If you have not read the new ending of chapter 1, I suggest you do so now

o-o

"Hi-Hinata?"

Sakura stood open-mouthed, staring at the Hyuuga heir with disbelief. Over the years Hinata had grown up too, now with long hair pulled back into a pony tail. She had grown stronger as well, but still held her shy disposition. Still, it seemed she would never be a match for her cousin Neji.

"G-gomen, Sakura-san! D-did I…?"

"Oh, no! I was just expecting someone…" Sakura looked sadly at the ground for a second, before returning to her fake cheery self. "Um, would you like to come in?"

"A-a-ano…I was just wondering if I could ask you something?"

The pink-haired kunoichi stepped outside the door and stood next to Hinata.

"What is it?" She questioned.

"I-it's Neji…He's out training, and he's injured but he won't let anyone help him," She looked up hopefully at Sakura.

"Stubborn boy," Her emerald eyes sparkled. "I'd be glad to. Let's go find him,"

o-o

"Neji! Stop being so obstinate!" Sakura yelled into the trees. Hinata stood sheepishly next to her.

The now Jounin leaf shinobi leapt down from the high branches, landing a few feet in front of the girls. He winced slightly when landing.

"Why am I being stubborn," He asked. Sakura's eyes traveled over the Hyuuga boy where he stood.. There didn't seem to be anything wrong; just a lot of blood around his right kneecap.

Neji watched the girls wandering eyes. With his own Byakugan enhanced ones he could tell that Sakura was disappointed, and did not want to be where she currently was.

"Hinata-sama, why did you bring Sakura here?"

Hinata hid partway behind her pink-haired friend when she answered,

"Y-you were inured,"

Neji glared at his cousin coolly. Her eyes were looking down and to the left, indicating a lie. He chose not to answer.

"Your knee looks wrong Neji," Sakura suddenly said. She walked up to him and knelt down, pulling out her small bag of medical supplies. From the bag she took a canteen of cold water and a white cloth. The healing-nin wet the cloth and started to clean off the area, much to Neji's distaste. When it was clear, Sakura knit her eyebrows together.

"Neji, your knee is covered in scratches and the kneecap is dislocated. What did you do?"

The stubborn boy had his arms crossed and was avoiding eye contact.

"Fine," the kunoichi sighed. "But you should get it straightened out." Sakura stood and then chose to grin at Neji. "Looks like taijutsu training to me," She turned back to Hinata. "Anything else?"

"N-no. Arigatou…"

The pink-haired girl waved over her shoulder as she left the cousins alone in the forest.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Sakura whispered to herself.

o-o

Once in town again, she wandered around, with her arms folded behind her back.

Konoha had finally started growing again. All the repairs had finished, the people were again safe in their homes. Sakura couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

For a few hours she continued strolling, even buying some sweets and conversing with some old friends. It wasn't until she got home that the disappointment set in.

"Sasuke-kun…"

o-o

Knock-knock

"Huh?"

Knock-knock

"What's that noise?" Sakura sat up slowly in her bed, blinking away her sleepiness.

Knock-knock

"Damn Naruto," She rubbed her green eyes and took a comb quickly to her hair.

Knock-Knock

"I'm coming!" the disgruntled kunoichi mumbled.

Kno-

"What!" she yelled, yanking the door wide open. There stood the sole Uchiha survivor, one hand in his pocket, and the other hovering where a closed door might have been.

"Oohayo," he said impassively.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, using her ninja reflexes to push the door closed and hide her terrible appearance behind it.

"G-gomen! I - "

"-forgot about our date?" Sasuke finished her sentence calmly.

The flustered girl's face deepened further in color.

"Well…I-I-I-"

"-was thinking of going to a nicer restaurant," Sasuke was watching her reaction carefully.

"O-okay. Ano, wou-would y-you like to c-c-ome in?"

The Uchiha boy stepped inside, looking around.

Sakura's house was nice enough; there were some interesting decorations and furnishings. The old picture of "Kakashi's Team 7" hanged in the center of the far wall. Sasuke remembered that his was still face down against his dresser.

