Series/Disclaimer: Naruto, which I don't own.
Pairing: Kankuro x Kiba
Warning(s): Swearing and more boy on boy flirting.
Chapter OST: Ramalama (Bang Bang) + Leaving the City + Night of the Dancing Flame - Roisin Murphy; Cage + Drain Away - Dir en Grey; FILTH in the Beauty - Gazette
Author's Note: I'm coming to realize that this fanfiction revolves a lot around the word 'something'. Like how Kankuro notices 'something' about Kiba and Kiba knows Kankuro wants to do or say 'something' that he isn't. How they both want 'something' from each other that, for whatever reason, they aren't getting. Just, yeah, did anyone else notice that.

A quick question; did you see the events of this chapter happening like...a mile away? As much as I hate to be cliche with my writing it worked out kind of nicely and I like the idea that Kankuro can't swim. I mean...the guy is clearly a land-based person.

Anyway, this chapter sort of flowed easily which I both like and makes me really nervous. If it flows that means there might be mistakes. I edited this over at least twice and ended up changing things but, as usual, point out things you see wrong with it.

Another thing you may have noticed is how I frequently jump times in my fanfictions (especially this one). So don't go ahead and assume that Kankuro will change his mind like a split second before they leave. For all you know the next chapter will be some enormous jump like a bajilion years into their future...okay, well, not quite that far.

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The next day was very much a repeat of the previous one, however Kiba questioned Kankuro less and when he did speak up he seemed to be quite straight-forward rather than attempting to outwit the Jounin. Apparently the previous day's displays had shown him that tactic wouldn't quite work as well as he may have hoped. Either way, Kankuro continued to brush off the questions and did his best to brush off Kiba as well. The temptation of someone enjoying pain was becoming increasingly less alluring and he was becoming more and more tempted to break off his agreement with Kiba. No one would have missed him on this trip, not really – except for Kiba perhaps.

After scaling a rather large hill they all paused to look over the ground below. It was as though the hills had been patted down to form smooth running land that stretched all the way towards a shore in the far distance. Kankuro could see a wide stretch of blue beyond that length of land and Kiba claimed he could already smell the water (though he was a tad more excited about that than Kankuro). For the Inuzuka and their canines, this seemed to be motivation to move even faster where as Kankuro would have been fine with simply turning around.

This hidden motivation carried them to the small port village resting along side the vast amount of water sooner than they expected. It was still only about an hour before dusk (when their planned arrival was) but that made things easier on all of them. They were not quite so exhausted when they arrived and could enjoy the town for a little while longer; as tomorrow they would be mostly sitting in a boat as they traveled. This was also good because they were able to find a room before night sank in and had some time to enjoy a break before the next day.

Like the previous night, Tsume and Hana were rooming together while Kiba and Kankuro slept in the same room. Kankuro shrugged his bag off and leaned it against his bed as he sat down while Kiba continued to chat away behind him. He hadn't really been listening too much until after Kiba started asking about food and if he wanted to go out. Kankuro agreed and the two set out to find some place that had something they would both enjoy.

"The cool thing about being near the sea is that we usually get to go swimming before our boat arrives tomorrow," Kiba said. He was looking away from Kankuro as he tried to catch a sign of a place to suggest which meant he did not see Kankuro tense at that comment. It wasn't as though Kiba said he would be forced to swim but the idea of it was not particularly appealing either, "They mostly have sea-food here. How about tempura udon?"

"Fine," Kankuro said, which made Kiba jumped on it because during his previous suggestions Kankuro either hadn't responded or responded with some sort of displeased sound at the suggestion. He absent mindedly reached out to grab Kankuro's forearm to steer him in the correct direction (as the other wasn't facing it). Clearly, it was something he so often did with Shino and Hinata when he saw some place he wanted to go that he hadn't even thought about it before doing it.

Kankuro didn't jerk his arm away but he did feel the urge to spike in his muscles. For him, touches normally were meant in the offensive manner. His family was never really the type that hugged or laced arms or anything of that sort. So to have Kiba instantly reach out and grab his arm was actually something of a new concept to him. It was true that he had seen other people do it before but he himself had never really done anything resembling this. He let himself be lead, nevertheless, and Kiba let go once they had both taken seats and put in two orders.

