(Re-Edited Version)

This was the point before where some people began noticing the plot in the old story. Which is creepy because they zeroed in on the whole epicness so fast. Well... not sure if you got it here since this isn't even the exact chapter but heck, this is the condensed awesomeness of 3 chapters. Three!

Disclaimer: Kishi is gagged and tied-up in the corner. For the few precious moments that I have left before SWAT busts down the door and arrests me for kidnapping, I own Naruto. –door bursts open with screams and gunfire-

Gods of Vindication
Part VIII: Iron Maiden

"I loved you all along, and I forgive you for being away for far too long, so keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore…"

Stepping into the living room as he exited the kitchen, Sasuke was met with the sight of Karin lounging lackadaisically on one of the overstuffed sofas with a thin, leather-bound book in hand, perched right where he and Sakura had been talking the night before. Her long legs were stretched out over the rest of the space on the couch, socked feet propped on the armrest. A cold breeze entered through the backdoor and ruffled his clothes from behind, chilling his nape as his red headed teammate turned her attention to him. Her serious face broke into a sunny grin.

"How was breakfast? Blondie was up early to help me," she chattered, not moving from her spot as he took up residence on the other sofa, the material noisily protesting under his weight. Despite being morning, the fire was crackling merrily in the hearth by his side and he reveled in its heat, mind still consumed by the presence of the raven.

"It was fine."

She snorted at his vague dismissal of her handiwork and returned to her reading, adjusting glasses with red eyes flitting across the page. It was at that moment he could hear unclear voices and laughter from behind him, beginning to tense and feel uptight as the door to the basement suddenly opened. The indiscernible sounds flowed crystal clear, his head swimming at the voice of Kabuto cutting through the morning air.

"–come back later, so I'll check if you can perform the operation much better."

"Okay, I'll do that. I can get it much better with practice." His ears burned at her light tone, excitement plainly overtaking her.

"Sure. See you later."

The door to the basement thumped shut and the pink (blonde) girl who used to be his teammate finally took note of his presence, her cheery disposition toning down a notch and assuming a surprised appearance. She stood there wearing loose pants and a dark shirt with rolled up sleeves, wiping her hands on a square of towel.

"Oh," she breathed, green eyes softening, "you're up. How are your ribs?"

She did not seem to realize how it irked him to know she insistently spent time with the bespectacled medic despite his orders. However, this time he could not find it in him to summon the rage usually taking over him at such trespasses she made.

He chalked it up to exhaustion, lack of sleep, and thinking too much, giving a droll look as she walked over toward him. Passing a glance to the redhead on the other couch who was too absorbed in her book, she frowned at the arms he crossed over his chest.

He really should be focusing more on his brother now more than ever. Sakura was a distraction. He couldn't afford anything else and the quickest way to deal with her was to get her back to Konoha. He owed her that, at the very least. Turning her loose and expecting her to be an obedient little girl was not an option since it was yet to be ascertained if Orochimaru had done anything to her that might endanger his plans in the long run. Human experimentation was no moral concern to the man.

His charade with the snake had gone on far too long. It needed to end. As soon as this nuisance of a person was out of the picture, it was time to act on neutralizing his teacher. And if Sasuke was to make sure everything would be done exactly as he wanted, this little toy medic of his would have to be planted back safely in their home village without the knowledge of the sennin. It was a hard line to tread, because the moment they'd meet again, the Legendary Three would be less one member.

Besides, she weighed him down. The familiar old bonds she acted on was bit by tiny bit being revived and reconnected no matter how much he rejected them. Physically seeing her, experiencing her existence reminded him he came from somewhere, reminded him of the weakness of the society wanting him to come back home. It wasn't like he didn't know what she was trying to do. She wanted under his skin and if he allowed it, all those three years he spent away would come crashing down. If before he only pondered how she was an unsafe decision, he was sure now.

"Don't be so hardheaded, I'll just check," Sakura admonished, brow wrinkling lightly. She pulled his arms away to gingerly probe at the site of the injury.

With her head slightly bowed, the roots of her hair clearly showed pink, the dye by now bleeding out the natural color from her crown. There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, passing it off to the bad weather as he felt her pull his shirt up to inspect what had been mangled flesh and bone the night before. Above the curve of the strawberry and gold head, out of the view of green eyes, his glance locked onto Karin's in silent understanding.

"It's... healed," the blonde finally diagnosed quizzically with frown. She pulled his shirt back down, the whisper of soft hands still at his sides as she started at him with curiosity. "There's nothing wrong with it, but it's as if... it's like nothing happened."

Oh, he knew. The redhead arrived just after they parted during the early hours of the morning and he'd had his fill of her blood. It was potent as life itself and by the time he was sated, it was as if Orochimaru had never laid a hand on him. Not that anyone but the two of them knew what her precious blood limit was being used for, nor could he care.

"You must have imagined it," he murmured instead, recrossing his arms and pointedly looking away from her. "I'm fine."

