Summary: Sasuke returns after almost three years to Konoha. He is determined to kill Naruto to prove he can kill his own brother to himself. Orochimaru is after him. Konoha is after him. But on the day he comes to Konoha, he encounters a different Sakura…and is distracted from his plan. A Sasusaku Story (with other couples)

(Anything in italics is a thought or flashback)

Rainy Days Never Stay

Chapter 12

Sakura couldn't take it. The anxiety was too much for her. She could sense that Itachi was stronger than Sasuke. He hadn't even shown the extent of his power. Both Itachi and Sasuke disappeared from her eyesight. What? Where did they… She heard punching and kicking sounds and looked around. They were still nowhere to be seen. Then Sakura knew; they were moving so fast that the normal human eye wouldn't be able to detect them. She was impressed. However, this caused her stomach to tighten even more. If she couldn't see what happened…then…she thought of the worst.

She looked in the direction of the hospital. Her clone hadn't come back yet, nor had it been destroyed. It didn't matter now, for the small boy had run away when the battle had gotten "scary," as he said. Sakura could hear voices now…but she couldn't make out what the words were. She could hear her name… Sasuke suddenly reappeared, standing, in front of Sakura. "Sasuke-kun?" He gasped for breath and held the left side of his neck. Itachi appeared as well, but he looked uninjured in every way. "Sakura…" Sasuke said. She could tell he was trying to tell her something important.

"What is it?" she asked. "Move," he murmured. "Wha—" Sasuke pushed her as far as he could. "Get out of here!" he yelled. Itachi disappeared and Sasuke did so after him, as if to follow him. Sakura sat up from where she was. The ground began to shake as she stood up. A large crack emerged where dust and rubble were flying. A strong gust blew in Sakura's direction. Sakura had her arm over her face to protect it and to steady herself. This is too strong, she thought. Is it…Sasuke-kun or…

The wind stopped and it seemed that all of Sunagakure was quiet. No one noticed that a figure stepped into the battlefield. Sasuke let out a yell and was tossed aside by what seemed to be an enormous amount of chakra. "Sasuke-kun!!" She moved over to where he was. "Ugh…" He tried to hold his body up, but didn't even have enough strength left to do so. Sakura noticed that his body was heavily bruised. What had happened? Even after training with Orochimaru, Sasuke still didn't have the strength to defeat his brother. Itachi smiled. "You thought you could beat me with new training and jutsu? My, little brother, you are fascinating. However I just applaud you on acquiring new speed."

He…He seems to… "Do you enjoy torturing people?" Sakura asked, her voice surprisingly steady. Sasuke's body jerked. "Stay out of this…" Interesting, thought Itachi. "I'll let you live, dear brother," Itachi said. "That is, if you let me try something." "I don't want too—!" Sasuke began to object Itachi appeared in front of Sasuke, his face dangerously close to his. Sasuke's opal-colored shone. "Excellent," Itachi murmured to himself. Mangekyo Sharingan! Sakura's and Sasuke's eyes widened. Sakura immediately looked down, remembering Sasuke's words. She wasn't to look in his eyes. Sasuke however had been caught. Without his own Sharingan to counter, he soon found himself caught in a genjutsu spell far worse than his own.

He fell over, directing and hiding his face in the dirt. He knew he would loose his consciousness of what was around him and didn't want Sakura to see how it would look like… "Sakura," he said, his voice in a different tone that she hadn't heard in a long time. "Don't worry." He smiled, as well, however no one could see. She wiped away a few tears that were starting to form in her eyes. His voice was just so calming and soothing to her ear, and she knew he was trying to make her feel better. "But didn't you say that looking directly in his eyes is dangerous?" There was no reply. "Sasuke-kun?" The wind blew and Sasuke began to tremble. Sasuke trembling was not a good sign. "Sasuke-kun?!"

Sasuke heard his name and turned in all directions. "Sasuke-kun…" The soft, female voice began to fade away. He looked up. There was a red moon in the sky and it cast a red light, giving off the sign of blood. He turned around and the scene suddenly changed, except for the red light. "Naruto," a younger, 12-year old Sasuke said. "You're one of the ones I want to fight." Naruto's eyes widened and Sakura looked up from her crying.

The scene switched again, now to Squad 7's first real mission. A long haired Sakura stepped in front of Tazuna, the bridge builder, from a deadly attack. The younger Sasuke noticed this and stepped in front of Sakura. Time suddenly froze. "How about…" It was Itachi's voice. The red moon appeared and Sakura was being slaughtered in front of Sasuke. While this was happening, her voice and words were coming from everywhere… The last scene was of a familiar place…Sasuke's home in Konoha. He watched as the younger version of himself walked around in circles calling out to the same people—his mother and father.

