The wolves, my love will come
Taking us home where dust once was a man.
Is there life before a death?
Do we long too much and never let in?
Orochimaru was recovering well.
Kabuto had kept a careful record of the sannin's progress, keeping his very large medical folder in a safe, hidden location under something like seven locks and eight keys. He knew, though, that this was just the eye of the storm. He could keep the records as safe as he kept Orochimaru himself, and it would still hardly make a difference in the final showdown. Orochimaru needed to get up and fight for himself, otherwise he would be permanently hampered by his fears. Kabuto was now counting the days until the Akatsuki attacked: it had been seven days since Orochimaru had returned, and Kabuto estimated that Akatsuki would strike in about another week. He hoped he was wrong, and that they would strike later. Much later. When Orochimaru was feeling like himself again. Kabuto sighed and put the medical folder into the appropriate drawer, sliding it in under a false bottom and dropping a few more folders down on top of it. He then set about the process of putting the locks all back in place...
There goes another freaking fifteen minutes.
Howl!
Seven days to the wolves!
Where will we be when they come?
Seven days to the poison
And a place in Heaven!
Time growing near as they come to take us
Orochimaru was sitting in bed, quite bored. The second he was well enough to work, he had gotten the hell out of the hospital, relocating himself to his own bedroom, suddenly so dreadfully far away. Kabuto, it seemed, had understood, and helped him walk back, knowing that Orochimaru's pride was rather delicate at this point. He needed to reinforce that stubborn hubris that Orochimaru seemed to have lost for good at this point in time. He did so by trying to crowd Orochimaru, to encourage him to push him away. It had worked fairly well-until Orochimaru had caught on. Then, he had just been mad, much to kabuto's satisfaction. Now, Orochimaru was sitting quietly, cross-legged on his bed, clothed in a pair of black pants and a loose half-fishnet shirt. He was bent over a notebook braced on one knee, writing fervently in it, as if his very life depended on it. And for Orochimaru, it may well have: it was a new jutsu. Total obliteration was the key in this one: if a ninja focused enough chakra densely enough in a point at one point on the earth, in theory, it should simply shatter outwards under the pressure, shooting out debris and collapsing everything for anywhere from ten feet to ten miles in a firm radius outwards from the ninja. Of course, the distance depended on how much chakra one focused, but Orochimaru was fairly certain that the human limit was about ten miles.
"Feeling better?"
Orochimaru glanced up from his notebook, taking a quick look up to see who had entered his bedroom. Kabuto...Orochimaru knew he had been in the kitchen for a while, supposedly making food for the both of the, but Orochimaru suspected that his medic was mixing in some new medication with the food. He said nothing, of course: as long as he wasn't the guinea pig, he couldn't care less what he ingested.
"I made some tea," Kabuto continued, walking over to Orochimaru and sitting down on the bed next to him. "Want some?"
"What kind?" Orochimaru asked, setting the pen and notebook aside. He sat forward a bit, and then leaned backwards, kicking his legs out in front of him and turning so his weight was focused into his right hip, allowing him to face Kabuto. Orochimaru centered the rest of his weight on his right arm, balancing himself between his hip and hand. Kabuto was pleased: Orochimaru had broken that arm in three places, and that hip had been severely bruised and cut when he had first come back from Akatsuki.
"Jasmine," Kabuto replied. He had made the tea with Orochimaru in mind: he knew jasmine was Orochimaru's favorite kind of tea.
"Sure," Orochimaru said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, working around Kabuto. "I'll come into the kitchen. Getting a little stuffy in here."
Kabuto gave a disparaging snort. "I'll say," he grunted. "There's so much candle and incense smoke in here, I doubt you'll be surviving for much longer. This spells lung cancer in huge, flashing neon sign."
Orochimaru couldn't help but laugh at Kabuto's prediction. "I'm switching soon, anyway. I promise I'll ease up after that."
Kabuto nodded once. "Good," he said tartly. "I can only do so much about cancer."
This is my church of choice,
Love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice
For the rest, I have to say to you
I will dream like the god
And suffer like all the dead children
Kabuto poured Orochimaru a hot cup of tea, handing it to his master and then sitting down with his own cup of tea. Kabuto could appreciate this moment: Orochimaru was getting better, and much better, at that. But there was still so much to be cured...the post traumatic stress, the injuries themselves, the lingering fears...Kabuto knew that Orochimaru was making significant progress, and also that he was healing at an alarming speed, but also, he was just hiding his fears. The terror that lurked beneath the surface would never go away...at least, not until Orochimaru faced it. His strength would be in how much he had with Kabuto, in leaving Itachi, despite the consequences. Kabuto knew that it would strengthen Orochimaru if his lover was his source of strength. He had a hunch that it would be relatively easy for Orochimaru to recover if he faced down his fears one at a time, and not have to deal with Itachi again.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen until Itachi was dead.
