Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Hyuuga Swap ❯ Neji's Dilemma ( Chapter 2 )

The Hyuuga Swap

(Chapter 2)

 

Neji x Naruto

 

Naruto is in a brand-new relationship with Hinata. But when he meets her cousin Neji, he finds himself inexplicably preoccupied with the dark haired boy, despite his prickly personality. (AU yaoi)

 

A/N:

Apologies for Hinata being called `Perinatal' in summaries, etc. (If you don't know what I am talking about - GREAT! Move onward brave souls) It was basically a typo. I don't know what program gimped that into existence but it's mostly fixed everywhere. x_x

______________

 

 

Neji closed his eyes, trying to immerse himself in the music, straining in vain to empty his thoughts.

 

Try as he might, nothing could circumvent his thoughts about the blonde boy who had suddenly come into his life.

 

Tonight was particularly wrong.

 

Neji rubbed his hands over his face.

 

He was trying to stay distant. Removed. Stand-offish. But no matter what he tried, it was slipping. And so fast. He had attempted to brush the boy off with a cold attitude, with barbed comments, but it was backfiring. Naruto had a stubborn streak, and it was something he didn't quite know how to handle. The blonde had turned his own sharpness and cynicism against him, playing the game just as well.

 

And what did he do? He gained the upper hand the only way he knew how - He scented weakness, and he exploited it. He strove to embarrass the boy, and did it by suggestive looks and words. Shameless flirting.

 

He'd almost kissed him for god's sake. When those clear blue eyes looked at him, he could think of nothing but getting closer. It wasn't right.

 

Somehow, he had an attraction to this boy. It was crazy. He'd never felt anything so insistent.

 

Though he pushed the blonde away with everything he had, the urge to drop his defenses got stronger. He was really sliding back by the end of the night. Making alcoholic beverages, wondering, just wondering, what the blonde would be like drunk. If his eyes would unfocus, and his brain would begin to shut down… if he would look up through half lidded eyes, lips parted…

 

Neji shook his head. Nothing good would come of this. Naruto was his cousin's new boyfriend. He couldn't afford to keep thinking like this.

 

He couldn't afford to think how wonderfully Naruto reacted to him when he'd moved in close. How his face had turned pink with embarrassment, how his eyes had focused on nothing else, how he'd seemed so utterly kissable…

 

Neji groaned and buried his face in a pillow.

 

He had to try harder. Not to think about Naruto like this, even though it was exceedingly difficult. He couldn't spoil Hinata's relationship, brief though it may be. That's right. Just like the others, Naruto would be gone soon. He just had to let it happen. Not interfere. People were all the same. They stuck around until they got bored.

 

It would happen. Naruto would leave like all the others. He just had to wait it out.

 

A flash of wide blue eyes came drifting into his mind… a wide smile… tousled blonde hair…

 

Neji bit his lip, trying to dispel the images. Trying not to imagine what it would have been like if he'd captured those unsuspecting lips…

 

Neji groaned again into the pillow as he jammed his head deeper into it. What was wrong with him? He'd never had these sorts of thoughts about a boy before. Why Naruto? Why now? Why, when the boy was dating his cousin?!

 

Neji took a deep breath and let it out slowly, flipping onto his back. It would be fine, he told himself. All he had to do was avoid Naruto. And if he did encounter him, piss him off. Because he couldn't bear to see those clear blue eyes focused on him as if they could unravel his deepest secrets.

 

A cold exterior… for so long, that had been enough to keep people at bay. It was enough to keep him from getting hurt, from caring when people left inexplicably. It had always been enough before, so why was it crumbling now? Why was it so hard to sustain?

 

---

 

Naruto knocked on the door of Hinata's apartment. He had no plan for dealing with Neji, but decided he would wing it if he had to. Still, he was wondering how the other boy would act today, after such an awkward ending to the previous meeting.

 

Naruto felt something akin to butterflies in his stomach. It had been so odd last time. He was certain he'd felt the sensation of breath upon his lips, as Neji asked him if he had kissed anyone. Or was that just his imagination? Then something had changed, they'd argued a little, and he had been summarily dismissed.

 

Naruto started as the door began to open, bracing himself for cold eyes and a mocking expression, but it was Hinata who greeted him, a smile on her normally serene face. Naruto felt a vague disappointment grip him.

 

“Come in, come in!” she said pulling on his arm.

 

“Where's Neji?” he asked aloud, surprising himself.

