I am so sorry for not updating for a while. Work suddenly piled up and my damn professors lined up all my exams together! I swear, they secretly meet in the back to plan my demise QAQ"… But as a reward for waiting, I WROTE A LOT SO YAY! ENJOY MY FRIENDS!
Chapter 8: Confusion and Understanding
Sasuke's lips parted from Neji's, slowly looking up to see his reaction. Neji showed a blank and surprised expression, nearly unaffected by the kiss.
Neji averted his eyes downward and slapped Sasuke's arm off of his shoulder. He then quickly pushed Sasuke's chest with his palm and ran off, leaving the pretty boy on the floor rubbing his chest.
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke groaned.
The push Neji gave Sasuke was an odd yet effective move. Sasuke pondered on the style of this movement due to the fact that he had never seen it before.
Sasuke stood up and sighed. Perhaps this bold action wasn't such a good idea to someone who has no interest in love.
Neji ran and ran all the way home, slamming his door shut and dropping his bags. He finally gave up and blushed all the way to his ears.
Neji was red like a ripe tomato and his face felt hot. He covered his lips with his fingers and remembered the raw taste of Sasuke's lips.
Neji quickly paced around, wondering what he should do.
"Neji..." Hinata called from the outside of his door. Neji slid open a tiny slit of his door, just enough for his eye to see.
"What's wrong Neji? Did your date go bad?" Hinata worriedly asked. Neji thought for a minute and fully opened his door.
"Let me ask you a question!" Neji said, startling Hinata.
"Y-yes?" She said.
"What does it mean if someone kisses you?" Neji asked with a glare. Frightened to ask what happened, Hinata truthfully answered.
"Well, it could mean that person is in love. Or, Ten Ten says sometimes it could mean you're being toyed with." She said, looking up to remember the words of her classmate.
Neji felt anger course through his veins. Toyed? Sounds likely for someone like Sasuke.
Neji thanked Hinata, closing the door and flopping on his bed.
"I even showed him one of father's secret moves..." He moaned, slapping his own forehead.
The following school day, Neji sat up from his bed with his hair completely messed up. He had dark circles under his pale lavender eyes, indicating that he had no sleep that night. Neji sighed; he didn't want to attend school.
Neji packed his books for class, silently leaving his large house forgetting to eat any breakfast. On his way, he saw Temari waiting by the front gates. He attempted to steer clear of her vision, but failed.
"Neji!" Temari called out. "L-Look Temari, I'm happy that you like me but I don't-" Neji began, but was stopped by Temari's smile. Though it wasn't unusual for Temari to smile, this one was different. Neji felt no ulterior motive under her smile.
Temari pat Neji's back and laughed. "Don't worry; I won't be doing those things anymore." Temari said. Neji raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?" Neji suspiciously asked.
"Gaara happened. You'd be surprised on how persuasive my little brother can be!" Temari laughed. Neji looked over to the red headed teen who returned a glare.
"I think you have a right to know…" Temari began. Neji turned back to Temari, who wasn't even looking at Neji when talking to him.
"I was only playing with you. I know it's a dirty method, but I'm trying to make someone jealous…" Temari said, widening her eyes when she saw someone turn the corner.
"Make someone jealous? Who?" Neji asked, watching Temari ignore his question to run off to a certain male who had just arrived to the school.
"Shikamaru!" Temari called out. Neji dropped his bag in shock. Shikamaru was her target. It was odd for Temari to like a lazy, average student who could care less about anything. Shikamaru was the complete opposite of Neji.
"Tch…that's why girls are so annoying…" Shikamaru complained.
Neji chuckled at the irony and waved to Temari, wishing her luck with her new target.
He walked up to Gaara and nervously looked at him. "Erm…Thanks Gaara, for saving me that day…" Neji said. Gaara merely scoffed, continuing to watch over the students.
Neji felt nervous about going to class. If he were to see Sasuke there, how will he react? What would he say?
Neji bravely opened the door to see Sasuke's seat empty…
Sasuke opened his eyes, still lying in bed. He never felt so tired in his life. Perhaps it was the guilt of kissing his crush… Sasuke turned to look at the clock and widened his eyes. "Shit! I'm late!" He yelled out loud, fumbling over his uniform.
