The Brighter Side of Chaos

--

V: Dancing in the Sand

Being Young and Green, I said in love's despite:
Never in the world will I to living wight
Give over, air my mind
To anyone,
Hang out its ancient secrets in the strong wind
To be shredded and faded—Oh, me, invaded
And sacked by the wind and the sun!

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

--

Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously as Hiashi looked her up and down; his gaze was appraising, as if he was sizing her up to see just how much of a threat she could be, how hard he would have to interrogate her. Apparently she didn’t look too horrible, for he walked into the room without a word. His gait was smooth, and she wondered why he used a cane.

“I understand you’ve been dating my nephew for a while now?” Hiashi asked without prelude, gesturing for her to sit down.

Sakura sat and nodded rather woodenly before reminding herself that she had to relax and started to breathe again. “Yes,” she elaborated, “I am. For a couple months now.”

“Mm.” The older man nodded and tapped his cane on the floor as if reprimanding it. “And how did you two come to meet?”

Slightly relaxed now, Sakura retold the story she’d spun off on TenTen: Neji and Naruto were sparring, Neji had been hit hard, Sakura had treated him, and voila! true love, or something like it, had bloomed like a flower in the sun.

“You hold a position at Konoha Magazine?” was his next question, and Sakura nodded, slightly relieved that he’d delved into her workplace, something she knew like the back of her hand.

“Yes, I’m an investigative columnist. I find a story, or there’s something in the news or happening in the world that catches my eye-- and I write about it, subjectively or objectively in respect to the topic.” Hiashi made no indication that he was impressed or otherwise; instead he tapped his cane once more and motioned to Kotetsu from across the room. Kotetsu left and came back with two glasses of champagne, giving one to each of them. Hiashi took it from him rather disdainfully. “Thanks,” Sakura said to Kotetsu, and he grinned at her gratefully before leaving the room once more.

“What are you working on now?” asked Hiashi with the manner of someone well bored with the conversation.

A bit miffed at his indifference, Sakura squared her shoulders and took a sip of champagne. “I’ve just finished a report on women’s rights; its history, its current status, and what it will become in the future.”

Hiashi looked straight at her for the first time. “You consider yourself a feminist?”

At once, Sakura realized her mistake and bowed her head slightly in order to panic without being seen. Too late to take it back, she thought hastily, and raised her eyes once more. “Yeah, I suppose so,” she answered lightly, giving the kind of girlish giggle she heard around her female colleagues that usually made her roll her eyes.

Hiashi’s gaze was steely; those Hyuuga eyes seemed to delve under her skin and extract the truth from under it. “I do hope that you respect your betters, Haruno-san,” he said gravely. “Nothing good can come from not doing so.”

Sakura nodded as the butterflies in her stomach fluttered anxiously. “I do, sir, very much. I was raised to respect my- my betters.”

“Including men, no doubt,” Hiashi said in a tone that was meant to be jovial.

The butterflies in her stomach fluttered into her throat as she choked on her words, spitting them out like something disgusting. “Of course.”

“I misunderstood you, Haruno-san,” Hiashi said with a smile that was more like a grimace. “For a while I thought you would be like your editor-in-chief; ridiculously proud, always thinking you’re better than anyone else. I’m happy to say that you’ve disproved all my former notions of arrogance; you’re quite a delightful young woman.”

Sakura could hardly believe what she was hearing; he had approved of her after only five minutes of conversation?

“However,” he was saying sternly, and she forced herself to pay attention, “I will keep my eyes on you, Haruno-san. I care deeply for my nephew- I have, after all, taken care of him since his father died years ago. He has grown up in my care, and Haruno-san, I shall not let him get hurt. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” she said, but Sakura was puzzled. I care deeply for my nephew? This monster cared for Neji? Impossible. And if he did, why was she even doing this in the first place? Exposing his uncle seemed a poor payback for Hiashi taking him in after his father’s death.

“I look forward to seeing you at the Hyuuga gathering this week,” Hiashi said, breaking her out of her reverie. “Enjoy yourself.”

“R-right,” she blurted out as she stood, still a little shocked at the haste of his approval. “It was nice to meet you.”

As he returned the compliment, Sakura caught something in Hiashi’s eyes that he had undoubtedly thought she wouldn’t; it was a glimmer of something as his eyes pierced her own and he waited for her to bow subserviently. He was studying her, the bastard, and he didn’t trust her or like her at all. He was only pretending in order to make her feel comfortable.

