Sasuke padded over to the door to retrieve his breakfast, since it was usually left there, but found that it wasn't there. Glancing around, he realized that the food was next to his bed. Of course, the hole in the wall. Sasuke rolled his eyes, sat down, and ate the food. He tried not to pay attention to its taste—he'd be spoiling himself. Also, he had yet to purge the memory of his mother's cooking from his mind, so it was much better to pretend that he was eating tasteless white mush than to acknowledge that Sakura was a damn good cook, as far as he knew.

"Hn." He leaned back, realizing that he had not really left a base of Orochimaru's for an extended period since he had come here. But tomorrow, he would actually be on a mission. He might have to interact with people. Additionally, Sakura had it in her head that they would purposely disobey Orochimaru, which was something Sasuke had just not bothered to do, ever, except for that one time Orochimaru had wanted to sit down and have a talk about how he should have sex with some Karin lady just so that there would be more Uchiha babies around. Sasuke had been horrified to the point that he locked himself in his room for days.

A rat scurried around his room. He recognized that rat; it pretty much lived in his room. The distinguishing feature was that its left eye had been gouged out, and so it often bumped into things. Sasuke realized he was going to miss this rat. How the hell could he miss a rat?!

--

Sakura was stretching and snapping on her gloves, while Sasuke leaned bored against a rock. "You do realize that in an actual fight, you hardly have time to stretch."

"But I'd be warmed up from getting to the area, unless they attacked me in my bed or something," Sakura replied. "So shut up and prepare yourself for my awesome attacks. You've only seen me fight twice since I've been trained, so don't even pretend you know my style."

"I saw that you had the rasengan. How did you copy that?"

Sakura scratched her neck; obviously it was an embarrassing topic. "You see, I didn't actually do a rasengan. It was a genjutsu. I wanted to, erm, intimidate Kakashi."

"You mean impress him," Sasuke cut in, rolling his eyes.

"Screw you!" Sakura brushed imaginary dust off her skirt and took on a stance, raising her fists up. "I'm ready. Go all out."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah! Do you doubt me?"

"Yes. We're not using weapons, are we? Orochimaru would be angry if I maimed you."

"You have to trust me to be able to block your moves. I know I'll be using kunai."

"Hn! You move first."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I'll teach you to underestimate me." Then she was charging at him, but it was slowly, clumsily, and Sasuke easily blocked it. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it. She raised a foot and kicked him in the shin extremely hard. He flew back, curses spewing from his lips. Damn, that hurt. She must have chakra enhanced her blows, which almost explained her extraordinary strength. He barely got up in time to stop a similar kick being delivered to his head, and retaliated in kind, slamming her against the rock he'd been leaning against before. With lightning speed he followed her and punched her right in the stomach, knocking the air out of Sakura. Was it really going to be that easy? He raised his fist for a final blow, but he grunted in pain when he realized he had, in fact, hit a log. Sasuke's eyes widened before a fist hit him in the back of the head, and colors swam before his eyes as he was kicked in the back, his spine almost breaking. He whirled, ignoring his screaming muscles, and ducked beneath Sakura's next punch. For a long while it went on like this, until one of the times he felt the cold metal of a kunai at his neck. Then started the weapons battle—pulling out shuriken in a split second and using an Uchiha technique to pin her to a rock, Sasuke was surprised it had gotten to this point.

"I win," he said casually. "Like I said I would."

Strangely, though, Sakura grinned. "Or not." Then she—what the hell?!—literally melted out of the razor wire, having disappeared.

Then Sasuke realized: genjutsu?! He, an Uchiha, had been fooled by genjutsu? He growled, then summoned his chakra and with a "kai!" released the illusion. To avoid a future incident like that, he activated his sharingan.

After that, it was like killing baby seals (which Sasuke would have easily done anyway). He could see Sakura's moves, negate her weak attempts at genjutsu, and block every hit. But he decided not to actually injure her, just wear her out until she had to admit defeat—because Sasuke was sadistic like that. After a while, Sakura was indeed breathing hard, but she still refused to give up, continuing to gather worthless chakra in her hands. Next time Sasuke blocked, one of her gloves ripped right at the third knuckle on her right hand. Sasuke caught a glimpse of a hand almost as bruised as Rock Lee's had been that one time they fought. With the distraction, Sakura finally managed to land a blow, but it was weak, not chakra-enhanced. They continued to spar like that for a long time, until Sakura finally swayed where she stood.

Rather than admit defeat, she promptly collapsed in a dead faint.

Sighing, Sasuke carried her back to her room (after receiving a questioning glance from Kabuto). She was still weak. The gap between their abilities had grown marginally smaller, but there was really no difference. It was a bit comforting to know that some things never changed. Still, the fact that she knew genjutsu, medical jutsu, and taijutsu, but had displayed no ninjutsu as of yet, somewhat worried him. He didn't quite know why.

