17

Chapter Text

Tenten had never been in the same room as a sleeping Sakura.

Not that she'd ever wanted to be. And not as if she'd ever thought about doing that before. She wasn't Ino. Thank the gods for that much.

Whatever was going on between those two was funny to watch. Not funny to be a part of, Tenten thought. Totally not. Tenten wanted no part of it.

And not even in an 'extremely specific denial' sort of way.

Her nonexistent love life may have been nonexistent (not by choice), but if that was the alternative Tenten was fine with it; her legacy as the greatest weapons mistress the Leaf had ever, or would ever, see would kick off any day now. And that sort of 'complicated' wasn't a part of her future.

No way.

She refused.

Tenten blinked sweat out of her eyes. Coated in the soft green of medical chakra, Tenten's hands hovered over Sakura's body, just above the skin.

But it had to be said. It had to be said that if she'd ever wanted to be in a room with a sleeping Sakura, and that was a big if, it wouldn't be in these circumstances.

"Why am I the only ninja in either team that knows something more complicated than 'stop the bleeding'?" Tenten lamented the time she thought she could have been the next Tsunade, fingers skirting the ultrafine line of pink stitching edges that kept Sakura's body in one piece... The line that Sakura, the crazy and unconscious bitch, had made with her own hair. "Gods damn it, Sakura, what the fuck?"

Tenten had been asking those questions (and more) since the 'milk run' her team had been given, the mission to back up a Konoha team on another milk run, had become what nightmares were made of.

Pants-crapping terror, killing intent strong enough to reach them from miles away, the sight of one of her best friends reattaching her own legs.

More than her own legs, right, but Tenten didn't like to think of that. Or she just didn't want to think of that.

Or the suspicious lack of organs in the dirt, or other fluids besides blood (Tenten had spilled a couple of guts in her time so she knew what she was talking about when it came to bodily fluids), as Sakura did what she had to do.

Do surgery on herself.

While holding a conversation with Tenten the entire time.

With glazed eyes and the tight features of someone in a great deal of pain, pain that Tenten couldn't even imagine and that couldn't be papered over by making small talk about the weather, but she'd done it. Sakura had sewn her own legs back on. While talking about the weather.

Good for her. Great. Tenten wasn't even being sarcastic.

She had no idea what emotions she was feeling, but sarcasm wasn't one of them.

The brunette bit her lip and pulled her hands away, balling them up when she could no longer trust herself to hold them steady.

Those nightmares she was going to get from this were going to be forever though. The screaming ones too. Tenten just knew it. Like she knew that she wouldn't even know where to begin to help Sakura with that.

Or with this. Whatever this was… Getting her on the stretcher without breaking the stitches had been hard enough. The trip to the stone-faced and dirt-covered client's home, masked Jonin on his own stretcher in tow, hadn't been much easier. Committing to a second surgery after what Sakura had already done to herself was just…out of the question.

How the hell…

Tenten shook out her hands and let out a calming breath. Then her hands lit back up to hover over Sakura once more.

That surface-level diagnosis wasn't going to finish itself… Alright. So. Blood was somewhat low. Not that Tenten had expected something different there, seeing how Naruto had been more than happy to explain what had happened while shooting her teacher dark looks and rubbing the foot-shaped bruise on his face once they'd arrived at the client's home, but it was low.

Taking a moment to feed Sakura another blood pill, something tangible that she could do, Tenten got back to it. From the toes on up, poking and prodding and…being surprised to find that Sakura was warm. And that any pressing down or squeezing resulted in instant flushing.

"What?" Checking again, brow furrowed, Tenten verified that she'd been right the first time. And she had been, even as she could see Sakura's levels rise. "What?"

Tenten grabbed Sakura's wrist and waited.

And waited.

And waited, her tongue poking at the inside of her right cheek in thought.

Waited… There. There it was. Maybe… Seconds passed, and there it was again. It hadn't been her imagination.

Sakura's pulse. Five to six beats a minute.

"Again. Sakura." Tenten dropped Sakura's wrist on the futon, blinking as she got up onto her knees to stare Sakura in the face… And, huh. Some people did look better asleep than awake. Not that Sakura was ugly, but not getting the impression that you were being sized up was nice. "What the fuck?"

