Sasuke walked dully through the rain, head hanging, eyes downcast, but seeing nothing. His hair, normally a spiky mass, lay flat against his head. Rain dripped from his bangs and from the end of his nose. It had been several months since Kakashi had been promoted to the position of Hokage and still Sasuke hadn't recovered. If he was honest with himself, Sasuke hadn't even tried to recover. He was content to wander the village late at night, feeling sorry for himself. During the day when he couldn't avoid people he locked himself away at home, pretending he wasn't home when concerned friends came looking for him. They all went away eventually, and most had given up after only a couple of months. Only the most persistent still came around looking for him.

"Sasuke?"

Hearing his name called just loud enough to be heard over the rain, Sasuke stops and lifts his head, looking around for the person that had called to him. It was the middle of the night and it was pouring rain, the last thing he expected was to run into someone. One thought did manage to force its way through his wall of self-pity and plant itself in his mind: whoever it was knew him to call him by name, so it wasn't just some random villager that was out and just happened to run into him. This was someone that was looking for him specifically. Frowning, Sasuke turns his head this way and that, trying to find the one that had found him. Finally his gaze picks out the shape of someone standing nearby and Sasuke automatically walks over to him.

"Neji?" Sasuke asks with clear surprise.

"I've been trying to find you for months. Every time I go to your place, you're not home. I was a little annoyed that I couldn't find you, so I've been searching for you with my Byakugan."

Sasuke frowns, looking at the older boy standing in front of him now. "Why were you looking for me Neji?"

"Because I heard about what happened with you and Kakashi."

Sasuke winces and turns away from Neji and starts to walk off into the downpour again, but Neji stops him with a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke turns back reluctantly and managed a weak glare at the older ninja. "I don't want to talk about that!"

"Fine, I don't want to talk about it either. I want to talk about us."

Sasuke staggers back a step as if he'd been struck, shock making his body go cold as he stares at the long-haired boy. "Us?" he whispers.

Neji nods and steps closer to Sasuke so he could hear him more clearly. "Yes. I've been attracted to you from the first moment I laid eyes on you when we met at the Chunin Exam registration. Your attitude intrigued me, but it was your eyes that pulled me in and held me tight. By the time I figured out that I wanted you, word had already gotten to me that you were in love with your sensei. I stayed back. I didn't have any desire to be rejected. But, since you're not going to be able to be with Kakashi now that he's the Hokage, I thought I had a chance."

Sasuke winces at the word rejection then turns away from Neji, though he doesn't try to leave. "Rejection isn't fun, take my word for it."

"Oh please, as if you're the only man that's ever been rejected or had his heart broken. Are you going to wander the village in the middle of the night for the rest of your life, feeling sorry for yourself?"

Sasuke spins around and glares at the older boy, wanting nothing more in that moment than to hit him, to break his nose and ruin the perfect line of that pretty face. Rather than attack him however, Sasuke balls his hands into fists and steps back away from him until several feet separated them. "What I do or don't do isn't any concern of yours Hyuuga."

Neji shrugs and closes the distance between them again. "You're right, but aren't you tired of feeling sorry for yourself yet? Aren't you ready to move on with your life?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes, glaring still at the older boy. "He broke my heart. You don't just forget something like that."

"No, I don't imagine you do. Of course, you never will because you won't let yourself."

"What are you talking about?"

Neji glances around, then looks back at Sasuke, pushing his long black hair back over his shoulder with one hand. "Look, we can talk about this if you want, but wouldn't you rather do it someplace dry?"

"If the rain is a problem for you, I'm not holding you here. As a matter of fact, I never invited you to come bother me."

Neji rolls his eyes and reaches out, grabbing Sasuke's arm. He turns and heads off, not saying another word as he drags a loudly protesting Sasuke behind him. Sasuke continues to voice his objections for several minutes, trying to pull himself free of Neji's grasp. Eventually, figuring out that he was wasting his energy, Sasuke stops resisting and lets himself be led through the dark and the rain, scowling at the back of the other ninja's head. When they arrive at the Hyuuga clan compound, Sasuke glances around in surprise, finally curious for the first time about where Neji was taking him, though he doesn't ask, just follows silently behind the older boy, waiting.

