Chapter 7

A Glimmer of Hope Amidst Pain

Kakashi wasn't sure of much at the moment…but there was one thing that was crystal clear to him...once he was loose of his restraints, he would take great pleasure in killing Kabuto Yoshiko.

The boy had gone to great lengths to make certain every 'sample' he collected was done so in the most painful way possible. His body was not scarred in any way to the naked eye...but that had more to do with the fact Kabuto used his medical knowledge and healing chakra to erase all signs of the damage once he was finished. But Kakashi knew, all too well, that those injuries were far from healed below the skin.

Breathing was enough to cause a flare of pain all along his back where the white-haired boy harvested strips of his skin for testing. Meanwhile, his muscles and ligaments throughout his body were still contracting in protest to the various items which had pierced his flesh to provide the deranged medic more samples. Kakashi doubted Orochimaru needed as many samples as the bastard had pulled from his body, but that didn't seem to deter the lackey from marking as much of his body as he could.

Kakashi's hope of staying in his shirt and pants throughout the process disappeared almost the moment Orochimaru left the room. Kabuto had nearly pounced on him and proceeded to cut away all his clothing. Now, in the aftermath of the humiliation and extractions, Kakashi felt a cold desire to crush Kabuto's thick neck in his bare hands. Nothing less would give him the level of satisfaction he'd need to erase what the boy had done to him from his memory.

Not for the first time, Kakashi wondered what the hell he was thinking when he'd given up so easily to Kabuto and Sasuke. He'd known that this exact scenario would be the likely result of that capture, but still, something deep inside him had overruled the logical part of his mind and let the young men close enough to obtain him.

Kakashi sighed and tried his best to sort the conflicting emotions in his mind out. He had to admit, to himself at least, that seeing his former student again stirred something in his mind and heart which he'd almost forgotten during his time with the Akatsuki. As idiotic as it sounded, he felt the desperate urge to save Sasuke...even after all this time.

Longing to help the boy, in turn, sent his thoughts in the direction of the remaining members of Team Seven...back in Konoha. What had happened to Sakura and Naruto since he left? Were they still continuing their training? Were they even aware he was still alive? Or did they know he'd joined the Akatsuki?

Kakashi frowned at that thought. What would Naruto think when he found out his former Sensei was now one of the bastards hunting him down? Or would Tsunade and the others keep the information to themselves?

As strange as it seemed to him, he'd grown attached to the three genin. He just hadn't realized it until now, when he had the time to think it through. There were others in the village that held a piece of his heart too. Others who were there throughout the trials that had formed him into who he was today. Asuma Sarutobi was always there with a joke to ease the tension after a mission gone bad. Raidou was the one to show him the best ways to train when wanting to block all thoughts of the outside world out...a secret that man learned while recovering from the injuries that left his face so scarred. Meanwhile, Genma had shown him the facade of the pervert was sometimes the easiest way to gain information that otherwise might stay hidden. Hell, even Gai had managed to help build up his stamina and quick thinking with every annoying challenge the man had thrown at him over the years.

Kakashi closed his eyes under the weight of something he'd managed to ignore throughout Itachi and the Akatsuki's reprogramming. Yes, Konoha had treated him unfairly...had used him as a tool to be discarded...but others within Konoha had helped to create what was at the very core of him. The man who existed underneath all the superficial layers of shinobi rules, laws, and missions was the product of people he was beginning to recognize were his friends.

That was something Itachi had made him think didn't exist for him back in Konoha. The Uchiha went out of his way to show him how time and time again he was abandoned, dismissed, betrayed...but now, thinking with a far clearer head, Kakashi saw that the sharingan-wielder went to great pains to ignore the many times Konoha and her shinobi brought him back from the brink and nursed his body and soul with its warmth. How it was his core group of friends who made sure he was bandaged, fed and tended to after returning from any number of harrowing missions. How they trusted him with their lives and secrets off the battlefield, as much as on. How he could always count on any one of them to be willing to go for a drink or just sit quietly on the rooftops of the Village on a summer's evening.

The ring on his hand throbbed painfully when he finally saw that his thoughts against Konoha were just a manipulation of the facts, and the certainty of that knowledge caused Kakashi more pain then all of the torture Kabuto could have put him through. How could he have thought to go against those people?

