Without a Doubt by lilmisssushi
A/N: This will be my very first venture into the world of fanfic writing, so hopefully you'll find it in your hearts to go easy on me! Any feedback would be especially welcome! xD
Oh, and this story will mainly be a NejiSaku, because I adore that pairing and hope to do it justice, but the storyline will also contain shonen-ai (which means boy/boy feelings, as opposed to yaoi, which is more boy/boy action), of the SasuNaru variety. And if that disturbs you, then you might wanna backtrack a little, because it's gonna be pretty much integral to the plot. But if you're open to it, then thank you in advance for reading!
Summary: For Sakura, being in love with Sasuke is a given. She's loved him through rejection and betrayal and everything in between, so why should she stop now?
For Neji, blaming everything on fate is the most tried-and-true method around. But throw in Haruno Sakura, and his extremely versatile excuse just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. (NejiSaku)(SasuNaru)
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.
Chapter I- Chrysalis
Neji and Sakura had become surprisingly steady friends after the first time that the Hyuuga had landed in hospital, courtesy of Sakura's own fist. It was probably a testament to his own obstinate character that he had not been scared off, after having experienced her ire first hand all those years ago, although he, understandably, wasn't keen for a repeat. Hyuuga Neji was never one to back down from a challenge, and when one had been presented in the form of a deceptively fragile-looking kunoichi on a huge silver platter, he could not have resisted for all the world.
"You are weak," – were the fateful words that had spelt out his destiny two years back, when he had directed this seemingly innocuous accusation at the pink-haired girl in the graduating year below his.
She had approached him on that dewy spring morning while he had sat, meditating, under one of the blossoming sakura trees in his then-favourite training ground. The sun had just started peeking out from behind plump clouds in the clear azure sky, and the grass sparkled with droplets of water from the rainfall the night before.
Beneath the shade of the tree, he rested with his eyes closed, a slight breeze ruffling his dark hair. Although he looked relaxed, he had already sensed a ninja's light footsteps advancing in his direction. Tensing by a fraction, he wondered who would dare to interrupt his training session in such an untimely manner.
His expression shifted from peaceful to guarded within seconds, and he snapped his eyes open when Sakura decided to make her presence known. She marched her way calmly up to him, her vibrant emerald eyes trained on his every movement.
"Hyuuga-san," she started off, and already, she had managed to irritate him with her overly formal address. While they had never actually met on a formal basis, they still knew of each other through their rather energetic teammates, respectively.
Haruno Sakura, as the Hokage's apprentice, was said to have surpassed all expectations and become one of the strongest kunoichi of their generation, and indeed, their entire village, in the years following the fateful chuunin exam. Her strength was now considered to be on par with Tsunade's, and her medic-nin abilities were the most advanced that Konoha had to offer.
And, although Neji had never checked himself into the hospital (because hospitals were for the weak, and he was definitely not weak), he heard talk from his peers about her seemingly awe-inspiring prowess in the medical field. She was said to be a true sight for sore eyes, with her short pink hair pinned up neatly into a bun and her slim body encased in a regulated doctor's lab coat, especially since her visits often heralded instant recovery.
It was no wonder that half the patients of the hospital would ask for her attention 'exclusively' whenever they got hurt. In fact, Lee had sneaking suspicions (which he often howled for all the world to hear, usually accompanied with loud declarations of undying love) that the majority of those very patients got injured on purpose so that they could partake in the lovely kunoichi's valued time.
Truly, she was worthy of her title and had made a name for herself as one of the kindest, most respected shinobi in the village, and was the apple of many a man's eye.
But that didn't mean that Neji would relent on his antisocial way of life for her sake. Oh no, she was edging in on his precious training time, after all, and he was almost required to give her a hard time so as to maintain his badass image.
Taking a step towards him, Sakura got straight to the point.
