The Dichotomy of Rocks and Water [Naruto] [1/1]

[snarkhunt]

Title: The Dichotomy of Rocks and Water
Fandom: Naruto
Pairings/Characters: Neji/Naruto
Rating: PG-13/R
Warnings: Some violence and cursing, shounen-ai
Summary: Naruto leaves. Neji watches. Again.
Comments: Finally, finally done with the monster of a fic (it was supposed to be a relatively short oneshot!) for chaosraven. After months of toiling (well, okay, weeks of me ignoring fic and then short hours of frantic working) I can finally post it in its entirety. It's 16,885 words.


Eight hundred twenty one.

That was the amount of times Neji could have killed Naruto without the other knowing it. It was appalling, that this was the one who beat him in the chuunin exams. That Naruto, the same Naruto who was walking down the street unaware of the lurking ninja in the tree who could stab him in the neck with a kunai easily, was so oblivious to his own surroundings.

…He wasn’t stalking Naruto, exactly. He didn’t want to be friends (he never had any, TenTen and Lee were his teammates and nothing more) or to even be acquaintances. He wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he knew that for the first time in his life he was curious. He wanted to know Naruto without getting to know Naruto.

He was aware that there were some who were aware of what he was doing. Kakashi, for instance, has noticed him on more than one occasion. The first time he gave Neji a straight look, oddly serious, and then smiled—or Neji assumed so because his eyes disappeared into happy (the appearance of, at least) curves. The jounin turned away and as far as he could tell, didn’t say anything to Naruto.

Iruka had been the second to notice. Neji had not thought of the possibility until the chuunin politely took him aside one day and grilled him on why he was following Naruto around and that if it was for revenge that was Bad. And proceeded to give him an entire lecture on why revenge was Bad and only after extracting a promise that it wasn’t for revenge, let him go. Before then the teacher had never registered on his senses, but Neji was sharply reminded that Iruka was a chuunin, and not on the lower scale at that.

The last, and surprisingly, to notice had been Hinata. The Hyuuga heir came up to him stammering, blushing, and looking down at her shoes as she softly asked why Neji was following “Naruto-kun” around. She backed down easily after a few pointed looks, tried to inform Naruto, but was foiled when he left with a weak excuse after trying to listen to her for a few minutes. She didn’t try again because Neji made sure to watch out for her presence after on. How was he to know that she also followed Naruto around at times?

It seemed sad that they were the only ones to notice, or at least care, about Naruto. At least it would have been, if Neji cared for Naruto in any other way except for curiosity’s sake.

~

The odd thing about Naruto was that he never stopped smiling around other people. His expression never dipped below a cheeky grin and he never turned down in volume. Even when angry (most likely around Sasuke), he didn’t stay that way for long and cheered up quickly. When alone that smile wiped away, but he never seemed depressed. Just determined or neutral or calm, but never depressed even after finally being alone after obtaining glares he seemed to garner from doing something as simple as walking down a street.

Neji didn’t know, didn’t understand, why the villagers seemed to hate Naruto to the extent of yanking their children out of the blond boy’s way. Yes, Naruto was an incorrigible pranker and made lewd gestures, had loud habits, and never stopped talking about becoming Hokage… but that didn’t deserve the sheer hate or disgust on the faces around him.

He tried asking once, but nobody gave him a straight answer. Had in fact warned him away from the younger boy. And in fear of seeming too concerned for Naruto, never brought it up again.

He would have chalked it up to fate, but he was currently struggling against his own feelings on that subject, wanted desperately to believe that there was no such thing as fate, or that he could break away from the strings cast around him. That he was strong enough to stand on his own feet and not be supported like a marionette upon invisible threads.

It was hard after believing that way for his entire life. Had never saw or thought of the contrary until Naruto had beaten him and after the Hyuuga leader asked for his understanding.

In the end, he decided to ask Naruto himself.

~

“Neji, the hell are you doing here?” Naruto hung around his window, for once no smile on his face—something Neji chalked up to it being three o’clock in the morning.

Neji shifted uneasily on the tree branch, darting a look behind the other boy at the room that was messy and small and looked as if only one person (in that size, only one person could) lived in. He had heard that Naruto was an orphan and lived by himself, hadn’t really thought about it until he saw it displayed before him so starkly.

Irritation flared in Naruto’s eyes and he made the motion as if to close the window, except Neji’s hand shot out and caught it before he could pull it closed.

“What?” Naruto asked, exasperation lined on his every feature.

Now that he was here he didn’t really know what to say, or he did, but didn’t know how to lead up to it. He wasn’t some stuttering idiot like Hinata, so instead he remained silent as he thought over his words and as Naruto tried to close the window once again, he just tugged it opened.

After a while Naruto seemed to pick up on the fact that he was serious in his intent to talk to him (even though he had yet to say anything) and gave up trying to close the window, instead leaning on the wall and giving Neji a steady look.

This was probably even worse than trying to close the window, because at least that gave Neji something to do while he was thinking on what to say.

“Neji, I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t say something soon,” Naruto threatened and shifted in stance as if he was prepared to do just that.

Giving up on trying to lead to it, he just asked bluntly, “Why?”

Startled, Naruto lost his form as he gave Neji a blank stare before he visibly collected himself. He shook his head slowly as if the other boy lost his mind and parroted back, “Why?”

“Why do people hate you? Why do you not care? If it’s not your fate, then what is it?” Neji fired off the questions quickly, lavender eyes staring straight back at blue as if intent on stealing the answers from there.

Naruto stilled, and an obviously false smile stretched against his face and his eyes curved like Kakashi’s did, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went into the motions of closing the window again, “So if you don’t mi—”

This time Neji stabbed his kunai into the hinge.

“What are you doing?!” Naruto squawked, staring at the sharp metal quivering from where Neji left it. “Are you crazy? What if you broke it?! I’d have to pay for it and I don’t have money falling out of my ass you know!”

“It’s only the hinge,” he said brusquely.

Naruto gave him a sharp look, “And if it dug into the wood? Broke the frame? It’s almost winter,” he lamented, “the cold will get in! It’s hard enough to pay for the gas as it is!”

Neji frowned, made swift plans to break in later and leave money, and waved away Naruto’s complaints. “Well?” he asked, impatience coloring his tone, causing Naruto to glare at him but stop in his tirade.

“Look,” the boy snapped out, a frown on his face (the sight of which made Neji vaguely happy for some reason). He reached out and jabbed other ninja in the chest with his finger, “It’s none of your business.”

“Then it’s your fate?” He said this more because he knew it would needle the other boy, because it can’t be fate because… He watched in fascination as Naruto twitched and glared and shook his head fiercely, ignoring the relief that unfurled where he had been hit.

For a moment Naruto looked like he’d launch into another fit of yelling. Then he hesitated, seemed to quiet, wariness creeping into his face, “Why do you want to know?” Unease flickered in his eyes, the long shadows in the room making it hard to pick out, except Neji has been watching him long enough to notice the change immediately.

For a moment he marveled in that, the fact that he knew when others would miss it. Then he sobered, “I want to.” At the unsatisfied look that appeared, he amended, “I need to know.”

A moment’s of hesitation. A breath of silence that hung in the air as indecision and the instinct to flee warred in Naruto’s eyes. Where Neji stilled completely on his branch and ignored the chill air of autumn, never looking away and not revealing anything in reply but wanting to know anyway.

“I can’t tell you why they hate me. It’s… complicated and I can’t tell you.”

“I won’t tell anyone else,” he said after another endless moment, watching in fascination as Naruto shifted uneasily. At how those bright blue eyes darted away for a second before returning, shuttered.

The other boy shook his head in reply and said slowly, “I can’t. You’ll think differently of me, and I don’t want that to happen.” He said fiercely, “I’m me, I’m nobody else. I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”

Neji didn’t remark on the strangeness of that statement, just waiting, silently captivated at the way Naruto’s eyes flared with a ferocious heat and utter conviction. And, afterwards, denying that he had been even as he thought about the man that Naruto would be in the future. The one peeking out behind the blinding smiles and hidden under the pranking ninja.

Naruto subsided afterwards, said in a more quiet voice, “And I can’t let them win against me. I’m not unhappy… The people I care about acknowledge me, and that means more than what any of the villagers think.” His chin lifted stubbornly. “Saying it is fate’s fault is too easy. It’s just a way of complaining about the world around you but not doing anything about it. I’m stronger than that.” He gave Neji a look and added hesitantly, “And you are too.”

A slow nod, a faint, faint smile was his reply and Neji was gone.

Naruto grumbled under his breath and closed his kunai-less window.

~

Over the next few days Neji thought about Naruto said… and still followed the other boy around whenever the whim struck him. He continued the count of how many times he could gut Naruto before the other ninja could put up a decent defense and thought about telling him as he slunk in the shadows of the alley and masked the sound of his footsteps completely.

On this day though, Naruto wasn’t visiting his usual haunts and it was twice as hard to keep out of his sight because the blond haired boy kept looking around as if searching for something or someone. It irritated Neji slightly as he ducked behind some large trash cans, wondering what Naruto was looking for.

He watched in fascination as Naruto sought Shikamaru out, but it didn’t seem as if this was his destination for they only exchanged brief words before Naruto was on the hunt once more. The genin then proceeded to hit most of the rookie team members, quickly leaving them after only a few sentences (though Sakura screeched at him for talking to her in public and Lee waxed loudly about the Passion of Youth before Naruto could make his escape).

It slowly dawned on Neji.

He waited, just to make sure, until the sun was beginning to set and Naruto seemed to give up, before casually walking out from behind the wall he hiding. He did his best to appear nonchalant as he strolled down the nearly deserted street, only briefly letting his eyes rest on Naruto before moving on.

Naruto grabbed hold of the edge of his sleeve (Neji stopped himself from reacting violently) and he halted in midstep, donning a blank expression as he turned to the other genin, waiting for him to talk.

