An : Here's chapter 1, thanks to the people who reviewed, it means a lot even if there were only two of you, it brightened my day so much and helped me to edit this chapter and upload it much quicker than I thought it would be. BTW still looking for a beta, so if you're interested let me know!

Warnings : same as prologue.

Disclaimer : I don't own anything except the plot.

Ages :

Shikamaru, Sai– 18 (close to19) and 19 – just starting college – (they were coming up on graduating in the prologue)

Choji, Ino - 19

Neji, Tenten, Lee , Temari – second year into college

Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Gaara –18– just graduated from the florescent lit hell known as high school (BE FREE MY FRIENDS, BE FREE! sorry I just had to do that! XD)

Asuma – 28


Chapter 1

A YEAR AND A HALF LATER

"Hello, this is tech support my name is Shikamaru what's the problem today?" Shikamaru asked for the thousandth time today. After few minutes of listening to a rather loud and slightly frantic voice explain about how the owner of the voice – His name was Naruto, and yes sadly, this wasn't the first time they had spoken, it was actually about the fifth time this week in fact, the guy called about everything – had gone to use his roommates laptop and it was no longer functioning correctly and he just had to fix it before said roommate came home from work.

'How troublesome.' Shikamaru thought to himself as he started the standard list of questions.

"Have you tried turning it on and off again?"

"That's the problem! It won't turn on!"

"When was the last time you charged it?" Shikamaru asked and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"…." Naruto's silence was welcome but troublesome.

"Naruto, try plugging it in and waiting for an hour, if that doesn't work call again and tell them that you want to talk to Me, Shikamaru Nara, department ten." The lazy young man sighed heavily.

Absently he wondered why he ended up getting stuck with the number ten. In high school it was his number in basketball. And now in college he and his friends were deemed 'team ten'. Even his apartment number was…guess what…ten! The number ten seemed to cling to him like some sort of demented monkey.

"Thanks buddy!" And with that the annoying caller that was Naruto hung up to go charge his roommates laptop.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru growled at nothing before glancing at the clock, his shift was almost over; after he got done he could go nap for the rest of the day.

With that somewhat happy thought he picked up the ringing phone on his desk.

"Hello, this is tech support, my name is Shikamaru what's the problem today?" He asked


***** 20 minutes later*****


Shikamaru had finally managed to get out of the office and was on his way home through the busy Kohona traffic. Unlike most of the people at his work place The Nara was only nineteen, and extremely lazy but ironically got the most work done in his department. Sighing as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building and parked his motorcycle the young Nara removed his helmet and hung it from one of the handles on his bike.

'So troublesome…' Shikamaru thought and walked up the stairs to his apartment.

It was the one Asuma had helped pick out and had actually lived with him in for a while; he just couldn't be bothered to move into the dorms at Kohona U, it was too troublesome. Or so he told himself. Just thinking about the older man sent a pangs of sorrow, regret, and longing through Shikamaru's entire being. He pulls his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door then walks in, kicking it shut behind him. No he wouldn't bother to lock it, he never did when he was home, he never could figure out why though since he lived in a pretty bad neighborhood.

A year and a half later after Asuma disappeared from his life and Shikamaru was still waiting for him to walk through the door, a cigarette hanging from his lips that would be turned up in a lopsided smile.

'But he won't, he never will.' The teen thinks and lies down on his couch, propping his head and feet on the arm rests and kicking off his boots in the process. Asuma had left a nasty sized hole in Shikamaru's life, one that just didn't seem to want and be filled by anything the Nara tried shoving into it.

Sighing again he pulled a rather crushed pack of cigarettes and a lighter that Asuma had gave him out of his back pocket and lit one of the sad-looking cancer sticks, bringing it to his tanned lips and inhaling slowly. He still missed the older man, though he'd admit it to no one except Ino. No matter how hard he fought against it.

Why?

Simple: because he was stupid enough to fall in love without thinking things through.

Shikamaru exhaled a cloud of smoke and fold an arm behind his head.

"Asuma, you bastard, even though you're gone you're still on my mind all the time." He mumbled bitterly.

Unbidden, memories flooded through his mind, Asuma's smile, Asuma's laugh, their first kiss, the first time Asuma said those three little words that made the younger heart flutter like a freakin' humming bird...and the moment he walked away.

"DAMMIT!" He shouted and sat up, cigarette clenched in his teeth, covering his face with his hand before letting it drop limply back to his side.

'It's been a year already…why can't I just move on? It's not like he's coming back…I had six months of therapy to tell me that… '

Just over two months after Shikamaru had finally graduated high school, Shikamaru had started getting shrink sessions from Ino's father to help with the depression that had settled in since he didn't really have anything to do until the new school year.

A soft knock at the door drags the young man from his thoughts, sighing he stands up and walks over to look out the peep-hole. Yes he actually used the peep-hole on his door, how else was he supposed to avoid annoying people who came to visit him?

No one he knew – the person was too tall and thin-, but hey what the hell? Why not open the door to a total stranger with a dark hoodie pull up around their face, especially in this oh so wonderful neighborhood?

Sighing yet again – this time questioning his sanity - Shikamaru opened the door and raised an eyebrow at the knocker.

Said knocker pulled back his hood to show a head of shaggy chocolate-colored hair, which he shook out of his golden-colored eyes and grinned at Shikamaru, showing off sharp-looking canines, the upside down red triangle tattoos on his cheeks giving him a wild look.

"Hey buddy, I'm Kiba Inuzuka*, I moved in next door today." He spoke with an energetic tone of voice while extending a hand.

