AN: Onto the chap.
Akatsuki weren't good people.
Well, duh. They are criminals, and so by extension, Kisame has also done some quite not kind deeds. Like kidnapping, robbery, beating someone to near death, murder. So yeah, Kisame knows that he's probably not the most fair or saintly person.
However, he strongly draws the line at assaulting a woman.
"She told you to let her go!"
His body reacted before his mind did, grabbing the collar of the offender with a speed that gave then a shock, given his huge and burly frame.
The man hacked up a pained choke as he was thrown far back by his collar. Two of his companions felt brave enough to attack him despite his very intimidating strength. But they were swiftly delt with as well with a sharp punch to their skull and stomach. The fourth one was smart enough to run away with his tail between his legs.
The main perpetrator got up again, sluggishly running at him for a hit, only for his nose to contact harshly with Kisame's fist, the man howling in the silent night with a pained scream, but then swiftly silenced as he was thrown to the side, knocking out against the railings, the iron bars ringing deafeningly loud.
His other companions were conscious enough to recognize it as a losing fight, scrambling towards the knocked-out man and dragging him with them, away from Kisame, as fast as possible.
Kisame took a couple deep breaths, looking at his fist and noticing the skin of his knuckles to have torn at places, and his wrist a little swollen from a spar earlier that day. Sighing, deeming the situation safe enough, he finally turned around to the woman he had come to rescue.
It was too dark to actually make out her distinct features, but he deduced that she was currently staring wide eyed at the road the thugs have just run off to, her hand clutching on her shoulder and knees drawn up to make herself seem as small her possible.
Her vulnerable and terrified body language, made him sick to his stomach.
"Miss?" He said as softly as possible, he wouldn't want to scare her any more than she already is, and he could feel her whipping her head toward him at his address. "Are you okay?"
She stared at him for a moment, before hesitantly nodding and grabbing the railing to stand up shakily. "Y-yes." He heard her saying so softly that he almost didn't hear her, and taking deep breaths to steady herself, "Thank you."
Kisame nodded, and taking a step back away from the darkened sidewalk and into the better lightened road. The girl followed his actions, taking a few steps towards the center of the road, under the dim streetlight, revealing herself for better identification.
And her features gave him a pause.
'Pink hair?' was the first thing that came to his mind. Certainly, a very unusual hair color. And if the color of her eyebrows and eyelashes were indicating anything, it was apparently natural. 'Even weirder.' And combined with her large green eyes, petite form, and fairy like features, it probably gave the thugs an idea of an easy target.
But he hasn't missed the blood and scratches on the men before he got his hands on them. She has done a number on them before he even got here.
As Kisame was analyzing the woman before him, Sakura was doing the same. He was huge, and very blue, weirdly. Not like ocean blue, but his skin had a strange blue tint. 'Perhaps a stylistic choice.' Adding his bulging muscles and gill tattoos on his high cheekbones, he resembled more a shark than anything else.
As if suddenly reminded of her manners, Sakura bowed to her waist. "Thank you, for your help. Truly."
'This is awkward.' Kisame scrambled, waving his hands to dismiss her reverent words of gratitude. "It's okay, really. It's basic decency to help someone in need, I was just doing my job. It's okay."
That was a lie. His job was actually quite opposite. But he has never harmed anyone innocent, and always reveled in their gratitude when he helped them. But he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the young woman bowing waist deep and profusely thanking him.
And then, suddenly, he remembered something from a week ago. 'Wait. Didn't leader say something about a pink haired girl.' He stared at the pinkette as she was dusting her clothes. It could be possible that it was not the girl he was currently interacting with, but he could take the chance.
He could get to know somethings about her, and then later find out whether it is the same girl or not.
Sakura paused in her dusting and wiped her hand, stretching it out to shake, "The name is Sakura." Kisame took her outstretched hand, internally wondering at how dainty her hand felt inside his, "Kisame Hoshigaki."
Sakura took her hand back and nodded in greeting, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hoshigaki. And once again, thank you for your help."
Kisame bowed his head as well, before he thought of an offer. "Would you like me to escort you to wherever you're going?"
Sakura scrunched her eyebrows in thought, it was a tempting offer. She was still really shaken up about what happened right now, and she might feel better tomorrow, or a couple days, enough to go out on her own. But right now, she does not at all want to walk alone in the dark.
But he might just be offering out of decency and her being worried about being a burden to a kind stranger was making her reluctant.
