Chapter 20: Sudden Impulse
A/N: I do not own the Naruto Franchise!
I do however own Mari Kaede and any other OCs mentioned.
Warnings: Contains dark themes, such as depression, murder, experimentation, emotional, mental and physical torture, possible attempted suicide and mentions of sexual activities!
I am on a ROLL this week! Three chapters in one week, with this one just a DAY after the last one! It's a very short chapter, but a VERY important one to the story, so I hope I wrote it well.
Also, I've gone back and changed most of the chapters slightly because how Kaede speaks now is different to how she spoke before.
Sadly some of them couldn't be changed, as the computer kept crashing everytime I tried.
I'll try again another day, but for now, pleae bear with me.
Enjoy!
On the day of Tsunade's decision, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Kaede rushed through the trees with the silent finesse of a ninja. Unlike last time, the Sannin was wearing his usual battle-ready outfit, just in case, Tsunade's response wasn't a favorable one. Kaede, however, had a feeling her answer would be yes, after all, she understood her pain and if she was in that situation, she would accept his conditions.
But...In the very unlikely scenario, she refused, the redhead looked forward to a fight. Now that she had seen Tsunade's strength up close, she could easily figure out a strategy to counter it, so she no longer feared that destructive fist. A small smirk curled her lips as she thoroughly enjoyed the thought of releasing her frustrations in bloodshed. If she was completely aware of this change, she may have been disgusted with herself, but her mind had been warped slowly over the past ten years.
Her sanity continued to wane the longer she remained so hellbent on revenge.
"It would be troublesome if we are interrupted during the negotiations." Orochimaru started as he kept his eyes forward and moved at a rapid pace, while Kabuto looked over, giving his lord his full attention.
"What shall I do?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
The villainous Sannin's serious frown twisted into a grin and he glanced over at his right-hand man. "You can kill Tsunade's attendant."
Kabuto silently pulled a kunai from his holster and glared ahead as his mind returned to the time he was assigned to kidnap Sasuke.
'It seems you do not trust me completely yet.'
'I trust you, so...I think I will ask you to take care of Sasuke-kun.'
'...Excuse me, then.'
'Kabuto...If you want to stop me, you will have to kill Sasuke-kun right now...Since you can't kill me.'
Kabuto stopped on a lower branch of the tree they landed on, before he dove off in the opposite direction, leaving Orochimaru and Kaede to continue towards their destination. "So I'm stuck playing bodyguard?" The redhead asked, her eyes serious, but a small, taunting smirk on her lips to make it harder to spot. "Are y'that weak~?"
"Your jutsu will prove useful if a battle were to break out." He told her simply, ignoring her jeers as he had other, more pressing matters to focus on.
Kaede rolled her eyes. "Only 'cause y'screwed up so badly y'can't use jutsu yourself! What makes y'think I'm going t'help you?" She taunted. However, the Sannin chuckled, completely brushing off her words, he knew biting the hook would only give her a sense of satisfaction, and this way, he enjoyed the irritated frown that curled her lips in triumph. While she herself felt undeniably aggravated, it was like he was doubting her words.
Though she knew she couldn't afford to stand back and watch him get pulverized. She wanted to be the one to enact her revenge, so breaking the trust she could see building slowly, would just destroy her slow-acting plans altogether.
With a soft click of the tongue in disdain, she landed at the town gates, followed by Orochimaru, before the two used Shunshin no Jutsu to quickly appear on the path where Tsunade stood waiting for them, back to them, eyes downcast.
The snake-eyed shinobi stepped forward. "Your answer?" He asked as Kaede walked over to the wall and leaned against its surface, a hand on her hip as she stayed out of the way.
Tsunade raised her head but didn't turn to face them. "I will cure your arms, but don't lay a finger on the village."
Kaede's eyes narrowed as something in her gut didn't sit right. She understood why she would accept the conditions, but at that moment, another thought popped into her head that nullified the former reasoning. If her former loved ones were true-blue Konoha shinobi, then they would never forgive her for doing this...Something wasn't right and her subconscious mind picked up on it as she crossed her arms and her body tensed, as if ready to move at a second's notice.
Orochimaru, however, was too transfixed by the thought of his arms being cured to notice, as he chuckled. "Very well." A sudden gust of wind blew through the narrow pathway, picking up leaves as it went, an odd sense of symbolism for that moment, considering the Sannin had no intentions of keeping his promise and leave Konoha in peace. "Now." He continued, eyes wide with glee.
Tsunade turned to face them and the two walked towards one another, in a way that resembled a duel of sorts. As they approached one another, Kaede's stomach sank further and her lungs felt heavy, making it hard to breathe. None of this sounded right, and Tsunade had a look of numb resolve on her face, instead of excitement towards seeing her loved ones again. It didn't sit right, it didn't feel right, and it definitely didn't make any sense.
Orochimaru wore a large grin, so focused on the current events that his instincts didn't pick up on the strange atmosphere. He raised his arms for her to heal, and Kaede ran her fingers through her fringe as she narrowed her eyes and watched with an intense sense of dread and distrust.
