title: to be juliet's secret.
summary: He forgets how fragile she really is.
dedication: To Selene, obviously. You're one cool kid, yo. BD
disclaimer: Applied.
prompt(s): blades / fierce
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Training with Sakura, now, certainly was an interesting experience, quite unlike any of his solo training sessions. They were infinitely different to any training he'd partaken in with Naruto, and, most prominent of all was the difference between training with this Sakura, and training with the Sakura from all those years ago.
He remembered, back in their Academy days, training with her had been like picking flowers — not particularly taxing, and not really something he wanted to be doing. Back in their Academy days, training with Sakura consisted of him pointing a kunai in her direction, her giggling uncontrollably and commenting on how grown-up-shinobi-like he looked, him sighing, and her reluctantly arming herself with a handful of shuriken, none of which she actually used — her favourite use for ninja stars was admiring her reflection in the mirrored surface.
Training with her now, on the other hand, was not unlike a real battle. Training with her now, was not unlike the battles he'd engaged in with some of the deadliest ninja known to man — she had Naruto's strength, Lee's speed, Gaara's bloodlust raging in her eyes.
She both scared him like Itachi had, and enticed him, very much like Orochimaru once had.
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A millisecond of dropped guard meant a very hard, very painful chakra-laden fist to the face, too, as Sasuke had now discovered. He opened and closed his mouth, rubbing his jaw, and glared, in the most undignified manner, at the grass between his legs.
"You should have dodged," Sakura shrugged, nonchalantly, as she passed him the wrung-out, damp cloth.
"And you," He pressed the cloth to his throbbing jaw, "Should learn to feign attacks. This is training, not survival of the fittest."
Sakura lifted an eyebrow, "Still bitter about my amazing chakra control, I see?"
"Tch, not one bit."
Sakura, using the criss-cross wire fence behind her to haul herself up, got to her feet, stretching her arms up and then out — Sasuke watched, his jaw steadily numbing, and readied himself to block any oncoming attacks. She'd done that before, feigning distraction before pouncing, and Sasuke had to admit, it was a terribly good technique. She really was a marvellous actress.
But she didn't attack. Instead, she moved steadily across the field on a diagonal, towards where a medium-sized shack seemed to teeter precariously in the breeze. She threw open the door (Sasuke was certain he saw cracks begin to form in the woodwork), rummaged for a moment, before producing two long, shiny, silver swords, with blades like sharks' teeth, longer than Sasuke's arm.
He lowered the damp cloth from his face, placing it back into the water bowl, and he, too, got to his feet.
"What're those for?"
It seemed a silly question, but Sasuke didn't understand why they'd be training with such deadly-looking weapons. Surely wooden swords would be used for training?
Sakura, with one leather-gloved hand, seized the blade of one sword and passed it, handle-first, to Sasuke. "Training, what else?"
Sasuke took the handle, and shifted the sword in his grasp. It was heavy at first, but somehow, it adjusted itself to his grip, the handle stretching and moulding to fit his hand, its weight shifting to his personal taste. Lifting an eyebrow at a sword-wielding Sakura, he thrust the tip of the blade into the grass. "Aren't they a bit…sharp, to train with?"
"Are you scared?"
She smirked, eyes flashing devilishly.
Sasuke blinked.
Was that a challenge?
Oh, hell no.
He removed the sword from the ground, and smirked back at her.
"Not in the slightest."
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Tsunade looked up from her paperwork, and smiled.
"Ramen, you say?"
Shizune shook her head.
"What they were eating is not the point," She sighed, still trying to maintain a respectful tone whilst getting a clear message across. "The fact is that they're…slowly…becoming Team Seven again. Or, two-thirds of Team Seven." She smiled widely. "Isn't that wonderful? We could well have Konoha's strongest team back."
"And what about Naruto? Doesn't he get to be a part of the love-in? And what about Kakashi?"
Shizune blinked.
"Team Seven hasn't healed, Shizune," Tsunade said with a small, wistful smile, "But in time, Sakura will heal Sasuke, and Sasuke will heal Sakura, and together, they will heal the team. That is why I sent Naruto away, and left Sasuke with Sakura; because they need each other more than they need anyone else. They are the most broken of the team, and two wrongs make — "
"A right." Shizune finished, nodding slowly. "I understand."
The office fell into optimistic silence.
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It was sunset before the pair hauled each other back towards the village, holding each other upright with equally tired arms, each as wounded as the other, each smiling as warmly as the other.
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outro: A short one, a fluffy one, a "me likey" one.
Review, please! 8D