Title: Three Days 'Till Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama
Rating: K+
Summary: Three days can be a very long time to get home and out of the sun, especially now that Sakura holds a precious piece of information. But, in the presence of the right person, perhaps three days isn't quite long enough… (Sakura & Neji)
Authors Notes: I'm not happy with this... but I'm not going to continue it either... so it will stay as is, for now.

I want to give a great big shout out to Mistress DragonFlame, who BETA'd this! She also had the heart to point out some errors in my judgement in this particular plot. Oh well... live and learn. And the next Neji & Sakura piece I do will be decidely different. Thankyou MDF - you are an angel!

I also want to thank SE, even if she isn't reading this, for her very helpful suggestions about the end of this fic. Hopefully it turned out okay, I know it's not my best work.

Finally, this is the LAST CHAPTER in this fic... there will be NO MORE. I think it's about time I ended this anyway.

The air was turning cold as it brushed over her face in the dimming light. They would spend one more night on the ground, and then she would be home. One more night and half a day of traveling and Sakura's feet would hit Konoha soil again. She could smell the rain off to the east, moving in their direction and an unsolicited groan emerged from her parted lips. One night and half a day couldn't end soon enough.

Her mind was still caught up in thoughts of her morning. The way Neji's comments had squirmed their way into her mind was bothersome, just as his constant presence was. Just to her left, only three trees over, he kept in perfect time with her. It was almost as if he was purposefully staying around her. This was both distracting and aggravating. Yes, even half a day more with him and she was afraid something would break.

The sun faded as its light diffused through the trees and she was glad when Gai signaled their halt. It was a large, open clearing in the woods and Sakura thought it looked vaguely familiar. But at least it was large enough to put some much needed space between her and the others. Lee and Ten-Ten had managed to argue most of the day, while Naruto had been grating on her last nerve.

She nearly regretted thinking so fondly of him this morning because she was going to have to murder him in a few hours if he didn't leave her alone. Sakura-chaaaan. She could hear his voice in her head, asking for something, pointing to a squirrel, chattering non-stop about nothing she was interested in. She craved peace and quiet, and she was desperate for it as they settled in for the night.

She chose a spot under a tree, behind a large bolder, a quarter mile from the rest of them. But in the open field, she was still in vocal communication range, and she was sure the deranged look she gave Kakashi halted any protest he might have made. She unpacked tent and grudgingly set it up. She knew it would rain, just like she knew that this night would last forever. Sleeping under the stars on a clear night was serene, but in the rain, on the ground, surrounded by never-ending irritation, she felt like she was going to kill something very soon.

When the pitter-patter of the rain started, a small, satisfied smile spread across her lips as she curled farther into her sleeping roll. Idly, she wondered if the rest of them had been smart enough to pack their tents. But in the moments that passed and soggy footsteps grew louder, she had a sinking suspicion that someone had been unprepared. But what she wasn't prepared for was the dripping brown hair, shinning white eyes, and nearly transparent white robe of Hyuuga Neji that boldly unzipped the flap of her tent and stuck his head in.

"Neji-san, what are you doing?" Immediatelyher hands gripped at the sleeping roll that pooled around her waist and pulled it tightly to her neck. He seemed impervious to his clearly inappropriate action and merely watched her for a moment, dripping, and breathing heavily. She could see the little puffs of his foggy breath against the black backdrop of the night sky.

"Gai-sensei insisted that I check to see if you set up your tent." He was bent on one knee and as the freezing air blew past him and touched her face, she shivered. His body seemed to be shaking and part of her wildly insisted that she do something to stop that cold, wet, miserable look he was giving her.

"You're… You're soaking." She pulled her feet up, almost unconsciously and watched, fixated and horrified as he crawled in through the flapping fabric and secured it behind him. It was like this was some kind of a bad dream. A terrible kind of nightmare where Neji was in her tent, dripping wet, and shivering – and she cared.

"Yes." He sat with his back to her; facing the entrance of the tent he had zipped shut. It was almost as if he was in shock too, like he could believe that he'd really done it. If she wasn't so completely and utterly frozen in her incredulity, it might have been funny. But as it was, he was wet and cold and she couldn't stop the medic portion of her brain that was resolute that he would soon contract hypothermia and die at her feet.

