I was watching Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow and had the most abrupt, burning desire to have a ninja that used chakra to levitate a skateboard. My immediate thought was Sabella. Then I remember that she can't use chakra and I was so frickin mad.
The great violet dragon surged towards her in the darkness. Power wrapped around it like a cloak of fire that ate away at everything in its path. The great serpant opened its mouth and released a blast of energy that decimated all in its path.
Sabella stood before it, her vision blurry with fear and tears.
"Stop!" she shouted. "You have to stop this now! I know you're hurt, I know they're wronged you but you have to stop, please!"
At the base of its tail a man laughed hysterically, his heart bared for all the world to see.
What do you know of my pain, little girl?
A voice from the heavens beat down on her head. Her friends to side, she couldn't see their faces were they even her friends? They fell to their knees, hands over their ears.
Energy crackled under her skin, burning through until she was shining through the cracks of her being.
"I know because-"
The sky went dark and she choked on her own words. Her own truth.
"I know because we are the same!"
Sabella woke without fanfare. She had never sat bolt upright, had never screamed from her terrors. She just opened her eyes and sat up.
It took her a few moments to get her sparrows heart to stop beating so fanatically. Only then did she rise, dress herself and brush her hair and teeth. She emerged from Sakura's bedroom with the dream still echoing in her brain.
Sakura's mother fed her rice and smiled kindly.
"How did you sleep, Sakura?" it was an innocent question but she asked it at the precise wrong time.
"Fine," she lied, smiling convincingly before she left without another word. Sakura...
Sabella had been told, when she was very young, that she had been given her name intentionally. When her parents had first come to find their new home they had been taken in by a priest who, despite america's well earned reputation, had treated them with kindness and helped them to understand the strange land they were in.
She was named for his faith while her sister, Estella, was named for the home neither girl ever knew.
Now she was called for something even more obvious. 'God is my Oath', was interesting for a person who didn't care for church's at all.
Sakura, the people here called her, and for the most part it was fine. Typically she just thought of it as a nickname. That was easier than the truth. For what was in a name?
Some days, though, it hurt.
Some days 'Sakura' was nothing more than a reminder that she was false in all she did, a lie that no one but her knew they were telling. It hurt, when they called her by the name that wasn't hers. It was a dull ache under her breast bone that she wished desperately wasn't there.
These days, she wandered listlessly about the village, looking at things that were familiar and alien to her eyes. She loved people. Typically she sucked up energy around her like a goddamn sponge and bathed in the glow of humanity and life. But even she tired of them sometimes.
"I know because we are the same!"
She had taken to standing in front of the small memorial stone in the forests, memorizing their names to fill the void of her own. Sometimes she said them outloud, a prayer, a summons, he didn't know. Something.
That was where she first saw Kakashi.
She could only see one eye, but even that was enough to catch a glimpse of his soul. Cracked and filled with so much pain.
She hesitated at the tree line. Kakashi knew she was there, she knew he did, but this felt too much like intruding for her. She only came because of her own name. He went for the names of those he knew and loved.
Sabella took a step back, minding the grass under her open toed shoes.
"You don't have to leave," Kakashi said. His voice was a low, pleasant sound that Sabella had the abrupt urge to listen to a hundred more times.
Sabella cast him a speculative glance. Even if he said that… Kakashi was a heart broken man.
"You sure?" she asked carefully. Dipped his chin, just once, and that was that.
Sabelle crept closer until she was standing at his side. She clasped her hands in front of her stomach, eyes fixed on the stone. They zeroed in immediately on the names she knew Kakashi would be looking at.
They stayed that way for a long time, until Sabella finally closed her eyes and tilted her head back to look at the stars. Engraved in the constellations, she found her family's names. Tarek, Danika, Estella.
"I know because we are the same!"
Who had that been towards? What dragon was she the same as?
"Have a pleasant evening," she dipped herself to Kakashi before she left. She felt a little lighter then, as if sharing grief with someone eased it.
Perhaps it did. It wasn't like she'd had anyone else around who even knew she was in pain here.
