It's Summer Vacation! Yay! Now maybe I'll update faster. xD; Ah, anyways, chapter 12 is here! =w= I hope you enjoy it. x.x I don't really have much else to say! ^^;;

Also, if you want to see what Sakura's kimono and Neji's yukata would look like, just go to my profile and I'll have links to the pictures up. :3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


Sakura opened her eyes. What happened...? She stared up at her white ceiling, trying to think of what happened.

Oh yeah... Neji was here, without a shirt on... The pink-haired kunoichi sat right up as she suddenly remembered everything. Wait a minute, why the hell didn't he have a shirt on?

"I see you're awake."

Sakura turned her head and saw Neji standing on the other side of the couch she was laying on. He still had no shirt on, much to Sakura's dismay. Her mouth didn't seem to work for her at the moment as she stared at his perfect toned body.

She nodded and tried to look up to his face, but found that her eyes were still glued to his chest. Sakura managed to say something but sputtered on her words in the process.

"W-why don't you have a shirt on?" Oh great, she stuttered like the idiotic fangirl she used to be.

Neji leaned on the couch and watched her, "It is rather hot out." He looked around her living room even though he had set foot in there a few other times. "It doesn't matter, anyways. I'll just slip on the rest of my yukata when we reach the Hyuuga compound."

His pale blue yukata was draped around his waist, making him look even more like he came from a royal family. On his feet were a simple pair of traditional zori shoes that went along with kimonos or yukatas.

For once his long brown hair was out of it's loose ponytail. His hair was draped across his shoulders and almost went down to his waist. But on his forehead he still kept on his headband.

"Sakura." Neji looked up to the clock that was hung on to the wall. The clock read 7:00, a very bad sign.

"We need to get going. We're going to be late." Neji's frown deepened. He shuffled out of position and hastily went to the door. He waited for Sakura to get up off the couch as she sluggishly stood up.

She was still in a groggy state of mind as she made her way towards him slowly. The Hyuuga eyed her and came to the conclusion that she would just slow them down if she went at the particular speed.

He grabbed her by her waist and by her legs and swung her into his arms, so that he was carrying her bridal style. He agilely went out the door and shut it behind him like always.

Neji darted across the various streets of Konoha with the pink-haired girl secured in his arms. To the villagers it looked as if a flash of blue and lavender with a hint of pink were running around the roads.

Shortly, Neji could see the Hyuuga compound amidst the horizon of the road they were on. They finally arrived there and went to the front step. Neji lifted Sakura down so that she was also standing on her feet.

Neji pulled his yukata back up and slid his arms into each sleeve and closed the folds of the yukata shut. He took dark blue obi and wrapped it around his waste carefully. Showing any part of torso was not very appreciated during one of these feasts.

Her legs faltered a bit as she tried to regain her balance. Damn, I feel dizzy, Sakura thought while her head pounded uncontrollably.

"Are you alright?" Neji rested his hand on her shoulder, offering comfort. He tried to steady her composure as her whole body was quivering.

It occurred to Sakura that not only was she dizzy from fainting just a few minutes ago, but she was also extremely nervous about meeting his whole clan. They were basically an aristocratic family, for Kami's sake! She only came from a middle class shinobi family, not worthy of even being called a clan.

The Haruno's were nothing special. They never had any special achievements or clan jutsu or whatever. They were just the average hard-working shinobi family. The only person left of the Haruno's was Sakura, seeing as how her parents died on a mission a few years back. All 4 of her grandparents also died of old age when she was young.

Her parents were only children, meaning Sakura had no aunts, uncles, nor cousins.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Sakura inhaled and anxiously bit down on her bottom lip. Intimidation impaled her heart like a kunai going through it.

Neji could sense her discomfort from her body language. He found her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, and a cordial smile to go along with it.

She beamed at him and gave his hand a squeeze back, signaling that she was ready to go into the house.

"Before we go in the house, I just want to tell you that you look stunning in that kimono." Neji scratched his neck awkwardly, with a blush tainting his cheeks.

Sakura's cheeks turned crimson as her heart thumped in her chest. The two were currently standing side by side as a draft of air went by, blowing Neji's hair in front of him. Sakura's hair was up in a messy, but still very pretty bun with her bangs framing her face. Two green chopsticks were going through the bun and holding it up.

The pink-haired girl turned the Hyuuga towards her and placed both of her hands on his shoulders. She stood on the tips of her toes and brought her mouth to his cheek. She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek and whispered in his ear.

