Note: I originally posted an all-around chapter here with some fluff, some humor, some angst, and waaaay few redone words. It was basically an artistic cut-and-paste from the deleted chapter. So you would've recognized a paragraph or two…or twenty. I basically edited it for flow, since I actually liked how this part of the story turned out. However, I have now changed my mind, as I was not happy with it. So I have deleted it, and am inserting a story progression chapter which I feel eliminates the rushedness I was writing (again) and develops the characters a little more. In summary, this is filler.

Okay, I'm back y'all…I'm trying to get this chapter up before I leave on Sunday (June 19) for another two weeks. I want to leave you guys something to read.

Disclaimer: Blergh, I hate writing these. Not mine, never will be unless Masashi-san dies and leaves it to me. :dreamy eyes: Uh…moving on…

Warning: Yaoi, a touch of language, and angstiness.

Kurosaisei: Epitome of cute, eh? Then I'm happy.
Prosopopeia: Yes, I liked the "I don't hate you" too. It somehow seemed to fit their relationship more than "NEJI-KUN :glomps:." Ick, that's just wrong with Sasuke.
NaruHinalover: Funny, I like it. Positive feedback, always a plus!
Kawaii Kitsune-kun: When you weren't the first reviewer, I nearly had a heart attack. Glad you like the redoes.
Spectre: Thanks!
Frontier of Darkness: Heheh, well…as long as I get my positive reviews, it doesn't matter.
Ranni: Good! I'm glad to expose another to the wonders of NejiSasu.
Bitenshi: Yes, don't worry…flipped-out Naruto will be making a re-emergence. Btw, maybe we should lay off the sugar late at night, hm :wink:
HikAri Aki: New reviewer props!
Frontier of Darkness: Aw, I miss you guys too! I'll be back the second of July, but I probably won't start the next chapter until the fifth or so.

Well, here tis...

Chapter 10- "The Morning After"

Sasuke stretched his back out, arching it to relieve the knots that had formed during his sleep. Doing this caused the covers to wrap tighter around his waist. Neji muttered in protest and nestled himself deeper into the thin mattress resting on the floor. Sasuke smiled slightly at the sight of the Hyuuga genius grumbling about the cold. He leaned back and pulled the covers up over his shoulder again. On a rare impulse he edged his body backwards, bringing it right up against Neji's slightly breathing figure. The Hyuuga smiled sleepily and wrapped his arm over Sasuke's chest, pulling him closer. The two shinobi lay there, resting next to each other. Sasuke succumbed to the drowsy feeling and let his eyelids close slowly. Neji was so warm and comfortable. He could feel the other boy's breath on the back of his neck; it was soothing, somehow, to not worry and just let himself be held for a while. The Hyuuga moved slightly behind him. Sasuke felt a warm touch on the tip of his ear.

"Ohayo, Sasu-chan."

Sasuke lazily rolled over so he was facing the older boy, "Ohayo, Neji."

Neji's arms pulled Sasuke close to his chest. The Uchiha just lay there, breathing easily. He was not used to this level of physical contact…or any level for that matter. Neji was comfortable, obviously, but Sasuke felt odd hugging someone.

The previous night…

As Neji helped him through the door, Sasuke closed it with a soft click. Neji released the arm around his waist and started to turn down Sasuke's bed. Sasuke grabbed the Hyuuga's arm and turned him around with a small smile creasing his lips. Neji stepped a little closer, taking Sasuke fully in his arms. Sasuke wrapped his around Neji's neck, holding the other boy close. Neji brought his forehead to touch Sasuke's, staring at him with pale eyes. Sasuke felt a shiver run up his spine; Neji's eyes made him feel vulnerable and safe at the same time. He leaned up and captured the Hyuuga's lips with his own. Neji responded immediately, and the two boys stayed motionless for a few moments, thoroughly engaged in one another. Sasuke ran his tongue under Neji's, caressing him gently. Neji broke the kiss and started to kiss down Sasuke's jaw. Sasuke closed his eyes and let the older boy suck his neck gently. Neji's hands shifted from the small of Sasuke's back to a little higher and then back, rubbing his back slowly. Sasuke let out a ragged breath. Neji took that as encouragement and slipped his hands under Sasuke's shirt, rubbing his warm skin. Sasuke wrapped his arms tighter around Neji's neck, absorbing the comfort he was receiving. As Neji's hands moved lower and lower, they reached the waist of Sasuke's shorts and slipped further down still…

Sasuke's hands caught Neji's, "Wait."

