Umm….. I don't even know what to say to all the people that read this story. I think I quit fanfiction. But, some random urge to pick this story up and finish typing it has come to me…. Well. Here it is I guess.

Chapter 9

Ten shinobi stood at Konohagakure's gates, ready to depart. Lady Hokage herself stood before them, giving some last minute instructions.

"Remember," she said, "I do not wish for any of you to die out there, so please retreat if necessary. Your targets are Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata."

Naruto bounced up and down on his toes, eager to leave. "I'm gonna bring that bastard back," he muttered, "And take down the creep that lured him there in the first place." He looked up, and Tsunade was looming over him, hazel eyes giving out a glare meant to kill.

"Do NOT engage Orochimaru!" she barked sharply, and then promptly turned to leave. Stopping suddenly however, she turned and said, "That's an order Naruto." She continued to walk, and soon was out of sight.

Tsume and Hana then took the lead, taking the first steps out of the village. Following them were five ANBU, Naruto, Neji, and Shino.

Sasuke was lying on the ground, bloody and unable to move. His second stage crawled back into the curse seal, the stain of evil retreated. Kabuto smirked and picked him up, slinging him carelessly over his shoulder.

"Are you trying to kill him Orochimaru-sama?" the medic-nin asked as he walked off.

The snake sanin laughed, "He is too weak, and I will make him strong." He made a handseal, and disappeared, there were things he needed to attend to.

Hinata heard keys in the lock and she looked up, expecting to see Sasuke.

Instead, Orochimaru himself was behind that door. The snake sanin licked his lips and glared at Hinata from behind silted eyes. "Apparently Sasuke-kun is still attached to his village, he has been far too soft with you girl," he hissed, "Now, you will tell me what I want to know. And then you will die."

For a split second there was silence in the cell, only the beating of Hinata's heart broke it. Orochimaru made a handseal and an uncountable number of snakes flew from his sleeves, slamming the girl into the wall.

Hinata became trapped beneath a mass of writhing, struggling coils, and then they became still. The snakes held her arms and legs together, allowing no movement except for the slight pivot of her neck, the pressure across her chest threatened to cut off her breathing if she struggled. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip so hard that she tasted the sharp metallic tang of her own blood.

Hinata felt cool fingers roughly grip her chin and jerk her head up. "Open your eyes. Girl," Orochimaru's mellow voice sang.

She let out a small squeak of fear, but closed her eyes even tighter. The bony tips of the sanin's fingers dug even tighter into her jaw, but still she refused to open her eyes.

Orochimaru hissed and let go of the helpless Hyuga, only to slam his other hand straight into her nose, which broke with a sickening crunch.

A gasp of pain escaped Hinata's throat and her eyes shot open. She found herself staring into Orochimaru's hypnotic yellow eyes and she was unable to tear her gaze away. "Pity," said the sound leader, "You truly don't have any useful information you can share with me. I can see that in your eyes."

A sadistic chuckle escaped the man's lips as he pulled out a kunai knife. "Kabuto's experiments really can be so boring for me, so maybe I'll just perform a small experiment of my own right now," he licked the edge of the knife, "Think of it as punishment for softening Sasuke-kun."

Hinata watched, horrified as Orochimaru pulled his kunai. The blood was pounding so loudly in her own ears that she couldn't hear all of what he was saying. "Pity…. Your punishment…. Sasuke." Her mind swam, 'Sasuke, please be okay," was the last thought she had as the snake sanin advanced on her, knife raised.

Orochimaru pressed the cold metal tip of his weapon against the skin of Hinata's eyelid. He smirked coldly and plunged the knife straight into her eye.

Hinata screamed.

"Stay in a group. We don't need any heroics," said Tsume to her group of shinobi, "We just want to get in and get out." Everyone nodded and readied their weapons, then the group started towards the entrance of the Village Hidden in the Sound.

Sasuke's eyes opened slowly and he groaned. The medical wing. Again. He quickly sat up and looked around, he was alone. Good, Kabuto was a prick; at least he didn't have to deal with him right now.

The Uchiha quickly strapped on his sandals and headed for the door.

That was when he heard the scream, and then the explosion. 'What the hell is going on?' When he pulled the door open sound ninja were streaming towards the source of the explosion. Over the crappy intercom system Kabuto's voice rang out, "Leaf shinobi, ten in total in the east wing, last reported around 25 meters from the exit."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes toward the east wing, but decided that it was better not to get involved. 'But there was still that scream….' Thought the Uchiha, and he quickly headed towards the west wing to check it out.

The closer Sasuke got to the prison cells, the worse the feeling in his gut became. What if the scream had been Hinata? "Shit." He muttered to himself, "You had better be okay, stupid."

Orochimaru barely blinked at the sound of the explosion, let his underlings take care of it. Nearly continuous giddy chuckles erupted from his chest as he pulled the knife from the unconscious Hyuga's left eye, leaving a wound that would surely blind her. "The byakugan," he said, "I will one day possess its power." He glared at Hinata with contempt. "You can have this eye to take with you to hell girl. After all, I'm afraid that I may have damaged it." He roughly shoved the girl to the floor and kicked her across the room.