"I'm going to go…straighten out," announced Sakura, dashing down her hall. Sasuke paid no mind to the girl, just stood in the middle of her living room with his hands pushed deep within his pockets.

The raven-haired boy heard water running and wondered how long this was going to take.

o-o

Sasuke clocked her at twenty minutes.

Sakura now stood in the opening to the living room, filling the house with that fresh shower scent. She wore an embarrassed grin, and was about to apologize, when he cut her off.

"Let's just go," Sasuke said, irritation creeping into his voice.

'Why did I do this?' he asked himself. What the hell had gotten into him, asking Sakura to basically go out with him. Sasuke decided to lay that blame on the anesthetic.

And yet, here he stood six weeks later, the picture under the definition of patience. What was causing him to actually wait for Sakura, much less go out with her. In public.

"Okay," the pink-haired kunoichi responded quietly.

Together they strolled, the cherry blossom following one step behind.

While they walked down the beaten dirt path the towns people gave them strange looks; anger towards Sasuke, and pity towards Sakura.

The cold boy ignored the glares, as he had ignored the rabid fan girls of his youth.

The green-eyed kunoichi, however, felt tears starting to well up in her eyes. She hated the way the people were looking at them. Sakura then jogged a few steps to catch up to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, where are we going?"

He stopped.

"Here,"

Sakura turned to look at the building in front of them. A large sign on the outside announced the special of the day; domburi with tempura.

The couple walked in and sat at a small booth far away from any windows. A waitress appeared, placing down cups of oshuriko. The girl seemed frightened of Sasuke, and stayed as far from him as possible.

"Would you like to order?" she directed the question towards Sakura.

"I'll have the odangos…what about you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Tokoroten," he answered, not attempting to be polite at all. The waitress scowled and then stalked off into the kitchen.

An uneasy silence followed.

"Sakura," Sasuke said suddenly, "this is not a date. Only a simple gesture,"

"I understand," the healing-nin gazed down at the table, tracing the lines in the wood with her eyes. Did she really think that it was something more?

'No…' Inner Sakura said. Even her inside self was hurt.

More silence.

"Ano, I got a new mission a few days ago," Sakura announced, trying to bring some cheer into the conversation.

Sasuke glanced at her from behind his hands.

"There were reports about some sound-nin coming close to the border, It seems they still haven't gone, and so Tsunade-sama has asked Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, and I to go investigate. We leave tonight."

'Sound-nin…' Sasuke said to himself.

"Naruto?" His eyes widened a bit. "He's a Jounin…What rank are you at?"

"Still a chuunin," her face started turning red again in embarrassment. "Demo, I'm going to try for Jounin ranking in the exams this year."

She was almost a Jounin? According to Konoha, Sasuke was still a genin.

"Why are they sending a chuunin with three Jounin?" He asked, figuring that Neji and Shikamaru were also high-level ninja.

"I'm a healing-nin. It's known that they are hard to train, and not so many people want to be one. Also, Tsunade-sama knows I have the talent to do this level of mission,"

The raven-haired boy almost scoffed aloud. But then, he had not seen her for six years. He did not know Sakura's true level.

"How did you pass the chuunin exams? I believe they still require teams of three."

"Neji joined us."

"What about his other team members?"

"Well, Lee had gone out to help Naruto…capture…you…Umm, and Tsunade-sama punished him by not letting him try out for chuunin that year. But TenTen…she was in a horrible accident. They only found her body in the woods…analysis showed she was beaten to death and then raped. They couldn't find the person who did it."

Sasuke choked into his drink. He knew…

"Did Naruto win that chuunin tournament?"

"Hai." Now Sakura watched him carefully, expecting the anger to bubble up again. All Sasuke felt though was a small pulse of pain from the curse seal on his neck. This happened so often that he hardly noticed it any more.

Just then the waitress reappeared, setting down all the components to their meal.

"Arigatou gozaimashita," Sakura smiled. The waitress didn't return it.

