It had been a particularly bad week for Uchiha Sasuke in terms of his fragile mental health, which meant it had also been a particularly bad week for Haruno Sakura. Save for brief flickers of lucidity, the madness seemed to have overtaken Sasuke completely ever since that day in the rain: he stared like a zombie and wouldn't eat, forcing them to put him back on an IV.
Three days into that week, Sakura had had no choice but to inform Tsunade of the Uchiha's rapidly deteriorating condition as well as her own lack of success in finding any possible means of curing, or at least coping with or combating, the situation, resulting in a minor (for Tsunade) temper tantrum, in which a cup, a lamp, and both of Sakura's eardrums had met their untimely ends during the Godaime's rant--not about Sakura's lack of dedication to her mission (that was never in question), but about her temper and apparent lack of respect for her elders. (It had started when Tsunade snapped out, "There must be SOMETHING in all those books I sent you! Look again!" which prompted Sakura to respond with a rather irritated "But you couldn't find anything either!" and things had just gone downhill from there.)
On the fourth day, Sasuke had refused to get out of bed altogether, choosing instead to lie flat on his back and stare silently up at the ceiling, and nothing anyone said could move him; an irate Sakura had shown up at the training grounds a short while later and had thoroughly thrashed an unsuspecting Lee, and then Sai too for good measure.
On the fifth day, Sakura had carefully removed the dull-eyed Uchiha's IV and had hauled him physically out of bed and into the streets of Konoha, sitting him down on a bench and forcing him to eat the bento she'd prepared for him (he ate the onigiri once again, but left everything else largely untouched) before returning him to the hospital.
On the sixth day, he'd come along quietly when she came to collect him, and though perhaps he seemed a bit more lucid that day, he also seemed equally determined to be unpleasant, and didn't say a word to her the entire time they were together.
On Saturday, the seventh day, Naruto intercepted her on her way from the training grounds to the hospital, carefully steering her towards a particular restaurant he knew she liked and insisting that she come with him "since a bunch of our friends will be there! It's been a long time since we've all eaten together."
Though outwardly her submission was rather grudging, inwardly she was relieved. Yes! Finally a break from dealing with HIM! Inner Sakura crowed (although still quite protective of Sasuke regardless of everything that had happened, Inner Sakura still hadn't ever really quite forgiven the Uchiha for leaving, breaking 'their' heart, and making 'them' cry so many times).
She and Naruto had scarcely set foot in the restaurant when Lee appeared before them. After cheerfully greeting the taijutsu virtuoso, Naruto made a beeline for an already faintly blushing Hinata, who was sitting between Tenten and Kiba at the back of the restaurant, leaving Sakura alone to speak with Lee.
"Greetings, Sakura-san! You look as though you are feeling much better today!"
She summoned a bright smile, and was a bit surprised at how honest it felt. "Hello, Lee-san. Yes, I am feeling better...and I'm really sorry about what happened during our last match. I was having a bad day and really wasn't myself..." She'd still been too upset (mostly at herself for taking her anger at Sasuke out on Lee) at the time to offer more than a quickly-muttered "sorry" and heal the worst of Lee's injuries. Ever since their first chuunin exam, she'd been friendly with and extremely kind to the taijutsu expert, so the thoroughness of the beating she'd given him came as quite a surprise to everyone who saw or heard about it, and later that day when Sakura ran into a justifiably curious Naruto, she'd sworn up and down that she "hadn't meant to drop that boulder on top of him, it had just sort of happened."
("Right," Naruto had agreed with obvious skepticism, "just like the time you happened to knock that huge tree over right on top of me, and like the time you kicked Sai through three walls on accident.")
But Lee was, as ever, being Lee, which meant understanding and instant forgiveness, even if it wasn't really deserved. "I carry no grudge against you, Sakura-san! The fault was purely mine, for letting my guard down so deplorably!"
