Forgetting Sasuke

Disclaimer: No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, a dream that you wish will come true... except for owning Naruto. Damn...

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Neji studied the vision of beauty still asleep in his arms. Her head was resting on the pillow, her arms drawn up tightly to her chest. Her lips were curled in a soft smile, and Neji wondered what she might be dreaming. He couldn't help but pull her closer, gently kissing her forehead. She stirred slightly, but did not wake. Neji smiled. 'Truly, for being a ninja, this girl sleeps like the dead.'

It was still early. Suna was quiet, still slumbering in the hours of first light. Neji knew, for a fact, that the only people up this early would be those with restaurants getting ready for the morning crowds and shinobi.

Today was going to be an eventful day. Neji and Kankurou had made the decision to send out a ninja team as bait in order to lure out the attackers and gather information, if any could be gathered. Neji would follow the team at a distance in order to get a good vantage point should anything happen. Best case senario, they would be able to capture and interrogate the attackers. Worst case scenario would be... well it wasn't relevant. There would be no worst case scenario in this little play of events. Kankurou and Neji would make sure of it.

Sakura moaned softly, sighing as her eyes fluttered open. "Don't want to get up yet..." she said sleepily.

"You don't have to. It's still early," Neji smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

"Mmm..." she murmured happily, "Neji-kun..."

"Sakura..." he said softly, staring at her intensely before leaning in to kiss her. He reached out, gently stroking her cheek. Sakura raised her own hand to Neji's chisled features, running her fingertips lightly over his skin. His lips parted as a sigh escaped him.

She kissed him softly, whispering his name once more as she pulled away.

His white eyes stared longingly into hers. "God, you are beautiful, Sakura," he said breathily. A small blush crept into her cheeks. She turned her head away, trying to hide her embarrassment, but his hand caught her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Don't turn away. I mean it, Sakura. You are exquisite."

Sakura held his gaze, allowing him to stare into her eyes and express to her with his own how much he truly meant it. He cupper her face in his hands and kissed her again. As he deepened the kiss, they both fell back onto the mattress, Neji covering Sakura with his muscular body. Her hands immediately snaked into his coffee tresses, as she moaned his name.

BANG. A loud knock on the door caused the two lovers to separate immediately and try to make themselves decent.

"Hyuuga-san, urgent news!"

Neji and Sakura exchanged a look as Neji opened the door. A young sand-nin held out a scroll for him. "This arrived for you by carrier hawk just a few moments ago."

"Thank you," Neji replied curteously, taking the scroll from him and shutting the door.

Neji's white eyes scanned the document before his powerful hand crumpled the scroll. "What is it?" Sakura asked nervously. "What did it say?"

"Kiba was found by an ANBU squad ten kilometers outside of Konoha yesterday. He was listed in serious but stable condition."

"Oh my God!" Sakura whispered. "Neji..."

"Akamaru was injured as well, but it looks like Kiba's sister, a veterinarian, was able to heal a good bit of the damage."

"What else?" she asked, staring hard at him, knowing there was more.

"Tsunade-sama wants us both to return in two weeks, giving you enough time to finish your work with the Kazekage. She's under the impression that if leaf-nin are being attacked as well, there's a good chance there's something more going on."

Sakura stood up and started pacing. "This isn't good..." she said aloud to no one. "Kiba..." She shook her head. "I don't know that two weeks will be enough time for me to complete my work with Gaara-sama. He's not in good shape and I can only do so much in one day. It's very draining on both of us. I just don't know..."

"I'll send a reply saying we got the initial message and send a follow up at the end of next week to extend if you need more time. That should give you enough time to figure out whether we can return or not."

She stopped pacing and finally nodded. "Neji... I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Neji looked grave. "I know."

* * * * *

"This isn't working," Sakura said to Gaara, watching him as he attempted to mold chakra in his hand. Sand swirled around his palm.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, curious.

"You said that the sand moves regardless of your will, but that your will can, in fact, help you control the sand, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then by that argument, you wouldn't actually need to mold chakra in order to manipulate the sand."

