Author's Note: For all you people reading and/ or keeping up with this fanfic, I've just opened up a deviantART account under the same username, and it'd be awesome if you could take a look. My first deviation is of Deidara, Suigetsu and Neji, who you know play a pretty big part in An Akatsuki Valentines. Just type in my username (aminerklarinen) on Google and type deviantart in after and you'll probably find me.

Hidan stumbled as he went into the Akatsuki Lair, grasping a human head in his hands. He was tired of the heat. His Akatsuki coat had been left out in the sun for so long it burned his hands when he tried to pick it up, and now it was hanging off the end of his scythe. Kakuzu had not known that another valuable head would be near the person they'd initially wanted to decapitate, and so he didn't have a container for one of them. Instead, he made Hidan hold it, because Kakuzu didn't want to get his hands dirty.

Deidara recoiled. "Hidan, can you not swing that near me, hmmm?" the blonde side-stepped to avoid the swinging head, because clearly Hidan wasn't really being all that careful with it. Some blood splattered like paint onto the floor.

"Watch it," Kakuzu growled. Hidan repositioned his grip and so that he held the head firmly, albeit in an unnerving way because it was a human head and he had his hands wrapped around it like it was a plush toy he'd won by knocking down rigged bottles at a carnival.

"So, any progress?"

Deidara almost spat out his drink. "Progress?"

"Yeah, you know…," Hidan snuck a look at Kakuzu, who was looking back at him impatiently. He leaned forward confidentially, the top of the bodiless head almost touching Deidara's arm. Some blood dripped relentlessly onto the floor.

"Sasori," he whispered. Deidara made a show of rolling his eyes.
"You could still be wrong, un. He didn't go anywhere today,"
Hidan pursed his lips. "Oh, Jashin," he straightened back up again. "Okay, Kakuzu let's get this over and done with,"

A few hours earlier

"What?"

"Your companion paid the bill," the receptionist repeated, gesturing at the open logbook in front of him. "You have six days left,"

Sasuke said nothing, speechless. Then he turned to Neji, who was busy looking at framed newspaper articles that were hanging on the wall. He smiled at the view and walked over. He reached out and nudged Neji's elbow gently.

"Let's go,"
Neji just nodded. This morning he had woken up extremely hot, because he had been sleeping beneath two blankets. Sasuke had still been asleep, and had his back to him. Neji had felt a pang of disappointment, because he thought the Uchiha would try something more, especially given all the making up he had to do, but Neji supposed it was better this way. The hand-holding had been enough.

Sasuke took him to a nearby noodle bar, because he knew Neji liked hot food. He wondered if the Hyuuga would notice the gesture, the deliberation that had gone into his choice. He certainly hoped so, because it would help him climb a few bars higher towards Neji's forgiveness.

The two stood there in silence, looking at the menu, even though Sasuke knew he wanted. After an appropriate length of time, he asked "What do you want? I'll—,"

Neji put a hand on Sasuke's arm, but didn't look at him, making the implications of touch unclear. Either way, it's a start.

"I can pay for myself, Sasuke,"

The bitterness from his voice had disappeared, Sasuke noted. It was something that had been prominent in his tone the night before. He wondered what had changed overnight. Well, besides Neji's sudden and passing bout of sickness.

"I suppose you'll want Set A?"

Sasuke looked at Neji in bewilderment. Neji still wasn't looking at him, but Sasuke was sure his ex was smiling slightly in amusement. Sasuke decided not to answer him, defiant. This made Neji laugh quietly.

Neji had thought it over in his head the night before. Sasuke had probably thought he was, because he had very, verrryy slowly inched his hand towards his. He hadn't opened his eyes, but he could feel how Sasuke was through his hand. He could almost feel his pulse, which was beating like he'd just run ten thousand laps, and the heat from that single touch had spread all over Neji in an instant like he'd consumed his favourite herbal tea when it was winter. He knew it sounded incredibly cheesy, but it had woken him up a bit, although not that much. And Neji was a logical guy. Time heals things—it's just a matter of how long that time is—Neji had thought to himself. And he couldn't deny it no matter how hard he tried: he would still want Sasuke back in the end. So why prolong it all unnecessarily?

