BREAK TO BREATHE
by Okami Rayne
Chapter Twenty Seven
[Dedicated to A Joke]
Slow down… The warning swirled in the back of Shikamaru's mind; frail and fleeting, like a leaf of reason caught in the current of the heat stirring between them. It flickered in and out of the intensity of the kiss, slowly causing the shadow-nin's tongue to retreat.
Slow. Down. Before he could break the fusion of their mouths, Neji's fingers slid to the back of his head, cutting off his attempt to break the kiss. He parted his lips to speak but only invited the warm, slick thrust of Neji's tongue, which marked out his mouth as if it were claiming it. Shikamaru had to crane his neck to accommodate the force of the onslaught, kissed breathless by the talent of the invading muscle.
He could feel his pulse racing, running laps of arousal through his system faster than his brain could process a way to stop it. That is until his thumb grazed beneath Neji's jaw, catching the rapid throb of the Hyūga's heartbeat.
Shit…Slow it down. Shikamaru twisted his head sharply, breaking the kiss with a staggered pant. He felt Neji's breath against the corner of his mouth and tilted his head to catch the Hyūga's moonstone eyes, lit with white fire.
The opal glow burned right through him, scorching his nerve endings with just a look.
Fuck. He knew, in that moment, what he'd known the first time he'd smashed their lips and what he'd known all the times after when he'd let a touch or look pass between them.
I've lost my damned mind. Problem was, he'd found something in place of it. Something he didn't think he'd ever want. Something Temari had wagered he'd never know. Something he'd told her that he'd never need.
Impulse… Neji had knocked it into him; almost as literally as the damned knocks to his head. It had rattled his brain, fired up his blood. And no amount of rational intelligence could shake it loose. The Hyūga had turned the inert breeze of his lazy nature into something inflammable; something impulsive, intense and impassioned.
Something fucking insane… Shikamaru blinked away the thought, his dark eyes smouldering in the darkness. Neji returned the gaze, but a shimmer of conflict played across his face. It was fleeting, but Shikamaru caught it, his brow furrowing slightly. This time when the Jōnin nudged their mouths, Shikamaru's voice fed into the exchange of breath.
"Neji."
The Hyūga paused, causing their open mouths to hover close. Shikamaru met his gaze and held it as he stroked their lips slowly.
"Slow it down," he murmured, the fire in his eyes banking to a steadier burn.
Neji's eyes flickered. "No."
Shikamaru shook his head, his fingers gliding along the Hyūga's proud jaw. "We'll tear each other up with this."
"Good," Neji growled, his fingers latching at Shikamaru's hip to jerk their bodies together in a vicious, controlling tug.
Fuck… Shikamaru shuttered his eyes in pleasure at the fierce grind of their bodies. He drew a sharp breath against the blistering urge to grind back. God damn but he wanted to. The compulsion to let this heat rip through him was almost overwhelming. He drew another sharp breath and the second the cool air hit his throat, the reminder of why he had to slow it down came back to him.
Shit. He tugged his control back from the brink.
Planting one hand at Neji's hip to stop the head-spinning friction, he slid his free fingers into the thick mane of Neji's hair, wrapping the mocha silk around his wrist in a lazy twine. Before Neji could react, he dragged the heat of his breath to the Jōnin's ear and let words fall as rough as the scrape of his teeth against the outer shell.
"Scared of a slow burn, Hyūga?"
Neji turned his head, and Shikamaru felt the returning purr of breath against his ear, rolling out a low response. "Scared I'll tear you up, Nara?"
Shikamaru arched a brow, a slow sway of his hips nudging Neji back a step, though he followed the movement seamlessly, keeping their bodies pressed close as he backed them up.
"Stubborn," he muttered against Neji's throat, trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses along the taut column that refused to arch back for him.
Too stubborn. Tension tightened the chords of Neji's throat. A sure sign that the Hyūga was holding back whatever sounds or words might have slipped out against his will.
