Here's the new chapter.

Oh yea I forgot the disclaimer on the others I think so here.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY ANIME :(

Sad but true.

Chapter 4

Point A

From the tree over the fence they went with excellent stealth. There wasn't much forest on the other side of the fence. It wasn't normal to them. In fact foreign was probably an understatement. The ground that they landed on when they jumped over the fence wasn't soft like the earth in the Fire country, it was hard. There was only a small amount of forest into this country. Both of them figured it was mainly because the ground was so hard that there wasn't enough nutrients in the soil to accomodate a large amount of plantlife.

"No wonder they call this Stone country. The ground is hard as the metal in my forehead protector. I wonder how these people live here. I definately couldn't EVER live in a place that was so...hard."

"Hmm. Yes it is definately different from home. The only up side to this is that we're going to get to see what Stone looks like," said Inner Sakura.

Both Neji and Sakura darted into the minute amount of forest left before they had to find cover in the rocky surfaces somewhere nearby to try to avoid being seen before they got their mission accomplished. If they could even get to the carrier of that scroll before they were caught and had to fight with everything they had to get out of Stone back into the safety of Fire.

They definately had their chakra masked very well now. They didn't want to be spotted. Everything danger for them doubled the second they stepped over that border. The Stone shinobi would show absolutely no mercy now. Both of them knew this therefore were extremely alert. They creeped stealthily to the opposite edge of the forest that they came in from. Careful not to make any of the forest move too much, just in case their was a shinobi slinking around nearby. On their side of the border it wouldn't be unusual to see a bush or plantlife of some kind move, but here, in Stone, they doubted there to be any animals in this minute piece of forest. Therefore no reason for the plantlife to be moving. Which made their job twice as hard. Luckily there was a little bit of wind blowing that day so some of the plantlife was moving a little, which was a big help to them.

They quickly but carefully made their way towards the rocky hills to the far left of where they had come across the border from. They hadn't spotted any more Stone shinobi yet on their way to the rocky hills, travelling close to the edge of the forest, but not right on the edge of it, just in case. They couldn't be too careful right now. If they were detected in the vicinity then they needed to be able to make it back to the Fire country...FAST. Once they were over the border of the Fire country they shouldn't have to much trouble with the shinobi. The Stone shinobi wouldn't attack them, not in their own country, because they weren't even supposed to be on the other side of the fence anyway, but it would make it five times harder to get over the border undetected again. Which would mean the probability was high that they couldn't complete the mission.

Neji kept looking behind him at Sakura to make sure that she was okay and she hadn't detected any enemy shinobi since he couldn't use his Byakugan he would have to rely more on her than he really wanted to. No they didn't really click, but she was a reliable kunoichi and she had the best medical skills in Konoha, surpassing those of even Tsunade's. So he knew if they got hurt he would be in good hands. He did wish that that got along better though. Then maybe this tension wouldn't be there between them, but everytime they said anything to one another it seemed to always end up with them arguing over some trivial thing. Like that day they bumped into each other when he was on his way to Hokage tower to recieve this mission briefing. All they should have said was I'm sorry and left it at that, but no, they had to start a huge argument like normal. They have never had an actual conversation, apart from mission planning, but that was different, they couldn't argue when going over what they were going to do in a mission in order to keep the casualties at a minimum, but even then she didn't say much to him.

As his thoughts were wandering toward the ever silent alert kunoichi he thought he heard something. Unfortunately he was so delved into his thoughts about her that he forgot to signal for her to stop, so she ended up bumping into him when he stopped suddenly, afraid that they had somehow missed an enemy nin sneaking up next to them. When she bumped into him he fell lightly against a tree trunk that seemed out of place here considering it was bigger than the others, but he could hear water running nearby so he knew that it was probably just the soil and water from the stream that made the tree grow to twice the other tree trunks' widths.

Sakura and Neji had been moving quickly but carefully towards the rocky hills that they had decided to use for cover until catching up to the person that had stolen the scroll. He would be taking a route that passed through some mountains on his way to the Hidden Village of Stone. She was trying to concentrate on the plan so that she would know it up and down by the time they had to set it into action. They knew that the person that stole the scroll wasn't a shinobi and was traveling alone because he thought he got out of it unscathed and unfollowed, however, that was just so they could set up a surprise attack. At least they weren't going to have to fight through an army of enemy nin to get that stupid scroll.

