I like the gore and I'm not changing it. You've been warned.

Enjoy

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Black and Purple Don't Mix #25

Jibo awoke in his bed, his body warm and heavy. He stared into the dim darkness, rolling over onto his side. The candle that lit the room was almost out of wax. On the other side of it, Shana was lying on the floor, facing his own bed.

Jibo sat up, stretching and groaning. He didn't say anything as he stared at Shana. He hoped that things would go back to making sense, or at least go back to the usual state of apprehension, but it was too late for that.

They were in serious trouble.

Shana and Jibo arrived at the hideout early this morning, five days after leaving Konoha.

Traveling without Kabuto or Sasuke was different when they were on their own. When it was just the two of them, finding places to sleep and ways to eat was a lot easier. It dawned on them that they were not known as wanted criminals. They could go around and be seen because no one was looking for them.

Bittersweet fact for Jibo.

Getting back to the hideout was the difficult part. Aside from carrying extra weight, they had to avoid being seen at all costs. This meant more traveling through forests and back roads, and no more eating or sleeping in public spaces. Neither Jibo nor Shana knew much about forest survival, seeing how they were taken from their villages before they could learn everything they needed, and this lack of experience left Jibo actually hoping Kabuto or Orochimaru or Sasuke actually found them.

But they made it back. Somehow.

And now...Jibo had no idea what they were going to do now.

Shana's fixation on Hinata was understandable at first. Jibo thought he himself could make sense of it. But as he watched his friend stare at the girl under his bed, Jibo was filled with an odd mix of irritation and paranoia.

Jibo himself didn't see what was so great about Hinata. He didn't understand why Shana wanted to have her around when it would just put the both of them in danger. He wondered a little too late why Shana never suggested the two of them just not return to the hideout once they had left. Jibo had been too focused on what would happen to Shana, while Shana hadn't been concerned about him at all.

Shana just wanted Hinata.

Jibo slowly rocked back and forth on his bed, staring at Shana. "What now?" he whispered.

Shana didn't move. Perhaps he hadn't heard Jibo.

"I'm not sure," Shana whispered back. His voice still held an edge to it, something aloof and dark.

"We have to...do something," Jibo said.

"Hm..." Shana seemed unperturbed by Jibo's worries. Jibo filched through his brain to get some kind of reaction out of Shana.

"We...have to do something for her. She's still stiff, and she hasn't eaten in days. We have to-"

"Jibo," Shana interrupted, "stop talking."

Jibo stared at Shana incredulously. The hopelessness he had begun to feel when he woke up was now spiraling inside of him. He opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say something hurtful, but his chest felt empty.

"Why do I go along with you?" Jibo muttered. "You're acting just like...just like Sasuke."

Shana turned to him, his face hard to read in the dim light. "I saved her."

"You're endangering her."

"She's away from him."

"She's closer!"

Shana frowned, turning to the bed where Hinata was. "He won't look here."

Jibo wanted to yell. He wanted to hurt Shana. He wanted to hurt Orochimaru.

Jibo noticed the black mark on Shana's neck only after it had spread from his body. It gave him...abilities he's never seen before. He didn't know if Shana was always able to shoot compressed ice from his body before, but he did five days ago. He didn't know if Shana had always been capable of this type of insanity, but it was present.

And he, Jibo, went along with it...

"What's wrong with me?" he groaned, dropping his face into his hands. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone. Shana's actions were going to have consequences that Jibo greatly feared, but if it truly ended in death, he didn't want to be the only one alive.

If Shana died, then he had to die, too.

Jibo couldn't bond with Kabuto on his own. He couldn't endure whatever Orochimaru had in store all by himself. He'd never be able to return home, so he refused to continue living in this uncertain new life without his only friend.

Jibo wiped his eyes before looking up. Shana was slouched on his knees, his head pressed on the bed, and he took long draws of breath before exhaling shakily.

"Shana?"

"Hm?" Shana forced his head up, looking back and placing a hand on his neck. His tone was back to being light and raspy. "I... I don't know... Why is Hinata here?"