The way those green eyes roamed over his features told him her curiosity was still well piqued and searching for a clue. Behind her he could see Karin silently sniggering behind the pages, watching with a meaningful look. This was one secret Sakura couldn't be in on.

ooo000ooo

The smell of mold and antiseptics filled his nostrils. Pausing on the stone steps, the dank chill seeped into his hand as he leaned on the wall to catch his breath, above stairs descending into yawning blackness. He was now set back for god knows how long by Orochimaru's insanity of asking for his teammate and to smoothly iron out things after this, he needed to bite down hard and take it in stride. Just this once he'd come crawling back to Kabuto like the hapless beggar boy he saw him as, all to find out and keep ahead of his mentor. Knowing how the spy was a nasty piece of work, squirreling information out from him wouldn't be easy.

Preparation was key because anything could happen. After this, once he sets his strategy in motion, the clocks would run out on Sound and he'd be finally free. It was breaking more shackles, more people who tried to hold him down. The blood sang in his ears, his skin feverish despite the conditions of the underground room. Just this once, just this once...

Sasuke sucked the air between his teeth, flexing his fingers. If he needed to hold down his anger for a little bit longer, it would be done. There wasn't a choice.

Inhaling deeply he accepted the rancid cold smell into his lungs, raising his eyes to the cobwebbed ceiling of the staircase and holding in that breath to watch a spider spinning its web. Below him Kabuto would be doing the same and he'd be the prize to catch in his trap of deceit, yet he'd be knowingly walking into it. His hatred beckoned him to because it was the only thing he needed to keep himself sane enough before Itachi ended it all.

As far as he was concerned, this medic was the dangerous one, teeming with information and skeletons in closets. Whether he liked him or not wasn't the question because in the name of the game Orochimaru was playing, the set rules were plainly to be the sacrificial lamb. His former teammate from Konoha appeared to be dragged into this mess where she was zero percent concerned. Or at least as far as he knew, which had brought him here at the entrance of this vile doctor's lair to try and clarify things. It was the only thing he was here for, anyway. Secrets were Kabuto's specialty and for once, detestably, Sasuke needed to act the part they wanted him to be.

Just summon the courage and get the fuck over it.

The Uchiha stirred, straightening his back and massaging a crick in his neck, his fingertips pressing deeply into cold sweated skin. He wasn't feeling well. The mere thought of what he was about to face made the familiar annoyance tingle. The stone beneath his sandals were roughly hewn and uneven as he descended into the madness, pushing away the fermenting fright he refused to acknowledge. I'm stronger. Even in his head the words rang hollow.

Yet they were true. They had to be. He could kill him as easily as swiping a bug off his shoulder because compared to his brother, he was nothing. Everything was in his favor. He'd honed the skill, the talent. He could care less about whether he lived or not. He had the intent. He had the hate...

Sasuke reached the end of the steps and found himself clenching fists and grinding his teeth as he faced a heavy oak door to what formerly served as a cellar. He could feel gooseflesh puckering everywhere on his body, finally relaxing enough to lay a hand against the notches and rivets of the ironbound wood. Ignoring the lightheadedness taking over him, he pushed it open.

Air thin and damp met him, the steel table in the middle of the room reflecting the harsh fluorescent light overhead. The barely swinging bulb was shaded, casting the only visibility in a clear cut circle in the middle of the room and highlighting everything within its reach. Exactly at the point where it ended everything was abruptly plunged into dark shadows.

Its sheer contrast made him ill, his stomach heavy and turning. Formalin cloyed his senses along with a myriad indistinguishably chemical smells, finding himself before the table at the center of the room.

"I need to talk to you," he called out hoping he did not sound as anxious as he felt. His dark gray eyes fixed on Kabuto at a spot in the darkness. Despite not being physically able to see him, he knew where he was.

It did not take long for the medic to appear into the circle of light and pause at the edge, geared up in an apron and rubber gloves, holding a tray full of metal devices. If this were someone other than him he could swear he'd found it comical. Although reality quickly set in and this was him who he detested with such strange emotions. No matter how harmless he appeared, this is a man not to show your back to.

"Ara, ara, such a demanding spoiled child," he cautioned, glasses catching the light for a fraction of a second as he waltzed toward the center of the room and stopped before the table opposite him. "What do you want now?"

There was a smile and the tone was light, playful. You could fool anyone but me. The Uchiha frowned, tired of this man's antics and wanton games. There was no other way to get to the heart of truths but be straightforward and the medic was awaiting his concern with his bright false grin and dead cruel eyes, just readying to pounce on whatever he could find wrong in the situation to use against him.

"What does Orochimaru want with Sakura?"

"I see."

Kabuto paused and cast him an unclear wary expression before setting the rubber mat containing his tools on the table. Wiping that all-knowing smirk off his face felt like a small victory, however short it was as his movement caused his glasses to reflect the light at just the right angle and hide the windows to his soul. "You seem very keen at wanting your answers straight from the source so it's quite a wonder you're here. I think I remember telling you that you should ask her yourself."

Sasuke tried to lengthen his patience. He heard the clinking of metal against metal, watched him pick up instrument after instrument and plunk them down on the shiny metal table, watched him position the various devices into a sickeningly obsessive arrangement, prodding and pushing them around by the minutest spaces.

