Author's Note: Wow, I hadn't intended to get such nice reviews! I'm glad you guys actually thought it was funny. So yeah, this IS going to be a multi-chapter one-shot, however, contrary to your anticipation, it will NOT be 31 + chapters. Sorry guys. It's a short fic, or so I planned. Who knows. Anyway, yeah, of course I'll skip days. Like this chapter for instance. Moves right into day eight.

Hope you're not TOO disappointed. I only wanted this to be short. Thanks again.

Zarrah-chan

Day Eight

"What's it today, Hyuuga? Favorite flavor of toothpaste?"

Neji didn't have to knock and was immediately greeted with the kunoichi's everyday smile. Their daily rendezvous had now carried for eight days, at the exact spot, the exact time, in the exact manner. It had almost become religiously habitual, a normal daily routine. No one had asked for this kind of meeting, where they began to predict each other very well. For the two, it just sort of happened.

"Quiet, woman." He barked. "I'm not in the mood."

Sakura was hardly fazed by his tone and only widened her grin at his front.

"You're never in the mood."

It no longer was bothersome to the kunoichi at how the Hyuuga rudely addressed her. For eight days she had tried to get him to call her by proper name, but she eventually surrendered when he had obdurately stuck with "woman". In exchange, she dubbed upon him the nickname "Hyuuga".

That too had become a ritual.

"Are you going to cooperate today, woman? Or am I going to have to use Divine Punishment?" Neji retorted only to receive Sakura's playful wink.

"Hah. Try it, Hyuuga. I'll just revive myself with regenerative technique."

Neji had almost smiled at her smooth comeback. Their daily bickering and battle of witty sarcasm was quite amusing to him, if he HAD to admit. Rare was the woman who could catch his interest and MATCH his genius intellect, let alone surpass it. Yet the girl had challenged him so fearlessly and effortlessly. It had been eons since he had this much fun with wise cracks, brain twisters, and word rambles, and he couldn't remember racking his brain so deeply. It became another silent game they played, one that pushed him to the brink of his vast intelligence in order to keep her from embarrassing him in verbal defeat.

Born Genius vs. Developed Genius.

A strange and interesting battle indeed.

Neji shoved those thoughts aside and straightened his face.

"Question eight."

Sakura grinned.

"Ok. Shoot."

Neji paused before continuing, suddenly finding himself analyzing her odd character. It was strange how at times she were as stubborn as a blind-folded mule, and yet other times, she was as submissive as a salary man to his wife.

Haruno Sakura baffled him a great deal. Those past eight days, he knew he was an ass on purpose just to get under her skin in payback for what the situation did to him. However, the girl just gave her usual grin in response to his bastardness, the happy-go-lucky genuinely cheerful grin that had probably been adopted from Naruto. He HATED that about her because it was as if nothing made her angry.

Yet, at the same time, seeing that satisfied grin was… for lack of better words… SATISFYING.

A flash of green in the window reminded him of his duty and expected distance to the project victim. Lee had been eavesdropping once again, but this time, Neji was almost grateful. The bowlhead had distracted Neji from incoherent thoughts that mattered very little, if anything at all.

Now, back to the task at hand…

"What, in your opinion, is your most distinctive feature?" he asked, not as gruffly as prior days' questions, yet not sickeningly soft either.

While asking this, Neji pondered what he had just inquired. The question was a little more vague than previous questions and it dumbfounded the Hyuuga at why Lee would ask such a stupid question.

Nevertheless, Neji asked it for him, and kept silent about his own opinion. Like it mattered anyway…

"Oh." Sakura said, sounding a bit deflated. Was she anticipating another question?

Neji was about to remind her that the question was not of his interest, but he figured that the girl knew full well already. She needed no reminder.

Instead, he let the silence pry out an answer from her.

Sakura turned around and crossed her arms, peering at the mirror that reflected her image.

"That's a stupid question." Sakura stated almost sadly and Neji couldn't agree more. However, he bit his tongue to let her continue. "Isn't it obvious?"

The Hyuuga raised a brow. What was obvious? If he were to answer the question for her, he'd certainly reply her pink hair or green eyes. No one in Konoha possessed those two in combination…

What was SHE referring to?

"You can't answer a question with a question." Neji firmly stated, as if announcing rules to a boxing match. "Tell me what's obvious."

Wide green orbs peered into his Byaakugan eyes as if to silently ponder 'You can't be serious.'…

"Come on, Hyuuga. You were the graduating class's number one rookie. Don't tell me you can't tell?" she scoffed lightly. It was as if his tone had suddenly found its way into her mouth.

Neji was still wondering if he should have stated the color of her hair or eyes, because at the moment, that's what was most obvious to him. He wasn't sure if they were referring to the same thing.

To his silence, Sakura became impatient. She brought two fingers up to her forehead and tapped slightly.

"My forehead, baka. Can't you tell it's GINORMOUS?"

Her face suddenly seemed to radiate a certain angry aura, as if admitting it only made the fact more true. Saying her forehead was big only triggered memories of her unpleasant childhood, and she seemed to be vastly irritated.

Neji raised an eyebrow.

"If by ginormous, you mean no bigger than anyone else's, then yes, it is EXTREMELY ginormous."

