After Neji left Sasuke and Sir Kakashi, all he wanted to do was to go and forget. He wanted to do a mission or something to help him forget about Sakura. He decided to ask any mission from Master Tsunade so he came to her office that night. Neji knocked on the door.

He heard her say, "Come in." Master Tsunade was seated behind a table with a bunch of paperwork. But she looked at Neji and smiled. "I'm glad you came to see me." Master Tsunade said to Neji. "I have a three-man mission for you and two others."

Neji answered, "I was hoping you have one for me – alone, Master Tsunade."

Master Tsunade shook her head. "This mission requires three people namely Aburame Shino, Inozuka Kiba, and you, Hyuuga Neji." She paused for a moment as the other two men came out from the other room.

"Hi-ya!" Kiba said. Akamaru barked. Shino just nodded.

Master Tsunade continued, "I want the three of you to find a few things for me. First, I want you to find a certain bug called Mangekyou. This bug could change colors and shape. That's the reason it's really hard to find. Second, I need you to find special roots. Those roots had certain scents that I'll let you smell later on. Lastly, I want you to find a woman named Tsubasa Makoto. According to my sources, she lives in the Wave Country as of the moment. She usually moves a lot but I think she's there."

Neji looked confused. "I can't see the relevance of these things…"

"These are the ingredients to use in order to do the reverse form of the Rituals of Transformation." Master Tsunade concluded. "I got a note from Master Mitsukage that he told Sasuke about the rituals and I'm sure he wants to rebuild his clan. I just want to be prepared just in case he doesn't like the result of the rituals."

"What does that mean, Master Tsunade?" Neji was, of course, concerned for Sakura.

Master Tsunade explained, "You see, the Rituals of Transformation stand for its name. It transforms the person into someone who has an advance bloodline, just like you, Neji. The rituals required something people can't see – love and trust. Once love is present, the rituals will become a success. But if the other element, trust, isn't present, the person undergoing the rituals could not get his/her old characteristics back. Mostly, he/she will become the total opposite of his/her real personality. The love will be useless and things won't be the same again." Master Tsunade paused for a moment. "But there's a way to reverse this and those things I asked you to find are the key ingredients to it. For a fact, this is an advantage to you, Hyuuga Neji." Neji merely nodded. "You shall leave immediately for the trip to the Wave Country plus searching for Makoto takes a long time and searching for the Mangekyo is no joke." She took out a scroll. "I have the scent samples inside this scroll. You just have to use chakra to smell them." She handed Kiba the scroll. "Now, go."

Immediately, the three ninjas left. Their things were already packed so they could start. But, before leaving the city, Neji asked them, "Could I pass by a place before going?" The other two nodded. He went to where he last saw Sakura. There he was, hiding among the trees. He saw her there with another guy hugging her. He smiled but sadness could be seen in his white eyes. "Be happy, Sakura." Then, he walked away and called, "Shino, Kiba, let's go."

"You'll get over it." Shino told him.

He didn't give any comment or reaction. He just continued to jump over the tree branches with other two ninjas.

!

Neji told them, "We should stop for the night. We can continue the mission tomorrow."

They camped out in the woods. Kiba made the tent and Neji started the fire. He stared at the flames flickering as Shino cooked dinner.

"You really love her right?" Shino asked suddenly.

Neji looked at him and asked, "Why do you…"

"I just noticed and I heard that you got engaged to her once." Shino added, "I suggest you move on. She isn't gonna come running back to you now that she's with Uchiha…"

Neji just nodded. "I know."

"Besides," Kiba joined in their conversation. "There are a lot of girls in Konoha. You could marry one of your fan girls if you like. There's like a hundred to choose from." Kiba sat down beside Neji.

"Sakura's different, though."

Shino protested, "Well, if she's different, you shouldn't have let her go. If you love her that much, you should have protected her from him."

"That's what happened between you and Hinata, right?" Neji retorted, "YOU DIDN'T PROTECT HER FROM NARUTO!"

"MY CASE IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE I KNOW NARUTO WILL LOVE HER A LOT. SASUKE WILL JUST HURT SAKURA FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Shino calmed down a little. It was true. He liked Hinata. She was Shino's type of girl – calm and patient. Shino didn't want her to go under his family's Rituals of Transformation so he set aside his feelings for her.

