Hey all! Thanks for the reviews and I got this one out in a week though I had a bit of a struggle with this chapter but I am happy with how it turned out and I hope you all like it too. I'm not quite sure how much longer this story will be but probably only a few more chapters. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy! Happy holidays as well as this is your Christmas present! Hope you like it!

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Chapter Six: The Sleepover

The rain began to pour steadily as two water-logged shinobi made their way into the dry apartment. They both looked decidedly…damp.

"Gah!" Shikamaru yelled, stepping inside the room after Neji, and taking off his vest, attempting to ring the water from it, "You couldn't think to bring an umbrella Neji? Didn't you see the grey clouds coming in? You know, it does pay to do some cloud watching every once and awhile, saves one from catching pneumonia!"

From this statement, one could most assuredly tell that Shika was quite peeved, though boiling with anger could have been a better description. The shadow nin did not like getting wet. He was like a cat in that regard, as he hated water, loved to sleep or laze about in the sun and took joy in giving people a face that said "What the hell do you want? If it's not about food or sleep then don't fucking bother me." Yes, cat-like summed him up quite nicely.

Neji was thinking this exact same thought about him as he turned to look back at Shikamaru and his incessant complaining. He was about to chew out his temporary roommate by explaining to him that he did have the foresight to bring an umbrella and that Shikamaru should have grabbed it on his way out of the booth as it was on his side. Oh yes, he would not be the one blamed for their dilapidated state, oh no. He may not have won the shogi game, but he was going to win this little argument. Hyuuga pride forced him to do so!

The elder shinobi turned back around to the whining and disgruntled Nara and prepared to yell and glare right back at him.

Instead…he gulped.

Even if he still wanted to yell at Shikamaru for putting the blame on him (and he sort of did; does anyone want to be wrong?) he couldn't. He was stuck at a standstill at the sight in front of him. Neji didn't move as he was in a state of shock. Standing in front of his door was Shikamaru, of course, but due to the rainy state of things he had now removed his vest and outer blue chuunin shirt (think standard jounin/chuunin uniforms as I'm going by what they both wear in arc II as the clothes they currently have on) leaving only the mesh fishnet shirt, also soaking wet and clinging to his skin.

This was enough to shock Neji to his current stand still. Seeing the object of one's affection dripping wet and almost half-naked, though he'd take the "almost" part because that mesh shirt was absolutely appetizing to the eyes, was one thing, but what made him go speechless was seeing Shikamaru with his hair down.

Yes, to combat the evil entity called water Shikamaru had pulled out his hair tie upon removing his vest and shirt and after having rung them mostly dry he proceeded to ring out his hair, or what he could of it. At the moment, he was bent over, ringing out the last strands and running his fingers through his hair to get out any tangles. He brought himself back up, combing his hand through his hair one last time in an attempt to detangle and air-dry it. Neji's eyes saw that Shika's hair was now in little waves, not tame, but it made him look….sexier this way, at least to Neji. At that moment he thought Shikamaru was the epitome of all that was beautiful in the world.

The last thought going through his head before he FINALLY got a hold of himself (and how he did this, no one knows) was that he wished he were that single bead of water which, at the moment, was traversing from Shikamaru's jaw agonizingly slowly down his neck to be lost under that wonderful shirt.

"What?" Shikamaru asked Neji who just stood there staring at him.

Neji opened his mouth as if to say something in response, shut it and opened it again.

"You're doing a fantastic impression of a fish Neji, you deserve an Oscar." Shika said sarcastically.

Neji closed his mouth, squinted his eyes and glared. "You're dripping, Nara; make sure to clean it up. I do not want to have any kind of mess in my home just because I let you in it for one day."

And with that he turned and walked to his room.

Shikamaru gave the retreating Hyuuga's back a look that garnered the subtitle, "What the hell?"

'What was with that look? Who does he think he is? Bastard Hyuuga, thinks he owns everything and everyone. King of his own castle, huh?'

Shika let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, shrugged his shoulders and looked up, gestured with his arms and asked the ceiling, "Why? Why do I have to get stuck with the troublesome ones?"

He grabbed his vest and shirt from off the floor and went to the bathroom to hang them up to dry. While there he located a towel and used it dry his hair, doing his best as he never liked to go to bed with wet hair. It was always a declared disaster area the next morning and took forever to clean up.

'Tch, I'm getting like Neji if I'm dwelling this much on my hair,' Shikamaru thought about his reflections on wet hair, 'The last thing I need to do is to emulate that prissy boy. Though whatever he does sure makes him looks good, very easy on the eyes…yeah."

