A/N: Thanks to Fallen Dark Neko for being the first review, and to emeraldcherry, who successfully PMed me and guess the movie.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Rating: M
Summary: Sasuke and Neji were best friends since the beginning of time, and all they wanted to be when they grew up was two of the greatest ninjas. When one of them meet a girl, it's almost too good to be true – because it is. In the midst of war, what will happen when one of them doesn't come back and she falls in love with the other?
Pairing: Sasuke/Sakura; Neji/Sakura
Title: Let Me Love Again
Recap: Outside of the office, Sasuke heard the doorknob turn. He faced the threshold to see Kakashi-sensei pat Neji on the back.
"I'm glad you made the decision, Neji."
"It's only the smart thing to do, sensei."
They exchanged grins and turned their attention back towards Sasuke.
Kakashi waved them off, "I don't need to speak with you anymore, Sasuke. Just don't do it again."
The door closed behind them as they walked out of the building.
"Neji, what was that about?"
"Nothing, Sasuke. Don't worry. I just talked him out of placing blame on you."
"Haha, always watching over me. Ain't that right?" Sasuke mock-punched Neji's shoulder.
"If I won't, who else is going to?"
~The Voyage to Greater Odds~
The moon began to shine in the dark violet sky, and lethargic feet started to slow their patter through the forest. Four girls were traveling together, ordered by Kurenai and Anko to go to the city for a day of fun, then to move their base to the western part of the leaf village. The area they were heading to was hidden amongst trees and woodland. Most people usually thought that Konoha ended at the gates of its village; however, they also had territory that went past that limit – and right now, they were headed to the city, a more bustling place of the leaf village.
"Girls, I think it'd be a good idea to set up camp here," Sakura put out the suggestion.
Hinata began to scout for a good place to rest, and Ten Ten went out to search for firewood. Ino and Sakura started to set up the tents and ready the food.
Of the four, Sakura was chosen by their sensei to lead them. The most experienced of them all, it was her job to teach them anything they have yet to learn within their capability and to protect them in case of ambush. The pink-haired lady, trained under the leadership of the leaf village's Hokage, Tsunade, was one of the best medics there is. For her age of 18, she was a strong kunoichi, acknowledged by her superiors and friends alike.
Ino was Sakura's best friend. The blonde was an extroverted companion, who was both obnoxious and loyal. She had great power with her chakra, but was often reckless with how she uses it. Ten Ten, on the other hand, was best friends with Hinata, the cousin of Neji. They are almost opposites to the detail, but somehow, they created a strong bond as they grew up.
"Hey, Sakura," Ino elbowed her arm, "why don't you tell us what happened at the hospital back in the mainland?"
The other girls already began to settle around the warm campfire.
"No. They don't want to hear it. It's just some stupid story." Sakura waved her hands in mock embarrassment.
Excited squeals started to ring annoyingly through Sakura's ears.
"Please, c'mon Sakura."
"I already know what it's about," Ino chimed in, "And that's why I'm in this in the first place – gonna meet a base full of hot guys," she giggled and winked.
"C-Could you please share, Sakura-san."
"Oh, alright, "She let out an exasperated sigh.
(Flashback)
The building they were using to test all the patients was extremely busy for a Monday morning. Shinobi men were walking around, some eager to get their check-up by the pretty nurses and others dreading the fact that they have to drop their pants to get a shot in the ass. In one corner of the facility, they had medics running the file sorting, giving the correct folder to whomever registers next. Other jobs they had running were eye exams, vaccinations, reflexes, and an overall check view of the file-in-hand.
"Aburame Shino? You're next," Hinata called him over.
"I'll take Inuzuka Kiba," Ten Ten did the same.
Both boys bent over the cots provided and dropped their pants to a decent showing before preparing themselves for the pinching pain to come.
"Hey, pretty lady," Kiba had to retort, "is there any way to be gentle? I have quite a sensitive bottom."
Ten Ten rolled her eyes and pointed over to a visiting nurse, large in figure with strong hands and burly arms, "I could send you over there..." she glanced and saw Hinata giggling at the boys' reactions, "but that's your decision."
"Uhm, no ma'am," Shino started off for Kiba, "we're both fine right here."
"There's no way I'm being treated by that fatt-" Kiba howled as Ten Ten jabbed a needle in his left cheek, "I said gentle!"
Ten Ten wiped the area with a clean cotton ball, while she marked off the vaccination in the file, and asked for the next person on line.
-
In front of Sasuke and Neji, they saw a pink-haired lady proctor the eye exams.
"Please read the bottom line, Shinuza-san," Sakura smiled sweetly.
Neji looked back at Sasuke in a worried state of mind, "I can't do this, Sasuke. She's gonna take away my headband. These nurses have no mercy!"
Sasuke giggled (a manly giggle, of course, because Uchihas don't giggle), "You'll be fine, Neji. Just keep practicing your bottom line, and you should be fine."
"No, I won't be! She'll figure me out..."
"Neji," he chuckled, "you're one of the best damn shinobi in this room. Just keep practicing that bottom line."