--

"Kukuku," Orochimaru giggled in his chamber, his loyal servant standing by giving him medication. "Everything is going just as planned."

"What do you mean to do?" Kabuto questioned, mixing up a steroid. Orochimaru-sama took daily medications in this body, but it was quite a small price to pay for immortality. And when he took Sasuke's body, he would not have such handicaps. Until then, it was Kabuto's job to keep his master in good health.

"Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun are to become close—very close. Then, when I wish to take Sasuke-kun's body, I will kill the girl. It will hurt him, weaken him, so that I may possess him."

"I thought you were going to use the girl as an alternative host."

"No. Sasuke-kun is the only one I will take. The girl is merely an interesting trinket, to weaken Sasuke when he falls in love with her."

"According to Sasuke-kun's psychological profile… I don't believe he can truly fall in love with somebody weaker than him. And there is no doubt that their abilities are nowhere near each other." Kabuto looked somewhat worried. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, but his smile grew wider.

"Very well, then, we will simply have to bring Sakura up to Sasuke-kun's level. Double your training sessions with her, as will I, and push her. Teach her new things. We have only a few months before it may become necessary for me to take Sasuke."

"Understood, Orochimaru-sama."

"After she's come back from the mission, give her exactly one day's reprieve, regardless of what injuries she has, then start. I'll begin doing my meddling already. It will take some serious thought to make a relationship blossom… but I have a feeling there is already one brewing. Well, we will see. And Kabuto, couldn't you make that vile concoction taste any better?!"

--

"So, um, frankly I have no idea where we are," Sakura was blathering the next day. "Do you have any idea which direction Sand is in?"

Sasuke sighed. Rubbed the bridge of his nose. Did the girl have any sense of direction whatsoever?

"Sakura, where is it typically warm?"

"In the south?"

"Is it warm in the Sand?"

"Yes?"

"So which direction is the sand?"

"South, but—"

"How do you know which way is south?"

"At noon, the sun is to the south since we're in the northen hemisphere, but—"

"Are we really going to wait for the sun?"

"SASUKE! I know which direction it's in! But I don't know where it is—is it due south, south south east, or what?!"

"Just follow me."

"…Asshole."

They were in fact traveling south west, but Sasuke didn't feel like saying anything more.

--

That night, once they set up camp, Sakura slept like a rock, but Sasuke stayed awake. He usually did. Sometimes it was because he was afraid of nightmares, sometimes it was just because his body wasn't exhausted enough, sometimes it was because shit happens. He wasn't sure which it was this time. All he knew was that for the first time in a while, he was looking up at a starry sky with a full moon. He had forgotten how stars looked, little pinpoints of light shining through a blanket of darkness, like they were trying to force their way through but not succeeding. It was, he realized, like the holes Naruto had tried to blow in the veil of darkness surrounding Sasuke. They still provided a little light. Damn him. That was why he couldn't stop wanting friends, wanting bonds, deep on the inside.

His ears perked when he heard voices. A moment later he realized it was Sakura, talking in her sleep.

"No…get away…don' hurt her. Hurt me inste…" and then there was silence once more.

Sasuke tried to pretend he hadn't heard that. Sakura's personal life was not his concern. He wasn't like the fangirls back at the academy, always searching for gossip. He couldn't care less. There was nobody with a "jucier" story than his, but he sure as hell wasn't going to tell the fangirls anything since that time the rumor that he liked long hair had slipped. He'd only said that because he had a cousin in the Uchiha clan who once had beautiful, flowing black hair, and she was the only pretty girl he'd ever noticed to be such. In fact, he hadn't actually said it. He'd fallen asleep against a tree and some girl had heard him doing what Sakura was doing now: sleep talking. He was about to try to sleep when Sakura started up again, sounding distressed.

"Why…why couldn't I save…I'm too weak…"

Sasuke shivered when he realized just how close this was to what he probably said in his own dreams.

"I need…power…" then Sakura's breathing steadied and there was no more for the rest of the night.

If Sasuke was a night lit by stars, Sakura was daytime peppered by darkness.

--

The following day, Sasuke suddenly stopped in the trees. Sakura barely managed to screech to a hault. "What the hell?!" she demanded.

"We're going to take a detour," Sasuke grated.

"Why?!"

"Well, we'll pass through the fire country either way, but there's a place on the border that I would rather…avoid."

Sakura struggled to recall her world map. "Nothing's there, though. Just the Valley of…oh." She remembered exactly why it would be somewhat awkward for Sasuke to travel through the Valley of the End again.

Sasuke coughed. "We'll, ah, keep to the right of Konoha and Tanzaku Gai. We'll try and get through Fire Country as quickly as possible. I'm sure we both understand why. After that is River Country, which should be fine, then we're home free for Suna. Or rather, you are. I'll have to start hiding. Understand?"

