Wow, this chapter took entirely too long to write. There's a lime (warning!) though, so there's that.


"I see you're back again."

Shikamaru didn't have to look behind him to know the identity of the person who spoke. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, not really. Unless you're looking for a problem." The female Hyuuga ghost sat down next to Shikamaru on the edge of the ring around the top of the space needle, tucking her feet tucked up underneath her. "But judging by your performance yesterday, that's not what you're looking for."

"You're right." Shikamaru turned to the Hyuuga ghost and regarded her with a critical eye, while she kept her gaze forward and out towards the horizon. Behind them, the nonsensical chatter of a hundred people pushing for the best selfie spots floated out from behind the barrier that kept them from falling to the ground. "I'm not here for trouble. I'm here for information."

"Information, huh…?" The Hyuuga ghost shook her head, her gaze still fixed on the faraway horizon. "If it's information you're after, you'll have to go someplace else. I won't tell you what you want to know."

"But you haven't even heard what I wanted to ask you!" Shikamaru protested warmly, but his eyes were coldly calculating.

"I've heard enough to know that what you want to know I can't tell you." Finally, the Hyuuga ghost glanced sideways at Shikamaru, but her face remained in profile. "You've wasted your time coming back here, shadow boy. Leave me be."

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed though his tone remained jovial. "Leave you? But that would be impolite! I've only just arrived! And besides, I'm not asking for the dread secrets of your clan, just a few paltry scraps of information- like, say, your name."

"Ha!" The ghost stood up, towering over Shikamaru's seated form, and thrust an angrily trembling finger down towards him. "Paltry, as you call it, or no, my name is one of the few secrets I will never give away, for my own safety! I am running out of patience, boy! Get thee gone before I send you packing myself!"

Slowly standing up, Shikamaru shoved his hands inside his pockets and placed himself in a direct line between the Hyuuga ghost and the sun, so he would appear to be nothing but a shadowy silhouette without a face against the backdrop of light. "'Get thee gone?' Really? What century did you die in?" He laughed without humor, knowing that the ghost had no way of seeing the expression on his face. "And do you really want to threaten me?" He continued in a lower voice, watching her face as she squinted in the pale light of the sun just barely peaking through the clouds. "After what happened the last time you tried?"

Her already pale face went even paler at the memory of the altercation that had taken place the day before, but to her credit, the ghostly Hyuuga didn't back down. "If you're so desperate for answers, why not go ask your little live Hyuuga friend, huh? I'm sure he would be able to answer your questions."

"It's funny that you should mention him… considering that he's actually the reason why I'm here." Shikamaru took a deliberate step to the side, allowing illuminating light to creep between him and the ghost he was conversing with and chase away the shadows from his face. "As per your request, I did not tell him about you, but both you and him separately brought up the dangers of the so-called "elders" of the Hyuuga family- particularly pertaining to ghosts. If I am to put him in danger merely by being beside him, I want to know how best to shield him from that danger as well."

"And so you want information," the ghost Hyuuga sneered at him, her lip curling up in distaste. "To protect your precious little friend- if he even exists. Give it up, brat. I'll never tell you what you want to know."

"If he exists?" Shikamaru's voice lowered dangerously again as he felt rage start to boil his blood. "If he exists? The one man I would follow across the entire country, the one man who beat me at my own game, the one person still alive that I've ever found I care about- and you doubt his existence?!"

"You've never told me his name!" the ghost shot back, though she was starting to look nervous.

"And you've never told me yours- is that a reason for me to doubt your existence!?"

"But I am standing right in front of you!" The ghost cried, throwing her arms open wide.

Taking a step closer, Shikamaru locked his gaze onto the other ghost's, and this time he saw her falter and take a step back at what she saw in his eyes. "And I am standing right in front of you. Is that a reason to doubt my word?"

Her eyes widened slightly in fear before narrowing again as she tried to hide the fear from him, but Shikamaru had already seen it. Instead of calling her out on it, however, he let her think, watching the thoughts run through her head through the windows in her eyes with such clarity, he could have probably guessed them verbatim.

"Tell me his name," the Hyuuga ghost ordered, folding her arms over her chest. "Tell me his name, and I'll answer a question for you- but I reserve the right to refuse to answer it for my own protection."

"Deal." Shikamaru held his hand out for the Hyuuga ghost to shake, but pulled it back at the last second when she reached for it. "If I get to ask a second question if you refuse to answer the first, and a third if you refuse the second, and so on until you answer a question of mine."

By the irritated flash in the Hyuuga ghost's eyes, Shikamaru knew that this had been her plan, but the irritation quickly dispersed and she extended her hand further. "Deal. Name first."

"Question first," Shikamaru countered, watching her face as anger started to cloud her cheeks and force her teeth together.

"Tell me his name, or I won't answer your question."

"Please- we both know you have absolutely nothing over me that could make me give in to that demand." Shikamaru flashed her a disarming smile at the same time as his hand turned into a vice grip around hers. "Face it: you need his name. You need to know if there's someone out there who's willing to make the same mistakes you made, the mistakes that got you killed, and you need to know if he's going to pay the same price you paid for your mistakes. So answer my question. You have no leverage to convince me otherwise."

The ghostly Hyuuga looked down at the ground hundreds of feet below their floating bodies, breaking eye contact with Shikamaru to hide her sudden vulnerability- which, of course, he saw. "But… how do I know you won't leave after you get your answer and leave me without mine?"

"You don't."

Shocked eyes swung up to confront his own, but Shikamaru only smiled at her and gave her hand a firm squeeze. "But I've heard it said that a man's word is as good as his handshake."

A weak smile flashed across the ghostly Hyuuga's face. "I've heard that too." She pulled her hand free from the handshake and turned away from him. "Fine. Ask me your question."

