A/N: So, the ending is lame but I am tapped out at the moment. And yes, I know I haven't updated but it's my senior year and I'm dying here. haha. So enjoy what I've come up with for now :) It went in a completely different direction than I had originally planned...

Disc: And as usual, Naruto does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters that have been used in this drabble :p

"It hurts, it hurts!" The screams were deafening.

One hand fisting the red shirt on her chest, she screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed. Tears ran down her face in an explosion of emotion, sobs wracking her frame, the knees of her black shinobi-issue spandex pressed deeply into the soft dirt underneath her. She pounded the ground with a fist and hit a rock, its jagged edge cutting into her pinky. She hissed, groaning and tore herself off the ground, stumbling forward. She let out another scream, "Oh Kami, it hurts!"

There was nothing around- no one. It was just her, the earth and the sky. The birds had flown noisily out of the trees with her first earsplitting shriek. The trees and the grass were swaying in the wind of the oncoming thunder storm. It whistled through the long grass, blowing stray pieces about. Her hair blew across her tear stained face, sticking to the rivers on her cheeks and going into her mouth. She let out a moan of despair and she removed the hair from her face before collapsing back onto the ground.

And then the rain finally came.

It was light at first, sprinkling her clothes, speckling her eyelids. Her rosette locks grew heavy with water. She turned her face to the sky and it began to pour, the rain drops pounding down, washing her clean. She let out a breathy sigh of misery, swallowing a heaving sob. Green eyes blinked up at the clouds, closing every few seconds against the rainfall. The dirt around her began to turn to mud and she dropped her hands in it, pushing her fingers deeply into the earth.

Another thunderous scream shook the valley.

Seconds later, a head of water darkened yellow hair appeared along the trees. Blue eyes centered on the collapsed figure in the grass and the frown on his lips deepened. His hands began to shake, eyes began to water.

"Sakura-chan?"

She didn't respond, didn't hear, just dropped her face from the sky. Other than the brief motion, she seemed lifeless.

He moved quickly, speed a subconscious benefit. His own pants were becoming darker, his orange shirt sticking to his skin, his muscles rubbing against the wet material. He bent down in the mud, not touching her. He brought his eyes up to hers.

"It hurts," She said, her small top teeth worrying her bottom lip, "Naruto, it really hurts."

His hand moved up, brushing wet strands of hair from her forehead as the rain continued to fall, "Nani?"

"I feel like my heart is breaking."

"I feel it, too," His voice cracked.

"I'm just so sad…and empty. I don't even have the comfort of hope."

His arms came around her, pulling her through the sodden earth surrounding them and into his embrace. Their tears began to mix together. Their pain was the same, they both suffered, they both hurt.

"He's safe now Sakura-chan."

"Safe?" She asked, her muddy hands clawing at his chest. Her cracked lips moved furiously, "Safe?!"

"Hai," Naruto answered quietly, tears still slipping down his cheeks, the skin marred with whisker scars, "Safe. Safe from the pain he constantly suffered. The pain his pride made him think he needed to hide, safe from the ridicule, the betrayal. He's fucking safe now. Safe from hate and rage and sorrow. Safe from the disgust he felt for himself when he realized what he had done! What he had become! Death healed him, Sakura-chan. Death saved him."

"Death saved him? Death healed him? No! Death took him from us!" She spat, pushing away from the pained Uzamaki, "Death stole him away! We could have saved him, we could have kept him safe! He needed us, Naruto! He needed us and we weren't there!"

She stood up, water dripping off of her, mud caked on her clothes. Her expression was a mixture of pain and fury. Her eyes were dark and teary, hands fisted into lethal balls.

"Sakura!"

She turned and began to run back to the village, breaking trees and cracking earth as she went. She was fast when she was pissed, and Naruto slid to his feet and took off after her, knowing that unless he used the kyuubi he wouldn't be able to catch her.

She was going to kill someone. And it would probably be Danzo, the old fool. But he wasn't worried about Danzo. He was worried about Sakura. Killing Danzo would turn the elders against her, she would be put away, possibly executed.

His feet beat down on the wet ground as he jumped to avoid broken chunks of muddy earth. The rain was beating down on him, but he had to stop her. He entered the village- the gate was cracked. Not a good sign. The guards were tense, staring off into the distance.

