.

.

.

slip into the veins, there's coal beneath the skin

-o-

Static raised the downy hairs on her arms.

It was sometime before dawn and the firebugs were out, buzzing around low in the air as dry lightning raged ceaselessly in the sky. Thunder was a quiet, far off rumbling, the wind a strangely muted stirring in the leaves, and the rain a coming promise. A storm system churning in the night that she would normally watch from her bedroom window, 'oou-ing' at particularly close bolts of lightning.

But Sakura was not lounging comfortably in her bedding, but rather clinging with sweat-damp hands to a branch high in the canopy of her typical training grounds. The saturated heat was oppressive that night, sapping water from her body, drenching her clothes, and making her body especially reluctant to move. Everything around her was slick with film and her skin was a cloying magnet for any type of debris, making her a gritty coating of dust and dirt. She had hair caught in her eyes, hair matted to her neck and cheeks, hair stuck in the corners of her mouth. She tasted salt and iron, courtesy of the blood spilled from her nose.

Worse yet, she could barely keep herself awake.

The past week had been a cycle of lab research, hours dedicated to storing chakra in the immature Byakugou seal, and her daily training regiment. Sakura couldn't remember if she had eaten full meals, had any dreams when she slept, or if she had even had a conversation with another person beyond, 'could you transcribe these notes for me?'

How she had made it to the grounds to meet Sai eluded her. Remembering the start of their sparring session eluded her, too, for that matter.

He must have landed a hit at some point for her nose to be bleeding.

And then what had happened?

It was sort of amusing to her that the bloody nose crusting over her upper lip felt no worse or different from the sweat layering over her everywhere else. Sakura would have rubbed at the mess if she weren't so damn hot and sleepy.

She had sent out clones at some earlier point, she thought, and was waiting for a trap to be sprung somewhere...

Her chin dipped, and she heard or felt the rough slide of her fingers from the tree bark, her sandals from the tree branch.

Darkness, but only briefly.

What better a wake-up method than accidentally plummeting to the forest floor twenty odd meters below her?

The sudden influx of adrenaline from impending mortality did wonders for one's alertness.

Sakura gasped awake and was able to slow her decent with wire and kunai. She hit the ground hard and went into a roll to lessen the impact, although her muscles had tensed from the jolt and were difficult to loosen up for the hasty maneuver. She came up right on one knee, the other tucked under her, and Sakura stayed in that position for a breath before dropping to her side. On her back she laughed a harsh, short sound, and threw an arm over her eyes to hide her exhaustion and embarrassment.

Sai was quick to find her.

"You're not broken," he said when he dropped down from the canopy to join her. He'd seen her fall.

"Don't sound so relieved," she quipped, a little annoyed with Sai's monotone. She raised her forearm a little to peer at him in the dim light, saw him raise a shoulder at her disparaging face.

"If you'd broken something, you would have healed it anyway."

Sakura groused, "not my spine!"

Another shrug from Sai and she bit her tongue. Her eyes became hot and started to sting, so she replaced her arm to rub at them discreetly, and then pushed herself back up.

Before they could say anything more, a third person appeared from the trees. Sakura was a little surprised by the man's arrival, but Sai was unfazed.

"Is she okay?" The man asked after he landed, his young voice muffled from behind his porcelain mask.

ANBU.

For one, ridiculous moment, Sakura thought the man was there on her behalf, that he was some sort of security for the Apprentice to the Hokage. But then she recognized how he spoke familiarly with Sai and the grand idea was squashed.

"I'm not entirely certain," Sai assessed, thoughtful.

"I meant – is she injured from the fall, Sai?"

"Oh, that. No. She is fine."

The man turned to look at Sakura, stared out from the black holes of his mask for a long span of seconds without saying anything. He looked otherworldly in his dark outfit and white mask, bizarre and brilliant with every flash of lightning. Sakura felt exposed, sprawled out in the forest floor and too tired, too overwhelmed to respond to him politely – or at all. She flushed at his observations, moved only from surprise when he nodded, satisfied with something, and leaped away to the canopy once more.

"What the hell was that?" She spoke aloud, somewhat rhetorically.

Sai answered her, not nearly so disturbed, "that was Ken. My sensei."

"Your teacher is ANBU?" Sakura couldn't stop her shocked expression, but suddenly things about Sai made more sense. An orphan raised by a soldier in a mask made for poor socialization skills, she reasoned. No wonder Sai was so well trained in special techniques. Sakura was impressed. "I didn't know that was even possible. How cool is that, though?"

Sai, on the other hand, was confused. He pointed out, "your teacher is a kage."

"Yeah, well, still cool," Sakura fumbled. Then, belatedly, "wait – he was your sensei? And he was here? But...didn't you say he wanted to meet me?"

"I said I thought he might be interested in meeting you. He must still be thinking it over."

Sakura frowned.

"He is not the best at speaking with people," Sai explained after a beat.

"Uh-huh," she said, not surprised. Feeling her exhaustion again, Sakura sighed and curled into herself, pressing her chin to her raised knees. "I think I'm done for this morning."

Dawn hadn't yet broken.

"Not a fan of the rain?"

Water drops had started making their way through the leaves and down to where they stayed on the ground. The wind was quieter where they were, but even the firebugs had finally taken cover.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm just tired."

Sai was neutral over her decision, showing none of the weakness she felt. He moved into a more comfortable seated position next to her, saying, "if you think it's best."

She was silent, watching him in her peripheral as Sai retrieved something from his pouch. She had thought it would be something like a snack, or water, but it was a small, paper wrapped parcel that he took out. From inside the paper he selected a single, oval shaped pill.

"Really? You're taking that now? You're not in the field." Sakura had always thought Soldier Pills were a mission-only resort.

"This isn't like that," Sai said, unperturbed. "It keeps the mind a little more focused."

He saw her curious staring and guessed at her thoughts. Popping the pill into his mouth, he said around it, "you don't need this."

Her immediate, indignant, response was that she more than him, could definitely use a helpful stimulant in her life. Coffee was only going so far these days.

"I know that," she grumbled back instead. "I'm just not used to seeing stuff like that is all."

Sai crushed the pill in his teeth and again made a vague shrugging gesture. "I suppose it might be an ANBU thing."

Sakura 'hmmed' into her knees, tried not to let her eyes stay closed too long, tried not to think of how soon she would need to report to her lab shift.

Is that how other people managed, she wondered, through such means?

"If you're sitting out, I'll continue on my own then." Sai got to his feet, stretched an arm over his chest, then the other. He looked up to the rain, falling more heavily, and took out a brush and ink. He offered, "not the ideal conditions, but neither is the mission always."

Sai spoke almost conversationally and it made her straighten in her seat. He didn't want to continue alone, she thought.

Sakura swallowed the tired lump in her throat. She had been sloppy while sparring and multiple people had seen her slip up. Somewhere in the vicinity was a man who served the Hokage directly as a member of her personal guard and, when compared to his own student, his impression of Sakura was a careless, fainting, and uncommitted child.

'He must still be thinking it over,' Sai had said.

Before the boy could leave her too, "wait."

Sakura wasn't ready to rest.

"Let's go another round."

.

.

.

-o-