Neji nudged Gaara towards the door. Gaara rolled his eyes and rapped his knuckles casually on the cherry wood.

"Hey, guys," Kira said cheerfully, though a little surprised, as the door swung open. "What's up?"

"Just around," Neji replied smoothly. "Y'know, visiting people, seeing how bad their hangovers are." Kiba laughed.

"Mine was pretty bad this morning, but some painkillers fixed that. But man, am I starved. You wanna go get something easy? Say, like, ramen?" Neji and Gaara glanced at each other, shrugged, and agreed.

-----

"Three cups ramen," Kiba told the counterman, who nodded slightly and slid three bowls of ramen toward the boys as Kiba paid.

"So," Kiba began as he handed a handful of scrunched-up bills to the man, "what've you guys been up to lately?"

"Nothing you want to hear about, trust me," Gaara said, cracking what could be understood as a smile, if you squinted and used your imagination.

Kiba laughed.

"You wouldn't believe what I do with Shikamaru, nor would you want to," he replied brightly, grinning at his dirty little secret.

"Uh….Kiba?" Neji said hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Shikamaru…uh…might be cheating on you," he finished with a shudder.

"Aw, he's a bitch whenever girls are around. I don't care much, really. He can do what he wants," Kiba replied dismissively. Neji shrugged.

"Where are Naruto and Sasuke lately?" Gaara blurted out suddenly.

"Heh, doing stuff we only dare to imagine," Kiba scoffed; it was clear he tended to imagine these sort of things quite often. "They went off a few days ago and, well, they haven't come back."

"Hasn't anyone worried about them?" Gaara frowned.

"Nah, they do that sometimes. Usually they're back next night, sometimes a little longer. No one really bothers to worry about them at this point, since they're just swimming in sex, wherever they go off to, anyway."

Gaara and Neji both swallowed a laugh, finished the last of their ramen, and said goodbye to Kiba before heading out of the ramen shop.

"So, where do you think they are?" Gaara asked.

"You sure are awfully interested," Neji pointed out, trying not to scowl or look jealous, both of which he desperately wanted to do. And he was jealous, which didn't help his mood. He hated being so frantically in love. Every little thing that suggested Gaara didn't like him or liked someone else haunted him night and day, itching at his skin and making him want to tug at his collar, though it wasn't itchy or hot.

"I am not," Gaara snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I just think it's strange they disappeared."

"You heard Kiba, they do it all the time."

"Yeah, I know. I just have a feeling about this…."

"Who the hell do you even like?"

"Ugh, Neji, of course I love you," he squawked irritably. "Didn't we make this clear last night?"

"Last night both of us were drunk."

"Alcohol does nothing to me, and you know it."

"It doesn't matter. You didn't mean it."

"Why the hell would I say something that obviously stupid if I didn't mean it?"

"Because you were drunk?"

"Neji!"

"Okay, okay." He put his hands up, sighing heavily, backing off. Gaara turned away and leapt up to the top of a pole. Neji followed, and they scanned the surrounding landscape.

"So where do you think they are?" Gaara repeated, trying to pretend their last conversation hadn't really happened. Neji bit back his complaints, remembering he had done the same thing about something much bigger; their breakup.

"I dunno. Maybe they're in the forest."

Gaara nodded slowly. "Let's go."

"What? But you—where?"

"Duh. We're gonna go find them."

"Why the hell would we do that?"

"I'm bored."

"So am I, but I don't wanna go track them down."

Gaara got a bit huffy at that comment.

"You have any better ideas?"

Neji bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling. He took a deep breath. But he couldn't help but say the sole question that was crowding his mind, crushing all other thoughts flat into the ground with its looming importance.

"Why the hell are you so obsessed with Naruto and Uchiha?"

Gaara looked down, obviously stopping himself from snapping.

"I'm not, and don't worry so much," he said, much more softly than Neji would have expected, taking the empty-eyed boy by surprise. His anger melted a little as he felt Gaara suddenly behind him, the hand on his shoulder, the one he'd been away from for so long.

"Yeah."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"You still okay with looking for them? There's really no reason, Neji."

"Whatever."

"Oh, Neji…."

"What?"

"Don't say 'whatever' like I'm torturing you and you're just such an innocent little kid."

Neji tried to smile, but failed.

"It's fine. Really."

Gaara smiled faintly, and ran his fingertips over Neji's nose.

"Thanks."

"Whatever."

"Neji!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

Both of them smiled, but neither of their smiles were honest.