Damaetas

Warning: If non-con ain't your cuppa, you might want to skip this chapter.

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Tsunade steepled her fingers. "So Orochimaru is within a hundred miles of Konoha, and Naruto and his team are gone."

"That would be the situation," Jiraiya drawled, stretching out further on her couch. He had tried wiggling his fingers at Shizune earlier to get her attention, but she had ignored him staunchly and Tsunade wasn't in the mood for games, either. He sighed, scratching his nose idly.

"And you're telling me this why?"

"You're not planning to do anything?" returned Jiraiya, eyes narrowing.

His old teammate frowned, digging her thumb into her temple. "I'm always at a loss to do when Orochimaru is involved, to be honest. Besides, Naruto's been chasing him for years and he's always returned safely. His strength alone is equal to about four jounins - why should I send out a team when he's proven he can take care of himself?"

"It's Sasuke's twenty-first birthday."

Frowning, Tsunade turned in her seat to look at her calendar. "All right, so it is, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Naruto's mind works in weird ways," Jiraiya said, pointing a finger at his temple and making a 'crazy' motion. "Orochimaru once promised him he'd let Sasuke's body go on this day. Yada yada yada, if you defeat me, yada yada - a bunch of bullshit that only Orochimaru can pull off with a straight face."

"Oh, please. Surely Naruto knows he didn't mean that."

Jiraiya shrugged. "The kid's not smart, you know that. Besides, he's always had a problem with separating Orochimaru from his host body. When Orochimaru says something, all he sees is Sasuke saying it."

"His host body," Tsunade repeated, and sighed. "That's all Uchiha Sasuke is anymore. But Naruto can't see it. Still... he's been going out on Sasuke's birthday for years, this is nothing new. Why should I be concerned?"

"Aside from the fact that Naruto's your most valuable jounin, and that there's evidence he's left Konoha for good?" Jiraiya said with raised eyebrows.

Tsunade leaned forward. "What evidence? I saw him just two days ago, he was acting perfectly naturally. He was asking about a mission he was interested in, that starts in a week."

"All the valuables from his apartment are gone, and it's been left unlocked. He spoke to Sakura yesterday, and the Hyuga heir this morning. All that seems normal," Jiraiya said, shrugging and leaning back against the couch, "but when it's the Uchiha's twenty-first birthday and Naruto is gone, you start to get a little suspicious."

"And his genin team? Why did he take them with him?"

"Looks like he didn't. I saw them at the bridge this morning, waiting for him - they must have taken off after him. Dumbasses."

"All right. All right," said Tsunade, and spread her hands. "I believe you, Jiraiya. He's probably haring off to do something stupid. But what can I do about it? He's defended himself from Orochimaru - hell, from the Akatsuki organization - for eight years. I've only got a limited number of jounin in this village, and theoretically if I send a team after him, that's going to be eight jounin lost. Orochimaru could smash them like bugs."

"Well," said Jiraiya, "then we've got ourselves a problem, don't we." He sat up and folded his arms, his face taking on the expression so few saw - eyes narrowing, mouth straightening. Tsunade was still surprised when she saw Jiraiya so serious. "Tsunade. Naruto has played this game with Orochimaru for years. He's not going to kill him. Ever."

"We don't know that. His strength might not be at its peak yet... Naruto's good, but Orochimaru is legendary for a reason, you know, Jiraiya." Privately, she thought that Jiraiya still felt the old spark of their rivalry, insisted on underestimating him because of it.

"Don't kid yourself, Tsunade," Jiraiya said, curling his lip. "You've never seen Naruto lose it. I have. My student put the kyubi inside him for a reason - he wanted him to be unbeatable. And he *is.*"

"He doesn't know half the jutsus Orochimaru does," Tsunade snorted. "And he's not nearly as clever as even Sasuke was."

"He's not, but the kyuubi is. It won't allow its host body to be killed."

Tsunade unfolded her fingers and said, quietly, "Like Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya smiled slightly. "Don't think, Tsunade," he said in just as muted a tone, "that because he's my student I've got any delusions about what's inside him. I love the kid, you know I do, but in the grand scheme of things - when he's in the heat of battle - he's not much more than a shell for a murderer."

