Author's Note: HOLY COW! SO many people voted for Neji+Tenten! But I also wanted to do Sasuke+Sakura, too…So, there's going to be two stories in one chapter. If you don't know what I mean, read on and you'll see. If you DO know what I mean, then…keep reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING, so…why am I writing this pointless disclaimer?
Cherry Blossom Petals
Sasuke was walking along the busy streets of Konoha. It was a warm spring day, and the mood was bright and cheery. Though most people were enjoying and taking advantage of the nice weather, Sasuke was heading to the forests to train. 'I don't have time to enjoy the day…I must get stronger so that I can beat Itachi. Naruto is getting stronger everyday…Why can't I get stronger?' he thought, a frown forming on his usually emotionless face. He jumped up into the air and landed on a rooftop. The sky was clear and blue above him, and a few white clouds could be seen in the distance. 'The busy streets will just slow me down.' he thought as he scowled down at the bustling streets full of laughing and smiling people. He leaped from house to house, making his way to the forest.
Once he was away from all the noise and crowds, and jumped down from a rooftop and began walking. Now he was in the more peaceful part of the village, near the Konoha gates and the forest. As he walked, he spotted a few cherry blossom trees near the pathways. Their pink-colored petals floated down gracefully in the air as a light breeze blew against the trees. Watching the pink petals made Sasuke reflect on his pink-haired teammate, Haruno Sakura. 'Sakura…She's been training with the Godaime hokage lately, right? She's definitely grown stronger…Kakashi said that she'll be a great kunoichi someday…' he thought, and an image of a smiling, happy Sakura came into his mind. He quickly shook his head, and strode faster along the path. Soon, the pathway led to a grassy field. Past the field was the forest, his favorite place to train. His sandaled feet soundlessly moved across the emerald-green grass. Looking at the grass made him think about Sakura again. 'The grass is green…like Sakura's eyes…' he thought, and the image of Sakura's green, sparkling eyes came into his mind. He growled, trying to push the thoughts and images out of his head. "I have no time for this!" he muttered, and averted his gaze off the grass. Soon, he was staring at the cherry blossom trees again. Now he was in the middle of the field, where many cherry blossom trees grew. As he walked past the trees, he saw a figure standing below the shade of a large cherry blossom tree. He realized who it was. 'Sakura…' he thought. 'What's she doing there?' Sakura was staring at the cherry blossom tree absentmindedly, as if she was thinking. Before he could stop himself, Sasuke had approached Sakura. "Hey," he said with an emotionless look on his face. Inside his mind, he was raging with frustration. 'Dammit, Sasuke! Why did you have to approach her!' he thought angrily. Sakura immediately turned around. A gentle, innocent smile came onto her face.
"Sasuke-kun! Hi!" she greeted, her green eyes sparkling as usual. She glanced at the cherry blossom tree, and then towards Sasuke. "Um…what are you doing here? Weren't you going to train?" she asked. Sasuke stiffened a little.
"Y…Yeah. I…just happened to stop by." he replied, and mentally cursed himself. 'Oh great, Sasuke! What a lame excuse!' he thought, and clenched his fists. Sakura looked a bit worried at Sasuke's actions.
"Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" she asked timidly, as if afraid that he was going to snap at her any moment. Sasuke regained his position quickly and nodded. Sakura smiled with relief. "That's good…" she said, and a cool breeze blew her back-length pink hair to the side. Sasuke found himself staring at Sakura. 'Why…Why does she care for me so much? It's not like I did anything to deserve her kindness…Why?' he thought. He had always been clueless at Sakura's actions. When she had cried for him when they were facing Zabuza and Haku when they were still genins, he had been a bit surprised. During the chuunin exam 4 years ago, she had protected him and Naruto with all her strength, and had tried to stop him when he was being corrupted by the curse seal Orochimaru had given him. She had always been there for him, no matter how many times he ignored her, shunned her, and rejected her. And still, even as a jounin-rank shinobi, he still didn't know the answer. "…why…" he whispered, and Sakura looked at him curiously. "Why do you care for me so much? All I ever did was ignore you…" Sakura looked a bit startled at the question, but soon her surprise was replaced with a warm, friendly smile.
"You already know the answer, Sasuke-kun…I told you many, many times, as a genin, as a chuunin, and even now, as a medic-nin. I care for you because I like you, Sasuke-kun…no, I think I love you. It started off as a childhood crush, but now, it's something stronger. Because of this strong feeling, I cared for you and I protected you, even though you always rejected me, and ignored me. I still love you, Sasuke-kun…That feeling will never change." she said softly, and another breeze sent the cherry blossom petals floating to the ground. Sasuke slowly reached up, and caressed Sakura's smooth cheek with his hand.
'I still don't understand, and I probably never will, but…I appreciate your feelings, Sakura…' he thought, and a small, faint smile formed on his lips.
"…Thank you, Sakura…" he said, and the cherry blossom petals circled and floated around them, gently landing on the soft green grass.
(Author's Note: Sasuke and Sakura are around 16 years old here.)
Primroses and Azaleas
The sky rumbled with dark clouds and thunder. Trees swayed dangerously by the force of the strong, chilling wind. In a dark forest clearing, the sounds of weapons clashing and the sounds of shinobi fighting rang through the area. Konoha ANBU members Neji and TenTen were facing a group of shinobi from the hidden Cloud village of the Thunder country. Weapons shot through the air and pierced the shinobi and powerful jyuuken strikes blocked the tenketsu of many ninjas. Neji and TenTen stood in the middle, panting heavily with the affects of a 5-hour-long battle. "Neji…we should finish this quickly before our chakra is completely depleted." TenTen said, frowning at the 4 shinobi that were still alive. Neji nodded. The two Konoha ninjas charged, and the other four Cloud ninjas also charged. TenTen threw many weapons and then pulled out a long, slightly curved sword. She slashed at one of the ninjas, and she successfully managed to slice off the enemy's right arm. She detected a ninja coming at her from behind, but she countered him with a swift kick to the stomach. After catching the ninja off guard by her kick, she plunged her sword deep into his heart. As soon as she pulled the sword out of the ninja's limp body, two other ninjas charged at her. But they were also stopped by Neji's strike to their hearts. TenTen turned to the one-armed ninja, but found that he had disappeared.
