Undercover

To Naruto’s credit, Neji didn’t recognize him until Naruto had spotted him across the busy restaurant and grinned. Even under a henge, that grin was unmistakable to anyone who knew Naruto.

“Jun, I presume?” and Naruto bobbed a deep bow, his pretend obsequiousness highly amusing.

“Thassit boss, yep, my uncle said you’d have some work fer me, so here I am!” Naruto’s eyes twinkled under his rustic-sounding deference.

The disguise Naruto had chosen for the rendezvous, though, was a good turnaround from his usual bright appearance. He looked skinny, almost gaunt, and his hair was thin, shoulder-length brown. The fox lines were gone and his cheeks looked slightly sunken, as though he ate irregularly. His eyes were a nondescript brown. But his smile was the same.

They went through the motions of dickering over prices and pay, accommodation and days off, Naruto keeping up his ridiculous farmer-boy’s accent, and finally Naruto signed the fake contract with a flourish, and Neji had a new fake employee for his fake textiles shop.

Well, not totally fake. Neji had studied up on the trade before the mission, and since then had learned far more than he had ever cared to know about cottons, cotton-blends and dyes, fashionable cuts of clothing, and the various ways to assure people that yes, he really did think that shade of red or mauve or taupe or turquoise went wonderfully with their hair or complexion or other clothes.

Neji couldn’t wait for the whole ordeal to be over so he could turn the lease over to Konoha’s contact in the village, and get back to where clothing was a whole lot simpler. What was wrong with black and white?

He invited “Jun” to return with him, and they left the restaurant.

“Good one, eh? Eh? I can do a henge as good as anyone,” he chortled, “dunno why they never send me out on these missions.”

Neji shook his head, the, messy blue-black hair of his disguise falling in his face—bangs too long, the rest short, a new style apparently called a “mullet”. He found it silly, but clothes shopkeepers had to be “trendy.”

“Do you really want to spent four months doing mostly nothing?” he asked quietly, raising his eyebrows.

He was hardly about to dance a jig in the street here, but Naruto’s arrival was a monumentally welcome break after a very long stretch of rather lonely boredom. A mission was a mission, but solo jobs were difficult for many reasons.

They were crossing a bustling area of town, hiding in the crowd, and though Neji’s senses were alert, he was not really concerned that they’d been detected. Everything thus far had gone off, if not without any hitches, than as smoothly as could have been expected. The heavy artillery had arrived, and in two days everything would be over.

*

“You do what?”

“I play Go. It’s weekly.”

“I absolutely, totally, really truly blow at that boring-ass game.”

“Well, you are wind-element, aren’t you?”

“Oh, ha ha,” Naruto gave him the finger and stuck out his tongue, then closed the refrigerator and downed the last of Neji’s milk, straight from the carton.

Neji shook his head in amusement. “I told you these sorts of missions were dull.” In point of fact, the regular Go meetings at the local club had been one of the few high points of his stay here. He’d joined in to tap into one of the Konoha contacts in the village, but the game was stimulating as well.

This evening was more stimulating than usual.

The spy, a man of medium build and a boyish face below light brown hair, had been making passes at Neji since their first meeting. Neji had politely rebuffed each one. The man was easygoing about it, professional enough that it had no bearing on the mission, but persistent.

This time, however, as they slowly played their game, Naruto was perched on a chair, watching the game under the pretense of joining at some future (“No fucking way, ever”) time, and Hideo, as Neji's contact was known here, started dropping hints as soon as the usual exchange of information was over. Neji had to hide his smirk as he felt Naruto go from utterly bored to fully alert, staring at Hideo from under his floppy hair. His eyes twitched to Neji a second, then fixed again on Hideo’s mild expression.

“Even after all this time, Masuyo-san, you still haven’t accepted an invitation to enjoy tea at my home.”

Neji nodded slightly. “I must apologize, Hideo-san. My work has been terribly preoccupying of late. I haven’t had the opportunity.”

“Ah, but what a perfect reason to visit! One of my teas was imported just recently from Wind Country, now that the embargoes are over. Still very rare, and expensive but very… relaxing.”

“Tea is best in kiln-fired cups,” Naruto said. “Steeped for an hour.” Enemy agents should be deterred, he’d said in code. Confrontation should be avoided.

