
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/13421358.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Naruto
  Relationship:
      Shika/Neji, Hyuuga_Neji_&_Nara_Shikamaru, Hyuuga_Neji/Nara_Shikamaru
  Character:
      Nara_Shikamaru, Hyuuga_Neji, Hatake_Kakashi, Yamanaka_Ino, Haruno_Sakura,
      Inuzuka_Kiba, Hyuuga_Hizashi, Hyuuga_Hiashi
  Additional Tags:
      Blood_and_Torture, Psychological_Torture, Yaoi, complicated_love,
      Mistery, murders, Thriller, NejixShika, Kumogakure, Shippuuden, Abuse
  Stats:
      Published: 2018-01-19 Updated: 2018-03-03 Chapters: 2/? Words: 5544
****** Dare to Remember ******
by Addiction_and_Abstinence
Summary
     A weird mission. A dark past coming back to haunt the ones we love
     the most. A depiction of sufferings, pain, blood and who
     knows...maybe also a Happy Ending. Maybe.
     Disclaimer. I do not promote any of the acts you will read in this
     fanfiction. They are pure fiction,useful to give the story the gory-
     disgusting/shocking taste I like to see in all my favourite stories.
Notes
See the end of the work for notes
***** B-Ranked Bullshit *****
Tsunade was looking at the paper in front of her, taking a deep breath before
moving her gaze towards the shinobis in front of her.
- Your next mission is a B-ranked one. It consists in understanding what the
hell is going on in Kumogakure. There have been many kidnappings, murders and
disappearances all around and in the city. Our client gave us proof that this
could be potentially threatening to our Region and insists on the claim that
the Raikage is denying the truth. Since this is not the first time that the
Lighting Government hides something from us...I will not let a possible threat
slide through my fingers like that. No one wants another Hyuuga Affair to
happen. 
Her eyes wondered to the icy ones in front of her. Had it been a good idea to
involve Hyuuga Neji in this mission? His byakugan was certainly needed for such
a mission, but would the freshly promoted Jonin be able to handle the emotional
weight of it all? Tsunade looked at him for a second. His eyes
were...emotionless. He was just staring back at her, his figure in perfect
standing position, waiting for further instruction and apparently untouched by
the fact that the topic discussed was in fact his father’s death. The Godaime
cleared her throat before starting to talk again.
-Kakashi, you will be the Team Leader. At your side I figured that the two
geniuses here will definitely help out. Sakura and Ino will provide you the
medical support you may need, and Kiba and Akamaru will definitely help out in
your research. Any questions?-
For a second nobody seemed to be intentioned to speak, but the the lazy hand of
Shikamaru Nara was lifted.
- Two Jonin and four Chunin for a B-ranked mission. Isn’t it too much? -
Tsunade basically killed him with a homicide look. That Nara was as annoying as
genial. Obviously it wasn’t a simple B rank mission.
- Nara, I know you are asking the question for the sole purpose of being a pain
in the ass, but I will not tolerate this kind of sarcasm any longer. You need
to enter the Lighting Region safely and only a B ranked mission will cause no
trouble to you. Officially you are investigating on the disappearance of this
family.
The Godaime opened the file in front of her showing to everyone the picture of
a normal family. A man, a woman, two children and what seemed to be a shop
behind them.
- This is the Yamoda Family. They were born in Konoha and moved to the Lighting
Region to open a weaponry shop after concession from the Third Hokage. They are
citizens of Konohagakure at all effects, permanent hosts of Kumogakure. They
disappeared three days ago leaving only their dead dog in front of their shop.
None of the weapons were stolen, so Kumogakure closed the case as a simple flee
of the family. Our Client knew them very well and he claims that something
sinister happened.
Tsunade pulled out another couple of pictured from the file, showing them to
the team. - This masked ANBU has been spotted multiple times in the last month,
wondering around the area where the Yamodas lived. He is not one of ours, and
niether Kumogakure’s. This subject appeared...and the family vanished. Same
happened to these other families.
More pictures were put on the table. Pictures of normal families attached to
pictures of weird looking figures seemingly stalking them.
