A/N: I hope you express your opinions and review XD I'm kinda doubting about this plot ..
IT STARTED WITH A NIGHT
By KeepMeInspired
Chapter II
In an attempt to clear his mind, Neji folded his arms over his chest. He leaned back against his chair and started running different possibilities and scenarios in his head. Sakura, however, was not as tranquil as him in terms of trying to gather her jumbled thoughts together. She agitatedly drummed her fingernails against the plastic surface of the table as her expression went from doomed then to hopeful then back again to looking crestfallen.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Neji threw her a glare. She glared back.
"What?" she answered defensively.
"Would you quit doing that?!"
"And precisely what is it that I've been doing wrong? For all I know, I'm quietly contemplating here next to you."
His scowl went even darker. "You can't really call that incessant tapping a quiet way to mull over things when all it does is disarrange my already tangled thoughts."
She rolled her eyes haughtingly. "Let me express my deepest apologies, Your High and Almighty Majesty. I was under the impression that two people were thinking here!" she huffed.
"Your brain doesn't need you thumping in order to work!" He sneered in absolute irritation. "If only you've used that head of yours last night then none of this must have happened!"
Sakura stared indignantly at him. "You're dumping me all the blame?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You are such a coward, Hyuuga! I can't believe I'm actually hearing this." she spat out disgustedly.
Neji banged his fist against the table. "I am not, as you say it, dumping the blame on you. I am simply stating that if you could have just stopped me last night then you wouldn't have ended up right here in my room right now!"
"That's just the same, isn't it?!" she shouted as his previous allegation all but riled her up. "You're telling me that this is my entire fault!"
She was about to accuse him of how irresponsible he was behaving when a knock from the door interrupted her. Her eyes widened alarmingly.
Neji saw Sakura's gaze bolting frantically from himself to the door, to the window then back again to him as if gauging her escape routes and checking if he's capable of pulling her right back in.
"Relax, Haruno." he said, to which only a flare of her nostrils was given as a response. Clearing his throat, he called to the door. "Come in."
The door slowly creaked open and a shy head was made visible to an unruffled
Neji and a seemingly-frozen Sakura.
The person squeaked as her eyes landed on the pink-haired medic. "Sa…..kura-chan?"
Sakura managed to let out a tight edgy smile. "Hinata."
Hinata's face suddenly flamed as her pearly white orbs darted from a fidgety Sakura then to her composed cousin. "I'm…. so…rry. I must have interrupted something."
"No, you didn't." Sakura forced a smile but somehow it came out looking more like a grimace.
"She's just visiting." Neji said matter-of-factly.
Somehow the slight, but very evident, raise of Hinata's eyebrows gave Sakura the impression that she didn't buy that statement at all. "This early?"
Her cousin gave an abrupt nod and Hinata regarded this as an apparent signal for her to shut her mouth up. "So, what do you want?" Neji asked.
"I…. I came to tell you the Hokage wants to see you as soon as possible. It's about a mission, I guess." She blushed again before finally leaving the room.
Silence engulfed them for a few moments.
Sakura gazed at Neji and found him regarding her with the strangest of looks. But then she blinked and the expression vanished as quickly as it appeared. Neji's countenance was once again cool, calm and composed.
"So…" Sakura started in a surprisingly pacified tone. "What do we do now?" She stole a glimpse of Neji as she said those words.
He folded his arms again over his chest before settling upon her his with calculating eyes. "Well, why don't we start by peacefully recounting what really happened last night?"
She thought back, trying to open her cabinet of memories. "It was Tsunade's birthday and we were celebrating with her at the restaurant….." she scrunched up her nose as she tried to remember something. "Then Ino and the others invited us over to join their table……….. Then we……" Her eyes instantly widened.
"……we got drunk." They both stated flatly in unison.
Sakura slumped against her chair. "Oh boy. We're in big trouble."
"You drunk too much." he stated pointedly.
She regarded him with dubious wide eyes. "Must I to be blamed if I wanted to leave reality even for just a night?"
"Leave reality for just a night? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. And then what?" Neji smirked. "You chose me to escape that reality with?"
She fumed. This haughty bastard! "Of course not! You're making it sound as if I intended all of this!"
He just stared impassively at her.
