Nascence

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IX: Pastel Faith

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"Your teammate," Sakura whispered to TenTen as they stretched in their room the next morning, "is confusing as shit."

"Don't I know it." The weapons mistress sighed through her hamstring stretch. "What brought this on? Something happen today? You're looking a little down."

Sakura shook rosy hair out of her eyes, bringing both arms behind her and forcing them up. "It… it was really weird. TenTen, I figured something out. Something that could change this whole mission, something that could get us all home alive. Technically, you're not supposed to know. But it's something important."

The brown-haired woman straightened and sat carefully on the edge of her bed, straightening the straps of her tank top. "I think I should be sitting down for this."

Sakura chuckled weakly. "He kissed me."

TenTen slid off the bed and onto the floor, choking on her own saliva. After a moment of panting and a couple thorough back-poundings from Sakura, she struggled back onto the bed, clutching the bedcovers like stabilizers. "What?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We were talking about it, and he asked me if I was willing to stake everything on this one thing. I told him I was… was willing, I mean. And then he just… he just kissed me."

TenTen squealed in an uncharacteristically girlish manner.

With a flap of her hand and a roll of her deep green eyes, Sakura dismissed the excitement, though her eyes glimmered with something that looked like barely-hidden pain. "It was just a kiss, TenTen. Just a touch of the lips. And he turned away right after that, said something about 'not the right time or place'."

"That sounds distinctly Neji-like," TenTen commented softly. "He hurt you, didn't he?"

Sakura frowned. "It's not like I couldn't have seen it coming. I mean, for the most part, he was right. It isn't the time or place to be starting romantic relationships. And I'm… well, I'm not exactly the best person to start them with."

"Neither is he."

She nodded in grudging acceptance. "Yeah, I guess not. But, TenTen… he's… I don't know what to say. I mean, on one hand, I hate him so badly I can almost taste it. It's like blood in my mouth. But on the other hand, I've never felt so completely able to be myself around any other person. He's like my support. My barrier."

The weapons expert had been listening with a little smile on her face, half pity and half happiness. "Sakura, he may have hurt you. But maybe you should both… I don't know. Give each other a couple more chances? He probably hasn't even had hormones for the past couple years. Apart from me, this is his first time really interacting with one of the opposite sex. And you…" TenTen grabbed her hand. "You're great, Sakura, but you've got such a protective wall around you from Sasuke that penetrating it could wind you up with a series of broken bones. You're both a little out of touch on the romance front."

Sakura pulled her hand back, examined it as if in wonder as to how it was there. "I know that. I just… is it so wrong to be thinking about stuff like that during…" Her face looked wan. "During a time like this?"

"It's a mission, Sakura," TenTen said with a small, amused smile. "It's not the end of the world." She got up from the bed and walked to the door.

It feels like it. "TenTen."

"Yeah?"

Sakura stared firmly at her hands, refusing to let any emotion seep through her voice. "If you were in grave, grave danger… you'd want to know, right?"

TenTen turned away from the door.

"I can't keep this away anymore. I have to tell someone."

Chestnut hair floated disobediently into her eyes, and TenTen brushed it away. "Explain."

"We'll all be killed unless I figure out his trap."

"Who's he?"

Sakura rubbed her cheeks in frustration. "I don't know. That's what so frustrating." She paused. "Last night, someone created a bunshin in the form of Sasuke. The bunshin came with a tremendous wind jutsu… that 'windstorm' that wrecked those houses you probably saw today wasn't a natural windstorm. I don't know how I knew, but I knew that the bunshin was sent to fight me. So I fought him, and… I can't really remember much after that," she lied. There would be telling later. But not now, not when she had so much happening in her head.

TenTen's hands trembled slightly. "And… he told you to figure out some sort of trap?"

Sakura nodded. "This trap… this trap we're all in right now." She spread her hands wide, trying to push into her friend the magnitude of this. "Our world in a non-genjutsu." She shook her head and her hands fell in her lap. "He'll kill us if I don't figure out how to stop it."

"You're close, though?"

