Author's note: See, I have not forgotten about this story. I just wanted to take my time with it, hopefully you'll agree that it was worth it. Light citrus, but possible tissue warnings abound in this chapter.

Black Cat

Chapter 3

He saw the body of his adoptive mother fall and felt as if he was the one with the sword buried in his gut.

"Run," He obeyed the soft spoken command without really knowing why. There was just a terrible feeling that he had been there before…

The scene seemed to shift, and it was still dark outside, but in his mind there was no rain- just an ominous silver moon, shining high over head. He was running, his breathing and his footsteps seemed desperately quick and he skidded to a stop in front of a door- he noticed he was barely taller than the heavy door's handles.

"Mother? Father? Where are you?" Even his voice was small and frightened.

"Sasuke? No! Don't come in here!" The voice of the woman who answered sounded desperate…

He reached for the handle instinctively, determined to make certain they were okay, but he paused because of the sudden sound of something shattering loudly on the other side.

More sounds followed- and then, nothing…

He waited, his heart was beating incredibly fast and seconds of heavy, ominous silence ticked by in his head like an eternity. Finally, sick with guilt and fear, he grasped the door handle, and pulled. His chest felt tight and constricted as if it hurt just to keep breathing. His feet felt heavy, as if each of his limbs were made of wood, but that was nothing compared to the icy terror that churned restlessly in his stomach.

It seemed to take his eyes an eternity to adjust to the darkness in the silent room.

A beautiful pale woman with long, silky black hair lay on the floor- her blood seeped into the expensive rug from numerous wounds. Draped protectively over her slim form was a dark haired man with a stern face- he too was dead but still bleeding out…

Sasuke shivered. He didn't want to see anymore, but he knew them- he knew their faces and their hair, the slant of their eyes. This wasn't a cheesy scene from some movie he'd seen- he could still smell the blood on them- these people- they were his parents!

He looked away, stumbling as he shook his head, trying to clear it.

He couldn't keep up with his own thoughts- this was all wrong, wasn't it? Who would do such a horrible thing? Yet he knew somehow that this was real. These thoughts- they were memories of what had happened to him before. Everyone he cared about was dead- what he'd been told- it was true… and now he was alone again- but why Kari? Why now?

"Because you're weak, foolish little brother."

He shuddered; the cold voice in his mind that uttered those words was both familiar and malicious and he tried to pretend that he hadn't heard it. He didn't want to admit that this same voice and a pair of burning red eyes still haunted some of his darkest nightmares…

He was still caught between the present and the past, and he found himself stumbling out of the trees, approaching a river; he collapsed at the edge of the water. He didn't know where he was, but he didn't care…

These memories that he'd lost were awful- how old had he been? Naruto said he was 7? Well Naruto hadn't warned him that he'd been right there- close enough to stop it- if he'd been older and stronger… and maybe braver?

"Sasuke?"

As soon as I spoke, I could see from the tension in his muscles that he was thinking about running away again. Instead, he turned and glared over his shoulder at me. I almost smirked, that was the Sasuke I'd missed for so long. Even though I've got him cornered, he maintains an aura of defiance that still takes my breath away…

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, that wasn't supposed to happen. I thought my teammates would still be busy with their…"

"You're sorry?" Sasuke snapped. I wasn't surprised when his eyes flashed blood red. "In one night I've become a wanted fugitive; my adoptive family is as dead as my real one, my only talent seems to be letting the people I care about die and you're sorry? Fuck that!"

"Yes, I am." I said it quietly, with a gentleness that I hoped he would sense was genuine. The Sharingan was still active, but when he looked at me, I could see that he wanted to believe me- that he could almost hope that everything would be alright…

I took another step toward him.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously and he took a step toward me- his body adopting an aggressive fighting stance with all the grace of a leopard. Kari had warned him that I'm far stronger than he is, right now but he's much too angry to care.

I stopped with a sigh. "I needed to talk to you, because I didn't want to hurt you with this. I wanted to avoid hurting anyone. Vayne complicated things and I'm sorry about that- but he's already dead and I'm not sorry I found you. I will never regret this. I've spent the last four years looking for you. As I said, you're my best friend, my brother- you're everything to me Sasuke."

Sasuke eyed me warily. Right then, he reminded me of an animal- cornered and confused but still stubbornly torn between its freedom and accepting help…

"Leave me alone." I'm sure he meant it to sound venomous, but I almost laughed- it sounded like he was pouting.

Instead, I reminded myself that if I blew this; I'd never give me another chance with him, and it would be my fault… "I can't- you've been alone too long already don't you see that?" In spite of his scowl, I could see his shoulders began to relax ever so slightly.

"What the fuck could you possibly know about how I feel? Who have you ever lost?" He snarled.