Kisame seemed to sense her distress for he offered again, "Miss Sakura, if you are worried about me being annoyed at having to escort you, don't be. I truly mean it. However, if you are uncomfortable with walking with me, I can understand."
Sakura relaxed at that. "If you truly don't mind, I would like that." Kisame grinned at her, but his shark like features didn't make her wary, like she thought it would.
The pair walked through and silent road and into the busier one, down the farmers' market and around block to her apartment complex, chattering all the way.
Sakura found that despite how intimidating and scary he looked, cue the stares from the people on the streets, he was really nothing more than a giant teddy bear. He apparently worked as a swimming coach and loved to go fishing. He regularly went to a nearby gym for workout and his favorite dish is salmon sushi.
"You sure have a lot to do with water." Sakura had remarked, making him laugh boisterously and point at his gills tattoo. "It's in my blood."
Kisame had also found out a lot about the curious pinkette. She's a second-year college student, majoring in literature. Loves music, works at a bakery nearby as a pastry chef, "Honeydew" was the name, apparently, and used to do ballet as a kid, but has since danced only scarcely in the last couple years.
Kisame whistled at her experience with doing ballet and also being trained in multiple musical instruments, "Multitalented. You know, you sound like one of those gifted kids with Hitler level sadistic parents who forced their kids to be like Gods."
Sakura gave a nervous laugh at his comment. She was sure that he meant it as a joke, but he wasn't very far off from the truth.
"Yeah. My father was kind of a traditionalist, in the sense that I should be perfect in everything I do." Sakura was proud to say it didn't hurt as bad whenever she remembered him.
"He sounds like a dick."
"Well, you're half right." The light airy laughter from the pinkette floated through the air, warming Kisame's cheeks.
Sakura smiled to herself as the pair fell into a calm silence, enjoying the cool air and the sounds of accompanying footsteps. She was so lost in feeling the sense of security after such a traumatic experience, that she almost when got to her apartment street.
'Already?' Sakura mused in surprise. She hadn't even noticed it. "Kisame-san, we are at my street. My home is just a few houses down."
Kisame tried to stop the surge of disappointment that flowed through his chest. He had been really enjoying their time together. It has been a long while since he'd had any kind of enjoyable conversation with anyone.
"Ah…" he could only respond as Sakura motioned to a small brownstone apartment at a distance. He tried to add something more to the line to avoid sounding like he was disappointed, "It's a nice neighborhood."
Sakura hummed, "Where are you from?"
"I'm actually originally from Kirigakure. I moved here about six years ago."
"Oh so you're not a native either." Sakura asked with mild surprise. His mannerisms and accent seemed to blend in well enough to pass off as a Konoha native.
"Where are you from?"
Sakura paused to truly think of an answer before she responded, "I'm from the east of Mist Island." It wasn't an entire lie, but only partly true.
Kisame paused in surprise, "Oh you're an Islander. And I thought I had ocean in my blood."
Sakura gave a light laugh as the pair came to a stop in front of the small building. She walked up the three steps onto the front entrance and turned to see Kisame.
She bowed once again, low and straight, and full of gratitude. "Once again, thank you for everything you did for me."
Kisame waved his hand as if waving away her appreciation, "And once again, it's nothing."
Sakura smiled softly, when her eyes went to his hand and gasped. "Oh your hand! I didn't even notice, I'm so sorry." Then paused and she thought of an offer, "Please come inside. I have a medical kit in my home, I can wrap it up."
"It will not be needed." Kisame replied softly, keeping his voice low in the silence of approaching night. The adorable concern the pinkette was showing for a scratch that Kisame had even forgot about after a minute, made a strange warmth spread through Kisame's body that fought off the chill of the air.
Sakura continued as if she hasn't heard him at all, "That wouldn't do. I can at least disinfect it and wrap it up with ointment. It's better to get it at least the basic aid before it gets infected." Sakura took a deep breath, apology clearly visible in her eyes, "I'm so sorry you got hurt because of me."
"Sakura." Kisame called firmly, interrupting her rambled apologies, before gentling his tone again. "I get bigger scratches getting out of bed, it's nothing." And he grinned, big and bright before waving his hand in goodbye, "And thank you for the conversation. I had fun."
Sakura smiled back, a light blush on her cheeks, whether from the chilly air or the presence in front of her, she would never know, and waved back, watching his back as he turned his head to give her one last grin and wink. She giggled when she threw herself on the sofa, feeling noticeably lighter than she did after the attack.
