So I started writing this about a year ago. I scrapped it because I didn't think it was good enough to post; however, I've reread and finished it, deciding to give it a chance. As a reader, I would like you, in the reviews, to tell me whether or not you'd like to see this continued because I may have run over the hills with this after continuation. Why would also be a good motivation. Without further ado, I present: What If.
Disclaimer: Naruto, in all facts and facilities belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I just borrow them for awhile. All emotional rollercoasters, heartbreaks, and pent up suspense, plotlines and what have you belong to me. Enjoy.
What if
Before them stood the Ten Tails, with Obito and Madara at the helm. Shikaku and Inoichi, the brains of the Allied Shinobi Forces, had just been killed. It seemed as if the enemy's strategy had been altered. Obito was hell bent on breaking their will, their reason for fighting.
Sakura looked around at the smoke and debris. The earth was ruptured around her, bodies littering the ground like fallen snow on a winter's day. It was a medic's worst nightmare. Her heart ached with the pain of loss that was instantaneously turned into hidden rage, which she focused toward the enemy. When one is on the battlefield, such sentiments are void. One could feel them later, or be killed because of them now. Focus is the only option for survival.
Nearby, Hiashi, Hinata, and Neji were defending Naruto as the Kyuubi recharged from his earlier attacks. The three were working in perfect unison, the differences between them long forgotten. It made her smile on the inside and her heart swell with pride.
"Let's show them why the Hyuuga are the most superior clan in all of Konoha," bellowed Hiashi with pride.
Neji stood stock still next to him, focused and confident. His body was melded into perfect form of the gentle-fist technique used by his family for generation, a true genius. Hinata nearly matched his prowess that he had obtained years earlier, and Hiashi looked formidable with his extensive experience in battle.
Sakura barely had time to breathe before the next wave of attacks began. Obito was relentless wanting to make them to feel despair. He wanted to break their spirits, but mostly he wanted to break Naruto. It seemed the jinchuuriki perturbed him with his positive attitude and iron will, so like his own, yet on the opposite side of the spectrum. However, he had underestimated Naruto. The loyal ninja would never give up or turn his back on his village. Kakashi's famed words were embodied within him, his silent mantra that he lived, breathed, and exercised daily.
"Wood Style! Cutting Sprigs," Obito roared.
The attack was focused on Naruto.
Sakura lifted a piece of the cracked earth to shield herself and her comrades around her. Glancing swiftly out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Hyuuga trio deflect the attack expertly with Rotation. Sighing softly, she hurled the piece of ground away, awaiting the next attack.
Neji seemed to be slowing down. Her eyes narrowed in concern for the man that had become to mean more to her over the past few months…
Sakura sighed as she checked over the wounded in the medical tents. Most wounds were extensive, but some were easily treated. She'd learned to triage perfectly in the months she'd been at war, but the spirit of her teacher that was imbued within her being made it hard to give up on anyone.
She was shuffling paperwork when the tent opened behind her, and Sakura recognized the chakra signature immediately.
"What can I do for you, Hyuuga-san?" She asked, inclining her head to catch a glimpse of the man behind her.
Neji Hyuuga had grown through the years since the chunin exams in his match against Naruto. He was less bitter, more experienced and kind, and seemed less concerned about where he came from and who he was suppose to be. Instead, he focused on who he was now.
He inclined his head toward her with a gentle smile on his face. "Haruno-san."
Sakura continued to sort papers and waited for him to continue.
"I would like to apologize for when...Zetsu attacked you as myself." At this, Sakura stopped shifting the papers and her shoulders fell slightly. "I know it must have been disconcerting."
A small smile came to her face as she set the papers down her hands pressing against the wood of the desk. "Actually, I was more concerned about where the real one was. I am just glad that you are okay, Hyuuga-san."
"Neji."
Turned to look at him curiously, Sakura took in his figure for the first time, seeing his hands shoved in his pockets a sly smile on his face. "Neji will suffice," he said, closing his eyes and inclining his head toward her.
She slightly blushed at his familiarity with her but after a few moments she smiled.
"Sakura then," she responded.
She watched as his eyes opened slowly, a bigger, more genuine smile sliding across his face. "Alright, Sakura," he responded before turning to leave.
Since then, he'd come visit her at the end of her shift. She'd gotten to know him, and in those meeting had lain the beginnings of a budding attraction between them. However, if she were completely honest with herself, those feelings had already taken root in her once shielded heart.
Neji glanced to his right to see Sakura holding up a wall of rock before her and several comrades near her, and a sense of relief washed over his being at seeing her safe. He would never admit it because his duty to the Hyuuga clan would never allow such a courtship, but he had fallen slowly for the pink-haired kunoichi that was feared for her violent fist, and that he cherished for her gentle heart. The Byakugan had given him nearly perfect sight, but it hadn't been able to foresee this. For that he was glad, because he wasn't sure he'd allowed her this close if he had possessed an inkling of what was to bloom between them.
Another roar from the Ten Tails hurled Neji's mind back into reality. Chastising himself for losing focus, he turned in time to dodge a sprig of wood that he was able to keep from taking his head off, but did manage to catch his headband and wrench it from his forehead. Unflinching, he looked forward once again.
