Stage 12: The Experiment Part Two

Month 2: Week 5: Day 41, Barely

I woke up in the middle of the night not knowing where I was, because I was in a room I had never even seen before. Light breathing came from beside me. I looked over my shoulder to find Orochimaru sleeping. I did the first and only thing that came to mind. I sat up and slammed my head against his headboard, then swore under my breath. Why does this stuff always happen to me?

This is just another one of those damn "dreams," or so I thought.

He woke up and looked at me. "It's too early for you to wake up," he whispered.

"You shouldn't be the one to know I'm awake," I answered.

He sat up and leaned against the wooden frame. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Kimimaro is the one who normally points out that I'm awake. Why am I here?"

"I didn't want you to hurt yourself. When your dose was issued, you seemed unstable. Kabuto isn't here to watch over you. I don't trust anyone else with your care."

"I wouldn't trust him at all," I mumbled.

"Are you still tired?" he asked.

"No," I answered. "I feel fully rested."

He looked out the open window. "It's two in the morning."

I can't figure out for the life of me how he knew that from looking at the stars, but I accepted it. "That doesn't mean anything. My mind is awake."

"Is it?" he asked. He yawned, which triggered me to yawn.

I tried to say yes, but he pushed it off.

"Sleep, Child."

I couldn't possibly sleep knowing that he was beside me, not with the dreams that I have been hallucinating lately. "I'm not tired."

He took my hand and held out the palm. "You have no choice," He bit the flesh, and I hollered in pain. That hurt more than usual. The usual burning sensation coursed through my veins, taking the venom straight to my heart, only it was agonizingly slower because the vessels were smaller and the location of the wound was father away.

"It takes hours for snake venom to reach the heart," I told him.

"I know it does."

"It takes even longer for it to reach the brain."

"I am aware."

I folded my arms. My hand felt cold to the touch. It didn't take long before I started to shiver. "Write this down. When you bite me anywhere but my neck, I shiver."

"We don't know if it has to do with where I bit you or if it's because of the window being open."

"Either way, I'm still cold."

He took the hand he bit again and pulled me to his bare chest. He felt so warm beneath me. He wrapped his arms around me after pulling the blanket to my shoulders, lending me his heat. "Sleep, Child."

Month 2: Week 5: Day 41, Still

I woke up to the same damn beeping that always greets me, and then to Kimimaro pointing out to me, "You're awake."

I sat up, feeling the weight of an extra blanket on my chest fall to my lap. "How long have I been in here?" I asked him

"Since Orochimaru carried you in, at around eight."

I looked at my hand, where I could still see two puncture wounds about an inch apart. I also felt as though an elephant, an ice cold and ten-ton elephant, trampled me. "Did he come back since?"

"No, he didn't. Why do you ask?"

"Did I wake up at all through the night?"

"Not that I know of, but why are you asking these questions?"

"I just had a strange dream, that's all." I got up, pulled off all of the little pads that were attached to my skin, and looked at him. "Fucking dreams, why does anyone find joy in sleeping?"

"Most people need to sleep, or they go crazy."

"That's just stupid."

"Well, it seems you go crazy when you do sleep."

"It's not the sleep that makes me crazy. It's the damn drugs that he puts me on to get me to sleep."

"Well, I don't know anything about that. I was bit by him once. It was hell."

"Still is hell for me."

"Every other day now?" he asked. "I used to just see you once a week."

"In three more weeks you'll be seeing me every night."

"That might kill you," he observed.

"At this point, I hope it does. I can't take this anymore, damn it."

"You can't die before I do."

"You couldn't stop me from overdosing if you wanted to. I couldn't even stop me from overdosing."

He just looked at me.

"Orochimaru has probably sent his summons by now," I commented.

"Go, don't keep him waiting."

I slid open the door to his study and saw the cracks on the wall. I didn't even say anything about those. Last night was a disaster. My shoulders were bruised from the pressure. I walked to his desk and sat in the chair adjacent to it. "Good morning, Sensei."

"You're awake early, Child."

I looked at the clock, which read 7:15. This wasn't early at all. This was normal, unless you counted the "dream" I had where I was bitten at two. Then I wouldn't be awake until 10:30. "You bit me again, didn't you?"

He arched an eyebrow. "I bit you last night around eight."

"Did you bite my neck?" I asked.

"Where else would I leave the mark, Child?"

I held up my hand. "Why do I have a bite on my hand?"

"That is curious, isn't it?"

I wanted to backhand him. "Why does this keep happening to me?" I screamed.

"What keeps happening to you?"

"I keep having these dreams about someone or something happening, then I wake up to find that it was only a dream, on that person acts funny or I have physical evidence of something that happened when it really didn't!"

"Calm down, Child. That could just be a scar."

