Naruto : Venom

I turn to Sasuke. ”Well Red, do you think we should go meet with our Kage? He did come all the way here just to see us.”

He tilts his head slightly, I can tell he’s quirking an eyebrow at me beneath his crimson mask. ”You sure that’s a good idea? You’ve found out very interesting things recently about him. Will you be able to control yourself?”

”We’re going to find out.” I say as my eyes are locked onto a specific snake like figure. Orochimaru is seeking us out on his own, looks like I’m not getting a choice in the matter. ”He’s on his way over.”

”Joy.” Sasuke sarcastically says.

Orochimaru stops before us with a wide sinister smile. ”Red, Midori, how are you both?”

Midori? Who the hell is Midori?

”I am quite well, my fight was easy. Even if I used one of my more complex genjutsu I wasn’t overly taxed at all.” Sasuke replies like he’s having a normal conversation. Then he turns to me and I feel his enjoyment. ”And you, Midori?”

Wait I’m Midori?

”Yes Midori, how are you after that fight? Is everything on straight again? That was quite the kick, I want to make sure my precious kunoichi is okay.” Orochimaru says with false concern. He knows that I’m fine.

Those assholes. They’re getting a sick sense of satisfaction out of this. ”Please, I’ve had worse. Now that I think about it, both Red and my sensei have done worse to me.”

Sasuke winces, no doubt he’s reliving when he speared me.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, looks contemplative. He’s struggling to remember when he did something worse than spinning my head around. ”What did your sensei do to you? I can’t seem to remember anything like that.”

”Technically it was before he was my sensei.” I give him a hint. There’s no way he’s forgotten this.

He blankly looks at me. He doesn’t recall this at all.

I place a hand on my gut. It’s resting over the first major scar I’ve ever gotten, it’s a large pale circle about the size of an adult male fist. It looks like it’s been fused shut rather than medically healed. It is where Orochimaru himself put the Jiongu inside me. ”The single most painful experience of my life.”

Orochimaru’s face lights up like a 100 watt light bulb. ”Of course! Marvelous day, simple marvelous!” He and I remember that day very differently. I’m not going to tell him that though. ”Let’s go back to my hotel, we can discuss your journey here and what your plans are for your next opponents.”

”Sure. Don’t have anything better to do.” I shrug.

”Bet his room is way nicer than ours.” Sasuke growls out in anger against our crappy accommodations.

”I am a Kage, you two are just gennin. Of course mine is better.” Orochimaru looks around expectantly. ”How strange. Where’s Tayuya at?”

Sasuke and I freeze.

Orochimaru continues on talking like nothing is out of the ordinary. ”I’ve trained her better than this. She should know I’m here and to present herself to me. I could have need of her skills. This is highly unprofessional. She’ll need to be... reeducated.” Orochimaru grins evilly. ”It’s a wonderful process, and one I rarely get to do. The screams are exquisite!”

I mechanically turn my head to Sasuke. Please answer this for me. Please.

”That could be difficult.” Sasuke forcefully replies in a calm tone.

Orochimaru turns his gaze onto the red clad gennin and the ambient temperature drops twenty degrees.

”Where is my subordinate?” He’s furious, absolutely livid that Tayuya isn’t doing what he trained her to, that she has the audacity to go against his orders and not be constantly watching over us both.

”Midori’s pocket.” Sasuke delicately says. ”She was killed on the way here.”

Instantly Orochimaru’s fury vanishes. It’s replaced with frigid indifference. ”Oh. Shame.”

He turns on his heel and starts walking down the street, most likely to his hotel.

”How unfortunate. She was one of the better subordinates I had.” Orochimaru turns and looks over his shoulder at Sasuke and me. We’re still frozen in place. ”Come, we will continue this conversation in my hotel room instead of in the middle of a street.”

”Of course, Orochimaru-sama.” I force out and follow. Sasuke is right next to me.

...

Orochimaru’s Hotel Room

Sasuke and I are sitting on a very plush velvet couch. It’s a nice deep purple color and contours perfectly to your form. This would be a very nice and relaxing afternoon, especially considering that we went through the first round of the tournament already, but there’s one tiny thing that ruins the peacefulness.

Orochimaru is sitting across from us in a luxurious armchair. He’s staring intently at me, opting to completely ignore Sasuke. He’s studying me, looking for a fracture in my facade. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s almost as if he’s looking to see if I am okay.

”Alvarcus.” Orochimaru calls me by my name, in the confines of his room there is need to hide our identities. Even our masks are off. ”You have Tayuya?”

”Yes.” I reach into a pocket on the inside of my coat and withdraw the scroll.

It looks so innocent. Plain parchment rolled up neatly, smooth crisp black lines obviously put there by an experienced hand and there’s not a fold or a tear anywhere on it. Except there’s a thick black line all the way around it, completely tarnishing the innocence. That black line means there’s a body in here. It means that without a doubt, the person inside is dead.

Tayuya is in it.

”Give her to me.” Orochimaru firmly demands as he extends a hand towards me.

No. I will do no such thing. She doesn’t deserve to be dissected further, to have her corpse violated on the whims of a madman.

Wait, why should I care about her? Everything she did was a lie. All those interactions were forced. She never really cared about me. She probably even faked being my friend on Orochimaru’s orders too.

”Here.” I shove the scroll into Orochimaru’s waiting hand. I just wish that all of the problems and confusing feelings I have about her could go away that easily.

For a fraction of a second there was a look of surprise on my Kage’s face. He didn’t expect me to hand her over so easily. He thought I’d fight for her.

”How did she die?” Orochimaru asks us.

”Beheading. One blow.” I force out an answer before Sasuke can. I need to get over this.

Orochimaru pockets Tayuya and conversationally asks, ”And did her killer escape?”

”No.” I curtly respond.

”No? I feel like you’re leaving out a great amount of detail.”

”We got all twelve of them.” Sasuke cuts in for the first time.

”Twelve? You ’got’ all twelve of them?” Orochimaru sounds impressed.

”I didn’t ’get’ any of them.” My words bring his yellow gaze back onto me. I boldly stare right back at him. ”I slaughtered them. I killed them all, I enjoyed every moment of it. I was elated each time I ripped out one of their hearts, I felt a thrill as their blood flew through the air. I took pleasure as their screams of pain and horror drowned out all other noise. They should have known better than to take something from me.”

Orochimaru is teeming with pride. He’s proud that I felt that way, that I took pleasure in murder. That’s what that was, murder. I didn’t kill to defend myself, I didn’t kill as part of a mission. I killed because I wanted them to die. No more, no less.

”I take it that the battlefield I passed on the way here was from your... slaughter?” Orochimaru asks with a malicious smile. No doubt he’s recalling the site and analyzing it more in-depth. He’s trying to figure out what I did. If I’m reading his body language right, he’s impressed.

”Yes it was.” I shortly sum up.

”And how many did each of you kill?” Orochimaru asks with interest.

”I killed nine. Sasuke got three.”

”Wrong, I got five.” Sasuke irritably interjects. ”I sent two of them to your earth monster with a genjutsu.”

I turn to him. ”Yeah, but I killed them. That’s like saying the guy who made your sword killed everyone who dies to it.”

”... Still got five.” He huffs in annoyance.

”Amusing.” Orochimaru breaks up our argument before it can really take off. ”Are you sure there were only twelve?”

Sasuke and I glance at each other.

”No. They found a way to hide from my sensing abilities.” I reach into another pocket and pull out the seal that I took off the last shinobi. ”They were using this to hide from me. Any chance you know what this is?”

...

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