Author's Note: So, who wants to get some answers around here? Anyone? (And does anyone even read these author notes?)
Gaara likes reviews almost as much as he likes to make love to [insert person here!
Warnings: More KanKi lovetasticness, swearing etc.
Ten. Sasuke's Search
"I knew it!" Uzumaki Naruto shouted the next morning as he made his way into the Kazekage's office. "I knew there was something fishy going on here!"
Uchiha Sasuke smirked. "I'll admit, it is rather unusual. I mean, who would have ever thought?"
There was silence for a long moment, and Gaara finally let out his response. "Hmpf."
"Yeah, but you gotta admit, it was pretty clever of me to figure out that little secret of yours, Gaara. I mean, it's a big thing. Who'd ever though you'd be sleeping with—?"
Gaara put out a hand and directed some sand from his gourd to plaster itself to the blonde's mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence. "Do you want someone to hear?" he growled. "Kankuro already knows, and if we're not careful…"
Sasuke sat down on the edge of the desk, the pronounced smirk still present on his face. "Who'd thought," he sighed. "I'd think you would be better at keeping secrets, Gaara."
The redhead glared at the Uchiha but said nothing. It was clear that Sasuke thought this whole ordeal was Gaara's fault, and Gaara's alone. Maybe it was. Gaara couldn't say for sure.
The sand fell from Naruto's lips. It seemed Gaara had lost his will to silence the blonde. Naruto blinked for a moment before going into peals of laughter. "You have to admit, my nickname fits now! I was right all along!"
Gaara rolled his eyes and set his head down on his desk. "Do you have to be so immature as to think up stupid nicknames, Uzumaki Naruto?"
"It's not immature. Just because—"
"Cool it," Sasuke barked. "Both of you, just keep it down. The office door is wide open, if you haven't noticed. Anyone could overhear us."
Gaara sighed and pulled open his drawer, taking out a small flask. He took a long swig from it before setting it back into his drawer.
Naruto didn't seem to notice. The blonde was preoccupied with glaring at Sasuke. However, the Uchiha's eyes missed nothing. It was after all, he decided, one of the benefits of having the sharingan.
xxx
Kankuro and Kiba finally woke around noon. Their eyes displayed the black rings usually signifying lack of sleep. And lack of sleep they had. Kankuro couldn't remember a night when he had been so awake.
Kiba had gotten to him, after all, even if Kankuro was a bit…distracted. The scene in Gaara's office before had been so…strange. Had he really imagined it? It had been late, and he'd been sexed-up. Not to mention tired. He had also been very, very tired. Maybe it had been a strange dream.
Kiba threw back his head and yawned, and the image of Gaara's head—eyes closed, mouth open in pleasure—hit Kankuro with the force of a deathblow.
No, it had all been very real. For Kazekage's sake, his little brother…being fucked by someone. And him, of all people. Couldn't Gaara have chosen someone better? Someone a little less wild, perhaps?
They reached the kitchen and Kiba searched the cupboards, his stomach growling with reckless abandon. Kankuro lifted the teapot down from a shelf and went about making tea, however disjointed his movements were. He felt like one of his own puppets, going through motions with no real thoughts of their own.
Gaara. Gaara. Gaara's been…been…OH, HOLY FUCK!
Kiba turned from the cupboard, a piece of bakery he'd been munching on shoved into his mouth. Kankuro hadn't said anything this morning, and he'd seemed a bit…distracted last night. Was something wrong?
"Kankuro, are you alright? You seemed…out of it."
"Oh," Kankuro said airily, giving a high-pitched laugh that was nothing like him at all. Kiba's stomach churned. Something was severely wrong. "You know, I just…caught my brother fucking around with someone, that's all. No big deal. I mean, I only scarred myself for life."
Kiba's jaw dropped a bit. "You caught Gaara fucking someone? Who?"
"No," Kankuro said, concentrating on the teapot. His brow furrowed. "He wasn't fucking someone, he was being fucked. Which is even weirder, actually. I didn't think he was a submissive person."
"No shit," Kiba laughed. "But then again, I didn't think you were so submissive, either. But you sure proved me wrong last night, Kanky."
The puppeteer gulped. He'd really been hoping Kiba wouldn't bring this up. Not here in the kitchen, in broad daylight, where Temari or Gaara or one of the other jonin could just waltz right in.
