[ooc] Second Memory
There was no crystal, no warning. And she's pretty damn sure there's not going to be having a comforting drink after this unless she buys it herself, before everything melts around her, into a memory.
And then suddenly she's running through a forest, a forest she knows, the branches dark and close around her, even the ones she lands on because she's not running on the ground. As she leaps between two trees, even that disappears for a moment. A leap of stomach-dropping scale to land, slam, on a sturdy branch--but only pausing for a moment before taking off again, searching, searching for what she knows is there.
There it is, she sees it, coming to a hard stop on the right branch. It has to be: there's a face in the tree, upside down, the hair melting into bark, the skin peeling off the skin underneath like an ill-fitting mask and she knows this man as the eyes in the face snap open.
"It's been a while, A---." Her own name is incomprehensible. She grinds her teeth, readies a weapon.
"You're an extremely dangerous S-class wanted criminal," She spits out at him. "That's why I'm going to kill you, even if it costs me my life."
Waiting for the perfect moment to strike, the perfect opportunity. "That's my job, as your former student, who learned everything from you, right, Orochimaru?!" She shouts, even though she knows she shouldn't, sliding sharp needles from a sheath up her sleeve.
"You can't." She grits her teeth at the statement and preprares to throw the needles, but the face in the tree opens his mouth and a hideously long tongue shoots out toward her.
She dodges back from the prehensile thing, landing on a vertical tree and somehow finding footing there. But the tongue follows her, whipping around her wrist with enough force to shock the weapons from her grasp and drag her down to the level branch. It's only her reflexes that allow her to land on her feet when he tries to release her. But when she feels the slack on this sick line, she calls an attack and snakes flow from under the sleeve of her free arm, lunging at him, stretched to impossible lengths and slamming into the tree he's sunken into.
"You won't get away!" She pulls on the anchored snakes, dragging his whole body from the tree into her to slam him against the opposite trunk. Certain now that he's stunned, she let's the snakes go, her opponent trapped.
She slaps his right hand up on the tree with her left, and then, with her other hand, slams a kunai through them both, pinning the two of them together by their joined hands, the kunai sunk into the bark behind them as she lets it go. It hurts like hell.
And she laughs. "Got ya."
"Orochimaru, I'm going to borrow your left hand," she says, taking his free hand up with her own, using it to make a sign that would normally require both her hands.
His eyes go wide in the macabre face. "That seal..."
She's still grinning, dark and murderous. "Yep. You and I are going to die here." It's a statement of fact and, to make it true, she breathes in deep, holding it, preparing for--
But then laughter, his laughter, low and sinister and inifinitely amused. And, dammmit, it's not coming from the thing she's pinned to the tree with her own flesh.
"Are you planning to commit suicide?" His disembodied voice asks, still laughing, still horribly amused.
Turning as much as she's able to stare at him, the man she thought she had finally, finally gotten the better of, over her shoulder, standing behind her. Grinning, Orochimaru peels off the rest of the face he had been wearing, as if it indeed were nothing more than cheap rubber mask, instead of stolen flesh. "That's a substitue," he informs her, referring to the thing she's pinned herself to the tree through.
The moon comes out from behind the clouds, throwing the scene into sharper relief. She looks, and the thing in front of her melts into brown sludge, pouring through her fingers, over her hand, still stabbed, by itself now, to the tree.
He laughs again, and it makes her sick. "You're one of the village's Special Jounin," he admonishes, mocking. "You shouldn't just use the forbidden techniques I taught you."
Angry again, she pulls her hand from the tree, yanks her own knife from where it's embedded in her flesh, and throws it at him. Easily, he catches it between two fingers, tossing it aside like nothing. "I told you, it's useless."
He holds his hands up in a simple sign, exerts his chakra with a 'ha!'
And then her world exploded in pain. Pain enough to make her curl in on herself, struggle for breath, her vision dissolving into blackness and stars for a moment, all focused on one point on the back of her neck. Compared to this, the knife was nothing. "Why are you here?" She grinds out, her voice rough and harsh with pain.
His tone is still mocking as he walks right up to her, smiling the whole time. "It's been such a long time since we've seen each other, but you're treating me so coldly."
Not an answer. She grits her teeth, tries again to get a straight answer out of this snake. "Did you come to assasinate the hokage?"
He shakes his head. "No, no," he tells her, amused. "I still don't have enough men to do that. So I was planning on 'reserving' some really good ones in this village." It's some private joke of his, and she couldn't be further from laughing. The pain has driven her to her knees, left hand clutching at her right shoulder, clawing the skin. "I just gave someone that same cursed seal as a little present a while ago. ...There's a boy I want."
She glares up at him as he crouches down nearer to her. "As usual, you do what you want," she pants, still sassing her old teacher despite everything. "But he's going to die, that boy."
"True, there's only a ten-percent chance he'll survive," he agrees mildly, not seeming to care. "But he might be like you, and not die."
"You seem quite interested in this boy."
He reaches out to caress her cheek and she gasps in disgust. "Are you jealous?" He asks, taunting. "Are you still angry that I used you, then cast you aside like garbage?" His hand falls. "Unlike you, he seems excellent. After all, he is the boy that carries the abilities of an Uchiha. His body is beautiful and he is capable of becoming my successor. If he survives," he finishes, standing. "Whatever you do, don't cancel this exam." He starts to walk away from her. "Three from my village are under your care."
"I'm going to enjoy this," he tells her before he melts back in to the tree, fully this time. But she can still hear him, can still feel the burning of the seal. "If you ruin my fun, it will be over for the village of Konoha."
And everything else dissolved into pain.
[OOC: Scene is from the Chuunin Exam, the Forest of Death. Scene can be found in the anime here (dub, which is a slightly different translation), or, in the manga, chapter 50, pages 07 - 17.]
