A/N: Well, this is the last chapter of the prologue. Also, if you want updates faster, I post first to my livejournal, raigekiworks, before it gets here. (Especially since sometimes this sitedoesn't like me.)
"Kabuto…" Shizune breathed, those three syllables heavy on her lips. The man dressed in the suit, his face covered by cold ANBU mask, turned.
"The one and only, my dear." His grip on her hand, innocent seeming to others, was firm and unyielding. She ceased struggling. She needed to speak with Kabuto. Shikamaru was right. The one who had betrayed before was the one who would betray again.
Shizune waited for him to speak again as he led her to the center of the dance floor. Like the other kunoichi in Konoha, Shizune had taken lessons in skills exclusive to female shinobi, which included dance. She knew the dance they were doing now, a sort of impromptu cross between a salsa and a tango. She just hadn't expected to have to dance it.
With a flick of his wrist Kabuto was in a position to lead, one hand holding hers at shoulder level, his other hand on her hip. Almost on instinct she placed her left hand at his right shoulder.
They began slow, Kabuto leading and Shizune content to follow. They did not speak, though the silence between them was eating at her. He was toying with her, playing a game of cat and mouse. She could feel his muscles beneath her hand, relaxed and smooth. He was not taught with anticipation as she was; he was taking his time, leisurely baiting her. She grit her teeth in annoyance.
Shizune moved with Kabuto as he raised his hands, and hers, to twirl her out away from his body. She wasn't too concerned anymore when her skirt fanned out to reveal quite a bit more than she was comfortable with. When she spun back towards him, Kabuto pulled her flush against his body.
"So, let's begin, shall we?" The whisper was quick and soft, barely audible over the fast-paced music. Before she could reply he had bent his leg and was dipping her, one hand steady on her lower back, the mask close to her ear.
"Don't speak. Listen." She shut her mouth, which was a bit agape. She moved fluidly how he led her, now on to the subtle scheme. Nothing suspect in a high-contact dance. Any whisper of betrayal was disguised as intimate dancing. It was a good, maybe brilliant plan. But then again, it was Kabuto.
"I have information, as you may know." She was once again flush against him, their bodies fitted against each other. She tried to ignore how embarrassed and flushed her cheeks were getting. She tried to freeze her face, to control her emotion, but her face was heating despite. Her body was feeling a little warm as well.
"And if you agree to my conditions, you can have it." Kabuto disguised the long communicated sentence by running the hand on her hip farther down to the curve of her bottom and back up. Shizune tried not to stiffen too much against the sensual touch.
She had been instructed to agree to any condition to end this war, so she nodded against his chest. He returned to movement, marching her across the dance floor in a whirl of crisp black fabric and colorful blue and green silk. During the fast paced music they would pause for a dip or twirl that would always find Kabuto's face less than an inch from hers, words, whispers of betrayal on his lips.
"I want immunity." A twirl, a flash of light on the ANBU mask. "I want a jounin rank as a Konoha ninja, with no prosecution." She was facing away from him, her arms wrapped about his neck, as his hands roamed leisurely about her body, up her thighs, across her stomach, around the curve of her breasts. She was extremely uncomfortable, but she let it continue. What was this to the fate of Konoha?
"The only sanction on my freedom I'll allow is a daily check-in, with the exception of while I'm on missions, of course." The whispers, dark and fell, spoke to her of a way towards hope. As they resumed the dance Shizune tripped on a twirl, only to be caught in the strong grip of the traitor's arms.
"You didn't, perchance, imbibe alcohol, did you?" The statement startled her, suddenly at a normal sound volume, warm and domestic. She regained her footing, shaking her head, not only to deny that she had drunken alcohol, but also to clear her head. This was not the time to be messing up.
The dance resumed, once again a battle of bodies and secrets, a dance that could spell destruction or salvation for an entire village. A fateful movement of arms and feet that was weighted down by the pressure of responsibility. As they dipped once more Kabuto whispered his final message on the dance floor.
"We will go onto the balcony attached to your rooms." His cold hands burned her body as they held her, strong and firm. "You will go first, wait fifteen minutes." A twirl and she was spinning across the floor, one hand above her head and the other artfully twirling her skirt about her legs as she sashayed back into the traitor's arms.
"I will follow." His hand in her hair, caressing. "If you agree to all of these conditions, I will give you the information you require." One last lead around the floor and the music ended with a great crescendo, the last note dying to find Shizune and Kabuto a hair's breath away, both panting softly from the exertion of the high paced dance. It was a moment before they stepped away, he with a little bow and she with a nod of her head. She made her way back to the tables first, meandering about. Can't go straight to the balcony. Have to take time.
She got another glass, filled it from the ornate pitcher of water, and drank deeply. It was cool going down her throat, easing the heat of her body she attributed to the dancing. She stood, uneasy now with this lack of motion. The Suikage was coming her way, but Shizune did not move, only took another sip.
"Seems like you've just had a bit more fun, hmm?" The woman had a smug look on her face. "He's a handsome man under that mask, but I never knew he had such skill on the dance floor." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "You know what they say about men who can dance like that. Imagine what he could do during sex."