"What?" Shika said out loud to himself, dropping the towel that was on his head to the floor. "Okay…water clean-up." And with that, he grabbed the towel and went out to the living room to clean up the water that had dripped from both he and Neji while trying NOT to think about his wandering thoughts of how silky a certain someone's hair would feel if he ran his fingers through it…

As soon as Neji left Shikamaru in the foyer and retreated to his room, he leaned back against his closed door and shook his head; attempting to clear it of the….lucrative thoughts he was having moments before.

He sighed, thinking for the thousandth time that day of what he had gotten himself into and went to find some dry clothes to put on. Neji noticed it was getting rather late as they must have been at the restaurant for longer than they thought.

'Damn Sakura for her incessant prodding…' he thought.

He was about to grab the light-weight pants he usually wore to bed and then thought better of it, grabbing a t-shirt as well. He opened his door again and went into the bathroom, noticing that Shikamaru had already deposited some of his wet clothing which reminded him again that said shinobi was in the house and they would both be going to sleep shortly, in the same bed.

'Okay. Precaution is necessary because I know he's going to go through with it no matter what I say, he's so damn stubborn. It's okay. You can get through this, its fine. We are just going to sleep on opposite sides of the bed and if he even crosses the divide a centimeter, cut off his charka. Better yet, just kick him off the bed and then I've got it back all to myself. Problem solved. Yeah, this will be interesting…' he thought while changing into his sleepwear and drying his hair. It took him a while seeing as how he had more hair than Shika. Neji was trying not to think about how awkward it would be when they finally got into the same bed to sleep. It may only be a platonic sleepover but Neji couldn't help worrying that his feelings would get the better of him and he did NOT want anything to ruin the already wobbly friendship he had with Shikamaru.

'Heh, like you can even call it friendship. You barely know him and he barely knows you, though, you've been trying to do better, it's hard when you want to get closer to the person you like, to know him but he does not care about anything, especially you.'

Neji finished, hung the towel up to dry and combed his hair quickly to make sure he didn't get tangles. He looked into the mirror, resigned to himself and asked his reflection, "Why did I have to fall for him?" He half expected his reflection to jump out of the mirror and slap some sense into him but he answered the question himself. It'd probably do him some good but he resigned to bang his head against the mirror instead.

While Neji was trying to give himself a slight concussion, Shikamaru had finished cleaning up the water and yawned for a good thirty seconds before deciding it was time for bed. He grabbed his things from where he dropped them on the couch when he first arrived and went into Neji's bedroom since he figured the Hyuuga was in the bathroom as that door was shut and the other open.

This was the one room in the apartment that he had not been into but he had to admit it was the nicest. Shikamaru first noticed the bed in the middle of the room, a nice, roomy double bed and when he sat down on it he sunk so deeply into the soft mattress that he almost fell asleep right then and there.

"Oh, this is fantastic, much better than my bed. I could sleep here forever, I'm so glad I won that game. Ohhhh yeah, this is the life."

"You didn't win Nara, you tied," Neji said from the doorway having just exited the bathroom, "And you can't sleep here forever, just for tonight. Now get off the bed."

Shikamaru looked up and saw Neji dressed in a pair of black pajama pants and a white v-neck t-shirt which, Shika noted, fit his form quite well.

"Always the spoilsport Neji. Can I deposit the rest of my sopping wet clothing in the bathroom now? Or do your want your sheets to soak of the rest of the water while I sleep?" He ask indignantly.

"Yes, Shikamaru," Neji said exasperatedly, "You can put them in the bathroom. And if you're quite finished making snide comments I'm going to go get ready for bed. It's late and I want to sleep."

"Fine, fine. Your bed's pretty comfortable; I think I'll sleep just fine."

"Wonderful." He said sarcastically.

Shikamaru gave him a tired smile as he walked past him with his pack and into the bathroom. Neji's right eye, the one that was incidentally bruised, twitched for a moment before he went over to the bed and started stripping the sheets from it. He had meant to put on new sheets for his "guest" earlier but had forgotten.

He was just finishing putting on the mattress cover when he heard the bathroom door open and turned his head to the door to see Shikamaru enter and set his pack down, putting something inside it.

Neji's eyes widened and then he looked away, back down at the sheet, trying to resume his activity and not think about how good Shika looked clad only in a pair of boxer shorts.

'When the hell did he develop muscles? Not that it's a bad thing; he does look damn good with them….Stop! Don't go there Neji, just stop. The bed, yes. Finish making the bed, that's it, so that you can sleep next to him and hope that he might unexpectedly get a little closer to you in the night and accidentally brush agai—STOP!'

