A/N: Okay! This is my first time writing a Naruto FanFic, much less a Neji/Sakura. I really love that pairing, as well as Gaara/Sakura, so I hope I do well on this story! AND! I actually researched the techniques they used on the show and video games! Wikipedia is awesome! Okay! Please enjoy! And if you're a fan of Sasuke, or the Sasuke/Sakura pairing, I swear, if you flame me, you'll regret it...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Neji and Sakura would already be together, and Sasgay...excuse me...Sasuke... would be burning in the hottest part of Hell right now... GO MY HATE FOR THE UCHIHA! Well, Itatchi's pretty cool... I'm only saying this once! SO GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS! Thanks!:3

Chapter 1: Shinobi Soccer

The demanding voice of the Fifth Hokage rang throughout the Hokage Tower.

"SHIZUNE!" she bellowed, summoning her secretary into her office.

In a hurried frenzy, the young woman broke through the door, an armful of important documents which were previously in her hands, fell to the floor when she tripped over her two feet in her rushed attempt to make it to Godaime's office before her temper caused her to end up on guard duty...or worse...a D-ranked mission...

Out of breath, Shizune replied, "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade, who had been turned, facing the large windows behind her desk, spun to face her paranoid assistant, who was currently gathering the papers that had been dropped onto the floor. She clasped her hands together in a serious motion, before she spoke to Shizune.

"Shizune, I want you to send for Haruno Sakura, and Hyuga Neji." she told her assistant.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, but why?" she asked, curious as to why the Godaime was only calling for two people, when usually going on a mission consisted of at least a three-man cell.

"DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, SHIZUNE! JUST GET HYUGA AND HARUNO IN HERE!" thundered the Fifth, pounding here hands on her desk, and standing up threateningly.

"H-h-hai!" exclaimed Shizune, before scampering out the door with the dropped documents gathered messily in her hands.

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Neji Hyuga wasn't that hard to find; he was in his usual training spot, where he liked to practice alone, destroying all hopes for our Youthful Green Beast of Konoha...

The spot was at Team Seven's old training grounds, where no one ever really came near anymore. Since the old team had broken apart, with Naruto traveling on the road with Jaraiya for training, and Sasuke betraying the village to go to Orochimaru, Sakura was the only one left. She was also the only one who ever stopped by the old grounds, but it was always before or after Neji started his training... He made sure of it...

Just as he finished perfecting his Jyuuken style on one of the wooden posts, Shizune appeared before him, holding a serious look on her face.

"Hyuga Neji," she started. "Tsunade-sama wishes to speak with you and Haruno Sakura. If you could tell her to meet with Hokage-sama, I would be most grateful." Shizune bowed her head to the young Chuunin, hoping that he'd accept.

"Where is Haruno Sakura?" inquired the genius shinobi, obviously ready to meet with the Fifth Hokage.

Shizune looked startled for a moment, before going into deep thought about where her 'little sister' would be at this time.

"Um... Well, she's off duty at the hospital at the moment, and usually after that, she goes to shinobi soccer practice. She should be there tonight. I think they have a match..." she explained, trailing off as to think about which team they were playing against.

"Right." Neji, who barely knew Sakura, hadn't expected her to be a shinobi soccer player. It was a dangerous sport, with there being jutsu allowed in the game. In the moment he took to think over how reckless the kunoichi was, he was already on his way to the open field where the game would take place.

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It would only be a matter of minutes before the Konoha Kunoichi were to take on the Hidden Leaf Shinobi. Both were teams that represented Konoha, but one team was entirely made up of girls, while the other was entirely made up of boys. It may seem unfair, but neither team was to be underestimated.

So far, the Konoha Kunoichi were undefeated, winning against every team that they played. The Hidden Leaf Shinobi had only lost one game, and that was to a team from Suna. All in all, it would prove to be a very interesting match between the two groups of ninja.

The Konoha Kunoichi team consisted of Sakura, TenTen, Hinata, Ino, and Ayame. The Hidden Leaf Shinobi had Chouji, Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru, and Shino. Only five players were on each team, as opposed to regular soccer. Though Ayame isn't really much of a ninja, her skills on the soccer field were a great source of power to the Konoha Kunoichi.

When Neji had arrived at the field, he saw large masses of people gathered around the perimeter of the arena, in multiple bleachers. He was able to find an empty seat close to the field, and had just sat down when he saw flashes of hot pink rush and black out of one of the sidelines of the arena. On the other side, flashes of forest green and black rushed out onto the field.

