Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…and an unknown factor…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

Haru…

Thanks to Hao'sAnjul for offering and I very much appreciate it! So I'll go do that if I ever do run out of ideas which are kinda…quite often so yea! Expect an email from me in a few days time neh! And also thanks to Kurai for a great idea! Read on!

"Ok…Gaara, you take the west side of the village…Haru, take the south side, Sasuke can take the east side and I'll take the north side. Sakura will take the center." Neji spoke as he pointed to each of their positions on the map of the village.

"We will communicate through these. Gaara will be Gamma and Haru will be Theta. Sasuke will be Sigma and I'll be Alpha. Sakura is Delta while all of us as a group will be Omega…" Speaking again as he handed out the ear pieces.

"Any questions?" Neji looked up at each of them and Haru raised his hand.

"Yea…Why are you always the leader?" he smiled at him as they sweat-dropped.

"Right…let's move out then…"

"What about my question!"

"Delta to Omega…reporting in on position…nothing out of the ordinary so far…over…" she heard a buzz from the other side.

"Theta to Omega…nothing interesting out here…over…" she could hear him yawn on the other side.

"Sigma to Omega…nothing to report…over…" his voice sounded bored.

"Gamma to Omega…nothing to account for…over…" he sounded indifferent.

"Alpha to Omega…a possible Sound enemy spotted…moving in for closer examination…over…"

Neji moved along the crowd of the village, keeping an eye on the suspect. He seemed suspicious enough to make someone think he was involved in prohibited issues. He glanced around a lot, always looking to see if anybody followed him, always checking the alleys or streets for any unwanted company. But this person didn't know he was being followed by the Byakugan.

"Alpha to Omega…this person seems suspicious…I will continue to follow him unless otherwise…over…"

Neji looked through the building and spotted his target, he was still glancing around nervously and entered another building of some sort. It was in an alley covered by a few bins here and there. It was dark and hard to find. Using his Byakugan again, he took a glimpse behind a door and gasped as he realized what he just found.

Sakura made another yawn, it was the fifth one in five minutes already. She sat down at the edge of the fountain in the center of the village. Supposedly the heart of the village since it's the only pretty thing around the whole place, nothing but sand and dust. But it was thankful that it wasn't windy today. She didn't want to have a mouth full of sand or to wear her coat on such a hot day. The heat, she could handle at least a little.

"Alpha to Omega…I've found something and it's not good…" she heard Neji's voice from the other side and then Gaara's.

"Gamma to Alpha...notify us your position so we can meet you there…"

"Alpha to Gamma…negative…I just want Delta to come…two is enough…"

'Me? Why me!' she started to panic but replied with a firm voice, but inwardly screaming her head off.

"Delta to Alpha…inform me of your position…over…" she stood up from her seat and looked around the crowd.

"Alpha to Delta, I'm in the dark alley way north east of your position. I'll give you five minutes to get here or I'll move in without you…over…"

"Roger that, coming your way now."

She dashed through the streets looking for the alley way that Neji spoke of, but almost all of them were identical as well as dark so she tried to sense his chakra instead.

"Alpha to Delta…your time is up, I'm going in…" she heard his voice on the other side and she panicked

"WAIT! I'm almost there." She skidded to a stop at a shadowy pass where she felt his chakra the strongest.

"I'm here…" she panted out.

"Good…I was about to go in without you…" he smirked at her.

"You totally made me rush for nothing!" she breathed heavily.

"No, I made you rush because our targets are about to move off…" he looked blankly at her.

"Fine, let's go…" Sakura moved up to the door beside Neji. He used his Byakugan to check inside for any signs of people and seeing none he made a curt nod to Sakura, he slowly opened the door and walked right through, she followed closely behind.

Down on of the corridors, they could hear voices from behind one of the doors, but they soon turned into hushed whispers. Sakura leaned closer to hear the voices better while Neji used his blood limit ability.

"Are you sure it's safe in here, I mean, we're right in the middle of the village for goodness sake. What if somebody finds us?" one of the men whispered harshly to their leader.

"I highly doubt that…their village would be the last place they would ever look in…" he said with a cocky tone.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you…" they abruptly turned to see who intruded their meeting as Neji stepped into the room from the shadows and Sakura followed behind him.

"Ichuji-Sama! What are we gonna do!" one of his men panicked.

"Shut up and dispose of them, they're gonna be a nuisance to our plans if anybody else finds out." He gestured to a group of his supporters to attack them.

