38

What does it mean to "like" someone?

Neji was standing in the inner yard in the Huuga's domain, leaning against a wall, having his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had closed his pale eyes, thinking, wrapped in the darkness of the soft evening. He was waiting…

He heard light steps and opened his eyes.

"Hinata-sama," he called her quietly and the girl jumped by surprise, since she saw him just as he started talking.

"Neji, onii-san." She replied and stopped. "What is going on? What are you doing here this time of the…night?"

"I can ask the same thing, you see.." he countered calmly.

"Oh, well, I was having dinner with Sakura and the boys," she replied, blushing slightly.

"Can we have a word?" He suddenly asked, causing Hinata to blink a few times.

What was happening with her cousin? It was way out of character for him. There was something wrong and if she refused to talk with him now, she would never find it out. A curiosity, untypically strong, had forced her to accept.

"Yes, of course…"

Neji grabbed her elbow and dragged her to the other side of the yard. There was a large wooden pavilion in which they sat.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Hinata asked.

Neji was silent for some time as if he was lacking the right words. It was really hard for him to talk about his inner emotional state, it was even hard for him to think about it. But he wanted answers. And that was the way of getting them.

"You do like Naruto, right?" he asked. The girl was going to faint. "Come on, it is not a big secret. Maybe he is the only one who doesn't realise it."

"Don't talk like that…" She bowed her head, uncomfortably.

"Look, I really don't care about that and my goal is not to make you feel uneasy. I am looking for answers."

She felt really curious, daring to look at him.

"What answers do you seek for? What are your questions?" She blinked, blushing. "You want to know if I like Naruto?"

"I know you do. I want you to explain to me the feeling "like" in the meaning different from the same feeling according to a friend."

Hinata was honestly shocked. She had no idea how she was supposed to react, so she sat there and was looking at him doubtfully at the request. She was aware her cousin was a bit… cold and feelingless. And even so, to ask her for a description of a feeling, whatever it is, was a bit too much.

"Could you do that?" She thought she could catch a pleading note in his voice.

Neji had never, ever, asked her about anything. Never! And now he was asking her to help him. Hinata made a heroic feat by swallowing her shame and spoke hesitantly:

"Well, "liking" someone… This is when you feel glad when you are together… When you laugh at his jokes even when they are not so good. When you smile just because he did… When your stomach is tight in a ball if he touches you…" Her sides were burning, but she kept talking slowly and quiet. "Do you understand?"

The man nodded.

"Is that all?"

"Well, not only… When he is far away, you miss him and you lack patience to see him again. And when you finally do see him, you realise you don't need anyone else's company."

Neji made few comparisons with his feelings, innerly. But that wasn't all he wanted to know. He wanted more information.

"What is that feeling, when you feel a bit…angry if someone else is spending a lot of time with the person you like?"

Hinata pursed her lips. She knew what he meant even if this sensation was foreign to her personally. When she was in Ino's company so often, she possessed knowledge about a lot of things that didn't really affect her at all. But what was happening with her cousin? Was it possible for Neji to like someone? And even if that was the case, she doubted he would share something so personal with her. Though… If someone had told her just a moment ago, her onii-san would come to seek such a type of help, she wouldn't have believed it…

"Maybe you mean jealousy?" She asked quietly.

He thought a bit about that and nodded.

"It is possible, but it does feel more like sadness…"

"You know… until the feelings become clear in your mind and heart, they can pretend to be something else…" She said more to herself than to him.

"Thank you for your time, Hinata-sama." Neji got up, bowed slightly and walked away without saying anything else…

Hinata was left with quite a lot of questions she wasn't going to get answers to.

...

Shikamaru sat down over his favourite roof. He raised his face to the sky, to the stars, with a deep sigh. He remembered the last time Temari visited Konoha. It was like two months ago, not so long back. Then they decided to play shogi together with "truth or dare"... He let her get an advance in one of the games and he lost… He was forced to bring her here. It was a similar quiet and warm evening… The sky was filled with stars just like it was now. Temari was sitting down quietly, looking up.

"It reminds me of home. There is a stone terrace in the Kazekage's tower. When I stand there during the night, looking at the stars, they seem as beautiful as they are here…" That was the only thing she said then and he had remembered word by word.

He was surprised that a brutal woman like her can like something so boring as gazing at the stars. But he was somehow glad they had something in common…

"Such a troublesome woman…" He whispered kindly and closed his eyes, putting arms under his head.

...

Neji was walking towards his room and thinking about what his cousin said. What had troubled him now had more clear borders. Could he actually like Tenten in this context? How? When this had happened and why did he notice it just now? Should she get kissed by someone else in order for all of this to come to surface?

And he felt fear, fear to confess in front of himself that he actually wanted to kiss her. Not only that… His pure manly desire has awakened and made him feel really uncomfortable. When he was in his young teenage years this had happened really often, but he was told it was a normal reaction. That meant he was healthy and that he potentially would be able to have children. Then he decided to take control of that sexual excitement. And he did…

Neji shook his head. This is just stupid, he told himself. I could just wait till the mission is over. And if this all is still persistent, then I can do something about it. But for now he would stay away. He didn't want to risk the mission. And he definitely wouldn't fail it because of low passions.

...

Kankuro caught up with Tenten just before she reached the apartment. His thigh was burning, but he was stepping equally on both of his feet, so he wouldn't raise a suspicion.

