The Kekkei Genkai Curse

By Shiroihato

A/N: Thanks to all my great reviewers!!! Sorry this took so long to post. It wasn’t the Harry Potter book; I finished that in about seven hours. (I’m serious; I started a little after 10:30 and finished about 5:00!) I just had writers block. Oh, well. Please, read and review.

Sakura sighed with great force as she looked around her. Red and pink streamers, bobbing heart-shaped lanterns, chocolate and flowers peeping out from under the arms of every second person- Konoha sure got into Valentines Day. It seemed a bit annoying, really.

She knew she wasn’t being fair; under normal circumstances, she’d be out there with everyone else. She might be helping Tenten force Neji to slip and let his romantic side show (which didn’t happen all that often in public. In private…), or helping Hinata get ready for a date with Kiba, or even better, out on a date, a real no-cheap-ramen-involved date with Naruto. The whole time, she’d probably be humming some romantic song under her breath. But it didn’t feel right this year; nothing did.

One look at Kumo, and Sakura could tell the girl agreed. She also picked up on other, better hidden emotions- a hint of wistfulness, a little anger, and etcetera.

“Kumo-neechan,” she said softly, “I’m gonna go find Naruto.”

Kumo just kind of nodded, looking a bit like one lost in a dream, one of those vague, hazy ones that aren’t really good or bad. Sakura knew when she about faced and started strolling in the opposite direction, that Kumo was going to visit them. She also knew that there was no way to help or comfort her.

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Neji glared irritatedly at a long string baring glitter-drenched, pink and red paper hearts. If the string had been a living creature, it would have fled for cover from the gaze of his byakugan, but as it was, he just had to lean back into the park bench and try pointedly to ignore the irritating decorations, and romantic goo-goo-ga-ga-ing that was going on all around him.

He had never really understood the point of Valentines Day. To him, it had always seemed like a rather pointless holiday, one that women tended to love, and their boyfriends and husbands dreaded. Why would anyone waste a day to celebrate … He couldn’t even come up with the right word for it.

The most curious thing about it, however, had to be those fragile paper hearts. Oh, yes, he understood the symbolism. Unlike… certain members of the team, he wasn’t dense. Still, the purpose of this particular ornament was, to him, a thing on which to speculate.

Neji had seen a lot of death and tragedy and hatred and sickness in his life. What shinobi hadn’t? And he certainly saw no use in having a heart so easily torn in two, even if it was just for embellishment.

His thoughts wondered back to the Haruno girl. She was one of Tenten’s best friends, and, although Sakura, in his mind at least, couldn’t hold a candle to his beautiful, brown haired girlfriend, he would be lying to say that the two of them weren’t friends as well.

He remembered, after every one else had left, how he and Tenten had sat together on the faded couch. The Hyuuga genius had silently slipped his arm around her waist, as she sobbed into his shoulder.

“I don’t get it Neji-kun!” she wept, her voice broken-sounding, “I don’t understand it at all! She’s one of my best friends. This can’t be happening, please, tell me this isn’t happening. Why, Neji, why?!” she turned those intense amber eyes of hers to him, as if he had all the answers.

He had just gazed at her with an unreadable expression, and then turned his eyes away. He could remember his loosing father, how quickly the events had had run their course. It had all come out of the blue, knocking him from his feet and taking the air from his lungs. But still, he had to wonder if maybe what Tenten was going through was worse- watching some one precious to her dwindle away to nothing, in pain all the while, and not being able to do anything about it.

His thoughts had wandered back, over many memories, many faces, all the days on the calendar that seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. He had been able to tolerate Sakura on the few days Tenten had convinced her to “intrude” on their training, provided Lee wasn’t around. She seemed different from before the Uchiha left.

It was her win against Shikamaru- who had never before been beaten at shogi, especially not playing with his own board- that had finally won his attention. So, with much prompting from Tenten, the two had become friendly, if not friends. Things had simply progressed from there. He had to admit, he was fond of his girlfriend’s companion, though not in a romantic way. (What little romantic skills he had were reserved for Tenten; all the kunoichi made sure of that.)

So when he heard the grief filled questions coming from his angel’s lips, he couldn’t give her the answers she wanted. All he had managed to say was, “I don’t know.”

Neji wasn’t used to feeling inadequate. It went against who he was, against his very nature. But that night, he couldn’t feel anything else but sorrow. (He would have been hard pressed, though, too tell you who it was for.) Softly stroking Tenten's hair, he had felt tears bubble up, and realized, he didn’t remember the last time he had cried.

Yes, there was defiantly no need for hearts of paper. Human hearts were hurt easily enough as it was.

He was startled out of his reminiscing, by a familiar voice.

