Naruto : Venom

Three Weeks Since Entering the Pit

I’m roused from my sleep by something very unusual. I really hope this doesn’t become a trend, I like my sleep. I don’t get anywhere near enough of it.

Fortunately it isn’t Sasuke kicking me that woke me up. Neither is it Gina happily jumping on me while rambling about what she wants for breakfast. No, it’s something much different.

”CHIDORI!” Sasuke yells.

”Huh?” I groggily raise my head up from my rocky pillow. ”Something the matter?”

”Nothing, go back to sleep.” Sasuke quietly says.

”Then why is your hand bloody? And where did that body come from?” There’s a furry mound in the entrance to our cave.

”Oh, that.” Sasuke moves his hand behind his back. ”Assassins. I handled it. He made it the farthest.”

I plop my head back down. ”Ow. Why did I do that? This is rock. Anyways, what’s that put the count at?”

After a moment of recollection Sasuke replies, ”This makes thirteen attempts so far.”

”Wow, I didn’t know we were getting that high. It’s only been three weeks!” Damn. That’s over four a week.

”Alvarcus go back to sleep. We can talk more once breakfast is here.”

”Yeah yeah fine. But I expect that mess to be cleaned up by then.” I gesture to the furry corpse.

...

Two Months Since Entering the Pit

”The food is here.” Sasuke calls into our residence. We’ve taken one of the bigger caves for ourselves, the previous owners didn’t like that. They’re dead now.

”Gina hopes there is pork!” She happily bounces out of our cave towards the delivered food.

She’s the only one who approaches it, everyone else knows better. Sasuke and I have trained the others to wait until we eat. They can have what’s left. We’ve eaten quite well these two months.

There is one oddity with today though, there is already someone else at the table.

”About damn time you came to get us!” I shout at the person at the table. ”It’s been months I tell you! Months!”

”Kukukuku, I knew that you were good, but to actually have the experiments trained to not eat until you have? To the point that they don’t touch the food for hours after it arrives? I am impressed.” Orochimaru is back, he’s here to take us up topside again.

”It only took a week. Pain is a great motivator.” Sasuke gracefully sits down at the table of food and starts eating.

I plop down next to Sasuke and grab a chicken leg. ”It would have taken less time, but I didn’t want to really scare everyone. I kept my hearts close.” For the two months we were down here I didn’t use one heart monster and Sasuke barely used his Sharingan.

Orochimaru loads himself up a plate. ”How did you deal with attempts on your life?”

”Violently.” I respond.

”How many experiments are left?” He casually asks.

”One hundred and twenty three.” Sasuke replies between bites.

”Really?” Orochimaru questions. ”There was two hundred and fourteen when I sent you two down.”

I whistle appreciatively. ”Finally got Sasuke’s kill count in the double digits then. Oi, you need to clear something up for us.”

Orochimaru raises an eyebrow. Kami that is a weird look. ”Oh? And what would that be?”

I boldly stare him straight into his yellow eyes. ”Did you or did you not push me down here after I pushed Sasuke down?”

”... I don’t recall doing that.” Orochimaru takes a drink of what looks like orange juice. I’ve never seen it down here before, he probably had it delivered just for himself to drink. ”I’m sure if I did, it would be one of my more... fond memories.”

”I knew you were lying.” Sasuke smugly says.

”Orochimaru not cool bro!” Killing intent floods the underground chamber. I overstepped my place. ”Sorry, Orochimaru-sama it is very unfortunate that you seem to have forgotten such a fond moment we shared.” I am never calling him bro ever again. I doubt I’d live through a second time.

The killing intent vanishes. ”That’s better. I may tolerate some things, but you will always refer to me with respect.”

”Of course.” I give a little head bow. Mental note: don’t ever call him just Orochimaru, always call him Orochimaru-sama. Or my spy gig will be over before it really starts.

Orochimaru bites into a piece of bread. ”And who is this?”

”Gina is Gina!” Gina happily introduces herself. Does she not remember that this is the person who made her into a succubus look-a-like? ”They protect me and I heal them!”

Guess not. Oh well, that is probably for the best. Imagine if she tried to attack him or something. ”She’s simple. Give her food and a safe place to sleep and she’s happy. It helped that she knows medical jutsu, she patched Sasuke up a few times.”

”Us.” Sasuke corrects.

Gina nods her head vigorously.

