I'm excited to bring you the second new chapter of "The Eyes That See All, Except What Lies Within"! For those of you who didn't know, either because you're new to the story or because you weren't receiving author updates when I was only editing chapters, I've been revising this story for quite some time now, unsatisfied with the direction it was taking. I can now say that I feel much better about where the story is going. If you haven't read the revised chapters 1-7, and the new chapter 8, I strongly suggest that you do so before reading this, or you won't have any idea what's going on, lol. I haven't quite caught up to where I was in the story before I started revising, so there will still be some similar scenes on the horizon. However, the end result for this story will be completely different than what I had intended, and (I believe) much better. I hope you all stick with this story, despite the pace I had to take with it!

All characters, techniques, and terms belong to Masashi Kishimoto, creator of the Naruto Universe. The only rights I claim to this story are for the plot. Do not distribute this fic without my permission and proper credit.

"Who… is that?" Sakura asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion as she evaluated the newcomer.

The girl had silky brown hair and bright amber eyes. Not bright like those of a child– though she was young– bright with intelligence and confidence. Sakura could see in those eyes that she was mature beyond her years. They were eyes that knew suffering… eyes that knew death.

Eyes just like Sasuke-kun's…Sakura thought sadly.

She glanced back at Sasuke, waiting for his response, for some indication as to how she should act in the face of this intruder. He remained stoic; his dark orbs holding neither contempt nor comfort, only maintaining his trademark scowl. She knew that she wouldn't get anywhere attempting to decipher his impassive stare.

"Sasuke-kun," she prodded, again with no response.

In truth, he didn't know quite how to respond. In a way, he felt as though he had been caught cheating, except he didn't want anything to do with either one of them. Strangely, another part of him was glad for the interruption, glad that he had been freed from Sakura's hypnotizing stare. Above all others, his primary concern was getting back to the base without attracting any more attention. His mind worked furiously as he tried to work a way out of the situation. Mostly, he was only coming up with curses.

"Sasuke, what's going on?" Rykie asked, not to be left out of the interrogation.

"Answer my question first," Sasuke countered harshly, maintaining the pretense of control. "Why are you here?"

"I followed you, of course," Rykie answered flatly.

The way she answered was uncharacteristic of her. Her typical response was quick to please him, and this reply sounded less playful and more matter-of-fact. It was as though she was also attempting to appear in control. Sasuke gave a sidelong glance in Sakura's direction as he appraised this difference in character. He could only assume that the change was due to his former teammate's presence.

"I told you to stay back for the night," he said carefully.

"You said that Konoha would be on the lookout tonight," she returned. "In light of that, I thought you wouldn't go out until morning. I got curious when you got out of bed."

A hint of a smile crossed her lips as she continued. "Besides, when you left, you pulled the covers off of me, so I got cold."

He could tell that the latter comment was a direct attack at Sakura. Again, he glanced back at her to gauge her reaction. The comment hadn't missed its mark.

"Afraid to sleep alone in the dark?" Sakura quipped. "That's cute, maybe Sasuke-kun needs to buy you a nightlight to keep the ghosts away."

Don't do this, Sakura, Sasuke begged. Don't play her games…

"I don't think that's necessary," Rykie snapped. "A nightlight doesn't keep me warm like Sasuke does."

Although Rykie wasn't looking closely enough, Sasuke's keen vision noticed the hand at Sakura's side curl into a fist.

"Enough," he growled. With one last look towards Sakura, he turned on his heel and indicated their exit with a tilt of his head. "Rykie, we're leaving."

"You're going to run away again."

He stopped mid-stride. It wasn't so much what she said that surprised him as much as it was how she said it. It was no longer a question to her, as it had been only hours before. But she wasn't accusing him of cowardice, that he was afraid of being caught, afraid of the consequences.

You're afraid of me, was her unspoken challenge.

"Running away?" Rykie scoffed, misunderstanding the taunt. "Sasuke would never-"

"Who do you think you are?" He interrupted, though he didn't turn back around.

"I'd like to know the answer to that, myself," Sakura replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" His voice was steel.

Rykie observed cautiously apart from the argument, suddenly forgotten. And although that fact bothered her, it didn't bother her nearly enough to attempt to step in. As the spectator of a fight between cobra and mongoose, if she interfered with either, she would be eaten alive by both.

"Are you angry because you don't understand, or are you furious because you do?" Sakura pushed him further; tired of the game he'd been playing with her since he had returned. Only minutes earlier she'd been on the verge of tears because it seemed that he hadn't even seen her. Now she knew he was watching intensely, and more importantly, he knew that himself, and he couldn't stop.

Sasuke grit his teeth together despite his calm outward appearance.

She knows what she does to me, he thought, seething with rage.

