http :// dilemmalicious . deviantart . com/art/Reunion-in-colour-102863048

~ REUNION ~

Chapter I:

Pain.
It throbbed through his brain like sharp stabbing knives, digging through his grey matter, fraying each and every nerve into tiny particles, split, broken.
Dying.
He could feel it coming upon him; breathing was laboured. His chest ached.
Scratch that.
Everything ached. His chest, his ribs, his hands, his face. Everything living fibre of him was screaming in union, a blood curdling cry of try and utter pain.
Like any dying animal, he simply wanted to crawl beneath a rock and let it end; he had long forgotten who he was, where he was. His purpose. His being.
Everything except the agonizing that refused to go away.

And every now and then, flash came back; horrifying, deadly, never ending flashes, and redredredpainpainpain.

Jarring broken, mind numbing, howling agony searing through his face.

Through his eyes.

Fingers; long elegant, the nails a shade of crimson - tinged with blood.
Squirming, escape; but there was nothing. The cold, sharp wall bit into his back; bit against his flesh. Warm blood ran in rivulets down him; everything was blurred regardless, but he could still see them. Closerclosercloser - and then pain. Everything gone but mind numbing, howling screaming agony that seared through him like a wave - mutilated flesh and bloodbloodblood the only things he could remember.

And now he was here. At last, lying at the gates of death.
He knew he had been defeated - he knew that the air pulsing through him, the blood running sluggishly through (and out) of his veins was the last. Everything was black - but it didn't matter now, because the pain was slowly fading away and was replaced by exactly that - the black. It surrounded him, every direction, every turn. Their was no escaping the darkness that encased - suffocated - him. Breathing was a task now. Trialing. If he stopped... would the darkness simply swallow him? That's all he wanted.
He wanted that pain to go away. He supposed he had simply closed his eyes; he didn't want to see what had been done to his body.
Or rather, his corpse.

That's all that would be left of him. Bones, to be picked at by the crows.
Darkblackebonycrows.
The swarmed him now; beneath their velvet wings, he saw blazing red eyes, and sharp, cruel beaks.
'Ironic,' he though quietly to himself, though he wasn't quite sure why. But it was enough. Because the wings were closing around him now- the crows struck down, and brought the darkness with them.

Cold, comforting darkness, that swallowed the pain, and made everything simply stop.

Nothing.

~x~

"Hinata! See what's going on at 4 o'clock!" ordered Kakashi's tightly-controlled voice. Naruto could barely restrain himself from teleporting up to Kakashi-sensei to see in that direction himself. He was so close! He was this close to finding that bastard and hauling his sorry butt back to Konoha.

He hid his trembling hands in the folds of his heavy cloak as Hinata slowly, agonisingly hesitatingly, reported. Ten kilometres away... powerful chakra... Amaterasu...

"Move out at top speed!" Naruto bit out before vanishing in a blur of speed. He'd had to move suddenly, for a multitude of reasons - the most prominent being that his face was only a second of weakness from cracking and showing his hidden emotions.

Sai had always teased him about his bonds with Sasuke; asking blandly why Naruto would waste so much time searching for a traitor. Sakura's eyes had taken on a bewildered look, tempered only by her own determination, when the blond shinobi declared repetitively that he would bring Sasuke back, even if it killed him. Kakashi had accepted Naruto's single-minded obsession without many words; but by now Naruto had started to question himself. As much as it hurt him to think it, he had come to the conclusion that his desire to get Sasuke back to Konoha was more than just him fulfilling a promise to Sakura. It was something he was doing for himself; his life's mission, if he could be so corny.

But where did that leave him?

Even with his mentality of acceptance of all, and his wish to forgive, he knew that what he was doing for Sasuke was on another level. A level which was slowly taking over everything - his thoughts, his goals, his life.

By the time he'd reached this far in his reflection, he had shut the thoughts away and ignored the way they were slowly growing in the back of his mind.