"I don't have scars," I answered. "This doesn't make sense."

"What did you dream of?" he asked.

"I dreamed that I woke up around two, Kabuto wasn't there to alert you, and so you spent the night with me. Then, because I woke up, you gave me another dose of venom to put me back to sleep."

"How did you know Kabuto wasn't here?" Orochimaru asked.

"What do you mean, he isn't here?"

"I sent him out last night."

"Well that's just great. This is what I mean when I say something happens to the people who are involved in my dreams."

"It seems you have a bit of telepathy when you dream."

"I don't think they're dreams."

"If they aren't dreams, then you hallucinate."

"They aren't hallucinations, either. I think everyone here is just lying to me."

He just stared at me. "Why would I lie to you?" he asked.

"You have things you just don't want to admit," I answered.

"You haven't told me all of your dreams, Child."

"No I have not and I refuse to if you ask. Those are personal and everyone just says they aren't real, so there is no point in me telling you every detail."

"Dreams are personal. I understand your reasons fully."

"That's not like you."

He wrote things down before saying, "You're not like yourself, either."

I slammed my head on his desk.

"Why do you do that?" he asked.

"There isn't anything else I can do," I answered. "I can't talk to you without saying something stupid, I can't think without getting a migraine, and I can't move without feeling some sort of pain. I feel like I was trampled by a herd of elephants."

I just heard the sound of pen on paper. My head throbbed in two places. It really felt like I had hit my head on his bed frame. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. This is just great.

Month 2: Week 8: Day 60

"Tomorrow you start the last trimester of the experiment. This month will decide how gradually you will need to be stepped down from the neurotoxin. You will be monitored by me twenty four seven. I have noted that through the course of this month your aggression has gone up, and your common sense has declined."

I watched Orochimaru pace before me. Tonight would be the last night I had to stay awake for thirty whole days. I don't think I could stand this abuse much longer as it was, and now he was doubling up my dosage. This is just crazy shit.

"You're complaining again."

"I had not noticed that I was speaking aloud. How are you going to monitor me?"

"You are to live beside me, not leaving my sight. I won't trust you until I know you are stable. Your body has yet to get used to the drug."

"I don't think I will ever be used to the drug."

"You may build an immunity to it by the end of this."

"I hope I do," I answered, not realizing that I was talking again. "What does that mean?" he asked.

I slapped my hand to my mouth and mumbled, "I never want to feel your fangs on my skin again." I then proceeded to slam my head back on his desk. I was vomiting my every thought to him. It had been like this for a week now, and you would think that I would learn to stop thinking. Thank god I had stopped dreaming about him.

Month 3: Week 9: Day 61

One of my dreams was seeming to come true. I woke up next to Orochimaru, only this time, I knew he wasn't a figment of my imagination. The first clue had to be the fact that I was cuffed to his wrist. The second was the aching pain that normally followed my awakening. The third was the ever annoying sound of those stupid monitors.

I tried to sit up without waking him. He stirred, but was otherwise unbothered by my movement. I stroked his hair gently, listening to the sound of his breathing. This is getting out of hand. I hate being chained to him like I needed a leash.

Month 3: Week 11: Day Who Cares:

Turns out I did need a leash. With this constant doped up state, I was constantly trying to kill people, and by people, I mean Kabuto. I can't count the times that I had to be stabilized because of him, nor how many times I put him under in the medical ward. I didn't care either, simply because I still think he deserved it.

The whole experiment was coming to a close in a matter of the remainder of the week. I spent most of the month banging my head on something or other. I couldn't even talk straight. I just took to writing things down. It was easier that way.

Orochimaru had stopped asking me questions, either because he ran out of things to observe or I threatened to kill myself if he didn't shut up. I had a killer headache that morning, but it got him to stop drilling me about everything.

Later that Week:

"This sucks," I mumbled. The piece of paper I had been using was just filled with mutterings and stupid remarks that it looked as though it was black with white paint spots. I don't know how anyone could read anything on it.

"It's almost over, Child," Orochimaru stated with boredom. "Stop complaining."

"If you would give me something to do, I wouldn't be so damn bored."

"You're a danger to everyone around you and yourself. I can't let you out of my sight. I have explained this to you."

"You have a very boring life, my Lord."

"It is one of productivity, not of entertainment."

"Perhaps," I muttered, looking out the window. "Could you just stop for an hour though?" I asked. It was like a six year old asking her father to take her to the park.

"What would I have you do?" he asked me, setting down the scroll he was reading.

"Something that I haven't tried before, and something that doesn't require anyone to be in my way."

"I don't suspect you have a plan for that, do you?" he inquired.

"Give me half an hour, and I'll have something. Just let me walk it out."

He sighed and swatted his hand at me lazily. I jumped from my chair and headed to the weapon room.