She abruptly stood up, finally sick of him and all his stuck-up accusations. "You know what?" she almost shrieked at him in her fury. "Let's just forget about all of this, all right? The sooner we forget, the better." and she stormed off out of the room, leaving Neji to give his abrupt nod of assent to a desolately dismal room.
The next four weeks passed out in a blur. Though Sakura couldn't really place all the credit on the amount of work she had been doing, she was glad that there was something to keep her mind continually busy. The hectic schedule and piles of paperwork had been more than enough to keep her mind from straying to some other inappropriate directions.
She gathered all her paperwork and proceeded to transfer them to the Storage Room just beside the Hokage's office. With her arms full of manuscripts, scrolls and dissertations, she all but failed to notice a certain someone regarding her with an impassive expression as she made her way down the corridor. Just then, she collided with Shizune, Tsunade's assistant.
"Oh Sakura." she said, her arms automatically thrusting out to offer her some help.
"Sorry, Shizune. I guess I shouldn't have brought all of these scrolls with me all at once." she smiled at her apologetically.
"Sure and besides, the Hokage's calling for you so I guess I'll just have to relieve you of that." and the woman started to gather the papers away from Sakura's arms and into her own. Looking over Sakura's shoulder, she called out. "And you too, Hyuuga-san. You can come in now."
The pink haired girl turned around to see Neji leaning easily off the wall right where she had passed him a few moments ago. Before he could glare at her, like how he normally does, she spun on her heel and entered the Hokage's office.
Tsunade motioned for all of them to sit down and Sakura did as she was told as her mind raced as to the reason why the Hokage had suddenly gathered four of them into the room.
Sitting down herself, Tsunade shuffled through her papers to retrieve a document which she then passed, without warning, to Neji who, of course, caught them deftly. He ruffled through them before closing the folder shut. "From what I've just read, I can say that this mission can be easily accomplished with just a two-man team."
Tsunade waved her hand dismissively. "Nonsense." she said and she proceeded to explain to them the full details of the mission. Her eyes roved to each of them. "This is a simple reconnaissance mission but, of course, you all know the vitality of the information you're tasked to get is and how troublesome it would be if this mission would all but fail. That is precisely the reason why I've specifically designed a team of four for this. The scroll you need to retrieve contains crucial material. It has been stolen from the leader of Rain. We must retrieve it at all costs."
"And what if we fail?" Tenten asked.
"If and only if you fail will I give you the permission to destroy the scroll. Rain said they would rather have it destroyed than have it fall on the hands of the wrong people."
Shikamaru nodded.
"Neji will be your team leader. You are to depart from Konoha at 0500 tomorrow morning. Understood?"
"Hai."
"You're dismissed."
Damn it, she was going to be late. She calculated the remaining distance she still had to cover and groaned. She was definitely not going to make it. She dashed through the streets, not caring if her shorts showed from underneath her skirt. She pumped up her legs, knowing fully well that if she keeps up this pace she was going to receive a harangue twice as long as necessary. She gritted her teeth and cursed the heavens for assigning such an obnoxious man as their team leader. Still, even as she blamed the white eyed guy for all her misfortunes, she couldn't help but wonder why the hell she had woken up late today. She had opened her eyes only to find the clock beaming 05:15 at her. She had bolted out of bed, got dressed and grabbed her thank-god-already-prepared backpack. Only by the time she was out and was dashing like hell was she able to comprehend that she was enduring a queasy stomach and a minor throbbing in her head. Dismissing the thought as just a trivial thing, she skidded to a halt just as she was about to collide with Tenten.
"About time, Sakura." Tenten said with a smile.
"Sorry." she breathed out as she tried to regain her breath.
"Okay. Let's set out now." Shikamaru said as he started to walk out of Konoha's huge gates.
Sakura bit down her lower lip hesitantly. Cautiously, she took a peak at Neji. But he was no longer stationary. He was already on the move and if she wouldn't follow soon, she would surely be left behind. However, that didn't hinder her from rejoicing. Beaming discreetly to herself, she couldn't help but admire how powerful her luck might have been if she was able to avoid the bitter harangue of their team captain.
She felt confidence fill her. Happily, she began her trek through the forest.