He had been going around for so long about the real reason his former teammate from Konoha was here but it had landed him nowhere. Reading his mentor's suspicious vagueness, persuading Karin to give up something she did not know, they were dead ends. All of it had begun causing so much trouble and still he was left with no idea of what was happening right in front of him. If anyone was bound to know something and talk, it had to be Orochimaru's lying sack of shit.

"I already asked her," he replied, keeping his voice even, "and surprise, surprise, she knows absolutely nothing." He suppressed flinging everything off the surface of the table as the person he was talking to continued ignoring him. "Don't expect me to believe that snake doesn't tell you anything. Now talk."

Click.

The sound of something set down.

Click.

The sound of something set down.

Clack.

The sound of something set down.

Click.

He had to be deliberately pissing him off. The repetitive motion wasn't stopping, an assortment of blades and forceps and who knew what else were being added to the collection already glinting under the light. The gloved hand of the medic slowly slid a peculiar looking instrument to the far side and his eyes followed the movement with as much loathing as he felt.

Sssssk...

Clack.

When he finally looked back at him, there was a hateful expression in the dark eyes behind those glasses. Kabuto gave a short, bitter laugh knowing he hated being toyed with.

"Sasuke, Sasuke... Sasuke... sometimes I wonder why you always catch on too slow," he goaded, the smug look returning to those annoyingly ordinary features. "Being an Uchiha, I always expected so much from you. But then again, it's another of those instances where you fall short when you keep letting your emotions take over."

Clack.

The sound of something set down.

A heady swirl of anger made its way through his bloodstream, a rush lighting his nerves afire and straining against his effort to keep it all in. It deconstructed him little by little to give in but he choked it down, pressure mounting. Controlling it. Not reaching out and grabbing something from the table to stab the medic with. What made it all the more bitter was how he knew how much willpower he wasted on this, that deceptive, manipulative fuck who was continuing to watch him as if he were some piece of amusing entertainment. He was going to kill him when the time came and he would bask in ripping off his face with his bare hands...

But it had to wait. He needed to keep calm. He needed a level head for this, no matter how dismissive Kabuto was of his anger.

"Just tell me what you know," he ground out between teeth aching from the rigidity of his jaw.

A chuckle. "No."

Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. "How hard would it be to say something you don't give a shit about anyway?"

That triggered something, the medic stopping in mid-action and those eyes, those detestable, hateful eyes sliced through clear glasses at him, expression frozen. He hated him so.

"You've always been the pushy little prick."

The way he hated him was so unlike the way he felt for his brother yet it was enough to want to give in to the killing intent bubbling just beneath his surface, to grasp at the remaining strings of sanity and calm himself or he'd lose this battle. He had been patient for three years. This few minutes in Kabuto's company should be nothing, yet it was proving difficult to even be polite.

To think he was doing all this for that whiny fan girl all those years ago, granted she grew, but he had yet to see why everyone's time was being wasted especially for her. He didn't know why he didn't call on Suigetsu or even Karin to rip her apart and move on (and her entrails splattered all over the place and in his mind, romantically fresh as red on the open snow with green eyes wide open...).

She'd played her role right. She still was part of what made him this way, and all she asked was to go home. He owed her this, and it was messed up because he actually cared to make good on their arrangement.

~x~

A right smile in the wrong direction.

She had turned her head and he watched as a slow, humbled smile formed on her lips at his explanation that Naruto was the one who saved her. Not him. Not him, who fell victim to his rage.

~x~

He owed nothing to any one of them. This was a whimsy sort of notion he was carrying out just because he wanted to shove into Naruto's dumb as shit face he was never going back to them under any of their terms. The blond Hokage wannabe set his eyes on Sakura and as his farewell gift to him he'd return her like some lost dog. He was never going to be the leader of the village, never going to get Sakura, and most of all Sasuke would be long dead before they could make him stay with them.

~x~

Sniff.

Was she crying?

"Just hold on, a little longer…"

There was searing on skin and pressure in his ears. His hand crushing hers in a vice-like grip and the cursed seal eating away at his shoulders, chest, neck, scalp, arms… the hand holding hers, bones bending they were about to snap.

"Sasuke-kun, don't give up! Please, I know you can hold on!"

~x~

Wouldn't it particularly hurt, knowing they've spent all the rest of their lives for something they would never see happen? Uchiha blood sang to him with revenge and spite. If his brother was crazy enough to kill everyone and flee, he wouldn't be insane to chase him down.

Yet Mikoto, an Uchiha in her own right even without her marriage to his father, had made the mistake of teaching him how to empathize, be soft, how to know and be human.

~x~

Crying.

Someone was goddamn crying again and he was in excruciating pain, muscles aching everywhere but he couldn't move, couldn't stir a finger. It sounded familiar, though, that crying. Is that… Sakura? Is she…?

Wet.

There was something heavy on his chest, he was having a hard time breathing. His nerves screamed when he even tried to lift a hand to shove whatever it was off him. Everything was so dark. He needed to breathe badly, he needed air. He had to see and kami-sama it's so hard. What happened?