- Something is definitely wrong here and the Yamoda Family just gave us the
right to investigate on the area. I’m sure I do not have to explain to you that
keeping a low profile is necessary in order to avoid problems. Konoha and
Kumogakure are yet to become real allies but at the same time a Konoha family,
and..who know, maybe more, has vanished and it is our duty to find out what
happened. In short terms...keep the face of the B ranked mission. You are there
to investigate about a family fled somewhere. Nothing more than that.
Understood?
She standed up from her chair and look at all the shinobis in front of her. No
one talked, they just nodded and turned around before leaving. Tsunade waited
for all the jungster to go out...clearing her throat to capture Kakashi’s
attention.
- Kakashi I need to speak to you alone regarding the details of the mission.
The copy-nin simply nodded, coming back to the table, sitting in front of it
and for the first time putting down his book to face the Godaime. She had a
concerned look on her face and she sighed before starting to talk.
- Neji Hyuuga has applied for ANBU as soon as he became Jonin. This mission
will determine if he really is fit to be a member of the secret services. I
know you left Kakashi, but what I am asking is just a supervision and a report
about his behaviour on the field. This mission has many links to his past and I
want to make sure that he can handle the life he applied for. Will you do it? -
Kakashi looked at here and simply nodded, looking out of the window..following
the path of a bird flying in the sky.
- The Hyuuga kid wants to flee from his family...I can’t certaintly blame him.
ANBU means no more orders from the main branch, no more fear of having his head
blown up because of some stupid rules. Gai told me many times about that kid’s
obsession with being perfect and worthy of his clan’s name. Gadaime...I’m not
sure i’m the best choice for supervising him. I never trained with that boy nor
my team had. I know nothing of him as a person. Are you sure that my opinion
will be accurate enough? 
The copy nin watched Tsunade close her eyes, before looking directly into his
uncovered one.
– You saw Uchiha Sasuke deteriorating to the point of escaping with Orochimaru.
You are the only one who has experience with such troubled kids. Gai may be his
Sensei but you are the most experienced in this...let’s say field. I put my
total trust in you. As a former ANBU you will judge him on my behalf and as
Team Leader you will estimate whether or not to keep him or send him back home.
I hope for the best obviously...but it won’t be easy.
Kakashi sighed turning his eyes back to the sky. He clearly remembered the
Hyuuga boy freaking out at the Chuuning exam, both with Hinata and Naruto. Gai
had spent a whole afternoon talking to him about the situation….
 
-Kakashi...how do you...take care of Sasuke?
It sounded like a weird question coming from the all mighty youthful green
shinobi sat in front of him. It wasn’t like Gai to sound this...afflicted.
Kakashi sighed sitting at his side, closing the book he was reading and looking
in front of him.
- Sasuke is a very particular shinobi. You can feel his rage even in his sleep.
He finds his strenght in the thought of vengeance towards his brother. I try to
do my best to give him what he wants. I teach him new techniques and by
teaching him how to control them I inevitably also teach him how to control
himself. I do not push him to be friendly with the other two...i’d rather put
them into situations where they must collaborate in order to succeed. The
results are slow...but still showing.
Gai looked at him before cringing his fingers in a fist and slamming it to the
ground.
- He does not allow me to come near him. Since the first day he did everything
by himself. He decided when to call the others for training and how to train. I
tried to give my team all kind of mission but...none seemed to be enthusiastic
enought for him. He constantly makes Lee feel like a failure. He treates Tenten
with a cold respect as if she was a total stranger to him. He never talks about
anything other than training and missions. Never a smile, never some….lightness
in his young heart. Today...with Hinata...I cannot believe how fool I have been
to allow that match to take place. I knew Neji was going to explode sometimes.
I have seen him countless times being teased by the other Hyuuga members. I
used to follow him home to ensure he was ok, as I did with the other two...and
many,many times I saw his own grandfather calling him a failure or pointing out
even the slightest defect. I wanted to...punch that freaking bast…
-Woh woh Gai calm down… - Kakashi blocked his hand right on time before he
could do any damage to the poor tree behind them. He never so Gai this worried
before. They both sat still for a moment...before Gai started talking again.
