**Thank you for your continued support, as sparse as my response has been. I hope that those that have followed me, again, find time to give some constructive criticism on my writing style or character development. Also, anything I say about kata or training exercises is not grounded in any school of martial arts. I sort of made it up, if you will. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Neji was silent on the short trip back. His brows furrowed, he felt a mix of shame and anger—how could he have let down his guard like that? Touching that wall—a rookie mistake, one that he should have been able to spot with his Byakugan; one that Sakura had spotted, thankfully, or they would be in more trouble than they knew what to do with.

Slipping through the upper-story window as always, the two parted ways; Sakura went to take a shower and Neji padded down the stairs stiffly to clear the dining room table. He stacked the ceramic plates that had been gifted to them by Chouji before they left: "You've got to have something cool to eat my secret barbeque recipe on!" he had said, patting Neji on the back as he presented the scroll to him proudly, "Use it during the summer—that's the best time." His eyes traced the minimalistic sunflower designs repeatedly as he attempted to calm his nerves.

Methodically, he put away the leftovers in plastic containers for later and scraped the serving dishes clean. While he had never really done much dish-washing in his lifetime, he wasn't completely helpless. Neji thought of using chakra to help the process, but he was so unnerved by his failure in genjutsu that he resorted to the traditional scrubbing and drying methods. Unfortunately, it went by faster than he had thought, and pretty soon, the only place for him to organize his thoughts was the shower.

Sakura had already stepped out, leaving a room full of steam. Neji laid out a fresh yukata and towel and tried to let his failure steep into the gurgling drain below.

Sakura gave a sideways look at the shower door from their chosen bedroom space. The house was still pretty bare and dusty but they couldn't really remedy that until the supplies they had ordered civilian-style had arrived by post.

Refocusing again, Sakura pinpointed the source of the slow-wave chakra. Neji was doing some serious meditating in there—his entire chakra system seemed to have slowed down to an almost lethargic chugging along. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but it was getting slow enough that Sakura decided to intervene.

"Oi, Neji," she said, pounding a few times on the door, "Snap out of it, 'cause it's been about thirty minutes now." She chortled to herself, adding, "Even I don't shower that long!"

Sakura "watched" with her chakra, amazed, as Neji's system revved back up to life. It was always fascinating to see how his body and chakra networks worked because it was all so consistent and well-trained. The flow sped up slowly, mesmerizingly so, as Sakura "saw" Neji straighten up in the shower and move to turn off the water.

His voice sounded from the steamy depths, "I will be out in a moment."

She sniffed and pushed off of the wall, going back into the room. The futon was laid out by the right wall and she sat down to write in the information scroll as she waited for Neji.


Even before Neji came out, Sakura knew that he still hadn't really gotten anything out of his shower-meditation. He sat down beside her, leaning his back against the wall.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing—let me write in the scroll."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's not going to work on me. Besides, I've already written up today's events in the scroll. Seeing as you were knocked out for most of the action, I thought it would be wiser for me to do the writing today."

She could feel him freeze at her words. She prodded further. "Are you concerned about the genjutsu thing?"

He looked forward, ashamed. "I should be able to detect those sorts of things. I endangered the both of us tonight, and I am unsettled with the fact that I underestimated the seemingly unprotected Western house and did not check the walls with Byakugan."

Sakura sighed, scooting closer to him. "Neji, you need to take a chill pill. I noticed and threw you up a tree and solved the problem. Who knew that the walls were rigged? Besides, you need to trust me to take care of problems sometimes. I am the genjutsu expert, after all."

She reached over to his shoulders despite his wooden posture and negative reaction. "Come on, I'll give you a massage—it works for annoying patients in the hospital—not that you're annoying, or anything."

He acquiesced, turning so Sakura could reach his back. "Tell me about something domestic to distract me."

Sakura smiled at his back and began loosening his shoulders with physical strength, leaving the chakra out of it. She found that chakra was a bit invasive for ninja, especially chakra-sensitive ones such as herself and Neji.

"Well, we need to do quite a bit of interior decorating if we even hope to host any sort of party in this decrepit house."

"Hmm…" Neji stretched suddenly, leaning back into her hands. "I think some sort of pale color, a medium, and a stronger hue might do it. Paired colors get cliché easily."

"You think? The dining room will have to stay classic—mahogany and whatnot—but I like the idea of three theme colors. What do you have in mind?"

