Chapter 3: A big mistake

Neji paced around his living room. He was in the worst mood of his life. He told Sakura off yeah so he should be sitting on his couch peacefully waiting for her to come crying into his arms so he could have the satisfaction of saying I told you so. But he knew that wasn't going to come true because 1: Haruno Sakura probably hated his guts about now for telling her the truth.

2: Haruno Sakura didn't have his address. (Poor boy)

Why was he stressing so much over what had happened a few hours ago between them? Why did he now feel sorry for her? The least he could've done was see her home to make sure she was safe. But he had just left her standing there sad and confused.

He snorted and sunk into his chair but was forced to jump up again when he heard knocks on his door. How had she gotten his address? He wondered as he opened the door with a big ass grin on his face only to fade away at the sight of Naruto at the door instead of Sakura.

How how'd he gotten his address? He wondered. Oh yeah he had given to him…but why? As he searched his mind for deeper meaning Naruto waited impatiently at the door.

"Hello Neji!!" he said impatiently waving his hand over his glazed eyes.

"Why are you here Naruto?" he asked.

"What happened with you and Sakura-Chan?" he asked with a stupid grin. Neji narrowed his eyes. This stupid ass came all the way over to his house to ask him a stupid question that he could've easily asked Sakura.

"You came all the way here to ask me that?" Neji said with his fist clutching the door knob. He felt like slamming the door in Naruto's face to send him flying into the air but he got a hold of himself and breathed deeply.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Naruto asked tapping his foot on the dirt to indicate that he was still standing outside.

Neji glared at him for a moment then moved out the way so Naruto could come inside. "You still didn't answer my question you idiot." He snarled. "You came all the way to my house just to ask me a question?"

Naruto nodded. "What happened between you guys?" he repeated annoyingly. He scratched his spiky blonde hair as he looked around at all the weights Neji had sitting in his living room. This is the first time Naruto had ever been to Neji's house. He was a little surprised at how small the inside was compared to the outside which looked huge. His living room was small and cramped and his refrigerator and all other Kitchen appliances were lined against the wall next to the front door. Then there was the stairs which led to a door that probably led to his room and a bathroom. With all the weights in the living room it was hard for Naruto to get to the couch.

"So are you training for our next mission to bring Sasuke home?" he asked picking up a twenty pound weight with all his effort and then trying to put it down without making a hole in his floor that led to the underworld.

He nodded. "Sorry about the limited space in here." He said taking a seat in the couch across from Naruto. "It's really not a house meant for two people to be in at the same time. Well at least not with all this stuff around." He said glancing at the weights.

"So Neji what happened earlier?" Naruto asked leaning on the edge of his seat. "I want to know so no beating around the bush"

Neji chuckled a little at Naruto's enthusiasm. "Nothing we just found out that we are two different people that don't need to be together." He crossed his arms and shook his head.

"The both of you make me sick!" Naruto said. "You and Sakura would make a great couple. You like her don't you?"

"…"

"Don't you?" Naruto repeated.

"N-no I don't." he said shifting on the couch. "She's pretty but she's just one of those girls that have a hard time facing the facts." He said slyly as he sunk into the couch and started to doze off.

"Sasuke, huh?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah" Neji replied. "I told her that she should find a man that would appreciate the love she has to offer." He rubbed his temples as he glanced at Naruto.

"In other words, like you?" Naruto asked pointing to Neji. He snorted a little.

"No…I mean if I liked her yeah I would appreciate her love. Love is the greatest thing a person can give you and if someone is trying to give their love to you, you should take it. Just like you gave your love to Hinata." He explained.

A warm smile crossed over Naruto's face. "I remember that day perfectly." He said as he leaned back with a smirk of satisfaction.

"How come you showed no interest in her when we were younger?" Neji asked him curiously.

"Well she was always so shy…" Naruto started to say. "She barely talked so it was hard to notice she was there. When we got older she started to speak up more for herself and she made her self noticed by me and her peers and when she told me how she felt about me a year ago I was so shocked she actually had in her that I just fell for her…right on the spot." He chuckled. "Pretty romantic huh?"