“Neji-kun!” her smile seemed bright and warm, “Happy Valentines day.”

The minute the words were out of her mouth, the weapons mistress began looking anxiously for something, although she was trying to be discreet.

“What’s she…? Oh, yeah, that…”

A bit nervous, though you’d never know it, he handed her a tiny package, wrapped in simple mauve paper. Tensely, she untied the bit of silver ribbon (added upon Hanabi’s insistence) and neatly removed the paper. A slight blush came over her face as she revealed a small ring box. Her mouth became a small “O” at the present inside. A small white gold ring with a single black opal glimmered back up at her. Incomprehensible words came out of her mouth in the form of stutters.

“…It was my mother’s,” Neji explained, trying to keep his voice calm, as he helped slip it on her finger. Then, a sudden thought hit him. He groaned.

“What? What is it?” Tenten took a momentary break from her happiness to stare at him.

“I just realized….”

“Realized what?”

“That I’m just like the rest of them,” he thought.

“I’ve become a sap.”

And Tenten couldn’t stop laughing long enough to hand him his gift.

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Hinata swung slowly, back and forth, as she waited for Kiba at the playground. Her puppy, affectionately named “Suki” or beloved, slept, curled into a tiny ball, at the foot of the maple tree.

It wasn’t Suki she was focusing on, though. Her mind danced around questions too difficult for her to answer, as she thought back to that day, the one that could have made or broken her friendship with Sakura.

“Hina-chan?”

Sakura’s voice had been soft, and apprehensive, a tone Hinata wasn’t used to hearing from her friend.

“H-Hai, Sakura-chan? W-what’s wrong?”

Pale eyes looked over the pink haired girl’s worried face. A feeling of dread had loomed over her, as she waited for the Godaime’s apprentice to speak.

“Hinata, I’m… I’m going to tell you something. Can you promise not to be angry, at least not at first, not until I finish speaking?”

A soft, silent nod of the head, and then the words hesitantly came.

“Hinata, I…I think I’ve fallen in love with Naruto.”

And it was as if the world was crashing down around her. Hinata looked as if she had been struck, her byakugan fixed on the girl she had thought she knew so well. Why, was it only last weekend that they had stayed up all night at Hinata’s place, chattering and eating homemade cupcakes and brownies and cookies, and Neji shook his head in dismay?

“Hinata,” Sakura’s voice quavered a little; tears threatened to spill from both girls’ eyes, “I know you love him, too.”

The Hyuuga girl couldn’t help but note how Sakura hadn’t downplayed the word. Most others would have said “you like him, too”; which in a way would have discarded her feelings as less true, less important. That was probably the one thing that convinced the heiress to keep listening.

“Hina-chan, I’m so sorry…” here the sobs actually came, as Sakura tried to find the right way to continue, “you know, if I had a choice … if I could make things different, I would. But stupid old me had to go fall in love with the one person I don’t deserve, the one person you’ve loved for forever and an age. Hinata, I broke my friendship with Ino up over Sasuke. I don’t want to make that mistake again. Hinata, if you…if you want me to pretend I don’t have feelings for him, I’ll try my best. He deserves better than me, anyhow, and I don’t want to loose you as a friend.”

Sakura couldn’t bear to look at her friend’s face, knowing the hurt and anger she’d see there. She knew Hinata would probably never want to speak to her again. She felt vulnerable, with all those emotions laid out on the table.

“I understand if you don’t want to be friends, anymore. But if somehow, by some miracle, you can forgive me, then… well I guess I’m really in no position to say this, but, I’d like that.”

She braced herself for the silent treatment and/or horrified accusations that would probably come next. What she was unprepared for, was what Hinata said next.

“But he l-loves you; not me. H-how could you say I love h-him, and not let him be happy? I-I guess I am a little angry, Sakura…but I d-don’t think it would be right for me to hold you back,” Hinata started crying here, too, “I d-did want him for myself. B-but I want you for a friend, too. I’d feel awful if I made both of you miserab-ble. He loves you.”

Sitting there, on that Valentines Day, Hinata couldn’t help but wonder if maybe that was fate’s way of pointing her in Kiba’s direction- presuming Neji was right about fate, of course. She remembered she had felt hurt. It had been difficult to see Naruto and Sakura together, no matter how careful both girls were. Their friendship almost hadn’t made it. But then she had fallen back on Kiba. And she had never seen the world the same, since.

All of a sudden, Suki perked up, sniffing the air, and then barked, joyfully.

Akamaru came up, outrunning his master. He stopped a few inches away from Suki, casually placing a treat in front of the puppy, and nosing it in her direction. Tail wagging happily as she accepted his token, he said (with great difficulty) “Happy Valentines!” Suki nearly choked from shock.

