Sasuke was going to make it, despite the major injures he had had. He was dangerously dehydrated from blood lost, had several broken ribs and jaw, and a concussion from where he had been hit by Anko. Kabuto had healed his injuries, but Sasuke was too drained of blood for his organs to completely function.

Kisame, to Kabuto's surprise, had offered to give his blood to Sasuke when the risks of leaving the safe haven of Orochimaru's room became too high.

They were now resting: Kabuto in a chair wiping whatever blood he could off with the now ragged cloth of Orochimaru's bed. Sasuke was breathing slowly and was beyond out of it, and Kisame was at the foot of the great bed, recovering from giving blood. He was a fast healer though; probably had something to do with all the chakra he had stored up.

Kabuto was staring at him accusingly. He was the enemy but there was something else total off about him. What was his motive? Sasuke was his former partner's brother, but that just didn't add up for Kabuto's taste, not to mention the happenings between him and Anko the other night.

He heard the shark ninja laughed. "This assignment is such a bitch."

Kabuto could only stare as he slowly got up and started staggering toward him. "I have to admit, I half-expected Orochimaru and Anko to be dead by now," he was now in front of Kabuto, resting his hands on the arms of the chair. "The virus is suppose kill fast."

Kabuto's heart was beating at an unsteady pace, but one false move would cause it to stop beating forever; he had to remain completely calm around this man. "What are you talking about?"

Kisame stepped back slightly to have a full view of the person he was surveying. "Come on…You had to notice it, the way that pretty girl, Anko, was losing her mind."

"I noticed that much," Kabuto replied with a bit of humor. "But I don't see what that has to do with a virus."

Kisame laughed, staring at Kabuto's lost expression. "It's not a stomach virus or anything else like that, it's in the mind. You probably remember the first time you I met face to face."

"Yeah, but I don't really want to." He smirked to contain his mirth.

Kisame suddenly turned very serious and placed one of his great hands on Kabuto's shoulders. "This is serious." He was silent for a moment before his smile reappeared. "Before then, considering Itachi was dying when he put her under, she was still fighting back, so I slipped a little 'something-something' in some dango I gave her to weaken her defense systems…Wipe that look for your face, she knew about it."

"What kind of 'something-something' are we talking about?"

"LSD."

"You idiot!" Kabuto shouted, forgetting whom he was talking to. "You have any idea how dangerous that stuff is!"

Kisame glared at him. "Yeah, but it was Itachi's orders, so I didn't really give a damn."

"I-Itachi?" Kabuto questioned confused. "That's…impossible, Itachi is…" he stopped completely when Kisame stood back and gave him the strangest look Kabuto had ever seen from one person.

"He might be dead to everyone else, but to her he is very much alive."

"…What?"

Kisame laughed as he slowly pulled out his Shark Skin and leveled it to point where he would be able to cut Kabuto in half. "Sorry, but if two knew a secret…one must die."

Kabuto jumped out of the way just as it came down on him; it cut the chair in half instead.

Kisame smirked as Kabuto slid to a stop and pulled out a syringe and crouched into a fighting stance. "Ah, well… It has been some time since I've had a good fight…or a good kill at least." He approached the glaring Kabuto and positioned his sword again. "Let's begin, shall we?"

Kabuto went at him immediately. He went for his neck, but got a punch in the stomach instead.

It took him a few seconds to get back up before Kisame was throwing him around like a kick ball. He never gave Kabuto the chance to get back up. He made sure to get a few kicks in at his head and ribs so that he'd stay on the ground as long as possible.

It was his favorite part, the part where his prey would take one last look at him with fear stricken eyes and beg for their life to be spared. It wouldn't be same with this one sadly; he has worked with Orochimaru for many years, he didn't know fear.

"Do me a favor," he said to the face down, slightly unconscious Kabuto. "Tell Itachi I said hi. I'm sure he'll need some company in Hell." He laughed as he lifted Shark Skin over Kabuto and brought it down on his head.

Or at least he would have if the other person in the room hadn't of stopped him.

Kabuto flinched when he felt ice-cold wet drops sprinkle his neck. He opened his eyes and turned carefully on his back where he was caught off guard by Kisame's unmoving, surprised form.

Behind him, someone had shoved a scalpel into the center of his spine, which had knocked all his nerves cold. He was released and landed right beside the rising Kabuto.

Pain was one of the few things Kisame had to experience; his chakra kept him healed and he went by the 'kill or be killed' code. But now that he was laying there, body being swallowed by a monster that tore his body to shreds with its razor sharp teeth, he wished he had more experience.

