A/N: Short chapter to tide you over. Sorry for the wait. Real life has interfered on an epic scale. Please excuse any typos. I am doing this from my phone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I am not making any money from this story.

Pale and shaking, Neji Hyuuga staggered back to the party. He locked his blurry gaze onto Sasuke, and stumbled toward him. The Uchiha sighed, detached himself from Naruto's side, and met the other male halfway. Neji found himself being steered toward a staircase, and ushered into the same room he'd borrowed not so long ago. His knees gave out, and he collapsed onto the bed with a whimper.

"I didn't know," he mumbled hoarsely. "...gods, I… How does he not hate me? I hate myself right now. I hate my uncle. Why did I listen to him? Why?" He covered his tear-streaked face with his hands, and rested his elbows on his knees.

Sasuke stared at the other male. As he was stunningly unequipped to comfort anyone other than his boyfriend, he shuffled forward, hesitance apparent in his steps. Awkwardly, he dropped a heavy hand on Neji's shoulder. "So you screwed up. Fix it."

"Screwed up?" Neji wrenched away from the Uchiha. "Screwed up? He tried to kill himself, Uchiha! Because of me!"

"Lower your voice, Neji," Sasuke hissed. "My home is large, but there is a crowd of people downstairs, straining to hear what is going on. Do not give them the satisfaction." He grabbed Neji's face in his hand and squeezed, forcing the gray eyes to meet his. "Lee is down there," he stressed, "probably worried about you and most likely tearing Gaara a new one for telling you. He did not want you to know because he did now want you to see him as weak."

"Weak?" The word came out in a sob. Neji pried Sasuke's fingers from his jaw. "He's the strong one. I am a coward who bent to my uncle's will."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed, "you are. But...for some reason, Lee loves you. Always has. Clean your face up, pretty boy, and go get your man."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "That sounds so wrong coming from you."

A shout and a loud crash interrupted their awkward bonding session. Sasuke's nostrils flared in irritation. "What the hell are these idiots doing in my house?" The intercom set into the wall blipped. It was an all-house call, meaning that whoever was on the other end did not know what room to look into. Sasuke strode to the wall, and answered the call. The video screen flickered to life, and a pair of narrowed blue eyes, belonging to a particular blond, filled the screen.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"Must you yell?"

"Get Neji back down here, quick! Lee's gone off the rails!"

Neji leaped from the bed, scrubbin the evidence of his distress from his cheeks. He pressed his face into the camera. "What's going on?"

Sasuke pushed him aside and asked, "What are they doing to my house?"

Naruto winced. "Uh...you remember how Lee was on that martial arts kick after...after he got better?"

The Uchiha male closed his eyes. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yeah," Naruto confirmed. "He just kicked Gaara through one of the food tables. Choji's torn between trying to punch Lee and crying over the food. Kankuro tried to grab Lee, but tripped Shika's leg, and now Ino and Temari are about to cat fight it out, hair pulling, name calling and─" Another crash sounded, and Naruto winced. "Just...yeah." The screen went blue as Naruto ended the call. Neji and Sasuke glanced at each other, then took off down the hall toward the staircase.

Back in the party room, the scene was chaotic. Naruto was close to tearing his hair out. How had this gathering devolved into such a clusterfuck? Gaara was bleeding, Choji was crying, Ino and Temari were slap-fighting (and hitting Shikamaru more than each other, as he tried to break them up). The servants were crawling through the wreckage, cleaning up spilled food and broken bits of furniture. Sakura was punching anyone who came near her, screaming about the damage to her dress. Sai and Hinata had crawled into a corner with Shino and a couple of bottles of wine. Naruto was reluctant to look for the rest of their friends, out of the fear of what he might find. He heard the hurried footsteps of Neji and Sasuke and cringed. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the middle of the free-for-all.

"Everybody SHUT THE HELL UP!" Every single person in the room froze, comically, in the middle of whatever act they were committing. Disappointed blue eyes scanned the mess. "Just what is wrong with you people? Aren't we supposed to be adults?"

Gaara stood, wiped a trickle of blood from underneath his nose, smearing it, and said, "Had Lee not kicked me─"

"You spoke out of turn, telling my beloved what was not yours to tell," Lee defended his actions. "Then you attempted to remove me from the premises against my will."

"Really, Gaara?" Naruto sputtered and turned toward his red haired friend. "Really? You tried to kidnap the guy?"

"I merely wished to speak privatel─"

"How dare you," Neji growled, stepping into the room, his hands balled into tight fists at his side. "How dare you touch him?"

"Neji, calm─"

"No!" He shook his head, long hair flying. "No, I will not calm down. I will not. Lee," he said, turning to the other male, "I have made a lot of mistakes with you. How you manage to not hate me, I don't know, but I am grateful, and I promise, here and now, to never hurt you again. Never." Loosening his fists, he crossed to Lee's side, and went down on one knee. A gasp, probably from Sakura, sent his eyebrow into a twitch. He calmed the errant muscle, took a deep breath, and said, "Lee Rock. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. If...if you will give me a chance, if you will have me. I would like to remain by your side. Please?" He looked up, expecting to see embarrassment, apprehension, anything but the cloudy, closed off expression that flitted across Lee's face.

"Please arise, my youthful lover and friend," Lee spoke softly. "I…" At a loss for words, Lee bent down, pressed a chaste kiss to Neji's lips, and murmured, "Please take me home."

The party broke up soon after Lee and Neji had departed. Several of the group offered to stay and clean, or to pay for damages. Hinata, wobbling on her feet, demanded that Kiba drive her to his house, and announced that she would be spending the night in his bed, in case anyone was looking for her. Kiba's face turned so red that Naruto actually checked for steam in his ears. Sai grabbed Sakura and hauled her out of the house before she could say anything that everyone would regret. Choji followed the servants and caterers into the kitchen, weeping over the lost meal and asking if anything had managed to saved. Shikamaru, battered, bruised, and disgusted with women, drove himself home, and left Ino and Temari to bond over hilarious tales of his misdeeds.

Alone at last, Sasuke pushed Naruto onto a couch and settled onto his lap. His head thumped back as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Why did we think that was a good idea?" he asked his partner.

"Because they're our friend," the blond answered sadly. "Have we all really changed that much?"

"It's called growing up, I suppose."

"Are we sure that's growing up?" Naruto chuckled. "Sometimes, I think we're all worse now than we were before."

"Perhaps."

"Do you think Lee and Neji will be okay?"

"Hn."

"That's not a word, you bastard."

"Maybe you'd understand it if you weren't such an idiot," Sasuke smirked.

"You...arghh!" Naruto playfully pushed his lover from his lap and stood. His smile vanished, however, when the strength in his legs gave out, and his knees buckled.

Sasuke, instantly alert, was at his side in seconds. "Breathe. Naruto! Breathe."

"...hurts...gods…," the blond panted. A shudder rippled violently through his body, making his hips buck and his arms flail.

"Listen to me! Where'd you leave your medicine? When did you take it last?"

"Morn...bathroom...GAH!" Naruto coughed, splattering flecks of blood on the hand he had raised to cover his mouth.

"This is going to hurt, but I have to move you. I have to get you upstairs."

"Call...Ruka. And Gran…"

"I know, naruto, I know. Hang on, okay? Naruto? NARUTO!"