Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I had wanted to post this up last Wednesday but my grandmother had been taken to the hospital. So I spent most of last week with her. Hospitals suck and smell weird. Hate them *shudders*

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback! Made me happy to hear that so many of you enjoy this story.

As you can see, this chapter is labeled part 1. I am currently finishing up part 2 and depending on the amount of reviews I receive, I can have the next chapter up as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. Alright then, HAPPY READING!


Chapter 9: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil-Part 1

Naruto continued to make his weekly pilgrimages to Sai's studio and upon every visit, he would ask the pale skinned artist if he could take a look at the progression of the painting. Sai would shake his head vehemently, insisting it be a surprise. A look would be exchanged between the two before Sai would smile sternly and tell his model to have to more patience and wait for the unveiling at the exhibition like everyone else. The blonde would then grumble to himself sourly, cross his arms and tell Sai he was being a prick.

Nevertheless, as time passed Naruto grew tired of badgering the man and decided to wait unobjectionably like the rest of the populace. However, it didn't mean he wasn't still excited. In fact, the whole ordeal made him even more impatient.

"I can't wait for the damn exhibition," Naruto whined in Sai's direction while standing in the pose the artist had instructed, "It's too far away!"

"Not really," Sai picked up a smaller paintbrush, "It's in March."

"Exactly!" Rolling his eyes, the blonde turned his head towards the artist who was working diligently at his easel, "It's only December! Are you really going to make me wait?"

"Yes," the other said without hesitation.

Muttering under his breath, Naruto turned his head back in the direction of the window and stared out at the grey sky.

Sai looked up from his painting, a small smile on his face as he looked at his model, "Have you seen Sasuke today?"

Instantly, Naruto's face took on a different look. The blonde sucked in his cheeks slightly, furrowed his brow a little and scrunched up his nose as if he'd just smelled a rather unpleasant odor.

"He was in the staff lounge today," Sai continued, "He ate a banana."

"And I care because?"

Sai shrugged, trying to conceal the growing smirk on his face, "Because you've got the hots for him."

"I do not!" The blonde shrieked, outraged.

"Hm," Sai shifted the palate in his hold as he dabbed a paintbrush into a glob of rich, coffee ground colored paint, "Could have fooled me."

"I hate that guy," Naruto insisted.

"That doesn't mean you don't find him attractive."

"Ugh," breaking his pose, Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose as a slight pink hue appeared on his cheeks, "I never said he wasn't attractive."

"So you do admit it."

Naruto grunted, his shoulders sagging a little before he looked at Sai, "Yes. He's got the whole tall, dark and handsome thing going for him –with his stupid ivory complexion and darker than black, ebony hair…but he's still an asshole."

"True," Sai grinned, "But he's a fuckingly hot asshole."

"Whatever," Naruto growled out. He had enough talk about Sasuke for one day, so changing the subject he continued, "Sakura is going to be staying with us for a few days. Her apartment is getting repainted."

Sai shrugged, not really a Sakura lover. "Why doesn't she stay with Ino and Choji?" Accidently dropping his paintbrush Sai cursed and bent over to pick it up.

"Ino and Choji are…" Naruto found himself searching for a word to describe his two friends without appearing crude.

"Annoying? Bad cooks? Have weird fetishes? Place smells funky?" Sai suggested, earning himself a weird look from the blonde.

"Loud."

"Loud?" Sai quirked an eyebrow, "You mean–"

"Yeah," Naruto scratched his head, "When they go at it…they really go at it. Besides, I don't mind Sakura staying with us. She's coming over tomorrow and then we're going grocery shopping."

:::

"She is not sleeping with you, Naruto," Kiba crossed his arms and glared at his best friend, "I don't want a repeat of last time's performance."

"Well then where is she going to sleep?" Naruto checked the clock. Sakura was going to be here any minute and the three of them were standing in the middle of the living room at an impasse. Kiba was tapping his foot angrily against the carpeted floor with eyes so narrow he could have been mistaken for a mole. While Shikamaru just stood there staring at him with his hands in his pockets, neither arguing his side nor defending against it. "She won't feel comfortable sleeping with any of you!"

