Flashbacks are in italic text.

"You know what I'm thinking? …Then shouldn't you be moving? Because I was just thinking of how I'd like to use my katana to slit your throat for speaking to me so familiarly." Sasuke fingered his chokuto in feigned idleness. "Or perhaps I will just run you through. Which would you prefer, Kabuto?"

Said medic grinned innocently, but stayed where he was.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, forgive me. It just seemed to me that you, like myself, are tiring of Orochimaru-sama's …whims." It took all of Sasuke's will not to start at that comment. "There is a reason I'm with Orochimaru-sama, Sasuke-kun."

"Aa."

"I noticed you didn't disagree with my former comment, so you are displeased with him. He won't allow you your revenge, you know, once he takes over your body." Sasuke refrained from reacting to this, instead returning the conversation to what was most important.

"…Kabuto, why are you turning against your master?"

"He was nothing more than a way for me to learn, Sasuke-kun. I just wanted to further my abilities, and being next to Orochimaru-sama was the best way to do so, it allowed for my… experiments. But now, he's no longer someone who will aid me." If this was a trap, then it wouldn't matter how he answered. If Kabuto was here on Orochimaru's orders then it meant that they were suspicious of him and he would just have to hope that he could defeat the medic and his master at the same time… but if it wasn't…

"So you want to kill him?" Kabuto smiled at this and shook his head..

"No, no, no, Sasuke-kun. I want you to kill him, I will just allow for the circumstances in which it can happen." Bloody snake. Sasuke pulled his katana out from his hip and held it to the tip of Kabuto's nose.

"You are disgusting, Kabuto." The accused didn't even so much as blink at Sasuke's animosity. "But I agree. Orochimaru's usefulness has come to an end." He lowered his weapon and sheathed it. "When will we strike?" Sasuke couldn't see the medic's eyes behind their reflective lenses, but he just knew they were narrowed and calculating.

"Tonight." Sasuke nodded. "I will give Orochimaru-sama placebos in place of his medicine. You can enter his room tonight and finish it."

"And then, where will you go?"

"I will find somewhere else to continue," He smirked, "Perhaps I will see if the Akatsuki need my services." He was purposefully mocking him, Sasuke knew.

"If you wish, I can't promise I won't kill you when we meet on a battlefield."

"Yes, yes, I know, Sasuke-kun. We have always been temporary allies." Sasuke nodded and turned to walk away. There was nothing to be gained from remaining there, Kabuto would do as he pleased, but tonight was the night it would end. "Oh, and Sasuke-kun, I'm sure your brother will be just as willing a temporary ally as you have been." The words followed him, and Sasuke clenched a fist and grit his teeth to keep from turning on the medic then and there. Now would not be the time to allow emotions to get the best of him, even the ever present anger he had in his heart. Besides, he was pretty sure that Sakura, as she was now, would probably (along with the dobe) follow him to the afterlife and kick his ass for fucking this up, considering she was against it from the start.

He spent the rest of the day in light training and meditation, the sannin would not be easy to defeat, even in a weakened state. It would take at least half his strength to kill Orochimaru. He was an Uchiha after all.

Before he knew it, it was late and time to get started. He left his quarters and walked purposefully through the halls towards his, no, not his sensei, his enemy's room. There wasn't a soul around, which unnerved him a little – this could be the time for the body transfer instead. He had to be ready for anything. Rounding the corner, he nearly ran into Kabuto who was coming from Orochimaru's rooms.

"Sasuke-kun." He nodded at the medic who merely pushed his glassed up on his nose and smiled eerily. "Orochimaru is ready for you."

That sentence could mean nearly anything. He ignored it and walked through the door on his right, hand already on his blade and sharingan activated. He was going to do this without using the cursed seal, it wouldn't do to beat the snake with a weapon of his own design.

"Sasuke-kun, what brings you here?" Orochimaru spoke from his desk without turning around. Sasuke was not one to waste and opportunity and so, he appeared behind the sannin, his blade already through his back. Orochimaru slumped forward and Sasuke nearly breathed a sigh of relief before he heard the familiar –pop- of a clone disappearing. Shit. And then he heard it.

"Ku ku ku…I have to say, Sasuke-kun, you lasted much longer than I'd expected. I would've thought you'd have run off to your little friends years and years ago when the body transfer failed for the second time." Sasuke turned to see his mentor leaned casually against a wall. Sasuke held his katana at the ready. He wouldn't waste words on this sick, pseudo- humanoid creature. "Tell me, when did you realize your life had been a mistake?" Orochimaru viciously wrenched his face forward so his neck was curling around Sasuke's, and licked the side of his face, "Was it when you ran into that little girl in the market?" Sasuke slashed blindly at the sannin's exposed throat before calming himself and flipping out of his way.