The team captains, who were Sakura and Shikamaru, stood at the center of the playing area, shook hands briefly, and wished each other luck. It wasn't like it was an important game; being shinobi, there were missions that needed to be handled, so there was no time for championship games.

In the goals stood Ayame, and Chouji. That was where having Ayame on the team came in handy; she didn't have to run much, and with her keen eye and fast reflexes, she was able to catch just about anything that came her way.

Defending the goalie were Hinata, and TenTen, who, with combined jutsu, could stop multiple people in their tracks, with Jyuuken, and multiple weapon jutsu at their disposal. On the other team, Shino and Shikamaru defended Chouji.

On offence were Sakura and Ino, both great choices when it came to knocking a team down to size. With power-filled kicks, it didn't take much for Sakura to score a goal for her team, and Ino could easily take control of the goalie to leave the goal wide open for Sakura. It was one of their many perfect combinations. Kiba and Lee were on the offensive on the Hidden Leaf Shinobi team, with Lee's speed and taijutsu and Kiba's dog-like methods, they were close rivals to the Konoha Kunoichi team.

Neji was already starting to feel that this would be an interesting match, to say the least. Though, there were slightly more people cheering for the Konoha Kunoichi, he couldn't help but stay neutral. After all, both of his teammates were on opposite teams.

The match was started at the blow of a whistle, and both teams were preparing for what was coming to them. The Hidden Leaf Shinobi were worried, if only slightly, though. It was only in shinobi soccer, and the rare occasion she was able to go on a mission, when Sakura used her jutsu. None of the men had ever seen what new techniques she had learned since Sasuke left, besides the medical jutsu she used whenever they were checked into the Konoha hospital, or the mission when they had to repay the favor to Gaara and his siblings.

It didn't take long for the Hidden Leaf Shinobi to start off with Lee and Kiba, though. The two had come charging to the Konoha Kunoichi's side of the field, without so much as an ounce of doubt in their abilities.

That, however, changed when they discovered that they were caught in a genjutsu that Sakura had activated on her side of the field. They thought that they were right on the goal, and had made Hinata and TenTen collapse from just the sight of them, but as they thought they got closer, the goal kept getting farther and farther away. And since neither of them had the capabilities to escape such a genjutsu, cast by Sakura, no less, they were in no position to handle the ball, until Sakura found it fit to release the jutsu.

All the spectator's saw was Lee and Kiba passing the goal, lose the ball, and keep running, not knowing that they had done so. All Lee and Kiba saw was the goal getting farther away...

Now, Sakura was handling the ball, dribbling it up the field, with Ino close by at the flank. The blond put her hands in the sign used for her Shintenshin no Jutsu, and overtook the mind of the captive goalie, who was interested as to why his teammates had just ran past the goal.

Just as she was about to kick the ball in for a goal, Sakura was frozen in place. Next to her, Shikamaru was smirking, and said, "Kage Shibari no Jutsu!", loud enough for the audience to hear.

TenTen, seeing her friend and teammate's distress, threw a kunai at the unexpecting shadow user, hitting him in the leg. He fell to the ground on his knee, and in losing his concentration, he lost control of the jutsu.

Neji watched the scene of the game unfold with wide eyes, and now he had a whole new respect for the players of shinobi soccer. Especially the Konoha Kunoichi... It was actually becoming interesting for him to watch.

Though it seemed like it didn't take much time, a half of the game had already gone by. When Shikamaru had lost control of his Kage Shibari no Jutsu, and with Chouji being controlled by Ino's Shintenshin no Jutsu, Sakura was able to score a goal for her team, making the crowd go wild!

Now, the score was 1-0, the Konoha Kunoichi in the lead. But there was still a half of the game to go.

By the rules of shinobi soccer, all genjutsu placed on team members must be removed by the end of the first half of the game. A couple scouting ninja had happened to come across Kiba and Lee, after Sakura had dispelled her jutsu, and brought them back to the arena.

Now having a ten minute break to rest up on, Sakura and her teammates rushed to the sidelines in an excited hysteria. The five girls hugged each other to celebrate their domination of the first half of the game, and all gathered their water bottles for a quick sip of something to drink.

