Title: Bingo Book Revelations
Author/Artist: HarmonyRose
Claim: Sakura Haruno and Neji Hyuga
Theme: # 16- Bingo Book
Rating: K
Disclaimer: I could only wish to own Naruto. Unfortunately, I'm sure that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Summary: He wasn't doing anything to make anyone forget about him and Sakura doesn't appreciate it. Neji is just there to pick up the pieces and remind her that she is a formidable ninja.

Bingo Book Revelations

Haruno Sakura grabbed the brand new edition of the bingo book. It had just reached shelves that day and many ninja were loitering around perusing the newest additions. Which made the small ninja supply store a very busy and crowded location. The book only came out once a year so, it was a somewhat special, if not morbid, day. It was the little black book of the ninja world and as such was thoroughly distributed and read.

Sakura brought the book up to the checkout counter and quickly dropped the correct amount in front of the attendant before slipping out the entrance and into the streets. Glancing around the crowded streets she decided that the park near the training grounds would be more beneficial to reading than the streets. She promptly made her way toward the park, past all the milling shinobi and shopping civilians, and upon entering the green haven she spotted an empty bench. After her eyes alighted on the bench she moved leisurely to cross the distance, before sitting down and letting out a sigh of relief. Even ninja became tired after long walks.

She sat down and crossed one leg over the other to get more comfortable. The light breeze blew her pink bangs into her face. Sea-foam eyes shut tightly so that hair wouldn't get caught in her eyes. Gradually the breeze let up and Sakura's bangs stilled. She looked down to the black book in her hand and opened to the first section- Missing nins classified by name. There were only two sections. The first one a classification of Missing nins and the second section was a listing of Konoha ninja that held a page in other bingo books.

Sakura read through each page and committed the ninja's rank, appearance, individual jutsu , and former village to memory. Some of the names were repeats from last year and she only memorized details that may have changed. Sakura was on Uchiha Itachi's page and so far nothing had surprised her. All the Akatsuki were S-class or unranked and a majority of the missing ninjas were B ranked and though caused problems for the village; they weren't a serious threat.

Sakura slid emerald eyes to the next page and she stopped. Green orbs became wide like saucers and her pink tinted cheeks turned a pale color. Her hands froze and she felt the air in her lungs rush out like she had been punched. She read the title: Uchiha Sasuke- A ranked missing ninja.

In that moment Sakura felt the horrifying betrayal all over again. Her hands began to tremble and her eyes glossed over and were stinging, but she didn't notice. Her gaze was locked on the page, but the only thing she saw were her memories. She saw: Naruto andSasuke glaring at each other during an intense training match, Sasuke laying prone on the forest floor after their encounter with Orochimaru, Sasuke with a tan backpack walking down the road to becoming a missing nin, and her begging with all her might for him to stay. Pleading with him not to leave her alone.

Sakura stood, no longer able to just sit still, and walked to the training grounds. She felt numb. This couldn't be real. She didn't want it to be real. A single strangled sob tried to tear through her throat, but Sakura clamped down on the urge. She didn't want to cry over him again. She couldn't let another person see her as weak again, despite how pathetic she felt. So she grieved silently to herself. She felt so empty; it was true what she said to Sasuke, she was alone though so many people surrounded her. Worst of all, was the weakness and powerlessness she saw in herself . There was nothing she could do to change the circumstances and she was nothing compared to Sasuke's overpowering strength or even Naruto's sheer energy.

She walked with her gaze still focusing inward. Her hands still trembled slightly and tears threatened to spill onto her creamy skin. Sakura struggled to keep the physical displays of her emotions unnoticeable. Because Sakura's sight was blurred over from unshed tears and she was entirely focused on not breaking down she walked into a team's training session. To be more precise, she walked in on Maito Gai's team. Sakura stared at the green clad ninja for a second in surprise, before hastily averting her eyes and mumbling out an apology.

Gai looked at her before he let out a cheery exclamation filled with joyful tears, "My eternal rival's student has come to me for youthful training!" Which of course wasn't what she was doing at all.

Sakura gaped and before she knew it she was being dragged into the training session. Sakura quickly came to her senses and recognized that the best way to forget about her turmoil was to become so exhausted she couldn't think about it anymore. And what better way to wear herself out than training with the over-zealous taijutsu master and his team? Sakura slipped on a calm façade over her emotions; her hands still trembled.