As if I could.

Sakura watched as he left the room and crossed the ballroom, cutting a swath through the dancers like scissors through paper. A bit weakly, she sank into her chair once more and stared numbly at her flute of champagne. The bubbles rose to the surface and burst, and the pale yellow of the drink made the dancers behind it appear sunlit. When she moved the glass, however, the full color and vibrancy of the scene came back, and the room was once again lit with the false light of the chandeliers.

The columnist sighed and drained the entire glass of champagne, feeling that now more than ever was a good time to be drinking.

--

Neji was having a hard time navigating around the crowds of people in the ballroom.

He cut straight through a group of giggling young women who purred at him with sultry eyes and curved mouths, then skirted around a circle of laughing, jovial middle-aged men with cigars clamped in their mouths and brandies in their hands. He felt inexplicably nervous. Where was Sakura? After cutting in, Naruto had informed him that she had gone to get a drink, but she wasn’t at the punch table. In fact, he’d asked several friends of hers if they’d seen her, but their replies had all been negative.

I bet she left, he thought irritably, fighting his way through swirling skirts as the band struck up a jazzy tune. If she had indeed left the ball, left him alone with these society matrons and twittering women, he would have to have words with her tomorrow, and it would be her own fault if those words turned out to be profane.

“Neji.”

The cold, familiar voice stopped Neji in his tracks, and he pivoted on his heel, bowing slightly to his uncle’s tall form. “Hiashi-sama. How are you this evening?”

“Well enough.” Neji raised his head and saw with extreme displeasure that his uncle was smirking nastily. What had he done? “I had the pleasure of meeting your pink-haired companion just a few moments ago. What a delightful young woman she is, Neji. I commend you.”

He must be joking. The younger man looked at Hiashi and saw that yes, he actually was being facetious, for there was a warning in those pale eyes so like his own. “Arigatou, Hiashi-sama,” Neji replied in a low voice, shaking it off. “I wonder if you could tell me where she is now?”

“Neji, Neji,” said Hiashi, clucking his tongue in faux-concern, “it’s dangerous to lose sight of your lady in a crowded ballroom like this. But I believe she is still in the room in which I spoke to her.” With his cane, he pointed towards a small room branching off from the grand ballroom. “Give her my regards.”

“Of course, Hiashi-sama. Arigatou.” Cringing inwardly at his own servility, Neji ducked past Hiashi’s companions and made a beeline straight for the indicated room. Sure enough, there was Sakura, sitting at the table slightly dumbfounded with an empty glass of champagne in her hand. He approached quietly and watched as she frowned, set the glass down, and stood up slowly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He waited until she let out a small sigh before clearing his throat and speaking up. “Did he give you a rough time?”

She turned around hastily at the sound of another person’s voice, and her face relaxed slightly when she saw it was Neji-- something that surprised him immensely, but he supposed that compared to his uncle, anyone could make her feel relief. Sakura gave a small ‘ha’ at his question. “No, he was perfectly civil, actually,” she answered. “But civil in the way that makes you want to get very, very drunk.”

“I can see that.” Neji gestured to the emptied champagne flute. “What did he ask you, though?”

“Oh, just about my work, and how and when we met-- which is a couple months ago, by the way-- and what I was working on now…” She gave another mirthless laugh. “I made the mistake of telling him that I just finished a piece on women’s rights.”

Neji groaned and smiled at the same time; for some reason, this struck him as humorous. “And what was his reaction?”

“He asked if, being a feminist, I still bowed down to my superiors. Which, of course, included men.” She gave a wry smile. “I said yes. Which totally goes against everything I stand for, but for your sake I said yes.”

“Well, thank you for that,” the dark-haired man said lightly. “Come on. You can’t stay in here the entire time or he’ll think he’s won.”

Sakura’s laugh was more real this time. “Ha! As if. He’s about as far from winning this as you are from being a real human being.”

“What makes you think I’m not a real human being?”

“Your lack of emotion is astounding,” she said with a grin, taking his arm and pretending to smile up at him lovingly as they walked back into the fray. “Maybe I should use my superior medical expertise to open you up and make sure you’re muscle and bone under there and not just metal and computer chips.”