They dug around their pouches for a kunai or shuriken and threw it at Neji quite clumsily who was able to dodge them with much ease. Another group came forward to Sakura and made a move to slash her with their kunai but she jumped away before they got too close to her. When she was far enough from them, she performed a few hand seals and took a deep breath.

'Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!' she shouted out in her head and blew out jets of fire at her opponents, directly hitting them square in the face but only to drop on the floor as sand.

"Suna Bunshin no Jutsu?" she spoke to herself and she suddenly felt another presence behind her. She turned to see a kunai come at her and ducked just in time. Collecting chakra at her feet, she dashed forward to the enemy with a kunai in hand, he brought up his own kunai but she was too fast for him so she pierced his abdomen. He groaned and fell to the floor with a thud.

Sensing an attack from behind, she summoned up the sand on the floor to protect her. Almost instantly, the followers of Ichuji panicked at the sight of the sand protecting her.

"Ichji-Sama! Gaara's here! What are we gonna do!" one of the men shouted out with a terrified voice.

'They're afraid of Gaara?' she saw this as an opportunity to take control of the fight and summoned up the sand to attack them while they were still distracted. The sand rushed towards them and pushed them to the ground. Ichuji sensed something different.

"It's not Gaara you idiots! It's just the girl!" he shouted as he pointed at Sakura. The group that was in charge of killing Sakura became very frustrated with her.

"We won't let you getaway with that stupid trick of yours!" they covered up their fear with false bravado and ran towards while throwing shurikens at her, which was absorbed by the sand as it came to protect her.

They couldn't help but flinch when they saw how the sand reacted, but still made an effort to get rid of her quickly.

"You guys are pathetic! Get rid of them quickly before they call for back-ups you idiots!" Ichuji shouted out at his men, growing more and more irritated with the way they fought. Just at that moment, he heard someone shouted at nothing and turned to see Neji smirking at him having disposed of the group in charge of getting rid of him, as he talked into his ear piece, telling the people on the other side where they were.

"NO!"

"Alpha to Omega! We're in a dark alley in the north east sector! Sense out our chakra and get here now!"

Hearing that, they rushed into the direction Neji gave them and tried to sense their chakra as well. Within minutes, they made it to the destination and barged through the doors and down the corridors. When they got their, Sakura was still busy with her own group but Neji was standing there watching the other intently.

"Damn it…" Ichuji cursed himself silently.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" they heard Sakura shout out and two of the men attacking her fell to the group with a thud.

"One more to go…" she panted out and was about to stab the last one when sand enveloped him and crush him, sending drops of his blood everywhere and some landed on Sakura as well. She turned and saw Gaara and smiled even though she was partly covered in blood. But then her smile disappeared when she realized it was him who just kill her last opponent.

"Excuse me but that guy was mine! And now you got me all over in blood! Yuck! No doing that again!" she pouted at him and placed her hands on her hips. She looked over to Neji who was busy with Ichuji.

"…no choice…" Ichuji whispered to himself.

"I've got a bunch of useless ninjas…no matter…we'll meet again next time…" Ichuji performed a couple of hand seals and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey! We just totally missed him!" Haru spoke up.

"It doesn't matter…they left some information behind…" Neji addressed to a table of scrolls and maps.

"I see…" Sasuke stepped forward to the table unaware that Gaara was wiping off some blood from Sakura's face.

"This is sooo disgusting…I got some strangers blood on my face and clothes! This sucks…" she pouted her lips in disgust.

"Sorry…" Gaara smiled gently at her and she smiled back.

'Did he just smile? And not maniacally too?' Sasuke thought to himself as Neji moved up to the desk as well.

"We should report this to Kazekage-Sama…this could prove helpful to us…" Neji said as he picked up a scroll and scanned through it.

"It seems like they were planning to attack in waves…at least ten waves to weaken sand defense and then 5 waves to go offence…" Neji picked up another scroll.

"Attack is in…three months…" he scowled as he lowered the scroll.

"Come on…let's go…" Neji spoke as he picked up some scrolls. While Sasuke and Haru did the same.

"I see…thank you for telling me…I shall inform the available ninjas about this and also Hokage-Sama…" he placed the scroll on the table and looked up at Neji.

"…" he bowed in respect and walked out of the door, with the others following behind them.

"So…I'm guessing we have to stay longer than we expected right?" Sakura asked Neji.

"Most likely…we have to stay until we are not needed anymore or until our objective is reached…" Neji let out a small sigh and walked off to their apartment.

"Let's go get something to eat after we clean up neh?" she smiled hoping to maybe make them slightly happier.

"I suppose we could do that…" Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pocket and followed Neji.

"I bet you would want to use the shower first?" Haru smiled at her.

