The steam from the tub still managed to fill the entire bathroom and make the air feel humid and thick enough for Kiba to roll around in. He had just spent a half hour or so soaking away his training and much of his day in the hot warm water. A show of habit allowed him to dry off his body with a gray towel carefully and make his way to the sink across the room. His soaked brunette hair dripped in his eyes so he pushed a hand back through it to slick it away from his face as his forearm wiped away the steam from the mirror over the sink. His blotted image came into view beyond the clinging droplets of moisture and he looked over the familiar slitted eyes and red fang markings on his face.

However, as he finished drying himself off and ran the towel over his wet abdomen he found himself hissing slightly in pain. Opening his eyes from a grimace showed a decent circle of purple and blue forming over his stomach where Kankuro's fist had connected. He secured the towel around his waist to preserve what modesty he had around women that had seen him since he was a child and carefully brushed his fingers over the area. It was in the early stages of bruising and he knew his favored position of lying on his stomach while falling asleep would not be easy tonight. He pressed softly on the center and winced, "Damn, he really meant business."

Well, there was nothing he could do about it now and standing there cursing at a person not around to here it wouldn't be of much help either. He left the bathroom and headed down the hall towards his room, stepping inside and letting the cloth he used for a door fall closed behind him before his mother, Hana, or Kuromaru could manage to corner him. He had found upon returning home that the argument about weather or not he was going on the trip had not ended. It was too late and he was too tired to go back out so a nice bath had been his next retreat; but now that was over so he had to trust hiding in his room.

Akamaru was contently curled up at the foot of his bed, partially buried under the enormous mass of blankets. Kiba's bedroom floor was littered with clothes, magazines, and several different kinds of things to both eat and eat off of. Dog toys and shredded blankets and pillows were also strewn across the floor lazily but he knew nothing there was dangerous enough to step on. Despite this he had an easy and strangely graceful way by which to navigate through his room to his dresser. It was extraordinary how he managed it even while wearing a towel and attempting to keep that from falling as well. An open window rustled heavy gray curtains that had been pushed aside to let sunlight in but were now letting in a late evening glow.

The teen fished out a pair of comfortable and lengthy dark gray sweat pants and pulled them on, tying the string and shaking out his hair. Water droplets splattered over the assortment of junk and weapons littering the top of his dresser but he didn't pay any attention. Instead he moved back across the room to collapse in his bed, Akamaru giving a disgruntled snuff as Kiba crossed his legs over his back. He propped his arms behind him and against a nest of pillows while flashing a one-fang smirk at his companion. The dog simply sneezed and went back to trying to sleep as it had before being disturbed.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think Kankuro really had it out for me," Kiba started as he moved one hand back to rest over his tender stomach. The skin was slightly warmer than his cool hand and he inhaled to feel the skin stretch under his palm. It made him wince in pain again to do it but as he felt the battered muscles pull he curved his fingers to rake his nails over it lightly. The testing notion was responded to by a sharp gasp and Kiba instantly sinking back into his worn mattress.

Akamaru appeared to have taken an interest in what he was doing and kept an eye open to watch Kiba closely. Of course no one else would know of this sort of thing because it wasn't as though Kiba went around flaunting his scars or anything he really did to himself. But it seemed that under the watchful eye of his best friend, Kiba had lost the nerve to try that motion again and simply lay on his back with one hand resting, relaxed, just under the aching area, "He saw something today when he hit me. I should've been more careful." He shook his head and moved a hand back to run it through his drying hair, as the moisture disappeared it gradually returned to its usual messy and impossible to control state, "I'm such an idiot, what's he gonna think now?"

The dog at the foot of the bed seemed to raise a brow at the answer and it took Kiba a moment to catch on. Sitting up he raised his hands as though attempting to defend himself from something that wasn't there, his eyes slightly widened and on Akamaru, "N-Not that it matters or anything. I mean, what do I care what Kankuro thinks? Sure the guy saved my life but I repaid him for that and everything, he's just some sand ninja." Akamaru snorted in reply and Kiba narrowed his eyes, "I'm serious, Akamaru. He's just a friend…Hell, he isn't even really a friend. I don't know what he is, he's a Kankuro."

