"Orochimaru-sama!!"

Kabuto grabbed Orochimaru's wrist and spun him around to face him. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did anyone attack you?"

Orochimaru stopped Kabuto's torrent of questions with answers. "Kabuto, I'm fine; what are you talking about?"

"Come with me."

Kabuto yanked Orochimaru out of the room. Kimimaro saw this and started after Kabuto.

"Where are you taking him?"

"His room. Come if you want, I don't care."

Kimimaro nodded and tagged along, jogging to keep up with Kabuto's furious pace. Orochimaru was stumbling behind him, trying to keep up as well. Kabuto, however, continued dragging him and paid no attention to Orochimaru's weight behind him. Finally, they reached Orochimaru's room, and Kabuto shoved Orochimaru through the door, dragging Kimimaro through as well. He slammed it closed, pushed Orochimaru to the center of the room, ignoring Kimimaro, and handed Orochimaru a piece of paper. As the sannin reached up and hesitantly took it from Kabuto, Kimimaro saw livid bruises all over Orochimaru's wrist.

"Kabuto!"

Kabuto nodded and gently wrapped his hands around the wrist, noticing Orochimaru's flinches of pain as he did so. He was completely silent, though; Kabuto noticed this as well and was immediately concerned.

Orochimaru's gaze returned to the paper as soon as Kabuto healed his wrist, and Kabuto watched as he read it all through. His golden eyes soon widened in shock, and, as he read down further, they continued to widen.

"Y-You're sure?" he sputtered, staring down at the paper. Kabuto nodded grimly.

"Sasuke wants you dead. Why, I have no idea; but he does."

Kimimaro's hands laced around Orochimaru's waist, and the sannin shoved him away, collapsing onto his bed. Kimimaro could hear his harsh breaths coming in and out of his chest at a rapid pace, and he immediately went to Orochimaru to try to calm him down.

He was harshly slapped away.

Orochimaru leaned forward, putting his face in his hands and shivering. Kabuto gave Kimimaro a look of gratitude for trying, and sat down next to Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru-sama…come here…"

Orochimaru ignored him, instead running his hands through his bangs. Kabuto reached over and put his arms around Orochimaru's shoulders and hips, pulling him closer and eventually into his lap. Orochimaru pushed weakly against Kabuto's hold, but then gave up and fell against Kabuto's shoulder and accepted his hold. Kabuto's hand immediately went to Orochimaru's hair, stroking it back from his face and gently kissing the now-exposed temples. Orochimaru was shaking; it was easy to tell. Kabuto tried to quiet him, but Orochimaru was badly shaken.

"Orochimaru-sama, please-"

"Go away."

Kabuto sighed and called up a handful of green chakra. "Sleep," he whispered, pressing it to Orochimaru's forehead. "Hopefully the stress will be less when you wake up."

Orochimaru felt the world slipping away from him and fought against it; against Kabuto. But the genin only tightened his hold, and a veil of black descended on the world.

OOOOOOOOOO

Kabuto let out a sigh of relief and handed Orochimaru to Kimimaro. "Keep him safe," he whispered, and slipped away, heading for Sasuke's room. He shut the door behind him, locking it and jogging down the hall. He stopped the first Otonin he saw and asked about Sasuke's whereabouts. The ninja said he was last seen in the room where the explosion took place. Kabuto swore harshly and took off, leaving the ninja befuddled and standing in the middle of the hallway.

Kabuto almost ran over Sasuke.

He slammed into the brat full speed, but only Kabuto fell down. He wiped the dust away from his mouth and glared at Sasuke, then stood up and glared at Sasuke again.

"You gonna stand there all day?" Sasuke snapped. Kabuto's glare intensified.

"Just until I get some questions answered."

Sasuke glared back. "What kind of questions?"

"Regarding the attempt on Orochimaru's life."

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know anything."

Kabuto's black eyes narrowed. "That golem was being controlled by you."

Sasuke smiled. "Maybe it was. Maybe you got my brother; our DNA is similar, you know, being brothers and everything. Especially through the Uchiha clan."

Kabuto glowered. "You're going to give me a straight answer or I will castrate you, Sasuke!" he hissed, seizing the front of the Uchiha's shirt and yanking him down to his level. "I will cause you such pain you will feel it every single waking moment of your damned little life! I've cut you a lot of slack so far; but when you try to harm Orochimaru-sama: that's where I draw the line! Now either you give me answers or I will personally disembowel you!!"

