[A/N: I'm really sorry I've neglected my writing for so long. I was too busy with school to write and then I went and completely switched fandoms (to Doctor Who and Sherlock, which are great fun—expect crossovers) in order to get a bit of a change. This section of the plot is also one of the most logistically complicated, so I've had a lot of trouble sorting out who's going where and running into each other, which resulted in continual rewriting. Please note, most if not all of this chapter is concurrent with events of the previous chapter.]
Chapter 16: Tangled Web
"Itachi-sama?"
Itachi looked up from his reading as his door was quietly pushed open a crack. "Kimimaro. What is it?"
Kimimaro opened the door fully so he could enter Itachi's bare room. "Orochimaru-sama was supposed to arrive in a week, but it has been more than ten days now. Should we investigate?"
Itachi shook his head, having already guessed what Orochimaru's aims were for this visit—the Sannin wanted him to be off his guard, and lying about the timeframe had been intended to accomplish that. "It's not worth worrying about at this point. We should be making ready for his arrival instead."
The white-haired boy's eyes lit up immediately. "You're right," he said quickly, muffling a cough with the sleeve of his white robe. "I will go and prepare a suitable greeting for Orochimaru-sama."
The door closed behind Kimimaro mere moments later, and Itachi smiled marginally as he returned to his reading. If it weren't the infamous Orochimaru that Kimimaro was so devoted to, his dedication would be admirable. As it was, it made him very easy to manipulate.
As Orochimaru's 'apprentice' (Itachi knew what Orochimaru really wanted, not that he would let on to that), Kimimaro had quickly begun regarding Itachi with the same esteem that he did Orochimaru. Itachi put up with the affection but tried not to encourage it too much—considering his track record, befriending Itachi was probably one of the worst things Kimimaro could do for himself. In any case, Itachi was working for Orochimaru to get his vengeance on Konoha, not to make friends.
And if Orochimaru's actions were anything to go by, Itachi's opportunity to do that was likely to come very soon. "Took him long enough," Itachi murmured, setting the scroll aside in order to take his own advice and prepare for Orochimaru's arrival. Be patient, Sasuke, he thought, looking towards the sole photograph on the wall. You won't have to wait for me much more.
After briefly straightening up his own room, Itachi headed out into the main area of the facility to make sure that Karin was preparing Orochimaru's personal room and laboratory. Generally, Itachi tried to avoid the red-headed lab tech—she was a bit...over-infatuated with him, to say the least. During the course of the past few years she had slowly gotten it through her head that he hadn't the slightest interest in her, but that didn't stop her from trying to flirt whenever they ended up in the same room.
Now was one of those times, unfortunately. "Itachi-sama, did you come to see me?" Karin simpered, bending over her desk with the pretence of grabbing a notebook and making her jacket gape just-so.
Itachi ignored the display. Even if he had been interested in...that sort of thing, Karin was no older than his little brother was—would have been, Itachi reminded himself—so even the thought of it just felt wrong. "I didn't some to see you, I came to give you instructions," he said curtly, making Karin pout at his cold demeanour. "Orochimaru will be here very soon; make sure his chambers are ready."
"If I have some free time after that, maybe—" Itachi didn't hear the rest of Karin's statement, as he had already exited her office.
Itachi had barely made it into the hall when he was accosted by Kimimaro again. "They're here!" the white-haired boy exclaimed in excitement before regaining some control of himself. "I mean," he said more calmly, "Orochimaru-sama has arrived."
…
"How close are we, Pakkun?" Kakashi asked, ducking a low-hanging branch as he jumped for the next tree. He and Naruto had been travelling along the Akatsuki's trail for the past two days, and sometime last night they had passed the end of the desert and crossed into River Country.
Pakkun squirmed in Naruto's arms so that he could sniff at the wind—he had cut a paw badly on some sharp rocks in the desert, so Naruto and Kakashi were taking turns carrying him. "Very close," the little dog announced. "Do you have a plan for when we get there?"
"We have orders," Kakashi reminded his two companions. "Once we find them, I'm going to relay that information back to Suna, then we keep an eye on them until further notice."
"But Kakashi-sensei—" Naruto began to protest, but Kakashi cut him off.
"Much as I know you would like to help your friend, Naruto, there are only two of us, and you don't even count because if I let you get within spitting distance of the Akatsuki Tsunade will eviscerate me when we get back."
Naruto stopped protesting audibly after that, but Kakashi could still hear him mumbling and catch the occasional phrase, such as "spoilsport Hokage," and "how am I supposed to be Konoha's Number One Surprising Ninja if I don't even get the chance to surprise anyone?"
After about another hour and a half, Pakkun's ears pricked up suddenly. Seeing the movement, Kakashi stopped at the next suitably sized branch he landed on, then grabbed Naruto's arm before he could leap past.
Naruto yelped as he landed hard on the branch. "Ow! Sensei, wha—"
Kakashi motioned for him to be quiet and pointed down into the river canyon they had just arrived on the edge of. "We're here," he announced.