Neji sighed. "I appreciate the massage, by the way. I would like to do a cream and a purple…perhaps a stronger green-gray."

"That sounds good. Do you want me to put in orders for the drapes we were looking at earlier today in the green for the rooms upstairs?"

Neji stretched one final time and did a half-turn. "Yes, please. I believe we are on the same page with the interior, so I will leave most of the decision-making to you."

Sakura smiled brightly again and draped her arms around his neck, burying her cheek into the cotton of the collar of his yukata. "Okay! As soon as all of the kitchen implements arrive, we can actually settle into this old house."

He hummed and removed her arms from around his shoulders, turning to press a kiss to her upturned cheek. "One kiss a night will keep us focused on our roles, yes?"

Sakura grinned almost devilishly in the moonlight. "Of course—the stupid daimyo won't know what's coming to him when we get there."


The next day was spent scrubbing out the house's hardwood floors and re-waxing them. Sakura was repainting the walls, using a wind jutsu to evenly coat the surfaces with purples and creams where appropriate. She had read the manuals for civilians and shook her head with pity at them. Thirty-six hours to cure and dry? Yeah, right! She had finished the house and had moved on to install the bathroom implements with her bunshin helping.

It was quite amazing that they got all of it done so quickly, but she would encounter herself and Neji in bunshin form multiple times as she navigated the house and gave orders to her bunshin.

It was time for lunch, so Sakura set out in a cute civilian-style outfit. The yukata was dragonfly patterned and the obi had no flourishes—it was a deep blue and had a fan tucked into the front. She took a large basket and flashstepped to the outskirts of the town. Once there, she shuffled slowly into the bustling marketplace.

"Oh hey there lady!"

The booming baritone was unmistakable. "Mura-san, how nice to see you!"

"Out and about, I see! Where's your husband?"

"Oh, at home taking care of administrative business. I never told you my name—I'm Haruno Sakura, of the Hyuuga house."

The bartender's eyes widened. "That Hyuuga? The ninja clan and all that?"


Sitting down in a vendor's ramen stand, Sakura sipped delicately at the broth as Mura talked. "I've heard 'a your kind! Man, I didn't know ninja came alla way out here!"

Sakura thought quietly that Mura would be shocked to know how many ninja there really were in the area, but nodded. "Yes. As you know, my name, Haruno—"

"—Is that of the trading tycoon, eh? I thought it seemed familiar."

"Well, as you can see, our romance wasn't very…proper, if you'll allow."

"No! It's still traditional and stereotyped like that?"

Sakura nodded solemnly. "It is. I was once a top-ranked kunoichi in my own right, but my family status simply wasn't comparable in light of Neji's family. So we left."

Mura's eyes crinkled. "In pursuit of young love? Will ya look at that! Even ninja!"

Sakura smiled softly, completing the ruse of an in-love youngster trying to be mature. She finished off the ramen and said, "Thanks for the chat, but I need to shop for some lunch. I'll visit later, hopefully with my husband in tow."

"A'course, see you next time!" Mura stood, lifting the flap for her to duck under.

Soon, Sakura had purchased a few vendor foods and fruits. She couldn't help but buy a few Konoha regional products to remind them of home, and flashstepped her way back to the house.


She waved at the "annoying mail-person" (as Neji had dubbed him) and closed the gate. Neji had made sure to install the mailbox as a first priority, and had moved on to do quite a bit of home improvement while she had been absent.

"Neji, I've got the lunch!"

He appeared from a doorway, carrying a large number of clocks. Setting them down by the door, Neji sat down at the kitchen counter with Sakura.

"Did anything of importance happen?"

"No, not really. I mean, I met Mura in the market and met a few shop owners that we'll probably get well-acquainted with if we keep shopping, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Okay. The house is nearly finished, so we may be able to have a house-warming party in the next week. Our neighbors, conveniently, include the East Fire country daimyo, and he would be very impolite to refuse."

"I understand. I'll work on the bedrooms, then."

The house had more bedrooms than they needed, and Sakura outfitted most of them as functioning guest rooms, the largest one as their bedroom (strangely enough, Western houses had only one master bedroom) and a few as, outwardly, storage for kimono and silks, but functioning as weaponry caches.

Shaking out the drapes, Sakura headed down the grand staircase to greet Neji in the kitchen. Jumping down gleefully from the second floor railing, she skipped into the now lighted kitchen.