"Itadakimasu," the pair said in unison, breaking apart their chopsticks. The meal passed without either saying anything. Sasuke noted that the waves of pain washing over him were growing in intensity and frequency. The pink-haired kunoichi also noticed it, in that Sasuke was flinching every few minutes.

They finished eating, still in silence. Sasuke paid the bill and walked out, Sakura trailing and thanking for the meal.

Outside, the cursed Uchiha gasped suddenly. It felt like an electric shock had shot through his body. Sasuke's hand reached up to grab the seal, as if that would make it stop pulsing.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura had just come out the door.

He was losing control.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's hands came to rest on his back and arm.

He snapped. Sasuke whipped around and grabbed Sakura roughly just below her shoulders and slammed the girl into the wall.

"Aaa!" Tears started to stream down her cheeks. His hands were both bruising and cutting off circulation. The well-toned body of the Uchiha was now pressed up hard against hers, crushing her lungs.

"I…c-c..an't…breathe!" Sakura gasped out.

"Aghh!" Sasuke cried out again in pain, releasing his hold on the kunoichi.

"S-Sakura…run…" he hissed through grit teeth.

"N-nani!"

"RUN!" His hands were now pushing against the wall trying to give her room to move.

The cherry blossom squeezed out from beneath him, but couldn't make herself run; couldn't make herself leave him. Sasuke was now holding his head, leaning against the wall.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

"DAMN IT! GO!" With his last remaining second of control Sasuke shoved her through the alley next to the restaurant.

As Sakura gasped, getting the breath knocked out of her, she braced her body for impact with a stone wall behind her.

Surprisingly, she hit something soft. Someone had caught her; their arms hooked under her own and holding Sakura from falling to the ground.

"Daijoubu?" It was Neji.

"H-hai!" A few seconds passed, enough time for an unwanted flush to grow on Sakura's face, "A-ano, you can let go of me now…"

"I cannot let go until you stand up," he replied.

"O-oh!" The emerald-eyed kunoichi quickly set her feet firmly on the ground.

"Arigatou, Neji-kun!"

When she looked at him, the Hyuuga noticed her eyes were a bit bloodshot, as if she had been crying. He then watched her run back off through the alley of which she'd come, wondering to himself when the suffix '-kun' had been added to his name.

Sakura turned the corner, expecting to see Sasuke passed out on the ground.

He was nowhere to be found.

"Are you looking for something?" Neji had walked up behind her, making Sakura jump.

"N-no, I just heard something," she lied.

"Hmm. How did you end up flying across the road then?"

Sakura did not know how to answer this question; therefore, she pretended not to hear.

"Are you ready for today's mission?" she asked to change the subject.

Neji narrowed his eyes. What was she hiding?

"Hai. We should be going to meet Shikamaru and Naruto now,"

Sakura nodded and gave one last look back at the restaurant before following the Byakugan user reluctantly.

o-o

"This is going to be troublesome…" came Shikamaru's distant voice.

"We've had to deal with plenty of Sound-nin before, Shikamaru! It's not bad at all!" Naruto's reply followed.

"Baka. You don't understand,"

"What? Then explain it to me!"

Shikamaru was about to say what he meant, but Naruto became distracted by the arrival of Neji and Sakura.

"Sakura-channn!" The fox-boy still insisted on calling her like this. But his kunoichi friend barely noticed. Her head was hanging low with pink hair hiding her features.

Sakura seemed to be in her own little world, because when Neji stopped moving, she kept going until she tripped over Neji and ended up wrapping her arms around his neck to stop her fall.

"Sa-Sakura…p-please collect yourself…" He choked out. Startled, Sakura released her hold and fell to her knees. Shikamaru watched as Neji held out a hand to help her up. Naruto watched the situation from a frowning squint.

"I'm so sorry, Neji-kun!" she took his hand and stood up swiftly. Shikamaru groaned when Sakura started dusting herself off.

'Women,' he thought to himself.

"Alright, let's get going," The bored looking ninja said. "Our mission is to investigate the Sound-nin inside the forest. If need be, we will engage them in combat. It's best if we travel in an order of me, Naruto, Sakura, and then Neji at the back. You all understand, right?"

