LIKE A BEE
It all began in Drama class when the new teacher, Mitarashi Anko, decided to shake things up a bit.
It was the last class of the day, on a warm sunny afternoon more suited to summer than fall, and the class was engaged in a halfhearted squabble over which Shakespeare play they would be doing. Most of the girls favored Romeo and Juliet (with the class heartthrob, Uchiha Sasuke, as Romeo of course), while the boys (at least, the ones who bothered to participate) preferred something with as many duels and bloody battle scenes as possible.
"How about A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Anko interjected impatiently.
Blank stares. "Uhhhh...whuh...?" Naruto inquired.
Anko rolled her eyes. Did they teach these children nothing these days? "It's about a couple of fairies who -"
Her mood was not improved by the wave of infantile hooting and giggling that followed.
"All right!" Gritting her teeth, she slammed her ruler down on the desk so hard it snapped. The class stared at her with shocked eyes. Anko regarded them with a malicious smile. "Let's do a little drama game instead."
The class cringed. Anko's little games were invariably designed to wring the maximum amount of humiliation from her hapless students.
"It's called, 'I Love You, Honey.' The rules are simple. You pick a person at random, go up to them and say, 'I love you, honey.' They have to answer back, 'I love you too, but I can't smile.' The object is to say it with a straight face. If they manage to do that, you continue on with someone else. But if they smile or laugh at all, you can take their seat and they have to pick someone new to say it to." Anko's malicious grin deepened. "Anyone have any questions?"
Looking everywhere but at Anko, the class gave tiny headshakes while they tried to appear as inconspicuous as possible. Anko surveyed the room, her eagle eyes alighting on a student who had his head down on his desk, apparently asleep.
"Nara!"
Shikamaru lifted his head, staring sleepily at her. Anko pointed at him with the remains of her broken ruler. "Why don't you get us started?"
Shikamaru blinked in groggy confusion. Next to him, Ino leaned over and quickly hissed the instructions.
Sighing and grumbling under his breath about the troublesomeness of it all, Shikamaru got to his feet. What a pain in the ass. This game is pointless...Most people are laughing already. Indeed, as he looked around the circle, Kiba and Naruto were guffawing, and Chouji, Lee and Tenten looked like they might burst out at any minute. Ino and Sakura were biting their lips to stifle giggles, while Hinata had turned a bright red.
His gaze fell on a tall figure who sat with his arms crossed, regarding Shikamaru with a tiny smirk that couldn't quite be called a smile. Cool, elegant and arrogant, with long, coffee-colored hair and unusual pale eyes, he was the pinnacle of Unapproachable.
Hyuuga Neji.
They had known each other since elementary school. Back then Neji (to Shikamaru's mind at least) had been a stuck-up brat with a ginormous chip on his shoulder. And what had Neji thought of him? Probably nothing. Shikamaru had been nobody back then, a lazy kid who barely got by in school because he never bothered to study. Neji was a year ahead of him and at the top of his class.
But lately, things had changed. Since Shikamaru had been tested and found to have a genius IQ, he was now in several of the advanced classes alongside Neji. Sometimes, when Shikamaru actually woke up and took part in a discussion, he would catch Neji looking directly at him. Once or twice they had played a game of Shogi together, but they never hung out or socialized beyond that.
What did Neji think of him now, he wondered.
"Pick someone!" Anko commanded.
Unhesitatingly, Shikamaru strolled across the circle to stand directly in front of the Hyuuga. Neji's smirk disappeared, his eyes widening slightly in shock. Most of the rest of the class had stopped laughing as well, and were goggling openly at Shikamaru. Two chairs away, Hyuuga Hinata gave a tiny but audible gasp.
In a slow, bored-sounding drawl, Shikamaru said to Neji, "I love you, honey."
