-AN: I don't own Naruto.

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Previously: "Sakura!" Sasuke called out.

By instinct, Sakura defended herself with her arms crossed in front of her. Blood splattered onto her, but it wasn't hers. When Sakura felt no impact she looked up to find someone in front of her. The kunai pierced through his shoulder completely.

"NEJI!" Sakura cried out.

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Chapter 8 - Characters Of Intimacy…

Neji spat out some blood as he tried his best to push Itachi off. Itachi swiftly retreated back, bloody kunai in hand. He glanced at the now injured jounin and the pink haired medic that's currently aiding him. Without another second he dodged to the right as Naruto swung his fist in pure anger.

"Bastard!" Naruto growled as he made some clones. Sasuke and the rest could tell Naruto was pissed beyond belief from the unmistakable red chakra forming around their teammate. Like before, his features turned animalistic, claws and all. Naruto and his clones came into another attack, along with Sasuke at his side.

Outside the battle, Sakura had tears on the brim of her eyes threatening to fall, as she tried her best to heal Neji.

"Why, why, did you…" Sakura began, stuttering a little. "Why Neji?" She said as one tear rolled down her cheek. Even with all her skill, she couldn't heal him completely. He needed a hospital, or at least somewhere more suitable to rest. She could hear the explosions and ground moving attacks, not so faraway. After a few minutes, she was able to fix some of the torn muscles, but whatever Itachi did to his kunai, Sakura was sure that she would need every bit of chakra she had to heal about half of the damage at the moment. But that would leave the rest of her team in danger too. What about Sai, Kakashi-san, and all the others? These thoughts ran through her head as she saw Naruto and Sasuke being thrown back by the elder Uchiha.

Seeing Sakura in her worried state, only got Sasuke even more pissed. Unconsciously the cursed seal was activated. "I'll have to risk it for now." He thought as he felt a new source of power course through his veins.

Two tails have already been out as Naruto formed the rasengan in his hand. Sasuke formed his chidori at the same time. The two then charged straight at the Akatsuki member. Itachi just had a bored look on his face as he saw the two approach them.

But before Naruto and Sasuke could plunge their attacks into Itachi, something blew up in front of them, causing the two to cancel their jutsus, as they flew back. Sasuke looked up to see, Deidara on his large flying clay bird. "Shit." He thought. "We can't handle two of them."

"What happened to Sai and Kakashi-san!" Naruto thought. "Those bastards!"

Deidara released more of his bombs, giving Itachi the chance to escape. As the bombs flew, Naruto fought hard to stop the kyuubi from taking over. Part of him wanted to bash Itachi and Deidara's skulls in, but another part of him wanted to move everyone to safety. As the bombs came closer he finally decided. Naruto returned to normal as he ran towards Sakura and Neji. Some of the bombs hit the ground, causing Naruto and the rest to shield their eyes. Sasuke stood there, and was contemplating on whether to go after his brother, or follow Naruto's example.

Naruto placed the injured Neji over his shoulder as he shielded Sakura from another blast of dirt caused from another of Deidara's bombs.

"Teme! What the fuck are you doing!" Naruto yelled as he saw Sasuke run into a cloud of dirt. "Damn it!…Sakura let's go, he'll be fine." he growled out as he and Sakura made a run for it, heading toward Kakashi and Sai. "Teme, don't even think of ditching us, or dying, just to fight your brother!" Naruto thought.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out before following Naruto. "Be careful." She finished in her thoughts.

Sasuke ran forward and saw his brother standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Damn you Itachi." Sasuke growled out, as he took out his katana.

"You know you're too weak." Itachi said, as Deidara released some more bombs. The explosions took place and Sasuke shielded himself. As the dirt and debris stopped he lowered his arm, he defended himself with, to find Itachi gone.

"I'll find you once you become stronger, until then, little brother, until then." Itachi's voice echoed as the smoke subsided. Sasuke's cursed seal retreated back to its original location as he gritted his teeth, and clenched his fists.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled as he punched a nearby tree, knocking it down.

Naruto and Sakura finally reached the others as he laid Neji down gently next to Sai and Kakashi.