Akamaru played it off as though he believed what Kiba was saying when he yawned and closed his eyes, nuzzling back into his sleepy state. Kiba glared at his disbelieving best friend for a moment before shaking his head and falling back against the pillow, one arm behind his head. The ceiling above his head was mostly dark but glowing slightly with the golden-orange light of the lap on his bedside table. The painted ceiling was smooth and had been white once but had increasingly become darker over the years. Not in a disgusting way, just in a way that showed that continually cleaning the walls and ceilings wasn't important in this household.

Shadows and images danced over the ceiling, his eyes darted to keep up with them and he played the old game of trying to make sense of something that wasn't there to make sense of. It was a frustrating game if one focused too much but he knew it was the sort of pointless game that only he could enjoy. Yet something about that seemed completely alright with him and he knew it put him to sleep. His thoughts did continue to stray slightly as his hand brushed over the blue and purple muscle and skin of his stomach.

What was Kankuro doing in that forest, just walking like he said? He hadn't appeared to change much from that guy that was always looking for a fight two years ago. Then again, Kiba hadn't changed much himself either. What could he have been in Konoha for without having Gaara and Temari with him too? Those three always seemed to be together unless one of them was delivering a message; though Temari had come by for the Chuunin Exams a few months ago. As much as he hated to admit it, he did wonder what Kankuro thought of what he had seen…not so much that Kankuro's opinion it mattered but the principle of the thing. Damn, what did that phraseeven mean?

"He probably thinks I'm some insane kid with a pain fetish, huh?" Kiba mused out loud. Akamaru didn't reply which was a sign that he wanted to sleep and had resorted to ignoring Kiba entirely for the time being. The teen's eyelids fluttered and lowered halfway as he continued to watch the shadows dance across his ceiling and the subconscious attempt to bring them to focus would eventually give him a headache so he turned his light off. The last clinging fragments of light leaked in through his window but the shadows had stopped dancing and the images had disappeared. The teen yawned and very carefully executed a roll onto his side, keeping his hand resting over his stomach lightly, "He's a prick anyway, what do I care?" Letting his eyes slip the rest of the way closed he allowed that last thought to tug him in the direction of sleeping.

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"Shit!" Kankuro withdrew his hand from the opened torso of Karasu with a familiar sting along the inside of his finger. Blood was already rushing to the surface of his grease blotted hands and he quickly reached for a clean towel to hold over the wound. His green eyes narrowed offensively at the inner mechanics of his weapon and he knocked the cavity closed with a bump from his elbow as he turned to head for the bathroom. Holding the paper towel over the cut he turned on the water and to dunk his hands under it. The warmth stung against the fresh wound but after he washed it off it wouldn't be so bad, not even bandage worthy.

As he rinsed off the soap and sat back on the closed toilet seat drying his hands he more closely inspected the wound. It didn't run deep and wouldn't scar, very few injuries that he obtained from working on Karasu ever did. Though it was enough to make the young Sand-nin heave a sigh and lean back against the back of the toilet, holding his hand up to the light, "I'm tired enough to hurt myself but not enough to sleep, what a sick arrangement."

He grumbled in dissatisfaction and rose to his feet, dropping the towel in the sink and glancing at the clock as he migrated back towards the living room. Ten thirty wasn't really that late but he didn't have any reason to not be able to fall asleep, yet when he tried an hour ago it wasn't coming to him. The teenager fell onto the couch and propped his feet up on the table that Karasu was still strewn across. The second he closed his eyes and tilted his head back, the image of that Inuzuka kid flashed behind his eyelids. His tanned skin littered with scars, some of which Kankuro could recognize simply by how close they resembled some of his own. However, those claw marks on his sides and shoulders? Those were something entirely different.

