Hey everyone! I think I re-wrote this chapter at least 87 times and got hit with some writer's block as I was trying to think about the future of the story and where I want it to go. I think I got it figured out.

As usual, Sasuke probably might come off as ooc here, I swear I'm doing my best to get him on point but as I'm trying to dive into his emotions, I find it really hard since he never shows any in the series. Should I declare this as AU? I'm still new to the fanfic world and I'm still learning, go easy on me!

Also sidenote, I've been rewatching Shippuden to better grasp team Hebi/Taka and I forgot how much I love Suigetsu. I'm not ashamed to have bumped him up into my top 5 Naruto boys.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

xoxo

The young redhead awoke on the cold hard ground. She opened her crimson eyes, but she couldn't see anything but a line of orange light that beamed through the tiny window in the large steel door. She was still down here it seemed. Thrown into this chamber after the vile Kabuto Yakushi was done with her. He called this a chamber, she called it a jail cell. A jail cell for her to be dumped into and taken out whenever Orochimaru or Kabuto needed to experiment on her 'beautiful body'. Orochimaru himself scared her to death. That slimy smirk on his thin lips, the sound of his sinister voice, the threats he made, he was terrifying. The ex-legendary sannin had never touched her or harmed her. Kabuto on the other hand, wasn't as intimidating. He played the mental game. He groomed you. Confused you. Brainwashed you. He abused you. But then again, she was alive and that was what mattered to her. Karin was in survival mode from the moment her mother was taken from her. Self-sufficiency was ingrained in her being. Would she make it out without mental scars? Of course not. She knew that and accepted that.

The redhead sat up when she felt a powerful chakra approach her cell when suddenly, the heavy steel door swung open and slammed into the stone wall, startling the young, bandaged woman. She didn't have her glasses, but she could make out a large, very muscular man standing in the doorway, shielding her from the orange light that seeped through the doorway. A common lackey, she thought. What'd this guy do to get out of being an experiment?

"Lord Orochimaru has summoned you." The giant of a man muttered in a very deep voice. He approached and Karin flinched again, raising her arm defensively which the man simply snatched, pulling her up to her feet forcefully, making Karin cry out in pain. To her knowledge, Kabuto had extracted some of her cells from her reproductive system. He had taken advantage of her at the same time, so she was very sore. It hurt like hell.

"W-why? Can you be gentler, I'm a lady!"

"You're an experiment." He spat out aggressively, quickly shutting the rowdy redhead down and dragged her out of the cell and through various corridors, leading to Orochimaru's chambers. He hadn't been well and was often resting. His body was expiring it seemed. But he was still the most powerful man in the establishment, apart from his little protégé he had recruited from Konoha.

The burly man dragged her up to the door to Orochimaru's chambers and knocked on the door to warn that he was here and he slowly opened the door and swung Karin's arm, tossing her into the room. A yelp left her lips as she landed ungracefully before the bed. The deathly pale man was sitting in a chair. His arms were bandaged, and he wore a robe. A small smirk creeped up his thin lips, curling upwards at the sigh of the broken girl before him. Quickly, Karin scrambled into a kneeling position before her master. The sharp movement killed her inside, pain shot through her body from the bottom up, but she hid it as much as she could. She bowed down and whimpered her words.

"Lord Orochimaru."

The dark-haired man had his yellow, snake like eyes on her as he stood from his chair with a small grunt. He took a step forward towards her and flicked his wrist and twitched his fingers for her to look up at him. She complied and slowly raised her head to look up at him. Tall and lanky, but oh so powerful. Orochimaru furrowed his brows at her. He could see she was frightened. He knew very well she feared him. He liked it.

"Dear, would you have any idea as to why I summoned you?"

His voice was low and calm. He stood over her before he slowly lowered himself onto one knee to get to her level, since she was knelt on the floor. As he got closer, her heartbeat began to quicken. She shook her head no and his hand shot out to grab her chin, rooting her in place, he pushed her head up and made eye contact. His touch was rough. She blinked and fought back some tears as she stared into her master's golden eyes.

"It is important to answer when I speak to you, Karin. Let us not be rude now."

"N-no. Why am I here…?"

