30 Day OTP Challenge for the Fluff Impaired Prompt #21: Finishing each others sentences

This mission had to be one of the worst he'd ever had the displeasure of being on, Shikamaru decided from his spot at the front of the cave. A true clusterfuck if there ever was one. It had gone sour almost from the very beginning. It had all started with an icy cold rain which had slowly started to turn to snow unseasonably as they moved northwards. It was late fall right now so snow being this far south at this time was worrying. He and his team had been forced to take shelter here or risk freezing to death. Of course, the snow showed no signs of stopping even after three days. They had once had a minimal supply of firewood that they had used sparingly but now...

"Shikamaru, we need -"

"More fire wood," Shikamaru finished Neji's sentence quietly. "Yeah, I know. The only person I can think of sending out - and who would even be remotely safe in this storm - is you. Your doujutsu is the only advantage we have when it comes to being able to find the way back. And even then -"

"It's still risky. I don't think we have much of a choice though. Naruto may have Kurama to keep his body temperature up but TenTen, you and I do not -"

"Have that sort of protection. Again, yeah, I know. I'd send Naruto if I thought he wouldn't get lost because he's got that Sage Mode of his but that requires him to sit still for a long time to gather nature chakra. Which could be disastrous in this weather-"

"So he isn't really equipped to find his way back through the snow storm. Whereas I have my Byakugan to find everyone's' chakra signatures almost instantly to lead me back."

"Mm. A wrong step or turn could prove disastrous at this point in time."

"Hey guys?" TenTen's voice called from further back in the cave. "I don't think the fire is going to last much longer. If you're going to make a decision it needs to be made soon."

Neji looked at Shikamaru and the Nara grimaced. "Fine. Just be -"

"Careful. I always am, Shikamaru. I'll be back as soon as I can -"

"But it might take you a while. I get it," Shikamaru said. He gave the Hyūga a sharp look, "if you get in trouble out there -"

"Find shelter and wait out the rest of the storm as best as possible. Konoha's protocols on these things are very clear, Shikamaru," Neji stated gently. He looked over his shoulder for a moment to determine whether their teammates were busy or not to find TenTen and Naruto spreading out three of the canvas tents they had on the freezing stone cave floor. The Hyūga was quick to pull Shikamaru close and ducked his head down to kiss the Nara. Shikamaru froze at first before he fisted the cloth of Neji's cloak tightly in his hands and kissed Neji back. It was a hard, desperate kiss that conveyed the Nara's worries to Neji clearly. He pulled away and murmured in Shikamaru's ear softly, "I won't get myself killed out there. That's a promise."

"I'll hold you to that," the Nara rasped. Shikamaru's face was colored a dusty rose both from the kiss and his own reaction to it. They had only been in relationship together for a little over four months which meant that the Nara still had a hard time expressing himself and was easily embarrassed by physical displays of affection.

Neji nodded before he geared up. When he was done he turned to Shikamaru. "If things get bad here -"

"Huddle up together and keep as warm as possible. I doubt Naruto would allow us to do anything else. You know how overprotective he is of his precious people."

"I do know," Neji said. Louder, he stated, "I'm going now."

"Be careful!" Naruto and TenTen called out to him in chorus.

"You all do the same," Neji said and quickly disappeared from sight.

"He'll be okay, Shikamaru," TenTen said to the Nara when he came to sit by the fire fifteen minutes later.

Shikamaru just gave her a distracted smile that didn't reach his eyes. He was already feeling the Hyūga's absence keenly.

Shikamaru cursed the moment the fire went out. They had been expecting it to happen for the last thirty minutes but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

"Huddle time?" Naruto asked as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Yep," TenTen agreed. "It was just our bad luck that this cave wasn't used as a stopover for people looking for shelter. Otherwise we would have been able to set the tents up with the flaps facing the back of the cave."

"No use in crying over spilled milk," Shikamaru said. "It was good thinking of you two to stacked the tents on top of one another. The stone is too cold for just one tent to provide us adequate protection. Naruto, put the sleeping bags together as best as you can and then place them under the first layer of canvas."

