Kabuto was satisfied that her face seemed surprised again by his statement, mouth gaping and the sparkle was back in the green eyes.
He almost felt himself shiver at that.
He turned from her, and went to his room, pulling out pieces of clothing from drawer.
When he got back, she was still sitting on the bed, holding herself, deep in thought.
"Change" he said, throwing the clothes next to her on the bed. She was startled, and picked up the items for inspection, a light purple shirt, that maybe was a bit big for her, and lose caky pants. She was blushing at the sight of female underwear. Kabuto almost smirked at that, he only picked up stuff from Konohagakure that he definitely, didn't have.
"Why?" she asked, looking up at him, still holding the purple shirt
"Your scent, I don't need Konoha nins knocking here" he said, and he could already tell, she was thinking to keep any piece of clothing. He wouldn't let it, not really because she could be tracked, if that was really the case, he would've got rid of those on the way. This was more symbolic.
Orochimaru always made the new people burn their personal belongings when they joined.
Kabuto went out from her room, closing the door behind, and leaning to it with crossed arms, while he listened to the sound of her changing, and when he judged that she was almost done, he opened the door slightly, without looking inside
"All the underwear as well" he said, closing it again.
Kabuto summoned the snake to send it Konoha for a check on the situation.
When it puffed away, he got up, entering her room again.
The light purple shirt was truly big, almost reaching her hips, shapelessly, while the pants fit her better, ending a few inches above her ankles, on Kabuto those pants were a bit short.
"The hitai ate as well" he said, pointing at her head, where she put her hands, protectively.
"I'm not a missing nin...I was captured" she said, defensively, and Kabuto's hands itched to pull it down by force
No, acting like this would only make her want to escape more
"I just need the fabric from it" he said, with his fake smile, that seemed to be able to foul her still.
Yeah, he'll leave her that, so one day she can be the one to cross the Fire country symbol out.
She pulled it down from her hair, and slowly started to separate away the fabric from the metal. In the meantime, he picked up from the ground her old clothes, noticing how she tried to hide the underwear and sports bra in between her dress and shorts, and took the red fabric from her hand.
"Follow me" he said, while walking to his lab, looking for a metal bucket where he could dump these. "See if any of those fit you" he pointed with his chin to the pile of shoes.
He'll need to find her better clothes, but for the time being, it should be okay.
When he let go of the clothes to fall into a bigger bucket, he looked at her again, wearing shoes, that were maybe a size big. She looked around, with fear and amazement, and it was the latter emotion that captured Kabuto's attention.
Yeah, he made a right choice in her.
He found a liquid on the table, that he remembered was flammable, and poured it on the pile.
"Come here" he said, while finding the ignitor in his pocket. "Light the fire" he said, giving her the small round object "Don't even think to try anything" he said, and saw her shaky hands slowly ignite the blue fire, and throw it on the pile, while blinking a lot.
One bad part about her seemed to be that she was the crying type. Kabuto never had to be in close proximity with someone who cried a lot.
"Let's pay our respect to Orochimaru-sama" he said, waiting for her, while she watched how the flames eat up her clothes.
Yeah, new beginning.
When she broke her eyes from the bucket, she turned to him, rubbing her face and eyes in her palm.
"Can I see Sasuke-kun?" she asked, while Kabuto went to dump sand over the fire, after her clothes were gone.
"We'll see" he said, as a try to give her some false hope.
Kabuto took in a deep breath. His lab smelled now like smoke, and the cherry smell that was in his nose for almost two days was suddenly almost gone. Maybe, he preferred it a bit, maybe he can give her a different type of cherry shower gel...
He suddenly remembered how Nono always bought vanilla and honey scented products for home
Cherry would be a nice contrary to that
On the hallways, he made Sakura walk before him, to keep an eye on her. Her hair seemed to be grown a bit, since he first discovered her in the forest. Then it was really short, but now it almost reached the nape of her neck.
Orochimaru's hall was empty, the said man was reading a scroll when he knocked.
"Come in" he said
"Orochimaru-sama" said Kabuto while bowing
"Ahh, I see, she's awake" he said with a grin, while Kabuto lifted up. The grey haired teen looked at her from the corner of his eye, and saw a shaking body with fear, and thought to use this opportunity for some underlying manipulation, so he walked in front of her, barricading her from the Sanin's gaze.
"Orochimaru-sama, I need to apologize, I sent the snake to Konohagakure on a check and it hasn't returned yet" he said, bowing again "I swear, when it come back, I'll return it" he said, closing his eyes
"I give you a day" he said, with a smirk, and Kabuto let out a relieved sigh "Haruno"
Sakura trembled again, her knees giving up and falling on the ground with eyes wide open
This didn't satisfy Orochimaru that much, who turned his yellow snake eyes back to Kabuto
"In three months, I want to see improvement" he said
"Hai"
"You can leave" said the man, who pulled his attention down to the scroll again
"There are some things I need to report" he said, and when the man nodded, he picked up Sakura, bringed her to a side room, closing the door in front of her face, and with that any sound from the main hall
"What is it, Kabuto?"
"Gomenasai" he started with that and another deep bow "I used your name to make her stay willingly" he said, already preparing for punishment.
This was the best course of action though, if Orochimaru finds out about this from anyone else, the repercussions would be worse
"How so?"
"I said that you offer her a deal, if she stays, to be near Sasuke" he said, feeling a sweat drop travel down on his nose "And that if she proves herself, she can make a better deal with you, I'm deeply sorry."
"Oh" put down the scroll next to him before standing up "That's almost a truth" he said, with a slimy tone "Not a promise yet, so it's not biding" he said, wiping the sweat drops from his cheeks, while he was still bowing "Kabuto" he put his fingers on his chin, lifting up to look at him, and the grey haired had to force himself to not evade the gaze "I'll punish you, if there'll be no results" he said, before letting go of his face, returning to the seat.