Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Neji

Team Seven and Team Guy have been traveling together through the forest of death. Presently the sun has long since disappeared and the dangers of the night start to crawl up on them.

"Alright we'll make camp here and continue in the morning, by tomorrow we should reach the towers with time to spare" Neji had effortlessly taken the role of being both teams leaders. He'd been carrying Sasuke all day long, and the Uchiha still had not even stirred.

Still Sakura could see the tired lines under his eyes, and the exhausted breath he delicately let out. Neji was spent. He walked over to a sleeping bag Tenten had just laid out, and put Sasuke in it. Sakura did the same with Naruto in another sleeping bag.

"I'll be first watch." Neji declared; even after being pushed to exhaustion he would watch over them. Neji demonstrated his feelings for others in tiny selfless acts others failed to notice. After Neji was done giving orders to the group, they dutifully obeyed, and settled in for the night.

Neji climbed a nearby tree and positioned himself, so that he would have the best view of the perimeter.

Time started to pass as Neji's mind began to drift to the events of that day, specifically moments with Sakura. While staring at moon in the twinkling sky Neji contemplated the strange moments with Sakura.

He wondered about her. The first time he had met her she looked at him as if she knew him. When she had tried flirting with him, in which he responded by shooting her down, her face had crumbled. It left him confused, because people don't experience those intense emotions for someone they've barely met. And he was fairly positive he had never met her in his entire life. Just who was she?

"Neji?" While Neji had been lost in his thoughts he noticed the object of his thoughts had climbed up the tree to join him.

Sakura looked at Neji expectantly, but he didn't return her stare. She couldn't help a bit of irrationally hurt feelings bubbling up to her chest, but she back to this time had been difficult for her, but staying away from Neji had been the one of the most difficult. Previous to the chunin exams Neji had probably never even knew Sakura existed.

"You should be sleeping" he told her, still not taking his eyes off the full moon.

A quick smile passed through Sakura's lips at his concern over her. "I wanted to join you."

The moon was full tonight, big and bright. It was positioned right in front of them in perfect view for the two genin.

"I loved moments like this with you." She thought; not knowing it had come out in a whisper.

This time Neji did tear his gaze away from the moon and focused it on Sakura. That was the last straw, now he had to know what the deal with this girl was. She still insists on continuing this facade that somehow the two were acquainted. He demanded an explanation from her.

"What do you mean by that?" Neji kept his voice low, but a trickle of anger seeped through. "Why do you talk," he paused taking a moment to control his rage. "And look at me as if you know me…I know nothing about you." He managed to keep his calm, but his patience was gone. "I have never met you in my entire life. So stop acting like you know me." He finished, clenching his jaw and turning away from her with finality.

Sakura's eyes watered, but no tears fell. She wouldn't let them fall; instead she used all her strength to sit up a little straighter. "I'm the only woman who knows you unlike any woman ever has." Neji look back at her with incredulity. He couldn't believe that she was sticking to her guns. "And don't ever treat me like this again."

"You're sick Suki." Neji wholeheartedly believed that she needed help.

"No I'm not." Sakura swallowed with some difficulty, and had to look away. Instead she settled for staring out into the night sky. She took a shaky breath in an attempt to settle her nerves. On the outside she may look like she was calm, but there was a tremble in her fingers as she brushed back a piece of hair that revealed the turmoil inside. "If there was anything that I ever really regretted from coming back here it was…it was leaving you."

Neji had no words. He could only stare in shock at her confession. Everything became quiet, and Neji just stared. A calm passed through them, as pieces slowly started to fall into place. Unable to stand his quiet any longer, Sakura looked back up at Neji to see why he had stopped speaking.

Her breath caught, but she managed to softly say his name "Neji." Her fingers find his and wrap themselves around his out of familiarity. They know these fingers. They have touched before in another life. Neji surprisingly doesn't try to fight her. She was nervous, but she wanted to tell him so badly. "If I told you I love you, would you think I'm crazy?"

Neji smirked, finding her confession slightly amusing, but touching. "I already think you exhibit questionable sanity."

Sakura suddenly found herself closing the distance between them. Her intention very clear. Neji was also leaning in, but stops for a moment. "Wait. This still doesn't mean that you know me."

Sakura had to resist rolling her eyes, but couldn't stop an irritated sigh from escaping her lips. A sigh that did not go unnoticed by Neji, however instead of stirring annoyance within him, her soft sigh stirred something else akin to desire. His eyes traveled down to her lips, were the only sign of lust. He still managed to keep his face stoic, although his eyes were starting to become half lidded.

"Your favorite food is herring soba, you like to meditate, and you hate pumpkins and have a low tolerance for anything spicy. You like to laugh at Lee because you think it's ridiculous for him to become a great ninja on just taijutsu. Right now in this point in life, you believe one cannot change his fate no matter how hard he tries. You have a curse which represents a mark of a bird in a cage." Sakura blurted out any and all facts she could remember of him. Some would say she kept careful notes on his life.

