Chapter 54 part 2

Orochimaru's Office

"So what did you two think?" Orochimaru eagerly asks his two students.

Sasuke and I are each sitting down. Sasuke is sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair and I'm lounging in the throne.

"And why do you have that Alvarcus?" Orochimaru adds on.

"What, you think I wasn't going to add a badass looking throne to my furniture collection? I've always wanted a throne and you handed one to me on a silver platter. It was just sitting in that castle growing dusty." I rub the arms appreciatively. "Also can I keep the book they were after? I'm a fan of the author."

"Fine. I don't even know which book it was, an underling set up the entire affair." Orochimaru sighs. "I don't know why I didn't expect you bringing the throne with you."

"He's also looking for an armchair." Sasuke blandly adds. He's ignoring the book because he knows who wrote it. "He's manifested the weirdest hobby ever."

"Yes, yes, let's move on." Orochimaru straightens and eagerly looks at us again. "So, what did you two think?"

"You need better shinobi." Sasuke dryly says. "I only took down four. I used genjutsu to make the rest defeat themselves. It was easy, too easy. I expected better. I had no problem hiding in the shadows the entire time and I went against the recon group. They had to have sensors."

"I didn't even touch one of them!" I sob. "All my fun! Gone! Just like that!"

"You had fun." Sasuke points out. "You wouldn't quit pestering me until I relented and let you play King. We could have dealt with them easily as a pair and had some random person be the King but you wanted to let one group through to go on the whole monologue thing. I can't believe I let that happen, I even wore that damn suit. Never again!"

"Wait a moment." Orochimaru looks at Sasuke. "You defeated the recon team. The assault team confronted Alvarcus and then surrendered. So who defeated the demolition team?"

"Dokuso. One of my Summons." I am so proud of her! She brought down eight shinobi all by herself! Given she's naturally camouflaged and probably poisoned them with her concoctions but still! I bet it was one hell of a fight. I really need to watch her work sometime. "She left the moment she brought Arachne the bodies. Said something about needing to tweak a few poisons. She didn't even say goodbye either!"

"Well I'll have you both know that I deem you ready for missions again." Orochimaru's face is lit up in joy. "To think that the both of you have progressed so far that defeating one of my best squads is 'too easy!'"

"Hold up." I cut in. "They were some of your best?"

"Believe it or not, yes." Orochimaru smiles fondly at his memories. "They've proved themselves over and over in the War Games. I consider them to be one of my best assets. They've triumphed over some strong B-rank threats and a few low A-rank ones too."

"You might want to reevaluate that." Pfft yeah right. They're not one of his best, they can't be. "We got them to surrender. They didn't even have the guts to fight me!"

"Can you blame them?" Orochimaru says. "They recognized you."

"So?" I'm confused. "Why does that matter?"

"You've made quite a name for yourself." Orochimaru snickers. "After all you're the Pr-"

"NO!" I leap out of my throne and cut him off. "I was joking when I said that! Please say it didn't stick! It sounds so lame! LAME!"

"Who would have thought that the Prince of Sound is a joker!" Sasuke doesn't even attempt to hide his laughter.

"NOOOOOO!" I wail as I fall to my knees and shake my fist at the heavens. "NOOOOOO!"

At least it's better than Muffins.

With Alvarcus and Sasuke, Outside Orochimaru's Office

"Hey Alvarcus." Sasuke casually opens up conversation.

"What's up?" I ask him. Usually he'd be ranting about how utterly crazy and ridiculous I am right now.

"You've got a tail." He subtly snags a senbon out of his holster.

"Yeah, she's been following me since we got back to the main island." I reply.

"Want me to get rid of her?" He rolls the senbon between his fingers.

"Nah don't worry about it. She's harmless."

Sasuke pins me in a stare. It's one that he frequently uses on me, it's his 'are you stupid' look.

"Okay fine she's harmless to me." I amend my former statement. "Probably? I think?"

"And what makes you draw that conclusion? If she's here then she's a kunoichi." Sasuke flicks his senbon back into the hostler.

"I met her yesterday along with her team. They all decided to befriend Orochimaru-sama's kid."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah, we even had this huge conversation about me before they even knew it was me. It was super hilarious yet terribly awkward all at the same time."

"Bet that was fun."