“I’ve been looking for you all day!” Naruto exploded, letting go to wave his arms around wildly. “All day!” he said again, as if it would have more effect.

Neji stopped from saying ‘I know’ and instead tilted his head to one side, crossing his arms.

“Look you bastard…” Naruto began, suddenly shoving a fat envelope at Neji’s chest, “I don’t need your money, and don’t tell me it wasn’t you! I know it was! Who else knows where I live?” He paused, then yelped, “And how the hell did you know where I live in the first place?!”

“It’s to pay for the window.”

“You should have thought of that before you stuck a kunai into my window in the first place!” Naruto glared when the wad of money was shoved back at him, “And don’t give it to me! I don’t need it! And it’s too much for a stupid window anyway.” He waved his arms around some more, looking like a demented bird. “I have CHEAP windows! CHEAP!”

Neji looked over Naruto’s shoulder at a curious villager and gave a glare that caused the man to back off and flee into his home.

“Don’t ignore me!” More yelling. “I’m not some charity case, ya know!”

At that, Neji transferred his attention back onto Naruto, watched the unease in the boy’s eyes and abruptly realized why Naruto was so insistent on giving the money back. That from what was said before; nobody knows what his place looks like save perhaps Iruka or Kakashi.

He frowned. “I know.”

Naruto faltered at the words, quieted, and shoved the money back. “I don’t need it.”

Neji gave a shrug, opened the envelope a bit. “How much will it cost to repair the window?”

“I said that I don’t need it!”

He gave Naruto a bland look. “It’s just to repair your window that I damaged, not because I pity you. I don’t,” he let his voice go scornful at the last, watching intensely as Naruto calmed at the sound, finally muttering some small sum that he counted out and placed into the boy’s hands.

“I’m not going to say thanks, you bastard. You’re the one who broke it in the first place,” Naruto muttered.

He shrugged.

Naruto gave a short nod and then turned slightly, poised as if he’d fly off.

Neji found himself gripping at Naruto’s sleeve, wondering at himself even as the other ninja looked at him curiously. He hesitated briefly, then asked, “Dinner?”

Naruto gaped at him.

Feeling embarrassed, he dropped the rough fabric and shook his head and asked himself what he was thinking to ask Naruto of all people to dinner (and then thought that there was no one else he’d ask other than Naruto, and it would have been sad except he really didn’t care). He muttered ‘never mind’ under his breath, or tried to, because between the ‘never’ and ‘mind’ Naruto had brightened and smiled at him.

A genuine smile at him.

And he felt something warm uncurl in his stomach at the sight and Neji held his breath.

“Ramen!” Naruto exclaimed cheerfully and started pulling the yielding Hyuuga towards Ichiraku Ramen. “They have the best miso ramen in fire country!”

~

Neji doesn’t know why he still follows Naruto around. It’s become a habit that’s hard to kick and he doesn’t try very hard to stop. He finds himself getting angry on Naruto’s behalf as most of the villagers scorned him, charged him higher prices and let insults roll off their tongues in sweet voices like a thin layer of honey over metal barbs. The ninja kind, the ones meant to cleave into the stomach, twist, and when jerked back, ripped out the intestines from the body.

He’s taken to appearing next to Naruto at times, a silent force that makes the people back off, leaving the insults and instead turning to vague mutterings behind their hands. Better, but he knows he can’t stop them completely.

Doesn’t even know why he’s trying.

It’s just that even though Naruto is loud and annoying (at times, and he doesn’t seem to try so hard around Neji now), Neji calms around him and wants to puzzle him out. He feels comfortable around him even though he doesn’t around anyone else.

He isn’t a Hyuuga clan member. Not a Hyuuga genius. Not pitied by those who know about the seal and not looked upon as a tool by most of the Hyuuga clan (it was strange how the main family, though he doesn’t know much about Hanabi, doesn’t see him that way even if the rest of the clan does. It’s what stops him from hating them all completely, from pulling away from them even though he knows that his brain would crash and cease to function if they knew of his traitorous feelings). Most of all, Naruto doesn’t see him as so much better than everyone else—even if the blond boy seems to marvel at his company at times.

He wonders if Sasuke ever felt the same way as he did around Naruto, and if so, why didn’t he see the dark haired ninja around more?

TenTen asked him once why he seemed to enjoy hanging out with Naruto when he didn’t like the company of anyone else.

“Why?” She asked simply, respectfully, and for this reason Neji never felt really close to her (though part of that was his fault for never trying).

“I don’t know,” was his brisk answer before he began training once again.

She didn’t ask him after that, though she watched him kick and jab with hooded eyes.

And it was true. He didn’t know. There was something about Naruto that fascinated him. Naruto was the one to rip away his blinders and show him the light and the endless sky. Naruto was the one who showed that he was more than just a ninja whose every movement was controlled by the clan. The one who showed that fate was the lazy way of looking at things, that fate was something someone made, not something that made someone.

It wasn’t gratitude though… He genuinely enjoyed being in Naruto’s company for some unfathomable reason. Sometimes he wished that he didn’t, so that he’d get back to his own life instead of being wrapped around Naruto’s, but in the end he truly doesn’t mind.

He figured that he’s halfway in love with Naruto. That is, would be, if he knew what love was.

~

“Do you think it’s fate that we met?”

“I thought you said not to believe in fate.”

“I don’t! I just find it really weird.”

“What?”

“That I’m sitting here with you, and we’re talking like friends and—”

“We’re not friends?”

“…I guess we are. Bastard, don’t ask something so obvious and sound like a kicked puppy while doing it. I wasn’t finished talking! Anyway—”

“I didn’t sound any different than how I usually do.”

“ANYWAY… I can’t come up with any other reason than fate having a hand in it.”

“I don’t believe in fate.”

“…Jeez! The Hyuuga genius finally decides he doesn’t believe in fate!”

“I haven’t since you…”

“Ha! Since I kicked the crap out of you!”

“…I was feeling off that day.”

“You weren’t! Shut up! I beat you fair and square!”

“…Whatever.”

“Ugh. You keep throwing me off track. What was I saying… oh, yeah. Then how would you explain it?”

“Coincidence.”

“Coincidence? That’s it?”

“It was my decision to get to know you more. Not fates. Not anyone else’s. Just me. It happened because we let it happen.”

“…Damn. I think you said more than you ever had ever since the chuunin exams.”

“…”

~

Neji glared at Naruto. “No.”

Naruto glared back just as fiercely, “It’s not your decision! I need to bring him back, I promised Sakura-chan. And to do so, I need to get stronger; I need to go with Jiraiya and train.”

He knew that, he really did. But he could remember the loneliness he felt when Naruto had left with Jiraiya the first time and brought back Tsunade to be the fifth hokage. He could remember waiting with nothing to do and nobody to speak to and spent his days endlessly training to drive away that empty feeling. He had felt disgusted that he even felt that way in the first place, and swore that when Naruto came back, he would avoid the other ninja as much as possible.

All of that melted away once Naruto really did return and flashed him a bright smile, chattering about the new hokage.

He had known that for the last three months Naruto had gently pushed him to become friends with the rest of the ninjas their age, and he had to a slight degree. But he preferred to spend his time with the other boy more than any of them… even if he could tolerate Lee, TenTen, Shikamaru, and the rest (some better than others… he could never take a shine to either Sasuke and Sakura, and talking to Ino grated on his nerves. Hinata was someone he slowly gained more respect for, but could never feel comfortable around.)

He clenched his hand, wanting nothing more than to smash it into Sasuke’s face… except that the Uchiha wasn’t here, had decided to accept Orochimaru’s stupid offer. Which was why Naruto was heading off and why Neji wanted to commit homicide.

He wanted to cage Naruto, tie him down, and chain the boy to him. Barring that, he wanted to go with him. Except that if he left, his clan would probably invoke his seal and his brains would become mush and if he was dead, he wouldn’t be able to see Naruto anymore and he didn’t want that.

He felt strangely helpless and hated the feeling more than anything else in the world.

“You can get stronger here.”

“Not as strong as I can get training with Jiraiya… and he’ll leave, with or without me.” Naruto leaned closer, eyes more earnest than they have ever been. “I’ll need to be stronger than anyone else to get Sasuke back… because he’ll be training too. And when I get him back, I’ll keep him here.”

Neji frowned and tried again, “Uchiha isn’t worth it.”

Naruto gave him a sad smile. “He is. He is… was… my teammate. And I promised Sakura-chan that I’ll get him back. I broke that promise once already, you guys were even smashed up, and I can’t… I won’t let that happen again.”

“But… three years.”

A teasing smile was his answer, “What? You’ll miss me, Neji?”

“Yes,” he said bluntly for once, ignoring the shock that flashed across Naruto’s face and the faint misty expression that appeared for only a second in those sky-blue eyes.

“You guys got hurt, almost died, for nothing,” Naruto said softly, slumping against his seat. “I need to do my part. I need to get Sasuke back. I need to show that idiot that he doesn’t have to run off to get as strong as he needs to beat Itachi. To do that, I need to—”

“Train.”

“Yes.”

Silence stretched out between the two boys, taut and heavy.

“Fine,” Neji bit out and stood up abruptly, sending his chair clattering backwards, ignoring the surprise in the faces of the other people in the restaurant. He walked out swiftly, ignoring Naruto’s calls for him to come back.

The blond haired ninja sighed and leaned heavily against his elbows. “That bastard left me with the bill,” he muttered, but it carried to nobody and was half-hearted at best.

~

The next day Naruto prepared to head off bright and early. He had already said his goodbyes the day before, ending with dinner with Iruka at Ichiraku’s, and didn’t expect anyone to see him off.

As he raced towards the site where he would meet up with Jiraiya, he paused on the roof of a large building, and stared at Neji who was standing there with a pensive expression on his face.

“Neji?”

“One thousand five hundred and eighty two,” announced the other ninja.

“What?”

Neji gave him a flat, irritated look, “That’s the amount of times I could have killed you without you noticing.”

