Warnings: Arranged (hence forced) marriage between a sixteen year old and a thirty six year old. Language. Angst. Feelings of betrayal. Huge rare pairing. Power dynamics. Strong language (because it's one of my stories, come on, I'm like Hidan sometimes). Nosy people. Inescapable Clan duties. Teenage angst. Oblivious friends that make everything a thousand times more difficult. And some more angst. Friends are kind of extreme jerks, really, and they don't even notice it. Did I, by any chance, say angst already? Mentions of alcohol and technically underage alcohol consumption. Assassinations- which means blood and violence. Lots of miscommunication. Clan and Village politics.
And now, my dear readers, for something a little different~.
~..~..~
Life had changed in an irreversible way. Ever since he had first been told that he would have to marry Shikamaru's father, everything around him had changed. His relationships with his friends and family, the friends he wanted to be around, his eating habits, his understanding of chakra theory, his chakra levels, his daily habits... so many things had changed.
Kiba had, for the most part, accepted these changes without putting up much of a fight. Or at least, in hindsight, he didn't think he had fought them too much. The one thing he had actually tried to avoid was his marriage with Shikaku and, ironically enough, now he was actually looking forward to it. Even though their relationship had been arranged against his will, it had actually been one of the best changes to happen in his life.
But just because he had been able to accept these changes, it didn't mean that everyone else that mattered in his life had managed to accept them. His Clan hadn't really been with or against him this whole time- and maybe that was one change he had yet to acknowledge. But he didn't want to think too much about them. So he didn't. But his friends... his friends had been the group of people that had made these changes the hardest.
Friends were supposed to be there for you... but Kiba had been alone this whole time. Mostly, it had been because he had wanted it that way. He couldn't be around others before; not when he risked having people find out the truth about his relationship with Shikaku. And, in a way, that hadn't been the only reason why he had avoided his friends so passionately. He wasn't... like them anymore.
At this point, the only person he could say that he knew understood him, one hundred percent, was Shikaku. His friends... they didn't even bother, it felt.
"You're dating Lord Nara?"
For the fourth time since their lunch outing had begun, Kiba told his friends that, yes, in fact, he was dating Shikaku Nara. Is there any other topic of conversation that might interest them? Honestly, he was getting kind of tired of saying the same word over and over again to the same question he had been asked.
Sasuke was looking at him as if he had grown a second head. Sakura and Hinata's eyes were narrowed as if they were trying to figure out if he was pulling a highly inappropriate prank on them or actually telling the truth. And Shino was quietly judging him; even though he physically seemed to be absolutely disinterested with the news, internally his hive was buzzing with discontent. Kiba guessed it was because he too thought Kiba was lying to them.
Naruto... huh, where was Naruto? He had occupied the chair to his left only a few minutes ago... maybe he had gone to the bathroom?
Kiba sighed as his friends remained silent after he had answered the question yet again.
The only saving grace to the silence was the fact that he was able to catch the scent of Team 10 finally entering the restaurant. And because of that, he was able to turn around in his seat and look over in the direction of the entrance in an attempt to show to the rest of his friends that he didn't really feel like talking about this anymore.
It had been a full five minutes of only the same question getting asked. Could anyone really blame him for not wanting to hear more of the same?
Ino walked at the front of her teammates, a somewhat annoyed glint to her eyes as she walked towards their table at the back of the restaurant in a brisk stride. Shikamaru dragged his feet behind her, and from the way he was looking up at the sky with a face full of regret, Kiba could safely assume he was the reason why Ino looked so pissed. And Chouji... well, he was much too focused looking at the plates of food being moved around the restaurant to get a proper read on him.
"Sorry we're late!" as soon as she was near enough to their table to not have to shout, Ino spoke up. "A certain useless, lazy bum decided it would be a good idea to take a cat nap in the middle of training ground 20 without telling either of his teammates. Chouji and I spend the last twenty minutes hunting him down."
As she grouched about Shikamaru, Ino wasted no time in throwing herself at the empty seat beside Kiba- Naruto would probably whine a bit when he got back from wherever he had disappeared to, like he tended to do whenever someone stole his chair. Shikamaru was wise enough to sit far away from her, to Hinata's left, all the while Chouji made himself comfortable beside Ino.
Now that he thought about it, it had been a while since Naruto's scent had left his nose. He hadn't noticed it before, too focused on trying to keep himself from bolting from the restaurant when all scrutiny was turned on him by the people that surrounded him. But now that he thought about it, the ever present stench of fox and fire that burned his nose whenever Naruto was near had been missing for a while. He had been able to breathe clearly for some time, even if he hadn't noticed it.
Oh well, walk away from the Leaf, lose your seat.
"Twenty minutes?" Kiba asked, desperate to start a conversation that didn't revolve around his love life. "He must have hidden himself pretty well."
