Chapter 1
Their relationship was pretty much as it always had been; non-existent.
Kabuto often found himself wondering why, and sometimes regretting, his being in Sound. Even though it seemed better than what Akatsuki had been, sometimes he just wasn't so sure. More often than not, Orochimaru was in a bad mood, and always took it out on the members around him – mostly Kabuto lately.
At this particular point in time, the young medical nin was tied up, and hanging from a hook on the wall via the bonds around his wrists. He had cuts, scratches and bites all over his near-naked body, too. His body ached.
Orochimaru wasn't too far away from him either, lying on the bed asleep. He'd started off just verbally abusing Kabuto a few hours ago, before it had developed into physical abuse and violent sexual gestures and actions; hence Kabuto being tied up and injured all over.
#
"Wake up." A voice growled, and the dozing nin stirred at the sudden slap he received to his face. It brought tears to his eyes simply because it stung so much.
"O-Orochimaru-sama..." Kabuto's voice was weak and hoarse from being so dry, and his eyes – when he opened them to look at his master – were red from the tears he'd shed throughout the night. He yelped as gravity pulled his now-untied body down, displaying him in a crumpled heap before the San`nin.
"Get up and get out." Orochimaru hissed, kicking the medic's side until the young man struggled to his feet and brushed off the rope that had been bound to his wrists.
Gathering his clothes, he swept from the room as quickly as he could. Kabuto's room wasn't too far from Orochimaru's – sometimes that was a good thing, but more often than not it was a bad thing these days. He collapsed on his bed, trembling as he tried to rid his head of the horrible memories of the night before. His side also hurt now from the kick he'd received from his master moments ago.
#
"Kabuto-sama?" A series of knocks sounded on the medic's bedroom door along with the gentle voice calling his name.
Said medic nin was asleep, although the repetitive knocking woke him up,
"Hnn, who is it?" he growled as he slowly got up, wincing as he moved his still-aching body. He was still naked, too, so he wrapped a robe around himself before walking over to the door and opening it.
"Holy crap!"
"What do you want?" Kabuto whined, looking at the bright emerald eyes staring at how messed up his body must have looked. He frowned and groaned in irritation as the boy standing before him moved uninvited into his bedroom, and although treating Kabuto gently, pushed him down onto the bed. Kabuto looked up, fear obvious in his eyes.
"Oh Kabuto... Calm down. I'm not going to do anything to you – I just want to help clean you up. I don't know why you let him do that to you!"
"Daedalus, don't worry about me. It's nothing I'm not used to." Kabuto sighed heavily, shaking his head. The boy – literally, he would have only been about 14 – was something like an apprentice.
"Shut up and let me heal you." Daedalus frowned, refusing to let Kabuto talk him out of it. Thankfully, Kabuto behaved this time and allowed everything to be healed, "There. Now please Kabuto-sama... Don't let that happen again. Or call for me if it does! I don't like seeing the results of what he does to you. He should learn to control his anger."
"That's enough, Daedalus. Hold your tongue." Kabuto frowned, looking at the boy's taken aback expression, which then changed to disappointment, and then obedience.
"Hai, Gomennasai, Kabuto-sama." He sighed, bowing his head before getting up to leave the room – clearly not looking like he wanted to leave the other alone.
"Goodbye, Daedalus." Kabuto dismissed him flatly, standing and heading to his bathroom to shower now that he was healed; events like this were occurring more and more often, and he hated that Daedalus was also suffering from it. The boy was too young to know about these sorts of things, and yet here he was with nearly full knowledge of sex and sexual abuse.
##
A couple of weeks had passed, and so far Kabuto hadn't had any more encounters with Orochimaru that resulted in him getting injured. Daedalus had been acting a little distant within that time, however, which was getting on Kabuto's nerve.
"Daedalus, come here for a moment please." He didn't sound overly impressed as he called for his apprentice.
"You called for me, Kabuto-sama?" Daedalus spoke calmly as he walked over, even though the tone he used was edged slightly with concern and possible irritation at having been taken away from what he'd been doing.
