Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Tale of Two Blankets ❯ Cats, hats, and all around chaos. ( Chapter 1 )

FormerAurora: Hihi! I am FormerAurora, formerly Auroratwin.

 

AlterAurora: Tee hee. She no own. You no sue. If you do, I'll sic Naruto to poo on you!

 

Naruto: What the fu-

 

Sakura: Shh! It's starting…

 

 

~~ Tale of Two Blankets ~~

 

 

A beautiful, November day. The type that only occurs in a cheesy Hollywood movie. Or maybe in an even cheesier fanfiction story. People were bustling about happily in the early gray morning light, shopping for the holidays that were coming up, their breaths misted in the chilly air, cheeks reddened from the cold. It was, all in all, a beautiful morning.

 

 

 

It filled a dark-haired ninja with pure, unadulterated, dread.

 

 

He sat up quickly from his all-too-comfortable bed on the brisk morning, his caterpillar eyebrows forced together like a dark banner across a blue sky.

 

 

Something horrible was going to happen that today.. He decided, still shaking like a leaf caught in a particularly strong gust of wind. Something bad. His gut was telling him that a tragedy of incomprehensible evil was going to take place. He flopped back oh his bed with a last quiver of fear and pulled the covers to his chin, His not-so quick mind trying to puzzle over what filled him with emotion. Which was why when his mother came to wake him up with her caterpillar eyebrows forced together like a dark banner across a blue sky, he croaked at her that he was sick, and she should call Gai-sensei and tell him that he couldn't go to training.

 

 

His mother did not question his judgement, nor did she feel his forehead for any signs of fever. Her son rarely was sick, and wouldn't miss training for anything. She merely gave a concerned smile, and inquired as to if he needed anything. When he croaked that he didn't, she nodded, gave another concerned smile, and left for her job as a teacher at the Konoha pre-school. The solid oak front door opening for an instant for her to exit, and letting the cold merciless wind escape inside, before it shut with a click, letting the heating system attack the cold molecules with a vengeance.

 

 

~**~ Somewhere on a nearby street… ~**~

 

 

An angry tomcat was yowling angrily from a doorstep that it had been stretched out on, trying to catch some of the sun's rays on the brisk morning. But just as it had reached that almost-warm stage- an angry boot had stepped on its tail, and the offending appendage in question was smarting in a most unpleasant manner, and it was frigg'n cold. Another cat heard its plight, and began yowling with it in sympathy. Which set off another cat to start yowling in sympathy, which caused a woman in a nearby house to burn the morning breakfast of bacon and eggs and start yowling in a not-so-sympathetic manner with a few choice words thrown in. Which caused her husband to be not-so happy about the way the day was starting with burnt bacon and eggs, and caused him to stomp angrily outside—right onto a perfectly innocent tabby's tail that was lounged across his doorstep, causing the tabby to break into earsplitting yowls….

 

 

The circle of life continued.

 

 

But this is not the focus of this story, much to the attention-craving tabby's annoyance. Nor, is it the focus of a certain black-haired girl named TenTen who woke up that morning to the shrieks of a cat and a couple of words spoken by her father that she was sure he had forbidden her to use.

 

 

But she is not the focus of this story, even if we all do love her hair.

 

 

She woke with a deep sense of dread in her heart. She looked hastily around her over-girly room, and out the window at the happy-go'ers busily walking around like worker ants. Her dark eyes sought for the source of the, well, bad. Not finding it, she decided that it was prophetic, and screamed down the hallway that she was sick. Her mother screamed back to suit herself, and TenTen hurriedly crawled back under the covers.

 

 

But, as I have said before she is not the point of the story. Nor is a bushy-browed Lee. Instead, our focus is four ninjas-in-training,

 

 

One of which was waking up feeling like a million bucks.

 

 

She stretched happily, rubbed the sleep out of her feminine eyes, and finger combed her pink hair.

 

 

Guess who?

 

 

Sasu-er, Sakura practically sprang out of bed to take a shower, get dressed, eat a delicious, non-burnt breakfast of bacon and eggs, kiss her father on his scruffy cheek behind the Konoha times, and wave to her mother goodbye, and burst out of her house.--

 

 

--Onto the tail of an unfortunate tortoise shell's tail.

 

 

The cat began yowling in a very affronted manner, and was deeply offended when Sakura's good mood didn't waver, and only said a few apologetic words in passing as she half skipped to the designated meeting place for team seven. The cat went off to lick its butt in a sheltered corner as if it had planned it all along, sending passing pedestrians deeply reproachful glances.

 

 

Our second protagonist woke up without feeling the intense dread that Lee and TenTen had felt. He simply got up, got showered, got dressed, ate a breakfast of cereal and milk-which-was-technically-past-its-expiration-date,-but-its-ok-until-it-st arts-tasting-funny-anyway, left his apartment, tripped over a stray orange long-hair, and petted it until it would shut-up. He made his way over to the bridge that Kakashi had explicitly said he had wanted team seven to meet at nine o'clock sharp. Where of which he saw a pink haired ninja lounging across a bench, already waiting there.

