Eventually the two recuperated and continued their training. By now they moved on to the fourth section of the training grounds. Snowflakes drizzled from the ceiling and gusts of wind blew across their frozen bodies. To keep warm, they fashioned two bear fur coats from the forest. Sasuke came up with the idea after experiencing three days with Orochimaru in the frozen tundra.

Their last week was coming to a close. Each of them had gotten stronger in their own ways. Satomi, Sasuke noted, had mastered the basics of being a shinobi. On top of that, her attitude had changed. She no longer depended on him for easy tasks like food, shelter, or training. However, the two did stick together when training to avoid another mishap.

On the other hand, Sasuke also made considerable progress. He managed to learn his full-body chidori technique. Week 3 at the desert was the most intense training he ever endured. Hours of concentration paid off and he wasn't paralyzed-that was a bonus. All that was left were the faint scars on his legs. At the moment, he was relaxing. Relaxing never came easy to him, but there he was lounging around camp. One month of training had been completed and he waited for Satomi's arrival to go meet Orochimaru.

Their belongings laid in a pile at the heart of the camp. Sasuke sat at the very top of this small hill and searched for Satomi. She was no where in sight. He reminded her this morning that it was the last day. Instead, of helping him pack up, she choose to get in a smidge of training left. He squinted his eyes at a blurry moving object. It headed in his direction. Sasuke made out the outline of a small girl. Finally, she was back.

Satomi landed behind the pile, flushed and beads of sweat poured down her face. "I'm not too late am I?" she said, while panting.

"We should have been there about half an hour ago. Come on, grab your stuff."

Sasuke leapt down and clutched half of the 10 bags in the pile. She followed his lead and now both were ready to continue on their journey back. After they bid adieu to the place, the two shinobi dashed towards the exit and out of sight. Long tunnels and several flights of stairs later, a less-than-welcoming sight accompanied them. Orochimaru stood at the head of the grand chamber, quietly observing them.

"Sasuke-kun," he hissed, "you're back home. Kabuto and I missed you. Didn't we, Kabuto?"

Kabuto fidgeted around. "Yes we did."

Orchimaru stretched open his arms in a hug-like manner. "My body has increased in strength, I hope?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He walked closer to the Sannin. "What do you think? I've learned techniques that'll serve me well."

He pressed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and whispered into his ear. "You mean they'll serve ME well." He turned and looked at Satomi. "Oh and how was she? You didn't have a hard time-huh, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru chortled.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Satomi cried.

She sprinted up to where the two were conversing. Holding up her arm she said "One month of intensive training has made me stronger." Satomi flexed a little to prove her point.

Orochimaru blinked. "I see. You don't look so soft anymore. Tell me what else have you accomplished?"

"Plenty."

"I'd like to see that very soon." he said, eyeing her.

Sasuke wanted to go back to his room. He put on his most exasperated face and asked to be excused. Orochimaru dismissed him but he asked Sasuke to take Satomi to her new room. Already at his peak, he seized her hand before he would explode out of anger, and marched out of the chamber.

The familiar setting of Orochimaru's lair washed over him. His feet lazily dragged them towards their rooms. Once they arrived, he turned to his side of the hall, pointing to her room right across.

"Sasuke. Now's our chance." she whispered.

His ears perked up "What?"

"I mean, we can escape out of here." She played with her hands nervously. "You and I both hate Orochimaru. He won't suspect a thing if we leave right now."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. He chuckled, "Satomi, I only tolerate him because of what I can gain from him. I can become powerful."

"What good is power if you die for it?! Sasuke, he wants to take over your body. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" she cried.

She took his hand. "Come on, we'll go back to our homes and-

Sasuke slapped her hand away. Lowering his voice so that she can only hear, he said, " I'll never go back, not for you or anyone."

Trembling, she pleaded once more to go with her. He wouldn't budge.

"Then why are you staying here? Answer me honestly." she emphasized.

Sasuke rubbed his head. He was frustrated enough. "I have to avenge my family. I need to kill my brother for the murder of the Uchiha clan."

Her eyes widened with fear, Sasuke expected them pop out any minute. "Well?" he coughed.

"I'm sorry. That's a good reason for wanting power. I'll go on my own then."

"Wait." he said. Afterall, he was curious. Why was she here? "Its common courtesy to know something about the one who asked you questions. Why did Orochimaru pick you to come here?"

Satomi who was half-way down the hall, turned to face him. With a shrug, she said " I don't know why. I was over at the Land of Wind's many villages when I was captured. Maybe he kidnapped the wrong girl," she scratched her head, " His offer of power is tempting but I don't think I'll need it."

"And why is that?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I'm on a journey looking for my father. I doubt I'll need power. Information is better."