"Hm…" Shikamaru took a step backward and put both his hands behind his head, as if he was considering a question he'd already, in truth, decided on. "Who was the person who pushed you?"

The Hyuuga ghost stiffened in profile. "Pass."

"Alright then… what did you do to earn such a death?"

"...Pass."

"Well, aren't you being difficult… let's see…" Shikamaru rubbed a falsely thoughtful hand against his jaw. He had guessed that those particular questions would be ignored, but it was often the actions that accompanied words rather than the words themselves that spoke the loudest. "What about… the rules the Hyuuga family has about interacting with ghosts?"

"Pass."

"Pass?" Shikamaru couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He'd figured that she would have answered that one, if only because she'd hinted at the rule in question when he'd seen her the day before.

"Pass," she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. Her clothes billowed about her, against the flow of the wind. "And just so you know, I'm not going to answer any questions about Hyuuga rules or traditions. I may have been cast out, but I am still bound by the codes of secrecy I took as a child."

Well, damn. Shikamaru had been hoping to get at least something from her that would help him decide what he could do lessen the burden Neji was shouldering by himself, the burden of the rules and expectations laid out before him. Though, he thought suddenly, he had been trying to get information and form his own opinions from that information- why not, instead, get the analysis straight from the source?

Carefully choosing his words, Shikamaru asked, "If I was trying to prevent any of the things that happened to you from happening to my… friend, what would you advise me to do? And before you say 'stay away from him'," he added when she opened her mouth, cutting her reply off preemptively, "that's not the kind of advice I'm looking for. I know your opinion about that already, but I'm afraid it's not an option."

"Not an option?" The ghostly Hyuuga's eyes narrowed. "What exactly is your purpose with that boy?"

"Well, I believe that's none of your business."

Shikamaru's abrupt answer shocked the ghost, but she got over it quickly, her gaze raking up and down his steadfast stance, from his steady eyes to the arrogant tilt of his hip. "Alright," she finally conceded, sitting back down on the edge of the platform and patting the metal next to her. "This one I can answer. Come; sit next to me."

Hiding his eagerness with deliberately slow footsteps, Shikamaru strode up to the ghost and sat down next to her, following her gaze to the faraway horizon. After several seconds ticked away in silence, he couldn't contain his impatience any longer and sniffed, "Well?"

"...Don't get caught."

Shikamaru waited a few seconds, expecting more, before he realized that was all she was going to say. "'Don't get caught?' That's it? That's all you have to say? Jesus, I could have come up with that on my own!" He snapped before he could rein in his irritation.

"I'm serious, shadow brat." The Hyuuga ghost turned to glare at him for putting so little faith into her advice. "Don't get caught. Not just don't get caught together, but don't get caught period. Never let anyone know you exist, let alone that you're staying in this city. Seattle is a death trap for ghosts like you. One misstep, and you'll find yourself snapped up by the Hyuuga watchdogs, and no one likes it in the belly of that beast."

"...I see." Shikamaru stood up. "Very well. I will take your advice to heart. Well, it's getting late, and I have someplace to be tonight-"

"Wait!" The Hyuuga ghost jumped up as well, panic in her eyes. "You haven't told me his name yet! We had a deal!"

"Don't worry; I was getting to that. I'm not the kind to go around breaking his promises." Shoving his hands into his pockets, Shikamaru turned to the sun again, watching its pale presence get swallowed up by the angry rain clouds that were gathering over the city once more. "His name is Neji. He's young, in his early twenties, so I doubt you'd know him. You died a long time ago, if I'm not mistaken, before he was even born."

"Neji…" The Hyuuga ghost narrowed her eyes in thought briefly, then shook her head. "No, I don't know him. Still… it's nice to know someone like me still exists… though he is playing a dangerous game. Good luck to both of you, shadow brat, and remember what I said. Don't get caught."

"I don't plan on it," Shikamaru answered before gathering a few shadows around his feet. "Thanks for the advice."

"Don't come back. You're more trouble than you're worth."

A smile of true amusement pulled up the corners of Shikamaru's mouth. "So are you, Hyuuga ghost."

"It's Namaki."

For a moment, Shikamaru didn't understand the ghost's words, then his eyes widened. "Nama...ki…?"

"Namaki Hyuuga. It's my name." The Hyuuga ghost - Namaki - turned towards Shikamaru and gave him a small smile. "Not that anyone would still remember it. But still… Now skidaddle, shadow brat."

"Shikamaru," Shikamaru corrected with a light smile.

"Whatever. Leave me alone, Shikamaru-brat. You've made as much excitement around here in the past two days as I've seen in the past twenty years, and I don't think Seattle can handle any more of it. Just try not to upset the balance around here too much, you hear me?"

"I'll do my best," Shikamaru promised, silently commanding the shadows around his feet to start swirling. "Goodbye, Namaki Hyuuga. I hope I never see you again."

He was gone, sinking into the shadows that swam about his body, before Namaki could look at him again, leaving her as alone at the top of the Space Needle as if she'd never spoken to him at all. Her wide, confused eyes searched around the bridge for several seconds, taking in everything from the live people chatting and snapping selfies behind the safety railing to the seabirds flying overhead, but found nothing. With a shake of her head, she gave up the search and sat back down on the platform, watching the clouds eat up what remained of the sun as the sky prepared itself to rain.

"And the same to you, shadow-brat."


Across the city, Neji stared down at the water running down his body and swirling briefly around his feet before disappearing down the drain, his eyes hollow with introspection. He had been playing a dangerous game, the thrill of hiding an illicit relationship from the elders giving him more pleasure than he ever could have anticipated, but the game had disappeared before he'd realized, pulling his feet out from underneath him, and now he didn't know what to think. He'd known what he was getting into and didn't regret any of the things that had happened with Shikamaru so far, but there was a limit to what could happen before something more tangible than lust got involved. Being who he was, he knew how badly a relationship like theirs - interdimensional as well as complicated in other ways - could end.