Unfortunately, as she was atempting to go over the plan in her head again her mind began to wander, to the silent white eyed Hyuuga in front of her. She was starting to wonder some of the same things as he was. Why hadn't they ever been able to have just one actual conversation? Why did they argue everytime the saw each other? It was actually kind of starting to aggrivate her, she just didn't understand. What was it about him that riled her up so much? It was probably those white eyes of his. Everytime he looked at her it was like he was staring right through her. It got frustrating after a while.

Running behind him she now started to notice how much he had actually grown up since she last actually had a look at him like that. The first time was a little after Sasuke left, Ino and her had become friends, and they were walking down the street heading for one of the training grounds. Ino had finally convinced her to stop sulking around in her house and come out and spar with her. When they were walking down the road talking Ino had stopped to look at something, so Sakura turned around to see what she was looking at, when she saw Ino staring at the pale faced Hyuuga. That was the first time she had ever checked out any other man besides Sasuke. He was well built back then too, tall, long dark brown hair, glistening white eyes, perfect skin. She could remember thinking about how handsome he actually was now that she actually had a look. Then the unfortunate happened. He turned around and saw them staring at him. She had whirled around and started to walk off dragging Ino with her, face as red as Gaara's hair. She just knew he saw them staring. She hasn't looked at him like that since, and now she caught herself doing it.

Every now and then she would catch him turn his head to look at her a little, and began unconciously wondering what he was thinking about. She was kind of checking him out and she didn't want him to know it. She knew that he would have to detect it like a normal person since he couldn't use his Byakugan; for that she was grateful.

She had turned her head to look out of the meager forest to see if there were any shinobi out there so they could hide if need be when all of a sudden she ran right into Neji. They both fell forward her landing against his chest, his arms instinctively wrapping around her, him falling into a tree. She instantly looked up at him, into those wonderful white Hyuuga eyes. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, when they both heard a rustle in a nearby bush. They both turned and looked at the bush, waiting for whatever it was to either make himself known or go away, hoping for the later they just waited. As the tension was mounting neither of them moved, in hopes it wasn't a shinobi. They couldn't sense a chakra, but the enemy could have been masking it with a very good jutsu, when out popped a squirell.

Both of them letting out a breath that they didn't know they were holding looked at each other again. The second she looked into those mystical white orbs she started blushing, averting her gaze to his chest while trying to stop the blush that had crept onto her face she took a few deep breaths.

"Whoo-hoo go Sakura! Yessssss. We are leaning against the almighty Hyuuga Neji!" yelled Inner Sakura with triumph.

"Oh. My. God. I can't believe this! Shit I'm blushing! Oh no what if he sees it? He'll think I like him or something!"

"Well liking him wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I mean it's not like the thought hasn't crossed your mind. Plus he is very hot," smirked Inner Sakura.

"That thought has never crossed my mind."

"Believe what you want, but I know different, I am your mind remember. Come on. You were just now checking him out, and don't you even try denying it."

"..."

She was really about to start arguing with her inner self when something Neji said caught her attention.

"Um Sakura?" Neji asked softly, "Could you get off of me?" he said, making it come out a lot ruder than he meant it to really be. Fortunately for him the softness with which he said it overtook the rudeness making it sound alright.

"Oh! Neji I'm so sorry, that was so clumsy of me! Here," she exclaimed rather quietly while jumping back a few feet and holding out her hand to help him off of the tree.

"No no. It was my fault. I gave you no warning that I was stopping," Neji said quietly taking her hand and allowing her to pull him forward off of the tree. "We better get going. We have to make it a ways into those rocks before nightfall and find somewhere to camp for the night. Hopefully it won't get too cold because we can't risk lighting a fire now. We might be spotted."

She just looked up at him and nodded, "Let's go."

As she took off towards the rocky hills they were headed for he fell into step behind her this time. As he was looking at her running towards the hills which were now more visable his gaze slowly drifted towards the hills that looked like they were kind of rough which would mean less of a time getting up them and traveling through them. While he was calculating approximately how much longer it would take for them to reach point A, which ironically was the point-of-no-return, he felt his gaze slip back to the running form in front of him and felt himself start to smirk. He could remember that time that he caught her and her friend Ino checking him out not to long after the third member of team 7 took off. The main thing he remembered was how red her face got when he turned around and caught them staring. She grabbed the blonde haired blue eyed Ino and pulled her away from there as fast as she could drag her. From what he heard Ino hadn't figured out that she was checking him out. If she had it would have been all over Konoha.

