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Chapter THIRTY SIX

Her brother does not say anything to her and Sakura finds that she is quite alright with that.

She knows she had acted inappropriately and she knows that Neji knows this. He knows that she recognizes that she should not have reacted the way she had. He understands that while she regrets it, she does not think she was wrong with her opinion.

Not to mention, it is as though their teams are trying to give them as much time as possible. Sakura activates her Byakugan several times and sees the Konoha shinobi sitting around the dining table despite dinner having been over ages ago. She spies Naruto's chakra hovering around Inari's outside the house.

"We will be accompanying Tazuna-san to the bridge with the rest of us who had managed to climb to the top of the tree," Neji says after a long while.

Sakura buries her face in her knees and takes a deep breath. "Okay."

Neji hesitates as he is slowly getting to his feet. He grabs a blanket and moves to sit beside her. Sakura does not react or complain when he wraps it around both their shoulders. "Sleeping like this can hurt your back," He says gently.

Sakura laughs a little at this and she collapses back onto the futon set up by the window. Neji, wrapped up in the blanket with her, is dragged along with a sound of protest.

"I love you nii-sama," she finds herself saying before she can stop herself.

Neji is silent for just a moment before a hand snakes up towards her and affectionately ruffles her hair. "I know," he says. "Me too."

They must have just fallen asleep like that because Neji wakes up to Tenten shaking his shoulder. He slowly sits up and sees that Sakura's eyes are open as well.

"It's breakfast," Tenten tells them. "I thought you'd want to know."

Neji whips his head around to look out the window, eyes momentarily widening when he notices that the sun is already high up in the sky.

He hadn't overslept since before his Academy days.

"Yes," he says. "Thank you."

Tenten nods and turns away.

Neji rolls his shoulders and looks around. Both the Jounin instructors are already out of the room, though he can see the Uchiha preparing his equipment for the day. The Uzumaki looks still half asleep and Tenten is now attempting to wake Lee.

"Good morning, nii-sama." From beside him, Sakura yawns.

"Good morning." Neji untangles himself from the blankets and stands up. "I will see you at breakfast?"

Sakura gets to her feet as well and nods.

The two of them had fallen asleep in their shinobi attire and Neji winces when he realizes that it must have been dirty, and this is not his own house. He straightens his appearance and checks his own weapons before heads towards the dining table. He still finds himself one of the first, and Sakura joins him moments later. By the time the last of them, Naruto, stumbles into the room, he is wide awake and is beginning to feel the aftereffects of sleeping in an awkward position for such a long period of time.

They exchange greetings and Neji is slightly surprised when none of them, not even Sakura's seemingly annoying teammates and Lee, ask them questions regarding the previous night. Nor do they say anything about him and Sakura sleeping together. Even Inari, who had been unable to stop himself from sending them glares just the previous night, merely continues to eat without a word.

Kakashi and Gai most probably understand the situation within the Hyuga clan, and while they do not know too much, they know enough to know that they should not question it. His teammates already understand his relationship with his sister and they too, probably know not to ask.

He shoots his sister a look from the corner of his eyes. Sakura is acting like nothing had happened and it appears as though her teammates are doing just the same.

Had something happened in the past that had warned the two of them away?

Nonetheless, Neji is relieved that he doesn't have to explain himself to anyone.

The rest of breakfast pass without much commotion. Neji and Sakura accompany Tazuna to the bridge and help out where they can. While initially reluctant to allow children to help, the bridge builders warm up to them soon enough, especially when their eyes are revealed to be great assets. Neji finds he does not particularly mind the almost clingy praises they are showered with. In the evening, they return sweaty but feeling surprisingly refreshed, and Neji almost forgets about the previous night.

Almost.

This arrangement continues for a couple of days. Sakura finds herself enjoying the company of the bridge builders. She can see that they too are fighters. Perhaps not in the way she is, but they are fighters all the same.

When they are not accompanying Tazuna, Kakashi continues their training. Of course, it is not anything too difficult, and he builds upon their tree walking exercise.

Sakura feels as though this is all some sort of ploy to steer their minds of what exactly they are preparing for.

That it is in that moment when he strikes.

The moment she sees the mist in the distance, she knows that Zabuza is there. Her Byakugan flares to life and she sees two figures standing there. Around there is a pile of corpses.

She stiffens, just for a moment, because she remembers how welcoming they had been, and how even she had laughed at one or two of their jokes. She allows herself a moment to grieve.

They were fighters, but not in the way she was, and it clearly hadn't been enough.

Then she kills her emotions.

She is a shinobi, and she knows better than most how emotional bonds are almost never enough to protect lives.

When Zabuza and his accomplice reveal themselves from the mist, she drops into a stance. Beside her, she feels Neji do the same. When she dashes forward to challenge the Hunter-nin, he is right there beside her.

Hanakotoba:

Cat's Paw:

Always thinking of you / Never forget

Of Team Seven: At Hogwarts:

In which ANBU Team Seven are overjoyed at being given a mission after the huge destruction they had caused in their previous make the Hokage demote them (again), only for them to find out they are now a part of the 'evil' side. Naruto does not even remember the mission, Sakura is surprisingly into it, and Sasuke just wants to drop the job and go home.

(It's not a rewrite of our first Harry Potter x Naruto story, sorry, but please do check this one out.)

Update, my friends~

Darque: I'm looking forward to the Genin Exam part.

Raven: Oh?

Darque: I won't spoil, but stuff happens.

Raven: No way O.O

Darque: Is that sarcasm?

Raven: :)

Read and Review~