Chapter 8

Shizuka sat with her feet dangling off her bed back in Otogakure. As she swung her legs back and forth, the only thing that occupied her mind was what Sasori had told her. The scene was out of one of those romance scrolls she had gotten from a passing traveling stand - the boy and girl standing face to face under the moonlight. The only thing missing was a kiss… Blushing as she thought about it, she stopped swinging her legs and laid back on her bed. Now wasn't the time to think about something so frivolous.

Time seemed to have gotten the best of her; it had been nearly ten years since she was brought to Otogakure. During her time here, she was never on a tight leash, but she did everything that was expected of her. She also felt like she belonged here because at least Lord Orochimaru looked after her. It wouldn't surprise her if she found out that Kusagakure never looked for her after her disappearance.

On the other hand, when she met Sasori, it was different. Everything she did with him, she was willing to do so. She had gotten so attached to him that she looked forward to when he would call her out, no matter what it was for. She was mesmerized by his puppetry work and his ambitions with eternal art. When she came to Otogakure, she was just going through the motions - wake up, give blood, sleep; it was a never-ending cycle for a decade. If she went with Sasori, maybe she could find an ambition as well.

Closing her eyes, she imagined how different her life would be beyond these rocky walls. Wherever Sasori would go, she would be at his side traveling with him and enjoying his company. The only outside problem she worried about was her constant fainting spells; she still didn't know what was causing them and she didn't want to burden Sasori with them either. Regardless, she would need to figure them out soon because Sasori said he would be back in ten days to get her answer.

"Enjoying your rest, Snow White?"

Shizuka's eyes automatically opened as she felt the slight chill in the air from her cell door opening. She recognized that voice anywhere and immediately, she sat up to see its owner. "Welcome back, Lord Orochimaru."

"I need you to do something for me. Follow me." Orochimaru turned away from her and walked out the room. With a small frown, Shizuka stood up and left her room. Usually the only tasks that she was given was to be a gopher for herbs in the meadow and make donations, so for him to say he had another task was suspicious. Ever since she saw the abandoned room in the last hideout, every action the male in front of her made, she was wary of. The sense of security she found in him before had withered away into nothingness and it was only a matter of time before she'd been in one of those journals on the wall as a subject number nobody remembers.

"How was your trip?" The female spoke up, trying to make their little excursion less awkward than she was already making it.

Orochimaru smiled, unbeknownst to the young woman behind him. "Fairly educational."

Shizuka tilted her head in confusion as he answered her question; what was he talking about? As they walked deeper into the hideout, they entered an unexplored portion in her eyes. Cells were filled with people of all ages wearing clothes that hung off their thin frames. Were these the people that were always crying out for help?

"She's new."

"I've never seen her before."

"She's one of them."

Shizuka avoided eye contact with the prisoners as they came up to the bars to watch and comment about her. It was accustomed to them that anyone who donned the purple rope belt with their attire was a part of Orochimaru's elite force; the only exception was the boy with the glasses.

Finally, Orochimaru opened a large door at the end of the hall and the two walked into a large laboratory room filled with machines. Kabuto was already in there, working in the back corner at a lab station. On the floor by his feet were the herbs they had found near Kusagakure. Shizuka looked around the room curiously before her eyes landed on a contraption in the middle of the room. There was someone laying on a table with multiple wires attached to their body. Instinctively, she walked over to the set-up and her eyes widened in shock as she moved closer to the body and realized who it was.

"What happened to him?" Shizuka demanded, sharply turning back to Orochimaru and doing nothing to mask her hurt and anger. Why was Kimimaro immobilized on this table, looking even more pale than he already was? How long had he been in this state? Who did this to him?

"You dare to raise your voice?" Kabuto walked over to the opposite side of the table she was on, casting her an annoyed glance.

"It's alright." Orochimaru smirked. "You two were like brother and sister, so it's only natural for you to be upset." He approached the table as well and looked at Kimimaro, who's head had wires coming out of it with a breathing tube to match, before looking at Shizuka. "He's been sick with an unknown disease for a while and he's been losing blood, which is where you come in. You'll assist Kabuto with uncovering the disease. Unfortunately, this is where we part ways so if a remedy can't be found, there's always a substitute."

