/This is our first fanfic, please enjoy the first chapter!!/

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto, or any character what so ever in the series!!-Taname-N-Koharurei

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen to the first chapter of the 'Within A Mission' Series!

I am your writer, Taname! Brought here to you by my partner in crime, Koharu!

At first I was rather apprehensive about starting this series, but then as I went on to typing more and more chapters, ideas and reasonings kept coming at me, practically at the speed of light, and the next thing I knew, I fell in love with this story. Although my updates are slow I'll make it MY mission to complete this and follow through to the end with this story. I love writing, it is my passion, as much as it is my passion to make others happy with my writing.

So here it is people.

Proofread and ready for you to read:

A tale of how the fates of these very different people,

Came together,

Within a Mission.

Chapter One:

The Dark Knight & The Jester

"It DOESN'T!"

"It SO does Sakura, there's no use denying it because deep down, you know I'm right and there ain't a damn thing you can very well do about it." Sai proclaimed stubbornly to the fuming pink haired chuunin that strode no more than three feet to his left, as they walked the road towards Konoha.

Normally Naruto would have taken Sakura's side of the argument, but on this particularly brisk autumn afternoon, he couldn't help but feel a tad embittered towards both his crush and his tormentor for an especially rude prank they'd pulled on him this morning before they left the Village Hidden in the Snow. Flustered and oddly silent, he stared up at the clouds as he listened to Sai and Sakura argue about something he neither cared for, nor wanted to at the moment.

"Sai! You incomprehensible stubborn jackass! Just because we had three missions in a row without a day's rest DOESN'T give us an AUTOMATIC Vacation! GET IT THROUGH YOUR BIG FAT HEAD!"

"FINE THEN! I admit that getting any dark truth through my fat head should be rather difficult... But not as hard as it would be to get any idea through your BIG FOREHEAD." The world surrounding them seemed to suddenly halt as the insult registered in Sakura's mind. As seconds ticked away, it was apparent that Sakura, for the first time today, was at a complete loss for words. Knowing he'd won THIS particular battle, Sai continued his trek towards Konoha, and not too long after, Sakura continued on her way as well, muttering incoherently as Sai's victorious demeanor formed into something so palpable it was almost suffocating.

"Say Naruto…" Sakura said, attempting to put her strong feeling of murderous fury out of her mind,

Silence.

"Naruto."

Once again, Silence.

"DAMMIT NARUTO I DON'T LIKE BEING IGNORED! SAY SOMETHING WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Sakura barked, a grunt was all she got from the pouting blonde. Sighing she gave up. Apparently he was still a bit pissed that she and Sai lied to him about attending an all you can eat Ramen stand outside of town, to get him out of bed quicker. Though his rushing was invigorating, and a nice jump-start, he was pretty ticked at discovering that they'd told him such a bold-faced lie.

Konoha was in view by now, and all three ninja had fallen into step to enter their home gates. All three were hoping and praying that there wouldn't be someone to send them on another lengthy mission, but alas, they'd set their hopes to high… At least… Sakura and Naruto did.

Approaching the threesome was none other than Iruka Sensei, a nervous smile formed his features, a bad omen for the three.

"IRUKAAA!" Naruto jubilated, not noticing how down trotted their old teacher seemed.

"Hey Naruto, Sakura…Sai." He greeted, all three greeted him in return. Before another word was said, Iruka passed a scroll to both Naruto then Sakura, and with a wave, disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a fuming Sakura and a rioting Naruto in his wake.

Sakura opened her envelope and realized it was as she dreaded, another mission. One less difficult, but none-the-less tiresome.

"I have to go with Ino to some town to tutor some ambassador's daughter on some remedies on nursing… What about you?" She sighed looking at Naruto as Sai snatched the scroll from her hands to read it over, then boredly pushing it back into her hands no more than two seconds later,

"Pervy Sage wants to drag me on some kinda mission to get some rare herb for the Boss Frog's… rash?... WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto roared, shifting his attention to Sai he growled,

"And why don't you have a mission!? Why're you so free all of a sudden!"