Naruto spluttered and wheeled his arms around.

“Work on your observation.”

And before Naruto could dredge up a scathing reply, the other ninja ‘poofed’ out of sight. He grumbled to himself, but couldn’t help the faint smile that spread across his face.

Even though he just realized…

“NEJI YOU STALKER!”

~

Two months after Naruto left found Neji standing in the hokage’s office, with Tsunade giving him a curious look.

“Yes, Neji?”

“What’s love?”

Tsunade twitched and gave a wide-eyed look at the Hyuuga genius. Then she rallied herself and said carefully, “Are you in love?”

He gave her a straight look, proud and a touch defiant. “You won’t tell anyone else we’re having this conversation.” It wasn’t a question. “And I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”

The hokage stifled a grin, wondering why (or who) brought the stiff-necked Hyuuga around to ask a question like this. At least she knew it wasn’t some sort of bet… he wouldn’t lower his pride enough to take it.

Still, it was a doozy of a question. Why he asked her was debatable, except that if he asked anyone else, he’d probably get laughed at. At least she’s somewhat obligated to keep what they talk about between them. This, of course, won’t stop her from sharing the gossip with Shizune who she trusted to not tell anyone else.

“How do you feel about the person?” was the question she settled on. Thinking past her amusement at the question, Tsunade could almost sense that this would give her a headache if she thought too much about it. A Hyuuga. In love. From the branch family and would probably worry about children and the seal (she ignored the fact that he was only thirteen).

“I don’t stop,” she wondered at the use of ‘don’t’ instead of ‘can’t’, “thinking about him.”

“…Go on,” she urged gently, when he hesitated.

Then nearly choked on air when she realized that Neji said ‘ him’ instead of ‘her’. At least that cleared up any questions of Neji asking about the seal and babies… though the prospect of a headache only worsened. And she realized why he wouldn’t go to anyone else now, because if he was in love with a boy…

“I miss him,” Neji said abruptly. “I want him to be around. I want him to stay by my side. I want him to feel for me as I do for him. I want him to come back and never leave again. I want to stop, but I can’t.”

Now she was burning with the question of who it was, but it was already a delicate subject, and to pry even further spelled disaster. She never realized that he was so close to anyone else… from all reports, Hyuuga Neji was standoffish and while on friendly relations with the rest of the ninjas his age, could hardly call any of them ‘good friends’.

And then she realized that he purposely dumped the answer on her lap.

“Oh,” she said weakly.

She could remember Naruto chatter on about Neji at times, saying proudly that he was his friend… A fact she never paid much attention to.

Tsunade felt a wave of protectiveness wash over her, after all, Naruto was like her little brother and she wanted, no needed, to look out for him. But looking into those blank lavender eyes that seemed strained, but didn’t show any worry or concern or of being lovelorn… She could only feel sorrow when she remembered how long Naruto would be gone for.

And silently cursed the little brat for not noticing Hyuuga’s feelings for him.

Then again, Naruto had never been the most observant brat, and Neji was adept at concealing things.

Yes, that headache was coming on strongly now. She made a note to have Shizune make her a strong cup of tea after this, and leaned forward on her desk.

“Do you want to kiss him?” She finally asked.

She was only faintly pleased on how she finally cracked his shell enough for him to toss her a startled look.

“I…” he paused, probably scrambling for words, “I…” Irritation flickered in his eyes, she assumed it was because he couldn’t give her a straight answer (in reality, it was because he was reminded of Hinata’s stuttering around Naruto).

“I think so,” he said finally.

“You have a crush,” Tsunade announced, watching Neji’s reaction beneath long lashes.

The genin frowned and asked, “A crush?”

She nodded. Then, as he turned to leave, she called out, “And if you feel the same way after… oh, say a month or so, then it’s love.”

He gave her a considering look over his shoulder, shifted uneasily, indecision flashing across his face before he said, “Half a year.”

“What?”

“I’ve been feeling this way for half a year.” With that, he walked to the doors. Neji hesitated briefly before turning around and giving her a bow. Then he slipped out the doors.

Tsunade stared at the wood for a little while, feeling that headache scratch at her, and called Shizune to go make her some tea.

After doing so, she started planning out all of the missions Neji was going to go on for the next three years to help keep his mind off of Naruto—and would change or taper them off depending on whether or not his feelings remained the same later on.

~

A year passed and Neji became chuunin. As did several other ninjas in his age group. The exams were strangely routine and boring without a loud mouthed blond haired idiot running around. He wondered how Naruto would feel, being left behind when the rest of his peers were advancing. Except he knew, down to his bones, that Naruto wouldn’t let that get in the way of his goals.

Neji missed Naruto, though he would hardly admit it to himself let alone anyone else (only the hokage came to mind and that thought was vaguely disturbing in the sense that the most powerful ninja in the village knew).

~

After a while the loneliness got to be too much, and the nagging from the female ninjas aggravating. Even though Neji went on more and more missions, gained more experience, and seemed utterly focused on his job, they wouldn’t leave him alone. They cooed over his eyes, wished that they had his hair, and generally wanted to marry him to get into the prestigious Hyuuga clan.

Sometimes he wondered if he really did love Naruto, and during those brief periods of time, he would pick up a girl (any girl, it didn’t matter). He’d go on dates (or the vague motions of one) and he’d bed them like they wanted (those that didn’t he didn’t bother). Every time he felt that soft, supple skin sliding underneath him, he imagined a darker tone in place. Every moan uttered, he’d close his eyes and dream of a lower, huskier sound. As he thrust and looked down at the girl’s face, someone else’s looked back.

He generally broke up with them sooner, rather than later.

The only one he dated for an extended period of time, had half a thought that it might be serious, and that she might be enough to break his fixation with Naruto, was TenTen.

She was easy to talk to because she was his teammate (even now, with Lee and Gai-sensei) and if there was ever a lull in the conversation, they could turn it to talking about their latest mission together, or the one coming up. And if even that failed, then they could go out and train, and it would be comfortable.

More and less comfortable than it ever had been with Naruto. He felt at ease with her and physical intimacy was never a problem because she didn’t seem much interested in it either.

They worked together well.

And he knew that she liked him more than just his face or his name. That she could be a bride that the clan would acknowledge with glee (they were just 15. Gods, they were young, but ninjas died young and did everything younger than a villager, or those unaccustomed to constant fighting, would). That everyone approved whereas almost nobody would if he were with…

But no. She gently took him aside one day and told him that they should break up (he found it ironic that the only girl he contemplated staying with was also the only one to break up with him, rather than the other way around). When he asked why, confused, but willing to let her go when she asked, she just gave a sad smile in reply and said.

“Because you deserve someone better than me.”

She paused then, and continued on, almost to herself.

“And I deserve someone better than you.”

Neji couldn’t argue with the last though he could with the former, only he didn’t even try. He just gave a slow nod of his head, had hesitantly, for the first time ever, asked if they would still be friends.

She gave him a grin, a kiss on the cheek.

“We would make better friends than lovers.”

And that was that.

Afterwards he didn’t try dating again, because he understood what she was saying. He knew it was because of Naruto, that even though the ache grew less intense, it never went away.

~

Another year came and went since he was gone. Neji kept track of the days by how much time was left until Naruto returned and how much time had passed since he left. It wasn’t as if he pined for the other boy, but rather like he was stuck in stasis waiting until time would move forward again, even as the world was rushing around him.

He became jounin.

His clan was absurdly proud about the fact, that he out of the entire ‘rookie nine’ was the first one to become jounin even though Shikamaru was the first one to become chuunin. They were disappointed in Hinata, who tried her best and became chuunin.

Neji felt pricks of sympathy for her. If she had been born to another family, they would be proud that she had advanced, and only her third time trying too. If she hadn’t been born to the main family… any of the other branches… she would have been honored all the same. But she was in the main family, and above that she was their heir, and to be upstaged by him was a greater shame that nobody could help.

Secretly he wanted Hinata to stay heir instead of what her father wished, which was to replace her with Hanabe. Because Hanabe was cold and Hanabe was so used to being called better than most that the little girl had an ego and a temper that grated on his nerves. She was good, but she wasn’t the best. It made him want to challenge her and slam that cockiness out of her and show her that being a ninja wasn’t about being the best, but rather about staying alive.

He wonders why his uncle hadn’t taught her that yet, if the Hyuuga leader thought that she’d learn on her first mission.

It was better to be informed sooner rather than later, so that the shock of facing the battlefield won’t incapacitate you completely, so you can fight even though all you want to do is stand there and gape. Or run away, as fast as your legs can carry you, aware that there are enemies on your tail who don’t have the same limitations that you have.

Staying alive and completing your mission, that’s all that mattered. And sometimes it’s more about completing your mission than staying alive… and that was something all ninjas had to accept.

~

One more year until Naruto comes back.

Now that he was jounin, his clan saw him as even more of an important asset, were subtly trying to probe him into accepting meetings between the girls they thought were suitable for him. Marriage interviews. The only good thing was that they didn’t try to push too hard, understood that adjusting to being a jounin took time, and that he was young and could marry later on. That he could have children later on to carry on the clan’s glory, even if he was only in the branch family.

He wonders if Hinata was going through the same thing.

It turned out to be true because he could hear the subtle (or not so) whispers of the clan. Perhaps they could marry Hinata off to another clan. Maybe they should make Hanabe heir in her stead. Should they give her another chance or not?

And for once in her life, he heard, she fought back. Or fought back as much as she could, given her personality. She turned down all of the offers of marriage and while never deliberately fought against Hanabe, she became cooler than before, more determined to become better.

Neji wondered why, why the change from shy demure girl into one that’s capable of making her own decisions and sticking by them. He asked her, the next time he saw her.

She still blushed, and she still was shy, but she had a determined glint in her eyes, a steadiness of hand, that impressed him all of the same and made him think for a second that she had what it took to lead the clan. That she deserved some measure of his respect even though he could still beat her within ten minutes in a battle.