"Finally dickless, old hag, take any longer?" Sai joked as he coughed up some blood.

"Sai…" Sakura said, as she started to heal his burns. Kakashi seemed to be ok, just unconscious. As Sakura healed Sai major burns, she plopped down onto the floor exhausted.

"Almost out of chakra." Sakura said as Naruto gave her a worried look. Sasuke came soon afterwards. His eyes widened as he saw the other two of his teammates badly hurt.

"Everyone alive?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just looked athim before turning back toward Sakura and the rest.

"Yeah, so you did what you had to do when you ditched us back there?" Naruto asked, obviously a little pissed off.

"…..Hn." Sasuke said. He continued to look around, there were craters everywhere, and their portion of the landscape was utterly destroyed. From the look of the battle field, he felt bad that he left his teammates to two Akatsuki members as he pursued his brother. He stared out at the disaster in front of him, only imagining how his comrades were beaten.

Sakura gently placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder, which brought him out of his thoughts.

"Let's go home Sasuke-kun." She said with a smile. Sasuke nodded as he went passed Naruto and lifted up Kakashi's unconscious form. Sakura was about to assist Neji, but Naruto stopped her.

"Sakura-chan, your too worn out. Here, I'll do it." Naruto said.

Sakura felt like she was useless, but she knew he was right. With a sigh, Sakura agreed as she stood up. Naruto gave her a grin as he made a clone. The clone slowly picked up Neji, as he picked up Sai.

"Let's go." Naruto said.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

"Right." Sakura said, as they headed off towards home.

In the forest near Konoha, Kiba, Hinata and Akamaru were quickening their pace.

"Where's Kakashi-san and the rest?" Hinata asked, as she deactivated her byakugen.

"They didn't catch-up?" Kiba asked surprised. Hinata shook her head.

"No matter, we have to hurry home, I can track the rogue nins' scent from here." Kiba said as he stopped and sniffed some of the branches of the trees. Akamaru doing the same. "Yeah, they should be in the village by now if they somehow got in."

A jounin knocked on the door of the hokage's office with a couple of nins behind him.

"Come in." Tsunade answered. The jounin and the others bowed as they entered the room. Shizune stood next to the desk, and held some scrolls as Tsunade stopped working on some of her late documents.

"They are from the Grey Village Hokage-sama, they wish to discuss some matters with you." The jounins said.

"Thank you Genma, I'll take it from here." Tsunade said as Genma walked out the room, and closed the door.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked the nins with a raised brow.

"Our village wished for you to keep this scroll under your watch for the time being." A nin said as he stepped forward and placed a medium sized scroll on her desk. Another nin stepped forward with a bag full of cash as payment.

"Alright. Who exactly are you keeping this scroll from?" Tsunade asked.

"Actually, we wanted you to deliver the scroll to…" The rogue nin began.

That very night, Kiba and Hinata informed Tsunade of the rogue nins and their plans, just before Shikamaru was about to be sent out to deliver the scroll. They checked to scroll that was given and found that it had a jutsu of some sort protecting it. Taking major precautions, Tsunade ordered that the scroll to be guarded and untouched, until they found a way to break the seal. Naruto and the others arrived late at night. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke briefed in on the incident to Tsunade, while the other half of their team was sent to the emergency room.

"How is it that trouble always has something to do with you three?" Tsunade asked, taking a shot of her sake.

"Weird coincidence?" Naruto said. Everyone just let out a sigh.

"Baka." Sakura said.

"Dobe." Sasuke said right after.

Two nights later at the Konoha Hospital, were six injured shinobi each in their own rooms resting. Well it was suppose to be only three, but Tsunade was strict about keeping her nins in top health.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Naruto thought as he looked up at the plain white tilled ceiling. He let out a sigh, before turning over to his side trying to get the much needed rest he deserved. Just at that moment someone knocked on the door.

Sakura was sitting up from her bed when Shizune came into her room.

"Hello Sakura-chan, it's strange to see you in the bed instead of regular patients." Shizune said as she laid down some fresh bandages on the small table next to the pink-haired kunoichi. Sakura laughed lightly as Shizune checked some things on her clipboard.

