Sakura was breathless as she ran. Cold air clouded her lungs, tightening her chest and making it difficult to breathe. The leaves crunched beneath her feet, the sound echoing with her pounding footsteps. She reached out with her chakra, feeling for the signs of battle up ahead. She felt nothing. Just silent emptiness. That made her heart sink even further.

The way to Konoha was so deeply etched into her heart, that her feet flew on auto-pilot. She barely felt the cold wind against her cheeks of the prickles of leaves against her arms as she rushed past them. Her mind raced with all the possible scenarios happening in Konoha. She didn't want to imagine devastation, but her mind took her there immediately. She could just see it: Konoha crumbled to the ground, nothing but ash and dust.

She swallowed the dryness in her mouth and pressed herself harder, running until her feet felt like they'd crumple beneath her. For just one second, she allowed herself to stop and catch her breath. She needed to make sure that Kabuto wasn't still following her anyway, so now was as good a time as any to try to give him the slip and take a break.

She jumped to a wide tree branch, her sandals crunched against the bark. She listened hard, trying to ignore her heart hammering in her chest. She could hear nothing. She couldn't sense Kabuto's chakra at all anymore, nor Sasuke's or anyone else's. Her eyes scanned through the trees, but everything was still.

Taking deep breaths, Sakura leaned back against the tree trunk. She closed her eyes, trying not to let panic brim up in her chest. It was dangerous to walk into a situation like this with a clouded mind, so she tried to clear her thoughts and come up with some strategies for every different scenario.

It didn't exactly work. Instead, she kept wanting to cry. It made her angry that she couldn't control her emotions, but instead of fretting about it, she gritted her teeth. Without any further thought, Sakura launched back into a sprint. The silence and stillness of everything disturbed her, but she tried not to think about it as she ran.

Her heart welled painfully in her chest when she started to feel familiar chakra signatures up ahead in the distance. She could sense Ino and Kakashi and Tsunade and even Naruto. A weight felt lifted off her shoulders, but she continued to run.

When the gates came into view, and all the buildings behind them, Sakura almost felt like she would burst into tears. There was no visible destruction yet, but she wouldn't feel settled until she could see Naruto.

She ambled through the gates, beelining for Naruto's apartment where she could steadily feel his chakra signature. She passed Neji and Tenten, who blinked in surprise at her appearance.

"Sakura!" Tenten yelled, reaching out to cut Sakura's path off. "Where have you been? Tsunade has been looking all over for you!"

"Pein attacked the village?" Sakura asked breathlessly, clutching Tenten's forearms with trembling fingers. "Where is Naruto? Is everyone okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Neji asked.

"Is Tsunade okay?" Sakura asked, more confused by the second.

"Of course, she's fine…"

Sakura took a second to feel bewildered before she tore away from Tenten's grasp and made a dash for Naruto's apartment. That was the most important thing – making sure he was okay.

She burst through his apartment door and was surprised to find him sitting at his kitchen table with a bowl of cereal in hand. Mouth full, he dropped his spoon into the bowl and tilted his head in confusion.

"Sakura-chan, I thought you were still with Kabuto," he said, swallowing his mouthful of food. "What are you doing here?"

"I—"

"Are you okay? You don't look so good."

"Pein?"

"You're in pain?" he asked, dropping his spoon back into the bowl. "What's wrong? What happened to you?"

"No, Pein," she snapped. "He attacked, didn't he? He was after you…"

"Umm, Sakura-chan, were you asleep? Did you have a dream?"

"That bastard lied to me!" Sakura screeched, feeling rage swell up in her chest. "He tricked me into coming back here for no reason."

"Who, Kabuto?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. "Why wouldn't you want to come back here?"

"Naruto, we have to get to Sasuke," she said, the words tumbling quickly out of her mouth. "He's fighting Itachi. He could be hurt."

Naruto's eyes seem to glaze over and then steel over. "Let's go, then," he said, no explanation needed.

Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Konoha was okay and Naruto was okay. Now it was time to make sure Sasuke was okay.

