Disclaimer: Orochi, Kabuto and Sasuke are not mine. If they were, I’d send Sasuke back: I think he’s faulty.

Education

"What do you think you were doing?" hissed Orochimaru at Sasuke as he shoved him through the door. He was tired and very angry. Sasuke was in trouble.

Sasuke steadied himself, his usual scowl never leaving his face for a moment. He turned around to face his instructor, narrowing his eyes at him.

"I was winning," said Sasuke, daring to challenge his superior.

"What you were doing, Sasuke-kun, is called 'disobeying a direct command'. Obeying orders, isn't that something they enjoy teaching in Konoha?"

Sasuke turned his head in defiance, though Orochimaru instantly recognised the gesture of minor defeat. Sasuke didn't even look towards the door as it was gently closed by the third and as-yet silent member of their party.

"They don't do it particularly well, it seems," answered Kabuto, not really on Sasuke's behalf. "After all, I don't remember being instructed to become a missing-nin." Kabuto smiled at Sasuke and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, as if to taunt the Uchiha's lack of ability to know the right thing to say.

"You make a very good point, Kabuto," smiled Orochimaru. "But I don't think that Sasuke-kun's in quite the same league as us now, is he?" Orochimaru held Sasuke's chin almost affectionately. He walked forwards, pushing Sasuke against the wall opposite. His hand slid very lightly downwards, so his fingertips were barely touching Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke stayed silent. He knew better than to attempt to try and rectify the situation. His neck was the one with the hand around it, after all. But underneath the surface...

"Oh, what's this? Your pulse is quickening... And your chakra! It's a lot like mine, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru tightened his grip around Sasuke's throat. "Angry." Orochimaru squeezed the boy's neck and Sasuke let out a muffled choke. "Really pissed off."

Sasuke's hands instinctively tried to prise Orochimaru's from his neck but his mentor wouldn't give up that easily.

Orochimaru looked calmly at the boy, smiling as if he'd just received a piece of good news.

Sasuke looked across at Kabuto, who was standing behind Orochimaru, just in case Kabuto might have offered his medical opinion that strangling Sasuke was not a good idea. All Sasuke found was the medic-nin's usual smile, as if Kabuto knew something he wouldn't tell and took great pleasure from his silence.

But then Sasuke realised that he didn't need help. He was Orochimaru's chosen one - his life was in no danger, a thought which made the last few seconds of his punishment easier.

"You know I wouldn't kill you," Orochimaru said as he released his grip, as if reading Sasuke's mind - perhaps, to a certain extent, he could. Sasuke gasped and began gulping down air. Orochimaru placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders to stop the boy from falling to the ground. "But you'll be pleased to hear that Kabuto is a very good doctor. You'll need him." Orochimaru removed his hands from Sasuke's shoulders, but before the boy had had a chance to crumple to the floor, Orochimaru placed a kick on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke cried out in pain and fell to the ground, his hands covering his wound.

"Don't you ever disobey me again, understood?"

Kabuto stepped forward next to his master. "Really, Orochimaru-sama, you shouldn't play so roughly with your toys. You might break one of them."

"Then you can mend it."

"Only if it hasn't been completely destroyed." Kabuto knelt down in front of Sasuke and placed a hand on his chest. "Broken ribs," he told Orochimaru; not his patient. "You ought to be more careful with your next body, Orochimaru-sama. I don't want you to be broken now, do I?"

Such selfish indulgence was something Orochimaru permitted only to Kabuto.

"How very magnanimous of you." Orochimaru bent over so his mouth was level with Kabuto's ear. He pulled back his doctor's head roughly, grabbing his ponytail. "Heal Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru's fingers slid out of Kabuto's hair. "Then come and retrieve this." Orochimaru dangled the band he had just removed from Kabuto's hair in front of the medic-nin's eyes. Kabuto smiled.

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama." He began gathering chakra in his hands as his master left. He waited for the sound of the door clicking shut before he addressed his patient.

"Well, well, Sasuke-kun. You've really done it this time, haven't you? I thought you were smarter than that but I appear to have overestimated you."

Sasuke did not have the energy to reply. Even if he had have done, he probably would have kept his thoughts to himself: he spoke very infrequently to Kabuto, knowing full-well that the doctor disliked him. Saying nothing was preferable to saying the wrong thing.

Kabuto, however, was far from economical with his words.

"Honestly, disobeying Orochimaru-sama, what were you thinking? You do realise just how powerful he is, don't you?" Kabuto pressed a finger against an intercostal muscle, smirking at the sight of Sasuke’s wince. "You, Sasuke-kun, couldn't even defeat me. I'm almost inclined to feel pity towards you and your delusions of grandeur."

"They're not delusions. Orochimaru went to great lengths to bring me here," Sasuke whispered, his throat aching from earlier.

Kabuto laughed. "Sasuke-kun, your naïvety is adorable. Let me explain. Let’s say, for example, that Orochimaru is thirsty. You are the finest, hand-picked green tea around, so much so that Orochimaru would consider you a favourite. But if he's really thirsty, he'll settle for water. It won't be what he wanted, but it will quench his thirst all the same."

