Chapter 11: "Back Home?"

The exam room's bright lights hurt Sasuke'sSauce's eyes. He have been was waiting for over an hour to be seen by a professional leaf-medic. "Tell me why I am here, Naruto."

"Tsunade can help you, and hopefully explain the memory loss," answered Naruto, "Don't think about running again, Kakashi-sensei is waiting outside.

The Uchiha continued to stare at the pristine white walls, ignoring the male in the room. This was very becoming frustrating; he didn't need any of this. These people couldn't understand he was working on a deadline; some girl's life depended on him.

The room stayed quiet until a middle-age busty woman enter, "Welcome back Uchiha, once again you have caused me a big headache. I have important people telling me I should throw your ass in a cell for breaking your probation."

Sasuke's eyebrows somewhat rose, clearly he didn't understand what was happening. He was beginning regret coming to this place.

"Baa-chan, that wasn't his fault!" Naruto was trying his best to reason with Tsunade. "Look at him; he can't remember who he is."

"Calm down, I am only telling all the mess you have caused me;" retorted the Fifth. "Clearly you are an unreliable witness; not to mention you are in the early stages of withdraw."

Sasuke stared at her for stating the obvious. "Judging by the marking and bruises on your arms and necks, these people were not very nice to you. What you need right now is a secured room with proper medical care. Detox is a bitch, Uchiha."

"I don't have time for that, finding this girl will help me discover who I was;" coldly replied Sasuke, "Just give me something that will buy me time."

"Some things never changes," she handed him a small kit, "Take this once every six hours, is a temporary fix, but it should work."

"Thanks," responded Sasuke, "How about the other thing?"

"With more time, it might be a possibility." Tsunade had never seen such a complex formula. With any luck with this coming mission, her elite jounins would retrieve the mad scientist's notes and all could be returned.

"Be prepared to leave in one hour, find my apprentices and brings these murderers to justice," ordered Tsunade, "I can't have them tying up valuable resources anymore."

"Thanks, Baachan! You won't regret sending us," responded Naruto with enthusiasm that made the other individuals roll their eyes.

"You're right, I am sending Kakashi, Anko, and Genma also," retorted the Fifth Hokage, "Each have experiences useful to this mission."

Naruto was annoyed, "Do we really need that many babysitters, me and teme could take them all on, with one hand behind the back?"

"I will not underestimate the enemy; they took two of our own right from under our noses;" yelled Tsunade, "Too many mistakes have already been made. Don't you agree Sasuke?"

The raven-hair ninja shrugged his shoulders, he was hearing this all for the first time. What was important to him was he was finally on his way to finding Sakura.

----

As they headed to the gate, Naruto noticed all their friends and former teachers gather at the gate to wish them good luck.

"We knew you were short on time, and took the liberty of packing your equipment," softly spoke Ino. She walked over to Sasuke and gave him a quick slap across the face.

"What the hell was that for!" yelled Sasuke as he rubbed his left cheek.

"Someone should have told you never go with strangers you idiot." A small smile crept on Ino's lips, "Just promise me..."

The onyx eyed boy walked away before Ino finished her sentence. Flashes of new memories flooded his head and he couldn't be distracted.

"Are you sure this isn't the old Sasuke," openly joked Tenten, "He still just as emo, but he is going to be okay, I mean look at his arms."

"You have to admit, never a dull moment when Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are around." Kiba was still cracking jokes at everyone else's expense. "It just puts us all to shame."

His former sensei smacked the back of his head to shut him up, "Sorry, sometimes that boy doesn't when to shut up. So where are you guys headed."

"A small village outside Mist, where is where my informant died. Not much, but it's a start." answered Kakashi. "Let's go, we have lots of ground cover and a time table."

"Seven days to be exact," replied Sasuke, "Then its game over for both of us."

The entire group stopped talking and stared at the direction of the lone ninja, "What do you mean Uchiha?" asked Anko.

"You bastard, why didn't you mentioned this in Suna, we wasted precious time," screamed Naruto.

"You saw the note, it's not my fault I just remembered;" countered Sasuke. "That annoying blonde reminded me of something."

"What?" asked Ino. "Is it about Sakura?"

Sasuke took a moment before answering, "I remember hearing rain, it never stopped I would listened it for hours. That is the place we need to be."

"Wow, that's really narrows the search area!" sarcastically mocked Kiba, as he quickly ducked before he received another warning.

Before another augremenargument t could erupt, Kakashi and Genma pulled Naruto through the gates, while Sasuke followed behind.

