Chapter Two: Why Did You Come Back?

Summary: Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? He finds her and professes his love for her and…

Disclaimer: FINE! FINE! I'LL CONFESS! I DON'T OWN NARUTO! JUST STOP PLAYING BRITNEY SPEARS! FOR GOSH'S SAKE, MAKE THE CRAPPY MUSIC STOP! passes out from the slutty music

"SASUKE-TEME! WAKE UP!" As Sasuke drifted in and out of sleep he faintly heard Naruto yelling at him.

"Hnn…" He groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

"IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP NOW I WON'T GET HINATA AND INO TO MEET UP WITH YOU AND TELL YOU WHO SAKURA MARRIED!"

Sasuke sat straight up and glared at Naruto. "Your lucky you can do that or you'd be dead for waking me up," he said, getting up and starting to make the bed. (Author: Sasuke is DEFINITELY NOT a morning person in this FF at least)

"It's not my fault you were pampered at Orochimaru's," Naruto whispered under his breath.

"What?"

"Just saying there's towels in the bathroom if you want a shower, but you have to hurry and leave within an hour if you want to meet Hinata and Ino in the forest outside Konoha to find out where Sakura lives and who she lives with," Naruto stated, emphasizing the last word. Shoving Sasuke's face in the fact that she wasn't living with him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," said Sasuke, walking unsteadily towards the bathroom.

In the shower Sasuke stared down at the floor, he closed his eyes, letting his tears mix with the water crawling from his hair down to his chin.

He came downstairs in time to almost be hit by a pancake. He watched it slide down the wall and looked over and saw Naruto trying unsuccessfully to flip another pancake in a skillet. He looked at the ceiling above Naruto and saw five or six pancakes glued to the ceiling. He sighed and sat at the table and started munching on some toast with plum jam on it.

"So where am I supposed to be meeting them?"

"On the Southeastern path about two miles down the road, to the right of the path they have camp set up but they won't set off until you get there."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, amazed that he had remembered all of that. He shook off the surprise and stared down at the plate Naruto had just set in front of him, it consisted a yellow substance that ran into a black substance which turned a green shade in the middle and in the middle of the plate was a medium-sized pancake that was burned but still had batter coming out of the middle. Sasuke pushed the plate away and stood up.

"I think I'll just eat some toast on the walk out there," he said grabbing four pieces of toast, though they were questionable burned and stood in front of Naruto. "Thanks, Naruto," he said, looking at Naruto, who, with his night cap on, looked ridiculous, especially with his Kakashi-sensei PJs. They had chibi pictures of Kakashi, with his headband off his eye and his usually uncovered eye closed, revealing that he had sharigan in his other eye. He held up an Icha-Icha Paradise book and read it with his sharigan eye.

"For what, Sasuke?" He looked at his with an eyebrow raised and a ridiculous, confused expression on his face.

"For everything," Sasuke answer and walked out of the room and then out of the house. As he got out onto the street, he looked back at the house. "Good luck, Naruto. I hope you and Hinata continue to be very happy together. I always knew you two would end up together. Even though you were so clueless." He turned away and began to walk down the streets towards the grand entrance/exit to the village.

As he walked down the road his thought automatically gears towards its usual subject: Sakura. As he was completely lost in thought, he didn't notice the kunai flying towards the back of his head until seconds before it was supposed to hit him, just enough time for him to jump to a tree branch and look for the attacker.

"SASUKE! YOUR LATE!" Ino yelled, appearing in the middle of the path and pointing an accusing finger at him. "NOW COME DOWN HERE AND GIVE ME ONE OF THOSE FAMOUS GLARES FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE!" she finished laughing. She wore her signature purple outfit, although the skirt was longer and the bandages went past her knees. She still wore her hair in a pony tale, but with more hair on both sides lining her thin face. She was about a foot and a half taller than before. Hinata came out of the bushes behind Ino a minute later.

