The sound of her breathing seemed deafening in the chill silence. The crunch of snow underneath her trainers was like a soft background beat. Crunch crunch huff huff crunch crunch cough huff. It was the pattern of the sounds and her anger to get away that kept her going.

She'd recently been diagnosed as a severe bipolar, but when the news broke out, everyone left except for her boyfriend... now ex-boyfriend. He'd used her mood shifts to take advantages of her both emotionally and sexually His abuse had gotten so severe, she'd left in nothing but a pair of keds, skinny jeans and a sweatshirt.

"I guess I'm lucky I had a bra on..." she said quietly, trying to huddle her thin shirt closer to her. She let her mind wander to happier times as she walked the side of the road and the snow steadily fell. If she kept up her pace she'd be able to find that forest path a ways down and make a short cut, then she'd be near a bus stop in under an hour. It seemed like the perfect plan, almost as perfect as the back country road she was walking.

It was hard to know quite where she was though... the road wasn't travelled on much and there were no houses, no painted lines, no lights, no wires, no telephone lines... It felt like she was 100 years in the past. The snow covered everything and it was almost a foot deep now. She was almost to the path, she could see it to the right up ahead in the trees, when she heard something crunching through the snow a ways back down the road. However, the turns in the road, the trees, and the snow kept her from seeing anything farther back than about 50 ft. She was paused for a moment listening, turned back towards the sound, but then it stopped. She shrugged whatever it was off (even though she was still paranoid), and then turned back to walking. Probably just an animal or a random car she told herself over and over. Just as she was starting back up to her brisk pace again she heard it a second time. It was the distinct sound of snow sloshing around and the crunch of packed snow under weight. She turned back once more, but again there was nothing. She sighed. She hoped that maybe it was a car, even though it seemed unlikely in these conditions.

Once again she began walking and for a while everything was the same. Crunch crunch... sound of her feet. The same quiet that snow brought, the same solitude on the back road that only she traveled. In the distance she heard quiet voices. It was so soft, she could barely here it, but it was loud enough that it stopped her in her tracks. She stood, huffing to catch her breath from stopping so suddenly in cold. The words were too far away for her to hear, but it was obvious that the voice was short and repeating. There was no other sounds, just a single voice. She turned circles in place, cupping a hand at her ears, but she couldn't pinpoint what direction it was coming from. It was so mysterious, so subtle, so captivating in the fact that it was unknown. She wanted to find out what it was. She stood still as she could and held her breath. Still she couldn't pinpoint it.

Suddenly, it sounded like it was right next to her ear, right behind her. The words were so clear, so haunting, it sent chills up her spine.

"Kate! Kate! It's me, Caleb! Come back! Where are you? Kate! Kate! It's me, Caleb!..."

She turned around just in time to see two bright, distinct lights of a car and the screeching of wheels against snow, and feel pain as she'd never felt before. She could hear the words echoing in the distance, a scream (although she wasn't sure who's, was it hers?), and then everything was hazy. The pain had reverberated throughout her body, but she didn't care. She had to get away from him. She had to get away. Away! Away! Please, she begged silently, I have to get away! And then, suddenly, everything was black, and all the sounds stopped. Everything was gone.

Sasuke stood in front of the huge door, while Jugo peeked at him through the crack.

"If Kimimaro's not here, I can't go outside!" Jugo whispered.

The group outside the door was quiet for a moment before Suigetsu spoke.

"Kimimaro? You me of the Kaguya clan?"

"Yeah," Karin replied, "Jugo and Kimimaro were Orochimaru's favorite lab rats. They were both imprisoned together here for live experimentation, so Kimimaro was probably the one person Jugo trusted within this organization. And Kimimaro was strong too, I heard he was the only one who could stop Jugo's rampages without harming his fellow precious research subject."

"But I thought that guy was-"

"Jugo." Sasuke cut in before Suigetsu could finish, "Kimimaro died for me. He's gone."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"He died for you?" Jugo bit out, "Then... you're Uchiha Sasuke?"

"That's right." Sasuke said softly.

It was quiet for a few moments, while Jugo thought over everything Kimimaro had said before he'd left. Maybe it would be okay after all...maybe Sasuke could Kimimaro's replacement, his new shield. He pulled the door open and walked out.

Soon after, together, the group walked out of the Northern hideout in silence. Once in a while, an inmate would walk forward and try to start up a fight, but Suigetsu would rush forward and knock them out (and receive glares from Sasuke if he was too rough). By the time they'd gotten outside it was hotter than it had been earlier, but it wasn't uncomfortable, so they re-grouped in front of a large rock formation. Karin stood, one hand on a hip, Jugo stood silently like a tower, and Suigetsu was sipping on his water canister and grinning toothily at Karin, who shot glares at him. Sasuke stood in front of them and looked at them expressionlessly.

"My goal," he began, moving all of their attention to him, "is to kill Akatsuki member Uchiha Itachi. I want your help."

