Chapter 21: Here comes the Storm!

SASUKE POV

Ino rushed forward and saw Sakura laying in my arms, "My god! You actually brought her back!" she squealed with glee.

I laid her down on the bed, "She remembered me and then she fainted." I breathed out in exhilaration. "She remembered me."

Ino's expression grew confused, "She did? I hadn't expected her to recover so quickly…" she mused.

"It doesn't matter." I replied hastily, "Get the required items to reverse the spell." I ordered quickly.

Ino nodded, "Got it. I'll get everybody too." She headed out of the room and I was left alone with Sakura's unconscious figure. She was finally back.

"So, we were good friends?" Sakura asked curiously. Her bright green eyes were wide with interest.

I let out a small sigh and put on a tired smile, "Yeah, good friends." I replied. I had been trying to jog her memory for the past half hour but it had seemed that she still had not recovered her memory even though I could have sworn back there; her eyes had recognized me and known who I really was.

Sakura scratched the side of her head, sheepishly, "I'm really sorry. You know, I did recognize you for a second, but it's strange, it's all gone now." She stated mournfully.

I smiled, tight-lipped, trying to hide my exasperation. "That's all fine." I lied. "We'll get Ino in here, she'll help you remember." I got up to leave but she clutched my arm.

"You'll be back, right?" she asked anxiously. "You won't leave me, I have the strangest feeling that you'll leave me…" she whispered softly.

My heart thudded fast and I smiled warmly at her innocent demeanor, "Of course, I will. Don't worry, you'll be safe here." I promised and squeezed her hand.

She nodded slowly, letting go of my arm with reluctance and I got up quietly to leave her in our room. I opened the door to see practically everybody there with their ears squished upon the door. There was Ino, Tenten, Naruto, Hinata, my mother, Shikamaru, and Itachi stood by the back with an air of nonchalance. "You know, you don't have to eavesdrop." I growled out, irritated.

My mother smiled brightly, "Sasuke, my dear, we didn't mean to intrude, we're just so anxious." She stressed with worry. "How is she?"

I ran a hand through my hair, tiredly, "She doesn't seem to remember much anymore." I reported with frustration. "She was responding back to me before we came here, but ever since, she's gone back to being confused and clueless."

Shikamaru sighed lazily, "Well considering the strength of Ino's spell, it's a miracle that she remembered anything before having the spell reversed."

Tenten and Hinata murmured in agreement at Shikamaru's words.

Ino came forward with her sealed container of Sakura's memories and a file of paintings in one hand. "Shall I try my magic?" she suggested.

Mikoto nodded eagerly, "Of course! There's no time to waste!" she urged Ino into the room and I turned around to head back into the room but Itachi stopped me.

"Sasuke, can I talk to you?"

I nodded in reluctance and he pulled me over, "You brought her back. Are you willing to change her now?" he questioned in a flat tone.

I crossed my arms defensively, "I am willing to if she agrees to. If she wishes to remain a mortal then I'll honor that. If she wishes to change, then I'll give her the Misery Flower." I declared.

Itachi's lips quirked upwards, "I see. Well then I wish you both luck." He had a humorous glint in his eyes, "She won't be happy when she awakens."

I sighed, "Yeah, I know. But-"

"-But you'd do anything for that mortal girl, wouldn't you?" he finishes with a wry smile. "Strange what love can do." He mused and walked away. My eyebrow arched in confusion. W

I was so not used to the Confucius version of Itachi. It was disturbing, to say the least. I let out a sigh and went back into the room where Ino still stood at the entrance conversing quietly with Sakura whose eyes were bright and alert waiting for something to happen. I closed the door behind me and waited for Ino to make her move.

Ino approached Sakura carefully with the file of paintings and sat on the bed next to her. "Sakura, do you remember me?" she asked quietly with earnest blue eyes.

Sakura's eyes went blank again devoid of the bright vivaciousness that had been there earlier. "I-I can't quite remember. I know that I remembered something earlier, but it's gone now." She admitted abashedly.

