Author's Note: Not as cuddly as the first batch.

Theme Set: Alpha 2/5

011. Midnight Snack

He finds her wondering in the kitchen late at night when the servants have all gone to bed. He slips behind a wooden beam and feels a flash of disgust that she doesn't even sense him behind her. She wanders between the counters and she is careful to be quiet as she makes her dinner. The Main family has taken to eating the evening meal without waiting for her to end her training. He hates her, he is sure he does, but as he stares at her small back and the flowing curve of her nape, he is slightly mesmerized. Some day, he thinks, it wouldn't be that bad to have someone to come home to like this.

012. Too Serious

They say he's too serious. That he needs to loosen up once in a while. They all think that he is wound up too tight and he's going to miss all the fun things in life.

Coming from a prestigious clan like the Hyuuga, people knows he has been raised that way, but sometimes his team mates and friends would tell him that they wished he would relax once in a while in their presence. Let down some of his guard. Let them in, and trust them.

They rarely see him smile, laugh even less. Sometimes, wistfully, Ten Ten looks at him and tells him that he should let them in and trust them. And he knows what she really means and wants, that she wants to be the one able to see his weaknesses, but it never happens.

He stands tall and powerful. He is unmoving.

Yet when small, hesitant hands reach out for him, all he can do is buckle. And when she smiles, shy but certain, all he can do is respond.

013. Falling

He falls, just a little bit, slipping on the wet leaves from the previous night's rainfall. He catches himself, grabbing hold of a branch before he can fall all the way to the bottom of the forest floor. Naruto has fallen straight to the mud earlier, but Naruto had picked himself up laughing and is now far ahead of the group.

014. Need

There are many things you don't admit to yourself. Over the years you've come to understand that there are some things better left unsaid. You never mention it, but you feel like you need her more than air sometimes, and the way she is oblivious to it almost makes you want to hate her.

015. Shinobi

Have you ever wanted to make someone's dream come true? So did he, but he wasn't the prince come at long last to rescue the princess. He was trained and raised to be a ninja, and although he had questioned the choice at one time or another, he had never regretted it like this before.

Because she was waiting to be rescued, even if she didn't know it yet, and it wouldn't be by him, no matter how much he wanted it.

016. Blush

It starts from between her breasts, flowing up and outwards. It reaches her shoulders, past her neck and onto her cheeks. It makes the skin of your fingers tingle as you pause your hand slightly above. It makes her pink and rosy and delightful. It creeps up her upper body and darkens her colour by the second. It makes you flustered, annoyed, joyous, bitter, happy, and angry in turns. It shows she cares.

You want to make her do it again.

017. Want

The warmth of the sun, the bright ivory jacket in the old department store, the smooth un marred skin of a forehead, the soft coo and pliant feathers beneath your finger tips, the newly made fine set of kunai, the air flying past you gently, the shiny compact black weapon pack from the weapons stand, the soft tender words, the pair of sturdy boots in the display window, their respect, freedom, and her smile.

Everything you ever wanted.

018. Power over you/him/her

Sometimes it's not enough that he is the Head of the Hyuuga, the Seal is broken, and he has her future in the palm of his hand, because when she looks out to the blue sky, he's still not sure its him she sees.

019. Training

The log is old and beaten, the wood falling to splinters and holes made from shiriken and kunai cover its surface. There's blood there too, but what he will remember most from this training post is the way its supports her body as her head is thrown back, the sweat dripping down her neck, and the way his pelvis digs into hers.

020. Didn't mean to...

There are a lot of things Neji didn't mean to do, but it doesn't change that fact that he has still done them (hurt, pain, murder, the blood dripping from her chest, and the thought if I can't have her no one will).

. : TBC : .