"Thought so..."Suigetsu said to the side.

"But first," Sasuke said, turning to Karin, "Karin, you said you had some business to take care of, what is it?"

"R-right... um, well...it wasn't really that much..." Karin began stuttering.

"Sheesh, can't you be honest for once?" Suigetsu said, smirking at Karin, "You're just in this cause you want to be near Sasuke. See? You're even stuttering. So obvious!"

Karin didn't even answer, she just slapped Suigetsu, who turned into water and laughed.

"Suigetsu, stop egging Karin on. Karin, ignore him." Sasuke bit out, glaring evenly at both. "Now, Karin, what was it?"

"Well," Karin began, "There's supposedly another hideout somewhere near here. Only Orochimaru himself went in, and no one, not even Kabuto, has been inside. Since you killed Orochimaru, it's safe to enter... plus, you'd be able to access it, right?"

"So you're plan is to find it and figure out what he was hiding?" Sasuke said evenly, no emotion leaking through.

"Well, y-yes."

"Sounds like a load of crap to me." Suigetsu said to the side.

"Wherever Sasuke goes, I will follow." Jugo said to no one in particular.

"Hn, Fine. Perhaps there might be something of use to us. We'll find it, finish there, and continue on to get supplies for our journey. Karin, lead the way."

The hideout was easy to find, since Sasuke could easily access particular thoughts and memories after having absorbed Orochimaru. It was well hidden, even with the Sharingan Sasuke didn't think he could have found it without the help of the absorption (but his emotionless face said otherwise).

Then, to make things even more difficult it took a correct DNA sample of Orochimaru's blood in order to get the door to open. After correctly opening it (once again, thanks to the absorption) the group slowly made their way inside. Sasuke lead, while Suigetsu and Karin followed, Jugo taking up the rear. The steps were literally carved out of the stone, and the walls and ceiling just barely fit Jugo, who was constantly crouching down. As the steps began angling down, and the group got farther from the door, it grew darker and darker. There were no lights, no flames, nothing to light the way.

"I knew Orochimaru was a creeper, but seriously..." Suigetsu began.

"Shut up. You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you? Ugh, so annoying. Why did you have to come?" Karin bit back.

"Whatever, I'm just saying that this fit's the bill, right? I mean, why no lights?" Suigetsu replied.

"Because that would take chakra." Jugo answered.

Suigetsu and Karin stopped bickering and turned to the direction of the previously silent giant.

"What?" Suigetsu asked, looking a little lost in the dim light.

"If there were lights, they would have to be run by chakra, since there's no electricity out here. But there's no chakra so that sensor type ninjas like Karin wouldn't be able to locate it. It's a wise precaution. Snake's see by different means than light at night, so I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru could see perfectly fine in these halls." *

"And how would you know about snakes?" Karin said, changing her stance to lean on her hip.

"Because I can communicate with animals. Orochimaru ran tests with this ability."

"Hn." Sasuke replied, and the group turned to him again. "Let's keep moving. I want this over with fast, Karin."

The group once again fell in step behind Sasuke, feeling their way down the steps and walls as the light grew steadily less and less. Finally it was pitch black and the steps had leveled out into flat ground.

"Wow, almost 400 steps. Woo, I'm tired. Time for a break." There was a rustling that was followed by the slurping sounds of Suigetsu's straw.

"God damn it! Again? We just stopped a while ago! If I could see you right now..." Karin said, her livid tone causing the shuffle of Suigetsu's feet to move away from the sound of her voice. Next came the sound of hissing snakes.

"Wha? Snakes? Where-" began Karin, but then Jugo's calm voice broke through- "They're Sasuke's summons. He's using them to find and open the door." Suddenly the stone corridor they were standing in was illuminated with a soft blue light.

"What the-" Suigetsu began.

"Enough. The door is over here. Move towards the light." Sasuke's voice came from the direction of the light. The group shuffled towards it and finally moved into a large room with a circularly vaulted ceiling. There was nothing in the room except for two things: a large shelf of hundreds of glass bottles that circled the walls of the room, and in the center of the room was a huge glass cylindrical tank that was filled with a liquid that glowed a soft blue that lit up the room.

"Holy Crow. What is this, some super secret creeper lab?" Suigetsu barked out. He made his way over to a shelf and peered at the glass vials. "Seriously, it's like floating organs and little shriveled animals again... "

"Shut up, Suigetsu." Karin spat, "If I remember correctly you were just like that at one point in time... a caged little mess up in a tank."

Suigetsu shot her a menacing glare.

"Just you watch, hellcat. One day..."

"Pff, as if you could do anything."

"Suigetsu, Karin. Enough. Did I not make it clear earlier, that you would cooperate? Now, Karin, what is this?"

"What?"

Karin turned towards Sauske's voice only to find he and Jugo standing in front of the tank. She moved towards them, Suigetsu following her. It was the first time she'd noticed the tank, and under closer inspection it was astounding.

