Author's Note: Prompted by monoshiri's drabble on naruto100 for the 'demons' challenge. Requires a willing suspension of disbelief. Brief setup: Kidoumaru didn't die, he was brought to Konoha, healed, and he and Neji for some random reason decided they wanted to get it on.
There were several downsides to the Byakuugan that weren't widely known outside the Hyuuga clan. One was the bloodline limit's sole weakness, something the Hyuuga had to work around at best and hide at worst. Another was the strain the Gentle Fist style put on its practitioners.
It was not, Neji had to admit, as bad as the Lotus style. No Hyuuga in recent memory had landed himself in the hospital through use of the Heavenly Spin or the Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand alone unless they were doing it horribly, horribly wrong. However, the Gentle Fist style still put a great deal of stress on its wielders, as it forced them to move in ways that the human body just wasn't equipped to deal with. Though the discomfort was mild at first, it did have a nasty habit of building up over time.
When Neji had first started on the arduous road to becoming a master of the Gentle Fist style, he had accepted this strain as a necessary evil. This mindset changed when he came upon an opponent who figured out the weakness of the Byakuugan in less time than it took most people to dress, and it only followed that after discovering one downside to the Hyuuga clan's fighting style, it wouldn't be long before Kidoumaru discovered the other. However, unlike before, this time around Neji didn't find himself with any regrets regarding the spider-nin's insightfulness.
Kidoumaru made a sympathetic sound as he rubbed at a particularly stubborn knot below his boyfriend's left shoulder-blade. "Man, you are tense."
Neji hummed noncommittally at the back of his throat, too relaxed to bother with the effort of pulling his face out of the pillow to come up with a decent reply. Far from taking offense at the Hyuuga's unresponsiveness, Kidoumaru read Neji's silence as it was intended and dug the tips of his fingers more strongly into the pale-eyed boy's back. Neji had never been happier to be around someone who (a) could read body language with some skill, and (b) wasn't a relative. Then Kidoumaru found the kink in the Byakuugan user's neck that had been causing some headaches as of late, and Neji mentally underlined (b). Then he circled it and put a star next to it, as was only proper when his boyfriend's strong, supple hands worked out years of tautness, letting warmth spread throughout Neji's skull.
"Mm…" Neji didn't make a habit of letting his guard down enough to let sounds of contentment reverberate inside his chest, but he hadn't felt this at ease in… well… ever, and besides, no one but Kidoumaru was around to hear.
The spider-nin, thankfully, didn't do anything as uncouth as tense up in surprise, though he did laugh a little. "Enjoying yourself?"
Neji flicked his fingers in a gesture of agreement. For several minutes, there was silence as Kidoumaru worked over the lower part of the Hyuuga's back. Then… "You know, Neji… if giving you a backrub can make you of all people stop being rigid for more than five minutes at a time, maybe if I give one to your uncle he'll stop glaring at me every time I come over." Neji's muscles tightened. Kidoumaru was no longer paying enough attention to notice. "Sometimes I think your entire clan should have an in-house masseuse. Perhaps then you'll all stop acting like you have sticks up your asses ninety percent of the time-"
The dark-skinned shinobi's musings were abruptly cut off when his boyfriend's hand shot out, grabbed him by the ponytail and pulled him into a very possessive kiss. It ended a few seconds later, but Kidoumaru was still somewhat in a daze when Neji placed his hands on the spider-nin's shoulders, looked into the former Sound-nin's eyes, and said firmly, "You are not giving my uncle a backrub."
Kidoumaru nodded amiably. "Sure."
"You are never giving my uncle a backrub."
"Whatever you say, Neji."
"I don't care how much Hiashi-sama thinks you are a corruptive influence on me, I don't want you anywhere near-" Then Neji's eyes narrowed. They were pale enough for the effect to be dramatic. "You are never this agreeable."
"You never kiss me like that," Kidoumaru pointed out with a roguish smirk. "If you did that more I wouldn't argue with you so much."
Unable to argue with his boyfriend's infallible (as usual) logic, Neji lay facedown again on the mat with an irritated frown creasing the lines of his face. It managed to last all of ten seconds.
"Mm…"
"Your back is really messed up, Neji. Can't think of how bad your arms are." Even without his Byakuugan being activated, Neji could still tell when a sly grin slid across the spider-nin's face. He was familiar enough with Kidoumaru for that. "We might have to do this again next week, just so I can finish working you over."
As before, Neji was unable to come up with a spoken reply, but Kidoumaru again was able to read him just fine, and chuckled fondly as he pressed his thumbs into the tendons of Neji's thighs. "Good to know you think so too."
