So… I'm really really really really really really really really, really sorry I haven't been able to update sooner. I started college this year and I really haven't found any time to myself, so that is why the update took so freakin' long. (I finally found some free time on my thanksgiving break)

I hope you like it though; the stories not over yet, and I'm actually thinking about adding a part 3 to this… the part 3 would include Sakura having to face the Mizukage of mist, or something. I really haven't thought that much about it, but tell me your thoughts in a review!

Oh, and I finally updated because tomorrow is my birthday! And this is my birthday present to you very loyal, very patient reviews of mine! I love you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 25: Salvation

'Move faster,' he chided himself softly as he picked up his pace even more. 'I refuse to lose you, Sakura. Not now; not ever.'

Sakura was positioned right outside of the door Orochimaru was located in; Orochimaru had ordered Sakura to stand guard while he prepared Sasuke for the soul transfer.

Her back stood straight against the wall, and her eyes were open widely; her dark forest green eyes could be seen shining through the cave. Blinking said eyes, they flashed emerald green for a moment before flashing back to forest green.

Sakura shook her head slightly, and leaned back against the doorway.

"Are you alright, Sakura-Chan?" Orochimaru asked through the door. "I thought I felt our connection waver…"

"I am fine," Sakura spoke tonelessly; her eyes were darted towards the ground and her voice was filled with coldness.

"Head to the throne room, Sakura-Chan," Orochimaru stated. "Kabuto should be heading there when he arrives; bring him here. I need him to help me with this jutsu."

Without even a response, Sakura's legs began walking, and she started heading back the way she came. Turning down a hallway, Sakura's eyes left the floor… one emerald green, one forest green.

Kakashi hadn't remembered a time when his legs had been going so fast. He needed to find Sakura, and he needed to find her now.

Glancing ahead of him, he scarcely noticed the fact that Naruto had slowed down. He really didn't need anyone helping him; he could destroy Orochimaru himself. He would tear that bastard limb from limb for taking Sakura from him.

Growling to himself, Kakashi stopped in front of a large cave, a large, fist made opening was the only flaw to the well hidden lair. Sakura's scent was inside the cave… This must be where Orochimaru took her.

Kakashi felt pain as he remembered the empty look that filled Sakura's eyes as she turned away from him… there were no feeling, no emotion; there was nothing there. Even with his hope diminishing slightly, Kakashi refused to let Orochimaru win… he would rather die then let Sakura land in the hands of such a man.

Kakashi walked up to the mountain before him, and his eyes scanned the rough opening. His hand slowly caressed the opening of the cave; the one that Sakura's hand had created. He could wait no longer; pushing chakra into his legs, Kakashi raced into the darkness of the tunnel and prayed he still had time.

Sakura stood in the throne room; her eyes were still a mismatch of green, and her head had started to swirl with pain. Grimacing, Sakura brought a chakra green hand up to her forehead to try and access the confusion going on in her brain.

Something was trying to block off her memories, and that something was definitely a mind block. Someone had performed a jutsu on her… when she tried to think of her past memories her head began to erupt with pain. Grimacing again, Sakura fell to her knees; it was hard to understand anything anymore…

Who the hell was she, and why didn't she remember anything; anything? Her brain throbbed inside her skull; Sakura couldn't take it any longer. Bringing both hands up to her temples, she pushed healing chakra into each of them.

"Get-out," Sakura gritted out to the foreign chakra. The chakra flared in her neck before it settled in her brain. Squeezing her eyes shut, Sakura fell to the ground clenching her head tightly.

Kakashi stepped into the throne room and his heart stung at what he saw. Sakura was laying before the thrown, her curse mark was beginning to flare around her, but the thing that scared Kakashi the most, was the fact that she wasn't moving.

Racing over to her, Kakashi picked Sakura up in his arms. Brushing a few strains of hair out of her face, Kakashi slowly placed his fingers over her pulse.

Feeling a light heart beat, Kakashi was torn. Sakura needed to be taken to the hospital, but he also needed to kill Orochimaru. Sighing slightly, Kakashi stood with Sakura in his arms. Heading out the way he had come in, Kakashi began running for the entrance of the cave; right now Sakura was the most important thing… he would come back to kill Orochimaru later.

Hearing an evil chuckle a few feet away from him, Kakashi stopped frozen; he needed to take Sakura out of this place, not fight Orochimaru. Though, Kami did he desperately wanted to strangle that bastard of a snake.

"What are you doing here Kakashi?" Orochimaru's voice spoke out from behind his throne. Stepping out from behind said throne, Orochimaru's eyes flew to Sakura's body; his smirk was instantaneous. "Her curse mark is beginning to take over; this is when she decides if she lives or if she dies..."