"But I do," Gaara said defensively, glaring at Sakura.

She held his cold gaze and continued, "I need to physically see, with my own eyes, that you are molding chakra properly, and the sand is not giving me a good enough idea. It's not that I don't trust your word, Gaara-sama, you obviously know your body and your limits better than anyone else, but that doesn't change the fact that I need to be able
to see and test for myself your progress and capabilities, otherwise I won't know how to continue your treatment."

Gaara took in her words, rolling them over in his mind silently before nodding. "What do you propose?"

"Something very basic. I'm sure you've done the climbing exercise before."

Gaara's eyes widened, slightly, showing his surprise. "Of course. But you can't honestly-"

"I'm quite serious. This will be the best way to gauge your chakra control as well as your limits. The first time I saw you, you stood upside down on a tree branch, holding on with chakra. When you can do that again, effortlessly as you did that time, then I'll know we're finished." Gaara gave her a cynical look. Sakura shook her head at him. "Gaara-sama, it's physical therapy if you will. You've sustained great damage to your chakra circulatory system. You need to exercise and re-train in order to get your body and spirit back to where they were. I know it seems elementary, and honestly it is, but it's the best way for you to re-learn molding your chakra now that your system is being repaired."

Gaara was about to say something else but Sakura held up her hand, stopping him. "This isn't up for discussion. It's an order. I won't hear any arguments."

Gaara stared at her, speechless. He'd never been given a direct order like that by anyone before. As a young genin, others were too afraid of him to order him around, and as Kazekage, he gave orders, he didn't take them. His eyes narrowed as he sized up the kunoichi. Her features were solid and resolute. He knew he wouldn't win an argument with her. Damn medic-nins.

"Alright, fine. But not until nightfall. I'm not going to have the entire village watching me doing basic genin training."

"That's fine with me," Sakura said amiably, with a bright smile. "Then I suggest you rest for now, because it's going to be a long night." She strode across the room and opened the large door.

"Sakura-san," he called from behind her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She smiled and nodded, closing the door behind her.

* * * * *

Kankurou moaned incoherently as Neji carried him on his back into the village. Two other shinobi followed, both injured but walking.

"What happened?" asked one of the sentries upon their entry.

"Get Haruno Sakura," Neji ordered to him. The young chuunin stood there dumbfounded. "Now!"

"Yes... right away..."

Neji made it to Suna's shinobi headquarters, laying Kankurou on a table and checking his pulse. Sakura came tearing down the stairs not a moment later.

"Neji! What happened?" she asked, rushing over to him. She immediately checked his pulse and breathing, neither of which were good. She looked to Neji.

"Backfired," he said, sitting down and bending over, holding his forehead in his hand. "Ambush."

Sakura immediately started summoning chakra to her hands, pouring her healing energies into Kankurou's unconscious body. "I need more detail then that. What kind of attack has he sustained?"

"A trap. Shuriken shower. He used a replacement which managed to set off a double trap. He was hit with at least fifteen shuriken. I couldn't get there in time to stop it. Two others are injured, but they're conscious and walking."

Sakura shook her head and continued to focus what little energy she had left on the wounded ninja.

"Where is he?" Temari shouted, running into the room. "Kankurou!"

"He'll be fine, Temari," Sakura said firmly, looking at her fellow kunoichi with stern eyes. "You need to stay calm. I will heal him, but I need you to remain calm if you're going to stay here."

"Does Gaara know?" she asked quietly.

"We only just arrived, "Neji replied. Temari stood dumbfounded for a moment before nodding and taking off up the stairs.

"Was it meant for you?" Sakura asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked, surprised at the question.

"The attack."

Neji sighed. "No. I think it was just another ambush on Sand. I can't be certain they even knew I was there. So no."

She nodded and continued working on Kankurou in silence. A few moments later Temari returned, followed by Gaara.

Gaara pulled Neji into the room off the side of that one in order to be briefed on their findings.

