Senko: Wassup everyone! I'm here with a new story! I just got bored and then it just came to me and I was like, "-Gasp- I should make a NejiSaku story 'cause I love that pairing too!" Stupid, huh? Oh well, this is my first attempt at a NejiSaku story. Please, KEEP IN MIND that this story focuses on NEJISAKU! HOWEVER, there will be SLIGHT SASUSAKU! I do not gaurantee you that this will end NejiSaku! It MIGHT BECOME SASUSAKU! The summary of this story only says NejiSaku because the story focuses on NejiSaku romance! The chances of it becoming SasuSaku is slim, but just remember it!

Alright, first of all, this fic takes place after Sasuke betrays Konoha. Basically, it centers on Sakura's life in Konoha training under Tsunade while Sasuke is with Orochimaru and Naruto is with Jiraiya. It doesn't actually take place right after Sasuke leaves, but it also does not take place right when Naruto returns to Konoha. You could say that the story takes place 2 ½ years after Sasuke leaves and extends until, most likely, when Naruto returns.

Summary: First love is the most painful... NejiSaku

Disclaimer: -sigh- If only I owned Naruto, Sasuke or Neji would be going out with Sakura v.v;;


Chapter 1

Many times she wondered why she worked so hard to catch the attention of one guy, tried so hard just to be by his side when he could care less. Why? She didn't know. But it was just plain foolish of her when she reflected back on it all. It was just so cold and disgusting of her to admire and romantically chase after loneliness and pain.

Many times she wondered why she chased after Uchiha Sasuke, the one boy of Konoha whose entire clan was murdered by this older brother. Was it because he was just gorgeous and extremely cute? Was it because he is a prodigy? Was it because he's so strong? Was it because he is an Uchiha?

How would it have been like if she had not fallen for him? Well, it's true that her life wouldn't be like this. If she had not taken interest in him, she would have remained friends with Ino (instead of a friend yet a rival). She would have worked harder on her ninja abilities and had been able to do more to help team seven. Then again, she wouldn't have sought training from Tsunade and she would be weaker than she is today.

Many felt sorry for her to love a traitor and frequently questioned why she cared so much. If she, and everyone else, looked deep enough, pity answered all of these questions. It was only a crush that she had on Uchiha Sasuke at first, and who could blame her? Almost all of Konoha's females, except those who aren't single, fell for the Uchiha. But she was different. While the rest remained on the stage of crush and soon forgot about Uchiha Sasuke, she advanced towards love. Does she love him? She didn't know. However, she knew that she didn't just have a mere crush on him. Perhaps it was because she pitied him. He has no family and he's living only to avenge his clan. He's been through so much that she felt she needed to assure he wouldn't be lonely.

Does this finally mean she loves him? She still doesn't know. Pity couldn't qualify as love could it? And if it doesn't, then why is it she, Haruno Sakura, at the age of 15, still never dated and is still pondering this everyday?

"…kura? Sakura? Sakura!"

(1) Sakura blinked, instantly snapping back to reality. "Huh? S-sorry. Did you need something, Tsunade-sensei?"

Tsunade, the Hokage of Konohagakure and whom Sakura trains under as an apprentice, sighed. "I was just complimenting your skills but you decided it wasn't worthy of your time and so you went ahead and drifted into another one of your reveries."

She let out a small, nervous laughter. "S-sorry, Tsunade-sensei. I'll try my best to make sure that it doesn't happen again!"

She took a seat and looked up at Sakura. "Make sure that doesn't happen again. Anyways, Sakura, I've decided that it's time for you to use your medical skills to help out Konoha. Starting from tomorrow, you will work at Konoha Hospital whenever possible during the span of noon to dusk."

Sakura blinked a few times, registering what Tsunade had just announced. Work at Konoha Hospital? "What? Work at Konoha Hospital? But I'm not that skilled! What if I mess up?"

"I'll just have to take that risk then. Besides, from my observations, I'm assuming that you'd be one of the top nurses there. Also, it's been 2 ½ years since he left, Sakura. Once 2 ½ turns 3, there's no doubt that countless issues and critical missions will arise rapidly. Furthermore, it would be vital to have a medic-nin on a team. You will need as much training as possible, Sakura."

Sakura took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Alright, Tsunade-shishou."

And that concludes how Haruno Sakura began to work at Konoha Hospital. She still trains under Tsunade, but often comes to the hospital around noon and work until dusk. Tsunade used to come into the hospital a few times every week but her visits has decreased down to one or two a week ever since Sakura began to work at the hospital.

