Shampoo, Ice Cream, and Sake

Shikamaru reluctantly opened his door to face his late-night visitor. "What do you want?"

Neji roughly brushed past him and walked into his shabby apartment. "I ran out of shampoo," he said simply. He stood for a few seconds in the middle of Shikamaru's living room, looking around. "Where's your bathroom?"

Shikamaru, with an annoyed look on his face, pointed to his right. Neji immediately marched away.

"Geez," Shikamaru said, shutting the door. He plopped heavily into the coach. "How many times are you going to just show up in the middle of the night like this? For such stupid reasons, nonetheless."

Neji walked back into the room clutching a bottle. "I ran out," he repeated. "You live the closest."

"No I don't," Shikamaru said. "Lee does."

"You live the closest," Neji repeated firmly.

Shikamaru snorted. "Fine, whatever. Just take the shampoo and go. I was in the middle of sleeping." He then closed his eyes and beckoned Neji to leave.

But Neji didn't move. He chose, instead, to hover awkwardly between the hallway and the door, staring at Shikamaru intensely. Shikamaru figured that if he ignored this for a while, Neji'd give up and finally leave him alone. But after a few minutes had passed, Neji was still standing there, an intense expression on his face.

"What is it," Shikamaru groaned. "Did somebody die again?"

"No," Neji snapped. "I just…" he trailed off.

Shikamaru waited. "Did you break up with that TenTen chick?"

Neji let out a low growl. "Who says we were dating?"

"Don't play dumb," Shikamaru said. "Everyone in Fire Country you and two were getting it on. Hell, people from Wind Country could probably hear you two."

Neji couldn't prevent a dull flush from climbing up his cheeks. "T-That—! That's completely wrong!"

"So you didn't break up?"

The boy was silent, gripping the bottle tighter than ever.

"Alright then," Shikamaru said, heaving himself off the coach and walking towards the refrigerator. "Come here. I've got something that'll open you up."

Neji looked nonplussed as he walked towards Shikamaru. He sat at the kitchen table, feeling a bit nervous at whatever Shikamaru had in mind. Shikamaru then gave a little grunt. Neji watched in shocked silence as Shikamaru hefted out what looked like a bucket of chocolate chocolate chip ice cream.

"Good for healing broken hearts," Shikamaru said with as much seriousness as he could as he unceremoniously dumped the gallon on the table. It shook under the bucket's weight. The other boy gave him a look of disbelief. Shikamaru held up a hand to silence his protests. "Don't worry. I've been there."

Neji looked unconvinced. "I don't think ice cream can help," he said, trying hard not to seem discomposed. "This isn't just about TenTen."

"Oh?" Shikamaru said as he searched his disheveled kitchen for spoons.

The boy nervously began to tap his fingers against his leg. "It involves Hinata-sama too."

Shikamaru stared. Neji avoided his look. Then, Shikamaru heaved a great sigh.

"Alright, get up," Shikamaru said, picking up his house keys. "Leave the shampoo."

"Are we going somewhere?" Neji asked, hastily getting to his feet.

Shikamaru let out another tremendous sigh. He threw an arm around the other boy's neck. "This is a problem," he said dramatically, "Only sake can help with."

"Is that really going to work," Neji asked, struggling off Shikamaru's arm.

"Well," Shikamaru said. "Is it only TenTen and Hinata?"

Neji coughed. He looked a bit more uncomfortable. "Well, maybe Na—somebody else."

Shikamaru had a grim look etched on his face. "Let's go," he said, pulling Neji along. "You're paying."