And to think, two months ago I started to post this story, and two months before that, I started to write it... 2 month posting anniversary!

Before you kill me about the Sasuke cliff hanger, I suggest you read this chapter, so I'll let you do just that :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own this story :D

Sakura was sitting outside of the jail, fighting a losing battle with her tears. She had begged to be allowed to sit with Sasuke, but the Elders would not hear of it. 'You would try and set him free!' they had squawked, so here Sakura was, feeling more alone now than ever. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet started to quake. She looked up in shock, and saw that all of the shops and buildings were shaking.

An earthquake? There hasn't been an earthquake here for over five hundred years! She thought, before standing up and trying to find the source of the commotion. Villagers were running everywhere, screaming, but Sakura could see a general pattern: They were trying to get away from the main gates. That was weird. Why would they be trying to get away from the gates? Could they have collapsed? No, those gates were built to withstand a huge invasion! They wouldn't crumble at earth tremors.

Sakura grabbed one of the passing citizens, hoping to get some answers from him. "What's going on?" She shouted over the din. The tremor was lasting an unusually long time, and Sakura was starting to sense foul play. Plus, instead of getting less and less, the earth was shaking more and more violently with each passing second. She was finding it hard to stand because the ground was shaking so much!

The man just looked at her, fear in his eyes, before he ran away, screaming.

What is going on?

She ran to the main gates, before coming to a standstill. She saw a passing nin and recognised him as Genma. A flash of anger went through her body, before she repressed it. Her feelings were not important in a situation like this.

"What's happening?" She shouted at him, hoping he had heard her.

He obviously had, because he replied to her question. "See for yourself!" He pointed towards the forest, so that's where Sakura's eyes spun. What she saw horrified her to no end. It was a sight she had hoped to never see again.

Sasuke… She set a beeline for the prison. Some of the more unstable buildings were starting to crumble, so Sakura carefully weaved her way between them. Looking at her watch, she realised that it would be a race against time to get to the prison before he would take his last breath. She sped forward, a couple of stray pieces of masonry scraping her arms.

She finally made it back to the prison and gathered Chakra to her fists, punching the doors in. She ran through the prison, scanning for his Chakra signal. She found it in a small room right at the back. She punched the steel doors in and sent them flying into the room. There was Sasuke, his eyes closed, the needle in his arm.

"If you inject him with that shit, I will stick that needle into your neck and inject your bloodstream with an air bubble! Get the fuck away from him!" The poor man quickly stepped back from Sasuke, who opened his eyes.

"Sakura? What's going on?" He seemed confused.

Sakura walked up to him and ripped the straps that were holding him down off. "Orochimaru is here." She didn't need to say anything else before Sasuke was running towards the front gates. Sakura watched him go, before running further into the jail. There was something she needed to do.

Sasuke reached the gates quickly to see all of the shinobi in Konoha trying to force Orochimaru and three giant white snakes back. He was horrified. How had Orochimaru found him? Why was he here? He had to applaud the perverts timing, though. A few more minutes and Sasuke wouldn't be breathing. But still, he had to get Orochimaru away from Konoha. He couldn't risk Sakura's life, and the possible life that she could be carrying.

"Orochimaru!" Sasuke roared at the pale man. "Get away from here!" He jumped on top of the gate and stood before Orochimaru and his snakes. Orochimaru caught sight of Sasuke, and started to laugh manically.

"But Sasuke San, I came back for you," he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Don't you think that if I wanted to go back to you, I would have already? Get the fuck away from me, Orochimaru!" Sasuke yelled at him. He wanted Orochimaru gone. Out of his life. That man was responsible for a large part of Sasuke's darkness, and Sasuke wanted no more of it. All he wanted was to spend a while with Sakura, hold her in his arms. Buy a house somewhere secluded and raise a family. If that meant he would have to stay in Konoha, he would do it. He would do anything to stay with her. Wherever she was, that's where he belonged too.

"You don't have a choice here, Sasuke San. Come back with me and I will leave Konoha in decipherable pieces." Threat entered Orochimaru's voice and malice slipped into his eyes.

