Senko: Like, oh my god, I got over 900 hits! I mean, I know that many more authors get tons more hits but, still, it makes me ecstatic to know that people have at least viewed my story. This chapter and the next will contain some fighting scenes. Please, don't hate me! I'm not that good with fighting scenes! This is my first one! There won't be a tremendous amount of fighting, ok? anyways, here's chapter 4 : D Hope you all enjoy this chappie!
Responses
Yume-chan: Hey, Yume-chan! See, see? I replied! LOL! Anyways, thanks a bunch for reviewing and pointing out that I did forget to reply to your review! Once again, I'm so sorry! Next time, if I forget, send me once triple the length! xD OK and now I'm praying that will not do something like take my story down because I replied to my reviewers -.-;;
Shy-Lil-Dreamer: Wow, lol you know what? It's like you can just see the future of my story! Well, I won't say for sure that I'll hook Lee and TenTen up but I can tell you that I plan to put a little LeeTen in here ;) Not totally sure yet, so yeah. Oh yeah, you're my first reviewer for chapter 3! THANKIES:3
Iluvanime439: Well, I never planned to make Neji seem to be in denial, but I guess maybe I just can't help it LoL like I stated to Shy-Lil-Dreamer in the previous chapter, Neji won't actually be developing feelings for Sakura just yet! For now, I plan to just make him suffer the constant teasing and stuff because he's too sweet to kill his own teammates ;D of course, Sakura is clueless lol
JoAnne-San: Sorry! But I did reply to your email about MCHS! Yay! Thankies for the great criticism: D
Lastly, thankies a bunchies to jellypuppy, sara-chan, RoCkeRShiKO28, queen1908, Kawaii Koneko92, Chocolate Panda, and Fala-li for your wonderful reviews!
If I forgot you, then tell me! T.T
Alright you know how it is.
Bold - emphasis
Italics - emphasis, character thoughts
"Quotes" - sarcasm, quoting, dialogue
Chapter 4
Ino is intelligent. Yes, she is. She may not be a genius like Shikamaru, but she is good enough to prove that she isn't a ditsy blonde. Regardless of her young age, Ino is like a sage in love terms. In fact, she's already interpreted and assumed the romance drama scenario of Konoha perfectly! Her gang of Chuunin friends was very troubled, she could see. However, she knows that all she can do is sit back…and pretend the situation was a television show! So, what was the current situation? Oh, yeah, here it is:
-Sakura tries to become a better medic nin by getting to know her patients.
-Neji wants the best medic-nin so he'll recover faster, thus leading to him having to be almost near friendly to Sakura.
-Sakura is clearly not over Sasuke and so that's why she hasn't yet developed a crush on Konoha's other gorgeous, emotionless, and omnipotent prodigy.
-Neji's team doesn't know about Sakura's goal, so they assumed that Neji and Sakura like each other.
-Sakura thinks Neji and TenTen likes each other but is in denial, so she wants to hook them up.
-TenTen wants to hook Sakura and Neji up instead.
But this isn't the end yet, folks! Ino doesn't just look at the present, she can PREDICT the FUTURE! According to Ino's predictions, if TenTen somehow successfully hooks Sakura and Neji up, things will be very complicated. For one…
-Naruto will be shocked as hell when he finds out the two are dating.
-Because Naruto actually does kinda of like Sakura, he'll just leave everything be instead of searching for a girlfriend. He would only worry about more important issues, like encountering Sasuke again.
-Hinata, Neji's reticent cousin, is too shy to confess her feelings for Naruto. Since Naruto is slow, he might never realize Hinata likes him.
-It will take a long time for Sakura to get over Sasuke. Thus, this leads to Sakura having to choose between Neji and Sasuke should she ever see Sasuke again.
Ino suppressed the urge to burst out in laughter like a psychotic maniac. Everything was so exciting! But don't get her wrong, she isn't heartless. She knows that if Sakura ever considers choosing Sasuke over whatever guy she is dating, Ino will step in and knock some sense into her best friend. Just because all she can do right now is watch everything build up, doesn't mean she won't prevent the results from happening.
"Hello? Earth to Ino? Hey, pig, get outta All-You-Can-Eat Pigland!"
Her attention returning to Earth, Ino finally realized what her best friend had just said. "WHAT! I was not in Pigland, forehead girl! Can't you tell I'm thinking?"
A snort was heard from Sakura. "Whatever, pig."
"Hey, hey, cut it out," Shikamaru turned and gave the girls a quick glance before focusing on the road ahead. "We don't want to hear another one of your troublesome arguments."
"Yeah," agreed TenTen. "Oh, hey, that's the place we're staying at, isn't it?"
All attention turned towards a fairly large house. It was clear that the family was rather rich. Upon nearing the house, a middle-aged woman came into view. Currently, she was watching over a group of small children playing together. The woman, once she noticed them, approached them with a warm smile.
