Perfection

I do not own anything in this fic other than the plot. Please don't steal it…

"Come on, Shikamaru! You could at least try to enjoy yourself!" Ino yelled. I tried to ignore her, which wasn't all that difficult over the pounding music. She had forced me to come with her and Choji to a local nightclub to celebrate the engagement of her close friend, Sakura. That pink-haired harpy had been chasing the same guy for years before finally falling for a certain bowl-headed friend of hers, who had been trying to court her for over four years now. The two were happily engaged and planning a wedding in August.

I drained a shot of tequila and glanced around the club. The flashing lights made people look like robots as they danced. Above the music, which could easily be classified as way-too-damn-loud, yells and laughter could be heard from the dance floor. Judging by the lack of inhibitions that I could detect throughout the crowd, most of these people were drunk out of their minds. I finally stood from my stool. The ever present smell of alcohol mingling with the heavy cloud of perfume and cologne was giving me a massive headache.

"Fine, Ino. I'll try to enjoy myself, but I can't make promises," I said. She waved her hand at me to signify that she was more interested in the young bartender in front of her. Rolling my eyes good-naturedly, I walked away from the bar.

I was contemplating on just leaving the club. It seemed like a logical course of action considering that I wanted nothing to do with this place. I was halfway to the door when something caught my eye.

Over in the corner of the room, a man was standing wearing a white shirt. Considering the entire area around him was pitch black, he looked like a spotlight against the darkness. Upon closer inspection, I noticed he wasn't alone. He had about five other guys surrounding him, all wearing black. They seemed to be cornering something, and avoiding my better judgment, I gave into my curiosity and got a little closer.

I ducked behind a pillar to avoid being seen. I peered around the cement pole to see the group. I could now see the face of the man in the white shirt. Whoever this guy was, I could tell by the look on his face that I didn't like him. His smile was broad and slightly crooked. It reminded me of the face that a friend of yours makes when they have a secret they want to share but don't feel that it's their place to tell. Except this was creepier. It was that kind of annoying smirk that makes you want to smack the person who is wearing it. Needless to say, I was determined to find out what could cause that type of smirk.

Suddenly the formation of the group shifted. In the center of the group, I could now see a person. They were defiantly cornered and had nowhere to go. Said person had a slight look of fear about them. This person did not know these guys and obviously did not like being in the corner. The man in white said something to the person in front of him. The latter decided on yelling back.

Over the still-too-damn-loud music, I could somewhat hear what was being said. Okay, I lied. I couldn't hear a thing. But I did catch the tone of the guys' voice because of his yelling. And this is how I figured out the cornered man's gender. The long hair and large eyes kinda threw me off…

Getting back on track, I watched this now enraged man push his was through the crowd, stalk haughtily across the club, and exit through a door on the other side of the lobby. The group of weirdoes in black didn't seem deterred at all. They marched, almost in single-file, across the lobby and through the same door.

Now, any sensible person not wanting to get involved would have just walked away at this point. But no. My curiosity seemed to be having a field day and wouldn't let me stand idly by when something mysterious came into being. So again, against my better judgment, I followed the group through the door, and up the stairs that I found soon followed.

As soon as the door closed, I was relieved to find that I could actually hear myself think again. However, that relief was instantly replaced with distress. Now that I could hear, there was no longer any annoying music present to block out the cry for help that echoed down the hall. Another cry was cut off halfway through. Someone was in trouble…

I sprinted up the stairs, before pulling myself close to the wall. Peeking around the wall, I could see the same group of men I had seen before. Most of them were kneeling on the floor, seeming to be holding something down to the floor. Their shoulders were shaking, from the laughter or the force of the struggling I couldn't tell.

The man in white was walking around, that same smirk I had seen earlier plastered to his face. He looked like he was admiring something. I soon put together that what he was oogling at was this something on the floor.

"You could have made this so much easier on yourself, you know," the man in white spoke. "If you had just been a little more willing, it would have never come to this. But, alas, you just had to choose the hard way. I'm just glad I get to be your first," he smirked darkly, "Things like this are always better the first time."

His smile grew as he reached down, and slowly unzipped his pants. Kneeling down, I could see him whispering sweet words to the individual on the floor. This was getting out of hand. If I just sat here, that person would get hurt and then I could get called in for questioning about the crime by the time someone got around to finding out that I was here and didn't do anything, which would just boil down to being way too troublesome for me and I would prefer not to get involved in troublesome actions or…

That was a really long rant that my brain starts reeling when I get anxious. That rant was brought to a halt by a weak whimper that I heard coming from down the hall. That was all I needed to bring me back to reality. I remembered where I was and what was happening. There was a person around the corner that needed my help, and no matter how troublesome it was I could never run away from someone in need. I call it a troublesome disposition.

I stood, taking a deep breath, straightening my shoulders, and praying to every God in existence that this would not end badly. I exhaled dramatically before whirling around the wall and sprinting down the hall the group of people gathered on the floor. Several of the men looked up to see my 6'1" sprinting toward them and panicked. Some stood up, taking defensive positions; others stayed on the floor but were just as wary of my presence. The only one who seemed to ignore me was the man in the white. He seemed too enraptured with what he was staring at to notice me.