"She could sleep on the couch." Kiba offered, gesturing to the leather couch in front of the television.

Naruto's gaze intensified, icy blue eyes glared angrily at his longtime friend. "She is not sleeping on the couch, Kiba."

With a heavy sigh, Shikamaru closed his eyes and spoke, "I have an idea."

"What?" The two men shouted. Their eyes now focused on their lazy friend.

"Why can't one of you take the couch and give Sakura your room?"

"I don't want to sleep on the couch!" Kiba stated loudly, "Why do I have to sleep on the couch? Why can't either of you sleep on the couch?" He said as he looked from Naruto to Shikamaru.

"I have back problems," Shikamaru said rather quickly.

"There are too many light sources out here," Naruto grumbled, "I need complete darkness to fall asleep."

"How about you two share a room then?" Shikamaru suggested, already tired with this pointless argument. Kiba and Naruto grew quiet as they thought over Shikamaru's suggestion.

"I'm game," Naruto said after a minute.

"Just think of it as a sleepover," Shikamaru stated as he moved towards the kitchen, "You've had sleepovers before and if I recollect, you and Naruto shared a bed many times before."

"Whatever," Kiba sighed, "I guess its fine."

Opening the refrigerator door, Shikamaru groaned when his eyes took in shelf after shelf of emptiness, "As soon as she gets here go grocery shopping. There isn't a blasted thing in this hell hole."

Nodding, Naruto turned to head for his room, intent on getting a few shirts and pairs of pants to throw inside Kiba's place. He took four steps forward before his eyes landed on Akamaru's prone figure sleeping by his bedroom door, blocking the blonde's way inside. Groaning to himself Naruto got to his knees and pushed the two hundred pound blockage away from his door. The dog's nose twitched but other than that, he continued to sleep soundly. Amazed by the amount of laziness oozing out from the hound, Naruto shook his head in wonder. He then stood from his knees and entered his room, opening the closet door and grabbing the first things he saw.

Sakura arrived at the apartment a few minutes later, with a quick smile laced with feminine charm (that has men still baffled to this very day), she had Kiba and Shikamaru helping her bring her things in, much to the chagrin of the two men.

Kiba grumbled to himself as he balanced a suitcase and two bags on his trek back to the apartment. Shikamaru was muttering something about women and their over incessant need to pack way more than necessary. Naruto had changed the sheets on his bed, and by the time Shikamaru and Kiba had brought everything inside, he was ready. Waving their goodbyes to the two suddenly worn out men, Sakura and Naruto left.

Kiba sniffed his armpit after a minute and wrinkled his nose, "I need a shower."

The other man nodded, noticing the appearance of sweat stains on the red t-shirt the brunette was wearing.

Walking into his room, Kiba grabbed a towel from under a pile of clothes on his chair and strode to the bathroom. He took a quick shower, filching a little bit of Naruto's favorite shower gel in the process. After finishing, he stepped out of the shower, grabbed the towel he had brought with him and wrapped it firmly around his waist. Throwing open the door he walked out of the bathroom, "Shower is free!" He yelled.

Shikamaru lazily turned his head from his signature position on the couch and grunted. Shuffling into his room, Kiba began scavenging for a pair of clean boxers.

His eyes quickly shifted to the overflowing hamper in the corner and sighed. Checking in his drawer, he found not a single pair of clean underwear. So sitting on his bed with the towel still wrapped around himself, he began to think.

Stealing a pair of Shikamaru's boxers was out of the question. Unfortunately, the smartest member of their gang had the nasty ability of noticing anything amiss. Kiba had once borrowed one of Shikamaru's designer shirts, a black button down with the Versace emblem on the left hand breast pocket. He had been going on a date that night and wanted to appear sophisticated and worldly.

Shikamaru hadn't been present when he took the shirt, but ten minutes after coming home from work, the sharp eyed Nara marched into Kiba's room, punched him in the face, grabbed his shirt and muttered, 'troublesome,' while shaking his head. Needless to say, Kiba had to cancel his date and decided never to borrow anything from the neurotic man ever again.