"Close." Sakura looked away for a moment. "Yes, I guess I'm close. But that's not good enough, TenTen… I only have two days left. And with everything that's going on in my head… I feel like I'm about to explode."

The brown-haired woman stared at her for a moment, her lips pressed tight together. TenTen had always been good at hiding her emotions. But then she slid off her bed and sat next to Sakura, grabbing her hand. "Sakura, I trust you," she said simply. "I'd trust you with anything. I believe that whatever you do, you'll make the right choice. And if you somehow don't, I'll be one of the first to forgive you." She paused. "Whatever… whoever… whoever this guy is, he's insane. He's homicidal. And that's not exactly something that's easy to deal with. I think you're doing a marvelous job as it is, just keeping it close. I'm not sure I could do the same if I was in your place. Seeing an image of Sasuke… fighting an image of Sasuke… I can only imagine the kind of stress you're in."

TenTen smiled slightly. "But I'm glad you told me, Sakura, I really am; and I'll try to help in any way I can. Does that… does that make you feel any better at all?"

When Sakura looked at her, her jade eyes were dry, and TenTen's were tearing up. But the gratitude and… and absolute relief that was etched on her features was unmistakable. Sakura pulled the older woman to her in a hug, and TenTen returned it with equal friendship. "Thanks."

"No problem," TenTen whispered, blinking her eyes dry. "And as for the Neji thing…" A ghost of a smile flitted phantomlike across her face as muffled 'good morning!' shouts from Lee seeped through their door. "Don't worry about him. He'll come around."

Sakura laughed hollowly, and they both stood. "Yeah." Lee rapped on their door ("Day has begun, Sakura-chan, Ten-chan! Let us greet the morning!")

"Sometimes, Sakura, your lack of faith makes me want to hit you." ("The sun has risen quite beautifully-- it brings tears to my eyes! Let us enjoy it together!")

"And sometimes your overabundance of it does the same." ("Ah, I feel the morning magic of youth surging through us all!")

The two smiled at each other ("The flowers are singing their glory!"), opened the door, and yelled a hearty "SHUT UP!" to an extremely bug-eyed Rock Lee.

Day had begun.

---

Neji found it excruciatingly hard not to look at Sakura.

This astonished him. Had he really been looking at her so much before he'd kissed her? Now, it seemed like every time he heard her little whisper of a laugh, or heard her reproach Sai for some improper comment, there was something in him that made him want to whip his head around and see her do it. Like a muscle reflex. It took all of his self-control to keep himself from getting whiplash.

She sighed, and his neck twitched.

Shit. This isn't working.

Neji stood from their breakfast table and leaned against it, hands spread flat on its smooth surface, and waited for them to quiet. They did, almost immediately, and he cleared his throat. Was it his imagination, or was the room warmer? "Sai and Shikamaru, Temari-san has requested your presence at the front gates for advice on defense against this killer. I've arranged a folder for you on all we know of him or her. Be sure to take it with you. Lee, you and I are going to meet with the Kazekage on analysis work. And TenTen…" He paused. "TenTen, you'll go with Sakura to the archives and try to find out all you can on this new theory. I presume she's told you about it," he added pointedly, hoping rather unfairly to put some slice of shame into Sakura for telling it.

But when he looked at her (mistake number two), she stared right back at him, her face blank and unmoving, those eyes all but totally ignoring him. You hurt me, they screamed, and I'm not going to take that.

(Actually, Sakura's inner self was screaming something more along the lines of: Hyuuga, your ass is mine)

Sakura stood calmly despite her inner raging and brushed herself off. She was almost to the door when Sai's hand on her arm stopped her. "Woah, woah, Ugly," he said. "Hold up a minute. TenTen, can I borrow the Hag for a sec?"

TenTen nodded, slightly amused, and Sakura let herself be pushed back. "Sai, what d'you want?" she hissed. "There really isn't time."

He stared into her with such depth, such uncharacteristic seriousness, it took her breath away and all of her anger with it. "What's wrong, Ugly? You're acting all calm. And I know you well enough to know that that means rage is lurking beneath the surface."