Jibo hesitated, panic threatening to cloud his thoughts. "What are you saying? You...forgot?"

"No... No, I just..." Shana hissed, shuddering, grabbing the sides of his head as he caved on himself. "I don't know... Why did I..." Shana began to hyperventilate.

Jibo walked over and knelt next to his friend, not wanting to touch him.

"Why did I bring her...?" Shana whispered hoarsely. "Why did I bring her to this place?"

"Take it easy," Jibo said. "You... You weren't yourse-"

"That's just it!" Shana looked at Jibo, pale eyes brimming over with tears. "I-I'm not myself! I have these...these thoughts. I...I feel things I don't really feel, and n-n-now I-"

"Shana," Jibo said abruptly, nervous. "Does this have anything to do with what Orochimaru did to you?"

Shana stared at Jibo, his erratic breathing slowing but his eyes going wider. His hand came to his neck again, squeezing. "Would you...laugh at me if I said I thought Orochimaru actually cared for us?"

Jibo almost did but quickly stopped himself.

"It's crazy." Shana shook his head, shivering. "We've been alive the longest, so I thought... I thought there was something special about us, something that made him feel something, but he..." He sighed. "He made me think Hinata was in danger."

"But what did he do?" Jibo pressed.

"He said...he could give me the power to save her. He said I could protect her from Sasuke if I had it-"

"You actually agreed to it?"

"I had to!" Shana cried. "You've seen what Sasuke's done to me! He's rarely here anymore, so I thought Hinata was being treated the same. She doesn't deserve that. We don't deserve this! If we helped her, I thought... I thought she could..."

Shana broke down, hunching over completely and breathing haphazardly. Jibo tried to comfort him. He rolled his shaking friend onto his back and forced his hands—hands that clawed at one spot on his neck—to his side.

"I don't want to do this," Shana wheezed. "I can't do this anymore."

"It's going to be okay." Jibo struggled with him, not wanting to hurt him too much. "We just... K-Kabuto can fix this, right? Just wai-"

"He can't fix me! He can't stop Sasuke! He can't stop Orochimaru! I don't want this anymore! I just want to die!"

"Don't say that!" Jibo yelled, but his voice had been drowned out. Bigger hands maneuvered his out of the way, taking the spot next to him.

"What's going on with you two?" Kabuto demanded, looking between a stunned Jibo and a hysterical Shana. "What the heck happened?"

"That mark on his neck is driving him crazy!" Jibo blurted, still stunned by his presence. "He... It's making him do things he doesn't want to!"

Kabuto turned his attention back to Shana. He forced Shana to sit up, which lessened his trembling, but the boy now refused to meet his gaze.

"Mr. Kabuto..." Shana said, his voice uncharacteristically small. "I'm..." He covered his face with his hands. "I really don't want you to see me like this."

"It's not your fault. This... This needs some getting use to. You should have told me you were getting like this." But even then, Kabuto didn't know what he could do to comfort him.

Shana shook his head, groaning. "No, I... I really messed up. I just really... I really need your help right now."

"With the pain?"

Shana breathed deeply, still refusing to look at him. "Hinata might be dead."

Kabuto stared at him. "Did Sasuke-?"

Shana shook his head fiercely, his words coming out a bit too fast. "I made Jibo go with me to see her, but I accidentally hit her with this attack I didn't know I could do, and now she-"

"You both went to Konoha?" He looked between the two; it didn't even look like they had left. "By yourselves?"

"Mr. Kabuto, listen! Hinata needs your help, please!"

"Shana, I..." He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "I can't go all the way to Konoha to just-"

"She's under his bed," Jibo cut in.

Kabuto almost froze, his attention turning. He now noticed there was a figure tucked under Shana's bed. Kabuto stood, picking up the candle on the table and bringing it closer to the bed.

Hinata lied there, her Byakugan activated, but as a whole, she wasn't moving. Frozen. Stiff.

Dead?

Kabuto placed his fingers to her neck, trying to find a pulse. Her skin was hard and cold, but he did feel a heartbeat.

She was alive.

In the hideout.

