One: SNAKE SANNIN
Amaya sat at the bar in the Red Lotus, a dance club. There was a costume party that night, and she had dressed as a geisha. The costume kimono she wore was short, well above her knees. She wore her long black hair in an intricate style, held in place by ornamented chopsticks. For a moment, she looked into the mirror behind the bar. Her black eyes looked lonely to her in her pale face.
As she watched the bar tender work, she stirred her drink with a finger. Amaya knew this man very well. Since she had come to live in the Country of Earth, she had known him. How long had it been? It must have been six years now.
Kaito plunked down another drink in front of her. It looked like blood. “What the hell is that, a bloody-Mary?” Kaito shook his head. He pointed down the bar at a man with long black hair. He was not much taller than Amaya was, but there was a presence he had that seemed to spread out from him. “From him, huh?” She picked up the glass. Sniffing it, it smelled like flowers. More specifically, it smelled like roses. When she tasted it, it didn’t seem to have any alcohol in it at all.
Kaito cocked his head slightly to the left. “What does it taste like?”
“What do you mean? Didn’t you make it?” She asked, alarmed. He shook his head. Suddenly, she reached across the bar and grabbed a handful of his shirt. Yanking him forward, the young woman nearly growled at him. “You telling me you let me drink something that you don’t know what the hell it is?” Kaito’s eyes left hers for a moment, looking over her left shoulder. Feeling a very warm hand on hers, Amaya turned to see whose it was.
Under the gentle pressure of this hand, she released Kaito, and he fell back against the bottles behind him. The man with the long black hair stood less than a foot away, his face close to hers. The hair that fell in sheets to this strange man’s waist also covered half of his face. His face was pale, with light-colored eyes that seemed to glow slightly. There was an oddly feminine look about him, which was accentuated by the drape of his kimono around his shoulders. It was a beautiful dark gold silk, but he wore a black shirt beneath it. The effect was not unpleasing. Amaya was completely unable to look away from him. He picked up the drink on the bar, and handed it to her.
“Shall we go somewhere more quiet?” His voice was deep, and calm, and mesmerizing. She followed him across the dance floor, and to the stairwell. Upstairs, there were four rooms, each with a different theme. One was painted green, and had billiard tables. They passed this room, and another that was red and had an arcade inside. The second door from last, there was a room that was painted a dark blue, was dimly lit, and had couches and tables. He opened the door, and gestured for her to enter.
He followed her in, and she thought that she heard the door lock behind him. Funny, Amaya thought, that door doesn’t have a lock, does it? They sat in the back corner of the room, at a table with a small lamp on it. She stared at him. She didn’t understand what was going on. Sure, he was really good-looking, but she was sure that it wasn’t that. She absentmindedly sipped her drink, the taste of rose petals filling her mouth.
“I like your costume,” he said, leaning across the table. “Did you make it yourself?” He didn’t seem interested in her costume. His eyes just stayed locked on her face. She couldn’t answer. Her voice seemed to be broken. Amaya took another sip of the rose-flavored drink. The feeling she had when he looked at her was like nothing she had ever experienced. She did not know why it was impossible for her to look away. After another sip, she was able to speak.
“What do you want?” A bad feeling began to arise within her when she looked on this person. Her instincts were usually pretty accurate, so she decided that she had to be very careful with him.
He raised an eyebrow. “To the point, aren’t we?” She nodded. He shrugged. “I want you to come with me. You will, won’t you?” She was completely confused. He had not even given her his name. Amaya shook her head. “You will come with me, Amaya-san.” she started. How does he know my name? Who is he? “Don’t be so surprised. I know a lot about you, not just your name. I know why you’re here, instead of the Hidden Village of Clouds, where you’re supposed to be. When was the last time you went to their graves, Amaya-san?” His smile was chilling.
“Who are you?” She was having trouble breathing at that point. “How do you know these things? No one here knows who I am, not even my friends.” He seemed quite amused.
