Without a Doubt by lilmisssushi
A/N: I honestly don't know what to do with Sasuke's character at the moment, what with the latest manga chapters and all…he's totally a minefield right now, and gosh, I just know that his character's gonna turn out of whack.
And as the lovely Cashew Nuts mentioned in a review, I'm kinda swinging between humour with slight angst and drama making an appearance in the story. Sorry about that, it was unconscious on my part, but now I'll just pretend like I was planning that all along, to show the contrast between the feelings Sakura has for Sasuke, and the feelings she'll eventually have for our dearest Neji ehehe lol.
Oh yeah, one more thing…'ware the boy/boy love coming up okay? 'Tis kinda my last warning XD.
Summary: For Sakura, being in love with Sasuke is a given. She's loved him through rejection and betrayal and everything in between, so why should she stop now?
For Neji, blaming everything on fate is the most tried-and-true method around. But throw in Haruno Sakura, and his extremely versatile excuse just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. (NejiSaku)(SasuNaru)
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.
Chapter III- Yearning
Sakura was surprisingly adept at concealing her emotions, and Neji couldn't for the life of him, read her, like he could with everyone else. Sure, he was a self-proclaimed expert at reading body language (with help from his Byakugan) and using it to his advantage to intimidate his opponent, but with Sakura – he could never truthfully say he knew what she was thinking. It was as if she had this whole other… personality thing going on in her mind. He soon realized that what she did and what she really thought, were two completely different things. And all he knew was that he could not take Haruno Sakura at face-value. She was so much more different than what he had imagined her to be.
He guessed that it pretty much explained why he always felt so…disoriented around her. Yes, that would probably be why…
Neji soon came striding out of the hospital alongside Sakura after just having come out of it together.
(They'd met Tenten inside, who had been in the midst of passing on some messages from her ANBU captain to the nurses. She'd smiled brightly as soon as she saw the two of them together and slyly asked what they were planning to do for the rest of the day, waggling her eyebrows in Sakura's direction all the while. She laughed heartily and slapped Neji on the back when he'd curtly told her to mind her own business. And if it were anyone else, Neji would have effectively silenced the person with a single one of his patented Hyuuga glares ™, but Tenten knew him too well and had become immune to that sort of thing. And to coin Shikamaru's most insightful words of the year, women were trouble, kunoichi were even more trouble, and female teammates were the most troublesome of all. Frankly, Neji agreed.)
He looked over at Sakura, who appeared to be off in her own world…she had seemed to be distracted about something all morning, but it didn't really explain why their hands kept 'accidentally' brushing against each other...
It made him twitch, involuntarily.
The Hyuuga wasn't normally a very touchy-feely person, and it was strange that he didn't really…mind…having her so close.
It was entirely uncharacteristic of him, but sweat was starting to prickle at the back of his neck, and he wondered if he should…discreetly try to move away…or not.
He settled for clearing his throat – loudly.
It caused her to jump nearly three feet in the air, but he couldn't say he was sorry for it…except when she snatched her hand away from his, and turned to look at him with wide eyes.
"Erm…sorry about that…I was thinking…about…stuff."
(He looked at her with that expression that made her feel like an idiot, and she inwardly smacked herself for how lame that had sounded.)
"I've been uh…thinking…"
His steady gaze was making her uncomfortable.
"About?"
She opened her mouth to tell him, but quickly shut it after thinking about it again. "I…"
"It's not a problem if you don't tell me," Neji replied calmly, cutting her off and covering up the fact that he'd felt an odd twinge of disappointment when he'd realized what she'd been trying to get at- or rather, whom. (It's the Uchiha, its always about the Uchiha.)
Neji then regally picked up the pace, his hair flowing silkily behind him.
Sakura was left amazed that his hair was still so…perfect, after him having survived a two-month trek in the bushes with Naruto. Shaking her head, she caught up to him, and pulled on his sleeve, like a child would. He turned to look at her, keeping his face neutral.
"Planning to ask for my wordly wisdom now?"
Sakura laughed nervously. "If you don't mind…"
He gave her his most convincing mock glare. (Funny how he could only ever pretend to be irritated around her).
"After you dragged me, against my will might I add, to the hospital and back, you expect me to just give in and help you?"
"Well uh…yeah."