"Maybe I'm just more special… Either that or their hoping that by keeping YOU busy, your attention will be somehow drawn away from the fact that you're a dickless tard who can't get any love." Sai jested, Naruto, once again beaten to the punch, fumed and cursed in frustration as Sai-with a final wave-puffed into thin air.

"Hinata!" Tsunade exclaimed thrusting the assignment scroll onto her desk before the anxious young woman before her,

A nervous hiccup was her reply.

The angry flame that fueled Tsunade's harsh tone died in an instant, with a sigh she slumped back into her chair and calmly asked,

"What is the meaning of this? It's not like you to refuse a mission, what did the others say about this?" Tsunade asked,

"Nothing…" Hinata mumbled,

"Nothing?"

"Sh-Shino is on a one man mission w-while Kiba and his sister are on a mission of their own…S-So they kind of, pretty much, don't know." Hinata sighed,

"So THAT'S what's up… But why refuse the mission?" Tsunade asked indicating the scroll in front of Hinata,

"I-it's a mission meant f-for three people Lady Tsunade…And I am o-only one person…"

"…So? You can round up other people can't you?"

"I-I'd really rather not bother others w-with my problems M-Ma'am."

"Well you'd rather not, but I'm fine with bothering other people just fine. Lessee here…" She queried as she skimmed over the schedule of all the co-operative ninja in Hinata's sect. (People she'd grown with you know.)

"So what comes to mind when it comes to partners Hinata?"

"…Uh—"

"Just say any random name." A moments thought passed before Hinata replied,

"Shikamaru?"

"There's a dear—ah, no, he and Chouji are on a mission…" Tsunade answered sorrily after looking back at the schedule for reference,

"Lee?" Hinata shrugged,

"He's with them."

"Tenten?" Hinata squeaked as the very pool in which she fished for options, began to dry.

"She Sakura and Ino are grouped for another mission that'll take a while to get back from…" This time, Hinata's eyes looked away and she habitually began to chew on the tip of her thumb as she fidgeted,

"N-n-nrtmmm….." All sense of self composure had escaped her,

"What was that? I can't hear you when you speak into your sleeve…" Hinata immediately dropped her hand and looked up at Tsunade,

"N-Naruto?" She clarified, her expression still possessing a good element of uncertainty.

"Ah-hah… He's with Jiraiya and they'll be gone for some time my dear... Why not choosing someone a little closer to home?"

"Hanabi?" Hinata asked a bit fervently. Tsunade nearly choked on the small sip of sake she'd just swigged. She coughed, trying her best not to laugh.

"Hahaha-NO She's still on the trip with your father on their own mission…" At this, silence filled the room.

"Fine then, since you definitely won't say t then I will… How would you feel being paired with Neji—"

"I-I'd very much rather n-n-not." Hinata whimpered, and at this Tsunade sighed,

"Well unfortunately you have no other choice, he's a Jounin... And it'll--" Before she could finish, the door burst open and in came a foreboding Sai,

"Tsunade. Everyone I bother on occasion while Sakura and Naruto are away, are nowhere to be found, I've tried to keep myself busy, and it worked for a while, but now… I'm bored… Now give me a mission, something to do, ANYTHING!" Sai demanded blankfacedly,

"You don't cope well with boredom DO you?" Tsunade sighed, her eyebrow shifting curiously,

"No." Sai bluntly stated as Tsunade peeked over at Hinata, who gave her a horrified look from behind Sai. Tsunade sighed as Hinata began to vigorously shake her head in protest, but the damage was done. Hinata, Sai and Neji were now left to carry out a mission on their own to the Hidden Rain Village…

"Wheooooo…" Sai whistled gaping impressedly at Hyuuga manor, he'd thought Hinata few things, and as expected one of the few things did NOT consist of 'Spoiled Princess'.