Kabuto was standing over him now, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth and splattering onto the shark ninja's face. He saw the look in his eye; he wanted the pain to stop he wanted mercy. But Kabuto was not going to relent.

He smiled politely at the dying shinobi. "It's a real place."

Kisame's eyes widened to their limits.

He bent down to his knees and stared at Kisame was slowly turned his neck to face him. "Hell…it really does exist…" he ran his finger of a streak of blood on Kisame's chin, blood that didn't belong to him.

Kisame watched him lick his finger clean and then look at him again, bending down and whispered. "Looks like you caught it, too."

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"We need to trigger the Virus somehow." Itachi mused.

Kisame looked up. "That's what you've decided to name that mind jutsu you were working on?"

Itachi nodded, his back still to his partner.

Kisame chuckled, shaking his head. "The Virus…It should really have a name that has something to do with nerves you know, it's a mind playing jutsu after all."

"This new jutsu will allow me to completely control the poor unfortunate soul I choose for this task; I'll be able to manipulate every nerve, thought, and perspective that person sees, just like a illness does." He turned away from the inn window and stared at the wall, still refusing to give his partner eye contact for some reason. "Kisame."

"Hmm?"

"…Could I trust you enough to be my first subject?"

Kisame looked at him in shock. "Seriously?"

"I don't want to kill anyone by using this, so I need someone who can take it. It will be like being trapped by my Sharingan, so I can't promise you that there will be no distress."

Kisame smirked. "You're saying you could kill me."

Itachi said nothing, but the tenseness of his body said yes.

"All right, then." He said standing up. "But you owe me big time."

Itachi turned to him and for the first time looked at him in the eyes. "I'll owe you by not ending your life right here and now."

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"These are for you." Kisame said as he handed Anko the open box of dango that Itachi had instructed him to give to her.

Anko hesitated before taking one of the skewers out of the box. Kisame copied her action and waited for her to take a bite, but she only stared at the dangos curiously.

"Itachi said you really like these things." Kisame said hoping to persuade her into eating the drugged food. "I thought it would be a comfort for you to know that he was thinking about you."

Anko looked up at him and then at the skewer. Making a hard face, she began chewing on the sweets.

Itachi's voice echoed inside Kisame's head. "Very good."

Kisame grinned and absently bit into a dango skewer of his own.

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Kisame smirked as he remembered his careless mistake. It seemed so silly that he had caused his own death out of a whim for his former partner. But then again, he had known the risks and had accepted them immediately; he had served his purpose and didn't care about dying.

"You're too late, anyway." He said to the figure over him. "Orochimaru has caught the Virus, that's all we wanted. He'll be dead soon and you or that girl won't have a reason to live."

Kabuto glared at him. "We'll see about that." He turned away as if he were going to leave but stopped, smiling. "Say hi to my big brother for me."

Kisame died. Just as he was suppose to.

Mere seconds after that, the door to the bedroom open and Kabuto entered. The scalpels and syringes he was holding dropped to the ground when he saw a bloodied version of himselfstanding over a dead heap of Kisame.

The bloody Kabuto turned to him and made a hand sign. With a puff of smoke, Sasuke appeared. He looked down at Kisame one last time; he could've laughed at how easily he had fallen under his genjutsu. He stepped away from him and wobbled over to Kabuto.

"Sasuke, you…" he couldn't find the right words to say on account that he was in great shock. He watched Sasuke bend over and pick up a roll of bandages and forced them into the medical ninja's arms. "We have to find Anko and Lord Orochimaru right now."

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Orochimaru was relieved to find Anko,alone, and curled up in the corner of the autopsy room. He smiled and bent down in front of her, extending a hand to her hunched, shaking form.

"Anko," he whispered cautiously "Anko, give me your hand. I'm taking you away from here."

She shot out of her ball and swung the syringe Itachi had put in her hand at him. He escaped her attack with only a minor cut on his hand.

She rose on shaky legs and approached him again. She stared down at him and her heart began to break. 'I don't want to do this…Itachi, don't…"

Itachi gripped her wrist and forced her to level the syringe again. He pushed her forward and she fell on her knees; the scalpel in position in her hands like a prayer cross.

"Do it!" he threatened.

She gripped the needle tighter and wished she had more time to think.

Orochimaru crouched down to her level, but kept a good amount of space between them. "Anko, Itachi's talking to you, isn't he?"

She looked up at him with horrified eyes.

"I know, he's been doing the same with me, too."

She smiled despite herself. "One of the few things we ever had in common."

"We're more alike than you think, love." He reached out hesitantly, but she didn't try to fight back so he brushed her cheek freely.

