A/N: Um…sorry for the delay. There's…really not much else I can say asides that XD

So. This fic is going to be 19 chapters long I figured out (unless I combine some chapters to make 'em longer, 'course), plus an epilogue. :) So there's gonna be roughly 10 chapters left! W00t.

And thank you to all of you who reviewed! The reviews-per-chapter and the amount of alerts I got for this fic seem a bit…off-balance, but that's okay! XD At least I know that people are still reading this, which makes me happy. :D

Oh! And I apologize for the length of this one, since it's like, significantly shorter than the rest are XD

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An Unexpected Night

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Chapter Ten

The following day proved to be quite an interesting one, and was a step forward in their lives. A step toward what, however, they hadn't a single clue about.

"Hey, Neji. Is there anything you want from the dango shop? I'm going there with your team if you want me to pick you up anything."

"It's fine. I don't really feel like having dango right now."

Shikamaru shrugged as he slid the file he had been looking over into its folder, then stood and stretched. "Suit yourself. I'll probably be out with them for the whole day, since this is going to be our first time being all together since they've been released."

Neji nodded as Shikamaru made his way to the door. Just as his hand landed on the knob, Neji spoke. "Wait. Can you…bring them here? I want…to see them."

Shikamaru paused in surprise, his head turning to look at Neji. "Why don't you just–" Shikamaru breathed in sharply, his gaze adverting from Neji's. Something had been there, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Slowly he turned his head away again, his eyes dropping to the floor. "I'll bring them back, Neji. We'll be back probably in an hour or two."

Neji nodded ever-so-slightly as the door opened then closed behind his roommate. Quietly he sighed and set the book he'd been reading aside. He'd probably just brought down a bunch of trouble on Shikamaru's shoulders with that request, but he really wanted to see his kids, even if that meant that they'd probably kill the other jounin for having "hid" him.

--

A little over an hour later Neji could hear the familiar voices of his students on the other side of the door. From the sound of it they were in a heated argument with Shikamaru, but he couldn't quite make out what was being said. When the door opened and he could understand what they were saying, he couldn't hold in the smirk of satisfaction. He'd been right.

"Shika-sensei! C'mon, tell us why you stole– Neji-sensei!"

The corner of Neji's mouth tilted upward slightly as Aimi and Hiroshi rushed into the room, followed by a subdued Keiichi and a sighing Shikamaru. Before he could speak, Hiroshi turned and pointed an accusatory finger at Shikamaru. "Shika-sensei! Neji-sensei better be the same as when we last saw him or else you'll be sorry!"

Neji smirked in amusement, his gaze flitting to Shikamaru. "Hiro, I'm fine. The Nara here's been good to me."

"Hmmm…" Hiroshi's gaze slid over to Keiichi's form, and grinned when he saw that his teammate was staring suspiciously at their ex-temporary sensei. A light bulb lit over his head as the grin turned sly, and he quickly closed the gap between him and his half-brother.

Keiichi, for his part, managed to stop himself from jumping in surprise as he felt Hiroshi's arm circle around his shoulders, pulling him away from Shikamaru's direction. Before he could ask what Hiroshi was doing, the other boy began speaking.

"Kei here missed you the most, Neji-sensei! He was also really jealous of Shika-sensei."

Neji raised an eyebrow in curiosity, his gaze unconsciously locking onto Shikamaru, who had moved to lean against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. "Why's that?"

"Well, remember when you used to talk about Shika-sensei, but we didn't know it was him at the time? Like, when you said you found it kinda amusing that he'd complain about his mother, but that he'd go right around and buy her stuff without even being asked to? And when he refused going out with his friends so he could finish up some work at the hokage's office, even though it was really late at night? And how he'd still sleep in the park, sometimes through work time, and he'd stay late so he could catch up?" Hiroshi's voice raised an octave in his excitement, completely unaware that Shikamaru had opened his eyes and was now openly staring at Neji in shock. Without missing a beat, he continued on: "And you were also telling us that Shika-sensei was really lazy and would sometimes fall asleep during work, only to be woken up by Shizune-san or Tsunade-sama, and that he woke Tsunade-sama up one time and almost got his skull cracked open 'coz of it. Remember?"