"Don't let your guard down, TenTen." Neji warned, and prepared to strike any moment. TenTen gritted her teeth and got into a defensive stance. Suddenly, a flurry of kunai and shuriken flew towards them from a tree. TenTen ducked just in time as a kunai sped over her head, but it managed to cut her ribbons that were supporting her buns. The sliced red ribbons dropped to the ground, letting her hair loose.
"Damn!" she muttered, and as another flurry of weapons came, she crouched down beside Neji.
"Hakkeshou kaiten!" he said, and as he spun, the dome-like defense made of chakra appeared. TenTen was crouching inside of the defense as all the weapons were flung back. After all the weapons had been flung back, TenTen got ready to play her role. Her role was to protect Neji's blind spot after he had lowered the guard of the kaiten to stop spinning. Though it was only for a little moment, Neji was very vulnerable when he was finishing the spin. A strong wind whipped TenTen's chestnut-brown hair into her face, blocking her view as she stood in front of Neji's blind spot. She shook her hair away impatiently as she got a kunai ready. 'Damn hair…Always getting in my way…' she thought. That reason was why she tied her hair into buns. But even her two buns got in the way sometimes. 'I'll try a single bun next time…with stronger ribbons.' she thought again, eyeing the severed ribbons on the ground near her feet. Just then, a powerful force caused TenTen to be blown back against a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of her. She struggled to get up, a look of confusion on her face.
"W…What happened?" she groaned, and standing up. She cursed under her breath as she realized that her ankle was broken or sprained.
"TenTen! Watch out!" Neji suddenly yelled. Before TenTen knew what was happening, the one-armed ninja had landed behind her with a sharp dagger in his hand.
"You'll pay for cutting my arm off, you wench!" he growled, and raised the dagger. TenTen turned around with a shocked look on her face.
'Darn it, I can't escape quickly enough!' she thought, and shut her eyes, braced for the hit. Meanwhile, Neji was running towards TenTen at a fast speed.
'Damn, I won't be able to save her in time! Then…this is the only way.' he thought.
TenTen flinched as she suddenly felt drops of warm liquid on her face and on her arms. She opened her eyes. She gasped as saw Neji standing in front of her, with a dagger through his stomach. He gritted his teeth with pain, and spat out a bit of blood. Blood oozed from his stomach, dripping onto the grassy ground below them. The clouds rumbled even more in the sky, and soon, it was raining. Lightning flashed momentarily, lightening up the view for a short while.
"N…Neji…" TenTen whispered, trembling as she stared at the wound on Neji's stomach.
"TenTen…Hurry!" Neji growled, and TenTen instantly knew what he meant. She nodded, the cool rain running down her face. She pulled out her sword and with a swift motion she drove her sword into the enemy's heart. The ninja didn't even get to say a word as he fell to the ground, letting go of his dagger in the process. Soon after he had fallen, Neji also slumped to the ground. After sheathing her sword, TenTen ran towards the motionless Neji.
"Neji!" she exclaimed, and gently pulled the dagger out of his stomach. Blood flowed freely from the wound, staining the grass below him. Ignoring her injured ankle, she lifted Neji up and slung his arm over her shoulders so that she could support him. "Neji…I'm sorry…" she muttered. She glanced at his wound.
'I should at least try to stop the bleeding for now…' she thought. She found a temporary shelter inside a small cave near the area, and so she laid Neji down on the ground inside of the cave. She took out a small bottle of healing balm, and she tore off a strip of her shirt as a bandage. She applied some healing balm onto Neji's wound and wrapped the piece of her shirt around it. She looked outside. It was still raining. 'I've got to get back to Konoha as quickly as possible!' she thought, and stood up. She immediately winced and sat back down as her broken ankle shot pain through her. 'Damn…' She stood up again, but this time she put less weight onto her ankle. She lifted up Neji again and after putting his arm over her shoulders, and stepped out of the cave and into the forest.
1 day later…
Neji opened his eyes to see a white ceiling. 'Where am I?' he thought, looking around. He grimaced as he felt a bit of pain on his stomach. He recalled the events that had happened. 'Yes…I got pierced in the stomach by that Cloud bastard instead of TenTen…I hope she's safe…' He slowly sat up, and the first thing he saw was a vase of primroses and azaleas. He looked down, and smirked as he saw TenTen sitting by his bed, with a cast on her right ankle. She was asleep, with her arms used as a pillow and her hair untied. Neji gently brushed a single lock of hair from TenTen's face. He turned his attention to the vase of primroses and azaleas and his eyes softened.
"Thank you…TenTen." he said, and though he didn't notice it, TenTen smiled.
Primroses: Primroses mean "I can't live without you" Azaleas: Azaleas mean "Take care of yourself", otherwise meaning "please get better soon".
(Author's Note: Neji and TenTen are around 17 or 18 and they are in the ANBU.)
Well, how was it? Sorry to those who wanted something else! After all, I can't do every single pairing! If you keep reading and keep reviewing, you may see your pairings! In the next chapter, I want a little challenge, so I might do Gaara+Ino, Kabuto+someone, or Shikamaru+Temari. I might even do Naruto+Hinata, since I have a pretty good idea for them. PLEASE REVIEW! And don't forget to tell me what pairing you would like next!
