"How do you find your way around this place?" I asked in irritation. Sasuke ignored me as we snuck between the shadows of the stone corridors lit only by small candles.

I figured the only reason I was able to see anything was because of Sasuke's amazing eyesight even without the Sharingan, so it baffled me a little that he was able to see so well considering my poor eyesight. Perhaps it wasn't so much that he could see, but that he had been through these hallways enough times that he knew how to get through without getting lost.

He suddenly stopped before pushing me back into the last shadow we just passed through. I opened my mouth to say something when I saw a light moving just around the corner of the next hallway. My mouth went dry, and I prayed to whatever gods existed in this universe that it wasn't Orochimaru.

Well… I got my wish…

"What are you doing up Sasuke?" asked Kabuto just after he came round the corner.

I think I forgot to breathe for a moment. Kabuto raised an eyebrow at me as I stared at him with wide eyes, probably wondering why I was staring at him in a very un-Sasuke like manner. The real Sasuke nudged my side, and I sprung into the role I was supposed to play.

"Couldn't sleep," I said simply, trying to look somewhat irritated that he asked in the first place.

Kabuto gave me a strange look. "Don't tell me you're losing sleep over what happened between you and Naruto."

I scoffed. "Why would I lose sleep over that?"

Kabuto seemed to accept that as he gazed over at the real Sasuke who was trapped in my body. It took me a moment to realize that Kabuto had never seen me (meaning my body) before. This was what I had been referring to when we left Sasuke's room.

I told you! You idiot!

"Who are you?" Kabuto asked. "I've never seen you before."

I stepped in front of Sasuke almost protectively as I got in Kabuto's face. "She's new."

"What is she doing with you?"

I nearly fell flat on my face when I heard Sasuke's response. Never in a million years would I have thought he was capable of even thinking about such things! My mind couldn't handle it!

"Even Sasuke-kun has personal needs," he said in my voice as coyly as he could make it. He batted my body's eyelids sweetly as he stepped up beside me, pressing my body into his body's side. I tried not to look completely stupefied. What in the world was he implying?!

I knew, but I didn't want to believe it.

Even more unbelievable than that, Kabuto bought it! What the hell?! "Is that true Sasuke?" he snickered. "I didn't think you had it in you."

You and me both!

I let out a dismissive breath much like the real Sasuke would have and grabbed his hand, marching away as though Kabuto had hit a nerve. Of course, now that I thought about it, he kind of did. I heard him laughing once we turned the corner. I silently thanked Itachi for kicking that guy's ass. He deserved it.

Of course, it hadn't happened yet, but I would be sure to tell him thanks when it did.

"Don't you do that again!" I nearly shouted as soon as we were out of Kabuto's hearing range. I dropped his hand as I spun to face him. "You made me look like some kind of whore back there!" I shivered involuntarily as I thought about it. I'd sooner make out with Jiraiya then even think about doing that with Sasuke Uchiha.

Okay, so maybe that was a lie. There isn't a heterosexual teenaged girl (including myself, unfortunately), who has read or watched the series Naruto, that hasn't thought to herself 'if that Uchiha boy were real…' I'm sure you could guess the rest of that train of thought. However, I always thought the kid was an arrogant jerk. Didn't like him at the start of the series, and I still don't like him now. Stuck up arrogant jerk faces like him needed a good punch in the nose from Karma the Bitch.

…which brought me back to my predicament here. Was this Karma's way of kicking Mister McBroody Pants in the backside, or did I do something horribly wrong to deserve this as well?

"It was the only thing I could think of on the spot," he hissed furiously, snapping me out of my thoughts, "and keep your voice down. He's not the only one up at this hour."

"Whatever," I replied. "Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps. How could you stay in a place like this for so long?"

"I never noticed," he said as he began leading the way again.

"Of course," I said flippantly. "How stupid of me! I forgot that you are the 'revenge is the only thing that matters anymore because I'm a loser' guy. Did it ever occur to you that maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be?"

"Shut up," he whispered.

I had a totally awesome comeback for that one. "You shut up!"

We continued on with Sasuke taking the lead again. We were fortunate enough not to run into any more of Orochimaru's henchmen or Orochimaru himself. We made it safely out of the "Labyrinth of Evil" only to immediately be bombarded by the second worst thing to ever happen to me.

Now, there's a reason my family and I live in the sunny state of California. We hate snow. We dislike the cold, but we definitely hate the snow. It was one of the few reasons our relatives came down to see us instead of the other way around. So, anyway, as someone who can't stand any weather under 50 degrees, I was pretty upset when I found that we were near the top of a mountain in the middle of a blizzard when we finally got out of the cave that is the lair of Orochimaru. I opened my mouth to scream in frustration.

"Don't scream," said Sasuke. "You'll start an avalanche."

"Start an avalanche that'll kill us both, how is that a bad thing?" I asked with a sneer.

