Sasuke paced his luxurious room, unable to rest, mind reeling from the impact of Kakashi's words. "I never hated you"? What did that mean…? There was so much that it could mean that Sasuke found himself almost feeling guilty abut what he had done to Kakashi…
"Sasuke…just listen to me…?"
"Why should I?"
"Just once, you foolish little child! Just once, do you think that I might have something worth a damn?"
Sasuke stopped, seemingly mulling this over in his mind. "No," he answered saucily, turning his back and walking away.
"Sasuke-sama, why are you wasting your time with this fool?" Sakon hissed, motioning frantically to Sasuke. "Just let us deal with him and then we can be out of here!"
Sasuke glanced at Sakon. "One second," he said, and turned back to Kakashi. "You have exactly ten seconds, otherwise I'll leave you and them to fight it out. And personally, I don't give a shit whether or not you live or die."
That was the last time Sasuke had seen Kakashi until now. And even now, the jounin still chose to flee instead of fighting Sasuke. Maybe he just loved him too much…or maybe he just never gave up on Sasuke and still wanted him to give up on Itachi.
Sasuke thought to himself.Sasuke slipped out into the hallway, heading for Orochimaru's room.
OOOOOOOOOOO
Kabuto gasped when he heard Tayuya's warning, glancing around frantically. "What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?!"
Sakon glanced at Jiroubou. "Crap-we don't have enough time to change him, too!"
Kabuto took a deep breath. The worst thing he could do was panic. "Okay, Jiroubou, get in the bathroom. Just pretend to be using it…Orochimaru-sama, come with me. Kimimaro, hold the door closed any way you can."
Kimimaro dropped to the floor in front of the door and braced his feet against it, and Kabuto could feel his chakra flaring up. Several bones pushed themselves out of his arms, and Kimimaro forced one into a flower. "God, I hope this holds…" he braced the bone against the door as well and stood up, but stayed near the door incase Sasuke was stronger than the bone.
"Tayuya, help me with him."
Tayuya draped a long cloak over Orochimaru and pulled him over to where Kabuto was standing, trying to force open a window. Tayuya held Orochimaru to her side, keeping him as close as possible. She turned to Kidomaru and said,
"Help him with that!"
Kidomaru ran over and immediately began shoving against the window. "Damn, Kabuto, have you opened this in years?"
"Hard to get open, isn't it?"
Kimimaro gasped; how had Sasuke gotten through?! What kind of jutsu was he using…? A hand smacked him firmly on the back of the neck, and Kimimaro collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Tayuya whipped around, shoving Orochimaru into Kabuto's arms and pulling out her flute.
"We're the worst possible opponents!" she said, sounding panicky. "I only use genjutsus, and that's exactly what the Sharingan is best against! He can just make a hand seal and we're all fucked-!"
"Tayuya, don't panic; just delay him-Tayuya?"
Tayuya was frozen on the spot, trembling from fright and caught in a genjutsu. Kabuto sighed and smacked her.
Tayuya crumpled to the ground, reeling from the blow. "Thanks," she muttered, standing up. "God, he's as bad as his brother with the illusions!"
"What do you know about Itachi?!"
Sasuke was at Tayuya's side in a flash, pinning her to the wall and glaring at her, Sharingan spinning wildly. "What do you know?" he repeated, setting his hands on her shoulders.
"Not much," Tayuya confessed. "But I do know how his illusions work and everything-"
"What do you know about Tsukiyomi? How is it broken?"
"It can't be," Tayuya said slowly. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see Kabuto open the window and slip out, pulling Orochimaru behind him. She began spewing lies from her very heart.
"Itachi's genjutsus is the bloodline, as you know, and part of it is the strength of a genjutsus. And since Itachi's Mangekyou is so strong, it can't be broken. If you could get the Mangekyou, the same way Itachi did, no one would be able to break your genjutsus, either," Tayuya continued. She tried to keep prattling on and on as much as she could, giving Kabuto and Orochimaru the biggest head start she could. "But that's only if you get it like Itachi did. If it's accidental, like Kakashi's, then you get something different. But it still can't be broken."
"And? How can I get this?!"
"Jeez, you don't know? Your closest friend has to be dead."
Sasuke's gaze fell. "So…I do have to kill him. Kabuto!!"
Kabuto jumped down after Orochimaru, took the sannin's hand, and
OOOOOOOOOO
Sasuke glared at Tayuya.
"What?" she whined. "Like I had anything to do with it! I just came because I left my make-up in here…"
"Why was it in here in the first place?" Sasuke hissed.
"Kabuto needed to test a few of the chemicals in them," Tayuya grunted. "Got a problem with that? Now if you excuse me, your dick is rubbing me the wrong way!"
Sasuke glared, but released Tayuya's hips and let the girl flounce out of the room in a huff.
"And you!" Kidomaru glanced up from the window. "…This looks bad…doesn't it…?"
Sasuke slowly nodded, and in a flash had Kidomaru up against the open window.
"You're lucky I don't kill you."
Kidomaru shrugged. "You probably couldn't. My spider thread is sticky, you know."
"Point is, you little prick?'
"You're touching me."
Sasuke looked down at his hands, which were coated with a golden slime. "Agh!! What is this?!"
Kidomaru smirked. "Good bye." He leaned back, pushing himself out of the window. Sasuke sighed.
"Sucks for him; he was actually a decent ninja."
Threads flashed past the window.
Sasuke sighed again and looked down. "Do I ever win?"
"Not against us," Sakon said dryly. "We're just…teenagers, I guess. Trickery, deceit, and lies are our specialty. I mean, how else can we lie to our parents about what we really do at each others' houses?"