"I'd rather die," Sasuke spat at him.

Orochimaru sighed. He had feared that it would come to this. He hadn't truly believed that it would, but he had thrown every available option around in his mind. This was his Worst Case Scenario that he had foreseen, and unfortunately it had come to pass. "Come now, Sasuke San. You don't honestly think that I would let you beat me again? While you've been blinded by your own brilliance, I've been building up my own strength. You can't hope to win against me, Sasuke," he hissed.

Sakura suddenly appeared at Sasuke's side, Kusanagi in her right hand, a pouch of kunai, shuriken, explosive tags and other necessities in her left hand. Naruto and Kakashi appeared on her other side. "I thought you might like this." She gave him the sword and pouch, and he smiled at her.

"Naruto, Kakashi, Orochimaru is mine. I've killed him once, I can do it again. I need you to stop anything from getting in my way." Naruto and Kakashi nodded at him. Sasuke's eyes bled red, and he jumped up to Orochimaru.

"I'll give you one last warning, Orochimaru. Surrender, and I won't kill you." Orochimaru laughed at him and Sasuke took his stance. He took in a deep breath, and quickly formed a game plan. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" A series of fireballs were flung at Orochimaru. Orochimaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared behind Sasuke. He licked Sasuke's cheek, chuckling, before stabbing Sasuke in the back. A Replacement Jutsu was revealed, and Orochimaru looked around himself quickly, trying to see the raven haired man.

Sasuke was hiding in some foliage, carefully weaving some wire around Orochimaru. He pulled the wire tight, trapping Orochimaru, before sending fire down it. Orochimaru went up in a ball of flames. Sasuke's eyes stayed red, knowing that Orochimaru hadn't stopped fighting yet. A puddle of grey sludge moved away from the flames, before rising up and forming back into Orochimaru.

With a couple of quick hand seals, thousands of white snakes had formed a dome around Orochimaru, allowing nobody in.

And nobody out.

Sasuke appeared behind Orochimaru. "Game's over, Orochimaru." He stabbed him with Kusanagi, and the wall of white snakes fell, disintegrating into ash. Sasuke let his eyes fade back to their usual colour, and he turned, smiling slightly at Sakura. Orochimaru had been even easier to beat than last time, which surprised Sasuke. He supposed that Orochimaru's speech had been all talk. He did wonder, though, why the three giant snakes were still there…

"SAKURA! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Are you talking to this little pink haired girl, Sasuke San?" Orochimaru said, holding a kunai to Sakura's throat. "She looks familiar, ne? Isn't she the one who died, Sasuke San? She has a habit of surviving. Maybe I should make sure that this time, she definitely won't come back." Sakura gulped and could feel the cool metal brushing against her skin. But she had more than just her life at stake this time, and now she could do something to save both of them.

"Get the fuck off me, snake." She hissed, grabbing a kunai and stabbing Orochimaru's side. Orochimaru staggered backwards and started laughing, blood dripping down his tunic.

"Nice try, my pretty." In the blink of an eye the blood was gone, and Sakura puffed to Sasuke's side.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked her quickly, catching her in his embrace, and planting his lips over hers in a quick kiss, before letting her go. Sakura swiped a small drop of blood off her neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are we going to kill him?" She asked him, ready for anything Orochimaru had to throw at them.

"We are not doing anything, Sakura. It's up to me to kill him," he said sternly. Sakura looked at him angrily, but knew better than to argue with him when he used that tone of voice. "Get away from here, Sakura. I won't let you get hurt." Sakura nodded at him and went to stand with Naruto and Kakashi, who were helping to keep a few of Orochimaru's mutated minions away from the Konoha gates. Sasuke did a quick hand seal, before…

Orochimaru slithered up behind Sasuke, and quickly bound him with snakes. "I told you that you couldn't beat me, Sasuke San. I don't want to have to kill you, and I won't if you come back with me." He had finally caught the brat, and he wouldn't let his chance slip. After so many years, he would finally be able to take Sasuke's body as his own, and attain the Sharingan.

