So, I have to go back to school tomorrow, and I don't know if I'll have much time to write… but I'll try to update as much as possible…

Chapter Thirty Eight

"Hinata?" Sasuke gently shook the sleeping girl. "Where's Neji?"

Hinata mumbled something and pointed to a wall without lifting her head up or opening her eyes.

Great. So it was up to him to find Neji. Cautiously, Sasuke started opening doors and peeking in rooms. He was more than a little relieved when he found Neji and Shikamaru and they were both asleep. He had been worried that he would interrupt something unpleasant.

And from the looks of it, if he had come in much earlier he would have interrupted. Neji didn't have his shirt on, and was leaning against Shikamaru, one arm thrown around his waist and their legs were intertwined. Neji had a few visible bite marks on his neck and a few on his chest, but it was nothing compared to the dark bruises and many hickies that covered Shikamaru's neck and seemed to continue below the collar of the dress he was still wearing.

"Neji!" Sasuke whispered urgently, shaking the boy awake. The Hyuuga was incredibly disorientated and reluctant to open his eyes. He simply pushed Sasuke away and moved closer to Shikamaru, who still hadn't budged.

Sasuke was annoyed. "Neji, you're sleeping with Shikamaru, and there's a ninja watching the house."

Neji blinked stupidly at the Uchiha for a moment, before pushing away from Shikamaru and flinging himself off the bed. He looked at Sasuke and then down at his bare chest, a blush creeping to his face.

"Did you hear me?" Sasuke asked. Neji nodded, frantically grabbing his shirt and pulling it on. "There's a ninja watching the house. Whoever it is wasn't hiding their chakra very well, but they might not be alone."

Neji stood up, the blush gone from his face. He still looked drowsy, and wasn't walking quite strait as he followed Sasuke back out to the living room.

"Everyone's asleep?" Neji looked around in disbelief. "You're a great baby sitter."

Sasuke threw him a glare. "Yeah, a lot better than you!"

Neji shrugged. "Hey, have a drunk Naruto start spilling his secrets to you and you would need a few drinks too."

Sasuke shook his head. "Whatever. What are we gonna do about whoever's watching the place? I first noticed him when I was chasing Lee, then when I was getting Naruto off the roof. The chakra flared when I was with Naruto. It might mean Naruto has something to do with it, or it might be coincidence."

Neji listened in silence. "Well, I could see why someone would come after Naruto. Someone could feel threatened by him. Hell, I think Naruto feels threatened by himself."

Sasuke nodded. "So, what do we do?"

Sakura sat up drowsily, looking at the two boys who weren't bothering to keep their voices down. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Sakura. Go back to sleep." Sasuke said quickly.

Sakura's confused look turned into a glare. "I'm not a baby, Sasuke! Now what's going on?" She stood up, looking Neji in the eye. "Who's coming after Naruto?"

"No one's coming after Naruto!" Sasuke hissed. "We're just speculating!"

"Oh. Why?"

Neji's eyes narrowed. "If we tell you, will you leave us alone so we can think?" He didn't like the pink haired girl at all, and could see Naruto's reasoning when he said she was more annoying than he was. When he said he preferred Sasuke… NO! He didn't want to think about that! Not when they had to figure out who was stalking the house.

"Fine. If you tell me I'll just step aside and let you big strong boys deal with it!" Sakura snapped, crossing her arms.

"Someone's been watching the house for a few hours. A ninja." Neji explained quickly. "Now leave us alone!"

Sakura pouted and stomped into the kitchen.

"Well, what reasons are they not here for?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Well, I don't think they were here for the party." Neji said. "And I don't think they came to see Lee and Naruto strip either."

Sasuke looked around. "Well, they could be here because you're uncle isn't. It would be a good time to attack the Hyuuga clan, wouldn't it?"

"They might be after that last of the Uchiha clan too!" Neji retorted. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Well this isn't getting us anywhere."

"I think the most likely is that they're after Naruto." Neji said slowly. "It makes the most sense. It could be nothing more than some of the Jounin trying to pick a fight."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Then should I take Naruto home now? Or should we wait. If they are after him, and by some chance it isn't just some of our village Jounin, we'll be putting everyone here in danger if Naruto stays."

Neji thought for a moment. "True, but if they aren't after you or Naruto, we'd have a better chance of waiting." He suddenly glanced at Hinata, who was watching them carefully. Sakura was also listening intently from the door of the kitchen.

"What makes you guys so sure that they aren't just a couple of chunin doing their nightly patrols?" Sakura asked.

"Because a patrol doesn't consist of sitting and staring at one house."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but Sasuke held up a hand for silence. He sensed someone's chakra signature coming from the roof. A few seconds later, another person joined the first..

"There's at least two of them." Neji said quietly, looking up at the ceiling.

Hinata carefully got to her feet. "What do we do?" Her voice sounded timid, but her eyes were resolute.

"We wait."