It was deemed too dangerous to allow Mayuri to leave the medical ward right away. Her chakra was still unstable and Kabuto thought that strong emotions or pain might trigger another surge. He assured her, though, that with the seals removed her networks would sort themselves out naturally, sooner instead of later. In the meantime, seeing as she couldn't leave the medical ward anyways, they were focusing on other more superficial things.

Her wounds had been healed, but they left behind a mess of scars. One of the medics, a man named Daisuke, was working to make them disappear. He was a specialist from Grass Country, who had apparently been offered a place in Otogakure just for his skills in this regard alone.

According to the medic, having such a mess made of her flesh would limit her options as a kunoichi when she got older. He hadn't elaborated any further, despite her requests for clarification, but she could guess what a kunoichi might need her body for later in life. That, and if her suspicions about Orochimaru's intentions proved to be right, she wouldn't put it past him to want a host body that wasn't ridden with scars. Both options made her a little sick to consider, though, so she mostly just pretended she didn't have a clue. She was good at pretending, after all.

Sessions with Daisuke happened once a day, and usually lasted two to three hours. During those sessions, which were relatively painless and thus deemed low risk, Hiroko was allowed to visit her. Another shinobi always stood by the whole time – Kabuto seemed to want to be the one there, on the rare occasions that he was in-village – silently observing, as though they could somehow stop the bones that she could still occasionally feel moving beneath her skin from hurting anyone else. Mayuri was grateful for the additional presence, even if it would probably be futile if her body decided to betray her once again.

"Dosu moved into our room," Hiroko informed her, sounding a little distracted. She was watching Daisuke work with sharp eyes, taking in each minute movement and the way Mayuri's skin would bulge grotesquely as bones or scar tissue reacted to the foreign chakra.

"Makes sense. You two are best friends, and there's an empty bed now. I guess we can always count on the Otokage to know just how to use all his resources wisely." Mayuri's voice was sugary sweet, but her eyes were dull and her features empty. Neither of the present shinobi were in positions where they could see her face at that moment, and though she knew it was foolish, she simply didn't have the energy to keep up the cheerful mask.

Hiroko hummed thoughtfully. Despite the lessons they received on ridding themselves of tells, she was fidgeting, chewing her lips and wringing her hands. She seemed nervous, like she wasn't quite sure how to act. Mayuri couldn't really blame her—for all her sister's bravado, it had always been obvious that Kabuto made her jittery simply by being in the same room. Now, he was watching them with narrowed eyes, like he was just waiting for something to happen.

"You never really used your bed, anyways," Hiroko mumbled. "You can just keep sharing with me when you come back."

Mayuri smiled, though it was a sad thing. Hiroko pretended not to notice, her smile stretching thin and her eyes far too old in her young face. They both knew that it would be a long time before Mayuri would be able to come back to their room. (They both refused to acknowledge the little voices in their heads that whispered, "If she comes back.")

"Classes are the same old thing for me," Hiroko informed her suddenly, obviously searching for a change of subject, something to keep the conversation flowing as normally as it could. "They're more boring without you there, though. Dosu can be a real stick in the mud."

"Are you saying that I'm not?" Mayuri asked, the first hint of a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. Hiroko shook her head vigorously.

"That's not what I'm saying at all. If anything, you're an even bigger stick in the mud. But when it's the three of us, you two sort of focus your boringness on each other instead of me."

Mayuri gasped, and if her arms hadn't been captured in Daisuke's firm grasp, she would have clutched at her heart like it was breaking. Hiroko pouted theatrically, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping in her seat. Though he didn't remove his focus from his work, Daisuke laughed softly, amused by their antics, and Mayuri could feel the warmth of his chakra as it slipped beneath her damaged skin, all the way down past her bones. Even though it had been disconcerting at first, the sensation was actually rather pleasant once she got used to it.

"Did I tell you that Daisuke-san has been explaining the basics of medical chakra to me?" Mayuri asked, catching the way that Hiroko's eyes had strayed once again to trace the jagged, ugly scar that ran almost the entire length of her arm. "Kabuto-san has also said that I can start learning some of the easier techniques, once my chakra stabilizes."