Sakura was smart. At first she had fallen to Rykie's provocation, attempting to fight taunts with those of her own. Insulting Rykie would solve nothing, as long as Rykie believed that being with Sasuke meant she had already won. Now Sakura was on the cusp of victory because she changed the rules of the game.

But the loser of this game wasn't Rykie… it was him.

You're not the only one who can change the rules, though, Sasuke thought, restoring his calm.

"If you only knew how far off you are," he said, finally turning back to face her. "You'd like to know who you are to me? You're nothing."

"Show me, Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied.

"Show you? I already have, Sakura," he grinned. "Why do you think Rykie is here with me now?"

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. When she glanced away shamefully, Sasuke knew he had won. It had been one thing for Sakura to hear Rykie allude to a relationship, but hearing the same from Sasuke himself had broken her. She had no way to tell that it hadn't been truthful. He knew that he would have to deal with Rykie later because of it, but for the time being, it solved one of his problems.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Undoubtedly she would start crying, argue with him over something trivial and then finish with some accusation while he left her and his weakness behind once and for all.

"So that's it, Sasuke-kun?" She asked quietly, her face obscured by her pink tresses and bowed head.

"That's it," he confirmed, waiting for the tears.

If he hadn't been so sure she would give up, hadn't stood so calmly before her, completely certain that he was in control, that everything around him was his to manipulate, if he had given her even the slightest bit of respect for all the time they had spent together in the past, he may have seen it coming. He may have noticed the faint muscle tensions throughout her body. He may have sensed the calm anger in her voice. Hell, if he had held her in enough esteem to even observe her with his Sharingan, he may have discerned the chakra that gathered in her slowly clenching fist.

He didn't see a thing.

"Ugh!" A bookshelf splintered into hundreds of tiny slivers as his body broke through it. He fell forward on his face, barely catching himself with his arms to slow the fall. Blood matted his hair together as it seeped out of a gash behind his ear. He snapped his head back up angrily, Sharingan flaring to life as his Uchiha blood began to stir.

"Sasuke!" Rykie called out, turning so she could move to his side.

"Rykie move!" He yelled back.

She dropped to the floor just as Sakura's fist passed over her head and smashed into a post. The pole cracked, but didn't break. Evidence that Sakura had perfect control over the amount of chakra she released.

Rykie scrambled over to Sasuke as Sakura dropped back into a ready stance, watching Sasuke's every movement. She grabbed his right arm to help haul him to his feet, but he waved her off.

"That was a mistake," Rykie said, glaring at Sakura. "You don't want to make Sasuke angry."

"Trust me," Sakura returned, not even looking at her. "I know him better than you do."

"Heh," Sasuke smirked, getting to his feet. "That may be true, or it may not. In either case, I'm done here."

"You're letting her go?" Rykie demanded, suspicion creeping in the back of her mind.

"She's no threat to us," he said. "No one will even know we were here."

"What?"

"Isn't that right, Sakura?" Sasuke stared knowingly at his former teammate.

"Stop it, Sasuke-kun," she commanded. "Stop trying to play these games of yours. You don't control everyone, as much as you'd like to believe you do."

"Don't you understand that it's precisely because I do that you're standing where you are?" He returned. At her inquisitive glance, he continued. "I allow nothing in my world that I don't control. A lesson I learned the night my elder brother executed my entire clan and replayed it endlessly before my eyes. Every move I make is calculated. Precise. I'm here because Konoha was holding on to secrets of my birthright. You're here because you believe you can turn me away from revenge."

He gestured to the room around him.

"Look around you, Sakura. This building stands for the glory of my clan. A bright candle in a dark world, snuffed out in an instant by its own wax. Itachi must be destroyed," he clenched his fist, popping his knuckles. "And I'm the only one who can do it."

"You have no right to play with people's lives for something so selfish!" She said angrily.

"I'll do whatever it takes," he scowled. "I've made my choices. Now step aside."

"I can't beat you myself," she admitted after a pause. "But we'll find you, Sasuke-kun. No matter what hole you and your pet crawl into, we'll find you. We'll drag you back to Hokage-sama, lock you up, and then you'll be at the mercy of people with far less compassion than myself."

"Is that right?"

That same asinine smirk was plastered to his face, as though he knew something she didn't. She had learned over the years that, usually, that was exactly the case.

"You would do well to understand that I have no intention of showing that compassion to you when that day comes," she glared.

"Is that a threat?" His eyes narrowed with something that looked akin to either contempt or humor. "Or a promise?"

"For you, Sasuke-kun, it's both."

His smirk widened.

"Maybe there's hope for you after all."

With that, he turned and started walking away with Rykie at his side. It appeared as though their feet became inflamed, and as the fire traveled up their bodies, they disappeared, just as Sasuke had done with Orochimaru and Kabuto at their last meeting.