"I'll be right back." Hinata stated timidly as she walked through the gates and towards the front door. Sai, not taking the hint, followed in suit, taking in the scenery of the Hyuuga estate. Hinata removed her shoes traditionally at the front door as she stepped in, Sai mimicked her behavior and stepped in behind her. It was when he shut the door that she finally noticed that she had been followed. She turned to face him, pale complexion taken over by an amazing shade of red. He looked back at her, expression level and face blank of any emotion. She said nothing, and continued to walk towards the courtyard, where she assumed Neji to be. But as she was about to slide open the door the Courtyard, she stopped. Sai nearly bumped into her. She stepped back, and entered the hall to her right, as they walked down the corridor, they entered another room, Sai recognized it to be the kitchen. As he entered he saw she was busying herself with the hurried task of making a small lunch for one. Slapping together a couple of rice balls and warming a cup of tea and bowel of miso soup she was just then pouring the tea into a small cup when Sai stepped to the counter and snagged a rice ball, and casually popped the puny morsel into his mouth.

She blinked a couple times to recover from the shock, but nonetheless set off to make another rice ball, when she turned around she realized she was too late to save the last two. With a defeated sigh, she set off to making an entirely new lunch tray for Neji. When she finished she put away the mess Sai had made. After cleaning away what was, originally, supposed to be Neji's lunch, she turned around and was horrified to discover that Sai was about to rob Neji of yet another lunch-tray. As he reached for the side of ginger, she executed a swift whap on his hand. He retracted his hand and rubbed it as he gaped poutingly at her as he involuntarily rubbed his somewhat abused hand. She lowered her head and took the tray back to the courtyard, where-as expected, Neji had been training. She set down the tray, and patiently knelt next to the tray, hands folded neatly in her lap, head inclined slightly, she remained there, awaiting for him to notice. Neji-back turned away from Hinata and Sai-continued his training ritual, without interruption. Sai soon became tired of standing, and sat cross legged next to Hinata, arms folded, he watched Neji train, his gaze intense. Minutes ticked away after that, then Sai noticed something about Neji's intent training. It was slight, but Sai noticed how Neji had ever-so-slightly glanced over at Hinata from the corner of his eye and swiftly averted his gaze when she showed any sign of discovering what he was doing. It was right then he realized that Neji had been deliberately ignoring Hinata, Hinata, whom hadn't noticed a tiny thing-or so it seemed at first glance. When Sai looked at her for verification, he saw that her expression clearly stated that she knew she was being ignored, she noticed this, yet she did absolutely nothing… After a moment of thought, Sai decided that this behavior was a severe waste of his time; turning away from Hinata he looked back at Neji, whom continued to ignore them both. Sai sat up a bit straighter before loudly clearing his throat in a particularly obnoxious manner, rupturing Neji's thought process, and finally getting the harsher Hyuuga's attention. Upon being turned to, Hinata received a moderate glare, whilst Sai received an expression that far surpassed a glare, it was the king of expression that sent a type of message. This particular message ran along the lines of: 'What the hell are you doing here? GET OUT!' Hinata cringed slightly, while Sai, on the other hand, didn't bat an eye.

Bowing respectively to Neji, Hinata sat back up and nudged the tray towards Neji who was slowly approaching the two. As he stepped up the humble lunch Hinata had prepared, he kept a very close eye on Sai. When he realized that Hinata would say nothing unless asked, he spoke up to the stranger,

"What're you doing here?"

"There's no way in hell…" Neji proclaimed later on as he looked over the mission scroll while Hinata had explained the situation at hand.

"B-but Neji--" Hinata pleaded,

"This is absurd; such a trivial mission isn't worth mine or your time. It's out of the question, I refuse." Neji finalized as he placed the scroll in Hinata's hands. As he stood, taking up the emptied lunch tray and beginning to head towards the Kitchen, as he passed Hinata and Sai he was halted by something,

"Please Neji… I can't go back to Tsunade-sama a-and refuse her again. She'll be disappointed in me and I… I-I couldn't stand the thought of it." Neji glanced over at her from over his shoulder. Her head was bowed, she as most likely debating on weather to look him in the eyes and beg, or not. Her fingers gently gripped the elbow of his sleeve, hoping to keep him long enough to listen to her. Sai saw this desperate attempt for attention and couldn't help but pity the Hyuuga heiress, the fact she had to plead- with someone who was destined to protect her- JUST to get a message heard was a spectacle far too painful to watch.

What was worse was how he jerked his elbow from her grip, as her hands released their grip, Sai could feel her surrender almost immediately.