Looking down to the pinkette in his arms, Kakashi watched closely as the curse mark began to spread throughout her body. Running his hand through her hair softly, Kakashi brought his face close to Sakura's and lay a soft kiss on her forehead.

Setting her gently down on the floor behind him, Kakashi turned towards Orochimaru, rage flashing in his lone eye. Moving his arm to his covered eye, he removed his hiate, and allowed his red eye to shine brightly.

"So you are willing to fight me for her, then?" Orochimaru questioned with a feral smirk. With limp arms laying beside him, Orochimaru leaped forward. "So be it."

Sakura awoke in a world of darkness; she knew she was dreaming but could not wake herself up. Cringing slightly, she held onto her head and wrapped herself up into a tiny ball. Her chakra was not responding, and she had no idea what she needed to do to stop the ache in her head.

Her mind felt unbelievably empty, but so did her heart… there was something missing in her life and she hated herself for not being able to remember it. Sitting up in the darkened world, Sakura's eyes danced around the shadows.

There was nothing in this area… nothing but black. Raising her hand in front of her face, she was not able to see her palm. 'What does this mean?' she asked herself quietly in the abyss of black. Allowing her hands to rest on whatever ground she was laying on, Sakura began to stand.

Standing caused Sakura to wobble slightly; regaining her footing, Sakura began to walk forward in the dark. 'I can't stand here and do nothing,' Sakura said as her heart and head clenched in a rhythmic throb.

There was definitely something wrong going on… sensing a foreign chakra ahead, Sakura kept going; hopefully she would find the cause of this tiresome headache… and she was even more hopeful she would find the reason her heart ached so much.

Flipping backward, Kakashi narrowly missed a venomous snake. The battle had been going on like this for a while… Kakashi couldn't even get close enough to touch Orochimaru; it was becoming increasingly frustrating. "Going to give up, Copy-nin?" Orochimaru smirked slightly. "Maybe you should just leave…"

Kakashi could tell Orochimaru's strength was slowly diminishing; his little rouse to allow Kakashi to leave was a last stitched effort to try and save himself.

"I refuse to leave without Sakura," Kakashi said while he charged again at the snake like man.

The darkness seemed to be diminishing as Sakura continued walking. Ahead, Sakura could see a very bright light; she could also sense the foreign chakra that seemed to emit from said light.

Taking another few steps, Sakura allowed herself a second to pause; the thudding in her head was slowly starting to recede; the ache in her chest however continued to worsen. 'What can I do to stop this pain?' Sakura asked as she continued her walk.

Her eyes widened slightly, as a snake-like creature stood before her. The creature was all white and had a body of a snake; his head however that of a human. His eyes were a putrid yellow, and his hair was a tangled mess of purple.

It was obvious that this creature before her was having difficulty; its face was sweating in a grotesque manner, and she could hear it breathing heavily. 'Why are you inside my head?' Sakura asked the creature while she took a step toward it.

The creature let out a horrendous squeal, and its eyes darted towards her emerald ones. 'How are you awake!' the creature let out a loud shout while glaring at the pink haired girl. 'This is why the curse mark is not working properly!'

Sakura watched as the snake slithered forward; Sakura knew she could not trust this foreign chakra; she could not trust this thing. Just as the snake was about three feet away from her, Sakura raised her fists.

'I'm not going to harm you…' the snake smirked. Slithering another foot forward, the snake let out an evil laugh. 'I just want you to sleep again."

As the words came flying out of the snake's mouth, Sakura brought chakra to her fists; this creature must have been what was causing such a ruckus inside her body. No wonder she felt so horrible; a foreign chakra signature was 'foreign,' and obviously not meant for someone else's body.

Sakura watched as the snake's eyes widened as Sakura brought chakra to her fists. 'I will no longer stand for you being inside my body,' Sakura gritted through clenched teeth; the pain in her head was starting to return.

Sakura sprinted towards the snake with her fist raised; she was going to take this creature down. She now knew this was the reason why she could not remember anything; why her head and chest hurt.

Slamming her fist against the white snake, Sakura let out a loud roar. How dare this thing come into her body. Following the punch up with a hard chakra infused kick, Sakura watched as the snake fell backwards, and crumbled slightly. More and more sweat began falling from the snake's body, and the snake struggled to stand. 'I can't fight you both…'

'Who?' Sakura called as the white snake slowly began to vanish from in front of her. The snake growled before he completely vanished. Sighing slightly, Sakura felt the ache in her head slowly diminish; finally, finally, Sakura started to feel like herself.

Sighing in contentment, Sakura laid on whatever ground was below her; she knew she would be able to leave her mind now that the foreign invader was gone.

Gritting his teeth slightly, Kakashi tried to stop the blood that was being emitted from his left shoulder. A snake had caught him off guard as trying to deliver the final blow to Orochimaru.