Naruto was on the move again, rushing the enemy at six feet per second. Infusing chakra to his feet, Neji launched himself forward to help Hiashi and Hinata protect Naruto. He was the key to winning this war, after all.
Neji smiled at how Naruto had managed to change his fate. He had gone from being an unloved orphan with no family and no friends, to this man with the power of many villages rallying behind him in order to take down a great evil. Neji's own change hadn't been so drastic, but he knew that Hinata, among others, were counting on him to change the ways of the Hyuuga. He was, in their eyes, the future.
An impressive roar from the Ten Tailed beast accompanied Obito's release of another barrage of cutting sprigs, and that was when he saw it. Naruto was wide open. Hinata and Hiashi had protected the front and the back, but they had failed to look to the sky, where two sprigs were speeding down toward Naruto at an alarming pace. Closing his eyes, Neji took to the sky, knowing full well that he wouldn't touch the ground on his own feet. His heart ached as his impending death roared loudly in his ears in the form of adrenaline and blood. Before, he wouldn't have had such a feeling come over him, and as he stared death in the face he knew what had changed. Sakura.
Neji was on watch. It was only natural since he was a Byakugan wielder. Sighing, he leaned against the makeshift walls erected from sand around the camp. The stresses of war were getting to him; he could feel it in his shoulders and lower back. His eyes had just closed when he heard the faintest of footfalls on sand approaching him.
Drawing a kunai, Neji prepared himself. When the footfalls were mere feet from his position, the slightest flare of chakra set him at ease. It was Sakura.
Sighing heavily, he stowed his kunai in his weapons pouch secured to his side. As she approached him, he couldn't help but notice how the moonlight ignited her pale-pink hair in an ethereal manner, making her defined features stand out further in the shadows created by the clouds. The blue moon set her emerald orbs on fire, and he could see the intelligence they portrayed. She was always thinking, constantly thinking.
"Neji-kun," she greeted quietly.
"Sakura-chan," he responded, sighing softly. His arms recrossed themselves over his chest, and he returned to his previous stance of leaning against the wall. "You should warn an ally of your approach farther away than three feet. Some jumpy shinobi could mistake you for the enemy, especially with White Zetsu wandering around."
"Are you a jumpy shinobi?" she pried.
Upon opening his eyes, he took in the sly smirk upon her lips, and he couldn't help but return it slightly. It was then that she raised the cup of steaming tea that the darkness had hidden from his gaze.
"Here," she offered. "It has energy boosting herbs, vitamin supplements, and chakra restorants. I know it may not taste the best, but I tried to mask the flavor as much as possible."
He looked at her for a moment longer before taking the tea from her. Looking at the light green color, Neji took an experimental sniff. It smelled of jasmine and lavender. His eyes widened as he chanced a glance at Sakura.
"TenTen mentioned once having tea with you," she supplied to his questioning gaze. "She said that you specifically brewed jasmine and lavender tea with lemon. Unfortunately, lemon is a hard thing to procure in the desert, but I tried with the others."
His smile was genuine as he lowered his head to take in the scent of the tea once more. He drained it in one gulp, hoping that the scaldingly hot liquid would kill his taste buds so they wouldn't experience whatever horrid aftertaste was in store for him. Surprisingly, there was no aftertaste; either that, or his plan had worked.
Either way, when he handed her back the cup his voice was gentle. "Thank you, Sakura-chan."
She just smiled in response, her gaze lifting skyward. Following her gaze, Neji took in the brilliant expanse of sky above them, littered with stars of all intensities and sizes. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked after a few moments of silence.
"Hn, it is," he lamented, an aged look resurfacing in his eyes. "When I was younger, I contemplated the stars often."
"What for?"
Noticing that she was fixing her full attention on his face, Neji continued to stare into the night sky, a small smile creeping upon his face.
"I use to wonder why a life like mine, so blackened and tainted by fate, could exist when they were so perfectly placed in the sky, perfectly spaced from one another in order to exist. Why couldn't my life have been placed so perfectly as well?" he replied, a saddened tone to his voice.
There was a long pause between them. "Because you were meant for more than just a spot in the sky, Neji."
His head wrenched from the starlit expanse to the moonlit shadows that covered her face. She was now looking into the sky, and smiling as she looked into it. "You were meant to grow and change in order to become the person you are today. You had to learn lessons, even if they were painful lessons." Her gaze drifted to his face and their gazes collided as she continued. "But however painful they were, however lonely you felt, however broken you were… it all paved the path to where you are now." She smiled gently at him. "And wasn't it worth it?"
Wide eyed, Neji remained speechless for several minutes before his features softened and a smile happened upon his face. Returning his gaze to the sky, he smiled warmly.
"I guess you're right, Sakura-chan."
She stood beside him for another hour before she turned to leave. Grabbing her wrist, he stopped her forward progress. Her eyes questioned him silently, and his opalesc eyes stared deeply into her emerald orbs.