“How can you have friends? After you abandoned your family, do you really deserve to?” She shivered as he spoke.
“I didn’t abandon them! I left to go to school, and my parents were happy for me.” Her voice was weak. She watched as he leaned further across the table. His eyes grew large in her vision, and she was frightened. His hand appeared before her eyes, glowing. It covered most of her face, and everything went black.
-o-o-o-
The next thing she remembered, she was in her own bed. When Amaya opened her eyes, she groaned. Her head was about to split open, she was quite sure. What did I drink? The ceiling was just as white as it had been the day before, and she was convinced that the entire situation had been a dream. She heard a knock at the door of her apartment. Though she tried to get up, her entire body hurt. “I’ll get it,” a voice next to her said. It was the same deeply hypnotic voice from the night before.
Again, she groaned. She saw him get up from the bed. He left the room and went down the hall to the door. The door opened, and she heard two sets of footsteps coming back from the door into the bedroom. The man came in, followed by a younger man with oddly silvery hair and glasses. The young man said, “You have confirmed that this is her?”
For the few moments that he was gone, she thought that maybe it had been a drunken one-night-stand, but now that this young man was standing in her bedroom, it didn’t really look like it. Leaning on the chest of drawers, the man with the long black hair scratched his chin. “If you’re unsure about her, why don’t you test her abilities, Kabuto?” Kabuto? Yakushi Kabuto? Oh, I have got to be dreaming. For a long moment, the young man looked at her, his eyes narrowing.
Kabuto shrugged. “No, I’m sure you’re right, Orochimaru-sama. Of course, she may not want to come with us. But it won’t do us any good if she doesn’t want to come, does it?” That’s the last straw! Orochimaru is standing in my bedroom, with his little henchman, and they’re discussing if I’ll go with them? I have had just about enough of this.
“Oi!” She sat up in spite of the aching in her head. Black hair fell in long waves over her face, and she pushed it out of the way. It was then that she noticed she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Hurriedly, Amaya pulled the sheet up over herself, coloring slightly. Her black eyes flashed in anger. “First of all, Orochimaru, who the hell gave you permission to take off my clothes? Secondly, why should I go with you? Third, while you’re thinking about how to answer those, tell Kabuto to stop leering.” The young man had a disgusting look on his face, and it made her stomach want to empty itself. She stood, pulling the sheet from the bed and wrapping it around herself. She sighed. What the hell does that bastard Orochimaru want me for? It had been a very long time since she’d even heard that name.
Around six years earlier, she left her place of birth, the Hidden Village of Cloud. She was supposed to be going to school. Amaya did go to school, and she did well. Much to her mother’s dismay, she rarely visited while she was at school. Then, a year before this unfortunate meeting, she had received word that her mother and father had been killed. All three of her sisters were away at the time, and had since settled in other areas. It had been long since there had been a reason to return home. There were vague rumors that it had been one of Orochimaru’s henchmen that had killed her parents.
Walking over to Kabuto, she stopped just in front of him, and said, “Was it you?” He only looked at her blankly. “Hmm. I didn’t expect you to answer me. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get dressed.” When she tried to walk into her closet, Kabuto blocked her path. Again, she sighed. “Orochimaru, is there any way that I could escape through my closet? Tell your pet dog to back the fuck off. I don’t feel like bashing his head in while I haven’t got any clothes on.” Looking Kabuto in the eye, Amaya continued, “But if you want to wait a couple of minutes, I’d be happy to oblige you.” He flinched, and she smiled.
“Kabuto,” Orochimaru began, “you can rest assured, there are no secret passages in the closet. I made sure of that while she was asleep. Besides, you’ll be a lot less distracted once she’s dressed.” The younger man shot Orochimaru a poisonous look.
“She’s nothing special.” Kabuto moved away from the door of the closet, and sat on the edge of the bed. Though he said that, she noticed that he had positioned himself in such a way that it would be easy to see her. Lechery is a weakness, boy. You should know that. But if you’re going to let it show so much, I’ll take full advantage. Holding back a smile, Amaya let the sheet fall.
