49 Into Darkness and Silence

Secret Motives of the Girl from Mist

Kotori knew that she was not alone even before she opened her eyes. She would have raised her hands to rub her throbbing temples but was restricted from doing so by thick cuffs binding her wrists together. Coughing in a sand-dry throat, she blinked and raised her head to look around. Taiki lay curled in a ball on the floor not far from her, and just by looking at him she knew that not all was right. The part of his mind that perpetually contacted hers through the demon's influence lay in writhing shadow that she dared not touch, and with cold fear numbing her body she risked a more detailed study of her surroundings.

Two human forms came into view after she blinked a second time, the first recognizable as that of Kabuto and the other unfamiliar to her. "These are the two that Sasuke warned us about, I take it?" the stranger asked, giving a thoughtful look to the two prisoners on the floor in front of him.

"Yes, they are," replied Kabuto, adding, "I found them resting in the forest after they'd killed off one of our patrols and stole their uniforms."

"At least they're marginally resourceful and not a total waste of flesh. Who are they again?"

"The girl is Yamataki Kotori, originally from Mist but now allied with Konoha. I've confirmed through various channels that she's a Jinchuuriki and a skilled swordsman, the former of which may be of use to you." Kabuto turned his attention to the still unconscious Taiki and continued his explanation. "Yamada Taiki of Kumogakure. He's the adopted son of the Raikage and was sent to Konoha as an 'exchange student' of sorts, and his talents are like nothing I've heard of before. He has the ability to absorb dead bodies and learn their skills, but I'm sure there's more that I haven't found out yet."

"Interesting. Now that I think about it, that boy is the source of the strange feeling I've been getting recently – I can feel a resonance with him even now."

It was at that moment that Taiki began to stir, and even in the minimal lighting Kotori could see that his skin had assumed the same pale translucency of supernatural possession that it had once before in the past. He too sat up slowly and looked around, an eerily pleased smile brightening his face when his gaze fell on the stranger. Lifting his bound hands pleadingly he whispered, "Father…" When this entreaty was met with startled silence and inaction, he turned to the shock-petrified girl next to him and repeated the gesture. "…Mother."

What the hell! Kotori and the Nekomata exclaimed in unison, the former feeling a tide of nausea rising in her throat that was soon followed by physical substance, the girl doubling over as she hacked weakly onto the floor. Merciful unconsciousness fell over her afterwards and she sagged down once more, blissfully unaware of anything that ensued.

A scream of agony shredded from Taiki's throat that grated on the ears of all present, an expression of primal outrage whose source within the boy was hard to pinpoint. He then also lapsed into senselessness, falling back to the floor in front of a perplexed audience. "Very interesting indeed," the stranger remarked. "Either he's delusional or there may be some element of truth to what he says. Lock both of them up for now in separate cells – I have much to think about and will call for them when I'm ready."

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto bowed once and went to get help moving the two prisoners.

-------

If this is a nightmare, someone wake me up now. Kotori felt cold, damp stone against her cheek and forced her eyes open once more. They must have messed me up pretty good – I can barely think straight, much less move right. What kind of place is this? Heaving herself upright with a grunt of effort, she lay back against a wall fashioned of the same clammy material as the floor and looked around. The only source of light came from a grating in the door in front of her, casting feeble illumination on a cell that was little bigger than a broom closet and about as accommodating. Her left arm and shoulder felt stiff and sore, and when she looked down to see the problem she noticed that it had been swathed in bandages which were in turn scribed with an intricate pattern of sealing. "Great – so I'm not only drugged up beyond belief, they've cut off my strength as well."

Bingo, mumbled the Nekomata, sounding groggy herself. It's just about the only way they could keep us restrained. Let's face it, we've screwed up pretty good here, and unless you think up something fancy, we're probably not going to leave in one piece.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Cat." Kotori tried to stand up and get a look out the door grating, but her legs were too weak even to support this activity. "What did that bastard hit me with, a horse tranquilizer?"

If not, something close. The Nekomata gave a tired sigh and stretched before adding, You're also still partially paralyzed. I've reversed some of the neural blockage but not all of it. Give me time.

