He Can't Let Go

A/N: 1000 views already?!?! I don’t believe it. There are way more secret Kaka/Sasu fans than I thought, and you all must come out of the closet NOW!! Either that or somebody's lost…? Oh well. I’d had this fleeting idea for a while, so now I decided to write it. 1000 views definitely deserve a present, after all. To all my lovely readers, this is for youuu. =]

WARNING: Spoilers for Shippuden. Not the new Shippuden, but old-ish, like around episode 53. Don’t say I didn’t tell ya.

Oh! And...no sha-bang-bang in this chapter, not yet! If anything, it's rated this way because Orochimaru is in it, and he scares children under 18.

Piercing red eyes swept coldly over the pitiful sight below him. The fact that these worthless sorry excuses for shinobi had once been considered his “teammates” left a rather bad taste in his mouth. And being denied the opportunity to show just how wide a gap existed between his level of skill and theirs only further cemented the look of disgust on his face.

Wholly suppressing the urge to ignore Orochimaru and follow through with his previous plan of action, with reluctance he halted the jutsu, chakra retreating back inside his body. He hated following orders from people he didn’t like, but the sooner he cancelled the technique the sooner the man got the point to stop touching him. Sure enough, once that cold repulsive hand released his own to fall back to his side, the tension between his brows eased slightly.

“Let’s go,” came the raspy sound of the sannin’s voice just off to his left.

He didn’t look up. Sharingan glued to the canyon below him glancing briefly to Sakura, unsurprised at her expression of frozen shock. She never was capable of doing much in a situation, he thought bitterly. Far to the left of her, kneeling heavily on the purple-patterned ground was that obnoxious pest from earlier. Dark hair…dark eyes, he scoffed to himself, finding a replacement should really be more about ability and less about looks, although even the similarities there were scarce.

A strange sort of curiosity rose in his chest upon switching his gaze to the man in front. A jounin, possibly ANBU, but Sasuke was going with jounin because he wasn’t anything impressive to look at, looked to be the leader of the group, and nobody he’d recognized as seeing before. An unexpected pang of disappointment at the lack of a certain someone sent his mind to suddenly feel a bit more than just curious. Where was…?

No. He wasn’t going to go down that road. Not right now, at least.

Swiveling to the very back of the group, he was smacked in the face with Naruto’s intensely consuming stare. The cutting passion bursting from those blue, blue eyes was nearly as unnerving as the lust for violence oozing from the bloody irises he encountered at the Valley of the End. Replaying in his mind the words shouted to him earlier about Orochimaru using him for his body, baring the utmost concern for someone who long ago betrayed him on an unforgivable level, made Sasuke greatly thankful for severing that bond two and a half years ago. Otherwise, he shuddered to think, he might have actually cared.

Orochimaru’s transportation jutsu was taking effect now, and he could feel his feet and legs tingling with disintegration, flames dissolving him into thin air. The entire time he watched his once best friend, daring him to try and stop them. Even Naruto knew when something was impossible, for he remained stationary. Just before his head was engulfed completely, Sasuke took a twisted sort of pleasure in witnessing the blond curl into his own knees, sobbing and powerless.

Seconds ticked along slowly, scenery whizzing by in a mixture of greens and browns due to their accelerating speed. Chest exposed by a billowing white shirt, Sasuke felt the harsh needles of cold air stab unrelentingly into his pale skin and face, only sensing relief around the minute mark. When sixty seconds had transpired, the jutsu’s power dispersed, slowing them to a glide until their bodies materialized enough to touch their feet gracefully to the ground.

The thickly forested area surrounding them heavily blocked any sign of landmark outside the rows and rows of trees. Sasuke was only just able to glimpse the top of a far away mountain through a clearing of treetops, telling him they’d only traveled a few miles away from their previous position, yet far enough to be undetected.

“What’s here?” he questioned tiredly.

“Our rendezvous point.”

“With?” finishing his inspection of the area, he turned to the tall thin man behind him.

“Seeing as how Sasori-san’s out of the picture, thanks to your dear friends,” that earned an annoyed redirecting of eyes to Kabuto, “another meeting has been arranged with a different representative.”

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. He lived for the day Orochimaru didn’t need Kabuto any longer and fed him to Manda. “That still doesn’t answer my question,” he grumbled out, moving to sit on a nearby stump, laying his katana to rest in the grass next to it.