"So." Tsunade leaned back in her seat, glancing again at the calendar. She'd started putting marking this date many years back, when Naruto had first begun sneaking out of the village. "Even if what you're saying is true - and I think you're grossly simplifying the situation - then it's in the kyuubi's best interest to kill Orochimaru. He's a threat."

"He's not much of one alive," Jiraiya shrugged. "Hunt him, though, and that's when the problem arises. Orochimaru's a canny bastard and he's got jutsus out the wazoo - I'm sure the kyuubi is wary. So, on an instinctual level-" he held up a finger- "you have the kyuubi not wanting to fight Orochimaru. And whatever's going on in that kid's brain, it's pretty clear Naruto doesn't want to kill Orochimaru." He held up another finger. "It isn't three strikes, but it's close enough."

"Well," Tsunade muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I'm so glad you decided to share your thoughts with me, five years after the fact, Jiraiya."

"I wasn't really thinking clearly," Jiraiya admitted. "I guess I was thinking like you - that Naruto would be ready to wring Orochimaru's neck. And finally... I just got apathetic."

"What should I do?" Tsunade leaned forward, looking into Jiraiya's pensive eyes, trying to unravel his thoughts. Don't hide from me, you big kid.

"Well, that," said her old friend, putting his hands behind his head, "is the jackpot question, Tsunade-hime."

Hikaru stopped in the middle of a river, jerking Kaiki and Nagi to a stop as well, and looked around. "There's someone following us," she said.

"Oh, shit." Nagi let go of Kaiki's hand and almost fell into the rushing water. "Who the fuck is it?"

"I can't tell." She tilted her head. "It sounds like... an adult male. Jounin level. I almost couldn't tell he was there."

"Shit," Kaiki said under his breath. "We should move to the trees."

"Negative," said Hikaru. "The footing is less secure in the trees. Normally, this would be an advantage, but this time it's his because he has more experience. He'll eat us alive if we move to the trees." Uncharacteristically sharply, she added, "Can't you two *think*?"

"Oh, screw you. Let's hide, then."

She disappeared in a puff of smoke; Kaiki swore and grabbed Nagi's wrist, leaping out of the river with him and jumping onto solid ground. He looked around and said, "Over here," and dragged Nagi with him into some nearby brush. They crouched down, crowding each other; Kaiki clamped a hand over his mouth, and Nagi quickly emulated him.

Silence filled the clearing; only the birds were chirping. Kaiki tried to control his breathing, but it was getting faster, he was close to hyperventilating; he'd never done anything like this, he'd barely been on any missions. The brush rustled as Nagi felt for and grabbed his hand. They looked at each other, Nagi's eyes wide and green and flecked with fear, and Kaiki dredged up a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine," he mouthed. He wrapped his free arm around Nagi's shoulders, and they huddled closer together.

A frog waddled into the clearing.

Kaiki dropped his hand from his mouth, narrowing his eyes as he blinked and looked again. He wasn't going crazy: a frog had really walked into the clearing, a frog wearing a shirt, holding a sake battle and looking around.

"What the fuck," Nagi said, and the frog turned around and looked straight at them.

Kaiki smacked him. "What the hell, Nagi-"

"Boss!" the frog squeaked, leaping into the air and disappearing from their sight. "They're over here!"

Kaiki exploded out of the clearing, Nagi close behind him. "Good job, idiot," he said over his shoulder. "And don't give me that look, you just gave us away big time. Fuck! You use Kage Bunshin to distract them and then I'll use my mind techniques - *Ow*!"

"Kaiki!" his friend yelled, and was blindsided by the same invisible hand; it knocked him off his feet and he fell onto his back on the ground, blinking up dazedly at the sky.

Kaiki had gone to his knees; he clutched his head, groaning and feeling for blood at the back. There wasn't any, but *shit* someone had hit him so hard his vision was blurring. So much for a coordinated attack - you couldn't use the Yamanaka mind attacks if you couldn't see your goddamned opponent.