And she had tilted her head, a faint smile appearing, and replied, “Because of Naruto-kun.” She looked embarrassed, but lifted up her chin and looked straight at him, lavender to lavender, “Isn’t that the same with you, Neji-nii-san?”

And it was the same with him. Something he understood more than anything else.

With careful strokes of a pen he wrote another letter of rejection.

~

Once (oh so close, three months left until Naruto came back) Tsunade called him into her office once again, hands folded on her desk and eyes serious, even as her lips formed a small smile in greeting. Neji wondered if he was going to be sent on another mission, except he just got back from a brutal one the night before and was still sporting multiple burns and a stab wound that went straight through his shoulder.

He’d heal up completely, even if his pride was wounded a little. It had only been a B rated mission, after all. A careless mistake and an opponent that was better than expected nearly cost him his life.

He stood at attention, back straight, eyes trained on the hokage, betraying no sign of weakness from his injuries even if it stretched at his shoulder wound, little stabs of pain spreading out from it. At a brief wave of the hand from Tsunade, he relaxed, waiting for her to speak.

“How are you feeling?”

Neji should have known that she would have noticed the strain his wounds put on him. He hesitated for a second before answering honestly (after all, it was the hokage), “The wounds hamper my movements a little bit, but I should be mostly healed by the end of the week and completely at the end of two.”

She gave a light nod, muttering, “I see.” Tsunade shifted, a brief look of consternation spreading across her face before it smoothed out again.

Still, that brief look made Neji blink in surprise.

A silence stretched out before them. He could sense that she wanted to ask him something even though he didn’t know why she didn’t just ask. After all, he would answer as best as possible, not only because she was the hokage, but she was one of the few that he respected completely. It was a regard that he gave to only a few.

“Did you want to ask me something, hokage-sama?” Neji finally broke the silence, inclining his head respectfully even though he broke protocol and spoke first.

She gave him a faint smile in reply. Then a serious look replaced it, and she leaned forward on her desk.

“Neji.”

He looked up her in response.

“Do you still miss the brat?”

Out of everything she could have asked, this was not one of them. Only a brief spasm across his shoulders betrayed his surprise and he blinked at her twice before rallying himself together. She watched him hawk-like, dissecting and picking out his emotions like the bird would dissect a mouse.

It irritated to think of himself as prey, but he wouldn’t delude himself into thinking that he could ever beat Tsunade in a fair battle—even if she was as advanced in age as rumors and history would say.

There was only one reply he could give, it coming out only one beat after her question.

“Yes.”

To his mortification, he could feel a light blush (why didn’t he feel this way before?) brush high on his cheekbones. He knew that she saw it from the way she had to hide a smile behind her hand and he struggled to clamp it down, to dissipate the pink.

He wanted to crawl into a hole, only Hyuuga’s would never debase themselves in such a manner (though Hyuuga’s were also not supposed to fall in love with blond haired, wild natured boys who almost all of the clan disapproved of).

“In all seriousness,” Tsunade said as Neji focused on her slow words, “do you love him? Did you figure it out during the past two and a half years?” She gave him a worried look, an almost grandmotherly gleam in her eyes that made him uncomfortable (his grandmother had been a fierce woman who only strove for the best in everyone in the clan, even if she had to beat them down to do it).

Neji wanted to flee in the face of such a personal question. He had just gotten to the point of admitting it to himself and now Tsunade wanted him to admit it out loud. That would give it an air of permanence, wouldn’t it? Except how much more permanent could these feelings be when they have already lasted for so long?

He breathed in quietly before giving a quick nod and muttering, “Yes, I do.”

The hokage sighed.

Neji twitched in response and gave her a wary look.

Tsunade shook her head, “No, I’m not… disappointed in your reply, you know.” She paused, thinking. “It’s just that… Naruto will have changed when he gets back. He’ll be the same, but different as well. Three years can be a long time, Neji.”

He refrained from saying, I know. That he knew better than anyone else how much time had gone by.

She sighed again, mumbling almost to herself, “How they grow up so quickly.” And then gave him the strictest look she had, one that caused him to involuntarily straighten in response, “I don’t want for you to idealize him, Neji. It won’t be fair to you or to Naruto.”

Neji refrained from smiling, knowing and remembering each and every one of Naruto’s faults.

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem, hokage-sama.”

She frowned at him. “And why not?”

He didn’t know how to reply without worrying her further, or face her disbelief. How can he explain that he knew each of Naruto’s faults and still loved him anyway? That Naruto could be a pain in the ass (a phrase he would never utter outside of his mind) but that he’ll still wait for him? He knew, intellectually, that Naruto would have changed when he comes back. He knew that perhaps he won’t love the new Naruto, but rather keep loving the old one and be doomed in love from the start.

He was prepared for all of that, and for the most part, would rather not think about it.

So, in response, Neji gave a shrug, an inscrutable expression settling over his face.

Tsunade looked him over carefully, before nodding once. Then she opened a side drawer and took out a large stack of papers, handing them over to Neji who took them automatically.

He gave her a curious look.

“Reports. From Jiraiya.”

Neji, his hand shaking slightly, smoothed out the first report (they were more like letters) and gave it a cursory read. A paragraph down, he looked back at the hokage with a pained look in his eyes.

She smiled in response. “Take them. Read them over. You can see for yourself how Naruto has changed.”

He gave her a faint smile, the papers disappearing somewhere on his person, and bowed.

Tsunade waved a hand and said, “Dismissed.”

“Thank you,” a soft whisper and he was out the doors.

“Damned brats,” she gave a huff, “It’s like a bad romance story.” But she was smiling.

~

And then Naruto came back.

Neji found out about it right after he came back from his mission—five days later after Naruto arrived. The hokage had held him back after his mission report, smiled at him, and told him. And then Neji didn’t know what to do next. He spent so long waiting, that action was a foreign concept and sat heavily on his stomach, making him fret in ways only a few could tell.

The day after (he had gotten back late) he had run into TenTen whose sharp eyes could see the tense lines around his eyes and mouth. She gave him an uncertain grin and just stood at his side, a comforting presence that helped more than words. Which was a good thing, since she didn’t know what to say or even knew how she really felt about it. Shikamaru dissected him with a long glance, but didn’t say anything either (Neji secretly believed that the chuunin thought that to do anything was too ‘troublesome’. That too could be a good thing, because Shikamaru usually volunteered himself only when the situation was dire).

He didn’t have to do anything.

But not taking action, not doing anything, grated on him. He was a self-assured jounin, used to making decisions quickly and accurately. It was against his nature to just sit back and let things come as they may—at least, it was ever since Naruto had beat him and told him that fate was something people made, not something that happened just because.

In the end, he decided to fall back onto an old habit (not that he would ever admit it ever being one). It shouldn’t be hard to find out where Naruto was going next—he’d ask Sakura or Kakashi. If that failed, he would revisit all of Naruto’s old stomping grounds. He’d figure out what to do next after seeing Naruto.

~

He had found Naruto quickly enough, his destination given to him by a smirking (an expression he could somehow discern from the quirk of the brows and the amused light in the other jounin’s eyes) Kakashi. Neji was only slightly surprised that Naruto was at Hokage Mountain, he wasn’t sure what the blond haired ninja was doing there, but he was fairly sure that it wasn’t to deface the faces again.

Probably.

It was second nature to duck behind a tree when he first caught a glimpse of Naruto, even when his heart started beating faster and even if he stared at the person that Naruto became. He positioned himself automatically into the best spot to watch and stay hidden at the same time; couldn’t help but keep watching with eyes unblinking.

Naruto looked different. That was to be expected though, Neji reassured himself. After all, even he had changed over the last three years. Naruto was taller now (Neji noted that the other boy was still an inch or so shorter than he was) and leaner—baby fat melted away and leaving behind firm muscles and a new sharpness of face. The eyes were the same though, as was that small, thoughtful grin as Naruto stared up into the stone face of the fourth hokage. What shocked him the most was the change in clothing—admittedly not too extreme of a change from his last pair, but different enough to make Neji ponder them slowly.

After all, physical features will change with time, but the much beloved screaming orange clothes that Naruto wore before signified a change in thought as well. A change in personality?

He was probably thinking too much about it (Naruto could have torn the last pair of his clothes and had to buy new ones, or Jiraiya finally got tired of his pupil wearing such bright colors even though the current clothes weren’t much better—something he was sure that Naruto could have made the sannin agree upon as a compromise). He couldn’t help it though.

Neji froze as Naruto glanced at his direction, holding his breath until those bright blue eyes swept past him and onto something far off into the horizon.

What hadn’t changed was his observation skills, it seemed. Neji mentally sighed at the thought, even as he allowed for the changes in his own abilities—he was a jounin after all, and particularly good at hiding himself at that (he suspected it was from the constant practice on Naruto years before). Still, it made him wonder again at how Naruto’s abilities have grown and couldn’t quell the spark of excitement at the thought.

The blond suddenly moved off.

Neji blinked and followed the blond automatically, still weaving in the shadows and still ducking behind anything large enough to conceal his body. Naruto was moving fast, but not as fast as to cause alarm.

After a while, a frown was firmly settled on his lips. Even then he admired Naruto’s form as he dipped and swayed around the populace, as he climbed up the buildings and sped off on rooftops. Fit, fleet, and efficient with no wasted movement, Naruto had grown well. But it seemed as if he was leading Neji on a merry goose chase, they never went in a straight line (more prone to curves and backtracking more than anything else) and Naruto didn’t seem as if he was going to stop any time soon.

Naruto couldn’t have forgotten where to go in three years. Even he wasn’t that much of an idiot… right?

Neji’s lips tugged down a bit further, using every bit of his talent at keeping hidden to stay that way. He mulled over the thought, half rejecting it and half keeping it in mind (because with Naruto, one could never be sure). He was on the verge of ‘stumbling’ onto Naruto and asking him where he was going, was in fact busily composing whatever sentences he’d say and exactly how he’d saunter out, when he suddenly realized that Naruto had stopped in the middle of a deserted training ground.