Naruto on the other hand, was a scatterbrain just like him, albeit maybe a little better. Not to mention he wasn't even home. Making up his mind, Kiba opened his door and snuck into the blonde's bedroom. He shuffled over to the dresser, pulled open the underwear drawer, and began ruffling through it looking for a pair of boxers that suited his fancy. His eyes narrowed when he spotted a pair of boxers with a dog bone pattern.

"Hey," wrinkling his nose, "These are fucking mine!"

Grabbing them he was about to shut the drawer when something in the corner caught his eye. Not one to usually respect Naruto's privacy, Kiba moved an orange pair of boxers that was concealing the mysterious object and when he did, alarm bells began going off in his head.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," he repeated to himself as he picked up the small velvet box, "Please don't be what I think it is. Please, oh please, don't be it."

Shutting his eyes tightly, Kiba opened the box. His mind whirled like a propeller, trying to think of what other things a velvet box like this could contain.

A necklace.

A pendent.

Maybe some earrings? Hinata's birthday was coming up.

Yeah, it was probably a gift. No need to worry.

He opened his eyes and cringed. A large diamond ring was sitting amidst the black velvet. Sparkling mockingly at him, as if trying to say, 'Yeah, loser. I'm a fucking engagement ring and I'm gonna screw you in the ass!'

"SHIKAMARU!" Kiba yelled with all the breath he had in his body.

The door flew open with a massive bang, chipping some of the paint off the wall as Shikamaru bounded into the room, "Wha –damn it, Kiba! Put on some pants!"

The brunette looked down at himself. He hadn't even noticed the towel had slipped and fallen from his waist. That was how shocked he was.

"Fuck," he grabbed his boxers and quickly put them on before throwing the velvet box to Shikamaru, "Take a look at this."

Catching it, Shikamaru's hand trembled as he opened the lid. His stomach dropped when his eyes landed on the diamond ring sitting prettily in the velvet box, "Shit."

:::

Naruto grinned as he rode the elevator up to his apartment, arms full of grocery bags. Sakura had her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the numbers slowly, no faster than a turtle's pace, change on the elevator screen. At times like these, Sakura believed god was toying with her. She glanced at Naruto, biting her lip. He looked content as he shifted a bag in his arms and his smile seemed genuine. It would have been nice if she knew he wasn't faking it. Scowling, Sakura pushed the emergency button and stopped the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Naruto said, startled. The shrilling of the alarm bell sounded inducing a wince to spread over his face.

"Why won't you talk to Sasuke?" She asked.

Immediately, Naruto's brow furrowed in displeasure, "Sakura–"

"You're acting like a child!" She glared at him, "At least he has the balls to face you! He's not running away like a scared little kid at the first sight of you! What the hell is your problem?" Naruto glared back, "I'm not running!"

"He's been in the staff lounge for the past two weeks, and you haven't stepped foot in it since your stupid kiss!"

"I–"

"Oh please, Naruto," Sakura rolled her eyes, "Don't feed me some bullshit. You're still avoiding him. Everyone can see that."

"Just drop it, okay?" Naruto growled, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?" She asked, "Why are you so determined to stop this? I know you like him–"

"I don't!"

"Yeah right," Sakura snorted, "And I'm the queen of England. If you didn't feel anything, you wouldn't be avoiding him like you're doing now. Admit it," she smirked, "You find him attractive."

"FINE! He's attractive," Naruto spat, "Now please, release the elevator before they call the fire department. These bags aren't as light as they appear to be either!" Naruto shifted their groceries again, "Please."

"Alright," Sakura pressed the button and the ringing of the bell seized, "But this conversation is far from over."

"When is it?" Naruto grumbled, thanking the heavens that he was going to be sharing a room with Kiba instead of with the female version of devil incarnate.

They entered the apartment and Naruto quickly walked into the kitchen, depositing his load onto the granite countertop. He heaved a sigh, stretching his fingers and muscles as Shikamaru and Kiba walked into the kitchen.

"Hey."

"Hey," they responded.

Kiba looked like he was itching to say something so Naruto asked, "What's up?"

"Nothing," Shikamaru responded for Kiba, who all of a sudden developed a tic of the left eye.

Naruto smirked, "He looks like he's going to go into epileptic shock at any moment now."