He sighed. "Fine. Come to dinner with me. My place."
Sakura blinked slowly up at him, a little lost.
"What, at the Hyuuga Manor again? That place is creepy, and having Hanabi stare me down while I'm eating all the time isn't good for my digestive system."
"I don't care about your digestive system. I'm hungry, tired, and dirty and if you insist on my company then I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."
She grinned up at him mischievously, daring to tease him; "You make it sound like it's a chore."
He raised his eyebrow at her, the muscles of his jaw quirking a little. (She could tell! He was trying to suppress a smile! After spending several years of companionship with him, she had learnt to interpret every single little nuance of his facial expressions- she knew it would come in handy one day!)
He gazed down at her, suddenly turning serious. "…Isn't it?"
For some reason Sakura could feel the weight of his simple question, but she quickly shook her thoughts off. What was wrong with her?
She laughed. "Haha, what do you think? You're a real stick in the mud, but I still like you."
"Hn."
They then headed off companionably towards the Hyuuga district, Sakura threading her arm though his (and earning a glare in return), while she chattered about all the gossip he had missed while he'd been away.
Naruto decided to hunt Sasuke down after finishing off about a dozen bowls of ramen at Ichiraku, for some much needed male-bonding time.
Standing up and smacking his lips, he stretched a little and happily paid the owner. His pockets were jingling with money, after all, having just gotten his pay-check off the old hag's flunkies, aka Tsunade's administrative officers.
Looking around at the busy street outside, he was reminded of the time when Jiraiya had been chased down it by a horde of angry women for getting discovered peeking in the bath house. Naruto had been proud to say that he'd set the whole thing up and it had been the most successfully carried out prank of his entire nineteen-year old life. He smiled a little to himself when he remembered the crestfallen look on the old pervert's face as he tried to bluster his way out by pleading innocent, but faltered as he remembered the beating he'd gotten after Jiraiya inevitably found out he'd been framed. It had been worth it though.
Ahh, he was glad to be home.
Uzumaki Naruto had grown up to easily become one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha, and was well on his way to achieving his dream of becoming Hokage. (Tsunade had grudgingly started training him little by little, starting out with trusting the blonde with the more political side of such a position, and testing out his diplomatic abilities. He'd failed every single one of her 'tests' but she'd vowed to mould him like he'd never been moulded before. Which meant assigning him menial paperwork that she had no time to finish herself, and punching him into submission with her insane strength whenever he slacked off or complained.)
Everyone who knew him approved of the decision, and the Rookie 9 plus Gai's team had wasted no time in throwing him the party of the decade when they'd found out. Some of the villagers were still suspicious of his character, but he was backed up by some of the most powerful and influential figureheads they knew, such as two of the original legendary Sennin, the newest Kazekage, Gaara, to whom which Konoha's and Suna's stable alliance could now be attributed to, as well as the blessings from the Snow country, from whence Naruto and his teammates had once gone on a mission to save their princess. He also took up as many high-ranking missions as he could, and was highly respected by everyone else he came across.
It still didn't say much for his personality, though, because even if he had grown in ways beyond belief, he was still the same old Naruto, with his determination, naïveté, and damned trusting ways.
The women of Konoha could attain to the fact that he had grown to be an extremely handsome boy though, no – man - whose chiseled features and broad shoulders yet childish countenance instantly gained him the adoration and favour of little girls and old ladies everywhere. His own fan-club was steadily growing, with Hinata not-so-surprisingly at its head.
Sakura had once even witnessed a rather disturbing scene at that party wherein Ino had sighed and rested her chin in her hands while staring off in Naruto's direction dreamily. Sakura had poked her rather un-delicately in the shoulder and asked her what the hell she was looking at. Ino had swatted her hand away, still seemingly in a trance, and said;
(Sakura would never forget this)-
"Damn, girl…when did he get those kinda abs? I wasn't aware I'd been missing out on so much talent! Been keeping him to yourself, ey? And he has a jaw line to die for…"
Sakura's mouth fell open in an 'O' and she grabbed Ino's shoulders before shaking them firmly.
"I did NOT just hear you say that about NARUTO!"
"Mmm I'm afraid you did, forehead-girl. I'd like to get me some of that!"
Sakura was scarred for life.