"Don't do this to me again." She cried, turning her head away.

"…Do what?"

She looked at him again, smiling with tears in her eyes. "Don't make me start falling in love with you again."

This took Orochimaru aback. Love? He had almost for gotten how to feel that, let alone having someone who felt it towards him.

She stood and slipped to a wall further from him. "I…I thought I had when we started to spend more time together. You still were the sadistic little shit I had hated, but you at least pretended to care about me." She slowly put the needle in the vile and soaked up the poison. "I realize now how stupid I was, love is something I shouldn't feel." She raised the syringe to her own neck. "I'm sick of this feeling…"

Orochimaru's eyes widened upon realizing what she was about to do. "Anko!"

"What are you doing?"

She sneered at Itachi. "Let's see how easily you'll get to Orochimaru without my help."

She punctured her arm but she was slapped across the face before she could inject the poison. She hit a table and her arm was grabbed. She and Orochimaru fought over the poisoned syringe all over the lab. She kept trying to make him press down on the plunger while he tried to pull it out of her hands. He gripped the glass object and squeezed it; it easily broke and the glass incised in to his hands.

"No!" Anko screamed at him as he threw her onto another table. Before she could recover, he took both her arms and pinned them above her head. She started shouting at him again, but he silenced her with his lips.

She stayed paralyzed for a minute. Something was different about the way he was kissing her now. This feeling wasn't lust, nor was it was way to drive her crazy; it was more of a loving want. A need.

He finally stopped, a small gasp leaving both of them. She stared wide-eyed at his sorrowful expression. Out of nowhere, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder.

"Don't you ever do that again!" he murmured, her hands gripped his shoulders and pulled him back. His eyes were scared, hurt, and angry and they were pointing all these emotions at her.

"I'm…" she broke out into a sob. "I'm so sorry!" She pulled him close, locking him in her arms. "I just…I can't do this anymore! I don't want to fight Itachi. I don't want to hurt like this!"

"I know." He whispered, soothingly. "I know." He lifted her chin and wiped the tears on her cheeks. "That's why I need you to stay with me. I need you to let me help you. We can fight this, Anko."

She smiled slightly. He actually seemed so sincere and caring. Even if this temporary or false, she was so glad that he was this way.

But then Itachi appeared again.

Orochimaru's serene look changed instantly into one of shock and pain as the sound of flesh ripping fell on both their ears.

Anko gasped in horror when she felt the tip of Itachi's sword prick her stomach and felt Orochimaru's warm blood splatter on her legs and feet. "…No…"

He fell to the ground carelessly.

"No!" she dropped down next to him and tried to stop the bleeding spewing out of the gash. "Itachi, you monster!"

He grabbed her neck and forced her to meet his eyes. "He is the monster here, Anko-chan. You ought to be glad he's dead! After everything he did to you, those innocent people, my brother, me! Damn it, Anko, just let him die!"

She twisted from his grip and pushed him away. "He was dead to me! He was fucking dead to me, but then you came along and brought him back!"

"Don't you dare-"

"You're the one who needs to die, Itachi! You're the one who's been causing the suffering, Itachi!"

He grabbed her shoulders and yanked her up. "I was trying to save you-"

"You didn't give a damn about me! Your brother's safety was all that you cared about, I was just the pawn!"

"You were more to me than you keep thinking!" his voiced calmed slightly and his hand ran possessively up and down her cheek. He looked so welcoming and kind. "I needed you. You were my ticket back into this world." His eyes held do many emotions that Anko didn't know how to except. "I was dying, but you were still so alive. I wanted your strength to finish what no one else could: Orochimaru's assassination."

Something was starting to click with Anko. She felt like she knew everything he was saying was meant to happen because she had heard it before; Orochimaru had said something very similar once.

"But you are such a strong little girl, you know that?" he sounded like a parent aiding their child through a scary doctor visit; the sanity was returning. "I kept trying to get inside that fucking mind of yours but you are just so…damn difficult. I needed a way to weaken you, to make you frail enough to break open and enter." His eyes were made with power. "Weren't you a druggie when we first met, Anko?"

Anko's eyes widened. What caused him to bring up such an epic part of her life all of a sudden?

Drugs had been a major part of her life when she was thirteen; they were one of the few things that worked to help her escape her troubles. In her spare time, she was at home, curled up on the couch as high as mars and completely zoned out to everything; it was miracle that she survived her missions when she was high as hell.

One day, right before she first caught sight of Itachi Uchiha, she overdosed on ten Tylenol pills. Someone, Anko never knew who broke in and took her to the hospital where she spent three days getting her stomach pumped out. She just didn't want to use them and stopped, just like that, no strings attached.