 

“Oh, he went over a friend's house,” she said brightly.

 

“Oh, ok.” I wonder who his friend is, he thought as he dredged up a smile for the girl. What do they do for fun…?

 

 

---

 

“Who is it?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Someone is on your mind, Neji, I can tell.”

 

Neji sighed, taking the shot of proffered alcohol. “No, there isn't.”

 

Kankuro lounged into the recliner, a finger tracing his bottom lip. “Liar.”

 

Neji glared at him. “There is NO ONE on my mind.”

 

“Yes, there is,” Temari called out from the other room.

 

“Who asked you?” he snapped back.

 

“So, who is it?” Kankuro asked again. “It has to be something big if it's distracting you like this.”

 

Neji got up and went over to the stereo. The trance-like beats were doing nothing to soothe him. He put on something heavier. Pulsing rhythms filled the air, thudding within him as the impressive sound system projected the track for every penny it was worth.

 

Kankuro laughed. “Now I KNOW something's up.”

 

Neji gave him the most deadpan look he could muster. He sat back down across from his friend, fanning away the smoke and incense clogging the air.

 

“You aren't fooling me,” the spiky-haired brunette said with a leer. “I know you too well by now.” His face looked odd in the half-light, painted at is it was with stripes of purple. Neji hadn't figured out his predisposition towards that yet, and had written it off to a personality quirk.

 

Kankuro leaned forward. “Spill, Hyuuga.” He grinned.

 

“It's nothing,” he said with annoyance. “Just another boyfriend Hinata is trying to make work. I didn't feel like being there.”

 

“Ne~ji~!” Temari came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Don't fib. It doesn't suit you,” she chided. Neji rolled his eyes heavenward. She smacked him. “Why is this one different?” she asked quietly.

 

“He isn't.”

 

“He has to be, if he has my boy all tied up in knots,” she teased.

 

Neji looked up at her smirking face. “Don't kid with me so when you don't swing my way,” he said with mock hurt.

 

She laughed and slapped him across the shoulder. “Saucy creature,” she said.

 

He smiled.

 

“So…tell me what he's like.”

 

“He isn't your type.”

 

“Tell me, or I'll hold you down and beat the answer out of you.”

 

“Violence doesn't become you,” he said sweetly.

 

“Gah! Kankuro, do something about this addle-brained friend of yours!” she demanded.

 

“Whaddaya want me to do, sis? This boy's as stubborn as they come.”

 

“I don't know! Pour alcohol down his throat and molest the answer out of him!” she said with her arms crossed over her chest.

 

Kankuro shook his head. “Why is it always about yaoi with you people?” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Damn lesbians,” he muttered.

 

He fixed Neji with a serious look. “You're turning camp on me, aren't you?”

 

“No, I'm not. I have no interest in the new boyfriend other than to stay away and place bets on how long it will last.”

 

Kankuro blew out a stream of smoke into the air. “You're lying. What's he look like?”

 

Neji threw a pillow at his head. “I TOLD you, it doesn't matter.”

 

Kankuro whistled. “Touchy, touch~y.” He ground the end of what he was smoking into a nearby ashtray and patted his pockets for another. “So what do you think for this one? A month? Three weeks?”

 

Neji shrugged.

 

“C'mon, you're usually so good at calling it.”

 

“Leave the poor girl alone,” Temari said to Kankuro, perching on the arm of the recliner. He gave her an annoyed look. “It's not her fault decent boys don't exist.” She took a bite of the Italian Ice she'd retrieved from the freezer. “Ahhh. I remember what it was like to be 22.”

 

“I'm surprised you can remember back that many years,” Kankuro said blithely.

 

“It's only been three, as you know!” She whipped out the small fan she usually carried around and beat her twin in the head with it. Not many people knew they were twins, as they didn't much resemble each other.

 

“You're still older,” he baited, a lethargic arm raised to defend himself.

 

“I was in a rush to get away from you.”

 

“Oh, that's cold, sis,” he laughed.

 

“Anyway,” Temari said firmly, turning to Neji once more. “How old is he?”

 

“Her age, I believe.” Neji, like the twins, was a few years older than his `sibling' - he thought of her as such sometimes, cousins seeming more like a distant relative sort of thing to him. Hinata and Gaara were less than a year apart. She was older than the redhead by almost seven months. Speaking of which… “Where is the red terror?” Neji asked.

 

“Work, I think,” Temari replied.

 

“Well, that never pans out,” Neji mused. “Why do you suppose he bothers?”

