A/N: Uh . . . You see, I had this evil plot bunny. I meant to update like a month ago . . . But said plot bunny had other ideas. So while I've been writing that bunny's stupid fan-fiction to kill it (I'm not even gonna post that story cuz it's so lame), I've been wasting a month's time to update this one!! :'( I'm so, so, so sorry! It's the plot bunny's fault really cuz it decided to hold me captive. -cries again- Sorry!! I tried to make it up by making this chapter a few more pages than usual, but it just didn't work out that way . . . I hope you enjoy anyway! Thanks for the reviews!

Broken Bonds
By SpacePirateGirl

Chapter 10 - Escape

Sasuke began thinking, thinking about Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, thinking about his situation, thinking about everything. But he couldn't afford to let the guilt bother him this time. He needed to get out.

Sakura was dying, he was sure of it!

Orochimaru, unaware of Sasuke's sudden plan to escape, was still taunting him with images of Sakura's bloody body. But he ignored them. Sure, he was upset and worried, but still he had to do something about it! He couldn't just sit around, sulking, held within the prison of his own mind!

Sakura . . .

"Naruto's next you know," Orochimaru told him, his voice sending involuntary shudders throughout Sasuke's mind. "He's too much of a problem. He's too strong. Besides, he was your best friend, wasn't he? If I kill him, I get the Mangyeko Sharingan."

Killing someone for more power? That's sick, Sasuke responded with a venomous tone.

Orochimaru was chuckling, his maniacal laughter echoing throughout Sasuke's small little corner of his mind. "Not as shaken up as you were last time, I see. No matter. You will be soon enough when I kill Naruto with your own hands."

Sasuke wanted to rampage toward the Snake Sannin! He had to, he just had to! No . . . If he did, Naruto would have no chance at living anymore. Obviously thinking, putting to use all the smaller portions of his mind that were never in use, wasn't working, and he knew from experience that neither would uncontrollable anger. Orochimaru still had control . . . If he could just get one word out of Orochimaru's—no, his—mouth, then he could save Naruto's life.

So he crept out of his corner, and moved to the awareness of Orochimaru's—no, his—body. The Snake Sannin didn't stop him. He wanted Sasuke to see Naruto die . . .

Suddenly they were at Naruto's house, and it was sunrise. Of course, Naruto was never an early-riser unless he had a good reason to be one, so Sasuke knew the blonde would still be asleep. But to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto was awake and already eating breakfast when Orochimaru used his body to enter the house.

Still there was a problem—Naruto had no way to know that the person coming in was not Sasuke but Orochimaru, a man trying to kill him.

"Oh, hey, Sasuke!" he greeted enthusiastically. "How'd you get in?"

Orochimaru said nothing. Sasuke wanted to say everything, but he couldn't.

"Sasuke? What's the deal?!"

Breathe in . . . breathe out . . . in . . . out. Sakura . . . Naruto . . . Keep still, Sasuke, keep still, he told himself over and over again.

Orochimaru didn't sense Sasuke's thoughts. "You ready to see your friend die, Sasuke-kun?"

He ignored the Snake Sannin, whom he felt instantly try to attack!

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted again.

Orochimaru tried to attack Naruto, but he couldn't move. Sasuke sensed the tension, especially the exhaustion his brain was experiencing as he tried desperately to hold his own body completely still.

In . . . out . . . Keep still . . .

"Naruto," he whispered, trying to multi-task. All his energy was seeping away at trying to keep his body still, keep breathing, and keep talking to Naruto at the same time.

Confusion registered on Naruto's sea-blue eyes. "Huh?"

"S-Sakura's in trouble," Sasuke continued, pushing his control to the limits. "H-Help her."

Naruto was frowning now. "Sasuke . . . ? Orochimaru? Which one are you?"

He couldn't speak. He would lose control for those few precious seconds if he did. But he still needed to get one last word in . . . He felt Orochimaru weaken for a moment, and he spoke quickly, "Run, Naruto! Save Sakura! Hurry—"

"Sasuke!" Orochimaru yelled, using Sasuke's own mouth to form the word.

"Run, Naruto, run!"

Orochimaru attacked both him mentally and Naruto physically. The dumb blonde hadn't made any move to run; he was only upset over Sasuke being trapped again.

Naruto dodged an attack Orochimaru dealt to him. "I'm not running, Sasuke! You hear me? I'll save you!"

No . . . But Sakura is . . . He remembered her body, her pale, sick-looking body, stretched out upon the wood floor of her own home. There was blood everywhere. Everywhere. The red, the maroon all over he body, the same color as the wretched Mangyeko Sharingan! Sasuke couldn't even save her . . . Did he really deserve to be rescued by Naruto?

Something had to be done. He wasn't the helpless, little boy he once was anymore. He had grown; he must have grown! Had he wasted all these years of torture, just to end up the same exact coward again?

He needed to stop this fight here and now and kill Orochimaru! And where was Kabuto? Could he be . . . No! He needed to stop this fight now!

Calmness again. He needed to be calm if he had any chance to escape. What would push Orochimaru over the edge, yet not hurt Sasuke's concentration too much? He remembered . . . back when he had first needed to get out. He had gone through Orochimaru's memories. There were so many, and they weren't really categorized in a sequential order unless he was really looking. Sometimes he had gone into the wrong memory, ones of Orochimaru's childhood that were still with him.

He recalled a specific one . . . one where Orochimaru was still a good person, not tainted with anger or evil. And that night had been what had destroyed any thought of happiness for the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru, he thought as loud as possible, hoping his captor would have enough time to listen to him before he murdered Naruto. Orochimaru!