"It's certainly a first for me. So yeah, I doubt she's got anything malicious planned."

"I'll be going then. I've got to get out of this penguin suit then burn it. Then burn the ashes." Sasuke and I part ways, he's heading to his room and I'm going towards my lab. I want to check on the liquids to see what chakra levels each has.

"You know I know you're there, right?" I call out behind me.

A head of brown hair with two cat ears is poking around the corner of the hallway I just turned down. She's barely even trying to hide. "Yes."

"But you're still sneaking after me? I don't mind if you join me."

"It's more fun this way." Her ears twitch playfully. "I'm a cat, it's what we do. Prowl around after our prey! Er friends! I meant friends! Uh... meow?"

"Is this how everyone else feels when they deal with me?" I mutter to myself. Then I raise my voice so she can hear me. "You can drop the act around me Maiko. You don't have to act like a cat at all."

"What makes you think I'm acting?" She gives up on hiding around the corner and starts to walk over to join me as her tail dances behind her.

"Because I'm a much better actor than you. We have our own masks that we hide behind. You have been ridiculed because of your new feline additions and instead of hiding in shame because of them you've embraced it. You've decided that the best way for the teasing and insults to stop is to act like you actually are part cat now. The sad thing is, I think it worked."

"But I am a cat now. Thanks to your pops." She quips back with her usual attitude of playfulness.

"No you are human. I refuse to accept that you're anything less. I don't care if you have cat ears and a tail. I don't care if you have a turtle's shell on your back. I don't care if you're changed into anything, animal or otherwise. You're human."

"Hm." Her playfulness dwindles. She's starting to show the real Maiko. "What makes you feel that way?"

"If you're not human then what does that make me?" I coolly reply.

"I don't follow." Maiko and I start to walk down the hallway side by side. "You're much more human than I am."

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" I get a faraway look in my eyes before I focus them back on her. "You have a handful of new additions. You didn't lose anything, all you did was gain. But me? I lost everything, it's been replaced. There's more something in me than there is human now. By a very, very large margin. So that's why I say you're human. Because if someone who only has a couple animal traits isn't human, then what would that make me?"

"You know you're a lot more insightful than you look." Maiko has dropped all of her catlike mannerisms. "But there's something you got wrong."

"Do tell, I always enjoy thought provoking conversations like this." Sure it's fun to act like an idiot all the time but I do like having these talks too. There's just something cool about discussing a topic so passionately with another person.

"I enjoy acting like a cat." Maiko playfully swats at me and I block her. And like that Neko-chan is back. "It's not all an act, I think it's fun!"

"Well I can relate to that." I cave in and let her land a swat on me so she'll stop trying. "I'm known for being unorthodox myself."

"But really though, I am part cat now." She gets slightly more serious. "Have you heard the phrase cats have nine lives?"

"Yes?" I wonder where that came from?

"It's actually not wrong. Some of the more... mystical cats actually do have nine lives, it's a status symbol among them. The further on in your lives you are the older and wiser and powerful you are. It's become such a key part to those mystical cats that every single cat, mystical or not, can sense how many times another has died. It's a way of knowing who is strong and who is weak, who to respect and who to protect. It's the duty of those who have lived multiple lives to defend those who haven't."

"That's neat." Where is she going with this? "I never knew there was truth behind that legend."

"There is. And I've inherited that trait." She steps in front of me, forcing our eyes to meet. She's barely fifteen centimeters away from my face, all I can see is hers. Her large round eyes searching into my hidden ones, looking for something. "You're on your second life."

"You're very insightful yourself Maiko." There's a hint of danger in my voice. "It's best that no one knows that piece of information outside of us."

"It is what draws me to you. You are strong and I am weak. It's only natural that I seek you out." She slowly closes the distance between us, millimeter by millimeter. "Where others feel fear, I feel warmth. Where others feel terror, I feel safe. When others want to run away, I want to claim you as mine."

"Everyone that gets close to me dies." I smoothly say despite my growing concern for my virtue. Is that concern? Yeah let's say that's concern. "For some strange reason it's usually the females that die. I've already lost three, Sakura, Gina and Tayuya. One of them I killed myself."

"Just because they've died doesn't mean I will." She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me in closer still. "Let me claim you."