- His eyes scared me Kakashi. He looked at Hinata with such hate….how can I do
something about it? I am scared he will turn out to be another Itachi Uchiha
sooner or later…
The copy-nin looked at him, surprised to hear such words coming out of his
mouth. He was truly worried, anyone could have told that. He sighed and put a
hand on the Jonin’s shoulder
- He won’t become another Itachi Uchiha. He has you has his sensei. And I know
your youthful irritating philosophy will help him somehow. Just be yourself and
do not push him into doing things he may be uncomfortable with. Play smart and
thing will take the right turn. 
That said….he stood up, put his hands in his pockets and walked away, to
wanting to stay there a second more. Gai was absolutely right...the kid had
such a homicidal aura that even his nerves had jumped a little feeling it. He
only hoped that no extreme measures will have to be taken into consideration….
 
Lost in his thoughts….Kakashi had zoned out not answering Tsunade in the first
place. She looked at him slightly worried, waiting for him to come back to
reality. Finally he seemed to snap out of his own mind as he looked at her,
bowing his head before turning to the door.
- I will do my best, Hokage-sama.
***
-Maan I hate the Lighting Region! 
Shouted Kiba accompanied immediately by Akamaru barking 
Why didn’t she just sent a couple of ANBU’s to do this work? Fuck it's gonna be
so awful!
Shikamaru sighed heavily, putting a hand on the top of his nose
– Kiba...you really have the brain of a dog. She just underlined the importance
of not creating problems with Kumogakure. Don’t you think that sending ANBUs
could be seen as a threat to the government? 
The dog nin looked at him crossing his arms, looking at him with enraged eyes
while Akamaru barked quite offended by those words.
- First of all the brain of the dog is far more intelligent that your so called
smart-ass, second of all…
- Kiba shut up! Gosh you are so noisy! I can’t believe I’m going to have to
deal with you for a whole mission!
Shouted Ino rotating her eyes and putting a hand in her hair to revive them a
little.
- Oh oh miss I-cannot-keep-my-mouth-shut has spoken! Don’t you have a hair
straightener to use or something?
Laughed Kiba and alongside Akamaru, jumping on the nearest roof to avoid Ino
punching him. Sakura was trying to hold her laugh as much as she could...and
Shikamaru looked at the ridicolous scene, anticipating the obvious failure of
the mission even before starting it. The only one who wan’t a total pain in the
ass was the Hyuuga, walking alongside him silently and...sensually somehow.
Shikamaru looked at him trying not to get noticed. His long dark hair were
being pushed by the light wind of the afternoon, his white vest both hid and
exposed the toned body of the young shinobi. And best of all...those glacial
eyes full of emptiness…directly staring at him. His istinct immediately told
him to look away...but he knew better than that. He needed to provide an
explanation for his staring.
- Neji….what exactly is the Hyuuga Affair? 
Shit. Couldn’t he ask something less….sensitive?! Besides the fact that he
already knew what it was...he noticed that the others stopped their chitchat to
listen.
- Yeah man...What’s that? Your uncle having an affair with some Thunder Woman? 
Laughed Kiba before encountering a homicidal look from those icy eyes….now
adorned with veins all over them. Shikamaru became pale as a ghost hearing that
sentence...did he really have some brain damage? Now even Naruto would have
said something THAT stupid! He looked at Neji slightly worried that he might
attack. He saw him fighting...light as a feather, deadly as Death itself. He
could attack an enemy at an incredible speed, with just a movement of the
arm...he could kill a man. Both him and the girls moved a bit, ready to stop
the imminent fight, but surprisingly...the Hyuuga Just...spoke.
- For your information Kiba...the Hyuuga Affair was the dispute that took place
between the Hyuuga Clan and Kumogakure when Hinata was kidnapped at three years
old. My uncle killed the Head Ninja to save her, the Kumogakure Government
denied any involvement in the incident and since Konoha had killed their Head
“for no reason”, they asked for Hiashi’s body as a payback.
Kiba looked at him confused and slightly imbarassed by his own joke, still not
fully understanding the situation he found himself in.
- Okay...but I am pretty sure I saw Hiashi Hyuuga a couple of days ago, alive
and well so...did they pay money or something instead of..you know...giving
him?
