A/N: Thank you to Sapphire Rivulet

As you guys know I am in a desperate need for betas, please recommend someone or self volunteer.

Chapter 36-rain

Caught by surprise, Sakura was quickly bound by Ryuku.

"What -?"

He stuffed a piece of cloth gruffly in her mouth.

"I've got nothing against you," he said, "but we are planning on killing Uchiha Sasuke."

Her blood ran cold in her veins at those words, and she wondered why she cared.

"He's too cruel and powerful to be allowed to exist in this world," Ryuku continued. "We cannot let him lead us any longer. We're switching sides to Lightening. We'll let the Raikage kill him."

A coup? Sakura's eyes widened. What would they do with her?

Ryuku led her out to the grassy field in front of the cave, where Sasuke and the Raikage was already engaged in a fierce battle. He pinched Sakura really hard while pulling out the piece of cloth, and she yelped at the sudden sharp pain.

Sasuke lost his focus for just a moment, and his body was punched away by the Raikage, who immediately regretted not giving a far deadlier blow.

Sasuke stood up, his eyes spinning madly.

The Raikage laughed loudly. "Some leader you are! You couldn't even retain the loyalty of your subjects!"

Sasuke watched as more and more of his subjects filtered onto the plain behind Sakura, who was still tied up.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Ryuku called across the expanse. "You steamed my sister alive, and now you will pay the price: death."

Sakura stared at her captor. Riiku was his sister?

Sasuke looked at the crowd in front of him lazily. He sneered at them. "You think you could kill me?"

"If we have her, then yes," Sakura's captor replied.

"This is low, even for you," Sakura said, though she didn't struggle against his grip. It was kind of pointless.

Sasuke observed the scene, amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Raikage, you are certainly... desperate."

The Raikage grew red from embarrassment. "Shut up, do you realize how many of our men you have killed?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered towards Sakura. "Lightening nins have caused plenty of trouble in my territory, Raikage. Killing is all we know. In the end, killing became everything."

At his last word, he blinked twice, and his eyes turned into a deadly black and red color, setting alight anything it gazed upon with a terrible black flame. The

Raikage quickly jumped out of the way, but everyone standing behind him wasn't fast enough and soon caught on fire. Ryuku leaped behind Sakura in a desperate hope that she would shield him from the flames.

Sakura watched Sasuke bitterly as he stood at the other end of the grassy plain. She watched as he struggled to fight off everyone, when the whole world seemed to be against him. There was so much hatred, so much pain in his heart; she was so selfish to have never realized.

The tragedy of the Uchiha family was quite stunning. How a damaged boy who was barely twenty was uttering the words, "Killing is all we know. In the end, killing became everything."

She managed to free herself from her bindings and walked towards him, struggling against Ryuku who was still behind her. She eventually punched him away as he was so irritating.

"Sasuke Kun," she called out, walking closer to him. She could tell that he was basically out of chakra. Most of his chakra had been expended to cleanse Ryuku.
He refused to look at her, his eyes darting towards his pitiful victims.

Some hid, some ran away, burning. Some stood, burning.

The fire extended past the field, over to the forest.

"Sasuke Kun," Sakura called. She was almost there, so close, just a little further to go -

Pain ripped through her as she felt a kunai drive itself into her back, and she screamed at the shock and pain it sent rippling through her body.

"Sakura..." Sasuke blinked once and his eyes returned to the simplest form of Sharingan. "You are so careless."

Sakura pulled out the kunai from her back and immediately sent chakra to the wound in order to heal it.

"Sasuke Kun, I am so sorry..."

Sasuke walked towards her slowly, and lifted her up by her collar. "What should I do with you, Sa-ku-ra?"

His voice was lathered with love and longing.

Sakura hugged him. She clung on to his waist as tightly as possible, because she could see the blood soaking though his white robes.

"I don't have much chakra left," he whispered in her ear. "Let's go back to the cave."

"Are we able to hide in there?" Sakura asked. She wasn't afraid, even though Sasuke was exhausted, severely injured by the Raikage and the excessive use of his eyes.

"Yes," he whispered, eyes narrowing.

She could tell that he was having trouble standing. But he was still standing, because the enemy wouldn't dare approach when he is standing.

She didn't waste another second. She wrapped an arm around his waist, another hand summoning up healing chakra to stem the bleeding in his chest, arms, and thigh. She jumped as fast as she could, ignoring the searing pain blossoming in her own chest, where a fresh kunai wound was still evident.

A/N: Somehow I feel this chapter was a bit ... bland. Please help me in search for an awesome beta.