Kabuto knew that, the past couple days, someone else had been in the base. Unwelcome, unbidden, and, the most dangerous part of all, undiscovered. He knew exactly who it was, although the intruder failed to reveal himself. He knew exactly where they were, and had decided at the very first moment of detecting them that he would not leave Orochimaru's side until they left. Kabuto had not broken that promise to himself as of yet-he hadn't left Orochimaru's side the entire of the four days that the man had been there, watching, waiting. Kabuto could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise as soon as his back was turned, and he could feel the blood red eyes of the other boring straight into his back, staring straight into his soul. He could tell Orochimaru felt it, too: the way the sannin would occasionally shiver, and cast nervous glances back and forth, indicated that his nerves were strung up high. Kabuto would then step in, and try to get Orochimaru's mind off it. But it was hardly worth the trouble: they both knew what was going on, and no one could do a thing about it.

Tonight was different, though.

Itachi was here, they all knew it. Even Orochimaru's guards were nervous, and they seemed to spook at their own shadows. The Sound Five clung to Orochimaru like static electricity, never farther away than a few yards. Orochimaru wasn't sure what to make of the situation: he hated being crowded, but he knew to send away his guards was to ask for trouble. But…he sighed, shaking his head. Orochimaru turned over in bed, well aware of the shadows shifting in the corner. There was a flash of red, and he was certain that everyone in the room had seen it. From the surprised inhales of air, he knew Itachi was growing bolder and bolder. Orochimaru couldn't stand it anymore! He turned over again, this time onto his back, and fought his way to a half upright position, bracing himself up on one of his elbows. "Alright, that's it," he muttered, moving over a bit in the bed to stand up. "Itachi, I don't care who you think you are, but I want you to get your ass out here, and at least stop stalking me!"

Nothing.

Orochimaru growled in frustration. The damn Uchiha was playing with them! He was playing them all like a violin, down to the lowest guard in this room. Kabuto rose from his seat in the corner, moving to stand next to Orochimaru. He sensed Orochimaru's distress, and began searching for Itachi's chakra.

"Itachi!"

There was a rush of air, and Orochimaru could feel Itachi's chakra swirling around in the winds. The Uchiha was getting agitated, or he was getting ready to appear. Orochimaru could feel his heartbeat pick up-his worst nightmare, facing him the dead of night. Now, if that's not the fullest extent of nyctophobia, one can't even define the word to Orochimaru. The snake stepped forward, though, trying to face down his fears as best he could. His heart was racing like the pounding hooves of a herd of wild horses. His breathing was swift and labored, the beats of a tribal drum counted out in the furious inhales he took to satisfy his rapidly beating heart. Orochimaru's skin crawled with anticipation; Itachi was still toying with them. The winds picked up again, caressing almost gently the skin of Orochimaru's near-bare body and asking-no, begging-him to come closer, to lose himself in the pure essence of Itachi's soul. Orochimaru resisted the pull; if Itachi caught him now, it would be all over.

Itachi appeared.

As if torn apart and then reassembled by wind, the Uchiha appeared, in all his stunning glory and terrifying presence. Blood red eyes tore apart the scene in front of him, moving from the Sound Five, clustered uncertainly behind Orochimaru, to Kabuto, standing protectively next to his master, and finally, on Orochimaru himself, trying to appear strong and in defiance of Itachi. But still, Itachi caught that fatal flicker of fear in Orochimaru's eye, despite his determination not to show that very same fear. The very same fear that Itachi had put there. That very same fear that Itachi had instilled so deeply in Orochimaru that it caused him to flinch whenever someone raised a hand to him. The very same fear that Itachi was now hell bent on setting in stone, so never to have any doubt in anyone's mind that Orochimaru was his, and only his: his to touch, his to have, his to do with as he pleased, when he pleased-! No one else could even come close to Orochimaru, not without Itachi's permission and supervision. No one would ever have Orochimaru as he did-no one else loved him like he did. And that would never change; Itachi would never allow Orochimaru to fall to the touch of another, for he would hardly experience it.

