Yay, a new chapter O (≧ ∇ ≦) O.
The reviews are very much appreciated, guys, thank you O (≧ ∇ ≦) O
(this chapter totes ran away from me, I don't even know lol).
Subject X2149 was one of the most successful achievements the Estraneo had ever produced.
X2149 knew this, the scientists knew this. Hell, even their mothers knew this. He was one of the most successful because he had yet to die. He was the most successful because he had given them fruitful products (He remembered the way their eyes had lit up with greed when every bone in his body began to shift and grow out of his skin, remembered the way their voices began to become more and more excited. Remembered how they could carelessly experimenting his life away for their better good).
He had felt like he was burning inside out, had felt like every bone in his body was ripped out. It had been agonizing. Back then, he had screamed his voice raw for help. He had begged, had pleaded for the pain to stop. But those scientists, those researchers, they did nothing but standing there and taking notes. After that, every day for him was a visit to the white room (Subject X2149 found himself detest the brightness which the room provided. He did not know why, but he just did). Was this the meaning of his existence? Had he been born to only become these people puppet? To become an experiment?
Subject X2149 barely remembered his life before he was 'found' by the Estraneo. What he could remember were his mother's smile and his father's boisterous laugh. He could, sometimes, when he closed his eyes, tasted the smell of his mother's home cook meal.
He could also remember the fake and forceful smiles his parents had given him before they sold him to this infernal place.
He knew the reason why he was here. He knew his father had been in debt. His parents had been scared. They had been scared for their life so they had exchanged his life for theirs instead.
If Subject X2149 was any other sane person, he would have been bitter. He would have sworn revenge. He would have hated them with his whole being. But he had only felt numb. Numb from the pain from all the experiments, from all the exercise they made him do.
He had questioned his existence then.
He still questioned his existence even now.
.
.
.
Orochimaru remembered being young once. Back when he still had his teammates and Sarutobi-sensei trusts. He reminisced a lot of things, these days. He recalled how lively his life had been, how he had enjoyed all the teasing and all the banter with his team. How he had relished being in a battle where every cell of his blood sing with joy and excitement. He had missed the time when losing to somebody was still an acceptable outcome, the time when a pair rough and warm hands could still intertwine with his own after each mock battle and training.
He remembered being chased out of Konoha, too (Orochimaru thought with a chuckle).
In a way, he felt grateful for the exile. He had been caged, back then. He had been the only one left on his team who had yet abandoned the village. The Slug Princess had become a coward and ran away, the Toad Sage had foolishly carelessly stayed with the three orphans he just had met, and with Sensei being busy with looking after the village, he had been left alone on his own. Had Orochimaru felt bitter? Well, he had felt abandoned, certainly. With no one left to keep an eye on him, with no one left for him to trust to have his back, it had been no wonder how he had delved straight into the darkness, really. His morality had always been the loosest between the three of them.
Orochimaru, first and foremost, was a scientist. He had this thirst for knowledge. He wanted to understand how everything and everyone works. He did not care about how inhumane he had been. All he had cared about had been the results, the knowledge he had obtained. He had needed a moral compass to guide him and to make sure he did not cross the line. That Old War Hawk had known this, had he not? Had Orochimaru had not felt bitter, he would have applauded the whole scheme. Every single one of them, the strongest and brightest of his generation, slowly, but surely, slipped into the darkness with no intention of returning and not one person noticed until it had been too late.
If was asked, he would be the first to admit he had been a monster in human skin. But Orochimaru had not always been that way, had he? He had been nothing except loyal. He had been taught to be loyal. He had been loyal to Konoha and to his team. He would have had unquestionably sacrificed his life for them. Orochimaru had been loyal, yes. But he had not been an idiot. He had not been blind and deaf to the fear and the terrified stares of the villagers every time they had seen him walking down the street, to the sneers and the taunts when they had thought he had not been looking. He had not been ignorant of all the plots and the manipulations had happened to the village under the Old War Hawk's hands in order for the bastard to achieve 'true' Konoha. However, at that point in time, no one had asked or had wanted his opinion any longer. Thus, he had left the old bastard be.