"I want you to fight me," she proffered, smiling cheerfully but with an underlying blaze in her eyes. He observed the determined look on her face with barely concealed disgust. Even after he shot her with one of his most intense 'get-lost-or-I'll-jyuuken-you-into-submission' glares, she had refused to back down, and in fact, had not shown even the slightest sign of being in the least intimidated.
He closed his eyes, in the hopes that when he opened them again, she would have disappeared of her own accord. After a beat or two, he chanced his Byakugan on her. Nope, no luck. She had barely moved an inch and didn't look like she was planning to any time soon.
It looked like he would have to pull out the big guns, if he wanted her to leave him to meditate in peace.
Finally, weighing up her supposed abilities against what he saw in front of him in that moment, he deigned to give her an answer.
"You are not worth my time."
Sakura narrowed her eyes.
Getting up, he narrowed his right back at her.
He had hoped that his killing-intent aura would be enough to send her running, but again, intimidation tactics did surprisingly little to sway her purportedly 'weak' character. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing that having spent countless years chasing after- and getting rejected by- the last Uchiha, she had developed extremely thick skin as some sort of coping mechanism in self-defense when denial had eventually worn its course out. Besides, she also had Sai (and his tactless mouth) for a teammate, so she had therefore become immune to any potential indictments or insults- against her strength, which, to anyone who knew her, was a very touchy subject-, directed her way. She could pretty much deal with anything he threw at her.
Still, that didn't keep her from self-righteously wanting to smack him out.
Slowly drawing himself up to his full height, and giving her his most threatening glare, he proceeded to circle her (like he had once done with Hinata), drawing closer, nearer, skirting to the side, while she stood stock still, expertly controlling her breathing but just barely reigning in her anger. The desire to strike his pompous head from his shoulders suddenly became overwhelmingly justified.
With his smooth, even paces, he likened to an eagle examining its prey before gracefully going in for the kill. Feeling her breath heighten, Sakura suddenly felt an intense awareness in what felt like every cell of her body- the adrenaline of a fight coursing through her veins.
His voice suddenly startled her out of her thoughts, as his Byakugan roved up her body in a decisively threatening way.
"Your ninjutsu is lacking in the offense," he said, continuing to assess her with his eyes. A malicious smirk was settling itself on his oh-so-full lips, and his melodic voice was gradually taking on a deeper, silkier timbre.
"And your taijutsu is hardly adequate,"- he prowled around her in an almost animalistic manner, like a predator staking its claim on a hunt. His eyes, narrowed menacingly, bored into her very soul. Against her will, her heart inexplicably started beating faster…
"You have no affinity for close-range combat," he said, just before disappearing from her range of vision momentarily. She wheeled around, trying not to appear flustered and failing miserably.
And suddenly, he blurred back into existence right behind her…drawing closer, he leaned in towards her neck - almost near enough for her to feel his body radiating heat.
'Whatever you do, don't hesitate; don't show him a weakness' she inwardly chanted, willing to keep herself calm.
With his long, elegant fingers carefully lifting the hair at the nape of her neck (she shivered a little as his warm breath brushed past her ear), he whispered;
"…What makes you think you could last more than a second?"
Despite Naruto's influence and however much Neji had seemingly changed since his defeat in their first Chuunin exam, the Hyuuga still had a rather large propensity towards underestimating others. His inclination to deliver particularly scathing remarks at another's expense eventually earned him the nickname of 'the prick', which was really quite insightful, considering it had been his own teammate of seven years, Tenten, who had christened him with it.
But his barbed tongue put aside, in truth, he hadn't really meant any of what he accused Haruno of being. She had intrigued him, from the moment she had dared to initiate the ridiculous sparring session. Still, she would have to prove her worth before he would be convinced enough to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"…What makes you think you could last more than a second?"
That did it.
Sakura was officially pissed.
Her former reputation, plus her slight build probably lead the Byakugan-wielder to believe she was as weak as she had ever been, in her genin days, and although she couldn't exactly blame him, it didn't stop her from wanting to drag his carcass across town and then back, to assuage her stomped-upon pride.
