The night came and went quietly. With all of them being caught up in their own thoughts, no one said much. Each member of the group leaped quietly through the trees, stopping for a break only after the sun had started to rise.

"Sakura," Lee said softly, wishing he didn't have to wake her.

Groggily, she opened her eyes and looked around. Noticing that she was perched on someone's back, she turned her head sideways to try and get a look at who it was but couldn't see him properly. His fine black hair covered most of his face from where she was. Then slowly, it started to come back to her. She had met up with Gai-sensei's group and the person who's back she had been riding on all night had been Lee's. Seeing that Gai had already dismounted Naruto from his back and was allowing Ten-Ten and Neji to set Naruto down and changing his bandages, she too felt that it was time that she had a good stretch.

"You can put me down now," she said softly in Lee's ear.

Looking back at her for a moment, he gently and carefully withdrew his hands from under her legs. She slid down his back slowly, almost falling when her feet reached the ground due to the lack of blood circulating in her legs.

"Ugh," she barked, grabbing onto Lee clothes to keep herself from falling. "My legs are asleep!"

Lee jolted backwards in surprise when she took a hold of the back of his collar. Forcefully leaning forward, he made himself stand still until she let go, as to not end up hurting her.

"You all right, Sakura?" Lee asked, turning around to face Sakura when she finally let go.

Sakura nodded, "Sorry. Yeah."

"How long has he had this fever, Sakura?" Neji asked, bent over Naruto. He looked up at her waiting for an answer.

"Its been off and on since I left for Konoha," she said softly.

"He's wheezing horribly," Ten-Ten said, squatting next to Naruto, somewhat under Neji.

"How far away are we?" Sakura asked, trying to regain her bearings.

"We're about half a day from Konoha," Gai-sensei said.

"There's no time to stop here," Sakura uttered quietly.

"We must rest, Sakura. The longer we go, the slower our pace will become. My group, especially Ten-Ten and Lee, are tired," Gai-sensei said.

"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei," Sakura said, walking towards Naruto stiffly, "but Naruto is so close to giving up. I cannot wait here and watch him come closer to death. Every second that we rest may be a second less than he has. Thank you for everything, but I must leave."

With that, Sakura walked over to the unconscious Naruto and slung him over her back, leaving Neji and Ten-Ten watching speechlessly. But just as she was about to leave, someone called to her.

"Sakura, wait," hailed a fair voice.

She stopped in her tracks and looked back to see Neji walking towards her.

"Allow me to accompany you, at least. Its not wise to go on alone in case you are attacked," Neji said.

His teammates were staring at him, dumbfounded. They rarely ever heard Neji speak up about anything, but when he did it was usually for the benefit of the group. Now, he was choosing to leave the group for the better good of someone else.

"I'll go too!" Lee proclaimed.

"No," Neji said, turning back to his teammate. "You would only slow her down. I've trained harder, sustained less injuries, and not had to carry anything all night. I am the only logical choice to go."

Gai-sensei stared at him in silence for a long moment until he finally nodded, "You're right. Take care of yourself, Neji. We'll meet up with you as soon as we get back."

"But Gai-sensei—" Lee started to protest.

"No, Lee. You do not have the stamina right now that Neji has. You will stay here with me and Ten-Ten."

Lee looked crushed, but only replied, "Yes, Gai-sensei."

"Thank you, master Gai," Neji said, nodding his thanks.

With that Sakura and Neji disappeared, leaving a three-man cell behind.

Silence fell over the group of young shinobi as they made their way through the woods at incredible speed. A kind of fear and panicked tension fell over the group. Neither Neji nor Sakura said a word for fear that they might upset each other. It was true that Neji and Sakura had known each other for a while now, but as far as being together on missions, it had never come up. Being alone with no one else to talk to accept each other would've never happened under any other circumstances. A good two hours later, the silence was finally starting to get to Sakura, so she decided it was time to get a conversation going to help pass the time.

"Neji," Sakura said at last, breaking the endless silence, "when you looked at Naruto last, how bad was he?"

Neji didn't respond immediately, "He was…fading. Even now, his breathing is becoming more and more shallow by the hour. I think it was a wise choice to leave when we did. Had we waited for the others to rest, Naruto would have died before we got back to Konoha for sure."

"Do you think…he's going to die?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Nothing is certain," Neji replied, carefully picking his words, "but he still has a fair chance if we stay at this pace."

The two were silent for a moment before Sakura spoke again.

"Neji…"

"Hmm?"

"Is there anyone in Konoha that you have feelings for?"

"Uh," Neji began awkwardly, looking over at her to try and get a glimpse of the expression on her face. Facing forward again, he continued, "I'm not sure…if I know what you're asking."

"Is there anyone in Konoha that you like…or love? Any girl?"

Neji blushed several shades of red, "I, uh…I, well…sort of. I guess so."

Sakura didn't return Neji's questioning gaze, "I see. Well…I just wondered, because love is said to be forbidden to a shinobi and yet…I think I've fallen for this numbskull, dolt," she said, cocking her head to gesture to Naruto, who was laying completely unconscious on her back. She fought back yet another bout of tears.

Neji raised an eyebrow, "Really? Lee would be crushed to hear you say that."

"So I've been told," Sakura remarked calmly. "Somehow, though…Naruto matured so much when he was away training. He doesn't even seem like the same person anymore. When I first met him, he was so irresponsible, dumb, and immature. Now, he's strong, he's fearless, and he's serious. He's very clever too. I can almost believe he may become Hokage one day. He's everything that I loved about Sasuke back when I was younger. Naruto is also everything that Sasuke is not. Naruto actually cares."

"I see. That's very interesting for sure," Neji said softly.

"But putting that aside. How much longer do you think we have until we reach Konoha?"

"About two hours," Neji replied.

Sakura glanced back at Naruto, "Just a little longer. Hang on, Naruto."

With that the journey of many different heroes continued.

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Hey, I'm back! Hehe… Anyway, hope you liked it. More later! Bye all!