 

 

He expressed joy.

 

 

He expressed love.

 

 

He expressed possessive inclinations.

 

 

He expressed pain.

 

 

He expressed doubtfulness as to whether the pink haired ninja was female.

 

 

He expressed more pain.

 

 

Who?

 

 

Naruto.

 

 

Finally, our third protagonist woke up. We could explain the details of his morning, except it was the same as our second blond protagonist's morning, without the spoiled milk, and he avoided the gray cat without incident, making the one of the cat population happy for the first time that morning.

 

 

Yup.

 

 

Sasuke-kun.

 

 

Or Sasuke-bastard.

 

 

Your pick.

 

 

~^_~^_~^_~

 

 

The bench was cold. That, she could tell. Sakura shifted uncomfortably as she tried to keep up a playful banter between her and Sasuke-kun. She winced inwardly at Sasuke's indifference, and her un-eloquent attempts at conversation. He merely sat there broodingly, staring out into the unusually cold weather.

 

 

Sakura shivered slightly. She had expected that, it being the fire country, would get warmer as the day progressed. Maybe the extreme physical activity Kakashi normally had them do would keep her from feeling the bone-numbing cold. She cursed inwardly, and crossed her arms over the thin, pink jacket. It looked really good on her, hugging her figure in the right places, (as was proven by Naruto's heart shaped eyes when he had seen her,) bit if this kept up she was going to clash with her hair! Blue so totally did not go with pink. Sakura briefly contemplated going to get something warmer to wear, before deciding against it. She would look bad in front of Sasuke-kun, and besides, she'd never live it down if Kakashi-sensei arrived before she got back. Sakura pressed her slightly blue lips together determinedly. She would survive.

 

 

Naruto danced around in circles, trying to get Sakura's attention and keep warm.

 

 

“You should have seen it!” He was saying excitedly, throwing his arms out expressively, “I concentrated my chakra in my right fist, pulled it back and wham! Let the training dummy have it! It was spinning like- Kakashi?”

 

 

Sakura and Sasuke blinked. They had been subconsciously listening to Naruto's frivolous story to ignore the bitterly cold wind.

 

 

“Huh?” Sakura asked, before inwardly cringing from being mentally attacked by Inner Sakura for sounding so unintelligent. Naruto seemed to not notice her sudden lapse in judgement, and neither did Sasuke. In fact, he looked completely indifferent as to what she did, and was focusing more attention on Naruto no baka than her.

 

 

“Kakashi.” Naruto said in a wonder filled tone. He almost fearfully glanced at the clock tower which told the village that it was eight fifty-seven. His voice dropped an octave. “He's… He's early.

 

 

A long silence ensued. Two heads turned in the direction of Naruto's gaze, one pink, one black, and squinted against the morning sun. A tall, silver-haired figure was stark against the horizon, walking towards them with Gai-sensei ad Neji next to him. Gai-sensei was apparently talking to Kakashi excitedly, pounding his fist into his hand for emphasis, not unlike how Naruto had acted earlier. Kakashi was silently smiling, and apparently listening to Gai. Neji, being Neji- was scowling his patented Hyuuga Scowl.

 

 

What had happened to the world as Naruto danced in circles? Why had TenTen and Lee felt horror so great, they refused to leave their house? Why was Kakashi going to be on time? And what the hell was the cat population doing on the doorsteps of so many of Konoha's beloved citizens?!

 

 

The world may never know.

 

 

The three personage's heads on the bridge slowly rotated back to the clock tower. Eight fifty-eight. They turned back to Kakashi's approaching figure, Gai, Neji, and the bitterly cold wind howling around them either forgotten or artfully ignored. Eight fifty-nine. They were on the bridge. The clocktower gonged nine mournful times as if expressing the trio's sudden sense of impounding doom not unlike what Lee and TenTen had experienced, and they were there.

 

 

Naruto gaped like a beached whale, and tried to form words.

 

 

You're… You're not late!”

 

 

Sasuke gave him a amused stare at the idiocy of Naruto's words. Kakashi regarded him calmly, a twinkle of amusement in his eye. Sakura had a sudden impulse to look for flying pigs. She shook herself, and continued staring at Kakashi.

 

 

Gai's teeth sparkled. “Nope! And we were up half the night coming up with a new training mission!”

 

 

An involuntary shiver crept down the trio's spines, and a sense of fear overcame them. A look of horror on Neji's face revealed that he felt the same way, and was contemplating just what <i>type</i> of training had to be planned for half the night.

 

 

 

“Not half the night.” Kakashi responded, smirking beneath his mask. “But close enough. We'll be heading into the forest for this one!” Kakashi began walking towards the green sea of trees on the edge of town that Konoha was infamous for. All the four ninjas-in-training could do was follow meekly.

 

 

Sakura shivered again. The weather was not warming up. Instead, it seemed to be inclined to sit at bitterly cold like a stubborn toddler and not change, no matter how many prayers were whispered.

