Here is the final upload for the night. I feel better about myself if I end the uploads on current time instead of flashback, lol. Just feels like the story has more momentum.
Enjoy. 8D_
Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept
Chapter Fourteen – Sharp Containment
"He needs to go back to his village immediately. He can't stay here."
"He can't be transported in his condition, Ibiki. He needs to stay."
"You remember what you just told us, don't you Kakashi? He can't stay here. His team needs to drop from the exams and–"
"NO!" Kakashi slammed his fist onto the table in front of him, making everybody in the room except the Hokage jump. The Jounin was not one for outward acts of anger, but his single eye continued to blaze as he resumed speaking. "He needs to stay here. He and his team need to stay in the exams. Sending them off because we're afraid will not help them. We need to know why Orochimaru wants Sasuke Terranova. Why not someone from our village? Why a foreigner? Why these exams? What does he want with that boy? You think sending them off is going to be better for them? Their village can't protect them more than we can. The knowledge they have of Orochimaru is only from tales and stories and legends. We know what he's capable of. We know what he may or may not be prepared to do. Sasuke and his team are safest here. Until we know what Orochimaru really wants, they need to stay."
Everyone looked to the Hokage silently for confirmation. After a moment, he nodded.
"I agree with Kakashi," he stated simply, and everyone seemed to sigh and take a step back from their defensive positions with the words. "The trip back to their homeland alone will make them more vulnerable to Orochimaru, and the boy is not fit to travel in his condition." He opened his eyes, remembering the fierce battle he had watched in his crystal ball. "I know perfectly well why Orochimaru may want the boy, but that not be the reason why he actually does. Sasuke Terranova has way too much power than he should. The other two on his team pale in comparison, and yet they're able to control him. We need them here. Not just to protect them, but to find out more. The Village Hidden in the Mist has never sent such incredible prospects before. Something has changed. And we should find out what." The Hokage nodded. "Keep them here. Have someone watch the child at all times. We will not continue the exams until he is fit to resume them himself."
Just then another ninja burst through the door to the meeting, exclaiming,
"Hokage-sama! There's a tiger, I tried to stop it–"
"Let it go where it wishes. She's Sasuke's pet."
The Hokage stood as another man entered the room, all but shoving the other ninja aside.
"Ah, Zabuza. Good to see you've come so quickly."
"I arrived as soon as I was told," he replied, the scarf wrapped around his lower jaw. His sword wasn't present, but everyone knew he had the power to summon it to his person on a whim. Kakashi in particular eyed him in something akin to distrust. Probably very understandably. "I just left my student. Seems he's stable enough."
"We've patched him up; he'll be fine in time" Kakashi replied before the Hokage could speak. "Zabuza, I never got the chance to ask. What changed your mind? I figured a man such as yourself liked the terror-filled life of a criminal."
Zabuza's eyes crinkled a little bit, but no one could tell if he was smiling or scowling. His reply sounded pleasant enough,
"Don't be fooled; I'm still a criminal," he stated, almost in amusement. "It's been four years since our little tussle, Kakashi. Don't tell me you're still sour about being trapped. In a bubble."
Kakashi scowled slightly from behind the mask.
"You killed the last remaining Uchiha this village had. My student. He was ten years old, and you slaughtered him like he was a fully-fledged adult."
Anko's lips pursed at the obvious hostility from Kakashi's person, and the Hokage looked on sadly, knowing perfectly why Kakashi was getting so defensive.
Poor Naruto wasn't the only one that took the Uchiha's death harder than he should have...
"Relax, Kakashi," Zabuza responded easily, looking completely guiltless. "There's another one out there, from what I hear. You just have to convince the insane clan-killing psycho to come back and start having sex with all the women who aren't afraid to die. Yeah, we'll see how that turns out." He shrugged. "The world is better off without Uchihas. They were all a bit crazy, from what I've heard."
"Interesting, though," Anko quipped, making Zabuza raise an eyebrow at her. "How interesting it is that your boy is named Sasuke too." Zabuza chuckled.
"Well, Sasuke is quite the common name. Everyone wishes their little boy will one day hold the same greatness as an ancient samurai-turned-king."
Anko's eyes sharpened.
