Mika Mitarashi sat on the edge of her bed, eyes staring blankly at the bland white wall in front of her, feet tapping anxiously on the ground as she took in the information slowly, shaking her head in shock. Her father, who'd never been a major part of her life, was there, looking at her. For once, the man had emotion written all over his white face; sadness, angst, and grief for the seventeen-year-old daughter he'd hardly ever known. He'd been the one to tell her the news. Her mother was sitting on her bed, staring mindlessly out the window into the cold, dark rain.
"Mika..." Her father started, being careful not to hurt her too much. Or try, any way. "Mika...It was an accident. It's the way of the ninja, and—"
Mika cut her father off by glaring at him, the cold red eyes; the eyes that had been identical to his warped by experiments he'd had done on her as a child, full of hate as she shrieked at him. "I hate you! You killed him! You hated that he loved someone more than he worshiped you! You made him do it! Tell me that you made him do it! Tell me!"
"Mika--" Her father started, only to be cut off by her mother.
Anko Mitarashi glared at her daughter's father; the man she'd never married, and never intended to procreate with. "Stop the semantics, Orochimaru."
The man glared at the woman before turning a sad gaze at his daughter as he stood up. "I'll make sure the remains are taken proper care of."
With that, Orochimaru walked out of Mika's bedroom as easily as he'd reappeared into her life. She didn't even notice him go.
-x-
The Next Morning
-x-
Mika sat up in her bed, feeling a little more than nauseous. She sat up on the bed, pushing her blankets off of her as she walked over to stand in front of the single window in her bedroom, looking out at the Village Hidden in the Leaves; the only home she'd ever known, and the place she'd been about to leave.
That was when she began to breakdown. As she watched the young Academy students running towards the building she'd attended school, she remembered the first time she'd ever laid eyes on Kabuto Yakushi. She had been fourteen and he had been nineteen. As the daughter of the second proctor of that year's first round of Chunin Exams, Mika had tagged along with Anko, not yet ready to take part in them but eager to watch the happenings. She had met Kabuto when her mother had been giving the Chunnins her speech, when she'd tripped on his foot. He'd caught her to stop her from falling and instead of being thankful, she'd slapped him and told him that she could take care of herself. He'd smiled at her and agreed. She hadn't known then that he was working for her father, or that he'd have such an impact on her life. Tears sprang to Mika's eyes as she thought of his smile; of how he'd helped pull her out of her cold shell and helped her blossom into a daughter that her mother and father were both proud of in their own ways. She remembered how he'd been so exceptionally talented at manipulating everyone but her; she could see through every lie he told her. Most of all, Mika remembered the first time he'd told her he loved her. She had been sixteen then, and she'd snuck out of the small home she shared with her mother to meet up with him in the forest outside of Konoha.
"I'm here, don't worry." Mika heard her boyfriend's laid-back voice say through the darkness, making her smile. She turned around and attempted to find him with her eyes and found him standing right behind her, an easygoing smile on his face. At twenty-one years old, he stood six inches taller than herself, and she had to tilt her head up to fully meet his gaze.
"I had no doubts you'd be here," She smiled at him, the moonlight shining down on her jet-black hair and illuminating her pale skin. Kabuto put his hand on the side of her face, gently touching the softness of her skin. She leaned in to his touch and closed her eyes, thankful for just the few minutes that she'd get to spend with him. No one knew of their relationship; Kabuto was wanted in Konoha, and her father would most definitely not approve of his right-hand man having relations with his only child.
"I have something I want to tell you, and something I want to ask you." He told her, his face serious as he said the words. Her own smile faltered, and she looked up into his eyes, searching for emotions. She saw nothing of what she was looking for, but instead found undeniable love written in the black orbs of his eyes.
"Well say it, then." She told him.
"I love you," He whispered the words, as though he were afraid of what they might mean. She smiled at him and hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his waist before standing on her tiptoes to press her lips to his in a loving kiss.
"I love you, too." She replied, meaning the words more than anything else she'd ever said before in her life. It was true; Mika loved Kabuto, more than she'd ever loved anyone else before. More than she loved her mother and definitely more than she loved her father.
