I kept his shirt folded on my pillow as I slept. So many days had passed that its scent began to fade, and I still hadn't seen his face. I tried every manner of convincing the corpse puppet to show me where Kabuto spent his time all day, but to no avail. I soon gave that up and began focusing on mapping out the base. I spent several lazy days lounging in the room that held my snakes when I found them, letting them crawl around me to absorb my warmth as they liked. Their huge eyes staring blindly around while their delicate tongues flicking into the air always cheered me up. The runt, #19, was my chosen favorite. She claimed her favorite spot, my open left palm, every time it was available.

My babies…they're all growing healthy and strong.

Eventually, even that was not enough to keep me from searching for him. Now, only one hallway remained uninspected.

"You know where I'm going today, right?"

The puppet stood impassively in front of me, offering no response.

"You could just show me where he is and save me the trouble. I know it has to be in this hall. I've seen everything else."

It did not react.

What if one of those doors leads to a staircase, and I have even more to explore? I can't keep wandering this way. Or what if I missed a door?

I swallowed my anxieties and set off, the puppet trailing closely behind. I knew I was in the right place when it tried to block my path. This time, I was prepared for that. I grabbed a torch off the wall, holding it tightly in my clenched fist.

"Move."

It did not react.

"You have been ordered to keep me out of his lab, I know that, but…I would be willing to bet that's not your main purpose."

The torchlight danced on its features, almost making them seem as if they were moving. Of course, they were not. His dead face never moved, only stiffly followed, staring through closed eyes.

"And if you don't let me into that room, I'm going to make you fail at your primary directive."

I moved my arm over the flame. My face tightened at the sudden heat, but I was resolved to see this through.

I have no proof for that claim, I'm just really hoping that I mean that much to him.

The puppet's arm shot forward, and I stepped back. I lowered my skin closer to the flame.

I knew it.

"You won't get this away from me before I can hurt myself with it. And even if you could…"

I smiled, a smirk that didn't quite reach my eyes. I nodded at the torches lining the walls.

"How many do you think you could take from me before I succeeded?"

Its arm remained poised in the air, waiting for me to give in to the fire. I lowered my arm a little more towards the heat. Its arm dropped to its side, and its back slammed into the wall.

Success!

I kept my arm hovering over the flame as I sidled past the puppet towards the last unopened door. I opened the door clumsily behind me, keeping the torch firmly between myself and the puppet. I stepped inside as the door swung open, slamming it quickly closed. Only then did I turn around to observe the room.

It was dark, of course, but not perfectly. Tiny lights blinked from various points arranged at about chest height throughout the room. I waved the torch near them. The room was large enough that the torch did not light it all. The edges of the light flickered uncertainly over the unfamiliar shapes, doing more to obscure their true forms than to reveal them.

Machines? But what for? And if there's electricity here, then that might mean…

I looked up, holding the torch as high as I could. Unlit fluorescent rods were set into the ceiling.

Lights! This must be his lab. But where is he? And where is the light switch?

I trailed my hand along the wall, feeling for a switch. There wasn't one near the door I had entered through. As my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I started moving more quickly around the room. When I had crossed to the opposite wall, I felt a lightswitch.

Finally!

Something shot out and clamped down over my hand, pressing it firmly against the switch and holding it in place. It was firm, and icy cold. In my shock, I dropped the torch. It extinguished against the floor, leaving me smothered in darkness. I shouted in surprise.

"What!?"

Kabuto hissed a response from a few feet away. He sounded angry. .

"What are you doing here, Melo?"

Kabuto. He's so close.

"You've been told to follow one single rule: do not come into this lab while I am working. And you couldn't even obey that."

"I wanted to see you."

"You will see me *when I am ready*."

His voice sounded strange. It reminded me of dry leaves, blowing in a cold wind…or the pages of an old book, scraping against each other as they turned. He was close enough that I could feel his breath against my skin.

"I can't keep living like this."

"Then go. I told you, you're free to leave."

"No."

I squinted into the darkness, barely able to make out his silhouette in the dim, blinking lights from the machines.