"You've got the electricity wired up and everything!"

Neji nodded, placing a steaming plate in front of her. "These are the leftovers from yesterday, but they are still palatable."

"There isn't much to do now, since the last few things—the drapes, the refridgerator-thing, the cookware, etcetera—haven't come in yet. I saw a posting for a festival tonight when I was in the village, though."

"Are you suggesting we go?"

Sakura swallowed a bit of fried tofu before linking her arm through Neji's. "Please, I've been in the town over three times already. You haven't even gone once! I swear, the townspeople think you're weird or that we have a really strange marriage. I keep on coming into the town 'alone and unprotected' as the lady at the bakery had proclaimed loudly."

"Really, now. Unprotected, she said?"

Sakura flushed. "Hey, I had to be a bit of a delicate china-girl or this whole romance thing wouldn't be convincing enough. You're supposed to be a Hyuuga, anyway."

"And what does that imply, Haruno?" Neji looked down his aristocratic nose imperially.

"Now you're just playing with me. You know, the whole traditional 'men do the work women sit in the domestic sphere' thing. You know about this stereotype!"

Neji laughed, a sound that made Sakura's lips twitch despite her annoyance. "Then we should find matching yukata and go out before it's too late."


Dressed in a fancier yukata of a deep forest green with burgundy and orange designs up and down the sides, Sakura emerged from the kimono room. Neji had a more severe moss green yukata on, with little color and black stitching.

Stepping out of the house, they encountered more people than usual traversing the country lane towards the town. The multitudes all had paper fans and the chatter reached their ears easily as they strolled under the deepening colors of the summer sky.

Arms linked, Neji and Sakura surveyed the landscape periodically and debated seriously about the value of ikebana, the art of flower-arranging, in Academy lesson curriculums.

"I mean, really, do boys even need to know about flowers? None of them remember any of it after their second year anyway."

"I believe it is a valuable exposure for the young students to have. It gives them perspective into horticulture and allows them to see the different hobbies that different genders aspire to."

Sakura continued on with her argument, "But, Neji, how many ninja not part of the Aburame clan even remotely get involved with plants and the like? If a kid really wants to get into poisons, as a poison expert, let me tell you, lilies and daisies isn't the way to go about it."

"However, you forget that flowers often serve as valuable methods of communication. I did remember the ikebana information past the second year, for your information. I once used it in a mission to signal a teammate being held capture that 'hope,' or rescue was coming and allow time for him prepare himself for escape. It worked and he was healthy enough to run when we arrived."

"But remember, he had to have known the knowledge. Not all ninja remember their ikebana from the eons past and serious miscommunications can happen if Shikamaru, let's say, decides to send Temari flower-messages for mission purposes and Ino gets paranoid."

Neji stopped a moment to think, and replied smartly, "So, you think that students, girls and boys alike, should not receive ikebana instruction either?"

Sakura huffed. "Girls are girls—they would naturally be more interested in ikebana as opposed to boys. Are you saying that instead of sharpening their wilderness skills, they should fiddle around with flower stems for an hour a week?"

Folding his arms, Neji shook his head. "That was not my intention; the organization of lesson hours is another debate of its own. And your argument is therefore flawed—girls and boys' education would be unequal."

Sakura grinned triumphantly. "And that's where you are definitively wrong. Female and male education—again, another debate for another day—has historically always been different. The arts of seduction? Can't have kunoichi trying to use the same pick-up lines as shinobi, can we?"

They had, along with the scattering of other families and couples walking with them, arrived at the village by this time, and Sakura plastered herself to Neji's side once more in companionable silence.

She looked up at him, face upturned. "I haven't been to a summer festival in a really long time, it seems."

Neji took the hint and gave her a chaste kiss. "Me neither. Active duty used to take up so much of my time that I forgot to enjoy the finer pleasures in life."

Sakura giggled happily into her sleeve and pulled him towards a stand selling fish-shaped treats filled with red-bean paste, a taiyaki.

Moments later, they retreated, Neji with the tail end of the taiyaki in one hand, Sakura's hand in the other. Sakura had already bitten into the head, scanning the crowd for Mura.

"Mura-san! This is my husband, Hyuuga Neji."

"Ah ha, the man of the hour! Sit, sit, let's hear a cuppa' of those ninja legends of yours, huh?" Mura motioned into a den of alcohol-toting shopkeepers and Neji allowed himself to be led in. Mura gestured to a woman standing by. "Hey, Riko, talk to Haruno-sama, will you?"

