Chapter Four: Just because a snake is smiling at you doesn't mean it isn't going to swallow you whole
Sasuke had rapidly polished off the hearty meal and set it off to the side. Now what am I supposed to do?
He rose up off the ground and hissed, immediately reaching down to massage his legs when he realized how numb they felt. Deciding to walk it off, he went over to the opposite side of the room.
Now that he was closer, he noticed that the wall was actually an optical illusion. He didn't realize until he reached it. Sasuke raised a hand out in front of him to feel the stone divider but ended up taking a few steps forward until he met the cool surface under his palm.
His peripheral vision picked up shelves full of clothes on his right and left hidden by a parted wall in front of them. The light only floated into the entrance way, ensuring that the closet sides (or what he could only guess was a closet) which couldn't be seen from inside the room, were in the shadows.
Whoever did the architecture of this place had odd tastes. Sasuke thought, getting a closer look at the tall and narrow shelves. Mostly they just contained white zip-up shirts and dark pants.
Grabbing the articles of clothing, he stood in the lit gap between the front walls holding them up to himself to see how they fit when the door opened.
A male about his own age strolled in with his hands in his grey pants pockets and paused after taking a look at Sasuke.
"Those look like they'd fit you nicely. I'm Hozuki Suigetsu by the way; I'm supposed to show you around." The white haired teen grinned revealing his unusually pointed teeth and waited for a reply.
Sasuke ignored the other and folded the short sleeve shirt before putting it back in the invisible closet.
"It's impolite to enter a room without knocking" The Uchiha eventually said making sure the clothes he took were set back in their correct place.
"Yeah… sorry about that." The teen said, not sounding apologetic in the least.
Leaving the enclosed space, Sasuke noticed Suigetsu's odd expression as he eyed the tray on the floor that was brought in earlier.
It probably isn't normal to have food brought into the rooms… Wanting to distract the other, he introduced himself, habitually offering his hand. "Sasuke"
Purple eyes moved to direct their attention to the Uchiha once more. "Just Sasuke huh? I suppose that's not a bad name." Suigetsu replied shaking his hand with a firm grip.
Letting the other go, he stepped back while the other male made a gesture towards the empty dishes. "So, I guess I'll give that tour now, and on the way we can bring that back to the cafeteria."
"Hn" Sasuke answered, going over to turn the old handle and open the door before stepping into the hall.
The empty corridor was built with stones, looking similar to Sasuke's new room. It was lit with torches as well, both directions from his door appearing eerily similar. The only difference being the east direction contained another door on the opposite side. Sasuke could only assume it was the aforementioned bathroom.
Although I've been wrong before…
Promptly, he shoved the image of the recent vehicle incident into a very back corner of his brain.
"Uh…aren't you forgetting something?" the voice called from behind him.
The Uchiha turned and sent the other teen a glare until Hozuki finally gave in with a huff, picking up the tray and followed Sasuke out into the hall.
"Geez, what are you, some rich kid? Just because Orochimaru happens to be spoiling you, doesn't mean I will. I'm not your maid ya'know."
Sasuke didn't bother to respond and closed his door after Suigetsu made his way through.
These torches are everywhere. I wonder where all the eclectic lights and windows are. We have to be underground or something.
They traveled down corridor past the bathroom and through many twists and turns, Suigetsu pointing out a dozen other rooms until they went around the corner and arrived at a wider, more decorated hallway. The stone walls there still lit with torches, but the floor had a long frayed red rug. On the right side there was a dusty matching red love seat, next to a small table. The left side had a coffee table again the wall.
A tray clattered as the white haired teen set it on the wood surface and plopped down across from it on the sofa with a sigh.
"Phew I'm tired. It's been a while since I've been out and about like this. I almost forgot how huge this place is; wish I had remembered to bring my water with me"
"…We've only been walking for ten minutes."
"Yeah, that's a long time." Suigetsu replied as he patted the spot beside him with a pale hand. "But seriously, the old snake has been awfully hospitable towards ya, what makes you so special?"