One of Sasuke's eyebrows rose questioningly. "You…are really…screwed up…"
"Why thank you," Ukon said. "Sakon, can you turn me around-?"
Sakon said firmly. "Bad boy. Stay here, or I won't let you back in.""Well, we all know who wears the pants in this relationship," Sasuke laughed, staring at the seething Ukon and the only-slightly-agitated Sakon. Ukon and Sakon both gave Sasuke a glare at this.
"Now, I'm going after the rats," Sasuke spat. "You can stay here, and if I find that anyone was helping them…" Sasuke slid one finger across his throat, and each member of the Sounds gulped at this. "And get Kimimaro out of the doorway."
Sasuke jumped out the window, landing lightly and immediately taking off after Orochimaru and Kabuto. They were so dead when he found them…
OOOOOOOOOO
"Orochimaru-sama, you have to keep going; we can't stop, not now!"
"It hurts!"
"I know…come here, I know," Kabuto consoled, picking up Orochimaru. "I can't carry you for long. Then you're either going to have to run, or we find a nice cave and cast a genjutsu." Kabuto started running again, occasionally glancing up at the clouds. A storm was coming; both good and bad. It would cover his tracks and scent, but it would also make the going harder for him and Sasuke. There wasn't much he could do at this point except keep going.
"Come on," he encouraged, pulling Orochimaru along behind him. "We have to keep going or else-?"
"I know!!"
Orochimaru was obviously tense and on edge; Kabuto could feel him shaking in his arms. Still, he pressed on, concerned for Orochimaru and about Sasuke. He had been running for quite a while now; he wasn't sure exactly how long. But apparently it had been a long time, because a familiar cave came into view…
"I used to come here on missions all the time; I would stop and organize, or rest. I never knew it was so close…"
"Or so far."
"Hm…"
Kabuto veered off to the right and slipped past several large trees to edge into the cave half-hidden behind them. He set Orochimaru down in the back of the shallow cave, opened a trap door, and pulled out a blanket and some food. Seeing Orochimaru's questioning look, he replied, "Don't ask."
Orochimaru smiled. "Okay, then; I won't."
Kabuto spread the blanket over Orochimaru and began poking around the entrance of the cave for some dry wood. When he had found enough, he piled it all in the center of the cave and lit it aflame with a simple fire jutsu. Orochimaru curled up in his lap when he sat down, and Kabuto had to sigh.
OOOOOOOOO
Tayuya gave a sigh of relief as Sasuke leaped out of the window, chasing after Kabuto and Orochimaru. The relief, however, was short-lived, as she suddenly realized that if Sasuke caught up to Kabuto and Orochimaru they would have hell to pay.
"Hurry, fatass!!" she screamed, grabbing the one person still in the room and charging towards the window as well. Kidomaru had just climbed back up the building and swung a giant net across the window, blocking her path.
"Look, as much as I care about Orochimaru, we have to think this through," he said slowly, cimbing through thw window-and the net. "If we try to stop Sasuke, we'll all end up dead. If we try to cut around and warn Orochimaru and Kabuto, we would probably lead Sasuke right to them. And if we find someone else, we might have a shot. So, let's go with either find someone else or wait and pray."
"Yo, anyone seen the newest bitch of the world?"
Kidomaru sighed. "Karin," he greeted heavily. "Really, it's no wonder you and Tayuya get along so well. Actually, you're perfect for what we need to do…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know: Kabuto ran with Orochimaru and then Sasuke went after them. Why'd he wait so long, anyway?"
"Tayuya was crazy enough to try to stall him."
"Tayuya?! You go, girl!!"
Sakon turned around, much to Ukon's discontent, and stared at Karin.
"Sakon…Sakon…! Dude, bitch, don't make me come over there and kick you!!"
Sakon shook himself. "Uh, right…sorry…which potty-mouthed, hot redhead said that..?"
Tayuya sighed and smacked Sakon across the face, jarring Ukon, you glared. Tayuya shivered at the extra head and gave an exaggerated flinch. Ukon sighed.
"Sakon, your girlfriend hates me."
"Wrong redhead."
Karin glared, but said nothing. "You needed me?"
"Find Sasuke and Orochimaru…and Kabuto, too, I guess, but he creeps me out," Kidomaru said.
"I think he's cute!!"
Tayuya glared at Karin; they had both said exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Ukon smirked.
"Ouch. Better luck next time, buddy."
"Shuddup," Sakon snarled.
Karin smiled. "Well, once I find them, last one there is a virgin!"
"Kabuto's taken, actually," Kidomaru informed them. "He's totally, hopelessly in love with someone else."
"Really?" Karin sounded so crushed Kidomaru almost offered a consolation date; except he knew he would be rejected…despite the fact that Karin was something of a slut. "Who?"
"Orochimaru-sama!!"
Karin's jaw dropped. "He's…gay…all of a sudden, I want to die."
Sakon grinned. "But you're not Lesbian."
Karin sighed and kicked out, catching Sakon in a very unpleasant place. Sakon crumpled to the ground, falling directly on top of a laughing Ukon and groaning in pain.
"I didn't mean it that way-!"
"Too late, sucker!!"
Sakon let out another whine of submissive pain, and Tayuya congratulated Karin on doing something she had been dying to do for years and years. Karin smiled and accepted her praise, and when they had all stopped laughing she began focusing her chakra, trying to find Kabuto's and Orochimaru's.
"Bad news, my children," she said grimly, releasing the jutsu. "Orochimaru's, Kabuto's, and Sasuke's chakra all just went KA-BAM! And Orochimaru was on the bottom of the pile."
A/N: We even get a little humor this round. Lucky you. Thank tx-chan for that.