Sakura scowled at him. While it was indisputable he was right, she hated being so easily read. She glanced up at him. "I'll tell you another time, Sai, but for now I really have to get going." She forced a smile to her lips, tilting her head slightly.

Sai didn't smile back. "You can't fool me with fake smiles, Sakura," he said, his tone even. He relinquished her shoulder and took her hand instead. "I know Naruto would be worried if he was here. So tell me instead, aa?"

Sakura sighed lightly. "Yes. Later."

"Later."

He released her arm, and she wheeled around, running after TenTen and determinedly averting her eyes from the handsome ANBU captain at the front of the room.

---

TenTen slumped, falling face-first onto the scroll she was examining. "Sakura," she moaned, "I don't know how you do it."

"It's called focus," the pink-haired woman murmured as her eyes flickered over a column of words. "You could probably use some."

"I only need focus on the battlefield," TenTen protested with a sheepish grin. "Other than that, my mind wanders."

Sakura looked at her, then grinned slightly and turned back to her scroll. "This is the battlefield. Only more boring."

"Amen to that." TenTen sighed, rolled up her scroll, and stood to find another one. "Give me some keywords."

"Genjutsu, death, sacrifice, illusion, bunshin." She shrugged her shoulder, her attention now focused fully on her friend. "I'm sorry it's so general, but it's all we have. After all, it's just a theory."

TenTen cracked her knuckles and fought back another sigh, browsing the shelves with tired eyes. "Genjutsu in Death?"

Sakura shrugged a second time, going back to her scroll. "Why not?"

Her dark-eyed companion took the heavy scroll down from its shelving and carried it with some effort to their table, kneeling and setting it down. "This thing weighs a ton," she grunted.

A waver caught Sakura's senses-- the smallest little ripple, like the kind a finger dipped into a pool makes. "Wait," she said, almost subconsciously.

"Wait, what?"

Sakura scooted over to her, peering at the rolled-up material. "There's a genjutsu on this."

TenTen frowned. "How can you tell?"

"I just can. Genjutsu sensing is different from taijutsu and ninjutsu." Sakura waved a hand about a hair's-breadth width above the scroll. A peculiar shimmer, almost invisible, snaked up her fingers. TenTen inhaled sharply in a gasp, and Sakura put her hands together. "Kai." Nothing. "Whoever put a genjutsu on this didn't want it to be read."

"Can you break it?" TenTen asked, staring at the scroll.

"I think so." Sakura frowned, chewing at the corner of her lip for a moment, and then put her hands over the scroll, fingers touching oh-so-lightly on the delicate paper. She frowned, and wordlessly formed a couple of hand signs. She touched the middle of the scroll, and a sudden invisible force rushed from the scroll, flipping her hair back and raising TenTen's shirt to her midriff. "It should open now."

TenTen unrolled it and smoothed it out carefully. Sakura moved to give her space, and the brown-eyed girl studied the characters while Sakura watched, both with identical frowns etched on their faces. "This is really…" TenTen shook her head as she finished. "Really creepy."

Sakura frowned. "Read it to me."

TenTen cleared her throat, looking more-than-mildly disturbed. "'Dear Sakura-- I hope this message finds you in good health, and I hope I haven't put you in too much stress. You have, I believe, two days before your ANBU squadron-- and, indeed, anyone that's ever seen you-- dies. So I thought I might give you a little clue.

"'I know you've found the theory of reality manipulation. But, alas, you have no idea how to create it-- or to cure it. Or who, even, is doing this to you. So I'm going to give you a couple of little hints.

"'You've had close contact with this kind of jutsu before, Sakura-- many times. I'm surprised you haven't recognized it yet.

"'And yes, the scroll you read was correct. The caster of this jutsu does have to be deceased. I'm writing to you from the grave, it seems.

"'And finally, Sakura, to answer a question you've probably been asking yourself from the very beginning. Why me? Why this? Why now?

"'I wanted to test you, Sakura. I wanted to make sure you're really all that you seem. I want to justify to you everything I've done. Or did. Does this make any sense? Probably not.

