A/n: Yeeeeah. Popped in my head. And that's all there is to it.
Disclaimer: No, no I don't.
Her face was blank and pale. Her hair tangled and wild. She limped with her right leg, not having enough chakra to spare. Her pack was left behind, emptied and torn. Her pace was not fast, nor was it slow. She was in no rush, in fact, maybe she would have preferred this long walk more.
But she had things to do.
Reports to make. Apologies to give. Dead to mourn.
And just as the Village gates came to view, Sakura looked down at the life-less body in her arms.
"Look, Tenten," she whispered, her voice shaking. "W-we're home."
--
darling dead
Roses Rusted
--
Sakura could face no one. She locked herself in her small office in the hospital and hid behind stacks of finished paperwork. She sat behind her desk, her head resting on her arms. It was drizzling out and she watched with the corner of her as water hit her window.
The mission had gone wrong. So, so wrong. And frankly, the aftermath wasn't any better.
-
Neji was there the moment Sakura dragged her feet through the gate. She did not protest when he wordlessly took her body from her arms and into his own. And without so much as a glance,
(maybe he thought she didn't deserve one)
he turned his heal and dashed toward the hospital. Sakura's knees gave and she watched from her position on the ground as the Hyugga held his dead wife closer.
-
The other medics told the Hyugga Head what Sakura already knew and what Neji didn't want to believe. With all the rage and sorrow his body could no longer conceal, Sakura watched as he pushed passed the nurses and medics, hold his wife's cold body with his own, shaking and torn.
Sakura also might have heard the man's heart break if hers wasn't breaking just as loudly. But no, she didn't cry. She couldn't cry. She had no right to. Right now, the tears were his and his alone. Sakura could only watch with her breaking heart what her one mistake had done.
-
Her bottle-green eyes were glaring at the dirt beneath her. She way replaying the struggle over and over again in her mind, trying to pinpoint the exact moment it happened—trying to analyze what she could have done to stop it. Her fists clenched, her nails now digging into the earth.
A shadow cast over her and it took every ounce of courage to look up. Lee's expression was unreadable. She couldn't tell whether it was anger and sadness, whether he wanted to kill her to hold her.
In front of her stood the man that loved her unconditionally—that is, until that moment.
"Why is Tenten dead, Sakura?"
His voice was haunting. There was no love in it. Just nothing.
-
She couldn't look away. There Neji was, one of Konoha's finest, the head of his clan, weeping like a child, stroking his love's cheek. Then slowly, Lee walked in, held Tenten's other hand so delicately
(as if afraid to break it)
and grasped Neji's shaking shoulder. His tears were silently flowing down his eyes.
Sakura watched the team mourn the loss of one of its own. She knew the breaking of a team when she saw one, and she couldn't help but think how wrong it looked.
And somewhere in the middle, the first and only time Lee looked up from his dear teammate's face, he looked up and met eyes with her.
Sakura was no fool. She knew what this meant. She knew what was happening.
Lee loved her. Loved.
But he loved Tenten more. Maybe romantically, maybe only as a brother who had no one else but his sister, as a brother who had nothing like it, Sakura would never know.
Because Lee stopped loving her and any ties were gone.
Maybe someday, he'd find it in his heart to forgive her. Maybe. Someday.
But for now, she will watch.
And he will mourn.
-
-
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Fin.
Ah, what crap. I love Sakura. Really, i do. I just love Tenten more XDD PLease review. C&C are appreciated!