Neji pulls Sasuke into one of the larger houses toward the center of the compound, distracting him from his own dark thoughts about his broken heart as he realizes how much the Hyuuga clan compound reminded him of the Uchiha compound. Sasuke glances around the house as he's lead quietly through the darkened hallways, trusting Neji to not let him run into any walls or do anything else to make himself look stupid. Once they were in a room with the door closed behind them, Neji finally lets go of Sasuke. Rather than turn and leave, Sasuke moves deeper into the room and sits down in a chair, slouching and glaring at Neji.

"Get it out of your system."

Sasuke frowns at Neji, shaking his head slightly in confusion. "What?"

"Tell me the story. Tell me what happened with you and Kakashi. Get it out of your system."

Sasuke slouches further in the chair and pulls his gaze away from the older boy's earnest, silver gaze. "Why?"

"Did you forget how to form complete sentences? What's with the one word replies?" Neji sighs and shakes his head, holding up one hand to stop the nasty retort Sasuke was already forming. "I'll answer your question. If you keep this inside of you, you're never going to get over him and you're never going to move on."

"And why do you care if I get over him or move on?"

"I told you, I've been attracted to you since the day we met while registering for the Chunin exams. If I don't get you to let go of something you're never going to have, I won't have a chance with you."

Sasuke can only blink at Neji in shock. He'd been quick to forget Neji's confession when they were standing in the rain because he'd been so deep in his own self-pity. Now, out of the rain and forced to interact with someone that wasn't willing to let him feel sorry for himself, Sasuke couldn't dismiss the confession again. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. Why would I say something like that if it weren't true?"

Sasuke reply is cut off by a soft knock at the door. He frowns and glances at the door, wondering who could be knocking on Neji's bedroom door in the middle of the night. He turns his attention back to Neji just as the older boy utters his cousin's name and moves to the door, pulling it open.

"Hinata, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your own room? Shouldn't you be asleep at this hour? It's not very seemly for a member of the main branch of the family to be wandering the house in the middle of the night."

"I-I'm sorry to bother you, Neji. I s-saw you go out earlier and I just thought when you got b-back in that you might want some tea. It's so chilly tonight, and it's raining. S-so, when I saw you come home with S-Sasuke, I made you both some tea."

Sasuke leans over to the side, looking past Neji at the stammering, younger Hyuuga. Hinata stood in the doorway with a tray in her hands, two steaming cups resting confidently in the tray. The girl was blushing and looked decidedly worried and nervous about being there, but she was also not showing any signs of backing down. The look she was directing at her older cousin told Sasuke much about the girls affection for the boy. Sitting back in the chair, he crosses his arms over his chest and leans his head back, eyes closed, tuning out the conversation of the other two as he tries to decide if he wanted to stay and talk to Neji, finally tell someone how he was feeling, or if he just wanted to go home and try to finally sleep.

Sasuke is pulled from his thoughts by an unexpected and pleasant warmth that washes over his face. Opening his eyes he sees the source of the warmth, a steaming cup of tea held under his nose, then glances up into a penetrating silver gaze. Reaching out, Sasuke takes the tea, grateful for the warmth, mumbling, "Thanks."

Neji takes a sip of his own tea, then sets the cup aside and goes about gathering up dry clothes. He glances back over his shoulder at Sasuke, seeing that the younger male was staring forlornly into his teacup, Neji sighs and shakes his head. "So, tell me what happened. All I know are the rumours I heard, and I'm not stupid enough to believe a rumour."

Sasuke glares into the tea, then takes a sip before glancing distractedly at Neji. "I told you I don't want to talk about it."

"Yeah you do, or you wouldn't be here."

