Cue the Music!!!
Title: Sway
Author: Phoenix Angel Suyari
Rating: NC-17
Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Chapter rating: NC-17
Pairing: Naruto/Neji
Summary: There are all kinds of missions. But for shinobi, only one really matters.
Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
The council had not been so easily convinced.
First they were subjected to interrogation with Morino Ibiki. Neji, a trained and accomplished ANBU captain, was just glad that by the end of it, he had properly navigated his way through repetitive head games. He’d trained under Ibiki when he’d become a captain, and the interrogation master had found his level of proficiency rather superb. So Neji had received extra training, which inevitably meant interrogating him was about as fruitless as interrogating a rock.
Both had known it would be a waste of time, going into the interrogation. And by the end of it, the council was upset to find no change in story, and that the young captain appeared no less calm and collected than when he’d entered.
Neji had been nervous over the outcome of Naruto’s interrogation. Naruto was a horrible liar. However, he’d managed to successfully outplay Ibiki on more than one occasion, without saying a thing. So it happened, that the Hokage hopeful passed with flying colors. Having not actually lied, so much as run the interrogator in continuous circles until he was too weary to continue.
Naruto’s stamina was legendary, and with no more to go on, the council had bypassed interrogation, and moved to a trial.
The trial consisted of interrogation by the council members, and was two fold. First, they had to endure the council of elders, followed closely by the clan summit. The elders were not hard to talk their way around. Neji did the actual talking, remembering to be respectful but firm. Naruto spent his time mocking and openly challenging the elders, whom for whatever reasons were either too intimidated to retort, or too frustrated to begin any coherent statements.
The clan summit was much harder. It was almost a reversal of roles where the two shinobi were concerned. Neji, a clan member - and a branch member, at that - remained mostly silent. Only speaking when spoken to, and never meeting the eyes of the Hyuuga head. Naruto rambled on as if lecturing, and somehow managed to not mess things up for them.
The only snag in the plan - although Neji had never quite considered they’d have to do so much actual convincing - came in the form of his own clan. They were of the opinion that Takashi was in fact, Neji’s son. And that the pair of shinobi were attempting to conceal this fact.
Their only weapons toward this argument were lack of visible proof of the Hyuuga bloodline limit, which was evident in every child of Hyuuga blood. And the fact that Takashi had been examined, and proved to be a ‘carrier’. They were told by the Hokage that the child did indeed posses ‘one of the nine’, and though Neji was still unsure of what it meant, he was of the belief that it was irrefutable proof.
If it was in fact, a bloodline limit, than Naruto’s clan must have been feared the world over. For Neji found during the trial, that the whole reason they were even having a trial, was because Naruto had been forbidden to father any children.
By the end, it was decided that Takashi’s development would be closely monitored. And while Naruto had technically broken a law in giving birth to Takashi, he wasn’t going to be penalized for it. The council decided that Takashi would be brought before them once a year and reviewed. It was as lenient a sentence as they could have hoped for, though neither he nor his lover were particularly comfortable with it.
Neji knew that it would only be a matter of time before Takashi’s Hyuuga nature became too obvious to explain away. And Naruto seemed concerned for completely different reasons.
The word ‘terminate’ had been used far too often during the entire ordeal for Neji’s comfort. He decided he’d keep a closer eye on his family himself. No one was going to ‘terminate’ anyone he loved. If they so much as tried, Uchiha Itachi would no longer be the only clan member in Konoha guilty of mass genocide.
Exhausted, both emotionally and physically, Naruto and Neji were granted leave. Naruto was all set to take his time off by packing up and running all the way to Suna. Unfortunately, leaving with Takashi was a direct violation of the new village order. Takashi was for better or for worse, now a political playing piece, and could not be removed from the village at all.
He would be forced to spend his life within its gates until graduation from the academy. At which time, he would be a shinobi, and in service to Konoha. Neji had been furious. Naruto, resigned.
His lover had assured him, confinement was not as bad as it sounded. Neji was horrified to discover, it had been his lover’s own early fate. When he had tried to speak to him about it, however, Naruto had just laughed and said, “At least it’s not house arrest. That’s the worst.”
He would not elaborate.
Neji started to wonder just what he’d gotten himself into. He did not regret his relationship with the blonde. Nor did he wish to rescind the love he had for him. It was simply becoming more and more obvious that the person they all thought they knew, was someone else entirely. Or at least, he had more secrets than the village itself.
Because he had never been the type to let go, Neji began his search into Naruto’s past with gusto. He quickly came to a dead end. Deciding to change tactics, he tried again. And hit a wall. It seemed his lover simply had not existed as a Konoha villager until his enrollment within the academy. Even then, his early academy years were sealed tight.
Grades, progress reports, class incidents…nothing existed until the age of ten. Neji had no idea how a person could just not exist, only to semi-exist, and then pop up as if he always had.
