Chapter 17

What We've Been Waiting For

Sakura walks up to Takara's apartment and knocks. When she knocks, the door opens.

"Did Takara forget to lock the door? That's not like her," Sakura says in her head.

Sakura walks in and calls for Takara. Takara doesn't answer. Sakura looks in every room and she finds Takara on the end of her bed with tears running down her face while holding her songbook.

"There you are!" Sakura says and sits next to Takara.

Takara sighs. "I wrote a song and every time I read it, I cry."

"Is it about Neji?" Sakura asks.

"Basically," Takara says. "It's called Drowning Fool."

"Oh no," Sakura says.

Takara gives Sakura her book and Sakura looks down at the page. She sees the song title and then she starts to read it. "I knew it was too good to be true, I was stuck to you like glue, and now I'm lying here begging for you to come back to me. I'm trying to recover but you won't leave my mind. You were too kind, I trusted you, but I was a fool. All these tears I keep forming, I feel like I'm going to drown. My frown won't go away and I don't think it will. Lay me on the ground and just kick me all over again. All these tears I keep forming, I feel like I'm going to drown... drown... drown. My home is a pool from my tears, and I'm a fool for trusting you. I knew it was too good to trust you."

"Aww, Takara," Sakura says.

Takara starts to cry more. "I was a fool!"

"Sakura... Sakura?" Sakura hears in her head. It's Ino, she's using mind body transmission. "I'm sure you're busy but Neji bought pansies for Takara. I have no idea where he is right now though."

Sakura smiles. "Hey Takara, would you like to go on a walk?"

Takara looks out her window and sees that the sun is mostly gone. The moon is lighting up the sky. Takara sighs. "Whatever. Let me change out of my pajamas"

Takara changes her clothes. Sakura and Takara get up and go to the front door. Sakura opens her door and Takara locks it. Then Sakura nudges Takara to start walking. Takara is just looking at her feet while they walk and Sakura is looking around for Neji. Sakura wants to "bump" into Neji and have him confess his feelings to Takara.

"Doesn't it feel nice out?" Sakura asks Takara.

Takara shrugs her shoulders. "I guess so."

Sakura tries to come up with things to say. "Um... So... Uh..."

Takara looks over at Sakura. "What?"

"Oh!" Sakura says. "I think we should get to know more about each other. How about... your birthday?"

"You want to know my birthday?" Takara asks.

"Yeah!" Sakura says. "Mine is March 28th."

"Oh," Takara says. "Mine is July 7th."

Takara looks back down. Sakura looks up and still searches for Neji. Then, Sakura sees Neji. Neji looks over and sees Sakura walking with a sad Takara. Sakura waves to Neji.

"Um, Takara?" Sakura asks.

"What?" Takara says while still looking down.

"Don't freak out, but I see Neji-," Sakura says until Takara quickly looks up with her eyes getting big. Takara slowly starts walking backwards. "Takara, where are you going?!"

"Um... I.. just remembered... that I had... something in the oven!" Takara lies.

"Takara, when I came in you were holding your song book crying, and I didn't smell anything," Sakura says.

Takara looks down and walks back to Sakura. She awaits such an awkward moment with Neji.

Neji comes up to Sakura and Takara. "Hello Takara and Sakura."

"Hi Neji!" Sakura says.

Takara slowly looks up with tears in her eyes. "H- Hi."

Neji sees how red her eyes are and how dark around her eyes are. Neji hates seeing how depressed Takara is. Neji then quickly shakes his head to bring himself back to what he was originally going to do.

"T- those are really pretty flowers," Takara says. "Purple pansies are my favorite."

"I've heard," Neji says with a smile.

"Who's the lucky person to get pretty flowers from you?" Takara asks, still feeling drained from crying.

"They're for you, Takara," Neji says nervously.

Takara's eyes get big. "For me? What?"

Sakura smiles.

"What? I- I can't get a pretty girl her favorite flowers?" Neji asks with his face turning red.