“It isn’t of importance, Sasuke-kun,” the rogue shinobi replied, approaching him slowly with a creepy grin on his face. “This man is not a member of Akatsuki, merely an associate of mine tied loosely to them. Nameless fodder.” Steps from the teenager, he looked to the sky through the same clearing the other had used before, “Nonetheless, it is only dusk. His arrival isn’t due until morning. Best to sleep.” He was so close now the Uchiha couldn’t help a slight fidget. Sasuke hated Orochimaru’s blatant ignorance for private space, especially now when he was leaning down to where he could hear the man’s breathing. “We all know how cranky you are in the morning.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he turned his head, pretending it to be an action of arrogance while it was mostly just to keep the sannin from breathing on him.

Snickering, Orochimaru straightened himself before walking past his moody vessel, Kabuto right on his heels like a dog following its master.

Sasuke retained his spot on the stump, unmoving. Only once the last of the footsteps died away did he allow a nauseated expression to access his features, brows furrowing almost too naturally, nose wrinkled. He had no knowledge of where those two went or when they would be back. He did know, however, that he fully intended to bask in his alone time.

The stump didn’t prove comfortable for long; pressure from the harsh wooden surface caused it to pinch the teenager’s tailbone despite layers of fabric, igniting his frustration once again. Rising in lazed sluggishness, the pale teen extended his arms above him in a stretch, biceps and shoulders providing a pleasurable pull to distract from the dying pain in his behind. Unconsciously, he let out a yawn, rubbing a hand down his face in sudden sleepiness. That stupid bare-torso'ed weirdo did ruin his hibernation last night barging into his room, after all.

Perhaps he would take the snake man’s advice without a smart remark, for once. Unfortunately, he’d arrived here empty-handed, so sleeping on a pillow, blanket, bedroll, whatever, was out of the question. Sleeping on dirt was also not going to happen. Glancing up at the many trees circling the area, he supposed he found his answer.

Instead of jumping up to the limbs, he found himself, for whatever reason, choosing to walk up vertically, chakra magnetically connecting his feet to the bark as naturally as if it were the ground. Kakashi taught them this on their first real mission so long ago, he recalled, the slightest upturn of lips at the memory. He started out so terrible at it, but now it just seemed effortless. Suddenly realizing he was reminiscing on a time better left forgotten, the smile disappeared.

“Stupid,” he muttered to himself under his breath, though just what was stupid was left to the imagination. He’d stopped walking once within reach of the nearest branch, veering off his straightforward path. From here he deemed himself better off taking the jumping route, at least then he would be safe from insignificant fleeting thoughts.

The tree was quite massive, extending high into air, immense circumference showing proof of a structure that had lived hundreds of years. Despite the choice, Sasuke decided not to climb too high. Further up, many limbs looked ready to snap from decay, while others were either too flimsy to support his weight or too narrow for him to lie on without the threat of falling off. Circling the trunk multiple times, he finally settled on the same spot he’d been eyeing the past few minutes, originally not wanting to take it because it was fairly near the ground.

Settling in, it dawned on him stupidly that the wood in the tree was just as hard as the wood from the stump. After awkwardly shifting around for several seconds, Sasuke sat up angrily, tearing the rope he used as a belt, along with the cloth it held up, from his body, bundling it sloppily together, and laying his head on it as a makeshift pillow. Surprisingly this worked rather well, the coarse rope only giving his neck minor discomfort from the lumps. It was nothing to complain about though; he’d take this over solid, rigid wood any day. This was about the only use the Uchiha thought he would ever find for the eccentric sound uniform.

Indulging in his much-needed relaxation, it was then he noticed: the forest was entirely devoid of sound. No crickets, owls, lost children, nothing. It was rather strange, and the teenager found himself unable to come up with an explanation for it. The more he thought about it, however, the more his thoughts grew fuzzy, eyes drooping with tiredness. Shortly after, his lids fell shut altogether and he was enshrouded in the blank desolate world of sleep, making sure to be absent of dreams, and making a note that what ones he had were to be forgotten upon awakening.

He was back at the rocky canyon. Remnants of Orochimaru’s base scattered the ground in broken chunks of boulder, cracks running jaggedly along what used to be considered floor. Naruto, Sakura, the dark-haired guy, and the jounin were arranged in their diamond formation in the gorge below him. Orochimaru and Kabuto were nowhere to be found.

The brown-haired jounin spoke, eyes staring right up at Sasuke, “Naruto, Sakura, I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to injure him in front of you two, but I need to get serious now.”