"Oh yeah?" Hiroko murmured back, her eyes not leaving the delicate green glow that was spreading over Mayuri's skin, brightest along the scar tissue. "That's good. Maybe you can teach me what you learn. Maybe I—"

She cut herself off with a sudden shake of her head. At last, her eyes moved back up to meet Mayuri's own and the girls smiled at one another, warm and a little sad. After a split second, though, Hiroko's mismatched eyes became glassy, filling with tears. Mayuri's smile faltered, concern flaring in her chest. Hiroko was known to cry at almost anything, whether it was out of joy or anger or sorrow, but Mayuri couldn't figure out what might have set her sister off this time. She leaned forwards as far as she could so she could lower her voice, allowing them the illusion of privacy despite the two shinobi in the room with them.

"What's the matter, Hiro?" she asked, her voice laced with concern and her heart clenching in her chest.

Hiroko turned away, lower lip trembling. She shook her head, and refused to answer, no matter how much Mayuri probed. Eventually, they simply moved on to other topics, pretending like there weren't tears collecting on Hiroko's eyelashes.


It was another two weeks before Mayuri was allowed to leave the medical ward, or the watchful eyes of the various medics she had been assigned to. She was allowed to eat her meals with the rest of Otogakure's populace, happily sharing a table with Dosu and Hiroko. Despite this newest inkling of freedom, her bed was still in the ward where she could be monitored, and she wasn't allowed to join the other children for their lessons. That did not mean that her lessons stopped, of course.

In a private cavern just off the ward, they continued on the same strict schedule as they had before. Without other children to pace herself with, though, she found it much harder to gauge where she was supposed to be developmentally. Whenever her senseis watched her with unreadable expressions, or corrected her forms with smiles stretched too tight across their faces, she felt her heart sink with worry. If she was too slow or too clumsy, not good enough, what would happen to her?

It was during dinner one night that Hiroko told her about her own private lessons. Twice a week, an old Yuki woman came to visit and to teach Hiroko the techniques and history of the clan, and to help her learn how to master her abilities. She couldn't figure out if the old woman was there under duress or not. Despite obvious uncertainty, she was always quietly cheerful, if exceedingly stern, while teaching Hiroko how to wield her powers.

Mayuri smiled as her sister told her about her lessons and all she was learning. She asked questions and expressed her amazement at the progress her sister had made. From across the table she watched Hiroko's eyes light up, her cheeks flush with excitement. She watched Dosu's small smiles (the ones that only she and Hiroko could see and understand, now that his mother was dead) and the way he pressed close to Hiroko's side, and how she didn't shove him away. Mayuri's smile grew wider, her eyes softer, and she forced herself to ignore any twinge of darker thoughts.

She was happy for her sister. She really, truly was. Hiroko was growing, getting the chance to learn more about one of the two parts of the bloodline that would define her in this world, slowly but surely growing more powerful. She would be able to survive in this world with or without Mayuri by her side. It was a good thing, because they wouldn't be able to be by one another's side every moment, as Mayuri's forced hospitalization readily proved.

(Mayuri was terrified at the thought of living without her sister. She was horrified at what Hiroko growing more and more powerful, drawing attention to herself through her abilities and intelligence, might mean for her little sister. And though she didn't want to admit it, the thought of Hiroko being perfectly happy without her was what scared her the most.)

That night, curled up in bed, alone but for the muffled sounds of whirring machinery and the occasional scream of the wounded, Mayuri buried her face in her mattress and cried herself to sleep. She felt hollow and cold inside, and she didn't know why. All she knew was that with each passing day and every strained smile or secretive glance a medic or sensei sent her way, the feeling that something horrific loomed before her grew stronger; Every time she realized that Hiroko was growing, progressing, and leaving her behind, the feeling of emptiness inside her chest only grew.


Another month passed before she was allowed to practice her kekkei genkai. Her chakra was stable enough that Kabuto was mostly certain that she wouldn't end up skewering herself from the inside out, and she had learned enough from her medical lessons that she would at least be able to keep herself from dying before she found a medic. Her overall control and endurance when dealing with chakra was still shit, but she was assured that it would get better over time.