"I'll be alright…"
And meanwhile, Kisame was contemplating over a decision.
His meeting with the pinkette was something that come out of nowhere, leaving him totally unprepared. He expected his night to go through with some beer and a movie. Boring and repetition of the previous ones.
Not the pleasant encounter with a sweet pinkette, the light and warm conversations that, in his opinion, ended way too soon for his liking. The darkening sky left him with lingering delight in his chest that made his steps feel lighter and grin widen.
His nights were usually spent trying to ignore the ringing screams of terror that haunted his mind, sometimes with alcohol and occasionally with mindless, meaningless pleasure. But that weight lightened a little today, for once, with the reverent appreciation for doing something right.
But Kisame's steps took a pause when his brain provided him with a schedule task that he nearly forgot. He needed to report the incident to his boss.
Kisame grimaced at the thought. He didn't know that reason for the sudden interest of his leader in a pink haired girl, who has apparently captured the attention of Madara Uchiha. But none of this could ever lead to good news.
"Not today." He decided. He would keep this to himself, selfishly. Under the guise that he doesn't even know whether it's the right person, he would guard the information regarding this encounter to himself. Let no one be made aware of her existence.
A sweet girl like Sakura didn't deserve to have her life be endangered because they had an unexpected meeting.
So he would keep meeting her, to himself.
A loud thud reverberated throughout the large room, followed by a muffled sob. The ballet room brightened by the morning light streaming through the multiple large windows and doors, but the temperature in the room was chillingly cold, if not from the lack of sunlight, then from the icy eyes that were staring at the crumpled form of the small princess.
"Get up." The older lady called out, her cold and sharp voice making the girl wince, trying to muffle her sobs harder. Her feet hurt, her arms hurt, her head hurt. Everything just hurt so bad, and no one cared.
"Get up, Sakura." She heard again, but not from the woman.
Sakura peeked through her haze of tears to the second presence in the room, the tall figure with mauve hair and stone eyes. "Father." She whimpered, scrambling to stand up despite her ankle feeling broken. She would rather endure the physical pain of the aftermath of her dance than whatever her father might impart on her for her punishment for failing.
The man waved away the bowing dance instructor, leaving only the princess and the king occupying the space. Sakura desperately tried to rub away her tears, her feet screaming from pain but she resisted the urge to crumple down again.
"Father, I-"
She didn't say anything more before a rough hand tightly clamped down on her wrist, adding onto the already throbbing joints. She couldn't stop whimper of pain from escaping her lips, but even then, the grip didn't relent.
"Is this your maximum limit?" the hoarse voice from the man reached her, the tone mocking and condescending all together, "Is this really the most you can take? Is this how weak you are? My blood, with limitations?"
Sakura didn't dare raise her eyes or head, her vision filling with tears again as the tremors wracking her body worsened, her breath hitched and shoulders drew up in defense.
She couldn't do it anymore.
"Are you going to be anything more than a disappointment."
"Oh fuck."
Sakura hissed as a sharp pain shot through her scrunched toes. She stumbled to awkwardly land on her foot, boxed inside the worn pointe shoes. 'Why do I do this to myself.' She thought to herself in despair as she stretched her leg to relax the muscles a little.
She shouldn't be here, breaking herself apart, body and mind, picking on old wound that broke away fractions of her sanity.
Sakura sat down with a heavy breath, stretching out on the floor and laying there, staring at the ceiling in a daze. The surrounding felt quiet in the gym she was at, but not calm quiet. It was almost stiflingly quiet. Which was strange, considering it was the busier gym and it five in the morning, a popular time amongst the gym-goers for working out.
But she wasn't complaining, about the silence.
But she was complaining about her screaming muscles, though there was no one else to blame for that, other than herself. Dancing herself to exhaustion after year long hiatus is not recommended.
And she has sworn off ballet for years by now. It was too painful, to always be reminded of her failures in the cold ballrooms. She still sometimes thought of crying in her pillow from how broken and disappointing she felt, how the stony eyes stared at her with nothing but disdain and cold contempt but all she could do whimper for comfort from the ghost of a golden woman.
And the pointe shoes that she still unwittingly brought with her when she ran away from the mansion, never failed to remind her of those horrid hours spent on the maple wood floors. And she should know better than revisiting that path of memories.
But it was too addictive.
