It has literally been FOREVER since I last updated, I know and I apologise.
I would like to give a massive thanks to those who've stuck and supported this story for so long - you guys are awesome!
Hope y'all had a good summer too;)
Also, please check the rather important A/N at the end of the chapter!:D
Now, without further delay,
ENJOY!
"So you just gave up?! That's it? That's your grand plan for winning her over?" Izaya's tone was mocking, verging on disbelieving as he berated his students. "You saw the written evidence of all that she has achieved while you were gone, and instead of being proud, you decided 'nah, that's too much change, we're not even gonna bother'? Cause I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's pathetic. And you know what? I'm actually glad. Stay away from her. She deserves better than some chicken-shit boys too scared to stand by her because she grew up." Izaya finished his tirade by delivering a scathing glare at the duo, crossing his arms over his chest and settling further into the couch beside Anko, who had simply been glaring at Akane and Kaoru while her boyfriend was speaking.
Akane fidgeted, eyes flickering briefly to look up at the two adults before returning to the floor. They were seated in Kaoru's living room, but suddenly the previously friendly decor also appeared to be judging him, and he felt the need to defend himself. "It's not like that." he mumbled, drawing the attention of the other three. "We wanted to have her back, we wanted to be there. But... After what the Hyuuga told us... And the file... Maybe she really is better off without us."
"Besides, she seems to have forgotten us already - she is with the Hyuuga, after all." Kaoru added bitterly, hissing Neji's name like it was poison.
"'Forgotten you'?" Anko exclaimed, disbelieving. "Are you really so blind?! Do you not know that she'd -!" but they never found out what Sakura had done, because Kaoru's mother appeared in the doorway, interrupting whatever Anko had to say.
"Kaoru-chan, there are some people at the door who wish to speak to you and Akane-chan."
But Kaoru waved her off,not even looking, while replying with exasperated fondness, "Later, kaa-san. Tell them to come back later."
"Actually, we'd prefer to talk now, if it's all the same to you." and while the words were polite, the speaker's tone made it perfectly clear that it was anything but a request. Like clockwork, all four present turned to look at the speaker, and the two members of Team 13 paled considerably. Two fully-equipped ANBU members stood in full uniform in Kaoru's living room, towering over Kiyoshi, both emitting a less-than-pleasant air.
"Hello Anko-chan, Izaya-kun." the second speaker intoned, voice nearly cheerful in comparison. They sat down on the one free sofa, both moving smoothly and with that silent, deadly grace typical of someone who'd learnt the lesson about the importance of stealth early on in the field. With a jolt somewhere in his gut, Kaoru realised that Sakura moved like that too. "As you've probably realised, unless you really are as dumb as our little princeling was willing us to believe, we're here to talk about hime-chan."
"If the little princeling you're talking about is the Hyuuga bastard, then go tell him to get his head out of his ass and co fu-mmfh hmshelmmf!" Akane grumbled, the end of his tirade muffled by Kaoru's hand.
Ever the smooth talker, Kaoru smiled faux pleasantly, not removing his hand from Akane's mouth while turning to face the ANBU. "What my friend here meant to say was; why exactly are you coming to talk about Sakura now, when it's been nearly a month since we came back?" he inquired lightly.
(Izaya got the distinct feeling that, perhaps someday, with the right tutelage, he might make a valued addition to the T&I department. The boy could be downright frightening beneath all that softness and femininity.)
"Because it's only now that I'm confident that I can be in the same room as you without wanting to strangle your sorry asses." replied the taller of the two, and though his tone of voice was still sugar-sweet, the conviction behind the words sent an unpleasant shiver down their backs. They had no doubts that the man was a hundred percent serious.
"OK, I think you've scared them enough. Take off your masks and relax and we can talk like normal people." Izaya grumbled. "Oh, and quit it with the Killing Intent."
"Sure, Izaya-chan, we'll behave now, I promise." the man teased, taking off his mask, his partner following suit.
(Akane and Kaoru exchanged looks, eyebrows raised 'chan?')
"Right, listen up you brats." the smaller, purple-haired woman snapped, taking off her mask, revealing a young, but stern face and purple eyes that glared daggers at them with unconcealed hatred. "We know what you did to Sakura. Intentionally or not," she added, when Akane looked ready to interrupt, "but that doesn't change the fact that she was, well, a shell. We weren't there for as long as Neji" Akane bristled at the name, but went largely ignored, "but when you have Hyuuga Hiashi come and tell you directly that you better take care of your teammate, otherwise he'll go Juuken on your ass, you realise that whatever the fuck you did, it was serious." she gave them a second to digest, before continuing. "We've talked to Neji. We know how your leaving absolutely obliterated her self-confidence, trust in other people, will to live, and most importantly-" but she didn't get to finish, as Akane finally interrupted.
