The evening arrived, it was again 10 pm. Itachi sent his raven as usual. He knocked on the window once, then twice, without success.

"She's not answering," he announced anxiously to Shisui, who was waiting next to him.

"She might have been detained," Shisui assumed, trying to keep a cool head.

Itachi remained focused, forcing his raven to circle the establishment, without finding any trace of Mitsuki. He knocked on the window of the headmistress, the only one who knew they were still inside the orphanage. She opened the door immediately and realized that Itachi couldn't get in touch with the young Chûnin. She promised to make sure that she was alright, and left to make her rounds.

Itachi waited nervously for her return, under the increasingly worried look of Shisui. The headmistress returned, livid. She informed Itachi that Mitsuki had simply disappeared from the orphanage, and that no one was supposed to be outside the building after curfew. Also, no one knew where she was, and a supervisor was missing too. The raven took off again without further ado, as Itachi stood up abruptly.

"Did you find her?" asked Shisui.

"She's not in the orphanage anymore," Itachi grumbled, picking up his things before heading for the facility.

"Wait, Itachi! We can't go in there like this and risk screwing things up! Mitsuki didn't give us any warning, she might not be in danger...

- You're right Shisui, let's wait a little longer, when it's been over an hour since the curfew, when we don't even know how long she's been missing, when she's probably in the hands of a bad person or... dead..."

Itachi was beside himself, his cousin had never seen him lose his temper like that before, and as Itachi continued to shout his anger, he slapped him in the face which he immediately regretted.

This had at least had the merit of cutting Itachi, who opened and closed his mouth without a word coming out, a hand on his sore cheek.

"Forgive me Itachi ... You're not the only one who's worried about Mitsuki... But we can't just rush in and risk putting her in more danger. We have to act with discretion if we want to have any chance of finding her..." Shisui continued, his heart heavy.

Itachi didn't flinch, admitting that he was wrong to get angry. They quickly made the decision to cordon off the outside of the orphanage grounds.

As each minute passed, Shisui found an abandoned pile of branches. He swallowed hard before announcing this possible lead to his cousin, foreshadowing the abduction they both feared. There was no sign of a struggle, however, and they didn't know whether to be pleased or apprehensive about a much stronger opponent than they had feared.

They walked through the woods, desperately looking for any sign of the way to find their friend. After a few minutes of searching deeper and deeper into the forest, Itachi motioned for Shisui to come closer. Strangely, he was smiling, a twinkle in his onyx eyes.

"That's our Mitsuki," he announced proudly, showing her some black hair on the ground, spread out in small, even piles, "That's her wolf fur, she must have transformed, at least in part, to allow us to follow her discreetly. This girl will never cease to impress me."

He hurried to follow the trail left by the young Hata, followed by Shisui. The path was long and winding, without their Sharingans, they would have lost track of their friend many times, as well as precious time, but she knew them by heart, and seemed to have left her clues strategically, scattering the hairs far enough from each other, and in very small quantities so as not to be spotted by any individual, but immediately detectable by the Sharingan holders.

They finally arrived near a hidden spot in the middle of the dense forest. They stayed hidden for a while, Shisui trying to come up with a plan for their friend's rescue operation, which was difficult for him, as he had no idea who their enemy was. Unfortunately, the lair had only one entrance, dangerously increasing their chances of being spotted the moment they stepped inside.

"I can take the form of a crow to find Mitsuki. No one will be suspicious of a common bird, and it will save us time." suggested Itachi.

Shisui paused, seeming to think hard about what to do. He finally agreed to his friend's suggestion, who didn't waste another second before disappearing into a swarm of birds, one of which flew into the lair.

He walked through the labyrinth of corridors without a sound, but still didn't feel any presence, either of Mitsuki or of his kidnapper. Had they been wrong? Yet Mitsuki's trail was clearly leading back to here... What if it wasn't her after all? What if she had been spotted and he was just walking into a trap? It didn't matter, all that mattered to him at that moment was to find his friend safe and sound, and get her out of the mess they had left her in as soon as possible.He was going through room after room, going back to rake a new corridor, when he spotted a dim green light at the very end.