Neji smirked at her. “That’s very unladylike of you.”

“Isn’t it? If I were a man, I would punch that smirk off your face.”

“You’re not a man?” he asked in mock-puzzlement. “That’s something new.”

But Sakura, he realized, rarely missed a beat. “I know you’re disappointed, Neji,” she said with a small shake of her head, “and I feel completely responsible. How should we cheer you up? I know! After this, I’ll take you to a gay bar.”

To her surprise, Neji let out a small chuckle. “I have to give you credit for that. It was a good one.”

Sakura smiled. “I try.”

“By the way, my uncle sends his regards.”

“Oh, he misses me already?” Sakura snorted. “Tell him to take his regards and shove them up his- is this a swing dance?” She looked him in the eye, grinning madly. “Please?”

Neji looked at her, nonplussed, before what she was asking dawned on him. “No, I’ve done enough dancing, thanks,” he said.

“Neji, I love swing dancing! And I know you know how. Please?”

“No,” he said flatly, but she was already tying her dress so it was above the knee. “No, no, no!”

Sakura, however, wouldn’t have that; she grabbed his wrist and forced him into the melee of dancers. The ones who didn’t know how to swing dance were cheek-to-cheek, rocking back and forth to a fast beat; very few were actually doing a real dance.

The music was fast, and Neji found himself suddenly cheek-to-cheek with Sakura as they danced to the music. “I really hate you,” Neji whispered, and Sakura only grinned.

“I know.”

Neji turned her around so that her back was to him; they both crouched slightly and started moving their feet in tandem, kicking out and back, turning left to right in perfect unison. A crowd was starting to gather around them, and dimly he heard TenTen cheer; Lee joined in with a rousing chant of ‘youth!’.

Suddenly, Sakura turned her head towards him; he saw a mischievous grin on her face. “Show me just how much,” she said saucily, and he felt her arm muscles tighten; when she jumped into the air, doing a split, he was ready and kicked so that it looked he was kicking her out. He heard Naruto cheer, and people were clapping to the beat. They went back to dancing in unison for a moment until Neji leaned back; Sakura, laughing, used his arms to propel herself into a flip. She put her hands on her knees and Neji knew what to do; he lifted himself using her shoulders, doing a leap-frog maneuver over her head. He watched from behind him; Sakura kicked out her leg at him, so he fell to the ground, pantomiming being hit.

He glanced behind him again, and Sakura jumped at him, curling her legs around his waist as if in a fight; in retaliation, he grabbed her shoulders and flipped her over, and they started dancing again, facing each other this time, hands together. They danced rapidly, letting go with one hand so Sakura could spin or kick out and then joining back together again, spinning across the dance floor. There was a loud crowd around them now, everyone was watching them dance, and cheers rocked the ballroom.

Neji grabbed her waist and she grabbed his and they spun together like Whirling Dervishes, clearing a path through the ballroom. Neji let go and Sakura twirled out to slow herself; when she steadied, he was on his knees, and she cartwheeled over his head without a second thought. On her back from the cartwheel, she forced her legs up and Neji flipped her over his head.

They danced side-by-side now, in unison, not even looking at the cheering and clapping crowd but at each other. Neji saw that Sakura’s face was flushed, she was breathing hard, but her eyes glittered; he knew that he was smiling, too. As the song reached its end, he danced towards her, grabbed her by the waist, and flung her around his back. He grabbed her legs and swung her so she was in bridal position, then flipped her over his arm and grabbed her hand so she didn’t fall.

They finished the dance in that position; grasping hands, the other hands flung out, their faces turned towards each other, their legs planted firmly on the dance floor.

Sakura knew her face was flushed, and she could feel her heart pounding like mad inside her chest. She was half afraid it would burst from her ribcage. The beautiful dress fell around her legs again, cool to the touch, and she laughed in sheer delight as the crowd continued to clap for them. Never had she been in the center of attention like this… and she was rather surprised to find that she quite liked it.

She glanced at Neji, and he was wearing his usual self-satisfied smirk… but his face was flushed, too, his chest heaving after the dance. His normally stoic face held something lighter in it, something happier. She walked up to him and gave him a smirk of her own. “You still hate me?”

“More than ever,” he answered smoothly, and she grinned.

It might just become a good night after all.

