An Uphill Battle for Two

Chapter Eight: A Secret Second Date

That note that appears on each chapter: "I don't own Naruto, etc." I guess this is the AKA "don't sue me" of a fanfic.

Here we go:

Kiba showed his guest their room, being proud of its slight neatness. It was only a little messy, so the room wasn't appalling to Kankuro. The first things the puppet master noticed were that there were dog treats on high shelves and a radio, with plenty of music to listen to.

Before Kankuro could make any more observations, he was cut off. "Here's where you'll be sleeping." The host patted the bed next to where he was already relaxing.

"Oh, you men right here?" Kankuro went to Kiba's side of the bed and crawled on top of him, making sure he touched the dog-ninja's crotch gently as he crossed over. He went to his designated spot as Kiba quickly got up and locked the door. He went back to the bed, and crawled on his boyfriend, engaging in a kiss. A struggle began to see which of the two was more dominant, as they rolled on each other, seeing who could keep the other's tongue under control longer.

The silent war for dominance was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "Kiba, you in there?!" Hana's voice was full of excitement.

The male Inuzuka smugly smiled as he got off of the puppet master. He knew he won the battle. Kankuro smiled, even though he "lost", he still felt satisfied. It was definitely the best loss he ever had.

Kiba unlocked and opened the door, as his sister sprung into the door, hugging him.

"I was worried about you! Don't run away again! Who's that?" She cocked her head at the puppet master, who was rubbing his lips with the back of his hand, so if any purple paint was smudged, it wouldn't be obvious. He scooted to the end of the bed.

"He's my hero! He saved me from my kidnapper! I'll tell you all about it sometime!" Kankuro and Kiba smiled, the latter knew he'd have to change parts of the story, as well as tell his sister about his new "friend."

"Well then!" She bowed to the Suna-native deeply, "thank you so much for saving this little trouble maker!" She didn't care where the hero was from; just that he did the right thing.

"It was nothing, really," Kankuro kicked at the ground and grinned. He was shocked from her cheerfulness, considering their mother…

"Anyways, he's staying with us for a while, so, make sure you bother are good and happy together."The youngest sarcastically added

"Yeah…" Hana nodded, "I've got to go shopping for some food now, do you guys want to join me?" She wanted company anyways, since she felt lonely waiting for her brother to come home.



"Sorry, we're going to eat…" The male Inuzuka rubbed his stomach. "Haven't really eaten anything since last night." He had found wild fruits on the way to Konoha, but not enough.

"Oh, ok…See ya later, then!" She waved as she left. She popped her head back in, "Oh yeah, it was nice to meet you, Kankuro, and thanks so much for saving my brother!"

They heard the door as she left the house. Kiba locked his door again.

"She's giddy…" Kankuro thought out loud as he got up and stretched.

Kiba kissed his cheek, "Yeah but I love her!"

"I wish I got along that well with Gaara and Temari," the puppet master said, sitting back down and seating his boyfriend on his lap. He felt himself getting aroused, but he was able to control himself. "Kiba, there's something I want to tell you…"

"What is it?" The Inuzuka was kissing his love's neck.

"First of all, stop that!" He took a tuft of the romantic teenager's hair and yanked it away.

"Did, did I bite? I'm sorry." Kiba did it accidentally, but he felt bad.

"No, it's just you'll leave a hickey, and I think you're still trying to hide us, even though it's getting old. Either way, what I really want to say is, we don't have to fuck, Kiba."

"I'm sorry, I'll do it better next time, I promise!" The younger teenager didn't understand what was wrong.

"It's not that, really." Kankuro laughed. He was actually surprised how good the dog-ninja was at it. "It's just because I realized how loyal and dedicated you were towards me today, like when you begged your mother to let me stay. And, I don't ever want to lose you, ok? I wasn't even sure if you wanted to do that in the first place, but I let myself do what I really wanted. But it won't happen anymore."

