Title: Papercut

Author/Artist: Harmonyrose

Claim: Sakura Haruno and Hyuga Neji

Theme: #48 Paper fan

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Naruto.

Summary: And Neji thought he was safe on this mission

A Thanks to Lady Kaliska for reading through this

Papercut

Figures that a woman would turn even the most harmless feminine object into a highly dangerous weapon. Neji wasn't even sure what he had said to anger the small pinkette with the now deadly weapon held to his throat, making it difficult for him to take a deep breath. All he had said was, "Thanks for replacing Tenten on this mission."

He had seen the deadly, accusing, narrowing of Sakura's vivid green eyes, as she had turned to face him. He knew it was never a good idea to upset a kunoichi, but he had looked over at her with a raised mahogany brow. That set her off. He had suddenly found himself with his back to the wall, his hands immobilized, and a paper fan at his throat that exuded lethal chakra, daring him to say or do anything else.

The byakugan wielder's agile mind quickly jumped from one possibility to the next. Perhaps she was nervous about the mission and it had made her emotional? He had heard woman were very irrational when they were emotional. He rapidly discarded the absurd notion that she was nervous, the clenched jaw and fire-spiting, viridian eyes didn't show even a hint of fear.

Besides, when the Hokage had suggested her prodigy to fill in for the weapon's mistress who was away on another mission, she had mentioned that Sakura was very good at these types of missions, she had an innocent charm that drew in dangerous men, like moths to a candle. Sure it was a seduction mission, but all she had to do in this case was to show a bit of skin and get the male drunk enough to leak the information Tsunade needed. It wasn't as if she needed to worry about the mission getting out of control, since Lee, Gai-sensei, and himself would all be watching. Besides Lee wouldn't let anything happen to the woman pressed quite intimately against him…

Neji was surprised that thought had surfaced in his mind. That wasn't like him. Then again, he thought wryly, it wasn't everyday that he had a volatile kunoichi plastered against him from hip to chest… One who could kill him with a paper fan that at the most should really only be able to give him a small slice on the finger, except that her chakra was pulsing through the small object. And with the aid of her chakra, the feminine piece of folded paper could give him a rather fatal papercut. His heart-rate sped up at that thought, the blood pumping ever faster through his veins.

Before the pale-eyed man could contemplate much longer about the hot-tempered medical-ninja that was exciting his blood in trepidation and pleasantly wicked ways, Sakura hissed out, passion lacing her angry voice, "There will never be a need to replace anyone in Konoha as long as I'm around. I will never let another friend of mine abandon the village, even if it costs me my life. Not again. Never again. I am merely filling in for Tenten, but I am not replacing her."

The conviction in her voice was enough to convince Neji of three things. The first being Tsunade was right, her apprentice had an innocent and passionate aura and he could see why men were so drawn to her. Himself included. The second thing the male knew was he really, really didn't want a papercut from that fan. The third and most revealing fact about her character was how deeply she cared about her friends. Another abandonment would mean a failure for her and it would absolutely break her.

The captive man decided then and there he didn't want this emotionally fragile kunoichi to break, not when he could help it. There was something powerful about her, even though she could easily become an emotional wreck, she still held herself together without anyone's help to glue her back into one piece.

He would help her with her self-appointed mission. He wasn't sure just how yet, but he would, because the byakugan wielder didn't need his precious bloodline limit to see that as long as she was alive her spirit would fight fiercely to cling onto her friends and that intense passion was an important part in keeping her, Naruto's, and all their friend's sanity intact. She couldn't be shattered. He would find a way to aid her, but he would keep his help a secret for now.

So, Neji simply glanced into the diminutive medical ninja's intense eyes and softly whispered, "Thank you."


PLEASE READ THIS: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I am working on a sequel to Bad Idea and I will eventually finish Irony. I've run into a small problem though... my beta has gone MIA and I know I have a few stories in the works. One of which I'm wicked excited about(I'm already 6K words into it). So you see I need a BETA and if someone would like to volunteer... I would love it. The task of going through all those beta reader names seems impossible to me, so if I could just get someone who enjoys my work and would like to help me improve it, please just pm, email, or leave a review stating your interest.

Don't forget to review this story. Thanks again!

HarmonyRose