Perhaps Shikamaru understood this too, and that was why he hadn't allowed Neji to reciprocate his actions the night before. Neji's teeth gritted at the thought, his fist tightening automatically. What if he had pushed Neji away because he thought they were getting too close, because he didn't want to be too attached when the time came for him to… to…

Neji cut that thought off before it could finish, tipping his head back so the spray from the shower nozzle hit him directly in the face. The harsh flow drove the unpleasant, prickly thoughts to the back of his mind, replacing them with cool logic instead. Shikamaru had followed him across the entire country with no expectations besides a chess set, carefully watched him for a week before making a move, and even changed fundamental aspects of his personality - or tried to, at least - to make Neji more comfortable, and if there was anything Neji had learned about the phantom during their time in Konoha, it was that, while he wasn't quite as lazy as he tried to convince everyone else he was, he still didn't like to waste energy and wouldn't have done everything he had in the past week and a half if he wasn't invested in it somehow; that's just how he worked.

Running his hands through his wet hair, Neji shook off thoughts of Shikamaru entirely. This wasn't the time or place to deal with those kinds of thoughts; he had to focus on straightening out his aura before his meeting with the elders the next day, or there was a chance Shikamaru would be discovered through his turbid emotions, and if that happened, the game he was playing would quickly turn into a nightmare. No, it would be best to force his mind into a pre-meditative state to clear up the colorful stains to his aura before they grew any bigger-

"Hello, Neji."

Neji suddenly stiffened as a familiar presence exploded from the shadows behind him, sending threads of spectral energy throughout the shower. He could feel heat start to flood his cheeks in scarlet mortification, but was unable to move as Shikamaru coughed delicately behind him.

"Well, this is awkward. I swear I wasn't paying attention when I teleported and I didn't break in on your shower on purpose. Though," he continued with the hint of a devilish smile in his voice, "now that I'm here, I don't really want to leave. Nice ass, by the way."

The last comment pushed Neji over the edge, and he spun around with flaming cheeks to confront his would-be assaulter, covering the part of his anatomy Shikamaru had just complimented. However, he recognized his mistake when he saw the expression on the phantom's face, like a cat who had stretched out in the sun for a leisurely nap and woken up to find a small bird perched, asleep, directly atop his nose, and he realized that he'd just given Shikamaru an even more embarrassing view. His mouth falling open but unable to utter a coherent syllable, Neji grabbed the first thing he could find, which turned out to be the shower curtain, and yanked it in between them to hide his body from Shikamaru's hungry and amused gaze.

"Wha… y… you… Get the fuck out of my shower!"

"Now, Neji," Shikamaru admonished almost gleefully, his eyes gleaming predatorily and his arm wrapping around Neji's back to pull him closer, his hand wandering further downward than Neji would have liked. "You'll get the floor wet if you do that. Besides, it's not as if I haven't seen you like this before."

"You haven't!" Neji hissed, trying to escape the wandering hand exploring his backside, but in doing so only succeeding in pressing his pelvis against Shikamaru's, their bodies separated only by the thin material of the shower curtain and the insubstantial fabric of Shikamaru's clothes. "You've seen me shirtless, not naked! This is completely different!"

"Neji, I gave you a blowjob last night."

"I still had my pants on!" Neji jerked away from Shikamaru's body, only to grind himself back harder on the hand groping him quite cheekily. "I just- don't like being naked in front of people! That's all."

Suddenly, Shikamaru seized Neji's chin in a vice grip forcing him to look in his abruptly dark and serious eyes. "This fear isn't the result of any kind of past trauma, is it?"

"N-no!" Neji quickly shook his head, dislodging Shikamaru's hand from his jaw. "No, nothing like that's ever happened to me. It's just because of my upbringing, what was proper being drilled into me from a young age."

"Good." Shikamaru's eyes went dark, like twin pools of shadow where the iris was indistinguishable from the pupil, and Neji found himself sucked into them. "Because if that was the case, I'd have to go find them and end them myself."

The words shocked Neji enough that he forgot for a moment the position they were in. "End… end them? Like… kill them?"

"It's not the first time I've done something like that."

Right; Shikamaru was so passive all the time around Neji that he had forgotten for a while that he'd seen active combat, and as such, had likely been on the giving end of many a death blow before he had received his own. The idea of him purposefully ending a life, however, hadn't stuck with Neji before, though it must have happened. Unable to help himself, Neji shivered at the thought, then quickly turned the conversation away from such dark topics.

"Well, if we've got that settled, would you mind getting the fuck out of my shower now?!"

"Hmmm…" Shikamaru's eyes lightened so his pupil was distinguishable from his iris, but they regained the devilish glint from before. "No, I don't think I will. I'm not one to waste as perfect an opportunity as this."

"Perfect opportunity for wha- ah!" Neji tried to snap but broke off in the middle to moan when Shikamaru grabbed his ass and squeezed, and at the same time pulled him forward so his pelvis made rough contact with Shikamaru's hip.

"The perfect opportunity to finish what we were doing this morning before your damned alarm clock interrupted us." Shikamaru traced his nose across his captive's forehead, and Neji couldn't help but shiver as his body remembered the physical promises of that morning and the pleasures of the night before, racing ahead of his mind and demanding more. Well, when he put it that way, the offer seemed a lot more tempting… even in face of his current state of undress. "What say you?"

