Will-O-Wisp

Chapter 2: Your Eyes Tell a Story

"Sakura." The voice called out with the pronunciation so peculiar, so familiar and the voice unmistakable. Her eyes widened and she felt both the urge to cry and to run, but she remained there frozen in place.

His name escaped her lips as a relflex, on its own and without thinking. "Sasuke."

The village gates were in sight, opened and seeming to taunt him because as much as he'd like to pretend otherwise, this was no longer his home. From where he stood he could see life in the village, he could hear the people. It was such a different sight from the one he had left, from the last memory he had of his village.

He knew he couldn't just waltz into the gates without explaining himself and he also knew that the ninja guarding the gates weren't the people he had to clarify himself to. There were at most a handful of people who deserved an explanation.

He would have to make it to the Hokage tower without being seen, there he would find the Hokage whom he knew from good source wasn't going to be easy to convince.

"Sasuke." His name escaped her lips in a heartbeat and her eyes turned to him. She knew the confusion and disappointment showed on her face clear as day because the moment her gaze turned to him she was face to face with a man who wasn't Sasuke.

He had the same onyx eyes, the same piercing stare, the raven hair, and features she would say to be Uchiha if it wasn't for the fact that it was completely impossible. There was only one Uchiha left alive and he wasn't him. It was then that she noticed his expression, his lips slightly parted and his eyes looked at her in a way she didn't understand.

She could feel herself tremble under his gaze, her eyes drawn to his.

"Sakura." He once again called out to her, his hand made a move to reach out and in response she took a step backwards her expression cautious.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked him and saw him smile sadly.

"You called him Sasuke." Tsunade spoke and Sakura turned to her as she bit her lip. She had indeed called him by the name Sasuke, but the man who sat in that chair was obviously not Sasuke.

"I just thought I recognized the voice, but no. So who is he and how does he know my name?" Sakura asked eyeing him from the corner of her eyes. He no longer looked at her, his gaze directed at Tsunade and his lips set in a thin line.

"Answer my student." Tsunade told him as she crossed her arms over her chest. The man raised an eyebrow at her order but nonetheless turned to Sakura without complaint. Sakura was forced to once again face him as she waited for his answer.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha, ninja of the hidden leaf. And as to how I know you, if memory doesn't fail me I met you before even enrolling in the academy sitting at the edge of a river." His words were casual and as he finished his eyes watched her closely measuring her reaction to his words.

Sakura was at a loss for words and beyond confused, because the voice that spoke to her was his, the name he claimed was his, and he knew what she's never told anyone how it was that she met him. She did meet him sitting at the edge of the river, and it was something she never told anyone because after that she didn't see him until the academy when he was just the latest trend.

"How do you know that?!" She demanded, her expression furious and her hands balled up into fists and she clutched the folder in her hands tighter to prevent herself from hitting the impostor.

"I just told you, I'm-" He was cut off before he could finish.

"I don't buy that, how do you know?!" She demanded once again, this time her voice rising in volume, agitated.

"Sakura, calm down." Tsunade ordered and it was then that she noticed that she had taken several steps toward him. She willed herself to calm down and looked at her teacher instead.

"What is he saying…?" Sakura asked in what was no more than a whisper as if it would stop him from hearing.

"If you calm down and sit down maybe he can explain it to you, I still don't believe him and that's why I called you here." She then turned to the man sitting across from her. "Anyway, you said she would recognize you." She commented raising an eyebrow.

"And did she not? She called me by my name." She had to look at him as he talked to make sure she wouldn't forget that the man who sat her may sound like Sasuke, but it wasn't him. He then stood up from the chair and Sakura looked at him cautiously, he just motioned for her to sit down and she did. She didn't trust herself to be able to stand on her feet once he started talking again.

Sakura placed the folder she had been holding all this time on the desk, it was creased due to her earlier actions. She then directed her attention to him, not ready to listen but not having a choice in the matter. From the corner of her eyes she saw as Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest, and she remembered that Tsunade had already heard whatever he was about to say, why hadn't she discarded the idea that his story could be true was beyond her.

"For the second time Sakura, I am Uchiha Sasuke." He started, his eyes bore into hers, completely ignoring Tsunade's prescense. "I'm not the Sasuke you know though… I'm the Sasuke ten years from now, from a place that is barely the Konoha you know now." Sakura listened, but she didn't believe a word he spoke, she knew he could see that in her expression he just sighed before he kept talking. "She did tell me, it wouldn't be easy to convince you two, convincing Naruto would have been easier." He rolled his eyes and Sakura thought she would go crazy because in that moment, she saw Sasuke.

"My Konoha is destroyed; most of the people you know now are dead. I managed to come back to change that." He spoke no longer than necessary, quickly resuming what he had to say.

"Why ten years?" Sakura asked, not buying into his story, but curious as to what he would say. If what he said was true, if he were to indeed be Sasuke. He'd be in his late twenties and as she looked at him, if the story wasn't completely outrageous, that's how she'd imagined him to look at that age.

