Title: Three Days 'Till Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama
Rating: K+
Summary: Three days can be a very long time to get home and out of the sun, especially now that Sakura holds a precious piece of information. But, in the presence of the right person, perhaps three days isn't quite long enough… (Sakura & Neji)
Authors Notes: Apperently, I'm boring now! pout Oh well. I seem to like this very much - because I just keep writing ;) So you will all have to just bear with me. I think the ending is very good... but it's still a chapter away. I should finish it today... though, you will just have to wait. Oh a better note, I can UPLOAD things again! Yay for me.

Oh, yes. Just a quick little warning... I am trying a new style and it may not be working out so well. Let me know, critisims are welcome, they let me know when I SUCK. But, ah, no flames please. I'm a very sensative person and your hate makes me cry. I've also tried humor - which I will be the first to admit, I'm no good at. So tell me what you think...it will help me get better. So eventually, I will throngs of adoring fans... :)

Night was just leaving the camp as the first rays of sunrise shifted though the trees and scattered across the ground. Sakura gathered her sleeping roll and repacked her traveling bag. She never really minded sleeping on the ground, even when she was younger. And even if it was cold and damp on the hard, dirt ground, it was home. Across the make-shift camp she could just make out the silhouettes of Lee and Ten-Ten having a quiet talk. She could feel the presence of someone else approach from behind, but she already knew who it was.

"Ohayo, Neji-san." She didn't have to turn around, but she did anyway. His long brown hair just caught the sun as it filtered through the green leaves of the tall trees and made his eyes look like two moons. She quickly turned away, back to observing the rest of their party in silence.

"Ohayo." He was curt, as always. But she sensed tension in his voice. Her eyes followed his and found his two companions still engrossed in their own little world. She watched as Lee packed Ten-Ten's sleeping roll away and proceeded to give her his 'nice guy pose.' Ten-Ten giggled, and something inside Sakura was suddenly very light. She smiled warmly on the cool morning and recalled past instances when he'd given her that look. She was sorry to admit that she was relieved he was now giving them to someone else.

"Have you noticed the way Ten-Ten-san looks at Lee-san?" She spoke ahead, but she knew he would hear. It only took a moment, but he took two steps and stood next to her, watching his fellow teammates and frowning. It was a strange feeling, to watch them. She almost felt like she was spying, like it was something that she shouldn't see.

"Hn. It has been going on for quite some time." There was something about the way he said it, like there was more. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder, only to find him, as stoic as ever, still watching with disapproval shinning in his eyes. There was a horrible conclusion floating just to the left of Sakura's thoughts, and in that moment, she found it drifting in the vast expanses of her cluttered mind.

"Ah, soca…" she commented almost silently as she watched him watch them, in particular, Ten-Ten. The way she watched Lee, it was sad in a very proverbial way. "Gomen ne." Immediately, she regretted mentioning it at all. Because she knew that look, she was quite achingly familiar with it.

"Nani?" his voice turned shallow and cold so she resisted the urge to shiver in the wake of his freezing tone and glassy eyes. She'd obviously hit a nerve, and she was sorry for it. But he was too close to gauge properly, so she kept her twitching eyes ahead to the sight of his teammates. But then Lee's eyes caught hers, and she was devastated to find that they still lit up like Christmas lights in the forest greenery.

"Ah, nothing." She turned from him, right back into the icy air that surrounded her silent companion. It was almost an afterthought, to think of him as a man. Sakura was ashamed to admit it, yet again, but she'd always considered him to be above trivial things, like love. But he was only human, only a man. "Er… sorry I said anything, that's all." And she was frightfully aware that she'd now managed to offend his manly ego. This morning was not beginning so well.

"I require no such gesture from you." She couldn't remove her eyes from him, not just because a part of her knew that would be rude, but there was something so vulnerable in his gaze that made it wrong to turn her face from it. It was like watching the first snowfall, or the first bloom of a flower that only happens once a year. She sighed, heavily into the dissipating morning mist and watched him bore perfect circular holes into her face.

"Well, it's just…" She hated how her mind and mouth conspired against her, and for the first time in her life, almost wished that Naruto would come over to bug them. But alas, he was still asleep – Gai and Kakashi were working on that front without her. "I didn't think…" She really did mean to finish that thought, but then there was another searing image of the nearly painful look in his eyes while he watched what he was not a part of.

"Think what, woman? Spit it out, your apprehension is painfully annoying!" Any sympathy she might have held for his situation melted away and was replaced by the gleeful presence of anger. It was much more natural to hate the Hyuuga prodigy than it was to pity him. It felt less bitter on her tongue. So she slimmed her eyes and showed him that she could look dangerous too, if she really wanted to.

