Title: Sprinkling of Feathers
Author: Fenikkusu Ai
Rating: M
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Orochimaru/Sasuke
Words: 3, 228
Genre: Angst/Drama
Summary:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
A/N: Regarding a guest review, yes, I do read my chapters several times before posting them. Proofreading one can take up to a half hour. However, these chapters are long and sometimes mistakes do get missed. I will be more careful in the future. :)
The door shut without a sound, and Sasuke felt the air leave his body. He wasn't going anywhere for the moment. His fate was set.
Unseen, Orochimaru approached him behind and Sasuke was suddenly aware of his weakness and hastily turned to face him.
Suddenly, there was no air. Frantically, Sasuke attempted to breathe, and only ended up choking on his own breath. He was finally on the edge of panic attack. No. Showing frailty was not of the Path of the Shinobi, especially for a Uchiha.
Automatically, his eyes flicked over towards the bed, and he noticed that it was slept in. Still, he didn't doubt for a second that his arrival had been "unexpected." In any case, suspected that he would be dragged over to it sooner or later. After all, he had willingly chose to enter the serpent's den. Sasuke was actually disappointed in himself.
As always, the room was lit by the perennial candles. Orochimaru's chambers never wanted for them, and Sasuke wondered if he ever had been afraid of the dark, even when he had been a small child. Orochimaru had to be afraid of something.
No. That would be far too human for him.
Sasuke knew that he was becoming a predator too. Even now, Sasuke was growing accustomed to how he moved until he was just another creature in the shadows. Until he lost himself completely
Itachi, are you happy now?
"What's on your mind, dear child?" Orochimaru asked softly
You. Apparently.
So. it would be decorum before violence. Orochimaru never changed.
Why had he wanted to come here again? The reason had escaped his mind.
However, under that roaming gaze, Sasuke's irritation boiled over at last. Whatever the motivations that curled around his heart, he had not come here to be insulted.
"Stop calling me that!" he growled. "I'm not a child!" To illustrate his point, Sasuke stamped his foot on the a hard wooden planks below.
He reminded himself that he would have to take care, or the noises would bring Kabuto running.
Orochimaru regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "Child," he reproached mildly
Sasuke didn't have to remind himself not to fall for his light teasing. He was aware that he was extremely dangerous individual. A criminal. Certainly not capable of humanity.
When Sasuke dared to look up at his his eyes, he almost drew back. Usually, when he was unfortunate enough to maintain eye contact at all, he saw was a dark pit. Nothingness. He often had to avert his eyes to avoid falling into it and would never admit to himself how much it unnerved him. Now, he saw rich pools of blazing gold that glittered with the ferocity of the sun, and he found himself wanting to embrace their heat. He coveted it. The reaction confused him
"A child," Sasuke repeated to himself. Orochimaru treated him as anything but.
Orochimaru casually exposed his fangs; celestial eyes glittering as he licked his lips. Sasuke shuddered. He obviously found him appealing. Fiercely, Sasuke caught his wandering mind; he had to have control over this situation. After all, he didn't want him to grow bored. But, it was Orochimaru who broke the silence first.
"Now, did you perhaps come here for some sort of relief," Orochimaru ventured "You can confide in me, Sasuke-kun."
The young avenger wanted to laugh in his face.
Sasuke bristled. "Is that what you think?"
"Why else would you come here at such a clandestine hour?" Orochimaru's tone was dulcet. "Your motivations give you away. Yet...it's rather surprising."
Sasuke didn't know hot to reply, especially when he had difficulty answering the question himself. He should have expected this. Fortunately for Orochimaru, Sasuke's time in the cell had taught him a lack of pride.
He supposed that it couldn't be avoided any longer. With a sigh, Sasuke sighed and prepared for their new routine. It would be useless to deny Orochimaru his pleasure. As his hands moved to untie his obi, he could only hope for a slow gradual rec would be better until it didn't hurt anymore.
"Wait," Orochimaru's voice brushed his ears.
Sasuke was unprepared for the contact on his cheek. Disturbed, he jumped back as Orochimaru appraised him from under his eyelashes. However, Sasuke was even more shocked to discover that he wanted to relax into it to let the world disappear
"You can remove my hand any time you want, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru gently reminded him.