Sasuke glares hotly at Neji and starts to snap a retort. When it registers in his mind that Neji was undressing, undoubtedly to change into dry clothes, Sasuke whispers a curse and turns his attention back to the cup of tea in his hands. Almost as if in spite of himself, he feels the desire to sit and watch the older boy undress, and has to fight to keep his gaze from straying up from the cup in his hands. Concentrating as hard as he can on the warmth that radiated from the cup, sinking blissfully into his hands, Sasuke can almost distract himself from that unexpected desire. When he finds his gaze sliding back up, lingering on the sight of Neji, naked to the waist, drying his long hair with a small white towel, Sasuke decides to talk. Anything to distract himself.

"I'm not sure when I fell in love with Kakashi. I thought he was cute from the moment I met him, but I didn't love him right off. I guess it was sometime in the middle of our first major mission. Staring at his back when he stepped in front of Naruto, Sakura and I, determined to protect us when it appeared that things were going to spiral beyond our ability as brand new Genin to handle. I think that's the moment I really started to love him. I kept quiet about it and let the feelings grow as they would. Then, when I was off with Kakashi training for the Chunin Exams right after I turned thirteen, I finally decided I had to tell him. Being alone with him, Naruto off training with someone else, Sakura off doing whatever she does, knowing we wouldn't be interrupted... I knew it was the right time. So, one evening, just before we settled down to sleep, I told him how he felt. It was then that I noticed the way he looked at me, watched me. He never said a word, but I could tell he felt something for me too, though maybe not quite as strongly as I felt for him. I didn't bring it up again for another year. Frustrated and unhappy, I told him again how I felt. I told him that I ignored a chance to leave the village to get stronger, all but giving up any chance I had of finding and killing Itachi for what he did. I stayed because of him. I stayed because he convinced me to stay. I stayed because I thought he was finally beginning to love me the same way I loved him."

When Sasuke falls silent, Neji turns back to the younger boy and watches the emotions change rapidly on his face. Clearing his throat, he speaks quietly, prodding Sasuke verbally to continue. "What did he say?"

Sasuke glances up at Neji, barely noticing that the older boy was standing in nothing more than a pair of boxers, before dropping his gaze back to the lightly steaming tea in the cup he hand clenched between his hands. "He said I was too young. It didn't matter how he felt because I was too young. He said I was still his student and he would not take advantage of that bond for anything. I accepted that then, even though I didn't want to, and redoubled my efforts to achieve the rank of Chunin. I'm sure you remember when I finally passed the Chunin Exam at fifteen. I went to him that night and he still resisted. He said I was still too young. He told me then that he loved me, and he had since I was thirteen, but he wasn't willing to act on those feelings until I was at least seventeen. Knowing that he loved me the same as I loved him was enough for me. Enough to make it possible for me to wait for him for two more years."

Neji picks up his tea and takes a sip, then sets it back on his desk before walking across the room to stand in front of Sasuke. "And then he became Hokage before you could turn seventeen."

Sasuke nods and frowns. He takes a sip of the tea, and, finding that the tea had begun to taste bitterly unpleasant to him, he leans over and sets it on the floor next to him. "It was three months before my seventeenth birthday when they made him Hokage. I didn't realize that would make a difference. I found out it did when I went to him on my birthday. He told me that as my former sensei and the new Hokage it wouldn't be right for him to get involved with me. I tried everything I could think of to change his mind, but he wouldn't listen. It finally got to the point where he just stopped seeing me completely. And I guess you know everything else."

Neji is quiet for a long time, considering Sasuke's story. Turning, he walks across the room and takes up the towel he'd used to dry himself and walks back to Sasuke. He leans down and begins to gently towel Sasuke's hair dry, speaking loud enough to be heard. "Yes, I know everything else. You've spent the past seven months wandering the village, avoiding your friends and feeling sorry for yourself as you pine for the man that you can't have."

