AN: This story takes place during the gap, where Naruto went to train with Jiraiya and Sasuke is with Orochimaru. This is a yaoi story, so if that's not your cup of tea, turn back now.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Prologue
He hated fate. Twice in his life, his life was royally fucked up by that one little word, till he was left alone and stranded in the middle of nowhere, feeling blindly with his hands for an open path.
That was why he would rather choose to believe in his own strength than to put his trust in 'fate', 'destiny', 'hope' or whatever else people wanted to called it. It was a harsh lesson to learn, one that involved a younger version of his current self coming home to find what he thought was the perfect family, destroyed, the corpses that were his parents still oozing the viscous red fluid of life, while he stood gasping for breath, suffocated by the rich metallic smell of blood.
That was why he took his future into his own hands, to grasp the power that Orochimaru had sampled him with, because he knew it was there, because it was tangible… because what he had in Konoha… teammates, friends, and bonds… were just as empty and treacherous as fate.
After he severed his bonds and made it clear that his path had already branched off than that of Konoha, he knew that he was in control now, even if he was just Orochimaru's puppet. In his mind's eye, he had already seen the end of his path… and the prize that awaited for him there. All he wanted was to feel Itachi's blood flow through is fingers, just like how the blood of his parents flowed onto the tatami mats all those years ago, the blood that could never be cleaned away… Uchiha blood, his blood.
His plan was perfect. However, that was when fate decided to throw the second curved ball at him. He thought he had already learnt his lesson. But even with his genius, foresight, and planning, he was not prepared for the impact.
Heavy breathing was heard in the underground training room. It had been weeks since he last saw sunlight. There was no need to be exposed to the outside world, when he had everything that he needed already in the darkness.
Red eyes reflected the non-existent light like a cat in the complete darkness. The metallic shimmer vanished quickly as Sasuke closed his eyes, allowing his other senses to expand with the lack of vision. There was no need to use the sharingan against this opponent. He could feel the other shinobi's fear against his skin, and he relished the sensation like a natural predator.
He moved perfectly in the obscurity, with the slow grace of one who was accustomed to dominate and kill, all his hits connected where he wanted them to. His movement was too fast to follow even if there had been light. Grunts of pain was heard and the damp air was tainted with the smell of blood, the scent was so familiar to him now that he missed it when he had to leave his underground lair those few rare times.
"Please, I beg of you. Let me live!"
"You are weak, worthless." His pale face was as smooth as always, but his voice was cold with disgust. A powerful hand lashed out and pinned his prey by the neck, against the concrete wall.
The katana sang its shrill song as it was release from its confines. The cold blue metal of the blade glowed in the darkness as it was swung in a graceful arc.
Sasuke stood frozen and let the blood cool on his face. It still shocked him how hot life could feel sometimes, especially when his life had came to a deep freeze the day he found Itachi standing over their parents with his katana, stained by life's blood. It burned away at his pale emotionless face, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.
"That's the sixth one this week, Sasuke-kun." A spark in the darkness, and a single candle lit up, the warm light quickly swallowed by the shadows. "At the rate you're going, we won't have any prisoners or Sound shinobi left. The one that you just killed was supposed to participate in my experiment; I thought I asked you to leave that one alone." Kabuto said with more than a hint of annoyance. He had especially picked out the now dead shinobi because of his superior self healing powers. It had taken him six weeks to find a shinobi with that special feature. All that hard work and time, destroyed by Sasuke's selfishness.
"You did."
"Then why did you kill him?"
"I wanted to see what you would do," a superior smirk was directed at him.
Kabuto clenched his fists tightly to prevent himself from punching the arrogant face in front of him. Just a little longer. He told himself. It had been two years since Orochimaru's last body transfer. According to his last check up on the Sannin, Orochimaru must transfer into Sasuke's body in another six months.
Yes, he could wait. It was a game that Sasuke could not win.
"Go clean up fast. Orochimaru-sama wants to see you."
"What does he want this time? He hasn't taught me any new jutsu in months," the dark haired youth wiped off the blood on his katana on the clothes of his fallen prey, before sheathing his weapon lovingly in the scabbard.
