"Juugo? Juugo, open the door." I knocked lightly on the massive metal door. It was unlocked, so I could go in anytime I wanted, but Juugo was in an awfully volatile mood, and opening it might set him off into another murderous mood.

"I COULD START KILLING AGAIN AT ANY TIME! PLEASE LOCK ME BACK IN!" Came the urgent scream from behind at least 5 inches of solid steel.

I turned, pressing my back against the door. "I'm sorry, but what exactly is your business with Juugo? I understand you want to recruit him Sasuke, but he's not in any state to wander around freely."

"What's with the double personality?" Suigetsu asked, cutting off Karin. The girl had her mouth wide open, staring at me angrily. The moment I had addressed Sasuke without an honorific, her hands had been poised at the weapon pouch near her hip.

"He has uncontrollable urges to kill almost anything living, but he's really a gentle person. He'd rather stay confined, so that he doesn't have to kill." I tried to explain. It had been one of the most peculiar things to learn when I had originally come to the North base. The massive, raging beast that had fought Suigetsu in an exhibitionist battle was really a very kind soul, and very afraid of himself.

"Lame." Suigetsu commented, propping his giant sword against the wall in anticipation of a long conversation. "I told you Sasuke, he's dangerous. Just walking around with him is a huge risk."

I couldn't help but agree. Whenever Juugo was allowed out of his cell, it was only after I'd injected him with heavy sedatives and a certain amount of a paralyzing solution. We'd let him sit outside for a few minutes, almost in a comatose state, before locking him back up. "I hate to admit that Suigetsu is right . . ." That was drawing a few glares from the boy in question. " . . . but he's right. I'll have to hear a good explanation before I let you take him out of his cell."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME? LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Orochimaru is dead. This place is literally falling apart. Both of you will die with it if you stay too much longer." Sasuke approached the door, though I didn't move. I was sure Sasuke was a formidable opponent, and could probably brush me aside without too much trouble, but I didn’t want to let all my authority crumble before him. He was right of course, the building would collapse in another day or two, but I had already planned to leave before then.

"Good. That means I won't kill anyone else." Juugo answered, miserably.

"Relax. I'll act as your prison. If you try anything, I'll stop you." Sasuke muttered toward the door. I moved my hand in front of the door handle, wondering whether I should let Sasuke have his way. He would probably be able to stop Juugo, if he'd been able to kill Orochimaru. But hell, I was already acting as a prison for Juugo.

"He already has a prison. Why do you need Juugo, Sasuke?" I asked boldly, flinching a little as his stony eyes turned to me.

"Nanami. Why do you want to keep him?"

"He's mine. What other reason do I need?"

" . . ." Sasuke just stared at me, and I answered the look hesitantly. I knew better than to fall under the influence of his genjutsu, but I was still frightened of the effects of the Sharingan. Any reasonable person would be.

"Boss-san?" Juugo's voice penetrated the awkward silence.

"Yes Juugo?" I answered, keeping me eyes on the three in front of me. Karin looked ready to pounce, but I figured I'd be able to stop her. It was really Suigetsu and Sasuke that I needed to worry about. Or rather, Sasuke. For whatever reason, I figured that Suigetsu might be hesitant to attack me as well.

"I don't want to leave. The only person that could ever calm my impulses without force was Kimimaro." He replied softly, and I nodded at his words. I'd met Kimimaro before, as I'd mentioned to Juugo before. We both had respect for him, though Juugo's was far greater than mine. He'd been devastated to learn that Kimimaro was dead. "I can't leave without him."

"Kimimaro . . . of the Kaguya clan?" Suigetsu asked, though he seemed genuinely amused that I was standing in front of the door. Like it was totally useless for me to be there.

"Yeah. He and Juugo were both favorites for human experimentation from the very first day this place was built." Karin responded, her eyes lingering on me with distaste. It seemed as if Sasuke was the only one of the group that had escaped experimentation, even though he had received the cursed seal. Obviously, she held a grudge against me for being one of the experimenters.

"He was the only one in the organization who didn't rebel or try to escape. He was so strong that he could calm Juugo without getting hurt." She continued, pushing her glasses up her nose in a gesture that reminded me, rather painfully, of Kabuto. I repeated the gesture, adjusting my pair of false glasses.

"How do you know that?" I asked. That information wasn't given out freely. Despite the fact that she was head of the south base, I hardly knew anything about her, so how did she know everything concerning my own area?

"Ha ha. Karin, you're wrong. Nami-chan never tried to get away either." Suigetsu laughed, two of his sharp teeth sticking over his bottom lip when he finally closed his mouth. "She was too obsessed with Kabuto, kinda like you and Sasuke."

I blushed furiously, glaring at the idiot and not resenting Karin one bit as she punched him in the stomach. But I was startled to notice the giant wave of liquid that erupted from his stomach when she did this. So . . . Suigetsu was made of liquid? Or able to turn himself in to liquid when a moment of danger occurred? I itched to take a sample of that liquid, which swiftly returned to Suigetsu's body.

Sasuke ignored the ruckus though, focusing on the maniac behind the door.

"Juugo, Kimimaro is dead. He died for my sake."

I flinched. Juugo already knew Kimimaro's story, but he hadn't known who was trying to set him free before. Know that he knew . . .

"He died for you? Then you're . . . Uchiha . . . Sasuke?" That last name made all the difference, as I'd known it would. I could practically hear his wavering will in his voice.

I felt the door groan open behind me, so I stepped away. It wasn't without bitterness that I let him leave. I could have killed him right then, in those moments of weakness. But some pathetic part of me declared that killing Juugo would be a waste. I hadn't completely unraveled his genetic make-up yet, and I couldn't let him die before then. Which only meant one thing . . .

"Well, if Juugo's going, then I'm coming." I informed Sasuke sternly.