Then, in one swift motion, he pulled her into his chest, banding his arms securely around her small waist. At first she stiffened, as unused to the contact as he was, but moments later she relaxed in his hold, running her hands up his back and to his shoulders. She nuzzled her head into his chest and he could feel her even breathing. His dark hair curtained around them as he bent his head forward to rest atop hers. He had never felt anything so right before. It was a moment of perfection.
He slightly withdrew from her and she tilted her head back to look into his eyes. Resisting the impulse to kiss her, he instead placed a kiss on her forehead, where the mark of his branding would be if her face was a mirror of his own.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan."
His heart ached more as he contemplated how there would be no more of those moments to share with her.
He could see the dark-brown wooden stakes, nearly black in the darkness, coming towards him, and they were mere feet from him now. It was at this moment that an unseen force sent him careening sideways, out of range of the stakes.
Confusion overtook his senses as he looked to the right to see what had knocked him off course. His eyes widened as the voice of Naruto screamed out the very name he so wanted to cry.
"SAKURA!"
She had seen Neji's sacrificial leap, his willingness to take Naruto's place in the netherworld, and it tore her to pieces.
The medic in her told her that his survival rate on the battlefield from such wounds was slim to none, but she could sustain such wounds and have a better chance at survival with her vast stores of chakra.
Looking around, she saw a piece of earth at the correct angle for interception and jumped on top of it, launching herself from the tip with chakra-enforced footing. She couldn't let him die like this.
Tears filled her eyes as she contemplated the result if she wasn't fast enough. Once again, she'd grown too attached to someone; she'd fallen in love. A small smile melded her features as she thought of how Kakashi or Lady Tsunade would scold her for such rash behavior, but at this moment it didn't matter to her. He was her comrade. He was her friend. He was….
The routine of bringing Neji tea on his watches and him meeting Sakura after her sessions at the medic tents continued. They shared their thoughts, their dreams, and their fears.
Sakura had just lost another one. She'd lost men on her table before. Something like this was nothing new to a combat medic, and normally she would have been able to cope with it. Just not today.
The boy on the table had the look of Naruto when they were on Team 7 together. She had watched, horrified, as the light faded from his blue eyes, and wondered who he was leaving behind. Teammates? Family? Friends? A lover?
Heart clenching, she stood before a basin full of water that had become tinted crimson. It was his blood, blood that was on her hands. Tears filled her eyes as she began to viciously scrub at the liquid that had dried and caked onto her hands during the procedure.
The water was now a deep red, but it was still on her hands.
Wrenching the white towel from beside the basin, she roughly rubbed at her hands until the towel was spotted with blood. By now her eyes were overflowing with tears, but her hands were still red.
She sat down heavily on an empty cot nearby in defeat. Her head hung low, elbows resting on her knees, her hands still in her line of sight as her strawberry-hair hung in a curtain around her face.
Stress and the bitter taste of failure brought forth despair. Her shoulders, subtly at first, then more pronounced, started shaking. It wasn't long before she could no longer see. Closing her eyes, she allowed the cool tears to fall from her eyes and land on the sandy ground beneath her feet.
She didn't hear the flap of the tent open or close, nor the quiet footsteps that whispered against the sand.
"Sakura?"
She would recognize that voice anywhere. Her head jerked up in surprise, her tear stained face riddled with shock and surprise.
"Neji."
Once Sakura saw him standing there, a concerned look on his face, she turned her head and rose from her seat on the cot. "What are you doing here so early?" She dumped the water out into the container designated for used water. It was a red swirling mass that made her sick to her stomach to look at.
"Shizune sent me here to find you," he said carefully.
She knew he was studying her and determining if she was safe enough to approach, but she didn't - couldn't - blame him. Every man seemed to fear her for her monstrous strength. Hanging her head, she braced herself against the wooden desk.
"Oh."
She knew it was a lame reply. Silently, she pleaded with her body to stop shaking, or at least hold out until he left. Hidden by her hair, she let her lower lip tremble.
She was so concentrated on her efforts that his footfalls fell on deaf ears.
Her eyes widened as she felt his arms wrap around her torso. His warm chest melded to the curve of her spine as he cradled her body against his. His face buried gently in her pink locks.
"It's okay to cry, Sakura," he whispered softly into her ear
That was when she lost control. Her body started trembling once more, and her breathing grew sharp and uneven. Her bloodstained hands went to his arms that were banded to her waist, holding on for support as her knees grew weak beneath her. She crumbled into his hold, tears streaming down her face. That was when the first sob escaped her clenched throat.
"It's okay, Sakura," he whispered comfortingly to her. "You did all you could. He's not in pain anymore."
They had stayed there for what seemed like hours. It felt strange, but no one had ever been there for her like that before. In that moment, when she was a sobbing mess of a girl in a woman's body, Neji showed Sakura that he loved her.
Sakura's eyes focused as she neared Neji. His own eyes were closed in resignation. She looked up at the spikes that managed not to reach him yet. It was then that she smiled at him warmly.
'Long live the Hyuuga.'
Her shoulder collided with his waist, sending him spiraling. In the next instant, she was hit in the back with excruciating pain. She bit her lower lip, trying to keep her cries of agony silent, but there was another voice below her that nearly matched the unspoken cries in intensity.
