Chapter 4:

To Neji's surprise, he managed to drop off to sleep almost instantly. When he awoke, it was still dark, and Neji judged it to be about 5am. He didn't want to get out of bed, but his bladder was screaming at him for relief, so Neji carefully extrapolated himself from Shikamaru's vice-like hold and went to relieve himself.

When he returned, Shikamaru had cracked one eye open and was staring at him with a peeved expression on his face.

"What?" Neji asked uncomfortably. Surely Shikamaru couldn't possibly blame him for last night. It had been Shikamaru who was draped over him, not the other way around, afterall.

"Did you have to get up this early?" Shikamaru grumbled, his voice husky from sleep. Neji resolutely stamped on the part of his mind that was pointing out how alluring he sounded.

"I needed the bathroom. In future, I'll make sure to urinate on you," Neji muttered grumpily, causing Shikamaru to smirk.

"Kinky," he snorted, but sat up and yawned, stretching. Neji looked away.

"Why are you getting up?" he asked, his eyes fixed on that damn poster again. It was hideous.

"Lindsey Dawn?" Shikamaru said, nodding towards the poster, "Yeah, she's pretty hot depending on the camera angle,"

Neji's face burned.

"Are you going to answer my question?" he said in a voice of carefully controlled calm.

"Making breakfast," Shikamaru said with a yawn before standing up. His boxers slipped lower. Neji stiffled a groan.

"There's...no need," he said quickly, "We could go to a cafe I often visit later on. Let's go back to bed,"

He had been so eager for Shikamaru to hide his body so that temptation was gone that he didn't realise what he had said until a wide smirk spread across Shikamaru's face. Lying with his back against the the wall with a contented sigh, he held the covers up so that Neji had no choice but to climb underneath and struggle not to tense or do something he'd regret as Shikamaru's arm was draped over him. Nevertheless, he shivered.

"Cold?" Shikamaru asked, tightening his grip and pressing firmly against Neji's back.

"No," Neji whispered back in the darkness. And it was true. He was perfectly warm and content. The sound of the rain falling and the soothing presence of another body beside his own had relaxed him until he felt enjoyably lethargic. His shiver had not been because he was cold. It was a shiver of pleasure.

"Hmm 'k," Shikamaru replied with a yawn, his breath gusting against Neji's neck. Neji should have been disgusted. He was an avid hater of morning breath, and Shikamaru must have surely been in possession of it. But it only made him more comfortable as he burrowed down under the covers until only his eyes and nose were protruding.

At any other time, Neji would have fallen asleep instantly. But the thought that Shikamaru was so close to him, his hard body pressed into Neji's own, his groin centimetres from Neji's ass, was too much. Neji could not sleep. And, what is more, his body was very happy with the current position if the erection he was sporting was anything to go by. It strained against his tight capris, exquisitely painful. He longed to shuck those tight pants off and lie there naked, inviting Shikamaru to do what he wished.

But would Shikamaru except the invitation? Everything Neji had seen so far seemed to point at Shikamaru being one hundred percent straight. The teasing comments were probably just that: teasing. Yet Neji couldn't help wishing. Even if it was just sex, that would be enough. It would hurt to know that nothing would ever happen between them, but at least Neji would know that he'd had Nara Shikamaru, at least for a little while.

His erection had flagged with these depressing thoughts. He moved out of Shikamaru's grasp and lay on his back, watching Shikamaru's sleeping face in the darkness. He wanted to touch him and, being Hyuuga Neji, he did just that. There was a faint hint of bristles along his jawline, and his skin was warm beneath Neji's cooller palm.

Brown eyes snapped open. Neji attempted to yank his arm back, but firm fingers clamped down on his thin wrist. He allowed his arm to go limp as he stared into Shikamaru's serious face. He tried to mask his terror, but he was unsure how successful he was.

"Why were you stroking my face?" Shikamaru asked. He did not raised his voice, nor give any indication that he was angry or otherwise. His face was as blank as stone.