/

Sakura found immense comfort in Naruto's company as they sped toward the Uchiha hideout. She could already see the faint glow of orange chakra around his skin. She was certain that she should be doing something to mitigate that, but without Yamato she wasn't sure what to do. Instead, she tried to focus on sensing Sasuke's chakra.

As the building loomed into view, Sakura felt something tightening in her gut. She couldn't feel any chakra, Sasuke's or Itachi's. Everything was deadly still, quiet.

She followed Naruto into the building and up to the roof, surveying the damage. The building was mostly leveled by now, just the skeleton remained. Charred wood and toppled stone littered the surrounding area and a thick smog had started to fill the air, casting an eerie greyness over everything.

"Look," Naruto said, almost reverent as he crouched down to peer at something beneath the rubble.

Sakura felt panic surge into her chest as she caught sight of what he was looking at. A body, a head of coal black hair. Fear squeezing her heart, she rushed over to them, her hands glowing.

"It's not Sasuke," Naruto said, giving her a reassuring look. "It's Itachi."

"He did it," Sakura murmured, staring at the downed Uchiha in awe. She had never gotten a proper look at Itachi before, and well, this probably didn't count. He just looked so young and so much like Sasuke.

"Should we do something with his body?" Sakura asked with uncertainty.

"We don't have time," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "We've got to find out where Sasuke went."

"Oh, he's long gone," said an infuriatingly familiar voice behind them.

Though it made her a little uncomfortable, Sakura turned her back to Itachi's corpse to look at Kabuto, who had made himself comfortable in the cracked remains of a stone chair. The glint in his eye was anything but pleasant and the way he looked so pleased with himself made Sakura's rage boil over.

"You evil son of a bitch," she seethed. "Where is Sasuke? Tell me where he is."

"I did you a favor, Sakura," Kabuto said, the smile vanishing from his face. "Tsunade was worried about you and Sasuke was only going to cause you more pain. If anything, you owe me."

"What's he talking about, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

Sakura spared a glance for him, but she wasn't in the frame of mind to answer that.

"What did you do to her?" Naruto demanded, whirling on Kabuto with enough fury that the orange glow about him significantly increased.

"Was everything you told me a lie?" she demanded, taking a few steps toward Kabuto. She couldn't say why but it enraged her to see him sitting so casual in that chair like he belonged there. When she was close enough, she grabbed a fistful of his tunic and yanked him out of the chair.

He allowed her to lead him away from it without much resistance. When she let go, he straightened his rumpled clothes and gave her an exasperated look. When he was petulantly silent in the wake of her question, Sakura growled and gave him a rough shove.

"Answer me, Kabuto," she demanded. "Was everything you said about Pein a lie?"

"Who cares about that?" Naruto shouted. "We've got to find Sasuke. Tell us which way he went."

"And what happened with Kisame and Suigetsu?" Sakura added, growing more and more infuriated by Kabuto's silent smirking.

"Forget it, Sakura-chan. He's not going to help us," Naruto implored. "Let's get out of here and find Sasuke."

Sakura sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. It was good that Sasuke wasn't around now. It at least meant that he was in good enough condition to get away from this place. She wondered if he was feeling okay, if he finally felt that peace he had been after for so long.

"You go ahead and start looking for him," Sakura said softly to Naruto. "I have some unfinished business with Kabuto-san."

The air around them was still as both of the men processed that information.

"Are you out of your mind?" Naruto snapped. "I'm not leaving you here alone with that maniac."

Sakura glared at him, growling lowly in the back of her throat. "I'm not some defenseless little kid," she insisted, clenching her fists. "Besides, he isn't going to hurt me. If that's what he wanted, he could easily have done it by now."

Naruto glanced warily between Sakura and Kabuto, but his eyes drifted off into the trees behind them. Sakura knew he wouldn't be able to resist going after Sasuke, even if it meant he had to leave her here alone.

"Please, Sakura, just come with me," he begged. "Don't you want to find Sasuke?"

"I'll catch up," she said. "Go."

He gave her one last pleading look, but the finality in the shake of her head spurred him into action. He dove for the trees, sniffing for Sasuke's scent. She watched him until she couldn't see him anymore and he had disappeared into the forest.