"Poor girl, so frightened. So young…Unfortunately, your service is no longer needed…

Orochimaru's facial features slowly began to warp and slowly change from pale human skin to green scales and his pupils became thinner and thinner. Sharp fangs were growing in his mouth and his tongue slid out of his mouth. He grabbed her shoulder as his head became the head of a snake and his neck shot out, just about to devour her whole before being engulfed in heavy darkness.

An agitated gasp coursed through the small room. Disheveled red hair had been glued to the side of her face with sweat, nervous sweat covered her entire body and she felt hot. The redhead moved her hands up to her face and buried her face into her palms before sucking in deep breaths periodically to calm herself down. She needed to ground herself. It was just a dream. It was not real. It never happened. It was purely her imagination. The nightmares about her past were becoming a nightly occurrence and it was starting to get to her. She thought sleeping next to a man that made her feel safe would rid her of the traumatic scenarios. She was wrong and she fought back her tears, running her slim fingers up through her vibrant hair, raking the strands out of her face and let out another deep, anxious sigh. 'Get your shit together before he comes back'. Little did she know, he was standing in the bathroom's doorway, clothed with only a towel. His black hair glistened in the yellow sunlight that beamed in through the old windows. He had been watching her. Her reddened crimson eyes shot up and looked at him before he spoke. He saw her agitated state, he knew something was wrong.

"…What's your problem?"

The raven-haired man asked nonchalantly, walking into the room from the bathroom to gather the clothes he had discarded the night before. He held that same neutral facial expression, devoid of any emotion, any concern, no care in the world. In his mind though, a lot was happening, and he was grateful Karin was not a Yamanaka. Seeing Karin agitated and be on the verge of tears, seeing her chest puff in and out so fast, the frightened sigh, it reminded him of an ex-teammate. Some parts of Karin always reminded him of her. The temper, the emotions, the passion, the obsession… Sasuke cursed in his head and shook his head, leaning down and sliding on his boxers and then his pants underneath the towel. He soon removed it and tossed it on the floor and got dressed quickly, sliding on the black armguards, and then throwing on the white long-sleeved open shirt. He secured the white cloth around his hips and tied the purple rope around himself, preparing to leave. He could not wait to change out of this outfit. Something about having his toned chest exposed, it felt bizarre.

Meanwhile, Karin was sat in bed, watching him quietly, surprisingly, she had nothing to say. He glanced at her, icy black eyes freezing her in place.

"What's wrong with you? Get your stuff together, we're leaving soon."

The raven-haired man raised his eyebrow at the redhead and just shook his head once again, finishing up gathering what little items they had and Karin swung her legs over the edge of the bed and ran a hand through her red hair, letting out a sigh. A sigh of relief. She stood up and silently took some steps forward towards the bathroom, walking right past her cold comrade with her crimson eyes looming to the floor before her arm was grasped, stopping her from moving forward, actually the way he gripped her arm was a bit rougher than he intended for it to be. A soft gasp escaped her pink lips and she turned to see her teammate staring down at her, his eyes narrowed for a moment when she pulled away and yanked her arm out from his grasp. She went to protest but he spoke first.

"What's the matter?"

He asked in a low tone, his black eyes gleaming and looking into her red eyes. He didn't really care about what was wrong with her, but he knew Karin was highly emotional and he knew he needed to keep her under control somewhat. That was the justification he gave himself for asking his impulsive question. It wasn't ordinary for Sasuke Uchiha to show concern for anyone. And that was apparent to Karin.

"I…I just had a dream, that's all. Why do you even care?"

The redhead spat, quickly throwing up her defensive walls and almost immediately throwing on her mask of being this strong woman who would not allow herself to be played. He never cared before, why now, right? Jeez, this was psychological warfare.

Sasuke's eyes widened a little at her retort. This girl…The taller male approached her once more and stood closer, furrowing his brows at her, but kept his hands to himself.

"I don't need you screwing this mission up with petty emotions, that's why. So, if you've got a problem, say it."

