Another Nine-Tails?!

Prey

"Hang on." Kabuto suddenly held up a hand, his team coming to stop on a large branch.

"What now?!" One of his teammates, the one with glasses, growled at him.

"Just hang on, Misumi." There was an edge in the younger male's voice, but his teammate chose not to care.

"Why?!"

"You know, he's more powerful than you both. You should listen to him." Uta spoke, defending the boy.

"Don't butt in, girl! Unless you wanna get hurt, then be my guest." She bared her teeth at him for a moment before she felt a familiar chakra near them. A smirk took over her face. "Wipe that look off your face or I'll do it for you." When she didn't listen to him, he raised his hand.

"If you lay a hand on her, Misumi, you will meet death sooner than you'd like to." The man instantly dropped his hand at Orochimaru's voice, backing away from the girl.

She turned around, beaming at the man. "Hi." He shook his head a little bit, amused at her. She acted like she wasn't about to just get hit.

"My dear Uta, Kabuto, I have somewhere else for you two to be. Yoroi and Misumi, you two go on ahead and continue the exam." The two men nodded, disappearing off into the trees.

Uta dropped her smile, knowing it was mission time and not play time. "What do you need?"

"I will be attacking your brother's team to get to Sasuke. And you will be watching from a distance. I don't intend to kill them. However, they will get hurt. Once I'm done with them, you will go and offer your help. Stay with them until you find the others or you're at the tower."

"Where are they now?"

"There's a clearing not too far ahead. That's where they are." With that, he disappeared into the branch he was standing on. The pair shared a look before heading in the direction of the genin team.

From her spot hidden in the trees, Uta watched as her master attacked Sakura and Sasuke. Her brother was nowhere to be found though, and it worried her slightly. She let out a sigh as the fight progressed. "What's wrong?" Kabuto questioned her, sensing her distress.

"Some snakes play with their prey, as do all predators. I know that I don't belong to the Leaf anymore, even though I never did. But, it's still hard to watch him attack someone I consider family and someone I helped in school." Naruto showed up about halfway through. But she had to look away as her master attacked the blonde boy. She couldn't bear to see him get hurt. She already broke her promise to her father, she wasn't about to watch her brother join him.

Orochimaru placed a curse mark on Sasuke. The boy screamed out in pain and fell to his knees. Sakura held him while crying out for Naruto. Uta stood up so she could help them, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Just wait."

"But-"

"Just wait." She opened her mouth but decided not to argue. "What? No snarky comeback. That's surprising."

"Oh, shut up!" She grumbled, sitting back down.

"That's the best you could come up with? Really?" She glared but didn't say a word.

By the time night fell, Kabuto had made himself comfortable in the tree with his cards pulled out. He felt Uta staring at him every so often, but he didn't say anything and just let her do as she pleased. At first, she would stare to try and get her irritation towards him across to him but it wasn't working. Then she thought back to what Sakon had said. About her kissing the ash-haired medic.

And then all of a sudden he became really, really cute in her eyes. She didn't see him like that before. At all. And it worried her because she knew he wasn't always going to tell the truth because he was a spy. But, everytime she stared at him, he got cuter.

"Unless you have some information on someone, I would appreciate it if you stopped staring at me." He looked at her, making her look away. He smiled when her cheeks grew pink. His smile dropped when he suddenly wanted to kiss her. Returning to his cards, he attempted to bury the thought deep in his mind. However, his attempts proved to be pointless as it kept coming back with each time being stronger than the last. "You should get some rest."

"I've slept for 3 weeks, Kabuto. I'm not tired." Uta rested her hand in one of her palms. Glancing up, she noticed the full moon. She always felt every emotion more at this time. The onyx-eyed boy put his cards away, moving to sit behind the red-haired girl. "What are you doing?" She looked over her shoulder and at him.

"You're smart. The moment I'm not paying attention to you, you'll go help them. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if it'll make you stay put."

"If you hurt me, you'll get in trouble."

"That's exactly why I'm just sitting behind you. I won't, but in case you try I can stop you." He paused, Naruto suddenly flashing in his mind. "Your brother is not the smartest, even though you two are so similar."

She chuckled slightly. "He- he might not be the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but he's a good kid. And I love him." She looked back up at the moon.

Kabuto leaned forward a little bit, wrapping his arms around her ribs and pulling her back so they both rested against the tree. "Are you cold? You're shaking."

"No."

"You are a very bad liar." Uta managed to turn herself around so she now sat on her knees. "What are you planning?" He saw the mischief in her eyes.

"Nothing." She shook her head, looking away. 'That was a dumb thought.' Kabuto grabbed her chin, rougher than he initially meant to, and made her face him again. Her bright blue eyes widened slightly, curiosity and nervousness shining even through the contacts. Her mouth gaped open a little bit.

"I won't hurt you."

"How do I know you're telling the truth? Spies lie."

"Do you trust me?" Her eyes narrowed in confusion but she nodded. He gave her a small smile before pressing his lips to hers. Her smaller hands balled up his purple shirt in surprise. He released her before resting his head on top of hers, hiding his slightly flustered face. "You told me the day we met that you would be the one person who would care about me. I've lost everything I ever cared about. But you, Akiko Uzumaki, somehow wormed your way in." He trailed off, thinking of his next words. "But I won't let you get taken from me. I'll kill whoever tries."

Uta wrapped her arms around him, returning the embrace. "Yeah." Her eyes turned red, her grip on him tightening. "Please, don't leave me too." They stayed like that until morning.

-:-

"Hey, wake up." Uta shook her head, but was stopped by a gentle hand. "Your brothers are being attacked." Her eyes snapped open and she jolted out of Kabuto's grip. "Good morning to you too."

"Why aren't we helping them!?"

"They have help." He nodded down to the clearing. The Sound group that attacked him yesterday was attacking the group of genin. But they had help from two other teams from the Leaf. Uta recognized one of them as Shikamaru's team. "Your brother will be fine, Akiko. We should find the rest of our team."

"They can go screw themselves!" Kabuto blinked a few times, surprised at her words.

"You don't like them?"

"No... what gave you that idea?" She extended the no, her eyes rolling. "I love our teammates. They're just swell." Sarcasm seeped off of her.

The young medic chuckled, shaking his head. "Alright. You made your point. Now let's go." She grumbled inaudibly, the only word he could make out was an irritated fine.