Thunder

With the first rumble of thunder, the atmosphere on the streets of Konoha changed. People hurried to get their messages finished before the storm really hit, others choosing to give them up altogether and leave them for another day. Sakura continued to dawdle home, smiling serenely to herself. She reached her house just as the first drops of rain began to fall, calling out to let her Mum know that she was home who in turn expressed relief that she was sheltered from the approaching storm.

Once in her bedroom, Sakura opened the window as the thunder rumbled again. She perched on her window sill, reaching her hand out and thinking of him. The raindrops splashed on her hand. She always thought of him during storms. They reminded her of his temperament. She wondered if the thunder was his anger, the rain his tears. She believed he was reaching out to her.

'What's wrong Sasuke?' she wondered, gazing intently out of the window. 'Do you need me now?'

At that, she spotted the first flash of lightning. Of course, lightning was the reason that she had come to associate storms with him in the first place- it reminded her of his chidori. She shuddered to think who was on the receiving end of that chidori now, if they were.

And as the rumbles of thunder grew louder, the rain heavier, the flashes of lightning closer together, Sakura's emotions became as turbulent as the storm, as disturbed as she believed Sasuke's to be yet all directed at him. The peace that came with that initial rumble of thunder was lost until the arrival of the next storm.