Author's Note: I don't really know how Deidara's camera works or how he actually uses it but it doesnt really matter since its not all that important. The curse mark is connected to the neruons in Neji's brain which can trigger or register certain painful experiences. Sakura will explain it all in the next chapter to please just go with the flow and try not to get confused or over analyse it. If you still dot understand it after chapter 12 then let me know and I will do my best to explain it better. Enjoy!

Summary: When dealing with the mystery that is life Sakura finds that it is best to experiment with what you have and look forward to the gifts that lie ahead. NejiXSakura.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, etc…

"That was good Hanabi-chan but this time try not to blow the poor fish up." That was the first thing Neji heard when he entered the room Sakura told him to meet her at.

The room was tucked away in a corner of the medical training building on the top floor. A table stood between two pools with fish swimming in them. Sakura stood behind a shield made of what looked like clear plastic. At least it would have been clear if there wasn't fish remnants sprayed on it.

He wouldn't have recognized his cousin. She was wearing a large green poncho that had a shield to cover her face. She was concentrating solely on the jutsu she was attempting to perform and didn't notice him but Sakura did and so the pink haired woman rushed over to his side.

"Hanabi-chan keep practicing on your concentration. I will be in the other room for while if you need anything. Okay?" A mumble was heard in response.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a small office that simply screamed Sakura. Though small, the room was spotless and the papers that were visible were all in orderly stacks. There was an examination table up against the wall and he took the initiative to sit on it.

"Neji, thank you so much for doing this." She pulled out that familiar scroll with Hyuuga written on the outside. The banner on the edges of the scroll were a light purple. She unraveled the scroll a ways until there was no longer any writing. She drew a dividing line and wrote "Curse mark" in bold.

"Alright Neji, I'm going to start the examination. I'm going to ask you to take off your forehead protector." He reached behind his hair and did as she asked.

"Now I'm going to place my hand on your forehead and insert chakra. Relax."

"Do you need me to activate my Byakugan?" he asked seriously. She shook her head and her pink hair bounced around her face.

"Nope. No free show for you today," she said with a wink.

She pulled a stool up in front of him and moved to sit down. He noted that the stool was extremely close to the table he was seated at and as she moved to sit down it was made even more apparent. The tops of her hips were brushing up against his inner thighs. It took all of his will power to do as she asked and relax.

The cool flow of chakra approached his forehead and quickly burrowed into his system.

"I'm going to stimulate some of the neurons connected to your curse mark. Don't worry I'm just doing a bit of exploring. Tell me if anything makes you uncomfortable."

He was about to ask her why that would make her feel uncomfortable when a dull throbbing sensation filled his system.

"That feels like a hangover." Large green eyes blinked at him.

"Really? Hold on a second…" She reached back behind her to grab the scroll and placed it next to his leg so she could write as she explored.

He could feel the chakra moving around again as the throbbing stopped. Then he felt his mouth go dry. The pasty feeling he was getting was similar to being dehydrated.

"I feel dehydrated." A look of wonder crossed her features. She leaned in closer to him to write on the scroll.

He let out a sigh.

This was going to be a long and uncomfortable few hours.

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He was so BORED!

The room they had him stationed in was getting smaller by the minute and Tobi certainly wasn't making things any easier for him. But there was his one saving grace.

"Deidara-kun? Deidara-kun are you listening to me?" she asked with her hands on her hips and her brown eyes glinting with irritation.

For a second he mused that his saving grace was beautiful and even more so when she was getting angry, but then he realized what he had just said and thought about the consequences of getting her upset.

"I was listening, un." Tenten looked skeptical for a moment and then grinned.

"Good. Now what was I saying? Oh, I remember! Ino flipped out…" Her voice faded into a mummer as he watched her lips move.

She came everyday, sometimes twice a day, to see him. She would usually sit and talk, often bringing food with her, for a good two or three hours. There hasn't been any missions lately and because of that she had loads of spare time.

So far she had done most of the talking and it was because of this that he had learned quite a bit about her.

Her parents ran a weapons shop in town but they were not ninja.

She had a certain fondness for sweets.

She secretly found her partner Ino annoying, more so than anyone else.

She couldn't cook for shit and thus she never tried to and instead always brought him some form of nourishment from a local restaurant.

She liked art but couldn't create anything other than weapons with her hands simply because no one had ever tried to teach her. He thought she would make a rather good painter or sculptor if given the right instruction (by him of course).

Of all the crushes she had in the past one stood out from the rest though she no longer had feelings for him in that way. Hyuuga Neji was the opposite of him in many ways and for a few days that had bothered him. But when she had started calling him Deidara-kun all of those worries flew out the window.

"Anko-sensei was furious. You should have seen her face. It wasn't sadistic like it usually was but this time she really was screaming. Her eyes got buggy and she was inhaling air like a vacuum cleaner. You should have seen it."

And she had a lot of respect for three women; Tsunade, Anko, and Sakura. Why she had respect for the Anko woman he had no idea. As far as he could tell the lady was sadistic and possibly a bit psycho. But as long as Tenten adored her then he would pretend to at least have some respect for her.

"That would have been a funny sight, un," he said with a smile.

They were sitting in very close quarters and he was afraid that he was beginning to stink due to his lack of access to a shower. But so far she hadn't said anything or given any hints to the fact that he stunk. He knew it had to be bothering her because it was bothering him but as long as she didn't say anything he wouldn't bring it up.

