A/N: Even a secret, villain's base has to have a kitchen. Bad guys gotta eat, too!

By the time they reached the kitchen she'd managed to- she believed- push him into breaking her wrist once and creating a rather nice sized gash on her arm. The first was caused when she'd attempted to shove him against the sharp corner over the stairwell and he'd caught her wrist, effectively sending a snapping sound through the hall. His action had been met with a sneer on her lips and a chuckle from his. The gash came when he decided to pause and check her vitals- the fighting having concerned him over the state of her chakra- and she'd managed to snag a needle from the tray lingering near the cot he'd gestured for her to sit on.

She'd lunged forward in an attempt to plunge it into his jugular, his head having been just a short distance below the cot as he checked the connections of a few of the wires leading into the machine settled against the wall of the room. Almost seeming to to move without a thought, he'd flicked a scalpel from seemingly nowhere and sliced her arm open, effortlessly dodging her attack. 

As Kabuto paused, allowing her to step past him into the kitchen, he caught her arm by the wrist and held it up to his eye-level. Within a second she'd jerked it free, but he'd seen what he'd wanted. The skin had already closed, blood harmlessly coating her now uninjured arm. 

"I've yet to isolate the gene," he mused. "But it would seem I've increased the rate at which your body heals... you should be grateful." 

"Grateful?" she scoffed. "Go to hell you piece of-"

"Shut up! You're scaring her you morons!"

Blinking a few times, Kazue diverted her attention from Kabuto to the two figures settled at the island counter a short distance away. Instantly, she recognized them- they'd become rather familiar figures in the time she'd lived among Orochimaru's followers. The one who spoke was a tall, rusty-haired man with mossy-green eyes, his large frame towering over the counter. Seated next to where he stood was a much smaller, slender pre-teen. Her black hair hung in simple locks around her face, puffy, tear-stained green eyes staring at the small bowl of rice-porridge settled before her. 

"Oh..." 

Forgetting about her anger for a moment, Kazue started across the room, studying Jin with a thoughtful gaze. A second later she forced a small smile onto her lips as she tapped the counter, catching the younger girl's attention. 

"Hey there, Jin-chan." 

Startled, Jin stared at her for a moment before her eyes began to swarm with tears for what was probably not the first time that morning. 

"Kazue-chan... I... I..." 

Shooting Kazue a glower, Makoto tucked his arm over the girl's shoulder, tapping her arm with his fingers. 

"Hey, calm down now. Just eat something, alright?" 

Jin's gaze flickered back to the bowl before her as she shifted about in her seat, looking decidedly more frantic by the moment. 

"I... I didn't um... hurt you, did I? There was... there... on my... and I... blood means I hurt... but I don't remember..." she mumbled, her words falling over each other. 

Kazue didn't respond right away, her eyes settled on Jin's hand as it tightened around the spoon in the girl's hand. It was strange, the differences seen in the girl occasionally. Any other day, it would have been easy to imagine that girl spinning the spoon in her hand and wielding it fiercely as the sai weapons she usually carried around. Yet, when the girl was like this, she couldn't look at the blades without turning into a crying, trembling mess. 

"K-kazue-chan?" 

Startled to attention, Kazue shook her head, an easy smile on her lips. 

"No, Jin-chan, you didn't hurt me." 

Relief flooded across the girl's features, something that caught Kazue's breath in her throat. The guilt towards her actions earlier in the morning... it was difficult. It was always difficult. In the time she'd lived with them, Kazue had become aware of one thing- this Jin had somehow become rather quickly attached to her. The only reason that Kazue could think of was her connection to the person that Jin wanted to see the most. 

Kurama Jun. 

Just the name crossing her mind caused Kazue's hand to form a fist at her side. She didn't have time to be worrying about the girl. First, she needed to get out of there. She couldn't do anything for Jin as things were. Taking Jin with her wasn't an actual option, seeing as Makoto was constantly at the girl's side and Jin's usual personality was so thoroughly convinced that the only way to survive was to take orders that she doubted she'd ever manage to convince the girl to listen to her. 

She needed to get her hands on real weapons. 

With a disapproving click of his tongue, Makoto suddenly grabbed the bowl he had Jin's food in and with his arm still hooked over her shoulder, he pulled her from her stool. When Jin shot him a confused expression but allowed herself to be escorted away from the counter, he simply offered the pre-teen a small smile. 

"I just thought it might be better if you ate somewhere... quiet," he informed her. 