Kabuto smiled mysteriously, and used his finger to push up his glasses. "It seems like the guards on patrol brought back something interesting."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"On the contrary Sasuke-kun, I believe it has everything to do with you," The silver haired man held out his hand. There, dangling between the two men, a pure green crystal shimmered in the low light. "You do recognize this necklace, don't you?"
The younger man made no movement to take the jewel from him. "Naruto," He breathed out the single word, slowly, testing the name on his tongue. A name he had banished from his mind because of the destructive power it held over him every time he allowed himself to picture his old teammate.
This time, it was Kabuto's turn to grin slyly as he watched Sasuke inhale deeply and closed his eyes. Wasn't this interesting. Even after two years at Sound, it seemed like the Uchiha still hadn't cut his bonds with Konoha yet.
The dark eyes finally opened, after seconds that felt like hours. Instead of the empty black iris, it was the bloody sharingan that stared back at Kabuto's own slightly surprised eyes.
Kabuto doubled up in pain as all the air was forced out of his lungs from the sudden assault. When? But he was already alone in the training room, on his knees, arms crossed protectively over his stomach, his hands strangely empty of the necklace he used to taunt the Uchiha just moments ago.
It was already dusk when he emerged from the underground base. The last rays of the setting sun painted everything in red. This current base was close to a tourist town. During those rare times that he left the base to get away from Orochimaru and Kabuto, he had discovered a small lake, hidden by cliffs on side and the dense forest on the other.
It was to this small sanctuary that he was headed, to rid himself of the blood of his victim, and to think about the new information that Kabuto came back with.
Naruto…
So he was still alive. The crystal from the necklace dug into the flesh of his hand as he formed tight fist around it. Apart of him knew that his teammate was too stubborn to die. Any ordinary shinobi would have given up already after a chidori through the chest. Somewhere deep inside, he breathed a small sigh of relief. For the past two years, even though he would never have admitted it, he did feel guilty and ashamed of what he did to Naruto. Now, he felt as if a small part of the weight lifted a little. Although, what was the dobe doing in this part of country?
Without shame, he loosened the obi that held his clothes together. The only live beings who watched him were the wild animals. The dark blue hakama and blood stained white gi caressed his pale body briefly as they fell to pool at his feet. They would be burned later. He did not like to wear clothes that reminded him of the people he killed.
The water was cool, but so clear that he could see the sandy bottom and the little fishes that swam between the blades of water plants. With a sigh, he let his tense body slid down and submerges under the surface. The coldness felt good and calm around his body, erasing any evidence of violence earlier. The gentle waves of the lake massaged his tired muscles.
Sasuke pushed his wet black hair away from his eyes and let his head rest against a smooth rock, his eyes closed against the last light of the sun, seeing a haze of red behind his eyelids. He thought back to what Kabuto said. Yes, it was true that he became more aggressive than before. He never actually took the lives of the prisoners kept for his practice. But the time was getting closer. They all knew it, felt it. The air was alive with the tension and anticipation of the soon to come body transfer. Soon, he would be able to take the first step towards his ultimate goal. There was nothing left for Orochimaru to teach him. From now on, he would only have his own strength to depend on.
"Sasuke-kun."
Sharingan spun out of control at the sound of the voice.
"Orochimaru," he said tonelessly. It didn't surprise him that Orochimaru knew of this place. The Sannin had him under tight surveillance ever since he first defected to Sound. Most of the time when he wasn't with Orochimaru, Kabuto would be the one to trail him on his aimless walks.
"I guess Kabuto failed to give you my message then."
"I got the message, but I just wanted to wash up after training," he made up the excuse, even though he could careless about what Orochimaru would do. Before the time came, he still had to make a pretense of normality. "I was going to see you after I finished here."
"No need," was that a hint of amusement in Orochimaru's voice? "I wanted you to see something interesting. It doesn't matter if you come to me, or I bring it to you." With that, he separated from the shadows of the forest.
"I hope that you don't mind if we join you."
We... Sasuke hid his shock well, and moved away to give the older man room as Orochimaru stepped into the water, fully clothed. The sharingan did not disappear, but widened slightly at body the Sannin carried carefully in his arms. The older man leaned back in the water, and moved the boy he held in his arms so that he was sitting sideways on his lap, resting comfortably against his own body.
