"Checkmate."
Twitch. "..."
Smirk.
"It appears you are..." Glare. "Right."
Chuckle. "Good game."
Glower. "Perhaps. You have time. For another?"
Grin. "Afraid I don't. I have to get on home, my old man expects me."
(Rigid) nod. "Very well. Perhaps. Another time?"
Amusement. "Tomorrow work alright?"
(More composed) nod. "Fine."
"See you then."
"Agreed."
"HEY, guys! What's up!"
Shared glance of exasperation.
"...Damn."
"Why now?"
Uzumaki Naruto looked between his buddies, who were, at the moment, not all that excited to see him. Far be it for him to care. Good old Naruto.
"So, what'cha doing?" he pressed. Neji sighed and pushed himself to his feet. He reached up to rub gently at his forehead, his recent defeat at Shikamaru's hands coupled with Naruto's unexpected and very loud entrance making for one hell of a bad headache. And here he thought he was good at strategy games. And avoidingNaruto.
Shikamaru smirked at the proud ninja's expression and leaned back onto his hands, letting his head fall to the right to rest on his elevated shoulder.
"We were just finishing up, Naruto," he answered. "Nothing special. What about you, don't you have somewhere less troublesome you could be?" Naruto grinned and shook his head.
"I just got back from a mission," he informed. "So I've got plenty of time on my hands. Sakura's off training somewhere--" Here, Naruto broke off to give an exaggerated pout. "--And Sai's busy being a pervert. You were the first guys I saw who I knew, so I decided to come over and invite you to ramen! Neji's treat!" Neji turned to glare at Naruto.
"And what makes you think I would want to treat you to ramen?" he coldly demanded. If Naruto was at all disconcerted by his tone or his words, he did a damn good job of hiding it. Striding over to Neji, he flung an enthusiastic arm around his shoulders and pulled him to his side.
"Come on Neji, picture it!" he emoted. "The three of us friends laughing and having a good time...Our bowls of ramen that you so generously paid for waiting for me to eat them...I can see it now." Neji recoiled as Naruto started drooling, bringing the blonde back to the world of the living, though unfortunately, without ramen. He tried again.
"Come on, Neji, be a pal!" he implored. "You'll be on my best friends for life list!"
"No!" Neji growled, turning to walk away. Naruto reached out and grabbed his arm to prevent his escape. Shikamaru watched quietly, by now in the background and very much amused.
"Please!" the blonde begged. "I'll love you forever!"
"No."
"I'll pay the next time we go."
"What makes you think that this time is even happening to begin with?"
"I'll teach you the Rasengan!"
"No!"
"I'll buy you the hair conditioner of your choice!"
"N-" Neji paused to think about it. "NO!"
"I'll do whatever you say for one day!"
"No!"
"Pleeeeaaase, Neji, I need ramen! I haven't eaten any in a week!"
"Well, then, pay for it yourself."
"But Nejiiiiii! Tsunade baa-chan didn't give me my mission's pay yet! It doesn't come until tomorrow!"
"I'm sure you can wait."
"But--"
"This is just pitiful." Both shinobi turned to Shikamaru, who had lost all interest in the squabble and now thought it, as he said, pitiful. Neji crossed his arms angrily and glared at Naruto.
"Well, if it's just pitiful, then why don't you pay for his precious ramen!" he demanded, clearly out of patience. Shikamaru shrugged.
"That's what I was going to propose," he sighed. "As troublesome as it would be to go with you to Ichiraku's and put up with your crazy antics, Naruto, it'd be much more annoying to put up with this any longer than I have to. So, let's go, Naruto. The sooner I get you ramen, the sooner I can get home." With another sigh and a shake of the head, Shikamaru ambled out into the streets after a zealous Naruto.
Neji was left to stare after them and muse over what just happened.
He almost scowled as he realized his immaturity when handling the whole situation. Really, would it have been so bad just to treat the dumb blonde to ramen and let that be the end of it?
Well, Neji figured, nothing left to do but go train. Or perhaps meditate to calm himself.
His resolution set, Neji headed out into the busy Konoha streets, the quiet destination of one of the training grounds clear in his mind.
