Kabuto sighed as the life left the man's body. He had been trying for days with this one…but, try as he could, he couldn't reconstruct the other half of the man's lung and he had died later. It probably didn't matter, because if Kabuto was successful in healing the man, he would be used as a test subject anyway, since it was unlikely he would ever be able to breath properly again. Kabuto sighed and scribbled down some observations in his lab notebook, checking every now and then that it was copying onto the carbon copy page. Orochimaru would want a copy; that was why he got a notebook with the copy pages.

"Well?"

Orochimaru's soft voice seemed to travel miles, and Kabuto shook his head, scribbling in the last notes at the same time. He carefully tore out the copy pages and handed them to Orochimaru in a neat package of three sheets of paper. Orochimaru glanced at Kabuto, then back at the lab report, complete with the medic's signature at the bottom of every page.

"A little long, but whatever. As long as it has everything I asked for, I really don't think I care that much…"

Kabuto smiled. "And here's the report from the drug you last asked for…ten different subjects, five of each gender, all aged between twenty-five and forty."

Orochimaru's eyes widened as he flipped to the last page of the stack of papers, held together not by staples, but by an enormous paperclip.

"Jeez! Forty-two pages?! Kabuto, how big is your handwriting?"

Kabuto smirked. "Tiny, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru sighed. "That's what I get for asking for details from someone who has experience writing lab reports, I suppose. Next time, I'm having you do the experiment and someone like Hataru take the notes!"

"What'll Hataru do?"

A brown-haired, blue eyes kunoichi had stuck her head in the doorway, peeking at Kabuto and Orochimaru. "Just wanted to see how things went. Apparently not too good…for the other guy, anyway."

Orochimaru snorted. "Not for me either." He held up the enormous lab report. "Forty two pages, this one gave me!"

Hataru laughed, and Orochimaru sighed. "This crazy little lab rat thinks it's okay to hand me forty-two pages of his teeny handwriting and say-with a straight face-! 'Here, Orochimaru-sama, read this and get it back to me with your response tomorrow!'" Orochimaru said, mimicking Kabuto's voice. Kabuto sighed.

"I never said tomorrow, Orochimaru-sama," he said slowly. "But if that's what you want-"

Orochimaru smacked Kabuto on the back of head, extracting a small mewl/yelp from Kabuto. He smiled and replied,

"Alright, I might have deserved that."

Orochimaru smacked him over the head with the enormous chunk of former tree. Kabuto yelped and swatted at Orochimaru.

"Get off, that actually hurts!"

"Good!"

Hataru grinned. "Whatever. So, I can let everybody know that you're in a bad mood?"

"No, no!" Kabuto cried, before Orochimaru could say anything. "Tell them it's 'make Orochimaru-sama miserable day'-ouch!"

Orochimaru had promptly smacked Kabuto over the head with the stack of papers, again, and Hataru found herself almost sick with laughter.

"I deserved that, too," Kabuto said, resigned. "And I suppose that's what I get for giving you such a stack to begin with…ah, well, your orders."

Orochimaru glared, but said nothing. Instead, he tossed the lab report to Hataru, who caught it-barely. "Cut that down for me."

"You might want to read al the details," Kabuto warned. "The reason it's so big is because that's all important crap…"

Orochimaru sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll read the whole frickin' thing…"

Kabuto grinned. "Good. Now, Hataru, make sure this is done-" he handed the girl a small scroll-"and this gets to whoever is running the med ward now. Orochimaru-sama's switched us all out so many times…"

"No, I haven't, you delusional brat-"

"Don't hit me again."

Orochimaru sighed and lowered the lab report that he had snatched back from Hataru. "Fine. But make sure everything gets done! Very well, Hataru: dismissed."

Hataru slipped away, carrying Kabuto's assignments and softly closing the door behind her. Orochimaru turned back to Kabuto and set the lab report down on the table next to Kabuto, sitting down on his partner's lap and collapsing against his shoulder. One of Kabuto's silver eyebrows rose questioningly, but he said nothing, instead placing his hands on Orochimaru's shoulders and rubbing softly. A small noise of approval worked its way from Orochimaru's throat, and the sannin leaned back into the touches. Kabuto focused chakra into his fingers and began slowly working it into Orochimaru's muscles.

"You aren't a medical ninja for nothing," Orochimaru murmured, "let alone my personal one."

Kabuto shook his head, releasing more chakra into Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru let out a whine of pain and pleasure, arching into Kabuto's hands again and letting Kabuto take him over.

Orochimaru was tired; Kabuto knew that. The last couple of training sessions he had put himself through were brutal, and Kabuto had to heal him every time he came back from the field. Once, the sannin had broken his leg in three places, tore several tendons, and completely severed more muscles than Kabuto could effectively count; which was saying something, as Kabuto's specialty was muscles. Kabuto had found him on the training field, half-dead after sparring with his own shadow clones. He had treated him on the spot, made him take several pills for blood loss, chakra depletion, and just exhaustion, and before he knew what was happening Orochimaru was being carried back and put under anesthesia for immediate surgery! The entire medical staff was probably glad that Kabuto had insisted on performing the operation himself; Orochimaru never allowed anyone but Kabuto to even touch his body. Now, Kabuto was touching him for the sheer pleasure of it-and Orochimaru was not objecting. Kabuto smiled; so Orochimaru remembering that incident as well…the operation was to remove a piece of metal lodged in Orochimaru's stomach. How the man had lived through it, Kabuto would never know. But he had, and that was all that mattered to Kabuto.