He readily ignored me as he started down the mountain and I followed. We got about twenty yards away when I noticed that Sasuke, in my body, was shivering uncontrollably. I guess Sasuke's body was more or less impervious to the cold (or my cloak was thicker) because I was relatively warm.

"You all right?" I asked, more worried about what was happening to my body than any concern I might have had for Sasuke's suffering. I didn't give a damn about that.

"I'll be fine," he muttered. "Let's just keep going. There's a village at the bottom of the valley. We can take shelter there."

I thought about it a moment. Sasuke's body was pretty strong, and even if I couldn't use chakra (because I didn't know how), I could probably run down the mountain with him on my back.

"Maybe I could carry you down?" I suggested. He looked at me like that was the last thing he wanted to do. "Well, for one it would be faster. Unless you think your body can't handle it."

He rolled his eyes. "No," he scoffed. "You're right, just try not to trip or something on our way down."

"I'm not that much of a klutz," I protested as I helped him onto my back. I began to carefully work my way down on the invisible path with Sasuke giving me directions. Do you know how hard it is to climb down the face of a mountain while trying not to slip on any ice or snow while you can barely see through the flurry of snowflakes?

"How much farther is it?" I asked after about an hour of climbing.

"What?"

"The village?"

"Oh, it's not far," he said. "At this speed we should be there in another hour or so."

Another hour? I thought furiously as I reached for another ledge. Golly! How tall is this blasted mountain.

"It would be a whole lot faster if you could use chakra," muttered Sasuke.

"Oh! My God! I am so sorry I wasn't born into a dimension where magic energies existed!" I spat.

"It's not magic energies," he said. "It's chakra."

"I know what it's called!" I shouted just before he covered my mouth.

"Be quiet!" he hissed in my ear. I ripped his hand from my mouth.

"You know, I could drop you right now," I said.

"Go ahead," he replied. "Then you'll be stuck in my body for the rest of your life."

I glared at him, but he was right. I wasn't about to let him fall off, let alone drop him since he was my only key to ever getting home. Wherever that was. I tried not to think about the fact that I might not ever get to go home, but it was inevitable. There was a chance, even if I did get my body back, that I would be stuck here in the Naruto world, and while that wasn't too horrible, there were a few things I didn't want to be around for. Pein's invasion of Konoha and the Fourth Great Shinobi War were just a couple of examples that crossed my mind.

Of course, now that I was getting Sasuke to return to Konoha a little ahead of schedule, things were beginning to change. For one, his little "get revenge on Itachi" operation was going to have to wait, and I was totally ruining Obito's whats-it-called plan. That thought made me grin to myself, earning me some weird looks from Sasuke.

And what about Naruto? The whole of his development revolved around getting Sasuke to come back to the village. Was I ruining that by bringing Sasuke back? Probably, but I wasn't about to stay stuck in Sasuke's body just for him.

Love the guy to death as a character, but my life was on the line right now.

I glanced back at Sasuke who was paying more attention to what I was doing than I was, but it wasn't him I was thinking about. I was trying to decide on whether or not we should tell the rest of Team 7 about our little predicament when we arrived in Konoha. It would explain why I wouldn't be able to go on missions with them, but that would make things so awkward.

The point was moot, though. I seriously doubted Sasuke would want the others to know about this whole situation.

I was kind of curious about how Naruto would react to seeing us. No doubt he and Sakura would be happy to Sasuke, but that didn't mean that happiness would be what they would display. Naruto would probably be furious that after his two attempts to get him back Sasuke just waltzes in unexpectedly.

With my luck, he'll sound like a petulant wife whose husband just came home after leaving her for three years. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

"So if you're not from this dimension, how do you know so much about me?"

I suddenly lost my footing and began to slide down towards a nearby cliff face. Sasuke and I barely managed to stop us from slipping right off the edge.

I let out a sigh of relief before looking back at him. "What?"

"You said back there that you knew me, if you really are from another dimension, how is that possible?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," I replied as I got back up and teetered on the edge of the cliff before moving away from it. I stepped over to my left, hoping to find a way down that wasn't a ninety degree angle.

"Try me."

I let out a exasperated sigh. "In my dimension, you are a fictional character made up by a guy who lives very far away from me. His name is Masashi Kishimoto, and the story you exist in is called Naruto, and yes, your teammate, Naruto, is the main protagonist of the story."

"You're right," he said. "I don't believe you."

"Well, that's your problem, isn't it!" I spat in frustration. "Fact is, we are still stuck in each other's bodies, and the only clan I can think of that could help us is the Yamanaka clan in Konoha."

"How can I trust you if I think you're crazy?"

"Well, I don't trust you, you back-stabbing bastard, so we're even."

He fell silent after that as did I. The ground slowly began to even out so I could get down more easily. Trees had also begun to spring up, and they slowly became denser as we headed farther down.

