Chapter 2

Weights

Through the Eyes of a Shy Beauty, a Lovestruck Spandex Boy and a Female Weapon with Chinese Buns

The Shy Beauty, Hyuuga Hinata

Blushing and hating herself for it, she stalked behind the Hyuuga prodigy through a long corridor in her family's mansion. They were going to train together on orders from her revered father, and it was for the first time in a long, long while. And she was nervous. They had gotten on better terms with each other since that horrible fight in the Chuunin exams so long ago. Hinata's heart had healed well. But that fight had filled her with dread for the Branch house family prodigy ever since. When he came too close, she shrunk. She flinched, backed away. And he saw that she was uncomfortable when he was too close to her, so he stayed at least two meters away from her, always. She appreciated his small effort, but she could never forget their conversation and her pitiful fight. And his commentary on her pitiful life and her pitiful future. And the damage done to her heart, damage that was physical as well as mental. The corridor seemed to never end.

Neji came to a sudden halt and it seemed like he had realised something, having been deep in his train of thought while they had walked through the mansion. Hinata heard a low gasp, only slightly audible, coming from the Hyuuga and it baffled her.

"She took it with her. That - " Neji breathed in a deep murmur, wide-eyed, but then seemed to come back and see where he was. His steely facade settled in place on his refined features, and it softened and hardened at the same time, something only he could do.

Hinata couldn't help but take an interest. She wondered who he had meant and what the woman had taken with her. From what she knew, Neji was not interested at all in the opposite sex. Or any gender for that matter. Neji continued to wander through the seemingly endless corridor and Hinata scurried after him, not commenting on his little outburst. They exited the Hyuuga mansion and walked briskly away into town, Hinata always a few steps behind her cousin. When they neared the training grounds, which were situated near the Nara compound, a flash of pink made Hinata turn her head.

The Hyuuga girl saw Sakura strolling away from the Nara's clan compound, wearing her usual Haruno-crested red top, as well as her beige skirt, and Hinata found herself wondering when the Nara boy and Haruno Sakura had gotten on such close terms. A victorious smile was hidden from view when pink hair whirled around Sakura's face. She was apparently pleased by something. In a second, Neji stood in front of the girl, blocking her path. Hinata was stunned, but she hurried to them, trailing her fellow clan member. Why did he bother to talk to the Haruno girl?

"You took it with you, didn't you? Have you given it to the research team yet?" he growled. The emotionless, steely Neji had growled? Green eyes pierced Neji when the medic looked up at him, since he was, after all, slightly taller than her.

"Good afternoon to you too, Hyuuga-san." She smiled amiably. "And I don't know what you're talking about." She cocked her head sideways, watching him. If Hinata hadn't had the eyes of a Hyuuga, she would have missed the lie. But she didn't. She also noted how pale Sakura's eyes were. Had they always been so translucent?

"You shouldn't strain yourself. The fracture hasn't healed completely yet." The pink haired kunoichi quickly finished and spun around to walk away, but Neji wouldn't let her.

"It's not something for you to decide, Haruno. That sword shouldn't be in the hands of someone inexperienced. Or rather, it shouldn't be in the hands of anyone. I can still see trails of its black chakra on your skin." His white eyes strained and Hinata didn't know what to make of this. Sakura's finger twitched when the word 'inexperienced' left his mouth.

"It's none of your damn business." Flashing, pale-green eyes sparked as Sakura snapped at Neji. Hinata was baffled, again. Haruno Sakura had just snapped at Hyuuga Neji? This day was getting stranger by the second. If Naruto showed up all bright and neon orange and confessed his eternal love for Hinata moments later, she wouldn't be surprised. Although it was just a fantasy, she blushed, cherry-red.

"It was our mission, Haruno. It is my business," Neji replied coldly, frowning.

"You don't understand. She chose me. I can't back out." Sakura whispered, that fierceness leaving her eyes with every syllable. Hinata didn't understand most of what was going on. She concluded, however, that there was a sword, a very dangerous sword, that Sakura had gained and didn't want to give away. Neji sputtered and scowled.

"What? You don't mean to say that the sword has a consci -"

"We'll talk about this later. I need to go." Sakura cut him off, looking over her shoulder. "Meet me tonight at the Chuunin Tower. I'll... show you."

Neji only creased his eyebrows, but didn't argue. He would be there, but only because he craved answers. Sakura didn't wait for a response.

The pinkette was about to hop up onto a building when she noticed Hinata, who fidgeted and didn't know what to react with.

"Goodbye, Hinata-san." Sakura smiled, and then she was gone. Hinata was not given the time to blush and nod in her usual type of greeting.