"Yes, Sasuke," Sakura said mockingly. She'd never let Sasuke hear the end of the fact that he couldn't even bear to look at a place.

--

In the middle of that day, when they stopped briefly for lunch, Sakura yelled, "Okay, that's it."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I need a bath. And I will have one. You're too chicken to go to the Valley of the End, but there's a big freakin waterfall there and I'm going to use it. The water's warm, right? You'd know." She knew she was being cruel, but Sakura couldn't care less. She was grimy, dirty, and weary, and hadn't been outside for real in forever. She'd become more aware of herself out here—in Orochimaru's base it was like she could hide from herself, but out here everything was exposed.

She still felt somewhat guilty when Sauske's jaw tightened. "You have twenty minutes; then I'm leaving without you."

Sakura stopped. "You need to wash too," she said pointedly.

"I'm not getting near that place, Sakura," Sasuke snapped.

"I'll fill our waterskins," Sakura offered, dropping the subject. Sasuke tossed her his skin and she took off, rushing to the valley Sasuke was so determined to avoid.

--

Sakura sighed in satisfaction as she washed the last bit of mud out of her hair, letting it flow freely out of the bun she had to keep it in during the day. She examined her hand; it was horribly pale. A month or two indoors had done quite a bit. But now she was renewed. The water was indeed warm, as though it were powered by the Will of Fire of the country they were on the border of. She closed her eyes, then lay back and enjoyed; she still had a few minutes.

She was quite startled when she heard footsteps. Her eyes snapped open, and she automatically, out of old habit, yelled, "Pervert!"

There was an exasperated, strained sigh. "Give it a break, Sakura. I'm not looking. I'm going to bathe."

"S—Sasuke?" Indeed it was he, and he stepped out of the forest. Sakura instinctively covered her chest. "Y—you came!"

"Yes." She noticed that all of Sasuke's muscles were tense, coiled, and his fingers were practically twitching. She realized that this was something intensely difficult for him. He seemed to be keeping his eyes focused on the ground as he undid his belt.

"Wh—wait what?!" Sakura screeched, upon watching Sasuke remove his shirt.

Sasuke sighed again. "If you're going to be squeamish, you can turn towards that rock there and I'll turn toward this one and we won't see an inch of each other."

Sakura obliged and turned toward the statue of the first hokage. A few seconds later, she heard Sasuke enter the water—or rather, didn't hear. She barely felt the ripples.

For a while, there were only occasional splashes as both of them rinsed off.

Sakura had learned to accept silence better over the past few months, but this was still definitely awkward. They were both standing naked in a place Sasuke was phobic of. "So," Sakura began nervously, "What made you change your mind?"

"How can I face my brother if I can't face this place? I have to prove to myself that I've truly broken the bond."

Sakura knew she was walking on broken glass, but she dared ask, "Admit it to yourself, then. What…what exactly happened here?"

There was a silence in response, during which Sakura could probably cut the tension with a knife. Finally, Sasuke began in a monotone voice, not breaking once. "Naruto caught me on one of the statues. We fought. We fell. He told me he would break every bone in my body if he had to in order to bring me back. I scoffed at him. He started to use ninetails chakra. I activated my sharingan. We ended up blowing up part of that cliff there." Sakura risked a glance over her shoulder to look at where Sasuke was pointing; sure enough there was a jagged hole that couldn't have been made by nature. "He acknowledged that he didn't know what solitude really felt like, because he had been alone right from the beginning. He didn't know what it was like to lose all that. We faced each other on the water. He told me that Iruka was like a father to him, and that I"—now Sakura detected the faintest crack in the monologue—"that I was like his brother. He said he would go to anything to save me because I was the first bond he ever had like that. I told him that, in that case, I would sever the bond. I told him… "it's too late, Naruto. It's too late." We faced off once more, with renewed vigor. We ended up on opposite sides of the river, right in front of the waterfall. I activated the curse seal, allowed myself to reach the second form. He activated rasengan. I used chidori. We collided. I won; he was unconscious. I left him alive, and walked away, and continued on my quest to join Orochimaru."

Sakura risked another peek over her shoulder and saw that Sasuke's were trembling very, very faintly.

"It's too late for me, Sakura," he said quietly, whispering in a broken voice. "It's too late."

In case you're confused about where they are, go to leafninja dot com /images/country/World-2_0 dot gif. It's a nice little map. They started in oto, and...yeah.

Orochimaru and Kabuto are SasuSaku fans :D

Also, those of you who are not SasuSaku fans but badass Sakura fans, don't worry. That time will come...eventually. It's not going to be a happy little romance, I'll say that much.

Sorry that the spar was so short, but I have a lot more planned for the future and the first is just a little 'introduction' as to where their skills lie right now.

Again, thanks so much for the reviews-- I seriously wouldn't have written this chappy so soon if I didn't realize how awesome you guys are. Keep it up please! :D