Kabuto glanced at Karin. "You're the only one who can track them. You're going to have to-"

"I know, I know," Karin muttered. "Follow me."

She jumped out the window, landing gracefully on the ground and looking up, waiting for the rest of the ninja. "Comin'?"

Tayuya jumped down immediately, followed by Kidomaru and Sakon. Kidomaru glanced back up at the window. "Should I be feeling guilty about leaving Jiroubou behind?"

"No," was Tayuya's immediate answer. Kidomaru shrugged.

"Whatever. Karin, if you would…?"

Karin gave one short nod and sprang off, heading in the direction of Orochimaru's chakra. It was grower weaker and stronger in random spats; Orochimaru was panicking.

"Hurry!" Karin urged as Orochimaru's chakra spiked up again. "He's hurt!"

Karin could feel her heartbeat rising in her chest. She knew she shouldn't panic, but she was feeling more and more nervous as she ran. Orochimaru's chakra was fluttering frantically, and she doubted he could hang on much longer. But the good news was, he was so close…

Karin made a sharp right, leading the Otonin into a cave near a waterfall. Orochimaru's chakra had now been subdued, and as Karin entered the cave she could see why.

Orochimaru was kneeling on the cave floor, in front of Sasuke as the Uchiha repeatedly brought a whip down across his back. Many long gashes had already been drawn, and as Orochimaru lifted his head to cry out in pain again, Karin caught sight of a piece of leather wrapped tightly around Orochimaru's neck. It looked like a collar she had seen in the basement before…it had many dull, tiny spikes on the inside, so if a prisoner was especially feisty they could use the collar to get them under control. But even the Otokage had scruples about using it; he knew the dangers it posed to lives, and most of the time he needed the prisoners to be kept alive as long as possible, if only so he could use them again and again. She was hardly surprised Sasuke was using it; he never really did have scruples, of any kind.

"Get away from him, Sasuke."

Sasuke paused, whip held high over his head, ready to strike Orochimaru again. He slowly lowered it to his side and turned around, glaring at the new Otonin the entire time.

"Well, well, if it isn't my two favorite red-heads," he purred, flexing the muscles in his arms. "I think it's time I put you all in your place…"

Karin snickered. "What kinda little animal do you think I am, brat?" she sneered, raising one hand threateningly. "I'm not your typical little housewife. Now back off, fuckface, before I castrate you!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, heard it all before." He reached down and fastened a leash to the collar on Orochimaru's neck, then kicked him over onto his side.

"Learned your lesson?" he hissed, lifting Orochimaru's face with the tip of his foot. "I should hope so, otherwise I would have to do it again."

As Karin looked Orochimaru over, she took in the signs of abuse: Orochimaru was naked and bleeding from almost everywhere. Blood trickled down the insides of both his thighs, and long scratches raked his sides and front. The whip-gashes on his back were bleeding profusely, and many tiny rivulets of blood ran down Orochimaru's neck from where the spikes had punctured the skin. His legs had clearly been whipped, as well; he had probably tried to run…

Karin sighed. "At least let me take him," she asked, glancing down at Orochimaru. "He doesn't look like a defiant little fighter to me…like one of those teeny little ponies who kick you whenever they see you coming."

Sasuke snorted. "Cute. You grew up on a farm?"

"Near one," Karin said. "I got paid a load of money to exercise the horses, and the tiny little ponies were always the worst. You could see it in their eyes: they hated you for making them leave their grassy pastures and work their sorry asses. It was almost funny…if I didn't get kicked so often. But hey, I made a truckload. Not the point."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and yanked on the leash, causing Orochimaru to let loose a high, shrill yelp of pain and pull as far away as Sasuke would allow. Karin could see he was trembling, and felt Orochimaru suddenly pulling at her heartstrings. He looked so helpless, laying there, bleeding…

"Hey, where's Kabuto?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I think he's in the corner. I knocked him out, but I'm not sure where…"

Kidomaru found Kabuto, checked for a pulse, and picked him up. "He's okay," he said, walking back to the group. "I'm gonna take him back."

Karin nodded. "I'll be along very shortly with Orochimaru."

Kidomaru gave her a short nod and sprang away, carrying Kabuto and nursing the oozing wound on his head. Karin watched him go for a moment, then turned back to Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke-want a kiss?"

"Yes, please."

"Close your eyes."

Sasuke sighed, kicked Orochimaru behind him, and put his foot down on the end of the leash. He leaned forward, into Karin's arms, as the girl distracted him with a soft kiss. Sakon and Tayuya snuck behind Sasuke and slowly, soundlessly unclipped the leash from Orochimaru's collar. They pulled him to his feet, and Sakon picked him up, borrowing strength from Ukon. He and Tayuya reached the end of the cave and ran. Karin sensed their chakras moving away from her and slowly released Sasuke.

