Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Italics = memories/past

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Not Even Death . . .

"Hello, I'm Tenten."

"Haruno, Sakura."

They shook hands, both clinging onto the warmth of the other. From now on, they could only rely on each other. Their original teams had been broken, and nothing could save them from the harsh world that they had chosen to live in.

"Looks like we're a team, then."

Sakura nodded her head, dazed at their predicament.

"Yes, let's do our best."

The cold sting of a kunai pressed to her neck brought her out of her thoughts. She tapped the at the forearm whose hand held the weapon. They let up, but not before slapping the back of her head. She pouted, while cradling her head.

"Baka, you got distracted."

"Tenten-chan, it's our day off, and we've been training all day. Look!" She pointed at dusky sky. Tenten huffed, but nodded.

"Fine, let's go eat. My treat." Sakura smiled brightly at her teammate before stepping off from the cliff where their spar had ended. As she plummeted down to the forest bellow, and called back, "Race you to sector three for the dessert bill!"

She heard Tenten yell at her for cheating, but knew that she gave chase anyway. Approximately fifteen minutes in, saw them both near the hospital, which marked end of sector four and beginning of sector three, where all the shops and markets were. Slightly panting from their race, Sakura spotted the spikey dark hair of Kotetsu. As they made eye contact, he quickly looked away and tried to sneak off.

"Kotetsu! Who won?" Sakura called out indignantly.

He sighed, before giving her a sheepish smile and scratching the back of his head, a tic he had before lying.

"I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention, Sakura-chan. You, I suppose?"

Tenten giggled, "That means I won."

Sakura huffed.

"I'm feeling up for a mountain of dango, Saki."

Sakura hummed in agreement before deflating at the thought of paying for their dango obsession.

Sakura watched from afar as Tenten stood before the memorial stone. Her shoulders shook, and she felt her heart lurch in sympathy for her new teammate, and their fallen comrade. Lee had been such a strange, but animated character from the first day they had met during the chunnin exams. He had proclaimed his undying love to her at first sight before challenging her crush over her affection. She had thought it so embarrassing and barbaric, yet it was also the funniest thing she had ever experienced. Then when they were all in the Forest of Death, he had tried to help her when the sound-nin had ganged up on her—fought until he couldn't stand up. Lee. . . He would have been a great shinobi. She sighed heavily for in the darkest corner of her mind a voice nagged at her to stop worrying about the dead for they no longer had a say.

Tenten suddenly fell to her knees, and Sakura shifted forward from her spot in the tree line. She stopped when she heard Tenten scream in anguish. Instead, she decided to sit down on the soft grass and wait. Honestly, she didn't know why she was spying on her new teammate. Maybe she was afraid that she might decide to leave her behind, or maybe a morbid part of her wanted to see what true mourning looked like? Either way there she was, watching from afar, letting Tenten grieve.

"Sakura!"

She was pulled out of her thoughts abruptly. Her gaze focused on her friend's brown eyes, and she couldn't help but stare at the grey specks in them.

"Sorry, what?"

Tenten lifted an eyebrow at her. "I asked, if you didn't like what you had ordered? You've barely touched your food."

Sakura looked down at her bowl of udon, and was slightly surprised that she still had her bowl full. While, her friend was already down to her last bite of her grilled eel.

"Oh."

Sakura quickly began to eat, practically inhaling her food as she realized how hungry she had been. She kept her head down knowing Tenten was most likely giving her strange looks. She was almost done when she heard Tenten sigh gravely.

"Is this about our last mission. I know it was tough, but it was fairly standard and straightforward, not even a hitch. Still, though, do you want to talk about it?"

She looked up at her, her brows drawn up as she chewed the last of her food. She shook her head, as the images of men and women lying on a glossy marble floor circulated her mind—dead from the beverages they had drank. The drinks they had been charged to poison at a gala.

"No, it's standard. I'm fine, really."

"You've been distracted today."

Sakura grabbed her water, and stared down into the cup at the reflection of her eyes. They had changed from when she was a gennin. They had been almost teal then, but now they looked like the translucent shade of green that could be seen when the sun hit a patch of grass. Many people compared them to emeralds, but she much rather compared them to nature. After all what was a rock compared to something living and thriving?

"Yes, it seems so." She took a sip from her water, and relished in the cool feel of the liquid pouring down her throat. The day had been so hot, and their training had felt endless.

"I've been thinking back to when we first met."

"The chunnin exams?"

"No. When we truly met each other."

"Ah." Tenten softened her gaze before pulling out her coin pouch, and setting down the money for their meal. She got up and went over to her. Sakura felt Tenten's warm hand find hers before being led out into the streets of Konoha. As they walked together in silence, Tenten still held her hand firmly.

"Do you regret it?"