How sadistic of Orochimaru to insinuate that he actually had a choice.
The older man clearly enjoying the hold he had over him; Sasuke closed his eyes, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to open them again.
"Do you enjoy it?" Orochimaru's mockery was a sharp icy wind.
At Sasuke's silence, he continued.
"How far do you would you let me go? Are you going to scream?"
Lightly, Orochimaru scratched at his flesh with a fingernail. Sasuke's eyes flew open. He stood alone as the coils of the serpent looped around his body. The bite was imminent.
Then, with Sasuke's heart in his throat, Orochimaru suddenly let go. Sasuke almost hit the ground.
"Do not worry. I will not violate you. You must choose through your own will what will unfold this night."
Sasuke wondered if he meant it, or if they were just empty words to bridge the unknowing void between them.
Sasuke nostrils flared with his breath. He was shaking, and he wanted to sob.
What had he come here for?
Orochimaru's voice was honey. "I understand. I do. The young mind has so many wants and so few needs. To mature, one needs to know the difference."
Then it dawned on him., Sasuke didn't want to leave. He didn't want to return to where only ghosts of his emotions and darkness lurked.
As if he could sense the nature of his thoughts, Orochimaru watched him patiently.
"Can I stay here for the night?"
Sasuke wanted to slam his knuckles into the wall as soon the words escaped his throat. It was so weak and plaintive and pitiful, he wanted to bite off his own tongue.
"Very well," Orochimaru replied. You will sleep here then."
Sasuke bit his cheek as he stretched out on the bed. It was big enough for three. Anxiously, he hooked his fingers into the blanket when he felt Orochimaru's weight shift about on the mattress as he joined him.
Sasuke felt weak and unprepared, and he wasn't sure of what to expect.
The truth was he didn't want to return to his own room, and this was the course of least resistance
Clutching the pillow for dear life, he managed to relax in spite of his situation. He was just tired. So tired...
Ironically, this bed was the safest place in the world to be in this castle of terrors.
"Good night, Sasuke-kun."
So long as he wasn't devoured.
Orochimaru awoke in the night and was overcome with a certain...curiosity,
Lazily, he rolled over so that he could properly examine the boy and found that he was nearly so perfect that he had to nearly forcibly hold himself back. Orochimaru did honor his promises after all, and it would be exceedingly tedious to regain Sasuke-kun's trust if he chose to break it. Regardless of the fact that he knew that he would never fully obtain it fully, it was nice to always still hope. Trust was such a fragile and precious thing...
However, he could admire him rosy sakura petal lips and moonlight skin from afar. That wouldn't incite any violations on his part.
The snake sannin lowered his nose so that he could breathe in his scent of incense and perfumed soaps that Sasuke had bathed in earlier that night. As soon as he had traveled from Konoha, or rather escaped from Konoha, he had redressed him in his own clothes. Sasuke deserved such finery from his own wardrobe and not the blood-stained rags that had been hanging from him in when he had first arrived in Otogakure. In his vehemence, Orochimaru had had them burned. No. The Village of the Hidden Leaf could not and would not take this victory from him.
Their relationship was already magnificent. Like a comet, rising higher and higher, until it burned to the ground and crashed in a spectacular show. But, that would wait for another day. It would be undeniably destructive yet oh so memorable. Their bond would be eternal after all. Such was the reality of the situation.
Contentedly, Orochimaru rubbed his head against his chest, and Sasuke didn't stir nor did he suspect a thing. Bolder now, he butted his head against him almost playfully as a snake would.
Still, Sasuke continued to sleep deeply as if he were posed in an oil painting instead of being stretched out in his too vulnerable flesh. He wondered how long this apparent truce would last between them.
Though however long it lasted, Orochimaru would savor it. He knew firsthand that things never remained the same forever no matter how much you wished them to.
As it turned out, a change of plans awaited Sasuke the following morning. The young Uchiha was suspicious as soon as he was informed that there was no option for skipping breakfast and that he was to eat something more substantial than white rice. No later than he had finished the bowl, he was ushered into the lab.