After another hour or so I finally caught a light not too far ahead. The excitement of getting out of this cold weather gave me wings, and before I knew it, we were standing at the edge of the village. It was a fairly small village with a market, a bar, and an inn along with a few other necessities. This town was just picture perfect for a Christmas card.

"You can put me down now," Sasuke muttered. I happily acquiesced and promptly dropped him. "Ouch!"

"Whoops!" I said. He glared at me, but didn't say anything as he stood up.

"Do you think we could stay here awhile?" I asked.

"For a short while," he replied. "At least until the storm wears out a little."

"Sounds good," I said with a stretch. "There's an inn right over there. Let's go."

"Hold on," said Sasuke putting a hand on my arm. "You do know that I'm a missing nin, right?"

"I know that!" I exclaimed, feeling my face grow warm. Sasuke let out a weary sigh.

"I thought you said you knew this world," he said accusingly. "You don't know where we are, do you?"

Inside a christmas card. "No, I don't know exactly where we are, but I have an idea," I replied.

"We're not in the Rice Field Country, if that's what you're thinking," he deadpanned.

"Then… Where are we?"

"You know about how Naruto and the others found Orochimaru's hideout?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, for obvious reasons, we couldn't stay there," he explained. "We had to relocate. We're now in the Land of Frost, just south of the border to the Land of Lightning."

There was a pregnant pause before it sunk in.

"Pardon?"

Sasuke let out a growl of frustration. "Don't tell me you don't know where that is!"

"Uh… is it… north of the Land of Fire?"

"Yes," he sighed. "It's north. The Land of Frost is the only country that borders the Land of Lightning, and Kumo and Konoha share a lot of information between each other due to the treaty several years ago."

"So a lot of Konoha ninjas come through here?"

"Yes, most of them stop here to rest, and chances are, most of them know what I look like," said Sasuke.

I threw the hood of my cloak over my head. "So try to look inconspicuous. Got it."

"Right," he replied as he did the same.

"Should we use the transformation jutsu?" I asked.

"Let's just go," he groaned.

"All right, fine, sheesh."

We walked on in, taking care to be quiet so as not to disturb the other guests. It was fairly large for a village of this size. It was old and worn, but you could tell that the owners did their best to keep it intact. The wooden craftsmanship made it feel warm and cozy even though there was no immediate fire place.

A loud jolly laugh caught my attention. "Welcome! How may I help you?" said a large older man. His dark hair had streaks of white and grey in it. He had a big friendly grin on his face as he welcomed us in. Next to him was his wife who had a placid look on her face. She was much smaller than him and had a more gloomy look about her.

What is it with the Japanese and opposites? I swallowed nervously. How would Sasuke act in this situation?

"We're just here until the storm let's up," I said, trying to sound as apathetic as possible. It sounded good to me.

"All right!" he laughed. Sasuke pulled out some money and gave it to him as he handed us a key. "Enjoy your stay! And try not to wake up the other guests you two love birds!"

I turned to yell back at him, but Sasuke pulled me away before I could, dragging me down the hall.

Why would he think we were a couple?

Oh…

I snatched my arm out of his hand. "Why couldn't we have gotten two separate rooms?"

"Cause I don't have enough money for two rooms," replied Sasuke.

"But—"

"Let them think what they will," he said. "It's a good cover for us. Kabuto already thinks thats what we're doing. If anyone comes down here looking for us, that's what the owner will tell them, and that'll throw them off our scent for awhile."

He had a point, but it still made me mad. To make matters worse, it was probably sometime between five and six in the morning. Small wonder what they thought we were doing coming to an inn at this hour.

Once we were in our room, I gladly took a seat on the bed, happy to be off my feet for awhile even though I wasn't really sore from the climb down. Contrary to what I wanted to believe, Sasuke was very strong even without the use of chakra.

"So, where are we going from here?" I asked as he sat down on a chair in the corner after locking the door.

"We'll stay a couple hours, and we'll leave out the window," he said. "We'll take the main road to Konoha since shinobi don't normally use it, and the last report Orochimaru received of Konoha's movements don't suggest that anyone of importance that would need shinobi protection is coming up this way."

" I guess since Team Kakashi managed to find his last hiding spot, Orochimaru's been paying closer attention to them, huh?"

"You're smarter than you look."

"Oh shut up! Maybe we should find some sort of transportation," I said. He looked at me expectantly. "Well, if we're going to be traveling on the main road, we could at least try to look like ordinary people who would use the road. All I'm suggesting is a horse and cart, or maybe just a horse."

"We'll see, but I don't think they sell any horses around here. We may have to go a bit farther south before we could even start looking."

"If nothing else," I said, "we should at least buy some new clothes. We still look a little too much like Orochimaru's henchmen."

"All right, get some rest until then, we leave soon."

Okay, so here's chapter 2...

What do you all think? Good or bad?