Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Distant Thoughts ❯ Memories ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: See other chapters.

AN: *Grin* Thanks again! Your reviews mean a lot to me. Keep them coming and so will this
story, though I almost had a block on what to write just the other day. Lucky me that I am on
vacation, so I have more time to write. Plus I like messing around with the characters and making
them do what I want them too, *evil laugh*….okay on with the story!!

~~

Chapter 4: Memories

~~

Contrasting colors stared back at her. The pale gray stared at her with slight worry as his question
went unanswered. The dark eyed boy slowly walked into the room and stood by her bed. Sakura
continued to look in between the two, wondering if her question too will be unanswered. Neji
stood where he was, unmoving but focus. Sakura wiped her eyes from the earlier tears that she
shed before the two walked in on her.

"Ah, Sakura. Kakashi-sensei told me to stay with you till you were okay on your own. I don't
know why the Hyuuga is here. He just dropped bye, unannounced." He gave a cold glance
towards Neji, who started to move into the room. Neji gave an equally cold glance at Sasuke
before turning to the small female.

"Hinata-sama told me of what happened to you and I am sorry for your lost. I came to see if you
were okay." He stood some distance from Sasuke but close to the edge of the bed. Sakura gave a
gentle smile to Neji. "Thank you for your concern Neji-san. But I should be okay." She bowed
her head in gratitude. Neji gently sat on the edge of the bed, but Sasuke didn't like the idea of
Neji being in the room.

"Hyuuga," he spat "I think you can see that Sakura is okay right now and that you have no
permission from my sensei to be here, so I suggest you leave as soon as possible." He turned to
Neji as he got up from the bed. Neji just stared hard at Sasuke and the way he spat his family
name. Sakura again was lost between the two, looking back and forth.



‘What the hell is wrong with these two, they look like they are ready to kill.' Neji soon turned
and walked to the door. Sasuke gave a smug smile, like the cat who got the canary, and turned to
Sakura. Neji glanced back and saw Sakura looking at him,

"I'll see you later Sakura-san, maybe we can train again like we did last time." With that he left
the room and the house. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at what Neji said. "You trained with him
before Sakura?" Sasuke felt uncomfortable at not knowing something like this.

Sakura turned her vision from the door to the remaining boy beside her. She nodded her head at
his question. "Yea, before we were to go on a mission together. It was when you were always
training with Kakashi-sensei. Since the Hokage found it important that you train, she sent me
with Neji-san's group to do a mission. Lee couldn't go, remember, and they needed a group of
three."

Sasuke digested this new information. He didn't know that Neji and Sakura were so close.
Maybe just a passing hello but not enough that they were teammates. Even for one mission, that
to him was enough time he wanted Sakura near the other boy. The familiar feeling from the
forest earlier came back to him when he thought of Sakura near Neji. He shook his head trying to
remove the foreign feeling. Sakura looked at Sasuke while he shook his head quickly.

"Are you okay Sasuke?" she asked. ‘I must be strong, both Naruto and Sasuke don't have a
family and they are strong. I must put this behind me and focus on my team and my exams.'
Sasuke looked down at the girl who had a look of concentration on her face. "Ah, Sakura. I'm
fine, just thinking of something. I was never aware of you going on a mission with his group."

‘Of course, after that time is when you told me that you will stop following me.' Sasuke came
with a realization that in the gap that came between his training and the last time he saw Sakura,
she had changed, ‘it must have been during that mission.'

"I never truly told anybody. Naruto knows because he has slowly gotten closer to Hinata-chan
and she knew because Neji-san is her cousin." Sasuke sat down on her bed and looked into her
green eyes. They shown with strength and determination, ‘Sakura, you have changed, did you
change and I had yet to notice truly till now?' he questioned himself as he put a gentle hand onto
her cheek.

Sakura's head shot up at the sudden contact with the boy she had once followed with all her
heart. ‘Yes, once I did, but now, I- I'm not to sure.' She looked on, drowning in his deep dark
pools that could flash to red at any second. "Sasuke?" She asked, as he just sat there staring at
her. Sasuke came to and stood up fast, not realizing that he sat down.

"Sorry Sakura. You should get some rest after what has happened." He stopped himself, already
afraid that he reminded the young girl of her sudden loss. But he didn't hear any sniffs or sobs
from the girl in the room. He glanced from the corner of his eye and noticed her nod her head and
look up without tears.

"Your right, I do need rest, but I also need to be strong and continue on."

~~

Neji made it to his house and continued to his room. Before he could put his hand on the door,
something gripped the back of his shirt. Looking back he saw Hinata holding on with her other
hand pulled towards her heart. He didn't need her to tell him what she wanted, he already knew.