"The source of the problem takes place this year, if there's any hope it's now. Ten years from now, there's no way of defeating him." The tone of his voice as he admitted defeat it unnerved her.

"Defeating who?" She asked without thinking, his expression turned grim.

"Uchiha Madara." His answer surprised her and confused her. They had seen Madara die in the war, the war ended with his death.

"Madara Uchiha is dead, he was killed in the war, if you were really Sasuke you'd know that." She snapped once again getting defensive. She could see from the corner of her eyes how Tsunade watched her carefully, she didn't speak she just watched seeming to gauge up her reactions, her expressions.

"That's what we all thought, but somehow he tricked us and he makes his appearance this year." His voice held a matter of fact tone that bothered her, as if they didn't have any other choice than to believe him and trust him just because.

"How do you know all this? What is he planning?" Sakura's questioned, starting to get agitated, if what he was saying were to be true it could be the start of another war or worse.

"I can't answer those questions, but if you're worrying about the start of another war then don't. That won't happen for a few years." He answered as if reading her thoughts.

"How can you expect us to trust you if you don't give us answers?" He just raised an eyebrow at her question.

"I'm going to defeat him no matter what, but I would appreciate the leaf's help, your help." His eyes wouldn't tear from hers and she found herself wanting to believe that this was indeed her Sasuke.

"If you were Sasuke…you wouldn't be asking for my help, if anyone's you'd be asking for Naruto's." She told him, her voice sounding wounded even to her own ears. It reminded her of Kakashi's earlier words to her "With you around we would be one too many."

His expression changed for a moment to one she couldn't comprehend. But before she could delve much into it, it was gone. "I'm not the Sasuke you know." His voice held a hint of remorse and his eyes still remained on hers.

There was a silence in the room in which Sakura almost forgot Tsunade was in the room with them. Their gazes remained locked with each other, both of them refusing to lose.

After what seemed to be forever of holding his gaze he let his gaze fall, letting her win. "You're not him." Sakura declared her voice as hard as her stare.

"Why?" He challenged. "Because I averted my gaze? Because I decide which battles are worth facing?" He paused and Sakura had to admit that it was like he read her mind. "I told you, I'm not the Sasuke you know. The Sasuke you know wouldn't be here right now, he's far away from this village with no plans of coming back any time soon." She wasn't sure if his words were meant to be as harsh as they sounded, but it was hard to face the fact that he was right.

Sasuke wasn't there in Konoha and it didn't look like he had any intention of coming back soon. She bit her lip as she looked at her hands placed on her lap. This man who claimed to be Sasuke couldn't possibly be him, she reasoned. At the moment when she wasn't looking at him it was easy to say, but she knew the moment she laid eyes on him again doubt would resurface.

"Sakura." A voice called from behind her reminding her once again that Tsunade was still in the room. "Do you believe him?" She asked and although her first reaction was to answer 'no' when she opened her mouth to speak she found herself doubting again.

"I… I don't know…" She finally said as she turned her head to face her teacher.

Tsunade nodded in understanding and with a sigh she stood from her chair. "I'll be back in a few minutes and by then I want an answer Sakura. I want to know whether or not you think this man is telling the truth." Without another word Tsunade left the office leaving only the two of them.

After a moment of silence she turned back to him, finding him staring at her his face betraying no emotion. "Aren't you going to say anything to try and convince me?" Sakura asked.

He shook his head in response. "I said all I had to say."

"Have you heard your story? It sounds like a story made up by a five year old." He scowled at her and in that moment she could have sworn it was Sasuke, but she shook her head and kept going. "You come here saying you're from the future and you expect us to believe you, you say Madara's alive but you won't say how you know that. It doesn't sound believable and you know it." She told him her voice rising in volume.

"I know." He sighed.

She shook her head in annoyance. "I can't deny that this is what I'd imagine him to look like years from now, you have his voice and his eyes…but that doesn't mean anything now does it?" As she looked at him again, she once again saw her Sasuke and she thinks he'll drive her crazy. Because she can say it again and again but that doesn't change the fact that the moment she heard his voice calling her name, even before laying eyes on him, she recognized him as Sasuke.

"Do you believe me or not?" He asks and his voice makes her look at him, once again she's drawn by his gaze. Those eyes remind her of him and as she looks into them she can't deny that she truly believes him to be Sasuke.

His story may not make any sense, he might not be giving them the answers they need, but he stands there asking for help and expecting to be believed like he just deserves it and she thinks that's just like him.

"Yes." She answers and she sees as the corner of his lips twitch upward before he nods in response.

a/n: Second chapter, took long to publish 'cause I always forgot. Now you know a little bit about the plot, but still not enough, I'll keep it like that for a while.

Thanks for reading and if you have some time to spare let me know what you think. :)