"Orochimaru."

Orochimaru felt Itachi's words creep down his spine, and send shivers down it until Itachi's voice settled in a cold pit in Orochimaru's stomach. Still, the snake swallowed his fear, and replied, just as coldly, "Itachi."

Itachi seemed not to take into mind his target's harsh tone of voice, instead moving towards him. A viper struck either sinuously slowly, or frighteningly fast. Itachi was choosing the faster of the two methods, and it was killing Orochimaru, still he fought not to back away as Itachi suddenly appeared right in front of him, reaching out with one hand to touch him. Orochimaru tried to keep himself steady as Itachi's frigid touch ran down the side of his face, Itachi's traitorous hand stroking gently down Orochimaru's face, as if trying to calm him. "My darling, don't spit my name, as if you hate me," Itachi purred, leaning ever closer to Orochimaru. Orochimaru recoiled, seemingly in disgust, swatting Itachi's hand away.

"Don't touch me."

It was the first time-no, the second time-that Orochimaru had stood up for himself, the first having ended in disaster. And so far, Itachi wasn't liking the disobedience. His face twisted into anger, and his hand came back, ready to strike Orochimaru. Still, the sannin didn't move. His eyes slowly closed, denying his punishment, and Itachi's anger only seemed to build. Was Orochimaru mocking him?! Offering him his free access to do anything he wished to Orochimaru? Itachi's right hand, hovering over his left shoulder, came down in a swift backhand, fully intending to smack Orochimaru down to the ground.

His wrist was caught in long, pale fingers.

Orochimaru's fine-boned hand had snapped up, catching Itachi's hand in his own. Orochimaru's eyes suddenly seemed to flash with a new fury, snapping open to reveal dark molten lava, threatening to boil over and erupt. For a moment, the only thing on Itachi's face was shock. How dare Orochimaru even think about defying him?! He belonged to him, the little bitch, and that wasn't about to change! Itachi angrily aimed a strong punch at Orochimaru's stomach, only to have that caught, as well. Orochimaru's eyes seemed to light afire, and, in a flash, it looked like Orochimaru's entire body had lit on fire.

Dark purple flames trickled off his form: the deadly waves of chakra that Orochimaru possessed that seemed to be eternally haunting him, begging Itachi to take him, pulled in by that alluring aura…Orochimaru shoved back against Itachi, twisting his held wrist until he could feel the bone beginning to feather towards the hairline fractures that preceded actual breaks. "Led me on, repeatedly beat me senseless, raped me multiple times, kidnapped me, tortured me, starved me, and finally almost killed me-I. Have. Had it!!" Orochimaru shoved Itachi back, and a loud, resounding, snap! issued from his arm. Itachi allowed himself a small grunt of pain as the bruises began to form around the break, but backed off for a moment. Orochimaru grabbed a kimono from next to his bed, and threw it on, over his boxers. He wasn't fighting Itachi so exposed. The kimono hardly created a deterrent, but it gave Orochimaru a bit of a confidence booster. Knowing he wasn't completely exposed brought a bit of comfort to his mind. Itachi, meanwhile, took a few reeling steps back, clutching at his wrist as if tightening his grip would lessen the pain, or prevent further injury.

