So, here's our New-year mass update!

Also...

NEW INFO STORY AT THE BOTTOM!

Chapter TWENTY

Neji wakes up to the sound of Sakura's door sliding open. He sits up groggily and activates his Byakugan and notes that his sister is heading for the baths.

It is still early but he cannot fall asleep again. He puts his futon away and begins preparing for the day.

He senses rather than hears Sakura returning after a while and he takes this as his cue to leave his room. He places his pouch on the ground by the door, so he can easily grab it, then leaves for his sisters room..

"Sakura?"

"Please come in." Neji reaches for the door and enters to the sight of Sakura packing her own things for the day with a towel hanging around her neck.

"You're early today." He says. He sits down by the door.

"I wanted to wash up. I haven't done so yesterday." Sakura snatches a fresh pack of kunai.

"I see." Neji makes a gesture with his hand and Sakura stops. "Come here."

Sakura blinks in confusion but she obeys without protest. She puts down the things in her arms and hurries over. "Yes?"

Neji takes Sakura's wrist and tugs her onto the floor. He adjusts them so that Sakura is sitting between his legs with her back to his chest and takes the towel from her. "If you don't dry your hair, you'll get sick."

Sakura cuts off the protest coming out of her mouth after a while and simply sits there. Neji gently runs the towel through her hair for a while before he leans in, burying his face in her hair and letting out a soft chuckle. The pinkette huffs but does not move away.

Neji remembers something he had been meaning to say. "I may have a mission coming up." He pauses to gauge Sakura's reaction but she does not do anything, so he pushes on. "I do not know when exactly it is but it will be outside the village. Gai-sensei thought to give us a early notification, so I will say next week at earliest. I believe we will be getting more information today."

He feels Sakura tense in his grasp and tightens his hold. "This will be our first time going beyond village walls so I suspect it will be a C-rank at most." He flinches when Sakura's breath catches.

"Okay." Sakura does not sound okay at all and Neji leans in even closer, whispering apologies. As a Konoha shinobi, there is nothing he can really do but his words seem to help Sakura relax and soon, she is leaning on him, breathing back to normal.

"I will return as soon as possible." He promises.

"Take your time." Sakura whispers. "Just come back safe."

Neji hums. "Of course."

They head their separate ways soon after. Sakura arrives at the training grounds half an hour prior to the allocated time and decides to use this time to meditate. She settles into a lotus position and closes her eyes.

Things have been hectic for the past few days and Sakura wants some time to think things through. She doubts her teammates will be here before six and didn't even begin to hope that Kakashi would be anywhere near on time. She sighs, takes a deep breath, and lets her thoughts wander.

There are several ways she can act after yesterday. She can pretend nothing happened and hope her teammates had enough tact to think like that too or, she can bring it up now and reassure them with some lie that it woudl not get in the way of he duties and since she is a coward, she is picking the former option.

She just has to act like nothing happened and that nothing has fazed her. As long as she leaves no gaps for people to prod at, nothing will waver her.

She senses Naruto and Sasuke approaching and at this sudden interruption to her previous line of thought, a certain someone comes to mind.

While they have never interacted and she has only caught a distant glimpse of his a few times, Uchiha Itachi is someone she has felt an instant pull to. It was nothing emotional and certainly nothing physical. Sakura knows that before, she hadn't been able to put a name to what she feels towards him, but she now knows what it is and it is something more dark and twisted than a simple attraction.

She hates the man.

He may be the prodigy of the generation and he may be skilled and charismatic and be able to pull people to his side with a simple blink, but Sakura hates him.

Itachi has the skill to back up his position as heir within his clan. Or, though Sakura doesn't really think so and at the same time absolutely refuses to believe this, perhaps it is his rank that backs up his skills.

She finds it unfair that he is gifted with what other fight their entire lives to try and achieve. He is born with both feet firmly on the ground while Sakura and Neji had started off missing their limbs and they are still fighting to stand.

Sakura has nothing personal against him and knows that she is being unfair but she is always the one on the receiving end of 'unfair', so she thinks she is justified to at least think like this.

If fate had decided to be just a little kind and she and her brother had been born into the main family of the Hyuuga clan, Sakura is certain that Neji would have been more than capable of filing in the seemingly impossible footsteps of expectation Itachi had left behind.