The physical exhaustion and weight on her heart somehow felt comforting than the life of peace she has been living for the past years. Because that's what she was used to, feeling miserable and hurt was all she knew. And that was her comfort, in a twisted way. Like picking on old wounds. You know it's bad and you'll only hurt yourself, but you still can't resist.
Like how bad habits always returned, she found herself in the dance studio of the local gym, rented for a few hours. She put on her pointe shoes that had been tucked away into the furthest corners of her apartment, and danced. She went through her plies and pirouettes, tears dotting her vision but never falling, and crumbling down onto the floor when the pain on her toes and ankles became too much.
The night before felt like a trigger for all those memories and emotions to flood her body, leaving her drowning and gasping in her sleep. She felt so weak and powerless against the men, so much bigger and stronger+ than her, leaving her feeling just the way she did when she was hiding from her father in the library, praying to God, he wouldn't find her.
Sakura closed her eyes and breathed low, rising to her feet and pressing the key on her portable speaker, the sound of violin filling the room in a haunting melody. And she danced again.
Danced until she was could not get up.
'This is so dumb.'
Deidara sighed in despair as he was being dragged by his giant blue companion, led by his short redhead partner. It was five in the goddamn morning, why did he even need to be awake, let alone at the gym.
"Why the hell are we here man?!" Deidara whined to no one in particular, useless considering not one of his companions paid any attention to him. He crossed his arms, still being dragged by his collar down the down in front of the blackened glass doors of their gym.
"We warned you about our schedule today. We told you we would be training early." Kisame groused out, voice hoarse in the silence of early dawn. He stopped dragging the blonde by his collar.
Deidara patted down his clothes, glaring at Kisame. "But it's five in the damn morning. Normal people sleep at this hour."
"You slept the whole day yesterday, idiot." Sasori drawled irritated, pushing past the doors to turn on the lights before entering the main room. The gym was open 24/7, but no one really came here past 12 o clock and before six in the morning.
So imagine their surprise when they heard faint music of violin notes from one of the dance studios, connected to the main gym room. They specifically chose this time because they knew their gym would be empty, but seems like someone beat them to it.
"People actually wake up at this hour?" Deidara mused out loud as the three men quietly went to the studio door to see who was inside. The slow violin notes picked up into a faster, more ominous, haunting melody, making him shiver in the darkened room. The blurred glass door was dully alight from the light inside the room.
Sasori went ahead and peeled of a poster covering a large portion in the middle of the door, revealing clear glass, much easier to look inside from.
Deidara slid beside Sasori, peering inside from the glass and Kisame looked inside from above their heads. The large studio was dully lit, not enough to be completely dark but too low for normal dance sessions. And there was a lone figure in the room, legs straight, toes pointed and back arched.
His blue eyed widened as recognition flashed through his mind. The rosy hair wasn't exactly easy to forget.
Deidara watched her tucking in her knee, spinning with her arms bent. Her long, pink hair was undone, softly spinning around her. Her long arms stretching out as she bent at her waist and arched her back, every move that she did utterly entrancing.
Deidara hadn't been the biggest fan of slow, classical performance art. A little boring in his opinion. But right now, the ballet performance was so enchanting, he nearly forgot that he was supposed to be keeping quiet.
But he did hear Kisame breath something above him, "Sakura?..." 'Sakura?' Deidara mused distantly, his eyes refusing to rip away from the moving figure before him. To be honest, his anger on her for getting him in trouble faded after a couple of hours. It was too minor to hold onto his anger. And now, he could only gaze in absolute, pure enthrallment at the art in front of him.
Her movements were smooth and perfect, her coloring providing an ethereal feel with her dawn hair and peachy skin. Her pale complexion almost glowing inside the dark room, as if she was a fairy held captive inside a dark king's castle, made to dance for him. But he didn't like the fact that he couldn't remember the color of her eyes.
But as enrapturing her moves were, her entire being was screaming of a grayer, duller emotion. The way her eyes never opened for even a moment during the whole dance, her eyebrows slightly scrunched, shoulders withdrawn, body almost tentative to fully open, but then spinning and twirling in dynamic movements. It was an explosion of emotion, of colors of different emotions fighting over each other as the music picked up, and so did her steps.
"Holy shit…" Deidara doesn't know whether it was him or the other two who breathed out the curse, it was fitting. She was a bang, a firework of colors and emotions.
She was breathtaking.
