Submissive

Author's Note: This is the longest oneshot I've ever published. Totally crack pairing but I love it to bits. Enjoy! and please review (or at least rate) because the more warm and fuzzy I feel the more I'm inspired to write.


***


When Neji emerged from the locker room, Ibiki was already in the large gym, sparring with Kakashi and Gai in a chaotic three way match.

He watched the session progress with Kakashi and Ibiki both attacking Gai. Eventually, Gai brought his focus on just Kakashi, as he always did, and Kakashi chose to ignore Ibiki, only swiftly blocking the attacks that came his direction. At which point the interrogations specialist sighed and stepped away from what had now become the three hundred and eleventh challenge in Gai's endless tally of who was better. It was just about fifty-fifty at the moment, the way it almost always was.

Neji stood there, blocking the older shinobi's path. Ibiki opened his mouth to speak but Neji interrupted. "Fight me."

Surprise, and then a slow smile. "Fight you?" there is sarcasm in his tone, and a challenge. "Really?" He shifted into a ready position.

The Hyuga's answer was a series of swift movements which placed him behind the bald man, "Byakugan!" followed by a series of strikes which missed by luck sheer luck and the width of Ibiki's sweat-darkened shirt.

"Hey! Morino's sparring with Hyuga!" announced Ebisu as he lifted a pair of weights in the far corner. Even Kakashi and Gai paused long enough to take in the sight. It was rare that Ibiki accept a challenge from anyone outside their tight little group, which made it all the more interesting when he did.

It took expert eyes to see more than just two blurs, one dark one light as they danced over the mats.

Neji knew that Ibiki was an extremely close range fighter. He used judo and sumo like moves to entrap and then crush an opponent. It was a striking contrast to Neji's Gentle Fist and presented a great challenge. For any strike to work there had to be a certain amount of distance between himself and the object, otherwise there was not enough force behind the blow to deal any sort of damage.

The younger man found himself on the defensive as Ibiki sent a barrage of full-bodied punches his direction. Neji managed to dodge most of them but one landed (albeit lightly because of his fast reaction) on his right cheekbone. Despite the stinging pain that made him want to close his eye, he paid particular attention to the man's feet, expecting him to make a sweep.

He did, and Neji chose that moment to make his move, jumping up to avoid the kick he placed his palms on Ibiki's shoulders and used his feet to strike two points on the man's torso, effectively winding him. Pushing upwards from Ibiki's shoulders he struck two points on his neck. Ibiki placed a solid hit on Neji's diaphragm, sending him flying backwards. Neji recovered from it though, flipping to land on his feet about three meters away in a ready position.

Ibiki, breathing heavily now, took up a similar stance, his hands fisted instead of held palm upwards. He was grinning broadly. An expression that frightened most enemies and many allies. Neji was not un-phased but he was at least partly immune because of exposure.

"Oh, man!" Kiba said as the two combatants resumed their intense duel. He had been watching since he'd come in, sometime around the beginning of Neji's offensive maneuvers.

"How many points has he hit so far?" he enquired of Ebisu, who had lost count of his lifts while watching the fight.

"Twelve, give or take half a dozen. They've been going at it for quite a while now. It's going to be a very close match." Akamaru barked his agreement.

Kakashi, distracted by the proximity of the other, very interesting, sparring match, almost lost to Gai who took advantage of his 'eternal rival's' brief inattention. Unfortunately for Gai, Kakashi was very fast when he reacted on reflex and the bowl-cut jounin found himself flat on his back with Kakashi sitting on his chest.

"So what's the score now?" The masked man enquired without taking his eyes from the scene.

"You're currently in the lead with one hundred and fifty seven victories to my one hundred and fifty five."

"Let's watch, shall we?"

Gai noded and they watched without changing their position, not wanting to miss anything.

The match between Neji and Ibiki had become very fierce. Ibiki striking with bone-breaking force and Neji aiming for the most debilitating points in his opponent’s chakra system. It was more than obvious that there was something personal at stake here.

