Title: Shatterglass
Author: desolate butterfly
Genre: angst, drabble
Pairing: Neji/Naruto, hints of NaruSasu
Rating: PG
Summary: Neji confronts Naruto about a rumour he doesn't like the sound of.

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It took longer to find him than usual, which said something in itself.

Neji checked the training fields, the Ichiraku, Haruno's apartments, and the medical center before realizing his mistake and looking up instead of through things.

He did not turn when Neji landed behind him on top of the rock face outlining the Sandaime's head, or greet him with exuberant hand-clasping or shoulder nudging as was his wont.

The wind blew his bangs forward so that Neji wasn't quite sure of the expression on his face. He didn't like that.

"Naruto…"

The blond turned then, eyes slanting into a cheerful look, mouth stretched and grinning.

Neji wanted to smack it off his face.

"Hey Neji, I didn't know you'd gotten back yet—"

"Is it true?"

The grin didn't vanish as much as it crumpled. Naruto's jaw worked hesitantly, and Neji watched his hands clench and unclench with as much nervousness as he would have if he was anticipating the movement of an unpredictable enemy.

He gave Naruto three seconds to answer. When he didn't, he stepped closer, threatening.

"Is it true?" he repeated, already knowing the answer from the blonde's flinch.

"Yes," Naruto replied softly, as if it were a secret and not something the entire town hand been buzzing with upon Neji's return. "It's true."

"You refused the position."

"…Yeah. I did."

Neji lowered his head for a few seconds, struggling to keep the fury from his face. Then he was moving, pressing a blade against the blonde's cheek while the other hand caught and twisted an arm behind his back. Neji could see the other man's eyes widen and the muscles clench beneath his fingers.

He dug the blade closer, just cutting into the skin.

"Neji, what the hell—"

"You are not Naruto," Neji spat, even though his eyes were telling him differently, pointing out the unmistakable chakra patterns flowing through the body in front of him.

"…Neji."

"You are not Naruto," he repeated, the words clawing their way out of his throat. "Naruto would never give up his dream like that. You can't be Naruto."

Neji's hand trembled and the blade cut a little deeper, blooding spilling down the man's cheek. Strange red chakra flowed over the wound with a hiss and sealed the skin almost instantly. Naruto's fingers reached up to grasp Neji by the wrist and he allowed it, dropping the blade and staring at the ground so he wouldn't have to see.

"Neji, I'm sorry."

"It's because of him," Neji said, dully. "You said you'd become Hokage one day. But you won't because he's not here to see it."

There was a choked gasp from Naruto, and then the blonde was shrugging out of Neji's grasp as if Neji were a child clinging to his shirt.

"I…I made promises, Neji."

Fury rose up again in Neji's throat, choking him. "And what about your promise to me?" he hissed. "Does that mean nothing?"

He stalked closer, and Naruto made no move to back away as hands fisted roughly into the blonde's shirt and pulled him forward so that Neji could stare directly into his eyes. They did not flinch away.

Somehow that was worse.

Neji faltered, anger giving way to confusion. His fingers slipped on the edges of Naruto's jounin vest. He tilted uncertainly.

"Do I mean nothing?" he whispered. "Am I not enough?"

Naruto's mouth opened but Neji swallowed whatever answer would have dropped from those lips with his own, tongue pushing in almost violently and moving around teeth and lips and tongue with a searching kind of bitterness.

And then Naruto was reaching up, stopping the angry movement of Neji's mouth with his hands and cupping his cheeks as he gentled the kiss. Mouths slid against each other with decreasing urgency until they were barely touching, breathing warm puffs of air into each others chins. Neji closed his eyes and sighed, tilting forward enough to duck his head into the hollow of Naruto's throat.

"I see," he murmured against his skin, feeling the other man shiver.

Then he was moving away, steps calm and assured as if all the violence and passion he'd possessed had gone out of him with that last kiss. Naruto stopped him as he reached the stairs that lead back down to the village.

"I do love you," he said, voice cracking a little with strain, the shaky smile back on his face.

Neji didn't reply until he was well away from the mountain, the taste of Naruto's lips souring on his tongue.

"I know."

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fin.

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