For the tenth time since arriving at the Academy Gala, Lee fiddled with the collar on the shinobi dress uniform he was wearing.
"Lee, you have to stop doing that," Sakura said, stifling a giggle and grabbing his hand to stop him.
"I can't help it, it's uncomfortable," he complained. Not for the first time since leaving Konoha, Lee wished he were wearing his comfortable green jumpsuit.
Neji simply looked away from his teammates. It was clear those two had made up. The touching and the giggling were evidence of that. Scanning the crowd, he thought it wouldn't kill them to act more like shinobi than teens at their first dance. For Neji, public functions like this were second nature to him. There had been countless Head Family events he had been forced to participate in and this was no different – except now, instead of watching for signs of someone trying to assassinate a Head Family member, he was keeping an eye on the three Sound ninja at the other end of the room. As of yet, there was no sign of Kabuto.
It would have made things a lot easier if he could use his Byakugan, but that would not fit with his cover story.
His eyes narrowed when he saw one of the Sound shinobi leaving the hall. "Sakura, Lee," he said, grabbing their attention. "One of the Sound just left," he informed them.
"I guess I'll just have to see what he's up to," said Lee.
Neji frowned. This part of the plan he had disliked from the start, but there had been no other way around it. Lee was the fastest out of the three of them, making him the obvious choice follow any of the Sound that left the room.
"Be careful," Sakura warned.
"Remember to check in and let us know what's going on. If something goes wrong, back off, Lee," Neji instructed him.
While Lee quietly excused himself from the room, Sakura watched the remaining two Sound ninjas converse with a pair from Mist.
"We should dance," Neji said in a stiff voice beside her.
"Dance?" She echoed. Neji did not look like the person who could loosen up enough to dance.
"It will help us fit in and we can keep a better eye on what's going on if we're in the center of the room," he reasoned.
Still unsure, she followed him to the dance floor. Somewhat hesitantly, Neji placed one hand on her lower back and then led with the other. Sakura copied his movements. The both of them were trying not to stand too close together, but also not too far apart for it would look strange.
Sakura, who had had her doubts about this since stepping onto the dance floor, felt them slip away as she followed Neji's movements. After a time, it was she who was having trouble keeping up with him.
"You look surprised," Neji observed as they danced.
"It's just you don't look the type who dances."
"I don't. But it is required at certain Hyuuga functions."
She thought she detected a hint of mortification is his tone. The thought of Neji being forced to dance with Hinata or anyone else was almost too much to bear without laughing.
"I see you're amused by this."
"Neji, you have to admit the idea of you waltzing around the Hyuuga mansion is kind of funny. Does Gai-Sensei know about this hidden talent of yours?" She teased.
Neji quickly rid himself of the urge to let out an uncharacteristic smile. He was so accustomed to controlling – and when need be suppressing his emotions – that he felt off balance at how easily Haruno Sakura could destroy all that work. She could be more annoying than Tenten and seemed to be at her happiest when she was infuriating him. But more than anything he understood the loneliness coursing through her veins for he had experienced the same thing. Neji would have sighed if she had not been right there in front of him. He was not an easy person to distract, which was why he found it so disturbing that she could do this to him. He was not one to be swayed by physical beauty either – more times than not he ignored it altogether, but it was rather difficult to ignore Sakura in the dress she was wearing.
"I've tracked the Sound ninja to the labs on the fifth floor," Lee's voice came through their earpieces clearly.
"Is there anyone else with him," Neji said, looking at Sakura so anyone nearby would think he was speaking to her.
"Not that I can see," Lee answered, his voice barely above a whisper now. "But if he's alone, some sort of exchange must be going to take place."
Sakura hated being there, leaving Lee alone to handle whatever was going to happen on the fifth floor. She wanted to ask him if he had seen the professor she had described to them yesterday, but the veins around Neji's eyes crinkled and she felt his grip on her lower back tighten.
"What is it?" She asked him.
"Kabuto," he hissed.
Sakura forget they were supposed to be dancing and let go of Neji. Kabuto was whispering something in the ear of one of the Sound, who was nodding as he did so. Kabuto then retreated to the nearest exit.
"We're leaving," Neji told her.
"Lee, we've spotted Kabuto," Sakura said, keeping her voice low. "Neji and I are pursuing him."
They strode purposefully towards the door, not wanting to lose sight of him. When they were out in the foyer, Neji gave up searching in such a basic way and activated his Byakugan. A moment later he had his answer.
"He's heading for the stairs," he told Sakura and ran towards their intended target.
Sakura was right behind him.
Sakura had tried several times to reach Lee through their secured line. All of those attempts were unsuccessful, but as they were in pursuit of Kabuto, she couldn't afford to waste too much time thinking about it.
Neji suddenly halted and held out a hand for her to do the same. The academy was such a maze of corridors and rooms that even with what Sakura had remembered from the floor plan helped them out only marginally.