Way too stubborn. But the challenge made Shikamaru burn anew.
He could feel that heat building in his groin. He was already pulsing, already hard. What made it more maddening was the rigid heat he could feel grinding back against him as Neji rolled his hips and turned their bodies, shifting the path of their orbit around the room.
They passed in and out of the same slots of shadow and moonlight that they'd paced through before. Only this time the primal orbit wasn't a stalk. He had no idea whether it would lead to surrender. It didn't matter. The struggle was part of the storm they spiralled in, slowly pushing each other back and forth like opposing elements.
The desire simmered between them, sensual, seductive.
Slow… Shikamaru let his lips maraud the length of Neji's neck, dragging colour to the ivory surface, working the skin into a damp tingle and burn beneath his mouth. He felt the barest shudder along Neji's spine, which caused the Hyūga's step to falter, allowing the shadow-nin to take control of their circling once more.
He'd barely begun to turn them in a different direction before he felt Neji's hand snaking in a salacious glide up and under his black turtleneck, the Hyūga's cold fingertips following the lean ridges of his stomach.
That familiar static tingled along his skin.
Shikamaru's breath halted against the Jōnin's throat.
Neji must have felt it, because the Hyūga's mouth was as his ear a second later, tongue tracing the stud imbedded in the soft lobe.
"You're under my skin," the Jōnin murmured, those cultured tones dragging like raw silk against Shikamaru's already frazzled senses. "God, I need to tear you out."
The shadow-nin drew his head back, making a point of scraping his teeth along Neji's jaw before his lips skimmed gently back down it. "I know."
Damn, but he knew too well.
He felt the cool tips of Neji's fingers glide higher, tracing out the rungs of his ribs in a tantalising touch, barely there, ghost-like.
Ghost.
A whisper skittered across his mind.
"
He never stops haunting me…"
Shikamaru's eyes flickered open from their glazed half-mast, the echo of Neji's words causing a shift in his touch and his step. He planted his feet firmly, ceasing their backward pace.
"Neji."
"You're thinking too much," the Jōnin murmured, tilting his head to sweep a kiss across Shikamaru's mouth. "Don't."
"Thinking?" Shikamaru arched a brow. "Blood isn't exactly rushing to my
brain at the moment."
He felt Neji smile against his mouth, a soft, provocative curve of those lips against his – and it caused a different kind of warmth to chase through him.
"How subtle," Neji pressed their hips in a
non-too-subtle grind, illustrating Shikamaru's point with a firm nudge of blatant, bulging arousals.
Fuck… The catch of his breath didn't stop Neji's hand from coasting across his chest, the Hyūga's thumb arcing out to drag across a dusky nipple.
The feeling was electric.
He was surprise his clothing didn't crackle and hiss from the static when Neji peeled his black top off him with a patience the Hyūga seemed to lack a second before. Shikamaru caught Neji's wrists when those palms returned to stroke up along his sides. He tried to catch Neji's gaze too, but the Jōnin wouldn't allow it.
"Look at me," Shikamaru said quietly.
"Tch," Neji twisted his wrists free and Shikamaru watched those long fingers curl into loose fists. "Haven't you seen enough, Shikamaru?"
The weak trace of bitterness in those words didn't go undetected. Shikamaru frowned, raising one of his hands to slip his fingers beneath Neji's jaw. The Hyūga angled his chin away defiantly, pride hardening his jaw.
Shikamaru smiled faintly, tracing a knuckle down the Jōnin's throat instead, a dangerously tender thing to do. "Troublesome."
Neji blinked slowly at the soft catchphrase, flicking his gaze across. Shikamaru caught that shimmer of conflict in the pale eyes once again. He could easily read the signs, the subtle warnings of a tide about to turn. He grazed his knuckle back up and slipped his fingers around, kneading the Hyūga's tense nape.
"Hey," he murmured. "Don't make this about fighting."
