Wow, my chapters keep getting longer and longer. That's crazy but good for you guys I guess!
This chapter is the longest to date and it's the penultimate chapter. Just one more after this and it'll be out soon, promise! This one only took four days, and I thank you for your patience!!
Enjoy the chapter, and as always (though I forget to write it sometimes) I don't own Naruto.
"Speaking"
'Thinking'
Chapter Seven: The Beginning
It did not take long for Shikamaru to fall asleep, well, at least once he saw the look on Neji's face when he kissed his bruise. He was still smiling over that in his sleep. And he actually slept all the way through the night, something he didn't think would happen since he wasn't in his own home and he normally had trouble falling asleep in a foreign place. What surprised him even more was that he slept so fully and comfortably lying next to another person, a person who he was beginning to realize he had developed a slight attraction toward.
Shika was thinking about these things as he had woken up to the soft beams of light coming in the window. However, as it was his morning ritual he stayed put in bed, careful not to lose the warmth and comfort he was currently enveloped in under these wonderfully soft sheets.
'Hmm…I'll have to ask Neji where he got these sheets because they are daaaaamn nice. Mmmm…I could stay here all day lo—' Shikamaru slowly opened his eyes as he was thinking that last part and saw strange, colorful markings on pale skin that he had seen only once before, five years ago.
He was face to face, well more like face to forehead, with Neji. There were only a few inches separating Shika's nose from the closed eyes of his fellow shinobi. He noticed that Neji was still asleep, though how they both ended up this close and facing each one another without waking the other up through their tossing and turning, Shika had no idea.
'Okay…this is interesting. Not bad, just…interesting.' He moved his head back so that he could see more of his companion and spent some time just looking at Neji, keeping still himself so as not to wake him. He noticed the pale almost luminescent pallor of his skin, and the subtle way that his eyelids gently quivered, informing Shika that he was dreaming. He also saw the dark purple of the bruise Sakura inflicted, though it wasn't as bad as he as he thought it was last night.
Looking further down he saw that his lips were smooth and not chapped like his own. 'I wonder what they'd feel like…' He moved his eyes back up Neji's face, making sure that he didn't linger too long on those lips for those were dangerous territory. Once again, his eyes fell on the markings whose legacy was only truly appreciated and despised by members of the Hyuuga clan.
'Every part is perfect except this, minus the bruise of course, but this one thing that mars his beauty. Hmpf, that's a load of shit Shika, wake up more idiot,' he chastised himself. 'It doesn't matter at all, not to me and apparently not anymore to him if he's so careless as to unknowingly let me see it now. You're better than that Neji, I know you are. Gah, it's too bothersome to stay awake…eh, if he's not up yet then I'm going back to sleep.'
And with that Shika stretched his legs and arms at his side slightly and carefully so as not to wake up the other when he felt a pressure on his right side. He was lying on his left side so he went to move his right hand and felt cloth underneath that was not the same feel as the sheets.
'Ohhh.' He thought and moved his hand to his right side and just as he thought felt a decidedly warm arm draped over said side. 'Troublesome. Oh well,' was the last thing Shika thought before returning his right hand to it's original position so that both were mirror images of the other, and Shika snuggled into the bedding more if not a little closer to a still oblivious bed-mate.
Like clockwork at precisely 7:30am Neji opened his eyes having woken up naturally. He never set an alarm for he had his internal clock trained down to the second after years of practice. It did come in handy as he no longer had listen to the annoying sounds his previous clock had made and in a situation like the one he was in now, not having an alarm clock proved also not to wake up the person sleeping directly in front of him and cause more chaos.
Needless to say, Neji's eyes grew quite big when he saw the slightly opened mouth of Shikamaru, decidedly closer than it had been an hour before when the shadow-nin had fallen back asleep.
'Oh shit. What did I do? What did HE do? Okay, calm down, assess the situation. It's probably nothing, just random tossing and turning, then why the hell didn't I wake up?!?!?' Neji frantically thought, trying to figure a way out of bed without waking Shika. 'If he wakes up this is going to get even worse. I can slip out and he doesn't need to know. EVER. God, he'd never let me live this down; just let it slide right on past him like he does everything else. I wish I could do that…but first, getting out of here, though it is nice, it's just a mistake and it'll never happen.'