"D- did you just call me pretty?" Takara asks. Her hands start to shake. Neji hands her the flowers and Takara slowly accepts them. "T- thank you Neji. H- how did you know my favorite flower?"

"Sakura may or may not have told me," Neji says and holds one of Takara's shaky hands.

Takara looks up at Neji with her eyes shaking. "Neji?"

Neji leans in closer to her face. "Takara, I'm truly sorry that you heard me tell Tenten that I don't have feelings for you. I... I lied to her. I do have feelings for you. I... I really like you. That's why I want to always protect you. That's why I killed Hiroshi and Eito without hesitation, even if they killed me, I wanted to help you. Do you know how many times I wanted to kiss you last night? Especially after seeing you under the moonlight. You're so beautiful Takara."

Takara smiles and starts to cry. "Oh my God Neji! Do you really mean that?"

Neji leans Takara's face up and she's looking right up at him. "I do Takara. When I first saw you, I thought I was just in shock because I just saw you on the news. That part might be true, but I think I was stunned by your beauty."

"M- my beauty?" Takara asks. She is completely frozen in shock.

"Yes," Neji says. "Then I saw your scar on your stomach and I just couldn't help it but... I felt so attracted to you when I saw your scar and bruise because of how strong you are. That's why I came in and showed you my curse mark. We both have marks that we wish would go away, but it's part of us. Your unwanted marks, I love them. They're beautiful Takara."

Takara smiles with tears running down her face. "No one ever has said that my body was beautiful."

"You are beautiful," Neji says. "Your personality, your cute face, your marks. I love everything about you."

Takara's tears keep flowing down her face. The moon shines in Takara's eyes causing Neji to stare right into them.

"Takara...," Neji says.

"Neji?" Takara asks.

Neji closes his eyes then slowly leans in and kisses Takara on the lips. Takara's eyes get big and she smiles so big. She then kisses Neji back and puts her free hand around him. Sakura smiles and walks to Takara. She takes her flowers and stands back. Takara puts her other arm around Neji's neck. After a few seconds, Neji unlocks his lips from Takara and he looks down at her with a smile. Takara still has her arms around Neji's neck.

"N- Neji!" Takara says with excitement.

"I'm sorry, was that okay?" Neji asks with his face being bright red.

"Y- yes," Takara says with a smile.

Neji smiles. "You... you were my first kiss."

"You were my first kiss too," Takara says.

"I'm glad we could share our first kiss together," Neji says and puts his arms around her waist.

Takara leans in and hugs Neji. Neji holds her on her lower back.

"I knew I had a feeling why I felt so close to you," Takara says.

Neji looks down at Takara. "Because we're meant to be together?"

Takara shyly smiles and buries her face into Neji's chest. Neji chuckles and lifts her head up.

"Takara?" Neji asks.

"Yes Neji?" Takara says.

Neji holds one of her hands. "Takara Uta, will you be my girlfriend?"

Takara's eyes water up. She never thought she'd find anyone who would love her, her body, and accept her past. She's in total shock, someone she truly likes, likes her back. She also can't believe how good looking Neji is, and he likes her back.

"Yes! Yes Neji! I would love to be your girlfriend!" Takara says in excitement. She immediately jumps up and hugs Neji. Neji holds her.

"9:21 p.m.," Sakura says with a smile.

Takara and Neji look over at Sakura with smiles on their faces.

"You got the exact minute of us being official? I like that," Neji says while still holding Takara.

Takara can't stop smiling. "I just heard Neji say 'us being official' referring to us. Oh my God. I have to be dreaming."

"Am I dreaming?" Takara asks.

"Does this answer your question?" Neji asks and kisses Takara on her forehead which causes her to smile big.

"I think so," Takara says. Takara looks up at Neji. "Do that again."

"What? Kiss your forehead?" Neji asks.

Takara looks away and nods her head. Neji smiles and holds her face and kisses her forehead. Takara smiles.

"I love forehead kisses, oh my goodness," Takara says.

"Good," Neji says. "I love giving you forehead kisses."

Sakura walks up to Takara and hands her the flowers. "I'm going to leave you two alone. Congrats you two!"

