Itonami: I had write chapter 3 again. It turned out way too rushed and didn't connect too well with chapter 2. T-T Please enjoy this piece of annoyingly hard work.
Thank you for all of your reviews
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto.
Chapter 3
Neji met Sakura in front of the large doors leading into the Hokage's office. With a determined look, she waited beside the white-eyed shinobi while a conference was being finished inside.
"Neji-san, you won't run out on me when things get too rough, right?" She asked with a teasing smile on her face.
The Hyuuga grunted and looked away. "A Hyuuga is not a coward, Sakura. I'm sure you know that."
She made sarcastic look. "Of course, Hyuuga-sama!"
"Are you always this irritating when you're nervous?" Neji sighed.
Sakura blushed a little at his frankness. "I guess I am. You're not the first to tell me so."
"Stop being so nervous. I told you I would be here for you." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
She let out a breath wearily and nodded. "I appreciate what you're doing for me, Neji-san."
A smile graced his handsome face. He found himself smiling a little more than usual since he woke up from his coma. Being around friends and people he knew gave him a lift again. Haruno Sakura and he met often in the street or in the little lounge for jounins. Usually, seeing someone so frequently annoyed him, but with her it was a little different. Even Neji could not deny that the two of them formed a bond while helping each other.
"Neji-san? Neji-san?" Sakura waved a hand in front of his face. "We can go in now, Neji-san."
He merely nodded and he and Sakura were about to walk in, but Uzumaki Naruto gallantly stretched in front of his open doors. "Damn those crazy old men. I can't get a decent night's sleep because I see their wrinkly faces in my dreams." He muttered half to himself and the two people in his audience.
The Rokudaime noticed Neji also. "Oh! Neji-chan! You're here too?" He grinned at the Hyuuga's scowl. "Well, don't just stand there! Come into my humble abode."
Naruto took a seat at his desk and looked at a watch on his desk. "Hinata should be here in a minute. So, what's going on?"
The two of them remained in a nervous silence. Abruptly, the Hokage looked like he had the greatest epiphany of his life. His azure eyes darted from Sakura to Neji. "You two want to elope, don't you!"
He had to quickly dodge two angry kunais aimed at his head.
"What a ridiculous conclusion, Naruto!" Sakura huffed.
"Sometimes, I do not understand why the Godaime chose you as her successor." Neji grunted in frustration.
Naruto sighed and scratched his head. "You guys need to lighten up."
"And YOU need to have some sense knocked into you!" Sakura raged as she rolled up her sleeves.
The Hokage put up his hands in feeble defense. "Ne, don't be like that, Sakura-chan! I was just kidding! Neji, some help?"
The Hyuuga remained sitting and did not make any movement to help. He ignored the protesting Hokage while Sakura was climbing over his desk to pummel his face.
"Hinata, glad to see you well." Neji said, his voice a little loud to catch the attention of the bickering pair.
They settled down, with Sakura and Neji sat in the uncomfortable chairs while Hinata sat in Naruto's seat as he chose to stand.
The Hyuuga caught Sakura's worried eyes and nodded slightly. The medic-nin cleared her throat. "Hinata, Naruto, I haven't been entirely truthful with you lately."
Naruto looked at Hinata and grew serious. "With what?"
She gulped nervously. "Hinata, I was too afraid to tell you that there will be complications during the labor."
The other woman looked frightened. "Complications, Sakura-chan?"
She nodded her head painfully, as if it weighed a hundred pounds. "There is a…..chance of oxygen deprivation during your labor, which means parts of your body won't…work as efficiently as they should." Sakura looked at her hands, unable to face the couple in front of her. The silence was expectant. "You have a twenty five percent…of…not making it through the labor."
Uzumaki Hinata rubbed her pregnant stomach. "Is the baby alright?"
Sakura nodded. "I'm not worried about the baby. The baby is fine, but it's you that I'm worried about."
The Hokage's wife managed a brave smile. "I'm glad, Sakura-chan, that I have someone as capable as you to help me through the delivery."
Naruto also smiled, giving the pink-haired jounin some hope. "You shouldn't have carried such a burden without telling anyone, Sakura. Besides, I'll be right outside the room if I'm needed."
"Y-You're not mad, Naruto?" She asked, a little surprised from their lack of screaming and jumping.
He grinned that trademark fox grin. "Of course not, Sakura. It must have been hard to come to us in the first place. As Hokage, I would probably give you a medal for this kind of courage."
"Well, that certainly wasn't as hard as expected, was it, Sakura?" Neji asked while smirking.
She laughed and nodded, truly feeling like she was floating above the clouds. "Thank you, Neji-san, for coming with me."
"There is nothing to thank." He replied coolly as he got up from the chair. Now, he faced his cousin. "Sakura was worried that you didn't eat enough. Perhaps you need some of your favorite Hyuuga dishes."
