When she was younger, Sakura had always longed for Sasuke to spare a glance in her direction, to have his eyes glued to her form in anything she did..It wasnt the case now because instead of that Red and purple gaze, she wanted the color of rich Honey on her being instead.
Now would be a really good time to scram no? Sakura thought, hastily shoving the blankets away from her body. Now was a really good time to make herself scarce.
"Sasuke." Itachi's voice seemed to snap his younger brother out of his trance, making him take one step forward. His eyes never leaving Sakura nor Naruto.
"Is he alright?..he looks kinda deranged." Deidara asked, not at all caring that this was the brat who had killed him at the age of 16, man how much time flies.
Naruto sprang up as those words left his mouth, he dived towards Sakura's bed, hooking an arm under her legs and around her middle as he lifted her up.
Sasuke, seeing this fasten his steps.
"Yeaaaa.." The blonde haired man drawled, eyes on the dark haired man fast approaching.
"Then let the idiot stay deranged." Deidara snorted at that, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the situation.
"Naruto!!!."
At Sasuke's yell, the two were gone, only a cloud of smoke and the sound of Sakura's laughter was left behind.
Sasuke stared at the empty space where his teammates were standing mere seconds ago, panting harshly.
Why do they always keep running from him?. It wasn't like he was going to kill them or something.
Shisui was snickering in the corner hunched over, with silent tears of mirth trailing down his cheeks.
Hidan was no better than him, he however was laughing outloud and not bothering to hide it.Snorting at the expression on the younger Uchiha's face. Tenten rolled her eyes, sending the two idiots a deadpanned look.
She reeled back however as Sasuke turned his sights on her.
"Now look here mist-"
"You're always with Sakura and Naruto, tell me where they went. " He interrupted through gritted teeth, he looked so desperate that Tenten could feel her resolve wavering. Why do These men always look so handsome even when they're being pitiful.. Che, Damn Uchihas.
"Oi, dont you dare bully Bunny girl in front of me, little brat." Hidan snarled, Sasuke blinked his eyes, seemingly now realizing that the room was filled with... supposedly dead people.
"Did...did she...." He stuttered, something that wasn't even in the Uchiha dictionary.... Stuttered!!
"Yup..every single one of us sitting in this room." Deidara added cheekily. He watched as Sasuke blinked at him, seeing the blonde haired man he killed sitting in front of him, very much alive.
"I know I'm very handsome, no need to stare so much."
Hidan rolled his eyes at the audacity of the blonde haired fucker.
He was about to open his mouth and curse the idiot when Konan reached over and smacked him right behind the head. Tenten snorted and Sai let a smirk grace his lips at the sight.
"I seemed to have forgotten how utterly obnoxious you are sometimes." Konan stated ignore the now pouting man besides her and turning her sights on the Fellow Rinnegan user in the room.
"Uchiha Sasuke, tell me what are your intentions for chasing down my little Cherry Blossom and Naruto?." Her eyes narrowed in a way that made everyone in the room take a step back.
"If you wished to harm either of the-."
"No," Sasuke shook his head cutting her threat off.
"I..just want to thank them for bringing my family back...I would never hurt my teammates. "
"That's not what I remember happening when we were sixteen." Sai said, his arms crossed over his chest. If there's one thing that changed over the years, it was Sai's overprotectiveness of Sakura and Naruto, he could clearly see before his mind's eye, the image of Sakura kneeling on her knees, eyes wide open as she experienced something only she could have seen.
The most bewildering thing was, Sasuke actually looked remorseful, now Sai also knows that he has some serious flaws when he was first introduced to Team Seven. His atrocious nicknames made Sakura and Naruto want to pummel him to the ground, which he could clearly remember Sakura doing when she got an opportunity. Yet despite all that, they still risked their lives to save him. It's a debt he would never be able to repay.
"...I... " Sasuke looked troubled now, as if he was now remembering what had happened in the past, his denial was not needed. He knew what he had done, no used in trying to deny it anyways.
Konan sighed, it wasnt everyday she gets to bully an Uchiha, seeing how she was dead for the past how many years, she's gonna milk this opportunity.
"I see." She really didnt, but oh well.
"Then, I suggest try approaching them in a different manner? The look on your face just screams murder its no wonder that they chose to scram instead of fighting, and I believe a fight between the three of you would have leveled this entire village."