Shikamaru felt a distinctive shivering down his spine and for a second...he
really feared for Kiba’s life. Neji turned to him and took a step forward,
coming face to face to him. Even Akamaru was scared at that point….lowering his
ears and lying on the ground. The situation was not good....not good at all.
- You want to know what happened? Since MY father was Hiashi’s twin...they
decided to hand him over instead of their precious main branch member. The
Hyuuga Affair is basically my father dying for your stupid teammate. Now that
you know….do me a favor, shut up and do not bother me during this mission if
you don’t want all your chakra point closed up. Are we clear? 
That said...Neji turned his heels and left. Everybody remained paralized for a
second, before Sakura and Ino turned to Kiba at the same time….punching him so
hard on the head that he collapsed at least 3 meters into the ground. Shikamaru
sighed looking at the pathetic scene in front of him, opting to leave before
going totally crazy. He walked home feeling more and more anxious about the
mission. Too weird….Tsunade hadn’t really explained anything, his teammate were
already on the edge of fighting, and there was personal matters involved too.
Obviously Tsunade couldn’t send Hinata to Kumogakure...but was it okay to send
Neji? He looked and the sun lowering over the horizon and decided to lie down
looking at the pink clouds in the sky. He had one night of peaceful sleep
before leaving Konoha for that weird mission. He closed his eyes breathing
slowly...trying to calm his heart beats down. He couldn’t already be that
nervous...he had to calm down. If Tsunade chose them...there had to be a
reason. Two medic nins meant that probably somebody would get hurt. Kiba had an
incredible sense of smell...obvious reason to have him on the field. Neji….yes,
Neji had the byakugan….but was it really needed when they had Kakashi and his
sharingan? Too little information to formulate a theory. He would have to wait
for more clues.Meanwhile... he needed to think of something else. A smile came
up to his face...making him laugh a little. How was it possible... was he
really thinking about how to sleep in the same tent with Neji before such a
mysterious and probably dangerous mission?
 
 
***** The Game is On *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Neji sat on the bed looking at the kunais perfectly positioned in front of him:
They had been clensed and sharpened for the past two hours, ready for the
upcoming mission. Same went for the shurikens and the explosion papers, for his
clothes and all the little things he was so used to prepare for a mission.
This time thou…was different. The mission itself was different…he was
different. Just another few step and ANBU would free him: Free him from the
cursed seal, free him from his family and his destiny.
Neji chuckled, taking a deep breath. Naruto was right…destiny was changable. He
was born a branch member…but surely he wasn’t gonna die as one of them. He
wasn’t gonna die as his father did. He didn’t care about the suicide and
freedom bullshit, Hizashi still died to save Hiashi’s ass, no matter the
explanation the man gave himself. The young Hyuuga shook his head putting all
his stuff in the bag, getting ready to go to sleep. He absolutely didn’t look
forward to leave with that bunch of stupid kids. The thought of having to deal
with the Yamanaka and the Inuzuka was less appealing than listening to one of
his Sensei’s speeches abouth Power and Youth. Sakura was ok…after the Uchiha
left everyone noticed how calm and silent she became.  The Nara was…well, a
Nara. Bored but useful, and Kakashi minded his own businesses. It could have
been worst actually, Neji thought. At least there wasn’t Naruto or worst, Lee,
in his way….
A knock on the door made him come out of his own thoughts, and he politely
invited whoever it was to come in. Hiashi stepped in calmly as a swan on the
water, looking at him before nodding and taking a seat on the chair near the
bed. Neji bowed politely moving the bag to the floor, sitting down in a more
proper way, ready to listen to whatever the Head was going to tell him. Hiashi
on the other side, behind his ice-cold look…was very worried. The Godaime
allerted him of the mission and he wanted to personally make sure that the boy
was in fact….ok with all of that.
    * I have been informed of your mission, Neji. How do you feel about it?
Wow...Hiashi Hyuuga straight to the point. Well that was a surprise. Neji felt
irritated by the question, what the fuck could he answer to that?
    * I am fine, Hiashi-sama. I have long enough accepted my father’s death and
      as a ninja I learned to keep emotions away from the battlefield. There
      will not be any trouble on my side, I assure you.
