Orochimaru woke up in Kabuto's arms.
A fire crackled in front of them, and Orochimaru could feel the warmth emanating from it. Kabuto's body was warm as well, and comforting to Orochimaru, who was feeling a little crushed from his recent encounter with the Akatsuki.
"Finally awake?"
Orochimaru opened his eyes and noticed it was after sunset: the sky was pitch black, and a handful of brightly shining stars were strewn haphazardly across the blanket of darkness. Orochimaru nodded and tried to sit up, whimpering at the pain and falling back into Kabuto's lap.
"Shhhhhh, just stay quiet for a few minutes," Kabuto murmured, stroking his hair. Orochimaru could feel as he moved the bandages wrapped around his arms, and the ointment smeared across his many wounds. There were bandages in different places all across his body, and Orochimaru suspected that not all of these wounds were from being kicked.
"Kabuto…"
Kabuto shushed him again, but Orochimaru shook his head. "No, what…what happened?"
Kabuto sighed and moved Orochimaru so he was sitting upright against Kabuto's shoulder. "Well, you may as well know. Itachi went for the ring, so naturally I tried to get it back. I did, but a few stray kunai hit you. I didn't have much chakra left at that point, so I could only heal the worst of your wounds and treat the rest."
Orochimaru suddenly panicked. The ring-had the Akatsuki gotten it? If they had, he was in for it, he really was-
"Don't worry," Kabuto said quickly. He must have sensed my heart speed up… "The ring is right here."
Kabuto pulled the ring out of his kunai pouch and handed it to Orochimaru. "Is this the one?" Orochimaru studied it closely-yes, there it was: the telltale scratch directly through the middle. He had put it there himself as a safety measure, a way to tell the real one from the many decoys he had scattered around. The scratch itself was very faint, and only someone who knew it was there could pick it out. Orochimaru nodded and slipped the ring into his own kunai pouch.
"And…my hand…?"
Kabuto shook his head. "I'm sorry Orochimaru-sama, but I had to destroy it. I knew that if it fell into the Akatsuki's hands, there would utilize certain jutsus that could-"
"I know." Orochimaru hated how harsh and bitter his voice sounded-Kabuto probably thought he did something wrong now…
"O-Orochimaru-sama…? …I-I didn't do anything wrong…did I…? I pleased you…didn't I…?"
Orochimaru nodded and slid his arms around Kabuto's shoulders. "Of course you did, Kabuto," he whispered. "I would have done the same in your situation. You made the best choice anyone could have possibly made in that situation, and I am very proud of you. The way you rescued me…Kabuto, that was brilliant."
Kabuto smiled; just a little, but it was still a real smile, the first one Orochimaru had seen in a long time from the boy. "Really?"
Orochimaru nodded and buried his face in Kabuto's neck. "Why else would I trust you with my life?"
Kabuto suddenly stiffened. "Oh no-Oh, no…no, no, no, no!!"
"What?"
"The files-my cards-oh God, Orochimaru-sama, I left the-Ooooooooh, everything!! If they stay and strip the base it's over!"
"Kabuto!"
Kabuto stopped abruptly at Orochimaru's sharp voice.
"You hid everything with that jutsu I taught you, right?"
Kabuto slowly nodded.
"And you left nothing out last night?"
"Just an experiment…" Kabuto said slowly. "But it's not huge or significant…only a personal experiment for a poison…antidote…Sasori was there!! Oh no, not Sasori, anyone but Sasori!!" Kabuto cried. "Anyone but Sasori…oh, crap…crap, crap, crap…no, no way!! No, no, no, this can't be happening!! Not my best poison…ruined now!"
Orochimaru sat up. "Kabuto…how important was this poison antidote…exactly…?"
"It's not even hugely important, but it's a poison, and Sasori is the master of poisons. If he has the antidote or the poison, he can make or find the other. It's like a game for him-it's art in his eyes. So if he can figure that out, he can use it against us and that's not good because it's one of my best poisons!!"
By now, the only thing keeping Kabuto relatively still was Orochimaru's weight on his lap, and Kabuto was still frantic. "It's a fantastic poison, and very potent. A single drop injected and allowed to spread for exactly twenty minutes will be fatal!"