 

 

It was annoying the hell out of Naruto. He was bundled up quite warmly, but his nose was freezing, and was probably blue. (Of which it was.) And, to top it off, he did not look good with a blue nose, and didn't want Sakura to see him like this. Burrowing his face down into his coat was out of the question. It would be quite difficult to steer, and he would look even stupider.

 

 

And so, Naruto was faced with a dilemma.

 

 

And so, not liking dilemmas, he decided he would look manly and glare in a manly fashion.

 

 

 

Naruto glared at Neji's back, as he walked soft footedly behind the longhaired ninja. The group was walking down a near empty street that led to the forest's edge.

 

 

“Do you have a grudge against my hair?”

 

 

Naruto blinked at Neji's voice. Then, invisible hackles raised, he snarled in response, “Why are you training with us?”

 

 

Truthfully, he didn't care whether Neji trained with them or not. Though beating him into the ground in front of a swooning Sakura was sounding pretty attractive right about now…

 

 

Neji gave him an uninterested stare over his shoulder, long strands of hair floating in the November breeze. “Lee and TenTen are sick.” He explained slowly, as if talking to a small child. “And I asked you if you had a grudge against my hair, or do you wish to continue glaring at it for the whole journey?”

 

 

Naruto smirked. “Your hair is so girly. And I'm only warning you once not to touch my girl!”

 

 

And yet, at the ripe age of thirteen, he was unable to keep his foot out of his mouth…

 

 

Naruto found himself flying through the air for a few glorious seconds after two fists found their way simultaneously in his gut. And then… he had a not-so glorious re-acquaintance with gravity in the form of the solid, unyielding, road, which had luckily tapered down to a dirt path instead of the (harder) brick road as they neared the edge of the forest.

 

 

Gai and Kakashi were in the front of the group, leading them to where the sloping land cut off into thick trees, and did not see it, or at least, pretended not to see it.

 

 

And a most odd occurrence happened.

 

 

Sakura and Neji remained standing in the tell-tale fashion with both's fists extended in punching position.

 

 

Sakura smiled almost playfully at Neji as Naruto tried frantically to suck oxygen into his lungs with his shell-shocked diaphram.

 

 

“He was my kill.”

 

 

Neji and Naruto looked shocked, although it could have been the extreme pain that was in his gut that caused it. Was she… joking with him? An almost complete stranger?

 

 

Sakura un-extended her arm and broke off her gaze with Neji to glare at Naruto. “I'm not your girl.” She told him with narrowed eyes, “And Neji's hair is not girly.” She swerved and jogged to catch up with Sasuke, who had been walking with Kakashi-sensei and Gai nearly twenty-five meters ahead of them, already entering the Konoha forest.

 

 

Neji glanced at Naruto, shrugged, and jogged to catch up to the rest. The slightly shocked expression on his face had been replaced with an indifferent poker face, but it had been there. And somewhere, it the metaphorical heart of Neji that had been blackened by cruel reality that is life, a part of him softened towards Sakura.

 

 

((waah… I really want to end it here on a dramatic note, but you lucky people you, I don't want to make more chapters than I have to. ^_^))

 

 

Kakashi waited semi-patiently for Naruto to finally catch up to them. Sasuke smirked at him as he caught up, still gasping slightly. Gai's teeth sparkled, despite Naruto's obvious pain.

 

 

“We're entering the forest now.” He told them unnecessarily. “Stay close, and don't wander off.” He began leading them through the vegitation, seemingly not following a path. The ninjas in training were hard pressed to keep up and avoid the back-swing of a branch that Kakashi, (who was behind Gai,) would push out of the way and then let go of to snap back in their faces.

 

 

Sakura was the only relieved one. Now that they were out of the open, the wind blew less harshly, and her shivering abated a little.

 

 

But, despite the lack of wind, there was a distinct temperature drop amidst the trees. The sun shone less brightly on the travelers sheltered by the tall majestic oaks. The noises of the forest echoed through the trees hauntingly. Bird calls and strange animal shrieks made Sakura jump. The others seemed indifferent, and Naruto too pained too care. A small bright yellow lizard as long as her thigh slithered in front of Sakura and she bit back a yelp and drew her foot back from where it had almost stepped on it. The lizard hissed threateningly and slithered back into the forest, the rustling of dead grass marking its path. She wondered how it had so much energy in the cold, being cold blooded. Maybe it wasn't… She shuddered a bit.

 

 

Sakura breathed a little heavily as she followed Sasuke in front of her down a steep ravine. The sides were littered with smooth rocks, so the party was forced to cling to nearby saplings except for Gai and Kakashi who looked like they might have been taking a stroll through the park.

 

 

A dog-like creature scampered across the other side of the ravine and Sakura jumped as her foot rested on a stone covered in dead, slimy leaves. Too late, she fell forward onto Sasuke's back with a muffled scream. He braced himself against her dead weight by holding onto two saplings, and gritted his teeth.

 

 

“Sakura, get off.