He breathed through his nose in a slow and steady pace and imagined that look in Kiba's eyes after being punched. He may have over shot it with considering it lust, not everyone found everything sexual after all. But the idea of him being really far off seemed too wrong, there was definitely some kind of craving there. No matter what excuse he had come to in an attempt to not over shoot it, Kiba had enjoyed being hit. He liked the pain or something about it; Kankuro wasn't quite conceited enough to believe that someone simply being near him was enough to make them give that kind of look.

He slowly pried open his eyes and watched the ceiling come back into visibility through his blurry vision. Another point worth noting was that Akamaru hadn't jumped him after he had hit Kiba, the two were so close one would instantly assume that if Kiba got hurt Akamaru would go after the attacker unless told otherwise. Well he sure as hell knew that Kiba hadn't said anything but could Akamaru have smelled it? He was a dog after all, it wasn't a completely absurd thought, and he remembered someone telling him once that a heightened sense of smell is what let animals know when the females were in heat. He was sure Kiba wasn't a girl so he wouldn't be in heat but he must have had some kind of scent change when he was aroused, right?

"Thinking too much, thinking too much. Damn it brain, turn off," he growled as he sat forward and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. The pressure seemed to help his mind clear and something about the disappearing thoughts of the Inuzuka teen made him feel a bit more ready for sleep. Temari taught him that one, sometimes he couldn't sleep because he had other things to think about and his brain was trying to tell him that. Of course that was the short version and her general point; Temari made no show of not picking on him so the actual meaning was clouded with various other insults about how she was surprised he could think at all.

Hat and make-up already removed, Kankuro had been navigating around his inn room in just his day clothes without the gloves and shoes. It was a nice way to work because when he suddenly became tired he just had to find a place to lie down. Being bombarded with mission after mission for years on end had easily equipped him with the ability to fall asleep pretty much anywhere. Times like these he was thankful for such a gift as he stretched out on the couch with an arm tucked behind his head. He yawned and didn't bother to open his eyes afterwards; he should have guessed his restlessness was due to Kiba.

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Clack, tap, clack, tap. Day two of arguing with his mother was all that Kiba had found himself waking up to that morning. Once again he walked into the kitchen with a sleepy yawn and had just turned around for the table with something to eat when he saw Hana sitting calmly once again and his mother standing with her arms crossed. His cheeks were puffed out slightly with a mouthful of cereal as his eyes flicked from Hana to his mother and back to Hana. The only thing his sister offered was a sort of 'Sorry little bro' kind of look that only made him growl slightly as he finished chewing.

Now the empty bowl sat on the table in front of him, licked clean of crumb and milk, and he had returned to rocking his chair back and forth. This time Akamaru was in the room and remained silently and obediently near Kiba in case of any need for back up. The one thing that most annoyed Kiba about these sorts of fights was that Akamaru really couldn't do anything. Even if his mom could understand what he was saying she never paid attention to Akamaru in a way that may have been useful to Kiba's case. So he was stuck on his own because of the usual annoying shift in power; she was mother and he was pup.

"What do I have to do to make you listen to me? I know dragging you there won't work now, you've grown up too much for that," Tsume sighed as she fell into her own chair and put her hands on the table much in the same way Hana did. This morning was different from yesterday because she wasn't just snapping at him that he was going. The sentiment was appreciated but he still didn't want to go, "You aren't a puppy anymore, Kiba. I can't make you do things that you don't want to do. I know that you said they were picking on-"

"They were picking on me," he growled, lifting his slitted gaze up from the bowl on the table to his mother who sat across from him. Her fingers tightened in the way they were laced together and he watched some of the tension slowly ease out of her shoulders. Growling was a prime offense in this household, he wasn't sure why he had pushed her with it but he had and she just let it go.

"Fine; but that doesn't mean you have to be the runt of the two and just let them get away with it by not going this year," she replied, her voice sharp but cool and steady.

"You just don't get it, Ma," he sighed after a moment and straightened up. His hands dropped down to rest on the chair between his legs, "It's not just that they were picking on me or making fun of Dad or anything. It's just that…even if I was gay, what would be so wrong with that?"

