A/n: so, so, so, so, sorry. I kept meaning to finish this chapter but every time i started there was something i had to do, someone to see that kind of shit, or simply i ran out of ideas to write in this chapter and got distracted.

Gaurded chapter: 19

It was common knowledge how Orochimaru dealt with his victims, though, it was unknown to everybody except Orochimaru himself. That was what was good about rumours; they give you a false sense of knowledge and at the same time, unknowingly, giving the rumoured person an alias. Orochimaru and Orochimaru alone knew the truth, Orochimaru was alone in knowing what he had caused. He was alone when he killed, alone in the shedding of blood amongst countless innocent and, in his eyes, corrupt victims. For those that had fired him, looked down upon his work, his experiments, his genius, those that had refused to acknowledge him for the man he was and in a way still is, the people who betrayed him were not of the 'innocent' category in his eyes. They were like him. They, in some cases, were worse them him.

They were not killers, but they, in some way, have caused harm to others. If not through him, through others like him because there were others like Orochimaru, he was certain of it. Genius's that were refused acknowledgment because of their unorthodox way of thinking, their bizarre methods of research, because of the insanity and perhaps the possibility for violence that shone in their eyes. There have always been people like Orochimaru and there will always be.

A short while after his defect from the body guarding industry and after having killed Sarutobi, and apparently countless more in his care before he had even acquired the license and training necessary, unknowingly became what news reporters called a 'hot topic'. Though Sarutobi's case was a popular topic in it's self, it couldn't compete with the murderer known only as 'Snake'. Not only because his psychological assessment (though psychologists didn't have the man they had the bodies of his victims and had made several assessments for the detectives working the case to go on) showed him having a slimy disposition, he was able to sneak up on any unsuspecting person, if merely to talk with, without making a sound, his movements precise without flaws and more over undetectable. He was a predator. A man, who has no purpose when his hunger, his lust for the blood of others to be spilled, stained upon his hands, is not quenched. He was able to blend into the background much like a snake in the Amazon rainforest, able to have a normal lifestyle, walk amongst crowds and go out to dinner with colleagues and not be recognised, more over, he was never suspected.

He was a perfect serial killer.

And every killer, every good killer, had a trademark. So it was only natural Orochimaru had his.

He would stalk his victim, on some occasion he'd know the person or had known them through work or from his past, but mostly his victims were random. It was easy to stay anonymous if he had no real connection with his 'prey'. Do research. Find out about family, friends, wives, husbands and lovers, find out where they worked, how they lived their lives, where they shopped. Everything he could, anything open to the public. After weeks, perhaps months he'd strike and with his victim hide. If he was lucky in his research he'd bring the person back to a place that haunted them, through dreams as a child having tales told to them by their parents so they would behave and through memories, a place in which they would never, would do anything within their power to avoid, the place in which they themselves knew they could and would never escape because some part of them is forever there, a small part of their soul had been lost within it's walls and is forever there, in dreams, in the eyes of their lovers and children, in the eyes of strangers and the words spoken by them. No one is able to escape their past, for if they try it will hunt him down and it will, in someway, destroy them and the imaginary life they have encased themselves in. He would then leave his victim, screaming, sobbing and starving for a few days, two weeks at most then return to finish what he'd started by strangling his victim before cutting of their faces – a souvenir - then dumping them where their body would easily be found in a couple of days.

However, news reporters and detectives never really picked up on who was committing such heinous crimes, they saw the pattern, a replay of how he caught, murdered and dumped the bodies but they never connected it with that of Orochimaru's doing. Partly because reporters and detectives alike had forgotten all about him, therefore forgotten about certain characteristics he held, partly because his most famous murder, that of Sarutobi, was different. Because of Sasuke he hadn't had time to trademark the old mans body. Also the tabloids and anyone interested marked the old mans killing as an act of passion, one without real meaning and thought behind it, detectives on the case had just assumed the man after having so much burden put upon him had finally cracked and gone insane, then disappeared. Ultimately though, there was no evidence to suspect him, no evidence that he in fact had ever been in contact or seen with the victim. All he left and all that the cops and feds had to go on was how he killed with no indication of his identity.

