Rokudaime

Chapter Four

The trouble with love

'I don't love her, Uncle!'

Love?

So this is what has been bothering his nephew so much. A single emotion such as love was holding the young Hyuuga back. Haishi sighed out in relief, his shoulders becoming lax as he picked up tea and drank from it. It had gotten slightly cold during his discussion with Neji, but it was still somewhat warm.

Placing his cup back down, Haishi glanced over to Neji and saw that his nephew was winding down from his earlier outburst.

"Love is an emotion that will grow with time, Neji." Haishi said with a raised brow, his tone holding wisdom within it. The clan head had had an arrange marriage. Though he did not like his bride to be, he had accepted it and over time they had grown to love one another.

It had been painful when his wife had died giving birth to Hanabi.

Neji frowned as he finally picked up his cup and drank from it, his face scrunching up at the coldness. He quickly placed it down and looked towards the window of the study. The sun was down and the sky was dark, filled with countless stars.

He wondered if Sakura was walking to her apartment right at this very moment. Her shift at the Hospital had ended five minutes ago. Silvery pale eyes glistened as he imagined her walking towards her apartment building and taking the stairs since she would be low on chakra to jump to her balcony.

Why couldn't Sakura come from a noble family? Then he would have asked her to be his bride and had his Uncle's blessings all the same instead of an arrange marriage with his ex-teammate. It wasn't that Ten-Ten was unattractive or unworthy, it just was that he didn't view her in a romantic way.

Ten-Ten's light brown eyes did not contain the certain fire that Sakura constantly contained within her emerald orbs.

The pink haired kunoichi was also not afraid to show her emotions and set others straight, no matter who they were, with her fist raised promptly in their faces. His pink haired medic was headstrong. It seem Sakura was the exact polar opposite of the women within the Hyuuga clan. They were so very prideful, quiet and allowed the males of the clan to over run them. Yes, it seem that Sakura was the ideal woman for him.

Why couldn't the clan see that clan status didn't matter.

Neji sighed out depressed.

Haishi had been watching his nephew as he lost himself staring out the window. The clan head furrowed his brows as he continued to watched the young Hyuuga with calculating eyes. He has seen that gaze in his nephew's eyes before and knew it all too well.

It was the look of longing.

Something was on the young Hyuuga's mind or someone to be more exact.

Haishi's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he began to formulate the right words to address his musing. "Nephew?" The clan head called out to lightly, immediately catching the prodigy's attention. "Yes, Uncle?" Neji stared at his Uncle and wondered what he wanted. He had said all he had needed to say, so what else had his Uncle wanted to include.

"Tell me something."

Neji raised a brow at the sudden request.

"Are you in love with a woman, I do not know about?"

All the prodigy had done was stare at the clan head with wide eyes.

Desert

The temperature was unbelievably freezing.

When the sun had set, signaling that the day was over, the temperature within the mass desert they were crossing had dropped dangerously. The Anbu Captain would guess that it was below -10 degrees Celsius. The bottom of her lip trembled due to the freezing air, but the rest of her body was kept regulated due to the running.

Emerald eyes glanced over to her two teammates from within her mask and the medic could see that the two males were slowing down considerably. She could feel her own body slowing down and decided that they would have to stop and rest for more than an hour, possibly set up camp for the night and leave extremely early the next morning.

Sakura slowed down and so did Kiyoshi and Kin.

They were in the middle of the desert in a small valley of a sand dune. It was perfect to set up for camp. "Boys, were setting down for camp..." Sakura raised her hand in front of Kiyoshi, knowing he was about to protest, "... and that's an order." She said sternly, mainly for Kiyoshi's benefit.

The crow masked shinobi grunted in response, annoyed that they had to stop now when they were so close to Suna. He could literally feel the rough sand that made up the housing in the village hidden in the Sand underneath his gloved covered palms.

Then suddenly, he could feel the constant throbbing erecting up and down his calves and quads, the almost numbing sensation etching along his entire back. He quickly sprawled across the sand, the small tiny grains making a comfortable bedding for his strain and sore body.

He took off his mask and saw Kin had done the same thing. He hadn't thought the guy could last as long as he did. Kin was the lesser of the two, but was strong in his own way, but when it came to Sakura, their Captain. It was an entirely different story.

The kunoichi had a huge advantage, those fists of hers were as deadly as poison senbon and even more deadly than a katana. The medic wasn't all that bad, though he still was sore about her being his Captain, after all she was a woman. They trained regularly when she wasn't working at the Hospital and Kiyoshi had to admit that since he and Kin have been assigned to Squad 6 almost a year ago, they had gotten stronger.

