Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Outpours

By: caelizar

Chapter 2

He looked upwards and watched the sky overhead grow dim, a slight rumble of thunder sounded and echoed through the ashen clouds. It wasn't soon before raindrops began pelting his face.

Naruto drew an umbrella open, and in a few seconds rain poured like hell and everything within sight blurred under its torrents.

He was moving swiftly through a thick forest, taking advantage of the few minutes that the resting storm will spare him. Konoha was now covered in mist and moss, a wrong turn of foot could lead to disaster. One needs to be careful, but Naruto however, increased the chakra in his soles for more hold, speeding up as the forest clearing finally revealed the giant doors of his village.

He passed through the gate without much ceremony, still keeping his pace, only stopping to signal the guards who had looked at him as if he was some ghost back from the dead.

A chilly draft stung his hands and his face, causing him to curse under his breath. Forgetting to put on a thicker jacket was one big mistake, and Naruto noticed it's seriously getting colder. I better get home fast, he whispered to himself, and hastily shoved the mission scrolls into his kunai holster. He turned around and hurriedly made his way through the rain.

Then the freezing wind started to blow stronger, it hissed through the air, and Naruto felt as if it was trying to pry the umbrella off from his fingers. And he knew that struggling was futile; the umbrella flew easily away before him just when his apartment was a few roofs away.

Argh! Shit! No! He ran after it.

"Damn, can't see anything…", his eyes blinked to keep vision.

He ran through an empty street, water sloshed around his ankles as he did. Minutes passed and still no sign of his umbrella, or even anyone for that matter.

And then at last, he spotted a lone figure not far from him.

Hey! He waved his hands. Naruto could see through the rain that whoever that was, that person was holding his umbrella. Must have caught it when it was blown away from him. He ran forward.

Hey! Thanks! He continued to shout through the loud pattering of raindrops.

Hey!

And he sped closer only to be stopped.

Surprise.

Surprise…

It was a girl.

A girl with that unmistakable pink hair he was so familiar with, whose pair of green eyes where now wide in shock.

And in a few quick (angry?) strides, she shortened the distance between them.

…

A resounding slap was heard, but was immediately muted by the harsh rattle of rainfall. However it did nothing to ease the sore on his left cheek. His face frozen in shock as he brought his hand to touch the stinging whiskered spot on his face.

Pain.

Rain.

And time seemed to stop along with everything else. As if the whole world just gave into a halt. That was how it felt for him.

And only one thing continued.

Hard cold rain.

Naruto lifts his eyes at the pale beautiful girl before him. Though the rainwater on Sakura's face hid it, he knows she is crying. Both their umbrellas now lay in the flood of water by her feet.

And then…

Just like that quick sharp slap...

"DON'T YOU JUST STAND THERE UZUMAKI NARUTO! SAY SOMETHING! Say... something... say... anything..." She sobbed between words, her eyes shut tight, fighting back the tears.

It's the first time he hears her voice again.

It really felt difficult to say anything now.

But what could he say? Tell her that he left so that he could forget? Tell her that she was the very reason he left? And confess how everything was a stupid cowardly plan because all he can think about is her, day in, day out? What? Confess to her that she is everything to him but he'll step back for Sasuke because he's the one that makes Sakura happy? And her happiness is all that matters?

No. He can't just blurt out those. It's all too sappy and cliché. The kind that only happens in the movies...

And so now, he really felt he was an idiot, for a loud mouth ninja who said he never gives up.

And he knows that all he ever wanted to do was to rush forward and hold her and tell Sakura to stop crying. But he stood still. It seemed that the ankle-deep water chained him to the ground.

What now?

He breathed out the air he was holding far too long.

And with resolute look on his face, he moved towards and took her by surprise by scooping her up to carry her. Naruto is going to do the only logical thing that's running through his mind. Sakura's getting drenched, he needs to take her home. A few hand seals and both disappeared.

Uzumaki Naruto had finally come home. It had been eight months… and two years.

Author notes:

Writing outpours had become much of a surprise for me, I intended for a one-shot, but that seems impossible... and the readers to give me reviews... it fattens my heart... yes, so plenty of surprises... Especially this second part which I have wrestled with for many many nights and days... half-decent drafts after another... so elusive... I can simply hope it wouldn't take me as long to write the final chapters. Until then... Thank you everyone!