Therefore leaving 'snake' speculations to grow.

What was more common knowledge was that Naruto Uzumaki had gone missing. Kidnapped. And that snake now lived once more after hiding for a period of five years.

Within a few hours of the blonde's sudden disappearance from the Kodak theatre everyone knew of his kidnapping. Headlines and accusation's sprouted out of no where. Some even blaming Sasuke and accusing him and Itachi of the kidnapping. News reporters began interviewing, even illegally trespassing on official police grounds mere hours after the cops themselves had found out and segregated the area, beginning their search for clues. Reporters began interviewing everyone in sight, the cops on the scene who all chorused the same words as if it had been programmed into them –"no comment"-, the friends of the blonde, one pink haired actress on the verge of tears gave a dramatic speech saying how she knew something was wrong and how she could feel it in her bones. They had even tried to interview an unconscious Sasuke.

Within the span of a day speculation that 'snake' had been the one to kidnap Naruto arose leaving Itachi to have the near impossible task of keeping everything in order as well as making sure his little brother did not leave the premise of the hospital and keeping him blissfully unaware of such accusations as Naruto's death. His brother did not need that on top of everything else.

But unlike the incompetent police and feds Itachi knew Orochimaru was indeed 'snake' he also knew of the possibility that yes Naruto could be just another target for the man and that if Orochimaru did indeed kill him the blonde's body would be found just short of a weeks time. So he needed to act fast, the problem was where does he start.

He was faced with various different problems when thinking of his plan of action. Top of the list being he did not know Orochimaru on a personal level, he only knew Orochimaru was 'snake' was because of his younger brothers paranoia which had caused him to look into the case. He did not know of the man's mental status, his past, and his intentions apart from the information that had come up when he looked into 'snake'. Common knowledge. And what Kakashi had told him. He was just as in the dark as everyone else was, more so in fact.

His only hope of formulating a plan, a plan that would on theoretical grounds work, would be asking his little brother for help, which, is something he would not and could not do.

Reasons for this being, one: his Uchiha pride would not allow him to ask for help. Even amidst tragedy and complete helplessness, an Uchiha was unable to sink down to the level of asking for help. Sasuke knew this.

Reason two was the small detail of him having to inform his possibly heavily drugged and inconsolable, irrational brother of the reason behind his sudden curiosity. And even heavily drugged Sasuke was still a very intelligent individual; he's an Uchiha after all and therefore would catch on rather quickly even if Itachi decided to be vague about certain details. He knew if his little brother caught on to the slightest hint he was formulating a plan to find and in that retrieve the blonde, he would want in, and Itachi could not have that.

Sasuke is injured and if he knew his brother at all, on the verge of insanity. For Sasuke has never let his guard down before, he has never loved anyone before and if he knew that his precious blonde could be dead as he sat, drugged, in a hospital bed he would surely break. He would do more harm than good, when faced with a direr situation. If, by any chance, Orochimaru's reasons for taking Naruto were merely to kill him he didn't want Sasuke, for his little brother's safety and others in the vicinity, to be there when the blonde's body was found.

Reason three, Itachi reasoned, was that he thought even Sasuke would do little to shed any light upon the situation.

A sharp ringing sound forced him from his musings his hand instinctively reached out to grab and shut off the cause of his now growing headache. He found his phone underneath a stack of papers and folders at the edge of his desk and brought it to his face, he squinted trying to see the lit up screen amidst the darkness of the room.

He preferred his office light off when he was thinking. Though there was little visibility, he always found the darkness eased his mind and allowed him to think clearer than he would if the light were on….that and the light bulb had blown two hours ago and since it was four in the morning the janitor had already gone home, taking with him the keys to the store rooms where they kept the spare light bulbs and step ladder.

He rubbed his temples, getting more and more irritated as the seconds passed and the phone's annoying ring continued to deprive him of the silence night brought. His grasp on the small device tightened as he moved his chair round so that he now faced the bay window of his office, its gleaning surface highlighted by the soft moons rays. His window overlooked the city, the lights to the houses and several offices were off, the bar signs also switched off, the only light source being the lamps that stood proud and dull along the street.

