear: Epilogue

Kiba is on a reckon mission in Lightning Country when he finds it. The rest of his team stops when he does, all staring at the mass of flesh that used to be human. Arms and legs are twisted beyond recognition in a brokenly small and round shape, as if someone had tried to tie a knot with all of the limbs. Kiba can smell, beneath the blood, that it used to be female. "It's a woman." He says so uselessly because at the same time the mass moves, a last ditched effort at life, at trying to get help and it slowly rolls onto its back. Its limbs crack awkwardly with the momentum, suddenly resembling something more human but the legs are still bent the wrong way, toes touching the thighs through the front. The arms are limp by the sides, some of the bones are sliding obscenely out of the skin, like the knees that don't quite exist anymore. Kiba can clearly see the lips of a woman, the long red hair matted with blood, covering half of her face.

His Jounin captain has seen a lot of horrible things, but even he's looking a bit green around the gills. Kiba can't tear his eyes away from the twisted lips, still moving, begging for help. There's blood everywhere, over the legs, stomach, large gashes that show hints of whatever bone hasn't left her body beneath the mess of flesh. The chin of the woman looks like it was chewed and spit out, then awkwardly placed back where it used to go. Kiba swallows with difficulty as his eyes cover the space where breasts should have been. They've been cut off, leaving a flat, bleeding and twitching chest that is still somehow breathing.

The captain of the scout team takes out a kunai and throws it at the hole in the woman's chest. Kiba isn't surprised that it doesn't pierce much flesh before it imbeds itself in her heart, stopping her suffering instantly. Kiba stumbles a bit to the side and kneels over. He can't hold the contents of his stomach and he grabs onto a tree as he empties his stomach in disgust. It... she was still alive. Akamaru is nuzzling into his side, trying to offer what comfort he can.

His captain holds out a towel for him and with a shaky hand, Kiba takes it to clean up. He can't turn back and look at the remnants of the woman. Can't force himself to look back at what they did to her. He reaches down to pet Akamaru, a silent 'I'll be okay' before his captain calls out, "Inuzuka. Go scout the surroundings, try to see if you can trail whoever did this."

It's with a relieved nod that Kiba turns on his heel and jumps into the tree. It's not his first time seeing a body but this is worse than anything he's seen before...

He distractedly covers the area, trying to clear his head of the gruesome image of the woman's skinned chest, the legs spewing blood like an afterthought. Oh, right, I should bleed. After all, everything below the knee is twisted beyond recognition, wouldn't look right without blood!

Feeling twice as sick as the first time, Kiba stops, grasping the a branch firmly to keep from falling. Akamaru barks to get his attention and it's a good thing because it not only completely distracts Kiba from his nightmarish thoughts, it also brings his focus to the shape of a man lying on the ground, half hidden by bushes and shadows. Akamaru seems excited, immediately and without fear running to the form. Kiba frowns at that. Akamaru's usually more careful than that, especially after what they just witnessed.

The dog is sniffing at the shape, trying to make it move, react. Kiba takes out his sword and approaches more carefully, smelling the air, trying to identify the man. What his nose tells him has Kiba dropping the weapon and running to the man on the ground, discarding safety. It can't be. He turns the unconscious body in his arms, wincing as he catches sight of a nasty wound of the man's stomach, but what really has Kiba's jaw on the ground is the face, the eyes, the lips.

"Sasuke."

The End: The Sound of Fear

More notes, thanks and replies: The Sound of Fear is deeply associated with Sound village and Orochimaru himself. The feeling I wanted to transmit throughout the entire story is that of Orochimaru and the influence he has on Sasuke. I do apologize for leaving so much in shadows and doubts at the end, however. There is, overall, eight months of Sasuke's life which are missing from the story and since they are directly relevant to the plot and mystery of the next story, I have decided to fully edit it out.

I would deeply appreciate any comment or constructive criticism the readers see fit to offer. Suggestions and guesses are just as welcome.

The Sound of Pain promises to be much lighter, mostly due to the return of one Uzumaki Naruto as an active participant! Hee!

Quick replies:

XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: lol, no, not really. I just think every character you animate should have enough depth to be true. And those characters have extraordinary lives with extraordinary capacities. But they're still human, heh?

For everyone else who commented during the course of the story: My honest thank you and of course, a Sasuke plushie!

And a quick preview for The Sound of Pain (the return of our favorite blond-nin)

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"But Sakura-chan! He's weird. It's normal for him to act weird! Besides if you're so worried you can go and ask him yourself!" The speech is punctuated with several attempts at escaping the pink Kunoichi's grasp, all successfully thwarted by said pink menace.

There's a light blush gracing Sakura's cheeks and she mumbles, "I don't want to seem impertinent... you stick your nose in everything, so it's okay for you to ask. It might be a... guy thing. You know..." Sakura's free hand waves about, trying to illustrate a point to the blinking Naruto.

"Oooh, I see. You have a crush on him." Naruto looks pleased with his conclusion and nods seriously to himself, "Alright, Sakura-chan, I'll find out whether he likes you back!" Naruto never saw the fist coming. He finds himself on the ground, nursing his hurting head, "What was that for?"

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Coming soon to a fanfiction page near you.

Gokkayu