He manages to open his eyes and sees pink hair and puffy eyes and she looks so ugly crying, someone make her stop, even though he knew too well she was crying for him. It's so irritating how she has that dumbstruck look on her face. His throat was protesting when he opened his mouth, tasting blood and strands of her hair and…

"You're… heavy…"

"Sasuke-kun! You're alive!"

~x~

The revulsion tasted like bile in his throat.

She stood for so many other people than just Team Seven, and he did not care, but he knew for a fact she still had a family back home. Taking her down with him would make it inevitable how he affected so many others and thus warranted her presence back in Konoha.

Sakura belonged there, with their shitty politics and their failure as a whole. She did not belong with him. He needed to get on with his plans of killing Orochimaru and finding Itachi. There was no place for her in his revenge.

Or maybe it was because she reminded him so much of…

~x~

"You should always be careful, you know. Here, let me patch that up before we eat."

He frowned at the cotton and the ointments set out beside her, looking upon her face unmarred yet by age. She looked so comfortable, so at ease. How he wished things would be as easy for him with his father as the way he gained her adoration and love. Her eyes were bright with a smile.

"Your brother finally made time to come and join us for supper."

~x~

Mikoto.

Blood rose to his head from the violent rejection of the comparison, his vision dimming for a moment from the lightheadedness. It was his choice to keep her alive, to bring her back. He would not allow her to forget how he could easily have let her die. She had to be grateful for this.

Suddenly the bulb overhead shut itself off, plunging both him and Kabuto in darkness for a moment. A few seconds he was blinded as his eyes adjusted to the dark when the light, just as sudden, decided to flare back on and bring back the world to them, disorienting him even more with the steeping hate for this man before him.

Sasuke leaned over the steel table, infinitely closer to the medic to get his point across, fingertips light on the cold metal as the bulb continued dimming and flickering from the irregular surges in his chakra, the current rising from his skin and filling the air with the smell of ozone.

"Don't touch her," he whispered, seeing through the glare reflected on Kabuto's glasses and into those deep, dark murderous eyes. "You don't know what I'm capable of."

A grin formed slowly on those lips, sadistically so, taunting him, capable of unhinging him. The implied threat of killing Orochimaru did not seem to register with the spy.

"You can't," Kabuto told him as he set the last tool he was holding in place, a plain scalpel, before matching his stance and leaning over, "because you've been protecting the wrong person, Sasuke-kun."

He stiffened, the medic tilting his head down ever so slightly to peer at him over his glasses the way his redheaded teammate always did, meeting him eye to eye, darkest gray to darkest brown. His hand itched to sink a fist in his vainglorious face.

"You're lying," he hissed, unable to stop the tremors running through him.

"Do you think I'd lie about something like this?"

"You've been whinging like a bitch ever since I came. You're just angry Orochimaru trusts me as he does."

Sharp laughter pierced the thin air, ringing in the mustiness of the bare basement, hurting his ears, cackling in his face. He didn't care if anyone would have heard it but only someone arrogant enough with alarming knowledge could laugh that way. This was unimaginable. He couldn't have seen this far into things about to happen.

"True, I hated you. Because your plans were so clear from the very beginning, dear Sasuke." The sterile white bulb buzzed and dimmed haphazardly. "I won't let you get the best of him, because you're just a little shit in our plans!"

Breathe in.

That did it.

The movement was fast and spurred by immediate impulse, leaving no time to think. All he could see was red, his hand grabbing a scalpel and with a direct thrust, stabbed it toward the man in front of him, a hint of bared teeth, narrowed vision seeing only those maddened eyes. He was blinded, as if everything were moving at such a torturesome pace, the bulb distracting as it crackled and fizzled itself on and off in rapid succession. He could feel everything from the blade like it were an extension of himself, when it pressed onto cloth, pressed onto skin, breaking it, muscle and sinew feebly rejecting the force but the strength too much that they snap.

Hold.

Globes of hot blood heavily pattered onto the steel table, dripping ruby circles onto the reflective surface and seeping through the thick material of heavy-duty cloth, the vicious act not enough to wipe the fiendish grin off the medic's face.

Sasuke glared at the point of contact and grew enraged.

Breathe out.

Kabuto's pierced hand was trembling, not because he was feeling pain, but from stopping the momentum of the Uchiha's fist. An inch or two of silver blade protruded out the back, slicing cleanly through the metacarpals as he squeezed down the fingers of his injured hand around the boy's fist.

Still he refused to show any sign he'd been affected, like he couldn't feel anything. Instead, a slow sick smile spread across those moist lips, morphing into a perverse grin. Monster. Eyes were said to be the windows to the soul. Sasuke knew he'd find none here, and true to that he didn't. The spy had already sold it to some demon in Orochimaru's form.

"Do you mind trying not to kill me for a few minutes?" the sing-song voice taunted, dripping with ridicule.

Sasuke roughly withdrew his hand along with the blade, intentionally more forceful than enough. It scattered blood in a wide arching trail of drops sideways from the table and climbing up the dusty concrete wall. A row of white teeth gleamed, causing shivers to bubble under his skin. No sign of pain, no tremor, no wince. For a moment he hesitated, his anger temporarily snuffed out because of the reaction of the medic… or lack of it. He controlled his breathing though he knew his heart was acting up, only hoping it didn't show how he much he was flustered.

