Binding Loose Ends

I'm tired, so this may get reedited in the morning, but here's the next part. Thanks for being so supportive, everyone. The chapter after this may take longer, since I've only just started it and that's where it starts to get really lemony
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Darkness, then the all too familiar chase began again. Naruto stumbled after the fleeing dark-haired figure, shoes slapping in a dull stacato against the damp floor. The figure slipped out of sight beyond a pillar. Naruto stopped in his tracks, frowning. If there was one thing he had learned in the last three years, it was not to fall for the same trick twice. “I thought I told you I didn’t want anything to do with you anymore, stupid fox!”

“And I though I told you that you didn’t stand a chance without me, brat. From the look of things. I was right!” the demon replied, snapping at something in his cage, than turning to dig at the corner.

“Ha! You underestimate me. I can’t believe you thought you could use Sasuke to lure me in close again! Besides, the real Sasuke is…” Naruto paused, recent memory returning. His face crumpled in pain for a moment, then smiled coldly. The expression looked out of place on Naruto, the eyes too hard and the tilt of his lips too cynical.

“Hey, stupid fox, maybe there’s something I want from you after all.”
“In case you haven’t noticed this isn’t the time for chitchat, kid. What?”

“Tell me how the Fourth sealed you in here.”
The fox paused its digging, giving the small human a look of incredulous fury. “You’re bugging me for a HISTORY LESSON? NOW?”

“It’s something I have in mind for a certain giant snake.”

“Oh, if you want help killing him, then-“

“No. It’s…too late for that. I want to seal him away, instead”
So the brat still hoped to destroy the seducer and save his friend. “It might be a fun way to wipe the smirk off of an Uchiha face, but even if I knew exactly how it worked, it would still require the caster’s life to pull it off. That much I’ll tell you.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, I do, seeing as I’d die too. Now look, you’re gutsy for such a little wimp, I’ve always given you that, but there’s no way you’re getting out of this one on your own. Now let me the hell out of here so I can start tearing this thing apart.”

“What thing?”

The fox growled in frustration. “Didn’t you notice what that cute little hicky on your neck’s done to this place? Or the fact that our chakra is barely mixing at all? You’d better hurry up and help unless you don’t mind loosing your free will.”
Naruto looked around, frowning. Come to think of it, that shoulder height wall around the fox’s cage was new, and wasn’t there usually at least a couple of inches of water on the floor? Also, he didn’t remember all of these thin dark purple vine-like thingies all over the place. Naruto grew worried as he realized they were growing with every passing second, several of them twining over the wall and attempting to invade the kyuubi’s prison. That’s what he’d been snapping at. A thin tendrel attempted to wind itself around his leg. With a startled yelp he yanked his foot back hard, breaking the vine, which dissolved like smoke. At least they weren’t that tough individually. “You aren't seriously going to try to pull them all out by hand, are you?” the fox grated.

Nartuo grinned. “Why not? They're not so tough after all.” He ruthlessly be gan pulling out thin branchlets. Naruto spotted a thicker vine with several tendrils splitting off of it. He grabbed hold and gave it a good yank. It didn’t budge, and the damn thing stuck to his hands, oozing warm sap. Yuck. Naruto planted his feet and heaved again. This time, he was rewarded with the thing moving a good 50 centimeters, but there was no sign of it actually being uprooted, and now something was tugging at the side of his neck. Naruto heaved again, and felt another tug, this time pulling at the side of his neck so hard he nearly fell over. It was almost as if tugging on the vine was what was pulling on his neck, as if… Naruto managed to free one of his hands from the vine with difficulty and reached back to feel the spot on the back of his neck where the tugging sensation originated. A thick growth emerged seamlessly out of the spot before splitting into hundreds of slender, sticky branchlets. “ARGH! GetthemoffgetthemoffgetthemOFF!”

The fox rolled his eyes. “You’ll never get it out from there. Let me out so I can destroy it.”

“Ewww! No, never again-so gross-you hurt Sakura-chan! Not even for this.”

“Then stop wasting time and try yourself. It’s almost too late!”

“I’m trying! It won’t come out.”

“Not from here! Fight it in the conscious world!”

“How?!?”

“-wake up.” Blurry lights and familiar voices.

“That’s impossible. The seal itself should keep even him down while it matures. Are you sure you sealed in the beast properly?” ‘m not a beast, Naruto thought muzzily. I told the beast no. Everything hurt. It felt like he was bound with tiny ropes of fire, thickest around his neck, and ice coursed through his veins. There was something he was supposed to be doing.

“Of course, and if it’s impossible why is he starting to sweat and squirm around so much?” The first voice let out a snort that was strangely comforting.

