Hot. Dry. Dusty. Skin coated in a permanent layer of muddy sweat. Kiba had been in Suna for a grand total of five minutes and he'd already figured Suna out. By year fourteen, he'd mostly gotten used to it. Akamaru was not almost permanently yellow, poor boy, his fur continuously saturated with sand. He was currently scowering a section of the desert that had recently been cordoned off for the upcoming Chunin exam for potential dangers that would be too much for the hopeful Genin. He didn't think there would be of course, but rules were rules. Gaara said go, he went.

Granted, it was rather menial for a Jonin to be doing but Gaara had gotten sick of his pacing and babbling in excitement of seeing his old friends, his Mom even had a Genin Team this year and he was anxious to see her.

A strong gust of hot wind nearly bowled him over and he had to ignore Akamaru's amused chuff and his graceless flail. Ugg, no one but Kankuro would believe him when he said the wind was out to get him. He sighed dramatically and brushed the new layer of sand off his bare front, ignoring the muddy mixture of sand and sweat that stuck to his fingers.

His leather jacket and just about any other sort of upper body covering had gone the way of the dinosaurs; he mostly walked around in mesh shirts much to Gaara's continued annoyance. His naturally tanned skin let him do it, and if the women in the village wanted to ogle they were more than welcome. Especially since it met Gaara never let the hickeys on his throat and chest fade to make sure everyone was aware of his non-single status.

He shook his head, he didn't know what it was about that man, but huh, he was hooked on him. Loved him, to be totally honest. Love was the only thing that would have made him let himself be traded to Suna, while Temari was traded over to Konoha, the two had swapped headbands as well, it was a political move, but, looking at the underneath of the underneath, Temari wanted to marry Shino of all people and Kiba wanted to live with Gaara.

It'd practically been a ceremony, with the Sand delegation standing behind Temari on the edge of Sand country, and the Konoha delegation standing behind him on the edge of Fire Country, the two had walked forward, stopped, and taken off their hitai-ate and switched them, then they'd walked past each other, Kiba and Akamaru now officially Sand-nin and Temari now officially a leaf-nin . Simple, yes, but oh so effective.

So, they swapped villages and fourteen years later here he was, a proud Sand-nin and the lover of the Kazekage.

He shook his head, clearing both mind and head, of dust and set off again. The desert wouldn't check itself and he needed to get back soon, he'd been moving slowly, examining everything and it had taken three days to look everything over, and his hickeys were fading.