"That's so…sweet." Kiba kissed his boyfriend's head in relief. He was a little scared of when it would actually happen.

"Just tell me when you're ready, and I will respect this promise no matter how sexy you really are." A smirk broke across the older teenager's face.

"You got it! But…" Kiba's smile vanished, "I'm going to hold you to it, ok?"

"Yes…" The puppet master looked away. This just means I'm going to have to play with my- shit! This isn't my house! I can't even do that without that crazy woman hearing or the nice woman will hear or see it. He pouted, aware that he was actually going to have to go without "fun" until Kiba said so.

"Let's go get dinner," He smiled and got off of his guest's lap. He heard a clawing at the door. "Hey buddy, ready for dinner?" He opened the door with an excited smile.



"Bark" Akamaru walked past his companion and lay on his bed. It wasn't much of a bed, but Kiba just laid down a blanket next to his bed in case either of them was sick or would disturb the other.

"Oh yeah," Kiba laughed and rubbed his head.

"What'd he say?" Kankuro stood up and went closer to the door.

"He already ate the second we got back. He's kinda homesick. I can't really force him to come, k, Mr. Abstinent?"

"I'm not abstinent, I just wanted you to feel more comfortable around me, seeing as how I raped you!" He kept his voice to a whisper as they went to tell Tsume that they were going to eat. At least I won't have to compete with the dog for attention tonight

They couldn't find her, so they just left a note. "Your first dinner in my village is gunna be ramen."

"Alright…" Kankuro remembered that the place he last went to made some of the best ramen.

"Let's go!" Kiba rushed to the door.

They left the house and Kiba was sure he knew what to do, as always. He had to stop himself from taking his boyfriend by the hand several times. They didn't say much, figuring they'd do a lot of talking while eating. Kiba expected Kankuro to try to lead him somewhere to "talk" again.

"Hey," The guide jumped at the voice as Shikamaru came around his side while Choji went around Kankuro, surrounding the two. "Where are you going?" The laziest ninja knew, but he wanted to hear it.

"I'm going to thank Kankuro for being my hero." The dog-ninja kept his response short, trying to avoid talking.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes at the scrawny teenager's nosiness.

"With a helping of leave us the hell alone!" Kiba hurried, Kankuro picking up his pace as well. The instigator smirked as he watched them walk away, Choji still had no idea what was going on.

They made it to the ramen stand. The younger picked miso ramen, while the other picked chicken and leeks.

"I'm sorry, not everyone I know is a complete asshole." The Konoha native almost held his boyfriend's hands yet again, but caught himself. He looked down the counter and saw Naruto with Iruka, catching up with each other. The hyperactive ninja waved, but continued his conversation.

Kiba forced a smile, and returned the wave. He looked past Naruto to see a general store, which reminded him…

"I'll be right back, k? I just need to pick something up now. Don't worry," he started on his way, "it'll only take five minutes." He briskly went into the store.



I thought that if he didn't have his mutt, I wouldn't have to compete with anything for his attention, but obviously I have to be more exciting than his memory too. He rolled his eyes and put his head on his hand, idly staring at the counter.

The dog-ninja hurried to where he knew the stuff he wanted was. He suddenly stopped, and couldn't move. I'm in a hurry, what the hell?

"Well, well," Shikamaru smirked as his jutsu took its effect. "Ordinarily, I wouldn't do something like this, I wouldn't waste my time or energy, but you're special."

Kiba growled, he was very sick of this guy.

"Shikamaru's got you, now, just tell the truth! I wanna know!" Choji stood next to his boyfriend. Why is he stalking Kiba? What is the deal?

"Yeah, Kiba, I know what's going on." The shadow thief smiled wider, further pissing his prey off.

"I know, I've already told you back then!" Kiba knew that playing dumb wouldn't work.

"You lie so badly. Admit it, you're dating him. I saw that look in your eyes. The look that showed your deep desire for him that burns inside of you. Your lie's done for."

