The departure for Konoha was delayed when incessant rainfall turned into torrential downpours and rolling thunderstorms. Shikamaru found that even though he was antsy to start moving around again and face whatever damage awaited back home, he did not mind being stuck on the campsite a little while longer. Neji was finally off rotation long enough that they spent more waking hours together, sometimes in natural conversation others with pleasant silence, but always playing a game of shōgi. Shikamaru couldn't sleep much, and Neji was never tired enough to try.
Their routine went on for some time until the campground received news of enemy ninjas on the forefront advancing toward their group. After that, Neji understandably had been deployed with the other ANBU members. Five days ago. Shikamaru wasn't worried exactly, but he did miss the company. Chōji, being one of the few non-incapacitated ninjas left behind, reported that they should be returning soon as the warning was only a fluke.
When Neji finally came into their shared tent again, he was injured, cradling an arm to his chest and flinching every time he moved. The man looked awful. His already lightly colored eyes seemed emptier than usual, devoid of the lilac hue Shikamaru came to expect when he looked at his friend. His ANBU mask dangled from the holster on his waist, it was cracked at the forehead and missing a sizeable chunk from one side. The remainder of Neji's uniform was spattered with blood Shikamaru hoped belonged to someone else.
"They tell me the war is nearly over, but when you come back looking like that, it's hard to believe," Shikamaru commented.
"We crossed paths with an Akatsuki recruit team," Neji explained. "Our group had already split up, and I was the only ANBU, we had no choice but to flee."
"I'm just glad you came back." The sincerity in his words surprised them both.
Neji kept the air between them light and said, "Worried about me are you, Shikamaru?"
"No," Shikamaru snorted. "I thought I would have to find another worthy opponent for shōgi."
Hyūga laughed openly for the first time Shikamaru had witnessed, but surely it couldn't be the first time ever. Neji sat on the edge of Shikamaru's cot and focused on waving chakra across his broken arm.
"You can use medical jutsu?" Shikamaru was dumbfounded.
"Only the basics, I'm not very good," Neji answered, his brow furrowed.
"Is there anything you can't do?" The shadow ninja wondered aloud.
For several minutes the only thing Shikamaru could hear inside the tent was the sound of Neji breathing. Unusual— the man didn't make much noise even if the task itself should be noisy. It sounded as if the older man was having difficulty. Shikamaru shifted his gaze to the gray vest across Neji's chest and frowned upon coming to the understanding that the blood there didn't belong to the enemy.
"I can't crochet," Neji spoke at last.
Shikamaru had nearly forgotten he posed the rhetorical question aloud, but when it came back to him, he only shook his head and chuckled. Humor suited the Hyūga, although from what he already knew about the ANBU operative it wasn't a side of himself that was often expressed. Shikamaru felt genuinely pleased to be one of the few privy to seeing Neji in a less guarded frame of mind. When he looked at Neji again, his gaze was not returned. Instead, Hyūga's slightly drooping eyes were fixed on his ANBU mask, and he was biting the corner of his lips subtly.
So subtly that had Shikamaru not spent all his time around the older ninja recently he would have missed it, but he had long since come to realize it meant Neji was no longer with him. Sometimes, when Neji came back from wherever he had drifted, he'd share the details with Shikamaru, always selective about which things were appropriate. Shikamaru appreciated the filter. Neji had seen more of the war than he had and often recalled flashes of events out of the blue; plenty were gruesome enough to churn Shikamaru's stomach.
Sharingan disappeared from the raven's bulging eyes as they reverted to black and he was frozen in place, gazing in disbelief at the ponytailed ninja hacking away at his teammates. His blood was stone cold, moving like jagged shards of ice in his veins that had completely immobilized him. Not so deep down he knew it wasn't possible, he knew he was either imagining things or someone had intentionally played a vile trick on him. And even though he knew it, he could not bring himself to stop seeing the cloaked figure as anything more than a ghost of his past. One he longed to see but knew he couldn't. Fear seized him from the inside out, creeping up his throat to suffocate him.
"Sasuke!"
Someone was calling him. His name rattled around his head, superseded by another Uchiha's name. Strong hands snatched him from a line of direct fire; fingers dug into his shoulders as he was shaken almost violently. It did little to disturb him from his thoughts. The brunette in front of him waited patiently for a reaction that never came then whipped his head around to follow Sasuke's gaze. His eyes doubled in size, and he turned back to his masked friend.
"Sasuke, that's not Itachi. Snap out of it!"
Once again, no response was given, and Sasuke did not so much as budge when he was shaken even harder this time. Cursing, the long-haired ninja disobeyed every regulation as an ANBU by lifting his mask up into his hair to reveal his face. Neji steered Sasuke to look at him, lifted the younger's mask as well and peered into his eyes. Nobody was home. Their opponents had done a damn good job in replicating the late Uchiha, Neji would give them that much. From the deep-set tear troughs and center-parted bangs right down to the polish on his nails, the stranger bore more of a resemblance to Itachi Uchiha than Neji could conjure up in memory alone.
"That's not him, Sas." Neji soothed. "Come back."
It took several long minutes, far longer than they could spare, before the light returned to Sasuke's onyx eyes. He blinked a few times trying to regroup, and when he finally focused on Neji, there was new determination fluttering in his features.
"We have to move." Neji urged.
Sasuke grunted and tugged Neji's mask back down then growled, "That one is mine."
A tap on the closed tent flap startled them both. Sasuke poked his head in with a bird on his shoulder, probably a raven judging by the size of it. Shikamaru eyed the feathered fiend warily, fully aware he now possessed an aversion to birds after the one a few weeks ago that had tried to tear his eye out. Or something like that.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion." Sasuke apologized.
His keen eyes fell on Neji, a flash of concern, anger, and relief flickered in his dark orbs so quickly Shikamaru nearly missed it.
"Gai wants us."
Neji bowed his head in understanding, squeezed Shikamaru's knee and slipped out of the tent. As they walked away, he heard Neji murmur "Don't fuss, Sasuke. I'm alright."
