A/N: oh wow, I never would've guessed that a spur of the moment fic would get this much support! :) Arigato, minna!

Thanks to Aarien-sama (x2), Sanee, Winterblazewolf (x2), Dark-Princess-Hikari (x2), Hanai-kun (x2), sonotgoingthere, digi-writer1392, reaper118, PittyMoraes, yaoi ad-ikt, and Priestess Catatonia for the reviews!

An added disclaimer: The extra characters (Neji's students) are mine, but their character designs are not. So their images belong to their respective owners.

Oh, um…there won't be very much of Neji in this chapter. XD More of his students than anything…

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An Unexpected Night

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Chapter Two

When Shikamaru returned to his apartment after splitting ways with the Hyuuga heiress, he came across the still unconscious Hyuuga male, which was, in all honesty, what he had been expecting to come home to. With a small sigh he shut the door behind him and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. Was it sensible for the guy to still be unconscious, without any signs of waking up, for over a six, seven, maybe even eight hour time period? Or was he just being overly paranoid and needed to sit down for a bit?

Sighing again to himself, he strolled over to the kitchen after his stomach decided to make its plight known; it wanted feeding, and it wanted it right now. Mind not entirely on what he was grabbing (it looked suspiciously like curry, but in such a state of mind he couldn't be so sure), he thought about the job he had unceremoniously accepted, and resisted the urge to sigh a third time; so he settled for a groan instead.

Just what had he been thinking to accept such an arrangement? Sure, it would only be for the week leading up to the chuunin exams, but still; he hated to be around genin, and knowing the Hyuuga's genin, they were probably over-the-top smartasses who had enough intelligence to back whatever they said up.

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…Clearly he needed to rethink his supposition of the Hyuuga's genin, since they seemed to be nothing like what he had thought they'd be like.

"And then! And then! Did you see that totally awesome flying kick? It was all like 'fwoosh!'"

"No way! It was nothing like that! It was more like 'swoosh!'"

"You're both wrong! It was like–"

Shikamaru groaned as he blocked the childish argument out, while trying his damnedest to ignore the sloppy kicks the trio were doing in clear imitation of the movie they had apparently seen together the day before, after their training with their sensei had ended. For the life of him he couldn't figure out how the stoic Hyuuga could stand the three genin on his team, and hadn't yet snapped and "accidentally" killed them all in a training routine. Which, to be perfectly blunt, was something that he would have wanted for nothing else to do (but of course he wouldn't, since that would be such a troublesome thing to have to explain to the hokage and the three kids' parents).

"Ne! Sensei! What's your name?"

Shikamaru slowly blinked down at the young girl standing before him, her bright – and very much innocent – blue eyes staring up at him in curiosity, her body tense in anticipation of his answer. Unconsciously he took note of her semi-long blonde hair that was held up in two pony tails and the Chinese-style clothes of varying shades of red, a small cherry blossom tree pattern climbing up one of the legs. Her hitai-ate was tied around her waist, immediately reminding him of Ino.

Mentally he shook his head and faked a yawn. "Nara Shikamaru. Yours?"

"Hiyashi Aimi, desu! Nice to meet you!"

…Oh, god. She even raised her hand as she spoke. Just what kind of girl did the Hyuuga have to put up with?

Silently he sighed, and forced a smile. "Domo."

Apparently satisfied with his response, the girl giggled softly and skipped off to rejoin her teammates, probably to tell them his name. Sighing once more he picked himself off of the patch of grass he had made himself comfortable on, and lazily strolled over to the trio. Quickly he scanned the other two, who were staring at him in what appeared to be a mix of suspicion and awe; for what reason he wasn't entirely sure of, since he was certain that he hadn't done anything "amazing" lately.

