Can you take that?
By Afrokane
Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything.
Note: Well…this is a sequel of my other NejiSaku fic "Can you drop that". It would be better if you read that first before go on with this one. Hope you guys like it! :D
Three months has passed since he had "confessed" to her.
During these three months, never in her life had she felt so happy and refreshed. The way she saw everything was different. It was like, every thing in the world had became more tolerable and beautiful.
For example, the smell of the bleach in the hospital no longer bothered her. The old lady who tended to complaint everything in room 100 had become less troublesome—heck—she even thought that the wrinkles on her face were cute when she was whining about the meal in the hospital.
And the most incredible thing that she still found it unbelievable was that she was actually enjoying the gossips between the nurses. They were like a symphony to her now.
It was all because of him.
Wait—no, it was all because of Sasuke. If it was not Sasuke, she reasoned, she might still sighing and he might still frowning every time when they saw each other.
One day, she decided, she must gave her Sasuke-kun a bear hug, probably a peck too, for showing him how much she appreciated his help in this matter.
Although, he probably had no idea about what he had done to end a 5-year hide-and-seek game between a certain pink-haired Konoha top medic and her number oneguinea pig.
A knock on her door interrupted her train of thoughts.
"Yes, come in please."
"Ne, Sakura-san." Right behind the door she saw Makiyo and Haruko—the young and energetic nurses in the hospital that were referred as "the twins".
"What's up, Makiyo?" Sakura smiled. By looking at their cocky smile, she knew right away that what they were going to say must have absolutely nothing to do with their work.
"Ano….Sakura-san, just want to tell you that Neji-san is here." Said Makiyo.
"Yeah. Just want to tell you that we all volunteered to take up your work and let you leave a bit earlier. Enjoy your time Sakura-san!" Haruko said. Then the door shut loudly before she could make a comment.
She chuckled. Those two must had been gossiping ever since Neji stepped into the hospital.
She chuckled even more when she could already picture the way that Neji was trying to keep himself from rolling his eyes.
Well, she could not help. After all, the news that they were dating were one of the hottest gossip topics in Konoha right now. Even the old lady in Room 100 had once asked her where was Neji now.
"Hey! It's Neji-san again!"
"How sweet of him."
"Yeah. He must have missed Sakura-san to death."
"Of course! Sakura-san and Neji-san haven't seen each other for nearly three weeks because Neji-san just came back from an important mission. According to a reliable source, whenever Neji-san saw a Sakura Tree during his mission, he would just stare the Sakura Tree and lost in his own thought. Argggg I wish my boyfriend will do that too!"
Walking past the corridor, the object of the gossips tried very hard to keep himself from rolling his eyes and continued his long journey to his destination. He just could not understand. Was it that interesting to talk about other people's business during working hour? And at the same time thinking that other people could not hear them? And since when there were Sakura Trees in a deserted place like the Sand? PLUS, who was that "reliable source" that they were referring to? One day, he swore, he must have find the so-call reliable source out and stitched that person's big mouth for minding too much business.
He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. The last thing that he needed now was a bad mood. That would certainly ruin his supposedly happy day as he was going to see her right now.
He took a deep breadth and opened the door.
"Sakura" he said.
She lifted up her head while she heard his voice.
"Hey Neji-kun! You're back." She smiled.
God, she missed him so much. All she wanted was to throw herself into his warm embrace and kissed him.
Yet, she could not do that, she told herself. Wait, Sakura. Wait until tonight. Or you will ruin everything.
Neji, on the other hand, also expected her to come up and gave him a welcoming hug. Yet, all he saw was just a regular smiling face and a casual "Hey Neji-kun you're back."
Was that all he got?
After coming back from an A-rank mission?
Where were the shining eyes and the exciting voice that he witnessed last time when she heard that Sasuke was coming back from a one-year long mission?
He frowned a little bit.
"Yeah, I am back." He walked to her desk and sat down besides her.
"Good. Let's go out tonight." She said, while at the same time checking him to see if there were any injuries.