Shizuka blinked as she tried to process what she had just heard. Kimimaro's been sick for a while? What had been his symptoms? Why didn't she notice anything that last time she had seen him? Thinking of the last sentence, her heart sank in her chest. "A substitute? How can you say that?" Narrowing her eyes, her fingers curled into fists as she looked up at Orochimaru. "Kimimaro did everything for you! He devoted his whole life to you! How can you just toss him to the side so easily for a 'substitute'?"

Orochimaru raised his eyebrow in interest of the female's actions. This was a new side to her that he hadn't seen before; from the time she had been here, she was nothing but silent and complaisant. Stepping closer to her, he was amused to find that she stood a step back from him. No matter how she acted, she still had fear - which was good. "Kimimaro's blind loyalty and dedication to me is appreciated, however his ultimate goal is now futile. We still have a task at hand to complete and if you cannot be of use to me, then anyone is replaceable."

How could all of this be so simple for him? Shizuka couldn't wrap her head around this, but more than anything, she was glad that Kimimaro wasn't awake to hear this. The lack of humanity in his answer was enough for her to disregard all of her doubts. Even still, she had to get her final question answered. As Orochimaru turned away to leave the room, Shizuka spoke up cautiously. "Even me?"

Orochimaru stopped for a moment in thought, then turned back to the female. Her doe eyes were open with hesitation. He could see the growing anguish, so he simply smiled at her. "Of course not, Snow White. You'll always be of use to me. Even after your last dying breath."

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"So this Akatsuki stuff… You do all your recruiting like this, hm?" A young blond asked as he crossed his arms. The teen walked with three other people who were clothed in black cloaks with red and white clouds. No one answered as they kept walking and the boy rolled his eyes. "So the Akatsuki is a silent organization then, hm?"

"Kid, just do us a favor and shut up." The tallest cloaked male replied. His skin was blue with gills on the side of his cheeks, just like a shark. He glanced back at the blond with a wild smile. "For someone who was lucky enough to escape death the first time, do you really want to have another run in so soon?."

The blond narrowed his eyes. "My name is not 'Kid', it's Deidara, hm. And I'm not a kid!"

The shortest of the quartet let out a low amused chuckle, which caused everyone's attention to shift to him.

"What's so funny, Sasori?" The last cloaked male - a raven with a low ponytail - asked as they continued their journey back to the hideout..

"Just an old memory, Itachi." The red head answered as he sat inside his puppet, Hiroko. He had recalled a certain snow-haired female that said the same words as she laid over his lap. Speaking of her, she should be making preparations since he was supposed to see her soon.

Deidara crossed his arms as he glared daggers at the back of Itachi's head. "Is this Akatsuki group a forever thing, hm? The both of us can't be there together, Itachi-san." The male spoked his name with venom, vowing in silence that the next time they faced each other, the Uchiha's little genjutsu trick wouldn't be so effective.

"Hn." Itachi replied solemnly.

Once the group made it back to Amegakure, Deidara was fully initiated and assigned to Sasori as his new partner. The puppeteer disappeared from the group and went to his room. Once the door was closed, he stepped outside of Hiroko and walked over to the window, claiming a seat on the window sill. He could work on improving the functions of his puppets a little more, however right now he had something else occupying his mind.

The time frame was half way over, which meant that he would need to start his journey to Otogakure soon to retrieve his assistant. As he looked out at the moon, he couldn't help but think that the human mind was puzzling. Here he was, a missing-nin in a criminal organization, however he was preoccupied with thoughts of a female. A long time ago, he had thrown away feeble things such as emotions, however she was different. She accepted his views and agreed with him, she helped him even when he was nothing but a stranger to her, and he actually enjoyed her company. Although he wasn't sure how long this would last, he didn't mind it.

There was a knock on the door. "You in there, Sasori, hm?"

Sasori nearly rolled his eyes as he turned back to the window and told the interruptor to enter. It was just his luck.

Deidara walked into the room and let the door shut behind him. As he looked at the male, he blinked in surprise. "Who the heck are you, hm?"

"This is my real body, idiot." Sasori glanced over at the dumb-founded blonde. "Since you're my new partner, that's the only reason why you get to know. Now, what do you want?"