Kiba let them argue about their love-lives. Of course, like any normal man, he loved someone. He liked the Hyuuga girl as much as Shino did. No one knew. He kept it a secret for a long time and he didn't intend to tell anyone until now that Hinata was getting married to Naruto. He stared at the flames flicker as his other two comrades stopped talking and did the same thing he did – stare at the flames.

Neji broke their momentary silence when he asked Kiba, "What's your story?"

"No story to tell." Kiba answered him.

Shino looked at him. "No story, you say?"

Kiba nodded. "Yes." Then, he stood up. "I'm going to bed now." He walked away from the campfire and entered their tent. Akamaru was always there but he didn't make a sound. Why? Because he sympathized with the three men with broken hearts, he didn't want to make any unnecessary sounds.

Shino and Neji kept staring at the fire. No one made a sound. Each of the three ninjas wanted to recollect their pasts with their certain loved one except for Neji. It hurt him a little too much.

It was sunset. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata walked down the road. They were on a new mission. It was to find a missing princess in a certain hidden village. They were headed to the village when suddenly…

"Ah!" Hinata exclaimed as she suddenly tripped over a rock and landed on her knees. She touched her ankle. "Ouch. It hurts."

Shino immediately approached Hinata and looked at her ankle. "It's sprained. We better rest for the night."

"I'm sorry. We're almost at the village now. Maybe I could…" Hinata tried standing up and then, she fell again. "I'm really sorry…"

Shino removed a strand of hair in front of her face. "It's okay." He carried her inside her arms. "I hope you don't mind that I carried you like this."

Hinata shook her head and smiled at him. 'This is unusual. I really troubled them this time…'

Kiba, however, made no comment but Akamaru saw something different. He saw jealousy and sadness in Kiba's eyes. It was unlike him, really. He didn't make any sound and continued walking.

Shino held the girl he loved a lot in his arms. He showed no particular emotion of happiness and love. He let her see his usual cold self while he carried her. They reached an empty clearing and Shino ordered, "Kiba, set up the tent. We need to get her to lie down and rest."

With a heavy heart, Kiba set up the tent. He made the tent as fast as he could. He glanced for a moment and he saw…

Shino put down Hinata on a tree stump. Shino knelt down and looked at Hinata's ankle and held it with care. Hinata was flinching because of the pain. "Sorry." Shino said. "You're not badly hurt, though."

Hinata smiled wearily. "I'm really sorry for causing a lot of trouble."

"Don't speak." Shino said, "Just be okay tomorrow. That's what matters." Mentally, he hit himself. 'Damn! I should have said something… well… sweeter!' He walked away and started a fire.

Kiba finished setting up the tent and approached Hinata. She sat on the tree stump, watching Shino light up some wood. Kiba asked, "Are you okay now?"

Hinata smiled. "Yes."

Kiba didn't know what to say. He was speechless. Akamaru broke the silence by barking happily. Both ninjas looked at him.

"He seemed happy." Hinata said. She gazed at the sky.

"Yes. I guess he is." Kiba answered. He looked at the sky like Hinata.

"It's beautiful, huh?"

"Yes, you are."

Startled, Hinata asked, "Excuse me?"

"It's beautiful; it's meant for the sky." Kiba reasoned out immediately. "Uhm… I'll better get you inside the tent now. You need to rest." Kiba slowly carried Hinata.

Hinata wasn't that heavy at all. But she was embarrassed, being carried like that. Hinata held on; she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Kiba felt blood rush through his veins in his face. 'I must look like a tomato. I hope she doesn't notice.'

Shino saw them and his eyebrows knitted. 'Damn it! I should be the one doing that.' He glared at Kiba's back. 'Not you!'

Shino looked at their tent. After that recollection, Shino wanted to know if Kiba felt anything special for Hinata. He looked at Neji. Neji was concentrating on the fire for no valid reason.

!

"Neji…" He heard her say… "Neji…" His head kept playing the same thing. She was calling him. "Neji…Save me, Neji…"

Neji was spacing out. He kept hearing her voice. It was ringing inside his head. He doesn't know why exactly. He was puzzled. Why would she say 'save me, Neji.'?

