I'm sick. Again. Anyone who reads my A/N in all of the chapters would surely notice that, well, I'm a fairly weak person in health, who would just fell sick every week or so because a classmate sitting beside me had coughed a tiny cough. D:
Ah well, I'm weak at PE too lol. So I just handed a note to my teacher and told her I was sick and sat on the bench, grinning evilly at my friends as they did the Rotation Stations (if you know what I mean).
PS (One of the long paragraphs below was inspired by KAGAYA's beautiful CGing, plus my love for Astronomy. Seriously, when someone, or a book, talks about a simple black hole or the Big Bang theory, I would jump around the room uncontrollably.)
Chapter 29: A part of the wall
Harry shoved himself roughly against a wall, panting wildly, with sweat sliding down his pale cheeks.
"Is…is she gone?" he asked, trying to catch his breath between words. Beside him, Ron looked exhausted and terrified. He peered around the corner, evidently afraid that a person would just jump out in front of them unannounced.
"No…I mean yes, yes she's gone," Ron turned back to Harry, "along with her bloody Inquisitorial Squad. Good thinking Harry, using all those shortcuts…"
"Don't mention it," shrugged Harry, feeling a bit calm now, "I've used the Map." He held up the piece of ragged parchment in his sweaty hand and smoothed it out on the wall, "The girls are okay," he announced to Ron as his eyes traced carefully on the Map, "They're lucky. They made it out to the grounds."
"When you said 'girls', you mean…?"
"Hermione, Ginny, and Luna," said Harry, still scanning the Map, "The bunch of us were the last to run from the room, and Umbridge arrived late, so she could only see us right at the moment. Look— the other members are okay, they're safety back in their common rooms."
"Wait," said Ron cautiously, "Neville…isn't he with us before Umbridge shrieked and gave chase?"
Alarmed, Harry searched the Map again, "He's in the Boy's washroom on the first floor, which is fairly close to the main entrance…yes, we would just have to go out the main entrance— taking Neville with us on the way— and meet the girls outside."
Ron tiredly slammed his back onto the wall. "Such rotten luck," he muttered, "We almost got caught by Umbridge during this sort of time. We'd better hurry up though, according to your vision—"
"Yes I know," growled Harry, not wanting to think about how much time they had wasted, "We will not make any mistakes from now on. Come on, let's go."
The two of them sped off toward the stairs, softening their footsteps yet trying their hardest to run as fast as possible. When they reached the first floor, Ron yanked open the door and Harry ran into the bathroom, where he saw Neville, huddled up under one of the tall sinks, looked up in horror.
"Oh—! I thought you were—" he began in relief, but Harry pulled him up by the sleeve and said, "You're just lucky we aren't Malfoy and the others. Don't hide right in front of the door though, okay?"
"I hid in here after they've checked," Neville pointed out as he ran out the bathroom to join Ron as well. "But still," Harry corrected him, and the three of them pushed open the oak front doors, though just wide enough for a person's width, and squeezed through it.
The cool night air outdoors sent a shiver up Harry's spine. He looked onwards and witnessed a scene of magnificent landscape of mountains, tall forest trees and Hagrid's little hut, its light shining peacefully through the calm darkness. The dark blue sky above was dotted with hundreds and millions of stars, and every now and then there would be a patch of colored dust floating with them, the nebulas illuminating their softest yet brightest colors into the universe. How ironic it was, compared to the situation Harry and the others were in.
"Hey, I think I see Hermione," Ron nudged Harry in the arm and pointed, "Look. See the moving shadows over there?"
Echoing footsteps sounded behind them, followed by an all-too recognizable shriek, "Hurry up and find them, boys and girls, this is our big opportunity!"
"Right," Ron snorted, "I can't wait to get out of here, Umbridge's acting as though we were a bunch of illegal dragons…"
"I know," said Neville nervously, "We would have to leave Hogwarts without them noticing, though…"
And Harry took off, running his fastest down the hill towards the tiny people from below. "We'll discuss this once we meet Hermione and the others," he called back, yet only loud enough for Ron and Neville to hear, "Our first priority is to get reunited first."
The minute Harry approached the girls, Hermione had flung herself on him, sighing in relief, "Thank goodness! I thought you guys were captured!"
"Oh we could do better than that," said Ron, raising his eyebrows, "The main point now, is that how do we get to…where is it again?"
"Department of Mysteries," said Harry.
"Right. So…any ideas?"
"We've been discussing this before you guys came," said Ginny, "Luna suggested that we could ride on Thetrals…"
Ron gave a snort.