"You better start talking," he muttered hoarsely, his hand hurting from the way he clenched the scalpel's metal body.

Kabuto's grin descend into a horrid smile, hiding those blinding white teeth behind a smirk. Him shaking his head slightly, slowly, rubbing emotional salt into emotional wounds.

"Fine. Can I have my scalpel back, please?"

"You can have it in your throat if you don't talk."

The change in the medic's tone was as sudden as it always had been when pushed too far.

"And I'll have it in your eyes if you don't shut up."

The mask slipped, his accent grown harsh, painful, ripping like they did through Sasuke's ears. It wasn't so loud as that Kabuto had to raise his voice. No, but it echoed, ringed of bitchslap memories he didn't want to remember, of hate and anger and madness and ecstasy, and all things he never wanted to feel. Sasuke trembled inside and tried to hide it, feeling the weakening of his knees, the weakening of his chest, the weakening of his objective in this massive, uncontrollable, cheatless game that never seemed to have an end. Only his resolve remained, hoping, praying it was enough to make him appear as unaffected as he wanted to be.

This wasn't the way he imagined things to go. He thought this had ended. This couldn't be, this was supposed to be done with…

~x~

"Sasuke, you forgot to bring your kunais today. Did your brother drop them off at school?"

He looked up, that pretty, pretty, innocent smile on his mother's face, reserved only for him. At school he had to make up for lack of equipment when he sparred, in the form of long gashes and bleeding wounds. And sliced hair. An asymmetrical line shorn at the right side of his head and exposed the pale skin of his neck, much too obvious for his mother not to notice.

"Mom. You know Itachi-niisan is busy. But I did well, I got perfect marks!" he grinned, through the sting of injuries and the throb of his bruises.

He would never tell her he ended up crying after he locked himself into the boys' bathroom, because his hero never appeared and he had to stand alone, even though he pulled it off. He never told her he wanted her to hug him, and tell him everything would be all right, and that she would be always there for him to run to…

~x~

He glared, sharingan bleeding on.

Breathe in.

"I don't care what you think you can do to me," he said icily, stony eyes on the medic as he banged the scalpel down onto the metal table. The other glinting, reflecting instruments jumped out of their perfect formation, chakra leaking out of every pore of his body, not caring the air was beginning to hum with electricity. The familiar feel of his fine hair rising in reaction to the charging of the atmosphere was lustful and nostalgic. "If you don't want me involving you in any of my affairs with Orochimaru, tell me why Sakura is so important to him."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. You're the one who's healing him, you're the one doing everything to save his life, you're the one–"

"You don't know anything–"

"You're the one who does every fucking thing he tells you to do, now tell me what he wants with her!"

The fluorescent white light was fizzing once again, more shadows than light as their surroundings descended into the crackling of current, his demand echoing in the empty basement.

Damaged hand closed over Sasuke's fist on the table, tightly gripping as the torn muscles flexed without problem of the injury as if nothing ever happened, and in the darkness a healing green glow enveloped it. He stood still and he sawheardfelt Kabuto lean over, lips barely close to his ear his breath became almost unbearable to feel, and he wanted to push him away but he couldn't couldn't like so many times – kami-sama help him – times he let him have his way before. The unharmed hand suddenly grabbed hold of his nape (where Kaa-san soothed those shorn strands) to keep him in place (and where his lips brushed so many times before and it's disgusting, making him guilty and helpless, and just yearning for it to continue…) to make sure he heard every single word through the sizzling current ripping through the atmosphere around them. The ozone smell was now overpowering with his state of blindness and vision in the flickering room.

"You know…" scorning, prejudicial, odious, "you cannot imagine… that Sakura can completely destroy whatever your perfect plans are… and without her even knowing it."

In the rapidly dizzying flashing light, he slowly met those eyes with his glowing bloodlimit, so close yet so far. No deception, pure arrogance.

"Tell me why I should believe you," he whispered, the intensely accelerating tango of luminosity and obscurity erasing everything else but that heavy voice and those dark eyes and that repulsive, repulsive, repulsive touch.

"Because…"

A blinding white spark sizzled throughout the basement room followed by the explosion of the bulb overhead, busting into pieces and showering them both with fine glass shards tinkling onto the metal table and concrete floor. Then… darkness. Nothingness. Blindness. Silence. Just the heavy feel of Kabuto's hand too tight on his neck and shoulder, and the grating, low speech that brushed hot breath on his ear with every word.

"…why else would Orochimaru-sama want her here than to keep you tied down? If he knows your weakness, he'll do everything to exploit it."

Even without sight he could see the wanton smile making itself known through the medic's tone and the conceit lacing his words. He couldn't speak, so weak and terrified of how reality proved his suspicions wrong and was turning out to be far worse.