"Nah," Shikamaru slapped Kiba hard on the back, forcing the man to release the air held captive within his lungs, "He's just dreading doing the dance."

"Yeah," Kiba coughed, shooting Shikamaru a dirty look.

"I got the CD!" Sakura called from the living room, "Get your asses over here!"

Three heads drooped in unison and slowly shuffled out of the kitchen.

Kiba looked like he was going to attempt murder.

Shikamaru seemed like all of a sudden he got a whiff of something truly awful.

Naruto…well, Naruto just appeared liked he wanted the ground to suddenly open up and swallow him whole.

"I'm waiting," Sakura grinned at them from her seat on the couch. Legs crossed, she waited for the boys to take position before hitting the play button.

:::

Early Monday morning, Shikamaru woke to the annoying sound of the alarm going off. Cursing under his breath, he stretched out one long arm and silenced it by banging his fist over the assortment of buttons. As he sat up, he attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes while at the same time stifling a yawn.

He hated Mondays.

Mondays entailed waking up before the moon had a chance to disappear over the horizon. Something the lazy man was not fond of doing. Kicking away the blankets, he stood from bed and shuffled to the bathroom. A low grow escaped the man's throat before he muttered to himself about women and their incessant need to preen. In one fell swoop, he moved all of Sakura's crap to the side so he could find his toothbrush. After a minute of rummaging, he grabbed the toothpaste and squeezed out a decent amount of paste onto his green toothbrush.

He began to brush his teeth while walking out of the bathroom to look at the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall a few feet away. His shoulders drooped when he saw that there were still two and a half weeks left until Finals started.

Grumbling to himself, he strode out of the kitchen and headed to Kiba's room to wake the two still sleeping professors. Pushing the door open, he nearly tripped over Akamaru who was inconveniently sleeping right by the door. Cursing to himself he was about to rudely awaken the two men by turning on the lights when he heard a sound that made the blood in his veins freeze over.

"Ah…mrngh…mngh…mngh…"

He approached the bed cautiously, praying Naruto hadn't decided to molest Kiba in his sleep. When he got close enough, he saw that the blonde was in fact sleeping like the dead, his mouth slightly open and lying on his side facing Shikamaru. A smirk played across his face as the man realized that the noises were coming from Kiba. The brunette had one arm wrapped securely about the blonde's waist as he rubbed against his bedmate's backside. Shikamaru stifled a laugh, taking the toothbrush out of his mouth so he wouldn't gag or choke on it in his attempt to remain impassive.

Kiba was having a wet dream and was currently using a sleeping Naruto as a humping post. It was all incredibly funny until he heard the next few words tumble out of the brunette's mouth.

"…mngh…yeah… …ah…Naru…mngh…yes…"

The toothbrush automatically fell from his shaking hand as Shikamaru started choking, having swallowed a good amount of toothpaste in his shock. When his coughing fit finally subsided, the man took a few steps back and rubbed harshly at his face.

"Holy shit," he whispered to himself nearly falling over Akamaru a second time within the span of ten minutes. The dog grunted, lifting its head from the floor. Shikamaru looked down at the white mastiff. His eye catching sight of one of Akamaru's favorite chew toys. In the blink of an eye, Shikamaru bent down, grabbed the chew toy and tossed it onto the bed where his two friends slept while muttering a quick, 'fetch.'

Instantly, Akamaru jumped to his feet and with a loud bark hurled himself onto the bed, landing directly on the two sleeping men. Shikamaru flicked on the lights just as he heard Kiba's voice yell out an oath. Naruto gave an indignant cry as he fell from the bed, taking the blankets with him. He looked up from the floor, bleary eyed but awake. Akamaru grabbed his prized possession and thundered down from the bed, running towards Shikamaru.

"Time to get up," he muttered before leaving the room.

An hour later, Shikamaru drove the car into the parking lot. The sky had just barely begun to lighten. Driving into a parking place, Shikamaru pulled his keys from the ignition and cleared his throat, loudly. Kiba and Naruto sat yawning in the back, half asleep.

"Man, my head is killing me," Naruto complained, rubbing his forehead.