"Sure. Are you leaving now? I heard from the nurses outside that you can get off now."
"Yeah. But can we meet later, probably at 7:30 tonight?" She took off his headband, wiping away some blood stain for him.
"Why?" he looked into her eyes.
"Because I have to go and get something from Sasuke-kun first." She said.
"Ah? What?" He frowned immediately upon hearing that name.
Sasuke-kun again. She just could not change that.
"I said, I have to get something from him first." She could feel his muscle tensed when she mentioned Sasuke-kun's name.
"Oh well. Sure." He said nonchalantly. "I can pick you up at 7:30"
"Sure Neji-kun. Pick me up at his place. I will be right there at 7:30."
Ha. How ridiculous. She wanted him to pick her up at his place?
Suddenly, he felt her lips pressed again his forehead. All his anger died at that moment as sweetness flooded his heart.
"Fine."
"Thanks Sasuke-kun." She said, while taking the bag from him.
"Aa." Said Sasuke. After all these years, he was still as sexy, but as wordless as he could. Sometimes, she wondered, how she, he and Naruto could come to that close when he barely spoke more than 10 words per sentence.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun." She suddenly remembered that he owed him a bear hug and a peck.
"Aa?"
"Thanks." She hugged him suddenly. "Thanks for everything." She said sincerely.
"For what?" His eyes widened a little bit, then softened as he could feel her genuineness. His hands automatically returned her hug.
"For making Neji confessed to me." She said. "You know, if it's not you, I could not have him." She closed her eyes and smiled. "I was so damn happy to be with him."
Sasuke smiled too, despite he had no idea when he had helped her. But that was not the point. All he cared was that she was happy. After all, she and Naruto was the closest to what he could call a family. And he of course wanted his family to be happy.
Suddenly, he sensed a cold and threatening aura coming from across the street. They broke their embrace immediately and found out that a certain white-eye Anbu was glaring angrily to them.
Ah-oh.
Sasuke looked at the angry man and then turn his gaze to the pink-hair woman standing in front of her. He could read the SOS sign in her eyes.
Although Sasuke loved Sakura, he did not want to risk his life to fight the Hyuuga. It was not like he could not win him or what; he just did not want to get brutally hurt for just a mere beautiful misunderstanding that could only be resolved between those two.
Therefore, as heartless as he could, he immediate say goodbye to Sakura and shut the door, leaving her alone…well, alone with his boyfriend outside his door.
"Wait Sasuke-kun…wai…" her plead died as she felt his presence besides her.
Hyuuga Neji was fuming. You could tell by the way his brow was drawing so tightly together and the slightly trembling arms that had crossed in front of his chest.
She sighed. Well, it was all her fault. First thing, she should not tell him to pick her up at Sasuke's place.
And the most terrible mistake was to hug Sasuke, in front of his house, and witnessed by her boyfriend, who happened to dislike Sasuke.
If that person was Naruto, she knew that would not be a problem—well, that would not be such a big problem, she corrected.
But it was Uchiha Sasuke that they were talking about.
A handsome, sexy lifetime rival that directly competed with him in many ways, ranging from the number of fan girls they had; the ownership of the "number one Ninja in Konaha" title, to the chance of ultimate promotion to Anbu Captain. Adding to the fact that Sakura was chasing the Uchiha until 13, he had every reason to explode now.
So, she chose to turn herself in first.
"Ne, Neji-kun. Me and Sasuke-kun had not done anything." She said, trying to summon her sweetest and softest voice she possessed.
He frowned.
"Yeah? Enlighten me please." He said.
How could she do that to him? She should have known that he saw clearly that they were hugging each other.
"I am sorry, Neji-kun. Yes, I was hugging him, but I just wanted to say thank you."
"Ah-ha." He didn't know that it was more appropriate to give a hug when saying thank you than to welcome a boyfriend who just came back from a three-week mission.
"Look Neji-kun, you know that we were just friends. Sasuke-kun was like a family to me." Sakura could see that he did not really listen to her explanation.
