Woo! Well here it is My 4th installment. Sorry that it took me so long to get it out;
Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the ideas behind it
cocoa-latte: Thank you SO much for your review oo It was the first! As a new fanfic writer, it helped my confidence loads!
Ch. 4
"K'so! Where is she?" Sasuke cried out. He had been searching for Aori for over and hour, and he had seen neither hide nor hair of her. He was beginning to get frustrated.
I don't understand! How can she just… disappear all of a sudden?
"Sasuke, Orochimaru wants you in his chambers…" Sasuke pivoted, his hand going to a kunai strapped to his leg. He relaxed, letting go of the kunai's handle. It was just one of Orochimaru's stupid sound-nins…
"Tell him I'm busy right now."
"He said it is not an option… He orders you to come to his chambers immediately." Sasuke frowned.
What is so important?
"Very well…" Sasuke turned, following the ninja through the many halls of the hideaway, up to the highest floor. The ninja paused outside the room, opening the door for Sasuke, who barged past him impatiently. In his annoyed state, he did not notice when the ninja shut the door behind him.
"Sasuke, how good of you to come." Sasuke snorted disdainfully.
"It's not like I had any choice… What's so important that you needed me immediately?" Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows of his room, coming into the light. Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. Something was different about Orochimaru, but he couldn't quite tell what…
"Today is a special day Sasuke. Do you know why?" Orochimaru had begun to circle around Sasuke, who watched him suspiciously.
"No. Why is today so special?" Orochimaru came to a stop in front of Sasuke, a small smirk on his face and a strange gleam in his eyes. Sasuke could feel the small hairs on the nape of his neck stand up straight as Orochimaru leaned in to whisper his answer.
"Because today is the day that I fulfill my dream…" As he finished saying this his hands moved in a complex motion before ramming into Sasuke's chest. Sasuke's eyes widened, as he realized that he could no longer do anything except breathe.
What the HELL is he doing?
Aori had snuck along the roof top after hearing the conversation between the tall man and the other, whom she believed to be his spymaster. Her ears, though hidden under her hair, were pricked up and alert, listening for the smallest change in vibrations. They twitched as she picked up an angry voice.
"Sasuke, Orochimaru wants you in his chambers…" Aori flattened herself to the roof as a voice that was clearly Sasuke's replied. She crawled over to the edge, inching out just enough that she could peer in through the window. Sasuke was standing with his back to the sound-nin, an annoyed look on his face. The sound-nin spoke again.
"He said it is not an option… He orders you to come to his chambers immediately." Aori's eyes narrowed and she watched Sasuke frowned slightly. He turned.
"Very well…" Sasuke began to follow the sound-nin deeper into the building, to make their way to the top floor. When she could see them no longer, Aori pulled herself back onto the roof. She stood up, dusting off her clothes, and turned to look at the huge tower that she had made a hole in earlier. She went to stand at the bottom of it, peering up at the top, at least one-hundred and fifty feet up, where she could feel the tall man's evil chakra emanating from. She took a deep breath, closing her purple eyes. When she opened them again, they were no longer purple, but shockingly gold, and her face was devoid of any emotion. She bent down, then jumped, but much higher than any normal ninja could ever manage, even an anbu. With that one bound, she was able to grab onto an edge jutting out just below a window leading into the hallway. She heard a door shut as she pulled herself up, and she swore inwardly.
Her eyes had reverted to their purplish color by this time, and she leaped to a windowsill just a few feet away. Peering inside, she could see Orochimaru circling around Sasuke. He stopped in front of Sasuke, forming strange symbols with his hands, and then slamming them into Sasuke's chest. She saw his eyes widen and his arms and legs straining. With a jolt, Aori realized that Sasuke could not move any more. That was too much for Aori. She crashed through the windowsill, tucking and rolling as she landed. She leaped up to find both Orochimaru and Sasuke staring at her.
CRASH
Orochimaru whipped around, and Sasuke's eyes turned as they tried to find the source of the noise. They were both stunned to see Aori getting up off of the floor, pulling bits of glass from her body as though they were pieces of dust. Orochimaru snarled.
"You little BITCH! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET UP HERE!" Aori looked up at the tall man, meeting his eyes. Orochimaru's snarl grew in volume, for he saw no trace of fear in the girl's purple orbs. In fact, something almost like the utmost loathing was forming in her eyes as she stared back at him. He snapped his head back to Sasuke.
"I thought that she was harmless! Well THAT does not look harmless to me! YOU LIED TO ME!" He slapped Sasuke's face, leaving an angry purple welt. Sasuke's face jerked to the side and stayed there, not having voluntary control over his body's movements. It was Orochimaru who roughly brought his head back to look straight at Aori.
