There was Neji again, sitting comfortably on her porch while either of them dove into the village lights. The life and tenacity of the place was too strong to be extinguished, even during the night. Voices echoed while the crickets chirped in the extensive backyard grass.

Konoha was crashing into summer. Pretty soon there would be noisy cicadas to keep everyone up all night.

"Neji."

Ashita rose up her voice like there was something heavy on her mind. And she got every bit of his attention.

"Are you ever going to ask me, about- where I came from and well…" Every part of her determination couldn't even find words. So those tough gems shoved themselves into the old wood that made up the porch. "I don't really know what the hell I'm trying to say. I guess I'm just curious if you're curious. I feel like you should be, but I'm grateful that you're not. If you're not." Then Ashita looked up to him, pleading for some kind of help. Asking him to say literally anything.

"Well, I am curious, but I figured if you wanted me to know, you would tell me. Until then, it's none of my business." Neji leaned back a bit, making the old wood creak beneath his weight. "Does it really matter anyway? You're here now, and you're not harming anyone. But people don't look at things so objectively. They seldom see anyone for their own person. There are always expectations. I've felt it myself."

They were looking right at one another now, sitting just a few inches apart. "I guess what I'm trying to say is you don't have to worry about me. Because it's not really about what your fate is. It all depends on what you decide to do about it."

Neji then gave Ashita a grin, which only made her beat red face even worse. Whenever that small woman blushed, her whole complexion washed crimson, like an entire can of paint spilled over her.

"Well, you should know that they're true- the rumors. And…" That was it.

And Neji kissed her right on the mouth.

That moment was a crack in the tension between them, what tension there was. It shattered like glass dropping from a ten story building into hard concrete. And they tugged each other close, with hearts flaring up into infernos. Because it seemed like either of them had wanted this for so long, to smash their lips together violently.

There was touch, during his entire train wreck of passion. Ashita snuck her palm onto Neji's neck, just under that veil of dark brown hair. And Neji had her shoulder, beneath the silken kimono fold, right above her collarbone.

For a moment, it stopped. The Hyūga fell back with Ashita landing on top of him, her face pressing right into the crease of his neck.

The woman chewed little kisses into his flesh.

"Is it terrible that I want you?"

"No." There was a long smooch there that was half of a love bite. "I want you too." Her open palm snuck into his chest. "I'd like to tear every bit of your clothing off right now."

You could almost hear him gulp.

"I think we should go inside."

Ashita was already working on the claps to that plain white, long sleeve top that kept his body away from her. It was clear she wouldn't listen to another word Neji said. There was too much determination, a whole abundance of it, to bruise every last part of him.

So he scooped her up and carried her inside, and it was easy because the woman weighed practically nothing. Ashita was thrown over one of those broad shoulders, with her legs held by a strong arm. She laughed a bit, attempting to reach down and squeeze his behind, even though her arms were just a bit too short.

Somehow, Neji found the bedroom, despite that tiny snake wrapping all the way around him. His shirt had been torn from him pants and tangled up, and those long, happy orange nails drew trails of fire against the bare pieces of his fair skin. It turned his mind to a burning flash of blank. Like she always did, but ten times worse.

Neji set her against the unmade bed in the center of her wild and disorganized room. There were piles of papers the size of mountains drowning the desk and books scattered about the floor. But before he could focus too long on any of it, lips were crushing together and subconscious hands were ripping clothing away, so they could have one another.

There was a sweet pain of impatience lingering in either of their veins. It made their faces darken. It made their mouths hungry and passionate and desperate. It caused bruises on either side.

But it all stopped for a moment, when Ashita's kimono was finally on the floor and Neji could see the collection of scars along her back. They were long and deep and ugly, like thick fractures drawn into the earth. The sight of it injected horror straight into his eyes.

Those were not battle scars.

They couldn't be.

"Neji." A touch, just beneath his ear. She begged him not to ask. "Don't stop, okay?"

A pause. Then, "Okay."

The realization came, that hardly anyone got to be in her messy room. That hardly anyone got to look at the scars etched across her beautiful, soft back. That hardly anyone was even allowed to be so comfortable with her. For some reason, Neji was special. He didn't really know why. But it was obvious that he was.

So for a second, that all too serious Hyūga let himself feel lucky.

And then Ashita kissed sweetly his thighs and all coherent thought was ignited to explosion. It glowed bright white just before popping.

The rest was just photographs of something that happened in a series of minutes but felt like hours. They pressed against one another in all different ways. Smashing together; backs arched, hair skewed. The world was in disarray before it was over and the pair stuck together on that pile of ruined sheets, now even more fucked up and twisted.

Neji and Ashita kissed again, just before the lethargy drugged them. And those tired, unfocused eyes met somewhere in between their faces, while palms traced different parts of silhouettes.