In a way, Sasuke didn't feel like showing his face to Neji. After the hit, Sasuke regretted kissing him. But, it wasn't like he was going to skip school because of such a silly excuse.
Sasuke ran to school, looking at his wrist watch to see how late he was. "Damn it, why didn't I set my alarm?!" He scolded himself.
On his way to the school gates, he saw Gaara walking past the school grounds. "You're late." He said with his usual glare.
"I know, thanks for the other day." Sasuke said while smirking. Gaara faced Sasuke. "What did you do to him after that?" Gaara asked.
Sasuke looked down and put his hand in his pockets, feeling uncomfortable about answering the question.
"Let's just say things got a little awkward between us." Sasuke mumbled. Gaara said nothing, turning his back to Sasuke and walking away.
…What a weird guy…Sasuke thought to himself and looked at his watch. "Damn! Now I'm REALLY late!" Sasuke shouted, running to the school entrance.
Quickly changing his shoes and running to the halls, Sasuke's speed was too much for any teachers passing by to scold him.
Seeing his classroom coming closer, Sasuke grinned in relief, when suddenly…
"Whoa!" Someone shouted. Sasuke's speed was hard to slow down. He was taken by surprise and barely dodged and bumped into someone who was carrying a bunch of papers and files.
The papers were luckily stapled and the person Sasuke had bumped into skillfully held the papers so most of it stayed in his arms.
"S-sorry… I-" Sasuke began, but saw that the person he had hit was none other than Neji, the person he wanted to see last.
Neji hadn't realized it was Sasuke either, still in shock of the bump. When he looked up, Neji immediately turned red.
Sasuke had a moment of an inability to speak right away, startled by Neji's first reaction upon seeing Sasuke.
Taking this chance, Neji quickly grabbed his papers and ran down the hall. Sasuke was at a loss for words.
"Hey, if you're late, it's best to come into the class, don't leisurely loiter in the halls." Kakashi nonchalantly said, sticking his masked face out to see what the commotion was.
"Right…" Sasuke said, turning back and walking into the classroom. He was certain Neji was blushing.
Sasuke grinned, feeling as if Neji had confessed to him even when not saying anything.
Neji ran into a room where the student council was filing some papers. He put his papers down and tried to catch his breath.
"Students do not run in the hallways." Neji heard Gaara say. "S-sorry…" Neji apologized.
Gaara silently glared at him and continued his work. Temari snickered and remembered something, standing up from her seat.
"What happened that day after Sasuke pulled you away?" she asked, watching Neji turn beet red.
"N-nothing, it's none of your business!" Neji shouted. Temari lowered her eyelids.
"That's so susp-" she began, but someone had opened the door, interrupting her thoughts.
"Neji, Kakashi forgot to give this in." Shikamaru said, handing in some papers.
"Shikamaru~!" Temari squealed, giving him a hug.
"C-cut it out!" Shikamaru said while blushing, stepping backwards and out the door.
The two left Gaara and Neji in the room alone.
It was an awkward silence and Neji had felt nervous since Gaara was also there when Sasuke pulled him away.
"After he pulled you…" Gaara began, making Neji jump.
"…it turned awkward right?" Gaara asked.
Neji was confused by Gaara's statement.
Seeing this on Neji's face, Gaara explained.
"Sasuke told me that when I asked what happened."
Neji understood now, turning a little pink.
"What happened?" Gaara asked.
Neji looked down and played with the papers. Should he say something?
"Did he confess to you?" Gaara asked.
Neji immediately shot his head up. How did Gaara know?
"That's…not entirely true…"Neji said quietly.
Gaara sighed. "It's fine. I knew from the beginning he liked you though."
"What? How would you know?! Wait a minute, we are both guys!" Neji said.
"He seemed to have liked you despite that. I go around the school most of the time to check on students and often I see him staring at you. Many girls flock around him yet the only person he paid any attention to was you." Gaara explained.
Neji pushed his back to his seat. This was too much for him.
"Why are you so worried?" Gaara asked.