Her estimation told her that they would be able to arrive at their destination in seven hours. After that, she presumed that they would be staying for 2 days before finally returning to the village. She pushed energy into her legs as she hopped from one tree branch to another. As was the instruction of their captain and upon the suggestion of Shikamaru, they were travelling in a straight line, with Neji on the front because he can detect any incoming onslaughts with his Byakugan. Sakura was right behind him, followed by Tenten, and then by Shikamaru whose task it was to guard the rear end of the group.
They were travelling for almost five hours now and Sakura was surprised to note a vague cramping in her calves. It was as if her legs were tired and was having some trouble supporting her body weight much less carry her from branch to branch. Sakura's brows creased in confusion as she regarded this observation silently.
As a medic-nin who had her tutelage under the Fifth Hokage, she had been trained to refine her chakra control. That's why she was sure this had nothing to do with abnormal chakra flow. She was also perfectly trained for long-distance missions and, in fact, she had just returned from one last week. This was absolutely not fatigue she was feeling but then if it was, then the question would be, why? Why would she, all of a sudden, develop a sore in her calf when she was absolutely used to training and gallivanting from place to place?
Admittedly, she was also beginning to feel extremely hungry. This astonished her as well for years in service as a ninja had proved her capable of enduring almost three days of extreme exhaustion and hunger. She glanced at the Hyuuga in front of her. She couldn't glimpse his face of course. All she could see was the way the muscles on his back would ripple slightly as he continued his quick pace effortlessly. Shaking her head to prevent her mind from straying to inappropriate thoughts, she turned her attention towards something else. She quickened up her pace to match Neji's stride. He was obviously doing that rapid flight without breaking a sweat at all.
From behind her, she could tell that it was the same case with both Shikamaru and Tenten. Annoyance started to filter through her senses as she realized that she was the only one having a hard time keeping up with the regularity of the jumps. If she would as much as falter in her step, she would surely cause the team formation to break. She couldn't let that happen. Enemies might be following and the slightest sign of weakness in the team's defense would cause them to commence ensnarement.
Once or twice, she felt her foot slip but thankfully she was able to regain her balance without her teammates' attention being drawn. She was just relieved to know that she could at least keep up with them without grimacing or wincing in pain.
She considered asking Neji to let the team rest for a while but common sense told her that all she would receive in return for that request would be a mocking look and dubious eyes. Besides, she didn't want the arrogant jerk to see her weaknesses. She would rather die than give him the satisfaction of smirking right at her face. Pursing her lips, she made no attempt to release a single sound as she pumped more chakra into her numb legs.
Two more hours passed by but, to Sakura, it felt like 10 years. Her legs were beginning to feel as heavy as lead and she wasn't sure if she could carry on travelling any longer.
"Haruno, do you want to rest?" Her face immediately lightened up at Neji's proposition but then as she looked at him, she noticed a distinct smirk gracing his lips.
Shit. He was mocking her.
But she wasn't about to be pushed by Mr. Arrogance himself. He probably noticed her exhausted expression using his 360 degree line of vision. Damn that Byakugan.
Keeping the edge out of her voice, she said. "No thanks, I'm perfectly fine." Not.
The white-eyed prodigy snorted in obvious derision but did not utter a word. Sakura focused her gaze on a certain tree up ahead, refusing to look at him. She knew she would just see mockery plastered on his handsome features. And no, she did not just say handsome. As far as she was concerned, he was an uncaring bastard who did nothing but glare, leer and smirk.
A couple of minutes later, she felt her stomach completely turn over. She felt her instincts kick into gear as her mind broke its concentration of trying to jump safely and successfully. She felt an uneasy feeling in her gut and somehow, she just wanted to double over and throw up right then and there.
Oh God.
She felt nausea kick in and almost fell out of the branch she had just perched on. She halted to an abrupt stop. Vaguely, she heard Tenten utter a subtle shriek as she nearly collided with the pink-haired medic. Not caring anymore, she thrust one hand out in front of her to support herself against the tree. Collapsing in a heap, she felt her head reel over as she felt her consciousness leaving her.
In an instant, the rest of the team encased her in a protective circle as they momentarily checked for any signs of an incoming attack. Upon securing that there were none, Tenten immediately knelt beside her. She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Sakura looked up, her face pale and drawn.