Neji closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of Shikamaru's face so he could think without distractions. He really needed to clear his aura of the tell-tale signs of intimate spiritual interaction before the next day's appointment with the Hyuuga elders, and that meant staying away from Shikamaru long enough to get his aura back into order… but then again, his aura was already stained; what more damage could one more round do? And Shikamaru was right; he had basically seen him naked already… And who was he kidding; he was already turned on by Shikamaru's pointed groping… His decision made, Neji let his eyelids flutter open, his grip on the shower curtain slackening.

"I say… you're still wearing too much clothes. I feel underdressed."

The catlike grin on Shikamaru's face widened, and he pushed Neji back against the shower wall without preamble, dragging the only barrier between them aside. Neji let himself be forced out from under the spray from the nozzle until the wet skin of his bare back pressed against the chill shower wall, causing a shiver to go up his spine that ended in a gasp through his parted lips that Shikamaru swallowed by pressing his mouth over Neji's before it made it out into the open air. His hands bunching in the wet hair at the nape of Neji's neck, the phantom kissed him fiercely, keeping him pinned down with a control Neji didn't want to admit excited him. Not to be outdone and remembering his earlier complaint about how Shikamaru was wearing too much clothes, Neji reached downwards and ran his hands along the phantom's stomach, underneath his shirt, finding the fabric still surprisingly dry, even though he was standing directly under the shower spray.

Realizing what Neji wanted, Shikamaru broke contact and stepped backwards, pulling his shirt over his head and letting it disappear into a wisp of shadow that dissipated among the falling drops of water. Speaking of drops of water, Neji found himself watching, fascinated, as the spray from the showerhead poured all around Shikamaru - and seemingly through him - but left his body completely dry. Enamored by the sight, Neji reached out and ran a hand across Shikamaru's stomach - this wasn't his death form, but was obviously from a time after he had joined the military, judging from his toned physique that left Neji feeling slightly jealous - watching the water from his hand collect against the phantom's skin but the water from the spray above him pass through him completely. Grinning at Neji's interest and confusion, Shikamaru grabbed Neji's hand and pressed it to the middle of his chest, showing off the damp handprint it left behind.

"Bet you've never kissed someone who could do that before, now have you?"

"Well, it's not as if I go around making it a habit to kiss everyone I know," Neji sniffed, though he couldn't deny that he was impressed and his hand itched to press against that rough skin once again.

Something dark that might have been possessiveness flashed through Shikamaru's eyes, though he leaned in too quickly for Neji to have absolute certainty in his prediction. "Enough idle chatter. We have better things to do."

"That we do," Neji managed to gasp out before Shikamaru cut him off once again with his lips.

The phantom's knee slipped between Neji's legs, pushing them open and forcing him to balance his weight between the wall he was leaning against and the arms that held him up. Small shivers of discomfort and self-consciousness slid down Neji's spine when Shikamaru's hands began to roam over his damp and entirely naked body, but he shoved them down a far as they would go until they all but disappeared. His hand scrabbled against the wall, feeling around blindly, behind him until he found what he was searching for and gave it a quick twist. At once, the flow of water dousing them slowed to a drizzle and then stopped, and Shikamaru pulled back to give Neji a confused glance.

"What was that for?"

"I pay for every drop of water that goes down that drain, thank you very much," he tried to snap, but he suspected the effect was ruined by his breathless voice and cheeks that were flushed from more than the hot water. "I refuse to be wasteful. Don't you know how bad of a drought California's in right now? We wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that we - or anyone we represent - don't care about the environment, now do we?"

Shikamaru only shook his head, his expression torn between amusement and irritation. "I can't believe you're standing in front of me, naked, and lecturing me about water conservation."

"Priorities, Shikamaru. We all have them. Mine just so happen to include conserving the resources of our planet for future generations."

A dark gleam in his eyes, Shikamaru leaned closer, almost close enough for the tip of his nose to brush against Neji's. "Then it's a good thing I'm already dead and don't give a damn about the planet. I can bring this conversation back to the most important topic: the fact that I have your deliciously naked and willing body pressed up against mine, and I can tell that you're very turned on right now."

"Delicious? Is that really the adjective you'd use to describe me right now?" Neji glared at Shikamaru at the same time as he wrapped his arms around his neck, drawing him closer and slightly ruining the effect of the angry gaze. "I'm soaking wet, Shikamaru, and I feel like I look like a drowned river rat. How is that in any way seductive?"

"That, Neji, I am just going to have to prove you wrong on." Shikamaru leaned in even closer so his lips rested right next to Neji's ear, his breath ghosting over Neji's damp neck and causing an aroused chill to go down his spine. "Water has several delightful properties that make situations like this even more… scintillating. For example…" Here, he allowed his hand to slide down Neji's back and regain its former perch on his ass, then, too quick for Neji to counter, he caressed a finger against a sensitive place he'd never been touched in before. "Water reduces friction."

Neji barely heard the words Shikamaru had uttered; his whole body stiffened at the alien sensation of Shikamaru's finger gently probing against his entrance. His mouth fell open and panting gasps escaped his shuddering body without decorum as the finger shifted, and Neji found himself unconsciously clinging to Shikamaru's torso.

"Is that too much?" The phantom whispered in Neji's ear, causing his eyes to squeeze shut and another heated chill to run down his spine with thickening arousal.

"Mm-m… ah!" Neji's fingers dug mercilessly into Shikamaru's shoulder as he squirmed, caught between the finger probing his ass and the pressure of the phantom's torso against his pelvis. "Can't… I ca… can't…"

"You can't what, Neji?"

"Can't… I can't… take it…"

"Do you want me to stop?"

A pregnant pause hung in the air for a few seconds before Neji curled his arms tighter around Shikamaru's neck, his eyes fluttering open to take in the phantom's heated expression. "...N-no…"

"Good." Without warning, Shikamaru pushed Neji back against the shower wall again, shocking him by grabbing his leg and bringing it up to wrap around his waist. "Because after seeing that expression, I don't know if I'd be able to stop."