"She is fine, she just needs rest and to be strong."

Hinata gave a half small and a soft arigato. Turning, she left down the opposite hall leaving Neji,
once again alone. He opened his door and walked straight to the bed. His cause for concern for
the Haruno girl still was confusing to him but not a mystery. He has seen how strong she could
be and smart. One of the only girls who caught his attention in both areas, as well as looks. He
closed his eyes and rested his head on the pillow. Yes, after that mission was when he finally
took notice of Haruno Sakura.

~~*~~

The sky was bright and the sun gazed down at the small village. The air blew cool and strong,
leaves playing with its small dance. The village was busy in preparing for another day of sale and
barter.

Not far from this busy town was a group of young shin obi, waiting for their temporary partner.
Soon they could see a pink figure come into view and soon stop in front of them. Sucking in
much needed breath, Sakura raised her head at the two in front of her. Ten-ten looked down and
smiled, happy to have another girl on the team, though that is what made Neji somewhat scowl.
Though he knew Ten-ten was excellent in weapons, the idea of another girl, one to him that is
nothing but dead weight, was appalling.

"So the mission states that of a C-rank of a pick-up." Stated Ten-ten as she raised her bag to her
shoulder and turned towards the gates. "Yea, by the Wave Country, I'm familiar with part of the
territory." Announced Sakura, walking along side of the bon-bon headed girl. Neji followed not
far behind, just taking in the information that he needed while checking their surroundings. "It
will take us a good two days on foot, but if we start sprinting through the trees, then we can get
there faster and have some cover from other people that might be out." Ten-ten nodded her head
in agreement with Sakura and turned to the lagging boy. Neji nodded his approval and soon the
three were up in the trees and moving. ‘Maybe she isn't so bad.' he thought as they made it out of
Konoha and out of Fire Country.

~~

Night had fallen as they came up to a small hut that lay hidden within the groves near the water.
They were now in between the Fire Country border and the Wave Country's. ‘Neutral territory.'
thought Neji as he made his way to the front of the group to the small, broken down hut. "I don't
have a good feeling about all this." Spoke Sakura as she stopped behind Neji, but not taking
another step near the door. Neji sneered at her, "Stop being afraid of everything girl." He put his
hand on the door and swung it open. Ten-ten walked up behind him we she noticed that Sakura
truly wasn't going to come into the hut.

A small light came from a well lighted lamp near the middle of the room. A man of about fifty
years sat near the light, wrapped in a blanket. Neji walked up slowly towards the man and shook
him on the shoulder. The man snapped his head towards the boy and stood up. "You're here to
pick me up, right?!" The man seemed eager that the three ninjas were there. ‘I thought it was
another pickup, not one of an old man.' Thought Neji as he sighed and nodded his head. He
turned to Ten-ten. "Go ahead and lead him towards the forest, I will make sure that there is no
trace that we were even here."

Ten-ten led the old man out of the hut and past Sakura, who was currently paying close attention
to the forest to her left. "Sakura, what is the problem?" She asked. Sakura spun around and was
about to reply when she quickly secured a kunai in hand and turned towards were her attention
was once focused. "Hush, Ten-ten. I hear something." Ten-ten raised an eyebrow at her but
before she said anything to the girl that she thought was delusional, a shuriken came straight at
her. Sakura quickly deflected the object and turned again to Ten-ten.

"Ten-ten, get out of here with the old man. Take him to the village, I will get Neji." Not wanting
to protest and knowing that the mission was more important, Ten-ten took hold of the old mans
hand and fled in the opposite direction.

Sakura turned her body, facing the hut, but before she could get to Neji a Sound Shinobi jumped
in her path. "So you knew I was here girl," he chuckled, "quiet attentive aren't you." He swung
out to stab her but Sakura jumped away in time to dodge the blow. She could see Neji step out of
the hut with a small trail of blood down his arm. "Neji?"

~~

She gasped for breath and slowed down some. The man beside her too was gasping for the life
needed supply. Ten-ten knew that she was far enough from the hut that she need not worry about
another sneak attack. But the fact that a mission of C-rank bumping up to B did not amuse her.
Though she had heard that to avoid costs, the people who say they need help will pay less and
mark a mission wrong, just like the old man beside him.

She spared him a glance and then towards the border to Fire Country. She had no option to stay
and wait for the others so she got back up and pulled the man to his feet.

"Come on, we are leaving."