Most of the time she practiced alone. Occasionally, though, when their lessons lined up, she was allowed to be in the same training room as Hiroko and her Yuki-sensei. Those were both the best and the worst times because, though she got the chance to see her sister more, she was also reminded of just how far Hiroko had progressed and how far she was still lagging behind in comparison.

Mayuri watched them from her place against the wall, trying not to let herself be consumed by the spark of jealousy she felt. It was hard, knowing that there would never be anyone available to teach her how to master her abilities. Shikotsumyaku was a rare ability to possess, and with her grandmother dead, she was the last one known to hold it. Even if the rest of the Kaguya clan didn't think they were dead (and if they hadn't been the ones to kill them in the first place) she doubted anyone would have been able or willing to help her learn. It was a strangely isolating sort of feeling.

She kept her mouth shut, though, and just did her best to focus on regrowing her arm bones. There was a steadily growing pile of bone beside her, an assortment of ribs and tibias and knuckle bones glowing pale and ghostly in the dim lights. Her body was a mess of indented flesh and torn skin. After each session, if she didn't go directly to a medic, her skin would stay a field of horrible scars and her remaining normally-functioning nerve endings would probably be permanently damaged.

Strangely enough, while her flesh tore and bled as she pulled them out, blood didn't seem to stick to the bones themselves. She was glad that after those first half dozen lessons she had stopped throwing up at the sight and sensation of pulling her own bones out of her body. It was easier to concentrate on the task when she wasn't losing her lunch all over the stone floor.

From the center of the room, she heard Hiroko make a wordless noise of frustration. There was frost creeping out from her in whirling patterns and ice shimmering in the air around her like tiny, fragmented mirrors. Mayuri stared, head cocked thoughtfully to the side as she surveyed the scene. It looked like her sister wasn't hurt or anything; just frustrated that she couldn't get whatever technique they were working on to go right. Still, there was something about the mirrors surrounding her that made another vague memory try to push its way through Mayuri's subconscious. She couldn't quite seem to grasp it, though.

She sighed and shook her head, trying to clear it. She was sure if she just thought about it for a few days the memories would come to her. They usually did, if she cared enough to really focus on retrieving them. The problem was, she usually totally forgot what she was trying to remember in the first place.

She pushed a few more bones from the tips of her fingers, the tiny bones clattering loudly to the floor. She raised her hand to look more closely at her fingertips, ignoring the misshapen flesh and the way it squirmed as the bones began growing back in favor of examining her fingernails. When she saw the black, deadened state they were all in, she groaned loudly and let her head thump against the wall. Not only did the sight always send her stomach churning, but she had actually been proud of how nice her nails had been, once. If she kept this up, she knew that she'd probably end up without any fingernails at all. She sighed, blowing the black ends of her hair out of her face.

She waited until the tips had grown back, then curled her hand into a fist and focused on trying to push the base segment through her skin instead. She clenched her jaw at the surge of pain the action brought. It wasn't any worse than anywhere else, really, but the first time manipulating a bone always felt the worst. She had a few vague theories as to why that might be, but it wasn't something she'd ever want to mention to Orochimaru or Kabuto. She wasn't interested in the experiments that would surely follow if they found out that there was a difference between the first and second instance of manipulating bones. Her spine was one of the only major bones she hadn't tried to manipulate yet, and she had no doubt that they would try to get her to pull it out if they knew. Considering that the nervous system was so closely tied to it…. Well, she wasn't really certain how Orochimaru would feel about a paralyzed ninja, but she was pretty damn sure she didn't want to find out.

Shikotsumyaku was an experience she wasn't sure she would ever be fully used to. It wasn't only that she could suddenly just lose a couple bones and be okay. It was also the sensations of knowing where each bone was and where it could go, how to move and shape them and how to regrow them, and the instinctual knowledge that even if a bone wasn't there, she would still be alright. The bones themselves would grow automatically after she forced them out into the open air, but it was a slow and painful process. She had found, though, that she could make them regrow much faster if she focused her energy there. Or chakra, she reminded herself. It wasn't just normal energy or normal human healing processes here. It was chakra that fueled her and everyone else in this world.

