Since Naruto's return to Leaf Village almost two weeks earlier, Sakura had seen very little of the spiky haired blond. This was likely due to the fact that Tsunade occupied every waking moment of her life. Even when Sakura wasn't on guard duty or teaching Tsunade's classes, she was training with Lee, Neji, and Tenten. She was so worn out by the end of the day she didn't have any time to think about anything else.
But she wouldn't be able to go home and crash tonight, Ino had made sure of that. Ino had told her everyone was heading down to the pub to catch up. Since Ino had decided Sakura had been socially deprived lately, she was making her come out.
So that's where she was now, sharing a table with Ino, Lee, Naruto and Shikamaru and for the most part was enjoying herself. Damn, Ino for being so perceptive and seeing through her!
When Lee left to grab another drink, Ino leaned across the table and said, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with me," was Sakura's expected response.
Ino made a face. "Your lying skills disgrace shinobi everywhere. I thought once Naruto and Sasuke came back you'd be happy. But you're acting just like you did when they were gone," she said, lowering her voice enough so the boys wouldn't here her.
Since Sasuke was still in ANBU custody, Sakura didn't really consider him as being back in her life but that was beside the point. "Stop worrying about me, Ino. I'll be fine," she said, plastering a fake smile on her face.
Lee rejoined their table then and Sakura shot Ino a warning look to stop their current conversation, just as Lee threw an arm around her shoulders. She didn't need the both of them worrying over her, and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to ruin everyone's night.
Across the pub at his own table, Neji watched the group of friends sitting together with narrowed eyes. "How can they act like that?" He said in mild disgust when Lee put his arm around Sakura as they laughed at something Naruto had said.
"They flirt all the time, it's not really a big deal," said Tenten, knowing where his gaze was directed. "It's never bothered you before, though."
"It doesn't bother me," he said coolly.
"Well, you've been staring at them for awhile," she observed.
Neji snapped his eyes over to Tenten. If it were anyone else, they would have shown signs of intimidation of the glare being directed at them. She matched his glare and they stayed like that until Neji broke the gaze first.
He wasn't even sure why he had allowed Tenten to coerce him into coming there in the first place. He tended to avoid any sort of large group outing, but the rest of his team had been going so he had got dragged along with them.
Not caring if he had made a suitable appearance or not, Neji decided to leave. Hiashi had offered to train with him at first light and he wanted to be well rested. He would not show any weakness in front of the leader of the Head Family.
"You're leaving?" Tenten said to as he stood up.
"Yes, I think I'm going to return home now," he stated.
Normally, Tenten would not let him off the hook that easily, but he was in no mood for any of their friendly quarrels. He really just wanted to be alone. He doubted that anyone would notice his absence anyway.
"I'm leaving," Sakura announced, pushing back from the table.
Ino looked like she was about to protest, but Lee came to her rescue as always.
"I can walk you home, Sakura-chan, if you like," he offered.
She smiled and nodded, ignoring the look Ino was sending her.
"Come on, Sakura-chan, you can stay a bit longer," Naruto whined.
"I'm sorry, I have to be at the Academy first thing in the morning," she said with an apologetic smile. It might have been a lame excuse but Naruto bought it or at least decided getting her to stay wasn't going to happen.
She walked out with Lee, the cool night air rushing against her exposed arms and face. They started out in the direction of her house, Lee knowing the path quite well from walking her home so many times after training or missions, or on nights just like this.
The great thing about Lee was she never felt pressured to talk or strike up a conversation. They could train together for hours and not need to say a word. He was one of the few people she could feel completely at ease with.
"Your guard duty at the Hokage palace is over tomorrow, is it not?" Lee said to her.
"Finally," she said, more than a little exasperated. "But Tsunade would like me to continue teaching her medic-nin class at the Academy if I'm not away on missions," she went on. "I really don't know why. Tsunade has much more experience and knowledge then I have."
"Tsunade-sama believes in you. If she didn't think you were a capable medic she would not allow you to teach them. Sakura-san, everyone has their strengths, and yours is healing. Thanks to you, Tenten is also being instructed by Tsunade-sama."
"How do you do that?" Sakura said a moment later.
Lee blinked in confusion. "Do what?"
"Make me feel better than I really am."
Lee smiled at her. "You do that all on your own."
She felt something slip between her fingers – Lee's hand. This was definitely new territory for them. Sure, they flirted and goofed around, but this was a whole different level. She loved him, but even after all this time she wasn't sure if her feelings for him went beyond friendship. It felt nice though to be close to him.
When Sakura didn't yank her hand away or hit him, Lee felt a thrill go through him. He had told her once that he would wait for her, and he had held true to that promise. There would never be anyone else who could capture his heart the same way she had. But he would gladly settle for being just Sakura's friend if he had to.
"I guess a lot has changed since I've been gone," came Sasuke's voice from across the street.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura breathed. He was still supposed to be in ANBU custody. Or had they released him and no one bothered to tell her about it?
