Disclaimer and warning in first chapter.

Chapter 14

Neji watched with slight interest as Lee sat at the table, scribbling away enthusiastically.

Lee had taken Neji's advice to write Gaara a letter to heart. And while Lee was writing away cheerfully, Neji was pondering about his secret admirer again.

He sighed softly as, for what seemed like the millionth time since all of this started, he wondered who the mysterious writer could be.

There weren't many people left who could possibly fit the character displayed in the letters. If Neji were honest, no-one he knew fit the character his secret admirer.

He seemed so wonderful and out of this world that Neji couldn't possibly imagine who it could be. And that bothered him a bit.

Because he believed no matter who it was, Neji would be thrilled to be with that person. Slowly and gradually he had fallen in love with the person he didn't know, who didn't reveal anything about himself.

All Neji knew was that it was a man that loved him very much. A man that went through great trouble every time to write him a letter.

And above all, it was probably a man his uncle approved of which meant a lot to Neji.

But who could it be?

'He must be smart,' Neji thought. Because, a stupid person wouldn't be able to leave him letters like that without him noticing.

"Neji!" Lee called out suddenly.

When Neji looked up shocked, he was met with white paper pushed against his face.

When he grabbed the paper and put it down he saw Lee, fidgeting and blushing.

"Could you read it? I mean… ah, you have the experience with the letters." Lee asked, nervous and embarrassed.

Neji smiled, feeling honored that Lee would trust him with his letter. Because this letter was probably a look into Lee's feelings, which run pretty deep.

So Neji lifted the paper and with a small smile etched on his face started to read a very different letter than the ones he received from his own admirer.

Neji stood, watching with amusement as Lee stood in front of him, completely freaking out.

"What's wrong?" He asked with a smirk.

Lee stood still for a moment, looking at his friend with such an expression that Neji almost felt guilty for asking. Almost.

"It's Gaara." Lee answered. "H-he arrived this morning."

Neji smirked. He knew that, of course.

Because only three days after Lee had sent his letter to Gaara, the Kazekage of the Sand sent a notice to Konoha that he would be visiting the village to maintain the good relationship between the two villages.

Lee had been quite shaken up about it and still was. Although Neji didn't believe that all Lee felt was anguish because the love of his life was here… that would just be wrong.

"But that's good isn't it? That was what you were after, after all."

Lee looked at Neji, shocked. "What?" He uttered softly.

Neji frowned at Lee's reaction. "You didn't think that would happen?" He asked, surprised. "What else did you expect? It's Gaara we're talking about."

Lee fumbled with his fingers and shuffled his feet. "I… I don't want to see him."

Neji raised an eyebrow when he heard Lee's answer. "And why not?"

"As long as he doesn't know it's me who wrote to him, it's fine. He won't like me. And in front of him, I'm sure I can't keep my composure."

Neji glared at his friend as he finished talking.

"Then you shouldn't have written him a letter and you know it. You are just insecure because you don't know what's going to happen. Well, I don't know either. And I haven't known for a very long time now," Neji said and perhaps he was a bit harsh.

"You shouldn't give up on Gaara simply because you're insecure. If he loves you back, that means you are good enough," Neji said, on a softer tone now.

Lee grinned then and hugged his friend. "Thank you Neji. You are a wonderful friend!" he exclaimed happily.

Neji laid his hands on Lee's shoulders for a few seconds before shoving him away. "Well, that's enough all right? We're not girls," he said and Lee laughed.

"You are smirking."

Neji looked up from his book to see Shikamaru standing in front of him.

After a busy, hectic and somewhat hilarious past three days, Neji had been relieved to finally have found a few quiet moments for himself to enjoy his book.

However, the woods were also Shikamaru's silent sanctuary and Neji had not thought of that when he sat down against the oak-tree just a few hours ago.

"Is the expression on my face bothering you? If so, you simply shouldn't look." Neji told Shikamaru as he turned back to his book, still smirking but now for a totally different reason.

Neji found that he liked teasing Shikamaru.

The two of them had become friends ever since they played that first game of chess against each other. And even though Shikamaru was smart, he was a genius after all, the boy never seemed to respond to teasing properly.

Shikamaru would get embarrassed, laugh for a moment and with a slight flush ignore Neji's words.

Now though, Shikamaru simply chuckled as he sat down next to Neji. Their arms were touching, Neji noted. Not that such a thing was of any importance anyway.

"It's hard not to look at your face, Neji." Shikamaru said, as calm as he normally sounded minus his standard bored tone, after a few moments of comfortable silence.

Neji was surprised to hear Shikamaru say such a thing. Was the other boy actually teasing him? If he was, it would be the first time he ever did so.

Neji turned to Shikamaru with a small frown on his face. To his surprise Shikamaru was smiling. Not smirking, but really smiling.

When Shikamaru saw Neji look at him with surprise clearly showing on his face, he chuckled.

"What?" Neji asked.

"Nothing too bad." Shikamaru said and with a smirk continued: "It's just that the way people think of you is mostly formed on untruths."

Neji frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone thinks you are vain, but you don't even recognize a compliment when it's laid out right in front of you."

Neji blinked and turned his gaze away from his friend. When he was with Shikamaru, he always found out so many things; mostly how others thought of him.

He already knew that most people thought he was a bastard, but people thought he was vain too? Well, he did take a huge liking to his hair but that was it, really.

"Do you think I'm vain?" Neji blurted. He didn't mean to ask that, really. And he knew that the moment he saw the amusement on Shikamaru's face as he turned back to him. But he couldn't take back his words now. That would only make him look foolish.

"No," Shikamaru answered honestly. "I think you're actually not that aware of how good people think you look."