Naruto appeared between Kiba and Ebisu. "Hey, I thought we were going to train, what are you doing just standing there?"

"Neji's taking on Ibiki."

"So? I'm going to take you on and whip-"

"This is very interesting and I would like to observe uninterrupted if possible, Naruto."

Ebisu said, holding up a hand for silence without taking his eyes off the streaks that represented two elite ninja.

"What's so interesting about that? They're both jounin right? Neji'll take him, no problem."

"It's not as simple as that." Kiba said, absently scratching Akamaru's head as he watched.

"Ninja rank is like the Fujita Scale." Ebisu said. "Neji's only just a little stronger than F4 and Ibiki's as close to an F5 as you can get without actually crossing the line."

"Eh? Like that anime character..."

"The way they determine the strength of a tornado." Kiba interrupted before Naruto could make a fool of himself.

"Oh!" He exclaimed as if he'd just come to complete and total understanding, and then he frowned. "I don't get it."

"F1 is the weakest, those would be Academy Students and civilians. F2 is a bit stronger, Genin and non-ninja who train in the martial arts. F3: Chunin and non-ninja who master a martial art. F4 is Jounin. F5 is Kage. The only problem with this is that there is a huge amount of variation amongst the ranks."

Naruto looked utterly stumped.

"For example." Ebisu continued, "Someone who has just passed the chunin exam is going to be less powerful than someone who took the exam three years ago and is about to take the Jounin exam. Just as someone entering the academy isn't going to know as much as someone who's almost graduated."

Naruto watched with them, having acquired a new appreciation for the situation.

It wouldn't last much longer. Both of them were breathing heavily when they paused, facing each other across the room. "Are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" Ibiki asked, that grin making his normally gargoyle-grotesque features just a bit more bearable.

Again, his answer was action instead of words. He was on Ibiki so fast that no one (except Kakashi, who'd revealed his Sharingan to watch out of sheer curiosity) could accurately keep track of him.

What surprised Gai the most about this match was the lack of trash talk. Morino Ibiki was well known for his keen tongue. Even in the height of battle he would keep up a stream of commentary that was enough to demoralize anyone without the mental fortitude to withstand it. So was the master of interrogations holding back or biding his time?

"You're mine, Hyuga." He said and Neji stiffened. Ibiki had been biding his time after all. The moment of hesitation was brief but it was enough. The larger man lunged, grappling his opponent in a way that looked like a bear hug, pinning his arms to his sides as they crashed to the padded (but by no means soft) floor.


***Two Months Earlier***


"Oh, and on your way home, would you mind delivering this to Maito Gai?" The Godaime Hokage handed Neji a small scroll.

The Hyuga nodded. He was tired and dirty and all the little scrapes and bruises were conspiring to pain him just enough to annoy, but he would do as Tsunade asked. He put the scroll in a pocket and left.

Neji had just returned from a simple, yet tiring B-rank mission and he was being used as an errand boy. It rankled just a bit, but he couldn't very well deny the Hokage such a small favor.

Gai's apartment wasn't very far out of the way and he was there soon enough but his knock, which normally would have brought about a jovial "Come in!" was only greeted by silence. He went to the next door, Gai's neighbor, and repeated the process.

This door was answered by a chunin that Neji didn't immediately recognize. "How can I help you?" he asked.

"Would you happen to know where Maito Gai is?"

"Today's Friday, right? He'll be out drinking. I believe he frequents the Maple."

"Thank you."

The Maple? That's on the other side of the village! Neji sighs and resigns himself to staying on his feet for just a little longer as he moves swiftly through the street, taking the lesser used roads to keep from startling civilians.

The bar in question was probably one of the oldest buildings in Konoha because somehow it had managed to escape the whims of both attacking foreign shinobi and grasping developers. The first thing that Neji noticed was the cozy atmosphere and the rather fetching waitress who's cleavage was bubbling over her top and buttocks was barely covered by her skirt. He got a good side view which allowed him to see all of this because she was leaning over a table, setting down drinks.