Ino nodded patiently and she took on a maternal tone, "It's fine, just close your eyes. Do you see anything?"

Sakura obliged her instructions and she concentrated hard, closing her eyes. "I do see something." She started hesitantly. Ino nodded, encouraging her on. "I see daggers, arranged in a flower pattern." She opened her eyes and looked downwards, "I'm sorry, that's all I can see."

The blonde-haired witch patted her shoulder encouragingly, "That's actually very important." She had a small smile upon her face and she shot me a knowing look. Sakura was remembering Ino's mark on her chest, the mark of the white witch.

"I don't understand." I intoned in frustration. "She remembered me. The look in her eyes, she knew me. Why is she blanking out now?"

A frightened look came over Sakura's face, "I'm sorry." She repeated miserably. "I'm trying to, it's there in my mind I just can't—"she trailed off, helplessly.

Ino shushed her, "It's fine, something probably triggered the release of your memories, perhaps seeing Sasuke in transformation but now the curse is fighting back and sealing it all up." She mused aloud. "Shall we proceed?" she asked me.

"Of course." I replied hastily.

"Alrighty, now, Sakura, this is just to ease the rush of memories so it's not that shocking." She opened the file of paintings, painted in likeness of all the people she had met here. "Just tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you see these pictures, kay?" she held a picture of Hinata.

She glanced at it hard for a second, "Shy." she blurted out and I gave a start. She did remember this! Sakura glanced at me cautiously, "Did I say something wrong?"

Ino shook her hard happily, "Not at all. Just say whatever comes to mind. Next," she held up a painting of Tenten.

A flicker of recognition passed through her eyes, "K-Kuma." She whispered out. Ino's eyes widened with surprise and then she promptly fell on the bed with laughter in a loud guffaw.

Annoyance permeated my tone, "Ino, shut up." I hissed. But I did let out a little laugh, out of all the things Sakura would remember; she would remember that humiliating thing. I approached Sakura hesitantly as she stared at Ino's laughing form in utter confusion.

Sakura's brow furrowed, "You see? I can remember certain things but I can't for the life of me remember the emotions accompanied with it. It's just like looking through a dictionary. You'll see the words but you don't remember the definitions."

I let out a low chuckle, "It's fine, really, in a matter of minutes it'll all be clear. Ino recovered from her fit of giggles and she held up the next picture of Shikamaru.

Sakura had to look at it longer and then she looked at Ino, "Um, I don't know, I just see a crescent moon. You know, similar to the one on my wrist." She explained.

Ino nodded and turned to me, "That's good. She remembers Shikamaru's bond. That happened when they first met. Next, you're doing great Sakura-chan."

I interrupted her, "She remembers a lot already. Just feed her the memories." I urged on impatiently.

Ino shot me a scathing look but turned back to Sakura, "Fine. What do you say, Sakura? Are you ready for this?" she asked with concern.

She nodded in earnest, "I'm ready." She replied honestly.

Ino let out a huge exhale and reached for the glass of silvery liquid. "Alright, now if you suffer from post traumatic stress disorder don't blame me when you get your memories back." She grumbled.

Sakura laughed and reached eagerly for the cup but I intercepted her reach. "Hold up, just when you recover your memories, promise me, something."

Her eyes widened, "Um, yeah, sure, what is it?"

I smirked, "Just don't hit me. No slaps, no punches, you will be mad but restrain yourself." I replied with a teasing grin.

She looked confused but she smiled charmingly, "I'll try my best not to." She promised.

'Good luck with that." Ino muttered and I elbowed her. "Alright, here you go. All you got to do is drink this, slowly and it'll start coming back."

Sakura reached for the glass with her hands slightly trembling. I watched in anticipation as she slowly lifted the glass to her lips and titled the cup, the silvery, thick, liquid sliding down her throat. I saw her face grimace as she struggled to keep the contents down.

