Itachi threw Orochimaru down on the floor in his room, kicking the sannin down as he tried to sit up. Orochimaru lay quietly, still silenced and blinded alike by his bonds. Itachi glared: Orochimaru was being strangely quiet…

Sighing, the Uchiha leaned over and yanked off the blindfold, only to smack Orochimaru firmly across the face. "Learn your place," he hissed. "And I might take a bit more off later. But for now, just make yourself familiar with some lonely corner far out of my way, but still where I can see you."

It took Orochimaru several miserable tries before he was standing, and several more before he finally collapsed in a heap in some random corner, just wanting to avoid abuse at this point. It was all building up to too much, and Itachi brought with him pain and bitter memories. Orochimaru released something of a sigh, then curled up in a ball. With any luck, he would simply be left alone…

Kisame came trudging in, looking exhausted. "You get the good part," he muttered. "I've go the worst job in the whole place."

Itachi smiled. "We can share him if you want."

Kisame sighed. "Completely mine for one night, and the rest we share."

Itachi seemed to turn this over in his mind a bit, finally nodding his consent and responding with a soft, "Sure, why not?" as if he was still thinking it over. Kisame grinned and put Samehada down next to the door.

"Well, little brat, looks like you'll be coming with me," he said with a predatory grin, heading towards Orochimaru. "Aw, how cute," he sneered. "Itachi, you left him tied down. And with the sharkskin, too…ouch. Painful, now, isn't it?"

Orochimaru glared.

Kisame straightened, sighing. "Still has a little fight left," he sighed. "Ah, well, that'll be gone soon…" he murmured. His tone abruptly changed as he gave Orochimaru a swift kick to the ribs. "Get up," he snarled, kicking Orochimaru again. Had it not been for the gag and his vulnerable position, Orochimaru would have protested the abuse: instead, he merely whimpered and tried again to stand. It was a rather difficult task, being restrained as he was, but Orochimaru managed to pull himself to his feet, using the wall for leverage. Kisame noticed, but didn't care, and wrapped a leather collar around Orochimaru's pale neck. Orochimaru lowered his head in shame: how else did they plan to degrade him?

"Come," Kisame said, giving the end of Orochimaru's leash a firm tug. Orochimaru stumbled forward, struggling to keep his balance as he was almost pulled flat onto his chest. He found his balance soon enough through, and began walking submissively behind Kisame as he was led to the shark-man's room.

"Get," he said, giving Orochimaru a firm smack on the rear as the two walked into Orochimaru's room. Orochimaru stumbled again, and then fled the room, disappearing into what was presumably Kisame's bedroom.

Kisame sighed and sat down at the table. Honestly, he had no idea what to do with Orochimaru. He almost felt bad for the sannin-all this piled up, and then Itachi…they had been after him for so long he hardly remembered what they were after him for. He had decided to see if he could make the snake talk, but first he needed to establish that he would treat him relatively fairly…

"Kisame?"Orochimaru stood in the doorway, completely unbound and black hair around his face. He looked as if he had come to Akatsuki of his own free will, and he acted like it, as well.

"What the-how did you-?"

Orochimaru sighed. "I rubbed off the gag on my shoulder and used my tongue to untie the knots. Fairly easy, actually."

Kisame sighed heavily and stood up, walking over to Orochimaru. He stopped directly in front of the sannin, who was two feet shorter than he was, and glared down. Orochimaru glared right back, and the closest thing Kisame could say to describe him was an oblivious child.

"I'm not scared of you."

Kisame chuckled and stepped towards Orochimaru, forcing the sannin to take a step back. "You should be," he said with a smirk, reaching out and settling one hand in Orochimaru's lower back. "I'm a pretty scary guy."

"I'm sure you are," Orochimaru said smoothly. "But, I'd like you to stop molesting me."

Kisame snorted. "Hardly," he said, pulling Orochimaru into his body, despite the snake's protests. "Come on, I know you want me…"

"Get off," Orochimaru muttered, shoving against Kisame's chest. His protests, however, were getting weaker: he was falling into panic. Memories came flooding back of everything that had been done to him: Itachi's beating, Itachi's rape, Itachi's torture, another rape, more torture…they had stolen him from his home, they had probably killed his lover and taken over his village, and they had used him as a sex slave. Over and over again, he had been abused. And for what? He had simply left them, to avoid the conflict he was bound to occur. It was his way of submitting to Itachi-but it wasn't enough.

Kisame could feel Orochimaru panicking, and carefully brought him to rest against his shoulder, carrying him to the bed and sitting down with Orochimaru in his lap. Orochimaru all of a sudden didn't seem to care: he had gone limp in Kisame's arms, and the missing-nin wasn't too happy about it. He glanced down at Orochimaru, slightly annoyed at the disrespect-

Only to see the tears flowing from his eyes.

Kisame stared for a moment, stunned. He had never seen Orochimaru cry before: the heartless sannin who had murdered entire villages of people, taken over the villages, manipulated countless, used people like tools and then threw them away without a second thought…was reduced to this? Silent tears in the hands of his enemy? Kisame sighed and lifted Orochimaru's head, and, trying not to scare him, bent down and kissed him.

At first, Orochimaru stiffened with shock and tried to pull away; then, the realization set in that Kisame's kiss was soft, even gentle, and it held no lust to it. Orochimaru went limp again, simply accepting what was given to him.