"'Good luck with this. I hope you succeed-- it would, after all, be quite a shame if your friends died. And Tsunade… well, I apologize for that. My messenger lost control of himself. I believe you two have met.'" TenTen looked up at her. "It ends there."

Sakura said nothing. Her head was in her hands, her fingernails digging into her scalp.

TenTen gazed at the scroll. "You know, for a murderer, this person seems… almost friendly."

Sakura bit her lips. "I was thinking that, too. Isn't that messed up? Tell me the hints again."

She read them off. "You've been in close contact with this reality manipulation stuff. The person that cast it is, indeed, quite dead. And his 'messenger', who you've met, killed Godaime-sama."

"The Sasuke bunshin," she whispered.

"I think you should take this to Neji."

Sakura looked up immediately. "Why not both of us?"

TenTen rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one that has relationship problems with him, okay? Giving him this gives you an excuse-- which I know you privately desperately crave-- to talk to him for a moment. Maybe resolve things." She began to briskly roll up the scroll, pulling a wire from her pocket and tying it around the rolled paper. She tightened it with her teeth and tied the wire into a neat bow. She handed it to Sakura. "Please. I can't stand it when you mope."

The fact that TenTen had the bravado-- or foolishness-- to joke about teenage hormones in a situation like this made Sakura want to both laugh and cry all at once. Instead, she whacked her friend over the head with the tied-up scroll and stuck her tongue out. "Fine. But I expect you to go see Lee while I'm gone."

TenTen looked aghast. "How'd you know?"

"What, you weren't trying to hide it, were you?" Sakura smirked at her.

TenTen flushed a brilliant red, and Sakura just barely dodged the shuriken that flew straight towards her, sticking in the wooden doorframe her head had been leaning on only a quarter of a second before.

---

Sakura stood in front of the imposing dark-wood doors with a pounding heart. Her fingers involuntarily tightened their grip on the scroll as she heard the voices filtering through-- Lee's overly-dramatic one, Neji's calm, collected baritone, and Gaara's grunts of affirmation or negativity, probably accompanied by a gruff frown.

He's in the Kazekage's office. There is no WAY I can interrupt a meeting like that.

This is important.

Not that important. It can wait--

No, it really can't. You only have about 36 hours left until Doomsday, remember? And we wouldn't want hot-Hyuuga-boy getting decimated, would we?

…

Fuck you.

Sakura knocked.

Lee, unsurprisingly, got to the door first. He pulled it open with a flourish, totally undaunted from the shouting he got in the morning, and beamed at her so hard she felt she'd go blind. "Sakura-san!" he exclaimed, and Sakura winced as Neji turned his head, then immediately turned it back. She could KILL Lee for his enthusiasm. "To what do we owe this honor?"

Sakura pasted on an amused smile. "TenTen and I found something we think Kazekage-san and Neji-san would like to see."

Gaara motioned for her to come in, and she pushed past the ever-grinning Lee, walking directly up to the Kazekage's desk and putting the scroll down, bowing a little bit. Gaara looked up to the bowl-cut man at the door, and Neji took the hint. "Lee," he said quietly, "can you wait outside for a moment?"

"Certainly! Not one person shall get through this door while I am guarding it!"

The door closed, leaving Sakura feeling totally and utterly trapped between the two most imposing men she'd ever known in her life.

"What did you find?" Gaara asked, his voice slightly quiet and very pained. Sakura looked up and realized with a start that he had recognized her fear-- though he no doubt had no idea why she was afraid-- and was trying his absolute hardest to make her relax.

Gaara certainly didn't do that for everyone.

The thought cheered her a little, and she unrolled the paper in front of him, addressing him and not Neji as she spoke. "There was a genjutsu on this scroll, which I hadn't seen yesterday. It was a relatively complex genjutsu, something not incredibly hard; but I doubt anyone that wasn't an A-rank, minimum, in genjutsu could have seen through it. Anyway, I unlocked it, and… well, you can see what it says. He gave me hints this time."

Gaara read through it, and his frown deepened. When he was finished, he handed it to Neji, who read through it as well. "You've been in close contact with this before?" he asked.

