Haruhi's bruised legs trembled as she carried Sasuke, shuffling along behind Anko, who was holding a kunai defensively in front of her. The only sound was the thuds of the sandal Haruhi wore, her labored breath, and the distant sounds of fighting.
Sasuke had yet to stir again, head lolling against her chest, tiny puffs of breath landing gently on her jawline every time he exhaled. It looked like Orochimaru had tried to convince him the hard way after Sasuke initially refused. Haruhi wonders briefly why he didn't use the curse seal on Sasuke. Maybe he thought he'd have more time, instead of rushing like he did originally.
Haruhi shifted Sasuke in her arms, mindful of the lacerations and bruises criss-crossing her body from Kabuto's grip and experiments. Her eyes flickered to the sparse torches decorating the walls, and the cracked crumbly looked at questionable stains in the stone, and felt a shiver rattle her.
She wondered what her own cell looked like.
"SHHH!" Anko hissed, slashing her kunai through the air. Haruhi froze, even stopped breathing as she watched Anko's tense shoulders.
"Duck!"
Haruhi fell to her aching knees, covering Sasuke's prone body with her own as metal whistled over her head.
She whimpered, her brown furrowing.
Were those...bells?
Her eyes widened and she covered Sasuke's ears just as the sound wave hit her with the force of a bomb.
She shrieked, but she couldn't hear it. Her eyes watered from pain and her eardrums felt like they were being grinded against a cheese grater. She cried in pain and terror, shoulder pressing into the ground.
Gritting her teeth, Haruhi stood up and with her spare hand, ripped the Senbon from the wall, snapping the strings attached them to Kin with the kunai she had pilfered from the dead enemy nin.
The faint sound of scuffling ahead was hard to make out over the ringing in her ears but Haruhi looked up anyway. She wasn't able to make out much will all the dirt on her glasses, but she could see Kin and Anko fighting.
Haruhi frowned.
Kin was skilled in all, but Anko was a special jounin, trained by a sannin. The only reason she wasn't ranked higher was because of the biases against her for being Orochimaru's student.
Standing up, Haruhi shifted Sasuke over her shoulders, senbon with bells gripped in her hands.
"-himaru-sama wants you dead! I won't fail him this time!" Kin sounded frantic. Her long black hair was falling out and frayed. Dirt and blood was splattered over her at random intervals, and her eyes were that of a cornered animal. It looked like she had been punished for some perceived failure. Maybe for being caught before the beginning of the chunin exams?
Haruhi felt her stomach sink. If Kin, this 15 year old child the same age as Haku had gotten hurt, it would be, indirectly, because of her, as she had convinced kakashi to increase security at the exams.
Anko snarled, grabbing the girls senbon from her hands.
"Orochimaru doesn't give a shit about you! You are disposable, and he will get rid of you, regardless of whether you fail or not!" Anko shouted.
Shut up!" Kin roared.
Anko's snake summons rushed forward, unaffected by the bell soundwave, and knocked Kin off her feet. Already weak from hunger and the punishments didn't get up again.
Anko lifted her kunai over Kin's prone body and Haruhi sucked in a breath, about to scream at her to stop, when Anko hesitates.
The kunai she is holding trembles, and her free hand clenched into a fist. Snarling, she lowers the kunai.
"Lets go." She calls over to Haruhi. Her voice is strained, and Haruhi feels worry for Anko eat at her as she gather's Sasuke up in her arms again.
Kin groans as they walk past, and pushes herself up to a half sitting position with shaky arms. Cold fingers wrap around Haruhi's ankles and she swallows back a scream, jumping away from the skeletal fingers. In the torch light, Kins starved appearance is made all the worse, cheeks gaunt, and Haruhi's heart twists in pity. She holds Sasuke a little bit closer.
"No.." Kin croaks, "L-Lord Orochimaru says I need too…"
Anko stops, they turns abruptly on her heel so she is now striding back towards Kin.