Hinata then decided something off-the-grids reckless. She wanted to know what they had talked about; the obvious way to find out was to follow them. At the moment, not much was happening in Hinata's life and she missed Naruto terribly, that bundle of joy who seemed to have the energy of the sun. She wanted to occupy herself with something else, and right now, finding out what the two had been so upset about would do the trick. She followed a stern-faced Neji to the training fields and they indulged themselves in a spar. A few hours later, they finished. Hinata was almost a pile of sweat and exhaustion. The prodigy hadn't even broken a sweat and left her on the training grounds as the lounging tangerine sun disappeared from the sky.

The night was illuminated by the stars and the full moon, so Hinata easily made her way through the Forest of Death. Hinata was quiet and rushed; she jumped and landed silently in the tree tops, having regained her strength from the sparring session with Neji. She saw her destination as the Chuunin Tower that appeared a few yards in front of her and noted that the pinkette and her cousin already were there.

The Haruno and Neji stood beside the entrance to the tower, conversing quietly. They both wore serious expressions. When Hinata came a little closer, she could read their lips easily with her Byakugan's help. She perched on a tree branch, the dense foliage of the tree hiding her from view. Luckily for the Hyuuga girl, they were turned her way, so she could see through the canopy, and thankfully, they were also too far away to notice her. If she was to be praised for anything, Hinata would be complimented on being able to hide her chakra presence well. Actually, if anything, she had always been good at being unnoticeable, she concluded. Hinata noticed that Sakura held a katana wrapped in seals and had it pointed to the ground; Neji seemed to almost shrink away from it. Was that the sword they had been discussing?

"Oh. She scares you?" Haruno Sakura mouthed with a frown. Hinata saw directly that Sakura was not the same she had been a few hours ago, in her words, in her casual stance, in her eyes; this Sakura was too... sardonic.

"The sword does, yes. Of course it does! It's cursed and the old blood on it has made it black and scarred - and it's humming! Aren't you scared of it?"

"No."

"But it's alive! And it has a mind of its own for god's sake. You're insane, Haruno." Neji waved his hands helplessly and exaggerated the words when he called her 'insane'.

"She accepts me, that's why I'm not scared. She isn't too keen of you though. She says you're loud and nosy for a Hyuuga." The pinkette lowered her head.

"What? It speaks to you right now?"

"If I am in physical contact with her, yes, she can speak to me. But it's rather like a whisper more than anything... And she's not it, her name is Izanami-no-Tsurugi of Yomotsu Hirasaka."

"She... told you?" Neji blanched at this, his hands in hard fists at his sides.

"No. I just know it. I felt it." Sakura looked at the katana grasped in her hand, eyes paling as she did. Was that respect, admiration, and deep terror bubbling up in her green eyes? It was an odd mixture of emotions, and Hinata could only watch in fascination.

"This - this can't go on. You need to report to the Godaime about this whole ordeal. If you don't, then I will -"

In a flicker, Sakura had Izanami pointed at the Hyuuga's throat, the katana humming with bloodlust and power. He hadn't even seen her draw it or unseal the high level seals. Hinata gasped and looked on, wide-eyed.

"I suggest that you don't approach the Godaime with the matter of Izanami-sama."

"Haruno, are you threatening me?" he spat. Hinata couldn't believe her opalescent eyes.

"Perhaps."

"That is very unwise." His white eyes cold, his mouth thinned into a stern line; Hinata's cousin's stance was rigid now - as if poised to spring at any moment.

"I am aware of the fact. But she wants me, and none else. If she falls into another shinobi's hands, she will destroy everything in her way. She will call for bloodshed and blight," Sakura explained in an almost-shiver, eyes tearing away from the katana to Neji. Neither Hyuuga comprehended.

"I don't understand."

Sakura's eyes flashed white for a moment, then they were green again.

"She told me she wants to present herself. She deems you unfit, but she wants you to know about her and the risks. Take her."

Hinata froze as she perched on the tree branch, and activated her Byakugan almost unconsciously. What she saw made her pale and almost choke in surprise and dread. The katana in Haruno Sakura's outstretched grip was alive. With smouldering, charcoal-like dark chakra, chakra of carnage and times long forgotten. It was scarred and haunting, and it frightened Hinata more so than anything had ever frightened her before. Fearful tears welled up in her eyes on reflex, and by then, Hinata was shaking tremulously.

Hinata leapt off the branch and ran all the way back to the Hyuuga mansion. She'd never be so reckless again. Haruno Sakura had held in her hands a cursed, living sword, swirling with a suffocatingly malicious chakra. Hinata fell to her bed, not wanting to think any more of it. Nuzzling her head into the soft pillow, she finally let her tears fall. She decided to forget what she had seen that night.

The Prodigy, Hyuuga Neji

Neji hesitated. But then curiosity overcame his fear and he took the proffered hilt in his hands. When he did, the object in his hand forced him down onto the ground in a strained heap. The katana was not heavy. It was the feeling of invading coldness in his mind. And then the dark smog-like chakra seeped into him; the world and the trees and the kunoichi blurred around him and then everything was a grey fog.