"And they could travel 200 km/h!" said Luna enthusiastically, "Traveling to London will be so much easier! Hmm, I wonder why people use brooms instead of Thestrals…brooms can break and fall apart, and it has splinters, too…Thestrals won't break…it's hard imagining it breaking…and it can be a human pet as well! And—"
"Okay, okay! We get the idea," Ron grunted, and Ginny giggled, "Fine, use whatever you want, as long as it can take us to Sirius…"
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The ringing of the old fashioned Muggle phone made Sirius jump. He stared at the Muggle-device suspiciously.
"Who would use the phone to call us? It wouldn't be some stupid Muggle advertisement, would it?"
"Can't be. It's
past midnight," growled Moody, as he turned a page of his book,
"It must be Hogwarts. McGonagall had trouble contacting HQ
because the fire places and stuff were guarded by that Umbitch woman.
So we've decided to use the phone instead. A Muggle technology. She
won't think of that."
"I see," muttered Sirius as he picked up the ringing phone with his right hand, "Hello? It's McGonagall right?" He took a sip of coffee form his left.
A moment's pause, and Sirius spat coffee all over the table. Unfortunately, Moody received a face-full of it.
"WHAT THE (beep) DID YOU SAY?" bellowed Sirius as he jammed his coffee mug onto the table, making it crack.
"Language, Sirius!" shouted McGonagall's angry voice, and Sirius immediately hushed up, "It's a shock to all of us, I know, but I'm telling the truth."
"And he fell for it?" breathed Sirius in disbelief.
"You can't say that Harry fell for it, no," said McGonagall, shaking her head on the other side of the line, "Let's just say that he cares too much for you…"
"I'll…I'll kill that wretched Kreacher if I had to!"
"Oh no you won't!" came McGonagall's tern voice again, "Dumbledore will deal with Kreacher. But first things first, Harry's currently in danger, along with some of his friends, and—"
Her speech broke off for a moment, making Sirius even more nervous. When McGonagall spoke again, he could sense that, somehow, her face had turned quite pale. "There's more," she announced, sounding grave, "The three ninjas. One of the portraits said they have disappeared too."
Moody clumped forward to stand beside Sirius, and took the phone from him. "I can hear you quite well over here, McGonagall," he grunted, "And what do you think? Do you think they disappeared for the same purpose?"
McGonagall sounded rather confused, "Why, of course! Why wouldn't they?"
Moody grunted his disapproval, "I think not."
"State your reason then."
"It's only my guessing," he explained, "but I feel certain that it's right. There was something you didn't know about the night of the attack. It was about Tsunade: she felt extremely ashamed for herself when she had failed to protect Lupin that night. Furthermore…" he narrowed his eyes to think, "we went to Hogwarts to visit Harry and his friends, as well as ask them more about the case of Remus…Tsunade looked desperate, all right…"
McGonagall, on the other end, looked rather horrified, "What you mean is…oh don't tell me they went to rescue Lupin!"
Moody's jaw muscle twitched; he didn't like how McGonagall reacted. "Well of course they— as in those three brats— went to rescue him," he growled, "it's a crime to say this is blind guess! Judging from her expression back then, I knew Tsunade wouldn't just let this past, she owned Lupin one anyways. Furthermore, she had gained herself a lot of information through our discussion back in Hogwarts."
"I see," nodded McGonagall, closing her eyes, "Well then, if your theory is accurate…then we're in big trouble."
"You don't have to tell me that," Moody growled again.
The receiver was loud enough for Sirius to hear, and he turned anxiously around to face Moody, "…What do we do now?"
McGonagall waited as silence pasted through the receiver on her end, then Moody's voice sounded, "We go for Harry first."
"And what about the ninjas?" she responded furiously, "Again, if your guess is correct, that means they're heading toward Voldemort's hideout!"
"But one thing for sure," said Moody calmly, though there was an obvious ripple of impatience in his tone, "is that these children outstand wizards."
There was silence on the other end.
"If the Order can beat the Death Eaters, they can as well," he continued, ignoring the absence of voice, "from my point of view, they are…extraordinary children."
"…I see," McGonagall sighed after a long moment, "Well then, if it's not for the lack of help we can offer, then I might as well argue my point with you until I win. Call as many Order members around here as possible. We'll track Harry down using the Trace. Save him and his friends from Voldemort as fast as you can."
Moody grunted and was about to hang up when McGonagall added sternly, "But if anything happened to the ninjas, keep in mind that it'll be your entire fault."