"You've been protecting the wrong person, Sasuke."

ooo000ooo

Cold sweat clung underneath his clothes, the uncomfortable humidity leaving him as he ran up the stone steps and burst back into the living room. The warm dryness of the landing enveloped him as soon as he stepped back into the real world, the surreality of the basement's brutal feel and the medic's guilt-laden touch already deserted for the warm wooden floor beneath his feet and the hotness of the fire beside him. He hated it. He hated himself for wanting it. Needing it.

A deep breath. Another. Another. Another. Anot–

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

Startled by the interrupting female voice, he turned to the source, slightly out of breath, and faced his redheaded teammate. He hadn't noticed her in his clouded haste. It was a bad sign but the sight of her gave him a sense of security that assured he wasn't alone in this fight. Those red eyes saw everything, and right now they narrowed behind her eyeglasses at him and delved into the heart of his problem.

"Did he do anything to you?" she demanded from her position on the couch, searching his face, his stance, his expression for anything to glean information from. He knew he didn't look good enough at that moment for her to assess him as okay.

"I'm fine." He was still frozen in place, staring at her.

"You don't look fine," she retorted crisply, her voice dropping down to almost a whisper and getting more agitated with each passing second. "What happened to you? You know I can take him on anytime he tries to–"

Sasuke moved across the room in an instant, clamping down a hand on her mouth before she could say anything else and giving her a warning glare before she yanked his hand off to return an angry look. It would help no one to spread around the nasty piece of information he was hiding, he was sure. With Karin's temper and sometimes her explosive control of emotions, keeping it down was hard even though he knew she was only trying to help.

"Don't. I'll explain later. Just tell me where Sakura is," he ordered, unaware how close their faces were to each other's.

"And why are you looking for her at a time like this?" replied Karin, red eyes flashing. "If Kabuto is starting to notice anything at all, we should start to move. You know how dangerous this could get if we're caught."

"I know. And we wouldn't get anything done if we have complications from bringing along someone who wasn't included in the plan at all."

"Then we'll just use her as or medic," his teammate hissed, growing edgier. "It's as simple as that, Sasuke. You can't be just deciding brashly when Heb–"

For a second time he shushed her with a hand on her mouth, making sure his point was as clear as crystal by refusing to let her go even as she tried pulling it away. He could understand his teammate's anxiety to maintain their safety because of the ever present risk of the body transfer. He might be strong enough to neutralize his mentor but he still wasn't sure how his clever mind worked. Being one of the Legendary Three meant he was never to be underestimated. He wouldn't take any chances.

His teammate may lack control over herself but she was strong enough for him to consider her in any imminent event they would be involved in and have her on his side; she was a perfect tool.

"Karin, I know. Just tell me where she is and we'll work on it from there."

ooo000ooo

It was already nighttime, a few minutes past the setting of the sun, and the world outside was as cold as he remembered when he stepped out the back door. Violet sky frosted with stars reminded him of the journey to this place, unmarred even by the soft yellow light coming from inside the house. The view would definitely be much different from the other side of the house, where the harsh lights of the streets and noise and people existed.

Must be why you're here, then, Sasuke thought, his dark gray eyes going over to the familiar form by the edge of the wooden porch, legs dangling as she watched the heavens. Kabuto's words came back to haunt him and he swallowed the rock forming in his throat.

Soundlessly he moved closer to her, disappearing from the shaft of light spilling from the doorway, plunging himself into the shadows of the night with only yellow rays from the window between them. She still had her back against him, not seeming to have noticed she was not alone, wearing only the shirt and pants from that morning against the weather. He could have given anything at that moment to know what was going on in her head, to know what she was thinking, know her plans and her thoughts and her impressions of them, of him.

He would have given much to know if she was even a real threat. He'd vowed if she turned to be a burden, he'd kill her himself. He had not forgotten that and with the dawning of new information, it was time to find out.

When he reached to his side, he discovered he forgot his sword and balked for a second. Watching her to make sure she did not turn around, his hand automatically drew a kunai from his sleeve. He was only here because Karin asked him to find her for supper but his self control was waning.

Acknowledging Sakura was not going to end their plans anytime soon, he had submitted to putting off killing her until he was completely sure she was out to destroy Hebi. Despite those consolation words to his redheaded teammate, the first sight of her after his conversation in the dungeon refreshed the threat she posed. This didn't look to favor her.

He simply couldn't risk it, clenching the weapon in his hand, watching the fragility of her existence as she lay exposed and vulnerable sitting there. She did not know he was there, no idea someone wanted her to die.

Holding the kunai to his chest he tried to stem the beating of his heart. The obligation to his cause magnified his nervousness. How would he dispose of her? Would he hide her body, pretend he did not know when Orochimaru asked for her? Would he lay waste to her here in the open, leave her to be found by whoever who cared and try to take on the snake sennin as he was bound to do somewhere in the future?

I want to kill you. The Uchiha's resentment for her grew. How was it possible she could not foresee how someone might want her dead? She would cease to exist at the mere whim of his and yet she had no notion of what was about to happen, probably barely even managing to turn around and see her killer in her last moments. She trusted Karin to an extent, his demented teacher, even the vileness of Kabuto. She trusted him wholly, and most likely believed he wouldn't break his promise. He hated her so much for being this way.