"Sucker," she said smoothly, saluting him. "Boss," she said sarcastically, and took off. Sasuke whipped around, saw what had been done, and swore.

OOOOOOOOO

Sakon could feel Orochimaru shivering hi arms. He knew what had been done without looking that closely: the signs were all over Orochimaru's body.

And he was furious.

As he set the sannin down on his bed, he could feel Tayuya on his other side, sitting down next to Orochimaru and pulling his head into her lap.

"See if Kabuto's okay," she said. "He definitely needs to help him."

Sakon nodded and stood up, heading for the blanket spread on the floor, Kabuto sitting up on it, rubbing his sinuses.

"He completely arrested my chakra," Kabuto was saying. "I don't know how, but he did. If someone can unlock it again…?"

Sakon shrugged. "I can try. I'm not sure how…"

Kabuto sighed. "Then there's only one other way to do this. Sakon, put two fingers here…two here…and two here…and Kidomaru, put two fingers here…" Kabuto continued instructing the two ninja on where to position their fingers. "Okay, on the count of three, shove chakra into my system as hard as you can. It's painful, but it'll work."

Sakon shrugged and did as Kabuto told him to.

"One…two…three!"

Sakon sent short, but incredibly powerful bursts of chakra into Kabuto's chakra system. Kabuto almost screamed in pain; forcing his chakra to flow again wasn't pleasant. But he bit down on his lower lip until it bled, forcing himself to remain silent. Sakon and Kidomaru slowly removed their fingers, and Kabuto tried his chakra. A small smile of victory worked its way over his lips as he realized his chakra was back. He stood up and made his way over to Orochimaru.

"Let's see what I can do for you…"

Kabuto pulled out a kunai and straddled Orochimaru's hips, trying to hold himself over Orochimaru's bruised pelvis. He slowly and carefully began to cut the leather collar away from Orochimaru's neck, being sure not to move it too much. If he did, the spikes on the inside would tear up Orochimaru's skin even more. He finally cut the leather cleanly in half and began removing it bit by bit, pulling directly back to pull the spikes cleanly out of Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru's every whimper of pain sent a spike lancing through Kabuto's heart. He knew he was doing his best not to hurt Orochimaru, and that was all he could do, but it still pained him to hear Orochimaru's submissive whines.

"Kabuto…"

Kabuto finally pulled the collar away completely and slipped off Orochimaru's hips, turning to acknowledge Tayuya. "What?" he whispered, staring down at the blood-soaked collar.

"You can tell he wants you," Tayuya said, motioning to Orochimaru. "Just give him permission to come to you, already!"

Kabuto raised the kunai, and Orochimaru flinched backwards, clearly afraid of being struck. Kabuto brought the kunai down-

Across the collar.

Kabuto hacked through the leather until it was useless, then threw it to the ground.

"I can't stand it," he growled. "I just can't stand it anymore…"

Tayuya took Orochimaru into her arms, sheltering him from Kabuto's wrath. Kabuto sighed and dropped the kunai as well, turning to Orochimaru.

"Come here," he whispered. "I'm sorry, did I scare you? Come here, it's okay…"

Orochimaru slipped into Kabuto's lap and curled up, clearly content enough there. Tayuya smiled and brushed his hair back from his face, watching him shrink back into Kabuto's arms even more.

Kabuto's right hand was glowing with green chakra, skimming over Orochimaru's body and healing the worst of the wounds. His other hand was around Orochimaru's shoulder, holding the sannin to him and making sure he felt safe. Kabuto finished with the worst of Orochimaru's wounds and looked up to Kidomaru.

"Get the team of medics in here," he said quietly. "I'm almost out of chakra."

Kidomaru nodded and went to find the medical team, and Kabuto released the flow of healing chakra coming from his hand. He gently picked up Orochimaru by the shoulders and legs, trying to evenly support his weight without hurting him. He took Orochimaru into the bathroom, set him down on the floor, and found several clean towels. He dampened them and knelt down in front of Orochimaru, beginning to clean the blood off his body. Tayuya had followed them and she, too, picked up a damp towel and began cleaning off the blood. Kabuto leaned forward and beckoned Orochimaru into his lap, pulling him close and then continuing cleaning off the sticky crimson substance. Tayuya, in turn, moved closer to Orochimaru set to work on his back. She seemed surprised at the whip lashes, but she was wise enough not to say anything.

