Disclaimer: Do you really think I would be writing stories about these characters if I already owned them? -.-
The anime/manga series 'Naruto' along with all of its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.
The sound of eager feet shuffling out of Shikamaru's classroom could be heard in just about all of the rooms in the academy. Today was Thursday, and every Thursday, Shikamaru's students went outside to the practice area behind the building.
This time outdoors was used to practice what the students have been learning during the earlier days of the week and to also stimulate their brains with some healthy outdoor activity. All of the teachers did this and were assigned a day to bring out the kids, Shikamaru's being on Thursdays while Iruka had Mondays and so on..
''Oh yea! We're gonna rock at this training!'' Young Youji exclaimed as he was the first one to get outside, pointing his finger up in the air confidently as he exited the building
''Right Stub...ba?'' Youji turned around to find his dog not following him...again. ''Stubba! My god! Could ya be any slower? Learn how to move faster, geez!'' The Inuzuka scolded as soon as his overly fat ninja hound made it outside.
''Stop yelling at Stubba.'' Namine said as she made it outside as well, stepping over the hunk of fur that was laying in the middle of the doorway that led outside.
''It's not her fault that her owner feeds her so much'' the redheaded girl said, glaring at Youji as she sat down on the grass beside the panting dog.
''I do not.'' Youji defended himself. ''She eats the stupid cat food all the time.'' he said, crossing his arms as he didn't bother to move Stubba from the walkway as other students stepped over her on the way out
''Well then you should put it somewhere where she can't get it.'' Namine countered, petting the ninja hound gently while Youji mumbled to himself, not really having anything to come back with. He did leave the cat food where she could get it, so he didn't have any right to complain about the dogs weight.
The Inuzuka looked over to his classmate when she gently removed Stubba from the walkway, moving away from the path himself when his sensei walked out into the yard, Neji silently following after him.
Shikamaru's eyes passed over them for a brief moment, nodding at them when Namine greeted him politely. The Nara cast a glance at the Hyuuga behind him before looking on ahead, stopping in the middle of the practice ground as he ushered his students around him.
''Okay everyone. We'll be doing the same thing we've been going over for the past two weeks. Learning how to properly sneak up on your enemy without them noticing both you and your chakra.'' The Nara explained, rubbing the back of his neck. ''We'll do this the same as always. Pair up and get to work.'' he said, watching his students pair up to practice concealing their chakra.
''What do you mean by, 'we'll do this the same as always'?'' A smooth voice to his right sounded as Neji came to stand beside the Nara, looking at him for an explanation.
Shikamaru shrugged lazily, his brown eyes focused on the students. ''The kids try and figure out how to do the exercise by themselves for a while, and when they can't figure it out I demonstrate and explain it to them.'' he said, looking over at the Jounin beside him. ''Then they spend the rest of the day practicing.''
''I see..'' Neji responded, staring at the children for a few moments before turning his gaze to the other boy ''Well then, if you're just going to demonstrate for them, why not just show them at the beginning of class and save time?''
''Because this gives the kids a chance to feel like they're doing something for themselves. It helps motivate them to try stuff out and learn instead of having me just show them the way all the time.'' Shikamaru responded, looking back over at the children, all of them practicing really hard ''When you're on a mission, there's not going to be anyone there to tell you how to do something. You need to figure it out on your own...'' he said
''True..'' Neji said, smirking lightly as he looked back at the kids as well.
Shikamaru waited until the day was about a quarter over before he finally stepped in and told the students how to conceal your chakra.
''Remember though'' Shikamaru said ''Even though your chakra may be concealed, that doesn't mean that you can be loud when you're sneaking up on an enemy.'' he said, looking over at Youji, having noticed earlier that he was overly loud when he tried sneaking up on Damien, who had noticed his friend coming even before the Inuzuka was anywhere close to striking him, getting laughed at by both Damien and Namine, who was practicing with Hiroshi a little ways away.
Youji shrugged sheepishly with a grin on his face as he caught his sensei staring pointedly at him, receiving an annoyed head shake from Shikamaru in response.
''Alright..now I'm going to go over how to properly sneak up on an "enemy"'' Shikamaru said, making air quotes with his fingers. ''Now, I need a volunteer for this.'' he said, not at all surprised when almost the whole class raised their hands eagerly
The Nara looked his students over, trying to decide who to choose when an idea struck him and he looked to his right. ''Neji, how bout you do it?'' he asked, receiving a few 'awe's from the students when none of them were picked.
