Kowaikage: Hi guys! Thanks for reading so far. Um, I just remembered I forgot a few things, like the disclaimer, so here it is in all it's glory:

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Sniffle Never did, and never will, unless of course I make millions somehow and then beg the real owner to sell it too me. Hmm…Runs to the store to buy lottery tickets

There, wasn't that beautiful? Also I'd like to thank the people who were kind enough to review:

Taitana Hime – Thank you so much for your review, I really appreciate it. Thanks for loving it and not loving bad things! thumbs up.
Assassin- Thank you for the review and yuppers, that was my first fic. I'll try to update it everyday since I'm done it, I just need to correct the spelling. (I found out it was spelled Uchiha and not Uchina, Ugh, that's gonna be a long time changing.) Anyway, If you like this one I just posted another. Nudges you over to 'Drunken conflict' Ehhh EHHHHH?
VegetaSS2jin- A thank you, I shall keep going
Hikari Aki- Teehee thanks, and I do plan on reading your fic.

It took Shikamaru a good hour longer to arrive at the mansion then it usually did. Mostly because he didn't get any sleep the night before which he hoped Neji didn't notice, and he kept turning back and changing his mind. Finally he arrived at Neji's door, he drew a deep quick breath to calm his nerves and knocked quietly.

Neji had been inside his room, the bathroom more precisely and had just finished washing his face. At least that was the excuse he was using, he just didn't want anyone to know he was crying should Hinata or his Uncle happen to walk in. He heard a soft knock at the door and put the towel down giving his face a quick examination in the mirror. His eyes were a little pink, hopefully it wouldn't be obvious to his visitor what he had been doing. He opened the door and stiffened when he saw Shikamaru standing there.

The Nara boy looked up, no turning back now. "Hi Neji…Um could I come in for a second?" Neji nodded both curious and fearful of the news his ex was about to bring him. He moved and sat on his bed bringing a pillow to his chest, while Shikamaru pulled a chair up to talk. Shikamaru gazed up at Neji, his hair was strewn over his shoulders and with that pillowed cuddled up to his chest, he really looked like a girl, a beautiful girl. He shook his head and quickly dismissed the thought. "Um…" this wasn't a good start, maybe if he just said it all at once it would be easier? He cleared his throat then continued "I know yesterday…we sorta broke up." "Sorta?" Neji raised an eyebrow, he was quite sure Shikamaru had made it clear. "Well yeah, I came here today, cause you deserve to know why." Neji felt his stomach lurch. Was it something he did or said? So many self-doubts and worries were buzzing through his head that his almost didn't catch then next think Shika said. "It was because I thought I had to leave Kohana, for a Jounin mission. I would have been gone for about a year and I didn't think it would be fair to make you wait for me." Shikamaru felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, he at least told Neji why, hope he takes it well. "What?" the Hyuuga's voice seemed deadly. Shikamaru continued. "I decided it wouldn't have been fair to make you wait that long, for me to return. But it turns out…heh I don't have to leave anymore." his laugh seemed filled with nervousness and with good reason too. Shikamaru had only made half-way through his sentence when Neji's knuckles turned white from gripping the pillow and he's eyes narrowed to slivers. "You broke up with me because you thought you were going away for a year. Do you have any idea how selfish that is?" "W-what?" Shikamaru's eye's widen "What do you mean I did it beca-" "You knew I would wait. You knew it! You just didn't want to be tied down while you were gone did you?" The Hyuuga hissed, his words like venom. "N-no, I- okay it's true that I knew you would wait, but I didn't think it would be fair to you." "Fair to me! You had no right to decide something like that for me." "It was too much trouble to explain it to yo-" he stopped. Neji looked pissed at the last thing said, his face grew red and he stood on the bed, still gripping the pillow. "I'm sorry if our relationship was too much trouble for you! I'm sorry if I'm too troublesome to keep seeing!" Shikamaru didn't like how quickly Neji had gotten riled up, he usually only saw this when the other boy was aroused, and since he knew this wasn't one of those good times he had no idea how the hyuuga would act. "N-neji, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it like that." "But that's how you said it!" Neji's eyes watered and he forced back tears, he would never let anyone see him cry. Shikamaru looked down as his eyes widen, realizing how his actions did hurt the boy. He mentally slapped himself, some master-strategist he was, he didn't even notice how unfair he had been to Neji. Not just now, but many times throughout the relationship. "Neji…I truly am sorry." "Damn straight you are!" Neji had hoped his words would have come off a little harsher, but he sensed the sincerity in Shikamaru's voice and softened them. He felt himself calming down a bit, loosening his grip on the pillow and sat back down. Silence ensued for a while. Shikamaru scratched at his shoulder a bit, relieved the anger in the room had finally dissipated. "I don't suppose it wouldn't be too troublesome to forget this happened and go back to the way things were?" THWACK! and then just like that, the anger was back in the room. Neji obviously still had a lot of hurt dwelling inside him he had not been able to let go of just yet. Or at least that's what Shikamaru concluded, who was now sprawled on the floor after being smacked with a pillow. "YOU JERK!" Neji yelled not caring if Hinata or his Uncle heard him. "You shouldn't play around with people like that! You can't just do that to someone. You need to learn some compassion before I would ever look twice at you like that again." "So that's a no?" "GET OUT!" The long haired nin had dropped his pillow and was now physically shoving the other out. "Okay okay!" Shikamaru shouted and walked out, looking back to see if Neji had changed his mind or calmed down any. The Hyuuga just shot back a cold glare and had his cheeks puffed out, he really did look like a girl, a really angry and strong girl, but it was still adorable none-the-less. Neji slammed the door and stomped back to his bed, throwing himself on it. Strangely, he felt a lot better, he didn't feel any tears welling up, his stomach wasn't hurting and his even felt relieved to have let everything out. For the first time in a while, he smiled to himself and sat up, running a hair through his hair to fix it a bit. "I think I'll go for a walk." he thought aloud to himself. He stood up and slipped his boots on before heading out to buy some supper.