Still, she knew that she would never completely recover from her heavy uses. For a while, all the new smells and tastes were over whelming, except the dango she began eating frequently. It was the only thing that had the flavoring of her beloved meds and inhalants…

"The dango tasted like…" she looked into Itachi's eyes "Kisame…He was a part of this, wasn't he? Everything started happening after I met him…after I ate the dango he gave me. It was tainted with something, wasn't it?"

Itachi chuckled lightly. "You figure things out so slowly, Anko. Have I caused you to suffer that much?"

She glared at him but comebacks were not with her at the moment.

"It's okay, precious." His grip on her jaw tightened harshly. "I'm going to let you fall back into your darkness. I owe you that much." His lips clasped over hers and muffled her shriek of surprise.

She felt something, some sort of dark power, entered her and paralyzed her senses. She fell into his arms as all her strength and fighting grit died away.

The darkness entered her lungs and cut off her breathing, causing so much pain. Even her eyes blinking was starting to slow down. She knew that this is what dying felt like as she started to fall into the sleep of death.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

Anko's eyes snapped open as a sharp sting rattled her diaphragm and organs. Itachi's mouth removed it's self from hers only to spit blood onto her face, his arms remained. Her strength and senses returned slowly. She looked down to see the very sword Itachi had used to kill Orochimaru sticking out of her stomach and into Itachi's. She felt Orochimaru's breathe on the back of her neck. "It's okay, I'm here…"

Itachi coughed again. "An…ko…"

She blinked some of his blood out of her eyes.

"Is…Is think wh-what dying…feels like?"

Anko found herself in his eyes again. But they didn't have the power over her they did that short time ago. They no longer had that evil, that darkness, that piercing gaze that drew her to him each time. He was blind, powerless, and dying all over again. And even though part of her still had a great deal of love for him, she knew he deserved this.

She smirked wildly. "No…BUT THIS IS!"

Her foot shot up and pushed him off of the blade so that he flew back and she easily fell back. She didn't hear Itachi fall; all that echoed in her ears was the sound of her muscles and nerves screaming in pain. Pain that once again had been caused by Orochimaru.

"Anko!" she heard his panicking voice plea. A blurry image of him hovered over her body. "Anko, hang on!"

"Shh…It's okay, I'm here…"

She smiled. "I'm trying, Sensei…I really am."

He gulped and held her tightly to his almost bare chest and sat back as carefully as he could on a sink to rest his own wounds. Moments pasted of silence and the feeling of Anko's blood mixing with his own.

"Anko…" he whispered to her barely conscious form. "Anko just…" he growled, unaccustomed to these kinds of feelings. "I…I'm sorry, is that what you want to hear?" his hand wiped some of her hair out of her face. "I'm sorry you had to go through things like this alone…or at least with Itachi." His index finger drove into her temple. "I…really don't want you to go through this anymore…or at least without someone to be there catch you, like I am now." The fact that she didn't respond or move made his stomach run cold.

"Umm..." He pressed his head into the cool metal to help himself think. "Do you…do you remember when you went on your first B-ranked mission?" he laughed slightly. "We were sent to find a drug lord and you wouldn't shut up at all. We finally found him and you did more damage to yourself than you did to him." His smiled faded just a bit. "And then he shot you. I killed him, and you stayed still for so long, little Anko."

His hands were starting to shake from the fear and blood loss. "I was so scared. I'm scared now, so scared, little one. You want to know why?" Even while she was out cold he still had trouble getting the words out. "Because I loved you. You were…a part of me I should say. And I lost that piece when you left. But I have it back and I'll do what ever it takes to keep it. Is that all right with you?"

She was never going to answer him.

"Anko…Please don't die. Please, just…"

The sound of metal hitting stone echoed throughout the room. A few seconds later, the lights above him came on following the sound of footsteps running down the stairs. Soon enough, a very messed up Kabuto and Sasuke filed in.

"Damn!" Kabuto exclaimed when he saw his master, Anko, and his lab in ruins. "What happened?"

Sasuke looked around as well, but his attention was primarily focused on the disfigured corpse of what used to be his brother. He looked away in disgust.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and stood on shaky legs, taking Anko with him.

"Lord Orochimaru…" Kabuto gasped when he saw just how beaten up he really was.

The Snake Sannin walked closer to him, Anko nestled tightly in his arms. "Tend to her injuries. NOW!"

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I am a total screw up!

Ethridge: You are if it took you two months to update this piece of-

ETHRIDGE! THERE ARE KIDS READING THIS!

Last two chapters will be out in a few days or so!