"SAKURA!"
Her emerald eyes spied Naruto beneath her, looking up at her with wide blue eyes. She chanced a glance to her right to see a wide-eyed, dark haired man staring at her in what she could only guess was terror. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion as she plummeted toward the ground head first. She felt weightless.
Then she felt someone grasp her firmly and the jarring sensation of landing. She looked opened her eyes to meet the opalesc eyes of her savior.
"Neji."
Something inside of him had snapped when he saw Sakura plummeting earthward with two stakes protruding from her body. With chakra stores that he had left, he channelled power into his feet, leaping toward her.
In a blur of white, black, and brown, he shot past the other shinobi on the battlefield and managed to catch her as she neared the ground. She winced slightly in his hold and he took in the state of her body.
"Byakugan," he muttered as Hinata, Hiashi, and Naruto neared his side.
"Sakura-chan," Hinata whispered, staring at the woman in Neji's arms. The look in his eyes was pained and worried. Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion, recognizing that look; it was the same look she gave Naruto when she was worried about him. Realization dawned on her in one brilliant epiphany. "Neji-nii-san," she started gently.
His pale eyes flickered to her for merely a second, but it was all Hinata needed in order to know.
"Sakura? Sakura, are you okay?" Naruto questioned frantically as he stared at his pink-haired friend in Neji's arms.
Hiashi studied his nephew, noting his rigid posture, his set jaw that jumped slightly, and his narrowed eyes, worry lines etched into his forehead as he took in her injuries.
"Neji," he stated.
Neji glanced at his uncle, and Hiashi seemed taken aback slightly by the emotions he found upon the younger Hyuuga's face. Averting his gaze from his nephew, he took in the damage done to the woman in his arms. Several major organs were damaged, plus extensive hemorrhaging, and several bones were in splinters. She was in serious trouble.
Upon glancing back to his nephew's eyes he knew he had to do something for the young woman.
"Where is the best medic on this battlefield?" he asked, staring into his nephew's eyes.
"You are looking at her," Neji replied curtly.
Neji gently set her on the ground careful not to cause further damage to her already shattered system. His hand brushed back the hair from her face gently as her eyes fluttered open momentarily to meet his.
"Why would you do this, Sakura?"
He bowed his head slightly. When she started coughing, he jerked his head back up to look at her. Blood was spilling from the side of her mouth. His heart seized and he clenched his jaw once more, knowing he was powerless to help her.
"Because," she coughed, "because I'm the best medic."
Neji's eyes narrowed, taking in her intentions.
"What do you need me to do?"
Hiashi moved over to Neji's side and knelt. "She could use her own chakra to self-heal, but this is going to take some amount of chakra. She has already spent a lot," he said taking in the chakra systems flowing through her body. "She used it sparingly throughout the fight, but it still may not be enough."
Neji glanced at his uncle, his eyes narrowing. "You have a plan."
Hiashi nodded. "But it will take a Hyuuga with accuracy far past my own abilities," he said looking back at his nephew pointedly.
The unspoken sentence was not left uncomprehended.
"I need," Sakura coughed out again, more blood pouring out of her mouth in the process, "I need someone to pull out the stakes slowly while I heal the wounds."
Hinata and Naruto appeared at her side in an instant.
"You were trained to target the tenketsu that inflict damage," Hiashi continued. "This will test your knowledge on those tenketsu that will increase chakra flow and quantity. Hitting the wrong tenketsu could kill her." He looked back at Neji. "Are you ready for this?"
Instead of answering, Neji silently activated his Byakugan, kneeling beside her on both knees and awaiting the moment to strike.
Sakura brought her hands together, making several signs concentrating on her chakra network. She looked over to Neji, who was poised above her his hands at the ready, and couldn't help the warm smile that overcame her features.
"If this doesn't work..." she choked out. Neji's gaze drifted to her face, their eyes meeting in a silent conversation. A silent tear trailed down her face and Neji's eyes softened slightly.
Facing forward once more, she took off one of her gloves and put it in her mouth, biting down on the thick material.
She looked at Naruto and Hinata and nodded. Excruciating pain racked her body and her brow creased in pain.
Naruto looked uncertain, but Hinata was focused.
Hiashi's gaze narrowed. "Right shoulder."
Neji hit a tenketsu near the underarm, and chakra flowed more freely in Sakura's chest.
"Good, Neji," Hiashi praised, not taking his eyes off of her chakra network.
Naruto couldn't take the muffled cries Sakura was producing. His eyes watered.
"Feel like you are going back on your promise now, Naruto?" Obito chided.
Naruto's eyes narrowed and he grimaced.
"I thought you said none of your friends would die. She sounds like she's dying to me," he taunted. "When will you wake up to reality? Everyone here will die!"
"Naruto!" Hiashi chided, bring said ninja's attention back to his friend.
Naruto began to pull out on the stake that wasn't as far out as Hinata's.
"You will be all alone. You will fail. Then what will you have to uphold your word?"
"Neji, now," Hiashi ordered and Neji hit another pressure point.