She giggled a bit at his formality and his attempt to take the blame for what she knew had really been little better than a temper tantrum. Typical Lee--ever the "nice guy". "No, I'm afraid it really was my fault this time, Lee-san, but thanks anyway. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Your healing techniques were flawless as usual, Sakura-san—" he began, only to have Naruto suddenly appear beside them and interrupt with a loud complaint about people standing around all day talking when it was time to eat, after which he dragged Sakura over to sit in the long booth at the back of the restaurant between Tenten and himself, Lee following along behind and happily plunking himself down in the chair directly across from the pink-haired girl. Nearly everyone really was there, Sakura realized as she returned Ino's friendly, half-shouted greeting and took in the rest of the familiar faces gathered around the table; the only ones missing were Shino, who Kiba said was away on family business, Neji, who Lee announced would be coming along shortly, and Sai, and no one knew where he was, as was often the case.
"You don't think he crawled away and died after that beating you gave him on Wednesday, do you?" Naruto teased, jabbing Sakura in the ribs with his elbow.
"We should be so lucky," she chuckled, leaning a bit towards Tenten to avoid the offending elbow. "But no, I'm sure he's fine. I may have beaten him within an inch of his life, but I healed him afterwards." (Even though she hadn't wanted to at the time, she conveniently neglected to add; Sai had just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had let the word 'ugly' slip from his lips at the worst possible moment--while he was well within a very angry Sakura's grasp, and out of reach of his precious sketchbook.)
She chatted pleasantly with Tenten and Lee until their waitress came to take the increasingly rowdy group's orders; by the time the waitress left, Ino and Chouji were in the middle of a good-natured but very loud argument concerning food, which Shikamaru was trying (and for the most part failing) to keep under control, and Naruto and Kiba had already managed to spill water over a good third of the table with their 'flip the spoon into the glass' game.
"So what are your plans for tonight, Sakura?" Tenten asked with a bright smile, and Sakura turned her attention to the pretty brunette sitting on her right.
"Nothing really," Sakura admitted a bit sheepishly. "I've been so busy lately—"
"That's what you always say," Naruto interrupted, looking away from his game long enough to give his old teammate a disapproving glance. "Busy busy busy! Work work work! You need to loosen up a bit and have some fun for a change, Sakura-chan!" A flicker of movement caught the corner of his eye, and the blonde looked up again as another familiar figure entered the restaurant. "Speaking of needing to loosen up..." he muttered, surreptitiously checking to be sure that there was an acceptable distance between himself and Hinata before waving his arm wildly over his head and belting out a typically boisterous, "HEY NEJI, OVER HERE!"
"My apologies for being late," the Hyuuga genius said, acknowledging the entire table's amicable greetings with a nod and a small smile as he slipped into the empty chair beside Lee and opposite Tenten. "I was detained unexpectedly after giving my report on my latest mission to Tsunade-sama. I assume Lee informed you that I would be a bit late."
"He did, Neji-san," Sakura said, giving him a bright, welcoming smile, and Naruto gave a "Yup!" as Tenten nodded slightly. Soon the conversation swelled once more, only to fade a bit as Lee entertained them all with a very energetic portrayal of the rescue mission he'd gone on with Naruto and Tenten a few months before.
The weapons specialist had gone uncharacteristically silent, something that did not escape the notice of the observant medic-nin sitting at her side, but though she frowned a bit at the older girl's sudden, unexplained withdrawal from the conversation, she made no comment and continued her lively debate with Naruto and Lee about who would win in a real match between Kakashi and Gai-sensei.
Their drinks arrived at about this time (and it was a good thing, too, since Naruto was having great success in his attempts to needle the ever-sensitive Lee about his revered sensei--if things had gone on much longer, they might very well have had a brawl on their hands), though because of his late arrival, Neji had yet to place his order.
Seeing this, Lee sprang to his feet. "Fear not, my honored rival, for I shall fetch you something myself!"
"That won't be necessary," Neji stated rather firmly. "I'm not thirsty and I ate before I came."
