Sway

Naruto was as he had left him. Engaged in a fitful sleep. Neji padded across the room soundlessly, slipping into the bed beside him. He wondered how often Naruto had nightmares. With no one to comfort him upon waking, and no telling the depths to which they dragged him.

Naruto made a sound that was half growl, half whine if it were possible. His trained shinobi senses dulled to inefficiency by whatever visions currently taunting him. Turning roughly to his side, he threw an arm out, fingers stretching, face scrunched in upset.

“Sasuke…”

Neji was unprepared for the sharp stab of pain. Like a newly sharpened kunai being driven forcefully into his chest by a heavy hand.

“Sasuke…”

And it was a plead. A longing whine that forced Neji to grab his shoulders and force him unto his back. It was necessary for the genjutsu, he reminded himself, as he pulled the blond close in one quick motion, crushing their lips together.

There was an instant, as the genjutsu activated, that felt like everything had gone still. The reality warping wisps of chakra crawling slowly upward. Unfurling with not a single ounce of haste, like flowers in bloom. Naruto’s hands reaching out to clasp at his shirt in surprise. Grabbing at the fabric with a force not unlike the one needed to properly strangle someone.

His blue eyes opened wide, meeting Neji’s own concealed gray ones. A slew of untamed, raw emotions traversed the shallow depths, withholding nothing in a single instantaneous revelation. The speed with which Naruto was able to tamper the emotions down however, shocked Neji more, than half of what he had thought he’d seen. After all, Naruto was the kind to wear his heart on his sleeve. He was not accustomed to the blond suddenly shoving it in his pocket.

Those too few seconds that held their lips together, the necessary requirement for the genjutsu’s activation, seemed a lifetime. And as the illusion settled firmly into place around them, they both withdrew with a sharp defensive pull to their features.

Neji looked directly at him, but the blond looked away. “Naruto, we need to talk.”

Naruto sighed. He had likely been expecting this. Would probably do his best to weasel out of it, as he always did when uncomfortable. Neji was determined not to allow him the opening.

Much to his surprise, however, Naruto merely sighed, folding his hands in his lap, squeezing them tightly. He did not laugh carelessly, or get angry and shout at him for awakening him. He did not move at all, save an attempt to not meet Neji’s eyes.

Taking Naruto’s acquiescence in relative stride, Neji began without preamble.

“Who was your father, Naruto?”

Apparently, Naruto was not expecting a question along those lines. For he looked up sharply, staring at the brunette for all the world like he was a stranger.

Neji waited patiently for the answer. And seeing he was not about to relent, Naruto heaved a long, exhausted sigh and scrubbed at his hair in a gesture that was purely him. Had his hair been the cut it generally was – an untamed mass of disordered spikes – the action would have forced his hair to stand at a new, awkward angle. Neji could almost picture it. Frowning internally when his mental vision did not coincide with what his eyes were reporting.

“I don’t know,” he replied. The waver to his voice – something Neji had only witnessed once before – told the determined brunette that this conversation would be the hardest they’d ever had. He would likely have to fight Naruto for future answers. And without the option of hitting him, or torture – one did not torture their comrade’s without reason – Neji was left virtually at a loss as to a means to persuade him.

“You’d have to have wondered-”

“Of course I’ve wondered!” Naruto snapped. There was a sharpness to his eyes. A swirling pool that threatened to engulf them soon. Neji edged onward regardless.

“Have you asked the-”

“Don’t you think I WANT to know?!” the blond replied, suddenly fiercely angry. “Of course I’ve asked the Hokage! Both of them! The old man wouldn’t tell me, and the old hag claims she doesn’t know! I used to ask everyone! No one told me. I figured I had to come from somewhere, but no one said a word. And yes, I’ve checked the stone!” He had beaten Neji to the question, eyes flaring dangerously. “I’ve even checked the village records. No Uzumakis. Not ONE! Just me…I-”

“Naruto,” Neji replied, reaching to still his trembling. His hand upon the blond’s arm seemed a strange and unfamiliar gesture, yet, soothed him as he imagined it soothed Naruto, who at the touch, stopped moving.

Naruto heaved another sigh, visibly deflating. “I don’t know who my family was, Neji, or if I even had one.” He looked up, the depth of pain he was attempting to conceal so overwhelming, it leaked through his control. It was like looking at a new person, with his friend’s face.

Where was the loudmouthed prankster? The conniving adolescent? Where had the bright, happy, endlessly energetic Naruto gone? ‘Who are you?’ he wanted to ask. ‘Did I ever know you at all?’

“Why is it important now? We’re on a mission. It’s not important.”

“It is important,” Neji insisted. Naruto pulled away, hugging his arm to his chest, shoulders curling defensively. Neji internally sighed. “I’ve come to realize, this mission is more than just a chance to serve our village.”

Naruto looked at him through the corner of reluctant eyes.

Neji was unsure of how to proceed. He hadn’t thought he’d have to admit to anything. He didn’t think it would be necessary for him to divulge himself any further. Unfortunately, it seemed, this was not the case. Naruto would only listen if it seemed they were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. Then he would be opinionated, confident. He would be himself.