Moody rolled his (normal) eye impatiently at McGonagall's nonsense and slammed the receiver down. He then snatched his traveling cloak from the coat hanger and stomped pass Sirius.
"What are you waiting for?" he spat as he yanked open the front door of Grimmauld Place, "Hurry up and contact the Order members!"
Five minutes later, as the bunch of them head toward the Ministry of Magic on brooms, Sirius couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Was Moody so certain that the Sannins could handle the Death Eaters themselves? Even though Harry would always be number one on Sirius's list, he still suppressed the urge to turn around and find the Sannins instead.
He felt torn at the moment, as the icy wind sped past him and his broom. If the Sannins were injured, it wouldn't only be Moody's fault, but the whole Order's as well.
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"Hey, you hear something?" asked Lupin as he chewed his apple hungrily, while looking around the cell as if sensing something unusual, "It's might be coming from upstairs."
"Just hurry up and eat your damn apple," growled Severus impatiently, "If a patrol comes and found out that I've offered you food—"
"Yeah I know, sorry," answered Lupin, gulping down his apple and taking a sip of water from the water bottle, "But really, I swore I heard something…"
"I'm not a bothersome wolf like you," snorted Severus as he stood up and prepared to leave, "A normal person's senses isn't—"
An explosion that erupted in front of him cut him off his words. Severus barely avoided it by slamming himself against the wall. Lupin dropped his water bottle, looking shocked and bewildered, "What—"
"OH MAN! I TOLD YOU HE IS HERE! AND YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME!" a young, triumphed voice called out through all the dust and particles as two human forms emerged from the wreckage. Lupin almost choked on his mouthful of water when he saw who the newcomers were.
"Tsunade! Jiraiya!"
Tsunade rushed forward and threw herself onto Lupin. Jiraiya turned to the two bewildered adults as he brushed the dust off his robes. "Oh, just ignore her," he grinned, "You guys should really thank us, you know. It took us fifth-teen minutes to find the cell entrance!"
He turned towards Snape as though expecting a thanks from him as well, but he did not look grateful. Instead he sped towards Jiraiya and knocked him on the head with a piece of stray wooden plank, "What the hell are you thinking! Parading through the Dark Lord's mansion and bashing open the cell?"
Severus's expression looked considerably dangerous, and Jiraiya couldn't help but gulped, "Um…well…we've come to rescue Lupin. You know…the door is quite hard, seeing that it's made of metal…"
"And you've decided to explode your way through without thinking about the consequences!"
"Well, that's not entirely true," this time it was Tsunade who spoke. She stood beside the still confused Lupin with a winning smile spreading across her face, "We assumed that Orochimaru had took care of the Death Eaters."
"All forty seven of them?" Severus asked sarcastically, "Plus the Vampires?"
"There're Vampires around here?" yelped Jiraiya, taken aback at what he had heard.
"Indeed there are," Lupin replied calmly, "They glide through the corridors every now and then…and Dementors as well, though they're mainly gathered on the East Wing, so I'm not surprised that you two didn't run into any of them."
"Still, you brats shouldn't be storming in like foolish heroes," glared Severus, still looking furious, "I bet you everything that you sneaked out of Hogwarts without the Professor's knowledge?"
"Even though we did, I couldn't just leave Lupin in here like this," said Tsunade defensively, "I owe him one." She turned and gave Lupin a confident thumbs-up. The werewolf was about to say something when he stopped and yelled in alarm.
Six jets of light flew through the crumbled cell door and the people within the room made a desperate attempt to dodge them. Five of them did, but Jiraiya didn't. He slammed himself against the wall but failed to avoid the red curse shot straight at him and got hit square in the chest.
The spot felt like burning fire as he cursed and fell to the floor, coughing out blood.
"Jiraiya!" Tsunade screamed as she sped towards him, "Jiraiya! Don't!"
Witnessing the scene, Remus and Severus jerked their head up and saw six Death Eaters— and a Vampire— crowded in front of the blown-up door, all of their wands raised. A bat screeched and fluttered to land on the Vampire's shoulder, its blood-shot eyes scanning the scene from above.
"So, those two brats are the intruders you're talking about, eh?" one of the Death Eaters spoke to the Vampire as his eyes lingered on the tearful Tsunade and the suffering Jiraiya. His expression changed into a look of surprise when Lupin and Severus fell into his gaze, "And Snape? What the hell are you doing in there?"
