Sasuke no Chikan/Atogama (Orochimaru-sama no Sari Tai)
Chapter 01 – Bit by Bit
Tears freely flowed down his cheeks. The ninja had shiny dark blue hair, the color of the night sky. He had serious wounds and injuries which covered about 60% of his body. Still, he was lucky. He had managed to escape Konoha unnoticed, only by his opponent and brother. His name was Crisis (but in Japanese). He had always felt jealous of his blue blooded brother. His brother was the Watanuki Clan's prodigy while he was the black sheep of the family. That fight he had just escaped was between his brother and him. He had once again tried to prove to his clan his worth, but ended up with a worse reputation. During the fight, the look his brother, Night (Yoru in Japanese), had shown was emotionless, as if he was ready to kill him if necessary, probably even when there was no need. Even now, it still sent shivers down his spine. He then remembered that he was still on the run and could not possibly settle down in the Forest of Death for the night. He hurriedly put out the small fire and started running again. Finally spotting a little hut, he quickened his pace. He ran so fast that he was not able to stop in time, after seeing someone opening the door.
Orochimaru's POV:
I opened my newly founded villages's main door while giving my final orders to Kabuto and expected nothing outside my door. Out of the blue, this ninja with such beautiful hair, weirdly for a boy, bumped into me and both of us rolled together down. (Luckily, he wasn't heavy.)
Kabuto was trudging his way back to his room to finish up Lord Orochimaru's paperwork, when he heard the loud bang of the collision. He spun his head to look in its direction. He was hysterical! All he saw was Lord Orochimaru and a young ninja, sort of "hugging each other" and rolling down! He did not know what to do or what to say and hoped that the Sound Four didn't see any of it. They would think that Lord Orochimaru and that ninja was a pair of gays.
Crisis's thoughts:
I really don't know what happened then, but I do remember I had a "soft-landing". I picked myself up and found myself lying on the notorious Orochimaru I had heard about from Hokage-sama. I jumped up and tried to scramble away from him but couldn't – I had twisted my ankle. I watched him get up suspiciously getting ready to defend if he tried anything offensive. A bone suddenly flew towards me and I ducked down. How rude! I tried to stand up properly but had much difficulty. A nerdy-looking shinobi teleported behind me, gripped my wrists and tied me up. *sigh* I guess I'm still no match for Sound ninjas though being an express ANBU.
Kabuto and Kimimaro went over to Orochimaru's side, but Kimimaro reached him first and helped him up.
"Master Orochimaru … Are you alright? I thought he was an enemy… I'm sorry for my behavior earlier." Kimimaro stuttered a little. Kabuto walked over to where Crisis was being tied and knocked unconscious, "How about this crazy guy? Should I kill him?"
"You don't have to do anything unless I tell you to do so. I believe I've already told you that the first time we met, Kabuto." Orochimaru replied swiftly and got Kimimaro to bring Crisis back to Otogakure. It was Kabuto's first experience of Orochimaru not glaring at him with his snaky, golden eyes. He didn't like the feeling of it. Not a bit. It was just too weird. Kabuto felt queer all over. It wasn't Lord Orochimaru style at all. He would normally stare at him with his threatening eyes, hinting to him that his life was in his hands. At the same time, Kabuto felt surprised to see Kimimaro out in the sunshine, trying to protect Lord Orochimaru. He probably didn't trust that he was able to take care of Lord Orochimaru.
"What are you thinking about, Kabuto?" Orochimaru suddenly questioned Kabuto.
"Nothing, Sir. I was just thinking about … uh… how to treat Kimimaro-kun's illness. Ha-ha…" Kabuto stammered. It sure was a close shave for him. Kabuto started to wonder what changed Orochimaru's attitude and took a quick glance at him. He then turned to look at Kimimaro, to find him staring at the ninja in his arms in a rather awkward way.
