Orochimaru slept for several more hours.

When he finally awoke again, sunlight was still streaming in through his window, but not as brightly. Orochimaru guessed it was noon or past, depending on which way his room was facing. He carefully swung his feet over the side of the bed, pushing the covers off his body and slowly sitting up. He stretched a bit, working his muscles back into shape, and then stood up as slowly as he possibly could. His bones shifted back into alignment, and muscles coiled underneath smooth skin. Orochimaru looked around for his clothes, not intending to even go into the next part of this room until he had something besides boxers on. Glancing around, he caught sight of his clothes, washed and folded neatly, sitting on a chair next to his bed. Orochimaru put them on in a daze, wondering what Kabuto had meant when he was talking about meeting him downstairs. That boy was going to be the death of him, really. Orochimaru walked out into the kitchen area of his quarters, got himself something to eat, and then headed downstairs, aiming for Lab 65A.

Kabuto met him at the door.

Orochimaru's eyes flickered over the scene, but could not find anything out of the ordinary. "What's going on?" he asked, stepping forward. Kabuto smiled and opened the door, turning on the lights and walking towards one of the cabinets underneath the sink. He inserted a key into the lock, and then the door swung open easily and soundlessly. Orochimaru stepped closer again, curious. Kabuto reached inside the cabinet and pulled out a simple cardboard box. This he set on one of the lab tables and opened, seemingly with great care and caution. He pulled out a bundle wrapped hastily in cloth and set it down on the table, carefully peeling away the cloth wrapped around it, revealing-

Orochimaru's original hand.

Complete with the ring.

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "How did you-where did-what…?!"

Kabuto gave Orochimaru a smirk. "Are you going to finish any of those questions, or shall I go straight to answers?"

Orochimaru wordlessly nodded. Kabuto's smirk grew, and he felt the need to tease his master.

"Say please."

Orochimaru gave a low, warning, growl. "Don't go there with me," he snarled. "Start explaining, and do it now!"

Kabuto sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're no fun," he said. "Alright, while Itachi was holding you captive, you were in the Akatsuki's hideout, right? Well, I followed you there, and while Itachi was out, I snuck into his room, tore it apart, and grabbed this. I wrapped it in one of Itachi's bed sheets, handed it off to Tayuya and a couple others, and came for you. But I didn't realize what he was doing to you…" Kabuto's head went down, and he suddenly seemed to be fascinated by the hand before him. "I'm sorry I couldn't have gotten to you sooner."

"You made the best choice you could have, Kabuto," Orochimaru murmured, picking up the hand as carefully as possible. "And I thank you…with everything I have left." Orochimaru re-wrapped the hand and set it back on the table. "Anything else?" he asked. "While we're along…and I'm down here…"

Kabuto nodded. "One more thing…"

Orochimaru hardly saw Kabuto move, but he sure felt the kiss he was given. Kabuto reached up and effortlessly persuaded Orochimaru to kiss him, arms around his neck, sharing breath and touch. Kabuto's tongue teased at Orochimaru's eager lips, and the sannin's mouth opened fluidly. Kabuto slipped into Orochimaru's orifice, nipping gently at his tongue and lips when he could. Orochimaru could taste the blood already, but the sharp pain was strangely welcome. Kabuto gently licked the blood from a bite on Orochimaru's lips, and he felt the reaction almost immediately. Orochimaru let out a low groan of pleasure, clearly voicing his opinions to Kabuto. The silver-haired teen took over from there, trailing kiss down Orochimaru's slender neck, brushing the soft skin he found there before delivering a harsh bite at will.

"Kabuto-"

"Hush. Patience is a virtue."

"One I will recover shortly, now stop teasing!"

Kabuto smirked into Orochimaru's skin, licking the blood away from his mark. "Don't be such a kill-joy," he murmured, carefully sucking the blood out of the wound. The result was a tighter grip on his shoulders and a gasp of pain and pleasure. Apparently Orochimaru had grown sensitive to bites…

"Kabuto!"

Kabuto grinned and slipped back, away from Orochimaru, but his hands continued to wander. They traced down Orochimaru's lithe sides, bending into smooth hips and slender legs. Kabuto stopped at Orochimaru's ass, though, and moved to run his hands over the streamlined muscles that lay beneath his hands.

"Orochimaru-sama-whoa, hello!"

Kabuto jumped back from Orochimaru as Suigetsu charged into the room, the door slamming open and almost bouncing back to hit Suigetsu in the face. "Uh, is this a bad time…?"

"It wouldn't have been if you knocked," Orochimaru sneered, trying to look as scary as possible. Suigetsu smirked and held a "finger gun" to the side of Orochimaru's head.

"I swear it's loaded."

Orochimaru sighed, accompanied by an eye roll, and knocked Suigetsu's hand away. "What did you want anyway?" he snarled, still trying to look angry.

"I wanted to know where you were," Suigetsu muttered. "Hadn't seen you in a couple days…heard what happened…"

Orochimaru sighed and touched the bite on his neck, covering it with his hand. "I'm fine," he said. "Never better. Now leave, kindly?"

"No time for sexing," Suigetsu dryly informed the pair. "We are pushing time, already. We are moving, bitch! Again! Whoooooo!"

"Stoner," Orochimaru muttered. "The world can wait for half an hour or so while we have hot sex. Shoo, shoo."

"No."