"We're not fighting," Neji frowned.
"Not yet."
Neji's eyes reluctantly softened and the rigid clench at his jaw began to ease. Shikamaru saw it as an opening and took a lazy sway forward until their mouths were brushing again.
"Tonight, stop fighting."
Neji closed his eyes, his voice a rough whisper. "I can't."
Shikamaru drew back at the ragged pain pulling just beneath the surface of those words. He stared quietly at Neji for a moment, letting his eyes trace over the elegantly sculptured features, sharpened by shadow in the hollows of high, flushed cheeks. There was no mistaking the regal sensuality in Neji's face. But dark rings curved under those opalescent eyes and pain was etched into the smooth marble of his face.
There was no hiding the gaunt strain of exhaustion.
Shikamaru frowned. An uncomfortable feeling churned in his core, twisting the roaring flare of his arousal into something more controlled, but no less potent. The shadow-nin raised his fingers to trace out the shadows on Neji's face, following them down to the hollow of the Jōnin's throat, then down to the fold of the white robe.
"Neji," he said softly. "Stop fighting."
He kept his eyes on Neji's face, searching for a shift in the Hyūga's expression as he let his nimble fingers trace along the white seam. His thumb popped the button easily and he brushed aside the pale fabric to expose the leanly chiselled frame, marred with bruises.
Neji's eyes flickered open, but settled their glazed stare at Shikamaru's mouth rather than the dark eyes observing him.
Don't fight me… Shikamaru worked the words into his touch, raising his other hand to stroke up Neji's back, occasionally feeling the sliver of scars beneath his palm.
"Relax…" he said quietly.
Neji's breath shivered out on a sigh, causing Shikamaru's eyes to drop to the parted lips. He gazed through his lashes at the Hyūga's mouth, letting the callused pads of his fingers press gently along Neji's spine, following the curve of his left shoulder blade until he grazed a rough patch of scar tissue.
Shikamaru frowned.
Neji's eyes drifted shut.
The Nara traced out the ragged sphere of the scar with his fingertips, his gaze straying to the matching mark on Neji's chest, just to the left of his heart, where that ugly projectile had cut straight through him years before.
So close… "I had no intention of dying that day," Neji murmured, slipping his eyes open slowly with a weak smile.
Yeah, but you almost did… Shikamaru swallowed down the words, his thumb tracing circles around the scar on Neji's back. The guilt of what had happened to Chōji and Neji during his first Chūnin mission had been another regret cast to the back of his mind, locked away in a chamber of things he didn't let himself think about.
Guilt doesn't change anything… He felt Neji's lips smoothing across the frown he didn't realise was stamped into his brow, then felt that sultry voice at his ear. "I didn't lose then and I won't lose now."
You're wrong. Shikamaru bowed his head before he could let the words slip. He set his lips to the marked skin, hearing the sharp intake of Neji's breath as his tongue traced the scar.
God you're wrong… The Hyūga's fingertips came to settle at his nape, kneading lightly.
"Shikamaru…"
Shikamaru didn't reply.
Instead, he slowly sank to his knees, stroking his hands up along Neji's sides, letting his fingertips drag heat to the skin, rekindling the simmer between them. His lips were gentle as they began to map out the firm planes of Neji's chest, his tongue drawing invisible lines between the dark bruises, stopping above each one to press an open-mouthed kiss to the abused skin.
Neji's fingers dug into his nape.
He ignored it. They'd already crossed too many lines for him to stop now. He was too far gone to find the will to pull back. So he pushed that complicated want into his kisses, leaking it into each caress of his lips and tongue.
Slow… Shikamaru trailed his mouth to each bruised point again, his hands sliding around to Neji's back, up along flushed skin pulled taut over lean muscles. Muscles that flexed and shifted like marble coming alive beneath his touch.
Yes… A possessive kind of need seared through him, causing an accidental scrape of his teeth against Neji's ribs. The Jōnin arched with a breathy sigh, but the pleasure in the sound was undeniable. The response it evoked went straight to Shikamaru's groin.