Looking around, she found that most of her clothes were in the hamper. The only clothes she had to wear were things she had not worn in years. I suppose it can’t be helped. She pulled on a faded long-sleeved black t-shirt and a longish pair of green shorts and her old shinobi sandals. After pulling back her hair, she stepped out of the closet. It felt odd to wear these things. She really had not worn them since she’d left home. Kabuto’s face was now inscrutable. Do I look the part, now?
Orochimaru plopped into a chair, and said, “Now, are you going to come with us?”
Amaya rolled her eyes. “Are you going to tell me why?”
“You know who I am?” He asked. She nodded. “Then you must know that I need capable people.”
“The bullshit is getting pretty thick, snake-man.” She was really getting fed up at this point. He may be a legendary figure, but she was not about to put up with his mockery.
“Well, Kabuto, will you tell her? Frankly, she’s getting rather annoying.”
“Hori Amaya, a member of the Hori clan. Twenty-five years old, former jounin from the Lightening Country, Hidden Village of Clouds.” Kabuto read from a small red card. “After attaining the rank of jounin at the age of fifteen, you completed thirty missions of varying levels. You resigned your post for reasons unspecified, and left home to study. Your abilities include not only highly developed taijutsu and superior ninjutsu, but you have some knowledge of medical jutsu, and you also are a master of psychological torture through the use of genjutsu. In power, you are near to the Legendary Sannin, but not quite there.” Her eyes burned into him, anger rising. He was not finished. “Orochimaru-sama needs your abilities. He also admires you greatly.”
Admires me? What the hell? She looked icily over at the man himself. He lounged in her chair, as at ease as if he were in his own house. “And I care because…?” Her sarcasm showed beautifully, but didn’t make a dent in his composure. “I am not going with you. So you guys can just leave.”
Orochimaru stood, and walked to where Amaya was standing, at the foot of the bed. “I will be back, Amaya-san.” He reached over and touched her cheek. His hand was still as warm as it had been. In spite of its warmth, she shivered. The two of them withdrew, and left by way of the front door. The former kunoichi collapsed on the bed.
“This is bad. There is no way that I can deal with both of them. But they didn’t seem like they were going to hurt me…” she was talking to herself. This was a bad sign. “So now I need to know what’s going on.”
-o-o-o-
About two weeks later, Amaya walked into her apartment to find a strange young man of about fifteen sitting on her couch. “This is a very hard couch,” he said by way of a greeting. He wore a dark purplish blue kimono, and had shoulder-length black hair. His face seemed tense. “I have been sent to bring you to—“
“Oh, go away, little boy.”
“Amaya-sama, I am supposed to bring you, and I’m not supposed to use force unless I have to, but…”
“What is your name?”
“Uchiha Sasuke.”
“Well, Sasuke-chan, why don’t you run along to Orochimaru and tell him to leave me be? I’m not a shinobi anymore.” The boy’s face became a thunderhead. She had found a bit of a weakness, it seemed. “Ah, Uchiha, is it? So, you’re the little bastard who abandoned your village to chase after revenge? How is the revenge business? More importantly, how are the peparations for the transfer going?”
Gritting his teeth, he said, “Amaya-sama knows more than I thought.”
Her lips curled in a smile. Putting her bag down, she seated herself on the floor, opposite Sasuke. “Kabuto is not the only one who can do research, Sasuke-chan. I know a few things about you that you may not even know.” His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I know, because I spoke to some of your friends.”
His eyes grew wide, then narrowed again. “Are you lying to me, Amaya-sama?”
“Why would I lie? It is true I want you out of my home, but I would prefer to beat you to a pulp rather than lie to you.”
“Who did you talk to?” His voice was barely a whisper.
“A young lady who misses you very much. She’s very beautiful, isn’t she, Sasuke?” Now, with that, his eyes turned the characteristic red of his family’s most identifiable trait, the Sharingan. Just a little more. You can push him just a bit more…
“Leave Sakura-san out of this.”
