A Last Request

Written by: Mikami

Warnings: Profanity, sexuality, main character death.

It was the third time Sakura found herself heading over to the residence of the Hyuga's Bunke. This time it had a solid purpose that would prove either beneficial or disastrous on Sakura's part. And instead of taking the shortcut through the woods like Neji would originally expect, she decided to go against that by showing up at the door.

She took the route through the city under the dying sunlight. By now parents were calling in their children for dinner, reminding Sakura that she didn't have a bite to eat yet. Her stomach would be singing melancholy songs of starvation later on. Going to Neji with that problem would definitely be a no-no since according to Tenten, he was rough around the edges when it came to hospitality—another missing word from his vocabulary. Besides, Sakura was aware of the fact that it wasn't very smart to push her luck.

When she reached her destination, it was the first time she got a good look at the Bunke residence. The house was quite large, spanning horizontally left and right instead of having an upper level. It also looked old; its walls partially moss covered and riddled with climbing bushes, giving off the feeling that many generations of the Hyuga's branch family have walked the grounds. The front gate appeared heavy and posed as an opening to the endless ancient stone walls that encased the clan's already large property.

A warm breeze lifted Sakura's hair as she realized that the gate was opened slightly. She squeezed through and began to make her way across the front courtyard, which was decorated with an arrangement of stone paths along the green lawns. She chose the correct one that led her to the large wooden front doors.

Standing awkwardly, Sakura fumbled her fingers a little before giving the door a good hard thump with the worn brass knocker. All the while she wondered if it would even resound through the large house. Then she waited.

No answer.

Five minutes passed and there was still nothing. Sakura could feel agitation beginning to rise in her face as she turned around and crossed her arms.

He thinks he has a sense of humor……making me wait…

But before Sakura decided to blame Neji for being a lying sack of shit, she spotted one of the many stone pathways that appeared to lead to the back of the house. Without a second thought, she jumped down the steps and jogged down the path. It landed her in the backyard; the garden that was graced with elegantly designed stone bridges over glistening pools of water. There were entrances into the main building; translucent screen doors with a wooden frame and covered in rice paper—shoji that slid easily to the side. Feeling a bit out of place, Sakura staggered in for a look around.

There was no sign of anybody; the garden was virtually deserted. Sakura turned her head to the far left, recognizing the forest that was further away. She grinned self-righteously to herself, assured that he couldn't mock her for trespassing this time.

No sooner did the notion pop into her head, a blast of threatening instinct shot through her like an arrow. Spinning around quickly, Sakura reached out a fast hand and grabbed the projectile that flew at her. There wasn't one, but two as she caught the other with hardly an effort.

" When you're not coming at me with mocking intent, it's killer intent." She smirked at Neji. She stopped when she glanced down at the objects that he threw.

A twin set of short swords, both of them identical to one another; fifteen-inch steel blades with eight-inch bamboo carved handles.

" There's no harm in wanting to see if you'd fall a bloody victim to swords you'll be utilizing." Neji shrugged cynically. " Injured or dead from the first moment with them, then clearly they weren't meant for you."

Sakura tried to ignore the sourness in his voice by silently marveling at the set of weaponry given to her. It hadn't been what she expected; perhaps it would have been a katana or anything else.

Kodachi…

She heard Neji draw his katana from the sheath at his side and he pointed it at her with a smile laced with wickedness.

" And how do you expect me to attack you when your katana is twice the size of the kodachi ? I'm at a disadvantage." Sakura argued.

" Hold both like you would hold a kunai, tip of the blades pointed downward and sharp edge toward your enemy." He responded dully.

She did as she was told and found the grip familiar. It was like battling with kunai, except with two that were longer. There was even little difference with her first defensive stance she took against him.

Neji bent his legs as he started to circle her. " You ARE at a disadvantage. But if you want to learn that badly, I suggest you hurry and sort out that problem."

Lightning fast, Neji charged head on toward her, blade out and ready to strike. He knew that he caught her off guard right there by the way her foot moved back in uncertainty. He felt his blade collide with one of the kodachi very briefly before she dodged him. Sakura reappeared behind him and swiped once like she would a kunai. Neji blocked her easily with the length of his sword.

Several times more Neji continued to attack her in the same fashion and in each instance she was barely able to defend herself. Once or twice he shouted out instructions on certain striking techniques and how to fix her handling of the weapon. Sakura found it hard to keep up with Neji; trying both to learn how to use the kodachi and keep herself alive.

