Author: aFigureOfSpeech

Title: Conflicting Chaos – Chapter 11

Word Count: 2,652

Pairing: NejixSakuraxKiba

Rating: T (for mild swearing, some suggestive situations, minor alcohol)

Summary: When Naruto manages to get Neji mad at him, Sakura helps Naruto, but in the process she hurts Neji's pride. Now he's out for revenge, but it may not turn out how he expected. Especially when Tsunade has plans of her own and Kiba's not going down without a fight. NejiSakuKiba

Author's Note: Hello again! I'd like you all to say hi to my brand-new-and-fabulous beta, Natsuhiboshi -M5P-. She has so kindly agreed to be my beta, as my previous one is no longer able to do so. (I am going to miss her, though.) But now, onto the chapter!

PS – If you see any mistakes, it's 'cause I was trying really hard to get this out before I left, and I haven't had much time in the week or so I've had it.

Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I did. But no, I don't own Naruto. Now excuse me as I go angst in a corner over it.

Chapter 11: The Day Hell Froze Over

Some very loud moans woke Sakura from her sleep. She grinned rather viciously. It appeared that the boys were up and, from the sound of it, really feeling the effects of all that alcohol they had consumed the night before. The lumps received from her fists probably weren't helping much either.

Sakura had reached camp with an unconscious Kiba on her back to find the other boys in their respective tents and her female companions (the retainers of her sanity) equally out cold in their own. After unceremoniously throwing dog-boy in with Naruto, she settled down for the few hours of sleep she had left.

Well, she had better go see exactly how they were faring. Very poorly, from the sound of it. Plastering on her best overly-cheerful, I-am-soooo-enjoying-your-pain-right-now smile (she had picked that one up from Tsunade as well), Sakura went out to greet her new patients.

……………………

Neji awoke to possibly the worst headache of his relatively short life. With a low moan, he tried to crawl further into his sleeping bag and block out the small amount of light that had stealthily sneaked its way into his tent. It was in cases like these that having all-penetrating eyes could be most troublesome. Speaking of troublesome, the person who seemed hell-bent on complicating his life (whether intentionally or not) decided that she would at that precise moment lift the flap of his tent, increasing the amount of light, his headache, and his wish for a quick and merciful death. Neji groaned.

"Come on, sleepy-head," chirruped Sakura. "It's time to get up!" Honestly, how could she be so…so…disgustingly chipper? Then again, he supposed she hadn't been the one consuming excessive amounts of alcohol the previous night. Oh, joy.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled, his face appearing somewhat cautiously from the covers. "My head hurts too much to stand your ghastly cheerfulness." Blinking blearily at her, Neji saw that Sakura's smile matched her voice. He immediately burrowed back into his covers. Oh gods, it was another one of the Hokage's trademark smiles. Quick and merciful would be too good to ask for.

"I said get a move on, Neji-san," she demanded. "I can't very well get rid of your headache if you're hiding in there." Or maybe he was wrong. But could she be trusted? He didn't ponder it long. Neji was outside as fast as his headache (and dignity) would allow.

"I thought that might motivate you," she chuckled. Sakura led him to where Naruto and Kiba sat, clutching there heads and groaning. It looked as though they were having as bad a time as him. This cheered him slightly (especially at the sight of Kiba).

"Alright Neji-san, sit. You're up first. I'm gonna need you to take off your hatai-ate."

Neji tensed. He supposed he should have expected this, but a headache was hard to think through clearly. What could he do? He certainly didn't want to show his forehead (or more specifically what was on his forehead) to Sakura of all people.

"No."

"Come on, Neji-san!" she protested. "I can't help you with that on. I need to be able to touch your forehead!"

Neji sighed. He closed his eyes to think but found it nearly impossible through the pounding of his head. With an extra-painful throb he dismissed any ideas of waiting it out. His hands clenched, Neji opened his eyes again and slowly removed his headband.

Sakura's eyes widened as his curse mark was revealed, as he knew she would. She gazed quizzically at it, seeming unable to figure out why he would have such a thing on his head. He could practically see the gears turning in her mind, piecing together the image before her and his own obvious reluctance to show it. Neji waited for her to say something.

And waited.

She didn't, to his surprise. Except for the slightly shocked "Oh," Sakura said nothing. She simply gave him a quick look that he chose not to interpret and put her hands to his forehead.

Instantly he felt sweet, sweet relief. Neji sighed again, unconsciously relaxing into her cool, massaging touch. A few moments passed, and he watched her lazily as she concentrated on her task, her eyes almost closed, her mouth in slight frown that looked all too easy to kis-

Neji almost reeled back as he realized just what thoughts were running through his head. He checked to see if the girl in front of him had noticed his sudden (if slight) movement. Nope, she was still oblivious; he silently thanked any gods who might be listening.

