Finally! This took me a while, but I think it's a pretty good chapter! Lots of creepy stuff, along with some angst (this story isnt your usual unicorn and butterfly tale, if you havent noticed already)...

Sorry for you...uh... Hana (wink wink, nudge nudge) fans, but she get's a bit bashed in here. This isnt what I personally think, this is just what Hikari thinks, so dont get your panties in a bunch.

Important Question: I'm a bit conflicted about the realness of Hikari's character...is she good? Like, not too Mary-Sue? i'm trying to get a solid hold on her personality, and am trying to accentuate the fact that she is much darker than most realize. Is that okay so far?

Chapter 11

After nearly another month in Sound, one thing became clear to me. It was so surprising, because I never would've expected it to happen, especially here, in this place. I was supposed to be anxious to make friends who weren't cruel and sadistic, a rare trait among ninja in this base.

I really, really didn't like Hana. It wasn't even that I didn't like her personality; she just put me on edge, and her words and actions made me wonder what her real motives were.

And by this time, her motives were painfully obvious.

She was using me to get closer to Sasuke, playing nice with me so she could watch him train and try and get to know him.

Because she was in love with him. I would have to be freaking blind not to see it. I don't think Sasuke knows – either he's completely oblivious or he's used to girls throwing themselves at him right and left. Or it could just be a girl thing to be able to interpret these kinds of things.

But something else about her made my stomach churn, the pure good that radiated from her, and the sweet caring touch of her hands on my injuries that made me both relieved and frightened at the same time.

What was I becoming, if I felt like this?

I found myself avoiding her, like a disease that continued to plague my thoughts. But she, like me, was hiding something from the rest, so I had to watch her from a distance to try and figure out what it was.

Sasuke seemed to sense my dislike of Hana, but did nothing to help me, and for that I was grateful. I had told him before that he would never have to save me again, and I was going to keep that promise.

So I was surprised when Sasuke proposed that I start learning how to track the enemy. It was a skill that would allow me to trail after ninja while suppressing any noise along with my chakra signature. I had gotten quite good at it, but I secretly wondered why he suddenly suggested it. Did he want me…to track Hana?

No, I must be imagining it. Sasuke would never give a task like that to me. Orochimaru probably told him to teach me that skill, so he can send me on more missions that require stealth. Yeah…that had to be it.

I sat cross-legged on the surface of the lake, taking deep breaths to steady the shaking of my arms. I had been carefully moderating my chakra for at least an hour now, and sweat was running down my face. Sitting on the surface was much harder than standing on it, because I had to spread my chakra to greater areas of my body.

My eyes were closed, and I heard the sound of someone making their way through the trees, faintly, but coming closer every second. The wind blew gently through the air, and there was the sound of an exasperated sigh as I felt cool fingers encircle my wrist and the tug of teleportation.

I didn't stop focusing my chakra, because I knew by the flare of chakra that it was Sasuke.

I opened my eyes as we landed on water once more, but this time at a smaller, more secluded lake. I looked up at Sasuke, who scowled at the trees that were distinctly greener than the recent ones that we had just left.

"Hana was trying to spy on you again, was she?" I teased, peeking through half closed eyes to see Sasuke scowl. "Well, either that or she's trying to spy on me, which is understandable because I'm pretty irresistible, if I may say so myself…"

There was no answer, but I didn't expect any response, so it wasn't awkward or anything. I gritted my teeth as my chakra sputtered as my concentration slipped, and a few minutes later I suddenly lost hold of my chakra and I slipped beneath the water.

It was cool against my heated skin, and I let myself float for a moment before moving my aching limbs in unison to swim to the surface. A rush of icy air hit my face as I broke the surface, and I shivered at how truly cold the air was. It was fall here in Sound, and I expected there to be snow later in the winter, which was kind of cool because I had never lived in an area where it snowed before.

Sasuke was watching me with cool eyes, and I sighed.

"Hey, Uchiha-sensei, can I take a break? I'm kind of starving, and I need to dry off so I don't freeze."

"No."

"Says the one who is perfectly dry…and able to do this with his hands tied behind his back. Heck, you could probably do it with your legs tied together…"

Sasuke didn't answer, but an eyebrow rose sternly.

I growled, but focused my chakra to my hand so I could pull myself out of the water. My chakra automatically shifted to my feet as I stood, shivering violently at the cold air that buffeted against my skin.

I ran over to the edge of the lake, close to where Sasuke was polishing his sword, and sat down just before the shore, focusing my chakra once more to my legs.

"Uchiha-sensei, can I ask you something?"

"…"

"Why do you not like Hana? I mean, granted, I don't like her either, but you seem to really not like her…"

I let the question hang there for a moment, and Sasuke sighed as he stared at the sheen of the cold blade, and his dark eyes flickered up to meet mine.

"I thought she was your friend."

