I'm back!

Wow...I wasn't expecting this story to get a lot of interest this early on...thanks very much to everyone who reviewed! I'll admit I have not been supplying a lot of detail about surroundings and emotions thus far...that is partially because I've been writing chapters in stages, and also because this is all elementary build-up towards things to come. Details are nice, but I wanted the first few chapters to move somewhat quickly...not overly fast, to the point where it's a blur and you don't feel connected, but quick enough to where it sets up the good part without being equivalent to it. Basically, the development flaw was intentional. Anyway...on with the show.

Up until now, it had been a straightforward day for Haruno Sakura...the warm afternoon sun was stealing the moisture from her brow, but she was not concerned. The will of Inner Sakura pushed her on...until a shrill yelp and some uneven ground brought her out of her focused activities and forced her eyes to open.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

Of course, Sakura heard Kiba's yell...how could she not? She also heard the irritated and shrill barking of the small dog that was with him, but both sounds were growing distant as she continued her jog, weaving through the forests of Konoha. They're right though...I really need to stay aware of my surroundings...!

Suddenly, she felt a sharp stinging sensation in the back of her leg and stumbled forward. As she fought to regain her balance, she heard a rock roll across the ground. Sakura hopped on her good leg for a moment, slowly kicking the other out and looking for any serious damage. Eventually, she turned around to face the source of the noise.

Kiba was above, balanced on a tree limb with a look of menace on his face, and his hand was extended in a follow-through to a throw. "Look you b+tch! You nearly stepped on Akamaru, and then you didn't even apologize!"

Kiba noticed the frown cross her face, and knew she was feeling guilty now. As he prepared to berate her more, however, he noticed that she had begun jogging in place, and then she broke into a smile and waved.

"I'm sorry, Kiba! I'll watch where I'm going better from now on...and next time I won't miss! See ya!"

Sakura waved again, then turned and jogged off. Kiba smirked. He hadn't heard every word of it, but based on her expression, that must have been the apology he asked for. "That's more like it..."

Akamaru paused, and then began barking loudly and angrily.

Kiba's ears perked up. "Wait a minute...Akamaru...she said what?"

E V O L U T I O N
Chapter 2: A Lesson in Finesse

Nearly two weeks had passed since Sakura had exhaustedly entered the forest area of Gai's team and skinned her knuckles to the point of barely being able to ball a fist. She'd decided against doing that again, and had begun jogging throughout Konoha's vast forest for cardio work. Neji was right about pushing to the absolute limit...but she still could push her stamina limits without bleeding to death.

And that's exactly what she planned to do. Slowly but surely, she increased the pace and the duration of her late workouts. The stamina boost she was getting was quite noticeable. She even lost 5 pounds!

Yet, all the staying power she could muster wouldn't help her beat Naruto...he was a monster. Their training sessions had gone longer as the weeks went by, but she still needed frequent breaks...the onslaught of the kage bunshin was just too much to handle. Soon, she decided, she would turn her efforts to taking Naruto down. But first, there were some other things on the menu for a change.

And that's why on Thursday, Naruto walked Sakura home in the afternoon, and no one saw her the rest of the day. Sakura grabbed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and began to read. I've allowed Naruto's gung-ho attitude to take me to my limit for too long. Today, she decided, will be a day of rest. And tomorrow...I train in style.

Not to mention she'd had the book for 3 weeks already and hadn't touched it...

Friday came, and Sakura began her mission. She'd finished her book and gotten pissed over the ending. She'd slept a full 8 hours. She jogged to the practice field without wheezing. There was no reason to doubt today would be a good day.

Naruto, on the other hand, had stayed up all night. He was visibly sluggish today, and hope of actually beating him began to grow in Sakura's heart. But still yet, Sakura couldn't get close to his level. She did surprise him, however, by going on the offensive first. No matter...this wasn't her focus for the day. Afterwards, Sakura had the energy to eat lunch after training with Naruto before taking a nap. Then, she realized she wasn't actually tired. The previous day's rest had paid off! And so she set off to begin her true mission for the day.