"Are you insane?" She couldn't stop the exasperation and anger that seeped from her mouth and leaked from her itching fingertips. "You're going to catch hypothermia, and die! Baka!" But before she could stop her hands or twitching sympathy, she'd pulled her sleeping roll down and immediate placed her shaking hands on his back. He was so cold, it nearly burned her. She recoiled for an instant, but after she'd huffed, she pulled her bare legs from her sleeping roll and knelt behind him.

"Ten-Ten did not pack her tent." His voice quivered as he spoke and she listened tentatively as she began releasing her chakra through his clothed back in an effort to warm him internally. "I offered mine." As if his noble intentions were just a feeble excuse, she swore softly under her breath and continued to ignore how much she hated him for being so idiotically stupid.

"Great idea, and where are you going to sleep?" She was beginning to feel annoyed by trying to warm him when all of it was just being sucked out of his skin by his sopping robe. She considered telling him to take off his clothes for a moment, but the sever blush that burned her cheeks was too great. So instead she leaned over his shoulders and undid the clasp holding the traditional Hyuuga robe around his shoulders.

Her thinly covered chest rubbed over the haunch of his back, and she could feel the cold moisture seep into her shirt. He made no effort to answer or stop her shivering hands from pealing the robes from his upper body. When she'd removed his robe, she nearly thanked god that he no longer wrapped the entire right side of his body with bandages. But he was pale and trembling so fiercely; she could barely stand to watch.

"I will be fine." Even through his chattering teeth she could practically feel his pride welling up defensively. And he reminded her then so fiercely of another man who would die to protect his pride. So she sighed, heavy and defeated in her mind and began to rub his back in the darkness of the tent. She could almost imagine those cold raven eyes looking at her just they had all those years ago.

She chewed on her bottom and lip and poured the only comfort she would ever allow herself to offer another man flow from her strong, ungloved hands and clenched her eyes shut in a futile kind of denial. If it wasn't his skin she was feeling and his racing heartbeat just under her fingertips, then she wouldn't feel like such a deserter. "That doesn't answer my question."

His back heaved as he reached past the cold at the last wavering remnant of hope that hung just beyond her reach. "I saved her." He didn't make any sense, and she could almost swear that she could smell alcohol. But she blinked and it was gone, along with most of her strength. But he still shivered, so she walked on her knees around his legs, to face him in the dark.

"What?" She watched him for a moment, the moon reflecting through the clouds, and thin water-resistant fabric of the tent against his vast, white eyes. He was a magnificent sight, shinning, shivering, and full of unquenchable pride. She busied her hands with the straps of his hakama as he watched her eyes dart from side to side.

"She was so small, and helpless." And his voice was so distant and cold she shivered. But it wasn't cold like she used to imagine that it would feel like as it passed her face, now it was just cold because he had no warmth left. As the wet fabric of his traditional hakama was removed he was left in only the slightly damp material of his quarter-length under-pants. He didn't seem to notice as she promptly turned seven shades of red.

She focused her attention on his words, on the unspoken, pitiable pain that was etched into every inch of his features. "Neji-san, who…" Her voice drifted off as she tried to piece him back together. But all the splinters of his ego and pride were spread across her fingers and coated her skin. She could almost feel him, asking her to put him back together. And there, in the middle of his puzzle was the girl he was referring to.

"She was caught in Kisame's water jutsu, we all were. I could see her grasping for air, and I couldn't stand it." His voice broke, and she was sure that a part of her heart joined his strained vocal cords in the midnight dance of shattered pieces. "I'm the one who saved her. I saved all of us. But I was the one who reached her first." His hands flew up and held her shoulders firmly as his wild, untamed eyes frantically begged her to understand. "I caught her in the falling water and held her. I would do anything to protect her." Then there was a tilt of the planet and his dripping hair brushed past her bare arms on his way to bury his face in her chest.

She held his head, and stoked his hair because it was all so familiar she wished she didn't have the memories that tied her to him at that moment. "Ten-Ten-san." As her lips formed the young weapon's mistress' name, his down-turned face swerved past the darkness and met her eyes with a belittling kind of anger. The sheer indignation that drenched her in the pounding rain was suffocating.