It was quite a surprise for him when he found that his feet had instead carried him to Ichiraku's and sat him down right beside Shikamaru.
The young man looked over to him and grinned a grin of entertained relief. Neji pointedly burked the Nara's eyes so as to spare himself the embarrassment that would inevitably come of looking at them. Neji didn't want to deal with Shikamaru's attitude about his own clear show of guilt at all.
Without a word to either of his comrades, Neji ordered the smallest bowl of ramen he dared and began eating silently. Naruto would have none of that, naturally.
"Hey, Neji, what are you doing here?" he asked through a mouthful of his food. "I figured you'd go off to train or something." Neji hid a twitch and turned to face him.
"I...had a change of plan," he forced out. "I figured it would be best to come here so I could – spend some time – with you, since you've been gone for a week." His explanation finished, Neji forced some semblance of dignity to return to him so he could at least appear composed. Clearly, Shikamaru wasn't fooled, even if Naruto was. The blonde shinobi beamed and gave Neji a playful punch on the shoulder. He had obviously recognized Neji's hidden apology.
"Glad to have ya!" he exclaimed before returning to his ramen. Neji turned to Shikamaru.
"What is it that your father needs you for?" he inquired. The Nara looked at him with an unusual grin and took a bite of his ramen.
"Needs me to help with some medicine stuff," he informed. "I find it troublesome and unnecessary, 'specially 'cause he taught mom to help with things like that." He shrugged and turned back to his food, but Neji wasn't finished.
"Do you spend time with him often?" he asked. Shikamaru shrugged again and answered, this time, without looking at the other.
"I guess you could say that," he answered. "We go on missions together sometimes and we play shougi and go, but that's about it." Neji's ears would have perked had he not been a Hyuuga.
"I didn't realize you played go," he mused. Shikamaru looked at him, clearly amused.
"Didn't strike you as the type?" he joked. Neji shook his head, perfectly serious.
"I didn't think of it. I knew you were very strategically gifted and know now that you're talented at shougi, but I never entertained the thought you would be familiar with go as well. I am much more familiar with go than I am with shougi. My family plays it often." Shikamaru chuckled.
"Your family plays games?" Neji sent him a watered down version of his usual glare.
"More than you would think, Nara," he shot. "Simply because we seem to be far too traditional to be interested in such things doesn't mean that we are that way. It takes a lot more than simple observation to achieve true understanding of something." Shikamaru was silent for a moment, looking at Neji with a smirk.
"And to think, three years ago, you would've impaled yourself before sticking up for your clan," he said. "Dare I hope you've matured?" Neji sniffed and turned away from Shikamaru, ignoring the laugh that escaped the Nara.
He found Naruto on his sixteenth bowl of ramen and still going. He sighed and turned back to Shikamaru with a smirk of his own.
"It's a good thing you're still living with your mother. If you weren't your money for rent would be down the drain."
* * * * *
Neji wasn't quite sure what happened. The very first game of shougi that he lost coincidentally was on the same day during which he had the first non-mission related conversation with Nara Shikamaru. He played go with him the next day and although he had proven to be sufficiently more seasoned with the latter game than the former, he still lost spectacularly to Shikamaru.
Shikamaru had then gone on a mission for a few days. As Neji had expected, thoughts of the younger man had left his mind during this short spell and he had proceeded to live his life as he had before the day he had lost a shougi game to Shikamaru.
It was when Shikamaru returned that things started to go awry for Neji.
He didn't quite know why, but he expected Shikamaru to maintain some level of association with Neji as the previous week of interaction had been something of an icebreaker. To Neji at least.
When Shikamaru didn't speak with him, Neji berated himself for expecting him to, knowing that associates as casual and (for lack of a better word) unofficial as himself and the Nara never sought each other out unless it was absolutely necessary.
He didn't quite know how to pursue any sort of friendship with Shikamaru. The deer nin had so many traits that melded and blended together, making it difficult to figure the man out. Of course, if you asked his friends, they would shrug and say, "He's super lazy and super smart." That troubled Neji. The way he saw things, if one was a genius, or had naturally developed intellect, why not cultivate that intellect as much as possible? He had, though perhaps that was the whole secret behind the Nara's enigmatic personality; he didn't really care and thus his mind naturally developed more over time?