Here was a girl who was on a quest of her own, but vastly different from his-opposite even. Her decision was wise. If she escaped now she had a 50 chance of succeeding. Yet, that would only work if he helped her. His brain was busy weighing the pros and cons of this ordeal while Satomi strolled out of sight.

"Wait!" he yelled.

Again, she stopped in her tracks. "What is it?" The walls appeared to close in on him and the torches blinded him more. "Sasuke, what's wrong? You're not focusing." Her hand on his shoulder broke his trance. He had made his decision.

"Satomi, its better off if you stayed. Kabuto's computer database holds numerous profiles of people. If your father was a shinobi, there's a strong chance he holds information on him."

He watched her touch her lip, as if in deep thought. "I guess," she said, mulling it over, "that makes sense. My father was a shinobi. However, there's one problem."

"What is it?"

"I can't just strut in there and demand for information on my father! He'll suspect me!"

Just as he thought. He smirked. "No you can't do that, but I can. I have access to every room here. If you give me his name, I can do it for you."

Her eyes furrowed in suspicion. "And why would you do that?"

"Think of it as a favor for taking care of me back there. Thanks to you I wasn't eaten by any rabid animals while I was paralyzed."

Her expression hardly changed-she wasn't buying it. "Since when do you care so much? You never show concern or anything for others, its interesting. So, you finally had a change of heart, huh Sasuke-kun? I'll accept your favor, but no double-crossing me. Got it?"

Unfazed by her lack of trust, he smoothly shook her hand on it. "Got it."

A smile crossed her lips. "Wow, thanks for talking me out of it. If it weren't for you I'd be running in circles." Her slender arms wrapped around his neck in a bear-hug manner. "Get off idiot." he murmured. Sasuke snaked his way off of her. "Remember to not mention this to anyone." he warned.

Satomi signaled a thumbs-up to him. " Its not in my genes to break a secret. Oh and his name is Jiro Ueda, gather all the information you can find. I won't have anything to do tomorrow, you know where to find me. See you then." she waved.

"Right." he said.

They both walked back to their rooms and slammed the oak doors shut. Inside, Sasuke noticed a couple changes to his room-for one, the lighting fixtures have improved. Taking the place of the torches were modern lamps and to far end of the room was a different bed. He could tell because it looked longer and now the for the real test. Sasuke slunk back into his new bed. Perfect. It was hard enough to support his weight. Yes, the fluffy mess was gone.

The day's events rewinded back and forth in his mind. He flipped over his belly and fought to block the memories with his pillow. It wasn't working. Her face kept reappearing and it bothered him. What did she mean by being so cocky today? Her comments to Orochimaru made him feel uneasy. From what he knew about him, Orochimaru's curiousity couldn't be settled, he'd love to see her power. Then again, what power did she have? Anyone could throw kunais, handle chakra, and perform basic jutsus. Still, his insticts told him that he'd be her next opponent very soon and he'd never dream of losing to her. Not even if she was weaker than him.

Sasuke found peace in knowing that he'd have something to look forward to. No one knew, but he loved sneaking around the base. It must have had to do with his notion of being a spy, which was silly of course. His next mission was to search for her father. In due time, all his plans would become clear. In the meantime, he drifted into a deep sleep.

More like a deep nap-someone was knocking at his door. A low roaring voice bellowed at him. "Open the door! I've been knocking fer hours!" The voice wasn't from someone Sasuke knew and he peered through the peephole to find out. An old man in ragged clothes was hunched over on the other side of the door. Once more the man knocked. "Open up! I know yer in there." he grumbled.

The raven-haired boy swiftly opened it and looked up to meet a tall, dirty, drunk-looking man. "What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Finally ya came. I've been sent to fetch ya to Kabuto. He wants to see ya and he suggested to bring the little lady along to0. You know where her room is? He never told me where it was." the man scratched his balding head.

"Its right across from here." He went over to her door and knocked twice. A little shuffling of feet was heard as she scrambled to open the door. Satomi came out to greet him but had a look of disdain when she laid eyes on the man. "Who's this?" she asked.

"Someone to take us to Kabuto, lets go."

Satomi and Sasuke followed the strange man for a while. Sasuke noticed they weren't going to the medical room where Kabuto usually stayed at. Then it must be the computer database where they were headed, he thought. A turn to the left told him so, and soon they stopped at the front of the information headquarters. The old man entered the room first. "I brought them here, where's what ya promised?"

Sasuke saw Kabuto calmly pull out a measely looking sub sandwich out of his coat. "Here." he handed it to the man, to which he stuck out his grubby fingers and seized it with fervor. In a hurry, the man exited the room and Sasuke could hear the man scarf down the meal.