Fuck… The shadow-nin drew a slow breath against his raging arousal, taking his time to trace his tongue along the dips of lean muscle which corrugated Neji's stomach. He barely felt the drag of Neji's fingers until a tug at is scalp caused him to pause. A second later he felt his hair fall free from its bind, then the dip of long fingers threading into the black strands.
Shikamaru froze for a moment.
He'd never let his hair down during sex before.
He'd joked about it being troublesome. He didn't expect it to make him feel exposed.
Stupid. It was more than stupid to feel exposed by something like that. Yet despite this, he still felt it. He didn't have time to consider why it bothered him before the discomfort was pulled away by the press of the Hyūga's fingers along his scalp, the tangle of those slender digits drawing his head back.
Neji's mouth swooped down across his. Shikamaru arched his neck, but the kiss wasn't the violent clash that he expected. Neji's tongue parted his lips in a slow, sensual slide, opening him up to the erotically deep, but painfully slow probe of the Hyūga's tongue.
So damned slow… Shikamaru hummed.
A taste of his own medicine; only he wasn't complaining. The taste was by no means something he didn't want to swallow, consume and completely possess.
Whoa. Careful. The word of caution blared in the back of his head. But Neji's mouthed moved above his in a way that short-circuited his brain. It stupefied him long enough for the Jōnin to kneel down without him realising Neji had moved. He only registered how close they were when the Hyūga's legs slid either side of his, bracketing him between the cloth-covered thighs.
A slow roll of Neji hips thrust their swollen lengths together, the feel of fabric dragging teasingly.
Shikamaru hissed against Neji's mouth, closing his eyes.
"So responsive," Neji said, speaking the words in a tone so low it was more a vibration that tingled along Shikamaru's nerves, rattling them up even more.
"Shit…" was his intelligent response.
Neji smiled against his lips. "Your body, at least."
"Shut up…" Shikamaru growled, but it was more playful than angry, his eyes narrowed in pleasure. "Blood not in brain."
"No need to convince me," Neji smiled, his lips framing an errant smirk.
Shit. Shikamaru cleared his throat, but his smartass retort was silenced by Neji's mouth.
Effective tactic. He should know, having used it before. Both of them smiled into the kiss, a slow and languid roll of tongues. Shikamaru bit down on the Hyūga's bottom lip as Neji drew back, the sharp nip eliciting a reflex tug on his hair.
"Ow?" Shikamaru joked. "That's a lame counter, Hyūga."
Neji's breathy chuckle fanned along his throat, but strangled into a gasp when Shikamaru rolled his hips, the friction so good it should have been wrong.
It is… Distraction came in the tickle of Neji's bangs as they stroked across his collarbone. Then the unmistakeable pinch of teeth worked along the strong curve of Shikamaru's shoulder, biting down at the nerve-filled junction.
Fuck! Shikamaru's eyes flew wide and he bucked with a growl, his shoulders lifting at the pressure. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin, and the lick of pain amidst the pleasure was chillingly arousing. Neji's tongue laved over the bite, a soft suction pulling hard enough to bruise before he kissed the marked spot.
Shikamaru tipped his head, breathing out a shaky curse. "Fuck…good counter…"
Neji hummed deeply, the sound resonating along Shikamaru's neck in a primal purr as rich and intoxicating as the next kiss they dipped into. Just as slow as the others, but twice as molten; their lust like lava and every bit a slow burn.
I want you… Shikamaru dragged his hands to the backs of Neji's thighs, tugging the Hyūga firmly onto his lap before dropping his grip to the firm glutes, kneading in time to the roll of their hips. Neji kept a hand fisted in his hair, the other wandering the burning planes of his back.
With every achingly slow grind of their hips, Shikamaru felt Neji's breaths drag into a deeper, heavier pant against his mouth. He knew he was breathing just as heavily, both of them saturated in the taste of each other.