...That was the most nonsensical and frankly ridiculous thing Hyuuga Neji had ever thought.
"Damn you, Nara," he growled under his breath, halting his training neatly to regulate his breathing and his thoughts.
"Enough for today, Neji," Hiashi's deep voice penetrated his thoughts. "Rest and we will continue tomorrow." Neji straightened and offered his uncle a respectful bow.
"Yes, uncle," he returned easily. Hiashi nodded and swiftly exited the Hyuuga training ground. Neji was left to his own devices, not something he wanted to be left with at the moment.
Thankfully, his mind was blissfully un-bothered while he went about the task of cleaning himself and his robes and he left the Compound with thoughts of finding Tenten or Lee so he could spar with them.
It really had been very long since they had trained together as a team, Neji thought. Not that he was sentimental or anything.
He absentmindedly wondered how Tenten's weaponry skills were improving. When last he checked, she had been working on handling dual katana and her ability had been very impressive, in particular her form.
Lee, naturally, was working to perfect his taijutsu, still under Gai's enthusiastic tutelage, and was growing very quick indeed. Neji, though he could still defeat Lee in hand to hand combat, was not able to match Lee's speed.
It really was a lovely day, Neji mused. There was a cool breeze in the air, a soft grey layer of clouds, and a generally relaxing air. Yes, he realized that it all sounded rather trite, but it was the truth.
Besides, there were other things that made it worth being outside. Meaning not just the usual cliché reasons that Neji hated. There was the fact that not many people were out that day and Konoha felt a little bigger than normal. It gave Neji more of a sense of freedom to have so much space to himself (not to sound selfish). There was just the relaxation that came from the spontaneity of an afternoon walk. There was Shikamaru, lying languidly spread out on the training grounds--
Wait, what?
Neji quickly came to a stop and blinked. He looked ahead and blinked again to make sure he had seen correctly. Yep. That was Shikamaru. Ridiculous excuse for a ponytail? Check. No alleged worries outside of the current activity? Check. Lazy posture? Checkmate (if one could call lying down lazy posture). Neji needed no more confirmation than that. It was, indeed, Nara Shikamaru.
Why on earth had he [Neji] come here, again? When last he'd been aware, he had been heading towards Team Gai's training grounds scoping out one or both of his teammates.
Neji's eyes widened marginally when he realized he had completely lost track of where he was going. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't registered where his feet were taking him. How could he have been so inattentive? Especially after having just finished training with Hiashi too! He should have been at his most alert mindset! Why was he--
Neji stopped his train of thought immediately and asked himself one very important question: What the hell was he still doing there?
As if to avoid answering the question, Neji turned swiftly on his heel and walked away with a stiff step. No matter how he tried, he couldn't quite convince himself that he had a shred of dignity as ninja left in him after such a pathetic display of a lack of attention to where he was going!
"Damn you, Nara," he growled under his breath.
* * * * *
It happened again. Shikamaru and Neji found themselves at opposite sides of a goban and, once again, Neji found himself at a loss (literally) in the face of Shikamaru's skill. On the bright side, this time wasn't as humiliating as the previous one. Maybe he was getting used to it.
"How was your mission, Nara?" Neji casually inquired, as they cleared the goban. Shikamaru glanced up at him for a moment before returning his gaze to the little white stones he was replacing in a little pot. Klak!
"Eh, it was fine," he muttered. Neji gave an offhand nod as he placed another handful of black stones in his own pot. Klak!
"Anything noteworthy happen?" he urged, hoping Shikamaru would get the hint.
"Nope." Neji paused for a moment before continuing.
"What were the requirements?" Klak! Klak!
"Escort some chick and her husband to Suna." Ker-plak!
"That simple?"
"Basically." Klak! Plunk! Klak!
"What mission rank was it?"
"A."
"Really? Then something must have happened!" Klakity-klak!
"Nope."
"..." Silence.
"We done?"
"...Yes."
Shikamaru pushed himself up ungracefully. "Alright, then, Hyuuga. See you around." He turned and started to leave. Neji watched him silently, still on his knees.