"Thank you!" Takara says. "Be safe getting home!"

"You too!" Sakura says and waves.

"Wait, Sakura!" Neji calls out.

"Yes?" Sakura asks.

"Please don't tell anyone about us, I want to find the right moment to tell everyone," Neji says.

"You got it," Sakura says. "Bye guys!

Takara waves while Neji still holds her. Sakura walks off away from Takara and Neji. Takara then turns around to look at Neji. Her and Neji look up at each other because they're alone for the first time as a couple. Takara gently gets off Neji. Neji then slowly grabs Takara's hand and he holds her hand. This causes Takara to blush. She looks up at Neji.

"Your hand fits mine so perfectly," Takara says, not knowing what to say.

"That's a good thing huh?" Neji says while smiling.

Takara laughs. "Yeah."

"Do you want to go back to your place?" Neji asks Takara.

"Oh, sure," Takara says. She gives Neji a big smile. "I'd like to get out of these clothes and into my pajammies!"

"God you're adorable," Neji says and pinches her cheek with his other free cheek.

"You think I'm adorable?" Takara asks.

"I know you're adorable. God, I've wanted to call you that for so long," Neji says.

"Well now, you can tell me anything you want," Takara says while slowly wiggling her hips.

Neji chuckles. "Those hips of yours."

"What about them?" Takara asks.

Neji's face starts to turn red. "Um... well, they're cute."

"I always thought they were too wide," Takara says.

Neji puts his hands on her hips. "Nope. I like them."

Takara's face starts to turn red.

"What am I feeling?" Takara asks in her head.

"Let's get you home," Neji says.

"I'll go home as long as you stay there for a little bit," Takara says.

"I planned on staying there to hang out with you," Neji says.

Neji grips Takara's hand a little harder and they start to walk home. Takara is still in shock that she is officially Neji's. From what started to be a decent day, turned into tragedy, and is now perfect. Takara finally has her Neji and Neji is finally happy to be with someone.

They get to Takara's apartment and she grabs her key to unlock it. While unlocking the door, Neji leans over and kisses the back of her head which causes Takara to freeze in her spot for a second. She smiles and then finally unlocks the apartment. Her and Neji walk inside her house and Takara locks the door. Neji immediately scans to see if anyone is in her home. Neji doesn't see anyone, he just sees wrappers on the ground.

"I'm really sorry about my house... again," Takara says. "I was really depressed earlier and didn't care. Let me clean up."

Takara then starts picking up her empty wrappers and throws them away. Takara pokes her head to her room and sees if there's any trash in there. Only her songbook. Takara grabs her songbook and walks out to sit next to Neji who is on the couch.

"There's that songbook," Neji says.

Takara looks at her most recent song and her eyes get big.

"Have you written any songs recently?" Neji asks.

"Um, I did, today... But... I immediately regret it. I want to get rid of it," Takara says.

"Why?" Neji says. "I'm sure it's beautiful."

"It's not," Takara says. "It's actually kinda sad... I was very depressed when I wrote it."

"Then the song has to be good since you put your emotions into it," Neji says.

"B- But...," Takara says with worry in her eyes.

"You don't have to show me if you don't want to," Neji says and kisses Takara's nose.

Takara smiles. "I like nose kisses too."

"Good," Neji says.

Takara sighs. "I feel like if I show you the song, you'll be mad at me."

"Why on earth would I be mad at you?" Neji says.

"Well, I thought you didn't like me, and I was depressed, and the song is how I felt and... I was just hurting."

"I promise I won't be mad at you Takara," Neji says.

Takara slowly gives her songbook to Neji.

"Drowning Fool?" Neji asks.

Takara nods her head slowly. Neji then starts to read her song and he puts his arm around her. Takara leans in closer to Neji. She watches Neji read her song and she notices Neji looks sad.

"Neji?" Takara asks.

Neji puts her book down and turns around to face her.

"Takara, I'm so sorry that I made you feel this way," Neji says. "God, Takara, please forgive me."