He flipped open his phone, allowing his elbow to rest on the arm of his office chair his other hand resting on his stomach and wrinkled shirt as he brought the device to his ear.

"What!?" he growled. He heard the person on the receiving end cringe but didn't smirk as he was prone to doing when getting such a reaction.

"I-is t-this it-" the person, a woman it seemed, cleared her throat before continuing to stutter in his ear. "I-Itachi Uchiha?

"Yes" his voice didn't lose its menace or grow in volume as he moved his chair back to face his desk away from the window.

"The – this is your brother's, Sasuke Uchiha's doctor. I'm…I'm afraid we have a situation"

Itachi body immediately tensed, his earlier irritation gone replaced with concern.

"You're brother it seems has…left the hospital premises. He-" she didn't' get a chance to finish her sentence before Itachi hung up slamming his cell phone on the desk now in front of him. His concern faded again to be replaced with immense anger.

Damnit!

Itachi flipped open his phone once more and searched for his brother's number, he found it in a matter of moments and clicked the 'call' button putting the small device to his ear once more. He waited. One ring, two rings, three rings, he growled Sasuke always answered the phone after the third ring. He hung up with a snarl and began searching his contact list for a different number.

Whether the younger Uchiha liked it or not Sasuke still is his little brother, his sole relative, his blood, that meant Itachi had to take care of him and force - if need be- him back into hospital. He could do nothing in his state of mind and with a concussion, he would only manage to get himself into trouble and if he managed to find Orochimaru, and possibly put Naruto's life in danger.

Where Sasuke got his thick-headiness from was beyond even his comprehension.

Stopping on Kakashi's number Itachi quickly hit the dial button and pressed the phone once again to his ear, waiting.

"What?!" came Kakashi irate voice down the phone line, Itachi allowed himself a small grin for waking up his brothers bewildered boss.

"Sasuke's missing" he deadpanned and immediately, like it hadn't even been there, his smile dissipated.

What sounded like a sigh blew through the receiver, "he's gone to find Naruto?" Kakashi asked, now seeming fully aroused and if Itachi wasn't mistaken (and he rarely was) a little annoyed.

"He's injured, get the mutt boy to go find him" Itachi closed his sleep deprived eyes and rubbed them gently with his forefinger and thumb, "he's being irrational. I'm guessing I do not have to remind you how he acts when he's not thinking straight"

"Got it, I'll have Kiba and Akamaru to try to find his scent…how's everything going on your end? Any leads?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Itachi grunted his response.

"Nothing eh?"

"Inform the mutt as soon as you can, Hatake. Sasuke needs to be found" and with that final word Itachi hung up his phone and sighed.

"Sasuke…what have you done?" he asked himself, standing from his office chair and walking out. He wasn't about to put all his faith in the mutt alone to find his little brother…

"Who said dogs aren't allowed in hospital! I want to speak to whoever made such a stupid fucking rule. Akamaru's as clean as a whistle and fucking housebroken! Why the hell shouldn't he be allowed in with me?" Kiba bellowed followed by Akamaru's loud barking as he followed his master's example.

The nurse who had been trying to calmly state hospital policy to the rather rowdy brunette took an attentive step backwards, she didn't know who she was more scared of the dog or the rough looking brunette who kept waving his crutch around every time he pronounced a word and swore worse then anyone she'd ever met before.

"I'm sorry sir, but its hospital policy. You're dog will have to wait outside-sir! Please!" the nurse yelled as Kiba, finally getting bored with waiting, left towards the staircase.

He gave the nurse a short wave over his shoulder and began making his way up towards the emergency ward.

He carefully went up the staircase, one careful step at a time, he'd learnt from the other night that running up them was possibly the worse idea he'd ever had in his entire life and Kiba had had plenty of them. Sasuke kept track. For the most part the pain had subsided he could walk without his crutch if he didn't mind walking with a limp, but other then that he felt like he could take on the world.

