Fuseiseki.
Neji opened the door to his little flat, stepping into the clean-looking kitchen. He'd moved out of the Hyuga compound long before, unable to take anymore of the people residing in it. Sakura followed him in, wordless and expressionless as usual. She looked around at the tidy place, jade eyes flashing. "Neat, for a man," she commented.
Neji grunted. "I like it clean."
Sakura stood there, not moving. He turned back to her, looking at her curiously. ".. Make yourself at home." he said, as if it were obvious. She shuffled towards him slightly. "Would you like something?" he asked, motioning towards the refrigerator.
"No thank you." she replied platonically, looking at him blankly. He sat down on the black leather couch in his small den, and she joined him wordlessly. They two stared at one another for a moment, eyes locking. Neji saw something flash in her jade orbs, what it was he didn't know. He didn't know whether to like it or not.
"Why do you want to see emotion in me?" Sakura whispered, and her soft voice triggered something deep within the Hyuga. His arm hung on the back of the couch, hand gripping the leather tightly. He waited a moment before he answered, his light silver eyes locked on her angelic face. Finally, he leaned forward a bit.
"Because.." he murmured, voice deep and husky with emotion. "You're so fucking beautiful when you break down.."
He began to lean forward slowly, his pale eyes half-lidded. Her breath quickened, falling on his face. His face neared hers, and her eyes drooped. He was spurred on, but he paced himself, and stopped when their lips were within centimeters of eachother. She shivered slightly, when the hand that was in his lap went to her arm, to brush his fingers against her skin.
His lips brushed against hers softly, and in that instant, everything happened at once. Electricity shocked their bodies, heat flaming and soaring through their veins. His lips suddenly crushed hers, and he moved her back to lay on the couch, him on his hands and knees over her. Her hands tangled in his long coffee-hair. He grunted, her lips not being enough.
His lips moved to devour her neck, kissing, sucking, biting it. She groaned softly, her eyes closing, pink brows furrowed. Her hands rested on the back of his head, fingers gripping his hair. He trailed kisses back up to her lips, before pushing his lips back against hers in a fiery, heated kiss.
He'd never felt so victorious. She was enjoying it, she was kissing him back. Her small sighs of pleasure gave her away. He slid his tongue into her mouth smoothly, slowly, and began to wander. It roamed her mouth, finding her tongue to be shy and hesitant. His tongue flickered across hers confidently, before he slowly pulled away from her lips, panting slightly. He opened his eyes to gaze down at her.
Her lips were slightly ajar, her hot breath falling on his face. Her own eyes were hazy and half-lidded, her hands still gripping his hair. "You make me feel things.. I've never felt before.." he whispered, staring down at her intently.
"I could say the same," she whispered after a moment, her jade eyes clearing. The mist was replaced with wonderment, a look that gave him chills up his spine.
He slowly got off of her, sitting straight. She slowly sat up, rubbing her head.
"I'm sorry." he said suddenly, heaving a sigh. "I shouldn't have done that.
She shook her head, smiling bitterly to herself. "No, I'm glad you did."
He looked at her strangely, before running a hand through his long hair."Why..?"
"You.." she bit her lip, looking down for a moment. "You've unlocked something inside of me that no one else has. I'd become a shell of the girl I used to be, living my life as if it weren't even mine, like I was looking down at myself from above. I didn't feel, nothing. And when you came along.. slowly, piece by piece.. you began breaking me down."
She looked away for a moment, out the window on the wall to her right. ".. Do you remember that first kiss you gave me? At that first inn..?"
He nodded, smiling bitterly. "Hai.. I was so frustrated."
"That was the first step.." she mumbled. "As soon as you touched me, this.. electricity ran through my whole body, shocking me. After realizing what you'd done, I quickly put a mask up, pretending it didn't affect me.."
"That frustrated me even more, so I left." he recalled.
"Yes, well.. After that, my legs had become jelly.. I couldn't even stand."
He used his hand to cover the smug smirk crossing his lips. "So, you.."
He trailed off, before suddenly standing. "Wanna play monopoly?"
She blinked, taken aback. "..What?"
"You heard me." he gave her a sly smile. "Unless you're scared you're going to lose.."
"Oh, that's it! You're on!" she growled, getting up. He went to get the Monopoly game box, and set it on the kitchen table, Sakura already sitting there.
He began setting up the game, glancing at her. "Which piece do you want to be?"
"The car," she said immediately, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Why the car?"
"I dunno. It's fast and cool-looking. I think you should be the shoe."
He looked at her as if she'd grown another head. "The.. shoe?"
"Hai. It's smelly and ugly." she smirked smugly at him.
"Oh, that's it!" he roared, and began chasing after her. She giggled some and hopped back. "Come here!" he grabbed at her, but she leaped nimbly out of the way. He chased her down the hallway, before she locked herself in the bathroom.
"I have aaaaaaall day, Sakura." he said flatly, leaning himself on the wall outside the bathroom door. He folded his arms over his chest, and waited.