Hideo glanced over at him in surprise, and was met with raised eyebrows and a warning smile.

Neji suppressed his own smile. He’d expected as much. Naruto wouldn’t make a scene, not now, but he wasn’t going to let it pass without comment, either.

*

This was getting tedious.

Four hours into the evening, and on the fifth game of Go, Neji had been pretty well impervious to the guy’s macking on him, but Naruto was running out of code phrases to throw at the moron. The man didn’t seem to get the message, and worse, he seemed to regard Naruto as behind him in line for Neji. Every pointed comment Naruto made was with patronizing or indulgent patience. That was worse than hostility, and Naruto was getting itchy to get out of here, go back to Neji’s apartment over that ridiculous shop and—

“Certainly now that your help has arrived,” and the emphasis the fucker placed on ‘help’ was clearly audible, and Naruto wanted to grab the teapot and empty it over the guy’s head, “you will have more time for leisure.”

“Perhaps,” Neji replied, and Naruto snorted quietly. That tone was not promising for Hideo. Whatever the guy’s hopes were, he didn’t know Neji at all well enough to read him. Four months wasn’t anywhere near enough. “I suspect the next few days will be busy ones, however.”

“You’re gonna lose,” Naruto said. Both of them stared at him, but he was staring at the board. He looked up at Hideo, “again,” he smiled, mostly teeth. “Sorry, man.”

Hideo blinked and Neji placed his white stone, effectively trapping the black from making anything but suicide moves. Fifth win.

“Ah well,” Hideo said, this time riled enough to shoot an annoyed look at Naruto. “I concede, Masuyo-san.”

Neji accepted the win graciously as ever, and they started to clear the board. “I apologize, Hideo-san, I’m sure my employee was a distraction.”

Naruto swallowed a laugh.

“Not at all,” Hideo breezed, and Naruto rolled his eyes. “It is getting late, though. Could I interest you in a drink somewhere? I’m sure Jun-kun wants to get some rest, since he’s only arrived in town today.”

Naruto heard Neji take a breath to speak, but he got to his feet, the scrape of his chair interrupting whatever he’d been going to say. Naruto stretched, leaning forward as he did, close by Hideo’s ear. “Dense like a rock, man, do I have to fuck him over the table here, or what?” He leaned back again, meeting scandalized eyes with a smile he reined in hard to keep to polite, and took a step to stand by Neji’s chair, leaning in a way that would read casual to anyone not at their table. He slid the backs of his fingers down Neji’s neck. Neji tilted his head just enough to lean against his wrist a moment, then rose as well.

“I regret to say I am busy tonight. Thank you for the invitation, however. Until next time,” Neji bowed slightly. Naruto did too, as his cover warranted, but felt very jaunty on the way out.

“And you think you could last four months?” Neji murmured. Naruto laughed. “Better at the game than you said though.”

“Well there wasn't much else to watch,” Naruto snorted, “except 'Hideo-san,'” Naruto mimicked Neji's polite tones, and rolled his eyes again.

“Jealous, are we?” Neji looked sidelong at him.

Naruto found Neji’s disguised face strange to look at. Under the messy black bangs, the blank forehead, were pale hazel eyes with distinct pupils. The overall shape of the face, combined with the familiar set of Neji's expressions, made it easy enough for Naruto to recognize, but the differences were still very jarring.

He only shrugged in response, and folded his arms behind his head as they walked. “Like there was any reason to be.”

*

Neji locked the door behind him, and as he reset the traps around the store, Naruto took a look around, pawing idly through bolts of uncut cloth and pulling down some of the pre-sewn clothing. Neji turned around after having anchored the last trap—they were all non-lethal for the shop proper, not so for his bedroom—and saw Naruto holding up a white kimono with an orange spiral motif that he'd pulled from one of the shelves behind the counter.

“You can keep that if you want. I thought you might like that fabric when I got it in.”

“Really? Thank--wait, did you make this?” Naruto boggled at him, “You... sewed it?”

“Yes. It's perfectly serviceable,” Neji answered, slightly defensive. True, his first attempts had hardly been perfect, but he'd saved that fabric until he had been certain he could wield the sewing machine with a consistent level of skill.The quantity of free time he'd had meant that a few of the townsfolk were actually wearing clothes he had made, often commenting during purchase at the evenness and consistent tension of the stitching. The Byakugan probably had not been intended for that particular use, but it had come in handy.

