Back again ne? This is actually going to be a longer fic then I first thought! Good thing I decided to take it out of One-shot for ne? :D

Kyo~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! Please put down the chainsaw Mr. Lawyer!

Chapter four: The truth of friendship.

" Sakura is too far into the Uchiha clan. Uncle wants nothing to do with that sort of dispute taking her would result in." Itachi's eyes widened. Sakura sighed as Neji said that. Sasuke frowned.

" Too far into our clan?" he asked curiously. How was she too far into their clan. Sakura wasn't even an Uchiha. She hung around Hinata Hyuuga and even obviously him, Neji Hyuuga, all the time. How could she be too far into the Uchiha clan?

" Don't be foolish little brother." Itachi said with a deep voice. Sasuke looked around Sakura and Neji to his brother on the other side. He had to almost lean over Sakura to do it, but she didn't seem to mind, though he blushed faintly at the proximity to her naked flesh.

" Sakura is very close to the Uchiha clan, even before she was made the clan's medic. Neji's right. If he, or any one of his clan members, were to try to take Sakura, father would take it as stealing something that belongs to the Uchiha clan." Itachi said watching Sakura closely, to see maybe if she objected to being called a possession of his clan. She didn't even open her closed eyes. She stayed reclined, and seemingly relaxed.

" So why even get into a relationship at all?" Sasuke asked going back to his reclined position.

Neji did the most peculiar thing he, instead of actually saying something, looked to Sakura. As if she had been the one to start the relationship in the first place. Itachi raised his eye brows in surprise. Was she?

She of all people should know that getting involved with a Hyuuga would never amount to anything except rivalry between two clans. She could never be able to marry Neji if that was her intention, but maybe that wasn't why she got into the relationship at all.

Perhaps she loved the Hyuuga, or maybe she had gotten into the relationship because she didn't have to marry him, she could be his lover with out having to marry, because they never would be allowed.

Sakura didn't looked like she was deeply in love with the Hyuuga, but he hadn't seen her with him more then just these few moments, and she wasn't bound to act like his lover when there were people like him and Sasuke around. Itachi almost mourned that fact. He had wanted to see what face she would put on for the Hyuuga this time. Would it be much different from the one she gave Hinata Hyuuga? Would she have love in those jade eyes, or just possession, like when she looked at Hinata Hyuuga? Did she love any of her lovers? Why did she have so many? What was the reasoning in that?

Sakura opened her eyes finally. She rose into a sitting position instead of her reclined relaxed one and she smirked.

" Because I seduced him, isn't it perfectly clear?" Sakura said with a seductive smile as she turned to Neji. He looked embarrassed all of a sudden his face tinted pink, he looked almost ashamed he had let himself be seduced of all things. Itachi's amusement grew. So that was how she was playing was it?

She leaned over and captured Neji's mouth with hers. Sasuke stiffened. He had never seen her kiss anyone, and he certainly had to say he didn't like it. The kiss wasn't very long just a soft mending of lips and then she pulled away ran her fingers along his jaw and then she stood and walked away as if no one else was in the Spring, just ignoring them all. Itachi watched her go as did Neji and Sasuke.

Was he the only one who noticed that pained look?

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Sakura rubbed a hand over her face as she climbed her way into her empty bed. She sighed and laid on her bed spreading her arms out wide. So much for keeping that secret. Now the Captain would be watching her more then ever. There was nothing Uchiha Itachi liked more then something he couldn't figure out. She hated to encourage him, but what could she do about it? She couldn't help but be fascinating, hello she had green eyes the color of emeralds in the moon light and hair the color of cherry blossoms in the spring. Fascinating was just like her middle name, Unique.

She turned her head to watch the sun rise over Konoha's streets. She sighed. It was just a little bit lonely by herself. When her parents had died when she was fourteen she had learned to live on her own. She sucked up her pain because she wasn't the only one with out parents. Her own teammate even, Naruto had never even known his parents. She winced. Though it hurt much more when you know what you have lost then when you have never had it and it's gone.

The house seemed so much more empty with only her in it. She could still hear her mother calling her to breakfast. Hear her father gentle laughter. Her mother had been a lot like Tsunade brash as could be, and her father had been the gentle soul. Though her father would have brought down anyone who would have hurt his little girl. Of course she had never told them about how she constantly was teased as a child. She had often wondered why she was born with pink hair and green eyes when her parents had neither. Her mother had black hair the color of night and eyes the color of the ocean, her father had red hair and eyes like the sun. So why did she end up with hair like flowers and eyes like gems?