Now, he sat in a deep leather chair. The straps of buckles of the restraints dangled freely as they currently were not in use. There was no need for them to be. Sasuke's arm lay bare and ready as he waited for the injection.
A tech who was oddly not Kabuto approached him with a syringe of ruddy pink. It reminded him of a plum wine his parents used to drink. In time, he hoped that he could purge himself of those useless memories.
They would only encumber him. Yet, paradoxically, if he forgot his purpose, what else would he have left to fight for?
Surely, there could have been someone else who could have been approached; one of the the others that would serve as Orochimaru-sama's test subject.
Except, as Sasuke would discover, this wasn't a test...
"Couldn't you find someone else to experiment on?" he groused.
Orochimaru awarded him with a slow smile "Only you can handle this, Sasuke-kun," he assured him. "It's a new drug that will improve your immune system and make you stronger."
...it was a treatment.
Sasuke wondered if was lying and if it had anything to do with his curse mark. Hell, of course he was lying. Everything revolved around that damned thing lately.
With a defeatist sigh, Sasuke relaxed in the chair. He supposed that he had to grudgingly agree that his health above all else was admittedly important. In any event, he was in far too much of a disadvantaged position to disagree with him.
He had to get stronger. Any way he could.
Swallowing the spell of nausea his anxiety had brought on, Sauske couldn't look away as he watched the plunger of the needle press down into his flesh. He was no stranger to this. Hopefully, a mild reaction would occur if luck was with him.
Less than a minute later, Sasuke was a fool to believe that he would be fortunate. Luck simply didn't happen to him. His hair wasn't blond.
Sasuke's muscles twitched as he frantically gasped for air. Even without a mirror, he knew that his pupils were dilating. His pulse raced wildly.
He wondered if Orochimaru would enjoy the show as he thrashed around in his seat and grappled for his very self-control at time as the drug was mercilessly absorbed by his bloodstream. When would the experience end? What the hell had Orochimaru injected him with? The exact chemical, not the garden variety term.
In the throes of his pain, Sasuke felt long fingers closed around his own and looked down to see holding his hand.
"I'm feeling for your pulse," Orochimaru informed him. "Don't be alarmed, Sasuke-kun"
"I'm not!" he snapped.
In truth, he was starting to feel anxious now that the room stood empty. Sasuke wondered when the silent tech had left.
"Why did you only touch me when he left the room?" he dared to ask.
Orochimaru did not reply. Instead, Sasuke watched how his inhuman serpentine eyes danced with amusement as he buried his secrets once more. He had no morals or scruples; someone who existed for his own pleasure.
"Your pulse rate is returning to normal. As always, stamina is your strongest quality," Orochimaru sighed as he broke contact. "It always has been so, even during that first time we met."
Sasuke shuddered. He didn't allow himself to think about that day. The day he died. How fitting that he had met Death in the Forest of Death.
Sasuke wondered what he would do if he died. What would become of his plan then?
For what it was worth, Orochimaru Didn't leave his side until he felt well enough to rise. He wondered if and when he feel better if they would train after lunch. Orochimaru suggested that he take a walk to train his strength. For once, Sasuke didn't feel like arguing.
Outside, Sasuke greeted a humid day that clung to his skin. Overhead, the sky was overcast as it often was. It was a world of perpetual twilight here; no sun or moon to be seen. Perhaps, they were too ashamed to shine here.
Sasuke found himself rubbing and scratching at the injection site as he moved across the grass.
The leaves of the trees overhead nodded towards him as if he were an old friend. A mistaken notion Hastily, he turned before his sight became blurred by the intense green and weaved out of their way and continued to gather his thoughts.
His head weighted down by the burdened by his problems, Sasuke was suddenly distracted by a sharp rapid peeping. Cautiously, he drew nearer to the peculiar sound and noticed a squirming dark stain on the ground.
As he ventured closer, he could make out a defenseless baby bird desperately clinging onto its life. Indeed, life was any creature's most precious possession.
At his approach, its cries became louder still. It was if the creature was begging to be saved. Sasuke knew that it was destined to be eaten by a predator, most likely swallowed by a snake. It would never even get its opportunity to wheel across the sky and fly. A tragedy that was not his problem.