Neji remained silent, avoiding Shikamaru's gaze. His arm trembled slighly in Shikamaru's grip, despite his best efforts to keep his fear hidden.

"Hello?" Shikamaru said impatiently. Still, Neji didn't grant him an appropriate answer.

"Let go," he muttered instead. Shikamaru squeezed his wrist until he winced.

"No," Shikamaru responded. He didn't appear angry, which comforted Neji slightly. Yet there was no telling how he might react. Would he be disgusted?

Neji chewed the inside of his cheek and pulled harder, but Shikamaru's grip with firm and Neji merely succeeded in hurting his wrist.

"Let go," he said again, his voice taking on a pleading quality. Shikamaru didn't move, although Neji could see the muscles in his arm straining as Neji pulled at his wrist with his whole weight.

"Please," Neji added, swallowing his pride sourly. But to no avail.

Shikamaru leaned forwards. Neji flinched, expecting to be punched or else burned by harsh words.

What he didn't expect was to be pushed onto his back until Shikamaru loomed over him, straddling his thighs, leaning closer, closer, closer...

Neji's eyes nearly rolled back in pleasure at the first touch of slightly chapped lips against his mouth, a tongue slipping between his lips as slyly as a snake. He opened his mouth instantly, only to have Shikamaru draw back.

"I saved a stalker from a stalker," he said, looking supremely amused, yet not angry as Neji had expected. Nevertheless, Neji's face felt like a giant cherry.

"I'm not a stalker," he protested.

"You were stroking my face," Shikamaru said, sounding as though he was inches from laughing. That didn't make Neji feel any better. He remained silent, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't say something stupid, like a romantic declaration of love or "Fuck me!" Both would be equally likely to piss Shikamaru off. Neji was just glad that Shikamaru was too lazy to punch him.

"Nothing to say?" Shikamaru said.

"No," Neji responded, turning his head to the side so that he was facing away from Shikamaru, who was still straddling him and still had Neji's wrist in an iron grip.

A hand gripped his chin painfully, and he had to choice but to face Shikamaru head on, or else the bastard would twist his head off.

"Still not speaking then," Shikamaru said with a sigh. To Neji's surprise, he released Neji's hand and climbed off. Neji's wrist tingled, and he was sure that it would be a little sore for the rest of the day. Neji sat up at the edge of the bed, his legs hanging over. His back was rigid. He refused to slump like he was guilty of something. It wasn't his fault that he held a romantic attachment to somebody who didn't return his feelings. And he wouldn't let Shikamaru know that he was scared either. Hyuuga Neji was anything but a coward.

"You wanna know what I think?" Shikamaru said after several tense moments.

"Not particularly," Neji said dryly.

"Too bad," Shikamaru said boredly, "Because you're going to listen,"

He paused, waiting for Neji to protest. When Neji didn't, he ploughed on.

"I think you've liked me for quite some time," he said languidly. Neji's heart stopped.

"Why do you say that?" he asked calmly. But, inside, he was trembling.

"You constantly stare at me. You help me in class. You get a funny look on your face every time I talk to you. Whenever I go past, your friends nudge you and point at me. You treat my ex girlfriends like scum. Do you want me to go on?"

Neji didn't. He hadn't realised that he was being so indiscreet, and he was ashamed that he had been so blatant in his admiration for Shikamaru.

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Neji asked. He bit harder on his tongue and tasted blood.

"I didn't know," Shikamaru responded simply, "Not until tonight,"

When I made that collosal blunder, Neji thought to himself sadly, But at least I know that he never wanted me.

The thought settled in his belly like a heavy stone. It actually hurt, physically aswell as mentally. He felt a painful sensation in his stomach, as though he'd been slashed open and left to bleed. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

"You had a good idea," Neji said, "Why else would I have been acting like that?"

"Well, you haven't helped me in class for quite some time," Shikamaru said, and Neji could imagine him shrugging. "The other signs could be attributed to dislike. I thought you might have found out that I was fucking Hinata-"

"What?!" Neji bellowed, leaping to his feet. Shikamaru winced. Neji didn't care. Not only was Hinata not a virgin, but she's slept with the person Neji wanted, and she'd lost her virginity long before Neji. It was a blow to his ego, to say the least.