"Apparently," Sakura said rather flippantly, biting a hangnail. "But I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I've been in close contact with hundreds of genjutsu."

"But this isn't really a genjutsu," Neji voiced calmly. "Keep that in mind. It's a theory-- something this guy calls 'reality manipulation'. It doesn't just create the illusion of a warped reality, it creates an actual warped reality."

Sakura didn't look at him. "Also, whoever wrote this is deceased. Which means that he either wrote it before he died and gave it to the Sasuke bunshin to put in the archives, or he's writing to me from the grave. The latter, obviously, is impossible. Chakra lives on; brain, heart, lungs don't."

Gaara pursed his lips. "Is it possible that this chakra is not so well contained? The caster must not have perfect chakra control if his bunshin went so out of control as to kill the Hokage."

"Few people have perfect chakra control, Kazekage-sama," Neji intoned. "But this person must have about the second-best in the known world… I mean, to produce a jutsu of this size and force, plus a bunshin." His voice held something akin to admiration. "It must have been a great shinobi."

The three stood in silence for a moment. Neji stole a glance at Sakura, and immediately mentally kicked himself for it-- he'd done the exact same thing the moment she'd strode into the room. Worse, he knew she'd seen him. What the hell was he doing, ogling her right after he'd said he didn't have time for romantic relationships? What the hell was he thinking?

Gaara put his fist down rather forcefully on his desk, startling the two out of their respective reveries, and strode to his office window, putting his hands behind his back. "Hyuuga, you and Haruno have the most information about this criminal out of anyone in your group. I'd like you two to compile a folder of what you know, what you suspect, and possible ways to stop this jutsu."

A tingling feeling of alarm spread throughout Sakura's body. Red flags wove like crazy.

Neji hesitated. "Temari-san has already requested the same thing of Sai and Shikamaru--"

"She requested defensive strategy. I'm looking only for raw facts."

The ANBU captain paused, then nodded almost resignedly. "Hai, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara turned. "Haruno?"

If looks could kill, Gaara would be a dead man. She stifled a groan and pushed back her pastel-pink hair in a gesture of supreme irritation.

"Hai."

---

The silence between them as they sat in the empty briefing room was taut and tense, a rubber band stretched thin and long between them that threatened to break at any second.

Neji vowed he would not talk first.

Instead, he satisfied himself by watching her hand move furiously along the papers, filling out forms, making notes, marking what needed to be marked. All the evidence they'd ever gathered was spread between them: Tsunade's pictures, copies of Tsunade's letters, the pictures they'd gotten off the rogues, a bloodied bandage from when Sakura had fought the Sasuke bunshin, the most recent letter, the medical files from the murdered chuunin, et cetera.

She had a smudge of ink on her nose. Quite adorable.

Holy fuck, what was he saying? Adorable? His uncle was dying a slow and painful death, right now-- the word adorable was simply not something a Hyuuga had in his vocabulary.

The thought of his uncle dying a slow and painful death brought him momentary comfort; but, alas, it was not to be, because Sakura chose that very moment to look up from her writing. Immediately, her eyes narrowed. "What?" she snapped.

That tongue could soothe and draw blood at the same time.

Neji cleared his throat and felt a vague and horrible satisfaction that he hadn't been the one to speak first. "If I could apologize, Saku-"

"Captain, with all due respect, shut up. I'm busy." She turned back to her work.

"I really don't understand--"

"Hyuuga-san, I'm working here."

Neji felt his anger build. "Sakura, listen to me."

"No."

She was such a child. "Sakura, you aren't listening."

"Damn right I'm not."

"This is silly. I'm just trying to--"

"I don't give a damn."

"Sak-"

"NO."

"SAKURA!"

He grabbed her wrist and tore the pen from her hand. She immediately looked up at him in surprise and rage, completely prepared to tell him off, and suddenly stopped. His chest was heaving, and his eyes, usually so calm, were a fiery pearl color, radiating heat, daring her to interrupt him again. And for once, she deflated; she was struck dumb by the sight of him in such rage.