Because the truth was, Kankuro had discovered something rather scary the night before—he liked being the uke. All he really had to do was deal with the pain and Kiba did all the other stuff, like the scissoring and the thrusting and shit. It was kind of kinky to have someone going down on him like that.
Of course, he hadn't let Kiba know that, even if his moans last night had proved loud enough to unnerve a few sleeping shinobi. Especially Temari, who had banged on the door at three am, telling him to stop playing with himself and get back to sleep.
The only reason he had blushed was because this was the first time she had ever yelled this at him and been wrong.
So, in response to Kiba's cocky attitude, Kankuro decided to use his chakra strings to his advantage. Just because he like being the uke didn't mean he had to be it all the time.
Kankuro's hand shot out, and Kiba found his wrists wrapped to the handle of the cupboard he was searching through. Kankuro closed the cupboard door and shoved Kiba back onto the counter. Then he heaved himself onto the countertop, where he knelt between Kiba's outspread legs.
"Want me to prove you wrong again?" Kankuro whispered into Kiba's ear.
Kiba could do nothing but shiver as Kankuro pressed their lips together in a long, slow kiss.
The outburst came from the doorway. "Holy shit!"
Both of them broke the kiss and swiveled their head at once, to where Uzumaki Naruto was standing in the doorway, his eyes fixed on the counter next to them.
"You guys have instant ramen!" he giggled, picking up one of the cups. He blinked, reading the label. It seemed he really hadn't realized just what sort of situation he'd walked in on. "What are you two doing?"
"We're uh…playing a game," Kiba lied.
He eyed us carefully before speaking. "Can I eat this ramen?" he asked, shaking the cup.
"Uh…sure," Kankuro said, hoping it'd get him and Kiba alone time faster.
"Okay." Naruto proceeded to search the kitchen for a pot, finally finding one and filling it with water from the sink. He let it on the stove, waiting for the water to boil. "So, uh…you guys play games in the kitchen often?"
"No," Kiba said quickly, at the same time Kankuro answered, "All the time."
"I see. So…what's the name of this game?"
Kankuro was the first to answer. The little blonde brat was irritating him, so he decided to get rid of him once and for all. "It's called Kankuro and Kiba Have Hot, Kinky Sex While Naruto Eats Instant Ramen on the Other End of the House."
Kiba and Naruto both blinked, but didn't say anything. The blonde raised an eyebrow and turned to face the puppet master. "What did you say?"
Kankuro sighed. The idiot. "I said, 'It's called Kankuro and Kiba Have Hot—'"
He cut off as Naruto gaped at him. "What?" Kankuro repeated. "What did I say?"
"Kankuro and…Kiba?" the blonde repeated with some difficulty.
"I-I…that was a mistake. I didn't really…there are lots of people named—" Kankuro stuttered.
Kiba said nothing but looked at the floor, ashamed. His wrists were still tied to the cupboard handle.
In one swift movement, Naruto heaved the pot of boiling water off the stove and flung it at the unsuspecting pair.
"Ahh! What the hell, Uzumaki?" Kiba yowled, struggling his way out from the chakra strings as Kankuro fell backwards off the counter. "That water is h-hot!"
Naruto's expression grew from stunned to angry. Kiba felt up to his wet face, where purple paint dripped onto his fingers. Uzumaki's words were merciless. "Nice red fang tattoos, Kiba. Though they're not so easy to hide now, are they? Traitor!" he screamed.
Kiba didn't even flinch as the blonde dove, but instead prepared to take his attack head-on.
xxx
Up on the fourth floor, Uchiha Sasuke busied himself with searching the rooms. There was something strange going on here, he decided, and he had taken it upon himself to figure out exactly what it was.
The first room had yielded nothing. He decided it was Temari's room, due to the large amount of kimonos in the wardrobe—he was pretty sure that Temari was the only woman who lived in the Kazekage's mansion, anyway.
The second room…he'd get to that later. It was Gaara's room, and it was a sign of reverence that he saved it for last.
But the third room…Sasuke wasn't sure exactly what he'd gotten himself into. It was a mess, of course, and judging by the various puppet parts and bottles of poison stacked along the wall, this room belonged to Kankuro.
The nin opened up his shuriken pouch, taking time to dip each shuriken into one of the poisons; they might come in handy later, especially for study at the Konoha Hospital.