By the time he finished his second sentence, however, Lee was already halfway to the bar.
"Wonderful. The last time he ordered me something, I ended up with some ridiculous fruit drink with one of those little umbrellas in it," the pale-eyed man said with a faint sigh, drawing a quiet chuckle from Sakura as she envisioned the stately, serious Hyuuga Neji delicately sipping at such a decidedly feminine drink.
"It was a cocktail, Neji," Tenten said flatly, rolling her eyes a bit.
"It was disgusting."
"But you still drank it...all of it."
"And I think my back teeth are still wiggling from all the sugar. I am perfectly satisfied with tea, thank you, or simple sake if it must be alcoholic, though being who he is, I highly doubt that Lee will select anything so sensible."
A slightly awkward silence fell at their end of the table, throughout which Sakura cast furtive glances back and forth between the two. "Sooo...tell us about your latest mission, Neji-san," she said at last when the silence had become nearly unbearable. That seemed to break the ice somewhat, and before long the three of them were discussing the specifics of the Hyuuga's most recent assignment; Tenten, though still a bit more reserved than usual, engaged in the conversation as well, much to the medic-nin's relief.
"What are you doing tonight, Haruno?" Neji asked innocuously after a brief but not uncomfortable lull in the conversation, and Sakura smiled ruefully as she opened her mouth to share about the thoroughly unremarkable evening she had planned, but Tenten spoke up before she could get a word of it out.
"She's busy," the weapons specialist said rather sharply, then glanced away, stirring her drink with her straw in a slightly agitated manner.
Neji gave her a long, studious look that she pointedly ignored before turning his attention back to the pink-haired medic. "Are you now?" he asked calmly, seemingly unfazed by Tenten's interruption.
"W-well," Sakura stammered, feeling decidedly ill at ease, "I have to keep an eye on Sasuke-kun and catch up on a little paperwork..." From the look of Sakura's office, Shizune-san was having some trouble keeping up with all of it (and there had been a lot of it lately, so that was perfectly understandable), so she thought she'd help the older medic-nin out a bit; after all, it really was supposed to be her work to start with, and she was faster than most at completing it. And with the way Sasuke had been acting lately, all she would have to do was pop in every few hours to make sure he was still breathing--plenty of time left over for all the lovely charts and reports that were currently piled in alarmingly high stacks on her desk and the floor around it. "...Make that a lot of paperwork. I'll probably end up working late tonight," Sakura confessed with a pained smile.
"Don't work too late, Sakura," Tenten said with a sly, nearly vicious, grin--the first Sakura seen from her since Neji had joined them. "If you do, you'll miss the staring contest Neji and Lee are having tonight...at Lee's insistence, of course."
The Hyuuga rubbed at his forehead as if wearied by the very thought. "I only agreed to that to shut him up," he growled, looking irritated that she'd mentioned it. "And speaking of Lee, he's been gone quite some time now—"
At that moment a resounding crash came from the direction of the bar, as well a slurred apology, and Neji and Tenten exchanged knowing glances.
"Your turn," Neji said coolly, leaning back a bit in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, I know," the brunette muttered, looking none too pleased by this fact.
"Call if you require assistance."
"Sure thing." Something in her tone of voice made it clear that she would not be asking for help, one way or the other. The weapons specialist disappeared towards the front of the restaurant, and Sakura wondered a bit at the strained atmosphere between them. Did they have a disagreement of some sort? she wondered. She had her suspicions (and very strong ones at that) as to what might have caused the unusual tension--after all, the weapons specialist's feelings for her long-time teammate were rather obvious--but she had no real, solid evidence that that was the case, and Sakura was not usually one to jump to conclusions, no matter how likely said conclusions seemed to be.
"So you're working late tonight," Neji picked up where they'd left off before.
"Oh, no, I've changed my mind. I won't be staying late after all," Sakura said with a grin rather similar to the one Tenten had given him before. "I couldn't possibly miss your contest with Lee-san."