 

 

Sakura blubbered an apology and grasped the sapling that Sasuke was holding and pushed herself off him with a deep sense of shame in her belly. When Sasuke continued walking forward casually, she felt the weight increase. She followed him tentatively, grasping each tree she saw over cautiously until they reached the bottom of the ravine where they started to climb the other side. Her eyes burned and a lump etched itself into her throat. Why couldn't she keep up with Sasuke? A sneaky glance over her shoulder revealed that Neji wasn't having any trouble and gave her a hard stare when she looked back at him, and she hastily turned forward again. The only other person was Naruto who was blundering about, cursing.

 

 

Sakura studied the way Kakashi-sensei walked seemingly effortlessly and fought the urge to sniffle. His feet never slipped of the slippery rock, and he didn't have to grasp any…

 

 

Sakura felt a sudden urge to whack her forehead with her fist as a wave of understanding washed over her. One of our first lessons. She thought, smiling broadly. Concentrate your chakra in your feet. If it can work on trees, it can work on rocks and dead leaves… She gathered her chakra to her feet and concentrated on sticking. She immediately picked up the pace and followed Sasuke easily. It was tiring, but not as tiring as grasping every tree and testing the ground if it was stable. And she finally understood why they hadn't leapt from branch to branch.

 

 

Kakashi smiled inwardly at Sakura's sudden change of pace. She had finally figured it out. Now only Naruto was left…

 

 

Naruto struggled to keep up with Neji and Sakura as the suddenly sped up. He caught a glimpse of Sakura performing hand seals and realization dawned on him. He grinned and followed her example. He focused his chakra in his feet and ran to catch up to Neji.

 

 

The group followed the pace for a while until Kakashi and Gai lazily broke into a jog. The ninjas-in-training followed with an inward groan. They slid down small cliffs, jogged along sharp hundred foot drops, and waded through ice-cold ankle deep water. This was continued deep into the evening when they were feeling the sharp pains of hunger when Kakashi and Gai stopped, Gai grinning at Kakashi and Kakashi smiling cheerfully at the team.

 

 

They had stopped in the middle of the forest, the evening sun shining down behind Gai and Kakashi, forcing the ninja-students to squint as they looked at their teachers. Their surroundings did not seem any different from what they had been running through. The trees stood tall all around them, and there was no path in sight.

 

 

Kakashi grinned at the group. “Now we get to the fun part.” (Naruto groaned loudly at the thought of more “fun, and Sakura whacked him, even though Inner Sakura was groaning along with Naruto, and Kakashi merely smiled even broader.) “Trekking through the forest was not the point of this exercise, all though it was an added bonus.” Gai's teeth sparkled as Kakashi continued, “The point of this exercise is similar to that of the chunnin exam. You get one week to survive with wild animals, poisonous insects, though very few in this weather, and man eating bears getting ready for hibernation. I don't care what you do, just keep alive until it's over. We will find you. I have personally talked to one of you, and he, or she, will try to demolish the team. To add to the fun, you get two blankets.” Kakashi pulled two thin cotton blankets out of a sack that no one had previously noticed.

 

 

“But there are four people!” Sakura interrupted protestingly.

 

 

Gai smiled in what they all thought now as a malicious grin. “That's the point. You'll be forced to trust the spy among you. I suggest you find he, or she, very quickly.”

 

 

Naruto stared blankly at him. “So this one person is going to go around murdering us in our sleep?!”

 

 

Kakashi shook his head. “I have taught that person to put their victims in a temporary coma until the end of the exam.” A strange glint entered his eye. “Anyone who is caught by the spy will serve my punishment when this is done for being so foolish. Any more questions?” When no one spoke up, he continued, “Good. Then we will take our leave.” Both Gai and Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

 

 

Sakura sighed and picked up the blankets. “Why am I not surprised Kakashi came up with something like this?”

 

 

Neji snorted. “Because he's Kakashi. We should find shelter for the night.”

 

 

A cross between a moaning and a growling sounded through the group. Sakura jumped and looked around. Naruto looked sheepish and patted his stomach. “I think we should find food first…”

 

 

Everyone gave Naruto a deadpan look. Neji spoke again. “We should find shelter before that. We can survive without food, but finding somewhere safe to sleep is our main priority now. We would die of cold or be attacked by animals long before we run out of food. The temperature is dropping as the sun goes down.”

 

 

The party was silent. It was true, it was getting colder by the minute, and the eerie calls still sounded through the forest.

 

 

“We should find the spy first. So that we can sleep.” Sasuke said, his eyes hard.

 

 

Sakura looked at him, startled that he could be so cold. Was this really the person that she was in love with? Had he always been so cold. Yes. She suddenly realized. Yes, he had. She had just never seen it. Didn't want to see it. “That won't do us any good.” She said confrontationally, hiding her sudden discomfort, and staring at Sasuke. “If we don't survive, it doesn't matter if we find the spy or not. Remember, the spy needs to survive as much as we do. We should find shelter, like Neji said.”

 

 

Naruto glared at Neji. “I think he's the spy.” He said accusingly. “Why else would he just `happen' to train with us this one day?”