The fanged teenager's eyes widened as Choji's jaw dropped.

The bony ninja let his jutsu stop; everyone was too shocked to move as it was, why waste the energy? "Now, about that promise…" Shikamaru looked at his feet, slightly embarrassed to ask his question. "Did you…break the rules?" He chuckled and looked up, only to see that Kiba had run while the fat ninja was still in shock. Damn, how could Kiba move?

Kiba quickly picked up his supplies…

Kankuro was getting very bored. He stared as though the counter would eventually come alive and talk to him.

"What brings you here?" Ayame asked, as she set down his and his absent host's ramen.

"Oh," the puppet master's head shot up in surprise, "well, I saved my friend's life after he was kidnapped." He said it as boringly as he could. All I wanted was to have an uninterrupted dinner with Kiba, is that too much to ask for?

"Wow, you saved his life?!" His server burst out, catching the other two's attention.

"You saved Kiba's life?" Iruka was pleased to hear that the sand and leaf village truce was strong.

"That makes it twice…" Naruto drifted into thought. "Doesn't that mean he really sucks at fighting?" He grinned.

He does suck, Kankuro grinned, ignoring the ninja's words; he took him as an idiot anyways. I wonder how long he'll last without sex? I hope it's only tonight.



"Naruto!" Iruka backhanded his former pupil. "Just because he almost died doesn't mean it's his fault. He could've been outnumbered or ambushed!"

"As a matter of fact, he was ambushed." Kankuro was slightly sore that the blonde would insult his host when he wasn't even there. "I got there shortly after he was taken away."

"Where did you go?" Kiba appeared, his bag of items was hidden.

The older teenager stopped his thought. "What took you so long? Wait lemme guess, it was Shikamaru?"

"Yeah…" The dog ninja was irritated with the instigator. "Anyways, let's eat! You don't want these to be cold, do you?" He started to eat.

"Kiba, are you ok? We heard you got ambushed." The teacher looked at one of his cockiest students he used to teach, looking for cuts or other injuries.

"Mmhmm" Kiba didn't stop eating, as he already ordered another bowl.

"Well I should get home to rest up for tomorrow. The kids this year seem strangely dumb, unfortunately." Iruka got up and stretched.

"I've gotta go too!" Naruto got up and ran. He came back, "It was fun talking to you some more! Bye, Iruka-sensei!" He turned and ran off again.

He's still that forgetful? I guess things don't change as much as I thought Iruka chuckled and left.

"So did you think you were going to die, Kiba?" Ayame started up again, still completely interested.

"Why did I think I was going to die?" The ninja in question had no idea what she was talking about. He welcomed the break though, as he was almost done while his date was only halfway.

"You were ambushed, right?" She hinted Kankuro's story back him, hoping for more details. She lost her hopes as she saw him trying to think of it. Was he lying? But… why? She thought, and had an idea. It was a hunch, but she would have to wait for proof…

"Beat ya!" Kiba smiled as he tasted the last drop of his food. "Hurry up, I need to break you into my house!"

"Break him in?" The ramen girl thought for a few moments, and had a nosebleed.

The dog-ninja's jaw dropped, thinking about what she must have taken it as. "You know, make him comfortable so he doesn't need me to hold his hand for everything."

"Um….Promise you guys won't get mad, but can I ask a question?" She was dying to know. She was afraid of the older teenager, but still need to ask.

Kankuro finished his meal and looked up.

"What kind of question?" Kiba wanted to go.



"I, uh, guess I'll just ask it." She swallowed. "You two…are…dating, right?" She gave an awkward smile. Please don't hurt me!

The older teenager looked to see his boyfriend turn a darker red than the markings on his face.

Are we obvious? "N-no, not a chance." First Shikamaru, now her? His lie was obvious.

"Don't tell anyone, got it?" Kankuro threatened a little. He didn't care that she knew, he cared what his boyfriend thought.