The young woman's expression was still angry, but there was disappointment and resentment on her face as well. Obviously she wasn't aware of the way the boys had seen her, or at least the way Naruto had seen her.

"I am sorry… about this…" she whispered when Kankuro reached her.

He slightly shook his head and smiled.

"They are not right."

She looked at him, surprised and he kept looking into her eyes.

"They are not right. What they said… Just don't take it to heart. They are fools."

The girl slightly blush at his words.

"You are not agree with them?" She whispered.

"Nope."

The man nodded towards the apartment.

"Let's go inside, we need to rest. Travelling is ahead for tomorrow."

Tenten nodded agreeing and climbed up the stairs like a deer. When she reached the space before the door, she stopped, just standing there and staring ahead.

"What's wrong?" He asked while climbing the stairs slowly and little droplets of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Just look at this…"

There was a pile of gifts in front of the doorstep - it contained big and little boxes, and some gift bags. Every gift had a wish card on it.

"Well, I guess all of this is due to our wedding." He sighed and bent down to pick as much as he could. "Apparently the information is spreading fast."

Tenten shook her head thoughtfully and followed his example, trying to pick up everything that was left on the ground. But having so many presents here meant that people really believed in the authenticity of the whole show so far.

They put all the gifts on the living room's table and exchanged gazes.

"Should we… open one or two of them?" She asked with a curious smile.

"I don't see why not." He shrugged and sat down on the sofa with a feeling of relief. He needed to relax his leg… "What about this one?" He took out a middle-sized bag with painted orange flowers all over the surface.

"OK, who's it from?"

He turned the bag until he found the card:

"It is from Hinata."

"She really believed I'd found the truth…" She shut up, realising it would be really utterly inappropriate.

"There is no reason not to believe." He pointed out, shrugging again.

"Well, yeah, technically you are right."

"She is really kind, though." Kankuro added. "I just doubt her taste for men."

They both laughed and he took out the bag's content - it was something like a book. At least that was what he thought.

"What is this?" He asked, looking at it from all sides. Opening it, he discovered it didn't have any text in it, but a lot of beautiful applications of flowers, birds and animals instead.

"Oh, dear Hinata…" The girl smiled with such a tender smile… "This is a memory book. Many years ago while we were still at school, we used to do various crafts. It was like "creating the most sentimental gift". Hinata thought of this first, she is a very romantic soul. So this memory book is something like a diary, but for a couple. Her idea was to describe the most wonderful moments a couple had together."

Kankuro nodded at her to continue, so she did:

"Even then we agreed that she would give it to the first of us who got married. I honestly have forgotten about this."

"Well, that does sound nice, actually." He said quietly.

"It is, isn't it? But it is not fair that I get it." She pursed her lips.

"Because I am not your "truth love?" He grinned.

She couldn't really say anything, it was true he wasn't…

"Well, I guess you can just turn it back when you get home and explain everything to her? This is in case Godaime and my brother are ok with it."

She caressed tenderly the memory book cover and her eyes filled with tears threatening to fall. She smiled and wiped them away with her hand.

"It is a really painfully sentimental gift." She admitted.

"Should we open one more? Maybe less sentimental?" Kankuro offered.

"Sounds good to me."

"You pick it."

She reached out and took one little red box with a delicate white bow.

"Ok, this is from Ino." She announced. "It says "May you have many good nights." And it has a painted little face with a wink…"

Kankuro smiled curiously. The girl untied the ribbon and pulled out something pale pink and very soft to the touch. She unfolded it - it was a really short, lacy nightgown. Tenten lifted it in front of her face and critically turned it.

"That seems really uncomfortable to sleep with." She said seriously, causing the man to start laughing with amusement.

"In fact, it doesn't seem to be planned to be slept with." He said and stretched an arm towards the cloth.

"Well, It is a nightgown, isn't it?" She sounded genuinely surprised while handing it to the man. She was usually quite perceptive, but sometimes her mind just blocked and refused to accept the obvious because it was extremely uncomfortable.

"I would say, this is planned for the first night after the wedding, in general." Her purely confused gaze forced him to explain a bit more. "Told in short, it is not meant for it to stay on you during the night itself."

"And where the hell is meant to stay on?"

"Well, considering my personal preferences, it would stay on the floor, next to the bed." He shrugged, smiling mischievous.

Tenten finally let the obvious hit her - it was about sex. She blushed realising how stupid questions she had just asked out loud. At the same time she was really amazed and grateful to the fact he didn't make malicious fun of it. Think of it, Tenten would have expected something like that out of Ino…

"Well, I hope you don't really expect…" She whispered gazing down.

"Oh, if you ask me, that would look great on you." He grinned without a hint of mockery. "In our fake legal marriage, there is no requirement for sexual interaction. So, don't worry about it. I would not want this from you, unless…"

She raised her head rapidly to look at him. A wave of uninvited warmness followed his eyes while inspecting her body… She shivered…

"Unless you want me to do so."

Tenten sides burned suddenly. She felt so out of place, that she couldn't even altercate. She just turned around and went into her room…

The reason she couldn't snap at him was the sudden feeling of thirst, tightening in the lower belly and the beginnings of pure excitement her body experienced. The truth was she got scared of her own body's reaction…