Chapter 37

Little Mistakes

A/N: And after my long absence we are back to more depressing chapters! Things won't get happy again for a while. Blame the story line and the reviewers who claim Nai is too "perfect", all this messed up stuff is partially their fault. By the way, lack of sleep has deprived you of this update!

"Kabuto."

The young shinobi looked away from the tea he was preparing, "Yes Orochimaru-sama?"

"I want you to take them with you."

"But…why?"

Orochimaru stood from his throne and moved to the window to peer into the night air. "I want to kill two birds with one stone. I will weaken her using the Hagane child and bring in Sasuke with the promise of more power. I want to give him bit of incentive."

"I still am not sure of your plan."

"He failed to stop Itachi and he will fail to save the child. His hunger for power will grow."

Kabuto finished the tea and took it to the man, "And the woman?

"When she is broken she will come to me, the only person who can fix her. And I'll have Sasuke, she'll go where he goes."

Kabuto started to ponder how Orochimaru channeled his feelings. Supposedly this Nai person was extremely important to him. Now, Kabuto was no romantic, but being so cruel to her just seemed…strange. Why would she want to be with someone who put her through so much emotional pain? An eerie chuckle made him leave his thoughts.

"It's a trick of the mind Kabuto. If you can't get what you want the gentle way, you must be forceful."

"What if you really do break her?"

Orochimaru smiled, "That's what I have you for. And you better not mess it up, you get one shot."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses to cover his nervous gulp, "Of course sir."

"Go. And don't rough up the child too much." He said with a malicious smile.

"I won't let you down."

"Kushi close the window." Nai rolled away from the offending fixture as Kakashi groaned tiredly next to her. She shoved him with her foot when he didn't move, "Close it."

She listened as he closed it and climbed back in the bed, wrapping his arms around her middle, "Better?"

The woman nodded and started to drift back off until she felt another gust of cold air come in through the door this time. Nai sat up in the bed, earning more groans of protest from Kakashi, "Nai, go to sleep."

"There's a window open somewhere."

"Then go close it and come right back."

Nai was already halfway in the hall when he said this and she followed the draft down the hall to the boys' room. She was instantly awake as she noticed the wide-open window and the covers thrown back on Kyo's bed. Sasuke was on the floor with a senbon needle in his neck and the little one was nowhere to be seen.

"KAKASHI!"

She tried her best to keep her hands from shaking as she pulled the needle from Sasuke's neck, any sudden movements and she might paralyze him for life. When the needle was out his sharingan eyes darted around the room and his lungs sucked in as much air as they could hold.

Kakashi was in the room for a minute then he was back down the hall, "I'm going to tell the Hokage."

Nai couldn't find the words to answer him so instead she focused on Sasuke so she could try and figure out how she and Kakashi slept through the kidnapping of their child.

"Sasuke…Sasuke, tell me what happened."

The boy blinked a few times to orient himself, "The window opened suddenly and a stood up. But something knocked me over and…" he looked over at the empty bed not even four feet from his own, "…and they took him. I didn't have time to…"

"They? There was more than one?"

"It felt like it."

She started to pace the room; that would explain why she and Kakashi heard nothing, the culprits were shinobi and the whole scenario happened quickly. She was missing something though; she knew she was. Something about this was going over her head.

Who in the village would want Kyo? Yes he was of Hagane blood but he was still new in his Monokogan training. It wasn't a Hyuga trying to get back at her clan, they wouldn't stoop that low and anyone else would have just killed him.

But who would go to the lengths to just take him? It was then that she noticed something fluttering in the night air, caught in a hinge of the window. It was a hair, a white hair.

"I know who did it."

Kyo looked around the forest warily as animals made their calls into the night, "Pa, where are we going?"

Kabuto smirked, hidden by the mask on "Kakashi's" face, "Nowhere special." He had been perfecting this cover; he looked and sounded like Kakashi Hatake.

The child walked closer to him "Are Ma and Nii-san coming?"

"Yes."

Kyo looked down at his feet then looked back up, "When?"

A kunai whizzed past Kabuto's ear and he smiled, his face now his own. Kyo screamed as he was picked up and thrown over the shinobi's shoulder, "Their here now."

The child continued to scream in his ear as he ran, jumping into the trees to gain a bit more cover from the kunai and shuriken. He chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw the three shinobi chasing him. Kyo started to call out to them, struggling in Kabuto's grip.

Kabuto activated the MIC around his neck, "Go now."

Sasuke didn't know what tripped him but he punched the ground forcefully. "Dammit!"

"Well don't you think you're a bit too young for that type of language?"

He lashed out, punching at the nearest person, who turned out to be a girl. She smirked and giggled as she grouped with the other three men with her, "He's pretty cute. I see why Orochimaru-sama wants him."

Sasuke glared at them, "Who the hell are you?"

"The four sounds."

He didn't get the chance to let the brief introduction sink in as they all attacked him at once. All he could do was put his hands up and block as best he could. He managed a kick on the chest of one of the guys, he was pale and thin with a weird…something, on his back.

When his back hit the tree branch he was disoriented for a few seconds and could see that Nai and Kakashi were long gone. Probably not noticing his absence. "You were there…you took my brother."

"What brother? Oh…the little one." It was the girl speaking again, "Actually Kabuto-san did all the work; we just tagged along."

Sasuke glared at her and ignored the tingling in his neck as his curse mark slowly spread, "Give him back to me!"

The other man, the pale one, chuckled, "Quit yapping like a wimpy dog."

The girl laughed, "Don't say that Sakon, he's a cute little one."

Sakon scowled, "Don't get attached Tayuya, he won't be around for long." Sasuke attacked him and he simply kicked the Uchiha child back into the trunk of the tree, "You aren't the only one with a gift kid. We have curse marks too."