"Of course, who else would I be talking about?" He answered as if it was a simple matter, and not the world-stopping kind of confession he'd actually just given. He shouldn't have been this open, this vulnerable. She hated seeing the broken pieces of his heart sitting on his shoulder, just waiting for her to put back together. She had no desire to put his pieces back, except maybe to stop that look from covering his face. She knew it well, heartache. She hated it.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"She was the one who trained with me before the first chuunin exam." He still watched her with the same eyes and begged her to hear him. He was nearly hysterical as he looked up from under her chin. "She's always been there fighting along side me. And now…" as his voice dropped off, just past the image she felt strangely connected to him. "I just don't understand."

"Understand what?" She indulged in the act of conversation and touched his hair like it was an every day occurrence even as his hair soaked through her nightshirt, leaving her cold and mildly exposed. But he still watched her, the anger seeping away and slowly being replaced by the pain she was sure he was an expert at hiding. It occurred to her then, she may be the only person who'd ever seen him like this… she wasn't sure if she was honored or horrified.

So he continued to leak his pain over her in suffocating waves of empathy. And he looked up at her with off-white eyes shinning in the night through the darkness, and she was almost certain then that he could see through her."What does she see in him?" It was such a simple question, almost like an after thought in the wave of life. Why? The question was resounding, and unanswered. She nearly felt guilty for not having any answer. "How could she choose him over me?" his ire rose and she almost drew her hand from his silken locks. But then she recognized the mock anger that hid the heartache and she laced her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck.

"I… I'm not sure." He curled his body into her stomach as his arms wrapped around her waist, and she was strangely proud to offer him this small slice of comfort. But then she reminded herself that comforting Neji should not be a point of pride, but rather terror. So she watched him and her connection to him grow with each moment he lay in her arms. And she swallowed her invisible anti-morals and soothed him because she knew it was the right thing to do. Absentmindedly, she wished there had been someone to stroke her hair and listen to her pain the day after Sasuke left.

"What does that bobble-haired weirdo have that I don't?" She smiled warmly thinking of the noble, brave, strong-willed shinobi that saved her life once. "What could he offer that I can't?" But his outrage continued, and she let him. Even though she had the utmost respect for Lee, she understood that supplying an answer wouldn't be progress in this situation. "I am the strongest member of Konoha's most influential and powerful clan. I could give her anything!" Then he looked at her, deeper this time, like he was searching for something inside her. She remained still and allowed him to inspect her heart. "Tell me," his voice was suddenly soft and distant; unconsciously she leaned closer to hear him better. "…what is it about him that makes her look at him like that?"

She remembered the look, and thinking that they would make a perfect pair. But now that she held the side-effect of the possibility of such a union in her arms, she was forced to reevaluate her stance. "I think I'm the wrong person to be asking this, Neji-san." She chose ignorance, for the sake of diplomacy.

"She might as well fall in love with Gai-sensei, they are practically clones!" She giggled lightly into the darkness that surround them and settled farther against him.

"I suppose you have a point." She could feel the fabric of heart twist with the sinew of his, and she was so connected to him now she could feel his heart beat. So she touched his hair and looked at him like he'd always been there.

But then he broke the silent spell and looked past her newly formed bond and spoke with a desperation she was unused to. "It doesn't make any sense! Could you love me, Sakura?"

"Neji-san…"

"I could protect you." He was strong and insistent. He sat up held her by her shoulders so she would have to look at him. "I could make you happy. I could care for you, and give you children." Sakura was dumbfounded, and flabbergasted. But she couldn't look away. "I could give you a life. Why do you still love the Uchiha?" And she crumbled in the dark night wrapped now in his arms.

"I don't know if I love him anymore." She was honest, for perhaps the first time in her life, and the reality of such a statement was crushing.

"Then will you let me love you?" he pulled her to him, and her face was crushed against his bare chest. His hands fumbled in her hair and she could hear the pain that radiated from his voice. "I'm stronger than he is. I'd never leave you, or make you cry like he did. I would never turn my back on the village no matter how much I wanted revenge." She pulled her face from his strong hands and looked past the dark to see his shinning eyes and fractured soul. "I could change for you; I could make you smile and laugh like I did today and yesterday, but for always, if you'd only give me the chance!"