Sasuke looked truly scared at Kabuto's outburst, and Kabuto could feel his chakra rising up in panic. He pulled up his own chakra and could feel his eyes turning red. Maybe showing off would make the brat re-think…Sasuke audibly gulped, and Kabuto smirked in victory. Fangs were growing down from the corners of his mouth, and Sasuke began to try to pull away.

"K-Kabuto…put that away, Kabuto, I'm not trying to kill anyone here…"

Kabuto slowly released his bloodline and Sasuke and straightened, still glaring right at Sasuke. "It's time we had a little chat," he hissed. Sasuke seemed reluctant to do so, but he was even more reluctant to have his…parts viciously amputated by Kabuto, so he slowly nodded. Kabuto pulled him into the hallway and immediately started questioning him.

"Alright. The Akatsuki is after Orochimaru; that much you know. They sent Itachi to attack him several times, that you also know. The attacks have gotten more and more subtle and more direct. I want to know what you have to do with it all."

Sasuke shrugged. "I have nothing to do with it. I don't even know how you can connect me back to anything-"

"The hair the person used to control the golem was yours. The golem only responds to the person who's genetic codes are on the wood; therefore, your hair couldn't be used for someone else to control the golem-"

Sasuke shook his head. "Are you sure it was a golem and not a puppet?"

Kabuto nodded. "If it was a puppet, I would have seen the chakra strings. And the person would still be close by; puppets can only be controlled from a certain number of feet away. Golems have limitless range."

"Hmmmm…" Sasuke seemed confused.

"But, Itachi can control puppets using a hair for miles away; he says it's his secret how he does it."

Kabuto's eyes widened. "Orochimaru-sama…the ring…the hand…oh my God, the hand!!"

Kabuto bolted away, leaving Sasuke just like the Otonin from earlier: befuddled and standing alone.

OOOOOOOOOO

Kabuto ran down to the lab. He had hidden the hand and locked the cabinet it was in, but he hadn't counted on intruders from the Akatsuki. But who were they? What did they want with Orochimaru? Well, that at least was easy to answer: they wanted the ring. But still…

The cabinet Orochimaru's original hand was in was completely splintered; it was hanging open, and a small note was stuck to the door. Kabuto picked it up and read it.

"Gotcha," he murmured, reading out loud, "We've got the hand now, and we know of just about every jutsu in the world we can use with it. We're probably just going to kill Orochimaru, but Itachi, being the teenager, is chock full of hormones, anyway. It'll be a nice outlet for him…instead of Kisame. So, either give us the real ring or it's curtains for the bitch."

Kabuto dropped the paper, went to the sink in the corner, and was violently sick.

OOOOOOOOO

Kimimaro held Orochimaru in his arms, wondering when Kabuto would be back. He had been gone for an hour now…

Kabuto burst through the door, a small piece of paper clutched in his hands. "Is Orochimaru-sama alright?!"

Kimimaro nodded, and handed Kimimaro the paper. He pulled Orochimaru into his lap and gently woke him while Kimimaro read. Kimimaro's face was swiftly turning green, and he got up and left the room. Kabuto could hear retching from the next room and sighed. Yes, it was certainly sick…

Orochimaru reached up and wound his arms around Kabuto's neck. Kabuto kissed him, swift and soft, but enough for Orochimaru to know he was there.

Kimimaro came back, looking angry beyond belief, and thrust the paper at Kabuto.

"It makes me sick; absolutely sick," he muttered, sitting down again and shaking his head. "Whose handwriting?"

Kabuto glanced at the paper. "Looks kind of like Hidan's…"

Orochimaru shrugged. "Something I would expect from Hidan…"

Kabuto glanced back down at the paper. "I think they're serious…" he murmured. "Otherwise, why would they leave this so…eloquently, how about?"

Orochimaru let out a shuddering sigh and fell into Kabuto's chest again, shivering. Kabuto stroked his hair, quieting him down and keeping him firmly in the circle of his arms.

"I'm here…shhhhhh, it's okay…"

Orochimaru, though, seemed unconvinced. But even so, he allowed Kabuto to hold him and try to comfort him.