"Hello," she said, "you must be the ninjas that my husband hired?"
Shikamaru nodded, and so did all the others. "Yes, we are. I apologize if you had wanted us to arrive sooner."
"It's alright, so long as here to protect us. Why don't you come in and discuss this topic with my husband?"
With that, the group followed behind the woman and entered the house.
Sakura paced around the room. Neji, TenTen, Shino, Ino, and she had been in that very room for a while now since they entered the house. Shikamaru, being the leader, was in the living room discussing the situation with the head of the house. Sakura was getting bored and started walking around. TenTen was just sitting somewhere in the corner while Ino had been staring at the view that the window provided. Both Neji and Shino had been sitting against a wall waiting patiently; none spoke a single word. After a while, Sakura finally sat down next to TenTen.
The creak of the door did not go unnoticed to anyone in the room. Still with that lazy look on his face, Shikamaru entered the room. He sighed. "Apparently, they don't know when their enemies will attack. They have only found out that their enemies hired some assassinators, but the time of the attack is unknown. They've offered for us to stay here with them, just in case if their enemies attack."
"What? We have to stay here?" Ino scowled. "I've got lots of things to do back in Konoha, too."
"So do I. I need to feed my bugs," Shino's face remained emotionless.
Taking a glance at the group of teenagers who didn't wish to remain in this place, Shikamaru sighed. "I can't help it. I know we all have lots of things to do, birthday parties to attend" – he glimpsed quickly at Sakura – "but this is what you must do if you're a ninja."
A small frown appeared on Sakura's face. It was her little cousin's birthday in a couple of days and she had been planning on attending. Her gift for her cousin was still set in her room. "How troubling…"
"Sheez…you sound like Shikamaru now," TenTen said.
"What about this one?"
"That's an ugly shade of green, Ino!"
"Yeah, you're right. See if there's another one in a prettier color."
"What am I, your slave? I came shopping with you as a friend, not a slave."
"Tch, forehead girl."
"Would you two stop? We're here shopping as friends, not enemies."
"Yeah, Ino, listen to TenTen!"
It was evening and the three girls, bored, decided to go out shopping. They had only brought a few clothes since they had thought that they'd have to protect the family soon. Now that they knew the time they would stay there might extend, the three went out shopping. So far, the three had been in the same store for almost half an hour. A familiar shinobi caught Sakura's attention as she unintentionally glanced over towards the exit of the shop. Right across from that store stood one of their teammates.
The pink-haired kunoichi quickly grabbed her two friend's arms and ran towards Neji, waving, "Hey! Neji!"
He cast a quick glance at them and only nodded his head down once.
Sakura beamed, as though she was used to his reaction like she knew him for a long time (although Inner-Sakura's precise words were: I HEAL YOU ALL THE TIME AND YOU DON'T EVEN SAY HI OR SOMETHING? YOU COLD-HEARTED -BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-!). "So, watcha doing out here? I thought you were training?"
"Just checking out the weapons."
"Really? TenTen likes weapons too! Well, Ino and I will let you two stay here and check out these weapons! Have a good time! Bye!" Immediately, she shoved TenTen towards Neji and quickly dashed off with Ino. Soon enough, the two kunoichis were out of sight.
"Does she know I know you like weapons?"
"Nope."
The two stood in silence for a while. And they stood. And stood. And then TenTen started to head towards that clothing store she was at earlier. "Bye, Neji."
He didn't reply. Instead he just entered the weapon shop. And that's how TenTen and Neji's friendship worked.
"HEY! Slow down, forehead girl!"
Eventually, Sakura complied to Ino's pleads and halted. Both were out of breath. Ino grunted once she got a hold of herself. "What is your problem? I understand that you think Neji and TenTen should hook up and all and that you wanted them to have time alone to somehow maybe start liking each other, but sheez you don't have to torture me! I don't see what the need was for running!"
"For your information, we must get out of there sights! Don't you know anything about the art of matchmaking? How can sparks fly between them if we are there?" Sakura exaggerated with various gestures as though the world itself depended on Neji and TenTen's "relationship."
Ino sighed in vexation. "OK, OK, whatever. Now, I have to finish shopping. I think I saw this really cute, purple top at this store we passed by."
"Okay, then. I think I saw something pink and cute at this other shop."
Everything was going well. So far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Yep. Nothing. At all. And our Leaf shinobis were starting to get bored. To be more precise, they were beginning to doubt if they should continue to stay with the Haruga (Senko: I made it up! You know? Haruno and Hyuga? Haruga? xD) family. They had other stuff to do, another life to live, different missions to go on. They had been with the Harugas for three weeks now and had met the master of the house, the father; the mother; the two twin daughters both fifteen years of age, Keiko and Mayuko; the youngest son of five years of age, Kai; and they met the family's neighbors and all too.