"Y-y-yes" She was scared of the threatening Suna native in her shop.

They rushed backed to Kiba's house in shame, both feeling embarrassed that they yelled at a ramen server. Kiba's bag remained hidden. They stopped before they got to the house to catch their breath.

They went inside, only to feel like the house was empty, yet the lights were on.

"Hello?" Kiba smelled a trace of his sister, but didn't really care where it was coming from.

"Hi, Kiba!" Hana poked her head out from the kitchen.

"Hey, where's mom?" The male Inuzuka returned the smile.

"She's out on a mission. Don't worry, though, she'll be back out tomorrow morning," she sung out her words. "by the way, Akamaru had to go wither her for one reason or another, I didn't really pay attention as to why." She laughed and left the two alone.

What if she forces him to tell her about what happened?! Kiba looked worried.

"Where's your, um, bathroom." I gotta give it a shot.

Kiba took him to his room, and pointed down the hallway. "It's right there, but don't take too long or else!" He looked very serious.

"Why?" The guest wasn't scared, he just wanted to know what the 'or else' would be.

Kiba leaned in, "Because I love you." He kissed base of his boyfriend's neck and went in his room, hiding his purchases. He went back outside his room, thinking about how to tell everyone about his choice, his boyfriend. He heard the words "relax" echo in his head, but he knew he couldn't until everyone knew. Thinking about it only made him tenser. Two people already knew, and Akamaru could have told Hana or Tsume. He snapped out of his thoughts to hear a thumping sound. It was familiar, yet not quite the same. He cocked his head.

Thump thump thump

He moved closer. The noise was getting quicker. He found its origin and rolled his eyes. Pervert He knew it was Kankuro in the bathroom. He shook his head and went back in his room and lay on his bed.

Kankuro came in shortly with a satisfied smile, and his hood lazily put back on his head. He shut the door behind himself.



"Did you have fun in there or what?" Kiba smiled to himself.

"What do you mean?" The guest's smile faded. Was I that loud?

"I head you, silly, playing with your TOY in there!" He laughed as he emphasized the word 'toy.'

"It's not much smaller than yours!" Kankuro didn't want his penis to be referred to as merely a toy.

"What made you do it? I'm just…curious." The host sat up and raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" The puppet master scratched the back of his head, knocking his hood off and moved closer to his boyfriend. "I saw a pair of your boxers in there, and they reminded me of when we did our fun!" He winked awkwardly. He was trying to force himself to be more affectionate. "Anyways, I remembered that night when we were both so into it, it made me too hard to go to your room, so I…" He licked his lips and patted his crotch.

Kiba laughed even more. "Yeah… I was still thinking of how and when to tell everyone…that…we're a couple." He awkwardly finished his sentence.

Kankuro, sensing a hint of a second thought, became worried; worried that he would lose the only thing that mattered anymore, and how he'd have nowhere to go, and nobody to turn to. "Kiba?" He started slowly. "Please, I hope I'm not asking for a lot, but…" he stopped. He couldn't form words that would make him seem less crazy.

"Yes? I doubt you could ask for too much." Kiba got up and seated his guest next to him on the bed. He held his hands as though he could lose his boyfriend forever if he let go.

"Well, I can't put it any other way, Kiba." Kankuro looked gravely into the dog-like pupils. "Kiba, I NEED you. I've never been this happy, and I never want to return to being that unhappy. If I lost you, I'd…I'd…" He had to say it as it came into his head, "I'd kill myself."

Kiba's head moved back in shock, as his eyes widened in fear.

"So please, I beg of you, please never leave me. Promise me you'll stay by my side always and for eternity."

Kiba's eyes watered. "Kankuro, it's a scary yet beautiful thing to say! I love you now, and I will always love you. If I ever get stupid enough to think I'm better off alone, I'll kill myself too." Kiba moved in for a kiss, but was rejected.