"Thank you." Her voice sounded so pure and innocent, sending chills down Neji's spine. Sakura recoiled back with her face burning even more.

Neji was speechless. She kissed him herself! He never expected her to do such a thing to him. Is it possible that she may have feelings for him too? He smiled graciously and took hold of her hand again.

Neji slid open the shoji door as he and Sakura advanced into the house. He took his zori off onto the matt that was laid out in front of the door. Sakura followed Neji's example and took off her zori too. They left their tabi on, though.

Laughter was heard from a distance and voices could be discerned from down the hallway. The Hyuuga escorted the pink-haired girl down the hardwood hallway. On both of their sides there was numerous shoji doors that led to other parts of the compound.

The voices were closer now as they reached another shoji door, but this one was at least 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide, and engraved with gold silk.

The Hyuuga slid open the sliding shoji door and the two of them peered inside the room. Everyone in the room was sitting at a giant dining table that was covered with a table cloth. The cloth glinted with a golden sparkle and was embroidered with patterns of golden dragons among lotus flowers.

The room went quiet as everyone looked up at the two. Their attention was focused on the pink-haired girl mostly, though. Some of the young, single Hyuuga men had their mouths wide open at the sight of Sakura. Neji distinguished the looks of lust they were giving off, making him glare at them. They instantly looked away and adverted their eyes somewhere else.

"Ah, welcome, Neji and Sakura." Hiashi sat at the very end of the left side of the table because he was the head of the clan. Next to him were two open seats, which were meant for Neji and Sakura to sit at.

Hiashi stood in between the two open seats, and pulled the chairs out. "Come sit, you two. We've been expecting you." He sat back down in his seat and waited for them to take their seats.

Neji and Sakura exchanged glances before sitting down. Neji sat by Hiashi, knowing that Sakura would be uncomfortable if she sat next to him.

"You two are late! That is unacceptable!" Elder Hatori scolded from his seat. He sat about 3 seats down from Hiashi.

Oh god, not this lunatic elder again... Neji covered his face with his hand in an embarrassed manner, earning a curious stare from Sakura.

"Hatori, calm down," Hiashi said. "They are only a few minutes late. It isn't a big concern." He stared at Hatori, making the elder be quiet, but he continued to glare at Neji.

The room stayed silent. Sakura looked around anxiously. She avoided any eye contact with the clan members and instead focused on the interior design of the room. The walls had calligraphy of many Japanese characters which were all an ancient proverb of some sort.

Hanging in the very center of the room was the Hyuuga clan symbol. It was the first thing one would normally see when they walked into the room, but it wasn't in Sakura's case.

The pink-haired kunoichi looked up at the ceiling and saw that a chandelier was dangling from it. It was golden, and attached to it were lights made out of diamonds. The ceiling was also made of golden architecture. The Hyuuga's seemed to like gold a lot.

Sakura was just dazzled by how royal the place looked. She knew that they were a noble family, but she wasn't aware that they actually had money.

She looked back down and surveyed the members and briefly looked at each of their faces. Her eyes soon fell onto a very familiar face that she hadn't noticed before.

Hinata was sitting next to Hiashi on the left side. She was clad in a navy blue kimono with, once again, golden flowers as a pattern.

On the left side of Hinata, which Sakura thought but wasn't quite sure, was her sister, Hanabi.

Hinata smiled demurely at Sakura and twiddled her thumbs together in her hands. Sakura smiled back and continued to look around at the other members.

Hiashi seemed to grow weary of the never-ending silence that enveloped the room, for he grabbed one of the spoons near him and tapped it against his empty glass.

"Attention!" His voice rumbled out deeply. The clan members looked at him and awaited for him to say something. He stood up and looked down upon all of them.

Once Hiashi knew that he had everyone's undivided attention, he began to speak once more. "We have assembled here today to celebrate the marriage of one of our own clan members, Neji Hyuuga, and to Sakura Haruno."

Hiashi paused to make sure everyone was paying attention. "For the first time in history, someone possesses the Byakugan without being born with it. This person is Sakura Haruno." Hiashi gestured to the pink-haired girl, initiating them all to stare at her more.