Sasuke folded his arms across his chest refusing the unsaid invitation. "I'm not." Changing the topic, he noted his observation, "This place has no windows."
"Oh yeah, the majority of the rooms are in the basement because we hardly ever go upstairs. The outside of this old castle looks small and rundown but on the inside, it's actually pretty well kept." The other said, confirming his suspicions. "Oh! By the way, I meant to ask you earlier but what happened to your wrists?"
Looking down at his chest he regarded the said appendage, red skin had transformed into an encompassing angry bruise. Uncrossing his arms he started to head down the rest of the hall way.
"Let's go." He said purposely ignoring the query and the rage that burst up inside him like bubbling magma.
The other scrambled up to follow and grabbed the tray while calling, "Hey, wait up! You don't know where you're going!"
They finally dropped the dishes off at the empty cafeteria, and Suigetsu showed him some of the classrooms and the training center.
Following the brief tour, they made their way back to his room. Not that Sasuke needed someone to show him how to get back. Despite the maze like qualities of this place, he'd already memorized how to get around. In fact, he was confident enough to say that he could navigate the corridors all by himself. He was hoping the other could take the hint since Suigetsu was the one following him this time.
"But man, I'm jealous. Your room is so much bigger compared to mine; I hardly have any elbow room at all. How about a trade hmm?"
No such luck. Sasuke just turned his head and looked briefly at other teen as he kept walking.
Suigetsu, used to his unresponsiveness by now, frowned. "Well, it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. After all, I don't think you could survive in a water tank."
Sasuke did stop this time.
"Suigetsu" a voice hissed out behind them.
They both turned around and were greeted by the site of Kabuto heading their direction with a red haired female trailing behind him.
"Er Kabuto, I didn't see you there."
"Hey, Don't over look me you…" the young woman trailed off as she seemed to take a good look at Sasuke. Blushing, she adjusted her glasses and asked, "Who might you be?"
"This is Sasuke; Orochimaru wants to see him in his lab. Would you mind showing him the way Karin?" Kabuto answered for him.
"I… why of course."
"Good, I'll escort Suigetsu back to his room."
The girl came over and linked her pale arm in Sasuke's, turning him around and guiding them in the opposite direction of his bathroom door.
"Don't listen to Suigetsu, he's an exaggerating idiot."
"I heard that!" came the yell from behind them.
Sasuke extracted his arm, resulting with a pout from Karin while she ignored Suigetsu's reply.
The Uchiha wearily eyed the other girl. She was wearing a tight purple shirt, black shorts, and complimenting black boots. All in all she had nice legs but small breasts. Too bad she wasn't his type. Not that he was sure what his type was being somewhat asexual, but brilliant red certainly wasn't it.
Hopefully it wouldn't take all that long to get to the lab; this girl was standing so close to him, he could practically feel her breath. He found himself subtly sliding away, only to have her follow. It almost reminded him of the 'date' he went on the other day. Funny, it seemed like ages ago now.
"So, Sasuke," Karin purred "when you did you get here and how is it that you came to Sound?"
Sound? He'd never heard of it.
They went around the next corner they stopped before the first door on the right, saving Sasuke from answering the redhead. Although, he wasn't sure if he should be relived or not.
On one hand, being close to the lab meant seeing Orochimaru and Kabuto more than he was comfortable with. It also meant that if the two decided to do some awful experiment, he'd be the one who was forced to listen to the screams. On the other, it also made it easier for Sasuke to keep an eye on the pair. The more he knew, the better chances he'd have of reversing the blackmail and getting out of this place as soon as possible.
Karin raised her fist and knocked lightly on the door. It wasn't long before it swung open with Orochimaru standing in the entrance. His eyes moved from Karin to Sasuke before he smiled and pushed the door to leave a wider gap silently inviting him in.
"Sasuke, I've been expecting you."
The raven stepped forward and into the room, noticing the snake narrowing his eyes at the girl following closely behind him before he walked past the older man.
"Don't you have a job to do Karin?"