Lee felt Sakura's fingers slip away from his. For the first time in years he felt a surge of jealousy towards Uchiha Sasuke. "I see ANBU has finally released you," he remarked.
Instead of responding, Sasuke moved from across the street and was standing in front of them in a blink of an eye. Even with his high speed Taijutsu, Lee wasn't able to prevent him from grabbing Sakura's arm.
"You had no right to try out your freak medicine on me," he seethed.
Although Lee wasn't faster enough to prevent him from grabbing a hold of her, he aimed a blow at Sasuke's head, who was forced to relinquish his hold in order to avoid being hit.
Lee moved to stand protectively in front of Sakura. "Do not touch Sakura-san again," he warned, staring down Sasuke.
Sasuke smirked. "What will you do if I try?"
"I won't let you try," Lee said, his voice full of determination.
"Lee-san, let's go," Sakura urged. She had a bad feeling about the situation.
Lee ignored her request and charged at Sasuke. I'm sorry, Gai-Sensei, he apologized to his mentor and friend. Gai-Sensei had taught him better than to fight amongst fellow comrades, but he couldn't obey his teacher than. Sasuke was not deserving of that respect.
Before Lee's upper thrust could hit Sasuke, he vanished. Lee stopped in mid strike and focused all his strength into his left leg, anticipating correctly that the Uchiha would materialize behind him, thanks to watching his performance out in the desert.
His kick grazed Sasuke across the middle, but he was already moving back before it could do more damage. Lee spun around, watching as the Sharingan shone brightly in his opponent's eyes. After watching Sasuke's speed and seeing it had surpassed his own, he needed some leverage. Speed was the key to all his moves and he needed more. He reached down and removed the straps on his lower legs that kept the weights in place there. While the mountain of weights crashed through the pavement, Sasuke was already going in for the next attack.
Lee moved aside effortlessly. Now with his newfound speed was able to see how much slower Sasuke was. However, his eyes widened in alarm when he saw it had just been a decoy. Sasuke, the real one this time, was beside him. Lee cursed himself for being fooled by such a basic trick, but there was no way for him to react in time as Sasuke used his own spinning kick against him.
Lee hit the building wall at an incredible speed, the impact of it leaving him momentarily stunned. He could hear Sakura screaming something, and when he looked back he understood why. The visible chakra molding around Sasuke's hand was incredible – and could only mean one thing. The Chidori.
"Sasuke-kun, stop it!" Sakura shouted, but it was useless. Sasuke was already charging towards the fallen Lee. Panicking, Sakura didn't know what else to do except to somehow get to Lee first and stop the attack.
She started running and then had to turn and protect herself as a whirlwind of sand got spread in every direction. She squeezed her eyes shut, hearing the impact of the Chidori into something solid – and then nothing. She opened her eyes and the onslaught of sand was gone. She turned towards the fight to see Sasuke on the ground, holding his left arm, which was dripping with blood, and then to Lee who was just getting to his feet, while Gaara of the Sand stood in front of him as a protective shield.
She gaped at Gaara. She didn't even he was back in Konoha. She had thought with the Sand treaty almost signed, Tsunade would have released him from his duties by now.
In the past and even to this day, since so many of Konoha's residents were uneasy about Gaara's presence, some even to the point of resentful, Tsunade had made a point of not keeping him in the village too long between missions. Somehow during that time Gaara and Lee had forged something resembling a friendship. Or maybe she was giving Gaara too much credit. She didn't know if he understood what a friend was, but there was definitely an understanding between them. They made an odd pair, as Gaara was almost responsible for ending Lee's dream of being a shinobi, but that all seemed to be in the past.
"You have the same eyes as before, Uchiha," Gaara spoke, looking directly at Sasuke. "Why do you let that pain control you?"
Sasuke hauled himself to his feet. He didn't respond to Gaara. He started walking away. As he passed Sakura, his expression was unreadable but the murderous rage was no longer present in his eyes.
The scene of Naruto and Sasuke, willing to fight to the death at the Konoha hospital three years earlier was replaying itself in her head. Instead of Kakashi stopping it this time, it was Gaara.
She went over to make sure Lee was all right, but the venomous glare he shot her made her flinch. She had never seen that look in his eyes.
He started walking off in the opposite direction as Sasuke.
"Lee-san!" She called after him, but he did not turn or slow his pace.
"Do not go after him, Sakura," Gaara advised, as if reading her thoughts.
To anyone else that would have sounded like a warning or threat, but because she was close to Lee, she had got to know Gaara quite well – or at least as well as one could know Gaara. He was simply giving her advice. Advice that she didn't want to take, but still remained where she was.
A block away, with his Byakugan, Neji had seen the whole thing unfold.
Tenten cried out as her body hit the solid ground. She couldn't even catch her breath before the next attack came. She jumped to her feet and launched an assault with her massive array of weapons.