"Let's not take it too far! You're being unreasonable! 'Will to live'? Don't exaggerate! All we did was leave! It's not like we-!" but he was unable to continue as he suddenly had a very angry, very incredulous Hiachi in his face.
"You mean you don't know?" while Haichi was seizing up the two teens, Yugao stared accusingly with a hint of disbelief shining in her eyes at the two jounin. She interrupted whatever tirade her teammate may have been preparing, eyes like daggers.
"How could you not tell them?" she hissed. Izaya fidgeted nervously, eyes downcast, and even Anko paled in the face of the older kunoichi's rage. Yugao laughed bitterly. "Come, Haichi, we have no purpose here. And for your information," she turned back to the four rooted on the couch, eyes boring into the two teens. "a week after your disappearance, Sakura Haruno was found half-dead, suffering from severe hypothermia, floating, barely breathing, in the Naka River. The hospital declared it as a suicide attempt, near identical circumstances as that of Shisui Uchiha." she smirked when Izaya flinched at the name, an expression of pain and grief settling on his face. "Ah, so you're familiar with the name. Good. So you explain the story to your brats while we go fetch the little princeling." Haichi laughed openly, catching onto her plan, disappearing in a flurry of leaves with a muttered 'I'm on it' before Akane got a chance to voice his indignation.
"Listen here, kid." Yugao interrupted. "Just because Haichi, myself and Neji hate you, does not mean that, at least the two of us, don't pity you. You deserve to know what your disappearance did to her. You have that right." she paused. "Oh, and keep this in mind: the truth hurts, but at least it's the truth."
And with those words, she disappeared.
"Hey, why so tense, Neji-chan?" the rosette asked breathily, arm snapping out to block a swipe at her abdomen. The two were sparring in the Hyuuga training garden, offloading stress and just generally enjoying each other's company, but her companion was unusually rough and rigid, preferring strong, forceful blows than his usual flowing Juuken.
Thinking quickly, he replied, "I'm worried for Hanabi." which wasn't exactly a lie, but wasn't the true source of his agitated state. "She'll be graduating in a year, and I don't want her to be placed with a team that will drag her down." he tried making the end as haughty as possible, and judging by Sakura's answering snort of laughter, he was largely successful. The tension in his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.
"You Hyuugas and your damned pride." she chuckled, and it was clear that the rosette did not mean the remark as a jest. "You can relax, Neji-chan. Hanabi-chan is a strong and talented kunoichi, she'll be going for chunin before you know it, and then she won't need a team after that."
"You think she'll pass?" Neji asked, at which Sakura just grinned.
"Of course." at her words, there was a cheerful (for a Hyuuga anyway) call of 'thanks Sakura-chan!' from where Hanabi was sparring with her older sister, both of whom had paused to smile shyly at her. The three had forged a close companionship, perhaps even friendship. Naturally, nothing as close as what Sakura and Neji shared, but it was good to make friends who were not made with the sole purpose of gathering allies.
"Hm. Your faith in my cousin is touching." Neji remarked snottily, and grinned inwardly when the rosette pulled a face. The past week and a half had gone by smoothly, much more so than he could've expected, which was why he opted not to tell her about his visit to Yuhi's house and everything he'd been made to tell them.
Explaining the past three years to Sakura's ex-teammates had not been easy, but at least they understood now the extent to which Sakura had changed, whether because of them or no it didn't matter; he had helped them understand, and if he took satisfaction in their incredulous and fairly sick expressions, well, so sue him, he deserved it. He was aware that his 'betrayal' would come to light at some point, but he could only hope that it would happen after the rosette chooses to forgive them (which he knows she will, regardless how much she may deny that right now).
"Right, let's get this spar started." he grumbled, and grinned when Sakura chuckled, both aware that they had already been 'sparring' for an hour before.
"Fine, Neji-chan, if you're that desperate."
And she jumped.
In hindsight, Neji knows he should've checked that there were no unwanted viewers to their little spar; he was well aware that Sakura had a habit of 'borrowing' Juuken when she wanted to surprise him ("You can perform it but you can't defend against it?! That just won't do!") and having Uncle watch them while she did a perfect replica of his 32 points, well, it was bound to raise some questions. Not to mention that they liked verbal battles almost as much as they enjoyed the physical aspect, so some form of name calling and taunting always accompanied their spars, and Neji thought that his Uncle must've had an aneurysm when he'd heard what words Sakura dished out on a particularly creative day.