"Itachi, you just didn't listen to me," Orochimaru said softly, slowly lifting his head to meet Itachi's furious gaze. Crazy red eyes glared back, and Orochimaru could sense the utter lack of sanity within their treacherous depths. He tried not to meet Itachi's eyes, but felt a certain numbness at staring into them. "I told you," he continued, taking a step towards the shaking Uchiha. "I told you I hated you." Orochimaru stopped, only three feet away from Itachi, within striking distance. "I told you what you were doing to me was rape." Itachi straightened, but one hand still remained on his severely broken wrist. "I told you I didn't want you to touch me, and yet you did it anyway! I told you I didn't love you, the first night you raped me, and you still tried to win my love! I told you, a thousand times! I screamed it to you, I cried it to you, I begged it to you, I wrote it to you-you just couldn't take no for answer!" By now, Orochimaru's voice had risen to a shout, and all his emotions simply came pouring out. "I told you, that I could never love someone who could do something like that to someone they wanted to love them, and all you could tell me was that I didn't know what I wanted! Itachi, I'm not a child! If anything, I'm older than you! And I just can't stand it anymore! I can't live with this! And if you won't end this…" Orochimaru suddenly faltered, as if realizing exactly who he was talking to. But still, he swallowed his fear, and delivered the final blow: "If you can't end this, than I will!"

For a moment, the entire room fell silent, every single person present simply shell-shocked at Orochimaru's outburst. Not since…well, long before Itachi had come back, had anyone seen Orochimaru blow up like that, or even stand up for himself. Kenshin was standing in the door, drawn by all the shouting: even he was silent for once, not a single comment in his bank left to combat that one. Finally, Itachi seemed to know what to say.

He laughed.

He flat-out laughed.

"My, my, my, Orochimaru, finally grew a spine, huh?" he leered, standing up straight and letting his arms fall to his sides. "I don't know just who you think you are, talking to me like that…a slave doesn't give their master such attitude, do they?"

"Don't you dare mistake me for your fuck toy!!"

Orochimaru slapped Itachi.

The sannin had had it up to here with Itachi's controlling mechanisms, and was completely through putting up with them. Itachi took the brunt of the hit, head snapping to the side with the sudden force of the blow. Itachi fell to the ground, landing on his injured hand with a short, sharp, grunt of pain. Orochimaru wasn't finished, though: he took a step back, and continued berating Itachi:

"I loved you!" he screamed, fighting down his raging, crashing emotions. "I loved you, and all you did was take advantage of that love! You asked me to do something I couldn't do for you, and then you showed me who you really were! I can't take it anymore, Itachi! I thought you loved me, for everything I did for you! I risked my neck for your sake, went out of my way to please you, all because I loved you, and thought you returned that! I am absolutely, positively, beyond done with you! I can't believe I ever even tried to love you!"

"You mean to tell me that every one of those kisses was fake?" Itachi whispered, trying not to see the full picture. He just didn't want to. Orochimaru shook his head sadly, covering the lower half of his face with his hand.

"Not all of them," he whispered, feeling his breaths hitch. "But hell, Itachi, it's not the kisses that matter right now. It's every time you couldn't respect me, and took me, even if it meant tying me down, beating me senseless, and then raping me so hard I bled. I can't forgive that, Itachi, no matter how much I used to love you."

By now, Itachi was truly fighting hard not to see what Orochimaru was trying to make him see. He pushed himself to his knees, and then to his feet, gaze fixated on Orochimaru the entire time. He could see the tears welling up behind Orochimaru's dark golden eyes-tears of pain, tears of remorse, tears of regret, tears of sorrow, tears of horror…horror, because of what Itachi had become. And now, Itachi couldn't help but feel those two first tears, soft and delicate as they were, lance right through his heart like the sharpest of spears.

"I can't even remember…" Itachi started, averting his eyes from Orochimaru's, "The last time I actually desired your touch…and not to be touching you."

"That's what I mean!" Orochimaru cried, suddenly erupting again. "I told you…I told you, and you never freaking listened! Itachi, please…please, for my sake…tell me the truth. The whole truth. I don't care how brutal it is, just please…please, please, please, please, please…I beg of you, please….just tell me the Goddamned truth."

Itachi glanced expectantly at Orochimaru, trying to glare through his own emotions, suddenly unleashed from behind their eternal dam of Itachi's pride.

"Did you ever…ever, in our entire relationship…did you ever love me?"