Neji lifted his head, "Hm?"

Sasuke swallowed a little unsurely, "I'm…not ready…quite yet."

Neji smiled softly, "Alright. We'll stop here."

Sasuke sighed gratefully. Neji kissed his lips briefly, before turning to pull off his robe and slip in the covers. Sasuke watched him, feeling relieved Neji had not pressed the matter but also a little saddened by his withdrawal. He pulled off his own shirt and slipped into his bed. Silence reigned for a moment or two.

"Neji."

"Nani?"

Sasuke got up and limped the room, kneeling and crawling into Neji's bed. The older boy wrapped his arms around the Uchiha and pulled him close. Sasuke leaned into the embrace, his head resting just under Neji's chin. He slipped his own arms around Neji and rested his head on the floor. Neji kissed his hair softly.

"Oyasuminasai, Sasu-chan."

Sasuke opened his eyes to see Neji watching him carefully. The younger boy smiled, looking up at the older.

"What is it?" Neji asked.

"You can't read my mind?" Sasuke asked wryly.

Neji smirked, "I was being courteous."

Sasuke fixed him with an impassive stare. Neji leaned down to brush his lips softly over the bridge of Sasuke's nose.

"I know you're not used to it yet. There's no rush," the Hyuuga whispered.

Sasuke kept his impassive face while he tried to figure out how the hell he did that. Neji just smiled and closed his eyes again, sinking back into the thin mattress. Sasuke watched him for a little longer before sliding his arms around him and closing his eyes as well. Neither of them heard the door creak.

"NANI!"

Neji leapt up immediately, the sheets falling off his body. Sasuke sat up, gritting his teeth against the stab of pain that shot up through his foot. There stood a wide-eyed Naruto in his customary orange jacket, staring at them with his mouth agape. Sasuke cleared his throat, avoiding looking at Neji.

"Ohayo, Naruto," he said, his voice remarkably firm.

Naruto just looked back and forth from Neji to Sasuke, blankly. Sasuke sighed, This is going to take some explaining.

"Ano sa, ano sa…why are you guys in bed together?" Naruto managed to stutter out.

Neji tilted his head slightly. Sasuke could just barely make out his pale eyes through the waterfall of dark hair. They were clearly asking how he wanted to handle this.

Sasuke brushed a loose strand out of his eyes, "We wanted to be."

Naruto's mouth flapped before he blurted, "But...you were hugging...wait, you guys are...gay?"

Neji's mouth twitched in an amused smirk, "Usually when two boys are interested in each other, they are gay."

"Demo…demo…you guys are gay!"

Sasuke used his trademark serious look on the Uzumaki, "Do you mind?"

Naruto's mouth flapped a little more, "…N-no, I guess not…but…I wasn't expecting...damn, you guys get all the chicks, and then you're both gay!"

Naruto's eyes suddenly got very wide, "In Hidden Grass...EW! I mean, I don't mind but just…EW!"

Sasuke could not help but chuckle at Naruto running around the room, flapping his arms. He realized while Naruto didn't mind their relationship, he still had to make a big deal and a joke of everything. Sasuke suddenly felt very mischievous, It's amazing what a boyfriend can do for your personality. He stood up and hobbled his way over to Neji.

"Naruto," he said.

"Nani?"

Sasuke placed a soft kiss on the corner of Neji's mouth. The Hyuuga smirked before slipping his arms around the Uchiha's waist. Naruto's eyes bugged, and he started running around, yelling even more. Sasuke pulled away and started to chuckle softly. Naruto stopped and stared at him, amazed.

"Neji, if him being with you means Sasuke's no longer a bastard, this is the best thing ever!"

Sasuke's fist on Naruto's head made a very loud cracking noise.

"OW!"

"Sasu-chan, leave the boy alone," Neji chuckled, pulling Sasuke away.

Naruto's eyes bugged again, "Sasu-chan?"

Sasuke shot a death glare his way. Naruto ignored it and began to laugh hysterically. Sasuke was prevented from inflicting serious pain by the long-haired boy who was restraining a laugh himself. Sasuke shot glares at them both alternately.

Naruto wiped his eyes, "I can't wait to tell Kakashi-sensei when he gets back."

Sasuke pursed his lips in thought, "Naruto, you're not going to tell anyone about this."

Four eyes, two blue and two white, turned to watch him.

"Why not?"

Why not, indeed? "I just don't want this getting around before we tell anyone."

Naruto nodded, "Hai. I get it."