Sakura walked the familiar path over to the normal training area for Gai's team, and stared at the punching stump she had trained on last time. As she stared, she could hear his words to her...

"It doesn't take the Byakugan to see you're too weak to be training right now..."

"Your efforts are pointless when you risk everything in making them..."

This time, Sakura declared mentally, she wasn't winded or hurt, and she was confident she could keep going. Though she'd taken Neji's words to heart, she refused to read between the linesfor what he didn't say outright. I know he really wants me not to come back...butI need to get used to punching, and there's no better way. A smile of strange anticipation crossed her face. It was time to get some womanly calluses on her hands.

About 5 minutes into her training, she heard someone walking towards her, out of the grass and into the clearing. They were lightly dragging their feet, as if they wanted to make absolutely certain they were heard approaching. That could only be one person...Neji.

She continued attacking the tree, waiting for some kind of greeting or insult, but none came. After a while, Sakura began to think that maybe someone had come to watch her, and she picked up her pace and swung a bit harder. May as well give the poor spectator a show! Finally, a baritone voice cut through the rhythmic thwacking sound.

"Why are you here again?" Neji placed his right hand on his hip and, in the corner of Sakura's eye, looked quite like a bossy mother.

Sakura couldn't help but smirk. "Why are you bothering to ask?"

"Because, you're interrupting my training again."

"Whoopdie-doo..."

Neji sighed. Gai had specifically told him not to act like he owned this training area...

As Neji finished telling his instructor about the previous day's events, he was quite surprised when Gai-sensei didn't leap into some type of action. Neji remained standing and folded his arms. Patiently, he silently studied his instructor and awaited a response.

Gaihad been sitting Indian-style in meditation before Neji came to speak with him, and his cleared mind was now slightly troubled. Gai looked down to the ground, his eyes closed. Taking a moment to digest the situation entirely, he massaged his leg muscles slowly. Eventually, he parted his lips and responded slowly. "I seeee...so you forced her to leave."

Neji frowned. That type of comment could only mean one thing, unless Gai had seriously misheard him. It meant that Gai had made a forceful decision that Neji wouldn't like..."No. I convinced her to see the error in her ways."

Gai nodded lightly, acknowledging the error, and Neji remained still. "There is only one problem I see...it is her choice."

Neji's eyes widened in annoyance. "I didn't force her to leave...I made her aware of the risk she was taking." Hadn't he just corrected that? It was like Gai wasn't even listening...

Gai swiftly leaped to his feet, and his voice tripled in volume. "This is a training area for all who hear the call of youth! To train their flame to burn brighter! So that when the time is right, they may EXPLODE into glory! There is no beauty like..."

Neji instinctively blocked out the rest. There was no hope in changing his sensei's mind now.

Neji scoffed in frustration. The birds were long gone by now...enough of a disturbance had been made to scare them off. And he'd be disobeying a direct order from Gai if he continued to bother her. This time, Neji would take the high road. "Fine. I'll just practice kaiten."

Sakura didn't turn to see him go, but she assumed he was gone after that. Suddenly, she heard a rush of wind and could feel the air moving around her. Tilting her head, she noticed Neji nearby, spinning gracefully, and effectively fanning the area. I suppose you wouldn't want to practice kaiten in the woods...it would be quite destructive. It suddenly dawned on her that he was sharing the area with her. A minor victory, but at least she hadn't had to yell at him. That had to be worth someth...

"Hakkeshou KAITEN!"

A powerful gust of wind surged from Neji, and Sakura went flying towards the edge of the clearing. She managed to catch her balance and land on her feet, then turned to Neji in confusion and rising anger...

Neji had a large smirk on his face, and a mischievous twinkle in his eye that Sakura could not find amusing at the moment. "Sorry. Much like someone else I know, I got carried away."

Sakura bit her lip and refused to dignify that remark with a response. She walked back over to the stump and began to punch again. No one said anything for a couple of minutes.

Surprisingly enough, Neji broke the silence. "And what, might I ask, is the purpose of this?"