Because he had no paper trails to follow, Neji had to back track through actual Academy graduates and faculty. What made the process more frustrating, was that no one could seem to recall anything about the blonde until later in his life. Even his own classmates.
When asked about Naruto, the only people who could provide him with any information, were Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji. They had the furthest memories available. But they were not helpful memories at all. Just detentions spent together, or mischief made. None of the three had any real information. The closest he had gotten, was Kiba recalling that Naruto used to go home alone, but that on occasion, he may have been shadowed.
Iruka-san told Neji he couldn’t help him. Neji had thought this an obvious diversionary tactic, but could not press the matter, as to delve too deeply into the chunin’s affairs, was to come up against a one, Hatake Kakashi. Neji was in no mood to actually fight someone over his lover’s history. After all, that would alert Naruto to his inquiry, and he certainly didn’t want that.
Unfortunately the more he looked, the less he found. And frustrated, Neji had to turn his attention toward what was beyond the village gates.
He wanted to see if he could find any leads, and was sure they existed. But leaving meant leaving Naruto and Takashi unguarded, and he wasn’t ready to leave his family so exposed. He had a choice to make.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
His lover was busy enduring his own trials. After the verdict had been announced, and Naruto and Takashi allowed to go home, the blonde had been swamped by friends and well wishers.
Neji had staked out his lover’s home. Watching the visitors travel in and out, unceasingly.
His most devoted visitor was Iruka-san. He would go by Naruto’s apartment every day after work, and stay into the evening. He would leave after dinner, and Takashi being put to bed. The elder shinobi would hug his lover every night, and sometimes pat his head, or shoulder comfortingly.
Naruto seemed most at ease, when the academy teacher showed. Which only made Neji more suspicious of what the chunin knew.
Because he was busy keeping watch over his lover, he noticed he was not the only one. Kakashi would drop by to visit Naruto every three days. But he would pass by the house every night, and once again every morning.
Sometimes they would nod a greeting at one another. They never spoke, and thankfully, there was never reason for them to do anything more than acknowledge each other.
Naruto and Takashi were doing just fine.
Because Naruto was well liked by many, he wasn’t harassed as often as the blonde had once confessed may be a possibility to Neji. In fact, when he was out in the village, he was never alone. Kiba dropped by often, and Takashi seemed to like him. Neji noted that the baby smiled more at Kiba, than any one of their friends. Takashi even appeared to attempt communication with the shaggy Jounin. Whenever Kiba held him, Takashi would make delighted noises and flail his limbs about as if in secret code. Kiba would nod at him and speak as if indeed carrying on a conversation.
Akamaru became very attached to the first child born of their generation. And could often be seen growling at anyone who ventured too close. Naruto had about as much confidence in the canine’s ability as the dog’s master. And so would often leave Takashi in the care of the nin-dog, without so much as a nervous backward glance.
Takashi would lay in the grass, safe in the curled form of the large dog, while Naruto and Kiba would spar in the field, or simply sit and talk. The more Neji trailed them, the more he realized how much they had in common. He idly wondered if his initial attraction to Naruto could have easily been swayed toward Kiba. However, watching his lover spar, or even walk about the village, he knew he could not have felt thusly for anyone else.
Lee was also well enamored of Neji’s son. He would often take the baby for long runs, holding him close, and chatting away at him about youth and being a shinobi. As with Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto seemed to trust in Lee’s ability to protect and care for Takashi and would not show any signs of distress, when the green clad nin would run off with his only child.
The kunoichi of their group fell in love with Takashi upon first glance. Sakura, however, was fiercely possessive of the baby. Having been named his Godmother - Konoha law required a named guardian for the children of shinobi above a certain caliber - Sakura treated Takashi as she would her own son.
The quiet baby seemed less inclined to enjoy female company - simply because he was cooed over - but appeared to tolerate them for his own sake. Naruto had no style in baby clothes whatsoever. Takashi had to rely on shopping trips with his Godmother and all of his self-proclaimed aunts in order to maintain his hidden Hyuuga dignity.
The first time Neji saw his son in a kimono, he almost fell off the roof he’d been perched on. In the outfit, Takashi practically screamed ‘Hyuuga’ for all the village to see. He would discover later that it had been Hinata-sama’s idea. And could not, in good conscience, berate her for it.
As he’d been named Takashi’s legal Godfather, he had every reason to stop by unannounced whenever he so chose. However, the fact that Naruto’s apartment was often frequented by ANBU made it difficult to come by. Besides, he was trying to distance the pair, to ease suspicion. Even though it caused him great pain.
Much to his dismay, Takashi rather liked Sai. When the emotionally reclusive shinobi would baby-sit him, Takashi would remain settled upon a settee, moving little limbs in happiness, and babbling all manner of sounds. Sai would sit beside him, or across from him, and draw. Neji could never quite see what he was drawing, but the darker shinobi seemed content with every sketch. He’d even seen him smile at his infant son. Neji didn’t know whether to be surprised or disturbed.