Neji slowly inched away from Shika, and once he felt the resistance on his side, he lifted the other's hand and slowly rolled off the bed in a graceful motion that showed he put way too much effort into not making any noise.
Once up, he quickly grabbed some fresh clothes and changed in the bathroom. He wasn't quite so sure that the Nara was as modest as he was, especially noting his lack of dress for sleeping, so Neji was not going to take any chance. He glanced back into his room and saw that Shika was still fast asleep. Neji debated over waking him up, rudely too, but he decided that he did not want to be that mean, even if he had put up with a lot of crap yesterday because of Shikamaru's exiling.
It was not yet eight in the morning so Neji decided to run a few errands before his roommate decided to get his lazy ass out of bed. 'And this,' he thought, 'will give me some time to think.' Neji had most definitely not forgotten about what happened before he fell asleep last night. Oh noooo. But what would he do about it? And more importantly, what would Shikamaru do, if anything…
"Grrrmmmhhhrrrrrmmm" was the only intelligible sound, if one can call it that, which came from Shikamaru as one particularly bright and shining beam of light decided to fall right on his eyes. Such a powerful brilliance coming from one small beam, oh how Shikamaru hated it just then, but how can a person really hate light, honestly?
Shika did anyway.
He was still grumbling about inconsiderate people forgetting to close the curtains when he drudgingly got out of bed and stopped. He knew that Neji had gotten up before him because he felt the other nin vainly struggle to get out of the slight embrace Shika had him in, but what stopped him in his stride to get fresh clothes and make a quick stop at the bathroom was the incorrigibly delicious smell coming from the kitchen. Shika's mouth started watering as soon as he smelt whatever delectable substance that he was sure was soon to be in his stomach.
Neji heard two quick slams, figuring them to be the bedroom door and the bathroom door and smiled to himself.
"I guess someone decided to get up this morning," Neji teased to Shika who had just entered the kitchen and sat down expectantly at the table. He couldn't see what Neji was cooking but he knew that it had to be good while at the same time the Hyuuga couldn't see the semi-serious but one-hundred percent drowsy glare Shika gave him for that comment.
"Are you gonna feed me or not?" He asked, impatient for food, his stomach growling as an example.
"Oh I see," Neji said turning around with a full plate in his hands, "All this strange behavior is because you've reverted back to your baby self and now you need to be fed. I'm sorry that I don't have any bottles and there sure as hell won't be any changing of diapers."
Shika this time gave him a rather good impression of the Hyuuga glare. "Tch, whatever."
Neji smirked and set the plate of French toast on the table along with a few other things but as soon as that plate was down, BAM! It was attacked by Shika's fork. Neji was more…calm as he took some of the fried bread and placed it onto his own plate and began eating slowly. Shikamaru was already done with his first helping by this time.
"You know, Shikamaru, you're going to choke if you keep eating like that." Neji thought he heard something along the lines of "No I'm not" through Shika's full mouth.
Neji just laughed. "Where'd you learn to eat like that?"
"Chouji." Shikamaru said as soon as he swallowed.
"Figured." Neji said lightheartedly.
"Hey, I learned what good food is from him and this stuff is REALLY good." He said, taking another slice.
A muttered "Thanks" was all he heard and looked up to see Neji's head turned away from him.
"I mean it Neji. Considering this is one of the first homemade breakfasts I've had a long time, it definitely ranks as one of the best, if not the best. I don't get to eat food this good that often, even if I do live with Chouji since all of his free time now is spent with Ino."
Neji turned his attention back to Shikamaru. "Well, I'm glad you like it. Is it hard to live with him, then?"
Shikamaru cocked his head to side, "What do you mean?"
"I just meant about Ino, the way you talk about her and all the times she's kicked you out. I should think you'd call her troublesome?"
Shika rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's one way to describe her. No, it's fine living with Chouji, he's my best friend, really easy to get along with and all. I just don't get to hang out with him as much any more or with Ino for that matter. I mean, she is a whiny, nagging, taxing woman but she's bot that bad. In small doses. I'm glad they're both happy, though now Chouji gets to put up with all of Ino's incessant complaining when it used to be split between the two of us. I almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost." Shika said smiling at the comment and the fact that he got a few laughs out of Neji as well.
"What about you?"