Abruptly, Sakura's eyes snapped open; again, Neji nearly reeled back in shock. "Done!" she cried, smiling directly at him. Neji had a moment of uncomfortableness as he fought to remember how to breathe. Oh yes, that's right: in, out, in, out…Damn his stupid hormones. But she had smiled at him! She had really smiled at him! Neji could have jumped for joy. Obviously though, he restrained himself.

Barely.

After she relieved the other two of their headaches, Neji thought it would be as good a time as any to try apologizing. Sakura appeared to have other ideas in mind however: a lecture, for instance.

"Would any of you happen to remember what exactly happened last night?" There was a silent shake of the heads. "Only to be expected, I suppose. I would tell you guys myself, but then, if you didn't kill yourselves from embarrassment, one of the other two would, no doubt, do the job for you, and that would ruin my fun now wouldn't it? I just hope I'm there when you guys do recall." She accented her statement with a smile that would have made any lesser men quake with fear. "Have fun now!" Sakura practically skipped away.

Gulping rather hard (but discreetly), Neji hurried to follow.

"Sakura-san, I wish to speak with you for a moment," he said as monotonously as he could manage under the circumstances (which was pretty impressive as he currently wished just to curl up and die on the inside).

"Yes, Neji-san?" He took that as a good sign; she hadn't told him to go shove off yet.

"I, um, I wanted, wanted to, um, to say, uh…" Neji stuttered, and silently cursed his traitorous tongue. Glancing up at her, Neji saw that Sakura appeared rather confused. Unfortunately for him, his mind seemed to decide that this was the perfect time to notice just how cute she looked when she was confused; the way her lips puckered up slightly, the way her brow furrowed just a bit, the way-

"Just spit it out, Neji-san!" he heard abruptly. Shaking his head faintly to clear it and taking a deep breath, Neji did just that.

"I'm, I'm sorry." There, he said it! Gods, he hadn't realized just how difficult that could be. It wasn't very often that he ever needed to do that. Looking at Sakura however, he saw that she appeared to have moved from confusion to shock. Not entirely surprising really. He just hoped he wouldn't have to repeat himself.

"Er, Sakura-san?"

……………………

Sakura had, in fact, gone into a slight state of shock. Hyuuga Neji had just apologized! To her! Far away, she thought she heard a slight crackling noise. Oh. That must be Hell freezing over.

"Sakura-san, are you all right? Did you hear me?" Neji's voice snapped her out of her daze, and she saw that he had been waving a hand in front of her face.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," she assured him quickly. "And, um, apology accepted." Hmm. So Tenten had been right about him after all…

"Alright then," said Neji. "I just wanted to tell you that." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Sakura exclaimed. Neji paused and gazed back at her. She looked at him a bit sheepishly. "Um, Neji-san, I apologize as well." He just stared at her, apparently uncomprehending. "I mean, I shouldn't have been so rude to you before. I should have listened to what you had to say."

"Oh," he replied. "Well then, I accept your apology as well."

Suddenly, Sakura thought of something else. "Oh, and Neji-san? I don't mean to pry or anything, but that thing on your forehead. What is it?"

He turned fully to face her, running a hand through his hair and appeared to be thinking about telling her or not. Just as she was about to apologize for intruding, he said, "You know how my clan is split into two households, the Main and Branch, correct?" She nodded. "Well, the 'thing' on my forehead is a…curse mark. Like myself, all members of the Branch family receive it at a young age."

Neji paused again, looking at her intently. She moved closer to him, silently asking him to continue. He dropped her gaze and instead stared off into the distance as he carried on. "This curse mark is what allows the Main family to have such dominance over those of the Branch. When activated by means of a hand sign, it causes intense, unbearable pain."

Sakura gave a slight gasp and looked at him incredulously. Unthinking, she reached out a hand and rested it on his arm. When she did, Neji abruptly looked toward her, seemingly taken aback by the sudden contact. However, he did not push her away.

"How horrible! Why would anyone do that?"

"The Branch family was created to protect the Main family and the secret of its bloodline. This mark allows them to make sure that is always what happens," he answered quietly.

"Does it ever come off?" Again, Neji looked away before responding.

"Only in death," he told her, almost inaudibly. "It seals the Byakugan with it, ensuring that the secret of our clan is kept."

Sakura was quiet for a time. When she opened her mouth to say something though, Neji spoke first.

"I did not tell you to receive pity," he said, shaking her hand off.

"Then I will not give it to you," she told him, and then smiled slightly. "It would be a lost cause, anyway." He glanced at her swiftly, expressions crossing his face too quickly and too subtly to make sense of them. Still smiling, she said, "What I was going to say was that I'm glad you told me, Neji-san. I'm glad you trust me with something like that." And, before she could tell herself all the reasons why this was probably a bad idea, Sakura gave the normally stoic man before her a brief, tight hug. Then, giving him a bright smile, she walked briskly away.

