Naruto and Co do not belong to me, although I often nick Sasuke and hide him under my bed. Hope this beginning isn't too crazy, its very early in the morning and I've got the flu.

Kakashi was the first one to open the door.

He'd beat the others to it for he was fairly sure he knew what lay beyond the slab of metal-bound wood. And although he trusted his team with his life, this was a very delicate situation. For him, and the other.

He hoped, perhaps, the favor would be appreciated.

Inside, the air was thick and stale. Dust particles floated by lazily, catching in the wide beam of daylight that cut the darkness of the tomb-like chamber - like disco sparkles for an undead. Besides what had been illuminated by the invading sunshine, the rest of the cell was not visible. The entrance had been elevated on purpose - whomever was in there was not supposed to get out.

Just at the very edge of the rectangle of light, lay a thin, pale foot.

A childs' foot.

Kakashi jumped down from the doorway.

"I can't train with you, I'm sorry. I've been posted on a mission down South. It's very important"

Kakashi made his way across the floor with practiced caution, his eye adjusting gradually to the gloom. Apart from the prone figure - of which had quickly been determined by the Jounin was a boy - the fairly sizeable room was empty. The child was lying on his stomach, naked. His white skin peeking through a coating of mud and as Kakashi got closer, blood. Kakashi kneeled on the dirt floor by the boys shoulder and placed two fairly battered-looking fingers to a pale, bruised neck.

A ninja must never show emotion.

A butterfly of a pulse was fluttering beneath the fingertips. Not much, but something. He was breathing, but it was shallow and uneven - not guaranteed to last much longer.

Seems like I'm just in time, Kakashi thought, gravely and turned the figure carefully onto its back.

The boy was emaciated - starved most likely; his skin was pulled taught against his slight frame giving his body a strange relief and causing hollows in his face that added years to his age. He was covered in deep cuts, gashes and bruises that went far beyond and kind of training mishap - more believably the result of out-and-out beating and abuse. His right shoulder bulged forward further than normal - a rather nasty dislocation. Left hand, apart from being on the end of his arm, was unrecognizable. It had been mangled - brutally crushed and left a mass of splintered bone and flesh.

Kakashi unwillingly plodded on through his inspection, finding and mentally cataloging injuries. As his list grew larger, he found it increasingly difficult to fight the urge to ignore his duties and take them boy in his arms, but the medics would be arrive very soon, he had to keep up his professionalism.

A ninja must not show emotion.

It was only when he caught sight of a thick smear of blood coating the two scrawny inner thighs that his patience exploded with a bomb of compassion. The Jounins fist, which had been clenched in anxiety since the group arrived, smashed angrily against the dirt floor and he found himself scooping the frail, cold figure against the front of his ripped, dusty flap jacket.

"What did you get yourself into?" He asked the unconscious genin quietly, as he smoothed a mop of filthly black hair.

"What did you get yourself into, Sasuke?"

****************

"It's weird, first they make us train every day and go on all sorts of stupid D-rank missions - not that OURS were all D-rank, mind you - then they make us do tests that we barely come back alive from and have to fight against each other. And now, they want us to take a holiday?!" Sakura stopped, drawing in the breath she'd forgotten about during her rant. "I just don't get them!"

Naruto and Sasuke eyed her quizzically as she threw yet another shirt from one of her many bags to her back into her wardrobe. They were 'helping' her pack, or at least listening to her monologue while waiting for the heavy stuff to haul down to her parents minivan. Neither of them would normally have been there in a girls room, but since Kakashi had happily made it a 'mission', despite protesting, they couldn't really do anything about it. Currently Naruto was trying not to look at her bags in case any underwear was poking out.

Not looking as in trying NOT to look like he was looking.

Sasuke stared out the window.

"I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, we certainly deserve some time off, but they're treating us like we're in the academy again. You know, 'Eat now, sleep now, play now, train now, go on holiday but don't forget to do your homework'. It's just...odd." She stopped, stared at Sasuke and blushed.

She still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that he was in her bedroom.

"So, what are you guys going to do?"

Naruto grinned happily.

"Pervert-Sennin is taking me to his place in the mountains and we're just gonna train all day long!"

"He has a house in the mountains?" Sakura raised a neatly shaped brow.

"Well, it's more of a shack...But he says there'll be an unlimited supply of ramen! Every flavour! Pork, chicken, beef, vegetable...And you only need a gas burner and a pot to cook ramen!" Sitting on the windowsill, he drummed his feet against the wall eagerly. Sasuke, still cloud-gazing, snorted. Naruto shot him a dirty look.

"And what are you gonna do then? Train with Kakashi on how not to look stupid in a fight?"