The nerve of him; taunting her like that! She would never have picked him for having such a spiteful streak! Really, she hadn't expected much from him, what with hearing his whole sob life story from Naruto and bearing Lee's complaints about his obsession with fate for years, but for him to take one look at her and to decide she wasn't worth giving the time of day, was…was…despicable! He was even worse than Sasuke!
At this, Sakura mentally raised her hackles and let out a bloodcurdling war cry. Oh, but if she had anything to say about it, Hyuuga Neji was going down.
Just when the Hyuuga thought that he had successfully beaten Haruno Sakura's fighting spirit into the dirt, she surprised him yet again.
Neji took one look at Sakura (who had suddenly taken on a rather maniacal glint in her eye and was cracking her knuckles rather sinisterly) and just managed to resist the urge to back away.
She was…glowing. No really, she was emitting an aura of intensely concentrated chakra, which, at the moment, seemed to be directed towards him.
Out of nowhere, she let out an – admittedly – extremely frightening scream, flipped onto her hands and swiped at his legs with hers, while at the same time throwing a handful of shuriken, aimed at his head.
Her deadly aim throwing his composure and balance off, desperately he back-flipped away, but not before feeling one of the blades scrape across his arm. The shuriken trailed the material of his sleeve with it. He looked down at his injury with a teensy look of unconcealed shock adorning his features.
…What had gotten into her?
Queasily looking around for an escape route, when he found none, he decided to take the plunge and opened his mouth to bid her a quick dismissal before turning tail. He walked away as fast as he could, praying she wouldn't follow.
In retrospect, it may not have been his smartest idea, because it really only served to infuriate her further. And suddenly, she had appeared right in front of him with her fist glowing ominously. It was the last thing he saw before she drew all the chakra she could muster -honed to the densest concentration possible- and decisively cocked her arm back, before planting it in his face.
He landed in hospital for a week.
She had, in effect, royally handed his ass back to him, courtesy of her chakra-enhanced fist, and in truth, he hadn't even know what had hit him.
As he flew backwards into the nearest tree, Neji reached out and tried to stop his trajectory through the air in vain. His attempt to regain some ground was thwarted when that same arm smacked into some low-hanging branch, which then broke it with a sickening crunch.
Lying on the ground, with the wind completely knocked out of him, his broken arm limp by his side, he cursed the idea of having ever underestimated another one of Naruto's companions. He supposed he really shouldn't have been surprised. Naruto's thick skull, cat's lives and damned personality was bound to have rubbed off on his teammate at least a little, Neji realized, a bit too late.
He suspected that he had a major concussion. He had the chance to look up, his vision blurring, and was astounded, yet a second time (amazing how she could do that, when everyone else failed to meet his expectations), with what he saw. There, Haruno Sakura stood, still in battle stance, with her chin lifted and her head held high. Her hair was even blowing backwards, like a heroine's rightly should, even though there was no wind. He saw her mouth moving, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize what she was saying. He felt like he was moving underwater, for all the strength he could muster in his weakening limbs.
Finally, his brain clicked into place and her words made sense- "If you could take two seconds to pull that stick out of your high-born ass you would notice that things have changed. People change,"- was the last thing that registered in his mind before everything turned black.
Later, he had found out that he had apparently suffered the indignity (whilst still being unconscious, of course) of being thrown over Sakura's shoulder like a rag doll while she hiked back towards the hospital, where she neatly deposited him on a hospital bed- with the whole village looking on- before taking up another work shift. His humiliation was complete.
Tsunade had even taken the time out of her incredibly "busy" schedule to go see him, if only to point and laugh, standing in the doorway, tears of mirth coming out of the corners of her eyes.
"That's what you get for underestimating a student of mine, Hyuuga," she said proudly, still chortling at his expense to her heart's content.
He scowled. Heavily.