"What?" Neji asked in confusion.
"If it were anyone else, you'd just reject them right? Just like how you rejected Temari right away. Why do you hesitate?" Gaara asked.
Neji stared at Gaara, knowing where he was going with this.
"Isn't it because you like him as well?"
Neji looked back down on his paper, feeling his face getting hotter and his heart beating faster.
"While you think about that, don't cause any trouble avoiding him. Act normal. Now give me those papers. You're probably not going to do them. This is why love is so annoying, it disrupts my work." Gaara said, grabbing Neji's papers and working on them.
Neji thought about it for a while like Gaara said. There was no reason for him to be flustered because of a confession. He had received many confessions in the past, so why was Sasuke's kiss any different?
Still unsure of his own feelings, Neji decided he'd act normal around Sasuke.
"Oh, Neji! Come here for a second!" The principal called out.
"Yes?" Neji asked.
"I approve of this hosting event! With your classmate Sasuke and you, I'm pretty sure we will raise a lot of money!" the principal said.
Neji was in shock, but thanked the principle anyway. Since Gaara took care of the work for him, Neji walked back to the classroom, confidently opening the door and apologizing for interrupting.
After class ended for the day, Neji stood in front of his classmates and held out the letter. "Our principal allowed our event to take place." He announced.
The classroom went wild, cheering in happiness. "Okay, alright, SETTLE DOWN!" Neji shouted, immediately shutting his classmates up.
"To make this fair, we will vote who are the hosts by writing their names on paper and folding it up. I will count the votes and whoever has the most will be the hosts. You only get to vote once! If I count an extra paper in here we are to redo the entire thing and it'll be a waste of time, understand?" Neji explained.
Excited the class began to write their votes down, putting in two boxes (one female votes and one male vote) after folding the paper.
Sasuke finished writing his paper and dropped it in, acting normal and returning to his seat.
Neji thanked the class and left the classroom. Walking past the halls, he noticed students already preparing for the school festival.
Some were beginning to construct billboards while others were running back and forth carrying supplies.
It took a while to count the votes. Some of the handwritings were completely illegible.
It came down to three men and two women. For the men it was Sasuke with the most votes, himself, finally Shikamaru. For the women it was Sakura and Ino.
Neji rubbed his forehead, unhappy with the fact that he had to be a host. The sun had been setting and Neji felt tired. Perhaps it was a good time to go home.
Neji grabbed his papers and walked to the classroom to get his bag. The hallways was a little less crowded than before, seeing as it was already turning evening.
He opened the door to his empty classroom only to see Sasuke sitting on his desk, waiting for him.
"Yo, good work today." He said to Neji.
Neji closed the classroom door and remembered to act normal.
"What is it? It's already this late." Neji said.
Sasuke picked up Neji's bag and handed it to him. "I wanted to tell you something." He said.
Neji grabbed the bag and felt his heart beat faster. He stuffed the papers inside and shut his bag.
"Tell me tomorrow, I'm busy." Neji said, not wanting to be alone with him.
Sasuke grabbed Neji's wrist, stopping him from leaving.
"Just hear me out."
Neji looked at Sasuke's pleading eyes and sighed. "Alright, tell me."
Sasuke close his eyes and took a deep breath. It was a sign of nervousness.
"I want to apologize…for kissing you that day…" Sasuke said.
Neji flinched, remembering that kiss.
"But I don't want you to forget it. You probably know by now but I like you…" Sasuke nervously said. Neji heard Sasuke's voice tremble as he spoke.
"And I want you to understand, you don't have to answer me. Just think about it. Don't avoid me anymore…" He said.
Neji still didn't know his own feelings yet, but he nodded. "Alright, I'm sorry too…I shouldn't have attacked you the way I did back there."
Sasuke jumped off the table and furiously pulled up his shirt. "Damn right! Look! The bruise on my chest hasn't disappeared yet! That hurt like hell, what kind of style was that?!" he yelled.
Neji stared at the bruise and began to laugh. Sasuke pouted, but began to laugh with Neji.
Gaara watched the two from a crack of the door, laughing together in the orange sunset…
Nothing to say. Review please! 3 ;D