Sleepwalk

Rating: PG
Pairing: Sakura/Tenten
Words: 835

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto, or any of the places and characters mentioned in that series and this piece of fanfiction. No profit is being made, I write for free.
Notes: Written for Erin, because she's excellent.

The first night spent in training, the girls share their aspirations. Mostly it is a common admiration of Tsunade, a desire to be as strong and beautiful as the Fifth Hokage; but two girls keep their dreams to themselves. Sakura and Hinata both lie back on their blankets, anxious frowns suspended in the dark.

Letters were sent out a week or so ago, Tenten remembers - Tsunade called all students who had shown an interest in her art to a meeting. When the day rolled in, they huddled together in the cold of a new January day, nervous and unsure, and all orders and answers were barked out by a shivering Shizune.

The camps are separated by gender; there are five girls and three boys, though Tenten remembers only two names from each group. There’s Naruto, the boy with the demon; Neji, and the less he enters her thoughts, the better; Hinata, Neji’s cousin, though that’s the extent of Tenten’s knowledge; and Sakura.

Tenten isn’t sure what to think about her. She sees strange parallels between Sakura’s life and her own, and they aren’t really things she cares to dwell on. Seeing the girl’s team, getting to know them from a distance was a jarring thing – the similarities between Sasuke and her very own Neji weren’t pleasant to witness, not when it all came back to a need for power. And though she knows that she and Sakura are different down to their very bones, she can’t help but sneak loaded glances across the darkened tent. Why is Sakura here at all? Tenten wonders, head pillowed on her hands. Why does she seem so put out?

Tenten is secretly happy when she catches Sakura looking back.

After training her senses for so long, Tenten can spot things in the dark that others normally don’t notice. Her ears are precise, and her eyes more so; the moon is bright enough to give the world a silver lining. Everybody is asleep. Tenten takes this as the perfect opportunity to ask Sakura the question itching away in her mind.

“Sakura,” she whispers, sitting up, arms draped across her knees. “Sakura, are you awake?”

Sakura shifts, and Tenten watches the lines of her body tense up again. “Yes,” she whispers, barely audible. It looks as though she may speak again, pursing her lips; but eventually she settles, and leaves it at that.

Soundlessly, Tenten gets to her feet and tiptoes across to where Sakura is laid. One of the girls is breathing heavily, hiding Tenten’s movements behind a curtain of steady noise; she makes a silent promise to give that girl something nice in the morning.

“Sakura,” Tenten murmurs, dropping down next to the other girl. “Can I ask you something?”

This time, Sakura doesn’t even reply: she nods her head, once, and if Tenten hadn’t been waiting for it she could easily have missed that tiny movement. She waits again – for something, though she isn’t sure what – sitting in silence, head on her knees. “Sakura,” she says after a time. “Sakura, why are you here?”

Ever since she was small, Tenten has known that names give meaning to their object. The girl lying next to her is perfect proof: she is perhaps not the most beautiful thing that Tenten has ever seen, but she is close enough to stand out. That morning, Sakura was loud, sure of herself, shouting orders to the rest of the girls and not taking any argument. But in the dark, Sakura seems to wilt; her head is down, eyes closed, and the moon highlights every hollow in her pretty face.

“To learn from Tsunade-hime.” Sakura makes no effort to whisper – her voice is already quiet enough. “I know everybody else had personal reasons, but I don’t.” She breathes deeply and turns to face Tenten. “I just want to heal.”

Sakura lifts her eyes and smiles, pupils contracting in the moonlight. Tenten returns the smile, though the effect is half-smothered in the cheek resting against her knees. Watching Sakura out of the corner of her eyes is giving her a headache, so she sits up, stretches, and lays back against the cold ground.

“But don’t you have a reason?” she continues, frowning. “To protect somebody special. To help the village.” Tenten has both of these weighing on her mind, though she didn’t admit this when asked. Her feelings on those sorts of matters are something to be carefully protected.

Sakura reaches out her hand and captures one of Tenten’s wrists. “We both love people we can’t have.” The absolute certainty in her voice surprises Tenten, though she doesn’t dare move. “And they don’t even see it.”

And suddenly, nervously, Sakura’s fingers tighten about Tenten’s wrist and she leans closer. The positioning is awkward, so Tenten moves, shifting onto her side and draping one arm about Sakura’s waist. She giggles silently, an exhalation and nothing more, before meeting Sakura halfway for a clumsy kiss.

Tenten is not-so-secretly happy when she finds Sakura kissing her back.