The last stage of the chunin exams had been a rather unpleasant time for Neji when surrounded by other members of the Main Branch, as many had seen his performance in the finals, but, unlike the scorn and mockery he'd expected after losing to the dead-last, all he received were a few surprised, some awed, and even a couple apprehensive looks. Ironically, once he'd finally earned the respect he'd always dreamed of, he realised he didn't even desire it anymore. Yet, he supposed that a Branch Family member managing to master the secret art of Juuken supposedly only available to the Main House would be easier to accept and thought of as less traitorous than a complete stranger managing the same feat. Neji had no doubts that, had Hiashi not known of his and Sakura's friendship for the last six years, he'd have some pretty unpleasant questions to answer at the end of their spar.
"Hey, no daydreaming while sparring, Hyuuga!" the whistle of a kunai flying by his ear jolted him back to reality. The teen mustered as much of the Hyuuga haughtiness he could, and replied, "Then why don't you try to make it more interesting, huh?" the teasing retort slipped easily from his tongue, and he saw the glint of challenge in the rosette's eyes. Alarm bells started going off in his mind when she smirked and settled into a very familiar stance.
"Fine. Only Gentle Fist. Loser does what winner wants for two weeks." she declared, grinning. Neji backpedalled slightly; was she really so confident? But a sarcastic remark still came. "Haven't I been doing that for the last six years anyway?"
"Funny." the rosette hissed, and then the smirk reappeared. "Let's go!"
When they collided, Neji heard a slight hiss of breath, which he suspected to be Hanabi, but he did not pause to check; Sakura's confidence was not misplaced. Although lacking the Byakugan, which led some of her strikes infinitesmally off target, the amount of chakra in each blow was so precise Neji couldn't help the mixture of envy and pride. Chakra control was no easy feat.
He was suddenly reminded of his fight with Hinata in the chunin exam preliminaries; on some unexplainable reason, he found the two similar. Naturally, Sakura's speed pushed him more than Hinata's had, and he knew that, unlike his cousin, the rosette was not afraid of hurting him. However, Hinata had the advantage of seeing what she was aiming for, which had made her slightly more dangerous in Neji's eyes than Sakura.
They danced around each other, the chakra flying off them so concentrated it became visible, breathing laboured and sweat beginning to bead on their foreheads. Neji had the distinct feeling that his Uncle was watching them with his own Byakugan activated, and smirked, upping the speed, which Sakura matched and topped, because, who was he kidding, speed was just her thing. But then, she jumped away, so a good four meters separated them, and Neji's stomach churned unpleasantly when a feral smirk appeared on his friend's face.
"Gentle Fist: Vacuum Palm!" she called, and Neji found himself swept off his feet by a wall of chakra-laced air, too surprised to do much more than turn his body to land on all-fours ad avoid being winded. What he forgot was the fact that such movement would mean turning his back on the rosette, an act which he regretted the moment he felt cool metal on his jugular, and a warm body behind him.
"Two weeks, Neji-chan." was the teasing comment the rosette whispered in his ear before she straightened and backed off to give him some space to pick himself up which he did, eyes flitting over to Hiashi, curious of the man's reaction. When their eyes connected, his Uncle gave him a single nod of acknowledgement, before he rose and approached them.
"Neji, go change then join us for dinner. I'll escort Sakura-chan to the dining room." came his swift dismissal. Neji bowed slightly, exchanged a slightly surprised look with Sakura, and walked off.
Curious, the rosette turned to face the Head of the Hyuuga Clan, smiling politely. "Thank you, Hiashi-sama." she received a nod in response, before the Hyuuga turned and started walking in the direction of the Main House, and Sakura hurried to follow. They walked in companionable silence for a bit, the rosette so consumed by her thoughts she barely heard the elder man when he spoke.
"You cheated, Sakura-chan." the remark was so random Sakura took a moment to process what the Hyuuga was referring to, and when she understood, she couldn't help the cheeky grin that bloomed on her face.
"True, I admit, you got me there, Hiashi-sama." she chuckled. "However, seeing as Neji is still blissfully unaware of the fact that I am, in fact, incapable of using the Juuken style as my own, I plan to enjoy the next two weeks until he realises." she grinned.
Even the Hyuuga's lips twisted up a little at the corners. "Had I not had my bloodline activated and known that it is physically impossible for somebody without our kekkei genkai to use Juuken, I am sure I would've assumed the same thing as my nephew." Sakura listened to the man's words, torn between flattered and embarrassed - she almost missed the stoic ice cube he was when she first met him. At least then, she knew how to react. "And although that last jutsu you used was not, in fact, the Vacuum Palm, contrary to what Neji seems to believe, I do not know what it was, other than a really good replica of our jutsu." which Sakura understood as Hyuuga-speak for tell me more about the thing.
