The Way Things Were and Are

Yay! I've updated! And it's a Shikamaru/Neji chapter. Hooray! lol It's just cute, so nothing smutty in this one. Sorry. Hope you guys like it anyhow. :) Happy reading!

REVIEW REPLIES:

Ino-chan: I love Gaara too. I wish I was better at pulling off Lee/Gaara stuff. XP Glad you liked it though! Hopefully you'll enjoy this too.

yuurimaoh: Lee has his dark side too. Of course he's not going to settle for not having sex in the day. And he will do everything to chance Gaara's mind. Knowing Lee...that's really not surprising. XD And poor Neji, eh?

charmpit: Oh, I'm glad you thought so. I really think I'm bad at it though. ^_^; Thanks anyway. :)

jess249: Hee, yes, no sex during the day. Poor Lee! lol I'm sure he'll do whatever he can to change Gaara's mind. haha I'm glad that you think I did OK on a Lee/Gaara story. :)

Annieme: Aw, thank you! I'm really glad you though it was OK. :D Makes me very happy to know that. Happy reading!

Mina: I hear that a lot actually, of people reading over my stories again. I'm glad that people like it so much. :) Hopefully you'll like this chapter.

Chibi-Berry: Thank you so much. :) I hope you'll like the update. :D

Lady Laran: Aw, thanks! I'm sure you'll like this chapter, but thanks nonetheless!!!

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Side 5

“Hey, Neji-“

The Hyuuga looked over to his fiancé and frowned at the look on his face. He knew that look from anywhere. “No. Absolutely not, Shikamaru.”

“Oh come on,” Shikamaru smirked. “It would be fun.” He slowly turned and started to crawl towards the white eyed nin when the Nara’s mother came back into the room.

Yoshino didn’t even notice her son snapping back to his position on the couch, sitting up right like the man beside him. Shikaku came in after her, sitting down across from the couple on another couch, next to his wife. He’d been surprised, like Shikamaru, when Yoshino had invited Neji over for lunch. He’d been happy though, watching as his wife was trying to make a move in accepting the fact that Neji and Shikamaru were getting married.

Neji would have laughed at Shikamaru’s actions if he hadn’t been concerned with pleasing his mother. “Thank you for inviting me here today. I’m very much honored to be here in your home.”

“Oh,” Yoshino smiled, though it wasn’t entirely sincere, “I thought it would be nice to sit here together and have lunch as…a family.”

Neji knew the woman really didn’t fully mean the words, but it still make him warm inside. He bowed politely once again. “Nonetheless, I thank you profoundly.”

Yoshino stared at him for a moment before she sharply turned her eyes to her son. “Why can’t you be that polite?”

Shikamaru yawned. “I only do as I’ve been taught.”

Neji resisted the urge to smack his fiancé’s arm, choosing to send a glare instead. He really would have to work on the man’s manners. “I-I’m sure he could be, if he wasn’t so…laid back.”

The Nara woman snorted. “If there’s anyone who knows how lazy he is, it’s me.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Neji nodded, doing his best not to laugh.

“And don’t you try to make his faults sound so simple all the time,” Yoshino ordered, looking terribly serious, ignoring her son as he rolled his eyes. “They’re the worst they can be. He’s lazy, not laid back.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Neji was going to have to get used to using terms that weren’t polite to use in front of Shikamaru’s parents. It would seem they didn’t want the formality.

“Don’t let her whip you too soundly, Neji,” Shikamaru muttered, resting his head in his chin.

“It’s called being respectful and agreeable, Shikamaru,” Neji informed, trying to keep his voice from sounding too cold or harsh. “You should try it.”

Shikamaru shrugged. “Eh, too much work.”

Neji loved the Nara, he had no doubts, but there were times that he would definitely try Neji’s patience. Wisely, he remained silent after that, choosing not to say anything that would make him lose his cool. He watched as his fiancé grabbed a grape and popped the fruit into his mouth, the noise of the squish the only sound echoing through the room. Neji wanted so badly to squirm in discomfort, but resisted the urge. It had gotten very awkward very quickly.

“Ah, well, I’m going to see if the bread’s done,” Yoshino stated, standing up. “Please, excuse me.” Shikaku excused himself as well, following after his wife into the kitchen, sending a look to Shikamaru that was easily read as “behave”.

Slowly, Neji let out a deep sigh, his eyes closing as his body lost its tension. Shikamaru, however, didn’t seem to be bothered by the tension in the room at all. Snapping his eyes open, Neji gave his fiancé a good smack on the arm. “You should be more polite towards your parents.”