"We're supposed to go after that Orochimaru person, right? You know where he is, hm?" Deidara spoke, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his partner looked nearly the same age as he did. And here he thought that Sasori was some weird old man with a bad haircut.

Sasori frowned after hearing the snake's name and stood up. "I have a source. We leave tomorrow at dawn."

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"You're awake. Would you like some water?" Shizuka smiled at Kimimaro as she noticed he was opening his eyes. It had been a little over a week since he had been brought back to the hideout and while there was still no sign of a cure for his illness, he was still able to do simple day to day activities. Fortunately, he was out of the laboratory and now he could sleep in his own bed again.

Kimimaro stayed silent and turned over on his side with his back facing her. Frowning, Shizuka placed the water on the bed side table and left the room, knowing that he probably wanted to be alone. Ever since he had woken up in the hideout on machines and found out that Lord Orochimaru didn't need his services anymore, he refused to speak to anyone, including her. She knew that Kimimaro had a strong bond towards the male and he was hurting, but she felt that it was too much that he didn't want to talk to her either considering how close they had been before.

"Ah, Snow White. Just who I was looking for."

Shizuka stopped in the hallway and turned around so she was facing a now smiling Orochimaru. Lately, he had been communicating more with her, which only made her uneasy. She didn't know what he was planning with her and she was still confused about Sasori's relationship with him. The redhead mentioned him so casually before so there had to be some history.

"Good morning, Lord Orochimaru." Shizuka bowed her head politely.

"Follow me." The older male walked past her and, reluctantly, her feet started moving. Beforehand when she followed him, she was taken through the experimentation ward. Today, they were going the opposite way to the other side of the hideout. On this side of the hideout were different practice rooms for spars. They stopped in front of one of the spar room doors and she could sense three people waiting for them inside.

Once they entered, the room was nothing special; it was just a big open space with plenty of room for fighting. In the middle of the room stood three teens - a slouching male with bandages covering most of his face, another male with spiky, black hair, and a female with long black hair that was tied at the end.

"As you are aware, Otogakure is a growing shinobi village and in order for us to continue growing, I would like for us to participate in the upcoming chunin exams." Orochimaru explained as Kabuto walked into the room behind them. "These are our rising chunin, Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi, and Kin Tsuchi. The only thing is… I need to make sure they're right for the job, which is where you come in, Shizuka Jisuberi. I need you to test their abilities."

Shizuka turned to Orochimaru in shock. What was going on? During her time here, he had never asked her to fight or do anything physical; she only had to fulfill duties as a living donor. A sense of confusion took over her body. The thing that bothered her the most was that he called her by her real name for the first time. Did this mean that he was serious about her? "You want me to fight them?" She asked hesitantly. There was something wrong. What did he know?

"You were a chunin before you became a missing-nin." Orochimaru looked back at her. "So you're more than capable of this task. Unless, there's something that's prohibiting you from carrying out your duties?"

Shizuka frowned noticeably and turned back to the group of genin in front of her. Either he was baiting her or he already knew something, and by her luck, it was probably the latter. Taking in and letting out a slow breath, she stepped towards the trio with her regained composure, or whatever she could muster of it. "I can do this, Lord Orochimaru."

"You must be a part of the elite guard, since you have that outfit on." Zaku smirked. "I'm going to have fun taking you down today."

Narrowing her eyes, Shizuka got into a fighting stance. She may be a little rusty since she hadn't had to fight anyone in a while, however her abilities were still there. Further, she was in her natural element so she felt that she had a slight advantage. Still, as she prepared herself, something about this entire situation felt very off to her. Zaku and Kin charged her first and the battle began.

After what felt like hours later, Shizuka was still standing, but she was breathing fairly heavily. The right side of her body was completely covered in mud and she had cuts and bruises on the left side. Even if she was in her element, she had came into this battle completely unprepared. Undoubtedly the genin in front of her were given the orders to treat this as a life or death battle and they came at her with the intent to kill. During the battle, she could tell they were aiming to injure specific parts of her body, mainly her head with all of the sound attacks they were using. She also wasn't aware of the body modifications that they had as well, which further put her at a disadvantage.

