Hey all! I'm off to a great start I thinks, and I'm hoping to get a few reviews on this one! You like it? Please feel free to let me know!

Disclaimer- the way a fanfic writer states that they don't make money from the fics and that they hold no copywrites and such. Hint!

AnbuShadowFang- Thanks for the first review!! You're awesome, and I hope that this was fast enough!

Bella- Thank you! I will! :)

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Chapter 2

Sakura frowned as the minutes ticked onto very quiet hours. She felt bad for her words this morning, it's not that she didn't like him, but she wanted someone she could talk to. Neji was the most quiet person she'd ever met. She decided all the same that she should say something. "I'm sorry about this morning." She kept her eyes downcast, looking very intently on her shoes. "I understand, you were wanting someone with a little more social want than me." His face never changed, his expression non existent. "I'm sorry that I'm not what you were hoping for, but Kakashi-senpai nearly begged me to take this mission." Sakura nodded. "He's worried about me, a little too much at times..." She thought back to waking up almost naked. Darn, she knew there was another reason she'd wanted to kill him... Neji nodded. "He chose the right person for protectiveness, but I don't really know what we would talk about..."

Sakura smiled at him. He was doing his best to keep up a conversation, though they both knew that it was already waning.

The rest of the day was spent fairly quiet, just running and the occasional ask for a break, till nightfall when Sakura huffed against a tree. "We're nearly out of the forest. Maybe we should camp here?" She looked up at Neji who nodded. Camp was set up in a matter of minutes, as their sleeping bags only took a minute to set up and Neji used a few of his jutsus to cut off a few of the nearby branches to make a fire. Sakura rummaged through her bag and pulled out a few things to eat for dinner, and began cooking while Neji went to explore a little. She was absolutely horrified to find two things in her bag. The pink thing that she'd gotten from the closet, at first she'd thought it was a set of her pajamas, was actually the set of Lingerie that Ino had gotten her as a gag gift for her last birthday, her nineteenth.

Second was that instead of grabbing the medical book she'd grabbed the latest Icha Icha paradise book by mistake. At least she could figure that one out. Kakashi had gotten her into the habit of reading them, as she was totally chaste, a virgin completely, never even been kissed... She sighed as she put the book away just as Neji reappeared. Thank goodness for little miracles. She didn't want to try and explain her porn addiction to him. "The area's secure." He looked down to find that she'd started dinner for both of them and sat across the fire from her, softly on his sleeping bag. He pulled down his Byakugan which made Sakura tense again. Maybe he had seen after all... She decided not to say anything and kept up with her cooking, noticing the little glances he gave to her bag. Finally after a few minutes she couldn't handle it anymore and huffed. "It was a gag gift, I thought it was something else, and the book is a gift, a habit of mine. Can you please stop staring?"

"There's a spider on your bag." Sakura turned to see a wolf spider sitting on the front of the bag facing Neji and froze, feeling her blood flow to her cheeks and stop at the same time. "I'm tired, just ignore me..." She laughed weakly, causing one eyebrow of the other ninja to raise.

They woke early the next morning and Sakura made sure the fire was just hot enough and pulled out the Lingerie before throwing it into the fire and huffed. She turned to Neji who was now staring at her wide eyed and turned, smiling. "Alright, ready to go!"

They reached the train station in a few hours after that, and the thought of sitting for a few hours was like a god send to her. She'd never admit to it, but all of the time she spent sitting at the tables, looking through books and such had gotten her a little out of shape. She still worked out daily, but she felt her stamina a little on the weak side and slid down into the seat of the private car on the train.

Neji sat and looked out the window and seemed to want to say something, but just didn't. "What's up?" She asked after a few minutes and he turned to her, smiling weakly. "We're headed to see Gaara-sama. The friend of Naruto. I was wondering, if they tried to pull anything, if maybe you had enough pull with him to get us out quickly?" Sakura looked at him and sighed, just happy it wasn't about the burning of her clothing this morning. "Gaara-kun may get us through quickly, I don't know. It would be better, though, if it were Temari handling it. We spent a little time together." Neji nodded, and turned back to the window.