It's not enough… Shikamaru slid his hands to the Hyūga's hips, stilling the delirious torture of their movement. "Neji…"
Neji frowned, slipping his lashes open to gaze down questioningly through clouded eyes. Shikamaru's breath caught as he lost himself in that glazed stare for a moment. Neji swallowed thickly, tilting his head like a confused animal.
"What?" he panted hoarsely.
Shikamaru blinked slowly, raising his hand to trace his thumb across the kiss-swollen mouth. He was amazed at his own control given that the pressure building in his groin was almost painful he was so damned hard. He didn't think it was possible to be any more aroused by a ninja that before two months ago hadn't had this kind of effect on him.
What changed? He watched Neji struggle for a moment, clearly grappling for the same kind of control over the raging need to grind, grip, ravish and release. He felt the Hyūga's fingers card back through his hair, kneading his scalp.
"If you ask me to stop, I might have to kill you," the Hyūga teased.
Shikamaru knew it was a joke, in fact, he willed what was left of his brainpower to send the signal to his face to smile, smirk or snicker.
Dammit. Smile. He couldn't.
His eyes traced the path of his thumb as it drew across Neji's lips, following the Hyūga's weak smile instead.
Why can't you see what you're doing to yourself? "Shikamaru?"
The Nara glanced up through his lashes with a faint smirk. It was a pathetic imitation of his normal smile and he knew it. Unfortunately, Neji knew it too. The Hyūga cocked his head the other way, humming as he leaned down. Shikamaru tilted his head up to accept the kiss, returning it with a little more force than he intended. He felt Neji's hesitation, probably confused at how uncharacteristically volatile he was being.
Calm down… Shikamaru relaxed into the kiss, lifting up slowly to press forward. Neji, his balance compromised, tilted back at an incline without submitting to lay down.
So damned stubborn. Shikamaru had to smile at that, drawing back a little to settle their gazes. "You're not gonna make this easy, are you?"
Neji arched a brow. "Don't get overconfident."
Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm not asking for that."
"Then what are you asking for?" Neji asked, caution leaking into his voice.
"Nothing," Shikamaru tilted his head, pressing his lips to Neji's throat. "Nothing you won't let me take."
"I will not give you that control," Neji said, an unmistakeable edge to his tone.
Shikamaru's eyes flashed.
For some reason, these words struck a raw nerve in him.
He didn't expect it to sting so damned bad.
He growled and snapped his hands to Neji's hips, tugging the Hyūga against him in an ardent if not aggressive crush of their groins, making no attempt to play it subtle as the thick heat of his erection ground against Neji's answering arousal.
"Control? I want you. You want me." Shikamaru said lowly, his tone calmer than the fire in his eyes. "Don't make this about control."
Neji's eyes narrowed and Shikamaru found them scrutinising him mercilessly.
The shadow-nin stared back, the anger easing off slowly. "Dammit, Neji. I'm not trying to take anything away from you."
Neji's lips tightened before the Hyūga shut his eyes. Shikamaru didn't know what to expect after that, but it sure as hell wasn't a tired sigh shadowed with pain.
"Don't you see?" Neji shook his head. "You already have."
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed in confusion, then gentled into a softer gaze. He stroked his hands up from Neji's hips to the Hyūga's shoulder blades, then back down, repeating the motion in slow, easy sweeps. The storm that had stirred up between them settled for a moment, leaving them in the eye of it.
They hovered in an easy calm that took the edge off Shikamaru's arousal and allowed him to think clearly enough to stay still – so long as they didn't
move, he could attempt to pull back the magma flaring in his blood.
He'd almost convinced himself that he could stop.
Until Neji began to move.
Shikamaru's hands paused as he felt the muscles in Neji's back shift beneath his palms; fluid and smooth as the Hyūga raised his kneel slightly. The pale slabs of Neji's stomach rippled with tension against his, tightening as the Jōnin shifted his hips, grinding down slowly.
