"Neji!" Sakura exclaimed.

The pale eyed ninja glanced quickly behind her frail body and his eyes narrowed when he saw the dark raven haired prodigy on her bed.

"Sakura, you leave me no choice," he said before he withdrew a kunai from the back of his pouch.

"Neji, wait, I-" Sakura began but Neji interrupted her immediately.

"Sakura, I've given you time, just like you've asked and you've chosen the wrong path. This is not only for Konoha but also for you."

Without another word, Neji disappeared and reappeared behind her to tap her unconscious. However, Sakura was prepared and therefore disappeared before he could render her paralyzed.

"Tsk." Sakura knew that she was in no shape for battling. Her chakra was completely depleted and so Sakura knew that her only choice was taijutsu. Then again, close range fighting with Neji was a foolish since he was renown for his amazing genjutsu and taijutsu. In addition, because Sakura had been running on soldier pills the entire night and lacked sleep, she wasn't sure how long she could hold out for. Regardless of his taijutsu skills.

Sakura grabbed the poisoned senbons from her holster anyway and threw it in Neji's direction. Neji deflected them easily and instead turned to attack Sasuke, who was still in the process of finishing the surgical procedure.

"I'm not done yet!" Sakura screamed, furious that Neji had turned his back on her. Managing to catch his attention, she threw more senbons and she disappeared only to reappear again behind Neji as he tried to deflect the thrown senbons. Sakura took this chance to punch the Hyuuga prodigy but failed when he caught her wrist and wrung her around.

Sakura forcefully spun despite his hold and attempted to kick his shoulder but he easily caught it with his other hand. With one swift movement, his fingers tapped all the major chakra points on her legs and she felt the familiar numbing sensation flow into her legs.

"Useless, you're drained of chakra." Neji told her, his eyes not even activated yet.

"I can still fight." Sakura replied, determination in her eyes. She attacked again and again, her willpower unwavering, despite the obvious difference of power. Just as long as she can distract him from Sasuke, that was all she thought about. Her relentless efforts must have angered him because he suddenly ran towards her to attack her instead of just dodging like he did before.

"Traitor," Neji hissed as he plunged his hand into Sakura's abdomen.

Sakura's eyes widened as she let out a strained cough. Tears came out, due to the pain and Neji withdrew his hand, leaving her to crumple to the ground.

Neji was panting heavily, not from the brief fight with Sakura, but from desperate anger. His eyes were filled with hurt betrayal and his scowl deepened.

Neji raised his hand upwards but before Neji could strike Sakura once more, he was struck unexpectedly with a blow himself, also in the stomach. Neji was thrown backwards and when he recuperated, he looked up to see the dark haired Uchiha glaring angrily at him.

"You'll regret what you've just done to her, Hyuuga." Sasuke growled, while his heart thumped madly against his chest. He could see so clearly, and it had taken him the time it took for Neji to punch Sakura to realize that he could see again. Her scream was all it took to trigger his last chakra mold into completion. After seeing blackness for so long, Sasuke struggled to look strong and un-wavered by his newfound sight as he stood facing Neji.

His back was to Sakura and before he could attack Neji, he felt her familiar arms wrap around his lean torso to stop him from advancing. Her soft and warm chest pressed weakly agains this back and he tensed at the sudden contact. The feel of another human being so close was forgotten to him, the only time he's been this close to anyone since he's left Konoha was the snake sannin. That thought itself brought him chills down his spine and he forced himself to remain unaffected by the memory of his former teacher. Now as he stood there, being hugged by the pink haired kunoichi, the feeling was deja vu and he understood why she was holding him back. Her main priority was to get him out of here before others arrive.

"Sakura, you've done enough," Sasuke said softly, still glaring at the stunned Hyuuga.

"Ie. I need you to leave. Before the others get here." Sakura replied, her voice cracking.

"Sakura-" Sasuke began but she interrupted him immediately.

"Sasuke. Please."

Sasuke hesitated as he did not want to leave her alone with Neji but seeing how the least he could do was listen to her for once, he decided to accept her request. He would return later. At night fall.

