Authors note: Yayy! I can update D I didn't think I'd have the Internet this long! I'm sorry I updated late (again), I didn't have time last week, plus I think I was suffering a mild case of writers block.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, but I wish I did.

Beautiful Liar;

Chapter fourteen: Tender ties.

Upon entering room 201, the room Kiba's had been assigned to for the duration of his stay in the hospital, Shino let out a sigh. He could understand why Kiba would pull such a stunt, he would want to after a week in a such a bland room with hardly any company apart from the nurses that prescribed the medication they thought he would need, such as sleeping pills or other such things. Shino frowned slightly, it can't have been good company either, especially those who came armed with syringes and morphine.

Slowly, Shino made his way towards the solitary bed at the far wall of the room and sat Kiba's slumbering form on the bed as he pulled back the covers with his free hand, Kiba's head resting on Shino's shoulder all the while. With a mental sigh Shino positioned Kiba on the bed gently so as not to wake him. He frowned to himself when he noticed Kiba's hand clinging to Shino's jacket, sighing aloud this time she carefully pried Kiba's hand off and placed it gently on the bed, pulling the sheets over the smaller boy.

Watching the Inuzuka was something the Aburame had never really done before. Especially not when he was asleep, when he thought about it, Shino had never really shown much interest in the boy, even gone so far as to hating him during their Genin days but that soon wore off. They had grown on each other. Shino watched as Kiba's chest rose and fell evenly and his gave moved slowly to his face, he looked peaceful and now that he looked closely, it didn't look like Kiba had been starving himself, in fact, he looked like he did before the mission, a sensible weight. Ever so gently, Shino's fingers brushed against Kiba's tattooed cheek, his hand lowered, softly caressing the outline of Kiba's own, surprisingly silken, lips.

Turning to leave, partly out of shock at his own thoughts and the fact that Sakura was still waiting patiently at the door for him to leave. Taking a step forward, he paused when he felt something clutch at his sleeve. He swivelled around to see Kiba, staring at him with a slightly dazed look in his eye "stay..." there was a moments silence, uncomfortable at best, for Shino at least "please" with yet another sigh Shino mulled over his options.

Soft breathing could be heard from the two figures as they slept in the small, white room. One figure was curled into himself, only half snuggling up to the figure who rested on a chair with his head in his arms, leaning on the hospital bed. Said figure wore a green jacket, his hood up, as usual, his glasses on, as is usually the case when not having the proper opportunity to take them off. This figure, as you no doubt guessed, was Aburame Shino. He stirred slightly from his slumber and slowly sat up, adjusting his glasses as he went, he looked to the bathroom for the moment and turned back to his sleeping neighbour only mildly surprised to his his eyes open but still drowsy, he had a small smile on his face "you stayed..."

At that Shino simply nodded "good-"

The door burst open "-Morning, Kiba-chan!" a certain fanged relative burst in with an unmistakably happy grin, or...was it an unmistakably evil grin? One things for sure, it wasn't good. Both the half-dazed shinobi were both lost as to how they missed the sound of the door unlocking. This particular fact was rather unsettling for Shino.

"K-Kenshi!" Kiba exclaimed, sitting straight up in his seat with a look of pure disbelief on his features. Shino's brow twitched, no one took much notice.

"The one and only, Bebii-chan" he stated as he waltzed over to Kiba and sitting on the bed beside him. Kiba himself looked surprised when his cousin gathered him in his arms, and held him tightly. He'd been so surprised he hadn't even noticed Kenshi given Shino a get-the-hell-out glare to which Shino clenched his teeth and held himself back from jumping the idiot, he stood slowly, pushing the chair back with his legs.

"I will come back later, if you will let me Kiba" Kiba nodded, slightly dumbfounded at how the events transpired, still unable to recover, he missed the satisfied smirk play out on the other Inuzuka's face.