Chouji and Shino were not much interested in Takashi. Though they made their rounds as the blonde’s friends. Shikamaru feigned disinterest, but could often be found looking at Takashi as if the baby were some great mystery to unravel. Takashi would look back at him, and blink innocently, as if daring him to work it out.
Two months after they had returned from their mission, Neji was given an assignment. It was nothing too important. Four days, three nights. Simple really. He didn’t even have to dress in his ANBU garb. However, he found the idea of leaving the village - and Naruto and Takashi - sickened him.
He couldn’t bear to leave them. There were too many things that could happen while he was away. Too many things that could go wrong. What if they needed him? What if something happened to them, when he wasn’t there? What if someone discovered the truth?!
By the time he had to leave, he had worked himself into a fine panic. Lee looked at him oddly, and Ten-Ten asked if he would be okay. So he told them the truth.
“I’m just concerned over leaving, while Naruto’s still settling. After everything that happened with the council, I suppose, I feel responsible.”
Ten-Ten looked at him sympathetically.
Lee wasn’t buying it.
“But you haven’t visited Naruto for weeks!” he exclaimed.
Neji wouldn’t admit to surveillance on his own friends, so simply looked at his friend as if he hadn’t gotten the point. Lee frowned.
“I said, I feel responsible,” he reiterated. “Just because I may feel a certain way, doesn’t mean I’ll be forced to act upon it.”
“Then you shouldn’t bother feeling guilty over leaving,” replied Lee, more insightful than he had any right to be. “Naruto and Taka-chan are doing just fine. Besides, Kiba and Sakura aren’t on missions. And Shino, Ino and Shikamaru are due back tomorrow. Everyone else can watch them for us while we’re away.”
Neji beat the urge to groan into a bloody pulp and glared instead.
Lee simply twined his arm in Neji’s own and proceeded to force him to walk out of the village gates.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was the longest four days and three nights of Neji’s life.
Upon returning to the village, he swung by Naruto’s apartment to check in on him, before returning home. He hadn’t slept in two months, and so, after washing himself of the grime of the road, moved to redress. He would go keep watch over his lover and see if he could learn anything more.
He hadn’t expected the apartment to be empty when he arrived.
He panicked for a brief moment, before recalling that Naruto often made late night trips to Ichiraku’s. Settling himself in the corner of a rooftop, he waited.
Forty-five minutes later, Naruto appeared. He was walking alongside Kiba; Akamaru following diligently, with a slumbering Takashi draped across his broad back. He didn’t know why, but the sight of them caused his blood to boil.
Naruto laughed and bumped shoulders with Kiba, who smiled at him and flung an arm about his shoulders, whispering something into his ear that made the blonde laugh harder, and fall against him.
Now, Neji had never particularly concerned himself with Kiba. Nor had he ever rationally considered him a threat. However, after what seemed an eternally long absence, to find his lover in the arms of another, their child seemingly content with the arrangement…He couldn’t quite say what overtook him, but he knew it was not based in sanity.
Naruto almost stabbed him when he grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him through the door. Tightening his grip on the younger shinobi, he kissed him deeply. Naruto moaned, melting against him. Takashi’s warm slumbering back met Neji’s shoulder.
Kiba appeared in the doorway, and Naruto pulled back.
“Naruto? Are you alright?”
“Yea,” he replied, doing his best to even out his husky voice. “I just tripped.” He gave a nervous laugh, that was more convincing than his statement.
Kiba snorted. “Turn the lights on, idiot,” he growled. “You have a kid now. Don’t kill him with your stupidity.”
“Oi!” shouted Naruto, before recalling Takashi was asleep. He made a sound through his teeth akin to a hiss. “And when was the last time you got laid?”
Kiba gave a bit of a growl, before tapping the doorframe. “Heh,” he replied, reaching for the doorknob. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Night, Taka!”
Neji watched the door close, and felt Kiba retreat down the stairs. He only moved forward when he felt the other shinobi leave the area. By then, Naruto had already settled Takashi in bed, and was in the process of tucking him in as his lover entered the bedroom.
The elder shinobi leaned against the frame of the open doorway, folding his arms. He watched as the blonde kissed their son’s small forehead, and took a step back.
“It’s been a while,” he said, looking into the crib.
Neji crossed the room, and stood behind him, body so close, he could feel the heat generating between them. “I’ve kept close,” he replied.
Naruto hummed, eyes closed as he swayed backward. Neji caught him high upon both arms, leading him back until he was against his chest. “I missed you,” Naruto sighed.
“We don’t have long,” he whispered, breath causing the hair by Naruto’s ear to rustle softly. The blonde shivered, and reached back, hands coming into contact with Neji’s hips and gliding down over his thighs. Neji felt his muscles go taut, his hips pulled forward by a tightening need so intense he couldn’t define it.