Then a long shadow fell on him, blocking his view of Nagi. Fuzzily, Kaiki looked up into a very unimpressed face: it was an older man, intimidating with a long prickly mane of hair and blood-red marks running down weathered cheeks. The man raised one hand, and blue chakra began to glow in it, chakra so powerful Kaiki could feel the heat of it from where he stood -

- and Yamanaka Kaiki finally knew what it was to fear death.

The man's chakra dissipated and he dropped his hand. "Yamanaka Kaiki," he said; "Anshirou Nagi. You're the students of Uzumaki Naruto?"

Kaiki couldn't move, much less speak; from behind him he heard Nagi say, in petrified tones, "Who the hell are you?"

The man scowled, setting his hands on his hips. "A very disappointed teacher," he said. "I teach that brat everything he needs to know, and he turns out students like this? When I see him, I'm going to kick his ass so hard he feels it every time he walks." He sighed and bent down into a crouch, eye-level with Kaiki. "Well," he said, "Kaiki, Nagi. I take it you're trying to find your teacher?"

Kaiki wet his lips and swallowed experimentally. Quietly, he said, "That's right."

"You c-can't be Naruto-sensei's teacher," Nagi said, managing to argue even in a life-or-death situation. "His teacher's dead."

The man snorted, then lifted his arms and sniffed himself. "Well, I say I seem pretty alive. And since I smacked the shit out of you two, you probably think so too. My name ain't Kakashi, if that's what you're wondering. It's Jiraiya."

"Jiraiya?" Kaiki stared at him. "Jiraiya - one of the legendary - you're one of the Sannin? *That* Jiraiya?"

The man grinned, lips pulling back in a feral twist, and lifted two thumbs up. "You're damn right I'm one of the Sannin. And you two," he said, on an afterthought, "are two of the most pathetic ninja I've ever seen in my entire life."

"Here." Jiraiya tossed him the bedrolls, and Kaiki caught them without speaking and spread them out on the ground across from the fire. Hikaru glanced up briefly from poking the logs feeding the flames, then looked back down.

He and Nagi settled onto the bedrolls, pulling up the blankets to cover their feet. Kaiki had never been in the forest and hadn't known how cold it got at night; he hadn't even thought to bring bed supplies, he thought they'd hit a town by this time. He was glad they'd been found... even if it was by someone more arrogant and annoying than Naruto-sensei.

"I'm hungry again," Nagi whispered to him as he settled his head on the pillow.

"We just ate an hour ago."

"I know, man." Nagi looked shamefaced. "But I get hungry when I'm nervous, and this dude makes me really nervous."

"I heard that," said Jiraiya, crouching down to check the fire. The red light lit the somber lines of his face, very different from the cheerful face he'd shown them a few hours ago. At night, he looked tired and worn. He stood, pulling his cloak tighter around his shoulders, and walked over to his own bedroll.

There was a rustling noise as Hikaru settled onto her pallet and pulled up her blanket. Kaiki looked over at the old ninja, who was facing away from him, then reached into his pouch and pulled out some jerky. He handed it to Nagi.

"Jiraiya-san," he said quietly, "can I ask you something?"

"Hrmph." Jiraiya pulled his blanket around his ears, but said, "Sure, whatever. Shoot. Make it quick."

"What happened to Uchiha Sasuke?"

Jiraiya was silent, leaving Kaiki to listen uncomfortably to the sounds of the forest at night: the crackle of their fire, rustling from the woods beyond, the cries of birds hunting down food for their children. Then Jiraiya turned, pushed down his blanket and sat up, regarding them.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he said, rubbing his face. "Uchiha Sasuke was... well. Surely you know what happened to his family?"

"All the Uchihas are dead," said Hikaru, propping herself up on her elbows. "At least, that's what I thought until I heard that Uchiha Sasuke was alive."

"Yes, the Uchihas are dead. Sasuke is searching for their murderer, a man named Itachi." Jiraiya ran his eyes over Kaiki and Nagi, then looked off into the fire and paused for a long moment. "He and Naruto had a strange relationship. They were rivals - friends in their own way. So it was difficult for Naruto when Sasuke defected and joined Orochimaru, a snakey bastard that, trust me on this one, kids, you don't wanna get to know. Orochimaru is a parasite: he has perfected the technique of slipping from body to body."

