Chapter Four

There plans would have gone through smoothly if not for the appearance of Sai. He stood before Sakura and Neji as they left the hospital covered in in dirt from head to toe. Upon seeing Neji though any thoughts of revenge upon the girl vanished. The only person to stop Sai in his tracks was Neji and that was because he knew that real trouble would come if he were to mess with the Hyuuga. Not that he would ever actually admit such a thing though.

"Don't think you've won just yet." He huffed. "When you least expect it, I'll be there. When you turn a corner, I'll be there. When-"

"Ya, ya ya so on blah blah blah, you do this every time I beat you. Go home shower and we'll go eat later, then tomorrow we can continue our battle." she waved at his as she and Neji passed.

"Fine but you're paying!" Sai shouted when they were at a distance.

"Fine!" she shouted back.

Neji wasn't sure how he felt about the two of them. He understood that they were friends underneath the name calling and the fights. But was there something deeper? Probably not, Sai was far from interested in Sakura. They both enjoyed pushing each others buttons and that was about it. They were sort of like Naruto and Sasuke in a sense. He wondered how they happened to form their weird friendship of the timespan.

"Do you really want to go for ice cream? I mean we don't have to we can just go to our respective homes. I know I'm not the easiest person to get a long with so-"

"I would like to try some of it. Tenten-san used to discuss it with Lee-san."

After walking down the street they grabbed some strawberry ice cream cones and headed on their way. Sakura kept wondering though why Neji wanted to be around her when he could just go home and train until they were needed back in Suna. Naruto wanted to head that way to visit Gaara but that wouldn't be allowed for weeks. After two years of being around Neji he had softened radically. There was a time when his mood was set to stoic and he wouldn't be caught dead in public.

Sasuke continued to follow all day long, he'd given up on ridiculing himself for the possibility of being a stalker. In a matter of nearly 2 hours he had gone from aloof and stoic Sasuke to Sasuke the Sakura Stalker. He had no logic behind it other than the fact that he was a male who subconsciously told himself that Sakura was his way before his conscious self actually knew it. Part of him just enjoyed the physical aspects of the young woman but he knew she was far from the same girl he knew. If he was really honest with himself he knew that after years of pushing away her affections he now craved them like a starved animal.

Neji knew that Sasuke was following Sakura around which was why he had agreed to go for ice cream with her in the first place. He couldn't quite understand why they were suddenly spending time together outside of missions. They had nothing in common and besides that he wasn't known to spend time with anyone. People might start to talk about his outings with the attractive medic-nin. 'Stop thinking that.' he shook his head to clear it but only caused hair to fly into his mouth in the most unappealing way.
"You okay up there Neji?" Being that he was taller than her. Looking down at her he nodded. "Hair in mouth? That used to happen to me when I had my hair really long...it still does." she giggled a little and for once he didn't flinch at the sound.

Sasuke knew what that giggle meant. It was a flirtatious type that girls often used on him when he was younger. He had only been there a few hours and many girls have already chased, tackled and stalked him. At that moment as he stalked Sakura there were at least ten other girls stalking him and Neji. The village was filled with stalker...disturbing...

"Hokage-sama said our next mission is in a few days. Turns out we're needed in Suna for a different reason this time. She called me into her office just before we left the hospital."

"Why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't she tell me while I was in her office?? What of the other mission in a few weeks?"

"Because she just got word from Gaara before we got back. Oh and that mission has been handed over to someone else just in case we get held up in Suna. This time I won't annoy you too much. I'll try to be a better shinobi on this mission, promise." He stopped walking.

"Haruno, do not assume that I think you're a horrible shinobi. In fact you are the only other intelligent life here." she gave a small smile up at him and they continued to walk toward her apartment. "Though you do tend to get emotional far to easily and as a female you are quite loud. And you were trying really hard to actually be annoying."