"It will just be a little longer, I feel I'm close to a breakthrough. When I finish my research, I'll be able to remove his cells…I'll return to normal. Then you can see me."

"Remove his…oh, Kabuto. What have you done?"

"Please, just go. For now. Just a little more patience is required."

I took a deep breath, then locked my wrist and pushed my hand against the lightswitch as hard as I could. I slid my hand up, feeling the switch dig into the meat of my palm as I did. It hurt, but it worked. As the lights clicked on, the thing that had clamped over my hand removed itself. Kabuto stood before me, hands covering his face. The hood of his cloak was drawn.

Was that thing on my hand…his hand?

His skin was altered, pale.

But it felt so strange. It wasn't like skin at all, it was more like…scales.

I stepped closer to him, trying to see past his hands.

His hands…

My focus shifted to them. His skin was covered in tiny white scales, much like the scales of the giant snake I had met before. They glistened in the light. They shone so brightly that I could barely stand to look at them. His nails had grown long and sharp, closer to the shape of a fang than a fingernail.

"What happened to you?"

"Do you understand now? Please, just go. You were never meant to see me like this."

I stepped forward again, and he stepped back. He bumped against a nearby table, jostling the machine on the other end of it. It beeped a response, and his fingers tightened over his face.

"Leave me here!"

"I want to see you."

"No!"

I stepped forward again, bringing my body inches away from his. He slid back to sit on the table, as if he was considering sliding across it and running away.

"Please?"

He froze, body tensed to spring away. I reached one arm out slowly and placed it on the back of his cloak's hood. I bent his head towards me and kissed the fabric on top of it, and I heard him exhale slowly. I allowed him to sit back up, then I slipped the hood back. His hair was still the same soft silvery-gray I remembered, but he wore it loose now. It had grown longer since the last time I'd seen him.

"Kabuto, I still want to see you."

I kissed the top of his head again, inhaling his scent. Microban and black tea, the same as always.

"I don't think you'll like what you see."

"You smell the same, how much could you have changed?"

He sighed, then dropped his hands and turned his face towards mine. I felt myself recoil involuntarily. His face was covered in tiny white scales. His eyes shone differently behind his glasses than they had before. The pupils had changed to slits, like a snake's, and his eyes were ringed by dark purple bags. His glare was harsh and challenging, but beneath that…vulnerable. The wetness of tears shined in hard lines from his eyes to his chin.

"How could you possibly love this face? I've become a monster, a flanderization of my former self. I can't bear to see my own reflection, and I can't bear to have you look at me-"

I cut him off.

"You haven't been sleeping very well, have you dear?"

He let his rant trail off, unfinished. His eyebrows knit together, unsure.

He looks different, but he's still mine. My Kabuto.

I looked at his cloak, noticing the details on the side of the hood. They were little eyes, like snake's eyes. That, more than anything, solidified how I felt about him.

Cute. I doubt anyone sewed that for him, he chose that himself.

I felt more relaxed. I leaned towards him, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"I missed you."

He pressed his face against my chest, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him.

"I missed you too, Melo. More than you could imagine."

"Oh, I have an idea…it was hard for me too."

I hugged him tightly, then let my arms fall.

"When Orochimaru died, I implanted a few of his cells in my arm. I wanted to keep him alive."

"He really was special to you, wasn't he.?"

He didn't answer that.

"I didn't know they'd transform me like this. I just didn't want to lose him yet. I wasn't ready. I…"

I felt him start to head down another spiraling rant.

Poor thing, he must have been alone all this time too.

I kissed him to distract him. He leaned back away from me, trying to break the kiss off so he could continue speaking. I climbed on top of the table, straddling his lap so that he couldn't back away.

"You aren't alone anymore. It's okay…" I murmured against his lips.

"Fuck, Melo, I've missed you so much. I just…"

Does he need even more to distract him from this depression?

I rolled my hips against his lap, grinding him into me. I felt him twitch beneath me. His breathing sped up slightly. He leaned back, bracing himself against the table with his arms stretched out behind him. He looked at me, his expression curiously unguarded.

"You still want something like that from a creature like me?"

"From my love, yes."