One of the boys was wearing brown shorts that ended at about mid-knee, and a shirt that was a mix of blue and white with little flaps on the front and back that ended farther down than the actual bottom of the shirt did. His wrists were bandaged, and on one had he wore a glove; for what reason, he wasn't sure of (again something he didn't have the answer to). His hitai-ate was around his forehead, as was custom, in what seemed to be an effort to hold back his messy brown hair, but instead was worn backward with no excess strap hanging down; meaning he had probably cut it off and decided to just clip the ends together. His eyes were a curious shade of violet that he had only seen on Hinata, even though the boy clearly wasn't a member of the Hyuuga clan.

The other boy was dressed in clothes that Shikamaru couldn't quite figure out what the origin was, and decided not to think about it. His shirt was long-sleeved and deep purple in color, with a crimson, silk-looking vest over it. His pants were black and ended just above the boy's ankles, revealing that both of his ankles were bandaged like the other boy's wrists were. His hitai-ate was also tied around his forehead, but didn't seem there to hold back his long red hair; a hair tie was already doing that job. His eyes, which were currently appraising Shikamaru quite heartily, were a dark shade of blue; the complete opposite end of the spectrum compared to Aimi's.

When the two boys appeared to be done assessing his worth, Shikamaru held in a sigh and said, "Your normal sensei's out, as I'm sure the hokage's already told you. I'm going to be replacing him for the time being. To start off, knowing each other's names would be helpful." (He couldn't believe he was actually doing this! And without complaint! There must've been something in that curry he had eaten earlier…quickly he made a mental note to check what he was eating before he ate it in case of some foreign thing going into his body to make him act uncharacteristically. Like now.) Continuing on, he said, "I already know Aimi, but you two…"

"Arakaki Hiroshi."

Shikamaru nodded at the brown-haired boy, before turning expectant eyes on the red-head. Silently he raised an eyebrow, before the boy sighed and spoke.

"Takahashi Keiichi. Don't expect me to accept you in place of Neji-sensei."

…Well. That name certainly didn't fit the boy at all.

Mentally Shikamaru smirked; he didn't really expect himself to accept the boy – or his teammates – by the end of week, so whether the kid accepted him or not really didn't matter to him one bit. "So…what has your sensei been doing with you so far?" Three equally blank faces answered him, causing Shikamaru to sigh and mutter "What a pain…" before restating what he had said. "How about this: you three spar, so I can see what I can help" – he cringed as he said that "vile" word – "you with before the chuunin exams."

The three genin nodded in unison, before rushing off to a spot a little ways away so they were directly in the center of the open field. When all three were in place, and looking like they were waiting for a signal to begin, Shikamaru sighed once again and said, "Begin!" in as loud of a voice as he was willing to do; which, honestly, hadn't really been all that loud.

For a few moments he wondered if their performance in an actual fighting situation would be like their mock-fight from before, therefore making him wonder just what Hinata's cousin had been thinking to even think his genin were ready for the chuunin exams, before he widened his eyes in surprise.

They were…good. Somehow it seemed like the Hyuuga had gotten lucky and had got a team of prodigies; there was simply no other way he could explain the phenomenon that was the three genin who were fighting in front of him like they were already chuunin rank going out for the jounin test instead of a group of brats who had yet to even take the chuunin exam.

After watching for a little over ten minutes – in which he discovered that Aimi was the best at taijutsu and weaponry, Hiroshi being the best at ninjutsu, and Keiichi simply being the best overall – Shikamaru called the three to a halt, and motioned for them to return to him. When they gathered in front of him, all breathing heavily, he couldn't help but ask, "From what I've seen, you three are amazingly good at what you do. So how much did…Neji" – the name felt weird coming from his mouth, and he couldn't help but scrunch his brow at the foreign word – "teach you three?"

When no one spoke, Hiroshi grinned and said, "Lots of stuff! You wouldn't think it from before, but Aimi here was the worst of all of us at taijutsu, and she hardly even knew how to even hold a shuriken! Sensei's amazing!"

…If that was the truth, he could concede that much at the very least. Shikamaru thought for a moment, and then asked another question. "How about you?"

