Sasuke sighed Orochimaru hurtled towards him, kunai in hand, aiming to rip out his throat. He easily caught Orochimaru's wrist and forced his attack away, holding his wrist next to his body. He gave an exaggerated sigh and tightened his grip as he felt Orochimaru pulling away.

"I don't have time for you," he said, and firmly broke Orochimaru's wrist.

The sannin collapsed on the ground with a scream of pain; Kabuto gasped and ran in. He gathered Orochimaru into his arms, healing the painful break and holding him.

"D-Don't…"

Kabuto looked down at Orochimaru. The fire was returning to his eyes; now, he had the look of Sasuke himself, charging at Itachi, swearing he would kill him but failing again-

"Don't…interfere…I…I want my vengeance," Orochimaru whispered. "And I'm going to take it!"

He shakily stood up, wavering a bit but still standing, and took a deep breath. "Here's a little something you taught me, Sasuke," he grunted, hands moving in three different signs. Wild, untamed chakra balled up in his hand and immediately began burning with a wild fire that was almost as fierce as Orochimaru himself. "I kind of stole it from you, but that's okay, because it'll be mine once you die!"

Kabuto stared at Orochimaru, wondering how in the world the sannin had taken the jutsu from Sasuke. He didn't come across any evidence of Orochimaru using the jutsu, nor had he ever seen it used…but then again, Orochimaru could have done this anywhere, at any time, or even not at all. Watching was almost always enough for Orochimaru.

Orochimaru ran at Sasuke again, Chidori blazing around his body, distorting shadows and throwing them into dancing flames. Sasuke didn't have his katana on him; he couldn't use Chidori Nagashi, so unless he dodged or redirected the attack, that was it.

Sasuke grinned. "Stupid."

The next thing Orochimaru knew, he was flat on his back.

Sasuke's foot was planted firmly on his wrist, grinding down on the tender flesh. Orochimaru bit back a small noise of pain; he wouldn't give Sasuke that pleasure, he wouldn't let him know that he had won-! But despite Orochimaru's best efforts, the Chidori was dying down around his hand, and finally, it faded to nothing with the last chirps of a thousand birds. Orochimaru looked up into Sasuke's eyes; they burned Sharingan red.

"H-How…?"

Sasuke smirked and merely crushed Orochimaru's wrist again, relishing the cry of pain Orochimaru was forced to release. Sasuke easily swatted away the ninja that came to Orochimaru's aid, even Kabuto, and bent over, sliding his hand around Orochimaru's pale neck. He held him against the wall like that, other hand holding Orochimaru's head.

"Now, make this easy…"

Orochimaru saw his chance and initiated the genjutsu at the same instance Sasuke did.

Orochimaru's inner dimension took over even Sasuke's Tsukiyomi, and soon enough, Sasuke was being consumed by Orochimaru's soul. Sasuke looked fairly disgusted; he sliced desperately at the chunks of flesh that sought to consume him with a kunai, trying to buy some time to activate his Sharingan again. Orochimaru fought with him, loading his soul onto Sasuke in pieces and trying to hold him off.

Enormous nails pierced Orochimaru's flesh.

please

Orochimaru tried dispelling the genjutsu; it still held, and only served to have nails driven through his hands to hold them apart. He took a deep breath and bit down on his lower lip, slicing it open and forcing blood to flow, halting all chakra flow to his brain at the same time.

That did it.

The genjutsu broke, Sasuke being too busy to concentrate too deeply on it, and Orochimaru went after Sasuke again. This time, Sasuke seemed to have far more difficulty fighting off Orochimaru, as his attacks grew more and more desperate. Orochimaru knew he was running out of chakra; there was only so much he could do, given that this jutsu cost him a tremendous amount of chakra. He had to finish this; fast!

Orochimaru sighed as he realized that there was only one jutsu he had that was stronger than this, and that it would take all of his remaining chakra. He could release an inner gate; a hidden one, that no one else had, and it would serve to give him the greatest edge anyone could ever get over an opponent. He would release the gate, and shortly afterwards he would be able to use a secret jutsu that even he had shocked himself with.

He could physically tear out another's soul, replacing it with his own, thus destroying the former soul.

Sasuke would probably fight even that, but Orochimaru knew it was his only chance. He began forming the seals to release the gate, making sure Sasuke was too busy to copy the jutsu. He felt the explosion of charka and charged forward, using the pieces of his soul to hold Sasuke in place. He could see Sasuke's eyes widen as he saw Orochimaru charging towards him, and suddenly, he felt his entire body going numb as Orochimaru's hand connected with his stomach. Then, his entire world went black.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru finally slid into Sasuke's body, feeling the restraints of his current one sliding away. His inured wrist was suddenly fine, and the blood on his mouth was nonexistent. He could hear screaming as his soul adjusted to the new body, and was surprised to find that Sasuke had extraordinary hearing as well as eyesight.

Kabuto took a step backwards.

"Which one are you?"

Orochimaru smiled and deactivated the Sharingan. "The one you love."

OOOOOOOOOO

Orochimaru had finally regained his true form after two days, and Kabuto was glad. He was sick and tired of seeing Sasuke, and only wanted his master back. The real Orochimaru, not a frightened puppy cowering behind its abusive master's legs and only praying not to be punished. It seemed Orochimaru had made a massive comeback while fighting Sasuke in his own mind; he had become the tyrannical beast Kabuto always thought of him as, and all of Otokagure was happy about it. Orochimaru had returned, and within the week, life was back to normal.