"That being said, I want you to come to Oto with me." He told her, his eyes meeting hers. "I can handle your father, and you can tell your mother everything, if you want to. I can't stand being so far away from you and only seeing you once a month, Mika."
That was all it took for Mika to give up her life in Konoha. Kabuto had asked, and she had agreed. She'd told him she'd leave the village and go to Oto with him, something her father had been trying to get her to do for several years. But the chance to spend her life with Kabuto had never come because as of three days ago, Kabuto was dead. Her father had sent him on a mission and the Suna shinobi had killed him when he'd been found out. Her father hadn't arrived to tell her of her boyfriend's death until yesterday morning, though he had known of Kabuto's relationship with his daughter. She sighed, pushing the thoughts out of her head. Today, she was going to keep up to the promise she'd made to Kabuto. Today, she was going to leave Konoha for good and go to Oto with her father.
She walked over to the small wardrobe that held her small selection of clothes, pulling them all out and putting them into a pack on her bed. There wasn't much she had to pack; she wasn't an emotional type of person; with an ambition as strong as her father's and a determination as large as her mother's, she didn't have time for many emotions, the sole exception being Kabuto. She opened the bottom drawer of the wardrobe, pushing aside another set of clothes that she would not be taking with her, and pulled out a small, simple book. In it were photographs and scribbles; photographs of herself and Kabuto, all of them taken in the secret of the night, or very occasionally in the daylight as they met in the forest on a day off from training. The scribbles were notes that they'd each written below the photographs; nothing of real importance, though the ones Kabuto had written brought tears to her eyes. When she flipped to her favorite photograph, her heart skipped a beat. In the photo, she was leaned up against Kabuto, his right arm wrapped around her waist holding her to him, both of their faces illuminated by the full, white moon. The moonlight had caused a glare on Kabuto's glasses—an imperfection on the photograph that Mika loved dearly, she thought with a smile. Both of them were smiling genuine smiles, completely content in each other's company, if even only for a few brief hours. Scribbled underneath, on the yellowed, tattered paper of the book, was Kabuto's writing.
The most beautiful girl I've ever seen, Mika Mitarashi is my favorite experiment.
He'd been referring to love, she thought with a watery smile. He'd never been in love before; never even considered it as an option for himself. So when he'd confessed his love to her, he'd made it a standing joke between the two of them that she was his own personal "experiment" of love; something that he'd research to the fullest extent of his abilities.
She placed the book into the pack and then shut it, pulling the strap over her shoulder and swinging it so that it lay flat against her back as s he stood up. There was only one thing left to do before her departure. She walked over to the mirror hanging above the wardrobe and watched her reflection as she untied the Konoha leaf headband, laying it on the wooden surface. She wouldn't go so far as to scratch out the leaf; she had no contempt for the Leaf village, unlike her father. It had simply taken meeting Kabuto for her to realize that it was a place that she would never belong; a place where no one except for her mother would ever truly care about.
She walked out into the main part of the house, seeing that her mother was gone again. She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where her mother was. It was the second round of Chunnin Exams for the year, and Anko had been called once again to be a proctor. Mika walked out of the house without so much as looking behind her, and walked through the village, saying nothing to anyone, and walking right past the people she'd never considered to be her friends. It would take her the better part of the day to get to Oto, since she didn't know the way as well as Kabuto did, so she'd decided to leave early. The sun was just starting to illuminate the treetops, and she smiled to herself as she watched and walked at the same time, though she knew that she was making the right decision. It was time to say goodbye to Konoha.
-x-
Later That Night
-x-
"I see you've decided to come to Otogakure, Mika." Her father smiled at her, worry in his eyes. She rolled her own, walking right past him as she walked into his house. It was much larger than her mother's in Konoha, but Mika didn't care. She wasn't planning on spending a lot of time within the house.
"Kabuto asked me to come, and I told him I would. I don't break promises." She told her father as she walked inside. He sighed, and decided not to respond to her words, knowing that she didn't want one.
