Chapter Text
"You're Sakura, right?"
A lonely girl raises her haid - feels strands of dirty, greasy hair falling on her face. Blinks a few times. Finally sets her tired red eyes on the brunette teen standing in front of her in the hospital waiting room.
Recognition slowly hits her.
"And you're Lee-san's teammate." She pauses, coughs lightly because gods her voice is so hoarse. "Tenten-san."
The girl nods - gives her a hesitant smile.
"I- Wanna get some fresh air? Just a few minutes," she adds, sounding both quite determined and not at all sure of what she's doing. "Waiting here longer won't do us any good anyway."
Sakura stares at her in surprise. The light in the room is far too white. Too clinical. It reveals all the details, the weaknesses - Tenten's slightly disheveled buns, her pale skin, the way she bites her lip in concern while forcing herself not to look down the hallway that leads to the operating room.
It suddenly strikes her that both her teammates are hospitalized too. That Hyuuga Neji's condition is critical. That Lee, although saved by Gaara of the Sand, reopened his injuries during the battle.
She clenches her fists so hard she almost feels her fingernails cut into her skin.
She's going to be sick.
All these people risked their lives because of her own teammate - a teammate she couldn't even convince not to betray Konoha. Tenten should resent her. Blame her. Yet she came looking for her, so that none of them would be left alone in the huge, cold hall of the hospital. Sakura isn't sure she can explain the kindness of her gesture, but she -
- she feels so grateful she could cry.
"Great idea," she manages to say with a weak smile of her own. "Perhaps we could get something to drink? The hospital staff is currently too busy to deal with a case of dehydration on top of everything else," she tries to joke.
Through her teary eyes, she sees Tenten's face light up. And for the first time since Sasuke's departure, she doesn't feel completely lost.
In the end, they get some takeaway tea in a shop nearby, then go back to drink it on the hospital rooftop. They're too worried about their friends to go home, anyway - unable to leave them, even though they can't do much.
(Unable to do anything, Sakura thinks bitterly.)
For a few moments, none of them speak - until Sakura can no longer handle the silence.
"I'm sorry," she blurts out abruptly. Puts her peach tea on the floor, hands shaking.
Tenten glances at her, startled. "What for?"
"I– Everyone was injured," she stammers, not meeting her gaze, "and I couldn't even stop Sasuke-kun from leaving and–"
"Hey, don't say that," Tenten cuts her off. “Calm down, Sakura. Look at me. They obeyed the Hokage's orders, okay?" She waits for her to nod. "We're shinobi. It was a mission, and missions don't always end well. You couldn't help it."
"Lee-san hadn't even received any orders," Sakura whispers miserably, "he went of his own free will." She takes a deep breath. She needs to say it. "He was there when I stupidly made Naruto promise to bring back Sasuke-kun."
She stares at her drink, doesn't even dare to look at the other girl. She feels so guilty.
Responsible.
And then, a hand gently comes to rest on her arm.
"Sakura," Tenten begins slowly. Carefully. "I don't know what happened with your team, but I know my friend. Lee has a soft spot for you, that's true. But he also cherishes Naruto, and he was interested in the Uchiha boy. So even if you hadn't said anything, he would have gone for Naruto. For Neji. For Konoha. For himself." Tenten's smile is resigned. "It's Lee. He's reckless. Didn't you say yourself he had gone there of his own free will?"
It takes awhile for Sakura to absorb all that. Her vision blurs - seconds later, tears are running down her cheeks.
She feels so overwhelmed - only now does she realize that it's over, that Sasuke won't come back, that she was so close to losing Naruto too. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba - any of them could very well not have made it back.
Suddenly she's in Tenten's arms, hugging her like her life depends on it.
"There, there," the older girl says sadly, "I can't imagine what you're going through, but- it's not your fault, alright?"
It's not your fault.
The next morning, Tenten is in front of her door, hands on her hips, looking ready to take over the world.
"You know, in Team Gai, we're super simple minded people - when we face a problem, we solve it by practicing more."
Sakura blinks.
The brunette grumbles something about passion and youth she doesn't quite hear, then looks at her with determination.
"I spent the evening thinking about this mess. Now that their lives are out of danger, I mean. And you know what? I'm pretty furious I couldn't do anything. This is the last time I let Lee and Neji go on a mission without me," she adds resolutely. "I'm going to train while these two losers are resting. Wanna come with me?"
Sakura opens her mouth, unsure of what's happening. Then closes it. Blinks a few more times for good measure.
Images of her own helplessness pop up in her mind - of Orochimaru, of Sasuke's last words, of Naruto's decision to leave with Jiraiya. The one she heard about yesterday, minutes before Tenten found her.
She needs to keep herself busy if she doesn't want to break. All of a sudden, the prospect of training - of not being alone - seems a fantastic idea.
"Wait a minute!" she exclaims, "I need to grab my things!"
Tenten grins.
Turns out that, although not the monster her two teammates are, Tenten remains a kunoichi far more experienced than Sakura. And, without a doubt, a real member of Team Gai - gods, her exercises to improve stamina are definitely no joke. Sakura quickly understands that she will have to revisit the basics if she wants to keep up - become faster, gain some muscle. But if it can make her stronger, so be it.
If she wants to be honest, it's also kinda nice to have some advice from a person whose background is close to her own - a civilian, without exceptional chakra or clan jutsu.
Sakura hadn't noticed it before, but where all the other genin teams are almost entirely composed of clan heirs, Team Gai has a fairly similar dynamic to that of Team Seven - the cold prodigy, the excited guy no one thought would have made a good shinobi, and the average girl stuck between these two exceptional beings. An odd coincidence, that their rival teachers have quite alike teams to compare.
The biggest difference, she thinks as she watches her new friend practice shuriken throwing, is that Tenten fits in her team.
This is her first opportunity to observe her use her weapons - she missed most of her battle during the Chuunin Exam because of the aftermath of her own fight against Ino, and just knows that she had the misfortune to end up against Gaara's sister, a wind justu user. But now she actually sees her, and the way she never misses a target - heck, she's a far ranged weapon specialist in a team of close combat masters. How fitting! She may not be as impressive as her teammates for now, but she's useful. She's efficient. Even without having ever seen Team Gai on a mission, Sakura can guess how well Tenten's abilities perfectly match those of the other two.
And she can't help but wonders - if Team Kakashi members had had more time to work together, would she have found her place too?