The pond Chapter 4: The mission, a naruto fanfic

The mission

Shikamaru sighed. "And now you're stealing my word." He said, but smiled none the less. "I'm so glad that we spoke to each other tonight." He sighed and hugged Neji close to him.

Neji felt a shiver run up his spine and nodded wordlessly. The water cascaded down their bodies and enveloped them in a safe cocoon of warmth, one that couldn't be broken. They said nothing, they didn't move; they just stood there together and enjoyed being close to each other.

Neji was running through the woods, cursing under his breath, trying to catch up with his team-mates. They were taking a client across enemy territory, so they had to be quiet and discreet, but with their client complaining loudly they had attracted the enemy's attention and now they had to run for it. Neji was the last in their line, so he had been the one to fight off the pursuers when they came. He had managed to defeat three of them quite easily, but the fourth caught him by surprise. He winced as he touched his upper leg, where the enemy's knife had left a rather large scratch. He'd have to get someone in his team to look at that tonight.

When they stopped to rest, the night was nearly upon them. Neji scanned the area with his Byakugan. "There is no one in the vicinity." He reported. "Only animals, none of which appear to be summons. I think we'll be safe here for the night."

Shikamaru, who had been appointed as team captain, sighed in relief and turned to the others. "We will set up camp here." He said. "Under those trees; we will be nearly invisible for anyone passing by and we will be able to set up a few traps for safety." He turned to his team-mates. "Ino, you and me will set up the tents. Chouji takes care of food for everyone. Neji and Ten-ten are in charge of the traps, and Lee will stay with our client."

With curt nods, the ninjas set to work. Shikamaru stayed behind with Lee and their client and smiled at the young woman. "I trust that you have learned to keep quiet, Suzaki-san." He said politely.

The girl snorted. "Whatever, you stupid team captain. I don't have to listen to you."

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome." he muttered. "You might want to listen if you don't want to die."

The girl was about to reply when Neji and Ten-ten appeared. Ten-ten was dragging Neji along by his ear, while Neji was protesting firmly but quietly. "It's okay Ten-ten, really. It can wait until we finish setting up camp."

"It most certainly can not." Ten-ten snapped. "Shikamaru, Neji got hurt fighting off our pursuers. We should have Ino take a look at it. I'll help with the tents."

Shikamaru's head swirled. Neji had gotten hurt and he hadn't noticed? He nodded curtly at Ten-ten. "I'll go get her." he said, and returned with Ino moments later. Neji glared angrily at his team-mate. "Damn it Ten-ten, I said I am fine! Stop pushing m-AH!"

Ino had touched the wound on Neji's leg carefully, and Neji winced in pain. Ino glared at the long-haired man in front of her. "You call that 'being fine'?" She growled. "You will let me treat you right now."

Ten-ten, satisfied that her team-mate was in good hands, went to take over Ino's job. Shikamaru, however, stayed with Neji and Ino, following them wordlessly to a partly-secluded area, out of view of their client and team-mates. Ino turned to Neji. "Drop the pants and sit down on that rock, please." She said as she began removing the tools she would need from her hip-pouch.

When Neji did not do as she asked, she fixed him with a pointed stare. "Was I not clear enough?" She asked, a dangerous undertone in her voice. "Take off your pants and sit down. I have to work fast, because it's getting dark and we can't use light out here, or we'll draw too much attention to ourselves."

Neji blushed lightly. "Is that absolutely necessary?" He asked in a small voice. "You can reach it. The cloth is all torn anyway."

Ino sighed. "I can reach it, but I can't inspect the area near it for traces of poison, which is absolutely necessary, yes." She met Neji's gaze and sighed again. "I won't do anything indecent, Neji. I'm a medic. I'm used to seeing people in their underwear."

Neji sighed too. "I know that." He said. "It is not your discretion I worry about." He glanced at Shikamaru. Ino followed Neji's gaze and clacked her tongue. "Shikamaru, he'll be fine. Get lost, you're making him uncomfortable."

Shikamaru flinched. Was he truly what was bothering Neji? Before he could leave, however, Neji interrupted. "No, it's not his fault, Ino. I am not used to it, that is all. I will have to get used to it." He glanced up shyly at his boyfriend. "And Shikamaru can stay. He has been a good distraction to me before, and since you are doubtlessly going to hurt me, a distraction seems most welcome."

Shikamaru relaxed a little and approached while Neji stood to take his pants off carefully. Ino had wisely turned her back at this point. By the time she turned back around, Neji was sitting on the rock and Shikamaru was sitting besides him, studying the cut on his lover's leg with morbid curiosity. Neji fidgeted and blushed a darker shade of red. "Can we get this over with? I find it highly uncomfortable." He muttered, staring at his hands that rested on his knees.

Ino traced a finer along the cut and prodded at it. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Neji incredulously. "You are a lucky man, Hyuuga Neji." She muttered. "There is a piece of the blade stuck in the wound, but amazingly enough it doesn't seem to have done any serious damage. I will, however, have to extract it from the wound. And that will hurt you. A lot."

Neji swallowed audibly, but nodded. "Get it over with." He said. "I am used to pain."

Ino nodded, pulled out a pair of pincers and set to work. Neji smothered the first cry by biting his lip. Shikamaru heard, grabbed Neji's hand from his knee and allowed the other to squeeze his hand while Ino worked.

He saw Neji's jaw clench and he saw all of the muscles in his boyfriend's body tense. Neji made no sound at all; he just squeezed Shikamaru's hand really hard and closed his eyes tightly. Shikamaru admired him for his courage. But as he looked at Neji's face, contorted with pain, his treacherous mind wouldn't stop assaulting him with the thought that it would be better if that face was contorting in pleasure, and that Shikamaru should to be the one to cause it.