I sighed this time, leaning back so I was lying on my back, quickly moving my chakra to that area before answering. "Yeah…I guess you could say that's what we were, for a few weeks. But then…I just…realized that she didn't like me for me. She just was my friend to get closer to you, which is downright insulting because I'm a heck of a lot more sociable than you are."

Sasuke didn't answer, and I stared up at the stormy gray sky, watching the clouds rumble and crack in the distance.

"It's gonna rain soon, I think." I murmured, and closed my eyes.

"Why are you so happy?" Sasuke's voice pierced the silence that followed my comment, and I looked up to see him staring at me.

I laughed. "You're emo enough for the both of us Uchiha-sensei, so I've got to balance it out."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Well, I don't really know. I'm finally accepted for being different, that part I'm still ecstatic about. But the rest…" I sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I have to try to be happy, in this place. But in truth…I hate it here. I hate the suffering, I hate the murder, I hate Orochimaru, but I know that I'm never going to escape him! You…you can leave whenever you want, but the rest of us…we're stuck here. So no, I'm not happy really, but I know that it's never going to change, so instead of being immature about it and retreating into my own little emo shell, I'm going to enjoy the parts that are nice, even if there aren't many of them."

I sat up. "That's one of the things I can't stand about Hana. She's always trying to ignore the fact that people are dying constantly, she sees the good in every single thing, and she tries to sugarcoat everything! I just wish that she'd just stop trying to live in a place that doesn't exist. It gets on my nerves…"

"Hn."

I chuckled. "You know, in my history class back home, we learned about this guy named Thomas More, and one of his ideas was about this place called Utopia. It was a perfect society in which everyone lived in peace and everyone was happy. But you know better than anyone that nothing is perfect, not even you, the great heart-throb whose head is probably too large to fit through the doorway by now…"

I peeked over at him, and rolled my eyes when I received no response. Sometimes, I swear…he turns into stone.

"Anyway, the funny thing about this so-called perfect place was the word utopia has two meanings. It means both 'good place', and 'nowhere'. Which means that Utopia is a good place to imagine and strive towards, but when you really think about it…it cant possibly exist."

Sasuke didn't reply, the only sound being the rumbling of the clouds and the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves and grass. The sound seemed to prove my point, and I stared up at the sky with a sigh.

I was used to venting to Sasuke; it was one of the nice things about having him as a teacher. I could talk to him constantly, about my training, about my life back home with Mom, and I knew that he wouldn't repeat a word of it to Orochimaru. I had a feeling that the boy disliked his master just as much as I did, but that could just be me. He would sometimes ask me questions as well, but that was on his good days, which were extremely rare.

But I also had a feeling that he listened, and he seemed a bit put out when I wasn't my usual talkative self. I'm not talking about anything major, but he'd scowl more often, and he'd often spend the minutes staring at the sky with seemingly bored eyes. Maybe he's lonelier than I thought; maybe he's just as lonely as I am.

Or…maybe I'm just imagining things that have absolutely no basis in reality.

That sounds about right.

I smiled to myself, and then suddenly, I felt a chakra flare beside me. My eyes snapped open, and I forced myself to smile when I saw familiar emerald eyes smiling at me.

"Hey Hana."

"Hi, Hikari!" Hana reached down to give me a hand up, and I took it. She leaned back, and I got to my feet. The air instantly seemed to freeze against my skin, and I shuddered as the trees around us groaned as the wind pushed against them. Sasuke was facing away from us, staring out at the stormy multitude of clouds that seemed to be creeping towards us like a thick and winding snake.

Hana's large eyes stared longingly at his back, and I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, just go kiss him already."

Hana's eyes bulged, and Sasuke's eyes were on me in a second. I stuck out my tongue at him, and his lips turned down in a scowl before he disappeared in a poof of smoke. I smirked, and Hana sputtered.

"W-What?!"

"Seriously, I'll hold him down and everything. It's so obvious that you like him, everyone does…"

Hana shook her head, her eyes staring up at me seriously. "Except for you."

"It depends on what you mean by like."

"You know what I mean…"

I snorted, and began jogging back to the base. "Well, if you mean like in the like-to-pummel-him-into-the-ground-for-being-so-arrogant-and-emo kind of way, then I'm your gal. But not anything else, I'm afraid. I might be crazy for it, but there you go."

Hana smiled without humor, her mouth pursed as she ran beside me. I squeezed the water out of my hair, ignoring her silent pity party. Jeez…were all girls like this here, or was it just Hana? Sappy, emotional, lamenting about unrequited love…you know, the usual stereotype about teenage girls. I'm not excluding myself from this unfortunate category, but at least I have the decency to keep those episodes of madness to myself. At least…I hope I do. Do I?

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice the poof of smoke that intercepted us until I nearly ran into it. And the person who accompanied it. I scowled, instinctively pulling Hana away from those gleaming glasses and those calm fingers that seemed filthy even when meticulously clean. And those fingers were so very clean right now…and that was the worst possible sign.