Sasuke stayed silent as Kabuto continued working on his ribs.

"Really, Sasuke-kun, you're nothing more than a pair of pretty, red eyes. And a second-rate pair at that." Kabuto knew that making a reference to Itachi would get a reaction from the boy.

"And what do you have to offer?" He held his throat: anger had caused him to exert too much effort upon it.

"What do I have to offer?" said Kabuto in disbelief, stopping his healing of Sasuke. "Where do I begin? I'm a highly talented medic-nin; I'm incredibly intelligent; I'm loyal, hard-working; I'd do absolutely anything for Orochimaru-sama; and what's more, I'm always in his good books. Orochimaru-sama doesn't just want my eyes; he wants every single part of me. That's why I'm not the one with injuries." Kabuto rummaged through his supplies to find a bandage for Sasuke.

"You're just the one without the hair-tie," said Sasuke venomously.

Kabuto smiled. "Another perk."

Sasuke had noticed that the way Orochimaru treated Kabuto was unlike the way in which he treated anyone else. If Orochimaru was in a bad mood, only Kabuto could calm him down; the two of them were never apart for long; Kabuto could do as he wished and speak freely to his Master. In all of his time in the Sound Village, Sasuke had never once heard Orochimaru lose his temper with Kabuto. He noticed something in the way that they looked at each other, too: their relationship was far from only business.

Kabuto's motives, the way he acted... The man was a complete mystery to Sasuke. Sasuke was there because he had no other choice: he needed the strength to be able to defeat Itachi and if it came from Orochimaru, so be it. Kabuto, on the other hand, appeared to have no good reason to be there, except for his complete adoration for his Master, which Sasuke simply could not understand. Such obsessive behaviour was just one of the things that made him wary of Kabuto.

Ignorance, Sasuke decided, can be a dangerous thing.

"Why?" Sasuke asked Kabuto as the doctor finished attaching the bandage. Kabuto knew exactly what Sasuke was asking.

"Why can I give myself completely to Orochimaru? Why can I overstep the mark with him and make him smile while you end up needing medical attention?" Kabuto smiled. “Why do I let myself be such a terrible person? It's quite simple: I know what I have to do to get to where I want to be and I do it. And I do a brilliant job of it, too. However, as for my feelings towards Orochimaru-sama... They are of no concern to you." Kabuto placed his hand on Sasuke's neck to soothe his throat. Sasuke said nothing.

"You should rest." Kabuto stood up and headed towards the door. Sasuke carefully picked himself up off of the floor. "Please hurry up, Sasuke-kun: I have an appointment with Orochimaru-sama; I can't baby-sit you all day." Kabuto opened the door and gestured for Sasuke to go through it. Sasuke walked deliberately slowly, glaring at Kabuto. "Please, Sasuke, don't look at me like that." Kabuto closed the door behind them and began walking down the corridor. "If the wind changes, it'll stay like that."

Sasuke did not appreciate being mocked. He followed a few paces behind Kabuto, his eyes boring holes into the medic-nin's head. Neither of them said a word until Kabuto came to a halt in front of a door that Sasuke had never opened before. The Uchiha knew exactly which room the door belonged to, however.

"We'd best show Orochimaru-sama that you're alright, hadn't we? I'm sure he's worried sick about you." Kabuto knocked twice upon the door.

Orochimaru knew exactly who he'd find on the other side of the door: only one person would have the nerve to knock upon it.

"Ah, Kabuto," Orochimaru smiled as he opened the door. "I trust you aided Sasuke-kun successfully?"

"Completely," Kabuto confirmed. Neither of them so much as looked at Sasuke.

"Good."

"There is, however, still the matter of my hair-tie, Orochimaru-sama. It was very annoying trying to help Sasuke-kun in-between pushing my hair out of the way."

Sasuke watched Orochimaru intently. Kabuto was placing the blame on his Master - blame for an exaggerated matter at that: only a few strands of hair had fallen out of place the whole time that Kabuto was healing Sasuke; it was not worth complaining about. If Sasuke had committed such an offence, he would have been punished.

Kabuto, however, was always found 'not guilty'.

Orochimaru ran his fingers through Kabuto's hair. "I can see that that could be a problem. Still... No harm done." Orochimaru placed his hands on Kabuto's waist and pulled him into the room. Sasuke watched as Kabuto put his arms around Orochimaru's neck and their lips met with energy they'd been keeping from earlier on. With one, quick movement of Orochimaru's hand, the door slammed shut in Sasuke's face.

It was then that Sasuke decided that he would not pay attention to anything that Kabuto had said to him. He certainly did not want to end up like the medic-nin: all he could learn from him was how to be disgustingly submissive. Sasuke was not here to serve Orochimaru; he was here to use him. He was not here to smile and nod in agreement or lay down his life for Orochimaru; it was going to be the other way around.

Sasuke walked slowly back to his room to rest. Kabuto was wrong - Orochimaru needed Sasuke, needed his eyes and he'd have to work to get them.

After all, a pupil surpassing his teacher is the ultimate achievement.