A.N: Well, here is my first installment in my new Neji/Saku craze! I hope you all enjoy, and please enlighten me with your feedbacks - Ideas, opinions and positive/negative reviews are welcomed (within reason). Please excuse grammar/spelling mistakes. It's been a while since I've last gotten into the 'fanfiction' world of writing, so please bear with me. Well, here we go!

STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY. I do not own any part of Naruto. If anyone had told you otherwised... they're lying.

Summary - Hyuuga Neji can have any girl he wants. But when a certain pink-haired mednin takes no interest in him, Kakashi supplies the clueless genius with a certain little book that's sure to help him along. NejiSaku.

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How to Care for Small (cute) Animals.
Chapter 1

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"Let me get this strait," Hatake Kakashi questioned in a low, lazy voice, not bothering to look up from the small book in his right hand, labeled Icha Icha Paradise. "You've came to me today, Hyuuga, and want me to tell you the secret of winning over my dear, little Sakura-chan's heart?"

Standing a few feet away from the infamous copy ninja stood said person, 22-year-old ANBU captain Hyuuga Neji, leaning against a broken down tree stump with his arms crossed over his chest in a casual, yet sturdy, stance. A small frown graced his perfect features as his eyed the elder shinobi with a compelling gaze. "Hai."

"Um, correct me if I'm wrong, Hyuuga, but aren't you both currently…yea, involved?" Kakashi question, matter-of-factly as if saying 'shouldn't the boyfriend, of all people, know how to make his girlfriend happy and not have to go to her sensei for advice on matters of the female heart?' before turning the pages of his perverted book.

The pearl-eyed man's brow furrowed irritably, tossing a few stains of his loose, brown hair away from his face and behind his ear.

"Our relations… are complicated," the Byakugan user rebutted solemnly in a slow voice, placing his hands into the folds of his traditional Hyuuga robes. "However, I doubt that our training sessions and hospital visits together is justly fit to label us as 'involved.'"

"Could have fooled me," came a jokingly reply.

Neji's eyes flashed dangerously. "We are not involved."

"But you want to be."

"…"

"Aa." Kakashi smirk in satisfaction as he flipped the pages of his book. No sooner that he did so, a lecherous grin broke out across his face as his chuckled silently, muttering to himself. "Ho ho ho, Luna, Luna…such a naughty little--"

"Hatake-san," Neji intervene hastily, placing a troubled hand onto his forhead as he felt the beginning of a headache forming in his temples. The way the elite shinobi seem to be drooling over his little dirty book made it clear that Neji did not want to know what was processing through Kakashi's mind. "I will ask you one more time, so entertain me with a straightforward answer. I am looking for a way to gain her affections as you have had. Will you help me?"

Ever so slowy, Kakashi looked up down his book, a slightly confused look on his face.

"But why have you came to me for help, Hyuuga? Clearly you could have easily gone to Naruto or Sai for assistance."

A knowing smirk appeared on the genuis's lip, raising a delicate brow. "You would expect me to get help from a ramen-crazed loud mouth, or from a man who had affectionately dubbed Haruno-san with the nickname 'hag and 'ugly?'"

Kakashi eyed him steadily. "You have a point there."

Neji returned his stare evenly. "Then I ask of you, help me. Help me gain her trust and affections."

Kakashi scoffed. "Well, genuis, it's not that hard. Sakura is a rather friendly and sociable girl. You need to take her guard down. Just show her that you care for her."

Neji hang his head down slightly in shallow thought, his anger rising, pearl eyes flashing in frusutration. Bitterly, he replied, "Well, if I could do that, then I wouldn't be coming to you right now for help on the mattter, would I? Appearently my show of outward emotions have no effect."

Kakashi inwardly winced at the sarasm in the boy's voice.

"But why now?"

"Why wait?" the brown-hair man agrued calmly. "I feel a strong attraction to the woman, Hatake-san. I do not know why, but I do -- I will be noble enough to act on them."

A haughtily smirk appeared on Kakashi's lips, snickering. "Well then, Hyuuga, think of this as a mission to obtain the love of a young girl who isn't persuaded by looks, body, or money. Must be a rude awaking call that the great Hyuuga charm has no effect on Sakura-chan."

Kakashi didn't miss the snarl that appeared of the young boy's face. Closing his book with a smirk, the copy ninja walked over to the younger man, patting him on the shoulders before walking by him, heading back to the training ground where is was suppose to met Team 7 roughly two hours ago. Opps.

"Don't worry, Hyuuga. I'll give you something good that's sure to be able to help you with your problems." Neji's head shot up the white-haired ninja acceptance as he turned his gaze at the elder ninja's back. "I'll drop it off to you later tonight at your place. Until then."


Neji glared down at the small book he held in his hand, his right eye twitching slightly in annoyance. It was as if he would glare at it long enough, the essence if it will burst up into flames and burn into internal hell.

"Something good, my right foot," the chocolate-hair boy muttered annoyingly, his brows furrowing in slight agitation. "This must be Kakashi's idea of some sick joke." Tossing the book abruptly onto his bed, he head out of his bedroom door, suddenly in dire need of some stress-relieving training.

"Unfortunately for you, I do not believe in burning books."


"N-neji-nii-san?" a fragile, shy looking girl with long purple hair and silver-pearl eyes asked in a soft voice from behind Neji's bedroom door. Placing her hand on the sliding door, she called out his name again before opening the doorway a crack.

"Neji-nii-san?"

Seeing that no one was there, the girl, 20-year-old Hyuuga Hinata, opened the doorway fully before stepping into her older cousin's room. Looking quickly around the area to assure herself that her long, brown-hair cousin was no longer in his room, she frown, turning to leave when a small book on Neji's bed caught her eye. Her eyes widened cheerfully.

I didn't know Neji-nii-san liked to read any books… except technique and medical scrolls…How wonderful! He's not a total ice cue after all!

Smiling warmly at the thought of her cousin slowly breaking free of his whole total-training-obsessed-shinobi-ways-with-no-interests-outside-of-the-training/mediation/missions-world, she walked over to his futon and gently picked up the book, curious at what sparked her cousin's interest to actually be reading one.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped shockingly.

Huh?

In her hand was the titled book, "How to Gentle Care for Small (cute) Animals."

However, what caught her eye was that attached to the inside of the front cover was –

-- a small picture of Sakura with little hearts drawn all around her.

Hinata blink.

Okay…

Quickly, she dropped the book back to its original place on the bed and quickly scurried her way out of Neji's room.

Forget that I saw anything. It isn't any of my business to meddle into Neji-nii-san's things or private life…

She closed the door securely behind her before making her way down the long halls of the Hyuuga House Complex.

Is Neji-nii-san thinking about owning a pet?

The though of her cousin with a small, furry animal made her shiver. She thought about the tragic fate of his last little dog, Scruffy.

I would feel sorry for the poor thing.

But wait…

Hinata stopped in her tracks hastily as I thunder had stricken her.

Why does he have a picture of Sakura-chan…?


Well, any good? Hit that review button and tell me what you think! Updates will go accordingly to the amount of positive and constructive criticism I receive. I wouldn't want to continue a story that was a total bust!

Ja ne!