So, here's little something different "Fragile Child" is going really well. It seems to be really popular too, which is great. But I just need some time on something different to get the creative juices pumping. School and work have been a little much lately. So I hope you love this new story too! I borrowed, with her blessings of course, the collar from Daigomi Yuu's "My little Beast", though I did change one or two things with it. Really I just added two colors to her spectrum.

Sasuke was still slumped against the rock wall of his "room". He had been in that position since Madara, who now peered at the quiet scene inside the wall he had originally made his first appearance from, had told him the truth regarding the massacre and Itachi. It had been two hours already, but the boy still sat in that same spot. Perhaps, the old man thought, he should have done this in a more gentle way, especially considering the scene the boy had made earlier. But, he decided, it was best this way. If Sasuke was truly broken from all this, then all he had to do was put him back together in the way he saw fit, which, given his new "toy", would be fairly easy.

He stepped out of the wall, just like a ghost, but the boy kept quiet and still as ever. Madara fingered the black loop he kept in his pants pocket, a smile creasing over his face, thankfully hidden behind his mask. If Itachi wouldn't let him have control one way, he was sure to have it another.

"Are you awake?" he asked.

"G-Get out," anger seeped into every syllable.

"Sshhh," he bent down till he was eye level with the other, "I did not mean to anger you. I only meant to keep you informed."

The other was silent.

"I did not want you to go back to the Leaf-"

"I wasn't going to-"

"Then where would you have gone? Where is there for you?"

Finally the boy looked up, his brows furrowed together tightly, his teeth clenching. "Shut up!"

Before he had said nothing word, Madara, far quicker than the injured Sasuke, had the collar clasped tightly around his neck.

"There." He rose, wiping his hands together as one was apt to do after a difficult task.

"What the hell did you do?" he tried pulling the seemingly small, fragile black piece of metal off of his neck. But he could feel it get tighter with each attempt. It became so tight that after only a few seconds of struggling he could hardly breath, forcing him to stop. The collar loosened itself, but he did not have a chance to try escape again. A searing, hot pain erupted from his neck and spread through-out his body. He fell to his side, screaming, his arms wrapped tightly around himself as if to contain the pain and keep it from spreading.

"That would be the collar's 'tendrils' connecting to your central nervous system," said Madara calmly, as if this was all very normal.

"M-make i-it stop!" Sasuke felt another wave of pain close over his body. But then, just as suddenly as it had started, the pain ceased.

"Excellent!" Madara leaned down to inspect the boy. Though his breathing was labored, he seemed mostly fine, though Madara now suspected he should have given him a few days to heal.

"What did you do to me?" he forced himself into a sitting position, as far away from the older man as he could get.

"Oh, nothing much. That collar will just make it easier for me to have a handle on you." He stood up, quite pleased that the boy was not dead. But now was time for the fun part.

XXX

Normally, Sasuke would have felt angry. He would have threatened the man with the absolute worst of violence. He would have even made good on some of those threats. But now, after the pain of the collar, he just felt tired. Overwhelmingly tired, in fact. When was the last time he had slept? He couldn't see the light blue square that lit up a small portion, nor Madara's smile.

"Do you feel sleepy?"

He looked up at the man. Yes, yes he did. He blinked once, then again, trying to dispel the exhausted he feeling that made his body feel heavy and his head light.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Sasuke heard a slight bit of amusement in the voice.

"What did you do to me?" He saw the small pallet and sheets. He just wanted to lie back into them, just sleep…

Another feeling came up to the surface, though he failed to see the red square light up just by the blue one. Madara bent to pick him up and instead of pushing him away as he would usually have done, Sasuke gladly fell into the man's awaiting arms. The unfamiliar man, whom he had only formally met mere hours before, he wanted this man. He felt the man lie him back onto the pallet and cover him with the blanket.

"Good night, Izuna."

How was that? A little different, but I hope you guys won't mind. You see, I love brainwashing plots. There are surprisingly few of those in Naruto fanfiction, so here is mine. Reviews are adored! I'll even reply back!

The color scheme for the collar is as followed:

Red-Attraction

Purple-Memory loss

Yellow-Happiness

Orange-Intense Pain

Blue-Tiredness that increases depending on the duration.

White-Warning for purple or orange.

Brown-Sadness

Green-Hunger

Pink-General confusion