"Umm, Shizune-chan." Sakura began. The older medic looked up from the clipboard towards her friend.

"Yes Sakura-chan?" Shizune asked.

"They're going to be ok right?" Sakura asked as she clenched her sheets slightly in her hands.

"Well you and Naruto-kun will be fine in the morning, but I'm afraid the others are much more serious. Kakashi-san the rest are stabilized, but Neji might be in some pain for a while." She finished.

"Can…Can I go check on them?" Sakura asked. "My chakra is replenished and I want to go see them." Sakura said.

Shizune thought for a moment, before nodding her head. "Just try not to give Tsunade-sama more reasons to drink herself crazy." Shizune told the pink haired medic as she stood up from the bed.

"I'll try. Thanks Shizune-san." Sakura thanked before exiting the room quietly.

Sakura was about to go into Naruto's room,but found it already occupied with another person. "Yes, Hinata-chan and Naruto finally got some alone time, I'll just see him later then." Sakura thought with a smile, as she continued down the hall.

On both Sai's and Kakashi's doors, had a sign saying 'under deep medication', along with 'do not disturb'. So Sakura just continued down the halls and went down one floor to where Sasuke and Neji's rooms were located. She went to Sasuke's room first, which was closer, and softly knocked on the door. No reply came. She knocked again a little harder, but still no one answered. She waited a few seconds before opening the door.

"Sasuke-kun?" She whispered. The room was dark and cold. It seems that the window was open for a couple of hours now. Worried that her teammate might catch a cold she entered the room to close the window. It took only a couple of steps for Sakura to realize that no one was in the room.

"Could he have left?" Sakura asked herself. Then the memory of him promising her that he would stay on his word at the park only a couple of nights ago flashed in her mind. "Nah, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Sasuke-kun really promised on his word. I trust him….but where would he go?" She thought as she looked around for clues. She looked at the small desk next to his bed. Nothing, she then checked his bed. She looked under the sheets then under the pillow. "Bingo." She thought as she got a small piece of paper from under its hiding place. All the small note read was the word, 'training'. Sakura let out a frustrated sigh before throwing the small slip of paper into the trash. "Is that all he ever does? Same old Sasuke-kun." She thought angrily. She exited the room and closed the door behind her, before heading towards Neji's room.

The door merely had a 'keep quiet', and a 'please only nurses' signs which Sakura was happy to see. Two reasons were because first, he wasn't in that serious of a condition anymore, second, she was allowed to enter the room. Luckily she's a nurse in the hospital.

"Neji?" Sakura whispered, as she opened the door gently.

"Sakura?" Neji asked, sitting up from his bed. Seeing that he was awake Sakura entered the small room.

"Hey Neji, how are you doing?" She asked, walking up to his clipboard and checking his status.

"Fine." His entire top body, neck to waist, was in bandages and the hole in his shoulder seemed to still bleed, as the bandages around it was soaked red. "Neji…." She thought, but shook herself mentally as she noticed that she was staring at him .

"Anything hurts, more than usual?" She asked. He merely pointed at his wounded shoulder. Sakura walked up to the bed and pulled up a stool and then sat on it. Wordlessly, she unwrapped the bandage carefully and examined the wound.

"Ouch." Was all she thought when she saw the semi bloody gaping hole in his shoulder. Neji just stared intently at the medic. Sakura noticed this, but decided to keep things professional, until he got better.

"I can heal you a little to help with you getting out of here faster. I know you hate this place, but it will hurt a little. I suggest you take some of these pills." Sakura said as she reached into her medical bag she always took around with her, and took out a small pill case. She took out only one pill, which meant that it was a pretty strong drug, and handed it to Neji. He merely observed it for a second before swallowing it.

"Its affects should take control in about a minute or so, but it only lasts about ten minutes. It's a pain killer that numbs the body completely. It was made for on-the-go missions, that's why it takes affect for such a short time, incase enemy nins attack us. The side affects might just make you a little drowsy, or maybe, but rarely, you might be in a drugged state." Sakura explained as she gestured Neji to lie down. Neji looked at her with a raised brow. "Don't worry, the side affects aren't harmful, and they rarely happen." She assured him.

