Note from the Author: I should take the "author" out of the "note from the author," considering that I've failed at life. I apologize for my lack of efficiency. I also apologize for this self-pitying this-story-doesn't-live-up-to-my-impossibly-high-standards author's note.

I'm such a NejiHina whore. Oh and, it is Kiba's birthday, because I lack enough of a life to have these things on my calendar. And I had to put the bug thing in.

… here to save your life ...

Neji's eyebrows furrowed at the car pulling into Hinata's driveway. The hood was up, which was unusual, but he recognized it as Sasuke's convertible. He leaned against his own van, waiting patiently for the younger boy to turn off his engine and get out.

It took him almost three minutes to accomplish this. When he did finally approach Neji, the Hyuuga realized he looked positively ill. "Jesus," he murmured, noting his pallor, "what happened to you?"

Sasuke shivered slightly when a breeze danced past, despite the fact that it was warm, and hugged himself. "Do you mind if I talk to Hinata?" he asked, voice low and hoarse.

Neji didn't need to answer, as the girl in question was running toward them. "Sasuke-kun," she said softly, reminding him vaguely of a lullaby. She took his face in her hands, staring intently into his eyes. "What did he do to you?"

He was shaking. His knees felt weak and, at her question, gave way. Neji was there, holding him upright, before he hit the ground. "Hinata-sama, what the hell is going on?"

She shook her head, wondering how Sasuke had driven all the way across town in his condition and lifting his head with her fingers on his chin. "Sasuke-kun, what did he do?"

His dark eyes were hollow, tired – dead. "His friends came over." He whispered and fell against her, blacking out. If Neji hadn't been holding him, she would have collapsed under the pressure.

"Help me get him inside." She requested quietly, slipping her arm around the boy.

Neji obeyed, taking the brunt of his weight and pulling Sasuke's arm across his shoulders. He was silent a moment, calculating. Then: "Hinata-sama."

"I can't tell you." She said before he asked. "I promised him." She smiled apologetically, opening the front door and letting her cousin carry him inside, following him upstairs to the den, where they laid him out on the couch.

Neji crouched beside him. "Should we call Naruto?"

"No." She said a little too quickly. "No – Naruto-kun doesn't know."

He looked at her closely, searching her face. "It's Kabuto all over again, isn't it?"

Hinata sighed, falling into an armchair and burying her face into her hands, murmuring, "I wish it was that simple." She lifted her gaze to the face of the boy she loved. "This is so much more complicated, Neji-nii-san."

She winced as his eyes hardened. "And you're not going to tell me."

"No." She shook her head slowly, standing. "I'll go make us something to eat. Stay with him?"

Neji stared down at the sleeping boy, nodding.

She hesitated a moment, hoping he'd look up, that he'd give some sign he wasn't upset with her, but he remained coolly quiet, studying the pale visible skin of Sasuke's face, neck, and arms, looking for marks – bruises, cuts – any clear physical reason to call the police.

Her shoulder slumped, and she hurried from the silence, afraid to make a fool of herself – afraid she'd cry – and she didn't want to seem like she needed his acceptance like she did. Besides, Sasuke needed her to be strong now.

0

Sasuke's eyes flickered open, found a bad rock band playing on the television set before him. He sat up slowly, trying to register where he was. His whole body ached, and it reminded him of what had happened that morning.

"Come on, Sasuke – you like it when Itachi-san does it."

"Get the fuck away from me."

"Tsk. You're not very good at the whole submissive thing."

"Fuckin' – Itachi, get this guy the fuck off me."

"Aw, come on, Itachi."

The elder Uchiha looked up from his magazine, shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

Sasuke choked. "What? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"If you can't fight him off, you deserve it."

He only had time to glare before a fist slammed into his stomach.

"Eat."

He startled from his thoughts, turned to look at Neji, who was slumped in the chair beside the couch, glaring at the off-key lead singer of whatever MTV band this was like he was the source of every ounce of anger he'd ever felt.

Hinata-sama is putting sheets on the bed in the guestroom for you." He went on. "She asked me to have you eat if you woke up."

Sasuke looked down at the peanut butter sandwich that sat on the table before him, and a wave of nausea washed over him. "I'm not really-"

"Eat." Neji said sharply. Sasuke recognized the edge on his voice. It was a tone he heard regularly from Naruto.

He picked up the sandwich, took a timid bite, chewed slowly, swallowed, said quietly, "You don't have to be jealous of me." His dark eyes met the Hyuuga white. "I don't want Hinata. She's just a good friend."