The Hyuuga quirked one dark eyebrow at her. "By all means, take your time. Lee might be used to it, but I've never much liked the idea of other people watching me make a fool of myself."
The sound of breaking glass--and quite a lot of it, too--came from the front of the restaurant, followed by another loud crash and Tenten's understandably dismayed voice:
"How on earth did you manage this, Lee? Who gets drunk on accident, and at eleven-thirty in the morning? Neji!" The brunette called over her shoulder as she struggled to pull her inebriated (and apparently unconscious) teammate from the wreckage of a nearby table. "I'm taking Lee home, so I'll be a little late for practice, okay?"
Without waiting for his reply, she slung one of Lee's arms over her shoulders and dragged him off towards the exit.
"Case in point," Neji said, watching them go.
"Aren't you going to help her?" Sakura asked quietly as the other kunoichi stumbled a bit beneath her much larger teammate's dead weight: apparently he'd hit his head quite hard when he had broken the table--a blessing, actually, since it would've taken at least half of their group to restrain him in his usual drunken state.
"She doesn't want it," Neji replied just as quietly, and something in his tone prompted Sakura to shoot him a faint, pensive frown. "And after all, you can only do so much for someone who doesn't want your help." His face, though turned towards her own, remained largely unreadable, and her slight frown intensified as she stared across the table at his inscrutable expression, wondering what exactly he meant by that...and if he was still talking about himself and Tenten, or someone else instead. "Well, it would seem that my public humiliation has been delayed...for a while, in any case," he went on with a low snort, his impassive expression giving way to one that was somehow both annoyed and rather pleased at the same time. "I doubt Lee will be up for our contest tonight."
"Oh, I don't know," Sakura said with a smile. "You of all people should know how stubborn Lee-san is. He might show up yet."
Neji chuckled. "You're right, he might at that."
They were quiet for a moment, and Sakura smiled as she watched Ino arguing (with Shikamaru now) about how she thought men were much more 'troublesome' than women; Kiba and Chouji were discussing their latest mission, and an uncharacteristically quiet Naruto was murmuring something to Hinata, whose cheeks were quickly shifting from their usual pale alabaster to a deep crimson.
Sakura glanced back at Neji to see him glaring at her blonde best friend through dangerously narrowed eyes.
Well, he's certainly become quite protective of his cousin, she thought with a smile. It was touching, actually, considering how strained their relationship had once been; but as Naruto leaned even closer to whisper something in the now scarlet-faced Hyuuga girl's ear and Sakura heard the quiet crackle of Byakugan being activated, she knew she had to get Neji's focus on something other than his cousin and the amorous Kyuubi container--and fast.
"Ah, Neji-san..." she blurted out, hoping to draw his attention away from Naruto and Hinata.
He blinked and relaxed his harsh stare, the chakra-puffed veins melting back into his handsome face as quickly as they'd come, then slid his silver-grey eyes over to meet hers. "Yes?"
"Mind if I ask you a question?"
A faint smile curled one corner of his mouth upwards. "You just did, but I'm feeling generous so I'll give you another."
She snorted. "Clever, aren't we?"
"I try. You had a question, I believe," he prompted her.
"Yes. Why a staring contest?"
"It was the lesser of many evils," he replied with an ominous scowl.
"What do you mean?"
"...His original challenge was a burping contest."
"I see," Sakura giggled. "Unbefitting for one of the proud and noble Hyuuga clan, right?"
Neji gave her an arch look--he clearly did not miss the fact that she was mocking him, though he could tell from her tone that she meant no real disrespect. "Indeed... In any case, when I refused his first challenge, he brought up quite a few more..."
"Such as?"
"Handstand races, push up contests, jump rope competitions, arm wrestling..."
Sakura blinked. "Wow."
"I suggested a drinking contest, but Lee didn't seem too enthusiastic about it. I wonder why," the Hyuuga mused with a surprisingly devious smile.