They were on the third floor now and even with his Byakugan Neji had seen no sign of Kabuto. His eyes widened suddenly when the air in front of him rippled. That was not natural at all.
"Sakura, get down!" Neji shouted as he activated the defense field around himself, blocking the onslaught of shurikens aimed at him.
"That Byakugan of yours seems to have some weaknesses after all," Kabuto observed, becoming fully visible now. "If I don't move, you can't see my cloaked form. How interesting."
"You're an S rank criminal," Neji spoke through clenched teeth. "We won't let you leave this place."
"You don't have a choice in that, Hyuuga Neji," said Kabuto.
Sensing the attack, Neji reactivated his absolute defense, only to look down at his left shoulder when he felt the searing pain of a kunai slicing through his skin. He didn't understand how Kabuto had discovered his blind spot so quickly. There was no way for him to know there was a very small area that he was unable to defend.
"I do not wish to kill you," Kabuto said, moving forward, "but you may leave me with no other choice."
Neji took extra care to block Kabuto's taijutsu attacks, knowing he was a medic nin on the same level as Tsunade. Kabuto was also careful not to underestimate the Jounin fighting against him.
Kabuto jumped back from their fighting area and formed a quick combination of seals with his hands. His cloaking field was in place again and Neji and Sakura could not see him.
Neji, seeing the intense ripple of air coming from his right side, activated his defense shield once again.
"I anticipated you would do this," Kabuto's voice rang near his ear. He materialized inside of the defense bubble. He placed one hand on Neji's shoulder and the other on his chest, a smile crossing his features. "This will hurt."
Chakra emitted from Kabuto's hands and invaded Neji's body. Neji muffled a gasp of agony, even though the pain was excruciating. He felt as though every muscle fiber in his body was being torn apart. It wasn't long before open wounds appeared on his arm and chest and blood came pouring out. Unable to break contact, he endured the blinding pain, biting his lip so hard to keep from screaming he tasted blood in his mouth.
He felt his arm being released, but the pain did not relent. He fell gasping to his knees. He saw a barrage of kunai fly by his face and feared Sakura would try to take on Kabuto. He would surely kill her if she did that.
Then someone was running past him in black pants and a long coat and he knew that wasn't Sakura. He tried to stand, but someone grabbed his good arm to keep him down. Sakura was staring him in the face, her features etched in worry.
"Try not to move, you've lost a lot of blood," she instructed him.
Neji wasn't listening. He couldn't let Kabuto escape. More than that, they needed to what this new technique was that he had developed. A shinobi who was able to render himself invisible would be one of the most deadly weapons ever created. He would have the stealth and power to take out an entire ANBU squad before any of them would be able to figure out what was going on.
"Listen to her, Neji," another voice said.
Genma was standing over them, watching as Sakura tried to slow the bleeding.
"Kabuto…" Neji breathed.
"I'll go after him," Genma said. "Sakura, get him out here," Genma ordered. When Neji began to protest, making it even harder for Sakura to work on him, he said, "I out rank you, which means you follow my orders. Get the hell out of here. I'll go after Kabuto and Lee."
Genma took off, clearly expecting the two teens to compile with his order. Sakura, knowing it was up to her to get Neji out of there, helped him to his feet. Once standing on shaky legs she led him out of there.
She managed to get Neji back to the hotel, frantically wondering if she should have stopped along the way to try and heal him. His breathing was shallow and his left arm and chest were still bleeding.
She led him to her room and sat him down on the bed. It was the most logical choice as everything she needed was in there. First things first though, she needed to stop the bleeding.
Closing her eyes, she ran her hands over his arm and shoulder and then his chest to determine the extent of the damage. She couldn't stop a small gasp from escaping her throat when she saw the damaged tissue and muscle. This was beyond anything she had attempted to heal before. She shivered. This was the type of technique Tsunade had warned Sakura that her healing powers were capable of. Kabuto was a trained medic and had known exactly what he was doing. He hadn't wanted to kill Neji, just incapacitate him so he wouldn't be able to follow.
She took a deep breath. You can do this, she told herself.
"How bad?" Neji asked, his voice hoarse.
"I'm going to repair your broken blood vessels and tissue," she said, avoiding his question. "It's going to hurt," she warned him.
He nodded and gritted his teeth.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and let her hands hover just above his injured areas.
It wasn't something that could be rushed. There was a lot of damage and if she didn't take her time he might end up losing his arm altogether.
"Sakura!" Genma's voice called.
She didn't answer, needing to give her full attention to healing Neji. Genma would find her soon enough, and he did with Lee hot on his heels.
Lee paled at the sight of all the blood on Neji's upper body and now covering Sakura's dress as well.
"Look, Sakura maybe he should go to the hospital," Genma suggested.
"I can heal him," she said stubbornly.
"He's lost a lot of blood and you can't – "
"Genma, shut up and let me work," she snapped.
If he had been able to, Neji would have smirked at the look on the Jounin's face at being told off by Sakura. It was priceless.