Chakra was a bitch to get used to, too. When it had been sealed away, she felt like there was something missing or like her body was strangely hollow. It had been weird and unsettling, but something she could easily ignore. The second that Kaito had unsealed it, though, her whole body had suddenly been buzzing, her bones shifting under her skin like sentient things and the chakra itself filling her until she wanted to tear her own veins out. (Then, of course, there had been the pain. She was trying to forget that part.) Even after she had been healed, that buzzing hadn't gone away, only became more manageable. She was slowly getting used to it, but it was still a pain in the ass.

At least one day she would be able to use it to do something cool, like spit fire or make dragons out of water. The thought made the discomfort way more bearable. She'd always wanted to be a bender, ever since watching 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' when she was little. If that was as good as she was going to get, she was going to take it and try to convince herself that it was close enough.

Hiroko screeched again, startling Mayuri out of her drifting thoughts. The Yuki woman's voice rang through the room, sharp but obviously amused as she said, "I'm not sure why you're getting so frustrated about this, Hiroko-chan. Most Yuki children don't start learning this technique until they're much older. For someone your age, you're doing extraordinarily well."

Mayuri didn't look up from her lap, counting the tiny finger bones that had fallen into it. There were 13 so far. She gathered them up and dropped them into the pile, listening to the hollow clinking they made as they hit the other bones and tumbled to the floor. She traced a finger idly through the blood that was spread around her in streaks and meager puddles and tried not to think about the body of the medic whose blood she had been sitting in just over two years ago. There were days when she was almost convinced that that whole ordeal had been just one of many nightmares. At times like this, though, with bones and blood surrounding her, the memories resurfaced and she could recall with horrible clarity everything that had happened. She knew it was real, even if she would rather that it wasn't.

"Why have you stopped practicing, child?" a voice asked, soft and far too close for comfort.

Mayuri jumped, knocking the pile of bones over. They sounded ridiculously ominous as they went skittering out of her range of sight. She looked up to find Orochimaru looming over her, and cursed herself for not having noticed him approaching sooner.

"Sorry, Orochimaru-sama!" she said, offering him a warm smile as she scrambled to her feet only to bow low, talking to the ground. "I was just getting sort of tired, so I guess I was zoning out there, wasn't I? My apologies."

She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck with bloody fingertips as she straightened up. It wasn't exactly a lie. Even just an hour of manipulating her bones drained a significant amount of her chakra and left her feeling tired and sore for days afterwards. She had learned since the beginning of her training that when she was going through chakra exhaustion she could be more than just grouchy; she was downright nasty. She had almost broken one of her sensei's arms last time they made her fight the day after a particularly grueling training session. She had only stopped after he had cried out in pain, reminding her of her own time being tortured.

She'd learned that day that she had the ability to lock her joints, making it nearly impossible for someone to escape her hold, no matter how strong they were. It would have been a cool ability, if the memory of its discovery weren't tainted by flashbacks of her bones being methodically broken and a woman dying with Mayuri's own ribs shoved through her chest.

Orochimaru hummed, eyes half lidded as he stared down at her. She wished that she could tell what he was thinking. Still, she did her best to maintain her smile and just hoped that she hadn't managed to inadvertently piss him off.

"Yuki-san, Hiroko-chan," he called, voice shockingly loud as it echoed throughout the chamber. The two forms in the pit stilled, turning to look at him, wary and curious. He smiled down at Mayuri, and as he spoke, his golden eyes never left her face. "I think it's time we allowed Mayuri-chan to take center stage, don't you?"

Mayuri felt her heartbeat pick up speed, mind already cycling through every awful, painful, and humiliating way that this could end for her. The Yuki woman nodded sharply and took Hiroko's hand, pulling her towards the outer ring of the room. Mayuri could feel her sister's eyes on her as she forced herself to head to the center of the room, footsteps silent as she moved over the stone floor with bare feet.

