Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 30: The Mystery of the Heart

She woke up abruptly from her sleep. Her heart was beating fast and sweat was rolling down her forehead. She was breathing heavily. She sat up and the blanket on her body slipped down onto the floor. She was back in their hut in the forest. As her heartbeat slowed down, he came in with a tray of food.

"You are finally awake."

She didn't answer. As grateful as she was, she also resented him for not telling her what the real mission was. She didn't realize that Danzo wished for Sasuke to be sent to Orochimaru. She knew something was off about his character. He always swore to protect the village, yet he deliberately allowed for Sasuke to become a bandit, a criminal, a deserter. She still couldn't understand why he did that. She couldn't understand what he would be gaining. Danzo was not one to do things without good reasoning or advantages. He was always seeking some kind of gain. It was in his character to do so. Just like how he insisted for Yuki to join the Root, he really wanted Sasuke to join Orochimaru.

"Danzo-sama did tell me you would refuse to talk to me or him for a bit." Sai said as he handed the food tray. "Even if that's the case, you should still eat. Remember, I cannot have you die under my watch."

Yuki took the tray from him and walked away with it. She didn't want to starve herself, but she wasn't hungry either. She placed the tray on the dining table and walked out of the house. The sky was clear, the weather was warm. Sai followed her out.

"Danzo-sama also wanted me to remind you that you shouldn't let your emotions take over as they are..."

"The source of conflict." said Yuki to complete his sentence. She was so sick of hearing that. She read it when she was a child. She couldn't help but to agree back in the days. However, with time, Yuki came to realize that having no emotions was actually harmful. It allowed for a buildup of suppressed emotions that were bound to eventually surface. Losing control of such emotions was much more volatile than losing control in the moment.

"So you do know." he said.

Yuki suddenly changed subject as she looked in direction of the Konoha hospital:

"I have to go somewhere."

"You cannot."

"Says who?"

"Says Danzo-sama. He told me to keep you here and not to allow you to go anywhere unless instructed to do so."

"Don't care." Yuki said as she teleported herself to the hospital. She landed right in Neji's room. He had been on her mind since she woke up from her sleep, even more so than Sasuke being by Orochimaru's side now.

Luckily for her, there was no one in the room at that time. She didn't want to be discovered nor asked questions. Not that she could have answered them, but she would prefer not having to lie to people that she knew. She walked to the end of Neji's bed and grabbed his medical chart. He seemed to have been doing fine. He was still recovering from his injury, but his life was no longer threatened by it. It seemed like it was quite hard to fix him up, but they managed. Yuki wasn't surprised as their new Hokage was known to be the best medical ninja alive. She dropped back the chart into its little box. She then walked over to the head of the bed. On the bedside table, there was a vase filled with fresh tulips. The water in it was running low. She brought it to the sink and filled it up before placing it back onto the table.

"I thought I wouldn't see you again any time soon." She heard Neji's voice say as her back was turned towards him. "It's nice to see you walking around."

Yuki remained silent. She didn't want to turn around for some reason to look at him in the eyes. She knew if she turned around, she would have to face him with nothing but lies on her end. She was hoping Neji would notice.

"You probably have a lot that you can't say. I'll talk instead."

She couldn't be more grateful. She still did not want to turn around to look at him. She was afraid he would see all the things that were wrong. She thought ignorance, at this point in time, would be better than knowledge.

"Thank you. If it wasn't for you back then, I probably wouldn't be able to be here right now. When I realized what you were doing, I felt so guilty. There were a lot of things that went through my mind before you came. There were a lot more negative things than good things. Your name came up a lot in those thoughts. I, honestly, thought, after our last conversation, that you were... Actually, let's not talk about it. I just really wanted to say that I was really grateful. I still am. I..."

"I have to go. I just wanted to make sure that my chakra wasn't wasted." Yuki said, trying to be cold. She had to swallow a huge gulp of saliva that wasn't even really existent. She coughed as her throat was really dry.

"Yuki..." started Neji as his arm came out of his blanket in an attempt to grab on to Yuki. However, he was too slow and she vanished in mid-air, leaving only cold snowflakes on his hand.

At that moment, the door of his room opened and Gai and Kakashi walked him to visit him. There were still some snowflakes floating the air.

"She was here?" asked Kakashi as he took a seat on Neji's bed.

He nodded. He lied back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Gai could see that he was longing for her, once again.

"Just give it some time." he said to Neji. "I'm sure she has already noticed. She just needs to sort out her feelings."

"I wouldn't be so sure." said Kakashi. "Yuki isn't someone who will take notice of ones feeling for her. She might be really smart, but when it comes to understanding feelings, she really isn't the best. There's a reason why she was a great ANBU. She kept her emotions in check really well. Sometimes, I had to wonder if she even felt anything."

"She doesn't seem that cold, though." said Gai.

"I didn't say she was heartless. She just has a hard time expressing herself and figuring out her own heart. You are not wrong telling Neji to give it time though. Ah, young love..."

"Gai-sensei, did you tell Kakashi..." Neji said, startled, widened eyes.

"I might have spilled..."

Yuki did not return to the house in the forest immediately. Instead, she flashed herself on the rooftop where she enjoyed watching the sunset the most. She got there just in time to watch it that say. She took place on the bench. She looked at the sun slowing disappearing behind the infrastructures of the village. As it got lower and lower, it also took away the last few rays of warmth resting on Yuki's face. Many thoughts went through her mind as she stared blankly into the sunset. She thought about Sasuke. She did indeed blame Danzo for his leave, but the more she thought about it, the more she came to the conclusion that nothing would've stopped Sasuke. As that knot undid itself, she began thinking about Neji. The moment his name crossed her mind, she shook her head trying to knock away the idea. She then thought about Sai. There were so many things she wanted to know about him and that she knew he wouldn't be able to answer. It wasn't that he lacked the willingness to answer, but it was that he didn't know the answer. In many ways, she found plenty of resemblances between her and Sai. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she felt for him. She knew better than anyone how hard it was to suppress your feelings, especially ones concerning your family. Sometimes, the constant suppression lead to the ignorance of the presence of the feeling. It is not non-existent. It is not something that is controlled any longer. It is simply lost. It is just like how I lose myself whenever I look into his eyes. She stopped herself at that thought. She slapped her cheeks to wake herself up. What was I thinking? Her heart started pounding once again. She blinked a few times quickly as if it would clearing her eyes would clear her mind as well. She tried to slow down her heartbeat once again. It just wouldn't stop. All the knowledge in the world, at that moment, couldn't help her solve the mystery of this funny organ that is the heart.

End of Chapter 30

Thank you for reading, once again!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

It is a little cheeky...

Let me know what you think in the review section!

xox

Krystal