Neji sighed. "Will you listen to me now?"

She was silent.

…now what was he supposed to say?

"Damn it all, Sakura… I just…" He searched for words that just couldn't come into his head. He felt uncharacteristically flustered. "I don't know… it was just a-- a spur of the moment thing, you were so angry, and… I couldn't… I had no idea what I was doing… I…" He involuntarily tightened his hold on her wrist, trying to collect his thoughts. He felt like Hinata during one of her worst days. "I… honestly, I have no idea what to say. I'm sorry for hurting you… I-- I mean, I know I did, and… well…" He paused, breathed, closed his eyes as if bracing for the punch of all punches as he spoke his next words. "It just felt like something right, something I had to do before it all ended," he finished lamely. "There were only three days left."

To his surprise, death didn't come at him in the form of a fist. He tentatively tried to elaborate.

"I never dreamed… the repercussions, I mean." He breathed out. He was still holding her wrist. But for some reason, he didn't let go. "I didn't want to start looking at you that way."

The silence between them once again stretched elastically, and he let go of her wrist. Neji felt like he was digging a hole in which there was no way out… no way back up. To his shame, he felt the back of his neck grow warm in a blush, and he bent his head over his own papers, trying to cover up for the spillage of emotion in his usual brusqueness.

Sakura's voice startled him.

"I was scared, too."

He looked up, too quickly for his liking, but she wasn't looking at him; on the contrary, her eyes seemed rather fixated on a speck on her paper. She rubbed at it with a chewed-down fingernail and continued to write. But Neji saw the small hint of pink on her cheeks she was trying like a thirteen-year-old to hide; he saw the way she was outlining the same sentence twice.

But he wouldn't let himself feel any joy whatsoever about that; it was his mistake, and it was up to him to undo it. If anything, he needed to repair their friendship-- and maybe the rest could come later. So he grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Clearing his throat, he stared pointedly at her. "Sakura. The list?"

She looked up at him and gave a little nod, shoving her paperwork to the far side of the desk.

Neji held up the paper. "What do we know?" he asked, making a bullet point.

"He is using the theory of reality manipulation."

Neji wrote it down, and under it put two things: great amount of chakra (enough to spare for a bunshin) and nearly perfect (bunshin went out of control, killing Hokage) chakra control. "He planted pictures on rogues and used them as a distraction." More scribbling.

Sakura thought a moment, her pen tapping at the bottom of her chin in thought. "I've been in close contact with this kind of jutsu before. Maybe with Kurenai-sensei? Tsunade-shishou? Anyone else you know who's an expert in genjutsu I might have met?"

Neji gave a noncommittal shrug and wrote this bit of information down, as well. "He's recently died."

"He's absurdly clever."

"He's one of the most powerful shinobi we've ever encountered."

Sakura shot him a slightly amused, slightly irritated glance. "That reveals a lot."

"So did 'absurdly clever'," Neji shot back. Ignoring her scowl, he rummaged around the mess on the table and separated the numerous pictures they'd collected, putting them in chronological order. "We got the murdered chuunin first, then the glimmering red one," he murmured, putting them in their respective places. "Then we have Hokage-sama."

Sakura moved from her chair across from him and stood next to him instead. Gradually, she compiled everything into chronologically-ordered groups. The notes Tsunade had gotten: one from Gaara and one faked to look like Gaara's. Then the pictures of the murdered chuunin and their medical files. Next came the pictures of Tsunade's body, and then the bandage. Finally, she set out the latest scroll and their handwritten list. "Okay. What can we do with all of this?"

Neji frowned at the array of information. "Have you done a medical examination on that bandage? The blood might reveal something."

Sakura put a hand to her forehead. "Shit, I forgot about that. I had a lot on my mind that day. I'll do it right now if you want."

Neji nodded, marveling at how they were both working so hard to make this normal, and she took the bandage to another table, making hand signs and concentrating hard.