Kaiki's eyes widened. "That's one of the most forbidden techniques."

"Yeah, it is." Jiraiya chuckled a little. "For good reason. Well, Sasuke joined Orochimaru in order to gain more power. The way Orochimaru planned to give him power was to take over his body."

"So he lied to Uchiha?" Nagi asked, sounding horrified. "He told him he'd give him power, but he really wanted to take his body?"

"Oh, no," said Jiraiya, letting out a small laugh. "Sasuke knew this. He knew it, and he joined Orochimaru, and in due time Orochimaru took his body. He's in it now. That's why your teacher - my silly pupil - is after Orochimaru."

"To kill him?" Kaiki murmured.

"Who knows?" Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what's going through Naruto's mind. He's hunted Orochimaru for years but he hasn't killed him yet. This time might be different, or it might not."

"I don't understand," Hikaru said. "Is Sasuke... is Uchiha Sasuke alive? I mean, he may have gained Orochimaru's power in a way, but isn't he... I mean, two minds can't exist in one body, can they?"

"Again. That's something no one knows, not even Naruto." Jiraiya looked away from them again, eyes narrowing at some private thought. "If Sasuke is dead, I'm sure Orochimaru has strung Naruto along and let him think that he's still alive, and can be rescued. That's the sort of person Orochimaru is. Which is why I've come after you three - no need for you to be mixed up in this."

"But you're letting us go to the town anyway," Kaiki said, and then wasn't sure. "Right?"

"I'll keep an eye on you there. I'd lose too much time if I took you back."

Kaiki glanced over at Nagi, seeing the smile in his friend's eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least they weren't going to be led home by their hands, like children.

Hikaru rested her chin on her knees, looked over at Jiraiya. "It must be hard for Naruto-sensei," she said, "not knowing whether Uchiha is dead or alive."

Jiraiya shrugged. "It makes him weak, and that's all that matters. His enemy plays on his vulnerability. The stupid kid's lucky he's kept his head until this point." He turned and lay back down, signaling the end of conversation.

Breathing out carefully, Kaiki lay down, too. Beside him, Nagi rustled around for a few minutes before settling, and soon his breathing - along with the old man's beside him - soon evened out into the slow rhythms of sleep.

"Kaiki?" Hikaru whispered.

He looked over and saw her sitting up; without her jacket collar obscuring it, he could see her face, with a round kid's jaw like his and big cheeks that almost made him smile. He didn't know what he'd been expecting - maybe a miniature adult, for her to look like she sounded. But she had the same baby fat and big eyes as he did, and here out in the woods, at night, the only light the flickering one from the fire, she looked subdued, almost scared. Kaiki sat up, too, and said, "What's up, Hikaru?"

"I don't know." The fire illuminated, for a second, her hands clasped together and fingers circling each other, over and over again, in a nervous tic. "I just... my family doesn't talk about this a lot, you know? I grew up thinking that being a ninja would be... different."

Different... yeah, he had, too. Thought it would be all glory and power and beating down the bad guys, and here they were chasing after their teacher, who wasn't chasing after a bad guy at all but a teammate. A friend. Kaiki thought about Naruto-sensei's smiles and his joking voice, never taking anything seriously at all; him telling them, 'I don't want to know you.'

In his place, Kaiki wouldn't want to get to know anyone, either.

"I know," he settled for saying.

In the morning they all packed their things in silence, watching Jiraiya's back as he gave out orders without ever turning around - officially, in a tone that brooked no objections or even any small talk. Kaiki hefted his backpack onto his shoulders and, seeing his friend struggle with his share of the pots and pans, took some of his burdens without saying a word. Nagi smiled, looking a little embarrassed, and Kaiki punched his shoulder before turning around and following Jiraiya. They started walking through the forest in a line, like ducklings following their mother.

Kaiki no longer thought this was cool. He didn't even feel glad anymore that they weren't being sent back to the village. He had a feeling they would be unwelcome burdens, if they ended up finding Naruto-sensei at all.

Into the heavy silence of the morning, Jiraiya turned his face to look at the veil of leaves obscuring the sky and said, "It'd be faster to travel by tree."