The pink haired kunoichi wasn't all that bad.

Short tempered, but not bad at all.

Kiyoshi could feel the warm waves of a fire and knew that Sakura had made one for the night. "Alright, you two, get some food into your bodies and sleep, we have to leave hours before the sun rises tomorrow. I'll take the first watch." Sakura said as she rummaged through her bag, her mask pulled over her head as she handed out rations for herself and her teammates.

She watched with amuse eyes as they tried to sit up. "You guys are in really bad shape, I guess I haven't been training you two properly enough." Sakura joked, causing Kiyoshi to throw her a glare. "The problem isn't the training, Captain. It's the freaking deadline." The purple eyed shinobi said with a frown as he began to eat the tasteless ration.

"He's right, Captain, my body feels like its about to shut down on me." Kin confessed softly, his hazel eyes dulled from exhaustion. Sakura's eyes soften as she slowly ate her ration, her mind thoughtful. She wasn't as tired as her teammates were and she was sure other Anbu Squads would have traveled throughout the night to Suna, but that was only because her team was special.

She knew Tsunade gave her team this particular mission to test their endurance and stamina.

The Anbu Captain couldn't help, but remember the day her Shishou had assigned Kiyoshi and Kin to be under her wing. This was her very first Anbu Squad and she had been excited and apprehensive at the same time. It was the first time since the split of team seven.

XoX

"You wanted to see me, Shishou?" Said a barely twenty year old Sakura. Amber eyes glisten with silent glee as the busty blonde pushed away the countless paperwork on her desk, glad that her student had decided to turn up when she did. It saved her from having to review boring reports about the environment. "Ah, Sakura, I have some good news for you." The Godaime revealed with a smirk.

"Really, what it is? Is it about my new squad!" Sakura asked full of excitement, her eyes shining brightly. Tsunade raised a brow before smirking slyly. "Exactly, I think you are more than ready to lead a Squad of your own." The blonde said and she could see the building excitement within her pupil's eyes explode, but was force to keep her composure.

'Yes, my very own Squad. I can't believe it!' Sakura exclaimed within her mind at the news. 'I can't wait to tell Neji!' The medic chimed inwardly. "But there is one problem that I believe that only you can solve." She heard her Shishou say, causing the medic to raise a brow in wonder. "Which is?" Sakura asked curios.

"We had ten Jounin take the Anbu Black Op exam this year, but only eight passed successfully. With two sets of four per group, making Squad 4 and Squad 5." Tsunade began and Sakura concluded that two had failed. So, what was her Shishou getting at?

"The two that did not pass had failed due to minor mistakes..." Tsunade rested her chin on her intertwined hands. "...mistakes that I believe could be mended and improved. Those two had shown true potential to be great assets to Anbu, but with a little nudge to the right direction that is." Her Shishou finished with a confident smirk.

Sakura now knew what her Shishou wanted of her. "So I trained them and nudged them into the right direction and I have my own team, right?" Sakura asked with a raised brow and challenging eyes. The same shown true within her mentor's eyes. "Exactly, it kinda brings back memories of when you had first asked me to become your teacher." Tsunade commented softly.

Sakura smirked.

"I won't let them down, Shishou."

XoX

She had kept that promise to her Shishou, to herself and most importantly to her teammates. She would not rest until they were the best that they could be.

The first time she had met her new teammates, she had immediately pin pointed their weaknesses. Kiyoshi had attitude problems and was like a lone wolf while Kin was insecure about his abilities yet when it came to fighting it took awhile for the sandy blonde to actually fight back.

Their issues and insecurities could get them and the members in their Squads killed on missions.

They had a long six months to improve on not only their skills, but also their insecurities and fears. Once they had sorted all that out, her two boys began to bloom before her very eyes, passing with flying colors at their reexamination conducted by her Shishou and Shizune.

The feeling of pride and success had filled her heart when she heard her Shishou pronounce that they were now official Anbu shinobi. At that moment she knew that this is what her Shishou must have felt when she had retaken Kakashi-sensei's bell test years ago.

Filled with overwhelming pride.

But now as she glanced over at her teammates, she could see those insecurities returning again and she would be damn if she let it ruin their progress.

Once they returned back to Konoha, they were all going to endure intense training.

If they failed, she failed along with them.

They had awoken hours before the sun had rose and the medic had to guess that it had been around two in the morning.

