Flesh and Blood
by AngeloftheOdd
Kabuto still enjoyed working by candlelight, although he made sure not to let the wicks burn down too far before replacing them. Old habits died hard. The paperwork at the Orphanage seemed never ending. Records of new staff, new abilities manifested, different allergies developed. Thankfully, these days there were less children to admit. Naruto Uzumaki...no the Hokage had seen to that. Konoha had finally entered an era of peace. Times had changed, the ghosts of the past finally buried for good this time around.
The candles flickered, the flames blowing high and thin before guttering out. An ill omen. The window in his study was open and the air outside was still. Eerily silent. A calm before a storm. Then he sensed it. That Chakra. It was unmistakable. He knew it intimately, twisted and tangled as it had once been with his own. He felt it deep in his marrow, his very core, calling to him. Orochimaru.
He had felt his presence before, off and on through the years, though never this close. He hadn't dared to tread near the Orphanage. Kabuto had prepared himself for this. He had known a meeting would be inevitable. He sighed and stacked the papers he had been working on into a neat pile before filing them away in his desk.
You always did have impeccable timing when it came to interrupting my work.
He grabbed his key, locked the door behind him and head out into the night. The moon was full, casting his shadow across the ground. A haunted, contorted shape.
I am no longer that monster. I am Kabuto Yakushi.
He made his way across the field towards the edge of the forest. Orochimaru would be waiting there. It had been an old randezvous site of theirs and the Sannin was a creature of habit. The area was seldom patrolled unless the Exams were taking place. An enemy unfamiliar with the terrain would be easily lost and the Hokage trusted far to easily to expect one from within.
"Hello, Kabuto."
Orochimaru stepped into the moonlight, golden eyes shining. He looked younger than he had the last they'd seen each other Kabuto noted with distaste.
"Why have you come?" Kabuto demanded. " If you mean to threaten the village or someone within it you know I will stop you."
Orochimaru held up his hands in a gesture of innocence.
"My, my. Straight to the point. Not even time for pleasantries," he said.
He contemplated Kabuto for a moment.
"I do like what you've done with your hair. It suits you."
"Just answer my question," Kabuto replied.
"So mistrustful. Is it so hard for you to believe that you're the only one who has changed? I don't wish any harm to Konoha or anyone in it."
"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
"Is it wrong to want to call on an old friend?"
"Spare me your lies, Orochimaru. You think I'm a fool? Even now, after all that we've been through, you would try to deceive me? This is about the boy isn't it? The one called Mitsuke. I've heard rumours of you lurking around him."
"As perceptive as always, dear Kabuto. Oh, how I've missed you."
No. He would not be seduced by this again. Orochimaru's kindness had always cut more cruelly than any blade. To make his victim think he was special. That he actually meant something other than a lump of clay to mould in his own image. A broken reflection, shattered in every way imaginable. And yet...he hated to admit that there had been quiet, private moments where he had missed him also.
"That child is to be your next vessel," Kabuto said. "You're keeping an eye on him to see how he's developing. It's an old game. Did you really think that I, of all people, wouldn't notice? How little credit you give me."
Orochimaru had the audacity to look hurt.
"Your words sting, boy. But I do suppose I deserve them. Yes, it's true Mitsuki is my creation, but I am not planning on using that jutsu on him. I am merely keeping a watchful eye on him. As any loving parent would do. He is my son."
His lips contorted into a small grin, the tips of fangs exposed. Amusement, Kabuto knew. Not a threat.
"And in many ways," Orochimaru continued. "He's as much yours."
Kabuto felt as if the breath had been knocked from him. He had been prepared to fight to the death if need be. Had strategically planned to take the Sannin down if the situation arose. He had not expected this.
"My DNA samples," he finally managed to find the words to say. "You kept them...You used them..."
"To create the perfect shinobi. One that will far surpass the both of us. One with a spark of goodness in him."
He moved in closer to fondly brush his hand across Kabuto's cheek.
"I'd like to think that comes from you. I've been keeping tabs on your work. You have a way with your patients. You always did."
Kabuto had learned long ago to read the Sannin. To observe his mercurial temperament and the manners he exhibited. The little quirks and inflections that gave away when he was lying. His survival had depended upon it. His instincts were still attuned even now. There was something in the way Orochimaru spoke that struck him as truthful and it shook him deeply. Kabuto had been privy to the small, fleeting glimpses of tenderness that the Sannin was capable of. Once, a lifetime ago, they had belonged to him and him alone. He felt something old and dead now coiling inside him. Like a snake flicking its tongue. Questing.
"You will look out for him, won't you," Orochimaru asked.
"Of course I will," Kabuto replied. "What choice do I have?"
He laughed bitterly.
"Here we are. Bonded again by flesh and blood."
He absently touched the skin along his arm and murmured almost as if to himself,
"Was it ever anything deeper than that? Something more than viscera and bone? Than nerve endings and sinew? Than pheromones and chemicals?"
"You wound me, Kabuto. I could have easily have chosen to use the DNA of Suigetsu or Karin. Any of the thousands who passed through our home. I chose you."
Kabuto glared at him in disbelief.
"I haven't seen you in ages. You could have told me..."
"And you would have stopped me," Orochimaru interrupted. "You wouldn't have trusted my intentions. In the beginning, even I doubted them myself at times. I have grown to love my children. Perhaps it was the piece of you in them that allowed me to."
Them. Of course there were more. The ones that had failed.
"You see only a perfect version of yourself," Kabuto said. " My contribution is inconsequential. I will look out for Mitsuki, as I do all the village, but I will not be your puppet ever again. I am not your tool and I am not your shadow."
Orochimaru regarded him with a look of sadness.
"You never were," he said, quietly. "Tell the Hokage and the people of Konoha that you never followed me willingly. I will not fault you for that. You and I, however, both know better."
"I have people that depend upon me."
"It's good to be needed," the Orochimaru replied. "You always were. You still are..."
He sighed, heavily.
"I'll leave you to your work. I realize it's a lot to put upon you. I just wanted you to know. There were never any secrets between us and I'd like to keep it that way."