Disclaimer: The characters I used in this story are not owned by me. All rights are reserved to Masashi Kishimoto, respective creator of Naruto.

Author's Note: This is a collection of drabbles and oneshots containing the pairing of Neji Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno. All installments are in the same timeline but do not necessarily portray an all-too-specific order of events. The purpose is to merely capture moments as the relationship sparks and progresses with time.

To The Heart
By Rikayu

Chapter One: You Lose

Adrenaline rushed through her body, her ears ringing and her eyes closed tightly. As she opened her eyes, everything around her was distorted and sounded muffled, as if someone had pushed her into murky water and had forgotten to give her goggles. For a moment, the hairs on the back of her neck rose and in a sudden backwards movement, she brought up a kunai in front of her face just in time to block another kunai from striking her.

A smirk graced her face and in a flurry of hand signs, she disappeared as a shower of shuriken pummeled the spot she had just been standing in. 'I'm not that easy!'

As she hid in the shadows of the canopy, her green eyes surveying the ground beneath her. 'Where is he?' Her hand brushed against the multiple kunai strapped to her thigh absently until her fingers felt the texture of a piece of paper hanging off of the knives. In an instant, she launched herself into the air, aiming and throwing the kunai at a nearby tree. Almost on contact, the immediate area around the kunai exploded with flames, sending the top part of the tree and many lower branches crashing towards the ground.

As the last of the flames died out, she quickly sunk back into the shadows, strands of her pink hair sticking to the sides of her face. She pressed herself against wood as she leaned back, her hands on either side of her.

Her eyes flicked in front of her and widened as she saw a white flash. She jumped across to another tree, the branch she had been previously perched on exploding and bringing the entire tree down. Before she could land on a suitable branch, however, the falling tree crashed into the one in front of her. As her foot touched own on her intended branch, the sideward jolt of the tree made her slip and caused her to lose her balance and fall forward.

As the vision of the forest ground was getting exceedingly bigger, she quickly twisted her body forward, flipping herself and landing on the ground crouched on both feet. For a brief moment, she froze in place and took in a deep breathe.

Hundreds of tiny and almost invisible strings ran throughout the area around her, criss-crossing all the way to the top of the trees. 'Not surprising...' Slowly, she straightened, careful not to touch any of the strings and stepped back. However, as she turned, her foot snagged a line and before she could react, and kunai was held against her throat.

A smile crossed her lips, "Nice try."

Her body disappeared in a cloud of smoke, in its place, a large piece of wood with a carving of a smiley face sticking its tongue out. As the stump fell to the ground, her captor took a step back then turned around, only to be hit in the face with a hard kick.

As her pink hair swirled around her face, she smirked. Her opponent fell to the ground with a thud a few feet away from her and she triumphantly placed her hands on her hips. "You lose," she smirked.

But before she could notice and react immediately, hands grabbed her around the shoulders and a kunai was placed firmly against her throat.

Her eyes fell on the figure on the ground in front of her. 'Oh shit...' The person lying unconsious disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I believe I have the right to say: you lose."

The hands around her released her and the kunai withdrew away from her neck. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she glared at her training partner. "Stuff it. You were going to lose, I was so close!"

"I always win."

"Arrogant prick."

"Immaturity and name-calling won't change that you lost, Haruno."

The pink-haired kunoishi rolled her eyes. "For your information, Hyuuga, I'm just stating a known fact. You are an arrogant prick."

"And it is also a fact, that you lost."

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