We sat there under the trees, in the same spot team seven used to train, just Sakura and me, tired from our vigorous fights. She had become surprisingly good, and after discovering her new found strength (don't ever ask a kunoichi if she has her period), I asked her to spar with me most afternoons.

The air was filled with a sweet scent and our increased intake of oxygen allowed us to appreciate it more than we had before the fight. I glanced her way and found her laying down in the grass with a small almost hidden smile. I finally broke the silence.

"I think I'm in love" I said it half mumbled and half whispered, but she understood it and snapped up with extreme surprise. After a while she finally answered.

"Are you serious?"

I nodded as she just looked at me with a weird expression of pure shock. The same one she would have had if I had suddenly told her that Naruto was actually a girl. No happiness or sadness, but just pure shock.

"The great ice king Hyuuga Neji has fallen in love?"

I half-chuckled at the nickname and nodded again, this time with a grin on my face, partly from the joy that this newfound love brought, but also from her expression. Like a deer struck dumb in front of headlights.

She turned her head to look front again and just sat there, like deciding whether she should believe me or not, and my smile grew as I saw her raise her eyebrows , gasp, grind her teeth, portraying every emotion she was feeling. But at times she seemed to be discussing things with someone else in her head. Time to bring her back to reality.

"Sakura?"

Her head snapped up and she turned to look at me.

"Sorry, I guess it was a bit of a shock." She smiled her cute sheepish smile and finally asked: "So who's the lucky girl?"

I wasn't expecting her to ask so soon seeing her previous display but I guess she was taking more after Ino when it came to gossip, and I openly showed my own amazement by raising my eyebrows.

"So you think she's lucky because I like her?"

Her eyebrows furrowed, her hands clasped together, and her shoulders dropped in a strange manner. Was she mocking me when she said that?

"No, not really."

She was. And I thought I could finally have a completely honest talk with her. Now I was just wishing that I had kept my mouth shut.

"I just think any girl who can find a guy who sincerely loves her that much is lucky."

"Hn."

I shrugged not wanting to hear anything. Wait what? She wasn't mocking me? How would she even know that I was deeply in love? All I had said was "I think I'm in love."

"Why would you say that? How would you know that?"

I watched closely waiting for her reaction, leaning in with an intense gaze. She chuckled and responded almost immediately. "Because the great Hyuuga Neji does not say things unless he really means it. You don't say things without thinking about them first and for you to have said that it means that you've gone over the thought of whether it's real love or not a lot, which has obviously led you to believe the former."

I stayed quiet asserting her statement and found it to be extremely valid. I thought she would be happy with the fact that I was agreeing with her, but when I saw her she had a pained expression on her face.

"Not all of us have that kind of luck."

Did she mean that because of Sasuke? I know that he hadn't loved her back and she had suffered a great deal because of him, but I thought she had gotten over him. I guess she wasn't ready to move on, and even though I wanted to hug her I settled at just patting her on the back.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure you'll find someone."

My hand was still on her back and I could see that my words had no effect.

"Thanks…"

After a while she stopped looking at the floor and asked me to describe her. Was she hoping to distract herself from the bad memories? Either way I decided to play along.

"Well she's really beautiful. Just naturally gorgeous…"

At that her eyes lit up with the same spark as before and she did a little jump just to turn and point her index finger at me. She had definitely spent too much time with Ino.

"A-ha! I knew you would pick beauty over brains!"

I rolled my eyes as I thought about what she probably had in mind. A quiet, conservative, high class girl with the facial features that Sakura thought would make any candidates admittance into my family easily, so just to shut her up I added something more.

"Actually, she's very smart… smart enough to challenge me."

She stopped ranting and started staring at me again.

"She is so not from Konoha. I think we would all have noticed if there was such a girl around here like that." She snorted at that last sentence, probably thinking that Kiba would have found her first with his now predatory way of meeting women. I shrugged and continued.

"Maybe, maybe not. And she has the most beautiful eyes and the cutest smile I've ever seen."

Her lips tightened into a line and her eyebrows rose before she finally said, "You, my friend, are whipped!" only to punch me softly in the shoulder while her smile grew.

I thought about denying her statement (although it was completely true) but decided not to. It was more interesting to let her think so.

"Well, she's unique. One of a kind."

At this point she had gone back to laying on the grass with her head over her arms and her smile was noticeably bigger than before. Then again, it wasn't everyday that a Hyuuga would talk about such things.

"Ok, how about I make you a deal?"

She rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin on her right elbow to look at me again. Her eyes were bright once again, the way I loved to see them, and her half smile gave her a mischievous look, especially with her slightly tousled hair pressed against her cheek. If only she could see what I saw.

"Shoot."

I gathered my breath in a way that she wouldn't notice how nervous I had gotten and decided to make it brief. She didn't need to know my feelings just yet. And if she still needed time, then I would wait.

"When she finally realizes how amazing she is, I'll introduce her to you."

She seemed surprised again. Maybe she thought that I wished to keep the girl away so Sakura wouldn't corrupt her. No chance of that happening.

"Alright! Pinky promise?"

To most, that gesture would seem extremely childish. But to me it portrayed her will to remain pure and innocent even though she had faced so much cruelty and gone through so much pain. It showed me just how strong she really was. I intertwined my pinky with hers.

"Pinky promise."