Under My Mask (a Kakashi love story)

Chapter 18: Orochimaru's Lair

Recap:

As I continued towards the stones, I listened for unusual sounds. Like the sound of a pebble falling underground, or perhaps the creak of a door under my feet. Any sign giving away the presence of the base. Anything at all.

I stayed where I was as the others caught up to me and surrounded the area, doing the same as I.

I crouched down after a bit and I laid my ear against the ground, listening, waiting, hoping.

Then suddenly, I heard the faint crying of a baby.

End of recap.

Chapter 19: Orochimaru's Lair

-Kakashi POV-

I gasped and shot up, searching frantically for an entrance without any luck.

'Could that have been...? Our child...?'

I grimaced at the possibility of my only child being harmed at the hands of none other than Orochimaru.

That bastard...

That snake...

I'll kill him...

I decided to summon Pakkun and he sniffed around for a good half hour before finding something that looked like an entrance.

I thanked him silently and I kicked my way in without a second thought, as earth crumbled beneath my feet.

One of the ANBU followed me in and nodded for me to keep advancing, keeping his guard up.

'I WILL find Claire and our child. Even if it kills me...!'

I made my way into a long dark hallway. Where candles hung on the walls, illumination the path ever so slightly.

I pulled out a kunai and my pace fastened until I was sprinting.

'I need to find them soon... Who knows what's happened to them...or what he will do to them.'

I cringed at the thought and I tightened the grip on my weapon, pulling the headband off my eye so I'd be able to see hints better in the darkness. Pakkun walked along my side and continued to sniff for clues and the ANBU covered us. I assumed that the rest of them were keeping watch nearby and at the entrance.

I stopped in my tracks at the sound of someone talking and I leaned my head on the wall to listen in.

That voice...

"Now now, don't cry. If you keep crying I won't be able to concentrate... It makes me want to kill you."

The cries of the baby continued and the man sighed. "Honestly... I'm starting to wish I hadn't agreed to keep you alive and not hurt you."

I heard a chair turn and I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Just how long do you intend to stand there, Kakashi Hatake?"

"!!..."

Dammit...!!

I nodded for Pakkun to run ahead and I sighed, walking into the room where he sat, a baby laying on the table, seeming untouched.

I looked back and forth in between them and I lowered my Kunai with a sigh.

"You seem to catch on quickly." He remarked, gesturing towards the lethal trap that hung above the baby.