Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, cuz if I did, Orochimaru would NEVER have gotten his icky hands anywhere NEAR Sasuke-kun! Itachi would be dead, and Sasuke and Sakura would live happily ever after…xD

Here's chapter 2! Thanks for the reviews so far guys!

Uchiha Sakura blossoms: Thank you!

Marsgoddess1: I surely will. Thank you so much for your review! It made me smile. Lol!

Chapter 2

Understanding

Confusion mixed with his frustration as he leapt from tree to tree in pursuit. Damn you Sakura… He thought mildly as he looked ahead and saw a flash of pink to his right.
She was slowing down…

Sasuke landed on a branch 100 meters adjacent to Sakura's current position. She'd dropped onto the branch, sitting with her knees tucked up to her chin and her head buried in her crossed arms atop her knees. A look of bewilderment crossed Sasuke's face when Sakura didn't move as he crept closer. He knew she could probably sense his presence, her being a strong kunoichi and all. But the fact that it was him she was ignoring made him wonder. Forget it. He thought and he instantly closed the distance between them. Landing on the same branch as Sakura, he slowly walked towards her.

"Sakura?"

Her head lifted and Sasuke could see the redness in her eyes. "Sas-uke…kun." She whispered. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he gave her a once-over. "You're hurt." He said, eyeing Sakura's bloodied face. She shook her head slightly and continued to ignore him, burying her face once more. "What do you want Sasuke-kun?" she mumbled, not lifting her head.

"You haven't been coming to training with Naruto, Kakashi sensei and I at all for about 2 weeks." He said, casually stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I've been busy with other things." Sakura replied bluntly.

"Such as?"

At this, Sakura's head came up and an angry snarl escaped her lips. "Wouldn't you like to know!" She yelled. Her response drew a surprised reaction from Sasuke, who stared down at her, confusion filling his eyes.
"Actually, I would, since that dobe has been driving me insane with all his worried comments about you."

Sakura snorted. "Pfft, then it should be NARUTO coming here, not you. You could care less." With that, Sakura stood and made to leave, but Sasuke grabbed her arm.

"Get off me!" Sakura snapped, yanking her arm free of Sasuke's grip.

"Sakura, what the hell—"

"Nothing that concerns you. You would never understand anyway." Sakura interjected, her eyes filling with tears again.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Try me." He said, taking a step towards her.

"NO!" Sakura shouted, and she took off, leaving behind a very confused, pissed off, and very worried Sasuke. Though, he would never show it.

"Hn." He muttered, disappearing too with a "poof."

Naruto had grown bored of interrogating Lee and so he had sat, cross-legged on the ground until the clouds began to roll overhead and a thunderclap could be heard.

The 18-year old Shinobi stood, placing his hands on his hips and throwing a glance in Lee's direction. The Green Beast, he was sometimes known as, looked every bit unhappy as he had when Naruto had first used Kage Bunshin no jutsu (1) to trap him and tie him down to a tree to question him.

"Fuzzy Brows, I'm hungry. Wanna go get some ramen!" He asked, his azure eyes staring at Lee questioningly. Lee glared up at him. "I'm more concerned about Sakura-san!" He replied icily. Naruto's head came up at this. "I completely forgot!" He exclaimed, looking back at Lee. This drew an angry snarl from the Green Beast.

"FORGOT! How could you forget about leaving her alone with that monster?" Naruto cocked his head sideways. Even after Sasuke had been back for a while, there obviously were still people in Konoha that didn't trust him. Rock Lee was one of them.

"Sasuke-teme is not a monster." Naruto said flatly. He hated when people treated his friend this way. He knew how badly it hurt to be on the receiving end of their insults.

"You left him alone with her! He'll more than likely end up hurting her again!" Lee screamed, his face turning red, making him look like an overly ripe tomato against his green attire.

Naruto was on him in an instant. Kunai out and held just above Lee's throat, he spoke in a deadly quiet voice.

"Sasuke-teme may be a jerk, but he would never hurt Sakura-chan. Trust me; I've already pounded his ass for making her cry. He said that he would never do that to her again. He gave me his word."

Lee stared up at Naruto for a minute, still glaring. "Oh, so he gave you his word, huh? Pfft, how meaningless." He sneered. Naruto felt a growl rise in his throat. "Look weird-ass, Sasuke and Sakura are my best friends, don't you dare insult one of them in front of me! You have no idea what you're talking about. Sasuke may be a cold-hearted bastard, but he cares for Sakura. He's too damn stubborn to admit it, but I know he does."

Lee was quiet for a long moment. "So why'd he go after her?" He asked his voice considerably calmer and quieter than it had been before.

Naruto backed off, slipping the kunai back into its holster. "I dunno. He said that he wanted to apologize to her. He's worried non-stop about Sakura-chan ever since, well, we noticed her changing. He may be a jerk, but he cares a lot about sakura-chan."

"Yeah, that's why he left her." Lee retorted sarcastically.

"That's why he came back." Naruto countered fiercely. He stood, shaking the rain that had begun falling from his eyes. "I'm going back. I'll let you go if you promise not to hunt Sasuke-teme down." Lee clenched and unclenched his bandaged hands.

"Only if you give me your word that he won't hurt Sakura-san."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"I promise." Both boys replied together. Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, in that case, I'll letcha improve your ninja escape techniques!" He said, leaping away from Lee.

"NARUUUTTOOOOOO!" He heard Lee scream.

The mischievous smile fell off Naruto's face. It was cold and wet outside…Sakura would kill him if she found out that it was his fault Lee could catch something being caught outside in this weather. Naruto didn't particularly want to face her wraith. Rolling his eyes, Naruto returned and let Lee go. "I was just kidding!" Naruto said innocently as he dodged a punch sent at his face. Lee glared daggers at him, but soon the two shinobi were racing each other back to Konoha.

The front door to her house burst open as Sakura threw herself onto the couch.

This is my house, no longer a home… She thought miserably, angrily wiping tears from her cheeks. Her red, puffy eyes slowly took in the details of the room…The pictures on the walls, the old cigar box on the coffee table from which her father would pull a cigar out of on special occasions…The clean, homely scent her mother had always worked so hard to maintain in the Haruno home. But none of these familiarities could quell the anger and sadness eating inside her.

Her parents had been killed on their last mission to the Sound country, orphaning their one and only 17-year old daughter, Sakura.

Sakura knew that is had been thanks to the remnants of Orochimaru's gang that had ended her parent's lives. Now 18-year old Sakura had chosen to push herself harder and harder until she overcame every single weakness she might have. She wanted to improve so she could avenge her parent's deaths, bringing justice to those who had made the terrible mistake of ruining her life.

Hmm…kinda freaky how we've become just like Sasuke-kun… Inner Sakura commented casually.

Urusei. Don't even talk about him right now. I don't even want to see his face or hear his name.

Ahh, but you can't shut me up completely you know…

I don't have to. All I have to do is stop listening, and start running…

Making up her mind, Sakura ran upstairs to her room, packing as fast as she could. She couldn't risk taking off in broad daylight, but dusk was fast approaching, so she decided to wait it out, planning on leaving the moment the sun set.

A/N: Ok, so what do you all think so far now? Lol! I told you it would be a little slow. But that will all change once I get the next chapter up!

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Shadow Replication Technique