Note: If you don't like SakuNeji, or you like SakuSasu better, please just keep reading! I promise you'll be happy later!
Last chapter:
Neji came running down the stairs. Right when he saw Sakura, Sasuke used his curled up fist to bring Sakura closer to him, leaned towards her, shut his eyes, and kissed her.
Neji saw Sakura, pressed against Sasuke, his arm around her, their lips connected. Neji could feel his heart stop and his eyes redden. Sakura's eyes flew open and she tried to pull away.
"What are you doing!?" she screamed.
His arm still around her, Sasuke responded, "I told you, I always get what I want."
She angrily turned to face him, "Why are you doing this?!"
"Because!" he pulled her closer again, "I want you."
She shut her eyes and screamed.
"Aren't you two siblings?" Unable to continue watching this scene in silence, Neji finally spoke out.
They looked up and Sasuke drew her into his arms.
"Right, and in the future…we'll become dangerous siblings," he said.
Sakura furiously shook her head.
Tears sprung to Sakura's eyes, "Stop talking nonsense! Neji, it's not what you think!"
She struggled to pull away as Sasuke kept her close.
"It's exactly what you think," Sasuke smirked.
"Shut up! Let go of me!" Sakura shouted at Sasuke.
"Neji…I…" Sakura started.
"Sorry, Neji," Sasuke said.
Neji forced a smile, "I see. Love is a personal choice, so you don't need to apologize."
Sakura could feel the pain in her heart as she saw past the small smile on his face, seeing the true hurt in his eyes.
"It's none of my business," Neji stated a bit coldly as he turned away and went back up the stairs.
"Neji…" Sakura called after him, but he ignored her as he sprint back up the stairs as fast as he could, to keep the tears from falling.
Sakura's breathing was unstable and she turned to face Sasuke with hatred in her eyes.
"Such a cold response. How boring," Sasuke stated plainly, with no regret whatsoever about what he had just done.
"What are dangerous siblings?! He totally misunderstood!" Sakura shouted.
"What's the big deal? It's the truth," Sasuke responded.
"What are you really thinking?" Sakura said, almost crying.
Sasuke turned to face her.
"Do it again?" he said smoothly.
She faced him again, eyes red. Sakura pushed his arm away and tore off in the other direction and not once did she look back. Sasuke stood there, eyes and head down.
Sakura sat at her desk, head in hands, miserably as her best friend, Tenten, kept looking over worriedly. Tenten was about to say something but Hinata looked over at her, warning her to keep quiet.
Her eyes glanced upwards, looking at Neji hopefully as he walked past the front of the classroom. His gaze remained straight and Neji sat down in a seat on the other end of the class, instead of his usual chair next to Sakura. Her eyes turned sadly back towards her desk.
She looked back up at Neji.
"Turn around, turn around. If you'd just turn around, I'd have the courage to apologize," she prayed.
Sighing, she began her work when Sasuke's words echoed in her head.
"We'll be dangerous siblings…"
Her pencil snapped.
Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata walked down the stairs.
"So, you're really not going to the basketball court today?" Tenten asked.
Sakura silently trudged down the steps.
"You're still the team manager," Tenten reminded her.
Sakura finally piped up, "I'm not. You can just say I'm Uchiha Sasuke's personal servant," she said disgustedly.
Tenten sighed, "That's not the point. What you need to do now is explain everything to Neji. I'm sure he'll understand."
Sakura's breath caught in her throat.
"He must think I'm easy. First, giving a love letter to one guy, then kissing another," she sighed.
"Yeah…very easy," Tenten said.
"Hey, why make things worse? Sakura already feels bad enough," Hinata said.
"Really? If she never goes and explains it clearly, she'd deserve to be called "easy" by anyone," Tenten stated.
Sakura looked down and remembered what Neji said.
"Love is a personal choice. So you don't need to apologize."
"Forget it," Sakura muttered.
"Are you sure? We're talking about Neji Hyuuga here," Tenten mentioned.
After getting no response, Tenten said, "Okay, then it's okay if I go and confess my feelings for him?"