By then they had moved out of the garden area and deeper into the woods. Sakura knew it was Neji's plan to lead her there so her shortcomings would be even greater. She pushed on to follow him, reminding herself that it was the only way to improve. Also, Sakura wasn't about to let him have the satisfaction of mocking her in the end.

The woods were getting darker and the vanishing rays of red and orange were diminished into the murky blue of the evening. Sakura's heart was pounding loudly in her chest as she perched on a high branch, hidden from view by the tree's leaves and trunk. Neji hadn't attacked her after ten minutes; it was way too long of a waiting period since he usually struck hard and fast with little time in between.

In the beginning it seemed his plan was to tire her out but since she was expecting it, he decided to change his tune.

Sakura's shaky breathing fell short at the rustling of leaves. The wind was blowing incessantly and the sound was distracting her from sensing Neji's presence.

" Dammit…" she cursed lowly.

So far her survival with the kodachi was already called pathetic by the Hyuga. While attacking her constantly with no ease intended, Neji still found time to insult and ridicule her before disappearing again. It was almost five hours since they started to train and Sakura was tense with frustration. Her growing aggravation was bubbling inside her, ticking away like a time bomb of displeasure and anger.

Neji's katana struck at Sakura out of nowhere. She crossed the kodachi quickly in order to avoid his weapon. The clashing of blades echoed through the forest, sending a flock of birds out from the nearby trees.

Meeting him face to face, Sakura gritted her teeth angrily and locked the kodachi in the cross to defy the force Neji pitted in opposition to her.

In the last five hours, Neji inwardly admitted that Sakura improved a little. She was learning to absorb his surprise attacks and to react to them properly in the weapon defense. But she hadn't been able to attack him yet. By the wild look in her eyes, Neji knew Sakura's frustration was hitting boiling point.

Both of them landed roughly on the ground. Sakura stumbled backward, gasping for air. Her eyes narrowed scathingly at Neji who wasn't breathing heavily at all.

How can I ever defeat him ? The ultimate defense of his blade is its length and it's enough to keep me at a far range so I can never land a bloody hit ! The kodachi are too short for a long range battle…and when he attacks, he's WAY to close…

As if a locomotive hit her, Sakura's eyes widened in realization with an idea. As Neji rushed forward for an overhead swipe, Sakura quickly blocked the attack but also managed to swing her leg around to plant a hard kick to his side. Neji staggered slightly in surprise from the blow.

Sakura began to grin mentally. The length of Neji's katana could be used to her advantage after all. The forty-inch weapon was used only for a long-range battle; therefore he had no way of using a close-range combat like taijutsu. But since Sakura's kodachi were a lot shorter, not only could she perform deadly techniques with her blades, she could also use their short length to bring Neji close toward her, enabling her to strike him hard with taijutsu. It was like two fighting styles in one turn.

She rushed at him quickly and as she predicted, Neji positioned the katana diagonally to block her. Sakura weaved both her blades together with his to secure his weapon indefinitely. In that split second she caught a glimpse of the expression on his face. While the rest of Neji's façade remained straight, there was a wisp of shock written in his eyes as his hands gripped the hilt tighter in attempt to disentangle his weapon.

Sakura let out a fierce roar while giving him another kick. Neji was ready this time and blocked it; her shin connected hard with the point of his knee. A blast of pain erupted in her leg but Sakura clenched her teeth against it. Holding fast to her stamina, her other foot shot out from below and caught him in the stomach.

Neji reeled back and jumped away. Sakura had undoubtedly knocked the air out of him. He glanced up at her; she looked quite pleased with herself.

Without giving him a moment more, Sakura pulled back her arm and released one of the kodachi at him. Then she charged after it, running at Neji with the other blade outward and ready.

A tearing sound was heard. The kodachi Sakura threw barely missed his side and instead went right through the fabric of his sleeve. He locked swords with her once more but this time it was only one blade as Sakura's free hand aimed to give him a harsh fist to the shoulder.

Sakura thought she had the upper hand by discovering a weakness within the use of the katana. But she hadn't expected Neji to come at her at the same time. While she was close, one of Neji's hands let go of the hilt and punctured the chakra flow in her hand that aimed for his shoulder. Instantly, her attack was foiled and the driving force behind her assaults was lost. The kodachi she held onto dropped to the ground.

Gasping as sweat poured down her face, Sakura's arm hung limp at her side. Neji had completely stopped the flow of chakra in her hand by contact with the Tenketsu. He hadn't meant to stop just one pressure point but the impact of his attack sent a chain reaction to the others near her hand, therefore disabling all the points along her arm and all the way up to her shoulder.