Kin flinches, but Anko sinks down to her knees, arms hovering uncertainty, like she wants to offer Kin comfort but isn't sure how to. Anko settles on rubbing her face with on hand, the other coming to rest on her leg.
"Look, kid…"Anko begins, licking her lips, "He's lying to you."
Kin growls, but it is a weak thing.
"Lord Orochimaru said-"
"He's lying to you!"
Kin shakes her head, dirt now on her face from the floor.
"Who are you to lecture me?" Kin croaks. "Lord Orochimaru was there for me when no one else was! He-he gave me food, a-and a purpose! He kept me safe!"
"You don't look too safe to me." Anko points out.
Kin flinches.
"My fault. I messed up." Kin rasped.
Anko shakes her head.
"So what if you messed up! You didn't deserve to be treated like that!' Haruhi blurted.
Kin looked at her.
"What do you know, you're just a civvie!" She spat.
Haruhi bristled.
"It's because I'm a civilian that I know the way you have been treated and used is wrong." Haruhi stressed.
Anko nodded.
Kin saw her agreeing and snarled.
"And what the hell do you know either! You don't know why I'm here! You don't know me, who I am!" Kin shouted, voice rising in pitch.
"..."
Haruhi watch Anko intensely.
She swallows heavily.
"...It starts with a girl." Anko begins, voice low and urgent, "She is talented, but ultimately, no one. She has no friends, or family, and is scorned for just being."
Kin blinks in shock but Anko continues.
"She is desperate to be somebody, for someone to see her, praise and acknowledge her, and when somebody finally does, she doesn't question it. She is starving for attention, and that makes her easy prey." Anko whispered, eyes glittering.
"She loves this man, because he gave her food, and he said she was worth something."
Kin looked at Anko with wide, disbelieving eyes, but Anko wasn't done yet.
"But what he didn't tell her was that the something she was worth was very, very little. A fingernail clipping."
Kin twitches.
"One day, this girl, slips up. So much is happening around her, and none of it makes sense, but all she cares about it making sure the man who acknowledges her continues too. So when he discards her, calls her a failure, beats her, she finally realizes nothing she ever did even mattered to him. She was just a tool, he never really saw her, he was just like everyone else-"
"SHUT UP!"
"-I know who you are girl-"
"-I said shut up!-"
"-Because you're me!" Anko roared.
"..."
Kin gritted her teeth, tears falling down her face and causing dark spots to appear on the stone.
Anko stood, guiding Haruhi and Sasuke in front of her. Haruhi threw one last look back at Kin, before shifting Sasuke in her arms and walking forward.
They continued forward, the sounds of clashing metal and shouting getting louder with each step. Haruhi thought she could make out the sound of a dog growling.
And then;
"Kukukukuku~"
Anko froze as if she had been hit with one of Haku's ice jutsu, and a cold sweat broke over Haruhi. Her mind flashed back to her cell, Orochimaru standing over her and cold reptile eyes looking at her like a particular interesting specimen.
They had reached the end of the hideout, and the smell of tree sap and dirt tickled Haruhi's nose.
They peaked over the corner of the stone and Haruhi froze.
Why in the seven gates of hell were the kids here!?
Anko, she could understand but Choji!? Kiba!? Sakura and Naruto!? And was that Tenten, Neji and Rock Lee!? Hell, even Shino and Karin!? Kunai wouldn't work on this guy!
Anko pushed Haruhi behind the wall but not before she saw Orochimaru attack Gaara(Gaara!?) and put on the five pronged seal that had, once upon a time, gone onto Naruto's seal.
Haruhi heard Temari scream.
Anko had jumped in now, countering Orochimaru's summons with her own. Haruhi could catch only snippets of the actual fighting, but when Orochimaru aimed to kill Sakura, who was helping Neji up after being knocked down, she had flown into an even greater rage than before.
"Don't you touch her!" Anko snarled, landing a hit on Orochimaru's cheek.