Orochimaru exposed his inhuman tongue and licked his lips in anticipation.

"Tonight, Sasuke-kun, you will see why I am your master."

"Che." Sasuke jumped backwards and then propelled himself from wall to wall – using kunai, chakra strings, and whatever else he had at his disposal to tire the sannin. He wanted to avoid any tai-jutsu with Orochimaru if he could. Too many chances for tricks.

Now he would be able to see if Kabuto was the traitor he claimed to be. Orochimaru was deflecting Sasuke's attacks with ease, blocking each with nothing more than the flicker of an eye. But he was tiring. Though imperceptible to the common eye, the sharingan could see him shaking. When he finally thought the moment had come, Sasuke stopped behind Orochimaru – unfortunately his plan was never executed as Orochimaru immediately fell into a crouch and upended Sasuke who had not been expecting his ex-teacher to be able to move so quickly.

"I see you fell for Kabuto's words of promise. Tch tch tch, Sasuke-kun. Did you not think that I would know he was planning to betray me?... In fact, he should be meeting his own punishment right about… now." Sasuke did not want to think about what was being done to the medic nin, but he assumed the worst. For now, he had to figure out how to get out of this madman's clutches. Orochimaru was currently sitting on Sasuke's stomach and his tongue was wrapped around his throat.

Unfortunately, Sasuke could only think of one way to get home alive.

He doubted Orochimaru had expected him to activate the level 2 cursed seal, and he knew this for certain when his gray arm gripped the sannin's head and threw him against the wall, successfully ripping out his tongue (which had still been stuck around his precious Sasuke-kun's neck). From there, it had been a bloodbath. Sasuke, seemingly no longer in control of his body, watched as he walked over to Orochimaru to make the final blow. He brought his sword down as his mentor's golden eyes looked up at him,

"Sasuke-kun, I can still make you stronger! There is so much I haven't taught you!"

"You are beneath me, Orochimaru. I've learned all that I can and now I've surpassed you. You're of no use to me… or anyone else. My eyes will remain mine, as is my right as an Uchiha." And then he went through the snake-sannin's neck and lopped off his head.

"And that's it. From there, the curse deactivated immediately. When I went to find Kabuto to see what had been done, he was already dead… his glasses had been broken and the shards shoved into his eyes. It was fairly gruesome." The entire time he'd been speaking, his hand hadn't let go of hers and so despite the lack of inflection in his tone, she knew he was nervous and upset about what had occurred in Otokagure. She squeezed his hand reassuringly, but his expression didn't change.

Tsunade blinked her eyes (because she hadn't for the entirety of Sasuke's monologue).

"… So he's… gone?"

"As far as I could tell, Hokage-sama." Tsunade had moved her gaze from his face to the wall. She knew what her sensei was thinking, that she would have to tell Jiraiya, and that they would have to go get drunk.

"Alright, well, thank you Sasuke. You've done Konoha a great service, and it will be taken into account when the Hokage does tell the council of your return." Kakashi looked on at his former student with something that almost akin to pride.

"Thank you."

"Teme! I can't believe you killed that snake-bastard!! And Kabuto! I WANTED TO KILL HIM!" Sasuke brought a hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose in poorly hidden irritation.

"Well you weren't there, and I didn't kill Kabuto, someone else did."

"I wonder who would kill him, or who else Orochimaru had with him that could actually kill Kabuto. He wasn't an easy match." Kakashi said this in a light tone, but they all caught the underlying worry. Someone who was close enough under Orochimaru to be trusted, and strong enough to kill Kabuto …

"We'll discuss that later, now, Sasuke, I want to know, how has your cursed seal been acting?"

"It's been burning a little, but other than that, it seems to be gone, … the power as well." Unfortunately, she caught the bitterness in his voice. He might be rethinking his decisions and regretting the past, but he still wanted power. It seems Orochimaru had left his mark. He had let go of her hand and brought it up to rest on his shoulder, over the mark. This was probably not a good sign.

"Well traitor, at least you got rid of the other traitor."

"Shut up, Sai."

"Make me, dickless." She was going to kill them.

"Enough!" Tsunade brought a fist down on each of the boys' heads and then continued speaking to Sasuke as if nothing had interrupted their conversation to begin with. "Alright, I want to do some tests later, when you're feeling better and more rested. For now, everybody out! Sakura, you stay and double check Sasuke for anything you may have missed."

"But Baaaa-chan, I want to staaaay!"

