Chapter 21: Come back

Usually, a journey to Amegakure would take about three days of travelling. Of course, Sasuke was faster than that, but the team sent after him was even faster, since they didn't even bother to take a break at night. On the afternoon of the following day, they found him.

Sasuke was alone. When they jumped down to the ground from the trees, he was standing on the path with his hands in his pockets; obviously he had noticed them already. When the five shinobi surrounded him, he seemed somewhat surprised. When he spoke, he addressed Naruto, who was standing in front of him. "I didn't expect so many people," he said coolly. "Did I miss something? Why are there five of you?"

"You chose a bad time to leave, Sasuke," Naruto replied. "Tsunade sent us out to bring you back. It seems that there is a chance that you might run into Orochimaru."

"What makes her think so? Just because some Sound-nin attacked one of our teams a few weeks ago…"

"Either way, we have an order!" Neji interrupted him. "Are you coming along or do we have to take you by force?"

Sasuke turned around to face Neji. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with, Hyuga?" He activated the Sharingan and threw Neji a hateful glance, who, in return, pulled out a kunai.

"Stop it, both of you!" Sakura yelled, before any of them could attack the other. Sasuke turned his head to look at her as if he hadn't noticed her before. "Sasuke, we're just trying to protect you. Please, come back home."

"Why are you here?" he asked. His eyes were still the Sharingan and she had learned to fear this evil glare.

"Please, Sasuke-kun. Orochimaru is after you, you can't be out here on your own."

"Mind your own business," he hissed and turned away from her to face Naruto once again. "I'm leaving now. I warn you, if you try to stop me, you'll regret it."

He walked towards Naruto, who hesitated for a second, and then the blonde shinobi jumped at him. The others, except Sakura, joined in too, and the four of them tried to restrain Sasuke. Although Sasuke was strong, there were just too many for him to handle. Shikamaru pulled out a rope and after a short fight, during which Sasuke punched Naruto in the face and threw some dirt into Neji's eyes, the four young men managed to tie him up.

"Got ya!" Naruto yelled, delighted. "You underestimated us, Sasuke-baka!"

"You stupid…" Sasuke growled, though making no attempts to free himself. "You'll pay for this."

Naruto grinned triumphantly. "Yeah maybe. But for now, you're coming with us, whether you want to or not."

Sasuke's brows furrowed, but he nodded. With Sasuke, tied up and secured in the center of the five shinobi, the group moved ahead. But Sakura had a bad feeling. It didn't seem like Sasuke at all to give up that easily. Plus, a simple rope shouldn't have been much of a hindrance for him. She threw him a distrustful glance. Could it be…?

Sasuke noticed it and the smirk on his face proved that something was wrong. She was about to say something when he muttered: "Idiots." And then "Sasuke" dissolved in a cloud of smoke and the rope fell down to the ground.

"What the…?" If the situation hadn't been so serious, Sakura would have laughed about the stupid look on Naruto's face. "Was that Kawarimi?"

"No" Neji sighed. He was still rubbing the dirt out of his eyes. "I guess what we tied up was a clone. That's probably why he threw that dirt at me, to make sure I couldn't see through it too fast." He cursed and then added, "He can't be very far, after a certain distance, a clone automatically disappears."

"Then let's find him! He'll be sorry for this!" Naruto growled.

But Sakura held him back. "Wait. Please, let me talk to him first. Now we know he won't come with us on his own and he won't make it easy for us. I want to speak with him, maybe I can convince him."

Neji didn't seem too enthusiastic about the idea, but after a moment of consideration, Naruto nodded. "Okay. We will wait for ten minutes. If you aren't back with him by then, we'll go after you. And this time, we'll catch him."

"Thank you, Naruto" she said hastily. She started to run along the path as fast as she could. Ten minutes wasn't much time to talk some sense into someone as stubborn as Sasuke. And even if she found him she wasn't sure if she could convince him to return home. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the Sound-nin approaching her team right behind her.

When she returned to where they had "caught" Sasuke, he, of course, wasn't there any more. She stopped to think for a moment. Which way would he go if he was determined not to be found? Above her, there was a rumbling and a look at the sky was enough to realize that the weather was turning foul. As if to confirm her assumption, a raindrop landed right on her head. Just great. Even nature seemed to be against her. Since she had no time to waste, she started to run along the path, hoping to find Sasuke soon enough.

The ten minutes Naruto had allowed her were almost over, when she found him. Or rather, he found her. He suddenly stepped out from behind a tree and blocked her way. He scowled at her. "Where are the others? No, let me guess… they sent you to talk me into going back to the village."

"It was my idea. I wanted to talk to you alone," she admitted.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Save your breath. I won't go back. Go home and leave me alone."

"Why did you leave?"

"I was… bored. Tsunade wouldn't give me any missions and I didn't feel like playing house with you any more." It started to rain, the sky was dark now and the rain soaked them both slowly, though neither really cared.

"What about Orochimaru? He might be after you. You can't risk being attacked by him!"

He shrugged. "Even if he finds me, he can't use his arms any more. He has lost all his jutsus, like that he won't be a danger to me. And I won't go with him on my own, after all, I already killed Itachi. I don't need his power any more."