Naruto looked down at the ground, and, judging by the length of the shadows that were cast by the sun, decided that it was already past midday. He instantly knew where Sasuke would be at that time of day, and immediately sprinted off in the direction of the training grounds.
He flying tackled him to the ground in a semi-hug when he found him. (He was almost sure that Sasuke had heard his approach – he had never done very well in any of Kakashi's stealth classes- but he supposed the Uchiha had also realized it was him and allowed him to get close enough.)
"Sasuke! I'm back!"
"I realized, dobe," his cold voice came floating back. But at least he was acting normal, and Naruto was grateful for it. He'd been afraid that Sasuke would shut himself off from everyone all over again considering what had…happened…before he'd left.
Sasuke had already been acting…differently, as of late though, Naruto had to admit, even considering the fact that they'd finally managed to get their friendship back on track after the whole debacle with Itachi, and Sasuke's defection from Konoha for Sound, which had taken up the better half of their lives. Naruto had thought that everything would finally be alright now that Sasuke was back and had recovered…but Sasuke had never been predictable, and this time was no different.
And being on probation at home while Naruto went off on his extensive mission probably hadn't helped any.
Tsunade trusted the Uchiha only because Naruto did, and while she had been lenient with him for abandoning the village, she let him off only because he had single-handedly destroyed the Sound Complex and had therefore eliminated what had been a huge threat to Konoha's livelihood. And, although she was loathe to say it, he was truly the last Uchiha, and there would have been uproar over it (from her many advisors) had she ordered him jailed or even executed.
He'd have to prove his worth if he wanted to regain the village's trust though, but for Naruto's sake, Tsunade had been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as he, along with the blonde, were two of the most powerful shinobi of their generation, and undeniably brought out the best in each other.
But then…Naruto had left on a rather sour note two months back. Sasuke had gotten sort of…discomfited when Naruto was assigned yet another A-rank mission, and had been strangely reluctant to see him go. He'd wanted to follow along but Tsunade had stepped in and forbidden it.
They'd had a huge confrontation over it, the whole shebang. It had ended when Naruto heard Sasuke raise his voice and truly yell at him for the first time in his life. He'd never seen Sasuke get worked up over anything before.
It was the day before he was due to leave, and they'd stood in the rain, outside of Naruto's apartment. He could still remember the look on Sasuke's face as he expressed his wish for Naruto to stay, his voice thick, hoarse. His hair hung over his eyes, but even so, he could tell they were gleaming with frustration and…worry.
"Why don't you get it, dobe? There's no point in me staying here if-"
At that point, Sasuke had cut himself off, but both of them knew exactly what he'd been about to set in stone with words. Naruto had nothing to say, he was so shocked by Sasuke's sudden display of emotion. He supposed afterwards that it hadn't actually been so sudden. There'd been a sort of nameless tension building up between them for a long time, but he'd successfully ignored it up until that point- the mission just acted as some sort of catalyst.
Naruto was left completely confused as he departed, but all he knew was that he missed Sasuke when they were apart, and wanted to set things right again. He'd have to take the initiative if he wanted to get anywhere though, because God knew that Sasuke was the master of denial and his solution to everything was to avoid a problem rather than fix it.
Shrugging the memories off in his typical carefree manner, Naruto smiled brightly and yelled, "Sasuke-teme! You should have seen how many times I had to save Neji's butt! He got injured AGAIN so I had to save everyone by mys-"
"Not everyone's got your dumb luck, baka."
Sasuke pushed Naruto off him a little and they sat up, the Uchiha brushing some non-existent dirt off his clothing while Naruto looked on and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
He sat back on his haunches to think about that one. "Ah well, I suppose he DID push me out of the way of that chubby dude with the weird-ass horns who would've pierced me with his green sword…"
"Pfft."
(At the mention of Neji's name, Sasuke had stiffened a little. Although the two had so much in common, for some reason, they had never seemed to get along.
As for Naruto, he thought Neji was cool and all, but a teensy bit uptight when it came to letting go and having a little fun. He didn't know how Sakura could stand being around him for long periods of time, they were complete opposites and yet such good friends. Sasuke wasn't usually any more agreeable, either, but he still allowed Naruto to drag him around to his hearts' content, at least, so he couldn't really whinge about that.)
