Pein glared up at Orochimaru. "Well, now that we've found you, we can proceed with killing you."
Orochimaru lifted his head proudly, hair strewn across his face. "Since when did I agree to just lay down and be slaughtered like an animal?" he sneered, glaring down back at Pein. "And you should know: I was under your rule for a number of years."
A slow smirk came across Pein's face. "Oh, we may not even kill you-we might just feed you to Itachi, seeing as he's made it repeatedly clear to you that you are to obey him, or he will make you."
Orochimaru glanced past Pein. Where was Kabuto…?
"Lovely," he commented. "Just lovely. So your real goal is to find a sex slave."
"Not at all, not at all," Pein replied, waving Orochimaru off. "It would probably do to simply erase your memory, but I'm not particularly happy about the lair being destroyed, nor you ratting us out to Konoha, betraying us, all that shit. So we're going to load it all on you at once."
Orochimaru sighed. If this got much worse and Kabuto didn't show up, he might have to back off a little…
An explosion of blue near Sasori almost blew apart the entire floor.
Orochimaru jumped back, the snake shielding him of its own will with its body. Orochimaru glanced over the snake's body to see Kabuto's hands, raging blue in all his fury, flashing at Sasori with such speed that the puppet master was barely blocking the blows. Even so, large chunks of Hiruko were falling to the ground, severed by Kabuto's chakra scalpel. And Sasori was getting mad; the tail fell to the ground, and Sasori finally emerged, whipping out a scroll and summoning a puppet. Kabuto promptly shredded it, and went after Sasori himself again. The puppet master was weaving back and forth, trying to avoid Kabuto's close-combat jutsu, but it was no use. Kabuto was landed more and more hits, sucking the chakra from Sasori as he did. Bits of cherry wood were chipping off and falling, and with every strike the chips got bigger. Finally, Kabuto severed one of Sasori's arms. The limb fell to the floor, completely useless and shredded at the elbow. Sasori seemed fairly peeved, and expressed this as both he and Kabuto stopped to breath.
"Little brat!" he shouted, clutching at the arm as if it pained him. "How the hell…?"
Kabuto grinned, releasing the chakra scalpel and pushing his glasses back up his nose out of habit. "Sasori, these hands have defeated even Tsunade," he said by way of reply. "And you? Please. Next to Orochimaru-sama, you look pathetic."
"You'd look pathetic as well without an arm, boy!"
Kabuto shrugged. "It would regenerate in a matter of minutes. I wouldn't miss it much for long, anyway."
Sasori sighed. "The down side of puppets is that they don't regenerate on the spot."
Kabuto grinned. "Yes, it really is too bad!"
And with that, he charged Sasori, aiming straight for the puppet's chest.
Sasori seemed shocked that Kabuto would attempt such a daring move. He raised his other arm to block Kabuto's strike, but suddenly the teen's body blurred. Sasori's eyes widened-
Just as he was stabbed from behind.
A wet squirt confirmed to Kabuto that he had hit Sasori's heart, and blood began soaking his hands. Sasori smiled as the life drained his from wooden body.
"Congratulations, Kabuto…you have…finally…tamed…it…"
Kabuto sighed and pushed Sasori's body to the ground, coldly kicking it as the puppet master's soul left his body. "I always hated you," he spat. "For making me your slave against my will."
Of course, Deidara was in shock. For a moment, he couldn't move; not even an inch. When the shock finally sunk in, he felt tears welling in the corners of his baby-blue eyes, and hands gently set themselves on his shoulders, taking him into a firm chest and holding him against a shoulder. Deidara reached up and wrapped his arms around Hidan's neck, crying softly into his shoulder. Hidan gently guided him away from the body, taking him outside to grieve in privacy. Kabuto watched them go, sighing and shaking the excess blood off his hands.
"Well, I suppose I'd be freaking out if Orochimaru-sama died, so whatever…I'll get them later."
