"Haven't used this van in a while." Kabuto noted as they turned down another street. He wasn't sure where Orochimaru was leading him, but he knew better than to question what his boss had planned for today. On the calendar in the kitchen at Orochimaru's latest house, today was marked 'Eight year anniversary.' Kabuto didn't understand what that meant but it must be something to do with Itachi, since the pale man in his white suit had been going on and on about him all morning.
"Well, you know me, I like themes, Kabuto." He said from the back. Kabuto had been forced to turn the back into something resembling an ambulance. He spent all morning on it, and was excited when Orochimaru ordered knock-out darts to be hidden in the drawers. "Especially on days like today."
"Down this street?" Kabuto stopped at a red octagon sign and pointed to the right. Orochimaru leaned into the front seat, saw the sign and nodded. Kabuto turned down the street and drove by the houses and cars. "You sure this is the right street? Looks too pleasant."
"Yes, I picked out someone special for this trial. Someone who is sure to get someone's attention." Orochimaru slithered up into the passenger's seat and crossed one leg over the other. "On our way back, remember to stop and pick up some more tea."
"Right." Kabuto felt like complaining again. He didn't want to be the butler, but he would be happy with sidekick. He sighed, realized he sighed and kept his head straight. The last thing he wanted to do was upset Orochimaru today, when he was promised a weeks vacation starting tomorrow.
"It only took a few years to patch that serum. If it works, I'll be able to further upgrade once we get a sample of Minato." Orochimaru scratched his chin and thought about it. "Once I have it in me, I'll be invincible."
"Ew." Kabuto let slip without thinking.
"What was that?" Orochimaru asked. He turned his head and stared at Kabuto with a blank face.
"Oh, I just said 'Oh, you.' You're always on that latest serums and genetics. It's like living with a fashionista." Kabuto lied. It seemed to have taken root in Orochimaru's mind and he smiled and turned back to the road. They drove by a small area with two burned house and Orochimaru order him to park. "Is this the place?"
"Yes." The pale man slid forward in his seat and stared out the window with a devious hunger in his eyes. "And there she is."
Kabuto followed his eyes to a short person, a midget. Then she turned around. It was then Kabuto realized it wasn't a little person at all. It was a girl. She was playing hopscotch with herself and had a pink stuff horse in her left hand. Kabuto's eye twitched. "Sir, she looks about six."
"She is six." Orochimaru confirmed. He opened the door and walked over to her. She noticed him and took two steps back. He decided to kneel down and offered out his hand. "Hi, are you Suri?"
Suri grasped the horse with both hands and shook her head, her short black pigtails bouncing. "Um... I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"I'm not a stranger I'm a doctor." Orochimaru lied. He stood up and retracted his hand seeing that she wouldn't shake it. "I heard that you were sick, I came to take you to the hospital."
"But... Mom says anemia's fine." Suri said dropping her guard a little. She lowered the horse and looked up at him for some type of explanation. "Is something wrong?"
"There might be." He said and took a step towards her. This time the little girl in the pink dress didn't back away. "We really need to take you quickly to the hospital to get tested. Wouldn't you like to cure it and stop all those nasty pills?"
"Yea..." She looked down at her front lawn and scuffed her foot.
"This is my personal ambulance. Come on then." Orochimaru offered his hand again. She looked at him, looked at her house and took a step towards him. "Come now, we don't want something to happen."
"Oh... Okay." She said and took his hand. Orochimaru walked Suri to the back of the van, not noticing Kabuto's tightening, angry grip on the steering wheel. As the door open Kabuto felt the wheel twist and looked down to see that he had misshapened it.
Sasuke, didn't like coffee. He particularly loathed the smell. It reminded him of home; a home with his father sitting at the table reading the paper and a cup of joe in his left hand. He always had a cup. Now the scent followed him wherever he walked through the hospital.
As he walked with the small tray he groaned. He didn't want to make peace, but Itachi had convinced him it was for the best. He turned left into a new hall and looked around all the doors and names on them. He stopped when he saw two familiar adults. He hadn't seen them in a few months, not since before Kisame's house burned down. Sasuke made a beeline towards them, the man and woman who were standing and freaking out in hushed tone.
"Hi, I don't know if you remember me, I was friend's with your neighbor Kisame." He said trying not to pop up and scare them by accident. They both turned around and gawked at him before relaxing. The wife muttered an 'Oh, it's you. Hi.' and sighed. "I was just wondering what was up if it's not nosy?"
