Kaye (jabberwocky999) wrote in naruto_asylum, @ 2008-03-15 13:01:00 |
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“Sasuke, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Neji sighed.
But the other boy was not relenting. He could feel that harsh glare from the Uchiha burning into his back, leaving him feeling cold and depressed. He hated when this happened, when they would argue, and most of the time, Neji agreed with the younger boy. He especially agreed with him now. But it not as though he had any say or any choice or any control over anything. It was out of his hands.
“What do you want me to do? I can’t change it!”
He turned to face his lover, red eyes glaring at him from across the room. He hated how Sasuke refused to speak when he was upset, how he always seemed to expect Neji to be able to make everything right again. And he hated how he couldn’t make everything right again. He was a Hyuuga; he was part of the Branch Family; he had betrayed their beliefs and now he was going to pay.
“If you’re not going to talk to me, I’m just going to go.”
There was nothing left to be said. Except that Sasuke decided to speak at that moment.
“You’re going to walk right into your own death.”
His voice was so low that Neji paused upon hearing it, wondering if he had imagined it. But he knew Sasuke’s timbre better than anyone’s, and he caught each syllable with his sensitive ears. A sigh fell past his lips. He knew that Sasuke was right. Sasuke knew that he was right.
“I can’t not go,” Neji whispered.
He made to leave, unable to bear Sasuke’s suffocating presence any longer, except suddenly the Uchiha was barring the door with his body, daring the Hyuuga to try to get past him. If he didn’t leave soon, he was going to be late, and if he was late… there would be hell to pay, and the inevitable death would seem like a blessing comparatively.
“Sasuke,” he breathed.
“You look like you don’t even care,” Sasuke growled out, his eyes flashing. “Like you don’t give a fuck what they’re going to do to you!”
“I do care, Sasuke,” he said, his voice quiet in the night air. “Do you think I want to… leave this? Leave you?”
He raised his hand to gently touch the younger boy’s cheek, but Sasuke yanked his face away, a half-hearted snarl on his face. Neji let out another sigh.
“But this is what I was born for,” he continued, straightening up. “To protect and serve the Main House, and if I break those rules that they set up for me… well, I have to be punished.”
“It’s bullshit!” Sasuke snapped loudly. Neji opened his mouth to try to quell his anger, but the Uchiha wasn’t through. “Why the fuck should they care what you do with your life!? It’s none of their damn business! They just need to butt the fuck out of our life and leave us alone!”
“Sasuke…” Neji began, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.
But Sasuke still wasn’t through. “There’s got to be some way to fix this… some way to change this… Maybe a Genjutsu… sneak you out of Konoha…”
“Sasuke,” he tried again.
“Or wait till night and flee then; they wouldn’t be able to find out that fast!”
“Sasuke-”
“I’m sure there would be somewhere we could go. The Hokage couldn’t say no… And fuck the Hokage if she does!”
“Sasuke, stop!”
“No!” Sasuke shouted, his grip on the doorframe tightening to the point that his knuckles were turning white from blood loss. “I can’t lose you!”
And the words tumbled out of Sasuke’s mouth so quickly that even he seemed surprised by them. There was silence as the two brightest shinobi stared at one another, and Neji felt his resolve start to crumble as his all-seeing white eyes caught the untamed tears pooling in the Uchiha’s depths. He hung his head, feeling weak and powerless. He couldn’t fix this. Neither of them could.
“Sasuke,” he breathed, pulling the younger boy into his arms, and holding tight to him.
Sasuke did not even hesitate in returning the embrace, and Neji found it terrifying that he could feel the Uchiha – the will of steel – trembling in his arms. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, anything… Maybe along the lines of I love you or I will always love you or I don’t regret a thing, but all that came out was…
“I’m sorry,” and then he was pushing past his lover to head to his death…
Because, in the end, Naruto was wrong, and fate had caught up with him and showed him just how much of a slave to it he really was. He knew, and Sasuke knew, that no matter where he would run… the mark upon his forehead would always be there, and they would find him, wherever he would go.
They each avoided the other’s hand by a mere millimeter, and it was only their expert eyes that saved them. Had they been in a real battle, they would have both been fearful for their life – After all, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji were two of the greatest shinobi to grace Konoha in a long time. As it was, the simple act of sparing brought a smirk to both of their lips.
Sasuke charged with a kunai in hand, aiming for the Hyuuga’s bicep, but the white-eyed boy was too quick and ducked beneath his blow. Crouching down, Neji did a quick back-swipe as the Uchiha stumbled past and caught the back of the boy’s thigh, pushing the foreign chakra into his system, immediately sending Sasuke crashing into the ground.
Neji stood at full height with a victorious smirk on his lips.
Sasuke glared up at him from his position on the ground, his now numb leg stretched out behind him useless. He let a growl in annoyance.
“You cheated,” he snapped.
The Hyuuga raised a delicate eyebrow. “You’re the one that brought out the kunai.”
Said kunai went sailing by his head and planted itself into the training post behind him not a second later. Neji simply smirked at that.
“Wipe that smirk off your face Hyuuga before I make you,” the dark-eyed boy warned.
“Then make me,” Neji challenged.
For the Uchiha’s part, Neji did not even see him move before he felt himself being slammed into the ground, his body leaving a perfect indention in the earth where he landed. He grunted, the air being forced out of his lungs as the Uchiha landed on top of him, good leg on his chest and both hands holding fast to his wrist. This time, it was Sasuke’s turn to smirk.
“I win,” he muttered in declaration.
Neji could come up with twenty-five different ways to get out of his position, but none of them really seemed worth it. So, he simply half-smiled.
“I know,” he conceded.
A second later, the Uchiha’s lips were on his own, and Neji could not help the small chuckle that rose up in his throat as they kissed.
If this is what I get for losing, he thought, smirking slightly against the kiss, then losing isn’t so bad.