AN: yes...naruto will be in coma forever! NYAHAHAHhhahah and Sasuke and Orochimaru run off and live happily ever after! NYAHAHAHHAhahahahahah -gets mobbed by mad fans- ERK! Ok ok ya don't like that ending? Finefine toko-chan make a better ending -.-;;

The Run of a Coward

The Forest of Death was deadly silent as the two shinobis quietly stepped through the branches and bushes.

The birds were not chirping;

The leaves were not blowing;

The sky had turned dark...

All seemed to be dark and gloomy; So dark and gloomy it would even smother the bright lit hopes of men...and yet, the hope inside the two shinobis shined on...

"Where do you think Orochimaru will meet us?" The shorter shinobi questioned.

"There will be no meeting place. This is a trap, so we will most likely be ambushed at any time, Sasuke." The gray haired shinobi solemnly said.

"Sasuke." Kakashi suddenly spoke again.

Sasuke looked up.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"When Orochimaru shows up, I want you to run." Kakashi quietly said.

"But-but why! What about you?" Sasuke cried out.

"Orochimaru has kidnapped Iruka, it is my job to bring him back. I do not want to endanger you."

"But what if you—"

"There are no buts Sasuke! Orochimaru is too strong for you, even if you are one of the most talented students at the Konoha school!"

"Heh heh heh..." A cackle voiced into the distance.

"Running will be of no use, boy." A sinister voice sneered.

The two shinobis looked up to see the snake demon standing on top of a tree, still shrouded in darkness as fog started to form around the forest.

"Orochimaru! So it's true. You are alive!" Kakashi suddenly stuttered.

Orochimaru glared coldly at the two shinobis.

"Of course I am, can't you tell?" He scoffed.

"But-but how? Your appearance hasn't been shown for years!"

"Hnn, true. My spirit had been broken and torn into thousands of pieces, but over these years, my soul has been reconnected, and I am whole."

"Was it Sasuke who did this to you? Is this why you want Sasuke now? For revenge?"

"...Not quite." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, "there is another reason I want the boy..."

A low moan resounded through the forest.

Kakashi recognized the voice and gasped.

"Orochimaru! Return Iruka now!" Kakashi demanded as he uncovered his eye. (AN: ...and turns sizzling hot -flops over and swoons- )

"Iruka?You mean my bait?" Orochimaru smiled as he dragged a figure through the trees.

Iruka was bound and chained as he stumbled through the clearing.

"Kakashi!" Iruka cried out.

"Iruka!" Kakashi cried back, "Orochimaru, give Iruka back!"

"Why should I?" Orochimaru sneered again.

"Because I'm here. We kept our part of the deal." Sasuke coldly said.

"Hnn, very well. Catch!" Orochimaru smiled as he pushed Iruka off the branch of the tree.

Kakashi caught Iruka in a flash.

"Sasuke, I've got Iruka!" Kakashi turned around to say.

...Until he noticed that Orochimaru had silently ran behind Sasuke, ready to strike.

"Sasuke! Watch out!"

Sasuke ducked, barely missing Orochimaru's fatal blow.

In another flash, Kakashi landed in front of Orochimaru and immediately attacked!

"Run, Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled again as he began to battle Orochimaru.

Sasuke stood there, eyes wide and unable to move.

"Sasuke! RUN!" Kakashi screamed again as he was hit by Orochimaru's lightning fast attacks.

>Why? Why can't I run? I have never felt such a deadly chakra since the Nine Tails...> Sasuke thought as he suddenly tore his leg from the ground and ran.

>Now what? Why am I being a coward? Shouldn't I be helping Kakashi?> Sasuke's mind screamed again as he stopped running.

>Help Kakashi-sensei...I must go help!> Sasuke thought as he ran back.

"Try to hit me now, Kakashi." Orochimaru grinned as he held an unconscious Iruka in front of him.

"Come on, hurt me, stab me...why can't youdo it?" He taunted as Kakashi backed away.

"Fool, you must make sacrifices to gain your ambitions."

"Like how you cruelly tossed away the lives of your sound nins?" Kakashi snarled.

"Something like that, I suppose." Orochimaru smirked.

Not answering back, Kakashi looked away, his face contorted in frustration.