"Zaku will show you to your bedroom, if you—"
"Where was Kabuto's bedroom?" She asked her father, cutting him off. "Wherever Kabuto's bedroom is, that's where I want to stay."
He nodded and Zaku walked over to them from where he'd been standing with Dosu and Kin, neither of whom said a word to her. She saw Yoroi and Misumi, Kabuto's teammates, talking off to the side. When they saw her, they stopped and looked at her.
"It's good to see you again, Mika." Yoroi said to her, not meeting her gaze. She scoffed.
"Wish I could say the same." She snapped before following Zaku down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a door that Zaku opened, leading down a two flights of stairs. Once at the bottom, Mika's eyes widened when she realized that they were now standing in what had probably been Kabuto's lab. Zaku turned around when he heard her stop.
"This was his lab," He told her quietly, not wanting to hurt her anymore than she already was. He, like her father, had proven to have some human emotions left, Mika thought sourly. It was too bad that they only showed in the light of a tragedy on her part.
"He stayed down here a lot?" She asked him, evading the emotions that were building up inside her chest, threatening to spill out in the form of tears. Ninja didn't cry; she wasn't about to start now, in front of Zaku.
"Yeah, he liked to be close to his…Well, his experiments." Zaku told her uncomfortably before leading her over to the end of the room. Mika saw a small girl, younger than herself in a cell and realized that this was the girl Kabuto performed most of his medical experiments on. She met the girl's gaze and looked away, angered. The girl had spent time with Kabuto that she never got the chance to, and as petty as it was for Mika to realize it, she was jealous. Zaku stopped outside of a small door and opened it, pushing it open to expose a small, mostly unfurnished bedroom. In the room was a tidy bed big enough for two people and a small closet. On the wall the bed faced was a small, rectangular window at the top, flush with the ceiling to let in some natural light. Mika smiled to herself; though it could be considered as bland and lacking of personality as her own bedroom in Konoha, it brought her comfort. It was something that Kabuto has spent time in; rested in, dreamed of her in.
She turned to look at Zaku, who was waiting by the door. "Thank you," She told him shortly. He nodded and then turned away, walking out of the room and then back up the stairs. When she heard him close the door that had led to the basement lab, Mika closed the bedroom door and walked over to the bed, touching the soft blanket before collapsing on the mattress, hugging the pillow tightly to her chest.
It still held his scent, she thought to herself, willing her emotions not to get out of control. The tears leaked out of her eyes anyway, spilling onto the pillow and soaking the fabric of the pillowcase, leaving salty stains on it. With thoughts of Kabuto running across her mind, Mika cried herself to sleep for the first time in her life.
-x-
The Next Day
-x-
The next morning when Mika woke up, she realized with dread that today was the day her father was going to have Kabuto buried. He'd all but made it clear to her that it would be no funeral; ninja in the Sound village didn't receive funerals, but rather simple burials. It would have to do, she thought to herself, even if Kabuto deserved so much more than what her father was giving him. After all, he had spent his entire life devoted to Orochimaru. And for what? A simple burial with a few halfhearted words of kindness? She knew Kabuto wouldn't want that, but there was no changing it now. It was the least she could do to watch the box carrying his body be buried.
She dressed in her usual attire; black pants with her sandals, and a longsleeve, fishnet shirt with a formfitting black sleeveless shirt, a green sash similar to Kabuto's tied around her waist. She put her kunai holster on her left leg and put the shuriken in their hiding place in her sleeves. Mika had been raised to always be ready for attack, and to never let her guard down, and she wasn't about to start now. It wasn't for preparedness so much as it was for Kabuto; he'd be disappointed in her if she wasn't ready for attack.
She quickly put a brush through her long hair, not taking the time nor caring about it's appearance enough to do a better job as she tied it into a sloppy ponytail on the back of her head, the hair falling down to her but. Her bangs fell into her eyes and she pushed them aside before she walked out of the room and through Kabuto's lab, unable to bring herself to look at any of the instruments that he'd so painstakingly used to perform his experiments. She walked up the two flights of stairs to the hallway, seeing her father talking with Yoroi at the end of it. When they saw her, they stopped talking and turned to face her.