"Is that so wrong?" she didn't look up at him but she wondered if it bothered him that she was too emotional. Why was she even concerned about how he saw her? He got easily annoyed by anything and couldn't be found with people in general so part of her felt 'special' but then she wondered why he was with her at that moment. "And I'm not that loud." She pouted. "and I was only doing it to get you to act less like a stick in the mud." she stated as an afterthought to his comments.

"No and you are." Glancing down at her she was looking straight ahead while eating her ice cream. She must not have heard the last part. He had long since finished his and now felt the need to get more of it. He couldn't help but watch as she ate her ice cream. A light tint appeared on his cheeks though feeling that he had been caught. Sakura hadn't seemed to notice and continued what she was doing.

"That mission you were talking about earlier, what will that mission entail?"

"I don't have all the details yet but once I do I will inform you fully. Naruto, Sasuke and Sai will be come with us though since we're all close to Gaara he requested just us. Though I wonder why Sasuke is going, when he's supposed to be on probation for leaving the village."

"Ah. We shall find out soon."

Sasuke frowned as they continued to talk. He hated the Hyuuga far more than he had originally. This would not do. He had to find a way to keep them from seeing each other, somehow. Maybe he could do so on the mission.

Sakura and Sai had bonded in the strangest of ways. No one outside of their circle of friends would ever even suspect that they could ever become friends. But they had their own way of showing affection. Their constant bickering and 'fights' were their way of joking and having fun with one another. At the end of the day they would meet up and have a nice meal together and surprisingly enough enjoy each other's company. After about a year they had established something that would qualify as friendship. No one really understood at first until one mission where they had to work together. Sai had brought an unconscious Sakura home in his arms and refused to leave her side until he knew that she was okay. Though he would never be nice toward her they both knew that they cared for each other.

Sipping on her broth she listened to the rest of Sai's story of an encounter with a Naruto. It was the same old story that she listened to but she didn't mind much if it meant that they could have a civil conversation.

"I've noticed that Uchiha's been following you around all day. Have you noticed that?"

"Of course I know and I'm more than sure that he is now." She motioned to the right of them with her eyes. Sai didn't even need to look, he could feel Sasuke's low level of chakra from up in a tree. "It's a bit strange though that he is following me of all people around. I mean he's been doing this since I saw him here earlier this afternoon."

"I don't get it either, Ugly. I wouldn't spend my entire day following something ugly around, especially when there's other girls around to admire more closely." He received a whack to the back of the head. "It is quite odd that the traitor would want to be near you when he really doesn't even know you at all anymore. What did Hyuuga say about it?"

"Actually nothing, we went to train after we had ice cream and then I took a shower and he walked me here."

"He must not like that Uchiha is following you around. This must really excite you, having to strong men possessively want you."

"Actually its really disturbing. Neji and Sasuke are both cold people but I get along with Neji better. I don't mind Neji hanging around but Sasuke is like a creepy stalker."

"That is disturbing. What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea until he approaches and he won't unless I'm alone. That's what he might be waiting for. I've been with at least one person all day since I got back. So eventually I'll be on my own and he'll come out of the shadows thinking that scared little Sakura will be there for him to taunt."

"Hm...how would the old Sakura handle this situation? I didn't know you then."

"Well if I were still the same person I would blush profusely and think that he was following me because he likes me...which is completely and totally out of the question. I would have been happy about this situation but I'm really not. He can't stand not haven't the attention for once and I find that to be really sad."

"You don't want someone admiring you?'

"I just don't like it when someone walks all over my heart shoves it down my throat in little pieces and then comes back and says 'hey give me it back its mine.' Does that make any sense at all to you?"

"Hn. Well we need to go meet up with everyone before it gets too late you have to work tomorrow remember?"

"Oh yes I remember. For the first time in a long time I really would prefer to not go and just stay in bed all day."

"That's too bad. Let's get going before Naruto decides to come looking for us."

"Because he's convinced that you and I are having a secret love affair?" she laughed as they started down the street toward a well known bar that most ANBU and Jounin alike visit frequently after missions.