"Sea-food isn't really common in Suna, is it?" Kiba asked as they waited.

Kankuro shrugged, "The Land of Wind borders on the west sea but no one in Suna really cares much for sea-food."

Kiba nodded thoughtfully as he looked down at his hands resting on the wooden bar, he drummed his nails for a moment as he tried to think of another question.

"Don't you ever prefer to talk about yourself or something?" Kankuro sighed as he rested his cheek against his fist. Kiba blinked and looked over at him with a bit of surprise glinting in his black eyes at the question. Or maybe it was more at the fact Kankuro had actually spoken up without being prodded to do it.

"Uh," he really hadn't ever thought about it that much even though, more often than not, his first instinct was to talk about himself. After all, if he was an expert on anything it would have been himself and he couldn't do any wrong there, "Yeah, I guess I do…it just didn't come to mind."

"Why not?" Kankuro asked, dragging his dull eyes forward to watch the cook move behind the bar as he prepared the food.

"I didn't think you'd care," Kiba said. He must have caught the raised brow look from Kankuro out of the corner of his eye because he quickly caught himself, "Not that it matters if you care or not, it's just better manners to ask a person about themselves."

Nice save, Kankuro thought sarcastically but decided that perhaps vocalizing it would have just caused a rather stupid fight and at the moment he wasn't up for one. Maybe when there were less people to bear witness, "Yeah well I'm not about to lay myself open for someone I don't know anything about."

"And I am?" Kiba asked. He looked up to catch Kankuro looking at him with a mixture of amusement and satisfaction. Kiba caught on soon enough that he was always gloating about himself and showing off when he was a kid; he was laying his pride out there all the time to be stepped on. But when he was younger it didn't matter so much because he hadn't gotten his senses beaten back into him yet. Since then, since the last time Kankuro had seen him, that had changed.

"Listen kid," Kankuro started, sitting up slightly more on the stool. Kiba mumbled 'I'm not a kid' but he didn't feel any need to go back and address it, "I'm not one of those people that likes to talk about themselves or lay it all out there. When you've got the kind of life I did, that route isn't always the safest."

"You know you keep talking and acting like your life was this big bust but you're trying to be so tough about it."

Kankuro frowned.

"Do you ever think about…I dunno, just talking?"

"No." The answer was so point blank Kiba was sure it felt like a kunai had been embedded into his forehead with it. Kankuro's answers kept baffling him, it was as though he wanted to do or say something that he just wasn't. Kiba wasn't necessarily suggesting it be to him but, damn, something would have been better than nothing at all. Then again, maybe there was something Kankuro wanted to do that Kiba didn't want him to do. His mind momentarily flashed back to the scene in Kankuro's inn room a few weeks prior and he felt the hair along the back of his neck raise.

Before the conversation could continue their food arrived and they ate in silence which carried over to the rest of the walk back to the hotel. Apparently both of them had decided that there was nothing further to say about the matter; though unbeknownst to each other they were also thinking the opposite as well.

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Their boat wasn't due to arrive until about noon when the sea would be best settled and they would have hours of daylight to travel by. Tsume said they would arrive in the village that night, most likely late, but she had sent a scroll ahead the previous night to warn the people they were staying with. Kiba and Akamaru seemed absolutely thrilled with this outcome as they raced back to their hotel room to change. Kankuro's hand was hovering over the door handle when Kiba yanked it open and ran into him. Kankuro managed to remain on his feet and instinctively moved an arm out to catch Kiba around the waist as the other started to stumble backwards.

Kiba felt a slight warmth head to his face as the touch immediately reminded him of what happened in Kankuro's inn room yet again. He quickly brushed off the hold and regained his footing, "So are you coming?"

"Not yet," Kankuro replied, raising a brow in a way that gave his green orbs a suggestive glint. Kiba lashed out and punched him (more playfully than Kankuro had punched him) in the shoulder.

"Pervert, I meant swimming," he snorted. It was then that Kankuro took in the sight and realized Kiba was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top; quite different from his normal attire. The Jounin fought the urge to swallow nervously and must have succeeded rather well as he shook his head because Kiba didn't comment on it, "Aw, why not? You're not afraid of a little water are you?"

