ii.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Linked (Consequences)
This chapter was Beta-ed by the amazing Wistfuldaydream, Thanks for all your hard work and support!
"Let your plans be dark, and as impenetrable as the night; and when you make your move, fall like a thunderbolt." -Sun Tzu
Nanami eyed the boy as he stood in front of the bars, and in return he seemed to be summing her up as well. His chakra flickered between pity, anger, and determination. She frown from beneath her hood. He seemed to be debating over something.
His eyes were so much like Itachi's it was startling. Dark pools of black that held something unfathomable behind them. Sasuke though, lacked that look that Raven Eyes had. That aura that made her believe he could see through her, effortlessly read her mind; know exactly what she was thinking.
Instead, Sasuke seemed… young. His expressions, while wholly negative, were plastered across his face clear as day. His impatience, his anger, his frustrations. He just… looked like an angsty teenager, trying to figure everything out.
Nanami supposed she could empathize even if she didn't agree with the whole 'commit everything in life to killing one man.' It just seemed like he'd be left with a whole lot of nothing afterwards- but the hypocrisy in that wasn't lost on her either.
Nanami had also committed her life to one thing, and when it was over… well. She wouldn't think about that right now. (Or ever.)
Comparing Sasuke to his elder brother was probably unfair; but she couldn't help but note that his chakra and the way he carried himself all spoke of arrogance and pride born from the wrong intentions.
Raven Eyes had confidence in his abilities, but he was never arrogant. If anything he seemed more self deprecating; but Nanami only got that impression because she had years of familiarity to interpret his chakra.
Sasuke's skin was deathly pale, like he hadn't seen sunlight in a year. His hair was as she remembered it from the books and the show, a dark unruly mass that framed his face and stuck up in spikes at the back like a tangled mass of cow lick.
He wore a parted white kimono top tucked into some kind of blue fabric that swathed over his hips atop his plain black pants. It was all tied together with the thick purple rope that also held his chokuto to the small of his back. She liked the short sword actually, the lack of a hand guard made for a sleek looking design. It's length bent horizontally as he rested an arm on the hilt.
His stance was casual, but aggressive enough to clearly be an attempt at intimidation.
Nanami wasn't intimidated by this boy, even less so than she had been by his master.
She uncoiled from the grimy floor like a lazy cat to greet him with careful, slow movements. She didn't want to startle him.
"Sasuke." She greeted. His eye narrowed, and his fist clenched at his side. His chakra flared in irritation and anger.
Oh, he didn't like that.
She resisted the urge to shrug. He'd get over it.
His curse seal caught her attention, and she noticed how much stronger the nature chakra was in his compared to the others in this place. She suspected his seal was a more completed form. It would make sense that Orochimaru would want to test out prototypes before giving his final work to the focus of his obsessions.
Nanami knew that she could easily grasp his seal, the thing was practically oozing nature chakra even in it's dormant state. The odds were not in his favor, but even then she was unsure of how exactly this was going to pan out for either of them- she'd never attempted to guide a human before.
Even her brief experience with Gaara chakra had been more along the lines of 'tear it apart' than actually take it over.
But Gaara didn't have a handly little seal spewing nature chakra all over the place either.
Something else about it too… felt so much like the man she had met prior to this Uchiha. As if Orochimaru had cut a piece of himself and placed it inside the seal...
Her eyes narrowed as she considered it. He had done something like that in the books, right? She murmured it aloud as her thoughts ran away with her.
This probably wouldn't help him either.
Sasuke's arrogance wasn't a surprise, as far as she could remember that was a main character trait for this boy. She took another few steps to cut the distance between them, and pulled down her hood to face him in the flickering light of the torches.
His dark eyes widened slightly before they returned to their usual haughty glare.
Nanami held back a snort.
Well, no time like the present- places to be, people to see and all that. Best to take advantage of the situation while she still had the opportunity; she probably wouldn't get any better openings.
Nanami brought up a hand slowly and flicked painted fingertips towards him, her chakra string uncoiled and brushed past his cheek lightning quick and well practiced in its movement.