His other two companions walked in front of him. They weren't communicating at all. They kept walking on the forest path.

When they reached a certain point, Shino said, "The Mangekyou… it's nearby."

Neji muttered, "BYAKUGAN." Of course there were a lot of bugs in the forest. He saw all of them. There was one thing that looked like it was alive but it was a rock. He told Shino, "Is that the bug?" He pointed at the rock.

Shino approached the rock. He held it carefully and looked at it. He nodded. "This is the Mangekyou."

Kiba took out a small transparent bottle. "Place him in here."

Shino carefully placed the rock inside the bottle. The rock instantly turned into a red beetle-like bug. "So that is the true form of the Mangekyou. No wonder it is named like that." Shino exclaimed.

"What are we going to find next?" Kiba asked them.

"Most probably we have to find the roots." Neji asked, "You have the scroll, right Kiba?"

Kiba nodded. He took out the scroll from his bag. "Akamaru has to smell the scents so he could find them… Akamaru, where are you?" The dog barked. He was on Kiba's head. Kiba got used to it so he didn't really notice that he was there. Kiba smiled and held his dog. "You're going to sniff out some things for me, okay?" The dog barked again.

Kiba opened the scroll and laid it on the ground. He let his chakra pass through his palms and into the paper. Several bottles appeared. Inside the bottles, there were slips of paper.

Kiba told his pal, "Akamaru, help me out, okay?" The dog barked. Kiba opened one bottle with the label Herron Roots. He took out one piece of paper and let Akamaru sniff it out. It was a slow process but after three consecutive days, they were able to find all of the roots.

On their fourth night in the woods, they made a camp, like always but this time, Shino was early in bed. His comrades didn't know the reason why he slept that early but they just let him do so.

"Whew!" Kiba exclaimed. "We're almost done. Just one more task…"

"We just have to find Master Tsubasa Makoto." Neji added, "According to the information I got from Master Tsunade, she's a medical ninja as well. She tied with Master Tsunade in becoming the top one medical ninja of their time. Her work basically revolves around rituals and potions. She makes antidotes to poisons for a living since she retired as a ninja."

Kiba was amazed. "Wow! I can't believe it. Is she a Sannin?"

Neji shook his head. "Before she could become one, she decided to quit for no apparent reason."

"I see…" The two ninjas went silent again. The firewood crackled as the flames devoured the wood.

"Hey," Neji said, "Remember that conversation we had four nights ago? Are you sure that you have no story to tell?"

Kiba looked at him and went back to staring at the flames. "You see, being me is a little difficult. I'm not good-looking or spunky or intelligent. I'm just Kiba." Neji looked at him, waiting for a continuation. But he didn't expect what Kiba was going to say next. "Hinata's a nice girl. I really really like her but I'm no match for Naruto…"

"So that's why you care for her that much; it's because you love her." Shino said. He came out of the tent and sat beside Kiba. He placed his arm on his shoulder. "Guess we fell for the wrong girl, huh?"

Kiba smiled at him. "You're not gonna kill me?"

"Why should I?" Shino asked him, "We're friends right? Besides, Hinata's happy now! She's getting married to someone she loves."

Neji chuckled. "Let this be a mission to forget, okay?"

Kiba nodded. "A mission to forget…"

Shino took out some glasses and a bottle of wine. (Hey, let's just say they have one… kay?) He poured some of the wine in the glasses. He raised his glass and said, "To a mission to forget?"

"To a mission to forget..." The others answered and raised their glasses. They drank happily and stayed up till morning, drunk, of course.

!

Author's Notes:

How was it? It was out of the blue and I stopped working on it due to my training. As of this moment, I'm a full-pledge officer. I just don't know my rank though. I'm going to find out this coming Saturday. Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, thank you to the reviewers on the second chapter. You know who you are.

Preview for Chapter 4: A Side Story

They started with a kiss. A simple kiss got them intimate. Their clothes were scattered on the floor. The lights were dim. No one was at home.

"Naruto, do you really want to do this? I'm not asking you…"

"I want to." He added, "I love you so much."

Standard Disclaimer Apply… Tee-Hee.