Tainted Blood of a Ninja

Chapter Eighteen: Her Decision

The room was lit by a single candle. The walls were clearly made of pure stone. Blasting her way out would not be an option. A wooden door marked the only exit to the room. Mitsukai got of her full sized bed that was covered with a heavy blanket and examined the door. It was very heavy and thick. Even if she did manage to blast her way out, it more than likely wouldn't take Kabuto or Sasuke long to reach her. She sighed and moved back to her bed, getting as close to the corner and hugging the pillow to her chest, willing away tears. She didn't exactly love being a prisoner of the Akatsuki, but she had grown accustomed to being with her captors, even caring for them a bit. She felt helpless. She couldn't try to escape…not if she valued her limbs.

The door opened and Kabuto entered, appearing surprised that she was awake. "I was coming to wake you. Lord Orochimaru wishes to speak to you."

She held the pillow tighter. "Go away."

Kabuto chuckled and moved over to the bed, sitting close enough to touch her arm. "I think you'll find what he has to say very interesting, Mitsukai."

She fought a growl that threatened to rise from her throat and jumped off the bed, slowly moving over towards to the door. "Please…don't touch me."

Kabuto smiled and moved to lead the way. "As you wish."

Orochimaru was in a large room standing in front of a large stone snake. The room was lit with torches. Sasuke sat on the snake's head, one arm resting on his knee.

"Mitsukai-chan…" Orochimaru hissed in a sadistically sweet voice. "It's been a while."

Mitsukai didn't respond, choosing to lightly bite on her tongue.

Orochimaru frowned a bit. "You should be thanking me for saving you."

"There's three people back in Konoha that wouldn't care either way." Mitsukai sneered. "I'd be the second person you've inadvertently taken away from them."

Orochimaru laughed and held up his hand, signaling Kabuto to calm down. "Is there where your true allegiance lies? With the Leaf village?"

Mitsukai contemplated going back to the room where she'd waken up but realized she'd need Kabuto's help finding it in this maze. "Where my allegiance lies doesn't concern you."

"Either respect Lord Orochimaru willingly or I'll help you." Kabuto hissed, losing his innocent look.

"Bite me, four eyes."

Kabuto started to move towards her but Orochimaru appeared in between them facing her, one hand up to Kabuto's chest. His other hand found her throat, angling her face to look up at his own pale one. "You don't have to fear me, but you will respect me." His long tongue snaked its way out of his mouth and caressed her cheek. "On the other hand, fear isn't a bad thing." He felt her shiver and smiled, letting her go. "Would you like to know why the Akatsuki chose you of all people to seal the Houkou in?"

Intrigued, she nodded.

"It wasn't random." He placed a hand on her head, moving it slowly down the side of her head, fingering her silver hair. "They originally sent me to acquire your cousin, Nozomi. However," he moved away from her, "she was too old to do the sealing technique."

"Cousin?" Mitsukai whispered.

He stopped walked and looked over his shoulder, a smile curving his sinister lips. "They immediately targeted your dear old father, Kisho."

The name alone stirred up old emotions and memories that she'd fought hard to suppress. She could see his face clearly in her subconscious.

"They targeted him and his weakness for gambling the as a backup plan in case Nozomi was miscarried. They used his weakness to make him give you up. I have to say, we didn't think it would be as easy as he made it."

Her eyes stung at his words, but accepted them as truth because that was the man her father was.

"So, dear Mitsukai-chan, the Akatsuki has been controlling you from the moment you were conceived." He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. "No one even cared that your parents died. In fact, every single one of them was glad."

Logically, Mitsukai wasn't surprised in the least bit. But his words still pierced her heart like a brand new katana. Orochimaru studied the effect of his words and was greatly pleased with the damage he'd done. He nodded to Kabuto who gently grabbed her arm to take her back to her room.

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"…Bonds?" His voice was low, heavy with interrupted sleep. "You woke me up…to talk about bonds?"