The slim woman cut a very traditional figure in her black kimono with pink cherry blossoms dancing across the hem. "It's nice to meet you, Haruno-sama. I am Tomoshibi Riko, Mura's younger sister."

"Hi! You can just call me Sakura-san, Riko-san. I've been meaning to shop for a few hairpins—I really like your set. Give me some advice?"

Sakura had guessed right about the woman's character. Riko puffed right up and nodded. "I know all the best deals around here. I was getting tired of waiting with Mura in his bar anyhow."

"Who were you waiting for?"

Riko blushed. "Oh, nothing, you know, I was just there for a little bit."

Sakura quieted and let Riko lead her to a stall full of baubles and bags. "Sayako-baa, are you in?"

An old voice sounded from the back. "Welcome to my shop—eh?" The old lady emerged from the dim lighting to squint at the two of them. "Oh, Riko, my dear, couldn't see you to save my life!"

Pushing her fashionable spectacles up higher, Sayako examined Sakura's visage. "And who's this new girl you've got here?"

Riko nudged Sakura forward. "This is Haruno Sakura, a newly moved in neighbor in the country estates. We're looking at the hairpins today."

"Ohhh, Sakura is it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I recommend either earthy tones or greens for you, dearie. Anything else would dull the shine on your hair terribly—if your husband is on the traditional side, don't do whites because that's a sure sign of funerals!"

Sakura nodded. "Thank you, Sayaka-obaa-san."

The old lady walked back to her seat at the register to help a young teen and her mother with a silk bag. "Just call me Sayako-baa, it's what I'm used to and it's a lot shorter!"

Sakura examined a few pins with interest. They weren't actually that bad. Her hair, over this period, had lengthened quite a bit, and she had not had anything to pin it up with for the festival back at the house.

"Riko-san, what do you think about these?" She held up a set of four kimono-fabric flowers adorning black hairpins, kanzashi. The pins had twinkling white pearls trembling from silk threads at the ends and seemed very nice.

Riko pinned up Sakura's pink hair expertly, magicking it into a bun, and declared them worthy. "We'll get this set, in Sakura's hair here, Sayako-baa!"

Sayako walked over, and Sakura snapped open her coin purse. "It's 1500 yen, right?"

"Yes, for the set. I hope to see you all later! I've got coin purses too, if that one doesn't hold up well. Oh, and I would run to the buttered potato stand before they run out—I had one earlier and it was quite good!"

Riko and Sakura chorused a "Got it!" before exiting the stand.

They visited the hot potato stand as Sayako had suggested and shared a potato over their chatting.

"So, you're newly married, Haruno-san?"

"Well, newly and happily so! Are you?"

Riko gave a mischievous smile. "You see, I was waiting to see if I could catch Watanabe-san as he walked by, but you came along, and so I abandoned hope."

Sakura gasped, "Oh, no! I'm sorry!"

"Well, it's not much of a problem. We've been…how can I say it, meeting here and there on the off-chance during every day errands, and I have a good feeling about it! It's not my first time having a bit of a crush, and Watanabe-san is really nice."

"I see—so have your families talked?"

Riko gave a sunny smile. "That's the thing! My parents, old as they were, had arranged it all with his parents before their deaths, and I'd been stuck in this loveless arranged thing for quite some time. I hadn't wanted to go through with it all and went off crushing shamelessly on other men, but Mura made me meet Watanabe-san before passing judgment, and I did!"

"Oh, that's romantic!"

"Isn't it?" Riko gushed. But she stopped, eyes sparkling. "And how is married life going for you?"

Sakura laughed, waving her hand, "You really are shameless, Riko-san! What a topic!"

Riko nudged Sakura as they weaved through the crowds, sampling food. "But really, how is it going? Is he…well, kind?"

Sakura tapped her chin conspiratorially. "I would say so—I thought that a Hyuuga wouldn't have much to do with being warm to their spouses, but he's very warm. Especially at night."

And Sakura let Riko squeal on, feeling a bit torn for giving half lies so often. But to think of it, Neji was quite warm when he tried, and their marriage was progressing along quite well.