Being talked about like a runaway child did not sit well with the Uchiha. This time, rather than standing there smirking coolly, he launched forward. He swooped down, tearing through his dark-haired replacement like he was air, and who disappeared thereafter. Naruto and Sakura then both charged ahead, but before they could reach their ex-teammate, they too dissolved to nothingness. Now the battlefield consisted of just him and that man. An unexplained sense of animosity filled him, and with a flick of the wrist his katana was unsheathed.

Striking before the other could conduct a defense maneuver, Sasuke found himself hurling his body towards the unknown man successfully knocking him off his feet. Kneeling above, breathing heavily, the feral teenager had the other pinned. Blunt side of the long blade at the stranger’s throat, he didn’t even recognize his own hissing voice until he saw the man’s eyes go wide. “Where IS—”

Sasuke shot up into a seated position with a start, heart racing, and confused. What the hell was that?! Wiping harshly at his sweaty forehead with his sleeve, and then glaring at it because he was unable to stare himself angrily in the face, he felt an all-new sense of exasperation overtake him. Why, why couldn’t he ever get a grip on himself? Itachi, he was supposed to be focusing on Itachi! Anything else was considered distracting. Why couldn’t his brain grasp that fact and abide by it?! So appalled by his own lack of self-control, and so involved in the thought of bashing his head unpleasantly against the tree, he failed to notice the sound of earth crunching under footsteps. Only when it was accompanied by voices did he stop his self-reprimand to listen in.

“—believe out of all these imbeciles, he was the winner! It’s an outrage how useless this body is for me.”

“Y-Yes Orochimaru-sama, it is unfortunate, but I’ll do all that’s in my medical power to enhance your physical ability.”

Oh gag me. So those two had come back. Sasuke absently wondered how long he’d been asleep. Peering over the edge, he just barely glimpsed them walking casually in his direction, Kabuto trailing two steps behind “Orochimaru-sama” like a good little slave. The teenager almost did gag when the snake man grumpily snapped his shoulder out of its socket with a loud crunch before popping it back in place, Kabuto’s chakra-laced hand hovering over it from behind.

“Still,” the thin man mused, “I suppose today did have its element of surprises. Sasuke-kun had his little reunion…and I had mine.” He let out a cold laugh; Sasuke hated that laugh.

“Oh yes, Orochimaru-sama. Was it nice to see him again?”

Him? Were they talking about Naruto? Sasuke’s interest was piqued now, and he leaned even closer over the branch to be in better earshot. He wasn’t trying to hide, the others were quite perceptive over his current location, but if he could offer them the guise of being asleep, he would.

They’d stopped a little ways away from the other’s tree, standing heavily in the shade of the one across from it. He could see their faces clearly now. Orochimaru, while still looking a tad pissed off, seemed to have an improved mood due to the change of subject if his lipless smile was anything to go by. Next to him, Kabuto was fidgeting with his glasses, eyes glued adoringly on his master and hanging on every word.

“I must say, Kabuto…there is something rather endearing about having an experiment use the powers you bestowed upon him against you,” the distorted smile evolved into a fanged grin now, snake eyes dancing with amusement. “Such a shame he didn’t feel the same way.”

Sasuke was completely thrown off. He couldn’t be talking about Naruto, he’d never mentioned experimenting on him before, and if he had, the whole of Konoha would have been after him…not that they weren’t already. The dark-haired guy had propositioned them with the fake alliance and, had Orochimaru known him already and gone so far to experiment, he would have been accepted without a second thought. So that leaves…!

“If he was at all as good of a person as you Orochimaru-sama, he would be thanking you instead of trying to kill you.”

“Ah, yes, well, Tenzo was always a bit on the resentful side.”

Tenzo…? So that’s what that man’s name was.

“I was quite surprised the Hokage selected him above all others as that copy-nin’s replacement.”

Sasuke was nearly plastered to the bark at this point; listening so hard he was holding his breath so as to not muffle any words with his loud exhalations. This was what he wanted, no, needed to know.

“Tenzo is not up to par with ‘Sharingan Kakashi’, no, but he does have power over the nine tails. He is able to suppress its chakra so Naruto-kun doesn’t lose control. I suppose it is a good thing. Without that ability, I would likely be finished thanks to this infernal body,” his voice suddenly turning icy, holding his palm in front of his face like dead weight, “So in a way that is thanks enough from Tenzo.”

“That is quite amazing, all due to your genius of course, Orochimaru-sama. Still…I can’t help but wonder what happened for Kakashi to send his team to come face you without him.”

Yes! For once, Kabuto was in Sasuke’s good graces. He listened carefully for the sannin’s next words, using the prolonged silence to breathe heavily before closing off oxygen once more. His heart was thumping, though he didn’t know why.