"Must make you think about the boy you killed every day."
"Anko," Ibiki snapped irritably. "We are not here to interrogate the man. He has been officially proclaimed a teacher for the Village Hidden in the Mist. Therefore we must treat him with the same respect as we do all other teachers. I can't believe you would-"
"I do think about him." The admission made Ibiki stop short, and everyone turned their attentions back to Zabuza. The man's eyes were something close to expressionless, but not quite, as he spoke. "He put up quite the fight, for a little squirt. He had a lot of potential. A lot of heart. But then I pinned him up against a tree, and shoved my sword right through his gut, and he looked at me with such hatred in his eyes." His gaze went to Kakashi, whose fingers had curled into tight fists to keep from tearing the man's throat out. "He told me that it couldn't end this way. That he had a mission. A job to do. Revenge, he told me. He had to avenge his family. That was his mission." Zabuza grinned from beneath the scarf. "And then I told him that revenge was stupid, and if that was his mission, then he most certainly failed. And then he died, pinned to that tree. I wish you could've seen it." Zabuza's eyes seemed to twinkle. "My student reminds me of that day, every day. And I'm glad for it. Because it was beautiful. Touching, really."
Before Kakashi could make for Zabuza's heart, a voice came from the stairwell.
"I knew I heard you bragging about something petty, Zabuza-sensei."
Everyone looked over to see Sasuke, bare-chested and chest heavily wrapped in bandages as he leaned equally heavily onto Dagina's broad back, the creature purring nonstop. Patches of fur were missing, and bandages covered those bare patches, and she had a mild limp, but the tiger seemed to sustain no lasting injuries from her brawl with the snakes. Zabuza moved before Kakashi could, moving to the teen's side.
"Sasuke, you're all right."
"For now," Sasuke replied pleasantly, looking up at Zabuza with childlike affection as he gingerly touched the bandages. "The nails weren't poisoned, at least."
"How did you find this room?" Ibiki demanded as everyone else looked on in awe. Kakashi, however, couldn't get over Sasuke's words.
Petty. He thought in numb shock. He said 'petty'.
"My baby," Sasuke replied, rubbing his hand affectionately along Dagin's flank as he managed to stand unassisted, the animal never leaving his side. "She told me that my teacher had visited me but left, so I told her to take me to him." His eyes moved to absorb the guarded expressions of everyone in the room. "I assume you're talking about my fate, then?" He asked calmly, completely unsurprised. "And I also assume you've decided that I'm to stay?" He smiled, nodding. "Good. I fully agree."
"How did you know?" Anko asked in awe. This kid can't be THAT sharp.
Sasuke's smile broadened.
"Being a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist has a lot more to deal with politics than I'll care to admit," he stated simply. "The fact is that a dangerous man that you want dead has expressed an interest in me, which means he'll likely show up again to finish the job, giving you an opportunity to finish him. So… with that comes the decision that sending me away is stupid. At least while I'm here you can keep an eye on me and try to figure out what Orochimaru's true motive is. As already stated, I approve. I'm tired of chasing cats." The last little bit had a sharp tint of bitterness to it.
"What the hell did that beast do to you?" Zabuza growled suddenly as he jerked Sasuke's right shoulder a little bit more forward so he could take a good look at the left one. Sasuke allowed his teacher to manipulate him without a murmur of protest, though he did wince when Zabuza ran a finger along the angry purple and red mark.
"Ah, Sensei…" he pouted. "It's still tender."
Zabuza's hand immediately flinched away, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the action as everyone else was still stuck on the fact that, yeah, this kid was that sharp.
"That's what he did to you?" Zabuza asked, scowling. "As if stabbing you five time wasn't enough?"
"Well, the stabbing was actually after the biting me. Which was before the me biting him back," Sasuke corrected dryly, making Zabuza grin lopsidedly behind the scarf. "So I'm pretty sure the getting stabbed five times was purely my fault."
"Good boy," he stated in pride, turning his student so that he could squat down and run a hand across his bloodstained bandages. "Looks like these are healing as well." He clapped Sasuke on the uninjured shoulder. "You should be good soon."