Neji averted his gaze. "It's fine." He offered finally. "I'm worried about her – that's all. Something like this might not be good for her, might bring back memories she shouldn't have."

"Like Kabuto?" Sasuke asked softly, then mentally kicked himself for it.

"She told you." A wincing pain was laced through Neji's cold statement.

"Don't be hard on her, Neji. She was trying to help me."

He sighed, murmuring, "I've been trying to get her to talk to me about it for months."

Sasuke had inhaled the sandwich, the first bite having made him realize how hungry he actually was. "She only told me it happened. She didn't give me details or anything." His tongue felt like it was sticking to the roof of his mouth. "I think part of the reason she's helping me is because it's helping her get over it."

"No, Hinata-sama helps people because she wants to." Considering this entire situation hurt him, Neji felt the need to defend her. "Everything she does is completely selfless."

"Neji-nii-san?" The mentioned girl appeared in the doorway, smiling hesitantly. "I forgot – today is Kiba-kun's birthday. I invited him and Shino-kun to celebrate here." She turned to Sasuke. "Is that okay?"

He nodded. "It's your house, Hinata." He looked at the other boy. "You're staying too, I take it?"

Neji glared at him. "I'm not leaving Hinata-sama in just the company of three boys."

He was rewarded with a relieved Hinata-esque giggle and a kiss on the top of his head. "I'm going to go bake a cake. Let me know if you need anything."

Sasuke smirked. "If you're worried about her leaving you, you're blind to the way she looks at you."

Neji smiled softly, having only vaguely heard his words. He hadn't been blind to it at all.

0

Naruto growled at Sasuke's generic voicemail message (He said he didn't get called enough to record his own), hung up, and dialed again. He'd now left three messages and had still gotten no answer. When the voicemail picked up again, he practically shouted after the tone, "When I said we'd hang out this weekend, I meant this weekend, teme!" and hit the disconnect button again.

He wouldn't have been nearly as peeved about this if he hadn't been trying for six hours to reach him. It was now four o'clock in the afternoon and he still hadn't called back.

The phone rang then, and Naruto picked it up, snarling out a "Teme …"

"Wrong bastard, Naruto." It was Kiba. "Hey, Hinata's having a party. Kind of. There're only a few of us and it won't be wild because … well … you know Hinata. Come, will ya?"

Naruto debated in his head, still fuming. It would be worth going to piss Sasuke off. "I'll be there. When is it?"

"Seven. And hey, aren't you forgetting something?"

He didn't like the tone in Kiba's voice. "What?"

"How about a fucking happy birthday, moron!"

Naruto hung up.

0

As he parked at the curb, his eyes narrowed at the convertible parked behind Neji's van in Hinata's driveway. The bastard was here?

Oh, now Naruto was pissed. Before, he'd been annoyed, but now Sasuke was gonna die. He stalked toward the door, readying to kick some pretty Uchiha ass.

0

"You invited Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked nervously, throwing a glance in Neji's direction.

"Yeah." Kiba was eyeing the cake, having already tried to take icing off of it with his finger and being smacked with a wooden spoon. "What's the big deal? I thought you guys liked him."

"Common misconception." Neji murmured.

"It's complicated, Kiba-kun." Hinata explained, ignoring her cousin. "But Sasuke-kun is here, and I don't know how he feels about having Naruto-kun around."

Kiba blinked. "Aren't they dating?"

Realizing she'd said too much, she sent a pleading glance at her cousin, who was looking deliberately away, a You-got-yourself-into-it look on his face. She was vaguely considering throwing the spoon she was holding at him when Sasuke found his way into the kitchen, and she smiled at him instead, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Sasuke-kun!" she said sweetly, mimicking Sakura's voice as best she could and patting the stool beside her. "Sit next to me?"

She thought it was maybe the first time she'd been on the receiving end of a Neji Death Glare. Before she knew it though, he had pulled her into his lap, his arms wrapped possessively around her middle and his head against her back.

She winced in a pleased way. "I think you can forget the invitation, Sasuke-kun." She giggled. "Neji-nii-san's not sharing."

"He's not supposed to share." Sasuke shrugged, sniffing at the cake, hunger having hit him full force. "Besides, you're very off-limits. No guy wants to be the one who tries to take you away from him."

Hinata blinked, shifted in Neji's lap to look at him. "Are you that scary?"