"Well, since she's here, she can watch the greatest event of MY life take place." He began to laugh as Aori charged towards them, being stopped roughly by Orochimaru's spymaster, Kabuto. She began to struggle, but nothing that she did could make Kabuto lessen his grip in the slightest. Orochimaru turned back to Sasuke, who was glaring at him.
"Oh, now don't look at me like that Sasuke. I don't want us to end on bad terms… You see, for these past four years, I have not been training you so that you could become stronger. I was training you so that you body would become stronger." Orochimaru chuckled as Sasuke's eyes widened in shock again.
"Yes, you see. You, Sasuke are worthless. You body is what I want. It is the perfect vessel for my soul. Oh, don't worry, it should be pretty painless." Hatred had filled Sasuke's eyes now, which just made Orochimaru laugh harder. He could see Sasuke's jaw and throat muscles trying furiously to work.
"Oh, would you like to say something? Very well, I guess that I can allow you a few last words." So saying, Orochimaru moved his hands in front of Sasuke's mouth and throat, removing the binding chakra.
"Why?"
"Oh, come Sasuke, surely you can think of better questions than that! Oh well… Why you ask?" Orochimaru had begun pacing around Sasuke again, and both Sasuke's black eyes and Aori's purple ones followed him.
"Simply because you have the perfect body to hold my soul. From chakra amounts, to the strengths and weaknesses of your body, it is the perfect vessel."
"So you never wanted to train me for my talents…" Orochimaru rolled his eyes, stopping directly behind Sasuke.
"I've already told you that I didn't… And DING DING DING! Your question time is up! My time is now!" So saying, Orochimaru stepped back pulling out and oddly shaped kunai, forming seals with his hands, and thrusting the chakra into the kunai. He threw it at Sasuke, hitting the very center of his back.
Aori had watched the exchange between Sasuke and the tall man take place, not bothering to waste energy trying to free herself from Kabuto's iron grasp. She followed the tall man's movement with hate-filled eyes. He stopped behind Sasuke, bringing out a kunai with three blades forming a pyramid shape. He performed a seal onto the strange weapon, and Aori's eyes widened. She had seen this seal once before, and it was not something that one forgot.
She began her struggles against Kabuto's grasp with renewed vigor, and the tall man seeing this, laughed.
"So, little bitchling, you have seen such a seal before. Good. You can watch him waste away before your eyes! And after I'm done here, maybe you and I will have a little fun." He threw the dagger, hitting Sasuke squarely in the back. Sasuke's eyes widened, as his head turned towards Aori. Their eyes met, Aori's frantic, Sasuke's dull, accepting of his fate.
"'Bye…" Somehow, she heard his whisper, and then his head, the only part of him not bound by chakra, drooped as his soul was forced from his body. Nobody but Aori and the tall man could see it, slowly oozing its way from Sasuke's form.
Gone… He's gone… I've failed. Not just for myself, but for the world as well. Sasuke's dead…
…ild…
What! W-who's there?
My child… All is not yet lost. You know what you must do, if you are to save him.
B-but, I'm afraid… I'm afraid and I'm too weak… After all that has happened…
Be not afraid. Just open your soul, and let me fly free.
I-I can't…
You can… Do not worry of the snake man. He will not live to see the sun rise again.
…Just don't hurt Sasuke…
Orochimaru had begun to laugh again, and lazily began to form the proper seals that would allow his soul to move into its new vessel, but stopped as chakra other than his own pulsed. He turned towards Kabuto, and the source of the chakra, annoyed.
"Kabuto! What are you…" Orochimaru trailed off as he beheld the scene before him. The bitchling's head had slumped, her chin on her chest, and her body was shining bright gold, immense waves of chakra the same bright hue spilling from what seemed to be every cut and pore on her body. As he watched the illuminated body, Sasuke's body and still escaping soul forgotten, the golden chakra began to form a physical shape for itself.
Orochimaru took a step back, as three giant, golden hands thrust their way from the girl's body. One grabbed a hold of Kabuto, throwing him through the already broken window. He took another step back and grabbed a kunai to defend himself as a second hand raced toward him. When it was within distance, he threw the kunai, but the hand had by-passed him, reaching for Sasuke's body and soul.
"NO! MY BODY!" Orochimaru shrieked as he saw the hand grab the struggling soul, forcing it to return to its rightful place and holding it there. He rushed towards the body, and almost fell as something grabbed a tight hold of his long hair. Without turning, Orochimaru knew it was the third hand; but instead of giving up, he just began to laugh.