"Ah," Shikamaru said, "Looks like you didn't know,"

"Of course I didn't know!" Neji yelled furiously, "Do you think you'd still have your balls if I knew that you'd corrupted my cousin?"

"Hey, she wasn't a virgin when I had her, ok?" Shikamaru said, holding his hands up placatingly, "I'd never be with a virgin. They get all...emotional and they're shit in bed,"

Neji was livid. He took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"Do you have a phone?" he asked, daring Shikamaru to refuse.

"Sure, why?" Shikamaru responded warily.

"Can I use it?" Neji asked, avoiding the question. Shikamaru heaved a sigh and grabbed his cell off the television stand by his bed before handing it to Neji.

"What are you doing?" he asked as Neji punched a number in.

"Informing Hiashi-sama that his daughter is less pure than he believes. A harlot seems to be more like it," Neji muttered heatedly in response.

"Wha- no!" Shikamaru said, his eyes going wide as he grabbed the phone off Neji. Or tried to. A furious grappling match ensued, during which Neji played dirty, using his nails to gain the advantage.

"Owowowow!" Shikamaru yelped, but didn't let go, much to Neji's frustration.

"Let go!" he shouted, "I'll bite you!"

"You're not fucking serious!" Shikamaru said back, wincing as Neji purposely leaned forwards with his mouth poised to sink his teeth in.

"Are you crazy?" Shikamaru asked, flinching as his hands began to bleed from Neji's nail assault.

Apparently, this was the last straw. Shikamaru had been holding back until now, seemingly not wanting to hurt Neji. Now, he used a good portion of his strength, wrenching Neji's hands until Neji gasped in pain. But he didn't let go and sunk his nails in deeper.

"Ow!" both moaned. Finally, Shikamaru's superior strength prevailed, and he yanked so hard that Neji yelped, letting go of the cell. However, things didn't go quite to plan. The resultant force caused Shikamaru to land on his back on the bed with Neji draped on top of him, panting for breath.

The door opened. Neji groaned and let his head flop lifelessly into the crook of Shikamaru's neck.

"Shikamaru! What's going on? All that shouting at this time of the morning is-"

Nara Yoshino didn't finish that sentence. On reflection, Neji could see what it looked like. He was panting for breath and draped over her son with Shikamaru's hands on his hips where they had landed reflexively when Neji had landed on him.

But Neji was too tired to bother with the cliche it's not what it looks like and lay there, reflecting on the situation.

Shikamaru was strong. Neji hadn't expected that from one so lazy. He himself had a lot of physical power, which most did not know about, believing him to be weak because he was slender.

Shikamaru could have seriously injured Neji, had he wanted to. Neji was aware that he had behaved like an animal, and he was also uncomfortably aware that, had he been in Shikamaru's position and in possession of Shikamaru's strength, Shikamaru's hands and wrists would be out of commission for a while.

There was a wolf whistle.

Neji pushed himself up and groaned. Shikaku had to be there. Of course.

"I didn't think you had it in you," Shikaku remarked to Shikamaru with a grin, "He looks ready to call it a day, and it's only 6,"

"We were fighting," Shikamaru informed him with an eyeroll. He didn't seem bothered by his father's remarks.

"Kinky," Shikaku snorted. Like father like son, apparently.

"Old people shouldn't use sex-related words," Shikamaru said, "It tends to squick us young people,"

"Is everyone in your family a pervert?" Neji demanded, already in a bad mood.

"You're the one who was stroking my face while I slept," Shikamaru said carelessly. Shikaku grinned. Neji was tempted to leap out of the window.

Yoshino saved the day. Picking up the nearest object (which happened to be an empty bin near the door), she wacked Shikaku around the head with it.

"You're...making...Neji...uncomfortable!" she growled, hitting her husband with each word. Shikamaru winced sympathetically.

Once Shikaku was suitably cowed and had been sent downstairs to make tea, Yoshino turned to Neji sympathetically.