Neji stared at Shikamaru, a slow flush darkening his pale cheeks. A long, stunned moment of silence ensued. Long enough for the laughter to start up again, in muffled squeaks and snorts. Long enough for Shikamaru to notice the color of Neji's eyes – not a blank, creepy white as he had always supposed, but a subtle, pearly mix with shades of lavender and gray, as infinitely changeable as the clouds he loved to gaze at, the irises ringed by a thin outline of black, and framed by thick dark lashes.
"I love you too, but..." Anko prompted impatiently.
"I love you too, but I can't smile," Neji repeated flatly, still staring at Shikamaru with that unsettling intensity. Shikamaru was pretty sure that last part was literally true. It was rare to see the Hyuuga laugh or smile.
A tap from Anko's ruler made Shikamaru realize he was still standing there, mesmerized by the Hyuuga's gaze.
"Okay…move on to someone else, Nara."
Shikamaru continued on to Ino, who dissolved in giggles before he got the first syllable out. He took his seat and watched a parade of girls head for Sasuke, who responded with his trademark sulky glower.
"I love you, honey."
"This is stupid."
"I love you, Sasuke-kun!"
"You're annoying."
"I loooove you, honey!"
"Stop touching me."
It was only when Naruto, having been shot down by Sakura, approached him, that Sasuke finally cracked a tiny smile. Of course, in the next second they began pummeling each other, and were only broken up when Anko stepped in with dire threats of bodily harm.
While the class whooped and hollered, and Anko furiously tried to regain control, Shikamaru paid little attention. His thoughts kept returning to that moment when he and Neji had locked eyes for what seemed like forever. And yet it had been over too soon. He thought that he could have stood there looking at Neji for much longer. Trying to appear casual, he stole a glance at Neji and was surprised to find the Hyuuga looking back from under his lashes.
The bell rang and the class quickly and noisily dispersed. As usual, Shikamaru was one of the last to leave. Chouji waited for him, and they walked outside, sharing a bag of snacks, to where Ino and Naruto were waiting by the bike racks. As his two blond friends argued noisily (as usual) over Sasuke (as usual), Shikamaru leaned against the bike rack, gazing at the clouds.
"Nara!"
His friends fell silent, and Ino gave an alarmed squeak. Shikamaru tore his gaze from the sky. Hyuuga Neji was striding toward them, and he did not look happy.
"Oh my God, Shika, he's gonna kick your ass!" Ino hissed. This was a definite possibility. Besides being a top student, Neji was highly skilled in several of the martial arts.
Trying not to show any nervousness, Shikamaru called back, "Yo."
Neji came up to them. Looking only at Shikamaru, he said, "I want to talk to you. Alone," he added with a glare at Shikamaru's wide-eyed friends.
"S'okay," Shikamaru told them. "Go on...I'll catch you later." With a nonchalance he did not feel, he followed Neji to a more secluded spot, a low wall on the edge of the school grounds.
"What's up?"
"In class today, why did you pick me?" Neji demanded.
Shikamaru shrugged. "I like a challenge."
"No, you don't," Neji snapped. "You generally go for the easiest way possible." Shikamaru gave another shrug. Neji looked at him fiercely. "Any other reason?"
Shikamaru pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. "What other reason could I have?"
Neji said nothing. The red crept onto his cheekbones again.
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you," Shikamaru said.
Neji's dark brows drew together. "Wasn't that the idea?"
"No," Shikamaru told him honestly. Neji was glaring at him now, bristling, sure the intent had been to humiliate him in front of the class. Shikamaru was not bothered by Neji's anger and offendedness, since that was common with the Hyuuga. He was not really afraid Neji was going to beat him up either, although Neji certainly had the skills and the temper to do so. Still, he felt a nervousness he could not identify.
There was a strange, awkward silence. The normal thing to do would have been to walk away, but neither one of them moved.
Shikamaru cleared his throat. "Wanna play a game of Shogi?"
"Shogi?"
"Sure... I have my board." Shikamaru dug through his messy backpack. The low stone wall was wide enough to accommodate the board, and Shikamaru laid it out and began setting up the pieces. After a moment Neji sat down on the wall as well.