~x~

Tobi grinned from behind his mask as he watched the chakra signals approach; little did they know, it was far too late.
Which was almost a shame, but one piece of the playing board meant little to him. It just meant one less obstacle; one less little kink in his ultimate plan.
Zetsu's huge jaws had emerged swiftly; he had wasted no time in informing his leader to what had happened. What was going on around him.
Tobi had been barely able to restrain a chuckle; and now, here came the cute little friends, skipping along to 'save the day'.

Too bad the hero was too late.
Without further ado, he emerged from behind the thick trunk; cloak swirling lazily round his ankles, as he awaited them, smirk pulling at his lips, sharingan swirling lazily, a dull red orb in the sea of orange that served as his mask.
"So you're sure, Zetsu?"
A rather evil smirk pulled at the strange shinobi's lips.
"Positive, Leader-sama. It is over. And Itachi..." He was interrupted by a rather malicious cackle from Tobi.
"Perfect," he purred, before fixing his eye upon their new guests; this would be fun.

"Hinata-chan?" Kiba's voice called over the roaring of the wind in their ears. "Can you see them?" He, Shino, Yamato-taichou and Hinata had been assigned to track down and observe Tobi while Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura followed up Sasuke's whereabouts.

"Yes - there are two of them," Hinata's replied, her Byakugan activated as she peered ahead. "The two from before; the man in the orange mask and the stranger with a plant..."

"Remember not to underestimate them," Yamato interrupted, voice emotionless, as befitting an ANBU member. "They are two of the strongest members of Akatsuki..."

And then they were there; the four Konoha ninja nestled silently in the treetops, able to look down on Tobi and Zetsu. The two of them were looking in the same direction, almost as if waiting for somebody.

Tobi flicked his gaze up; ahhh, there they were.
He gave them a brief smile, though knew they couldn't see it - it didn't matter though, because that's all they needed to do. Annoy them. Perhaps separate the party, kill a few off.
Zetsu gaze his strange, throaty chuckle, before sinking back into the branches, already transporting elsewhere.
With another grin, and a flick of fingers that could have passed for a wave, Tobi disappeared too; making sure however, not to transport, but to simply move - strides as fast as lightning, carrying him swiftly away.

Without a word, Yamato flicked up two fingers and then motioned at each member before following Tobi with silent leaps. Shino followed after Yamato after a quick glance showed Hinata and Kiba jumping in the opposite direction, following Zetsu's chakra signature.

~x~

As Sakura approached the ruins of the last Uchiha refuge, she could literally feel a sense of icy-cold dread wash through her system. Black flames were licking tiredly at the ashes of the forest around them; the air was thick with the scent of blood; a smog of crushed stone was beginning to settle.

"I-Is Sasuke-kun there?!" she demanded of Naruto, who was a few hundred metres in front of her. He didn't reply, but Sakura pushed on, her super sensitive chakra senses picking up on another, faint (dying) chakra signature.

And oh God, it was familiar....

"Sa-Sasuke-kun!" she cried desperately, feeling the last of his will slipping away as his chakra signature spiked and then faded. She ignored Naruto's frantic look at her as she arrived at the sight of the battle - the youngest Uchiha was sprawled out on the ground alone, body bleeding sluggishly from innumerable wounds on his body.

As the medic in her immediately set to work, examining him in quick, knowing glances, her eyes came to rest on his face, and a shock wave ricocheted through her. Her hands were already shaking; but now she couldn't still them. Her face was already white, but now her vision was reeling. She wasn't seeing this. She couldn't be. She must be hallucinating. She wanted to be sick. This couldn't be happening...

Lying cold and broken in front of her, bleeding and dying, was Uchiha Sasuke, the man she'd come to love, the man who had declared time and time again that he lived for vengeance.

Lying in front of her was Uchiha Sasuke, with his eyes ripped out of their sockets.

Uchiha Sasuke, dying by the hand of his elder brother.