Sakura, thankfully, didn't respond.

Tenten sat back on her heels and pulled on her bottom lip, wide-eyed, as Sakura's chest rose for the first time in five minutes.

Thankfully, because Tenten wasn't sure if her friend wasn't actually dead. Or close to dead. Or just in a coma. And she was in no way ready to get into that.

Skillwise. Or anywise.

There was a reason why Tenten had dropped the medical track for the weapons track. And not just because being a healer needed skills that Tenten didn't have, much to the disappointment of her hopes and dreams.

Sakura went back to not breathing, unnaturally still. And with what looked to be a small smile on her face.

Weapons made a lot more sense.

"I'm going to have to ask Ino if this is normal for you, aren't I?" Tenten rubbed her face as she sat back on her heels, her staring into Sakura's sleeping face quickly getting awkward. And never mind. She wouldn't ask; if anything explained why Ino was so defensive when it came to Sakura's body… "'Not a prodigy' my ass."

Sakura's small smile became a small frown in an instant.

Tenten's anxiety became disbelief in the same instant. "Seriously?"

Sakura, again, didn't respond.

Tenten didn't wait for a reply, not expecting one anytime soon. Or expecting it to be polite if she did get it. She stood up and dusted off her pants instead, giving a cursory glance to Kakashi as she did so.

His chest rose twice in ten seconds, otherwise not moving from where he lay several feet to Sakura's side, which was enough for her. Chakra exhaustion took time and rest. Hovering over him wouldn't help either.

She'd hit her limits. If she wanted to do anything further, she was going to need help. Someone that could see the things she couldn't.

Someone that could tell her if the girl on the bed was actually Sakura and not some strange new type of clone. A clone that breathed and bled and ate and slept.

A clone that didn't pop when looked at too hard and wasn't made of mud.

A clone that could seamlessly take the place of its creator, from the texture of its hair to the perfume it wore.

A clone that sounded exactly like something that Sakura would think up.

…Hypothetically.

"Damn it, Sakura." Tenten let out an exasperated sigh, hand at her temple as a line of pain went through it, and she went to rummage in her pack for something relaxing to do while she waited… Cleaning the fifty-six new senbon she'd picked up that day before they started to rust was a start. "Neji!"

That diagnosis wasn't going to finish itself. And she wasn't willing to drop it. Not just yet.

With a pleased hum from her as she took a seat, a tide of senbon spilled out onto a mat.

She got curious too.

==========

Neji looked down at Tenten.

Tenten looked down at her senbon.

Neji allowed the silence to drag on, his mouth dry.

Tenten oiled another needle, humming.

Sakura, the person he'd been called to look at, continued to…exist.

Neji, mouth puckering as if he'd tasted something sour, awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Sakura continued to exist. And to be an explanation in herself as to why Hinata spent time with her.

By existing.

Needle spinning deftly between thin fingers, Tenten's humming took on a hint of a tune while Neji gathered himself. And the words he was going to use.

It wasn't as easy as he'd have hoped it would be.

Sakura was more - complicated - than he could reliably explain. Not without getting into things he'd prefer not to.

And not just because he'd rather be training. Or warming up for any future attacks.

Tenten wasn't Hyuuga. Anything that would make sense to one of his clan, the branch family or the main, those bastards, wouldn't to her. Colors. Textures. Space and time.

How Hyuuga saw through illusions, how they saw, wasn't explained to outsiders. And it couldn't be. It was impossible. Tenten might as well have been born blind. If she didn't understand, she didn't understand. There was no context to be had.

But he could try.

He closed his eyes for the sake of it. For emphasis, his eyelids doing nothing to block his sight. "Your friend-"

Tenten lifted her head to look at him, senbon falling from her hands to join the rest. "Sakura."

"Haruno," that was as far as he was willing to compromise in terms of familiarity, "is about as natural an existence as a master artist's painting."

Tenten narrowed her eyes at him; a single brow raised high.

"Or…a statue. A monk's life work." Lifting his hands if only because it felt right, he continued. "His attempt to reach the divine, fallen short."

That wasn't right either. Not entirely. But…it wasn't wrong either.