"Yeah, right. So it was perfectly ok to hug a man right in front of me according to your explanation right?" his gaze pierced through her green orbs.
"..wait Neji-kun, I didn't say that. What I mean was that Sasuke-kun was just…"
Sasuke-kun.
Sasuke-kun.
Did she have a memory problem? Had she ever remembered that she promised not to call him Sasuke-kun again? It would just made him frowned whenever he heard that.
"Enough, woman. If he was only a friend, or so-call family, then why the hell do you still call him Sasuke-kun? Don't you remember anything that you had promised me that day?" He snapped.
Sakura halted when she heard him snapped at her like that. She pouted, eyes threatening tears. She could almost hear Inner Sakura yelling and struggling to get out.
Neji immediately regretted when he saw her hurt expression. He stepped forward, wanting to comfort her; only came to a stop when he heard her seething through her gritted teeth.
"Damn Neji! What do you want? You should know that I have tried millions time to stop myself from calling him Sasuke-kun! But I told you before, that was a god-damn habit for almost ten years and I can't help!" She said, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.
Neji's heart ached when she saw those tears in her eyes. He could not help too. It just made him crazy to hear her calling him Sasuke-kun while at the same time calling him Neji-kun. It was like….like he was a special person, same as Sasuke.
He lifted his hand to wipe away her tears, only to be slapped away by her hand.
"Damn it Neji! Why can't you understand! You should know that I love you the most!" With that, she threw away the bag that she got from Sasuke.
He was speechless. His heart skipped a beat upon hearing her declaration of love.
Never a moment in his life had he felt that happy before.
She loved him.
Not that he didn't know. But hearing from her was so much different.
It did not matter now. All that matter was that she loved him.
He smiled secretly. He had decided.
"Sakura." He called her softly.
"What? Hyuuga sama?"
He chuckled. That was so cute. And it was perfect too. Save him from the possible embarrassing moment.
"Can you take that?"
"What?" she was busy with wiping away her tears that smeared on her face.
"I said, can you take that." He repeated, somewhat smirking.
"Take what?" If it was not his sexy and soft voice, she swore she would have slap on his face already.
"My name." He lowered his body, made sure she saw his eyes at the same level.
"What? What name?" She was confused now.
"Just like what you said, Hyuuga." One hand placing on his slightly bending knees, the other took her tiny hand that was wiping the tears on her beautiful face.
"Ah?" He truly liked to puzzle her while her head was clearly not functioning well.
Hyuuga?
He wanted her to take his name?
Hyuuga Neji Haruno Sakura?
Hyuuga Haruno Sakura?
Hyuuga Sakura?
--wait. Hyuuga Sakura? HYUUGA SAKURA?
"Marry me, Sakura." Her eyes widen, mouth gaping like a goldfish due to the shocking realization. He took the opportunity to catch her gaping mouth and kissed her hardly.
"…wwwwwwhhhat? You want me to marry you?" She said when he broke their kiss.
"You've heard me."
"Buttttttt we were just…18….3 months…" She was sluttering. She had to clutch tighter to Neji's hand in order to keep herself from collapsing from such a sudden turn.
Neji, on the other hand, found the entire situation amusing. He expected her to be shocked. But he didn't expect her to be that shock. When he saw her flushed face and her non-coordinating brain and mouth, he could not help but thought that she was so cute.
"No, Sakura. It was not just 3 months. I was your human and personal guinea pig for 5 damn years. And no, I am 19 and am an Anbu already. Completely capable to be your husband."
Sakura immediately awaken from her cloudy state upon hearing the sentence.
Yes, that's true. They had been in-love for 5 years without each other's knowledge.
He lifted her chin, white eyes looking into her soft green eyes.
"I love you. Marry me, Sakura."
Tears started to roll down her cheeks again. Yet, this time she was smiling blissfully to him.
"….sure, Neji."
He kissed her slightly on her cheek. That made her started to sob and smile .
"…idiot. Don't smile and cry at the same time."
"….none of your business."
