Orochimaru had fought as long as he could: Pein was simply that much stronger. The orange-haired man who now held Orochimaru in his grasp, dragging him along to some sick destination, seemed to be acting rather smug. He had beaten Orochimaru once they made it outside the village, subduing the snake rather quickly with an impressive show of strength. Orochimaru had then resorting to screaming, trying to get someone's-anyone's-attention, but to no avail. Pein had purposely dragged him far away from anyone who might hear Orochimaru, and then taught him his lesson. Orochimaru was now unconscious, slung over Pein's shoulder and carried where he didn't want to go. He had fought the entire fight-but he had lost.

Pein arrived in the Akatsuki's base in something resembling an hour-for any ordinary ninja, it would be a day's haul all the way out to Akatsuki, but Pein's power allowed him to travel longer distances faster. Konan barely glanced up as Pein entered the hideout; Pein vaguely remembered putting her on guard duty when he left. "You're back," she said flatly. "And I see you're about to make one hormonal teenager very happy…"

Pein allowed himself a snicker of laughter at this. "He's not touching this beauty until I get to see exactly what I've been missing out on," Pein growled. "And then, maybe, if I get bored with him, Itachi can have him."

"Or if Oto doesn't get him back first," Konan said, still in a flat, bored, dry tone. "You better watch 'em, Pein. They can get pretty hardcore when they wanna be."

Pein shrugged. "I won't have any trouble," he said, nonchalantly. "All I need to do is whip out a knife, grab him by the hair, and say, 'nobody move.' Cakewalk, if you wish."

Konan shrugged, propping her head up on her hands. "Whatever," she replied monotonously. "You have fun with that. Should I let Itachi say hello before you screw this one over?"

Pein shook his head. "No, I'll give him to Itachi as a present, I suppose. At a later date…when Orochimaru knows his place better, shall we say."

Konan shrugged as well as she could when most of twenty pounds was in her hands. "Whatever. See ya. Just don't ask me to watch you rape the poor thing."

Pein snickered again. "I'm not sharing," he said, voice low with warning. "Don't even ask."

Konan gave Pein a look that clearly said, "You are a dumbass," but kept her mouth shut. She returned her eyes to the rock straight ahead, and Pein swept Orochimaru away, down the stairs and into the underground level of Akatsuki. Here, he moved down the long corridor, all the way to the end, and opened the door to his suite.

"You, my darling, are in for some surprises."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru woke up unable to move.

He could feel ropes cutting into his wrists and ankles, and leather being strained against his neck. Orochimaru's eyes squeezed shut with pain: he flinched with the pain, trying to hold down his sudden urge to whimper in pain and fear. The last thing he remembered was Kabuto's desperate attempts to take him back…and then Pein dragging him off, creating a barrier between them, and then…all he could remember was being unable to see anything, and Pein pulling him in some direction. Then, he remembered Pein beating him, coldly striking him left and right, saying something about how he had to learn his lesson…and then, nothing but blackness. Orochimaru shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. His vision was slowly returning-it was dark in the room where he was, but only halfway unlit. Orochimaru could see now that he was sitting upright, with his legs bent and off to the side. He had been stripped of his sound uniform, and now wore only a thin black kimono. His wrists were bound behind his back, and a collar was around his slender neck. His feet were loosely chained together so he could walk, but not run. The chains on his feet were connected to whatever he was tied to-he thought it was a bed-but Orochimaru knew it wasn't wise to move. Chakra restraints practically covered the restraints, but Orochimaru could still feel his chakra. He could feel it…but not touch it. Orochimaru knew not to even try. Orochimaru's head was back against whatever surface he was bound to, and now, he tried to move it. He now realized that the reason he couldn't move was because he was still partially asleep-maybe even in sleep paralysis. Orochimaru struggled a bit, trying to find a weak point in the bonds and exploit. No such luck. Pein must have been the one to bind him. Orochimaru couldn't help a whimper at this point-he was simply spent, and had no desire to even wake up again if he fell asleep. Kabuto…what was his lover doing right now? Probably looking for him. Orochimaru found himself fighting tears as the thought of his new-found lover came to mind-would he ever see him again?

