Scream

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its characters or the forest.

Sakura, in her naïve heart of hearts had always imagined Sasuke's return to Konoha as something joyous, something that would be celebrated. Instead, he had been greeted by ANBU squad leaders and taken directly to the Hokage's office where he was given a punishment that most of Konoha believed to be too lax: 500 hours community service, no missions for 5 years and he could never become an ANBU or more than a genin. Of course, why shouldn't the punishment be that? He was a traitor after all.

However, she had also imagined that after coming back (that meant having completed his ambition) that he would be happier and yet, here she was met with an even more miserable Sasuke than the one that had left Konoha years ago. He had killed Itachi – done what he'd wanted to do – so why was he still like this?

To some extent, Sakura understood the kind of trauma that he must have gone through and obviously killing a member of your family was not something many could do but he had wanted it for so long and it had finally happened; he'd done what he'd set out to do, he'd come back and his friends were still there for him; so why wasn't he happy? Why wasn't he satisfied? Why did he look so unfulfilled, so empty?

Deciding to do more than just watch him waste his life and emotions on the hatred, anger, pain and disgust that seemed to consume him, she walked over to his lone figure and motioned for him to follow her.

He was generally a hard guy to persuade and did not like following others, preferring to be the leader himself but it was nearly nightfall and most of the citizens of Konoha were safely tucked away in their beds, unable to witness a momentary lapse in Uchiha pride.

Curiosity got the better of him and he sped up in order to walk beside her; walking behind her would have been degrading to him, implying that he was inferior to this girl and in his mind, that was definitely not the case. He could not walk in front of her because alas, he did not know the place to which they were headed.

After walking in silence for almost an hour, Sasuke couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"

He was met with a reply shortly after: "We're here," Sakura told him.

Here? Where was here exactly? Sasuke didn't see anything special, just an isolated field of grass surrounded by hundreds of trees. They'd been walking for a while at a pretty fast pace, so they were miles away from the residential area of Konoha, out of hearing distance, he noted. What the hell was going on here? What was Sakura trying to pull? Was she going to hurt him, get her revenge on him for leaving?

"Ok…where exactly is here and what are we doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, here is a secluded forest owned by the Haruno clan. I brought you here because I think you need to get away."

"Get away? But I just came back…do you not want me to stay?"

She laughed at his shock and worry. "No Sasuke, I meant that I think you needed to get away from the city, from all those people. You just need to let it all out, what you're feeling. I don't think you've ever done that, have you?" She didn't pause to acknowledge a nod of his head, "It's not good to keep things bottled up, you know that? It just leads to intense agony, hurt and anger; it leads to you feeling completely overwhelmed and suffocated by these terrifying emotions, like drowning in a pool of darkness."

Sasuke looked at the sixteen-year-old girl before him and couldn't believe his ears. Sakura was always smiling, the happy one. He had no idea that she thought of such deep and dark things.

Her gaze was fixated on the night sky filled with stars and she did not notice his eyes peering at her intently through the darkness. Instead she just continued talking, almost as if she was the only one there.

"Sasuke, just scream and let it all out," it was more of an abrupt command than a request and Sasuke did not like to be commanded.

"Hn," he replied, not consenting but not opposing either. The answer to her command was in the silence that still blanketed them.

"It's ok," she told him, "you don't have to worry about what I'll think. I used to do this quite often, especially after both you and Naruto left. Here, I'll even go first."

Sakura let out a frustrated, angry, powerful scream that echoed for minutes after she'd ended. Once the echoes died down, and no one had come running to see what was going on, Sasuke knew that indeed the area was completely isolated and was brought out of his thoughts only when Sakura emitted another angry scream. He looked at her, Sharingan red eyes wide in amazement that such a loud noise was coming from such a small young woman.

He watched as she screamed again and again, adding incoherent words towards the end and he only caught one; Sasuke-kun.

Nearly hoarse, Sakura turned to him. "Go on. Scream. Just let it all out." And with those words, she gave him permission to do the one thing he had always needed to.

His scream was even more powerful than hers, the baritone of his voice adding to the shocks sent through the earth and trees.

He screamed for his stupidity, for his family's death; he screamed for everyone leaving him and feeling so alone, for letting himself become corrupt; he screamed in anger for not knowing what was truly important in life and how the power he sought out meant nothing; he screamed his frustration that he killed the one person that wanted to help him escape from the power-hungry, corrupt, bastardly confines of the Uchiha clan, the one person who had tried to show him where true power lay and what was important.

And then Sasuke screamed some more, in recognition of all those he had hurt and killed, of all those who had sacrificed their happiness for his, for those who really mattered. It was like an apology to all those people, the shocks sent through the ground by his screaming sure to reach them in their sleep tonight; to let them know of what an idiot he had been and how sorry he was.

All the while, Sakura watched him with a ghost of a smile on her face. She was truly grateful that he had listened to her this one time, that he'd done something he'd desperately needed to do. Towards the end of his screaming – which was signified by panting breaths and sweat beads forming on his forehead – Sakura joined him for one final, united, earth-shattering scream. Under the force of their voices the trees swayed dangerously, the ground beneath them seemed to crack and the blades of grass gave a high pitched whistle in protest. For the two of them, this hour filled with screams and pain had relieved their mind and body of the stress it had been under for so long. Together, their screams seemed to form a bond, entwining to become one.

Sakura and Sasuke, tired and with voices hoarse, collapsed back into the field and gazed up at the bright, twinkling stars. Both of them were thinking how good it felt to be released of all that was ailing them and they remained silent, relaxing as a gentle breeze brushed by. Neither could have imagined such a peaceful moment for the life of a shinobi was always tainted with murder and power, missions and hate. There was always too much to think about, to worry about and right now, they both needed this inner peace that seemed to perfectly reflect their serene surroundings. It was almost as if the area had chanted the mantra 'Think happy thoughts' until they had both caved in.

The scene was reminiscent of when they had gone on a mission at age 12 with the rest of Team Seven and had ended up sleeping under the stars. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi had immediately gone to rest but Sakura had stayed up, goofy grin on her face, to marvel at the stars and how brightly they shined, how everything seemed so much more magical and peaceful now that she was with her friends. At the time, Sakura believed that the moment would hold an unparalleled serenity and comfort for her, but the moment she was currently in was giving the past a run for its money.

Two regular people, in an irregular situation, had decided to put down their katanas, kunais, exploding tags and fists, as well as their differences, to enjoy once again, a soothing moment as friends.

Sasuke had really appreciated her concern and gesture but was definitely not an expressive person. Generally no kind words rolled off his tongue, no smiles flowed from his lips and no expression was held in his eyes.

However, he had considered what she'd done something special, something that deserved merit, so he gave her the distinct pleasure of receiving all three forms of compliment from him.

First there were the eyes; he looked over at her as she smiled serenely and as she noticed his looking at her, she turned her head to look at him quizzically.

Next came the words: "T-th-t" Ok, so it seemed like they weren't going to be coming out of him anytime soon so he found something else to say, "I appreciate it." He had said those words rather roughly but Sakura knew that they held true meaning and when she saw the slightest hint of a smile play on his lips, she gave back a light grin.

Normally she would have teased him for letting go of his pride and pulling down his façade for a moment but tonight seemed too serious and calm for something like that so she settled on something more fitting for the moment, "No problem. It's fairly normal you know, to try and help the people you love," and with that said she turned her eyes back to the stars.

Nothing more was said but somehow Sakura knew that Sasuke got the message and Sasuke knew that he was finally beginning to see that value of having Sakura as a friend and how maybe, just maybe, one day she'd be able to bring him that happiness she'd promised.