Suddenly he stopped and narrowed his eyes in contemplation, this time unaware that his teammates had shared a glance and were now rapidly approaching him. "But, wait. Why do you know all that, Neji-sensei? It seems like you've hung out with Shika-sensei all the time, but Shika-sensei told us that you guys hadn't really talked to each other in a long time. It seems more like– ow! What was that for?!" Hiroshi glared at Keiichi, who had been the one to hit him. Roughly Aimi moved his head in the direction that Shikamaru was in, and forcibly made him look into Shikamaru's eyes. When the boy did so, his eyes widened. Shikamaru's own eyes were wide, his jaw slack as he stared in shock at Neji, who had his own gaze locked steadily on the floor below him. Silence permeated the room, before Hiroshi quietly spoke again. "So…Shika-sensei didn't know about it…?"

Nobody responded. Then again, no one needed to. The answer was fairly obvious, after all.

A few more minutes passed by as the awkward silence returned with a vengeance. When Aimi broke it with a quiet cough and an even quieter "we…probably should be going, guys…", the awkwardness didn't leave, even as the three kids practically tore out of the apartment. Only when the door shut loudly behind them did Neji look up and sigh, his hands dangling between his knees.

"Look, Nara. I don't…want you to be getting the wrong idea or anything. I've just been…curious about you since Asuma-sensei died five years ago, and saw how you changed since then." Neji's eyes unconsciously narrowed slightly as he clenched his hands together slightly. Quietly he added: "Nothing else."

"Hm…" Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, and pushed himself away from the wall. Without once looking in Neji's direction he walked to the door and paused, his hand on the knob. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back…later."

Neji quietly watched as Shikamaru slipped out of the apartment, then sighed inaudibly as the door closed silently behind him. Well. That had been…awkward, to say the least.

Shaking the thought out of his mind, he brought his feet up on the cushions and rested his head on the armrest behind him. Silently he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes unblinking, his arms moving up to rest under his head. What just happened, anyway?

--

Noon time the following day, after Shikamaru returned from having spent an unexpected night at Chouji's house, he returned home to a surprise that he hadn't been expecting.

Blinking slowly, he set the bag of snacks that Chouji had forced onto him on the floor and straightened. "Where…are you going?"

Neji didn't bother to look up as he finished buckling his sandal. "I'm going out."

"Out? As in…outside?" Unsure if maybe he had just been imagining the fact that it was daytime outside, Shikamaru glanced out the window and raised an eyebrow. "During the day? When there's light out?"

"That's what comes with it being day." Neji snorted as he stood, his eyes locking onto Shikamaru's confused ones. "You can come if you want. Either way I don't particularly care."

Shikamaru watched, still slightly stunned, as Neji walked the short distance to the table next to the couch and picked up the vile that lay there. Quickly, like he had done it time and time again, he undid the top and brought the neck of the vile to his mouth before he tilted it upward and took a quick swig of the contents, then recapped it and set it back down. Noting the fact that Neji avoided his gaze, Shikamaru shrugged and turned to follow the older boy as he opened the door and stepped out. When Neji sent him a questioning look, Shikamaru shrugged again. "There's nothing to do today. It'd be a pain to just lie around and be bored when you need a babysitter."

Neji didn't respond and instead rolled his eyes, belying his annoyance. Silently the two walked out into the street, almost immediately being subject to the glances of various villagers who noticed their appearance. The gazes lingered a few moments before those staring decided that they didn't know who the two were, and continued on with their business. Every few moments Shikamaru stole a sideways glance at his companion to see how he was holding up, and almost smirked.

The older boy was holding out pretty well, although the tenseness of his shoulders gave away much more than Neji probably wanted to. For the most part it didn't seem traumatic for him to be outside, but then again he could've just been holding it inside. Frowning, Shikamaru turned his head toward Neji and opened his mouth to speak. Before a single sound could come out, however, a shout from behind caught their attention.

Sighing, the two young men stopped and turned, their shoulders bumping slightly as they ended up turning in the same direction. Sparing each other a glance, they took an unconscious step away from each other without a word and waited for their friends to catch up to them.

"Neji! Shikamaru! It's strange to see you guys out here!"

"Neji-kun! My youthful rival has returned!"

Shikamaru managed to take a step away quick enough so that he was able to avoid being tackled – glomped – by Lee along with Neji. As it was, though, only Neji was caught and brought to the ground. Hard.

"Lee. Get. Off."

Shikamaru blinked as Lee jumped up, apologzing for having knocked him down, followed by Neji who dusted his pants off in annoyance. Silently he frowned, a sudden thought hitting him. Normally Neji'd be able to resist a Lee-glomp and would never end up on the ground, so why…?

Neji glanced at him, and noticed the look that graced Shikamaru's face. Sighing, he said, "I'm fine, Nara. I'm just tired."