"They're dead!" Sasuke yelled. His 8-year old version screamed back. "They are not dead! I just showed Daddy I could do the Katon!!" Naruto appeared, in his older version. "C'mon kid, it's time you moved on," he said as he patted younger Sasuke's back. Anger boiled inside Sasuke. However, his younger version smiled at Naruto's kind gesture. Sasuke's eyes widened. Suddenly, crosses appeared from out of the ground and everyone that was precious to Sasuke was on one. Itachi was now making him witness how each one of them died, and their last words. The last one to die was Sakura and her last words were…

Sasuke's whole body shook now, and his fingers were digging into the dirt. Sakura had a worried look on her face. "I…I don't know what to do," she said softly. She tried waking him up a few times—Sasuke's yelling was hard for her to bear—but all her efforts were in vain. Sakura heard footsteps and threw a kunai in that direction. "Whoa," said a voice. The figure stepped out of the shadows. "Hey, I know you. You're one of Naruto's friends…Sakura, right?" "K-Kankuro-san!" Sakura exclaimed. At first, it was hard to recognize him since he didn't have any makeup or face paintings on. At least he wasn't from the Akatsuki or Orochimaru's subordinates. She moved back. Surely he knew that she and Sasuke were missing ninjas from Konoha. The reward was even high.

"So why are you here," he asked. "And in the middle of the night too…" Sakura softly gasped. He doesn't know? It was a big surprise. "Who's that with you?" Kankuro asked as he walked toward Sasuke. "Ah! Wait, don't…!" Sasuke's body stopped moving and he slowly woke up from his trance. He sat up and turned toward Sakura. "Sakura," he said. "You're alright." However, her attention was on someone else. Sasuke turned to see what she was looking at. "I-It's you!" Kankuro exclaimed. I came over to see what all of the yelling was about…but I didn't know… "I completely forgot you traveled together!" He reached for something behind him. Dammit! I forgot Sanshouo! , he thought, referring to his new puppet. He looked back up. There's nothing I can do…

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke monotonously. Meanwhile, Sakura was devising a plan. She was aware that Sasuke was just trying to buy time by asking a question he already knew the answer to. She looked around at their surroundings. There wasn't anything she found useful. What can I… Her eyes closed as she sighed. She had no choice. Her sigh had attracted the attention of Kankuro and he looked at her. She glared back and punched him in the stomach. He spit out blood and fell to the ground. Sakura ran her fingers through her hair. "I still feel a little bad." "It won't matter," said Sasuke. He was already several feet ahead of Sakura. "He couldn't have gotten far," Sasuke said, referring to his brother. He turned. "Are you coming?" "Yeah."

The next day…At about an hour before noon, Two teams made it to Sunagakure, not knowing that they were several hours late. Naruto stretched both his arms out. "So, where are we meeting Kakashi-sensei?" He turned toward Sai and Temari's team. There was a gloomy air around them. They were all dragging there feet to get where Naruto was and had bruises all over their bodies. "Eh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, which was a big mistake. "What's wrong?!" Ino quoted, her tone angrier. "I'll tell you what's wrong!" A vein appeared in the corner of her forehead. "You've been slowing us down and getting us into so much trouble, Naruto!" Naruto stepped back, she was getting scary…again.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we missed something important! Or, if they have already been here!!" Naruto moved back even more, at least she wasn't hitting him the way Sakura would, he wouldn't take his chances. "Oomph…" said a voice from behind Naruto. He turned toward the person. "I'm sorry." He began to scratch the back of his head. "Oh yes, please forgive Naruto's stupidity and clumsiness," Ino said. "Ino, will you quit it," Shikamaru asked. He hated the sound of Ino's noise. "Shikamaru's right. At least we're here," Temari said. Ino turned toward them. "Yeah sure, just go on and agree with your boyfriend," she said, putting emphasis on the last word. Both Shikamaru and Temari blushed.

"No need to apologize," said a familiar voice to Naruto. Naruto focused on the face, or on the one eye he could see. "Kakashi-sensei!" He turned toward the crowd behind him. "Look, I found Kakashi-sensei!" Choji continued to munch on his bag of potato chips. "That's good," he said with his mouth full. "Yeah, it's great. Now you can leave us," Shikamaru said. Ino smacked him. "What are you talking about?! When Naruto leaves, so does Sai!" Shikamaru stood up. "Yeah, but I'm a guy who's not into guys." That pissed off Ino even more.

Meanwhile, Sai had been very quiet. He wasn't listening to Ino or Shikamaru or anyone around him. He was thinking of Sakura, as usual. He just couldn't get her image out of his head. "…Actually, you guys have missed something," Kakashi said, in response to Naruto's question. The sentence caught Sai's attention. "Come, follow me," Kakashi said. "I'm sure he'll explain everything to you."