"Ah, I just released chakra from my palm and infused it with the air, sort of like Wind-based ninjutsu, but as I am incapable of elemental manipulation, I merely directed my chakra in a straight line, as opposed to controlling it all the way like wind users can. I do not know the technicalities behind the Vacuum Palm, but I have been subjected to its effects a couple of times by Neji dearest, so I would assume it works in similar ways." there was a moment of silence on both parts, before the Hyuuga replied.
"Your assumption is correct." he said brusquely. "Although I would appreciate if you didn't go spreading that information around the Village."
Sakura nodded quickly. "No, of course I won't, Hiashi-sama."
The man seemed to be weighing the sincerity behind her words before he nodded wordlessly, a hint of a smile ghosting on his lips. "Good. Follow me."
After dinner with Hiashi, Hanabi and Neji, Sakura excused herself - Neji had some clan matters to attend to, and, last time she checked, the Godaime had dismissed her team from her office with a brisk, 'if I see you in here sooner than in a week, you are all getting demoted back to genin!'. As such, Sakura was left to wondering the streets of Konoha, itching to train or practice, but unwilling to go all the way to the ANBU HQ or return to the Hyuuga Compound. Almost absent-mindedly, her feet led her to Training Ground Eight. She was just about to start some warm-up katas before she sensed some other signature close by. "Ah, apologies for interrupting- Hinata-chan?"
It was, without a question the young heiress, but what was she doing training alone outside her clan? The girl, as if sensing her thoughts, blushed and started stammering out an explanation before Sakura stopped her. "Hey, Hinata-chan, breathe. I have no problem with sharing the training grounds, unless you do?"
Hinata shook her head, smiling shyly, before she hesitated. "Actually..." Sakura paused, listening. "I was thinking- h-hoping, I mean." she corrected quickly. "That... you might be able to h-help me...?" she offered hesitantly. The rosette beamed, trying to appear as encouraging as she could.
"Of course, Hinata-chan! What do you need help with?"
"Well..." the girl stammered, hesitated, then sighed. "I think it's better if I show you." she took a deep breath, forehead creasing in a frown.
Suddenly, Sakura found herself literally forced to jump back as twin lion heads appeared at the heiress' hands, the outline faint, but there was no mistaking the fact that it was a lion, and, when fully developed, it would be a hell of a strong short-range attack.
"Woah, Hinata-chan!" the rosette exclaimed once the jutsu dispersed. "What was that?!" she found that there was no need to fake the awe, nor the excitement present in her voice.
"Um, that was my jutsu... I don't really have a name for it, t-though I'm thinking of calling it G-Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fist..." she trailed off, hesitant, eyes darting to look at the rosette for approval. Sakura beamed.
"That's perfect!" then, as she calmed down and walked closer to the ravenette, her grin turned into an encouraging smile. "But what do you need help with?"
In an unusual show of frustration, Hinata threw her hands up, a big sigh escaping her. "I need them to be corporeal!" she moaned, a true testimony to how much she'd changed since the chunin exams. "And to last longer than a couple of seconds!" she added, exasperated. Then, as if realising that Sakura was still there, she calmed down. "Can you help, Sakura-chan?"
The rosette smirked. "You bet."
In the deep recesses of her mind, Sakura knew that what she was doing was hiding from the unavoidable.
She also knew that she would not be able to hide forever.
Thus, three weeks after the confrontation in the Hokage's office, found the rosette at the door of an oh-so-familiar house, hand raised to knock.
Deep breath.
Knock… Knock… Knock…
Thud.
Silence.
"S… Sakura-chan?"
It's show-time. She thought bitterly, eyes raising to meet the shocked ones of Akane Satoshi and Kaoru Yuhi.
"Hello."
Aaaaand it's done!
I once again apologise for the massive delay, and promise that the time in between updates will be considerably shorter now:)
Next chapter is all about reconciliation (there's a bit of angst too, so no stress) but before, I have a fairly important question regarding the pairings you'd prefer to see.
Akane x Sakura x Kaoru
Akane x Kaoru
Neji x Sakura
I'd rather not separate the two, but, for those who for some reason think that one of the boys goes better with Sakura;
Akane x Sakura
Kaoru x Sakura
Or OTHER (please specify which;)
Thanks for sticking with this story for so long!
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them in a PM or a REVIEW!
Much love,
~Invincible Shadow