He started to walk away from me and I growled as I threw myself at him.

We wrestled around on the ground for a moment; he'd been expecting that, I could tell because he easily used my momentum to turn us over, and he tried to punch me. I blocked, but I was determined not to hurt him. I used my chakra to strengthen my body and since he couldn't do the same without tapping into the cursed seal, I pinned him easily.

"I lost you, Teme," I whispered against his neck and he stopped struggling. "Don't you get it? I lost you when I didn't have anybody else to loose!"

"Well," he growled. "What are you going to do with me now?"

He was still scowling, so I blushed because that question sounded breathlessly sexy- though that wasn't intentional since we were just fighting. We were muddy and covered in scrapes from the rocks and both of us were soaking wet, but to me he still looked gorgeous. I was also suddenly very aware of how warm his body felt under mine.

I shivered, but it didn't have anything to do with the cold rain falling on us.

He growled. "Don't play with me- answer..."

"I have to take you back…" His eyes narrowed dangerously, but I was ready when he started struggling again.

"That wasn't the best way to tell him, Kit."

'But it is the truth, so shut up and let me handle it.'

It surprised me when the demon settled down and didn't comment again, but I still had an extremely pissed off Sasuke on my hands- err well, between my legs, actually…

"Asshole…" He hissed.

We were both already half hard, that became painfully obvious when he arched, pushing his sleek body hard against mine. He's strong- even without his chakra to back it up, a normal person wouldn't have been able to hold him down like this, but I've never been normal. He was trying to wriggle free, but all he was really doing, was turning me on with all that squirming. So, I tried to distract him instead. "It's the promise I made when you left. I swore I'd bring you home and I can't go back on my word. I can't do that because-"

He laughed bitterly.

"I'm serious, Teme. I won't loose you again. The people of Konoha Village have always prayed for your safe return, and when we tell Granny Tsunade what happened, the Council Elders won't dare try to condemn you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because they know they can't handle fighting both of us at once. I love you, Sasuke. I'd die for you."

He snorted, and tried again to shove me away. "You shouldn't make promises like that in the heat of battle. Someone might… hold you to it."

"I'm counting on it," I purred. I like this. The more he squirms the harder I'm getting. I've finally got him this time and I want him to know it; I need him to see that he's always been mine. I meant everything I said too, but now that I've told him how I feel, I'm happy. It's like this terrible weight that I've been carrying around all this time has suddenly been lifted off of my shoulders, and I'm not ashamed of my body. "Hold onto me, Sas'ke."

His expression is guarded, but he's getting hard too. He scowls, but I like the way his body feels against mine. I lean down to nip his exposed collarbone and he shivers. He's hot and cold, soft and hard at the same time and I don't know what's gotten into me- but I like it. He moans softly and I can't help smirking a little as I do it again. I soothe the bite with my tongue and I look up to see him watching me with those sultry dark eyes.

The desire I see makes me smile, gawd, he looks so hot right now. I know I'll never forget this moment as long as I live, but for right now, I just want to keep touching him, tasting him and listening to those beautiful moans…

Sasuke shivered again but I felt Kyuubi stirring inside me again with a dark chuckle. "As much as I agree that your Uchiha would look delectable getting fucked into the forest floor, he isn't dressed for this weather and unlike you, right now he can't even use his chakra to help keep his body temperature stable either."

'What?' I licked Sasuke's neck up to the shell of his ear. Sasuke arched his back, and closed his eyes as he moaned with pleasure.

"He's freezing. You should be more considerate of your mate, Kit."

The demon was right, Sasuke wasn't wearing much to start with, and everything was drenched with the rain, his skin was warming quickly where our bodies were touching, but we were both colder than normal. Sasuke was kissing me passionately, but I don't want him to get sick. I also knew he was probably in shock from what just happened to his surrogate family. I tried to pull away, but Sasuke grasped my hips and pulled me back down on top of him, earning a groan from both of us.

'Mate? Never mind- just shut up! You were the one telling me I should seduce him and trick him into coming home with me…'

"I still think it would've been easier than your way."

'My way is working so far.' I snapped, but groaned when Sasuke thrust his hips up into mine- his hands found their way into my windbreaker while we were kissing too.

"Don't underestimate him. You're a very long way from Konoha right now."

I growled; the demon was right again.

"Teme, hold still!" I loved Sasuke's demanding passion, but I shouldn't have started this here. I always feel too much when I'm with him and to find him so unexpectedly hasn't really even sunk in yet. I know he needs the intimacy but he's not the only one that's vulnerable right now. "We have to stop!"

We were both breathing heavily and he growled but looked away when he realized he still couldn't move until I decided to let him go.