But no sooner than did he start feeling too hot in his clothes, they were tumbling past the doors and sprawling on the floor the very next second.
Deidara and Sasori grunted as the wind got knocked out of their chest when the much larger frame of Kisame fell down on them. They heard a yelp of startled surprise from the pinkette, who was staring wide eyed at the trio that now formed a human sandwich.
And then he realized, her eyes were green. And not just green, but the most breath-taking, magnetizing shade of jade.
"What the hell?!" she yelled as she managed to turn of the music from her speakers, watching in befuddlement as the men slowly and carefully picked themselves up from the floor, grunting and groaning the whole way.
"Hey." Kisame said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, partially in embarrassment, partially due to his fall.
"Kisame-san?" Sakura addressed, surprised. "Hey… What are you-" She didn't get to finish though, as Deidara pointed an accusing finger at her, for some reason.
"What are you doing here?" Deidara asked in indignation, as if he wasn't ogling her a minute earlier. Then he turned that accusing finger to Kisame, "And why do you two know each other?"
"None of your business." Sakura replied snippily, moving to pull a pair of pants over her nothing but tights and spandex shorts clad legs. It was already awkward enough that they stumbled on her, mid- performance, she didn't need them staring at her underdressed body. She didn't miss the way the redhead's eyes trailed up her legs.
"First of all, how do you two know each other?" Kisame ignored Deidara's question completely, instead looking over at the pinkette putting on her pants and jacket from the corners of his eyes. He slightly deflated when she zipped up her jacket over her tight tank top. 'Stop staring at her!' Kisame mentally beat over himself for ogling at her, ripping his eyes away from the pinkette to look at the fuming blonde.
Deidara opened his mouth to answer, only to be interrupted again. "This dumbass here," Sasori jabbed his thumb at the blonde, "ran into her, spilled her drink all over the floor, and then started a screaming match."
"I did not start a screaming match!" Deidara, ironically, screamed in indignation. He did not appreciate being insulted while he is standing right there. "And she wasn't looking where she was going."
"A lie, considering you ran into me. I was stationary." Sakura commented snidely, undoing the ribbons of her pointe shoes, "If you weren't too busy ogling women, you would've known where you were going."
Deidara practically had steam coming out of his ears, face red and eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth to let out an undoubtedly scathing reply, before he was shoved down by his redhead companion.
"I think that's enough." Sasori held down on the struggling blonde and nodded his head at the pinkette, "I'm Sasori, by the way. Sorry for intruding on your performance." But before he let go of the blonde, he asked again, "But seriously though, how did you two meet?"
Sakura cast a mildly panicked glance at Kisame, who took the cues to spin up a story. She did not want people she just met, being informed that she was being attacked a day ago. Thankfully, Kisame caught onto that.
"We met yesterday." He spoke as nonchalantly as possible, "She was going somewhere with grocery bags and some of her stuff fell down. I just helped her with carrying them."
Sakura internally released a sigh of relief. "Yeah. I should've just listened to the cashier and taken an extra bag. Would've saved a lot of trouble."
She heard muffled snickering from beside the redhead and glared at the blonde. Deidara, uncaring of the evil eye being cast upon him, continued laughing. "So maybe being clumsy in just in your blood. Do carrying food and you just not go well together or what."
"Alright mister goldilocks, whatever helps you sleep at night I guess. You seem to be very unconcerned for being someone whose first instinct was to punch the girls in the face that you bumped into."
Deidara froze in his shoes as the last sentence left Sakura's lips. The temperature suddenly dropped behind him as his hair stood on ends. He had completely forgot about that little instance when he was stalking forward toward the pair of girls in the mall.
He wasn't going to physically hurt them of course, maybe just intimidate them a little, but he has no way defending him of those accusations right now.
And Kisame thought just about that.
"Deidara." The chilling voice of the normally calm man, made Deidara internally shriek in terror, "What did she say?" When he didn't get any response from the blonde, he repeated, "She said that you moved to punch at them. Is that true?"
Deidara frantically shook his head, looking pleadingly at his redhead companion for any kind of support, only to receive nothing but apathy and look of boredom in return. "I swear on my name that I did no such thing."
Sakura, sensing that the atmosphere might be getting a tad too hostile for her taste, decided to take her leave. She had a degree to get to anyway. "Anyway. It was nice meeting you all. Have a nice day."
