"Really, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto was saying. "You need to learn when enough is enough. Like staying with me throughout two operations. And-"

"Shut your mouth if you know what's good for you, boy!"

"I'm nineteen," Kabuto reminded him dryly. "Don't you think I'm a little too old for that?"

Orochimaru snorted. "My lair, my rules, my standards. Now shut-up."

Kabuto glared at Orochimaru, but fell silent.

Orochimaru nodded. "I'm really not sure whether or not I should lecture you or just kiss you at this point…"

Kabuto scooted closer to Orochimaru, sheets slipping down his bare torso to reveal a slender, bandaged body. "Mmmm…kiss me please?"

Orochimaru sighed. "Just like you to play the innocent and try to win me over like that. But no, not this time. Kabuto, I-I just need to think," he said finally, ending in a whisper. Kabuto looked up at Orochimaru, then slowly moved his body sideways until his feet were planted firmly on the ground and he was standing next to an astonished Orochimaru. Kabuto gave him his customary smirk.

"My body heals itself at light speed, remember?"

Orochimaru stared.

"What…are…you…doing…?"

Kabuto's smile widened, and he slipped his hand into Orochimaru's.

"Getting you to take a shower," he said dryly, gently tugging at Orochimaru's hand. Orochimaru obeyed numbly, simply following Kabuto as the male pulled him along up the stairs to his room. Kabuto pulled him into the bathroom, then turned on the water and let Orochimaru take off his clothes and finally get into the hot water. Kabuto took off his boxers-the only item of clothing the medics had left on him after emergency surgery-and climbed in with Orochimaru.

Heat. That was the first thing that hit him: heat. The heat of the water, the heat of the room, Orochimaru's body heat. Kabuto wrapped his arms around Orochimaru, gently working at the blood clots stuck to Orochimaru's pale skin. Most of the blood came off easily under the water: some required a bit of scrubbing, and Kabuto had found a washcloth for that. Orochimaru was exhausted; he leaned on Kabuto more and more until finally he had his arms around Kabuto's neck and was leaning against the genin's chest. Kabuto had by then moved on to working shampoo through Orochimaru's dark hair, washing out the blood and working through the worst of the tangles. He could comb it later.

It took Kabuto a half an hour to get Orochimaru clean, and by then the simple flow of the water had washed off everything piled on his skin and hair. Kabuto finally turned off the water, handed Orochimaru a towel, and grabbed one for himself. He dried himself off, found a kimono for himself, and dressed quickly. He needed to get Orochimaru cleaner before he let him sleep.

Just his way of saying thank you.

OOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru seemed insatiable after his most recent match with Akatsuki. He constantly threw himself into training, and the goal for the day was to get him bound and on the ground. If any number of people could manage that, it was a good day in Otoga. Mostly because Orochimaru was too tired to do anything and Kabuto was too busy taking care of him to deal with anything.

Today, six jounin and Kabuto were going after Orochimaru head-on. They had managed to rope the sannin’s hands and were using that as leverage to maneuver Orochimaru-to an extent. Orochimaru was not out of the game by any standards, and he seemed pretty angry with Kabuto and his teammate, Ryuu, for pulling a fast one on him. He was frequently attacking with Kusanji from his mouth alone, and when someone managed to take out his legs, he seemed even more pissed. Orochimaru had almost killed two of the jounin sparring with him, and by now (two hours later) he was finally beginning to tire, and his chakra had been completely exhausted. Kabuto had hit the back of his neck, scrambling his chakra lines and even Orochimaru's movement for a minute or so.

Another half an hour later, and Orochimaru fell to his knees, reeling from a kunai to the ribs.

With a gasping, "Surrender," he collapsed onto his side, sides heaving and hair strewn across his face. His entire body was soaked with sweat, and his black hair was matted with it-that and blood. Crimson liquid was spilling over his hands now from clutching at his side, and Kabuto pulled the remains of the ropes away from Orochimaru's hands. He had only managed to bind his hands in front of him, so Orochimaru's movement was hardly inhibited. Now, Kabuto turned Orochimaru onto his back, yanked the kunai out of his ribs, and healed the wound with the small bit of chakra he had left. Another medic stepped up after that, pressing her glowing hands to Orochimaru's side while Kabuto held Orochimaru still. He was pleasantly surprised: Orochimaru hardly moved.

When the worst of Orochimaru's wounds had been healed, Kabuto picked him up and carried him back to his room.

"Kabuto…?"

Kabuto set Orochimaru down against the wall of the bathroom, closing and locking the door as he did so. "What?"

"…is it…is it any use at all…?"

Kabuto turned the water on in the shower and glanced back at Orochimaru.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked, pulling off the torn remains of Orochimaru's clothing.

"I'm not any stronger…"

Kabuto stripped himself, then helped Orochimaru into the shower. "Believe it or not, you are," he said, washing out Orochimaru's hair.

"It's very slow, but you are getting better."

Orochimaru seemed satisfied with the response: he said nothing in reply to

Kabuto's remark, only leaned on him a bit more. Kabuto cleaned him up quickly, afraid Orochimaru might fall asleep on him, and finally got him into bed. He let Orochimaru fall asleep in his lap while he was bandaging his last wound. Upon finishing, he checked Orochimaru's pulse, only to find him asleep. With a small smile, Kabuto pulled the sheets up over Orochimaru's body and left him to sleep, blowing out the last candle by the doorway as he walked out.

