Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It belongs to Kishimoto-sama and I'm just playing with the characters for a little while

Okay, I already have this story up on another site but since I also like to browse and found some amazing stories here, I'd like to hear your opinion on my very first fanfic

I have proof-read this but I seem to be kind of blind to my own mistakes. So if anyone out there sees some serious mistakes PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I'm from Germany so don't expect my English to be perfect

Okay, that said… on to the story!

Fateful Days

By yaoilovergirl

Chapter 1

The First Day:

"Say what?!" Hyuuga Neji, otherwise known as the most stoic person after Uchiha Itachi, looked like he wanted to murder someone in the very near future.

The already fair complexion of the young Hyuuga prodigy paled even further right before two bright red spots appeared on his high cheekbones.

"B-but… why? I…I mean, why...m-me? W-wouldn't somebody else be…far more s-suited for this kind of…mission?"

'Oh ye gods, the Apocalypse is near. Hyuuga Neji is stammering! And this red color staining his cheeks…hm, must be the invention of a new color, I'm sure.'

Tsunade didn't know if she should be laughing or crying. In the end she just snorted, rather un-ladylike, and hid a mischievous grin behind her fingers. Finally she returned to her task at hand, namely handing out a new mission to the Jounin in front of her who was still desperately trying to get his usual countenance back.

"Hyuuga-san, I understand your…let's say 'unwillingness' and I have to admit that, at first, I had another ninja in my mind for this rather delicate mission."

Another smug smile stole across the Hokage's face while she watched the long-haired man in front of her.

'God, this one is sooo easy. Right about now his face is quite a nice mix of absolute horror and total outrage. He's horrified because of the mission I gave him and outraged at being only my second choice. Oh well…'

"And who, if I may asked so boldly, would that have been, Hokage-sama?"

'Ohhh yes, I love my job…from time to time.'

"Hm, to be honest I'd rather have Uchiha Sasuke do it but he is away on another mission with Naruto. The Kazekage himself asked especially for those two. And who am I to say no to a personal request from the Kazegage. But I'm sure that he would have accomplished this mission with the utmost professionalism and without batting so much as an eyelash."

'Yeah, that had to hurt. These arrogant young men are so easy to manipulate. Just give them the name of a potential rival and off they go. Even the most favored offspring of the proud Hyuugas seems to be no exception.'

"Hokage-sama, I assure you that I will do the mission with the same professionalism as Uchiha-san, if not better."

Yosh, gotcha!

"Good! I didn't expect anything else from you. Dismissed."

'Now, time to give him the final blow. Buahahaha…'

"Oh, and one more thing."

Neji, with his back already turned away, stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly an uneasy feeling made itself known in the pit of his stomach.

"Tomorrow morning, before you leave, you will go to the western gate. There you will meet your teammate. He will have all the necessary information and…ahem, 'equipment' that you will need on this mission. He will also help you with 'handling' said equipment. That's all."

'Well…when will it happen? When will he lose his cool, jump over this desk and go straight for my throat?'

But Neji, whose face had gone through a full scale of colors before settling on chalk-white, just took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, hissed a short 'understood' and then left rather ungracefully.

Outside he leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and prayed to every single god out there that one of them may send a lightning-bolt down to strike him and end his misery. But no such luck. Either the gods were on vacation or they sat together, eating popcorn and laughing their asses of because of his humiliation. Neji snorted.

'Let me guess…I won't be able to sleep tonight.'

Sometimes, Neji hated to be right.

Second Day:

The next morning, after crawling out of bed, Neji decided to hate everything. Getting up early, the mission, the Hokage, the nest in his hair, the size of Konoha, Hinata; who wished him a 'very good morning, Neji-niisan' and his teammate. In short, Neji hated his life but he was just too damn tired to put a short, painless end to it.

After a quick breakfast, Neji made his way to the western gate and as he made his way there he pondered who his partner might be for this mission. And what on earth meant Tsunade-sama by 'equipment'.

When he arrived at the gate his partner was already there.

The knots which had steadily increased in size and number now grew to new proportions.

'Shit, why him? Why does it have to be him? Of all people, of all shinobis in this god-forsaken town, it has to be him, doesn't it? Well, at least now I can be sure, GOD HATES ME! Not only do I have the rather dubious pleasure of fulfilling the most humiliating mission there ever was, I also have to do it with my long-time crush as my partner. Great, just fucking great!!'

On the outside he maintained his cool, calm and collected self and he, at least, hoped that the person in front of him couldn't detect the minor grinding of his teeth.

