I love this one shot! It's had a particular theme? No. Punch line? Whatever, it's had that since I even though of the first sentence. You'll find out right at the end, but until then, you should read all of it first. Enjoy!

Don't own Naruto.

I Hate You, I Want You

"You absolute bastard! You fucking asshole!"

Sakura's screeches could be heard clear across Konoha, and the one who had caused them was totally unrepentant. Neji smirked wickedly as the petal haired medic stood there, fuming. It really was a lot of fun riling her up.

"It's your own fault, Haruno," he told her, not bothering to hide the smugness in his voice. "If you hadn't been standing there daydreaming, you wouldn't have fallen. It's as simple as that."

"Argh!"

She came at him, then, her fists obviously laden with chakra. She intended to hurt him, he knew, but there was no way that she could ever lay a hand on him. No one in Konoha could beat him, no one had a chance unless they were a Hyuuga as well. (He chose to temporarily forget the time Naruto kicked his ass. It would completely invalidate his point, otherwise.)

"I was not daydreaming!" she yelled at him as her fist missed his head.

"Oh really?" Neji taunted. "I think you were, and I think it was about your precious Uchiha brat, wasn't it?"

"You asshole!" Sakura fumed. "I don't care about him anymore!"

Good, a small voice whispered in the back of his mind, and he wondered where it came from. Oh well, he'd figure it out later. Right now, he had a furious kunoichi to deal with. Her movements were erratic, due to her anger, and it would be easier to quickly move in and block her chakra points, but he wanted to have a little fun. Getting her to waste her chakra, thus leaving her incapable of rendering any bone crushing blows would make for a good fight. And besides, beating her would be a good way to take her down a notch. At least he could only hope so, anyway.

Over two hours later, an exhausted Sakura finally admitted defeat, but not out loud. Never out loud. No, she did it by fainting instead, leaving an amused and exhausted Neji to carry her to the hospital to recover. He did so smirking, smug in the knowledge that he'd just won another of their little 'battles.' Naturally.

When Sakura woke hours later, she found herself in the hospital, an irate Hokage glaring at her. "It's about time you woke up," Tsunade grumbled.

Wearily Sakura sat up, still feeling the effects of her fight with Neji. "How did I get here?" she asked, and her shishou's glare decreased slightly.

"Neji brought you in," she informed her. "Really, Sakura, is it so hard for you to even try to get along with him? Why did it start, anyway? You used to work fine together."

It had started because of Naruto, but Sakura hadn't told anyone about that. Neji had said something about her 'brother', and Sakura had blown up at him. Since then, all they did was fight whenever they saw each other, using anything as ammo against one another. Like that time Ino had drunkenly kissed her, Neji had spread a rumour around that she was a lesbian. Then she'd planted an extremely explicit copy of Icha Icha on him and when his uncle had found it, Neji hadn't been seen around Konoha for weeks. She never did find out what had happened to him.

Sakura sighed and looked away from her mentor. "That Hyuuga just pisses me off," she said.

"Well, whatever the reason, you're going to have to put it aside," Tsunade said. "There's a mission coming up that I need the both of you on, one that, if you fail, it could mean dire consequences for Konoha."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Dire?" she repeated, and the Hokage nodded.

"The two of you need to retrieve a package at one of the border towns," she said. "The contents of that package are very important! Make sure it gets here in one piece, I cannot stress how important that is!"

Sighing once more, Sakura nodded her head. "Fine, shishou," she said. "I'll do my best. But if that Hyuuga starts something, I'm damned well going to finish it!"

Tsunade nodded in complete understanding before handing her the scroll with all the necessary details.

Neji was pissed off. Why the hell did he have to go on a retrieval mission with that damned flake of a kunoichi? Why couldn't Ino or Tenten do it? Or better yet, why couldn't the Hokage send Naruto or Lee off with Sakura? Why me? he mentally groaned.

He'd been waiting at the main gates of Konoha for nearly an hour, and that little... medic... hadn't deigned to turn up. Where the hell was she? They were supposed to be gone already! Why the hell was he stuck here waiting for her? When she finally turned up, she smirked at him, a wicked glint in her eyes.

"Sorry I'm late, I got stuck helping an old lady cross the street."