The Hyuuga looked at him oddly. ''Are you sure? The students seemed to have wanted you to pick one of them.'' he said, causing some of the students to look at him.
''Nah. You need to get more involved with this. Don't go being lazy. I wouldn't want someone trying to copy me.'' Shikamaru said, a playful smirk on his face.
''Trust me, the last thing I want is to stoop down to your lazy level.'' Neji responded in the same playful tone before nodding in agreement. ''Fine then. Where? And what do you want me to do?''
''Over there.'' Shikamaru responded, tossing his head behind him to the corner of the training area which had some medium sized trees and shrubs around it for cover. ''And just stay still. You're the 'unsuspecting victim' anyways.'' he said
The Hyuuga nodded at this before going off into the corner as Shikamaru explained to his students how to properly maneuver and keep your chakra hidden at the same time so that wouldn't be detected. The brunette instructed the students to just stay here and watch while he showed them what to do, so they wouldn't get in the way while he was sneaking up on the Hyuuga.
'Doesn't matter though. He probably would figure out where I am anyway with that byakugan of his. Oh well..it's only a demonstration.' The Nara thought to himself as he went over to the side of Neji lazily, hiding himself in the bushes as he concealed his chakra without having to think about it. He crept up behind the Hyuuga, keeping his eyes trained on Neji's back as the Hyuuga kept his eyes front.
Even though the Nara could tell that Neji wasn't looking at him, the Chuunin knew that the Hyuuga knew he was right behind him. Shikamaru didn't care though, as he took out a kunai from his weapon pouch and sprung out of the brush quickly, placing his kunai at the jounin's throat and his hand on his lower back.
''And that's...how you do it.'' He said, receiving applause from his students.
Shikamaru could feel the tense muscles of the Hyuuga's back underneath his palm as Neji remained unmoving. The Nara could faintly smell the scent of pine and soft cotton radiating off of the Hyuuga as the two of them stayed still, waiting for the kids to calm down and go try it themselves. Shikamaru passed a look at his 'victim' and noticed for the first time how handsome Neji looked up close like this. The shadow-nin also noticed how much Neji's eyes resembled clouds from this angle.
He kept his gaze on those lavender colored orbs as they stared ahead at the kids while they got up eagerly to go and try the exercise for themselves. Shikamaru's brown colored orbs continued his staring until they felt this strange urge to look lower, his gaze coming to rest on the Hyuuga's parted lips.
Brown orbs stayed lock on those strangely enticing lips, their owner feeling a stranger urge to cover them with his own before said lips moved, Neji's voice snapping him out of his daze.
''You do realize that I could still sense you right?'' Neji said after a moment of silence
''Yea...'' Shikamaru responded after a moment, confused about what the hell just happened while reluctantly taking his hands off of the Jounin.
''Let's go and help the kids...'' the shadow-nin said, trying to redirect his mind from the incredibly alluring Hyuuga next to him as he started walking towards the kids, not waiting for a response.
By the end of the day, Shikamaru was somewhat surprised with how well Neji instructed the kids. He was calm, understanding and also patient with them, which the shadow-nin found quite puzzling considering how the Hyuuga had acted all those years ago when he was fighting his cousin. How he had gotten so fired up over hearing her say just a few words.
Also, Shikamaru couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to be near the older shinobi. He tried to ignore it, even ignored Neji while it was time for lunch, but he just couldn't get the long-haired nin out of his head and it was REALLY starting to bug him. Especially since he was trying to get all of the kids to go back inside and wait to be dismissed for the day, which was a chore in and of itself.
''Look, you can stay out here all ya want, but that's not going to change the fact that if none of you get inside right now, I'm never going to let you outside again until graduation.'' Shikamaru said, irritated how the kids wouldn't just shut up and listen to him.
The students went inside after hearing this though, and within three minutes, everyone was back in the classroom, waiting to be dismissed while chatting with their friends and roaming around the room, their sensei having never cared what they did with the last few minutes of class.
''Did you honestly think it was necessary to threaten them like that?'' Shikamaru didn't even have to look up to see who was by his desk as he was sorting and putting away his graded papers.