Sasuke proceeded to work his way through the room, stopping only to open various jars of face paint or pick suspicious objects off the floor. It wasn't long before he found something of interest, hidden underneath the puppet master's pillow: a black headband, tattered at both ends, the Konoha leaf clearly visible in the middle.
But whose was it? There was only one missing-nin that came to mind, and Sasuke shuddered. Had Kankuro murdered Kiba and taken the headband as a trophy?
Then, as Sasuke flicked his eyes about the room, more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. There were two different dents in the mattress, as though more than one person slept here. He searched the floor and eventually came up with a black leather jacket and a shredded mesh shirt. There was blood splatter on the back of the door, as well as the bed sheets. Something had happened here.
Sasuke pulled back the bedcovers. Nothing really of interest, unless you counted the multiple semen stains on the sheets. But Sasuke tried not to think about that. He didn't really care what Kankuro did at night. At least, he used to not care, except for last night—no. Sasuke had promised himself he wouldn't try to think about that, either.
The Uchiha made his way to the bathroom, where he found something else rather interesting. More blood stains, and several fresh, bloodied tissues in the garbage. The medicine chest revealed not medicine at all, but several boxes of bandages, all covered in bloody fingerprints. He decided to take one for reference, and flattened it so it fit into his pack.
He caught sight of something else that peaked his interest in the back corner of the cabinet. A box of condoms, freshly opened. A quick counting of them proved that only six were missing, and he smirked.
He knew exactly where those had gone.
He decided to take the box with him, for no real reason he could explain. It just felt important.
The wire on his collar crackled. "Sasuke," Shino's voice said. "Have you found anything yet?"
"Not much. A headband so far. Konoha symbol. Just hold your position."
xxx
Shino sighed. He knew patience was key in this operation, but he really wanted to just storm the place and find Kiba for himself. The Inuzuka had been missing for a good month and a half now, and the remaining members of Team Eight were growing restless.
They had taken the strip of cloth they'd found to Hana, who was hidden in the woods with Akamaru while Shino and the rest staked out the Kazekage's mansion. She and the nindog had confirmed that the cloth was indeed Kiba's and his blood was all over it, along with the oily scent of face paint and lacquered wood.
Shino could only guess who those scents belonged to.
xxx
Uchiha braced himself. There was a reason he had saved this room for last, and it wasn't just because Gaara would kill anyone who dared to intrude on his personal property. Oh, no. This room was—dare Sasuke admit it—special.
He tread lightly across the clean floor, careful not to leave any trace of his feet. It was like the walking on water chakra control exercise, only a thousand times more dangerous.
The room was cold—nothing personal about it. No flowers or photos or even the occasional reminder note to pick up groceries. Gaara, evidently, was not a very personable sort of person.
The bathroom proved completely clean, except for five used objects at the bottom of the waste basket. He smiled to himself. It had definitely been worth being caught by Kankuro, even if they did have to move upstairs.
Sasuke reached the bed, lightly putting a hand to the smooth sheets, feeling them before he sat down. The memory hit him hard, like a sudden blow to the face.
It was past midnight, and the wind coming in through the window was warm and calm. It'd been after a mission, and he'd had no where to go for the night. Gaara had invited him to stay here, and the Uchiha couldn't thank him enough.
That was, until he finally found a certain form of payment that was a lot more pleasurable than servitude.
He watched as Gaara's chest rose with the breeze. The Kazekage looked so peaceful sleeping. So peaceful Sasuke almost couldn't bring himself to wake him. Almost.
"Gaara," he murmured, poking the sleeping redhead in the shoulder.
"Nng—wha?" the redhead asked innocently. He wasn't as hostile as Sasuke had expected him to be. Gaara turned and blinked, still half-asleep. "Oh, you're still here…"
"Of course I am. Did you expect me to leave?"
"No. No, please stay. Suna wants Konoha shinobi to know that they're always welcome in the village."
"You can drop the formalities, Gaara. You've been lying awake for the past hour. I saw you pretending to fall asleep. Is there something wrong?"
"No, I just…can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Just…hold my hand, will you? Things are…" he yawned, "always better when someone holds your…hand…"
Sasuke blinked. The memory was over just as quickly as it had come. He could still remember the silken feel of the sheets on his skin. He was just so tired…a little nap couldn't hurt, could it? He wasn't really on an official mission right now, anyway. The search had just been for his curiosity.
