It was unusual, to say the least, returning every night to a home that wasn't the Hyuuga Compound. More than a little disconcerting, too, but Neji would never admit to that.

Neji would not have guessed once in his life that he would ever miss the Hyuuga Compound when (and he knew it was when and not if) he left to find his own home. He never once supposed that he would miss the quiet, almost rigid community that controlled virtually everything he did. He never thought he would miss all of that damning tradition, the plain sense of style, and oppressed feelings that defined the Hyuuga Clan. On the contrary, he always thought he'd be glad to be rid of it. He would have the freedoms guaranteed all human beings and he would find happiness in a life all his own.

So naturally, he couldn't comprehend why this new life was and different almost to the point of being uncomfortable.

"Neji, you think too much." Neji felt the dip of the bed as another figure collapsed onto it; with absolutely no grace, he might add. He almost rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me," he said a little acerbically. "I'll be sure to clear it with you the next time I'm feeling contemplative in your presence." Shikamaru, face down and almost totally immobile, groaned into the sheets. Neji pursed his lips to keep the chuckle from breaking free. Shikamaru made to turn his head towards Neji but decided to stop halfway, the result being an awkward and uncomfortable looking position. Once again, Neji felt compelled to laugh but stopped himself.

"Uh-oh," Shikamaru mumbled. "Don't tell me you're gonna have a stick up your ass today." Neji glared at Shikamaru, all mirth gone.

"Watch yourself," he warned. Shikamaru lifted a hand and waved it dismissively before letting it flop back to the bed.

"Ah, relax," he sighed. "You can maim me later, when I've had enough sleep." He replaced his head upon the blankets, muffling his words half way through the sentence. Neji shook his head and looked at him with an ironic quirk of the lips.

"What a clever way to weasel yourself out of an early death, Nara." Shikamaru scoffed and waved his hand again, this time in a shooing gesture.

"If you're going to be obnoxious about it, go brood somewhere else and leave me in peace," he moaned. Neji's eyebrow twitched and he felt a very distinct urge to smack his roommate, but he resisted. He was a Hyuuga, he was trained for things like this.

He stood to his feet, considered looking back at Shikamaru one more time, thought better of it, and left the small bedroom.

He removed himself to the sofa and allowed himself the luxury of spreading out along its length. Staring up at the blank ceiling, his thoughts slowly wandered back to their previous track. What had he been thinking about again?

Oh, right. The differences between his new apartment and the Hyuuga Compound. He'd been thinking about how odd it was that he still wasn't fully used to living away from the compound, despite the four months he'd had to adjust. Shikamaru had been a big help with the transition as well, so he should have been fine.

But that was another topic which seemed to be connected with his discomfort: Shikamaru. He had offered Neji a place to stay when he'd heard the young Hyuuga was leaving the nest, as it were, and Neji had settled in fairly quickly. The two had been fairly separate at first, what with missions and their different friends and just the contrasts of their personalities, but had slowly developed a more-than-acquaintance-less-than-friend relationship. That had developed from there and here they were. And Neji was a little confused. Just when he thought that he had been formulating a wonderful routine for himself, that stupid Shikamaru literally had to walk into the apartment one day and make Neji see him differently.

And now, every time Shikamaru and Neji were in the same room, Neji would be hyper sensitive of everything he said or did. He didn't know why, he just was.

And that added to his issue. Whenever Neji tried to analyze his feelings like this, something would change and he wouldn't be able to put a reason to it. Thinking about his peculiar feelings for Shikamaru didn't help, and thinking about his peculiar feelings in regards to the Hyuuga Compound didn't help. And yet that was all that occupied his mind.

Neji permitted this train of thought to run on its own for a while, falling into a light meditative state. The blank ceiling blurred a little as his doze became something a little heavier, and his breathing became a little louder as his consciousness gradually blocked out everything else.

Shikamaru only woke from his sleep because his face was smack dab in the middle of a pillow and he couldn't really breathe like that. He pulled himself up onto his knees and stretched, popping the tense muscles of his back. His mouth opened in a wide yawn and his thoughts shifted to Neji, curious about what was taking so much of his attention. New mission maybe?

His stomach rumbled and compelled a shift in his thoughts, and moved him to his feet. He paused a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes, pulled off his Chuunin vest and cast it to the floor. Rolling his slightly aching shoulder, Shikamaru began the trek to his small kitchen. Thoughts of how he was going to eat the maximum amount of food in the shortest amount of time (without being a pig about it) began filling his head as he walked; he was rather proud of some of the solutions he came up with.

He stopped abruptly as he came upon his old hand-me-down couch and that which lay upon it. He grinned and chuckled to himself, forgetting his hunger and making a mental checklist of everything about Neji that seemed out of place at the moment.

First of all, he was lying horizontally on a couch, stretched out in a way that could almost be called languid. He didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Second, his arm was strewn a little bit awkwardly over the side of the couch. Past experience had taught Shikamaru that Neji moved a bit in his sleep.

Third, his ankles were not crossed, as the younger would have expected, but instead one leg was bent over the side of the couch and his foot was resting on the floor, while the other leg rested against the arm of the couch, the other foot dangling over the edge. It was a classic relaxed and semi-cool teenager position. Except Neji took it to the next level and made it endearing.

The only thing that was out of place was a small frown on Neji's face, accented by the wrinkle in his brow. There was no change in his expression asleep from his expression awake, Shikamaru marveled, and he didn't bother resisting the urge to ease the tension from that sharp face. Leaning forward, Shikamaru reached out silently and gently placed his thumb over the crease in Neji's forehead. Neji jerked reactively as Shikamaru smoothed his thumb over the blemish to make it disappear. Those sleep-heavy eyes fluttered a little and his harsh frown slowly softened until it was gone, his brow clear of imperfections. The smile he offered Shikamaru was small and seemingly insignificant, but it was there, and it was enough to earn him a smile in return.

"Hey."

"…Hi." Shikamaru almost laughed at Neji's slightly raspy voice. His hand slipped from Neji's forehead to his cheek, where it stayed, unmoving. He had never felt a smile before, but somehow he could now, and his thumb continued to stroke over that warm skin as the two roommates looked at each other.

"You fell asleep."

End

Ohmigawsh, I can still write! Who knew? Okay, first of all, I am very sorry that I haven't written anything in a while, school has been being oh so very cruel to me, as well as lack of my Naruto muse. I swear the damn muse was there before, but now I don't know where it went! Fortunately, I love writing little drabbles (almost oneshot length) like this, so I'll never not have something to write!

Kitty-chan, this is for you, if you read this! You asked for a little oneshot, and here it is! I intend to come out with some others in the future too, don't worry!

As an explanation for this, all I know is that I wanted something ShikaNeji that left a good bit to the imagination, and I didn't want to worry about plot, since I'm working on so many other plot things at the moment. So here is something with absolutely NO PLOT. :D I'm rather happy with it.

For le future, I hope that all of mah favey authors out there keep writing their fics, and I will keep trying to write mine! Cuz, let's face it, fic-writing and Naruto are too much a part of my life now to give up. So dat be all, thank youz guyz very much for your time!

I no own Naruto or the characters, by the way.