Kaiki and Nagi glanced at each other, then at Hikaru, who raised her shoulders in a shrug. "All right," Kaiki said quietly - Jiraiya had a funny expression on his face. He looked like he wanted to hurry - he looked like he was worried about Naruto-sensei. That made Kaiki feel even weirder.

Jiraiya nodded, still looking up at the trees. Then he looked back down, and - breaking the deafening silence - let out a huge guffaw and slapped his hands down on Kaiki and Nagi's heads. "Hey, you brats! Don't look so worried. Your teacher's tougher than he acts, you know."

He pinched their cheeks, pulled them out of shape, and let them go to slap back against their faces. Kaiki rubbed his cheek and swore under his breath. Did *all* adults get like this when they reached this age?

Jiraiya placed one foot on the base of a tree, looked over his shoulder. "Hey. Come on, good-for-nothings," he said. "Come on, bug-girl." He ran up the tree, almost too fast for them to follow, and they heard the branches crack as he jumped to another tree.

"Hey - hey - wait up!" Nagi protested, falling in behind Kaiki as he hopped up the tree. "You old freak -! You're going to leave us behind, bastard!"

Jiraiya laughed from some distance away and yelled at them, voice echoing through the forest, "This is survival training, kiddies. You get left behind, I ain't comin' back for you!"

Ugh, Kaiki thought. This guy is like some freaky older version of Naruto-sensei. And pretty soon, they'd be *together*... he shuddered and sped up his pace - he was a weird guy, but Kaiki definitely didn't want to get left behind to be eaten by a bear. Or worse.

It was going to be a long damned day.

"And then-" Naruto slammed down his glass -"they told me that their brother had Henge'd himself into a chicken, and I needed to transform him back!"

The men at the bar broke into guffaws, and someone appreciatively poured him another drink. Naruto lifted it up in a toast and glasses clinked; a little ways across from him, someone toppled off their seat and onto the ground, prompting another uproar and more drinks all around.

It took a lot of drinks to sink past the kyuubi's stamina, but Naruto's new friends appreciated him enough that they were getting him there.

"So, kid," said the man next to him, who was sober enough not to mix up his words and thus was prompting most of the stories, "what dragged you into town? Lookin' for some ladies for a good night?" The men roared in agreement. "Or tryin' your luck a' the new casino?"

"I already did that," Naruto grinned, jiggling his wallet. "Back home, they call me Lucky." This was true: Jiraiya had been very drunk when he gave him this nickname, and he never remembered it until they were back in a gambling town, but it was true. "And they call my old master, Unlucky. 'Cause whenever he gambles he empties out his wallet and never gets any money for himself."

"That's a good arrangement, right there," someone said, pounding their glass on the table.

The bartender snorted. "Ha! They called my master Keep Away, 'cause whenever he got enough drink in 'im, didn't matter if you was a man or a broad - you better keep away from his hands!"

Everyone guffawed again, the old man near the back breaking into an asthmatic wheeze at the end. Naruto grinned, smacked the bartender on the back and said, "Shit, I'd like to meet your master - I could toss mine to him and maybe that'd keep him occupied for a while."

Someone re-filled his drink at that, and Naruto waited until the laughter had died down again to say, "But seriously, I am in town looking for someone. Any of you men see him - he's kinda hard to miss, wears all black and he's paler than milk, got some funky tattoos on his...." He gestured vaguely at his face. "He wears a hat, but maybe you saw his eyes? They're red."

The room quieted, and the bartender said, "Yeah, we seen that one. He came here. Kept to himself, but he came here. Creepy guy. I didn't like him." The men murmured in agreement. "Dunno where he's staying, but he's in here - oh, yesterday morning, it musta been."

"Great. Thanks." Naruto drained the rest of his glass and slid it over to the bartender. "If any of you see him," he said, looking out at the sea of faces suddenly gone solemn, "that's a guy who really deserves the name Keep Away. He's a missing-nin and I'm hunting him. If you see him, do me a favor and keep to yourselves." He stood, digging some money out of his wallet and tossing it onto the counter. "Thanks, old man."

