Warning: mild spoilers for manga chapter 416.

Note: inspired by a collaborative work of art entitled r a i n by innera and SasoriSama of deviantART.

Grey

Sakura found him at the village's west gate. He was sitting in the rain, completely soaked, staring numbly at the ground. Sakura was thoroughly wet as well, but at that moment, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but him.

She approached carefully, the pattering rain muffling her footsteps. He didn't look up when she reached him, so she knelt in front of him, scooted up close between his legs. Still he didn't look at her, but one of his hands curled loosely on her hip, reassuring her that some part of him was glad she was there, that some part of him was taking comfort in her presence and her warmth.

She put her hands up to his face, caressing his cheeks softly. He continued to look down, though his hand tightening marginally on her hip. Sakura kept her hands on his cheeks, expecting to feel his hot tears in contrast with the cool drops of rain, but she felt none. There was only the rain, turning the world into a palette of grey and numbing her exposed skin.

"Naruto," she whispered. Look at me.

He didn't answer. She watched as rain dripped from his hair to his face. To her it was a quiet mockery of his lack of tears, a minute testament that Sasuke's latest betrayal and attack had pushed Naruto's anguish so deep that Naruto was robbed of the ability even to express it. It was terrifying, this black hole Sasuke could draw Naruto into, this emptiness, this silence.

So Sakura would draw him out.

She put her lips on his, kissing him though he didn't kiss back, communicating how much it had hurt her too, how much she wanted to share this pain Naruto insisted on keeping to himself. And finally, finally, she felt Naruto begin to return the kiss as he pulled her closer than she thought she could be.

And then his tears came, sliding from his cheeks to hers, and Sakura knew there was still hope.