"Neji, no need to apologize, it's all okay, I promise," Takara says. "It was just a misunderstanding, we are together now and that's all that matters."

"You're right," Neji says. "I'm surprised you're not mad at me for lying about my feelings towards you."

"It's okay, I get it. I've heard that boys get nervous about that topic," Takara says.

"Yeah," Neji says. "Tenten kept bothering me about it and I just lied to her just to get her to stop talking. If I told her the truth, she wouldn't let it go. Plus... she told me she has feelings for me."

"She has feelings for you? So that's why she's so mean to me!" Takara says.

"She did admit that she was just jealous of you," Neji says.

"How are you going to tell her about us?" Takara asks.

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that she'll bump into us and see us holding hands or something," Neji says.

Takara looks up at Neji's face with a smile. Neji looks down and smiles at her too.

"What's on your mind?" Neji asks.

Takara leans up and gives Neji a quick kiss.

"I've been wanting to kiss you first for a while now," Takara says

"You can kiss me whenever you want to, you know that right?" Neji asks with a wink.

"Oh, so I could kiss you... Right now?" Takara asks and kisses him. "Or... wait for it... Now?" She kisses him again. "Or...-"

Neji cuts her off and slams his face into Takara's and gives her a long passionate kiss. This kiss catches her off guard. Neji slowly pushes her down and keeps kissing her. Takara puts her arms around his neck trying to catch her breath.

"N- Neji baby," Takara says.

Neji looks down at her. "Am I coming on too strong? Do you want me to stop?"

"No, no... You're fine. You just caught me off guard and I needed to catch my breath," Takara says.

Neji starts to caress Takara's cheek. "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable, princess."

Takara gets chills when he said that. "I love little nicknames."

"Oh yeah? So I can call you my princess, or my love, or you know... my girlfriend," Neji says with a cute smile.

"Stop, you're gonna make me blush!" Takara says.

"I think it's too late for that," Neji says while looking at Takara's cheeks.

Takara covers her cheeks with her hands and Neji laughs. Neji then sits up and tries not to fall on top of Takara. Takara sits up and stands up.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to change," Takara says and walks to her bedroom.

She shuts her door and looks at herself in the mirror. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD! I'm dating Neji! I kissed him a lot and he was basically on top of me kissing me... What am I feeling? Like, I'm excited but not excited like a kid about to open their birthday presents. I just want to kiss him nonstop."

Takara strips down naked and looks for pajamas that she feels comfortable wearing around Neji. She grabs a white tank top and a pair of pink plaid shorts and puts them on. She puts on the robe she wore last night. She then grabs some white socks and wears them to cover the cigarette burns. Takara then gets up and looks at herself in the mirror. "The shirt is kinda tight, but that's fine."

Takara walks out of her bedroom. Neji is sitting there with a smile because she just came out of her room.

"Hey," Takara says.

"Yes?" Neji says.

"Come here, I want to show you something," Takara says.

Neji walks up to Takara. Takara goes to her kitchen and opens a drawer and she grabs a map. She takes the map and spreads it out on the table.

"So, here's the Cloud village," Takara says and points to the village. "And over here..." Takara then draws a circle on the map. "Around here is where I was forced to stay for 9 years. I want you to know, if anything ever happens to me, search there first."

Neji studies the map. "Okay. I got it."

Takara stares at the circle on the map. "God... 9 years." Neji rolls up the map. Takara sighs. "Why me? Why was I kidnapped? Why was I abused? Why do some people have to go through this?"

Neji takes one of Takara's hands. "I'm really not sure, you didn't deserve it. But just know, it's all over and you don't ever have to go through that again."

Takara smiles at Neji. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Takara goes to her living room and lays on her stomach on the floor and looks up at Neji. "Join me!"

Neji goes to Takara and lays in front of her. Takara quickly gives Neji a kiss.

"I still want to get to know you more," Takara says and winks.

"Yeah? Like what?" Neji asks.

Takara's eyes get big. "Um.. Uh... Like... When... Uh..."

