Author's Notes: Kunoichi power, guys. Oh yeah. Slight hints of NejiTen. Team Gai and what's left of Team 7.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF WAKING
"Here," a low voice said, "You look like you could use this."
Sakura lifted her head to find Tenten at her shoulder, a glass of amber liquid in her hand. Sakura offered a wane smile and took the drink, putting both hands around it as Tenten sat down awkwardly on the edge of the porch next to her, stretching out her bandaged leg. Sakura nodded at her companion's wound.
"How is that feeling?"
Tenten's mouth quirked. "Wonderful since you gave me those pain killers." She shrugged in the next instant, dismissing it. "It's nothing compared to Lee."
Sakura looked away, out over the empty village streets. It had rained earlier and the puddles were filled with dark water. "He will be better with some rest," she said quietly. "As long as there is no infection, it will heal quickly."
"Lee and rest don't have a very good relationship," Tenten murmured. The kunoichi took a drink from her own glass and silence fell, comfortable and easy. Sakura had never spent much time with Konoha's weapons mistress but she found the other girl's even temper to be soothing. When Sakura had arrived a few hours ago, Tenten had been pressing a bed sheet to the stab wound in Lee's abdomen, her right leg bleeding all over the floor boards. She'd cared nothing for herself, worried only for Lee's hurts, his blood over her hands and arms.
It was a scene Sakura knew she would see in her dreams that night, if she slept at all.
They were in a small village on the edge of Fire Country, where the weather was still mild of an evening. Sakura and Naruto had been returning from a mission of their own when a genin had intercepted them, telling them they were needed, that a fellow team had been ambushed. It had been to her surprise that the team turned out to be Gai's.
"Do you think…" Sakura paused hesitantly, wondering if she should even ask. "Do you think they found…?
Tenten's expression flattened. "I don't know." She set her glass down and leaned back on her hands, shifting her right leg a little. "Not much escapes Neji's eyes."
Sakura nodded. The ninja who had attacked Neji, Tenten, and Lee had done so because the three had been escorting a young boy – Ryujin, she thought – to the authorities. He had witnessed the murder of a prominent official and had been ready to name the killer. Team Gai had been ambushed, Lee stabbed in the side by a katana, and the boy… Sakura closed her eyes briefly. The boy had been sliced from neck to navel. Even if she had been there when it'd happened, nothing could have saved his life.
Tenten had managed to get Lee to a nearby inn and send word to Konoha. Neji had gone after the retreating killers. Team Gai had dispatched three of the enemy shinobi but Tenten said they were attacked by six. After hearing that, Naruto had followed after Neji, leaving Sakura to tend to Lee and Tenten.
It had been four hours since they'd left and Sakura was beginning to realize that Neji had not gone after the other shinobi to bring them to justice. He was going to kill them. They had injured his teammates and killed their charge. No, those ninja would die, suffocating from lack of chakra or with a deceptively gentle palm to their heart.
Whether Naruto knew this as well was debatable.
"Revenge," Sakura said softly, not without a trace of bitterness. "Is it our only choice?"
She felt Tenten glance at her, not perturbed or angry at her question but resolute in her own answer. "It's never the only choice," she replied, "but sometimes it is all that keeps us from breaking apart." Sakura started at that and Tenten smiled, seeming old beyond her years. "We are shinobi, for us the answers are never simple. We have power and strength and knowledge, so the consequences of our actions are heavier than those of an ordinary person. Gai-sensei once told me that revenge can be a tool of peace." Tenten paused, looked up at the stars above the rooftops. "It can also destroy and no matter how it is used, once it has begun, it can never end."
Sakura exhaled tiredly and took a drink, discovering it wasn't alcohol but cider.
"Do you think Neji is too harsh to kill those men? That taking revenge for the boy they slaughtered would be wrong?" Tenten asked after a moment. Strangely enough, she did not wait for an answer. "Because I believe that anyone who murders an unarmed child deserves death, and if this leg could hold me I'd be out there by his side, even now."
Sakura pressed the cool of the glass in her hand against her cheek. "No," she said at last, "I don't think revenge is wrong, just… sad."
Tenten made a sound in her throat and when Sakura finally looked over at her, the dark-haired kunoichi's eyes were suspiciously bright.
"Me, too," Tenten whispered.
They sat that way for awhile, friends in the dark, until Neji appeared at the end of the street, walking with the gait of a man who had pushed himself beyond exhaustion. Tenten pushed herself up at the sight of him, wincing as she hobbled to the nearest railing and then down off the single step. Sakura rose as well, anxious as Tenten started to limp across the yard. Once, Sakura might have admonished her to wait, but not that night. Not when teammates were involved.
Amazingly, Neji quickened his pace when he saw her painfully making her way towards him and took her elbow when he finally reached her side, steadying her. Sakura followed more slowly, giving them a moment. As she approached, she heard Tenten speaking quietly.
"…sleeping now but the bleeding has stopped and Sakura says he should be alright."
Neji was still gripping her arm. "Your leg…"
Tenten shook her head. "It's not serious. Some muscle damage. Sakura healed the worst of it." She lifted her hand, brushing Neji's temple lightly. Her fingers came away dark with blood. "You're hurt."
"It's nothing. I—"
"I will be the judge of that, Hyuuga Neji," Sakura interrupted. He turned his sharp, white gaze on her and she held it firmly. "If you would both go inside, I will be with you in a moment."
Tenten and Neji exchanged glances but did as she bid, both of them holding each other up as they entered the inn. Sakura turned her own gaze to the end of the street and felt a wave of relief crest over her as she saw Naruto following in Neji's wake. He smiled wearily as he neared, still the same Naruto.
Her last remaining teammate.
And in that instant she understood why some ninja chose revenge. (Oh, Sasuke.) They had looked down that long street as well but no familiar, beloved shape had been there to greet them.
THE END