The sanin turned and opened up the door of the cell. He held up his hand and all of his snakes flooded back to him. Then Kabuto's voice rang over the loudspeaker system. "Leaf shinobi… very interesting," he mused, turning and heading towards the east wing.

Sasuke crouched in a small, dimly lit side hallway and watched as Orochimaru passes, blood fresh and red staining his hands. After the man had turned the next four corners, Sasuke leapt from his hiding place and quietly stepped towards Hinata's cell.

The wooden door was open just a crack and Sasuke pulled out several shuriken, just to be safe. He wrenched the door open the rest of the way and light flooded into the room.

Quickly, red spinning eyes fell onto a body lying on the floor. Hair covered her face and blood was pooling around her head.

Hinata stirred, her breath coming in painful gulps as the fear of Orochimaru continued to wash over her. She sat up slowly, one hand latched tightly over her left eye. Green chakra began to glow in her palm.

The Uchiha stood in the doorway, watching her as she got to her feet and allowed her hand to fall limply at her side, fingers smeared with her own blood. Her good eye fell on him, and she blinked in confusion, "U-Uchiha-san?"

"What did Orochimaru do to you?" Sasuke asked, anger seeping into his voice.

Hinata shook her head and opened her left eye a crack. "I-I can't see. I used j-jutsu to dull the pain," she whispered, "And I… I think-k one of my ribs is… is b-broken." She took a step forward, and then another, then as she lifted her foot again, she stumbled and fell forward. She threw out her arms to protect herself from the hard stone floor, but instead her arms hit something slightly softer. Strong hands held her upright and an arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Sasuke steered the Hyuga into the hallway, and even though she stumbled, he kept her from falling. "I', going to get you out of here," he said.

The kunoichi's head shot up. She studied the side of Sasuke's face with her good eye. "Why…why d-do you care what happens t-to me?"

They came to a stop and Sasuke turned to face her. A blush spread across Hinata's face and she looked away. "I've told you before, you don't belong here Hinata," said Sasuke, and without another word he started walked west, pulling the bewildered girl behind him.

Sound ninja kept coming, the farther the group advanced, the more they met. Naruto growled and made handseal after handseal, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Two shadow clones appeared and flanked Naruto as he advanced upon another sound ninja. He screamed and leapt onto the man's chest, his clones closely following him and grabbing the ninja's arms. The blonde knocked the sound ninja's head back into the stone floor. Another sound ninja leapt at Naruto, a knife raised, but was knocked to the ground by a swarm of insects.

The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed off of the cold stone walls. The screams of the wounded and battle cries rang out into the air.

Then, a voice rang out above the din. "Well, well. This is very interesting." Every person in the room stopped what they were doing and the sound ninja backed off to stand behind Orochimaru.

"Retreat, Now!" shouted one of the Konoha ANBU. Three more of the ANBU jumped up and tossed packets of smoke balls.

When the smoke cleared, the sound ninja could barely see the backs of the Konoha shinobi. "Go after them," said Orochimaru with a lazy wave of his hand. The ninja surged forward but the three in the front ran into an invisible wall.

"It's a barrier jutsu Orochimaru-sama!" shouted one.

The snake sanin snorted impatiently, "Well dispel it then! Must I tell you fools everything?"

Meanwhile, the Leaf Ninja had reached the exit. As they shot outside, all was quiet. "Damn it!" shouted Naruto, violently kicking a rock, "We could have taken that bastard!"

"According to my scans of the building, that hall is the only way to get to the other side of the village." Neji said.

Hana looked at Tsume, who gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. "Orochimaru knows that we're here, it was just bad luck that he would be at the village right now," Tsume said, "We'll have to find somewhere to hunker down for a little while. There's no use in running blindly into a suicide mission."

Sasuke led Hinata down a hallway and stopped at the dead end. He felt around and pressed one brick in, a door opened up to their right.

They stepped through the door into a pitch black hallway, the door slammed shut behind them. Hinata took a deep breath and Sasuke unconsciously squeezed her shoulder to reassure her. The pair continued to tread onward until the darkness began to lift, and finally they emerged into a forest.

"I thought so," a voice came from behind the two.

Sasuke let go of Hinata and spun around, sharingan eyes spinning. A figure stepped out from behind a tree, white hair blowing in the breeze, the sun flashing off of his glasses. "Really Sasuke, you are too predictable," Kabuto sneered.

"So what are you going to do about it lap dog?" Sasuke glared at him.

Kabuto pulled out a kunai knife and boldly faced Sasuke. "Really, that's simple," he said, pushing his glasses farther up onto his nose, "I'm going to kill you. Orochimaru-sama doesn't realize that filth like you has no place near him!" With that, Kabuto lunged at Sasuke.

Jumping back, Sasuke allowed the first stage of the curse seal to appear on his skin. Then Kabuto was upon him again.