"Mmm, you too," he didn't look at her, hadn't the whole time. Still when she walked away she felt his eyes heavy on her back.
With his back pressed tight to the tree, heart hammering in his head Lee tried to slow his breathing and ignore the way a piece of the underbrush was poking insistently at his calf. The sun was long down and only now, in the cool september air, was the moon beginning to rise above their heads.
His, and the other souls that had thrown themselves in the trees after him, after he had run all of them chanting with a priest precision.
Every three beats they howled 'Rock!' into the air, as if it would summon him from his sanctuary and make their jobs easier. But Lee would not be moved by the shout. He had his back pushed so hard against the old tree even through his clothes he could feel the indentation digging into his shoulder blades.
When the hour reached 'midnight' he closed his eyes to the dancing night shadows and recalled exactly what had lead him to being there.
Lee had thought, after he graduated and started training with such a master in taijutsu, that he would have to go very easy on Sakura the next time they spared.
He probably should have known better.
While it was clear that he had most skill and power in his punches, Sakura was and always had been a vicious opponent. That didn't change in the month it had been since he had seen her, off on his first C Rank mission. Quite the opposite, Lee realized when he blocked a hard kick aimed at his face that Sakura hadn't slacked on her training any more than he had.
Not to mention she was a tenacious, competitive girl who would bite him if it meant getting her out of a hold. He had the scars to prove it.
They pulled apart, Lee leaping back while Sakura stood where they had been. She was sweating, her long pink hair pulled up into a side tail. Her knuckles were scraped and a bruise that Lee felt bad for causing was blooming on her cheek.
Sakura turned her eyes on him, blazing green filled with a light that made his chest swell with joy.
"Are you giving up?" she challenged, a smile threatening to overtake her face.
Lee shook his head and bounced on his heels. He'd taken much less damage than her, but she was still smiling like the sun never set inside her heart. She was… she was beautiful.
"Never!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs and threw himself at the girl. Beautiful she may be but Lee would never do her the disrespect of letting their fight go to a limbo because he didn't think she could take his hits.
So they went at it, a flurry of kicks and punches. More often than not they connected to Sakura while Lee avoided nearly all of hers.
Then, she did something incredible.
He punched her in the stomach, into an opening she should have been able to block and she doubled over over his fist. For just an instant guilt, fear, and triumph warred in stomach before his hand was caught in both of hers. She twisted, shoving her shoulder down onto his elbow while one foot knocked his right leg sideways.
He had time enough to realize that he was going down before she had twisted in a way that shouldn't have been possible and caught his head between her legs. He went tumbling down, Sakura on top of his back. She pushed his face in the dirt, a knee on each ear and her other fingers tapping the nape of his neck.
"Give?" she pushed the gap between vertebrates. If it had been a real battle, she probably could have had a knife between them and had him dead already.
"Yes," he agreed. Sakura got off of his back and went around to his front, offering him her hand. Lee took it and stood before he bowed deeply. There was a beat of her surprise before Sakura did the same.
"Thank you for a good fight," he straightened up to award her with a massive grin. Sakura broke into a laugh that rang like bells.
"You're welcome. Hey, hey, I bet I can beat you to Ichiraku!"
They were supposed to be meeting with Naruto and a couple of friends Sakura had made after he had graduated and left the pair of his friends back at the Academy. Lee had never been around when they were all meeting up before this.
"I won't lose!" fire burned in his eyes. Sakura slapped his shoulder and smiled wide before she took off at a dead run into the village proper. Lee was hot on her heels. He would beat her with his weights on, and if he didn't he would run two hundred laps around the village!
With that thought in mind he overtook her with his long strides, eating up the earth beneath them.
Sakura squawked in indignation and tried to catch up, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her. It was not fast enough, and the pair of them burst through the the curtains into the ramen stand.
Naruto was already seated, a massive bowl of ramen in front of him. Sitting beside him were three girls. One of them Lee had seen before, Ino Yamanaka, and the other two he knew from the days when the team went to pick up or drop off Neji. Hinata and Hanabi Hyuuga looked at him when he came tumbling in, out of breath. Sakura smashed into his back and bounced off into a chair with a grace that he didn't understand.