"Boss-san?" Juugo muttered, looking at me with some measure of confusion. He knew that I'd become attached to the base. He was the only intelligent person, besides myself, in the entire North Base, and had become the only person I was willing to have a full conversation with.

"What makes you think that you can just declare that? Sasuke-kun is a very busy person, he doesn’t need to have someone stupid and useless like you trailing around behind him." Karin gushed out quickly, I could tell she was positively fuming at the thought of me following the group.

"Nonsense. Juugo is my ward, and I have every right to continue observing him. He's consented to leave the base, which means that my primary interest in preserving the base is leaving. I certainly won't get in the way of anything, and I'm already well acquainted with both Sasuke and Suigetsu." I told the screechy woman, immediately resented her challenge. If she was as obsessed with Sasuke as Suigetsu had implied, she obviously only had interest in following him for romantic reasons. Just a useless, tittering female.

"Hahaha. Nami-chan, you're so bossy." Suigetsu chuckled. It seemed that not much had changed in his personality. He continued to see my every action as hilarious.

"Shut it 505." I snapped, regressing to my initial nickname for him.

"Aw, fuck off Nami-chan. Nevermind, I don't want you coming either." His jaw was grinding.

"I wasn't asking you. I wasn't asking any of you, not even Sasuke." I turned he head to him. He was standing stoically, arms crossed and no expression on his face. "I really need to finish investigating Juugo. And you don't have a medical nin yet, so if anything, I'm really being quite generous by offering to come along."

"You're a medic?" Karin asked angrily, stomping one foot on the ground. "We don't even need one."

"Nami-chan was Kabuto's apprentice. She's basically a carbon copy." Suigetsu added, grinning again.

"Sasuke-kun, you’re not just going to let her come because of that? I mean, she'll really only get in the way. I mean, a five-man team is really too many. "She was starting to sound desperate.

"I hadn't originally intended to bring you, but you can come." Sasuke finally answered me, making Karin's entire face turn red with rage. But she kept her mouth closed, which was good enough for me.

"Nami-chan, hurry up. Everyone else is already out of here, what are you looking for?" Suigetsu asked impatiently from behind me.

"I'm collecting everything I'll need to leave. I was going to leave in a few days, but I hadn't put my things together yet."

I was mostly looking for a certain belt of mine. One that I usually only wore when I was expecting to do dangerous work for the day. This particular belt was lined with hypodermic syringes, each of them filled with various liquids for all purposes. Some were lethal, some were paralyzing, some were sedatives, some were filled with diseases, and some contained healing serums that I'd spent over a year cultivating to perfection.

I was also looking for my four scrolls. The first contained a library of replacement liquids and syringes. The second held scalpels, needles, a medical saw, several hammers, and two large cleaving knives. The third held my research notes. The last contained other various medical supplies that didn't fit in with the others: bandages, ointments, generic medicine, and other similar things.

"Ah, here it is." The belt was on top of the cabinet in my office. I'd probably put it up higher in case some rampant experiment had managed to get into my office.

"So, why are you really coming? I thought you didn't like following people when you didn't even know their purpose." Suigetsu asked, leaning against his massive sword. It seemed to be close to him at all times.

"Is that the sword you threw a big fit over? Your senior's sword? I guess Sasuke got it for you?" I asked, pointing at the weapon. " And I'm coming because I really do want to finish my research on the virus that Juugo produces. I don't have anything else to do, and Sasuke seems like a good leader. I'd like to observe his Sharingan properly, and I'm even a little curious about you."

"Yeah, this is Zaubza-senpai's." He hefted the sword, swinging it into the sheath strapped to his back. "And I don't believe you. No one follows someone just so they can 'observe.' That's just bullshit."

"Oh, and what do you suggest is the reason?"

"You obviously can't bear to be parted from me again. I can hardly blame you."

I wondered if I could hit him as hard as Karin, enough to make his head splatter into water.

"You haven't matured at all, have you?"

His teeth glinted, and I wondered how he ever could have called ME a shark. "Oh, I've matured." He was wiggling his eyebrows at me suggestively.

"Pervert."

"You're the one who was always looking at me naked Nami-chan."

I rolled my eyes and finished hooking the scrolls into place on the belt. "Let's just go, I'm sure the others are getting impatient."

But suddenly, there was a massive sword blocking the doorway. Suigetsu's face appeared over my shoulder, his mouth uncomfortably close to my ear.

"Now now, not just yet. I want to know why you haven't asked about Kabuto."

I could feel my entire face turning red. Not only was the question embarrassing, but he was breathing on the back of my neck and ear, making me shift anxiously.

"Well . . . wouldn't someone have mentioned it if he were . . . you know." I was squirming. Those were thoughts I hadn't wanted to express out loud.

"Dead?"

I flinched. "Yes. Dead."

He drew back, placing a hand on my shoulder, chuckling. "Ha ha. So predictable, Nami-chan. You're so sentimental. Ha ha, I actually have no idea what happened to Kabuto. It didn't cross my mind to ask Sasuke."

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind of the jumbled thoughts racing through my mind. He has his hand on my shoulder. He has his hand on my shoulder. He's touching me. His hand is on my shoulder.

I shrugged the hand off, and noticed that despite its absence, my shoulder stayed warm for far too long.

"Gathering all of you completes my army, and the first stage of my plan. It's time my purpose is explained to all of you." Sasuke declared, as the four of us all gathered around him. It was obvious that he'd earned the respect of everyone there. He was so different from the bleeding, half dead boy that I'd healed two and a half years ago. His confidence in himself was almost overwhelming, like looking at the sun.

"I'm going to kill Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki, and I want you all to help me."

This is what we can imagine Nanami to look like. Except, perhaps, a little less smiley.