Work Text:
Day 20
Massage
“Damn, babe, don’t you think you’re over doing it a bit?”
The muscles in Neji’s back and shoulders are knotted and tense, his whole left side blue and purple. Long chocolate hair is fanned over the dark blue duvet so as not to get greasy with liniment. Neji’s eyes are closed but that doesn’t stop Kiba from imagining the scowl that would be directed at him when Neji growls, “Hinata has her Jounin test next week and I want her to be ready.”
Kiba rolls his eyes and presses a particularly stubborn knot with his knuckles. Neji hisses and squirms a bit. Kiba had been reluctant to try and massage the kinks out of Neji’s muscles when he saw the bruising but he eventually gave in knowing if he didn’t do it Neji would just go to Lee instead. The Taijutsu master would not have a problem working around what were probably a few cracked or broken ribs, having been in the same situation himself a number of times. From the placement of the bruises he could tell Hinata was improving her accuracy but he doubted she meant to do the amount of damage he is attempting to avoid making worse.
Akamaru wanders over from his nest of blankets, puts his head on the bed and licks the back of Neji’s hand. The corner of Neji’s mouth twitches and he turns his hand over cupping his palm under the massive K9’s chin to scratch the underside of his jaw. Kiba shakes his head as Akamaru tries to lick Neji’s wrist without dislodging his hand. It had taken Akamaru a long time to warm up to Neji even after he and Kiba got together. At first Neji hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other if Kiba’s companion liked him, but in the end Kiba had been forced to lay down some ground rules after he kept catching Neji feeding Akamaru treats. Now it sometimes feels like Akamaru would rather spend time with Neji than go train with Kiba.
“What do you think, Akamaru, should we tell Hinata to take it a bit easier on our boy?”
Akamaru whines and woofs softly, bumping his nose into Neji’s palm. The one lavender eye Kiba can see slits open to glare at him. Without warning Neji bucks his hips up surprising Kiba enough to toss him off. Before he can even bounce Neji is straddling his thighs with his arms crossed over his bare chest.
Neji’s voice has an edge of warning when he says definitively, “You will do no such thing.”
Kiba laughs, “Whoa there, Nej’, I’m kidding. I know how much Hinata would freak if she knew she’d hurt you.”
Neji nods, “Exactly, she does not need the distraction of worrying over me while she prepares. My well-being is not her concern.”
It is Kiba’s turn to scowl. For all that Neji is a genius he can be an idiot sometimes, especially when it comes to seeing his own worth.