A sudden jolt in the bed was what woke Shikamaru planned to ignore it, a normal response when it's the middle of the night. But when it was followed by a soft sobbing, he grudgingly looked over. Neji was sitting up, having his knees curled to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.
"Neji, what's wrong?" Shikamaru all but mumbled.
"I uh..h-had a bad dream.." Neji replied between large breaths, embarrassed and upset with himself for waking his tired lover up in the middle of the night.
"Mk hun just go back to bed, it was just a dream.." the more exhausted (and slightly irratated) man murmurmed before laying down and snoozing off again. Neji looked over at his sleeping love, and cautiously inched out of the bed. He snuck over to the bathroom, trying not to wake Shikamaru up again and made it. Slowly he clicked the door shut, then let himself lose his control and slide to the floor, sobbing again. The nightmare flickered back into his head, images of an a-rank mission, of Shikamaru taking multiple hits for him, and later of a small table set up with burning incense, and Shikamaru's picture. The two older Naras', his lovers parents, standing before it and crying. Himself, sitting alone and desolate, back towards the end of the room. His parents left finally, and Hinata came in. All of Shikamaru's friends had been by, including Kurenai, saying with a sad determination in her voice, "Now he can finally see Asuma again."
"Neji?" the timid voice of his cousin pulled him out of his reverie. He looked up with the blank stare he knew he had. She said nothing more but kneeled beside him and held him. Finally his entire flood of pain and guilt came pouring out as the dam broke. He sobbed onto Hinata for an eternity, and she didn't try to say "It's going to be ok" or "I know what you're feeling" She just held him and let him cry.
And on the bathroom floor, the tears came just as hard. Neji curled back into the little ball he had been on the bed, and sobbed freely. His breath was coming in loud, painful gasps and he couldn't quite get them under control. In the bedroom, both Shikamaru's guilt and the sound of Neji's sobs kept him awake and forced him out of the bed. As soon as he got up, his brain had clicked awake to the fact something was wrong. He hurried over to the bathroom door and knocked quietly.
"Neji? Babe, what's wrong? Open the door..please?"
From inside, Neji reached up from his place on the floor and turned the knob. Shikamaru cracked open the door.
"I'm sorry, Shika-kun. I thought coming in here would let you sleep while I calmed down. I didn't mean to wake you up." Neji said in a small voice, hiccups interrupting him a few started to make Shikamaru feel bad, but what had really tipped the scale was the sight of tear streamed cheeks and wet pearl-colored eyes. Immediately he stooped beside his crying lover and took him into his arms, with no protest from said lover, only a hushed gasp.
"Don't worry about that stuff babe, just tell me what's wrong." He whispered into Neji's hair.
"It was just a bad dream, nothing important." He mumbled shyly, turning his head.
"It's important if it's making you cry." Shikamaru stated simply. Defeated, Neji whispered, "I had a dream that…..I lost you on a mission…" tears returned and Shikamaru gathered Neji into his arms and let them return.
"Babe I promise that'll never happen. I promise." The Nara comforted while stroking Neji's hair and kissing his cheek. "No more crying." Neji looked up at him, and threw his arms around his love's neck, holding on like his life depended on it, although his sanity did. Shikamaru smiled and wrapped his arms around Neji's lower back, his hands stroking up and down in a soothing motion. A muffled "I love you" came from Shikamaru's neck. "I love you too." He answered as he helped Neji up and kissed him. Neji kissed back with force, not the 'I'm horny' force but the 'I really love you' force. Which suited Shikamaru fine. It was the middle of the night after all. He kissed back and wiped remaining tears from Neji's cheeks. Neji pulled back and smiled, "Let's go back to bed." he said. "Alright." Shikamaru agreed and they both climbed back into the bed, both basking in each others' warmth. The Hyuuga curled into his Shika-kun's chest, and smiled as protective arms slid around him. "Lazy Nara.." he mumbled as he drifted off into sleep. "Troublesome Hyuuga.." along with a chuckle, was the response.
A/N: yay that was my first ShikaNeji! Review please! Oh and sorry if anyone else uses 'troublesome hyuuga' or 'lazy nara' cuz that just came to mind