The sun spilled in through the uncovered windows and threatened to burn my eyelids open. Slowly, and unwillingly, I opened my eyes. I could still feel exhaustion lingering in the back of my eyes but I knew, with this infernal sun, there was no more hope of sleep for the day.

Sighing softly, I sat up, facing the window. Today was a surprisingly beautiful day. Already I could hear the chatter from down below, as vendors and other villagers prepared to make the most of the day. The same couldn't be said of me however. I intended to stay locked up in my room and spend the day resting.

I was just about to crawl out of bed when I noticed something else in my bed, Or rather, someone. Looking over, my eyes widened.

It was Sasuke!

He was lying down, sleeping soundly, his body facing me. What was he doing here? How the hell did he get into my apartment? How creepy! He just broke in and fell asleep beside me?

I took up my brush from the nightstand, the same one I had threw at Mami, and prepared to clobber him with it. Then it all come rushing back to me.

Running away from Sakura.

The challenge.

Those words.

My hurt.

My tears.

Horrified, I dropped the brush. Oh no. Oh freaking no. What had gotten in to me? Are you dumb, Lea? Not only must you have looked exactly like what he accused you of, but then you cried? You freaking cried? This was not happening...

Embarrassment washed over me. I don't cry. I never cry. Not since a long time ago. Sasuke should not have been able to make me cry. But he did. And it seems, I've cried more times in Konoha, in front of Sasuke, than I have done in my whole life. Counting, this was the ... third time, right? Three times too much. What was this dude doing to me?

I looked down at him. This was one of the rare chances to see Sasuke completely off guard. His face was peaceful and it brought a smile to my lips. Then as soon as I noticed it, I wiped the damn thing off.

Sasuke's mouth was closed but I could hear him breathing. He was curled slightly, his hands out in front of him and, looking at them, I remembered how I had fell asleep holding on to it.

My whole body felt hot.

His eyes fluttered open. After a moment, they shifted to me. "Lea?"

He must be seeing how horrified and scared I looked. I quickly tried to school my expression but I don't think I succeeded. So instead, I cleared my throat. "G-good morning, Sasuke."

He sat up, confused. "What's with you?" he asked.

"Nothing! Nothing at all! I-I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Surprised about what?"

"You," I said honestly. "What are you still doing here?"

He blinked at me, then looked away, his face red. Funny. He looked how I felt. "You asked me to stay with you because you were scared. Don't you remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. But I thought you would have left and gone back home during the night. I didn't expect you to stay until morning."

"I fell asleep, Lea." After a moment, he said, "Besides, it's not as if there was anyone waiting for me when I got home."

He said that last part with a bit of bitterness, and a dash of resignation. I frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke turned his back to me. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what happened to last night. My mind is very foggy. Did I say anything that ... you know ... I wouldn't normally say?" I decided to play the fool, although I knew very well what had happened.

Sasuke sent me a smirk over his shoulder. "You? Why no, not at all. What could you have said?"

That bastard!

Before I could send him a retort, he stood. "Make me some breakfast, will you?"

"Believe it or not Sasuke, but those hands and feet you have aren't just for decoration. You use them to do stuff too. Like making yourself breakfast."

"What are girls good for, if not using their hands and feet to make me not use mine?" I ignored his sexist remark, knowing he was just trying to get to me.

"This girl would rather use her hands and feet to beat some sense into you, you sexist pig!" I hadn't even noticed I had thrown my brush at him until it was halfway across the room. So much for ignoring his remark. Calm down, Lea. Turn back into your normal cool self.

Sasuke dodged the brush with a smirk. "Okay, okay! I get it! That's just your way of saying you can't cook. I should have guessed anyway since this place is loaded with empty ramen noodles containers. Don't you ever clean up around here?"

"Whenever I feel like it."

Someone knocked on the door. At the sound, both our heads swiveled towards it then we looked at each other, eyes wide. Crap.

"Yo, Lea." It was Shikamaru. "The Hokage sent me for you. She wants to see you."

I sprang off the bed. I grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled him with me.

"Hide in here!" I whispered, pushing him into the bathroom.

"Hey-" I slammed the door, cutting of his next words.

Ridding my face of any emotions, I opened the front door. "What did you say?" I asked Shikamaru.

He looked positively bored. He handed me an envelope. "This is your pay for the last mission. And the Hokage said she wants you in her office right now."

"Now now? Well, shucks I haven't even had breakfast yet." I took the envelope from him. "Well thanks anyway."

Shikamaru just saluted me then went on his not so merry way.

I closed the door with a sigh. As soon as I did, Sasuke's head peeped out of the bathroom.

"Is the coast clear?" he asked, looking around.

I had to stifle a laugh behind my hand. Sasuke looked so comical, looking around as if he was being chased, hiding in my bathroom. If this hadn't been a serious situation and if it hadn't been Sasuke, I would have most definitely laughed.

"You need to go," I told him.

"Yeah, I think you're right." He came from the bathroom and walked over to me. I looked up at him as he drew closer. I stepped away from the door, giving him space.

"See you, Lea," he bid farewell. He opened the door but before he could leave I grabbed his arm.

"If you dare to even whisper one word of what happened last night and this morning, I'm going to find you in your big empty house and cut each and every one of your toes off."