Neji was telling stories of shinobi legendry that any genin worth his certificate could tell in his sleep and having…fun, for once, entertaining these men with the simplistic stories. It took a lot to get a roaring reaction from a shinobi, and usually, the reaction wasn't at all on the side of pleasant laughter—it was more exploding anger or depression or the like. No, Neji, as stoic as he liked to be, was entertained by the easily entertained civilians. Almost charmed, if he wanted to stretch it that far.

"And can you do some tricks for us to see?"

Neji chuckled, and said, "I've pretty much renounced my ninja ways, so I have little to show in the way of skills."

The "aww"'s chorused throughout the bar—a huge crowd had gathered to hear the wild stories. There was a tap at his shoulder. He turned about to meet the flushed face of his "wife."

The men catcalled and hollered as Neji stood to wrap an arm about her shoulder. "Well, it seems I must answer the call of my wife."

Sakura waved prettily at the roomful of men and winked at Riko, seeing her friend follow a brown-haired man out the door sneakily. "It's nice to meet you all!"


Sakura was breathless on the way home, hopping about in her geta exuberantly. "It was the funniest thing! Riko stared down that squid seller like a pro and said, 'If I wasn't working in a bar, I wouldn't know how to deal with your kind!' and spun around just like that! The poor guy was speechless, having been caught by Riko rigging the weighing scale."

Neji allowed her to lace her fingers with his. "And what antics did you get up to, Sakura?"

Sakura drew away, hands clasped behind her back. "Well, I saw a fish-scooping game, you know, the ones with the rice-paper nets and live goldfish, and I thought it couldn't hurt to play around with the seller."

Neji smirked. The fish-scooping game was off limits to ninja in the Konohagakure summer festival and there were special stalls designed to challenge shinobi. But in a town like this, Sakura was bound to have done unsettlingly well. "Please, do not hesitate to enlighten me with your prowess."

"Oh, come on! I only caught two in one net; I swear I didn't cheat with chakra."

"Right."

The two stopped and looked up from the path at the sound of squealing fireworks. A burst of red and gold turned the inky sky into a blanket of shimmering sparks against a cloudy backdrop. The whizzing continued on, with large fireworks dotted by smaller showers, creating ellipses and streaks in the sky.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?"

Neji stared solemnly, smoothing a hand over his forehead where the cursed seal had once been. "It is. Shall we continue?"

Sakura put her hand in his again as they moved forward on the path, accompanied by only the occasional family or pair.

"So what's the plan for the week, besides finishing the kitchen and the entertaining rooms?"

Neji sighed, looking up. "We should go to that art exhibit that Mura tipped us off about. It would do well for us to start talking in those circles and possibly invite some bigger names to the house-warming party if possible."

"Okay. I'll start writing the invitations, unless your penmanship is better?"

"It's quite alright, Sakura. I'll continue with the house repair and you can do all of the writing. Draft a list of names after we get back from the art exhibit and we can confirm it before we set it in stone."

"Right!"

By then, they had already reached the mansion. The gate creaked as Neji opened it, and he made a mental note to oil it later. They opened the front doors this time, and Sakura called from the now-furnished bedroom.

"Do you want to fill the hot tub for a soak?"

Neji thought it might be good to stick to traditional ways and replied, "If you wouldn't mind," as he padded up the grand staircase.

They took turns showering and scrubbing the sweat from the festival away and rejoined at the door to the mansion's bathhouse. Sakura was wearing some sort of kanzashi hairpins that he had not seen before, Neji noted, as well as a striped cotton yukata with a tie.

"You can go first, Sakura," Neji said, turning around to tie his hair.

"Alright." Sakura slipped off her yukata and slowly waded into the bath, exhaling softly. "It's so much better with Japanese baths…these Westernized showers with the pounding water get so busy sometimes."

Neji hmmed, and through the steam, Sakura could see him laying his yukata to the side. She looked pointedly away, grabbing a floating piece of fragrant wood as a momentary distraction. She'd seen plenty of unclothed men, but she didn't have to try and look at Neji if she didn't have to.

They sat in the bath quietly, minds alert but chakra relaxed. Sakura broke out of her reverie, beginning to mold another sphere from the water with her chakra.

"Neji, can you teach me some kata?"

"After the bath, perhaps some slow ones that do not require so much exertion."

She switched topics. "When did you start shinobi training?"

Brows quirking, Neji answered from across the bath. "I knew how to sharpen weaponry at age four and had already started kata by then."

Sakura sat up at this. "Wow! Four years old and already doing that sort of stuff?"