Hinata giggled. "That's very nice of you, Neji-niisan."
Sakura also got up to leave. "I have some unfinished hospital paperwork to do. Hinata-chan, please come by tomorrow."
"I will, Sakura-chan, and thank you for your honesty."
Hyuuga and Haruno left the office, walking side by side. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "You were awesome, Neji-san."
He kept his eyes straight ahead, but she felt like he was watching her anyway. "And I'm not awesome now?"
Sakura was stunned, so stunned, that she stopped walking and stared at his back. When she snapped herself out of it, she ran to catch up with him. He remained neutral. "Wow," she said in amazement, "I never thought I'd hear something remotely funny from Hyuuga Neji. What a day…"
And what a day it was. There was a clash of thunder and rain came down like a waterfall. Sakura, who was delighted, spun around in it with her arms thrown out and her face looking at the sky.
"Come on, Neji-san!" She laughed aloud and grabbed his hands, almost drunken with the rain. "The rain doesn't have to so gloomy!"
She held his hand and lifted her head skyward, sticking out her tongue, trying to capture the water in her mouth. Sakura tugged on his hand childishly to gesture for him to imitate her. He only responded with a small smile. The medic jounin giggled and breathed out greatly.
"Rain can mean life, Neji-san. Not everything bad happens in the rain." She said softly, looking in his distant eyes.
"Look, Neji-san." She said, pointing to something in front of them.
The Hyuuga's keen eyes spotted a small sprout, its two little leaves opened up as if to welcome the water. It seemed a little lonely since it was the only one in the street; it had found solitary freedom through the cracks of the road.
"Today could be proof of that it seems." He responded quietly.
"Did Tenten-san like the rain?"
Neji allowed himself to feel the unsteady rhythm of the rain. "No, she never liked it."
Sakura let go of his hand and held out hers to watch the water fall into it. "When I was little, I hated the rain." She smiled at her memories. "I couldn't go outside to play and run around. But when I was put in Team 7, I found out Sasuke-k…Sasuke liked to train when it rained."
"Is that why?"
She nodded. "I found out that I could get used to it. Just watching him made me forget everything."
Their silence was filled with the sound of rain. "The rain only bothers me when I remember too much." The tall, handsome man gazed at the heavens, trying to block out painful thoughts.
The pink-haired kunoichi sensed his discomfort. "We could go to my apartment again and dry off." She suggested airily.
The Hyuuga patriarch paused and shook his head. "The Hyuuga house is closer. It's this way." Without another word, he led the way.
Sakura skipped after him, her hands clasped behind her back. "Are you sure it is alright for me to just go? You are the leader of your clan after all. What if people misunderstand, Neji-san?"
He stopped and turned around, his hair shaking off more water. "You worry about unnecessary things, Haruno." He smirked.
Something jumped in her stomach when she saw that expression. A blush spread across her cheeks without knowing, tainting her ivory cheeks a pale pink.
They arrived at the large manor, both of them drenched and soaked to the bone. Neji slid opened the door for her, revealing a spacious living room thankfully unoccupied. The young leader ventured to his room and got two towels for the both of them.
Tossing one to his rosette companion, he excused himself to change into some dry clothes.
Sakura didn't sit on the rather ridged looking sofa but instead stood while wiping the moisture off her body. Soft emerald eyes gazed around her surroundings, discovering ancient treasures on top of shelves. They did not have much furniture; a simple sofa and two armchairs were arranged facing each other in a small cluster in one part of the room.
"Sakura, those clothes are wet. I would rather have you change into these. The other members get irritated if the floors are wet." The Hyuuga emerged from a hallway with a plain, knee-high summer kimono.
She accepted them heartily and asked for a place to change. Neji guided her to his own room and instructed her not to touch too much things in the room. Sakura changed out of her clothes, literally peeling them off her skin. The yukata proved to be soft and comfortable, though she hadn't worn such a traditional garment in years.
The medical jounin exited and finally sat on the sofa opposite of where Neji was sitting in the armchair. She grinned and lightly pulled on the hem of her yukata self-consciously. "Thanks for getting this for me."
"It belonged to me when I was younger." He said, waving off her gratitude.
Sakura had noticed how much he had grown from when she first saw him when she was twelve. She remembered his sudden growth spurt when he became a jounin at sixteen. It was hard to believe he had ever been her size.
"It has been raining a lot these past few weeks." She murmured, listening to the rain pounding on the roof. Her apple green eyes glazed over and became distant as she thought about something.
Neji watched her. Her eyes were situated as if she was looking to her left, but he knew she didn't see anything. She was thinking about something that she didn't want to remember, a tragic memory or…
"Uchiha Sasuke." He drawled, his beautiful white orbs keeping a steady look on her shocked countenance. A strange prick of a foreign emotion stabbed his chest. "Do you still think about him, Sakura?"