As he finally reached his floor destination his grip tightened around Akamaru's leash, normally the big dog wouldn't need one (at least Kiba thought his dog behaved well enough not to have one, others such as Gaara, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sasuke's prickly brother what's-his-name and every other person he had worked alongside would disagreed. Apparently Akamaru had a habit of pouncing on them, it wasn't his fault he was just a tad overly friendly) but he figured being in a hospital called for one, Akamaru on the other hand disagreed and whined as he and his master walked pass the nurses station.

"Sorry boy" Kiba spoke addressing his dog with stern eyes, "shit 'appens"

Again akamaru whined, but Kiba gave him no mind. A nurse walking about a foot in front of him caught his eye and he –as Kakashi would put it- examined how perfectly sculptured her figure was. His eyes set on her backside he hadn't noticed someone begin to walk along side him it was only when said person placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his skin did he turn to acknowledge the person.

"Shit! Fuck man don't do that to me!" he yelped, his right hand patting his chest trying in vain to calm his radically fast beating heart.

Kakashi smiled at him before signalling for them to continue walking, Kiba gave his superior a perplexed look but followed nonetheless, he figured Kakashi had come to the hospital for the same reason he had and had no objections to the mans presence. Though, he could just sense something off about the man. As they walked quietly down the hall, only stopping when a wheelchair or member of staff came running down the long hall Kiba noticed that not only did Kakashi not have his nose buried inch deep in his porn novel but the seemed to sweating a lot more then he usually did.

Something was definitely troubling the man and although he had no idea what it was or even a clue to what it could be Kiba found himself panicking. His palms quickly became sweaty and his heart beat again began to sore. When a man like Kakashi, the epitome of cool, calm, collected and lazy, worried it always made Kiba worry.

"Come on spill! Man I can't take the suspense, what's up!?" Kiba found himself rambling as both men came to a stand still outside one of the hospital rooms, "I can't take this shit man! You're killing me!...I mean I know Naruto's gone and everything and that weird mental institute reject has him, but the kids tough he gotta be to live with Sasuke, he'll be fine, right? Right?!""

Kakashi gave a light chuckle before placing his hand back onto Kiba's shoulder. Kiba always rambled when he was worried, the older male would have found it cute if it wasn't so annoying.

"It's alright Kiba" Kakashi stated smiling at the shorter male but that did nothing to calm Kiba's already wrecked nerves.

He couldn't explain it but he was worried about the little blonde idiot. Naruto was fun to tease and hang around with, he was a nice break from the stuck up pricks he usually dealt with. He would even go as far as saying he missed the male, hell he even wanted to be the one to find Orochimaru just so he could be the one to kick his ass for even thinking of hurting him. He shook his head, he couldn't imagine what Sasuke must feel like, the blonde was closer to him then anyone it had been the first time in the years after the raven's parents had died that Sasuke seemed truly happy and Kiba knew if the kidnapping was hard on him it had to hell and worse for Sasuke.

Dejected from his rambling the brunette turned in the direction of the white painted door and carefully opened it, still tightly grasping onto Akamaru's leash with one hand. The sound of machines and heavy, almost mechanically breathing rang through the otherwise quiet room, bouncing off the walls making every noise seem louder then it actually was. He strolled cautiously over towards the bed stationed in the middle of the room as if he were a burglar intruding in a bears cave.

The room he noticed seemed darker and smaller then others he'd seen on the way, to the point it made him feel a little claustrophobic, it was probably because of the amount of machinery and people in the room other then the actual size. He nodded to the other brunette sitting on the windowsill as he took up his seat at the end of the bed.

"How's he doing?" he asked in a tone barely above a whisper, though really he didn't need an answer.

He could see Gaara's in a bad way. His pulse was steady and is breathing even but only because of the machines hooked up to him. If they weren't there he'd be dead within minutes.

"How the hell do you think he's doing?" Temari mumbled threateningly, her hand tightened around her brothers as if trying to get a reaction out of him. She wished, hoped and prayed she could get one.