Kisame took a moment a moment to put his anger aside and smile warmly at the pinkette, "Goodbye, Sakura." Sasori followed suit, nodding his head and muttering a quiet 'Goodbye' as the studio door swung open and then closed behind her.
Deidara followed her form with his eyes until she was out of his sight and behind the closed doors, all the while going crazy with all the plethora of emotions he was feeling, simultaneously.
Was it possible to feel annoyed, infuriated, enchanted and aroused, all at the same time?
But that train of thoughts was cut short when sound of cracking of knuckles fell to his ears, and he was reminded of his previous predicament.
Kisame grabbed the back collar of the blonde, jerking him none to gently out of the studio and towards the boxing ring room, muttering darkly, while Sasori still stood in the studio, looking contemplatively towards the doors the pinkette just walked out of.
Kisame pointedly ignored the hacking sounds the blonde was making, slamming the boxing room open.
"Warm up. We're in for a long and much needed lesson today."
Sakura decided that no matter how many degrees and PhDs she might get in psychology, she will never understand men.
Specifically, men with blond hair and blue eyes.
"Sakura-chan!" The aforementioned man almost barreled into her with how fast he bounced to her, skipping like an overexcited puppy who just saw his companion, as if they didn't meet an hour ago. "Are you going home?"
Sakura shook her head at him, shoving away her books in her bag, "No, Naruto. I have a job to get to."
Naruto oohed, as if just remembering that people actually had jobs in university as well. Then his eyes brightened, mouth splitting into a radiant grin, "Let me walk you there!"
Sakura chuckled in amusement, "Don't you have to go home. Your mom isn't very patient."
"Ehh, she'll be fine." He shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets. "When will you be at teme's house tomorrow?"
Sakura thought over the question. She could get to the Uchiha compound very well by five o' clock in the evening, but that would require her clocking out early. She'll have to talk to her manager first. "I'm thinking around five, but I'll need to talk to my manager first."
"I'll pick you up."
Sakura smiled gratefully at the blonde, crossing the road with him in toe, chattering away about everything and also nothing in particular. Along the way, a cat also jumped on him, scaring the bones out of him. The cat looked equally terrified.
After getting distracted by mundane things along the way and being late by around ten minutes. Sakura pushed past the back door, putting away her bag and tying her apron, she saw Naruto looking around the kitchen in wonder. "What are you looking for?"
Naruto blinked, grinning again, "Nothing really. It's just… it's the first time I'm seeing your workplace."
"You've came here before, Naruto."
"Yeah, but that was the dining area. I've never seen the place that you actually work at."
"No one has, Naruto." She chuckled before knocking on the pantry door, the rustling from inside halting immediately. "Neji! You there?" the pantry door opened and the head of the older Hyuuga poked out, his hands carrying a large carton of creamer.
"Oy, Neji!" Naruto waved to the brown haired man, grin never faltering from his face. "How's it going?"
The Hyuuga was another one of their friends, cousin of Hinata and a year senior to the group. They met in the university quite often, but extended periods of time with him were rare.
Neji nodded his head in greeting, "It's going good. How come you're here?"
"He walked me here." Sakura replied to him, drawing his attention to her walking away to the stacks of pastry dough on the rack.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man as he saw him following the pinkette's form with his eyes, and the look in them is the one that he knows all too well. He might be great friends with him, but even so, he wouldn't stand for that.
Tightly clamping a hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder, Naruto chuckled with false brightness, "You'll be coming to teme's party with Hinata, right?"
Neji in turn also narrowed his eyes at the Uzumaki, taking stark note of the too tight grip on his shoulder and the sudden, hostile energy from the blonde. "Yes. She'll be coming with me. And that reminds me," he once again ignored Naruto and turned to the pinkette, "Do you want a ride, Sakura? You can ride with me."
Sakura blinked and opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a voice responded, very loudly.
"Oh she'll be going with me." If anything, the grip on Neji's shoulders tightened. Naruto's smile was much more icy, uncomfortably contrasting to his sunny disposition. "You just get Hinata."
Sakura, mostly unconcerned with their strange pissing contest against one another, returned to rolling her pastry dough. But energy cackled between the two men, opposing one another with matching glares.
"What is it, Naruto?" Neji whispered heatedly, his pale eyes glaring into the stormy blue ones. People might think that the young Uzumaki was all sunny smiles and childish carelessness.
But he knew better.