A familiar one. His mind pulled him into a memory of hiding by a large tree stump even as he watched Naruto diligently practice. Of times a little while later when Neji wasn’t hiding, was in fact with Naruto and trading blows back and forth—serious, but never to the point where they were actively seeking to harm (seriously, they were ninjas after all) the other.

Somehow, he realized distantly, he equated this training spot to be “theirs”, or at the very least “Naruto’s” (nobody else ever seemed to use it—Neji didn’t realize that most ninjas probably stopped using it when Naruto started). He wondered if Naruto was here to train or if he was here to meet someone, and couldn’t clamp down on the sharp jolt that went through him at that thought. Couldn’t help but fold his hands into fists and unconsciously scowl horribly in Naruto’s direction.

“What? Are you mad at me?”

Neji choked, coming back to himself when he found a pair of intense blue eyes looking back into his own, gave a brief, wild glance around him to make sure that Naruto was really speaking to him and not to anyone else that might be around.

He found, to his dim horror even as he tried to stow away all of those brewing emotions off his face, that yes, Naruto was really speaking to him and nobody else.

“Neji?” Naruto grinned at him, wide and friendly, hands casually in his pockets as he leaned on a large tree. He looked both amused and pleased with himself for some reason, a reason that Neji wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

He tried to speak, he really did, his mouth worked a few times even when no sound came out.

Naruto just looked even more amused, his grin hovered around a demonic smirk, and he said gleefully, “Thought I couldn’t see you, huh? Crazy bastard probably thought he could jump me at any time!” He danced in place, wild and carefree, and Neji could see the old Naruto in that new body.

“But I spotted you when I was at Hokage Mountain!” Naruto crowed. “Am damn good now. ‘Work on your observation’ my ass!” He came up to the still shocked (though rapidly recovering now his brain was kicked into motion with the words ‘crazy bastard’) Neji and jabbed him on the chest, a reminiscent action that made him feel tight where Naruto touched him.

Time began to move swiftly forward once more.

“You were quiet there.” Neji found the words coming out even though he didn’t think about them before speaking. “I might have slipped up because you were acting wildly different.” He felt his mouth turn into the same small amused smile Naruto had always provoked from him.

The other boy glared at him and tossed his head (Neji was reminded that this Naruto was a different Naruto once again by the action—before, the boy would have flailed his arms about and yelled). A sly grin sneaked onto his mouth and he replied, “You just don’t want to admit to yourself that you can’t follow me around like a lost puppy anymore.”

Neji searched inside himself for the indignation he felt as if he was obligated to feel, only to come up short. He didn’t care about the gentle ribbing or the teasing glint in Naruto’s eyes. He just smirked back and said dryly, “I’m glad to see you took my advice to heart, you needed it. Now tell me, is it too much to hope that you could have improved in other areas as well, or was just the one more than sufficient to keep you occupied?”

“Asshole!”

Apparently curbing Naruto’s tongue had been a failed endeavor on Jiraiya’s part. That is, if the legendary sannin even bothered to try in the first place.

“Welcome back,” murmured Neji.

Naruto’s next words stilled on his tongue and the blond ninja smiled. “It’s good to be back.”

~

Neji basked in Naruto’s presence as much as he could without being too obvious about it. At times though, it seemed as if the entire village knew about it already, with the only oblivious remaining was the object of his… affections (it was easy to think of kissing Naruto or other… things—he was a healthy teenage boy. But it was harder to envision a domestic scene the words seemed to inspire. Neji nearly choked imagining Naruto dolled up in a presentable manner to the clan, his coughing fit, in fact, made Lee shriek about how he would Save Neji From the Horror and Indignity of Choking on Soft and Slippery Noodles while TenTen just whacked him on the back once and probably saved his life).

He was horribly (because he thought he was being more subtle… that or someone was spreading rumors) aware that Jiraiya had somehow found out, and the only thing worse than a legendary ninja staring at you in a way that conveyed the wish to dissect you was the same legendary ninja giving him books with lecherous winks. He had, of course, heard about Jiraiya’s dabbling as a writer (as well as the subject matter) and had promptly tried to burn the book.

Kakashi had rescued it before it could even singe properly, and lectured him on the proper ways to take care of fine literature. Then the jounin carted off his prize home, cackling something about limited edition and HUGE HUGE *****.

Neji had fled as soon as the second ‘huge’ had been uttered.

In a way though he was content with his current situation (even if it embarrassed him) because it meant that people noticed Naruto now. Before only three knew.

And now? It was hard to find someone who didn’t know.

Well, honestly, only a select few really knew if you counted the entire village. It was just that the few who knew were the ones he interacted with frequently. Of course his clan didn’t know (and wouldn’t for quite some time if he had any say in it, and his very sharp kunai did), but at the very least, most of his peers noticed his sudden increase of interest in Naruto.

It pleased him and agitated him at the same time.

Before, he could spend the entire day with Naruto without anyone really noticing. Now, Kiba stared at them openly, Hinata watched with a resigned smile, Kakashi and Jiraiya both leered, Sakura gave him a bemused look, Iruka a concerned one, and Shikamaru just gave him a knowing glance.

And that was just today.

“Yo, Neji, why are you all bent over with your head in your hands?”

Neji looked up from his hands into bright blue eyes and he straightened abruptly, causing Naruto to laugh.

He liked the sound of Naruto’s laughter. When not forced, it was bright and cheerful. It also caused a low pull in his stomach and a faint answering smile on his face.

“No reason,” said Neji, casually. He was content in watching the large smile spread across Naruto’s face, in the way that Naruto relaxed around him so easily.

Naruto slumped boneless on the ground and leaned against Neji’s legs.

If Neji’s brain was working properly at the moment, he would have realized that they were in a deserted clearing with the only thing to lean onto being about a hundred feet away. He would have thought that he was lucky that Naruto was comfortable enough around him to do so, was comfortable enough to not even mention it or ask for permission (which would be strange, to say the least).

That was, if his brain was working properly.

His brain just stalled and only started again when Naruto looked up at him and gave him a grin.

“You okay, Neji?”

He nodded automatically. The blond haired ninja took that for a sign that no, he hadn’t killed Neji with shock and relaxed again, leaving them with a companionable silence.

It was scenes like this, moments like this, when he realized how much Naruto has changed and how much Naruto has remained the same. In an impromptu meeting with his peers, Shikamaru had said it best.

He’s mellower now. Like he knows his purpose and who he is, but doesn’t feel the need to proclaim it off of rooftops anymore. He’s secure.

This, more than anything else, was what made Neji acknowledge that Naruto was right in going off to train.

Carefully, he let his fingers ghost through the edges of Naruto’s hair, let them touch the wispy strands of gold. Naruto would know, but the ninja would probably pass it off as an accident. For a wild moment, Neji wanted to haul Naruto up and… and…

His mind stalled again.

He gave himself a rueful smile, nobody would see it after all, and kept watch of Naruto and of his surroundings.

As long as Naruto was here with him, he had all the time in the world.

~

“What?!” Neji gave Naruto a sharp glare and clenched his hands. Naruto had just come back for a month, just one month and now this?

Naruto just shrugged, ignoring the fierce look thrown at him. He looked resolute though, like nothing in the world was going to stop him.

Neji wished that he was enough of a reason to stop Naruto.

“Why now? Why not wait a few more months? Why not bring us with you?” Neji didn’t care about the faintly shocked looks he garnered from some of the surrounding ninjas. This was important. This was… this was… Naruto leaving to find Sasuke (Neji never hated someone so much as he hated Uchiha at this moment). Alone.

The other ninja sighed and said, “I’ve got the hokage’s permission, you know.” At Neji’s intensifying glare, Naruto continued, “And I’m not going to be alone. Jiraiya’s coming too.”

“That’s not enough!” Sakura pushed her way to the front, worry etched on her face (though Neji couldn’t help but notice, to his disgust, the faint hope in her eyes).

“Sure it is, Sakura-chan!” Naruto gave her a broad smile. “Remember, Ero-sennin might not seem reliable…” He paused for a moment when Jiraiya cuffed his head, wincing and rubbing at it. “…But he’s stronger than pretty much everyone else. I’ll be fine! And I’ll bring Sasuke back with me!” He gave her a peaceful smile.

“I’ll make sure that the brat doesn’t take unnecessary risks,” Jiraiya said, looking vaguely annoyed at the amount of people pressing around him.

Naruto nodded. “It’s a relatively simple retrieval mission.” He winked at Sakura. “The package is just a little bit louder and more difficult than usual. It’s not like we’re taking on Orochimaru.”

“If you can help it.” Neji frowned.

Naruto threw an uncomfortable glance at Jiraiya before looking back at Neji, something no ninja missed. “We’re pretty sure that we’ll miss him. Intelligence has said that he’s going to be away from his current hideout-”

“—How do you even know where that is?”

“-for a while,” Naruto finished. He glanced at Kiba who had asked. “What do you think Jiraiya and I have been doing for the past three years other than train?”

“I wish you luck, comrades!” Lee grinned and gave Naruto two thumbs up.

Gai grinned broadly, mirroring Lee’s actions. “Best of luck retrieving our Wayward Companion!”

Naruto gave them both an uncomfortable grin.

“When are you leaving?” Hinata’s voice cut through the air, the first time the quiet ninja spoke. She straightened her back and didn’t look down when Naruto met her gaze, even if a faint tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks.

Neji wanted to say that Naruto wasn’t leaving, that Naruto was staying put, and that they’d find some other suicidal ninja to take on the mission. But he knew that no matter what he said, the other ninja wasn’t going to back down.

He thought sourly that even if he tied Naruto down and posted guards, Naruto would still find a way to weasel out of the village.

“Day after tomorrow, just long enough to gather up the supplies and other stuff.”