Sasuke lifts his head to glare at Neji from under the towel. "It's not like that!"

"Sure it is. Get over it Sasuke. He made a decision, and it's not the one you wanted. You're a man and a ninja, accept it and move on."

Sasuke scowls at Neji for a moment then turns his gaze away from the older boy. "It's not that easy."

Neji pulls the towel from Sasuke's head and walks across the room, draping it across the back of his chair to dry, then goes about pulling out a dry set of clothes for Sasuke, deliberately not answering until he was standing next to Sasuke again. "Sure it is. When you're ready to stop feeling sorry for yourself and let go of what might have been, you'll find that it's not the end of the world and you'll start to see what you've been missing as you wandered around in that dark cloud you wrapped around yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asks suspiciously.

Rather than answer, Neji moves closer and sits in Sasuke's lap, straddling him. He reaches out and carefully pushes Sasuke's shirt open and off his shoulders. Seeing the surprise on Sasuke's face, Neji stops and slides his hands up to rest on the back of Sasuke's head, holding the boy in place as he looks down at him. "I told you when we first met outside and again right after we arrived here that I've been attracted to you for the past five years. I couldn't do anything about that however because your heart belonged to Kakashi. Now, you know Kakashi doesn't want your heart, so I'm once again trying to catch it and make it my own."

Neji watches the dazed look on Sasuke face slowly overtake the surprise that had been there before. Leaning forward, Neji presses his forehead to Sasuke's, eyes closed as he enjoys the moment that Sasuke allows him to be close, then abruptly stands and moves away from the younger boy. He turns and takes up the dry clothes he gotten out for Sasuke and holds them out to him. "Here, you've got to be miserable in those wet clothes. These should fit you, I'm not much taller than you. There's towels over there in that basket. I'll just take our teacups back out to the kitchen and give you your privacy to change."

When Sasuke makes no move to take the clothes from him, Neji steps over to the bed and sets the clothes down. Stepping back over to Sasuke, he looks at the younger boy briefly, then bends down and picks up the teacup that he'd set in the floor next to him. Moving back across the room, he picks up his own teacup, then turns to leave the room, not looking at Sasuke again. Just before he reaches the door, Sasuke calls out quietly to him. "Neji, wait a second."

Neji glances back over his shoulder at Sasuke. "No. I'll be back in a few minutes. You think about what I said."

Sasuke sits in the chair, staring at the closed bedroom door that Neji had just walked through. After a few moments, he closes his eyes and slumps forward in the chair with a weary sigh. Standing up, he quickly strips out of his wet clothes, shivering as the wet items that had been warmed by his body heat were peeled away, leaving him vulnerable to the chill of the air. Moving quickly across the room to the basket Neji had indicated, Sasuke pulls out a towel and begins to vigorously dry himself off. The thought of Neji walking back into the room and finding him still naked hurries Sasuke. Dropping the towel, he almost runs across the room to the clothes Neji had laid on his bed for him. Picking up the pants, Sasuke slips into them and frowns at how long they are on him. He knew Neji wasn't that much taller than him, and yet the length of the pants was several inches longer than what he wore normally. Shaking his head, he bends over and begins to roll the excess length of the pants up into cuffs. He doesn't hear the door open and close quietly when Neji returns, so when the older boy speaks from behind him, Sasuke jumps, uttering a startled yelp.

"Wow, your ass looks great in my pants. Although, I'm surprised they're that much too long for you. I carry most of my height in my legs apparently."

Sasuke takes in Neji's amused grin and turns away from the older boy, picking the shirt up off the edge of the bed. He was embarrassed and angry that Neji had managed to sneak up on him. "Thanks for the clothes," he mutters.

Neji walks across the room and stands behind Sasuke, not saying anything until the younger boy finally turns around to face him again. "You're welcome. Give me your wet clothes and I'll take them along with mine to be washed."

Sasuke frowns and sits down on the edge of the bed, but keeps his gaze locked on Neji's face. "I can wash my own clothes. Thanks anyway."