"Neji!" Called a very familiar sunshine-and-youth voice, followed by an enthusiastic 'come over here' gesture. The Hyuga was relieved that he wouldn't have to search any farther to find his former sensei. "What brings you here?"

He pulled the scroll from his pocket. "It's from Hokage-sama."

"Oh?" he's smiling, snickering as he opens it and reads. He chuckles, and hands it to the person beside him, whom Neji recognized as Hatake Kakashi, Gai's 'eternal rival'. The Copy-nin started giggling and passed it along. Ebisu frowned in a poor attempt to look displeased and handed it to Ibiki who promptly burst into a full-belly laugh which startled everyone in the room.

"So, she's actually going to do it?!"

Snicker. "Yes!" Laughter.

Neji didn't really care what was so humorous. He was rather annoyed that it wasn't something important but it didn't matter. He was tired and he wanted to go home, shower, eat something and sleep until late afternoon tomorrow.

"Oh, Neji-kun."

"Yes, Hatake-san?"

"Stay and have a drink?"

He couldn’t really believe his ears. Sharingan Kakashi was asking him to stay and have a drink with some of the most elite ninjas in Konoha.

"Stay, Neji! We're still Youthfull and the night is Young yet!"

Before he really had enough time to protest he was seated and a cold beer pressed into his hand. A drink did sound like a good idea. He'd not had one in a while and a little bit of alcohol would help him sleep better.

***

Neji was puzzled. He'd had a good bit to drink by this point but alcohol didn't normally prevent him from thinking logically.

Hatake Kakashi was not wearing his mask. He couldn't have been, he was drinking and munching on peanuts, so why couldn't Neji make out the man's features? It seemed as if every time he moved his head something (a hand, a bottle, a guffaw of laughter) would distract him from actually getting a glimpse of the space between the bridge of his nose and his chin. He was growing frustrated because he realized that the Copy-nin's face was clearly visible, yet he could not see it himself.

Finally, he relented and asked someone.

"Why can't I see Kakashi-san's face?"

Ebisu laughed and preened as if he were about to impart some earth shaking revelation.

"It's a low level genjutsu. It only makes you [i]think[/i] you haven't seen his face. Once you actually see it though, it's kind of a let-down. Like opening a present and getting exactly what you suspected you'd be getting."

Neji could have facepalmed. It was so obvious when you thought about it. Perhaps it had never crossed his mind because it was such a seemingly trivial application.

"But why not just wear a mask?"

Ebisu shrugged. "Kakashi is Kakashi." he tooks a drink, ice clanking, "I've never asked."

Neji stared at his glass a minute. It's not the finest liquer available, but it's good and it's alcohol which is the point. He finished the amber liquid and laughed.

The youngest man at the table had learned a great deal about his fellow jounin so far.

Some of it he never would have guessed. Like the fact that Ebisu wore those shades because he had startlingly unique two-toned green eyes and he wanted to be as inconspicuous as physically possible. Or that Ibiki only shaved his head twice a year for the Chunin exams just to scare the crap out of the participating Genin. He'd even discovered Gai's real reasoning for the tight green outfit, although Neji could have gone his whole life without ever knowing that bit of information. Of course, the way Maito had said it, with all those 'youthful' phrases, one might think that it was actually the most sane and logical rationale in the world.

Over the course of conversation as Neji gleaned information about the other men, they in turn scrutinized the 'new guy'.

***

Hic.

Neji looked over at Ebisu who hiccupped again and toyed with the sunshades that he'd pushed on top of his head.

Hic.

Kakashi stood and made as if he were headed for the men's room, only he stopped just behind the tokubetsu jounin.

Hic.

Ebisu was completely oblivious and no one at the table gave Hatake away. Kakashi poked him between the shoulder blades.