"We don't know, but our little Suri. She was taken this morning and they found her unconscious on the sidewalk on Raven street. Someone... someone did something." She said and shook her hands not knowing how else to convey her ire. "I just don't know how she's going to get through this..."
"Go get a drink, and breath." He said and patted her head in a loving way. She nodded and walked away at a quick pace. The father sighed, scratched his head and looked at Sasuke. "We're not entirely sure what happened. Someone glued red contacts to her eyeballs is currently what they're thinking. They kind of look like yours."
"I pay through the nose for these, they're not cheap." 'Oh God... he got a hold of her.' Sasuke thought and almost dropped the coffee. He stabilized and pulled out his wallet. In the second row of card slots he pulled out a business card with his thumb and set it on the coffees. After shoving his wallet, Sasuke handed him the card. "I'd like to pay for her care. This is my contact information."
"What?" The man said as he looked over the plain white cardstock. Sasuke just had his name, cell and address on it. "P... pay?"
"I'll have them send the bill to me." Sasuke straightened up and looked beyond him into the room where Suri sat. She smiled at him and waved him towards her.
"I couldn't let you." He tried to hand back the card but Sasuke shook his head.
"I have more money to throw around than I know what to do with. I assume you watch the news." Sasuke set the coffee down on a table outside her room and tried to judge the severity, but couldn't see in. "I used to play with her and your son all the time, I would hate for her not to get proper care because they think you can't pay."
"Th... thank you." The Dad stuttered at the generousness of his gift and caught himself before he fell over. He went to thank Sasuke again, but the Uchiha had already walked by him into the room to see her sulking in the bed. He set the coffees down on a side table and attempted to play nice.
"Suri?" Sasuke touched her head and she looked up at him, two bright red eyes gazing up at him. There was no contact line, they were real. Sasuke's heart twisted and contorted, or it felt as if it had. The wrenching seared up in him into anger and he tried to remember that she wasn't to blame; she was just a little child. "Hey there kiddo."
The little girl smiled through the heavy pain medication. It was a weak smile, but something nonetheless. "Hi Mister Uchiha."
Sasuke had the urge to punch a wall. It was a strong urge, he just wanted to decimate the hospital until he felt better. Instead he smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. She kept up her grin but seemed to have an issue staying awake. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts, and my legs, and my arms, and my belly." She muttered in a light voice. She looked beyond him to her father who was busy watching in and she lifted a hand and waved. "Papa's really worried, but I'll be fine."
"They just don't know what they did, so that's why they're scared." Sasuke attempted to explain. He pulled his backpack off his shoulders and pulled out a drawing pad and a pen. "Do you like ponies?"
"Yea." The first line went down on the piece of paper, followed by another and another until there was a horse's head. Suri sat up and pulled herself closed via tugging on Sasuke's arm. It didn't affect the drawing any so he wasn't too bother. The little girl brushed a lock out of the way and saw the piercing scarlet eyes glaring down at the paper. "You have eyes like mine. They keep saying their contacts, but they're not. He put something in my arm."
'Shit, this is my fault.' Sasuke turned to her and she pointed out a pink band aid with ducks on it. "Who did?"
"The man in white." 'Orochimaru.' "He said you would find out." 'He specifically planned this.' "Don't worry, I didn't tell anybody."
"What did he do?" Sasuke whispered and put a finger over his mouth shushing her before going back to the drawing.
"He said he was going to cure my anemia." Suri whispered back. She lay back down in her bed and closed her eyes like the world was spinning. "He said he was a doctor and he could make me better."
"Oh, that so? It seems he made you sick." Sasuke ripped the page out and put his things back into his bag. "I need you to not tell anyone about him, alright? If you stay quiet, when you get out of here, I'll take you on all the pony rides you could ever want, alright?"
"Okay." She said then felt some doubt and looked at him as he stood up. "Promise?"
"Pinkie promise." Sasuke offered out his little finger and she raised her hand. Hers could grasp at his, but not really fit around. She tried several times before giving up and calling it good enough. Sasuke then pulled his hand away and gave her the drawing. "Here, I drew you a pony."
"It's pretty. I'm going to name her Lulu after our dog." She smiled and hugged the paper to her chest cuddling it. She closed her eyes again and it was clear she had enough excitement for now. Sasuke put on his bag, grabbed the coffee and smiled.
"Bye." Every step he took away from her, it felt like it was eating away at him. She was sick, beyond sick. She was at a point where nothing they could do would ever change her back. Sasuke walked into Gaara's room. He sighed and dropped the coffee tray down on the table.
