A/N: Hmm... Going into yaoi? Hahaha, I played with the idea… and I guess I will eventually, but I don't think I'll get into lemons or anything (unless you, the readers, ask for it!). With the current chapters, I had to do this with Oro and Kabu though… I'm sorry to those that didn't want me to, but I say to you: You can't even deny it now! X3

Chapter 6: Prediction

The cells were cold; this was the first thing that the Sannin noticed. He hadn't been down in this area for some time personally; that was what he had subordinates for, after all... Subjects and the like could be fetched and searched out by them, and he didn't have to set foot in the distasteful rows of cells with the private and more protected rooms at the end. The door he came to currently was heavy and rather plain, except for the several fuda that graced the edges. With a sign of his hands and a short word he released the tags.

The cell was dark, but that was alright. He didn't need the light to see, and the cell's occupant was likely used to it by now. It had been about eight hours, well long enough to adjust to the dim light coming from under the door when he closed it behind him.

Kabuto reclined against the far wall, though he had brought himself up to a crouch when the Sannin had entered. He gave a sardonic grin, bowing his head in a respectful greeting. "Orochimaru-sama...I thought it was about time that you came to see me to explain..."

"Explain?" The much older ninja cut him off, crossing his arms and giving the medic a rather smug smile. "Oh no, you have it all wrong... I'm not here to 'explain' anything at all..."He led off, and the silver-haired one looked up, for just a moment surprised. He fell back to a grin, hands curled near his waist. The shackles around them were heavy, and chafing, the skin of his wrists already bruised and scraped by the harsh metal. The chains leading to the walls gave just enough room, not enough for his hands to touch each other, and not enough to touch the ground. His master's eyes moved to the said restraints.

"Your men think to highly of my abilities. Even I cannot cut through steel...And they stripped me of everything but my clothes. Look at this, even my and hair-tie..." He led off, forlornly. Indeed, Kabuto had been stripped of everything but his blue pants and shirt, even his shoes and gloves. His hair hung around his face, a little dirty and mussed, the same with his clothing. His body had healed what wounds he had, and now he was only tired and lost.

"What you lack in skill and strength you make up for in cleverness. You could think of a way to escape me."

"That's not very nice... I know this has to do with you...I'm loyal... As loyal as one can be to a mastermind such as your self, who keeps his distance and carefully handles every situation as if it was a venomous serpent that could strike at any moment..."

"Hmm, which is very loyal... at least on the outside. And you've very good at what you do, Kabuto... which is spying,lying, and deceiving...Are you so sure that you haven't done anything to deserve this?" The Sannin asked smoothly, and he came to stand close enough that Kabuto had to tilt his head back to keep his master's gaze.

"Be serious... Orochimaru-sama, I know enough to–"

"I know exactly how much you know about me and the Oto, Kabuto... which is exactly why I am taking such precaution with you... don't you think?" His smile became even more mischievous, perhaps even sadistic. The corner of the medic's lips twitched, a crack in his mask.

"S...stop this... it isn't fair. I know I did nothing wrong, I brought that scroll to you. The one with the information from..." He led off. From...? Where the hell was that scroll from?? His face paled a little, and he swallowed hard. Kabuto's heart was beating so fiercely in his chest that it was painful, but he kept his breathing slow and even somehow. Hands unclenched and hung loosely, and he renewed his smile. "You're cruel...playing with even me like I was one of your pitiful test subjects... Didn't you say it before, when I came back? That I did everything perfectly... that I had done nothing wrong?"

"If that's the truth, then why are you sweating?" Orochimaru inquired calmly, tilting his head to the side a little. Another twitch of Kabuto's lips. "You were nearly delirious when you returned, and you even pulled your hand back from me so that I couldn't take the scroll. I have reason to believe that you might have betrayed me while you were gone on that mission."

"I'm not sweating, I'm getting frustrated..!" Kabuto confessed, and his smile broke at last, to a more honest and perplexed expression.

"Really...? You're not afraid, not at all?"

"No." The voice was firm, and so was the medic's expression. Only a fool would not believe that deep of an expression. Well then, the Sannin seemed to be such a fool.

"Humph...you're a mess, Kabuto. Your legs are tense like a cat about to pounce, your hands are open because your palms were getting moist, your face is so tense that it's painful, and your pulse is racing to an extreme... All of that, I suppose could be attributed to wanting me to believe you..." Orochimaru lifted an eyebrow, "...However... if you were not afraid, you would not be sweating."