“No, no, it's great. Thank you,” Naruto grinned at him, then down at the kimono, fingering one sleeve gently.

“Let me know if it's too tight or too loose, and I'll fix it.” Neji started moving around where Naruto had shifted or overturned things, and straightened them up. Naruto had the grace to look guilty. He left the kimono on the counter and waved Neji away from the pile he was neatening.

“Quit it. I'm gonna have to do this tomorrow anyway, might as well start now.” Neji let him be, watching Naruto fold shirts with the practice of someone who'd been doing their own laundry for years.

He raised his hands under his chin and released the henge, safe now behind the wards, and rubbed his hands once down over his face, a habit he'd picked up during his time here. When he dropped them, Naruto was staring at him, eyes wide, shirt hanging half-folded from his hand. He dropped the shirt, released his own henge and flung himself on Neji.

Neji caught a welcome flash of muted blond in the darkened shop before Naruto's mouth landed on his, and Naruto's hands sank into his hair.

He caught him up as they kissed for the first time in months, arms going tight around his solid body, returning Naruto's kiss with just as much relief. Naruto's fingers combed through his hair, his palms cradling Neji's head and holding him surprisingly lightly. His kiss was hungry, if a bit more tender than usual, and Neji understood that. He too wanted just as much to just feel Naruto as anything else.

Naruto turned them both from the display table and Neji was propelled backwards until they thumped against a shelf on the wall piled with remainder cloth bolts. Naruto thrust against him, hard, and Neji broke the kiss to throw his head back against the cloth and pull in a long breath, arching against the pressure.

Hands slipping from behind Neji's head, Naruto's fingers stroked down over his jaw, his neck, and his lips replaced a thumb below his ear, kissing and sucking, while he began to untie, unbutton, undo whatever fastenings of Neji's clothing that were in his way

Neji took the opportunity to run his own fingers through Naruto's hair, petting at him and finally settling to encourage his mouth's attentions. Laughter against his neck made him smile. “What?” he asked, and felt Naruto's grin.

“Four hours, and I got this,” he chuckled, sliding his hands under Neji's waistband and behind him to grab and pull their hips together, fingers digging in slightly with a possessive edge. “Poor bastard waited four months for nothing,” he laughed again and Neji shook his head, panting an answering sound of amusement as Naruto rubbed up against him.

He pulled at Naruto's shirt, then lowered his hands to grab the hem and tug upward. “I've had enough of clothing,” he said, “You have no idea.”

“Now there,” Naruto slid his hands from Neji's pants and raised his arms as Neji pulled it up and off, “is a problem I am happy to hear about.”

“Come on,” Neji urged, “Upstairs,” he pushed Naruto off, his hands roaming over his chest and down his sides before he stepped away from the shelf.

Naruto latched an arm around his waist, leaning in to mouth at his neck as Neji tried to steer them. Past the tables and racks, they made it behind the counter before Neji succumbed to desire and turned his head to meet Naruto's mouth, and only they barely managed to get past the door between the stairs and the shop before Naruto was yanking at Neji's top, sliding it back over his shoulders but foiled in any further disrobing by Neji's stubborn grip around his middle. Neji held tight, feeling the hot skin under his hands, the muscles shifting with every movement. He backed Naruto against the wall, finally relenting and letting go so Naruto could strip the offending article off completely. Then Naruto pulled from his grip completely, jumping halfway up the stairs and looking back down over his shoulder, eyes glinting in the shadowy space, skin pale, and he smiled. It started lascivious and taunting, but softened as Neji stared up at him.

He half turned back and Neji came up to meet him, placing a hand on his hip as soon as he could reach, sliding the arm further and higher around him with each step up, until they were level and he could pull Naruto full length against him.

Naruto leaned in willingly, his body turning pliable as he circled both his arms around Neji. The warmth of his erection was a hard line against Neji's, and Naruto's hips rocked gently, gently insistent, and Neji dipped down to kiss him, meeting smiling, slightly chapped lips, then a warm, wet tongue.

He could feel Naruto's fingers tangling in the ends of his hair, feel the heat between their bodies, even the air around them in the narrow space felt like it was warming, thickening, trapping every sound they made, the shush of cloth rubbing, the low, inarticulate noises Naruto made when they kissed, the creak of the wooden step under their feet as their weight shifted against each other.