 

 

Neji glared back at Naruto. “That is stupid. I am with this foolish group because TenTen and Lee are sick.” The two males glared at each other, before Sakura intervened. She stepped between the two, putting a hand on each male's chest, and pushed them apart. Finding a common enemy, the two ninjas scowled at Sakura.

 

 

Sakura gulped. If looks could kill… She pushed the thought down, and put a fierce expression on her face. “This is exactly what Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei planned!” She said, her glare darting between the two she held apart. “They're testing our teamwork. We can either work together at a team, or fail as individuals.” She gave a little shove to emphasize her words, before removing her hands. “Your choice. We will find shelter now.” She stomped off in a random direction hoping that they wouldn't question her authority. To her surprise, they followed, even Sasuke and Neji, and Naruto grumbling to himself.

 

 

Naruto followed as Sakura led the way in a sure manner. “Man, she can be scary…” He mumbled under his breath. Neji scoffed, but inwardly he was agreeing with him.

 

 

They had been walking for a few minutes, and Sakura began losing her confidence. She had to be strong! She needed a plan… A virtual light bulb appeared above her head.

 

 

“Neji.” She said, trying to use that same confident tone, and not stopping to turn around.

 

 

Neji looked at her moving figure. “What?”

 

 

“Activate the Byakugan and look for some sort of cave or rock over hang.”

 

 

Neji blinked, before he realized her logic. It was a good idea, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud. He squeezed his eyes shut, and focused his chakra to his eyes. Byakugan!! He snapped his eyes open and looked through the surrounding forest searchingly for a few moments.

 

 

“There's the base of a cliff to our left, but it's too far away for me to tell if it will provide shelter.”

 

 

Sakura smiled, and summoned up her confident tone again. “That's good. Even if we can't find a cave, we can still build some sort of shelter against it. Lead the way.”

 

 

Her entourage blinked at her voice. When did Sakura become so… Strong? She was the one who usually needed to be saved, not doing the saving. Sasuke eyed her keenly, but turned his gaze away when she turned towards him.

 

 

Neji led them through a round-a-bout route, avoiding the steep drop-offs and dense shrubbery. When he was close enough, he verified that there was no cave, but there was an over-hang, and a long rock that made a second wall next to the cliff.

 

 

“We could pull branches over the top and sides to protect us for the night.” Sasuke said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

 

 

Sakura nodded as he echoed her thoughts, to tired to try to pick up on his rare line and flirt. Being a leader was hard! She had to act confident and cool the whole time. She had to hide tripping over a root as seeing something on the ground so they wouldn't question her prowess! She had been lucky there had been something on the ground; a sleepy brown snake that looked like a branch to the side of Neji's route hidden near the base of a maple tree. Sasuke had even complimented her sharp eyes! But she was just too tired to care from constant chakra control… Maybe in the morning she would happily relish it, she had to relish it. But when she looked at him now… Where was the butterfly-filled stomach? The swooning? Gone. She couldn't fall out of love that easily… Sakura shook herself. She would think about it when she wasn't so tired.

 

 

Sakura called a halt after half an hour. Neji looked accusingly at her with eyes still puffed from Chakra, but she ignored it. “We should rest here.” She said, putting the blankets on the ground.

 

 

“But I'm not tired just yet!” Naruto protested.

 

 

Neji looked questioningly at Sakura. “Are you tired?” He didn't say it as if to flaunt her weakness, he just merely… asked. Sakura didn't want to sort out the implications it held.

 

 

“I'm not that tired. I have to…” Sakura blushed slightly and wished for the leader's face again as she made a vague gesture with her hand. A look of understanding came over Neji's face, and he smirked amusedly.

 

 

Naruto still looked confused as he tilted his head to the side. “I don't get it.”

 

 

“I have to PEE! Sakura half yelled at Naruto. Both Neji and Sasuke snorted at the expression of horror on Naruto's face. “You three males will all turn around and walk that way for thirty feet! Then, you will talk about manly things while I go!” Sakura screamed at them. Neji and Sasuke were covering their snickers as they were pushed away.

 

 

When Sakura was finished she found them, exactly thirty feet away, talking about the best types of kunais. Naruto looked at her wickedly. “Better?”

 

 

Naruto mysteriously found himself dodging three kunai knives aimed at his manly areas. He gulped, and suggested that Neji reactivate his Byakugan so that they could find the cliff, of which they did, and their trekking resumed except for the glares that Sakura shot him through her leader face, and the way she fingered the kunais strapped to her side…

 

 

When they finally reached the cliff overhang, Sakura couldn't stop a bit of weariness from showing on her face. The rest weren't much better. Naruto was asleep on his feet, hunger forgotten for the sake of some place to rest. Strain showed on Sasuke's face to keep up. Although it didn't show, Neji's chakra was seriously depleted from using the Byakugan, and he de-activated it as soon as he no longer needed it. They wordlessly began gathering fallen trees and sticks to lay across the top of the rock and a lucky cleft in the cliff level with the bolder. The bolder was about fifteen feet long, and four feet tall and was eight feet away from the cliff and was not exactly parallel to the cliff and sloped away from it gently, ending in twelve feet away from it.