The Uchiha didn't bother to listen to her reply and started looking over the room.
It wasn't as bad as he originally anticipated. The lab had more light than the halls and actually smelled clean. The far back wall was filled with racks that contained…questionable things. Sasuke couldn't get a good enough look from where he was to tell. But perhaps that was a good thing. The left wall was completely covered in books. The ones on the top three shelves all looked new, while the lower four levels were crammed with overflowing tomes looking older and more fragile. Counters and a sink lined the right side of the room, with matching black cabinets above them nailed into the ceiling.
The sound of a shutting door behind him had Sasuke turning, cutting off his observations.
"If you don't mind taking a seat over there, we can get started." Orochimaru said, gesturing to a dentist like reclining chair that faced the front of the room.
Sasuke couldn't afford to appear weak, not with the man's gaze on his back. So, even if the light blue chair admittedly looked ominous with straps hovering over the feet and arm rests he sat down without any hesitation.
Orochimaru sat on a nearby red stool and rolled the seat over to Sasuke's left side. Handing him a spoon like object, he gestured to poster board on the front wall some twenty feet away.
"Cover one eye and read off the letters."
Complying, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a small sense of relief. He'd never been to an optometrist before. Doing his best to avoid them, he was always afraid they would find something unnatural. But this was probably as close to a visit as he would ever get and it was much better to be doing this rather than being strapped down and having needles forced into his veins.
The rest played out like any other ordinary eye appointment, or what he assumed was an ordinary eye appointment. Kabuto had walked in while he was reading the snellen chart, and waited till he was finished to switch places Orochimaru. He examined Sasuke's retina, the front of his eyes and tested his eye pressure while the snake watched them, leaning in the corner.
After all was said and done, Sasuke was declared to have perfect(ly normal) vision and was asked to activate his eyes so they could do the same tests. Reluctantly he agreed, watching as the room developed a red tint and the fading out of Orochimaru and Kabuto until only an outline and circulating emotions remained of their bodies.
Sasuke kept the surprise off his face when examining their colors. The man closest to him was swirling with a hazardous orange and a jealous/ poisonous emerald. Orochimaru's cold cyan, and an excited purple flowed much slower, almost as if he was sick.
"See Kabuto, didn't I tell you this boy has Sharingan?"
"Sharingan?" Sasuke asked, the foreign word feeling strange once it rolled off his tongue.
Orochimaru slowly pushed off the wall and gradually moved closer, the purple almost taking over his whole body.
"The Sharingan…" came the start of a very slow answer.
Sasuke turned off his eyes, not having the patience to listen to what appeared to be a long explanation in slow motion.
"- is the most powerful and unique infection ever seen to mankind. To explain, let's go a little more in–depth into what the eye is made of…."
The Uchiha was reminded again of why he should have never let anyone find out about his infection. He didn't feel like he was better than anyone else, well, maybe at sports and such but not with this. Surely controlling the elements or even healing instantly would be more useful than what he had. So he could see some colors and move quick, big deal.
"…retina is a sheet of receptors at the back of the eye and is made up from two types of photoreceptor cells; rods and cones. Rods detect light levels, which mean they only pick up black and white images. In humans, these are more common near the edge of the eye. Now, there is only a limited number of space for rods and cones in the retina, so if you increase the count of one you have to decrease the count of the other…"
A chill started to creep through his body, if his…Sharingan was on he'd no doubt could see the flood of his very own dark purple. His science teacher last semester would talk the whole class period just because he was asked one simple question. The man was extremely passionate about his work. Sasuke was starting to feel this Orochimaru was the same.
"…Essentially, you must trade color perception for more detailed perception in black and white, which is largely what enables us to perceive motion…"
Though this was something applicable to him, he still couldn't help but tune the older man out (he was a teenager after all). It wasn't like he was hearing a foreign language, being well educated and all, he had an idea of what Orochimaru was talking about but it was difficult to pay attention.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Kabuto's expression. Even he looked bored but as if sensing Sasuke's gaze, turned and smirked. Apparently it wasn't hard to catch onto what Sasuke was thinking.