Ino patted her back encouragingly and as the last drop of silver liquid ran into in her throat, the glass slipped out of her hand and landed with a huge crash on the marble floor. She let out a huge, pained gasp and doubled over in coughs.

"Ucck, that's some nasty stuff." She muttered with a grimace and then another gasp passed from her lips and she began to clutch her head and a small shriek elicited from her mouth, "Stop it!" she gasped out in pain.

I grabbed Sakura's shoulders and looked over at Ino frantically, "What's going on?"

Ino pulled me off of her, "Chill, Romeo. The memories are too strong for her right now, just let the pain pass." She whispered confidently. "She'll be fine."

As if on cue, Sakura's gasps were quieted but her head still remained in between her legs. She lifted her head slowly and she looked around with a child-like wonder at her surroundings. Sakura lifted up her palms and she touched her face cautiously, as if she couldn't' believe that it was all real. "I'm back." She whispered aloud. She seemed unaware that Ino and I were at her side. She grasped the sheets at her side and began to mutter to herself.

I got up from her side and sat in front of her so that she was staring directly at me. She gazed at me, disoriented and dazed. "S-Sasuke?" her eyebrow arched in confusion and I touched her shoulder cautiously.

"Sakura, do you remember now?" I asked hesitantly. "This is Sasuke." I added desperately.

Her head tilted to the side and her lips parted in surprise. Her eyes focused for a second and I saw the memories swimming in her eyes. The life and vivacity was back in those jade eyes. I let out relieved exhale, "Thank God, Sakura." I breathed out.

And then it all happened so fast. Sakura's eyes narrowed angrily and she shot up, away from me. "You!" she cried out in fury, annoyance and bitterness. "Sasuke Uchiha, you-you egotistical, insensitive jerk!"

"Oh, boy." Ino murmured backing away from the bed. "Uh, yup, she's recovered her memories." I glared at her, no shit Sherlock.

"H-hey Sakura," I held up my hands in self defense. This had been the part I was dreading.

She grabbed me by the collar, "Hey Sakura?' Really? Is that all you have to say for yourself?" she screamed out angrily yanking me back and forth. How the hell could you do that to me? Sap my memories and just show up at my village and play with me like that?" she hissed out venomously.

"C'mon, Sakura, I can explain." I laughed nervously. I threw a frantic look at Ino and mouthed a desperate plea for help. She shrugged and just laughed at me silently.

"Yes, please explain this to me!" she roared on seething with fury. "God, you stupid, stupid Uchiha!" she growled out. She let out a string of foul words that one would normally not hear come out of a pink-haired teenage girl.

Ino looked impressed with Sakura's rampage. She was probably thinking that this was the first time in history that a mortal had gotten the better of a god.

"Please calm down!" I pleaded with her and to my utter surprise she let go of me and tried to breath in deep breaths. I could see her fists clenched tight as she tried to calm her breathing.

She opened her eyes, "You know what? You're right. Let's just settle this." She smiled brightly and instantly dread set in my stomach. That was Sakura's evil smile. I had seen this numerous times and I knew what was just about to happen. Oh, gods, no.

Sakura lifted her hand up and brought it down on my cheek with a loud stinging sound. Oh god.

That was going to leave a mark. A bright red, hand-shaped mark. My pride had been officially crushed to bits.

I heard Ino let out a happy sigh in the background,

"Don't you just love reunions?"

A/N: BAM! WHAT IS THIS! YES, I UPDATE TWO TIMES IN ONE DAY! OOOHH YEAH! I had this one on hand and I was going to update it after Christmas but have it be longer but I was just sitting around and I was aw, what the hell? Why keep you guys in suspense? Just update the damn story, right? I'll just start a new chapter later, what with Winter Break I have so much more time to update, it's awesome.

Thank you guys for your awesome support, just passed the 550+ mark, WOOT WOOT! LOVE YOU GUYS SO DARN MUCH!

P.S. anybody watch the show, once upon a time? That's my new addiction ^^

LOVE,

WRITER4EVERR