"Right," Neji looked down at his right hand, and in his palm, he had the letters of the bottom line written down, "K, W, T, Q, Y, S, B"
He continued to chant it like a mantra in his head. K, W, T, Q, Y, S, B/.
Sakura finished off Shinuza, quite literally too because he was acting quite pompous trying to make an uncalled for move with her.
"If one more guy tries to grab my ass when I turn around, he's gonna be knocked into Kami-Land. I'll make sure of it," she mumbled under her breath, but unfortunately, Neji heard it, and that just scared him even more.
"Neji-san, good morning. I'm Haruno Sakura. Could you stand at the line please?" She handed him a black object to cover his eye with, "Left eye first."
She picked up her pen, and before she could even tell him her directions, she heard a quick voice blurting out, "KWTQYSB!"
Sakura clicked her tongue, "Hold on there, honey. Let's slow down a bit."
"Sorry about that, Sakura-san."
"Just Sakura," she wrote down her comments, "Now read the top three lines," she kept her head down at the paper, analyzing his testing marks.
In plain sight, the letters were N then V, P then D, E, Z.
Neji hesitated, stuttering out his first response, "Uh, M..."
Behind him, Sasuke whispered out N, and Neji copied.
"Oh right, sorry, ma'am. N... uhm-"
"V," Sasuke hushed out.
"N, V," Neji bit his bottom lip in anxiety, "B - no wait, I mean P," he quickly changed his answer as he heard Sasuke say it.
"It's alright, you can start over," Sakura looked up from the table, quizzical.
"Thank you, Sakura," Neji turned his head a bit to the side, just enough so that his peripheral vision could catch Sasuke.
Sasuke caught his discreet glance and saw Sakura eying the two of them, so he spoke up, "Ma'am, my friend already did the bottom line. Is it my turn yet?" He put his hand on Neji's shoulder, waiting for an answer.
"You wait your turn," she reprimanded his request, and turned her attention back to Neji, "Read the bottom line again, except this time, from right to left and every other letter."
"Y-" he paused a second, "B?"
"B, Y," Sasuke said behind him.
Neji pretended to squint his eyes, "B and then Y," he sighed in exasperation.
"Can you see right?" Sakura inquired, quite curious in his predicament.
Neji's mouth gaped, "I have perfect vision, Sakura-san! 20/20... I just have a little trouble with letters and words - that's all!"
"I'm afraid I can't let yo-"
"Look at my charts," Neji mock-threatened, sensing Sasuke's uncomfortable position, "I am the best damn shinobi in this room. Don't tell me, I can't make it through some stupid physical."
Sasuke stepped forward a bit for moral support.
"See these? I have the best problem solving and mathematical skills, and-" Neji couldn't finish wooing her mind over.
"But you barely passed your written exam," she countered his fire.
Sasuke perked up, "But he passed it."
Neji smirked inwardly at the loyalty his friend presented for him.
Sakura shook her head softly, "He barely passed it," she stressed.
The brunette smacked his hands on the table Sakura was working on, coming face to face with her, barely three inches apart.
She's kinda pretty.
"Listen here, Sakura, please don't take my headband away. I am the best ninja in this room. Think of the service you'll be doing this country," he rolled his eyes at how corny he sounded, "I need this, Sakura. I have been dreaming of becoming a jounin all my life. It's all. I. Lived. For."
Kurenai came over to Sakura's station and told her that it was time to switch to the vaccination center. She nodded her head and looked up to Neji, eyes full of pity.
(Flashback End)
Ten Ten was on the edge of the log, waiting for what was going to happen next, "What did you do, Sakura?"
"I passed him," she waved her hand as if it had been such an easy decision.
Hinata's eyes grew, "Y-you did w-what? Sakura, y-you can't do that!"
"I just had to!" She turned to face back to Ten Ten, "If you just saw the look on his face! Oh..."
Ino chimed in, "And he was a saucy one, too! Wasn't he?"
"There's more?" Ten Ten almost strangled Hinata's arm from squeezing so hard.
(Flashback Again)
Neji found where Sakura was and found the person who was next in line.
"Give me your chart," Neji asked the boy.
"What do you mean?"
"Is that any way to talk to someone of higher rank than you?" Neji gave him a once-over, "What are you? Chunin?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"Hand it over," Neji received the folder and waited in line.
Sakura looked up from the last person's chart and saw Neji waiting in line.
She flashed a smile, "Funny seeing you again, Neji-san."
"I just never had the chance to thank you for letting me through," Neji started, but Sakura motioned him to bend over the cot, "and no formalities, Sakura."
"Pull down your pants," she turned back to the table and pulled out a needle.
Neji pulled his pants down a bit, "So, why did you do it?"
Sakura turned back and stole a look. His butt's cute. She outwardly blushed at such a thought and proceeded with flicking the vaccination's container.
"Well, my father is in the Anbu Black Ops. He's my hero. I understand how bad it is for their privilege to be taken away."
"So," the boy groaned after Sakura stabbed him with the first shot, "I guess your dad's my hero, too."
She began the process again with the second vaccination, "You know," she stabbed him again, "you never said thank you."