Holy fuck…he's trying to kill me… Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut, a throaty groan catching behind the clench of his teeth. "Neji…I can't stop this time if you start."
"Why stop?" Neji breathed, his voice as smooth as black satin and twice as dark as it caressed the shell of Shikamaru's ear in a sultry murmur. "When I haven't torn you up yet, Nara?"
Shikamaru's resolve shattered.
Denied arousal hit him like a drug-rush the second Neji's teeth sank lightly into the curve of his shoulder. His neglected length thickened and stiffened to a granite proportion he didn't think should have been possible.
Any chance of stopping was obliterated.
They'd not only crossed the line now, they'd scrubbed it out and shot to hell any chance of redefining it.
I don't care… Shikamaru didn't give Neji a chance to grind down before he rocked forward, toppling the Hyūga onto his back and coming up on top like a thing possessed. He smashed their lips with a growl, earning him a responding buck of Neji's hips.
Not enough…it's not enough… The chafing confines of their pants caused them to break apart long enough to tear the remaining clothes off each other. The cold air dragged across their bodies, but the second sweat-slick skin connected they rubbed each other warm with every glide and grasp.
More… Shikamaru's fingers locked around Neji's wrists like manacles, slamming them down as he plundered the hot, moist mouth that opened up for him but didn't submit. Their tongues warred and danced, sliding as fiercely as their skin. With every roll of their hips, leaking shafts wept between the rigid planes of their stomachs.
So good…too good… He felt the bones in Neji's wrists grind just as the Jōnin tore his lips away, his voice rasping through the balmy air. "Let me go…"
Shikamaru flexed his fingers – then released the Hyūga's wrists.
He used his free hands to brace himself instead, turning to let his tongue trace along Neji's throat, catching trails of salt with a growl. The musky scent of sex blistered between them, raw and carnal.
It was ripping him up.
He heard Neji's breath fire out in staggered pants, drawing his mouth back to the Hyūga's lips. The kiss was hungry, almost starved. Neji's fingers carved through his hair, down along his nape, pulling him closer, anchoring them into the kiss.
God I want you… If bodies could speak, they were saying the same thing. Over and over with every grind of their hips until Shikamaru felt that rapture beginning to tingle at the base of his spine, spiralling through him and pushing him higher.
"Fuck…Neji…" he hissed, his fingers gnarling against the floor either side of Neji's shoulders.
"Come," the slick dip of Neji's tongue traced his lips. "Let me see this…tear you up…"
Shikamaru clenched his jaw around a groan. How the
hell could Neji manage a coherent sentence? He was having trouble forming a coherent thought. The shadow-nin slipped his eyes open to a vision of struggling control. The strain was pulled across Neji's face in an erotic sheen, flushed and glistening.
Neji was teetering on the same brink, just holding on tighter.
God…so...fucking…stubborn… Shikamaru growled, reaching between their bodies to take the Hyūga's swollen length in hand. Neji jolted up, sliding his elbows beneath him, trying to control the pace only to freeze halfway into the effort with a ragged gasp as Shikamaru twisted his wrist in a slow squeeze.
"Don't fight this," Shikamaru panted, dragging the tight tunnel of his fist along the slick column, tracing the pulsing vein with his thumb. "Let go…"
"No…"
Shikamaru shuddered, fighting back his release. "Yes."
"Fuck…" Neji tensed up, a judder running along his spine. "Ngh…"
"Neji…"
Neji's eyes rolled back, his hips rising in a jerk. "
Gods…"
Yes… Shikamaru leaned in just as Neji's head tipped back. He caught the Hyūga's mouth with his own the second the Jōnin's lips parted in a silent scream. Just the feel of Neji's body arching beneath him was enough to trigger his own release.
It ripped through him with the force of a cyclone.