Sasuke was tempted to walk and leave its fate in the hands of the universe, but as he endeavored to walk past it, an irrational pang struck his heart. He of all people could appreciate something small and alone fighting for its life.
As soon as Sasuke hurried inside with the nestling, he found Orochimaru leaning against the paneling. Waiting for him. He would have rushed past him if he didn't need his assistance.
"What have you got there, Sasuke-kun?" he inquired in the fashion of a curious ten year old. "Food?"
"I won't let it die," he stated fiercely.
The decision was already set in his mind as his hand reached down to the soothe the adolescent bird with his fingertips. Against his invading hand, it squirmed away from him as the downy feathers tickled his palm.
"I see."
Orochimaru's voice remained as cultured as a gentleman's, but Sasuke wasn't deceived. A predator's nature never changed.
"Provisions will be made for your pet then." Orochimaru's voice remained as smooth as winter silk. "I do want your stay to be comfortable. As long as it doesn't interfere with your purpose."
So. the bird would be Sasuke's pet, and Sasuke remained Orochimaru's. Things remained in order.
As always, Orochimaru's pretty polite words meant nothing. They weren't even fit to comfort him. Rather, they unsettled him to the core.
"Now, shall we further evaluate your condition further with your training?"
Sasuke, mollified by the suggestion, nodded. He was immediately gratified by this turn of events.
Hours later, sweat rolling off of him, he returned to find his bird nestled inside a bird cage with seeds and water already provided for it. He peered inside the and bird inspected him with glittering onyx eyes. It watched him warily, and Sasuke couldn't blame it. At least it had settled down which was good considering the circumstances it had been placed in. However, the fledgling would have to trust him whether it wanted to or not.
Sasuke wondered with tiny childish park that remained inside him if it missed his family. Perhaps it had been abandoned. Of course, the food itself had been tainted by the hands that had put it there, the cage hung high above predators, but it was not immune to the predators that stood on two legs.
Sasuke remained aware that he could always take care of the problem himself and put the thing out of its suffering with the sole of his own foot...
As he studied the baby wren, Sasuke spine jerked straight when the door was thrown open without so much as a knock.
Kabuto.
That explained it.
"Orochimaru wants to know what preparations should be made at your birthday party."
Sasuke's mind froze. Any semblance of a thought refused to form.
"What?" he hissed.
"Your birthday is next week," Kabuto continued patiently. "Perhaps if you could pick the food it would..."
Sasuke wondered what the hell type of game Orochimaru was playing now.
Somewhere in the depths of the castle halls, he knew that he was laughing at him somewhere. How he would relish the absolute rage that lit on his face right now.
Sasuke twisted his hand into a fist.
"Tell him to go to hell," Sasuke snarled. He didn't want a damned party.
Don't be rude, Sasuke-kun.
With some effort, Sasuke had managed to will that voice out of his mind.
No. He wouldn't allow himself to be molded; he wasn't clay. Sasuke would not allow himself to be enslaved as the others in the Hidden Sound village. He wouldn't be ensnared in his trap.
Kabuto shrugged. "Not really an option at the moment. I suppose you're not ready to make a decision at the moment. I can wait. If you're still undecided after five days, I'll leave it to him to decide."
Without another word, Kabuto abruptly left the room. Sasuke felt ready to explode
Sasuke was so overcome with rage that he trembled from head to foot. How dare he.
This violated the relationship between master and student. This was just another game to him. Orochimaru treated emotions like toys, and his feelings were no different than anyone else's. He wasn't strong presently; he was a spectacle.
Finally losing his composure, Sasuke swore out loud and slammed the plaster wall so hard that he wondered if he had cracked it.
At the sound, the bird went into a panic and began chirping while uselessly fluttering its wings inside its prison. Sasuke morosely watched a few stray feathers float down. The bars kept its fit contained. Sasuke could relate to it.
As he cursed his fate. Sasuke could barely hear the commotion over his own heavy breathing.
He was losing control. One by one, his weaknesses were being exposed and Orochimaru was seeping into every one like water.
Then, Sasuke had to remind himself that he had already lost control.