Neji desperately wanted Naruto to be himself again.

It was what he’d wanted since Sasuke had forced the blond to be concerned over nothing but his selfishness. Something he’d wanted for years now. Something he doubted he’d get. Simply because Naruto could never go back to who he was. Not without Sasuke.

That hurt most of all.

His options were limited. He would have to sacrifice to gain. This was the territory of Naruto’s hidden past. The secrets of his soul that he seemed all too eager to build over. To forget and surrender to the winds of time, never to see them again. If there was one thing Neji was sure of, it was that doing so was impossible. Try as you might, the past always came back to haunt you.

Naruto had taught him to be unafraid of it. To face it like a shinobi. Standing tall, chin held high. To allow it to rush you, and know you were the stronger.

Naruto had given him the strength. Naruto had given them all strength. In doing so, had he so depleted his own reserves, that his spine dipped so pathetically at the mention of a past he was unsure of? Just what had caused Naruto to so graciously dole out exactly what was needed to correct the haggard, jagged cracks and unfathomable holes within the souls of others, but be incapable of more than laying a thin hanging tarp upon his own?

This would change everything, a voice in the back of his mind registered. For once, Neji ignored it.

“This mission is a chance for you to heal, Naruto.”

The blond blinked at him. For one odd, hanging moment, Neji thought he might laugh. He didn’t. Instead, he shook his head. “There’s nothing to fix, Neji. This is who I am. I thought you knew that.”

“I knew you were obnoxious,” he replied, fingers moving of their own accord to caress the weaker jaw of Naruto’s illusion. “I knew you were overconfident. I knew that you were opinionated, and pushy, and careless.”

Naruto gave something akin to a snort.

“I knew there was more, but I was unwilling to see it. Naruto…” He tilted the blond’s head up by gently guiding his chin. “Let me see you.”

The tension eased as the blond’s eyes welled up. It was perhaps, mildly predictable – Naruto had never been ashamed to shed tears when warranted – and in that, it was comforting. Neji was also aware that this was a part of the healing process, which he had so desperately fought.

He had tried so hard not to cry after Naruto had shown him his true self. After Naruto had given him a glimpse of who he could be. He had done well. Ignoring it until it made him ill. And he heaved for hours, until his whole body ached, and his fingers grew cramped, and he shook so violently, the tears were finally freed.

He’d felt so much better after, though he had not acted any differently. It was not the change on the outside that mattered, he knew. But the changes inside, that once accepted could lift years worth of emotional baggage in one fell swoop.

Naruto attempted to duck his head, as the tears slipped free, but Neji held him firm. Somewhere, he registered feeling vaguely cheated. The eyes the tears poured out from were too narrow. The cheeks they slipped down too round. Skin unblemished by birthmarks like whiskers. Dripping off a chin that was far too curved.

Hands too thin and delicate wiped at them. Breath hitching in a chest the wrong shape.

“Naruto…” he whispered, causing the blonde to look up. He found himself stroking the side of his face, the length of his hair. “I want to see you. Change back.”

The blond sobbed then, throwing himself into Neji’s half startled embrace.

“I wish I could…” he replied.

Confused, Neji drew him free of his chest. Naruto gave a sniff, rubbing at his nose with a wrist that looked ridiculously all too breakable.

“Why can’t you?” he asked, voice so soft he wasn’t entirely certain it was his.

Naruto swallowed. “The jutsu’s not an illusion, Neji,” he replied. “My Sexy-no-jutsu, my Harem-no-jutsu…they’re real. This is my new body now. At least until this is over.”

“But you could-”

Naruto shook his head. “If I did, it would attract our enemies. We can't risk it.”

Neji was more surprised that Naruto had thought it through clearly, than of the confirmation of his fears. They were real. The breasts. The curves. The dip between his legs. All of it. He swallowed, unable to process the gravity of their situation at the moment.

If Naruto couldn’t change back for a year, how was he to be sure that what he felt was real? How could he survive an entire year of feeling this way? He wasn't strong enough.

“Neji…?” Naruto whispered, a bit breathless as Neji’s fingertips grazed a hidden nipple.

“Shh…” he replied, moving to kiss him.

Naruto moaned softly and opened his mouth. As Neji’s tongue slipped inside, he wondered if this taste was truly Naruto’s or a product of the jutsu. If he concentrated enough, perhaps…

The blond gasped, fingers curling in dark hair as Neji thrust his tongue deeper.

They lay back against the bed, mouths connected, hands roaming one another. Neji’s hands seemed to be conflicting with his mental picture. Expecting to meet hard, smooth planes, there was only the dip of a feminine belly. A curving that followed a hip that should jut out at a sharp angle. Muscles moving beneath skin all the wrong shape for a shinobi who had spent his entire life training.

And what was worse, was the way Naruto’s legs opened wide, his belly fitting into the welcoming ‘V’ with no length to greet him, to let him know how he was doing. The wetness that greeted his hand was not the wetness he had expected to feel. The nub beneath his thumb, not the hard curvature he’d been aching to touch.