Neji scowled and only stopped when TenTen touched his arm. He resumed his stoic expression and gave her a slight nod in thanks. She gave him a small, uncertain smile before stepping back.

“So early?” Sakura asked, startled.

Naruto rubbed his head. “Yeah, we want to make sure that Orochimaru won’t come back early and catch us at it.”

“You won’t listen to the contrary.” It wasn’t a question and Neji was almost proud of the fact that his voice didn’t fluctuate at all.

Naruto gave him a serious look and a slow nod.

He refrained from saying anything more and turned around, walking through the small crowd quickly.

So that was that.

~

Déjà vu.

Naruto was only half suspecting Neji to be waiting for him at the same roof he had been at, years before. Even then surprise filtered on his face even as his feet skidded to a halt and he raised a hand in greeting.

“Neji?”

Swiftly the other ninja took several steps forward, the light in his lavender eyes making Naruto wanting to step back. But he assured himself that Neji wasn’t going to kill him or even maim him just to make him stay, and that his friend was just going to—

Neji reached him, grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him forward.

The kiss that resulted was messy, involved way too many teeth for comfort, and dragged on for moments as Naruto hung in Neji’s grasp in shock. He didn’t move, let alone reciprocate, and just stared into Neji’s eyes that glittered at him in an almost challenging way.

A long swipe of his tongue and Neji stepped back, letting go of Naruto just as soon as he made sure that the other ninja could stand.

Naruto’s brain stuttered along with his words, “I…I…”

“I?” Neji parroted back, a brow raised.

He just stared at Neji with wide eyes.

“Just come back.” Neji said finally, his face once more inscrutable. A slight pause and he added, “To me.”

Before Naruto could react in anything other than silence or stutters, the other ninja disappeared from sight.

For a moment he wanted nothing more than to find Neji again and demand answers. But then again, demanding answers would result in him getting answers and he hardly knew about his own thoughts on the… issue.

He could only shake his head to clear it and ran off to where Jiraiya was waiting.

He could think about it after they got Sasuke back.

~

The fates conspired against him once more as Naruto, just a mile or so from Jiraiya, ran into TenTen. She was waiting for him with a serious look (though he can’t remember a moment where she wasn’t serious) and seemed rather stiff.

He halted in front of her warily, ready to leap back if she decided to attack him with her lips too.

“Naruto,” she acknowledged.

He just waited for her to continue, fidgeting in a way that he blamed on being late on meeting Jiraiya.

“Neji likes you, you know.”

He gaped at her straight forward words, and she apparently mistook it for ignorance on his part because she gave him a fierce frown, causing him to step back.

“You can’t have not noticed!” Exasperation lined her face and she leaned forward, a disproving frown at her mouth. “He… He stays around you all the time! He smiles when you’re around, when he thinks that nobody is looking.”

For the first time since he met her, Naruto saw TenTen scrambling for words.

“It’s obvious,” she said finally, calming down, “In a way you can’t miss if you’re friends with Neji.”

By the way she stared at him, Naruto was beginning to feel awful about himself. Because… he had noticed, in a vague way. Sort of. He had just thought that Neji liked being around him for some reason he couldn’t explain, and was grateful just for that. To think that it had been for a greater reason confused him, to think that anyone could like him that much just boggled his mind.

Nobody ever…

“I’m sorry.”

She stiffened even more at his words.

Naruto hastened to say, “No, I mean… I didn’t know. I… how could I?” He said, almost helplessly, except he had sworn himself that he’d be strong when he was younger and damn it, not helpless, not anymore.

“Think about it.” That was an order, and TenTen looked as if she’d skewer him on the spot with her shurikens if he said anything to the contrary.

He nodded.

She turned around and began walking away, apparently satisfied with his response and whatever else she could read from his expression.

Before she jumped down from the building, she paused and turned to look at him once more.

“You’re lucky, you know.”

Naruto gave another nod, striking out his earlier conviction to think about it later.

Neji deserved not to become an afterthought.

~

If Neji was acting more snappish than usual, nobody thought to bring it up to him. He didn’t understand why there was such a large difference between Naruto leaving last time and Naruto leaving this time-

--except for that damnable kiss, what in the worlds was he thinking?--

-but he did acknowledge that he was testier than usual and less forgiving (not that he was very) of mistakes. People walked around him carefully now, have been for the past few days, with the only exception being TenTen who seemed content to let him terrorize people for a while and Hinata who looked more frozen in indecision than terrified.

Now that he was aware of it though (Shikamaru had taken him aside and told him bluntly), he strove to contain his ire. After all, it was nobody else’s fault that Naruto left. Nobody’s fault except for Uchiha. He was aware that he was blaming everything on Sasuke, but found that he did not care. He never really liked the dark-haired ninja anyway.

“Yo, kid.”

Neji gave a sharp glance around him, looking for the idiot who dared to call him a ‘kid’. Seeing nobody, he frowned sharply.

“Down here.”

A flash of orange caught his eyes and he looked down at a... frog. A frog wearing a jacket, which wasn’t that unusual in a ninja village considering that the turtle that Gai summons wore a leaf insignia and Kakashi’s dog summon, Pakkun, wore both.

Neji studied the frog closely, realizing that it had to be one of Naruto’s or Jiraiya’s, and gave it a short nod in greeting.

“Not very vocal, are you?” Gamakichi hopped onto a nearby ledge so that he was closer to Neji’s eye level. “I’m just here to deliver a message.” At Neji’s steady stare, he added in, “From the blond haired idiot.”

Neji wondered if it was customary for all summons to make fun of their... partners, or whether Naruto was just a special case (as always).

“What is it?” He nearly fidgeted, waiting to hear some message about how Naruto doesn’t want to see Neji ever again, or how Naruto thinks it’s gross, or how Naruto just wanted to be friends. Honestly, he would be fine with the last, as long as he could continue to see Naruto.

Gamakichi apparently saw something on his face, for the little frog just waved one webbed hand in the air. “Oi, he doesn’t hate you or anything.”

Some of Neji’s mortification must have showed on his face (Naruto told his frog?), because Gamakichi continued on, “The kid was muttering to himself a lot while giving me the message. Can’t have missed the multiple times he said ‘Neji kissed me’ ya know.”

Neji felt the blood rush to his cheeks and he shook his head as if that would dispel the blush.

“So… the kid said he doesn’t hate you. Then he blathers on about where they are, Jiraiya’s a jerk for pushing them so fast, and other stuff.”

“…Aren’t you supposed to relay the message entirely?”

The frog gave him an amused look, “Do you really think the rest of it mattered to the kid?”

Neji smiled faintly.

“Oh, yeah. And Jiraiya said that it’s about time you finally made a move, something about good material for his next book, and to not mess it up.”

He twitched and Gamakichi snickered before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Neji tried to stifle the faint hope even as his lips twitched into an involuntary smile. At least he knew that Naruto didn’t hate him.

~

It didn’t take long for Neji to return to his regular self, a fact which swept through his comrades with sighs of relief. He was back to waiting for Naruto to return (for what else could he do?), except now it wasn’t a patient wait. Each day twisted that knot in his chest just a bit tighter, each day was just a bit harder even if he never showed it. The jounin wasn’t sure why things were so much worse now than they were before… nothing changed, right?

Nothing changed except that he told Naruto, or rather showed, his feelings. And even though the blond haired ninja sent his frog to tell him that things were all right, that didn’t mean that Naruto couldn’t change his mind later.

Not only that, Neji was slowly beginning to realize, just from that one kiss (that, admittedly, wasn’t very good considering Naruto didn’t reciprocate, but almost spectacular because it was Naruto he had kissed) that he wasn’t sure if he could ever be content with Naruto just being friends with him.

What was even worse was that the choice was out of his hands. He could influence it, of course, but ultimately, the decision lay with Naruto.

~

After a few weeks of Hinata returning to her earlier habit of looking down shyly when she met him (though thankfully, she didn’t blush nearly as much and her hands were quite calm at her sides) she finally pulled him to the side.

It wasn’t the best of times. Neji had a fairly urgent report to give to the hokage, and he needed to debrief his team. The Sound Village was getting more restless and there had been reports of enemy ninjas lurking several miles (but still too close) to Konoha. He wasn’t sure how things were going on Naruto’s front, but he didn’t like the information he was hearing—did Orochimaru figure out about Naruto and Jiraiya’s mission? Was there a trap waiting for them? Or were the ninjas there by chance?

He couldn’t leave things up to chance. Not with what was on the line.

So he gave Hinata an impatient glare, feeling vague surprise when she just gave him a steady look back and stopped him when he tried to leave again with a hurried, “Later, Hinata-sama.”

“This is important, Neji nii-san,” she said and placed a hand on his chest to stop him from leaving. This was more than just a casual gesture from Hyuugas. “And I won’t take long.” Her voice didn’t tremble the slightest and her mouth was set in a determined line.

Neji stopped, shifting underneath her gentle hand warily. She was firmer now, more confident, but she never stalled him before—not when it was important.

Besides, knowing what those hands could do with just a light tap to his body…

He jerked out of his thoughts as she retracted her hand after making sure he won’t move, body tensing in impatience to get away, but willing to hear her out. She met his gaze fearlessly even as her hands twitched, as if wanting to revert back to her old habit of tapping her fingers together.

“Naruto-kun…”

Neji frowned, and even in the face of that, she still looked at him stubbornly. Still drew herself up proudly. She would make a fine leader, if given half a chance to.

“What makes you think you’re good enough for him?”

The harsh words flashed through him and he nearly took a step back in shock. Neji stiffened his jaw, ignored the faint prick of betrayal, and narrowed his eyes.

“He’s going to be great you know.” Her voice cut into him, relentless and merciless, “They don’t think so now, but he’s going to be someone better than everyone else. He already is going down that road. He’ll end up great, and you’ll always,” her words sliced through him even more sharply, “be a branch family member. That’s all you’ll ever be. You don’t deserve him—”

“—What makes you think that I think I do?” Neji snapped out, finally losing his temper, finally giving into his own fears and releasing them in a barely constrained rage. “What makes you think that I don’t know that already?”