He jumped, quite literally, out of his seat, managing to rotate mid-air and land on the table facing the empty air where Kakashi had just been standing. Ebisu was amazingly fast but Kakashi was faster.

Hic.

Ebisu's sunshades fell from his forhead back to their usual position.

Everyone laughed.

***

Neji had not intended to stay as long or drink as much as he had and now it seemed that the night was winding down. Gai and Ebisu had left, the latter still hiccupping and leaning heavily against the taller man for support. Kakashi had dissapeared (quite literally) soon after. Neji found himself sitting beside the only other patron left: Morino Ibiki.

Neji had learned a lot about Konoha's jounin that night. Ibiki was a genius when it came to the human mind. He could predict, with insane accuracy, what a person was going to do or say. He'd given Neji several demonstrations of this over the course of the evening and now he presented another example.

"Stay a bit." he said just as Neji was about to excuse himself. "It's no fun, being by yourself at a bar in the early hours." The Hyuga nodded and relaxed into his seat, just letting the alcohol dictate odd sensations to his body.

They conversed about random things. Friends, family, missions, weapons, former lovers. Neji studiously avoided being too spacific about this last subject and after a while Ibiki leaned over with a 'come hither' gesture as if he had some great secret to impart.

Neji leant in to hear it.

The waitress, tired from her long and somewhat busy shift, was picking up the discarded glasses and bottles left by the other jounin who had occupied the table. If she had happened to notice anything it wouldn’t have struck her as unusual. It was just two drunk shinobi sharing secrets in half whispers.

Ibiki had his lips so close to Neji's ear that the younger man could feel them brushing against the minutest of hairs on the skin. "You like men." Neji was confused at first and then mortified. No one knew that. No one. He shifted uneasily. "You like me." He felt his face flush heavily. "You want me."

The older man's voice was at once soft and gravely, as if someone had covered pebbles in velvet and sent them rolling. "You would love to have my hot, wet, mouth on your cock." It sent little shivers through him, the way Ibiki stated these things. No questions asked. "And you don't care where it happens." His body was reacting in ways that he couldn’t control. "You could skull fuck me right here with the waitress watching." Neji unconsciously let out a little moan. Ibiki smiled, a gleam in his dark eyes as he stood and stretched lazily.

Neji blinked. Had he just imagined that?

The tokubetsu jounin took three steps towards the men's room and glanced over his shoulder once. Neji's stomach tried to move his heart aside and take up residence in his chest cavity. He hadn't been imagining things. He'd just been propositioned and he'd be damned if he didn't take the man up on his offer. It wasn't very often that Neji had any kind of sex, much less sex with the gender he preferred.

As soon as the door had swung closed behind him, he was shoved against it and then his pants were around his ankles and he was having the most pleasurable experience of his young life.

Firm lips ringed his cock and a hot tongue teased over him even as Ibiki sucked the entire length into his mouth.

"Ah...Ah..." his hands tried to find something to grip but where he usually would have tangled his fingers in the pleasurer's hair, Ibiki had none. He settled for pressing his palms flat against the door.

The younger man was gasping, his pale eyes closed tightly as he concentrated on the sensations flooding his body. Ibiki's gloved hands joined his mouth, one curling about the base of Neji's cock and the other squeezing his balls in rhythm with the motions of his tongue. "Ah..." The Hyuga's fingers turned white in their attempt to find purchase upon the surface behind him.

Just when he thought he could take no more pleasure, Morino swallowed. "Aah!" and Neji didn't care that his cry was loud enough to be heard by the scantily clad waitress who dopped a mug in shock. The brunette cried out one final time as he came, thrusting into Ibiki's mouth, unable to rationalize the pleasure of feeling the obviously experienced man swallow repeatedly.

Neji's knees gave out and he steadied his descent to the floor by placing his hands upon the older jounin's shoulders.

Ibiki smiled, licking a small dribble of semen from the corner of his mouth before kissing Neji. There was nothing tender about it because it was all firm lips and strong tongue as Neji tasted himself.