"Are you saying your gay, Kiba?" Tsume asked. Kiba lifted his head a tad quickly to see her expression for anger or something he should need to avoid. For the most part she just looked surprised and maybe a little uneasy; the topic had never come up. Well, maybe once, but she had told him they would accept whoever he was attracted to as long as they accepted him. But something about those sorts of talks was just sort of for comfort reasons; the parents always expect the kid to be straight in the end.

"N-No, it isn't that…" he moved a hand to scratch his nails along the back of his neck nervously. Why did he stutter that way? He glanced to Akamaru to see if the dog could pick up the scent of a lie but he was looking at Kiba with his usual companion-at-the-ready stare, "I-It's just that even if I was it's no big deal, right? I mean, it's just a relationship, they don't have to be jerks about it….if I was."

Tsume watched her son with careful and curious eyes before standing up silently and walking around the table. Kiba didn't look up to watch her movements but she placed a hand on his shoulder and kneeled down to be at level with him on the chair. As her hand moved to his cheek to lift his gaze to her own it was only then she could see something akin to anger and possibly hurt in her boy's eyes. What about this subject had become so touchy for him? If he wasn't gay then it didn't make any sense that he should be so nervous or angry over such a small thing. Then again…there was always the possibility he just hadn't realized it. She would push neither issue, not now; now she simply needed to console him.

Kiba swallowed nervously again and his mom smiled, shaking her head slightly, "No, Kiba, it isn't a big deal at all. It's only a bad thing to people who are ignorant; that's why you don't understand those kids. You've got a good head on your shoulders."

She ruffled up her son's sleep tossed hair and he nodded a little, exhaling a warm breath of relief as he looked away for a moment. Kiba had always been loud and arrogant, proud and well aware of who he was; all of his life he had understood himself. Perhaps this was the first big thing that had happened that was beyond even his large safety bubble, perhaps there were things he didn't know yet.

"Thanks Ma," he said and looked back at her, smiling in a way that showed those canine fangs of his. She nodded and hugged him, nuzzling her nose against his cheek in an affectionate way that a dog might.

"I still wish you would come," she told him as she pulled away and stood up. Kiba picked up his bowl and headed over to the sink to drop it in. She moved a little to see if she could catch his eye, "Why not bring Shino or Hinata with you again?"

Kiba flinched slightly, trusting that he was out of his mother's sight enough for that. Yeah right, like he ever wanted to bring Shino back there again. Hinata might not have been so bad but they'd probably just think he was playing cover up or something. He probably could have talked Shino into going with him to pretend and really get them off his back. If they thought he had a boyfriend then they wouldn't think the insults got to him so much; they'd have to leave him alone. But Shino? No way, the guy was his best friend; he wasn't going to ask something like that.

He leaned forward over the sink to reach the knob and hit his stomach, causing him to grimace slightly and bite back a pained sound. "Are you alright?" He could hear his mother moving forward to check on him but he with drew and held a hand up to halt her with a nod that he was okay. Damn, if he ever saw Kankuro again he was really going to-

"That's it!" He shouted it before he had time to realize what he had said.

"What's it? Did you hit your head on the faucet again?" His mother put her hands on her hips and narrowed her already dangerous looking eyes at her son. Kiba whirled around to look at his annoyed mother, still holding a hand to his stomach. When her eyes dropped to it, he dropped his hand.

"No. Ma, I have to go out for a little," he said as he headed for his room to get dressed from his T-shirt (worn to conceal the bruising) and sleep pants. With a clap of his hand against his thigh Akamaru was up and following after him.

"What? Where are you going all of the sudden?"

"Out! I gotta find someone," he said as he moved into his room and picked up a pair of pants and a short sleeved mesh shirt off the floor. He didn't know how long Kankuro had been or would be in the village but he knew he had to catch him before he left. He also hoped that his bluff would work well enough to make the plan go through; he wasn't one to think Kankuro was predictable.