"Time is one thing I don't think I have, and I think Taiki's in the same boat." Looking inward, she saw that the darkness still pooled in the corner where her mind overlapped with that of Taiki's, and although it was calm for the moment it still chilled her to see it. "And there's something about this place that's got him screwed up in the head. Was he really right when he called me his mother… and is his father that pale-skinned freak I saw earlier? If so, that would explain so many things… much as it makes me sick to think about it."

She leaned back against the cell wall and closed her eyes, forcing herself to be calm in spite of her situation, and had almost fallen asleep when she heard a distant voice speaking. "So tell me, why should I even consider releasing you? You came here as a spy, so by all rights I should have you killed – both you and the girl you traveled with."

It took Kotori a moment to realize that this voice was that of the stranger of earlier, and that she was hearing it not through her own ears but through Taiki's. His answer came a second later, although not in any language comprehensible to an ordinary being. Kotori recognized it as the voice of Death, filtered into understandable words by the Nekomata. "I'm not a spy. I'm your son – don't you recognize me? And the girl, she's my mother! She was like a wife to you and she killed so many people just to show you how much she loved you! You said so when I was little and told me to remember so that you wouldn't kill me the next time you saw me…"

It was only when she heard footsteps pause in front of her cell and saw a shadow fall across the grating that she realized that she'd been speaking the words aloud as she heard them. The door then swung open; Kotori felt herself being lifted up and dragged out by two faceless guards who in turn led her down a corridor lined with what she guessed to be other cells similar to hers. They reached a room at the end of the hallway and waited until they were given permission to enter before opening the door and shoving her in, and Kotori once again fell to the floor at the mercy of infuriatingly uncooperative muscles. Taiki – or whatever spirit inhabited Taiki – let out a happy laugh and said, "See? I knew she'd come if I called her. It's the demon inside that lets her understand me, and now we all can talk like a family."

That pale-skinned freak, as you called him, is the last of the Legendary Three, the cat-demon murmured, relishing the mental shiver this elicited from her host. His name is Orochimaru.

This new information did little to reassure Kotori as she looked up once more into the face of her captor. With a shudder she muttered, I think 'snake-bastard' will do just fine.

"You still don't believe me, do you," Taiki was saying, making Kotori think of a dog trying to ingratiate itself to its master. "I know, I'll show you one of my abilities! Surely you've got someone around here that you don't need anymore…" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, considering this suggestion before relaying it to the omnipresent Kabuto. The silver-haired youth nodded once and disappeared for a short time, then reappeared with a scraggly-looking male prisoner who bore the marks of long-suffered abuse. This prisoner was brought before Taiki, who looked the man up and down with an appraising eye. "He's been hiding something from you, hasn't he? I can see it in his eyes. No matter, he'll tell me soon enough – they always do."

Taiki then raised his still-bound hands to grasp the prisoner's arm, which took on a peculiar gray hue before crumbling into ash. The rest of the prisoner soon followed suit, reduced into a pile of strange dust that glimmered briefly before vanishing. All was silent in the room until Taiki spoke again: "You might want to keep a closer watch on your northern base. There are some strange things afoot that you wouldn't want to get out of hand, now would you? See, it's like I said – they always tell me."

Kotori felt ill as she realized what he had done and felt sicker when she saw Orochimaru smile appreciatively. "Very nice. I think you've just saved your life…"

Taiki smiled also, an eerie reflection of the older man in front of him. "Thank you. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to sleep for a while – it's been a long trip and I'm very tired."

The guards were summoned once more and Taiki was removed from the room, leaving Kotori alone with her captor and his aide. I've got nothing to lose, and playing the coward will only prolong the inevitable, she mused, examining the still-smiling face for traces of a motive. "I know you have no reason to say, but at least humor me," she began, composing her features into an unreadable mask. "You aren't really going to release him, are you?"

A dry chuckle, then, "Of course not. Why should I let a gift like that run free again? Even if he serves no practical purpose, I'll at least get some amusement out of him. He sounds quite mad." Next, a thoughtful pause. "According to him, you and I are quite close."

Kotori gulped back bile as she considered this notion, muttering, "I don't know anything about that. I've never even met you before."

The chuckle sounded again, this time growing into a quiet laugh that was not shared by any others present. "Time will tell."