Sasuke was so tense he looked ready to break, but his demeanor changed when her chakra string didn't touch him- the arrogance returning ten fold.
But he didn't know she didn't really need to touch his skin, just his chakra. (And he had plenty of that.)
"I am the worst opponent you could possibly have, Bitter Wings." She named him quietly, and gave her warning.
Nanami fed her chakra into the energy that made up his seal, and watched in rapt fascination as it bloomed and spread across his face and arms in a hot red and inky black war march.
"Hm." It was actually kind of pretty to look at. Well, Sasuke himself was pretty to look at too, but this was in a different way. A more aggressive kind of beauty that pleased the part of her that lusted after violence.
Nanami watched as the parts of him she could influence, smothered the part of him that could fight back. She waited a couple of heartbeats for him to resist her hold. He didn't though, and she found it odd that he would surrender to the link she created between the two of them without a struggle.
But she understood, as the ink on his skin settled and his chakra relaxed under her desires. A part of him that shared her desires echoed back into her, an answer to her unasked question. The same emotion resonated between both of them through her link; and she realized that this- beyond all his disadvantages was the reason he was calm inside her kekkei genkai.
A part of Sasuke still loved his brother dearly, the way all of her did; with the same burning intensity that she felt.
He had forgotten, but now he remembered- through her, through their link.
"Time to go, brother of my brother." She whispered to him sadly.
Nanami watched his eyes take on a glassy, hollow look and she urged him to draw his sword. His muscle memory guided the movements even though he wasn't quite all there. He knew this, he knew the motions, he had practiced them day in and day out, preparing for the day he would kill her brother.
His brother… their brother.
When he fed lightning into the blade she was surprised. It seemed that even as willing as he was Sasuke still retained a certain amount of autonomous behavior.
Interesting.
Nanami wasn't complaining, it would help if it came down to a fight; but she was hoping they would be able to sneak out of here quietly.
The bars of her prison parted like butter in the wake of his fluid slash, but it was loud. Very loud. He made the same motion again, swinging back the opposite way to create a gap and Nanami wasted no time in slipping out.
Sasuke sheathed his sword with a click, eyes dull, and she felt a pang of regret for having to use him like this. It's not like she wanted to, but it was the only ability in her arsenal that could get her out of here.
She hoped Raven Eyes would forgive her.
The boy crouched in front of her, and she felt another flicker of surprise as he held his hands out behind him. She climbed onto his back and he rose again, a hand curled under her as she clung to his shoulders and the other resting on the hilt of his blade.
Quietly. She urged.
Sasuke flickered away with light steps as silent as the grave.
He set her down behind a tall cabinet in a dark room tucked into a hallway that appeared to get very little foot traffic. They crouched down together, his hand grasping her wrist to keep himself in easy contact as Nanami stretched her senses out.
Sneaking out wasn't going to work. This place was too big, and there were too many people.
They needed a diversion.
She felt the largest chakra signature in the area flare out in fury from far off in the direction of the cell she had left behind. So Orochimaru was onto them, damn. She needed to figure something out quickly.
"Bitter Wings," She whispered, and dark, void like dark eyes turned to her. He blinked lethargically, his grip on her little wrist shifting.
His emotions were a mess. A strange sort of feedback loop had started between the two of them, and it worried Nanami.
She had never had to stay in constant contact like this before- let alone for this long.
Usually, she only needed to place one thought and the instructions would be carried out simply. But her link with Sasuke was different by the very nature of her situation, and of course because he was a human. Animals didn't feel complex emotions like Sasuke did, but she was making suggestions to him through the use of his curse seal- through nature chakra that dominated his when the seal was activated.
Nanami had urged him feel the need to leave this place with her at the very start, but their environment was constantly changing and as a result what she needed from him was also constantly changing. Like now, when the need to hide was more important than their slow and silent crawl towards the exit.
The contact wasn't wearing too harshly on her chakra, because now that he was always close enough to touch she only needed to brush her ambient chakra along his, but there was another kind of strain.