"Naruto, I know for a fact the Hyuuga heiress is waiting for you at Ichiraku, and Sai, don't even say whatever it is you're thinking because if you do, I will give you supervision of genins on their d-list missions for two months." Sai looked on placidly as if her words hadn't affected him in the least. Tsunade continued despite not earning the reaction she'd hoped for, "And Kakashi, stop snickering. I can tell."

"Yes ma'am."

"And don't call me, ma'am." She grumbled as she herded the three of them out of the room. Tsunade turned back for a moment, "Sakura,"

"Yes, Shisou?" She looked at her teacher in anticipation,

"Don't stay too long. I'll need you to set up a few things later." She nodded in acquiescence.

"Alright, I'll be there soon."

After her teacher left, she turned back to the boy on the bed. He wasn't looking at her.

"Sasuke?" He didn't respond. "Sasuke-kun… you did what you needed to do."

"I miss it, Sakura." She stalled at the sound of her name, mentally replacing the 'it' with 'you', because that is what she wanted to hear. "I miss the feeling of being nearly invincible. I miss it so much it hurts."

"The pain will lessen, Sasuke-kun." He looked at her at this and when he did she saw that he did not look apologetic, or pained, but angry.

"How would you know?! You've never felt so much power that nothing can touch you, that you can beat a sannin. I needed that power, Sakura, I needed it to kill Orochimaru and now I won't have it when I face Itachi. Do you even understand?! Can you even gain so much as an inkling as to what it will be like??" He was glaring at her, his mouth in a thin, hard line.

"I'm not saying it won't be difficult-"

"Difficult? Difficult?! I thought you'd grown up, Sakura." Okay, she'd had enough of his pity party.

"Oh my God, would you please just shut up. I have grown up, you're the one who hasn't if you're going continue on this bloody rant of yours about how you're soooo incomplete without that bastard's seal. For the first time in nine years, you're complete, Sasuke. You, me, Naruto, and Kakashi. That is complete. Do you understand? I know what missing something is like, Sasuke. I know what the pain is. So don't talk to me about understanding. You are home! So get it through that stupid, stubborn mind of yours or so help me God, I will never–"

"I'm sorry." She stopped short.

"Wha..?" He was looking at her again, only this time the expression was appropriate.

"I'm sorry, it's just … I've had the seal for so long. And I did have to rely on it to beat Orochimaru. But you're right…"

"Sasuke-kun? Are you feeling okay?" He reached out for her arm and pulled her to the bed in response.

"I just want to sleep." She heard the unasked question in his sentence, and so she lay down next to him and flung an arm over his chest allowing him to cradle her shoulders. "Sakura?"

"Mmmhhmm?"

"… When Itachi is gone… we will be happy." She looked at him in surprise. His jaw was set and his eyes were determined. She was glad he was thinking about afterwards and not seeing his death along with his brother's any longer.

"I know, Sasuke-kun." And she reached up to kiss him before returning to her spot and snuggling (yes, the Uchiha Sasuke was allowing her to snuggle) into him.

"Sakura…"

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun." But there was a smile in her voice.

When his breathing had finally evened and she'd done the double check Tsunade had requested of her, she set off to find her sensei. She only paused at the door to look back at Sasuke sleeping. And so he'd finally come home.

With that thought, she shut the door and left. There were things to be done! It was finally time to act.

A/N: Wow. Latest chapter evarrrr. I did try to make it at least a little bit longer than my usual length – and I only kind of succeeded. It's about 1300 words longer than normal, so hopefully that'll tide you over for a lil bit. I am sorry about the wait – but I had this awesome kick ass idea for the oro-sasu meeting, but right before I was all set to write it out, Kishi totally stole it. Well, just kidding. But the idea I had was eerily similar to what actually happened, so then I got writer's block. Which was lame. But anyhow. I hope the oro-sasu part that I did end up writing didn't suck too bad, I know I'm awful at action, so I just kind of breezed by it. What he was saying was more important. I still kind of hate the scene though. And ugh, Kabuto. I hope you liked his ending, Anj lol.

You guys also got some cute fluff at the end, as well as the angsty Sasuke who hasn't completely disappeared as you can see. He's still got issues, no worries, he's still our imperfect crazy Sasuke too.

I'll probably write maybe one or two chapters and then this will be over!!! But don't flip out, I'll probably write a sequel. And I've already got another one-shot in the works. You haven't heard the end o'me XD

And for the mad linX0rzzzz:

Let's Go Together, SasuSaku Deadly Kiss 2:

wwwDOTdeviantartDOTcomSLASHdeviationSLASH52446909

I don't think there was anything else and soooo, thank you all for being so patient with me and thank you for all the favorites and alerts and reviews and if it wasn't for you all I wouldn't be writing. So thank you. For seriousss.

(heart).

Now show Mr. Review Button some love, he's missed you!