Chapter 3

Shizuka had found herself laying on a hard surface when she finally woke up, her head throbbing. Groggily, she opened her eyes and looked around. When she had passed out, she remembered looking at her fallen village, but now she was in what looked to be like an underground cave. It looked like she was by herself as she couldn't sense anyone near. There were a couple of dim lights around the room from candles, but overall, it was really dark. Looking down at herself, she gasped when she noticed her traditional chunin garb had been replaced with a simple, loose fitting beige dress and her sandals were missing. Her left leg was still fully bandaged and her hair was no longer in a bun but out, loose and cascading down to her mid back. She felt a small sense of panic when she noticed her forehead protector was nowhere to be found.

The ten year old swung her legs over the stone block she was on and slowly got down. Aside from the outfit change, she didn't see anything different on her and she breathed a sigh of relief. The only opening to the room was sealed off so she figured she was stuck here. After snooping around the room to find any other way out, Shizuka was unsuccessful and retreated back to the table, pulling her legs to her chest as she sat leaning against it. She was about to nod off when she heard the seal to the room be released and the entrance open. Quickly moving, she hid behind the backside of the table so the new person wouldn't see her.

"Lord Orochimaru asked me to bring you to him." The voice spoke. It was a male's voice, but sounded young, like he was her age. "But we need to move now."

The female assessed the situation in her head. She could try to attack then make a run for it, or she could follow the boy and see about this 'Orochimaru' person. "Who is Lord Orochimaru?" She asked timidly, trying to find the strength to use a jutsu if she needed to protect herself.

The boy walked over to where she was and the female immediately brought her hands up to guard. "He's the one who saved you." Taking one of her wrists, he pulled her up and proceeded to take her out of the room. Shizuka stumbled behind him and tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp.

"I won't go anywhere until you tell me who you are." She resisted his pull before she started screaming and hitting his arm with her free hand.

"You don't have a choice. There's no point in screaming; there's no one around here." Kabuto grabbed her other wrist so she would stop beating him. "My name is Kabuto." Once the female stopped trying to hit him, he continued to pull her down the corridor. Since Lord Orochimaru's defection from Konoha, they now had a lot of ground to make up in order to catch up with him.

The sunlight blinded the girl as she stepped out of the underground cave and into the familiar surroundings of the real world. She'd been in Kusagakure the entire time? They immediately started running and Shizuka started to lag behind as she didn't know how long she had been passed out, but it felt like it hadn't been just a couple hours. Kabuto's grip on her wrist was the only thing that kept her close to him. Her stomach growled lowly and she frowned, reluctant to ask for food.

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It was a couple days before the two children reached their destination - the Land of Rice Fields. Kabuto led her through the trees as if he were his own personal compass and the two finally reached an opening in the ground. The opening was reinforced with stone and had the engraving of snakes at the top of it. The sight scared her and the fact that Kabuto was leading her down there made her even more fearful.

The corridors were similar to the ones she had seen before - dimly lit with candles. Finally, they reached a steel door and Kabuto released the seal, opening it up. In the center of the room were two chairs made of stone with a machine in between. There was someone sitting in one of the chairs who looked severely injured. He looked like he had lost a lot of blood, amongst other physical injuries, as his head was down and long black hair shielded his face. There was one thing that really stood out to her - the man looked so pale.

"W-Who is that?" Shizuka turned to Kabuto with wide eyes.

"This is the man who saved you." The boy answered. "Lord Orochimaru."

The female turned back to the man and slowly took a step towards him. This was the man who saved her from her village's carnage? Did this happen to him because of her? Frowning, she turned back to Kabuto. "Is there no one who can give him medical attention? He needs blood." She would perform the jutsu herself, but she didn't feel enough strength in her where the treatment would be effective.

"That's why you're here. I know you contain the universal blood type, O negative. He needs your blood to help him before he can undergo any medical treatment." Kabuto told her.

The white haired female's eyes widened and she looked at the male. "How do you know that? I've never given blood before…"

Kabuto ignored her question. "He risked his life. Now, he needs your help. You don't want to help him?"

Shizuka continued to look at the seemingly dying male. He risked his life for her? Because of that, it was only fitting that she help him before he died. She couldn't help but wonder why someone would do this to him though because he sounded like such a nice man. Turning to Kabuto, she nodded her head and sat down in the chair beside the man. Kabuto nodded and began preparing her to collect blood whilst preparing Orochimaru for a blood transfusion.