Turning Naruto around, he descended upon his mouth. The blonde moaned heavily, wrapping both arms tightly about his neck. Hands pulled his hitate free, dragging it down the length of his hair and tossing it aside. As he went for the throat, Naruto cupped his face in his hands, kissing over his revealed curse mark. For a moment, they looked at one another. Then Naruto sighed and tipped his head back, eyes closing as Neji moved in and mouthed downward.
They traveled toward the bed, shedding clothing as they went. Not caring what ripped or tore as they hungrily undressed one another. Naruto gasped as they fell upon it, the younger’s back arching sensuously, trapped as he was between aroused lover, and creaking mattress.
Neji shoved them forward, a knee against the bed, as he positioned them for maximum body contact. One of Naruto’s arms abandoned its long journey across Neji’s body to flail blindly by the bedside table.
“What are you doing?” Neji asked after a few moments of lost sensation.
“Lube,” husked Naruto.
Neji didn’t need to hear more than that. Saving precious time by activating his byakugan, he retreated just long enough to rescue the required accessory, before smothering his lover once more. Naruto seemed to want only to be crushed, as he pulled Neji impossibly closer. Mouth opening wide, and tongue catching the brunette’s on an upstroke. The elder shinobi groaned against him, the lube tipping precariously between them.
The added sensation of the thick liquid creeping along their overheated flesh drove both to thrust maddeningly against one another.
“N-Neji…hurry! Please!” gasped Naruto, clinging to him.
Neji took that as an invitation to skip most of the preparations, and trailing the wayward lubricant, immediately sunk two fingers into his lover. Naruto hissed, and rocked his hips, nipping at the smooth jaw above him.
He pumped his fingers a few times, as Naruto wiggled beneath him. It wasn’t until he added a third that it occurred to him they might need to slow down. He knew the blonde had given him his virginity, and for that act, he’d been a woman. This…would be entirely different.
Naruto groaned, as Neji slowed, careful as he pressed three fingers into him. The younger exhaled through his teeth and bit his bottom lip.
“You almost made me forget,” Neji told him, words ghosting against his mouth.
Naruto grinned, and pushed back experimentally. “I wanted to see you lose control.”
Neji pushed in deeper, and the blonde’s mouth fell open in a muted ‘O’. Conscious now, Neji moved back to his lover’s throat, nibbling and sucking to distract him. After a moment or so, Naruto relaxed, and thrust back twice gently.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?” Neji asked, nibbling his ear.
“Mmm…Yes.”
The brunette slipped up, to provide a bit of necessary space between them. He met his lover’s eyes, questioning silently once more.
Naruto snorted amusedly. “Neji, we’ve done this so much, we have a kid to prove it.”
“This is different, Naruto.”
“I’m ready!” he replied, shoving upward. His heated erection pressed against Neji’s abdomen, leaking as it bumped along the rippled edges of his muscles. Naruto moaned, and playfully batted long eyelashes at him. “Now are you going to do it, or am I going to have to do it? Again.”
Neji growled softly at the implication, and reached between them to position himself.
Naruto shook his shoulders as if in preparation for a spar, hands settling upon Neji’s shoulders. With one hand holding one of Naruto’s legs up, he guided himself into his lover, and almost lost all control, as he slipped inside. The hands on his shoulders tightened, easing slightly as he pressed deeper. They flexed once he was fully sheathed, and Naruto grunted softly.
Pulling back carefully, Neji thrust forward. The blonde exhaled as their bodies met. The next few thrusts were experimental, and some of them landed wrong, causing one or both to make an odd face. But they were shinobi, and pain was part of learning. It didn’t feel all that bad either.
And then, several thrusts after he’d begun, Neji lucked out.
“Oh!” Naruto shouted at the ceiling, practically bucking against him.
Precision had always been a gift for the Hyuuga genius, and once he knew where to hit, missing wasn’t an option.
Naruto made all manner of lovely, guttural sounds. Writhing and thrusting against him. His hands settled behind Neji’s neck, clinging there as if Neji were the only real connection the young blonde had. At the moment, the brunette didn’t care who passed by. He didn’t care if they were seen, or if they woke the neighbors. Or hell, if they woke the whole village.
All of his life, it seemed, he’d been waiting for just this moment. And he’d be damned if he let even the thought of his clan ruin it.
The sound of his name being chanted by his lover. The methodic thump of the bed connecting with the wall. The heavy sound of skin against skin. The harsh breaths, and whines of ‘yes’. All of this, was his. Naruto was his. Takashi was his.
And one day….
“Oh! OH!…N-e-j-i…Nng…”
“Naruto…”
“Uh!…Neji…Yes!…”
“I love you.”
“Neji…I…love you…Oh! I love you!…NEJI!”