The wild golden spikes were just as shiny as he remembered. He did not need to touch the hair to know that it was still as soft and silky too. Sasuke moved his gaze down to the face that was resting against Orochimaru's chest. Welling unconsciously for the eyes to open, so that he could compare the hidden color to the color he had engraved in his memory.
"I see that you still remember Naruto-kun, Sasuke."
"How can I forget the usuratonkatchi?" Sasuke answered dully. He only put a hole through the other boy's chest, he held back the wince. "I see that he's still haven't changed much if he allowed himself to be caught this easily."
He tried to force his gaze away as one of Orochimaru's hands cradled Naruto's head carefully, and leaned the boy down until only his nose wasn't submerged under the water. Gentle hands combed through the floating golden locks, loosening all the tangles and letting the water play around the soft hair. When the blond boy shivered from the cold, the same hands lifted his face from beneath the cold water and gathered him close to the older man's body again.
Sasuke clutched his fists as he watched his ex-teammate move closer to the source of warmth. Sighing contently as he rubbed his cheek against the flat muscular chest of the older man.
"We didn't catch him, Sasuke-kun," pale yellow eyes smirked back at him, taunting the enraged boy. Hands gently brushed the wet yellow hair away from the sleeping face against his chest. "Our patrol team found him asleep in the forest and brought him back."
"And he didn't struggle at all?" If he knew the blond at all, he wouldn't go down without a fight.
"He was passed out from sake when the team found him, but he's under a sleep jutsu right now."
Ah, he caught the unmistaken smell of alcohol now. How could he have missed it? Looked like Naruto hadn't changed at all; only an idiot would get himself drunk and pass out in unknown territory.
"What are you going to do to him?" He narrowed his eyes in warning as Orochimaru's hands traveled down Naruto's face, and rested on the zipper of his hideous black and orange jacket. Deliberately, the slender fingers grasped the zipper, and pulled it down agonizingly slowly, inch by inch, revealing a smooth toned chest covered by teasing black mesh. A quick tug and the open jacket was off, carried away by the ripples in the water. Now the hands were busy pushing up the transparent mesh, a little more difficult this time, because of the thin material that clung tightly to the wet creamy skin.
Sasuke unconsciously licked his lips as he feasted his eyes. A taunt stomach was revealed to him, the abdominal muscles were not as defined as his own, but it was hard and flat from training. The smooth skin was the color of light café latte, just begging to be licked and tasted by a connoisseur. With one last jerk, the flimsy peace of clothing released its owner, and left him to the two pairs of hungry eyes.
His breath caught in his throat as his eyes followed Orochimaru's hand that traced a trail from the hallow of Naruto's neck gently down, brushing carelessly against pink nipples, drawing circles around the buds, but never fully touching them, just teasing… and down pass the belly button, a finger dipped in slightly and caressed the soft skin that Sasuke so wanted to feel for himself… and down further until it rested against the elastic of the orange pants…
"He has grown into quite a beauty," cruel yellow eyes held his own, as Orochimaru tipped back the blond head, and licked the path from the base of the tanned throat to the edge of one delicate ear. "De…li…cious."
His eyes bled red, as a soft moan escaped the lusciously red lips. Even asleep, the blonde was sensitive to the onslaught of advances. So much had changed about that familiar face, yet it was still uniquely and distinctively Naruto. He longed to reach out to feel the whisker marks on those smooth cheeks. Naruto had lost his baby fat, yet his cheeks still maintained a rounded contour even though it was leaner, giving him a more effeminate look combined with the small straight nose, and pouty lips. He knew that if Naruto's eyes were open, they would still be large crystal blue… but would they still be as innocent and forgiving as he remembered?
"It has been such a long time since I had such a beautiful toy to play with," Orochimaru's voice broke him from his observation. Yellow eyes stared into blood red ones in challenge and the Sannin lowered his head to suck deeply on Naruto's neck, earning a shiver of pleasure from the slender boy. "I think I'll keep him with us. I'm sure it will be a very pleasurable experience for all of us..."
TBC
AN: Thanks for reading everyone. I'm sorry I painted such a bleak picture of Sasuke… I got depressed thinking how exams are just around the corner. And yes, there will be some slight OroNaru parts, don't kill me please ;