Kabuto heard the door open and gestured for Tayuya to see who it was. She stood up and left, and Kabuto leaned forward and kissed don on a clean patch of skin on Orochimaru's cheek.

"It'll be alright," he whispered, holding him closer. Orochimaru, though, didn't seem convinced, and simply buried his face in Kabuto's shoulder. Kabuto sighed. He had seen parts of what Sasuke was doing to Orochimaru, and the first thing he did was re-enforce the old doctrine that "slaves should be seen and not heard-" taken to the extreme. Orochimaru had been severely whipped whenever he made a sound, and Sasuke ended up beating him bloody and senseless. Kabuto had tried to stop him, which was when he had been knocked out. And he had missed the rest. But, judging from the state Orochimaru was in when Kabuto had woken up, there had been further "punishment" involved.

Tayuya poked her head back in. "It's the medical team."

Kabuto nodded and stood up, picking up Orochimaru as he went and walking out of the bathroom. He sat down on the bed with Orochimaru in his lap and got comfortable.

"He probably won't want you touching him to begin with," Kabuto said as he settled. "Let alone without me. No sudden movements, and I wouldn't touch his head or his hips," he continued. "Sasuke was…kind of rough, I guess you could say, so I really don't need him panicking. Don't touch his neck, either."

The five medics nodded, and one sat down next to Orochimaru. "Come here…it's okay…"

Eventually, Kabuto and the medic managed to coax Orochimaru to sit up slightly away from Kabuto so the medics could heal him. As he did so, the team got a better view of his body, and several audible gasps were heard echoing throughout the room.

"My God, he looks terrible!"

"What happened?"

"Did Sasuke do this?"

Kabuto picked up on the whispers running wild, but he could care less at this point. He held both of Orochimaru's fragile hands in his own, trying to reassure him that he was still there. Orochimaru was silent the entire time, occasionally biting back cries of pain as wounds were hit or touched. Kabuto knew it was from the beating Sasuke had given him; Orochimaru was probably more afraid of being struck than anything else at this point.

Finally, the five medics together were able to heal Orochimaru, and by then Orochimaru's nerves were shot. His head was high, his eyes were wide with fright, and his breath was coming fast through his nose. His hands were shaking in Kabuto's; the genin reached forward and pulled him back into the circle of his arms to try to calm him down.

"Thank you so much," he was saying. "I healed the worst of it, but I ran out of chakra so I had to call you in….I really can't thank you enough-"

"Anything for Orochimaru-sama," one girl was saying. "He's done so much for us-we can't give enough in return. Not to mention we all hate Sasuke at this point, but loving Orochimaru-sama helps," she added with a crooked smile.

Kabuto nodded. "Well, he's probably going to snap any second, so I should probably put him down to sleep or something…if he isn't too scared to."

The girl nodded. "I feel bad, though," she said. "He's not even himself anymore…it's gonna take a lot of work to get him out of that."

Kabuto sighed. "We're working on getting Sasuke out of the way first," he said. "And then we can work him back into himself. Sasuke's only going to destroy any progress we make."

The girl nodded again. "Alright; we'd best be going. Good luck with him."

Kabuto nodded, and the medics slowly filed out of the room. Kabuto remained in exactly the same position, Orochimaru in his lap, running his hands through the sannin's soft black hair. As Kabuto's fingers became sticky, he glanced down at the spots of blood still remaining on Orochimaru's body. He wondered if the high-strung snake would allow him to clean him up a little more…right now, Orochimaru looked like a wound-up racehorse.

Kabuto carefully picked him up, making sure he didn't make any sudden movements. He carried Orochimaru back into the bathroom, picked up one of the towels he had brought in earlier, wet it, and continued cleaning Orochimaru's body.

"You really love him…don't you…?"

Kabuto glanced up, startled, and saw Kimimaro in the doorway. The teen's eyes were glazed over and glassy, and Kabuto turned on his knees to stare at Kimimaro.

"Kimi, what's wrong?"

Kimimaro shook his head. "I've been trying…all this time…to show you…do you…hate me, or something? Why are you ignoring me?"

Kabuto stood up, wiping his hands on a clean spot on the towel. "Kimi, what are you talking about?"

Kimimaro stared at Kabuto. "You don't see it, do you? Are you blind?! Or do you just not want to see it?"

Kabuto continued to stare. "Kimimaro, what are you talking about? This isn't about all the attention Orochimaru-sama gets, is it?"

Kimimaro shook his head, tears spraying off his face. He raised one hand and wiped them away, then took a shaky breath and faced Kabuto again.

"I like you, dumbass."

A/N: Yay love triangles!!