Author: Sly Omi
Disclaimer: As pertaining to all chapters herein: I, Omi, do solemnly swear that I do not, have not, and will not ever own any claim to copyrights of Naruto, either in manga or anime form, or any merchandise thereof. I am writing this for fun, not with the intention to make money.
Pairing: KibaNaruKiba
Warning: You are reading this of your own free will. If yaoi or shounen-ai offends your sensibilites, turn back now. Failure to comply with this might result in your tender sensibilities being mortally offended, or incurring mental trauma on your behalf. Failure to comply with this also means that it's your own fault should that happen - you're the one who wasn't reading the warning.

Though many thought it was just another part of being a shinobi, one of Kiba's favorite things to do was leap through the trees at top speed – especially while playing with Akamaru. Having the wind whip his hood and hair back, hovering above the ground between branches, being able to flip and dive at will – it was all a perk of an otherwise dangerous life. Usually after training with Kurenai ended Kiba and Akamaru would head into the walled-in parts of the forest to jump around and relax – and occasionally practice what they'd been learning. Today was no exception.

"Yahoo!" Kiba shouted gleefully.

His little dog yipped and barked his concurrence of the excitement. Suddenly, however, he leapt onto a branch and stood there, coking his head and sniffing the air. He turned around once, ignoring his still-moving master.

"All right! Once more, Akamaru! Dyna – " the brunette paused, realizing that his dog had stopped. He sighed irritably, turning himself mid-air so that his feet landed on the nearest tree. He pushed off and propelled himself back to the branch on which his dog had settled. "What's wrong, Akamaru?"

The white pup muttered softly.

"Eh? Canine?" Kiba's eyes widened as he focused his chakra into his nose and sniffed as well. He pin-pointed a small clearing, "Down there, you mean?"

Akamaru nodded. Kiba frowned thoughtfully. The scent was familiar – not entirely canine and not entirely human, but nothing like any of the members of the Inuzuka clan. He scratched the top of Akamaru's head absently, debating whether or not to check it out. The little dog barked at him, annoyed, and he rolled his eyes.

"Touchy," – Akamaru yipped indignantly – "All right, all right. We'll go look."

Roughly three seconds later they'd arrived at the perimeter of clearing and were peering down into it from their perch on a high branch. For a moment Kiba saw nothing unusual – just grass, rocks, and fallen leaves and branches as were typical of forest clearings – and he was about to tell Akamaru off – but then the scent hit them harder than before, carried on a breeze. Two heads snapped to the left simultaneously, and were greeted with a shock of yellow hair and an orange jumpsuit not very far below.

"Well would you look at that?" Kiba muttered to himself, half in amusement, half in amazement, "I never thought of Naruto as a nature-lover."

The blonde shinobi was nestled into the crook of a branch with his arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed. Kiba and Akamaru shared a glance and nodded in agreement. They leapt down to the branch – landing far enough away that they didn't disturb Naruto's sleep – and crawled slowly towards him, pausing occasionally to check that he didn't wake up.

"Naruto?" the brunette asked softly.

There was no response. Kiba looked at Akamaru and nodded once more. They crawled up until they were face to face with the sleeping blonde, who made no indication that he'd noticed their presence. The Inuzuka smiled softly – a far cry from his normal manic grin – and brushed some hair back from Naruto's face. The smaller shinobi just continued breathing softly and steadily.

"Cute, aren't you?" Kiba murmured quietly. He watched Naruto sleep a few seconds, then pressed his lips to the blonde's cheek, "If you come back with a cold, I'll laugh."