"Not really" he said looking at the red carpet that was stained with hot Sake that he had never bleached off. "Even thought I'm talking to you about Hinata I'll still never be entirely comfortable that you two are seeing each other." He glanced at Naruto with raised eyebrows.

"Okay…but what do you plan to do about Sakura?" Naruto said looking nervously at Neji afraid that he was he was going to pick up a ten pound weight and bash him in the head for dating his cousin.

"Nothing" Neji said simply. "What do you expect me to do apologize for telling her the truth?" he picked up a three pound weight and tossed it in the air.

"No…but I hate to see a good relationship get wasted." Neji glared at him. When was his dimwitted friend finally gonna realize that there was nothing going on between them. Sakura probably hated his guts right now for acting so rude on their 'date' that he had never intended to go on in the place. But he didn't blame her for being mad. He would have been mad at him self too if he was Sakura. (Wait the sentence didn't come out right…oh well.)

"You think I should apologize?" Neji asked Naruto after the long silence period.

Naruto looked up in surprise. "Huh?" he asked as if he had been totally caught off guard.

"Should I apologize?" he said again as if getting frustrated.

"Geez Neji dude, for somebody who said they didn't like Sakura-Chan, you sure are making a big deal out of this." He smirked stupidly as he raised his eyebrows. "Do I detect some feelings here?" he snickered.

Neji's eyes widened. "Huh? No, no of course not!" he waved his hands in front of his face. "Just wondering…" he looked down at his feet and at the Hot Sake stain on his carpet.

Sakura sat in her dark living room with a bowl of fresh water melon that she hadn't touched since she prepared it for herself an hour ago. Her living room was dark because she hadn't bothered to turn lights on. What was the point? Tsuande-sama told her that your living room should reflect your mood and right now her mood was dark…real dark. She had felt miserable since she walked home alone from that horrible date.

Why was Neji acting so rude to me? She asked herself. She had actually thought Neji liked her but he made it loud and clear that he didn't during the date.

'You should find a man that appreciates the love you have to offer' Neji's words replayed in her head over and over. Sasuke never appreciated her. Or at least that's what she thought. "Maybe I pressured Neji into this date…I never really asked him if he wanted to go I just set it up. I should've asked!" she whined. She pulled her knees up to her chin and rested her face on her knees. "Now I have no one…I'm happy to see Naruto and Hinata together but it also makes me feel empty on the inside. She jumped a little after knocks on her door.

"Sakura-Chan, are you home?" she heard the little voice of Hinata come from behind her polished oak door. She slid off her salmon colored couch and slowly walked to the door. She opened it to reveal a smiling Hinata.

"Are you okay?" she asked letting herself inside. A familiar blonde figure stood behind Hinata and entered after she did. It was Ino.

"I heard your date with Neji didn't go to hot…" Ino said as she stepped inside Sakura's spacious doorway. Unlike Neji, Sakura's house was pretty big. Not like mansion size big but you get the picture. Hinata made her self comfortable on Sakura's salmon colored love seat as Ino sat on the couch across from her and Sakura made her self comfortable in her arm chair folding her legs up into the chair.

"So…" Ino said crossing her arms and peering at her close friend. "How did the date go and why is it so dark in here?" she said getting up to turn on Sakura's only lamp in the room.

"Does it look like the date went well?" Sakura said pointing to her own face that looked swelled and puffy as if she had been crying.

Ino peered at her face. "No it just looks like you had an allergic reaction to those watermelons." She said pointing to the bowl in Sakura's hand that was still full of watermelon slices that she hadn't touched. "What did he do to you?" she asked.

"He was just extremely rude." Sakura quivered as if it was hard to talk about. "To me, Naruto and Hinata." Hinata blushed it was a little embarrassing that she was bringing her up.

"Well if he's acting like that to you then just forget the sap. You should find somebody who cares." She said waving her hands in front of her face and shaking her head. "Like Naruto has Hinata although he can act really annoying to other people but do you see how sensitive he acts around her?" she said gesturing over to Hinata who was now blushing even more at the mention of Naruto. "And me and Shikamaru" she grinned at the mention of his name as she twirled her hair around her finger.