Out of sheer habit, from when she had loose time to spend, she reached into her bag and pulled out her Icha Icha paradise book, right to the page with the silver Konoha bookmark and began reading.

It wasn't for about two hours that Sakura frowned, putting the bookmark back in place and looked up. "Hey, you want to go check out the food car?" Neji sighed, looking out the window and nodded. He grabbed his bag, the one containing the scroll and lists and headed out.

They returned about an hour later, Sakura looked at her bag and knew that it had been gone through. "You kept your bag on you, I wonder if they took anything..." She ruffled through quickly and sighed. Neji noted her face and spoke, his soft voice catching in her ear. "Is anything gone?"

"My Icha Icha paradise book. I was just getting to the good part..." She frowned, but sat, not wanting to go overboard over her book. Neji shook his head lightly, a motion that didn't go unseen and turned his gaze back to the window.

"What was that about?" Sakura looked over at him and he smiled over at her, a gesture she didn't expect to see. "Your book, It's in your front pocket." Sakura turned to her bag and opened it, finding her book in the pocket he'd stated. "If this is there, then where's my diary?" She turned her bag over, pouring out all of the contents and began shifting through, looking for the small pink book. It was gone? "My... My diary..." She stared, mouth agape. "I- I can't believe my diary was taken!"

"Did you write down anything about the hunt?" Neji asked, his eyes again in Byakugan state, looking for another book. "No, I never write down anything about missions, unless it's about something personal that happens on them." Neji nodded. She sifted a little more before something caught her eye. "Dammit, Ino!!" She pulled up a long string of condoms. Neji shook his head, now getting the amusement in the jokes the others played on her. It wasn't the jokes themselves that were funny, but the reactions that she gave. "What's so funny?" She asked and Neji looked up at her, his eyes shifting carefully to the handful of condoms and she jumped, hiding them behind her back. "Oh, Never mind!" She huffed, throwing her stuff back into her bag. She'd forgotten a few things...

They got off of the train late that night and decided to head out a little before camping. They went on for only about an hour before setting up, having eaten on the train they made a fire and fell asleep.

Sakura woke the next morning to find Neji sitting, his head down and she almost could say that he looked afraid. "Neji?" He visibly jumped, turning to see her and turned away quickly, wiping his face. "Sorry, just woke up..." Neji's voice was muffled by his sleeve. "Are you alright?" She crawled over to him, putting her hand on his back. "Yes, I'm alright, I just need to wake up." She watched as he stumbled to his feet and took a few steps out, leaning against a tree.

It took a few minutes till she saw his face again, and after that he was deathly quiet.

They reached Suna after another day, spent mostly quiet, Sakura finding Neji awake the morning after that. They walked up to the main building and opened the door. They were directed to the stairs, and told to go to the eighteenth floor, the third door on the right. They flew up the stairs, getting to the top in about fifteen minutes. "You want to stay in town tonight, head out tomorrow?" Neji thought about this before nodding. "That sounds nice."

They opened the door to find Kankurou staring in at them. "Sakura! How nice to see you again!" Sakura smiled and walked in, holding her hand out. "Kankurou! How are you?" He shook her hand pleasantly and looked over at Neji. "Ah, must be here for the hunt?" They nodded and Kankurou stretched his arms. "The items from the hunt are all available in the bazaar, the scroll has a small trial before you can get it." Neji nodded. "I expected as much." Sakura frowned. "What kind of trial?"