"Well, Sakura-san, you've got me alone," Kabuto drawled, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Now what are you going to do with me?"

"I'm going to kill you," she said, lunging for him.

Kabuto wasn't buying it. He didn't even try to stop her as she pounded chakra-less fists against his chest. He let her flail wildly against him, avoiding her rougher attacks, but not doing much else to get away from her.

"Come on, now, get ahold of yourself," he said with obvious disgust in his voice. "You're being dramatic."

"I'd be with Sasuke now if it weren't for you," she hissed, ashamed of the hot tears she felt prickled at the corners of her eyes.

"Or you'd be dead," he countered. "Look, Sakura, you're better than this. Don't be so pathetic."

"I'm not pathetic," she bit out, jerking her arms away from him and crossing them over her chest.

"Not usually, no," he agreed. Sakura softened a bit at this, though she wished she hadn't. "Look, Sakura, you helped me realize something, so now I'm going to do the same for you."

She perked up at little, curious but still wary.

"My life and my goals were dependent on Orochimaru-sama," he explained, turning his face away from her like he was embarrassed for some reason. "I admired what he was capable of and our goals aligned. His death changes nothing for me. I can be capable of what he was capable of and I can finish his work, complete his goals."

If they had been back in Konoha at the hospital, before Orochimaru's death, before the infection had been cured, Sakura might have been more interested in what he was saying. She was too blinded by rage to really care what he had to say now.

"Okay, so how does that help me realize something?" she demanded sassily.

"Don't make Sasuke your goal," he said. "I've seen your potential. You don't need Sasuke. You don't even need Naruto. You have a widely in demand set of talents and extraordinary ambition. You don't need to be tied down to Konoha to do what you love doing. You can have goals of your own, you know."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Don't you have any career goals?" he continued. "Isn't there something you want to do that doesn't involve Sasuke?"

"I run an entire hospital," she said defensively. "I help more people every day than you have in your entire life. That's a worthy goal."

Kabuto gave her an indifferent shrug.

"Look, I don't need career advice from you," she said, pointing a finger at his chest. "Just tell me where Sasuke went so I can be on my way."

"I thought you had unfinished business with me," he said.

"Stop playing mind games, Kabuto. I went home like you wanted. You're off the hook," she said. "I know things didn't really turn out how we expected, but I think we've gotten enough use out of one another."

She wanted to leave things at that and just, well, leave. But a small part of her wanted to part on somewhat friendlier terms, so she stuck her hand out toward him, a white flag.

"Maybe we'll work together again in the future," she offered, waiting for Kabuto to take her hand.

Kabuto looked down at her hand, his expression dry. For a moment Sakura thought he would reject her, but then he reached out and grasped her hand. He smiled at her and shook her hand. It was not unpleasant, but there was something about it that made Sakura uneasy.

"Maybe we will," he agreed.

/

Naruto had left a clear trail behind him, branches broken, heavy footprints. He had done this either for Sakura's benefit or because he was just that inept, but both options annoyed Sakura equally.

She tore through the trees, reaching out to sense Naruto's chakra. It was easy enough to feel. Naruto was angry. The kyuubi was unleashed – she could feel it. Spurring herself even harder, she felt desperate once again. Sheer will pushed her when her energy began to fade.

Something was happening, she could just tell.

Soon she could feel Sasuke's chakra, too. It was pulsing, pounding, thick and heavy. They were fighting. Their chakra clashed violently, thrashing about in her head. She retracted her chakra, trying not to feel it. She kept her attention focused on keeping her feet steady, on moving in a straight path toward them.

It was like being a genin all over again, only this time it felt more real, more dangerous. It had already felt pretty dangerous to begin with, but something about this made Sakura feel sick. Sasuke had completed his goal and killed his brother. What did they have to fight about now?

She burst through the trees into a large clearing where Sasuke and Naruto were already deeply embroiled in battle. She could sense even from this distance that Sasuke was struggling now. It was no surprise. She could only imagine the toll his fight with Itachi had taken on him.

Naruto didn't seem to be concerned for Sasuke at the moment. A thick cloud of orange chakra hung over him. He was already sprouting tails, at least four by what Sakura could see.