He rested his head against the wall when Ibiki broke away, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feeling of dizziness that came from the crude mixture of ethanol and epinephrine in his bloodstream. When he opened them again, he was confronted with a rather intimidating sight.

Morino was standing up now and his cock was out. He stroked it almost lazily, dark eyes bright with lust and anticipation. Neji's mouth watered but his mind was too far gone to chastise him for it. Ibiki was large. Huge was the wrong word but he nearly merited the adjective.

Getting to his knees, using the bald man's hips as support he drew level with the cyclopean monster. His tongue eagerly licked along the length, pressing flat against the underside and curling around it. He withdrew and pulled his tongue back into his mouth, savoring the taste of salt and musk which was almost enough to bring his exhausted member back to life.

Neji's warm breath caresses the other man's cock before he takes the head into his mouth, sucking and enjoying the act just as much as Ibiki was.

Fingers tangled in his hair and hands encouraged him to take more of the offered erection into his mouth which he did, relishing the moans that escaped Ibiki's mouth and adding his own to the chaos of echos. "You love it. Oooh... You love my cock." Neji could only moan and bob his head in response.

He couldn't deep throat. He'd not been able to get past his gag reflex yet, but he tried. It seemed that even his failed attempts brought pleasure to the tokubetsu jounin so he kept at it, eyes watering from gagging repeatedly. "Thats...ooh..." The grip on his scalp tightened and he knew that Ibiki was restraining himself as best he could.

Ibiki pulled back at the last second. Confusion flashed across Neji's face only to be replaced by a gasp of surprise as Ibiki came, getting semen on the younger man's face.

"I like that look on you." he smirked, running a gloved finger across Neji's cheek and then pressing it to the others lips where it was licked tentatively. Semen got cold rather quickly and Neji shuddered at the texture but cleaned it off anyway, sending lusty looks up to Ibiki who smiled back just as hotly.

"You should clean yourself up." The interrogations specialist said after a moment, tucking his cock back into his pants. He leant over and kissed him again in that same heavy, strong way that made Neji's spine melt.

Neji stood slowly, wanting nothing more than to lie down on the floor and take a nap, and replaced his own pants before walking over to the mirror. "You got it in my hair." he said, annoyed and amused at the same time.

Ibiki chuckled, leaning against the wall, as Neji shivered while washing himself in cold water because the hot hadn't worked in years.

***

"What's the matter, Neji-kun? You've been distracted all afternoon."

"It's nothing, Lee."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, TenTen. I'm sure."

They resumed their training because when Neji didn't want to talk he simply didn't talk.Gai knew better though. He also knew that the bruises on Neji's neck weren't caused by any ninjutsu training. So the stoic Hyuga Neji had found someone to share his youthful needs with. The bowl-cut jounin only wondered who it might be.

***

It was Friday evening again and Gai found himself at the Maple as was usual.

"Where's Ibiki?" he asked. The bald jounin wasn't on a mission as far as anyone knew and he was nearly always present when he was in town. His absence was noted by everyone.

"Probably getting some ass." Ebisu said once he'd put down his beer. "He mentioned meeting someone tonight when I ran into him in the Hokage tower."

"I've never seen him hung up on someone before though. The sex must be amazing to keep him interested for this long."

"Who ever it is, they've got long dark hair. There were several of them on his coat last week."

"It's most likely a guy. There's no makeup. No perfume." Kakashi adds.

"It's not Shikaku, is it?"

"What? You've had that much to drink already?" Laughter.

"The hairs were longer than that from what I could tell."

"Haishi?"

"Sure, and I'm bonking Anko."

"What about the other Hyuga jounin. What's his name, the one who was in here a couple weeks ago. The one from your genin team, Gai."

"Neji?" Things clicked in Gai's brain. The bruises on the young man's neck, his unwillingness to spend time with the team after practice (well, more so than usual), Ibiki's contented smile and frequent disappearance from the social circle; it all added up.