 

 

When the four had finally made a suitable shelter, (they had laid heavy logs and then brush over the top, and logs propped on either side.) No one wanted to use chakra, and the subject had not brought up. They simply collapsed under it, not wanting to move, enjoying the body heat given up by each other that built up in the closed space, even if it was still very cold. Sakura even agreed to be next to Naruto, who was awake enough to gloat. The blankets had been set on the ground outside by Sakura when she helped with gathering logs. She wondered when they would realize they were there.

 

 

Sakura sat up slightly, and looked at her comrades. They all looked too weary to move. Naruto had even begun to snore. Sighing, she crawled out, pushing the logs aside that made their “door” to go look for fire wood, and contemplate how to start a fire in the first place. She had to go a bit farther than she was comfortable with, as they had used up all the wood in the nearby vicinity for the “house.” The cold hit her like a steam-roller. Her teeth began to chatter and she started shaking uncontrollably wind, despite being muted by the trees, still swirled around her, howling it's wrath in a high voice.

 

 

Sasuke watched Sakura leave. He vaguely wondered what she was doing, before deciding that if she wanted to go, he wasn't going to stop her.

 

 

“Someone should go help her find firewood.”

 

 

Sasuke turned his head towards Neji. So that was what she was doing. A good idea, really. He sighed. “She's strong.” He said, verbalizing it for the first time with a jolt, realizing she really was strong. Hadn't she come up with a plan, and executed it?

 

 

Neji sat up slightly, and crawled towards the “door.” He glared back at Sasuke. “No one should be alone. We are a team. You should know better than to just leave her like that.” He exited the dwelling, muscles protesting, and went to search for Sakura. He caught a glimpse of her trademark pink dress and followed her.

 

 

Sasuke felt a slight pang in his chest at the accusation. But he didn't want to move, it was just too cold. He remained that way for a few minutes. Before coming to a conclusion. He did care. He wasn't going to leave her like that, and abandon her! He sat up suddenly, whacking his head on an overhead log with a few muffled curses, causing a couple of leaves to rain down on him. Rubbing a bump on his forehead, he crawled outside, and spotted the blankets next to the door. How could he have forgotten them? He hesitated, before picking them both up. He wrapped one around himself, and spread the other one over Naruto. He felt slightly better, despite the cheapness of the cloth. He was going to find Sakura, and he was going to understand this sudden pain in his chest. He scanned the trees, before vaguely remembering which general direction Neji went, and followed him.

 

 

Neji caught up to Sakura as she bent down to pick up a half rotten log. She grimaced and dropped it to look for better wood.

 

 

“All the logs are wet because of the rain we had.” She said, making a face.

 

 

He nodded, and bent to pick up a thick stick. It was slightly damp, but it would do. They gathered wood together in a comfortable silence for a couple of moments.

 

 

“You know, I used to hate you.” Sakura said, breaking the silence with an invisible echo. Neji looked slightly surprised, and looked at her again.

 

 

“Why?” He asked, half already knowing the answer.

 

 

She sighed, and shifted her shoulders, bones popping comfortably. “You said that everything was preordained before you were even born. It may be easy to believe in destiny, and fate, when things get hard, but I interpret it as never changing. And I didn't want that. It meant that my unrequited love would never be returned.” She paused, and added wit a lopsided grin, “And you were always smirking as if you were better than me.”

 

 

“You're talking about Sasuke.” He said, almost accusingly, ignoring the last comment.

 

 

Her face saddened. “Yes. I used to chase him, thinking that it would make him love me back… Actually, I think I still do.” She said, giving him a half smile. He didn't return it, just focused intently on her face. “But… Just this afternoon I realized that it wasn't real. You know? I kept on telling myself I loved him, and then it was just a moment of clarity. When I asked myself, is this really the guy I'm in love with? And I just… I didn't want that.” Sakura sniffled. “You're probably thinking I'm weak right now. And I probably am. In fact,” (Sakura sniffled again,) “I don't even know why I'm talking to you…”

 

 

Neji looked bewildered at the emotional female. What the hell was he supposed to do? He vaguely remembered something Lee had done to TenTen, and gathered her in his arms gently. Sakura hesitated for a moment, before tentatively wrapping her arms behind his neck. Neji stroked her hair, a warm feeling in his heart. It was change, but a good change. He felt comfortable holding this girl in his arms when he had shied away from contact even from his own family. Sakura buried her face in Neji's shoulder, finding that there were some advantages for him to be a head taller than her. She refused to cry, and just stood there, sniffling from time to time, taking comfort from his presence. He smelled like sweat and soap, but she didn't really care.

 

 

When Sakura finally pulled her face out of his shoulder and stepped back and unlinking her hands from behind his neck, she found that Neji's hands were linked behind her back and wouldn't let go, she giggled a bit and looked up at his face—

 

 

--Which was two inches away from hers, his silver eyes looking at her intently.