"Mnh!" Neji gasped when he felt his leg being hoisted up to wrap around Shikamaru's waist, instinctively clinging tighter to him. The position opened him up further, and he gasped again when Shikamaru's finger pressed harder against his entrance, almost pushing inside of him. "Shika… ma… ru…!"

"Do you like that?" The phantom whispered coyly in Neji's ear, then dragged his lips down the side of his captive's neck so the rumble of his voice collected in the hollow of his neck and sent delicious shivers all over his body. "You're trembling, Neji."

Neji was trembling- in fact, his entire body was shaking like a leaf in a violent storm. The new and somewhat alarming - though not as alarming as it was arousing - sensation of Shikamaru's finger almost inside him had him completely at the phantom's mercy, and Neji didn't know whether or not he should be angry at his traitorous body for how good it felt. He whimpered, burying his face against the neck Shikamaru presented him as he rocked his body first forward, squeezing his erection between their naked and wet torsos, then backward, trying to urge the finger currently teasing him to take the plunge and press inside him.

Shikamaru grinned and teasingly circled the entrance to Neji's ass, not quite going where Neji wanted him to go. "For someone who was embarrassed to be naked in front of me a minute ago, you've done quite the about-face."

"Quit teasing me!" Neji snapped, slamming an open fist against Shikamaru's shoulder. "Hurry up and stick it- ah!"

His voice escalated from his normal pitch to one several octaves higher as Shikamaru gave his finger just enough pressure to probe beyond the entrance to Neji's ass and press inside him. He didn't push it in far, just barely past the first knuckle, but the alien experience of a foreign intrusion in his ass made Neji yelp, clinging onto Shikamaru's shoulder hard enough that his fingernails dug into his flesh and left half-moon shaped dents in his skin. His legs shaking, Neji suddenly found himself very glad that Shikamaru was supporting the majority of his weight, or he might have found himself on the floor of his shower instead of pressed against its wall.

"Is this what you wanted?" Shikamaru asked in a headily rough voice, moving his finger just the tiniest bit inside Neji and dragging a wanton moan from his unwilling throat. "I'll take that as a yes."

"It's a y-yes!" Neji gasped when Shikamaru's finger delved a little deeper inside him, moving as if searching for something. "D-definetly y-yes!"

"I see," Shikamaru murmured in a crafty voice. "Well, if you like that, let's see how much you'll like this."

Neji's breath caught in anticipation at the promise in Shikamaru's words, and his body tensed in preparation for what might come next. When several seconds ticked by and no new wave of sensation swept over him besides the feeling of Shikamaru's finger moving methodically deeper inside him, however, Neji let out a hiss of frustration.

"Li… like what-t?"

"Just give me a second to find it," Shikamaru muttered, his finger still moving exploratorily inside Neji's ass.

"H-how will you know when-n you've f-found it?"

"Oh, trust me, Neji," Shikamaru retorted, and Neji could hear his grin in his voice even if his face was pressed against the ghost's neck and he couldn't see his expression. "I'll know, and you will too."

All of a sudden, Shikamaru's finger brushed up against something inside Neji's body and he saw stars, literal specks of light dancing on the other side of his shower curtain. His entire body tensed up like the strings on a violin - or a viola - and he let out a cry, his back arching unconsciously and his erection driving into Shikamaru's stomach. The culmination of the erotic sensations from his starving, heated cock sandwiched between his own damp stomach and Shikamaru's more insubstantial one and the finger pressing that damnably arousing place inside his ass was bringing him almost to the edge of an orgasm. The muscles in his stomach clenched, his hands spasmed open and closed, his head jerked backwards, hair sticking to his back in wet clumps- it was too much and not enough at the same time.

"Found it," Shikamaru murmured darkly against Neji's throat.

Found it, indeed. Shikamaru hadn't been kidding when he said Neji would know; he doubted if he could ever unknow the sinfully delightful feeling of that finger brushing that spot located shallowly inside of him. His nerves were so overwhelmed with sensation that he couldn't decide whether he should rock backwards, driving Shikamaru's finger deeper inside of him, or press forward and stimulate his mostly ignored erection by driving it between their closely pressed bodies.

Luckily, Neji didn't have to chose, because Shikamaru pulled him closer, driving his finger deeper inside of Neji and strangling his erection between their two wet bodies at the same. Slowly, Shikamaru started to pump his finger in and out of Neji's ass, brushing that erogenous spot on every thrust, and Neji gasped, his entire body tensing, the chords in his neck standing out in sharp relief as his head tilted back. Covering Neji's open mouth with his own, Shikamaru swallowed all the sounds he made and thrust his finger harder, deliberately pushing against that spot that made the inside of the shower look like the Milky Way galaxy swimming in front of Neji's eyes.

In a moment of semi-clarity in between finger thrusts and twitches of his neglected cock, Neji realized that he was only feeling, not giving anything back to Shikamaru for the wonderful sensations searing through his body, so he forced his arms to leave their locked position around the phantom's neck and travel over his body instead. One of his hands trailed down Shikamaru's chest until it rested over a firm pectoral muscle and the other brushed over the skin of his back, traveling down to the top of the waistband of his pants - which Neji found, in his pleasure-addled state, to be extremely unfair, since he was completely naked. In a subtle but firm rebuke, Shikamaru let go of the leg he had forcibly wrapped around his waist - almost causing Neji to overbalance without the source of support - and grabbed the wrist that had made it to the top of his pants, bringing it back up to wrap around his neck.