He couldn't see.

All light was gone and his senses numbed, he couldn't see or hear or feel or talk. It felt like he had died - if he felt nothing, then he was nothing. Then, a presence like the tingling of a spider presented itself in front of him in a soundless, slowly-intensifying explosion. At first, in his confused and numbed state, he thought it was a divinely beautiful goddess that approached him, the white kimono flowing in layers behind her as she graciously moved towards him, as if she hovered above the ground. The black and grey smoke seemingly emanated from her whole being. It was a work of art, billowing around her, trailing behind her as she moved. But there was coldness as frosty as a winter morning present on the divine creature's exquisite face. Her smooth, black hair spread like a silky waterfall all around her, reaching the ground, and a glinting ruby, red as slick blood, adorned her forehead. He realised it was a demon. A ruby-adorned demon goddess. Neji saw a glimpse of decimation in her black eyes; they reflected no light. He drowned in them, in seas of blood.

"A Hyuuga. If any, you should have been able to see me from the beginning. I have chosen Haruno Sakura as mine bearer for now. We have a contract by blood which binds us. If you shall hand me over to another weak human, I will endue destruction to your petty village."

He couldn't speak. Her voice, clear as freezing water, trickled into his consciousness, set upon his mind, and like ice it froze into him, carving every syllable into his brain. He felt cold sweat bead up all over his body, and his stomach churned. His mind was split and pain overwhelmed him.

"You shall not disappoint me in this, child."

Hyuuga Neji clenched his fist and swallowed when the darkness disappeared and his senses came back with full force. What met his gaze was the katana lying abandoned on the ground. He had dropped it, evidently, and wet green grass grazed his sprawled form. Neji looked up, breathing hard, only to find Sakura standing before him. Her eyes were knowing and pale. What had the Haruno gotten herself into?

"I'm sorry, Neji-san, that you had to go through with this. But maybe you understand this whole situation a little better now. And - I -" Her voice was clear but she stuttered the last part, as if a burden had been lifted from her chest. She only glanced at the abandoned katana and then she walked to him. He straightened up from the ground immediately and fell automatically into a defensive stance. It was so natural it surprised him; why had he fallen into an attack position when she neared?

The Haruno seemed not to care about his hostile awareness and stood now closely in front of the Hyuuga. When he regarded her, she didn't even look at the katana. Her full focus was on him. It was unusual for him now, that she actually focused on him and not the katana, yet he couldn't help but look at her. Sakura's long, fluttering pink eyelashes, those ever-seeing celadon eyes, the creamy and healthy skin of her heart-shaped face, her lanky arms and bare shoulders, her tight-fitting red top that hugged her small body intimately and revealed the beginnings of curves, her long and slender legs, all the way to her now no longer manicured feet.

Neji felt that he reacted to her now, with a tingling sensation in his body. And this time, it wasn't because he was afraid of her; or was he? Suddenly, the Haruno leaned forward gently with her torso and her face neared his. Neji didn't expect this. What was this woman doing? She was close now, her cerise and moist lips dangerously near his face, and then she cocked her head to the left only to almost touch his ear with her lips.

"I will best her," Sakura whispered to him. She was promising this to Neji, green eyes suddenly piercingly and startlingly verdant again. Neji saw how her heart beat rapidly, saw how every thump forced her words to echo quietly. She smiled with those burning, strong eyes that emanated determination, and walked away from him, proceeding to slide the katana into the sealed scabbard as if she had done it everyday of her life. She leaped into the nearest tree, disappearing fast from his lost view.

When Sakura left, Neji slumped onto the ground again in a moment of weakness. His fingers felt the water-beaded grass, his grey pants soaking in the rain left on the ground. The Hyuuga's muscles strained and his headache was out of this world, and what was that warmth tingling on his cheeks? He was perplexed, exhausted and scared.

Sakura needed to best Izanami, or the katana would turn the pinkette into a monster, a reflection of the demon herself. Neji simply knew this fact and was reminded of Sakura's eerie white eyes. The Haruno had understood this as well, and maybe she had taken a risk telling him about her plans? Could Izanami punish her in some way or another?

Neji decided then to research the origin of the sword, find every piece of information or lore about it. And by doing so, he would prevent Sakura from falling into that bloody demon's grip. Those threats of destroying Konohagakure was not just empty promises, and however much Neji disliked the main house family for what they had done to his father, he loved Konoha. It was his home, and he would protect it. Even if it was from one of the village's own shinobi. But as Neji saw it, he realised he wanted to help the complex pinkette. It was a long time ago since he had admitted to feelings like these, feelings of wanting to help someone, but he did and he felt stronger as he accepted them. And as much as it surprised him, he wasn't all too disgusted with the idea of spending time with her. He might even feel that it would be tolerable.