They would all know.
Author: Phoenix Angel Suyari
Rating: NC-17
Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Chapter rating: NC-17
Pairing: Naruto/Neji
Summary: There are all kinds of missions. But for shinobi, only one really matters.
Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
The council had not been so easily convinced.
First they were subjected to interrogation with Morino Ibiki. Neji, a trained and accomplished ANBU captain, was just glad that by the end of it, he had properly navigated his way through repetitive head games. He’d trained under Ibiki when he’d become a captain, and the interrogation master had found his level of proficiency rather superb. So Neji had received extra training, which inevitably meant interrogating him was about as fruitless as interrogating a rock.
Both had known it would be a waste of time, going into the interrogation. And by the end of it, the council was upset to find no change in story, and that the young captain appeared no less calm and collected than when he’d entered.
Neji had been nervous over the outcome of Naruto’s interrogation. Naruto was a horrible liar. However, he’d managed to successfully outplay Ibiki on more than one occasion, without saying a thing. So it happened, that the Hokage hopeful passed with flying colors. Having not actually lied, so much as run the interrogator in continuous circles until he was too weary to continue.
Naruto’s stamina was legendary, and with no more to go on, the council had bypassed interrogation, and moved to a trial.
The trial consisted of interrogation by the council members, and was two fold. First, they had to endure the council of elders, followed closely by the clan summit. The elders were not hard to talk their way around. Neji did the actual talking, remembering to be respectful but firm. Naruto spent his time mocking and openly challenging the elders, whom for whatever reasons were either too intimidated to retort, or too frustrated to begin any coherent statements.
The clan summit was much harder. It was almost a reversal of roles where the two shinobi were concerned. Neji, a clan member - and a branch member, at that - remained mostly silent. Only speaking when spoken to, and never meeting the eyes of the Hyuuga head. Naruto rambled on as if lecturing, and somehow managed to not mess things up for them.
The only snag in the plan - although Neji had never quite considered they’d have to do so much actual convincing - came in the form of his own clan. They were of the opinion that Takashi was in fact, Neji’s son. And that the pair of shinobi were attempting to conceal this fact.
Their only weapons toward this argument were lack of visible proof of the Hyuuga bloodline limit, which was evident in every child of Hyuuga blood. And the fact that Takashi had been examined, and proved to be a ‘carrier’. They were told by the Hokage that the child did indeed posses ‘one of the nine’, and though Neji was still unsure of what it meant, he was of the belief that it was irrefutable proof.
If it was in fact, a bloodline limit, than Naruto’s clan must have been feared the world over. For Neji found during the trial, that the whole reason they were even having a trial, was because Naruto had been forbidden to father any children.
By the end, it was decided that Takashi’s development would be closely monitored. And while Naruto had technically broken a law in giving birth to Takashi, he wasn’t going to be penalized for it. The council decided that Takashi would be brought before them once a year and reviewed. It was as lenient a sentence as they could have hoped for, though neither he nor his lover were particularly comfortable with it.
Neji knew that it would only be a matter of time before Takashi’s Hyuuga nature became too obvious to explain away. And Naruto seemed concerned for completely different reasons.
The word ‘terminate’ had been used far too often during the entire ordeal for Neji’s comfort. He decided he’d keep a closer eye on his family himself. No one was going to ‘terminate’ anyone he loved. If they so much as tried, Uchiha Itachi would no longer be the only clan member in Konoha guilty of mass genocide.
Exhausted, both emotionally and physically, Naruto and Neji were granted leave. Naruto was all set to take his time off by packing up and running all the way to Suna. Unfortunately, leaving with Takashi was a direct violation of the new village order. Takashi was for better or for worse, now a political playing piece, and could not be removed from the village at all.
He would be forced to spend his life within its gates until graduation from the academy. At which time, he would be a shinobi, and in service to Konoha. Neji had been furious. Naruto, resigned.
His lover had assured him, confinement was not as bad as it sounded. Neji was horrified to discover, it had been his lover’s own early fate. When he had tried to speak to him about it, however, Naruto had just laughed and said, “At least it’s not house arrest. That’s the worst.”
He would not elaborate.
Neji started to wonder just what he’d gotten himself into. He did not regret his relationship with the blonde. Nor did he wish to rescind the love he had for him. It was simply becoming more and more obvious that the person they all thought they knew, was someone else entirely. Or at least, he had more secrets than the village itself.
Because he had never been the type to let go, Neji began his search into Naruto’s past with gusto. He quickly came to a dead end. Deciding to change tactics, he tried again. And hit a wall. It seemed his lover simply had not existed as a Konoha villager until his enrollment within the academy. Even then, his early academy years were sealed tight.
Grades, progress reports, class incidents…nothing existed until the age of ten. Neji had no idea how a person could just not exist, only to semi-exist, and then pop up as if he always had.