"I have no idea," the pink-haired girl said with obviously feigned innocence.
"Then he suggested a sleeping contest..."
"How 'bout a wet t-shirt contest?" Naruto chimed in from Sakura's left, and she couldn't hold back a snort of laughter at the thought.
Oh, I would dearly love to see that! Inner Sakura cackled, and Outer Sakura had to agree.
"Or karaoke?" she suggested, sharing a grin with Naruto, and they were off:
"Or thumb wrestling?"
"Or hopscotch?"
"Or somersaults?"
"Or cartwheels?"
"Or backflips!"
"Or kissing!"
Both dissolved into helpless laughter at the thought of the reserved Hyuuga stooping to that level, and the thought of straight-laced Lee working up the courage to kiss anyone was even more amusing.
"In any case," Neji interrupted rather pointedly, "it was about this time that I suggested a silence contest, which Lee lost approximately thirty seconds later."
"So how'd you finally settle on a staring contest?" Naruto asked with a quizzical frown.
"Tenten proposed it as a compromise of sorts."
"Well then, a staring contest isn't really all that bad, is it?" Sakura reasoned with a little shrug.
"Speak for yourself," Neji snorted, then stated solemnly, "I am going to have to stare straight into those round, buggy eyes for much longer than I ever wanted to."
Sakura bit her lips in a largely useless attempt to fight back her smile, though her eyes clearly betrayed her amusement; to her left, she could hear Hinata's quiet giggle and Naruto valiantly trying to repress a chuckle of his own.
"If I win," the Hyuuga genius went on gravely, "I am going to make him shave his eyebrows."
"And if Lee wins?" Sakura asked, poorly-restrained laughter leaking into her words and making them come out somewhat shaky.
"Then good for him," Neji finished with a smirk.
A half-hour later, everyone had eaten their fill (except perhaps Chouji, who was openly eyeing what was left on Ino and Shikamaru's plates), and though they had all paid their bills, no one seemed to want to leave--it really had been too long since they had all been together for something as simple as a casual meal. Usually when they were all gathered together, it meant that something big and generally quite dangerous was going down, and of course there was no time for idle chatter or pleasant reminiscing in situations like that.
Sakura leaned back in her seat, a broad smile on her face as she listened to the lively conversations swirling about her, soaking up the warmth of the special bond that existed between them all and feeling a happy glow spreading throughout her entire body.
Naruto, still laughing at some joke of Kiba's, turned his head and happened to catch her eye; he gave her a grin that clearly said, See? Now, aren't you glad I dragged you here?
Her smile widened even more, something she hadn't thought possible, and her shoulders shook with inward laughter as she grinned back her answer, Yes...thank you for bringing me here, Naruto...I needed this.
It started to rain again just before Sakura reached the hospital. She sprinted the final two blocks, ending up slightly damp but nowhere near as wet as she'd been the last time she had gotten caught out in the rain. The last two times, rather.
Making a mental note to buy herself a new umbrella (and replace Shizune's) as soon as possible, she headed up to Sasuke's room, determined to retain the pleasant mood that that very enjoyable lunch with so many of her friends had put her in.
"Hello, Sasuke-kun!" she said cheerily as she entered the room, then nearly fell over in surprise on finding him standing silently at the window, quietly gazing out at the falling rain. A few droplets of blood were spattered on the floor by his bare feet, and Sakura's heart was in her throat as her eyes darted to the IV pole still standing beside his bed; relief flooded her on seeing the intact catheter and tubing, as well as the tape used to hold it in place, dangling haphazardly from the pole. Nonetheless she crossed the room quickly, seizing his arm and jerking it up and away from where it hung limply at his side to survey the damage.
As expected, it wasn't really all that bad; in fact, she was surprised that he'd bled as much as he had. He'd taken the IV catheter out, too--had he just removed the tube, he could have lost quite a bit of blood before the IV site clotted, though certainly not enough to kill him--so all that was left really was the puncture wound, though it looked as if he'd widened it a bit with his apparently rather forceful removal of the IV.
