Gravity Chapter 8: Mentality, a naruto fanfic

A.N.

Bless all of those who have reviewed, faved, and followed my story. I really, truly appreciate it!

If you haven't read Slowly Slipping Away, you may not really understand what's going on in this chapter. I hope you do though! Thank you for reading. Also if you have not kept up with the manga from here on out there may be spoilers.

Disclaimer: Naruto does NOT belong to me.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga and/or anime are completely original.

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Mentality

Awful. It was the only word she could think of to describe how she felt as her eyes began to flutter open, as she prepared herself for the sting the sunrise brought. But as her eyes slowly adjusted themselves trying to see through the fogginess she noticed that her curtains were drawn in and that it was well past eight in the morning.

That was what really surprised her. She almost never missed a sunrise.

"You're awake." Abruptly she turned to the all too familiar voice.

Neji…?

Her head began to throb from the motion and she reached her forehead to put some pressure, to hopefully lessen the painful sting she felt. Sayuri froze as she felt a small humid rag under her hand. Gently she plucked it off and stared at it in confusion.

"You had a fever last night. I brought you home." The young man explained.

"Ah…" she whispered only to wince right after, feeling the pain of her dry throat. The girl felt as her bed began to shift under his weight as—in a matter of seconds—he lifted her up slowly into a sitting position while he pressed a small glass of water to her lips.

Sayuri offered him a thankful smile as she took the small glass in her hands and began to drink. Once finished he took the glass from her and set it aside as he gently propped her up against the headboard of her bed.

"You had a panic attack…" she blinked as he turned, arms crossed over his chest. "What were you doing in the Marihasha compound at midnight?"

Sayuri frowned. "Marihasha—" suddenly it all came back to her. The wondering around the village, passing the gate, wondering the halls to her old home, the kitchen, the scroll, the fire, and finally—her fingers grazed her lips—the kiss. She had hallucinated, probably from the fever, and thought she had kissed Sasuke…instead she kissed Neji. Her cheeks flushed as she could not meet his gaze, still in her metal turmoil.

She had wanted to kiss Sasuke…Sasuke damn Uchiha for crying out loud. Her mind conjured up some sort of hallucination and she thought Neji was the Uchiha and she kissed him…kissed him! And it wasn't a 'you're-here-and-saved-me-from-the-immaginary-fire-my-mind-conjured-up' kiss, it was an 'I-really-like-you-and-want-to-kiss-you-senseless' kiss. And Neji had received it. She gave her first kiss to Neji. Well technically it wasn't her first kiss since the stupid Uchiha had kissed her the night before he left, when she had no memory of who she was…but still it was the first kiss in which she knew exactly who she was, it just wasn't with the guy she wanted to—WAIT! Why the hell was she complaining that it wasn't Sasuke? Shedidn't like the jerk! Right…? ….Oh god she was confused…that is not good…that is oooooooh so not good.

I don't like Sasuke Uchiha, I don't like Sasuke Uchiha, I don't like—

"Sayuri, breathe!" Neji was holding her shoulder with one hand the other on her cheek forcing her to meet his opalescent eyes. "It's alright, no one will hurt you here." He drew her towards him, burying his nose in the crook of her neck. "I promise."

This felt familiar…actually it was familiar. He had held her like this before…once…a very long time ago, when she had woken up to be exact, on the first day she was 'Sayuri.' She didn't remember anyone, yet everyone knew her. She was afraid and confused. Everyone asked her questions she didn't know how to answer. Everyone gave her strange looks, everyone but him.

Neji had sat down on the chair next to her bed and said nothing. The small then ten year old Neji watched her attentively as she did nothing. She remembered her seven years old self begin to shake, tears rolled down her eyes. Suddenly the bed dipped and she was in the ten year olds small arms. She distinctively remembered as he buried his face in the crook of her neck as he held her rather awkwardly.

But back then the gesture had been innocent, he had done it as a friend, but now…His arms tightened around her and she decided to return the gesture. To hell with it! He was here, he didn't leave, and if he wanted to hug her then why shouldn't she return the gesture.

"I was worried; when they said you were back and I didn't find you here I went searching for you." He whispered as he pulled back and reached for something on her night stand. "I used my Byakugan and found you at your old compound, of all places, walking back and forth as if the place hadn't been destroyed." He placed the dirtied old scroll in her hands. "When I got there I found you screaming with this scroll in your hands."

She looked down at it, brow furrowed. "My…my father had told me to get this for him the day of…of the…"

"Fire." He finished for her and she nodded. He gave her a gentle smile and brushed away her bangs from her eyes. "You'd think that after being able to use those three fire jutsus you'd get over your fear of fire."