Kabuto closed his eyes, taking in a choppy breath.

This was bad.

If Shana and Jibo went to Konoha in one of Shana's bouts of curse mark rage, there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong. They were only children—Jibo thirteen and Shana twelve. They had infiltrated one of the Great Nations where they probably used the same tactics they were instructed to do the last time they were there.

Meaning, the boys were not skilled enough to cover their tracks, and Konoha would have wised up this time around.

Tsunade could have a horde of ANBU heading to their location at this very moment.

Kabuto let out a breath, remembering to breathe. "Okay... Okay..." He raked a hand through his hair, setting the candle down. "I'll... I'll give her something that might help, but I need you both to get packed."

"What?" both boys said.

"Packed?" Jibo looked at Shana briefly. "We're going somewhere?"

"Yes... Yeah. It's nothing to worry about, but just... Just pull out your clothes, and I'll go get some bags." Kabuto rushed out the room, leaving the boys with a sinking feeling in their stomachs. Shana looked at Hinata and saw the only warm parts of her were coming from the center of her chest and parts of her brain.

"I really messed up," he whispered.

"Well...yeah," Jibo agreed, who had began to gather his things, "but at least we're leaving this place for a while."

"And what about Hinata?"

Jibo shrugged, looking under his bed for any stray items. "Maybe we'll drop her off back home before we leave."

Shana watched Jibo oddly. "You seem...calm all of a sudden."

"Kabuto said it was nothing to worry about."

Shana stared for a moment. "You're just glad to be leaving."

"Well...yeah. I mean, look at it this way, Shana. Orochimaru doesn't have to know about this. Sasuke doesn't have to know about this. You don't have to get hurt."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"...Why are you always so worried about me?"

Jibo stared at Shana for a long moment. He grumbled, standing and flopping down on his own bed. "Get over yourself."

o0o0o

They waited for Kabuto to return, not having much to do since Shana had run out of kimonos and Jibo didn't really own other clothes. Most of Shana's time was spent staring at the frozen Hinata, wondering just what he did to her.

Jibo took to staring at the ceiling. It was strange for him to feel this calm. Part of it, he knew, was due to seeing Kabuto rattled by Hinata being here. The man was not as crazy as Orochimaru, so maybe his kindness towards them wasn't all for show. Kabuto obviously thought they would get in trouble for this, so this little trip was actually Kabuto's way of protecting them.

But what did that mean?

Would they be gone for a long time or was he going to hide them in another village? Did they have to start a new life? Were they not coming back? If they didn't, would Kabuto stay with them? Would they all be together?

He wouldn't...return them home, would he?

Jibo sighed. He had managed to lose his rare calm, and he wondered just when he started caring for Kabuto's presence. He should be glad with the possibility of going home, but home didn't have a Shana or...a Kabuto.

When did his thinking get so warped?

The wall to their room opened, prompting the boys to look.

And then immediately pale.

"Boys," Orochimaru greeted, stepping into the room. He turned his attention to the eldest one, smiling widely. "Jibo, I'd like to have a word with you."

"Me?" His eyes shifted. "Are... Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I wish to give you something, which only seems fair after I gave one to Shana."

Jibo's eyes widened, his body running miserably cold. "I... Lord Orochimaru, can it wait?"

"It can't." He turned his attention to Shana. "Assure your friend that it is a most wonderful thing to have."

Shana was silent, which gave Orochimaru time to observe his body language. Shana was now sitting on the foot of his bed when he had previously been on the floor. Orochimaru looked past him.

"What is that?" the man asked.

Shana looked up at him, his foggy eyes unusually alert.

Orochimaru walked towards the bed, causing the boy to become tense.

"My lord-"

"Well, well." The man grinned, peering down at the extra body and pulling her out to get a better look. "She's almost dead, isn't she?" he said fondly.

"My lord," Shana whispered, sliding a protective hand onto Hinata's shin, "we are planning to return her."