The big question now was what the hell he was going to do with that newly found knowledge. He opened his eyes and looked around at the others chained to the wall. For a moment he wondered if any of them had similar epiphanies during their ordeals in this room. Kakashi's eyes fell on a man hanging by his wrists from chains embedded in the ceiling. His dark honey-brown hair fell in a disheveled sheet that covered his features. His body was covered with bruises and cuts, and there were dark markings covering most of the skin. Kakashi forced his eyes to focus a bit more and he realized those markings were words and diagrams...as though Orochimaru was keeping his notes relating to this particular experiment on the man's skin instead of paper.

Something about him looked familiar...and he wondered if this was someone he knew. Kakashi tried to move in his bonds, tried to get a better look at who the man was, but the chains only let him move just so far. Still, he'd made enough noise that it seemed to rouse the young man from his slumber. A groan escaped the man's lips and Kakashi was able to see him twist in his confines until his body turned to allow him to look up. This allowed Kakashi to see two things, both of which caused his breath to catch in his throat.

The first was the tattoo on the man's upper left arm – the mark of the ANBU. The second was a pair of dark brown eyes that glared at him. Recognition hit him harder than any of Kabuto's tests had.

"Genma..." The name slipped past his lips before he had a chance to think better of it.

"Hatake." That single word was laced with so much anger and hurt that Kakashi actually flinched from it.

"When...how did they get you?"

Genma's mouth twisted into a grimace. "We were looking for you...and found Orochimaru."

Kakashi's eyes went wide. "We? Who was with you?"

Genma laughed...a bitter, grating sound. "Does it matter, Hatake?"

Kakashi growled and pulled against his chains. "Of course it matters, dammit! Are they here too?"

Genma tried to laugh again, but it turned into a lung rattling coughing attack instead. When he finally stopped choking, his breath was rasping through his throat. Kakashi saw blood on the man's lips as he forced words out of his mouth. "They killed Izumo and Iwashi last week."

Kakashi closed his eyes. "What the hell was Tsunade thinking sending you after me?"

Genma spat blood onto the floor and whispered into the silence that followed his question. "She was thinking that you were worth saving you idiot."

Kakashi snapped open his eyes and stared back at the jonin. "What did you say?"

Before he could get an answer the door opened and Orochimaru walked in. Both men tensed in their chains and said nothing more. The snake bastard crossed over to Genma first and Kakashi had to keep himself from pulling against the chains when he grabbed the dark hair in his fist and pulled his head back.

"Still alive, Genma? How surprising. Perhaps I'll have Kabuto administer something new tonight to change that."

Kakashi smiled slightly as Genma spat blood at Orochimaru along with his words. "Go to hell, you son of a bitch!"

Orochimaru released the hair and backhanded the man, causing him to spin in his chains. "Temper, Mr. Shiranui. You wouldn't want to set a bad example for Kakashi now, would you?"

With that said, Orochimaru turned his attention towards him. Kakashi did his best to remain unaffected by the Sannin, but he couldn't keep the goosebumps from forming on his bare skin when the leering man slid his cold hands along his body.

"Ah, I see that Kabuto kept his word and didn't leave you marked. Excellent. That will make it all the more satisfying when I make the first cut."

Kakashi said nothing, choosing to glare instead. Orochimaru laughed and grabbed him by the chin. "I never did understand why you chose to cover so perfect a face. I suppose that the world owes the Akatsuki their thanks for making you take off that ridiculous mask."

Kakashi tensed at mention of the Akatsuki. "What do you want with me, Orochimaru?"

The Sannin grinned. "What's wrong, Kakashi? Don't you appreciate my hospitality? After all...I thought you were bored?"

"Kabuto took care of that earlier."

The hand on his chin slid down to circle Kakashi's throat. "Oh, but that, my dear Copy Ninja, was just the appetizer. You and I have a long night ahead of us. After all, I've been practicing for weeks just in the hopes of your arrival."

"Leave him alone, you bastard!" Genma's voice was strained.

Orochimaru's grin stretched into a full smile and he chuckled. "No. I don't think I'll do that just yet, Genma. Not when there is so much that I want to learn about this man. Like just what it is about him that elicits such devotion from a shinobi of the very village he betrayed."

Orochimaru's eyes met Kakashi's and narrowed. "Well then, my pet, would you care to enlighten me on the topic?"

"No."

Orochimaru released his neck and turned toward the table in the center of the room. "There's really no point in being difficult, Kakashi. You'll supply the answers in the end. They always do."

Kakashi growled. "I wouldn't count on it if I were you."

Orochimaru turned back toward him with a syringe in one hand and a scalpel in the other. "They all say that Kakashi...at first."