She drew chakra to her hand, easily healing the small wound--regardless of the fact that it was a basically harmless injury, she didn't feel like fooling around with bandages and such when she could just fix him and be done with it in a matter of moments--then let out a deep sigh and collapsed in one of the chairs, for once very glad that she'd been right. She hadn't thought that there was enough blood on the floor for it to be anything too serious, but then again, one never knew. "What am I going to do with you?" she muttered, rubbing at her eyes tiredly, her good mood from before firmly supplanted by the odd, slightly hollow feeling that immediately follows an adrenaline rush.
"Kill me, if you were merciful."
Her head snapped around at the voice--Sasuke's voice, of course--and she found herself staring up into calm but peculiarly murky black eyes.
An unexpected flash of white-hot anger tore through her at his words, and without really pausing for thought she snapped out, "What were you thinking, tearing that IV out of your arm? You could have really hurt yourself!"
"So?" he said, his voice even, serene, and little more than a murmur.
Gritting her teeth, she slowly unclenched the fist that was begging to introduce itself to his jaw and took a few deep, calming breaths. "What are you doing out of bed, anyway?" she asked after moment, angling a skeptical frown up at him.
He gave an offhanded shrug, as if it hadn't been a huge ordeal to get him out of bed the whole rest of the week, and turned back towards the window. "I wanted to watch the rain."
Sakura's frown took on a more analytical quality as she peered at him closely; he must have felt her gaze on him, for after a moment he turned his head back to her, though his face was blank and dispassionate. His eyes were equally dull and expressionless, she found, but for once he actually seemed to see her clearly regardless of that fact, and he was readily answering her questions, and in a cognizant fashion, too. She'd never seen him in this state before, but he was still so obviously mad that she wasn't sure that it was an improvement; nonetheless, improvement or no, she was determined not to let the opportunity to get some real answers out of him pass her by.
I guess my real mission starts here...
"Sasuke...what happened to you?"
"Things have been happening to me for twenty-two years now. You'll have to be more specific."
If his face hadn't remained so utterly bereft of any expression whatsoever, Sakura would have thought he was joking; as it was, her eyes narrowed slightly in aggravation. "I mean, what happened to you to put you in the terrible condition you were in when we found you?"
"I was attacked. By..." he hesitated for a moment. "...Hunter-nin."
The slight pause did not go unnoticed by the pink-haired medic; turning her head just slightly so that she was looking at him out of the corners of her eyes, she asked, "How many?"
"I don't remember...after...after that, it's all a blur..."
"After what?"
Abruptly he turned, making his way back to the bed and stretching himself out on it on his back, his arms folded underneath his head. "After I...left...Orochimaru."
Orochimaru...I have to ask...
"Sasuke," she said, slowing rising from her chair by the window and moving to sit in the one beside his bed instead. "What did he do to you? What did Orochimaru do to make you...act like this?"
"Like what?" he said flippantly.
"You aren't acting like yourself most of the time, and you know it, Sasuke," she said hotly, fisting her hands in her lap and leaning forward in anticipation. "We all knew that Orochimaru wanted you as his next container, so why didn't he use you for one?"
Abruptly his gaze hardened, and he gave her a penetrating, disbelieving look, as if he was affronted by her audacity at daring to ask such a question. Slowly he sat up, leaving barely a foot of space between their faces. "You want to know what he did to me?"
"Yes, of course!" Her indignation at his seeming carelessness faded beneath his continued withering glare, and she subsided back into her chair, repeating her words a bit apprehensively. "...Of course I do."
"Do you?" His voice had sunk to a low murmur, and though he turned his head to stare down at his hands, his expression was no less harsh. "Do you really?"
Sakura hesitated, not liking the sudden chill that she heard in his tone, then nodded.
