OK! My first fanfic so please be gentle!
I own absolutely nothing!
Of Sunrises and Snow:
In which Sakura is an early riser and Neji actually pouts
It was cold winter morning in Konoha Village; the sun was just rising up to meet the pale blue winter sky, reflecting on the freshly fallen snow, the first snow of the winter, bathing it in soft hues of pink and orange, a sharp contrast to the dark of the pine trees in the surrounding the ninja village. Not a single creature walked upon the perfect canvas of the winter landscape.
Or maybe not.
In one of the training grounds there was a young woman slashing away at her partner, a clone she had made to withstand almost any attack that she sent its way, so as to get the maximum out of the sparring session. All around the pair the grounds were ruined, marring the surreal perfection of the early morning, the craters and trenches, the overturned trees and rubble that used to be great boulders, all like ugly wounds against their surroundings, complete with not a little blood.
The duo had finally stopped, not because they had finished, but because the girl suddenly stood alone on the destroyed field, her clone having vanished in a cloud of smoke due to chakra exhaustion. She sat in the middle of the grounds, panting and sweating heavily despite the harsh cold now creeping onto her bones. Her fair skin was decorated with long cuts, openly bleeding, and adorned with newly blooming bruises, and bubblegum pink hair matted with dirt and clinging to her face, neck and shoulders due to the sweat. The red shirt she wore was dirty with mud and blood and torn in several places letting the harsh winter wind attack the skin underneath.
Despite all this, the girl was calm, her pretty face not showing a trace of discomfort as she examined the damage, emerald eyes scanning all the cuts and bruises, watching the heal under her expert hands, softly glowing green, careful to use as little chakra as possible. It would not do to pass out here, not now when no one would be coming until much later. As she finished healing all the major injuries (2 broken bones and some internal bleeding, nothing too serious) she carefully stood up, mindful of the ones she hadn't and made her way to a large pine that stood almost in the very center of the clearing, it had miraculously survived the intense training.
She almost made it too. A few feet away from her goal she stumbled, she only had a millisecond to brace herself for the fall; she closed her eyes expecting to feel the unforgiving frozen ground… and was then surprised to feel warmth surround her in the shape of two strong arms holding her firmly around her waist. She looked up and emerald met milky white.
"Neji-san… What are you doing here?" The girl asked, not once taking her eyes away from the white eyes that had haunted her dreams for months (Though she be dammed if she ever admit it), even as the young man, Neji, set her down at the base of the tree.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sakura-san" He asked as he gently set her down and then proceeded to treat the wounds she had deemed minor enough to overlook. Though he was not as capable as the rosette haired girl at this, he was still competent enough to do a good job at treating her wounds. They continued the conversation as he worked.
"I was training."
"By yourself? So early? All the way out here?"
"I concentrate better at this time, since there's no one to distract me, and yes by myself, Naruto refuses to spar with me after a particularly err…rough sparring session, Sasuke absolutely refused to get up so early in such cold weather ("Hmp! Wimp" Inner Sakura supplied helpfully), Shikamaru and Ino are off on their honey moon, Sai and Kakashi-sensei are both on missions, Tenten-san and Hinata-chan both offered, but I turned them down cause their both pregnant and I gave them the no extreme physical order myself, so I kind of ran out of people to ask..." She said, as Neji finished off and sat directly across from her on a still untouched patch of snow.
"I see…you could have asked me, you know" Neji replied, trying to put out there the offer without actually having to ask (Neji doesn't ask, he is asked these things), at the same time trying to give away the fact that he wanted her to ask, to know that he was available spar with her…and for some other things.
The Cherry Blossom actually looked surprised, which sort of ticked off the white-eyed prodigy, he wasn't that unapproachable, was he? But all thoughts were instantly put on hold as the pink-haired beauty started giggling, replaced with utter confusion (and gods she looks amazing like this, and she's actually laughing for me).
"What's so amusing?" He asked, now very annoyed with if not a little bewildered by the girl in front of him. She can't possibly have such a bad impression of him that she actually laughs at the notion of asking him for a sparring session.
"N-nothing, it's just, I didn't think you'd actually agree to it since, well you seem like you're so busy lately, what with all the missions your team's received, Anbu captain-san." She says between giggles, and regaining her breath. She looks up at him and actually starts to break out into full out laughter 'cause he's actually pouting and it's so un-Neji like that she just wishes she had a camera with her, and at the same time her heart's filling up with warmth and an emotion she's not yet ready to name (doesn't want to name, cause if she does then it becomes real and she's not sure she can take another heartbreak, even though she and Sasuke are now really close, he still broke her heart badly), but at that very moment she doesn't care because he's opening up to her and showing her a side of him she's sure has been locked away for a very long time, and she's so happy that she's practically floating.
Neji just gets even more annoyed because he's realized the major break in his icy façade, but can't bring himself to care cause she actually seems happy to see him like this, and that makes his heart (yes, contrary to popular belief he does have a heart) fill up with yearning andhe moves before he realizes it, then he's oh so close, and he can smell the underlying scent that's Sakura, vanilla and what he can only describe as sunshine. All these things assault his senses and his mind goes blank, and he allows himself to go against his ninja training and just feel, and closes the distance between them, pressing their lips together.
To say Sakura is surprised would be the understatement of the century. But pleasantly so, 'cause she can feel soft lips against her own and a tentative hand on her cheek, and all she can do for a second is to freeze until her inner screams at her to do something ( "Move, dammit, do something!" ). She gently presses back, with equal pressure and places slightly shaking hands on broad shoulders. All of a sudden she's being pressed up against the bark behind her and a soft touch on her lips startles her mouth open. She can't quite grasp what's going on and she can't get enough oxygen, but gods she doesn't want it to ever end.
But all too soon it does, as he pulls away and presses their foreheads together, looking into her eyes. He would apologize but he doesn't think it's necessary, if the way she kissed back and the beautiful blush gracing her cheeks are any indicator. So he does the next best thing.
"Would you like to accompany for breakfast?" He asks, deep baritone slightly breathy and somewhat husky. It's such a sexy voice that Sakura can feel her insides warm up and her inner melt into a useless, gibbering mess. And really how could she possibly say no to such a voice, especially when the elder man looks so cute with a barely visible blush dusting his aristocratic cheeks.
"Sure"
AN:
What did you guys think? please review, reviews make mama happy! :D