Her face was red where it wasn't bruising and her hands were white and shaking when she collapsed forwards. The man who owned the stand handed her a cup of water that she sucked down with desperation. Lee stumbled to sit beside her, thanking the man for his own cup and drank. He was so thankful that water existed.
The water was replaced soon after by food. Around him conversations went on, classes and games and plans to meet up that weekend and play a game Sakura had thought of.
Lee didn't think he knew anyone as creative as Sakura.
She was always coming up with new games, or long, detailed stories that she barely had to think about to conjure. Even the move she had used to best him today was something he had never witnessed before. It wasn't something they taught in the Academy and he was sure that she didn't have her own teacher yet.
"D'you want to come, Lee?" Sakura asked, knocking him out of his thoughts. He really liked Sakura. He really, really liked her.
"My team is training that day," he shook his head.
Ino snorted. "So bring them too. This is game you need lots of people for, right Forehead?"
Sakura nodded absently, her green eyes fixed now on the Hyuuga girls. "Yeah, the more the merrier, ya know?"
So Lee agreed.
Which was how he ended up here. Someone rustled the leaves on a tree to his right. He tried to move, to creep a little further out of the sight but with the support of his leg gone the bush shuffled when he was silent and bright blue eyes shot across the forest to pierce him to the tree.
His pulse picked up.
Stars sparked in Naruto's eyes when he threw his head back and screamed, 'Ghost in the Graveyard!' and vanished into the tree.
Lee was on his heels in a second. All around him he could hear the other go running, someone giggling madly as they made a mad dash for the flashlight Sakura pointed to the sky in the clearing they had gathered in before. The safe zone.
Lee dove and caught Naruto at the ribs, sending them both tumbling into a pile of leaves and mulch. Naruto squirmed and struggled until Lee finally released him and the two boys, now covered in skeletal leaves and soft soil, stood up. Naruto huffed at him and crossed his arms and the two made their way to the safe zone.
The others were huddled up around the flashlight, a mass of giggling children sitting around it. Even from here he could see the flush of exertion on Sakura's cheeks, the gleam of her white teeth in the meagre light.
"Naruto is the first one out!" Ino crowed, leaping to her feet. "You're dead!"
Naruto stuck his tongue at her petulantly.
"You're next," he threatened. Ino rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah right. You couldn't catch me if your life depended on it."
"I will so!" he snapped.
"Before you do!" Sakura bounced in, waving the safe zone in the air, "I have snacks my mom packed."
What an amazing person, able to diffuse a situation of tension with such ease!
Lee could feel his heart beating hard as he and the other followed Sakura eagerly to where she had left her backpack behind. She always carried it with her, he noticed. And she always had something in it to share, snacks or lunches, or smoothies of… questionable combinations.
Everyone took a little snack pack, a rice ball and a few slices of apple. Even Neji, who hadn't been keen on coming until Gai-sensei had strong armed him in to joining his younger cousins and friends, took his portion.
Lee turned to thank Sakura when he noticed that she was looking elsewhere. Down the incline of the park, to where the sidewalk was lit by street lights. Someone was walking down, between the circles of illumination. Lee squinted at the person, and frowned when he stepped into the light.
Sasuke Uchiha was unmistakable, even at night.
Lee was expecting Sakura to yell at him, invite him up to play with them.
To his surprise she did no such thing, instead turning away to produce napkins and pass those out too. Mostly to Naruto.
"You don't want him to join?" Lee coudln't help asking.
Sakura looked at him, surprised. Then, she shrugged.
"He wouldn't say yes even if I offered, so why bother?" she reasoned. "Now! You and Naruto go hide, and we'll start counting again."
Lee nodded, eying his new partner speculatively. The whole time Naruto hadn't stopped staring holes into the side of Ino's head. He stepped away from her slowly. Everyone else covered their eyes and started counting to the sky.
Lee and Naruto vanished into the darkness to await their pursuers.