"Shikamaru," he blurted. The addressed turned to him and gave a languid wave of his hand.
"Yeah?" he asked, his tone indicating extreme boredom and even some irritation. Neji stood and opened his mouth only to realize that he didn't have anything to say, his utterance having only been uttered to keep Shikamaru from leaving. Shikamaru looked at him for a moment before he turned, offered another wave, and left.
Neji was left frozen to mull over his mortification. Through his mental self abuses and the haze of embarrassment and frustration, one thought rang through his head, loud and clear.
What in the hell was I thinking?
* * * * *
And since that rather embarrassing meeting, poor Neji had been rather on edge and quite frankly very nearly unapproachable by anyone, even those fortunate enough to possess a definitive ignorance of those sorts of attitudes like stinginess.
The young shinobi was rather hard on himself for having lost composure at that moment, in the presence of one before whom he would have liked to appear at least intelligent. Which shouldn't have been too hard, since, you know, Neji was intelligent and all that.
He cringed and just stopped himself from scuffing his toe on the pavement as he walked. Dammit, Hyuuga Neji does not sulk! He should not be this upset by something as unimportant as a slip of the tongue. Really!
How could Nara Shikamaru, of all people, be the one to inspire such timidity in Neji, if that's what it could be called? Certainly, Neji didn't know another word for it.
It made no sense that someone as uncaring as Shikamaru, as un-devoted and lazy, could make Neji so eager to impress!
…He was repeating himself now, even in his head.
Damn you, Nara!
"Hyuuga?"
Oh shit.
Neji stopped abruptly and his jaw dropped. He was currently standing face to face with none other than Nara Shikamaru himself.
Irony at its worst. Or would it be its best?
Shikamaru surveyed him with an amused grin and a quirked brow. Neji felt his embarrassment manifest itself in the worst possible way; by an increase in the blood flow to his face.
"Wow," the younger chuckled. He indicated to Neji's faded red face. "Plain Jane doesn't look so plain anymore." Neji's flush darkened and he glared at Shikamaru.
"That's hardly necessary, Nara," he hissed. "And you've never been one to do anything that wasn't absolutely necessary." Shikamaru mock winced.
"Stick an arrow right through my heart, why don't ya?" Said with a smirk. Neji bristled, turned and stormed away in one movement, impossible though it may seem.
Shikamaru just laughed and jogged after him. Yes, he was lazy, but teasing an indignant Hyuuga Neji was just too much fun to pass up.
"Didn't know you were that sensitive," Shikamaru mused once he'd caught up to the still furious Neji. "You need to lighten up, you know that?" He reached out and grabbed Neji's arm. Neji turned to him in protest but Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and pulled back on the appendage he held captive, slowing Neji's pace to one he found more appropriate.
"So, may I ask what you're doing here?" Neji only just refrained from stiffening.
"You may." he forced out. Shikamaru laughed.
"Alright, what are you doing here?" he asked. Neji sped up.
"I don't believe that's any of your business." Shikamaru sped up.
"So you don't know?" he teased. "What are you, stalking me?" Neji came to an abrupt halt and whirled around to face Shikamaru.
"No!" he insisted. "I was not stalking you! And I can't imagine why in the name of anything you would think that a plausible explanation as to why I'm here!" Shikamaru shrugged.
"Okay, so then, why are you here?" So blunt. Neji blinked and all but froze up. He kept his mouth shut, though, until he was sure he would not stumble over his words. "I just lost track of where I was going," he said honestly. Shikamaru gave him an odd look and cocked his head a little to the right.
"Really?" he asked. Neji pointedly looked away and nodded. "Alright. So, why do you always end up here? Where I am?" Oh, god, that smirk that Neji hated was on his face again!
Don't rise to the bait. He's baiting you and he wants to get you to react in a less than dignified way. Don't go for it.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me."
"I-- I don't know what you--"
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Hyuuga. You need to lighten up." He grabbed Neji's arm once more and this time he didn't let go. Surprised, Neji allowed the younger nin to pull him away from the training grounds and towards the village.
And, once again, Neji found himself at Ichiraku's right beside Shikamaru. Only this time, there was no Naruto. And no one else seemed to be around.