He smirked, "Thank you, then, Sakura," and proceeded to pull up his pants.
Neji began to leave, but then he turned around, put his palm on the table next to him, and lolled his head towards Sakura, "I suppose then, Sakura," he began to gather her attention, "it's my pootie to..." Neji started to stutter.
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked, a giggle peaking from her lips.
"I mean, my duty to take my hero's daughter out to fin her," Neji started to look around embarrassingly, "to dinner."
"Really?" Sakura mock-inquired.
"If you'd lick- ehr, like."
"Are you okay?" Sakura rushed over to her table to check the chart that Neji gave her, "This isn't your chart, Neji-kun!"
"Pit jizz ent die heart?" And he fell over, quite unheroicly, and crashed his nose against the table's corner.
Kiba happened to walk by and saw his friend fall to the floor, "Medic!" He walked away, grabbing his own stomach, rumbling with laughter.
-
"That was tiring," Ten Ten walked down the stairs with the rest of the medics.
Sakura looked up at the sky, "It sure is nice out."
"Sakura-chan, I think my c-cousin is looking f-for you," Hinata stuttered out.
"Oh, what does he want," Sakura said out loud in annoyance, but inside, she was excited to see him again, "You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up with you."
Sakura went down the stairs and saw Neji with an unsightly bandage covering his nose.
"Uhm," she started off, but couldn't get a word out as she was overcome with laughter.
"Oh this?" He pointed to the middle of his face, "It's just a precautionary thing."
Sakura bobbed her head, as if to show she understood, "And what's in the bag."
In Neji's left hand, he was holding a large brown paper bag, "It's French wine," he raised it up, "from France." He looked down at his hand and looked back up at her, "I don't suppose we could have a drink now?"
She took the bottle from his hand and took his hand with her other. Neji grew warm at the contact, following where Sakura dragged him.
At the foot of the stairs, they sat down, and Sakura was handed two wine glasses. Neji started to pop the wine, but when his finger hooked around the cork, his aim was off and it smashed into his already injured nose.
Sakura was immediately on nurse's mode and rushed to his rescue, "Are you alright?" She backed off and steadied her hold on the glasses as Neji shakily poured the wine into them, tears welling in his eyes.
"Oh," Neji's voice was up an octave, "I'm just fine."
She put the glasses down next to her as Neji came down on her lap.
"Oh, it's bleeding now," he closed his eyes.
Sakura took the wine bottle, still cold, and pressed it gently against his nose.
"AH!" Neji screamed quite out of character, "It's cold!"
"It's supposed to stop the bleeding," she said.
They both shared a laugh, and after calming down, Neji looked into her green eyes.
Sakura looked into his lavender eyes.
"You're so pretty, it hurts, Sakura-chan."
"I think that's your nose," she got lost in his stare.
"No," he looked at her lips, "you're just beautiful," and he stole a kiss.
It wasn't anything fancy, but it felt special. That chaste kiss started an unsaid relationship between the two, and it stole their breath away.
"Looks like I fell in love with the nurse," Neji softly said, barely in earshot.
"Seems like I caught a shinobi," Sakura smiled softly, playing with his chocolate brown hair.
(Flashback End Again)
Ten Ten and Ino cooed at Sakura's story, while Hinata spared a look of disbelief.
"How can anyone fall in love with my cousin?" For once, she didn't stutter. What are the odds?
-
The girls finally arrived at Konoha City, about 8 at night. The gates were still closed, as they were waiting for the rest of the shinobi to come.
Ten Ten leaned against the pole of a streetlight and closed her eyes, "Why are boys always late?"
"It's better late than never," Ino reminded her.
Hinata agreed with the boy-crazed blonde and found herself looking over the horizon for any signs of a forthcoming. She activated her byakugan and continued to stare off into the distance, "Sakura-chan, I think I see your boyfriend coming."
"My boyfriend? What are you talki-"
"Oh shut up, they're coming," Hinata blurted out.
Ino and Ten Ten looked at Hinata as if she was growing another head.
Neji was leading the pack of jounin behind him and the second he saw Sakura, he dropped his bags and went running up to her. She stood in her place, surprised at his notion, and let him carry her in his arms. He spun her around before putting her down gently, his forehead against hers.
He stood up in front of her, both hands behind his back, "Pick a hand."
Sakura pointed to the right, and he showed what was in it.
"It's an origami swan. I made it for you," he opened the other hand, "This is for me."
She took the swan and wrapped her arms around his neck, "And this is for you," she went on her toes and kissed his lips, feeling a smile on his face.
The girls came over, all in awe of how romantic the usually stoic Neji was, and how Sakura managed to get a catch like him.
Ino tapped Neji on the shoulder, disturbing their lip lock, "Do you have any friends?"
He pointed to the group behind him and gave out a deep laugh. Neji wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders and walked the female group over to his.
Ten Ten whispered to Hinata, "How many do you think there are?"
"Who cares? Theres four of us and hundreds of them."
Ino overheard, "I don't think we have anything to worry about, girls. The greater odds are not exactly against us."
And they caught up to Sakura and Neji to introduce themselves to the pack of their shinobi men.