Warnings: Spoilers for stuff after the final part of the Chuunin exam.
Pairing: Naji/Naru, small mention of Kaka/Iru
Summery: He had freed him from the darkness, it was only fair that he show some appreciation.
Genre: Romance, WAFF
Rating: PG, nothing really bad is in it.
""-speech
''-thoughts
Dark, it had always been so dark, ever since his father had died, ever since he learned about his place in the branch family... Ever since he was born. His hypothetical darkness loomed about him like a black aura, obscuring his vision and hiding him from the world. It was during the final leg of the Chuunin exams that he saw a glimmer of something.
Some might say it was the boy's sunshine hair, or his eyes catching the light, but Neji knew at once it was the boy's confidence, his pure, untouched aura, and it became even brighter as he fought the boy.
It was as he, Neji, the prodigy of his clan, lost, that the boy, Uzumaki Naruto made his statement about how he was never able to properly do Bunshin no Jutsu, and how Neji could decide his own fate.
It was then that he could feel the darkness around him vanish; he could feel the sun on his face. For the first time in the years since his father died, Neji felt content.
From that day on he trained harder than ever before, telling himself it was because he wanted to defeat the blonde, but deep in the recesses of his mind, he knew it was all just a front. He wanted to see the blonde again. To become his friend.
It wasn't until Sasuke had run off that he was able to see Naruto again, his heart fluttered like the wings of a caged bird. But that was all behind him now, and the wounds he had received from Kidomaru's arrows had healed long ago. Just as the wounds Naruto had received from Sasuke had healed.
'Sasuke.' Neji clenched his fist at the mere thought of the boy. 'Why? How could you hurt Naruto so much?'
Neji could see it, with every day that passed, Naruto's smiles became more forced, his eyes became more dull. Many were fooled by the mask Naruto had put in place of his real expression, but Neji could not be deceived like that.
Naruto had done so much for him, so much that Neji felt it would be nearly impossible to pay the blonde back, but Neji knew the one thing he could do that would make everything better.
He would make Naruto happy. He would make the boy smile a real smile once more.
He would make Naruto forget that Sasuke had ever betrayed him.
It would not be an easy task, Naruto and the traitor had been close, and Neji was not nearly as close as Sasuke used to be, and still was, but he was determined to see those bright blue eyes shine with happiness again.
'Naruto, I'll heal your heart, I promise.'
Getting close to Naruto wasn't all too hard, the boy was willing to be friends with anyone if they gave him a chance. But if Neji ever brought up the topic of Sasuke, Naruto's reaction was the same every time.
"I'll bring him back! Even if I have to drag him kicking and screaming from the Sound!"
Naruto trusted Sasuke to much, still believing that Sasuke was his friend even after he left.
But there was still a shadow of doubt and hurt in his eyes, as if a disembodied voice always whispered the truth in his ear.
Sasuke wasn't coming back, Sasuke was a traitor, Sasuke was not his friend.
In all of his life Neji did not believe he would ever care if someone slipped into a darkness like his, struggling everyday to find a purpose in life, fighting against the cruel fate bestowed upon them.
But Naruto was slipping away, and Neji would not allow him to shatter because of reality's games.
He had freed him from the darkness, it was only fair that he show some appreciation. So then, on a cloudless night, in a small grove of trees, he confronted the blonde.
"Naruto." The boy looked up from his place of the ground, his eyes were rimmed red and his cheeks were moist.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" Neji knelt down next to the boy, reaching out and cupping the boy's cheek lightly.
"Nothing and everything, all at once." Neji frowned, his thumb brushing over the horizontal scars on Naruto's face.
"What do you mean?" Naruto bit his lip nervously and Neji brought his hand from Naruto's visage. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." 'Please tell me. I want to help.'
Naruto began playing with the hem of his shirt awkwardly, mouth pursing into a frown as he tried to find the right words to say.
Neji watched closely, Naruto's body language told him all he needed to know, the blonde would begin talking soon.
"Neji, it's just that. I think I've lost hope and faith in Sasuke and that he'd come back. I thought he'd realize that Orochimaru was just using him for his body, for his eyes. But he hasn't come back. And I don't think he ever will." Naruto stifled a sob as he curled in upon himself, Neji watching with sad eyes.
"Naruto, you cannot expect Sasuke to come back, when he left, he left for good." "Yes, I guess so, but still, I always believed that one day he'd come back… Come back to me. But he won't, will he? He cares about power and revenge more then he'll ever care for me." They way Naruto said it, his voice quivering and unsure, it was enough for Neji himself to feel a small stab of pain in his heart.
"Did you love him?" Blue eyes snapped open and looked wildly into Neji's pearl coloured eyes before a whimsical smile appeared on his lips.
"I might have, long ago when I would have denied it furiously, but now… I cannot love someone who would abandon me, Sakura, all of Konoha, just to kill his brother."
"I see…" Neji stared up at the sky as the boy beside him stared at the trees, silence covered them like a warm, comfortable blanket that they quickly embraced.
They stayed that way till morning, taking comfort in the presence of each other. But when the sun rose, Neji left, the wheels in his mind turning furiously.
If Naruto had once loved Sasuke, then when Sasuke left Naruto's hope for any reciprocation would have been shattered. Naruto's need for love from Sasuke, whether friendly or romantic, would have been completely shattered.
And so Neji came upon the conclusion that Naruto needed love, other might have easily dismissed this, but Neji did not, could not. Naruto had become import to him. A friend.
And so Neji sought Naruto out the following night, finding him once again in the small at the very outskirts of the forest near Konoha.
He walked up to the blonde and sat down beside him, words forming in his head, but never reaching his lips. It was the first time he could remember being this nervous. He was just about to being some awkward phrase or another, but Naruto beat him to it.
"Last night, I think I realized something." Neji pursed his lips together, listening closely as Naruto turned to him.
"I think I did love Sasuke, like a brother, or maybe more. But now he's gone, and I have no one to love. Iruka-sensei is to busy with Kakashi-sensei to really take care of me like before. I know he loves me like his little brother, but-" Naruto glanced down; Neji was lightly stroking his fingers over the blonde's hand, before grasping it in his own. Naruto blushed a bit before continuing. "But it just doesn't seem like enough anymore. Does that make me greedy Neji?"
Neji hands tightened around Naruto's. "No. Everyone desires love, and you need love just as much as anyone else. You are not greedy for wanting something you deserve." Naruto smiled and blushed lightly, looking down at their interlocked hands.
"You're very talkative when you're around me. More than usual anyways. I guess It's cause I'm more quiet when we're alone, huh?" "No. I just like talking to you."
Naruto looked so genuinely shocked that Neji couldn't help but chuckle.
They sat in silence for a while, neither moving to separate their hands. It was later on in the night, when the moon was just beginning to lower itself, that Naruto spoke up again.
"Neji?" "Yes?" Naruto turned to him, a determined look on his face. "Can I kiss you?"
Neji certainly wasn't going to say no, in fact, he was the one who leaned in, capturing the blonde's lips with his.
'Feel my love Naruto. My love that burns for you.'
It was a sweet kiss, full of awkward moments and far from perfect. But during it, Naruto felt loved and Neji felt tranquil, it was their first kiss, and it was wonderful in itself.
So as they moved closer to each other, Naruto's head resting gently on Neji's shoulder as he began to finally drift off to sleep, just as the sun was about to rise, Neji couldn't help but snake an arm around Naruto's shoulders and pull him closer.
'You saved me from my darkness Naruto, and I'm happy that you'll allow me to save you from yours.'