Chapter 10

Sakura, Ino and Hinata were sitting on Sakuras bed. It was the third day of Sakuras 'detention' and the girls had met up to discuss the current situation.

"We have been cleaning the streets for three days and I still didn't get the chance to talk to Neji!", Sakura complained. "I mean, three days! We're both assigned for the same task but he always keeps at least 10 meters away from me. It's awful! And I tell you, I'm starting to hate snow. I swear, I even dream of snowhills at night. Two weeks…"

"And you deserve every second of it," Ino interrupted her. "Serves you right! You could have been killed out there."

"Ino, I apologized at least a thousand times! So please stop reminding me."

Hinata nodded. "You should give it a rest, Ino-kun." She turned to Sakura. "I'm sure, Neji-niisan won't be angry at you forever."

Sakura buried her face in her hands. "But this is emotional torture! There is so much we have to talk about! I almost had sex with Neji after that party, then I choose Sasuke over him, he saves my life, we wake up in the same bed naked… could this relationship be any more complicated?"

With a deep sigh, Ino muttered: "Yeah, and who's fault is that? You could be together with him if you hadn't…"

"Ino!" Sakura rubbed her temples. "Please, don't say it. I feel bad enough about this already."

***

Sakura was desperate. Five days and Neji still didn't talk to her. It wasn't like he was completely ignoring her. He would greet her with a nod or a quick "Hi" in the morning, but nothing more. He commented her attempts to start a conversation with a shrug, or an impatient "Hn". It was bad, working side by side with the man she was in love with and yet not being able to engage a normal conversation.

Today she decided to give it another try. "Neji-kun? W-would you like to come over for lunch today? I could cook your favourite meal if you like."

He stopped shovelling snow for a moment to look at her. He opened his mouth to answer but before he could say something, something came flying and hit Sakura directly in the face. With a frustrated scream she wiped the snow out of her face and searched for the 'attacker'.

"Hahaha, got ya!" Ino laughed. She and Naruto were standing not far from the two grounded shinobi. Ino had another snowball in her hand and when Sakura glared at her, she threw it at her friend.

Sakura ducked away under the snowball and grabbed a fistfull of snow. "Just you wait, Ino-pig-chan!!!!", she yelled while she formed a snowball. She aimed for Ino, but the snowball hit Naruto. He made a face and the inevitable happened: Sakura threw away her shovel and a snowball fight between the three started.

Neji was the only one who stood aside, watching them throw snow at each other and running after each other. From time to time a misguided missile flew towards him, but he effortlessly dodged them all.

It had been a while since Sakura had had that much fun. It was great to tease Naruto who was a little afraid to hurt her and it made her proud when she managed to hit Ino in the face with a snowball. She enjoyed their fun in the snow and for a moment she forgot about Neji, who looked almost forlorn.

The last snowball was thrown by her and it hit Naruto in the back of his head. He screamed like a girl when the cold snow fell into his jacket. "Sakura!!!", he yelled. "I'm going to get you for this!"

Sakura shrieked and ran away, feigning fear of his revenge. She didn't come very far before a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and Naruto yelled: "I caught you! Hahaha!"

She wiggled in his grip but he didn't let go. Instead her began to tickle her and Sakura was really ticklish. Her hysterical laughter echoed through the street and Naruto didn't let her go until she stammered a helpless: "I give up!"

Sakura fell into the snow, gasping for air. Naruto was standing above her with a huge grin of victory on his face. When she had regained her composure, he offered her a hand. She took it and he pulled her onto her feet.

***

Neji watched as the three had fun in the snow. Every now and then a snowball would come flying at him but he had no problem dodging them. At this moment, he hated Naruto and Ino. Sakura had just attempted to start a conversation, and although he hated to admit it, he longed to talk to her. It was almost unbearable working with her in this silence. But so far he had not found the courage to speak. Tsunade had grounded him like a misbehaved child in front of Sakura's eyes. It was so humiliating he thought he could never look straight into her eyes again.

But he missed her. That day, on christmas eve, when she had given him that present with no fear of his reaction, he had fallen for her. And although she had injured his pride greatly when she had chosen Sasuke over him, he still couldn't forget about her. A part of him wanted to forgive her, and be with her.

After receiving her answer from Itachi, she had changed. Maybe it was true, maybe she had given up on Sasuke. Neji inwardly cursed his damned pride that kept him from accepting his feelings. But today, he would have accepted her offer to have lunch with her. Just to be close to her. Damn that noisy Naruto and damn that bitch Ino.

He watched as Naruto chased after Sakura and embraced her from behind. She was laughing, she looked so happy. She never was this cheerful when she was with me, he thought with remorse. Naruto started to tickle her and she laughed even harder. Nejis brows furrowed as jealousy overwhelmed him. He wanted to kill Naruto this instant. He wanted to go over there and punch Naruto in the face, real hard. And then show everyone that Sakura belonged to him. His fists clenched.

"I give up! Naruto, I give up, stop it!", Sakura shrieked and fell into the snow exhaustedly. She was so beautiful with her flushed cheeks and that wonderful smile… Neji couldn't take it any longer. He wanted her to smile for him only. He turned around and left. He didn't care if Tsunade was going to rip him into pieces for that, he just couldn't take it any more.

***

Sakura took a look around and her smile faded when she realized that Neji was gone. "Ino…", she muttered. "Where is Neji-kun?"

Her friend shrugged. "He left when Naruto started to tickle you. He didn't look so very happy."

Sakura bit her lower lip. "Shit."

Only Naruto was completely oblivious. "Why? What's the problem?"

"Nothing. You just made Neji jealous," Ino explained.

"Neji? Jealous? Of who?"

The girls completely ignored him. "He wasn't jealous. I guess he was just angry because I didn't do my work," Sakura assumed.

Ino shook her head. "Believe me, he was jealous. You should have seen the look on his face. Neji still likes you, Sakura. I have no doubt about that."

With a sigh, Sakura picked up her shovel. "But I do."

Ino sighed too. "I've had enough of this. Someone has to do something, and I guess that someone will be me." With a wicked laugh that sent shivers down Sakura's spine, Ino walked away, undoubtedly plotting evil things.

***

Although Neji still ignored Sakura, their days of detention were eventually over and things returned more or less back to normal. Sakura decided to leave Neji alone and it took forever to convince Ino not to interfere.

Every once in a while she would meet Neji when she visited Hinata at home and he kept ignoring her. Sometimes he would grace her with a brief nod of his head or a simple greeting, but he kept his cool act around her. She could tell that it was nothing but his pride that kept him from talking to her, but there was nothing she could do. It was frustrating and it hurt to see him. But she left him alone. After all it was her own fault that he was angry at her.

Days passed and she lost hope that he would ever open up to her again.

...tbc...