We're a hairsbreadth apart.

"NEKO-CHAN NO!" Karin roars as she rounds the corner of the hallway. She's sweating and out of breath. She must have ran here. "BAD KITTY! BAD!"

"Aw but he likes it!" Maiko purrs as she spins around me to hug my back. Her arms are draped over my shoulders and she's looking over them at the fuming Karin. "I was so close too! Just one more second!"

"You've never felt like this before! I knew something was wrong! I knew it!" Karin stomps over and peels Maiko off of me. "Are you going into heat or something? Jeez girl you feel fucking horny!"

"Ahem. Right here." I awkwardly clear my throat. "Shouldn't you wait until I'm gone or something?"

"And you!" She rounds onto me. "Don't think I don't feel yours either! Keep it in your pants! Orochimaru-sama's son will not be corrupted by some harlot on my watch!"

"Just because I'm attracted to someone doesn't mean I want to sleep with them. What? What's with those looks?"

"You're a guy." Both Karin and Maiko deadpan to me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know what, fuck this."

"How about you fuck me instead? I will be a lot more fun!" Maiko attempts to get past Karin and fails.

"I'm outta here." I walk past the bickering girls and make my way to wherever the hell I was going. I've totally forgot what I was doing.

"What the hell Neko-chan?" Karin rebukes the feline girl. "I get that he's cute and he's Orochimaru-sama's son on top of that but still!"

"Oh he's much more than that." Maiko purrs. "If you get Sasuke then I get Alvarcus."

"DEAL!" Karin shouts. "Er what? No that's not how this works!"

"Too late, you accepted!" I can feel Maiko's eyes on my back. "He's mine. Plus have you seen that ass?"

"Yes. Yes I have." Karin smirks to herself. "I'm his medic, I've seen almost all of him."

"You. Details. NOW!" Maiko grabs Karin by the hand and drags her away.

The Next Day, Alvarcus's Lab

"I'm going to brutally murder whoever did this." I look out over my lab.

My no longer pristine and orderly lab. My tables have been flipped over. My beakers have all been smashed. My notes have all been burnt. My in-progress seals have been shredded. My entire lab has been trashed.

"Brutally murder over the course of five hours. Minimum." I harshly and gravelly snarl out into my lab. "Jiongu, can you sense any residual chakra at all?"

~No, I can only sense affinities and quantity of chakra a person has. I cannot sense traces like you're asking.~

"That's fine. I know someone who can." I whirl around and storm out of my lab.

The Defense Room

It's in this large and circular room that everything dealing with the defense of Orochimaru's greatest Prison Complex happens. Ranging from detail maps and shinobi who have great skill commanding large forces, to a stand by squad of shinobi that will leap into action to deal with any threats, to the sensor shinobi who alternate scanning the surrounding area. There are numerous other cogs to the machine that is the Defense Room, but those are the only ones I care about.

Not even all of them. There's only one person here that I care about and the only reason I do is because I need their skills.

"KARIN!" I fling the door open with so much force it shakes the wall it slammed into.

"Alvarcus-sama, how may I be of assistance?" Karin quickly makes her way to me and kneels down respectfully. "I... I didn't offend you, did I? If so I apologize for whatever it might be and beg that you let me redeem myself! I'll never come between you and Neko-chan again if that's what you want!"

"The fuck are you on about?" I snarl, letting my anger seep over into my words. "I don't give a shit about that."

"Y-your chakra." Karin whispers out in pure terror while obviously submitting herself to me. "It feels like – like pure fury. I felt it minutes ago, you changed from playful joy to rage in an instant. It's terrifying."

That's right, she's an empathetic sensor. She not only senses chakra but emotions as well. And right now I'm livid.

"You are not the source of my... displeasure." As I say those words Karin visibly relaxes. But by no means is she truly relaxed, she's still on guard. She's still worried about becoming the source of my anger. "I need your help. Come with me."

"Of course." Karin rises up and falls in step behind me as we walk towards the exit.

"You can't just take her away from her duties!" One of the senior sensory shinobi shouts at me.

"Yes I can." I don't bother to look at him. "Or do you want to stop me?"

"Karin has been assigned a task by Orochimaru-sama himself!" The senior shinobi sunshins between me and the exit. "She does not get to leave until her shift is up!"