"What would you like me to do, Orochimaru-sama?" she asked, her voice trembling ever so slightly. She hoped it wasn't as obvious to the other occupants of the room as it was to herself. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hands clenched in the fabric of her training tunic. Orochimaru watched her silently, and then, slowly, a smile spread over his face.

"It's impossible to get better at something without practice, is it not?" he mused, voice soft and lilting.

Mayuri didn't respond, but slowly, the movement stopped. She stared up at him, expression open and genuinely confused. Her sudden stillness was almost eerie to see on the girl who was constantly moving in one way or another. There was something ominous in his words, but she wasn't quite certain where he was going with it. That unknown scared her more than anything.

"What sort of practice are you thinking of, my lord?" Kabuto spoke up, startling Mayuri. She hadn't realized he was there, too. It was rare to have both of them in the village at the same time. Orochimaru's grin grew wider, his eyes narrowed and glowing.

"There is no one who can teach her to properly use her abilities. Such a pity."

As he spoke, Mayuri had the sudden image of the man dressed as the Goblin King. It wasn't as funny as it might have been once. Kabuto's hum of agreement was so mocking it made Mayuri's temper flare on principle alone.

"It's supposed to be the ultimate taijutsu ability, isn't it?"

Looking between them, Mayuri had the sudden sinking feeling that she might just know where they were going with this.


Her opponent was a boy she had never seen before. He towered over her, his muscles bulging but baby fat still clinging to his face. She tried not to think about how young he was, or the fear and guilt that was gnawing at her insides before the fight even began. The dark emptiness of his eyes and the scars that crisscrossed his body told her that this boy would be playing for keeps. She wouldn't have the luxury of refusing to give anything less than her best, no matter how much she didn't want to hurt a child.

She wasn't confident that she would be able to actually win this fight, but she knew that she could survive, at the very least. That would have to be enough. She didn't think Orochimaru would kill her if she didn't outright win. The problem was that she also didn't think he would stop this boy from killing her if it came down to it.

Her kekkei genkai was more rare than Hiroko's, but her sister had shown more prowess and natural talent for the abilities he had given her. At this point, he knew that his chemical concoctions and torture methods would work out if he had test subjects with the right genetic connections. The only thing keeping her alive was the fact that it would be troublesome to have to go back and nab a few dozen Kaguya children out from under the clan's nose when those children were so few and far between to begin with.

The Kaguya clan was one with a history deeply rooted in warfare, and a matriarchal clan on top of that, so few women were willing to lay down their weapons for the duration of a pregnancy. As such, not many children were born. Of the handfuls that were, even fewer survived past their first few years. Those that lived ended up heavily guarded, lest an entire generation of an already dwindling clan disappear. (Hiroko and Mayuri had been the exception to that rule. Obviously.)

The boy took a step towards her and Mayuri took a step back, eyeing him distrustfully. She was trembling like a drawn bow, the adrenalin rushing through her already and her heart pounding hard enough that she felt lightheaded. His young face was one of grim determination, and Mayuri had the sudden realization that he had done this before. And he had come out on top.

She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw, hands curling into fists at her sides as she took a careful starting position. The boy mirrored her, stance wider and hands larger and she already knew that this was going to hurt. She could hear Hiroko's voice, angry and desperate and scared, but she ignored the sound. Instead, she focused only on Orochimaru's soft, self-satisfied voice as he murmured, "Begin."

The boy rushed forward, intent on using his size and the weight he had on her to his advantage. Mayuri dodged to the side, dropping down and ducking beneath his reaching grasp, immediately rolling to get further away. She was smaller, maybe a little faster thanks to training with Hiroko so often, but he had size and experience on her. The only fighting she had done here was against other students in a relatively controlled setting, monitored by their senseis. Before, she had taken a month of grappling classes and then had to quit because of her work schedule. Sometimes, she'd wrestle with Isaac or Uriel. The one time Elle had punched her, she had backed down immediately. She'd never actually been in a real fight in either life and it was going to come back to bite her in the ass now.