"Come in." Kabuto called out.

They both walked inside. A huge plasma-screen stuck out at them and various smaller screens surrounded it. The small screens showed different parts of the base; surveillance cameras no doubt. In between two of the screens sat Kabuto. His glasses held a glint of the computer's glare, masking his eyes. He bent forward and crossed his hands. "You guys, I've been ordered by Orochimaru to leave this base and go to Base 13. It'll only be temporary seeing as Orochimaru only wants to visit his experiments and then we'll return. I want you to pack about a week's worth of clothing."

"But then why couldn't that guy have passed the message along to us? Now we have to walk all the back to get our stuff." Satomi huffed.

"I have to give you guys a vaccine before you go."

Satomi shrieked. Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned to Kabuto, "You've never had to give vaccines out on trips before." he said plainly.

"I know," Kabuto adjusted his glasses, "its that this time an outbreak of this disease called E-113 managed to get ahold of Orochimaru's experiments. That's also the reason why we're going there."

Satomi recovered from her previous outburst and was eager to join in the conversation. "So," she began slowly, "I'm guessing that now that you have the cure, you'll be sending it out to them."

"Exactly." Kabuto said, "Except I'll only be applying it to a number of people. The rest will have to suffer."

Sasuke watched her reaction, her hands were shaking and her eyes shut tight. "Why?!" she cried, "Why not everyone! This is cruelty!" Her hands slammed on the desk.

"Don't you realize, Satomi?" Sasuke whispered, "Orochimaru only intended this disease to be used on his selected experiments, not everyone. If everyone of them died, then it would be of no use to him."

"Right again, Sasuke-kun" Kabuto said while spinning around in his chair. "You live up to your name. As for you Satomi" he turned to her, "try to understand. The people there are barely human anymore, don't pity them. I think its better they died of sickness then what lies in store for them." He gestured for her to come closer.

She did so but a frown and furrowed eyebrows remained on her face. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Kabuto pull out of a needle. He turned his attention to Satomi to see if she'd notice-but she didn't. Her blue eyes were glued to the computer screen-too angry to even glance at the man eyeing her arm.

Kabuto continued talking to her, he could take advantage now, he only had to keep her distracted. "It'll be fun Satomi, you'll get out of here and explore, even make friends." Kabuto explained, hoping to console her. Sasuke saw his hand touch hers while clutching the syringe with the other.

"Hey!" she screamed. "Let go!" she struggled to free her arm from his grip. Swiftly, Kabuto stood up and stabbed the needle into the limb and just as swiftly, pull it out.

Sasuke's sensitive ears prepared for the worst-her shrieks of pain. But it never came, instead he heard Kabuto's voice.

"That wasn't too bad. You did fine." he said. How naive. If one month with the girl taught him anything is that, she doesn't cry out of pain but the whole act of the crime.

Satomi held her hand tenderly and began to cry. The look of terror once she saw the tiny mark where she'd been stabbed-was hilarious even by Sasuke's standards. He swallowed his laughter and focused on Kabuto's stares.

It annoyed him that Kabuto thought he'd be scared of a needle. One of his arms was hidden behind his back with the long needle in hand.

Sasuke sat down and stretched out his arm and even pointed to the spot where he'd like to be pricked. "Right there, Kabuto, don't be scared. I won't bite." he said boldly.

"That's big of you but we'll see who's scared." Kabuto drew the needle and a pastel green-colored liquid oozed out of it. Slowly, he tapped Sasuke's arm in search of a vein-finding pleasure in torturing him.

"Kabuto hurry up. We have to leave right?" Sasuke demanded.

"Yes, of course." The needle poked through Sasuke's skin, causing him to let out a small-but barely noticible wince. "There, we're done. Leave now." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked down at his arm, small tickles of blood flowed openly. Satomi who was above him, gazed down at his arm. "Wow, your a bleeder." she whistled.

"I don't bleed often since no one can touch me. And don't be so surprised, you bled even more." he replied coldly.

"I know, I was kidding. So, lets get a move on! I want to get out of this place!" Satomi grabbed Sasuke by shoulders and began dragging him out.

"Stop you idiot. I can walk for myself."

"Suit yourself, but don't forget to hurry." she sprinted out of the room like a gazelle and out of sight.

Sasuke sighed, only he and Kabuto were left in the room.

"She sure is energetic." Kabuto said

"Unfoturnately"

"Reminds you of Naruto Uzumaki, don't you think?"

Sasuke never saw it that way before, in many areas she was like him. Thank God she had more sense than him.

"I don't even want to think of that." he said. He was almost out the door when Kabuto called out to him.

"Sasuke I saw you wince at that needle."

"Shut-up" he said.