He turned his face back to his own table, studying the various clues. Frightening pictures, mysterious pictures, taunting pictures. What were they all for? He reread Gaara's message and the forged note and shook his head in disgust; they were very different, he could see it now. He took the forged note and the newest scroll and set them together. Why was the tone so menacing in the first and so friendly in the second? Could it be this person had split personalities, or was unsure of how they really felt? Some sort of psychological disorder must have affected this person, Neji thought, tracing a line down the scroll with a calloused index finger. It's either that or he's just trying to confuse us further.

The Sasuke bunshin. What did that mean? It was probably just a distraction… something to put Sakura into an even more violent state of confusion. But maybe--

"Neji?"

Sakura's voice was excited. He ran to her. "Did you find anything?"

She nodded, her eyes glimmering with triumph. "Something. It's small, but it's something. I got a lock on his chakra signature. Bunshin carry a glimmer of their creator's chakra, after all."

Neji nodded, a swelling feeling expanding in his chest. "What is it?"

Her hands were glowing a cool, mint green, a shade lighter than her eyes. She grabbed his hand, and it was enveloped in the same color. His fingers tingled with the shared chakra. Sakura touched the pad of his finger to a spot on the bandage.

Immediately, Neji felt it. It was consuming, all-powerful stuff that seemed to invigorate his very core. He had only felt this way at his very best, most important battles; Kidoumaru, for instance. Sakura's hand was shaking from the very feel of it-- or maybe it was the excitement of the discovery? It was hard to tell. Neji pulled his hand back, instantly losing the pleasantly cool feeling of Sakura's chakra and the hardcore sparkling of the other's. But the feeling stayed; he felt simply ecstatic, if such a thing could even be said for him. He found it difficult to speak, and stood there like a fool with his mouth open for about ten seconds before Sakura spoke.

"I know," she said, and he felt the awe in her voice, too. She was silent for a second, but he could see her mind was working furiously. "Doesn't it feel familiar?"

Neji frowned slightly, still trying to shake off the incredible feeling surging through his body. "I'm not sure," he said honestly. "It's too raw, too un… well… I don't know. Untamable? It's hard to tell. But I can tell you that I'll know it when I feel it from now on."

Sakura worked her hands through her hair again, forcing it back. "I know. But… it must have something to do with me being in close contact with this jutsu. It all goes back to what I was saying a week ago… I know this. I just have to remember how and what I know."

Neji glanced once more at the table behind him, and then looked back at Sakura; she was shaking slightly from the effort that complicated jutsu had cost her, and she'd been up since dawn working with TenTen. His whole team was probably extremely tired. He frowned. "Sakura, we'll continue this tomorrow."

"What?" Her face, turned to him, was aghast and disbelieving. "Tomorrow's our last day!"

"I know," he said, his voice pained, "but we're all tired. We can't work well if we're slumping."

She groaned. "Tonight," she pleaded. "You and I, we can meet here tonight and work on it, and we can rest till then."

He frowned once more and sighed. "I suppose."

Sakura smiled slightly at him and turned to leave. "See you then."

"Right. Sakura?"

She turned, expectantly, and he could think of nothing to say. How pathetic was he?

But he didn't let her realize this, and made up something on the spot. "No secrets anymore. Everyone on the squadron deserves to know about this."

She nodded, looking-- was it his imagination?-- slightly disappointed. "I'll send out a note to every group before I rest."

Neji thanked her, and she turned to leave, shutting the door behind her. But then she turned. "You don't want something you can't hold onto, Neji," she said quietly, though he could hear every word. "You don't want to get hurt like you were before." She smiled slightly. "Neither do I." She walked away.

She had gone, and Neji felt an uprising of panic that was accompanied by a wash of realization.

You don't want something you can't hold onto. You don't want to get hurt like you were before.

He could not... simply could not- afford to lose her.

Author's Note: I've gotta run, so I'm just going to say this-- thank you all so much for your support and great reviews. You guys are my heroes. I tried to reward you with a good chapter, and I hope I succeeded, even if it was a little hurried-- these next few will be hard to write, so don't expect one for a couple weeks. Maybe three at the latest?

Anyways, you guys are the greatest. Thanks again.