”Interesting.” Orochimaru says. ”Well now that we’ve ate, shall we go back to the top? It is always so dreary when I come down here. I would install a skylight, but I don’t want to distract from the dark and cold ambiance. It wouldn’t be the same.”

”Sure.” I shrug while ignoring that bit about a skylight. I think that my selective hearing will get very good around Orochimaru. ”Nothing down here worth packing, I’m good to go.” I turn to Sasuke.

”I’m ready.” He adds.

”Gina is ready!”

Orochimaru smiles sadistically. ”Oh, you poor poor thing. You aren’t coming with us.”

Sasuke and I tense. We’ve grown attached to Gina and her strange bubbliness.

”Why not?” Sasuke asks.

”Sasuke,” Orochimaru says like he’s teaching a four year old, ”she’s a failed experiment. Why would I bring her with us?”

”She knows medical jutsu. She can be useful.” He reasons.

”Kabuto is better.” Orochimaru retorts quickly with a gleeful smile. He’s enjoying this. The bastard.

Sasuke and Orochimaru go back and forth for a bit. I tune them out. I’m focusing on the growing crowd around us. News has spread that we’re leaving. Even worse, news has spread that Gina isn’t. I can tell already there are plans being formed, plans that end in her gruesome death. I guess being overlords does have its downsides, when you leave the people rebel against what was yours.

”Alvarcus, back me up on this. We can’t let her stay down here.” Sasuke pleads with me.

I make eye contact with Orochimaru. ”What can we offer for you to bring her with us?”

”Nothing. There is nothing you have that I don’t already have access to.” He says with a mad gleam in his eyes.

”Nothing we can do?” I question further. ”Not a crazy mission or training program we can submit to? What if I’m willing to part with a piece of the Jiongu?”

~Host how could you? I am not something to barter.~

”I’ve already studied it, the only thing left to study about the Jiongu is how it interacts with a host. There is nothing you can offer me.” He assures me. ”She is down here for a reason. Here she will stay.”

She’s going to die. ”Gina. Say goodbye to Sasuke. We’re leaving.”

”Okay!” She happily hops over to Sasuke and envelopes him in a hug. ”Bye-bye Sasuke!”

Sasuke and I make eye contact over her shoulder. He has come to the same conclusion as me, Gina is going to die today. Violently. Because of us.

Sasuke hugs her back. ”Good bye Gina.”

She releases Sasuke and hops over to me. She throws her arms around me. ”Bye-bye Alvarcus!”

”Bye Gina. I’ll miss you.” I sincerely tell her.

”Oh, and by the way, thanks for saying I’m hot. And saving me. And well... thanks for treating me like a person again.” Gina’s usual brand of insanity fades, this is the first time I’ve ever heard her not refer to herself in the third person. She no longer sounds like a child, now she sounds like a true person.

I pull away from her and gently place my hands on either side of her face. ”I am so sorry.” I softly say to her. She has a ridiculous smile on her face.

”Alvarcus,” Sasuke tentatively says, ”I can do it if you can’t-”

SNAP

I twist her head 180 degrees. I broke her neck. I killed her.

Her body crumples to the floor. The crowd watching us rages at my actions. They wanted to kill her slowly.

Sasuke places what is supposed to be a comforting hand on my shoulder. ”If you didn’t, I would have.” That is all he says.

I turn to Orochimaru. The crazy gleam in his eyes is gone, it’s replaced with surprise. He must have not expected me to kill her. He didn’t think I could stomach it, instead he thought I’d leave her down here to be tortured for hours.

”Well? What are we waiting for? I want to see the sun again.” And run away from what I just did. I liked Gina, she was a friend. A friend I killed. I never want to come back here.

He runs through some hand signs and deactivates the barrier. We follow him up the wall. Once we are officially out the barrier snaps back into place.

”Why did you kill her?” Orochimaru asks. I was wondering how long it would take.

”Because she was a friend.” Sasuke says. ”We heard the others talking, plotting her death. A long painful death. Alvarcus spared her from that. If he didn’t, I would have.”

”You killed her out of kindness?” Orochimaru asks me specifically.

”Yes. I did. This way her last moments are of friends. Not torture.” I take a deep breath. ”I think it is better that way. You wouldn’t let us bring her, we couldn’t let her stay there alone. Not after what we did. We made her our responsibility, the others would torture her just to try to get revenge on us.”

”What an interesting concept. Killing out of kindness.” Orochimaru mutters to himself.

We walk out the front door. Sunlight shines on us for the first time in months. It is a beautiful day.

And a sour one.

...

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