"I'm not sure I want to." Shizune mentally made a face. No, she did not want to know how Kabuto performed in bed. That was, and always would be, the last thing on her mind.
"Are you blushing?" Kariya's red lips twisted into a smirk. "Then the rumors are true then?"
"What rumors?" Shizune took another swallow of her drink, trying to clear her head.
"There are a lot. Pick one. That you and the Godaime Hokage are a bit more than assistant and boss, if you know what I mean… that you've never lain with a man… I could go on." The Suikage seemed pleased with herself. Shizune almost spat into her glass, but settled for a more refined roll of the eyes.
"I assure you, they are not true." Kariya shrugged and wandered off to bask in the attention of a pair of daimyo from Rain. Shizune turned to mutter under breath. "At least, the first one's not true… and who starts those damn rumors anyway…"
She downed the rest of her glass before making her way to her rooms. She opened the door, locking it behind her, before making her way to the balcony. She passed through the open arches of the room out into the overlook, taking in the view. The moon was rising over the Rain country water gardens, whose sound was soft and soothing to her ears. She leaned over the railing, and then readjusted her position as her head lurched.
The moon was playing patterns over the water pools that tumbled in and out of view in the garden, full of lilies, koi, and frogs. There was the soft hum of insects in the night, and she felt her eyes droop for a moment before she stood straight.
She waited, each moment ticking down in her mind. She swayed, stood at a different angle, and then swayed again. She felt lightheaded, confused. She struggled to think back to when the Sound representative had served her drink. Was there something she had missed? Something he had done with a technique to the drink that her poison detection wouldn't catch? Panic was beginning to well up in her throat.
"I thought you didn't drink alcohol." She whirled too quickly, her hand reaching out for purchase that materialized in the form of the traitor's hand. He held it until she steadied herself, then released her.
"I don't. The drink that Sound representative served me had something in it." Kabuto leaned forward, the ANBU mask shining even paler white under the moon.
"Was the drink clear? Like water?" Shizune nodded, only to hear Kabuto chuckling beneath the cold material of his mask. "That's Rain country's biggest ninja export, the water alcohol. How did you not know that?"
Shizune sifted through her mind, looking for the information. Water Alcohol was a substance Konoha did purchase regularly from Amegakure. But it was green.
"You expected them to color dye their own stock?" Kabuto almost read her mind, still chuckling under his breath. "Oh, that's good."
"Just, well…" Shizune put a hand to her head. "Get on with this." Kabuto bent a leg, mocking her. "As you wish."
He stepped closer to her, one hand coming up to clutch at the mask affixed to his face. She stepped backwards a little unsteadily, her hands clutching at the railing behind her for support. Kabuto leaned in closer, the mask slowly coming away from his face. It was familiar, mainly from her dreams of the fight they had been in years earlier. Only then there had been glasses, had been an overt sadism and cruelty. Now, she couldn't read his face.
She was very unprepared, however, for the touch of his lips on hers. She tried to step back, to withdraw, but the stone railing on which she was supporting herself bumped into her back, stopping her retreat. There was a second of panic, almost fear, before she squashed it back down.
She closed her eyes, trying to imagine how this was passing information to her. All it was doing was letting her smell how clean his hair was, how warm her body felt. A small, sharp nip on her bottom lip made her gasp against his mouth, a small second that brought the feel of his tongue, pushing a small capsule of cold metal into her mouth. She tucked it into her cheek, a small pulse of success running through her.
Kabuto broke away, a smug smirk on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shizune couldn't explain why she stopped him, why she took his face in her hands and kissed him back, kissed him again, kissed him hard and fast, with a need she couldn't explain.
She felt him stiffen, then relax beneath fingers that clasped at his clothes, grasped for him. Felt his hands, cold, cold, hands running through her hair, across the silk of her dress, her hot, burning skin. Felt the need to breathe, but didn't want to stop kissing him. And she descended into the night quicker than she thought.
Shizune was awakened the next morning by sunlight streaming in through her open windows. She stretched, her hand hitting the headboard. She reached out with her fingers, feeling the cool touch of steel capsule to reassure herself that the information that would lead Konoha to victory was still there. The feel of silk sheets against her mostly bare skin was what first alerted her to something out of the ordinary. She turned over in bed, hand coming into contact with the still warm hollow where a person had been sleeping. Her breathing quickened.
She smelled sweat and sex on the sheets, along with the barest hint of alcohol. She sat bolt upright, the sheets falling down to puddle at naked feet. A quick glance of the rooms affirmed what she was beginning to remember.
A chair was on its side, the sheets rumpled and… not clean. Shizune tried to stifle a scream of dismay into her pillow. She closed her eyes, remembering sweat and moans, lowered inhibitions, Kabuto, kissing Kabuto, sleeping with Kabuto. Shizune quickly grabbed the metal capsule and dressed, preparing to return to Konoha. She could panic later.
As for now, all the pieces were in place.