Title: Returning

Chapter 2: you could call it incest.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Romance

Rating: T

Paring: SakuNaru, NejiHina

Disclaimer: Work in progress… kishi can only says 'no' for so long… -snicker-

Warnings: NejiHina scene here.

A/N: Please no flames.

I don't mind you telling me you don't like NejiHina…

Just don't tell me to go die or that I suck for liking NejiHina.

Another note: Sorry this was late, I meant to post

this up the 19th but due to some "issues" it was delayed,

but now it.S up and I hope you guys are happy :)

By: Ruru-chan

Enjoy…

.: Chapter 2: you could call it incest :.

Sakura got out of the shower and enjoyed the refreshing sensation before changing to a set of clothes she had place on a near counter in the bathroom. It was still early in the morning and she was at loss of what to do. It was almost a miracle that she was up. She wondered were she had gotten the strength to do so. She had slowly begun to fall back in to routine thanks to Naruto. It had been a few weeks since he had started coming to her apartment almost every day. Actually, she half expected for him to burst through her apartment door at any minute now. He had been doing that a lot lately. She didn't stop him from entering anymore, since she couldn't do much about it. He was trying hard to take care of her by keeping her company and making sure she was eating all her meals. So, she wasn't about to complain.

She wasn't sure how it had happened but she'd begun to get out of her apparent more often. It was only for little walks with Naruto to places where she didn't need to deal with people. There was the occasional incident where they would bump it to a friend and she would apologize for her, what she now thought as, selfish actions, but they would warmly greet her and express their feelings of relief. It surprised her that nobody radiated any hostility toward her, which she had somewhat expected. She was only glad that her friends were happy to see her.

Knocking suddenly caught her attention, but before she could get to the door, Naruto casually walked into her apartment.

"Morning Sakura chan!" he greeted, "oh yeah, I sortta took your spare key yesterday." Sakura merely narrowed her eyes at him as he sheepishly grinned.

"So, how ya feeling this morning?" he asked her. "Fine" she replied, more or less out of routine. Naruto pulled her into a hug. "That's good" he said and tenderly planted a kiss on her lips and she made no effort to push him away.

The occasional kiss from Naruto didn't surprise her any more. In fact, she didn't mind it. It had probably been something Naruto had said to her but subconsciously she knew she'd been getting tired of her self. Naruto had been right about her and she needed to forget Sasuke. She had realized how pathetic she had been. Brooding over someone who had never loved her, pathetic. So, she decided to give Naruto a chance. If Naruto could help her forget about Sasuke, she would allow him to do with her as he pleased. Even if she couldn't return his feelings she would allow Naruto to love her.

Sakura let herself get swallowed deeper into his hug; His warm arms, his gentle caresses, and the soothing beat of his heart. They all felt nice and she couldn't refuse them.

"Let's go for a walk today" he suggested and tugged at her arms. She didn't complain and simply fallowed him out the door.

-

Once again, it had only been a simple walk. Neither of them said much only enjoyed each others company. Sakura couldn't deny that it was somewhat comfortable. Naruto was always considerate during this walks and tried to keep his hyper-ness to a minimum level, which she appreciated. There was the occasional teasing from Naruto, when he would brush his hand against hers. It was hard for her not to blush but she was having a more difficult time understanding why she was reacting like that. It was not like she liked Naruto in that sense.

Their walk was longer than usual, though. They had stopped at several pleases were Naruto would buy a snack of some sort. A certain place they stopped by had been the Yamanaka flower shop. Naruto had bought her a simple flower and Ino had expressed how happy she was to see her. Sakura had been glad to see her best friend as well, not to mention she was surprised at how much she had actually missed her.

After their stop at the flower shop, Naruto took Sakura to the park. They sat under the willow tree that rested near the river. Sakura enjoyed the warmth she felt snuggled between Naruto's legs and arms. Situations like these made her realize how much he cared for her, how much he wished to protect her. It was also times like these that she felt like she could really learn to love him.

"Ne, Sakura-chan… Tsunade-sama really wants to see you. I'm thinking of taking you later." Naruto stated. Sakura thought about it for a moment and then decided with an 'un'.

