Thank you, thank you very much for those who support my writing. I haven't gotten many reviews, but that's okay. I must say, I've gotten over 600 hits on this story! That makes me very happy indeed! But anyways, Thank You All for reading this (or whatever it is that you do), and Thank You All to those who've reviewed. I'm betting that some of those that have read this are also the authors of some of the fics that I've read. Good work to you all!

Now, back to the Author's Note...

My drawing of Rev is almost complete, TAKS tests at school are DONE with, I have two new pets (a mouse and ANOTHER lovebird named Freddy), and now, Chappy Five is up and running. Chapter Six is under beggining headway.

What's up in this chappy? Well, it gets really gooey for a while, but don't worry, it turns around quickly enough. After all, doesn't Gaara get to have some fun?

Oh, there's a little 'cliffhanger' that'll have you just begging for the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but, I have owned and will again own Gaara, Orochimaru, Kimmimaru, Neji, both Uchiha brothers, and a couple of others in my dreams. Several of them all at once. I have very, very nice dreams.

Chapter 5

Orochimaru held his sleepy lover firmly to his chest and stroked the fine blood red hair that lay beneath his open hand. What Gaara had said, what he had told Orochimaru, was shocking. Orochimaru was at a loss of word and thought. Never in all of his life had he heard anything like those horrible, stuttering words that were uttered from between Gaara's full, trembling lips. Even at some time in his life, Orochimaru had had friends. He had people who were willing to love him, even if he had never truly appreciated the fact.

Gaara stirred against him and he clutched the younger man more tightly. If only he could fix Gaara's horrid past…Never had Orochimaru felt so unable. He shut his gilded eyes and rocked himself and Gaara as he sat, a silent and comforting presence.

Even in the worst of situations, Orochimaru now truly realized how sheltered a life he had lived compared to Gaara. No one would have dared to lay a hand upon him. He had never experienced true hunger; hunger had only been the result of long meditations, following which he would eat at free will. He had never really wanted friends nor cared what others thought of him. He had never felt alone. All his life, he had been blind to the suffering of others, primarily because he was not suffering himself.

This revelation lead to another conclusion. All the things that he had ever done against others…Had his reasons for them not taken into calculation this blindness? Never had he once thought a whit about these things until Gaara's past had brought them forth and shoved them into his disbelieving conscious.

Orochimaru looked down at Gaara, who stayed awake purely by a sheer act of will. It had been such a long, revealing night for his beautiful angel. Gaara's long-lashed eyes would slowly drift shut before fluttering open in an attempt to keep conscious, only to coast downwards again.

"Gaara, I feel that I would be nothing without you. Is this what you want of me? I think back upon my entire life  and something within me begins to ache and pressure me so…" Orochimaru lamented, his ebony hair shifting to flow down in front of him as he tilted his head upwards. "It hurts  so badly it hurts. But it is so different from what you describe to me. What is this feeling? Do you know?" Orochimaru placed a hand to his bleached breast and probed with his fingers at the place that that horrible throbbing seemed to emanate from. He could not understand what pained him so.

Gaara roused himself away from the threat of slumber for a moment and laid his flat palm beside Orochimaru's. Something was different…He rested his head against Orochimaru's cool, muscular side and felt his lover's other hand come up to cup his head. He listened for several long moments, but just before he would have pulled away, he heard something flutter and lurch within the other. He paused. Again it happened. And again. And again. And he realized it for what it was. Orochimaru's still, cold, black snake-heart had begun to beat. He looked up, his head still pressed to Orochimaru's smooth skin, and stared with wide eyes into Orochimaru's confused ones.

Kabuto pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and studied what lay on the ground, gasping and trembling before him. His calm eyes roamed over the other's reddened, blood-streaked body. Kimimaru's skin was a brilliant patchwork of bleeding spirals and abstract kanji that Kabuto, the artist himself, had carved into it.

Too bad it cannot stay there forever to advertise my artistic ability, Kabuto thought. Before I let him go, I will have to heal them all away. He sighed, although a hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"Kimimaru." Kabuto called wryly. Kimimaru raised his weary head in answer, causing Kabuto to smile faintly again. "Our time here is almost up. A pity that you cannot stay here with me forever, but I will make the best of what short moments are cast my way." Kabuto strolled over and knelt upon one knee in front of his subject's prone form. This would be only his second night to truly have Kimimaru lying subject before him. Before could only be child's play compared to these last two nights of beautiful subordination from Kimimaru.