Sakura stared vacantly at the space where they had been, just before dropping to her knees and screaming.

"Damn it!" She cursed, slamming her fist into the floor.

Just when she had thought she figured him out, just when she was beginning to take his control away, he turned the tables with a twitch of his lips. As soon as she started pushing him, he disarmed her instantly.

Maybe there's hope for you after all…

What did he mean? She asked herself furiously. And just who was that girl? Did he mean what he said about her?

She had to consciously stop her hands from trembling. She was shaking with her jealousy. She was cold when he pulled the covers away? Sasuke kept her warm at night? How could it be true? She'd never seen Sasuke be anything but cold with any living person.

Why? She cried, covering her eyes with open hands as she knelt alone in the dark room. Why would you choose her, Sasuke-kun?

Had everything she'd seen in his eyes before that girl walked in been a lie? She had truly believed that she had seen compassion in that intense stare. He'd been staring through her… seeing everything that had changed within her since the day he left. Was it really just her imagination? Was it all a lie?

This isn't another genjutsu, is it? She had asked.

He had swallowed involuntarily. "No."

His voice was hoarse. His smoldering onyx eyes burned holes into her jade orbs. She felt like she knew everything he was feeling, every raw emotion laid out before her. She felt his desire… and yet, she felt something holding him back.

Was it her? Sakura suddenly thought. The girl was admittedly pretty. Curvaceous, confident, coy, everything Sakura had been told every guy wanted.

No… she thought. This is different. Sasuke is different. I know what I saw in his gaze.

Sasuke didn't hold her stare for more than a moment the entire time Rykie was in the room. She was right before. He was afraid of her. Afraid of what her presence did to him. Afraid of losing himself… his purpose. It was all a lie. An act.

He claimed to control everyone around him, and maybe he did understand what forces and desires drive humans to the point that he could accurately predict what they would do and account for that. Maybe in that sense, he did control them.

But he can't control himself, Sakura thought. And that's what scares him most of all.

He didn't care for Rykie any more than he did for her, perhaps even quite a bit less. She felt sorry for the girl, who undoubtedly had no idea what had happened.

His crimson eyes could see everything before them, but nothing of what lied within.

It felt like hours before Sasuke returned from his long walk. Rykie waited as patiently as she could while he trekked across the Uchiha grounds stealthily, spreading his scent around so that a ninja hound would know only that he had come to the clan district, but wouldn't have any idea where he went from there. He walked slowly all over the yards, then quickly made his way back to the hideout jumping from tree to tree, only landing for the briefest moment to get his bearings for the next jump. By the time he returned, she was practically bubbling over with anxiousness.

"Sasuke, who was that?" She asked, jumping up from her seated position as soon as he swung down from the roof.

He stared at her blankly for a moment, then walked past her inside.

"No one."

He felt triumphant. Free. Before Rykie had got there, he had been afraid that he was getting sucked into those big emerald eyes. He couldn't stop her from reaching out to him, couldn't stop himself from enjoying it. But the brief interruption Rykie had given him allowed him to seize his volition and finish this whole business once and for all. Sakura thought he was with Rykie, thought that he was after nothing more than the skin-deep pleasures she could bring. She would give up. He had won.

Just one day, he reminded himself. Tomorrow, I will search for the shrine that the scroll I found in the police station mentioned, and then I'll leave Konoha. If I don't find it by nightfall, I'll leave anyway. Itachi's death is only days away.

"No one?!" Rykie interrupted his thoughts. "You think I'm going to buy that after all that just went on? Who was she? A classmate? An old girlfriend? Past lover? Just how young were you when you left the village?! I didn't even think that was possibl-"

"Rykie," he snapped. "Drop it."

He moved on ahead of her, leaving her to consider the situation herself.

No one? She scowled. Yeah, right. You can play your innocent card all you like for now, Sasuke. But you'll drop that tonight, for sure! It doesn't matter who that girl was, because I'm going to win!

Well, that's it for this chapter! I hope to have another one up soon! Sakura has finally realized just what she is to Sasuke, and she'll work hard until he realizes it himself! What's going to happen to Rykie? Who knows?! Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of DRAGON BALL - err... nevermind.

Again, this chapter took longer than the other rewrites because, as all of you who read the first run can tell, it's completely different from the old chapter 9. The story is now going in a completely new style. You'll see some familiar situations in the next couple chapters, but after that, everything will be completely new!

Thanks again for your time and support! If there are any grammatical mistakes or otherwise, please let me know. If you have the time, leave a review! I personally respond to all reviews, and would love to hear what you think! If you like where it's going or hate it, please let me know . I know I can't please everyone, but it would help a lot if I knew what everyone felt while reading!

Thank you all, I hope to update soon!