"I need to toughen up." Sakura's face scrunched up as she decided to keep punching no matter what Neji said...

"By punching wood?" Neji scoffed. "That's a Rock Lee thing to do if I ever--"

"...and I have to train my muscles to strike...repetition is the best way to master something."

Neji frowned, but remained silent. He had to admit, his style of training was entirely different...but then again, so was his style of fighting. If a normal punch was a hammer blow, his style was a dagger thrust. Improving his accuracy and resilience didn't require plowing his knuckles into a blunt object repetitively...or ever. So maybe he had no idea what was proper for this situation. Still yet, something about this was just silly to him.

But, then again, what could he do? His training ended the moment she walked into the clearing and started hitting things and obnoxiously yelling. He wasn't allowed to ruin hers. It was too early to bother going home. Neji found himself pissed, and all he could think about was how annoying it was to watch her strike this tree...

"Enough of this." Neji finally chose to break his silence.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in mid-punch and felt her fist go astray and only graze the wood. "What?"

"Repetition is pointless when you're not repeating anything..." Neji paused for a moment in thought, and then began to crack his knuckles.

"Huh?" What is he saying? Sakura stopped and turned to face him, watching him crack his knuckles.

Neji felt the need to be blunt. "Your stance is horrible." There. Straight to the point.

"Eh!" Neji, are you going to try to lecture me off the training ground? Anyone around would have sensed Sakura's competitive nature rising...

"How do you expect to hit anyone with a punch you throw that way?" Neji mockingly flailed his fists at the air. "You've got no form at all..."

This was not constructive criticism to Sakura, and it was beginning to get annoying. "Ok, Neji-sensei...how else do you throw a punch?" Sakura used her most abrasive and mocking tone, hoping to cut him down a notch.

For a split second, Neji frowned. But then, as if a switch had been flipped, he wiped his face of all emotion. Dang it, I may not have thrown many punches myself, Neji thought, but I've watched Rock Lee throw 3,000 in a row that were better than your best. Neji walked over to the tree. He mechanically squatted down a bit and pulled his arms to his sides. With a fluent motion, he extended one arm forward until his fist hit the wood...a satisfying "thunk" could be heard as his fist hit evenly across the face of the wood. "That's how you throw a punch." Sakura looked curiously at his stance, then looked away and attempted to mimic what she had seen.

Suddenly, she felt hands at her waist and tensed up. The hands roughly pulled down, forcing her to bend her knees more and plant her feet entirely on the ground. Just as she realized that it was Neji behind her, his voice invaded her ears. "You throw your punches off-balance...that means you won't have total control over where they hit." Then his hands shifted up to her arms.

Neji felt the hair on Sakura's arms stand on end as his fingers touched her skin. He heard Sakura lightly say "Let go of me," but he chose to ignore that as he pulled her arms into a proper pre-punch position. Not lingering, Neji let go of her and took a step back. "Try it now."

Sakura tilted her head and turned to look at him, attempting to figure out why he would bother with her, but his face was--again--without emotion. Completely unreadable. Tentatively, she turned back toward the stump. She certainly felt more stable in this stance...finally, she threw a couple of punches.

Neji recalled her confusion at his earlier criticisms and chose to explain his words as he watched her strike. "Repetition is pointless when you're not repeating anything. If you're not hitting the same spot on the wood, then you're not repeating the same motion, and your body learns nothing." He heard the thunk as her fist hit the wood again.

Sakura could immediately tell the difference. Her accuracy was a lot better now that she wasn't attempting to throw haymakers...and it didn't hurt as much either. Good advice, she decided. After a few more punches, she broke stance, turned to Neji, and bowed. "Thanks for the advice, Neji--"

Sakura blinked."Neji?" Rising back up, she glanced around, then turned in a 360. Neji was gone.

--End Chapter 3--

And there you have it. This chapter was actually going to be twice as long, but I'd been working on the second half for so long now that I figured it was time to just get the first half out. The second half will come out sooner or later, but I'm going to work on cranking out another chapter on most of my other stories first.

On another note, is it just me, or is not a fan of double spaces after periods?