"You have to go through a maze we have here. The first two a day get a scroll, the others have to wait till the next day. It keeps going until either everyone has one or the tournament is over." Sakura slumped. "I take it they've both been gotten today..." Kankurou grinned shaking his head. "For you, Sakura, I'll bend the rules a little. If one of you can make it out in less than an hour, it's yours now. Sound good?" Sakura smiled. "Sure! When do we go?" Kankurou shook his head, crossing his arms. "Only one person per team enters at a time. We can head down now." Sakura looked over at Neji and frowned. "I'm going in." Sakura was about to speak, but froze. "Sakura, It's a maze. With my Byakugan It'll be a lot easier for me to find the end than for you to." Sakura nodded. "Alright, you go." They went down to an outer wall of the city and Neji sighed, activating his Byakugan. "The maze goes in about a mile, the scroll is in the back. You get in and out, alright?" Neji nodded and turned, already seeing some of the path through.

"Go!"

Neji ran in, seeing the path before him open in the dim light that was cast by the carefully carved sconces. He ran as fast as he could, knowing even with his speed that this would be a severe challenge. He started leaking his chakra into his legs, making sure that he would have enough to get to the door, but no more. As the tunnel before him split, forked, ended and began he jumped over, in and out of the walkways that seemed to tunnel on and on, and he wasn't totally sure that he was even on the right one. Byakugan could only see so far, through so much...

He tried to see through the pathways but got confused a little and stopped to try and find the right path. Neji noticed a direct route and grinned as he ran ahead, finding the scroll after about thirty five minutes. "Need to be faster..." He ran as quickly as he could, seeping more chakra into his legs than he should have and finally reached the end at the end of the hour, jumping through the exit just a second before the timer went off.

"Neji! Are you alright?" Sakura ran over, seeing Neji with his hands on his knees, sucking in each breath urgently, and she knew that he'd done it almost purely on chakra. "I... I..."

Neji looked around, seeing nothing but blur before him. "Neji? Are you alright?" He tried to speak, to find the blood in his throat gurgled at the attempt. "Oh, God! Neji!" She grabbed him and flipped him over onto his side, the blood flowing free of his throat. "His back, His shoulder, Stay here for a second, we'll go get more help."

"But I don't know..." She watched them for a moment before turning her gaze back to him. "Neji, just hold on, alright? Please be alright..." He felt the world go even more blurred, knowing he was about to die. At least he was going to go early in life, before he got the chance to get old.

But she called to him again. "Neji!" He could feel the tears on his cheek. Was she crying over him? Her tears ran down his cheek and she put her fingers through the back of his hair, hugging him, her tears streaming down his cheek. "Please, Neji, Please don't die!"

"Sakura... Don't cry..."

He suddenly felt himself growing cold. Was he going to die? She was begging him to live. He couldn't die, not on her like this, He had to live! He had to!

Sakura had just woken up, stretching. She was thankful to Kankurou for helping to get Neji to the room, but ended out getting him into his night cloths by herself. She was happy that he'd worn boxers, as she really didn't want to see him naked. Not to say that his body wasn't intriguing, that the muscular frame that he had wasn't extremely, lip bitingly captivating...

Sakura shook her head. She hadn't had the time to read her book lately. She stretched, feeling the Suna sun rain in on her, warming everything in the room. It felt nice to be able to sleep in.

Neji turned his head in his sleep, gritting his teeth and Sakura turned to him, curious. "Didn't mean- Sorry, I'm-" She stared at the mumbles and stood, wondering if she should wake him or let him sleep through it. She didn't get to decide, though, before he jumped to his knees, coughing and tears streamed down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Sakura stared at him, completely confused at his actions and he opened his eyes, looking around.

Sakura remembered the other day, seeing him in a very similar position. She nearly ran over, running her hand over his back. "Neji, are you alright?" He looked at her, startled for a moment before turning his head away to wipe away the tears. "I'm fine..." He mumbled through his sleeves. "You don't look fine. How long have you been having these nightmares?" She said sweetly, wondering if there was something she could give him to help him sleep better. "Since they were reality..." His voice was softer than usual, the smooth tone surprised her. "I've already gotten Tsunade to try and help, until I get through this there's nothing that can be done." He said flatly. He stood and stumbled, Sakura noticed that he rubbed his shoulder as he stood and made his way to the bathroom, purposefully avoiding her gaze.