The Nara refused to look at the Hyuuga next to him, still confused about what happened this afternoon. ''Never thought I'd see the day when Neji Hyuuga actually cared about a bunch of kids..'' he replied in a bored tone, stacking his papers to put in one of his folders.
''Hn..I suppose you could say that they've.. grown on me.'' Neji replied back, not making an attempt to defend himself from that statement.
Shikamaru shrugged at this, putting the papers into a beige colored folder ''Kids have a way of doing that.'' he responded ''Even I have grown to like them a little, even if they irritate me sometimes''
''I noticed.'' Neji said, smirking as he recalled how earlier in the week, the Nara was completely pissed that one of his students threw a kunai at his chalkboard. The Hyuuga looked at the board now, nearly two days later and noticed that it was completely fixed, not a scratch on it.
The two remained silent until all of the children left, leaving them in a silence, which wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but Shikamaru couldn't help thinking that it was awkward. The Nara spent most of the day thinking about the incident this afternoon, and through his thinking, he came to the conclusion that Neji most likely didn't know what he had been planning back there.. But that didn't make him feel any less awkward now that he was alone with the gentlefist-user.
''Shikamaru..I feel like I am ready to stop observing and prepare for a genin team. The final exams are next Monday and it is already Thursday...'' Neji responded suddenly, causing the shadow-nin to look at him for the first time in hours.
The Nara sat back in his chair as he thought about it. Neji had been observing for about three days now. And considering how good Neji was with the children today, Shikamaru could see why the Hyuuga thought himself ready to stop observing.
The sensei glanced over at the other boy. Though it was true that Neji was ready to go, Shikamaru didn't want him to. The Nara had actually found himself attracted to the handsome Hyuuga as he found out about an hour ago when he had kept staring at the older nin when he was sure he wasn't looking. Attraction, wanting physical contact, wanting to spend more time with him and learn more about him...yea. If that wasn't a crush then Shikamaru didn't know what was.
''Alright...'' he finally responded ''But there's one more thing that I'm still not too sure about.'' Shikamaru said, continuing on when Neji was silent. Shikamaru sighed and got up lazily ''Even if you're ready, I still have no idea who to pair you up with for a team...'' he said ''The job was put up to me by the hokage. And I just don't know who to pick to be honest'' Okay, it wasn't technically a lie. The Nara had some clue of who to put in the Hyuuga's squad, but nothing was concrete yet.
''What are you saying?'' Neji asked, curious
''Im saying..'' The Nara said as he picked up his keys to the class room and tucked his folder of papers underneath his arm. ''That I would appreciate spending a little more time with you to help me figure this out.'' Shikamaru responded. ''Maybe play shoji or something..'' he added as an afterthought.
The older ninja was silent for a few moments ''I...can't today. But I can tomorrow.'' Neji said, agreeing to the arraignment.
''Sounds like a plan.'' Shikamaru nodded, secretly very happy on the inside but also very guilty as well.
''Did you still want me to observe tomorrow?''
''Nah, I told you, this is for me. You're all set.'' The sensei responded, giving Neji a time and where exactly his apartment was before they both left, saying goodbye before parting ways.
'Man..me and my big mouth..' Shikamaru thought as he sauntered off to his apartment.
The next day felt odd without Neji being in the back of class and Shikamaru couldn't help missing the silent Hyuuga as the day dragged on. But fortunately for everyone, the day went by at a normal pace and before the Nara knew it, the school day was over and he was walking home, carrying his folder full of papers with him once again.
After a few minutes, the brunette made it back to his apartment, whipping out his keys from his back pocket and opening the door. He tossed the folder onto his low coffee table, not caring when the folder slid off of the table and onto the floor as he shut his door, placing his keys on the coffee table as well when he walked by on his way to his kitchen, which was attached to his living room, a shoji door that seperated the two rooms.
Shikamaru's kitchen was spacious compared to the living room. The cabinets and drawers were all made out wood, black counter tops surrounding the counters. The refrigerator was black to match the counters and was to the left side of the room when you walk in, a trashcan next to it. The sink was directly in the middle of the room, a dishwasher to the left of that and a stove to the right side of the room. The floors were covered with white tile which were slightly faded because it hadn't been washed in months. Lastly, there was a small bonsai tree on the counter top, happily soaking up the last drops of sunlight for the day from the window above the sink and to the left of the stove.