"Well then you shouldn't have drunk so much," Kiba said.

Naruto glared at his friend, "You would have too if you had Sakura lecturing you again."

"Then just fucking talk to the Uchiha so Sakura could shut the hell up!" Kiba yelled.

The blonde undid his seatbelt and opened the car door, "I don't want to."

"Then quit complaining," Kiba grumbled, following Naruto out the door.

The three walked towards the college building quietly.

As they headed inside, Naruto left them to go to his office while the other two continued on to the staff lounge. To their surprise, they found Sai sitting at the table sipping his coffee with a small smile plastered to his rather pale face.

"Sai?" Kiba looked curiously at the art instructor, "What the hell are you doing here so early in the morning?"

The ebony haired man straightened up, eyes concentrating themselves on Shikamaru, "I came to speak with you, Nara."

"Me?" Shikamaru blinked, "About what?"

Sai grinned, "I know how to get Sasuke and Naruto together."

Shikamaru stilled, the hands in his pockets tightened around their contents making the car keys in his left hand dig painfully into the tender flesh of his palm, "I don't know what you're talking about," he answered calmly.

Sai rolled his eyes, "Sure you don't." He stood from his seat and walked over to the suddenly stiff looking psychology professor, "Almost all the professors know about it. You and your friends are trying to get Sasuke and Naruto together. Admit it."

"Look Sai," Kiba started, "I don't know where the fuck you got your information from bu–"

"Alright," Shikamaru cut Kiba off, "We are trying to make Sasuke and Naruto get along –but why are you…all of a sudden interested in helping us? I thought you wanted Naruto all for yourself?" he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sai let out a small chuckle, "I'm not interested in Naruto that way."

"Really?" Kiba looked crossly at the skinny man, "Because it looked to me like you really wanted to get in his pants."

"Oh I do," Sai said, "Who wouldn't want to fuck that guy? He's hot!"

Shikamaru's eyes quickly darted to Kiba's face, trying to see if Sai's comment had any visual affect on the biology professor.

"Then why would you help us?" Kiba spat angrily.

Sai shrugged his shoulders, a frown appearing on his face, "Because Naruto is also my friend. I don't like seeing him upset and besides, I want him to be happy," he sighed, "Plus, I know he doesn't think of me that way. Probably never will."

Kiba's expression softened a little and he gave a slight nod of the head, "So what do you have in mind?"

"I'm planning on locking the two of them in my studio overnight," Sai said without hesitation. He took a sip of his coffee and stared at the two blank faces.

"What?"

"What will that achieve?" Shikamaru crossed to the other side of the room and grabbed an apple from the fruit bin, biting into it as he took a seat at the round table.

"I've got one name for you," Sai grinned. The face he made had the hairs on Kiba's arms standing on end. "Michiru."

"Michiru?" Kiba wrinkled his nose.

Sai heaved a sigh, "Just listen, you idiot." He cleared his throat and began to explain.

Sai knocked on the Uchiha's door and when he heard a muttered 'come in,' grabbed the handle and walked inside. Sasuke's eyebrows rose in question when he saw him, "Is there something you need?"

Sai closed the door behind him and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Sasuke's desk, "Tell me what happened with you, Naruto, and Michiru."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Get out."

"Did you tell on him? Was he right to assume you betrayed him?" Sai pressed.

"Out." Sasuke said more loudly, his hand turning into a fist as his eyebrows drew together.

"What happened?"Sai asked again.

Sasuke's chair fell backwards as the Uchiha got to his feet. He came around his desk, grabbed Sai by the shirt collar, opened his office door and flung the art professor out, shutting the door with a bang behind him.

Kiba frowned, "That's it? How the hell does that explain things?"

Sai refrained from standing up and tossing Kiba out of the room himself. Instead, he cleared his throat, "It all comes down to that event that happened during your third grade year. If we can get them to talk about it, they might find out what really happened. If they can forgive each other that, then all the fighting that happened after it could be forgiven as well."

"How do you intend to make them talk about it?" Shikamaru asked.

