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Chapter 3:
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I was walking around, well, jumping around the rooftops and stuff, really.
It was pretty late, past midnight, but I couldn't sleep, so I was out. Taking a walk, kinda. I did that a lot. And I liked it, too. It was always comfortable, the night air kinda cool, but not too cold or anything, and it was – quiet. Peaceful.
It was a good time for me to think, to organize my thoughts, stuff like that.
I couldn't stop thinking about Neji. About what he said. How he looked. I never thought that he would look like that, like he would have almost cried, but wouldn't have, but – I dunno. Like he ached.
It made me sad and I was really, truly sorry, but there was honestly nothing I could do.
How could I protect my friends when I was the one hurting them?
I could remember how he'd smiled, and how real it looked, how fake, and it was so different from the usual Hyuuga Neji, it was – scary.
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"Hey, Naruto,"
"Yeah, Neji?" I grinned at the less emotional boy, rather surprised by the odd expression, almost a grimace, on the older boy's face.
"Could I, if you have time, maybe, could I talk to you privately?"
"Sure!"
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"So, what didya wanna talk about?"
Neji looked nervous, but that wasn't right because Neji was never nervous; no, he was confident and cool and almost cold, but he cared, kinda like that asshole Sasuke except Sasuke was confident to the point of arrogance, stronger, darker, angrier, but just as caring, kind.
"I just – just wanted to tell you that, I, ah – "
"Are you nervous, Neji?" I was grinning, because it was funny, Neji nervous and hesitating. He was a lot more like Hinata than he admitted.
"No!" Neji looked almost offended, before that almost-grimace came back on his face, before his face almost-softened, looking sadder and older and–different.
"I–I love you, Naruto."
I stared at him, stunned, and then I'm stammering, trying to get all of these words out coherently. "Wh-what? But– that, I mean, I don't like you! Like that, I mean. I mean, you're my friend, but I'm not–I don't–not you, I just–"
And suddenly, he's in front of me, and the next second, we're kissing, and it's good. Neji was good at kissing, really good.
Then he stops, and he's grinning-but-not-really and he looks almost sad-but-not, and all the other wants to do is say something, anything, anything to stop that achy sad look on Neji's face.
"It's okay," Neji says. "I knew that you didn't like me like that. Just, if you get rejected, just know that I'll always be there, okay?"
I nod dumbly, in complete shock.
Neji turns to leave, but he looks back and says, "And you should confess soon. That bastard's even more clueless that you, somehow."
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"Dammit," I mutter. "He's too smart for his own good."
So what if I liked Sasuke? He was still a bastard, and a stupid one at that, and it's not I would be oh-so-lucky enough for him to like me when I liked him. With my luck, he'd be homophobic or something. Stupid asshole.
I sigh, still leaping around the village. Only in a ninja village, in one of these 'hidden' ones would someone leaping on top of roofs all night be considered normal and ignored.
Hey, was that Sasuke? I stop, crouching on a roof, in the shadow of a wall, watching Sasuke walk out of the bar across the street, and I follow him.
I don't know why, but I do, I just did so, no thinking or anything.
He looks – different, but the same, his skin just as pearly against his just-as-black hair, but he looks confused and almost-sad and – I dunno.
But he looks beautiful, and the shadows of night covering his face makes him seem like one of those tragic heroines, but he's a guy, and he doesn't need rescuing.
Sometimes I wished he would.
But he didn't.
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Third chapter, already. Maybe I'll actually finish this. Wish me luck.
Written: July 25, 2008
Words: 677