After all, he only had so much time left to live.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Itachi handed Pein the ring: the last one in the entire collection. Sasori had offered to remain outside the room to spare Itachi the pain of the burden of all the rings at once. It was Itachi's job to focus all the power of the rings; the power to call forth and control all the tailed beasts. Unfortunately, he was also the power that kept them in check, and therefore, whenever the rings were all together, the beasts would strain at the power keeping them in check, and Itachi would be forced to hold them back. And, as the most powerful Akatsuki member, he was charged with the task. Pein had it before him, apparently, and Orochimaru had tried. But, he had almost died, so the task was passed again, this time to Itachi. And Itachi seemed to hold the beasts nicely, according to Pein. He had influence over their conscious thoughts, and since Pein could see them as well, he told Itachi that they reacted to his voice. Itachi hardly believed him, but he simply shrugged it off. It wasn't worth arguing about.

Pein turned the ring in his hands, staring at Itachi the whole time. Kikyou was standing behind him, and both ninja seemed anxious.

"It's only a matter of time before Orochimaru realizes we sapped out the rings," Kikyou was saying. "We have to act fast. We must bind him to the Bijuu and use Itachi's power over them to control Orochimaru. He's becoming a threat again, and we can't allow him to live freely anymore. Either bind him to the demons, or bind him directly to Itachi with the hand. We can't afford to waste any more time!"

"Calm down, child," Pein said slowly. "He will be dealt with. But first, we must call him to us…"

Pein held up the hand, pushing his own power into it and sending a message, commanding Orochimaru to return to him. He hoped Orochimaru would hurry; he wanted his fun. Pein's small, pink tongue flickered out and wet his lips with anticipation; he was so happy to be able to see Orochimaru again…he used to have such fun playing with the snake sannin's mind...and body, for that matter. Orochimaru was almost easy to figure out. A simple touch would have him at your feet…

"Leader-sama?"

Pein glanced at Itachi and Kikyou. "Kikyou, go back to Orochimaru. Make sure my message is loud and clear…"

Kikyou gave a single nod and jumped onto Mizu's back. The cat galloped away, leaving Itachi alone with Pein.

"Itachi…well done. I will reward you later. For now, clean yourself up. I will send for you later."

Itachi dropped into a deep bow. "Thank you Leader-sama," he murmured, straightening. Pein reached forward as Itachi rose and tugged the tie from his hair.

Itachi looked startled. "L-Leader-sama?"

A slow smile worked its way across Pein's lips as he dropped the hair tie at Itachi's feet. "I like it long and free like this."

Itachi shook his head, picked up the hair tie, and re-tied his hair. "I'm sorry you feel that way," he said smoothly. "I don't."

Pein's smile widened. "We'll have to change that," he purred. "Dismissed."

Itachi yanked the knot tight in his hair, nodded to Pein, and walked out of the room. Pein smiled as he left; Itachi had an attitude…

OOOOOOOOOOOO

A knot of pain in Orochimaru's left arm drew his attention to it.

"K-Kabuto…?"

Kabuto sighed. "I knew this would happen. Come here."

He handed Orochimaru a glass of what looked like water and waited while he drank it down, grimacing at the taste.

"What-?"

"Something that should dull the pain. As the hand is used further against you, you will either be forcibly bound to someone or something, or you will simply be tortured. This should take the pain of both away…you said it started to hurt, so the leader of the Akatsuki is probably calling you back to him. I'm not sure for what, but he is calling you. You'd best return."

Orochimaru sighed and stood up. "Very well," he whispered. "I really should shock them and change…"

One of Kabuto's eyebrows rose questioningly. "Change?"

Orochimaru smiled. "I'll be right back."

He closed the door behind him as he went into the next room, leaving Kabuto and Kimimaro sitting there, confused. Kimimaro glanced at Kabuto.

"What do you think he means…?"

Kabuto shrugged. "He probably found his old Akatsuki uniform."

Kimimaro smiled. "That would be just like him…"

"Or he was changing his earrings-"

"Or re-doing his make-up-"

"Actually, it's not make-up…that's natural."

"…it's also scary."

Kabuto grinned. "Yes, that's just like Orochimaru-sama…"

Orochimaru emerged from the room in a half-fishnet shirt and tight leather pants, pulling on a long cloak with red clouds on it. "Let's go."

Kabuto almost laughed.

"If that wasn't so sexy I would ask what the hell you're thinking…"

Orochimaru smiled. "Yeah, well, it's fun to get that kind of reaction from people, so I think I'll walk in an announce my presence in a somewhat stupid manner."

"Oh, Orochimaru-sama, please don't blow anything up…"

"Shame; that's a major part of my childish plan."

Kabuto smiled. "Very well. Let's discuss this as we go; I don't think 'Leader-sama' is going to be very patient with you."

A/N: So, shadowea, what was your guess? I promise I won't make fun of you if you got it wrong…