The boy bellowed and Mayuri drew in a sharp breath, scrambling back, never taking her eyes off of him. Her world had somehow both narrowed and widened at once. She could see every move he made, could watch each of his muscles tense when he was close enough, but somehow she was also able to catch the way Hiroko was struggling against Yuki-sensei's firm grasp and the grim expression the woman wore. She could see the way that Kabuto's tense form rested against the balcony and how Orochimaru reclined in his throne. Only seconds had passed since the fight had begun, but already she worried that he was growing bored with it. What would happen to her if he decided she wasn't worth his time?

Taking a deep breath, Mayuri braced herself as the boy charged her again. He was only steps away, long legs eating up the ground between them and his eyes like dark holes in his face. Though her limbs were still trembling with adrenaline and her mind had gone all but blank, she forced herself to move.

Reacting almost entirely on instinct, she darted to the side and spun, his hands brushing her arm as he moved to grab her. Immediately she leaped upon him, wrapping her arms around his throat and her legs around his waist, locking her ankles. It felt like an awful parody of a piggyback ride, something innocent corrupted by dark intentions. She squeezed, rolling her arm so the sharp part of the bones beneath her skin pressed across his windpipe. He wheezed, hands scrabbling at her arms, nails digging into her skin and leaving behind deep, ugly gashes. She gnashed her teeth together, resisting the urge that rose within her to sink them into the soft flesh of his vulnerable neck.

His hands found a fistful of her loose hair and pulled, hard enough that she was nearly displaced from her position on his back. She grunted at the pain that flared from her scalp as he tore out chunks of her hair, breathing hard through her nose as she squeezed tighter. The boy made an awful sound, somewhere between a gag and a shout. She could feel something wet drip on her arm, and she didn't want to know whether it was sweat, blood, or tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear as he dropped to his knees, swaying woozily as his air supply continued to be cut off. He made another noise, this one softer, more desperate. She squeezed her eyes shut and didn't let go until he had collapsed to the ground.

After a mere second that felt as though it stretched for forever, she forced herself to her feet and took a few shaky steps backwards, just in case the boy hadn't really passed out. She felt shaky and nauseous, the adrenaline still pumping through her veins and trying to insist there was still danger that she had to be prepared for. That wasn't wrong, exactly.

"That was an impressive display of taijutsu abilities," Kabuto said, voice oily and smooth.

She turned to look at him, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide the way her hands shook. She had no doubt that everyone had already seen it, but it made her feel better to pretend that her weaknesses and insecurities weren't obvious to anyone watching her.

"It was," Orochimaru agreed. "However, she didn't really utilize her abilities, did she?"

Mayuri felt a chill climb her spine. Her stomach dropped to her toes and her heart leaped to her throat. She wasn't sure where they were going with this roundabout speech, but she knew that it wasn't going to be good. She straightened her spine, swallowed around the lump in her throat, and raised her head to look Orochimaru in the face when she spoke, hoping that her voice wouldn't tremble.

"I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sama. I'm glad you thought my taijutsu was good. How did you, um, want me to use my kekkei genkai?"

Orochimaru shifted in his seat, crossing his legs in one elegant movement. Mayuri watched him as he rested his cheek upon his hand, awed by how fluid he made such simple movements look, even after having lived in Otogakure for almost three years. He smiled, and the lazy expression managed to look predatory upon his sharp features.

"Tell me what you think you could have done, my dear."

Mayuri wet her lips nervously before turning her eyes back towards the boy, who was still lying prone on the floor. She could hear his breathing, rasping and labored from the damage to his windpipe. Her scalp and arms throbbed, but she couldn't bring herself to even be angry at her opponent. He was as much of a pawn in this as she was.

She knew she forgot a lot of details about this world she had been thrust into, but she had never allowed herself to forget about the torture. This was their life now, so she had forced herself to think about all the horrific things that Orochimaru did within the walls of this village that had seemed so insignificant when watched on the television screen. She wondered, if she hadn't already known about the experiments and the battle royales that went on in Orochimaru's labs, if she would have been able to guess where this mystery boy had come from and what he had lived through. As she spoke, she didn't take her eyes off of him.