A sigh. “Well, if he IS coming around he’s probably in a lot of pain. I suppose I should have anticipated more trouble from this one.” There was an undercurrent of affection in the second voice, which sounded wrong. You don’t fool me, voice. Don’t think you can lull me into forgetting…whatever it is I need to do. Pulling vines. Weeding a garden? Something like that. Stupid D-ranked missions.

A prick on his arm, barely noticeable against the background of pain. “There, I gave him enough sedative to knock out a raging bull. That should keep him down,” the second voice continued. Not a bull, Naruto wanted to say, but his lips wouldn’t move. It’s a raging fox. Naruto heard a fox howl in frustration as if to illustrate his point, then he slipped back into the blackness.
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It was the warmth that made her realize that something was wrong. Sakura remembered waking up on the park bench that morning three years ago heartbroken and still chilled despite the morning sun. It had felt like she would never be warm again. Yet when she opened her eyes to find herself again on the park bench, the stars were still out yet she felt warm and drowsy, and there was the light weight of a blanket comfortable against her back and a shadow bending over that blocked out most of the moonlight. Could it be that he had come back for her? She felt herself smile sadly. No, this must be just a dream. She felt something soft as velvet tentatively brush her neck and shivered. Maybe it would be alright to let it go on just a little longer; this dream was getting interesting. The velvety thing was move downward, wrapping gently around her shoulders and beginning to wind down her upper arms. Wait a minute, was that rope? Where was this kinky stuff coming from? She hadn’t really expected that kind of thing out of Sasuke, although come to think of it she hadn’t expected the bite…on her….

Sakura attempted to bolt upright but found to her horror that the “blanket” effectively pinned her to the bench. She risked a glance behind her and realized that no Sasuke stood over her; instead purple vine like structures writhed off a main branch and twined around everything, including her. That was right, Orochimaru had Sasuke now, and he had done something to her and Naruto. This: was this a part of whatever he had done to them? Sakura struggled against her bonds, but more vines wrapped around her. She bit back a whimper. Strong, she had to be strong and fight this…nightmare, whatever it was. The vines were tough. Sakura grimaced. She wasn’t strong enough to break them and the old rope escape tricks weren’t working, but what strength couldn’t solve perhaps sharpness could find a way out of. She could just barely reach her kunai and her forearms weren’t bound yet. With speed borne of desperation, she managed to bend her arm up far enough to pull the kunai up and through the vines. They were strong, but the blade was sharp enough. She grabbed the edge of the bench and manged to quirm out. Panting, she regained her feet.

How could she have been fooled for an instant? The tress, the bench, everything was covered in vines. Illusion? She attempted to dispel it, but nothing changed, and more vines were reaching for her. She managed to cut them before they could enfold her again, dead branchlets falling to the ground and melting. Her horror increasing, she bit down on the side of her cheek, hard, hoping the pain would dispel the illusion. Nothing, and where had the main stalk she had spotted gone? She looked around, spotting it again just over her shoulder. She turned around with a cry, jumping to evade a questing vine that slithered near her feet. Again it was gone. She glanced behind her again…there! Sudden suspicion flooding her, she felt for the place she had been bitten, felt the growth, felt the smooth transition to thick main stalk. Biting back revulsion, she grimly brought the blade to saw across the stalk arising from her neck. The blade began to sink in. She was winning! The victory was short lived when the blade stopped moving and she felt the blade being pulled inexorably out of her hands, almost as if the vine base were absorbing her kunai. Sakura bit back another whimper as a vine twined gently across her eyes, taking her sight.
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Kabuto sighed, tiredly adjusting his glasses as they made their 4th attempt of the hour to escape off the bridge of his nose. Naruto hadn’t stirred again, which was good, but it had still taken hours for the finicky seal to fully mature, creeping centimeter by centimeter across the skin of Sasuke-kun's old teammates before finally lightening until it was invisible except for an oddly shaped bruise on each of their necks. “Well, that's it, except for the...ah, “ Kabuto smirked, “Final attunement of the bonds to your chakra.”

“Hnn” Sasuke spared him a distrustful glower.

Once he'd revealed that he knew Sasuke was the one who had come out on, haha, top for once, the brat had become even more sullen and uncommunitve than usual. Sulking that he hadn't been fooled, probably. As if after this many years he didn't know his own master and what his chakra should feel like after a successful body transfer. “Guess I'll leave you kids to get reacquainted.” Kabuto's grin widened.

“Actually, I'd like to know where your going to be while I'm busy.”

“Why? Do you want help?” Kabuto asked innocently. Sasuke's answering look could have cut through diamonds. Kabuto sighed. “Look, I already TOLD you: I don't mind the change in management.”

Sasuke snorted disbelievingly. “So much for your loyalty to the great Orochimaru-sama,” he commented sarcastically.

