Summary: Sasuke returns after almost three years to Konoha. He is determined to kill Naruto to prove he can kill his own brother to himself. Orochimaru is after him. Konoha is after him. But on the day he comes to Konoha, he encounters a different Sakura…and is distracted from his plan. A Sasusaku Story (with other couples)

Rainy Days Never Stay

Chapter Two

He just stood there—not knowing exactly what to do. Should he run away? Should he hide and listen to their conversation? Sakura was crying after all. Sasuke wondered why so many thoughts flooded into him. It was good they haven't noticed him yet…at least not yet. He continued to stare.

Sakura wiped her tears with her sleeve. "I—I'm sorry…" she began to say. "It's just—It's just that…" Her voice had left her again. "Sasuke-kun is…" Sai suddenly turned away from looking at Sakura. He had noticed something. He looked in the direction of where Sasuke had stood. However, he was gone.

"I'm sorry," he turned to Sakura and smiled. Fake or not—it worked. She wondered what he looked at, but as selfish as Sakura is, all she could do was talk about herself. "This is the first time I've confided in someone in such a long time." She closed her eyes and let the cool night breeze lift her hair gently. Sai stared at her, not exactly knowing what to do or say. She was beautiful—with long or short hair, and when he first came, Sakura had accepted him—or was that part of her act?

She had told him about her lies—in fact, she blurted nearly everything out when she first saw him. Then, came the waterworks. When they began to walk toward the middle of town, near the bench, Sakura had stared blankly at the bench. It was where Sasuke had left her; where he knocked her out and set her down.

"Oh, Sai-kun…" she had said, her back turned at Sai, her voice quivering. Then, she turned, tears streaming down her face. "Oh, Sai-kun!" she repeated, but much louder, and no longer hiding her tears. "This is the place! I-I couldn't even do a thing! He never loved me at all!!" Sakura yelled. The whole thing felt good for Sakura, as selfish as she sounded, somewhat like a release. And, Sai, a good listener, had looked straight at her electric green eyes intensely, wondering, the whole time, how she could have survived.

…Just as he had.

His brother had meant the world to him. At the orphanage, when they were both younger, they would play together and make promises, or bonds—"…the kind of bonds that you won't want to forget," Naruto had said to him. In fact, Naruto reminded Sai of him, he was so much like his brother. Of course, his "brother" was not his real brother, they were just very close, like the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke.

"Sai-kun…" Sakura sniffed and wiped her face. "I'm so sorry…that you had to see this…" her voice trailed off. "It's okay, Sakura-san, I know—" He couldn't finish his sentence. I know what it's like…to be alone…to have no one, Sai thought to himself. Sakura looked up at him, with tears still in her eyes, for she was unable to hide it. She said the words that he had once said to her. "Thank you…"

Sasuke looked down from the trees above. He remembered Sai. Sai had tried to kill him, on Team 7's rescue mission. But, Naruto said some words to him, and Sai had a change of heart. He watched them leave each other in disgust. He couldn't believe that he was ever like that—those stupid bonds that he shared with Naruto and Sakura. "Sakura…" he murmered quietly. His mind made up, he landed gracefully on the ground. "I guess I'll just have to kill her too."

"YAYYYY! RAMEN!!!" Naruto yelled. "Thanks for the ramen, Hinata-kun!" He said, his mouth nearly full of soup and noodles. He was sitting in front of the ramen shop, Hinata beside him. He began to slurp down the large bowl of ramen. "Ah—um…you're welcome, Naruto-kun," Hinata said. Naruto said something in reply, but his slurping was louder than his speech, and Hinata was unable to hear his words.

Hinata's appearace had changes remarkably over the 3 years that Naruto was gone. Her hair was no longer the short bob, but straight and long, the ends of it nearly touching her chest. That was another thing that had changed about her—her chest. It showed that she was already a woman. In fact, while Naruto was away, many men had asked Hinata to go on dates, some even asked marriage.

As much as she was beautiful, Hinata's ninja skills had also blossomed. Although still not as strong as Neji, Hinata could control her Byakugan better, and was now worthy of being called a "true Hyuga." That also, may have been the reason why men had asked her hand in marriage. She came from a noble and powerful family.

Hinata, however, refused every one. Even if they gave her flowers, love poems—she would refuse. There was only one for her. And that was Naruto, the guy whom she, herself had asked to go on a date with her. Although, she didn't exactly use the word "date".

"N-Naruto-kun? Is that you?" she had asked him the day before.

"Huh?" Naruto had turned his face toward her—very close.

Hinata tried not to faint, but she couldn't hide her blush. "Ah! Will..will you…" She looked up. "Will you go to the ramen shop with me?!?!" Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were very red.

