Chapter Text
Even at the academy, Shikamaru's sights were set on one.
Training to be a child soldier doesn’t really leave time for one’s mind to wander all that much. Thankfully shikamarus ran at twice the speed.
While Irula sensei was busy fussing over Naruto, shikamaru would sneak away from the group for a couple minutes to laze around in the shade near the fence surrounding the school.
On the other side of the wired barrier, was last year's graduates running drills. Currently, the two boys were off entertaining and training amongst themselves as their groups Jonin focused on teaching their weapon user.
The boy with the long hair, neji hyuuga, he’d known him as Hinata's older cousin. Shikamaru recalled the gossip told to him by Ino.
Hearing he was more on the unpleasant side, he scoffed looking at him. But still couldn’t seem to tug his eyes away.
“Whatever it’s been long enough I better get back.” He mumbled scratching the side of his neck, his skin dry.
In no hurry at all, he scurried back to the group of students, iruka leading them around the blacktop doing some laps. He joined them and fell back to jog alongside his best friend Choji.
“Where were you man?” Choji huffed.
“Just hanging around, was I gone long?” he replied
“Nah, naruto distracted iruka sensei enough and he didn’t even notice you left.” Choji smiled, his eyes crinkling.
It was during the chunin exams months later where shikamaru finally evaluated his opinion on Neji.
He wasn’t just on the unpleasant side, he was just plain unpleasant. While his team hid and ran through the forest of death, they came across the older boy.
Behind the bush, Shikamaru felt his eye twitch. Him and his team decided to go the flattery route, realizing how stupid they looked hiding from someone with the byakugan, especially someone who was known to be skillful with it.
The minute Neji was out of their sight, once again Shikamaru's eye twitched. The boy hadn’t ever rubbed him well, and nothing was changing now.
“Shikamaru you okay?” Ino asked, turning back to look at him. Not realizing he’d stay looking in the direction where Neji disappeared off into.
“Yeah sorry,” he turned and followed his friends.
Neji was unpleasant, and yet he still couldn’t pry him out of his mind.
This wasn’t it thought, he actually brushed off this encounter for the most part. It wasn’t until he watched the match up fights when he began evaluating.
When those names popped up on the screens, shikamaru felt a small rush of blood run to his face. But the trembling of Hinata nearby sent a shiver down his spine.
He knew she was a shy and reserved girl, sweet though, he thought fondly of her.
So the words that came out of Neji's mouth almost immediately made his teeth clench.
“You know you were never meant to be a ninja.” Those words seemed to strike Hinata's core.
The fight consisted of bullying, that’s what it was, shikamaru couldn’t stop watching. His heart ached for Hinata, but still couldn’t get Neji out of his head.
It was strange, and almost creepy, how someone with features so soft could exude so much anger and hatred, and directed towards someone meek.
It was a mess, a mess gone on too long that only stopped once Hinata was on the brink of death.
He watched as Hinata was rolled out to the hospital, Neji won the match. There was a weird feeling in his chest, how could someone so wholeheartedly hate someone so kind. It didn’t sit right with him, there had to be more.
He stayed confused, the thoughts weighing his stomach down, after many matches passed, Naruto’s name was up on the screen for the second time.
And it was against Neji.
He didn’t think someone like Naruto could beat neji. But there it was, he watched it unfold with his own two eyes. Naruto explained later on to him that he wasn’t half bad, he calmed down.
From that point on, although feelings had been evaluated, it didn't mean he understood them though.
When he was sent off on his first mission as leader, immediately he thought of Neji. Someone skilled and professional, giving him a sense of reality in his position as leader.
But when they failed to retrieve Sasuke, and everyone ended up injured, especially Neji, that confusion came back.
Shikamaru sat atop a hill, a quiet off . He just had some reports to write, but there was always time for that later.
“Hey.” He heard a voice, low and controlled. Shikamaru lifted himself up off the floor to look over at who it was, he knew in his brain it was Neji but maybe it was playing tricks on him.
But of course, he was right. Not like he was wrong often.
“Neji? How have you been holding up?” His eyes were wide and staring at the other boy in front of him, His posture crisp.
“No need to worry, I just need to take it easy for a couple days.” Nejis hair was loose for once, and he tucked it behind his ears as he crouched down and sat alongside shikamaru.
“You don’t mind my being here, do you?” A thin eyebrow raised.
“Not at all…” this wasn’t the unpleasant neji he knew in his head, nor the professional neji he knew from his mission.
Just neji.
They sat and laughed, for just a moment feeling like normal kids.
And when the world fell silent, Shikamaru glanced over, the older boy's perfect profile was almost blinding.
Neji didn't look back at him, just admiring the scenery.
“You’re beautiful.” Shikamaru muttered. His words startled Neji, who whipped his head around, accidentally hitting Shikamaru in the face with his hair.
“What?!”
“Nothing.” He looked away and zipped his lips shut.
“What the hell did you just say nara.” It was so weird, Shikamaru couldn’t find any other descriptor for it. The way Neji's demeanor changed so quickly was weird. Like a dog snarling to his face.
“Shit- sorry. Just a compliment…” he scratched his neck and didn’t make eye contact. This time slowly, Neji's face softened back up, as if he was retracting his teeth.
His expression stayed still as stone, and he didn’t say a word. He basked in the sunlight, letting the breeze fly through his hair.