Tsunade was right; Sakura is one of the top nurses around here. Many of the nurses often congratulate her on a job well done and often compliment her. The massive amount of medical knowledge that she acquires from Tsunade is often put to good use. The majority of the patients are ninjas, usually jounins who were on difficult missions and had gotten hurt.

Knock knock

"Sakura-san?" the door to the white hospital room opened slightly and then wider as a nurse stepped inside. "I know it's getting dark, but if you can, can you see to the patient in room 205? All of us nurses are busy; I was just on my way to room 164."

"Alright, I'll go to room 205."

"Thank you."

Once the nurse left, Sakura turned towards her patient and smiled. "Alright, Kiba, your wounds aren't too severe but you did lose a large amount of blood. They should release you within 3 days."

Kiba grunted. "3 days!"

"See? Didn't I tell you to bring extra bandages? This is what happens when you think you're too mighty to be prepared!" Sakura stuck her tongue out at him like a child. "Well, I gotta go now so see ya, Kiba!"


Sakura made her way to room 205. For some reason, the rooms in the 200s always seem so much colder and darker at night. In fact, it'd be a perfect place for a horror movie. Once she was at room 205, she opened the door slowly, careful to not create a disturbance if the patient was sleeping or something.

"Hello?" she said aloud as she stepped in, trying to get his attention; her patient was none other than Hyuuga Neji, one of Konoha's rare prodigies.

"Aren't you the girl that was on Naruto's team?" his tone of voice seemed to declare that he was angry at her or something, but she didn't mind. Most patients are like this, seeing as they are in physical pain.

She made her way towards his bed that he sat on and began to inspect his injuries. "The name's Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Neji."

"I didn't ask for your name."

"I didn't say that you asked for my name."

(2) He grumbled something under his breath that she couldn't make out, but she was sure it wasn't something nice. She smirked to herself. "Your wounds are really deep, Hyuuga-san, and it seems that you've gone over your limits. Your most critical wound is the one on your right chest. There are various injuries on your back which, I assume, came from flying kunais?"

His silence guaranteed that she was right. Sakura took a seat next to him on the bed and began to form the necessary seals to heal. "Well, Hyuuga-san, it seems that you were on a difficult mission. Mind sharing what happened?"

He gave no response and the two remained in silence until Sakura stopped healing him. "I've healed most of your minor wounds and did my best for that wound on your right chest." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle of ointment.

"What's that?" Neji glanced at the bottle.

She opened the bottle to reveal a lavender colored cream. "This is my medicinal cream that I made. After training under Tsunade-shishou for 2 ½ years, I put together all of the knowledge I acquired and created this cream. Its purpose is to speed up the process of healing or, in other words, help the process of mitosis (2) to produce cells quicker. I've only begun working here two weeks ago and you're the first person whose injuries are not minor. I thought that I'd test this out and record how well it helps."

"What," Neji growled. "So I'm your guinea pig, or what?"

She beamed. "No, consider more like…you're helping me!"

He glared. "Well, if this is what you call helping, then I'll just get another medic-nin. I'm not here so you can test your creations on me."

She glared back. "Well, Hyuuga-san, it's either I apply this cream on your wounds or you can stay here for the next 2 weeks!"

"You can't just make me stay here for 2 weeks."

"I can't. But the doctors will, especially when you have critical wounds."

"Hmph."

She took this as a yes and dabbed the cream and applied it to his wounds. "Look, this cream is safe. With your current condition, you'd have to remain here for about 2 weeks. However, my cream is made so that you should be able to get out within the next 3-4 days. Once you get out, report to me how long it took to heal you, ok?"

He looked away. "Fine."


And thus begins…well, no not yet…but it will begin! What did you all think?

1) I don't know what Sakura's supposed to call Tsunade, but since Sakura is training under Tsunade, I decided to make her call Tsunade Tsunade-sensei.

2) I got this idea from Neji's fight with that one dude that is one of Orochimaru's men.

3) I am not a medical person/student/genius! However, I do know that mitosis is a series of continuous steps that composes the process of a nucleus dividing to form two new, identical nuclei (and those nuclei divides to form two new nucleus each and the process goes on and on and on). In other words, mitosis is cell reproduction. I don't know how the cream helps, but let's just pretend that it does! -.-;; If you read this and goes, "HUH!" well I can't help you cause I ain't a genius and this mitosis thing just suddenly occurred to me. If you read this and find that something I said about mitosis is wrong, then tell me…

REVIEW!