He moved closer, into the swathe of the yellow light spilling from the window, the gold rays on porcelain skin and fine features lighting him like a dark angel, black metal of the knife he held shimmering. Yet she did not take notice, still concentrating on her dreams and her unnecessary fantasies. It was revolting how she was so dense his jaw hurt from clenching his teeth shut.

From behind him there was a sudden movement and a hit of sweet perfume lingering in the air as familiar to him as its owner.

"Oh, hey! You guys are still here," came the redhead's voice, shattering the silence.

Sasuke could not move, rooted to the spot and illuminated in all his intentions from the front, his back hiding all of it. The blonde had turned around with a smile to greet Karin's interruption and instead green eyes fell on him, the words she was about to say dissolving in the freezing air. Her surprise morphed into mortified understanding as her gaze slid down to the weapon he held. A glare compelled her to continue playing mute.

"Food's ready in ten minutes, you guys better come inside," continued the girl behind him, oblivious to what had transpired. "Last one to finish does the dishes."

And with her last words she left, footsteps discernible on the the bare floor fading away. By now Sakura had to be fully appreciative of his purpose, watching him carefully. Had his teammate been a few minutes too late she'd have found a Konoha chunnin drowned in her own blood and an avenger ready to move on.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked tentatively, her eyes never leaving the kunai.

Confronting her wasn't as easy as he'd like, to put an end to more suspicions and hope for the correct answers. The older medic could have misinformed him on purpose to set him off track. Those green eyes looked innocent and genuinely scared. But for what?

"I'll ask you once," his voice low and menacing, dark gray irises constricting into pinpoint pupils from the light. "Are you hiding something from me?"

For some reason her silence was more unbearable than anything she could have said, and the longer it stretched the more he felt annoyed. She was stalling, gaze fleeting to the side, anywhere but him. There was the temptation to ask her again, demand for her to say something, but he knew doing it would only be for nothing.

After the longest time she turned her eyes back up at him, silvery brows drawn together in chagrin. He could see her forming words, rephrasing them, finding a way to get past him. Before she even parted those shell pink lips, he knew what her response would be.

"Don't you trust me anymore?"

His patience snapped.

Before he knew what was happening Sakura ducked as the kunai flew past her, his body reacting, lunging at her and sending her on her back with a satisfying dull crack as he crashed her into the floorboards. His hands were wound tightly around her throat as he held her down with his weight, a million thoughts flooding his head. This was hardly the first time he'd attacked her, but it was the first time she'd decided to fight back.

He'd been told of how she gained the massive strength of her own mentor, and there wasn't enough time for it to sink in when his chokehold was pulled away like nothing and he was brutishly thrown sideways into the snow with an easy push.

"You," he growled, scowling through the melting white powder.

The actuality of her strength came as a surprise. It did not help the girl who managed to manhandle him without problem looked nothing of the part, blonde and docile and appearing terrified on the wooden platform. Her slender build, her harmless appearance, it was all appallingly deceptive. He'd underestimated her. His conclusion was startling, to him at least. If she wanted it rough, he'd give her rough.

"Sasuke, what are you–"

His fist smashed into the wood as she pushed herself out of the way before it hit, herself falling onto the snow and frozen soil where he hooked a leg under her as she tried to run away, sending her crashing back down onto hardened earth and slush. She got back up, a green fire alive in her eyes.

"What is wrong with you?" she snapped, dodging another kunai and slipping on the wet snow. It struck the tree behind her and she pulled it out, immediately ducking to narrowly evade another fist he threw, the trunk shattering with splinters flying everywhere.

The way she fought irked him, always defending, avoiding, such cowardice brought out his worst. He moved too fast, appearing before her as she tried to run through the woods when – in a move he failed to read – she slashed upwards in his direction with his own blade. He'd leaped back and it missed by a fraction, almost too late as it tore through his shirt.

Both of them stood still at the ripping sound, his gray eyes boring into her with his chest laid open to the chill of the air. She blanched, face full of distress looking from him to the weapon in her hands.

"Sasuke, I didn't mean to…"

He took a step toward her. If she hadn't been planning on hurting him with her defensive stance then, it completely changed now.

"Wait! Wait, just listen to me for a seco–"

He charged.

To her favor he could say she put up a decent fight, using eerily powerful blocks to a kick, sliding punches away, a tad shy from being pathetic. He was the much better fighter, absorbing how she was overly concentrating to counter basic taijutsu moves and when she flung the kunai she was holding, she made a big mistake. Her natural openness betrayed her as she believed it bought her enough time, green eyes searching for some place she might have advantage at.

Without warning he appeared behind her, grabbing slim wrists before he slammed her hard into the ground and twisted her arms behind her back, ignoring the whimpers of pain and protest.

"What have you been talking to Kabuto about?" he hissed, voice low in wariness of eavesdroppers.

"Sasuke, stop it!"

He was beginning to find it hard to keep her down, warring against her strength. Her arms were slick from the melting snow and no matter how much effort he was exerting, one hand or the other kept slipping out of his grip. It had been repeated to him over a thousand times from snake lips, the seemingly useless tidbit of random information never registering with him until now. Sakura was being taught by the princess Tsunade, who could destroy towns with her little finger.