"Hai. I want to know what's wrong with you. Ever since the other week you've been acting distant towards me, and I know very well that it's not like you." Kabuto was sitting on his chair at one of the various work benches in his lab, arms folded in front of him as he looked at the younger boy.
Daedalus clenched his teeth, consequently tensing his jaw for a moment also, before he took a deep breath and sighed. He really had no solid reason for acting how he was, besides just trying to get back at Kabuto for being an ass about what had happened,
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does; Goddamnit Daedalus!" Kabuto tried to keep himself from yelling – it was difficult, especially when he knew that the boy was intentionally being defiant about answering,
"If this is about what happened the other week, you need to get over it – just like I have."
"You're more of a fool than I thought you were, then, if you're willingly get over something like that." The boy muttered, turning around and walking away, but found himself on the floor seconds later, paralysed, "K-Kabuto-sama... Stop it. You're acting more childish about this than what I am!" he protested at the jutsu placed upon his body.
Kabuto walked over, picking him up and carrying him to the bedroom that adjoined the lab – the room that he'd given to Daedalus the day they'd taken the boy in. Without another word for the time being, he set the boy down on the bed, before settling beside him on the edge; only then did he release the jutsu,
"You need to understand that if I don't be or do what Orochimaru-sama wants me to, then everyone else within Sound is in more danger when he's angry." He explained softly, shaking his head a little, "It's something I'm used to now, Dae... I know I end up getting battered and beaten, but I'd much prefer that happen to me, than to someone like you," Kabuto turned to look at Daedalus, who seemed as though he'd been about to protest about everything – until he'd heard that last part.
Daedalus's eyes widened a little,
"Kabuto-sama..." he murmured, then closed his eyes and shook his head, "It's still stupid!" he objected with a flat growl, although his body trembled again ever so slightly.
"Maybe so." Kabuto shrugged, looking at him, "I guess that just makes me stupid, huh?"
"Baka! Stop twisting what I'm saying! It's not fair." The objection was spoken in a childish whine, and a cute little pout to go along with it that rendered Kabuto unable to not smile.
"It's late. Get some sleep, and we'll get back to work tomorrow." He kissed the boy's forehead before rising to his feet from the edge of the bed, "Goodnight, Daedalus."
"Hnn," Daedalus hated when Kabuto went all father-like on him like that, "Yeah... night." He mumbled, rolling his eyes as Kabuto left, giving him the privacy to change and then do as suggested and get some sleep. He had a strange feeling that tomorrow would end up being a very long day.
"Come on, Daedalus, wake up!" Over and over, those were the only words – besides some occasional cursing mixed in – that filled the young teen's ears as he was stirred awake.
"Ugh, whaaaattt?" he groaned, battering his arms around to try and swat away the hands that were shaking him.
"Up. Now. Orochimaru-sama's in another one of his bad moods." Kabuto's voice was etched with worry.
"Oh for the love of..." Daedalus whined, wishing that he'd been allowed to just sleep the day away now that he'd heard this oh so delightful piece of news, "Stay here... Yeah?" He attempted to pull Kabuto down onto the bed into a sort of hug – the poor boy still being mostly asleep to the extent he wasn't really aware of what he was doing.
"Idiot child, get up!" Kabuto hissed, although some part of him really wished he could just go and hide under the blankets of the bed with the boy. He eventually got Daedalus up to a sitting position, "I don't know what happened this time. No one's done anything to piss him off, and he hasn't had any bad news yet or gone out."
"Calm down, Kabuto-sama..." Dae yawned, stretching and attempting to blindly fix up his messy brunette hair, "Maybe he had a bad dream or something? I mean, just because he's one of the Legendary San`nin doesn't make him any less human than us – he's bound to dream as well. Good and bad." He reasoned, and raised an eyebrow at the shocked yet bewildered look on his own master's face, "What?"
"How the hell can a child your age who's just woken up come up with such a reasonable explanation as that when even I, who's nearly a whole decade older, and who's been awake for the past couple of hours, never had such a thing cross my mind?" Kabuto even sounded a little bit hurt, if Daedalus had judged the tone correctly.