"What do you want? Why do you have Kyo?"

"We know nothing about the plan for the child." Another spoke, he was tanned and had many arms, like a spider, "We were told to simply inform you, to show you the power you can too possess."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He would admit that the four of them were very strong, and he could feel their power emanating from them. But he didn't have time for things like this; he needed to help save Kyo. It was bad enough he let the enemy get to the child in the first place.

Tayuya winked at him as the other three left, "And Orochimaru wanted me to tell you 'don't forget about your real brother'."

Kabuto abruptly stop running, bringing the child to his front and wrapping an arm around he neck. He was careful to not strangle Kyo; he just wanted to have a firm grip on him.

Nai put her arm out to keep Kakashi from attacking, "Wait."

"For what?" Kakashi asked gruffly, not taking his eyes off the smirking sound shinobi before him.

Nai glanced over her shoulder, "Sasuke's gone, something's up."

Kabuto smiled, "So now you notice. My friends are visiting him right now, I'm sure he'll join us later."

"What do you want?"

"I have it already." He motioned to the orange haired boy in his arms, "It's right here."

"What does Orochimaru want with him?"

"Absolutely nothing. I want to…experiment a little."

Kyo screamed at the sound of that and struggled a little bit. Nai set her eyes aglow, "Put. Him. Down."

"I don't think I will. And your little mind games won't make a difference, I know how it works. To truly get into my mind you need eye contact."

"Shit…" Kakashi squeezed his kunai to the point where his hand was shaking, "Nai. We can't stand here and converse like this."

"…I know." With that she disappeared and reappeared behind Kabuto. In one swift motion she reached out and slit his throat. A puff of smoke erupted and Kyo hit the ground.

"Ma!"

"Shit. A clone. Kakashi where is he?"

"Right here."

The woman didn't have the time to fully turn around and face him when he hit her hard over the head. She was completely disoriented and only faintly heard Kakashi tell Kyo to go and hide. "Why…why did you take him if you weren't going to hurt him?"

"Who said I wasn't going to hurt him?"

Nai came to and saw Kabuto with Kyo again, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. Kabuto had a hand around the boys neck and he started to squeeze. Kyo's weak cries of help could barely be heard and Nai had had enough.

Kabuto didn't know what to think. Her curse mark was damn near over her whole body that he could see and in his wonder he looked into her eyes. Kakashi came back into the clearing with Kyo in his arms, "Nai! That Kyo is a fake!"

She didn't hear him. She didn't hear anything except her own voice. "On your knees."

Kabuto obeyed, dropping hard to his knees as the clone of the child poofed away, and watching as the woman approached him, "Don't you dare breathe."

His brain made the decision to stop breathing. Cutting off all air intake, despite how much Kabuto wanted the air, he was forced to do what she said. Kakashi watched in fear and wonder as she leaned down to the mans ear, "Tell me what the plan is."

"As long as Kyo is with you we will come after him. Over and over until you give in. That is Orochimaru's plan, if he has to, he will have me kill the child for real." He spoke without hesitation.

Nai bit her lip and lent a little closer, Kakashi noticed the tips of her hair going white, "Bite…off…your…tongue."

"NAI STOP!"

Kabuto wanted to scream as he felt his own teeth pushing through his tongue. Orochimaru didn't tell him this. That she could control another's actions simply by speaking. That she could make you do whatever she wanted.

Nai looked to Kakashi, "We can question him Nai. I want him dead too but we can't kill him."

Blood was spilling from the shinobi's mouth by now and Nai glared at him with her blank eyes. "Stop it."

The curse mark receded slowly and Kyo struggled a bit in Kakashi's arms, "Ma…"

"Kyo wait a minute."

The child broke free anyway and ran to the woman's side. Just as he reached her she fell to the ground in front of Kabuto, who was still on his knees. He looked up at Kakashi as he came closer, speaking roughly through the blood in his mouth, "We'll be back for him."

Kakashi cursed to himself as the young man disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke ran full speed into the clearing, noticing the blood on the ground as well as Nai, a safe Kyo and a seething Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at him, "What happened?"

"I was cornered."

"Nii-san!"

Sasuke let the boy wrap his little arms around his knees. He did it again. He failed; he was absolutely no help in getting Kyo back, none at all.

"No!"

"Kyo you have to leave." Nai tried to keep her voice calm.

"I want to stay here!"

"Listen to me. When you get old enough, I will send for you to come back ok? Just promise me that you'll train hard, and that you won't worry about me ok?"

Kyo nodded as he started to cry, "I don't want to leave."

"I know baby. But you have to. It's safer."

"You promise to send for me?"

"Yes Kyo, I promise."

She kissed him one last time on the forehead then stood. Kakashi moved closer to her. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Nai tried her best to ignore the tears running down her face as a crying Kyo was escorted to a small carriage flanked by cloud shinobi. She nodded, "Yeah. I can't keep him here. I should have left him with my family in the first place. Taking him was a mistake."

Kakashi nodded sadly and shook hands with Omi when the twins approached. Ami put a hand on her cousin's shoulder, "He really doesn't want to go."

"He has to go." Nai continued to look at the ground, "He's in danger here."

"How do you know they won't try something on our way back?"

She shook her head, "He won't. This is what he wanted. For me to lose Kyo by my own free will. For me to make this hard decision."

Kakashi put an arm around her shoulders and the twins nodded, "We're sorry."

"I should be the one who's sorry."

Watching the carriage leave was hard, and Kakashi left Nai when she asked to be left alone. She took a deep breath and sighed loudly, "Is this what you wanted?"

Orochimaru's chuckle sounded perfectly in her head, "Thanks for playing darling."