Sai took a sip of his coffee, "I'm going to paint the name Michiru on a canvas and hang it up on the wall before I lock them inside. I'll make up some story how it's a project a student of mine had been working on. Maybe I'll make it a calligraphy project…" Sai shrugged his shoulders.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that they'll talk about it."

Taking another sip of coffee Sai grunted, "It's Naruto. He'll bring it up after the name has been staring him in the face for a couple of hours."

The door to the staff lounge creaked open, admitting a sleepy looking Neji. He greeted the three men before shuffling over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a large cup of black coffee.

Hey, Neji," Shikamaru said suddenly, "Do you remember Michiru from grade school?"

The milky-eyed man frowned, "No…remember, I was a year ahead of you and we didn't become close until sixth grade."

"Michiru was the kid that told Naruto that Sasuke ratted him out," Shikamaru informed the other professor, "However, we don't know Sasuke's side of the story since he never talked about it."

"I see," Neji stirred his cup of coffee with a spoon before bringing it to the table and sitting down amongst his peers, "Well, he probably wrote about it in his journal."

Shikamaru perked up, "His journal?"

Neji nodded, "Yes. Sasuke has kept a journal ever since his father gave him his first one in first grade. He writes in it religiously and when he's finished with it, he stores it away. So he probably still has the one he wrote whenever this event happened," Neji took a sip of his coffee and smiled, "Delicious."

"So the answer to all our questions lies within Sasuke's journal," Sai stated.

"I've been meaning to ask," Neji cleared his throat, "Not to seem rude but, what the hell is he doing here?" Neji stared at Sai.

"New member," Shikamaru replied.

"Ah," nodding his head, Neji took another sip.

"Where does he keep this journal again?" Sai asked the Hyuga.

Neji shrugged, "They're all somewhere in his apartment. Sasuke doesn't like throwing things out," he wrinkled his nose, "Makes him an awfully annoying roommate."

Before Sai could ask, Kiba answered, "Neji and Sasuke roomed together at college."

"I stayed at Sasuke's apartment for a couple months as well when I was looking for a new place," Neji stated.

"Do you still have a key?" Shikamaru asked.

Neji nodded.

"Alright," Shikamaru smirked, "Who here is really curious about what really happened that day, with Michiru, that caused a fight to escalate between Naruto and Sasuke that's lasted for over fifteen years?"

Three fingers went up in the air.

"Good," Shikamaru grinned, "Because I got a plan."

"What?" Kiba asked excitedly.

Leaning back in his chair Shikamaru stated plainly, "We break into Sasuke's apartment and find his third grade journal."

Neji choked on his coffee, eyes bulging as he nearly coughed up a lung, "Are you crazy?" He sputtered, "That's illegal! We could go to jail if we get caught!"

"That's why you won't get caught," Shikamaru said, "We can do this tomorrow night. Sasuke teaches until seven then and both of you finish around six. Sai will distract him until you two find the journal and read its account. I will be in my office Skyping with you over my desktop computer…haven't written the Finals for my classes yet." He shrugged.

"Why can't I distract Sasuke and these two break into his apartment?" Neji objected, "I do not want to be charged with a felony."

"You've been in Sasuke's apartment before not to mention you have the spare key." Shikamaru explained, "Sai would be useless there and the reason I suggested Kiba was because he has a Skype application on his cell phone. I could help you guys that way by seeing what you see."

"I still don't want to do this," Neji replied firmly. He got up from his chair and was about to leave when Shikamaru said–

"It would be like getting back at him for tormenting you with threats of revenge after the rally," Shikamaru finished his apple, throwing the core into the garbage, "This could be your revenge."

Slowly, Neji turned around and walked back to the table. He slid out his chair and sat down, "I'm in."

:::

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Neji whispered to himself as he turned the key to Sasuke's apartment. Kiba grunted beside him. They heard the lock release and slid into the room before anyone could notice their presence.

Closing the door behind him, Neji searched for the light switch. As soon as the lights turned on, Kiba reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Alright," he said while loading the Skype application, "Give me just one minute."

Neji squeezed the bridge of his nose, "I'm going to start looking." His eyes scanned the living room and came to rest on a mahogany bookshelf a few feet away. Without hesitation, the longhaired brunette marched towards the shelf and began sifting through its contents, looking for anything that resembled an assortment of journals.