Sasuke chuckled. Not the reaction I had been hoping for. He reached up and pat my head, much to my annoyance. "Okay, little kitty," he said. Then the door closed behind him.

//

Neji POV

Funny how you wish for something, you think really hard for that something, and then it appears in front of you, as if God himself had put it there. In this case, however, it was not an it but a she. I spotted Lea walking just a little ahead of him and I stopped, sending up a silent prayer of thanks.

"Yo, Lea." I waved at her, playing it cool. Well, it wasn't really playing. I was cool.

Lea looked up at me and nodded. "Hey, Neji. What brings you here?"

"Shikamaru came to me saying the Hokage wanted to see me. Why are you here?"

"Same thing. It must be a mission then." She closed her eyes and groaned. "I so wanted to stay in today."

We started walking with each other, heading up to the room. "Stay in? Why?"

She looked up at me, a weird look in her eye. "Why else? Because I'm tired and I didn't feel like going out and doing stuff, that's why."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I never stay in. Unless I'm sick and I'm rarely sick."

Lea shook her head. "That's sad, Neji." I looked down at her. That was not the response I was expected at all. I had at least expected her to applaud me for being so hardworking.

"How is that sad?"

"You've never stayed in? You work all day, every day? Oh come on, Neji. You must feel tired some time."

"I don't."

"As I said, sad."

"Or maybe I just don't like sitting around and wasting time like that."

"Hey, it's not wasting time. You're using your time to relax. It may look like wasting time but trust me, it's not."

I looked at her for the hundredth time. She was smiling, slightly. She was dressed how she usually did: in black with a purple crisscrossed belt and her sword slung beside her. It surprised me how much I like her. My hand twitched to grab hers but I was sure she wouldn't appreciate that very much.

But I won't know unless I tried.

I grabbed it before I could talk myself out of it. She stopped, right in front of the Hokage's office.

She looked down at our entwined hands then up at me. "What are you doing?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to speak but before I could say anything, my mind screamed at me to lie. Don't tell her the truth. Just lie!

"You looked sick so I checked your chakra pulses in your hand." I let go, schooling my features.

She looked down at her hand, a deep frown on her face. "That's odd. I didn't feel sick."

"My mistake. Come. Let' see why the Hokage wanted us."

Lea POV

Turns out we weren't the only ones

The room was packed with ninjas. As soon as I walked in, all eyes settled on me. I looked through them and my eyes found Sasuke. He was smirking at me! The bastard!

"Is this Lea?" I looked away from Sasuke at the sound of someone else's voice. As soon as I did, the ninjas practically parted, allowing me a view of the person that spoke. It was the same woman that had healed Sasuke.

She held out a finger, gesturing for me to come forward. I came up to her desk. The woman searched my face, the more she looked the more awed looking she became.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked her, fed up with it.

"You're just not what I expected at all." This time her eyes looked at me from up to down. "When I heard of you, I was expecting something ... different."

"Sorry to disappoint you. I see the talk about me haven't died down as yet."

"You should feel important now, knowing you're a topic usually discussed."

"Unlike some people, I'd rather if someone wants to talk about me, they not be a coward and say what they have to say about me to my face." I pushed my hair back from my face and looked at her straight on. "Who are you?"

"That's the Hokage, Lea-chan! Have a little more respect!" It was Sakura. She rushed up, her eyes wide. She bowed before the woman. "I apologize on her behalf. She can be a little... impulsive."

"Sakura, get the hell up and stop being dumb," I said, annoyed. "I don't need anyone to speak for me."

"You apparently do!" She shot back. "You have no respect!"

Yep, there it was. Anger.

"What hell did you just say?!" I pounced on her but I was, sadly, held back by strong arms. It was Kiba. He wrestled me into submission.

"As much as I would love to see you pound her to the ground," he whispered into my ear. "Let's just hear the mission first."

"She needs a good beating," I whispered back, still angry.

"I know, I know." He sounded like he was consoling a child. He carried me to the back where we leaned against the wall. It was then that I began to notice all the other persons in the room. There was Kiba's team, Neji's team except Lee, Shikamaru's team, my team and ... Horo?

My eyes widened when I spotted him practically hiding in the corner of the room. This must be serious then.

My eyes wandered over to Sasuke on their own. He was staring intensely at me. Those onyx orbs shifted from me to Kiba then back to me and the look that he gave me made me both scared and confused.

That's odd. Me? Scared of Sasuke? Oh please.

His gaze didn't waver however, and the burning in his eyes grew more intense with ... anger? Oh screw it, I didn't want to know. Not because I'm scared, no no. I need to listen to what the Hokage was saying, don't I?

Telling myself that, I averted my eyes.

Hey guys! Looks like something big is coming up! I can't wait for this part :)

Poor Neji, trying to show a little love but we all know Lea, she can be as dense as a brick. Sigh. All you Leij/Nea fans better hope he steps up his game beause right now we all know that Sasuke is in the lead.

I wonder why he's angry. Could it be jealousy? Unknown to Lea, Kiba's arm is still slung over her shoulder and Sasuke was staring right at them. Aw, he's jealous *heart eyes*

And coming in hot on his heels is KIba! :) I love that guy! Love you Kea fans too! :) Keep smiling!

And for God's sake, keep voting and commenting!

PS: If you like this book, don't hesitate to follow me. I would love to have supporters for my other books to come :) Thank You!