"Alright then...I'll tell you..."
It wasn't difficult for Sasuke to sense Orochimaru's deep pleasure at the prospect of finally getting what he wanted.
Three times now his plan to take over Sasuke's body had gone awry--the first time because of the Third Hokage's curse, the second because of Naruto and other Konoha interference, and the most recent time due to the clever manipulations of Kabuto, whose wish to be Orochimaru's container had finally (though unintentionally on the Sannin's part) been granted.
This time, there would be no mistakes.
"Finally," the unnaturally pale man said in a low, rasping voice that nonetheless dripped with satisfaction...as well as a yearning, thirsty sort of excitement.
Sasuke's lip curled a bit in disgust as he took in the figure before him--it was not in the best of shape, having had a run-in with a certain blonde ninja from Konohagakure just a few days before (though of course the Uchiha didn't know that that was the true cause)--but he remained silent, listening with ill-concealed impatience to the "Legendary" snakemaster's triumphant oration.
"Finally, after years of waiting..." He stopped scarcely two meters from the tall, dark-haired, and handsome man, chuckling somewhere deep back in his throat. "I always knew this day would come, Sasuke-kun...I knew you would seek me out, hungry for power, power that I alone could give you..."
There was a sharp jolt as they locked gazes, coal-black eyes that quickly snapped to jet-flecked scarlet meeting the slitted, dull gold orbs of a snake; the entire room seemed to waver oddly, as if the temperature had risen exponentially. Slowly the snake-eyed man's pupils narrowed until they were naught but minute vertical lines, and then it was as if Orochimaru himself had disappeared, for where he had stood mere heartbeats ago was coiled a giant snake. The impassive Uchiha did not flinch even as it opened its enormous, fanged jaws to spit a ragged hiss at him, continuing to stare calmly up at the beast...and wait.
As the forked ends of its tongue writhed and twisted around him, Sasuke suddenly found himself facing the ghostly figure of Orochimaru once more, and the pale man gave a low chuckle, his human body solidifying as the huge snake behind him faded into nothingness, disappearing into the shadows as completely as smoke dissipating in the open air.
"Your avenger's heart will soon be satisfied...for I will give you more power than you have ever dreamed of! I will also grant you one wish."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and as the Sannin's half-hissed words faded away into the dark recesses of the room, he slowly raised his hands, palms upward, fingers flexed and clawlike, and without once breaking their locked gaze he said in an unmistakably clear voice, "I want to see Uchiha Itachi die by these hands."
Orochimaru gave a sharp, sneering smirk. "Very well. I will grant your wish." Slowly he began stepping forward, closing the already short distance between them even more. "And don't worry, Sasuke-kun...your strong will will remain in my subconscious—"
"That isn't good enough."
The Sannin blinked in surprise at the sudden steel in his soon-to-be container's voice. After all this time, his free will should be so corroded that he should not be able to speak against me! he thought, and just a trickle of fear ran through him; he knew all too well just how powerful the Uchiha clan was, and if Sasuke were to suddenly turn on him...
"I want to see it done," the crimson-eyed man said slowly, deliberately, and Orochimaru relaxed, his slitted eyes widening just a bit. "I want to know, I want to be fully aware, I want to watch him die."
"Very well then," Orochimaru hissed, a menacing gleam in his eye. "I will allow you to remain in control of a small portion of your mind...until Itachi is dead."
Sasuke's gaze hardened as it probed the pale, serpentine face before him, his expression clearly distrustful.
"You don't believe me, do you, Sasuke-kun...but I swear it."
"A promise means nothing from someone like you," the Uchiha said flatly, "but so long as Itachi dies, I don't care what happens to myself." I have no choice but to believe him, he thought, and he knew Orochimaru knew this as well.
The Sannin's body was suddenly engulfed by flickering, dancing purple flames. "Don't worry," he said with a sickly smile, placing a hand flat on the Uchiha's chest, directly over his heart. "You won't lose everything..."