Sakura snuggled closer to his embrace. She loved to do that lately; the beat of his heart was just too soothing. Naruto made a move to her hands, intertwining them carefully with his own. He buried his face neatly in on the crock of her neck, kissing the exposed flesh tenderly. He began to trail kisses up her neck when he was suddenly interrupted by some light giggles. He pulled back to look at Sakura but she only turned her head and look at him as well. The giggles had not come from either one of them.

"Neji-nii! Stop." They heard a soft voice shout before it giggled some more.

Naruto knew that voice and it couldn't belong to anyone else but Hinata. Out of curiosity, Naruto peeked behind the willow tree and Sakura did the same. To Sakura's surprise, she discovered Neji and Hinata feverishly making out against the tree. Naruto only grew a wide grin. Both Naruto and Sakura kept quiet embarrassed to interrupt the vigorous couple. They only watched them, wondering if Neji and Hinata would eventually notice their presence.

Unfortunately their presence did go unnoticed by the busy couple and their kissing session only got more intense. Naruto was finally forced to interrupt them when he realized Neji and Hinata wouldn't notice them any time soon. Naruto cleared his throat. The second he did that the cousins pulled away from each other almost like a reflex and looked around in a panic. Naruto let out a loud snort in amusement and allowed the couple to find him.

"Ne, Neji, try not to eat Hinata-chan. Ok?" Naruto joked. Neji only narrowed his eyes to glare at Naruto; there had been nothing comical about it in any way.

"Shame, shame, Hinata-chan… doing ecchi stuff with your cousin… again. What would your father do if he ever found out?" Naruto teased his friend.

"N-Naruto-kun! You wouldn't?!" Hinata panicked. Naruto laughed.

"Relax Hinata-chan… you know I could never do that to you." Naruto reassured her and she visibly calmed down letting out a sight of relief.

Sakura stood there; somewhat vexed at what she had just witnessed. What these two were doing… it could be called incest. She was speechless, needless to say. She had heard of intra-family marriages before, and knew it was not an all uncommon practice between the Hyuga. Still, it was weird. Though, it was more surprising to learn that it was Neji and Hinata who had such a relationship.

"Sakura-chan?" it had only taken a second for Hinata to notice that she was among them. Sakura gave her a small wave and a faint smile.

"Haruno-san…" Neji acknowledged her presences "It's a pleasant surprise"

"How have you been Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked out of caring kindness.

"I'm doing better" Sakura admitted.

All this time, Neji had been observing Sakura and Naruto. It was an unavoidable habit of his which he preferred to label as second nature. It was their intertwined hands that caught his attention, sparking inside him the smallest of curiosities. It was more out of this curiosity then interest that he suddenly found himself asking:

"Are the two of you in a relationship with each other?"

"You can say that." Naruto chose to answer and stole a quick kiss from Sakura.

"Aa." Neji recognized and Hinata congratulated them. Soon, though, she began to fidget. She had suddenly remembered something. "Neji-nii we have to go… father is expecting us to return soon and-"

"I understand." Neji politely interrupted her, recognizing the problem.

"Well, I was glad to see you again Sakura-chan. Naruto… I'm happy for you both." Hinata congratulated them again taking Neji's hand and bowing her goodbye. Neji respectfully nodded his departure.

The couple turned on their way and began to walk away but suddenly Hinata turned around. She quickly dashed to Sakura and took her hands in her own.

"Sakura-chan, there is something I need you to do for me" Hinata pleaded. A bit taken back, Sakura reluctantly nodded. "You must promise me you won't tell anyone about my relationship with Neji-nii!" Sakura wasn't sure why it mattered that much to Hinata but she lightly nodded letting out a small 'un'.

Knowing that she could trust her, Hinata smiled and quickly thanked her. She released Sakura's hands a moment after and made her way back to Neji. The couple said their goodbyes one last time before turning around and making their way back to the Hyuga district.

"Hinata-chan looks real happy, doesn't she?" Sakura didn't know the real motive behind Naruto's sudden question, and she recognized that he wasn't expecting an answer either but she answered him anyway… "un…"

hmmm… would you call this a 'filler'?

ok, that's all I could do for this week… I hope you like it so far and trust me, its going to get more interesting!

Bye, bye for now!:)

oh! tell me what you think! un!