A new story! I can't resist sometimes, y'know. Anyway, I love Neji, and am devastated by recent events in Shippuden. I shall be ignoring it for all my stories, unless I have an idea that requires it. Otherwise, long live NejiSaku!

I don't own Naruto or anyone else in that 'verse.

Seduction

Chapter One

Sakura woke slowly before the after effects of all her drinking the previous night kicked in, welcoming her to consciousness with a massive hangover. She brought her fingers to her temple, sending cool, soothing chakra in to deal with the headache, then opened her eyes to find Ino in her bed once more. Neither of them were naked, leading a relieved Sakura to believe that they hadn't had sex the previous night. It was just the normal Ino-got-dumped scenario.

Every time Ino broke up with a boyfriend or was dumped, she ended up in Sakura's bed. Not that the pinkette really minded, Ino was her best friend after all, she needed to be there for her. But after one morning when her team mates had burst into her room because she was late for training, they'd totally jumped to conclusions and it had taken the threat of violence to shut them up and make them listen.

Ino hadn't been too worried that Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi had jumped to the conclusion they'd had sex, and hadn't really cared when an embarrassed Sakura had said that she did care. Ino told her it would look good on her 'résumé' for her seduction missions, to which Naruto had cracked, not having known that his 'innocent Sakura' had been out on any of those types of missions.

Despite her occasional dip into seduction, she preferred medical or combat missions, as they were more suited to her abilities. Just the other week, though, she'd been sent to get information from a target without torturing or killing him, and seduction had been the best way to achieve that. She'd ended up spending a couple of hours in almost every position possible for fucking in a cramped little office, but it had been worth it because she'd come home with information that was going to save lives.

Kunoichi were never given seduction missions before they turned sixteen, though, but just because the mission had the word seduction on it didn't mean that there would necessarily be sex. Nine times out of ten a kunoichi didn't have to go all the way, but they were prepared for it just in case. Training for these missions usually started when they hit puberty, and they were 'encouraged' to lose their virginity before their first mission, just in case.

Sakura hadn't been sure who to ask to 'deflower' her. Naruto was too attached to her, as was Lee, and they might take her asking them the wrong way. Kakashi-sensei was out of the question, she'd only been sixteen at the time and considered him too old for her. Six years later at twenty two, she no longer considered him 'old', and they'd even spent six months as friends with benefits just last year before Kakashi started dating Anko seriously.

In the end, she decided to ask someone who was cool, logical, and didn't let emotions get in the way of things. That narrowed it down, for her, to Shikamaru, Shino, Neji and Sasuke. Sasuke was out of the question because he was her team mate, and the fact that afterwards she would have to see him every day made her feel a little awkward asking him. Shino was out because his bugs left her cold. He was a great guy and all, but still… Bugs! Shikamaru was out as well, because he'd started to see Temari, long distance of course.

Approaching Neji had been nerve-wracking, but once he'd managed to decipher her stuttering and figured out what she wanted and why, he'd been more than willing to help. He'd been an oddly attentive lover, and Sakura had discovered a hidden passion in him that made her think that maybe all those other so-called stoic people were a lot more human than they seemed.

There had been a bit of a complication, though. They'd been at the Hyuuga compound, and Hiashi had walked in on them the following morning. He'd made assumptions, threats and demands before they finally managed to tell him that nothing was going on between his nephew and the Godaime's apprentice other than 'preparation' for seduction missions. The weird thing was, his demands weren't aimed at Sakura to 'get out' and 'never come back' as she thought they might have been. Instead they were aimed at Neji for dishonouring her and his demand had been that his nephew do the right thing.

Thankfully it all worked out, though with a lot of embarrassment on her part. Sakura had been too ashamed to go anywhere near the Hyuuga compound for months until Hinata had to practically strong arm her back there. But even after all this time, Sakura got the feeling Hiashi was still disappointed that she wasn't going to be marrying Neji… Her team mates still had no idea what had happened, and they were never going to, either. Especially Naruto.

Now, as Sakura blearily pushed her way out of bed and headed off to her shower, she wondered what her next mission would be. Her last one was an escort for a big shot politician who'd done nothing but hit on her the whole way, to her disgust. She'd been so glad to get him to his destination and get back to Konoha, only to come home to a weepy Ino because her latest flame had dumped her for a civilian. According to him, dating a ninja was too much effort.

So Sakura had taken Ino out, gotten her drunk, then brought her back here to sleep it off. It was morning now, though, which meant the responsibility would pass to Ino's team. Shikamaru and/or Chouji should be by soon, those two always seemed to know when Ino crashed at Sakura's. It ended up being Chouji who led the still distraught kunoichi home.

An hour after Ino's departure, Sakura headed off to the Hokage's office to check in and see if there were any missions available, then she was going to the hospital to fill in her shift. The only time she didn't go was when she was on a mission or Tsunade-shishou forced her to take a break. When she got there, it was to find Neji, Lee and Gai, who seemed to have just returned from a mission.

"Sakura, there you are," Tsunade said as soon as she saw her, looking relieved. "I heard Ino's 'out of action' again, is that true?"