"Who?" his mother called after him as he grabbed his jacket and threw it on. He was hopping out of his room on one foot and nearly bumped into Tsume who managed to step out of her son's way before he managed it. Kiba didn't answer as he ran down the hall and through the living room, throwing open the front door and nearly jumping out of his house.

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A large yawn was audible from Kankuro's painted mouth as he looked down over the main street of Konoha from the balcony of his Inn room. People were shopping and kids were running around, darting between the legs of people as they chased after one another or a ball or some other thing worth chasing. His face paint was once again decorating his light skin and he was fully dressed in his two piece ensemble though missing his shoes and hat. One leg was bent up and the other curved around the front of it, his arm behind his head to keep him from uncomfortably resting against the bars of the safety-guard of the balcony.

"No wonder people from Suna take vacations here, it's like this place doesn't have anything wrong with it at all," he mumbled as he twitched is foot to the music emitting from one of the headphones remaining in his ear. His own home was still recovering from some money problems as well as the losses in the war with Konoha nearly two years ago. The damage was nearly completely repaired, thanks to Gaara being elected the Fifth Kazekage, but that still seemed to leave some gaps. Jounin were pushed to double up on missions and younger kids had to be selected for Genin ranks. It was predicted within the next month things would settle back as they used to be, but only waiting would tell.

The nice thing about Konoha was that no one really knew or pretended to know him; being a middle child back in Suna was a hassle. Mostly because people accepted Gaara as their leader and protector now so sometimes his recognition was just because he was Gaara's brother. He did have to admit though, having things between him and Gaara patched up had come to make his life a hell of a lot easier. He went through his days walking into his brother's office without a problem or worried he was going to be sand-squished. With the patches in the relationships around Gaara came Gaara's control, and that was a good thing for the entire village.

Drifting in his thoughts Kankuro must have missed someone calling him from the street at the top of their lungs. Kiba got numerous looks from people in both annoyance and shock, eventually it got to the point he gave up and ran inside. Somehow the fates had chosen not to forsaken him on his mission (and thus really decided to punish Kankuro) by having the desk clerk allow him up to the Sand nin's room. He was standing in the door that lead to the balcony by the time Kankuro opened his eyes and saw one out of breath and annoyed Inuzuka standing in front of him. He jumped slightly in surprise of seeing someone there but attempting not to show it; ever since he was a kid people always seemed to succeed in sneaking up on him when he was trying to relax!

"What the hell are you doing in here? Get out of my room!" he shouted and pulled himself to his feet via railing. Kiba was still doubled over attempting to catch his breath as Kankuro moved past him to open the door and kick him out.

"Found…you…"

"No, you didn't," Kankuro snapped and grabbed his hood, yanking it on and adjusting it without need for a mirror. He was never sure why he felt slightly self conscious around people without his hood but he did; especially when flustered.

Kiba stood up and caught his breath a bit easier as he turned around to see Kankuro standing near an open doorway. A puppy-like grin came to his face which only annoyed Kankuro more as he frowned and opened his mouth to tell him to get out again. Kiba managed to cut him off, "You're gonna close that door and listen to me or I'm going to get you banned from this village."

"What?" Kankuro sneered, not missing a beat in his reply. The Inuzuka child crossed his arms over his chest confidently at the annoyed expression and tone.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, but I don't think you heard you. Why the hell would I listen to something some dumb brat like you has to say? Get out of my room before I throw you over that ba-"

"It's against the Suna and Konoha Peace Treaty for you to come into this village and assault someone unless it's in self defense."

Kankuro stopped and closed his open mouth, narrowing his dark green eyes on the teenager in front of him. No one really took kindly to having someone barge into their room and start telling them what to do, Kankuro really was no different. In fact, if anyone was ever incredibly pissed off by such things it was him. However, with that kind of threat on him, he closed the door quietly and leaned back against it, stiffly crossing his arms and fixing Kiba with a very angry look, "What do you want?"