"…To deliver water to the werewolf," he replied with a sneer, "Before you guys— and those brats— came crashing in." He then straightened up and swept towards the Death Eaters, ignoring Lupin's gaze.
"But that's Greyback's job."
"Of course it's his job, if he hadn't just come back from his freezing little trip," Severus replied coldly as their eyes met. For a split second, suspicion sizzled passed, but it the Death Eater who broke the gaze and called to his comrades, "All of you, take care of the werewolf along with those two, I'll contact the Dark Lord!"
"And call him back all the way from London?" said Snape, raising his eyebrows sarcastically, "Keep in mind that they are no ordinary beings—"
"You sound more and more fishier to me these days," the Death Eater sneered, "Oh, I know. Maybe you won't let me call the Dark Lord because you're afraid that he might come and finish off those brats and the Order member! Am I right?"
Severus was about to response when his eyes gleamed. And then he smirked coldly, "I'm just afraid that they will finish you off first before the Dark Lord arrives."
The Death Eater narrowed his eyes furiously and he spat, "How dare you say—" but was unable to finish his sentence as a bone-chilling crack echoed through the whole cell and he fell, lifeless, with his neck twisted, onto the stone floor.
The other Death Eaters and the Vampire, who were pinning down Lupin and the struggling Tsunade, turned at the source of the noise.
There stood Orochimaru, right beside Snape and over the fallen body. "Guess I'm late," he said coldly, raising his eyebrows looking unconcerned as he stared at the scene below. That's when he saw Jiraiya, slumped to the ground with much blood spilled on his front.
Orochimaru jerked his head towards Tsunade, who looked utterly helpless. And then she smiled.
"There's another one! Catch him!" roared a Death Eater who was pinning Tsunade down onto the floor. He was about to aim a curse at Orochimaru when he felt the fabric beneath his hand disappear and yelled in confusion as he tumbled to the floor, along with several Death Eaters.
Before any of them could figure out what had happened, the Vampire— who was currently holding Lupin as hostage— gave an angry hiss as something ran into him and slammed him straight into the wall. Orochimaru took advantage of this and surged himself forward into the fighting mess, slithering through the shocked and confused Death Eaters at ease. The wall met up with him and Orochimaru spun around in midair, made contact with his feet on the wall and pushed forward, in which his whole body shot through the air towards the way he had come. The whole process wasted less than five seconds, when the Death Eaters looked back, Orochimaru was already standing calmly on his original spot.
A cloud of smoke appeared beside Orochimaru and there stood Tsunade, with the unconscious Jiraiya by her side, along with the very confused Lupin.
"Hey—! The girl got the werewolf!" yelled a Death Eater, looking both outraged and frightened, "But how the hell did she—?"
"But more importantly," growled another as he glared at Orochimaru, gritting his teeth, "What have he done to us? Didn't you guys see him sped pass us just then?"
The rest of the Death Eaters raised their wands cautiously, glaring at Orochimaru, as though waiting for something unusual to happen.
Seconds ticked by, and Orochimaru sighed sarcastically, "If you really want to know, you should ask! But it doesn't matter now…" his golden pupils failed to hide a gleam, "…because I'm going to demonstrate."
He held out his forefinger: it seemed to be bleeding badly on the tip. Orochimaru then folded his fingers into a tight fist and called, "Kai!" while opening his blood-stained hand again in an instance.
At once, painful and horrific yells pierced through the whole cell as the Death Eaters grasped their stomachs and vomited blood, splattering scarlet puddles across the cold stone floor. There was an exception though, as one of them clasped his heart instead of his stomach and laid thrashing painfully on the floor, in which a few fading heartbeats later, he was limp and motionless.
"I was supposed to give them equal suffering, you know," shrugged Orochimaru, pointing at the first dead victim— the Death Eater with the sudden heart failure— "But I guess he got lucky; my aim on him wasn't as perfect as the others." He watched as the other victims slowly died, and the screams inside the cell gradually decreased.
Orochimaru turned towards the people standing on either side of him, as though waiting for their approval, but all he received was Tsunade's (expected) outburst. "I can't believe it!" she yelled at him, furious, "Although they were Death Eaters, you couldn't just ignore the rules and use the Forbidden Jutsus! Oh just where the hell did you learn these— these— unacceptable—"
"You say this sort of rubbish every single time I use them, Tsunade," said Orochimaru uncaringly, "If I ask you what is the differences between my forbidden Jutsus and Crucio, Avada Kedavra, are you able to answer me?" he cast a sideway glance at his comrade, who glared but said nothing, and turned her head towards the still unconscious Jiraiya.