"I'm a now-self-proclaimed-genius?" Dae cocked his head with a cheeky little grin that made Kabuto bat his arm gently and shake his head with a slight smile, "Let me talk to him, ne?"
"Hell no! No way am I letting you go near him when he's like that." Kabuto shook his head, his voice having gone stern.
"Pleaseee, Kabuto-sama! I want to try. I don't want you to keep me from getting a little hurt." He pleaded.
"No."
"You can come with me then, to keep an eye on things – but just let me talk and stuff." The boy reasoned, desperate to try and get to the bottom of the whole reason that Orochimaru took his anger out on others – and so violently to Kabuto especially.
Kabuto couldn't really argue. Daedalus had a point; he couldn't keep him protected forever from getting hurt. Sure, the boy did know how to defend himself for the most part, but against Orochimaru... He'd be dead meat in a couple of minutes,
"Fine." He sighed reluctantly, standing.
Daedalus grinned, and nearly jumped up, running about getting changed into a fresh set of clothes. It was strange, really, his relationship with Kabuto. When he first came to be with Sound about 8 months ago, Kabuto had seen the medical potential and took him under his wing with Orochimaru's permission. Kabuto treated him, originally, like a sort of son figure, and then as an apprentice; it was forever swapping between the two, and it annoyed the crap out of the 14 year old whenever it changed. He was glad though, for the moment, that he could sweet talk Kabuto enough to let him get away with doing certain things. That was probably one of the few things that came good of the times when Kabuto treated him as a son. Once he was changed and combed his hair also, Daedalus sought out Orochimaru, with Kabuto not too far behind him.
"What do you two want?" Orochimaru growled, looking at Kabuto with a raised eyebrow and a snarl rather than at the boy closer to him.
"Orochimaru-sama..." Daedalus started, trying to keep his head clear and voice unwavering as he stood before the San`nin, looking professional and yet still so cute in his white lab coat – he knew he didn't have to wear it, but he liked to. It just seemed right; especially seen as he did a lot more of the experiments than Kabuto did, besides just being a medic.
Orochimaru looked down at the young teen, both eyebrows raised now, and he stood with his arms folded across his chest, a soft growl still emanating within his throat. He smirked a little when he saw the boy shift on his feet.
"I asked a question; I would like an answer."
"He wants to help, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto filled in for the near-frozen boy. He gently placed his hands on Dae's shoulders, and felt the boy relax under his touch, "You're upset again, about something, so he wants to help you."
"I don't need help." Orochimaru glared at Kabuto icily.
"Please, Orochimaru-sama. J-just let me try!" Daedalus tried to keep his tone from begging and from his face pouting like he would usually do with Kabuto whenever he wanted to do or get away with something.
"Hnn. I don't see why I should," The older man grumbled, turning to head to his joined room/office, "Do as you please; get in my way and you'll regret it." He warned over his shoulder.
Daedalus grinned up at Kabuto, and slipped away from him, following the San`nin swiftly,
"Hai, you'll hardly notice I'm here."
"I hardly notice anyway."
The tone was harsh, and it made Daedalus's heart sink just a little bit – but he kept in mind that Orochimaru was simply in a grumpy mood, so it probably wasn't something the man had really meant to say.
"Stay out, Kabuto. You don't need to shadow him 24/7." Orochimaru shut the door in the man's face after having let Daedalus into the room before him.
Kabuto felt panic rise, and he hoped to Kami that he hadn't just let Daedalus fall straight into a trap. He stayed near the door though, sitting on the ground and listening out as best he could.
#
Inside the room, Daedalus was looking around a little surprised. It was so big in comparison to the rest of the rooms – except maybe the lab. They would have been quite similar.
"Stop staring like a gob-struck idiot." Orochimaru shook his head, pulling out the chair to his desk and getting to work on some papers.
Daedalus, for a couple more minutes, wondered around the room, just silently inspecting various things. The man's bed was a total mess, which seemed to prove he'd had a restless sleep; his idea suggested to Kabuto earlier about nightmares seemed to be proving itself a little more solid with that evidence. Eventually he walked over to the San`nin, quietly, and stood behind him. But it wasn't to look over his shoulders at the papers. In fact he couldn't have cared less about the papers. Instead he let his fingertips touch the man's clothed back, before spanning both hands properly across the material.