Her opponent went into a near perfect three hundred and sixty degree defense spin, blocking her weapons harmlessly. Tenten almost let her guard down then and the results would have been deadly. When they normally sparred, Neji put up that kind of defense to deflect her weapons harmlessly to the ground. But she had known from the start, Neji was not looking to train – he had been looking for a battle. She had humoured him as best she could, but now with her weapons being propelled back to her, she wanted to know what the hell was wrong with him.
She managed to dodge all but a couple of shurikens that grazed her left shoulder.
"What's with you today?" She demanded.
"I don't know what you mean," he responded.
"I came here to spar. You came here to battle out your frustrations. You haven't fought like this in a long time," she said, removing her hand from a shoulder wound and seeing blood there.
"If you feel inadequate to handle my attacks, perhaps you should find a new partner," he said coolly.
"I think I can hold my own," said a new voice.
Tenten turned to see who it was, while Neji remained in the same pose, probably having sensed the person's approach.
"You don't want to fight him today, Sakura," Tenten warned her. "He seems to have forgotten what training means," she finished, throwing a glare at Neji.
"I'll be all right," Sakura said with more confidence than she felt. She hadn't been able to find Lee anywhere, so to avoid losing a morning of training had sought out Tenten and Neji.
"Listen, I have training with Tsunade-sama now," Tenten said, walking past her. "Be careful. He won't show you any mercy today."
With Tenten gone, Sakura suddenly wondered why she had been so eager to fight Neji. She had never beaten him before, and she was always the one who came out of their battles a little worse for wear. But unlike anyone else she trained with, Neji would never hold back, not even a little. While others might be disturbed by that fact, she knew she could always test how far her fighting skills had advanced when going against Neji.
"You saw what happened to Tenten. I will not hold back," Neji warned her.
"I'm not asking you to," she shot back.
"Foolish girl," he muttered. He took a step towards her, re-activating his Byakugan.
Sakura adjusted her posture to that of a fighting stance. She was much stronger in close combat situations now, which Neji preferred as a method of fighting. She didn't have Lee's speed, but by focusing her chakra where she needed it helped to propel her movements.
Tenten's warning had been dead on. Neji came at her relentlessly, not giving her the time she needed to form any seals. She managed to avoid or block his thrusts, but just barely. She couldn't remember him fighting this ruthlessly since their first time through the Chuunin exam where he had been matched up against Hinata. A terrible thought struck her then, causing her to pay careful attention to his fingertips. The chakra was visible around them and Neji read the fear in her eyes with his Byakugan.
"This will be over quickly," he promised her.
She recalled her training with Tsunade. If she could manage to somehow touch him, she could possibly slow down his blood flow enough that he wouldn't be able to use any chakra in one arm. So far, however, she had seen no opening for such an attack. She knew that Tsunade had told her to not use her medical training as a weapon against comrades, but it seemed to be the only way to even the playing field between them.
She continued to block his attacks, doing everything possible to keep those hands from so much as grazing the fabric on her Chuunin uniform. She watched his movement with careful eyes, waiting until he overcommitted himself to one of his thrusts. Only a careful observer would have noticed this and Sakura saw this as the opening she had been looking for.
She went for Neji's spread out arm, knowing that even if she didn't hit the right vein there was still a very good chance she could weaken his chakra flow in that arm.
She suddenly felt a white-hot pain against her ribs and her movement faltered. She looked down to find Neji's hand pressed against her ribcage. He removed his hand and then slammed it into the same spot sending her flying backwards. She landed as a sprawled heap on the ground.
Sakura was having trouble breathing and whenever she sucked in air a splintering pain shot up from her ribs. The pain made her feel like even more of a fool. She should have known better. Neji never left himself vulnerable, yet this time he had done it on purpose.
She managed to sit up, coughing up blood as she did so.
"You shouldn't move. You probably have broken ribs."
She ignored him and managed to crawl over to a nearby tree, resting her back on its trunk for support.
"I did not expect you to fall for such an obvious ploy," he said, standing over her.
"I didn't expect you to act like a bastard, so I guess we're both at fault," she said in the iciest tone she could muster.
Something in Neji's eyes flickered and for a moment she thought he might actually be remorseful. Then they want back to their normal cold white orbs and she felt even more foolish for thinking he might be regretting what he had done. Neji was incapable of showing remorse or guilt.
"Do you need me to bring you to Lady Hokage?"
"I'm perfectly capable of healing myself," she said stubbornly through gritted teeth. She had never healed her own broken bones before, so it might get interesting or be a complete disaster.
She felt around her ribcage wincing as she did so. She closed her eyes and concentrated, quickly finding two cracked ribs. Her chakra was half spent from the battle so she had to focus more than she would normally have to in order to heal herself.
She molded chakra on one of her hands and rested it against her injured ribs. With her eyes squeezed shut in concentration, she missed Neji's brows knit together in concern as he stayed with her while she healed herself.