Tikkall: Sasuke found the book on her desk by accident. He didn'tknow Sakura had it in her possession before then.
Chapter Thirteen
The following morning Sakura had made up her mind to go to the Hyuuga mansion – and it had nothing to do with Neji. As far as she was concerned, she'd be happy never speaking to him again. She supposed it was just as well that Kakashi had reformed Team 7 since it seemed highly unlikely that she and Neji would ever be able to function as teammates.
The reason she heading over to the Hyugga mansion was so she could return the book Hinata had leant her. Why Sakura had allowed herself to get so caught up in the Hyuuga family was beyond her. The angry words Lee had spoken to Sakura came back to her then. To win your heart, it doesn't take kindness or friendship, or even love. He has to be cold and dark and cause you pain. She had denied those allegations at the time but she realized now that Lee had been right. That's how it had been with Sasuke and now with Neji – though to a much lesser degree. Maybe it was time to take a page out of Ino's book and never date someone long enough to get attached to them.
As she approached the main house, Sakura didn't dare let her attention wander to the small house several yards away. She only planned to stay long enough to return the book, so with any luck she wouldn't even have to see him.
Instead of a servant coming to answer the door, it was Hinata. Sakura noticed the girl didn't look surprised to see her.
"I wanted to return this," Sakura said, without even bothering to say hello.
Hinata took the book from Sakura, saying, "you did not have to bring it back so quickly. If you want to borrow it longer – "
"Actually, I've had about all I can handle of the Hyuuga's," Sakura interrupted the shy girl.
"Neji-nii-san is not the easiest person to get along with."
Despite herself, Sakura felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. "I wasn't referring to him."
"Then you have had problems with other members of the Hyuuga family?"
Sakura cursed inwardly. This was all Naruto's fault. Hinata had never been this inquisitive before. "I don't really want to talk about it"
However, Naruto could never change her personality completely because Hinata backed off when she said that.
They said their goodbyes after that and Hinata went inside while Sakura started down the path leading away from the main house. If she had just returned the book and left as she had intended, she wouldn't have seen Neji leaving his house and starting on the same path that would lead him directly to her.
When they did meet up, Sakura thought Neji would walk straight past her but he didn't.
"Do you need something?" He asked, trying to sound disinterested as to why she would be on the Hyuuga Family grounds.
"I was just returning something to Hinata," she told him.
"I see," said Neji, his anger clouding his embarrassment. There was only one thing Sakura would be returning to his cousin.
Since there didn't seem to be anything else left to say, Neji started walking again. Sakura, against her better judgment stopped him.
"Are you just going to keep acting like this?"
"I'm not acting like anything," was Neji's stubborn response.
Sakura only just restrained herself from giving him the angered response he seemed to be looking for.
"You should go," said Neji, purposely keeping his back to her. "It would be best if you forgot about what happened between us."
"It was that horrible, was it?"
"Sakura – " Neji shook his head, not allowing himself to be goaded into saying what she wanted to hear. "Whatever you think you're feeling, it's nothing more than passing infatuation."
"You keep forgetting that you're the one who started all this," Sakura returned. "Believe me, I was more than happy when we were nothing more than teammates who only spoke to each other when it was necessary."
"Then why are you still here?" Neji demanded.
"I – I don't know," she admitted.
"Then I'll do us both a favour and leave," he said simply. Neji knew he should have just walked away and let it end there. That would have been the logical thing to do, but he seemed to lose all sense of rational thinking when she was around.
"If we are going to talk, I would prefer it not be in the open where anyone could walk by and overhear us," he said slowly. "We can go back to my living quarters if you like."
Sakura was completely taken aback by his sudden attitude change that she could only nod her head in response. Not sure what she was getting herself into, she let Neji lead the way back to where he lived.
The only other time Sakura had been inside Neji's home, she had been too busy berating him for his recklessness to pay much attention to the surroundings. This time, however, she had ample opportunity to take in the sparse furnishings and décor. She did that mostly to avoid the topic had that brought her there in the first place. Though she had been more than willing to talk about it earlier, she seemed to have lost her confidence. What annoyed her most of all was how unfazed Neji appeared concerning their current situation. For once, she was envious of how he was able to just turn off emotions.
Though they had spent the last hour sitting down at the small table Neji kept in the kitchen, little more than idle conversation had passed between them. Considering that Neji was the person least likely to make small talk made the situation all the more awkward for Sakura.