"Shut up!" Naruto bellowed, his eyes turning into red slits.
"Naruto, focus," chided Hinata, who was now bent and helping heal Sakura's open wound.
"You know it's true. Submit to reality and join us." There was a slight pause, filled with fake and unspoken promises. "They won't die if you submit."
Anger taking over him, Naruto jerked the rest of the stake out of Sakura's body due to the Kyuubi's strength, and Sakura wailed in pain.
"Neji, hit the last two," Hiashi ordered fiercely as he put his own hands over the open wound that was now bleeding profusely. Neji responded instantaneously, doing as the elder Hyuuga had bid.
Sakura's eyes were dazed. She felt like she was going to lose consciousness at any moment, but she knew that if she did, she was dead. Her breathing grew haggard, and she knew her pulse had to be thready at best.
Neji moved around her body and lay her head in his lap, his dark hair curtaining around their faces. Her eyes looked almost glazed over from the pain she was experiencing, and he gritted his teeth, feeling helpless, unable to quell her pain, and hating every second of it.
Looking down upon the wounds on her torso, he was glad to find that they had stopped bleeding. Green engulfed both Hiashi's and Hinata's hands, which were covering the wounds. Their medical jutsu was limited at best, but for now, it was helping.
"Sakura," he intoned. Her glazed eyes searched for his, and he stared into her eyes deeply. "You must heal yourself." His tone was urgent in a practical way, but the underlying threads of panic and pleading were apparent to those listening.
Her hands had gripped the ground when Naruto jerked the stake out of her body, but now Sakura forced her hands to let go of the dry earth and come together, making a single hand sign that caused the diamond on her head to glow. Concentrating on her wounds, steam slowly began to rise from her body due to the force of the chakra.
When the final wound closed, Neji sighed relief. Looking to the battlefield, and he found that Naruto had rejoined the fight. Hiashi soon joined him, and Hinata rose to her feet to follow, but glanced behind her at Neji holding Sakura.
"I am sure she will be fine, Neji-nii-san." She smiled at him warmly.
His relieved smile in return gave her enough confidence to continue toward the Ten Tails.
Sighing, Neji shifted Sakura in his arms, but when her head lolled, he instinctively he knew something was wrong. Narrowing his eyes, he felt for her pulse. It was thready and growing weaker with every beat.
"Sakura," he called urgently.
She opened her eyes barely enough to see him. "Neji-kun," she whispered weakly.
"Sakura, what's going on?" he asked, activating the Byakugan. After doing so, he could see her systems starting to shut down, one by one, but there were too many problems to identify the starting factor to his unpracticed eye. "Sakura!"
Her breathing was raspy. She laughed softly, but that soon became a cough and gasp for air.
"I guess I found my number," she said softly.
"No!" Neji cried with gentle franticness, focusing chakra into his palms. "You're going to be fine!" Conjuring a green glow around his hands, he placed them over her heart, healing some of the deeper lacerations on it from the initial impact.
"Neji," she said, looking at him directly.
The tone of her voice caught his attention, and when he looked at her he saw resignation in her eyes. His heart clenched tightly as he realized that this could possibly be the last time that he saw her alive.
"Y-you ha-ve to go o-on, you k-now," she wheezed out. "F-for the bo-th of u-us."
Neji's jaw clenched tightly and he closed his eyes against the pain in his chest, which was growing ever larger. "And if I don't want to?"
"Y-you must," she stated simply.
Upon opening his eyes, a single tear fell, dripping down his face and off his chin.
Weakly raising up her hand, Sakura caught the tear on the tip of her finger. She smiled softly as she placed her hand on the side of his face.
"I love you," she said softly.
With widening eyes, Neji looked at the cherry blossom below him. Her bold colors contrasted greatly with this dark, dismal place that she would call her grave. It was unbefitting of the light that she held in his life, a life that had once matched the scenery. The stain of crimson across her cheek was the only thing that marred her, to his critical eye, perfect complexion.
He ran his hand through her hair, admiring its softness, and yet, its strength. In a way, it was much like the kunoichi herself: tender and kind, yet solid and fierce. He knew he would always admire her.
He would have fought the clan to have her, feeling what he felt now, but that would no longer be an issue.
Lowering his head close to hers, he rested his forehead upon her own as another tear fell from his closed eyes and landed in her hair. Opening his eyes, he stared deep into those emerald orbs as if trying to drink in whatever of her remained behind them, and this moment that he would burn into his memory. This moment would live with him for the rest of his life, and he knew no other woman would ever truly own his heart as she did.
"I love you too, Haruno Sakura of the Leaf," he promised.
Her eyes softened and her tears began to flow freely. She reached for him, and he brough her upwards into his embrace, hugging her body to his. It seemed so small to him, as it always had. It was hard to imagine such strength lay within it. He felt her clutch to his back as if she was desperately trying to hold onto life. Onto him.
Drawing away from her slightly, he inclined his head, and, without hesitation or a second thought, he kissed her. It was tender, a first kiss most stories write about that conveyed everything that he'd ever felt for her and would feel for her in that brief moment of contact.