The Lovestruck Spandex Boy, Rock Lee

As Lee strolled through the bustling streets of Konoha, he found himself falling harder for her. Sakura. She had stopped calling him Eyebrows for a while now and she regarded him with respect; respect for his own strength. She was an apprentice of the Hokage, being accepted a few months ago into the youthful medical training, she had grown a tad bit taller, and her muscles seemed to have improved somewhat. He enjoyed the thought of her taking her physical training and her diet more seriously. Lee had nothing against her scrawny figure, but she needed more fat on those arms and legs and she needed to harden that soft body of hers. He knew it would make her happier if she did, and a even more excellent kunoichi of Konoha.

The flower's youthfulness blossomed more so than others, what with that emotion Lee nowadays always saw evident in her green eyes. She had found a youthful resolve and decided on something! He recalled, to himself, his younger spandex-less days, when he had decided on something similar. She had that same walk, the determined steps that he once had. Lee couldn't stop looking at her, she walked so swiftly up to him, her dreamy pink hair having grown a bit longer and whipped around her face in the wind, so when he realised she had been talking to him, he wiped off the drool at the corner of his mouth and startled her with burning eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura-san! I was elsewhere with my thoughts! What were you saying?"

He bowed deeply and grimaced at his own foolishness. She smiled and his heart stopped.

"I see. I was only asking if you needed a sparring partner for this evening? I met Neji at the library earlier this morning and he told me that you two were supposed to have trained together, but he is still not completely healed. And Tenten is training with Kurenai-sensei god-knows-where. So I was simply wondering if I could spar with you? I know I'm not really sufficient..." She trailed off and forced a few strands of roseate hair back behind her ear as she looked sideways to the stone path. Lee sniffed, a bit surprised. But glad, as he felt energy gathering in his body.

"Ah! If that is what you want, Sakura-san. I could never say no to you, my queen of flowers." He winked at her. She almost snorted, but she hid it with a gleeful snigger. She was content with his answer, it seemed.

"I'll see you in the afternoon on the training grounds, then. Later." She bid her goodbye and then she walked away to the Hokage Tower. She cracked her fingers and then her vertebrae with a slight whip of her head, preparing for paperwork at the Hokage's desk, he presumed. Lee watched her walk away. He had heard from Tenten that Sakura had been helping out at the Hokage office, easing the burden for Tsunade from time to time. His wonderful flower shone even brighter in his eyes and his platonic love for her grew.

A few hours later into the afternoon, Lee found the pinkette at the gate to the training grounds. The beautiful girl wore her usual red top with a zipper and the Haruno crest at her back, but this time she adorned her petite body with a pair of tight black pants and sturdy grey boots. Her verdant eyes were fierce as she walked up to him.

"Hey, Lee-kun. Let's spar. Taijutsu." She was right on topic and didn't talk uselessly. But she gave him an almost shy grin as she cracked her fists.

"Are you ready, my most beauteous Sakura-san? Let us indulge ourselves in the youthfulness of life!"

The spar started, and it ended much later that evening. When the pinkette fell to the ground out of exhaustion, as well as from a fast kick to her side, Lee decided to stop the spar. He had won, of course, in matters of competition - as he liked to see everything as in daily life. He couldn't go easy on her, even if she was the love of his life. Especially when she had told him not to go easy her and had that look in her eyes. She wanted this, he realised. It would be insulting to do anything less. Lee had been surprised several times, however, when Sakura used her keen intellect as an advantage and overwhelmed him with complex tactics, but his own instincts covered for his faults in the analytical and strategical department. He hadn't been touched once during their spar.

Sakura was breathing hard on the ground. Her face was flushed and sweat glistened on her skin, bruises covering her arms and legs and parts of her face. She had a bleeding wound on her leg which she healed without effort. He had been going a bit easy on her, he realised then. If he had been serious, those bruises would have been broken bones and maybe even severed body parts. He helped her up from the ground and she struggled not to fall back. The question was why? Why did she need this?

"Lee-kun, would you please evaluate my physical skills and taijutsu? Be honest with me." She huffed deeply, dried her slightly-wide forehead with the back of her hand and looked pleadingly at him. Lee raised one eyebrow. Or both. He made a mental note to work on that later. It would be youthful to raise a single eyebrow next time! He returned to the conversation at hand.

"Sakura-san, may I impudently ask why you're doing this? In your field of future work, you don't need to have more than average physical abilities, which you do have." Lee questioned her curiously and gave her a water bottle to stave off dehydration, which she drained in seconds.