"Do we attack?" The guard's voice was loud to be heard over the pouring rain.

"That was Sakura-san."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know."

He moved quickly, towards the ROOT base. Water was dripping into his eyes and he quickly wiped at it. His heart was racing as he moved his hands in to the position to create a shadow clone. It popped up before him, nodding at him and racing off towards the Hokage's tower. It would get Baa-chan. He could see her pink, dripping hair up ahead. She disappeared into the building, glowing with angry chakra.

"Sakura-chan!"

He burst through the door, tense and ready to take whatever blow she was about to lay on Danzo. She was standing by a table and Danzo was seated at the end of it, sneering at her. Her hands were glowing green, and though he knew she could heal with them, they could also be deadly. Cutting nerve endings, paralyzing, messing up sensitive capillaries and veins.

"You are a piece of shit," She hissed, leaning into his face, "How dare you?"

"He was a defect and he needed to be dealt with," Danzo said calmly, looking at her cooly, "I did what was best for Konoha."

She laughed, the sound was empty and brittle. "You did what you needed to do to cover up your bullshit! Your lies and your hypocrisy and your conspiracies!"

"You could never prove that," He smiled.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto's voice was quiet, hesitant.

She didn't turn, kept her eyes on Danzo, "I was wondering when you'd say something."

"You can't kill him," Naruto said slowly.

"Oh, yes I can."

"No," Danzo spoke, his eyes crinkling, "You can't."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Naruto growled, annoyed that the man had the nerve to even speak, "You're a liar and you deserve to be killed in the most painful way possible. You deserve to have every part of your body stripped of skin. I want to kill you myself. But I can't. And she can't either. Because it will ruin her. Just like killing Itachi ruined Sasuke."

"That boy had no family, no loyalty and no one needed him around. He was a traitor. Uchiha Sasuke was nothing," Danzo spat, his eyes darkening.

Sakura moved faster than Naruto could and she had her hands around Danzo's neck before he could blink. She stared into his face as she lifted him off the ground, "Sasuke wasn't nothing, you worthless old man. Sasuke was more than you could ever be. He was cared for. He was loved. Sasuke was loyal, unlike you! He was part of our team. Part of this village. We were his family. And you took him from us! You executed him while we were away because you were a coward! You have always been a coward! You disgust me."

A moment passed and Tsunade stepped silently into the room, her eyes taking in the situation, small worry wrinkles forming around the purple diamond on her forehead. She frowned, eyes catching Naruto's for only a second before her lips opened, "Sakura."

Sakura just gripped Danzo's neck tighter and squinted her eyes at him as he gasped for air, "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"As much as it pains me to do this, I'm ordering you to put Danzo down."

"I can't," Sakura's voice was just empty. Naruto whimpered.

"I refuse to allow you to do this. I will not have you in one of my prisons, Sakura. Put him down and I will deal with him."

"How could you let him give the order? You're the Hokage. You are. How could you let him take Sasuke from us? It hurts, Tsunade-sama. It hurts."

"I know," Tsunade whispered, taking a step forward, "I know it does."

Sakura flinched, but squeezed a little tighter, her fingernails cutting into the skin on Danzo's neck. Little bubbles of blood began to form and trail down his neck and onto his clothing.

"Baa-chan…" Naruto mumbled.

"I didn't know about the order, Sakura. I didn't know about the execution."

"How could you not know?" Her hands gripped a little tighter, she could feel Danzo's struggling wind pipe beneath her fingers. His life was in her hands…literally.

Another person stepped into the room and a dark voice clearly said one word, "Sakura."

She froze. Her fingers went limp and she dropped Danzo on the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Sasuke?"

Naruto turned at the same time Sakura did, and they both stared. He stood there, eyes dark, hands in his pockets, shoulders straight.

"But…you're supposed to be dead," Danzo hissed.

"I didn't know, but I was able to stop it in time," Tsunade's voice was low, her eyes hard as she looked at Danzo.

"You're here," Sakura's eyes locked with Sasuke's, then Naruto's, then Sasuke's again. "You're really here."

"Alive," Naruto's voice was low.

Outside, the rain began to slow and the sun peaked out from behind the gray clouds. The sun caught Sakura's green eyes and she watched as it stretched to be seen. Slowly, a smile slipped upon her lips. And she felt hope.