"Seeing as you're not going to attack me, I might as well kill Iruka now." Orochimaru continued as he flung Iruka into the air and began the motions of a jutsu that would blastthe poor instructorto pieces with terrifying amounts of chi.

"Iruka! NO!" Kakashi yelled as he jumped up and protected Iruka from the blast, only to take full damage...

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sasuke yelled, eyes wide as he saw Kakashidrop and crash through several trees.

>Kuso! I ran back to help and...and I was too late! I shouldn't have run away! I knew I shouldn't have run away!> He thought wildly as he looked at the unmoving body of the older shinobi, whose arms were still flung protectively around the unconcscious younger one.

The forest was once again eerily quiet as Orochimaru suddenly turned his head over to Sasuke's direction.

"Now it's your turn." Orochimaru said as his eyes narrowed into a satisfying smirk.

Sasuke stared into the dull narrow eyes of the snake-like sage. Sasuke had no idea what to do; no idea whatsoever. He knew he couldn't defeat Orochimaru, nor could he just let Orochimaru kill him. So Sasuke did the only thing he could--once again, Sasuke ran.

Sasuke leapt from tree to tree.

>Where am I going? What am I doing?> Sasuke thought as he fled from his killer.

Unconsciously Sasuke's feet led him to the dorms...

>Where is everyone? What is going on?> Sasuke thought again as he looked at the halls and campus of the school. >Everyone's gone!>

Sasuke burst througha door and slammed it shut.

>There should bea scroll; a scroll that could be used to defeat Orochimaru--the scroll that the Yondaime (4th Hokage) used to banish the fox demon...where is it? Where is that scroll?> Sasuke thought as he fumbled around through the drawers. >I know I have a copy of it somewhere!>

Suddenly, Sasuke paused and looked to his right.

There he was, still sleeping like an angel; no worries, no fears.

But Sasuke didn't have time to gaze at Naruto. Not now, because...

The door then promptly burst open and Orochimaru coldly stared down at Sasuke.

"Well now, time to initiate my plan."

(BWAHHAHAHAH END CHAPPIE! BWAHAHHAHA -gets mobbed by reviewers- NYA! X.X well toko-chan thought it was a good place to end but eh...only 3 pages long -.-;; toko-chan write more...-sighs- -.-;; ruin toko-chan's perfect cliffhanger... )

Sasuke stumbled back, not knowing what else to do.

It was then Orochimarunoticed Naruto and his eyes widened in terror fora fraction of asecond before returning to its original sly look.

"So this is what happened to the fox boy eh?A coma? Keh!" Orochimaru smirked, his hand reaching down towards the sleeping figure.

"Yamero! (Stop it!) If you want to kill me, then kill me! Don't drag Naruto into this!" Sasuke growled.

"And who said I wanted to kill you?" Orochimaru silently said as he turned his gaze back onto Sasuke.

"Well what else do you want me for?" Sasuke hissed.

"For the plan--the plan I madeso verylong ago..."

"What do you mean by that?"

Orochimaru looked down at his hands.

"This body I have now...it is rotting. It is an artificial body. But to have my soul continue to live, I must find another body before this one dies."

"You mean..."

"Yes Sasuke, in your previous life I had failed to possess your body, but this time...there is no one that can stop me!" Orochimaru sneered as he threw back his head and cackled.

Orochimaru's chi grew frighteningly larger and stronger as he quickly used multiple complicated hand jutsus:

Horse, Cow, Pig, Bird...

>Where have I heard this before?> Sasuke thought wildly. It's so familiar...

Sheep, Dragon, Dog...RELEASE!

Sasuke felt pain on his back while raging purple chakra grew from the point and encircled him, wrapping themselves tightly over him, and completely paralyzing him. (sound familiar?)

Orochimaru smugly walked toward the struggling ninja.

"Your body is mine. I win again." He saidcruelly as he crouched over the black haired boy.

"And guess what? This time, I won't be interrupted...after all, your past savior is in a coma...and because of you no less! It's like digging your own grave!" Orochimaru chuckled.

"N-Nani? (what)" Sasuke stuttered.

>Past...savior? Naruto?>

Orochimaru had begun the jutsu and Sasuke closed his eyes tightly.