~~

Sakura stopped and landed on her right knee. Blood trickled down her mouth and dripped off her
chin. Neji laid on his back, his chakra spent after too much use of his Byakugan. He gulped in
shallow breaths and turned his head towards the girl to his right. To his surprise, she had put up
as much of a fight as he did. Though she doesn't look it, Sakura can sure pack a punch. But he
noticed that she excelled in ninjutsu, and heard before of her control of chakra. She turned to
look at the fallen boy. He stared at her as sweat pour of her face and her chest heaved. ‘She was
better then Ten-ten.' He thought.

When Sakura sent Ten-ten away and Neji attacked the Shinobi in front of Sakura, another came
down and attacked her from behind. Both were dressed in a black ninja suit. Masks covered their
faces like Kakashi's but both eyes were visible. Both held blue eyes and one had a shaggy head
of brown, the other a sleek look of blonde. A weapon, a little bigger than a kunai was in each
hand of both enemies. But what Neji and Sakura noticed after they brought both down, was that
neither had a village symbol on them.

Sakura gradually got to her feet and walked around the limp body of the fallen ninja in front of
her. She pulled out a needle that was lodged in her shoulder out and dropped it to the ground.
Both her and Neji failed to notice the bright blue liquid that dripped from the fallen weapon. She
kneeled by Neji and offered her hand.

"Come on Neji-san, we have to get back and out of here before the cleaners come for the bodies."
Neji raised his hand shakily and rested it in hers. With a groan of pain he made it to his feet and
Sakura slung his arm across her shoulders, supporting his weight. They slowly made it to the
forest and onto a trail that will lead them back to Konoha.

~~

Ten-ten stopped at the gate in front of her village. The old man clasped his hands happily that
they made it without anymore confrontations. Earlier she had asked the man about the ninjas that
came for them and he promised that he didn't know why they were there. Ten-ten believed him
when she noticed that no other ninja had followed them, but stayed behind. She made her way
through the houses to the main office, dropping off the guy and making her way to Tsunade to
inform her that Neji and Sakura were left behind.

~~

Neji collapsed by a tree. He slowly closed his eyes, resting. Sakura stretched her arms above her
head and looked down at the tired boy. She slowly let out a small smile and turned in the
direction of the small river that lay beyond the dense forest trees. She bent down to the dark
haired boy, he hardly even moved but she knew that he was aware of her presence. "Ne, Neji-san.
I'm going to fill up the canteen and see if I could get us something to eat." She got up and left but
heard the soft murmur from the boy, "Just be careful."

Sakura smiled when she got to the river. ‘Neji isn't so bad, not after you show that you are not
just some dead weight.' She looked around her. The sky had grown dark and the stars were
starting to come out. The forest stood quiet and the trees stood tall, reaching for the sky. She bent
down and unscrewed the top of the empty canteen. Slowly she let the cold clear liquid to fill the
bamboo shoot. Placing that aside, she peeled off her dirty dress, soon she was left in a sports bra
and shorts. She jumped into the water and with her kunai, nabbed a couple of fish before
resurfacing. She smiled again at a job well done and made her way to the bank. She got dressed
and made her way back to where she left her teammate.

Neji tried to stay awake, not wanting to show to anyone, even just Sakura, that the fight had worn
him out. Sakura had fought as hard as him, but he fought within the hut earlier, so he had more
blows on him. He soon nodded off when he felt Sakura come back to the clearing. Sakura bent
down and dropped of the wood that she picked up on her way back to the site. She set them up
and soon proceeded to light a small fire to cook the fish. She placed the water by her side and
shifted the wood to cook the fish better. Sakura turned to face Neji,



"Neji-san? Are you hungry?" Neji shifted when he heard Sakura's soft voice. He opened his
eyes, staring at the small fire. The smell of cooked fish drifted through the air and assaulted his
senses. Sakura offered him a fish and Neji gladly took it. Sakura sat back beside Neji, leaning on
the trunk of the thick tree. He gave her a small glance before eating the fish hungrily.

"Um, do you need to rest to regain your strength?" She asked, hoping he would not shun her with
his tough guy act. But all he did was nod his head and throw away the empty stick in his hand.
"We need to keep alert, just incase we are to be attacked tonight." Sakura nodded.

"I will go ahead and stay up. I will wake you when I need to rest." Neji sat back and soon was out
like a light. Sakura didn't blame him. He fought more then she did. This situation reminded her
of the time she had to look over her two teammates. She shuddered at the thought of fighting on
her own again. Hopefully no ninja will try and attack them.

~~

Tsunade shook her head and sat down in her chair. She had just talked to Ten-ten about the
mission. The rank was of a C level, but she did not know why the foreign ninjas had attacked the
group. They were unimportant, so it would seem. They questioned the old man and turned out
with nothing, just like Ten-ten. But she refused to send out any Anbu until tomorrow night. She
will give Neji and Sakura until then to get back to the village. She knows that they will be back,
Neji would never have someone look for him.