~x~

For a few, brief moments, he breathed again. The air tasted of copper, and blood, but he didn't care. It was the most beautiful breath he'd ever made; simply because he thought the other had been his last.
Before the pain came crashing down upon him once more, knocking the breath from his throat like an anvil. Each gasp was haggard - but at least it was air. Sweet, burning, painful air, taken in to broken lungs, crushed beneath broken ribs, held together by broken skin.
The pain lanced through his frame once more, once again originating from his eyes.
All he knew was that he couldn't see. Didn't know what was happening around him.
And worst of all, something was leaning over him; something warm, and from what he could scarcely sense, using chakra.
He didn't try to blink; the pain ricocheting through his entire frame warned him not to. He didn't try to speak; his voice would be nothing but a hoarse whisper, if anything. Gritting his teeth from the effort, he slowly twitched his fingers. Pain lanced through his arm, and he gasped, a short fast breath, to stop himself crying out in pain. So now he was completely unprotected, with some unknown force upon him; he could scarcely remember anything, his brain too fragmented from the pain.
And for the minute, he was blind.
He stopped attempting to move, focusing his slowly replenishing energy on taking heavy breaths of rich, musty air. Later, when he wasn't a breathing corpse, when he wasn't focusing on blocking the searing agony from his mind, he could figure out what the hell was going on.

~x~

Her eyes were tearing up, but Sakura couldn't afford to waste even the second it would take to wipe them. Her hands glowed brightly, trembling slightly as they came to rest on the Uchiha's chest. Sasuke's breathing was erratic; no doubt his heart was pumping wildly but sporadically. Each time he tried to draw a breath, she could hear his throat rasp as it tried to draw air through blood and damage. She couldn't help but think that she had hoped, prayed, believed that Sasuke would come to his senses, but... here he was. A broken, defeated, blind body, abandoned in the midst of the ruined Uchiha estate.
"Kakashi-sensei, check his neck for spinal injuries and then turn his head to the side!" she ordered breathlessly, mind slightly detached as she literally poured her chakra into Sasuke's own system. "Naruto, check his pulse in his neck and wrist," she added as she moved her hand and felt Sasuke's heart beating feverishly. "And then check that there's no one else here."
Sasuke's rasping breaths turned to choking as the silver-haired man carefully turned Sasuke's head to the side. Blood began to drip from the side of his mouth and Sasuke's body was racked with coughs as he subconsciously tried to clear his airway.
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?" Sakura cried out. She moved one glowing hand to rest on Sasuke's, and began healing the scars and burns which crossed over his porcelain skin. "Sasuke-kun if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Sasuke's lungs burned. Blood clogged his airways as gentle fingers turned his head to the side. Something was pressed gently on his chest, pushing down on wounds that stung with a new pain; what the hell were they doing?
His lips pulled into a snarl, as warm, wet like dripped from his jaws and clogged his senses. Everything tasted, smelled of copper and blood. The scent was strong, and putrid. Swimming in ones life juices is never a pleasant experience.
Without warning, something brushed against his fingers. Something warm, and tingling, and making the pain ebb away a little, and go back into that comforting blackness that had cloaked him before. Except this one was different, because he could still hear some sort of annoying buzz;

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?"

The girl's (he could tell from the pitch of her voice - 'So familiar,') hand tightened about his own, and without thinking, ignoring the agony that pounded through broken fingers at such a movement, twitched in response. He could feel her chakra slowly seeping through him - healing scars to scabs, and slowly mending broken bones. Pain was ebbing in every direction, and just leaving... darkness.