At the moment she could feel her two teammates glaring at her through their masks as they traveled the rest of the way to Suna. A brow twitched from underneath her mask and she tried very hard to kept her lips sealed shut. They didn't have time for this, they had to get to Suna and back to Konoha before tomorrow night.

'They shouldn't be mad at me for staying up on watch while they slept.' Sakura thought silently to herself. Kiyoshi and Kin were running along besides her, keeping good pace. "You know Captain, you baby us too much." Kiyoshi said in a sneer.

'Oh, man here it goes.'

Sakura grunted out as she continued to listened. "Kiyoshi is right, Captain, you shouldn't have let us sleep while you kept watch all night." Kin added in a soft voice. "You needed to rest as well." Sakura knew they were right, but she didn't want to admit it.

It was just that they looked so tired and she wasn't as hardly tired as they were so she decided that it was in their best benefit to let them sleep while she kept watch. She was feeling the effects of her decision now, her eyes were burning from lack of sleep and her eyelids were heavy, threatening to close at any moment in time.

But the truth was, she couldn't sleep. Her mind had kept wandering off to Neji and the engagement between him and Ten-Ten.

She has had suspicions that Ten-Ten had feelings for Neji, but the weapon specialist had never acted on her feelings, except for now that is. Sakura bet it was Ten-Ten's idea to set up the arrange marriage between herself and Neji. Besides, the brunette knew Neji didn't share the same feelings she had with the prodigy.

So, this was the only way she could have Neji to herself and the medic was just handing him over to her in a silver platter.

Well, Sakura will be damned if she kept on handing him over without a fight. Neji was right. She shouldn't give up so easily on them after so many years.

Screw, the Hyuuga clan and their traditions. She loves Neji and she wasn't going to let him go without a fight, figuratively and literally speaking. What did it matter if she came from a noble family or not? She was one of the elite, had trained under the Hokage herself for years and was Captain of her own Squad, which apparently she was babying.

Shaking her head she pushed her issues aside to listen to Kiyoshi speak.

"How are we ever going to learn, if you keep treating us like we aren't able." Kiyoshi said, his voice low and Sakura could pick up the lightest hints of hurt in his tone. Damn, they were right. She did baby them too much, but only when it came to minor things, which happened to be essential to their development.

"Your right, I'm sorry for babying you two. I guess it's because...you two are my first solid team since Team Seven's break up." Sakura started with dark eyes and she could see the walls surrounding Suna in the distance.

Kiyoshi and Kin remained silent as she spoke.

The medic rarely spoke of the infamous Team Seven.

It was often rumored that the members of the infamous Team Seven were going to be the next Densetsu no Sannin.

"I understand how you feel, I didn't mean to make you feel that way. It's the last thing I had wanted you two to feel." Sakura exclaimed, remembering to keep her emotions in check. Memories of Team Seven had flashed within her mind. Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-kun and...Sasuke...all protecting her while she stood back and watched. Then the Uchiha's replacement, Sai from Root.

Feeling weak...feeling worthless...feeling useless.

Kiyoshi and Kin, startled at the emotion in her voice turned to look at her.

Her fists were tight by her sides and her demeanor was stiff. "I promise to be a better Captain." Sakura vowed as they approached the front gates of Suna. "You are already a great Captain, right Kiyoshi?" Kin asked with a smile underneath his mask that made its way into his voice.

"Yeah, considering that she is the only female Anbu Captain."

Sakura's vein pulsated.

"And we were the lucky ones to have her." The sarcasm in his voice dripped in his every word and the shinobi did not notice her raising tight, clenched fist.

Her fist was slowly itching to connect with his head.

The dark brown hair shinobi narrowed his eyes as he continued, "Women in nature like to baby the young under her charge, so it's not her fault she cannot contain her womanly nature." Kin stared at Kiyoshi with worried hazel eyes through his mask. He could see Sakura's fist rising ever so slowly as his teammate kept on rambling on, stupidly.

"If you ask me-"

Bong!

"Ow! What the hell, Captain!" The crow masked shinobi exclaimed, biting down on his bottom lip to keep his voice muffled.

"You talk too much, how's that for not babying you, Kiyoshi?"

Sakura asked agitated with her hands resting on her prominent hips. The black cloak she wore had opened from her assault on the now injured shinobi, who was cradling his head with his hands. Kiyoshi glared at the pink haired Anbu before gaining his composure.

"Whatever, lets get the stupid document."

