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Chapter 24

"Okay…I've got it." Suigetsu smirked mischievously at me, and I frowned as I thought.

"Is it a mammal?"

"Yeah."

We were playing a game I liked to call the Animal Game, which was a game in which one person thought of an animal, and the other player(s) asked yes or no questions to try and guess what animal was chosen.

"Okay, does it have a long tail?"

Suigetsu thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah."

"Does it have really big eyes, kind of like an owl?"

"…Yes…" Suigetsu frowned as he thought, and I smiled slightly.

"A lemur?"

Suigetsu groaned, and I cheered as we rested behind the shade of a stunted tree. Our group was taking a break in the shade of a tiny oasis, with a small pool of water that Suigetsu used to refill our water bottles. Sasuke and Karin were sitting in the shade of another tree directly across us, and I grinned in amusement at the sappy look of awe that seemed permanently glued to Karin's face. Sasuke was resting his head against the trunk, staring with dark eyes out at the glassy surface of the water. I was pulled back to attention when Suigetsu asked me a question, and I smiled at his pout.

"How did you guess?"

"I'm just incredibly skilled, obviously…"

Karin snorted derisively as her red eyes glared at me. "She just guessed, it wasn't skill at all!"

I stuck my tongue out at her. "You're just jealous, Red."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Make me! Oh yeah, you can't, because you're too busy batting your eyelashes at Emo-boy there! It's a nice thought though…"

Suigetsu laughed at Karin's blush, and I nodded to her. "Guess this next one then. If you can do it, I'll shut up about your obsession with Sasuke." Karin's eyes flashed, and she sat up.

"You're on!"

"Okay…" I bit my lip in thought. "…I got it."

Suigetsu asked. "Is it a reptile?"

"Nope."

Karin frowned. "So it's a mammal?"

"Yep."

Karin tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Does it have thick fur?"

I shrugged. "Not really."

Suigetsu leaned on his stomach to drift his fingers along the water of the pool, his purple eyes calculating.

"Is it a carnivore?"

"Yes."

Karin folded her fingers as she leaned back against the tree. "Does it live in the jungle?"

"Nope."

"Does it live in a pack?"

"Not usually."

Suigetsu shaded his eyes against the blinding sun. "Does it have patterned fur?"

"Yes." Finally, they were getting somewhere…

Karin clapped her hands. "Is it of the cat family?"

"…Yes. Each of you only get one guess of what my animal is, so be careful with your guesses."

Karin thought for a while, and smiled. "Tiger?"

"No."

"Damn!" She shrieked, and I smiled impishly at her.

Suigetsu stared at me, his lips pursed. "A…leopard?"

"No!" I laughed loudly as both of them slumped down in defeat. I was about to say the answer when a low voice filled the silence.

"Cheetah."

We all whirled in surprise to see Sasuke staring at me, and we realized that it had been him who spoke. I blinked, and stumbled over my words as I answered.

"Yeah…that's it."

Karin sighed in adoration, and Suigetsu growled as he folded his arms across his chest. "How the hell does he do that?"

I smiled, and leaned against the smooth rock behind me, throwing an arm over my eyes. "It's just a matter of waiting until you two had answered, which gave him something to go on. He had been listening to all of your questions, and narrowed it down to a few answers. Tigers, cheetahs, and leopards are some of the main cats that are solitary, and so when you two got the other two wrong, there was no other answer to choose."

Sasuke didn't answer, his face remained emotionless and cold as he turned his gaze back to the water.

"Your favorite animal is a cheetah…I saw several drawings when we were sharing a room…"

My head snapped up, tuning out Karin's sputters of anger and disbelief, and a blush heated my cheeks as I stared open-mouthed at him. "You saw my drawings! Oh dear Lord…I am so sorry…" I cringed at the memory of drawing those, and imagined Sasuke looking at them with those critical onyx eyes…

He probably burned them before they had a change to ingrain themselves into his brain.

