Title: Promises
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto - I never will. This whole fandom belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-sama jealous
Rating: T
Summary: Neji and Sakura return from the resque Gaara arc, but it looks like they've been hiding something. (Neji & Sakura)
Authors Notes:
I've been out of the NejiSaku ship for a while, so I wanted to do a quick oneshot. If anyone else wants to expand this idea, I give my persmission to use it, jut give me credit... and let me know about it so I can read it. But other than that, I don't see myself continuing this. Oh, and for the people who've requested the sequel to 'Three Days Till Home' I'm not sure I'll ever get around to doing it... so I kindly offer you this. Hopefully I will be doing more NejiSaku soon... I really do love this pairing. That's all for now... off to write some more.

---

"Do you think anyone noticed?" Sakura's voice was low and quiet as she was pressed against the far wall of her empty apartment. She could feel the familiar sensation of her back meeting the unforgiving wood. She was breathless and flushed as her lips were attacked mercilessly. "No, how could they?" Neji was trying desperately to catch his breath as he pushed Sakura up against his favorite wall in her apartment. It was the only one that wasn't covered by furniture and he loved the way it felt to pin her between his arms. His lips were already swollen and red.

It had been a three day journey from Suna to Konoha and the second the debriefing was over he tracked her with his byakugan. Usually he wouldn't have used it for such a trivial matter, but he was desperate to touch her skin and feel her lips on his. She was alone, standing on the steps of her apartment. He watched her, twisting her fingers into knots while she waited for him. His feet only touched three roofs as he flew across the city.

As his sandaled feet hit the dirt road, she looked up from her winding hands to meet his eyes. She almost looked like she was in pain. He nearly winced himself, because he was suffering just as much as she was.

They crashed threw her front door a few moments later, arms and legs binding, and lips beginning to pucker from the depth of their desperation. It was the most careless they'd ever been. But he honestly couldn't make himself care. He'd spent over a week in her presence, and was unable to touch her.

He'd woken up a week ago, in the wrong bed, alone. She'd left a note. 'Gaara was taken… I've gone to Suna with Naruto and Kakashi. I will come back, I promise.' Her delicate handwriting was in direct contrast to the overwhelming fear that welled up in him. She must have known the day before and not told him. She didn't want him to worry.

But even now, as he ravaged her lips and ground his hips against hers, her note was in his pocket, folded and unfolded so many times, it was nearly falling apart. She'd promised. And that was something worth holding on to, he understood that. Even if he didn't understand what they were doing, he was sure that her word was to be cherished.

Tsunade summoned him to her office that day, and watched him carefully.

"I've sent Sakura's team on a mission to Suna." She gave him a weary look that made him sweat. Had she told her sensei, even after they both agreed that it was better to keep it a secret? He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that he didn't like the way she was looking at him.

"I see." He feigned ignorance with exceeding grace. After all, he'd had more than six months of experience.

"I'm sending Team Gai in as back-up." She paused and handed him a document. He glanced at it to find another note, same pink stationary, same perfect script. "I expect you know what that is?"

It was Sakura's, 'just in case'. Many shinobi opted to leave behind something when they were sent on a mission they knew would be dangerous. She'd left him something. "Ah, hai." He responded as he read over it. It wasn't too specific as to give anything away. But the implication was quite clear. She would be sorry to die without getting to say goodbye.

"Your team will accompany them, and make sure nothing happens to her." She snatched the unfinished note from his hands and glared at him in the afternoon light. "Bring her home safely, Neji. That is your mission." Obviously, she knew exactly what was going on.

"Of course." His indignation was a clear indication that he didn't need to be told that. But he suspected the old woman looked at her like a daughter, and he certainly was not going to let her down. He had no intentions of letting Sakura die; they had unfinished business.

Then he was off, following her trail, and hunting. When they finally caught up with them, he dropped to his feet and shot her a look that could melt skin.

He'd watch her move through the trees, and the way her empathy flooded her face with tears while she held the old woman who saved her. He could tell she was injured and his fists clenched at his sides as he surveyed her. He was no fool. She was worn, and burnt. Her perfect pink hair was singed and it looked as though she'd aged three years in just a few hours.

He didn't say anything. He watched her mourn the woman who gave her life, and felt the sweeping pang of fruitless efforts as she proclaimed what her jutsu was. Even though he'd understood, he was shocked to find that Sakura, too, knew what this meant.

And his conclusion was full of resounding anger and frustrated inadequacy. He failed to protect her, as he said he would. And he looked to the old Suna woman who died to save her Kage and felt he owed her much more that she would ever know.

But as he pressed his lips to hers, he pushes this memory from his mind.

"Do you think anyone noticed?"

"No, how could they?"

She breathed over his neck and his knees buckled. She smiled wickedly and boldly ran a finger down his arms and caught on the waistband of his pants. She gave him a look that made his insides twist.

He pulled her flush against him as she shimmed up the wall to wrap her legs around him. And he knew then, that whatever it was they'd been doing for these last six months wasn't something that he had the luxury of walking away from anymore.

She tasted so sweet then, like the cakes he used to eat when he was a little boy.

"Neji-kun?" his name from her lips was like liquid lava running down his throat and threw his veins. She'd never used that suffix for him before. He was proud then, and nipped at her neck to show his approval.

"I like that." He told her with a deep, throaty voice as he gently slid her against him. "Say it again."

"Neji-kun." She obeyed immediately and he was glad to find that the tightness in his chest disappeared. He pressed his face into her pink hair and breathed deeply. And in that instant, his frantic hands became softer, slower, more deliberate.

He ran his fingers down the slope of her chin and over her exposed collar bone. He pulled his arms around her lithe body and leaned away from the wall and into a step that took them towards the door at the end of the hall.

"Don't ever do that again." He spoke into her hair and desperately pulled at the fabric of her shirt.

"Don't do what?" She asked as she pulled away to look into his white eyes.

"Don't ever leave like that again." And that was all he had to say. Sakura nodded as he pushed the wooden down open and pinned her to the soft mattress.

He was still unsure what it was that drew him to her all those months ago outside her apartment as he'd uncharacteristically offered to walk her home after a sparring lesson. But that didn't really matter anymore. Because she was so twisted and tied to his insides that he was sure he'd never be able to untangle himself.

She looked up at him, past the glimmer in her eyes, and the dust on her clothes that he eagerly tore away and pressed her hands to his face. He savored her skin on his and her breath mingling with his as their bodies collided.

And all the battles didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter that she's almost died, and he'd been able to protect her. All that mattered was she'd kept her promise. She came back to him.