-------

Even after she was returned to her cell, Kotori found it hard to relax with recently-acquired information humming though her brain. The demon offered nothing, and Kotori suspected that the Nekomata was just as unsettled as she was. Letting her eyes drift closed, Kotori reached back into her mind and noted that the darkness had receded, meaning that Taiki had returned to his usual self at least momentarily. Do you even know what you just did? she asked him, curious for his answer.

"Not a clue," replied Taiki. "How long have I been out of it?"

You've been acting weird ever since we got here, and you just showed the snake-bastard that you can absorb people and learn things from them. Based on things you've said to him, he thinks you're deranged and of little use other than amusement. Odds are we're dead within a week.

Taiki groaned, then asked tentatively, "And what did he think about you?"

Kotori winced and grumbled, He thinks he and I might be an item… once again, one of your crazy suggestions. He seems to like it, though. She sighed, and Taiki got the impression that she was shaking her head in resignation. If your idea for helping us gather information was to get us captured and probably killed, congratulations.

An indignant noise from Taiki. "And you tell me not to be sarcastic? I've been feeling weird ever since we got close to this place, and you act like it's my fault. I didn't ask to be the way I am, just like you keep saying about yourself."

Again the head shake, this time hued with darker emotions than before. We got ourselves a one-way ticket into Orochimaru's Land of Not Quite Right, Tai, and unless you've got a brilliant scheme for making it round-trip, I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet for a while so that I can think straight.

"I keep telling you, I haven't been myself! You have to believe me - "

He's not going to let you go free no matter who you claim you are, and I have no intention of staying around to play out any sick little fantasies of his. Now shut up and let me think! Kotori next turned her attention to the Nekomata, who up to this point had been listening to this exchange in amused silence. "All right, Cat, I know you're the one that's been letting him into my mind. Now do your part and keep him out until I give the okay."

-------

All right, I have to look like I mean every word of this. If he finds out this is all just a trick, I'll be dead in seconds. Even as she told herself this, Kotori had trouble keeping her heart from racing as she faced the prospect of a second audience with her captor. I can't believe I'm doing this, but it's what has to be done if there's even a chance of survival for either of us.

"I've been told you have an idea to discuss with me." Orochimaru did not even raise his head from the text he now studied, seated comfortably at a work table even as he spoke with his prisoner. "Please, tell me it's worth my time."

"That's for you to decide, isn't it?" Kotori replied crisply, meeting the stare leveled on her as Orochimaru looked up with narrowed eyes at this show of will from the heretofore compliant girl. "I may only be a rat to you, but even rats have their uses."

"Only if they're resourceful. The slow ones become snake food – so, what do you have that makes you one of the former and not the latter?"

Gotcha. Allowing a smirk to play across her face, Kotori held his gaze as she answered with a confidence that she did not feel. "I'm offering my services to you, Orochimaru-sama."

This at least merited a blink, and then a slow smile. "You do know who I am, don't you? I tried to destroy your village, and here you are offering to join me. Any sane person would find something wrong with this picture."

"Then it's obvious you don't know all there is to know about me. I hold no particular affection for Konoha, and I only worked to defend it because it was to my advantage at the time." The smirk widened, and Kotori added, "The last time I checked, you lost. I wield one of the seven Legendary blades of the Mist Village and hold the power of an entire village inside of me with the spirit of the Two-Tailed Cat at my disposal. You'll be hard-pressed to find a weapon more truly created for destruction than me, and you're questioning my free offer of my skills for your use. You're right, sir, any sane person would find something wrong with this picture."

Orochimaru sat back in his seat, tapping the fingers of one hand on the table as he considered the proposal being made. "You think you're in a position to bargain, don't you? Has it ever occurred to you that I could force you to work?"

A feral, eldritch light crept into the captive girl's eyes, and when her smirk widened yet a second time a trace of fanged teeth could be seen at the corners of her mouth. "And you think my demon will answer to a stranger's call? We come as a set, so if you want one you're going to have to accept the other as well. If you try to force the Nekomata to do anything that I don't agree with, I'll tell her to wipe out everything you've worked so hard to build even if it destroys me also. It's a bit like a bomb – wouldn't it be nice if you knew you controlled the kill switch?"