Still, as he moved, hand between Naruto’s legs, tongue imbedded in the blond’s mouth, he could not stop the harshness of his breath. The ragging of his heart in his chest.

Naruto wound his arms about his neck, curling hands in his hair, and tugging in need at his shoulders. The length and shape of the nails that left scratches in his skin not the blunt scrape he’d thought he wanted. Yet they sent shivers up and down his body. Caused a quaking in his belly he’d never quite experienced.

And this…this was natural, wasn’t it?

It was instinct. There wasn’t any finer details to point out, or things to be prepared for. This was an act as old as time itself. Something that had rarely ever need explaining in the hot throes of passion that wound bodies about one another until they connected.

Naruto gasped, clutching at him as his fingers sunk into welcoming heat. He twisted them about, and the blond squirmed. “Feels weird,” he volunteered, as Neji’s mouth left his to trail down his neck. He moaned as Neji curled his fingers, angling them and began shallow thrusts. His thumb continuing it’s slow wind.

After a few moments, Naruto’s hips were quivering, and Neji’s mouth found a breast, sucking the nipple.

“Neji…” the blond growled. His hands slipped free of Neji’s skin to tug forcefully at his shirt.

Neji shifted to look at him.

It was strange. He could almost see Naruto behind that face. In those eyes.

He allowed his clothes to be tugged from his body, Naruto groaning in upset when his hands became displaced. The blond removed his own as quickly, before wrapping long limbs about the brunette and dragging him back into the bed.

“Naruto…” Neji said uncertainly.

“Neji…” he moaned, arching up in want.

The forced movement to remove their clothes however, had been enough to jar Neji’s mind back into a semblance of focus. What the hell where they doing?

Naruto’s hand gripped him, fuzzing his clarity. A few strokes later, and Neji couldn’t remember why he wanted to protest to begin with. His hips thrust into the hand, his own hands curling into the bed sheets at the blond’s sides.

“Neji…” Naruto whispered, drawing him into a deep kiss.

Neji couldn’t recall if Naruto’s new form had been purposely tailored to be shorter, or if there was in fact, this much of a height difference between them. All he knew, was he had to push up to angle their mouths correctly.

He felt a leg curl about him, a hand flex over the muscles of his firm rear. Another hand. Wait…Heels dug into the mattress, ankles resting above the curves of his knees as he was suddenly welcomed into the others body. His own hips shoved froward, as Naruto’s thrust up. By the time his mind screamed to stop, he’d already penetrated.

Naruto gave a sharp cry, hissing through his teeth. His eyes were squeezed shut, and the limbs about Neji tightened significantly. Neji gave an internal sigh. That was Naruto. Always rushing forward recklessly without bothering with the fine print.

Neji reached up to stroke his arms, feeling the trickle elsewhere. He kissed the corner of one eye, and then the other. The tip of his nose. “This is why you should always think before you act,” he chided gently.

Naruto released the breath he’d been holding. “Fuck…”

Neji reached between them to stroke his belly, the area about Naruto’s belly button feeling suddenly hot in places. Slowly the blond relaxed, legs shifting in an attempt at some form of comfort, given the position.

“You should cancel your plans for tomorrow,” Neji informed him.

“Why?” he asked, through a soft pant.

“Because,” Neji replied, drawing back slowly. Naruto grimaced slightly. “The villagers will be able to tell.”

“To tell, wh-UH!”

Neji could not help the hint of a smile that graced his face. He pulled back and thrust forward again. Naruto’s belly gave an odd sort of quiver. His blue eyes were half lidded, and if Neji concentrated on them alone, he found this whole ordeal felt significantly less awkward – despite feeling so, so good.

“That you’re no longer a virgin,” he whispered against Naruto’s ear. Naruto shivered, and the lack of an outburst to the contrary made Neji’s heart sing. Naruto may not have been in the right body for it, but Neji was the one who had met his virginity. The one who – though pushed – could lay claim to it.

“Relax, Naruto,” he murmured against his neck, his heart ready to explode with happiness.

“Mmm,” replied the blond, who was already trying to regain control, shoving up in an attempt to make Neji move faster. But Neji refused. He wanted to enjoy this. He wanted to remember this. He wanted to burn this so deeply into Naruto’s body, it would be him he called out for in his sleep.

Hyuuga Neji, who would be right beside him. A deeper part of him, than Sasuke could ever be. He hoped.

He knew it was different from the way his mind had been forming it in secret dreams that plagued him. But, the simple fact was, Naruto was sharing something with him, Neji had never dared to consciously consider. Even as the body beneath his shook, inner walls clamping tightly and shuddering violently about him as the other’s orgasm washed over him. Even as soft breasts pressed hard against his chest, and a long neck jutted a heart shaped face back toward the wall.

As he pushed forward once more. Twice. As he gripped the body beneath his. Three times. There was one thing that remained the same. Four…He cried out, body caving to the intense pleasure, exploding outward and rendering him boneless.

Hands stroked his sweat soaked hair, blue eyes shinning, as a wide grin like a fox’s engulfed a small mouth. This was Naruto.

And that was all that mattered.