Orochimaru stared at the heiress. She wasn't moving, but her kekkei genkai was conveniently stuck. He bent down, gathering the stiff girl into his arms. By the looks of it, this was Shana's doing, and he had done a good job. Why and when the boy went after her evaded him, but it was fortuitous that Sasuke had been incapacitated.

Orochimaru turned out the room, Hyuuga in tow. "Perhaps another time, Jibo."

She heard everything.

Hinata's consciousness had been going in and out, and every time she was alert, her body felt stiffer than the last time. She was hungry, she was tired, and her eyes hurt.

And now...this.

That sickly boy had kidnapped her, but something had happened to him. He had been remorseful. He wanted to help her.

Kabuto was that help. He planned to aid them—to cure her—but she knew he couldn't be trusted. He had aided in the attack against Konoha more than once, which made him partly responsible for the Third Hokage's death.

But she preferred him over...this.

After moving through many passages, taking many turns, venturing through false walls, Hinata found herself staring at a blinding white light. She was on a metal table, and she heard her captor shuffling and moving things.

"It's no fun, really," the man said lightly, "to play with something that doesn't move."

Hinata wondered if she was breathing because that would have been the moment she lost her breath.

She was in danger.

An S-rank criminal, far worse than any others, had her in a room she had no chance of escaping without her Byakugan, but she couldn't summon it.

"Ah, Hinata, I have always admired your family's kekkei genkai." A pale, reptilian face came into her view, the corner of his lips impossibly high. His cold fingers traced her face. "You can see the channels of my chakra, can't you?"

She didn't know what he was implying. He must not have known how her eyes worked.

"I don't really like talking to myself, dear."

He presented a syringe and poised it over her left eye. Hinata broke out into an uncomfortable heat, not feeling the sensation exit her body, but was unable to wrench away as the two-inch needle sunk in.

Bubbling, heated pain engulfed her skull, slowly spreading throughout her body. Movement was slowly returning to her. A gurgling scream built up in her throat and erupted into the room.

"There, there," the man cooed over her screams. "We're almost done."

Her body tried to force itself to jerk, not caring of the risk, resulting in slight spasms. The syringe exited her eye just as she lurched forward, screeching manically, covering her burning face. She scrambled off the table, fumbling, running into things, until she collapsed, the pain making her newly functioning limbs even more weak and agonized.

"Wh-what did you do?" Her voice was feverish and high. "Wh-what did you do?"

"I saved you from death. Any spot on your body would have sufficed, but your eye looked so...perfect." He sighed pleasantly. "I had to tamper with such exquisite perfection."

Hinata shivered, whimpered, on the tiled floor. The pain in her eye was not improving; her other eye was so blurred from tears and second-hand pain that she wasn't sure where the man was, which terrified her to the core.

He harmed her so easily. He tortured her with such ease, as if it were the natural thing to do.

Orochimaru looked at her, his mood darkening. "He's really pampered you, hasn't he? You act like this is the worst thing that has ever been done to you."

"S-Sas-suke?"

"Hm, yes. Sasuke. He's rather partial to you." He turned to flip a switch. "He was my top choice for a vessel, but I don't really need him, you see." He chuckled. "Let me not bore you, Hyuuga. Your main concern must be what I want with you, and you must already know what that is. However, this is a...rare chance for me, having a Hyuuga, I mean."

Hinata stared in his general direction, feeling the atmosphere of the room change.

"Your body could help me infiltrate your clan," Orochimaru went on, "but no disguise I can conjure is foolproof against them because of my chakra network, Hinata. I can, however, find a use for your organs. Especially, those lovely eyes."

The pain was unbearable. Her entire body ached, and she could not move from her position without it hurting her. Instinctively, she tried to activate her Byakugan, but only fell on her back, writhing, at the constricting pain in her eye.

Orochimaru laughed, turning to a table full of various equipment. "Why would you do that? You must be eager to feel pain. Be patient. I promise to be generous with it."

He walked to her with an empty syringe. He knelt over her, ripped her jacket sleeve, and stuck the needle into her vein, drawing blood. Orochimaru walked back to his table to dispense her blood into a vial. He was curious as to why she hadn't gone completely immobile yet. He turned on the gas, which was fast acting for anyone not immune.