Back out on the streets of the town, Naruto put his hat back on and tipped it down to cover his face. So. Sasuke was here, but where?

Where would he be?

A loud titter, clear even in the low drone of the crowd, caught his attention, and Naruto glanced behind him. He pursed his lips at the flashy signs and at the women lounging on the open porch, awfully scantily-clad for a town that purported to police itself. One woman - a girl, really, probably been down on her luck when the lady of the establishment promised her a well-paying job - caught him looking and flashed him a curving smile.

Well. It was the last place he wanted to be, which meant that Sasuke was probably there. Naruto turned and headed against the flow of the crowd, stepped unwillingly onto the porch and approached a tiny, pale girl with scared dark eyes. "Excuse me," he said, trying to sound lecherous - they couldn't see his face, for all they knew he was some perverted old man. "Is the lady of the place around?"

She looked at him with a frozen face and rose, taking his elbow in her hand, said: "Of course, honored customer."

She drew him behind a curtain and into a hot, barely-lit building. Naruto shifted uncomfortably at the sounds that seemed to pervade it, leaking out of closed doors: moans and muted yells and the wet, slippery sounds of sex. The girl let go of his arm and went over to a couch, leaning over it; then a woman rose from it, smoothly adjusting the neck of her shirt as she walked over to him.

At least she looked a bit suspicious, trying to see under the brim of his hat even as she said, "Yes, sir, were you looking for a specific kind of woman?"

Naruto had heard kunai talked about more personally. He cleared his throat, moved carefully away from the scrape of long nails on the crook of his arm. "Yeah," he said, checking the urge to pull down his hat again. "I'm looking for... any kind, really... dark-haired, maybe. Pale." Yeah, and not too dirty, if you would."

"I see." Her long, slanted eyes narrowed. "Would Hokuto - the young lady who escorted you in- please you today, sir?"

Surreptitiously, Naruto glanced over to the couch where - Hokuto - had taken a seat. She was probably new, he thought, hunched up tight and uncomfortable on the corner of the couch like she was; but pretty, in a plain paper-and-ink sort of way. "Yeah. She's fine."

"It's a hundred ryou," said the proprietess, holding out a hand.

Naruto nodded and reached for his wallet, handing a bill to her and trying hard not to brush against her fingers - but she moved them and they touched his as she took the bill. Her skin was hot and dry, like she'd been fevered for a long time. She smiled, a glistening stretch of the lips, then turned and gestured for Hokuto; the girl rose, wiping her face of any emotion as she walked over to them.

"Hokuto-chan, take him into the back room, it's the only one free," the older woman said as she bunched the bill up in her hand. She smiled one last time at Naruto and then left on smooth gliding legs, leaving them alone together.

"Please come with me, sir," said Hokuto. She didn't take his arm as the proprietress had, just began walking without even looking back; expecting him to follow. Naruto chucked his hat down again and did, feeling as nervous as if he were the lamb and she the executioner leading him to the slaughter.

The back room proved to be a tiny room with a heavy door, lit only by a few candles stretching across the floor. It looked a little like the prisons that Naruto, as an ANBU member, had often led wayward ninjo into; it only had a small couch in it and a bed - of course - a simple one with a gauzy material cloaking it. As Hokuto closed the door and went to busy herself with the candles, Naruto spread the gauze back and touched his fingers to the bed. The sheets were clean, he decided. He hoped he burned the bedstuff whenever they were finished with a... customer.

He turned, and his breath caught in his throat as he saw Hokuto - still with cold eyes, not even having said a word - shrugging her thin yukata off her shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Naruto said, holding up his hands. "Slow down a minute here, kid. I didn't-"

"What?" Hokuto said, hands stilling on the cloth. She raised her eyebrows. "You want to do a little cuddling first? I'm not one of the girls who will give you a fake smile." She ran her eyes over him, as calculating as a missing-nin looking for the best escape route. "You didn't look like the sort of customer to need smiles and big kitten eyes."

Ouch. This girl was harsh. Naruto sat on the bed and folded his arms, feeling - absurdly - insulted. Well, what did he look like, then? "Look, I didn't come here for - for that." Bad maneuvering, Uzumaki. What *did* you bother with getting a girl for? You could have just searched all the rooms; you're a jounin of Konoha, you have more oomph than the regular police. But... make an uproar, and the prey might startle. Best to do it this way.