The group nodded.

"Let's go,"

The leaf shinobi jumped onto the rooftops consecutively and then off into the forest surrounding Konoha village.

o-o

The further into the trees the group progressed, the darker it became. After a day or so of tracking the sound-nin, Sakura started hearing soft groans from behind her. The healing-nin looked back and noticed that Neji's kneecap still looked dislocated.

Sakura slowed herself to end up next to Neji.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because your knee…"

"It's fine," Neji snapped. The kunoichi frowned at him.

"Geez," she whispered, moving back to her position. "What's wrong with him?"

Suddenly, up ahead, a kunai shot through the air past Shikamaru. He quickly did a flip, and landed on a higher branch, looking around carefully.

"Neji!" Shikamaru yelled back, almost accusingly.

The Byakugan was already in use. 'I can't see anything…' he thought.

Several shuriken then flew through the air and hit the trunk. All four squad members glanced over at the weapons.

'What…Shit! It's a diversion!' Shikamaru thought. It was too late to do anything now; he'd fallen for it.

"NEJI-KUN!" Sakura suddenly cried.

'Damn!' Neji realized what was happening. He could now hear the kunai behind him. There wasn't time to react.

Sakura saw the kunai and gathered chakra to her feet. She dashed in between the Neji and the kunai, spreading her arms wide. The sharp blade imbedded itself right in the dip between her shoulder blades. Sakura hissed between her teeth in pain as Neji turned to watch her whip the kunai from her shoulder blades and throw it back where it had come from.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, his hands in the Kage Bunshin formation.

"I'm fine!"

'They know my blind spot…' thought Neji.

"Neji-kun, I've got your back…Use the Byakugan!" Sakura told him, standing up against his backside.

"Hai," Again he formed the seals to transform his eyes, looking around for any people or chakra. Sakura held up her own kunai in a defense position.

"Five people…" Neji said.

'Damn it,' Shikamaru thought to himself. 'They obviously already know our abilities…We need to draw them in…then with my shadow I can bind them and Neji can use his Divine Strike…but if they know our abilities, that will be hard. Naruto is the key…'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice echoed throughout the forest.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead with his hand. 'Damn him!'

Dozens of clones filled the forest. Neji kept his eyes on the hiding Sound-nin, anticipating an attack. Sakura's eyes darted around nervously, when she suddenly saw movement from the corner of her eye. Directly in front of her a Sound kunoichi stood smirking at the leaf-nin. The pink-haired girl pulled out another kunai and started to dash after the other ninja. Neji looked over his shoulder, surprised at the sudden rush of air.

"Six!" He yelled, but it was too late. As Sakura ran towards her target, walls shot up around the other three leaf shinobi.

"Damn!" Shikamaru cursed. He had not anticipated this.

Being the gung-ho type, Naruto tried to attack the wall, hoping to knock it down. Shikamaru extended his shadow just before he touched it.

"Don't get near it. These walls can have different effects." Naruto scowled at the shadow jutsu.

"Sakura-chan!" he then yelled. The cherry blossom stopped her pursuit, and glanced back.

"What…?" The walls confused her. Then she noticed Naruto's hands in the Kage Bunshin formation and smiled to herself.

"Got it!" Sakura whispered. The Sound-nin in front of her widened her eyes in realization. Her mouth opened to call out to her team, but it was too late. The green-eyed kunoichi launched her kunai before she could speak, and stabbed her in both the leg and side. The clones inside the shield burst into smoke, and the real Shikamaru on lower ground had cast his shadow.

"Divine 128 Strike!" Neji yelled, and sounds of combat came from below. Sakura smirked.

'Wait…' she counted in her head. It was only five! Suddenly, hands grabbed her ankles, dragging her below the branches and flipping her upside down. The leaves stifled her yelp of surprise.

"Now, Sakura, we've got you," The male ninja was slightly laughing.

"Hell no!" The kunoichi snapped her hands together and focused chakra to her feet, not only strengthening the muscles, but providing a sort of opposite magnetic effect, pushing off her captor's hands. Sakura kicked out into an aerial spin, before quickly forming a few hand seals.