"I didn't know it bothered you so much." She tethered her anger before it threatened too menacingly to break free of her tentative self-control and tell him exactly what she thought. "I wouldn't have brought it up if it did." She smiled, gently at her own internal victory and pulled the hate from her heart as she watched him watch them, again. If it wasn't so sad, it might have been ironically funny. But as it was, the pain she felt twinge in the center of her soul was just familiar and painfully useless. Unrequited.

"The only reason her obvious crush is of any concern to me is if it gets in the way of our missions. So far, it has not. Therefore, I care not who she is interested in." In his own, unique, formal dialect, she imagined that was his version of 'whatever.' "I am certainly not personally vexed, as you insinuated." He then proceeded to puff out his chest and look far more self-important than he had the right to.

"Ah, I see." Sakura relented, because she knew that if she pushed it anymore, she would be treading in an uncharted region. And without a map, or a guide – she feared being lost inside Neji's thoughts forever. She was relieved to see his eyes softened, just enough for her to be sure that his paranoia of being exposed had passed.

"Good." He nodded in a way that made her think that he had now deemed this topic to be over. But then he glanced back at her and she was surprised to see the quiver of a smirk playing on his taunt lips. "Lee however is oblivious." But he wasn't watching them anymore, instead he fixed his unnerving white eyes on her and she squirmed under him.

"Yes, he does seem a bit… distracted." She repressed the urge to giggle like a school girl at the looks Lee was sending her way. But they were just so ridiculous. He never seemed to change, except in the quite moment's in-between battles, missions, and Gai impersonations. He would always be the effervescent boy who wept for the spring time of his youth, but she'd also seen the way he glanced at Ten-Ten just in the space between overtly flirtatious looks he sent her way. It was different, and reserved. But in a whole other way, it was more real than anything she'd seen him give her.

"I'm sure your presence has something to do with that." His voice pulled her from her thoughts and jarred her with the revelation that kicked dust around the rarely used portion of her 'gossip' brain. It had been a long time since she'd interested herself with the relationships of the other shinobi. In fact, it had been quite a while since she'd considered the reality that she was still waiting for someone that left her. She was alone, chaste lips and virgin legs was only the start of all the aspects she was lacking.

But the way he looked at her was a reminder of all her inadequacies. She was aware that he'd spoken, but she was in no way prepared to have a deep, insightful conversation so early in the day. Regretfully, she thought fondly of the beds they'd left behind in Suna, and suddenly two more days was far, far too long even in the homely, plush forest. "Nani?"

"His fascination with you has not waned." He seemed to be enjoying what little power he still dangled over her. She was sure he was well aware of her absence from the social world, as she was of his. "In fact, after you began apprenticing under the Godaime, he became more adamant that he was meant to be with you." She laughed then, low and true. There was no apprehension in the act, even if it was in the presence of Hyuuga Neji. It was just so preposterous to think that Lee actually convinced himself that they were 'meant to be.'

"That's ridiculous." She let her laughter die down and watched as he smirked, seemly enjoying the same thoughts she had. It was a strange feeling, to share a moment of levity with such a serious person. But he let his lips curl and she was surprisingly at ease.

"Precisely what I told him." He was once again looking past her to the increasingly boisterous scene. Ten-Ten managed to convince Lee to carry her bag, while Naruto had cloned himself and all five of him was trying to sleep.

She felt bold and completely complacent with his company, and ventured to nudge his side lightly with her elbow. "Neji-san, I had no idea you could carry on conversations so well." She smiled for him and gracefully accepted the grin he offered her. And for that moment, she was sure she was betraying something. But it didn't seem to matter then, so she smiled and he grinned like it was an action they'd shared hundreds of times.

"Hmpf, I am capable of social interaction, if I so desire." He feigned shock and she was forced, yet again to smile brightly in his direction. "And three days with Gai-sensei and Lee is bad enough, not to mention Naruto." Her eyes followed his, only to find Naruto now half dressed, sleeping hat still covering his unruly blond hair, trying desperately to fight off Gai and Kakashi with nothing but his jacket and one sandal. "I fear that without a little quiet, I would be forced to kill them all."

"I know what you mean." Almost unconsciously, she found herself drifting closer to him. It was as if he was drawing her in with the orbits of his moon-eyes and she was helpless to stop herself. But he didn't seem to notice, so she pretended that she didn't either. "Naruto can be a little, tiring sometimes." She sighed then, for the memories that would follow her for the rest of her life.

"I will never understand what Hinata-sama sees in him." The grin was gone now, replaced by a calm, emotionless expression that seemed to fit his features more. She remembered the way he'd attacked his cousin during the first chuunin exam, but as she watched him now, that Neji seemed to be like a distant dream. He'd grown quite a bit in the two and a half years that passed.