If rank truly came to those with skills and prosperity followed those to recognized their potential, neither of them would be chained down to the ground as they were.

Naruto and Sasuke meet up by the Hokage tower before heading of to the training grounds together. Both Minato and Obito have tried to subtly warm them about Kakashi's habits but the two have decided to go on time.

"What do you think yesterday was about?" Naruto asks. "You know, Sakura-chan and her...freak out."

Sasuke recalls what his brother had said to him a few days ago. "Every clan has its darkness." He says slowly. "The Hyuuga's is much more deeper and darker than anyone thinks." Naruto shoots him a weird glance and he shrugs. "Nii-san said."

"Hm." Naruto seems to roll this around in his head for a while before he grins. "Whatever. I doubt she would want us to bring it up." He links his arms behind his head. "Five hundred ryo says Sakura-chan is already there." He says.

Sasuke is mentally impressed. With the brash way Naruto acts it is hard to believe that he has picked up something like that. "No deal." Sasuke says immediately. "I bet the same."

Naruto huffs but does not complain.

True to their thoughts, the Hyuuga is already at the training grounds. From what they can see, she has her eyes closed and she is sparing with an opponent only she can see.

"She looks like she is dancing." Naruto mutters.

"That's the general air Hyuuga give off." Sasuke says. "Nii-san says that the Hyuuga are masters of close range fights. A skilled user of their Taijutsu style can disable to the point of incapacitation with even the slightest brush with the tip of their fingers."

"That's scary." Naruto says.

Sasuke hums.

As if on cue, Sakura comes to a smooth stop and turns to look at them. She bows in greeting, like she had known they were there from the moment they had arrived. Naruto waves brightly and quickly makes his way down the stairs, Sasuke following at a more composed pace a few steps behind.

"You're so early, Sakura-chan." Naruto says. He bounds over to her and leans in until the girl is obviously uncomfortable.

Sasuke sighs and pulls the blond back by his collar. "Idiot." He sighs.

"Good morning, Naruto-san, Sasuke-san." Sakura says. The three of them stand there in silence for a few seconds before Naruto forcefully breaks it.

"Right, now that we're all here, let's go warm up." He pointedly glances at Sasuke, like he expects the Uchiha to back him up.

Sasuke simply shrugs. "You in?" He asks, turning to Sakura,

The pinkette nods.

"Great." Naruto grins. "Laps first, right?"

Sakura nods and Sasuke remembers the first time they had warmed up like this, just before they had turned against each other. Of course, hie is sure all of them had had second thoughts but that hadn't changed their decision.

As Sakura falls in step behind them Sasuke hopes that they can start over, and with this thought in mind, they begin running.

Hanakotoba:

Linden Arrowwood:

Don't ignore me/Combination/Future

So, chapter twenty here~

Darque; Sakura seems a little bitter, doesn't she?

Raven: Just keep in mind she doesn't know whatever clan/pressure problems Itachi is going through.

Darque I know that bruh. I wrote this.

Raven: Uh...right...Okay?

Darque: Mmhmm. Anyways, I'm hungry.

Raven: You always are, sora mea.

Darque: O.o...You finished your Black Lagoon thing?

Raven: I did. So you recognize it? Can I call you that from now on?

Darque:...I wonder how it'll last. Also, of course I know it. I haven't watched it, but I heard incest and scanned over the twin scenes.

Raven: You tend to know everything about every single anime series out there, even if you've never watched it.

Darque: I need to research to be able to write a fanfic about it.

Raven: I see. Well then, sora mea, have nice year.

Darque: Thank you, fratele meu, you too.

Raven:...This feels weird.

Darque: It certainly does.

NEW STORY:

Those in Between (Sakura x Sasuke x Itachi) ((If there is a pairing)) :

Sakura, a survived experiment, has skin that releases venom. To hide her from ROOT, she is taken in by Jiraiya and now acts as messenger for him and his spies. On a mission to find Tsunade Sakura meets Sasuke-the brother of a particular spy who pets her hair and buys her dango. Born to obey, she must take initiative for the first time in her life to save the people she cares for.

Happy New Year~

(If it's a little early, re-read later :) If it's late, here's a belated New year greeting.)

We hope you all have had a good 2016 and will have a bright year ahead.

We thanks you for your continuous support and we hope you continue to read and review our stories.

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