They went to the shops after packing up and found the item on their list, a hematite bracelet with the Suna logo on it. They headed out immediately after, Kankurou meeting them at the gate to say good bye.

The next few days were a mystery to Sakura, Neji became even quieter than usual and Sakura felt chills in his eye. As if he really wanted to say something but couldn't. It wasn't until the second week, halfway to the Mist village that Sakura got up the courage to talk to him. "Neji?" He turned to her wordlessly as they rested up against the tree. "I asked you how long you'd had those nightmares, you told me since they were real, I was wondering..." She didn't really know what to ask, but she was suddenly scared to death of him, the suddenly depressed look on his face. "What happened?" Neji frowned at her, not that he was angry, but he really didn't want to talk about it and she knew it. "How about this, you tell me why you have a porn addiction and I'll tell you why I have nightmares."

"What?" Neji looked over at her and raised his eyebrow. "It's very personal to me, something I really don't feel comfortable sharing." Sakura nodded. Not that she was terribly embarrassed by her addiction, but she really didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. "Fine, How about this. I tell you about my porn addiction and when you feel more comfortable you tell me about your nightmares, alright?" Sakura smiled at him and Neji stared at her, confused for a moment before shrugging. "Alright." It's a lot more than he'd asked for, but he knew that she didn't want him to feel bad.

"I'm nineteen, a virgin, never been kissed. I'm a med nin, one of the best in Konoha, which means I have little free time for things like romance. I may be busy, but I'm not dead. Right after my eighteenth birthday Kakashi-sensei took me aside and told me something that I hadn't even thought of. Sexual frustration is still frustration, and to keep it all in can hinder your abilities, just as much as a any wound. This is the best way to deal with it without becoming a slut." Neji smiled, the word slut never crossed his mind when he thought of her. Maybe haunting was more like it.

It was nearly every night that the nightmare awoke him, feeling nauseous, tears in his eyes, the hopeless empty pit consuming him. It got worse after he woke, especially today, waking to see her there, really there, and it took him a moment to register what was happening. He always felt weak afterwards, not physically, but mentally. What kind of nin wakes in a cold sweat, tears streaming down his face? It's something little girls did, not grown men. He sighed, standing and looked down at her, deciding right then that he really did want to get to be closer friends with her. "I don't think of you as a slut." Sakura grinned. "Of course you don't. You know I'm a virgin. Don't, uh, tell anyone though, alright?" She pleaded and he looked down at her, confused. "What?"

"No one knows. I kind of told them that, uh, me and Sai, and he agreed not to say anything. It was my eighteenth birthday present from him, to stop hearing people tell me that I'm too... Innocent." Neji smiled at her and she stopped. His hair cascaded across his face, the sun shining through the leaves in the trees and for a brief moment he looked... Beautiful to her. She watched, her eyes widening as she took in the image. "Innocence isn't necessarily a bad thing." Sakura looked at him, snapping out of her trance. "You say that as if you know what I'm going through." Neji nodded, the smile on his face nearly as beautiful as the sun in his hair. "Well, I don't really know about the porn addiction, but I'm just as much of an innocent, a virgin as you." Sakura raised her eyebrow. "Ino kept telling us that you ravaged her on her seventeenth birthday."

"No, She got really drunk and Sasuke used his Sharingan to make her see what she wanted. I guess I was it." Sakura laughed, her hand over her mouth. "Oh, that's great!"

"We tried to tell her, but you know Ino." It took Sakura a moment to regain herself and they continued along, each with a smile and a little blush. They'd both noticed the look on the other's face and for once felt a little more comfortable.

Hey all! I'm trying to work this one out, though it may be quite a bit shorter than my previous fics! I'm going to start right in on the next chappy, so see you all soon!

Jasminflower69