As he drew away, she went limp in his arms. The hands that had clutched his back and wrapped around him in comfort fell, hitting the ground with a hard sound.
It was in this moment that he felt this indescribable pain clench his chest, making it nearly unbearable to breathe. Laying her down gently, he memorized this place on the battlefield. She wouldn't stay here; he would make sure of that.
Eyes blazing with a deep, burning hatred, Neji stood up, clenching his fists at his sides and glaring up at the two figures on the Ten Tail's back with gritted teeth. They would pay.
"OBITO!"
His voice, one which was never raised, yelled out in anger against the world around him, causing every shinobi to pause in battle.
Hiashi glanced back at his nephew, who was rigid. The air about him was different, and that was when realization hit him. She was dead.
Sakura didn't know where she was. It was dark all around her, and she couldn't feel her body. Moments came to her in flashes of light, memories. One came of a pink haired girl with a red bow sitting by a blonde girl on a bench, then one of the same pink-haired girl cutting her hair as a woman gripped onto it. There was a flash of pink haired girl again, fighting the same blond girl from years previously, then one with a red-headed man with puppets, an older woman, and the same pink haired girl, now a woman.
Sequences continued like this up until the very last moment, with a dark haired man with pale eyes and the pink-haired girl, but this time she was laying on the ground and in pain. That was when it all faded.
"Neji," she called out into the darkness.
"I have not seen Neji in some time," a voice rang out in the darkness.
Sakura's eyes widened at the voice. Turning around, she still saw darkness.
"He was but a boy when I died, but I have been watching him. His mother and I both have," the deep tenor continued.
Sakura was now spinning in circles, trying to find the source of this strange voice.
"My only regret is that we could not have been around to see him turn into the man he is today, but I suppose he wouldn't be the same man if I had been there, no?"
Sakura looked to her right as a tall man with dark hair and pale eyes walked up to her in the darkness. Her emerald eyes narrowed slightly as she took in his build, his ticks and simple mannerisms. She'd even been analyzing the way that he talked, and deducted from all of this that she must be dead.
"Hizashi. Hyuuga Hizashi," she said calmly.
Hizashi nodded solemnly. "Yes, I am Hizashi, the father of Neji Hyuuga. A very proud father," he added before pausing slightly. "You are Haruno Sakura. The woman for which my son has fallen so hard for."
Her eyes went downcast at the thought. "The feeling was quite mutual," she said sadly.
Hizashi nodded. "I am well aware of that, my dear."
Her emerald eyes met his pale ones in the darkness. "What are we to do now?"
Hizashi turned toward the darkness. "I am not sure myself. Although I have been here a long time, I have yet to understand the purpose of this place. I know that I have regrets for which I cannot move on, but you," he questioned, turning back, "why are you here?"
Sakura sighed and made to sit down on the ground. "I saved your son from an attack by the Ten Tails."
"I am aware, child," he said turning toward her and sitting cross legged across from her. "I am asking why you are here."
Sakura's brow furrowed slightly at his cryptic question. "Because I'm dead?"
Hizashi shook his head. "No, this is a place that holds the spirits that cannot move forth. You are not ready to move on. What is holding you here?"
Sakura pondered the question. "I.."
Thoughts of her and Neji getting married once the war was over filled her head, and eventually, if the clan permitted, starting a family with him. She had wanted to live the rest of her life with him.
"Ah," Hizashi said knowingly.
Sakura looked at him quizzically.
"With enough emotion, thoughts can be projected here," he explained. "In this strange form of purgatory we are in."
"I wasn't ready to die," Sakura said aloud.
Hizashi smiled. "I was."
Sakura stared at him, and smiled sadly before explaining."Alive, I was held captive, a bird with clipped wings. But," he said, staring off to his right, "I have seen my son take his destiny, the curse of being in the Branch family, and soar with it. He has changed things." A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "I always hoped he would do what I could not."
"And yet, you wish you'd been around to see it," Sakura finished.
"You make him happy," Hizashi stated simply.
She looked up at him with wide eyes, and Hizashi smiled at her warmly.
"I may have not been able to give Neji much in life, but maybe in death it can be different." Bringing his hand out before him, a pale blue energy started to glow from it. "I've been meditating here for years, focusing chakra into my being, and gathering it at my core. For what purpose, I was not sure, but maybe I am now," he said, looking at Sakura.
Her eyes narrowed as she began to follow his train of thought. "What if it doesn't work?"
Hizashi stared at his hand and then shrugged. "Then it does not work." He held her gaze with his pale eyes, the look in them filled with quiet, serious calm. "Tell my son that I love him."
Sakura's eyes widened as he reached toward her. "For the record, Miss Haruno," he said, his hand hovering slightly above her head, "I would have approved of you."
And with that he laid his hand on her head. Sakura felt a slight jolt of electricity through her body, and then she screamed.
Neji was fighting with the rest of the Allied Shinobi Force against the Ten Tails. It had gotten more complicated within the last hour, but he wasn't backing down. Sakura's death had fueled his body and made his chakra more potent as it was laced with anger and adrenaline.
Hiashi glanced at his nephew, who was fighting with such a ferocity that he was nearly indiscernible from the shinobi he knew. That woman must have meant a great deal to Neji.