"Are you all right?" Her teammate's voice was tinged with worry.
Weakly, Sakura managed an unpersuasive nod before she felt herself engulfed in darkness.
She opened her eyes and the world slowly came into view. Vaguely noting the slight throbbing on the side of her head, she carefully sat up. She took in the white curtains, the white walls, the white beddings and groaned. She ended up being hospitalized again.
She glanced up as the door opened and her shishou walked in. Tsunade smiled. "I wanted to see you personally."
Sakura lowered her head, embarrassed.
"Don't do that. I heard all about what happened from the Hyuuga. He explained everything to me. You don't have to feel so ashamed of yourself."
Sakura raised her head. "Really? What did he say?"
Tsunade sat down on the edge of her bed. "He apologized, actually."
Sakura gaped at her with wide eyes clearly filled with confusion. "Apologized?"
Tsunade nodded and began to recount the details.
Tsunade heard a knock on the door. "Come in."
Neji stepped in, slightly breathless. Leaves were sticking from his immaculately long hair. "Hyuuga" she said, surprised at his comical appearance. "What happened? Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?"
He bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama. However, a puzzling emergency has occurred. Haruno has collapsed."
Tsunade didn't even blink. "So?"She couldn't see what was so wrong with a medic nin fainting.
"I apologize for my lack of judgment. I should have known she was just pushing herself to keep up with us."
A slight frown creased Tsunade's forehead. "Sakura had trouble keeping up with you?"
Neji gave an abrupt nod. "That was the baffling part."
Tsunade immediately understood what he meant. "I'll see to her. Where are the others?"
"I left them with specific instructions to stay safely hidden."
"Find Lee and bring him as Sakura's substitute. Go."
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Sakura shuffled through her papers. Among them, she found a letter from the Hokage. She scanned through it and immediately sighed with relief. It informed her that Neji and his team are back safely and have completed the mission successfully. It has already been a week since the start of the mission and even though she now basically had no part of it, she still worried about how they'd do. After all, she was originally part of the mission and her 'emergency' had quite robbed the team of their precious time. Even after a week, she was still frustrated at herself for showing weakness at such a critical time but she had managed to keep her irritation down onto safer levels.
However, right now, she was just relieved that there were no negative consequences to her reprehensible conduct.
She plopped down on her chair and leaned back against its broad back.
Worrying about so many things all at once has thoroughly exhausted the medic nin and all she wanted to do now was to jump on her bed and sleep the day through. Unfortunately for her she still wasn't through with her shift and whether she wanted it or not, she must endure he exhaustion until she could finish with all her obligations.
She slumped over her desk and buried her head in her arms. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself a moment of peace.
"Busy, Haruno?"
She jerked and her head shot up. Founding no one in front of her, she whipped around. "What are you doing there at the windowsill?"
Hyuuga Neji was there, sitting charmingly against the windowsill. One leg folded and one arm resting on top of it. Combined with the sunlight streaming in from outside, he looked absolutely gorgeous.
Sakura vehemently shook her head. Scowling, she regarded him. "What do you want?" she snapped.
"Why are you always so irritated when I'm around?" Neji smirked.
"Why are you always smirking when I'm around?" she countered.
Neji's smirk widened. He jumped gracefully on his feet. "Good point. Unfortunately, I myself do not have an answer to that."
"Look. I'm busy and I don't have time to talk to a ridiculously impassive ANBU captain who just doesn't have the modesty to enter through my front door."
It was now Neji's turn to frown. "Well, forgive me for trying to avoid the ridiculous stares of your medics."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm busy. So leave."
Neji glanced at her bare desk and raised his eyebrows.
Sakura rolled her eyes again.
"Well, since you're busy…." He said as Sakura scowled. "I'd just go straight to my point then."
Sakura waited for him but he opted to move towards the front part of her desk. She wheeled her chair around.
Neji paused and subjected her under a long, calculating look.
Sakura picked up her pen, thinking twice about lobbing it at his face. "So, Neji? We don't have all day."
He fixed her with his infamous cold gaze before speaking bluntly. "You're pregnant."
Sakura froze.
"My child."
The pen clanged noisily against the glass surface of her desk. Shocked, Sakura just gaped at him. The full impact of what he'd just said failed to hit her as she stared dazedly at him, the thought of hallucinating running through her mind. "I..I'm sorry?"