Inside of the tank, floating gently in a mock fetal position was a girl, no older than 20. She was childish looking and small, covered in only a small pair of white underwear and what appeared to be a hospital gown. The fabric flowed in midair due to the water, but the way it curled around her it made her look surreal. Her long dark hair flowed up towards the top of the tank, while her hands curled in towards herself.

"Who the heck is she?" Suigetsu questioned out loud while pointing, breaking the silence.

"I have no idea." Karin replied, for once quiet and at a loss for words.

"Another experiment?" Jugo asked.

"Hn." Sasuke answered.

They broke away from their trance and each moved throughout the room searching for clues. Sasuke remained staring at the tank raking Orochimaru's memories for anything that would aide them. After about 20 minutes of looking, Jugo called out to him.

"Sasuke."

Said man turned and walked over to the inmate bent over a shelf. He paused when they stood side to side and looked at him for an explanation.

"There were scrolls over here. This one's got notes."

"What does it say?" Suigetsu called from across the room.

"Not much, except that she's apparently been created from something he calls a 'dimensional slip'. Apparently she's an anomaly of some kind."

"Does it say anything else?" Karin queried from nearby, having made her way to where they stood.

"No. But it says something about someone named 'Keito' and chakra. I can't read his writing well, it seems like he was in a hurry or something... half of it's blot out or been destroyed by water damage of some sort."

"Keito? Who the heck is Keito? Whatever, why don't we skip outta this place? It's obvious Karin just wanted to travel somewhere dark and secluded to rape Sasuke..." Suigetsu sputtered out, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Shut up Suigetsu. I'm guessing Keito is her..."

"Pff, you shut up hellcat..."

"So what do we do about this woman, Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

They were all quiet as Sasuke stared at the tank, pondering.

"What was she supposed to be used for? What use is she? Orochimaru's memories have nothing..." Sasuke asked, turning back to the scroll Jugo was holding. "Check the other scrolls."

Jugo handed the scroll to Sasuke, and began to leaf through the others, while Karin took the scroll from Sasuke and began reading.

"KeitoR1146. Dimensional slip, chakra a-t-n -d r-g p-r-. As- till 11-2-333 is available. -s -i-ly v-. Dark blue r- ..., " Karin read, "That's it. There aren't any more lines, but it looks like he was going to write more, and what is there is mostly destroyed."

"Well, he's got the dark and blue right. That's exactly how I'd describe what we came through." Suigetsu added. Karin sent him a glare.

"Sasuke," Jugo called again, " I found another. This one distinctly says that the 'Keito' character is her. I'm guessing it's her name. It also says that she's the 'dimensional slip', that somehow she can control it. I'm not sure what that means, but... I'd need more time and better light to read what's written"

"Hn." Sasuke answered. "Jugo bring all the scrolls. Suigetsu get her out of there. Karin, see if there's anything for her to wear."

As Sasuke began walking towards the door, the three others began their individual tasks. Karin was looking around the room and Juugo was stuffing scrolls into his arms. Suigetsu had unclasped his sword from his back and clicked it together.

"Suigetsu, don't kill her." Karin reprimanded, and instead of continuing the search for clothes, she began searching the bottom of the glass tank for a hatch or open switch.

"Sure, like there's just going to be a big button that-"

Click.

With a soft fwoosh sound the cylinder slid up into the sealing and the water began leaking out the bottom by the gallon.

"Figures." Suigetsu said with a sigh.

The girl in the tank slid down towards the bottom as the water level continued to plummet. Soon she was laid out on the bottom platform of the tank, wet and still unconscious. Karin sat down on her haunches and reached out two fingers to feel for a pulse.

"Is she dead?" Suigetsu said, poking the girl's wet thigh with a finger.

Karin slapped his hand away.

"Don't poke her like that you pervert!" She hissed.

"Is she?" Said Sasuke, scaring Karin onto her feet.

"Uh, y-yes Sasuke! I mean, n-no! She's alive! But in some sort of comatose state... I'm not sure how she breathed in that water or got food... Uh..."

"Hn."

Sasuke moved to pick up the girl and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Let's get going. I want to make it to the Uchiha compound by tomorrow evening. Karin, are you finished here?"

"Y-yes Sasuke!"

And so, they made their way back up the stairs and out into the evening, traveling at a fast pace towards the South.

*At night or in darkness snakes don't see using their eyes or light. They use special glands in their noses that can sense infrared radiation that warm animals give off. I figured Orochimaru would be able to see like that since he was basically a snake...

Author's notes:

This is the re-written, better thought out version of my old story "Trapped by Ninjas". This chapter has also been re-written since it was first posted. I got a complaint about language, but I'm only editing it to a certain extent. Please note that this is rated M for MATURE. This means that there will be language and adult situations throughout this story. If that offends or bothers you, please leave and don't read.

On a side note the part where they pick up Jugo was taken directly from the comic. I'm trying to make this run in line with Canon and jump back and forth between my plot and Kishimoto's.