The Nara yawned as he got some water from the fridge and poured it into one of his glasses, staring at his mess of a living room. There were a few shirts thrown over the couch from earlier when Shikamaru lost the shirt he normally wore under his Chuunin vest and couldn't figure out what shirt to wear instead. There were scrolls all over the floor, as well as some empty bags of potato chips from when Chouji had been around the other day after work. 'I can't even see my floor anymore..' Shikamaru thought as he stared at the floor that was a dark purplish color but now was white and orange from all the clutter that had been dumped on it.
Shikamaru took a sip of his water as he looked at his kitchen next. It wasn't much better. There were tons of dirty glasses on the counters and a pile of papers on the table. The floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years and there was a boatload of dirty dishes waiting for him in the sink.
Shikamaru had never been one to go out of his way to clean. His mother always had complained about his lack of cleanliness when she would come over to visit with his father but he didn't care. It was his house and he would clean it when he felt good and ready. But as Shikamaru looked at both of the rooms, he was beginning to think that maybe that wasn't such a good idea
'Maybe I shouldn't have asked Neji to come over..' He thought to himself, looking at the clock to see that there was only about an hour before Neji showed up. 'Oh well..Nothin I can do about it now..'
But still, Shikamaru did feel kind of bad that he invited the Hyuuga over and wasn't even going to bother and clean his apartment for his guest. The Nara shut the door to his kitchen and looked down his hallway that led to his bedroom and bathroom before turning back to his living room, deciding that picking up the clutter was the least he could do but vacuuming was out of the question. 'Eh..I'll do it tomorrow...' he thought as he picked up his scrolls and shirts after having set down his glass of water.
The shinobi deposited the scrolls and clothes on his bed, deciding that he would get rid of them later as he wasn't feeling that up to it. He repeated this routine until all of the clutter from his living room was gone. 'Finally...I can see my damn floor again.' he thought to himself as he opened the dark curtains of his living room, letting the late afternoon sun pour into the room.
He looked over all of his 'hard' work before shrugging and going off to find his shoji board before his guest arrived.
About two hours later, Shikamaru caught himself in a battle of wits against Neji in his living room. The two had been playing ever since Neji arrived about an hour and twenty minutes ago. When the Hyuuga had arrived, Shikamaru asked him about the students and also asked him if he would prefer specific people to which Neji had responded that it didn't matter to him. All of the kids were going to make excellent shinobi in his eyes.
Shikamaru had nodded at that and offered Neji something to drink, the Hyuuga politely declining because he had gotten something to drink before he had stopped by, most likely thinking that he wasn't going to be here long. After that, Shikamaru had told Neji that he had figured out a team for him but would tell the Hokage tomorrow.
Neji nodded at this, not caring that even though Shikamaru figured out which team would be his, he didn't even bother to tell him. The older ninja then noticed the shoji board neatly set up on the Nara's coffee table. Shikamaru asking him if he had wanted to play for a bit seeing as the Nara didn't have anything better to do and the Hyuuga had agreed and started to play the board game. It would have been an intense game..if Shikamaru was actually focusing on it.
The Nara had thought a lot about what he wanted to do about his 'crush' towards Neji after he had cleaned his living room. He had decided to just go with the flow and tell him tonight instead of waiting. Shikamaru might seem to take things slow when it came to his lifestyle and his strategies but when it came to liking someone, he didn't hesitate. It just delayed the inevitable and Shikamaru wasn't one to beat around the bush when it came to these things.
''You seem to be distracted...'' Neji said as he placed a piece on the board, ruining the Nara's strategy. Not that it mattered, Shikamaru already had five other plans ready.
''Nah..'' Shikamaru responded, slapping down his own piece and stealing one of Neji's, causing the Hyuuga to frown. ''I've just been working hard, that's all.'' he said, trying to come up with a good way to tell Neji about his 'attraction' to him.
''Hn...I never expected you to say something like that..'' Neji said, thinking for a moment before moving one of his own pieces.
''Hey.'' Shikamaru defended. ''I can work hard when I feel like it.'' he said as he put his piece down next to Neji's hand, which was laid near the board on Shikamaru's table. ''Remember when we went after Sasuke? Who do you think came up with all the strategies? It wasn't Naruto, I can tell you that.'' the shadow-nin said, his hand lingering on the piece near Neji's hand.