Howl!
Seven days to the wolves!
Where will we be when they come?
Seven days to the poison-
And a place in Heaven!
Time growing near as they come to take us!
Orochimaru took long, slow sips of his tea, thinking hard about his current predicament. He needed to face Itachi sooner or later, that he knew. But, frankly, he would much rather it be later...maybe when he had something resembling dignity and self-esteem left...?
Orochimaru stole a quick glance at Kabuto. The easiest way to conquer his fears was, perhaps, gradual exposure. Or, everything all at once, and, in the stress, just close the eyes and hit the gas. And then, strike while the iron was hot. Orochimaru had to sigh with resignation. The only way to do this quickly was exposure. And what was the easiest way to conquer most of his fears at once?
Have sex.
Is this where heroes and cowards part ways...?
How lovely. Orochimaru would now have to go whore himself out, under the excuse that he needed to conquer a fear that was given to him while he was being raped. Go figure!
Light the fire, feast
Chase the ghost, give in
Take the road less traveled by,
Leave the city of fools,
Turn every poet loose
Kabuto caught Orochimaru's eyes, and found himself pondering what the Kage was thinking at the moment. They needed to do something, and do it fast. The problem was, Orochimaru had limits, and very small ones, at that. Kabuto gave a rough exhale, almost matching exactly the Kage's own sigh. "What?" Kabuto asked suddenly, catching Orochimaru's molten eyes once again.
Howl!
Seven days to the wolves!
Where will we be when they come?
Seven days to the poison
And a place in Heaven!
Time growing near as they come to take us
Orochimaru shook his head. "Just thinking," he murmured. "About Itachi…"
Kabuto seemed to understand, and scooted closer to Orochimaru, taking one of his hands in his own. "We can do this," he said softly, drawing Orochimaru's gaze to his own. Molten lava met hot volcanic ash, meeting in a vaporous mixture of passion and concern. Kabuto knew how much pain Orochimaru was in: what he didn't know was how to ease it. But, hey, he could try.
"Look, I understand that he's powerful, and that you're almost on the same level. No, wait, just let me finish," Kabuto added quickly, seeing Orochimaru's look as he mentioned their difference in power. Orochimaru seemed depressed, suddenly deflated. "The only reason he's above you is because you think he is. You're afraid of him. If we can banish that fear, we can move ahead! We just need to work on…I don't know, raising your self esteem, or something, I don't know. What makes you so afraid of him? What makes you automatically submit to him?"
Howl!
Seven days to the wolves!
Where will we be when they come?
Seven days to the poison
And a place in Heaven!
Time growing near as they come to take us
"How about the fact that every time I see him, it usually turns out to be bad for me? Whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, either way it's going to be bad for the pitcher. And you can look that up-Don Quixote. Tayuya was doing something with it, and quoted it to me when I scolded her for her language, and she defended with that quote, saying that she was provoked. But, anyway, every single time he seeks me out, or I am forcibly brought to him, it always turns out ugly. I end up beaten, raped, and then pretty much left for dead. How exactly am I supposed to feel?"
Kabuto sighed. "Not quite what I was getting at," he murmured. "I know what he does to you, Orochimaru-sama, you don't have to remind me of that. What I wanted to know was why you didn't fight back to your fullest potential."
"Because when I do, he always squashes me like a bug and then just gets worse with me."
Kabuto had had a hunch, but wasn't entirely sure of the reason Orochimaru didn't fight as hard as he normally would. Then he realized: the fear itself was driving Orochimaru down deeper, and it only got worse and worse. This was exactly what Itachi wanted: for Orochimaru to slowly be chipped away until he was completely nothing, and Itachi's mindless puppet. He knew now that the situation was even worse than he had originally feared, and that something-anything!-had to be done.
Heroes, cowards, no more!
"We can't run," he finally said, standing up. He took Orochimaru's hand, pulling him to his feet and coaxing him up and after him as he walked into Orochimaru's room. "We are not running. We are not going to sit here and simply wait for Itachi to attack again. We are not going to let this go on a second longer. You shouldn't have to live in fear for Itachi's mistakes."
Heroes, cowards, no more!
Orochimaru could see what Kabuto was doing. He had brought him back into his bedroom, and was now lighting sticks of incense: lavender. Itachi's least favorite. They were going to simply burn incense? What else was Kabuto planning? Then, Orochimaru could see the chakra leaking off Kabuto's form, loading into the incense and cramming itself in like gunpowder. Orochimaru could see what Kabuto was doing: turning incense into fireworks. The second Itachi picked one up, it would turn into a live bomb. And Kabuto was lighting so many, Itachi would be forced to put at least a few out. It was a nice way to make Itachi mad; it wouldn't hurt him.
