It was the duty of each Hidden Village to maintain not only a sealed vault full of secret, forbidden scrolls and the Village records, but also a library with copies of the records and scrolls for any shinobi, from the freshest genin to the most seasoned jounin and ANBU captains to use. It contained, along with that, histories, fiction novels, and poetry, and all the things a normal village's library would have.
Finding himself in need of something to study and occupy himself with on a mission, Neji had borrowed a couple scrolls beforehand and now was preparing to leave the compound to return them. The mission had gone well, he'd gotten a bonus pay for carrying it out in a speedy manner; he'd been disappointed when Itachi hadn't been at the gates or the report office waiting for him as he usually was, but Neji had simply decided he was out on a mission of his own. The Uchiha heir was in high demand as one of the best that Konoha had to offer, as was Neji, and their schedules didn't always coincide.
It was humid and hot in the streets, and Neji's shirt stuck to his back as he walked to the big building near the Hokage Tower. His hitae-ate didn't help, and he envied people with clear brows who were able to change the position of theirs so that they didn't have to deal with the heat being trapped in such a place. He felt a bead of sweat trickle out as he walked into the dim library. It was always cooler in here; somehow the building resisted the heat, but stayed warm in winter. Neji walked over to the librarian's desk, pulling the scrolls out of his pouch and handed them to the librarian; she took them and looked away.
"Mission went well, I assume?"
Startled, he suppressed the urge to jump out of his skin and turned to see Itachi in his ANBU gear, the mask in his hand. It was a rat.
The other man walked over and pulled out a scroll of his own, handing it to the librarian who took it with an overly wide smile and thanked him profusely. Neji realized she was flirting, and then wondered why he wanted to step in closer to Itachi and make it clear that he was not interested in her.
"It went smoothly, Itachi," he replied, signing his name in the 'Returns' book and then wandering off through the shelves. He barely caught the whisper of Itachi following him, and paused. They walked down the long row of scrolls together. The Uchiha had the ghost of a smile on his face and out of curiosity (the Uchiha hadn't smiled like this before) Neji asked, "What's so funny?"
"You were jealous."
Offended, Neji stopped and glared at him. "I was not jealous."
"If your eyes could have turned green with it, they would have."
"I was not jealous," Neji repeated irritably. Itachi turned to face him fully.
"Is there any scroll in particular you were looking for?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject. Neji sighed; he'd probably never understand the other man.
"I was just trying to get some respite from the heat," he said finally. "The sweat's barely cooled on my back. How did your own—or you can't talk about it."
"It went well," Itachi said ambiguously. ANBU generally were forbidden from talking about their missions, lest it compromise some vital bit of intelligence to a spy. "I was successful."
They were quiet, walking again for a short time through the stacks of scrolls, before Neji finally sighed. "I was jealous."
"Was that so hard?"
"Would it have been as hard for you?"
"…."
"My point exactly."
They went for ice cream after and forgot the whole thing.