Something was wrong. Even if Neji was able to halt her flow of chakra, Sakura knew that her arm was still supposed to be fully mobile—and in this case it wasn't. Her arm felt frozen.

" You…you…" she heaved. " What……"

The smile on Neji's face was horribly self-glorifying and arrogant. " You're correct since you know that I disabled the pressure points in your arm. However, the thwarted Tenketsu in the Inner Coils System were specific. They were the ones that were physically closest to the nerves of your muscles. Those nerves are incapable of receiving messages from your brain when it tells your arm to move."

Sakura's knees buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground. Neji's specificity in battle astounded her and made her hate him at the same time.

" I could kill you right now if I truly wanted." Neji said, eyeing the blade of his katana fondly.

He picked up the kodachi she threw and tossed it to her in a nonchalant fashion. " It's passed midnight. If you still insist on heading toward your blind direction, tomorrow at dusk would be appropriate for me to convince you that this whole ordeal is foolish."

Sakura shivered as a cold breeze swept by. Neji had disappeared, abandoning her with her thoughts. Slowly, the feeling seeped back into her immobile arm and she was able to stand up. It seemed that Neji hadn't done his worst because his assault was only temporary.

So much for her first session. Hot moisture began to collect at the corners of Sakura's eyes. She cursed loudly and furiously tried to wipe the tears of frustration away.

Why was she doing this ? Why was she voluntarily subjecting herself to harsh treatment she didn't even need from Hyuga Neji ? Sakura picked up her kodachi and started to head home.

To be stronger……to be better……and try to forget the pain from Sasuke's death…

As Sakura fought away the appearance of sobs with anger, she was too occupied to be aware that Neji hadn't completely left. He was perched in one of the trees a few meters away. The sound of Sakura's voice provoked him and he cursed it. Seeing her again only brought back flashes from their last few encounters.

And there was Sasuke's last words to be dealt with…

Neji hadn't planned anything nor did he want anything to do with it. Sakura wasn't his responsibility.

The next few weeks were flooded with rejoicing and happiness as Naruto's condition continued to improve. Rock Lee ended up breaking his promise to Sakura and ended up informing anyone that came across him that Naruto was finally showing progression.

Kakashi was the first to be told and he rushed to the hospital quickly for a visit. He was granted a view of Naruto curling his toes and stretching out his fingers as a sign of growing consciousness. When Kakashi spoke to him about the new special edition video series of Come Come Paradise: Director's Cut version, the Jounin swore he saw a look of displeasure appear on Naruto's face. And when Kakashi took a step further by saying that the video series included featurettes such as audio commentary and behind the scenes specials, Naruto's fist started to clench. Kakashi had grinned in affection.

Naruto sporadically received a greater number of visitors during the next few weeks. Hinata was so pleased to see his growing response to the sound of her voice and the doctor said it was necessary for Naruto to hear the voices of people he recognized. Hinata kissed him on the forehead before leaving, being rewarded with the brief opening of his eyes.

Rock Lee came back to visit frequently and so had Sakura. A few times they invited Shikamaru along and for the most part he attended. Sakura and Lee found it amusing how Shikamaru constantly acted as if it was a waste of his time when in reality he was secretly anxious about knowing Naruto's condition.

But the few individuals that kept a strong vigil over Uzumaki Naruto were Iruka, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Iruka fought endlessly against the tears when the good news came to him while Jiraiya nodded his head quietly and reserved his joy inside. Tsunade was delighted and made plans to move Naruto to the rehabilitation wing very soon.

It was after a very strained five-week period when Sakura paid her weekly visit to Naruto that she found three people that beat her to the punch. Another grueling training session with the kodachi rendered her exhausted. Kakashi, Hinata and Iruka were by the bed, watching over Naruto with a pleasant atmosphere.

" We were wondering when you'd show up." Iruka smiled.

" Sorry. There was a little something I had to take care of." Sakura replied. She walked over to Hinata, who was holding Naruto's moving hand. " How is he ?"

Hinata beamed, " He's doing so well. Naruto's more alert than ever and he's been responding physically to everyone that walks in this room…even Ebisu. His condition has also been upgraded to fair."

" That's wonderful." Exclaimed Sakura, observing her bed-ridden friend eagerly. She pulled up a stool to sit alongside the Hyuga.

While Sakura reached out attentively to touch Naruto's shoulder, Hinata's gaze fell on her arm and became curious at the marks that dotted her flesh.

" Sakura, are you alright ?" she asked worriedly.