It was then that Neji decided to confront Sakura. He rose from his seat on the bleachers, and appeared before the pink-haired kunoichi in a flurry of leaves, startling her, which resulted in water being spilled on her uniform.

"Aw, man!" groaned Sakura. "Hyuga-san! Why must you scare me like that!" she demanded from the stoic ninja before her while trying to dry her uniform off with a dry sweat rag.

Neji was slightly amused at how jumpy the rosette was, but he kept it hidden behind an unemotional mask. Also, he was annoyed at the way she always called him, "Hyuga-san". It bugged him that she could never bring herself to just call him Neji, or something of the sort, but, he really couldn't blame her, since he referred to her in a similar manner...

"Haruno-san." he acknowledged. "Tsunade-sama has requested our presence at the Hokage Tower." He noted the slight frown on the shorter ninja's face, but he couldn't tell if it was because he called her "Haruno-san", or if it was because Tsunade had requested her arrival in the middle of a big game... He soon found out, however, when her voice interrupted with his train of thought.

"Hyuga-san," she sighed. "I've told you a hundred times, at least, to just call me Sakura." When it finally started to sink in that Tsunade needed her, her eyes bulged, and she paused at the mission of getting her uniform dry. "TSUNADE-SHISHOU! NOW! IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME!"

Neji backed away, if only slightly, to avoid being slaughtered by the raging medic-nin, who, if just to beat something to take her anger out on, would probably kill him, then bring him back to life, then kill him again, clone him, bring his clones and himself back to life, and then kill all his clones... All because the Fifth Hokage had disrupted her game...even if he knew about the summoning before the game started...

"Haruno-san, you have time to finish, you know..." Neji dead panned, completely serious, and also fearful, when telling this to the kunoichi.

Sakura was no longer in a mad raging fit, but instead, turned to Neji, and said again, "Hyuga-san...that now makes one hundred and one... Please, just call me Sakura." she pleaded, throwing her towel on the bench where her teammates were seated.

Neji just looked at her, and took a moment to reply, as if thinking it over. 'What could it hurt?' he thought, voicing his other thought. "Well, Harun- I mean, Sakura, if I am to call you as such, you must call me Neji. Not 'Hyuga-san'..."

At first, Sakura was shocked, to say the least, but then a smile formed on her face, and she vigorously nodded her head in agreement.

Just then, the whistle blew, signaling the players to get back on the field.

Waving to Neji, Sakura shouted, "I'll catch you after the game!", while running out with her team back onto the field.

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The game was much better in the second half, than in the first. The Hidden Leaf Shinobi had upped their game, by being more careful of avoiding Sakura's genjutsu, and they managed to score a couple goals, much to the displeasure of Ayame. In the end, though, the score was 5-4, with the Konoha Kunoichi scoring a last minute goal with a combination of an earthshattering stomp to the ground, causing a small earthquake to disorient the Hidden Leaf Shinobi, and then Ino going in for the goal when Chouji fell to the ground.

The Konoha Kunoichi congratulated the Hidden Leaf Shinobi on a well played game, and better luck next time, before returning to the sidelines to retrieve their extra gear, like water bottles, duffle bags, and small towels.

Sakura noted Neji sitting on their bench, next to her stuff, and waved goodbye to her team, shouting, "Good game, girls!" as they walked off to their families. She walked up to Neji, gathered her belongings, and waited for him to follow her.

Neji was still in a daze from when he saw Sakura's inhuman strength on the soccer field. He knew that just one blow from her fist could seriously harm him, if not kill him. When the small quake ended, he was laying on the ground, having fallen out of his seat from the intensity of the shaking. Finally, he willed himself to follow Sakura to the Hokage Tower, where said Hokage was in a blind rage because the two ninja she had sent for over an hour and a half ago still had not reached her office...

End Chapter

A/N: Well? How was the first chapter? Was I bad? Good? Average? TELL ME!

The shinobi soccer thing really doesn't have much to do with the story, but I wanted to add it in as an extra. We all know that Sakura doesn't spend every winking moment of her life after Sasuke left in the hospital tending to patients. I just wanted to give her something more interesting to do, that no one had really given her to do in any of the other stories... I'm really sorry about the team names, though... I was in such a rush to post this up, I couldn't force myself to be anymore creative, and, well...it resulted in the names of Konoha Kunoichi, and Hidden Leaf Shinobi...

Please review!

Ja ne!

-Zutara Lover