 

“I dunno… boredom?” Kankuro said, letting out a stream of smoke. Temari fanned it back in his face effortlessly, without having to look at him, making him cough on second-hand smoke.

 

“Ya mind?” he growled.

 

“Yes, I do. But that doesn't keep you from poisoning my health.” Temari got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

 

“Good riddance,” he hollered at her.

 

“I love you, too,” she called back.

 

“Women,” Kankuro grumbled. “Can't live with `em… Meh. Why couldn't she have been born a boy?”

 

“Yes, because then you could have had TWO Gaaras. Wouldn't that be special?”

 

“At least he's mellowed out a little over the years,” Kankuro sighed. “Maybe in another 20 he'll be able to blend into society.”

 

“If I tell you how unlikely that is, will it shatter your illusions?”

 

“Yes. So don't.”

 

Kankuro fiddled with a weird puppet thing he picked up off the end table next to him, holding his index and middle fingers out to the side so he could grip it in both hands without the danger of burning it. He said it was a gift from his great aunt.

 

“All fun aside,” Kankuro drawled, making it dance a bit, “You aren't acting like yourself.”

 

Neji had nothing to say to that.

 

“Are you still on that not-dating kick? What's it been, like 4 years now?”

 

“More or less.” It wasn't for lack of opportunity either. Neji had simply decided there was no point. If you let yourself care about someone, they either failed you or they left. He'd had enough. He sometimes thought he was a little young to be so cynical, but ignoring the truth seemed a stupid recourse.

 

“Why don't you break the drought with the new kid?”

 

Neji gave him a disdainful look. “Because he's a boy, and because my cousin is trying to date him.”

 

“Pfft,” Kankuro said.

 

Temari poked her head back into the room. “What are you gonna do if Hinata kisses him, hmm?”

 

Neji stood abruptly. “I'm going home.”

 

“But you just got here, man!” Kankuro protested.

 

Neji shrugged. He was more than a little irritated that even though he came here to take his mind off of the blonde, he still couldn't get away from him.

 

“Oh, FINE,” Kankuro said dramatically, “Just go on then.” He ground his blunt into the tray next to him. “Freaking repressed bastard,” he muttered.

 

“Who's repressed?” Neji asked with annoyance.

 

“YOU, man. So what if it's a guy? I give you a little shit over it, it's done. But you can't even own up to it in the first place.”

 

“There's nothing to own up TO.”

 

“Mmmhmm. You just keep tellin' yourself that.”

 

“Whatever.” Neji grabbed his olive-drab fatigue jacket off the back of the unoccupied recliner. “I'll see you later.”

 

He let himself out the side door of the house that led directly from the den to outside and shrugged into his jacket. The night air was cool and crisp, stinging his face a little as he made his way up the walkway and headed towards home. The twins lived fairly close to his apartment, a mere 20 minutes on foot.

 

His mind, preoccupied as it was, barely registered the time.

 

 

The apartment was dark when he arrived. It was also pleasantly warm, and blessedly smoke-free. Kankuro really needed to check his habit before he became a full out stoner.

 

Neji closed and locked the door quietly. It was late enough that Hinata might be asleep, so he didn't want to disturb her.

 

He made his way down the hallway, to his room. Luckily, he kept things pretty neat and he didn't have any difficulty navigating through it in the darkness. He tapped a touch-light lamp on the dresser, casting the room in to sudden relief.

 

One entire wall was taken up by a massive black media storage unit that housed neat lines of countless rows of cds, the majority of which were electronic music. Kankuro had a wall just like it at home. It was one of the things they had in common, and one of the many ways the twins differed. Temari thought they were both completely, piteously nuts.

 

Neji ran a finger over the spines, picking a few cases out at random. Unencumbered music. Nothing but beat and sound, and limited vocals. Sometimes he just wanted something in the background, breaking up the silence without forcing him to really focus. He listened to and owned a variety of genres, but this was the one he kept coming back to. From trance and downtempo to breakbeat and hardstyle, there was something for every mood.

 

He loaded his selections into his sound system's 10-disc tray, setting them to spin on random, then padded across the room, circum-aural headphones in hand, and flopped onto his bed.

 

Sound enveloped him and he felt something tense within him loosen. Minutes passed. His muscles grudgingly began to relax, and with it, so did his mind.

 

 

---

 

Naruto stretched.

 

Today would be a good day, he'd decided.