~~

Sakura's head bobbed back and forth. Her eyes drifted in between open and close, but she
refused to sleep or have Neji take her place as watch. She stood up and stretched out her legs,
bending down and to the side to relieve the tension in her muscles. She brought her hands to her
face and patted her cheeks.



‘Come on Sakura, don't sleep now. Prove yourself useful.' She brought her hand to a fist. ‘Yes,
be useful, not dead weight' She thought and left to scout the area around them. She needed
something to do before she fell asleep and Neji caught her. She went back to the river and
watched as the sky turned a light hue of blue. Morning was starting to set in and Sakura was glad.
The night went without a hitch and she didn't have to do anything drastic. She sat down and
waited for the coming day.

Neji awoke when rays of light fell onto his face. He groan when he sat up, still sore from the
previous day, but feeling much better than before. But soon his attention was taken in by the
missing presences of his teammate. Getting all the way up he let the blanket, that he realize
Sakura had probably put on him the night before, fall to the ground. He took in his surroundings
in the different light and walked towards the sound of moving water.

Sakura got up and quickly drew out a kunai when she heard something behind her. Her previous
thought of not fighting someone gone. She jumped up and over the person, who stood stunned at
the sudden movement of the girl he thought had fallen asleep, and placed the edge of the blade to
his throat while standing behind him.

"Sakura-san, take it easy. I just came to see if you had neglected your duty and fell asleep out
here." He smirk when he saw the small hand shake, he knew she was offended at what he said.



"I told you I would stay up and wake you if I needed rest." She snapped when she thought he
didn't trust her to even stay up at night. She dropped her hand from his throat and stepped back
from him as he turned to face her. She grew angrier when she saw the smirk on his face, but soon
it turned into a small smile, ‘Is Hyuuga Neji playing with me?'

Neji stopped smirking when he saw her smile. ‘What is she smiling about?' He thought. He
quickly shook it out of his head and thought at what truly needed to be kept in mind. They were
missing and needed to get back before the Hokage sent someone to look for them. "Come on, Its
time to go home." Sakura nodded and jumped up into a tree, not feeling tired anymore. Neji
jumped up beside her, "Let us get our stuff and be going." "Right, I am in desperate need of some
good food and a good bath." She went ahead of him and he sat there till she came back with their
stuff.

‘She has not slept, but is still moving.' At that moment is when he noticed Sakura in a different
light.

~~

It was dusk when they finally made it to the Leaf Village. Making their way to the gates, they
each wiped the sweat from their brow and headed straight for the Hokage's office.

Tsunade stood there, as if she expected them to walk through those doors at this moment. ‘Kinda
creepy.' thought Sakura, as she and Neji made their way up to her desk.

"I would like to congratulate you both in a successful mission. Sakura, you did well to send Ten-
ten ahead to finish the mission." Neji nodded his head in agreement, to him the mission must
come first to a ninja.

"I don't know why you were attacked though, do you have any idea who attacked you two?" She
sat down, hoping one of them had an answer to her question. Both shook their head negatively
towards her.

"No, Hokage-sama. We checked their person for any sign, but they were without a symbol. They
could have been rogue ninja." Tsunade nodded her head at Neji when he finished. "I thought as
much, we have nothing yet against any country. Thank you, and I am thankful you both made it
back in one piece." They were dismissed and both left the office. Tsunade opened her drawer and
fingered some dice in her hand, while thinking about the ninjas that went without a symbol.

~~

Sakura and Neji walked through the village. They stopped when they came to the crossroads
where they lived on opposite sides of the village. Sakura turned but was stopped when Neji
placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura-san, I know that many think you as weak. But do not think that about yourself. Stay
strong," Neji turned his head to prevent the small blush from being seen to the girl beside him, "I
saw how strong you really are and don't let anybody think otherwise." Before Sakura could
question him he left sprinting down the road to his house. ‘That doesn't seem like Neji. But he
gave me confidence that I needed. He's right nobody should bring me down. I may be weak in
strength but I have excellent control. Anybody can work strength in easy, but control is harder to
learn.' With that thought she turned and left in the direction of her own house.

"Thanks Neji-san, I will be strong."

~~*~~

AN: Wow that was a long chapter. Anyways, now you know why Neji was worried about Sakura.
He sees that she is someone respectable and strong. Plus he's got a little crush on her. But don't
get me wrong I also like Sasuke too, its just so hard to choose between the two. Well till next time!!

~~~~~~