They crashed into their climaxes in a wash of wet heat, gripping each other to keep from coming apart completely. The world came apart instead, torn into ribbons of pleasure that swirled between them and
through them in a dizzying spiral, uncoiling the tension and leaving utter weightlessness behind.
Holy…shit… Shikamaru groaned, lost in the hum of the warmth buzzing through him. It was even more dizzying than the first time they'd lost themselves in this.
He felt numb and tender all at the same time, almost inebriated.
God…so good… He drifted in the sated haze, heart attempting to right its rhythm. He was barely cognizant of the stroke of fingers along his spine and the pant of breath against his ear; warm against the cool seeping in around them.
Dammit…why are we always on the floor? Slowly, he slipped his eyes open. It took him a moment to realise he was gazing at the slant of Neji's jaw, bathed in a segment of moonlight. A few mocha strands were plastered to the sharp edge and along Neji's neck. The Hyūga's throat rippled slightly with every pant.
"Neji…" Shikamaru croaked out.
No response.
Shit. A trickle of tension leaked into Shikamaru's body. He attempted to coordinate his limbs, dragging his hand free from between their bodies before planting his elbows beneath him. He propped himself up above the quiet Jōnin, casting Neji in his shadow.
"Neji…"
Shikamaru frowned at the tickle against his face, then realised it was his hair. He flicked it back only to have it fall forward again.
Troublesome… He blinked when he felt Neji's fingers drag back through the dark strands, pulling them away from his face. He gazed down at the pale eyes watching him through heavy lids.
"Thanks," Shikamaru rasped dryly, offering an uncertain smile. "You just saved me whiplash."
Neji blinked slowly, his lips curving a little.
In the darkness his features were slightly obscured, but Shikamaru could detect the guarded expression on the Hyūga's face. It surprised him. But he didn't expect it to cause a sharp pull across his chest.
Damn… Shikamaru hovered uncertainly for a moment, not sure whether to pull away or lean forward. So he remained still, trying not to let a chill of regret creep in around the warmth that had just ensconced them. He felt Neji's fingertips pressing along his scalp lightly, moving down to his nape by degrees.
Say something… Neji said nothing, just observed him through those opal slivers.
Their panting had eased into a slow lull of breath now, passing back and forth between them, carrying unspoken words. Shikamaru parted his lips to speak but was cut off when Neji shook his head. The moonlight gleamed off the Hyūga's headband again, flashing like a warning between them. Shikamaru frowned and made to draw back, but Neji's grip at his nape stopped him, pulling him down instead.
Their mouths settled in an uncertain nudge.
What's wrong? Shikamaru wanted to ask. But he wasn't so sure he wanted the answer. So he let the question slip away and parted his lips for Neji's tongue, shuttering his gaze as the Jōnin's slick muscle snaked alongside his.
What was previously a hungry thrust was now a slick, steady roll. Something else leaked into the sensuality of the kiss. Shikamaru couldn't define it, it was like catching the taste of something foreign and knowing it would linger afterwards to irritate him as he tried to figure out what it was.
The lingering kiss deepened between them and Shikamaru couldn't help but feel that Neji was searching for something.
What's wrong…? He slipped his hand to Neji's jaw, his thumb massaging the hinge gently. The Hyūga's tongue slowly withdrew from his mouth, leaving their lips to hover close.
"You okay?" Shikamaru whispered, arching a brow unintentionally.
Neji smiled, amusement lightening the odd shadow in his eyes. "Do you want a report on your performance, Nara?"
That was a damn prelude, not a performance. Shikamaru let that playful response slide and instead arched his other brow, completely intentional now. "Results speak for themselves."
Neji released a throaty chuckle. "How humble of you."
Shikamaru smiled slightly at the relaxed expression on Neji's face, the odd look that had haunted it moments before no longer detectable. He leaned down to nip at Neji's collarbone, eliciting an approving sigh. The sound caused his skin to prickle. And when he dragged his tongue across the salty ridge of Neji's throat, the taste provoked a deeper hunger
. The desire for something else dancing on his tongue.