Shisui scoffed.
"Leveled? No offense Sasu-chan, but Hime and Naruto would have kicked your ass fair and square."
Itachi coughed into his fist at that, turning his head to the side but Deidara had already spotted the little smirk there, Itachi also believed that Sasuke would have gotten his ass kicked, huh, well would you look at that.
Tenten huffed out a laugh, gaining the the attention of everyone in the room as she rises to her feet.
"I'll pass on the message to them for you, but I suggest giving them some space right now." She said, an overly polite smile on her face, which sent a chill down Sasuke's spine, he had never feared Tenten before, the girl wasnt a bit scary to him, but right now he felt as if he was under the gaze of an angry dragon.
Hidan scoffed loudly as he elbowed Shisui in the ribs, the man practically had hearts in his eyes as he watched Tenten rip into his younger cousin.
"Calm down lover boy, you're behaving like a dog in heat."
"Shut the hell up, cant I admire how subtly aggressive she's being with my cousin." He sighed, absolutely fucking dreamy, Hidan made a face at him, wondering if he could knock the bastard out without anyone noticing.
"Okay, now that's taken cared off." Tenten said, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Let's get out of here now, I have things to do and there's to much men in my sister's apartment. "
Sai rolled his eyes at her, raising up from where he sat at the foot of Sakura's bed. True, Tenten and Konan were the only two women inside here, so they really should scram before someone decides to come visit and sees them Instead of Sakura.
Now, wouldn't that be interesting?.
The door to the Hokage's office slid open with a bang, causing Sakura and Naruto, who were crowding Kakashi's personal space, to look up. The Hokage himself looked bored as hell, like he didnt have two full grown Shinobi hanging off his arms.
Tenten looked at them with the most unimpressed look on her face.
"You two left me to deal with damage control, to slack off in the Hokage's office?."
Naruto grinned at her sheepishly, a finger scratching the left side cheek.
"We didnt mean to." He said, sending her puppy eyes, which made Tenten's own gaze narrow.
"But did you see the look on Sasuke's face, it practically screamed kill us."
Tenten sighed, rolling her eyes to the heavens above, she stepped to the side, revealing a grinning Deidara and an amused looking Konan standing behind her.
Sakura and Naruto visibly lit up at seeing them.
"I see you guys managed to walk through the village without being screamed at." Sakura commented.
"Well, seeing as how most of the people on the streets being kids right now, I don't think we'll get recognized." The lavender haired woman said, her lips twitched in a ghost of a smile.
Kakashi sighed loudly, laying the paper he had in his hands down onto the wooden desk under his palms, all eyes turning to him immediately.
"Come in, come in." He motioned with his fingers.
"Let's get this discussion started, shall we?."
Konan and Deidara gave each other a look before they stepped inside, letting the door slide close behind them.
Pain, that was the first thing Neji registered as his consciousness returned to him. The last thing he could remember was being impaled through the stomach by one of Madara's stupid black rods, telling Naruto all those sentimental nonsense before falling into darkness.
As far as he knew, the dead couldnt feel any pain. He blinked his eyes open, something that surprised him. The second thing he registered was the soft mattress under his body... Huh... did Spirits have beds wherever they end up after death? If this was the so called heaven everyone keeps talking about then Neji would like to stay here a bit longer.
He blinked up at the perfectly white ceiling above him, letting his eyes adjust to the burn. Wait, why did this place look like the hospital? There was even a fan slowly circulating. What the fudge-
He stopped the swear before he could even complete it in his mind when he felt a shift next to him. Startled, Neji whipped his head to the side, a audible creak was heard which promised neck pain later on (was there ever a later on?).
The pink hair was the first thing his eyes latched onto, the pale skin and dark bags coming afterwards.
Neji was stunned, what was happening? Did this mean Sakura had passed with him on to the afterlife as well? Impossible, she wouldnt allow herself to get killed so easily.
He must have been staring a bit to hard, because Sakura made a small noise at the back of her throat and shifted closer to him, curling around his arm with a sigh as she slept on. Neji was blowed away when he could feel the heat pouring off her body.
That... was not suppose to happen.
His head snapped up when the door to the room he was in slid open. His eyes widen in shock as chocolate brown eyes stared back at him, not a hint of surprise at seeing him laying next to the pink haired girl.