She laughed softly and nodded her head. "Ah." She looked up at him with a soft smile and froze. He was staring down at her with…with…longing? She felt heat rise to her cheeks, she couldn't move, she just stared.

Neji's hand moved from her cheek to her chin, tilting her face at an angle as he leaned down. Sayuri's eyes widened as Neji's closed. Her lips trembled as his firmly took hers. She felt them move against hers, imploring her to follow his lead. Slowly she responded, and gasped as he bit her lip. Taking that opportunity he deepened the kiss, fingers leaving her chin and moving to tangle in her auburn hair. His free hand took one of hers and placed it flat against his chest, allowing her to feel the fast thrumming of his heart. He pulled away then and leaned his forehead against hers, both very much out of breath.

"Neji…" she whispered and he smirked. She could feel that her heart was just as erratic as his. The teen had just kissed her and she…well she liked it.

"I have to leave now…I still need to talk to my uncle. Do you think you can manage on your own?"

"A-ah." She nodded. His smirk turned into a small smile as he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead before pulling away completely, turning away from her as he walked out the door. Once she heard the door down stairs closed she jumped out of bed rushing to the restroom.

Sayuri looked at her reflection. Flushed face, and bright pink slightly swollen lips…she turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face. She looked up and ran a hand through her hair.

This was bad.

XXX

Moriyo was humming to herself as she prepared lunch when there was a knock on her door. Looking up from the stove she pursed her lips. "Who would that be?" she wondered as she made her way to the door opening it. To her surprise, there stood her brown haired, brown eyed, pupil. "Sayuri…?"

Confused she quickly stepped aside to let the girl in. It had been a while since Sayuri had set foot in her house, and the last time she ever came was because Moriyo herself had ordered the girl to. Yet here she was actually seeking her out. Well this was a nice turn of events.

She closed the door behind her and turned to see Sayuri pacing the small living room, playing with her turquoise sleeve. Moriyo knew that habit…she only did it when she was nervous…or worried, and judging from the way she was vigorously tugging at the poor piece of clothing material she was most likely both.

"Sayuri?" she asked again. The brunette stopped, turned towards her opened her mouth then closed it, and proceeded to do so three more times before completely closing it and pacing the room once more. Raising a fine dark eyebrow, Moriyo put her hands on her hips. "Will you stop pacing around and tell me what's got you all worked up already!"

"I kissed Neji!" the teen blurted out turning a bright red.

"Is that it?" she smiled. "You kissed him, so what a lot of people kiss each other."

"No!" the brunette exclaimed. "You don't understand." She stomped, now looking a mixture of fuming mad and extremely embarrassed.

Moriyo blinked a few times, still trying to overlook Sayuri's childish behavior. "Ok…then enlighten me." She never knew that someone's face could turn the shade of red that Sayuri's was at the moment…well at least not anyone but Hinata that is.

She bit her lip. "I…"

"You…" she waved her hand in a 'go on' gesture.

"I THOUGHT I WAS KISSING SASUKE!" she blurted out.

"Oh," Moriyo's orange eyes widened, "Well that's news."

"This isn't funny! Neji kissed me again this morning. I think he thinks it was meant for him."

The dark haired konoichi had to resist the urge to laugh. "Well of course he thinks that it was for him, you kissed him! How much more dimwitted can you get?" Sayuri glared at her. "I'm sorry, but what do you want me to do about it?"

Sayuri looked down at the wooden floor. "Growing up I only had Saito and Kenji looking after me, all I had was a brother and father figure. I only got to spend time with the women from the ANBU to train and that was it…I don't know anything!" She sat down on the couch with a frustrated sigh.

Moriyo sat next to her a smiled. "All right, what do you want to know…please tell me you've already covered the birds and the bees."

Sayuri laughed and scratched her head. "It was a rather awkward lesson that Saito had ordered Kenji to give me."

"Good, now what is it?" Moriyo began, silently relieved. She was not about to have that conversation with a grown fourteen year old girl. "The kissing…or Sasuke?" at the mention of the boys name the girl blushed. "What about him?"

She took a bit to respond but did so anyway. "When I was…" she paused as if searching for a better way to explain. "I saw Sasuke instead of Neji…when I saw him I felt my heart race and my hands were clammy…and I just reacted."

"You like him." Moriyo deadpanned and Sayuri looked horrified.

"But I never felt that way when we were younger! He hasn't even been here for three years…"

The older of the two watched as the younger buried her face in her hands. Wow, she was definitely confused…poor girl. She could attribute that to the fact that Sayuri didn't really have a mother figure, she supposed.

