Madness Contagion
(A/N: GAH, I've never been so good at fight scenes. I'm sorry, I'm desperately trying to improve my skills, so sorry for the anticlimactic training session in the last chapter, my bad. But hey, they were just training; you weren't missing out on much, promise.)
Standard disclaimer applied.
Chapter Three; Infection
The rest of the month slid by smoothly, Sasuke not speaking another word to Sakura through their training, but she felt him eyeing her warily, as if he thought she were going to slice his throat when his back was turned. They avoided each other if possible, Sakura was well aware Orochimaru was taking Sasuke and helping him hone the powers of his curse mark, the fact alone brought a tinge of jealousy to the pinkette, she was never graced with the help to control the raging beast within her, nor were any of the others.
She scowled down at the colorful tubes of liquid before her, poisons that she was mixing and creating antidotes for. A skill she had been taught when she first arrived, medical Ninjutsu had been taught by Kabuto, but once she learned everything she could from the silver haired man, she turned to scrolls she had taken from hidden archives all around the five nations.
She sighed impatiently as the door to her personal lab opened, revealing a very displeased looking redhead that Sakura assumed to be one of Orochimaru's subordinates, her eyes were crimson, although not the glassy cherry orbs Sakura had, they were more of a dull rust color, matching her unruly red locks, the woman snorted at Sakura and pushed up her lavender colored goggle-like glasses.
Sakura eyed the girl with a bland expression, "What is it?" her tone harsh and cold, the redhead flinched slightly at how biting her words were, but seemed to regain her composure as she tilted her nose in the air as a snobbish nobleman would do with a light 'hmph!' for good measure, Sakura raised an annoyed eyebrows at the girl no older than herself administer such childish antics.
"Orochimaru-Sama wants to see you." She sneered, something about her tone forced Sakura's hand to curl to a dangerous fist at her side, the girl must have noticed this because she sneered once more and escaped from the room rather quickly. Once she was gone Sakura turned back to her work, gathering up her notes and shoving them into a manila envelops and shoving it into the filing cabinet with a sigh before locking it, and for good measure sealing it, she hated having her work tampered with.
Her feet moved hesitantly along the damp soil floors beneath her, the flames of the torches seeming brighter today, making the smell of damp earth hide beneath the smell of steadily burning oil, making the air thick and irritating to the pinkette who coughed softly into her fist before pressing her palm against the door before her, it pulsed slightly, recognizing her chakra signature before swinging open.
"Ah, there's my beautiful Hime, come here, would you?" Orochimaru whispered, his features conveying a 'come hither' motion to the small pinkette, she offered an obedient nod and came to stand next to him, her cherry colored eyes meeting the lone Uchiha for merely a second, he looked brooding and annoyed as usual, but something was different about today.
She nearly felt a pang of guilt at his rather weakened state; she could sense the illness in his chakra, courtesy of his curse mark. Orochimaru stood from his seat and in small strides walked around the side of the desk to stand before Sasuke, who watched the serpent warily.
"Sasuke, please spare a little blood?" The Sannin questioned innocently, but Sakura could feel her cherry colored eyes widen and her chest give a painful clench, she knew exactly what he was going to do, but she'd gotten much better at controlling herself. She wouldn't lose control at the scent anymore. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
But as Sasuke dragged a kunai emotionlessly across his palm, the smell hit her instantly, and she nearly cried out, the smell- oh Kami the smell. It was strong, different; it hit her instantly, and hard. She gripped her head and let out a pained cry, the curse mark that sat just above her left breast pulsated and she screamed once more, feeling her blood set ablaze as the marks began spreading over her skin, burning wherever they touched.
Sasuke's eyes widened minutely, looking over to the pale skinned man beside him, who was watching in silent amusement as the girl convulsed and clutch at her shimmering locks, growling and snarling like an animal, "What did you do to her?" Sasuke questioned, unable to hide the sharp tone from his voice which earned a sinister chuckle from the man beside him.