Neji noticed this and smirked. ''Then why do you hesitate?'' he challenged ''Could it be that you are doubting your own strategy?''
''…..Not this time.'' Shikamaru said softly, his hand moving on its own to cover Neji's, surprising the both of them.
The Nara looked at their conjoined hands before looking at Neji's face, noticing that the Hyuuga looked completely confused. Shikamaru tried to focus his eyes on the Hyuuga's own cloud colored orbs but failed as his eyes again went to the Hyuuga's lips, completely ensnaring him once again as if he were a fly suddenly caught in a spider's silken web.
''I know this strategy...won't fail...'' Shikamaru whispered softly as he leaned in closer. The hyuuga seemed frozen in place, his wide lavender eyes watching as Shikamaru leaned in and captured Neji's lips in a soft, warm kiss.
Neji remained unmoving against Shikamaru's lips, catching him completely off guard. It was true that Neji had started to slightly become attracted to the lazy ninja in the short span of time that they spent together, but he hadn't planned on acting upon it anytime soon. Neji wasn't exactly happy about the fact that he was beginning to have feelings for another man and the Hyuuga was sure his family wouldn't like it either.
But Neji couldn't help but feel slightly warm on the inside as the shadow-nin kissed him. He let his eyes slipped closed as he felt Shikamaru squeeze his hand gently, letting himself be completely lost in the moment, even kissing back softly. Their kiss started off slow and somewhat sloppy, neither of them having much experience with this kind of thing, but in the end it got the job done.
Their small, shy kiss gradually started to get rougher the longer they kept their lips together, Shikamaru having slipped his tongue inside Neji's mouth at some point without the Hyuuga really noticing. The two tongues started their fight for dominance but there was no clear winner due to the fact that they needed to part for air.
Neji pulled away first, keeping his eyes closed while Shikamaru opened his eyelids and stared at the Hyuuga, examining his handsome face for any sign if he had enjoyed their 'make out session' or not.
Neji opened his eyes after a few moments of breathing heavily and tore his hand out from under the Nara's. Shikamaru let him, staring into the other ninja's violet colored eyes that oddly resembled a storm right now instead of the clouds he usually saw them as.
''Neji..I-'' Shikamaru started, intent on explaining himself.
''I need to go.'' Neji cut him off, standing up from the table.
''No... you don't.'' The Nara said softly as he got up as well, grabbing the Hyuuga's wrist when he moved to leave.
Neji looked back at him, just stared into those chocolate colored pools of brown, before yanking his hand out of Shikamaru's. ''Goodbye, Nara Shikamaru.'' he said, opening the door and leaving, leaving Shikamaru once again feeling guilty.
'God..' the chuunin thought to himself as he sat down on his couch, covering his eyes with his arm. 'What have I done..?'
''So you have figured out a team for Neji, huh?'' Tsunade asked, her chin resting atop her laced fingers as her elbows rested on her desk.
''Are you completely sure that this is the team you want to give him?'' Shizune piped up from her spot next to the hokage, reading over the list of names written on the piece of paper that Shikamaru had given to the blonde haired gambler earlier.
The Nara sighed and nodded ''Yea.'' he said ''Those three have good teamwork and they all know each other really well.'' he said in a bored tone, shrugging
''I see...'' Tsunade said. ''Alright then. Now all we have to do is wait to see if they all pass...'' she said, smirking as she leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. ''Neji's going to have this hands full with these three.'' she said, an evil look coming over her face, amused by the whole idea as Shikamaru sighed
''What a drag..''
ZOMG! Horray for cheezits and Koolaid! My tools for getting through this chappie! Woot XD
Bring in the dancin lobsters XD
Lol you guys. I seriously thought about stopping this chap right after the kiss but I didn't. I kind of felt somewhat bad that I didn't write to much last chap. So be grateful XD but I am still mean tho, ending it with a little cliffhanger like that..oh well :D im faithful you guys will get over it :3 I could have made it even worse XD
ZOMG? Who's gonna be in Neji's team? Damien? Namine? Youji? Hiroshi? Some random hobo off the street? You don't know, but I do! :P Just for shizz and giggles, let me know who you think is gonna be in the team. lol
Until next time, Peace! :]