Neji... okay, Neji is kind of special and stupid, and would not use the word friend, but he likes Inara, he respects her as someone who's thoughtful and good with people, and he trusts her. Outside of trauma game type situations, he likes having her around and thinks she has good judgment. He also likes that, from his perspective, she seems to balance the team out some.

He actually finds her pretty easy to be around. Probably easier than most people, because she feels like less work to be around, somehow.

Her reaction to him dying confused him though. He's not entirely sure how to deal with too much attachment/affection in his model of the team dynamic. I wouldn't say he doesn't like it, or that it's wrong, but he doesn't have much frame work for it. Even most of his positive memories with his family from home fit within a somewhat professional, training system, and revolve around ninja'ing. So sometimes she leaves him a little at a loss, because he does not have the tools, emotionally, to parse that.

How do you think the new skill will work out? XD