"Well, I want to perfect the physical aspect of myself. I want to be able. And I believe you are the most proficient in bodily training, Lee-kun." Sakura smiled through still-gasping breaths and she knew, she knew which buttons to push. Lee felt his heart still and he almost imploded with pride. His harsh training had proven to be of more use than he had expected.

"If you deem me the most proficient in physical training, I believe I have an obligation to answer the request of a beautiful cherry blossom maiden." He gave her a wide grin and a thumbs up. The pinkette wiped more sweat off her forehead and hesitantly gave him a thumbs up back. Lee smiled even wider; she was the second of few to answer to his thumbs up.

"I will work you hard, Sakura-san! Are you prepared for a youthful training session?" Lee beamed and made a pose for her. A youthful and really cool pose he imitated from Gai-sensei, but no one needed to know that.

"Just one? Whenever you have time on your hands or when you're training by yourself, I want to be there." She stated this as she sat up and produced a few senbon, which she left in her clenched teeth, gathered her hair up in a messy bun at the top of her head, then pinned it in place with the needles to keep the pink strands out of her face. Lee fist pumped.

"Oh, Sakura-san! The spirit of your determined adolescence is uplifting. I will hear your demands and make the most youthful training sessions!"

"By youthful you mean harsh, right?" She smirked, seemingly knowing little of Lee's training schedules, only knowing enough to conclude they weren't easy. Rather, they were more like a torture schedule - straining the physical capacity of shinobi to unknown lengths. Lee had heard many genin talking about his routines like that, but he youthfully ignored them.

"Sometimes, youthfulness covers many aspects of life." Lee chirped and he felt butterflies in his stomach dance. This would be so much fun. And he got to spend time with his beautiful blossom!

"We'll start with the weights you are to have on your body at all times, including when you sleep. I'll be honest with you, Sakura-san. You need to gain a lot more muscle mass to be able to keep up with my own training sessions, so you will at first have to get used to them, and when you can match me in a race testing the limits of speed, we can start an even more youthful training schedule! Here, you can have my weights! I have four spares in my pocket."

"Right, I get your point. Ah, thanks for letting me borrow them." The pinkette said and smiled; there was so much expectation in her eyes. She really was determined to do this.

"Do not thank me just yet, my beautiful Sakura-san!" he exclaimed excitedly. She raised an eyebrow.

Lee handed her four black weights, which he easily loosened from his hands and feet. They were similar to hand cuffs, just without the chain, but they were black in colour and thin; deceptively so. They were to go around Sakura's forearms and ankles. When the pink-haired Haruno accepted them, it seemed like she had thought they wouldn't be heavy enough (because Lee had been waving them around like they were made of air), but when she took hold of them she fell forward to the ground in a shrieking heap. Lee remembered his first time handling the weights with Gai-sensei. He had fallen quite the same way Sakura had.

"They're the weight of mountains!" She coughed in surprise, not being able to lift her arms no matter how hard she tried. As she struggled with them, Lee only watched.

"No, nothing like mountains - you're not up for those yet; each of these just weigh about 50 kilos. These are the light ones." The spandex boy cheered. "They're specially designed for stealth training, so they're made small yet heavy. It's easier to carry on your person," Lee explained as he brought out spares and put them on his own wrists and ankles without trouble. Sakura's eyes widened as she watched him.

"And- wait, you have a spare set... in your pocket?" The pinkette sputtered and struggled to move on the ground. It appeared she couldn't believe he was even able to move with the weights. She couldn't move her limbs at all.

"Yes, but these spares are, sadly, too heavy for you. Gai-sensei has several spares in his pockets. I try to match Sensei's youthfulness!" Lee chirruped, stretching a bit to get used to his spare weights.

Sakura didn't answer him.

"Oh. I'll help you get them on," he said, and went to fasten the weights on Sakura's ankles. She nodded somewhat hesitantly but nonetheless agreed youthfully, and then, with difficulty, fastened the weights on her wrists. She was sprawled out on the ground and hissed like an injured kitten, all offended dignity and ready claws.

"I can't move," She determined as she lay on the ground, arms and legs stretched out at her sides. She pleadingly looked up at Lee who hunched besides her with a large grin on his face.

"Do not give up! In a few hours, the springtime of youth will bloom again and you will be able to move, Sakura-san!" He cheered and clapped his hands. The look in Sakura's eyes told him that she hadn't expected him to be this harsh. Lee could only smile, because he knew that if she craved strength, he wouldn't simply give it to her. He would present her with the choice and the encouragement, but she had to youthfully do the rest herself. That, if anything, was true strength.

"See you later, Sakura-san! I'll come back in six hours and see if you haven't been able to get up by then. If not, I'll carry you. Like a youthful prince in shining armour!" Lee started to crouch in a leaping stance, but then he was reminded of something that other shinobi possessed, but he didn't. Fortunately and conveniently, he had a chakra restraining paper seal stuffed in his pocket. Just in case.