He couldn't help but think of what her face looked like when they looked at each other after they fell against the tree. They had actually looked at each other that time. She had sustained his gaze for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. Then he got a little irritated that they ended up in that position because of a fricking squirell, but he couldn't say that he didn't necessarily like it, the feeling was nice. It had been a long while since he had had someone that close to him. He and Tenten had tried dating right after the chuunin exams, but it didn't work out. They were only attracted to each other a little bit. Plus Tenten was more like a sister to him than anything else, which made it very awkward.

After she ran into him because of his carelessness he somehow managed to turn around to face her, kind of in surprise, and as they were falling he felt himself wrap his arms around her waist. She didn't see it because she was looking at his chest at the time, but he actually blushed when he felt his arms wrap around her waist. He had his blush under control by the time she looked up at him. When she made eye contact with him he felt himself being washed away in a dark pool of emerald. Those eyes had him entranced with their solemnity for a few seconds there, even though he hated to admit that to himself. He hated breaking that staring contest, but that noise in the bushes, he knew, had them tense for a few minutes there. When he looked back at her again and she quickly averted her eyes he could tell she was blushing. He had to actually try to hold that patented poker face of his in place. He wanted to smirk so badly, but thought against it because he didn't want her to feel more awkward than he knew she already did. He was almost reluctant to tell her to get off of him, but he would never admit that to himself or anyone else.

He duly noted that, as they were nearing the craggy hills of Stone, she had definately changed since he last took an actual look at her. He did that right before the chuunin exams. Only to see if she was going to be anything to worry about for his teammates. He knew he had nothing to worry about from her, back then. She had trained with the fifth Hokage since then, but her power wasn't the only thing that had changed apparantly. She was now seventeen, and she definately had grown up...

He was stopped in mid thought when she signaled for him to stop. Once he stopped, only then did he realize that they were in position to get into the hills as fast as they could go without using their chakra. They were about thirty feet from point A, or the point-of-no-return, as he liked to call it. They couldn't go back without the scroll after they crossed that point, both knew that.

"Do you see anything?" Sakura whispered in his direction.

To which he had to look around for a few moments before concluding that everything was clear. He hated not being able to use his Byakugan. "No I don't see anything. We're clear to go."

Sakura looked at him and nodded. They got as close to the edge of the forest as they could get whilest looking around, double-checking and triple-checking the area around them for any signs of enemy nins moving about. Then they made a mad dash for the craggy hills. These hills would turn into mountainous areas the further they went into Stone.

Once in the hills Sakura noticed some things. Once there was absolutely no brush of any kind, with the exception of a tree here a meager bush there, which meant that there would be no place for them to hide if some enemy patrols happened to come by. It was probably around six in the afternoon. It took them so long to get there because they couldn't use any chakra. Plus they couldn't really run through that sad excuse for a forest. If they did they would have to worry constantly about an enemy nin seeing them run. Which they couldn't have. They were picked for this mission because they were two of the best stealth ninja in Konoha. The hills were pretty steep going up. They were black and grey, sometimes had a little white on them. For the most part they were pretty rocky and rough. Which meant they wouldn't have such a hard time climbing up them as she thought they were going to. It would have sucked if they had to climb up smooth surfaces without the use of their chakra.

Once there they decided to stop at the first deep cave that they came to for the night. Neither of them wanted to be outside in the Stone country at night. They would be easy to catch at night. They weren't used to the nights here. Tsunade had warned them that nights here could get especially cold, and they seemed especially dark. (I won't bore you with the details during their search.)

When they got to the cave night was starting to fall. The cave they found had a very small entrance, and since they weren't going to light a fire for fear they would be detected a small entrance was a welcoming gift. They went into the cave and took off their packs and set them on the floor near the wall. They only had blankets since they had to leave their tents and cots in the forest when some slinky Stone nins came into Fire country and almost found them before they even got started.

"Hmm. I wonder what's up with Neji. I mean he has kinda been out of it for a while."

"That's a good question. Maybe he's thinking about you, him, and the tree."