Kabuto lifted one almost delicate hand to cup Kimimaru's chin in its outstretched fingers. The other reached out to grasp Kimimaru's wrist and pull it up to rest in his grip palm-up between them. Kimimaru's aquamarine eyes flickered over to stare at his upraised palm. Seared into the flesh of it was the detailed imprint of a running white wolf. He knew without looking that its twin resided upon the flat of his other hand. This was the symbol Kabuto had taken for himself, in favor of the creature's great intellect and cunning nature. He could feel the livid scar that was Kabuto's name engraved in welted flesh across the expanse of his broad chest. By morning, all the other wounds and marks will have been erased; all but these three.

This is what I want, isn't it? This is what I have wanted for myself; to be subject to another's will. Is this what I bargained for, he thought mildly. The metaphorical bargaining coin still lies upon the table. It is not too late to go back upon the deal. But do I want to, Kimimaru asked of himself.

Kimimaru lifted his head again and gazed into Kabuto's calm, masterful eyes and knew the answer. Somehow, he felt love for this man in the almost the sickest way that it could be. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in acquiescence and waited to be healed for the next night's session.

Gaara reclined in the comfort of Orochimaru's pale arms with his back pressed against his lover's chest, his body lax with its muscles loosed in relaxation. The lazy night air seemed to drift sluggishly over his exposed skin, bringing a chill that was vaguely reminiscent of the cool air that gusted outside the paneled windows.

The dimness that had spread through the room as the fire reduced itself to coals was silently welcome to Gaara's pale green eyes, especially since it was no hindrance to his night vision. His eyes roamed the shadowed reaches of the bedchamber with their partly-lidded gaze. Finally, his wandering gaze alighted upon the sleeping form of Orochimaru.

Gaara grinned in a cheeky manner after a sudden thought and extended an arm to jab Orochimaru rudely in the ribs. The immediate reaction was feeling the snake sannin jerk himself into a tight ball. After a moment, he uncurled enough to cast a glare at Gaara that should have singed the younger man to a crisp. Fortunately, Orochimaru's glare lacked any true fire starting ability, and Gaara was therefore saved from what would have been an inevitable roasting.

After a few moments of glaring silence, Orochimaru closed his eyes and grumbled a bit before rolling over and burying his face in the blankets.

"Mmmph…"

"Orochimaru…"

"Mmmph…"

"Orochimaru…" Gaara's finger poked at the sore spot on Orochimaru's ribs, eliciting a weak reaction from his victim's arm. "Fine. Then have it my way."

Orochimaru laid still for a moment before a muffled "What?" came from him. Gaara smiled. This was going to be so fun. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Orochimaru's prone form.

"Oh, nothing…" Gaara's lips twitched into a smirk. "Nothing much at all." Orochimaru raised his front half up onto his elbows and glanced over his shoulder to give Gaara a quizzical look.

Unnoticed by Orochimaru, Gaara had taken an arm out from around Orochimaru and slowly reached over to grab a red silk sash that had been lying half-under a pillow. Now he brought it up slowly out of Orochimaru's sight, so as to avoid notice, and held it ready by his lover's arms. It was easily done because Orochimaru was still staring at him.

As Orochimaru started to turn his head away, Gaara raised the sash in one fluid motion and wound it around Orochimaru's wrists and arms, knotting it tightly several times.

"What the  !" Orochimaru gaped, his reaction a touch late to stop Gaara from adding his ankles into the bind with another sash that he tied the loose end of to the first binding. "What the hell are you doing!" he demanded.

"Nothing." responded Gaara in a completely unconcerned manner. "Much…" he tagged on, a bit belatedly, as he fiddled with the bonds to ensure their security.

Orochimaru frowned as Gaara yanked on the part of the sash that was looped about his arms.

"What exactly are you planning?" He asked in a more civil tone. He was rewarded with a chaste kiss on his jaw.

"I can't let you be on top all of the time." Gaara confided. "Now it's my turn to have a little fun." Orochimaru grimaced, causing Gaara to laugh a little. "Don't worry. You'll like it after a little while."

With that, he grabbed the belt that he usually affected as a part of his dress and straddled Orochimaru's thighs, leaning back to bring the stiff leather whistling down.

So, that's it for now. I'm already working on Chapter Six, but it'll be a couple of days to a week, or longer, before I get it done and up here. Orochimaru gets a taste of his own medicine, most likely prompted by that porno Gaara had been watching...(Just to let you know, there'll probably be more porno watching sessions on Orochimaru's TV. I've got all sorts of ideas.) All right, now I'm going to work on Chapter Six. Please review. It gives me something to gloat about.