Tobi was attempting to see exactly how many times he could hop on one foot before falling over and so Deidara and Tenten had been pushed into the corner farthest from the toilet.

Their hips, thighs, and shoulders were all touching due to the lack of space but neither party seemed to mind. Tenten was leaning casually against his shoulder and playing with the mouths that adorned his hands.

She found them fascinating thought he wasn't sure why. He had only ever seen them as a tool and a weapon, nothing more and nothing less. But regardless he did realize that his hands were unique and an extremely important part of his art making process. She seemed to appreciate that as much if not more than he did.

She looked up at him and the scope on his eye zoomed in and out rather quickly rather like a pupil would when it adjusts to the light.

"What exactly is that Deidara-kun?" she asked pointing to his eye scope, watching carefully as it focused again but this time on her finger.

"That is my camera. It allows me to take photographs and place them in my short term or long term memory, depending on which I choose. It happens to be very useful for when I am trying to judge distances for bombs and such, un."

Tenten nodded and then moved foreword slowly so that she could trace the outline of the metal contraption.

"Does it use chakra?" she asked quietly. They were so close together that she didn't need to be very loud at all.

"No and if it does it is so little that I cant trace it, un." Her face was very close to his now and he found that she smelled like apples.

They were interrupted by Tobi who let out an enthusiastic yelp.

"Tobi is at twenty five thousand hops, Deidara-senpai, Twenty five thousand!" And with that he promptly fell over.

"That's great Tobi. Well, boys I have to go but I will see you tomorrow," she said with a giggle as she opened the door and left.

The masked Akatsuki member turned his head towards Deidara and seemed to grin like an idiot though it was hard to tell due to his face being covered.

"Tobi likes Tenten-san. She is very sweet. Do you think we could convince her to come back to Akatsuki with us?" The naïve question was thought about and then quickly brushed aside.

"No Tobi, I don't think we ever could and for some reason that make me happy."

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This was pure torture.

So far Sakura had stimulated just about every single painful experience his body could muster. After all, the curse mark was meant to bring pain not pleasure.

Whenever something was particularly hurtful she would quickly retreat, apologize, and write down the effects before checking out another neuron.

It was a long but fruitful process. So far she had added at least four feet in notes to what she had already collected. Sakura was breathing in pants due to using her chakra over a span of at least three hours.

She was scribbling something in her now illegible handwriting. At first all of her notes were neat and legible but as the process had dragged out her penmanship had gotten progressively worse until he could barely make out what she had written. Fortunately she seemed to know exactly what was on the page.

"Alright Neji, this is the last one." As soon as the words were out of her mouth a sharp pain filled his chest and electrified every nerve in his body. Two gasps were let out, a shocked one from hers and a pain filled one from him.

"Neji, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it would do that! Neji? Neji!" As much as he wanted to he couldn't answer her. He wanted to tell her he was fine but at the moment everything was not fine.

The sharp pain did not die down and he felt his heart pumping at a dangerous pace.

"Hold on Neji." He felt her chakra invade his system and begin to rectify the shock his body had been forced into. Slowly the pain subsided and his heart began to pump at a normal pace.

She pulled him to her and let his head rest on her shoulder.

"Take deep breaths Neji." He did as he was told and placed his hands on her legs to gain some sort of balance.

Her voice was soothing and full of comfort as she rubbed his back with one hand and ran her fingers through his hair with the other. At the same time it was laced with unshed tears and anger was itching to bubble to the surface.

"How so someone be so cruel? What a horrible thing to do to a child or to anyone for that matter."

He let out a deep sigh and didn't subdue the shudder that ran through his body when she kissed his temple.

"Wretched mark. The person that invented ought to be on the receiving ends of my fists." He felt what he assumed was a tear trail down from his temple to his cheek before it was brushed away by the pale pads of her thumbs.

He pulled back to look into her eyes and there he saw everything she couldn't say lest she burst into a fit of hysterics.

She was sorry, so very sorry for causing him pain. She had been forced by a superior. It was a mission that she didn't know would end up like this. She wanted to find a way to get rid of the curse mark for reasons unknown to him.

She leaned foreword and placed a gentle kiss on his curse mark before kissing his lips in sorrow and apology. The light squeeze he gave her legs was enough response for her.

"Sakura-sensei!, Sakura-sensei, I did it! Come see!!!" Hanabi's voice trailed into the room and Sakura was half torn between ignoring the calls to tend to Neji and going in there to praise her successful student. Thankfully Neji made the decision for her as he led her off of her stool before gracefully descending from his perch on the examination table.

Sure enough when the went into the other room Hanabi was proudly holding a flopping fish in her arms with a big proud grin spread across her face.

It was at this moment that Sakura realized why Iruka loved what he did so much. The pride that swelled in her chest was immense and she wouldn't trade it for the world.

End Comments: Alright, that was the last chapter of pure fluff. The next chapter starts with the conflict and a bit of action. Naruto, Orochimaru, Sasuke, and Itachi show up for the first time and with them comes the action. The real story begins now. I hope you like this and I want to have the next one out by Saturday but don't hold me to that. I have guests over so that is kind of taking up some of my time but I will try to get the next one out as soon as possible for those of you who appreciate my speedy updates. I do so love reviews (hint hint).