She rushed forward, her skin tingling, nerves lit on fire. "Naruto," she screamed, though it came out more like a whisper. He didn't hear her, or didn't care that she was there.

She tried to calm herself, to even out her breaths. She didn't know what to do, but she needed to come up with something. She used the feeling of the wind in her hair, the earth underneath her feet to ground her. Naruto and Sasuke were still exchanging blows. They would kill each other if she didn't stop them.

For exactly one second, Sasuke's eyes connected with hers. The sounds of the battle drifted away from her, overpowered by the roaring blood in her ears. She could no longer feel the wind whipping against her skin and the color around her began to fade as her vision began to tunnel. She saw nothing, felt nothing but Sasuke and his panting breaths and laser red eyes.

"Sasuke," she whispered.

Faster than she could see, Sasuke lunged toward her. Naruto reached out to stop him, but he wasn't quick enough.

Sakura grunted as Sasuke's arm circled her neck and tugged her backwards against his chest. "Don't move," he said, his voice rumbling through his chest.

"Let her go," Naruto yelled, his eyes wild and posture tense. Sakura noticed burn marks on his chest and abdomen where his orange chakra was already accumulating to heal him.

"Stay back," Sasuke warned, unsheathing his katana and holding it to Sakura's neck.

Sakura felt nauseous and angry and sad and hopeless. She didn't dare struggle against him, concerned that he would actually kill her if she tried to escape his clutch.

"You're such an idiot, Sasuke," Naruto said, shaking his head with disdain. "How can you not realize what you have?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, but Sakura felt the ragged breath he took in. She could feel how low his chakra was now and even though she was angry with him, she yearned to help him.

"Naruto, you need to calm down," Sakura said, her eyes pleading as they searched Naruto's. "Please."

"Are you kidding me?" he shouted. "He's got a blade to your throat!"

Sasuke drew in another ragged breath and Sakura realized that he'd been hit with a Rasengan in the stomach. She could feel the warm stickiness of his blood seeping into her clothes. Worried about the amount of blood loss and his severe lack of chakra, Sakura sent a surge of her own chakra into him through her fingers on his arm.

Sasuke's body tensed and his hold on her tightened until it was painful and she was sure she would have a dark bruise around her ribs where he held her. "What are you doing?" he hissed into her ear.

"I'm healing you, dumbass," she hissed back.

He didn't respond, so she didn't stop.

"You're coming back to Konoha if I have to drag you back," Naruto said, fury causing him to tremble. "And if you hurt Sakura-chan, I will kill you."

"Naruto, you're being irrational," Sakura said. "I want him to come home as much as you do, but not like this."

Naruto's shoulders sagged. His chakra faded away and his eyes returned to their normal shade of blue. Sakura was afraid her might start to cry and she longed to run over to him and comfort him. She was incredibly angry with Sasuke for causing Naruto this much pain, but her heart broke for Sasuke, too. She knew he was in just as much pain, if not more.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked softly

The air was deadly silent, nothing but the wind whistling around them.

"What?" he finally asked.

"If you don't come back to Konoha, where will you go?"

Sasuke's hand shifted on the katana's hilt, his fingers loosening. She didn't know how much it took out of him to be able to kill his own brother – a man he had once admired and looked up to. She hoped that if there was any humanity in him at all he wouldn't be able to kill her in cold blood like this.

"It's none of your concern," he said, dropping his arm and the katana back to his side.

Sakura didn't waste the opportunity to move away from him. She ambled back toward Naruto, reaching for his outstretched hand. Naruto pulled her to his side, pressing her back behind him so that he stood between her and Sasuke.

"I want you to come home, Sasuke," Naruto said. The words were brimming with emotion, but they were firm and harsh.

"There's something I have to do," Sasuke said.

"And then you'll come home?"

Sasuke said nothing. His face was unreadable, but there was something wild in his eyes, something that left Sakura feeling terrified.

"Sasuke, please," Naruto begged. Sakura couldn't see his face, but she was sure that he was crying.

Sasuke merely shook his head. "Let me go, Naruto," he said. "Stop coming after me."