"What about me?" Neji asked getting up and clearing the table. Shikamaru got up as well and took his dishes to the sink as Neji had turned on the faucet.
"Well, you live by yourself." Shika stated as he leaned on the counter while Neji began washing the dishes. "Don't you ever get lonely or anything? I mean, that's why Chouji and me are roommates, we get along, we're friends and we don't have to worry about being bored. That and it helps to split the rent. Don't you wish you had that?"
Neji glanced up from the plate he was cleaning and quietly spoke, "Sometimes. I like my peace and quiet but yeah, sometimes I wish I could to talk someone every now and again."
"What about your teammates?"
"Lee and Ten-ten? You've got to be kidding. I like them, they're my teammates, they're my…friends, even though that took a while, but I can't talk to them and share aspects of my life with them, I'm not comfortable with that." Neji's eyes widened as he thought, 'But I'm comfortable with you to share those things right now.'
"Well, maybe you need to find that girl you've got such a huge crush on and start talking to her," Shika said smirking.
Neji glared. "It's not like that!" He set the plate down hard, though thankfully it didn't break, and turned and walked into the living room.
"Uh huh." Shika started after him, "Hey, the easiest way to solve your problem if you don't want to be lonely anymore is to do something and tell whoever it is you've got this crush on, and don't deny it because I'm not that stupid that you can pull one over on me." He smiled, having fun despite Neji's distress.
"What do you want from me Shika?" Neji half-shouted as he turned to face the other, failing to notice his slip of the name. "Why do you even care? I thought this would be too much work for you to be concerned with someone other than yourself."
"Yeah, well, just trying to help out a friend because you can certainly use it. You're not perfect, Neji, and you have to stop thinking you are and face reality a little. And, you'll be happier this way, if you get rejected, though anyone who does that is more stupid than Naruto and Kiba combined." He saw Neji glance up at him with a quirked eyebrow at that but continued speaking quickly.
"But if you do go through with it don't worry about it, you're better than that. And if you don't get rejected, well then have at because you'll finally be happy and there's nothing wrong with that." Shikamaru clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall watching Neji's reaction.
Neji just stood in the middle of the room, shoulders tense, head now downcast before he turned and looked at Shikamaru. "You want me to just go up to this person, this person I have….feelings for, explain th-that I've felt this way for months and just take that risk?" He asked incredulous.
"It's just a small one. It won't mean that much."
"It will to me."
The shadow nin closed his eyes and said, "Neji, you're a Konoha shinobi and you've faced worse dangers than this and I know your pride is hurting but do this one thing and I promise you won't regret it. If you're really that apprehensive just go up to the person and kiss them; that'll get the message through clear as day. You'll only regret it if you never do anything. And if you do it, maybe you won't be so lonely any—"
Shika's eyes opened and went wide as soon as he felt the only other person in the room crush their lips to his own. However, Shikamaru wasn't a genius for nothing, and when he saw a very hot looking and very cutely blushing Neji kissing him, he was not about to let this chance pass him by.
Neji was seriously thinking about what Shikamaru had said because that's what convinced him to do what he was doing at the moment, kissing his crush full on the lips. Like said crush explained, he'd only regret if he never did anything about it, so he might as well go all the way. And he did. He was scared that Shikamaru wouldn't return his feelings, but remembering that little peck he got last night, he decided it was worth it to feel the warm lips beneath his own.
And when he felt Shika's lips press back against his he just about died; this was the person he had spent the last day almost side by side with the entire time, had felt angry with, had felt nostalgic with, had felt sad for, and most assuredly had felt desire for, and now…now, Neji finally felt like this was the only person he had ever truly wanted and even more he felted wanted back.
He slowly raised his hand to Shika's side, gently so as not to scare him off. That's the last thing he wanted to do, believe it (yeah, I sound like Naruto here, oh well!). But instead, and much to please his inner self who was doing a happy dance, (not that he would ever admit that, of course) he felt Shikamaru's hand reach up and pull his head closer, deepening the kiss.
Though, as soon as the kiss was initiated, it seemed like it ended with Neji pulling back slightly and Shikamaru, keeping his eyes closed, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Neji's and wrapped his arms around the older nin, who did the same.
"See, that wasn't such a risk." Shika said with a soft laugh.
Neji smiled. "You were right. I'm glad I did it."
