Author's Notes: I find that the one-shots I write on a whim tend to become my favourites, and this one is no exception. Done and done… now read and review. ;)

–
Dragonfly
–

She ran the back of her hand over the plush rug, enjoying the soft texture as it pleasured her skin. The room was bathed only in moonlight and in the reverie of her trance, Sakura Haruno had taken in every detail, no matter how the refracted light seemed to highlight every object in the room with a faint glow. Every crevasse and every item within the boundary of the room was subject to her intense scrutiny. She felt like she could sit in here forever, taking in the scent that pervaded her senses and the feel of Neji Hyuuga that lingered even when he wasn't in the room.

The stoic ANBU captain was so icy at first glance, but between missions and their occasional conversations, she'd been graced with the sensual version of the man, that would occasionally draw out the vowels when whispering her name into her ear. He would deliberately stand near her when the rest of the members of the leaf twelve were occupied in one of their bimonthly reunions. These little "get togethers" had technically started before Sasuke Uchiha had left the hidden leaf, but hadn't really taken off until his release from Konoha prison. Now it was tradition, and Sakura had yet to miss one, but not everyone would be there each time, which was understandable – missions didn't stop after all.

The rest of Konoha seemed to gossip about the leaf twelve a lot, according to Ino. They had been through so much together, clung to each other for solace during the war and come out of there without losing a single person. It had started with the problems surrounding Team Seven, and extended to the rookie nine, and then each team's Sensei had joined in… the number increased when Sai and Yamato were dragged into it. Finally, the coup d'état was Sasuke's return.

But it wouldn't be honest to say they'd come out complete; every time they met, they honoured Asuma Sarutobi.

The loss and stress aside, it was like some sort of fairytale, where some of them were even pairing off. Case in point: Sakura and Neji. They weren't shouting it to the high heavens, but everyone knew where they went when they disappeared in the middle of their outings. Everyone knew they were spending the majority of their downtime together and that after Naruto's proposal of marriage to the normally shy Hinata (she'd gone thoroughly verbal and hugged him so enthusiastically you'd have thought Naruto was proposing to a transformed clone of himself), it was only a matter of time before Neji popped the question as well.

But what no-one but Sakura and Neji knew was how they had found their way to each other.

– Dragonfly –

It was late into summer and the soft breeze of autumn was just beginning to drift through the Hyuuga complex. This was when he'd recovered from his infirmity enough so that his life was no longer in any danger. Now, he could move around unassisted and was even smiling again.

His name was Tonbo, the meaning of which wasn't lost on Sakura: it meant "dragonfly". This was a name that symbolized courage, and he certainly had a lot of that. Sakura had been his personal medic for six months after his recovery; struck down with an illness that had completely consumed his chakra in a matter of hours, the four year old boy had survived through sheer force of will. The former apprentice to the Godaime believed, that apart from her own tendency to cure otherwise inexplicable illnesses, that the speedy recovery of Tonbo Hyuuga under her care was more of his own doing.

But he'd been left blind in the wake of his physical maladies; the illness scorched the veins of his Byakugan and rendering all forms of sight useless. This was the defining point of his segregation from what passed as a normal life in the Hyuuga clan.

After all, if he couldn't use his Byakugan, this weakness would serve no future purpose to the clan.

The servants would bring him food and water and watch curiously from afar, but Sakura was alone in caring for him. His mother and father had died and his legal guardian had left him to his own devices. This was how the members of the side branch were treated when deemed weak. If Tonbo had been of the main branch, this kind of neglect wouldn't have happened.

Sakura's furious pleas to Hiashi Hyuuga had not gone unanswered: he searched out Neji as soon as the ANBU captain returned from his mission only to find that the prodigy had already heard about what had happened and found his nephew kneeling by Sakura's side, aiding in the little branch boy's physical therapy.

It was Neji's insistence that gave Sakura much needed time to sleep and rebuild her chakra after each healing session, and it was his trademark Hyuuga stubbornness that made her comfortable leaving Tonbo in his care as she slept. It wasn't like he didn't understand after all – his own childhood had been difficult due to being a branch member. But unlike the others, he was determined to do something about it. Sitting back and just accepting things wasn't going to change what needed changing.

Naruto had taught him this. But it was Sakura's lessons that would always remain at the forefront of his mind. She taught him that you didn't have to hide behind propriety. This lesson was learned sweetly as she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek one afternoon after Tonbo had fallen asleep, exhausted from his new training. It blossomed into a few minutes of heaven and once they'd come down from their high, they realised that the little brown haired boy under their care had just pretended to fall asleep, grinning happily as though he had known what they were doing, sight or no sight.

So that was when Neji had decided to play a little game with him. It was tradition in the Hyuuga clan: he was going to teach him how to catch dragonflies. Tonbo couldn't see them, but they'd been helping him through meditation and katas to extend his other senses and hear the fluttering of their wings as they hummed in the evening air. Tonbo could also sense them; a little like the Byakugan, he caught them as imperceptible shades of light blue in a sea of darkness.

Sakura found herself watching the game with interest, noting also that Neji and Tonbo had garnered attention from nearby, curious Hyuuga members. She watched as they tied hair to a small pebble at both ends and Neji's arms went around the excited boy to move with the motion as he threw the pebble into the air. The light from the tiki torches caught the spectacle of the dragonfly that mistook the pebble for prey, getting tangled in the hair.

Tonbo ran over to free the dragonfly as the pink haired medic let out a longing sigh, wishing she was good enough to capture this mood in a painting like Sai would've been. The sound drew pearl eyes to her form; Neji let a flicker of amusement cross his features at the sight of her enjoying herself and she smiled back at him.

That was the exact moment that Sakura had fallen in love with Neji Hyuuga… and he knew it.

– Dragonfly –

From then on, he would come to her upon every return from his missions. Instead of returning to his personal chambers in the Hyuuga estate, Neji slipped into Sakura's apartment and shared with her the love they had both found. They'd been dating for over a year now, but only those closest to them knew without having to be told.

As Sakura let the memory of that fateful drift away, Neji entered his bedroom, having watched her throughout the entire reverie which had been her trip down memory lane, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts. She was so beautiful, this precious gem: his cherry blossom. The moonlight streaming into his room only highlighted the delicate features of the woman he'd fallen in love with.

The ANBU captain knelt down in front of her, smirking lightly at the forming grin on her face, cupped her face in his hands, and silently pulled her toward him; into his kisses, his embrace. There was no way, after that day in the Hyuuga gardens that he was going to ever let this rare beauty slip between his fingers. Their kiss intensified and she let him gently push her back onto the plush rug she'd been absentmindedly admiring, his hands now moving to rob her of the simple yet elegant silver nightdress she was wearing.

She lifted her left hand to his face as he disrobed and leant further into her. In the corner of her eye, she hazily spotted in her growing lust, the object on her finger – the cause of their new temporary sleeping arrangement.

It was a pink diamond engagement ring, the pinnacle of which opened up like a flower bud, revealing the delicately carved image of a dragonfly within.

X X X

A/N: Dragonflies are one of the few insects that don't remotely creep me out. ^_^ While in a lot of countries in Europe, they're often considered to be ominous or sinister (in Indonesia they're a delicacy…), in Japan they are much loved. So yes, that game Neji taught Tonbo was real. ;)