"I know we are all aware of what happened, but I still would like to enlighten you all with the story." There was another pause. "Our dear Akira, was killed near the borders of our village, Konoha. Sakura was also hurt, you see. Hurt so bad that she went blind. Hokage-sama asked me if she could transplant Akira's eyes into Sakura for an exchange. If Sakura received the eyes of Hyuuga, she must become a Hyuuga. I thought it was best to pick Neji out for this, seeing as how he was already acquainted with her, so it would be less awkward between the two. She accepted, and now here we are with the two."

Hiashi scanned the two of them before talking once more. "Neji Hyuuga, and soon to be Sakura Hyuuga, shall be married soon. I have not set an exact wedding date because I want her to learn most of our clan jutsu first. She has mastered a few of them so far, but I want her to know a few more of our jutsus."

Hiashi concluded his long speech with a bow to Sakura and Neji, before sitting back down. Everyone clapped at his speech and smiled approvingly at the two of them. Sakura blushed and looked down while Neji remained impassive.

They're not as bad as they seem, Sakura couldn't help but think.

Once everyone calmed down, Hiashi clapped his hands and put his hands on his eating utensils. The shoji door slid open as people with food trays came in. On the trays were all sorts of dishes and delicacies. They set the trays in the middle of the dining table.

Among the seafood dishes were Yakizakana (grilled fish), Sashimi (raw seafood), just plain sushi, and many other variants of it.

The rice dishes consisted of Onigiri (rice balls), Domburi (a cooked bowl of rice), Kare Raisu (cooked rice with curry sauce), and Chazuke (cooked rice with green tea ingredients).

Then the noodle foods came out. Soba, Udon, Somen, Yakisoba, and of course, Ramen.

Yakitori (grilled chicken on skewers), Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlets), Nikujaga (meat and potatoes), is what the meat options were. There was also miso soup to eat.

Then the desserts were brought in; Kakigori (shaved ice), Uiro (steamed sweet rice cake), Oshiruko (red bean soup with a rice cake), Anmitsu (cubes of jelly made out of seaweed), and many kinds of ice cream.

Sakura's mouth watered as she looked at all the food options she had. Of course dessert was to be eaten last, so she got some miso soup, Yakizakana, and Kare Raisu.

Everyone started to eat right away while talking to one another. The chatter grew louder with each minute. Many of the clan members were talking about foreign affairs with the other countries, such as water country.

Soon, 2 hours had passed by. A very boring 2 hours for Neji. Most of the conversations there revolved around politics and what not.

Neji sighed and listened to his uncle talk about politics with one of the other members. This is so boring, Neji thought. He glanced over to Sakura and saw that she was talking to his grandmother, Sayuri. A smile grazed his lips for a moment before a voice caught his attention.

"Father, I'm going outside for a moment." Neji looked to the left and saw Hinata standing up, looking rather timid.

Hiashi stopped his conversation with the person next to Hanabi and eyed her. "'What for?"

"I-i just need some fresh air.. I feel a little light-headed," Hinata stammered out and looked down at her feet. Her long, dark-blue hair was in it's usual style of being let down. It went along well with her kimono.

"Very well, but hurry back, Hinata." He dismissed her and watched her walk out of the room. Hiashi resumed talking with the other clan member as soon as she had left.

Neji watched the whole exchange between them, which piqued his interest. Hinata hadn't looked very well at all. Her face was paler than usual, but her cheeks were red, though blushing was very common for her.

He hoped she felt well. She was his cousin, so he felt very protective of her. He cared for her, which was obviously seen when he tried to kill a certain blonde haired blue eyed shinobi.

He stared out the window that was on the other side of the room and dining table. The moon had already come out and the sky had no clouds at all. It was open, making a light breeze come through once in a while.

The chatting quieted down a bit, enough for Neji to hear an obtrusive scream coming through the window. It sounded alarmingly similar to Hinata's.

It can't be... Another scream was heard. Shit! It's Hinata!

Neji grabbed his uncle by the sleeve so that Hiashi turned his attention to him.

"Uncle! Something's wrong with Hinata! I hear her screams coming from outside!" Everyone stopped talking and looked at the two. Panic and disbelief was written on each of their faces.

Another blood curdling scream was heard from outside. Then, it went silent.


Oh lordy, poor Hinata! D: Something has happened to her! :c Don't worry, I'm not going to kill her off! She will be hurt though.

I hope you all liked that chapter! It took me a while to write! . I think it turned out nicely though. :3

Hehe, you'll all find out what happened in the next chapter! Then we will finally be at the main conflict in the story!~

Once again, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please r&r. :D