Neji couldn't fell his arms and leg after a couple of seconds, and the feeling generally moved it's way around his body. Sakura placed her hands above his injured shoulder before molding her chakra. After finding the major damages in the muscles and tissues around the wound, she began to slowly heal him. After about a couple of minutes of silence, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little uneasy under Neji's stare. He was staring at her the whole healing session and it made her a little uncomfortable. She stopped for a second to pull back some of her bangs that fell in front of her eyes, and pulled them back behind her ears before continuing healing Neji. Wanting to break the awkward silence, she decided to tell him the first reason why she wanted to visit him.

"Um, Neji?" She asked.

"Hn?" Neji mumbled.

"I, I just wanted to thank you for what you did, back there." Neji didn't say a word, but Sakura knew he was listening. "You could of died you know….Why did you….Do it? For me?" Sakura could feel her emotions fighting to take over. At the moment, she mentally kicked herself. He freaken saved her life, while almost losing his, and all she said was a thank you? At the moment, she wanted to hug the former human ice cube! But she was healing him at the moment, and force herself not to.

"Be-because." Neji said a little weakly. Sakura was a little shocked that he replied, as she continued to heal his shoulder. She wondered if the after affects of the pill was slurring his words, and messing with his head.

"I would…." He began. Then he seemed to try and concentrate on what he was about to say next. Sakura was sure that Neji was suffering from the after effects now. "Not lucky I guess." She thought, recalling that no one who took the pills so far had ever had the side effects affect them like this. She decided that she healed him enough for the night, as she got a clean set of bandages out from her medical bag, and professionally wrapped the injured shoulder. Unfortunately, it started to bleed a little again, and Sakura decided to continue healing it over the bandage.

"I would do anything….For you." Neji finished. Sakura stopped her healing jutsu as she stared straight into Neji's hypnotizing eyes, in disbelief. Did she hear him correctly?

"Wha-what?" She stuttered.

He placed the hand with the uninjured shoulder over Sakura's hand, that was hovering over his wound. She instantly blushed at the contact.

"I….I said that, I'd do anything for you…..Because y-your one of the most im-important people I ha-have in my l-life Sakura-chan." Neji said as he squeezed her hand gently. "Sakura-chan!" She thought, turning even redder. "No, don't be stupid, he's hyped up on drugs, he doesn't know what he's talking about." She tried to convince herself. But at the same time, she couldn't shake off truth. Deep down, she was liking the attention the Hyuuga prodigy was showing her at the very moment.

"It's the truth Sakura-chan, and I don't want you to be t-taken away from me, by anyone else." He stuttered a little as he tried to sit-up.

"N-neji, stay down, please." Sakura said in a worried tone. "Kami knows what he'll do in this state." She thought. Neji didn't listen to her, as he sat up. He was now in eye level of the confused kunoichi.

"Sakura-chan." He said in a low soothing voice that sent shivers down her back. She wanted to back away from the uneasiness, but found that his hand was still around hers, holding her to the spot.

"Sakura-chan, I…" He said as he leaned in closer. "What is he doing!" Sakura thought as she could felt her heart beating faster as Neji leaned in closer. She couldn't move, she didn't know what to do. She was never in a situation like this. Unconsciously, she leaned in a little herself without her knowledge.

"Ne-neji, w-what are y-you…." but her words tailed off as her his lips was only about a centimeter away from his. They both could feel the shallow breaths taken by the other as they stared at each other in the eyes. She slowly stood up from the stool and was about to pull her hand back, but Neji didn't let her.

"I love you." He whispered against her lips, before descending upon what he secretly desired to claim his one day. Sakura's eyes widened as she was in a complete state of shock.