For a brief moment, both were surprised at his simple statement. But all quickly deflated when Sakura lowered her eyebrows in growing rage.

"Please, Neji. Don't do me any favors. I don't appreciate being lied to." She grumbled, staring hard at the floor.

Why was she so touchy about this?

"I don't lie." Neji growled back, matching her own anger with his. He didn't appreciate being called a LIAR.

Sakura contemplated his words and stayed silent. It was rather true that the Hyuuga's integrity meant just as much to him as his Byaakugan eyes. Lying accomplished nothing in the family, so he never lied.

So… was he telling the truth?

"You really don't think my forehead's big?"

Irritated eyebrows creased his forehead.

"Woman, you were the academy's second honored graduating rookie." He stated, mimicking her earlier tone. "I don't need to spell it out for you."

Sakura was a little taken back by his response, and deciphered it to be that he DIDN'T think her forehead was big. With that said, the kunoichi felt a little calmer. If the Hyuuga really was a man of integrity just as he said he was, then he was telling the truth.

Haruno Sakura, according to the Hyuuga, had finally outgrown her oversized forehead once and for all.

HELL YEAH!

Before she could mutter a word of thanks, Neji shifted to stand in front of the mirror, a couple of inches next to her.

White eyes peered into their reflection.

"What's so terrible about having a big forehead anyway?" he suddenly asked, surprising the kunoichi.

"That's question nine." She said, trying to dismiss the subject. "You've asked your question for the day."

Neji, for once, did not care.

"Screw the rules. Answer my question."

Sakura slightly glanced at him and his harshness. She then sighed, submitting to his forceful glare, as all her memories came flooding back to her.

"You don't understand." She said. "Little girls are mean. Little girls are shallow. And when ONE popular girl thinks you're ugly, then ALL the girls do. Then they do whatever the popular girl says. If she wants to flick your forehead and call you weak and ugly, then it's only a matter of time before the rest of the bimbo sheep follow along. That's just the way it works when you're a little girl."

It was stupid, really, but that was exactly how her childhood was like. She was the late bloomer, the ugly duckling. Even now, she was a late bloomer in realizing her full power potential. Her big forehead was the cause of all her insecurities.

"That," Neji scoffed, "Is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard."

"Hey, I don't make up the rules. That's just how girls are."

To think of it, little girls could have been rated far more venomous than Orochimaru's own cursed seal.

Neji began to look pissed. The thing that made her feel so weak was her big forehead? Holy crap, the girl had it EASY compared to him.

And he was about to let her know.

Taking off his forehead protector and bandages, Neji closed his eyes.

"Be grateful it was just a larger forehead, that you eventually grew into." He revealed the mark that permanently sealed his fate. "You're misfortune did not last forever."

Now, Sakura had seen the mark on his forehead before, but it was from a far distance, in the stadium stands during his and Naruto's chuunin exam fight. She had never witnessed it so close, nor had she felt its vast potentially harmful aura.

She instantly forgot her self-pity.

"Hyuuga-san…" she breathed. How could she have forgotten? How could she have been so selfish? She thought that SHE had it bad with the oversized forehead, when all along, HIS own had a mark that could possibly kill him in the future. He was forever reminded of his duty as a mere branch member of the great Hyuuga household.

Suddenly, her problem didn't seem so big anymore.

"Be grateful for everything you have with the thought that it could be worse." Neji said and began to cover the mark again. Showing it was just what the girl needed for self-confidence.

Sakura put a hand to her mouth.

"Neji-san… I am so sor—"

A hand was put up in interruption.

"I just wanted to make a point. What those girls said back then was stupid and you know it. Anyone who thinks you can't change your destiny is an idiot."

He knew. He used to be a hardcore destiny follower. He didn't want the girl to lead that same unfulfilling path.

As if sensing the plummeting of the comfortability level, Neji made this his cue to leave.

"Your forehead, then. Is that your answer?" he asked, before opening the door.

Sakura paused a moment, unsure if she wanted to carry on their conversation further. It was strange because she had heard from Naruto that Neji had hidden his curse mark from everyone, and felt disgraced to show it. Why then had he chosen to show her?

The kunoichi smiled at his character in which she was slowly growing fond of. He was completely worth getting to know, she could just feel it.

And these daily rendezvous?

…Well, she could get used to them.

"Yes." She replied with the playful grin returning to her bright face. "Definitely my forehead."

This time, it was said with a certain degree of PRIDE, and in that, Neji felt fulfilled.

The Hyuuga turned his back on her so that she could not see the small smirk that could not be suppressed.

"Ahh." He sighed as he stepped out of her abode.

Green eyes watched his retreating back as she did at the end of their everyday sessions.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She said softly, the first time that sentence was ever spoken between them.

Yes, it had officially become their time now. That same hour, that same place, each day.

It belonged to them.

"Ahh." Neji replied again, and then slightly turned his head. "Don't make me lose track again…Forehead girl."

Then he walked away.

It took Sakura a while to realize that he had actually been playfully teasing her by calling her the horrendous dreaded childhood nickname she had inherited, and if it were anyone else, she would have pummeled them to dust in two seconds flat.

Strangely enough, it was Neji, and she didn't mind.

Not one bit.

Author's note: More coming. I should tie this off soon…

Dunno yet.