Itachi seemed struck at the question. It seemed like such an obvious answer! Still, Itachi stopped to think about the question. Considering his recent actions, and even those of before, Orochimaru must think he hated him…Itachi fought with himself for a time, trying to figure out how to phrase his next sentence. His entire life could possibly depend on it, because Orochimaru had said it himself: he would end it if Itachi couldn't see it.

"Orochimaru…understand at least this. I loved you at first. I really, truly did. But then…I suppose my love simply became…tainted…with lust. I couldn't see you as what you really are…and I only saw you as someone I could have my way with. I suppose that, deep down, there is still that purity of love…but I can't seem to grasp it anymore." Itachi finally worked up the courage to face Orochimaru. "Please try to understand, love…I tried. But I failed. And, I know you can't do this, but I am going to ask for your forgiveness…"

Orochimaru paused, suddenly torn between his heart and his head. All sense of logic seemed to tell him-no, scream at him-to get far, far away from Itachi, or even to kill him-! But his heart only wanted to be back in Itachi's arms, to have that sweet, honest touch back again, stroking his hair and wiping away his tears, comforting him, telling him he was okay…but no. Not anymore. Now, Orochimaru had found someone else…someone he knew would never hurt him, not to save his life.

"Itachi, you and I both know, at this point, that forgiving you is out of the question. I'm so sorry, but…Itachi, I've already found another. Someone who I can be sure won't ever hurt me, or take advantage of me like you did."

Itachi glared at Orochimaru, and a spark of the old malice came back. Orochimaru flinched back from Itachi, unsure of what he should do. But one thing was for sure, he was frightened. Itachi had brought him nothing but pain so far, and Orochimaru saw no reason to believe that this time would be any different. But, suddenly, Itachi was no longer in his live of view. Instead, there was a silver ponytail in front of him, and a purple-clothed body blocking him from Itachi and Itachi from him.

"You heard him," Kabuto sneered, a kunai leaping to his hand. "He doesn't want you anymore! Get out!"

Itachi's eyes flashed in anger, but he ignored Kabuto's barb. "Orochimaru," he growled, "Don't think that I'm completely remorseful for this-"

"Don't lie to me," Orochimaru snapped, taking a step to the side to see around Kabuto. "I saw your eyes-you can't hide that from me. You see now, how much you've hurt me. Admit it, Itachi! You still love me, you just can't admit it! Don't try to lie to me! Because if you do, I can't be held responsible for my actions, nor the actions of my ninja!"

Itachi seemed struck by the idea that Orochimaru-or some of his ninja-would actually attack him. He seemed to turn this over in his mind for a moment, and then finally relented to Orochimaru: "Yes, I still love you. Somewhere, deep down in my heart, I do still love you. I just can't express it very well. There, are you happy?"

Orochimaru only offered a wordless nod. "Thank you," he whispered. He then took a step forward, gently placing a hand on Kabuto's shoulder and stepping around him. "Look, Itachi, I just…I can't deal with this right now. Nor can I allow you to stay. You need to go back to Akatsuki. Maybe someday, I'll seek you out…and tell you I've forgiven you. But, be aware that I will never feel the same way about you again. You've just hurt me too much for that. Please, Itachi, just…just, spare us all the pain, and…leave. Please, just go. I just want to be alone, and have some time to think about all of this…"

Itachi didn't move for a moment. For one, fatal, second, Orochimaru looked up, and thought Itachi was going to attack him. The Uchiha seemed to teleport instantly to Orochimaru's side, placing one cool hand on the side of Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru froze, not moving with the suddenness of Itachi's movements. But, soon he felt the true nature of Itachi's motions, in the soft touch on his face, the way he seemed not to pressure him as his lips gently grazed Orochimaru's, stealing a precious kiss from white-hot lips-

And, just like that, he was gone.

A/N: School has fried every creative thought in my brain…but then, I started listening to Nightwish, and it all came back. : ) So, review, please!!