She had wondered that and yet her parents had thought her a gift. A unique flower that they would always cherish and watch grow. They had been furious when she had signed up to become a Kunoichi. Risking life and limb in such a dangerous job. She flinched slightly in remembrance of that argument. They had always argued after that. Year after year she had tried to become a Kunoichi and up until they died they begged her to step down and become something like them. Be just this once like her parents.

She hadn't done such, because she was different, and she was a freak, she had to stand up for herself some how so she had made a vow to be stronger to prove she was worth something after all. She had proven that, but what worth was that vow, made accomplished, when there was no one around to show it had been completed?

" SA-KU-RA-CHAN! Are you awake?" She sat up with a groan. Of course, of course. She hadn't even been to bed and of course she would be interrupted.

She rubbed a hand over her face and tired eyes then ran a hand through her hair. When had it gotten lose? She waited, knowing her interrupter of sleep would walk on up to her room anyway.

Three

Two

The bedroom door slammed open. One.

She was a little off her game it seemed. That or Naruto was faster then he usually was. Naruto grinned in her door way.

" Sakura-chan your awake!" Like she wouldn't have been with all the racket he made?

" Yes." She pulled her legs off the bed and sat on it's edge.

" What is it now Naruto?" She asked pulling all her long hair up and into a up-do with a conveniently located band. He rubbed the back of his neck with a sly grin.

" Ne don't you remember Sakura-chan? Today you said you'd train with me!" She thought back to when she had said that, and frowned. When was that again?

" Aww Sakura-chan! Don't tell me you forgot!" Naruto whined.

" When did I say that again?" She asked with a hand to her chin in thought, eyes closed. When had she said that?

" If you remember you said back then ' in two years idiot then I'll train with you.' It's been two years to this day! Time to train!" She opened her eyes to look at him.

" Back then?" She asked as he pulled her to her feet with a hand to her arm. She stood letting him pull her out of her door. She sighed. Only he would remember something like that, let alone expect to actually have something she had told him to stop bugging her to heart, Two years later at that. She smiled to herself as she allowed the idiot to pull her out the door. His grin lit the morning like the sun.

Well she didn't love him because he was smart after all. She loved this idiot because exactly the way he was, an idiot, but also he was like this. Remembering words she had said to him two years ago, and then getting excited over this day.

" I've been waiting a long time for this day Sakura-chan so don't go easy on me!" Naruto said as he continued to pull her down the road to the nearest training grounds she figured.

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Sasuke was curious to how it was a man like Neji Hyuuga, the twenty year old genius of the Hyuuga clan, and third in command of ANBU, could be so easily seduced. Well it could be obviously that Sakura was just very good at seducing, or that Neji Hyuuga had been attracted to her to begin with. Or maybe both were true. Sakura was easy on the eyes, and she attracted people like Naruto did by her aura and her smile, her kind words, and even her genius. It would then be easy to fall in love with Sakura Haruno.

Was Neji Hyuuga in love with her? The way his face had gentled with her would seem to say yes. A man didn't look at someone with such a gentle face if he didn't care for her. Didn't love her enough to let her into his heart. Then the question came to, why did Sakura seduce the Hyuuga when she clearly knew that she wouldn't be able to be with him? Sakura wasn't stupid in any sense of the word, she was every bit of the genius that his brother was, and brilliant like the Hyuuga and Nara.

Did she not love the Hyuuga then? Was that why she started a relationship that would go no further then it was now? Someone wouldn't seduce someone else unless they had good reason to do so. So what was Sakura's reasons?

Sasuke was shamed to say he didn't know his teammate as well as he had hoped he would, but why would he know something like this about her? They didn't speak about their relationships when it applied to dating, or attraction, or the such. So why would he know anything about this side of her? He just had to think things over on his own, because clearly she still wasn't speaking to him, he had hurt her and he was mad that he had lost his temper and did so.