"HAHA! FOOLS! HAIR CAN BE CUT!" He brought the kunai in his hand up towards his hair, and with a savage slashing motion, hacked it all off, or tried to. Before his kunai could sever even one strand from his head, the forgotten first hand, the one that had thrown Kabuto from the tower, wrapped around Orochimaru's body, squeezing tightly. His eyes widened as his body was jerked around to face the girl. But it was not the girl he was staring at.
A woman was standing there instead, ageless and old all at once, beautiful and hideous. She had pointed ears, situated on the top of her head, almost like a wolves, and they were furred… Or were they scaly. Orochimaru did a double take, and then realized that her ears constantly shifted, from fur, to scale, to feather. She had a tail as well, this permanently wolf like. While her hands were those of a human, her feet were not. From the knees down, the woman's legs were covered in soft golden fur, and her feet were beastly, clawed and fur-covered.
Orochimaru began to quiver, for the hands holding him no longer came from the girl's body, but from the shoulders of this woman, whom Orochimaru could see was not human. But it was not her ears, the tail, or even the feet that scared Orochimaru the most. It was her eyes. Her eyes were shifting, just like her ears, but not only from wolf, to snake, to bird, but from deep green, to shockingly red, to the black of the deepest pits of despair. But no matter what form, or what color, Orochimaru could always see the same thing in those eyes. Death.
Death and pity were the last things Orochimaru ever saw, as the women tore his head from his body, and then incinerated both pieces, before scooping the contents into her mouth. The strange woman swallowed, then drew the set of hands that had held the snake man into herself. Her main pair was left, holding the boy's limp body. She pulled the form close to her, and gently removed the kunai from his back. Flipping his body over onto its back, she performed the seals that released Orochimaru's binding. It had lasted after he had died for some reason. The lady finished pushing his soul the rest of the way back into his body, drawing temporary seals on his chest to keep it there. As he began to breathe again, she then spoke for the first time since appearing.
"He has lost much life daughter. The wound on his back was mortal… I must leave the rest to you…" The whisper of wind on leaves, and the thunder of ocean waves pounding the rocks, her voice faded away, just as her golden form began to. Eventually, Aori was left in the woman's place. When the golden light had completely retracted inside of her, she collapsed to the ground, blood trickling from the corners of her eyes and from the insides of her ears.
She lay there for a few minutes, her sides heaving. Then, at a slight moan from Sasuke, she pulled herself up. On shaky hands and knees, she made her way to his side, and carefully flipped him over. The punctures on his back were still bleeding, but more sluggishly than they should have been. That wasn't good… It meant he had lost a lot of blood.
"Sasuke…" Although she had whispered it, the single word echoed throughout the empty room. She stared down at his back, biting her lip, then turned away, in order to grab a piece of the glass from the broken window. Returning to Sasuke, she pulled his shirt off, ripping it into pieces and tying them around his chest tightly. She took another piece of the shirt and tied it around his arm, creating a tourniquet.
After tying one around her own arm, she took the glass and made a long slice down Sasuke's arm. She then quickly did the same with her own, not showing any sign of pain. When she could see blood welling in the wound, she quickly took his cut, pressing it against her own.
A pale red mist began to form around their arms, and Aori began to chant again. As she chanted, the blood beginning to drip from her wound stopped, as if frozen. Ever so slowly, it began to draw back up their joined arms, but instead of retreating into Aori's arm, it flowed into Sasuke's. As this was happening, Aori slowly turned Sasuke over onto his stomach, without breaking the contact of their arms, or stopping her chanting. With her free hand, she picked up a nearby piece of glass, squeezing it tightly in her hand. When she opened her fingers, a fine needle lay there.
Setting the needle down on Sasuke's back, she brought her hand to the hem of her pants, drawing one golden thread from the fabric. After managing to somehow insert the thread through the eye of the needle, Aori proceeded to carefully sew up first the severed arteries, and then the skin, on Sasuke's back. By the time she had finished, her chanting was barely more than a whisper, and her face had paled. She closed her eyes, frowning slightly, and yelled a single word that echoed through the empty room.
"FINITE!" As soon as the word left her lips, a blinding flash shot from the slices on both her and Sasuke's arm, making her screw her eyes against it. When she could open them safely, all that remained of the slices was a faint pink scar on each of their arms. She pushed Sasuke off of her lap gently, then bent her head down to rest upon his chest, listening. She smiled as she heard a steady beating, and easy breathing. The smile was still on her lips as her eyes slid shut.