Grinning sheepishly, Hiroshi glanced down at the patch of dirt below his feet. "Before sensei, I couldn't even really make a simple clone of myself; Iruka-sensei used to get reaaaally frustrated at me for that."

Shikamaru "hmmm"ed in response, before he turned his gaze to Keiichi, who was staring at him in an evident challenge. Without having to ask he knew that the boy was already a natural at taijutsu, ninjutsu, and probably even genjutsu, and was expecting for Shikamaru to question him about it. Allowing a tiny smirk to emerge he said, "And I assume the Hyuuga helped you hone your technique, since you obviously already knew everything."

The boy smirked in response, and chose to remain quiet.

After a few second's stare down, Shikamaru faked another yawn and latched his hands together behind his head. "Well, whatever. You're free to do whatever you want, since I don't have anything to help you with. Just don't bother me."

A chorus of "Hai!" rang in his ears as he laid himself down on the grass, his eyes closing of their own will. Although they were slightly annoying, the Hyuuga's genin weren't…too bad; he was glad for the fact that the boy had enough knowledge and patience in him to train the three to the point that they were at, so he wouldn't have to have too much contact with them.

A little over an hour later Shikamaru found himself sitting up with a yawn, his body completely relaxed from the nap he had taken. Blearily he looked around him while trying to come up with a reason as to why he was napping in an unfamiliar napping location, before remembering that he was "teaching" the Hyuuga's genin. Quickly he glanced around, all the while muttering about how troublesome it was to have to get up for them, before his ears picked up the sounds of giggling from behind him. Lazily he turned to face the sound, and found that the three had decided that it was their duty to watch him sleep; if their positions against the tree behind him didn't tell him enough about how long they had been there.

Groaning softly to himself he stood and dusted of the back of his pants before he lazily motioned towards the three with his hand. "Practice's over; you can go home now."

Two identical grins brightened Aimi and Hiroshi's expressions, while a tamer half-smile found its way onto Keiichi's. Quickly the trio gathered their things before running past him towards the village, shouting "Arigato, Shika-sensei!" over their shoulders; at least, Aimi and Hiroshi did.

Uncaringly Shikamaru glanced down at the red-head who was standing next to him, his brown bag slung carelessly over his shoulder, his gaze locked onto the backs of his teammates. For a few moments he stared at the boy, who stared off into the distance, before he sighed and began walking. Lazily he scratched his head and muttered just loud enough for the boy to hear, "Stay here if you want. It'd be too troublesome for me to wait here for you to leave."

Keiichi merely "hmph"ed in response, before he turned away from the direction the village was in and begun walking without a word of goodbye of his own.

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When Shikamaru arrived back at his apartment, he groaned loudly as he closed the door behind him. Immediately his eyes sought out the Hyuuga, still unconscious, before muttering, "I don't know what you did with your team, Hyuuga, but they're more troublesome now than if you hadn't done whatever it was you did with them. Although it does have its perks…"

Sighing, Shikamaru made his way to the kitchen, fully intent on getting himself something to drink from the fridge. After doing so, he glanced at the clock and sighed again, before deciding that taking a nap would be the best thing, since he didn't have anything better to do and it was only nearing ten in the morning.

Two days passed on in this way, and Shikamaru couldn't help but feel that it'd be that way for days to come. What he couldn't expect was that by the time he'd return from the next "training" time with the Hyuuga's genin, said Hyuuga would be awake on his couch, his eyes blank; as if his very world had been torn away from him and he had nothing left for him to live for.

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A/N: Neji's students are going to be playing a bigger role as the story progresses, so I figured that right now was as good as any time to introduce them to you. :)

It was a little shorter than the last one, but still a little longer than I normally make my chapters out to be. :)

And…the updates'll be coming a lot quicker than once a week. More like every three days. XD I'll try every Saturday and Wednesday, but we'll see. :) I do want to give people time to review each chapter before posting the next after all.

Translation Notes:

Domo – basically means likewise.

Keiichi – respectful firstborn son

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