Kiba remained standing in front of the door, his fingers quickly moving over the qwerty keyboard as he punched in his password. Two minutes later, Shikamaru's face was scowling at him from his phone screen.

"What took you so long?"

Kiba shrugged his shoulders, "These things take time…and Neji was being paranoid."

"I was not being paranoid," the brunette said through clenched teeth, "I just didn't want to give anyone reason to be suspicious, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba rolled his eyes. He then looked at Shikamaru and grinned, "Where should I start looking?"

Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and stared at the pencil holder in his office. Hands taking on their signature position in his lap while his brain raced through possible locations the Uchiha could have put his journals. A few minutes later, his eyes turned back to his desktop where Kiba's face awaited him rather impatiently, "Try looking under his bed first."

Nodding, "Neji!" he hollered, "Shikamaru said to look under his bed."

"Damn it, Inuzuka!" Neji grit his teeth almost dropping a picture frame, "I can hear him just fine, don't yell! Do you want to let everyone know we're here?"

Turning red as a ripe tomato, Kiba rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Sorry." He then followed Neji after turning off the lights as the older man led him to Sasuke's bedroom. They walked past the kitchenette and another room before Neji took the handle of a brass knob and pushed open a door on the left. Kiba followed his partner in crime inside and gave a low whistle when Neji flicked on the lights.

"Wow," he said as he gazed around the room. A large bed regally sat in the middle of the room covered by what seemed to be a rather expensive looking comforter. Kiba touched the silky black fabric and grunted in approval. His eyes roved over the rest of the room, taking in the champagne colored walls and the ebony black desk sitting in the corner. Three bookshelves sat against the wall, each completely full with works written by authors Kiba didn't recognize.

Neji having already seen Sasuke's room, purposefully walked towards the king sized bed and got on his knees. With one hand, he lifted the bed skirt and lowered his head to look under the bed. Disappointment marred his pleasant features when he found not even a speck of dust beneath the bed frame. There was absolutely nothing there.

"Nothing under here, Shikamaru," Neji said loud enough for the psychology professor to hear.

Shikamaru sighed and suggested they look in the set of drawers once Kiba had given him a quick view of the room. The two men carefully examined each drawer and found nothing within them except the usual linens, undergarments and socks. Next, they decided to examine Sasuke's closet.

When Neji opened the door, Kiba's eyes went wide, "Holy fucking shit!" He timidly stepped inside the closet as Neji flicked on the closet light with a soft chuckle. It was a hoarder's paradise. There were shelves upon shelves of gadgets, action figures, puzzles, notebooks, textbooks and probably every other random thing Sasuke had owned in the span of his twenty odd years of life.

"Well," Shikamaru cleared his throat, trying to control the sudden urge to break out into fits of laughter, "Better start looking –and make sure to put everything back exactly where it was. Sasuke is the type to notice things that are out of place." He was met by glares from both Neji and Kiba. Shrugging his shoulders, Shikamaru turned his attention to the Final he had been drafting for his undergraduate class. In the meantime, both Neji and Kiba got to work on Sasuke's closet of shame.

Twenty minutes later Kiba stumbled onto a leather box in the shape of a treasure chest. He lifted the lid expecting to see another batch of outdated toys. Instead, he found himself staring at roughly twenty black, soft covered journals. They were all neatly packed into the medium sized chest.

"Neji!" Kiba grabbed one of the journals excitedly and opened it, reading the first entry his eyes landed on.

I ate grape jello. I did not like it. I drew a picture. Naruto came over. We played outside. I won the game. It was fun.

"Look at this!" Kiba chuckled as he pointed to the childish handwriting, "It's from when we were in first grade –see the date?" Neji leaned over and took a look.

"Interesting," taking the journal from Kiba's hands, Neji leafed towards the end. "This isn't the one we want. He was still in first grade when he finished it."

"No worries," Kiba grinned and picked up the next journal. He read the date on the first entry and frowned, "This one is from sixth grade." Putting it back in the chest he took another one and opened it. "Dude, this one is from high school!" He began turning the pages quickly, "It's the year Sasuke told us he was gay!"