"Orochimaru," Kisame finally sighed as he pulled back. "I worry about you…"

Orochimaru shrugged. "There's no point," he said bitterly, and got up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home now."

"Sorry, can't do that," Kisame said, swiftly catching Orochimaru's wrist in his hand. As he did so, he noticed the flinches of pain Orochimaru tried to stifle. Must have been the sharkskin…I know firsthand how much that hurts.

"Let go…"

It was more a whimpered plea than the strong, confident demand Orochimaru had intended it to be. Kisame rose as well, pulling Orochimaru back to him and kissing him. Orochimaru whimpered again and tried to push him away. His attempt, however, only earned him a tightening grip on his wrist and a strong arm in his lower back. "Sh, sh, sh…quiet now," Kisame said softly, ignoring Orochimaru's struggles. "The more you fight the more I want you," he murmured, leaning down and capturing Orochimaru's lips in a deep, bruising kiss. Orochimaru immediately pushed against him, biting desperately and shoving at Kisame. Kisame, however, bit right back, and his bites were decisively worse than anything Orochimaru could ever deliver. Three rows of fangs…yeah, that hurt. Orochimaru released a pained yelp and tried again to pull away, still in vain. He was growing more and more panicked every passing moment, and Kisame was only getting lustier.

And then the tears came.

The droplets of Orochimaru's pain ran down his face as he pounded one last time, desperate, on Kisame's shoulder, and finally gave up, bleeding heavily from the bites he had received. He let himself grow heavy in Kisame's arms, tears falling freely now. Kisame didn't even realize Orochimaru was crying until he reached up to caress the side of Orochimaru's face and placed his hand right on a tear track.

Kisame pulled back in shock.

"Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru collapsed to his knees, sobbing and clutching at his stomach. That was it: the pain, the fear, the anxiety…everything built up and flowed out, pouring out in crystal tears.

"Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru leapt to his feet, tearing out of the room, out of Kisame's room, just running…

No one stopped him.

No one questioned him.

No one even bothered to spare him a second glance, and the tears landing on the ground were nothing more than raindrops to those staring. Orochimaru ran into the woods, finally slowing and falling to his knees again. The tears were less, now, but they still stung. Orochimaru raised his hand and wiped the moisture away from his face, hardly aware of it anymore until he stood up and began running again.

He had to get home.

It was the least he owed to Kabuto.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Kabuto awoke to…stunning pain.

The second he tried to move and found he couldn't, he gasped in pain and fell back on his face, groaning in agony. It took a moment for his spotty vision to clear, and finally he could turn onto his side. All at once his memory came flooding back…

"Orochimaru-sama-! Ow…"

"Kabuto, lay still!"

"Hey, guys, he's awake!"

"Where's Orochimaru-sama?"

"What happened here?"

"All I saw was Kabuto head up here with Orochimaru-sama!"

"He was treating his wounds…"

"Do you think Orochimaru-sama went rogue?"

"He wouldn't do that!"

"He might!"

Kabuto groaned again and turned himself onto his back, then sat up again, much more slowly this time. "I came up here with Orochimaru-sama…yes, to treat his wounds, but I wanted to talk to him alone…the Akatsuki came…they've allied with Konoha…they took him…"

A fresh wave of murmuring went through the small crowd gathered in the room. Suddenly, a tall red-headed girl stepped forward.

"I could find him if you want."

Kabuto nodded. "Thank you, Karin. Could you do that, please? I'll follow you, of course."

"We all will," Kidomaru said quickly. "We're not missing out on this!"

Kabuto nodded. "Give me a minute here…" He brought up a handful of healing chakra and pressed his hand to the back of his neck, sighing with relief. "Much better," he said, and climbed to his feet. "Well? Who's coming?"

Everyone who could hear Kabuto raised their hands.

Which amounted to a small army.

OOOOOOOO

Orochimaru continued on, trudging through the forests of nowhere as fast as he could. It didn't amount to much at this point: he had been going for hours, and his chakra was severely low. He had been trying to use it to move faster, or to find others, but so far all he had found was a rabbit that he had killed and eaten, and a few deer, which he had left alone. There were many birds, but that hardly helped him. Orochimaru finally sighed and collapsed on a rock. He was completely lost at this point, and he knew it.

Footsteps.

Orochimaru's heart leapt to his throat, until a lonely deer wandered out of the trees to where he sat. Sighing, Orochimaru brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around is legs. He rested his head on his knees, and wondered how painful it would be if he simply rolled over, broke his spine, and killed himself. It would probably be painful, and he probably wouldn't even crack the bone, let alone die. The rock itself was something about six inches off the ground. It might hurt: but nothing more than cuts and scrapes.

"Goddammit."Orochimaru had sworn without even realizing it at this point, and he uncurled his body with a rough sigh. Here he was, miles and miles from even knowing where he was, let alone somewhere, swearing at a deer. Orochimaru shook his head.

"At the age of six, four out of five doctors agreed that I was clinically insane," he muttered. "Guess they were right."

He sighed and stood up, causing the deer to start and run away. Orochimaru sighed again and resisted the urge to beat himself up even more. He was already screwed as it was…what good was telling himself the truth?

Orochimaru groaned for the sixtieth time today and leaned against a tree. What was going to happen to him? Would someone ever find him? Or would he find his own way back?

A/N: Well, that's a cliffy for ya! Review, or no next chapter!!