"DON'T! Do not ever kill yourself! If you ever have a problem, we'll work it out." Kankuro waited for his boyfriend to sniffle and nod, and then kissed him.

Kiba pushed himself onto his boyfriend, causing his tears to fall on the Suna native's face.

Their lips were still locked for many minutes, but the door was not. It slid open silently as Hana gasped at what was going on in front of her, startling the couple. She couldn't believe it, I must be dreaming! "Kiba! You're…, you're…, you're…"



"Gay," Kankuro helped finish the sentence, as he kissed the younger teenager's neck. He slid his boyfriend off of him, and they both sat up.

The host leaped off of the bed and shut the door behind Hana, paranoid that their mother was near, even though he knew she wasn't. "Listen, please please don't tell mom!" He blushed. "We'll tell her…eventually." He didn't like the thought of it, imagining her being upset, but he knew it had to be done.

"But…but, Hinata said…." Hana's eyes were staring off into the distance. She didn't hate the idea that the two were a couple, but she wasn't completely for it. She figured she would be a fun aunt, and would be close to her brother's children. As she thought about her brother being so romantic, she felt as though he would slip away from her a little bit, especially since he liked a scary guy.

"Hm? What did she say?" Her brother looked at her.

"Ah, well, it's nothing how." She forced a smile to cover her shock. "Let's talk about this tomorrow, I'm…tired." She faked a yawn and hurried out. She originally went in to see why the two were sounding so serious when they were talking, not to find them making out.

Kiba locked his door. "DAMN IT!" He yelled. "Three people already know! What am I supposed to do now?" He clenched his fists.

"Who's the third? Akamaru?" Kankuro tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

"I wish! That's not even funny! It's Shikamaru." The frustrated ninja wasn't pleased with the bad attempt to cheer him up. He shook a fist at the ceiling.

"Shh," Kankuro grabbed his boyfriend's hands and led him back to the bed. He sat him down, and went to the radio and pushed play.

A relaxing sound of a beach played. Kiba smiled awkwardly. "I use this to fall asleep sometimes when I have trouble."

"I like it, and it suits what I'm going to do to you very well." Kankuro nodded and laid the Inuzuka down on his stomach.

I thought we weren't going to do this. Oh well, I guess this is it. He felt mildly aroused at the gesture, although he wasn't sure if he was ready yet.

"I have a riddle for you," the older teenager looked down at his love. "What can a puppet-master, who's great with his hands, do with his boyfriend face down?" He took off his gloves and rubbed his hands together.

"Masturbate…again?" Kiba laughed

"Well, yeah, but not now." Kankuro took off Kiba's shirt, and still loved the size of the teenager. So slender, yet so muscular. "Any ideas yet?"

"No." He laid there in thought.



The puppet master put his hands on his boyfriend's back. "How about now?" He soothed Kiba, making circular motions.

Kiba felt vast relief, thinking he just became a king. "Mmm," he moaned out. "You make a great masseuse, you know that? OH! This must be like a walk in the park for you." He felt his stress slipping away.

"That's it, relax." Kankuro loved the way his boyfriend liked it. Now I have something I can do to calm him. It's hard to do…I've gotta do this to get him in the mood sometime. It sure is working on me. He felt his pants tighten. "I love you, Kiba."

"And I love you, mmm, Kankuro!" He almost forgot why he was having a bad day. "I'm sorry our secret's out." He dug his face into the blankets in shame.

"Don't worry about it. The more the merrier." The older teenager kept the massage going the best he could. He knew they were going to talk about that and that it would tense the thinner ninja back up.

"How can we do it? I don't run the village like you basically run yours." He looked up with eyes begging for answers, only to see a peaceful smile being returned.

"Let's tell everyone tomorrow, then. I mean, if people already know, they'll probably tell somebody. It's best if we do it ourselves." The intensity of the massage was lowered. He felt Kiba's body start to feel soft like butter.