Suigetsu stubbornly planted himself in the doorway, arms folded across his chest, legs spread. Orochimaru sighed, golden eyes rolling to the ceiling. "You asshole," he muttered. "Okay, fine. If that's how you want it…five…four…three."

"Yeep!"

Suigetsu, however bold he might be, knew when Orochimaru meant business. He fled the scene, allowing Orochimaru and Kabuto to steal one last kiss before they had to part again. "What do you think he meant?" Kabuto asked Orochimaru, still with his arms wrapped around his master's neck.

"Switching bases," Orochimaru replied. "We haven't done so in a while…"

"Haven't need to," Kabuto commented. "The main reason we switched was so the Akatsuki couldn't find you. The trouble is, they already had, so we figured it useless to run when they had what they wanted and weren't going to chase us anymore." Kabuto took both of Orochimaru's hands in his, moving them out of the way as he stepped closer again. "But, now that we're safe…"

"It needs to stay that way," Orochimaru murmured. "But still…what are we going to do about them?"

"Once Itachi gets it around that you're not afraid of him anymore, they'll probably stop bothering you," Kabuto mused. "It's likely. Itachi was just in it for the easy sex. He knew you would submit to him, and he loved that feeling of power over you. Now that's it gone, he will be too."

Orochimaru shrugged. "I hope so," he murmured. "Because I have better things to do than live my life in fear." Orochimaru pulled himself up onto the cold surface of the lab table, sitting with his legs hanging over the side. "Like take over Konoha."

Kabuto glanced at Orochimaru, setting the hand back in the box. "And just to add insult to injury, I say we use this ring you've got here, and go nuts on Itachi."

Orochimaru shook his head. "I'm not going to him," he said. "He'll just kill me. The best I'm going to do is simply stand up to him when he comes back."

Kabuto smiled. Perhaps Orochimaru really was back-of course, the underlying trauma would remain, but hopefully Orochimaru could get past that enough to get through life. The sannin was still a bit shy of being touched around his hips, but it probably wouldn't give him a lot of trouble later on. Kabuto was satisfied-at least, for the moment. Later on, he would help Orochimaru through his trauma-but for now…for now, he was content.

"Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Kabuto glanced up, seeing Orochimaru's concerned gaze. "Oh, yeah," he murmured. "Just thinking…"

Orochimaru nodded slowly and slid off the table. "Well, then…I'll just take this back up to my room, lock it in the safe in the closet, and live life."

"Breathe air."

"Somehow we'll survive."

"Air's nice."

"It is."

Kabuto stared at Orochimaru. It was hard to believe that this was the same man that Itachi had taken advantage of a few weeks ago-he didn't act like it at all. Kabuto slowly smiled and jumped forward, throwing his arms around Orochimaru's shoulders.

"Welcome back, Orochimaru-sama."

OOOOOOOOO

Itachi exhaled, long and slow, and tipped his chair back on two legs. "Well?" he asked. "What now?"

"We just leave him alone," Pein said with a sigh. "Obviously he can't defend himself, but others can. And by now, they'll have gotten him into rehab, so it's not like we can do much."

Itachi gave a snort of laughter and let his chair come crashing back to all four legs. "He needs more than rehab," he said with a grin. "He needs an insane asylum."

"Doesn't matter where ya shove him, as long as he's out of the way."

Itachi sighed. "Well, he isn't out of my mind. I'm not sure what I feel about him."

Pein glared. "Teenage hormones looking for a pretty face? Or should I say, a pretty fuck?"

Itachi glared. "First of all, I'm bi. Get used to it. Second of all, Orochimaru and I had an affair previously. He left the Akatsuki not because he was scared of me-well, yes, that too-but because he was leaving me as a lover. He said I abused him." Itachi rolled his eyes. "If only he knew. That's why I'm saying I'm not sure-I'm not sure if my feelings for him are really feelings, or just me looking for a 'pretty fuck,' as you put it."

"Go for 'hormones,'" Pein replied evenly. "If I know you, Itachi, you're just feeling the effects of puberty." The Ame-nin's feet kicked up on the desk in front of him, and Pein leaned back in his seat. "I'm confident, though, that Orochimaru would take an offer…oh, how should I put this…a bit more strongly worded, no?"

Itachi smiled. "I dunno…he came in my room and smacked me full out, then just screamed at me and walked out. He's come back, but he still knows his limits."

Pein gave a small hum of contemplation. "Well, then," he said slowly, "I think we should let him come to us. No good if we simply force him to do our bidding-although, he would make one sexy slave-"

"Too late," Itachi said dryly. "He's mine."

"Can ya share?"

"No."

Pein swore and leaned back even further in his chair. "Well, that about settles it. We wait for him to come to us and live life."

"And breathe air."

"Air's nice."

"I like air."

"The air in here smells funny."

"Sorry."

Pein only looked shocked for a moment. "Get outta here," he finally said. "And take your overactive bowels with you."

"That's the tuna sandwich Tobi left in the corner three months ago," Itachi said dryly. "We've been waiting for three months to see how long it would take you to find out."

Pein sighed. "Gauntlet thrown, gauntlet picked up, and now I am ready to bludgeon you over the head with said gauntlet. Run, my child, and cling to your pathetic life."

"Touché."

"Out."

A/N: Never fear; Chapter 50 is on its way, and it will be the last!! Everyone mourn the death of a great story, and then rejoice for the last chapter. Everyone review, okay?