Sasuke resisted smiling himself, even though he felt like a balloon had been inflated inside of him. Neji not only touched him but was smiling and even laughing a little? This was a prize.

Sasuke walked forwards towards the counter guy.

"I'll have Set A. And he'll have…," he turned around and looked at Neji.

"I'll just have Set D. But I'll have vegetable instead of miso soup,"

The guy nodded. He accepted the separate payments, eyeing the odd pair. Even though he didn't know them, like Suigetsu, he could tell straight off they were two very alike individuals. It wasn't hard to tell, and the guy had been serving people for years in the noodle bar. He knew the type. But what he didn't know that sitting in his noodle bar right now was one Uchiha and one Hyuuga. He probably would have fallen backwards with amazement.

Neji sat quietly while Sasuke fiddled with his chopsticks. After a while, Neji decided to talk.

"You always did that,"

Sasuke looked up from his utensils. "What?"

Neji nodded at the chopsticks between Sasuke's fingers. "That,"

"Oh. Habit,"

Neji smiled again at Sasuke's strange mixture of play-it-cool but be-nice-to-Neji attitude, but he wasn't going to tell Sasuke he'd accept him back in his life. Not yet. He wanted Sasuke to come around on his own first.

Sasuke glanced at the counter guy, who was now cooking. It was early yet, so he was the only one in. He was probably the owner. Noticing that he was humming loudly while something sizzled in the pan—probably the meat Sasuke had in his set—he slid around on his stool to face Neji. Neji wasn't the only one who had thought about many things that night. After all, how could they not? It was their first time together, breathing the same air, sleeping in the same bed in two years. Two years, but what seemed to be much longer. Sasuke had already been stupid once. He knew, from the moment he started explaining to Neji, that his ex-boyfriend really wanted nothing more than to be emotionally pursued again. When Itachi first brought Neji to him, Neji had coldly and bluntly pushed Sasuke away, because it seemed like Sasuke had thrown him away like a ragdoll and then, after having another person throw him away, he wanted his old one back. But now Sasuke knew what he had to do. It was kind of the only thing he could do, actually.

"I know it'll always hurt you," he began, keeping an eye out for the cook. He didn't want anyone to overhear—except maybe Suigetsu, because he wanted the mist nin to know he was over him and that his cheating ways weren't bothering him so much anymore. "But I just wanted to say, I just…,"

He focused on Neji, trying to make it appear like a normal conversation to passers-by. "I never really thought I'd have an emotional connection to someone. That made it harder for me to leave. I would have left earlier,"

Neji nodded encouragingly.

"Neji. I know you're a reasonable person," Sasuke continued, trying to keep his voice leveled. "Try empathizing with me. If you were me, would you go back to Konoha to visit you?"
Neji thought about this.

"I would have done differently," he admitted. He shrugged. "I am different from you, Sasuke. I do not leave things undone and unexplained. I would have gone back to explain myself, but…," he trailed off, because the cook had come over with Sasuke's order and a bowl of vegetable soup for him.

"Yours will come in a sec," he promised. Neji nodded at him.

"It's fine," he put his spoon in the soup. Sasuke ignored his food, so eager to hear Neji's response he couldn't eat. Not yet.

"…I cannot say how you felt at the time, and how you've been feeling for these past two years that prevented you from ever wanting to see me again, is not uncommon. It is human nature not to want to face those you know you've permanently scarred, because you don't want to feel the…,"

Neji trailed off again, but not because of the cook. But because he knew he didn't have to finish for Sasuke to understand. And Sasuke did. He would have reached over and squeezed Neji's knee if it wasn't for the fact they were in a public place.

"Neji," he said hoarsely. "Thanks,"

Neji looked away. "It's no problem. It's not your fault I'm still in love with that asshole Sasuke Uchiha,"