Knowing that looking at her would only make it harder to leave, he raised his hand to hers to give it a light squeeze before disappearing into thin air. Sakura closed her eyes for a moment as the adrenaline slowly faded away. Sasuke was gone, and for once, she was glad. She did not want him to be caught, regardless of how much she wanted him to stay.

Neji, who stood frozen the minute the Uchiha had moved from the bed to Sakura, now blinked and relaxed slightly. His eyes were unreadable and his lips drawn in a tight line.

"Naruto and the rest will find him, Sakura. He deserved to be sightless."

"I hope you'll take what you've just said back," Sakura tried to retaliate weakly before stumbling to the ground. Her senses went dull and her sight began blurring, making Neji look nothing more than a simple grey silhouette. Every part of her body was throbbing and she couldn't believe she had hold out for so long. Now with Sasuke gone, it was as if her body knew and allowed itself to rest. The light around her dimmed and the blackness engulfed her sight.

Then, she went unconscious.

The pearl eyed ninja let out an aggravated sound before he slammed his right fist into the wall, creating a large crack in the wall.

Control yourself, he tried to tell himself as he closed his eyes and lowered his hand from the wall. He felt a jolt of pain in the area where Sasuke had hit him earlier but he ignored it. He did not mean to hurt Sakura, that was the last thing he intended. But there was a frustration he could not describe that had overpowered his senses and instead led him to punch the kunoichi in the stomach.

Tsunade, Naruto and Kakashi had left moments ago, carrying with them the limp body of Haruno Sakura. Naruto had come running in, expecting to see his old comrade and rival. Unlike Sakura who had embraced his return, Naruto was angry and his sky blue eyes were lit with a passionate fury. Neji did not have to look closely to see that the blonde was filled with grudges for the Uchiha. His eyes screamed betrayal. However, as angry and resentful as he was, Naruto still cared for the revenge driven ninja.

Tsunade had walked in hurriedly as well, yelling out the Uchiha's name repeatedly only to be drowned out by Naruto. Her blonde hair was tangled and it was obvious that she had quickly made her way to Sakura's apartment the minute she heard the news.

On the other hand, Kakashi had entered the apartment calmly while his lazy eyes slowly glanced around the room, first at Neji, then on the fallen kunoichi.

"Not here I see," was all the silver-haired man said before bending down and lifting Sakura up effortlessly. Naruto had looked at Sakura, touched her dirtied cheek, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Now that they had left and Neji had reported all that had happened to the Godaime, he began to let his emotions run loose. Never did he let his emotions show on his face, but the moment he sensed Sasuke in the room, he had grown angry and before he knew it, he was fighting Sakura. He remembered thinking, anything to get to the damn Uchiha.

Surprisingly, the Uchiha had gained back his sight and this had shocked Neji to the point where he had foolishly turned immobile. It was hard to accept this reality because only half a day ago, when he had seen Sasuke, his Byukagen had shown him that there were absolutely no connection that could give life back into those sightless eyes. It was like they were ripped away and detached from the rest of the body.

"Sakura," he whispered anda feeling of remorse filled his chestas he said her name. There was no going back.

Tsunade was sitting at her desk, racking her mind to find a solution when the source of her trouble appeared suddenly at her window. The blonde sannin stood up abruptly and immediately tried to attack the dark haired ninja. To her surprised, when she reached him, she discovered that it wasn't him, but a substitute that was now melting into dark clumps of mud.

"Shit," Tsunade cursed. Her eyes widened as she felt the Uchiha breath against the back of her neck. She ducked and spun around in attempt to hit him with her power driven strength. But he was fast, much faster then she has ever imagined he could be. She looked about to find him standing a fair distance from her, still not attacking her.

He was only dodging, so she concluded thathe did not want to attack her but instead came for another purpose.

"What do you want, missing nin of Konoha?" Tsunade hissed, her glimmering eyes searched his face for any clues but found none.

"I came to talk about Sakura, and I will not take no as an answer."