"I almost forgot, my pink blossoming flower bud. No chakra allowed!" he said as he plastered the seal on Sakura's stomach with an almost sheepish look, which told her quietly he couldn't activate the seal without her help. Sakura wordlessly agreed. The pinkette huffed, presumably because of sweat having dried on her body, and then he helped her to lift her hand over her stomach. She activated it with a loud curse as she felt the chakra in her body being blocked from her control. He snickered and gave her a thumbs up, which she couldn't really return, what with the state she was in, and then he leapt off into the trees for more training. 500 laps around Konoha sounded youthful enough, he decided in a flash. He could've sworn though, that right as he was jumping he had heard a curse under the pinkette's breath. But it wasn't a curse directed at him for his harsh start-up of their training; no, it had been directed toward herself. She had cursed her weakness.

The Female Weapon with Chinese-Style Buns, Tenten

It was the weirdest sight ever, truly. What exactly had transpired in Konoha when she was gone? Tenten had only been training in Suna for a couple of weeks. What she saw out the windows from the coffee shop was astounding. Haruno Sakura was actually crawling on the street, then she was up on all fours, only to fall back, probably with a grunt, into the crawling position again, slowly getting by with steely determination. Civilians who passed her by kept her at least an arm's length away.

Hyuuga Neji followed gracefully after the pinkette, seemingly demanding something from her. Lee was jumping in circles around the crawling form of Sakura, cheering and complimenting her, yet telling her to move up on all fours again because "it will be more youthful that way." Tenten felt the tea in her throat gush out through her nose as she burst out laughing loudly. She needed to know what was going on, what with the crawling and Neji and Lee, or this sight would haunt her dreams for years. People in the coffee shop stared at her for a moment when tea dripped unabashedly from her nose, but then they redirected their gazes to focus on the more-interesting crawling kunoichi again.

"What is going on?" Tenten called out when she hopped out from the coffee shop, wiping away the tea from her nose in the process. Lee stopped short in his tracks.

"Why hello, youthful Tenten! Welcome back!" The spandex-wearing boy cheered as he gave her a thumbs up of recognition and striked some ridiculous pose. The Hyuuga looked over his shoulder, a frown forever engraved on his pretty face, and then went back to calling Sakura a 'poor form of a kunoichi'; something or other. Tenten chuckled, but was still quite baffled. Was he actually cheering her on?

"Sakura-chan has asked me to train her so she's wearing my weights. I don't know why, but it seems Neji has joined us in the quest of making Sakura-chan blossom!" Lee explained as Sakura strained her neck to look up at Tenten and slightly nodded in a rather poor greeting. She continued to crawl on the main street with determined eyes and flushed cheeks, due to either embarrassment or strain, Tenten didn't know. It seemed she was heading for the Hokage Tower. Was she going to work... with those weights?

"What? You train her? Is she mad?" She howled with laughter, earning a sour look from Sakura who had been successful in moving about, say, a meter away from them. Lee sniffed, and if he were anyone else, he might've protested indignantly.

"I believe so, yes." The Hyuuga boy agreed with that same frown on his face, still trailing behind the determined and exhausted Sakura, who was climbing the ground for the life of it.

Tenten minutely flinched; what had gotten into him? Making conversation outside of training? This had to have some backstory to it. Tenten could sniff it in the air already. What kind of serum had the Haruno used on the Hyuuga? Perhaps a Hyuuga-antidote? The thought of it made Tenten snort.

The Powerful Alcoholic, Senju Tsunade

Tsunade drew a long breath and stamped down her seal on a request paper, one of thousands of papers stacked on her desk and arranged around the room. She set the cylindrical seal down and stretched, cracking a few joints in the process. Tsunade looked over the Hokage's office, her office, and found stacks of paper lining the sides of the walls, which she tried to ignore without effort. What found her gaze then was a photo on the opposite side of her office. It was a picture of herself and a pink haired girl who smiled sheepishly at the camera.

Tsunade jolted as she took in the photo. The busty woman in the photo grinned widely behind Haruno Sakura and had a hand on top of the pinkette's head. The blond leader frowned and recalled she actually had an apprentice. It was difficult though, because she didn't have the time needed for her apprentice - since she was Hokage.

There were requests to be approved or rejected, filing to do, meetings with the Fire Daimyo, negotiations with Shizune (for saké and to get out of paperwork, of course), missions to be assigned to the appropriate team, mission reports to assess, the occasional council meetings with the Elders as well as that Danzō bastard (who always seemed to have a god damned stick up his ass), construction permits to handle, improvement plans concerning infrastructure that needed to be looked over, Academy curriculum revisions that needed to be supervised, work at the hospital when there were procedures too difficult for the medics, and there was Shizune to occasionally train as well.

