Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
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just between us for now

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It was hard to tell when and where Sasuke was finding the chances to train alone, but he'd been doing it more and more often since learning about Orochimaru's intention--he came to Kabuto to heal wounds that Orochimaru was apparently unaware of. Kabuto hadn't directly mentioned them to the man yet, but he'd come to the suspicion that they weren't part of Orochimaru's training because lately, the majority of them were burns.

The first time he'd come in, Sasuke had listed the ingredients and measurements for a salve in a voice without emotion, and Kabuto had wondered curiously if Sasuke considered something as small as that as a betrayal of his clan.

He'd once thought of reminding Sasuke that it was the cold snakes hated, but then decided that if the teenager couldn't plan around something as obvious as that, he didn't deserve his help.

Whatever Sasuke had been practicing today, it must have been difficult to hide--there were second-degree burns on his fingers and wrists, and first-degree ones on his calves. Kabuto had healed the dermis and epidermis, not wanting the trouble with Orochimaru, but was daubing the salve on anyway.

He might have skipped it, if Sasuke had sat down when he came in. Instead, he'd stood the whole time, even when Kabuto had made an off-hand comment that it was more difficult for him to work with Sasuke's legs that way. The younger teenager had glared at him, so Kabuto shrugged a shoulder and bent a knee.

"That's the last of it," he said, as he finished with the small spot near the inside of Sasuke's right calf. Kabuto stood, rubbing the traces of salve between his fingers absently to remove the greasy feeling. "You should avoid his sight until you wash that off or wrap over it, though."

"Whatever," Sasuke replied, moving his fingers slightly and testing how the skin stretched.

"I mean it," Kabuto said with a trace of annoyance. "He'll be displeased to learn about all these new scars."

"I didn't know you cared," Sasuke retorted, looking over at him with a harsh little smirk.

"I get tired of cleaning up the bodies when he's pissed," Kabuto answered. "And it would be a nuisance to take care of you afterward, too."

The look Sasuke gave him at that was closed-off, calculating; when he spoke half a minute later, his tone was callous and dismissive, but the question was serious. "What do you know?"

Kabuto had already turned to the sink by then, to wash his hands. He kept his back to Sasuke and chuckled once, poignantly.

There was another pause, this one longer, and then Kabuto heard Sasuke shift on his feet.

"Keh," he muttered, quietly, and his voice grew quieter throughout his next sentence. "Figures you're sleeping with him too."

"No, no," Kabuto corrected pleasantly, shutting off the water. "I'm too old for him now."

A few seconds into the silence that came after that, he heard a strange noise. Kabuto glanced over his shoulder to see Sasuke staring towards the door to the clinic, biting the inside of his lip to smother a laugh.

The corner of Kabuto's mouth curled up, but then he caught it and looked forward again before Sasuke noticed.