He has seen how sometimes his eyes would darken at the pinkette, possessive hands always present somewhere on her form, disguised as innocent touches of a friend. And how sometimes his eyes would rage at other, less than innocent men when they would get too close to her.
And it made his blood boil. Him and the Uchiha too.
Naruto was mostly his childish, sunshine self, but there was a darker, more primal part somewhere hidden in him, rearing it's head once in a while. Everyone was aware of that, but they mostly ignored it. Naruto was his friend, but some instances made him want to rip his hair out.
Naruto growled low at him, his tight smile faded from his face. "Stop going after her."
He wanted to cry to himself, or maybe lunge at the Hyuuga. It was unfair! He was the first one who made friends with Sakura, why is everyone else going after her then?!
She was the first girl in a very long while who had made him want to get lost in someone. All rose colored and fiery eyed, she was his spring flower. He has been her best friend for over four years, he has always been around her, with her, and still the men at university couldn't take a hint and just leave her alone.
He could take Sasuke flirting with her, albeit very poorly, because he knew she could only be annoyed at him, and he is also his best friend. But other men are off limits.
No way he's just letting some other man come around them just to steal her from him.
And Naruto took small victory in himself, when Neji gave him a last glare and stiffly turned away to his station. And he was back to his radiant grin.
"Naruto." He turned to the pinkette calling his name, and his heart fluttered again at the way it sounded from her, "You've been here long enough, go home."
Naruto pouted before sighing dramatically and throwing himself on her petite form, "But then I won't see you. I'll miss you!"
Sakura sighed before pinching his cheek, hard. "Go home you doofus. Or I'm calling Aunty Kushina and telling her that you skipped out on poli-science class, again."
Naruto almost purred at the contact with the pinkette, her warm body fitting perfectly under him and her dainty finger squishing her cheeks. But amidst the dizzying delight, he atleast had the decency to wince at the thought of his mother, waiting by the door with a broom in hand.
"Okay, Sakura-chan." He wilted in dejection, before squeezing the pinkette in a bear hug and waving his farewell. "Bye Sakura-chan!" and as if forgetting the whole interaction he had, "Bye Neji!"
Sakura chuckled as she heard a yelp from the blonde outside, along with the hiss of an angry cat. He doesn't seem to have the greatest luck with cats. Turning away from the door, she went back to her pastries, but then changing her route and ending up at Neji's station. "Neji, can you get me some espresso?"
Neji was a little startled at her presence but quickly ducked away his head, nodding at her frowned at his strange behavior, but then a thought came to her mind. "Hey Neji?" The addressed man looked at her in question, "Can you help me with something?"
"What is it?"
"I need some help with world history." Sakura sighed in dismay. She didn't like asking for help, especially with studies, but she's losing the battle against the nasty enemy that is world history. "You're an expert at it. Can you help me?" and just for good measures, she prettily batted her eyelashes at him.
Neji could feel heat rising steadily up his neck when he saw her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings, and only brough back to reality when he felt the hot trickling of espresso overflowing the cup and onto his hand.
Clearing his throat and willing the blush to leave his cheeks, he slid the cup to her awaiting hand before he decided that his voice would be steady enough to not embarrass him, "Yes. I would help you." And his heart near melted at the warm and bright smile Sakura sent his way.
"It'll be a date." Sakura giggled at him with a wink before skipping back to the kitchen.
Neji's heart was thumping almost suffocatingly within his chest by the time Sakura was out of his sight, and he wouldn't even begin to deny the bright redness that was likely high on his cheeks, even as it was time to take his shift.
He was pretty sure she was joking when she said that it was a date, but just this once, he'll pretend that she wasn't.
AN: How was the chapter? Did y'all like it?
See you next chap.
UPDATE NOTE (23 March, 2023) : Okay, so, I'm just going here to give a little update in the schedule for future chapters. If you see that it has been a couple weeks or more than a month since the last update, rest assured that I'm NOT abandoning this fic. I have one of my most important exams for med school entrance coming up, in about a month, so I'm putting my attention into preparing for that instead of updating.
But for any probable schedule for next updates, the next chapter probbaly won't be up before the first week of May, so bear with me :) This story is my baby and I WILL update it, sooner or later. But if I do feel like starting on the next chapter and uploading it, it might be within April, but don't hold onto that hope.
Anyhow, I just wanted to let y'all know that don't think that I'm running off to somewhere else or dying, I'm just focusing on the much more important tasks right now. See y'all later!