--

Neji had been called away by some member of the Main House, and so Sakura was left to her own devices. Slightly confident that Hiashi would leave her alone for a while, she migrated to the drinks table once again, still panting from exertion as people congratulated her and complimented her on the dancing. She saw Naruto and Sai march towards Neji with glares on their faces from the corner of her eyes and smiled.

“That was awesome!”

Sakura turned around, a bit surprised, a glass of punch in her hand. “Wh- oh, arigatou,” she said a bit bemusedly to a girl several years younger than her. She had long black hair that Sakura supposed was curled for the occasion and wore a yellow dress with sparkles at the bottom and matching makeup that looked far too old for her. She had the Hyuuga eyes and the Main House porcelain-pale skin, but the smug curl of her upper lip was all Hiashi. “I take it you’re a Hyuuga, then?”

The girl flashed a smile that was more like a smirk. “Hyuuga Hanabi. I’m Neji’s cousin and Hinata’s little sister.”

Sakura hadn’t known Hinata had a sister. “Oh, well…” Sakura hastily switched her punch to her other hand and shook Hanabi’s. “It’s good to meet you, Hanabi-chan. I’m Haru-”

“Haruno Sakura, I know,” she said a bit snottily, “and I prefer Hanabi-san, if you don’t mind. Anyway, your dancing was fabulous. I had no idea cousin clumsy over there could dance.”

Rather taken aback and more than little irritated by Hanabi’s attitude, Sakura cleared her throat and took a sip of punch. “Neither did I,” she said shortly, and then after remembering that she had to be nice to this girl, elaborated in a bit more polite of a tone: “I just kind of pulled him into it, and he was really good.”

“Father says you two have been dating for a while now,” Hanabi remarked without prelude. “D’you like Neji?”

“I hope so, otherwise I’d wonder why I’m dating him,” Sakura answered with a grin, and Hanabi let out a raucous laugh.

“I like you, Sakura-san. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” she answered, “and you?”

“Just seventeen,” Hanabi answered with a small pout. “You’re small, I thought you’d be closer to my age.”

Sakura felt her eye twitch at the height crack. Brat. “Nope, I’m out of college and everything.”

Hanabi sighed dramatically. “You have no idea how horrible it is, Sakura… no one important is my age! They’re all twenty or older, and you know they only tolerate me because I’m Main House.” She gave a little giggle. “I don’t mind, though, because it makes them afraid of me, you know? Whatever I say, they agree with.”

Sakura had a sudden urge to ask Hanabi if she used to rip the wings from butterflies. Instead, she asked a different question: “Who are ‘they’?”

“Oh, them over there,” Hanabi answered, pointing rudely towards a group of women in their twenties chatting and laughing with each other. They were all decked out in gowns more like wedding dresses than anything else, and they all wore more jewelry than Sakura had ever seen in one place. “All the high-society sluts that I have to hang out with. It’s such a chore. But if you’re going to keep dating Neji, I guess you have to get to know them. Come with me.” Even with a protest on her lips, Hanabi pulled Sakura forcefully towards the group of giggling women.

“Everyone, this is Haruno Sakura,” Hanabi announced, and Sakura sighed inwardly. The women in the circle all turned to scrutinize her, and in turn Sakura got a good look at all of them. The oldest was maybe twenty-seven and the youngest probably around eighteen or nineteen, and despite their one-of-a-kind gowns and different hairstyles and colors, they all looked somehow the same. They seemed to judge her passable, however, and one by one stepped up to introduce themselves. The first one was obviously the leader of the little gang; about twenty-five, Sakura guessed, and wearing an atrociously pink dress that could have served as a very big nightgown. She had the irritating luck to look marvelous in it.

“Tomoko Yoko,” she said demurely, and Sakura snickered silently. Her parents must have really hated her to give her that name.

“Takahashi Michiro.”

“Sasaki Yuuka.”

“Watanabe Cho.”

“Arakaki Hide.”

“Daishi Rei.”

“Umehara Leiko. Your dancing was very good, Sakura-san.”

There were murmurs of agreement around the circle, and Sakura smiled. “Oh, well, arigatou. How do you like the ball?”

“Oh, it’s very nice,” Watanabe Cho said, nodding her head like a chicken. “It’s one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. Very grand.”

