=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Hideo frowned at the ink on the large
metal door. “Just like Kabuto.”
Harry finally spoke up. “What is it?”
“A seal of some sort,” Hideo said.
“I don't have any experience with seals. I don't know if there's
anyone who can deal with Kabuto's seal work.”
Harry frowned. “But you're sure that
there's actually people in there?”
“Kabuto frequented this area,”
Hideo said, his voice a soft whisper as he glared at the ink
markings. “There were always screams.”
Trouble coiled tighter around Harry's
neck at the words.
Harry moved closer to the large metal
doors. “Let me give it a try then. If we can't open it, then we'll
go to the next place you think has people held inside.”
Hideo frowned but moved aside, giving
Harry clear access to the door. The thick ink characters on the door
pulsed on the smooth metal door.
Having already considered all his
options, Harry touched the cold metal door with his fingers.
“Alohomora,” Harry tried with a soft whisper that
sounded more like a hiss that made Trouble raise his head and rubbed
against Harry's cheek.
With a click, the ink characters
vanished and the door slid open with an agonizing groan of metal.
A few steps into the dim lit space
beyond the door made the sterile smell of chemicals hard to ignore,
but Harry kept walking. Beyond the equipment covered metal tables, a
large glass tube stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Filled with
glowing blue liquid, the glass tank was the only source of light in
the entire room.
Trouble slithered down Harry's arm,
thumped onto the gleaming tiles and moved straight to the glass tube.
“In the water,” Trouble hissed. “There's a human in the water.”
“What?” Harry bypassed Hideo's
outstretched hands to stand beside Trouble. All he could see was
clear liquid behind the glass. “How can you possibly tell?”
“Can feel the difference in chakra
between the air and those containers,” Trouble said, as though that
explained everything.
With the help of a muttered Homenum
Revelio, Harry sensed a person in the water container even
though he still couldn't see anything.
“Is there a way to open this?”
Harry asked Hideo, searching for a convenient console or button.
“Even if there was, it's not safe to
open Kabuto's work,” Hideo said, disapproval clear in his voice. “I
will get a team down here later, if you are really insistent on
opening it.”
Harry glanced back at the sour-faced
ninja. “What do you think is in there?”
Hideo frowned, the thick scars across
his neck somehow even more noticeable in the dim light. “Kabuto
made dangerous things. Things that none of us would ever anticipate
as a weapon.”
“There's a person inside,” Harry
said.
Hideo stared at him and then at the
container behind Harry.
“I'm not making that up,” Harry
said, already a bit indignant at not being believed.
“I believe you completely,” Hideo
said after a moment, his eyes still on the container behind Harry.
Harry turned.
In the liquid, a see through human face
pressed against the glass of the container.
Unnerved, it took all of his courage
for Harry to address the face in the water, “Do you know how to
open this?”
The face solidified a bit more, taking
till it looked like thick jelly in the liquid. The mouth moved, but
no sound passed through the glass.
Before Harry could curse his inability
to communicate with the liquid person, Hideo said, “That is
Suigetsu and he says to break the container.”
Harry frowned. “Won't that hurt him?”
The face solidified into something
slightly more opaque and the mouth curved into a sharp grin before
moving to the back of the tube.
“If you really want to free me, then
break this,” Hideo said, with a low voice that dripped with
disapproval.
Harry turned away from the liquid eyes
and wide smile. “Can you break it?” Seeing the reluctance in
Hideo's eyes and pressed lips, Harry said, “I said no more
experiments. So if you don't break this, I'll...”
“Please step back, Nidaime-sama.”
Sharp blue light coated Hideo's gloved hands, as he stepped forward
with a sour expression.
Glass shattered and water sloshed out.
Hideo choked as water swirled around
him, completely covering his head even as a part of the water
stretched till a face shape appeared with a sharp smile at Harry.
“Shouldn't have let me free, Nidaime-sama.”
A torrent of water rushed right at
Harry.
A panicked but well timed Evanesco
vanished the water a mere inch from Harry's face. Squinting through
the spray of water droplets on his glasses, Harry aimed at the
churning water around Hideo's paling face. Water that sometimes
shifted into the shape of a human body. “Reparifarge.”
To Harry's delight and disbelief, the
untransfiguration spell meant to reverse partial transfigurations
worked.
The water splattered away from Hideo
and slammed against the lab floor with a solid thump.
Though still pale, Hideo shook away
Harry's steadying hand and glared at the solid white haired teen on
the floor.