Neji narrowed his eyes; now highly suspicious of Sakura. "How did you know all that?" he asked

"Never mind," Sakura shook her head. She may or may not have been having thoughts that go somewhere along the lines of, 'just kiss me already.' The only problem was that she was too much of a coward to actually voice her thoughts. "It doesn't matter, forget it."

She was about to jump down from the tree to go back to bed when Neji grabbed her arm; stopping her in her tracks.

"Wai-" Before Neji could even finish he was suddenly hushed by Sakura's lips.

In a split second decision Sakura decided to go for it and descended her lips upon his.

Needless to say the kiss was phenomenal. His lips were so warm and soft; Sakura felt like she was in heaven all over again.

Neji again, was stunned. He should have gotten angry at her or pushed her away. He should have yelled at her and told her what nerve she had! But instead something else happened.

He reciprocated the kiss. His lips started moving along with hers; taking in everything she had to offer. "Mmm," she moaned in pleasure; with that encouragement he decided to take things one step further and used his tongue to part her lips.

Sakura easily complied; intertwining her tongue with his. Both of them exploring every corner of their mouths and tasting each other in relish. They were so lost in the feel of it. It was like they had their own little world and they failed to notice anything around them.

Sakura had been keeping Sasuke and Naruto asleep with her genjutsu, but with her recent distractions, her chakra had retreated from them. The consequently had woken up.

The first thing they saw was not a pretty sight. Naruto continued to stare, but Sasuke was processing things much quicker. At first Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing; he thought he was in a nightmare. But no, sure enough this was real. His Suki was locking lips with that white eyed A**HOLE, Neji Hyuga.

Instantly his sharigan activated and he went after him.

By this point, Neji had mustered enough instincts to know something was wrong. He knew he needed to stop their make-out session. He noticed his hands had somehow placed themselves on Sakura's hips and her hands were wrapped around his neck. He freed one of his hands and brought it up to the side of her cheek to push her away gently.

Sakura made a sound of disapproval; her want for Neji was still not sated.

"Wait," he whispered in her ear; making it known he also wanted to continue their ministrations. "Something's not right." His tone of voice caused Sakura to come out of her own daze.

From out of nowhere Sasuke attacked. He charged at Neji completely enraged.

"Get away from Suki!" he roared in fury, while sending fire shuriken in the direction of Neji.

Neji quickly pushed Sakura out of dangers way and faced Sasuke head on.

Both boys were completely caught up in their vehemence for each other; that releasing their violence on each other was currently their only purpose in life. Neji started using his Gentlefist technique, but Sasuke dodged all his attacks and put enough distance between them to shoot out a great Fireball at Neji.

By now the entire group had awaken and were not happy with the spectacle at hand.

Tenten, Lee and Naruto had collaborative thoughts of utter confusion and astonishment running through their minds.

"Sasuke stop!" Sakura yelled out to Sasuke, but neither of the boys paid any attention. Her desperation had been steadily increasing with each blow that landed; to the point that fear started to spread through her body.

"STOP SASUKE STOP!" She yelled and still they continued warring with each other.

Finally she had enough. Sakura wasn't a weak genin anymore. She busted out her whip and used it to separate the boys. First she went after Sasuke and wrapped the whip around his ankle and threw him to one corner of the camp. Then she wrapped her whip around her beloved Neji and threw him to the opposite corner of the room.

With one final scream of "I SAID STOP!" She ended the battle.

Both Sasuke and Neji were dumbfounded. They couldn't believe what had just happened. Both Sasuke and Neji considered themselves the strongest genins in Konoha. It was a little sexist, but they never thought Sakura would be able to defeat them.

"That's it I have had enough! We're leaving." She huffed. "Oh good Naruto you're awake, grab your stuff were leaving. Sasuke let's go. Now." She narrowed her eyes for good measure. Sakura was not in any mood to be trifled with.

Sasuke and Naruto hurried to grab their stuff, because Sakura was already walking away.

"Wait, you're leaving now?" Neji called out to Sakura. Clearly he didn't want her to go, especially during the middle of the night.

"Ye-" but before Sakura could reply she was cut off by Sasuke's scathing remark. "Yeah weirdo, we're leaving. Suki doesn't want anything to do with your type. "

"Sasuke" Sakura said in a warning tone; one that he disregarded. He kept his hard gaze fixed on Neji. "Don't listen to him Neji; clearly my teammate isn't capable of maturity. I think it's best if we travel separately to the chunin tower." Sadness was plain in her voice and in the look she gave him. "I'll see you again at the tower."

Neji sported a similar look; however his was a watered down version. He still wished she wouldn't leave, but nodded in agreement. Sakura started to walk towards Neji in hopes of hugging (and maybe kissing) him goodbye, when Sasuke grabbed the top of her arm and pushed her forward to continue walking toward the tower.

She let out an irritated noise at him; finishing it off with a level glare. Still she nodded in agreement. They did need to leave.

"Goodbye, Neji." She said and threw one parting glance to Team Guy, specifically Neji.