Chapter Text
"Wait- wait, that's it, you got it!"
Sakura did a weird jiggly dance while sitting down, fingers firmly maintaining the hand signs for the genjutu she had put Lee under.
Kakashi-sensei had mentioned getting outside help, but Sakura had already started her own training. Cooking, morning runs, even D-ranks were just ways for her to memorize different scents, smells, textures and tastes.
Of course, reading books from the shinobi section of the library and awkwardly trying to explain to the old lady who hired her team to paint her walls that, no ma'am, she was not trying to kill herself by drinking paint, weren't as effective as hands on learning, but Sakura will do with what she had, for now.
And what she had now was trapping her first ever boyfriend in a genjutsu while simultaneously trying to cheer him on and keeping him under said genjutsu.
Sakura furrowed her brow as she felt another nudge at her carefully crafted genjutsu, a simple one that blocks out certain noises, like her own voice. She sheepishly scratched at her cheek with her shoulder when she remembered Lee couldn't hear her, that's the whole point, but she was too excited.
Lee in turn was looking extremely perplexed, and Sakura had to stifle a giggle. A cool thing about genjutsu is that even if you realize you're in one, it doesn't necessarily mean you can break out of it. Genjutsu itself was extremely fascinating, and Sakura didn't get why it's not taught in more depth at the academy, especially when it's not that hard to grasp.
But then again, she mused as Lee covered and uncovered his ears with a baffled expression and wildly flared his chakra, there are students like Naruto that just don't get the knack of things.
But that's mean to say, or even think. Naruto excelled in areas she was absolutely abysmal at, like traps and taijutsu. Kinda. Sakura didn't know if Naruto's unrefined brawler style qualified as taijutsu but he definitely sucked less than her and landed more hits. Man, she'd give anything to be better at taijutsu than at genjutsu, it seems much more useful.
No! She has to be positive, determined. Complaining won't get her anything, only training would. Sakura nodded to herself and mentally planned to give Naruto a nice fruit basket as a silent apology for slandering him in her head, it would do him good to eat something other than copious amounts of ramen.
"Yosh!"
Sakura startled at Lee's sudden outburst, momentarily breaking her concentration as releasing the genjutsu.
"Wha - That isn't fair!" Sakura sputtered as she flailed on the ground, slumped over in defeat. Lee just laughed, and how dare he - can't he see she's humiliated, and collapsed next to her. For a while, neither spoke as they both tried to catch their breaths, both unfamiliar and untrained in using chakra for such long periods.
"This is fun," Sakura said out loud, surprised when the thought flitted through her mind.
Lee flashed her a blinding grin, "Training is always fun! There's nothing better than seeing your own improvement!"
"Yeah? And who said that, your sensei?" Sakura teased, folding her arms behind her head. The air was nice and she felt oddly happy that she got half her hair shorn off, she could finally feel the breeze on her nape.
"Nope, that's all me!" Lee proudly exclaimed, and Sakura huffed in amusement. They both fell back into silence and watched the clouds, painted pink by the setting sun.
But even with the breeze and the pastel sky, Salura felt a familiar coil of distress worm it's way into her stomach.
Training was never fun in her experience, maybe when she was younger and new friends with Ino, but after she tore their friendship apart it became a humiliating ordeal for Sakura. Lack of training kept her out of shape which made training hard and grueling, which in turn made her practical performance at the academy drop. It was a cycle of Sakura trying to get back in shape and then getting embarrassed by her lack of physical abilities.
But she was working on that, wasn't she? She's training with Lee, with her team, even Kakashi-sensei, so that's not the issue. Was it Ino? Hadn't she mended her relationship with her?
Sakura already knew the answer; a big fat 'no' as broad as her forehead. Sure, she apologized and they hugged, but Sakura didn't really explain her emotions to Ino. For all she knew, Ino genuinely thought that Sakura dropped their relationship only for Sasuke, and not a desperate attempt to make her acknowledge Sakura.
She wanted to clear the air, for things to go back, perhaps not the same as before, but back to when Sakura could tell Ino anything and vice versa. She wanted sleepovers and hair braiding sessions and random facts about plants to be part of her life again, and not just the comfort that when Sakura spots Ino in a crowd, she'd be met by at least a smile and a toss of hair.
But her actions felt so stupid, so dumb, that she feared Ino wouldn't accept her explanations and apologies.
Sakura cleared her throat, "Hey Lee?"
Lee tore his gaze away from the now purple tinted clouds to face her, "Yeah?"
"Say, hypothetically, you messed up and ruined a relationship and then kinda fixed it, but it's still a bit wonky. Like wonky but still stable," Sakura made a face at whatever word vomit just left her mouth but continued when Lee motioned at her to go on, "and you can say something that might fix it but it also might ruin it way more, what would you do?"
"Go for it," Lee said bluntly, and Sakura really didn't expect anything else, but she still laughed, "I mean, hypothetically,"
"And, hypothetically," Lee continued, "if that person did not accept the apology, then at least you know you did your best,"
"Thanks Lee, you're really good at these hypothetical problems," Sakura giggled.
She settled back into the grass, still laughing, and tilted her head up to watch the clouds. Lee was right, even if Ino still wanted to maintain that brittle distance between them, Sakura couldn't say she completely walked out of that relationship. She wouldn't have any future regrets or what-ifs and, in a best case scenario, she would have her best friend back.
"It's getting late," Lee noted as they both watched the rolling clouds turn a darker shade of purple, "we should probably go home,"
Sakura stood up and brushed the grass off of her pants - she really missed her dresses - and pulled Lee up.
Their companionable silence lasted until they reached a fork in the road, where Sakura was just going through another internal debate of whether a goodbye hug was too much, before she slapped her hand against her forehead.
"Sakura?" Lee cried in alarm, "is everything okay?"
"My hair! My parents will kill me!" Sakura realized, grabbing fistfuls of her chopped off hair.
Lee's concerns and mild panic melted away into relief and, the audacity, laughter.
"Don't - don't laugh! This is a serious concern!"
More laughter.
"I'll chop your hair off, cha!"