I bent to kiss him, letting my hands rest against his shoulders.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea, I…"

I kissed him again, and went back to slowly grinding myself against him. I felt his hips lift under mine. My balance shifted, and I wrapped my arms around him to steady myself. He froze.

"Please, not that. I can't…"

"You can't be held, it's too constricting, I know. I was just unsteady. Let me try this, instead."

I lifted onto my knees and sat up, balancing in an upright position. I reached down and spread his cloak open beneath me, exposing more of his body. He stared up at me, attentive and unsure. His eyes reminded me of those of a cornered animal's.

I've never had him in such a vulnerable position before. I've never been allowed to see him fully…until now.

I let my gaze travel down his body, memorizing his shape. I pressed my hand against his chest, feeling his heart flutter beneath it. His chest was covered in the same tiny scales as his face and hands, and they continued all the way down past his stomach, down to his…

Oh?

Whatever had been between his legs before had changed into something resembling a snake's hemipenes. Two separate cocks sat between his legs, one slightly higher than the other. I looked at him, visibly shaken by this particular change. He winced at my new expression, and I took a few seconds to calm myself.

"An unexpected side effect…I did tell you I had changed."

"Then how…that time you visited me, when I couldn't see because of the hood. How?"

"I sort of…ummm…"

He blushed and looked away.

I've never seen him blush before…

"I put them together and wrapped a condom over both of them…"

I thought back to how impossibly thick he had felt.

"That actually explains some things."

"I understand, if you're disgusted by me."

Disgusted? Oh, I think I'll manage just fine.

I sighed, deciding to ignore him.

It's easier to show him than to tell him.

I ran my hand over his chest, down to his stomach. His eyes flashed with uncertainty as he looked back up at me. I gently ran my fingertips from his stomach to his thigh, dancing around touching anything…too sensitive. He gasped slightly, his lips parted.

So responsive. I feel…powerful. In control. Is this how he felt during testing?

I let my fingers graze up the length of his cock, the one that sat towards the top, barely ghosting over it. He twitched in response, watching me. I stared down at him, enraptured by his vulnerable state.

"So cute…"

He let out a frustrated noise and let his head loll back, staring at the ceiling. I laughed, then reached back and slipped my pants down over my hips. I sat back, pressing the tip of his lower cock against my entrance. I started working my hand along the length of the other one, slowly and steadily. A dot of precum leaked out of the tip of it, and I used my thumb to spread it over his head. He whimpered, and I felt dizzy with my newfound power. I pushed myself down onto him, slowly raising and lowering myself until his full length was buried within me. He let out a gentle "haahhh~" noise as I rocked down onto him. I matched the speed of my hand around his cock to the speed of my body, moving on top of his. His eyes shut in pleasure.

"Melo…this is really what you want, isn't it?"

"Sh…just relax."

I felt him twitch inside of me. I pressed my free hand against his hip, using it to keep myself steady. His scales sliding in and out of me and up and down in my hands felt impossibly smooth. I started bouncing faster.

"You can't be serious about me, Melo."

I started grinding myself down onto him, and felt more precum leak out of the exposed cock.

"Stop this, I can't, hahhh~"

I watched his face as it contorted in pleasure. His eyes squeezed themselves closed, and his mouth hung open. Soundless pleas escaped his lips, which moved to form words I could not hear. His glasses had started to slide out of place, so I took them off of him and placed them on the table beside us, planting a kiss on his forehead as I did so.

He's so precious…beautiful…mine…

I kept moving on top of him until I felt his body grow stiff under me, every muscle clenched tightly. I lifted myself off of him and pressed his twin cocks together, holding them in one hand. I pumped them together a few times, and hot spurts of cum shot out of them. He came from both heads at once, spilling down my hand and landing on his stomach.

"There, there. Feel better, dear?"

I wiped my hand on my shirt, fighting the urge to lick it clean, and sank down beside him. I kissed his forehead, and he tilted his face up to capture my lips in a kiss. His tongue moved to explore my mouth, and I felt its new shape. It was forked, and so long…

After a few long seconds, we parted.

"I love you, Melo."

"Then don't push me away again."

"Never. There will be no more secrets from you."