A bellow from the tailed beast focused his attention upon the task at hand, but he kept his nephew in the back of his mind. It was at times like these when people tended to do something rash.
Stirring slightly, Sakura blinked heavily against the rain falling from the sky. Raising her hand to shield her eyes, she looked around her, noticing that the Ten Tails was turned in the opposite direction. It was a good start.
Shakily getting to her feet, she clenched her fists, searching her chakra stores. Surprisingly, they were nearly at full capacity. Making a hand sign, she began enveloping her body in glowing green chakra.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Ten Tails. She held the upper hand with the beast's blind spot in her direction. Looking around her, she took stock of her usable weapons, planning to get a good hit in on it without Obito or Madara finding her out before she managed to land it.
Releasing the hand sign, she clenched her fists once more. It felt much better. Taking a deep breath, she spotted Bee nearby, who looked to have been knocked down from a previous assault.
"Bee," she called, running toward him.
"Sakura?" Bee looked at her unbelievingly. "I thought you-"
"No time to explain," she said, cutting him off as the Ten Tails launched another attack of Cutting Sprigs, but this time he had the Nine Tails to contend with. Sakura smiled.
'Atta boy, Naruto.'
"Bee, I need you to throw me at the Ten Tails," she said, tightening her gloves.
"You want me to do what?" He said quizzically.
"Throw me," she said simply.
She had to time it perfectly, but if she hit Madara and knocked him off of the Ten Tails,, the control of the beast would lessen considerably. It would give them at least a slight advantage.
Bee seemed to be contemplating what possible strategy she could be considering. "If I throw you, what would you be aiming for?" he asked curiously.
"Madara," she said, looking around for a giant rock.
"And how am I to know you're really Sakura?" he asked again, watching as she walked up to giant boulder and moved it over to wrench a stake out of the ground.
She looked back at him with a raise eyebrow. "Fair enough," he said, extending one of his many tentacles toward her.
She breathed in deeply to curve her nerves "Just don't miss."
Neji had just performed another Rotation against the Cutting Sprigs attack. It was getting old. This was one of the moments that he wished he had an explosive ninjutsu like Naruto or Sasuke had. He wanted to hurt something, to kill something.
The Kyuubi wailed angrily as it bit into the several of the Ten Tail's hands. A roar of pain sounded in response. It was like a battle of giants, and the rest of them were merely pawns in the game.
Neji noticed the Nine Tail's ears swivel on spot before it growled deeply, it's massive claws holding onto the tough skin of Ten Tail's. Neji's eyes narrowed, taking in the scene. It was almost as if it were trying to hold the beast completely still.
"Now!" The Kyuubi bellowed.
The rest of the shinobi looked at the Nine Tails curiously when several Cutting Sprig stakes soared toward the beast in the exact location of Obito and Madara.
"Byakugan," he muttered, and what he saw caught his breath.
Hiashi, who was standing nearby, walked up to Neji, who seemed to be frozen in place. "What do you see, Neji?"
There was a huge pause between them. Hiashi looked at the Ten Tails in time to see it pounded into the ground. His eyes widened as his nephew's voice sounded beside him.
"Sakura."
Sakura was launched into the air and got a full view of the battle. Kurama was holding the Ten Tails immobile and trying to secure its many tails from shooting cutting sprigs. As she neared her target, Kurama's ears turned toward her and his flaming red eyes met hers. She could see them widen slightly and she was sure he and Naruto were having a conversation.
Nodding at him, she readied her stakes. As if understanding her intentions entirely, Kurama flared his tails around Madara and Obito, attempting to provide a few more seconds of cover. His claws dug into the tough skin of the Ten Tails. It was now or never.
She sent a chakra enforced foot to the base of a sprig, setting it on a course directly for Obito, and Kurama removed his tails at the last second. Her first stake was centimeters off and she cringed as Obito looked behind them. Knowing she only had seconds before the Ten Tail's tails would be upon her, she kicked the second stake at Madara, and it hit him in the center of his back. Falling at a rapid rate, her next attack was an easy one to predict.
Upon impact, she slammed a chakra-laiden foot into the Ten's back, and it lost its footing as she made impact. It wasn't much, but it would buy the forces some time.
Kurama lifted a tail to for her to grab onto, but as she did, the Ten Tails struck her body, sending her flying farther. Kurama turned his head to watch her fly off before turning and growling deeply at the Ten Tails.
Sakura closed her eyes and crossed her arms bracing for an impact that never came.
Neji watched as Kurama attempted to save Sakura, but was knocked off course due to the Ten Tails. In this moment, there was no more war. He was no longer concerned with the battle they were waging. He simply saw her. Saw Sakura.
His attention entirely focused on Sakura, he tracked her falling form until the last second possible, and jumped to catch her. Her body collided with his own heavily as he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Executing a backflip to disperse some of the momentum, he slid backward several feet upon impact with ground, cradling her tightly against his chest.
