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Chapter 7
"Do we really want to be rid of our resentments, our anger, our fear?
Many of us cling to our fears, doubts, self-loathing or hatred
because there is a certain distorted security in familiar pain.
It seems safer to embrace what we know
than to let go of it for fear of the unknown."
―Narcotics Anonymous
Sasuke had been dreading a certain conversation between Orochimaru and him for several days and, when he heard the sound of a steady knock on his bedroom door, he knew that conversation had arrived. Part of him wanted to pull the blanket back up to his neck and pretend that he was asleep, but it was nearly seven in the morning and Orochimaru surely knew that Sasuke would be awake by then. Of course, he had been conscious for an hour perhaps, but that morning he did not find the drive to begin his day, he had simply been laying down and pondering. He rose out of his bed and lazily ran his fingers through his hair to untangle any knots that had formed while he was sleeping, then pulled open the door. Orochimaru stood waiting for him, wearing that odd smirk he always seemed to have.
"May I come in?" Orochimaru hissed. Sasuke knew full well that this was not an invitation and that it was better for him to keep silent. He stepped out of the doorframe to allow his sensei into the room, who then promptly took a seat in a wooden chair that faced Sasuke's bed. Sasuke quietly shut the door and sat down on the edge of his bed. He stared at Orochimaru until the man spoke.
"I assume you've been wondering when you will be able to begin your project to revive the Uchiha clan?" Orochimaru said. Sasuke, knowing full well what his sensei was insinuating, continued to stare.
After understanding that Sasuke had no intention of responding, Orochimaru continued. "Well I do believe that our little specimen is healthy enough to mother a child. Ah, well, I won't get into the details but I developed a marvelous health drug and its just been doing wonders for the girl!" Orochimaru then took note of the dull look on Sasuke's face. "Well, I digress. Anyway, I would like you to impregnate Raine as soon as you can. We don't want any more delays, especially since the girl ought to be ovulating this week. It's the opportune time for making children! That being said, I have preparations to make and so do you. Good day, Sasuke."
Sasuke thought that Orochimaru seemed far too excited for this. He, on the other hand, had absolutely no desire to begin having sex again. Of course, reviving his clan was something he intended on doing eventually, but he didn't see a good reason for beginning such a project so early. Sasuke had priorities. He needed to take his revenge upon Itachi and this nonsensical sex that Orochimaru had been insisting on for several years was cutting time out of what was more important. Even more than that, however, was the fact that Sasuke did not want to impregnate Raine of all women. Sasuke had noticed that the longer that he knew a "specimen", the more difficult it was for him to work himself up to actually impregnating her. For the most part, the longer he knew women, the more they annoyed him. However there had been times, Raine being one of them, where Sasuke's drive for sex was eliminated because he came to respect the woman. Whenever Orochimaru would find him a girl who was particularly strong, Sasuke began to see her as an object of battle, not an object of sex.
Rubbing his temples in annoyance, Sasuke decided to begin his day, promptly dressing himself and making his way to the kitchen. Upon turning the corner, his eyes trailed to the round kitchen table, expecting Raine to be sitting there. She was not. He thought nothing more on the matter and, after cooking and eating several fried eggs and a handful of cherry tomatoes, Sasuke made his way to his training grounds. Wasting no time, he quickly stretched and continued on to fight against a number of shadow clones. The exercises he laid out for himself were mindless. He went through the motions and worked up a decent sweat, but he didn't feel like he was making much progress.
Sasuke began to feel his frustration creep in on him as he wiped his forehead and walked back to the hide out. He didn't want to go back in there, but he didn't want to stand outside unless he was working- the cold autumn air was beginning to bite at his bare shoulders. Swiftly, he made his way inside and quickly rubbed his hands together to rid them of the chill. He continued to walk aimlessly through the halls of the underground building. Sasuke had always sort of liked the hide out- when it was uncomfortably cold outside, he could always wander the never-ending hallways. He found that walking was a good way for him to clear his mind and so, as he wandered around, he mused about what exactly he was to do about the situation at hand. However, before he was able to formulate a plan, he turned a corner and nearly ran into Raine. The two of them halted, both taking a synchronized step backwards.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Don't you know better than to walk on this side of a corner? You'll never see if there's a person on the other side." Raine sighed in response, her eyes rolling slightly. In an attempt to conceal his awkwardness, Sasuke continued speaking. "Why are you out of your room? You're a prisoner here, you shouldn't be wandering the halls."
Raine's arms folded across her chest, biting back a retort. "I was looking for you actually. I noticed that you had finished with your training so I was looking for you." Sasuke raised his eyebrows, questioning the girls motives. Noticing his facial gesture, Raine continued. "I, ah, wanted to talk to you. Will you come with me?"
Sasuke felt something stirring in his chest. Anxiously, he picked at his cuticles and responded, "No." He fluidly stepped to the side and continued to walk past her. Raine nostrils flared in annoyance.