It was a breezy, Autumn afternoon. Shikamaru, as always, was lying under a tree near the Haruga's house watching the clouds. Shino was looking around for bugs. TenTen was sharpening her weapons. Ino was babysitting Kai. And Neji was training with Sakura.
"AAH!"
BAM
She took a deep breath. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Once again, Sakura had lost to Neji. They were only sparring, so she didn't see the point in why he got so serious. Wait, was he serious? Or was he always like this? Maybe he's too fast? Too good? Or maybe she's too weak? Well, once again, she was pinned against the tree. The same tree that Neji had pinned her against the previous five fights. His kunai was situated only a couple of inches away from her neck. It just wasn't fair. He had only one kunai and one shuriken with him while she had a whole pack and she just kept losing. Slowly, he drew away from her and his right arm that held the kunai dropped to his side.
"You're weak," his silver eyes stared straight at her. His words gave away no hints of any emotions.
Her head lowered slightly and her sights were fixed on the grassy ground. She couldn't bare to look at him. Did he say that because he's just too strong? Or did he say that because she's just too weak? Weak - she knew that word too well. She always heard it, all the time two and a half years ago from a certain boy. And he said it just like Neji did. No emotions. Simple. Quick. You're weak.
Their voices sounded so alike. Their eyes held the same trait: no emotion. They both had dark hair. They both were strong. Both prodigies.
"Sorry..." she whispered, loud enough for him to make out what the word was.
"What for? You're weak. You don't have the intention to kill, to harm. If only you did, you'd be so much stronger."
Her eyes finally found the strength to look up at him. Was he admitting that she is strong? Was he saying she is powerful?
"You already have a great chakra control. If only you could bring yourself to use it against others, you'd be a better kunoichi."
Really?
A smile crept onto her face. "Really? You think-"
"Hey!"
It was TenTen. She walked towards them. "I finally found you two! You have to go back. Shikamaru convinced them that it's been three weeks now and maybe the enemy might not attack. Hurry and go pack because we're leaving soon."
"Thank you very much," Shikamaru stated as he and the others bowed down to showtheir gratitude.
"Oh, no, no," the middle-aged woman, aka the wife, said, "thank you! It was all we could do for you kind ninjas protecting us."
"Our mission was a failure. We didn't protect you at all. But do not hesitate to contact us if you feel your enemies will attack. Konoha will immediately send reinforcement to help."
"Thank you all so much. Have a safe trip back to Konohagakure."
The group slowly departed. Soon, the Haruga family was out of their sights. Three weeks with the Haruga family. Three weeks of peace. Even if they stayed with the Haruga family because of a mission, it was still filled with much serenity for them. For Shikamaru, it was three weeks of watching the clouds. For Ino, it was three weeks with adorable children who looked up to her. For Shino, it was three weeks without loud number 2 aka Kiba because loud number 1 is not in Konoha now. For TenTen, it was three weaks of quiet. For Neji, it was three weeks of training in a peaceful area...where there were trees to train with. For Sakura, it was three weeks of the simple life. For all of them, it was a peek into how life was for people who had the easy, simple, and typical life. For all of them, it was a chance to see a normal family.
The Harugas were indeed simple people. The father had a good job that paid adequately. The mother stayed home as a housewife. Both parents love their children much. Every evening, the father came home and the family would eat an enjoyable dinner. For them, there were no such worries about killing, about being killed, about being in danger at all. They were nice people and Sakura and the others couldn't see why anybody would think about killing the Harugas.
Shino halted. "We're being followed," his whisper was low enough only for all of them to hear.
Followed? Who could be following them?
Senko: Oh, fuck...it's like 12:30 am right now and I'm freaking tired. I was gonna include more, really, I was, but I'm just so tired! T-T anyways, I've been really stressed and frustrated. I must rest. Really, really sorry! I'm not good with fighting scenes at all, ok? This is my first attempt! Anyways, below is a "preview." Since I'm too lazy to keep writing, I'll give you a preview of a Neji and Sakura scene that will most likely happen in the next chapter. Most likely. Hey, you never know! I have most of the next chapter done except for the fighting scene. If I write the fighting scene like how I plan to, then this scene will happen. If I somehow decide to write it differently, then this scene will not show up ;D REVIEW!
"Preview"
"I-I'm sorry. I just...wanted to...to thank you for taking that hit for me. I just wanted to make sure you're okay...because, because I was supposed to get hurt! You weren't supposed to get hurt."
His eyes deploringly settled on her lone figure that was situated on the stool beside his hospital bed. He didn't know he had hurt her. He didn't know she felt that way. To him, all he was doing was defending his ally.
"I'm sorry, Neji," she got up and quickly dashed out of the room.
He mentally sighed in relief as he heard the door shut. He felt bad, really bad, and a big portion of him wanted to run after her and apologize. But an even bigger part of him didn't want to. Another creak of the door broke his inner debate of whether to go after Sakura or not. He inwardly prayed it wasn't her who had entered.