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Chapter 11

Let the stars keep track of us.
Let us ride our own orbits and trust that they will meet.
May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision."
―Jerry Spinelli

Sasuke, trying to ignore his pounding headache, insisted that he and Raine ought continue traveling. Raine, who hadn't a clue where they were headed, made a weak attempt to keep Sasuke in bed, but her protests were ignored. Unable to convince Sasuke to eat much more than a slice of bread, the two ninja quickly packed their belongings, without speaking to one another. Raine slipped on her robe, wrapping her red scarf loosely around her neck and in a matter of minutes they began to head out back into the tree cover. There was only silence between the two ninja.

They ran that way for several days. Camping on the ground when necessary and staying in small inns when it was not. On the fifth day of their journey, after gliding through the branches of the trees for an hour or so, the silence was broken by Sasuke. "If we continue at this pace," he called back to Raine, "then we should be there before nightfall."

"Where exactly is there?" Raine asked.

Sasuke gave no answer.

Raine had lost her sense of direction long ago. To her, the woods seemed to be no more than an endless expanse of trees. However after several hours of mindless traveling, the trees began to thin out, slowly beginning to be replaced by overgrown dirt paths. Farther beyond her, a village came into view. As they approached it, Raine matched Sasuke's pace, noticing how he had begun to slow. His eyes fixated themselves on the town before them.

"What is this place?" Raine asked in a small voice.

Sasuke did not reply immediately, he simply stood still, gazing at the collection of stores and houses. "This is Konahagakure. My home village."

Raine wasn't sure whether to be surprised or upset. "Why did you bring us here?" She asked, her voice rising slightly. "You said we were searching for Itachi."

Sasuke did not look over at her, he continued to stare in the direction of the Leaf village. "We are searching for Itachi." he confirmed.

"Then why are we here?"

"The Akatsuki want to capture all of the jinchuriki." Sasuke stated, finally glancing over to Raine with a stoic, almost bored, expression on his face. "Provided nothing has changed in the past couple years, I know exactly where we might be able to find one." He smiled to himself in pride. "All we have to do is lure him outside the village and the Akatsuki will attack him like insects. When that happens, we'll either have Itachi, or the means with which to find him."

Raine raised her eyebrows, impressed and somewhat dubious of his plan. She wasn't as confident as Sasuke that this plan would work, however the logic of it could not be denied. She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that's worth a shot."

Not wanting to delay any further, Sasuke began to walk forward, the entrance gate could be seen in the distance. He couldn't deny that he was nervous- one small slip up and the village could turn on him. He tried to control the shaking in his fingers as he walked forward. Soon, he came into the line of sight of the men standing guard at the gate. Sasuke removed his hands from his pockets and relaxed his shoulders, straightening his back.

"Keep close to me," Sasuke murmured to Raine, "They need to know that we're together."

Raine slightly edged closer to Sasuke, her arm brushing up against his. She was equally as nervous as Sasuke.

One of the grunt men standing guard caught eye of Sasuke and squinted through his glasses, trying to recognize the boy. Unsuccessful, he called out loudly, "Who's there?"

Sasuke didn't feel like raising his voice. He continued walking forward, intimidating the guard ever so slightly.

"I said, who's there?" the man shouted again.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke spoke just loud enough to be heard by the man.

The man didn't respond, he was too curious to apprehend the boy, allowing Sasuke to approach him. The guard pressed his round-rimmed glassed up the bridge of his nose, squinting to get a better look at Sasuke. It certainly looked like the Uchiha kid, but who was that girl walking with him?

When Sasuke and Raine finally arrived within speaking distance of the guard, the man snapped back into his protective nature.

"Why have you come here?" he questioned, trying to force authority into his voice. "You left this village. What reason have we to trust you?" He eyed Raine suspiciously, "Or your little friend?"

Sasuke could feel Raine's discomfort. He spoke with ease, trying to keep her cool, knowing that if the girl panicked it may startle the guard. "I have come back to the Hidden Leaf to be a part of it again. The girl is of my clan and she will come with me." Sasuke avoided eye contact with the man, remaining in control of the situation. "Please let us through."

The guard seemed to be jittery. He spoke hesitantly, stuttering in an attempt to seem powerful "If you want to enter the v-village, you must agree to see Lady Tsunade. She makes all final decisions."

"Hn." Sasuke responded, pretending to take more interest in his surroundings than in the conversation.

The guard timidly spoke, "A-and I will be your escort."

"Then let's go," Sasuke responded impatiently.

The guard signaled to the man standing post on the tower above the gate (who had been watching the whole scene with great curiosity) to open the door. The gate creaked open wide enough for the three ninja to enter Konaha.

Sasuke was immediately flooded by a series of memories. He had never been one to get sentimental, and that had not changed, but he had been somewhat fond of his home village. He kept his head held high, brimming with confidence, but observed his surroundings out of the corners of his eyes. Familiar shops and roads... Sasuke could walk these streets in his sleep. But he knew now was not the time for those thoughts. He had to focus. Stay in control.

As they walked through the main road of the village, heading to the hokage's office, Sasuke could feel the eyes of those around him staring. He overheard the whispers that villagers exchanged to one another. He didn't particularly care about what they had to say- he had never loved Konaha for it's villagers.

After a minute or so, the three entered the hokage's building. The guard walked them to the correct door and entered the office. The room was quite a mess, papers littered the floor around the hokage's desk. Sasuke's eyes fell on the hokage herself; Tsunade's face was buried in a fat textbook, her reading glasses rested on the edge of her nose, threatening to fall off.

Without looking up she groaned, "Whatever this is, it better be important, I am busy right now."

"Ah- Lady Tsunade," the guard spoke quietly, "I have brought... Sasuke Uchiha."

Tsunade's eyes snapped up from her book, quickly finding Sasuke who stood with his hands in his pockets. He gazed nonchalantly at the woman. She removed her glasses and set them neatly on the desk, folding her hands in front of her.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke did not respond, balancing on the line of confidence and disrespect (as he often tended to do). Tsunade did not seem amused with his presence.

"Why have you returned to this village?"

Sasuke stared at her, "I come to live in Konaha. I am no longer interested in what Orochimaru had to offer."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Do you honestly think that you can just walk back into the village like nothing has happened?" She questioned. "After our ninja were almost killed in the attempts to bring you home? Did you know that your teammates just risked their lives trying to find you?" She sighed audibly, "Well at least now we know why you were not able to be found at Orochimaru's hide away last week." Sasuke, despite his curiosity, ignored the comment about Orochimaru's hideout.

"And just who have you brought with you?" Tsunade asked, nodding at Raine, who immediately stiffened.

Sasuke responded before Raine had the chance to, trying to keep her calm so that she wouldn't blow their cover. "Raine is a member of the Uchiha Clan. Her mother relocated to the Amegakure during her pregnancy. Itachi was unaware of Raine's birth."

"And you and her both want to stay here?" Tsunade assumed his thoughts.

Sasuke nodded.

Tsunade closed her eyes, squeezing her the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. She was about to respond to Sasuke when the office door was forcefully slammed open. The doorknob hit the wall with a loud bang, rattling the walls. Sasuke stretched his head over his shoulder to see who had interrupted.

A tall blonde ninja stood in the doorway, his eyes were wide and pleading.

His voice quivered. "Sasuke?"

"Naruto."

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