 

 

His face came closer, and they were one inch apart. She looked at him dreamily. Was he going to kiss her?

 

They were nose to nose. Liquid heat sloshed in her abdomen as his lips came closer. For some reason, she didn't want him to stop…

 

 

Sasuke was there. She saw him watching with accusing eyes just as Neji's lips ghosted over hers, she sprang away from him, blushing a violent red and turned away from Sasuke.

 

 

“Having fun?” Sasuke said sarcastically walking over to the pair, the thin cotton blanket draped over his arms like a shawl. His actions seemed almost lazy, but his eyes revealed the hurt he felt.

 

 

Neji had been slightly confused when Sakura had broken away from his grasp. He glared at Sasuke. He cursed himself for not noticing him earlier. “What are you doing here?” He asked, glaring at Sasuke. But mostly, he was hiding his confusion. Why had he tried to kiss Sakura? She was weak, and useless. Wasn't she? He remembered the way she had playfully smiled at him, teased him, hugged him, conversed with him, led him… No. She was not weak. He glanced at Sakura, her face putting a cherry to shame, her eyes still slightly reddened.

 

 

Sasuke glared at Neji. “I came to help gather firewood. Instead, I find you two have dropped your duties completely.” He eyed the abandoned piles of firewood that had been dropped, quite literally.

 

 

“Just stop it, you two. It's not worth it.” Sakura bent down to pick up her pile of firewood. “Let's get back to camp.”

 

 

The two males stood glaring at each other for a minute, until Sakura started heading back without them. Neji narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.

 

 

“She doesn't love you anymore.”

 

 

Sasuke's eyes widened at the remark. “What makes you think that?”

 

 

Neji knelt down to pick up his pile of firewood. When he straightened, he looked at Sasuke with an expressionless poker face on. “She told me. Just let her be.” Neji walked past him, carefully avoiding bumping shoulders with him.

 

 

Sasuke stood there, feeling the cold more than ever. She… didn't? He walked back to camp dazedly, and didn't notice Sakura and Neji try desperately to start a fire at the side of the cliff, or how Sakura finally broke down and used her chakra to breathe fire onto the logs. (1*) He dropped the blanket uncaringly at the entrance to their shelter, and crawled inside. Realizing his mistake, he decided that he just didn't want to get up and get it, and substituted for pulling the blanket that covered Naruto over him. Naruto didn't notice, and Sasuke didn't care. He had a lot of things to think about that night.

 

 

Sakura carefully tended the fire next to Neji, and looked up at the sky, but could only see the occasional cloud through the dense canopy of treetops, anything to keep herself from looking at Neji. It was night, maybe around ten by Sakura's estimate. She was puzzling over the events that had happened that evening. She was extremely hungry, having not eaten for the whole day, but they would be able to find food tomorrow.

 

 

Sakura carefully glanced at Neji sitting next to her. He was staring into the fire. The fire's light reflected off of his long black hair, ((A.N. I've only read the manga, and it's black and white, and I can't tell whether or not his hair is brown or black!)) and glinted off of the leaf symbol etched into his forehead guard. He was attractive, you would have to be blind not to see it. But he had always seemed so… distant, so she hadn't tried flirting with her. Now that she thought about it, Sasuke was distant too. Even more so.

 

 

Sakura had always hoped that a knight in shining armor would sweep her off her feet and they would marry happily and not have to go through the whole problem of finding if they loved each other. She was supposed to just know. But on the inside, she know real life wasn't like that, no matter how much she wanted it to be. She had thought she loved Sasuke, but was only attracted to his good looks.

 

 

Sakura rocked back on her heels and sighed. Why was life so… confusing? When she had nearly kissed Neji, (her cheeks heated up at the thought,) she had seen something in his eye that made her believe that he would make her happy. Maybe it was the small spark of kindness in his eyes. Or perhaps how she had bared her inner feelings to him, and he hadn't thought she was weak. He had seen her and tried to kiss her…?

 

 

Neji turned his head towards her. His eyes met hers, and he smiled gently at her. His Hyuuga pride screaming at him that he shouldn't smile like that, but he ignored it.

 

 

“You're staring.”

 

 

Sakura blinked, and blushed. She averted her gaze to the fire, and began poking it vigorously with a stick. “Neji, why did you try to kiss me?”

 

 

Neji looked at her unflinchingly. “Because you're not weak. And you could do better than Sasuke.”

 

 

Sakura looked at him, fire forgotten. Then slowly, she grinned at him. “I think I might. Care to offer a name?”

 

 

Neji looked back at her, one eyebrow raised. Sakura leaned towards him, nose to nose with a Hyuuga, and suddenly her lips were against his, she was pressing against him.. Neji put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her in more for more contract, and she was pushing against him, hands buried in his black hair, wanting more, needing more…

 

 

When they broke apart, both Neji and Sakura were panting, either from lack of air or exhilaration, it didn't show.