That was one of her old sensei's excuses, he knew, and Neji ground his teeth as he forced himself not to do or say the things he wanted to at her impudence.

The trip to the village they needed to get to was going to take six days there and back. Three days and two nights of Sakura's questionable company, then three more days of that, only carrying whatever it was that they'd been sent out to get. It had better be damned important! he thought. The first day was fine, they kept a respectable distance and didn't even speak. But then night fell and they had to make camp.

The site they chose (or rather, she chose) was acceptable, barely, and almost immediately, Neji set about the task of setting up his sleeping bag then preparing his dinner. Sakura, on the other hand, had opted to leave hers just sitting there, and she disappeared into the forest, mumbling something about having a bath in the nearby stream.

Preparing everything himself was a breeze; he'd had plenty of practice with all the missions he was sent on, and after a couple of hours, Neji had done everything that he'd needed, including having something to eat. That was when he realised that Sakura was still gone. Grumbling to himself about stupid kunoichi's getting lost in the woods, he stood and went looking for her.

He found her at the stream, and he'd really thought that by now she would have already finished with her bath, but instead he discovered her buck naked and in the water still. As he stared at her, jaw slightly agape, he felt something happen to him at the sight of her bare skin, and he liked it and hated it at once. The stream was incredibly shallow, and only went halfway up her calves, so Neji got quite an eyeful.

The sight before him was incredible. Sakura's naked form was lithe and supple, and he found himself wanting to go to her to see if she felt the way she looked. Her pert breasts bounced slightly as she ran her wet hands over them, clearly washing them, the action making Neji go hard. Then she scooped up some more water, tipped her head back and let the precious liquid fall over her, tiny droplets forming rivulets than ran over her naked body.

His member was straining against his pants at the sight of the goddess before him, and he was sorely tempted to go down and join her, but he managed to get control of himself. He fled instead, hard as a rock and bloody nosed back to their camp.

Sakura knew that she shouldn't have lingered in the stream, but the water was so warm, and she was so stressed from having to bite her tongue during their journey that she couldn't resist. So she didn't, and it was great. It was too bad that the water wasn't deeper, but it didn't matter too much. And then she felt like someone was watching her, but the feeling only lasted for a moment. A quick search had revealed nothing, so she dismissed it as paranoia.

When she eventually returned to the campsite, Neji wasn't there, and she had a brief panicked moment when she considered the possibility that he'd spied on her, but dismissed it just as easily. Yeah, right! There was no way that the great Hyuuga Neji would peek on a girl. He was far too repressed for that! Just like someone else we once knew, a voice whispered in her head, and she pushed it away.

Her next thought was to wonder just how long she'd been in the stream, then to wonder where the hell her annoying travelling companion was. Finally, Neji made himself known and the rest of the night passed in awkward silence until he fell asleep. The first watch was hers.

The following day Sakura could have sworn that Neji wanted to say something to her, but didn't quite manage to get the words out. "You got something to say to me, Hyuuga?" she demanded, her frustration at his behaviour threatening to disrupt the mission.

But in non-typical behaviour, he backed down. "No," he said sedately. "It's fine."

Sakura was so shocked by this she almost missed the branch of the next tree, so she stopped momentarily, just in case. "Are you feeling alright, Neji?" she asked, her worry being such that she ignored her undying hatred of him to check his forehead for fever.

"I'm fine, Sakura," Neji said angrily, jerking back away from her and then continuing on ahead.

Not for one second did she believe him, but she let it drop and they went on their way.

The whole day passed in silence, but it was different from the previous day. Something had happened, and no matter what he said, Sakura knew that something just had to be bothering Neji. But what was it?

Ignoring her wasn't working. Mostly because he figured that it was impossible to ignore Haruno Sakura, for many reasons and on many different levels. All night and during the day, he couldn't get the sight of her wet, naked body out of his head. He couldn't really concentrate on anything else, but he managed to force himself to at least watch where he was going.

The day was mostly uneventful, and then they stopped again for the night. This time Sakura didn't go off to a stream to bathe, and Neji ignored the fact that she wasn't very far away from him. He would get through this, and when they got back to Konoha, he was going to meditate until he banished her from his mind.