"Your blood is infused with the Heaven Seal, Sasuke-Kun. Hers it the Earth Seal, and while Sakura's is much strong stronger than yours, she goes wild at the scent of blood, however, she's gotten quite a grip on it over the years, but your blood calls out to her more… animalistic side." The man answered cheerily, as if the pinkette wasn't losing grip of herself right before them.
Fuck! Gah- Damn this hurts so bad! She ground her teeth, her head feeling like it was splitting in two, the seals spreading over her body moving back and forth uncertainly as she tried to force them back, she felt bile rising to her lips but pushed it back, as well as the tears forming in the corners of her eyes, Sakura Haruno did not cry.
"That's quite enough, Kabuto!" Orochimaru called loudly, sounding bored once more. At that moment, the door swung open, Kabuto holding a syringe of some blue liquid, which he slid into the throbbing vein pulsating in Sakura's neck, her eyes flickered golden before she crashed to the floor, the three males of the room not making a move to catch her.
Sasuke's orbs turned to Orochimaru, his eyes void and emotionless "Why did you do that?" He questioned, eyeing the unconscious girl Kabuto was tossing over his shoulder and carrying from the room, unease settling deeply into the pit of his stomach at the sickening grin that curled at the lips of the snake Sannin.
"To remind you what I can do if you defy me, Sasuke-Kun. Sakura revels in being able to control herself, but soon enough you'll understand trying to defy the curse mark is quite… painful. "
-X-X-X-
Sasuke stared lifelessly into the cracked white tile, warm water prattling on his back as stream rolled about the air. Inky locks hanging limply around him in their drenched state. He curled a hand over the base of his neck, where his curse mark remained, pulsating beneath his skin with dark possibility. His face twisted into an immediate sneer at the thought of the snake Sannin, he was useless, and deluded if he believed he would ever inhibit Sasuke's body.
He was merely a link to power, the power to kill his brother and avenge the death of his clan, which in turn he had to rebuild, he couldn't rebuild his clan without a body. He snorted at the foolishness of the man's desperation. If the snake was as intelligent as he tried to play off he would understand that after Sasuke killed his brother, his body would still be needed.
As he turned off the running water and stepped from the shower he narrowed his eyes at a familiar chakra signature outside his door, his eyes instantly spinning crimson as he wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way to the door, the cold air not fazing his steaming skin as he opened to find a redhead he had come to know was named Karin, standing in his doorway, a prominent blush in place. He stared at her coldly, "What do you want?" His tone demanding and leaving no room for nonsense.
She however didn't take this as harshly as he would have liked, and merely adjusted her glasses with a 'seductive' smile, bending forward and pressing her premature cleavage together, making Sasuke snarl in distaste, "Kabuto told me to come get you, Sasuke-kun." She purred his name, her eyes shamelessly roaming over his dripping form, a heavy blush on her cheeks.
"Hn." Was his lone response as he promptly slammed the door behind him, leaving the girl to stand in the hallway alone. He dropped the towel from his waist and used it to shake the moisture from his hair before swiftly pulling on the clothing that had been given to him upon his arrival. He heard Karin's retreating footsteps and snorted, strapping his katana to his side.
He hadn't seen the pink haired girl in over a month- since Orochimaru had used her curse seal against her. He let out a puff of air even he wasn't aware he was holding as he remembered her pained face, the look in her eyes, and the haunting flash of gold before she collapsed. It was a disturbing memory.
He hadn't heard of her either, Kabuto looked wary and hesitant when Sasuke had brought up the issue once, referring to her training. He'd never seen the silver-haired medic look as uncomfortable as he did at that moment.
He breathed a sigh and pushed open the door to his room, but as he did so, a hand clamped over his mouth.
A very soft, feminine hand.
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Cliff hanger? Nawh! Nobody's that interested in this story…. Right? RIGHT?!
Ever stressed out,
-Tobiismyname