After a minute or so, he felt an odd tap on his shoulder. His first thought was, 'It can't be raining, can it? I don't think I have a leaky roof..' but when he turned around to see Sakura standing there with her hands on her hips, smirking at him, he smirked himself.
"Window?"
"Yep."
He grabbed her with immense speed, and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatos. She growled in protest, and began banging her fists half-heartedly on his back, muttering protests.
"You're not trying very hard." Neji chuckled some, squeezing her thigh.
This made her roar, and she began hitting him harder. "There we go," he breathed, chuckling more. He got back to the table where their game was half set-up, and he set her down in her chair. She glared at him, red-faced. "Oh, come now." he grinned slyly at her, before leaning over the table to beginning gently and nimbly setting pieces up on the board.
"Want to be the banker?" he asked, glancing at her. She wasn't looking at his face. He turned slightly pink as he realized she was staring at his body. He repeated his question quietly.
"Huh?" she blinked, shaking her head and looking at him.
"I asked if you wanted to be the banker." he said, looking at her suspiciously.
"Sure, sure.." she mumbled, returning her gaze to the table. He nodded, and handed her all of the money, keeping the cards for himself to hold.
"Alright, let's do this." Neji grabbed the horse piece for himself, and set it on 'Go'. She set her piece on the 'Go' spot as well, and they rolled to see who would go first. Neji rolled a one, to his dismay, and Sakura rolled a six.
"I swear," he muttered, before watching her roll. She got a six again, and made her move. Of course she bought the square she landed on, and Neji had to give her the ownership. He handed her the card begrudgingly, mumbling things all the while.
xXx
Neji hated losing. Which was why he cast her a resentful glare every time she bought another square and taxed him for landing on it.
"That's it!" he abruptly stood, chair squeaking as it slid back. She blinked and looked at him, little red building in her hand. "You're in trouble." he growled, and advanced on her. She jerked out of the chair and began backing up.
"Eh heh, now now Neji, don't be a sore loser!" she sweat-dropped and backed up to the wall, squeaking when she hit it.
He then grabbed her up and held her wrists. He smirked at her. "Hold still.."
"No way!" she grinned, and yanked one wrist away. She then threw her arm around his neck and slung herself onto his back, legs wrapping around his waist. "Giddyup!"
Neji grinned widely, and began wrestling with her, trying to get her off of his back. He tried tickling; That didn't work. He tried throwing her off; didn't work either. The two were still wrangling and wrestling when someone knocked on the door.
The both paused. Then, Sakura hopped off of Neji's back and they both went to the door. Neji opened it, the both of them looking out curiously. Shikamaru stood there, cigarette in hand. "Yoh," he said quietly, and a thin eyebrow raised incredulously when he spotted Sakura's pink hair behind Neji. "What's goin' on?"
"We were just.. playing monopoly," Neji said, scratching the back of his neck. Shikamaru gave them an odd look.
"Anyways," he began. "Naruto wanted you down at the Hokage's office.. something about figuring out how long we have to prepare for the.." He paused. ".. War."
"Ah." Neji nodded some, before looking back at Sakura. "Come with?"
Sakura's face was blank. "Sure."
He nodded, and opened the door further, letting her walk out before him. He locked his door and pulled it shut, and the three set off. Neji was in the middle, Sakura to his left, Shikamaru to his right. The three leaped across roof-tops, easily landing and pushing up from the ground, sailing through the air. They were on the roof of the Hokage building in no time, and Shikamaru hopped in the open window, followed by Neji and Sakura.
Hair swishing slightly, Neji turned to face Naruto's desk. He saw the bags under the blonde's eyes, and felt pity. He was sure the man hadn't slept for days. With all the work he had to do, and the news of the up-coming doom earlier that afternoon, Neji was sure the blonde wasn't going to get any sleep in the next few days, either.
"Naruto, why don't you take a rest? If you'd like, we can do this ourselves." Neji suggested, but Naruto declined with a shake of his head.
"Thanks for the thought, Neji, but I really can't, even if I tried," He sighed wearily, stamping another document. "I can't stop worrying about this notification.. I just.. They didn't mention when they were going to attack.. The letter just says.. 'soon'."
"We know, Naruto," Neji frowned some.
"That's why you're going to visit our little captive again," Naruto said, looking at the Hyuga. "I want you to pry any information you can get from him concerning the Uchihas. He may not know anything, but I want you to pull everything you can from him."
Neji nodded, eyes closed. "Got it."
"Sakura-chan, Shikamaru, you two are free to go." Naruto nodded them off.
Neji hopped out the window of the Hokage's office, and leaped down onto a lower rooftop. His pale eyes scanned the ground, searching for that certain alleyway which held the dungeons. He spotted it after a moment, and dashed in that direction, his eyes set on the destination ahead.
(A/N: I apologize for not updating in so long! D: And such a short chapter too! Geez, I'm terrible. Anyways, I had some MAJOR writer's block, and I simply couldn't find any time either. I'm so sorry, everyone.)