Shikamaru didn't respond, as he was already being pulled away by their friends, who were saying something about going eating. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sakura approach Neji from the side and stand really close to him, before leaning even closer to speak. He could barely hear what they were saying, and it only fueled his confusion.

"Hey, are you alright? Did you take the vile before you left?"

"Yeah. I think I need a replacement for it, though. It's almost empty."

"Hm…we'll get some later, 'kay?"

No response came from Neji, so Shikamaru could only assume that the older boy had nodded in response instead of a verbal one. Their conversation ended there, just moments before each was stolen by their respective friends.

After that Shikamaru ended up ignoring everyone around him, oblivious to the looks that Neji sent him, the kind of look that you'd send to someone that you wanted to talk to about something important. But because Shikamaru was completely out of it, Neji sighed instead and turned toward Sakura, who was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Shrugging, he motioned in Shikamaru's direction, to which she shrugged back.

A few more minutes of walking to the ramen shop that had been chosen passed by, before Sakura cleared her throat, effectively catching everyone's attention, sans Shikamaru. "Well, I'd love to keep going with you guys, but me'n' Neji's got a place we need to be. We'll see you guys later."

Only when the two were walking away did Shikamaru come to, his eyes narrowing slightly in puzzlement at the retreating backs. Apparently he had missed something.

To his side he heard a laugh, then a gleeful: "Hey. Are they going out or something? Is that why Sakura's been so busy and Neji's not been around much?"

"I don't think so." Shikamaru frowned, his body suddenly tensing. Without turning toward Kiba he spoke again, his palms beginning to sweat slightly under the dog-boy's curious gaze, although he wasn't sure why. "Neji's been…away, and Sakura's been working at the hospital. I think it'd be too troublesome for them to find time to get together."

Kiba merely "hmm"ed in response, sounding entirely unconvinced.

The discomfort he was feeling suddenly multiplying, he muttered something unintelligent underneath his breath before returning his gaze to the curious group before him, who were all staring at him in wonderment. "I'm actually going to head home. I got some things I need to do for Tsunade that I need to finish before she becomes a pain in the ass about them. I'll see you guys later."

As he turned away, a collective groan rose behind him, followed by a loud "what the heck! Why the hell'd they even come if all of 'em are just gonna ditch us?!" which sounded distinctly like Naruto. Without turning around he shrugged and continued on his way, his head tilted downward farther than usual, heart feeling heavier than ever before.

--

When he arrived back at his apartment, Neji wasn't there. Sighing, he closed the door behind him and made his way to the couch where he lay. For some reason Kiba's words bothered him, although he knew nothing was going on between Neji and Sakura.

Or...was there? It wouldn't be too strange, since she - apparently - did come over a lot during Neji's early recovery time, and they could've hit it off then...

Mentally Shikamaru shook his head as he valiantly attempted to figure out why he was so troubled by it, even though he knew - knew, dammit! - that they weren't going out and never would.

But then...where was he right now? If he assumed correctly, then Neji'd still be with Sakura doing...whatever it was that they were doing together.

"Damn...why do I even care? It's not true. And even if it was it's none of my business..." Shikamaru muttered to himself as he brought his arm up to cover his eyes. It was...stupid how much he cared, no matter how troublesome it was to do so...

It wasn't until some time later when the door finally opened to reveal his roommate. He couldn't quite say how long it had been - minutes? Hours? - but, for some reason, he was overjoyed to have the older boy back. He didn't show it, of course.

"I'm going to bed; I already ate with Sakura before coming back and I'm going to see her again tomorrow morning." Neji spoke quickly - at least, quick for him - and quietly as he made his way to the back room without giving Shikamaru much time to respond.

Shikamaru "hm"ed in response, mind still occupied by his previous thoughts. Thinking they were done "talking", he closed his eyes and sighed, only to be surprised by Neji's soft voice from the vaccinity of the bedroom.

"We haven't gone on a walk lately, have we? I'd say for us to go tonight, but I'm too tired and will probably end up sleeping through the night. So…I'll see you tomorrow, Nara."

Shikamaru only got up when the door closed quietly behind the other boy, and couldn't resist the urge to send the door a slightly puzzled glance. It was only…what? 3 in the afternoon, and Neji was already going to bed? For the night? Something seemed off about that, but since he didn't know what that was, he merely shrugged and got up to fix himself a snack before beginning the work he had claimed he'd do when he left Kiba and the group. Might as well as get it done, since it wouldn't do itself after all.

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A/N: It's like what, a third the size of all the rest of the chapters? XD It just wouldn't make itself any longer. Lol

Be assured that the next one will be back to the usual length, tho'. :)

Read and review!