Chapter 25. Counting Sheep

For the next few days, I was injected with many things. Once, I was locked in a tank full of water.

I nearly drowned until I realized water seemed to be my second home. Soon enough, I had an air bubble and I was freezing water like it was nothing.

Back then, I was terribly confused. After all, weren't my chakra natures fire, lightning, and earth? Major natures fire and lightning, minor nature earth. Chakra natures are engraved in the DNA! One couldn't magically change chakra natures. I know now that the first shot they gave me was 'the' DNA shot. The ones afterward were to stabilize me and the soon to come mutations. The pain subsided eventually, and I could feel I didn't have as much control over myself as I once had. Sad.

I once overheard Orochimaru and Kabuto chat as they walked along to my cell for another day of testing. Or it could've all been the same day, really. I had no sense of time in this place. I didn't have a window to see whether it was day or night. They only gave me food once in a while - a soft loaf of bread and a pitcher of water.

I needed a shower really badly too. I was covered in dirt and grime, and - disgusting as this is - they didn't give me any toilet paper for when I did my business in the bucket they gave me. Gross. Utterly, completely gross. I'm getting off topic here.

"Lord Orochimaru, the DNA shot... Which clan was it?"

"You ask so much, Kabuto. Didn't you read the vial?"

"I didn't have the chance, my Lord. You used and discarded it too quickly for me to read it."

"Ah, yes. I think it's time she knew as well. I believe she can hear our conversation. This hallway has a tendency to echo."

At that point, I cowered in my corner. I seemed to have forgotten he was an S-ranked rogue who could easily kill me. I was too engulfed in my fantasies of disobedience and putting his ugly face in his place that I forgot I couldn't possibly have the power to do such a thing.

"The Yuki clan," he started. "Was a prestigious clan famous for their ability of ice release." The room seemed ten degrees colder. He's not saying what I think he is saying... right? Oh what the hell, with my luck, yes. It is. "With the DNA shot, I managed to change her chakra natures to be able to suit the ice style Kekkei Genkai. Her lightning nature seems heavily engraved in her DNA, but fire and earth were easily replaced with water and wind." What? Wouldn't my ENTIRE fighting style have to change? Water style combined with wind is much more fluid then my powerful, burning jabs with earth and fire. I'd have to retrain from the ground up!

Back to square one, young academy student.

"Once she trains enough, she could perform both Storm style and Ice style. It confused me for a while she had three chakra natures. Normally, one has a nature for each hand, but she has three - and she could easily use lightning in both hands. How could this be? Well, I found by examining her DNA that lightning was rather dominant. No matter what I did to my sample strand, I could not get rid of the lightning style without changing the entire genetic makeup. When I thought about this, I could only assume on both sides of her family, there were many lightning style users. Her ability to use earth style was a small but helpful mutation when she was doing mitosis from her single cell in her mother's womb." Orochimaru had gone off excitedly on a rant about my genetic sequence, and I found myself rather curious what else he knew. Once you got past the psychotic scientist part of him, was rather intelligent and one could learn a whole lot from him.

I still wanted to escape though. Sorry, intriguing man. You literally used a hook to lift out my eyeball, put me through much more pain I had ever experienced in my lifetime put together within FIVE MINUTES (out of the how many hours I was trapped in here?), and you forcibly changed my chakra natures so I would have to spend many weeks and sleepless nights retraining myself.

Yeah. I had to get out of there.

"And here were are. Hello again, Saya." He hissed as he stopped in front of my cell. I glared at him, knowing I couldn't do anything else. "Today. we're doing something... Special."

Kabuto entered my cell and grabbed my thin, malnourished frame and dragged me along to the familiar experimentation room. The floating sharingan in a jar was close to the table this time, and I felt sick. I missed Kiba. At this rate, I doubted I'd ever be able to come home. This year was rather strange, now that I reflected on it.

I got stuck on Team Kurenai, with an amazing sensei, an uptight bug-boy obsessed with rules, and my long running (not as hopeless as I thought) crush. I fell further in my hopeless crush, we tumbled through many missions together, and we joined the Chuunin Exams. Kiba proclaimed me as his girlfriend, and I sadly admitted to myself that many things can happen in a year. I doubted I would participate in the third exam. I was thrown onto the table and strapped down, and I knew if I ever resisted I would be tortured. I remembered now Kabuto was the silver haired creep from the Exams. I closed my eye.

I did nothing but sit in my room all day, and I remembered something that concerned me.

"Saki sends her regards," the assassin said before I killed him. What would she have anything to do with the Chronos Numbers? My reverie was broken from a chuckle by Orochimaru.

"Not today, Saya. Today you can't close your eyes," he said. My eyes snapped open in fear. Trembling, my eyes flicked over to him and his damn purple eyeshadow. The jar was unscrewed. "I'm impressed you lived through the shot. Normally I'd feel compelled to give you my gift, but I don't think you have the health to live through that. The shot was enough."

When I was finally returned to my room, I collapsed onto the pile of hay that served as my bed. I counted sheep that ran into fences until I fell asleep.

My new eye was strange to adjust to, as I now saw things slower. It hurt like hell though.

God I wished I had my perverted orange book to pass the time.

AN: I have a poll up on my profile now on what I should write next. Please vote, as the end of Book One is looming close. It's a blind vote, so you can't see the results until I close the poll. It'll be closed sometime June, perhaps the end of June. :)

Review and guess what happens next! The person who guesses close enough gets a one shot of their choice and bragging rights.

I should really do my homework...