Kindred

A/N: Many thanks to those who reviewed.

Someone mentioned in one review that they thought Shikamaru would be the seme in this fic because of what happened in the bathroom of the restaurant (reference Chapter 6). Good point. Shikamaru is an alpha male; it is logical for people to respond to him that way. By point of contrast, Neji has been consistently mistaken for the uke in this fic. I reversed their roles in their relationship to demonstrate that they were really only suited to each other. Because they work together and share an intense bond between them, they know each other in a way that no one else can.

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Shikamaru walked to the bathroom’s double doors and opened them, slowly, as though he were making a grand entrance. He scanned the bedroom. The lighting was dimmed. Soothing classical music could still be heard. The room smelled like his partner, but Shikamaru didn’t see him. A more-at-ease Shikamaru stepped out of the bathroom to get a better look.

“Stunning.” The word suddenly floated into the air and Shikamaru turned in the direction of its origin. What he saw there robbed him of his breath.

The Hyuuga stood at the entrance of the bedroom. He wore a robe identical the one Shikamaru wore. It was belted loosely and gaping, so there was an ample view of one of Neji’s powerful thighs to where it met his hip. A smooth nipple on a pale, hard pec peered out of the robe above the tie around the Hyuuga’s trim waist. Neji’s long, thick, dark brown hair was still damp and lay against his shoulders like a heavy curtain. Neji’s pale eyes focused on the Nara with undisguised appreciation.

Neji advanced into the room with the sake service on the tray in his hands. He set the tray down on the nightstand next to the bed, and then poured two cups of sake. Shikamaru watched silently as Neji approached him with the cups in his hands.

The Hyuuga offered a cup to the Nara, who accepted. Shikamaru found he couldn’t take his eyes away from Neji. Neji didn’t seem to mind. His typical smirk gave way to a gorgeous smile.

“Kanpai¹.”

“Kanpai”, the Nara managed.

Both men drank. Shikamaru found his trembling had returned, but it was different from before. Gone was the out-and-out anxiety he had been experiencing earlier. Now there was…anticipation.

Neji took the cup from Shikamaru’s hand, walked over and placed them both back on the tray.

Neji stood up directly in front of his partner. They were eye to eye and close enough that they were sharing breaths again. Neji could smell the soap on Shikamaru’s skin. Shikamaru could feel Neji’s erection grazing his own through the two robes.

No one spoke. No one moved, except to breathe in the intoxicating essence of the other. The sound of classical music wafted through the dimly lit room. It was too much for the Nara, who closed his eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shikamaru opened his eyes again to find the Hyuuga’s hand hovering near his clean-shaven face. Neji closed that distance then, rubbing his fingertips gently across his jaw, then up and just as gently across Shikamaru’s bottom lip. The Nara’s eyes were locked on Neji’s face, seeing expressions etched into those features he’d only imagined.

Using both hands, Neji reached around to grab Shikamaru by the ass, hauling him off his feet. “Wrap your legs around me.”

Shikamaru was stunned. He knew the Hyuuga was strong, but he never thought he’d find himself being carried! Shikamaru did as he was told, locking his legs at the ankle around Neji’s waist and his arms around Neji’s neck. The Hyuuga turned and walked toward the bed with the Nara in tow, hands gripping him tightly. Neji let go of Shikamaru on top of the bed.

“Go”, he told him.

Without a word, the Nara crawled on his knees to the middle of the bed, followed closely by his partner. Then they were kneeling in front of each other there, Shikamaru making deft work of untying and removing the Hyuuga’s robe while the Neji attacked the spot between his throat and shoulder. Shikamaru barely had a chance to touch Neji in kind before he followed suit, urgently peeling away the fluffy white robe from the Nara’s body.

Neji locked gazes with Shikamaru. He then lifted his right hand to his face and licked his palm from his wrist to the tip of his longest finger. Before Shikamaru could fully register the erotic motion the Hyuuga used that hand to reach down and take hold of the Nara’s extraordinary erection.

Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut and moaned.

Neji stroked, using the already considerable amount of pre-cum leaking from the tip to ease his way.

The Nara hissed. “Neji—“

“Shhhhhh”, the Hyuuga responded, then leaned his head against the Nara’s ear. “Does this feel good?” Neji whispered into Shikamaru’s ear.

The Nara was crumbling, it was almost too much. It was all he could do to remain upright on his knees. He nodded. Neji took Shikamaru’s hand at the wrist and guided it until his arm was wrapped around the Hyuuga’s naked waist. The Nara’s other arm followed. While Neji stroked, Shikamaru rested his forehead on the Hyuuga’s shoulder, taking in his scent and the feel of that hair against his skin. The Nara’s breathing became ragged.

Neji used the hand that wasn’t stroking the Nara as a brace against Shikamaru’s back as he eased their bodies down on the bed. Now the Nara was lying on the bed with his bent legs slightly spread while Neji was upright between them, still stroking that long, hard member.

“Gods, Nara, this thing is obscene”, Neji told him in a sexy voice, his hair a thick dark shroud around his body. “How long is it? Ten inches?”

“Twelve”, the Nara managed. He was in a kind of pain. The vision of the Hyuuga’s perfect naked body kneeling over him, eyes watching him, hand stroking him—it was too much. Shikamaru tried to close his eyes to block out the image but couldn’t block the feel of that hand on his cock or the smell of their heated arousal hanging in the air around them. The Nara was already sure he would black out when he came.