"Hey." He muttered. He groaned and didn't bother to lift his head to see either of them, but he knew that Naruto was seated next to Gaara in the bed and they were playing some stupid game they were bonding over. He wasn't in the mood to be angry about their closeness today. "Coffee for you, you have class in twenty minutes. I have to go."
"Uh, Sasuke?" He heard Naruto say. The blonde paused his game and got up to watch Sasuke walk away saying something about Itachi. "Sasuke!"
"He seemed upset." Gaara stated. Naruto glared at him with one eyebrow raised. Gaara then realized what he had said. "Concussion. I am captain obvious, sorry. Go after him."
"No, it's okay. He vents better to his brother."
Itachi was seated in his suit on one side of his desk; his hands rested together in his lap listening to the nonsense worries that were being presented. On the other side were two chairs, both empty chairs, because Nagato was pacing the floor. Nagato had removed half of his metal facial piercing leaving some visible holes he had filled with clear plastic substitutes so as not to freak out Itachi's entire office. He still did. Every now and then a coworker would look through the doors window at the strange tattooed man in bondage pants with obvious extra holes in his head. "So, it's not that bad? Like, all the paperwork and stuff? I'll be able to understand most of it right? My thesis didn't bother me this much."
Itachi was a little confused at why Nagato had approached him and asked him all these things. "You genetically enhance yourself and you're scared of mortgage paperwork?"
"Genetics is something that I can toy with... mortgage payments, bills, income. It all affects my kid in someway." All of the pieces Itachi didn't understand snapped into place. He nodded in agreement and Nagato continued to pace. "I just don't want to mess up and end up not able to provide what I want for my child. I mean, what if we go broke? I'm working jobs where I can't give my real name out, do you get how bad that is?"
"I can understand your point." Itachi scratched his head and sighed. He knew it was going to be hard for Nagato to get a mortgage due to his cover being new and not having a credit history. He just didn't know where to send him for help. "Honestly, have you considered moving out of country? Everything is very expensive here and you won't really be qualified for a mortgage anytime soon."
Nagato stopped pacing and plopped himself down in the chair mumbling about how he hated Madara and his stupid attention grabbing ways. Itachi stayed focused on him for a second more before his door opened and Sasuke burst in. Itachi would have scolded him, but since he wasn't with a client, it wasn't that big of a deal. "Hey." Sasuke stayed silent and threw himself down in the chair next to Nagato. "Sasuke? Don't you have class?"
"Do you remember Suri, Kisame's old neighbors little girl?" Sasuke asked sitting forward. He rubbed his hands together waiting for something from his brother. He received a nod and continued. "She's dying. Orochimaru got a hold of her."
The room went dead silent for a moment as the men in the room tried to figure out what to say. Itachi leaned back in his chair and threw the hacky sack he kept in his draw. It bounced off the wall across his office and hit the back of the door shutting it. "You said he got a hold of her. How? What'd he do?"
Sasuke didn't want to answer that question. He knew, to the tee, what had happened. He knew what it felt like and how painful it could be. He took two seconds and figured he would skip over the details. "He modified her. She's got red eyes, but she's not doing well. She's not going to make it. She is literally down the hall from Gaara getting weaker by the moment. We need to help her on this. We need to get Tsunade and Sasori and..."
"No." Itachi stated as if he was declining a drink offer. He scooted his chair in and watched as Sasuke's face turned from guilt to anger.
"No? She'll die." Sasuke moved himself to the front of the chair and glared at his brother. "She's a kid, we can't just let her die. We're supposed to be the good guys."
"A super powered child capable of killing another child with a single blow. She throws tantrums, she gets upset, and she's not even a teenaged girl who'd at least be able to hold back." Sasuke saw no emotion in Itachi's face and it only fueled his anger. Itachi just sighed and knew this was going to go a bad way. "She's too much of a danger now. We can't risk the safety of others for her."
Sasuke stopped for a minute. He understood all too well what Itachi was saying. He understood and he was enraged. "How can you say that? How's it fair to her?"
"Because I've seen what you and I can do and a child doesn't need to be able to do that. She could not want to take a bath and accidentally kill her parents." Itachi stood up and paced in front of a row of windows. He stopped then looked down onto the street below. A class was outside, middle school by his guess. Itachi himself wanted children, but knew he could never father of face a similar dilemma. Sasuke muttered under his breath. Itachi snapped. "You think I want to let a little girl die, Sasuke?"
"She's going to die as a message to us." Sasuke said deliberately, his words strained.
