Theme: Abandoned

Pairing: Neji/Naruto

Description: Neji realizes that Naruto's carefree attitude is just a front.

The battle with the sound ninja was a tough one; these were Orochimaru's elite and the last. Apparently the traitor, Sasuke, had managed to kill the snake sannin and his left over army blamed the village he'd come from. Naruto and Neji had been doing a simple retrieval, not even a classed mission, just gathering a few plants for the hospital. Honestly, they thought both of them were overkill. Then they'd been ambushed.

Neji stabbed an approaching ninja in the chest with a kunai and ducked under the swing of his partner. He didn't know honestly how Naruto was doing. They'd been forced apart though he was still in hearing range and could see Naruto if he activated his Byakugan.

A sudden triumphant shout to his left caused him to jerk his head around, his eyes flashing to life automatically only to have his heart stop briefly. A few trees stood between him and his partner but it wasn't enough to block the view of Naruto impaled on a curved sword.

Neji swore and in an explosion of chakra, exploded his last attackers heart and ran to Naruto's assistance. He was going to tire quickly now, that move was a last defense move, it drained chakra down to an extremely low point but it stopped the heart of anyone in range. Not a move to use around allies or with enemies too far out of range. But Neji had no choice, he had minutes to get to his blond companion to keep him from dying.

He leapt onto Naruto's attacker, their last, and shoved chakra like a knife into the man's throat, killing him instantly and then rushed to Naruto's side. "Naruto!"

Naruto coughed, looking up at Neji with a self-decrepitating grin. "Sorry, Neji."

Neji swoled leaning down to grab Naruto's arm and hefted him over his shoulder. They had to put distance between them and the bodies, they could have friends somewhere closeby. "Apologize after I get you healed."

Neji made it to a small hut that was used as a Leaf Ninja rest point and had disabled the traps, redoing them after they were inside, within minutes. He moved his hand from the wound as he laid Naruto carefully on the floor and winced as the blood flowed thickly out. "Shit, Naruto." He yanked off his shirt and tore it up before pressing a wad of fabric into the wound. "Did it go straight through?" He asked looking from the wound into Naruto's pained blue eyes.

"Hit…rib." Naruto groaned, closing his eyes as sweat beaded its way down his cheeks. His face was pale and he trembled beneath Neji's hands.

"Shit." Neji repeated unzipping Naruto's orange and black jacket and slicing open the black mesh he wore underneath. The wound was clean edged and Neji activated his Byakugan again to see what damage had been done and watched in shock as concentrated chakra worked to heal the injury. "What the…" He murmured wonderingly. The color was…slightly wrong.

Naruto turned his head away in shame and disappointment. He liked Neji, quite a bit actually. Though in some ways Neji was pessimistic, he was also stubbornly determined to change the 'fate' he so often lamented. He thought as a branch member he was to be worthless and worked to prove he wasn't. Naruto looked up to that and honestly, he thought Neji was simply amazing. But he had no doubt that Neji, like the older ninja in the village, would hate him when he learned of the fox that resided in him. "I'll…" Naruto coughed as a bit of blood leaked into his lungs, "I'll be fine. You can head back to the village to report in. I'll catch up."

Neji snorted, his eyes not missing any of the emotions that flitted over Naruto's face or his pained twitches. "I'm not abandoning you, idiot." He lifted off the wad of shirt to check the bleeding and winced as a bit of it caught on the open edge of the wound.

"Everyone else has." Naruto muttered under his breath. He felt Neji hesitate briefly and cursed the fact that he'd said that loud enough for the brunette to hear him.

"Sasuke was a fool." Neji replied unexpectedly. His unusually soft eyes met Naruto's and the blond found himself unable to breathe under that direct gaze. "He should have never abandoned this village, his team,…you." Neji murmured and Naruto found himself gasping at the emotion in his voice.

He'd never suspected, nor dared to let himself hope that Neji would ever return his feelings but there it was, blatantly laid out in those beautiful lavender eyes that he'd spent the years he'd been gone dreaming about. "Neji…" He groaned trying to push himself up so he could throw his arms around the older boy but a hand held him down.

"Don't reopen your wounds." Neji scolded then lay down beside Naruto carefully.

"I…I've loved you a long time, Neji." Naruto confessed hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

Neji's eyes widened then fell to half-mast as a smirk curved his lips. "Is that so?"

Naruto nodded, blushing brightly with whatever blood could be spared for the frivolous action at the sexy look that smirk gave Neji.

Neji checked the wound one last time before leaning over to trace the scars on Naruto's cheeks. "Must be fate."

Naruto's face slowly bloomed into a wide, happy grin as he understood Neji's meaning. "You love me too?"

Neji leaned in to press his lips gently to Naruto's, "Furry companion and all." He murmured against them.

Naruto's eyes filled with tears of joy. Who else but Neji would understand being left on the outside of the crowd? Who else but Naruto would understand being born and carrying a mark that made others view you as less? Neither would ever abandon the other because they understood.

Naruto leaned in for another kiss. Neji was right…it was fate.

Short and sweet. Most of the first set are sweeter and fluffy but they won't all be.

As always, if you want a specific theme or pairing let me know!