Because he had no paper trails to follow, Neji had to back track through actual Academy graduates and faculty. What made the process more frustrating, was that no one could seem to recall anything about the blonde until later in his life. Even his own classmates.
When asked about Naruto, the only people who could provide him with any information, were Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji. They had the furthest memories available. But they were not helpful memories at all. Just detentions spent together, or mischief made. None of the three had any real information. The closest he had gotten, was Kiba recalling that Naruto used to go home alone, but that on occasion, he may have been shadowed.
Iruka-san told Neji he couldn’t help him. Neji had thought this an obvious diversionary tactic, but could not press the matter, as to delve too deeply into the chunin’s affairs, was to come up against a one, Hatake Kakashi. Neji was in no mood to actually fight someone over his lover’s history. After all, that would alert Naruto to his inquiry, and he certainly didn’t want that.
Unfortunately the more he looked, the less he found. And frustrated, Neji had to turn his attention toward what was beyond the village gates.
He wanted to see if he could find any leads, and was sure they existed. But leaving meant leaving Naruto and Takashi unguarded, and he wasn’t ready to leave his family so exposed. He had a choice to make.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
His lover was busy enduring his own trials. After the verdict had been announced, and Naruto and Takashi allowed to go home, the blonde had been swamped by friends and well wishers.
Neji had staked out his lover’s home. Watching the visitors travel in and out, unceasingly.
His most devoted visitor was Iruka-san. He would go by Naruto’s apartment every day after work, and stay into the evening. He would leave after dinner, and Takashi being put to bed. The elder shinobi would hug his lover every night, and sometimes pat his head, or shoulder comfortingly.
Naruto seemed most at ease, when the academy teacher showed. Which only made Neji more suspicious of what the chunin knew.
Because he was busy keeping watch over his lover, he noticed he was not the only one. Kakashi would drop by to visit Naruto every three days. But he would pass by the house every night, and once again every morning.
Sometimes they would nod a greeting at one another. They never spoke, and thankfully, there was never reason for them to do anything more than acknowledge each other.
Naruto and Takashi were doing just fine.
Because Naruto was well liked by many, he wasn’t harassed as often as the blonde had once confessed may be a possibility to Neji. In fact, when he was out in the village, he was never alone. Kiba dropped by often, and Takashi seemed to like him. Neji noted that the baby smiled more at Kiba, than any one of their friends. Takashi even appeared to attempt communication with the shaggy Jounin. Whenever Kiba held him, Takashi would make delighted noises and flail his limbs about as if in secret code. Kiba would nod at him and speak as if indeed carrying on a conversation.
Akamaru became very attached to the first child born of their generation. And could often be seen growling at anyone who ventured too close. Naruto had about as much confidence in the canine’s ability as the dog’s master. And so would often leave Takashi in the care of the nin-dog, without so much as a nervous backward glance.
Takashi would lay in the grass, safe in the curled form of the large dog, while Naruto and Kiba would spar in the field, or simply sit and talk. The more Neji trailed them, the more he realized how much they had in common. He idly wondered if his initial attraction to Naruto could have easily been swayed toward Kiba. However, watching his lover spar, or even walk about the village, he knew he could not have felt thusly for anyone else.
Lee was also well enamored of Neji’s son. He would often take the baby for long runs, holding him close, and chatting away at him about youth and being a shinobi. As with Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto seemed to trust in Lee’s ability to protect and care for Takashi and would not show any signs of distress, when the green clad nin would run off with his only child.
The kunoichi of their group fell in love with Takashi upon first glance. Sakura, however, was fiercely possessive of the baby. Having been named his Godmother - Konoha law required a named guardian for the children of shinobi above a certain caliber - Sakura treated Takashi as she would her own son.
The quiet baby seemed less inclined to enjoy female company - simply because he was cooed over - but appeared to tolerate them for his own sake. Naruto had no style in baby clothes whatsoever. Takashi had to rely on shopping trips with his Godmother and all of his self-proclaimed aunts in order to maintain his hidden Hyuuga dignity.
The first time Neji saw his son in a kimono, he almost fell off the roof he’d been perched on. In the outfit, Takashi practically screamed ‘Hyuuga’ for all the village to see. He would discover later that it had been Hinata-sama’s idea. And could not, in good conscience, berate her for it.
As he’d been named Takashi’s legal Godfather, he had every reason to stop by unannounced whenever he so chose. However, the fact that Naruto’s apartment was often frequented by ANBU made it difficult to come by. Besides, he was trying to distance the pair, to ease suspicion. Even though it caused him great pain.
Much to his dismay, Takashi rather liked Sai. When the emotionally reclusive shinobi would baby-sit him, Takashi would remain settled upon a settee, moving little limbs in happiness, and babbling all manner of sounds. Sai would sit beside him, or across from him, and draw. Neji could never quite see what he was drawing, but the darker shinobi seemed content with every sketch. He’d even seen him smile at his infant son. Neji didn’t know whether to be surprised or disturbed.
