Sasuke sat there thinking; the sound four had just left and told him to meet them at the front of the village. He was so angry after his fight with Naruto but the thought of going to Orochimaru scared him. He just wanted to rest and train and not be bothered with all this stuff. Kakashi had spoken to him earlier and told him how much he was cared for here. He sighed getting up but soon winced and collapsed from pain, those sound guys had really beat him up. He managed to get himself up and slowly make his way down the tree. Sasuke really didn't want to be alone tonight, in case they came back for him. So he headed to Kakashi's apartment; if what he was saying were true then he would be more then happy to let Sasuke stay there.

By the time he had gotten there the pain was really becoming an issue, his chest was burning and he must have fallen on his leg wrong. He knocked on the door with his sore arm. No answer, well it was really late. He sighed giving up but then he heard movement behind the door and a light flick on.

The door opened and Kakashi looked down at him confused. "Sasuke? What are you…" He then noticed how beat up his student was. "Hey, get in here." he spoke gently." As Sasuke attempted to walk his legs were shaking so hard he sank to his knees as he entered the apartment.

Kakashi was becoming concerned; had he gotten into another fight with Naruto? He lifted his student off the floor and brought him into the living room laying him on the couch. The bruises in full light were very visible and looked quite painful.

"Sasuke, what happened?" He asked softly gently stroking his soft hair. Sasuke had curled up on his side his trembling only worsened. Kakashi gently pulled Sasuke's shirt off; he was surprised this was definitely not from Naruto. He had about four broken ribs and he was very scraped up like he had been thrown onto concrete or something.

Kakashi left to get his first aid kit and left Sasuke lying there. The younger Uchiha opened his eyes, everything was so blurry. He felt another person's hand on his shoulder and a stinging pain. He whimpered softly trying to push them away.

"Just relax Sasuke; we can't let these get infected." He could hear Kakashi's voice in the distance; it was relaxing and he soon drifted off to sleep.

When Sasuke woke up he felt sore and weak but not as bad as the night before. He slowly opened his eyes; he was lying on a couch with a blanket over him and a pillow under his head. After attempting to sit up, a sharp pain ran through his back making him fall back. He felt tears burning at his eyes he was so lonely.

"Sasuke." He felt another weight on the couch sitting next to him. "You feeling better?" "My head hurts." He whimpered softly. He felt kakashi's cool hand rest on his forehead. "You're burning up." Sasuke heard the jounin mutter. "I'll get you some water." He said going back to the kitchen. After he returned Sasuke drank some of the water and lay back down.

"Do you remember how you got here?" Kakashi was concerned; Sasuke could hear it in his voice. "Sort of…" He looked down and realized his shirt was missing and someone had bandaged his chest and arms. "You were pretty beat up when you came, I just gave you some first aid. But you're still going to have to go to the hospital later to make sure your ok." Sasuke was silent. "Sasuke, please…I want to help but I cant if you don't tell me what's wrong." He was still quiet. He turned his face away from Kakashi and he was now lying on his side. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his curse mark; his hand grabbed it now feeling a burning pain.

"Sasuke!" He could hear Kakashi's voice in the distance but everything was fading and soon there was nothing but darkness.

When he awoke again the room was dark and he was now lying in a bed. He sat up now feeling slightly better; the room was just a double bed, a desk, a lamp and a window on the opposite wall. It was dark outside as well so it must have been night; then he remembered his curse mark was hurting badly. Orochimaru must have heard that he did not go with them, now he was scared. That man would do anything to get what he wanted and what he wanted was Sasuke.

Sasuke pulled the blanket off and swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up; it took him a few minutes to regain his balance he was still kind of sore from the other day. So he then walked over to the door and opened it, he was in a small hallway and the room in front still had lights on. When he entered the living room he saw Kakashi sprawled out on the couch with a book in one hand.

He saw Sasuke enter and was immediately next to him. "You feeling better?" "Yeah…" Sasuke walked over to the couch and sat down sitting all the way back so his feet were a few inches of the floor. Kakashi had gone to get him some water; after he returned Sasuke drank most of it before setting it on the small table in front of him.

"Does this have anything to do with Orochimaru?" Kakashi question, his tone was serious. He only nodded his head yes then he heard a low sigh come from his teacher. "Tell me what happened…please." Sasuke looked at him, his bangs falling over his forehead but then looked back down at his knees. Kakashi could see how nervous he looked; he had never seen Sasuke so tense; not even on missions.

"Hey." He gently rubbed his hand against Sasuke back, trying to calm him down a bit. "You're not in trouble, I'm not mad. I just want to know what happened." "Orochimaru, he…sent people to convince me to go to him." "When did this happen?" "A little after you talked to me at the tree."

Kakashi was enraged but he wouldn't let Sasuke know; the boy was obviously terrified if he had come to him. How did the village not detect any intruders? "Was there anything else? I can see they attacked you."

"They all had curse marks, but they were different, they said something about level two. They were really strong." He saw how upset Sasuke looked.

"Sasuke. You are not weak, I know that's what you are thinking but you couldn't have possibly beaten them, they work for Orochimaru and have altered powers, the curse mark does not count its just power without earning it."

After he had finished talking to Sasuke, they went back to Sasuke's apartment and got his stuff, he would be staying with Kakashi for a while till the whole thing blows over. Well he ended up staying there for a long time and eventually moved in with Kakashi. Sasuke did not want to be alone anymore and he never went to Orochimaru.

End