Kiba stayed silent, despite common accusation, he did indeed know when to shut up.

"Doctor says we might be able to take him off the machines in a month or so-"

"Shut it Kankuro!" the feisty blonde bellowed, her voice traced with malice and loathing. Her hand again tightened around her little brothers as she continued to stare into his pale face.

She heard a sob leave her although Gaara's face never really portrayed many, if any, emotions seeing him look…he just looked lifeless…dead.

Kiba sighed, he could see he was intruding this was probably one of the very few moments were all the Sabaku siblings were within one room and not biting each others heads of, but despite his feeling of intrusion his subconscious agreed that he had a right to be here to. Gaara and he had seen the worse and best of each other, been through thick and thin, been bored and challenged together, both had on more the one occasion almost seen death together and like just as he regarded Sasuke and maybe even Naruto as family he regarded Gaara just as such. A part of his dysfunctional family.

So he stayed, thinking once again how he would like to kick Orochimaru's ass and wipe the smirk off of the males face…and Sai…oh what he would like to do to Sai. He growled, causing Akamaru to bark loudly by his side.

If there was one thing Kiba did not like and take as a joke was when someone hurt one of his friends.

The more he thought about Sai the more he wanted to murder him and the more he felt guilty. If he hadn't gotten himself injured like he had he wouldn't have, have to be replaced by that asshole. If he had seen it coming then Gaara wouldn't be in the state he was in right now. If he…

"There's nothing you could have done Kiba" Kakashi drawled out in his bored tone, placing a comforting hand on the younger males shoulder. It scared Kiba sometimes the way he could read his mind.

Kiba sighed. Kakashi's words did nothing to calm his rage for the short hair raven. In actual fact, when he looked at the older male, he was once again filled with worry. Worry and rage was a bad combination for someone who had the same amount of brain cells as a brain dead chimpanzee.

"Okay. What the fuck is up with you man?!" he yelled, jumping out of his seat, "what crawled up your ass and died! Tell me you ain't becoming one of them! Please!"

Kakashi sighed as he fought down the urge to plug his ears with his fingers.

"Man I'll go insane if you-" Kakashi did the only thing he knew would work and shut Kiba up. He placed he hand over his mouth and glared at the dog-lover. Maybe being acquainted with Uchiha's for years wasn't such a bad thing.

"Kiba calm down." He sighed, rubbing his temples agitatedly, "we can't talk here come on" Kakashi removed his hand, once he was sure that Kiba understood and was not going to rant and rave again, and walked out the hospital door giving Temari and Kankuro a polite nod.

Kiba followed him out shortly after.

They sat in front of each other, Kiba idly playing with his food and occasionally looking out onto the sidewalk to where his faithful dog, Akamaru, now sat tied to a fire hydrant. Kakashi sat opposite him, his arms folded over the top of the desk, his eyes trained out the window.

Kakashi had chosen a quant little restaurant, small and cheap, it was ideal and suited the tall male's culinary taste although he had refused to order anything as the waitress approached him. Kakashi simply liked the style and the quietness, for not many people had come into the restaurant since their arrival, in actually fact apart from Kakashi and Kiba and the bored waitress her eyes now trained on a magazine there was only one other person in the small seating area, a tall male in a dress shirt and wrinkled black trousers and another male hunched over the bar staring at his distorted reflexion in his whiskey glass. The restaurant was decorated in dark, royal blues and equally dark mahogany stained furniture. A few pictures, landscapes of the ocean and sinking boats hung on the walls alongside a few photographs of the owners and various customers, none of them famous, smiling and waving piece signs at the cameraman.

It looked, Kiba thought, like a place Sasuke might have picked to dine at.

The thought of the older male brought him back to his earlier conversation with the gray haired male and, consequently, back to worrying.