They played in silence, both of them staring down at the board and not meeting each other's eyes. Neji appeared to be thinking hard about each move. Shikamaru was the better player, but he felt unexpectedly distracted. The question Neji had asked nagged at the edges of his mind. Why had he picked Neji in the game?
The object of the game was to make the other person laugh. He had picked the one person with whom he was least likely to have success. It wasn't logical. Yet something had drawn him - compelled him - to walk over to Neji.
He lifted his head to look at Neji. The Hyuuga seemed restless, tapping his fingers on the stones of the wall as he surveyed the board. He had undone the top button of his school uniform and the sun shone off his long dark hair. Shikamaru found himself momentarily fascinated by the sight.
I bet it feels warm...I bet it feels soft...No wonder the girls always want to run their fingers through his hair...if he ever let them...
Trying to get his mind off Neji's hair, Shikamaru leaned back, watching a bee buzz lazily along in the warm fall air.
"Your move."
Shikamaru looked down at the board. He had made a careless mistake and Neji had managed to take advantage of it. Neji's queen was now threatening his king, and he would have to do something about that. It wasn't hopeless though, as Neji didn't seem to be playing up to his usual standards either. There was an opening for Shika to win, if he planned it right. He sat back again, trying to focus.
The bee spotted the object of its desire: the flower. Making almost a right angle turn, it headed determinedly for the pale lilac petals.
"Are you going to move?"
"Sorry…" Shikamaru slid his bishop across the board to block the queen, putting Neji on the defensive. He could see a path to win, of course - he could do that in his sleep - but the harder part was anticipating what Neji was going to do. He would have to think of all the possible moves that Neji could make and come up with contingency plans. It was something he ordinarily enjoyed and excelled at, but today he was finding it inexplicably hard to concentrate.
"Troublesome," he muttered. "I hate that damn Drama class..."
If it had not been for that stupid class, he would never have had to play that stupid game, and he would not be sitting here in this awkward situation, because he never would have chosen to mess with the Hyuuga in the first place, much less been practically forced to go stand in front of his desk like a...
"- like a bee."
Shikamaru started. Sometimes it seemed like Neji could read people's minds. "What?"
"I said, yeah, that class is a joke. And I'll probably wind up with some crappy final grade like a B."
Looking at Neji's little smirk, his knowing eyes, Shikamaru suddenly understood that he had misjudged the Hyuuga. Neji was not the cold, humorless, grade-driven arrogant prick that Shikamaru had supposed him to be. He was like Shikamaru, someone who understood that this was all a game, and who had learned to play the game and play it well.
And he was not half bad to look at either...
Shikamaru sat upright, dumbstruck, as the realization hit him. He pushed the Shogi board carelessly aside. "I concede."
Ignoring Neji's startled frown – when had Shikamaru ever, ever, not been interested in winning a shogi game? – he swung his legs over the wall, jumping down four feet to the grassy ground below. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
Neji followed him a short distance down the path, to where there was an old arbor, thickly covered with wisteria vines. The drooping purple flowers filled the air with scent. Under the arbor it was dark and cool and completely private; Shikamaru often came here to nap. He took Neji by the arm and drew him under the arbor.
"What -?" Neji said.
"You asked me why I picked you," Shikamaru told him. "I didn't really know. Now I do."
Neji's eyes were wide in the dim light. He seemed to be holding his breath.
Neji's lips were warm and soft when Shikamaru leaned in and kissed him.
Neji didn't kill Shikamaru for kissing him, so Shikamaru kissed him again. And again. And then went on kissing him, intoxicated by the sun and the flowers and the buzzing bees and the feel of Neji in his arms and the taste of him on his lips.
"I like you, Neji," he breathed, when they finally drew apart.
"I like you too," Neji said. And smiled.
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First Naruto fanfic! Please leave feedback! Whatever you think, whatever you feel - it's all good. :)