She was there, he was now sure.

Bathing unconscious in a pool filled with a liquid that kept her body partially naked and surrounded by the pipes that brought her the oxygen necessary to keep her alive.He resumed his normal appearance, touching the icy wall that held Mitsuki prisoner. She was so peaceful, her black hair floating in the liquid, her lines so fine and the pallor of her skin glowing in the green light of the room. He looked away from her delicate body, suddenly realizing that she was not alone. Three other containers held other girls, no doubt among the missing from the orphanage.

He was startled as a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"You've found her..." murmured Shisui, who had finally followed him, unable to stand still because of the worry that was eating away at him.

He winced as he discovered their friend unconscious.

"We have to get them out of there..." he grumbled.

A sinister laughter sounded behind them, followed by an icy voice:

"Two Uchiha to find young Hata... But what a pleasant surprise! And not the least, if the rumors of Konoha are to be believed. Shisui Uchiha, the Mirage ... and Itachi Uchiha, the prodigal son of Fugaku ... My luck seems to be turning in my favor. This orphanage finally has some nice pieces to feed my experiments, unlike the silly little ones I was deigned to provide until now..."

Things became clearer for the boys: this man was responsible for the disappearances of girls, and someone at the orphanage voluntarily provided him, presumably the supervisor untraceable ... But what experiments was he talking about?

Shisui seemed extremely nervous, and Itachi then questioned him with his eyes, but he was so tense on his tanto that he didn't even realize it.

"I see that you already know me, Shisui Uchiha" the man persisted, running his forked tongue around his lips like a snake watching its prey.

"Orochimaru... One of the three Sannin of Konoha... But mostly the most despicable." Shisui grumbled, as if in response to his cousin's questioning.

The man let out a throaty laugh, sending shivers up the arms of both Uchiha.

"How hard you are on me. I take great care of your young friend. She has such strength within her... What a pity that she is wasted by these stupid seals. But I can also feel all her anger, all the despair that this cursed village has instilled in her throughout these years. So interesting... But now that you're here, I think I'll just use her great power to simply destroy Konoha, when the time comes. She's perfect, emotionally fragile, with a power she has no control over... All I have to do is remove that stupid seal that old Hiruzen put on her, and... BOOM! On the other hand, I don't know which one to choose as a receptacle between you two... Shisui's powerful eyes, that even his own clan is jealous of, or you, Itachi, who would be able to surpass your cousin in the end... Unless one of you volunteers to gain great power by my side, and... Why not ... save this little flower in exchange?" proposed Orochimaru, understanding very well that the she-wolf was far more valuable to them than his difficult inheritance which he now dreamed of taking.
His voice was calm, composed, and at the same time so sadistic. Itachi could not stand it anymore. She was there, in front of him, and she was in serious danger. What about him? What could he do? There was no way he was going to be a spectator! Shisui slipped him a sentence that he did not hear, so much his anger was exacerbated by the words that the snake pronounced. A sharp pain flared in his eyes as he awakened the last two tomoe of his Sharingan, but he paid no further attention. He had to get her out of there, he had to save her, no matter what. And the escape offered by the Sannin seemed to him to be the safest alternative...

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!" shouted Shisui, finally succeeding in bringing him out of his torpor, "Don't play her game! If you sacrifice yourself for her, he will never let her go and will only keep her to serve his dark purposes later! Together we can do it, we'll free her, Itachi! Trust me and stay with me... I would never leave her here, neither would I!"

Itachi nodded, showing his cousin that he understood. Orochimaru was enjoying the scene in front of him, it was more interesting than anything he could have imagined. So they both cared about her that much.

And if he pushed his experiment a little further ... It would require great patience given their young age, but at the same time, getting the body of an Uchiha lined with the blood of the Hata... After all, all he had to do was keep one of them, and use the other one as a receptacle in the meantime, he would be extremely powerful already.

Lost in his dark thoughts, he had not seen Shisui launch his afterimage clones, allowing him to move at high speed, without fear of enemy attacks.