Orochimaru's POV:
Somehow, I just didn't want this ninja to die… not yet… There was something about this ninja that I was being drawn to. I wasn't going to let anyone kill him until I'd found the reason. Still, even then, I'll be the only who will kill him.
"Kimimaro, place him in Kabuto's care," I ordered, "Kabuto, untie him, treat his wounds and report his conditions every six hours." Kimimaro followed Kabuto to his medical room and placed Crisis on a bed. He then left Kabuto with the nukenin.
"Now what?" Kabuto thought to himself and yawned. He checked the time and realized the whole night was nearly wasted. It sure looked like he had only two choices:
to finish up all of Lord Orochimaru's work for the day.
to just go to sleep and leave them for tomorrow.
Kabuto decided to catch up with his sleep. He switched off the lights and walked over to the next door – his room.
After making sure that everyone was asleep, Orochimaru crept to the medical room to check on the new shinobi. He switched on the lights and found the boy still tied up and left on the bed, with Kimimaro sleeping soundly on the next bed. He was angry with Kabuto for not obeying his orders, but he kept his cool. He moved across the room silently and untied the boy. Orochimaru took a closer look at him and thought his eyelashes were much too long for a male. He started to have doubts about the boy's gender. Was he a female or a male? After pondering over it for a while, Orochimaru finally came to the decision of the ninja being a male. After all, the boy looked to be around 15 or 16 but still had not shown any signs of …(blush)… puberty. Since he had to talk to Kabuto about the boy the next day, he decided to get some sleep so that he would be able to choose his words carefully.
The next morning…
Kabuto woke up early as he remembered that he had left the nukenin still strapped up on the bed. He rushed in the medical room and saw Orochimaru already standing there, looking down at the nukenin.
"Lord Orochimaru, what brings you here so early?" Kabuto nervously asked, trying hard not to stutter.
"Kabuto, explain yourself." Orochimaru evaded the question and asked Kabuto, without lifting his gaze from the wounded ninja.
"Huh?" Kabuto blurted out. Orochimaru smirked and replied, "You left him here, tied up all night. Did you not?"
"Um… I…I… I did. … erm … I'll check on him now, right away." Kabuto quickly replied and looked away. Orochimaru left the room but leaned against the door from the outside. The Sound Four return from a mission and pass by him.
"Master Orochimaru, we have succeeded in assassinating the Ruler of the Rice Country. Do you have anything more for us before we take our rest?" the Sound Four asked.
"No. You may go." Orochimaru turned away, with an obvious look of worry on his face.
"What's wrong?" Sakon asked.
"Nothing. You may be leave." Orochimaru repeated himself.
"Weird." Tayuya muttered under her breath, careful not to let Orochimaru hear her. The Sound Four decided to ask Kimimaro about their master. They walked around the Sound in search of their leader.
"Oi, Kimimaro!" Sakon started when they found Kimimaro, "Do you have any idea what happened to Master Orochimaru?" Kimimaro didn't reply and they thought he hadn't heard them.
"…… …… I don't know. He's been like this since yesterday, after meeting a shinobi from Konoha," Kimimaro said after a few moments, "Kabuto's treating him in the medical room right now."
"What?!!" came astonished replies, "He came only yesterday and he's already being treated so nicely?"
"Furthermore, I don't think he's very close to Master Orochimaru yet. He's still a stranger to me." Kimimaro said quickly.
"Now, be off and don't tell anybody else what I've just told you." The Sound Four went off immediately at their leader's command.
Back at the medical center in Otogakure…
The door opened and Kabuto walked out. "I've treated his wounds. He's doing fine, for now. But I would like to show you, Lord Orochimaru; something that I think will interest you a lot. Orochimaru looked up and followed his right-hand man to where Crisis lay asleep once again. Kabuto pulled off the blanket which was covering him from neck to toe and…
Author's Notes: This is my first fan-fiction story and I would like to improve on it. So please do me a favor by reviewing. Thanks a lot! Read the next chapter to find out what is so special about Crisis!