"Strike one."
Heroes, cowards, no more!
Kabuto began moving around the room, setting up booby traps everywhere. Orochimaru was taking it that the entire package was "strike two." Partly, because Kabuto was setting way more than the classical three, and partly because he seemed to be slightly holding back. Orochimaru just hung back, memorizing every place a trap was laid and trying to remember what he was going to do to get Itachi into them without getting himself killed. Kabuto seemed to be enjoying himself: he had set close to twenty traps, and wasn't showing any signs of stopping.
"Strike two."
Kabuto finally stepped back, picking his way around the room to join Orochimaru in the doorway. He looked upon the room, seemingly in admiration at his own handy work. Orochimaru had to hand it to him: it was very impressive, what Kabuto could do with some kunai, a bunch of shuriken, and some trip wire that Orochimaru had lying around his room. Probably not the greatest place for it, given Itachi's tendencies…but still, it had been there, because Orochimaru mostly had it hidden within easy reach. He was just that well-loved that he had to sleep with a knife under his pillow and a katana under his mattress. But, it seemed Kabuto wasn't finished yet: he had whipped out a seal tag and started scribbling on it, making as many marks as he could fit onto the tag using a ball point pen Kabuto had probably stolen from Orochimaru's desk. Orochimaru peeked at the slip of paper in Kabuto's hand: it was a ninjutsu seal. And it seemed that Kabuto was setting it to trip the second Itachi entered the vicinity. It was set to create an earth clone that would pass as Orochimaru until Itachi killed himself in Orochimaru's deathtrap of a room.
"Strike three, and you're out."
Kabuto stuck the seal tag to the back of the door, and then closed the door.
"And now we wait."
OOOOOOOOOOO
And wait, they did. For the rest of the day, Orochimaru went over the battle plans he had written out for his ninja. He was going to have the earth clone in his room, and he was going to be in Kabuto's room with Kimimaro. Everyone else knew the plan: Tayuya, Jiroubou, Kidomaru, and Sakon and Ukon all were going to be outside, in various places, and Kabuto and Kimimaro were going to be the only people actually inside the room with Orochimaru. Orochimaru was just going to go about his day normally, and they were just going to sit and wait, Orochimaru with his chakra masked, and the Sound Five all in hiding. Orochimaru just sat around, really, trying to recover. He couldn't focus on anything, and mainly just sat with Kabuto, just…talking. Anything and nothing, they discussed it, even just talking about their plans for the night. Orochimaru was certain Itachi was going to come; Kabuto was skeptical, and had several theories as to why. The two went over these, and eventually, Orochimaru had just gotten so worked up, Kabuto had to calm him down with a bit of tea and a soothing word. Orochimaru just needed to vent right about now, but Kabuto could find no healthy way for him to do so. So, he just sat with Orochimaru, and let him cry.
After a good ten minutes, Orochimaru seemed to feel much better, and was able to eat dinner and keep it down. Kabuto was happy about that: it was the first time Orochimaru had eaten a big meal since his capture and was able to keep it down. He just hoped that nothing would happen to make Orochimaru lose that food. Kami-sama knew he needed it. Kabuto sat with Orochimaru at the kitchen table, sipping tea and going over the latest of the experiments. They managed to kill several more hours this way, until finally Kabuto made Orochimaru go to bed. He sat down next to Orochimaru for comfort, and spent the entire night there.
He felt like he was being watched the entire night.
OOOOOOOOOOO
Several more nights passed this way. Kabuto and Orochimaru would sit up, usually until eleven in the evening, and then Kabuto would coax Orochimaru into a deep, fitful sleep. Sooner or later, Orochimaru would wake up, usually around nine in the morning, and then the two would eat breakfast. Then, they would simply pass the day normally-although with tighter nerves, and more highly-strung spirits. Orochimaru could practically hear his nerves singing: the entire day, especially this last one, he had been feeling rather unnerved. But why, and how, were entirely different stories. When Kabuto finally forced Orochimaru to sleep, he felt so much more reluctant, and voiced his concerns to Kabuto. The genin merely frowned, and promised Orochimaru more guards, and that he would never leave his master's side throughout the entire night.
It was in both of their best interests, decided the Sharingan glowing in the corner.
A/N: I made the ending a little overly creepy, and this chapter was a tad bit short…I decidedly lacked muse. School has fried almost every creative thought in my mind. . Review please-building up to climax!!