“I won’t risk my place in ANBU for this fucking family…..” thought looking at
his uncle and his answer to come. Hiashi looked at him and sighed, as usual his
nephew wasn’t speaking to him as Family…but just as his Head Chief.
    * Very well Neji. Best of luck for the mission.
Hiashi standed up and started walking towards the door, stopping suddently and
turning around, seemingly ready to say something.
    * Neji….be careful. That place….
No. He couldn’t say it. It would do more damage than good and the probabilities
of Neji…finding out, were too low to risk. He straighted his shoulders up,
thinking about a way to justify those last words.
    * That place can be challenging even for a byakugan user. Do not be
      impulsive.
That said…he simply left. Neji looked at him leaving not understanding his own
feelings in that moment. It was a mix of being pissed of for the lack of trust
his uncle showed…and a weird sensation of “something is wrong”. He sighed and
shook his head, he didn’t have time for that. He needed a good night sleep.
Last check on his stuff,a quick look to his parent’s picture on the wall and he
went to bed, closing his eyes and falling fairly quickly into a deep sleep.
***
As soon as the sun appeared on the horizon, everybody was already at the doors
of the village, ready to leave. Everybody but Kakashi obviously. Shikamaru
sighed leaning on a nearby tree, looking at the pink clouds above him, not
wanting to talk nor..leave, to be honest. His mother had been giving him the
usual scolding about being careful, not lazy, cooperative, and as always, not
“a pain in the butt” for the others. Best thing in the morning, having your
mother telling you off before one could even have the time for a tea. What a
drag…
    * Yo Sakura, where’s Kakashi-Sensei?
Asked Kiba cuddling a huge Akamaru laid on the floor moving his leg
frenetically while his belly was being scratched.
    * We never found out why he is always late! We tried to follow him but he
      always deceived us! Not even Sas…
Sakura sighed shooking her head, smiling to the Inuzuka after a second.
    * Not even Sasuke and Naruto could find something out!
The pink haired kunoichi laughed remembering their futile attempts to find out
any information about their sensei, and strangely…she wasn’t the only one
laughing. The pink-haired kunoichi turned to look at Ino, trying to hide a
obviously malicious smile behind her hands.
    * What?
    * Oh come on Sakura-chan! Isn’t he the one who always reads the Itcha Itcha
      Paradise? Probably he is just….ehm ehm….coff coff…
She started moving her hand up and down in the air, making everybody pop their
eyes out at the thought. Even Neji couldn’t hide a slight expression of
surprise at that….colorful description. Sakura became purple at the thought of
it while Kiba fell on the ground laughing so hard even Akamaru started barking.
Neji did not move…not allowing himself to laugh at such vulgar and childish
joke, looking instead at the Nara, lost in the clouds. He probably was used to
Ino and those kind of jokes regarding men. The pinapple head just sighed
looking at Ino, freezing on the spot. Neji followed his gaze and froze himself
instantly.
    * And I thought girls were unaware of things…
Said Kakashi appearing behind Ino, his face covered by his beloved book and the
other hand and in his pocket. Ino literally melted on the ground for the shame,
followed quickly by Sakura and Kiba. Kakashi laughed walking passed them,
turning around so he could look at everybody in the eyes.
    * Let’s go guys. We have a long way to go before reaching the Lighting. Oh
      and by the way….you should ask Gai about that. He is the expert I heard…
Neji nearly suffocated on the nigiri he was eating for breakfast while waiting,
his skin becoming green at the thought of Gai….doing that. Shikamaru quickly
patted a hand on his back, making sure the Hyuga wasn’t dying. That mission was
already starting with the all the wrong premises.
    * Yeah! Akamaru, let’s go! Hyuga don’t die now, we need your icy ass!
Said the dog-nin escaping on the trees, quickly followed by everybody. Neji
sighed following up. First Kakashi, now him?! It wasn’t even 6am in the morning
and he was already fairly pissed off.
    * Calm down Neji…we need to focus.
The voice at his side was Shikamaru’s, the only one who was proving himself not
to be a total retard. Neji sighed nodding, clearing his mind off all those
useless emotions. Wait…had his nerved just been soothed by him? Weird. Probably
it was just the essential need for another working mind in that group of
children. He speeded up and so did all the others, remaining silent for the
whole day. The team did not stop until the sun went down and Kakashi landed on
the grass near a small lake.