A little hurt by the rebuttal, Neji dug the fingernails of the hand resting on Shikamaru's chest into his skin, but not hard enough to make him withdraw; the storm of pleasure that was wracking his body was at stake, after all. It was soon driven from his mind, however, when Shikamaru surprised him - likely to distract him from the tipsy anger in his system - by stretching him a little more adding a second finger in with the first.

The two fingers worked together, one retreating while the other was pressing forward, sending a constant stream of pleasure coursing through Neji's body. He knew that he wouldn't have been able to hold back the sounds trying to rip themselves from his throat if Shikamaru's mouth didn't still catch them all instead, his tongue winding around Neji's own as if trying to map out the inside of his mouth to his tonsils. Unable to stop himself, Neji squeezed his eyes shut, turning away from the lights show dancing around him - was it in his head, or real? - to watch the dark at the back of his eyelids, which, miraculously, somehow served to make the pleasure flooding his body intensify, even though he thought he'd already reached the peak.

The new peak turned out to be the final one. At a flash of heat in his stomach uncoiling into a familiar tension, Neji tried to push Shikamaru away, to warn him of what was coming, but the phantom didn't let him, hauling him closer with an iron grip and thrusting his fingers faster, giving Neji no choice but to give in the rushing storm that was quickly overtaking the ship of his self-control, gale-force winds shredding every sail and toppling the mainmast, leaving him dead in the water to await the crash of the mighty tidal wave he could see coming from far off. It pushed through the ocean of his confused, pleasure-addled mind with the force of a tsunami, drawing nearer and nearer until it loomed over him, as tall as a skyscraper, then came rushing down, down, the wall of water smashing his self-control ship to pieces until all that remained of it was scattered timber and debris littering the white-capped waves.

Neji shattered with the shattering of his ship, his entire world going as white as the inside of his shower walls. His whole body spasmed as he came, breaking apart into a thousand tiny pieces and melding into one small lump of smelted metal at the same time, overcome by heat and passion. Shikamaru held him almost tenderly as he rode out the waves of his orgasm, keeping him upright when he threatened to tip over and remaining uncomplaining even when bit Neji down quite hard on his lower lip in an effort to stop himself from crying out. Shudders wracked his body as he rode out the last few spasms, then Neji went absolutely limp in Shikamaru's arms, unable to do anything except pant harshly as all the tension - as well as all the remaining will to stand - drained out of his body.

"So, how was that?" Shikamaru asked breathlessly, and Neji was slightly mollified to hear that he was panting as well. "Worth the burden of nakedness?"

It took Neji a few seconds to remember how to speak again. "Definitely… definitely worth it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence in my skills." Laboriously, Shikamaru slowly drew his fingers out of Neji's ass, and he winced at the feeling of emptiness the motion left behind.

Neji let himself be held silently for a few more moments before he forced his arms to relinquish their locked position around Shikamaru and leaned back so he could look the phantom in the face. "What… what did you do to me?" He gasped, feeling aftershocks still run through his body from where Shikamaru's fingers and the ends of his own hair tickled his skin. "What was that thing?"

"Hmm…" Shikamaru turned the shower back on and angled Neji under the spray so the flow of water would wash away the evidence of Neji's orgasm from both of their bodies. "The spot I touched inside of you? That was the place where your prostate lies closest to the walls of-"

"Alright, I get it!" Neji yelped, pushing Shikamaru away with a blush of scarlet mortification. "You don't have to go into that much detail!"

"Let's just suffice to say that it's a very erogenous spot for men," Shikamaru laughed, stepping back and allowing Neji to stand on his own.

"I'd never heard of it before," Neji admitted, turning so the water would hit his chest straight on and wash away the last of the white clinging to his skin. As he did so, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him from the back and a warm breath fan across his damp neck, and he shivered again.

"I'm not surprised," Shikamaru commented, letting the top of his head rub against Neji's jaw as he leaned into him. "Most people don't."

"Well, I'm glad you did."

"Yes, I'm sure you are."

Neji let the water cascade over him for a few more seconds before he sighed and reached forward, twisting the knob that controlled the water flow to shut the water off. "Alright, get off of me. I gotta get out and get dried off before my skin shrivels up like a prune."

Scoffing good-heartedly, Shikamaru did as he was bid. "You're such an old man, Neji. Prunes, of all things. Next thing you know, you'll be complaining about how your dentures are too tight."

"You're older than me," Neji reminded the phantom as he stepped out of the shower, marveling at the playful way their banter went back and forth. He hadn't had this kind of conversation since- well, he'd never had it before, unless you counted the good-natured ribbing his friends from the jazz orchestra gave him over his unconventional hairstyle.

"In years alive or years dead- oh, wait, on both accounts. Shoulda thought that one through before I said it."

"You did- just like you thought through the joke on the end. You're not that slow, Shikamaru, and neither am I."

"I can't pull one past you, now can I?"

"I'm not as easy to fool as you seem to think I am."

"We'll just have to see about that."

Shaking his head, Neji grabbed a towel and wiped the excess water off his body before stepping into a bathroom and grabbing his hair brush. Standing in front of the mirror, he brushed the snarls out of his long hair as Shikamaru leaned against the counter beside him, keeping up the steady stream of quirky conversation that would have been comical if it hadn't been so heartwarming. Unable to stop the smile spreading across his face, Neji bantered right back, at times being made a fool of and at times making Shikamaru the fool - though the ratio of their wins was highly stacked in Shikamaru's favor. To anyone else, Neji knew the scene would have looked entirely different: a young man alone in the bathroom, talking to his own reflection, Shikamaru's presence giving nothing to identify itself, not even the reflection of a curling shadow in the mirror or a drop of water from dark hair that was already dry. Still, though, it meant something to him, and that was all that mattered.

Now just what it meant to him was the important part he still had to figure out.