Orochimaru's hair had grown rapidly, and his facial features had grown as well to resemble his own. Kabuto had aided him with that process, and as soon as Orochimaru had his old appearance back, he had set to running the village like a dictator. Kabuto had helped him, and after all the immediate business was taken care of, Orochimaru had basically thrown a party.

It was a festival like the village had never seen before-Orochimaru had even agreed to the Sound Five's offer to shoot off fireworks when it got dark. All throughout the day he had simply wandered around, occasionally stopping under a tree to eat something. Kabuto had been with him nearly the entire time, and for dinner, he had hauled Orochimaru up to the roof to watch the sunset. Tayuya had insisted on setting off the fireworks early, but Orochimaru hardly believed it. He could have sworn he saw her strip-dancing in one tent…Jiroubou had entered a marshmallow eating contest (which Orochimaru swore he never approved) and won. Kidomaru spent his time fooling around in general, and Sakon and Ukon were taking advantage of each other's extra limbs and sparring with other ninja in a tournament. Kimimaro was with Tayuya most of the day, and Orochimaru could see they were thinking dirty thoughts.

"Orochimaru-sama!"

Orochimaru was laying back on the roof, head in Kabuto's lap, and watching the fading sun. He glanced at Tayuya as she ran up to him, then sat up a bit to acknowledge her. "What, Tayuya?"

"We're doing the fireworks a little later. That okay?"

Orochimaru nodded. "About what time?"

"If everything goes well, about nine thirty to ten."

Orochimaru nodded and settled back in Kabuto's lap, letting the silver-haired genin play with a lock of his hair to amuse himself. Tayuya ran off, and Orochimaru shifted his weight onto his side.

"…Orochimaru-sama…"

"…what…?"

"…What happened…with Sasuke…?"

Orochimaru stood up, stretching his muscles and looking down at Kabuto, offering a hand down to him. Kabuto accepted it and stood up, looking Orochimaru directly in the eye the entire time.

"Nothing you need to know about," Orochimaru finally said, walking away. "Come on," he prompted, seeing Kabuto hesitate. "I'm curious as to what Tayuya is doing…"

OOOOOOOOOO

It turned out Tayuya was strip-dancing. Orochimaru had simply sighed, shook his head, and walked away. Kabuto had followed, but kept his distance, claiming that some questions were better left unanswered. Orochimaru had come back to Kabuto only to find him tearing off shreds of cotton candy and eating it slowly.

"Someone likes sugar?"

Kabuto shrugged. "Eat it and tell me that again."

Orochimaru shrugged. It might be pink, but it smelled like sugar…he tore off a piece and ate it, slowly chewing it. "It's like it's pure sugar…"

"It is."

Orochimaru sighed. "Well, it tastes good…"

Kabuto grinned and glanced at the various ninja lighting torches and setting them on poles to light up the darkened sky. "These will go out when the fireworks start," one said to Kabuto. "You can claim your spot over there," he continued, gesturing to a large, grassy area beyond the area in which all the stands and tents were set up. Orochimaru nodded and followed his gesture, golden eyes flickering over the hill. He glanced back at Kabuto.

"Wanna go back on the roof?"

Kabuto shrugged. "I kind of want to stay in the grass, but if you really want to, we can…"

Orochimaru nodded. "No, it's okay, we can sit here. Just wondering…"

Kabuto bit off the last piece of cotton candy and stuck his tongue out at Orochimaru's childish pout. "Funny, you," he said, throwing away the stick. "Come on, we'll stake out our little area."

Orochimaru didn't seem to mind doing so; it was about a half an hour until Tayuya used a lethal fire jutsu to set off two dozen fireworks at once. Orochimaru smiled at the thought; it would be just like Tayuya to blow something up…

"What could you possibly be thinking about?"

Kabuto had sat down next to him on the grass and was staring up at the stars, leaning back and supporting himself on his hands, set slightly behind him. He was staring up at the sky, but Orochimaru suspected he had been staring at him a moment ago.

"Nothing much…" Orochimaru started slowly. "Just Tayuya blowing up the fireworks instead of setting them off safely."

Kabuto laughed softly and lowered himself to his elbows, reclining in the soft grass. Orochimaru did the same, trying to see what Kabuto was so focused on. "What are you looking at…?"

"Just the stars," Kabuto said absently. "It's so nice to be able to just lay here and look at them for once…usually I'm too busy to come out and watch the sunset and everything, but now…"

Orochimaru smiled, and Tayuya yelled a warning as she blasted a firework into the sky. Orochimaru laughed when he saw what it spelled out:

TEST EVERYBODY KEEP LIVING YOUR LIVES!!

Orochimaru chuckled as he heard the laughing from everywhere, and Kabuto sighed.

"What's this, Firework no Jutsu?"

Orochimaru's smile broadened, and the rest of the ninja began to take their seats as the first fireworks were shot off. "No," he said softly, ignoring the people around him. "This is." he leaned over, put an arm around Kabuto, and kissed him.

A/N: Ever noticed how kiss scenes always have fireworks? Just thought it would be cute…next chapter is the epilogue, and the last one!! Thank you for your reviews, alerts, faves and support. I love you all!!