"Shikamaru, what -?"

"I'm going to seal the three blankets we still have to the entrance of the cave as best as I can to keep the worst of the wind out. I won't be able to block it all out though since we only have the three. I didn't do it before because we had the fire and dying of smoke inhalation isn't on my list of things to do. Anyway, the top layer of canvas from the tents will help protect us from the wind that does get it in."

"Using the thick layered canvas of the tents as a blanket is a good idea, Shikamaru. It's definitely better than nothing at all. It could be worse, but this situation still seriously bites ass," TenTen said as she helped Naruto.

"You're preaching to the choir," Naruto said. "I hope Neji's doing okay out there. I mean, the fire has only just gone out on us and the temperature is already dropping. It can't be all that pleasant for him out there."

"Naruto!" TenTen hissed. "Stop it! Shikamaru's worried enough as is. He doesn't need you making him even more worried then he was previously!"

"It's fine, TenTen. Naruto only stated what was already going through my head," Shikamaru said as he returned to the remainder of his team. "We'd best get in the sleeping bags now and stay warm. Naruto, you're in the middle since you've got the highest core body temperature."

The three Konoha ninja quickly settled down and made themselves as comfortable as possible. Shikamaru was able to stay awake for a while but eventually, despite the Nara's worry over Neji, the warmth began to cause him to dose lightly. A movement from Naruto made the Nara jerk back into full alertness.

"Hey, easy there, Shikamaru. It's just me."

"I know that," Shikamaru rasped. "I shouldn't be sleeping right now."

"Nonsense, you and TenTen need to conserve as much energy as possible. TenTen is already out cold. You can go ahead and sleep too. I'm the one with the monstrous stamina so I'll keep watch for Neji's return. I promise, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sighed, knowing he couldn't argue with that sort of logic. Nor could he deny that Naruto was a man of his word. If the Uzumaki said he was going to do something than he damn well did it. The Nara settled down and was soon dozing again.

It was after an indeterminable period of time that Shikamaru found himself ripped out of a dreamless sleep and rudely brought to full awareness in seconds by a freezing cold blast of air over his face. He could feel an empty spot were Naruto should have been and TenTen was struggling to free herself from the sleeping bags. He could hear Naruto's concerned voice telling someone to get out of their wet clothes and then he was scrambling to get out of the sleeping bags as well. Shikamaru called out worriedly, "Neji?!"

"I-I'm f-fine. J-just v-very c-cold," Neji replied with chattering teeth. The Hyūga's lips were a purplish color from his time spent in the cold and his hands were shaking, causing him to have trouble pulling off his wet clothes.

Shikamaru moved to help him, "Naruto, get a fire started. TenTen, help me get Neji out of these. I can't get my fingers into some of these ties and your nails are longer so you should have better luck."

"He's going to need to get warm quick. You and Naruto are both taller and broader than I am," TenTen stated as she helped as much as she could. "I brought over a dry shirt so he can get drier. His hair is going to take forever to dry though."

"I've got instant ramen packed in storage scrolls! You can make some, TenTen. That way we'll all have something hot to eat pretty quickly. And it'll help Neji warm up," Naruto said as he stripped down down to his boxers and got back into the sleeping bags. "Hurry up and get Neji over here. People aren't supposed to be that color!"

"No shit, Naruto! And thanks for letting us get into your ramen stash," Shikamaru called over his shoulder. Softer, he said, "never thought I'd be saying this but Naruto's ramen obsession is actually -"

"H-helpful?" Neji shuddered hard.

"Yeah." Shikamaru rubbed the Hyūga down with the dry shirt to get the snow-melt off of him. "Right, use this to dry your hair as best as you can after you get into the sleeping bags. I'll be there as soon as I get out of my clothes."

TenTen laughed suddenly, "It is so weird hearing that from you, Shikamaru."

Naruto let out a yelp before Shikamaru could answer, "Mother fucker! You're f-freezing, N-Neji."