The tugs on his hair stopped, and Naruto's hands found their way once again under his waistband, this time sliding to the front, and Naruto drew back to give his hands the space to close around Neji's erection. The lust returned in a flood, flushing his face and groin with heat, and he thrust automatically into the welcome grip. The kiss turned harder again, the hunger returning to the fore, having only intensified in the interim.

Naruto shoved at the waist of Neji's pants with one hand, the other stroking roughly at him, and Neji pushed at Naruto's pants in return, fingers itching to touch him. The rough wall against his bare back jolted him back to fuller awareness.

“Go up,” he said into Naruto's mouth, reluctantly starting to let go. His pants had fallen down, piled around his ankles and he had to step out of his sandals or trip. Naruto's were low on his hips as he moved up ahead, and Neji caught at them again as they reached the top, dragging them down, and Naruto laughed aloud as he let himself stumble forward into the upper area. A few unbalanced steps took him to near the middle of the small living space, with Neji immediately behind, catching him around the waist to feel all that naked skin against his own.

*

Naruto arched and shifted in Neji's arms for no other reason than to feel the smooth warmth move, feel the slippery-tipped cock hot and hard against his ass. He twisted so their cocks could rub together, moaning long and luxuriously at the contrast, feeling like every tiny hair on his skin was sensitized to Neji's touch. Four months wasn't really that long, but it sure fucking felt like it right now.

“The neighbors will hear you,” Neji said into his neck. Naruto let lengths of Neji's hair slide through one of his hands while he kept the other wrapped around both their cocks.

“Who cares? Does being queer affect your cover?”

“No—” Neji's breath caught as Naruto tightened his grip.

“Will they care if you're fucking your employee?”

“No, but—”

“Can they get in and interrupt?”

“Not alive—mmh,” Neji's fingers dug into his biceps as Naruto bit lightly at his neck. Naruto licked the spot, then leaned his head back.

“OH MASUYO-SAMA, OH, OH, I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE!”

“Shut up!” Neji dragged his head forward. Naruto only grinned, not at all sorry—that was probably the most interesting thing those people had heard in some time—and anyway Neji's eyes were just as bright with amusement. Scandalized amusement, but still. “You're incorrigible,” Neji said. Naruto beamed at him. Neji kissed him briefly, and then let go of him, moving to the closet to slide back the door panel and yank a futon onto the floor.

He was down on one knee, hair flowing over his scarred back, and Naruto followed the curve of his spine with hungry eyes for only a few seconds before he crouched behind him, sliding his arms around to reach for his cock again. Futon setup be damned. He kissed Neji's back, then closed his eyes and rested his cheek on it, dwelling on the shape of Neji against him, the weight and heat and soft-over-hard of Neji's cock, stroking the skin with his thumb, covering the slippery tip with his palm so Neji pushed against it.

Neji sighed as he moved, then pressed back against Naruto's chest, reaching one arm up behind him to touch his face.

He worked his other arm between the folds of the futon and came out with a bottle of lube. Naruto laughed a little as he took it. “Didn't miss me that much, I guess,” he needled, and got a swat on his side for it. He popped the cap as Neji flipped the top fold of the futon flat, coated himself as Neji moved to the futon, settling on his knees, but still upright. Naruto came up behind him as Neji raised one arm to brace it on the beam at the edge of the closet.

Carefully sweeping one hand across the base of Neji's neck to gather Neji's hair, Naruto slid it forward over Neji's shoulder. He smoothed his hand down the thick curtain, moving to curl his hand around Neji's cock, stroking firmly as he pushed in, wanting to just thrust, just fuck Neji fast and hard, but held tight by the greater need to enjoy the reunion, the gradual approach of their bodies, feeling every inch of the slow slide until he was in deep, Neji's back right up against his chest, held tight.

And then he could move, dragging his mouth over Neji's back as he thrust, slow and easy at first, matching his strokes over Neji's cock to each slide back in, his free hand traveling over Neji's chest and stomach, tracing lines of muscle, sliding over his nipple so he murmured and dropped his head back. Naruto caught his ear between careful teeth, humming happily at the back of his throat for a few seconds, entirely pleased with everything at this moment, with Neji's legs bracketing his, Neji's cock in his hand, his own buried as far as he could go into Neji's welcoming body.

