The door opened very slowly, and I felt time slow down for me. I was about to either lose him forever, or be loved by the one person who lit up my world. When the door finally opened all of the way, he fell against me and held me tight. I hugged him back just as tightly, never wanting to lose him ever again.
"You've got to be crazy," Neji cried softly into my shoulder, revealing a tender side I had never seen before. "To love a guy like me."
"Not half as crazy as you," I laughed and wiped away one of his tears. "Thinking I could ever glance at someone with hair almost as short as mine, that's ridiculous." He laughed with me and we kissed softly. I felt warm inside, and I knew I could be happy again. Because I had Neji, and no one was ever going to pull us apart ever again.
We heard soft giggles and turned to see Sakura and Hinata giving each other high fives. It only took a minute for them to realize that we were staring at them. Neji glared at them and Hinata immediatly blushed, which resulted in her dragging Sakura off down the hallway. I narrowed my eyes at Neji and he looked away with a rare grin, he knew I didn't like how he treated Hinata sometimes.
"Neji," a stern voice said, and from the way Neji pushed me away I guessed it was Hiashi. Still, I frowned at him for it despite the apologetic look on his face. Did he have ANY idea how hard it was to say all of the in front of Sakura and Hinata? He just went back to his usual stoic state, even if his eyes were a bit puffy and red, and watched Hiashi approach with silent annoyance. The head of the Hyuuga looked surprised to see me there and gave me a brief once over bfore speaking to Neji once more.
"There's someone at the door for you," Hiashi turned to me as well. "I suggest you go, too."
Neji said nothing as he walked past his uncle and I followed in silence. He wiped his eyes as we made our way back towards the front door of the house, and I felt guilty again. I was getting sick of seeing people in pain. Maybe that was because I could relate to it too easily for my own comfort.
We were both surprised to see Shikamaru leaning lazily against a post by the door, accompanied by Chouji and Kiba. They gave us friendly smiles but Shikamaru looked bothered by something. Then again, almost everything was "troublesome" in his book.
"We've got problems," Shikamaru sighed, his gaze settling on me. "Sasuke has run away to join Orochimaru."
"What?" My fists were already tightening. That bastard... He wouldn't...
"I know, it's hard for any of us to hear," Shikamaru seemed tense. "Anyways, Tsunade-sama asked me to gather a five man team of genin for this mission-"
"I'm in," He didn't even have to finish. Shikamaru smiled knowingly, the rivalry Sasuke and I had developed wasn't someting we'd ever been secretive about. But this was personal, he'd gone too far.
"Me too," Neji stepped in. Our eyes met briefly, understanding that saving Sasuke now was more important than whatever we still needed to sort out. Shikamaru gave us all one hour to go home and gather any equipment we might need.
When we met up at the main gate no one really said anything, except for Shikamaru who gave brief instructions. I was burning up inside, wanting to drag Sasuke back how ever I could. It wasn't long before we were ready to leave, and I still don't know how much of it I heard. I was still too preoccupied with being mad at Sasuke.
"Naruto!" A voice screamed and we all paused for a moment. I turned around and saw Sakura running up to us. My stomach flipped, she didn't need this. She loved Sasuke, first she got to hear about what he'd done to me- and Neji- and now she'd probably heard that he'd left. Why is it that girls fall in love with the worst guys?
"Sakura-chan," I was going to tell her to go back home, that we'd bring him back, that everything would be fine. But then she started crying, what was I supposed to say now?
.: Look at you, making everyone cry today, tsk tsk:. Kyuubi teased but I ignored it.
"I didn't tell you everything about last night," She wasn't even looking at me now. I signaled for the guys to step back and not make this any worse for her. Her tears were running down to the ground now and I wished I could do something but couldn't think of anything.
"Don't do this to yourself, Sakura-"
"I was there when he left," She risked looking up at me with watery eyes. "He was so angry, and he told me all about how he...He thinks he's too weak to do anything right. He was too weak to fight off Orochimaru's mark, too weak to... to... h-have y-you..." I winced at the last one, it had to be hard for her to tell me all this. But it must have been worse to hear it all from him, the man she thought she loved.
"Sakura, stop-"
"No, you need to know why..." She reached up and wiped her eyes. "He said he was too weak to even fight Neji off when you rejected him. H-He showed me the bruises. And he said he knew that without Orochimaru's help he knew he'd be too weak to beat his brother..."
"Itachi," I finished for her and she nodded. "Don't worry, we'll bring him back. You'll see, he'll be back in Konoha before you know it."
"Naruto...Promise me?" She looked up at me sadly. "Promise you'll bring him back?"
I swallowed hard and thought about it for a moment. The look on Neji's face, and the pain in his words flashed in my mind: "You promised me Naruto," Neji said calmly and I thought I would fall apart at his words. "And I don't think I can trust anything you say anymore." Sakura watched me with wet emerald orbs and I forced a grin onto my face.
"I promise you I'll bring him back," I told her.
"Thank you, Naruto," She forced a smile too, and I waved to her before departing with the rest of the team.
xXxXx
It wasn't long before we caught up with Sasuke's "kidnappers" (as far as I was concerned, that's what they were) and one by one they started to pick us off. The first was Chouji, since we needed to match brute strength with brute strength. I could it was hard for Shikamaru to leave his best friend behind like that, but Chouji had insisted. And it was becoming clear that we were going to have to split up, I just wish the next one to be left hadn't have been Neji.
His black hair swayed gently with the breeze, his head bowed slightly as we left him. Neji's eyes were perfectly calm and collected, easily the opposite of what mine would have been.
"Naruto," Neji spoke with ease, like we were having some casual conversation. " You are a better ninja than I am. You have brought me peace."
That line, exactly what he'd said when I'd pinned him that day. The day we'd realized we loved each other. He looked at me with the slightest of smiles, a sure sign that he expected me to continue on.
"You've gotta be crazy, Neji," Was all I could say, and we separated.
The rest of us had to go on, where I would eventually fight Kimimaro. Saving Sasuke was all that mattered, even if it meant leaving Neji, because I'd promised Sakura. It was a promise I couldn't back out of, no matter how badly I wanted to at that very moment. Neji wouldn't have wanted me to break my word, and I couldn't let myself disappoint Neji.
xXxXx
Lee saved me from permanently losing track of Sasuke, something I will surely owe him for later on. I ended up chasing him through some dark cave and almost lost him. I had to stop and gather my thoughts. Where did he go? I couldn't be lost, I had to bring Sasuke back. I'd promised Sakura. I couldn't break another promise. Why does every direction look exactly the same?
"You're a better ninja than I am, Naruto," I jumped at the familiar voice. Neji was standing next to me, or it looked like him anyway.
"Neji?" I gasped.
"Get going, you're going to lose him," Neji pointed straight ahead of me, thankfully since I'd have thought to go left.
"Thanks, Neji," I ran off as he smiled. As I kept going the darkness opened up into the forest, and I smiled. I was going to catch him and drag him back, all thanks to Neji. Wait a minute, Neji...
Why would he suddenly appear to me like that unless...unless... Oh God, no...
I didn't have a chance to think about the possibility that Neji had died in battle, because suddenly Sasuke appeared in front of me. And it looked like he had no intention of coming quietly.