Sakura stopped walking at the question, which caused Tenten to halt and look towards her.

"Never."

Tenten smiled prettily before tackling her into a bear hug. Sakura let out something between a laugh and a shriek at her friend's antics. It wasn't long before, she stopped struggling out of Tenten's arms. She settled her chin between the nook of her neck and shoulder.

"Girls like us . . . I'm lucky. Most of the teams from our unit have been deactivated. It's a harsh path we chose to bear, but we do it together. We do it well." She hugged Tenten tighter. "You've always taken care of me."

Tenten stepped out of their hug, and gave her a sharp look. "You've taken care of me too, Sakura. Us against the world, remember?"

She was trapped in a cell. It was dark—it was always kept dark. They had lost communication with their captain over two weeks ago. They had been scoping out a point of interest in their investigation when they were ambushed by rogue-nin. They had been outnumbered and outmaneuvered. The nin had easily managed to separate them during the skirmish—taking them down was child's play to the rogue-nin. When they came to, they had found that most of their clothes were missing—no hidden weapons, no hidden scrolls, and no radios. To make matters worse, a chakra suppression seal had been placed on them. They had been kept in a small house with four other women in the same predicament. There they learned that it was not the rogue-nin who ran the whole trafficking scheme but a wealthy businessman and his underground gang. He reminded her a lot of Gato, only that this man was a wolf in sheep's clothing. When his name came up in public, it was in a respectable light. He was a pillar of the community, giving to the poor and holding the wealthy accountable.

In the cover of the dark, he was a disgusting man. For a whole week they stayed in that small house being subjected to his hell. Never once did they have the energy to fight back, as the seals were always checked and reinforced after a period of time. It felt like being drugged. They were always sleepy, and their bodies were always quivering as if cold. Then one day they were actually drugged, and when they came out of the haze they were in a facility with cells (more like cages)—as if they were animals. This time they counted more than thirty women being held in their same predicament, and some were even kunoichi. Those women, the kunoichi, scared her. They had been at the facility the longest and it showed. The facility, they learned, served to dehumanize the women, and make them forget a life before abuse. Many of the civilians they had come in with had already broken, and there were always new women to replace them. Her and Tenten had been unnerved to their core when they found that one of the kunoichi had broken. She had been taken away by the two women who always came to collect the 'reeducated'.

Tenten had been the first to lose it, not too long after they had taken away the older kunoichi. She began to scream like a mad woman. Sakura had tried to pacify her by telling her that everything would turn out fine, that they would be rescued, that they would find a way out—anything to keep her quiet, or else they would be taken away for torture. Two men came, but they only took Tenten away. As she waited, she began to hear a steady sound that only grew louder with the passing of time. Her breath quickened in fright, and it was only when she choked on a bit of spit and salt did she realize that she was crying heavily and uncontrollably. The steady sound that she had kept hearing was her heart beating out of her chest. That was when she realized, that she couldn't bear to be left alone by another teammate, and that she truly considered Tenten her teammate, and like Naruto—Kami it still hurt to think of him—teammate was tantamount to friend.

When Tenten came back, she came back shaking and dazed, but hidden in the palm of her shaking fist was a needle. She had managed smuggle it out when they had injected her with a cocktail of drugs. As the ever aspiring fuinjutsu expert, she managed to counter the seal placed on the back of Sakura's neck with her own seal written in her blood. One day later, Sakura unintentionally recreated a scalpel with the little chakra she had amounted. It was used on a guard, and then weapons had been gathered. Something woke up within her that day, and when she focused back in on the world it had been painted in red. Brown eyes with grey specks collided with translucent green ones.

"Breathe, Sakura. Just breathe. You did what you had to. It was us or them. Okay? It's us against the world."

Circles were being rubbed on her back, but her fear did not stem from the loss of life but rather from gaining someone to lose, and what a terrifying thing that was.

"I just think that we're in a good place right now." Sakura frowned and looked at the ground. "Nothing good ever lasts . . . I just don't want this peace to end."

Understanding dawned on Tenten's expression, "You're right. Everything has been running too smoothly." She glanced around before continuing, "I'm afraid too, Sakura."

Tenten took her hand, and began to guide her back on the path to the dango shop. It was only moments after she had begun walking ahead, that she suddenly stopped and turned around to Sakura once more. Her hand shot out to slap the back of her pink haired friend's head.

"Baka, you'll never lose me. You'd probably die before me, with how slow you've been during training. And stop being a downer, it's our day off!" She huffed before walking ahead.

Sakura cradled her head, but she heard Tenten whisper something under her breath. She was sure she wasn't supposed to have caught it, but she did. A teary smile made its way onto her face before she rushed after Tenten.

"Yes, Sempai!"

Not even death can separate us, Saki.