“Shit,” the teen shuddered and
shook on the lab floor. “Looks like you've got some bite, Nidaime,”
he mocked as Trouble coiled around his neck with a warning hiss.
Unconcerned, Suigetsu taunted Hideo with a wide grin. “Unlike your
crappy bodyguard.”
Hideo's fingers tightened around the
weapon in his hand and his narrowed eyes promised violence.
Harry frowned. “Hideo, give him your
jacket or something.”
Hideo glanced at him, his grey eyes
narrowed in disbelief.
“He's cold. Better not to make too
much work for the doctors.”
“Cold? You used ice jutsu on me?”
Suigetsu said, his body shaking with each word.
Harry stared at Hideo until the man
finally shrugged off his tan jacket. With the jacket in hand, Harry
crouched down in front of the naked teen. “Here.”
Purple eyes stared straight at Harry
with something like disbelief. “How did Orochimaru allow someone
like you to become Nidaime?”
“Orochimaru is dead,” Harry said.
“And Kabuto,” Hideo added with a
stern tone.
“Right,” Harry said. “They're
both dead.”
“You killed them?” Disbelief
dripped from Suigetsu's voice.
“Yes,” Hideo said.
“No,” Harry clarified at the same
time. “I just indirectly caused Kabuto's death. And Orochimaru was
all Sasuke's work.”
“Uchiha?” the teen said with a bit
of a snarl. “How come he didn't make himself Nidaime?”
Harry sighed. “He's... recovering
from his fight.”
Suigetsu grinned with open delight.
“Not a fan of the Uchiha?”
“He was fine up until he started
speaking,” Harry said with a shrug.
“At least you're not blind to his
crap.” Suigetsu grabbed the jacket and shrugged it on.
Harry reached for Trouble with an
expectant look.
“He's dangerous,” Trouble hissed,
not moving from the teen's neck.
“He was a prisoner here,” Harry
hissed back in annoyance. “He was bound to be angry about that. Besides, he can turn into water. You can't actually hurt him”
“He's weak now,” Trouble said. “If
I feel the slightest change in his chakra, I'm biting him.”
“No, you're not,” Harry said with
finality. After a short staring competition, Trouble hissed in
annoyance but uncurled from Suigetsu's neck with a slow reluctance
and slithered up to Harry's outstretched hand.
“I didn't think Orochimaru had any
actual kids,” Suigetsu said, a strange tone in his stiff voice.
Harry grimaced in distaste. “I'm not
related to him.”
Suigetsu looked between him and the
snake with a cautious but pointed look.
“I was actually on my way to becoming
his next experiment because he couldn't speak to snakes,” Harry
said as he stood up. “So I'm making sure that there won't be any
more experiments here.”
Suigetsu looked at Harry and turned to
Hideo. “You'll need to find a Sandaime soon.”
Harry didn't know what expression Hideo
had on his scarred face, but Trouble hissed in annoyance. “Well
whatever the case, you're free now.”
“Free?” Suigetsu scoffed. “Free
to do what? Do you know how long I was in there, how long I waited
for my chance to rip Kabuto's smug head off? And now you tell me he's
dead.”
Harry sighed. “Well, Trouble took
great pleasure in making Kabuto's last moments as messy as possible.”
Trouble let up on his hissing and
raised his head, radiating pride.
Suigetsu huffed. “That doesn't make
me feel any better.”
“I wasn't actually trying to make you
feel better,” Harry retorted. “Do you need a doctor?”
Suigetsu straightened as though he
hadn't just been shaking and narrowed his eyes. “I'm fine.”
“Good,” Harry said. “Having them
keep an eye on Sasuke will save us a lot of trouble.”
Suigetsu's purple eyes lit up. “Got
some problems with the Uchiha, Nidaime?”
“No,” Harry said. “He's going to
go off searching for his brother when he wakes up.”
Suigetsu tilted his head in
consideration. “Your bodyguard doesn't think so.”
Harry glanced back, his weapon still
held loosely in his hands.
Hideo shrugged. “He can he quite...
persistent. Violently so.”
The ground shook and the walls around
them trembled and cracked as a deafening explosion followed Hideo's
words.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The more I write for this AU, the more
unsure of how it's going to go. But it's an interesting ride so far,
I think.
Hope you guys think so too.
Polar
P.S.Tbh, anything other than editing is more interesting to me at the moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment