Author’s Note: The words Sakura sings in this chapter are part of Criss Angel’s song “Darkest Day (JS)” which he wrote in memory of his father, who passed away several years ago.

This is a short chapter compared to the last one, but don’t worry, another is coming later in the week.

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Chapter 11

The Cherry Blossom Ghost Song

“See you in a few weeks, Dad,” he whispered to the marble enclosed urn that housed his father’s ashes, bowing his head as he closed the wrought iron gates of the Hyuuga Family Crypt.

Turning on his heel, Neji shoved his fists into the pockets of his black slacks and strolled back to the paved walkway. Head still hanging he sighed as he watched the toes of his finely polished boots moving over the ground. He’d been four years old when his father had died. Hyuuga Hizashi had been Hinata’s personal body guard at the time, his life lost during a botched attempt to kidnap the heiress. Fourteen years . . . one would think he’d be over such a thing by now.

Why then did he always feel like that lost little boy all over again every time he stood staring at the plaque engraved with his father’s name? Halting his steps he tipped his head backward for a moment, staring at the bright blue, cloud-dotted sky above. How much had he hated his uncle- and by extension, Hinata- in those early years? Even after living in their household for so long it had only been within recent memory that he’d come to forgive them; only after he’d realized that they missed Hizashi almost as much as he did.

Leveling his head, he picked up his pace only to be stopped in his tracks once more as he spotted a familiar looking town car pulling up the cemetery’s long, winding drive. Tipping his head to one side, he watched the driver- whom he definitely recognized- get out of the car and open the back door.

From the vehicle stepped Haruno Sakura, looking fittingly dramatic for a trip to a cemetery in her full-length, black lace dress; her glossy pink hair hanging down to her waist in long, unnaturally curling waves and her eyes obscured by round, small sunglasses. Neji’s breath caught in his throat as his gaze rested on her. Instantly, he reminded himself to breathe again, shaking his head at the unconscious action.

They hadn’t spoken in the week that had passed since the Carnival, both well aware that they were deliberately avoiding one another. They hadn’t even argued once, surprising their teachers almost as much as it overjoyed them. Yesterday evening, he’d gone as far as to arrange for another guard to accompany Hinata to whatever the Sakura-Sasuke clique usually did on Saturday nights.

Still, he had to wonder, as he watched the driver place a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder in an almost fatherly manner and whisper in a voice so low his lips barely moved. Why did seeing her make his heart beat a little faster? And what was it about seeing her here that made something he failed to recall at this moment nag at the back of his mind?

Sakura smiled gently at the driver, muttering back something Neji couldn’t quite read and nodded, turning to stroll off on her own with unerring direction. The driver got back into the car and through the windshield Neji could see him pull out a newspaper and start reading it over the steering wheel.

Turning his head, Neji watched Sakura continue on down a line of headstones. He wondered why he was rooted to the spot- why the hell couldn’t he just walk away right now? Glancing briefly at the driver, Neji saw the man’s nose still stuck in the paper and when he turned his attention back, Sakura had vanished from sight.

What the hell? He denied that he might feel something like concern as his eyes darted around the area where he’d last seen her. I only looked away for a second!

Against his own better judgment, his feet were suddenly in motion again, taking him toward the section she’d been walking in. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere! Where the hell did she go? It’d really be a hell of a thing if someone had managed to kidnap the heiress to the Haruno Media Empire in the middle of the day in plain sight of her overly-protective- if currently lax- driver, who looked like he could probably take their martial arts coach in a fight. But really, who in their right mind would snatch a goth-girl from a cemetery?

Telling himself once more that he was doing anything but panicking, Neji quickened his pace just a bit. That was when he heard it . . . that same voice he’d heard on the stage at the Carnival- only . . . softer, like she was whispering a song. Realizing suddenly that he couldn’t be very far from her at all- and that his steps had somehow miraculously been silent despite his rushed pace- he slipped behind a nearby tree; lucky that it was just wide enough to shield his entire frame.

Peering around the gnarled back, he finally saw her. Sitting with her legs folded neatly beneath her, Sakura leaned her shoulder against the headstone, her head tipped to one side so that her temple pressed to the smooth pink-gray marble. Her song ended and she began it again, singing the English words softly in a voice that trembled so slightly one could barely hear the tremor just beneath it.

Why aren’t you here?

Why does life seem so unfair?

You were strength in my darkest days,

Now how can I face the world . . . alone?

I need you here.

Won’t you come back to me?

In my dreams, I want to see

All the promises we made come true

And to have just one more time . . . with you.

Forgive my negativity,

This world is so cold and empty.

They tell me time will heal the pain,

But I know, I’ll never be the same

Without you . . .

I need you here . . . .

Her lilting words broke off as she sniffled loudly. Tipping her head backward, Sakura pulled off her sunglasses, making a little disgusted noise in the back of her throat as she wiped at her eyes with little, black lace-gloved fingertips.

“Dammit,” she hissed softly, sniffling again. “Sorry, I don’t think I can sing it all the way through again.”

Neji tried to determine who she was talking to- whose grave she was perched next to like it was someone’s living room sofa- but from his angle, he couldn’t make out the name on the headstone. At last the nagging half-thought in the back of his mind sprang forward. That day in the hallway with Uchiha . . . something she did every Sunday afternoon that brought her to tears. Every week for a year and a half and she was still acting like she was standing beside an open casket . . . who was in that grave?

“I really wish you were here. I mean . . . even when you were sick, you still listened to me. I . . . I don’t think I ever understood ‘til you were gone how much pain you were in; the way you used to sit and listen to all my stupid little problems like they were the most important thing in the world.”

Another tear trickled down her cheek and she wiped at it half-heartedly. “You had the biggest blue eyes out of anyone I knew and every . . . every time I came running to you about some problem I was having with Haku you’d start tearing up like they were your problems . . . it was like you were worse than Ino,” she said, giving a sad little giggle.

Neji let his eyes drift closed for a long moment, biting deep into his bottom lip. He hated seeing her like this, hated hearing her voice sound like this . . . and especially hated that it was making him wonder why he so loathed her being in pain.

“I know I haven’t talked to you about my problems in a really long time, but . . . I just . . . I’m so confused right now and it hurts.” Neji opened his eyes again to see Sakura leaning her head back against the stone, looking up at the sky as she forced an audible gulp down her throat. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t . . . . See, I’m sort of back together with Itachi and even though I know we’re not officially boyfriend and girlfriend I . . . I really want to be loyal, but now . . . now there’s this . . . other guy. We . . . used to hate eachother more than life itself, but . . . I don’t know, recently things are just . . . changing between him and me.”

Oh, dear gods, she was talking about him! Of course she’s talking about you, stupid- what other guy do you know that she hates that much?

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,” she continued, shaking her head as she pulled in yet another sniffle. “I don’t know how he feels about me . . . I don’t know how I feel about him; I- I don’t even know how the hell I feel about Itachi anymore because of all this. And this other guy . . . I still hate him . . . sometimes, but then I think . . . if- if I hate him so much, than . . . why? Why am I thinking about him all the time?”

Neji thought his heart would stop in his chest hearing those words fall from Haruno Sakura’s lips.

“I mean . . . it’s not even anything big. They’re all stupid little thoughts like whether his eyes are more lavender than silver . . . or the way his hair felt against the back of my hands that time in the stairwell. I mean,” she laughed just a little, “he’s a guy with nicer hair than me . . . where’s the justice in that? And he did the coolest thing at the school Carnival- that one-man-crime-spree-waiting-to-happen Deidara was messing with me and Neji- that’s the other guy- stepped in all ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ style and made him go away.”

She paused for a long moment and Neji wanted to ram his head into the gnarled bark until he couldn’t think anymore. Hearing her talk about him like this . . . bothered him in a way he couldn’t quite define. Part of him wanted to just come out from behind the stupid tree and put his arms around her . . . to let her cry on his shoulder rather than some cold grave marker. Okay, Neji- now you’re being an unreasonable ass- just turn around and walk away and pretend you never heard any of this. Still he couldn’t seem to will his body to move an inch.

“But then,” Sakura was speaking again, dropping her head forward to stare into her lap, “um . . . then he just walked away and . . . we haven’t said two words to eachother since. And in a way I was kinda grateful, but then I started to think . . . maybe that day when he kissed me . . . maybe it was just a fluke or something. And . . . that thought, I don’t know why,” her voice became thick with tears all over again and Neji felt his heart jar painfully for a second- was she really crying because of him, “but . . . but thinking that something like that won’t ever happen again with him just . . . it hurts. And it hurts knowing that he doesn’t want it to ever happen again.”

Haruno, you’re so stupid, the unbidden words ran through Neji’s mind as he watched her turn her body toward the headstone, crossing her arms over the top of it as though she were hugging someone.

“I don’t know! I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what the hell I want . . . and . . . and poor, stupid Itachi is so in love with me I want to slap him sometimes! I d- don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t know how I feel about anything anymore. I’m so fucking confused and . . . and gods, Mommy, it just all hurts so much!”

Neji’s eyes went wide at her words . . . this was her mother’s grave? He never even knew she’d lost her mother. Blinking, he forced a hard, silent swallow down his throat as he raised a hand to his cheek in disbelief . . . why was his cheek wet? It had only been a single tear, but still . . . . No! This wasn’t right! DAMMIT! He hadn’t shed a tear- not one- since he’d cried at his father’s funeral and now he was crying for her loss?

There was no way . . . no possible reason he should be struck so much by her pain! Unless, the unwanted thought made his entire body go rigid, unless I’m falling- no! JUST FUCKING NO! That had to be wrong! Just three weeks ago they detested eachother and now he was thinking . . . . This was too fast . . . this was too much. Pushing angrily away from the tree, Neji turned and stormed off, no longer caring if she noticed him or not.

Sakura started at the sound of nearby footsteps retreating loudly. Raising her head, she blinked, sniffling- she hadn’t seen anyone in this section when she’d come in. Looking toward the sound, her tear-blurred vision could only make out a darkly-clad figure disappearing in the direction of the cemetery gates.

Sasuke’s brow furrowed at the sound of someone knocking on his dorm-room door. It was too early for Sakura to be back from visiting with her mother yet and Hinata was at her father’s estate. With Naruto off at his and Ino’s own parent’s house, who could possibly be bothering him right now? Rising from the sofa, he made his way to the door, pulling it open only to blink in shock for a long moment at the person who stood before him.

“Hyuuga?”

“Uchiha,” Neji bit out the name, frowning at the door. “Why the hell don’t you have a peephole in this door?”

Sasuke’s eyebrows lifted as he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “Because the bottom-tier dormitory is the Konoha Boarding School version of the slums, it’s a miracle we get running water over here.”

Neji couldn’t help quirking an eyebrow, “Why do I get the feeling that isn’t a joke?”

“Oh, it’s not- there have been times when the water’s actually stopped running. The maintenance guys like to forget about us a lot.”

“Someone should bring that matter up to Ms. Tsunade.”

Sasuke’s head tipped to one side as he drawled, “Yeah . . . I’ll get right on that. Anyways, what are you doing here, Hyuuga?”

“I . . . need to talk to you. To ask you something,” Neji’s words- in a very un-Hyuuga-Neji-like manner- sounded uncertain.

Thrown off a bit by having the normally imperious young man sound anything less than sure, Sasuke’s jaw dropped just a little, “You need to talk to me? Oh, wait,” suddenly a grin curved his lips. “This is about Sakura isn’t it?”

Tipping his own head to one side, Neji leveled a bored gaze at him. “Do I need to answer that?”

Shaking his head, Sasuke replied as he stepped back to allow Neji entrance, “No, I think that was answer enough.”

Closing the door behind him, Sasuke led him over to the sofa and fell into it, almost surprised when Neji took a seat on the opposite end. He’d have thought the snob wouldn’t have lowered himself to touch anything in a bottom-tier dorm-room- afraid of catching ‘lower-class germs’ or something stupid like that.

“What did you want to ask me?”

Neji puffed out his cheeks, letting a long breath escape from between his lips. “That time with you and Sakura at that party . . . I want to know. I . . . would like you to tell me what happened between you two.”

Shock wrote itself clearly across Sasuke’s face as he gaped at Neji. “You want to know . . . . Why?”

“I- I don’t fucking know, okay? So, just . . .” Neji forced out low, rattling sigh, “so will you please just tell me?”

Narrowing his black eyes, Sasuke gave him a quick once over before nodding. “Okay, Hyuuga,” he leaned back, folding his arms behind his head and propping his heels up on the coffee table, “if you really wanna know so bad, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”