Orochimaru sighed. "It's only one, and you have the antidote, right?"
Kabuto slowly nodded. "I brought a cure for just about everything…" He motioned to a bag lying next to him on the ground. "I brought this and another bag-this one is purely medical, and the other is food, water-the like. Enough for three days, I believe."
Orochimaru nodded. "Kabuto, you really are the best."
Kabuto's flicker of a smile crossed his face again for a single fleeting moment. "Thank you. But it's all for you, and I know you deserve far better than me."
"Nonsense!" Orochimaru spat. "I don't deserve you! End of story, child!"
Kabuto sighed. "Well, it's no use fighting you. Whatever. All right, we need to find a new base or chase the Akatsuki out of this one. Which do you want?"
Orochimaru thought for a moment. "Better to move," he said. "We run in, grab what's necessary, and get out, working around the Akatsuki. But of course, we have to do it discreetly, with someone who can double as a spy…"
"Don't look at me," Kabuto said quickly. "I already gave myself up."
Orochimaru sighed. "Well, it's not like I can go back in there," he said. "And your genjutsus are better than mine."
"True, but as an overall ninja, you are better," Kabuto gently reminded him. "And it's easier for me to heal you than it is for me to heal myself."
"But you can," Orochimaru said. "Which is something I cannot do. And I can always help you-bandaging and all. If you tell me what to do, I can make all kinds of potions and icky stuff, you know that well enough!"
Kabuto sighed. "True, you have mad skills with the pot and knife…fine, I'll do it. But I need a good Henge…and you're going to have to help me. I'll dress up as someone and use a genjutsu to alter my physical features. Then, you take out that person from behind, stash him in a closet, and I get my stuff. We should probably go after Zetsu…he's pretty slow, his partner is rarely nearby, and his jutsu arsenal isn't as wide as some other people. His weakness is genjutsu-he's a sucker for it."
"But he uses it in combination with ninjutsu to hide," Orochimaru countered. "I was going to say Hidan since he's the slowest and he has all those stupid rituals he feels so necessary, we could take him out while he's chanting since he's slow, but then again, he can survive driving a spike through his own chest and it barely fazes him, so what would happen if we went to knock him out?"
"We knock him out," Kabuto said, "And then kill him while he's out so he can't do anything about it."
Orochimaru nodded. "We go for Hidan, then. And since you look kind of like him…"
Kabuto nodded. "This may take less genjutsu than I thought. But for now, get some rest," he said, easing Orochimaru down on a blanket he had spread out across the ground. "We'll take turns keeping watch."
Orochimaru nodded. "Thank you. Wake me up when you need to sleep, and make sure it's even. I won't have you staying up most of the night and me doing nothing."
Kabuto smiled. "Oh fine. But only because you'll probably hurt me if I don't."
Orochimaru couldn't argue, and turned over. "Every two hours, so we can complete a full sleep cycle?"
"It's better that way," Kabuto said. "I really hate interrupting the cycles…"
Orochimaru smiled. "Two hours, then. Goodnight."
The last thing he saw was Kabuto lean against a tree trunk, and then he fell into a deep, restless sleep.
OOOOOOOOO
Orochimaru awoke at dawn. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, glinting through the mountains and bouncing off of the runoff streams scattered across the sides of the craggy cliffs, smoothed over with age.
"Kabuto…?"
Orochimaru sat bolt upright, looking for Kabuto. "Kabuto! Kabuto, you bastard you never woke me up-!"
"That's right he didn't. But he couldn't, so try not to be too mad."
Orochimaru froze. That voice…behind him…
Orochimaru's brain was too sluggish this early in the morning to fully process anything other than the fact that he was in immediate danger. Survival instincts began kicking into full gear, and Orochimaru whipped around.
He found himself staring into the face of Akasuna no Sasori.
Orochimaru instantly tried to scramble out of the missing nin's reach, only to be caught and held by a metal tail. "Give me a reason," Sasori whispered, flicking the tip of the tail into Orochimaru's neck. The tip of the tail dripped with poison, and Orochimaru could feel it sliding just past his skin. "Give me a reason, and I swear I will."