Said boy watched the Aburame leave as he muttered to Kiba "you know..." he sniffled the crook of Kiba's neck, shocking the other boy our of his confused thoughts "you smell different...really good" the door to the room slammed shut.

Kiba's eyes widened in shock, turning his head to look completely at his cousin "Kenshi- what–" he let out a sharp gasp as Kenshi started nipping at the curve of his neck "I – I" Kiba's shuddered as Kenshi began to lick at the skin of his neck roughly "thought we..." he let out a strangled moan as Kenshi sucked aggressively on the already abused flesh "stopped this..." he moaned again, unconsciously pressing the raven-haired shinobi against himself, entwining his fingers in his hair.

Smirking Kenshi replied "we did" he mumbled against his baby cousins tanned flesh "but now" he growled possessively, caressing the boys stomach "I'm starting again" he bite down hard on Kiba's shoulder. Kenshi groaned when Kiba pressed his back against him, silently asking for more, smirking to himself the the ebony-haired boy complied, running his tongue Kiba's jaw line "by the way..."

"Mm?" Kiba questioned, unable to speak coherently.

Shuffling could be heard as Kenshi rummaged around in his leg holster for a whilst whilst nipping at Kiba's jaw as he went "Hana asked me to give you this"he pulled out a small jar of peanut butter at which Kiba's eyes locked onto it with need "she said you might want it" and Kiba took that as his cue to snatch it way from the dark haired Inuzuka, place it on the bedside table and glomp Kenshi who fell backwards from the force "h-hey!"

"Thank you, Kenshi!" Kiba exclaimed happily, paying no mind to the chuunin struggling for air...

On the other side of the door, Tsume and Shino watched the exchange silently, it had taken Shino a long moment to accept what was actually happening in the other room. First, Kenshi starting kissing Kiba and, at first it had frozen him in shock and Kiba had started moaning, that had caused Shino's fist's to clench in his pockets as he glared holes into Kenshi's head. Then Kiba starting rolling up against Kenshi, it was that in particular that Shino needed to retrain himself the most, having wanted – for some reason or another to go in there and gut Kenshi like a fish. Why? He wasn't quite sure but he sure as hell wanted to get in there and murder that...that PERVERT!

And then of course, things, from Shino's point of just turned into the most bizarre thing he'd ever witnessed. Kenshi pulls out a jar of peanut butter and then Kiba...jumps him? He watched through the one way window as Kenshi attempted to pry Kiba off of him. Shino almost laughed, it's not often you saw Kenshi get what was coming to him, especially when he bought it on himself. However, that didn't change the fact that he was very...confused, a state that he didn't much like to be in. So, he did the only thing he could, he asked...

"Inuzuka-san?" He continued when she looked at him "what exactly is...their relationship?" with a small huff, Tsume looked from the window back to Shino a few times.

"Well, it's complicated" she frowned looking at the Aburame "I never really understood it myself"she lent against the wall in thought and Shino watched her with interest "ever since they were little, they've been close but distant at the same time. Don't ask, I don't know how it works either" she scratched her tanned cheek lightly "it might be because Kenshi is considered a genius in Kiba no Kuni" she ran a thoughtful hand through her hair "maybe Kiba doesn't feel like he could ever be equal to him, I don't know..."

"That would explain some..."

"Yeah." Tsume mumbled, lost in thought "maybe..."

Laughing could be heard outside, the children were playing with one another. Tsume had taken leave of Konoha for a family get-together in Kiba no Kuni, it wasn't a thing they did often so when the visitation was offered from friends living there, she had jumped at the opportunity. Hana was sat next to her, sipping her tea slowly as she listened in on the adult's conversation. Kiba was outside playing with his cousin, who was one year older then him. Kenshi was accepted into the academy at the age of five, two years ago and has been getting top grades since.