She looked away, flushed and embarrassed, but she still didn't speak. The medic-nin remained silent. Neji stood and walked a little towards the sofa. The unfamiliar emotion rapidly grew inside of him, keeping him from stopping his words. "It's amusing to think that you still think of him, still, even when he has betrayed you."
Sakura looked at him, anger evident in her once empty eyes. "Is it so wrong, Neji-san?"
He chuckled humorlessly. "It's wrong to not have moved on with your life."
"Then you should get on with yours." She snapped icily, her tone biting the air.
Neji restrained himself as if there was another self fighting to break free. This time it was he who looked away. "I apologize. It is not my place."
It took Sakura a moment to get over her former anger and the present surprise at his sudden change of tone and attitude. "You scared me, Neji-san."
"Something came over me." He said stiffly, wondering what had made him speak out.
She sighed but did not face him. "I understand."
Neji relaxed his shoulders. "Is he who you think about during missions whenever it rains?"
Sakura nodded slowly without a verbal answer.
The pair of shinobi went silent again, their peace undisturbed but their minds turning in turmoil like the storm outside. Sakura felt her eyes droop in weariness and she tensed to keep herself awake.
"The storm has gotten worse, Sakura. It's getting late. You may sleep here if you'd like. There can be a guestroom arranged for you." Neji said, turning to face her.
Sakura agreed politely, warmed considerably by the kind hospitality. He led her to a room adjacent to his and made sure there were futons and blankets with other necessities. The Hyuuga leader showed her an indoor bathroom and asked a passing servant to dry Sakura's wet clothes.
After the temporary guest made herself at home, he knocked on her door. She slid open the door while clutching a book she found on one of the shelves. "Dinner should be ready. Let's go eat."
Sakura joined him for a delicious supper, which, much to her relief, was for only the two of them. It was a quiet dinner without much talk shared between the two of them.
The uneventful dinner passed into a calm exchange of conversation in the family room. Sakura brushed her hair with her fingers. "I think about Sasuke every time it rains. I think about how much I hate him and love him all at the same time while I pity him for leaving."
"I don't consider his search for power his greatest accomplishment so far." He commented smoothly.
She chuckled. "I don't either, Neji-san, but I can't help but think if he would have ever loved me or not...if he hadn't left."
Neji felt a tightening in his chest, though it was a different sensation from before. "Do you still hope he comes back?"
The pink-haired woman did not answer for a while. "Sometimes, I miss him so much, it hurts." She whispered. "Other times, I wish he was dead to just put me out of my misery."
Neji gave a hollow, sarcastic scoff. "Is that so?"
Sakura smiled at her own satirical humor. She slowly raised her eyes to look at the lean form of the Hyuuga in awe and confusion. "I can't think about Sasuke when I'm talking to you. I haven't figured out why that is yet, but I like it. Being able to just talk to you helps me forget."
Neji felt his strong heart jump up to his throat at her words. He would never say it out loud, but many times, he would find himself thinking about a certain rosy-haired jounin more than the piercing memories in the rain.
Sakura got up and stretched, attracting Neji's eyes to her slim, athletic figure and her long, slender legs. He turned away and stared at the wall. "Well, Neji-san, I'm going to have to sleep. Thank you again for letting me stay here." She said cheerfully and went to her room.
Hyuuga Neji remained in his seat as he sighed, half with relief and half with frustration. Never had he felt like this. And why had he been affected all of a sudden? Jealousy? He almost kicked himself for thinking such a ridiculous thought. Impossible, a Hyuuga never got jealous. What was wrong with him? Concern? Certainly, since her past feelings about him were still lingering and disturbing her focus. They were comrades, dependable ones, but probably nothing more serious than that.
Nothing more. Neji reassured his troubled mind.
Haruno Sakura shivered under her blanket. What was wrong with her? Talking to him, admitting to him that he can make her forget about Sasuke? He was just a friend, if it even went that far. Their relationship was just a simple companionship and nothing more, wasn't it? She frowned as she mentally scolded herself yet stopped when she recalled how warm and perfect his hands were when she held them, and how her thoughts never replaced Neji with an imagined Sasuke.
Could this?
Be?
Love?
The kunoichi almost laughed at her thoughts bitterly. Love? How could she utter that word so easily? Love Hyuuga Neji? Even if she did, how could a clan leader love her, a mere medical ninja, back?
Why do I mingle among the impossible? She sighed heavily in her mind. Impossible to love, impossible to get.
Author's notes: Another chapter written and completed. I apologize for the lateness. I've been busy with another story of mine.
Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter and found that Neji and Sakura's feelings are suddenly being denied and pushed aside. Though they have developed a workable companionship, both of them refuse to admit to love. More coming soon!