"Awake, are you?"

Orochimaru started at the voice from behind him. He could hear a slight shifting of weight, a bit of creaking from the bed behind him, and then the sound of two feet hitting the ground. Someone was walking towards him, and, as Orochimaru turned his had to look, he saw who it was.

Pein.

Orochimaru's heart leapt to his throat; his breathing stopped for a moment. His entire body broke out in a cold sweat, and Orochimaru suddenly began to shiver. He drew himself into as much of a ball as possible, trying everything in his power to protect himself from Pein. His efforts, however, only seemed to amuse the leader of the Akatsuki, and Orochimaru tried his best to skitter away from the man before him. But, it was all in vain. Pein had secured Orochimaru with a very short leash, leaving him mere inches to move. The simple lack of fairness in it all simply stunned Orochimaru.

"Darling, you didn't think I would let you simply wake up and be able to run wherever you wished, now, did you?" Pein mocked, crouching down in front of Orochimaru. "Itachi's been missing you, and he's been feeling quite hurt by your blatant rejection of him. I figured I would allow him a treat, and allow him to see you."

"Don't!" Orochimaru cried. "You know what he does to me, how could you even let him near me?!"

Pein shrugged. "He's been asking for you ever since he knew where I was going. Am I really going to deny my best ninja such a simple request? He loves you, Orochimaru. It's rather rude of you to so soundly reject him so often…"

Orochimaru turned his head away, trying not to look Pein in the eyes. "I'm not even going to go down that road," he whispered. "Just…just don't let him do anything to me, please…I don't think I can survive much longer if the two of you keep this up."

Pein snickered with laughter, standing up in front of Orochimaru and taking a step back. "Dearest, you can't expect me to restrain him for very long, can you? Honestly! With Itachi's desires, I can't even hope to hold him back. I don't want to, either. He's rather vicious when he's competing for you, you know."

Orochimaru sighed with the defeat and let his head hang. "Very well, then," he said softly. "I'll talk to him…and I'll see if I can get through to him."

Pein smirked. "Thank you," he said with a smirk. "Now, can I trust you if I let you go?"

"Ask yourself that question."

Pein's eyes narrowed in anger, but he held himself back for the moment. "You better watch your tongue," he warned, glaring at Orochimaru. He was standing in front of the door, one hand on the knob, half-turned to stare. "Otherwise, you are going to find yourself in a world of pain."

Orochimaru let go of a snicker. "I'm already there," he snarled. "After all, I'm here, aren't I?"

Pein ignored this comment, instead opening the door and taking a few steps outside. He let the door hang ajar, so Orochimaru could hear what he was saying: "Itachi, he's awake. Come and get him."

There was the sound of footsteps, and then the door opened a bit more. Dark hair, red eyes, and a small figure came into view, and Itachi stepped through the door. Orochimaru found himself shrinking back in fear-he feared Itachi more than anything in the world. A smirk broke out over Itachi's face when he saw Orochimaru, but it soon faded to a deep frown. He approached Orochimaru at a surprisingly rapid pace, and fell to his knees in front of his lover, still frowning. One hand came up-Orochimaru's eyes flashed closed in fear; Orochimaru had come to know the gesture as something so closely associated with pain that he now flinched every time someone raised a hand to him. But, surprisingly, Itachi's hand was gentle; it settled softly against the side of Orochimaru's face, and began running down the side of Orochimaru's face in an almost tender movement. Itachi slowly stroked the side of Orochimaru's face, running his cool hand over his lover's soft skin. Orochimaru shivered at Itachi's frigid touch; he was genuinely afraid of his so-called lover. "He's been cruel," he said coldly, trailing his hand down to tug at Orochimaru's collar. "You have bruises all over you."