Neji looked up, uncertainty clouding his eyes, "I don't think we should be doing this. These are his personal thoughts and we have no right to be going through them."

Kiba gave the worried man a cynical look, "And you just realized that now?"

The skin of Neji's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as the Hyuga cast his eyes down, "I hadn't really thought about it." He murmured, "I just thought we'd come in and read the entry with Michiru and be done with it. I…I didn't think –"

"Too late for your morals to come into play, Hyuga," Shikamaru's voice said.

"Oh my god," Kiba gripped the journal tighter. His eyes moved across the page with incredible speed as he read an entry.

No more. I'm done with lying to myself and to my friends and family. Especially my family…I just can't! I made myself watch that porn video Kiba had been talking about during soccer practice but I didn't feel anything. Wait, not true. I felt very uncomfortable. Every boob I saw made me want to shut my eyes tight and never open them again. When the girl had taken off her nearly inexistent pair of lace panties I was about to turn the damned thing off. Then a guy came into the video. He was wearing just a pair of swimming trunks and was carrying a surfboard. Don't know why…they were in a college dorm room. Anyway, when he put down his board, the girl came up to him and started licking his chest while she peeled off his trunks. Let's just say watching that guy jerking off was the highlight of that whole affair. I just replayed that little bit over and over until…yeah…I'm gay. I am really, really gay.

I've decided to tell my parents tonight at dinner. Tomorrow I plan on telling my friends at school. I just hope that by telling everyone at once, it will make it hurt less. I am ready for the onslaught that is to come.

Bring it world. I can handle it.

"I found it," Neji mumbled.

Kiba looked up and put the journal he was reading back into the chest. He then drew closer to Neji and read over his shoulder.

I am really, really, really, really times infinite mad today! I can't believe him! He accused me of tattle tailing! Really? So what if I was talking to the teacher after the test? Uchihas don't tattle! Stupid Naruto! I hate him! He should have known I wouldn't tell! I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL HIM SQUAT! Michiru was right, he is an idiot. God I can't believe it! You know what? I'm going to make Naruto regret the day he met me! We'll see then! We'll see! He could kiss my butt!

Neji frowned and turned the page. He scanned the next couple of entries and was just about to turn the page when his cell phone went off. Grumbling, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

"Hello," he answered with a rather impatient lilt.

"Get out of there now!" Sai's voice yelled into his ear. Neji dropped the journal, eyes going wide.

"What?"

"I went to the bathroom for two fucking minutes and when I came out, the damn Uchiha wasn't anywhere to be seen. I thought maybe he went to buy a snack or something, but when I sat down at my desk there was a note letting me know that, I quote –'You are wasting my time with this poorly put together supply report. If you wanted me to check the numbers, you should have at least organized it in some order. Good bye.'" Sai ended. He took in a deep breath and continued, "Get out of there! For all I know he could have left ten minutes ago!"

"Damn it." Neji stood up quickly and grabbed Kiba by the sleeve of his shirt. Hanging up the phone, he turned to the confused Inuzuka, "Sasuke's coming."

"Crap." Kiba slammed the chest with all the journals shut and pushed it back into the place he found it. Grabbing his coat, he ran out of the closet as Neji turned off the light.

"Hurry up!" Shikamaru yelled from Kiba's phone.

"We know!" Kiba whispered angrily, muting his phone so Shikamaru wouldn't bother him, "Did the room look like this when we came in?" He asked Neji.

The silver eyed man scanned the room for a minute before nodding with a sigh of relief. He reached for the bedroom door just as they heard a jingling sound. All the color drained from the Hyuga's face as he heard the sound of a key being inserted into the front door.

"Mother fucker," Kiba rushed to the window and cursed. There was no way out from Sasuke's bedroom window.

Neji ran for the light switch and shut the lights off, "Get under the bed!" he whispered urgently as he lunged to the floor. Lifting the bed skirt, Neji pushed himself beneath the king sized bed and made sure the ends of his coat weren't sticking out. Kiba rolled under as well, pressing himself to Neji's side just as the door to the apartment opened.


Holy Shit!

What's gonna happen now?...I know…*evil laughter*

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