Silence for a few minutes, then, "I'd be a fool to think this offer doesn't come with a price. What do you want in exchange?"

"You told me yourself that the boy I came here with is useless to you other than for amusement. He's seen as much of this place as I have – that is, not even enough to count our coming here as a success – so why don't you let him go for the kind people back in Konoha to do with as they please? Send him back without harming him and I'll serve you without question, even to the death. Surely that's not much to ask, is it?"

Further silence as Orochimaru debated this in his mind. "I suppose not. You'll be watched every second until your loyalty is proven, though – don't think I'll untie your hands just to have them stab me in the back."

Kotori bowed deeply and replied, "I understand your caution, but I know I'll prove it wrong. Why would I want to kill someone who appreciates me for who I really am?"

-------

The complete silence in the back of Taiki's mind that he now heard unnerved him even more than Kotori's presence there had, and as he lay on the floor of his cell he wondered just what had happened to cause her withdrawal. "I hope she hasn't been hurt. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her…"

Two voices raised in disagreement in the corridor beyond made him sit up in hope and crane his neck to listen. "Just when I think I know all there is to know about you, Kotori, you prove me wrong."

"You may know what my hands can do, but you know little about my heart." A disdainful snort, then, "And before you flatter yourself overmuch, Uchiha, I didn't come back here for you."

"Then why did you come here? You don't seem like the type to betray your home just because you thought it would be fun. What about your family and your friends?"

"I was created to be a weapon in the hands of conquerors, not a peaceful enforcer, and most certainly not a soft-hearted idiot who cares what other soft-hearted idiots think – "

Kotori's retort was cut off by a sharp throat-clearing from a third person, and Taiki's heart sank when he realized that it was the medic-nin Kabuto who now spoke. "That's enough. There'll be plenty of time for you two lovebirds to sort out your differences later, but we have some business to take care of – don't we, Kotori?"

"You're right. Excuse my digression."

As Taiki listened, the footsteps of the trio came to a stop in front of his cell. When it was opened a moment later and he squinted up into the light, he had difficulty believing what his eyes told him to be true. The girl in front of him glared down at him coldly, her form clad in the loose-fitting white tunic and dark slacks of the Otogakure elite in a ghostly echo of the young man behind her, and in a voice as chilling as the ice in her eyes she now spoke to Taiki. "On your feet, or I'll drag you up."

Taiki did as he was told, staring at this apparition and not daring to believe that this was Kotori. "Please tell me this isn't real. You wouldn't do this to me, would you, Kotori?"

"I'll do whatever I please." A thin smile lit her face as she closed the distance between them, and Taiki could see a third person looming in the darkness just beyond. "You should know that by now, shouldn't you?" She reached a hand up to caress his cheek, a mocking tenderness in her eyes. "And now I'm afraid this is goodbye, my dear." Stretching on her tiptoes to make up for the difference in height, Kotori kissed Taiki lightly on the lips, letting the contact linger even as she brought her hand around to strike him forcefully on the back of the head.

Goodbye, Taiki. Maybe someday you'll realize just what I've done here today… These words were the last thing Taiki heard, and then all fell into darkness and silence.

-------

One month later…

"You called?"

A modest amount of time had passed since Kotori had chosen service to Otogakure, and it was still difficult for the girl to marshal the level of cold uncaring that her role demanded. You sure picked one hell of a time to develop a conscience, the Nekomata commented with a teasing grin, but Kotori declined to reply as she summoned the composure to stand in front of her new leader without arousing suspicion.

It took an extra measure of that same composure not to shiver under Orochimaru's gaze as he studied his newest convert. "My colors look good on you," he murmured after a moment's silence, then continued, "Yes, I called. It's time to test your loyalty, just as I said I would."

Kotori smiled eagerly and clapped her hands together in anticipation. "I'll do anything. Just name it!"

"Anything?" The tiniest smirk, then, "I released your friend one month ago in exchange for your service, with the one requirement being that I not harm him. I've filled my end of the bargain, now it's time for you to fill yours. Track him down, kill him for me, and bring me proof that you've done it – only then will I consider your loyalty unquestionable."

End Part One