    * Let’s camp here. We need to rest. Sakura and Ino, here is your tent.
      Shikamaru and Neji, this is yours, Kiba and Akamaru, here we go.
The Jonin opened a roll and suddently four tents and a fire pit appeared.
Everybody put their bags down while Kiba and Akamaru went fishing in the lake.
Soon it was dark and everybody sat around the fire, cooking their dinner and
chit chatting about futile things. Kakashi suddently took another roll opening
it and clearing his voice to call out for everybody’s attention.
    * Our first step will be to investigate. Akamaru and Kiba, you will go to
      the crime scene. Find out if anybody cancelled traces with bleach and if
      that’s the case…find out as much as you can. Ino and Sakura, you two will
      ask around town if anyone saw anything….take off your hitai-ate for this,
      you will look like normal tourists. You will have to base your questions
      on this.
Kakashi gave them a page of newspaper regarding the crime. They had to look
like curious girls and nothing more. The two kunoichi nodded, starting to read
the page, whispering about what and what not to ask. Kakashi shook his head as
soon as they started fighting, going back to the notes.
    * Me and Shikamaru will go to the Police to put up the face of the b-ranked
      mission in order to analyse what the police found. Neji…you will take
      advantage of us keeping the policemen busy and will infiltrate into the
      archives. Check everything you can and if you spot something, just come
      back and we’ll elaborate a plan. Set the watches now and remember:
      Something is odd there so pay attention. This is officially a B-ranked
      mission….but treat it as an S-ranked one. All clear for now?
Everybody nodded with a serious look, each one starting to think about their
task. Neji sighed, infiltration…what a better way to test his abilities as
ANBU. Nice challenge thou….his byakugan would have definitely proven useful.
    * Oh, last thing guys….from now on we’ll take shift to guard the camp. Neji
      and Shikamaru will do the first night, Kiba and Akamaru the second,
      Sakura and Ino the third. I will do the last. If we keep going at this
      speed in five days we will be there. Now go to sleep. Shikamaru and Neji,
      you are in charge now.
That said, Kakashi entered his tent and so did all the others. Neji and
Shikamaru looked at each other and Shikamaru sighed, what a drag…
    * You do the first turn….I couldn’t see a kunai thrown at me right now.
      Wake me up at three.
Neji looked at him and nodded, he did not mind the first shift at all. On the
contrary….he hated waking up in the middle of the night. He definitely
preferred to stay up and go to sleep later on. He looked around and spotted a
tree branch waving of the lake, an excellet point for both guarding and sitting
down comfortably. He climbed up the tree after putting down the fire, sitting
down on the branch activating the byakugan and looking at the lake. The water
was calm, slightly moved by the breeze and by a few ducks swimming around.
Everything looked chilled and the sounds of night were relaxing. Neji started
looking around, counting down the owls he could spot, playing the same game
later on with frogs, squirrels and every other animal he could spot. Everything
was usual and…to be honest, he was starting to feel sleepy and quite bored. He
jumped on the ground starting to do some stretching just to keep his body
awake. The more time passed, the more bored he became. He looked at the tents,
making sure that everyone was ok. Everybody was sleeping peacefully and the
Hyuga sighed, drinking some water and grabbing his bag to check on his weapons
just to make time pass. As soon as he started polishing his kunais, his uncle’s
words popped into his mind, reverbering into his ears more and more, everytime
sounding more suspicious. Did he know about ANBU maybe? No…impossible…he
couldn’t possibly know about it. Maybe it was just concern for the whole Hyuga
Affair thing, but something wasn’t right about that hypothesis. Too simple to
be right, at least not when talking about Hyuga Hiashi.  What was with that
concern look before leaving? He had endured far worst missions before and the
Hyuga head never came to him to tell him such words; that was something he
would do with Hinata maybe….surely not with him. He sighed, what was the point
of thinking about it after all.  He started training silently trying not to
wake anyone up, imagining enemies coming at him from different directions.