The saké drinking maybe wasn't such a out-of-place habit of hers, since this work took its toll on her. Tsunade didn't really know what she'd been thinking when she accepted the girl as her apprentice six months prior. Had she believed she could magically produce time for Sakura? Tsunade huffed and regarded her schedule for the day and saw an unusual three hour window of blank space in the afternoon, and the same the day after. Her nut brown eyes lit up and her finely plucked blond brows raised.

Tsunade sent a messenger to the Haruno's house for a training session with her apprentice that afternoon.

A few hours later, they stood in a small, clinically white, and sterile hospital room in the cellar of the General Hospital of Konoha. Tsunade noted that the girl's muscles had improved a lot underneath that red top, and she guessed the hidden weights on her ankles and wrists were the cause of the visible increase in strength. However, the girl still moved a bit stiffly, a bit slower. At least she was moving, not crawling. Tsunade had heard rumours amongst the nurses that the Haruno had done a lot of that in the beginning of her weight training. She had even crawled to Tsunade's office to work.

In front of Tsunade and Sakura there was a steel-clad operation table where several twitching fishes lay sprawled, all barely alive in their assigned metal boxes. Scalpels and knives and needles lay in front of each box. Her apprentice looked with not-so impressed eyes at the struggling river creatures, and Tsunade noted that there were dark circles under her apprentice's eyes.

The Godaime chuckled to herself; her apprentice probably didn't understand what she was to do with them. Tsunade decided to level up the training; this part would be harsh and unforgiving. This would challenge the girl's intellectual abilities, her medical knowledge and her chakra control.

"You have been following the strict training schedule I gave you a month ago, I presume?"

"Yes, I have, Tsunade-sama."

"Good. You have also read and practiced the medical literature I gave you?"

"Yes. And a bit more at the library."

"Even better. Now, this will be hard, and I don't expect you to be able to do it anytime soon. You will need to practice a lot," Tsunade said lackadaisically and stole a look at the girl; her viridian eyes were still unimpressed. Tsunade frowned.

"I'll show you how to do it first, then it's your turn."

"Yes."

"Watch closely."

The Godaime reached out for one salmon that was near death, and with her slender fingers, healed it with soothing chakra. The struggling fish relaxed, as if under water.

"See, I let my chakra heal the drying branchia and let the chakra flow like water around the oxygen, so now it believes it can breathe. You should already know the theoretical aspects of it. Your turn, take this one."

The pinkette healed the fish within moments and it stopped moving, calmed down by the comforting chakra. It almost happened too fast. Tsunade raised a thin eyebrow, wordlessly demanding her student to explain.

"I have done some training on my own," she explained with a shrug.

"That was... Unexpected, yet not unwelcome. This means I can re-evaluate your healing skills. The next fish will have severe brain damage."

This continued for another hour with each and every fish having different injuries or illnesses, and Tsunade didn't want to admit that she was impressed with the little girl, but she was. This meant that she needed to fast forward the training schedule she had had in mind for Sakura.

"Tomorrow we will begin evasion training instead of doing this. Meet me three o' clock at training ground seven. Don't be late."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. I look forward to it."

Master and student parted, and the Hokage continued on with the remainder of her busy schedule. The rest of the evening for Tsunade was filled up with meetings; one with with the shinobi law enforcement division's chief, followed by a short conference with the Academy teachers. When she was finished at eleven o'clock, she needed to get her frustrations out somehow, and the only way she knew how was to go drinking. The constant pressure added on to her apprentice being steps ahead of her planned training schedule made the Godaime indulge herself in the wonders of saké. Tsunade drank away her troubles at the local bar together with the pleasant company of Shizune. She avoided the gambling tables, thankfully. Then again, Shizune had been careful to keep Tsunade a certain distance away from the tempting myriad of expensive chips. At the end of the night, the Godaime Hokage, a pleasant warmth spreading through her veins, was escorted home by an exasperated Shizune.

The next morning at eight o'clock sharp, a growing headache settled in the Hokage's head and she never wanted to get out of bed, but duty called. She felt nauseous all the day through, during meetings and when she signed loads and loads of paper stacks until her wrist was in pain. When it was time for the evasion training with her apprentice, she took the colour explosion balls with her in a hurry, grumbling curses under her breath all the way to training area seven.

When she threw the first colour bomb casually at the Haruno, there was at first an eerie silence, and then a light at point of contact, and then it exploded as it hit the ground. Deep vibrations reverbated through the earth as it created a large crater, and fires took ahold of the dry grass.

It was a real bomb.