"Without the intent to kill, I believe that I did handle it to the best of my abilities. However, in another situation, I could have used the bones in my arms to impale or slit his throat while I had him in a chokehold. I also could have used either my ribs or the bones of my legs to cause damage to his torso and inner organs while I was holding onto his back."

She tore her eyes away from the boy and looked instead to Orochimaru. Hiroko had gone silent and Mayuri couldn't bring herself to look at her sister. She didn't want to see what kind of feelings Hiroko's mismatched eyes would show. She was always far too open with her emotions.

"I think those would have been the best options. What do you think, Orochimaru-sama?"

"That was a very good assessment, Mayuri-chan," he hummed, voice soft and that same tinge of amusement that seemed to be in everything he said running below the surface. He wasn't smiling anymore. "If you were able to come up with such strategies so quickly, why didn't you apply them to your fight?"

"I didn't want to hurt him!" she defended immediately, then took a deep breath, composing herself. Her mind was working in overdrive, trying to come up with reasons why. She knew the man wouldn't be satisfied with such a simple answer as, I didn't want to. He didn't seem to have any problem with the idea of children killing each other, after all. She blinked up at him, doing her best to make her expression open and innocent, eyes wide and brow creased ever so slightly in carefully composed confusion. "After all, if he's a part of our village, we shouldn't be fighting each other with the intent to kill!"

Kabuto shifted away from the railing, moving to lean against the wall with his arms crossed loosely over his chest. Orochimaru's lips curved up into a too-wide smile and Mayuri had the sinking realization that she hadn't said the right thing. She stared up at them, eyes moving slowly between the two most powerful people in Otogakure as they looked down at her. She focused on keeping her expression open, innocently naive. There was still time for them to rethink whatever atrocities were going through their minds. She swallowed hard and forced herself to remain still under their scrutiny, the only sign of her anxiety the way her fists clenched and unclenched in the fabric of her tunic.

"Hiroko-chan," Orochimaru said, his tone a command, and Mayuri went rigid. She couldn't make herself turn away from him, afraid that if she took her eyes off this monster her head would find itself detached from her body, but she felt as her sister came to stand beside her. She reached out blindly and Hiroko immediately slipped her hand into hers. Mayuri wasn't sure which of their hands was shaking harder. Orochimaru's smile grew wider as the sisters stared up at him expectantly. "Kill the boy, since your sister refuses to do it."

The world seemed to freeze around them. The temperature dropped rapidly and she could see both of their breaths as they filled the air, clouds of silver mingling and dissipating as they rose towards the stone ceiling. Hiroko made a soft sound, something trapped and scared.

"But why?" she whispered, voice so small that Mayuri almost couldn't hear it despite how close they stood. "Your people all love you, Orochimaru-sama. Why do you want us to hurt someone who loves you?"

"Does that matter?" Kabuto cut in, his position never changing. "Orochimaru-sama has given you an order. Would you disobey him?"

He looked almost lazy as he leaned against the wall, as though they weren't discussing the death of a boy barely older than he was. From the ground, the boy moaned softly, his breathing not quite as labored anymore. He shifted and Mayuri couldn't bear to look at him, her wide eyes still focused on the two figures that stood so high above all of them.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Hiroko shake her head slowly. Her shoulders were slumped, her head bowed low. Mayuri knew that her sister would do it, if it would spare Mayuri the pain, if it would keep Orochimaru from hurting them. Hiroko would set herself on fire if she thought it would be enough to keep someone else warm.

For a brief second, Mayuri was tempted to let her do it. She didn't want to kill again; just the thought of it was enough to make her feel shaky and sick. It would be so much easier to let Hiroko shoulder this heavy burden.

Hiroko took a step forward, her hand slipping out of Mayuri's. Her trembling fingers lingered briefly, silently begging for reassurance and forgiveness. Mayuri closed her eyes and crossed her arms tightly over her chest like that would be enough to hold her together. Her eyes stung with tears she refused to let fall and her heart was in her throat. A shiver crawled up her spine. Her heart was in her throat, her chest tight with a mixture of grief and sudden cold fury.