While moving around he ended up on the surface of the lake, and seeing his own
image reflected on the water…made him think about his father. Why did he do
that….why. He could have succeeded Hiashi as Head of the Clan, he could have
changed his destiny…why the fuck didn’t he do that!? Just the thought of it
made the Hyuga’s blood boil…and the boy needed to stay calm and focused. He
tried to think of other missions and memories…just to keep him mind busy. He
menaged so, in fact…he focused so much he did not notice that somebody wasn’t
actually sleeping anymore…
***
Shikamaru was ready to slaughter Kiba in his sleep. He could clearly hear the
dog-nin snoring in the other tent. He slept a couple of hours but then
suddently woke up hearing that loud noise in the background. What the hell, did
he swallow up a whole caterpillar or what?! He took a deep breath looking at
the time, he could still sleep an hour before the shift but there was no way he
could fall asleep again. Sighing he stood up moving his neck to the sides,
opening the tent up and getting a chill down his spine when the breeze hit his
skin. He looked around spotting Neji on the water of the lake, practising his
juuken against invisible enemies. He was so focused on his training he hadn’t
even noticed his presence. Or maybe noticed but did not bother to show it.
Shikamaru sat on the grass looking at him and his gracious movements. That boy
was handsome. Every aspect of his toned body was simply…perfect. His hair, his
eyes, all his defined muscles covered under the white robe. His expression was
serious but somehow relaxed, seemingly comfortable into a battlefield-like
scenario. The Hyuga was at all effects a perfect war machine. Deadly accurate,
fast, elegant. All the elements of the perfect shinobi suited him perfectly.
    * If you have nothing to do but stare, I will gladly go to sleep.
It took Shikamaru a second to realize that the Hyuga was directly speaking to
him. He was so focused on…fantasizing about him that he didn’t notice the
sudden stop of the Hyuga’s improvised training.
    * Actually I was looking at nothing…Kiba and his fucking snoring woke me
      up.
He opened his mouth and yawned before throwing Neji the now half-empty bottle
of water  he found at his side. The shinobi grabbed it drinking a sip out of
it, reaching for Shikamaru and sitting near him.
    * I am used to Rock Lee and Gai together...extreme survival technique I
      would say…
Did Hyuga Neji just make a joke? Well that was a surprise. Shikamaru laughed a
little and looked at him, spotting something…weird in his gaze.
    * Shogi?
That word left his mouth without having the time to think about it. What was he
thinking? He didn’t even have the board there and, most importantly he never
really even spoke to the Hyuga!
Neji looked at him moving his left eyebrow up in a skeptical manner, wondering
what was the purpose of that question. Shikamaru quickly thought about an
excuse but…fuck, why bother…he was Neji Hyuga, not Naruto.
    * I figured that a good shogi game would take your mind off your past,
      correct me if i’m wrong….
The Nara smiled at him slightly, collecting some leaves and drawing all the
needed kanjis on them, preparing an improvised shogi board on the ground. Neji
looked at him buffled by his answer. Normally he would have just politely told
him to fuck off and mind his own business….but something in the Nara voice made
him accept that sentence as it was. A concerned guess about his current being.
He sighed sitting down and looking at the leaves, grabbing the butterfly and
moving it up to attack his deer.
    * Good guess Nara. Your move. Don’t bore me…
No matter how flat that sentence sounded….Shikamaru could clearly perceive a
hint of…aggression and fun in those words. Well…challenge accepted. He took
control of the butterfly, leading the game. Neji looked at the leaves and then
looked at the Nara’s face. They both smirked looking at each other…
The game was definitely on.
Chapter End Notes
     Kanji = japanese term for their symbols
     Shogi = japanese chess-like game
     Hi guys! Sorry if it took me so long to update, I have been pretty
     busy lately! Please comment on this chap, tell me how my writing
     skills are and where i could improve! Love you all, See you next
     chap! Xx
End Notes
     Hi everybody! This is my first fiction written in english, I hope you
     will like it! Any suggestion on how to improve my writing skill are
     well accepted! It took me a century to start writing but finally I'm
     here! Also....this is a Gift for LittleGirl9, hope you like it dear!
     <3 <3
     See you next chap!
     xx Addiction and Abstinence
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!