Aware that Genma and Lee were still in the background, Sakura continued to work. She concentrated on repairing the blood vessels and damaged tissues that were causing the bleeding. When she was confident the bleeding had stopped, she set to work on healing the torn muscles.
Minutes ticked by and she was still only halfway through the process, but she stopped. The damage was too deep to repair all at once and despite the tough exterior Neji was emitting she knew there was not much more he could take.
She grabbed the bandages from the open bag on the bed and began wrapping his arm. "I can give you something for the pain," she said, keeping her voice low.
"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth.
"No, you're not – "
"I don't need anything," he said more forcibly this time.
Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why was he afraid of admitting he was in pain? There was no weakness in that.
"Sakura, we'll be outside," Genma said to her then.
Rather reluctantly, Lee left with him.
"Lee and Genma are gone now, so you can stop insisting that you're fine," she said to Neji. "I won't tell them that you took something for the pain.'
His refusal to answer was all she needed. She went into the bathroom and filled a cup with water. She passed it to him when she returned and handed him to small white capsules.
After he had swallowed the pills, she said, "I couldn't heal all of it now. There was a lot of damage. I'll try again in a few hours. You need to rest – that's an order."
She could tell he wasn't feeling like himself because he didn't protest as she propped a few pillows under his back and helped him lie down. She shut off the lights in the room and slid the door shut behind her.
She found Genma and Lee standing around in the living room area. Lee stopped his pacing and looked up when he saw her, his expression anxious.
"How is he?" Lee asked immediately.
She shrugged. "I've healed what I could. I didn't want to chance repairing all the damage at once. It's more complicated than anything I've handled. The most important thing is I stopped the bleeding."
"I think it's safe to say Orochimaru is behind what the Sound are doing," Genma said distastefully. "Not as if there was any doubt to begin with."
"What do we know now?" Sakura asked the Jounin.
"Sakura, are you sure you don't want to clean up first?" He said, taking in the sight of her blood stained dress and hands.
She forcefully shook her head. "I want to hear this."
Genma sighed, knowing there would be no way to break through her stubbornness. "Kabuto disappeared when I went after him, so I don't know if he got the rest of what he was looking for. The authorities have yet to find the professor you saw Kabuto with the other day. I think it's safe to he's dead."
"What about this new power Kabuto seems to have?" Said Sakura. She quickly explained what had happened during Neji's fight with Kabuto before Genma had showed up.
Genma frowned. "That probably explains why I couldn't find him afterwards. It looks like this might be much worse than a few mysterious stolen vials. It will be your job to head back to Leaf Village tomorrow and report all this to Tsunade."
"You're not coming with us?" Said Sakura.
"I still have some loose ends I need to tie up here," was Genma's cryptic response. "Do you think you can handle it from here?"
"We'll be fine," Lee assured him.
Genma was heading for the door when Sakura thought of something. "How did you know where to find us?"
Genma grinned. "I learned a long time ago how to tap into Konoha wireless transmissions. I guess I got lucky that you used it."
Then he walked out the door and was gone.
In the early hours of the morning, Sakura ventured into her room to check on Neji. He was sleeping and the last thing she wanted to do was to wake him, but she needed to continue healing his injuries
She sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle his arm that she had put into a makeshift sling.
She caught herself when she had been about to push back a strand of hair that had fallen over his face. She swallowed. What is this feeling? She had never had these kinds of emotions stirring inside her before and directed at Neji no less. What was wrong with her? Here she was with a person she found intolerable half the time – a feeling she was sure was reciprocated – and yet there was something else threatening to break to the surface.
Neji's eyes blinked open then and locked with hers.
"How are you feeling?" She asked him.
"A little pain, nothing more."
She wanted to berate him for lying. He had to be in tremendous pain now that the painkillers had worn off.
"I need to heal the rest of it now," she said, looking apologetic.
He nodded and with her assistance moved himself into a sitting position.
She set to work, just as before, looking only at his arm and chest as she healed them. She did not want to see the pain that she was causing him.
When she was finally finished, she said, "I've done everything I can, but you should let Tsunade exam you when we get back."
He looked down at his cut up shirt and then back up at Sakura.
"Sorry about your shirt. I was trying to stop the bleeding."
He tried to shrug the torn shirt off, but it didn't work – not to mention he only brought himself more pain.
"You are the most stubborn patient I've ever had," Sakura remarked, as she helped remove the torn shirt from his body. When she received a small but weak smile in return, she knew he was definitely not feeling like himself.
She moved his arm back into the sling and saw him wince visibly as the veins around his eyes became visible.
"Sorry," she apologized.
She stood up to leave, when her hand harmlessly brushed up against his and she felt something go through her. When her eyes met his, she knew she wasn't the only one to feel that. Embarrassed, they both turned away.
Sakura, not knowing what to say departed from the room, determined to forget about what had just happened and was sure Neji wanted the same thing.