Shikamaru snorted as he pulled off his outer layers, "I'm certain that it's only going to get weirder when you join us, TenTen. Neji probably -"

"W-wasn't a-able t-to g-gather a-as m-much f-fire w-wood a-as I-I w-wanted. W-we w-will n-need t-to -"

"Be exceedingly careful with what we have now," Shikamaru finished for Neji as he removed the rest of his clothes. "We'll have to let that fire die and only make another when it's absolutely necessary."

"W-wow," Naruto said with wide eyes. "Y-you g-guys a-are r-really i-in s-sync w-with o-one a-another."

"What are you on about?" Shikamaru asked in confusion as he crawled into the sleeping bags with the other two men.

"You two just continue finishing each others' sentences. It's kind of cool. And now we know that Shikamaru's a briefs sort of guy!" TenTen commented brightly.

"OI! Don't look at my underwear you perv!" Shikamaru blushed a brilliant crimson at TenTen's shameless eying of his mostly naked self. He had to stifle a yelp as Neji pressed himself as close as he could to Shikamaru so he would warm up quicker. The Hyūga was laughing shakily. Shikamaru's teeth started to chatter from how cold Neji was, "I-it's n-not f-funny, y-you d-dick."

Naruto started laughing as well and TenTen said, "Actually, Shikamaru, this shit is hilarious. I can't believe that you're a shinobi able to bath in front of others but can't handle them seeing you in your underwear."

"D-don't b-bathe i-in f-front o-of w-women. K-kaa-san w-would k-kill m-me," Shikamaru said.

"Wow. Strict much? Anyway, the ramen is done and you guys can warm up now. So you'd best sit up unless you want to get burned," TenTen exclaimed. She brought two bowls over as Naruto and Neji both sat up quickly, Shikamaru did so more slowly, "I just made enough ramen for us all at one time so we wouldn't have to wait."

"G-good. I-I w-will e-enjoy b-being w-warm a-again," Neji stated.

Once they were done eating and more warmed up than before TenTen shimmied into the sleeping bags behind Naruto, who was semi draped over Neji's back. She pressed herself against Naruto's back and reached over him to place a hand Neji's shoulder. "You feeling better?"

Neji stirred sleepily, "Yes. Thank you for asking."

"We're glad you made it back okay," Naruto said. "We were really worried. Especially Shikamaru."

"I know," the Hyūga murmured with a a tired yawn. Neji turned his attention to his significant other. The Nara was suspiciously silent but he had pressed himself up against Neji as closely and as tightly as he possibly could. Shikamaru's head was tucked under Neji's chin, his legs were tangled with Neji's and the Nara kept running his free hand up and down the Hyūga's side. Normally, Shikamaru would not have allowed such intimate contact when in company of others. It said a lot about the Nara's mental state when he was not only allowing such contact but had initiated the contact in the first place. "I'm okay, Shikamaru. Rest now."

He felt the Nara shake his head slightly and felt the press of lips against his upper chest just under the hollow of his throat. Neji sighed softly and wrapped his arm around Shikamaru's waist and pulling him closer. He felt Shikamaru's own arm slide over his waist to hold on to him tightly. The Nara muscles were locked in tension and he trembled slightly from unvoiced emotions. Neji murmured soft indecipherable words to the younger male until the tension melted away from him and Shikamaru's breathing slowly deepened. The Nara nuzzled Neji once before sleep finally took him at last. Neji was grateful that the others had remained silent through his comforting of Shikamaru. Though it might have been that they had already fallen asleep. Neji was quick to follow them.

The cave was silent for the rest of the night, except for the sounds of the wind blowing and the occasional soft noise made by someone moving in their sleep. The darkness of the cave only broken on occasion by one of Naruto's sleepy blue eyes opening to check on each of his comrades before closing again.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So this story takes place before A Quiet Day. Neji has yet to move in to Shikamaru's house. Also, Shikamaru in his underwear - because I say so and because Shikamaru is adorable when he's freaking out from embarrassment. TenTen takes shameless advantage of poor Neji's being freezing cold to brazenly look at her nearly naked teammates.