The way the only emotions she'd ever seen from Sasuke was anger or lust was eerie and extremely confusing. It was always one step forward, two steps back for them and it frustrated the hell out of Karin. She had so many questions to ask him. What do you feel? Can you feel? Are you using me? Am I just a pawn, like I was to Orochimaru? Will you eventually abandon me? But all Karin could say as her swelling red eyes looked up at his handsome face was "I'm fine. Don't worry about your precious mission, I know it's what's important." She wanted to reach out and embrace him, but she needed to be strong and hold back. She turned on her heels and rushed quickly to the bathroom to have her shower and perhaps cry under the streams of hot water. Sasuke simply sighed, frustrated with the redhead. Frustrated that she was losing control of her emotions, frustrated that her mental state was deteriorating and frustrated that she was reminding him of a past he wished to forget.

A small groan left his throat and he threw his pack over his shoulder and left the room after hearing the shower turn on, closing the door behind him and headed down the wrecked hall to the original bedroom that no longer had a door on it.

Suigetsu was laying face down on the floor with nothing but a towel around his waist, still asleep and snoring audibly while Jugo was asleep in the bed which he was almost too tall for, his knees bent to fit the mattress. Sasuke entered the room walking over rubble and kicked Suigetsu in his side resulting in the white-haired man groaning and swatting the foot away. Jugo was up and awake immediately.

"Suigetsu. Jugo. Get up, we're leaving."

Suigetsu cracked a violet eye open and grumbled. "Let me sleep five more minutes…" He moved a hand to grasp his head and massaged his temple slowly before the tall ginger made his way behind the swordsman and leaned down, grabbing him by the arm and gently pulled him up to his feet, much to the protest of Suigetsu.

"Hey, big guy, I can get up by myself." The water ninja pulled his arm away and groaned, feeling his head pounding.

"We shouldn't keep him waiting." Jugo said in a low voice. Sasuke had already gone downstairs and was probably waiting for his team to follow. Suigetsu rolled his violet eyes and grabbed his bottle of water, moving to the sink in the bathroom and filled it before taking it to his lips and downing the entire bottle of water in one go. He returned into the room to get changed into his clothes before speaking nonchalantly.

"So y'guys let me sleep on the floor last night or what?"

The water ninja asked as he threw on his pants without any underwear and then his purple shirt, looking over at the mountain of a man who just shook his head before he noticed the destroyed entrance and his eyes widened but knew exactly what happened and didn't question it. Jugo was still new and Suigetsu didn't want to trigger the man.

"As I recall, you stumbled out of the bathtub, fell to the floor and slept there. I took the bed. Karin got her own room and Sasuke slept elsewhere."

The sharp toothed man couldn't help but let out a guttural laugh.

"He didn't sleep elsewhere, Jugo, c'mon. I might be hungover but I ain't dumb. He slept with Kar-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a brick was thrown straight at Suigetsu which he barely managed to dodge, the brick hitting the wall behind him and burst into pieces.

"You're hungover and dumb!"

A female voice shouted out and Karin was in the doorway, dressed and ready to go. She had her arms crossed and death glare aimed straight for the white-haired man. Who groaned in annoyance already.

"I'll have you know, Sasuke came to my room because you are impossible to live with!" And to that Suigetsu just smirked.

"So he did sleep with you."

Karin's cheeks grew pink and she felt her face become warm.

"Ugh, you're such an idiot. We're leaving in five. If only we could leave you behind."

Karin turned around and walked off, stomping her feet and grumbling as Jugo looked at Suigetsu and shrugged, following the redhead. Suigetsu just laughed and gathered his things. Something was going on and he wanted in on it.

Team Hebi gathered in the lobby of the old inn they stayed at and inevitably ruined. The place was empty after everything that happened the previous night from Suigetsu and Karin fighting with the owner and Jugo going on a rage filled rampage. Everyone made their escape and Karin felt no chakra apart from their own. It was safe to talk about what came next for the team.

"We'll be going into the Land of Fire and stopping by Sora-ku to stock up."

The raven-haired leader spoke in a low, authoritarian tone, looking over his team to make sure things were made clear. Karin was sitting on one of the bar stools with her legs crossed. Jugo was standing next to her and Suigetsu was across the room leaning against a wall, staring at the floor.

"Isn't that place dead? I thought Sora-ku was abandoned."

The redhead piped up, trying to avoid eye contact with Sasuke, the events of this morning were still fresh in her mind and it was obvious she felt some type of way about it. Sasuke completely ignored her attitude and answered calmly before turning and moving for the door to leave, the team followed. He spoke as they walked through the town.