Orochimaru barely had time to fend off an attack from one of the clones before he heard the sound of breaking glass, followed by a wave of liquid that forced him to back away.

Soaking wet, Shisui got out of the broken container with Mitsuki in his arms. With a knowing look, he told Itachi that they had to get out of the den and send a message to Konoha for reinforcements. The Sannin was far too strong, even for him, and there was no way he would involve his cousin in such a fight.

Orochimaru didn't think so, and sent a bunch of snakes that Shisui dodged one by one. Not being able to use his hands to compose his Mudras, he tried to take control of the Sannin with one of his genjutsu, but the Sannin never met his eyes, well aware of the Sharingan's abilities.

Itachi managed to take advantage of the diversion offered by his cousin to send a raven to the Sandaime. He attacked the legendary ninja in turn to give Shisui an opening, who quickly made his way out.

"Don't try to beat him, he is too strong for both of us, and Mitsuki is in no condition... We have to get out, Itachi. Our mission is accomplished, we now know who is behind this, let's not take any unnecessary risks.", Shisui advised.

Itachi nodded, covering the backs of his teammates.

"Tsk..." hissed Orochimaru through his teeth, as his test subjects fled, "We will meet again! Mitsuki Hata will be mine!"

His scream echoed through the tunnels of the lair. He slammed angrily into one of the containers containing one of his hostages, before disappearing in the form of a small snake, leaving the building before reinforcements arrived. What a pity that he was alone here, and with a body that was already failing him, otherwise he would never have let his prey escape him so easily.

Itachi and Shisui had managed to get out without any further difficulty, and had stopped after moving reasonably far away from the enemy. Huddled in Shisui's arms, Mitsuki remained unconscious. She was also freezing, still only having her underwear on. Shisui removed her soaked sweater, before tightening her arms around the girl to let her enjoy her body heat, still high after the exercise they had just done.

"Hm hm..." Itachi cleared his throat, as Mitsuki curled up a bit more towards this source of comfort, before asking as calmly as possible, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to warm her up... I don't know if you can see it, but she's shivering, and she's so cold that her lips are turning blue. We didn't get her out of here to lose her so stupidly." Shisui replied, though he was still offended by the reproach he could hear in Itachi's voice.

"Hm...yes...but, is it really necessary for you...to be... so scantily clad and ... so close?" Itachi insisted, raising a look of incomprehension from his cousin.

"Do you know anything about human warmth? This is not the time to have strange ideas!" accused Shisui, amused to see him so jealous.

"At the risk of returning the "compliment", I remind you that we both master the Kâton, and that you could have largely abstained from... put your hands on her" Itachi reminded him.

Shisui suddenly turned red, but still tried to find an excuse to cheer up:

"Using the Kâton, we would be spotted very quickly, and we don't know if Orochimaru is looking for us, or even if he was alone in that lair."

Then, as Itachi winced, obviously upset, he decided to push it a little further, a smirk on his face:

"Does this bother you??"

Itachi merely sighed before looking away.

"I'll make sure no one followed us. Here, take my sweater, she could wake up at any moment, I'm not sure she wants to be seen like this..." Itachi said, before removing his top, revealing his musculature, still youthful compared to Shisui's, under a mesh top proper to the Shinobi.

Shisui placed the garment on their friend, partially covering her pale body. She smiled softly as she smelled Itachi's scent in the fabric, which didn't escape Shisui's attention. It was obvious that his young sidekick had nothing to worry about in terms of who all of their protege's devotion was directed towards, but he would be careful not to point it out to her for now!

Itachi walked away to do his rounds, while Shisui continued to warm Mitsuki up. After a while, Mitsuki slowly opened her eyes. She blinked once, twice, and then jumped up when she saw Shisui's comfortable chest against her face, knocking Itachi's sweater off at the same time. She screamed when she saw that she herself was only slightly dressed.