"Just you and me, this time around, babe," Shikamaru said lowly.
"Wha--?" Neji clamped his mouth shut, forced back a blush, and determinedly faced forward. He heard Shikamaru chuckle and his fists clenched on his knees. The chuckling ceased. Neji didn't notice. Why was this guy so good at getting him flustered?
Beside him, Shikamaru sighed.
"Neji, seriously, relax." And the next thing Neji knew, his hands were loosening themselves on his knees and his shoulders were slumping slightly; certainly an improvement from the bunched up state they were in before. Neji breathed in and out for a moment, silently taken aback as his body forced itself to a state of ease.
"What...did you do?" Neji asked after a pause. He tried to look down at his hands, but his head turned to the left instead, to face Shikamaru. Who shrugged and continued looking at Neji with a little smile on his face that was different from all the others.
"Shikamaru." Neji tried again, but his voice couldn't quite convey the firm demand that he thought it would. The addressed looked at him a little harder.
"I like the way you say my name," he said in response. Neji blinked and did nothing else. Shikamaru smiled again - well, smirked - and leaned forward. Without knowing why, Neji found himself leaning forward too.
"See?" Shikamaru grinned. "Doesn't it feel nice to just let it all go?" Neji surveyed Shikamaru with slightly wide eyes and nodded, but his head wouldn't move.
It seemed he missed the connected shadows below the counter.
* * * * *
"What the hell are you doing here, Nara!?" Shikamaru gave him a hurt look that he didn't believe for one second.
"And here I thought we were on good terms," he snorted. "Care to explain the cold salutation?" Neji folded his arms and glared.
"After you explain to me why you're here," he retorted. Shikamaru sighed and stretched.
"I'm here to pick you up," he said. Neji blinked.
"What?" he asked, completely dumbfounded. Shikamaru took a step forward and raised a brow.
"I'm taking you out today, Neji," he explained. Neji's jaw dropped.
"What?" was his ever eloquent response. Shikamaru laughed. Harder than usual. And it took a moment for him to calm down.
"I'm taking you out today," he repeated, the mirth still in his voice. "I asked, you said yes, I set the day, you agreed. We're going out." Neji seemed to find his voice at the surety of this statement. He took an indignant step forward and glared at the younger man.
"Now, wait just a minute!" he said angrily, the situation in question coming easily back into his mind. "I never gave my consent, you were the one who made me agree with your insufferable shadow jutsu! I never verbally agreed!" Shikamaru shrugged and turned to leave.
"Fair enough, but you still nodded," he pointed out. "Maybe next time you don't want to go out with someone, you shouldn't lead 'em on. Now, are you coming, or not?" He started walking towards the center of the village and Neji fumed.
Before any more thought could be given to the situation, Neji was taking off after the charmingly annoying ninja.
"Hold on, right there, Shikamaru! Just what do you mean by that! Shikamaru, don't ignore me! SHIKAMARU!"
Haiya, everyone! I'm still alive! I've been super duper uber busy with school crap, cuz I'm taking this super hard class that's really fun, but still really time-consuming, so I'm sorry I haven't been able to update anything in a while. Just so you all know, I'm not giving up on any of my other stories, but I am going to do some rewrites of them, cuz I do think that several of them could be sooooo much better! For example, there's this one with a Mary Sue in it that I don't like......
ANYwho, here's this story, dedicated to my wonderful little KagomeRaya! Love you hun, and I'm sorry this took so long for me to upload!! I'll try super duper uber hard not to let it happen again! To everyone else I promised birthday fics and such to, I'm still working on those and will not be doing anything else until I'm done with them!
As to this story, I was trying to make Neji slightly stalkerish and very sticklerish, the last of which I think I achieved! Tell me what you think about it, if you would. I hope the ending wasn't too rushed, but I liked it when I wrote it. I wanted to keep the whole mood light and kinda rom-com-ish. And, as to the title, one major motif in this story is Neji's uptightness, which doesn't get mentioned until close to the end, so I thought that "Relax" was fitting. Tell me if you disagree. R&R if you would, and thank you for your time! *bows*