one_long_mission | [OPEN] The Strange Man's Arrival

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[OPEN] The Strange Man's Arrival

Within hours of finding himself in this new location, he'd removed his Sound forehead protector and buried it in a copse of trees beyond a rice paddy. It was clear that there were no shinobi here, and he had no desire to stand out. What was the saying about the post that sticks up...? If captured, he would need to be able to morph his allegiances to suit, not be branded prematurely by a piece of metal. Purposefully, he'd masked his Chakra and made to blend in, smiling and earning himself the trust of a simple herbsman within the village itself. To even the most trained eye, the young man with the prematurely-grey hair had made himself a home in this so-called Michi no Sato.

Yakushi Kabuto had no home, only cover stories.

Whether this was a test of Orochimaru-sama's or a genjutsu prison devised by any one of their many enemies, Kabuto would survive, would thrive, and would eventually escape to rejoin his master. Any lingering doubts that he might eventually be happy here on his own were quickly squashed. Independence was not an option.

Within a few days, other shinobi began to arrive, some more obviously than others. Through it all, the young man only smiled, collected herbs, mashed poultices, and took careful, careful notes.

The bustle of the Frost Festival provided the perfect opportunity to personally gather more information. The shifting timelines and alternate personalities he'd observed would only be to his benefit here.

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He followed Orochimaru inside, all but collapsing into the same couch he sat on before. His chest burned, and that's when the coughing started.

All the better if the Uzumaki brat was out -- Kabuto had no desire to engage in combat with him just yet, not when there was something far more interesting to occupy his time. As soon as the Uchiha sinks to the couch, Kabuto moves over to run his hands over the other's back and chest, not physically touching him, but using his Chakra to analyze his body. The truly amusing thing was that with just a shift in Chakra, with just the slightest change in pressure, he could sever the arteries around the other's heart, and so would be the end of the famed prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi.

"Itachi-kun, you should have leaned on me on your way." He turned, regarding Kabuto for a long, calculating moment, then he plucked up some papers and set them on a space of empty desk, moving off to collect his concoction, well, a portion of it, before heading over to Itachi. "You're going to drink this. It's going to taste horrible, and it's going to burn all the way down, but you must not cough it back up."

The coughs were still dry for the most part, but it was hardly a consolation. He could feel Kabuto's chakra inside him, and he knew Kabuto was taking stock of every bit of damage and deterioration.

He trusted this younger version of Orochimaru out of desperation. But he did not trust Kabuto at all.

He took the flask with a shaky hand.

"... I'm not drinking anything... until I know what it is."

The damage was clearly centered around his lungs, but it was no disease that Kabuto was familiar with personally. He had no doubt, given time, he could work up a cure, or at least a way to stem the flow of disease to counteract some of its effects.

Giving the flask a glance, Kabuto doesn't move away from the other's body, intending to analyze it as he drank. "Do not be foolish, Uchiha-san," he says mildly, as if he were genuinely concerned for the other's well-being, as a medic should be. "Why would Orochimaru-sama hasten your death with poison when you are already clearly dying without our help?"

Orochimaru nudged the flask up to the light so that Itachi could see the violently red color through the clear glass. "Now now Kabuto-kun, I can afford to accommodate. Itachi-kun, this is my first attempt to help you. Do you really care about the parts that make that happen?"

"Had I known what made Sasori's medicine work... what it contained... I wouldn't be in such a bind now..." he noted. "I want to know everything... about the final result. Nothing left out."

He studied the flask again, uncorking it. The smell alone made his eyes water.

"And just so you're warned... I will try to keep it down. But I don't think... I can make any promises..."

He took the flask to his lips, gulping, gagging and choking its contents down. His face said it all... it burned. Oh, gods, did it burn...

"And what exactly did Sasori's medicine contain?" Kabuto's voice remains polite with what could easily be mistaken for professional concern as he keeps his hands over the other's chest. Whatever Orochimaru-sama had concocted, it was highly corrosive, causing damage to the cells lining esophagus. That, at least, the grey-haired teen could work to contain, back teeth gritting as he concentrated his Chakra into healing that damage, at least. "Stay calm, Uchiha-san. It's only medicine."