"Shit, so your telling me that Sasuke, rational stick up his arse bastard, that Sasuke" Kakashi merely nodded bringing his attention back onto the younger male in front of him, who had decided to abandoned his half eaten, half played with food. "Has…run away?" Kiba at this point let out a snort of laughter. He knew the situation demanded complete seriousness, but, it seemed, couldn't control his urges.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Kiba" Kakashi reminded him and he immediately stopped laughing, a look of complete sincerity sweeping over his features. Kakashi could have applauded him. He never, in his life, thought Kiba could manage such a look.

"Dude's off his rocker!" he belted out, scaring the half pissed man at the bar and the tall man in the dress shirt, "seriously what the fuck does he think he's doing?!"

"Obviously hunting Orochimaru" Kakashi intoned.

"I know that, man, but on his own? I know he loves blondie and all but he can't do this alone, Orochimaru will kill him as soon as he sees him."

Kakashi sighed, obviously he was wrong to assume Kiba could be serious, "that's were you come in, you and Akamaru have to hunt him down before he gets the chance to get himself killed. He's injured and not thinking straight. He shouldn't be hard to find"

"It's going to be as easy as getting shit from a crocodile" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "ain't there a saying… crazies are unpredictable, therefore hard to track."

Kakashi sighed, this was going to be a long meeting. He looked at Kiba who had just spotted a small group of girls; he was wearing his 'predatory' smile, the one he wore when he liked what he saw. Kakashi changed his opinion. This was going to be a verylong meeting.

He raised his hand for the waitress, when she arrived he ordered coffee and a sandwich and then went about trying to regain Kiba's attention.

A very, very long meeting indeed.

Naruto had tried to escape 7 times in the last hour, 46 minutes and…56 seconds. And every time he'd either fallen, very embarrassedly on his face, and had to wait for Sai to come back on one of his hourly check-ups and help him back on his feet, or he'd gotten so far –his aim was the window – and been discovered and placed further away from his target and as a precaution, the ropes that bound him to his seat were tightened, which by the way was starting to hurt his posterior and had caused his underwear to chafe. Very uncomfortable.

He'd pleaded, yelled, tried to use reverse psychology he'd even tried to appeal to Sai's better nature but nothing had worked, Sai simply smiled, that fake shit eating grin, and said "it will take some time for you to get used to this, but when you do, you'll love me for it."

Yeah right, that was never going to happen. Naruto is a one man guy, he could only deal with one hot-headed raven and that certainly was not Sai, no matter how much he resembled Sasuke. Nothing could change his mind. No one will change his heart. After all it's his to give, and he chose to give it to Sasuke. His love has never and will never be claimed to the highest bidder and no matter how loud he preached Sai just seemed not to get that.

Naruto wasn't stupid, naïve maybe, even a little slow, but he wasn't stupid, he could see that Orochimaru was using Sai, for what purpose, was still unclear, but that didn't matter, Sai and possibly Naruto himself, weren't getting out of this alive. Orochimaru's purpose was Naruto and he wasn't about to give him away, what was the point of kidnapping him just to give him to some fake assed jackass? There wasn't one, but there also, at least to Naruto, wasn't a point to his kidnapping, the only one he could think of was to kill him and if that was the case, wouldn't Orochimaru have done that already? He hadn't, since Naruto had woken, entered the room; he'd give Sai his orders, food and water, but stayed clear of the room and, most importantly, Naruto.

Naruto had come up with several different reasons to his kidnapping –between trying to escape and screaming at Sai – the first was conspiracy, simple, but too simple for Naruto's tastes, what was he conspiring against?

The next was revenge. Naruto had interrogated his good friend Iruka about Orochimaru's and Sasuke's relationship and the article he'd seen in the ravens study. But what he'd found out from Iruka was just as enlightening as a blown bulb; it did nothing to shed light upon what was already a dark subject.

Orochimaru had taken Sasuke under his wing, teaching him everything there was to know about the business in which he'd found himself in. they'd worked a couple of simple, low key jobs, guarding B-list stars, ect before they were assigned to Sarutobi's job, according to Iruka there was some bad ground between the two males and Orochimaru often left Sasuke to guard the male while he went about his own business. Sasuke started to become suspicious and wary around the older male and never let him out of his sight while he was in the vicinity of Sarutobi. Eventually Orochimaru stopped doing his job all together and there had been a shortage of staff that year so a replacement was hard to come by, Sasuke was alone and that was when Orochimaru struck, killing the old man and injuring Sasuke and the rest, they say is history.

