Complications
by Nilladriel

8: after

Ten-Ten, Lee, and Neji definitely weren't hiding. And they definitely weren't huddling together.

Also, they were definitely, complete, absolutely not scared of Gai.

Even if he had tried to give them a lecture on safe sex.

How old did he think they were, anyway?

"This is all your fault," Ten-Ten hissed at him. Neji ignored her. There was an elbow digging into his stomach, and Lee's breath smelled terrifyingly minty. Neji hoped Lee would have the sense to keep his mouth shut; the shine of his teeth would probably give their position away.

"Are you listening to me?" Ten-Ten hissed again.

"No!" Neji hissed back. "Be quiet, Ten-Ten."

"Uh, Neji? Ten-Ten?" Lee said, and gestured. It occurred to Neji to wonder why Lee was hiding with them. He adored Gai's speeches.

Hmm. Apparently even Lee had his limits.

"Guys!" Lee said, tone more alarmed, and gestured more wildly. The other two craned their necks and looked up.

They saw a flash of green and the shine of impossibly white teeth. Gai descended upon them like a vulture—a big, green, shiny vulture.

"There's no need to be embarrassed!" he boomed. "It is a perfectly natural pr—"

There were three poofs as they immediately fled.

Three hours later and five close calls later, Neji found himself outside Naruto's window.

He hesitated, but now that he was here it seemed cowardly to run again. He hadn't seen Naruto for three days. Ninja were surprisingly good at avoiding other people when they put their minds to it, and this time it wasn't just Neji avoiding Naruto; they were avoiding each other.

With a resigned sigh, Neji knocked.

Naruto gave him a weird stare as he opened the window. It obviously hadn't been cleaned in months, if not years; finally he just forced it open, causing cracks to appear in the glass. "Neji? Front doors exist for a reason," he said, as Neji slipped inside.

Ah. Right. Neji nodded. For a moment they only stood there, looking at each other, before Naruto suddenly grinned.

"You had lunch yet?"

"No," Neji said. "I've been running from Gai."

"Oh." Pause. "Want to go out for lunch?"

"No," Neji said immediately. Before Naruto even had time to look disappointed he added, "We're staying in here."

Naruto's grin, if possible, widened. He walked towards Neji, his steps slow and deliberate. "That scared of Gai?"

Neji licked his lips as he watched Naruto come closer. "If you knew why I was running," he said, "you would be, too." He paused, because Naruto was right there and his brain never seemed to work as well whenever Naruto was close. "I thought you wanted lunch?"

"Lunch can wait," Naruto said. Neji had only a second to be overcome by awe—Is Naruto turning down food?—before the grin becoming predatory, and suddenly he was being kissed.

Neji tried to remember why he'd been avoiding Naruto. He failed. Spectacularly. "It can?" he said.

There was a pause. Naruto studied Neji with a serious expression, his blue eyes almost dark. "Neji?" he said finally.

"Yes?" Neji managed.

"We're in my bedroom right now," Naruto said, tone conversational. "Lunch. Can. Wait." His cheeks were red, at least, which meant he wasn't as entirely cool with the situation as his even tone suggested.

Still, he was more in control than Neji, which rankled. "Ah," he said.

"Yeah," Naruto said, pushing Neji against the wall. His expression was intoxicating.

Suddenly Neji curled his fingers around Naruto's arms and pushed him gently back. "Why don't we have lunch now."

Naruto stared.

Neji closed his eyes, opened them, and stared back. "Lunch," he repeated. "I'd rather not fool around on an empty stomach."

"... Okay. D'you know how weird that sounded?" Naruto followed him, obviously nonplussed. "How long have you been running from Gai?"

"This morning. I missed breakfast."

The cupboards were still full. Neji sent a mental note of thanks to Sakura and pulled out some chicken. She made surprisingly good fried chicken.

"Neji?"

His tone was hurt. When Neji looked up, he saw that Naruto's expression was equivalent to a puppy. A kicked puppy.

He sighed. "I don't like losing control," he murmured. "And I am hungry."

He turned back to the cupboards. Hopefully he'd be able to find some soy sauce.

"Fine," Naruto announced to the room. Or maybe to Neji's back. "I'm not asking you to have sex, you know."

Neji whirled around, or at least tried to. Instead, he banged his head on the cupboard door and stumbled back as stars exploded in front of his eyes.

Naruto was instantly there. "Shit," he said. "Are you alright?"

Neji glared at the cupboard door sullenly. "I'm fine," he said.

Naruto, for his part, was laughing, obviously not guilty at all once it'd been made clear that Neji's nose wasn't broken—just his pride.

Neji glared at him until he calmed down. It took a while.

"Sorry," he said. "But it was funny." Pause. "I meant what I said, you know, but if you just want to eat lunch and hang out, that's cool, too."

It took Neji a moment to register the abrupt change in subject, and another to figure out what he meant; when he finally did, he flushed. "Do you know why I was running from Gai?" he said, when he trusted his voice to be steady.

"No," Naruto said. "Why?"

He turned around and picked up the chicken pieces he'd dropped, studying them with a wary eye. Naruto's floor wasn't that dirty. It was fine to eat them, probably.

... Probably.

"He thought it was time to give us a... talk. About safe sex."

The effect was instantaneous. Naruto's face paled. "That's—" he began, and stopped, apparently too horrified for words.

Neji smirked. "Indeed," he said. "So I'll be staying here a while."

"Huh?"

Naruto stared at him.

Neji walked around him, taking a cautious bite. The chicken tasted fine, so he guessed that it was safe to eat. After all, Naruto did clean his floor once in a while, right? Right.

Naruto followed Neji to the couch with a dazed expression, which made Neji smirk. "In fact," he announced, settling back onto the couch. "I might as well stay the night. To be safe."

"To be safe," Naruto echoed, and shook his head. "I'm sure as hell not complaining."

He sat next to Neji and, after a moment, slung an arm around the black-haired ninja's shoulders. Neji let him, throwing the blond a smile, after a few seconds the smile was returned with a bright grin.

"Neji."

Neji looked up, looked back down. "Sasuke," he greeted.

Sasuke stopped a few feet away from him. He was smiling. It was, Neji decided, an expression that didn't fit Sasuke all that much. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Congratulations," Sasuke said simply.

Neji didn't reply, only frowning at the papers in his lap. He hated reports.

Sasuke sat next to him, stealing his bottle of water. Neji looked at him, marveling at how different Sasuke looked in the sunlight. Pale and strange and almost alien. "Thank you," he said.

Sasuke smirked at him. "It looks like I don't have to kill you after all," he said. Hah. As if he could. "Naruto's been very happy."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "What is he to you?"

Sasuke looked away, hesitated. "Everything," he said finally. "The reason I stay."

Neji frowned. "Are you—"

"No." The word was surprisingly gentle and reassuring. "We're like brothers." Sasuke smirked. "Better than brothers," he decided.

Neji nodded and wrote something down. After a while, Sasuke stood up.

"We should spar sometime," Neji said, not looking up.

"Sure," Sasuke replied, sounding amused. About to walk away, he suddenly turned back. "You're good for each other," he said.

Neji thought about kisses, and Naruto's smile, and afternoons spent eating ramen and sparring. He didn't say anything, just smiled, because he thought that yeah, they were.

fin