 

It had been several weeks now since he and Hinata had started dating, and they were finally in a sort of routine and had a semblance of normalcy. Hinata was still doing the blush/stammer/finger-twiddle thing but not as much as before, for which he was grateful. What were you supposed to do when someone did that at you?

 

And Neji seemed not to be a problem anymore, as he was never home when Naruto came by. It made things so much easier. Better, he told himself.

 

But still, wasn't it odd that he was never there? Naruto had not seen him after that first night. Wouldn't coincidence have them encounter each other at least once in this amount of time?

 

Naruto shook his head. Never mind all that.

 

YES, today would be a good day. He was taking Hinata out with some friends of his to a local fun park. Go carts, arcade games, bumper boats, batting cages, mini golf, the works. It was gonna be great!

 

He was so excited about it that he was actually ready way ahead of time. He tapped his fingers on the leg of his jeans, and looked at the clock. If he went now, he'd be really early.

 

Tap tap tappiddy tap… tap…

 

Aw screw it. He hated waiting.

 

He pulled on his lime green and white soccer jacket, happily noting the way it almost, but not quite, clashed with his red Dead Kennedys T-shirt.

 

“Do you get dressed in the dark or what?” Sasuke asked him as he walked through the living room.

 

“Every day,” he replied with a grin.

 

Sasuke snorted. He, of course, was dressed like any sane person their age. Dark long-sleeved shirt, jeans.

 

“Listen, Sasuke, I'm gonna head out early, so I'll meet you guys there, ok?”

 

“Sure.”

 

---

 

“N-Naruto?”

 

With that lackluster reception it was that he found himself at Hinata's place, speaking to his girlfriend through a six inch opening in the door.

 

“Hi, Hinata,” Naruto said, scruffing the hair at the back of his head. “I know I'm a bit early…”

 

“Well. Y-Yes, a little.”

 

It was around two thirty. He was supposed to be here at three.

 

“I could go - ” he gestured toward the street. “Um, somewhere, and come back?”

 

“N-No, that would be silly.” The door opened a bit more. “As long as you don't mind waiting for me to finish getting ready?”

 

“Not at all,” Naruto said with a smile, wondering what it was she had yet to do - she seemed to be dressed and all. He followed her into the apartment, trying to read something that was on the back of her dark shirt in faded script. It was woven into the design, and also shifted while she walked.

 

She headed off down the hall, and Naruto turned to the couch. He froze, shocked as hell to see Neji lounging there. The other boy didn't seem to have noticed him. His eyes were on a large TV, his hands tightly gripped a black game controller.

 

“Hi,” Naruto said.

 

Neji nodded, and reluctantly returned the greeting.

 

Naruto carefully stepped over the cords for the game system as he made his way to the couch, wincing as he blocked the TV screen momentarily, and sat down.

 

There was a chill atmosphere in the room.

 

“Sooo,” Naruto said to break the uncomfortable silence, “What are you playing?”

 

“X-box,” Neji replied shortly, not looking at him.

 

“You know, I kinda guessed that from the glowy green X on the controller. What game are you playing?”

 

“Fable.”

 

Naruto crossed his arms. “Where've you been the last few weeks?”

 

“What?” Neji looked up this time.

 

“I met you once, and I haven't seen a clue as to your existence for weeks, and when I DO, it's only when I'm extremely early. Are you avoiding me?”

 

“Why would I do something stupid like that?”

 

“You tell me.”

 

Neji just looked at him, and shook his head a little. “I'm busy. I go out a lot,” he said.

 

“So it's not because you hate me or something?”

 

“Why would I hate you?”

 

Naruto shrugged. “It happens.”

 

Neji digested that. Slowly. “You want me to switch to two player or something while you wait?” he offered guardedly.

 

“Sure,” Naruto said, accepting the gesture of reconciliation. “You have any fighting games?”

 

Neji got up of the couch, and went over to the entertainment center to rifle through his games. His hair fell over his shoulder in a dark curtain, hiding his face from view. Naruto found his gaze drawn then to how lean his body looked in the long sleeved white shirt, and tailored charcoal gray low-rise pants. He wondered absently if Neji worked out.

 

“Is this one ok?” Neji held up a game, looking him directly in the eye, and Naruto realized he'd been staring.

 

“Y-Yes, it's good. Great.” God, I sound like such a dork.

 

“Have you ever played it before?” Neji asked, sinking back down onto the couch. His voice was low, almost playful. Naruto glanced back up to see pale eyes watching him.