"I-Ino, why are you attacking, S-Sasuke-kun," she inquired, in her usual soft voice. She hadn't change in the sense that she was still so shy. She had grown her hair out and it was now down to her lower back, her bangs sweeping to one side covering her right eye. She had traded in the baggy shorts for a knee-length skirt, resembling Ino's but a light blue that matched her eyes. She wore a shirt that hugged her form better than the coat she had worn before, with a netted shirt underneath. The top shirt, which had a V-neck and had no sleeves and was a deep shade of plum, while the net shirt underneath covered all the way up to the base of her neck and was a ¾ sleeve and had a dull grey background behind the thin black lines.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree and took in both their new appearances. "You two look like you've been doing good," he finally said.

"Yeah, well. It was a lot easy around the village without you there," Ino said harshly. She turned and trudged off the way Hinata had come.

"I'm s-sorry about Ino, Sasuke-kun," Hinata said gingerly as she started to walk after Ino with Sasuke by her side. "S-she changed after you left the village. I don't think she'll ever f-forgive you for what you d-did to…. S-sakura…" she said hesitating before she said the name she knew he would dread to hear.

They got to their campsite a few minutes lately, walking the remainder of the way in a silence that was only uncomfortable for Hinata who tried to think of something she could say to Sasuke or to Ino to calm her down.

As they sat around the fire that Hinata and Ino were cooking breakfast on Ino was the first to break the silence.

"So what's your sudden interest in Sakura, Sasuke?" she pried, but in an answer she merely received a shrug and a sigh. This only made her more agitated. Sensing this Hinata cut in before Ino could think of anything to say.

"Y-you know she m-married right, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke just looked away from Hinata and Ino towards the forest. He had tried to forget that she had given up hope on him returning and fallen in love with someone else.

"She lives in Suna with him now," Ino said, even more bitter than before.

"I know," was his only reply. He ignored the fact that she was angry with him and most likely hated him. It was okay; it was payback for all those years of her bothering him.

"Do you know who she married?" Ino said, already knowing the answer.

Sasuke glared at her, knowing that she knew that was the only reason he was there. "You know I don't. So, are either of you going to tell me who the guy is? Since you both just came from visiting her I guess you two know," he said, jealousy for them knowing and him not and anger at them for living dripping from every word.

"Gaara.." Hinata said timidly.

"What?" Sasuke said, not knowing if she had really said anything or not.

"Gaara…" She said, a little louder, put still just a whisper.

"I can't understand you," Sasuke said, getting annoyed by her shyness.

"Gaara.." she said, trying her best to speak louder, even though she knew her answer would only make his mad.

"You have to talk louder!" Sasuke said, trying not to get mad since this was his best friend's wife.

"Gaara!" she shrieked at him, standing up. She blushed and quickly sat down, realizing what she had done and buried her face into her hands, wishing the stump she was sitting on would just swallow her whole.

"G-Gaara!" Sasuke repeated. Not wanting to believe that the woman he loved would actual marry that sand demon.

Ino got up and walked toward Hinata, handing her a drink of water. "Don't worry, you deserve an outburst or two like that every two weeks or at least once a year." She glared at Sasuke who had grown suspiciously silent.

"H-how could she marry….him…" he said angrily to himself. " Why didn't she wait for me?"

"Oh! Maybe because it took you SIX YEARS to realize that you loved her!" Ino said heatedly.

"Where do they live?" Sasuke asked, staring down at the ground.

"Well, let's see," Ino started sarcastically. " He's was the Kazekage's son, but the Kazekage was murdered before the main Chuunin Exam fights, I wonder where the new Kazekage would live," she finished, but when she turned to yell at him some more, he was gone. "NOW THAT'S JUST RUDE, SASUKE!"

But Sasuke was already too far away to hear her complaining; he was jumping from tree to tree as fast as he could. Why couldn't she just wait for me like I thought she would? Why couldn't she just mourn over me leaving like I knew that the old her would? He thought as he entered the desert. He ran over the dunes and dips of the desert sand, hardly looking where he was going. He had gone on a raid to Suna four years ago with Orochimaru so he knew where the city stood. But he hadn't seen inside the city, he only knew that Kankuro had killed Kabuto there. No one had known he'd been on the raid because he had stayed outside the city gates with Orochimaru, studying how to lead a raid on a village and where to send ninja to attack.

He arrived at the gates and looked for the guards on duty. "I need to see the Kazekage, it's urgent," he said, when he spotted them and was asked what he wanted. He was lead to the Kazekage's house and allowed into the front room. He sat on the couch and tried to keep a relaxed face.

