A/N: This is based on the prompt 'tattoo', provided by Daydreamer79 of Y! (Thank you sweetie!). It is Alternate Reality (AR) Canonverse, set after the Fourth Shinobi War, and Naruto is Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Warning: AR, WAFF, yaoi

Beta'd with care by pampam93.

Neji stood behind Shikamaru with a hand holding the tactician's hair away from his neck, half-expecting to see some village symbol, ANBU symbol, or even some obscure symbol from the Nara clan's history. What he saw instead puzzled him – he thought he might be imagining things at first. But a longer, more intense scrutiny led him to realize that he was, in fact, seeing what he thought he was seeing. His grip on those dark tresses became more and more like a fist as surges of shock, disbelief and anger blatantly intruded on his serenity.

"How…how could you possibly find rationale in doing something like this?" Neji whispered. He hadn't taken his eyes off the all-too-familiar image that was now darkly, permanently inked into his lover's nape. "Shikamaru…what were you thinking?"

Neji let go and let his arm fall to his side, and those short tresses he'd been holding so tightly fell back into place, half-concealing the tattoo once more. The tokubetsu jounin then stepped back; absently flexing his hand as he waited for the explanation, wondering if one existed that could possibly appease him.

Shikamaru heaved a sigh as he raised his head and turned to face his lover – and instantly felt physical pain over the turbulence at play on the man's features. "Neji", he began, raising a hand to Neji's face, intent on soothing him. In a stunning show of speed that hand was seized at the wrist by another cruel grip. "Don't be that way", the Nara pleaded, ignoring the sharp pain. "I understand that your bunke seal is symbolic of your burden. From now on, we'll bear your burden together."

Neji's breath caught. He flung away the wrist in his grip and stepped back, shaking his head. "You don't know what you're saying", he told Shikamaru, his voice slightly trembling with a jumble of emotions. "You don't understand what you've done."

Shikamaru watched his lover with intense dark eyes as he cradled his battered wrist in his other hand. "I'll never pretend to fully understand the ways of your clan, Neji. And I can only imagine the pain I know you've suffered, and suffer, thanks to that seal on your forehead."

He lowered his arms and stepped forward. "But I'm not afraid of your clan, or of anyone knowing about us. I'll live with your burden too, and I'll die for it."

Neji looked at Shikamaru, shock betraying his composed expression. "Why would you do that?" he asked, unable to stop himself. After everything they'd all gone through to survive the war and return the village to something of unique prominence – to risk certain death at the hands of Neji's own clan, or the hands of the clan's enemies?

"You know why."

Neji looked away. Of course he knew why; that only made it worse. He loved Shikamaru too, and would never have willingly burdened him with the responsibility that came with the brand on his forehead. Now Shikamaru had assumed that burden on his own – not officially, of course; the seal was only part of it. But the clan elders were at liberty to demand it become official once they discovered what the young Nara had done - and why.

Neji cherished his friendship with Shikamaru. He dared to embrace what came after, and for the first time in his life felt free. Now his mind was reeling as his spirit came crashing back to Earth. For now they would both become caged birds.

"We can fix it", Neji declared in a voice so low Shikamaru wasn't sure he'd heard him correctly.

Neji looked at him then. "We can get Sakura to remove it before anyone else sees it – "

"No. No, Neji." Shikamaru reached out again, cradling his lover's face in his hands. "It's too late for that now."

"What do you mean it's too late?" Neji asked him, the fear in his heart increasing with every beat. "What have you done?"

"Sit with me", Shikamaru pleaded in a quiet voice. "Please, Neji."

Neji didn't want to sit down. He didn't want to be still. He wanted to run and he wanted to shout and he wanted to cry. But being a Hyuuga was far too deeply ingrained in him for that. He sat down and waited, mentally cursing his lover for making him feel so out of control.

Shikamaru immediately sat down next to him, watching him.

"I'm not sure where to begin", Shikamaru confessed. "Whether I should talk about how being shinobi means we are somehow fighting even when there is peace because we don't know how not to anymore, or the number of times we nearly died in that war, or how different life in this village has become since the war ended and Naruto became Hokage. What I am sure about is that we are all still alive and that means something important."

Shikamaru reached for a tendril of Neji's hair and fingered it gently, needing to touch him. When the older man did not pull away, he continued. "Years ago, during your match in the Chuunin exams, Naruto promised you something. In all this time he never forgot, so when the opportunity to make good on his word presented itself, he acted quickly. Neji, it is the dawn of a new day for the bunke of the Hyuuga clan. Our Hokage and I have made sure of that."

Neji's eyes flashed as his heart sped up once again. He remembered well that match, the promise, and his secret, never-ending hope that, despite Naruto's knuckle-headed fumbles over the years the determined blond would indeed become Hokage and keep his word. Had the day truly come?

"Shikamaru, what does that mean?" Neji asked. If Shikamaru and Naruto were working together, then Naruto probably already knew about the tattoo. While it offered Neji hope, he wanted – needed – to be sure.

"For right now, it means that we are officially under the Hokage's protection from any seal-related discipline ordered by your clan elders. Eventually, though, there won't be any need for it. Naruto intends to keep his word, and with my help, he will."

For this next bit of information, Shikamaru smiled. "Someday soon that mark on your forehead will no longer be a tool to manipulate you or any member of the branch family."

Neji's heart welled with hope. It was a monumental task – they were challenging village and clan elders to overturn generations of heartbreaking, cast-in-stone tradition, specifically the one responsible for the death of Neji's father. It was a good thing that theirs was a Hokage who specialized in the monumental. And for Naruto to have enlisted the aid of one of the most brilliantly tactical minds in all the five great nations spoke strongly to Neji of his intent. Now, it was only a matter of time.

The Hyuuga felt his spirit rising again. Though it seemed wrong to smile when they were discussing such a serious and important topic, there it was, shining back at his lover, to whom he was infinitely grateful.

He reached for Shikamaru, caressing the corner of the handsome man's smile with the backs of those slim but deadly fingers, pale eyes full with love for him. "Did it hurt?" he asked as he leaned in to reach around and finger the raised edges of the healing mark. It was such a big moment – the first of many to come. There was so much to say, but Neji knew Shikamaru didn't need to hear him say it. He also knew that in all his life he'd never felt so valued, or so loved.

"Compared to what?" Shikamaru asked, covering Neji's hand on his face with his own. "There is no level of pain I wouldn't endure for you Neji."

Gods. Neji smiled so wide his teeth were drying; his Hyuuga composure was flying out the window fast. Surviving the war was easy compared to trying not to break down in the face of his lover's declarations of devotion to him.

"Shikamaru", he breathed instead, shaking his head, allowing himself to bask in the immense joy he felt.

The Nara responded with a gentle kiss on Neji's forehead, on the symbol that now bound the two men for all eternity.