"This is why we need to stop messing with them! Don't go and antagonize things! Stop egging their places and setting fires to their cars." Itachi had raised his voice. Sasuke's eyes grew wide and then he leaned back, shamed. "You didn't think I didn't guess who it was? I told you to stop messing with them. This is what happens when you try to get your so called revenge. People get hurt. There are consequences."
"I understand that but I didn't imagine this." Sasuke stood and began pacing around the room. Nagato looked down and away trying to keep himself small and out of their way. Sasuke ran his hand through his hair and threw it down. "We can save her."
"We can save her life, but at what cost? She couldn't stay with her family. We'd have to take her far away from here, raise her in quiet and hope to God that she doesn't accidentally kill someone." Itachi sat down. He cursed and praised Orochimaru for his genius. He knew that Sasuke couldn't help but try to do something. Why was his brother so predictable. "She's a little girl, she doesn't know right from wrong. More or less, Orochimaru wanted someone you would save. She's a girl, she's still developing, she'll likely have children one day."
"So, we have to let her die because she could become a threat?"
Itachi sighed and looked down to his desk. "I'm sorry."
"I hate you." Sasuke left, the door slamming into the silence of the room. Nagato looked over to Itachi and saw that he had tried, but his rational couldn't let Orochimaru win this contest.
Nagato sat up in his chair and nervously scratched at his wrist. "His temperament is getting worse. Sasori and Kisame noticed it too. Kisame's scared of him."
"I know." Itachi picked up a pen and twirled it in his hands. "I don't know what to do with him."
Nagato arrived home twenty minutes later and upon opening the doors, he saw Sasuke sitting on his couch. He wasn't sure when, of if it was the fact that she was pregnant and Sasuke didn't have a mom, but this was the third time he had come home to find them talking on the couch. Konan was next to the teen in a blue dress going over the pictures she had from their vacation to oregon. Nagato sat uncomfortable as the two sat their, happy in their conversation. 'Dear Lord, he's insane. He just exploded on his brother.'
Sasuke didn't take any notice, he was busy going through the pictures pointing things out. They finished and relaxed back onto the couch, cups of tea in their hands. "How's the baby coming along?"
Konan had lost herself in the tea. She suddenly looked up realizing something was said. She looked to Nagato who pointed to her stomach. "Oh, the baby. Good."
"Thank you for hosting me." He said standing. As he went to walk away Konan tugged on his wrist and told him to sit. He did what she said and watched as the woman set her tea down and sighed.
"Sasuke, have you thought about this?" She asked. Konan moved her hands into her lap and sat there nervously. "Orochimaru is probably stronger than you. He's also not as emotional, making his thinking clearer. Plus he's an asshole. Think of how it will affect Naruto and Itachi."
"I know." Sasuke muttered. He felt Nagato's eyes on him and looked over to him. Nagato was waiting, he wanted to hear Sasuke's answer. Instead, Sasuke looked at Nagato and asked him questions. "Why does Itachi want to let her die? I thought he wanted kids one day."
"Because it's highly probable that something will happen." Nagato's voice was stale and monotone. Sasuke had heard the same thing from Itachi, and he didn't want to hear it from Nagato.
Konan took the gentler approach. She placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and walked it through with him. "Sasuke, that girl is six right? She hasn't even gone through puberty yet. Some boy is going to break her heart, and she could shove him through a train."
"Don't you mean into?"
"No." Konan shook her head with wide eyes. "Right through; metal, contents and all. Remember when you and Naruto had that spat a couple weeks back and you took down three buildings? She'd be that every few hours." Sasuke didn't want to remember that fight with Naruto, because he was embarrassed and it was over Gaara. "He's been perfecting it over the past two years, she could be able to fly for all we know. She could high five someone and break their arm. And she's a child, you tell her not to do something... You know how that goes. We we're all teenagers."
Her words, her soft touch, seemed to get through him. Sasuke sighed heavily and took a sip of his tea. "Yea."
'Oh thank God he listened to her.' Nagato thought and smiled. He turned to his fiancee and watched her expression change from mild to surprise.
"Oo! Someone's kicking!" Konan stood and stretched her back. She suddenly grabbed her stomach and began to walk backwards. "I'll be back, they kicked my bladder."
The two giggled silently as Konan rushed into the bathroom. The dog followed on her heels and disappeared as she shut the door. When the door closed they both turned stoic and stared forward but not at each other. After a minute there was a small crackling sound. Nagato looked over to Sasuke and saw staring straight ahead with tea running down his hand. "Sasuke, you crushed the tea cup."
The Uchiha snapped back and looked at his hand. The cup hadn't even cut him. He began picking up the pieces. "Sorry."