"Me too," he opened his eyes and leaned back to look at Neji, a very satisfied grin on his face. "I would have been too lazy to do anything."
"That didn't stop you last night when you kissed me." Neji countered.
"Yeah, well, I figured it'd be okay, especially since Sakura would have given me a black eye to match yours."
"Ahh, well it's a good thing you did it; she does pack quite the punch for being so short. Hey Shika?" Neji asked, taking a chance and leaning in to place chaste kisses down his jaw line.
"Yeah?"
"Last night kiss when you kiss kissed me kiss was that a part kiss of your strategy kiss?"
Shikamura, loving the feeling of those kisses, had to suppress the shivers that ran up his spine, "You could say that. I kinda figured you liked me after that shogi game when I figured out I was your distraction. And ever since then, I guess I couldn't help liking you back. Though, I have to say I'm really glad I did kiiiIIIIISSSSS you." Shika's interesting vocal projection when he said "kiss" was due to the fact that Neji, in his continuing actions of trailing kisses down his jaw, had reached the juncture of Shika's ear, where he did stop his onslaught of kisses, but he did do an interesting move by biting gently on the earlobe while simultaneously teasing Shika's earring with his tongue. Oh yes, he knew he found a good spot and from the way he felt Shikamaru's hands kneading into his shoulders, he knew Shika didn't mind at all.
"He-hey Neji? I think we should move this to the couch, otherwise I'm gonna fall and not be able to get up for a looong time."
Neji was a little sad to stop but he pulled back and soon enough was attacked by Shikamaru's lips on his with the younger man's arms wrapped around him. They stumbled the few feet to the couch and landed in a heap, lips still locked until they needed to part for air.
"I didn't know you moved this fast Shika," Neji said, catching his breath.
"Heh, I've never really felt like this for anyone and you're so different from me," he said stroking the side of Neji's face, "But a lot like me too. I guess we both made good moves this time, ne?"
"Yes we did. Though, it's a pity that you're only here for one more day. I really like being with you."
"I like being with you too, Neji. And trust me, I'll get kicked out by Ino and Chouji plenty of more times, and now I have a place to stay, that is, if you'll have me?"
Neji leaned up and captured Shika's lips again. "How could I not? Though next time, you're sleeping on the couch."
"Oh yeah? Let's have another match and see just who sleeps where."
"You're on."
A shogi game is no match for two geniuses and the results of the game earlier in the day were now seen as the night found the two, once kind of acquaintances, later mission teammates and now something much more and deeper that neither fully understood yet but they would, asleep in each other's arms, Shikamaru with his hands fisted in Neji's shirt as if never wanting to let go and Neji with his face nuzzling Shika's neck. Though he was soon leaning back and looking at his new boyfriend when he felt vibrations of laughter.
Groggily, Neji asked, "It's late Shika. What are you giggling at?"
"Hehehe, just thinking about yesterday and today and how it wouldn't have happened if I had never gotten sexiled."
"True. Next time you see Ino, give her my thanks," Neji said sleepily and cuddled once more in Shika's embrace.
"Yeah, sure. I just never thought being exiled would be this much fun."
Hey all, I thought it was funny that my spellcheck decided to that Neji is "Neil," Shika is "Shiva" and Chouji is "Chui," so from now on, that's what they shall be!! Heheh, just kidding but I did think those were some interesting names to give them from a computer, lol.
P.S. Thanks sooooo much to kittypon for reminding me that the boys needed to eat! Even the small details are important, thanks you so much!!
I think I thanked my reviewers for the first chapter but none since then so I really am a bad person. I shall amend that now and thank all of my reviewers up until this point (and from here on out as well!) as you all are so cool and make the writing worthwhile!
Thanks so much into dark-night-sky, psychotic KAT, Paachaaaw, KabutoxOrochimarufangirl1, Red-headed, psychopaths wanted, Necury, kittypon, Missalissa, Boredwithlifeandlove, Heosic-chan, Ryals-Shoal, Raydar, Ariii.chan, TheNewKid25, hana koikogoro, Chicken Soup for the Soulless, Sorrowdarkness, tsuki yamano, lover-of-time, and Hanai-kun! You all rock very much!!
The next chapter is the last, a sort of epilogue. Hope you enjoyed this one! Thanks so much!!!