The two exchanged blows for a while, nothing but rhythmic punches, kicks, blocks and dodges. Then, Kabuto got around Sasuke's defenses and ran a glowing blue hand over his right shoulder.

Sasuke leapt into the air, landing on the branch of a tree. His right arm hung limp and useless at his side. "Damn it!" he hissed. Then, he closed his eyes and his second stage curse seal began to spread across his body. His skin darkened, his hair grew and changed color, and large, hand-like wings grew from his back.

Blue electricity began to form in the Uchiha's good hand. "Chidori!" he yelled as he leapt from the tree towards the sound ninja.

Kabuto stood his ground, throwing his chakra laced hands upward to meet Sasuke's jutsu.

The two collided with a flash and when the light died down, Sasuke and Kabuto were standing, hands gripped tightly together, fighting to push the other down. "Go. To. Hell!" Sasuke yelled, fighting to win with only one arm to Kabuto's two. Electricity sparked wildly in between the two dueling shinobi.

Suddenly, Kabuto's chakra flared, and with a yell, he flung the Uchiha to the ground. The energy around the sound ninja's hands visibly sharpened to form a kind of sword. He loomed over Sasuke, an evil smile on his lips. "You can't win Sasuke, not against me, not against your brother, and not against the devil himself!" he screamed wildly, spit flying from his lips. He brought his arm back. "Now die!"

"No," whispered Hinata, who was watching the battle from several yards away, "No." She got to her feet and pulled out a kunai, "NO! SASUKE!" she screamed, tackling the white haired sound ninja to the ground. The shoved the kunai blindly, and it made contact, sinking deep into the back of Kabuto's head.

Blood blossomed from the wound in Kabuto's head. "You took Shino-kun from me," whispered Hinata, her voice strong and clear, "But you can't have Sasuke. You just can't. The Hyuga girl's shoulders began to shake wildly and tears trickled down her cheeks.

Sasuke's second stage receded back into the mark on his neck, and he sat up. "Why did you..." he began to ask Hinata, but she interrupted him.

"Be-because you don't b-belong here either Sas-Sasuke," she said quietly as she stood, red spreading across her face as she offered her hand to the fallen Uchiha. He took her hand, and together the two began to walk away from the Village Hidden in the Sound.

Once the two had made it out of sight of the back exit of the village, Sasuke spoke. "There are Leaf Ninja attacking Orochimaru, they're most likely after you or I."

Hinata nodded and they turned to the east, heading for the front entrance. It didn't take them long before the great stone snake that guarded the entrance of the Sound to come into view. Sasuke and Hinata kept well out of sight and hunkered down into some bushes to watch the entrance.

When nobody emerged for five minutes, Hinata made a hand sign. "Byakugan," she whispered. She surveyed the village with her good eye. Then she turned her sight on the forest beyond. "There," she said. Sasuke turned in the direction she was pointing.

"The leaf ninja," she said.

The Uchiha eyed the trees, "Who are they?"

"F-five ANBU, Hana and… and Tsume Inu-Inuzuka," Hinata began, and then she gasped, "S-Shino-kun! He's alive! I-I t-thought he was d-dead!" Tears welled up in her eye.

Sasuke frowned, irritated for some unknown reason. "Is that all?" he asked.

"N-No. Naruto and N-Neji-sama are t-there too."

Sasuke looked at Hinata, studying her facial expression. "You should go now," he said, "Go back to the Leaf Village with them. With Aburame and Naruto."

Hinata looked up, "You're not going b-back?"

Shaking his head, Sasuke said, "I still have to accomplish my goal. Nothing is going to change that."

The Hyuga girl closed her eyes, and turned her face towards the sky; she took a deep breath. Then, the opened her eye and looked at Sasuke. "Th-then I w-won't…. I won't go b-back either," she said quietly.

"Don't be ridiculous Hyuga, you're hurt. Hell, you're not ever even going to see out of that eye ever again!" Sasuke whispered furiously, "You have to go back!"

Hinata looked into his eyes and, despite the blush forming in her cheeks, smiled. "I've made up my mind Sasuke," she said resolutely, "Where you g-go, I go." Then, her fingers trembling, she knotted both of her hands into the fabric of his shirt. She stared at the ground.

Sasuke froze; every part of him aware and shocked. He hesitantly picked up his arm and wrapped it around Hinata's trembling frame, pulling her to him. "Are you sure?" he asked, staring blankly off into the distance.

Hinata nodded against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke briefly pressed his lips to the top of Hinata's head, and then he stood, pulling her up with him. Her fingers were still intertwined with his shirt. "I promise you," he said, picking at her hands until she finally let go and allowed him to hold her hands in his, "I will always protect you."

Her eye watered and she bit her lip to keep from crying. She removed her forehead protector and bashed it against a stone, leaving a dent and several scratches scattering across it, distorting the image. She nodded to Sasuke, and the two leapt into the trees, and put the Sound Village, and the Leaf Ninja patrol behind them, for good.