Truth Be Told

The next day, Naruto met up with Shikamaru as he said he would. He thought it best not to avoid him or anything despite the kiss. He didn’t want him to think that it scared him or something. Naruto sat waiting in the back school yard. It was a hot day and the air had a slight haze to it. A few minutes passed and Shikamaru approached through the haze.

“Yo, Naruto!” he called. Naruto waved to him. He walked up in front of him and smiled. He seemed alright, no weird vibes coming from his general direction or anything, maybe that kiss was just a kiss. Or maybe he was saying goodbye or….

“Uh, Naruto…” Shikamaru began.
“Yea…” he answered
“About last night. I…uh…I’m sorry for….” But he couldn’t find the right words. Shikamaru hesitated for a few moments then tried again.
“Naruto, when I kissed you, what did you feel?”
“Uh…” Naruto stammered. “You kissing me?” he replied.

Naruto knew what he was talking about, he was being coy. I didn’t want to tell Shikamaru the truth because it would hurt him. But Shikamaru begged him to tell him exactly what he felt when they kissed.

“Nothing.” Naruto answered. He felt really bad about it, but that was the truth. He felt lips against his, nothing more.

“I see.” Shikamaru said. He sat down next to him and sighed. Shikamaru had a disappointed look on his face. Naruto apologized for it, but he knew that he couldn’t lie about a feeling. You either have it or you don’t.

“You see Naruto, I love you.”
Naruto almost fell over when he heard that. He was shocked! He never expected that from Shikamaru.

“But I know that you don’t feel that way about me. That’s okay though. I just felt really bad about what happened with you and Sasuke. I know exactly what you’re going through.”

“You do?” Naruto questioned.

“Yea. You see awhile ago Kiba told me he really liked me, but I was still somewhat in love with you, so it didn’t even faze me. One night, he kissed me just like I did to you, but I felt nothing. There was no passion, no feeling except a kiss. I understood that it was an unrequited love between us. You see, that’s what it likes with you and Sasuke. You love him with all your heart, but he never returns the feeling. That’s how it is with you and me, except I understand that. I’m okay with it though. Naruto, you’ve been my friend for years and I do really like you, but I know there’s no place for me in your heart. But this kind of love I have for you isn’t physical or anything, this is the kind of love where all I want is for you to be happy.”
Naruto sat there with my jaw hanging open slightly. He never knew any of that before. He was just unloaded a huge amount of info, his mind had to catch up. Shikamaru sat with his ankles crossed and his arms behind his back leaning on them. He looked up at the sky. Naruto looked over at him. He had no sign of sadness or fear on his face anywhere; it was more like a glow of relief.

“Shikamaru…Thanks.” Naruto said. The two hugged each other and smiled.

“Alright, now that all the mushy stuff’s over, what’d ya wanna do?” Shikamaru asked
“Let’s practice some techniques, so I can kick Sasuke’s ass harder!”

Shikamaru and Naruto both laughed and walked off to the front of the school together.

Unknown to them Sasuke was lurking in the shadows behind some trees. He watched as Shikamaru and Naruto practiced. He was getting a feeling of jealousy watching the two together. He huffed and turned away. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stormed off away from the school. He didn’t want to go home yet so he wandered about town. Of course who should find him, but Neji.

“Oi, Sasuke!” he called. Sasuke growled and looked over his shoulder.
“What do you want?” he replied.
Neji walked up behind him and put his arm around Sasuke’s shoulder. He said he needed to talk to Sasuke in private, something about business. He apologized for the outburst yesterday and offered to make a deal with Sasuke, though he won’t come out and say it exactly. He lured Sasuke off to his place……..

Once there Neji offered Sasuke whatever he liked. Sasuke sat on the couch with his arms folded.
“Drink?” Neji asked
“Yea sure, whatever”

Neji walked off to get Sasuke a drink. “This seems very familiar…” Sasuke thought.
Neji returned with a cup and some strange looking liquid in it. Sasuke looked at it and shook it around a little.
“What the fuck is this?” he questioned.
“Tea.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sipped it. It tastes fine enough. Neji smirked and sat down next to him.
“So Sasuke, about our deal” he began “I’d like to sleep with you.”
Sasuke choked on his drink and burst out laughing spitting out whatever was in his mouth.
“Ha ha ha ha!” he went on. “Are you kidding me?”
“Oh no, I’m very serious, I want to fuck you.” Neji tossed his head to one side and flipped his hair back.
“Yea, well as I told you, I’m not into you.” Sasuke said as he continued to sip his drink.
Neji smiled “Well Sasuke it’s me who’s gonna be into you, as soon as that sets in.”
Sasuke glared at him “What sets in?”
Neji glanced down at Sasuke’s cup “…Poison.”

He raised an eye to Sasuke and winked. Sasuke immediately stopped drinking and tossed the cup away. He pushed Neji down and grabbed his collar. He punched him right in the cheek and swore up and down that he was going to kill him. Neji grabbed his arm and tried to get him off of him, but Sasuke’s rage was too great for him. Again and again Sasuke landed blow after blow to Neji. Sasuke was starting to get dizzy, the poison was taking effect. He shook his head to clear his vision, that’s when Neji got him and threw him off and he fell face first into the table, gashing his head open, then he fell to the floor. Neji quickly sat up and watched as Sasuke writhe on the floor in pain. He couldn’t muster the strength to stand up and the poison finally took full effect. Sasuke passed out right there.