Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Hello all. This was the first story I posted on my y!Gallery account (which was not that long ago). I hope you enjoy it if you decide to stick around to read it. Sorry that one part is a little longer then the other. I could not seem to add more without taking away from how the story should be.
Short and sweet. Not much else to say.
Reviews would be lovely. Criticize if you feel the need. Just be honest and try not to be too harsh.
Happy reading!
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(Ibiki)
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Most could not do what I do. I'm not saying this because I'm a prideful man, but because it is the truth.
I'm the one who oversees the inner workings of the Leaf Village. I'm the one in charge of the elite ANBU shinobi. I'm the one whom they call to interrogate POWs and enemies of the Leaf.
I do not have days off or time to spend with comrades. I work so others may live. I do what I do so others don't have to.
Long days and very often even longer nights, I spend at the interrogation building. The only thing that I allow myself to enjoy away from my job is Choji Akimichi.
Choji is the kindest and most gentle shinobi I have ever met.
The Akimichi came to me one day after a mission that almost went terribly wrong. He was almost taken back to the enemy's camp when his team showed up to save him from being tortured. That was one of the only two reasons that the enemy would keep you alive. Torturer and ransom.
It has been years since I have had a problem hiding my emotions. So long that sometimes I forget that I have them. Yet, when I saw the determination that tried to hide feelings of inadequacy I felt something I can't even remember if I have ever felt before. He knew he had an area that needed work and yet was not afraid to seek help. Help from someone whom most try to avoid. Me.
It was no secret the torture that I went through to protect the Leaf. Everyone knew I did not talk and that I would have died before doing so. That was why he had come to me. He did not know if he would have the resolve not to talk in a similar situation. His brush with the possibility of testing said resolve, scared him not only for his own life, but the village's. He was a strong enough man to know his weakness and wanted to overcome it the best way he could.
That's why I talked to Lady Tsunade and got him the leave he would need. This was not training that could be done overnight. It would take time. I started out with the physical pain he would most likely come across as a prisoner. It was the easy part of this training he would have to endure. The real test was the mental anguish of knowing that if you talked the pain would stop, but your comrades and loved ones would die.
To my surprise, he completed the training a week earlier then expected. That was saying a lot, because at first, I had doubts that he would survive at all.
He surprised me once again when he spent the last week of his leave not resting and recovering, but thanking me. He brought me lunch and dinner every night. He did not stay because he new I had work to do, but he felt I could use a nice home cooked meal. Everyone knows that all of the Akimichi's were amazing cooks.
When he returned to missions, I found myself seeking him out when he was home. Before I would head to my own home, I would stop by his for a late dinner. He seemed to love the idea of cooking for someone other then himself. His face would light up when I thanked him and told him how good everything was. Yet, his smile would always seem to dim just enough for me to notice when I made my exit.
I never stayed long. Just long enough to become attached. Enough to know that I had found a new weakness. One that I was not willing to try and overcome.
That's why after three months of late meals and few words, I asked him to come to my home with me. I'm still a paranoid bastard. I could not stay at his home. It was not safe. Not to my battered mind. He did not seem to mind. He actually seemed to be thrilled by the idea.
It was another two months before I went ahead and gave him access to my home, my sanctuary. To come and go as he pleased, even when I'm not there. That way he could cook our late meals there and save us both the trip to his apartment in the Akimichi compound.
He never made a big deal about anything that we did together. He knew I would not appreciate any unwanted attention. Not even when we were alone. He seemed to be even less use to attention then I myself am. His reactions drive me to an edge I never thought I would come close to, but I found myself jumping over every time.
We have had this... relationship for a little over a year now. Yet, when I was given the log for the front gate, I could not help but think about the young man who would be making us a large homemade meal. Even if he had just returned from a week long mission to Suna.
The thought in it's self was enough for me to put down the report I was looking over and leave just a few minuets early. For seeing my Akimichi was more important then learning about Naruto using his 'Sexy Jutsu' to sneak into the woman's bath... again.
My days may be long and some times grueling, yet my nights could wipe away all the bad with just one look at the man who made me just a little more human.
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(Choji)
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Over the years, my day to day life has not changed much. I still cloud watch with my best friend, Shikamaru Nara and I still seem to annoy Ino without even trying. I enjoy pork barbecue and Chips are still my favorite snack. I'm still the Choji Akimichi that I have always been.
I go on missions when I'm needed. I really do enjoy my time out of the village, doing my part to protect it. Even if I might not be the smartest, strongest or most skilled, I have been told by more then one person that I have more heart then anyone else. The latest one to tell me this was Ibiki Morino.
Even if my days have not changed much, my nights have.
I now spend every night, that I'm not on a mission, in my lover's arm. Yes. Me. Lover. I spend my night's with Ibiki.
Ibiki makes me feel that I mean something more. More then the love of a friend. Shika has always believed in me and cared, but it's just not even close to what Ibiki does to me with just a look. I know that he cares, even if he may not say it often.
I will admit that I was scared when I first went to him to help me with my training. I feared that he might just brush me off, turn me away. Yet, he treated me as if I was any other shinobi who would come to him looking to improve there chances of protecting the village that we all love greatly.
Ibiki was even the one whom would seek me out once I went back on duty. He was subtle in the way he approached me. I was not sure what to make of it at first. He would join me for a quiet meal and leave without saying much if anything at all.
It wasn't until I spoke with a stunned Shikamaru did he enlighten me that it sounded like the older man was courting me. At first, I got angry at the idea of my best friend making fun of me. For I have never had anyone interested in me that way. I have never even had a date. But, according to Shika, I have had many in the form of quiet meals with a certain interrogator.
Yet, I still allowed Ibiki to set the speed of what we were doing. I knew he was not one to drawl attention to himself and that he even seemed to shy away from me when we were alone. I realized quickly that each day my feelings were growing stronger for the older man and that his must have been as well. For I noticed that he was leaving work a few minuets earlier every day. That was just something Ibiki did not do. He was wanting to spend more and more time with me.
It was not long after we first came together as lovers did he pretty much invite me to move in with him. Even if out relationship had started out slow, it did not take long for it to escalate to something that I was once sure I would never have.
Even now, as I cook a meal for Ibiki and myself, I know that he will silently move to do the dishes as he allows me to unwind. For I have just returned from Suna and it has been a week since I have been held by my lover. He always allows me this time after a mission, for once the dishes are clean and put away I will not be getting any rest as we move to the bed.
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