His mother had cooled his head and helped him realize that it wasn't Sakura's fault that she was so very unique or that his clan had taken an interest in her. Sakura had no say in things like that. She wasn't from a clan and the Uchiha clan had a right to her like any other clan did. She was free game so to say. His father had obviously went to great lengths to pull her further into their clan, and so if anyone was at fault it was his father not Sakura.

He was frankly starting to miss spending time with her casually, or not. He didn't like that she was angry or hurt because of his words, and he really didn't like when she wasn't talking to him. He had never casually touched Sakura, but at the Onsen he had sat at her side as close as he dared and brushed his arm with hers. A touch he had meant to let her know he was sorry with out saying so. She had just sighed. He didn't know if she forgave him or not. Maybe he would actually have to plainly tell her he was sorry, but he was sure she had understood his gesture. She had always been able to pick out subtle things like body language and hidden emotions.

He wondered if Naruto knew that she was with the Hyuuga, or if anyone did for that matter. It was obvious the Hyuuga wanted it kept a secret and he wouldn't be going around telling people about the relationship if Sakura so clearly didn't want people to find out.

Sasuke was curious though. He had never seen Sakura like that around anyone, not even the Hyuuga before that night. She had been so comfortable like she was around him and Naruto, but there had been something else, a different sort of comfort there in the shadows. It wasn't just a friendship sort of comfort it was a comfort like someone very familiar with the other and knew how to mold themselves to that person and not conflict with anything but mend with someone, a thing that he had only seen his father and mother do. It was a lovers sort of comfort he had seen between the two.

He had never felt anything like that from her. It was warm. Almost like the waters had been, a warm comfort that he had enjoyed feeling. Then there was that kiss she had given the Hyuuga and the familiar touch to his skin. He didn't like that feeling he got in his chest when he saw her kiss someone else. When she touched the Hyuuga. He didn't like it at all.

There was a difference between his brother touching her and the Hyuuga. He didn't want Itachi to do anything like kiss her or anything, that made him pale all over again, but he didn't mind his brother touching her. He hadn't like her touching the Hyuuga or kissing someone. He had never seen her do either in such a way. Not a friendly way, but in a way that he had never seen from her. He couldn't pinpoint what it was last night, but he could now. She had acted not like his teammate he had known for seven or more years, but she was acting like a woman. He didn't like it. He didn't want her to go changing like that when it wasn't directed toward him.

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" You held back." Naruto said as he walked out of her bathroom towel drying his hair. He wore nothing to cover his wet tanned body, beads of water clung to his tanned muscles but most of the water ran down his skin, skin that was just a tad warmer then anyone else. Sakura suspected he always ran a fever like temperature because of the Kyuubi under his skin.

Sakura lay on her bed watching him, her head tilted to the side, her arms behind her neck acting as a pillow. She lay on her back her eyes were tired but focused on him. His wounds had healed already thanks to the Kyuubi. She had healed her own wounds of course. She didn't have to work today after all, she could afford to use her chakra just to heal herself this once.

" No, I'm tired." She said softly closing her eyes as he dropped the towel he had been using to dry his hair on her floor. He was a messy person. She moved her head back toward the ceiling so if she opened her eyes it would be on that, not him. The bed dipped with his added weight and he crawled over to her. She was dressed in one of Kakashi's old shirts and Naruto's orange boxers. Sleeping clothes, she had already taken her shower while he had raided her kitchen for ramen and then took his own shower.

He climbed over her so that he knelt on hands and knees over her, his blond bangs brushed her cheeks and eye lids. They were cool and damp against her skin. She sighed and took in his familiar scent. A comforting scent if ever she smelled one.

" If you were tired you should have said something and we could have waited until later to train." He said lowering himself so his body rested lightly on her own, his chest pressing to hers, she felt his heart thumping against her, and felt her heart slow into a rhythm to match his.

" Who could have slept with you making such a racket. I had been trying to." Sakura said but didn't even open her eyes with the conversation or his weight firmly placed on top of her.

" I would have waited." He said his voice deepening.

" Would you?" She asked opening her eyes at last and meeting his startling aqua with deep emerald.

" Yes." She wondered when the conversation had shifted from training and sleep to something all together different.

He lowered his eyes to her lips, and then back to her eyes, asking permission to kiss her. She didn't respond with words but lifted her head and sealed her mouth to his. He tasted like ramen of course, but he also tasted like desire.