Orochimaru gulped and held still. He couldn't exactly escape if he was dead…
"That's better," Sasori purred. "Well, I was waiting for you so I could curse Kabuto again right in front of you, but he was begging and pleading not to be, so I decided not to. He can be really annoying when he wants to be, you know that? So I decided on a better form of torture: watching me torture you!"
Orochimaru sighed. "Great!" he said, falsely cheerful, "and after that, we can go over there and watch grass die!"
"It'll be dying from your blood poisoning it," Sasori growled, tightening his tail around Orochimaru's body. The sannin could feel it crushing several still-sensitive wounds and gasped in pain.
"Oh, come on," Sasori purred, stroking the sides of Orochimaru's face with the tail. "You have such a beautiful voice, don't want to share it with your lover?"
"Which lover?" Orochimaru hissed, and was rewarded with another tightening of the tail. Orochimaru bit his lower lip to keep silent, and blood ran down the corners of his mouth. "Well, you said you were going to-"
"Yes, I know," Sasori muttered. "Speaking of which…"
Orochimaru sighed. "I can't ever keep my mouth shut, can I?"
"No…you can't."
Orochimaru was thrown into a tree and left coughing up blood. He leaned over, feeling slightly nauseous, and before he knew it he had emptied his stomach onto the ground. He simply knelt there for a moment, panting and trying to regain his dignity.
"I've always wondered," Sasori said slowly, releasing the locks on his puppet, "What you're like…Itachi said you were simply divine…"
Sasori slowly exited his puppet, revealing only a tight black shirt and black pants. Orochimaru glanced back and forth; some trick maybe, he could use to escape…?
"Oh, I've taken care of that," Sasori said, pacing towards Orochimaru. "Kabuto is being held by Itachi right now. We're aiming for 'find the ring' but 'what makes Orochimaru scream in pain' is good too."
Orochimaru kept looking around. Discarded puppet, Akatsuki cloak, Sasori's…tail…
That was it! He was out of his puppet and therefore lost most of his defenses and attacks! They had underestimated him for the last time! Orochimaru's hand slipped down to his kunai pouch; it better still be there, it better still be there, it had so better still be there-
The ring slid smoothly onto Orochimaru's last left finger, and Sasori started when he saw Orochimaru' hand behind his back. "What do you think you're gonna pull?"
A smirk crossed Orochimaru's face; not his customary I-killed-you-ha smirk; not his you-suck-I'm-better-than-you smirk; not his Holier-than-thou smirk, and not even his Go-die-in-a-hole smirk: no, this was a completely different smirk, at least to Sasori. This was I'm-smarter-than-you-bastard-now-fuck-off, and it was pissing Sasori off.
"Well? I'm waiting, but I won't be for much longer," Sasori hissed, advancing on Orochimaru. Dear God I hope this works: if she doesn't remember me-
Orochimaru's hands flashed in seals, and Sasori was now charging at him, puppet completely abandoned. Orochimaru formed the last seal, calling upon the bijuu he had captured so many years ago…
A huge, scaled animal leaped forward, streaming from the ring. Its head was long and tapered, flat with two golden eyes slashed by vertical pupils set into the sides. Orochimaru smirked as the last of the snake curled out from the ring in spirit form, revealing the number of tails. The demon became real as it fully exited Orochimaru's ring, and Sasori gaped.
"Six tails?!"
Orochimaru exhaled and leaned back against the tree Sasori had thrown him into. Sasori noticed the snake's purple chakra streaming off its body; just like Orochimaru's…
"You bound it to you?" Sasori asked, backing up a step. The snake was enormous, and, even though he was far away considering, he still wanted to give this creature some extra room. "It's a bijuu, it's either contained in a human or contained in the statue!"
"Screw the statue," Orochimaru scoffed. "And it's not bound, we merely have a contract. A contract with a bijuu, how strange, hm? Well, it's actually much better than a binding, but oh well. We'll discuss that later. At any rate…"
"Your ring says Sora, or Sky," Sasori commented, staring at the snake. "That snake is blue. Is there a link of some sort?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "Want to find out what she looks like on the inside?"
Sasori gulped. "Not really…"
"Then you're going to let Kabuto go," Orochimaru hissed, climbing to his feet. Sora bent her head around and gently pushed Orochimaru up onto her nose.
"Behind my eyes, please," she said. She turned to Sasori and hissed, deadly tongue flickering in and out of her mouth. "And you! Bring me the boy!"