In response, she simply nodded, peeking back at Kazue as he lead Jin towards the opposing exit. Sheepishly, Kazue offered her a small, farewell wave. Apparently, Makoto must have decided that her being around Jin was unneededly agitating. 

"How heartwarming," Kabuto commented, snapping her attention back to the problem at hand. 

"Shut up."

"Lovely, I thought we'd gotten past the morning insults," he replied.

As she glowered in his direction, Kabuto simply chuckled. Instead of continuing, he turned his back to her and stepped around the island. Within a moment he'd slipped the lid off a pan Kazue hadn't noticed and spun around to settle the pan on the surface of the counter. As she eyed it warily, Kabuto set about getting two bowls from the cabinets. A few moments later he'd dug rice out of the pan that was still on the stove and scooped the mixture in the pan over the rice. 

Stubbornly, Kazue stayed where she stood even as he settled her chopsticks next to the bowl. When several minutes had passed and neither one of them had moved, he sighed, raising a single brow. 

"Well?" 

Pointedly settling her arms over her chest, Kazue rose a brow in turn. 

"Well?" she mocked. 

Ignoring her tone, he plucked up his own chopsticks and scooped a nice sized amount of rice from his own dish. 

"Well, if you don't eat, you might faint again." 

"And?"

"And," Kabuto retorted, the word slightly mocking and drawn out. "If you faint, I'll hook you up with a tube again. I'm sure you'd really enjoy that." 

Kazue blanched, her mind pulling up the memory on it's own. For a short time period, after it'd become obvious she wasn't going to escape without a lot of effort, she'd gone through a dark period. She'd refused to eat, somehow coming to the conclusion that if she was in danger of starving, they'd lose interest in her. Malnutrition was the one thing her body couldn't fix on its own. Instead of giving into her refusal, however, Kabuto had simply hooked her up with a feeding tube. The first time, she'd felt like she was going to be sick. With her empty stomach, however, there was nothing to throw up and the tube had made it's way down. After that, whenever she'd refused to eat, she'd gotten the same treatment within shorter time spans. It'd only taken a few times for her to get the idea, not eating wasn't a solution. 

With a reluctant swear Kazue took her seat. 

"Bastard."

Seemingly as amused as ever, he simply ate the bite between his chopsticks. As they ate in silence, Kazue ran over the options before her in her mind. She needed a weapon. Simple tools wouldn't cut it. A real, shinobi weapon was best. Something she could use. She'd always been good at setting traps and with her accuracy. The second might have faded over time without practice, but perhaps... her skill with traps wouldn't have changed, would it? Explosive tags... she'd need paper. That was the first step. 

Placing the last bite in her mouth, she closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to pull up the simple symbols that explosive tags might use. The more complicated ones would take time and held more chance of going wrong. The simple ones... she could probably get those right.

"Planning your next escape?" Kabuto questioned. 

Her eye snapped open, focusing on him with a narrowed gaze. In response, he placed his chopsticks on the counter and began dumping the pans he'd used in the sink. 

"I wasn't," she muttered.

"Liar," he replied simply. "You're always planning an escape. It's actually rather sad." 

"If it's so sad, then how about just letting me go?" 

His lips twisted upwards, amusement evident. 

"Instead, how about we forego the testing today?" he mused. "We could train."

She studied him suspiciously. 

"Sasuke-kun isn't there, today?" she questioned. 

The amusement disappeared, slight annoyance flickering across Kabuto's face at the mention of the former Leaf shinobi. In turn, faint pleasure swept through Kazue. There was very little that actually irritated Kabuto, this was one thing she was certain would do so every time it was brought up. He'd made it no secret to her over time that he held very little affection for Sasuke. Apparently, the Uchiha's arrogant, rude nature rubbed him wrong. 

"If he is," Kabuto replied slowly. "I doubt he'll notice we're there. He's very focused on his training." 

Kazue weighed her options for a moment before settling on the idea that if she went willingly along with his whims, then perhaps she'd be able to get ahold of a bit of paper. The pen to write with would be more difficult considering her latest escape attempt, but with Jin in her current state of mind... perhaps she could...

"Well?" Kabuto prompted. 

"I'll come," she replied decisively. "Maybe I'll get to see him rile you up." 

Rolling his eyes, Kabuto stepped around the counter and towards the door. Apparently, he didn't view her comment as worthy of a response.