If she had looked back, Sakura might have seen a very stunned Neji gazing almost disbelievingly after her. She might also have seen a light red steal unbidden over his entire face.

……………………

Neji felt much, MUCH better after talking to Sakura. She had accepted his apology! SHE DIDN'T HATE HIM! He felt like celebrating! Like getting a few drinks and partying! …No, actually, scratch that. He was never touching the stuff again. But still, he was forgiven! And to make it even better, she had hugged him! Nothing could dampen his mood, nothing- he did a double take. Was that Inuzuka looking at Sakura?

Neji growled. Now he was walking towards Sakura- and now he was talking to her! How dare he! Ergh…but it would look bad in front of Sakura if he suddenly went up and beat that dog-boy to a bloody pulp for no apparent reason. Well then, he and Inuzuka needed to have a little talk. Yes, that could wor- oh hell no! Now Sakura was smiling at him. She wasn't supposed to smile at him! Neji's eyebrow twitched as he felt suddenly filled with hot jealousy. He needed to kill something. Now. But what to- ah, tree!

Needless to say, it was not a very good day for trees.

……………………

Kiba too found himself feeling much better after talking to Sakura. With time spent lacking a headache, it hadn't taken too long before he started vaguely remembering what had happened that morning. It also didn't take him too long to come to the conclusion that he would be much better off apologizing sooner rather than later. Luckily, Sakura seemed to be in a very forgiving mood. When finished, Kiba practically bounced off.

Sometime during mid-bounce, someone grabbed his arm and began dragging him off. "Inuzuka, we need to talk." Oh. It was Neji.

"What do you want, Neji?" he asked once Neji seemed to decide that they were far enough away from camp.

"What were you talking about with Sakura-san?" Kiba looked at him intently, trying to figure out what Neji was getting at. Of course, it was like trying to read a block of ice. Unless, just maybe…

"What's it to you?" Kiba countered, crossing his arms.

"Just tell me, Inuzuka," Neji bit out.

"Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you…"

……………………

Neji twitched slightly. The mutt was rambling on and on and on. He wasn't sure what exactly he was talking about, other than the fact that the name "Sakura" was repeated quite a bit. Honestly, he had stopped paying attention a while ago. Neji was a bit preoccupied with his hands, which seemed to have suddenly developed a mind of their own. They desperately wanted to attach themselves to something, something like…Inuzuka's throat, for instance. He was having a rather difficult time controlling them; it was taking much of his self-discipline and most of his attention. They were being very persuasive. But, he couldn't. That would make Sakura sad, not to mention Hinata and Tenten. No, he couldn't.

Then Neji heard something that abruptly brought him out of his silent argument with his hands; something that came out of Inuzuka's mouth that did not belong there.

"Yeah, she's really something, my Sakura-chan." That was it. Neji and his hands were now in complete agreement: dog-boy was going to die.

He tackled him.

……………………

Sakura was playing with Cocoa when she suddenly saw Akamaru race past her, barking his head off. She tensed, looking around warily. Akamaru wouldn't do that unless there was trouble. The last time he had done that, Neji had been beating the crap out of Naruto. She glanced around quickly, searching for both of them. She spotted Naruto trotting over to her. Now, where was Neji…?

"Do you know what that was all about?" the blond asked, indicating the direction that the dog had taken off.

"No I don't, but I intend to find out," Sakura replied. "Gather up the others, Naruto. I'm going to see what the problem is." Naruto nodded, knowing better than to argue.

……………………

The sight that greeted Sakura's eyes was the last one she wanted to see: Neji strangling Kiba. She saw Akamaru as well, trying to rescue his master. So that was what had agitated the dog. Sakura knew she had to move fast; Kiba's face was turning blue. "Neji-san, stop it!" He wasn't listening. She didn't think he could hear anything. Sakura tried to pry open Neji's hands. "Neji-san!" He was strong, but she hadn't spent years as the Godaime's apprentice for nothing. She broke his hold.

Quickly pulling Neji away, Sakura put her face right in front of his so that he could no longer see Kiba. Still holding his hands as he continued trying to tackle the gasping dog-nin (now being helped by the others, who had also arrived), she said, "Neji, you need to stop! Can you hear me? Calm down!" He seemed to register her face for the first time.

"Sakura-san…" Before Neji could say anything else, a there was a strangled cry behind them. Sakura turned in time to see Kiba get up.

"Bastard, I'll kill you!" He rushed past her and tackled Neji. They fell to the ground, grappling and rolling.

And suddenly, they were no longer alone.

A/N: Wow. It's only after rereading this after ages of not that I've realized just how OOC Neji is. Gah… But oh well, I'm not gonna change him now. You know, as I was writing about Neji arguing with his hands it made me think about Doc Oc in the Spiderman movie. You know, how his claw things talked to him and stuff. It gave me a funny image…sort of. Anywho, ciao.

PS - Muah-ah-ah-ah-ah…Evil cliffie!