Flash of Red and Black
Chapter XX
"Brat! Oi! Wake up you little runt!" Kurama growled. I groaned with pain as I woke, but I could tell that I wasn't the one in control of my body, which may have been for the best because even Kurama's face looked weary.
"Should I take over?"
"A brat like you shouldn't bother worrying. Just get back to your plan," he growled, but his words had significantly less bite to them than normal because of the pain, so I knew I needed to get a balance back quickly.
I forced myself to ignore the throbbing I could feel coursing through my body and immediately started molding chakra. (And that was not easy. I knew that I was still covered with wounds from the fight earlier, but since I could tell that there were new ones too, I figured that Orochimaru had already begun his experiments.)
"Do you know how long it's been?" I asked Kurama while trying not to lose focus. It was even harder than before to mold chakra, and I wondered if it was the fault of one of the snake's poisons.
"Only a couple hours at most," he grit out, and I nodded, not making him say anything more. The others should have met up with the backup teams by now, and should be safe and resting. According to the plan that I came up with, they wouldn't come for me for at least a full day so that they would be fully rested before taking Orochimaru on again, but I hoped that a full day would be enough time for them to recover.
As I molded chakra, I let my mind wander, but I forced my thoughts away from Kakashi. I knew that he would be worried and more than a little angry (I was plenty familiar with those feelings after all), and I knew that thoughts about him would just shake my concentration, which was something that I knew I couldn't afford since I had to keep up my end of the deal: stay alive long enough to get rescued. But I wasn't going to be able to stay alive for long if I couldn't get my chakra and Kurama's under control to help heal up some of my wounds, so I couldn't just sit around doing nothing. But of course, Orochimaru wasn't going to make it easy for me.
"Ah, so you're awake now? Which one are you, the tamed beast or the useless Hokage?" Orochimaru goaded, walking into the room with a grin that could freeze blood.
Kurama said nothing in response but turned his head away despite the effort and pain it caused for so simple a movement, and Orochimaru just laughed, sending a chill down my spine.
"Well it doesn't matter anyway. Though I wouldn't move around too much if I were you. It'll only tear you up more," he said before stepping on my hand to prove his point. Kurama grunted but held back a cry, and it was only then that I realized just how bad the situation was.
My arm had an IV that was forcing some purple liquid into my body. My ankles, knees, hips and neck were strapped to the table. The bones in my fingers were obviously shattered, keeping me from being able to make any seals, and my arms had an array of slashes, new and old, probably from taking blood and whatever else the Sanin wanted for his experiments. Immediately I felt nauseous and was on the verge of screaming out in pain. (Whoever came up with the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" was totally right, deba.)
"Get ahold of yourself!" Kurama roared at me. I jumped, surprised and panicked before looking over at him. Then, slowly, I nodded and forced to calm down again before going back to molding chakra. Panicking wasn't going to heal me or help me escape, and Kurama was in more pain than I was at the moment. I couldn't waste any time or his efforts, so as best I could, I ignored Orochimaru's gleeful cackling and the poking and prodding my body was going through. I tried to tune out Kurama's muffled groans and paid no attention to the continually worsening state of my body.
Eventually, though, Kurama found his limit. His screams drowned out the Sanin's laughter and ripped me from my concentration.
"Switch with me!" I yelled at him, telling that he obviously couldn't take the pain anymore, but he shook his head and tried to hold back his voice, but it soon roared around my mindscape and echoed in the room again.
"Switch, damn it! You've held out long enough!" I shouted again, and apparently he really couldn't handle it anymore because suddenly I could feel every single wound more intensely than I had for the past several hours, so I knew I was back in control. I grit my teeth and bit my lip, squirming against my restraints while I tried to hold back my voice, but I wasn't able to hold out for long.
My screams pierced the otherwise eerily quiet tunnels, and even I could tell that the sound didn't seem human. The more I lost control of my reactions, the less I could control my chakra, making my chakra flare wildly along with Kurama's. Of course, it only made the pain worse, feeling like I was burning from the inside out.
It wasn't long before the IV tubing started melting and the metal clasps on my restraints turned red from the heat of our chakra. At some point, Orochimaru left the room, but I hardly noticed as I writhed with more pain than I ever thought a person could live through.
I have no idea how long it took, but eventually I reached my limit too, and everything went black.
oOo
"Brat! Get up," Kurama called, sounding worn. Slowly I woke, still in control of my own body. I grit my aching jaw against the pain, but it was more manageable than before I blacked out.
"How long?" I managed, barely able to form a sentence, though I knew I still had work to do, but Kurama just shook his head.
"Not yet, huh," I murmured. I was exhausted and by the look on Kurama's face, it was still going to be a long time before my rescue. I thought of just giving up, but I banished the thought not even a second after it entered my head when an image of silver hair appeared in my mind.
Sorry Mom, Dad, Sasuke… It'll still be a while before I can see you, I thought to myself before turning to Kurama again.
"Can you handle switching?" I asked, and he nodded. Immediately, I was no longer in control of my body and the pain I felt dulled somewhat. Thanks, I said before going back to my earlier task. Because of the wild chakra bursts earlier, I lost some of the progress I'd made, but I couldn't give up. Somehow I had to keep my body from ripping itself to shreds.
Apparently, though, my lack of screams signaled to Orochimaru that it was time to continue the tests, so he arrived after a while and tsk'd unhappily when he saw the damage our chakra had done.
He replaced the IV and tightened all my restraints before grinning again.