At the slight response, the tears which were gathering in the corners of Sakura's eyes began to fall, streaking down her face in salty channels. "He's conscious!" she breathed in wonder, before wiping her eyes and setting to work, with (if it were even possible) more fierceness than before. Her hands, steady now, danced softly about Sasuke's torso, focusing on internal organs first - one of his lungs had collapsed, the other was damaged - Good heavens, how was he breathing?! - and the resultant blood loss was seeping through his body. He'd have a nice lot of bruises soon... Innumerable bones were broken, but Sakura wasn't even going to think about healing those yet. The nerves along his spine had been damaged, and she had to fix those now!
As her hands reached Sasuke's neck, she hesitated from her healing for the slightest of seconds to send a burst of chakra into the top of his spine; dulling but not entirely expelling the pain signals which were firing continuously. If she'd stopped Sasuke's body from feeling pain altogether, it would have had rather severe repercussions, not only on the Uchiha's capability to recover himself, but also on her chakra - she was starting to feel lightheaded as her energy left her in great, rushed bursts. Her gaze sometimes flickered, or blurred for a second before she forced her eyes to focus. So far she'd avoided looking at Sasuke's face, and the glaring lack of those deep black eyes.
"Sakura-chan!"
Only now did she pull out of her single-minded focus and pay attention to the outside world. Naruto was shaking her shoulder gently, a look of fear and worry mingling on his face. "Sakura-chan, you're all white!" he exclaimed, once she turned to face him, about to tell him to find some bandages, and soldier pills as well. Naruto's face was frowning, talking to her desperately, but Sakura couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Just get that stuff for me," she said tiredly, pushing him away and turning back to Sasuke. His jaw was broken, it was probably hindering his breathing. Her hands moved from where they were examining his ribs up to cradle his face, the green glow about her now-shaking hands beginning to flicker. Somewhere in her exhausted mind, there was a little voice reminding her that "The most important thing is not to deplete your own chakra, what happens when you faint and you're still needed?" but there was another, stronger, voice chanting "It's Sasuke, it's Sasuke, we found him, we're going to save him, he's coming back home, and I can go a little longer... I can heal a little more...!"
And then her vision blacked out and she fell forward, her hands falling limp to rest around Sasuke's neck.

"Catch her!" Kakashi ordered, but Naruto was already there, pulling her up gently and laying her down by Sasuke's side. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Naruto looked up desperately as Kakashi knelt by the girl's side, a few soldier pills in his fingers and other hand already glowing sporadically. "I'll bring her round again, but she won't be able to heal anyone," the elder of the two said briefly. Catching Naruto's terrified look, he hastily added, "Don't worry about Sakura. She's strong. You better go to Sasuke though-"
And then, somehow Naruto was kneeling over Sasuke, gently pulling strands of ebony hair off that scratchedbloodyinjuredpainful face and whispering words he didn't know under his breath. "Oi Sasuke, Sasuke you bastard, you better get up already, you're coming back to Konoha with us-" and he's rambling but it doesn't matter because he's found Sasuke he's gonna be alright- Sakura healed him up, he was going to be fine, even though his skin was still littered with cuts and the redredredbloodwaseverywhere he was going to live, he was going to be fine-

Why wasn't he speaking...

"Teme, say something," Naruto growled desperately, hovering over him, wanting to shake him or hug him or kill him but scared of making things worse, scared that he would kill him.

The tingling sensation that had been tingling through his limbs halted for a moment; thinning out, before disappearing completely. He frowned slightly. Why had that happened? Where had that girl gone?
But it didn't matter now because now his head wasn't thumping, brain wasn't screaming, nerves weren't fraying and dying and agonizingly painfully throbbing.
Now, he could think.
Sasuke.
He was Uchiha Sasuke.
Images where coming back again; flashes, slivers of memories, broken and torn from the stress the agony had put on his poor brain.
But one thing was still vivid in his mind. Perhaps the last thing he had seen.
Would see.
Burning, crimson red eyes. The Mangakyou Sharingan.
He felt a shudder run down him; it hurt, but he could not help it. The image burned at his mind, like a seething mass. Something bubbled up within him, and it took him but seconds to place the emotion.
A burning, seething hatred, roiling within him.
Itachi.
He grit his teeth once more, fitting the urge to hurl; his throat burned, his fingers twitched. Itachi.
With a snarl on his features, he tried to move; forced his arm to raise, despite its protests of pain; despite the agony that lanced through his entire being.
ItachiItachiItachi.
He had been beaten, god dammit. After training so hard, after leaving his home, his friends (who were dead to him anyway - he didn't care about them in the slightest. Not in the slightest.) everything - for revenge.
For Itachi.
His arm quivered - he could barely hold it up, broken bones rubbing together, causing friction, pain. Whatever the girl had done, he had just undone - and it didn't matter.

