/Is still singing Happy Birthday/ And here it is! The second and last installment! Congratulations Sushi on becoming older and wiser than me :D Enjoy everyone! As for you Sushi, you can just pretend to enjoy it to make me feel special XD Neji's POV now and a few months later!
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Neji glared across the counter making sure he dripped blood onto it to assure his point was made. The small, fragile woman behind the marble countertop shuffled papers nervously as she struggled to finish her task under his cold stare.
"Well?" He didn't like to be kept waiting upon returning from missions.
"I'm sorry; the medic you requested has an appointment." His only movement was to arch a single eyebrow. "She...She wont be available for quite some time sorry...But there is someone available to treat you now if you would like to-"
"Who is it?"
"Haruno Saku-"
"I will wait." He strode away and sat heavily in one of the chairs allowing himself the privilege of groaning quietly from annoyance and admitted pain. Still, death by blood loss was a pleasanter future than having to see Sakura again. She was always around him, smiling as she impaled him with a needle or dug shrapnel from his arm, she always had been. He had wanted her to. He had requested her. Eventually, he had decided she could be trusted.
She still could be trusted; it was himself who he was worried about. Sakura could quite easily skip into his hospital room, flick his nose, call him pet names, almost force feed him AND HE DIDN'T MIND! He had given her a foot massage...For Kami's sake; she had slept in his bed! This was all coming from the man who had stormed out of a formal dinner when a young relative had hugged his leg! It was unnatural for him to let her do these things...No, wait, it was unnatural for him to want her to do these things. He couldn't even blame it on a momentary lapse of weakness as momentary lapses didn't last for months.
No, he wasn't safe while she was around that much was clear to him. His altered behaviour around her seemed impossible to prevent but avoiding her completely was something he could handle. This is why her walking up the hallway at that very moment towards him served as a problem. She glanced at him and then made her way to the counter he had previously dripped on to speak to the nurse stationed there.
"Why are you letting people wait when there are medics available? Do you want to be fired under charges of neglect?" He decided to speak now before Sakura began to shout and physically attack the woman.
"I have arranged to be treated by a Medic who is not available at present. I'm choosing to wait." She beamed at him.
"Don't worry Neji! I'll get you fixed up." He barely had a chance to blink before he was being pushed back down the hall Sakura had come from and into a small room. She shoved him onto the bed and hummed while she sorted through some instruments on a table opposite him.
"I requested a different nurse."
"I'm aware of that Neji but she got caught up elsewhere." He couldn't help but feel annoyed that his plan had been ruined by someone else's disorganisation.
"It was a pre-scheduled agreement." She approached him and began to examine the injury on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry that your appointment was canceled. Unfortunately it turns out that despite our qualifications when a mother is ready to deliver it becomes beyond our control to prevent the child from interrupting schedules even through polite requests for their patience."
"Hm." Damn her.
"I haven't seen you around much Neji. I mean, you're not exactly outgoing but you haven't been brooding around any of your normal spots." How kind of her to notice.
"Hm." She peeled back his shirt to expose the slash across his shoulder.
"Hope you haven't been avoiding me!" She laughed and flicked his nose.
"Don't do that." She stared at him for a moment before smiling again.
"Oh, not very friendly!" She ruffled his hair instead and he frowned. She was already too absorbed in the task to notice even though he doubted she would have cared anyway. "I think you're going to need stitching up well and truly!" Sakura was able to say it with cheerfulness that didn't match the task ahead.
"Fabulous."
"That's the spirit! This might hurt a little."
"Believe me, I'm more than used to your attempts to skewer me when you work." Despite his misgivings about being around her it was hard not to admit she made healing a lot pleasanter for him.
"I'm glad my efforts don't go unnoticed." She began to use her chakra to draw the wound together. He grunted in pain. "Neji!" she stopped suddenly. "That's not like you." He didn't answer as she continued to examine where she was working. "Oh, aren't you glad I didn't make you wait now? Looks like you got poisoned too!"
"It just gets better and better doesn't it?"
"Hm, I'll have to clean that first, hope I didn't hurt you too much hun!"
"Not at all." She fluffed some pillows for him.