Suigetsu laughed at my expression, and I blushed as I slapped water at him furiously. He just melted into a puddle of water, and so it hit Karin instead. I laughed as Karin glowered at me, and I saw her hand twitch towards her kunai case, but before she could do anything else, Sasuke stood, and curtly ordered that we move out.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" I saluted, and got to my feet, watching as Suigetsu reformed himself and strapped his sword back onto his back. The air was still warm, but after resting in the shade I wasn't as tired and sweaty, so it was manageable.

The western containment base was only about two miles away, and if Karin's predictions were correct, the news of Sasuke killing Orochimaru had probably seemed like the okay to kill the guards and escape to the deranged experiments. I frowned as Suigetsu sped up to walk with me, and I stared at Sasuke's back as he walked about ten feet ahead of us, Karin attached to his arm like a festering growth.

Why was he gathering such an odd team? I mean, an annoying, selfish girl who was obsessed with him, a carefree, competitive water ninja – with me at least, I had a feeling that he wasn't as easy-going when someone challenged him to a fight, or tried to get under his skin – and one of Orochimaru's experiments that is half innocent lamb, half vicious maniac?

And then there's you, a small voice whispered in my mind, and that was most confusing out of all of them.

Why had Sasuke really saved me? Was it really because I was skilled enough to help him, or was it because he felt obligated in saving me, because I had been his student?

None of those answers seemed to fit, and I reluctantly pushed it aside as the base came closer and closer. It was when the building loomed over us that I heard the roars and screams of escaped prisoners.

"What the…?" I whispered as the crowd of about fifteen transformed prisoners came into view, and I tensed as I saw them more closely.

They were human, but they were so grotesquely formed that they resembled monsters, with horns and claws and teeth that were cutting into their shoulders. Wild patterns of black stretched across their skin, and my eyes automatically drifted to the curse seal that Sasuke sported on the left side of his neck, the place where his neck met his shoulder. All of these prisoners…they had curse marks just like Sasuke. I had never seen Sasuke's complete other form; only catching glimpses every now and then of one of his wing-hands that grew out from his shoulder blades, and the grayish tint his skin took on.

Suigetsu chuckled in anticipation as he heaved the sword off of his back, holding it in preparation to swing. Sasuke glanced back, and spoke quietly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"No killing, Suigetsu."

"Ugh, you really are a Konoha ninja. Always so merciful…"

Wait, what?

"Sasuke was a Konoha ninja?" My mouth dropped and I felt my stomach turning. That was why he had been able to follow me so easily, that was why he got so angry whenever I would mention a pink haired girl around him…he had at one point been a part of that village.

"Orochimaru is evil, Hikari, as I'm sure you've already found out. I know that you're a better person than that, you aren't completely consumed by the dark evil…like that boy."

"Boy?"

Tsunade leaned back, and stared at me for a long time before answering. "Yes…the boy who betrayed this village. You don't know what happened?"

Sasuke was the person that had betrayed Konoha…he was the boy who Tsunade had spoken of.

But what did it matter that he had at one time been a part of Konoha? There must have been a reason that he left, and if I had to guess, it would be that he wanted the power that Orochimaru's teachings could offer him. He wanted to be in a place where his revenge wasn't looked down upon and where there were so many emotions and bonds to get in the way of the path he had chosen for himself when his older brother slaughtered the Uchiha clan.

I felt Sasuke's eyes on me, and I found that there was something different in those eyes. Was it anger, was it sadness? Was it a bit of both? I honestly didn't know. Sasuke was obviously not going to tell me why he had left the village, and I found that as I stared into his eyes…that I honestly didn't want to know. This was the Sasuke Uchiha that I knew and…uh, kind of cared for – in a completely non-romantic way of course – and so it didn't matter what he had been like in Konoha, because this was who he was now. His past was of no importance, because the Sasuke in front of me was more real than any child-hood image of him that I might imagine if I learned of his past.

I sighed, and tensed as the monster-resembling ninja caught sight of us and began to charge. "C'mon, this shouldn't take more than five minutes, right? Especially if I don't hold back."

I flexed my hands, cracking my back as I strode forward. Suigetsu made to follow me, but I waved him back.

"I got this, guys. Go on ahead, I'll meet you inside."