Orochimaru slowly got to his feet, only to have serpents wind around his body and gently tug him back down, begging their master to remain in safety. Orochimaru shook them off, stepping out after Kabuto.
"Kabuto?"
The youth waved him off, and Orochimaru suddenly saw the scratches criss-crossing Kabuto's entire body. "Kabuto!"
Kabuto held up an empty syringe, a small smile on his face. "Antidote," he replied. "I brought up the bloodline because the antidote would have worn off in six seconds, and I needed to finish it before that time."
The rustle of paper alerted him just before Konan charged, shaped like a paper spear and heading straight for Orochimaru.
Kabuto threw the sannin to the ground, falling on top of him to hold him down. "Stay!" he said, pushing Orochimaru's head down as the sannin brought it up to try to see what Kabuto had seen. Orochimaru felt the wind from Konan's passing just over his head, and suddenly, Kabuto released him. Looking around, Orochimaru saw a purple-black barrier surrounding him and Kabuto, four Sound ninja standing in the corners.
"Took you long enough," he said, slowly climbing to his feet and wincing at the pain in his hip. Kabuto healed the bruise blossoming there, and stepped back, healing his own wounds, most of which had healed already. "We were starting to worry."
Tayuya smiled. "No!" she said, acting shocked. "Why would you think that?"
Kabuto shook his head. "Whatever. Just fight, okay? You can probably take down the barrier now…"
Tayuya nodded, and barrier dissipated into black smoke. Tayuya snickered at the Akatsuki, reaching for her flute and her scrolls. "Man, you guys lost one already? And Kabuto has…scratches. Way to go, bitch."
Kabuto grinned. "If it weren't for Orochimaru's scrolls, I'd be dead. Antidote is beautiful," he said, showing her the empty syringe. "Sasori's dead, as you can see, so we probably won't need it again. I brought some all-purpose anyway."
"Tch, whatever." Tayuya slammed the scrolls down, summoning her Doki. The blind, hulking demons stood before the Akatsuki, large and imposing. Tayuya raised the flute to her lips, and the Doki each crouched into position. Sakon and Ukon were busy with Kakuza , and Kidomaru's spiders seemed to be doing a bit of damage. Jiroubou seemed like he had some sort of personal grudge against Kisame: he was going after him in a crazed frenzy, looking slightly comical doing so.
Orochimaru was startled by a hand on his shoulder.
Spinning around, kunai at the ready, Orochimaru found himself staring into the calm, sea-green eyes of Kimimaro. The teen gently caught his hand and turned it away, waiting until Orochimaru had calmed down to make his next move.
"Come," he said quietly, and gently tugged Orochimaru away from the battle. Orochimaru yanked his hand free, glaring at Kimimaro and turning back to the fight.
"Orochimaru-sama, please," Kimimaro begged, taking his wrist gently, but firmly. "I can't let you get hurt; I'd never forgive myself-"
"Orochimaru-sama, go," Kabuto said firmly. "Do it!" he added, seeing Orochimaru hesitate. Orochimaru swallowed, made his decision, and followed Kimimaro. The bone-bender immediately took him away, pulling him back to his room.
"Stay here for a moment," he said, leaving Orochimaru in the middle of the floor, confused. Kimimaro returned within the minute, though, and grabbed Orochimaru's hand.
"We have to burn the place to the ground."
"What?"
Orochimaru suddenly panicked. "What good would that do? The Akatsuki would still get away, and all the documents, the research, the…everything!"
"That's the point!" Kimimaro said. "We can't let that fall into Akatsuki's hands!"
Orochimaru yanked his hand out of Kimimaro's and ran.
He ran faster than he had ever run in his life, and he intended to finish this. Akatsuki was going too far now, and the realization that they could take everything he had acquired in his life ate at his soul like a virus. No, Akatsuki had definitely one too far, and Orochimaru was going to teach them a lesson they wouldn't soon forget!
Ah, who was he kidding? Itachi would kill him.
But you couldn't fault him for trying.