Sasuke nodded, "Now get out of here. Neji and I need to get dressed."

Naruto hopped out the door.

Poking his head back in, he smirked, "Don't take too long, boys."

Four kunai, three shuriken, and a small fireball thudded into the closed door.

The three shinobi were kneeling around the table in the downstairs when the loud plume of smoke that always accompanies everyone's favorite jounin appeared.

"Yo."

"Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said blandly, taking another sip of tea.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Hai," Neji answered.

"Then we should get going. Sasuke, I want to talk to you. You two, start now. We'll catch up later."

Neji stood up, taking his pack and sliding the door open. Naruto stared for a little longer, before hopping up and running after the Hyuuga. Sasuke stood slowly and began to gather his things, limping still just a bit.

"What is it?"

The silver-haired jounin sounded bored, "I'm recommending you for jounin testing when we return."

The cup in Sasuke's hand only trembled for a brief moment, "Nani?"

"I think your performance on this mission was sufficient to qualify you."

"What about Neji and Naruto?"

"Neji is Gai's pupil, and he will most likely qualify him to counter my qualification of you," the jounin said, rubbing his eyes.

"And Naruto?"

"I haven't decided yet. He's come a long way, but being a jounin requires a certain level of maturity."

Sasuke sighed, "For what it's worth, I think he can do it."

The jounin was silent for a moment, "Did you just ask me to qualify him?"

Sasuke choked a little, "No."

"Then I won't."

"You mean, I have to ask for him to be qualified?"

"Yeah."

"You are a bastard."

"We'd better get moving."

Sasuke growled, "Fine. Qualify Naruto. I'd trust him with my life. Now are you happy?"

Kakashi's face creased in a grin, "Yeah."

"Good. Now let's go. I don't want to spend more time with you than I have to."

"Tsk tsk, Sasuke. Just because I'm qualifying you doesn't give you the right to be snippy."

"Whatever."

"And Sasuke…"

"What?"

"I'm proud of you. I think you are worthy to restore the Uchiha clan to Konoha."

Sasuke stared after the jounin in silence, as the latter proceeded to walk ahead.

…

Catching up with the others simply required a quick walking pace, and soon the four Konoha shinobi were walking in formation down the lonely road towards their home. Kakashi, buried in his book as always, walked just in front of Naruto, who kept turning around, trying to catch the two others doing something…interesting. The two in question, while tempted to take chances, had yet to do anything worth mentioning. Naruto rolled his eyes; being the only one without something to do was boooooooooooring. But then, when had that stopped an Uzumaki?

Neji laughed softly at Sasuke's whispered comment, his arm sliding around the shorter boy's waist and resting easily on his hip. The Uchiha smirked and mimicked the gesture. The two strolled along casually, alternating speaking in low voices or just resting with the other by his side. Sasuke was feeling a little groggy from the heat and the pain in his foot. His head bobbed a little. Then he felt a hand move his head over to rest on Neji's shoulder. He looked up at the Hyuuga gratefully. The older boy just smiled down at him and kept walking, supporting Sasuke's weight. As Sasuke was beginning to drift off, he felt a distinct pinch on his butt. He jerked up to look at Neji, who had a look of pure innocence on his face. Sasuke glared at the innocent look before putting his head back down. Then, he felt Neji jerk a little. Looking up again, he saw Neji had fixed him with a cool, white stare. Sasuke was confused; what is he looking at me for? Then, it occurred to him.

"Naruto."

The blonde eeped slightly and snatched his hand from where it was about to pinch Sasuke's butt again. Neji looked slightly confused before the light dawned. Naruto was blushing furiously and trying to look like he had done anything but made each boy think the other had pinched him. Two advanced bloodlines glared at him, before the humor started to sink in.

The two shinobi began to laugh, softly and then a little more vigorously. Naruto joined in as soon as he determined their laugh was of the "that was funny" variety instead of the "we feel evil; let's kill Naruto" variety.

Kakashi's one visible eyebrow lifted as he heard the laughter echo from his team.

Their arrival in Konoha was much like the arrival of all other ninja teams: unnoticed. Frankly, the comings and goings of the shinobi were not of much interest to the villagers so long as they were Konoha shinobi. Neji and Sasuke had already agreed not to enter the village hand in hand. The fact that Sasuke (or Neji) had a koibito was enough to cause a significant catastrophe, and the fact that it was a male koibito would be more than enough to freeze over a certain subterranean furnace, as well as to suddenly make pigs sprout feathery wings. Both boys preferred to prevent Doomsday…if they could help it.

