Snake Skin
By AngeloftheOdd
This one is for you, uberhaxxor (and Happy Halloween)
It wasn't supposed to end this way. It wasn't supposed to end at all. He tried to convince himself that this was only a nightmare. That he would awake in bed, drenched in cold sweat. That strong arms and sweet words would assure him that he was dreaming...go back to sleep...I am here with you...for always. But there was only the emptiness of this strange place. The silence broken by his screams.
Disbelief. Then the clawing horror in the pit of his stomach. He was afraid to breathe, straining to find some semblance of hope to cling to. This could not be. This was a test. Another game. But he had known the moment that he had seen those cruel red eyes that something had gone so terribly wrong. Like a fool he had asked;
"Which one are you?"
He had known the answer before the question had even left his lips.
"Which one do you think?"
That voice which had responded so arrogantly.
He knew those words would haunt him for the rest of his days.
The vial of medicine crashed to the floor, shattering to pieces. He should never have left Lord Orochimaru alone in such a vulnerable state. He should have gotten here sooner. He should have known. Slowly he approached. Once porcelain white skin was now ashen gray. Paper-thin and as delicate as snake skin. Gone was the radiance from those golden eyes. Exquisite, haunting, mesmerizing. Extinguished like a candle's flame. Strands of silken hair half covered an expression of abject terror, mouth forever frozen in a final silent scream. That sweet mouth which once healed all wounds with the lushest of kisses. That had spoken his name with such a caress it had made his very being tremble to the core. No flutter of pulse to signify the blood that should be rushing through fiery veins. The only sound the solo beat of his own pounding heart.
He sank to his knees-a final humbling gesture. Tears, for the first time in so many years, came freely to him. His body refused to respond to the simplest of commands, blinded and bound by this agonizing loss. Nails scratched across rock until they were cracked and bleeding. His cheeks burned with an anger he had never before experienced. He choked back thick sobs.
"You promised.." he rasped. "You promised that you would never leave me."
Aching for the comfort he would never again know.
Kabuto had always recognized that Sasuke was problematic. He had tried to convince Lord Orochimaru to take another vessel, one more compliant But his damn pride had always taken precedent and his words fell on deaf ears. It always had to be the best, the finest, the rarest...and Kabuto had helped to feed that belief, insisting that he deserved nothing less. No, this was not Lord Orochimaru's fault. He had never deserved such a cold fate at the hands of that traitor. The blame lay entirely on Sasuke. Did he even have the slightest inkling what he was stealing from him? Not that he would have cared. All that mattered to Sasuke were power and revenge. Kabuto was beginning to understand that need.
There had been no honor in Sasuke's actions. He had planned his attack so precisely. Waiting until Kabuto had left Orochimaru's room before facing the snake sennin. Knowing full well that Kabuto would never have allowed for him to harm Orochimaru, even at the cost of his own life. Instead, he had lain in wait for the medic to vanish down the dark corridors, with the knowledge that Kabuto would never have the chance to intervene. Nor the chance to say farewell...For that he would see that Sasuke paid dearly. But not now...not like this.
He suddenly felt so weak, with no one there to give him strength. This feeling was perverse. He had always been the calm one, the cool one, the one in control. Now he felt his world was spiraling into chaos. Lost. His sole purpose for existence wrenched violently from him. Orochimaru had come to depend on him so often that he had almost forgotten just how much he relied on him in return. Orochimaru had given him a reason to believe in something. In someone.
For years, he had lived on Orochimaru's words-that voice, intoxicating and addictive-You're so beautiful, so precious, and you are mine forever...until he had come to accept them as truth. He had become accustomed to the peace of waking, limbs entwined, captive in a tight embrace. The way his body responded so obediently to the slightest hint of breath or fingertips. The perfectness of it all. Orochimaru had been the only choice that had made sense. That had ever felt right.
Nothing would ever be right again.
The genjutsu dissipating, Kabuto found himself in the familiar surroundings of his lord's chambers. Orochimaru motionless on the ground, eyes closed as if asleep.
"My loyalty is still yours alone," Kabuto whispered. "As is my heart."
The injuries to the sennin's arms spoke of the brutality Sasuke had inflicted. Pieces of ragged flesh hung from where the sword had hit its mark. Kabuto gently lifted the heavy limbs so that they lay across the corpse's chest. How fitting he should be the one to pay the final respects. He looked down at his own arm, now stained crimson with blood. It tingled where he had made contact with Orochimaru's skin. As if some force still reached out to him from beyond the grave.
His eyes widened. Orochimaru had never been one to break promises. He had vowed that they would be together forever. Kabuto wept tears of joy at the understanding. What a fool he had been for thinking that his lord would desert him in such a manner. He knew what he must do. It was so obvious. He smiled as he bent down to kiss the marbled cheek of his lover. That which is immortal can never die.