"I don't know…My mom would kill us if she found out suddenly."

Kankuro lowered his hands to his boyfriend's lower back. "We'll just hint at it until she figures it out. Either way, can we just get the word out? I didn't like tonight's date so much because we couldn't express ourselves fully."

"I guess," Kiba didn't see how it could go wrong. He was starting to feel like his normal confident self as he realized soon it would be old news that he liked the Suna native.

"Then it's settled!" Kankuro was excited for the first time in a while, other than when he found his love. "Tomorrow we are officially a couple!" He kissed Kiba's cheek and returned to massaging. He went lower, and lower…

Kiba felt his ass getting massaged, but he didn't know what to do. He felt and erection coming, but didn't want it to get noticed. "I think you're done!" He grabbed his boyfriend's hands and pushed them away.

"You know you like it." Kankuro did it again, with a smirk on his face that was as dirty as his actions.

"I'm holding you to your promise tonight!" Kiba pulled Kankuro onto the bed.

"Fine," the puppet master lied, showing disappointment on his face.

The two lay there, stating to doze off. Kiba got up to brush his teeth. "C'mon, brush your teeth too, ok? I can still smell your dinner, and I don't really want to." He held his nose, gesturing the older teenager to join him. Nothing happened, so he grabbed and pulled the larger ninja to the bathroom.



The black-clothed ninja was too tired from his trip to Konoha. He stumbled as he was tugged, and he hardly knew what was going on.

"Kankuro, open your mouth!" The younger teenager started to get grumpy from his own fatigue.

"Yeah," the older teenager chuckled, "that's what you begged me to do yesterday!" He cracked up as he made a crying face, imitating Kiba.

"Grr!" Kiba felt upset that his boyfriend was keeping a score, remembering that he only pretended to cry. He was pretty sure that Kankuro actually thought he was crying. He put his hand on the Suna native's chin, and came closer to kiss him.

Kankuro began to close his eyes, waiting for contact. His eyes shot open when he felt his jaw get yanked open, and a toothbrush forcefully cleaning his mouth. "Ag!" He didn't want to start a fight, since they were both tired, and just waited for it to end.

"There, finally cleaned, Mr. Romantic!" Kiba flashed his eyes and clasped his hands next to his cheek.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Kankuro scratched behind his ear.

"You know you thought I was going to kiss you instead of brushing your teeth!" He grinned and headed back to his room.

Kankuro followed him closely. "No, I was making it easier for you to brush my teeth."

"Uh huh, whatever." Kiba locked the door again. He was paranoid that his mother was the next one to barge in without knocking. He pecked his boyfriend's cheek.

"Shush!" Kankuro turned off the stereo and stripped down until he was naked, and got into the bed, making it so that Kiba would have to climb over him.

"Hey! You can't be naked here! I'm the host! It's my turn to be nude!" Kiba took all of his clothes off.

"Fine, get in, and I'll put on some underwear." His bag was still in the hall, and he wasn't wearing underwear that day.

"Ok then." Kiba got on the bed and started to climb over his boyfriend, until his arms gave to his fatigue, and a force. "Hey!"

The older teenager grabbed his host and forced him to lay face down on him, so they were face to face. " I wasn't wearing underwear," he grinned, squeezing him closer. Forcing their parts to touch, and almost their faces too.

Kiba didn't struggle, he liked it. Then he started to feel both of them getting hard. This isn't going anywhere good. I'm supposed to be testing his will to not fuck, not mine! He wriggled free and let Kankuro spoon his backside.

"Goodnight, Kiba." Kankuro kissed the back of Kiba's neck.



"G'night," the host was getting quite horny, but he was too tired to stay up. He fell asleep quickly, still feeling good from the massage.

I wonder what fun we'll have tomorrow, Kankuro's last thought passed him as he slipped into a comfortable position around his boyfriend, and fell asleep.