"I am not mad at you." I harshly fume at the senior shinobi. "That is why I will give you one chance. Move."

"Please move." Karin whispers to her comrade. "Please. Alvarcus wouldn't do this unless something was really wrong."

"I will not." The senior shinobi stands resolutely between me and the exit.

"Fine." I lash out at the fool with ten whips of pure fire. They're coming at impossible angles to give him zero chance to escape or dodge me.

I feel sadistic glee at the whites of his eyes.

All ten of the fire whips wrap around him and start to burn through his clothes. Through his mesh armor. Through every protective layer he has until they're searing his skin.

His screams are delightful, like an appetizer of what is to come.

I let the whips fade and the shinobi crumples to the ground. He's still alive. In unadulterated agony, but alive.

"If anyone else gets in my way they will not be as lucky as this fool." I gesture at the moaning heap of charred flesh. "So don't get in my way. Karin. Come. The longer we take the colder the trail will be."

"O-of course." She looks down at the shinobi in pity.

Back at Alvarcus's Lab

"Reach your senses out and tell me who was here." I gesture at the ruined room. "Tell me who did this."

"O-okay." She stutters. "But... what are you going to do with them?"

"Kill them." I snarl out. "The Jiongu has been bored lately, I think I'm going to let it play with them until it's satisfied. Then they die."

~Have I ever mentioned that you're my favorite host? Because you are.~

"R-right." Karin scrunches up her nose, no doubt pushing her sensing capabilities to their limits. "I-I can feel two f-faint residual chakras. I-I don't know who they are, but I c-can take you to them."

"Please do." I will make them an example. They will be a reminder to not fuck with me.

The Mess Hall

"T-they're inside." Karin forces out despite her fear. "Both of them."

"Good." That makes this easier. "Wait out of sight for a moment."

I shove the doors open and they slam into the wall with a loud bang. The noise draws everyone's attention to me.

"This is your one chance!" I roar into the packed room. "If you're the one who trashed my lab come own up to it now and I will take it easy on you. If you beg for forgiveness at my feet I will lessen your punishment. Let's see if you have any honor at all."

The Mess Hall falls deathly quiet. Everyone is looking around, trying to spot anyone who looks even the tiniest bit guilt.

No one answers my proclamation.

"So be it. I will find you myself. Karin, who are they?" I snarl out.

Karin steps into the doorway to join me. She doesn't get a chance to speak before two shinobi leap to their feet with every intention of fleeing from me.

They don't make it a single step. Two large masses of black threads fall from the ceiling and land on the shinobi. The threads wrap around their limbs ensnaring them, cutting off all hope of escape. I've caught them.

"Thank you Karin, you can go back to your duties." I dismiss her but she doesn't leave. She stands there watching me. If she wants to stay I will not stop her. "Now, you two."

The Jiongu monsters that I snuck into the Mess Hall before I opened the door drag the culprits to my feet.

~When can I start to play?~

"You've fucked up." I snarl at them letting all of my rage wash over them. "Did you think that I wouldn't seek you out? Did you think that I would roll over and take it? Did you think that I wouldn't make finding and punishing you two my greatest priority? You both had the wonderful idea to trash my lab. Now you pay the price."

I spin on my heel and start to walk out of the silent Mess Hall with my monsters bringing my first test subjects behind me.

~We're not going to play here? It's so much more fun with an audience.~

"Al-Alvarcus?" Karin hesitantly calls out to me.

"Yes?" I pause my quick walk for her. She helped me find them, the least I can do is listen to her.

"Are you really going to kill them?" There isn't fear in her eyes anymore. There's just pity. She's wondering how the happy and go lucky kid she met can change into me.

"I am." I resume my quick walk and exit the Mess Hall.

"Alvarcus Mar." I faintly hear Karin whisper to herself. "Son of Orochimaru-sama. The Heart Thief. What has happened to you to make you like this? What atrocities have you lived through that make you take such actions? What intense suffering have you endured? What burden do you carry on your shoulders? Just who are you? What kind of a person lies underneath all of your masks? A good one? Or a bad one? When I peel them all away and look at the real you what will I see? Will it be the Heart Thief? Perhaps the son of Orochimaru-sama? Who is Alvarcus Mar? Is he a man or a monster?"