“Why?” Shikamaru asked, raising a brow and rubbing his sore arm.

“They’ve taken care of you for so many years, they deserve at least that,” Neji stated. “Even coming from someone as lazy as you.”

It was rare for anything to truly grate on Shikamaru’s nerves, but Neji seemed to be hitting the spot today. “It’s not as if you would know.”

Neji was stunned. Never, in his entire life, had anyone ever said something so pointed about him not having the company of either of his parents. Blinking, he turned his attention back to the coffee table, not sure of what he should say or do next. The comment had stung, terribly so. Why Shikamaru had said something so hurtful, he’d never know, but it hurt. He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip, trying to keep his emotions under control.

Shikamaru had realized his error the moment the words had sprung from his mouth and Neji’s silence was only a confirmation of that. “Neji, look, I-“

“Don’t,” Neji said softly, which was so uncharacteristic for him that it made the Nara pause, even if it was just momentarily. “I should not…lecture about points I don’t fully understand. You have my apologies.”

The Nara hated that part of his fiancé. Hated the part the reverted to nothing put polite formality when he was hurt. It was an almost mechanical form a speech in his mind. It was Neji’s failsafe when he was at a loss of what to say or do. It was the only indication that Shikamaru would ever receive that he’d really and truly caused the Hyuuga pain, whether it was of the physical, mental, or emotional kind. This time it was clearly the emotional. The words were always colder when that part was hit.

“Neji, I was out of line-“Shikamaru started, only to be interrupted again.

“As was I.”

Shikamaru sighed again and slapped his hand against his forehead, trying to think of a way to undo what he had just done. And the best way was to fluster the Hyuuga. He smirked. Oh yes, he could definitely deal with his fiancé’s hurt this way. He loved his quick brain sometimes. Leaning forward and grabbing one of the blood oranges from the fruit bowl, he started to peel it, acting as if he was going to forget the conversation they’d just had. And to a sense, he was.

Neji was partially disappointed that the other hadn’t tried harder to comfort him and it made the ache hurt even worse, as if making a statement that what Shikamaru had said was true. And it was, but not to the degree Neji was carrying it out. He didn’t even notice the Nara placing a piece of the blood orange in his mouth. At least, not until the other turned his head and shoved the other half into his mouth and started to kiss him.

The Hyuuga’s eyes snapped wide open and he tried to protest, only to have the Nara’s tongue slip inside his mouth. His hands moved to shove the other away, but Shikamaru had obviously anticipated that and his own hands moved to counter the action. His tanned fingers wrapped around Neji’s pale wrists and held them back, his head pushing forward to make sure that Neji couldn’t break the kiss, no matter what he did.

A loud protesting hum escaped Neji’s mouth as he was pushed back till he was lying on the cushions of the couch. He was trying to get Shikamaru to get off of him, but it wasn’t working and his mouth could only try and fight back in the kiss. Another protesting sound escaped his lips when a small trail of blood orange juices started to leak from the side of his mouth, slowly making its way down his chin and looking very much like the liquid the fruit was named after.

Shikamaru didn’t miss this and pulled away, leaving the other breathless. He quickly, but sensually traveled down the small trail, gathering all of the juice on his tongue. Neji, however, quickly finished the fruit in his mouth and started to protest Shikamaru’s actions verbally, only to make the Nara return and close his mouth again with his own. He tried to jerk his head away, which forced Shikamaru to place both of his wrists in one hand and the other coming and holding his head still.

When he realized that he wasn’t going to win this, Neji let out a frustrated breath from his nose, and started to kiss the other back. Maybe if he could get the other to loosen his grip, he could break away and then beat the other. Unfortunately, Yoshino and Shikaku just happened to return to the room right at that point. Neji’s eyes went as wide as they possibly could and he started to struggle once more, trying to get Shikamaru to notice his parents.

The younger man, however, seemed more entertained with his lips and mouth and continued to kiss him. That is, until he heard his mother’s screech.

“NARA SHIKAMARU!!!”

The kiss was immediately broken and Shikamaru turned around to find his mother a bright, angry red, her eyes burning. His father, however, seemed amused and was trying his best not to laugh. Neji quickly crawled out from underneath his fiancé and stood up, bowing respectfully, despite his embarrassed flush, and start to spit out apologies left and right. Yet Yoshino’s gaze was stuck on her son, who was scratching the back of his head.

“Troublesome,” he muttered, making his mother angrier.

“Young man, you are in so much trouble!” Yoshino bellowed, her gaze flickering.