"Wait!" She exclaimed, reaching out, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and yanking it so that he was facing her. "Dammit, Sasuke, we're talking. I'm not asking for your permission to talk to you! You're coming with me!" Raine yanked on his wrist again but instead of following her, he pulled his arm away from her grasp and gently rubbed his arm.
"No." Sasuke said again, more sternly this time. "We do not need to talk." He began to walk away again but Raine quickly spun around and followed him, keeping his brisk pace. Sasuke pretended not to notice her.
"Why can't we talk about this?" Raine barked. Sasuke didn't look her way. He wished she would lower her voice and leave him be.
He continued walking through the halls, not particularly sure where he was headed. Raine followed him stubbornly, she quit talking after a little while and decided that she would just have to tail him to wherever he was heading and talk to him once he reached a destination. As the two of them walked aimlessly and silently, Sasuke remembered what he had been thinking about the night before. Perhaps it would be a good idea for him to least lead the girl to believe that they were friends- for if he did that she might aid him in his attempts to find Itachi. Of course, he would kill his brother on his own, but it would certainly require a bit of effort to actually track him down. He couldn't be easy to find or villages would have sent fleets to kill him long ago. Heaving a sigh, Sasuke came to the conclusion that adding the girl to a make-shift team would be beneficial to him.
Sasuke stopped walking suddenly and turned to face Raine. Groaning internally, he asked "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"
Raine, taken aback at Sasuke's sudden compliance, was too startled to gather her thoughts. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds before she found the words to speak. "Ah, well, we should probably go to your room. Right?" Without another word, Sasuke turned and headed towards his room. Raine, still a little confused, thought she ought not question him and followed along silently.
Upon reaching his bedroom, Sasuke promptly opened the door and took a seat on his bed, pressing his back to the wall and stretching his legs across the width mattress. He gestured for Raine to have a seat in the chair that faced the small bed. Raine sat in the chair awkwardly, she wasn't expecting Sasuke to be so agreeable and wasn't quite sure what to do now.
After several moments of silence, Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "Alright," he said, "do you have something to say?"
"Um, yeah." Raine began, her awkwardness was palpable. "Well, I have questions, actually."
"Yes?" Sasuke responded, not looking at her and fumbling with his fingernails instead.
Raine wasn't sure how to begin and remained quiet, thinking. She wanted to kick herself for not speaking but she simply couldn't find the words.
Sasuke glanced in her direction. He found it somewhat amusing how the girl seemed to talk such a big game but when she was put under pressure she became clumsy and awkward. All bark and no bite. When Sasuke noticed Raine grinding her sandals into the ground he decided to give her a push. "Go on?" he prompted.
"Ok well, to start, "If Orochimaru is so amazing at manipulating genes, then why doesn't he just mix our genes and make the baby himself?" Raine asked.
Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut briefly, he had feared that the questionnaire would be on this topic. "Because it's less time consuming," he answered, trying to seem nonchalant. "Besides, the genes mix much more naturally that way." At least that was what Orochimaru had told Sasuke when he had asked the very same question a couple years ago. Part of Sasuke suspected that Orochimaru was just perverted.
Continuing on with her questions, Raine quickly asked, "how long have you been searching for... for a girl to mother your children?"
He thought for a moment before answering. "About three years." He said, thinking that it was not long after he had arrived at Orochimaru's hide out when he started looking for someone with whom to revive his clan.
Raine's mouth pursed slightly at his answer. It lead into her next question- "...how many?"
"Hmm?" Sasuke asked in return. "How many what?"
"Girls." Raine responded. "About how many girls do you think... you've tried?"
Sasuke's lip curled slightly at the thought of it. "I don't know," he growled, "do you actually think I counted?"
"Well, if you had to guess." responded Raine, slightly annoyed.
Sasuke adjusted his position so that his arms were crossed behind his head. He deliberately averted his eyes from Raine's. "I don't know... maybe ten? Fifteen?" He glanced at Raine for a split second after responding. His eyes fell on her nose, which had sourly scrunched up for a moment. He noted the light spray of freckles on the bridge of her nose which brought a slight smirk to his face. It was rare that she had freckles- Uchihas were often very fair skinned. He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, waiting for more questions.
"Why did it take so many tries? And what happened to all those other girls when you were done with them?" Raine began to pick up speed.
"The genes never mixed in a way that was to Orochimaru's liking," Sasuke responded simply. "And as for what happened to the other women... well Orochimaru got rid of them. He never chose to kidnap girls that people would come searching for... and erasing their memories would just be too much trouble. If they didn't produce a good child, then he got rid of them." Sasuke hesitated for a moment before speaking his mind and saying, "I do believe that Orochimaru had a piece of all of the girls that hadn't worked for me..."
Realizing what Sasuke was insinuating, Raine felt a wave of nausea roll through her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a breath before looking strait at Sasuke and whispering, "What I don't produce a child to his liking...? Is that what will happen to me?"
Sasuke smirked.
Longer chapter this time :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
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Have a wonderful day/night/whenever you're reading this :)
And I hope you had a merry christmas/whatever you celebrate!