Couldn't keep it that way, though. He released Neji's ear and rubbed his cheek against it. “Hey, hey,” he said quietly, bringing his free hand behind Neji's shoulder to nudge him. “Down,” he urged. The angle this way was all wrong for Neji.

Neji just made a contented sound in his throat. His only other response was to arch slightly, almost cuddling back against Naruto, and Naruto closed his eyes and smiled. “Yeah, I know,” he said, and sucked at his earlobe as he thrust a few more times into tight heat, “C'mon.”

Neji finally leaned down after Naruto let go of his cock to gently push at him with both hands, releasing the wall beam to brace both forearms on the futon, face hidden. Neji never really liked this bit, the part where he was stuck in that vulnerable-looking position, the part before Naruto had shifted his knees and settled his hands on Neji's hips to line things up and—there. A shiver of the muscles ran down Neji's back as Naruto hit that often-elusive spot and his shoulders tensed, eager to hold the angle. The sensation, as always, making Neji forget whatever embarrassment kept lingering in him.

It had taken some tries at Naruto fucking him to find this balance, for Neji to understand that Naruto got off the very best when he knew Neji was more than just comfortable, for Naruto to shut up about how hot he thought the position looked because it made Neji uncomfortable. So he bit his lips closed and spread his hands wide over Neji's hips, rubbing his thumbs briefly over the muscles of his ass, trying, as always, to get his appreciation across through contact alone.

Neji's arms had shifted, hands fisted in the futon cover above where his forehead pressed into it and he was starting to push back. Naruto let his eyes drop half-shut, watching the flexing of Neji's shoulders, the grip and release of his fingers, tracking the tension, feeling the increasing vehemence with which Neji was meeting every thrust, and Naruto rolled his head back, yanking himself back before he tipped into orgasm. Not yet.

When he leaned forward again, he reached down under Neji's hips, and when his hand closed firmly over Neji's cock, he heard a low sound, muffled in the futon, and he grinned, running his other hand up Neji's spine. The leaking precome slipped against his palm and he cupped his hand over the head for good measure before closing his fist again around the shaft, and Neji's hips juddered for a moment out of the mounting rhythm to shove back and then forward, hard.

“Hah,” Naruto breathed, licking his lips, and he obliged the demand for harder, faster, his fingertips digging into Neji's back as he put his head down and fucked him, avid with the knowledge that every thrust was hitting him right there, his slippery hand tight and as rough as he knew Neji could stand around his cock, until his back went rigid under Naruto's palm, his knuckles white where his hands were fisted over his head and Naruto felt him come, the twitch against his palm, heard him come, the whine in his throat just audible.

Neji relaxed after a few seconds, pushed himself up with one hand, then the other, and then reached for the beam to steady himself. Naruto leaned forward to wrap both arms around his chest and pull him upright again, shifting his knees as Neji did until things fit properly, and he could kiss at Neji's neck and shoulder, run his hands all over his chest and stomach, and then hold on, one arm low over Neji's hips. He closed his eyes and submerged into the feel of it, Neji's leanly muscled body his to hold, to enter again and again. He clutched at the bicep of Neji's braced arm for leverage as all focus narrowed to the slide of his cock into Neji's ass.

He set his mouth on the place where Neji's neck met his shoulder, tasting the sweat on him as he hit the edge and went over, distantly aware of fingers stroking his forearm.

He drifted back down, rubbing his face against the back of Neji's shoulder. Finally he pulled out and peeled his arm away from Neji's waist with a little chuckle.

“See, I can be quiet,” he said as he dropped to sit down, his hand still resting on Neji’s hip.

“Well, that's something,” Neji said, and fingered his shoulder, where Naruto could see a hickey forming.

“Oh—heh,” Naruto said, “well, it's below the neckline?” he offered. “It’ll be under the henge anyway,” he added, turning glum. He was going to have to spend most of the next few days staring at Neji’s disguise. The weird hairstyle was interesting, but he preferred the real thing.

“That’s true,” Neji nodded, turning around to face him. He put one hand in Naruto’s hair, running his fingers through it, and Naruto smiled up at him for the gesture of comfort and heaved a big sigh of restored contentment. Shops, spies, clothing, disguises... it didn't matter anyway, he'd take Neji however he could get him.