Reading Between the Lines

Chapter Four: Master Thief

Sakura woke up to the faint sound of a microburst of wind and saw a familiar kunai lodged in her wall— just above her favorite vase, where it was always thrown. Tenten loved to do that to her, just to test her patience, but Sakura knew it was business when she saw the note that fluttered through the window. It was a summons to the gates, and she was to pack enough clothing for at least three days.

She sighed, her pink hair fluttering in front of her face, as she quickly showered and changed into mission-sufficient clothing. More clothing and her favorite bottle of shampoo made their way into a small bag.

This mission summons was out of nowhere; Sakura had been off the active duty list for a month as she had been working purely at the hospital in order to be more available for Sasuke. Perhaps Tsunade had gotten wind of what happened from Rei; Rei was always looking out for her, he would know that a mission would be a perfect way to settle her winding emotions.

But the mission seemed a little too soon, Sakura had not even had the time to think about the smirk she knew she saw on Neji's face when she thanked him for his courtesy in getting her clothes and in walking her home. And she had actually hoped to catch Neji on his way out of the Hokage tower to meet him for lunch. Not that she wanted to see him; he just mentioned that he tired of seeing his teammates so often.

Another sigh escaped Sakura's lips as she neared the village gates; the civilian boy she had hugged yesterday was standing near them. There was no way to stop the surge of hurt and regret when she saw the boy, but what Sakura could accomplish was to keep the troubled expression from surfacing on her face.

"Hey, Kaito, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, allowing curiosity to explain the odd movement of her chakra. Only someone with the Byakugan would notice the change in flow, but you never knew if a Hyuuga was near.

"Sakura-chan! Are you one of the ninja that is supposed to help escort me? I asked specifically for you, but I did not think they would agree.

"I do not know; all I know is that I am here for a mission," Sakura replied, holding back a frown. Escorting the boy did not seem like the proper mission to help soothe her torn heart.

"Then allow me to enlighten you with the details of the mission," said an unnaturally smug voice from behind Sakura.

I was not paying attention: that was how he snuck up on me. It is not because I trust him enough to let my guard down, Sakura assured herself before turning to face the familiar quirk of lips and twinkle of eyes that meant Hyuuga Neji was feeling particularly arrogant.

"I did not know that the mission was so special as to need to be hand-delivered to me by an ANBU operative," Sakura continued suspiciously. If Neji was here to give her the mission, that likely meant that…

"It is our mission, not just "the" mission," Neji clarified.

Sakura waited patiently for him to give her the details, but after a minute, she realized he was enjoying his position of power too much to hand over his knowledge of the mission.

"Would you like to tell me what we must do now?" Sakura asked. "Because all that Tenten told me was to pack enough clothing for three days."

Neji seemed surprised that Sakura knew Tenten left the note, but he quickly found another way to annoy Sakura.

"Well, since you were incapable of acquiring knowledge of the mission on your own, I believe you might need to suffer before I give it to you. What will you give me for the mission details?" Neji asked, keep his face perfectly straight.

"A black eye and the inability to reproduce," Sakura growled, knowing that she was just as entitled to the information as Neji was. "Oh, and there just might be some hair-pulling."

"Would you rather trust me to take you there myself?"

"Sakura-chan," interjected Kaito suddenly.

"Hold on, Kaito. That would be a danger to the mission and you know it," Sakura said, giving Kaito a quick glance.

"I am perfectly capable of performing this mission alone," Neji said, daring her to challenge his statement.

"Sa-ku-ra!" Kaito exclaimed, still trying to get her attention.

"Hold on a minute, Kaito," she said, then directed her attention to Neji. "Really? Then why was I also assigned to it?"

"Because you were specially requested by the client," Neji explained, his slight annoyance at that fact only visible in the split-second flare of his chakra. Did it offend him that someone specifically wanted her? Or was it that he was annoyed to also have to go?

"SAKURA-CHAN!" yelled Kaito.

Sakura whipped around to face him, an exasperated look on her face. "What do you need, Kaito?"

"Here," he said, handing her a sheaf of papers.

Sakura looked down at the papers and quickly realized what they were.

"The mission description? Did you get this from Neji's pocket?" Sakura wondered aloud, and the proud smile on Kaito's face told her everything she needed to know. And the mad patting motion that Neji was in the middle of only confirmed her suspicions.

"Aww, Kaito, you're the best," Sakura said, gracing said 12-year-old with a hug and doing her best to annoy Neji. "You showed big bad Neji-kun who is the cleverer one, good for you. I just knew Neji loved being touched by men."

Neji simply stood seething and confused as he watched Sakura reward the civilian boy that managed to pilfer his pocket. His front pocket. Without him noticing.

Ooh, and the seemingly random twelve-year-old makes an appearance! Tune in next time to see if Neji can redeem himself. ;)

Sorry for the long expanse of no updates, I had finals and summer music rehearsals and I forgot my password for this site along with my email password, so it took a while to get that back in order.

Please review, this took me the better part of an hour (although I may have gotten distracted a bit)!