The group arrived in the Suna hospital and Kakashi led them to a small room. "Kankuro!" Temari exclaimed. "What are you…" Kankuro sat up in the small bed. "It's nothing major," he said. "They just found me lying on the ground, that's all." "Lying on the ground?" Naruto repeated. "Yeah, I saw this huge fight between these two forces—" "Sasuke and Itachi," Kakashi interrupted. Naruto twitched at Sasuke's name. "Huh," asked Kankuro. "You said you saw them both use a powerful fire technique, and that later you saw Sasuke with Sakura, shaking." "SASUKE WITH SAKURA?!?!!!" Naruto yelled. "WHERE--?!?!!" "Calm down, Naruto. Let us explain," Kakashi said, calmly.

"Well, to make it short, I saw Sasuke fight this Itachi that you're talking about. I went to see what happened, but I didn't have any of my puppets with me, so I couldn't fight back. Well, Sakura could tell that I was going to turn them in the moment she saw me, so I faked that I forgot. But," Kankuro looked up at Naruto. "She's smart, and so she knocked me out." "Knocked out by a girl, Kankuro?" asked Temari, teasingly. "So…where are could they be now?" Naruto's voice was pretty serious. "No one knows," Kakashi answered. "Now since everyone knows what is going on, Sai and Naruto, will you come with me? We'll be splitting up now."

The three walked until they got outside the hospital. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this mission short—Hokage's orders." "What?!" yelled Naruto. "No exactly 'cut short'…but Godiame-sama says to take you two back to Konoha. It's something important." "What could be more important than—" Sai stepped forward. "I understand, but…Wouldn't that take us a while?" The truth was, it hurt Sai deeply as well that they had to return instead of search for Sakura and Sasuke. But orders were orders. "Have you ever heard of Konoha's yellow flash?" He didn't wait for an answer. "He was my sensei, the Fourth Hokage." "What does that have to do with anything?" asked Naruto. He hated it when Kakashi beat around the bushes; why didn't he just get to the point?

"He taught me a technique that I was only able to perfect now with my Mangekyo Sharingan. I'll show you. We have to hold hands." Naruto and Sai looked back at each other. "Why do I—" Sai grabbed Naruto's hand before he was able to finish. The three suddenly disappeared…

…and reappeared at the gates of Konohagakure. "Wh-Whoa!" Naruto yelled as Kakashi collapsed.

After some resting, the three were able to visit Tsunade's office, as she asked. "Naruto," she said. "I have good news." He looked up, still mad that she stopped the mission when they were getting close. "What?" Tsunade ignored his tone. "Jiraiya has told me some things…and I've decided that you should be a Chunin." "What about the Chunin exams? Didn't they just end?" He was trying to hold back yelling at her at the top of his lungs. Everyone in the room—Shizune, Kakashi, Sai, and Tsunade--were surprised. Why wasn't he jumping around like his energetic, normal self?

"The…The other way is by appointment." Tsunade tried to steady her voice. "So, Congratulations on becoming a Chu—" He couldn't hold it in anymore. "You called me back for something as stupid as this?!!" He was yelling at the top of his lungs. Tsunade's eyes grew wide. This wasn't like him… "I could be out there looking for Sasuke and Sakura…or, or…Even fighting Sasuke!!! What a stupid waste of time!!!" Sai looked down. For once Naruto was making sense. Naruto stomped toward the door, but Shizune was blocking it. "Move," he demanded. "N-Naruto…" Her voice was quiet. "NARUTO!" boomed Tsunade from behind him. He turned.

"What is it now, old lady?!" he snapped. "Naruto." Her voice was serious. "Wasn't it once your dream to become Hokage?" Naruto flinched. Kakashi looked back from Naruto and Tsunade. "It was." There was too much on his mind to think of such things. Shizune's eyes widened and Sai looked back up. He pushed through Kakashi and Shizune and slammed the door as he left.

To Be Continued. This chapter mainly focused on Naruto…and the ending is slightly depressing.

I know..you hate me. Sasuke didn't win against Itachi. But if you watch the anime and/or read the manga, there is absolutely no way he could win. But still, we love Sasuke and his hotness, or good looks.

Sooo…the next chapter is part 2 of the Return to Konoha chapters. Naruto is forced to stay in Konoha because of his bad attitude toward Tsunade. As for our favorite couple, Sasuke and Sakura, they find out a secret about the Akatsuki and the war that changes e v e r y t h i n g…okay, not everything, but it does change the storyline by a lot.

Please review. Feel free to give ideas and suggestions.

Shizuka-Ai calm::love