A resurgent heat pooled inside him, stirring him into a state of half-hard arousal. Neji must have felt it prodding his hip, because the Hyūga went very still.
"Shikamaru…"
A sudden, inexplicable desire pushed Shikamaru to move in ways he didn't think he'd want to move, pushed him to take things he never thought he'd want to take.
I want you… Neji tilted his head down. "What are you doing?"
"This," Shikamaru returned, trailing his mouth lower as he began to shift down the Hyūga's body, his tongue dragging through the sticky cream splashed across Neji's abdomen.
He felt Neji arch with a hiss, no longer still beneath his questing mouth; coming to life again as if being breathed into. Shikamaru let the foreign taste dance on his tongue, never having thought he'd ever be in the position to want something like this.
Dammit, I want him so bad I can't think straight… Thinking had nothing to do with it. It was instinct. Raw and primal, and it sank its claws into him, gripping as firmly as he gripped Neji's hips, holding the Hyūga down as he marked out a hot, wet path of kisses along the sensitive dip where groin met thigh.
Neji's fingers raked into his hair, tightening. "Gods, stop…"
Shikamaru arched a brow, glancing up through his lashes and past the proud, hot flesh jutting from Neji's groin. "You sure about that?"
"Fuck," Neji panted, trying to glare down. "Bastard…"
"You want this."
"Shikamaru…"
Shikamaru smiled, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles at the sharp hipbones. "Not convinced."
"You've proved your point…" Neji growled shakily, levering himself onto his elbows.
Shikamaru raised his head, his mouth placed precariously close to the moist crown of the Jōnin's thick arousal. It was all the
point either of them needed.
Shikamaru arched a brow.
Neji glared and an icy warning flickered just beneath his lust.
Alright…time to back off… Shikamaru hummed, kissing his way back up along the tense body, feeling Neji relax a little beneath him when he settled his lips at the Hyūga's ear.
"You want me," Shikamaru bit down lightly at the fleshy lobe. "I want you. Stupid simple."
Neji snorted, but Shikamaru could detect the amusement in the sound. "How seductive."
"Yeah well," Shikamaru's laugh rattled hoarsely and he tilted his head to catch Neji's lips. "Blood not in brain."
Neji rolled his eyes and smiled, muttering something that Shikamaru muffled with his mouth then silenced with his tongue. He drank down the offered groan with a deep hum, easing into a slow kiss. Their tongues slid together lazily, sharing the lingering taste of each other until they broke apart for air.
"You're a pain," Shikamaru muttered, dropping his brow to Neji's shoulder as he tried to will his arousal away.
Fuuuck. "You started it," Neji muttered back, attempting to nudge Shikamaru off him.
Shit. Shikamaru groaned. "Fuck, Neji, don't move."
Neji snorted, stroking a hand down his back. "We can't stay like this, Shikamaru."
No shit. I'm so hard I could cut fucking glass… "Dammit." The shadow-nin scowled against Neji's shoulder, his voice strained. "You might have some kind of Hyūga tantric control but I
don't, alright? Give me a minute…"
Shikamaru dragged in a slow breath, only to expel it in a shudder when Neji's mouth smoothed along his shoulder straight to his ear, murmuring softly. "I'll give you something else. But it will take more than a minute."
Fuck… Shikamaru clenched his fingers at Neji's hips with a hiss. "Ugh…are you trying to kill me?"
The husky chuckle at his ear almost undid him right then and there. "If this kills you, Shikamaru, it'll be the best way to go…"
Shikamaru was certain his brain shut down at the same moment his eyes drifted shut. He'd later have the vague recollection of being rolled onto his back, his mouth plundered by a tongue that was way too talented at working him into a fever and the feel of a lean, sculpted frame dragging across his in a way that felt so damned right, he forgot all the reasons it should have been wrong.