Fuming, Tsunade knelt down and started treating Jiraiya's wounds. Unfortunately, the two still conscious Sannins seemed to have forgotten the existence of the two grown up wizards.
Slowly recovering from the shock, Severus moved his gaze from the bloody mess below to Orochimaru, who had his back turned and was observing Jiraiya and Tsunade.
He could not think of any suitable word to describe this boy.
"Um…" a weak, barely audible voice announced its presents, and Severus jerked his head to see Lupin looking at him. He could easily tell that the werewolf looked both shocked and revolted.
When Severus raised his eyebrows, Remus pointed in front of him and mouthed the words,
"Did he just wreck their stomachs?"
Again, Severus turned his head back onto the scene, and after a while he finally said, "…I guess so…"
Lupin watched as Severus stood there for a bit. Then with a smooth turn on his heels, he walked away swiftly and disappeared into the darkened hallway.
Just then, a relieved sigh came from Tsunade as she announced, "Good! Even though Jiraiya's wounds are critical, I've still managed to stop the worse from happening."
"How is he?" asked Lupin worriedly.
"That spell seemed to have pierced through his stomach," answered Tsunade gravely, "Reminds me of those shot guns people who are not Shinobi uses for military purposes and perhaps, for hunting animals."
Orochimaru stared at Jiraiya's wound. "Well, at least I've given them what they deserved," he smirked, in which Tsunade's jaw muscle twitched angrily.
Something groaned, and the three people glanced down to say Jiraiya awakening, rather painfully. He hissed as he tried to sit up and covered his wound cautiously with his hand.
"Idiot! Lie down and don't move," snapped Tsunade as she hurriedly, and gently, pushed him back down. Jiraiya muttered something in his breath, and Tsunade huffed, "Well, you'd better be thankful! If it was not for me, your stomach acid might as well burn through your whole body!"
At this point, Jiraiya stayed still like a good boy and didn't move, but his voice croaked when he asked, "How- how are those Death Eaters…?"
"Stop worrying, they're all gone," said Orochimaru, unconcernedly staring at the pile of messy corpses, "I stuffed them all in one swipe. I'm just sorry that you wouldn't be able to see it."
Jiraiya snorted, "As if I would be impressed by your Jutsus!"
Orochimaru ignored him and turned towards Lupin, who was standing awkwardly among them, "You all right?"
Lupin blinked, and smiled as he scratched his head, "I really couldn't thank you three enough, even though I strongly disagree with your dangerous acts…"
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," smirked Tsunade sarcastically, "Really, we've been through a lot more than this—"
"Yeah," agreed Jiraiya, "A lot worse than a pierced stomach." He thought about his broken ribs during the Chuunin Exam and mentally shuddered.
Orochimaru looked out the huge, glass-paned windows. "This mission is way easier than I thought," he finally said, turning back to face the party, "But we'd better get out of here quick…I sense that something's not quite right…"
"Oh, me too," piped up Tsunade curiously, "I wonder where Voldemort is, anyway? How couldn't he have known that his followers were in trouble?"
"Severus said that Voldemort is in London," said Lupin, "But as to what he will be doing there, he did not know."
"I do now."
The silky voice echoing through the hall made them all jump. Snape was coming back, and Lupin noticed that he was looking slightly anxious, though expressionless nonetheless.
"Bad news," he announced, approaching the small group, "Potter and some of his ignorant friends had decided to sneak out of school for some outrageous adventures."
Knowing that Severus didn't mean what he said, Lupin asked urgently, "What happened? Where are Harry and hid friends heading towards?"
Snape paused a bit, and then said, "Dumbledore said that they're heading towards the Department of Mysteries…"
Lupin's eyes went wide, but the Sannins just stared confusingly, perhaps with concern as well. "Do you mean Harry's in trouble?" Jiraiya urged, ignoring the pain as he tried to sit up, "Is it something related to that Umbitch woman?"
Severus's mouth twitched slightly at the mention of the Inquisitor's nickname, but remained cold-faced nevertheless, "No, it has nothing to do with her, but with something much, much more serious— the Dark Lord."
"We have to save them, then," nodded Tsunade solemnly, "If they're in so much trouble."
"Aaaaww— riiiiiggghtttt!!!! That means more Death Eater ass-kicking!" yelled Jiraiya, jumping up, who then collapsed back onto the floor, wincing in pain. Lupin edged over to help him, but Orochimaru just smirked, looking amused, "It's all right, he deserves it."