"He just told me that he, WHAT!" She thought. She always thought of him as a good friend, and a strong leader, but never had it crossed her mind that he could be her lover. She didn't know what to do, push him away, or just give into the emotions that she packed up in the dark corners of her heart years ago. She wanted to think things through, but she seemed to almost lose herself all of a sudden. Her knees felt weak as she sat back down onto the stool. Neji let go of her hand as he wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him, and deepening the kiss. Sakura finally loosened up as she kissed him back with the sheer want that she was receiving from the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji slowly pushed Sakura onto his bed, her back facing the mattress, and her lips never leaving his. It seemed that the two put all of their lone desires and hidden emotions all into each other in this one intimate moment. Neji finally released her lips as he started to kiss the side of her neck. In the middle of this, Neji's head seemed to clear up, as the drug's effect started to ware off. Slowly but surely, he began to wonder what he was doing. All he knew was that it felt wonderful, it felt that his heart was taking a heavy burden away.

He then heard someone whisper his name. He opened his eyes and stopped what he was doing as he stared in shock on who he was currently sharing an intimate moment with.

"S-sakura!" He said in shock. Once that was said, Sakura seemed to wake up from the daze she seemed to be in. She then finally noticed she was laying on her back on Neji's bed with him almost on top of her.

"What the!" Sakura almost yelled as she accidentally/instinctively, thrust both of her palms straight at his chest, knocking him off the bed. Seeing what she did, she immediately got off the bed and assisted her comrade.

"Oh my god!" She said as she helped him onto the bed again. When she healed what more damage she caused to the injured jounin, she finally turned back to her old self. "Never will you take these pills ever again!" Sakura said as she got the pill case and safely packed them away in her bag. Neji seemed to still be in a state of shock. What had he said? He could remember a few things, but not as much as he wanted to remember. What was he doing that got him on top of her! Was the number one question in his mind. "I'm a Hyuuga! How could I lose my self control so easily!" He thought.

"How could I let him go that far!" Sakura thought as she too was shocked beyond belief. "He was drugged and I knew it, yet I…..Oh my god, I'm a freaken….dear kami what did we do! I'm only fifteen too!" She mentally beat the crap out of herself.

There was silence between them. None of them dared to break it so early. A couple of minutes later though, Neji had enough.

"I'm sorry Sakura." Neji said in apology. Sakura looked at him surprised, she should apologize too.

"Neji I-" But Neji cut her off before she could even finish.

"I dishonored your trust, and I violated our friendship; for that I'm sorry Sakura." Neji said shamefully.

"It's not your fault, it was the effect of the pill you took, it seems that you body is strangely vulnerable to the chemical. Your head was messed up and you didn't know what you were saying or doing. It's me who should be sorry, not you." Sakura said as she looked straight into his eyes.

"What did I say to her?" Neji thought, but was soon broken out of his thoughts when he noticed Sakura was about to cry. "I endangered my friendship with Neji, just because I got caught up with my stupid emotions." She thought sadly.

"Sakura-" Neji began.

"Please Neji, can we just say this never happened?" Sakura pleaded as she cut him off. "And go back like we were before all this?"

"How can we just forget about this?" Neji thought, but the last thing he wanted was for her to feel completely guilty for what happened. He nodded to her and she wiped the tears that threatened to fall away.

"Thank you Neji." She said before bringing the Hyuuga into a soft embrace. "Thank you." She whispered. Neji hugged her back and relished in the feeling, he loved it. He could only imagine how it felt when he was a little kissing Sakura, but as soon as that idea came to mind, he quickly dismissed the perverted thought.

The two were too caught up in their own little world, they didn't even notice someone knocking and opening the door. It was until someone said, "Sakura." That the two came back to reality and released each other.

"S-sasuke-kun!" Sakura said surprised. Sasuke seemed to ignore her as he came into a deadly glaring death match with the Neji.

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Next Time: "Sakura, what were you doing with Hyuuga?"…"Naruto, w-what should I do?"…"We found a large number of rogue nins near Konoha. They're after the scroll, and its contents. Tsunade-sama, what do you suggest we do?"

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AN: Hey! Hope ya like this chapter…..and yes I'm getting a little lazier these days, sry……Well at least I finished the chapter! It only cost me a couple of cramped fingers and a numb butt from being dumbass, and sitting on a semi-comfortable wooden chair. I may be dumb, but at least I'm stupid! LOL, well thx for reading!