"No..." Sasuke said as he felt the brush of the violet strands slowly enclosing his body. "I already have..."
Then in a flash, the strands tightened, and he shut his eyes against the sudden explosion of red light that threatened to blind him. Some thing was there before him now, something coiling close about him, clawing at his mind, forcing its way inside him—
I am an avenger…
The red light surrounding him was hot as hell, and so bright that he could almost feel it starting to burn through his eyelids—
On the path I walk, I have to do whatever it takes to gain power…
It was nearly through now, that thing, its scorching, serpentine body wrapped tightly around his own, nearly strangling him—
...Even if it means selling my flesh to the devil!
He opened his mouth to gasp only to find himself screaming in pain, feeling as if he was being seared by thousands of burning needles that were stabbing their way deeper and deeper into his flesh, as if his skin was being peeled off inch by agonizing inch, as if his entire body was being ripped apart—
Then, with almost audible snap, everything suddenly went black.
"That's...that's awful..." Sakura found herself shaking uncontrollably, fear and dread and loathing coiling at the pit of her stomach, making her feel ill and vaguely apprehensive. She raised wide eyes to his curiously calm face, unable to keep her distress from showing clearly on her own. "It must have been...so awful for you..."
But Sasuke merely gave an offhanded shrug, not seeming to notice or care about the pink-haired medic-nin's obvious concern. "Not really. After the pain faded, I merely felt as if I had been closed up in a dark room. I could see out if I wanted to, but why bother? It was so...peaceful...as if I was just floating in nothingness, a welcome oblivion..."
Sakura fought back the horror that rose within her at this admission; his voice sounded so wistful...as if he had actually enjoyed being used by Orochimaru. "But Sasuke..."
She watched as the Uchiha's dark eyes slowly narrowed, his mouth drawing back in a snarl. "It couldn't last, though. I couldn't stay there while Itachi still lived." His head suddenly snapped up, joining their gazes, and Sakura could still see all the hatred and anger for his older brother that Sasuke had carried for nearly fifteen years smouldering there in his eyes. "I swore when I left this place that I would not rest until that monster was dead...and I would do whatever it took to bring about his downfall. Whatever darkness I encountered, I would push through it until I had achieved my goal..." A vicious smile slashed across his face, bringing a savage glint to Sasuke's narrowed eyes. "Orochimaru could feel my discontent, my desire for Itachi's blood. My strong will spurred him on, insistent that my wish be granted...so the very first thing we did was seek out Uchiha Itachi..." Sasuke fell silent, his gaze sliding away from Sakura and turning out the window to watch the droplets weaving their serpentine paths down the glass.
"And?" Sakura pressed after he had maintained that silence for several long minutes. "Did you find him?"
"We were successful in locating him," Sasuke replied in a low voice, "though truth be told, Orochimaru was a coward, and did not wish to face Itachi. He was afraid of his power--imagine that, one of the legendary Sannin wanted to turn tail and flee before the strength of an Uchiha!--and he wanted to run...but of course, I wouldn't let him."
Silence fell once more, broken only by the quiet tapping of the rain against the window.
"...And then what happened?" she said softly, though a part of her didn't truly want to hear his answer.
The Uchiha's head slowly turned back towards her, his expression cold and grim as his gaze settled on her once more. "He misjudged the depth of my 'container'...and he did not live to regret it."
'Container'? What is he talking about?
Sakura swallowed hard, biting her lip before asking, "So then…Itachi is dead?"
A broad smile split Sasuke's lips, and Sakura could not hold back a shudder at the expression; she'd only ever seen him smile like that once before, his eyes wide and vacant, his mouth stretched in a cruel, utterly mirthless grin--back during their first chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, right before he broke the arms of the Sound Ninja who'd injured her.
"Dead? No…oh, no." He chuckled, pressing a hand against his chest. "Itachi lives on…within me. You see…I am Itachi."