How much stronger could you go? he found himself asking her. It wasn't possible to get much stronger, right?

Wrong. A fine-boned wrist wrenched free yet again, grabbing a handful of snow as she twisted around under him and threw it in his face.

The white powder blinded him and she wriggled free of his grasp without difficulty, hearing her stumble to her feet and back away a few steps when he cursed loudly. She kept a careful eye on him as he glared at her from the ground, angrily blinking away ice crystals. He believed himself extremely patient when interacting with people, no matter what their intentions were. The only glaring exceptions seemed to be three unimportant individuals he had the ill luck to be assigned on a team with, this sad excuse of a kunoichi possibly now the most irritating of them all.

"Sasuke, please listen," she beseeched, pale, bluish hands held up in an entreaty of peace. "You don't have to–"

"Shut up," he snapped, clumsily pulling out another kunai from the numbness in his limbs. His loathing of her very existence made him want to do anything but listen to her right now. Without kusanagi, he could promise her death would not be an easy one.

He shivered as the wind picked up, cold and dripping wet. Before anyone would barge in he needed to end this, and as he stood up from the muddy slush it was when he noticed she was in the same sorry state he was in. She shook in the tiniest breeze, damp silvery hair clinging to her face, clothes soaked with melted ice sticking to her body. He knew what to do.

A surge of electrical energy sizzled onto the small knife and the disbelief registered in her wide green eyes as he threw it, a hissing bright blue arc following the trail it sliced through the air as she dodged. It would have missed had it been a plain projectile but the tiny space between her wet skin and the metal was enough for the electricity to bridge the gap. The Uchiha didn't wince when it hit, a high-pitched scream shrill in the air as the current ran through her body in jagged cerulean rings, and he walked over as she dropped limply to her knees to fall forward on the ground.

"I've always wanted to do that," he huffed between deep breaths that condensed in the frigid air, pulling on her shoulder to turn her over and planting a leg on each side of her.

There was no fight left in his former teammate, merely waiting in exhaustion as he pressed a hand on her throat to support his weight while he drew out his last kunai. When he wearily laid the pointed end above where her heart was, emerald eyes searched his face.

"All this is pointless," she said breathlessly, feeling the rise and fall of her chest with his hand on the wet shirt as she struggled for air. "You can't kill me."

"I can," he insisted, wanting to be mad at being challenged but feeling his emotions seep away into the cold. It was already dark, and they were partly on the spot where the ground was illuminated by the golden block of light from the window. The little snow that lay untouched sparkled, soggy mush reflecting onto their wet clothes and the water droplets on their skin.

"Then do it."

He fell silent, swallowing to the sounds of the night and their breathing. Even as he tried summoning whatever he had been feeling before, all the rage and passion consuming him, the weapon remained pressed against her but no further. All what she'd done and sacrificed came back into perspective, even the point of why he attacked her.

The light burns of the electrocution was fading from her skin, her healing chakra working unconsciously. Right here and now he could kill her, end it all for good. If the worst came to happen, he could end it as easily as he could at this moment. There was no threat to his plan in Sakura. She could continue living... on his whim.

"Do it," she ordered, voice rising.

He glared at her, doing nothing.

"Sasuke, I said do it!"

Another second passed and suddenly his hand was snatched away from her throat, the other one holding the kunai backhanded with such a force it hurtled over the house to be lost over the village. Instinctively he was about to get off her when her iron grip on his wrist held him back, in one move reversing their position and thrust him back to the ground and straddling him. One powerful palm pressed down on his chest, the other a fist pulled back in line with his face.

Sasuke tried to shove her away but couldn't, her strength so inhuman there was no give when he tried to move. When he caught her fist descending he turned his head to the side, his fingers biting futilely into her arm when it smacked into the ground beside him, splashing icy water at two of them. He felt his hair and tasted in his mouth.

"Never threaten unless you're ready to deliver," she whispered quietly, the weight on his chest lifting when she took her hand back. He turned to look back up at her. "It makes you look weak."

He wondered if anyone bothered to check on them with all the noise they'd been making, and if they'd only written it off as training. It was the easiest scapegoat. Orochimaru didn't want anyone touching Sakura, and to say he'd been after her with killing intent wasn't wise.

"Get off me," he managed hoarsely.

Her face smoothed itself of all emotion, reverting to neutrality with dark circles under her eyes.

"You have trust issues," she said, ignoring him. He didn't know whether to mock her for that, seeing as everything but the last three years of his life had been a lie. He was about to say something scathing when she took his cold, blue fingers in her cold, blue hands, shaking and frowning and teary-eyed he was silenced. She held them against the warm beating of her heart.

"I followed you all the way out here," she whispered, trying hard to keep her voice from wavering. "What do you possibly think can make me change my mind about helping you?"

He realized he was still staring at the glittering black sky when Karin poked back her red head out the back door and called them back for a waiting supper, and Sakura had already been halfway there.

AN: You know you want to review. If not for the last scene, it's to ask questions about the Kabuto and Sasuke scene. ;D Muahaha