Across from her, the three defeated genin could barely stand themselves. The chunin was able to trap Zaku's body halfway with her bottomless mud hole, knock Kin unconscious, and lock Dozu in a pillory made of rock. She had to give it to them; they were eager to prove themselves to Orochimaru. Letting the mud slide off her body, Shizuka mentally prepared herself for the battle to continue in the case that the two escaped, however a sharp pain came into her head and she dropped to her knees, trying to steady her breathing so she wouldn't be overcome by the wave of nausea that had been growing throughout the body. The constant pressure from the sound waves she had incurred during the fight were rapidly catching up with her.

Orochimaru smirked as he saw Shizuka struggling and held his hand up. His experiment had been a success. "I've seen enough for today. Team Dosu can retire for the day and I'll have your mission prepared for you soon." Turning away, he opened the doors to leave. "Congratulations, you have passed my test, so I have a new assignment for you in the Northern Hideout, Snow White."

The Northern Hideout? Shizuka turned around quickly to try and see Orochimaru. Her vision started to blur from the sudden movement and when she tried to stand, her legs quickly gave out on her. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel this way? "W-wait..!" The female choked out before the nausea overcame her and she threw up. There were spots of blood mixed in with the contents that came from her stomach and this completely terrified her. Something was wrong. Something was completely wrong. Once again, the walls were closing in on her and the last thing she saw was Orochimaru looking down at her pitiful state with an amused smile before she blacked out.

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Shizuka stood alone in her room, staring at the wall. The pain in her head had reduced to a dull throb and she was no longer feeling nauseous, but she was still very uncomfortable. A little earlier, she had woken up in the same laboratory room Kimimaro was brought to. Everything had come full circle as the same blood that she had been donating was now being put back into her body to replenish the amounts she regurgitated on the floor.

In the time that she was out, which was a couple of days, Kabuto had done a full examination of her body and found that she had a massive brain bleed that was irreparable. Apparently she'd been living like this for a while as it didn't hinder her from doing regular activities, however the strain from her last battle caused the bleed to expand. That only shed more light on her suspicions that the attacks she sustained took a strong toll on her already weakened body and the fact that Lord Orochimaru helped worsen her condition on purpose.

Silent tears rolled down the female's cheeks as she confronted the fact that she was dying and there was nothing she could do about it. To make matters worse, she'd lost trust in someone that she thought cared about her. Someone that she had given up almost ten years of her life for. She regretted so much as she thought more about everything that she had done. But what was she supposed to do now? She was going to be transferred to the Northern Hideout soon. The only thing she could do now was… leave.

Deciding that she had wasted too much time here, Shizuka wiped her tears and quietly left her cell. Normally, she'd leave to take walks anytime she wanted, as long as she stuck to her schedule, so she was allowed to come and go as she pleased. It was best to leave everything here so she wouldn't cause any suspicions. She stopped at a familiar door on her way out and knocked before entering. In the bed was Kimimaro, laying in the same position she had left him in. The same water cup was sitting on the side table from before.

"Kimimaro." Shizuka spoke quietly as she approached the bed. There was no answer, which didn't make this any easier for her. Touching his arm gently, she leaned over and kissed his temple. "I love you, little brother." Turning away, she left a note next to the water cup in the case that he wanted to know more about her decision and disappeared out of the room before she couldn't hold in her tears anymore. Kimimaro was the only person that could keep her from leaving the hideout. When the male first showed up, she promised that she would protect him as his older sister, but now, everything had changed. She just hoped that his views of her wouldn't change because of her selfish request.

Once Shizuka stepped out of the hideout, she took off running into the forest without looking back. Was this what freedom felt like? For the first time in a while, she didn't know what the future held for her and it was scary, yet exhilarating at the same time. This time, she could live out the rest of her life without any regrets or 'what ifs'.

Breathless, the female finally stopped in front of an old abode that held many memories for her. She could feel an all too familiar chakra beyond the door and, immediately, she stepped inside. At the workbench was a redhead, who was currently adjusting some loose ends on one of his puppets. The male turned his head as the door opened.

"Hello little girl. I see you've made your-"

Shizuka let the door close behind her and instantly appeared at Sasori's side. She wrapped her arms around the male and buried her face in his chest. Although it was hard due to the puppet's exterior, she felt warmth from the living core, which was more than enough for her. Clutching his cloak in her fists, she finally looked up at him, her eyes glossy with tears. "I'm home, Sasori-san."