Neji shrugged. "It is all gymnastics until the weapons are in hand and speed and accuracy becomes a factor. When did you start?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I started…probably at around seven or eight. I was enamored of the idea of becoming a ninja and wanted to show off something to my parents. I mean, the fact that Sasuke was from a ninja clan certainly didn't hurt my decision."

"And your parents were happy about this?"

"Of course, they didn't see the practicality of their only child going off to be a ninja, especially since they had already retired from that profession to do less risky stuff. But it helped that they had once been shinobi themselves."

"Aa. Where did you practice, if not in a dojo?" Neji couldn't imagine not being allowed to be a shinobi, let alone have to do so under the guidance of no-longer-shinobi parents.

Sakura shrugged. "I didn't. That's why I was so bad with basically everything that required me to move my body—taijutsu and ninjutsu. Genjutsu wasn't as bad because I could read the theory and practice little things on my father without having to move around. Taijutsu was just hopeless for me, and ninjutsu was very limited in the space I had."

Neji understood where her intellect came from. "With little else to occupy your time, you read."

"Copiously. I read the history of Konohagakure almost ten times total over those years and did theory for all three types of jutsu in my room on scrolls when other children ran home and did kata with their fathers."

"Interesting. I had been gifted with a bloodline and an environment that gave me the advantage and allowed me to excel more with the same amount of work. You achieved the same level as me in a different way, with nothing inherited but chakra control, which did not even surface as a skill until you were almost a chunin."

Sakura blushed at the compliments. "It's not much, anyway. I'm getting a bit warm—I'll meet you in the basement dojo in ten minutes, okay?"

Neji closed his eyes as Sakura stood and toweled herself off before putting the yukata on again.


Sakura had donned a hakama and gi, tying her hair in a low ponytail. Neji had left his hair free and was also wearing a hakama and gi. Their socks padded across the floor as Neji spoke.

"We'll start with a wide stance. Start with your feet together. Your toes need to be pointing opposite directions on a straight line."

Sakura was behind Neji and mirroring his movements. "Hai." ("Yes" in Japanese)

"Slowly open the stance to a wide stance." Neji came out of his stance to survey hers.

Sakura was stooped low in the stance, holding it easily. Neji took one of her hands in his and stretched it forward. "Imagine you are molding a ball of wind—Rasengan, if you will."

Sakura nodded, concentrating. Neji showed her the fluid movements once, and had her continue to do it as he circled around her to correct the stance.

"You are coming out of your stance—maintain it." Neji stepped forward to place pressure on both of her thighs, his chest close to her back.

Sakura couldn't find it in her to concentrate. With Neji standing so close, she could feel both of their hearts racing and knew neither of them really had any interest in kata at this point. "H-hai."

Neji tried in vain not to dwell—really, there was no need to be so close, but he decided he wanted to. It was ten minutes of repeating the kata later, when Neji allowed her to stand.

Her breath came in puffs as she stared at the corner of the dojo. "Thank you, Neji," Sakura intoned softly, turning to flee up the stairs.

Neji was motionless, mind racing as his eyes followed her up the stairs.


Sakura pressed her hands to her burning cheeks to cool them. It was a good thing there were no attacks tonight, or they both would have been woefully unprepared to respond in time. She looked about her and realized belatedly that they would be sleeping here, so her fleeing from the scene wasn't very useful at all. There was a ripple at the edge of her senses, and she reluctantly turned to face Neji. His face in shadow, Neji walked towards Sakura, who was looking somewhere out the window.

"Sakura."

"Neji."

Neji clasped her hand in his, cupping her jaw. "You forgot our agreement."

Sakura sighed dramatically, the tension broken, smiling to the side. "Of course, Hyuuga, the agreement."

Stretching to her tiptoes, she braced her hands on his shoulders to meet him halfway. Neji's hair curtained her face, filling her nose with the water-dampened scent of the fragrant wood from the bathtub.

Neji maneuvered her head in his hand even as his other hand traveled to her waist and gently kissed her. "Let's retire for the night," he murmured, lips against hers.

Sakura settled between the cream sheets that had come in from the post and turned on the nightshade. The green fabric of the shade cast a tinted glow on the scroll as she and Neji wrote their mission report for the night together in companionable silence.


Question: is the story moving too quickly? Are they becoming romantically involved too fast? Or do you want me to move to the real action (the daimyo) faster? Give me your thoughts and I'll do my best to accommodate it!