How could Tsunade have been so foolish to mix the real bombs with the colour bombs? The hangover made her back away from the explosion, as the shockwave almost made her topple over. She accidentally bumped into the box filled with the other bombs, and she knew instantly that, due to the vibrations, she set them off to detonate within three seconds. In a flash, she jumped away from the box unsteadily, but she was still too close to the box when she landed. Tsunade landed just as it set off, and a huge explosion destroyed everything within a 4-meter radius. A large crater, a few fires, and pieces of the ground lay everywhere.

But Tsunade found herself wobbling at a safe distance away. She hadn't died. She looked besides her to find Sakura holding the hem of her shirt in a hard grip, which loosened when she saw her teacher's look. She had saved her? When the Slug Sannin took in the appearance of the girl, she saw severely inflamed skin and burn marks all over Sakura's body, the hem of her red top smouldering and melting away, revealing her stomach, but she didn't whimper in pain. Her eyes were strained, but she was alive. Her petite face was covered in shiny crimson patches, and the skin of her cheek hung loosely in such a nauseating way Tsunade wondered why the girl hadn't passed out yet.

"You alright there, Tsunade-sama?" the pinkette asked, her voice rasping through the crackling of the fires left by the explosions, her lips chapped and burned. When wounds oozed on her red and pink skin, and blisters started to reveal themselves, the Haruno girl asked her that infallibly stupid question. The pinkette staggered a bit, but still stood, facing the Hokage. Wondering if she was alright.

"You idiot!" Tsunade scowled as she puffed her large chest and started to work on Sakura's blisters, her flowing chakra healing them first, and then the burn marks and wounds and then there was the blood. Tsunade blanched. She couldn't. She just couldn't. She looked away and felt sick, almost stumbling on her own feet. Blood. Dan. That red liquid running down the body. Dan. Dan.

"I'll heal myself, Tsunade-sama. You don't need to. I know you can't stand blood. It's okay," Sakura croaked out.

"No." Tsunade wheezed through gritted teeth, still looking away to the fires that had started to die out in the wind. "It's not okay. I was the fucking dumbass who brought explosives instead of colour bombs! I could have gotten you killed! I should at least be fucking able to heal your burns."

"It's okay, Tsu -"

"Oh, for fuck's sake! It's not! Stop that. Just... stop." The pinkette was silent as the Hokage interrupted her in a mix of frustration and… Something. Tsunade heard the Haruno's hitched breathing and she knew the burns were starting throb and tingle with pain as the adrenaline probably left the girl's system. Tsunade took a deep, deep breath until her lungs burned.

"I'll heal you. But I need to close my eyes." The revered medic nin breathed heavily as she turned around, eyes closed as she searched for Sakura's wounds with a light brush of her fingers. Tsunade felt them on her scarred arms and she felt the slick blood slide underneath her nails as the girl winced. She shuddered involuntarily and gulped down the vomit in her throat. It's just water, thick water, just liquid.

"I wasn't afraid of blood before, in my early years a medic." She told the pinkette quietly as she traced her arms for burns. When she felt both the tender, inflamed skin and the slight wince, she healed it efficiently, regenerating the burned cells and weaving the destroyed skin together. Tsunade breathed deeply, blinking away tears as she looked down. Then she closed her eyes again.

"I was pretty fucked up after Dan died. I couldn't really feel anything. I could intellectualise a lot of stuff; I could tell myself that I had a purpose, that I was loved, but I couldn't actually feel anything. And that was when my fear of blood had its growth spurt. I became a sorry excuse for a medic, and a sorry excuse for a Sannin."

"I'm... I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama," the girl whispered. Emotions filled her voice until it burst at the end of her sentence.

"Don't be." She mumbled as she felt a huge burn on Sakura's shoulder underneath her fingers, festering and smouldering still. The girl yelped in pain, but she didn't jerk away from the Hokage's touch. Tsunade felt her chakra drain slightly as she directed it into the wound. She felt the burn fade and the oozing come to a stop. It was still hot underneath Sakura's skin.

"Where are the other burn marks?" Tsunade asked, teeth gritted, eyes closed in concentration. The pinkette didn't answer, and instead, quietly guided the Hokage's hand down to her right leg. Tsunade gulped as she felt even more blood beneath her fingers, and once again, she needed to tell herself that it was just water, just water, just really thick and warm water. She healed the wounds on the girl's thigh as efficiently as the Slug Sannin's skill would allow her to, and distractedly deduced that the cuts and bruises inflicted on the girl's leg were as a result of the flying debris from the explosion.

They went to the hospital later, Tsunade insisting on carrying her apprentice. Sakura protested at first, but as the girl realised she couldn't walk, she grumpily let the Hokage lift her up in her arms, carefully. When they were at the hospital, she was put in the care of the best medics. Sakura stayed there for four days.

But she never let any of the nurses take off her weights.

Author's Note

28/4-15

Update! Woop. Help by isolationism, my wonderful Beta saviour. Love you guys.