Within his mask, Kiyoshi was actually smirking. He didn't like when his Captain was sulking and if a punch to the head made her feel better than it was worth it. Sometimes a shinobi had to make sacrifices for the benefit of his teammates.

Something Sakura had taught him.

Kazekage's Office

They should be here before the sun rose, which would be in the next two hours. Emerald eyes stared at the yellow document laying innocently on his desk. The Hokage from the Leaf village had asked for any documents in their medical library that dealt with the muscular and nervous system.

When he had asked why, the letter had replied that it was important if she were to continue to protect the Leaf village. That had left Gaara of the Sand curios and suspicious. It was well known that Tsunade was well into her late fifties or maybe into her early sixties, but yet she had kept her youthful appearance for more than a few decades with her Transformation Technique, so it was hard to pinpoint her exact age.

He wondered if the document she required from Suna's libraries was what she needed. The alliance between Suna and Konoha were strong and the Kazekage knew that if he ever needed anything from Leaf they would be more than happy to oblige. Such was proven four years ago when he requested if Tsunade-sama could send Leaf Medics to Suna to help their village with an epidemic outbreak.

The Hokage hadn't even bother to send back a reply to his letter, but instead had send a team of medics with her apprentice as the Head Medic in charge. The outbreak had been kept under control while a team of top medics researched a cure with the medics of Suna. Within the first six months the cure had been found and the epidemic had been vanquished over the following months.

Movement in the far corner of his large office caught his eye, interrupting his musing as he turned his head to see that it was his older brother, Kankuro. The brunette was entering from the window, instead of using the front door.

"Hey, Gaara, is the Leaf Anbu here yet?" The brunette asked with a yawn as he took a seat in front of the desk, placing his booted feet on top of the desk. The red head glared at the boots marring his desk and frowned, growling lightly warning.

Kankuro quickly put his feet down, chuckling nervously as he smiled at his younger sibling. "Hehehe, so any news of the Akatsuki?" The brunette asked, trying to evade his little brother's wrath. The red head's rage and anger has been kept well under control, but their was times when Gaara had relapses...and over the simplest of the things too.

The Akatsuki have been active during the years and now it was when the other Kages, including himself took notice of it. Rumors of the Jinchurikin being captured by the dark organization, one by one was unnerving. They have yet to figure out what the Akatsuki's ultimate plan was. The Kazekage knew that there were, but a slim few that were yet to be captured. The Akatsuki had already stolen his biju, Shukaku of the Sand, years ago.

"They have already captured the two tailed and four tailed Jinchurikin."

Kankuro stiffened at the news, his eyes wide and filled with shock. A wave of pity and sadness passed through the Jounin's dark orbs. The Special Jounin was grateful that Gaara was still alive, knowing that after the extraction...the Jinchurikin...dies.

"Damn, we don't even know what they want to accomplish by collecting the tailed beasts." Kankuro said with furrowed brows and a frown. Gaara nodded his head in agreement. "The other Kages of the hidden villages and I know that they have now officially succeeded in at least one step of their plan." Gaara started with arms folded across his chest, emerald eyes sharp. "What do you mean? What plan?" The brunette asked with a look of wonder on his face.

"The Akatsuki has successfully taken over the marketing of shinobi labor."

Silence.

Kankuro stared at Gaara with wide eyes. "W-What?" That would mean that they were gathering support, financially, leaving the other nations' shinobi out of work. Gaara sighed out lightly. The cost of shinobi services within the Five Great Shanobi nations were costly, considering that they were in a time of peace. The cost of Akatsuki's services were low and profitable, which made it more appealing to clients. At this rate, Suna will be out of work or he would be forced to lower the prices for missions.

The door opened and in came a sandy blonde kunoichi.

"Gaara, the Leaf Anbu are here and you are never going to guess who their Captain is." Temari said with an amusing smirk on her lips. Her purple eyes glistened proudly at the Anbu Captain. It seem her training sessions with the pink haired kunoichi had paid off. Stepping from the doorway, the strong willed kunoichi revealed three Leaf Anbu. Gaara glared lightly at the Captain, reading their chakra before he smirked.

He should have known that Tsunade-sama wouldn't have just send anyone to retrieve the document.

"Sakura-san..." The Kazekage stated, causing Kankuro to turned around quickly, throwing a charming smile towards the medic who had saved his life, so many years ago. The brunette had developed a crush on the pink haired kunoichi ever since she came to Suna to aid their Hospital three years ago. It had been the best six months of his life.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, want to go out for breakfast." The brunette asked smoothly. "My treat of course." He added while getting up from the chair and walking towards the kunoichi. He wore the customary green vest Jounin wore and instead of the long sleeved shirt he wore black short sleeve and pants.