"...This might disappoint you." Tenten let out a bark of laughter, her lips shaping themselves into a tight, crooked smile as she reached for another senbon. "But she's already in a relationship."

She didn't understand.

Yes, Neji would admit to some - attraction… No. Not attraction. Not that. Appreciation. He would admit to that. He appreciated what he could see… But that wasn't what he'd been trying to convey.

The stitching, the area around it, pulled together. Front and back; hair slowly contracted. Flesh adjusted without complaint; chakra as balanced as any he'd ever seen moved with focus and intent throughout her entire being, from top to bottom in an unbroken flow.

Unbroken. Entirely.

If her chakra noticed the very noticeable gap in her body that was still there, it didn't seem to. If there was any hesitance, any issues in it reconnecting with parts of it shouldn't be able to, guiding veins and tendons and muscle to their proper place, not even his eyes could see it.

And he could see quite a bit.

Even whatever it was she'd done to her musculature, bones, and organs that…seemed like something he should have been able to recognize. But didn't. And like something he'd seen before. But hadn't.

He was starting to get a headache.

"Not like that. Stop joking," he corrected his teammate brusquely, her snort going ignored, "She's bigger on the inside."

Tenten snorted so hard that she nearly stabbed herself.

Putting what he saw into words wasn't easy. And making it sound like it wasn't a sex thing was even harder. "Do you want to know what's wrong with her or not?"

He was doing Tenten a favor. A favor he couldn't deny if only because it would mean possibly leaving a fellow nin to die, but a favor.

He had every right to be offended.

"Sorry, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. I'm worried, you know?" Tenten waved an apologetic hand, sensing that she'd gone too far. "What's wrong with her?"

In a word? Everything. Nothing was where it should be. Or how it should be.

"...I'll try to be as simple as I can then since you're having trouble." Neji, brow furrowed as he gave out that thinly veiled insult that made Tenten flip him off, pointed at Sakura's general direction. "Space and time jutsu, internal. For room and... I'm not sure. To keep her looks?"

She wasn't nearly large enough to hold what was inside of her. And that made as much sense as anything did.

He pointed towards her torso with a shrug. "Lungs and heart are larger. By several times... Different somehow?" He was no mednin. All he could say was that they were different from his. Or Tenten's. Or anyone he knew. "Her rib cage is thicker. Denser. Same with the rest of her bones. Tendons were changed to match."

Tenten blinked several times, senbon back and being rolled between her fingers, but kept her peace.

"Her stomach." His face twitched as he lowered his finger, to her stomach and lower. "The same as her heart and lungs. Intestines. Pancreas. Liver. Kidneys. Everything." Neji licked his lips, eyes flicking unnecessarily to take it all in. "They seem to be covered in a - supportive mesh? An organic covering that would keep them together? Or inside?" He pointed at Sakura's thighs, a large and obvious cog in a deceptively large machine. "This was made."

Tenten nodded, her senbon's pattern along her knuckles as she forced it to dance, getting faster.

"This wasn't just exercise. It was a choice. Someone thought this through. Every inch. Every centimeter of muscle on her body." He couldn't help the wistful tone that slipped into his voice as he pointed at her stomach once more, her arms and sides and chest... It was no wonder Hinata spent time with her. "For peak performance."

A normal ningen's body was a natural thing. A river, a tree, or a mountain if you wanted to be poetic.

Neji crossed his arms, face twitching again as Tenten blankly stared him down.

Haruno's body was a temple. A fortress, each block and brace carefully carved and shaped. Distinctly designed and brought into being by an astounding will and impossible effort.

If you wanted to be poetic.

He knew how that sounded and he didn't care.

"...So you're saying she's fine? Just Sakura being Sakura? And that she's not going to die? That's what you're saying?" Tenten, with a nod, cupped her chin and laid the senbon down once more. "And that you have a sex drive after all?"

He'd rather be anywhere else right now. And he made to do just that, turning on his heel to leave with a scowl. That was enough for him. "You're not funny."

Neji had done what had been asked of him, and that was that.

Next time Tenten asked for a favor, and it better be never, he'd remember this.

"That wasn't a no!"

He'd remember this.

==========

As Neji left the house, no doubt planning to work off his embarrassment through kata, Tenten's smile fell.