Something new she hadn't experienced before.
Sasuke was... taking bits of her into him; for lack of a term. She could feel her love for her Red Clouds, something that was constantly on her mind swimming through the link, and taking hold in him. Grafting itself into his emotions like what she felt was truly how he felt as well.
Because she was constantly aware of how he felt through their link, it returned to her with a near crippling echo of love for Raven Eyes, and an added sense of despair in a strange sort of feedback loop.
It made her nervous, and concerned her. Would the link remove her feelings from him when it was broken, or was she…
Was she changing the way Sasuke felt about his brother without meaning to?
That… probably wasn't good… right?
Said boy tugged on her wrist, and she realized he was waiting patiently for her to continue speaking. Another thing she knew wasn't like him, but more like her. Sasuke wasn't a patient creature- but she was.
Nanami grimaced, Sasuke's emotions were a mess. She hoped they could get out of this place soon, or she worried that...
She worried about how much of her he would be keeping if he stayed within her kekkei genkai for much longer.
She didn't think her ability was supposed to work this way- not really. She wasn't supposed to be able to impress her wants on humans. Sentient beings with their own wants weren't supposed to be subject to her will- but Nanami had little choice in this. (Well, that wasn't true. She had a choice but the alternative was… unsavory.)
"Take me to where the weaker groups gather." She whispered, and his head of dark hair bobbed agreeably. She didn't really need to say the words aloud, but it helped to remind her that he was a person. It made her feel less awful about using him like this.
And words seemed to help get her more complicated thoughts across, his ability to process them unimpaired.
Orochimaru's chakra paced down a hallway that was too close to them for her liking, and she clambered onto Sasuke's back again and urged him forward on dextrous feet.
Time for a distraction.
Itachi and Kisame silently circled the perimeter from the treetops. Nestled within a circle of trees was a stone staircase leading down into what they had thought was supposed to be an abandoned laboratory.
This was clearly not the case.
Silver eyes met swirling red from a short distance away and Itachi flashed through a series of silent hand signs.
'Genjutsu traps detected.' He told his partner as he eyed the thick chakra that clung heavily to the ground before the entrance.
Kisame made an irritated face. 'Forceful entry?' He signed back, his other hand already gravitating toward Samehada's hilt.
Itachi frowned as well, considering their options. They didn't know what kind of state Nanami was currently in, and he was loath to risk her life with careless movements.
This assignment had taken a turn they weren't expecting. It was no longer about retrieving the ring, for either him or his partner. Nanami's life takes precedence over a lost piece of jewelry that they had been prepared to move on without anyways.
'No. Danger to subject, cautionary approach.' He returned.
Kisame's snarled without sound.
'Course of action?' Kisame deferred to him, knowing the Uchiha was more adept for this kind of situation. He may have been one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri once, a group tailored specifically for assassinations, but Itachi had the brains for devising ways to come successfully out of difficult situations.
Itachi was prepared to lay out a scouting plan when a heavy explosion rocked the area farther ahead of them. Wind shredded through the clearing and the sound of cracking wood followed the deafening blow as trees were torn from the ground and flung away from the blast radius.
Itachi and Kisame leapt clear, bouncing from tree branches down onto the ground as the air quickly settled, leaving only the sounds of burning wood and the heavy smell of smoke.
"Well." Kisame laughed, the need for covert movements rendered completely null. "Maybe she doesn't need saving after all."
Pride welled in Itachi's chest, an unexpected emotion that startled him as soon as he felt it. The corner of his lips quirked, the closest thing to a grin he would ever offer his partner.
Kisame's own grin widened, recognizing the gesture for what it was.
The two of them flash stepped towards the newly made exit from the underground base, ready to retrieve their wayward child.
AN: Sorry for the long wait, getting myself on a set update schedule. I'll be posting every friday, barring something crazy doesn't happen. I hope you guys liked this chapter, please review and let me know what you think!
Next Chapter: Product of My Brothers