“I’m surprised that you even remember her, since you left her. You abandoned her. It didn’t take any more than you leaving to completely devastate her, you know. She told me everything.” Sakura had told her everything, right up to the end. She told her about his abilities, his prejudices, and even the last words he said to her before he knocked her senseless. “There’s one thing I’m curious about, Sasuke. What did you mean when you told her ‘Thank you?’”
He had been shaking slightly through this short speech, and now, he launched himself at her, the room filling with the sounds of birds chirping. Chidori?! She raised an eyebrow. Moving slightly to the left, she caught the arm he was using for chidori, and bent it back up toward his face. The small lightening-like bits of chakra forking off of the ball of light in his hand were nearing his eyes when he released the jutsu. “Now,” she said, “please be a good boy and sit down. I am not in the mood to play games with you.”
Sasuke sat back down. His kimono’s sleeve was steaming. She decided that further provocation would not lead to another outburst, so she pressed him again. “That young man Naruto, he was a little harder to track down.” smiling, she remembered. “He was with a very nice man, I think you know Jiraya-sama?” Sasuke’s eyes became clouded. “It took me forever, it seemed, but I finally located them, and I had a nice long talk with both of them. Jiraya doesn’t think too highly of you, but your friend still thinks he can get through to you.”
“He always was thick-skulled.” Sasuke’s face had softened, and there was a very boyish quality to it. This was the face of the boy that was Naruto’s friend. Is it too late for him? Has there been irreversible damage done?
“Well,” she stood, and opened the door for him. “Here lies your way, sir.”
Sasuke stood, and shook his head. In a tone that indicated challenge, he said, “Outside, Amaya-sama.” Exasperated, she followed.
Behind the building she lived in, there was a vacant lot, which used to be a playground for children, that had become only a patch of dirt and weeds. Sasuke positioned himself at the middle of the lot. Amaya sighed. Planting her hands on her hips, she asked, “Is this really necessary? It’s very bothersome.”
“You sound like Shikamaru-kun.” Sasuke’s face darkened. She had talked to this Shikamaru, as well. That trip she had taken to Konoha had been very useful. She supposed that it was good that she sounded like him, but there was still more than eighty points of IQ between the two of them, with Shikamaru having the upper hand.
“No, I sound like me. I’m only saying you’re bothersome because I already told your boss that I’m not going to go to him.” Shrugging, she asked, “Are you coming, or do you want me to go?”
Sasuke smiled. That smile was far too much like Orochimaru’s. The first thing that he did was to use his fireball technique, Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Shaking her head, she concentrated a large amount of chakra into her hands and hit the ground. Large mounds of earth formed between Amaya and Sasuke, and the fire was rendered useless. Still, his Katon was very powerful. According to Sakura, and Naruto, it would get very dangerous if he were to release his cursed seal, and she really did not want to have to deal with that.
So, as she employed a nice genjutsu, she jumped over the dirt hills. Sasuke stood there, mesmerized. He was seeing the transfer justsu that Orochimaru would use to enter his body, or at least what she thought it might look like. “Oh, you know that there won’t be much of you left after he’s done. In that case, who will kill Itachi?”
Sasuke fell to his knees. Had he seriously thought that Orochimaru would let him live? She released the jutsu, and stood over him. “Are you alright, Sasuke-chan?” He looked up at her. There was a burning anger in his eyes. “Are you angry, Sasuke? Then if you’re angry, put that anger into remaining alive and staying you. Do you understand that if you become one with him, Orochimaru will be all that there is left? I know your reasons, but did you really think them through? Even Naruto, who told me himself that he’s an idiot, knows that Orochimaru’s transfer jutsu leaves only the slightest traces of the host body’s former occupant behind.”
“Obviously, you had not thought of that. I apologize for causing you pain. Please, go back to Orochimaru. Tell him that I am not his to command.” Sasuke remained on the ground, and Amaya walked away.
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.