Note: This is a multi-chapter story, but it shalln't be updated here (due to no-smut policy). Check my bio for my MediaMiner account for the link to the archived version. (:

Warnings: hints of OroSasu (sort of) and (kind of) OroNaru (not really...more SasuNaru, but still). Oh, and while this part is rather dry, the next part has adult content, so don't start reading if you're not interested.

Technical: this is a rewrite of the LJ community "nsnroundrobin." Anyways, this is from the "serious, plot-driven story." So, Waking is a blend of LJ user etsumilau's "Icha Icha Paradise" (Chapter One), and LJ user blckhyacinth's "Infection" (Chapter Two). Seeing that I wrote the third chapter (which some of you may or may not have read), I couldn't let my section of the story stand still...so, being the bored kid I tend to be, I wrote. Please note, though, that this is largely new prose, with some quotes from our celebrated author's chapters. While there is a huge emphasis from their works on the next four sections (15 pages or so), it is primarily my words, and not stuff you've read. So, don't forget to follow the Main RR's progress, 'cause we're going completely different directions, I'm sure. XD

Waking Dreams.

Despairing visions of a sun and moon

Waking.
Chapter One, Sasuke…by Taes

Maybe I should have killed the Kyuubi brat then, Orochimaru thought, and to me it tasted of sickly sweet candy…the kind my brother is so fond of…thick, full and nauseatingly soft on every sense.

He isn't displeased, this man of snakelike demeanor, not really. I can tell it…he's merely thoughtful…confident in his abilities, but charmed by the possibility of thwarting his one-time comrades. Tricking them out of their dark cloaks with floating crimson clouds…

A sense of dread fills me, and a great cloud of doubt gnaws at my heart…I can see him, still a golden, bright-eyed child of the past. He has barely discovered his "way of ninja," then. He's taken only a few fretful steps into a forest too dark for him to possibly understand. Even then, mind you, I was leagues ahead of him, half-shrouded in shadow before he grew into the name of ninja.

…Orochimaru's pleasure only grew at my unease. He brings a chuckle forth from the very depths of his being. Serpentine as always, he hisses and growls in a most mysterious way…mm, what's this, darling? Have I caught a whisper of your soul, then?

I often wonder if his previous hosts ever sensed the demon inside, but Orochimaru offers only ridicule whenever I raise a conscious thought. He delights in handing out twisted logic and strange, fatherly pride in me. This last thing brings on a number of reactions, both dim and bright…some of which are gleeful satisfaction, yes, but also dank, fearful disgust that I should be so totally his.

Maybe I can break you after all… Orochimaru smirks, amused or disdainful, I couldn't tell. In seconds, I'm swallowed by his great thoughts, pushed aside and lulled again to

dark

and somehow

dreamless

slumber…the sleep of the dead, the damned, and tyrants all…

Deep touches of drifting eyes. Warm hands and screaming lips of strawberry-red…eyes of the clearest, bluest sea, set like tombstones in determined resolution. We move together, him softly pushing for some semblance of love, me—my body—relentlessly, searching only for a way to.destroy.what cannot be Orochimaru's...there is grim, beautiful satisfaction in this, pleasure beyond compare to hear him scream my

name.

What is he, this golden boy of timeless waking?

Dreaming,

now, of hands wrapped 'round me in passion, not hatred. I wonder how Orochimaru could have caught so delicate a prize, when the sunlight itself envies

him.

I don't even have the time to wonder. What Orochimaru will do with that golden, conquered doll…?

…when he's got the marionette called me…

gone again, far again,

I can't breathe, can't feel anything at all but his breath on me as I come to, feeling clenched fingers tighten ever tighter, and sense wary eyes settle on a face so narrow and strangely smooth I have to wonder…how did this finely dressed man come about such features?

My mouth moves on its own accord—no, on Orochimaru's—and I see through eyes that are no longer mine. They are gold-tinged, slitted things with an air of intelligence, craft, and strength…a genius built so completely that he watches every step, feels every implication, and somehow knows me…

…to be a threat worth consideration.

Me, Konoha, and the Kyuubi-brat Naruto, we are all needles that may yet be poison tipped…he would destroy us all.

My mouth speaks; "gentlemen…I appreciate your concern," just as a fox is grateful the hen's truancy with eggs.

...he would put out the sun...

A man with the eyes of a rat smirks a little, twists his long fingers in such a way that suggests agitation, impatience and squalor all at once. He is clever, undoubtedly, this man with expensive clothes and a clean-shaved face… "Naturally." He replies, and continues down a more direct avenue. "Of course Oto will be successful against the errant village, correct?" he simpers joylessly, looking unabashedly down my young, smooth body with distaste. He doubts my competence.

The narrow-faced man coughs lightly, "we have been asked, Lord Orochimaru, to be certain of your intentions…" he coughs again, uneasy still, "if all goes will, Konoha will be stripped of her best ninja...no longer will she claim the seat of power. A new kage will be needed." He folds an ornamental fan and raps it lightly against his own leg.

Orochimaru—I?—laughs, and I feel myself drifting again, deep into the depths of a mind forest, "too many great ninja have come from the Leaf," he begins, I feel my tongue grow smoother, stretch beyond the confines of human design, "while too few protect the interest of Fire's ruling class…"

He grows desperate to ease into true, undisputed power.

I can sense it, as I grow heavy within myself…

…Orochimaru has been put off his guard.

Someone will pay for his agitation…

will it be the sun,

or the moon?

at once

I fall

to silent,

despairing

dreams.

There is no waking.

Next time: bleed me bare and dry.

Again, this is a multi-chapter story.

http DOT DOT SLASH SLASH www DOT mediaminer DOT org SLASH fanfic SLASH viewst DOT php SLASH 118219 (or click on the link in my bio).

Technical: (in case you didn't see it the first time) this is a rewrite of the nsnroundrobin's "Serious, plot-driven story." So, this is a blend of etsumilau's Icha Icha Paradise(Chapter One), and blckhyacinth's Infection (Chapter Two). Please note that I got there permission before posting. Thanks!

Comments will speed the posting of the next section. :Bribe, bribe:

...and you guys know I like criticism, yeah? Hit me. I'm all ears.