Challenge: Day 4 of Sakura Week 2021 on Tumblr
Prompt: Supernatural
Note: A bit rushed, sorry. I may come back to it at a later date.


When Tsunade took on Sakura as her apprentice, the first few months of training oscillated between Tsunade's office and the training grounds. Sakura thought that decision had to do with Tsunade needing to be available at a moment's notice, but when her Master started also dragging her to gambling rooms, she had to reassess her assumptions. As the months ticked by and Sakura grew to know her master better, she watched with a mix of awe and horror: the woman was a paradoxical force of nature. She was whip-smart, terrifyingly strong and no nonsense about her leadership, yet the woman actively engaged in ridiculous vices and could offer up a smile that held all the sadness in the world.

When Sakura was finally permitted into the hospital to observe Tsunade in action and try her own hand at healing real patients, Sakura realized Tsunade's reasoning: It had nothing to do with Sakua and everything to do with the fact that Tsunade's entire staff annoyed the hell out of her. Sakura observed, amazed, as Tsunade bit her tongue until it bled while an attending medic asked her the most asinine questions; she grumbled as Shizune redirected them when a persistent staff member was seeking out the Hokage to observe one of her procedures; she hid her smile when piles of letters were delivered to Tsunade's desk with offers of marriage, money, or land for saving someone's life.

One day Sakura was sitting among a group of medics while she waited for Tsunade to fetch her, listening to them swap stories about spiritual encounters they had while in the hospital.

"And then this shadow scurried across the room, it was so scary. You were there, right?"

"Yeah, I had just started. I went home that night and thought about quitting. It was so scary!"

"Even the patient saw it! And then there was the time when-"

"Sakura."

Sakura's head whipped around to find Tsunade standing behind her, and her cheeks warmed in embarrassment. She didn't like that Tsunade caught her listening to gossip. Although Tsunade certainly had plenty of flaws of her own, she had little patience for others'.

"Tsk. Let's go, Sakura."

Tsunade kept walking without looking back, fully expecting Sakura to be a few paces behind her. There was never any doubt: Tsunade made a command, and others obeyed, Sakura especially.

"You don't believe in spirits, do you, Shishou?" Sakura asked as she quickened her stride to match her master's pace, though she was sure she already knew; Tsunade was a pragmatic woman through and through. She seemed to have little time for either fairytales or supernatural horrors.

"Those are children's tales told by fools, Sakura," Tsunade offered, her gaze on the medical file of the chunnin they were about to heal. "The ghosts that haunt us aren't the ones that linger in the halls. They're the ones we keep."

Her gaze shifted ahead of them, and the young medic startled when she saw her master's eyes were glassy, far away, and far too knowing. "I hope you won't have many of those in your life. Though the reality is, I have no doubt you will."

Sakura remained silent. During her time on Team 7, she had learned a lot about loss: some her own, but mostly the losses felt by those she cared about the most. She wanted more than anything to keep those losses from growing; it was why she was there, day in and day out, in hopes that one day she could be even half as strong as everyone she came to care for.