"Before, when you were younger…did you feel happy or satisfied when he was around?"

Sayuri glanced up. "Of course. He was my teammate, why wouldn't I have been?"

"Did you feel that way with Naruto?" Sayuri opened her mouth but nothing came out. "Well?"

The brunette frowned and shook her head. "No…When I saw Naruto…I was glad he was there, but…whenever I saw Sasuke I always had a warm feeling in my chest."

Moriyo smiled knowingly. "And in your last mission you were with him for an entire month." She stated more than asked. Sayuri's sole attention was on that one woman as she continued. "My best bet is that you had a crush on Sasuke when you were younger and didn't even know about it." She giggled at the young teen's expression. "Yes, Sayuri, you did." The girl quickly closed her mouth and looked at her hands. "I don't know what went on during that month, but something tells me that your crush turned into something deeper than that."

"You mean that…my crush has turned into like?"

She smiled. "Yes."

Sayuri began to tug at her sleeve again. "But what about Neji…"

"Oh that one's easy." Sayuri looked back at Moriyo who merely smirked. "That guy has had a thing for you for a while now."

"What…?"

"It's true." She said as if she were discussing the weather. "I thought it was nothing at first until you lost your memory for a week…remember?" Sayuri nodded and she continued. "He seemed very attentive…he didn't pressure you like the rest, but he also didn't really like leaving your side."

Now that Sayuri thought about it, she did remember him following her until dusk.

"Not to mention the fact that he put his life on the line to go get Sasuke for you. When you kissed him he probably thought that you were reciprocating his feelings."

That made sense…Neji kissed her this morning to make sure that she knew that he liked her. Now the question was what would she do about it?

XXX

Sasuke was honestly considering leaving the group of ninja he had gathered behind. They were all trying his nerves…to be fair not all of them…more specifically a certain red haired harpy and a the white haired water boy.

Karin would take any chance she could get to be alone with him, and Suigetsu instigated her whenever he could. The two would then go at it like a bunch of children. He sighed, not to mention he didn't get much sleep last night.

He began to think of the brunette that he had seen before he had passed out from the poison on his system all those weeks ago. It was all her fault that he didn't get any sleep. All night his thoughts were on her and all he could do was fantasize about undoing that braid of hers and letting her unruly hair loose as he ran his hands through it. He almost growled at the thought and pushed it aside.

What was worse was that her face seemed to come up at the most inconvenient of times. For example when Juugo had attacked the only thing he could think about was Sayuri and how he was glad she wasn't there because the orange haired giant would have most likely killed her.

Or when Karin had tried to harass him again last night in his hotel room. The damn girl had snuck into his room and had all but thrown herself at him. The redhead had trailed kisses down his jaw to his neck and all he could do was imagine a certain young brunette in the redhead's place. It wasn't until his arms wrapped around her that he realized that Karin wasn't Sayuri, that Karin didn't mold perfectly with him as Sayuri had when she had been in his arms in the Chunin exams or on the academy's rooftop, and that her lips felt too moist and sticky for his liking, not at all like the soft and warm of Sayuri's, and suddenly he felt wanting. At that moment he froze and pushed the redhead away activating his Sharingan and ordering her out of his room.

Yes, it was Sayuri's fault he was acting so hormonal.

"Is something wrong Sasuke?" Juugo's voice brought him out of his musings.

"No." He answered. "Let's go." He ordered as his other two teammates wisely stayed quiet for once after sensing his almost murderous aura. Sasuke was not in a good mood today.

XXX

Sayuri sat in her dining room with the sealed scroll before her. Why had her father asked her to get it? She wondered as she rolled the scroll back and forth with her index finger absentmindedly. She saw flashes of people walking and talking, her father smiling at her as he held her in her arms, her grandfather who seemed to be a pit peeved, and finally a man whose face she could not seem to recall only having the faint sensation that she knew who he was.

She pursed her lips and looked down at the red string on the scroll. Her father had sent her to get that scroll, for what? She didn't know, but she was about to find out. Her hands made quick work of the knot and paused for a mere seconds before unraveling it. Her brown eyes began to scan the document as a frown slowly made its way onto her face.

The Marihasha clan has come to the unanimous decision that under no circumstances will they blame the Uchiha on the attack on Konoha by the Kyuubi. Although their absence was noted by the clan we stand by our decision. Do as you see fit but we will not become involved. We regret the loss of our Fourth Hokage and his wife and we ensure that we will keep the child safe, but in regards of alienating the Uchiha clan any further or answer is no.