She released a nervous chuckle as searched his eyes for anysign of amusement.
There was none.
With disbelief firmly etched on her features, her eyes darted around the room as if searching for anything, anything,that would verify her suspicion that this was all a rude joke.
Her wide eyes then locked on Neji's austere expression.
Suddenly, she remembered. The nausea. The morning sickness. The weird stomach cramps. The sudden physical weakness. The slight headaches. The vomiting feeling. She remembered all of them with full clarity.
Sakura's mouth fell open and unbelieving shocked eyes zeroed in on Neji. "W..What?"she sputtered.
"Is there really a need to repeat myself?" Neji couldn't believe a woman could make such a stunned expression. Her emerald eyes were so wide they could have passed on as orbs. Her mouth was hanging wide open for so long that she was in danger of being jaw locked. Her body was so stock-still frozen that even her lungs seemed to fail performing their vital role for her body. Neji could almost feel her strong defiance as she fought the denial which was already on the tip of her tongue.
Struggling not to panic, Sakura's hand shot out to her drawer. She flung it open and almost fainted at what it revealed.
Inside was two months worth of unused tampons. Two months!
Despair flooded her heart as she felt the full weight of the truth crashing onto her.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo… This absolutely cannot be happening!" Her miserable voice echoed dully inside the room. "What am I going to do!"
She stared at Neji. Who stared right back at her.
She slumped on her table, all traces of hope leaving her.
He cleared his throat, trying to dispel the image of her anguished face to the back of his mind. "I…. actually have a proposition to make."
She looked up at him with eyes so sullen he figured she's already drowning waist deep in her own misery by now. "Which is?" The lackluster quality of her voice sounded twice as dull to her own ears.
"We're going to get married."
Bland eyes slowly turned to him. "Excuse me?" she managed to say, even though it was in a dejectedly forlorn tone. Expectedly so, her brain seemed fuzzy and is currently incapable of understanding that absurdly nonsensical suggestion of his.
"We're going to get married." he repeated patiently.
Sakura suddenly gained the energy to jump up from her seat and pace back and forth across the room. Her still uncomprehending expression, however, revealed that she was still unable to process that statement he released. A pained expression crossed her countenance.
All of a sudden, she slammed one fist into the wall. If Neji had been a lesser ninja, he would've jumped of absolute fright. But as it is, genius prodigies never do that. That's why he opted to just stare at the crack lines which adorned the wall.
"Excuse me again but did you just mention 'We're going to get married' to me?" Sakura's voice abruptly regained that hard steely edge she always laced her voice with.
"I see you're already back to your own self, Haruno. If truth be told, I'm quite surprised it took you that fast to regain your rational thoughts" he smirked.
The white-eyed guy just had the nerve to smirk. Sakura balled her hands into fists. Sure, she understood how he could behave so coolly since he's not the one who'd have to endure nine long terrible months of pregnancy but he should at least consider that what she needed is some time alone to think and not a smirk to confuse her rationality with.
"Well" Neji started. "If you're going to be pissed off like that for the rest of this discussion, we might as well save my proposition for later seeing you're not just about to accept it as easily as I would've preferred."
Sakura forced back down a seething retort. "You are one arrogant person, Hyuuga, you know that?"
"You are one violent woman, Haruno, you know that too right?"
She fought the urge to pummel him right then and there. She took a long calming breath and forced her malevolent rage down onto a perfectly controlled level. "I'm struggling to contain my temper right now, Hyuuga" Her voice dropped down into a dangerously low growl. "not because I hate to heal wounds I personally inflicted myself but because I care for my office walls as much as I value the money I would have to spend to repair the damage, do I make myself clear?" she said to him in a slow deliberate manner, making sure that he understood the full implications of what she was implying.
"Crystal."
She settled herself again on her seat and rested her chin on her entwined fingers. "So?"
Neji just raised his eyebrows at her one-syllable word.
Sakura fought off a frown. "The proposition please?"
"Just a second ago, you were vehemently opposing to it."
"Could we please stop the games, Hyuuga? I'm rather tired of hearing unpleasant surprises today." She heaved a resigned sigh.