Tsunade raised her arms as well and produced a ball of chakra, and that's when it clicked, Kaede's eyes widened and she pushed off the wall, kicking off towards them. "Orochimaru, stop!" She quickly formed seals and inhaled deeply, shooting a large ball of fire towards them.
In a split second, a kunai dropped down from the air and landed at the center of their exchange as they dove back, putting some space between them. Tsunade was then forced to jump into the air to avoid the large fireball that had been hurtled towards her to distance her from the other Sannin.
Orochimaru looked up at the wall where the kunai had come from, as Tsunade landed, to see Kabuto crouched there, his eyes hidden by the reflection of the sun against his frames. The young medic quickly stood and did a few flips back, landing beside Kaede on the dirt path between the two cobblestone walls. "What is the meaning of this?" The Otokage asked, his tone venomous. "You've betrayed me at the very last minute...Tsunade!"
It was at that moment that the gravity of the situation hit Kaede and she staggered back a little with wide eyes and a horrified frown. 'What have I done?' She thought as a sick sense of realization settled in her gut. 'I just...I just saved Orochimaru's life!'
A silence stretched between the four of them, Tsunade and Kabuto both at the center of seriousness, while the young medic's lord smirked, but his eyes screamed anger, and the former Suna kunoichi forced back the urge to vomit.
"Tell me..." Orochimaru started. "How did you come up with your answer...Tsunade-hime?" His eyes widened dangerously. "You tried to kill me. Kabuto...I trust you deep down, inside. Your loyalty and the insight that saw through Tsunade's action impresses me." He glanced back at the young medic and his unpredictable, hate-consumed subordinate. "And Kaede...I'm surprised you saw through her facade and came to my assistance in time...Perhaps you're not so disobedient, after all."
Kaede barely had time to register what she had done, and couldn't hide the horrified expression that warped her features. She had moved so quickly, so suddenly, she couldn't stop herself. Though she tried to rationalize her actions with the phrase 'I want to be the one to kill him' she couldn't deny that the moment she moved, the image of Orochimaru saving her life only a few weeks prior flashed through her mind.
Kabuto walked up to Orochimaru's side while the frozen kunoichi remained in the background. "I come from the medical squad, like her, after all." He stated. "Her chakra was filled with the intent to kill."
"And Kaede...How did you see through her actions?" The Sannin asked without looking back.
Kaede took a moment to find her voice through the shock, and even then it trembled a little before she cleared her throat and spoke more clearly. "I was part of the Second Great Shinobi War, I saw medical jutsu all the time during my fight against Konoha...Medical chakra is green, not blue, that's how I knew."
Orochimaru sighed, his expression slightly softer with disappointment. "Tsunade, I really intended to revive those two." He smirked deviously. "And I even made a promise not to crush Konoha."
Tsunade looked away with sad eyes but a small smile. "Orochimaru..." She started. "I knew that you were lying when you said you wouldn't touch the village." She started to tremble and her voice cracked as Orochimaru's smirk curled into a grin, he had been found out. "I knew, yet I...Wanted to see them again...Just once more, I wanted to see them. Just once more, I wanted to touch them. Just once more I wanted to see their smiles."
She hugged herself as the sorrow deepened, and she felt lonely, now more than ever before. "But...When I felt that I could see Nawaki and Dan again...I realized something." The two males in the conversation raised their heads slightly, both intently listening to her words, while Kaede remained trapped in a swirling vortex of reliving her actions. "I realized that I was a fool!"
The medical specialist's expression twisted and tears spilled down her cheeks, dripping down onto the dirt floor below. "Just remembering their faces...Blinded my sight." She shook so much, the others could see it, despite being a small distance from her. "I loved them. I really loved them, so I wanted to see them and hug them!" She wrapped her arms around herself. "But I couldn't..." Slowly, the grieving woman relaxed and let go of her arms. "Because of that kid, I remembered what their dreams were. I tried to forget them, but...It is an important dream they both dedicated their lives to...All things with form eventually perish. That's what you said. But...This feeling won't perish."
Another gust of wind blew through the narrow pathway as Tsunade finally finished and Orochimaru stared at her, no emotion reflecting on his face. "The negotiations have broken down, then." His empty eyes sharpened and narrowed. "I have no choice...I will have to ask you by force now."
As the breeze died down, the medical specialist wiped her eyes with her arm and then shot them the most determined, dangerous look any of them had ever seen.
With that, a fight would break out, and Kaede, who had been excited by the thought prior, was now utterly distracted and beyond useless.
Would she get her act together in time?
A/N: And that's the end of this chapter! Please review, all comments help me improve as a writer, especially now more than ever!
Japanese = English
Konohagakure = Hidden Village of the Leaf
Otogakure = Hidden Village of Sound
Sunagakure = Hidden Village of Sand
Shunshin no Jutsu = Body Flicker Technique
