Hello everyone! Welcome to the second chapter of Thunderstorm! Now I will warn you, there is shonen-ai in this story but it won't be coming up for another couple of chapters, so please bear with me. I am also not a huge fan of Sakura but because of the plot, I needed to be nice to her. If you're expecting any of my other stories to be nice to her...you're not going to like me.

WARNING THIS IS SASUNARU!

My first stop was Sakura's house. It was a little ways away from where my house was located but it wasn't that bad of a walk. Plus it gave me ample opportunities to jump in puddles collecting more and more rainwater. I soon came upon her front door and knocked three times and waited. I didn't have to wait for long because her mother answered the door almost right away and I have to say it sort of surprised me. I didn't want to think she saw me coming and was waiting for me behind the door that was just creepy.

"Hello Naruto, how are you today? Oh come inside, dear, we don't want you to catch a cold in this weather."

"Thank you Mrs. Haruno, please excuse me for the intrusion," hey, my manners have improved so sue me! Mrs. Haruno took my umbrella, shook the water off of it and set it in the corner of the front room by the door. I quickly took my shoes off and set them close to it and followed Sakura's mom into their living room.

"Would you like some tea, Naruto? I'll call Sakura while you're waiting."

"No, thank you ma'am, I just came to ask your daughter a question is all."

"Oh my, well let me go get her."

She walked upstairs and I couldn't help but feel a bit awkward about this whole situation. I mean if I didn't know better, I would say that Sakura's mom was thinking I was going to ask her out or something. It's not like Sakura hasn't complained to her mom about how I used to ask her out in the past, but ever since I saved the village from Pein, Sakura has told me that her mother had been harping on her for not giving me a chance to prove that I was worthwhile when we were younger. She told me that her mom said that if she had dated me earlier in life then she would have been the significant other of the hero of the village. It had happened a lot, actually, and not just with Sakura. Ever since I saved the village from the Pein attack, my 'dateable' status skyrocketed and just escalated whenever the war ended and Sasuke came home. Not that I wasn't grateful for the attention that I had so craved for as a child, but mothers pulling me aside while walking down the street to ask if I would date their daughters was really creepy. Now I understand why Sasuke avoided going out into really crowded areas of the village in daylight when we were younger. It makes me curious to see what it would be like if I told everybody in the village that I was gay. Curious to see how the girls would react and curious to see if any guys would hit on me. Also curious to see what Sasuke would think but that's another topic altogether.

"Naruto, I'm so happy to see you! My mom told me you were here and that you wanted to ask me something. What can I do for you?"

"Hi Sakura, I'm happy to see you too. I wanted to ask you if you could help me find a word to describe a thunderstorm."

"A thunderstorm? I don't really know what to describe it as. I'd have to say mystifying."

"Mystifying, huh? That's not too bad but why that word?"

"Well, when the lightning flashes you get to see bolts of twisted white electricity. You sort of can't help but be amazed by it but you also have to be cautious of it because it's a deadly natural phenomenon. The look of it just catches your attention and although it only lasts for a few seconds you can't help but keep the image in your head. Does that clear anything up for you?"

"It sort of does, but at the same time I don't think that it's the right word. I understand where you're coming from, but for me it just doesn't do it justice. I mean if we want to talk about lightning being a natural phenomenon and only lasting a few seconds, isn't it less special that people can copy it with chakra like the Chidori or other lightning based jutsu?"

"Well…I guess you have a point there. I really don't know what word to use, but when it happens naturally you have to admit, it gets your attention."

"I know what you mean. Well, thank you for giving me your answer and I hope I haven't taken too much of your time."

"Don't be silly, Naruto, you don't take up anybody's time. You know, you're welcome to stay a bit longer if you want."

"No thank you, I've still got to ask a few more people about this before I'm driven insane. See you later, Sakura!"

I was unusually quick to leave her house, but who could blame me when you could feel the stares from both of her parents just around the corner of the doorway? I put my shoes on, grabbed my umbrella again, waved goodbye to Sakura and headed on my way. Just as I closed her door and looked up, a bolt of gorgeous lightning cracked through the dark gray almost black clouds and bathed everything in a white glow for a split second. I counted down to what was going to happen next. Twenty seconds passed and the roaring thunder billowed throughout the village and I couldn't keep the smile off my face. The rain was still falling at pretty much the same pace it was when I arrived at Sakura's place but I know that the storm had yet to yield its most exciting feature.