Until then, he was stuck with the images that flitted through his mind. Forcing himself to focus, he told Sakura that he'd take the first watch, then took off into the forest before she could say anything.

Sakura was tossing and turning. She couldn't get to sleep. Over and over in her head, she kept replaying the day, still confused about the way Neji'd behaved. It didn't make sense. Why had he been like that? Then the previous night flicked into her mind and she suddenly realised that he must have seen her in the stream!

"Oooh! That pervert!" she hissed.

Getting up out of her sleeping bag, she silently made her way off into the trees, determined to sneak up on him before she beat him to a pulp for peeking on her! When she found him...! Where she did find him, however, she froze. It seemed that someone was playing a cruel joke on her, for now their positions of the previous night were apparently reversed. Inner Sakura started drooling at the sight before her, and Sakura had to admit that it was pretty hot.

Neji had found a rather deep pond, and was standing in front of it, stark frigging naked! Sakura had a major nose bleed at the sight of the Hyuuga's perfectly toned ass as he hesitated briefly before getting in to the water. It must have been cold, because he shivered at first, and then Inner Sakura fainted. He wasn't in there long, and when he was done, Sakura got an eyeful of him and she nearly fainted. He must have used chakra to heat the water, because he didn't seem to be (ahem!) affected by the cold anymore.

Blushing furiously, Sakura quickly made her way back to camp, diving into her sleeping bag and trying desperately to fall asleep as quickly as she could.

A quick dip in the water had been just what he needed, Neji decided. He'd used his chakra to heat the water (an extremely basic skill when you were a Hyuuga) and it had been quite enjoyable. But now he returned to the camp to keep watch, and wasn't really surprised to find that Sakura was already in her bedroll and sleeping. At least, he thought she was sleeping. Maybe she was faking it?

Shrugging to himself, he set himself up to take the first watch, and when it came time to wake his companion, went over to her sleeping bag to gently shake her awake. At least, that was his intention. Upon reaching the spot that Sakura was sleeping, Neji paused when he heard her mumbling, a feeling of surprise hitting him when he heard her murmur, "Neji," followed closely by, "Pervert."

He remained still. Had she figured out that he'd seen her naked the previous night? If she had, he was quite surprised that she hadn't confronted him about it and tried to beat him into a bloody pulp. Not that she'd be able to, but that was beside the point. The fact of the matter was, either she'd figured him out, or she was just having a really weird dream with him in it. She kept mumbling, and he decided that he wasn't sure how he felt about the way her dream seemed to be going.

In any case, he decided to push it aside for the moment and he moved away to take up position for first watch.

The following morning they packed up camp quickly, and the day passed in silence, which really was unusual for them. Especially Sakura. While she wasn't as bad as either of her blonde best friends, she was still a naturally talkative person, so this prolonged silence from her was really creeping Neji out.

They reached their destination early in the afternoon, and the package they'd been sent to retrieve had turned out to be two, roughly the size of backpacks, so they'd decided to carry one each. The person who'd given them to them had offered their hospitality for the night, but Sakura had immediately refused, saying how they were expected back as quickly as possible.

"I know just what you mean," the guy said with a wink, leaving both shinobi surprised at this.

"What the fuck was that about?" Sakura wondered.

"It doesn't matter," Neji told her abruptly. "Stop swearing and let's just go."

She turned to him then, and he could swear that she was going to say something to him, but as soon as their eyes met, she blushed, looked away and began moving. Huh. That was weird.

She couldn't help it. Even though she was about to snap at him and tell him not to tell her how she could talk, one look at him had mental images of his naked body filling her brain, and Sakura'd had to look away before she did something stupid. Ever since last night, her Inner self had been trying desperately to get her to jump Neji, or at least say something to him. But Sakura was still too embarrassed to do anything about it.

Never in her life had she ever considered that this would happen to her. She hated Neji, for crying out loud! Why did her hormones have to complicate things for her, dammit!? Still. At least he wasn't trying to provoke her or anything. That would have made things worse than they already were. Maybe it was because he was in the same boat, since she was still convinced that he'd perved on her the first night.