He spared a glance at the Ten Tails before peering down at the woman in his arms disbelievingly. Beryl clashed against opalesc eyes as he stared at her. With his activated Byakugan, he scanned her system which appeared to have no internal injuries sustained, and found that her chakra signature was her own. This was no imitation White Zetsu they had become so familiar with. It was really Sakura.
Hesitantly, he raised a hand to her face and traced the blood stain that was still there from the last time he saw her, clearly trying to grasp the reality of the situation. If her returning to life wasn't enough of a shock, her next words threw him even further off kilter.
"Your father wanted me to tell you he loves you, Neji."
Opal eyes widened as a voice sounded, garnering both shinobis' attention. "Neji! Move! Now!" The thundering baritone of Hiashi roared, bringing them back into the crashing reality around them.
The Hyuuga prodigy glanced up in time to see the Ten Tails sailing toward them. Focusing chakra into his feet, he made a giant leap to the right in order to avoid the falling beast. The move saved them from being crushed, but didn't save them from the shock wave that followed.
Bracing himself by sending chakra to his feet, Neji gripped Sakura's body tightly to him. This, however, wasn't enough. The impact ripped his feet from the ground, sending both shinobi soaring through the air. With his Byakugan activated he saw the giant boulder they were flying towards at an alarming rate. Making a split second decision, Neji shifted their position as they collided with the rock, taking the brunt of the impact himself.
The Hyuuga was seeing stars as the edges of his sight darkened slowly. It was as if he was underwater. Somewhere, he could hear a voice crying out to him and the faint shimmer of pink hair and beryl eyes hazed in his view. He couldn't help the smile that graced his features. She was okay. He'd saved her.
"Sakura…" was the last word on his lips as his vision went black.
It was bright. That was the first thing the Hyuuga registered, opening his eyes slowly then quickly shutting them as his senses were assaulted with sunlight. Blinking again, he took notice of the white room he was in with white curtain and white sheets.
'A hospital?'
He pushed up on his elbows, wincing slightly as his head began to pound. The sensation seemed to jog his memory as opal eyes widened. The battle. The Ten Tails. Sakura!
Jerking the covers off, he swiftly turned his body to place his feet on the ground, wobbling slightly as they trembled from disuse. He had braced his arms against the bar on the side of the bed when the door to his room opened, and glancing up, he saw three more sets of opal eyes staring at him in shock before the owner of the tallest pair recovered quickly.
"Neji, sit," Hiashi's baritone commanded as he moved swiftly across the room to his nephew's side. Hinata and Hanabi followed shortly after him, the former holding some purple flowers.
Neji stayed where he was as his uncle gripped his left bicep. His gaze trained to the elder man's as he asked, no, demanded, "Sakura?"
"Is fine," a different voice responded.
All of the Hyuugas turned to see the Hokage herself standing in the doorway, her signature smirk in place.
"It is good to see you up and about, Neji," she intoned as she moved toward the shinobi, the others in his clan backing away at her approach.
She grabbed his wrist to take his pulse, which he allowed before asking, "Where is she?"
After Tsunade didn't answer directly, Neji's eyes trained to hers studying her expression. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't sorrowful. This was a good sign, but that meant…
"She is two rooms down from your own. After the battle with Kaguuya and the battle between Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura had spent most of her chakra. She suffered a mild concussion and is not in a temporary coma." She stressed the word 'temporary' to him.
Neji's body tensed slightly. "Is she going to be alright?" He asked, trying to keep his voice level and void of emotion, but the elder woman knew better.
The signature smirk she wore on the corner of her mouth turned upward a little more at his question.
'Maybe Hinata was right,' she mused.
"As I said before, she is fine. You should focus on your own recovery. From the look of it, you should be discharged from the hospital in a few days. For now, rest," she ordered, giving the opal eyed male a look, knowing how the men in Sakura's life were normally disobedient, hell bent on what they wanted, repercussions-be-damned. "That's an order."
Neji nodded curtly as the Hokage turned to leave the room.
Once the door closed, he exhaled a breath he didn't know that he'd been holding. The war was done. The final battle was over, and Sakura was safe. Every fiber in his being wanted to go see her, but he knew the temperament of his Hokage, which was as legendary as she was, and had on the spectator side of a few of her blow outs, mainly involving another stubborn blonde. He smiled at the thought, thinking that it was probably safer to obey her orders for now.
He settled back down on the bed as the other three made themselves comfortable talking about all that had happened in his absence of mind, to which he paid minimal attention, nodding here and asking questions where it was necessary. However, when he was sure they were occupied with each other, he silently activated his Byakugan, searching for her.
It was as he'd been told. There she was, two rooms from him, an IV hooked in her arm. However, she was breathing, her chakra network looked normal, and she was safe. His eyes softened infinitesimally at the sight of her. A soft smile graced his features as he deactivated his Byakugan, and he turned his head back toward the three to rejoin the conversation.
He was met with the understanding eyes of Hinata. She knew. She just smiled softly at him and he spared her a grateful glance as she seamlessly integrated him into the conversation, never once bringing up what she'd witnessed.
Neji let himself be swept up into the conversation between his kinsmen about the politics of the clan and plans for the future, but his mind remained on the pink haired woman in room 203, the woman who held his heart.