"Um, although," said Lupin uncertainly, "It's dangerous over there, really, you shouldn't go, and the other Order members are on their way anyway…right?" he turned to Snape for support, and much to his relief, he nodded.
"Ha-ha…your words won't change anything, Lupin-kun," smirked Jiraiya as he sat up again, "We're going, and that final. Harry's our friend."
Lupin blinked at Jiraiya's last sentence, as he felt something warm swimming inside him. It was a few seconds later when a small smile spread across his face, and he said, "If you insist, then. But I'm coming too…what about you, Severus?" he added, turning to the man standing beside him.
"I can't go," Severus said, immediately turning away, as if to leave, "…He said…I have to stay."
Lupin acknowledged his meaning, and straightened himself up. "Very well, take care of yourself then. But may I ask, what would you tell him once he is back, and discovered this mess?"
"Don't worry," the other replied, perhaps with a hint of amusement in his voice, "I'm sure I could think of something to say." He walked away.
"Well then," Lupin said, turning back to face the Sannins, "Let's get going."
"But how do we get there?" Tsunade asked, "Hermione told me once that the Department of Mysteries, which is inside the Ministry of Magic, is located in…what's that called? London?"
"You're right," nodded Lupin, "And judging from this wilderness, it's quite far."
"No worries," said Orochimaru, giving them the slightest smile, "Kurogumo will do the job. Just give us the directions, Lupin."
"Kurogumo…?" echoed Jiraiya, but Orochimaru just gave him a 'just watch' look, and bit his thumb, slamming his whole hand onto the ground. Runic and Symbols immediately slithered out from the center of his palm and across the floor, in which then gave an ominous rumble.
Lupin quickly braced himself from the upcoming impact and sure enough, there was a loud crunching noise and the ground split in half, forming a still-crumbling gap in front of Orochimaru. What appeared in the gap made Lupin's jaw fall: it was a gigantic snake, pearly white, with blazing red eyes. Judging from its size, it was at least twenty feet tall and longer than any longest broomsticks Lupin could remember. (The longest he had seen was during a random— and pointless— exhibition. Thirty meters long, completed with polish and glazes sparkly enough to even blind someone who had their eyes closed, the gigantic broom had to be a promotion…it had to be!)
"Er…yes, anyways…" said Lupin, feeling dazed, "…Wow…how you managed to do that?"
To his surprise, the white snake talked in a sort of clear, cunning voice, "Why, foolish humans…someone summoned me, much to my displeasure…" it turned towards Orochimaru accusingly with burning eyes, who just looked back, amused.
"Well, no time to complain, Kurogumo," said the dark-haired Sannin, "you have a job to do: take us all, as fast as you can, to a certain place."
The pearly white snake hissed, clearly irritated, but said nothing as the humans climb onto its head, with Lupin feeling slightly uneasy.
"Hmm, Kurogumo, huh?" said Jiraiya, glancing down and its pearly white scales, "Doesn't really suit you, does it?"
"Shut up, kid," hissed the snake, "If you don't want to be eaten alive, that is." Feeling insulted, Jiraiya tried to argue back, but was hushed silently by Orochimaru.
"His temper is worse than Manda," Orochimaru mouthed the words, and Jiraiya blinked, feeling relieved that he hadn't said anything.
Lupin, who was sitting beside Tsunade, glanced around cautiously. But his mind was far from the fear of the snake. "I can tell the way…" he said slowly to the others, "If only I have a compass."
Feeling even more amused, Orochimaru silently fished inside his pouch and handed the compass the Lupin, who didn't expect anyone to have one. Jiraiya, meanwhile, was looking rather irritated. Tsunade giggled.
"I just know that it would come in handy," explained Orochimaru, who shrugged.
"Now then," he continued, peering down at the snake's eyes, "When I mean travel, I mean travel above the ground, not in it. Understood? We won't want the little incident like last time happen again, do we?"
Kurogumo rolled its red eyes, "Fine…fine. Whatever."
"All right then," said Tsunade cheerfully, turning to Lupin, who had just finished adjusting the compass, "Let's get going, shall we?"
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Right. Judging by the length of this story, I think it'll soon end in about…four to five chapters, I think? Five's the most, I promise.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: (well, not as important, to certain people) I have decided to make use of my profile page, in other words, I will from now on put updates and notices just so you can get informed by certain delays, early-updating, malfunctions etc. I've already posted one up there just in case. You can go to my page and see, whatever you like. Hmm, I'm doing this because I don't want to write so much A/N in here. It's 'cheating spaces', if you know what I mean.