The two of them settled on the ground, and Naruto started recounting his adventures, exaggerating only a little when the occasion called for it. Sasuke, of course, sat there looking bored, in his classic 'brooding' pose. His chin rested on his steepled fingers, and soon, he'd completely tuned the blonde's rather annoying (but strangely reassuring) voice out…
-------
"Why don't you get it, dobe? There's no point in me staying here if-"
It had been raining. The muffled sounds of his footsteps echoed the sluggish beating of his heart. He'd walked away, afterwards, ashamed of his words, ashamed of his feelings, ashamed of the sentiments that accompanied them.
He stopped. Lifting his face to the grey skies, he let the rainwater flow down the planes of his face, droplets of it sticking to his eyelashes, making them heavy. He didn't want to open his eyes ever again…
'This has got to stop,' he realized, not for the first time. 'This has got to stop.'
------
Naruto kept babbling on about something or other but Sasuke paid no mind until the dobe grabbed his shoulders and roughly shook them, all the while screaming "TEME! Are you listening to me, you bastard! I said I missed you!"
Oh.
Sasuke recovered quickly by irritably smacking the blonde upside the head. Naruto stared back at him a little indignantly, his headband slightly skewed to the side and a tuft of blonde hair covering his left eye. "Bastard, what was that for?"
"…"
"You what?"
"Finally I could get some training done without you interrupting and dragging me off to eat all the time, idiot."
Naruto grinned mischievously at this, his eyes glinting - he knew it was Sasuke's inarticulate way of indirectly saying he had missed the blonde's company as well. He was starting to think he knew the dark-haired Avenger too well.
"God, Sasuke, you have no life. It's always training, training, and oh yeah, MORE training."
Sasuke's head came up at that, and his eyes shot a murderous glare in Naruto's oblivious direction. It was all the warning that Naruto got before the Uchiha lunged at his throat, grabbing it and squeezing it only for it to be replaced by a kawarimi a second later.
"Ha! Teme, I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book!" Naruto taunted, crouched in a tree a safe distance away.
"…"
"I bet I could beat you so hard with my NEW and IMPROVED jutsus, that you won't be able to get up for days!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke rose up to the challenge. He supposed it would be a good warm-up exercise to beat Naruto into the dust and once and for all, show him exactly how superior he was in comparison.
He smirked his all-too-familiar smirk and took the bait, "As if you could, do-be," he purposefully emphasized the insult, and crossed his arms, the corners of his lips lifting up slightly.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and got ready; "Bring it, teme."
Sasuke growled in response, and then they were off, Sasuke's speed making up for Naruto's enthusiasm. Naruto and his various kage-bunshins ran amok, and Sasuke could have turned on his Sharingan to see through them, but he didn't. It was a fight between friends, after all.
It was the most fun Sasuke had in a long time.
They were still at it a couple hours later, and while many others would have given up by that point, the both of them just kept goading one another to keep going, regardless of how tired each of them were.
And while the fight had first consisted of a chance for the both of them to show each other up with any recently learnt techniques and newfound skills, they soon gave up any pretenses of actually sparring, and slowly but surely descended into just a full-on physical fight where the both of them just kicked, punched, scratched or bit whatever they could lay hands on.
It was strangely more satisfying that way.
They wrestled for awhile in the rather muddy field, neither gaining the upper hand.
Eventually though, Naruto's brute strength and stamina won out.
And Sasuke would never admit it, but truthfully, Naruto was naturally more proficient in that arena with his slightly shorter, but more powerfully built frame.
(Uchihas were known to be more long and lean, with tightly wired muscles that allowed for more speed and flexibility.)
Soon, Naruto had him pinned beneath him in a dead lock, with Sasuke on his stomach.
And just as Sasuke was about to counter with a right hook to the ankle which would have flipped the blonde over, giving him a chance to knee the baka in his well-deserving stomach, he froze. He…couldn't…move.
Naruto had shown a surprising amount of forethought and tactical planning, and had completely thrown Sasuke off with a full shadow body binding technique that he had learnt off Shikamaru.
Damn the number one surprising ninja of Konoha to hell.
Sasuke winced a little but didn't make a sound as Naruto wrenched the Uchiha's arm around to twist it behind his back.
"I won," Naruto declared, gasping all the while, and leaned into Sasuke's neck, trying not to breathe too hard. Fighting with Sasuke really taxed him out.