"Not entirely. My clan stored munitions within the city of Sora-ku. I have allies there."

"That should only be a day's travel if someone doesn't lag behind the whole time."

The redhead whipped her head around to shoot a glare at her mortal enemy who just smirked and held up his middle finger at her, remaining quiet for once in his life. She twisted her body and turned her head again so her back was to him and crossed her arms, scoffing at the immature gesture he had just given her. Suigetsu leaned off of the wall and walked out behind the bar and grinned.

"Should we take some stuff? Ain't no one here to stop us…Not that they could anyway."

The white-haired man picked up and held up a full bottle of sake and wiggled his eyebrows at his team. Karin let out an 'ugh' and got off of the bar stool to walk over next to Sasuke. Jugo remained silent, seemingly in his own thoughts and Sasuke didn't find the water nin's antics amusing whatsoever.

"Leave their stuff alone. You've done enough to the place. We're going."

Sasuke turned his back and cocked his head towards the door to alert Jugo to come. He was visibly affected by what he'd done the previous night. Karin could tell. She could read it in his gentle chakra. Looks like she wasn't the only one who felt conflicted and afflicted. Maybe she had more in common with the ex-curse mark experiment after all. The redhead looked up at the mountain of a man and smiled genuinely at him, falling into step with the large man who allowed her to exit first, following Sasuke while Suigetsu ignored what his leader had just told him and buried the bottle of sake into his bag, shrugging and followed his team out.

After nearly a full day of travelling through Otogakure, travelling in the shadows, jumping through trees and travelling through forest, the group final stopped at a small clearing in the forest when Karin sensed something. She called out to her team to stop in their tracks. They were nearing the border between Oto and Fire.

"Wait." Said the redhead, closing her crimson eyes and focused on the foreign chakra she sensed. Fairly weak shinobi. Nothing they couldn't handle, but they didn't need unnecessary skirmishes and unnecessary bloodshed. They weren't the targets.

"Guards. East of us. We are a mile away from the border to the country of Fire. Sasuke, do we cross out of sight? I suggest continuing south."

Karin opened her eyes. Orange rays shined down through some of the trees, setting her already vibrant red hair ablaze. Sasuke looked at her for a moment, his gaze glued to her for a moment before nodding his head at her.

"Yeah. We don't have time to waste on Oto guards. Let's go."

In a flash he jumped onto a tree branch and the team continued along, crossing the border, and finally leaving Otogakure. 'Good riddance', Karin thought to herself. She never wanted to return there. She wanted to desperately leave her horrific memories there for good. Being taken in by Orochimaru allowed her to survive all these years but it came with a price. The things that snake and Kabuto had put her through understandably wore her mental strength down. Perhaps it could one day be mended.

After a couple more hours of travelling on the land of Fire's side now, nightfall quickly crept in. The sky had gone from vibrant colors of fading blue into oranges and reds, transitioning into a perfect sunset to now a small shade of pink that leaked into purple and darkness. They needed to stop for camp, stopping near a stream of water. They were near the Valley of the end. Setting up camp near a river under a forest of trees and boulders. It was secluded as best as they could get. Once the spot was picked, the entire team fell into place and each took their part in preparing the camp up. Jugo gathered pieces of wood to build a fire, Sasuke lit the fire with his fire jutsu while Karin went and gathered some fresh water from the stream. Suigetsu of course sat atop a small boulder sipping on his water bottle and complaining as usual. The redhead returned to a large fire that was lit. She had everyone's water cannisters filled up and she handed it to everyone but Suigetsu. He could get his own. Hearing the man complain angered the sensitive redhead. She plopped down in front of the fire beside Sasuke and glared at Suigetsu through the bright orange flames of the fire, illuminating her red eyes.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and get us some fish, instead of sitting there talking crap."

She slowly and carefully inched closer to the raven-haired man next to her who took a swig of his cannister. He absolutely noticed her movement but didn't move away. He would move when she got too close. This was why she hated camping out in the open. Sasuke shied away from her advances so much more when in the presence of the other two men. Suigetsu groaned and jumped off of the boulder and stretched his arms out.

"Whatever, fine. I'm starving, so don't think I'm doing this for you."