"Shikamaru Nara." Shikamaru sighed and hesitantly took Kiba's hand for a hand shake.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air for a moment as the two took in one another, or rather Kiba took in the sight that was Shikamaru.

The young man wore jeans that hung loosely on him -if it weren't for that belt they probably would fall off when he moved, a black band t-shirt, brown hair pulled up into spikey pony tail on top of his head, cigarette hanging from between his tanned lips.

'My neighbor is…..sexy…. 'Kiba thought in pleasant surprise, praising every god he knew that he wasn't stuck next to someone like Shino again like he was while he was in boarding school.

Shikamaru's thoughts were something more along the lines of. ' my neighbor smells like dog….he probably has a dog….he looks like a dog person….god I hope it doesn't bark…that would be troublesome…' He concluded with a mental sigh.

After realizing that his new neighbor had no intentions of leave soon Shikamaru stood aside. "Wanna come inside?"

"Sure!" Kiba replied walking inside.

"You have a dog?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You seem like a dog person…that and I could smell it on you." Shikamaru said wrinkling his nose as he closed the door.

"Oh sorry, I guess I've just gotten use to the smell." Kiba sheepishly grins and rubs the back of his head with one of his hands.

"Hn, want something to drink?"

"Sure!"

"What do you want?"

"Anything with sugar." Kiba said sat down on Shikamaru's leather couch.

"Here." The young Nara handed Kiba a can of coke.

"Thanks."

Another awkward silence as Kiba took a drink of his coke.

"So how old are you Shikamaru?" The dog-boy asked and set his coke on a coaster – supplied by Shikamaru, he might be lazy but rings on his furniture bothered him – on the coffee table.

"Nineteen."

"I'm seventeen almost eighteen by the way because my birthday is coming up in July!" Kiba nearly shouted, grasping the chance for conversation like a lifeline in the sea of awkwardness he was feeling.

"That's real interesting." Shika said and yawned as he sat down in the leather layZboy to the left of where Kiba was on the couch.

"So what do you do?"

"Hm?"

"For work." Kiba clarified.

"At the moment I work in tech support."

"Oh…well I train dogs with my mom, we have a house and kennel out in the country but now we're having some renovations done on the house so we're staying here over the summer." Kiba explains

"I see."

"Do you like working in Tech support?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why do you care?" Shikamaru asks getting tired of this troublesome game of twenty questions.

"Just trying to make conversation is all." Kiba says with a shrug.

"It's the same thing all the time. Dealing with more than a few idiots, senior citizens and the very few who actually have a problem. "

"Oh….is it really that bad?"

"Yes." The smoker deadpanned as he ground the butt of his cigarette in the ash tray.

"Oh…well I like working with the dogs, my mom not so much." Kiba said and chuckled, taking another sip of his coke.

"Hm."

"If you could work anywhere where would you work?"

"Why?"

"Cause I wanna know." The dog-boy said as if it was an real answer.

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I guess I'd like to become a writer."

Kiba looked at his neighbor who now had his eyes closed, carefully taking the features of his face. Shikamaru had a long straight nose, thin tanned lips that looked slightly chapped, high cheek bones and deep-set eyes that had dark rings under them that told him the older male had trouble sleeping. As the subject of his observation turned his head, the metallic glint of silver caught his eye and made him notice the small silver stud in Shikamaru's left ear, making him wonder if he had a matching one on the other side.

"Why? I don't take you for the scholarly type." Kiba commented.

Shikamaru snorted and opened his almond-shaped hazel eyes.

"I'm no scholar; writing has nothing to do with being a 'scholar'. I just like the idea of being able to create something with words. It's a rather fascinating Idea isn't it? To make an entire world with words, able to create an escape for the one that we're in now and find a happier on in such a simple thing as the pages of a book, it's a wonderful thing. "

After Asuma left reading had become one of Shikamaru's favorite pass times, as chess and shogi reminded him too much of the older man.

For the first time Shikamaru offered a small half-smile as his eyes glazed, clearly thinking of something that was far away from where they were now. It was funny, that small smile made Kiba's heart flutter with happiness in a way that no woman's smile ever had.

"What about you?" Shikamaru asked shaking himself from his thoughts and looking at the young man in front of him with a slightly curious glint in his hazel gaze.

"Well I'm going to school to become a veterinarianl, I love animals, especially dogs. " The wild-looking male said with a wide grin that stretched his tattoos, giving him a slightly more – if possible - feral look.

The pineapple haired man gave Kiba the once over, taking the faded jeans that covered well-toned legs – and ass, Shikamaru would admit he glanced very briefly - had the knees ripped out, the heavy work boots and the dark hoodie that kept the dog-lover's chest and arms covered with baggy fabric.

'Though if his upper body is anything like his lower half…' Shikamaru's thoughts trailed off before he shook his head. What was he thinking?

People with dogs were troublesome.


An : Sorry for cutting it short here but I was having writers block at the time and still had to edit it… *sigh* any way I hope you like this chapter of To Dance With The Dog, review if you wish but I'm not going to ask ( god knows I don't do it on half the stories I read, im too lazy XP) But it would make me really happy , the three reviews I got for the prologue put me on cloud nine and made the work of editing and finishing up this chapter fly by, so thank you SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH ! Thank you also to the people who added this story to the watch and favorites lists, it means so much to me. ^_^

*I'm really sorry if i spelled Kiba's surname wrong, feel free to correct me if it is.

(Re * : thank you to 01011000 for the correction of Kiba's surname. - Blackbird)

Well I have another chapter to write & edit so…

Bye ! ~Shamless