Sakura pulled off her mask and smiled awkwardly at the Sand ninja. 'He's so persistent.' The kunoichi had thought that his crush on her would have disappeared when she had returned back to Konoha. "Uh, sorry Kankuro...maybe next time?" The medic said unsure and prayed inwardly that Kiyoshi and Kin kept their mouths shut. The deer mask shinobi stepped forward and placed a hand over his Capitan's shoulder, protectively. Sakura could feel Kiyoshi's agitation.

"That won't be necessary and I am more than sure that the Captain's boyfriend would-" The sandy blonde shinobi didn't get to finish his sentence when Sakura interrupted him sharply. "THE DOCUMENTS!" The kunoichi shouted, breaking her way passed Kankuro and towards Gaara. 'Boyfriend?' Temari thought as her eyes narrowed mischievously. 'I wonder who the lucky guy is?' The Sand kunoichi thought as she leaned against the wall comfortably.

"Boyfriend? What boyfriend?" Kankuro muttered crestfallen.

"We're on a tight deadline, Kazekage." Sakura began to explained, her voice tight and annoyed due to Kin's big mouth. "Tsunade-sama has required that we returned as soon as possible." Sakura said lightly. "Three days to be exact." Came Kiyoshi gruffed voice. Sakura clenched her gloved covered fist, tightly. Oh they were so dead when they got back home.

The Kazekage raised had a thoughtful look in his eyes.

So, the Hokage needed the medical documents fast, but the question was for what and whom?

Gaara grabbed the scroll containing the documents and passed it to Sakura all the while glaring at the crow masked shinobi. The kunoichi noticed that it was sealed, most likely to keep her from reading its context. Her shoulders fell lax and she pouted from behind her mask. Gaara saw her deflatted shoulder and smirked. "The Hokage told me to place a seal on the scroll, to keep wandering eyes off it." The Kazekage said amused.

Sakura lightly glared at him from through her mask and tucked the scroll safely inside her weapon's belt. "Thank you and it was nice seeing you all again." Sakura said with a smile and she couldn't help, but ask how the Hospital was doing. Temari was the one to answer the Leaf kunoichi. "It's doing extremely well, thanks to you and the Leaf medics help of course." The sandy blonde confessed straight out.

"Now enough about the Hospital. Tell me who this boyfriend of yours is?" Temari said with an awaiting smirk on. Sakura groaned and shot a glare towards Kin, before turning her gaze back to her friend. "Yeah, Captain, I want to know who the lucky guy is too." Kiyoshi said with mock enthusiasm. "Sakura-chan, who is he? Tell me, so that I could skin him alive." Kankuro said with narrowed eyes. Sakura could feel Gaara's curios gaze on her as well.

Oh, god poor Neji.

There was no way in hell she was going to tell them, especially Kankuro. She didn't want to see the Sand shinobi hurt because of her Neji. They wouldn't stop staring at her, even her own teammates! "Like I said before, my personal life is kept private." Sakura said with a light growl.

Temari grabbed Sakura's wrist and pulled the kunoichi to another room. "Where are we going?" Sakura asked as Temari opened the door. "To talk..." The Sand kunoichi said simply, bringing her gaze over to her friend's subordinates, "You boys, wouldn't mind waiting five minutes with my younger brothers while I talk to your Captain do you?" She said with a sharp glare and a raised brow.

Kin shook his head, but Kiyoshi was another story.

"Excuse me, but we do have a deadline." The crow masked shinobi said while folding his arms across his chest. Sakura glared at his rudeness and pushed her mask above her head, revealing her Leaf headband fasten securely around her forehead. "Behave you two or else." Sakura seethed out with dark glittering eyes as Temari pulled her out of the Kazekage's office.

The door closed.

Silence.

"So, how's the weather in Suna?" Kin asked trying to break the silence, but instead of striking a conversation with his fellow shinobi he received heavy glares. Kankuro's glare was the heaviest and he opened his mouth to retort back.

"It's very hot."

A/N: Well this chapter is longer than usual and I don't really want to make it into a habit, which is what I'm probably going to do anyway. I'm glad you guys love this story and thank you all for reviewing! ;) So for those of you who haven't don't be shy, I don't bite, promise. ;)

...R&R...

Lady Manami