But there was something that bothered Naruto about Orochimaru, there was something in his eyes when he looked at him, a familiarity and a kind of sadistic warmth.

If it was revenge, it wasn't against Sasuke, no matter what Sai had said to him. Orochimaru has no interest in him, as far as Naruto could see.

There were other hypothesis but they weren't worth thinking about for too long.

But what was really ticking Naruto off was not why he was here. It was that he was here. And whose fault was that? Sasuke's.

"Tch, and I'm the dumbass" Naruto rolled his eyes then wondered how he could be sarcastic at a time like this. Oh the wonders of his mind.

Sai entered the room, another of his hourly 'check up' routines. Naruto studiously ignored his presence. He continued to stare at the same spot that had occupied his vision since he'd awoken in, what Naruto had started referring to as his prison, fits right?

Sai walked over to him and stood directly into his personal space, blocking the boarded up window. What had occupied his attention for so long now seemed blocked off, like everything else, to Naruto. there wasn't much else in the room apart from Naruto himself and the chair in which he was bound to, but that wasn't the only reason Naruto had chosen to stare at the window, apart from being his only means of escape – the door not being an option- the small crack where the wooden panels had chipped with mould and fungi was the only light source he had and Naruto was hoping on that slim chance that he'd be able to spot someone and call for help. His efforts, so far, had been in vain. And now Sai stood in his way.

"Could you move" it wasn't so much of a question as a statement, but Sai answered nonetheless.

"I could"

"Than move" Sai moved, but only slightly, so that his action hadn't actually given Naruto the effect he was looking for. His eyebrow twitched. He was reminded of how alike Sai was to Sasuke and it annoyed him.

He felt himself begin t shake with repressed rage, he didn't want to repress it, hell he wanted to beat Sai to within an inch of his life, tie him up in the same chair he now occupied and leave, waving a sweat goodbye over his shoulder as he did so. But he couldn't, and that fact, in itself, made him that more agitated.

'Fucking Sai'

He moved his head slightly to look up at the cause for his rage. There was rage in them but also fear, if he was to die, in this place, then he didn't want his last memories to be of Sai, he didn't want that fake smile of his and those sickly sweet words that came from that mouth to be imprinted upon his mind.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Love" his voice was so sweet Naruto wanted to gag and sake his head to free the echo Sai had caused in it.

Love, love, love. Over and over again, those words echoed.

Love…

A dark figure sat upon a bench amongst the trees, his head in his hands. He breathed an agitated sigh, his breath formed a phantom, a hollow gray ghost in front of him before disappearing. It was cold, but although only having a thin t-shirt and gray sweat pants, Sasuke did not feel the cold. He'd been sitting on the same bench for over an our and, as a consequence of this, his body had become numb from his fingertips to his toes, everything numb.

Though Sasuke had a sinking feeling his numbness was neither due to the cold, nor to the medical drugs that still coursed through his tired body.

Itachi had probably been informed, by now, of his absence from the hospital and in turn had informed Kakashi, who would tell Kiba to track him down and return him back to the hospital where he'd have not only nurses and drugs to keep him in bed but cops and, maybe, Itachi himself watching over him while he went to the toilet. But that didn't bother him too much, they would have to find and catch him before that happened and Sasuke wasn't planning on making that easy.

If only his body would agree with him.

He'd only stopped and sat on the bench because his body had started to pack up, the drugs he suspected, the shots of pain through his head had also, throughout his escape, started to become more and more frequent, every time he moved, or thought, his head would remind him that he was human by setting of a bunch of fireworks in his nervous system.

But he couldn't stop. He wouldn't let Naruto down, again. There was no way he was willing to do that.

With another sigh and his mind set, Sasuke stood and walked, his destination still unknown but that wasn't going to hinder his search. He knew just the person to ask when Orochimaru was involved.