Haruhi stayed back, desperately trying to awaken Sasuke.
"C'mon C'mon," She mumbled, as Kiba's yells of outrage reached her ears. She patted this face frantically, but his only response was to turn his head towards her shoulder.
"Sasuke sweetie, I know you're tired, and I am too, but I can't carry you for much longer and we need to go." Haruhi begged. Anko could only hold Orochimaru off for so much longer.
His eyelashes fluttered, then opened all the way.
"...Haruhi-sensei?"
She grinned.
"The one and only. C'mon, I'll help you walk, but we need to go."
He blinked, vision sharpening as he sat up from where Haruhi had laid him on the ground.
"Orochimaru is distracted for now, so we-"
"Harushi-sensei!" Two voice shouted.
They turned to look, and saw Sakura and Naruto. They were covered in various injuries, clothes torn and mussed up. Their mouths had dropped open in shock as they took in her now regular sized body.
"I know, I'm large, but now is not the time though." Haruhi said, helping Sasuke up.
Sniffling was her only warning as Sakura's arms wrapped around her waist, training weights taken off. Naruto went to hug Sasuke, who briefly returned it before his attention was taken by the battle.
Haruhi hugged Sakura back as she cried. She smelled the sweat on her skin and her spring-like shampoo. Haruhi didn't want to know what she smelled like.
"LOOK OUT!" Anko shouted.
Haruhi looked up and flinched, prepared to die as Orochimaru hurled her way, sword out in front of him.
"NO!"
Her ears protested, still ringing from earlier. The harsh grinding of metal on metal reached her and she looked up to an awe inspiring sight.
Temari stood in front of them, battle fan having cut Orochimaru's sword in half. Her posture was tall and strong, battle fan at the ready, face curled into a sneer-snarl hybrid.
Orochimaru scowled, Hair ruffled and blood dripping from his cheek, courtesy of Anko.
"Oh? And who is this?" He rasped, trying to regain control of his temperament.
Temari smirked poisonously, as if to say 'you know damn well who I am'.
"I am Temari of the sand, You killed my father, sabotaged my country and hurt my little brothers. Prepare to die."
She swung her fan, hurricane force winds emitting from the swipe and blowing Orochimaru backwards.
And then something so insane happened that Haruhi had to take off her glasses, clean them, and put them back on.
All the discarded metal rose up as one. Kin's senbon, the kids kunai, the sword bits, Shuriken, and any type of weapon you could think of hovered in the air and congregated around Temari like it was being moved with thought and intention.
Haruhi blinked.
Her mouth fell open.
It looked like how Gaara controlled sand.
"Temari…" Kankuro spoke, voice soft with awe as he cradled Gaara. "You have the bloodline limit too?"
Temari breathed heavily, sharp eyes tracking Orochimaru, but she didn't contradict him.
She took a huge breathe, then flung her hands forward.
The metal rushed to comply with her wishes, sharps bits of poisoned deadly weaponry flinging itself forward and towards Orochimaru with zeal.
His shouts of rage and fear were quickly drown out by the sound of knives slashing through the air and Anko's words.
"Get on!" She shouted to Haruhi, summoning giant quick moving snake and jumping onto its head.
Not about to argue with the woman who saved her life, Haruhi jumped on along with the other kids. Temari Hauled Kankuro and Gaara onto her fan, and they bolted as quickly as the could, Shino throwing some of his bugs back to keep the menace occupied and Naruto creating diversionary shadow clones as false trails. Karin shouted where Orochimaru was and how to avoid his goons as they whipped through the forest.
Wind whistling through her hair, Naruto pressing his cheek between her shoulder blades and the back of Sasuke's head resting under her chin, Haruhi allowed herself to let out a long, loud, scream.
Just what the hell had her life become?
Oh Haruhi, it only gets worse from there.
Question of the chapter: How do you think the Orochimaru Arc was a turning point for the story?