Title :Without Words
Rating : R
Pairing :SasuNejiSasu
Warnings : Yaoi, semi-AU (fic is set several years after timeline), lime, ficlet
Disclaimer : Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Not me.
Summary : Tired of telling people how he and Sasuke ended up as working partners, Neji reminisces about how it truly began between them.
Author's Notes : Just a short and simple fic telling the story of Neji and Sasuke as possible lovers. No-frills stuff.

One more time and Hyuuga Neji figured he'd go insane. He was honestly tired of people asking him how it started. What annoyed him was not so much the question itself, but the way it was asked. It always came out of nowhere, like a random catapult lobbed at his blind spot. Then cue giggles and snickers.

Hey, Neji, how's the work going, was usually how it started, because Neji now worked mainly in the headquarters when he was not helping Shikamaru manage the Chuunin level of shinobi, or attending to his clan affairs.

It's going well, Neji always took pains to tread carefully around the line of questioning.

Oh, good, good! So how –

Neji would tense in dreaded anticipation.

So how's the current crop of Genin shinobi?

Neji relaxed. They have a lot of potential and –

So how did it start between you and Sasuke?

As the asker sidle away in oblivious merriment, it usually left Neji plotting bloody murder in his mind. What probably made it a lot worse was that every time he was asked this question, it was in all sincerity and innocence, and strictly alluded to the outward fact that he and Uchiha Sasuke were now workpartners. Apparently, people just found it unfathomable that both of them could work so well as partners, considering their less-than-glorious backgrounds and personalities. A reformed rebel and a former enfant terrible probably didn't sound very saintly together. Nice ring to it nonetheless, Neji had to admit.

But to return to the main point of contention, their working relationship harked back to the day when Shikamaru hit upon the brilliant idea of bringing the two of them along as his team on a mission. The three of them had worked surprisingly well as a unit, and later when Shikamaru disbanded their temporary three-main team, Neji and Sasuke maintained an efficient partnership.

That was how it started onpaper, and Neji was tired of repeating it over and over again like a broken record, while his mind – his own mind – blithely dredged up secret memories of another kind of partnership between the two of them that had nothing to do with work at all.

Away from prying eyes and curious stares and blunt questions, it had started as a stray touch, a furtive yet weighted look when no one else was looking, a silence that spoke more than words ever could, a forbidden ache so deep in their bodies that when it all came tumbling out, all they could do was grasp and tear at each other.

Neji used to say no. No, in a brittle hiss when they came to blows for the first time and Neji had pinned Sasuke to the ground, and Sasuke asked if Neji wanted to kill him. No, Neji hadn't ever wanted that, but at that very moment he seriously considered punching the haunted smile off Sasuke's face for even suggesting it. And he said no again, several heartbeats later, his voice choked and brittle, when Sasuke's hands curled into his sash and hair at once, pulling him so far down all he could feel was the heat of Sasuke's body everywhere.

Sasuke usually didn't even speak. He just got too good at speaking with everything but his mouth. After their first raw encounter that left them bruised and sweaty, yet limp and sated, Neji kept his distance for the next three weeks, then got careless and didn't sense Sasuke's proximity until the man materialised right behind him.

Even before the touch came, Neji knew he was trapped. Sasuke just whispered stay in a voice that was husky from too little use, while his arms slid around Neji and the entire hard and rippling length of his body pressed flushed against Neji. Pinned against the wall, Neji could only squeeze eyes tight, saying godgodgodgod in his mind as Sasuke fucked him almost brutally and stroked his cock so thoroughly and slowly he wanted to scream. Neji never stooped to begging but he came close every time, already leaking where clever fingers massaged his erection, teetering unbearably on the edge of release, just a breath away from snarling at Sasuke to let him fucking come.

And Sasuke knew. He knew with the sardonic quirk to his lips that he branded into Neji's skin, and the heated gaze that was reserved for Neji alone.

So, over time, the frequency of their meetings became irregular – became too often – and Sasuke simply just looked at Neji to say anything. In retaliation, Neji learnt a few other words along with no.

When the missions started flooding in and the risks mounted, Neji said please and glared when Sasuke told him to cut back on his assignments. That was the last word Neji said for a week. It was standard reconnaissance work and Neji had gone alone. He would have terminated the unexpected rogue shinobi easily enough too, but distracted for a split-second, he had taken a blade right through his shoulder. He might have bled out in slow death in the forest right there and then if not a passing medic team who was just returning from an expedition. He spent the next seven days clinging onto life, drifting in and out of consciousness with the ebb and flow of visitors to his ward.

Sasuke never came. Not during those seven days, nor the weeks and months after.

When Neji was well enough to turn over all the forests surrounding the main village, he found Sasuke right at the border. Words had all but left Neji then, and his mind scrabbled for the right words. He thought perhaps he should apologise and swallowed it when he realised how hollow it would sound. So he said please again. Please, goddammit, you can't just leave like that! It was the first time he had begged anyone and it stunned him when he did. Right after, he saw the defeat in Sasuke's eyes and it saddened and frightened him all at once.

Nights later Neji took Sasuke for the first time. It had been painfully cautious and awkward, moving in odd fits and starts like a couple learning how to dance. Sasuke kept his face pressed against the futon while his body quivered like an arched bow wherever Neji's hands and lips touched. It dawned on Neji what he was seeing. Vulnerability from a man painfully unused to relinquishing control and will to another. Neji kept that image locked deep away in his mind, knowing he would never share it with another.

Afterward, Sasuke spoke one of the longest sentences Neji had ever heard him say since his return.

You get yourself injured again, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself.

Neji had snorted and told Sasuke the feeling was mutual and fought back the ache threatening to well up in his eyes.

So how did it start between you and Sasuke?

Neji had no real answer to that.

Perhaps it was that foolish injury that that brought revelations to both of them. Or perhaps it began the moment Neji saw Sasuke for the first time since his return. Sasuke had looked pensive then and it drew Neji in like a whirlpool.

There were anger and cold wars; there were little pockets of pleasure in the rare calligraphy practice together and the sparring sessions; sometimes the coupling was hard and urgent and so needy it hurt, and other times it was so slow and right that it almost felt too good to last. There were the moments when Sasuke said now like a demand and Neji gave in with a frustrated yes, for Heaven's sake.

Or that one time – just that single fleeting moment when they were lying on the ground and clusters of sakura blossoms swirled like snow upon them – when Sasuke asked if Neji wanted it to end. Neji didn't even know how it all really started, and he realised then he didn't want to know if it would end. So he shook his head and closed his eyes when he felt Sasuke's mouth finding his own.

Neji stopped thinking then, looking up as he sensed the presence of the other man.

Dangling a paper lantern gingerly in one hand, Sasuke stared down at him with the most eloquent glare Neji had seen in his eyes yet. You won't believe what Naruto asked me to do this time. Look at this. Just look at this. I don't want to do it.

Of course. The village was celebrating the festival of lanterns. Neji stood up and rolled his eyes. No.

Right then Sasuke did look like he was going to say something snarky in retaliation, but Neji wrapped his own hand around Sasuke's and he was quiet.

And without words, they walked back towards the village with the lantern between them.

fin
February 2008