"What are you doing?" Orochimaru growled a little, tensing under the light touch, and actually fully expected the boy to back away. But he didn't seem to even flinch – or apologise.
"I'm going to massage your back." Daedalus stated simply, and started to move his hands slowly but rhythmically, smiling to himself when Orochimaru didn't object.
#
After about half an hour, Orochimaru had moved from the chair to his bed, where he now lay on his front, head resting on folded arms and shirtless whilst Daedalus continued the massage,
"You do a better job that Kabuto, kid."
"He taught me, so I doubt it Sir." Daedalus didn't overly like the fact he was being complimented on doing something better than his own master could. It didn't feel right.
"Heh... You should take the compliment, Daedalus-kun. To be better at something Kabuto can do is quite an achievement."
Dae shifted a little uneasily from where he was kneeling beside Orochimaru's body on the bed,
"Hai... Gomennasai." He really wasn't sorry, but didn't want the man getting worked up on anger again now that he had managed to calm him down by loosening his muscles – which he hadn't been at all surprised to feel that they'd been as tense as muscles could get; which was also why he was still going, and working a little chakra into it too, to try and make things easier.
"Orochimaru-sama... How long have you been having bad dreams for?" he asked softly, curiously, hoping that he wouldn't get yelled at for asking.
"What?" The San`nin frowned, turning his head a little to try and look at the boy, "How could you tell?"
Daedalus smiled a little, softly, as he massaged further into the man's lower back, "You're bed sheets were very messy, and your room is somewhat unorganised – in comparison to the rest of the place. It's signs of stress, mostly, plus you're muscles are incredibly tense; even now, after nearly half an hour." He mused softly.
"Smart ass kid..." Orochimaru grumbled flatly, "A long time. But its none of your business."
"Hai, I understand that. I was just going to say that it's probably your bad dreams that get you in such bad moods sometimes. Or simply a bad night's sleep. I could help with both of those, Y'know. That is, if you wanted me to." He offered lightly.
"Hnn, and how do you propose you do that?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow sceptically – he was a little unnerved at how well Daedalus had been able to read the fact it was bad dreams and restless nights that caused his mood swings.
"For now, the best thing would be a massage every night, after a bath rather than a shower." Dae shrugged a little, as if it were one of the simplest things in the world.
Orochimaru nodded slowly, eyes closed as his head rested back on his folded arms,
"Hai, I shall... If you're the one to give the massage." He indirectly purred, not having felt so relaxed in a long time.
The purr send shivers down Daedalus's spine, and his heart sped up just a tiny bit out of fear – but he continued none the less, until he was confident that the man was sound asleep. Slipping off the bed, he moved the donah over Orochimaru and left the room quickly but quietly; he nearly jumped out of his skin though when Kabuto called his name after he'd walked past without even realising.
"Don't scare me like that!" Dae shook his head, but smiled up at Kabuto, "He's sound asleep!"
"It's midday!"
"Hai, so?"
"What'd you do to him?" Kabuto inquired curiously, in a hushed tone, as they headed back to their lab.
"Massaged his back until he fell asleep." Daedalus grinned cheekily at how simple it sounded. His smile disappeared though as he saw Kabuto's face fall, "Kabuto-sama... Don't get upset, please!" he chewed his lip, looking anxious that he'd annoyed his master.
"Iie... I'm not upset. It's ok. At least you're on his good side." If anything, it was simply a little bit of jealousy that Kabuto was now suffering, but he silently vowed to himself he wouldn't take it out on the boy – it wasn't his fault Orochimaru liked him better.
"Hnn, I don't believe you." Dae shook his head, but had a playful look in his eyes – a small attempt to get Kabuto to smile again. It didn't quite work. He watched silently as the older medic nin walked over to his usual desk and sat down, flipping through papers with equations and stuff scribbled all over them.
