I just recently caught up on the Naruto anime and manga, and I went through a similar progression--I adore Naruto and Hinata, so I completely loathed Neji, despite my friends' assurances that he improved after Naruto's Attitude Adjustment Beatdown. But oh man, I love him now (and getting beaten up by Kidoumaru helped him make the transition from "sort of bishie" to "hauntingly beautiful").

I love this pairing. Thanks for the links!

joosetta wrote an excellent NaruSasuNeji story here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/joosetta/158277.html), here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/joosetta/159906.html#cutid1), and here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/joosetta/164684.html#cutid1). Naruto and Neji are teammates, and it's strongly implied that they're together; there's also a lot of suggestive tension between Naruto and Sasuke and Neji and Sasuke.