Confessions of Friends and Lovers

Greetings! It's been a LONG LONG time since I've written anything. I've been going through some stuff that has long prevented me from writing…but now I'm back for those of you who have followed my work in the past and for you new fans I hope you enjoy my first work in over 2 years! My writing style has changed a bit but I think you will still enjoy it. I stray from the ordinary so expect OOC-ness. In this story I'm leaving a lot to the imagination. The first chapter is quite short but it's just a springboard inot the next. Oh, and the rating is mainly for language but for suggestiveness as well. To all my readers – Hope you love it! Read and Review! ~AkiraDawn

I don't own Naruto or anything related to it.

If there was one thing true about Konoha in mid July it was that it was hot and the days leading up to the completely 'legitimate' Jounin 'business trip' couldn't go by quick enough. It was undisputedly marked on everyone's calendar: July 20-27. Seven days without the Hokage, seven days away from Konoha, seven days that you just weren't a Jounin…without any obligations or commitments.

It was simple, everyone packed together and everyone left together. Each year there was something juicy that would happen and then everyone not involved in it would talk about it in Gai's hotel room the next day since Gai was usually the one so far from knowing anything happened that it was just great fun to mess with him. Someone would always get too drunk, someone would always end up doing something stupid like giving the whole 'I never knew how much you meant to me' speech which would make things weird for a good 20 minutes, someone would always insist they go out for the night which would always end up with someone getting hit on by a Jiraiya type….god too bad he never went; and finally there was always, ALWAYS a new couple that would emerge by the end of the trip. The real question was who would it be this year at the conclusion of the biggest party in which Jounin uniforms were not required?

It was now 3 days before the trip and the atmosphere at the academy was bustling. Anko shoved papers around on her desk concerning new chuunin candidates for the following year; on another floor Iruka graded final exams from the younger students in hopes to get their grades back to them in a timely manner. In another building Kurenai listened to Hokage Tsunade talk about new security measures to begin later in the summer. Asuma and Shikamaru played shogun outside in the courtyard. Gai could be heard yelling with his prized student Lee about the springtime of youth. A now very mature Neji could be found on the phone…probably consulting with another country. Kakashi was….well doing whatever it was that Kakashi does. Thought it looked like everyone was busy…they really weren't. They were just passing the time and counting the hours.

Since becoming Jounins together Neji and Shikamaru had become close, not close, close friends but good friends. They were looking forward to their 'initiation' into this Jounin bash and a little bit afraid of it at the same time. After all…when a jounin partied…they partied hard.