Chouji and Shino were not much interested in Takashi. Though they made their rounds as the blonde’s friends. Shikamaru feigned disinterest, but could often be found looking at Takashi as if the baby were some great mystery to unravel. Takashi would look back at him, and blink innocently, as if daring him to work it out.
Two months after they had returned from their mission, Neji was given an assignment. It was nothing too important. Four days, three nights. Simple really. He didn’t even have to dress in his ANBU garb. However, he found the idea of leaving the village - and Naruto and Takashi - sickened him.
He couldn’t bear to leave them. There were too many things that could happen while he was away. Too many things that could go wrong. What if they needed him? What if something happened to them, when he wasn’t there? What if someone discovered the truth?!
By the time he had to leave, he had worked himself into a fine panic. Lee looked at him oddly, and Ten-Ten asked if he would be okay. So he told them the truth.
“I’m just concerned over leaving, while Naruto’s still settling. After everything that happened with the council, I suppose, I feel responsible.”
Ten-Ten looked at him sympathetically.
Lee wasn’t buying it.
“But you haven’t visited Naruto for weeks!” he exclaimed.
Neji wouldn’t admit to surveillance on his own friends, so simply looked at his friend as if he hadn’t gotten the point. Lee frowned.
“I said, I feel responsible,” he reiterated. “Just because I may feel a certain way, doesn’t mean I’ll be forced to act upon it.”
“Then you shouldn’t bother feeling guilty over leaving,” replied Lee, more insightful than he had any right to be. “Naruto and Taka-chan are doing just fine. Besides, Kiba and Sakura aren’t on missions. And Shino, Ino and Shikamaru are due back tomorrow. Everyone else can watch them for us while we’re away.”
Neji beat the urge to groan into a bloody pulp and glared instead.
Lee simply twined his arm in Neji’s own and proceeded to force him to walk out of the village gates.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was the longest four days and three nights of Neji’s life.
Upon returning to the village, he swung by Naruto’s apartment to check in on him, before returning home. He hadn’t slept in two months, and so, after washing himself of the grime of the road, moved to redress. He would go keep watch over his lover and see if he could learn anything more.
He hadn’t expected the apartment to be empty when he arrived.
He panicked for a brief moment, before recalling that Naruto often made late night trips to Ichiraku’s. Settling himself in the corner of a rooftop, he waited.
Forty-five minutes later, Naruto appeared. He was walking alongside Kiba; Akamaru following diligently, with a slumbering Takashi draped across his broad back. He didn’t know why, but the sight of them caused his blood to boil.
Naruto laughed and bumped shoulders with Kiba, who smiled at him and flung an arm about his shoulders, whispering something into his ear that made the blonde laugh harder, and fall against him.
Now, Neji had never particularly concerned himself with Kiba. Nor had he ever rationally considered him a threat. However, after what seemed an eternally long absence, to find his lover in the arms of another, their child seemingly content with the arrangement…He couldn’t quite say what overtook him, but he knew it was not based in sanity.
Naruto almost stabbed him when he grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him through the door. Tightening his grip on the younger shinobi, he kissed him deeply. Naruto moaned, melting against him. Takashi’s warm slumbering back met Neji’s shoulder.
Kiba appeared in the doorway, and Naruto pulled back.
“Naruto? Are you alright?”
“Yea,” he replied, doing his best to even out his husky voice. “I just tripped.” He gave a nervous laugh, that was more convincing than his statement.
Kiba snorted. “Turn the lights on, idiot,” he growled. “You have a kid now. Don’t kill him with your stupidity.”
“Oi!” shouted Naruto, before recalling Takashi was asleep. He made a sound through his teeth akin to a hiss. “And when was the last time you got laid?”
Kiba gave a bit of a growl, before tapping the doorframe. “Heh,” he replied, reaching for the doorknob. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Night, Taka!”
Neji watched the door close, and felt Kiba retreat down the stairs. He only moved forward when he felt the other shinobi leave the area. By then, Naruto had already settled Takashi in bed, and was in the process of tucking him in as his lover entered the bedroom.
The elder shinobi leaned against the frame of the open doorway, folding his arms. He watched as the blonde kissed their son’s small forehead, and took a step back.
“It’s been a while,” he said, looking into the crib.
Neji crossed the room, and stood behind him, body so close, he could feel the heat generating between them. “I’ve kept close,” he replied.
Naruto hummed, eyes closed as he swayed backward. Neji caught him high upon both arms, leading him back until he was against his chest. “I missed you,” Naruto sighed.
“We don’t have long,” he whispered, breath causing the hair by Naruto’s ear to rustle softly. The blonde shivered, and reached back, hands coming into contact with Neji’s hips and gliding down over his thighs. Neji felt his muscles go taut, his hips pulled forward by a tightening need so intense he couldn’t define it.