"Kabuto-samaaaa..." Daedalus whined as he followed the other, huffing a little as he stood behind Kabuto, "Maybe you need a massage too!" He declared, gently pressing his finger tips to Kabuto's back like he'd done earlier to Orochimaru.
Kabuto sighed, and rested his head forwards on the edge of the desk,
"You should be working, Daedalus, not doing this."
"But this is work too."
"Hardly."
"But it feels good, ne?"
"Cheeky shit..." Kabuto chuckled lightly, allowing the boy to do as he pleased rather than grouch on him to do some proper work. In the end, he fell asleep where he was.
It had been probably a good couple of months since Daedalus had first started giving Orochimaru massages each night. At first things had been perfectly fine, but slowly, within the last couple of weeks, the San`nin had become somewhat clingy – he would suggest the boy stayed there the night, "to stop the nightmares" was the excuse; various other 'suggestions' had been made as well, but Daedalus refused all of them – even at the risk of angering the man. Kabuto was also becoming increasingly worried about the time the two spent together. Dae would always tell Kabuto what had gone on and what had been said, though, which was why the man was getting a little protective of the boy now, certainly not wanting Orochimaru to turn his aggressiveness towards anyone else.
"Daedalus... Orochimaru-sama's sent for you." Kabuto sighed, walking into the boy's bedroom one morning, "He's not in a bad mood, but I'm worried about what he wants. Hey, are you listening to me?"
There was a faint murmur from under the mass of blankets as a reply.
"Damnit boy, get up!" Kabuto shook his head, walking over and pulling away the blankets to reveal a curled-up, sleepy teenager.
"Go awayyyyy..." Daedalus growled with a frown, scrambling to gather his blankets again, "He'll only want a massage – you go do it." He whined.
"Up. Now." Kabuto snapped, watching the boy flinch at the tone, and then do as asked.
"Grumpy ass..."
"Watch your tongue. Now get up properly and get dressed – then go see Orochimaru-sama before he does lose his patience." Kabuto hissed irritably before leaving the room.
"God... What the hell's your problem today?" Daedalus grumbled to himself, shaking his head as he stood and changed, not giving himself time to have a shower, so he just quickly brushed his hair and teeth before leaving the room and heading to Orochimaru's room.
"Wrong way, Dae-kun." A voice called, and the boy spun around and headed in its direction.
"Orochimaru-sama... You called for me?" He tried to suppress a yawn.
"Hai, I did. I want you to start some proper nin training."
"B-but I can already defend myself... And I'm more a medic nin. K-Kabuto..." Daedalus stammered slightly, a little confused as to what he was really being told.
"Forget about what you are to Kabuto. I don't want you getting hurt if we're ever attacked; that said, I also need you to be a fighting nin as well, if ever we need to attack somewhere else. Do you understand?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow expectantly.
The boy was quite for a little while, feeling a little torn. He didn't want to be taken away from his job with Kabuto. That's all he'd known for nearly a year now.
"H-Hai... Orochimaru-sama." He murmured softly, emerald eyes nearly glued to the floor rather than looking up at the San`nin.
"That's a good boy." Orochimaru ran a hand through the young boy's brunette hair, "Ever think about letting your hair grow, Dae-kun?"
"Iie. It gets in the way. I prefer it like this." The answer was quick and sure, and for a brief moment he regretted replying so quickly – until he heard Orochimaru's soft chuckle, and then the man simply walked away, leaving him standing there a little confused as to what to do now. So he simply went back to the lab, hoping Kabuto already knew and would have more of an idea as to what would happen. Then it hit him. Was Kabuto jealous of the fact Orochimaru was choosing to train up his apprentice? That must be it!
"Kabuto-sama..." Daedalus walked in and looked around for his master, "Kabuto-sama?" There was no reply, or at least none he could hear of. He sighed and went to head to his room, but squeaked softly in surprise when he nearly ran into Kabuto,
"Kabuto-sama!"
"Would you keep it down already? I've got a headache." Kabuto grumbled.
"Lemme fix it then..." Dae raised his hands up, reaching towards the side of Kabuto's head, but the man battered them away, "Huh?"
"Don't. Just go do what Orochimaru-sama wants you to." He muttered flatly, waving a hand at the boy dismissively.