Sasuke, knowing it would annoy the dobe, stayed silent, smirking all the while.
"Stop smirking, bastard! I can tell you're doing it!"
He honestly couldn't help it, and attempted to fight back the chuckle trying to escape his throat. Listening to Naruto screech about nothing was oddly entertaining…
He became still though, when he felt Naruto lean in just that bit closer, lips suddenly almost brushing against the pale skin of his neck, warm breath on the place where his curse seal used to be. (It had shriveled up into nothing once he had killed Orochimaru all those years ago.) His chest pressed against Sasuke's back, strong, tanned arms holding back Sasuke's.
Naruto abruptly flipped him over (he was still in the dead lock) and then they were face-to-face. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but Naruto's eyes were piercing into his, making him suddenly and inexplicably freaking uncomfortable. "Say it, bitch," Sasuke glared up at him in response, surprised by the gruffness of Naruto's voice and the finality of his tone.
He could feel himself blushing from the contact and he hated himself for it.
Shallow breathing slowly filled the sudden silence between them, and it was as if the moment was suspended in time, the two of them in their very own universe. They stared at each other, unblinking.
Naruto looked away first.
------
Sasuke was confused. What…had…just happened? He continued to lay there, stock still, gasping and glaring up at Naruto who was unceremoniously sitting on his stomach and making it even harder to breathe (and in more ways than one).
Naruto turned back to face the Uchiha. To break the strangely awkward moment, he bounced a little on Sasuke's abdomen, an expression of glee suddenly lighting up his face.
"Ha! I guess you weren't expecting that huh, teme?"
Sasuke let his breath hiss out between his teeth, putting Naruto's unusual behaviour aside for the moment. "Get off me, dobe."
"Nope! Not until you admit I won."
Sasuke closed his eyes, willing himself to remember how to get out of the stupid hold the bind - and Naruto - had on him. He had also seen Shikamaru do it a whole bunch of times, but had never once thought to copy it with his Sharingan…
Meanwhile, Naruto had started arranging the Uchiha's limbs so that he resembled a scarecrow. Sasuke tried to restrain himself from blasting a chidori-sized hole through the idiot's stomach.
'Do…not…kill…dobe,' he muttered under his breath, and tried pumping some chakra through his veins in the slim hopes that it would be enough to counter the damned jutsu.
"If you pay for ramen for a week I'll get off."
"No."
"Come on…I did win after all, bastard."
"No."
"You're so cheap!"
"Whatever."
Naruto glared back at the Uchiha. He was sick of the Uchiha's one-worded answers. Yes, it was time to make a stand! He would just ignore Sasuke right back!
------
Twenty minutes later, they were still in the exact same position, and the game was getting old. It seemed Naruto wasn't cut out for ignoring people. His stomach grumbled loudly in complaint. He sighed. He couldn't help it, he needed food! Finally, he burst out; "Why not?"
"Hn."
"That's what you always say."
"Unh."
"Fine. Five days worth?"
"Nn."
"Three days?"
"Ngh."
Naruto sighed loudly and gave in. "Okay. Just for today?"
Sasuke grunted a 'yes' and then Naruto stood up, brushing off his clothes. He was about to walk away, whistling, when he looked back down to see Sasuke still lying there, glaring up at him.
Grinning abashedly, he undid the jutsu (he paused for a moment before remembering the special twist of the fingers that accompanied the seal) and held out a hand to the Uchiha, who grabbed it roughly and hauled himself up.
Then, the duo headed off towards the Ichiraku, Naruto babbling on in his one-sided conversation about anything and everything, with the Uchiha occasionally muttering an insult or two under his breath to show he was listening. Neither of them would admit it, but both were completely exhausted, sweaty and dirty, but laughing and content.
-end chapter 3-
A/N: Err…I'll pick up the pace soon…this is officially the end of all the background stuff, and the storyline will hopefully make an appearance sometime soon too lol. More NejiSaku goodness next time, hopefully…I'm trying to build their relationship up slowly, see, and hahaha it's killing me too XD.
And arggh spoiler alert/ the new team 7's interaction in the latest chapter is so aww!/
Sorry just had to stick that in lol.
Ooh one more thing. Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! You guys rock! And thanks again for reading this far! ;-)