Neji watched as Sakura slipped a mask over her expressions. He had seen her earlier troubled expression, though it was little more than a furrowed pink brow, glossy eyes, and pearly white teeth biting on her lower lip. He watched her slip a black book in her kunai pouch and suddenly Neji knew. He had seen the bingo book entries earlier this morning too. He would bet though that Haruno Sakura had only seen up to Sasuke's entry.

Gai-sensei's voice broke into Neji's thoughts, "Time for a youthful run before we spar!" Both Lee and Gai took off immediately after that statement.

Tenten whispered to Sakura in a gesture of friendship, "It's five laps around Konoha, no chakra, and it's only to stretch out your muscles. Just keep up with me and you'll be fine." Sakura smiled lightly, before she, Tenten, and Neji started off after the green menaces. Over all, Sakura found herself keeping up with the other two ninja quite well. A stray thought crossed her mind, maybe Tsunade's unorthodox training really did pay off. She felt content, at least until her brain supplied her with a sudden reminder of Sasuke.

She wasn't running fast enough. She grimaced, if thoughts of him could invade her mind she wasn't working nearly hard enough. She sped up, forcing the two next to her to increase their pace in order to keep up with her.

Neji narrowed pale eyes at her. He had seen the flash of pain on her face right before she had begun to pick up speed. Obviously, she was running from whatever problem she had.

Ten minutes later the entire team plus Sakura was back at the training grounds. Gai was splitting the four younger nins into pairs for sparring matches. Neji and Sakura ended up being paired and she was inwardly thrilled. She would have a difficult match ahead of her and she could forget Sasuke, if even only for a moment.

Both took their stances. Sakura flew into the fight with all of her fury and might, barely only remembering to keep the damage to a minimum. She engaged in close range taijutsu with Neji, creating minor earthquakes and plenty of damage whenever he came too near to shutting off one of her tenketsu.

Neji jumped back, "I concede." He had already concluded it wasn't worth finishing the match. His gentle fist technique wouldn't work or her and he hadn't known about her super-strength, so when she had kicked him, he had stupidly tried to block. It hadn't turned out well. In fact for underestimating her so much, he had gained himself a broken rib and a fractured arm. More injury wasn't worth it for just a spar and already he needed to go to the hospital to get this fixed. Normally his teammates and himself tried not to injure each other since it was only training and they would need to go to the hospital for more serious injuries. Not to say that they never did hurt each other just that they preferred not to have to go to the hospital if they could avoid it.

Sakura motioned the Hyuuga over to the nearest tree. He sat down under the tree next to her and gave her a faintly questioning look.

"I haven't been training with Tsunade-sama for nothing. Now take off your shirt so I can heal your broken bones," She said authoritatively.

Then he vaguely remembered the Haruno Sakura was a medic-nin and that was the primary role she had played during their mission to Sand to retrieve the Kazekage. Neji removed his shirt .

As Sakura healed her thoughts drifted back to Sasuke. The feelings of betrayal were ten times worse and Sakura struggled to keep the signs of her sadness and feelings of helplessness once again to herself. It didn't fool Neji though and it hadn't all morning.

He broke her out of her thoughts, saying, "You really should read the whole book before deciding it's a tragedy." He took the book out of her kunai pouch, which was still open from battle and flipped to a page he had barely paid attention to this morning. He held up the picture for her to look at. In the second section of the book, where the stats of the Konoha ninjas that had made a name for themselves were listed, was her name: Haruno Sakura and she was ranked as an A class kunoichi.

Emerald eyes widened and as if seeking to confirm what the book said Sakura glanced back up toward Neji. Chocolate hair spilled over his shoulder as he nodded his affirmation to her.

Unconscious tension seeped from her body and she tilted her head forward. Her bangs spilling into her face and hiding her expression of relief. Eyelids closed over sea-foam eyes. There was still hope; She could help bring him back. She was on the same plane as her teammates; she wasn't just watching their backs anymore. In that moment Sakura felt ashamed of herself. What else had she been training for if not to make herself stronger so she wouldn't be a burden anymore?

Sakura set her gaze on Neji and he saw a new expression written all over her face. There was a hard, fierce glint to her eyes and a firm set to her jaw. Determination.

"Thank you," she whispered simply and Neji dipped his head in understanding. She would be fine now.

Sakura stared unflinchingly toward the direction that Sasuke had left Konoha from. Her hand tightened against the ground, grasping blades of grass in her fist. Sasuke wouldn't even know what hit him.

As always reviews are appreciated, though I don't expect many due to the nature of this fic.

HarmonyRose