"Sakura Windstorm no Jutsu!" The kunoichi crossed her arms in front of her face, and then pushed them outward, throwing what looked like harmless cherry blossoms. The sound-nin scoffed, thinking it a feint. Suddenly, the blossoms were cut through by dozens of shuriken, striking the ninja before he could cover himself. Sakura landed on a nearby branch, looking away as his knees unhooked and he fell through the brush. She waited to hear the resonating thud before jumping towards her team mates.

"It was too easy," Shikamaru stated. Neji nodded in agreement. Naruto finished tying up the other five ninja together, and then ran over to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan! Daijoubu?" He looked at the deep wound in her back from the kunai.

"What happened to the sixth sound-nin member?" The cloudy-eyed shinobi suddenly asked.

"I'm fine Naruto. The other member is in that direction." The kunoichi pointed, and Neji used his Byakugan to locate the body.

"Very little chakra. I'll go get him." Neji looked back at the healing-nin for a second, and then walked into the underbrush. He came back shortly, dragging the nin's body.

"Quite a few shuriken fell off this man as I picked him up. What did you do, Sakura?"

"It's a new technique. It hides shuriken inside of sakura blossoms. The man was unable to protect himself when the jutsu hit,"

The three boys were silent. None ever thought Sakura had the capabilities to bring someone so close to death; it seemed the kunoichi didn't know either.

o-o

"We're going to hold watch in groups tonight. I don't trust what's going on. Something tells me we haven't found our true enemy." Shikamaru glanced around the group.

"Sakura, Neji, I think you two would do best for the first half. Also, we need our healing-nin to do what she does best before we sleep."

His comrades nodded, and Sakura made a few seals.

"Does anyone need it?"

When she was answered with silence, the pink-haired shinobi shrugged and reached behind her back, sealing up the cut from the kunai.

In the next few hours the group set up their camp. Soon after a small fire had started, Shikamaru went to his tent, and Naruto did the same.

"Neji-kun, I don't care what you say, but I'm going to fix that knee for you now. It bothers me to see you in pain over it."

Sakura reached over to the stubborn boy, and placed his knee directly in front of her, using her foot to hold his leg in place.

"This time, you aren't going to get away," She grinned is a sort of scary way.

Now that they were alone, Neji had loosened up some. With her it was okay.

"Fine. I do admit it is a hindrance," The healing-nin noted that his tone was much softer. The seals came to her hands, and then the green glow grew from her fingertips to his leg.

A small sigh of relief escaped him when the kneecap returned to its original position. Sakura giggled a little.

"See? You should have done this the first time,"

Neji gave her a small glare. But for some reason it was hard to stay mad at such a girl.

The pink-haired ninja drew her legs into her chest and hugged them for warmth.

"It's a beautiful night," The Hyuuga stated after a minute. Sakura looked up, a little surprised at Neji's easy going attitude.

"Y-yes, it is,"

"Arigatou, Sakura, for taking that kunai for me," the words were strange on his tongue, as if he'd never said them before. He gave her a warm smile, something she'd never seen on his face before. Her cheeks were starting to turn pink.

"I have to protect my teammates. I'd do anything for you three," The kunoichi turned her eyes toward the boy again, and noticed he was leaning in towards her.

He was going to kiss her.

What had spurred this attraction?

She was even going along with it!

'Sasuke…' but even thoughts of the Uchiha didn't stop her.

As Neji's face neared her Sakura closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to connect with her own…

o-o

A/N: I love cliff-hangers! Will they kiss or not! Not even I know yet!

I want to thank all of my reviewers…because of you guys, I put off all my homework to write these stories

Sorry if the writing seems to be different as the story moves…I had been writing by hand, and then typing, but it's hard to stay ahead. I do have ideas to keep the plot moving, but it's going to be hard to fill in the blank spots.

Got to work a bit on my website this weekend, so the next chapter might not be up till next week. I'm trying to keep them long for you!

Ja!