He tried to shake the thoughts, but then he couldn't help but notice Neji's long, slender legs and his soft, pale skin. He couldn't just ignore the way Neji's black boxers were a bit too tight on Neji's ass, or the way Neji's back arched whenever something hurt him. Shikamaru gulped and forced his mind to think of Asuma-sensei in a speedo.

Two minutes later, all the feeling had left Shikamaru's hand, and Ino dropped the piece of metal on the ground. "There you have it." She said. "Now I'll just desinfect and bandage it and then you're free to go."

With some difficulty, Neji unclenched his jaws and let go of Shikamaru's hand. They locked eyes for a moment, then Neji looked away. "Thanks for your support." He muttered in a hoarse voice.

Shikamaru smiled. "You're welcome." He said.

Ino rolled her eyes. "If the two of you keep acting like that, one would think you were lovers." She said disapprovingly. "I'm going to disinfect the wound, so this might sting."

"One could say the same about you and Sakura, Ino." Shikamaru commented dryly, looking as if he was completely unmoved by Ino's comment.

Neji glared at Ino, a slight blush once again visible on his face. "Just hurry it up, please." He said. "I'm getting cold and my leg hurts. I would just like to go to bed."

"Understandable." Ino said and smiled up at Neji, then continued dabbing antiseptic at the wound on Neji's leg. "You didn't scream. Impressive, Hyuuga. For that I think you deserve the night off."

Shikamaru chuckled. "If only it were that simple." He said, then sighed. "None of us really get the night off. But I can give you the first shift so you can go to bed early."

Shikamaru folded his hands behind his head. It was two a.m; the guard shift he took over from Neji had ended an hour ago, but he found that he couldn't sleep. Beside him he heard the loud snoring of Lee and Neji's soft breathing. With a sigh he turned to his side, trying to ignore the direction his mind was going. His effort proved fruitless.

It had been a week since that night at the Hyuuga compound, but during this entire mission there hadn't been any time to talk. After that night, they had been too busy with their mission and from then on, whenever they were together, there was always someone else present.

Shikamaru found that this bothered him. It surprised him to notice that he desired, for the first time in his life, to be really alone with another person. The fact that he couldn't frustrated him.

And then there was the shower incident. Shikamaru groaned and buried his head in his pillow. For this entire week he had been trying to forget about this, but his treacherous, genius mind had remembered every detail, every curve of Neji's body that he had seen that day. By day he was able to fend off his fantasies about his boyfriend, but at night, when there was no strategy to distract him and no team-mate to speak to, his fantasy assaulted him with images of what his lover would look like when he stopped being shy.

These images, now fuelled by today's discovery of what Neji looked like when every muscle in his body was tensed, made it almost too easy for Shikamaru's fantasy to come up with the most lewd scenarios. Shikamaru's body, of course, acted accordingly.

Shikamaru groaned again. He was sorely tempted to sneak out of the tent and relieve the sexual tension that had built up over the past seven days, but he knew that doing so would seriously jeopardise the mission. There was no telling he would be called upon as a team captain. And there was also the chance that he might wake someone and tarnish his reputation, which was also something that was not to be taken lightly.

He rolled over in his bed again and tried his very best to think of Chouji in a speedo, but his thoughts kept going back to Neji. The way he had arched his back, those little moan-like sounds he had uttered while trying to keep quiet...

Shikamaru's right hand slid down his body, almost as if it were an unconscious act. He turned to his side and slid his fingers across his inner thigh, imagining them to be Neji's fingers touching him, feeling up his legs and getting closer to-

"Shikamaru, what on earth are you doing." a scornful voice whispered in the darkness. "You're tossing and turning so much that I can't sleep."

Shikamaru jumped at the sound of Neji's voice, suddenly very aware of his predicament and guiltily conscious that this was the person he had been so busily fantasizing about. "N-neji..." he whispered hoarsely. "It's... it's nothing. I couldn't sleep."

Neji's chuckle sent a shiver up Shikamaru's spine. "I noticed." he said. "But what's keeping you up?"

Shikamaru didn't reply. His mind was offering him many different excuses, but none of them sufficed to excuse his actions in the last few minutes. All he managed to squeeze out of his throat was "ehm..."

Neji chuckled again. "Guilty conscience, Shikamaru?" He joked. "Were you planning to do something... dirty?"

"Shh!" Shikamaru hissed. "What if Lee hears? Or Chouji? Or worse, Ino or Ten-ten?"

"Ten-ten is fast asleep in her tent, as well you know." Neji remarked. "And Chouji and Ino are out patrolling, so they don't have time to keep an eye -or an ear- out for us. As for Lee... you could shoot a gun at him and he wouldn't wake up. So relax a little, will you?"

"Funny that you should say that, Hyuuga." Shikamaru growled. "You're the one who's always as tense as a cat in a dog pound."

Shikamaru swore he could hear Neji pout and grinned to himself in the dark. That should teach the bastard to behave around him. Neji might have been older, but Shikamaru was smarter and then both knew it.

"You may be right about that." Neji admitted after a short moment of silence. "But even so... I'm not the one waking his team-mates up with the noise of..."

"I wasn't doing anything." Shikamaru hissed angrily. "I was trying to get to sleep. Will you stop harassing me already?"

"Gee, relax. I was only teasing." Neji sighed. "Sorry."

Shikamaru said nothing. After a while he heard something rustle, suggesting that Neji had just turned around. "... Neji?" he spoke hesitantly.

"Yes?" came the reply from the darkness on the other side of the tent.

"... I love you."

"... love you too."

-to be continued-