And then suddenly she's running through a forest, a forest she knows, the branches dark and close around her, even the ones she lands on because she's not running on the ground. As she leaps between two trees, even that disappears for a moment. A leap of stomach-dropping scale to land, slam, on a sturdy branch--but only pausing for a moment before taking off again, searching, searching for what she knows is there.
There it is, she sees it, coming to a hard stop on the right branch. It has to be: there's a face in the tree, upside down, the hair melting into bark, the skin peeling off the skin underneath like an ill-fitting mask and she knows this man as the eyes in the face snap open.
"It's been a while, A---." Her own name is incomprehensible. She grinds her teeth, readies a weapon.
"You're an extremely dangerous S-class wanted criminal," She spits out at him. "That's why I'm going to kill you, even if it costs me my life."
Waiting for the perfect moment to strike, the perfect opportunity. "That's my job, as your former student, who learned everything from you, right, Orochimaru?!" She shouts, even though she knows she shouldn't, sliding sharp needles from a sheath up her sleeve.
"You can't." She grits her teeth at the statement and preprares to throw the needles, but the face in the tree opens his mouth and a hideously long tongue shoots out toward her.
She dodges back from the prehensile thing, landing on a vertical tree and somehow finding footing there. But the tongue follows her, whipping around her wrist with enough force to shock the weapons from her grasp and drag her down to the level branch. It's only her reflexes that allow her to land on her feet when he tries to release her. But when she feels the slack on this sick line, she calls an attack and snakes flow from under the sleeve of her free arm, lunging at him, stretched to impossible lengths and slamming into the tree he's sunken into.
"You won't get away!" She pulls on the anchored snakes, dragging his whole body from the tree into her to slam him against the opposite trunk. Certain now that he's stunned, she let's the snakes go, her opponent trapped.
She slaps his right hand up on the tree with her left, and then, with her other hand, slams a kunai through them both, pinning the two of them together by their joined hands, the kunai sunk into the bark behind them as she lets it go. It hurts like hell.
And she laughs. "Got ya."
"Orochimaru, I'm going to borrow your left hand," she says, taking his free hand up with her own, using it to make a sign that would normally require both her hands.
His eyes go wide in the macabre face. "That seal..."
She's still grinning, dark and murderous. "Yep. You and I are going to die here." It's a statement of fact and, to make it true, she breathes in deep, holding it, preparing for--
But then laughter, his laughter, low and sinister and inifinitely amused. And, dammmit, it's not coming from the thing she's pinned to the tree with her own flesh.
"Are you planning to commit suicide?" His disembodied voice asks, still laughing, still horribly amused.
Turning as much as she's able to stare at him, the man she thought she had finally, finally gotten the better of, over her shoulder, standing behind her. Grinning, Orochimaru peels off the rest of the face he had been wearing, as if it indeed were nothing more than cheap rubber mask, instead of stolen flesh. "That's a substitue," he informs her, referring to the thing she's pinned herself to the tree through.
The moon comes out from behind the clouds, throwing the scene into sharper relief. She looks, and the thing in front of her melts into brown sludge, pouring through her fingers, over her hand, still stabbed, by itself now, to the tree.
He laughs again, and it makes her sick. "You're one of the village's Special Jounin," he admonishes, mocking. "You shouldn't just use the forbidden techniques I taught you."
Angry again, she pulls her hand from the tree, yanks her own knife from where it's embedded in her flesh, and throws it at him. Easily, he catches it between two fingers, tossing it aside like nothing. "I told you, it's useless."
He holds his hands up in a simple sign, exerts his chakra with a 'ha!'
And then her world exploded in pain. Pain enough to make her curl in on herself, struggle for breath, her vision dissolving into blackness and stars for a moment, all focused on one point on the back of her neck. Compared to this, the knife was nothing. "Why are you here?" She grinds out, her voice rough and harsh with pain.
His tone is still mocking as he walks right up to her, smiling the whole time. "It's been such a long time since we've seen each other, but you're treating me so coldly."
Not an answer. She grits her teeth, tries again to get a straight answer out of this snake. "Did you come to assasinate the hokage?"
He shakes his head. "No, no," he tells her, amused. "I still don't have enough men to do that. So I was planning on 'reserving' some really good ones in this village." It's some private joke of his, and she couldn't be further from laughing. The pain has driven her to her knees, left hand clutching at her right shoulder, clawing the skin. "I just gave someone that same cursed seal as a little present a while ago. ...There's a boy I want."
She glares up at him as he crouches down nearer to her. "As usual, you do what you want," she pants, still sassing her old teacher despite everything. "But he's going to die, that boy."
"True, there's only a ten-percent chance he'll survive," he agrees mildly, not seeming to care. "But he might be like you, and not die."
"You seem quite interested in this boy."
He reaches out to caress her cheek and she gasps in disgust. "Are you jealous?" He asks, taunting. "Are you still angry that I used you, then cast you aside like garbage?" His hand falls. "Unlike you, he seems excellent. After all, he is the boy that carries the abilities of an Uchiha. His body is beautiful and he is capable of becoming my successor. If he survives," he finishes, standing. "Whatever you do, don't cancel this exam." He starts to walk away from her. "Three from my village are under your care."
"I'm going to enjoy this," he tells her before he melts back in to the tree, fully this time. But she can still hear him, can still feel the burning of the seal. "If you ruin my fun, it will be over for the village of Konoha."
And everything else dissolved into pain.
[OOC: Scene is from the Chuunin Exam, the Forest of Death. Scene can be found in the anime here (dub, which is a slightly different translation), or, in the manga, chapter 50, pages 07 - 17.]