Kabuto only cleaned his hands this thoroughly unless he was about to experiment on a test subject. As if that wasn't disturbing enough, even more so was that Kabuto was eyeing Hana with cruel and excited eyes. I swallowed hard, and stepped forward.

"Yes, Kabuto-sama?"

Kabuto smiled pleasantly, and nodded to Hana. "We require your services in the lab."

I snarled, and Hana paled at the look on Kabuto's face. I stepped so she was behind me, and looked into the older ninja's eyes, which were slightly below mine.

I glanced back, and murmured. "Hana, go wait in my room. I'll be there in a minute."

Hana made to argue, but I glared at her until her words faded into nothing. She nodded, and touched my arm gently before disappearing into a swirl of leaves. I turned back to Kabuto, who had watched the interaction with a small smirk.

"Lord Orochimaru was right about you, Hikari-chan. You've become quite similar to your teacher…even that look in your eyes, but the color of course ruins the comparison. Your power…also quite impressive. I heard about the incident with those elite jounin…how many did you hospitalize? Ten?"

I put a hand on my hip. "Oh, thanks for the compliment…at least that's what I think it was. I feel all warm and cozy inside." I drawled sarcastically, and Kabuto's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Of course…Sasuke-sama has manners. A minor detail…"

I snorted. "Jeez, you're just hot and cold today, aren't you? Let's cut the crap, because quite frankly, you disgust the hell out of me, and I want to go inside where it isn't freezing cold."

Kabuto's smile disappeared, and his mouth became a snarl. "You're quite cheeky for someone whose very life depends on what I report to Lord Orochimaru."

I shrugged. "What can I say? It's a skill I've honed to the point of it being instinctual. But about your whole crappy charade about 'being needed in the lab'…we all know what you're really after."

Kabuto smiled, a sickly sweet smile that made my skin crawl. "Oh yes…what about it?"

"Stay away from her."

"Who?"

"You know who, you sick bastard."

"Oh, you mean Hana?"

I swung my fist at his smug face, but he side-stepped at the last second and he grabbed my wrist with his long fingers. I gasped when his chakra surrounded his hand, and yelped as the chakra began to invade my system, the bone in my arm slowly bending under some unseen pressure.

Kabuto leaned so his face was close to mine, and his breath tickled my ear.

"You know…either way, I'm going to have one of you. It's up to you to decide. I could always do it on someone else, but you and Hana have such interesting chakra networks…makes my fingers tingle just thinking about it."

"Well, you can't have either of us, you–."

"Oh, can't I?"

His light tone made my face lose all heat as the blood rushed from it. "What do you mean?"

"I'll make you a deal…my dear Hikari-chan." His nose traced patterns on my neck, and I flinched as his tongue flicked out to trace the vein that led up to my neck. "I'll pass on you two this time, and even leave you two alone for the rest of winter. But when the first flowers appear on the cherry trees outside your window…I'll come to collect."

I felt a surge of anger fill my chest, and a swell of chakra swirled powerfully through my skin, making Kabuto step away, eyes narrowing at the burn that now covered his hand where it had been in contact with my skin, and the tip of his tongue was burned clean off. I rubbed at my neck furiously, glaring at him.

"Touch me again and I'll–."

"You'll what? What can you do, Hikari-chan? You think yourself so powerful because you are being taught by Sasuke-sama, but in reality, you are but a pawn in Lord Orochimaru's quest for power. Sasuke-sama will toss you aside after your training is over, and you will be without his protection. What will happen then? You don't want to know, little girl. But you will know, eventually. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sasuke breaks your heart in the process, but I'm fine either way. In a way, I'd be almost happier if he didn't, because it will be so much fun to break that little heart into pieces."

And then he was gone, and I was left staring at the spot where he had been but a second before. The wind blew more harshly, and suddenly I felt wetness on my arm. I looked up, and watched as small fluffs of snow drifted down towards the earth, melting before touching the ground.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and turned to see Sasuke standing under the overhang of the base entrance, watching me with cold black eyes.

Sasuke-sama will toss you aside after your training is over, and you will be without his protection.

I slowly walked towards the entrance, not meeting those dark eyes that were boring holes into my skull. I pushed past him, managing to shove my shoulder into his on accident. I expected him to hit back, but there was nothing. I muttered

"Don't even start."

Sasuke didn't answer, and I heard his soft footsteps as he followed me down the dark hallway.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sasuke breaks your heart in the process…

That became my new mission.

Hate him. Hate Sasuke Uchiha, don't let him steal my heart and tear it to pieces like Kabuto said he would. Don't let his eyes turn your insides to mush, don't you dare fall in love with him.

I glanced back to see Sasuke's eyes shining in the dim light, and quickly turned around, my eyes closing as my brow furrowed.

Oh God. I've had the mission for all of three seconds and I've already failed.

But thankfully, I was good at faking. If I couldn't truly hate him, I could at least lie to myself until a small part of myself believed in the hatred.

Right?

Right.