Which it was meant to do, but it would stop the line down from getting irritated again any time soon. "Some highly refined poison concoctions and suppressants. Very beautiful work." His voice was a murmur and he watched Itachi intently, reaching out and waving his hand, starting a breeze to sweep away the scent as his other hand reached to carefully trickle straight chakra into his body, skillfully avoiding hindering Kabuto's work. "Breathe shallow now Itachi-kun."

He was still coughing, still gagging. He gripped his midsection as tightly as he could, as if it would force everything to stay down. The last few oral tinctures, mixtures, powders, all of them came back up not long after. And they weren't nearly this bad.

He tried to control his breathing. Whether he did a good job or not was anyone's guess.

"Breathe, Uchiha-san." Kabuto's voice is still light, because really, it's of no concern of his if the medicine doesn't agree with him. Intentionally he focuses his Chakra lower down, soothing the stomach muscles and forcing them to relax, all the while inducing a burst of endorphins to deaden the pain more effectively than any morphine. "It doesn't hurt nearly as bad as you're making yourself think it is."

He wasn't entirely sure what the man was doing, but he was certainly pleased with whatever seemed to be easing the Uchiha of his ministrations. He resisted the urge to pat either of them on the head, instead pulling back and taking the small flask as he watched him to make sure it wouldn't return.

It didn't take all the discomfort away, but it was more than enough. And Itachi showed his gratitude by falling out of Kabuto's arms and slumping sideways onto the couch.

Kabuto immediately pulled his hands away so as not to touch the other and lets him fall where he will. A moment, then he glances to his master. "Have I passed your test, Orochimaru-sama?"

He rested his hand on Itachi's forehead as he leaned down, checking to see if he was even conscious. "Oh yes. You're welcome to go through the notes I set on the table." He tilted his head to the papers he'd pulled out earlier, which detailed parts of the bloodwork, the original serum, and the current test procedure.

Itachi groaned, opening his eyes, and then closing them again.

Kabuto tsks and stares at the Uchiha. "Shall I ensure he does not wake until morning, Orochimaru-sama, or does he amuse you?"

He ran his fingers over Itachi's hair with a fond little smile. "No, I want to see how well he sleeps. I can't check that if he's knocked unconscious."

Itachi groaned. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could feel Orochimaru petting him. But he couldn't muster anything more than a half-lidded glare.

Sleep or not, he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Again, his eyes follow the other's movements, but he ignores them in favor of the papers on the table. "As you wish, Orochimaru-sama." He doesn't bother to advise the other to be careful; even with the other's famed doujutsu, there was no way he would be able to entrap both Orochimaru-sama and himself in it, not with the state he was in now.

"Shhh, sleep Itachi-kun." It was an amused croon in reaction to the glare and he righted himself. "I would give you a blanket, but the ones we have are mostly unfit for someone with your... issues."

He padded over to looked at Kabuto, setting down a couple blank sheets. "Feel free to put down any added notes from what you see of mine."

Itachi managed a little sleep, thanks to Kabuto. But it didn't last very long.

A couple of hours later he woke to a pool of bloody vomit on a sweat-drenched couch, sharp pain and gut-wrenching nausea that made him curl into a rigid ball.

Well, that was rather irritating. Couldn't the fool have vomited onto the floor, or some other easy-to-clean surface? Kabuto still isn't alarmed by the other's reaction; he merely finishes the page he's reading and underlines something to reference later. "A proper lab table and restraints," he says, more to himself than the other, standing up and moving in to examine him without touching him or leaning down. "What seems to be the problem, Uchiha-san?"

Orochimaru looked over from where he was fiddling with a tincture, and he blinked slowly. "...Well, that takes care of the indecision over the couch."

Itachi was really beginning to hate Kabuto - his tone, his mannerisms, everything he already knew about him from before they'd arrived in this village.

The answer to his question was more than obvious. And for the record, it burned just as bad on the way back up too.

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