"Um…" Hinata said shyly from over on the couch she was on. "You and Shikamaru aren't dating Ino-Chan." She pointed out. "You just like him and you heard a rumor that he likes you too." Ino glared at her.

"Yeah well if he ever had the courage to ask me out I'd say yes in a second." She snapped at her.

"Isn't Shikamaru rude too?" Sakura asked.

"Huh? No of course not he's just really lazy!" Ino said. She snickered. "Anyway Sakura forget about Neji he's all wishy washy anyway." She said as she waved a finger in front of the pink haired girls face. "Find yourself a better dude. Like Lee or something. He's admired you for half your life and he still does." She smiled at her.

"But doesn't he go out with Ten-Ten?" she asked her finally taking a bite out of her watermelon. All this talk abut boys was making her hungry.

"No, no that's B.S (Bull shit)" Ino indicated as she shook her head. "I got the scoop off of Ten-Ten herself she said that Lee had asked her out but she turned him down for Kiba I think."

Sakura snickered. "Kiba, are you serious?" she giggled.

"Hey what's wrong with Kiba?" Hinata sneered as she listened to them laugh at her former team mate. "He's a cute guy! Akamaru's cute too!" she said referring to the dog that he always carried around.

"If you don't want Kiba to get hurt don't let Naruto hear you say that." Ino said as she began to laugh along with Sakura.

Hinata looked down to her feet. She looked up again when she heard knocks on the door. Sakura slid off her arm chair and opened the door. "Hey Sakura-Chan!" a voice that belonged to Naruto filled the room. Hinata looked up in surprise. He made his way inside looking around her house at the spacious doorway. "Wow" he gaped. "You're house is so much bigger then Neji's" he said walking into the living room.

"Naruto what are you doing here?" she asked him as she closed the door behind him.

"Hey Ino-Chan" he said awkwardly. He and Ino didn't get along very well. So when he greeted her she just nodded her head. "Hinata-Chan!" he squealed as he ran and jumped into the seat next to her. "I didn't expect you to be here!" he put his arm around her and a wide smirk appeared on his face.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Hinata asked in a shy confused voice.

"Do you not want me to be here?" Naruto asked putting his hand on his chest dramatically. "Oh Hinata-Chan! Do you not want me here?" he slid to floor and pretended to sob but his was clutching his head in pain the next minute.

"You're so over dramatic!" Hinata said clutching the scroll that she had hit him with. She bent down to help him up. "Of course I want you here!" she said snagging his whiskered cheek.

He smiled as he lay there on the floor.

"Um Naruto you still didn't answer my question…" Sakura said making himself comfortable in her arm chair again. "Why are you here?"

"Oh I thought I'd just check up on you, you know see if you were al right and since your house is on my way home I just thought I'd drop in." he looked around her spacious living room again. "Wow your house is big, it makes Neji's house look like a broom closet."

"You were at Neji's house?" Sakura asked curiously.

Naruto nodded. "You're house is much cleaner then his too." He sniffed the carpet. "No Sake stains" he said. Hinata and Ino exchanged strange glances.

"Naruto!" Sakura said annoyed. "What did Neji say about me?!" she asked aggravated.

"Sorry Sakura-Chan that's classified information." Sakura grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up off the floor.

"Why you little-" she growled at him.

"Sakura" Hinata said franticly leaping up from her seat. "Put him down…" she said calmly. Sakura slowly released him from his from her grip.

Naruto adjusted the edges of his collar. "All I'm saying Sakura is that you should go make up with him before we leave on our next mission in two weeks to find Sasuke and who knows how long we'll be gone this time" he stated dusting off his pants. "Could be weeks, could be months, maybe years."

"Naruto that's not very optimistic" Hinata said frowning at him.

"Sorry…" he said "I'm just saying."

"Well if Neji feels sorry for me now it's too late!" Sakura said. "I'm done! I'm on to find guys who will really appreciate me." She ushered Naruto out the door.

"Wait, Hinata-Chan!" Naruto called as he was shoved out the door.

"Naruto!" she answered to his call. She sunk down into her chair.

Sakura closed the big oak door behind him and leaned against it. She rubbed her temples in frustration.

Good grief, what a day this was turning out to be.