The leaves rippled, they just flittered around in the small breeze, it wasn’t even a breeze though. It was the small stream of air that escaped from Shikamaru as he slept. He breathed in and out softly. As he dreamt  his eyes twitched and every time Neji froze. He stopped moving, in hopes that if the boy woke he would be still enough not to be seen. He’d been watching the sleeping nin for the past few minutes, ever since he’d been torn awake by a strange dream. He couldn’t remember the dream, just that he didn’t like it.

A leaf floated down, as it entered Neji’s line of sight his light eyes were immediately drawn to it. He watched it as it landed gently on a pale cheek. Forlorn, he sighed. He wished that he could be the leaf, to rest on that soft cheek. He frowned. He couldn’t believe himself. He had just wished he was a leaf. A leaf. Just because it could touch the boy and he couldn’t. He didn’t know why he wanted to, but he wanted to touch that skin, and wanted it to touch him too. He reached out and lightly took the leaf between his fingers.

The worst in Neji’s mind that could have happened, did just that, it happened. Shikamaru woke up. He must have sensed something, because his reaction was strong, and not of a person who was just woken up, but of someone who had been ripped from sleeping due to danger. The suddenly active boy struck out blindly. Neji scrambled back, when he reached the tree behind him he stopped and pressed a hand to his cheek. It burned. He pulled his hand back to see it stained red.

Shikamaru gasped when he saw who he’d just attacked. He was immediately next to Neji and was poking at the Hyuuga’s cheek. The pain was sharp, but dulled as the seconds passed. After a few awkward moments, Shikamaru finally got the bandage on. Neji wouldn’t move, his feet were locked in place, and his hands hovered over the gash. “This would be so much easier if you would move.” Neji just shook his head. Shikamaru seemed satisfied with that because he grabbed Neji’s chin as it was turning and held it in place. “Don’t move.” He pressed the gauze against his cheek and finished the bandaging. “There, all better.” He smiled slightly at the boy who hadn’t said a word, and looked like he was going to break any second.

- - - -

“I said I was sorry.”

“If it scars...” Neji left his threat unfinished. He didn’t really know what he would do if it scarred. His hand rubbed the bandage on his face in reflex. He knew now what would happen if he tried to touch Shikamaru. He wouldn’t try that again. He sighed, he hadn’t even been trying to touch him. He had just wanted to be the leaf. The stupid leaf, why did it have to fall on him anyway? It could have fallen just two inches in another direction and it would have been fine. None of this would have happened.

He glanced over and regretted it, Shikamaru was looking at him, his eyes trained on him. They made him frown. Pity. He was sorry. He hadn’t meant to hurt him. Neji turned away angrily. It had been a reflex. All of it, and he hadn’t been able to stop it at all. How pathetic was he? He’d been injured by a boy younger than him. Even if his rank was higher it wasn’t because of skill. It was because he was smart. So what? He was smart, and strong. More than this... he looked over to Shikamaru who was now glaring at him. “This what?” The brunet stopped and put at hand on his hip. He had been around Ino too much and was now imitating her. Neji looked at him in confusion. “You were talking out loud idiot.” Shikamaru pushed Neji back. “You think you’re better than me?” He pushed again. “Just because you’re older.” He pushed again this time harder, he was getting angrier. “Huh? OLD MAN?” He pushed Neji one last time, but he didn’t move any, he was already against a tree. Normally he would have ignored what had been said, and if anyone else had said it he would have. He shouldn’t care, but he did. He didn’t want Neji to think about him like that. He pulled off his vest and threw it at Neji. “You can be a chunin if you want it so bad. I don’t even want this stupid thing.” He took a step forward. “How does it feel to be beat out by someone that didn’t even want it?”

He took a step back and started walking off. He needed to calm himself down. He felt like he was losing himself. He shouldn’t have done that. He should have just let it be. Ignore it like he always did when people talked about him, but he just couldn’t do it. It just hurt too much to ignore. Maybe that was why he didn’t add himself in the list. He looked back at Neji who was still against the tree. He didn’t want to be on it, he didn’t want to be considered, because he didn’t like him. Or even hated him? Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets to keep them from trembling as he quickened his pace. He had to get home. He’d get back to normal and forget all about this when he got back.

Neji stared after Shikamaru. He’d said that out loud? He watched until Shikamaru was gone before starting back. He knew the boy wanted to be alone. He was using it as an excuse though. He wanted to be alone too. He had to apologize. He hadn’t meant what he’d said, what he’d been thinking. His stupid pride had ran away with his thoughts, and mouth. Maybe he should just let his heart run away with himself as well. Things couldn’t get worse. At least he couldn’t imagine that happening.

He got back to the village and didn’t see Shikamaru at all. He decided he’d give himself some time to cool off. He went to the Hokage first to make his report. He walked slowly up the stairs, his mind wondering to the incident a few days past. He couldn’t believe that it was only a few days ago. It seemed so much longer, weeks, months. He stopped thinking before he could let the sentence even form, a cheesy sentence, about how he couldn’t remember his life before Shikamaru and the banana peel. He laughed lightly to himself. The sound of footsteps brought his attention back to the real world and out of his mind.

“I’ve already made the report.” Shikamaru said as he passed Neji. His eyes were only on the stairs below him though. He was still wary of the stairs, not wanting to fall again. “So you can go home and heal.” Only the sounds of his own footsteps echoed through the stairwell. He looked up at Neji and paused. There was something different, or wrong.

The railing was biting painfully into his back and his foot was hanging in the air between stairs, but he didn’t notice them at all. The pale hands on his face and the sweet lips on his were all he could focus on. Neji had moved too fast for him to react, but now that he was pressed up against the wall he didn’t care.