Neji's head shot up, his eyes wide, with what Shikamaru thought was fear and thought the Hyuuga was weird, but when was he not weird that day?

"Everything okay, Neji?" he asked.

"Yes," he said bitingly, "I was just wondering if you normally slept in nothing but your underwear?"

Shika quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's what I'm comfortable in. Can I ask if you're cold?"

Now Neji looked puzzled. "No, not particularly…"

"Well, then why are you so bundled up? It's not like we're living in snow country." He shot back, smirking to himself.

Neji glared at him but went back to fixing the bed with Shikamaru now helping on his side.

As soon as they were done, Neji turned off the light, went over to the right side of the bed, crawled in, turned on his side so he would be facing away from Shikamaru and said, "Are you going to go to sleep or have you decided to make my life easier and take the couch?"

"Aww, there wouldn't be fun in that." Shika said, climbing in on his side, also facing away from his companion. "I hope you don't snore Hyuuga, I can't take that."

"Maybe I should so that you'll leave." Neji replied.

"Heh, fat chance. And I'm quite happy where I am right now," Shikamaru said even though he was really thinking 'Damn emotions getting the better of me. I just want to sleep, not think! Stupid awkward leering Neji, what is going on with you? What's going on with me?'

"I wish I could say the same. Goodnight." Neji clipped, closed his eyes and wished the morning could not come sooner. 'Please just let me fall asleep quickly and get through this. That's all I ask.'

He didn't get his wish.

Some time later both clearly frustrated young men were still on their sides, with their backs facing each other so that they would not have to look at each other in the face and neither one was asleep. Both their minds were working overtime causing their insomnia, but each was thinking of very different things. Neji was trying to figure out an escape plan if anything should go wrong during the night and he really hoped they could just sleep peacefully.

'It's okay, I can do this. Just keep to this side of the bed and hope I don't roll off it in the night. Yes, that sounds like a plan. And in the morning, well, just get up and get dressed and out the door before he can say anything, good good.' He thought.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was thinking about what Sakura had said earlier in the evening before they left the restaurant and all the implications of everything that had happened up until this point.

'She couldn't have been serious, right? I mean, it's Sakura, she's not that smart, especially if she's dating Rock Lee. Tch, why does everything have to be so damn troublesome, first Neji doesn't want me here then he does and then he acts all high and mighty before acting completely unlike himself to Sakura's demonic delight. And then I start acting like him the more time I've spent around him. Maybe he IS getting to me though it's really hard to accept that as the reason I was acting like a giddy little school girl. There's no basis! Well, there wasn't before at least but the time I've spent around him today hasn't been all that bad and it's been fun, not so troublesome and I've enjoyed his company and he's a helluva good shogi player too. Hmm…maybe…guess there's only one way to find out.' Shikamaru mused inwardly to himself.

Neji felt his bedmate shift though he kept to himself, thinking Shikamaru just couldn't get in a comfortable position. He then heard:

"Hey Neji."

Furrowing his eyebrows and giving the wall a glare he replied, "What? I was almost asleep."

"I'm sure you were. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something."

Still having not moved, "Well ask IT then."

"I can't."

A quizzical look on Neji's face. "What?! You just said you wanted to ask me something and now you can't?"

"Exactly." Shikamaru said matter-of-factly, staring at Neji's back.

Neji propped himself up on his elbow, shaking his head and clenching his teeth, turned quickly around so he was now propped up on his right elbow.

"What the hell are you talk—"

As soon as Neji had turned to face him, Shika leaned down quickly and placed a feather light kiss on the bruise just under Neji's right eye.

"Eh, you took so long I forgot what I wanted to ask," he said, now back to his original position, propped up on his left arm, "Too troublesome to try to think of it. Though, I'm sure Sakura's doing a happy dance somewhere now, heh." With that he turned over and lay down with his back to Neji.

"Goodnight." He said, a contented smile forming on his face as he pulled the covers back over his shoulders.

Neji just sat there, a little dumbfounded. He blinked once. Twice. Finally, he raised a hand to touch where Shikamaru's lips had just been. He, too, turned over so that their backs were facing one another again, and softly, so that Shikamaru barely heard for he was almost asleep already, said

"Night…Shika." And he also fell asleep smiling.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Again, have a great holiday and hopefully I'll be back next week with a new chapter. Byes!!

p.s. Les Miserables and Within Temptation are responsible for helping me through this chapter, lol. Thanks for the reviews!