As did her head, right into a waiting palm. Which she sighed into while peering through her fingers at her friend. "'Not a prodigy' my ass."

Sakura, still sleeping and not dying, frowned.

"You're just as emotionally constipated as he is." Tenten stood her ground. "Deal with it."

Hopefully, Gai-sensei would be back from casing Gato's compound soon… A nice looting session sounded like just the thing to fix a crap week.

==========

The sun was warm today.

Not too hot.

Not too cold.

It was just right.

Perfect for a picnic. A day out with friends. A nap under your favorite tree. Some time to think.

… A beautiful place to be.

Truly.

Even as the storm clouds continued to roll in. As always.

I breathed out. Then in; shoulders cracking and hair falling limply around my face as I forced myself upright… Back against the seat. Hands clasped. Feet on the grass. Soft. Ticklish…green blades turned wet with the red of failure.

Of lost ground and of weakness.

Of the confirmation of biases and preconceptions.

I wriggled my toes, done mulling over what I had wanted to say; red squished and bubbled between them. "We fainted."

Short. Succinct. Everything that needed to be said when all involved knew the how's and the why's of it.

Nothing more needed to be said.

"Oh? Did we? Was it being cut in half that did it? Or was it the blood loss?" My bench mate chirped cutely, making my teeth itch and shoulders tense. "Or - oh, oh! I know! Was it the battlefield surgery without anesthetic?"

I could never just leave it as things were, could I?

… No. Of course, I couldn't.

But I'd already known that would be the case. That wasn't who I was... I'd never been in this situation before. There were no cards in my hand left to play.

Being this far on the backfoot was new for me.

But the game must be played. It must go on. The push and the pull. The give and the take.

Reconciliation.

"We made the best of a difficult situation," was my flat reply, fingers interlocking with fingers. "Zabuza taking the time to go after us personally couldn't be foreseen. Our research into variations of the Akimichi jutsu mitigated the damage." More than we'd ever imagined. "And needs must when it comes to avoiding the Shinigami." I turned my head to look at her and my frown deepened. My brows rose. "We've changed."

My mirror giggled as she looked back at me, her smile going from ear-to-ear as she kicked her feet along the bleeding grass; Body soft, curves exaggerated. Eyes sparkling, lit up with the sort of fire that would have seen us in a cell before adulthood.

A familiar sight. All something that I was used to.

The pair of horns laid back flat against her head, used as accessories for her hair; Strands and locks wrapped tight around them, used as barrettes was not.

I didn't like it.

"It's almost as if we'd gone through a traumatic event. Or several," she pointed out, laughter in her voice as she leaned back against the lacquered wood of our seat. "What did you expect?"

"That you wouldn't grow horns." I sighed as she laughed, her teeth biting her lower lip. "The Kurama clan byblow theory has gained some traction."

The evidence pointing to such had already been strong, my lack of genjutsu talent had been the greatest barrier to making it a surety... Or, if you looked at it in a certain way, that lack of talent explained why I wasn't a Kurama.

I'd think that an inheritable inability to use the family jutsu wouldn't be looked upon kindly. To put it simply... Disownment and banishment wasn't out of the question in cases like that. And atavism was a thing.

The argument as to such, the Haruno being related to the Kurama in some way, continued to gain strength.

"If I ever go Ido, you'll be the first to know," she promised while fingering one of those horns meaningfully. "And at least I'm still pretty."

"... At least there's that." Ido had not been what anyone would call attractive. "So."

Her smile grew.

"It's your turn," I conceded grudgingly, a half-decade of dominance ending with as much grace as I could muster… Any concession I could give to stay in control would only weaken me even further. At least this way, I still had a say. As agreed. "While I recover."

"That could take months," she breathed giddily, "maybe even years."

"This mission didn't do me any favors, no." I sulked, tilting my head back to look into the sun. "But, please. Don't cry on my account."

"I won't."

"... Yeah. Thought so." I closed my eyes. "Enjoy explaining this to Ino."

"... Fuck."

"Yeah."

"That is the last thing I-"

Lightning. A change in the storm.

Her face suddenly twitched.

My face suddenly twitched.

Our face suddenly twitched.

Thunder.

The howl of a faraway flood.

"I am not a prodigy."