“You must not have been to many good balls, then, Cho, dear,” Yoko said in a friendly voice that made Sakura want to throttle her, and the gang giggled as poor Cho blushed red.

“No offence meant, Sakura-san,” Hide said quickly, “since you work for Konoha Magazine, and all.”

Sakura frowned. “How did you know that?”

“Oh, gossip travels quickly here,” Rei said, folding her hands. Her red-painted fingernails exactly matched the color of her dress. “But we were surprised when we found out you’ve been dating Neji for a couple months now.”

Yuuka nodded her blonde-dyed head. “Right. You guys certainly kept that underground for a while! It’s very remarkable.”

“Er… thanks,” Sakura said with a weak smile.

“And the fact that you even got Neji to go out with you is extremely impressive!” Michiro piped in, and Sakura hated her voice at once; it was high and light and a bit whiny, like a fly buzzing in your ear that just wouldn’t shut up. “I think we’ve all-- well, not you, Cho, or obviously you, Hanabi-- but the rest of us have all tried to date him, or at least hook up with him!”

“And you didn’t succeed?” Sakura asked forcibly, gritting her teeth a bit in irritation… probably at her voice, though she wasn’t completely sure that was it. Some things are better left unsaid, Takahashi Michiro.

“No,” said Yoko, “he was very cold. I’m so glad he didn’t say yes, though… can you imagine the shame?”

The rest of the girls nodded-- “yes, it would have been horrible”-- and Sakura frowned. “Why? What’s wrong with him?” At the lack of answer, Sakura sighed and continued. “Does he have some disease I should know about? Does he eat little children? Transform into a werewolf at the full moon? Use his salad fork to eat his steak? Point with his chopsticks?”

They looked at her dumbly; apparently humor was lost on this pack of Barbie dolls.

“No, dear,” Leiko said slowly, as if speaking to someone with mental deficiency, “but he’s Branch House. You know… inferior.”

Sakura stole a look at Hanabi, but she was, incomprehensibly, nodding with the rest of them. His own cousin! “Is it bad to date someone from the Branch House?” she asked rather stiffly.

Yuuka laughed lightly and put a hand that was meant to reassure on Sakura’s arm. “Not for you, Sakura-san, you’re not high-society! It’s perfectly fine for you to date him as long as you wish. Just not us.”

“Yes,” continued Hide as Sakura fumed (high-society, my ass!), “and if you’re going to marry a Hyuuga, at least marry a Hyuuga from the Main House!”

They all laughed as if at some private joke, and Sakura forced herself to chuckle with them. Hanabi piped up now. “Yeah, and if my cousin gets exiled you’re on your own, Sakura.” They laughed again, but Sakura smelled a lead and pounced on it.

“Exiled? What do you mean?”

“Goodness, you haven’t heard?” Yoko shook her head. “How uninformed you are, poor little girl.”

Cho spoke up for the first time since she’d been shamed. “Branch House members are often exiled for being pretentious towards the Main House, isn’t that right, Hanabi?” She seemed to have a taste for this kind of thing; Cho’s face took on a new viciousness.

Hanabi nodded and acted superior. “Yes, but it hasn’t happened in a while… we’ve finally managed to put the fear of the gods-- or the Main House-- in them.”

Sakura fought down a smirk and a “Not quite!” and asked a new question instead. “Where do they go?”

Rei nodded. “That’s a good question, isn’t it?”

“Nobody knows,” Yuuka added.

Sakura frowned and turned to Hanabi. “Not even you? Hiashi-sama is your father, isn’t he?”

“Not like he tells us anything,” the younger girl said snobbishly. “I just hear that they’re gone. I don’t even know the names of some of them, but then again, I don’t really associate with those of a lower class. Except for you, now, Sakura-san, but I like you.”

“Lovely.” Sakura tugged at her dark blue dress. The women were moving on now, into conversations of outfits and makeup and balls to come, but Sakura walked up to Cho before she could join them. “Do you know much about these people in exile, Cho? You seemed as interested as I feel right now.”

“It is fascinating, isn’t it?” Cho said with a smile, exposing sharp little teeth. “It’s a great example of what should happen everywhere, you know? The rebels rise up and, well… rebel, and they are immediately taken down.”

Sakura looked at her in amazement, but Cho seemed to take this for agreement and Sakura ventured another question. “And no one knows who they are or where they go after exile?”