"Get comfortable. This is going to take a while." She picked up the entire kit of supplies and scooted over to the other side of the bed on a wheeled stool. "Have you been drinking since you got home?"
"Hm."
"Neji!" She sighed and got up. "I'll be right back." He rolled his eyes when she had turned away but she was back in a matter of minutes with a glass of water. "Open up Neji!" He snatched it off her with his good arm.
"I can drink myself!"
"I'm sure you can!" She reached over and ruffled his hair again.
"I'm not three!"
"Yes but now's the only time that I can pretend you are without you trying to hurt me." She took the glass back from him. "Ready now?"
"I was fine before." She pushed him so he was lying on his stomach as the gash made its way down his back.
"I'll get started then! I'm going to numb it up a bit so I don't have to focus chakra on that as well. Is that okay with you?" He could see the needle glinting in the light without turning his head.
"Fine."
"Okay!"
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"What?" He didn't appreciate being spoken to when he was this comfortable.
"I said; how do you feel now?"
"What's going on?"
"Sorry, you must have been low on chakra too. The healing was too much."
"I was asleep?"
"Yep!"
"What's the time?"
"Late. You'll be staying here now."
"Hm."
"Seeing as you're half asleep now I can return the favour!"
"Favour?" She better not be talking about what he thought she was. He tried to push himself up.
"Don't worry, you don't have to move." She pushed him back down.
"I want to move."
"You're too weak right now Neji, stay still, Medic's order."
"Stop abusing your position."
"Stop complaining. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a trained professional remember?" she rested a hand between his shoulder blades.
"It was a foot massage." Neji was able to mumble into the pillows. She pulled at one of his arms.
"You need to be limp. Relax; I'm not going to hurt you."
"Hm."
"Okay, if you don't relax I will hurt you." He complied to the best of his ability. "If I had known threatening would force you into submission I would have started a long time ago."
"May I remind you that I'm already tired? Besides, you're not repaying me. I lost your voucher and got you wet, I thought I owed you." She kneeled beside him on the mattress and dragged her hand over his hair to move it out the way.
"Excuses, excuses..." she pressed firmly on his lower back before he could reply. "I'll try to stay away from your bad shoulder."
"Hm." She walked her fingers up his spine carefully.
"Okay?"
"Hm." She continued probing gently at problem areas and avoiding his injury.
"Alright?"
"Hm." Sakura leaned over him to reach the lone, un-bandaged shoulder.
"Fine?"
"I don't really care anymore." He turned his head to the side and felt her hair brush his cheek.
"Oh." Neither of them moved and he was aware of her still resting her hands on him as she supported herself. It was because he was acting as her support that she fell when he twisted around onto his back. "Neji!"
"Hm?"
"W...What are you doing?" In the sudden role reversal Sakura was trying to push herself up from his chest.
"I was going to try kissing you but you're struggling too much." He had never seen anyone freeze so quickly.
"What?" The stutter was gone and her voice was disbelieving and flat but she was finally still. In one movement as fluid as his original flip he crushed his lips against hers. She remained frozen until her arms left his shoulder and wrapped around his neck. With all her weight against him he leaned back into the pillows and she raised her head for a moment only to lean her forehead against his. "I think we're taking this past the recommended medic/patient relationship."
"Don't you think we broke that when you started with the massage?" She smiled.
"Probably." She bit her lip "I hope I'm not hurting your shoulder."
"I thought I told you that I didn't care anymore." She smirked.
"Best resume your massage then."
"Indeed."
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A/N: And so it ends! Thank you to everyone for all the support I received on the first chapter, I really appreciate it! Hope this one was okay too and didn't drag on the story too much.
Just as a reminder, this is a Birthday gift to 'lilmisssushi' so if you want to do both me and her a favour; send her a 'Happy Birthday' review or message. She has an excellent NejiSaku fic as well as a nice one-shotout herself so have a look at them too!
Sushi and I have just started a C2 dedicated to the NejiSaku pairing. Have a look in either of our profiles if you're interested, we'd appreciate your support!
One final Happy B'Day from me for this year Sushi, hope your present was okay!
Please review!
Nut2