"Yeah. Neji. His hair is definitely long enough."

***

Neji woke because the sun was slipping through the blinds in glowing bars and the light was right in his eyes. He was warm enough and moderately comfortable despite the fact that his hands were tied together and there's half-dried semen on his face as far up as his left eyebrow. It seemed to be one of Ibiki's fetishes; getting his semen in Neji's hair.

Speaking of Ibiki-- his naked, bear-like form was slumbering beside him on the bed, snoring softly.

The Hyuga undid the rope with his teeth as he glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

"Shit!"

Ibiki was startled upright, ready for anything. He chuckled when he saw that the noise was only Neji gathering up his clothes in a hurry.

"It's Saturday." he said, half grumbling half laughing, "Get back over here."

The brunette paused, thought for a moment and then sighed with relief. He didn't have to be anywhere until this evening. Neji returned to Ibiki's side and sliped back beneath the warm, rumpled, slightly soiled sheets.

Soon after they were trading kisses and carresses. Neji moaned as the older man did that thing with his tongue and Ibiki made a similar noise when Neji pressed his fingers into the sensative points on his shoulders. It was Neji who deepened the kiss, roughening it as he shoved Ibiki over onto his back and wiggled between his thighs.

"What do you think you're doing?" he askd, amusement in his tone.

"I think it's my turn to play the seme."

"I don't." The more muscular man rolled them over again so he was on top and Neji was pinned solidly to the bed.

Neji was confused and then angry but Ibiki continued before he could get a word in edge-wise.

"You can't handle that job. You're not strong enough for it."

"Ib-"

"Don't interrupt me." Normally Neji loved it when the tokubetsu jounin used that tone of voice, but right now it just irritated him. "I'll let you fuck me when you can beat me."

***

"Oh, goodness! Neji-kun, what happened?"

"It's nothing."

Hinata looked at her cousin skeptically. Neji almost never got bruises on his face and these were particularly awefull. His left eye was almost lost in a blotch of purple. His lower lip looked like it had been busted and the wound healed hastily with basic first-aid jutsu. He moved as if his right side pained him.

She didn't say anything to her father about it and when Neji emerged from his bedroom for dinner it was apparent that he had used all of the self-healing techniques at his disposal to reduce the swelling and bruising.

No one else noticed and if they did, they dismissed it. Neji was a ninja, after all.

***

Ibiki's firends recognized the more than usual stiffness in the interrogation specialist's knuckles.

It was caused by Morino's technique. He would pump chakra into his muscles in order to increase their speed and power, the downside to this was that once he threw a punch there was no taking it back. His strikes continued until his arm extended completely or he hit something. The inflexibility of his hands happened when that something was harder than he was.

Neji had not shown up for practice at all on Monday and he'd left early on Tuesday after Lee had managed to land more than the usual number of kicks. The Hyuga had flat out refused to do anything with his team that didn't directly pertain to a mission, and was sullen and snappish, yelling at Lee simply because the boy's youthful enthusiasm had been running high.

Again, it was Gai who put two and two together and gotten what he presumed to be the correct answer.

They'd had a fight. What it had been about, Gai could only guess. The only thing he knew for sure was that it had gotten physical and Neji had gotten the bad end of it.

"Neji."

Gai's former student and current teammate looked up at him. The remnants of a black eye were visible and a new scar had appeared on his lower lip.

"I know that you'll probably deny it, and I won't press the matter if you do, but; what happened between Ibiki and yourself?"

"What do you mean?" Neji said calmly, a little more cooly than was nessasary.

Gai shook his head, "Nevermind then."

***

It really wouldn't have been so bad if it not for the fact that Neji had thought that his sexuality was a secret known only to those he'd actually done things with. However, it seemed that every jounin in Konoha knew or could guess. Men he only recognized by the photographs in their profiles stopped him in the street and asked him how he was with sympathetic, knowing faces. It was driving him mad and making him angry because all he wanted to do was forget. Forget that drunken men's room encounter. Forget the amazing sex that had occupied the weeks after it. Forget that he and Morino had been anything other than casual acquaintances.