Grunting, Kakashi leaped away as another snake tried to bite him; no matter how many snakes he had killed more continued to come. Glaring at the purple haired maniac, Kakashi couldn't help but smirk. The Sanin looked wasted of energy; Orochimaru looked like he was trying to do anything to help him survive.

Leaping backwards again, Kakashi grabbed a kunai from his pouch. Quickly wrapping an explosive tag around the hilt of the kunai, Kakashi fired the kunai at the thousands of snakes that began to chase after him.

Frowning, Kakashi glanced towards the pinkette that still lay unmoving on the floor. To his surprise the curse mark had began to recede; he was not sure if this was a good or bad thing.

His eyes darted towards Orochimaru as the Sanin let out a shrill yell. "How could she repel me?" The man yelled to himself as he sank to his knees. Breathing heavily, Orochimaru glared at the unmoving hands in front of him.

Kakashi took this as his chance, and raced towards Orochimaru. Grabbing another kunai from his pouch, Kakashi appeared behind the Sanin. Gripping the kunai hard, Kakashi slashed the Sanin's throat before anything could be done to stop him.

Taking a few steps back, Kakashi watched as Orochimaru fell to the ground. The battle had been longer than Kakashi had anticipated. Checking Orochimaru's pulse to ensure he was dead, Kakashi raced over to the pinkette he knew, and loved.

"Sakura?" Kakashi called her name while trying to shake her shoulders lightly. "Please Sakura… don't do this to me again."

Kakashi sighed and looked down on the floor; he had never felt so melancholy. He had failed her again… It was becoming more and more obvious he didn't deserve her love.

Sakura awoke to a dimly lit room; the walls were much like a cave, and it made Sakura slightly wary. Glancing above her, Sakura noticed that Kakashi was idly trying to fight tears from his eyes. Moving her hand to touch his cheek, Sakura smiled as she croaked a soft, "Hey you."

Kakashi couldn't repress the smile that seemed to pass over his lips as he looked down at her. "Hey."

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked as she tried to sit up; Kakashi's hand prevented her from doing so, however.

"I should be the one asking you if you're alright, Sakura," Kakashi said as he sighed. "I thought I had lost you…"

"You'll never lose me," Sakura said with a small smile as she sat up, completely ignoring the fact that Kakashi's hand was trying to keep her down. Sakura's smile turned to a frown as she looked at Kakashi's shoulder. "I think your shoulder's poisoned, Kakashi. Let me heal it for you."

Bringing an emerald green hand up to Kakashi's shoulder, he sighed as the poison, and pain began to dwindle out of his shoulder. Leaning his head against her own, Kakashi smiled as he kissed her cheek softly. "Where's Sasuke?"

Sakura blinked with confused eyes; it was obvious she was trying to remember… "He's in a room a couple of doors away from here."

"Let's go make sure he's alright," Kakashi said while standing. Lowering a hand to Sakura, Kakashi easily pulled her up and next to him. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Kakashi felt like he would never let Sakura go again.

Walking slowly down the hallway because of their exhaustion, Kakashi and Sakura finally made it to the room Sakura recognized. "Sasuke should be in there," Sakura commented as she moved to step away from Kakashi. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and Sakura proceeded to explain. "I don't think Sasuke would want to see me right now… If I remember correctly I beat him up so Orochimaru could take his body."

"That was when you were under his spell, Sakura," Kakashi said with a mild sigh as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Sasuke knows you would never do that do him of your own free will."

Smiling slightly, Sakura nodded her head and followed Kakashi into the room. Looking around, Sakura flinched as she saw the medic tools that littered the area. Walking over to where Sasuke lay, Sakura cut his bindings before taking a step back.

Sighing, Kakashi grabbed the still unconscious Sasuke, and Kakashi draped him over his shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be fine; just a bit of exhaustion," Kakashi commented while the three of them started to leave the room.

Sakura nodded, and then let out a deep breathed sigh. "Where's Naruto? I was almost positive he would be with you…"

"I was," A voice called in front of them. Sakura couldn't repress the smile at seeing the blonde was okay. "Kakashi left me behind while sprinting to find you. Seriously, Sakura, you have really never seen Kakashi-sensei move so fast in his life!"

Sakura let out a giggle, and nodded. "I can believe that," she said while walking up to Naruto. Hugging him tightly, Sakura smiled. Behind Naruto, Sakura could see both Kankuro and Temari; though none of them had really been close it was still nice being able to see familiar faces.

"We should start heading back to Suna so I can heal Sasuke," Sakura said as she let go of Naruto. Walking over to Kakashi, Naruto grabbed Sasuke and put him on his own shoulder.

"You just take care of Sakura," Naruto said with a firm nod. Leading the group out of the cave, Kakashi smiled as he wrapped his arm around Sakura; it