That night they made camp, went about things in their usual way and the following day they were travelling again. One more night and they would be home, then Sakura knew she could vent her sexual frustration in the peace and quiet of her own home. When that last night came, however, she felt like she couldn't go on like this anymore and would explode from the effort. Time to confront him, she decided.

Once they were settled, she turned to him and said, "We need to talk."

Neji sighed and put down what he was doing to face her, and Sakura glared at him as much as she could before she informed him, "I know you peeked at me the other night in the stream!"

If she hadn't been staring at him unblinkingly, then she would have missed the momentary surprise and then guilt that flickered across his features. Hah! Inner crowed. I knew it!

"Excuse me?" he demanded arrogantly. "I do not peek at people when they're bathing."

"Well, that's too bad," she told him, "since I know it was you there!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, whether I did or not, you must have liked it," he taunted. "After all, you whispered my name in your sleep the other night."

Heat rushed to her cheeks. "I did not!"

He smirked. "You did," he said. "And you said it so seductively, too, like you wanted more."

Her whole face was aflame now. This whole thing was backfiring on her, and there seemed to be no way to get out of it. She'd said his name? Seductively? The embarrassment was extremely acute, but before she could do or say anything, Neji closed the distance between them and she had to back up to prevent them from actually touching.

"You really want to do all the things you moaned?" he whispered as he leaned into her. "I could make it happen for you."

"No," Sakura moaned, then felt that she could have kicked herself for that response. "I hate you, you hate me. This isn't right."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter," he told her. "Right or wrong, if I do this," he brushed his lips lightly over hers, "I could have you begging for anything I wanted."

She wanted to tell him he was wrong, but he wasn't. That light touch had just unravelled a big ball of control that she had wound up, rather clumsily though. If he did anything else... Neji leaned in and kissed her properly, brushing his tongue over her lip to gain access to her mouth, which he then plundered. Something in Sakura snapped and she kissed him back, slightly surprising him, but he recovered quickly.

Pushing her backwards against her bedroll, Neji continued to plunder her mouth as his hands decided to go exploring over her body. They started in her hair then moved down to cup her cheeks as he kissed her. One stayed there awhile as the other roved down to brush over a breast before grasping it, and Sakura moaned as Neji kneaded her mound gently. Her own hands came up to thread through his hair, and the softness of it was almost enough to distract her.

But then his roving hand was suddenly under her shirt, and he was squeezing her through her bindings. Sakura moaned into his mouth at the sensation. The other hand that had still been at her cheek suddenly moved, passing lightly over her breast and further down over her belly. Sakura gasped as Neji brushed his fingers over her clothed womanhood. She felt him smirk into the kiss and he cupped her fully down there. She moaned and arched her hips into his hand.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" Neji whispered in her ear, and she shook her head, then nodded.

"Please," she moaned as his lower hand rubbed her.

Suddenly he stopped, and Sakura's eyes opened wide in frustration, but it didn't last long. Neji used both of his hands to pull off her shirt, and she let him, wanting to feel his hands on her again. Naturally, she wasn't thinking straight, but she decided that she'd sort that out later. He ripped her bindings from her chest and she shrieked in surprise. But then his mouth was upon a breast and her shriek became a whimper as he sucked harshly.

Sakura's hands came back up to his hair and her grip on him was intense. But he was not letting up on her breast, and she arched her back as pleasure shot through her. Neji's hands were wandering southwards, and a moment later she felt her shorts being pulled off of her. Pretty soon she was naked, but he was still fully clothed, and somewhere in her brain Sakura registered that that was entirely unfair.

But then her brain turned completely into mush when a long finger slid along her opening and she cried out, hips bucking in surprise. Neji smirked against her breast before releasing it and raising himself up to look at her. She was beautiful in the throes of desire, he decided as he slid a finger inside her. Sakura's eyes widened at the new sensation and her hips bucked wildly as his digits began to pump inside her.

"Kami, you're beautiful," Neji murmured, and added another finger.

Sakura's hands came up and grabbed hold of his shirt. "Neji!" she whimpered as she rode his hand.

There were three fingers inside her now, and Sakura was almost screaming as he finger fucked her. Neji captured her lips with his as she screamed her orgasm, clamping down hard over his fingers. As her body lay there, sated and recovering, Neji removed his own clothing and moved over her, intending to slip inside her and ride her himself. But the pinkette had other ideas.