Apparently even the Hokage knew.

"A-rank escort mission."

"A-rank?" Escorts seldom merrited higher than C.

"Yes. The person in question is being taken into protective custody and it is imperative that no one know this." She handed him the mission scroll and he scanned it quickly.

"Who will be accompanying me?"

"Morino Ibiki"

There was a small, knowing smile on the Godaime's face. The Hyuga nearly crushed the scroll. She was playing matchmaker. Neji had half a mind to refuse the mission (he'd never done so before and she couldn't object to him doing so now) but he wasn't going to appear petty for anyone, especially not Ibiki.

***

The mission itself was technically a success. The client was brought to Konoha safely and no one had suspected anything.

Everything else had been a trainwreck. Tsunade lost yet another bet.

The two jounin had been cold and silent on the way there; fridgid and professional while extracting their target. It was on the return journey, after they were safely inside Fire that the tension snapped the cable.

They had stopped in a small town and gotten a room because the poor man they'd been escorting was bone weary and simply unable to travel another mile. He'd fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Unfortunately he didn't stay that way for long.

Neji had insisted upon taking the first watch. When the older jounin had likewise insisted that he should take first watch, Neji had gotten angry. Ibiki had backed down from their very loud and (on Morino's part) frequently profane argument, before it had come to blows, but it had been a very near thing.

***

Life in Konoha had continued as normal. Missions were accepted and accomplished. Friends were drunk and sparred with. The sun rose in the east and set in the west. Ibiki and Neji did their best to avoid eachother and when they met (as was inevitable when you held the same rank in a shinobi vilage) they said nothing more than was sessasary. People forgot about the almost-scandelous relationship and the violent breakup.

Ibiki had been sparring with both Kakashi and Gai when Neji appeared. Neji had not shown his face at the gym in months simply because Ibiki spent a good deal of time there and the fact that he was here now meant that something was up.

Gai had shifted his attention to Kakashi and issued one of his 'challenges' spacifically to give Ibiki the option of leaving if he wished.

Neji was being confrontational. Every jounin present was watching, anticipating, even if they appeared to continue what they were doing.

The following spar was just that. A spar. Although it was more than obvious to everyone watching (with the exception of Naruto who didn't get it until later) that this was a turning point in their relationship.

"You're mine, Hyuga."

Ibiki had thrown himself at the younger man, tackling him to the floor-- only to find that the person beneath him wasn't Neji.

"What the hell!" a very surprised Naruto found himself crushed beneath an equally surprised Ibiki. It registered, what Neji had done, about half a second too late. Neji was behind him and had struck nearly a dozen different places before Ibiki managed to lash out with a foot and get back up again.

The younger man just stood there, feet apart, hands ready. "Gomen, Naruto. You were the closest." he said without looking at the blonde who was grumbling and making his way to a more distant part of the gym.

Ibiki once more picked a similar position. He sent chakra to his fists, ready to end this game--and cried out in pain.

Neji moved again, but he didn't use any of the beautifully deadly Gentle Fist motions. Instead he used brute force, un-enhanced by anything other than training, delivering a flurry of swift strikes to Ibiki's face, and torso.

Morino, unable to manipulate his chakra without mind-numbing pain, also relied upon brute strength, managing to hit Neji twice before the younger man surprised him with a beautiful roundhouse kick which knocked him clean off his feet and brought stars into his field of vision.

Now Neji was on top, kneeling on the defeated man's chest and pressing two fingers against a spot on Ibiki's neck. "Admit it." he said, "I can defeat you."

The interrogations specialist stared at the Hyuga for a long moment and then a slow smile creeps over his scarred face. "You just did."

Neji seized Ibiki's face with both hands and kissed him, hard. Ibiki reached up, tangling his gloved fingers in Neji's hair, and kissed back just as heavily.