"We need to head back." I said it as gently as I could, and nuzzled his neck with my nose and lightly kissed his chin. "I want you, but not here. Not like this, you're freezing, and well… we need to check on Shani."

Shani could tell that something was wrong when a man wearing a Leaf forehead protector walked in the front door. She'd been left with the head bouncer, but he always let her watch the floor through the curtains, and that was what she was doing now.

"Come on Bagheera." She whispered. That had been her mantra since the beautiful raven disappeared with Naruto out the side door. "You have to come back with Naruto so you can find mom! I've never seen her leave that fast."

Her heart leapt happily when she realized she recognized the new arrival. He wore his Leaf around his arm and his lazy attitude with his pineapple-head hair always made her laugh. "Shikamaru! Ping? Shika's here! I want to go say hi!"

"Alright kiddo, but I'd feel better if you brought him back there until your mom or Blaze gets back, okay?" The bouncer was a big man who was eating a sandwich and leaned lazily on the wall next to her as he watched the stage and the club's patrons.

"I will!" She cried and became a blur of golden curls that bounded between the tables and chairs only to latch onto Shikamaru's leg. "Hi Lazy! Come with me! Where's Choji and Ino? Is Mr. Asuma coming too?"

"Troublesome, but no, I'm leading this mission. Or I was until I figured out I have no idea what's going on. You ever going to get any taller, kid?"

"Meanie!" Shani stuck her tongue out but smiled brightly as she dragged him back behind the curtains. Ordinarily she would've sat beside him on the sofa, but for now she was too anxious to sit still. So she went back to the curtain to watch and wait.

"So, Shani how is… everything over here?"

"Everything is great! You've been gone a long time, Shika. I guess you must be busy, huh?"

"I guess; say, did you guys get a male dancer since I was here last time?"

"Yep. We sure did, everybody likes him almost as much as they like Blaze! I guess that makes sense though, because she's the one who trained him to dance out there. His name's Bagheera and he was actually on stage tonight but he left with Naruto a while ago. I wish they'd hurry back! I want to know what's going on!"

"Bagheera?"

"Yep." She turned to look at him. "He almost died when we found him last year. Luckily mom saved him, but it took him almost a month to wake up and he couldn't remember anything- not even his name."

"I see." Shikamaru was doing his 'I'm thinking' pose so, she giggled and copied it.

"You do?"

"Yep, I think so. If Sasuke really has amnesia then that's why he disappeared so completely. I guess your mom must've kept things quiet around here to keep things from jogging his memory too- but why?"

"I don't understand- are you here with Naruto? So, you know Bagheera too?"

"Yeah, but Naruto and I knew him as Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"He's an Uchiha?" She gasped allowing her eyes to widen as the news sunk in. "I thought they were all gone."

"Two left when there used to be almost one hundred? Yes, they're gone. So, why did you call him Bagheera? I mean, that was your idea, right?"

"Yeah. I think he likes it okay, but we had to name him something." Shani smiled, but it slipped when Shikamaru looked at her sadly. He was worried, she could feel it. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

He hesitated and she came over to him, watching his eyes intently and trying to control the fear she felt.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that I uh… I think you are going to be coming to Konoha- at least for a while."

"Really?" She smiled, but she could see that only seemed to worry him more. "Mom always says we don't have time to do that! There's always something for her to do here, and-"

"I uh- Shani, your mom… she won't be able to come- and neither will Blaze..."

There were a million questions in her mind, as she started to cry, but her lips only managed one of them. "Why?"

"There's been a… an accident. You see-"

Shani bit back a sob, her mind was screaming no, but she knew he wouldn't lie to her. If he said something happened then it happened and she didn't want him to protect her like a little kid, she needed to know! This was her family and they were too important to her. "A-Are they- dead?"

He hesitated again, but nodded slowly and this time she couldn't stop the tears. Shikamaru tried to give her a hug, but it was awkward this time and she squirmed out of his arms, with a scowl. "I don't understand… Where's Bagheera? Is he- dead too?"

Shika shook his head, but Shani noticed immediately that he was hesitating again. "Why isn't he here? When can I see him? Where is he? Is he alright?"

"He was upset by what happened to your mom and Blaze, but Naruto went to find him, he'll bring Sasuke here. Naruto asked me to make sure you were okay."

Shani smiled a little, wiping tears away from her eyes as she thought of the tall, handsome blond that was obviously in love with her adoptive brother. "I knew I could trust him."

"Are you okay, Shani?" Shikamaru asked quietly, distracting her.

"I-I don't know…" Seeing the worried expression on his face made it seem final this time. Her mother and sister were really gone; this time when he reached for her, she clung to him tightly, sobbing until she fell asleep against his side.

Author's Note: I hope the third person perspective scenes don't throw anyone off too much, because they will continue showing up throught this story.