Neji felt very flustered at hearing that. Did that mean that Shikamaru thought he looked good? The other boy could be so vague sometimes.

"Shikamaru…" Neji started. But what was he going to say? What did he want to ask? Neji didn't know, so he trailed off.

"Why don't you finish your chapter? We can go to lunch when you're done." Shikamaru suggested after a few moments of silence.

Neji turned back to his book with a small nod. Reading his book seemed somewhat boring now though.

Neji was quietly eating his miso ramen.

Lee was shifting uncomfortably in his chair, completely ignoring his own bowl with food.

Shikamaru was watching with a raised eyebrow at Lee and wondered what kind of teammate Neji actually had.

"Go talk to him." Neji said as he glanced at Lee.

"But -" Lee started to protest.

"No, go talk to him. You're getting annoying." Neji said, glancing at the red-head sitting at a table a few behind theirs. He was looking at them.

"Neji, no! And don't look his way, he might come to talk to us." Lee said softly as he pulled Neji's sleeve to make the other boy look at their table again.

Neji sighed in frustration. "Lee, you're acting like a teenage girl." Neji said and after that smirked. "Besides, you sent Gaara a love-letter and three days later he arrives in our village and you think he's here for business?" Neji laughed.

Lee's eyes widened and he gasped.

Even Shikamaru had the decency to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"W-what are you talking about?" Lee stuttered, a blush coming to his cheeks.

"Oh, it's obvious he has some idea who sent the letter," Neji said smugly and with no little amusement.

Lee paled and looked down. "Oh."

"Lee, are you blind?" Neji asked. Gods, this guy's self-esteem really was way too low. "Gaara can't keep his eyes off of you! It's obvious he's smitten by you."

Lee took a few moments to comprehend the information. He closed his eyes in thought and after a few moments opened them again, looking at Neji with a somewhat shy smile. "You think so?"

Neji nodded, trying to look as reassuring as possible. "Yes. So go talk to him."

"Neji…"

"He keeps looking at us. The least you can do is ask how he is doing," Neji pointed out. This would give Lee the perfect opportunity to have a decent talk with Gaara.

"Yosh, I'll do that!" Lee exclaimed excitedly all of a sudden. He stood up and with a wide grin made his way towards Gaara's table.

"Poor Gaara." Neji grinned. "He won't know what hit him."

"You and Lee are very different around each other." Shikamaru had been observing as the two friends conversed and he found it quite amusing. Neji got more and more civil the longer he talked to Lee. Whereas Lee calmed down and showed a very insecure side of himself.

"What?" Neji asked, turning towards Shikamaru.

"Oh, nothing really. You and Lee are very good friends, are you not?" Shikamaru asked with a slight smile.

Neji nodded. "Yes."

"How so? He doesn't seem the kind of person you would hang out with." Shikamaru asked.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Just saying what everyone is thinking."

"I never cared about how others think of me. Lee is a good person, a bit too eccentric sometimes I must admit. But he is a good friend nonetheless," Neji said, smiling slightly as he saw Lee fidget with his fingers and a blush on his face as he talked to Gaara.

Suddenly a thought came to him and Neji turned to Shikamaru with a frown. "Besides, why would you care? You're not known to follow gossip, or even indulge yourself in it."

"Che, troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. "You're my friend; of course I'd like to know more about you." Shikamaru explained after a few seconds.

Neji frowned.

"Sure," he said. But he didn't feel very satisfied with the answer for some reason.

It was now early evening. Dusk was settling in and Neji's room was getting darker with the minute.

But Neji didn't mind. He enjoyed the slight darkness as he sat in his window-sill, watching the compound get ready for the night.

The little children were hushed back inside, lights were lit and curtains closed.

Neji glanced at his nightstand and he felt a surge of happiness go through him again.

He had received another letter from his secret admirer. It had been short but bliss as always.

"My dearest Neji,

If only you knew how much I long to hold you in my arms. How that longing gets stronger every day.

You must have gone through a tiresome time. Guiding your friend and helping him confess his love. It makes me feel like a coward, realizing that I tell you of my feelings every time yet you haven't an idea of who I am.
I long to wrap my arms around your waist, weave my fingers through your silky hair and murmur sweet nothings in your ears.

As my longing is getting stronger, so is the want to be with you.
It makes me wonder if you'll hate me. If you are disappointed I am not the person you hoped I would be.
Thinking of meeting you fills me with happiness and dread at the same time. But I have the feeling I simply can't stay in the dark any longer.

But if you ever doubt my love because I won't meet with you, be re-assured.
I love you with my entire being and hope to soon be graced by your presence.

With love."

It had, as always, been a lovely letter. But it had sounded different than usual.

The letter was written with a note of desperation it seemed. Almost as if his secret admirer was tired of waiting.

Neji felt excited and giddy because of that.

Because it meant that he would probably meet his secret admirer soon. Although Neji had to admit he was quite nervous.

It was true what his secret admirer had written. Because even though Neji didn't have a face in mind, he could always be disappointed when he found out who it was. He didn't expect to be, but it could always happen.

It made him feel excited yet at the same time a bit reluctant now that a meeting with his secret admirer was coming so close.

But oh, how he longed for his secret admirer now.

The words he had written about wanting to hold Neji and whisper things in his ear made the long-haired boy shiver.

He thought of fingers threading though his hair, warm breath ghosting over his ears and a warm body pressed against his won.

Neji shivered and let out a shuddering breath. Yes, he was looking forward to meeting his secret admirer very much all of a sudden.

TBC.

Author's note:

Ah, this was such a fun chapter to write! I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. Please let me know what you think of the story!