She gave him a victorious smirk, a look so out of place on her face that Neji was jarred into some sort of clarity.

“Then give him up,” said Hinata, giving him a benevolent smile, as if she already knew his answer.

Neji jerked his chin up and snarled, “No.”

“You already said that you aren’t good enough for him!”

“That doesn’t matter! He’s mine,” Neji snapped, fingers flexing as he restrained the urge to form them into fists. “I don’t care if you think I’m not good enough. I won’t leave him alone and I won’t hand him over to you.”

Hinata smiled. Her regular smile, soft and almost shy, but with a hint of pride.

In him? Neji thought in confusion.

“Then I give up.”

He stared at her, taking in her resolute eyes even as it seemed as if something was breaking behind them…

Neji hesitated, not knowing why she was acting this way, but needing to say to her, “Give up?”

She nodded. “He’s good for you, and you’ll be good for him. I can’t be with him; I knew that, not if I was going to try to become the clan’s leader seriously. The elder’s won’t listen if I’m involved with him, no matter how great he gets, no matter how much better than everyone else he’ll become.”

“I just…” she continued on in a slightly broken voice, “I just needed to make sure that you loved him, and I think he’ll love you back, and I…” Hinata kept her hands impossibly still, as if the slightest movement might betray her. “I’m happy. I will be happy. Change is going to come to this village and I want to be there for it. I want to be at the front and let the clan flourish into even more greatness. It won’t happen if I let my feelings get in the way, if I let Hanabe take over, father controlling her every step.”

Hinata hastened to say, “He means well, but it’s not enough. Hanabe is not enough. And there’s nobody else but me. My duty is to the clan.” She placed a gentle hand on Neji’s chest, only this time he didn’t feel any twitch of uncertainty. “You… you’re freer. I choose my cage willingly. I’m not going to let myself be unhappy. But I want you to be happy and I want Naruto-kun to be happy.”

In Hinata, Neji saw the beginnings of a great leader. Someone who would always put the clan before anyone else—something he would never be able to do.

He cleared his throat and said uncertainly, “I don’t have him yet.”

She laughed. “But you’re not going to give up. We Hyuuga’s never give up on something we want.”

Neji could acknowledge that that was true. After all, she had been the one to harbor a crush on Naruto for far longer than Neji had, even before Neji knew who Naruto was. For Hinata, it was less of giving up and more of choosing what she wanted more. What she wanted most of all was to see the Hyuuga clan through the murky future and devote her loyalties entirely to it.

“I won’t.” The unspoken ‘I promise’ drifted lazily through the air.

Hinata gave him a critical look before nodding and stepping aside.

“Good luck, Neji nii-san.”

He gave her a bemused grin. “We shall forge our own luck, Hinata-sama,” more respect on the last part than ever before. He carefully stored the memory away as he searched for his team to give them the slightly late message.

~

The smell of blood lay thickly in the air.

Neji didn’t stop to think as he whirled around and blocked the incoming attack, retaliating with his own and leaving the enemy ninja with a slashed throat. He absentmindedly wiped his bloody kunai on his pants and looked around sharply, spotting TenTen facing off against another Sound ninja, not needing his help as she almost seemed to toy with her enemy, making teasing slashes with her sword before finishing him off with a quick strike into his stomach.

“They’re tapering off!” she shouted.

He nodded, ducking a group of shurikens and racing towards the female ninja who had thrown them. Neji weaved around her quick strikes and slammed his fingers into her arms, cutting off the chakra flow.

As she spat out curses at him, he hooked a foot around hers and jerked, making her arms flail uselessly as she went down. A quick snap of the neck and she lay on the ground limply.

Neji ignored the slight wounds littering his body, the pain in his shoulder where a kunai had found its mark. Instead, he raised a hand in reply to TenTen’s words—that she’ll take care of the rest, that most of them were retreating anyway—and ran off to towards where the fighting was the thickest.

He didn’t know how many he took down, only that they needed to be dead. The sounds of yelling, screams, and shouted orders were dying down, a good sign that the Sound ninjas were nearly beaten back.

As he stumbled into a clearing—a misstep dodging a flare of fire that turned into an awkward roll and a jutsu that tore out the ground beneath the attacker’s feet and swallowed him whole—his brief scan spotted Kakashi ripping through swathes of ninjas, his sharingan burning a fierce red, and Naruto back to back with…

Sasuke.

He had known that Sasuke was back, that Naruto had dragged in the ninja by the collar into the village. He knew that Tsunade and the rest watched the rogue ninja with wary eyes, even as Naruto jabbered about how great it was that Sasuke was back where he belonged and now all the stupid fucker needed to do was to stay in the village. He knew, intellectually, that while Naruto trusted Sasuke (a little less than before, and it was a fragile thing, but it was still trust) the rest of the ninja population watched him like hawks.

Neji never did because he didn’t want to be around Sasuke. Could never forgive him for taking Naruto away for so long.

That also meant staying away from Naruto, since all the blond ninja seemed to do nowadays was hover around Sasuke like a mother cat worrying over her kitten. To his further ire, Naruto seemed to be avoiding him, or at least ignoring him.

Then, three days after they came back, the Sound ninjas attacked.

They had descended in a tightly organized swarm, Orochimaru slipping here and there with a chilling laugh and scores of Leaf ninjas incapacitated or dead. It had taken a combined effort of no less than twenty of the best to take him out, not counting the lives lost of those who had lured the man into the trap in the first place.

But it had been worth it. They had broken the backbone of the attack and now the Sound ninjas were retreating—those that weren’t getting slaughtered by angered, grieving Leaf ninjas.

None would begrudge them their revenge. It was said that there was no point in revenge, but they were ninjas, they never did listen to common sense other than in battle (and half the time not even then).

Neji swallowed his antipathy for Sasuke and grimly spun and weaved and ripped his way towards Naruto’s side. He slid next to Naruto smartly, not trusting Sasuke not to stab him in the back so he was faced towards the other ninja, and turned his head towards Naruto.

“They’re driven completely out of the village, only those around here are left.”

Naruto grunted in acknowledgement as he parried an attack and retaliated, only to reveal a puff of smoke and a log where the enemy had been. Just as the Sound ninja popped back into view, a kage bunshin of his darted out from beneath a tree and killed him.

“They gave the signal to retreat about fifteen minutes ago,” Sasuke said flatly, eyes blood colored and twisting Neji’s stomach more than blood ever could.

He held back the words that were ready to slash at Sasuke, instead settling on a tight nod.

The dark haired Uchiha spun gracefully, hands forming seals, and spat out a torrent of fire, the heat searing at the side of Neji’s face.

He ignored it as he did his wounds and spoke to Naruto, “The Hokage wants you closer to the village.” He didn’t know why, Tsunade had always been protective of Naruto, but usually not to this extent.

Naruto gave a humorless snort. “She wants to make sure I’m not jumped by some ninjas making a last ditch effort for…” He broke off and shook his head. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

Neji restrained the ridiculous urge to reach out and grab Naruto’s hand, instead turning away. He saw the glint of…

And suddenly he was on the ground, face planted in some dirt, and a warm body lying on top of him. Naruto. He sat up immediately and paled at the sight of the blond who now had several shurikans imbedded deeply into his body, at the blood that slid through his fingers as he frantically tried to get the weapons out of the blond and to stop the blood flow.

Sasuke and Kakashi covered them, this realization only making its way into his mind dimly as he tried to staunch the blood, as he snarled at Naruto to stay awake and to focus.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, Naruto. Why did you…” He fumbled for some gauze and wished that Sakura was nearby; already calculating the time it would take to get Naruto to a medical nin.

Naruto gazed at him blurrily, voice cracking as he said slowly, “Blind. Spot.”

Neji could almost wring the blond’s neck.

“Did you think that you were the only one training for the years you were away? I could handle it, Naruto. Idiot. I’m a better ninja than you’ll ever be, remember?”

“Shut. Up.” Naruto wheezed and coughed up blood.

Shit. Did some of the shurikens puncture Naruto’s lungs? Neji’s hands scrambled over Naruto even more quickly, ignoring the slick coating of blood over his hands.

“Neji,” Kakashi urged lowly, “We’ll take it from here. Go get someone.”

Neji’s hands stilled and he fought the conflicting urges to stay or go.

“Do you want him to die protecting your ass?” Sasuke snapped out, causing Neji’s head to snap up. “I wouldn’t let that happen so easily.”

For a moment his and Sasuke’s eyes were deadlocked, then a brief flicker of understanding went through him and he broke away. He ran his hand through Naruto’s hair once before getting up, ignoring the slight whine that came from the injured ninja at the loss of contact.

“I’ll be back with help soon,” he said helplessly, pointedly ignoring Kakashi’s curious look. After a final assessing scan of Naruto, he ran off.

~

It wasn’t as if he was avoiding Naruto.

Things after the battle were messy; there were administrative duties to pare off, buildings to be repaired, bodies to pick up, and a mass funeral to prepare. There were also small skirmishes with the left over Sound ninja, the ones too fanatical to Orochimaru’s ideals and too stupid to flee, and the guards had been tripled to deal with the leftover threat.

Neji had volunteered of course. He had nothing else to do having ignored the nagging of TenTen to get some rest, of Lee’s worried eyes as the ninja tried to drag him off to his home (the spandex clad ninja hadn’t even bothered with his usual exulting words, but was rebuffed anyway). It wasn’t as if he had been hurt badly. He had a couple new scars and a bandaged shoulder and if he was tired… well, everyone was tired, but they still did their jobs.