"A chance for happiness, I suppose." There was a bitter taste in her mouth, a memory she tried to forget and the guilt of allowing the phantom to pass through her mind, unbidden. "I suspect she looks up to Naruto because he has the power to change people, and fate." Because no matter where they went or who Naruto met – he seemed able to change them. He'd changed Gaara, and Chiyo, and even Neji.

"I need no reminders of that lesson." He was solemn again, and she almost wished that he'd grin again or even smirk. She disliked the serious Neji that always had control over everything. She enjoyed the man who was able to chuckle and who sweats when it was hot. It made him seem more human, more on a level she could identify with.

"Ah, that's right." There was a subtle epiphany in her feeble mind as she considered the mortality of a legend. "I forgot to congratulate you on your promotion to Jounin! I was away on training during the exams, but Ino filled me in." She hadn't been willing to take the test then, opting for more training instead. Even though Tsunade said she would have supported her if she decided to try. But it didn't feel like the right time. And in fact, only three shinobi were granted jounin status were Neji, Temari and Kankurou, who were all a year older than her and quite a bit more experienced. So she didn't regret her decision in the least.

"Yes, well, thank you." Not for the first time, Sakura felt a minor victory within her reach. No doubt, he was unaware that she knew of his promotion. The minute waver and the almost invisible pink hue that she imagined would have been there was a wave of triumph washing over her. Not many people in the village were present at the trials, and she considered that he might have liked it that way.

"I heard that Temari-san and Kankurou-san were also promoted." She thought back to the man she'd rescued, and the unlikely comrade she'd found in Temari. In her frequent visits to Konoha during the years, they had become friends. It seemed only fitting that they passed. He recovered quickly from his falter but the enduring recollection of it still stayed with her.

"They were." He was once again engrossed in the process of pinning her under his gaze. But now, it didn't feel nearly as intimidating as it had before. Now that she'd witnessed his humanity and bathed in the presence of his grin, she felt oddly confidant around him. She realized that with every minute that passed she grew more accustom to him. This idea disturbed her, so she looked back to the bubbly man with the 'unique' look who was now watching her.

"I wonder why Lee-san didn't try." She'd never really considered it before, the fact that Lee hadn't even tried. It was unusual. He was typically the first to charge into a good fight, prepared or not. So she watched him watch her and wondered if she really knew him as well as she thought she did.

"I think he is still cautious, after the first chuunin exam." There painful kind of pull at her heart then, because she remembered watching him in the hospital during his recovery. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she saw a change in him after that. He was still Lee, he would always be that boy who declared he would protect her to the death, and the body that lie at her feet as she reached the first real turning point in her life. It was his back she sought to pass. It was him who'd given her that chance. But after the surgery, there was just something different, maybe if she were a better friend, she could identify what it was that changed. But she couldn't, and relished in the swell of regret that stirred in her.

"Soca, I can understand that." She hating thinking that he harbored some deep-seeded fear, or worse – a grudge that would haunt him. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, it was dismissed. The bobbled hair man that stood in front of her now in the new day's light would never be the raven haired boy with cold, dead eyes who haunted her. "Gaara-sama sure has changed, ne Neji-san." She no longer wished to dwell on Lee's pain and instead turned to the implausible Kazekage who sacrificed his life for that of his people.

"It would appear so." She could hear it in his voice, that distant kind of fear that lingered in his white eyes in the sunlight. He felt it too, that repressed apprehension over the subtle changes in his teammate. Perhaps he was just as concerned as she was that Lee had chosen not to participate at all. And his readiness to move from the subject was a welcome common ground.

"Naruto has a habit of changing people wherever he goes." She turned from her dark thoughts and instead embraced the memories of the overexcited fox-boy who always managed to come out on top. She watched him struggle to dress himself and suppressed the urge to groan as she spotted that mischievous glint in his eyes. He was plotting something… she was sure of it.

"Has he changed you?" She was pulled from her counter scheming by the man who stood far too close to her right. It was an unexpected question, personal in an atypical way – and yet completely welcomed. She watched him for a moment and rolled his question around inside her head and across her tongue.

"I guess he has." She nodded and smiled warmly in the direction of said distraction. He truly had managed to weasel his was into her life over the years. But there was just something about him that seemed to get her so well. "When I first met him, he was so annoying." She scoffed at the image of him temping her to try and see what was under Kakashi's mask. "And he and Sasuke-kun would argue nonstop."

She wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow his name floated from her lips without her permission. She was momentarily stunned at her own lack of control. She managed not to say his name… in years. But there was just something about Neji that melted away all the barriers she'd managed to build. She'd told him her secret and let him placate her. And now, here she was, reminiscing about Sasuke like he was dead. She cleared her throat and pushed the last thought from her mind. She was not betraying him, after all – he was the one who left her.

"Hm" he paid her internal struggle no attention and merely glanced ahead and pulled his hands behind his back, like he was contemplating something deeply important. She might have hated him then, because she could think of no other way to respond to the clearly… sympathetic reaction he was giving. Surely Neji was unaware of how to be quietly comforting. Surely he had no idea how to let her betray herself and stand gently in support as she chastised herself. Surely he had no idea what he was doing to her.

"Three years away from him gave me a lot of time to think about it." She felt incongruously angry at him for being so… so… so HUMAN! What right did he have to stand there at look at her like that, like he knew what she was feeling, like he approved of her pain, like he knew his approval would console her?

"I suppose this means that you are planning to meet Orochimaru in the grass country." He was like a puzzle that she desperately desired to put back together, just to see what he would look like. One minute he was cold and distant, like the memory of a man she tried to hate. And the next he was soothing and considerate like nothing she could associate with.

"Yes." There was no reason to hide it. She earned this information; she fought and almost lost her life for it. Chiyo had lost hers, and there was no way she would let anyone else take this opportunity from her. And every moment that they stood and waited for Naruto to pack his bag was like giant ticking clock hung around her neck. She would meet the spy, and she would infiltrate Orochimaru's organization; because it was her right, her duty, her only motivation for the past two and a half years. It was hers.

"Are you sure you can trust what Sasori said?" She could hear the words that were spoken beneath the statement, the question of her skills as a shinobi, her inadequacies. She swore she could almost feel the blade twisting in her back. After all, he must think of her as nothing but a lowly medic-nin. She was no better than a bug he could crush. And she was surprised to find just how much she sought to prove him wrong, as if his opinion on the subject meant anything to her.

"He had no reason to lie. He was defeated." She turned her face upward, uninterested in his lack of faith in her abilities. She would show him just how much she was capable of. And when she returned, victorious, with Sasuke – he would eat his pretty hair for doubting her.

"For a monster like him, it would the perfect excuse to lie." But each time he spoke, it was like he was trying to tell her something else, something she was missing. She watched him closely as she considered what, exactly; he was trying to tell her. First he'd showed almost admiration for her fight with Sasori, and now it appeared as if he was cynical of her skills.

"Point taken." It really was too early to be having this kind of conversation. She wanted to sleep a little longer, she wanted her bed, she wanted her morning cereal, she wanted Ino, and Tsunade. She wanted home. This mission had taken long enough, and she was ready to be free of life-or-death battles, puzzles, and stark, unrevealing white eyes.

He sighed, and she was certain then that she'd missed the point he was so painstakingly disguising from her. "Just, be careful." And there it was, all laid out at her feet: his warnings, his interest, his deprecating comments, and his concern. She shook her head, because it was just so absurd that he could be apprehensive for her sake. And against her better judgment, a small smile spread across her face as she turned to him.

"Why, Neji-san if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried about me." She imagined that if he knew how to blush, he would have then; because he was caught by his own submission and he knew it. It was a gentle prod at his compassion, and she was bold enough to take it without trepidation. She thought she might have one piece of his puzzle solved then. It was the corner segment of his heart. Real, alive, and beating – he was only mortal after all.

"I am merely trying to ensure the chance to carry on a sociable conversation with a sane person in the future." He smirked and she was instantly glad. It was without question now; she preferred the hint of his upper teeth just past the curl of his lips better than the formal line his face habitually wore. And something inside her, deeply rooted in the past and profoundly invested in the sliver of information she gripped like a lifeline, shuddered at this. Traitor!

"Was that a… a… joke?" she stumbled and stuttered and fought to maintain an even expression. She failed miserably as Naruto cheerfully declared 'Onward' and Lee offered to carry Kakashi. There was something that broke in her, but at the same time she could almost swear that she was more whole than she had been in years. She was mending… and she had the gut-wrenching suspicion that the brown-haired, white-eyed man to her right had more to do with it than she would ever allow herself to know.

"I believe it was." He chuckled low as his sleeve brushed over her bare upper arm. And then it was his turn to leave her in the wake of his dust cloud as his feet met his bark and the distance he put between them. And try as she might, she could just not manage to peal the smile from her lips or stop the delirious feeling of being whole again from forming at the sight of his shrinking back through the leaves.

Pardon my intirusion here at the end, but I am now on my knees begging, begging with tears in my eyes...please, help me!

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BETA wanted!

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