“Aren’t they cute?” Kiba whispered into her ear, surprising her.

“Yeah,” Hinata nodded happily, as Kiba slipped a dog tag inscribed with her name around her neck, and handed her a bouquet.

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Naruto and Sakura sat across from one another at Sakura’s table, not exactly having the same picture-perfect day the other couples were. (Although it was probably better than Kakashi’s; who knew what he had done this time to get Anko so angry? For that matter, who wanted to know?)

“Sakura,” Naruto slurped a little on his miso, “Stop being so gloomy, please! You’re going to get better! I’ll find a w-”

“Naruto,” Sakura was on the verge of yelling now, “Please, stop saying that! It’s not like I don’t appreciate the effort, but, it’s just like I told you…”

“Told me what?” By this point, the food had been left forgotten, “That you’re not even going to try to save your own life?!”

“…That once something’s shattered, super glue won’t fix it!”

“Then I’ll use duct tape!”

Something about the raw desperation in Naruto’s voice cause something inside Sakura to break. The tears fell soft, and noiseless at first, then louder and quicker.

Naruto felt like he had been slapped in the face.

“Sakura-chan, I’m sorry,” he apologized hastily, “I-“

“No, don’t apologize;” she tried to wipe her eyes, “You shouldn’t apologize. You know this isn’t how I had planned to spend our first valentines as a couple. But this damn illness keeps taking over everything. And there, I go, making excuses again. But I’m just so sick of it. Even on the good days, like this, I can never completely forget, so I go and make everything sour. Like that’s going to help! I’m sorry, Naruto. I really did want to have a good time with you. And I know you’re just trying to help me. But all I want is to forget for a little while. People are always telling me that I have to fight to get better- like I’m not trying- or talking about how I’m doomed behind my back. That’s all I am to some of them- the sick girl. Even with you, Naruto, who loves me and always try to brighten up my day…I feel kind of isolated. I guess… I feel lonely.”

His eyes softened.

Lonely- boy, had he ever been there. But his Sakura-chan wasn’t going to be, not if he had any say in the matter.

He stood up, and walked around behind her. “I am sorry,” he murmured as his arms encircled her, “Sakura-chan, please don’t be lonely. I’m here. And you’ll always be just that to me- my Sakura-chan.”

They sat there for a moment, in silence, breathing in each other’s scents. Finally, he let go, turning to rummage for something in his bag. Finally, he pulled out a small case, and handed it to her, saying, “I almost forgot.”

With trembling hands, she opened it, to see a rather stunning necklace. It was silver with the tiny figure of an angel holding an even smaller origami crane in her hand.

“So you’re never completely alone,” He explained, “So you’ve always got a guardian angel watching over you. Besides, I had given you gold. You need silver, too. That way you can always be wearing one necklace or the other, and in a way, I’ll always be with you, too.”

“Thank you,” was all Sakura could manage as she fastened the chain, fingers still shaking. She sat in the hair, stunned for a moment, before standing up, and lacing her fingers through his.

“Follow me,” was all she said, and before Naruto knew it, she was leading him down the heart-covered streets of Konoha, straight to Ino’s flower shop. Turning to him, all Sakura said was, “Wait here” and then she slipped inside.

Within a few minutes, she reemerged, pressing a small bouquet of pink and blue flowers in his hand. Before he could point out that normally, the guy gave the girl flowers; she had kissed him on the cheek, and left “in search of Kumo”.

As he stood there, watching her leave, Ino made a clucking noise.

“Naruto, do you know what those flowers are? Or what they mean?”

He shook his head no at the sudden arrival.

“The blue ones are forget-me-nots; they’re supposed to stand for faithful love or memories. The pink carnations mean, ‘I will never forget you’. Add that meaning to forget-me-not…”

Naruto felt his heart sink.

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Kumo gently scattered white rose petals over two twin graves.

“Happy Valentines, Mom and Dad.”

A/N: Sheesh, finally, that’s done. If I somehow managed to mess up one of your favorite pairings, I really am sorry. (Serenity-san, please, don’t kill me for inadequate NejiTen! Dido about the KakaAnko, SCPL!) Other than that, I don’t have that much to say, except for, I’m sorry about the other pairings. I just didn’t have time to write them in. Oh, and if you could stop by Master of Fanfics’ account, she has four great stories up for NaruSaku fans. Thanks to all of you for moral support, especially Master of Fanfics, Winter-Rae, and screamingcrazyproctorlady. (C-chan, can you please shorten your pen name in some way? Dozo?) Oh, and one more thing. I got the flower meanings of the net. If they’re wrong, don’t yell at me, okay.

The next chapter is called, “The Last Birthday Party”.

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