Orochimaru could hear footsteps behind him and risked a glance over his shoulder. Kimimaro was following him, but Orochimaru hardly cared anymore. He wasn't about to let Otoga go-not the entire complex! Akatsuki would probably manage to get something out of it, anyway, so there was really no point. You would have to be really desperate to burn the entire base…which Orochimaru supposed they were, but no one needed to know that…
We've been seeing what you want,
You've got us cornered right now
Falling asleep from our vanity
May cost us our lives
As Orochimaru tore around the corner, his heart began beating hard in his chest. If he was going head-to-head with Itachi, something was bound to go wrong…and he would rather it not. But he couldn't afford to think about that now-he could hear the battle clearly…it was just around the corner now…
I hear them getting closer
Their howls are sending chills down my spine
Time is running out now,
They're coming down the hills from behind
Screams of the Otonin that had rushed to Orochimaru's defense were echoing down the halls-screams of rage, screams of pain, screams of defiance…Orochimaru rounded the corner at a run, barreling through a black-and-red cloak as he did so.
Orochimaru could hear more footsteps from behind him, and checked for Kimimaro. The teen was coming towards him with more Otonin, and already they were trying to take down the Akatsuki. They're fast, Orochimaru vaguely thought as he blocked a strike from Hidan. He knew how important it was to keep Hidan from even landing a scratch-as long as his blood was on Hidan's scythe, he was subject to Hidan' strange form of slow, brutal killing.
When we start killing
It all will be falling down
From the hell that we're in
All we are is fading away
When we start killing
Spiders were flying everywhere, evidence of Kidomaru's valiant efforts. However, none of the Sounds were good enough on their own. They simply couldn't get close enough in a one-on-one battle. However, if they combined their skills, they might equal, or even be stronger than, a single Akatsuki's…
"All for Hidan!"
"Where is Hidan?!"
Orochimaru only heard the whoosh of air as the scythe passed over his head. He ducked desperately, and felt a strand of hair being sliced away. Orochimaru fell awkwardly to the floor, kicking out at Hidan. He felt his foot connect with the side of the scythe-
Snapping it in half.
"Go!"
Orochimaru saw three hulking Doki suddenly come into his field of vision, over Hidan's unsuspecting back. The Jashinist turned-
A little too late.
The largest Doki stepped in front of Orochimaru, defending him from the sudden blow from Hidan. Tayuya moved the Doki with the club to swing at Hidan until he was backed against the other, now wounded Doki, and the third to corner him from the side.
Kidomaru rushed in, directing a golden arrow at Hidan. It ran him clean through, only stopping when Kidomaru pulled it up short with a thread. Hidan seemed ecstatic with the pain: he was spasming on the floor, but he had a glazed smile on his face.
Sakon and Ukon immediately slid into Hidan's body, Ukon eating it away from the inside. "Aniki," he said to Sakon. "Help someone else. This guy's done."
Sakon nodded and ran after Jiroubou, who had Kakuza trapped in an earth prison and was sucking his chakra out. "I've got it!" Jiroubou was saying. "Tayuya got him distracted for long enough that I could-"
A massive explosion shook the flair, and Jiroubou's earth prison crumbled.
"…I had him."
Everywhere, the Akatsuki seemed to be getting the upper hand. Pein had done something and killed off half the Otonin in the room, and Konan was spearing through Otonin left and right. Hidan was stabbing himself, causing Ukon to take the same damage, and Tayuya's Doki were sustaining more and more injuries. The battle was beginning to take its toll on Kimimaro as well-his bones were breaking more easily, and his steps were no longer as graceful. Kidomaru's spiders were being brutally struck down by Deidara's bombs, and Jiroubou was taking more and more hits from Kisame. Itachi had vanished, and Orochimaru could only think of one reason why.
When we start killing
It all will be falling down
From the hell that we're in
All we are is fading away
When we start killing
When we start killing!
A/N: Disclaimer: song-Within Temptation, The Howling. Please review, or I won't post the next chapter.