Karin snorted. "You're gonna get yourself killed! Not that I mind, but just thought I'd let you know…"

I rolled my eyes. "Want to bet, Red?" Ignoring Karin's snort of irritation, I met Sasuke's level gaze for a moment, and waited for him to stop me. He stared at me for a few more seconds, and then nodded curtly.

"Go, Uchiha-sensei. I'll make you proud." I turned, smirking at my old name for him, a name that I had abandoned ever since my return from Konoha, and resumed walking towards the raging monsters.

I heard Suigetsu muttering under his breath, and Karin saying something about Juugo not being in the crowd before the three of them disappeared, jumping over the crowd and heading into the base. I saw some of the monsters start after them, and yelled, throwing a few kunai to get their attention.

"Oi, over here! I'm the one you want to keep your eye on..."

They were beyond words as they snarled, leaping towards me. I smirked, and reached into the pouch tied to my waist, and pulling out two handfuls of tiny seals that would stick to their skin and then explode when I made the sign for release.

I jumped into the center of the crowd, letting the tiny papers drift over them and stick to their face and shoulders, some of them even sticking on the teeth of the gnashing creatures. I danced on their shoulders, sending my foot slamming into one of their jaws as they tried to grab my ankle, and flipped over to land gracefully with my legs outstretched to absorb the impact. The monsters suddenly noticed the paper and I smirked as I made the sign with my hand, seeing the monster's eyes widen in panic and realization that the seals were about to explode.

"Too easy."

The monsters screamed as the seals exploded with surprising force for their small size, and after a second of agonized screams, the ninja fell to the ground, writing in pain as the seals retreated into their dormant states, human faces appearing through the gray tinted skin and the horns and claws slowly fading into nothing. I stared down at the group of unconscious experiments, and sighed.

"That was boring…oh well."

I lightly leapt over the group, but something glinting caught my eye, and I saw that one of the unconscious men was holding a ring of keys. They must have stolen them from the guards…and I grabbed them without thinking, tucking them into the pouch on my hip. Who knows…we might need them to get into Juugo's cell, unless Karin already has some fancy insider way to get inside.

I ran into the entrance of the base, feeling the coolness of the base envelop me as I entered a brightly lit hallway. I ran down it, seeing as it was the only way that the group could've gone, only to find that not twenty steps later, there came three decisions. Keep going straight, go right, or go left. I sighed, and stared at each one for a moment before continuing straight.

The base was cool, similar to the eastern base, but this time there was a lingering scent of chemicals in the air, as well as the dusty smell of crushed cement. My footsteps echoed on the walls around me, and continued straight, ignoring the doors to either side of me and blocking out the sounds of cries as I branched out my charka in search for familiar signatures. It wasn't possible to identify a person by their chakra signature, much less find them in a mass of ninja – well, besides Karin. Suigetsu had explained her skill to me, and it was just that. She was able to locate specific chakra signatures and sense the power and energy located in an individual's chakra. Maybe that was why she was so obsessed with Sasuke…maybe she was into guys with huge amounts of powerful chakra.

But I had been around Sasuke enough to be able to feel the powerful presence of his chakra, and I followed that as I ran through the halls. I turned a corner, and saw Sasuke turning to stare at me…that's strange. It was almost like he had been expecting me, or something.

Had he been tracking my chakra?

Nah…he just sensed my presence like any ninja would. All ninja were trained to use their enhanced senses to sense whether anyone approached them from behind, and used their chakra to branch out and locate other chakras as well as the energy that was exuded from non-chakra users.

Karin was saying something to Sasuke, and realized that he wasn't looking at her anymore – I don't think he had been looking at her in the first place. She turned, and seemed slightly surprised at my lack of injuries, but irritation was more prominent in her expression.

I looked around, only to find that Suigetsu was absent. Karin looked murderous at the fact that I had found them, and I realized that she had taken off her glasses once more. I was beginning to sense that this was an action she used when trying to seduce…which was weird, because she actually looked better with glasses on. But whatever floats her boat…

"Hey guys! Miss me? Where's Suigetsu?"

"The idiot got lost…" Karin put in quickly, slightly red as Sasuke stared off into space, his brow furrowed in exasperation.

