It started with a kiss, always a kiss, only a kiss.

"I thought you were different, like me, you know," Kabuto remarked. "When I saw you, at those exams."

"We're talking?" Sasuke smirked, sitting up and fixing his rumpled hair. So it looked even more rumpled. But artfully so. Kabuto couldn't help snickering, earning a jab from the boy.

"I thought, you've been left behind, like me." Continued Kabuto. "I saw it in your face. And I knew you were another one. When I was left there, on that battlefield, all I could see was death and loss and pain everywhere. A widow would stumble upon her husband, and I never forgot her screams."

"Like a dying animal she cried. I stayed rooted, and then she saw me. Alive. Off she went, fetching the Hokage. And I was taken it, but I still didn't fit in. Chalk it up to teenage angst, but I knew I was different. I was the broken puzzle piece, the one no one wants."

"And now?" Sasuke's voice was soft. But not comforting. He was morbidly fascinated by the tale. How rare it was he and Kabuto talked. Usually just muddled sounds and muddled longing.

"Orochimaru found me. And then we found you." Kabuto smiled. "And I speak sweetness to you every night."

"Sweetness with as much depth and truth as a feather." Sasuke sighed, throwing his head back. Black eyes gazed at the stars above them. So small, so bright. He closed his eyes. Sasuke could feel the damp grass pressed into his back, and it was prickly and slightly irritating. But Kabuto was whispering into his hair, so he'd ignore it.

"Feathers are pure, dear." Kabuto's voice slid over him. He put his hand out, seeking Kabuto's.

"Deers are shot and killed."

"You survived."

"I was injured in the process." Bitterness was laced in his voice, and a small frantic voice cried for him to retract it. Do not open up, foolish, foolish one.

He was five, young and not too innocent…

"Fixed now?" Kabuto's voice wiped away the dream.

"Yeah." He said, for it was simple, safe answer.

Kabuto lowered his head, kissing his nose. Sasuke flicked his tongue out, tasting himself and blood on Kabuto's lips.

"If he found us here…" He murmured, already knowing what the next line was.

"I'd fight him until he'd let me have you."

Sasuke couldn't help smiling. He did not say thank you, or look at him adoringly, but maybe that smile could be enough.