"He didn't say what I was to do today though. I was wondering if you knew."
"Iie."
"Fine. I'll just go for a bath then." Dae huffed, getting a little annoyed at how he was being treated lately – it was so out of place compared to normal. He walked past Kabuto and into the bathroom that adjoined his room. Closing the door, he then stripped whilst running water into the tub; still being a child for the most part, but certainly one at heart, he added a load of bubbles as well. Once the water level was high enough, he slipped in and relaxed as best he could. It felt so good, all the bubbles around him and the hot water. He let his mind go clear.
##
Daedalus was in that bath for quite some time. He hadn't fallen asleep, though. In his relaxed state, he could concentrate if he so wished. Despite having let his mind go blank, he found himself constantly thinking about Kabuto. It wasn't really a bad thing, but he was pretty sure it wasn't normal either. Each time he thought of Kabuto, the man was never wearing much... Usually just a pair of boxers – probably because that had been what Kabuto had been wearing the couple of times Daedalus had ever seen him with barely any clothes on. However lately his mind was trying to remove the boxers from the picture – failing, but trying none the less. He wasn't sure what it meant, but there was no way he was going to let Kabuto know about something like this; for some reason it came across as awkward and simply just not something to have a normal conversation about. A knock to the bathroom door startled him, and water splashed a little as he jumped.
"Daedalus, are you alright in there? You've been in there for nearly two hours!" It was Kabuto, and he sounded a little concerned.
"Hai... Gomennasai." The boy replied quietly.
"Can I come in?"
"Uhh..." Daedalus blinked. That was a normal request... Not. He noticed nearly all his bubbles were gone and sighed softly, creating more with the addition of some more of the weird liquid and swirling the water around a bit, "Hai."
Kabuto opened the door and stepped inside the bathroom,
"Shit, you could have said you were still actually in the bath! I thought with the 'uhh' you were getting dressed or something." His cheeks had gone pink.
"Gomen. What did you want though?" Dae tried to change the subject so that it wasn't so awkward, and he sat up too, knees close to his chest when his bubbles weren't lasting as long as he'd hoped.
"I wanted to apologise. For how I've been acting towards you. Especially today. I didn't mean to get angry at you this morning." Kabuto wanted to keep eye contact with the boy, but at the same time he wanted to look away from the slim, pale olive coloured body sitting in the partially bubbly water.
"It's ok. Really. I understand that it's got to be hard having Orochimaru-sama take me away from working with you."
"Um well, that's sort of it, yeah... I guess I'm just jealous too. I promised myself I wouldn't take it out on you but I think I have, and I'm really sorry for that!"
"Kabuto-sama..." Daedalus chuckled a little, "It's ok, really. Ne, can you pass me a towel please?" he smiled warmly, at least finding it cute that Kabuto was actually jealous.
The man nodded, and grabbed a towel. Common sense would have told someone to wait until the other person had looked away before standing from a bath to take the towel, but not Daedalus. The boy stood whilst Kabuto was still looking right at him, and it was sort of a momentary shock that prevented him from looking away immediately too.
Daedalus took the towel only after brushing off excess water from his arms and torso, and then stepped out of the tub,
"Arigatou." He smiled softly, but then cocked his head at the very blushed face of his master, "Uh, Kabuto-sama... You OK?"
It took a few moments to answer, but Kabuto nodded, "Hai... I think." He blinked, shaking his head and looking away. How could such a young body be so... Well, perfect. No tan lines indicated that the boy's pale olive skin was all natural, and the fact that his body was actually reasonable built boggled his mind – among a few other things of course. He kept his gaze totally averted whilst the boy got dressed again though.
"Ne, Kabuto-sama... What's wrong?"
"Nothing; you're getting dressed, so I'm not looking."
"It's not as if we don't have the same things... That's what my mother always said to my sister, so I figured it's the same for guys too." He murmured with a slight shrug.
"W-well that's true, I guess. But still." Kabuto shook his head, "If I were to do that in front of you, you'd look away, wouldn't you?"
"No."
The swift reply left Kabuto speechless.