"I said I'm no–what?" Kabuto tried to move back as his master descended on him, but the older ninja was much faster. Pale fingers slid up under the back of the medic's shirt, pressing against the heated–and very wet–small of Kabuto's back. "O-Orochimaru-sama, what–??" He gasped, trying to writhe away from the soothingly cool fingers. His master chuckled.

"I know you, Kabuto... I know your body, at least... And when you are afraid, or nervous you are very, very skilled at keeping it from others. Your face looks natural, your hands lax and calm, your breathing even... but your back...it begins to sweat. Of course, if you sweat anywhere else, it would be seen on the dark clothing that you wear...so you wear a white sash, to hide that."

"H...how...?" Kabuto gave up on keeping his racing pulse and painful slow breath to himself, and he let a few heavy breaths slip, hot and swift, tickling the Sannin's neck.

"Hmm...I told you, I know you."

"But...I...I don't remember...Anything about the scroll, or what happened..." His fists were clenched again, but his body was surprisingly calm. With this deadly man so close...he was calm. It was all too confusing.

"Try..." Orochimaru said firmly, and his fingers began to slide up along the medic's slick back.

"A...ah..." Kabuto frowned, surprised by the seemingly intimate action. He struggled with his own thoughts to come up with an answer before his master came up with anything more confusing to do to him. "I...I went... to Mist... there was a traitor...and Sasuke-kun... Yes, he was with me. Sasuke-kun and I got... the scroll?"

"Don't guess!" The Sannin's now damp fingers slid beneath the rim of Kabuto's pants, teasingly. Kabuto grit his teeth, trying to move away from the touch but only managing to bring the front of his body closer to his master.

"Wh...We fought...Akatsuki! K-Kisame...and Uchiha Itachi!" He rushed, mind now fighting to remember even as his body was touched in such a manor.

"Yes... but what of the scroll?" Orochimaru's other hand touched Kabuto's left thigh, and the medic tensed in response.

"It's..." It was Akatsuki's goals–their secrets! He opened his mouth to speak and was met with a harsh mental back-lash. A lie came instantly to his lips, but he froze before he spoke. It almost made him angry with himself. One hand was sliding lower, while one was creeping slowly higher on his body–but he was oddly calm...physically. Lips touched his neck, and he shuddered. His mind was a blur of images. Fighting, running, lying, and darkness... Only it wasn't supposed to be darkness... "A jutsu..." He said, at last, almost a groan as he shifted into the hands touching him. Wait just one... Orochimaru smirked, giving a chuckle.

"Is that a lie...?" He asked, as if reading Kabuto's earlier thoughts. The medic flushed.

"No! I know better than that...Stop...Stop touching me when I'm trying to think...!" He growled, and he wasn't surprised this time, when his master backed off. He met his medic's flushed cheeks with a wide grin, his hands leaving the other's body completely.

"Alright, alright... I take it you are coherent, then?"

"Somewhat... I think I understand..."

"How do you come to this conclusion?" The Sannin asked, and Kabuto glared a bit. "What's that look for, boy? I'll strike it off of you–"

"It's the card..." Kabuto said quickly, and the Sannin stopped.

"...Card?" For the first time that night, it was Orochimaru's turn to look confused.

"The one I wrote... you must know about it. Did you tell me to write that?"

"Kabuto, I know nothing about a card... and I'm beginning to think that you are lying to me, and I can't begin to tell you how upset I am that..."

"No!" Kabuto pleaded, dark eyes widening a little. "There was a card...it was in my handwriting, so I know I wrote it even if I don't remember it. It was how I knew to come back here..."

"Hmm...Now I'm interested. What did this card say?" Orochimaru asked, and his mischievous smile was back.

"...'Trust yourself. Is it there? Go.'..."

"...And so you came back here?"

"I figured the scroll out...and I remembered that I was on a mission for you. I know myself very well, Orochimaru-sama... and I know that I would not have prepared something like that card had I not thought that there would be a reason to doubt what I was doing. That's why I thought... I would have discussed it with you..."

"You seem to think, Kabuto... that you are more honest with me than you really are." He tilted his head a bit to the side. "Which makes me wonder..."

"No," Kabuto shook his head. "There was another reason that it said that... and I know that now, too..."

"...Go on."

"It was the wording. The way it was written was rather vague... And I seem to know you better than I thought..."