"He is not. Don't even start on that. That was a total accident and you know it. He was just so surprised that he hadn't felt any chakra that he forgot to signa to me."

"Eeh. Wrong. Honestly Sakura. Even if he had of signaled you you wouldn't have even noticed. You were to busy thinking about how built he is."

"WHAT. That is so totally wrong. I was just admiring his muscle structure. As a medic nin I notice these things. I have to evaluate his muscle structure to be able to tell how well he could probably take a hit so I know how long to wait to help him if need be."

"Ya. You keep telling yourself that girl. As I said before I know better."

"Oh shut up..."

Her thoughts were interrupted when a deep silky smooth voice filled her ears.

"Haruno."

"Hmm. What Neji?" she asked, she was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed it when she used just his first name.

Neji was shocked, although he didn't show it. He had never heard her just use his first name, unless her really pissed her off. On the inside it made his mind race. He noticed that she didn't realize what she just said so he didn't say anything about it really.

"Mmm. Sakura. We need to discuss our next move now that we're in Stone safely in this cave, for now," he said pulling out a map of Stone. "We are very close to this place here. The road that we need to get to to get the scroll is here. So I think we actually got farther than we initially planned today, but that's good. It gives us more of a chance to cut him off before he gets to the Hidden Village of Stone. So we will head towards that road tomorrow, being watchful for Stone nins."

She nodded when he outlined the plan that would initiate tomorrow. "Alright," suddenly she stopped, the shock showing on her face as she just now noticed that he'd used her first name instead of calling her Haruno like he normally did. "T-That sounds like a great plan to me."

He had to smirk as he saw the look of complete shock on her face when she realized that he used her first name. Since she was looking at the floor of the cave she didn't see him smirk. He was enjoying the fact that her face had now turned a bright red to match the look of shock on her face. When she looked up at him he quickly put on his poker face so she didn't see the smirk.

"Well, we should probably get some sleep now," He knew this was probably not a very good idea, but his body was exhausted and he knew that hers was as well. Neither of them would be able to stay asleep long enough to keep watch.

Laying down on the cold floor with nothing but a blanket didn't bother either of them and they fell asleep quickly, but after a couple hours she woke up shivering from the cold. She couldn't go back to sleep so she decided to just volunteer for watch.

When he heard her sit up he knew that she must not be able to sleep. If she stayed up she would put the mission in danger, which he could not allow. At least that's the excuse he gave himself.

Sakura was just sitting there watching the entrance, not even paying attention, when all of a sudden two strong arms wrapped around her. It startled her a little bit until a silky smooth voice spoke in a whisper into her ear.

"Sakura. You need to get some sleep." Neji. Sakura knew, so her body relaxed. "I can't. It's too cold to sleep," she replied.

He didn't even think about it before his arms picked her up and put her over where he was sleeping, grabbing her blanket too. His body seemed to be acting of its own accord, and he was powerless to stop it. He pulled his blanket out from under her and put it on her. She seemed about to protest until he got under both covers with her.

Her whole face turned red when he picked her up and put her down where he was sleeping. He put his blanket over her and hers. She was fixing to tell him that this wasn't necessary and he should keep his blanket, until he crawled under them with her. She just opened and closed her mouth, unable to say anything. She decided that it was okay and layed down with her back facing him. When she got situated he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. From the way he was breathing she could swear that he was asleep. So she didn't object. Not wanting to wake him she allowed the close proximity.

He knew that she thought he was asleep, but he wasn't. In truth, he just wanted to feel her in his arms again, but once again the Hyuuga wasn't going to admit to this without a fight. He could feel her tense at first, he was about to let her go, being afraid of him was something that he didn't want her to be. Then she relaxed and moved back so that there was practically no space in between his chest and her back, for a second there he almost lost his breathing control. He didn't expect her to actually allow this closeness, but it was conforting and warm so it was okay. Not to mention good for the mission. (wink wink)

He snuggled his head in the crease of her neck and shoulder and really fell asleep.

Thnx for the reviews.

The fight scenes need work yes I know. I will definately push all the buttons in my brain to come up with a better one. I've never written a fight scene before that one so I had no inspiration.

I made this chapter longer. The others were short so I decided it was time to step it up a little. Hope you like this one.

Please Review. Constructive Critisism welcome.