Except when Orochimaru woke up. Orochimaru strongly suspected drugs…

"Shhhhhh, sh, sh…" Kabuto's whispers were calming to Orochimaru, and he was relaxing quickly. Kabuto took in Orochimaru's movements: the way he hitched his shoulders to reposition Kabuto's hands, the way his head rolled back to rest on Kabuto's shoulder, the way he-

"Kabuto-sempai?"

Kimimaro had stuck his head through the door, suddenly smiling when he saw Orochimaru in Kabuto's lap. Kabuto gestured for him to be quiet, and looked back at Orochimaru and smiled.

"Alright, he's asleep," Kabuto finally said. He gently moved Orochimaru off his lap, holding him against his shoulders and hips as he stood up. He then picked Orochimaru up around his shoulders and legs, carrying him away. Kimimaro glanced at Kabuto as he left.

"Just wanted to see the results of the blood test…"

Kabuto jerked his head towards a rack of files on the table against the far wall. "It's in alphabetical order. Find the one with your name on it and it should be in there."

Kimimaro nodded. "Thank you. Where will you be if I need you?"

"With him," Kabuto said. "In his room."

Kimimaro nodded again, and Kabuto walked away, carrying Orochimaru back to his room.

OOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru woke up as Kabuto put him down.

He glanced up at Kabuto, a questioning look on his face. Kabuto smiled and sat down next to Orochimaru, setting one hand on his hair, gently stroking it back from his face.

"Good morning."

Orochimaru turned onto his side, looking up at Kabuto's face. "How long have I been out?" he asked slowly, propping himself up on one elbow. Kabuto shrugged.

"Not long," he replied. "Maybe twenty minutes…"

Orochimaru turned again, this time onto his stomach. "Well, that's a waste of twenty minutes…whatever. We still need to test a few drugs, mainly chakra-related, so we need to open up a couple old bodies and figure out how to test those…and I'll want the full lab report within three days after we complete the experiment. So the sooner you get started, the better."

"You're coming too," Kabuto said tartly. "I'm not doing everything by myself."

Orochimaru set his head in Kabuto's lap, gazing up at him with large golden eyes. "Please?"

Kabuto sighed. "Not that puppy-eyes again…absolutely not, especially if you're using the puppy-eyes! Never!!"

Orochimaru sighed. "Well, it was worth a try…very well." he swung his legs over the side of the bed, pulling himself to his feet and turning around. "Your turn."

Kabuto stood up easily, and the two began walking. Orochimaru was simply following Kabuto-he was letting his lover choose what lab they worked in. And knowing Kabuto, it would be a poorly-lit one far away from the rest of civilization.

The alarm startled them both.

Kabuto jumped, but still had the time to yank Orochimaru into a doorway and jam it shut with a chair.

"That should hold them for a second if they decide to attack," he said. "We can go out after we figure out what we're going to do. Orochimaru-sama, can you see the chakra signature?"

Orochimaru shrugged. "I see a lot of them…depends on which one's the enemy. But I could probably pick it out…"

"Please do."

Orochimaru nodded. "Got it already. I recognize it."

Kabuto's eyes widened. "Who is it?"

Orochimaru's thin lips cured up into a smile. "An old friend."

OOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru slipped quietly out of the room Kabuto had dragged him into, his loyal subordinate at his side. The two summoned enormous snakes the second they were out, and Kabuto went one way, Orochimaru the other, each riding on the snakes' heads.

Orochimaru was headed for one side of the main gates of Otoga; he was going to see if he couldn't catch the person from one end. If he couldn't, Kabuto would be closing in on the other. Doubtless Sound ninja were running in from everywhere possible to stop whoever it was, so Orochimaru shouldn't be too badly off-

Someone slammed into the snake.

The snake hissed and raised its head threateningly, almost startling the person beneath it. Instead, the person took a deep breath and rose, glaring up at Orochimaru from crystal-blue eyes.

"Where are the rest?" Orochimaru asked quietly. The woman beneath him simply laughed.

"Not far," Konan replied, her body peeling off into sheets of paper. "Not far at all."

Orochimaru smiled. "So, how's Itachi been? From what I hear, pretty horny…"

Konan grinned. "Of course," she whispered, just as her lips vanished. The rest of her disappeared, and Orochimaru sighed as he heard pounding footsteps. Pein rounded the corner first, slowing slightly when he saw Konan's body fluttering around in the shape of tiny squares of paper.

"I thought I told you to wait," he snarled. "But whatever. Close enough. Sasori, Itachi-let's go, we don't have all day!"

A strong gust of wind lifted Orochimaru's hair, parting it and sending it waving across his face, accenting further his sharp features.

"Bring it on, then," he said, hearing the hissing of a snake. "I'd be delighted to oblige you."

A/N: Really, people, is it that hard to review??!!!