Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Snippets of Dawn ❯ Gift ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Theme: Gift
Characters: Sasori, Orochimaru and Kabuto

“You will not remember this meeting until the time is right. You will remain as loyal as possible to your target until we are ready to eliminate him. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sasori-sama,” the silver-haired child said, staring up in awe at the strange man with blood-red hair.

“Good. You are going to be sent as a gift to him. He always had an unnatural fascination with boys like you,” Sasori said as he straightened the child’s attire. “We will not meet again for a long time. Are you ready Kabuto?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now go.”

Kabuto ran forward walking towards the crowded streets. His mind was racing with commands to find the pale-faced man with long hair, but he was slowly forgetting the reasons why. Darting back and forth between people, his dark eyes scanned the busy street with trepidation.

The waves of bodies moved around him, ignoring the lost child on the streets. Only a spiraling hiss of poisonous yellow spotted the defenseless boy. Those eyes never lost sight of the young child, who scurried between bodies like a little mouse.

Overwhelmed with the sheer number of people around him, Kabuto didn’t even sense the man until he felt a cold hand slither onto his shoulder.

“Are you lost little boy?” a raspy voiced asked.

Kabuto was hypnotized by golden-yellow eyes: frozen in place by the man’s gaze. His voice cowered away from the strength the man emanated and all Kabuto could do in response was nod his head once.

“You poor thing. What’s your name?”

“Kabuto . . . sir.”

The black-haired man gently ran his fingers through the boy’s hair as he tested the name on his lips, “Kabuto. What a nice name. My name is Orochimaru. Do you happen to have any parents, Kabuto?”

Kabuto shook his head, enraptured by the suffocating gentleness of the man Sasori asked him to find.

“Is that so. Lost with no parents. How sad. But you don’t have to be lost anymore. Come,” Orochimaru said as he held his hand out.

The small gesture brought a smile to Kabuto’s lips as he took the man’s hand. Once he felt his smaller hand wrapped possessively around the man’s pale hand he felt secure for the first time in his life. Kabuto realized that even if he hadn’t been ordered to seek this man out, he would have gone with him willingly.

“You look like a little gift. All that’s missing is a bow wrapped around your neck,” Orochimaru quipped.

Kabuto only smiled back gingerly in response, soaking in the tall man’s interest like a sponge as they walked away. The poor boy was nothing more than a thing to be tossed around. He was a gift from one man to the next, a gift that was supposed to bring about Orochimaru’s downfall. Sasori would never live long enough to learn what happened to the young boy he gave away, but Orochimaru was never one to squander away something useful: and Kabuto’s use was priceless.