"More than you can say, gas-bag"

Naruto flushed angrily. He didn't know Sasuke had found out about his unexpected 'tactic' in his fight with Kiba. He picked up a bag and fumbled with the closing.

"So what ARE you doing then? Better be training. I want a challenge when I come back to beat you in six weeks!"

Sasuke turned around, his face, as usual, unreadable. Yet there was a strange look in his eyes. Jealousy? No.

Desperation?

"Kakashi's on a mission so I've arranged to go and train with some other people. No big deal."

"'Some people'?" Sakura asked with concern, twiddling an article of clothing in her fingers. "Who? Do you know them? Are they from Konoha?"

"Its no big deal." Sasuke repeated firmly. "And I don't really want to see that, Sakura."

She looked down and gasped in embarrassment at the sports bra she'd been absentmindedly playing with. Her face reddening, she shoved it under her pillow and threw a bag at each of the boys.

For gods sake, why hadn't she picked up one of her nicer brassieres to 'accidentally' reveal evidence her blooming figure?

Outside, Naruto waved madly as the minivan pulled away. He was a little jealous, having been invited that day to go with the family on holiday - the Harunos were so grateful that Team Sevens boys had been taking such good care of their daughter that they'd offered to take them to the coast as well. Sasuke had quietly declined, but Naruto wished he'd changed his decision. Even the most intensive training with Jiraiya and the tastiest ramen couldn't compete with the sight of Sakura in a two-piece.

He knew, he'd seen it.

"So," he began, ignoring the way Sasuke seemed oblivious to his team mate's departure. "You're training too, huh?"

There was no reply from the dark-haired boy.

"Well, you'd better train hard, cause when I come back, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"When you see me again," Sasuke stated to the sky. "You won't even know its me."

******************

The pulse monitor issued a loud whine as Sasukes heart failed.

It seemed like there wasn't enough room in the ambulance to fit the amount of medics that were swarming over him, but Kakashi had managed to fight one off for the right of the passenger seat and was nervously watching the scene from around the backrest.

The genin was covered in a forest of various-sized tubes and wires as if all the humming, buzzing machinery that decorated the walls of the vehicle was hooked up to him. Even the engine.

For all Kakashi knew, it probably was.

The medics each seemed to have a different job, most of which required using some sort of instrument then shouting loudly in hospital jargon.

Squeeze this, shout. Push that, shout. Do the thing with that thing, shout at the other guy.

Thankfully it appeared to be working because finally, with a huge gasp, Sasuke was wrenched back into life.

Several things beeped.

Red lights flicked to green.

And the compartment was filled with a terrible moan.

The kind of sound someone makes when they're in unimaginable pain.

Kakashi frantically craned as far as he could around the pesky seat. He'd heard that sound before, in fact he'd heard it many times. And each time he wished he'd had a warning so he could have blocked his ears.

Sasukes' back was arched in spasm, straining toward the roof. The blood-spattered white sheet they'd covered him with had slipped down his chest, displaying a detailed set of ribs that were heaving with the effort it took to breathe. He was trying to open his mouth and scream, but something seemed to be preventing him, and all that came from his clenched bloodied teeth was a bubbling spout of pink saliva.

A tube had been inserted into his throat, but he didn't seem to realize it was there and he kept choking weakly.

The medics were trying hard to subdue him without doing any damage, but he was hurting so much there was no way he could relax and let them work. To Sasuke they were just random men in white who were poking him with things - obviously not on his side.

Muscles seizing again as the pain pulsed through them, he threw his good arm forward in attempt to free himself from his 'attackers'.

Someone caught it.

Sasuke rolled his eyes back and found himself staring into the face of his teacher.

In that moment, he and Kakashi exchanged a million words without saying anything.

Then the morphine kicked in, Sasukes eyes glazed over and his body thudded back onto the table. The medics crowded over him like vultures on a carcass, leaving nothing but a view of the back of a white coat for the worried Jounin.

"Get back, Kakashi, you're going to end up in my lap! If you keep getting in the way, the kid won't be the only one going to the E.R!"

Irked, the ambulance driver gave him a hard shove and Kakashi quickly turned back into his seat, mumbling in apology.

He pulled his hentai novel out of an inner pocket in his utility jacket and attempted to concentrate. But even with illustrations, Come come paradise 2, couldn't erase Sasukes tears from his mind, or mute that cry from his ears.

Putting the book down, he closed his eye and dreaded what might be the outcome of the event.

What did you get yourself into, Sasuke? He thought, then shook his head. No. That wasn't it. Why did he underestimate so badly? How could he have been so wrong?