Eventually during their conversation, Neji cast a glance at the ghost leaning on the counter next to him, and stilled when he saw his posture. Shikamaru had his hands shoved deep in his pants pockets and his smile was lazy, but his eyes were sharp, enjoying the moment. He was laughing softly at something Neji had said, his eyes meeting the gaze of Neji's reflection rather than the eyes in his real face, and he hadn't bother to conjure up another shirt yet, so his fully muscled chest was on display, rippling as he held in the laughter. It was a view much like the one he'd been sneaking glances at for the past several minutes, but something was fundamentally different about it at the same time, something Neji couldn't quite put his finger on. Frowning slightly, he stared harder at the profile of the phantom, trying to figure out why he was suddenly more alluring than he had been a moment before.

...Alluring?

In that single moment, Neji's eyes widened as he understood the first time he'd ever thought such a thing in his life shocking him: Shikamaru looked sexy. Something about the tilt of Shikamaru's head, showing off the strong cords of his neck, or the casual slouch of his shoulders, or perhaps the way the waistband of his army pants sat low on his hips, hinting at what lay beneath the fabric, had given him pause, drawing his eye in a way he hadn't expected: an almost lustful way. Unable to stop himself, Neji found his eyes trailing along the curves of Shikamaru's form, following a path he wanted his hands to trace instead.

What is this? He thought disjointedly through his heady confusion. Am I… attracted to him?

The night before and just a few minutes earlier in the shower had marked the two instances where Neji had physically been closest to another person in his whole life, but he hadn't quite realized what that meant until a few seconds ago. Yes, he'd wanted Shikamaru around and enjoyed their games and the kisses they'd shared, but he'd have been content to leave it at that. And then the night before had happened, and Neji had been transported to a whole new dimension he hadn't known existed before. No longer was he content with kisses laced with chastity, or even the feeling of Shikamaru's hands on his body; no, he wanted to touch Shikamaru as well, and he wanted to touch him badly. Last night he'd offered to reciprocate out of a sense of fairness more than anything else, but now all he could think about was trailing his lips down Shikamaru's smooth chest in the same path the phantom had taken on him, of making him cry out as Neji had cried out in his embrace and knowing that he was the one to make such pleasure course through his partner's body.

This, Neji figured, his mouth going dry in anticipation, was probably similar to how Shikamaru had felt earlier in the shower, watching Neji's body shake under his ministrations and somehow garnering pleasure from it even though he'd had no action himself to speak of. A wave of dizziness swept over Neji as he lost himself further into a fantasy he hadn't known was attractive to him until he'd seen it, watching Shikamaru's smug expression devolve into a pleasure-induced blush - pleasure Neji caused - and his eyes glaze over with lust. His head arched back, his neck christened with a purple mark Neji had left as a symbol of his possession and his mouth opening to let out a soft cry, begging for more-

"Hey, Earth to Neji? Are you listening to me?"

Neji was abruptly jerked back from his fantasy to stare into the very real, unclouded-by-lust gaze of the phantom leaning against the counter next to him. Flushing as though he'd been caught doing something naughty, Neji dropped his gaze so he wasn't looking at the unconsciously scintillating body on display for him to feast his eyes on and cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"S-sorry, I don't know what… I was just lost in thought."

"I could see that." Shikamaru leaned towards Neji, but the Hyuuga kept his eyes trained on the mirror so he had no chance of catching the phantom's gaze. "And what, pray tell, was that thought? You were looking at me in a very interesting way, like I'd either just killed your cat or we were stuck on a deserted island together and I'd just eaten the last of the ration and you were now considering eating me instead."

"I don't have a cat," Neji intoned robotically, keeping his eyes locked with his reflection in the mirror and moving his hands through the motions of brushing his hair almost mechanically. "But you have a very vivid imagination."

"Hey, hey, wait a minute. I'm losing you, Neji." Shikamaru deftly reached up and grabbed Neji's wrist, forcing him to stop his mechanical motions and drawing his gaze back to the ghost next to him. "I don't know what I did, but you just closed off without any warning. What's wrong, Neji? Was it something I said?"

If only it was that simple. Neji lowered the hair brush to the counter, breaking eye contact with Shikamaru once more.

"Shikamaru, why won't you let me touch you?"

Neji felt rather than saw the ghost next to him stiffen at the question, and he held his breath as he waited for the answer.

"What makes you say that?" Shikamaru finally asked, avoiding the question with one of his own.

That pissed Neji off, but not enough for him to turn the conversation into an argument yet. "Last night, and again in the shower. You brushed me off, pushed my hands away. Why?"

Another silence, even longer than the first, stretched out before Shikamaru finally broke it.

"I told you last night, Neji: I'm dead, my body doesn't react like a human's sometimes-"

"Bullshit," Neji interrupted quietly, finally looking up to see that he had shocked Shikamaru speechless, an accomplishment he might have been proud of if he wasn't so irritated at the phantom. "I call bullshit on that one, Shikamaru. We were pressed very close together in that shower, and you might not have been as far gone as I was, but I could definitely feel something. So why wouldn't you let me do the same thing for you that you did for me? I was willing to- I wanted to! Why did you push me away?"

Shikamaru remained speechless for a few more seconds, his mouth hanging open a thread, as if he'd frozen in the middle of his word when Neji had cut him off and hadn't bothered to thaw, then looked away with a humorless laugh, directing his gaze upward, to the bank of clouds he couldn't see hidden behind a blank ceiling.

"You go me on that one, I'll admit. I thought you hadn't noticed."

"I said I was more difficult to fool that you gave me credit for." Neji allowed himself a moment of mollified silence before speaking again. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"Because I was afraid, alright!"

Neji had to blink as he digested that statement, looking at Shikamaru staring angrily at the ceiling as if he could burn a hole in it with just his gaze. "You were… afraid? Of what?"