"Sasuke-kun, you know very well, I'm in the middle of a battle," Orochimaru reminding, his voice, taunting.

The walls were still down, and for some reason he knew he had Orochimaru's full attention—or, at least, as close to it as he could get. Here was his chance.

Sasuke sunk his mind into the memory of the night that Orochimaru's parents had been killed in front of him. He ignored the similarities between the two of them with a little trouble, but still pressed on, experiencing the same emotions that Orochimaru had felt that night.

And he knew if he felt them, Orochimaru would feel them, too.

"Sasuke-kun! Out of there!"

His captor was frustrated and angry as he tried to use fear upon the young Uchiha. But Sasuke kept his calm. If this would work, he had no need to fear Orochimaru anymore.

"Sasuke! I'll demolish any thought you have left if you don't leave my memories!"

He had dropped the suffix . . . But still, Sasuke was not afraid. He would never be afraid until he regained control of his own mind. Orochimaru had no right to take it over! Orochimaru, that sick, disgusting—

No, calm, calm. Anger would get him nowhere.

"Sasuke!" Orochimaru's voice was the one tormented now, tormented with his own childhood nightmares. And he couldn't stop Sasuke. Each attack was more flustered than the last while Sasuke kept his composure, the small part of his mind never being breached as it grew larger and larger and larger.

He was regaining his mind! He really was—

Calm.

"You'll regret it, Sasuke! You'll regret it!" Orochimaru's voice was fading from his head. "You'll regret it . . ."

Calm.

And Orochimaru was gone.

For good.

He could feel it now.

When his eyes opened, he was kneeling on the floor of Naruto's half-destroyed home, breathing heavily.

"You sick snake! Give Sasuke back!" Naruto was screaming loudly as he grabbed a shuriken to throw.

Sasuke still was panting in exhaustion from his mental fight. "No, Naruto. It's me."

"Sasuke?"

He managed to nod. "Yeah."

Naruto didn't appear to be buying it, for Sasuke watched as the blonde's blue-eyes moved closer to inspect him up and down. "Prove it," Naruto said angrily.

"There's no time for that, you idiot!" Sasuke shouted. "Sakura is hurt! Go help her! I can handle myself."

"But Sasuke, you look really hurt, too—"

"Sakura is dying," he explained. "Kabuto . . . is alive."

Naruto stopped arguing when he heard the word describing death. "Sakura-chan is . . ."

There was no way Naruto would handle Kabuto on his own, Sasuke was sure. So he stood up and began to leave.

"Sasuke! Where are you going now? I'll go help Sakura-chan. You stay here," Naruto protested, following the Uchiha closely.

"No, if I do this right, Kabuto will think I'm Orochimaru," Sasuke explained hurriedly as he ran down the streets. Naruto was still following him.

But the blonde seemed to understand. "Oh . . . Okay, Sasuke."

Good, he understands my plan.

"But I still want to help!" Naruto exclaimed. "You can't kill Kabuto all by yourself!" He eyed Sasuke hopefully, and Sasuke knew how much the blonde loved Sakura . . . And she seemed to love him back without knowing it. He saw it in her green eyes every time she saw Naruto. It was strange really . . . He had spent his entire life trying to ignore Sakura's fan-girlish love for him, but when he finally got rid of it, he wanted it back. Not because he felt the same for her, but because it felt comforting to know someone out there had loved him.

He had lost all the girls who loved him, he supposed. And Naruto did deserve to save Sakura whatever the cost.

"All right," he said. "I'll distract him, and you attack from behind. She's in her room. Attack from her bedroom window. Got it?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered, and they both raced ahead. If everything could go as planned, Sasuke and Naruto would kill Kabuto in no time. But nothing ever went as planned, Sasuke had learned from experience.

Finally the two reached Sakura's house, and they both wished each other good luck. Maybe with Orochimaru gone for good, Kabuto wouldn't be much of a threat anymore.

Sasuke stopped the blonde as they were about to put their plan into action. "Hey, Naruto . . . If Kabuto isn't fooled . . . Well, please. Just save Sakura. She's all that matters right now. You and her."

Naruto was about to protest, Sasuke could tell, but once the Uzumaki met his eyes, all traces of arguing vanished.

In Naruto's blue eyes, he saw his own face reflected back to him, his face of misery, of regrets. He saw the desire to fix everything on his own face, and he knew everything was true. If Sakura and Naruto died, just to help him, a lousy friend who had severed all bonds with them, then he would never forgive himself.

And Naruto finally understood.

"Right, Sasuke," he said. "But as soon as Sakura's safe, I'm coming back for you."

Sasuke shook his head. "Why do you go so far for me?" He had asked the same question, once . . . When he had left the village to go to Orochimaru, he had asked Naruto that same question, and he still didn't understand the answer he was given back then.

But Sasuke and Naruto had matured. Now finally he may be able to understand Naruto's answer.

"Because . . ." the blonde teenager began. "Just because you broke your bonds with me, I haven't broken my bonds with you. Broken bonds . . . Haha, you know, you can fix anything that's broken. I've broken lots of things. I should know!"

With that, Naruto was gone, and no doubt, ready to save Sakura from underneath Kabuto's nose.

You can fix anything that's broken.

Could he?

If Naruto said he would, then, yes, he could. Sasuke Uchiha raced with new determination to save Sakura and destroy Kabuto forever.

A/N: This will probably end in two or three more chapters. I haven't decided yet. But it's looking more to two than three. Also, sorry for all the silly typos and stuff. I posted this right after I wrote it and read it once. So . . . yeah . . . Thanks again for reviews! You are all awesome! :-D