"Karin intentionally sent him in the wrong direction." The Uchiha muttered, and I raised an eyebrow.

"And why didn't you stop her, Sasuke? I expected more of you…"

Sasuke didn't answer, and Karin turned her back on me, leading Sasuke onward. I stomped a foot angrily when the two of them just ignored me and continued on.

"That's cool, just pretend that I'm not here!"

No reply, and I saw something white in the corner of my eye, and called out with a grin.

"Oh hey Suigetsu! I was wondering where you got off to!"

Suigetsu grinned as we slapped high fives, and we both hurried to catch up.

"That bitch tricked me, didn't she?" Karin sent a nasty glare over her shoulder, and Suigetsu flicked her off without a second thought. Karin flushed in irritation, and turned back again.

I patted his shoulder, nodding gravely. "Yep…but we all have our off days, buddy. Don't let it get you down. And if it makes you feel any better, I intruded on their somewhat secretive moment alone before anything could happen, so her tricking you was kind of a waste."

Karin glared at us over her shoulder once more, and flicked her spiky red hair dismissively as she dutifully hung onto Sasuke like a lost puppy. I preferred my term festering growth, but that's a bit harsh. Lost puppy works too…

We reached a wide hall, and there was a single door in the entire hall, and I raised an eyebrow as we reached it. I couldn't sense anything beyond the door, and assumed that chakra enhanced the strength of the steel, which would explain why I couldn't sense anything beyond it. Chakra bolstered into inanimate objects always disrupted with sensing other chakras.

"Uh, overkill much?"

The door was made of thick steel, and had five bulky locks on it, as well as two enormous chains blocking the entrance as well. Sasuke stared at it, and Karin was staring at it grimly.

"That's what they need to contain him…and sometimes even this isn't enough."

Sasuke moved forward to examine the lock, and I used that opportunity to fish the keys out of my pocket. Karin's eyes lit up at the sight, and I put a finger to my lips before silently handing them to her. The girl didn't smile, but she didn't glare at me as harshly as before.

Karin moved forward as if nothing had happened, and began unlocking the doors. There were loud screeches as the locks slowly slid into the unlocked position, and the chains melted away into thin air once the five locks were opened.

Sasuke motioned for Karin to step back, and she did so without complaint, as Sasuke slowly opened the door.

Everything happened very fast the moment that the door opened, and I only saw a blur of orange hair before a large figure suddenly ran out of the cage, screaming.

"YOU'RE NEXT ON MY LIST!"

Juugo was at least seven feet tall, with huge muscular arms and legs, and spiky hair that was in disarray from so many days uncombed. But I only caught a glimpse before there was a resounding boom, and the wall was crushed inward, and I saw a huge grotesque arm pinning Sasuke to the wall, only Sasuke wasn't visible through the smoke and chunks of concrete.

"Sasuke!" Karin screamed, and I rolled my eyes. Sasuke wasn't going to get taken out by something like this…I knew his limits, and this monster was not one of them. Yes he was monstrously strong, but Sasuke had had time to react, and would be able to activate his seal in time.

"Chill, Red. Sasuke's not made of fine china…he's bound to take a beating once in a while, and I refuse to suffer through your screaming his name every time he gets a nick or two. Understand? If you don't, I'll give you something real to scream about…"

Karin was about to argue, but I sent her a glare that made her shut up immediately. I watched as something like a funnel grew out of the arm, and that terrible voice screamed once more.

"TIME TO DIE!"

I shivered at the chakra pouring from him, and the funnel glowed blue with a familiar chakra…and Karin confirmed it beside me.

"He's absorbing some of Sasuke's chakra…and using it against him."

Juugo created another boom of energy as the chakra pushed Sasuke deeper into the wall. I squinted, and saw a large leathery hand-wing holding Juugo's fist back, and the chakra in the room was so powerful that it seemed to crush me.

Sasuke, half-transformed, managed to force Juugo back a few feet, and looked up. Half of his face was normal, and the other half was gray skinned, with one black eye tinted with yellow. Sasuke stared at Juugo, who seemed excited at the prospect of tearing someone similar to him into pieces.

"I'm not here to fight, Juugo. I just want to talk…"