"Perhaps we're both wasting our time," Neji said to her.
Sakura glared at him. "If I'm keeping you from something important then maybe I should leave."
"I only meant that if you have nothing to say, you've realized this is a mistake as well."
"Maybe it's because I don't know what to say. You're not the easiest shinobi or human being for that matter to get along with."
"You mean because I'm not overemotional and irrational like you?"
Sakura frowned until she saw the barest trace of a smile appear on Neji's face. If Hyuuga Neji could make a joke there really was a first time for everything.
"If you think this is what you want just because Sasuke is gone – "
Sakura stood up, effectively startling Neji, causing him to halt in mid sentence. She was too angry, however, to take any satisfaction in that. "I am so sick of everyone bringing up Sasuke," she snapped. "My world may have revolved around him when I was twelve but I'm not that same person anymore. If you can't see that then you're right, I am just wasting my time."
At that moment she didn't care she was proving his theory right about being overemotional. Maybe she was even being a bit irrational by deciding to walk out of there but she didn't need Neji presuming her reasons for being there had anything to do with Sasuke.
Unfortunately, Neji had blocked her path before she had taken more than two steps. Unless she was willing to fight her way out, she was stuck there for the time being.
"I'm leaving," she clarified for him. "I thought that's what you wanted."
"I don't know what I want," he said in a low voice, catching Sakura off guard.
Sakura, feeling her confidence returning, acted on instinct. Standing so close to Neji, she brought her face closer to his. She could see the hesitation in his eyes, which disappeared the moment her lips connected with his. The kiss was different from before – probably because she had been the one to initiate it this time. It was Neji's turn to be the one caught off guard but that didn't last very long.
Neji had always prided himself on staying in control, but that control had started slipping away the moment Sakura's lips landed on his. He certainly wasn't going to be the one to stop the kiss this time.
He let his hands get lost in her hair. He captured her lips in a deep kiss, feeling Sakura thread her fingers through the back of his neck. Neji hungrily attacked her mouth, teasing and nipping at her lower lip. Sakura broke the kiss but that was only so she could graze her lips over Neji's jaw before ending up at his mouth again.
When they finally parted for air, their faces were flushed and both were breathing heavily. Now they seemed to be back in the same position as before with not knowing what to say to one another.
"I have to meet Tsunade at Konoha Hospital," Sakura said suddenly.
Neji cleared his throat. "I have to meet Lee and Tenten anyways."
Sakura cringed at the mention of Lee's name. How would she explain this to him? She didn't even know how to explain what was going on to herself. If whatever this was between her and Neji continued to develop Lee would get hurt – that she was sure off. He and Neji might be friends now but she knew that in many ways Lee still considered Neji to be his rival.
They didn't say goodbye as they parted ways and Sakura knew she would have to sort out her feelings before she saw him again.
Neji found it to be a waste of his time having the Konoha doctors check over his healed injuries. It was required that all shinobi seriously injured in the line of duty had to be checked out by a doctor periodically afterwards. Fortunately, the doctors didn't keep him for to long. They announced that he was in perfect health and that there seemed to be no lasting effects from the injuries he had suffered in the Snow Country – two things that Neji already knew without having to be told as such by a doctor.
When his examination was over, he was glad to get out of there. He tried to spend as little time at Konoha Hospital as possible, but being a shinobi that was not always an easy thing.
He was on his way out when he saw her. At first, Neji considered taking a different exit path out of the hospital to avoid her but when he saw the blood covering her shirt and hands he couldn't leave without seeing that she was all right.
Sakura seemed to be lost in thought because she didn't acknowledge his presence even when he was standing right in front of her.
"Sakura, are you all right?" He asked in concern.
Sakura finally seemed to notice he was there. She blinked in confusion. "Neji?"
"What happened to you?"
Sakura glanced down at her hands and shirt, saying in a low voice, "it's not my blood."
Neji cursed inwardly for allowing himself to get so worked up over Sakura's health without having all facts. At least he had managed to give the outward appearance of calmness.
"There was a group of Chuunins that had come back from a mission in the Hidden Mist Village," she started, still staring at her hands. "They were ambushed and the ones that didn't die in Mist Village died here in the hospital. There was nothing Tsunade or anyone else could do for them."