Taking a deep breath, she forced her ulna out through the base of her wrist, willing it to become sharp and deadly. The bone shaped itself to her will easily and glistened wetly in the low light. She shoved Hiroko out of the way, maneuvering herself to stand between her and the boy, arm outstretched like she could hide her little sister from the rest of the world.

Hiroko gasped as she stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet and hitting the ground hard. She stared up at Mayuri with wide eyes, something startled and uncertain in her expression. Underneath that, though, was the unwavering faith of a younger sibling, trusting that her big sister would make everything okay.

Mayuri hated herself for how badly she was going to disappoint her.

She wielded the bone like the weapon Orochimaru wanted it to be as she turned to face him, a snarl on her lips as she snapped, "Don't tell my sister to do my job. If you want me to do something, just say so. I'm yours to command, Orochimaru-sama."

Blood was oozing from her wrist and the deep gouges in her arms in time with her pulse, and she was beginning to feel lightheaded and cold. She was always so cold, here. She wasn't sure if this defiance was going to be the death of her or not, but it was all she could think of to save Hiroko from the awful burden of having the death of someone weighing upon her soul, and to draw the attention away from her.

Even if she was ordered to kill him, Mayuri told herself firmly that she could do it. She already had blood staining her hands, soaked down past her bones and into her soul. Hiroko was still unstained, still innocent in that regard, and if Mayuri could spare her little sister that taint on her soul, she would.

Kabuto had shifted forward to lean against the railing instead, his arms crossed over the smooth steel. His head was tilted, expression thoughtful. Orochimaru's eyes were bright as he watched the sisters, though his face was just as composed as ever. Hiroko was still kneeling on the floor, and Mayuri could almost see as she worked out what was going on. She seemed too stunned to say anything, though, and Mayuri was glad for that. She didn't want Orochimaru's attention on her sister any more than it had to be.

"Come up here, child, before you bleed out," Orochimaru commanded.

Mayuri didn't spare a glance at her sister as she obeyed, moving as though through a dream, well aware that she had just sold what remained of her soul. His expression shifted, just enough that she could swear she saw something smug and content. He was like a predator who had just spotted an easy meal, but for all that people compared him to a snake, Mayuri secretly thought he was more like a cat. He would play with his meal, would push her and break her and hurt her until she was begging for death, before he was content to devour her.

She climbed the stairs with heavy steps, and she knew that if she were wearing her bells, they would surely be making more noise than they had in months. By the time she stopped in front of Orochimaru, her body felt heavy and her mind sluggish.

She bowed low, the sound of her blood dripping to the stone floor echoing through the cavern, and found it difficult to summon the energy to even straighten up again. At Kabuto's prompting, she held her arm out for him to examine. He hummed softly, grey eyes flickering from her arms to her face. She met his eye and held his gaze unflinchingly. A smile flickered across his face, then his hands began to glow a gentle green as he swept them over the wounds, repairing skin and nerve endings alike as he went.

Below them, the boy's labored breathing continued and Hiroko was ushered out of the center of the ring by Yuki-sensei. Mayuri swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and tried to tell herself that things would be okay, in one way or another. She hated how bitter the lie tasted on her tongue.


Please review.

Like, seriously, if that's all you take from this long ass author's note, it's that. I appreciate every single person who reads this fic, who favorites or follows it, but I'm going to be honest; it's a little disheartening to only get a handful of reviews per chapter when almost 200 people follow or favorite this fic. Really, the only reason I post a new chapter more than once a year is because I love that sweet, sweet validation. So if you like this please, for the sake of my self esteem and writing inspiration, let me know what you think.

That said, here's an extra long chapter! I kind of hate it, but I'm tired of it right at the moment. Maybe I'll go back and revise it later, maybe I won't. (Probably not.)

A special shout out to Kragh50 for reminding me about Mayuri's scars, and for always being so willing to chat. Our little conversations are very inspiring, and remind me of why I'm writing. :)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited last chapter and all the chapters before. It means so, so much to me! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. And ten points to whoever can guess who the next canon character to be introduced will be. ;)