Neji shrugs and moves over to sit down next to Sasuke. "I was just trying to find a reason to guarantee that after tonight you'll come back here at least once."

Sasuke frowns at Neji again, hunching his shoulders and crossing his arms over his chest. "Why?"

Neji sighs and shakes his head. "Haven't you been listening? I've already told you three times tonight that I'm interested in you. I won't go so far as to say I'm in love with you yet, but give me the chance and I will be soon enough."

Sasuke blinks at Neji and looks away. For once, his thoughts don't turn to Kakashi. "You really think so?"

Neji scowls at Sasuke, wondering briefly if the other ninja was being deliberately obtuse. Rather than reply with words, Neji reaches out and hooks his fingers under Sasuke's chin, turning the other boy's face back to him. The moment Sasuke's black eyes lock on Neji's silver eyes, he leans in and captures the younger male's lips with his own. The kiss starts off soft, tentative, but the moment Neji feels Sasuke relax into the kiss, he draws the younger boy into his arms and deepens the kiss.

Sasuke wraps his arms around Neji as the older boy draws him closer. Shutting out all thought, Sasuke allows himself to just enjoy the kiss. The warm pressure, the soft supple feel of Neji's lips against his making Sasuke's heart race. When Neji draws back from the kiss, Sasuke doesn't let go. Instead, he lays his head on Neji's shoulder and squeezes his eyes closed, waiting for the pain that had been plaguing him for so long to return. When the pain doesn't come, Sasuke lets go of Neji and sits up. He frowns as he concentrates on what he was feeling. He was still aching a bit from Kakashi's rejection, but that ache was beginning to fade. In the place of the heartache he'd been harboring for months, Sasuke felt a trembling new hope. Turning his head, he looks at Neji who was watching him patiently, his face giving away nothing that he felt.

"What are you thinking?"

Neji shifts and wraps his arms around Sasuke again, making Sasuke notice at last the the older boy had let him go when he'd pulled back. "I was thinking that I'm finally going to get the chance that I've wanted for so long."

"What chance is that?"

"The chance to love you," Neji whispers.

Sasuke feels himself beginning to smile for the first time in longer than he could remember. Wrapping his arms around Neji once again, Sasuke slides close enough so that their bodies touched from knees to shoulders, making it easier for them to hold one another. "I'm still hurting, but I can feel it already beginning to fade. I just don't see how I never noticed you before now."

"Because you only had eyes for Kakashi. I can understand that. I've only had eyes for you these past five years."

"So, you'll be patient with me? You'll wait until I've healed my broken heart?"

Neji shakes his head and smiles at Sasuke. "No, but I'll help you heal that broken heart. I'm going to make Kakashi just another memory."

Rather than reply with words, which he knew would never be sufficient in that moment, Sasuke leans in to Neji and captures the older boy's lips with his own. As they kiss, it occurs to Sasuke that the outcome of this relationship could be just as bad as the one he'd nearly had with Kakashi, but he was willing to try because the feeling of hope and happiness that was beginning to grow in his heart was much more preferable than the darkness and pain that had lived there previously.

AN: This story was unexpected, but when my muse gave it to me, there was no telling her no. So, I wrote the opening and decided it was crap and I wasn't going to finish it. I was wrong. lol She finished the story in my head that night as I tried to go to sleep. Of course, as usual, it didn't come out the way it was written in my head. It came out much longer than I expected. There's more angst than I expected or planned. There's less fluff than I expected and planned. In the end, I like the story and have hopes of writing a follow-up piece to it some day.

The title... lol The title is actually the title of another story I'd planned on writing for these two. But that story got lost in the writing of this one, so this one stole the name. It's a lazy person's title. Everyone knows what Bishonen is, but for those that don't feel like looking it up, Nurenezumi translates to "soaked to the skin." I know. Original title. But it sounds cool in Japanese, so don't think about the translation! XD