Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of its creator, Kishimoto Masashi, and various companies that publish it. We all know I'm not making any money out of this; just playing with the characters for a while.

A/N: This was inspired by episode 170 of the anime. I don't think anyone was expecting to see Sasuke, right? Well I sure wasn't and it took me a few days to get over it. And the following day, this little thing literally wrote itself.

Oh and I've actually drawn a picture to go with this. I haven't posted it just yet but I'll do it very shorty -- I wanted the story up first so I could put a link to it on DA. Anyway, I'll edit this soon, but just in case I can't do it as soon as I intend to, go to hiddengems.deviantart dot com and look for the most recent picture, entitled "Guess Who - Coloured".

Sasuke stood in the clearing, head tilted towards the sky, eyes closed. He'd been squinting so much he'd had to close his eyes in the end and simply enjoy the feel of the sun on his face and the wind through his hair again.

Orochimaru's hideouts were all the same—buried deep in the bowels of the earth, with no natural light, no wind. No life. It might have been very well for a snake and his pet weasel, but he'd needed out, even just for a few minutes.

When he walked back the way he'd come, he wasn't surprised to hear unhurried footsteps coming his way. After a few seconds, the slim frame of Kabuto became clearer.

"Where were you?" he asked as they drew closer and could now distinguish each other's features.

Sasuke smiled inwardly. Despite his best attempts at controlling it, there was a clear hint of panic in Kabuto's voice. Maybe he wasn't such a good actor after all.

He walked past the older boy without slowing down.

"You know you can't wander around like that on your own."

"What are you, my babysitter?" he spat, looking back over his shoulder.

He hated Kabuto and he knew the feeling was mutual. He hated him for his fake smiles and warmth and his sneaky ways. He wasn't quite sure why Kabuto hated him so but he couldn't have cared less. It had been several months now and the tension between them had increased ever so slowly with each passing day. So it wasn't much of a surprise when the older boy grabbed him by the neck in one fluid movement and pinned him against the stone wall.

"Why you…" he said between gritted teeth as his right hand started to glow.

Sasuke smirked. "Look at that pretty glow of yours! Go on, hit me, I dare you to. What do you think Orochimaru will say to that, eh?"

Kabuto flinched and the chakra that had materialised on his right hand promptly disappeared, but he made sure to give Sasuke's windpipes a good squeeze before releasing him. The latter choked a little but the smirk did not leave his lips as he slowly rubbed his throat.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before a very distinctive laughter came from the side and they both looked in the same direction.

Sasuke still hadn't got used to the way Orochimaru could sneak up on him that way. Keeping his face turned towards the advancing man, he looked away.

"He's right, Kabuto… Even you are not allowed to cause the slightest damage to his precious body."

Sasuke tensed up, but by now he was used to it and able to keep most of the impact of Orochimaru's words hidden inside. As long as he looked away while hearing those words, he could pretend. Looking away and pretending he couldn't sense the way Orochimaru constantly stared at him… Every day—while he trained, ate, sat somewhere thinking, probably even while he slept, who knew? But he could pretend; he had to.

"But you know, Kabuto is also right, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru went on, putting an unnecessary emphasis on his name like always. "You shouldn't wander off on your own like that… We wouldn't want you to get lost now, would we?"

"I was only making a point," he said, risking a glance.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"

"If I can get out without you knowing how I did it, then who's to say someone can't get in the same way? Seems like your latest hideout isn't as perfectly safe as you think it is…"

Orochimaru exchanged a quick look with Kabuto and then smiled.

"Are you eating well, Sasuke-kun? Your face looks a bit thin…" he said, reaching out and holding Sasuke's chin up so their eyes met again. "We don't want you wasting away."

Damn that filthy snake… He knew which buttons to press to shut anybody up.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from showing any emotion and walked away, straight to his room. He would need a shower now. That was always his first thought after Orochimaru touched him.

When he stepped inside the box room that had been allocated to him—a bed, a cupboard and a very small bathroom; almost like a prisoner—he closed the door behind him and threw his shoes to the side. Gone were the clothes with the Uchiha symbol on them. These days he was only allowed to wear the sort of plain kimono that Orochimaru wore himself. As he untied his belt, he carefully took out the small leaf he had hidden there and placed it on his pillow.

He couldn't really explain why he'd picked it up, but once he'd seen it he couldn't stop himself from reaching out to it.

He took the rest of his clothes off, dumped them on the bed and headed for the shower. Those times were the only moments of true respite he knew and he often spent longer than intended, closing his eyes and abandoning himself to the warmth of the water running down his skin. It was nothing like the feeling of the sun he'd experienced earlier on, but it was the closest thing he had to it in Orochimaru's cold world.

When he came out again, wearing nothing but a large towel wrapped around his waist, he spun around towards the door in a split second, his sharingan turning itself on automatically. Orochimaru was standing there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

"What do you want?" he asked, turning his back to the man again. He was probably the only person comfortable enough to show their back to Orochimaru—he unfortunately knew he was perfectly safe.

When his eyes fell on his pillow, he froze. They darted to the cover, the mattress, even the floor, but the leaf was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for this…?"

Orochimaru held out his arm towards him, making the leaf spin between his thumb and index finger.

"What's that?" he asked, glad that his voice didn't sound as shaky as he'd feared.

Orochimaru grinned and kept staring at the leaf. "It strangely looks like the ones growing on the trees in Konoha, doesn't it? I wonder how it got here…"

Sasuke did not reply. He knew he couldn't come up with any valid reason so he remained silent; that was always the best course of action. And he did not flinch when Orochimaru walked towards him.

"Surely, a clever boy such as yourself isn't foolish enough to think about returning to the village and the friends that he…left behind… Is he, Sasuke-kun?" he added, running a hand through the boy's wet hair to brush a few locks away from his face.

"I came to you through my own choice, didn't I?" he managed to say.

"Very good," Orochimaru said after a few seconds, resting a hand on his bare shoulder before walking away again.

Sasuke clenched his fists. Every time Orochimaru said that, to him it sounded like the "good boy" you said to a dog before patting them on the head.

When the door closed again, his eyes fell on the leaf the man hadn't forgotten to crush before leaving. He stared at it, gritting his teeth and ignoring the excruciating pain inside.

Through his own choice…

He closed his eyes and let himself drop to his knees.

Naruto, I'm sorry…