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling tears welling up in her eyes, too. This was it. She could just feel in her bones that this was the last time she would ever see Sasuke. They had lost him forever.

"Is that really what you want?" Naruto asked, his voice softer now, resigned. Sakura wasn't used to hearing him sound that way. He didn't sound like himself. Was he really Naruto without all that brash determination? It made her feel like she had lost the both of them.

"Yes," Sasuke said, and there was no mistaking that he was telling the truth. It made Sakura angry that he didn't even look sad to be letting them go. After all they had been through together, how could he not feel even the slightest emotion in saying goodbye to them?

Naruto choked out a sob and the sound made Sakura's tears fall harder.

"Fine," Naruto said fiercely.

Sakura reached for Naruto's hand, clasping it tightly in hers. She could feel him trembling with rage and sadness. Sasuke only looked annoyed, and for the last time, Sakura felt resigned, too.

/

The wind felt nice blowing through Sakura's hair. She sipped her lemonade and glanced over at her mentor, who was looking up at the cloudless sky. It had been a week since Sasuke had killed his brother, and a week since Sakura had done anything but stay in bed and cry. Tsunade had given her a much-needed break, allowing her to catch up on her sleep and wallow in her sorrow.

It wasn't until Tsunade had practically dragged her out of bed by her ear that Sakura had stepped foot outside her apartment.

Sakura picked absently at the food on her plate, holding in a sigh. She didn't want Tsunade to berate her for being ungrateful. She was grateful, in all truth. Tsunade had bought her lunch to perk her spirits, which worked to some extent. It felt nice to be in the sunlight and feel the wind on her skin again.

Still, she couldn't wait to get back into her bed.

"You need to eat more," Tsunade observed. "You're getting too thin."

"I haven't been exercising as much," Sakura said defensively, though she took another bite of her grilled fish anyway.

Tsunade turned her face away from the sky and looked down at her own plate. The sun gilded her hair and her body cast a dark shadow over their table.

"Sakura, I know there's not much I can say to comfort you," Tsunade said, avoiding Sakura's gaze. "Loss hurts, but it's just something we have to deal with as shinobi. I'm sure it's no consolation now, but you should consider yourself lucky. Sasuke is gone, but he's not dead."

"I know, Tsunade-sama," Sakura said softly. She didn't want to admit that part of her depression was because of Kabuto. She shouldn't have been upset about it, but she couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the state of his life now. Whatever weird connection they had made during their time in Konoha left her feeling unsettled and sad and something she couldn't quite explain.

She knew Tsunade wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand.

Tsunade frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. She opened her mouth to say something and then shut it again.

"I know you don't like Sasuke," Sakura said.

"I don't hate him."

"I just thought you should know that I'm over him," she continued. "You never liked that I was so obsessed with him, and I know that's because you didn't want to see me get hurt."

"You deserve better," Tsunade agreed with a nod.

"I'm not so sure that I do, but it's irrelevant," Sakura said. "I think I got the closure I need."

Tsunade looked at her skeptically, her mouth tilted down in something that was not quite a frown, but certainly disapproving. Sakura had never told her about abandoning Kabuto and leaving with Sasuke to go kill Itachi. She knew she should at some point, but she wasn't sure how her mentor would react. Besides, it had been for less than a day. No one would ever know if she decided not to tell anyway.

Besides Sasuke and Kabuto, that is.

"Sasuke killed Orochimaru," Sakura said softly.

"I know," Tsunade said, resting her elbows on the table. She cast her eyes back down to her plate, but Sakura didn't miss the flash of emotion that passed over them. Sakura understood her feelings exactly.

"So I guess we both got closure," Sakura ventured.

Tsunade closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Sakura didn't know if her mentor understood exactly what she meant by that, but she felt a tenseness in the air that dissuaded her from pressing the conversation.

"I'm sad," Sakura continued, looking away from Tsunade to give her some privacy, "but once the sadness fades, I'll have a fresh start. Soon enough I won't think about Sasuke at all anymore."

"If only we could get Naruto to do the same," Tsunade said.

"He'll get there," Sakura said confidently, though she didn't really feel all that sure.

She could only hope.