So in addition to the first chapter, this one is just to give you a little background on what's going on. So go ahead and read and lemme know what you think!

Oh yeah and my sister was home from college this week so we were hanging out together a lot. The chapter was ready and I'm sorry about letting it just sit here until then.

Thanks so much for last chapter's reviews! I loved em!!

Disclaimer: Do you see Itachi chained to my bed during the show?...No?...Then I do not own Naruto.

Sakura lay on her back all night, staring through the thick darkness up at the ceiling. No matter how hard she tried to fall asleep, she found herself unable to as her mind was racked with fantasies about Neji.

She planned to the very smallest detail how she would go about winning Neji over. After hours of contemplating, Sakura found that in order to achieve her desire, she was only missing two things. The first was the courage to go about putting her solution into action. The second and most important was that she had no solution at all whether she had to courage or not.

Slowly, Sakura lifted her body up from her bed and dragged her feet through the cold, dark hallway and into the bathroom. With a heavy sigh, she rested her hands on the welcoming, cool porcelain of the bathroom sink as she looked up in the mirror with sorrowful eyes. She couldn't go on like that any longer; thinking Neji, eating Neji, sleeping Neji, breathing Neji. It was even worse than the foolish infatuation she'd had over Sasuke when the two were children.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned off the bathroom light as she retuned to her bedroom. Throwing on a black jacket and some sweatpants, she grabbed her key and left the stuffy, confining apartment in hopes of letting the cool night air calm her.

Outside, the village was quiet and dark with the exception of the artificially bright lights of the shops that remained open even this late at night. Sakura stuffed her hands in her pockets and looked forlornly into the dark, desolate windows of the stores that had packed up for the night.

"Sakura!" Sakura turned towards the sound of the quiet, nervous voice behind her.

"Hinata, hey." Sakura smiled slightly. Hinata's footsteps slowed.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura wanted to tell her no; that at this moment, looking in the familiar, off white eyes of Hinata was only making her hurt even more, but she nodded quickly.

"Yeah I'm fine," she smiled with a wink. "What are you doing out here so late?"

"Oh, the Hokage sent Lee, Choji and I out on a mission earlier this morning. We're just returning now."

"I know Kiba went with us, but where was Shino?"

"He went out on a mission with his father. Seems the three of us were the only chunin left without missions."

"Oh," Sakura nodded and uncomfortably rubbed her arm.

"How did your mission go?" Hinata asked politely.

Sakura shrugged. "Ehhh."

Hinata smiled, "Understood. Well I've gotta head home now. I'll see you later!"

Sakura nodded. "Bye Hinata. Be careful!"

Hinata turned and walked away and Sakura watched her go. When the young girl was out of sight, Sakura covered her eyes with her hands and groaned aloud. Now she felt even worse than before. She turned around slowly and decided to head back home. On the walk there, there was, of course, only one person on her mind. Neji.

The more she thought about him, the more Sakura became upset about the fact that out of all the girls that wanted Neji, her chances of having him were probably less than one in a million. It wasn't because Sakura thought herself to be ugly; she hadn't thought something like that since she was a little girl-before she and Ino became friends. Sakura knew she was pretty; maybe not gorgeous or stunning or as beautiful as some other women, but she knew she was pretty and that was all that mattered.

Also, Sakura was afraid that she was too plain for Neji; not uninteresting, but plain. As her life went on as being a ninja, Sakura realized that, although it was good to take pride in your looks, spending hours in front of a mirror just to prepare for a mission on which you'd more than likely end up sweaty, bleeding, and nearly unconscious, made absolutely no sense at all. Now, she liked to keep things simple and natural. On special occasions, she would, as just about every girl would, dress up in her best and doll herself up, but such occasions happened very rarely.

She wasn't too familiar with Neji on a personal level, so the type of girls he was interested in wasn't something she was well informed on. All she had to go by was what she knew about Neji himself. Neji was quiet and dangerous with an elegant, stately demeanor and a certain je ne sais quoi that was the reason Sakura was so hopelessly drawn in to him.

Arriving at her door, Sakura shoved the key in the lock and turned it; once again walking into the still darkness of her apartment. She walked straight into her bedroom, only stopping to remove her shoes, and, still fully dressed, collapsed in tortuous and exhausting confusion onto her soft, welcoming bed.

Same note as before, R&R please and thanks for reading!

See ya soon! xoxoxoxoxo