"What did my worthless son do to you?" she asked. Neji felt like even more of an ass.

"Yoshino-san," he replied, "He hasn't hurt me. But I've hurt him,"

Looking at Shikamaru's hands, Neji supressed a wince. On each, there were many crescent-shaped cuts which were still bleeding, in addition to several bloody furrows where Neji had slipped and literally clawed him.

"Why were you fighting?" Yoshino asked.

"I wanted to call my uncle to tell him that my cousin's been sleeping with people and Shikamaru wouldn't give me the phone," Neji said truthfully. Yoshino stared.

"Well, I'll start making breakfast," she announced, and shut the door as she left the room. It appeared that Shikamaru was a big boy now and could take care of himself.

Neji crawled off Shikamaru and went into the bathroom, retrieving the first aid kit before cleaning up the mess he had made of Shikamaru's hands.

"We should probably talk about this," Shikamaru said, interrupting the silence. Neji tensed.

"There's nothing to talk about," he retorted, smearing cream along one of the more painful-looking cuts he had inflicted, "Clearly, you don't feel any romantic inclinations towards me. In fact, I suspect that some part of you hates me. Afterall, you screwed my baby cousin,"

"I didn't realise it would upset you so much, ok?" Shikamaru said with a sigh. Neji's eyes narrowed.

"Don't lie!" Neji snapped, slapping on a band aid roughly.

"Ok, so maybe I did realise you'd be pissed," Shikamaru admitted, "That's why I didn't let everyone know,"

Neji chewed the inside of his cheek roughly to prevent himself from uttering a scathing remark. He was startled out of his dark contemplations by Shikamaru snatching his hand back.

"Look," he said, the word coming out like a groan, "I think we need to get one thing cleared up,"

Neji watched him expectantly, kneeling in front of him on the floor. Shikamaru sighed.

"I'm not straight," he told Neji, "Gender doesn't matter to me. I'm too smart for that. And, yeah, you're sex on legs, Hyuuga. But I'm not looking to date anybody right now. I just thought I'd let you know that I think you're hot, and I'd jump at the chance to fuck you. But I know you want a relationship, and, after that mess with TenTen, I've decided to give it a break. It's too troublesome,"

Neji was silent, digesting this.

"TenTen aswell?" he asked, but he wasn't angry. He had come to realise that so much was going on without his knowledge. This was just one more thing to add to an ever growing list of things he didn't know about.

"Yeah," Shikamaru replied, looking as though he was having a flashback to a very bad memory.

Neji hesitated. He was so used to getting what he wanted that it would be too hard to let this go. He'd liked Shikamaru for the better part of four years, and he could just as easily relinquish his feelings for Shikamaru as he could rip out his own heart. But was he stubborn enough to swallow his pride and do everything to win Shikamaru over? Did he have the determination?

Yes, Neji thought resolutely, I do.

However, he didn't speak these thoughts out loud, as he was aware that Shikamaru wouldn't take to kindly to them.

"Kiss me," he said instead. Shikamaru looked as though he had swallowed his own tongue. But Neji didn't give him a chance to reply. He stood up, pleased that Shikamaru's eyes lingered on his crotch. Shikamaru looked at him questioningly once he had torn his eyes away.

Neji could have smirked. For once, he was in control of the situation.

He sat on Shikamaru's lap, knees on either side of him, and then leaned down to kiss him once on the lips.

"You seem to like touching me enough. I'll change your mind," Neji vowed. Shikamaru regarded him for a moment. Then, his familiar smirk surfaced.

"You can try," he said back.

"I can succeed," Neji responded with the customary haughtiness he affected at school.

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Ok, firstly, I don't think Hinata's a slut. I'm not bashing her. I'm just speaking from Neji's POV. And he believes that she should be a virgin till she's 40 and married XD

Sorry that this update is a long time coming. And sorry it's so shitty. I can't seem to get this fic right, can I? I hope the thought of Neji and Shikamaru fighting like that amused you as much as it did me.

Please review!

Ja ne, all!

TenshiXXX