"Yes shishou," Sakura told her. "Chouji came by this morning to take her home."

"It's too bad," Tsunade said. "If only that girl could stop attracting losers, then I wouldn't need to find someone else for her missions."

"Was she due on one?" Sakura asked. Ino'd said nothing about a mission.

"She was going to be heading out with Neji on a mission tomorrow," Tsunade said.

"Well, unless you've got one planned for me, I could take it," Sakura suggested, used to covering Ino's missions.

Tsunade was about to reply, but Lee interrupted. "You cannot take it!" he declared. "It is a seduction mission, my Blossom! Unworthy of one as lovely as you!"

He looked so sure that she would immediately reject it, standing there in his good guy pose, with Gai eagerly nodding his head in agreement. She decided to burst his bubble, her slightly lingering hangover giving her no patience for his antics today.

"So?" she asked. "It's not like I've never been on seduction missions before."

Lee's pose dropped along with his jaw and he gaped incomprehensibly at her. "Tell me it's not true!" he cried a moment later when he'd managed to regain himself a bit. "There is no way my Blossom could ever go on one of those missions!"

"I can't do that, Lee," she told him. "All kunoichi over eighteen are required to make themselves available for seduction missions, you should know that."

Gai nodded sagely, a turn-around from his previous stance. "It's true, Lee," he told his flabbergasted student. "It's in the guidelines, Section 53b, Clause 8."

"Clause 11, Gai-sensei," Neji corrected him, and Sakura noted that he looked as unflappable as ever.

"All of you be quiet," Tsunade ordered, then turned to Sakura. "If you want it, it's yours, just let Ino know, alright?"

Sakura nodded and took the mission brief that Tsunade handed her before leaving, desperately wanting to get away from the cries of denial Lee was still making.

OoOoO

Ino was fine with her taking the mission, at least, that was what her father told Sakura. Ino was actually in bed, going through her depression stage and couldn't really say so herself. Based on past experience, she was going to be like this for another week, then would be back to her normal self as if nothing had happened. And they called Sakura bi-polar!

Once she got home, Sakura read through the mission report. Her target was apparently a man named Hayagawa Madoka, the head of a ring of crooked traders making life difficult for one of the border towns. But the client didn't want him killed, they wanted certain information so that it could be used to blackmail him, but he kept it locked up in a safe. Sakura's job was going to be to distract him and keep him away from the safe, which apparently had chakra locks on it, though Madoka wasn't a ninja himself. He'd just paid some rogue ninjas to put the seals on there for him.

Neji was going to be breaking into the safe. A Hyuuga had been chosen because their byakugan would allow them to see the chakra threads of the lock. A quick glance at the man's profile picture had her really hoping she could get out of this with minimal groping, as the man was repulsive. If she couldn't, that would be two seduction missions in a row with carnal contact.

There was a knock at the door and Sakura put the folder down to get up and answer it, surprised when she opened the door to find Neji there. "Hey, what brings you here, Neji?" Sakura asked.

"I wanted to go over the mission with you," he said, and she let him into the house.

They spent a few hours discussing strategy, going over the layout of the town and Madoka's hideout. A more in depth look at the mission statement had them noting that the target had a thing for red heads, so Sakura's hair was going to have to be dyed. Madoka was rather perverse in his pleasures, but men with money and power, of any sort, did tend to gravitate towards the aberrant. There was no way Sakura was getting into any of the things mentioned in the report, though!

When they were done, Neji asked, "So, just how often do you take over Ino's missions?"

Sakura shrugged. "Whenever she's been dumped, usually," she said. "Ino doesn't take rejection very well. She craves affection, both emotional and physical, so when she gets dumped, it upsets her balance and she falls into depression. Her father's had her talk to someone about it, and she is getting better. But it's like Tsunade-shishou said, she needs to find someone who won't hurt her."

There was silence, then Neji remarked, "Lee was surprised that you take seduction missions. He does know that being available for them is a requirement, and not just for kunoichi. But I guess he never considered that you would take them."

"Have you ever gone on a seduction mission?" Sakura asked.

"A couple of times," Neji admitted. "I've only had to actually sleep with a target once, though. Have you? I mean, do you take a lot of them?"

"Occasionally," Sakura told him. "Ino takes the most, but Tsunade won't let her out on all of them, obviously. I'm pretty good at avoiding sex, in the last year I've only slept with two of my targets, and that's out of about twelve missions. It's a pretty good record considering. Ino would have slept with about eight of them with the same number."

Neji nodded, then stood. "I need to get back to the compound," he said as Sakura also stood.

The pinkette nodded, but the two of them simply stood there, rather close to one another, until Neji leaned forward and kissed her. She let him kiss her a moment, then Sakura pulled away, taking a step back.

"I'll see you at the gates at nine," she told him, and didn't watch as he left, the door closing softly with a gentle click behind him.

So, a new mission and a strange kiss… What's going on? You'll find out when the story gets there. I'm not planning on this being very long, not sure how many chapters.

Please review!