The Uchiha schooled his features to a blank stare.
"Sasuke, are you following me so far?" taking in the younger's empty look he continued, "No? Well, how about this: basically rods detect motion and cones detect color..."
The silver haired man's face seemed to morph from a smirk to a downright evil grin. Sasuke glared at the annoying man, tired of all the other's taunting.
Trying to cool down, he silently reminded himself that this was important he needed to hear this… or at least a fraction of it. It would be foolish to ignore information presented about this topic so easily.
"..So since you can't really increase the sensitivity of a rod, you would have to increase their number. One way to do this is to severely decrease the number of cones. But this won't work without sacrificing color, and since none of the three Sharingan users have ever been reported to be colorblind, this must not be it. The other way is to make the retina bigger, but in order to get to the level you are at, you'd have to have some pretty huge eyes."
I really hope Orochimaru isn't going to be teaching in the classrooms, then again, he's more tolerable than Kabuto. It would be like last semester all over again.
"…the obvious factor that sets Sharingan apart from normal eyes is the extra pupils. That would help because if rods are more common around the edge of the eye, increasing the amount of pupils would increase the number of outer edges to be lined with rods."
Now I know what the straps are on these chairs are for. When Orochimaru gets in one of these moods, he must have to tie people down to force them to listen to his rambling…
"…If the center pupil were devoted entirely to cones to retain a sense of color, then the space in the other pupils would be specifically for rods in order to get a better perception of motion, which is what the Sharingan is." Orochimaru began heading over to one of the larger and older books on the shelf "Here, I have a few diagrams—"
"Orochimaru, perhaps we could save the rest for a later time? We still have an experiment to conduct."
The snake stopped and examined his assistant. "I suppose. Why don't you go grab some lunch Kabuto? I can finish from here."
A relieved Sasuke mentally made a note of the book's location in case he could sneak in and read parts of it later.
After Kabuto made his exit, the yellowed-eyed man sat back down on the stool with a sigh. "Right, I must've gotten ahead of myself again. Turn those eyes back on again so we can be done."
The snake conducted the same examinations that Sasuke had to go through earlier, but this time taking much longer. More than likely it was because the slow-mo effect that came with his Sharingan.
Eventually he finished up and told the Uchiha he was allowed to leave, who wasted no time in standing up and made short work of getting to the door. His hand was turning the bronze knob when Orochimaru called out to him.
"Oh Sasuke, I almost forgot. My sources tell me you are enrolled in Kendo correct?"
His sources? Judging by my new closet, they were able to find such a small detail as to what size clothes I wear. It's not all that surprising he knows I take Kendo. I wonder what else they've told him.
Not removing his hand, he gave the long haired man his undivided attention. "Yes, what of it?"
"While you're staying here, I might have a few errands for you to run in payment for food and a roof over your head. You'll probably need this to get them done properly." Orochimaru went over to one of the higher cabinets from right wall and opened revealing a chokutō with a black scabbard. Taking it down, he brought it over and handed it to Sasuke's free hand.
The Uchiha wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or grateful. Whatever errands the snake would have him do, he was sure he could accomplish them without a freaking sword. Determined to leave as soon as possible though, he gave the other a nod and left the lab carrying his gift with him.
Arriving back at his room, he set the chokutō in the closet. Picking out some clothes he left again, planning to take a shower and eat a late lunch.
A/N:
Sorry, maybe not the most exciting chapter, with all the explanations and crap, but I tried to make it bearable. At least now we can move onto the more fun stuff.
I did do my research, but in the end the explanation doesn't fully belong to me, I have to credit Eileen from Narutofever, whom I got the majority of the information from.
I was totally thinking about "The Labyrinth" when I wrote that closet scene in the beginning if you couldn't tell. In fact, I wasn't even originally planning to throw the in there but it managed to sneak itself in.
Please let me know if you have correction comments, suggestions, ratings, questions or just plain complaints.
Thanks goes to SinsofYouth, who beta'd this :)