Sasori swallowed hard again and nodded quickly. "Itachi!" he called over his shoulder. "We have a slight change of plans due to a major summoning…"
"What, Manda?" Itachi's voice answered, and Itachi could be seen flickering in and out of shadows. "You know he's not much trouble, you've taken on worse."
"Not as bad as this, now I need Kabuto back."
"Whatever."
Itachi dragged Kabuto forward, despite the teen's efforts to stop him from doing so. "Oh, knock it off," Itachi muttered, smacking Kabuto hard enough for a yelp to escape the genin's throat.
"Stop!" Sasori called back. "Don't hit him, Orochimaru will kill us all! Or rather, his demon snake will."
"Demon?" Itachi queried, stepping out of the tree line, Kabuto still being pulled after him. "Oh…"
"Let him go and all of you step back," Orochimaru ordered. Ah, it feels so good to be back in charge…
Itachi dropkicked Kabuto over to where Orochimaru and Sora were standing. Sora raised her upper body and spat venomously, causing both Akatsuki members to scamper off into the woods again. Sora lowered her head to the ground, allowing Orochimaru to step off and rush to Kabuto's side.
"Kabuto?"
Kabuto looked up into Orochimaru's face. "If these ropes weren't so tight and my chakra wasn't sealed off, I would try to slap you for all you put me through."
Orochimaru couldn't help but laugh as he cut Kabuto's bonds and cast the ropes to the side. Wrists, ankles, and even a frayed rope around his neck-
"Kabuto," Orochimaru said slowly. "What exactly happened?"
Kabuto shrugged as Orochimaru set aside the last piece of rope and pulled Kabuto into his lap. "Nothing much…" he said slowly. "Just the usual. Captured, tortured, whipped, raped-"
"Oh, God, Kabuto!!"
Kabuto smiled and put his arms around Orochimaru's neck. "You're okay, right? Did he hurt you?"
Orochimaru motioned to the discarded puppet lying on the ground. "That answer anything?"
Kabuto nodded, and Orochimaru felt blood smeared across his neck as Kabuto did so. Orochimaru gently pushed him away and turned Kabuto's face, examining the wounds. "No, no, no, don't move," he said quickly when Kabuto flinched away. Kabuto held as still as he could as Orochimaru ran his hands over every inch of his body, taking in the damage and trying to avoid causing Kabuto pain. As Orochimaru neared Kabuto's hips, the boy began to tremble, and as Orochimaru ran his hands over Kabuto's back, Kabuto yelped and slid away, whimpering quietly.
"Shhhhhh, it's okay, come on." Orochimaru extended his arms to Kabuto, offering his embrace again. Kabuto slowly slipped back into the circle of Orochimaru's arms, and Orochimaru gently lifted Kabuto's tattered, bloodstained shirt.
The wounds there shocked him.
Long slashes had been drawn across the skin; abrasions littered the pale canvas of Kabuto's back; lacerations raked Kabuto's back. Orochimaru glanced at the wounds again, and then back at Kabuto's pained, pleading face.
"Kabuto," Orochimaru said slowly. "What happened to you? What did Itachi do?"
"Exactly what he did to you," Kabuto said bitterly. "I saw what he did to you, and I know: he did exactly the same thing. But if you unblock my chakra passageways, I can heal myself."
Orochimaru nodded and set his hands against Kabuto's chest. "Kai!" Kabuto felt chakra passages opening rapidly, and he immediately began healing himself. Orochimaru picked him up and carried him the short distance to Sora, setting Kabuto on her head and climbing up next to him.
"Back to the base," Orochimaru said quietly. "Please."
"I packed your things already," Sora said, motioning to the bundle she had made. It was already next to her, and all Orochimaru had to do was lift it onto her head.
"Thank you," he murmured, and heaved the bundle up behind him. "Go," he whispered, and Sora began slithering slowly through the trees, heading for Otokagure's main base, and Orochimaru's headquarters.
A/N: I had to stop there, otherwise it would be insanely long…but whatever. Finals are coming up, meaning I will have to study, making my updates even later…-rolls eyes- So sorry people, but summer is almost here, and then my updates will be regular again! Hang on!!!