He was rather astonished at hearing her pacified tone tinged with obvious exhaustion. He dismissed the fact that she had just called her baby, their baby, an unpleasant surprise.
He sighed too and ran a hand through his impeccably smooth hair. "As much as I hate being forced into marriage, Haruno, I have to say that this is the only solution we are safe with."
Sakura regarded him with a helplessly imploring gaze. "Isn't there any other thing we can do? I mean, I can't get married to you just like that!"
Neji looked away. "Trust me. I've already spent countless of sleepless nights mulling over this situation."
"You did?" It was now Sakura's turn to raise her eyebrows.
A frown creased Neji's handsome features and he looked at her as if there was something wrong with her. "Yes. I did. Surely, you yourself didn't rule out the possibility that you'd get pregnant. Did you?"
Sakura involuntarily bit her lower lip. Actually, she had spent the last two months trying fervently to sever any memory of what had happened that night. Naturally, her thoughts wouldn't even travel that far down that direction, would it?
"……"
"Oh please, Haruno. How could you be so absent minded when you know we haven't used any protection that time?"
"Don't you dare blame me, Hyuuga. I'm trying to contain my temper here." she snapped.
Neji cleared his throat. "Well, if you haven't slept with anyone since that time, then I'm sure that that child definitely is mine and I'm not accusing you of being a slut or whatever." he said as she started to open her mouth, to shout at him no doubt. "I'm just saying that if that's the case, then there's no mistaking who could be the father of that child."
Sakura suddenly found the floor amusing to look at.
"You should be grateful. I'm already saving you the trouble of breaking the news to me yourself."
Her head shot up and she glared at him indignantly. "Excuse me! If you hadn't discovered the fact that I'm pregnant, then I wouldn't have allowed you to know about the baby in the first place."
"Oh really? And what would you do?" he mocked her in that infuriating tone of his.
"I'm going to raise the baby myself of course!"
"Fatherless?"
"Yeah!"she huffed. "After all, I can think of a lot of guys who'd be willing to adopt the child as their own." She inwardly winced as she prayed that it wouldn't have to be Naruto or even Lee.
Neji raised his eyebrows. "And if the child came out with the Byakugan?" Which it would surely do, he wanted to add. "What are you going to do then?"
For a moment, Sakura was speechless. She hadn't thought of the bloodline limit, dammit!
"See? Think about it. This marriage is going to save both our asses." Neji broke the silence in the room. "If the child is fatherless and comes out with my clan's abilities, it would spell trouble not only for you but also for me too."
Sakura couldn't help feeling confused. "I can see why it would be upsetting for you since it wouldn't look good for a Hyuuga to impregnate a woman and leave her to do all the obligations of raising the child all by herself… but I absolutely do not understand what bad it would do me." She folded her arms across her chest.
Neji stared at her for a moment as if asking if she really couldn't see what was so painfully obvious. "The people would regard you as a bimbo."
The point hit Sakura square in the face.
"The people would see you as a brainless woman who got herself involved in a mistake she couldn't undo." Neji knew he was definitely hitting a nerve. "They're going to----"
"I get the point, Hyuuga. There's absolutely no need to rub it in my face, you know." She sighed resignedly. "But still, even though you've gotten me to admit that you're right, we just cannot get married to each other!"
Once more, Neji fixed her with his impassive stare.
Oh, please. Do I really have to spell it out to him?
"We don't even love each other!" she cried out indignantly.
She was then surprised to see the starting traces of a smirk gracing his lips. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He sneered. "You're in love with that Uchiha."
She rolled her eyes at him. Geez, he was so outdated. She isn't the Sakura who was smitten with Sasuke anymore. "That's so not the point, genius. What I mean to say is, don't you believe that the one who's perfectly right for you will arrive at the right place and at the right time?"
Seeing the blank look on Neji's face, she felt almost sad that he doesn't even have that pacifying thought of finding his soulmate to keep him inspired. "Don't you even believe in 'soulmates'?"
"No." he smirked. "But if you really insist on believing in soulmates.." he said. "then you better tell Uchiha you're sorry."
"Coz you're marrying me."
A/N: How was it? Any suggestions for next chap? Please review.
Sakura begged him with her eyes imploringly. "Isn't there any other thing we can do?"