OOOOOOOOO

"How is he?"

Kabuto glanced up. Tayuya and the Sound Five were leaning against the wall, looking worried. Another small smile crossed Kabuto's face.

"He's asleep. He'll be fine in a day or so."

Tayuya heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear," she said, pushing off the wall and approaching the door Kabuto had half-closed. "Can I see him?"

"He's asleep," Kabuto repeated. "Not much going on, and it's not like he's in a coma, or his chances of surviving are fifty-fifty."

Tayuya smiled. "I know. I just want to see him."

Kabuto shrugged and stepped aside. "Then by all means, go ahead."

Kimimaro slipped in after Tayuya, but the other three stayed outside the room.

"We just wanted to see if he was going to make it," Kidomaru said by way of explanation. "He looked really bad-I mean, really bad. We weren't sure why he was going for it so hard…"

Kabuto nodded. "He's got this inferiority complex, kind of…ever since Akatsuki, he feels like he's not good enough. And ever since I got involved in this-he feels awful. He feels like it's his fault."

Sakon nodded in return. "Yeah, he seemed really stressed…and if could see him from where we…yeesh, it looked like he was going down fast."

"He's really been pushing himself…" Kidomaru murmured.

"I'm worried."

"I'm there," Kabuto said with a lopsided grin. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Lots of things!" Jiroubou protested. “I mean, all my food disappears every first of the month when you go on your little cleaning spree."

"Jiroubou, when food smells like you after you eat barbeque, it's time to let it go."

Jiroubou crossed his arms and pouted for a minute, muttering under his breath.

Kidomaru sighed and turned back to Kabuto. "Anyway…"

"Nothing really left to say," Kabuto said. "Orochimaru-sama's just pushing himself. I'm not going to let him die, alright? He'll probably sleep through tomorrow anyway. He exhausted his entire chakra supply, and his body is exhausted as well. He could hardly hold himself up when I was cleaning him up-I had to carry him just about everywhere he needed to move."

Sakon exhaled slowly, then stood up straight and glanced at Kabuto.

"Take care of him, okay?"

OOOOOOOOO

"Sodium Chlorite, Vitamin B6...damn!"

"What…are you doing…?"

Orochimaru leaned over Kabuto's shoulder, staring at a flask the genin was holding in his hand. "Stupid cockroach genetics," he muttered, dropping another capsule of powder into the flask. A minor explosion took place, blowing smoke into both ninja's faces. Kabuto groaned and set the flask down, putting his head down shortly afterwards on his forearms.

"I give up."

"Tried the Iron Sulfate?"

Kabuto shook his head. "Why?"

"Its chemical properties are less reactive than Sodium Chlorite."

Kabuto glanced up at Orochimaru. "Not quite what I'm going for…"

"Try anyway," Orochimaru replied with a shrug. "What's the worst that could happen? Nothing."

Kabuto sighed and stood up, then began rifling through his cabinets of chemical compounds, elements, and just weird substances. As he was searching, several candles flickered and died out, leaving Orochimaru half-blind with the darkness.

"Kabuto?"

Kabuto shook his head. "I didn't do anything," he said slowly, straightening. "I thought you did."

Orochimaru's only response was a shake of the head, and Kabuto drew a kunai and stepped in front of Orochimaru, taking the sannin's hand in his own.

"Stay close," he whispered, and guided Orochimaru towards the door.

"Whoever you are, come out," he cautioned, keeping Orochimaru close to him. Dark eyes flashed back and forth, scanning the hallways for signs of an intruder. Orochimaru several snakes into his sleeves, and he could feel their presence, warm, dry scales winding around his arms. Another snake slid up his legs, finally stopping its ascent to rest its triangular head on Orochimaru's collarbone. Orochimaru absently reached up to pet the snake, feeling its small tongue flicker out against his palm.

"If it's the Sounds, it's not funny! You know how much pressure we're under right now, you really can't keep this up!"

No one answered.

Kabuto's breathing picked up a bit, but he still tried not to show it. He knew Orochimaru was nervous as well: he could pick up on the sannin's fluctuating chakra levels just from the simple contact with his hand.

"Kabuto!"

A group of Sound ninja were racing towards him, and they stopped short when they saw Orochimaru. "Orochimaru-sama?" Tayuya questioned, reaching out to him. The snake around Orochimaru's neck raised its head questioningly.

"No, don't bite just yet," Orochimaru said quietly.

"Tayuya? Why are you down here?"

"All the power just went out…we were having dinner, and as I went to heat up some leftovers everything went black. Sakon and Ukon found some candles and lit them, but we wanted to see what had happened."

Kabuto glanced past Tayuya for a moment, then handed Orochimaru to her and walked pas the Sound Four.

His heart froze at the sight.

Kikyou stood in front of him, katana bared and Itachi at her side.

"Well, Kabuto, hope you're having fun," she said smugly.

"Because it was nice knowing you."

A/N: Well, we're winding down a bit now. Sorry this is so late-school's been kicking my ass lately, then I had insane writer's block on this… . Yeesh, I just couldn't get it up. Sorry peeps!!