"Aren't you taking this a little too easy?" No matter what she said, nothing seemed to impress him. "And if it's not because of Orochimaru, then do it for me. I want you to come home, Sasuke. Please!"

The look in his eyes became even colder and he snarled: "Leave me alone! I won't come back and it's none of your business what I do or where I go. So, get lost already!" He turned away from her.

"Sasuke! Listen to me!" she yelled. She couldn't believe that he was doing this to her. He had hurt her in so many ways, but this was too much. She had had enough. She couldn't take it any more. Whenever she thought she had gotten through to him, he pushed her away again. "I've never asked anything of you, but if you leave now, it's over between us. I don't ever want to see you again if you walk away now," she yelled and meant it. Even if it hurt, if he turned her down again, it would be over once and for all.

His reaction was surprising. He froze and she could practically see his pride fight against his feelings. "Sakura… I… I…" At least he didn't ignore her words, it was more than she had expected. She took that as a sign that he cared more about her than he admitted. If she waited for an answer, she knew he would choose to leave her, because his pride wouldn't allow him to stay.

Sakura ran towards her husband and threw her arms around him from behind. "Come home with me. That's all I want, just… come back." He hesitated and she pressed herself against his back. "Please!" She begged.

The silence was painful and the seconds that passed seemed like an eternity. She knew he was going to leave her. He had always turned her down. Why would this be any different? But then he surprised her again.

He placed his hand over hers. Softly, he said: "Alright, you win… I'll come back home."

Relieved, she let her forehead rest against his back. This was more than she had ever hoped for. He would not only go back to the Hidden Leaf Village, but he would do it for her. It made her happy. She let go of him and he turned around to face her. She took his hand. "Then let's get back to the others." With a look at the sky she said: "The weather is awful. We should get back as soon as possible."

Sasuke didn't reply and allowed her to drag him along. They hurried to get back to the others but when they arrived at the meeting point, something unexpected greeted them. Imbedded in the ground and the trees, were bloody shuriken and kunais, the rain mixed with the blood, leaving pinkish red trails. A corpse was lying on the path; thankfully it wasn't one of their friends. Their four comrades had disappeared. "What's going on?" Sakura exclaimed. "Where's Naruto and the others?"

Suddenly, Sasuke screamed and placed a hand on his neck. Horrified, Sakura realized his hand covered the cursed seal. And he confirmed her fears with one word: "Sound-nin." He activated the Sharingan and looked around. "I don't think any of them are still around… but we should be able to catch up with them. We have to help them." Before he could even move, he screamed again because of the pain radiating from the cursed seal on his neck.

"No! Orochimaru is after YOU!" Sakura protested. "You have to get away from here. If the seal hurts, it means that Orochimaru is somewhere nearby. You can't help them in your current state and I won't leave you alone. We can't risk that the curse breaks out once again."

He would have liked to protest, but she was right. If the curse activated again, Sakura would be in danger and he didn't want that. That's why he didn't protest when she took his hand and pulled him along. He just followed her, away from that place and hopefully, away from Orochimaru's influence. The rain didn't make travelling any easier for them. The seal on his neck was searing with pain and was beginning to cover his body. Sasuke did his best to hold onto himself.

Hidden within the treetops, two men were watching as the woman took Sasuke's hand and dragged him along. One of them, Orochimaru, raised an eyebrow and asked: "This girl seems to have some kind of power over Sasuke-kun. She looks familiar. I think I've met her before… wasn't she there when I gave Sasuke-kun the curse? Who is she?"

Kabuto replied: "Haruno Sakura. She is an unimportant kunoichi from the Hidden Leaf village. It's rumoured that she's married to Sasuke-kun."

"I see. Maybe she is the reason why he still resists me," the legendary Sannin said, lost in thought.

"Not necessarily. After all, he killed his brother," Kabuto said. "The one he desperately wanted to kill is dead, so he doesn't need your power any more."

"Still, I don't like the thought that he has someone like her. I made sure, that Naruto-kun and the others were busy with my Sound-nin for a while, but now it seems that this girl has the biggest influence over him."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Of course I could kill her now, but that wouldn't be wise. After all, I don't want Sasuke-kun to hate me. We shall leave them alone for now." He stared at the direction where the two had disappeared. "Sakura it is, huh? If he is no longer driven by his hatred, we have to improvise. I expect you to take care of this, Kabuto. And make sure to leave behind a memento to transfer any possible blame away from us. After all, Sasuke-kun must seek me willingly for power."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

After they had been running for about fifteen minutes and Sakura was sure that no one had followed them, she stopped. "I wonder what happened to the others. Do you think they're alright?" she asked, worried.

"Naruto and Neji are strong, they can easily take on a few sound-nin" Sasuke replied hoarsely. He had been uncharacteristically quiet since they had left the scene of the fight. And he still hadn't let go of her hand. Strange. She looked at him and realized that his other hand was still placed on his shoulder. His forehead seemed sweaty and he was breathing heavily.

"Sasuke… are you alright?"

He stared at her with dull eyes. "Sakura… I'm feeling… fine…" And then he collapsed and fell right into her arms.

…tbc…