"No," Kankuro said, taking his turn to snort. He moved to walk around Kiba but as he snuck by the other turned to poke two fingers against his chest. Amidst his turn, Kankuro found his back against the wooden doorframe and Kiba seemed to be wasting no time in closing the distance between them. He could feel the warmth of the other's body hovering over his own through his clothing. What's with this kid? He snaps at me for getting to close and here he is throwing himself at me.

"Then prove it," he replied, though his voice was lower -- as though he had been thinking something completely dirty before saying it. Kankuro watched those lips turn into a soft smirk that revealed a single, sharp Inuzuka fang. Kankuro leaned down as though he was going to take those lips with his own, making Kiba pull back just slightly. The other must have been unwilling to lose the majority of closeness he had achieved to the puppet master because he only pulled as far back as his neck would allow.

He could feel the warmth of Kankuro's breath along his lips and struggled with himself to keep his eyes up on the other's; they slipped a few times. He knew this because Kankuro was partially smirking to himself as he replied in an equally low voice, "Forget it."

Kiba's brow furrowed into a deep frown as he pulled back and moved to continue out the door, the frown faded only a moment later. He shrugged, raising his hands up, palms facing the ceiling to increase emphasis, "Whatever. Your loss. You'll at least hang down near the water won't you? You aren't that afraid, right?"

"I'm not afraid," Kankuro groaned like a parent that has told a kid something one too many times.

"Whatever you say."

"Will you leave me alone if I go?" Kankuro asked with his voice equally as annoyed as it had been previously.

"For a little while at least."

"Deal."

It only took about two minutes and thirty seconds for Kiba to run to the beach where as Kankuro walked and took five. By the time he arrived, Kiba and Akamaru were already splashing and laughing in the water. He looked around and decided to take a seat on a flat rock top that sat partially in the water but above it enough the waves splashed below his feet. It wasn't as though he was afraid of the water; he just didn't care for it and was prone to sea-sickness. He would walk in it and as long as the waves weren't vicious and he could feel the ground under his feet he was fine. As far as he knew, Gaara and Temari were the same – though Temari could glide around on her fan and may have been more used to the movements and Gaara could always use his sand when he needed to.

He dug his elbow into his thigh and rested his chin in his hand as he watched Kiba swim as far out as he could and Akamaru paddle after him. The waves didn't seem so bad right now but tomorrow he knew they would be hell on his stomach. Thankfully he remembered to bring some remedies from Suna for sea-illness so he wouldn't need to sneak off and buy something with the threat of Kiba knowing about it. He hadn't been lying when he said he was prideful.

While thinking about his own problems, Kankuro failed to notice that Kiba disappeared. Akamaru was shaking himself off on the beach the way dogs do but Kiba was no where in sight. His green eyes flicked around among the waves and watched for the Inuzuka to surface but he didn't; he stood up to get a better measure of height. He looked down to see if the other was near the rock surface he had been standing on. Had Kiba been planning to snatch his leg when Kankuro wasn't paying attention? He couldn't see the image of him in the water which was relatively clear, where had he gone?

Then he heard it; the sound of feet from behind him.

Kiba had charged at a run at the back of Kankuro, planning to knock him off while he was sitting but deciding that the other standing was much easier. Kankuro whirled around just in time to see a glimpse of soaked brown hair before Kiba's weight lunging into his front knocked him off the rock face. Kiba knew the rock went out enough into the water that Kankuro wouldn't hurt his head and he managed to catch himself just seconds before falling off the rock himself. The joking Inuzuka waved as Kankuro splashed into the blue-green water below.

Water rushed up the Jounin's nose and the shock of being pushed had left him taking his breath too late – he inhaled water as well as oxygen. Splashing into the water knocked his hood off and he clenched his eyes closed tightly to keep the water from invading them too. Almost instantly the panic reflex set in and he felt himself completely unable to move. He could already feel the water he took in making his stomach hurt and the deeper he sank with the force of splashing, the more pressure he felt on his body. Kankuro was not afraid of the water; but he could not swim.