“Oh, you weren’t in the room when I received that bit of information. It seems our dear copycat encountered a member of Akatsuki on his own, some new addition I’ve never heard of. Went and unleashed his precious sharingan, and nearly knocked himself out attempting to use mangekyo,” the hated laugh made a return, “Thinks he’s an Uchiha.”

Whatever Kabuto said after that was drowned out, Sasuke detaching himself from the conversation to lay back in shock. A million questions bombarded his mind at once, making his vision dizzy and forcing the closing of his eyes for relief. Mangekyo?! His air-filled lungs deflated like a popped balloon; he was lost. Echoes of how and why sprung about, but he was unsure which he’d rather contemplate.

There was one fact about Sasuke Uchiha: confusing situations caused him to act irrationally.

Before he could collect his thoughts properly, his feet launched him from his wooden platform, landing roughly on dirt several feet below. Straightening, and neglecting to acknowledge the pain in his ankles from colliding with the ground so hard, he made confident strides forward. Sasuke closed the distance between himself and the other men, both turning to look at him pointedly. Physical features on autopilot; inner turmoil was masked with an uncaring conceited look.

Kabuto was staring at him distastefully, eyes narrowed behind lenses of glass, likely due to the sudden interruption of his and “Orochimaru-sama’s” private conversation. The taller man, on the other hand, wasn’t staring at Sasuke at all but rather at his lack of uniform, having revealed even more of his toned abdomen upon removal. Under any other circumstances, Sasuke would easily have become quite enraged and told snake just what he thought about being ogled, but right now he had a one-track mind. Pausing just before him, gaze unwavering in the slightest, the Uchiha announced what were probably the most insane words he’d said in years.

“I’m going to Konoha.”

Neither looked shocked, though it was apparent Kabuto was trying to suppress his. Orochimaru, it seemed nothing surprised him, merely looked away from pale stomach muscles to fix Sasuke with a knowing look.

“And what, pray tell, Sasuke-kun do you have to do in Konoha?”

The creepy sannin was staring at him intently, enjoying this. Still, Sasuke didn’t falter, continuing with the same bold tone and looking the other dead in the eye.

“None of your business.”

Kabuto moved to scream at the insubordination and utter disrespect being exhibited in front of him, but was ordered to silence by Orochimaru’s raised palm.

“You will be back in three days. I can teleport you as far as the fire country border, you’ll have to walk the rest of the way. As for the return journey, you’re on your own. Don’t keep me waiting, Sasuke-kun,” he replied with a sinister smile. “Or you will regret it.”

The teen nodded in confirmation, heart racing at how easy that was, and brain searching for the reasoning behind why it was so easy. As much as he wanted to voice his concerns and deduce just what was behind that evil look the man was giving him, Konoha was his top priority right now. He still wasn’t sure why…but he’d think about it later.

Positioned directly in front of the Uchiha, Orochimaru made the seals with lightning speed. He knew the jutsu had taken effect when his feet tingled once more, flames exploding at all angles around him. Just as his body was about to warp far from the woods, the snake’s voice slithered into his ears.

“Have fun, Sasuke-kun.” Then he and Kabuto were gone, replaced by a smear of colors only seen when several images traveled by at light speed.


The once trio, now duo, were motionless from their location in the forest. Tremors of the wind caused by the sheer power behind the technique shook the trees all around them, filling the woods with the sound it had been lacking up until this point. Orochimaru’s long black hair whipped around his face wildly, yet his devilish smirk remained unchanged.

After nearly having his glasses blown off twice, Kabuto seemed to find his voice at last.

“Orochimaru-sama! Why did you—?”

“Because he’ll be back, Kabuto. And it will be oh so fun to steal him from Konoha twice.”


A/N: Oh my goodness, Sasuke and being unable to let go of the past, Sai in his distracting half-shirt, Sakura doing nothing, Yamato being hated on for no reason and reduced to jounin (lol), Orochimaru and his evil up-to-no-good-ness, and pervertedess, EW! Creepy old man, ha! Anyway, what is going to happen next?! I think it's pretty obvious just who Sasuke is going to go see. It was fun writing him for this, I really do imagine him being anal about space and people touching him and sleeping on dirt, hahaha. And, on the contrary, it was fun writing Kabuto because I LOVED smacking him around, whether it was by Orochimaru treating him like a bitch or the wind fucking with his glasses haha. So, what's your opinion? First chapters are always the hardest, I think...Review this sucka!