Let it be noted that I Yūkan Marihasha leader of the Marihasha clan along with the clan elders have decided that if any action against the Uchiha were to be take we will be standing by their side, as long as you do not present any solid proof our answer will stand.

The scroll was addressed to the Third Hokage and his council. They wanted to do something to the Uchiha? She wondered as she re-read the piece of rolled up rice paper. Suddenly she recalled the heavily bandaged face of an older man that stood next to her father.

"Danzo…" she whispered. Danzo had been there the night her clan was killed in the fire.

"I left a scroll in my office, it's white and has a red string tied around it, could you bring it here?"

"The scroll…" she looked down at it suddenly feeling rather stupid. "Father wanted to give this to Danzo…but he never got the chance." Of course not, when she had returned everyone was sprawled on the floor motionless.

"Father!" she cried out as she tried to shake him away "Father please wake up!" she said as she turned him to her noticing the thin pieces of metal that were embedded on his chest, a kunai in his hands.

"He had a kunai…he was attacked there were senbon all over him!" she whispered as she slowly began to piece the information together. She willed herself to remember more of that night but all she recalled were her clansmen on the ground and the red drink that everyone had in their hands.

Her eyes widened as a hand came up to her mouth. There was no way could an entire clan of highly skilled shinobi would be killed by a fire, not unless they were all poisoned. The only refreshment available that night had been that red punch.

"Hello Father, thank you for looking after Sayuri. I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

The old man laughed. "Of course not! Oh, forgive me I didn't see you there, Danzo. Would the two of you like a drink?"

Sayuri turned to see a man that stood next to her father. His left side was completely bandaged and he wore a black and white kimono.

The elderly man wrapped in bandages, named Danzo bowed then straightened up. "No thank you, Lord Kaori."

"I would." Yukan said as he took the drink his father handed to him.

Her brown eyes narrowed. And what a coincidence that the only ones that hadn't drank the punch were Danzo and I. She clenched her fists. There was a kunai in my father's hand…and senbon on his chest. He must have fought back before the poison took effect and Danzo used that chance to kill him.

She stood abruptly readying herself to go to ANBU headquarters. Danzo was not going to get away with the murder of her clan.

"You don't have concrete evidence." Kenji's voice stopped her cold, her hand on the door knob.

That's right. Who would believe her? She held no recollection of her family for years and now she suddenly recalled that Danzo had been the only non Marihasha attending the festival on the day of their murder? Even Kenji wouldn't believe it.

She growled in frustration as she ran a hand through her brown locks. The brunette began to pace her living room in a complete loss. She had no proof…no concrete proof other than her very questionable memory. As she sat on her couch she couldn't help but feel completely and utterly useless. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced in a while…since Sasuke defected in fact.

Leaning back Sayuri closed her eyes in a half hearted attempt to calm herself. That was until she heard a light crackling. Sitting upright she looked at her surroundings, eyes widening in horror. The entire place was on fire.

Her mouth hung open as she sat there completely immobile watching as the fire quickly spread from wall to wall slowly sliding down to the floor. Her mind was telling her to move, urging her to run but her body would not obey completely paralyzed in fear.

As her heart rate increased she realized that she was done for.

"Sayuri." She heard her name being called out and a hand on her shoulder. The teen blinked once the fire was gone. "Sayuri…" the one who called her moved to be directly in front of her taking both of her shoulders and squeezing reassuringly.

"Neji…?" she wondered as she focused on the white orbs.

"Everything is fine." He kneeled so that they were at eyelevel. "What happened?" he asked calmly as he took note of the fear in her eyes.

"There was…" she stopped and looked around her before shaking her head. "Nothing…"

"Nothing?" he echoed, a frown on his face.

"Ah." Answered the girl, but the prodigy did not fail to hear the crack in her voice. "Nothing."

He looked her over for a few seconds before taking her hands in his. "You're not one to frighten easily. I'll ask again…what happened?" She merely shook her head and looked away, indicating that the conversation was over.

He sighed as he stood up pulling her with him. "Come." He said as he pulled her to the door. "I bet you haven't eaten dinner yet." Sayuri looked down in embarrassment. "Of course." She looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of a smile as he turned to open the door. He knew her well.

All the while they sat at Ichiraku she couldn't help but wonder if she was losing her mind.

A.N.

Comments? Reviews? Complaints? Please let me know and review! :)

For those of you who are interested there are two pictures that i drew. One is a collage of Sayuri showcasing her 5-14 year old self, the second is a picture from the last chapters scene. :D

Thank you for reading!