"You're awake. " His brown haired, kunai wielding teammate breathed, a watery smile gracing her lips as she stepped into the room.
Neji was very, very confused, wasnt he supposed to be dead? Forever freed from that wretched curse of a clan, free from those days of slavery.
".. What.." God, was that his voice, he sounded like he swallowed a bucket of nails, and they scraped the flesh of his esophagus on the way down.
Tenten shook her head, moving towards the mini fridge it had at the side of the room, which he didnt even notice by the way. Tenten wasnt even all that bothered that Sakura was currently using his arm as a makeshift pillow.
She handed him a bottle of chilled water to drink and the minute the cool liquid guzzled down his throat, Neji felt as if life had returned to his body.
As he drank, his eyes were locked onto Tenten's figure, her face especially was more defined now, she had lost whatever little baby fat it had there, her lashes were long and touched her cheek every time she so much as blinks and her hair had grown longer.
"Is there something on my face?." Tenten's voice broke him out of his observation, she had an amused little smile on her lips.
"...... You look older." Was what he settled on.
She laughed softly, shaking her head.
"I'm 22 if that's what your wondering about."
What?! How can she be 22 when he clearly remembered being the same age. Neji's body jerked, his arm nearly dislodging Sakura off him.
Seeing his distraught expression, Tenten hurriedly grabbed his arms to stop him from flaying anymore.
"Ugh... Naruto..Sai... five more minutes." Sakura mumbled making both of them pause and stare at the woman, whose eyes continued to remain close.
Tenten sighed.
"I guess its time to explain." She sat back onto the chair.
"Neji, its been years after the war ended and you have been dead for just as long."
The way his eyes widen in disbelief had her snorting.
"No I'm not pulling your leg, it's true. Sakura here." She sent the sleeping woman a fond look
"Brought you back."
"Brought me back?." He echoed.
"Yeah, Sakura... has a Jutsu she found, that can bring back the dead.. and she's been bringing back the people who matter the most to her." She sighed, caressing the bubblegum pink hair.
"She brought you back yesterday."
"But that's.."
"Impossible?." She snickered.
"Not for her, did you remember the time she cured Kankurou in no time even when the healers couldnt help him? Anything is possible with Sakura, she's incredibly talented. "
Neji let his eyes settled on the woman still snoozing against him, was it even possible for him to adore someone as much as he did in that moment? He had always thought of Sakura as a little sister he never had, her genius mind and quick wit rivaled him and Shikamaru's.
"The only side effect is that after she brings someone back, it always knocks her out for a few days."
"Why?." He asked looking up at his teammate.
"Because she always drains herself of Chakra, that's why." A new voice said, both Tenten and Neji whipped their heads to the door, seeing Itachi and Shisui standing there.
"Who..."
Shisui chuckled, strolling into the room to lean over Neji's bed, a grin on his face.
"Uchiha Shisui, You could stay I'm the first person my Hime broigut back."
Neji blinked, his pearly eyes flickering from Shisui to Itachi back and forth before it finally settled in that this was reality, that he was once again living, breathing in oxygen, talking to Uchiha's he doesn't even know and having a life changing pink haired woman sleep on his arm.
"... I'm... really alive." He muttered, causing Itachi to chuckle and Tenten to snicker at him.
"You sure are, its takes a bit to get used to though." Shisui said.
Neji smiled slightly before the expression was wiped clean off his face, his eyes widening briefly.
"Neji?." Tenten asked, seeing him freeze up.
"What's wrong?."
It took him a minute to get him bearings together, eyes slowly turning to meet her own, even Itachi and Shisui's eyebrows were frowned in concern.
"..Does that mean I have to go back to how things were? A mere slave to the main branch of the Hyuuga family, to have whatever freedom I have gained to be taken away from me?." He asked, voice quiet and raw with an emotion he couldnt quite name, a ugly feeling building up in his chest at the mere thought of history repeating itself.
Tenten grasped his palm in hers as Shisui laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. They were about to speak up when a soft voice from besides his ear spoke up.
"If Hinata's father thinks he can get his hands on and abuse the people under my protection, I would like to see him try."
Hearing that, Shisui couldnt help but smirk.
Here we go.