"I assume you're accompanying Yoroi to bury him?"
"Yes," She answered her father in a monotone, her voice devoid of all emotion. He gave her a small smile, one that said he saw right through her façade, and nodded. She began to follow Yoroi out of the house, neither one of them saying a word to each other as he led her through the yard to a small clearing about a mile away from the house. The box Kabuto's body was in was already beside the hole he was to be buried in, sealed shut with someone's chakra. She turned to look at Yoroi.
"Can I just look at him one more time?" She asked quietly, the request strained. She'd willed herself not to cry, but that promise was being broken as the tears slipped out of her red eyes. Yoroi nodded and did a series of hand signs that were too fast for Mika to see in through her teary eyes, and she walked over to the box, pushing the lid open.
He didn't look like the Kabuto she'd fallen in love with, Mika realized with angst. His grey hair was messy and had been loosened from the ponytail he always kept it in, the long strands falling around his shoulders. Whoever had placed him into the box had been courteous enough to close his eyes, though the glasses were shattered, the frames being the only thing left of them. His clothes were horribly bloody, no white visible at all, and his hands were severely cut up. She clenched her own hands into fists at her sides; whoever had done this wouldn't live much longer, she'd personally see to that. The tears fell out of her eyes and landed on Kabuto's frozen face, lingering for just a moment before sliding down his own skin and into the box.
Mika placed her hand over his, not caring if his blood got onto her skin, and she grasped it in hers. "I promised I'd come, didn't I?" She choked out, squeezing her eyes closed. "I told you I'd be here, and I am."
She didn't say another word as she looked at the single flower in her hand; a lotus that she'd found in a small pond on the walk to the burial site. On a whim, she'd picked the flower out of the water, deciding to bring it to him. Though neither of them had ever had favorite flowers—they were far too busy for petty things as such—it had reminded her of him; of the love they'd somehow managed to find with each other. She looked at it for another second before placing it into the box, on top of his hands.
"I love you, Kabuto." She whispered to him, closing her eyes as she stepped away from the box. She looked at Yoroi and nodded, and he resealed the box with chakra again before moving it into the hole, shoveling the dirt on top of it. As Mika watched in silence as Yoroi buried her boyfriend, she couldn't help but feel more alone than she'd ever felt before.
"Mika? Are you coming back?" Yoroi asked her. She pulled herself out of her daze, looking from the plot of fresh dirt to Yoroi and then back at the plot of dirt under which Kabuto lay in the box.
"Aren't you going to mark his grave?" She asked him. Yoroi shook his head.
"No. We don't mark the graves here, Mika." He told her. "You'll know where it is anyway, and Kabuto would understand the need to leave him in an unmarked grave."
She sighed, and then followed him back to the house. Once back, she walked down to the lab, knowing what she needed to do. She looked through the various bottles that he kept neatly on a shelf before she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the bottle and looked at it, a small, angst-filled smile on her face. The small bottle contained the only answer to her pain.
She walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed, pulling out the book of photographs of herself and Kabuto, looking at each one carefully and studying it before taking the bottle and looking at it for a long time. It was what Kabuto had not named the substance, but he had told her about it one on of the nights they'd met in the forest. He was planning on introducing it to her father as a poison to be used in battle, when one had no chance of winning. It was to give the user sudden death. It was far from perfect, Kabuto had told her, and he was still working on how to make it into a perfect poison. But it would serve its purpose; it could kill, and kill fast.
It was just what Mika needed.
She opened the lid of the jar slowly, and then closed her eyes as she tilted her head back. "I promised I'd be with you Kabuto, and now I will be." She whispered as she poured the entire contents of the jar into her mouth, swallowing it all before she had a chance to rethink it.
As Mika closed her eyes for the last time, she saw Kabuto in her mind's eye, his hand extended to her, a loving smile on his face. She stepped out of her body, it seemed, and reached for his hand, taking it in her own. A smile formed on her face when she realized that she had indeed found him again. And this time, they wouldn't have to be separated.