Orochimaru said nothing. It was better to let Itachi go on, and only say something when absolutely necessary. Instead, his head lowered, and his gaze fell, trying to appear submissive. He didn't want to anger Itachi any further. "Did he beat you?" Orochimaru gave Itachi the smallest possible nod, shrinking back even farther. Itachi's other hand reached around behind Orochimaru to finger the ropes he was bound with. "You're bleeding." Orochimaru whimpered at Itachi's touch: the ropes stung, but so did Itachi's touch. It only made it worse to have him touch the open lacerations and abrasions. Itachi withdrew his hand, frown deepening. The hand that had been stroking Orochimaru's face fell to his ankles, curled up and almost under his body, hiding the chains that were tightly fastened around his ankles. Itachi tugged at them, and the chains abruptly fell open, freeing Orochimaru's legs, but revealing a bit of blood, smeared over his legs and feet from the heavy, abrasive chains. Itachi then reached up and began fiddling with the collar that Pein had put around Orochimaru's dainty neck, and the leather suddenly dropped to Itachi's hand. Orochimaru was, by now, thoroughly shocked: what was going on? He would have thought that Itachi would have enjoyed seeing him bound and restrained so, helpless under his hand. Another twist of Itachi's fingers freed Orochimaru's wrists from the painful grip of the ropes. Orochimaru's hands came around to rest in his lap; Orochimaru had hardly moved since Itachi had rid him of the bondage. Itachi pulled the ropes off his slender wrists and tossed them aside, leaving Orochimaru now confused as well as stunned. Itachi stood up again, and took a step back. Orochimaru immediately shifted to his knees, gasping with fear and retreating until his body was flattened against the bed behind him. Orochimaru turned away, unable to watch Itachi strike him. He was scared beyond all belief at this point-he couldn't even muster up the strength to plead with Itachi to leave him alone. All he managed was a small, broken sob, and he covered his face with his hands as Itachi's cold, cruel laugh filled his ears. He couldn't take it anymore! If Itachi was going to hit him, just hit him already!

But when Itachi's touch finally came, it was mercifully gentle, and seemed to actually calm Orochimaru instead of hurting him. Itachi almost tenderly picked Orochimaru up, cradling him in his arms like a bride. Orochimaru risked lowering his hands-dare he look into Itachi's dark, sinful eyes?

"Calm down," a soft, husky voice whispered. "I won't hurt you-so long as you behave yourself." A soft kiss found its way to Orochimaru's lips, leaving Orochimaru shocked enough to fall still in Itachi's grasp. Itachi smirked, turned and walked out the door, carrying Orochimaru with him.

"I'll be in my room," Itachi informed Pein, breezing right past his leader. "Please don't disturb me."

Orochimaru was ready to pass out with fear. Would he even live to see the sun again?

…or Kabuto…?

The walk to Itachi's room seemed to take the least amount of time possible. Had Itachi teleported himself there? Orochimaru shrunk down again, trying his best to simply disappear. Nothing could be worse than this; he knew exactly why Itachi had brought him back here now-there could be no other reason. As Itachi opened his door, Orochimaru felt his feet fall to the floor, and put his weight into them. Itachi's other arm, however, remained possessively around Orochimaru's shoulders, his grip firm and clearly instructing Orochimaru to stay close. Yeah, like I was going anywhere, Orochimaru thought sullenly. He let his head fall to Itachi's shoulder, and hid his face in the dark fabric of the Akatsuki cloak. He could feel Itachi turn his head, trying to see what was wrong, but then, the missing-nin simply pushed open the door and stepped through. He tugged Orochimaru in after him, and Orochimaru complied obediently. He almost felt like a dog, pushed around, told what to do, and constantly looked down upon. Orochimaru found himself abruptly pushed ahead of Itachi, and stumbled with the sudden change of pace. Orochimaru collapsed to the floor, sprawled out on his hands and knees and wondering what he had done to deserve such harsh treatment. 

"Don't touch me," Itachi growled. "The master may touch the slave, but the slave may never touch the master!"