"You may be the perfect specimen, but try not to cause any more trouble," he said before pressing his thumb against a particularly sore wound, making Kurama gasp with pain. "Otherwise your friends will be risking their lives to recover a mere mangled corpse," he hissed against my ear before going about collecting samples. Kurama just grit against the pain, refusing to show anything to the Snake Sanin, and I tried to block it out as much as possible, forcing myself to concentrate.
Still, the cycle continued countless times: pain beyond belief, blackness, a moment's rest, threats and taunting, then more immeasurable pain again. Slowly, I was able to build up my chakra, closing in on a balance, but in my agony the idea of giving up became more and more appealing. But apparently during one of the brief moments of rest, Kurama picked up on my line of thought.
"I told you earlier: ideas aren't your thing," he tried to growl at me, but he sounded more exhausted than angry. Still, I managed a small smile and nod. I knew I couldn't give up yet. My friends had it harder than I did: all I had to do was lay there and survive, they were the ones who had to crawl down into the enemy-infested pits and drag me out with them.
So, I continued building up chakra and blocking out pain as much as I could, though I couldn't count how many times I blacked out, and Kurama and I just got more exhausted as it went on.
"How much longer?" I asked, almost pleading with Kurama to tell me that my friends would come soon. After enough physical torture, the pain becomes mental torture too. I had no idea how long I'd been writhing in pain, and I had no idea how much longer it would last. I was being sucked into panic like quicksand. It wouldn't be much longer until I couldn't see the light, and Kurama's answer only made me feel like I was getting dragged under faster.
"They should've been here an hour or two ago," he said, and my eyes went wide with panic, and an instant flurry of thoughts raced through my mind. Are they okay? Did they get caught in Orochimaru's traps? Have they been captured too? Where are they!? I questioned, feeling like I was imploding into myself, but Kurama slapped me with one of his massive paws, knocking me away from my thoughts.
"Brat! You know best that they'll come! You just have to be ready when they do!" he roared. It didn't have the sharpness that it normally would have, but it did the trick all the same.
Slowly, I nodded. I forced my head to clear again and went back to molding chakra. I was close to having enough of my own chakra to balance out with Kurama's, so I just hoped that I could get it balanced before Orochimaru set back my progress again. However, this time seemed different.
Every other time, I didn't have much time between waking up and Orochimaru's arrival, but this time the wait dragged on for what seemed like forever.
Then, suddenly, I heard something other than Orochimaru's laugh and my own screams. I heard shouting, probably from the Snake's soldiers. I thought that maybe there was just a brawl between the brutes, but the sound continued and spread. Then there was an explosion, still far from my cell, but I knew what it meant: the rescue team arrived.
However my relief was short-lived. Orochimaru arrived, wearing that same mad, excited smile that he wore in the battle when we'd first arrived.
"It's a shame I wasn't able to finish just yet, but I've got enough samples from you now anyway, so I'll just pick up where I left of from another base," he said, striding over to me with a dangerous aura. "Of course, I need to tie up some loose ends, and I might as well give your little friends a show," he hissed, licking his lips before picking up the same instruments he used every other time. I knew what was coming and I mentally froze. My emotions, mind and body had been through too much for me to be able to react and I nearly resigned myself to my captor's earlier threat that I would become a "mere mangled corpse" for my friends to rescue, but Kurama rescued me from despair again.
"Fucking brat! They're here! And you've almost got enough chakra to heal us! If you give up now, I'll rip you to shreds myself!" he roared at me, forcing me out of my stupor.
Quickly, I nodded and rushed to mold more chakra. Just a little more and I would be able to control Kurama's chakra. Just a little more and my body would be able to heal. Just a little more and the pain would end. However, the pain started setting in and as Orochimaru left to escape, screams began tearing themselves from my body, and I could barely concentrate.
Fuck! Just a little more damn it! Just a little more! I thought before turning to Kurama. "Hang in there for a little more! Almost done!" I shouted at him, trying to make him hear me over his own shouting. Apparently it worked because he grit his teeth and gave a short nod. The longer it went on, the more it felt like I was on fire, making it harder and harder to mold chakra.
Suddenly, Kurama's chakra flared wildly, but instantly my own chakra contained and suppressed it—not so much that it strangled it like when we were fighting, but just enough to keep it from causing any damage other than melting another IV.
"Switch!" I yelled out, and immediately I was in control of my own body again and though chakra did flare out some, I was finally able to control it, and slowly the pain became more manageable and my wounds closed little by little. By the time I was able to calm my breathing and deal with the pain, there was an explosion near the entrance to my cell. Rubble and dust flew everywhere.
I panicked, not sure what to do in case it was still an enemy since I was still strapped to the table with badly broken hands, but then I saw a flash of silver hair sticking through the dust and debris.
Immediately, my restraints were getting unfastened and what was left of the IV was pulled from my arm before I was slowly and gently pulled into the arms of the man I most wanted to see.
"You're late," I said before coughing harshly, my throat raw from screaming.
"Sorry. I was lost on the road of life," Kakashi replied gently before nuzzling his face into my hair and kissing my temple. I gave a small smile, feeling like the first in ages, and suddenly he was rushing out, carrying me while I concentrated on keeping Kurama's chakra in check so that my body would be back in working order as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading, everyone! I'm glad that you all seemed to have liked the last chapter, and I hope you're feeling the same about this one. The next chapter should be coming soon, so look forward to that! There's plenty more action to come, so it's still going to be a while before the story's done. If there's anything you want to see, let me know! I love hearing your ideas.