--

It was strange how the road ahead looked so familiar. His loud mouth companion droned on about every adventure the trio had. The lone Uchiha survivor noticed Naruto was selective in the stories he told, especially

Night had fallen and the team agreed to rest for the night, they needed to discuss their options. Sasuke mentioned they had seven days to rescue Sakura. If Kakashi's calculations were correct it would take them about five days to reach the Village of the Hidden Rain. What frustrated the copy nin was the unknown factors. When Sasuke's memories slowly retuning, the plan was always in a state of change; even if they found her, he didn't know what help the Uchiha would be.

Naruto agreed to gather wood for the fire, while Anko and Genma set up the tents. Kakashi kept watched, and finally had the chance for a one-on-one talk with his former protégé.

"So what's like hearing about yourself from other perspectives?" asked the copy-nin.

Sasuke ignored the question, and instead chose to focus on his daily injections. What he didn't like seeing was all the needle marks that decorated both his arms.

Kakashi chuckled, this was going to be a one-sided conversation, this boy had no interested the past. For once in his life, the lone Uchiha was focused on his future.

Changes his tactics, he started questioning once more; "What makes you think your heading in the right direction?"

"I listen very well; Sakura described everything about her abduction." Sasuke didn't hesitant his answer, "Kakashi-sensei, sometimes, I see flashes of a life that could be mine, but…" His voice trailed off.

Kakashi stood up and gave Sasuke a genuine smile, "Don't push yourself to hard; things have a ways coming through when they are needed." He handed Sasuke the journal, "Maybe this will help jog your memory. Good Night, Sasuke."

The young Uchiha held the journal in his hand; he was tired of hearing second hand stories. Even though he didn't spent much time in Konoha; Sasuke had the distinct impression most of the villagers believed him to unstable.

The sharingan master laid on his back staring at the night time sky, for some reason this was very calming. His eyes started feeling heavy and quickly the darkness swept him away.

Sasuke's dream

It was the second time he dreamed about the cell he was being held it. The other occupant huddled close to him for body heat. She wasn't dressed for this weather; Sasuke absent-mindedly twirled her hair trying to get her to relax.

"Tell me about our homeland," timidly asked Sakura, "Or anything I'm just so scared." She found comfort in his presence, and believed him about who she was.

Sasuke tried to think about something pleasant the pair had done, but he never gave the old Sakura the time of day. "I was a real jerk to you, I thought of you as some crazy fangirl, but you were always there for me. One time I lost my focus and let that idiot stab me. At the hospital you made me wait all afternoon without any pain medication, to teach me not to be so arrogant about my abilities."

Sakura raised her head to stare at Sasuke, that didn't seem to be very nice, "Did it work, Sasuke?"

He shook his head indicating no, "Both of us are stubborn people, we didn't speak for two weeks until Naruto made us eat ramen together." Sakura smiled, but none of this sounded familiar.

Scene Change…

"Wake up Sasuke, their coming…" Sakura quivered in fear, "I overheard them, please don't let them take me."

Sasuke tried to rise to his feet, but all the drugs slowed his reaction time. "Sakura hide in the corner, and don't move until I tell you. Understand."

Knowing his strength was limited; he chose to take a more defensive stance. The onyx-eyed boy knew he couldn't afford one mistake; he had something very important to protect. As his eyes bled to red, Sasuke felt his strength decrease by half.

The first guard rushed the door, and Sasuke had no problem knocking them unconscious. Sasuke was a master at tai-jutsu and second rate lackeys were not going to get the best of him. Unfortunately, the twosomes were a distraction as a small round canister rolled into the room. The poisonous gas filled the room, and within seconds both Sakura and he were out cold.

Chained to the wall, Sasuke regain his bearing and quickly noticed his counterpart was missing, "Where the hell is she? I swear you hurt her, I will make you death a painful as possible…"

Sasuke winced slightly as he felt a hard punch to the torso, "Stupid, boy! Tried to kill us," taunted one of his captors. "The boss thinks you need to learn you place." The men show no mercy, as they used the Uchiha like their own personal punching bag."

"It's a shame we can't kill you, but we can make it hurt a lot."

Sasuke shaken awake by one of his comrade, apparently he had been yelling in sleep.

"Hey Teme are you alright," Naruto didn't hide the concern in his voice.

"Fine," replied a dull Uchiha, as he accepted a water canteen from Anko.

Gemna was the first to speak, "What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke made no effort to talk, instead took his time at steadying his breathing. Just like a light switch, everything made since. "Nice to see you again, dope."

AN: I know it has been more than awhile. I decided to rewrite parts of the story, since I couldn't remember where this was going. I am going to try and finish this in two or three more chapters. I would love to hear feedback.

Thanks.

Rae.