"…Ne, Sakura."
"What?"
"What was that thing?" he said, picking up the bag that was thrown by Sakura a moment ago.
She grabbed her bag and toke out a supposedly blue color scarf (cloth) out.
"That was for you. A welcome gift that I have made." She blushed, when she put the scarf around his neck.
For the second time of the day Neji was speechless. So she had knitted a scarf for him. That was what she wanted to pick up from Sasuke.
"….idiot. You should have told me earlier." He said, while he gave her a warm and firm embrace.
"…baka. That would spoil the surprise." She responded.
"Hey! It's Neji-san again!"
"How sweet of him."
"Yeah. He must have missed Sakura-san to death."
"Of course! She was his fiancé now!" said an excited female.
"WHAT? Are you sure?? I thought he just came back from the Sand yesterday! What happened?"
"Well, according to my reliable source, Neji-san proposed to Sakura-san yesterday! Neji-san had planned everything during his mission, including the beautiful diamond ring! He knelt down, presented Sakura-san with the ring suddenly and then said 'I love you, Sakura. Would you please marry me?' Arggggg I wish my boyfriend will do that too!"
The object of discussion wanted so much to run towards those annoying nurses and told them to mind their own business. Was it that interesting to talk about other people's business during working hour? And how come the news of their marriage could spread so fast like a plague? And since when he had brought a ring and actually knelt down to Sakura? PLUS, most importantly, who was the "reliable source" that they were referring to again? That so-call reliable source only got one information correct --which was he did plan to propose when he was during the dangerous mission.
But that did not mean that he had the whole thing so well planned, like he would choose a specific day, brought a ring, got his speech prepared in advance and actually knelt down to Sakura asking her to marry him. No. He was definitely not that type. Yesterday proposition was just an impromptu.
Suddenly, a too familiar male voice joined the gossiping nurses.
"Yeah, you are right Haruko, just like what I told you. Neji was such a sweet and nice guy when it comes to Sakura. Wahahaha."
His vein popped out from his forehead.
He should have known.
He should have known that there was a Konoha number one big-mouth who liked to exaggerate things and who was with him during the whole Sand mission.
He must give that damned boy a lesson before he picked up Sakura.
"NA-RU-TO!!!!!"
The blonde box froze upon hearing the angry yelling from his fellow Anbu member.
Ah-oh.
He wasted no chance and ran away.
Sakura smiled when he watched the scene where Neji was chasing Naruto in the hospital.
They were just so adorable.
"Sakura." A male called her.
"Hi Sasuke-kun." Voice cold and distant, she answered without turning her head to him.
She must get back to him for what he did to her yesterday. How could he just abandon her like that?
"Sakura….hey." Sasuke force her to face him.
"What?" She made up a poker face.
"Are you angry?" he asked. He felt somewhat guilty to leave her like that too. That was why he shown up here.
"What do you think?" she asked, poker face nearly broke as she saw a hint of guilt in his eyes.
"Ne…I'm …sorry. It was just…" He stopped when he saw Sakura's face contorted with her struggle to keep her poke face.
"Fine Sakura." He rolled his eyes. "Next time go and practice your acting first before you want to fool me."
He was so damn adorable too.
Suddenly, she remembered she owed him a peck. Just when she leaped forward to him, she stopped when she realized something.
Last time, her Sasuke-kun helped her to win a boyfriend.
This time, he helped her to win a husband.
So, who know how he could help him next time?
She smirked.
She had decided. This time, she must choose the right timing and right place before she gave Sasuke a peck.
Sasuke literally shivered upon seeing the way she smirked. She must be planning something awful.
And that must have something to do with him.
He then wasteD no time and ran away.
After all, he was not her Hyuuga Neji kun.
-- END –
Afrokane's note:
So, what do you think? Do you like this sequel?
The idea suddenly strike me while I was working yesterday (yes…my brain was full of Naruto even when I was working). So I decided to write it out before I get too lazy to write it out.
Please press the button and review. And many thanks to my dearest readers who read my stories before. :D