Neji took a seat on the hallway bench beside her. He didn't have anything remotely comforting to say to her, so he said nothing. He was sure that being a shinobi, Sakura was well accustomed to seeing death.
"Why are you here?" Sakura asked suddenly. "Did something happen?"
"It was just my required follow up examination for the injuries I sustained in Snow Country."
Sakura merely nodded and became distant once more. Neji wondered if this was the first time she had ever lost a patient. Once again he found himself feeling like the most inadequate person to comfort her. Not knowing what else to do, he slowly reached out and covered her hand with his own.
Sakura's response was instantaneous. She stiffened at his touch – not because she was repulsed by it but because she had never expected this kind of open affection from Neji. When she felt his hand start to pull away, she curled her fingers around his to stop him from doing just that.
The minutes began ticking by as they continued to sit there like that, without looking at each other.
Sakura used the hospital bathroom to clean herself up. Her hands and arms were easy but no amount of scrubbing was going to get the bloodstains off her shirt. Three years ago she would have gotten hysterical over that – that she couldn't show herself in public looking like she had just come from the battlefield. But times had changed – or rather she had changed – and the sight of blood didn't bother her so much anymore.
When she walked out of the bathroom, she was more than a little surprised to find Neji still sitting there. She had been in there long enough that she thought he would have left by now. Strangely enough she didn't find herself feeling embarrassed when she looked at him, even though she had spent the better part of the last hour holding his hand in silence.
"Listen, Neji, you didn't have to wait for me. I don't need you to watch over me," she said without thinking.
"Don't worry, I have better things to do with my time," he said briskly, getting to his feet.
Sakura sighed. Why did every conversation have to turn into a battle of words between them? "I'm sorry. I have a bad habit of saying things before I think. Look, I'm just as confused as you are and being here with you hasn't made things any less complicated."
"If it's so complicated you and I know the best way to fix that."
"Is that what you want? To take the easy way out?"
"I enjoyed things when they were simpler between us," Neji admitted.
So that was that. She had Neji's answer so there was no point in her sticking around so she could humiliate herself further.
"This is all new to me," Neji started, his tone uncertain.
"It's all new to me too," Sakura informed him.
"Not in the same way that it is to me," he said to her. "I've spent most of my life trying to remove myself from any kind of emotional attachments. To suddenly change all that is not an easy thing to do."
"I'm not asking you to change who you are, Neji. You are who you are, and believe it or not I've gotten used to your emotional distance," she added with a smile.
"There will be consequences," said Neji, giving Sakura one last chance to change her mind, and maybe one last chance to convince himself that this was a mistake.
"I know," Sakura responded, knowing what he was getting at. "I'll talk to Lee."
"You make it sound like he'll understand but he won't."
"He may be upset in the beginning but our friendship is stronger than that," Sakura insisted.
"If you say so."
"You sound like you're looking for excuses for this not to work," Sakura remarked.
"Maybe it's just that I'm the only one of us that's being realistic," Neji returned.
"Maybe this would be a lot easier if I knew what you wanted. I get that you like to keep your emotions under wraps but help me out here –"
Neji might not be able to say the words but there were other ways he could express what he couldn't say out loud. He could feel her shock as she tensed up when he pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't filled with the same intensity and passion as before, but Sakura got the message loud and clearly.
As Neji pulled his lips away from hers, Sakura felt compelled to look at him. She thought to herself, oh boy, what am I getting myself into?
Neji cleared his throat. "I would rather we continue this in a private place."
Sakura wasn't sure if by this he was referring to the kiss or to their conversation. But she supposed it didn't really matter since one seemed to inevitably lead to the other.
She had never been good at reading Neji and even at that moment Sakura couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. But when she felt Neji's fingers hesitantly intertwine with her own, she realized that at that particular moment it didn't matter.
With their polar opposite personalities, Sakura was starting to wonder if this would work out between them – or even if they would last long enough without killing each other. But they would never know unless they tried.
The End
A/N: I know everyone was probably hoping for some magnificent happy ending where all the loose ends get tied up, but I've been watching a lot of anime recently and most shows when they end either don't wrap up the story or leave the audience with this huge cliffhanger. But that only means there's room for a sequel in the future… In the meantime, thank you all for your wonderful comments and reviews throughout this story! I loved reading each and every one of them.