He froze momentarily, staring at the wall.

"Too partial," he shook his head. "Too partial indeed."

Orochimaru readied a scalpel. Sasuke had been so unknowingly generous with his child-bearing seed that all Orochimaru needed was Hinata's half of the genetics. Anything else was for research.

He heard the girl mumbling to herself. It was a tad disappointing he never saw her fight, he realized. All aspects of the Hyuuga clan were more or less a mystery to even him, so he wished he could have observed her skills up close.

Orochimaru turned back to Hinata just as he caught wind of an explosive chakra.

Something exploded.

Sasuke was awake.

"Oh, dear," the man huffed, rolling his eyes. "More repairs." He ignored the disturbance for now, and took a spot next to the quivering girl. She no longer held onto her eye; the skin surrounding was starting to swell. He unzipped her jacket and lifted her shirt half way, smoothing a hand along her skin.

There was another explosion, closer but entirely random.

It crossed his mind that Sasuke may stumble upon this scene, but as luck may have it, Orochimaru had nothing to worry about. Sasuke would be too disoriented to be much of a fight.

Orochimaru made the first cut on her lower abdomen, a shallow line that earned him a high-pitched scream.

The first cut was always for laughs and giggles.

The second cut was deeper, drawing a stream of blood that rolled from her sides. She thrashed weakly, chakra forming in her palms. Orochimaru raised his eyebrows, intrigued, but it quickly simmered away along with the impending attack.

"Hm. What a tease."

The third cut was deeper, harder, spiteful, and was followed by a loud, piercing-

"SASUKE!"

"But, Kabuto-!"

"I'm sorry, but we have to go."

"But Hinata's-"

"We don't have time!

Kabuto rushed the boys through the hideout, each carrying their respective bags. Shana kept telling him about Hinata—how Orochimaru took her away—but the Hyuuga was the least of Kabuto's worries. The hideout was no longer a safe place to be, and he had the unfortunate pleasure of caring for two crippling liabilities.

"Are we just going to leave her?!" Shana asked, trying to stop. "With Orochimaru?"

Kabuto sighed, opting to take both Jibo and Shana's hands and run as fast as they could handle. "If Sasuke really cares for her, then he can save her."

"But he doesn't know she's here!"

"Then they'll use telepathy!"

"Kabuto!"

Kabuto made a sharp right just as the wall exploded, sending the three crashing onto the ground and chunks of rock falling on them. Kabuto recovered first, unearthing himself, and saw Sasuke standing over them.

"You're back," Sasuke mumbled.

"I don't have time for you." Kabuto stood, spotting the boys and helping them to their feet. After he gave them a once over, he began to hastily lead them away.

"Wait!" Shana struggled with him, turning back to the Uchiha.

"Shana, we don't have the time!" Kabuto yelled, tugging them both.

"Orochimaru has Hinata!" Shana screeched at Sasuke.

Kabuto tugged harder. "Shana!"

"Hinata's here!" The trio disappeared from view. Shana wasn't sure if his words had been articulated clearly. Sasuke hadn't moved at all.

"I don't think you should have done that," Jibo muttered to him.

"Why not?"

Another explosion erupted, violently rumbling the ground and causing the trio to fight for their balance.

"Geez, Shana," Jibo groaned.

They continued their flee from the hideout, emerging just as another explosion rumbled from inside. They leapt to a tree, but a blur intercepted them, knocking Kabuto to the ground. Shana and Jibo made it to branches, looking back at the fallen man in confusion.

"Kabuto Yakushi," a deep voice said, "right hand to Orochimaru."

Kabuto looked up, first at the masked ANBU member standing in front of him, then to the throng of ninjas off to his left. Among them were more ANBU, Hyuugas, Inuzukas, and—judging by the dark cloaks and cloud of insects—Aburames.

Their Hokage was standing in front.

"Tsunade," Kabuto muttered. "Nice to see you again."

"Wish I could say the same." She looked at him coldly before setting her sights on the cave. "So this is where you guys were hiding."