No, Kiba no Kuni wasn't a well-known country and it had few shinobi. This was because the country was small and never received money from other countries through anything other then trade. It was common knowledge that you would in fact make more money from being a merchant then if you were to follow the path of a shinobi. It was also common knowledge that Kenshi wanted to be at the top of the food-chain around here. The boy may be only be seven years of age but he had potential. Tsume sighed nodding in agreement at one of her fellow Inuzuka's comments , only half paying attention.

"We're so proud of Kenshi" his aunt smiled at Tsume "he's been getting straight A's since I can remember" Tsume smiled and nodded in agreement, not wanted to say anything too rude like 'of course, since you can remember, please don't go senile on me already' it seemed like the conversation was going around and around and around in one very large, very boring circle. It's not that she didn't like to hear of Kenshi's achievements but having heard them again and again for at least three days was tiresome.

Sniffling could be heard from outside "excuse me for a moment" Tsume stated quickly, and wondering over to the window and peered out of it with a small frown on her features. Turning her head to the left she saw nothing but there was still sniffling, so she sniffed the air around her and turned to the right, "hmm" she thought to herself watching the pair of boys from the window.

"What are you crying about this time?" the taller one, with ebony hair asked, Tsume sniffled slightly, not being able to see their faces properly from this angle, the first who spoke, she thought, was Kenshi, finding his scent familiar, the other was so similar to her own that she recognised him immediately, Kiba.

"Th-ey keep" he sniffled, wiping tears away from his eyes "tea-teasing me" the elder sighed and pulled the younger boy into a small hug, allowing Kiba's tears to stain his navy blue shirt.

"What did they say?" he asked after a pause, he sounded as if he could care less.

"They...keep" Kiba sobbed into his shirt, clutching at the material "c-calling me a...gir-girl" with that the ebony-haired boy laughed lightly, shaking his head as he released his younger cousin.

"Well you act like one" he said playfully, but Tsume could tell, there was a dagger hidden in those words, not that Kiba would be able to tell...he didn't know after all. He didn't know about his condition. The entire clan however, did.

"H-hey!" Kiba said, the teasing forgotten, he seemed offended.

"What do you expect if you keep crying," he sighed "stop being such a baby, Kiba-chan" at that Kiba stomped his foot and pointed accusingly at Kenshi.

"And that's another thing!" he exclaimed, still pointing "why does everyone call me 'Kiba-chan'!?" at that Kenshi ran a hand through his shoulder length hair.

"Because you act like a girl" at that Kiba blanched, unable to think of anything to say, so taking the opportunity Kenshi stepped forwards and licked Kiba's cheek, Kiba squeaked in surprise and stared at Kenshi curiously.

"Why'd you lick me?" Kiba asked, confusion evident in his voice, Kenshi shrugged and and turned to leave.

"Dunno'" he stated simply "just don't listen to them, okay. They're all stupid" he said as he walked away from the smaller brunette. Tsume watched Kiba nod dumbly and she came away from the window, realizing she'd spent longer then she'd intended to there. She returned to her seat, saving Hana from having her ear talked off.

Nodding his head, Shino took in the story Tsume had told, he'd have to take what he could from it to try and understand their relationship. Speaking of the two of them, Kenshi had somehow managed to pry Kiba off of him and was now sat with his back against the headboard and Kiba sat between his legs, his arms wrapped around Kiba's waist. Shino's brow twitched in annoyance.

Tsume either didn't notice or pretended not to.

In the other room, Kiba cuddled up to Kenshi with a small smile, he was starting to get sleepy, after all, sleepiness was common when one never had a lot to do anyway. Kenshi ran a hand through his hair "by the way, I forgot to mention" a small pause "you have your full-body check up today, Tsunade-sama is doing it personally"

"What?!" Kiba cried, he knew he had a check up but he didn't realize it would be today, Kenshi smirked at the younger teen, licking his cheek.

"Don't worry Bebii-chan" he laughed. Kiba frowned, he really couldn't face Tsunade right now.

(A/N: Okay, I'm, sorry I didn't update last week, I know I said I would but damn it, the real world struck again. By the way: Bebii - Baby)