"That would never happen, I'd much rather run off with Kiba's dog than you."

"Ha ha ha, you're hilarious you ass."

"Yes, yes I am."

They continued on their way while a rather angry Sasuke followed knowing that Naruto requested his presence there so that he could see everyone there. He was going to 'respectably' decline but finding that Sakura would be there he couldn't pass up the chance. He didn't like her hanging around this Sai person or Hyuuga and now she would be surrounded by even more males, who by nature are pigs. He knew all too well, he was one of them.

Sasuke made sure to get there way before Sakura so that she wouldn't know he was following her. Of course she already knew but it would help him feel better if she didn't know that he had been there while she was with Sai. Basically he didn't want to get caught. Make sense?

Sakura and Sai entered ten minutes after he did as he sat with Naruto and Kakashi in the back. But the moment that Naruto saw Sakura and Sai he called them right over. No one had really said anything to him and partly he was grateful for that. Neji kept looking at him oddly though. Sakura said hello and then proceeded to go over to Neji as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Neji nodded after she said something.

"I don't know what to do Neji." 'So she's calling me Neji now? Does that mean I should call her Sakura? That does sound nice even in my thoughts.'

"Why don't you confront the situation?" he asked sipping on his sake.

"That sounds so easy when you say it but doing it is a completely different thing." She sighed downing her sake. It was so weird for her to be sitting down next to Neji while all their friends did their own thing. This felt normal and strange all at once. Before their last mission they never really spent any time together off the clock. She was actually starting to get used to having him around. Just after a whole day of being back and after that week they had spent traveling. What was going on with them exactly? Were they becoming friends?

"I could go along with you tomorrow. I'm sure that we can convince him to stop following you."

"We? When did this become a 'we' thing?" She questioned raising an eyebrow at him.

"Friends help friends and that's how 'we' became 'we'. Or are we not friends?" He couldn't believe that he pulled out the friend card like that. He didn't just want friendship with the medic-nin he wanted so much more. In the short time he's never wanted anything more than her and he couldn't let Uchiha get in the middle of that. It was apparent to Neji that Sasuke was causing Sakura great distress and that didn't settle with him. If it were possible he'd stay near her just to make sure that no other male had the chance to look at her. He couldn't understand though why he felt so possessive over this ordinary girl who really didn't stand out from any other person. Yet there was something about her that made him want her. He was determined to figure out what that something was.

Neji wasn't known to drink heavily like most shinobi would. Sakura was also not the type to but it seemed she herself hadn't even realized how much she drank until it was too late. After an hour Sakura was leaning against his shoulder talking about something that he couldn't really understand. What he could grasp was that there was a rather attractive female who he couldn't stop thinking about since he left her with Sai pressed against his shoulder. If he were any other man he would have taken advantage of the situation but he wasn't that type of male. Once everyone had left, including the stalker, Sasuke, Neji lifted her up in his arms and started for her apartment.

Tomorrow they had planned to go and train together before Sakura would go and talk with Sasuke. He remembered promising to be her back up since Sasuke might be strong enough to catch her off guard. It was highly unlikely but it could still happen.

Reaching her place he grabbed the keys from her pocket and opened the door. He remembered being there only three hours before so naturally he knew where he was going. Placing her in her bed he grabbed some aspirin and placed them next to her bed on the night stand. Tomorrow would be a better day he hoped.

Sakura woke the next morning and felt heavy. It was like her head was filled with water. Glancing over at her clock she found that it was still very early in the morning. She couldn't even remember sleeping, just that Neji had left her. Contrary to popular belief her memory of the night was very clear and she surprisingly didn't humiliate herself. Neji didn't try to take advantage of her like most men would have and she wasn't sure if that was disappointing or not.

Laying there after taking the aspirin she found that though they helped a little she still felt tired and weak. She knew that she had a training session with Neji at eight and he'd be at her door if she were late. Getting up from bed she got showered and dressed and headed for the training ground to find that Neji was already there.