 

His stomach tightened.

 

“No, I haven't - I only have a PS2. I'm pretty good though, so I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.”

 

“I'm sure.” Neji turned back to the TV, making selections on the main screen.

 

Naruto soon had his hands full, trying not to get his character slaughtered by Neji's. The controls were foreign to him and he found himself getting completely pwned. He growled in frustration, playing with the controller held out before him and tilted, almost like a steering wheel, as if it would help him get the upper hand. He died consistently for fifteen minutes or so.

 

“Can I show you something?” Neji asked.

 

“If it'll help me figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong, yeah.”

 

Neji brought up the training mode and then handed his controller to Naruto. “Use this one. You need to be player one.”

 

“Ok.” Naruto took it and selected a character, and soon was facing the CPU. He felt an arm loop around him, and hands overlay his on the controls. He stiffened, his heart in his throat as he felt Neji's body lean into his from behind.

 

“I'm bad at explaining these kinds of things,” Neji said, practically in his ear. “I'll just have to show you.”

 

Naruto nodded, speech failing him, his face feeling a bit hot.

 

The brunette's hands made Naruto's work the controls. Thumb over thumb. Hand over hand. The heat of skin on skin was distracting.

 

Naruto did his best to focus on what he was supposed to be doing

 

“There, that's it,” Neji said, complementing a move he pulled against the computer. Naruto felt lips against his neck. “Just like that…”

 

Naruto's eyes closed, the sensation making him forget everything else.

 

Feather-light touches traced down his jaw… across his cheek… His stomach clenched as he imagined them at their destination, so close. Suddenly, that was all he could think about. He leaned into the body behind him, the feeling of taut muscle against his back warping his mind. He felt a sort of heightened languidness take over, and he allowed the hand now underneath his chin to tilt his face up and back.

 

Lips flirted against lips.

 

His eyes opened, a vain attempt to help ground himself, to counteract his spinning head. Hooded, pale eyes met his, eyelids at half mast, making his knees feel weak as they delved into him. Naruto felt as if he was on the edge of something monumentally huge, but he couldn't quite place it.

 

Softness, lips, pressure. Electricity that seemed to radiate from the core of him to the very tips of his fingers…

 

Then, nothing.

 

As soon as it had happened, it was over.

 

“Do you think you have the hang of it now?” Neji asked in a low, almost intimate tone of voice. Naruto wasn't sure if he was referring to the game or not. His mind staggered to change gears.

 

“Yes,” he replied, thinking he didn't sound like himself. He sounded… breathy?

 

“Good,” Neji murmured, as he pulled away. “Do you think you have what it takes to bring me down?”

 

Game. He was talking about the game. Ignore the subtext, you're reading into things.

 

“I can sure as hell try,” he returned.

 

“I'd love to see you do that.” The words rolled off the dark-haired boy's tongue in a near purr.

 

It was hard to convince yourself you were reading into things when someone, who had just kissed you, talked to you in that tone of voice. Maybe that was an accident, Naruto's inner denial piped up. Yeah. Even so, it didn't change the way his stomach was attempting not only somersaults, but triple back flips.

 

Neji took the first-player controller back, sliding it from between Naruto's loose hands, then offered up the other one with a smile. Why would Neji kiss me? There's no reason… I must've imagined it.

 

A smile that looked suspiciously like a smirk.

 

“Ha,” Naruto scoffed as he came back to himself, groping for something familiar like their banter to keep him from going mental. He snatched the controller. Mocking me, are you? “I'm so gonna beat you.”

 

Yup. Definitely a smirk.

 

They chose characters, and the battle began with the frenzied sounds of depressed buttons. Naruto bit his lip in concentration, trying to gain an advantage. He held his own this time, but was still overpowered.

 

“Aw, man!” Naruto said in frustration. “How did you get so freaking good at this?” How unfair. So now he gets to add this to the great list of things Neji excelled at doing? Couldn't the brunette suck at something?

 

“Determination.”

 

Naruto looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate, forgetting about the tension that had been between them such a short while ago.

 

“Some friends of mine were playing it all the time,” Neji explained grudgingly. “I don't like to lose.”

 

“Oh?” Naruto teased. “So if I do ever beat you, are you going to get all bent out of shape?” Being bad at losing was something at least.

 

“With your skills? I'll be waiting forever for that to happen.”

 

Naruto didn't let that get a rise out of him. It looked like the dark-haired boy might be joking back. Was he finally learning to read the enigma? “Then train me.”

