Hellfire

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Drama/Angst

Summary: Drabble, companion to ‘Okami’, and therefore AU to normal Naruto universe. Sasuke’s defection from Otogakure, a slightly more in-depth look.

Author’s Note: In case any of you Disney fans found the title familiar and ironic, then yes, I did in fact name this story after the song ‘Hellfire’ from ‘The Hunchback of Notredame’. It was too good to pass up. A few people have YouTube videos with Orochimaru and Sasuke with this song… It’s a good fit…

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. And the title, Hellfire, I got from Disney’s ‘The Hunchback of Notredame’.

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“Ssssasuke…”

-

Such a fiery child. Must have been the Uchiha blood.

And such fearlessness…
Sasuke had always been so flippant with Orochimaru, so unbearably cocky, though Orochimaru had tolerated it.

It had irritated Kabuto and Karin, but if their master could tolerate Sasuke’s disrespect, so could they.

Or maybe it wasn’t even that so much as it was the fact they knew Orochimaru well. Too well. Well enough to know that he wouldn’t be taking such lip from the Uchiha heir if he didn’t have something planned for him later. Something… Compensating.

And he did.

Good lord, he did.

There were snakes… And there were candles… And there was Orochimaru… And then there were a series of events that Sasuke intended to keep locked away in his mind for the rest of his existence.

He’d spent a great deal of time in his room after that. He was pained, horrified, distraught and so unbearably embarrassed.

What was even worse was the fact that he’d earned sympathy (Yes, sympathy, not pity) from Kabuto of all people, the man who’d made at least three attempts on his life to date. It was times like this where Sasuke simply couldn’t figure the medic out. One minute he was cutting your spleen out with a rusty spoon, the next he was smiling that odd smile and trying to make you feel better.

Indeed, it seemed that Kabuto did make an honest attempt to get Sasuke to feel better for the next week or so. He healed what Sasuke would let him heal, he backed off saying any sarcastic or hurtful things, tried to make Sasuke laugh; Hell, Kabuto had purposefully cut open the back of his hand and cursed a couple of times, and Sasuke didn’t even crack a smile.

It was too late to be having second thoughts, wasn’t it?

He’d made his bed, and now he would have to lie in it.

Unfortunately, when Orochimaru wasn’t beating the crap out of him during training sessions, that was pretty much all Sasuke could do.

Sasuke never thought he'd say it, never thought he’d think it, but damn… He was homesick.

Strange as it was, he missed Kakashi’s masked (No pun intended) pride whenever Sasuke excelled during training. Missed the way that Sakura stuck by him, and worried about him when something was wrong.

And he missed Naruto… Possibly the only person he could- or would- ever consider his best friend.

His heart ached for home; However annoying his teammates and teacher could be to him at times, it was far better than the burning loneliness that Sound gave him.

He had no friends there. Kabuto was kind enough when it suited him, but no one else wanted anything to do with Orochimaru’s bitch, no matter how deep their individual loyalties to their master ran.

Sasuke felt like he was going crazy sometimes.

Life in Sound sucked.

And what did Sasuke always do when he felt suffocated by something or someone?

He ran, that’s what.

One night, in the span of ten minutes, he gathered up his courage, packed his few items and made a break for it.

His driving force was the knowledge of what Orochimaru was likely to do to him if he was caught.

Lord. He didn’t need those images. But whenever he needed an extra push, they were quite effective.

He ran, and he ran, and he ran, and he ran.

By the time he came to a complete halt some weeks later, he was west of the established ninja nations.

But that next morning after he left, Kabuto was forced to go looking for him when he didn’t show up for training with Orochimaru.

His personal belongings were gone.

The bed was made.

His chakra could not be detected.

Oh yeah. He’s gone.

Kabuto had been careful to keep a good several feet between himself and Lord Orochimaru when he told the sannin that Sasuke had, apparently, run away in the night. His master took is surprisingly well.

-

“Ssssasuke… You stupid boy…”

-

You accepted the curse-mark, boy.

You’re bound to me.

You think you’ve escaped me so easily?

Kukuku… Silly little Sasuke.

You’ll come back.

When you burn with hatred for your brother, you’ll come back.

When you train and train and train, and are still unable to kill Itachi, you’ll come back.

When you dispel that goody-goody love-is-everything foolishness that the Third Hokage preached, you’ll come back.

Ku… If you ever figure out that the Third Hokage wasn’t such the sweet old man you all thought he was, and why your brother really slaughtered the clan, you’ll come back…

You’re mine, Sasuke.

Mine.

And if you don’t come back…

I’ll drag you back.

-End