Sai didn't respond. He could literally feel Sasuke's anger washing over him, slowly strangling him. Within the blink of his eye, Sai had to dodge an attack that Sasuke fired off. In the dark, he was unable to tell exactly what he had tried to hit him with; he just knew to get the hell out of the way. He stood shakily, his ears still ringing from the deafening volume of the explosion. "Guh…"

All that was left of the room and hallway he'd just been in was nothing more than a crumbling crater. "You live up to your reputation. To be able to overpower my jutsu is quite something." Sai slowly brought his eyes up to meet Sasuke's. Sakura's gloved hand grabbed his throat tightly.

"What the hell are you after?!" She yelled, almost reaching a deafening decibel. "How many times you do you plan to stab us in the back before you're ha–"

"Ah, is it Sakura…?"

'That voice…' Sakura's blood ran cold as a chill rushed down her spine. She slowly turned her head towards the voice and froze in shock. Her hand slowly let go of Sai's collar and dropped limp at her side. Her lips barely moved as she whispered, "Sasuke…"

Naruto heard her, even at that distance that they were apart. He had to see for himself.

Sasuke looked down at the group, annoyed yet intrigued. After all, it was his former team from Konohagakure.

"Sasuke…" Naruto murmured, every bit as captivated as Sakura at what surely seemed like an illusion after all these years.

Sasuke's voice broke the silence first. "Naruto? So you came too…"

Naruto tried and failed to get his mouth to work.

"Does that mean Kakashi's here as well?"

Yamato stepped into the newly landscaped clearing. "Unfortunately, Kakashi couldn't be here but I'm here in his place. We, Team Kakashi, are going to be taking you back to Konoha."

'And here I was hoping they'd say anything but that…' Sasuke thought sourly. "Team Kakashi huh?"

Sai drew his weapon and Sakura looked at him with disgust. "I knew it!"

Sasuke looked at Sai as well. "So he's my replacement then, is he?" Sasuke's expression changed from amusement to annoyed. "He as spouting some kind of nonsense about protecting the bonds between Naruto and me. One more pansy for the group, quite the fit I'm sure."

"Huh?" Sakura looked up at Sasuke, confused.

Sai hesitated before speaking. "It is true. My top secret mission was indeed the assassination of Sasuke…but those orders don't matter anymore. Now I want to think and act for myself. Because of Naruto, I feel like I might be able to remember something…remember how I used to feel…something which I can't help feeling was very important to me…" Sai stared Sasuke in the eyes. "I may not know you all that well but there's a reason why Naruto and Sakura chase after you with so much passion. In order to prevent their bonds with you from breaking, in order to keep them intact, they're doing everything they can…"

'For someone who's supposedly replacing me, he sure does a hell of a lot of talking…'

"…I still don't have a very good understanding of it myself, but you, Sasuke, you should know why."

"Sure, I did know. And that's why I severed them." Sasuke answered candidly.

A quiet gasp of pain shuddered through Naruto and Sakura.

"I have other bonds I carry…fraternal bonds, forged through hate…having too many bonds causes one to lose focus weakening their strongest wish, their greatest desire."

Naruto swallowed hard, willing away tears as he spoke. "…If that's true…If that's true, then why…WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME BACK THEN?! IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL SEVERING BONDS?! SASUKE!!"

Taken off guard by his question, Sasuke blinked several times before answering. "The reason is simple…and it isn't that I wasn't able to sever my bonds with you…I simple didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing me attain power by submitting to his plans."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"There's no need for me to tell you…Still, the one thing I can say to you is back then…I chose to spare your life at nothing more than a whim of mine."

The wind blew and Sasuke was instantly at Naruto's side, his left arm draped across Naruto's chest as if he were leaning in to tell him a secret.

'He's fast!' Yamato hadn't seen him move at all.

Sakura gasped. 'When did he…?'

"Come to think of it, isn't becoming Hokage a dream of yours…?" Around them everyone became tense with anxiety. "If you had the time to go looking around for me, you would have been better off training…don't you think…Naruto?"

"S-sasuke!" Sakura gasped again, this time out of shock of Sasuke's words.

Sasuke ignored her, as he always had. "And that's why this time…" Sasuke reached behind him and slowly unsheathed his sword. "You're going to end up losing your life, all at a whim of mine."

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Her new room was better than the old one, this one actually having a skylight to allow natural light into the room during the day. Mitsukai huddled in the corner on her bed, holding her pillow. She was confused, mentally broken. She chewed on her nails, currently nibbling on her left hand. Everything that she thought to be true was now called into question. Could Deidara have been merely pretending? None of the others really showed any true interest in her personal welfare except him.

The door opened abruptly and Sasuke walked in. He stared at her for what seemed like forever, nearly unblinking, his expression never changing. "Are you going to stay?"

Her eyes burned with impending tears as she contemplated her answer. "…Yes."

His eyes flickered with an unrecognizable emotion. "Fine." He tossed a pile of clothes onto the bed, inches away from her feet. "Get dressed and meet me out in the hall. Orochimaru wants me to spar with you to assess your abilities." He turned away but looked over his shoulder one last time. "Don't take all day changing. I have other things I'd like to do."

It was a sunny day. It was warm but the breeze managed to keep the temperature pleasant. However, Sasuke's punches were anything but.

"Ow!" Mitsukai yelped staggering back, holding her throbbing jaw. If she didn't know better, she'd accuse him taking out his anger on her instead of yelling at her about it. Every blow he delivered hit its mark with enough force to make her want to lie down and cry. She made a note that if she ever laid eyes on Kisame again she'd let him know he hit like a girl.

"There is no such thing as 'ow' when sparring." Sasuke glared at her. "For someone who my brother personally trained and has kept by his side as a pet during the past few years, you leave much to be desired."

The throbbing spread to her head and she felt a migraine coming on. "At least he chose to keep me by his side." She knew it was wrong but it felt wonderful to take a jab at him in a known soft spot after having taken so many brutal blows. Her vision blurred and she staggered to the side, a strong hand caught and steadied her.

"Sasuke, why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Orochimaru suggested, catching Sasuke's fist in his hand to prevent him from dealing a near fatal blow to Mitsukai. Sasuke stared Orochimaru in his eyes until his rage had subsided enough for him to walk away without making an attempt to incapacitate the girl. Once Sasuke was gone, Orochimaru slide Mitsukai to a sitting position. "Take your time. Sparring with Sasuke isn't to be taken lightly. The after effects can be devastating if not taken seriously and treated before they start to manifest."

"W-why…" Mitsukai wheezed, "is he so angry with me?"

"Not just you. Me as well. He doesn't want you here because you're a traitor in his eyes. Of course, I'm the one who wanted you to come here."

Mitsukai accepted his explanation partly because it made sense but mostly because her throbbing head didn't seem to be able to process much more than that. As soon as she was able, she continued training with Orochimaru who had a lot more patience than he'd had when she was younger. He even made a point to go over the Impure World Resurrection jutsu with her. Naturally, she refused to use humans to practice on.

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'I'm deeply disappointed in you both. Playing silly games is what caused you to be sloppy and lose her in the first place.' The holograph image had no problem communicating their Leader's anger.

Itachi hadn't consented to telling Pein about their missing member. Kisame had felt it necessary to volunteer such information in order to recruit help in locating her more quickly. Neither of them spoke unless directed to.

'I'm sending Deidara and Tobi to help you locate her. Once you do, bring her to me immediately. In fact, I'm considering having Deidara bring her back the second he's able to. You'll have to deal with Orochimaru and Sasuke. If possible, use this opportunity to bring back Orochimaru's ring.'

The image disappeared and Kisame let out a huff. "That could have gone worse."

Itachi turned and gave the man his most murderous glare.

"I take it you're not happy with me."

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…Seven…

…Months…

…Later…


"Come on, you can hit harder than that. Don't worry about hurting me." Kabuto smiled, enjoying himself.

Mitsukai grunted and attempted another kick only to have it deflected at the last second. "Who said I was worried about you?"

"You can pretend all you want, Hot Lips, but I know you care." At this, she nearly took his head off with her foot.

Immediately, both of them felt the insane amount of chakra rushing at them from four different directions.

Kabuto swore.

The bushes around them rustled ominously then a figure emerged from them.

"Mitsukai-chan…long time, no see."