Cho smiled at her again and leaned in close. “You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“I promise.”

“Well, I was with Hinata one day, walking around the grounds, and a Branch House servant came out and told her there was a call for her. Well, she left and I kept walking… I was right by Hyuuga Hiashi’s offices when a man with Hyuuga eyes stumbled out, flanked by other Hyuugas wearing black. The man was being half-carried, and he was moaning something awful. And his head was the worst… it was all bloody, and so were his arms, and he was going on in this awful gibberish.” Cho took a sip of her drink, relishing in the tale. “I think he was retarded, you know? So Hinata comes back, and I ask her what it’s all about, and she says that she thought a man was to be exiled that day for being a stain on the Hyuuga reputation. That’s the most I know about it, though. She got very pale when she said it. ‘N fact, she was pale when she came out the door! Must’ve been a bad phone call.”

“When was this?” Sakura asked, trying to keep her tone neutral.

“Hmm… about a week ago, I think. The weather was a bit warmer.”

A week ago was a day before Sakura had been confronted with Neji’s odd request. Strange, she thought. “And she only said it was because he was a stain on the reputation? What does that mean?”

“Well, I think it was because he was so mentally messed up. If there’s anything the Hyuuga can’t stand, it’s a weak link.”

Hanabi interrupted their conversation. “You know,” she said with a devilish smile, “I was in the room when Hinata came in for that phone call. It wasn’t really a phone call.”

Immediately, all the girls crowded around her like white on rice, and Hanabi smiled at the attention. “She had to go in to see Father, and he told her that before she got upset, he wanted to tell her that the man outside had cut himself in his presence and that she ought not to look at him for fear it’d upset her delicate composition.” The girls muttered their agreement, that such a thing would cause every one of them to faint or go mad or worse. “Well, she said yes, and then asked what would happen to him-- and Father said that he would be kicked off the estate but not completely exiled because he was mentally retarded. Then she left the office and went back outside.”

“Where is he now?” Hide asked, saving Sakura the trouble.

“I don’t know, but probably somewhere close,” Hanabi said. “There’s rumors that some Branch House scum are secretly feeding him and taking care of him and hiding him on the estate… we’re checking that out as we speak, and hopefully we’ll finally get him off the property. If he’s still there.”

The women gasped and complimented the Hyuuga house, but Sakura had had just about enough. She put her empty glass down hard and said she had to go find Neji, which was greeted by twitters and small, knowing smiles, and then made to leave the circle; however, she was stopped by a tap on the shoulder. Tomoko Yoko smiled at her, her lipsticked mouth opening wide to display perfect teeth. “Sakura-san, you really must come to my luncheon tomorrow afternoon with the rest of us. I feel the need to get to know you!”

Sakura opened her mouth, all too willing to give a resounding ‘no way’, but smiled and nodded as sweetly as she knew how. “Of course, Yoko-san. I feel exactly the same way. I’ll see you all tomorrow, then.”

Their saccharine goodbyes trailed after her as she cut her way through the crowd, intent on finding Naruto and Sai and getting Neji to get her the hell out of the ballroom. It took a good deal of standing on tiptoe before she saw the crown of Neji’s regal head above the rest, but she finally made it to him at the side of the ballroom, where he was talking with Sai about art and sipping champagne, his back to her. Sai saw her first and gave her a wave and a ‘hey, ugly’, as was his custom.

Neji turned and saw her, then nodded his head to acknowledge her presence. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been talking to your brat of a cousin and her band of babbling Barbie dolls,” she answered with supreme distaste, taking what was left of Sai’s martini from his hand and downing it without a second thought.

“You may want to watch the alcohol intake, Hag,” said Sai tonelessly, snatching his martini glass back with a glare and looking into its empty depths mournfully.

Neji looked like he was fighting to hold down a snicker. “You’ve obviously never met my cousin and her friends-- impressive use of alliteration, by the way-- or you’d understand the need for hard liquor.”

“Whoa, was that sympathy from the Ice King?” Sakura said in faux-shock, grabbing at her heart. “Who knew he was capable of human emotion?”

“Ah, so we’re back to that, are we?” Neji raised an eyebrow at her. “If you hate me that much, feel free to go back to the ladies.”

“Hey, even you are better those people. Speaking of which, I have a ‘luncheon’ with them tomorrow, over at Yoko’s house. What, exactly, is a luncheon?”