In a sudden burst of energy, Sakura had Neji flat on his back, and she grinned wickedly at him as she continued to strip off what he hadn't yet. "Turnabout is fair play, Neji," she whispered in his ear, and he shivered.

She pulled off the remainder of his clothing then kissed him full and hard before trailing a path over his chin and down his throat. She grinned wickedly as Neji released a moan, though she could tell he hadn't wanted to. Sakura planted kisses and flicked her tongue as she roved over his chest, coming to one of his nipples, which she licked, eliciting a gasp from him. Using her tongue, she trailed a path downwards until she came face to face with his stiffness, and she gave it a quick little kiss.

Neji's hips jerked at the slight sensation, and she looked up at him to see him watching her intently. Not taking her eyes off him, Sakura licked the tip, watching his whole body shiver. Breaking eye contact, she ran her tongue along him, base to tip, and felt satisfaction when he shuddered in pleasure. She did this a few more times before completely surprising him and taking his length into her mouth.

He didn't fit completely, and Sakura liked that fact. That meant that he would fill her more when she took him inside her, that was all. But until then she bobbed up and down along him, enjoying his harsh breathing as his hands came up to thread feverishly through her hair. Neji was like putty in her hands. Well, in her mouth, anyway. He grunted as his hips came up to match her pace, and she used her tongue to add to his pleasure.

A moment later, Neji came hard and fast into her mouth, and Sakura swallowed all of him. She released his length, seeing that he was still hard, and she moved up over him to kiss him passionately. He could probably taste himself on her. And indeed he could. Neji decided that he was quite salty, but before Sakura could move to lower herself onto him, he grabbed hold of her and flipped them so that he was on top.

A mischievous grin adorned her features as she stared up at him. "Never thought this would happen, huh?" she asked.

"Never in a million years," he growled, then took possession of her mouth once more.

Neji's hands parted her thighs and Sakura sighed in contentment as he slid into her. She was right, he did fill her so completely. A pace was slowly set and the two of them moved in tandem as they built their pleasure up. Sakura brought her leg up to wrap around him, bringing him closer to her as they moved faster as they learned each other's beat. She thought it was almost like dancing, the movements graceful and beautiful.

He buried his face in her neck as his thrusts increased, and soon Neji was biting her, leaving little marks all over her shoulders and breasts. "Oh, Neji!" Sakura moaned.

"Sakura," he whispered, moving faster.

By now he was practically slamming into her as the pressure began to build to an overload for the both of them, and soon all they were seeing was white as they neared that perfect spot. Their lips crashed as Sakura began to scream, and then release. The white burst into colours as she came hard around him, milking him as dry as she could as his own pleasure climaxed and Neji spilled every last drop she could wrench out of him high up inside her.

It was a moment before either of them could do anything, but naturally it was Neji who recovered first. Well, he decided that it was only right he did, anyway.

"You see," he murmured. "I told you I could make all those things you moaned happen."

"Smug bastard," Sakura snapped at him, not really meaning it, but still.

He smirked as he lazily kissed her lips and she shifted, causing him to harden inside her. She gasped and asked, "Does this mean you're up for another round?"

Neji nuzzled her neck. "You just wait and see," he murmured.

And she did, too.

The following day they reached the village and stood in front of Tsunade as she eagerly received the packages. "Excellent!" the blond woman enthused. "I've been waiting ages for this!"

Then she proceeded to pull out a very expensive looking bottle, and while Neji was stumped as to what was inside, it seemed that Sakura was not. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she realised just what it was that the Fifth Hokage had sent two of her best shinobi out to collect. Anger flickered in her eyes, and was a moment later mirrored on her once arch rival and now boyfriend's face as the bottle was opened and the aroma filled the room. That was what had dire consequences for Konoha?

Saké.

That's not just any saké, either. It's a special blend with honey made especially for Tsunade. So naturally she wanted it well guarded. But Sakura will undoubtedly be very upset, and Neji will too, probably. But maybe they'll both eventually remember that if it wasn't for the mission, they would still hate one another. Anyway, review!