Under My Mask (a Kakashi love story)

Chapter 20: The Search For An Escape

A/N : Re-reading and... THIS ENTIRE BOOK IS SO CRINGE-WORTHY, I'M SO SORRY! ;A;  I hate it but you guys still want me to update so I gotta finish this no matter how badly this and all my book are written. Hopefully I'll improve eventually and I suppose there's no point in deleting the practice that will take. I'm really sorry for taking an eternity, I've been, and am having a lot of issues, and I just haven't been up to updating, there were times where I sat here, and looked, but I couldn't think of any words to write... y'know? (about 40 times). So I kinda gave up for awhile and focused mostly on gaming. Now I'm improvising along with my original plan but unknowing if the results will be satisfactory or not... I'll do my best. I'm not sure if I'm still going to write a sequel... I suppose it will be up to you guys to decide if I should at least try, if you end up wanting a sequel to this book or not. 

I couldn't think of a clever title for this chapter, but I tried. I ended up giving up and going with the most obvious thing in the world so it wouldn't contain any spoilers... ;-;

Anyways, back to the story! <3 ~Sonia  

RECAP: The baby started crying in his mother's arms and I hugged them both.

"He...Orochimaru... he took him away from me after birth... I-I hadn't seen him since." she sobbed.

My eyes widened.

"He's okay, you're okay, and we're all together again, that's all that matters now..."

She nodded, kissing the baby's forehead then kissing me.

"So, you named him Igato?"

"Yeah..."

"I love it."

She smiled a little. "I'm glad."

Pakkun pawed at my hand. "We need to get out of here."

I nodded, picking Claire up bridal style in my arms while she held our baby boy close.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

END OF RECAP

Ever get a horrible feeling before something terrible happens? I've got that feeling. I don't know why, though. Aside from being in Orochimaru's lair, I have both my loved ones in my arms, and we're going to get out of here, aren't we? ...Right?

I sprinted throughout the corridors and couldn't escape the feeling that we'd get caught out, but after everything we've been through it would be so wrong, so unfair. But that's how the world is. The world isn't fair, the world is cruel.

Claire was slipping in and out of consciousness, but she kept holding our son close. 

She'll make it. 

We'll make it, all of us.

Pakkun sniffed the ground, leading us closer to the exit, or so we thought. Running into dead-end after dead-end, as though he was being tricked. As though we were going around in circles and getting lost along the path. He stopped and sighed. 

"Kakashi, use your sharingan to detect from which direction we came."

I nodded and did so, noticing small details that gave away our current position and where we walked. I started tracing back me steps and made a left turn into a different hallway. "This one's different, and Pakkun, we need to find a different way out or he'll catch us too easily.

He nodded. "Let's go."

"That's assuming there's another way out..." Claire mumbled.  

"Do you know?" I asked.

She shrugged and hit her face in my chest. 

I guess we'll find out...

We walked on for awhile, quickening our pace, and I stopped in my tracks as I heard an unfamiliar creak under my feet. 

I activated my sharingan to see that it was a trapdoor, hidden by a genjutsu.

'This could be it' I thought.

Taking my chances, I  ran my fingers along the side until I found something I could grab onto to pull the trapdoor open.

I let down Claire and went down first to ensure that it seemed safe, and then I picked her and Igato up, bringing them down with me and letting the trapdoor shut behind Pakkun.

Click.

I felt my blood run cold.

"Well, looks like we won't be getting back out the way we came..."

Pakkun sighed and walked ahead, sniffing and looking around as I trailed behind.

Could we be walking into a trap...?

Maybe we're already in one, we're dealing with Orochimaru after all.

Unless this place was meant for something else..?

Claire continued to slip in and out of consciousness, but she jolted awake as soon as we arrive in a room. 

The lights off, and the lingering smell of flesh and blood... as well as other aromas that remained undetermined. 

She clutched my arm, a look of pure horror plastered on her face. 

"Get out of here..." she whispered as the baby started crying. "Hurry..."

Concerned, I searched for the light switch, finding it quickly, but as I looked back towards the room...

Blood.

Everywhere.

Test tubes full of different colored liquids, tools such as scalpels and needles covered in blood, along with many other tools, many of which I didn't know the name.

In the center of it all, a table, likely used for testing as it was also covered in blood.

I looked down to see Claire shaking violently, her face hidden in my chest as she held our child close to her own chest.

"P-Please..."

A tear rolled down my cheek as I turned  off the light, turned around and walked out of the room.

What sorts of horrors has she endured..?

This is my fault... I let this happen... I wasn't around to protect her...

I sighed, kissing her head. "Do you remember if any of these corridors might lead to an exit..?"

"...I-I think th-there's another door hidden by a genjutsu along one of the walls..." she mumbled.

I nodded and continued to search with my sharingan whilst Pakkun continued to sniff around.

We proceeded into a dark corridor, plagued by the smell of mildew and other sickening smells which were indescribable. Much to my disgust, my hand encountered cockroaches and other unspeakable critters as it grazed the wall, distracting me ever so slightly.

In the silence...

Along with our footsteps,

If we listened closely enough, 

Something else could faintly be heard.

But what..?

It's eyes glowed.

Remaining unnoticed  in this eerie silence...

The slithering of a serpent.