He had not, truly, planned to start a village. But he had needed a place to rest, a place to stay, a place he could freely do his experiments without being judged (a place where he could feel belong). He remembered the time when he had started traveling around, collecting orphans. Not out of the goodness of his heart, oh no, but a village needed its citizens and because no adults in their right mind wanted to live any proximately close to the Snake Sannin voluntarily, he had to get them by himself.
He had to admit, it had been fun, those times on the road. Contrary to popular believed, with the exception of one Uchiha Sasuke, all his past experiments and orphans he had collected over the years had been completely accidental. Plus, he had, in all honesty, brainwashed no child. He had not stolen any child from their family, he had not threatened any family to give up their child. Really, they had truly been orphans. Had he not taken them from the streets, had he not rescued them from being starved to death or getting killed, they would have been all dead anyway. Orochimaru might have twisted his words and hold back the truth, but he had never hidden his intention. He had never, once, lied to those orphans what he would have wanted to do to them.
(Uchiha Sasuke could have been a prime example that the Snake Sannin had not lost all his morality and sympathy. The boy had been as healthy as he could have been had he stayed in Konoha. Orochimaru had given the brat his Snake Summon Scroll, free of charge. He had taught the boy some of his most powerful tricks and tactics. He had made the boy on the same power level, or even more powerful than the Jinchuuriki and the pink hair girl from his team.
He could have had brainwashed the Uchiha, made him one of his most loyal subject. He positively could have had. After all, the boy had run away to him at the tender age of thirteen because of some rhetoric words, too young but still considered an adult with an – what did sister Mary call then? Ah - impressionable mind. It would have been easy, so much easy. But he had refrained himself (Sarutobi-sensei would have been proud, no?).
After all those things Orochimaru had done for him, the boy had had the nerve to kill him in cold blood. Tch, the ungrateful brat).
…
Hm.
There had been a fire.
Ah.
He still had business to obtain, was he not? Strange though, that he still alive and whole. Orochimaru tried to feel his limps, tried to move his arms and legs. There was something on top of him - the memory of sister Mary body shielding his, he could still smell the ashes which the burning had left behind. Smelt burnt human fresh on top of him, around him, but not from him. Impossible.
How could he…?
Lilac, tinted with gold-pair of eyes opened. Curiouser and curiouser. He could not feel any burning on his skin, did not feel like he wanted to burst his lung out from all the smoke he had breath in from the fire. No matter how sturdy sister Mary's body could shield him, there should be some effect left. Nevertheless, he felt as healthy as he could be.
How?
And sister Mary's body, her body was burnt yet, but not that bad. Her body still remained the same after he had lost his consciousness.
But how?
Oh, my.
A new puzzle. Something unknown. Something new. Something which he had not yet had the answer to.
But first, Orochimaru lick his lips, let's find those bastards who had had the guts burnt down HIS home, shall we? (and if he got lucky, he might acquire some new, useful information from them, too).
.
.
.
There was someone watching him.
Every bone in his body felt rattle. His instinct was screaming at him. There was someone else in his cell with him.
How? The cells were always automatically locked to prevents prisoners and subjects escape (he had tried to break the lock and escape once. The experience had not been pleasant for him afterward). But somehow, someway, there was someone else inside his cell.
Serpent eyes, lilac tinted with gold glowed in the dark.
Wait.
Those eyes…
"There must be a purpose for people being born into this world."
What? Who said that?
Hands, pale and cold but warm at the same time, touch his face tenderly.
There was a familiarity in the way he was being embraced. Subject X2149 felt warm and, for the first time in his life, safe. He knew this warmth, he knew this scent. He knew this person.
But, how? How could he know this person when all his life had been subjected to being imprisoned in this vile place? How could he know this person when the life before here he only had his parents?
How?
"Maybe, just maybe, there is no purpose in life... but if you linger a while longer in this world, you might discover something of value in it. Like you found that flower. Like how I found you"
He...
He was…
"Lord…Orochimaru?"