Midsummer Afterglow: Guys! I can hardly contain my happiness! I've passed each one of my finals so far and I have three A's! Today I take my last final and complete my senior year! I am really excited to finish and get back to doing what I do best, write. ^_^

Anyway, here is the next update for this story. The next couple updates are being worked on but may not be published as fast as usual due to the fact that on Friday, I will officially resume working on For Always. Thanks so much for supporting me! Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO


The weather did not prove to cool his heated body the way he imagined it would. A couple days back, there had been high winds and even periods of extreme cold, but as he stood beneath the canopy of trees, Neji gazed up and noticed that every leaf was suspended perfectly, and from what he could see from so far down, each arm of foliage remained unmoving. He had at the very least expected there to have been a slight breeze, but it seemed that Mother Nature was doing her best to keep the wind from waking her darling trees.

It was an odd feeling, being out so early on a weekend. The rest of the world was still sleeping and all around him, it was silent. Even the birds were withholding their early morning songs. Neji could not remember the last time he had set foot on this biker trail but from what he could recollect of its winding path, the entire thing would lead him straight up into the foothills. If he kept a steady pace, he would most likely reach the top in forty five minutes.

Bending down to touch his toes, Neji convinced himself that his urge to bolt right up the rest of the trail was a foolish idea. Despite for realizing that his muscles had reverted to being rather unbalanced and out of shape, Neji was still able to muse over the fact that he had reached the halfway point in just about under thirty minutes. Not that this timing was any sort of record, but for being the kind of guy who shied away from having his work out's monitored, Neji found that if he were to compete in say any physical competitions, he would have a pretty damn good chance of out-beating most if not all of his opponents.

Pausing in his stretching, Neji noticed that he was staring straight at the ground, and had been for a while now. The tiny gray and white pebbles, which were scattered randomly about, stood out clearly against the light brown dirt path. Crouching down to their level, Neji reached out to scoop up a handful of rock and sand. The texture was rough and a bit uncomfortable to hold without wanting to release it immediately, but Neji found that grasping onto the bit of dirt in his hand was somewhat soothing.

So many people had tread on this same pathway and each one had surely had some legitimate reason for making their way to the top. Neji hardly ever felt discouraged by anything when it came to physical activities and due to the fact that he had little confidence in anything else, he felt it necessary to invest some in his physical abilities.

Smirking to himself, Neji lifted his head to take one final look at the crown of trees above him and then, squeezing his hand around the sand inside of it, stood up abruptly and took the first steps towards his intended destination.


My body decided to ache uncontrollably tonight; and just when I supposed that things couldn't get much worse, Hinata had chosen to ignore each on my pathetically desperate phone calls.

I can't very well understand why Hinata has been distancing herself from me, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself not to jump to any conclusions, until I can speak with her properly, I find that my mind is doing so regardless. It's very uncharacteristic of me to be missing Hinata like this, but honestly, the lower half of my body is reacting unintentionally every time I speak her name in my mind.

That last night we spent together was truly…entirely…indefinitely …magical.

Damn, I really could use a drink.

Pushing myself up from the couch, in my all too small living room, I move over to the bottom cupboard, in the kitchen, where I usually keep my set of emergency six packs. Of course, I've wasted energy as I bend down to find the cabinet devoid of alcohol. Sighing, I stand up and disappointedly shuffle back over to my couch.

No Hinata and no alcohol; and more importantly, the damn sink is once again, singing fucking merrily to that all too familiar tune, I've begun to despise over the last two weeks. Drowning out the sounds of the leak, coming from the kitchen, I spread myself out on the couch and silently search for my misplaced cell phone. The television is currently replaying a news feature I've been hearing about all week at the office.

The Hyuga Corp was currently testing a new set of drugs for psych patients. Yeah, yeah, I know all about the grossly expensive investment. I wasn't exactly head of the project or anything but I had managed to obtain a spot on the board of directors overseeing the thing. It was strangely a pretty challenging task, managing my own field-workers and then suddenly getting stuck with an entire new batch of them to prep for action.

It wasn't all that hard but truthfully, I'd rather be doing the janitors job than my own. Even when I goaded myself on with promises of a larger paycheck, my mind reeled at the thought of facing another day at work.

Money was certainly motivation but when I was forced to fork over half of my salary to my father every two weeks, it left me lounging around in my little shit hole apartment, wondering why I bothered working so hard in the first place. Sure, I was family, and blood relation was powerful enough to get me some extra benefits but did I ever receive a bonus check or perhaps an invitation to those damn holiday parties they held throughout the year?

NOPE.

I was tolerated because I did my work well but when it came down to it, no one actually wanted me around. Somehow, being caught in my company was offensive to them; and by them, I mean the entire Hyuga family. Except for a few, who like me, were considered outcasts, the entire main family was headed by a set of old bastards, who, when it came to money, could hardly tell the difference between lust and greed.

I could never quite pin point what they preferred, top or bottom?

I mean, sure, at work they were head honchos; not to be messed with. But outside of the company, they were senile perverts, throwing their earnings away on VIP tickets to gentlemen's clubs. How disgusting right?

This didn't exactly bother me, since older men frequented those place like overly religious people do their churches and temples, but what did grind my gears was the fact that afterwards, they'd return home to their ignorant wives and expect them to fall on all fours like servants and then to their children, and expect them to still honor them with that simple kiss on the check before lights out was officially called.

I happened to grow up with a different sort of father, but in many ways, he was the same. The pattern of a lecherous life grew on him until finally, his being had been corrupted by the very people whom he called his friends. It was only lucky for me that my mother was already resting in her grave. If she had been still around, there was a chance I might have murdered my father for changing the way he had.

In between the couch pillows, my phone lit up when I pressed my hand against its key pad. Dislodging it from its spot inside the couch, I pulled it to my face and gazed tiredly at the bright screen.

Zero missed calls….Zero…

Wait, one new message!

Instantly my mood peaked and I felt a smile tugging at my lips. If it was her, I'd be able to settle down some tonight. Oh, how I desperately wished over and over that her name would appear as it always did whenever I felt down.

To: Neji

From: Hina

Hey. Did you ever get that leak fixed?

I chuckled after reading her text. No, I hadn't gotten the leak fixed; but if she promised to come over, I'd do just about anything to shut the obnoxious thing up!


A/N: To be continued...