Chapter 4:

Needle in a Haystack

Isolated Murmurs

Several hours raced by on the clock, however, these hours felt like years to Sasuke. He wasn't sure what time it was, due to him crying himself to sleep multiple times. Three times, he had counted. Each time he woke up, the pain seemed to increase, and it felt like he was awake triple the time he was sleeping.

Why? Why is he doing this to me? He thought miserably, taking a shaky breath, and momentarily closing his eyes, spilling over more teardrops. Why does it have to be me? First my whole family is slaughtered, then I get cursed by Orochimaru, now I was kidnapped by him… what else does this pathetic life have to throw at me? How much more do I have to lose before I break? He thought, unable to surpass a shiver running down his spine at the thought.

He heard the soft tap tap of footsteps outside his door and he quickly ducked his head down and shut his eyes, evening out his breaths, and feigning sleep.

He heard the door creak open slowly, and a dim light entered Sasuke's room, growing bigger and bigger as the individual pushed it away more.

Although he was petrified, Sasuke did an impressive job of simulating sleep. The person didn't notice he was actually awake.

"Sasuke." The voice whispered coolly. It was Kabuto. Sasuke didn't dare say a word. He may have every cell in his body screaming for him to beg Kabuto to heal the pain, but never would he sell his pride away for some treatment.

"Sasuke!" The voice persisted; his whisper was now a hiss. He clearly wanted Sasuke to respond. Sasuke peeked one of his eyes open. Surprisingly, Kabuto was empty handed.

Kabuto muttered something completely unfathomable and started walking towards the young Uchiha. He didn't dare look up, but let out a soft moan, trying to show Kabuto that he was asleep, but still in a tremendous amount of pain.

Kabuto snickered slightly, but continued to make more steps towards Sasuke.

Step, step, step, step, step. The footsteps kept persisting, but in Sasuke's current state, it made the light tapping seem more like a soft humming lullaby than a threat.

The soft sound slowly died out as Kabuto approached Sasuke and bent down on his knees.

Sasuke shut his tight as sweat trickled down his forehead, and he prayed that Kabuto wouldn't realize he was awake. He was extremely lucky, his only slip went unnoticed.

Kabuto put a hand on the boy's forehead, checking for fever. Sasuke had a throbbing headache, and felt like thrashing around it hurt so bad, but he had been still the whole time, again, not ready to shatter his pride to pain.

The next ten minutes Sasuke spent getting poked and prodded by Kabuto is various locations. Some felt relaxing and calming; most likely the medic knew places on your body that could easily relax you. Others made Sasuke want to scream in pain, he dug his nail into one of Sasuke's stab wounds, lightly, but enough to make Sasuke hiss in pain, slightly alarming the medic. He jumped back, and that was enough to startle Sasuke as he quickly jumped to his knees, then immediately yelling in pain and clutching his stomach, grabbing at the spot where most of his wounds were.

"You… you're awake?" Kabuto gasped. "Yeah, now back off." He hissed, with one eye opened, the other pressed tightly together in pain.

Kabuto gave him a synthetic smile. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that quite yet." He said.

Sasuke shot him a death glare, proving his anger towards the silver haired medic. Kabuto smirked and fixed his glasses.

"Come to torture and beat me again?" Sasuke rasped. He was losing his voice, he realized.

"No… not this time." Kabuto said, his voice became breathless, something that rarely happened to the medic. He wasn't sure if it was the sight of Sasuke like this, or the room blotched in blood. Maybe a little of both.

"Alright, Sasuke. Confess up. What hurts?" He asked. Sasuke shot him another death glare. "What? Are you trying to stab a knife through me with that glare or something?" He joked, but Sasuke wasn't in the mood for his teasing. Instead, he just closed his eyes and turned his head away. He was still grasping at his stomach.

"Come on, Sasuke. Let me know. I can take the pain away."

Tempting, yes. Successful, no.

"I don't need your pitiful help." Sasuke snorted. Kabuto gave Sasuke a hard stare, "Sasuke-"

"GO AWAY!! YOU AND OROCHIMARU CAUSED ALL THIS PAIN NOW WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!?" He screamed.

"Shh… quiet down Sasuke. You'll disturb Orochimaru. You don't want that to happen would you?" Sasuke quickly quieted his yelling, flinching visibly.

Kabuto snickered "That's what I thought. Now, tell me what hurts."

Reluctantly, Sasuke started to cooperate. (A/N 0_o)

"Hasn't me holding my stomach for the past twenty minutes tip you off you pathetic excuse of a medic!" Sasuke snapped, making Kabuto flinch.

"You know, you really gotta work on that attitude problem of yours." He said dully.

He received a death glare in return.

Kabuto yawned. He hadn't been able to sleep lately, and exhaustion was finally kicking in.

Just then, Sasuke broke into a relentless coughing fit; bright red blood drops dotted the floor, making it seem like a blood shower to all the little dust particles lying dormant on the unwashed floor.

"Sasuke, why don't you lay down for a second while I get something to treat that nasty cough?" Kabuto asked him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Kabuto smacked his forehead in embarrassment. "Right… you're already doing so." He cursed at himself mentally, and then slowly headed for the door.

Sasuke was only left alone for seconds before Kabuto rushed back with two things in hand again.

One was a senbon, while the other was a normal shot.

He sat down on his knees and used a Medical Jutsu over Sasuke's shoulder, cleaning off the skin. Kabuto couldn't help noticing how weak the Uchiha was. He couldn't even stand anymore.

"W-what is it this time you sick minded medic?" He asked, his voice was getting raspy again.

"Shh… it's alright. It's just a little thing to help your rough cough." Kabuto lied, and Sasuke saw right through it, which only worried him more deeply.

Kabuto reluctantly slide the shot through Sasuke's arm and inserted the white liquid into him.

Sasuke hissed, grunted, and moaned in pain. His body couldn't even handle a needle after what had happened before, either that same day or the day before. Maybe even two days. He couldn't be sure.

After Kabuto got done emptying the contents into Sasuke, he quickly pulled the needle out, making Sasuke grab his arm and flinch in pain.

"After all the pain you just went through, you're think a needle prick hurts?" He laughed. Sasuke swung at him with the arm he had just had gotten the shot on.

Bad idea.

Three things happened all at once:

One, he swung at Kabuto.

Two, he missed.

Three, the liquid in his arm had spread quickly causing him to fall to the ground gripping his hand and hissing in pain as the liquid made his way through his whole body.

That fast!? Sasuke thought with a growl, but the angry face that showed quickly disappeared to a helpless, pained expression as he screamed in absolute agony, propping himself up on his elbow to sit up as best as he could.

Kabuto brushed the hair out of his face, "Calm down, Sasuke." He said coldly.

Sasuke continued to pant in absolute agony, but Kabuto knew the solution. In fact, that's why he brought his second item.

He picked the senbon off the ground, and made his way through Sasuke's thick hair to some certain pressure point in his neck, and with excellent accuracy, slide the needle through his skin.

Sasuke could only let out a surprised gasp. His eyes clouded over as his shoulder gave out and he fell to the ground, his head hitting the ground with a huge smack, but he was unconscious before he could feel any pain.

Well, there's that chapter!! ^^
What was the fluid that Kabuto injected into Sasuke? What will happen? (Don't say a word Paul!) xD

Please review. Cookies to whoever does!!

Yummy, fresh baked cookies right out of the oven... lol. Jk.

~SasukeUchihasGuardian