He looked up when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He saw someone wrapped in a silk robe with sakura flowers neatly stitched onto a silvery white background. The bright sunlight that shone through the ceiling-to-floor window that covered half the wall on one side of the room, shown off her thigh-length, light pink hair. Her creamy hands fiddled with a small amount of hair that hung in front of her shoulder. She moved across the room with such grace that Sasuke imaged she was an angel lightly flying through the room. She easily could've past as one, Sasuke thought. He shook his head of those thoughts they were completely unlike him. But when he opened his eyes again, the girl was gone. His heart was racing and his face was pale. Had she just been a dream? One of the illusions that had haunted his sleep and day dreams from his first night away from her and Konoha and every day since then? Could she have just been a cruel prank pulled by his subconscious' sick sense of humor? No, she was too real. She was different from what he had imagined.

His thoughts were disrupted by a voice. "The Kazekage is ready for you now," said a servant. He was lead down a long corridor that was lined with so many doors Sasuke didn't bother counting past five. He was finally allowed in the very last door in the corridor. The servant announced to the Kazekage that he had a visitor and then left the room quickly. Sasuke bowed and stayed bowed until the Kazekage told him to stand and have a seat in one of the two red leather chairs in front of his desk.

The Kazekage still hadn't turned his chair around. Sasuke took this time to examine the room. It was nothing like the Hokage's office. There were no papers in sight and the desk was simple and clean. He had a pencil holder that held various pens, some trays for papers that were finished and papers that still needed signed or looked over, the wall behind the desk was covered with filing cabinets with neat labels on all of them, he had a framed picture hanging on the wall of him and Sakura. She was dressed in a beautiful, silk kimono with a flower weaved into the place above her heart. She wore a simple headdress with a veil that trailed down her back. They stood hand in hand looking into each other's eyes. Gaara wore black and grey robes. Sasuke could tell that they had kissed after the photograph was taken by the way they stood and the way they looked into each other's eyes. He would have thought it was a lovely picture for the memory of a wedding if it hadn't been for the fact he was in love with the bride.

"You came to request a mission?" Gaara's monotone voice finally cracked the silence.

"I came to talk to you, Kazekage-same, but not for a mission," Sasuke replied, keeping in mind that Gaara was now the Kazekage, whether he liked it or not.

Gaara turned the chair halfway around and glared at Sasuke through the corner of his eyes. He half smiled and stood up. "What is it, Uchiha? Come to steal my wife from me?" He asked coldly, almost daring Sasuke to try.

Just then Sakura came through the door, wearing a simple red kimono with sakura flowers embroidered on the bottom and on the chest above her heart. "Gaara-kun, I brought you some tea and some toast with honey on it," Sakura said cheerfully pushing the door open and carrying a tray with two glasses, a pot of tea, and a plate of toast as she had said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had a guest. I'll just leave, Gaara-kun." She stated apologetically.

"No, Sakura-chan. You're welcome to come in, I think you would be pleased to talk to this guest," Gaara said soothingly.

"O-okay," Sakura said, slightly confused. She continued into the room, setting the tray onto the Kazekage's desk. She glanced up at the visitor and stopped in surprise, almost dropping the pot she was using to pour tea into the two empty glasses.

End of Chapter 2: Why Did You Come Back?

Short Ramblings! NOT AGAIN!

AAAAHHHH! I thought I was gonna die before I finished this chapter! I stayed up ALL night, switching between cleaning out house, searching for food, talking with my sister, and writing this thing. Most of the writers on here are right, it is better to write during the night. It helps you think, I guess. But it's some weird thing, I just put my hands on the keyboard and ……… now the sleep deprivation is getting to me! Chapter 3 coming soon, I hope. PLEASE give me feedback on whether you guys (and girls) really like this story or not! My sister says it's still really good (although she had to throw in that Sasuke a little OC every now and then) but she might be biased.

REVIEWS PLEASE! SO I KNOW IF MY SISTER IS RIGHT OR NOT! AND SO I CAN GET IT SO SHE'S NOT THE ONLY READING MY STORIES!