“If he got to see this, it’s no wonder that man offered to bottom for you.” The Nara’s head shifted from side to side while he arched his back. Neji’s strong hand on his cock felt good—too good.

“I wasn’t…erect”, Shikamaru managed.

“Knowing he was watching you didn’t make you hard, Nara?”

“The only thing that…makes me hard…is you.”

As the weight of that statement settled in Neji’s mind the hand stroking the Nara’s cock changed speed. “Is that true?”

“It’s true. I swear.”

Those pastel eyes that watched him softened. Neji let go of Shikamaru’s erection only to get down on all fours over his prone body. He leaned his head to hover over the Nara’s ear again. Shikamaru could feel Neji’s erection brushing his own. “For how long, Nara?”

Shikamaru’s breathing was regulating, but his heart was going even faster. He had known the time for confession was coming, and now it was here. “Since you’ve known me.”

Neji’s expression grew serious instantly. “You’ve been running from yourself a long time.”

“I told you, I didn’t think you’d want me like this. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Neji couldn’t believe it. Shikamaru was confessing his desire from the very first day! How had they worked together all this time without the Hyuuga knowing the Nara’s true feelings? “Shikamaru…we’ve wasted a lot of time.” The Hyuuga reached beneath the pillow next to Shikamaru’s head and pulled a small pouch from beneath it. “I don’t want to waste any more.”

Shikamaru watched as Neji opened the small pouch and took two cock rings and a tube of lube from inside. The Hyuuga put a cock ring on himself first, and then put the other one on Shikamaru. The Nara was grateful for the foresight. Indeed, the Hyuuga seemed to be prepared for everything tonight.

The Hyuuga grabbed the small bag and pulled one more thing from inside, holding it up for the Nara’s inspection.

“Shikamaru, I know you’re new at this.” He shook the plastic-wrapped square in the air. “If you want me to use this, I will.” Shikamaru’s expression didn’t change. He reached for the condom and took it, tossing it somewhere, anywhere.

“Neji, I have trusted you with my life for two years. Honestly, we don’t need that.”

Neji smiled, an honest-to-Gods smile and Shikamaru knew it made him someone important the moment he saw it.

Neji bit his lip. There was only one thing left to do.

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Neji bent to give his partner a kiss. It began slowly, a tasting of each other’s tongues. Neji drew back to look the Nara in the eyes and was disarmed by the undisguised lust he saw there. Neji took in the entire scene: Shikamaru lying there beneath Neji on his back, his arms stretched out above his head, his shoulder-length jet-black hair a halo around his face. He looked so…lusty lying there, begging to be touched, to be tasted. The Nara’s eyes found the Hyuuga’s again and that look of longing was pulling at him once more. Take me, it begged the Hyuuga.

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Neji’s next kiss wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t asking; it was demanding. Give me, it ordered the Nara. Shikamaru complied: he wove his hands into Neji’s lion’s mane and met his attack on the Nara’s mouth with a counterattack of his own. Neji ground his hips down against Shikamaru’s in a desperate attempt to incite him further. The Nara arched into those grinding hips and moaned into Neji’s mouth. Both cocks were fully erect and twitching in time to the other’s rhythm.

Neji broke the kiss, running his tongue along Shikamaru’s neck to his pec where he closed his mouth over the Nara’s nipple. He ran his hands up and down the Nara’s hips, preparing them for his crushing grip.

“Neji”, Shikamaru moaned, and arched again. The Hyuuga could feel pre-cum on his chest. He moved to the Nara’s other nipple, licking, biting and sucking. His hands never stopped moving.

Shikamaru’s head was shifting from side to side. He was overloading on sensations. He hadn’t been touched this way in years, and to now be touched this way by the very man he’s wanted for so long—it really was too much. The Nara’s body twitched everywhere, even in places that didn’t normally respond. He understood on some level inside him that, even though he’d never been with a man before, he needed the Hyuuga inside him, filling him, bringing him safely beyond the fringe.

“Gods, Neji.” It was a plea, a desperate plea.

Neji moved lower on the Nara’s torso, nipping at his sides and then licking the bite marks for measure. Shikamaru squirmed. Neji then reached for the lube he’d pulled from the small bag before, bringing it closer but not opening it.

The Nara’s twitching cock was just under Neji’s chin. He lifted himself from the Nara’s body and locked eyes with the sweating, flushing, panting man.

Neji grabbed the lube and opened it, and Shikamaru’s cock bobbed as the scent of coconut hit his nostrils. How had Neji known?

“You know,” the Hyuuga spoke as he coated his hands, “I never liked the scent of coconut. Then I started working with you.” Neji closed the bottle and laid it to the side, then reached for the Nara’s cock once more. “Sometimes you come to work in the morning with it all over you.” Neji began pumping the base above the cock ring in earnest. “Right now it’s making me want to fuck you until you can’t walk.”

Shikamaru moaned. That cock ring was coming in handy; The Nara was sure he’d be exploding all over his partner right now if it wasn’t there.

This new Neji was easily as sexually formidable as he was physically strong. It was thrilling the Nara but he couldn’t help but admit to a bit of anxiety as well. Shikamaru was accustomed to being the aggressor in the sexual dynamic. This new role for him would take some getting used to. Fortunately, he loved to hear Neji talk dirty.

“Now,” Neji announced, “let’s see how much of this I can take at once.” Neji lowered his head.

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A/N: (1) I used this word in a previous chapter. For those who don’t know, Kanpai translates to “cheers”.

Okay, people, part one of my super-sexy lemon is complete! I would love to know what you think. Please review.

Part two is on its way!