"Like hell yea!" she laughed and Haru joined in.

"I think your hair looks nice with a bit of red in it…" Gaara said monotonously.

"Of course I do! I look good in absolutely anything!" she laughed out loud as she walked off to their apartment dragging Haru and Gaara behind her.

"Sakura…I need to speak with you…" Neji came up to her.

"Ok sure." She smiled as she got up from her seat by the window sill.

"Not here…" he furrowed his eyebrows in thought and looked at Sakura for approval.

"Ok, where shall we go?" she smiled at Neji who blushed just slightly.

"…The stars are out tonight…" he said conversationally.

"Let's go watch the stars then." She smiled and pulled him out of the window and up to the roof. Just then, Gaara came into the room but saw that it was empty.

"…I thought Sakura was in here…" he shrugged and looked into another room.

"Wow…it's so pretty up here. I hardly go out and look at the stars anymore…" she looked up at the sky and Neji could see the reflection of the stars in her eyes.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" she smiled at him as she cocked her head to the side.

"Well, I…" he thought hard about what to say.

"Sakura?" Gaara looked into her room but she wasn't there.

"Where is she…" he scratched his head.

"What is it?"

"It's…I…" he stuttered out which made Sakura worry.

'He never stutters like that…' she thought to herself, her expression growing concerned.

"Sakura?" he looked back and forth out the door of the halls and didn't see ay signs of her.

"Hm…" he decided to sense out her chakra and followed to wherever it led him.

"What is it Neji-Kun?"

Unsure of what to say, he decided to go for actions. He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her forwards and kissed her.

"…!" her eyes widened but she was too shocked to push him away. He broke the kiss after a while.

"I think I've fallen in love with you, Sakura…" Neji spoke but still holding onto her wrist. She gasped.

Flashback…

"What's with you Sasuke! It's not like I can't hang out with other people you know!" Sakura's hands were on her hips her pink brows furrowed.

"But why did you hang out with them! Neji nearly killed Hinata once and Gaara's killed more people than we can ever count!" he clenched his hand and his knuckles grew white.

"Why do you even care!" she screamed at him and Naruto jumped at her voice.

"Because I love you!" Sasuke was quiet now, unsure why he just confessed his love to her when he never knew what love was to begin with.

"…!" Sakura was shocked and so was Naruto, he stood there just gaping at him.

"…" Sasuke looked away not wanting to look at her.

"You…What do you mean?" she looked at him, she tried to look into his eyes but he avoided her gaze.

"Sasuke…tell me..."she tried again but he continued to look away from her.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and in his confusion and frustration he turned and walked off.

"Sasuke! Wait!" she called out to him but he refused to stop, he refused to look back.

Naruto watched him walk away from them. Growing more and more concern for the raven haired boy and his former crush.

"What just happened? Naruto?" she spoke in a quiet voice, her eyes never left Sasuke's back.

End flashback…

She didn't know what to do or say, she just stood there dumb-founded.

Flashback…

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have told you…" he slowly picked himself up from the ground but Sakura held onto his sleeve. He still didn't want to look at her, in fear of losing control over his emotions and letting Shukaku get the better of him.

"Gaara…" she began but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about me…I've been rejected before…it's nothing new…" he spoke softly with a hint of betrayal hidden in his voice. She gripped onto his sleeve harder as he tried to move off again.

"Gaara…" she took a deep breathe and began again.

"If you want…we could give it a go neh?" she cocked her head to the side and smiled at him.

"…I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do…" he looked at her, eyes filled with confusion, hurt and hope.

"You're not forcing me to do anything…I'm willing if you are." She looked at him gently, trying to identify all the emotions going through his eyes.

For the first time in his life, he felt truly happy. And he gave her an honest smile and she smiled back at him. Reaching forward for her waist, he pulled her into a small embrace.

"Thank you…for giving me a chance…" he closed his eyes to savor the feeling and moment. Hopeful that it might last forever, wanting each and every moment to be imprinted into his head.

"Everybody deserves a chance." She too, closed her eyes as she hugged him back. The minutes passed by, the sun was setting and the color of the sky was changing. The wind blew at them and the grass as they stayed that way, enjoying the moment together, enjoying the silence.

End flashback…

"Sakura?" she turned and she saw Gaara standing just a few paces away having witnessed everything that just occurred. Neji let go of her hand.

"Gaara…"

Woo! This is the longest chapter I have ever written it think…but it's all good man! By the end of it all, I realized I could've just copied and pasted the flashbacks instead, but I was soo caught up I forgot about it! WAHAHAHA!