Neji laughs. "Okay I'll start. How about... your birthday?"

"M- My birthday? Birthday? Oh yeah! July 7th. I'm a Cancer. It's funny, when Sakura wanted to get to know me, she asked for my birthday first thing too. The only thing I remember about my 5th birthday was that my dad took me to get pictures taken next to a big cut out of the number 5. And afterwards, I remember my mom was gonna celebrate with me, but she was writing a lot of letters and left the house a lot. She wouldn't tell me or my dad what was going on. We just figured she had to go deal with her sick mother at the time. I wonder if my grandma is alive. Oh, am I rambling again? I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," Neji says. "I like listening to you talk. You have a pleasant voice, and I bet your singing voice is beautiful."

"Eh," Takara says then laughs. "But I'm glad you think that. When's your birthday?"

"July 3rd," Neji says.

"Oh our birthdays are only 4 days apart! I'll have to remember the 3rd for the future," Takara says and winks.

Neji gives Takara a joyful smile. "And I'll remember lucky 7… So, is it your dream to become a famous singer?"

Takara smiles and sits up. "Yes! God, how I'd love that." Takara starts to imagine. "Imagine this Neji: I'm about to come out on stage. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of excited, eager fans in the crowd. Some of the fans are wearing Takara Uta merch. And then after a while, you hear everyone chant Takara Uta! Takara Uta! Takara freaking Uta! Oh man, I wish."

"You wish?" Neji asks. "How about we try to make it come true?"

"What? No way Neji! I can't sing at all. I mean, when I'm alone I sing all the time and try to ignore how bad I sound. My songs aren't even good. I can only dream," Takara says.

"I don't like the negativity. Stop saying you can't," Neji says.

"Hm?" Takara asks.

"You say you can't, but I know you can. I don't know if Hiroshi or the rest said anything negative about your dreams, but you escaped from them. Anything is possible. If you hate your singing voice, just keep practicing. Remember, everyone is their own worst critic," Neji says.

"I wouldn't have dreams Tak. You belong to us for the rest of your life. You live to serve us. Do you want to see your parents? That'll never happen. Do you want to leave here? Yeah right. You want to grow up, fall in love, possibly start a family? You know that's not possible! You're stuck here, and we took out your fallopian tubes so you can't EVER have kids! No unwanted babies on our watch," Takara quotes from her memory. A tear comes out of one of her eyes.

"Wait, did you just say that they took out your... fallopian tubes?" Neji asks.

More tears come out from Takara's eyes. "Yes. When I hit puberty, one of the first things they did... was..." Takara takes a deep breath from crying. "Leiji tied my legs down and Leitangi tied my arms down. I was awake with no pain killers, Eito took a knife and cut open my body and... removed my fallopian tubes. When I was on the table screaming, Eito leaned into my face and said "You don't need these. We don't want to accidentally knock you up." They did everything they could to make sure that my body couldn't make a baby." Takara starts to cry more.

Neji sits up and puts his arm around Takara. Takara shakes but doesn't throw Neji's arm off or punch him like how she did to Kakashi. Takara then starts to cry more.

"Shh... Shh... Takara, listen to me-," Neji says until Takara looks up and cuts him off.

"I know you probably wanted to have children of your own and if we get married- I can't give you any kids," Takara says while crying.

Neji then puts both of his hands on Takara's shoulders. "Takara, please listen to me."

Takara tries to slow down her crying and heavy breathing. "I'm sorry."

Neji takes his hands off Takara and kisses her gently on the forehead. "No need to apologize. If you can't have kids then that's fine. Do you even want kids?"

Takara shrugs her shoulders. "Honestly, when I was younger I never really cared or thought about it. After I was kidnapped I thought to myself that I would never want to bring a child into a world like this. What if someone kidnapped my baby and I had no idea where they were? What if they got murdered? I don't think I could handle the constant fear of something bad happening to my baby. So, I would probably say no, unless my spouse wanted kids, but it doesn't matter 'cause I can't have kids."