Sai chuckled as Neji sighed and cast his eyes to the heavens. “It’s just a formal lunch.”

“‘Formal’ meaning what?” Sakura asked. “More dresses?”

“No,” said Sai unexpectedly, “but something dressier than jeans.”

“I guess that’s not too bad, then,” said Sakura after a moment, trying to put a bright face on it. “I can manage being in a skirt for two hours or so.”

“With Hanabi and the Socialites?” Neji said doubtfully, and Sakura gave him a look from the corners of her eyes.

“Here I am trying to look at the glass half-full, and you’re being pessimistic. You know, I’m beginning to wonder how I ever fell in love with you.”

Sai smirked. “Why her, anyway?” he asked Neji, ignoring Sakura’s huff of indignation.

Neji appeared to contemplate this, and Sakura grinned; he would say because her writing was good, because he needed an attractive woman, or because Tsunade highly recommended her.

“I really didn’t have a choice.”

Neji smirked as Sakura hit him on the shoulder and started a tirade against his arrogance, but he had intentionally said it for the purpose of irritating her. He found it funny when she was angry… and that was probably because he had been brought up around shy, demure women his whole life. Haruno Sakura was a refreshing change. A breath of fresh air. Or a splash of cold water, he amended wryly as she finished her tirade and trailed off into indignant muttering before Sai said something that made her give a reluctant laugh. “Hey, Neji,” she said suddenly, turning to him, “do you mind taking me home? I’m a little tired of all this.”

“Sure,” he said, a bit surprised. “I’m ready to go, myself. Do you want a ride, Sai-san?”

“No, I’m fine,” the artist answered. “You enjoy yourselves.”

Sakura gave Sai a goodbye hug, and she and Neji made their way across the room, saying their goodbyes and returning compliments as they went. “We certainly caught everyone’s attention today,” Sakura said happily, waving at Tsunade as they left the ballroom and went to the coat closet.

Neji groaned as an attendant grabbed their coats for them. “Don’t remind me. We made fools of ourselves, thanks to you.”

“Hey, don’t pretend you didn’t have fun,” Sakura teased as the attendant helped her into her coat. “I saw that smile.”

Neji had to fight down another one as he took his own overcoat from the attendant and tipped him. “I thought you said I didn’t have any emotions?”

Sakura sighed. “Well, the rest of us enjoyed it, anyway.” The two walked to the valet, who got Neji’s car for them, and Neji pressed a couple bills into his hand as Sakura got in. “I never really realized how snobby people can be,” she said as he turned the ignition. He looked at her; her face was turned towards the window, towards the golden light that spilled from the windows of the building. “Does it come with being brought up rich, then?”

Yes, a splash of cold water seemed more fitting.

Sakura turned to him and grinned at his thoughtful face. “You don’t need to look so dire, Neji. I did a little gossiping while I was with the Socialites.”

“Oh? Now that you know, then, tell me this: does blue go with your eyes after all?”

Sai laughed out loud at this, and Sakura rolled her eyes. “No, they were interested in more sketchy subjects than that.”

“How sketchy?”

“About as sketchy as Watanabe Cho seeing a bloody man carried from your uncle’s offices and then Hanabi overhearing a conversation between Hinata and Hiashi in which she found out that the man was not, in fact, exiled, merely kicked off the premises. And that some of the Branch House may be hiding him and helping him at this very moment.”

Neji stared at her for a moment before forcing his eyes back to the road. He whistled lowly. “You’re good at investigative journalism, Haruno, I’ll give you that.”

“Thanks.” Sakura frowned after a moment. “Did you know that this man was being helped by Branch House members?”

“I suspected that we were helping someone out-- I overheard cousins talking of smuggling food from the Main House kitchens twice-- but I never suspected it would be one of our own.” He looked a bit troubled. “Apparently they don’t trust me anymore.”

“Anymore?”

Neji sighed. “I’ve become Branch House Leader only by appointment by Hiashi. This probably leads them to believe that I’m his man, that I would tell him about any infraction of the rules. They don’t believe that I took the post for a chance to get at Hiashi. I’m not sure I would, either.”

“Wait, you took the post of Branch House Leader to get back at Hiashi?” Sakura looked at him almost accusingly. “I thought your revenge was this article.”