Shisui thought of Itachi who had seen the blow coming, and suddenly wished he was anywhere but here. He looked away, his cheeks turning pink, before justifying himself:

"We found you in Orochimaru's lair, you were bathed in a liquid... Like this... and when I broke the container to get you out, I got soaked from head to toe... You were so cold ... it was all I could find to warm you up a bit ... Tsk... this is getting so embarrassing... Itachi left you this sweater so you can get dressed."

Mitsuki quickly put on the garment without a word. Itachi had grown so much that it was up to her thighs, much to her relief. She walked over to Shisui who now had his eyes closed, and placed a tender kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Shisui-kun."

The boy gasped at her touch, suddenly opening his eyes.

"You're finally awake!" exclaimed Itachi as he returned from his rounds.

Mitsuki's heart seemed to explode at his approach. What were they all doing walking around half naked?

"Thanks for the sweater, Itachi-kun. I have a question though... Don't you both master the Staff?" asked Mitsuki, embarrassed.

Itachi laughed, as Shisui fussed with his hair, stammering out the same excuse he had given his cousin.

Their shared joy quickly faded as a rustling sound was heard between the trees. The boys immediately took up positions around Mitsuki, who retrieved his katana from the belt on Itachi's back. A few ANBU emerged from the thicket, allowing the Uchiha to relax their guard.

"Hm... Two boys with their shirts off, or nearly so, and a girl wearing a sweater too big for her... Are you on a mission ... or in a new scenario of "Paradise of frolic"? From the noise you three are making, I take it you're not afraid of any danger," one of them, who was none other than Kakashi, remarked with annoyance.

As the two Uchiha wished to disappear the moment he had finished his remark, Mitsuki repeated as innocently as possible:

"Paradise of frolic?"

Kakashi relaxed and finally laughed softly at her sweet naivety. He changed the subject, not wanting to make her more uncomfortable:

"The Hokage received your message well, Itachi. We moved as fast as we could. A team is already in pursuit of Orochimaru, and we were sent to check on you all. You have completed your mission, we will now take over. Go back to Konoha... and please...find some clothes."

He addressed a wink to the two Uchiha. Mitsuki ignored his quip, still wanting to make a point, remembering that she wasn't alone in the snake's clutches:

"There are still Orochimaru's hostages in the lair..."

"We'll take care of them, and make sure they get back to the orphanage safely, don't worry," Kakashi assured her with a warmer voice than the one he intended for his two companions.

Mitsuki nodded, reassured. The ANBU were about to set off, when his little voice stopped them again:

"Kakashi-kun?"

The gray-haired ANBU turned back to the young wolf.

"Take care of yourself..." she asked him, looking genuinely worried.

He smiled behind his mask, even though she couldn't perceive it, before assuring her that everything would be fine. They disappeared in a jump, leaving the three teammates behind.

"Let's go home..." Shisui announced soberly as he rubbed his arms, the coldness taking over him since Mitsuki had pushed him away.

Itachi sighed before grabbing his cousin's sweater and blowing a small flame to dry it as much as possible. He handed it to her with a quick gesture and ordered:

"Cover me quickly this body ... "

"Speak for yourself!" replied Shisui, quickly putting on the garment.

As they both began to walk, Mitsuki cleared her throat to get their attention:

"By any chance... Did you happen to take my shoes from the den?"

"Sorry Princess... We were too busy getting you out of there." Shisui chuckled.

He moved towards her, but Itachi followed suit, moving ahead of him to crouch in front of the Hata.

"We'll take turns, " He replied to his cousin.

Mitsuki watched them with a doubtful eye, before putting her arms around her best friend's neck, and letting him carry her on his back. She didn't take long to put her head in his neck, and let herself go to the rhythm of his steps. He pressed his thighs little by little, in prey to silent thoughts that the girl guessed without difficulty, to have crossed the same ordeal as him: he was personally in fault for having allowed that she is found prisoner.

"You have nothing to do with it," she murmured, closing her eyes as he turned a saddened gaze on her.

Without an answer, she just hugged him a little more, and let sleep take her away little by little. Going back to Konoha, from which she had wanted so much to escape, seemed to her to be the best prospect.