Haruno Sakura had gotten him, but gooooood though, he had to admit.
Needless to say, it was his body and pride that took a beating, but it was his ego that was painfully cut down to size.
For two whole days afterward, he had the entire left side of his face bandaged, and it was still too sore to allow him room do anything more than blink and perhaps eat (but with great difficulty). He was rationed on baby food (but 'extremely nutritious ninja-baby food!' Tsunade had informed him), to his horror, because he couldn't chew.
He supposed that he hadn't really stood a chance against Tsunade's infamous strength, which was renowned for the ability to knock down walls with a single flick of her finger.
She apparently must have transferred the secret of it to Sakura. Neji consoled himself by thinking that he had taken a direct hit, after all. Yes, that was his excuse, and he was sticking to it.
On the third day, Lee had even ended up visiting the hospital ward that Neji was in, predictably with tears streaming down his face. As soon as he caught sight of Sakura, he had all but pounced on her as she was leaving Neji's room, latching onto her arm and letting loose a pitiful wail.
"Sakura, my blossom," he had cried, tears of youth gushing from his eyes.
"You have beaten my eternal rival! I always knew you were incredible, from the very first moment I set eyes on you! I saw a beautiful warrior, with fiery green eyes, the hair of a god sent angel and the flames of youth within her soul! But to beat Neji," –insert splutter here- "it's just… a-amazingggg!"
At this point he howled, and Sakura barely suppressed herself from shuddering.
Lee paid no mind, and continued to blubber, "You are the woman for me, Sakura-san! Tell me you'll marr-"
"Now now, Lee-san, I have business to attend to, and I have to check up on Hyuuga-san's statistics, so-" politely shaking him off, she hurried away as fast as she could before jumping into the nearest room and slamming the door behind her.
Neji sat there on the bed, and they stared at each other for awhile, at a stalemate.
And then Sakura burst out laughing because she was afraid she might implode if she held it in any longer.
Neji lifted a delicate eyebrow before the corner of his mouth –very slightly- quirked upwards in response, (his version of an uproarious chuckle) clearly amused because he could not have helped but have heard every single word of Sakura and Lee's conversation.
It was some time before she straightened up and regained her composure before casually saying, "Excuse me, Neji-san" (he inwardly smirked because she had finally dropped his surname unknowingly) while she stuck her head out of the door and into the hallway to see if the insane green beast of Konoha had left the building yet. Apparently she was satisfied, because a moment later she stepped back outside, but not before throwing him a backward glance and a smirk to match. "I suspect you'll be able to leave the hospital today, if that's what you were hoping."
With that, she turned on her heel and left, and Neji was left to wonder about when on earth she had managed to change so much - right under his nose - without him noticing.
Finally he was starting to see what Lee, his teammate, saw in the girl.
After that first time, Neji had seemed to develop a grudging respect for Sakura, and they soon became steadfast friends.
And although his aversion to hospitals still remained, he was not as reluctant to check in, if need be, unlike his former days when he would hibernate away in the Hyuuga estate to lick his wounds in private.
Still, he (secretly) insisted that only she be allowed to tend to his wounds -and luckily, he took precedence over all her other patients- and he never let anyone else touch him.
Which was probably a good thing, seeing as he always had the most severe wounds in nearly the same place. Sakura, being the genius medic-nin that she was, had managed to figure out the secret blind spot of the Byakugan on her own, although she knew that he trusted her enough by that point, to have told her so himself.
Soon, she even began thinking of him as her guinea pig, her very own human body to practice her inventive medical jutsus on, since he started coming to the hospital so much. Not that (she thought) he was willing. No, every time she had pulled strings so that she alone could treat him, he was either dragged kicking and screaming or was beaten into submission by the Hokage. Whichever came first.
-end chapter 1-
A/N: Sorry if this seems a little confusing at first! It's really just an introductory chapter, to show how Neji and Sakura first became friends, but it'll go chronologically from now on, I swear! xD