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It had been a long hard life for her. When team seven was almost broken apart because of Sasuke's clan wanting him to advance faster with a better team, Sakura was forced apart from not only Sasuke but Naruto as well. Back then their team and friendship had just began, but she was still fighting for them, to get them all together again.

She didn't want to be alone. She didn't want to have no one to lean on in hard times, she didn't want to be called a freak because she was the only Kunoichi with out a team, she had already been called a freak because of her unique coloring.

She couldn't stand alone, but that was exactly what she was forced to do. Stand alone. The only way the clan would be happy with Sasuke staying on team seven would be for Sasuke to get different training and advance faster then the others. So Kakashi started to specially train with Sasuke, and yet the clan refused to allow Sasuke Uchiha to be on a team as weak as theirs.

So then Naruto decided the only way Sasuke would stay was for him to go train with Jiraiya and get stronger, which then really did leave her alone. With out her teammates, and with out her sensei. It was like Team seven had never even existed.

Sakura was forced to do the only thing she could. She would have to get stronger as well, to keep Sasuke Uchiha, to keep Naruto Uzumaki, and to keep Hatake Kakashi with her. She would have to work hard. She wanted to make them want to be with her, make them want to be proud to be on her team, to want to even acknowledge her.

Around that timing was when the great sanin Tsunade came as Hokage. Sakura was relaxed because the Hokage was a woman, and would be easier then a man to ask what she was about to. Sakura didn't just jump into what she would do, she studied the Hokage, her strengths, her personality, weakness, and all so before she even asked to be trained.

There were other people she could have trained with. From Ibiki, she could have honed in her interrogation, and specialized in that. She could have called on Anko and asked help in learning about Summons. She could have asked anyone really, but she chose the most powerful person in the village for a reason.

If she was going to get stronger, she was going to do it the hard way, and she was going to make sure that she was worth looking at as a teammate and a Kunoichi. She went to the Hokage because she knew that when she got stronger she would be well known if not for her strengths, then for her association with the Hokage as her apprentice.

Team seven didn't even get back together until after they took the Chunin exams and then they even split up again less formally to take on more training. Sakura was using her medical skills now, and Naruto was being trained to fight off Akatsuki, while Sasuke was working with Anko and her snakes.

Sakura had little time for anyone while she was training to get stronger, so she didn't really feel all that alone. She though had little time for herself as well, none the less friends. So all the friendships she had built up came crumbling down in those days. She didn't have time for them, for anyone. She had to get stronger if she didn't want to be alone. She hadn't realized that getting stronger as she was, really was causing her to be alone.

It took many years for her to master the medical skills, and fight as a Kunoichi. When she had learned all she could from Tsunade she had taken to training with Ibiki because she knew that she would need to be harder edged. She would need those skills. She had too. It also opened the way for ANBU.

Sakura hadn't even planned on joining it. Tsunade had asked her if she would be willing, and Sakura had agreed. Tsunade had told her upfront she would be more needed here in the village, but she would be sent on missions outside the village still.

Sasuke had joined his father and the Uchiha's on the police force, and Naruto made his way slowly up to Hokage rank. Naruto had a long way, but he was working on his dream. Sasuke was closer to his father like Itachi never would be, and Sakura had gained the strength and recognition she wanted, and yet here they all were.

Here she was...

How did it all come to this she wondered. When she had gained strength she had lost her friends, and when she joined ANBU she had been forced to pull in her emotions. So for some reason her old 'friends' kept asking her for favors, and some of those requests she didn't think she would ever do, she did, some of those things she never thought they would ever even ask her, She never thought they would be so...desperate. She did them though because they had been her friends, she did what they asked because she wanted to help them. She did what she did for them, and them alone.

She regretted it yes, she hated that she deceived people, she hated that she lied, she hated that she could never love anyone. She winced. She could never love because they wasn't hers. She promised to help Hinata, Tenten, Ino. She promised to help them all. To help Tenten, to help Hinata, and to help Ino. She helped and it didn't get her anywhere... except more alone.

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End chapter:

Told you it was one of my more serious fic's. As for this chap, yes we also get some SakuXNaruto on top of the SakuXNeji! Sakura has to have a thing for guys with N first names lol. JK :D

Any questions? Comments? Complaints? ' WTF'S? If so...review! If not...review anyway!

Kyo~