Barking at BUTTERFLIES

Team Shikamaru in the hospital after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

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Kiba grit his teeth as he sat up slowly, grabbing the crutch that was sitting near the head of the hospital bed that he was laying in and glanced over at Akamaru who was still recovering, as was he and the rest of his teammates before slowly getting out of bed. At his puppy's whine, he winced and whispered a few words of comfort to him before walking out the door, using his crutch like a walking staff. Each step was slow and hurt as a twinge of pain shot towards his abdomen as he moved. One of the nurses had informed him that Chouji was awake so he had to go see the other boy; it was like that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him he was going to die on that mission. It just wouldn't leave him alone!

Making his way down the hallway, he was about to go down to the intensive care unit when he remembered that the hefty blond had been moved to a regular room and continued on down the hall. He entered Chouji's room surprised to see a thin blond boy sitting in the bed, his head turned towards the clouds just beyond the open window. He smelled like Chouji did though, of peppered meats and salt laced chips. Hm…

"Chouji?" Kiba questioned, staring at the blond as his tanned, triangle cheeks turned pink when the boy turned to him, smiling.

"Hey Kiba!" the blond replied, his voice quiet, which was a contrast to the loud teen he used to be. "How's Akamaru?"

Swallowing, the tanned teen made his way over to the blond, his heart fluttering in his chest. "He-He's fine. Why are you thin?"

Chouji blinked and then blushed brightly. "Oh! Heh! My father gave me the Akimichi Clan Pills which I used to defeat that fat ass, but they used up a lot of my body fat, so I'm thin now!"

Kiba chuckled, but wished he hadn't when a biting pain erupted in his abdomen.

"You okay?"

Black eyes stared at the tanned teen as he leaned forward a bit, clutching his stomach all the while gritting his teeth.

"You'll still hurt, but you came to see me?"

"I'm fine."

"No you're n--"

Glaring at his childhood best friend, he repeated himself.

"I'm fine."

A little hurt, Chouji frowned and looked down at his covers, wringing them with little hands and thin fingers.

Kiba sighed and gave a little smile as he neared the teen's bed, wrapping one arm around his shoulders before hesitantly placing a soft kiss on his cheek that just barely missed the blond's mouth.

"Th…Thanks for caring," he said softly, still smiling.

Chouji blinked, not knowing why Kiba had kissed him (they were both boys after all), but a small part of him was glad that he did; his cheeks were most definitely red!

"You're welcome."

"So, tell me what happened with you and the fat ass! I guess you are strong after all!"

"Well, it went like this…"

x fin x