"Nice try, Orochimaru," Said Sasuke from behind the pale man, before sending a wave of Chidori down Kusanagi and stabbing it through Orochimaru's heart. Orochimaru's eyes flew open, and he looked down at the sword edge protruding from his chest. Blood was running off the end of the steel. The shadow clone that had been trapped by the snakes poofed into oblivion.

Orochimaru spat out a glob of glistening blood onto the ground, then started cackling. "See you on the other side, Sasuke San…" He collapsed, still laughing like a maniac. Blood was running down his chin and chest, staining his tunic red. The three giant snakes let out a painful, high pitched cry, before disintegrating.

Sakura came back to Sasuke's side and slid her hand in his. "What are we going to do with him?" She asked.

"I suppose that we should just leave him here, let Konoha dispose of him as they wish." Sakura agreed with this, but looked at Sasuke, worried.

"Sasuke Kun, what are you going to do now?" Sasuke knew what she meant. Should he stay here? Risk death? Or go back to Orochimaru's base? Never see Sakura, never be able to stay with her, never be able to raise a potential family? Now that Orochimaru was finally dead (and for good this time), many of Orochimaru's followers would be going crazy without a leader. And Sasuke still hadn't killed Kabuto…

"I have to go back, Sakura. Just for a while. I have to remove anyone who would be a risk to the general public. But I don't know what I'm going to do after that." He would think about it on the way to Shio Island. He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to leave Sakura. He knew that asking her to leave Konoha would be too much. They'd have to live their lives as outcasts. That's not the life he'd want for his family.

"I'm coming with you Sasuke. Don't you dare try and convince me otherwise, I'll just follow you." Sasuke opened his mouth to argue with her, but quickly shut it with the glare she was giving him.

"Sakura, what about our child?" He asked her softly, so that no one would hear him. He couldn't risk their baby. He had already lost his first, and that would haunt him forever more. But to lose his second child? He'd rather die a thousand times than go through that again.

Sakura looked at him kindly. "Let me worry about that. I won't let anything happen to them."

Sasuke looked her in the eyes, and he had no choice but to trust her. "We leave tomorrow at dawn."

It was nearing midnight when Karin was creeping around the base. Sasuke hadn't returned, nor had Orochimaru sent word. It was time to take things into her own hands, and figure out why Sasuke had not come back. She could sense a foreign energy from inside Sasuke's room, and became extremely curious. Who was in Sasuke's room?

Karin slowly opened the door, looking around. The energy was coming from the bed, so that's where she went.

What she saw made anger bubble like poisonous tar in her veins.

There was a girl in Sasuke's bed. A very pretty girl.

Karin seethed. So this was why Sasuke had refused her advances! He had another whore to satisfy him! Someone else had taken Karin's rightful place in Sasuke's bed. Again. Karin's mind whirled. Just what did these girls have that Karin lacked? They were far too young to know every way to properly please a man, and Karin had much experience in that area. Hell, Sasuke had already had a taste of her, and the treats she could offer! Why wasn't he on Karin's doorstep, begging for more? Any sane man would be!

But the dilemma still remained: How to get Sasuke into her bed and away from these sluts? Her mind came to the only conclusion that it was capable of understanding.

Eliminate the competition. Karin planned on doing just that.

After all the crap I've made my characters go through, you don't honestly think I'd kill one off, do you? *grins evilly* Oh, with the air bubble in the blood stream... Let's just say that it's a really really painful way to die :)

Woot woot! 20 reviews away from 300! I didn't think I'd get there that quick after having only recently gotten to 200, but there you go XD And I have only you guys to thank. So... Thank you!

Ohmygosh, only three chapters to go! I'm feeling so sad right now :(

Chapter 25 - Behind the Lies

...Sasuke raced around Kabuto, concealing himself in darkness. He wanted Kabuto to feel afraid, he wanted him to be drowning in fear as he slowly died. For that, Sasuke would need to immerse himself in the darkness that once possessed him...

...The faulty light spluttered above their heads, and Kabuto turned around and around constantly, following Sasuke's voice as it called out his name...

... He was about to use his Sharingan... When a scream met his ears...