"Yamete, Neji-san!" Sakura cupped her hands over her ears and clamped her eyes shut. This was all wrong. It shouldn't have been him saying these things, even if they were perfect. He'd just managed to promise her everything she'd ever wanted, and she felt sick.

"Gomen nasai." she opened her eyes and dropped her hands in time to see a tear stream down his cheek. So she leaned in to wipe it away, because it looked wrong rolling down his face. But there was something else very wrong here, because Hyuuga Neji wouldn't cry, or beg Sakura to love him. So she inspected him and nearly fell back when she realized.

"Are… are you drunk?" his face shot up, incredulously. But there wasn't any denial.

"I was cold." He offered such a simple explanation, as if that would be able to justify everything he'd done and said. And oddly enough, it did justify everything for her. So she sighed heavily in her throat and crossed her arms.

"Where on earth did you get sake from?" She questioned him and was not surprised to find that the pieces of this convoluted puzzle were falling into place.

"Kakashi-san." His answer was not surprising in the least.

"Figures." She just wondered if Kakashi had handed it to him and told him it would make him warmer, or if Neji had seen it and just taken it in a moment of freezing desperation.

"Forgive me, Sakura. I didn't mean to…" he was quiet now, and the frenzied look in his eyes as he begged her to let him love her was gone. She was deeply happy for that. So she would let this night pass into relative obscurity in the wake of the new morning.

"Sleep now, Neji-san." She lay back, and he followed a moment later. "All this will be forgotten in the morning." She folded her exposed limbs under her sleeping roll and made room for him next to her.

"Forget her?" he asked as he moved his body to lay next to her in the small tent.

"No, you can't just forget her." She put her hands behind her head and look up at the darkness for answers that she knew it didn't have.

"With you, and time, I think I could." She sighed and closed her eyes, because this was all just some kind of bad dream. And in the morning, it would all be gone.

"I will never be a replacement for her." She glanced over at him, only to find that he was looking at her. She quickly removed her hands and curled up away from him and his unnerving white eyes.

"I know that." He looked away from her, back to the empty space above their head. "I could never replace him either, but at least we wouldn't be alone." She felt something cold and strong wrap around her hand. She was speechless to find his hand on hers.

"Neji-san…"

"Don't." He cut her off and looked over her shoulder directly into her eyes. And she couldn't bring herself to look away. "Say my name like you say his."

"That's not something I can do." She was only mildly surprised to see that she was whispering now.

"Onegai, Sakura, just once." His hand in her was comforting and terrifying. So she turned her face away and tried to imagine that this was all just a dream. "I want to know what it feels like to hear someone say my name the way you used to say his." She could fell him move on the fabric of her sleeping roll, and she could feel his breath on her neck. She didn't dare turn, because she knew his face would be just inches away from hers. "I want to know what it feels like to be loved." She gasped lightly, how could she not?

"Neji-s…"

"Onegai, just for tonight." and she did turn then, to look at him and his flagrant vulnerability. "I won't remember, so none of this will be real in the morning." He smirked, sadly and empty and a piece of her heart broke then because that look was painfully true.

"It'll be real for me." His face was still just inches away, and she could smell the alcohol on him.

"Then let it be real," he turned her in his arms and looked down at her. Sakura could feel her heartbeat speed up "…because tomorrow we go back to the village and you'll leave on another mission to bring him back." He ran his fingers over her cheek and she forgot how to breathe. "Let this be real, so if you never come back, at least you'll have this."

It took her a moment to respond, because she felt like she was in a thick haze and could barely see what was right in front of her. "Why wouldn't I come back?"

"Because he'll kill you this time if you interfere." His hands ran up her bare arms and she shivered against him.

"Do you really think that?" she leaned in and watched his eyes for any sign of a lie.

"Hai." He was telling the truth. And she knew he was right. She could die.

So she rolled into him and let his arms envelope her as the tendrils of sleep took hold. And as she drifted off, the last thing she saw was him and his shinning white eyes, and she was suddenly sure that just one more day wasn't nearly long enough. "Arigatou, Neji-kun."

So, how bad was it?