"Is that so?" Orochimaru sounded a little amused.

"Yes... I knew that you would touch me." He gave the Sannin a rather accusing look, and Orochimaru laughed.

"How can you be sure?"

"I knew. I knew that, so I said 'Trust yourself'... but it also meant 'Trust your body'."

"I think I understand."

"Yes... If I had not said it exactly that way, I might have been very confused indeed...when I did not fear your touch, as any regular subordinate would." He met the Sannin's eyes, searching for some sign that what he was saying made sense. Orochimaru kept his gaze very placid for a long, tense moment.

"...Very well played, Kabuto. You are indeed worthy of being my right hand man." He said, and his face broke into his usual smug smile. Kabuto's expression wasn't angry, but it wasn't very happy. He still couldn't clearly remember everything, but he knew that he'd made the right choice.

"Was there ever a doubt?" He shot back, as the Sannin reached for his wrists. With two distinct clicks, the shackles released. The medic rubbed his sore wrists, healing them. "So I predicted your... perversion..."

"Watch your tongue, Kabuto. I wasn't the one shuddering and damn near groaning, now was I?" Orochimaru shot back, and Kabuto felt heat rush to his face as he averted his gaze.

"A-anyway...Will you explain things to me now...please, Orochimaru-sama? About that scroll, and why I'm like this to begin with..." He glanced back, and the Sannin seemed to be thinking about this. He sighed, standing and crossing his arms as he headed for the door. Turning around, he leaned his back against it.

"You're under Sasori's jutsu again..."

"Sasori-sama? But I don't remember...oh..." So that was it? It was believable... He remembered Deidara, after all, and they had discovered that the bird-brained blonde had taken his master's place as Sasori's partner after Orochimaru had left them... So it made perfect sense. "I see... so that's why I tried to keep the scroll from you at the last moment... And we knew this would happen, so we planned for it. And as an after thought... or maybe I was too embarrassed to tell you about it, I wrote that card."

"It would seem so, and the rest is correct. Which means that I have to erase that jutsu all over again and that means more confusion."

"So it's not the same as removing a memory block... I see. There are things I can tell you, and things I cannot, so... it's a complex mental seal. It's all subconscious. I want to hide things from you, but don't know why..." He placed his hand on his forehead.

"It's alright...At least we know one thing." The Sannin's face was so serious, that Kabuto worried for a moment as he waited for him to finish. He waited as his master began to step towards him, swallowing hard. Reaching out, the Sannin took Kabuto's chin in his long white fingers. "Silly boy, it's that you're loyal." He said, running a thumb over his lower lip. Kabuto gave a small sigh a relief, having had quite enough of this game for one night. Hell, he'd had enough for a whole year.

"Please… release it. That way I can begin to return to normal… If I remember or not is not as important as the fact that I returned that information to you, right? So just get this off of me… like you did the first time." Kabuto said, and his voice was very tired indeed. Orochimaru gave a rather soft smile, taking pity on his poor servant. Indeed, he was very pleased with the boy. He had proved to be possibly the most useful servant under him in his life.

"Alright, Kabuto… you're right. But first… I want you to do one more thing." He kneeled, and Kabuto pressed his back against the wall, eyeing his master warily.

"What's that…?" He asked curiously. Orochimaru gave his lopsided grin, full of mischief.

"Kiss the enemy, Kabuto."

"What?"

"Sasori's jutsu says that I am the enemy. Kiss me, and I'll remove the jutsu."

"You… really are twisted." Kabuto said, but he moved close to wrap his arms around his master's shoulders anyway. "But I know who I am loyal to… Even if my head doesn't…" he whispered, eyes slipping shut before he closed his lips over the Sannin's own pale ones. His master held him around the waist, leaning into him as he slipped his tongue past his slack lips. Groaning, Kabuto arched into the firm body in front of him, letting his own tongue brush against it in greeting. When they did break the kiss, he was panting heavily, and shuddering a little. Dark eyes half-opened to meet his master's fully open golden gaze. "That… felt so wrong."

"Mmm, but it was the right answer." Orochimaru said, standing slowly. He formed the seals in quick succession, as Kabuto watched on with a very content expression on his face. When he formed the last seal, he gave a smile. "Sleep well, Kabuto… when you next wake, you will be in a familiar place. I will make sure that you are rewarded for your accomplishment…"

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama." The corner of the medic's lips tilted in a smile. And when darkness came this time, he was content to welcome it.