 

 

“You know,” Neji said, panting slightly, forehead rested against Sakura's. “This is a good way to keep warm…” Sakura mumbled something agreeing, and pulled his lips back onto hers, and the heat was gathering in her abdomen again, but then he was pulling away. She protested, but Neji shook his head. “We need rest.”

 

 

Sakura realized just how tired she was, and rested her forehead on Neji's shoulder. Neji pulled the thin cotton blanket that was crumpled up next to them and pulled it over the both of them.

 

 

Sakura felt sleep overcoming her, and her eyes were becoming heavy. She knew that someone should stay awake to make sure none of the beasts that Kakashi had hinted at would pull off any surprises, but she was too tired to care. A sudden thought woke her from her rest against Neji's shoulder.

 

 

“Hey Neji?” She asked, looking at his sleepy face.

 

 

“Mmm?”

 

 

“Is this love?”

 

 

Neji sighed and pulled her closer. “Maybe. I don't know yet. It could just be physical attraction, and it could be desperation. But I think I like you. You want to find out?”

 

 

Sakura snuggled closer to Neji's chest. “Sure.”

 

 

((I really want to end it here, buuuut, just as a little something extra…))

 

Naruto woke up with an awful pain in his stomach, and very cold. There was a heat source next to him, and he suddenly remembered the training mission Kakashi had assigned. He also remembered Sakura collapsing next to him when they had finally finished the hut. He grinned happily and put his arm around the heat source's waist, and snuggled a little bit closer.

 

 

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

 

 

Funny, he had never thought Sakura was one big on swearing. And her voice was so cold! And since when had it gotten so deep… and… Sasuke-like…?

 

 

A scream echoed through the clearing, before the dull thud of skin hitting wood sounded. Sakura, who had been snuggling with Neji under the blanket that Sasuke had discarded in front of their “door” woke with a start.

 

 

“That sounded like Naruto! The spy has gotten him! But if you're here… That means it was Sasuke all along!” Sakura said in a panic, struggling to stand up.

 

 

“I'm not a spy.” Sasuke said, calmly exiting the hut. “He hit his head on one of the logs over the shelter.” Sasuke shrugged, and walked over to the fire that was only a couple of weak flames licking a very charred log. He began adding more wood to it. “Naruto will be fine in a couple of hours.”

 

 

Sakura nodded, and stretched. She smiled at Neji. “What say you we find some breakfast?”

 

 

~_^~_^ In Konoha… ~_^~_^

 

 

Kakashi had been happily reading “Make Out Paradise” under his favorite tree, while Gai practiced taijitsu against a straw dummy, when a scream echoed through the forest. Gai paused.

 

 

“Naruto?”

 

 

“Undoubtedly.”

 

 

“Think he'll be alright?”

 

 

Kakashi turned the page in his dirty little porno book and smiled at Gai. “I'm sure he'll be fine.”

 

Fin. (or is it? That depends…)

 

 

(1*) does anyone know what that's called? I forget…

hee hee, someone should shoot me for that… The cheesyness… ^_^;; and auto spelling wanted “Naruto” to be “nature” and “Sasuke” to be “Seasick!” *rolls on floor laughing*

 

Naruto: Shoot her. Before she has a chance to write anymore. Shoot her <b>now.</b>

 

Sasuke: Agreed.

 

AlterAurora: Wait! You can't shoot her! She has things to say! I'll let you play with one of those new fangled iron maidens on her once she's done!

 

Sasuke: Alright.

 

FormerAurora: Eheheh… *looks nervously around* Alright, now I'll say it. First of all, this fic was inspired by LeafyGirl's “Tempest.” It got me hooked me on Neji/Sakura in the first place, so y'all better read it! (and maybe poke her for an update too…¬_¬) She is one of the best writers that I have had the privilege of reading her work. God, you really should kill me for basing this cheesy, awful, OOC fic on something that good…

 

AlterAurora: Aaaaand why did you write this?

 

FormerAurora: *sighs sheepishly* Aaaand… I had a sudden craving to write a blanket scenario...?

 

Everyone: *sweatdrops*

 

FormerAurora: Any-ho, I might be continuing this story, and you might just be finding out who the spy is! I started this with the intention of writing a one-shot, but that can change, depending on how many reviews I get. And no flames! Flames hurt, and burn, and make my self-esteem go way down, and make me delete my InuYasha fic before I even get to the second chapter…

 

AlterAurora: It's happened before.

 

FormerAurora: But I have suddenly become addicted to writing fluff! So if I do write a sequel, it might mostly be Neji and Sakura making out, and maybe Naruto being mobbed by cats. ^_^

 

AlterAurora: But no smut! Twiny doesn't like smut!

 

FormerAurora: One last thing. I do not know what Lee's family is like, but in this story he has a mother! Don't flame me for getting it wrong, this is <b>fan</b>fiction. I would appreciate it if you told me nicely if it is otherwise, but don't tell me my story sucks because of it, and use an anonymous screename because you're too much of a coward to use your real one. I'm only Alter's beta, but she doesn't like flames!