"You know," Kakashi began in his slow drawl. "If you two want more time together, I could probably require you to live in the same house…at least for tonight."

Three heads, two black and one blonde, shot up and stared at the silver-haired jounin.

"W-what did you say?" demanded Naruto.

"More time?" inquired Neji, casually.

"Same house?" asked Sasuke flatly.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "You honestly expected me not to notice?"

"Er…yes?" Naruto stuttered.

"I didn't really expect anything," Sasuke said, still maintaining his casual look.

"Nor I," Neji said. "But now we won't have to worry about breaking the news to you."

Kakashi nodded, "Although, if I might give you some advice…don't tell anyone. Not yet. You'd be better off easing into the topic rather than simply announcing it at the training ground."

"We were planning a little more subtlety," Neji commented.

Sasuke nodded blandly.

Kakashi shrugged, "So…do you want me to be a demanding teacher or no?"

The two boys exchanged looks, "We can't go against our sensei."

Neji laid his pack down in Sasuke's room, turning around and surveying the house casually.

"It's as big as the Hyuuga manor, but you have no one to share it with."

Sasuke looked away briefly. Neji shook his head.

"Forgive me. I spoke without thinking."

Sasuke smirked, trying to lighten the mood, "You can do that?"

Neji smiled back, "Come on, Sasu-chan. We should prepare some dinner."

Sasuke nodded, watching Neji leave the room and walk down the stairs to the kitchen. It had been so long since anyone had been in this house with him. It felt good that Neji was the first. He followed the older boy to the kitchen and started getting the ingredients out for a meal.

"You can cook?" Neji asked.

Sasuke nodded, "I had to learn."

"Will you teach me?"

Sasuke turned, a little surprised, "To cook?"

Neji nodded.

"Alright. Come over here."

Sasuke handed the Hyuuga the wok and the thin bamboo used to stir things. As he started his lesson, a thought slid into his head, We're so comfortable with each other, when we've only been friends for a short while. And boyfriends even shorter. Boyfriends… Sasuke shivered a little in part delight and part nervousness. What did it mean to be and have a boyfriend?

"Sasuke? Sasuke?"

Sasuke's gaze focused back on the amused Hyuuga, "What?"

"I stir like this?"

"No, more circular," Sasuke said, moving in front of Neji and taking the bamboo. "Even, smooth strokes so the oil coats the surface but doesn't splash around."

From behind him, two arms appeared, covering Sasuke's and guiding his motions with the bamboo. Sasuke hid his smile.

"Like this?"

"Hai. Like that."

Neji moved closer so his whole body was resting against Sasuke's, and his arms were covering the Uchiha's. Sasuke pressed back a little, leaning his head against Neji's neck. The older boy leaned forward a little, nibbling at the tip of Sasuke's ear. Sasuke closed his eyes, leaning back fully into Neji's embrace.

"Mm," Sasuke whispered.

Neji stopped briefly, "Sasu-chan?"

"What?" said the Uchiha, turning to face Neji fully.

The Hyuuga shot a look over his shoulder at the wok. Sasuke turned back to look. The oil was burning and becoming like gelatin on the pan's surface.

"We'll need a new wok."

Neji nodded, "And I want more lessons like this."

Sasuke smirked, "Exactly like this one?"

"Exactly."

After dinner, Sasuke and Neji sat outside in the small garden, sipping tea. Sasuke was seated beside Neji but had somehow managed to lean so he was almost lying in Neji's arms. The moon was out, and the stars winked and sparkled at them. They didn't say much but were content to just sit with each other. Sasuke could hear Neji's heartbeat, and it struck him how different life seemed with someone to share it with.

"Neji?"

"What?"

"You are really…a good person," he finished, lamely.

Neji raised an eyebrow, "Was that a compliment?"

Sasuke coughed, "It seemed like a good time."

Neji chuckled, "You're a good person too, Sasuke."

They sat in silence for a while.

"Neji?"

"What?"

"What I said…I meant…I like you being here with me."

"I do too, Sasuke. So, we should keep at it then."

"Yes."

A cloud passed over the moon, and the stillness of the night was then restored.

"Neji?"

"Yes, Sasu-chan?"

"Let's…go to bed."

"Alright."

Neji stood, pulling the younger boy to his feet. The two shinobi turned to enter the house, slipping off their sandals. As Neji opened the door, Sasuke reached out and took his hand. Neji smiled, closing the door behind them as they made their way up the stairs.