Seeing that her arm was exposed, Sakura drew back as if her hand had been scalded by hot water.

" I'm fine. It's nothing."

Hinata was unconvinced. " Those aren't regular wounds. What have you been doing ?"

" I've been……doing a little extra training." Sakura sighed, figuring that there would be no point to lying.

The pink-haired Jounin didn't have to go into great detail about her arms; Hinata already knew and she reacted by putting hand to her mouth.

" Why are you doing this ?" asked Hinata. " There's no reason to ever ask him for a favor let alone to ACTUALLY receive it from him. And even then the repeated puncturing of the Tenketsu nearest to the muscles is a long-term hazardous effect."

" I can take care of myself…… I've…been doing all right and so far I'm surviving. I'm better than I ever was before."

" Sakura, there's a huge difference between being taught properly by a Jounin tutor and a Jounin that's been an Anbu for only two or three months."

" I don't need a tutor. Tutors are for Genins and maybe Chuunins that need extra conditioning. Right now all I'm trying to do is expanding my experience with a different style of combat." Sakura retorted.

" Then why didn't you ask somebody else ?" Hinata pressed on. " Kakashi is a former Anbu member that still does Anbu-standard assignments once in awhile. In addition, he was the head of your team and is better qualified."

Sakura sighed heavily and peered up at the ceiling in exasperation. " It's not that…I know from experience that Kakashi would go hard on me but it was never to a point where when he almost had the intent to actually take my life. Now with Neji it's different. I feel the true risk and it forces me to fight with every fiber of my being."

" Neji has a tendency to not hold back." Hinata stared at her with deep concern. " If you let him, whether it's by a break in your focus or an accident……he could kill you. And since you're one on one with him, there will be no one around to stop him."

" No. He would never. You give him too little credit for the conscience he has buried somewhere." Sakura replied. " As I said before, I can take care of myself. And I will be at par with him, or even better."

A large movement of Naruto's hand shocked both young women out of their conversation. The room around them fell into stale silence as all attention focused on the hospital bed. Naruto was stirring; everyone's breath seemed to be held as his eyes fluttered a couple of times before opening. Then, to everyone's astonishment, Naruto looked at each of them and was able to manage the tiniest of smiles.

Sakura felt hot tears form in her eyes when she saw that Naruto's eyes hadn't closed a second later. A pulse hammered inside her chest, wanting to believe that he was now fully conscious.

" Naruto…" She whispered weakly, grasping his hand tighter.

Kakashi and Iruka drew closer in a bubble of hope. Excitement eroded in their systems when Naruto recognized them.

" Somebody go get Tsunade NOW." Kakashi said with a quick wave of his hand.

It took a few minutes before Hinata stood up since nobody had wanted to leave Naruto at this critical moment. The Hyuga was only gone for a few minutes until she came back with Tsunade, who was running desperately toward the room. She fled to Naruto's side and smiled.

" He's stable enough to be awake now." She said. " For the days ahead he'll only be awake for a few hours at a time but it will come to pass. Naruto will be moved to the rehabilitation wing shortly."

Everyone in the room cheered silently. While Sakura, Iruka and Hinata stayed by the hospital bed, Tsunade took Kakashi to the side. The joy that was once in her eyes was replaced with apprehension; Kakashi took note and gave her his full attention.

" I should tell you that the rehabilitation process of a coma is a long and difficult road." Tsunade said with a lowered voice. " To tell you the truth, we will have to re-teach Naruto balance, coordination and even speech."

Kakashi's eyebrows drew together in worry. " Will Naruto…be able to function as he once did before ?"

Tsunade bit her lip. " That……I cannot answer right now. Depending on the damage Naruto took, there's the chance he cannot go back to the strained life of a shinobi. His body won't allow it."

" But Naruto is different. There has always been a possibility for him to surpass what others cannot."

" That's true in a sense," said Tsunade. " Although there's no guarantee, the power of the Kyubi might aid him in the healing process. Naruto's body is still the demon's jail cell and it will not tolerate damaged accommodations."

At the better piece of news, Kakashi exhaled a heavy breath that he didn't know he was holding.

" What's the chance the Kyubi will come to his aid ?" He asked.

" Fifty fifty……just like Rock Lee twelve years ago. Lee only had half the chance during that operation to regain himself as a shinobi. On the brighter side, Naruto is much better off than Lee was."

Kakashi nodded and glanced over at Sakura, Hinata and Iruka who were still crowding around the bed.

" We'll inform them later. It's best to keep the cheer in the moment right now." He said.