Orochimaru turned over, looking at Itachi with fear anew. He could hear the sounds of someone moving around in the next room, but didn't turn to look. He knew he couldn't take his eyes off Itachi for a second; he risked being taken by surprise. Then, he heard footsteps: footsteps that didn't belong to Itachi. It had to be Itachi's partner…what was his name…? He knew he looked like a shark, and probably had his own zip code, he was so big. Orochimaru felt the shadow of Hoshigaki Kisame suddenly fall over him, and swallowed hard. He could hear menacingly laughter behind him, and suddenly began to shake. He had no idea what Kisame's personality was like; for all he knew, he could be worse than Itachi! Hardly possible, but there was always that one percent chance…

"Itachi, torturing him already? What did the poor thing ever do to you, eh?"

Itachi gave Kisame a glare, and reached down to take Orochimaru into hand. But, to Orochimaru's surprise, another, much larger, hand came down and caught his, gently tugging him to his feet. Orochimaru followed Kisame's lead, slowly backing away from Itachi until he could feel Kisame behind him. Only then did he turn around.

It was as he suspected: Kisame was a building with feet. And he was blue! And he had gills on his cheeks! Orochimaru tried his best not to shiver in disgust, but it was hard when the one who was trying to comfort you looked like a shark!

"Leave him alone for just the rest of the day, Itachi," the shark-man was saying. "Just give him a little while to get used to the place, and then have some fun with him. If he breaks too early, nobody's happy. And besides, he need time to write up some sot of note for the Oto-just to let them know what's going on."

Itachi gave a disparaging snort. "Blackmail 'em," he said, "Because they're not getting him back."

"Itachi," Kisame started. He paused, though, to consider his next words. "I don't think you should do that to him," he said slowly. "He can't possibly put up with you, tormenting him every day for very long…and the Oto is going to flip a shit, and then they'll attack us, and then what? We'll all die, I'm certain of it."

"Then he's dying right next to me," Itachi said passionately. "If I can't have him, no one can!"

Kisame sighed. His words were having no effect on the Uchiha; none at all. "Itachi, I'm going to be very frank with you," Kisame finally said. His voice was low, almost whispering, when he uttered his next words: "He hates you. I hate you for what you're doing to him. Now, I am not a nice guy. That's old news. But when it comes to rape, I can't just stand by and let it happen. I will not let you force him to even die for you, just because you're jealous."

Itachi's eyes narrowed, and he simply glared at Kisame for a moment in shock. It seemed that he couldn't believe Kisame was standing up for a low-level slave who had brought in simply at Itachi's request. "I've been silent all this time," Kisame continued, "But now that you've shown me your true intent, I'm afraid I can't just let you continue like this. Don't get me wrong, Itachi," Kisame added in quickly, "I respect you, hell, even fear you, a little. Those crazy eyes of yours could probably kill me in minutes. And I can't say that I won't put up a good fight. But, Itachi, his heart belongs to another. It's up to Orochimaru whether or not to give it to you. And that's one thing you can't ever take, from anyone, ever: their heart. Don't try to make someone hand over their entire self just so you can get what you want, again."

For a moment, Itachi just seemed floored by Kisame and his nerve. Then, his eyes narrowed, his teeth grit, and his lips lifted off his teeth in a snarl. "Well, then," he said menacingly, and flounced right past the two. Kisame wrapped his arms protectively around Orochimaru's shoulders, drawing him closer to him as Itachi passed. As the Uchiha slammed his bedroom door, Orochimaru heard a sigh of relief from Kisame.

"I'll regret that later. But for now…" He turned Orochimaru around, and bent down so he could look the sannin in the eye, "Don't spoil Itachi even more. I promise, I will let you see your lover again-even if it's only to say goodbye."

Orochimaru, too was floored by Kisame. Well…maybe he's not so bad…Orochimaru allowed himself a small smile. "Thank you," he whispered, sinking into a low bow. "Kisame-sama…I am forever in your debt…for what you are doing for me."

Kisame offered Orochimaru a small smile, and motioned to the sannin to follow him as he headed for the kitchen. "Come on; share it over something to eat. You must be starving."

A/N: Yay, chapter!! : ) Review, please!!