"Has the Curse Mark done anything besides sting?" Kakashi asked, making Sasuke look up at him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"It throbs too," the teen replied wryly. "And pulses. And burns. You know. All that unpleasant stuff. What do you mean?"
"Has it changed color? Spread?" Kakashi clarified. Sasuke shook his head.
"Not since it was initially placed. Which I'm assuming was about seven hours ago, considering the lack of daylight." He turned back to the adults. "Where's my team? And why has it taken so long to start talking about this? I figured deciding what to do with a world-class criminal would be more important than doing laundry or sorting the mail."
"Watch yourself, brat," Ibiki snarled. "You're in the presence of the Hokage."
"And he is not my Hokage," Sasuke replied with almost equal menace. "I just got stabbed. What's your excuse? Besides the lack of a good plastic surgeon?" At his feet, Dagina growled loudly, and everyone could tell by the way Zabuza was standing that he sided with his student.
"We've been trying to find Orochimaru," the Hokage admitted, immediately breaking the tension. "He doesn't just decide anything. The fact that he chose a member of another village tells us he's been watching you for a very long time. Probably a few years. But the fact that he decided to strike during the exams instead of on your way here when you were more vulnerable tells us something else entirely. His goal isn't just you, but something else with the village. He must have spies here that are feeding him information. We were trying to find those spies and hopefully find out why Orochimaru wants you."
"But you didn't succeed," Sasuke answered simply, a statement, not a question. Hokage shook his head, and smiled a little.
"If we did, we wouldn't have had the previous conversation," he responded tiredly. "Whoever they are, they're very good."
"So… what now?" Sasuke asked tentatively. Kakashi sighed, standing up straight from where he had been leaning against the wall.
"Tomorrow, we're going to contain that Curse Mark," he stated. "It reacts to emotions, specifically negative ones. It's the way Orochimaru hopes to gain control over you. It's said that's the mark he uses to identify his prodigies to the rest of his people." Out of the corner of Sasuke's eye, he saw Anko shift uncomfortably. "The more negative emotions you feel, the more powerful that mark becomes. It comes with its own type of Chakra, part of Orochimaru's own being; something that's designed to take control of the host's Chakra and use it to take control of the host. The angrier or more hateful you get, the more powerful it will become, and the more you will become Orochimaru's slave. We need to seal away both the Curse Mark and the Chakra it emits. Even if you have perfect control of your emotions, just letting it sit there will eventually poison you enough to make you lose that control, and thus lose yourself."
"Sounds lovely," Sasuke replied, a wry scowl on his face. "How would we do that?"
"Have you heard of the great Tailed Demons?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.
"Obviously," he answered. "They're the most feared spirits on the face of the planet."
"It will be similar to sealing one of those away in a person," Kakashi explained. "We'll need to do it as soon as possible."
"Like right now?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi blinked in surprise.
"Um, well, it doesn't have to be right now, but-"
"I would like it to be, if we're done here." The expression on Sasuke's face was of utmost seriousness. "The sooner the better, right?"
"Are… are you up for it?" Kakashi asked. "It's going to be painful, and will most certainly aggravate your wounds."
"Pain is speculative," Sasuke replied crisply in dismissal. "What do I need to do?"
Kakashi blinked, still absorbing this, and then nodded.
"Follow me," he stated simply, moving to the door. Sasuke moved to follow him, and so did Zabuza and Dagina, but then Kakashi clarified, "just you."
Zabuza glared at Kakashi in utmost rage, but Sasuke turned to him and touched his wrist softly.
"I'm sure I'm in good hands, Sensei," he breathed softly to his teacher, his mentor, his father. "Don't worry about me." Then he kneeled down, using Dagina for help, and snuggled the girl, running his fingers through the animal's fur on her cheeks as he nuzzled her face with his. "You have to stay with Sensei, okay my dear?" She whined, licking his face. He kissed the fur right above her nose. "I'll be back soon."
Zabuza took his hand, helping Sasuke back up into a stand, and the teenager gave him one last smile before nodding acknowledgement to everyone else in the room before turning and following Kakashi out the door.
End Chapter Fourteen – Sharp Containment
I wish I could give you the next chapter, but I can't, seeing as how I don't have the next flashback written yet. :''D
Please review? I always love hearing what you think!
Much love!
DDB