And with a yawn Sasuke buried himself in Gaara's bed, dreaming of the times when things had been so much simpler.
xxx
Kankuro paced back and forth in his room, unsure of what to say. Uzumaki, of all people, had figured it out. And all because of his stupid mistake. What could they say about that? It hadn't been just a slip of the tongue—it had been a slip of the mind. Kankuro had gotten too complacent with his position, and he knew it.
And now he had screwed up.
"So," Kiba said, watching the puppet master pace, "what do we do now?"
Kankuro shrugged and kept pacing. It didn't help him think, but at least it gave him something to do. "I don't know, Kiba. I don't know! I mean, I hardly think they're going to take your 'I'm in love with him' for a decent answer."
Kiba bit his lip. He couldn't say it…couldn't. But…it had…to be said. "I never said I loved you."
"I know you—" Kankuro stopped in mid-pace. His jaw dropped open. "What did you say?"
"I never said I loved you," Kiba said again, and this time with more force.
Kankuro felt like he'd been slapped. He thought Kiba, of all people, had loved him. Kiba, who had sacrificed sleep to fuck him sideways; Kiba, who had kept him up so many nights arguing about pointless things; Kiba, and that goofy, lovely, happy-to-be-alive specter's smile he'd worn.
He smirked. I was bluffing, and he could call it. Hell, he could probably smell it. But still, that didn't make his answer any less surprising. "I'd say 'Kiss me, Kankuro. Kiss me like you've never kissed a man before!'" He dipped back and put a hand over his eyes, swooning for effect.
Kiba licking blood off my neck.
Kiba's hands, slippery with blood, trailing down my stomach, and then lower.
Kiba licking ketchup off the side of my mouth.
Kiba pushing me into the tree, kissing me until I thought I was going to fall to the ground below and die happy.
Kiba, Kiba, Kiba…
Each of these thoughts raced through Kankuro's head, faster and faster. The ground spun beneath his feet.
I really wished I could have fallen then, and died happy…I want to die loving you…
"But…you…you slept with me…" Kankuro said, stunned. "Didn't that…didn't that mean anything to you?"
"It meant plenty!" Kiba said. "No, it's not like that! The sex…last night was incredible! I mean, I've never been with a person like that before. But to say it's love, after just one night…it's too soon. Love and sex aren't the same thing, Kankuro. And while I love having sex with you, I don't love you. Not yet. Love…it's a scary thing. And I'm…I'm so afraid!"
Kankuro fell forward. The shock was too much—he couldn't take it. He had one last thought before he blacked out.
Kiba, I love you. Really love you.
xxx
And it was five hours later, once Kiba had convinced a rather distraught and puffy-eyed Kankuro to go to bed, that Uchiha Sasuke woke from his nap in Gaara's bed with a note on the pillow next to him.
Interesting news. –U. Naruto.
xxx
Sasuke shifted the weight on his shoulder. It wasn't as heavy as he'd thought, but still heavy enough that it caused some problems. The visibility wasn't so good, given that it was past midnight, but he could still see enough ahead that he kept himself on the road.
Naruto skipped along beside him. "It was a pretty funny trip, huh?"
"Yeah. I mean, think about how our report is going to be…all that evidence in Kankuro's room, and how you found Kiba…it's not going to look too good for Suna's last puppet master."
"It's not going too look too good for Gaara, either," Naruto grinned mischievously. "I mean, you know…"
Sasuke stopped dead. "No. We are not reporting that, Naruto. It's not even worth mentioning."
Naruto sighed. "I guess you're right. Granny Tsunade has enough on her mind without worrying about your goings on, Sasuke." He giggled, and Sasuke shot him a weird look.
"What?"
"Well, just think," Naruto smirked. "Tsunade is quite angry even without the added stress. You saw how horrified she was when she found out Ino may have kissed Gaara."
"So?" Sasuke shifted his shoulders again. Damn, he was getting heavy.
"So," the blonde nin continued, "just think what she'd look like if she found out you were screwing him."
Sasuke paused to think about that. He had a feeling she wouldn't think it funny at all.
Kiba moaned, and Sasuke shifted him on his shoulder. The unconscious dognin was proving quite difficult to transport. They had three days to get to Konoha, and less than a few hours before one or more of the Suna nins picked up their trail.
They would have to move faster than they ever had before.