Sakura turned to Tenten.
"What?" Hinata exclaimed.
"Liar," Sakura said, bursting out.
"If you don't believe me, fine, but just don't regret it," Tenten said, trying to get Sakura to stop her.
Finally, Tenten adjusted her hair and walked confidently down the steps.
"Why are you still standing here? Let's go already!" Hinata urged.
Hinata grabbed Sakura's arm and edged her down the steps.
Neji slowly headed off the basketball court, eyes downcast, and obviously upset.
"Neji! Sakura's looking for you!" Tenten shouted.
Neji stopped and turned around. Tenten gestured towards the gym door where Sakura was standing with Hinata.
"That…" Sakura began, about to apologize, "Sorry about the manager's job."
Tenten glared at Sakura as Sakura looked down, angry at herself for being unable to apologize.
"If you don't want to do it, don't force yourself," Neji said calmly, "You skipped several days. We don't need a manager who's all play."
Tenten couldn't believe her ears, and looked back and forth between the two.
"You're right. I'm sorry," Sakura said sadly.
Neji spun on his heel and walked away. Tenten ran after him.
"Hey!" she grabbed his jacket to make him stop, "Hey, you're really being a jerk. Sakura mustered her courage to give you an explanation and you give her attitude? You know she likes you. She's just a victim of Sasuke Uchiha."
"That's right! Sakura was hurt too!" Hinata called from the door, "You should at least let her explain."
Neji looked away.
"Yeah…and we thought you were a good guy," Tenten added, also turning away.
Neji looked back at Tenten, "That's your problem."
Tenten turned back to him, shocked.
"Are you guys done? I'm not into that kind of thing. Or those kind of people," Neji left the gym.
Angrily, Tenten glared at his retreating figure. She turned back, and saw Sakura's teary eyes.
"I'm dreaming, right? Neji, my cousin, the nice guy, just blew his cool," Hinata said slowly.
Neji walked down the street path when Tenten spotted him. She ran up to Neji.
"What you did just now was very ungentlemanly. But…there was a time when I thought you…were hot," she finished.
Neji looked at her and Tenten's gaze fell back onto him.
She looked down, "At least you said how you truly felt."
"No," he said.
She looked back at Neji.
"What I really wanted to say, I didn't," he continued.
Tenten nodded, "Then give you and Sakura another chance, okay? It wasn't easy for her to work up the courage to approach you. You don't want to let her leave this easily, right?"
Tenten searched Neji's eyes. Letting her words sink in, Neji began to understand and realize his mistake. He mouthed a "thank you" to Tenten and sped off at full speed.
Tenten watched him run off. She was happy that he liked her best friend, but that was the same reason that made her feel her heart break. Slowly, Tenten turned and walked away.
Sakura walked slowly down the road, eyes downcast.
"He hates me," she thought, "The way he looked at me, was like the way someone looks at a bug that needs to be squashed."
Neji ran up ahead and saw long pink hair, swaying in the wind. He slowed down.
"Sakura!" he shouted.
"Am I dreaming?" Sakura thought.
She turned around and saw Neji.
"She looks so…beautiful."
Sakura and Neji stood side by side, against the railing.
"I'm so disappointed in myself," he said.
"No, there's no reason to be."
"There are people in this world who try to hurt you, but there are also people who are hurt because you're hurt. I really want to be the second kind of person, yet I let you…" he started.
"That day…" Sakura interrupted, "I don't know why he did that."
"Sakura," he turned and faced her, "Will you go to a concert with me?"
She looked at Neji, his gaze lovingly down upon her.
"When I came that day, that's what I wanted to ask you. But everything was ruined by your horrible brother. In the end, I said a bunch of things I shouldn't have said. And I was really mean. That's why I'm so disappointed I myself. I'm sorry, Sakura," Neji apologized.
Sakura took a breath, "I'm the one who should be apologizing, so why are you?"
Side by side, they began to walk home.
"There's a wonderful happiness inside my heart," Sakura thought happily.