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They won't make it.
Sakura watched, frozen to her spot as her two boys- her two very precious people move, hands shrouded in chakra (one howling like the wind and the other crackling with lightning) wild and erratic, poised and ready to strike each other-
They won't make it, she thought, eyes wide open, mind racing and racing, fear spreading like fire across her body-
They won't make it. They-
Screaming, screaming; her heart thumped loudly within her chest, fire in her blood, buzzing in her ears and she moved-
They won't make it-!
Her fist collided with the ground with a loud thump and the earth shook. Cracks spread out like spiderwebs from her point of contact, spreading and spreading-
The two were stopped midair, earth encasing their torso.
Tears fell down her face even as her eyes burned; fury thrashing beneath her skin. Her eyes continued to glare as they realized their predicament, snapping their stupid, stupid heads to look at the one who had stopped them.
Scream. She wanted to scream. Yell at them. Cry out at this idiocy and unfairness. But she knew that the moment she opened her mouth, only sobs and tears would be released.
So she kept it shut. She kept it shut even as Kakashi-sensei appeared a moment later, panic in the twitch of his shoulders. He stopped when he reached for them, shadow across his eye as he couldn't decide which of his students needed his care the most.
But when Sakura felt a hand on her head, another gently prying her earth-shrouded hand in the ground- "It's alright, Sakura," he whispered, the tint of his voice heavy with regret, with pain- "you did great. It's alright-"
She let herself go and wept, loud and broken, falling into their teacher's open hands.
"I- They almost k-killed each other-"
"....it's…okay, Sakura. It's okay-"
Kakashi-sensei was terrible at comforting—his hands awkward, not sure how and where to put around her, rubbing at her back but stopping every few seconds as if checking to see whether he did something wrong.
But as she continued to cry her heart out in his arms; tears and tears spilling out of closed eyes, his presence grounding and consoling, Sakura honestly couldn't care less. He was there, and that was all that mattered to her.
After the last of her tears were dried up, smeared across her cheeks like unnatural markings, only hiccups remaining, Kakashi finally let her go, albeit a bit tentatively.
He didn't say anything, just stood there in front of her, a firm hand on her shoulder. He didn't say a word, but Sakura knew.
Nodding quietly, she affirmed him that yes, she was okay now and that he should probably tend to his other kids. Even though her blood still boiled, hot and angry. But…the tears had not only washed away her sorrow.
So Sakura watched as Kakashi walk towards her two (stupid, very stupid) boys, his gait tense, the shadow in his eyes prominent.
She watched as the two of them flinch as Kakashi released them from the Earth-style Jutsu construct she had created.
She felt no remorse.
000
"Don't be too hard on them, Sakura," Kakashi-sensei said much later; after Naruto's tearful apology to her, hugging her close, Sasuke standing by, close by not touching, quietly asking for her forgiveness as he gazed at the ground below.
"We've all been through a lot these past few months...though it still didn't excuse their behavior," he continued. Sakura kept her silence, nicking at a loose piece of wood on the chair she sat on.
She knew that. She did. But it didn't stop the fear in the heart as she remembered their chakra, intertwining dangerously, Killing Intent in the air-
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Breathing in as slowly as she could, she let the air in her lungs seep out through her mouth, focusing on the motion of her chest heaving.
"…I'm still mad at them, sensei."
"Yes, I…don't expect you to forgive them that easily either."
A shrug, and she sent a rueful smile at the Jounin. A bit broken, maybe—she didn't know. "Does that make me a bad person?" she croaked.
A beat of silence, Kakashi blinking owlishly at her as moonlight reflected off his hitai-ate. Then his eyes smiled, sad but genuine.
"No," he said softly, watching the stars twinkle above them, "no, it doesn't."
000
When she arrived home that night, she dreamed of her team leaving, leaving her alone, their backs getting disappearing into the distance as they went further away, off to go on their own…and Sakura cried herself to sleep.
Nightmares continued to come, and there was nothing she could do about them.