“I'm loyal to his ideals first, brat,” Kabuto snapped, then calmed himself. “If you're the one doing the walking and talking then it was because he was weaker than you. He deserved what he got.”

Silence in reply.

Kabuto shook his head. “Once Akastsuki is dealt with we can part ways, but for the moment we have to trust each other. I helped you moniter and adjust the seal didn't I?” Geez, he was getting nothing but dirty looks. He didn't deserve all of this skepticism; why half of what he was saying was even TRUE. “If it makes you feel better, I really didn't think you had a plan to defeat Orochimaru. There, how's that admission for a show of trust? How did you manage it, by the way?” Kabuto asked curiously.

A small humorlous smile came to Sasuke's face. Kabuto had been useful during those last few hours, and the bastard wasn’t acting anymore suspicious than usual. Still, just because he was convinced the grey haired sycophant was cowed enough not to try to stab him in his sleep for now didn’t mean he trusted him enough to tell him exactly HOW he had managed to maintain his hold on his old body and send Orochimaru’s mind scrabbling into his subconscious. “If you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you.” Actually, it had been his complete lack of a plan that had saved him. He’d planned on putting up a fight, since if Orochimaru’s will wasn’t strong enough to defeat him, he had no chance against Itachi, but he’d expected to lose and then effectively cease to exist. The mangekyo Sharingan was obtained by sacrificing one’s own heart, hence the requirement to slay one’s best friend. Who knew the contemplation of the imminent death of the self did the same thing? The smile grew larger and wilder: the intense power of the Mangekyo was exhilerating, and the urge to taste it again was strong. He had thought he had understood the sharingan, but before was nothing! The mechanism of the transformation jutsu had seemed obvious, and it had been simple to meet Orochimaru’s mind, comprehend his plan, and then send his mind spinning off into the fate that had been intended for Sasuke.

“Hmph, fine.” The kid wasn't completely stupid. “Anyway, Naruto-kun should come around soon, Sakura-chan in another hour or so. The seal maturation process is pretty hard on the body, so don't use them too roughly.”

“I think I know what these two can take just fine. Besides, Naruto's tough, and Sakura's grown.”

“Oh, I'm not underestimating them, if that's what you're thinking.” Kabuto walked over to Naruto.. He bent down to fuss with the ropes binding the unconscious ninja, looking down at Naruto with what, for him, passed as fondness. “I warned you he wasn't like you remembered him,” he murmurred to Naruto a little sadly. Kabuto straightened. “You know,” he continued brightly, “I once told Naruto I thought he was nothing but an ordinary kid just to get a rise out of him. Of course, my view of potential-”

“I'm not really in the mood for this reminiscing crap,” Sasuke snapped impatiently. He crossed the room to stand next to Kabuto. Sasuke was not in the mood for games, at least not with Kabuto. He could still feel his old teacher’s mind scrabbling at the edges of his consciousness, looking for some toe hold that would allow him to reverse their current situations. He was certain now that, even if Orochimaru managed to emerge briefly, the outcome would be the same as before. Still it was…irritating to feel his presence, and it was irritating knowing he would have to go into his subconscious and prod around to obtain Orochimar’s vast store of knowledge and jutsu’s, which he knew he would need to do before he could face his brother. Poinetedly turning his back on Kabuto, Sasuke shoudered Naruto once more.

“Well, someone's certainly eager now that they're here!” Kabuto held his hands out in a placating gesture. “Fine, fine, I'm going!” With one final smirk, he exited, closing the door behind him.

Sasuke padded over to a second door in the circular room where the seals had matured, entering Orochimaru's large bed room, now his. Naruto muttered something into his shoulder. Sasuke dumped him uncerimoneously on the bed. “Hnnggrrn.” Naruto was beginning to stir. His legs tried to kick, but of course the ropes and the seals attached to them prevented that. Snort. “Nnnghrrfff!” A genuine smile tugged at the corner of Sasuke’s mouth. Only the dobe could manage to be this loud while still asleep. Naruto struggeled more, his forehead creasing. “Sas-Sasuke, no. Don’t go, don’t.” Sasuke’s hand reached for Naruto’s face. He hesitated a moment, than shrugged. Naruto belonged to him now anyway, so why not?

He stroked Naruto’s cheek. “I’m right here, idiot,” he said quietly.
Naruto quieted almost instantly. He smoothed Naruto’s forehead, and Naruto smiled. “Hmmmm.” Sasuke tried not to grin foolishly. He had to admit it was kind of nice to know Naruto still-“Hmm, hehe, Sakura-chan, you’re skin is sooooo smooth.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed, the caress turning into a smack. “Wake up, you moron!”