He nuzzled against her neck. "I can be."

There was a slam as door met wall and all four teenagers jumped.

"Teme!" A collective flinch as a seething Naruto burst into the room and directly into Sasuke's face. "I have been looking for you all day. We were supposed to hang out."

Sasuke averted his eyes. "Sorry. I've been here. My phone's in the car."

Naruto paused enough to be surprised. "Since when do you come to Hinata's house?"

"Since today."

"Oh."

Hinata silently thanked whatever invisible being that kept Naruto from aski-

"Why?" How did he always do that?

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We had a wild sex party."

Hinata blushed and Neji slapped his forehead. He just had to be sarcastic.

Luckily, Naruto opted to scowl and not to pursue the subject. Instead, he went after the cake, to be smacked by the spoon now in Kiba's hands, having taken over for Hinata as cake defender – though he hadn't been quick enough to stop Neji – mostly because it distracted him from being a cake perpetrator.

"Where's Shino?" Naruto asked.

Kiba blinked, shifted nervously. "How did you know Shino was coming?"

The blonde boy shrugged. "You, Hinata, and Shino are just about attached at the hip. If two of you are around, the third is nearby."

As if on cue, the front door closed. A moment later, Shino was stepping into the room. "Why was the front door open? A lot of bugs got in."

Neji had perfected the art of the monotone: "Naruto, in all his glorious rage, forgot to shut it."

Said boy smiled sheepishly. "Whoops. Sorry, Hinata."

Shino's eyebrow lifted behind the dark glasses he always wore, and he shrugged, looking at the cake.

Kiba lifted the spoon in a batter stance. He'd aim for Shino's head if he touched the cake.

But the tall quiet boy moved to the fridge, pulled it open, and claimed himself a soda. "Anyone else want one?"

"Get me a Coke." Kiba lifted his hand in time to catch it.

"Do you guys live here or something?" Naruto scoffed, his hand finding Sasuke's.

The Uchiha laced their fingers together, holding tightly to him, savoring the subtle affection. He wished vaguely that he could tell him what was going on with him, but was too wrapped up in the way he spoke – even in teasing Kiba – to consider it very hard.

Hinata smiled, happy Naruto wasn't holding a grudge against Sasuke, and laid her head on Neji's shoulder.

He folded his hands against her hip. "Should I be worried he's staying here tonight?" he asked quietly, tilting his head slightly to look at her but not to disturb her position, a teasing sparkle in his eye.

She shifted to bring their lips together. "You're crazy if you think that after all we've been through, I'd do anything to lose you."

He caught a flash of her scarred arm, sobered, met her eyes. "You should check Sasuke for that." He said in a low voice, nodding slightly at the fading cuts.

She gave him a "Hn" as a response, watching the pale boy, who was currently snuggled into Naruto's arms – contently if not happily – his forehead against his jaw, speaking in whispered tones. "I thought that might hurt himself." She finally replied. "But he said he doesn't want to hurt Naruto-kun, and that would hurt him."

"Can we cut this thing?" Kiba demanded suddenly, breaking away from a conversation with Shino and pulling everyone from their thoughts. Hinata noticed he was blushing. "I want some damn cake!"

Shino turned to the counter, opened a drawer, and pulled out a knife.

"Do we want to trust him with that?" Naruto joked.

Sasuke smacked him. "Don't say things like that when I'm near you." He ordered. "When you get killed, you're not taking me with you."

Kiba stepped aside from the cake, waiting impatiently for Shino to cut it. He didn't; he put candles on it instead, lighting them as he stuck them in the much sought-after icing. "Make a wish." He said softly, moving back.

If Hinata hadn't noticed the blush before, it was really apparent now. She smiled slightly, wondering if the cause of that red embarrassment was what she thought it was.

Kiba blew out the candles, ducked away from the island, moved to a cabinet to get dishes.

"Let me do it, Kiba-kun." Hinata slid off Neji's lap, hurried to her best friend's side, stood on her toes to reach the plates. "It's your birthday, after all."

Sasuke watched her set out the dishes, wondering how one small body could hold so much kindness and consideration. He would have to find a way for thank her for all she was doing for him. He'd also have to somehow make this up to Neji, because he was pretending to be extremely patient, though Sasuke could tell having another guy hang around his girlfriend so much was driving him crazy.

But right now, Sasuke wasn't going to think about it too much. Right now, he was going to enjoy this company where his brother couldn't reach him and no one could ask questions.