For a moment, Kiba thought Kankuro may have been trying to fake him out by holding himself underwater. However, as the white foam and bubbles formed from the splash cleared he saw that the black mass submerged underwater wasn't moving. Kankuro wasn't swimming or kicking his legs, he hadn't reached out for his hat which was floating atop the water, and he hadn't surfaced. It didn't even appear that the other was floating back to the surface as one would usually do. He was staying underwater and Kiba was sure Kankuro was not part fish.

"Akamaru!" Kiba called. The dog lifted his head just in time to see Kiba dive into the water and immediately swam back in himself to see what was wrong.

The water was just deep enough that Kiba could not quite stand unless he stretched his toes and submerged most of his head. He pumped his arms and legs hard to catch up to where Kankuro was; his clothes were enough to weigh him down to the point he hadn't just floated back to the surface near immediately. Kiba wrapped an arm around Kankuro's waist and pushed off of the sand floor with both feet to propel himself and Kankuro upwards towards seeing the silhouette of Akamaru against the sun. The dog had grabbed Kankuro's hat and Kiba leaned part of Kankuro's weight over the dog as they swam back to shore which mercifully wasn't that far away.

Kankuro's face had relaxed partially and as Kiba pulled him enough onto the beach to lie him down, he noticed the Jounin wasn't breathing either. His face was one of pure panic as he tried to jostle the elder awake, "Kankuro? Kankuro!" Kankuro didn't respond.

Kiba instinctively moved to tilt the other's head back, telling Akamaru to go find some help. As his companion retreated, Kiba checked pulse and breathing once again. The former was weak while the latter was non-existent. The Inuzuka held Kankuro's nose closed and covered the puppet master's mouth with his own, exhaling deeply. Kankuro's chest rose with the breath and Kiba watched for him to continue on his own, when that didn't happen he tried once again.

The fifth time he exhaled into Kankuro's mouth, the other started to cough and Kiba helped him onto his side. Clear sea-water left his mouth in a small rush before the rest was coughed out strong enough to make Kankuro's throat and chest hurt. His face paint had encountered enough moisture that it was starting to flake away and even smear around his lips where Kiba had covered his mouth. Once all the water was expelled from the places it shouldn't have been, Kankuro's breathing was harsh and Kiba helped him sit upright.

"Are you alright?" Kiba asked despite the stupidity of the question.

Kankuro struggled to catch his breath for a few moments before turning on Kiba quite rapidly, fixing him with a dangerous look, "Are you completely stupid? Where do you get off shoving someone into the water like that? You could have killed me!"

Kiba winced like a dog being shouted at before defensively narrowing his eyes back at the Jounin, "You didn't tell me you couldn't swim!"

"I shouldn't have had to!" Despite his dizziness, Kankuro managed to get to his feet and stand through the swirl of lightheadedness. Kiba stood up as well and turned to see Tsume and Hana running in their direction. Soon Kankuro's back entered his vision as he stormed away, wringing out his hat that he'd picked up from the sand.

"Where are you going?" Kiba shouted after him, but couldn't quite bring himself to chase Kankuro. He knew full well that the other was right, he shouldn't have pushed him and he should apologize. For whatever reason though; he didn't.

"Back to Suna!" Kankuro shouted his tone sharp and unforgiving. Embarrassment and nausea burned at him sharply as he kept his back to Kiba. The questioning he could deal with and the kid's conceited personality he could handle, even talking to the dog was okay, but nearly drowning? No 'possibility' of exploring a masochist was worth that, he was going home.

"You can't just back out on me, Kankuro!" Kiba shouted after him. A hint of panic and regret was burning its way up his throat as watched the other storm past Tsume and Hana.

What would he do if Kankuro didn't show up with him tomorrow? It wasn't like the others already knew about him but he had it in his mind the entire time that this would be so much easier to deal with if there was someone there to pretend for him. He needed Kankuro for this, his one chance at having a peaceful visit was walking – not even walking, storming – away from him. Kankuro wouldn't really back out, would he? Maybe he just needed time to cool off.

"Fucking watch me!"

Kiba felt his stomach sink.