That is, until I tackled him.

We rolled on the floor for a couple of seconds before I finally managed to get him pinned. He somehow managed to knee me in the stomach, roll me onto my back, and reverse the positions. He growled down at me while I tried to free myself from his grip.

"You shouldn't have done that. Now you will be in a lot of pain when you wake up in a gutter somewhere. I'm not going to let some bravery driven squirt like you ruin my fun!" he yelled at me. He raised his fist and prepared for the punch. He brought it down across my jaw, sending waves of pain up the side of my face. He punched me again in the eye, leaving me with one new black eye. Just as he was about to finish me off, he grunted in pain. I opened my good eye to see him go flying across the corridor, smash into the wall, slide down and lay still.

I whirled around to see the young man from earlier offer me his hand. He had long brown hair, large white eyes, and a thankful smile gracing his features. He was beautiful. I took his offered hand and he pulled me up.

After he released my hand, it flew to my jaw. It was aching horribly, as was my eye. I winced as I touched the bruising forming around my eye before looking back to the young man I had just met.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head amusedly before replying.

"I should be asking you the same question. It looks like he got you good," he said, motioning to my eye.

"Yeah, I guess he did," I said, chuckling lightly.

"Thank you, by the way," he said quietly. His eyes turned to the ground as he continued. "I owe you one."

"Don't mention it. I'm sure that anyone else would have done the same thing."

"Heh. Don't be so sure. People now days are more cowardly than they let on. Had it been anybody else, I would've been screwed… Literally," he added with a humorless laugh.

"Do you really have so little faith in people?"

"Does that come as a surprise?"

I thought on it for a minute. "No, not really."

He laughed again, though this one was more heartfelt. He looked nice when he laughed…. I shook my head and decided to get on with formalities.

"I guess I should introduce myself now. I'm Shikamaru Nara," I told him, offering my hand.

He grasped my hand before responding. "Nice to meet you. I'm Neji Hyuuga."

"So what were you doing that would land you in a situation like this," I asked him, gesturing to the many unconscious people around us. He looked around calmly, and then looked back at me with a small smile.

"I'm not a whore or a drug dealer. I just wanted to get that out of the way before I continue," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I never said you were," I retorted.

"Yes, but you wouldn't be the first one to think that."

"Who, me? Never," I said, placing my hand over my heart and feigning innocence. He smiled again, shrugged his shoulders, and then continued talking.

"Sure, sure. Anyway, I'm here because my friend is getting married soon. For some reason they wanted to have their engagement celebration here."

My eyes widened slightly. "No joke? That's why I'm here too." I paused. "You know what, I take that back. She isn't really my friend, but she is friends with a childhood friend of mine. I was dragged here to be 'supportive'," I said, bringing up my fingers to form the quotation marks in the air.

"You don't say," he chuckled again. "At least you don't have a direct connection to either the bride or the groom. You have the option to leave anytime you want, I don't. I envy you," he paused. "Do you like the bride?"

"If by 'like' you secretly mean 'tolerate', then yes. But I'd never date her."

"Not pretty enough for you?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, I'm just not into pink-haired harpies that have the temper to put any bipolar mood swing to shame."

"You know, I think I told Lee something very similar to that when he asked me if I liked his fiancée. He wasn't pleased."

"I would have never guessed," I retorted with a smirk.

"Yeah, he tried to punch me, laughed it off, and life went on."

"Geez, I wish my best friend was like that. If you insult her, she'll hold it against you for years. Or at least until her next birthday, when she expects you to get her an extremely expensive present to make it up to her."

He gave another short laugh, then turned slightly to the side and motioned for me to follow him.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I really don't want to be around when these guys wake up."

"Good idea."

"If you want, I can take you to get something for your eye. It's the least that I owe you," Neji said softly.

"Sure. Why not?" I said, shrugging my shoulders.

He smiled and began walking away. We walked down to the end of the hall, down the stairs, and back into the noise filled club. He seemed to be looking around for something. And he seemed to find it. Following his gaze, I found that pink-haired woman, Sakura, and a dark haired man next to her. I assumed this man was Lee, Neji's friend. He turned to me again.

"I'm just going to tell Lee that I have to leave! Why don't you meet me by the door?" he yelled. I nodded and walked away. I turned to look in his direction just before I stepped outside.

Minutes later we were in his car. He had the radio turned down low as we pulled away from the club.

Somehow, I got the troublesome thought that it was going to be a very long night.

:~*~:

Well, here is the first chapter of a brand new story. Yes I know, I have at least 7 other things to finish, but I don't care. This was just one of those things that eats at your brain until it gets done. Raise your hand if you have ever had this feeling. Nonetheless, I don't think that this will take long to finish. I plan on keeping it only a couple chapters long.

With that out of the way, you are now free to click the review button.

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