Turning Naruto around, he descended upon his mouth. The blonde moaned heavily, wrapping both arms tightly about his neck. Hands pulled his hitate free, dragging it down the length of his hair and tossing it aside. As he went for the throat, Naruto cupped his face in his hands, kissing over his revealed curse mark. For a moment, they looked at one another. Then Naruto sighed and tipped his head back, eyes closing as Neji moved in and mouthed downward.
They traveled toward the bed, shedding clothing as they went. Not caring what ripped or tore as they hungrily undressed one another. Naruto gasped as they fell upon it, the younger’s back arching sensuously, trapped as he was between aroused lover, and creaking mattress.
Neji shoved them forward, a knee against the bed, as he positioned them for maximum body contact. One of Naruto’s arms abandoned its long journey across Neji’s body to flail blindly by the bedside table.
“What are you doing?” Neji asked after a few moments of lost sensation.
“Lube,” husked Naruto.
Neji didn’t need to hear more than that. Saving precious time by activating his byakugan, he retreated just long enough to rescue the required accessory, before smothering his lover once more. Naruto seemed to want only to be crushed, as he pulled Neji impossibly closer. Mouth opening wide, and tongue catching the brunette’s on an upstroke. The elder shinobi groaned against him, the lube tipping precariously between them.
The added sensation of the thick liquid creeping along their overheated flesh drove both to thrust maddeningly against one another.
“N-Neji…hurry! Please!” gasped Naruto, clinging to him.
Neji took that as an invitation to skip most of the preparations, and trailing the wayward lubricant, immediately sunk two fingers into his lover. Naruto hissed, and rocked his hips, nipping at the smooth jaw above him.
He pumped his fingers a few times, as Naruto wiggled beneath him. It wasn’t until he added a third that it occurred to him they might need to slow down. He knew the blonde had given him his virginity, and for that act, he’d been a woman. This…would be entirely different.
Naruto groaned, as Neji slowed, careful as he pressed three fingers into him. The younger exhaled through his teeth and bit his bottom lip.
“You almost made me forget,” Neji told him, words ghosting against his mouth.
Naruto grinned, and pushed back experimentally. “I wanted to see you lose control.”
Neji pushed in deeper, and the blonde’s mouth fell open in a muted ‘O’. Conscious now, Neji moved back to his lover’s throat, nibbling and sucking to distract him. After a moment or so, Naruto relaxed, and thrust back twice gently.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?” Neji asked, nibbling his ear.
“Mmm…Yes.”
The brunette slipped up, to provide a bit of necessary space between them. He met his lover’s eyes, questioning silently once more.
Naruto snorted amusedly. “Neji, we’ve done this so much, we have a kid to prove it.”
“This is different, Naruto.”
“I’m ready!” he replied, shoving upward. His heated erection pressed against Neji’s abdomen, leaking as it bumped along the rippled edges of his muscles. Naruto moaned, and playfully batted long eyelashes at him. “Now are you going to do it, or am I going to have to do it? Again.”
Neji growled softly at the implication, and reached between them to position himself.
Naruto shook his shoulders as if in preparation for a spar, hands settling upon Neji’s shoulders. With one hand holding one of Naruto’s legs up, he guided himself into his lover, and almost lost all control, as he slipped inside. The hands on his shoulders tightened, easing slightly as he pressed deeper. They flexed once he was fully sheathed, and Naruto grunted softly.
Pulling back carefully, Neji thrust forward. The blonde exhaled as their bodies met. The next few thrusts were experimental, and some of them landed wrong, causing one or both to make an odd face. But they were shinobi, and pain was part of learning. It didn’t feel all that bad either.
And then, several thrusts after he’d begun, Neji lucked out.
“Oh!” Naruto shouted at the ceiling, practically bucking against him.
Precision had always been a gift for the Hyuuga genius, and once he knew where to hit, missing wasn’t an option.
Naruto made all manner of lovely, guttural sounds. Writhing and thrusting against him. His hands settled behind Neji’s neck, clinging there as if Neji were the only real connection the young blonde had. At the moment, the brunette didn’t care who passed by. He didn’t care if they were seen, or if they woke the neighbors. Or hell, if they woke the whole village.
All of his life, it seemed, he’d been waiting for just this moment. And he’d be damned if he let even the thought of his clan ruin it.
The sound of his name being chanted by his lover. The methodic thump of the bed connecting with the wall. The heavy sound of skin against skin. The harsh breaths, and whines of ‘yes’. All of this, was his. Naruto was his. Takashi was his.
And one day….
“Oh! OH!…N-e-j-i…Nng…”
“Naruto…”
“Uh!…Neji…Yes!…”
“I love you.”
“Neji…I…love you…Oh! I love you!…NEJI!”
They would all know.