Chapter 13: Love?

It was time for a break. Naruto stopped by Ichiraku for some lunch. While he ate, he thought of all the things he could do next. Should he keep these commands or give his friends new ones? He could also find more people to hypnotize, too.

As he left, he saw Neji looking in a shop window. When he called out to him, Neji ran off. Curious, Naruto followed him. He jumped in front of Neji and smiled at him. "Hi."

"Ah!" Neji shut his eyes tight and turned his back to him. He seemed to be afraid of him for some reason.

"Everything ok, Neji?"

"Just go away!"

Though it was a pleasant feeling, Neji didn't want to feel it anymore. It just left him feeling confused. After what Tenten said, he was worried that she could have been right. He didn't want her to be right. He still thought such a thing was impossible.

"Why won't you look at me?" Naruto asked.

"I just don't want to, ok?"

He seemed very anxious so Naruto tried to calm him down. He put his hand on Neji's shoulder and told him to turn around. "Turn around and look at me. You want to now, right?"

Finding himself in agreement at Naruto's touch, Neji turned around to look at him.

The tickling feeling was back and Neji covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

"This is insane," he said, looking away. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

"Are you in pain?"

"No. Quite the opposite."

"Then why is it a problem?" Naruto didn't understand why Neji would feel tortured if it was a good feeling.

"I don't want to feel this way."

"You don't want to feel good?"

"No, I…" Neji looked at Naruto's eyes and calmed down instantly.

He felt so calm and peaceful. What a nice feeling. To be so tranquil.

"There. Feel better, right?" Naruto asked him, seeing the calm expression on Neji's face.

Neji nodded his head. "Uh-huh."

He couldn't fight this feeling anymore. How could it be wrong when it felt so good? What a wonderful feeling. He decided to bask in it rather than deny it.

He stepped closer to Naruto and lay his head on Naruto's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked him.

Neji brought his arms up and held him. "I don't know anymore. I just… can't help myself."

Naruto stiffened. This was very uncomfortable. "Well, I'm gonna go." He pushed Neji aside and started to walk away.

Neji reached out and grabbed Naruto's arm. "Don't leave."

Naruto looked at the hand grabbing him and then into Neji's eyes. "Uh…"

"I can't…" Neji tried to think and form words while looking into his blue eyes. It was pretty hard. "When I look at you, when I'm near you… I feel… I just feel so good. When I'm not near you, I feel confused, wondering why I feel this way. As long as I'm with you, I feel good and don't question it. I want to stay with you. Better than feeling confused and upset. You make me feel… I don't know how to describe it. I just love the feeling. And if you caused it, then maybe that means that I… That I…"

"Eh?!"

This was all wrong. He just wanted to improve Neji's mood and make it easier to be around him. He never thought that Neji would come to associate these feelings as ones of love. He thought he had a crush on Naruto because he only felt this way when he was around him. Neither of them wanted this, but Neji was the only one who couldn't help how he felt. Naruto had inadvertently caused Neji to mistake these feelings for something else. Something that neither of them wanted.

Naruto pulled his arm free. "No! Neji, listen to me. You don't really love me. This is all wrong."

"You're telling me. But I can't help the way I feel. Believe me, I've tried."

"But this isn't love."

"It's the only explanation. Why else would I be feeling these feelings, and only when I'm around you?"

"Because… Uh…"

Losing sight of Naruto's eyes, Neji clasped the sides of Naruto's head and turned his gaze back to him. When he looked into Naruto's eyes, he felt so calm and happy. He never wanted to lose this feeling. He hated feeling anxious. And his eyes were so beautiful to look at.

"Neji, this is creeping me out. Knock it off."

Neji grinned at him. "So blue… I can't take my eyes off them. Such a lovely blue color."

Naruto groaned. "This is ridiculous."

Then he realized how easy it was to remedy.

"Oh, duh. I can just snap you out of this."

Neji blinked. "Snap me out of..?"

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Sleep."

Neji closed his eyes and fell into Naruto's chest, sound asleep.

"Neji, when you wake up, you will no longer have that tickling feeling when you look at me and my eyes will no longer calm you down and you will no longer agree with me when I touch you."

Just to be safe, he decided to get rid of all the commands. He couldn't risk Neji mistaking anything for feelings of love towards him. It creeped both of them out.

"And when you wake up, you will forget about ever having those feelings towards me. Awake." He snapped his fingers and Neji woke up.

"What happened?"

"You tripped. You ok?"

Neji stood up and brushed himself off. "I think so."

"Well, I've got to get going, so see you later." Naruto hurried off before Neji could question him.

Along the way, he ran into Shino who was observing a beetle crawling up the trunk of a tree. Kiba was with him, reading a magazine. It seemed he had finally lost Sai and the flower. Which gave Naruto another idea.

"Shino, come here a second."

Shino came over.

"Could you do me a favor and get something for me?"

He didn't question what it was. He couldn't. He simply agreed. "Ok."

Ino was watering the flowers in the shop when Shino arrived and asked to purchase a bouquet.

"Oh?" She gave him a sly look. "A bouquet, huh? How romantic. Who's caught your eye?"

"Kiba."

She dropped the watering can. "Huh?"

"What?"

"You want flowers for Kiba?"

"Are you going to sell them to me or not?"

"Uh, sure. Hang on a second." Ino went over to the counter. "What's with guys giving each other flowers today?"

She handed him a bouquet and Shino paid for them and left. Curious, she poked her head out of the shop to watch what happened next.

"Kiba."

"Yeah?" Kiba calmly lowered the magazine and Shino shoved the flowers in his face. "Ahh!"

Kiba threw the magazine at him and frantically crawled away. Shino followed him, much slower, holding out the flowers to him. Tripping over his own legs, Kiba scrambled away, screaming. He ran into the street and kept going.

Naruto laughed and thanked Shino for a job well done. "Just pull those out whenever you see him, ok?"

"Alright." Shino didn't question why he should do this, but he didn't decline the request, even though he could. The command didn't make him submissive, just unable to question Naruto. He went along with this of his own choosing because it didn't cause him to go out of his way. That and the fact that he did find it amusing to see Kiba react this way.

Kiba wasn't always the kindest to him and didn't listen to a word Shino said, ever. In a way, this was sort of like revenge.

Ino watched the whole thing take place and shook her head. "I have no idea what's going on around here."

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