Unbeknownst to her, Shizuka had signed herself up for a continuous cycle of blood loss. Once Orochimaru was healed and well, he had convinced her that he would always protect her in exchange for her blood donations. He coerced her into thinking that her blood was being used for the betterment of mankind and she believed him, blinded by the false sincerity of her 'savior'.

"I need a couple more herbs from the clearing."

Shizuka snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at Kabuto before nodding. "Which ones?" Today, she had been observing Kabuto's studies in medical ninjutsu, committing the information to memory so she could try it out later on her own. Once he gave her a list, she smiled at him and headed out, leaving the hideout.

It had been three years since she started following Lord Orochimaru and Kabuto-senpai. Although her role had been set as an errand runner and a constant blood donor, she was happy. As long as she was doing something to help the man who saved her, she would do anything. Unfortunately she was unable to assist him in his main quest for a 'vessel', but she tried to make up for it any way she could.

As the thirteen year old traveled to the clearing, she couldn't help but think back on the last time she had visited the haven. She was gathering herbs for a new concoction Lord Orochimaru was trying out when she couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching her. When she had turned around, she didn't catch anyone but she was able to sense a presence through the earth due to her Earth Release chakra nature. When she decided to leave, she didn't sense anything out of the ordinary so she decided not to alert Kabuto-senpai about it.

As she approached the clearing, she could feel that something was off. Frowning, the female placed her hands on the earth and pushed a little bit of her chakra through to identify the disturbance. There was a body towards the back of the clearing near the mountains and it was someone she didn't know. Deciding to head into the forest, she scaled the edge of the clearing until the intruder was in her sight. Male, fair skin, brown eyes, and messy red hair. Raising her hands in a hand sign, she prepared herself to confront the male. Before she could get within a meter of him, four senbon were thrown in her direction and she dodged them easily.

Shizuka kept her hands in the hand sign, prepared to trap the male in a earth-clad dome as she narrowed her eyes. "Who are you, where are you from, and why are you here?" She eyed the herbs he was inspecting cautiously. "If you pick anything from my garden, you will be executed on sight."

The male let out a small sigh of annoyance and stood up, his back facing the girl. "You ask a lot of questions for a bratty little pest. Run along. My patience is wearing thin."

The female, clenching her jaw in similar annoyance, proceeded with her jutsu. A dome rose from the earth and enclosed the male inside. Deeming her technique a success, she cautiously approached her creation. Contrary to her beliefs, the male had disappeared before he was trapped.

"You're starting to get on my nerves." A voice said from behind, shocking her. Turning around sharply, Shizuka was met head on with a kunai to her neck. This had never happened before. No one was ever quick enough to escape her dome, especially when they didn't expect it. The metal of the knife wasn't touching her skin directly, but it was close enough to cause her some discomfort. "One slice of the kunai would have you in agonizing pain and dead in three days max. No amount of healing would be able to save you."

Shizuka frowned at this as she stared the male in the eyes. His eyes were cold, as if he could care less about human life in general. Judging by the flak jacket he was wearing, he was a chunin from whatever village he came from. Her eyes drifted upwards and landed on his forehead, near his hairline, where there was dried, caked up blood. "You're hurt."

If the red head was surprised, he surely didn't show it and neither did he move. "You don't seem scared."

The female stayed silent. Honestly, she would agree with him to a point. She'd had her run in with death before and this was nothing like the war in her village so she wasn't as scared as she would've been if she didn't have that experience. "You're not wrong." She answered simply, her voice a little weaker than she would've liked.

For a moment, she thought the boy was amused with her answer. "This is your last warning." With that, he disappeared and she was unable to trace his chakra signature. Letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in, she sunk down the side of her dome until she was sitting on the grass. Who was that boy? Clenching her fist, she beat herself up inwardly for letting him get the best of her. She was going to find out who he was. His worst mistake was letting her see his face.

Remembering why she even came to the clearing in the first place, Shizuka jumped up and released her dome. Running through the mental list of herbs she had organized, she quickly began to collect them. Kabuto-senpai would have her head if she took too long with the errand.