He wanted to die, anyway.
He had failed his purpose. He was supposed to die.
Why had she done that?
And now, there was someone else; voices echoing in his ears, bouncing through his head, disturbing him.
He couldn't die in peace, could he? He couldn't let the darkness that was edging in on him swallow him up, and sweep him away with unconsciousness.

"Teme, say something,"

That voice.. Without another thought, he hand shot up, fixing around that voice. He didn't need to see to know where it was. Didn't need eyes to sense that chakra signal, because he would have known it anywhere. Any day.
Even the day he was supposed to die.
"You," he rasped, throat sore, clogged. It was nothing but a hoarse whisper, but he knew that downright IDIOT would have heard him. Fingers tightened their hold on what he hoped was the idiots throat; he wished he could have seen that face turn purple, but that would have to wait. His grip was weak; broken, battered fingers could never hold a strangle hold. But it didn't matter because the intention was there; he wanted that idiot gone.
Now.

"Bastard," Naruto replied, choking, before pulling Sasuke's hand from it's (albeit weak) stranglehold around his neck. "You absolute bastard, Sasuke! You- you-" he cut himself off, not wanting to fight with his best friend straight off the bat. He sighed, controlling the urge to wrap his arms about the smaller boy's frame and hold him close, never letting go. "You better stay still or else all of Sakura-chan's work would be for nothing..." he warned, for lack of anything else to say.

He couldn't believe that this was Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke, the child who'd dedicated his life to vengeance, the boy who had trained endlessly, the teenager who had left them. The man who was now just a broken, bleeding, hollow shell. Naruto may have found Sasuke's body... but his mind was already gone, warped and destroyed in the years of loneliness and pain.

Sasuke's hand fell to the ground with a energy-less flop; he hadn't the strength to lift it again. That last little effort had cost him what precious little energy he had regained. Now he was back to short, rasping gasps, bursts of pain shooting through his arm.

And not being able to see was really getting on his nerves; too weak to really sense any one's movement other than directly beside him, he didn't know which way to turn; couldn't right himself, and certainly could not tell who else was around.
Being so vulnerable.. made him more than a little nervous. His nerves were frayed enough as it was - and now this idiot was hovering over him, muttering something that his ears could not pick out from the rest; the world was a fuzzy blur of buzzing. He could feel the darkness encroaching his vision once more; and this time, he welcomed it. Consciousness was simple pain, and perhaps this time, if he was lucky, his heart could stop, and he could end his futile existence.
If only things were so simple.

"Teme?" Naruto bit out as the Uchiha stopped responding to his ranting. "Teme, you still there?" he repeated, voice lined thickly with worry.
"He's probably fainted from blood loss and shock," Kakashi's quiet voice broke into the tense silence, and Naruto almost jumped. He'd forgotten the other two ninja were barely a metre from him.
"How's Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked quickly, turning to look at the pink-haired girl. She was sitting up, which was a good start, but her skin was still white and clammy. A strained smile was on her features. "I'm fine, Naruto, don't worry about me. Sasuke-kun's probably just fainted like Kakashi-sensei said, but check his pulse."
"We need to head back to Konoha," Kakashi said gently as Naruto all but lunged for Sasuke's neck, checking the weak, but steady, heartbeat. With a sigh, Naruto nodded and let the older shinobi scoop up the Uchiha. "Help Sakura, if she needs it," Kakashi ordered, but one look at Sakura's rebellious expression told Naruto that that wouldn't be necessary.
Sakura went first, the scout who would clear the way for Kakashi and Sasuke. Naruto brought up the rear to check for any trackers, and make sure the rest of his team could cope.
"You'd better not die, bastard," Naruto hummed angrily to himself. "You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do..."