Sakura stood alone in the large room save for the unconscious, bloody form of Kankurou. This situation was getting steadily worse. The attacks were getting more brutal, and she had no idea what kind of damage Kiba sustained. Kiba and Akamaru both. She cringed at the thought. Would she and Neji even be able to get back to Konoha at this point? Kiba could be a bit hotheaded and reckless at times, but he wasn't stupid, and he must have been seriously outranked or outnumbered to have sustained such damage. "Damn it!"

* * * * *

Kankurou had regained consciousness for a short time before falling asleep. His injuries were healed, but he was going to be in a bit of pain for a few days. Gaara and Temari both spoke with him briefly and relayed what information he could. Of the two, Neji's information proved to be a bit more concrete as he was at a vantage point to witness the entire thing.

Neji was angry. They'd made provisions so as to avoid the exact situation they found themselves in. Kankurou was not careless by any stretch of the imagination and to think that he would be attacked in such a manner and not even be able to replace out of it was astounding and did not bode well for them at all. He was beginning to have reservations on the likelihood of getting Sakura and himself back safely. Tsunade was not going to be happy with this turn of events.

He was sure there was something else brewing, something that the Hokage had not informed him of, but he wasn't in any position to press the issue, especially with the chance that any messages might be intercepted.

He slipped out of his room and went down the hall to peek in on Sakura who was sound asleep from complete exhaustion. Her training session with the Kazekage had to be pushed back as she drained her chakra both from working with him and then healing Kankurou to the point she couldn't even sleep. Temari had carried her up to her room a few hours ago while the group talked of what to do next.

Kazekage-sama of course wanted to fill in Tsunade of the goings on in Sand and see what Konoha's intelligence might be.

He quietly slid the door shut and returned to his own room to think. Things were chaotic to say the least. All this trouble with Suna and Konoha, and he really had no idea what was going on and even less an idea as to who was behind it. He was sure there must be a larger scheme, but that puzzle piece was still too elusive, and time was running out.

There was also Sakura to consider. He rolled over on his bed, thinking how empty it was not having her there. Last night had been truly amazing. The way she had looked into his eyes... he knew, without a doubt he knew, he was falling in love with her. The thought was terrifying and yet reassuring.

He and Tenten had tried to date once, but it had been awkward. Their relationship was that of very close friends, of teammates. He could, on some level, equate his relationship with Tenten to Sakura's with Naruto, although he would easily admit he and Tenten were not as close. He was happy for Tenten and Lee, thought they made a cute couple. Yet he knew he always wanted something like that for himself, eventually. The life of a shinobi was difficult and uncertain, and missions kept him away. Besides, it was fair to admit Neji had his own fangirls and he couldn't stand being chased around by them.

Sakura... she was different. Maybe because she wasn't one of his fangirls, but Sasuke's, but Neji knew that wasn't it at all. That first day he'd found her, she wasn't crying like one of the little fangirls that moved on when Sasuke disappeared, she was grieving over
the loss of a friend and teammate and someone she genuinely loved. He knew he saw into her heart that day.

It was seeing her grief, broken in her love for someone else, that made Neji take notice of her. She wasn't a shallow, bubble-headed girl with delusions of love. She knew of pain, loss and heartache. 'She knows what it means to be shinobi,' his inner self finished for him.

And yet Sakura could hide her pain and show the world a bright smile and her happy outlook. She had the ability to cheer others up, to take their pain away.

He was in love with her. He knew it. He never even expected it. He only wanted to find out more about her those first few days, only wanted to see what made her tick. 'Not entirely true there, Neji.' No, it wasn't entirely true. She was beautiful, desirable, special.

He shifted again, rolling onto his back, tucking his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. "I'm in love, in the middle of a pending war," Neji mused quietly. 'Yep. I'm in trouble.'

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A/N: I am sooo sorry for taking so long to update. It's been a crazy few weeks and I just haven't had any time to sit down and write. I'm sorry the chapter isn't as exciting, but it is a transition after all. Hope you all like. Review and give me the inspiration I need to keep going!!!