AN: This is a semi-sequel of another story I wrote: "A purple cherry blossom".

PS: I don't own Naruto.

PSPS: the appearance of my own random characters are to connect this story to the "cherry blossom" story. They won't be in this fanfic for long.

Chapter One

First Day of Spring

It was the end of Winter. Snow started to melt, everything looked alive again in Konoha.

Hinata sat beside the window. Outside, Neji was training with her father. The ANBU captain had just came back from a mission with Naruto, Sakura and Lee. He seemed to have changed a lot in these four and a half months... The shy Hyuuga heiress watched his cousin as she twisted her fingers. She wished she could be as strong as Neji, to make her father proud... but she could never meet Hiashi's expectations. The pale-eye girl sighed as she turned away from the window.

Hinata tied up her long, silk like hair and sliped out of the house, although not knowing where she would go. Maybe some training will do me good... she thought and walked towards the training grounds.

"Hinata!" A pink-haired girl called after her.

"Sakura-Chan?"

"Is Neji..." the medic-nin blushed as she mentioned Neji's name.

"Yes. He is cu-currently training with my father." Hinata stuttered.

"Thanks, Hinata!" Sakura hurried off as the Hyuuga girl watched her with a little smile, also with a bit of envy... wishing one day, she could find a boy who care about her, look after her... An image of Naruto then popped into her mind, Hinata's face turned into a deep shade of red...

She wandered absentmindedly to the training grounds.

Itachi and Kisame stood on a cliff, towering over the peaceful country.

"They defeated that girl..." Kisame murmured.

Itachi ignored his partner, he simply dissapeared in a swirl of leaves, though himself was thinking the same thing. It seems the Kyuubi has even more power than we had imagined...

The sharingan master walked through the familiar forest of Konoha, half expecting his foolish brother to jump out from the bush and shout 'I-WILL-KILL-YOU'. But instead of Sasuke charging at him with an attack, he sensed a strange presence. This person is very weak... Itachi didn't even bother taking out any weapon.

"WOAH! YOU ARE THE CHICKEN-HEAD'S BROTHER!" A short girl with red hair surprised him by pointing at this cold-blood murderer.

Kisame raised an eyebrow.

"You look just like chicken-head!" The girl laughed, "but your hair is like, way cooler!"

Both the Akatsukis were pretty amazed that this girl could talk to them in this manner... though not for long, since Kisame was ready to kill this brat.

"Ran! Hurry, I want to see Neji-kun as soon as possible!" Another girl grabbed this crazy red-head and pulled her away.

Itachi and Kisame froze. That's the girl they met at the forest of Azrael!

"You are..." Fantasy stared at Itachi with great interest, "Uchiha. Itachi."

The long-hair man was surprised that she still remembered his name, "Hn."

"Hah hah!" Ran laughed even louder, "You sound like Chiken-head-kun, too!"

"Come on, let's go." Fantasy ran off with Ran.

"They are heading towards Konoha," Kisame shrugged in annoyance, "This is going to make our mission a bit complicated."

Neji was extremely surprised to see Fantasy. But he was also busy hating Sasuke for kissing his girlfriend this morning. He left the ramen stand as fast as possible and went off to train with Tenten.

When he heard that he had to go on a mission for two months, he felt slightly angry... he still haven't got to know Sakura well enough, yet they have to part so soon? He had to admit, he also didn't want Sasuke to steal his girlfriend... but Neji really didn't want to leave...

When he finished training and went home, he laid on his bed, unable to sleep.

Things have happened so fast between Sakura and him, he didn't understand why he cared so much about this girl.

-knock-

Neji opened the door, Sakura hugged him, "I'm sorry..." she whispered.

The ANBU captain smiled and kissed her tears away...

Hinata woke up quite late the next day, she opened her window, Neji wasn't training with her father... She paused for a moment, then realised Neji went on a mission this morning.

"The Cherry blossoms bloomed..." Hinata murmured to herself, "So beautiful..." Spring had come...

The Hyuuga heiress walked out of the house and headed for the training grounds as usual, but she saw a familiar figure beside the Konoha gate.

"Sakura-Chan?"

Sakura quickly wiped off her tears and gave Hinata a big smile, "Hinata! Hi!"

The shy girl could easily tell that Sakura was sad because Neji went away on a long mission, "Um... Do... do you want to come and tr-train with me?"

The medic-nin had a huge grin on her face that looked so... unnatural, "sure!"

Hinata was a very nice girl to be around with... she never talked much, always listening... It's warm to be around her, though her shyness can sometimes get on one's nerves. Sakura liked Hinata, a lot. She even wanted to help Hinata to get that stupid Naruto to notice her... But often, things never turn out the way you want them to be...

On this first day of spring... she met him.

It was pure coicidence. The Hyuuga girl was taking a little walk in the forest, picking flowers and pretty plants for her favourite hobby --- flower pressing.

She saw a little bunch of forget-me-not and gave a little squeak of delight... she loved these tiny blue flowers, they looked so simple, yet far beyond the simplicity on the surface... She carefully picked a few delicate flowers, as she turned with a satisfied cute smile, she saw a dark figure.

Itachi and Kisame were resting in this part of the forest. The Uchiha prodigy soon sensed another presence. Hoping it's not the freaky girl and her crazy friend, the tall man went to have a look; normally, he won't be bothered to check, but after encountering the strange girls today, Itachi decided to not take any chances. He saw a dark haired girl leaning over something. The long-hair criminal walked closer, since his eyesight isn't so great, but the girl suddenly turned around with such a bright little smile... though the smile immediately dropped as she saw who was in front of her.

AN: as usual, my first chapters are always boring... oh well. By the way, this is happening when Neji just left Konoha for the mission (refer to the purple cherry blossom story).

Review if you want to, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.