"So you're telling me that you would rather not have kids, unless your spouse wanted them?" Neji asks.

Takara nods. "If we get married and Hinata has kids, we can be the cool aunt and uncle." Takara chuckles at her comment.

Neji chuckles and looks over at Takara.

"Takara?" Neji asks.

"Yes?" Takara asks.

"I love you," Neji says.

Takara's eyes get big. "Y- you love me?"

"I do," Neji says while looking right into Takara's eyes.

"I- I- I-..." Takara tries to say. She is speechless. Without thinking, Takara puts her arms around Neji and kisses him. Neji kisses her back. Quickly, Takara lets go of Neji. "Neji, I - I... Oh my God... I love you too." Takara leans into Neji and gives him a hug. Takara leans into Neji's face. "I love you."

Neji gives Takara a quick kiss. Takara smiles. Then Neji loses his balance and almost falls on top of Takara. He holds himself up with his hands which are right next to Takara's head. Neji looks down at Takara and she's smirking. Neji leans down to kiss her. Neji then starts to kiss her fast. Neji slowly starts to slip off Takara's robe. Takara takes it off and it stays underneath her body. Neji continues to kiss her until Takara starts breathing heavily.

"Neji... Neji... I'm sorry. I- I... I can't do this," Takara says while hiding her red face. "I… I see Hiro… Hiroshi."

Neji looks down at his girl underneath him. "Don't be sorry. I should be the one apologizing. I was coming on too strong. This isn't like me, I'm so sorry."

Takara looks away. "But like... I enjoyed it. It was exciting, but..." Takara sighs. She realizes she's underneath Neji. "Oh God." She slides out from underneath him quickly. Neji quickly sits down and crosses his legs.

"I really feel bad, I wasn't using my brain. God, I'm never like this," Neji says with his head in his hands.

Takara sits in front of Neji. She holds one of his hands. "It's okay. When I got uncomfortable and wanted to stop, you stopped. I really appreciate that. You listened to me. Don't feel bad, this is new to you and you were in the heat of the moment. I... I feel bad for being the buzz killer."

Neji looks up at Takara and barely smiles. "Of course I'm going to stop if you say stop." Neji sighs. "I'm never going to forgive myself for not stopping myself."

"Baby, please don't beat yourself up over this. I'm not mad at you. It's just going to take time for us to get used to these kinds of things," Takara says.

Neji's face turns red. "If... if you ever want to try things again, um... just let me know. I want to go slow and... God..." Neji puts his head in his hands.

Takara kisses Neji's shoulder. "Neji, I promise I'm not mad. Come on, let's just go cuddle or something."

Neji looks over at Takara looking ashamed. "Um, okay."

Takara stands up and puts her hand out for Neji. Neji grabs her hand and sits up. Takara guides Neji to her room and she lets Neji sit down on the bed. Takara goes back out and grabs her robe that she took off moments ago. She walks back to her room while putting the robe back on her body.

Takara lays down next to Neji sitting on the bed. Neji keeps looking down with his face being bright red.

"Can the hokage really find my parents? Are they even alive? 13 years is a long time. If they are alive, would they know who I am? But if they aren't alive, I guess I could go visit their graves. I really hope it isn't the latter," Takara says in her mind.

"Takara?" Neji asks to break the awkward silence.

"Huh?" Takara asks. "Oh, hi Neji. You okay?"

"The silence was bothering me. I thought you were secretly mad at me," Neji says.

"What? No!" Takara says. "Trust me, you'd know if I were mad at you. I was just thinking."

"About?" Neji asks.

"My parents," Takara says. "I can't help but wonder if they're alive."

"In the morning, let's go visit Lord 5th and see how she can help us," Neji says.

Takara smiles. "Okay. Hey, lay down with me."

Neji lays down and Takara snuggles up to him. He puts his arm around her and she puts her leg on top of him.

"I'm still sorry about being a buzzkill," Takara says softly.

"Don't be," Neji says. "It just wasn't the right timing for you."

Takara snuggles closer to Neji. "I love you Neji."

"I love you to, Takara."