Hinata glanced over at Naruto, who was ordering another bowl. Still, I'm so happy…I finally said something…and then…I'll tell him my feelings…

Sakura lay in her bed—thinking of the day's events. Now, she could rely on someone else, and not just Naruto. Things were looking better. Before she knew it, morning had come, another sleepless night. And yet, she was happy—truly happy, almost like before. That was, until, the knock on her door. From what had happened, Sakura thought it was Sai. She stood up, not caring that he would see that she hadn't changed clothes, or brushed her hair.

The knocking continued. It was soft and not the same as Sai's. However, Sakura didn't know that. With a smile on her face, she opened the door.

The smile slowly faded away, and her eyes began to fill themselves with tears of disbelief.

Right there, in front of her, stood Sasuke.

As much as she wanted to cry and run away to Sai or Naruto…her body didn't move. In fact, her face remained emotionless, as well. The tears that almost came had receded back into her green eyes, and she stood there, her face maybe even colder than Sasuke's.

Sasuke had noticed that, for a split second, her face—especially her eyes—were filled with emotion. And, then, they left her. Her reaction had surprised him completely. He had expected that Sakura cry, mixed tears of shock, sadness, and joy, and then run into his arms. That was when, he would wield his sword from its satchel on his back, and stab it into her heart, along with the Chidori.

Then she would let out a screech of pain, and her blood would splatter on the ground. He would take out his sword and put it back in his satchel. The scream that she made, would have awoken the whole town, and Naruto would come, half asleep, and he would die as well, from Sasuke's sword.

At least, that's what Sasuke, using his Sharingan, planned. Even his complete Sharingan could not see through Sakura's act. She was crying so much that night just as before, that Sasuke indicated no change.

"Why won't you say anything to me? Why…why do you always keep so quiet. You never say a single word to me…"

Great, Sasuke thought sarcastically. Now her words were haunting him.

"You don't remember, don't you…? …The day when we first became Genin."

Sakura continued to stare coldly at him. She knew something bad would happen if she showed weakness.

"I know about your past, Sasuke-kun. And, even if you do get revenge…it won't bring anyone happiness. Not even you Sasuke…nor me."

Shut up, Sasuke thought. Shut up! Shut up! He knew that he had said the wrong words to her, that night. He should have just told her that he hated her…or he should have killed her. But he didn't. In fact, he couldn't. There was still that part of him that had feelings toward her. And they were coming back.

"I-I love you with all my heart!"

Those foolish words…

"I would do anything for you…! Just stay here with me…please…" Her voice became softer. "I'll even help you with your revenge…please, Sasuke-kun…"

"You really are…annoying." Sasuke had said.

Sasuke suddenly looked away from her. Sakura wondered what was going on in his mind. He suddenly felt a pain—it was so familiar and it hurt more than Orochimaru's brutal training methods.

"Don't leave!" Tears were streaming down her face. " If you go, I'll scream!!"

It began to hurt more. His face even showed he was in pain. "Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. She could tell something was wrong, and it wasn't that she showed weakness in saying his name. No…it was something deeper. Sasuke's hand gripped the side of his neck—the side with Orochimaru's curse mark. He yelled out in pain, and nearly fell over.

Sakura noticed where his hand was, and immediately she knew.

He stumbled over, for the pain was unbearable, worse than it had been before. Instead of the pain being focused on just his neck, it seemed to be flowing through his blood, and into his heart and other vital organs. Sasuke tried to stand—now he was sweating very hard—and Sakura moved closer to him. He wasn't able to stand for long, and he stumbled again. This time, Sakura was able to catch him, and he fell on her.

Sakura's heart began to race. They were in the same position as they had been in before, only now they were older, heavier, and taller. Sakura almost fell back, because of Sasuke's weight and height, but she leaned herself against the tree behind her. She removed Sasuke's hand from his curse mark to see what happened.

The curse mark had a ring forming around it. It looked like the seal Kakashi had put on Sasuke nearly three years ago. It didn't make sense to Sakura, in all of the books she had read about curses and curse marks—some of the books only to be seen by the Hokage—she had never heard of a seal reforming itself. Unless…, Sakura thought. That the seal Kakashi-sensei put was related to emotions, and Sasuke-kun's will.

That was it. Something in Sasuke wanted to be free of Orochimaru and wanted the emotions that the curse mark had taken away back. Sakura wondered if she had anything to do with this change.

Sasuke whispered something, it was so soft that she couldn't hear it. Then, he whispered it again—this time, louder—but still soft enough that only she, and no one else could hear. "Sakura…" He had whispered her name.

Yay! Done with Chapter Two…I hope it's as good as the first!! A special thanks to the reviews I got on Chapter One. It was my very first fanfic. ever so it means a lot to me.

Some even brought me to tears (what I crybaby, I am). Anyway! The next chapter has Sakura taking Sasuke in…but can he be trusted? And, should she tell Naruto and Sai?? (If she does, then at least one of them will tell Tsunade, and that is very bad for Sasuke, the traitor…)

Thank you very much!

Shizuka Ai calm:: love