The white-haired man turned and walked out into the woods to go to the stream of water to catch some fish for the team, leaving Karin alone with Sasuke. Well basically alone. Jugo was sitting with his back to a tree with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Karin took her chances and inched closer to Sasuke, her arm was touching his now and he flinched. She felt him tense up once contact was made but again, he didn't move. His dark eyes just stared into the fire, his face was lit up and looked very tasty in that moment. She wanted nothing more than to jump him, but with Jugo there, it would never happen. It didn't mean she couldn't cuddle up to him though…At least until fish breath returned.

Karin slowly removed her glasses from her face and placed them safely in her bag before returning to her position, lowering her head onto his shoulder. He tensed again but didn't reject or speak up. 'Tell me what you're feeling…' Of course, he won't say anything. She needed to take this into her hands.

"Sasuke? Do you remember our retrieval mission? When we had to gather the escaped test subjects?"

The redhead asked in a low voice, slowly looping her arm around his to increase her comfortability. This time he did respond by pulling his arm away and furrowed his dark brows, turning his head to look down at her for a moment and then back at the fire. There was a pause before he answered. Karin frowned at his small rejection, but she was still sitting against him with her head on his shoulder, so it wasn't too bad.

"Yeah."

He answered dryly. Stoic as ever. It was so annoying; he was impossible to read. His chakra was hard to read as well. It never fluctuated from anger and darkness. His chakra had once been mesmerizing and brilliant but over the years it began to turn sour. It slightly worried her. But because it never changed from aggressiveness, it made him extremely hard to read, but extremely easy to locate.

"After the mission…You kissed me. And…Well we've been-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Sasuke immediately knew what she was getting at and he needed to shut it down. Emotions had no place amid a mission so important.

"I don't remember that."

'Playing stupid now, are we?' the redhead thought to herself and closed her eyes, letting out a sigh to calm herself down. Frustration was starting to grow inside her already.

"I just want to know what you're thinking, that's all…What are you doing, Sasuke?"

He pulled away from her at the question and crossed his arms, shaking his head slowly. Frustration was growing in him now as well. Karin straightened up and let him pull away, hiding the slight hurt she felt from the action, it felt colder away from him despite the blazing fire before the duo.

"Remember what I told you this morning, Karin. Drop it."

The raven-haired man spoke in a harsher tone now, dodging her question. Not because he was embarrassed and not because of the reasoning he gave her but because he didn't know. He didn't know what he was doing with her. He had his ex-teammate in mind often and now this redheaded vixen all over him. At the same time, keeping his focus on the mission at hand. Itachi's death. That was what mattered the most, not petty relationship problems. He didn't think he'd ever have time for it. For the moment, it was a way to relieve stress and feed his human needs. That's all. But would he voice such a thing? Never.

"Bullshit." Karin spat. His answer was total bullshit. He was avoiding his emotions and blamed it on the mission. She rolled her red eyes before continuing. "You have to have emotions, Sasuke. You can't go thro-"

Once again, Karin was cut off by Suigetsu's shrill annoying deep voice calling out as he was making his way back to the camp. Something about there not being any sizeable fish in the small river. The interruption made Karin boil over and she exploded.

"Oh my- Why does everyone in this damn team never let me finish what I'm saying!?"

The neurotic redhead shouted out, waking Jugo from his sleep. She shot up to her feet, visibly upset. Here she was trying her best to have a heart to heart with a sociopath and failing miserably at it, failing to keep her feelings suppressed and now here came a loudmouth interrupting her, the second interruption of the night. Karin stomped off angrily and brushed past Suigetsu, bashing her shoulder into his, knocking him to the side. The water ninja just raised a brow and looked over at Sasuke.

"The hell's wrong with her now? Jugo, what'd you do to her, big guy?"

Suigetsu shot a toothy grin at Jugo, teasing the large man who shrugged his shoulder before rubbing his eyes. Sasuke sat there quietly with his eyes closed, neutral look on his face as usual, not responding to Suigetsu's question. The white-haired man plopped down across from Sasuke and laid on his back, staring up at whatever he could see in the sky. Most of it was covered by leaves and branches.

That night, Karin slept separated from the camp, sleeping near the river on a bed of moss while the rest of the team slept by the fire. Sasuke never once came to check on her and it hurt her heart.

"He doesn't care…"