If she gives up on this mission, that's it for me; I'll seriously die of boredom. Sai thought darkly as he could imagine himself slowly fading away from boredom, all his artistic ideas spent on free time and mind void of any other artistic inspiration. Hell No… Sai thought as he spoke up,

"Isn't it your duty to see to it that Hinata is kept safe at all costs? Or is that just a load of bull, preached only to make you seem useful?" Sai quipped, and by how Neji stiffened at the remark, he knew he'd struck a nerve. Sai leaned back against the porch post, cradling his chin in his hand, taking on a thoughtful demeanor, "Or could it be that you secretly know that all of your so-called 'skills and abilities' aren't in any way up to par?" Silence was enough of an answer to Sai; he knew he'd struck a particularly sensitive nerve. Sai stood straighter, and stepped towards Hinata, who by now had stood up from kneeling. Completely bent on infuriating Neji he had to make sure that the next thing he did hit home. Snaking his hand around Hinata's shoulder, he pulled her closer to him and smirked as Neji slowly turned around,

"It's okay if you're too much of a sissy to help us, I'm sure Hinata and I will get on famously without you." Sai stated, fake smiling as he'd grown so accustomed to.

It happened in the blink of an eye really… Without warning and practically out of nowhere, Sai was taken by surprise.

As Sai looked up, he saw Hinata looking up at Neji, while he glared daggers at Sai. Erm…Wasn't I standing next to her a moment ago? Sai thought slowly coming out of his daze. Sai looked around; he was sitting up from a busted paper door that he apparently crashed into.

Hinata had many times before witnessed what Neji was capable of; even with the instantaneous shift in movement she was able to see him use his whirlwind technique on Sai. Sai, who had been expecting some sort of reaction, had been taken by surprise by Neji's reaction to his taunts. As Hinata looked up at Neji, she was aware of how on edge he was, there was no way she'd be able to calm him unless she told Sai to stand down. As she was about to turn around completely to check if Sai was okay, Neji spoke,

"Fine… Seeing as keeping face with Tsunade-san is so precious to you, I'll go. But if he pisses me off again, don't hold me responsible for anything I do to him as a result." And with that Neji turned and walked the opposite way down along the porch, he opened a door that exited the courtyard, and slammed it shut, causing Hinata to flinch involuntarily. She stood there for about a minute before she remembered Sai, who was still trying to recover from his dazed stupor.

"A-are you alright Sai-san?" She asked as she touched his arms and forehead to check of any severe damage was done.

"He really got me with that move, I expected him to react rashly, but that was just out of the blue. He did something I'd expect Sakura to do… Minus the imitative fake smile she uses to catch you off guard." Sai stated with his face vacant of emotion, his tone level, with a slight tone that indicated that he was somewhat impressed.

"He tends to do th-that." She remarked as she sighed in relief and set to helping him up. She thought about what he'd said and couldn't help but smile to herself as Sai dusted himself off. He looked at the damage done behind him and scratched his head,

"So what about--"

"It'll be fine." Hinata assured, knowing that somewhere along the line someone was going to come by and fix it,

"Are you happy I broke one of your doors?"

"Huh?" Hinata hadn't noticed she was still smiling, as he looked her in the eye he realized what'd happened, and smiled pleasantly at her,

"So I'll meet the both of you at Konoha gates at 6am tomorrow?"

"I don't kn… That would be… Y-yes."

"Alright then, I'll be seeing you later. Bye!"

And without another word spoken, Sai left. Both knowing that tomorrow, would be the start of their first mission together. It was a befitting end, to an otherwise, 'Off Day'.

End of Chapter One,

Of Within a Mission.

I hope that you're enjoying it thus far.

I know I am.

Please review, on every chapter.

It saves me some thought from wondering what you guys liked or disliked.

Plus I enjoy hearing from you guys.

Happy To Have Piqued Your Curiosity-of not your interest.

Loving and writing.

-Taname

Koharuei: Well people hope you like the first chapter! Taname-sensei typed this chappy out...I might type chapter two...but...I think Taname-sensei wants to type it out herself...I forgot...I ll just have to ask her. Well I hope you like Taname-sensei's chappy!! Please review