_______________________________________

Sasuke was there when they arrived. Much like Kabuto had guessed, he barely spared them a glance before his attention switched back to his katana. Pausing for a moment, Kazue wistfully watched as he switched through a number of stances. Now, a katana... surely even Kabuto wouldn't be able to get off without a scratch if she could get her hands on a weapon like that. She'd watched people practice kenjutsu, although she'd never actually had a talent for it herself. Something about the hilt of the weapon in her hands had never felt right. A kunai had always felt much more at home. 

At this point, she was willing to look past that. 

"Kazue."

Reluctantly tearing her eyes away from Sasuke's form, which was admittedly perfect despite the fact she doubted he'd ever touched a katana before his arrival at the base, she focused on Kabuto. His lips twitching upwards, he swiftly flicked a kunai from his weapons' pouch. 

"I don't suppose you'd like to use this while we work?" he mused. 

Her eyes widened. At the obvious expression that crossed her face, his smug, self-satisfied expression only grew. Noting this, she quickly stifled the reaction, scowling instead. 

"Why?" 

He put on an innocent expression. 

"Why not? What is a shinobi without their weapons?" he questioned in turn. 

She stiffened, glowering at him for a moment. His lips twitched, a second later that smug expression breaking through. The resulting stare-down was only broken when Kazue instinctively stepped back, her hand snatching a flying object out of the air. As a result, crimson instantly soaked her hand, the object dropping to the ground. Deciding that it must have cut through muscles in her hand, Kazue waited a second before retrieving it, ensuring that she could actually pick it up. As soon as she'd realized what had happened, her eyes flickered towards Sasuke. He'd obviously meant for her to use it, but whether he'd done it for her benefit or just in spite of the silver-haired shinobi now frowning in his direction, she wasn't certain. All she did know was that if she asked, he probably wouldn't respond. Instead of attempting a fruitless task, she turned on a smug expression of her own and caught Kabuto's eyes. 

"I guess I won't be needing that," she informed him. 

Turning the kunai in her hand, she couldn't help but note how natural it felt as she gripped the hilt. It was as if she'd been wielding them all this time. Almost without thought, an unnoticed amount of tension left her form. It really was true... she felt like herself with a kunai in her hand. 

A shinobi without a weapon wasn't a shinobi. 

As Kabuto studied her curiously, Kazue shifted into a ready stance, pulling up all the possible actions she could take in her mind. Perhaps this was another chance. It was slim, but if she could manage to fight him off, to subdue him for a short amount of time... the stairwell wasn't that far from here. She could give it a shot. Sasuke probably wouldn't do anything about it if she took off. He'd made it no secret that he held little, if any, respect for Kabuto. Orochimaru had made it clear she was Kabuto's responsibility. Her escaping would only look bad on Kabuto alone. 

As if he could hear her thoughts, Kabuto's smile turned wry, his hands suddenly moving together to form a sign. 

"Honestly, you're so transparent," he announced. 

Muttering a rather uncomplimentary response under her breath, she only watched as he stowed the kunai in his hand, both hands lighting up with the familiar sign of medical jutsu. Hesitation swept through her, her grip on the kunai faltering. She'd almost reached his level with that jutsu in most recent times. Perhaps it would be best if she used that instead. No, she decided a second later, her chakra levels were low. The constant testing made it difficult for her to actually focus on using the jutsu. 

The kunai was her best bet. 

If this didn't work, as she expected it most likely wouldn't, paper was her next bet.

Dismissing these thoughts, she lunged forward, closing the distance between them. There was no hesitation in her movements, no second guess as she instantly shifted her kunai in attempt to land a killing blow. 

After All, she wasn't who she used to be.

The old, polite, reckless girl who only wanted to impress her family and village had died a long time ago. 

This her only wanted one thing- to get home- and was willing to do anything to do it. 

Anything.

Her kunai cut through the air, his hand moving to slice the chakra through muscle. She evaded the action almost instinctively, her body knowing his movements by heart. Contradicting the conclusion she'd arrived at only moments ago, her free hand lit up with medical chakra as she decisively thrust it forward towards where she knew his heart would lay. 

This her was willing to kill.

A/N: So, what do you guys think about Kazue's new mindset? About Jin and Makoto? Sasuke?

Alright, maybe I'm a little feedback desperate. Can you blame me? I'm curious. Lay your opinions on me.

Oh, and there's a competition going on that I posted in a book that's pretty easy to identify. All you gotta do is write a one-shot based on my stories and you have the chance to win some prizes. Competition ends June 2.