“I have a lot of plans in case one doesn’t work out,” he said coolly, and his tone caused a chill to run up her spine.

There was silence in the car for a couple moments before Sakura spoke the worry that was nagging at her brain. “Neji, if I’m assisting in a homicide here--”

“You’re not.”

She glanced at him with a look that clearly said: I don’t believe you.

Neji breathed out through his nose and put one hand on the steering wheel, running the other through his abundant hair. “I’ll be honest and say that I did seriously consider it.”

Sakura’s eyes widened and her head snapped towards him. “Stop the car.”

Neji didn’t look away from the windshield.

“Neji, stop the car!” she shouted, her fear mounting without any real reason.

“No.”

“Stop the car, Neji, NOW!”

At once, he did stop; she was almost thrown against the windshield. Sakura turned her body and fumbled with the door handle, but the car was locked; she tried unlocking her door, but Neji only pressed the button again. She was stuck. She turned towards him again, her face angry. “Let me out of here. Let me out of here!”

“You need to--”

“You just told me you considered murdering your uncle, Neji!” she shouted. “I don’t need to do anything!”

“You need to hear me out!”

Sakura looked vastly unsure, but she shut up and turned towards him. “Okay. So you’re going to convince me now that you’re not a homicidal psychopath? Because that would be nice. I don’t usually write articles for people like that.”

Against his will, a smile tugged at Neji’s lips. “Look, Haruno… you went into this article without thinking. Don’t look at me like that-- I’m just saying, you did. You didn’t think to question my motives that deeply, you didn’t ask me why I wanted to bring down a family member. You probably should have, because it’s harder to tell you this now than it would have been if you’d asked me then.”

“I’m sorry?”

Neji glared at her. “I’m trying to explain.”

“Sorry,” she said, seriously this time.

“After my father died, I went through a tough time. That was when I considered murdering Hiashi-sama… I was pretty messed up physically and mentally. I almost did kill Hinata.” Sakura gasped, and Neji rushed on. “I know. I got caught with a knife in my hands, and it took me a long time to get into everyone’s good graces again. But over that time, I noticed that things were happening… people were being taken away, people from the Branch House, supposedly exiled on some excuse of being a stain on the noble Hyuuga reputation or something. I became the official Branch House Leader, and I started getting bolder. When Hiashi was away on business, I went into his office and searched his files… not for any particular thing, just for something that could free the Branch House. And I found a list.”

“A list of what?”

Neji was silent for a long, long time, and Sakura feared that he wouldn’t answer at all.

”It was a list of names,” he said finally, and with great difficulty. “On that list were every person who had been ‘exiled’ over the past years… hundreds of them, hundreds of Branch House members. And on the list was--”

“--your father,” Sakura finished for him in a whisper.

Neji nodded. “I…” He put a fist to his mouth before breathing out and looking away from her. “I think Hiashi killed my father, and that he’s killing these supposedly ‘exiled’ Branch members. Why? I don’t know. It’s a suspicion, but I know he’s ruthless enough.”

Sakura frowned at him. “I’m really sorry, Neji, I didn’t know…”

“I know.”

Neji started up the car again and pulled out of the alley he had parked in for their conversation; the drive was uncomfortably silent, the kind of silence that stretches between people like elastic and stops only at the breaking point.

As Neji parked in front of her house, Sakura started. “Neji.”

“Hm?”

“There’s one person who hasn’t been exiled, remember?” Sakura looked at him; it was funny, he thought, that everyone said Hyuuga eyes bore into people, because Sakura’s green ones seemed to stare right through him. “And supposedly some Branch members are hiding him. You’ve got to gain their trust and find out where he is so we can see him.”

We? “So you’re still with me, then.”

Sakura smiled at him, and it was a sad sort of smile, as if she knew what she was getting herself into and wished she wasn’t so stupid for doing it. “I don’t think I’m ready to break up with you just yet, Neji. You get more interesting by the day.”

--

Author’s Note: Well, this was a rather turbulent chapter, wasn’t it? I really liked it, though, I have to say that this is one of my favorites in my fanfictions. I hope all of you liked it, too… we have some more NejiSaku interaction, and I’ll give you a hint: something more romantic could be coming up in the next chapter. Sorry for the long wait for this one, by the way…

Au revoir, and again, reviews are appreciated immensely.