Neji swallowed. Shikamaru was going to die. And he didn’t want to be around to see it. “I…I’ll just excuse myself. Thank you once again, Nara Yoshino and Nara Shikaku. It’s been…a pleasure.” With that said he turned to leave, embarrassed and scared as hell. He went directly home and shut himself in his room, sure he could hear Shikamaru’s mother all the way across Konoha. The lunch had been a complete and total disaster in his mind.

He was rather surprised when Shikamaru showed up at the Hyuuga estate later than evening. Surprised that his fiancé was still alive. He was, however, still angry that the other had felt that the only means of apologizing had been a kiss…no, a make-out session on his mother’s couch. Hadn’t they talked about that somewhere before? Hadn’t he punched the other for the thought in the first place? Apparently, it hadn’t been hard enough.

“Neji, come on, listen to me,” Shikamaru pleaded.

“Are you going to kiss me again to apologize?” Neji asked sternly.

Shikamaru smirked slightly. “Only if you want me to.”

Neji glowered and turned to walk away, only to be stopped by Shikamaru. “Let go of me.”

“I was teasing,” the Nara stated, gently pulling Neji back towards him. “I was only trying to lighten the mood.”

“It didn’t work, apparently,” the Hyuuga said coldly.

The younger nin sighed before he wrapped his arms around the other, resting his head on Neji’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry, OK? I didn’t mean to say something that was so rude to you yesterday.”

Neji closed his eyes. He wanted to hang onto his hurt and make Shikamaru suffer, but he’d already forgiven the other for the comment he had made. “I forgive you.”

A small breath of relief left Shikamaru’s lips. “Good.”

“What about the kiss?”

Shikamaru paused. “What about it?”

“Aren’t you going to apologize for that?”

“No.”

Neji frowned. “Why not?”

“Because you started to give in towards the end,” the Nara smirked.

“It was going to be an attempt to get you off,” Neji blushed. “Your parents just happened to come in before I could do anything about it.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm,” Shikamaru said thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose you could say that mom handed out a decent punishment for you.”

Neji raised a brow and turned to face the other. “What did she do?”

The Nara shook his head. “I’m not telling you.”

“Oh?” Neji asked, smirking. “Was it that terrible?”

“No, it was just…embarrassing.”

Neji almost snickered. Almost. “I thought you didn’t have a care in the world. So how could anything be embarrassing for you?”

“When it involves…you know what, I’m not telling you,” Shikamaru stated. “You were close though.”

Neji pouted. “Was it really that bad?”

“Let’s change the subject…”

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“You know, you never did tell me what happened, Shikamaru,” Neji stated, snapping away from the memory.

Shikamaru raised a brow. “And you think I’m going to tell you now?”

“I don’t see why it would matter now,” Neji said, walking over and sitting down next to his husband on their couch, “if I knew or not.”

“I’m not telling you,” Shikamaru stated. “End of story.”

“Maybe I should just ask your mother,” Neji huffed.

“Don’t you even dare.”

“Why not? Maybe I’d like to use it in my favor sometime.”

Shikamaru smirked and looked at Neji in a rather predatorily way. “Oh? And then have me think of someway to get back at you for it? Is that what you want, akanbou?”

Neji blushed. “Don’t call me that.”

The younger nin chuckled, leaning over and pressing Neji down onto the couch. “Why not? It gets you to blush every single time and I like calling you that.”

“It’s embarrassing to be called that!” Neji frowned, squirming underneath his lover.

“But you can’t deny that it gets you excited,” Shikamaru whispered leaning closer.

“Because you always starting doing perverted stuff after you say it,” Neji responded softly, watching as Shikamaru’s lips grew closer to his own. He hated the fact that other still had such a strong spell over him.

Shikamaru’s grin morphed into a sly smile as he reached down and cupped the Hyuuga’s growing erection. “So you’re saying that you’re excited for what happens? Maybe I should call you that more often.”

“Shikamaru,” Neji moaned, unable to keep his hips on the couch.

For the time being, the Nara was willing to use this as a distraction. After all, if he could help it, he was going to keep what had happened to him a mystery to his lover forever, just to irk him. And as far as he could tell, he was going to have fun with it for a very long time.
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What did you think? Cute? I hope you liked it. :D And thanks for sticking with me. With me moving and getting a job at the middle/high school here in town, life's gotten very busy (not to mention all the other original story ideas that have been bugging me). I hope I can update more often! Reviews are loved to pieces!

Oh, and akanbou means baby in Japanese. I'm not sure if it's the right word to use in this sense, but...yeah...^_^;