"Are you having second thoughts?" asked Hokuto, tone making it an insult.

Naruto just snorted, lifting off his hat and setting it on the bed so she could see the forehead protector. Then he tugged down the neckline of his shirt to reveal the ANBU tattoo, a little bit of a lie - since he had left the ANBU two years ago - but not one he was going to be reprimanded for any time soon. "I'm looking for a missing-nin," he said, "an S-class criminal who's hiding out in this town. I need to know if he's in this... place." He touched the sheets again and lifted his fingers, disdainfully.

Her doe-black eyes had widened. She shrugged her yukata back up and re-tied her sash with quick motions, a light flush spreading up her neck.

(Sasuke's blushes had always showed up easily, too.)

"But-" Hokuto's teeth showed, worrying her bottom lip. "The mistress here - she wouldn't let me do that. It would give this place a bad name."

"Hokuto," Naruto said quietly. "This guy - he's a monster. Aren't the girls here your friends? He isn't the type of guy you want touching your friends, trust me."

"Dammit." She looked down, then back up: "All right," she said. "These rooms are all connected. I'll come with you and try to keep everyone quiet." She lit some more candles quickly and nodded for him to follow, going to the back of the room and shoving away a tapestry on the wall to reveal a door. Then she glanced at him, and said, "This missing-nin... what's he done that's so bad, anyway?"

It was clueless enough to a bit funny, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to smile. He was keyed up with nerves, now, even his hands tense as they held kunai against his wrists. "Worse things than murder," he murmured. "Things I have nightmares about. Open the door, okay?"

She nodded, eyes wide like a scared deer, and threw it open. Naruto stepped into the dark room quietly, blended into the shadows and felt, carefully, for the telltale black-and-red curl of Sasuke's chakra, even a little of it. He felt none, and gestured for Hokuto to come in.

"Next room," he whispered, and they stepped through the room - it was blessedly silent - and to another tapestry, another door.

It felt weird, to be stalking Sasuke so closely like this: the heat was making him sweat, little droplets running down his neck to his back, making his shirt cling to his skin. He re-gripped his kunai: nothing in this room but moans, the shifting of bodies against each other. Hokuto held his arm this time as she opened the next door.

There - a hint of red, the smell of blood. This room was silent, too. He caught Hokuto's arm and nodded to her, gestured to the room they'd just come from. "Go back," he mouthed.

She hesitated, eyes shifting to the dark bed; looked at him and, nodding with a raw, frightened look on her face, slipped back through the open door. He heard the click of the lock and turned back to the bed, fingers shifting against the sharp blades whispering against his wrist.

"I'm surprised you didn't sleep with that one, Naruto-kun. She looked so much like this body, I almost thought about taking her - but I knew you'd enjoy her more." Sasuke rose from the bed; his eyes glowed red in the darkness, Sharingan pupils turning slowly. He slid to the edge of the bed and sat still, naked except for a sheet thrown about his waist.

"Sorry. I didn't know where she's been," Naruto said.

Sasuke chuckled deeply; a strange sound, always rattling him when he heard it. It sounded like... something wet slithering on the ground. "But they're so much fun to play with." He twisted his hands back behind him and grabbed something, pulling it next to his legs so Naruto could see: an arm, drained completely white except for the bright red slash down the wrist.

Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head. "Bastard," he whispered. "Fucker."

"Ah-ah, Naruto-kun. No name calling, or you won't get a treat." Sasuke waved the arm a little, his lips twisting into a gleeful smile. "Here, you can pretend she's still alive." He moved the arm between his legs, rubbing it up and down and tilting his head back, mouth opening on a sigh then curving back into a smile as Naruto shuddered. "No? You don't like that. Well, that's not very nice - I went to all the trouble of killing her and you're going and getting so squeamish."

He dropped the arm to the side and put his own hand between his legs instead, now watching Naruto with a face completely devoid of humor. "Well," he said quietly. "It's Sasuke-kun's twenty-first birthday. What did I tell you would happen on this day?"