He found himself standing in front of the Ramen store Naruto loved so much, he knew it was the one Naruto loved because he was there eating what appeared to be his 17th bowl. Beside him sat a very bored Sasuke and a chatting Sakura. The Uchina poked at his half-eaten food before noticing Neji and waving him over. Neji didn't really feel like ramen, but he did feel like company for once, so he walked over and took a seat beside him. "You look better Hyuuga." he stated in a monotone voice. "What? Since when?" "Since school this morning. You looked off, like you hadn't slept or something. Anyway, you look better now." "Oh." Neji was surprised Sasuke had noticed, although they have been able to pick up each others moods he just wasn't expecting anyone to notice. "I feel better" he finally stated, a small smile formed on his lips. Sasuke scoffed "Wish I could say the same thing." "Why's that?" Sasuke just pointed in Naruto's direction, the blonde was currently trying to impress Sakura by being the first to stuff as many chopsticks as he could up his nose. Naruto looked up at Neji and waved "Hey Neji!" Neji smiled and gave a small wave back as he picked up the menu. "What's wrong with that?" The long haired nin asked. "Nothing I can discuss with them here." he stated in monotone again then watched a Neji frowned at the menu. "You don't want any of the food here, do you?" "Not really." Neji finally admitted as he put the menu back. "Come on, let's go fine somewhere else to eat then I can tell you the problem." Neji nodded and waved goodbye to Sakura and Naruto as they left.

"Sasuke? Where are you going?" Sakura whined, bothered she had to be left alone with Naruto. "Out. Leave me alone." he muttered back at the girl and continued walking. Sakura frowned and sighed. "He doesn't had to be so mean…" "Sakura, look, look! Number 34 going in…Ow! It's in!" Naruto beamed trying to cheer the pink haired nin up. "Naruto, you're going to poke out your brain!" She yelled back at him. "Cool, I hope it looks like Ramen, cause then I'd eat it!" Sakura sighed, there was just no winning with Naruto.

Sasuke strolled alongside Neji for a while before asking where he'd like to eat. The Hyuuga picked out a half decent restaurant and sat down. "So what's bothering you? It's Naruto and Sakura isn't it?" Neji smirked. The Uchiha looked up slightly surprised. "Yeah, Naruto's always acting like an idiot around that girl, even though she's clearly interested in me." Neji let out a small chuckle after he ordered his food. "You're jealous of Sakura aren't you?" Sasuke looked even more shocked now. How could Neji read him this well? Not even Kakashi could tell why he was being so moody lately. "No!…a little." He mumbled as food was set down in front of both of them. "You ordered something for me too?" "Yes, you didn't look like you were enjoying your food or your time at the store. You should at least eat a decent meal." "Oh, Thanks Hyuuga." Sasuke glanced down at his food, it appeared much more appetizing then a bowl of ramen and smelled even better. "So what are you going to do about your problem, Uchiha?" "Hm?" Sasuke was enjoying his food so much he forgot he was even talking. "Oh, I don't know. Naruto…well…you see we-" "Uchiha, I think I get it. You and Naruto have a special friendship?" Sasuke blushed. "Sorta. It's a friendship with benefits-nothing official but whenever he tries to get the attention of Sakura it's, I don't know, it irritates me. I bet Naruto wouldn't be so quick to try it if I was doing the same thing." The other boy laughed a little. "You want to make him jealous, don't you?" "I know it would work, as soon as he saw me with another person he'd turn green with envy." The shorter haired ninja grinned. "But I don't know how to do it, I couldn't possibly kiss Sakura, she'd never let anyone hear the end of it." he groaned. Neji nodded, he couldn't think of any girl that would let Sasuke, or anyone else for that matter hear the end of it. The man had a freaking fan club for crying out loud. "Well, I would help you but I wouldn't know how." Neji said softly, picking up a fork and eating his food. "Besides, you're a genius, you can figure something out." the white eyed nin reassured the other. "It would be easier if two genius's worked together on this one though, then we could think of a solution twice as fast, don't you agree?" Neji pondered it for a moment "Ok, we'll meet after school to try and figure something out. At least you don't have to worry about Naruto actually winning Sakura over." "Tell me about it, Did you know yesterday that dobe actually tried to summon a Jaguar to impress her? It arrives and is pissed so Naruto takes off and I'm suck with Sakura for the rest of the day trying to find him." Sasuke groaned. Neji let out a small laugh. 'I see, so that's why Naruto gave me the short version of the story.'

Neji stood up and shook his head at Sasuke when he reached for his wallet. "It was my treat." he said as he paid the bill and left a large tip on the table, before Sasuke could protest he quickly changed the subject. "So what was with you and Gaara today at school?" "Who? Oh the new kid. I don't even know. He just got this crazy look when I started talking to you. Did he smell your hand?" Sasuke shot Neji a weird look. "Yeah." Neji mumbled, turning a light shade of pink. "Heh…weird. Anyway I'll see you tomorrow, thanks for the help. I better get back before that dobe sneezes and impales half of Kohana." Neji laughed and returned the wave Sasuke gave him. "Later."

Kowaikage: Heya folks, just a quick note about the story. It's slight AU, cause Gaara's vamprish in this. Anyway, enjoy reading, I'll try to update soon.