Redemption
By MT Pocketts
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Sasuke.
Author's Note: SPOILERS This is a spin-off of my story "Weak." I will try and make it a totally separate story, but I think that some parts will need the explanation of the other. I'm writing this because a lot of reviewers liked how I somehow made Sasuke seem…likeable… even if he had been stupid enough to run off with Orochimaru. Takes place after Sasuke is revealed after the two year gap.
Chapter 1: Two
Two is the number of people who were still on Sasuke's mind even after two and a half years away.
Two is the number of times he thought about trying to escape this place he imprisoned himself in.
Two is the number of times he had to forcefully decline Orochimaru and Kabuto's decision to use him as a human guinea pig in their horrible experiments.
Two is the number of times they won and used him anyway.
Two is the number of times he woke up from the same nightmare of himself accidentally killing Naruto in their last battle.
Two is the number of times he woke up crying a teammate's name.
Two is the number of years before Sasuke realized that even though he had grown better over the years, he was being held against his will.
Two is the number of times Orochimaru tried to take his body in ways other than what he would have done to Kimimaro.
Two is the number of times a ninja infiltrated the complex where they stayed, the first being Sai and the second being two of the remaining members of team 7.
Two is the number of times a block failed against him during their fight.
Two is the number of times during that fight that he wondered what was making him take it easy on them.
Two is the number of people who kept him from killing his old team, Orochimaru and Kabuto had talked him out of it.
Two is the number of times he threw up afterwards for wanting to kill his old team.
Two is how many more weeks it would be before he realized that things had gone terribly wrong.
Two is the code-name for the plan Kabuto had created to use on Sasuke, a way of encouraging him to be more of a help to them.
Two is the number of times that plan went wrong.
Two is the number of times Sasuke wished that Itachi had just finished him off as well as the rest of the clan.
Two is the number of times Sasuke had thought that he should have just lied to Sakura and said "I love you" back.
Two is how many times Sasuke questioned whether or not it would actually be a lie.
Two is how many times he wondered if he would have left had Naruto been the one to stop him at the edge of Konoha.
Two is also how many times he thought that he would have stopped if the rest of team 7 had been there to stop him.
Two is the number of people he had killed under Orochimaru's orders; claiming that he needed the practice and these intruders were perfect for it.
Two is the number of parents Sasuke wished he still had, and that they could just be there to get him through these mistakes he had made.
Two is the number of times Kabuto's experiments with drugs left him believing that he really had seen his parents again.
Two is the number of hours he laid on his bed, wondering just what kind of chakra enhancer Kabuto had given him.
Two is the number of spiders he had imagined were eating him, and had manically clawed off.
Two hours were set aside for Kabuto to heal his self-inflicted wounds, making him feel every prick twice as much as a normal patient would have.
Two is the number of times the Uchiha spotted a ray of sunlight shining through, and stopped to wish he could just go feel it on his skin once more.
Two times Orochimaru laughed at this request.
Two times Sasuke walked past a door that was supposed to be shut and heard about their plan called "Two."
Two words stuck out from these conversations and made his stomach churn with dread…
Two words that would always turn Sasuke's insides, in a good way or a bad way.
Two words that he was hardly willing to speak anymore.
Two words that reminded him of the bonds he had supposedly broken….
Two bonds that had never been severed.
Two big mistakes that stood out in his life that would never be resolved by running away and giving up the life he knew.
Two things he would strive to fix in his life.
Two events would lead him to an inspiration for redemption.
Two bonds that would never break…
Two words that would never let him forget that.