 

Neji laughed. “Help you defeat me, you mean?”

 

Naruto grinned back. “Sure. Why not? Unless you're afraid the student will surpass the master?”

 

“That confident, are we?”

 

“I can be confident to a fault.”

 

“Well, that explains your choice in clothing,” Neji said slyly.

 

Bitch, Naruto thought dryly. He'd say that people skills were a failing as well, aside from being a poor loser, but Neji had proven himself to be quite capable in that area when he wanted to be. “You have to work at being like this, don't you?”

 

Naruto didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he hopped up out of his seat and did a partial turn as if to check himself out. “Nope,” he said as if answering someone, “I look awesome.” He glanced at Neji over his shoulder. “You're just jealous you can't pull off blindingly bright colors like I can, and have to stick to things like leather pants to look good.”

 

“Leather pants? Is that a request?” Neji asked, an even broader smirk fighting its way onto his face as he tried not to laugh. “Sorry to disappoint, but I don't own any.”

 

Naruto fended off the color that tried to rise in his cheeks, determined not to lose his equilibrium, not wanting to feel all uncertain again. He wanted to be himself, act like he did with everyone else, but it was hard to do when Neji's comments seemed perfectly aimed at throwing him off. The brunette had to be doing it on purpose. A challenge then.

 

“Really? A guy like you? I'd think you'd have loads of leather pants. I mean, even I have a pair.”

 

Neji looked very interested by this last comment. “Do you wear them?”

 

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

 

“Yes, actually.”

 

“Ok,” Naruto said slowly. “Then agree to teach me the game and I'll tell you all about them.”

 

“If I say yes, I want to see you try to wear them. I just can't picture it.”

 

Try to wear them? “You can't picture me in leather?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

“I'm not sure if I should take that as a good thing or a bad thing. But you have a deal.” Naruto stood over Neji and extended his hand so they could shake on it.

 

Silvery pale eyes regarded him for a moment, before a smooth, firm hand slid into contact with his. Naruto was suddenly reminded of the kiss that didn't happen, and how sexy those eyes could look, as their hands clasped and his lungs stopped working. Neji's keen eyes seemed to be looking through him, reeling him in. Closer, close enough that he was noticing the way Neji's rich, sable-colored hair fell about his shoulders and the way his white, long-sleeved shirt clung to the flat planes of his stomach as the brunette sprawled lazily on the black couch. Close enough that he could see the ribbed texture of said shirt, and the sooty fringe of lashes that framed his eyes.

 

But not close enough that he couldn't jump back when he heard Hinata's voice sound alarmingly close behind him - a hand on his arm to replace the hand that had released his.

 

“I didn't mean to startle you, Naruto,” she said softly, concerned.

 

“T-That's alright, Hinata! No big deal. Too much caffeine for me this morning I guess.” He laughed lamely, which she seemed to find endearing.

 

She smiled up at him.

 

Her eyes were so like her cousin's, but looked nothing like them at the same time. They also had a faint cast of purple to them, which softened their stark paleness and made her look meek. Meek did not seem to suit eyes like that.

 

“I'm ready to go now, if you want,” she said. “I'm sorry it took me so long.”

 

“No, no, I was the one who got here early! You are right on time.” He plastered an apologetic smile onto his face, rubbing at the back of his head with his hand. He remembered belatedly that he should compliment his date. He'd read that somewhere. “You look very nice, Hinata.” And she did, when he stopped and took the time to look. She had on a retro sort of halter-top that was baggy except where it gathered in a band around her torso at the bottom, and at the top where it was also secured by thin spaghetti straps. It was white with widely spaced, various colored, polka dots. It was cute.

 

She blushed and stammered a thank you at his suaveness. Naruto grinned. Dating wasn't so hard then, was it?

 

Naruto glanced at the boy on the couch as Hinata talked to him, and they moved toward the door.

 

Neji had a wholly unfriendly look on his face.

 

“Bye, Neji,” Hinata said. “We'll be back later tonight.”

 

“Have fun,” he replied, his face becoming expressionless. “I might be going out, so take your key.”

 

“I have it,” she said holding her hand aloft.

 

Then Hinata was tugging gently at his arm again, prodding him into motion. Neji's expression morphed once more as his cousin looked away. He gave Naruto an unreadable look that made Naruto's stomach twist anxiously, then disappeared down the hall.

 

 

________________________

TBC