"What makes you think you can change anything?

Sakura is being trialed tomorrow night for betraying her village, for a bastard like you."

"Well, after hearing my proposal, I'm sure you will disagree."

When he came, it was her second night in prison. It wasn't actually a prison, for that he was glad. The first time he was in one, his mind had almost gone crazy from the silence and eerie atmosphere. The food given could not be called food. It was a mix of water and raw rice that was left out in the sun so that insects of all kinds nested inside. When he was put in a prison with others, it was even worse. The other criminals would provoke him and the older prisoners would attack him relentlessly. After years of working under Orochimaru, he was still not used to it, but he could withstand it a lot more than in his earlier years.

Of course, Tsunade would never place her beloved student in those kinds of prisons. Still, that was the only image he had of prisons. But now as he looked at the beige walls and empty-ness of the room, he knew that Sakura was safe from being tortured mentally or physically.

Even as he walked in, she had not noticed. Her eyes were dull and she seemed so distressed and worried he himself felt an unwanted feeling of emptiness.

It was the first time he has seen Sakura since the day he left for Konoha. In his blindness, he always imagined her with what he knew were her basic traits; short pink hair, green eyes, and a smile that was often accompanied with tears. In reality, she has changed so much more from that image he had in his mind. After years of staying with the snake sannin, his memories of her failed him, and he forgot about her real self. Instead he forced himself to believe that she was weak and worthless, to believe that all of Konoha was pitifully purposeless.

But the recent events have reminded him who she truly was. She was an admirable ninja. Her unwavering faith and love for him had moved him many times. He had tried to hide it so many times, but two days ago, it was inevitable.

"Sakura," he finally spoke. Forest-green eyes looked up shockingly and she stared at him for the longest time, as if not believing he was in front of her and staring back at her.

He could tell she was happy to see him, to see that he had his sight back, and that he was healthy. She was like an open book for him but he did not mind. She was not like this for anyone else.

"Sasuke…" her voice was raspy and hededucted thatshe had not spoken for a long time. She stood up, and quietly walked to him so that she was inches from him. Still, she did not hug him, or wrap her arms around him and he did not expect that either. It was his turn. So he embraced her, pressing her tightly against his chest and breathed in her scent as he did so.

Lifting her face up by her chin, he looked at her silently, always never speaking, before kissing her softly on the lips. Up close, she was more surreal to him and something told him that this was what she needed the most right now. He also couldn't help but feela sudden need to comfort her, to protect her. And so he kissed her gently, as gently as he could, only stopping to breath.He nibbled on her upper lip, then her bottom,and then kissedthe lips in all of itsentirity.He heard her gasp almost feverishly and she began crying but still saying nothing. He continues softly kissing her anyway, not knowing what was possessing him to do so. After awhile, they broke off slowly and he could feel her breath caress his nose. His hand reached upwards to cup her soft cheek, and his thumb wiped away her falling tears. Her hands slowly and shakily went up his chest then around his neck.

She deserved someone much better than him, but he couldn't help but want to keep her to himself.

"Why are you here?" She asks, her tears still flowing down her cheeks.

He only looks at her, as he couldn't help doing. His gaze makes her blush and she looked away, still crying.

"I'm being so weak..." she says apologetically. He does not respond for awhile, instead he embraces her once more and savoured the feel of holding her in his arms. He felt extremely calm, and he continued to observe her. He knew that his decision was right. For once in his life, he has made the right decision. She deserves happiness.

"You're being released, Sakura. You are no longer called a betrayer of Konoha for helping me," he finally says after she looks at him with inquiring and teary eyes.

"What about you?" Always so selfless.

"I'll be fine," and his answer worries her.

Had exams, stress, and everything. Here is the long awaited chapter. Fluffy yes? Ending should be next chapter or if I'm lazy, the one after that. Wrapping it up would be quite a challenge so please bare with my lack of updates. Anybody OC please tell me.

BTW, i had this finished 4 days ago, but somehow I couldn't upload it to Weird huh?

-Pp.