"Ohayou, Shikamaru-san. It seems that you are my partner for this mission. Well then, could you give me the details now. Tsunade-sama was rather…uhh, tight-lipped about it."

Shikamaru now looked about as uncomfortable as Neji felt.

"Yeah, well…I've been given special orders to tell you the details only when we arrive at our destination. So let's hurry." And without another word Shikamaru took to the trees and was off.

Neji followed him, even though he was more than a little puzzled.

'Did Shikamaru just blush?', he wondered for the remainder of their journey.

Second Day – Evening:

"Alright, here we are. That is our hotel over there."

Shikamaru pointed to a rather brightly colored hotel on the opposite side of the street and without even waiting for the Hyuuga, he crossed over to the other side and disappeared inside. Neji started to follow him and that was when he saw it.

'WHAT THE FUCK?'

Men kissing women, women kissing men, men kissing men, women kissing women. And doing other…'questionable' things in the open.

Neji felt a blush a mile wide coming. He certainly wasn't a total virgin but this…was too much. Averting his eyes he made to follow Shikamaru who had already vanished inside the hotel, when suddenly…

… "YIKES!" he shrieked. Were those hands on his ass? No, this definitely wasn't something Hyuuga Neji was used to. With as much dignity as he could muster he fled into the relative safety of the hotel and while passing Shikamaru, he took the key out of his hand and stormed his way up the stairs. Shikamaru merely blinked before he slowly followed his aggravated teammate into their room.

'Yeesh, if he reacts this badly to a little groping how will he react when I give him the exact details of this mission? Tche, mendokuse…'

When he opened the door to their room he was fully prepared to dodge anything thrown his way. When nothing happened, he cautiously entered the room and found his partner for this mission standing by the window.

"Oi, Neji. You okay with this? Or should I send a message to Tsunade-sama and ask for a replacement?"

'Uhhh, wrong move, Nara,' the young genius chastised himself when he realized his mistake.

'Damn, now he's pissed and I have to suffer through his famous 'did-you-bring-the-shovel-to-dig-your-own-grave-glare? So mendokuse.'

"Hm, I take that as a 'no'."

Settling onto the bed on the right side of the room, Shikamaru waited for the older shinobi to calm down before telling him the mission details.

Eventually Neji's shoulders lost most of their stiffness and he also sat down on his bed. Taking a deep breath again he looked at his teammate and nodded for him to go on with the briefing.

"Alright, here it is. This is what Tsunade told me. We are searching for someone who has, until now, raped and killed four young men in the last three weeks. They all had three things in common. First: they were dressed as women. Still obviously male but putting on female dresses. Second: they all had long hair. Their own, no wigs, and third: they were all here with their respective boyfriends. So all were in a serious relationship. Hn, your expression tells me that you can already guess your part in this mission and mine too. I have all the clothes with me. Including detailed information on how to put them on since some of them are rather…uhm, yeah…well…you'll see. The mission starts tomorrow evening. Until then you are to train the art of moving in your…ahem 'costumes' and your new shoes. Starting tomorrow evening we will eat at the local restaurant, go to the bars and shops so the killer will see us together and, more importantly, will see you. Also, it's important that we make it look like we are in a real relationship. I know this is very hard for you but you have to endure it. I… "

Stopping mid-speech, Shikamaru cocked his head to one side and tried to look at Neji's face. A face that was hidden behind a curtain of soft, shimmering, dark-chocolate colored hair. Not knowing what to do, Shikamaru just shook his head, murmured a short 'mendokuse' and went into the bathroom. He had the feeling Neji needed a few minutes to digest everything he had just told him. He couldn't blame him.

In the meantime Neji had to concentrate on his breathing or he would have had a serious case of hyperventilation.

'Breathe, just breathe. In, out, in, out…slowly, calmly…good. No need to overreact. This is just a normal mission…NOT! I have to wear women's clothes for heaven's sake. And the best thing is, Shikamaru has to pretend to be my boyfriend for God knows how long and I know, I absolutely know, that I'll be going insane if he so much as touches me the wrong, correction - for this mission the right way. I mean, come ON, I'm just a normal guy like everyone else. I do have hormones, thank you very much! And what does he mean by 'this will be hard for you'? Does he think I hate human contact? Do I seem that 'untouchable' to everyone? I'm human for God's sake…hmm, maybe…I have to make that clear. I will show him how 'touchable' I can be. Just you wait!'

And thus the true disaster started.

- TBC –

Okay, that was the rather short, first part. I hope you liked at least a little bit. I know it's probably not very good but I think the next chapters are better. I plan on updating them once a week. If I should forget it, please feel free to remind me

Review please