He was not severely injured, not like Naruto…

But Tsunade herself had seen to Naruto, had given a faint smile at him as he demanded to know if Naruto was going to be all right. Naruto was fine. He was going to be fine. His injuries were not as severe as they might have been (as severe as Chouji’s, who had lost an arm, or Ino, whose eyesight was damaged in the same attack). In a way Naruto had come off lightly, with enough bed rest he’d be perfectly healthy, and throwing in his astounding ability in healing… he should be in the hospital for a week or two at most.

So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Neji didn’t have time to visit and had no pressing reason to anyway (TenTen had argued about friendship, but friends should understand that duties came before visitations, right?). Also, he hadn’t caught any indication that Naruto was asking about him, seemingly content with his steady stream of visitors.

The last, when he heard of it, had come as a surprise. It shouldn’t have. Neji should have known that with the blond’s perseverance and complete bullheadedness he would have won others to his side. That his circle of close companions had widened to an impressive degree. Neji wasn’t the only one watching Naruto and fighting side by side almost always let old barriers fall away—what those barriers were was still a mystery, though he suspected that Shikamaru knew, but wouldn’t tell.

But it didn’t mean that Neji would like it.

So he was selfish, he could admit that to himself easily enough. For a long time he thought that he had been one of the only ones to really see Naruto and now that others noticed, he wanted to yank Naruto to his side and snarl at the rest. He wanted to stake his claim and ward everyone else off. He had no right to do so, but his feelings couldn’t be changed.

Neji quietly scoffed at himself and shifted position to lean against a broad tree, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of a kunai. Even sunk deep into his thoughts he didn’t stop scanning his surroundings, kept categorizing each sound that drifted around him, each twitch of movement, and even the scents that the wind brought him.

He just… needed some time. To sort out his feelings, to decide on a course of action. Naruto had kept him waiting for years after all; it was only fair that he was given a few days.

~

Life was never fair. Most of the time it was ruthless and gutted you quickly and messily; it slowed at the painful parts and sped through the happy ones.

Life, Neji thought viciously, staring at the steady dark eyes in front of him, was a bitch.

“You should go visit Naruto.” Even though the words came out of Uchiha’s mouth, it was obvious that Sasuke didn’t care about what he was saying, was only telling Neji because someone else told him to do so.

It was a greater injustice that Uchiha was uninjured (sparing a few scratches that didn’t even become infected) when the entire mess could be placed on his shoulders. It was even more galling when it was clear that Sasuke didn’t care—as if it was all right that scores of ninjas fought and died for him.

Neji felt himself tensing and barely kept himself from grabbing a weapon, instead blanking his face into one of complete indifference.

“I’m busy,” he bit out and started to turn away. Sasuke grabbed his arm to stop him and he froze in place, pale eyes burning at the spot the other ninja’s skin touched his own. He lifted his gaze slowly until he locked eyes with Sasuke, gritting his teeth as he strove for calm tones, “Let go of me, Uchiha.”

Sasuke let go and folded his arms once it was apparent that Neji wasn’t about to leave again. “Naruto wants to see you,” he said slowly, as if speaking to a dull child.

Neji checked himself, forcing his body to relax instead of letting Sasuke discern how agitated he was. “Tell Naruto that I have my duties that require me elsewhere. I don’t have the time to be playing nursemaid by his bedside.” He knew that his words came out harsher than he wanted, but he couldn’t stop them in the face of Uchiha’s calm gaze.

He broke the gaze, they weren’t children holding staring contests anymore, and let his eyes drift down the hallway and towards the exit. All he wanted to do at this moment was to go back onto patrol, even with Tsunade clucking after him to get some rest, always just shy of an order because Konoha really did need the manpower he could provide.

“You haven’t visited Naruto at all,” Sasuke pointed out, “it is hardly playing nursemaid to go see him.”

Neji rounded on him, temper slipping. “Somebody needs to take care of the village. Though you,” the emphasis on the word made it scornful, “seem to be taking it easy, perhaps revisiting sites that you so carelessly abandoned, the rest of the ninjas have to work overtime for the aftermath of a battle you—” he cut himself off ruthlessly, satisfied by the widening of Sasuke’s eyes before they narrowed into an angry glare.

“Do you think,” Sasuke hissed, “that I led the Sound ninjas to the village on purpose?”

Neji gave a sharp smirk. “Of course not. Not even you would ruin your chances of reintegrating yourself into the village so soon after arrival.”

“And don’t you think that for the same reasons I wouldn’t be allowed to scout? To guard?”

Neji tilted his chin up, refusing to admit that it slipped his mind that Tsunade wouldn’t let Uchiha do anything without a guard—and with his principle guard temporarily out of commission, Sasuke was restricted to the least of tasks. Unsettled from the discovery when he should have known immediately, he didn’t answer.

“I was willing to leave Orochimaru’s grasp, but what I wanted was to leave on my own. I didn’t even think about returning to Konoha,” said Sasuke whose knuckles were turning white. “But Naruto dragged me back, told me that even though I might not want to come back, I had an obligation to everyone I left behind. When I tried to tell him that Orochimaru wasn’t going to let me go so simply, he laughed and told me that what I said was obvious and ‘Are you slipping, Sasuke? Don’t tell me that your time with the snake bastard made you stupider than you already were. Don’t worry, everyone wants to see you.’”

Classic Naruto, Neji thought with a touch of fondness even as his lips flattened into an unhappy line, bluntly heading into the heart of the matter. He had seen that Sasuke had been prepared to run away, afraid of the accusations he would receive. “Why are you telling me this?”

“He wants to see you. I was an obligation of old memories and a promise to Sakura, but he asked to see you.” Sasuke looked frustrated as Neji’s lack of understanding. “He wants to see you for himself.” His arms unfolded, hands clenched into fists at his side.

And finally, finally, Neji understood. That Naruto asked to see him when he wouldn’t ask anyone else. The same Naruto that had yelled at him for leaving him money for a window Neji broke. The intensely prideful Naruto who hated to admit he was reliant on anyone even as others were eventually drawn to him by the golden energy he exuded. His Naruto. The one he knew best.

“You’re going to see him even if I have to drag you into his room,” Sasuke vowed quietly.

Uchiha, who was as dependent on Naruto as the rest of them had slowly become. Naruto had touched each of their lives and left a giant imprint on them all. Even as the ninja forged his own way, the rest of them would follow without asking, to help steer him and to help clear his path.

And Neji, the one Naruto asked to visit him.

~

“You would be a great hokage someday,” Neji said softly by the door, too quiet for the bed’s occupant to catch.

Naruto slowly turned to him and gave him an uncertain smile.

“Hey Neji.”

At a loss of words, Neji nodded in reply and walked to the side of the bed at the slight beckon of Naruto’s hand. The other ninja grinned sheepishly as he sat up, soft white bandages looped around his chest and arms. He didn’t seem to be in any trouble though, his movements fluid even if they were done carefully.

“Jeez, I kept asking Baa-chan to release me earlier but she kept nagging about needing rest and just getting back from a huge mission before being thrust directly into battle.” He grinned at Neji broadly. “I tuned her out after that, too much nagging.”

The smile faded slightly as Neji struggled with a reply, wanting to ask why Naruto asked for him, but not wanting it to come out awkwardly.

A few beats of silence and just as Neji was about to say anything, Naruto blurted out, “I’m selfish!”

Taken aback, Neji blinked and his words froze in his throat. This was apparently fine for Naruto, since the other ninja kept right on going.

“I’m sorry! It’s just that… I…” he trailed off, then visibly rallied himself before trying again, “I’m selfish,” he stated again, blue eyes staring at Neji’s lavender ones earnestly. “I don’t think about your feelings and I’m always leaving. You always stay by me and you don’t say anything, but how can I let you just… wait like that?”

Naruto took a deep breath. “I can’t even give you a proper reply. I don’t even know how I really feel about you yet,” his gaze dropped and his hands twisted in his sheets as Neji’s body grew cold and he longed to make Naruto stop talking before his dreams were killed. But he was frozen and could do nothing but listen to the words tripping out of blond’s mouth.

“B-but… I don’t feel nothing you know?” Naruto looked up hopefully. “You’re more than just a friend, you’re like my best friend but at the same time you’re… special. Special-er.” He finished off lamely.

Neji thawed at the words and he said carefully, “I won’t give up. I’m not about to stop.”

Red crept onto Naruto’s cheeks and he stared at Neji after the bold statement.

Neji could feel a bit of a blush on his face as well, but he willed it away the best that he could, inched closer to Naruto so that his thighs were pressed against the side of the bed. He leaned over to Naruto, watched as the other ninja turned even redder, but didn’t move away. Satisfaction and a hint of anticipation flickered through him and he smiled.

The blond stared at his smile and mirrored it.

“I waited a long time,” Neji murmured.

Naruto fidgeted in apprehension. Neji moved just a bit closer, braced himself with both arms placed to the sides of Naruto on the bed, and let his lips lightly touch Naruto’s. He felt slight tension coming from the blond, but then Naruto relaxed and reciprocated the soft kiss, lips moving together in an almost lazy way—a stark contrast to the first kiss.

Neji broke it after a moment, an eternity, and rested his forehead against Naruto’s. The other ninja looked stunned, but not unhappy.

He pulled away and grinned.

“I can wait.”

Naruto jerked his head up, eyes wide. “Wait, what?”

His grin widened and he reached over and gently clasped Naruto’s hand. “I’ve been patient a long time. I can wait a little while longer.”

He was fairly confident that Naruto would fully cave soon. The blond didn’t seem adverse to the kiss and, as he had said to Hinata, he wasn’t about to give up. Not any time soon. Not ever. He was looking forward to knowing Naruto even better than he did now. Besides, no matter how well he thought he knew Naruto there were always more things to discover, more secrets he’ll slowly earn. It was never ending because people changed with time and there were infinite layers to each person.

Naruto suddenly laughed, eyes conveying a silent thanks, and slowly twined his fingers with Neji’s.

Instead of fate or destiny, Naruto would have to evolve on his own; something Neji had more faith in than anything else.

Naruto helped him to change after all.