Interrogation

It was Friday again. Late Friday night, and the usual collection of jounin gathered at the Maple Street Bar had already consumed enough alcohol to turn even the most juvenile of jokes into the laugh of the year.

“So the Mist-nin jumps off the cliff, makes the hand signs and...!” Kakashi paused for dramatic effect before leaning to one side and farting loudly.

Everyone at the table burst into laughter and several empty bottles threatened to fall off the edge with each of Gai’s full-bodied guffaws.

"Ibiki."

Ibiki continued laughing at Kakashi's joke. He had noticed Neji as soon as he’d come in. If someone had asked why he hadn’t greeted the Hyuuga, he would have said it was because he didn’t want to interrupt the punch line.

It had taken Gai a little adjusting to come to terms with the fact that his former student and current teammate was Ibiki's most recent heartthrob. Of course, he was happy for them both! Finding someone you can share your precious time with was something special! It was just that, despite Neji's rank, Gai still felt responsible for him the way he supposed a father might feel for a son. One of the unwritten rules of their exclusive little group was one of common sense: your friend's current relationships and immediate family was off-limits. Simple enough considering that several of them had no immediate family in Konoha. The lines were blurry when it came to teammates and students, though, which meant that Neji had been fair game for anyone present until he and Ibiki had become more permanent.

The problem with that arrangement was that, in all the years that Gai had known him, Ibiki had never been faithful to a companion for more than a few months and if the rumors were even partly correct, it seemed that Neji was no exception.

Gai had wanted to warn Neji of this since he'd discovered their relationship. Only doing so would be a violation of yet another unwritten rule. Keep your nose out of it. If person A was shagging person B it was none of your concern unless persons A and B invited you to join.

As things turned out, though, Gai needn't have worried. Neji was a jounin after all. He was the first of the rookie nine to achieve the rank and a genius of his clan's blood limit. He would have found out for himself eventually at any rate. Apparently he already had.


Neji didn’t raise his voice, knowing full well that he’d been clearly heard by everyone present. "Ibiki-san." The cold in his tone was matched only by the pallor of his eyes.

Ibiki continued chuckling as if he'd not even heard him, and took another sip of beer.

"I must to speak with you. Now.”

At this point, everyone had fallen silent. Ibiki dropped the ruse and turned his chair with the use of only his legs. There was a grating sound as the legs of the chair scraped over the wood floor leaving an almost perfect circle of scuffs.

Gai had seen that trick a dozen times before, but it never ceased to impress him. He made a mental note to have Ibiki teach it to him sometime.

"What's so important that it can't wait until we get back to the apartment?" Ibiki kept his tone light, as if he were unaware of the tension in the bar.

What happened next startled everyone in the bar excepting the waitress (who was blissfully unaware of the intricacies of this confrontation) and the perpetually impassive Ibiki.

Neji hit him, hard, across the face and then sat in his lap, legs curled about the chair in such a way as to make standing impossible without taking the chair and Neji with him.

"Did you think about him last night?" He hissed in Ibiki's ear, softly enough that it did not extend the ringing in his head, loudly enough for the other jounin present to hear.

Ibiki matched his volume but not his tone. "Do you want the honest answer or the one that will make you feel better about yourself?"

Neji hit him again, not as hard but only because of their proximity.

"I did, actually." Ibiki admitted.

"How long have you been seeing him?"

Ibiki blinked once, lazily. A third strike graced his jaw. Despite the disadvantage of his position, Ibiki could stop this any time he wanted. Even Neji was aware of this fact. What allowed him to let it continue had a lot to do with the way Neji's eyes widened slightly just before he struck and the tightness of those legs binding him to the chair and the closeness and the warm weight on his lap. Neji’s face was positively flushed with anger.

"How long!?"

"It was a one-time deal."

"But you thought about him last night. Why?"

"I was comparing you to him."

Neji paused, momentarily confused by the straightforwardness of his answer.

"And how do I compare to Nara Shikamaru?" That was a loaded question. It was a good thing Ibiki played Russian roulette for a living. The other men present were greatly interested in the outcome of this interrogation (none more so than Gai) but feigned interest in a game of darts.

"You don't."

Neji's hand came down on Ibiki's shoulder in a very painful spot. Ibiki gave an involuntary groan. That had been entirely unnecessary and done purely out of anger. Neji was loosing his edge to his emotions. It was very unprofessional; Ibiki would have to corner him about it later.

"Explain."

"He is utterly submissive, open to every suggestion and completely flexible..."

Neji's eyes narrowed. He was about two seconds from hitting Ibiki hard enough in the right place to cause him a lot of pain for the next few hours-

"...but I thought about you."

-when he felt the unmistakable shape beneath him that could only signify one thing. It took great effort and every single bit of training he could recall to keep from blushing and groaning. Neji almost regretted his choice of position.

"I'm thinking about you. Right. Now." He punctuated the words with little thrusts of his hips.

Neji resisted the urge to shift his position just a little to the left where that familiar length could nestle between his cheeks.

"You're thinking about me."

Gai chose that moment to walk over to the bar and pick up another round of beers. He could deal with the thought of Neji and Ibiki together when it was not there in front of him. At any rate, he had caught himself staring and that was just no good at all.

Kakashi stopped pretending he wasn’t interested and watched unabashedly. Ebisu was a little more covert about it.

Neji shuddered, just a little, the way he always did when Ibiki took that tone of voice, and was on the very verge of relenting when he realized exactly what Ibiki had done.

"You changed the subject."

"Of course."

Neji resumed as if the conversation had not taken a different turn. Neji was not going to give in that easily. He was still angry with him, damn it! "Is there anyone else outside this little circle of friends that I should know about?"

Neji saw that the color had risen so very slightly on Ibiki's neck. It took less than a moment for him to realize that the other man was thoroughly enjoying this Q and A. Fine. Two could play at that game. He shifted to the left and wiggled up just... a little more. There. The only thing that could have made his position perfect would be an absence of clothes.

"Is there anyone else?" he repeated, tightening his legs, loving the sensation of control even though he knew that in reality he had very little power over Ibiki.

Ibiki let himself groan because Neji wiggled more when he was vocal. "No. No one else."

Neji stared into his eyes for so long that Ibiki actually worried that he'd be unable to out-stare him.

"Good." Neji kissed him warmly, with teeth as a reminder that all was [i]not[/i] forgiven. Ibiki kissed back, almost apologetically with only the barest use of tongue, until Neji moved to deepen it. He did not dare bring his arms up. Neji was such a volatile thing sometimes and unpredictable when he was angry. Sudden movements might be detrimental to his health. It was one of the things he liked the most about the Hyuuga. He did, however, put his hands on Neji's thighs and knead his way around to his buttocks as he moved his own hips as much as possible.

After a long moment (during which Gai returned with beer, twenty different kinds of snack foods and the determination not to watch the two lovers so closely) Neji stilled, stopped the kiss and disentangled himself from the chair. Ibiki almost complained about the loss of heat when Neji moved away. "If I find out you're lying I'll give you more than a few scars to remember me by."

And without another word, Neji turned and left. The other jounin present breathed a collective sigh of relief when the door shut behind him.

Ibiki held back his smirk until Neji was more than a block away and Ebisu was telling another off-color joke to match Kakashi's.

The sex was going to be amazing tonight.