Chapter Text
Sakura walked through the village trying to find something to distract her. Today was another training session for team 7 but honestly, it wasn't much of a training session, more of a 'let's see how much Naruto and Sasuke can beat each other up while Sakura is left to twirl kunai knives around her thumbs.' She scoffed at the thought and kicked her heels in the dirt path in frustration. She tried to join in the training but Naruto and Sasuke would just go too easy on her and then they'd complain because they had to stay past the training schedule to "actually train." Often Sakura would just leave in the middle of a session, not that Kakashi cared, she wasn't one his precious boys with special abilities.
Sakura sighed; she wasn't sure how long she had been walking around but she found herself standing outside the hospital entrance. Blinking a couple of times, she decided her legs had brought her for a reason and walked inside. She walked around the levels until she fell short in her steps and looked up at the room number.
We gonna see how Lee's doing?! About time, slack-ass! Sakura squeezed her fits until they turned white, her lips turning into a sneer. It's not like she hasn't visited Lee since the chunin exams! She had visited him about 4 times already, she had just been busy the last two weeks.
Ah, busy! Busy wallowing in self-pity! Boo, Sasuke won't notice me! Naruto cares more about beating Sasuke then being my friend! Blah blah! Lee saved your butt in the chunin exams and you've just ignored him. Sakura mentally growled at herself before shaking her head and taking a deep breath.
"Lee?" Her voice was soft as she peeked her head inside the room. She smiled sweetly at the boy who was sitting in the bed staring at his hands. He looked up at her and a grin broke out on his face.
"Youthful Sakura!" She cringed at the word 'youthful' but it's what he believed in; she couldn't fault him from having such a cheerful outlook on everything. She stepped in and walked over to him.
"Sorry I haven't been in lately; I've just got a lot of...I've been busy" Sakura apologised to him, but he just waved her off.
"Nonsense, Sakura! I enjoy whenever you have time to visit me" He replied still grinning from ear to ear. Sakura pulled a chair over and sat down placing her elbows on the bedside table. She rested her chin in her palms watching Lee with bright eyes listening to him talk.
...
Sakura couldn't believe it, if she wanted to distract herself then she should visit Lee more often. He had been chatting for three hours! It was already 5 in the afternoon. And the bonus to it was she enjoyed Lee's company and his cheerful attitude lifted her spirits up, even if it was only for the afternoon. "Thanks for the talk, Lee. I'll make sure I visit more often but I have to get home" Sakura explained standing up and grabbing the back of the chair. As she went to pick it up, Lee's hand wrapped around her wrist. Sakura looked at him with a blank face, "Lee?" She asked quietly furrowing her eyebrows.
"Thank you, truly, for visiting me...Sakura..." He whispered looking down at the sheets. Sakura felt a stinging at her eyes as water droplets fell onto the bedsheets. Her bottom lip trembled as she realised Lee was crying.
"Oh, Lee!" She let go of the chair and practically pounced on him, being careful enough not to hurt him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into her.
Unknown to the two genins, they were being watched by two separate people. One outside the window and the other in the hall near that level's reception desk. Might Gai sat outside the window to Lee's room, listening and occasionally peeking in. He had planned to surprise Lee with a visit when he heard the giggle of the young cherry blossom. He smiled softly to himself listening to Sakura comfort his favourite student. She promised, no, she vowed to Lee that she would visit more often. "I don't believe in promises, they're too easy to break. So, I, Sakura Haruno, vow to you, Rock Lee, that I will visit at minimum twice a week! Without fail!" She announced sounding way too much like her knucklehead teammate.
The second shinobi watching them, arched an eyebrow as he watched the two embraced. After listening to all the whining and complaining, he had to see what this Sakura was like. So far, she seemed discarded by everyone in her life. Maybe that's why this boy, Rock Lee, was getting on so well with her. It seems after his injuries from the chunin exam had him bedridden, many of his friends had abandoned him. Noticing Sakura was now leaving, he turned his back to the room picking up one of the clipboards from the vacant reception desk pretending to skim over it as she passed him. He glanced up noticing her stopping at the end of the hall. She leant against the wall staring at the floor in front of her like she hadn't even noticed him standing there in the hall with her. For the first time in his life, he couldn't figure someone out. This girl was blank and void. All he could read from her posture and expression was that she was at war within herself. You don't get this girl enough credit, little brother.
...
The next day, Might Gai sat in Lee's hospital room when Sakura entered. He smiled and greeted her, "Lee's still asleep" He informed Sakura walking over to her and the door. Sakura nodded and looked over at the sleeping Lee with a soft smile. Gai noticed that while she smiled, her eyes lacked the normal youthful gleam they had. He frowned as Sakura went over to place the flower she had on the bedside table. Why is Sakura here? Team 7 is meant to be at training. Gai thought as his frown deepened. He knew this because Kakashi couldn't do their daily challenge because he was late to meet up with his genin team. So why wasn't she there?
Gai decided he'd figure out what was going on with the leaf's cherry blossom one way or another. He had heard his own team members discussing Sakura's depressing mood earlier that day and he, himself had also noticed she wasn't as chirpy. Once he decided enough time had passed, he leapt out of Lee's window and started to tail Sakura. He followed her through the village but stopped as Sakura came to a stop. His heart jumped into this throat, there's no way she could have sensed him with all the villagers around them. He calmed down as she looked up at one of the houses, her face blank but her fists curled up turning white. Maybe her family life wasn't doing the best? That would certainly explain her down mood. Sakura went to step towards the house but froze before continuing her walk.
Gai finally stopped in a tree that surrounded the training grounds. He watched Sakura as she scanned the area before entering the small woods. She sat down on a smooth boulder going through her weapon pouches. Once she was satisfied, she stood up and picked out a kunai knife. Taking a deep breath, Sakura tripped a wire. Before Gai could understand what she was doing, several kunai and shuriken flew out towards her. His breath got caught in his throat, she was going to kill herself! But Sakura had dodged all but one which sliced the bottom of her qipao. As her right foot touched the ground, another set of weapons flew at her, she spun around on her heel using the kunai in her left hand to deflect the weapons that came from her right. She was just slow enough for Gai to see, she placed her hand on the ground and flipped her body upwards dodging a large section of the attack. The second set hadn't even finished when the next tripwire activated, this time Sakura was much slower. Her hisses could be heard throughout the woods as kunai sliced her arms and grazed her stomach. Focusing chakra into her left hand, she pushed herself up into the air once again using her kunai to deflect the weapons that showered down onto her from above.
By the end, Sakura was standing in the middle puffing and bleeding from several wounds. She stepped towards the boulder she had sat on before but froze hearing another set of wires trigger. She spun around and saw another set of at least 150 kunai knives fly at her. As they passed through the trees into the clearing, she shut her eyes tightly waiting for the pain. But it never came. Instead, her waist was grabbed and she was pulled out of the way. Her whole body trembled as her fingers gripped onto her saviour's shirt for dear life.
"You are safe now," His voice was soft and soothing, a voice she had only heard very few times in her life. "But you should be more careful when training around a present jonin." Sakura's eyes flew open and met concerned onyx orbs staring back at her.
"Th...Thank... thank you" She stuttered out keeping eye contact.
Gai watched in shock as the last wire was set off, but by what? It had been two whole minutes since the last set was fired. He went to jump down to help Sakura but froze as a black figure came out of nowhere and grabbed Sakura's waist pulling her away from the danger. Sakura held onto the male figure tightly, clearly frightened out of her mind. Gai's eyes widen as the male's long ponytail was blown side to side from the sudden gust of wind revealing his clan symbol on his shirt. Itachi Uchiha.