>This is goodbye, Naruto.>

"IMMORTALITY JUTSU! RELEASE!" Orochimaru yelled as his soul headed straight to Sasuke.

>Naruto, it seems like its happening again...Gomen ne, Naruto.>

AN: GAH! Toko-chan couldnt resist the cliffhanger -evil smirk-

Ok ok so a few notes...toko-chan sorta made Sasuke seem like a coward...but eh...who wouldnt be when facing some psycho snake who you believe wants to kill you? . ;;

Also...toko-chan sadly had to make kakashi loose to evil orochi since well...sage vs. former anbu . ;; ...and it also helped the plot X3

Erf...only...4 pages? OO;; GAH! This shtinks...then again...after many busy days of evil college summer lectures and camping trips + mosquitos...that would give a writers block wouldnt it? . ;; blah...at this rate the fanficcie will finish in about 2-3 more chappies instead of the original 1 more chappie . ;;

;; thank you for your patience all you readers!

Waya: oi...more narusasu next chappie...toko-chan guarantees it! wink wink X3

Beverly1: XD nyaaaaa beverly should work for a psychic hotline neh? XD

WuffieLuver: shniff not a fast update this time ;-; bows repeatedly gomen gomen! TT

Kaira-chan: Nya! Toko-chan would never quit the fic! strikes pose and yet another long update --;;

Firedraygon97: how will naruto save sasu? Hrm...i wonder...cackles

Muchacha: cackles yes...kakairu is good X3 and er...orochi seems to be whipping sasuke's butt at the moment . ;;

TheTrueSilver: yeeeek...toko-chan updated! A bit slow and short update...but eh...next chappie will have more action...and angst...o yes angst X3

IchigoPocky: munches on pocky erf...not much sasunaru as of yet...more like sasuke longing for naruto... bah...it'll come...just keep reading...and reviewing ; )

Naruke: nod nods 9 tails demon evil...waps demon with mouse pad gets chased NYA! XX

Tsuki-tenshi-no-koibito: orochi does seem like a child molester eh? . kicks orochi no kiddies for you to molest! gets blasted by orochi ;-;

CeresCelestialGoddess: yea! Kick orochi's bootie! waves flag eh? O wait...toko-chan's sposed to write how to kick orochi's butt eh? ;; goes off to do so

Monkfish: orochi's butt isnt beaten yet! takes out huge bazooka maybe now...NYAHAHHAhahahahhaha gets toko-chan's bootie kicked TT;; blah...its up to narusasu to save the day eh? ; )

Ladyschumon: drools haku...drools gets wapped by jealous zabuza NYA! sigh ah well...hands Ladyschumon a haku plushie at least we can drool over this without zabuza getting jealous! gets chased by zabuza...or not NYAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Ilay: well...Iruka's name just means dolphin...and toko-chan believes his last name is Umino or somethng which means...of sea...so put it together...Umino Iruka and it becomes dolphin of the sea! X3 eh...not much help for your question? Eh...maybe the mangaka just made up something? ;;

Animeangel: toko-chan stands up with gazillion knives on her back erf...tahts what toko-chan gets for updating so late...xX keels over

Zile: ...eh? toko-chan doesn't quite understand your comment on Kakashi ;;

SilverTear: snickers silvertear should be one of those announcers!

Morien Alexander: yes yes...naruto must break free! pulls at cage ur...maybe toko-chan should write another chappie explaining how naruto will get free instead... . ;;

futago akuma-tenshi02: nyaaaaaa haku should be the best! Haku! Haku! Haku! mad obsessed crazed haku fan XD well yea...kabuto is really really cool drools

lilyday: nyaaaa oo toko-chan go check out lilyday's ficcies nods nods they sound interesting

AnImEfReAk34: awwwww review again! XD XD

Kinnyriddle: oi...kinny-kuuuuuuuun hands over a haku plushie be satisfied with that for now...haku's not going to be in these chappies for a while...;;

Xxkurenaixx: hands over next chappie and runs off before kurenai tries to wap toko-chan for a slow update --;;

Keitorin -: falling in love with fanfics are healthy! everyone ogles at toko-chan O.O nyaaaa...waht? . . runs off

MaidenintheMoon: argh...site overload ...toko-chan gets taht all the time! Tis evil... . ;; waps site overload