This is actually quite old, but I just typed it up today. Ah, the joys of having a laptop I can carry around and work with whenever the mood strikes. Consider this a bit of filler while I work on the next chapters of Worst Patient and Best Birthday Present, and my tribute to my favorite brooding boys.
"Ino…Naruto…two missing. Has anyone seen Nejd or Sauce?"
Nobody answered. Iruka sighed. How odd that the two brooding intellectuals were both missing.
"Will somebody go look for them?"
Tenten, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sakura went. The others settled on the grass, knowing that the lesson in navigating via the stars would be postponed until everyone was present.
The quartet went to Sasuke's apartment first, it being closer to the clearing they'd been in. The lights were off, but the door was unlocked. They filed in.
As one might expect, the apartment was sparsely furnished, neat and silent as the occupant. The searchers were silent for a moment, and a low moan was heard. It was followed by several thumps and another moan, louder this time.
Naruto jumped to conclusions.
"Someone's fighting back there!" he hissed excitedly, pointing towards the bedroom door. All of them had been startled by the noise, and they agreed with Naruto purely on principle. Silently, they approached the door. More moans were heard. A little too eager to show off by 'saving' Sasuke, Naruto leaped at the door, which banged open.
Cursing and yelps accompanied a flurry of bedclothes. When the movement ceased, Sasuke was sitting up in bed with the blankets pooled in his lap and a dark shape had vanished under the bed.
"Don't you ever knock?" Sasuke snarled.
"Iruka-sensei is waiting for you." Shikamaru said delicately. "We've got class tonight, remember? A fine time to get a girl in bed." HE turned to go. "How troublesome," he muttered.
The person under the bed threw a kunai at his heels. He dodged it and left. Tenten, Sakura, and Naruto followed him.
Getting to Neji was possible only through Tenten, who knew how to bypass the rest of the Hyugga house: go over the north corner of the garden wall, climb down the willow tree there, and approach the house at an angle, keeping to trees and shrubbery
where possible. Neji's window was on the second floor, at the east corner. The window was closed but unlocked.
"He keeps it that way," Tenten explained. "S o he can get out for early training and back in when we run late."
They got up to the window via a trellis of heavy ivy. Neji had replaced the flimsy wood with a metal framework to aid his frequent comings and goings. Tenten pushed the window open.
There was a small lamp on beside a stack of floor pillows and a couple of books on the floor near the window. Across the room, a lump on the bed shifted a little.
"Neji?" Tenten asked. No response. She stepped carefully into the room, followed by the others. "Neji?"
Sakura approached the bed.
"He's here," she whispered. "He doesn't look too good." She hesitated, then checked his temperature. "Fever."
Neji stirred.
"Mmnn? Sakura?" he mumbled, rolling onto his back and half sitting up. "What are you doing in here?"
"You missed roll-call."
"Roll call? What-oh. The navigation lesson."
"Are you alright?" Tenten asked. Neji shook his head. "What's wrong?"
"Beginnings of a cold, I think. I slept until noon this morning, then nearly blacked out in the hallway. Tell Iruka-sensei that I won't be in class tonight."
Tenten took another step forward and confirmed Sakura's claim.
"You have a fever," she murmured.
"Figures," he muttered. "Am I the only one missing?"
"Sasuke, too," Shikamaru amended. "We already found him."
Neji looked mildly interested.
"Is he sick as well?"
"Nah. Had a girl in his room. Idiot."
"I can't say I'm surprised. With all the girls that absolutely worship him, you'd think he'd've done something with one of them sooner." Tenten and Naruto rolled their eyes, and Sakura blushed. Shikamaru sighed.
"We should get back. Feel better." With a casual wave, he hopped out the window. The others followed, Tenten pausing at the sill. Neji didn't notice, just lay down again and pulled the blankets over his head.
Iruka was waiting when they returned.
"Report."
"Neji's sick. Sasuke had a girl with him, but he should be on the way," Shikamaru said, flopping onto the grass with a sigh.
"A girl?"
"Uh-huh. She hid under the bed so we couldn't see who it was. And she threw a kunai at Shikamaru." Naruto sounded quite smug. Iruka sighed heavily.
"Hinata, were you aware of Neji's condition?"
"Well…he stayed in his room all day, and…and Hanabi said she saw him once this afternoon, and that he was quite pale."
"Alright. The rest of you, get over here. Let's get started. Sasuke can catch up when he gets here."
Another dark shape eased over Neji's windowsill. It slunk across the floor and climbed onto the bed. Neji didn't seem particularly bothered by it.
"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" he asked, rolling over to face the intruder.
"Yeah. Aren't you?"
"Right here in bed."
"How'd you manage that?"
"I planned ahead and faked sick. C'mere." Neji pulled Sasuke into a quick kiss. "Now leave, before another search party shows up."
"Tomorrow night, then?"
"Tomorrow."