"You said-" His fingers were trembling. Naruto clenched them against each other, biting the kunai into his skin. It didn't matter, the cuts would heal in a matter of seconds, anyway. "You said you'd let him go. But you were lying then and you were lying now, so why are you still *fucking* with me?"

"Because, Naruto-kun. It makes this body so happy when I do."

Naruto exploded into movement at that, leaping forward onto the bed and pinning Sasuke's hands beneath his, holding his wrists between one hand while the other pressed five kunai to his neck. He breathed heavily against Sasuke's face as it stared up at him, eyes blank, mouth slack. Then it lifted into a smirk.

"Oh, Naruto-kun," whispered Sasuke. "You have no idea how happy it makes this body. Its blood rushes, it perspires, it's almost - arousing, in a sense. It's a strange fact about humans, that we so hurt those closest to us - and that so often, we hate them in a way. Why is that, do you think?"

"I don't hate anyone," Naruto gritted, "but you."

"Ah, but who is the 'you' you speak of? Is it Orochimaru? Or...." Sasuke's fingers twitched against his. "Is it Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto's whole body was trembling - his fingers wrapped around Sasuke's wrist, his legs on Sasuke's legs, his lips. He took in a rasping breath, said, "I never hated Sasuke. Never!"

"Don't lie, Naruto-kun. It's very unbecoming of you."

He shuddered, cold all over. "Don't play with me... just let him go, let Sasuke go... please...."

Sasuke chuckled again, this time hot and dry against his cheek. "It's funny the things you believe, Naruto-kun. You believed Sasuke-kun when he told you he hated you... and you believed me when I said I'd let go of this beautiful body." His hand was freeing itself from Naruto's grip and sliding down Naruto's face, down his neck and under his shirt to the skin of his back. "Here's the truth," he said, pressing his lips to Naruto's; "I'm going to have you both."

And Sasuke turned him over, lips sliding down to rest at his throat, and his hands grasped Naruto's waist and pulled down his pants: efficient, clean, cold movements. Naruto scrabbled at the headboard, twisting up and away as Sasuke pressed into him, fast and hard and tearing, fingers pressing his skin hard enough to draw blood. He dipped his head down, breathing harshly through his mouth as Sasuke thrusted, once, twice, hard; and the third time he felt the slickness of blood.

Sasuke's lips dipped down to feed at his mouth, slowly, gently, counterpoint to the hard thrust of his hips. Sasuke pressed his waist and turned him so Naruto was pressed into the bed; then he wrapped his hand around Naruto's erection and pulled at it as he thrust. Naruto bit his lip, but a moan slipped out anyway. Then Sasuke crushed him against the bed, harsh breathing filling his ears. He was still, and Naruto reached up with shaking fingers to jerk his pants back around his waist.

"And now, Naruto-kun-" whispered into his ear, cold and slithery laughter wrapping around him -"now you know I will never let go of this body."

Orochimaru stroked his hair, fingers sliding down to press his face; then Naruto arched up as fire exploded in his stomach, hot and wet and burning, engulfing his whole being. He choked, looking down in shock at the kunai protruding from his stomach.

Orochimaru kissed him, tongue reveling in the blood gushing up from his throat. "I'll say goodbye to Sasuke-kun for you," he said, sitting up and flicking out his bloody tongue. He slid his finger into his mouth, then bent down and pressed it into Naruto's, running it across and cutting it against Naruto's canines. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun."

His blood tasted like fire. Naruto craned his neck back, hands twisting in the sheets, breath bubbling and choking in his throat, and watched Orochimaru leave the room, watched him take Sasuke's body with him in blood-soaked flash-frame stills.

His eyes fell closed, hands stilling in the staining sheets.

--

Thank you again to the reviewers. Absolute and Multifacted - you guys are making me fat! *pats belly* :D Caspian - I think part of Naruto's charm is how retarded he'll always be, heh. He can't be serious for too long. As for Sasuke, well, Naruto's main goal is to get him back and Naruto's pretty damned determined, so we'll see how it goes. ;)

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I appreciate your taking the time to comment. :) Have a good weekend.