…
After two days, Kankuro's condition had improved enough for him to be released from the hospital, leaving Sakura with little to do since all of the other poisoning victims had recovered long before. Temari had also resumed her status as interim Kazekage, and once Kankuro joined her Shikamaru had nothing to occupy himself with either.
However, Shikamaru was perfectly content to remain this way—or at least, he acted like it. Since they had been taking their meals together ever since Sakura's team arrived in Suna, she had had ample opportunity to study his behaviour, and while he was putting up a good front, she was fairly sure something was bothering him.
Although Shikamaru was a quiet person by nature, he generally had nothing against conversing if someone else initiated it. Now, though, he seemed much more tense and closed than usual, and whenever Sakura tried to talk about what he had been doing in Suna, he shifted the course of the conversation so that Sakura found herself talking about how things were in Konoha. Still, she couldn't quite convince herself it was intentional—of course he would want to know how his friends were, Naruto never wrote letters and Sakura had been far too busy to send more than one or two.
Two days after Kakashi and Naruto's departure, Sakura decided she had had enough. After tidying up the room that Temari had lent her, she headed for the sitting room that was currently serving as an office; the Kazekage's headquarters had been badly burned and the structural damage was bad enough that it was not expected to be usable again for several months.
"Come in," Temari called at Sakura's knock.
Sakura took a deep breath before pushing the door open. While the Kazekage's siblings had been nothing but hospitable, she still couldn't quite shake the memories of what had happened during the Chuunin exams; the Suna team had nearly slaughtered Team 7 twice over, and it would take a long time for Sakura to get over the defensive instinct that rose up whenever she felt their chakra.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" Sakura began as she entered. Since Temari and Kankuro were not as used to governing as Gaara had been, it took them much more work to accomplish the same results and they were very busy.
"Oh no, we just finished," Temari said, depositing an enormous pile of folders in Kankuro's arms and giving him a push towards the door, which Sakura held open for him. "What can I do for you?"
"It's time for me to return to Konoha—and I think Shikamaru should come with me."
Temari frowned a little. "He still has a little more than a month left on his posting here," she pointed out.
"I know," Sakura replied, "but I think he's more needed in Konoha now. With the Akatsuki going after the...you know...it's only a matter of time before they come to Konoha again. And when they do, we'll need all the help we can get."
"You do make some very good points," Temari said with a slight sigh. "Shikamaru has been of great assistance to us since Gaara was taken, but now that Kankuro's back on his feet I suppose it would be hardly fair to make him stay here while Konoha's in danger. Tell me what supplies you need and I'll help you get on your way."
…
Itachi took a few minutes to compose himself before following Kimimaro to the entrance of the underground facility. Orochimaru did not trust him, had never trusted him no matter how many times he claimed he did, but at this late stage in the game Itachi wanted nothing less than to give him a good reason for the distrust. Of course there were reasons, but what his mentor didn't know...only made Itachi's plans more likely to work.
By this point, though, Itachi was beginning to find it difficult to hold back his impatience. He'd had enough of training and sitting in the dark, he just wanted to be done with it all: Orochimaru, Konoha, himself—everything.
Calm down, it will all be over soon, he told himself firmly, reining himself in enough to bow slightly and offer appropriately deferential greetings as Orochimaru entered.
"Karin will have your laboratory ready shortly," Itachi said as they walked down the hall toward the main part of the facility. "Is there anything—"
"Oh, there's no need for that, Itachi-kun," Orochimaru cut him off. "I actually came here to meet with you; I haven't seen you in months, after all."
"Is that so," Itachi replied mildly, since Orochimaru seemed to expect a reply.
"Yes, now come along," Orochimaru continued, taking Itachi arm in an unnervingly firm grip and pulling him along the corridor. If he had wanted to, Itachi could have shaken the Sannin off, but it would have taken some effort and he had to appear compliant for now.
Kabuto had gone on ahead somewhere, and Kimimaro trailed dolefully behind them; Orochimaru had taken no notice of the teenager's presence, and Itachi knew how much that must have hurt him. Now that Orochimaru had a higher-quality vessel, there was no longer any place for Kimimaro, and judging by the worsening state of his illness the white-haired boy would probably be dead before anyone bothered to inform him of the fact. Itachi did his best to be kind to Kimimaro when he had the time and inclination to bother, but generally he was too busy with his own planning and research.
Besides, at this point the last thing Itachi wanted was to start forming attachments again—wasn't that what had ruined everything in the first place?
[A/N: If you're wondering about the chapter title, it does kind of represent the chapter, I guess, but mostly my thoughts were along the lines of 'oh what a tangled web we weave when first we add a whole ton of stuff to the story and then forget to allow for it in the outline, you dope,' which is a large part of why this chapter took so long. It was actually going to be even more complicated and have Neji getting involved, but he'll have to wait in the corner, because he's a jerk.]