"Of disappointing you."

"Of disappointing… me? How does that work?"

Taking in a deep breath, Shikamaru turned to Neji and held a hand up. "Touch my palm."

"But why-?"

"Just do it."

Neji stared at Shikamaru's palm for a moment, then reached his hand forward and rested his own hand against the ghost's. It was warm and rough, but strangely insubstantial at the same time.

"Feels almost real, doesn't it?" Shikamaru asked quietly, something dark and upset hiding in his gaze. "Feels almost like you're holding the hand of someone still alive, someone you could have a physical relationship with without a second thought."

"I don't understand-" Neji started, but Shikamaru cut him off, pulling his hand away and turning it around so the back of his hand faced Neji instead of the palm.

"Now touch the back of my hand."

Still unsure what Shikamaru was getting at, Neji did as he was bade, but hesitantly. His eyes widened, however, when he reached what should have been the skin at the back of Shikamaru's hand was what was instead insubstantial mist, allowing his hand to go through Shikamaru's until it reached what would have been the skin of palm from the backside, which was still solid, though only the thickness of a sheet of paper.

"Do you see now?" Shikamaru asked quietly, looking down at Neji's hand resting comfortably inside of his own. "This is my specialty, just corporeal enough to appear like I'm solid, but in reality full of holes. Sure, it can be done - just look at Naruto or Kiba; Kiba's had enough practice with full corporeality to be able to play with a dog, and Naruto has enough stamina to be able to even fully digest food if he wants to - but just not by me. I've cut so many corners in corporeality, never once imagining that it was a skill I'd ever want to make use of, that I'm way behind other ghosts of my caliber. I just don't want to start something and disappoint you by being unable to finish it."

"I wouldn't be-" Neji tried to protest, but Shikamaru was already shaking his head.

"Yes, you would be, though you'd try to hide it. Imagine what would happen if I was half-hard, and then was suddenly unable to go beyond half-hard? Or if you were touching me and then suddenly where you were touching was gone, with nothing but a gaping hole of nothingness left? That's what I'm afraid will happen. I want to do it, Neji, I really do, but I know my limits. I can do it, but not right now. I need practice first, just a little bit of time, and then we can do whatever you want to do. Just not right now."

Neji looked down, unable to meet the haunted emotion in Shikamaru's gaze. It made sense when it was all laid out like that, so much sense that Neji wondered how he couldn't come up with it himself. "I'm sorry," he said, not even sure what he was apologizing for, just feeling that he should be apologizing. It had obviously taken a lot of humility for Shikamaru to give up his pride and admit what he'd just told Neji, so he felt like he owed it to the phantom.

But Shikamaru shook off the apology, disentangling his incorporeal hand from Neji's own. "It's not your fault; actually, if anyone here should be apologizing, it's me." He took a step back, surveying the scene. "Well, I feel like I've rather killed the mood. Should I leave?"

"Actually, that might be a good idea," Neji admitted, though he felt bad when he saw the hurt flash in Shikamaru's gaze that the phantom tried to hide so he quickly continued. "I just found out that I have to meet with the elders tomorrow so I have to meditate tonight to make my aura go back to normal, otherwise they might find traces of you and if that happens they'll be a witch hunt going on all over Seattle."

Something clicked behind Shikamaru's eyes, and he gave a single curt nod of understanding. "Alright. Do you think it might be better for me to leave Seattle entirely for a day or two, then?"

Neji couldn't deny that the suggestion shocked him, though once he thought about it, it did make sense. "That might not actually be a bad idea. They might keep a close watch on me for up to twenty-four hours after the meeting depending on if they like how it goes, so it might be safer for both of us to have a little more distance until things blow over. I don't know what they've called me in for - it could be for anything from my job to something they want me to look into to a personal matter - but having traces of your energy detected in my aura would definitely be dangerous for both of us."

"I can do that." Shikamaru nodded to himself, surprising Neji that he was giving in so quickly. "I'll go down to Oregon for a few days; I knew some people from there that I've been meaning to see if they'd died yet anyway. Would the evening of the day after tomorrow be enough time to throw off any potential observers?"

"Y-yes, it would," Neji replied, stunned that Shikamaru was agreeing so easily.

"Then I'll get going." He stood up straighter and moved as if to leave, shocking Neji even further.

"You're leaving right now?"

A single lazy eye regarded Neji inscrutably from behind a strange mask in profile. "You did say that you had to meditate to clear your aura."

"I- I did say that," Neji said, feeling rather lame. "You just- took me by surprise by agreeing so easily."

"Well, causing you trouble with your family is the last thing I want to do." Shikamaru leaned back toward Neji with a superior smirk. "Are you afraid that you'll miss me?"

"Of course not!" Neji protested, then when he was faced with a knowing smirk, he blushed and looked downwards. "Well, maybe a little."

"I'll have to give you something to remember me by until I come back, then."

Before he know what was happening, Neji found his jaw captured in an unbreakable grip, then his lips found themselves occupied by a second pair. The kiss wasn't like other ones they had shared, full of rolling tongues and need, but instead composed entirely of sweetness and pure emotion. It lasted only a few seconds, but Neji could have sworn that empires had risen and fallen before Shikamaru finally pulled back.

"See you in a few days, Neji. I'll count every hour."

Neji couldn't remember when he'd closed his eyes, but when he opened them again Shikamaru was gone, leaving him alone in the bathroom with his thoughts. Glancing at his reflection in the mirror, he saw that his face was stained with red and hands were trembling.

Fuck, I really need to figure out what I'm doing.


AN- and for those of you who are wondering, Namaki is real character- sort of. I couldn't find a name so I just gave her one, but her existence is at least implied, even if she doesn't have a name.