"He did. And that's the problem!" Ino just about growled over in Shikamaru's direction, then huffed and shook her head. "But we're finally here. And that's all that matters. Have you guys already ordered or were you waiting for us?" as she asked the question, she looked over the rest of the friends congregated around the table... and were they really still staring at him?! "Uh, guys? What's going on?"
"We're trying to decide whether or not-" Sakura began to explain, frowning deeply over at Kiba. But soon Sasuke cut in and looked directly at Shikamaru. "Did your father truly lower his standards and accept the Inuzuka as his partner?"
"So we haven't ordered food yet?" Chouji, seemingly oblivious to the mood around them, was much too focused on the promise of food to notice the sudden drop in temperature around him.
Shikamaru, blessed be his lazy heart, actually built up the energy to look at the Uchiha with an unamused frown. "Not funny." he grunted, and that was so the wrong answer, Kiba immediately noted.
"Why would you lie to us, Kiba-kun?" Hinata immediately jumped on the easy misinterpretation of Shikamaru's answer... and Kiba wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow him up right now.
With a groan, he didn't try and insist the truth about his relationship.
Was it even true? Sure, he and Shikaku had held hands a couple of times now... and they had managed to go out on another 'date' that hadn't really felt all that forced as the first ones they had gone on... and Kiba really wanted to be able to kiss him whenever he saw the man, not just when they were out on the streets where people could see them...
Whatever. Even though his relationship with the man was complicated, it was more than just friendship. And, officially, they were a romantic couple. So, if the rest of the Village had jumped on the bandwagon of believing in the sensational story of a lazy Nara being able to tame a wild Inuzuka, why couldn't his friends? They didn't even have to think it was a good relationship! They just had to believe that what Kiba was telling them was the truth!
Instead of trying to explain himself again, Kiba merely dropped his upper body onto the table before him. He pulled his arms over the top of his head in a childish attempt to block out the stubbornness of his friends. And he just... didn't say anything. He was sick of this. He'd already spoken enough. Let them think what they wanted. Forget 'em.
Above him, he could hear Sakura and Sasuke muttering about how a certain Dog Breath had gone too far, even though it wasn't anywhere near as funny as said Dog Breath may have though when he thought of this stupid prank. Hinata and Shino were quiet, probably just judging him. And Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino remained quiet for a few seconds, just letting the other people around them probably finish up with whatever direction their thoughts were taking.
"That's not what Shika meant."
Oh, so he had been paying attention. Maybe the talk about food had been his own attempt to change the topic of the conversation before they became too immersed in it...
Chouji was the one to speak up now. And he did so in an irritated huff, sounding indignant over the treatment his friends were showing Kiba right now. He was a good man, that Chouji. A cinnamon roll of kindness when he wasn't hungry, he was. "It's not funny that you insulted Kiba like that. He's your friend, Sasuke."
Kiba didn't see the eye roll. But he may as well have heard it, from the way the Uchiha's tone dripped in unrepentance. "Anyone can do better than Dog Breath."
He and Sasuke had never been that great of friends. But this disdain for him was certainly on a level Kiba had never expected before. And he certainly could not fathom it. What had he done to this guy to make him hate him so much?
"My dad and Kiba are dating." Shikamaru finally announced, a heavy silence suddenly falling over their group. "I found out like, four days ago, was it? I'm not sure how long they've been together. But, yeah, they are together."
And Ino, bless her kind soul, finished up with a harsh, "So, no, guys, it's not a cruel prank Kiba's trying to pull on you. He was trying to tell you about a really important moment in his life, but all you managed to do was shit on him. Congratulations."
Heavy silence hung suspended over the group's heads. Kiba felt incredibly awkward now, more than just irritated as he had felt before... because now people actually understood that what he had said was the truth. They weren't thinking that he was trying to prank them anymore; nor were they thinking about how inappropriate this joke was. Now they were actually beginning to understand the truth to his words. The reality of his situation was starting to appear before their eyes.
Now his friends were going to shit on him. He just... he knew it.
His group of friends had never been the kind to stay quiet about things they didn't like. Case in point: how they had immediately told him that the prank he was pulling about being in a relationship with Shikaku wasn't funny. So... well, he just knew they were going to shit on him for actually being in a relationship with a man that was twice his age.
Oh, this was the second day he had dreaded the most to actually arrive in... or maybe now it was the most dreaded day? The most dreaded had been having to kiss Shikaku in public and announcing their relationship as official, after all. And, even with all of the hiccups that had happened then, that day was one he would remember fondly. Because he was a love struck idiot like that.
With his head still protected against the soft wood of the table, with his arms covering him up from the attacks he knew would be coming in no time, Kiba waited for the first shout to ring out. He was expecting negative reactions to the new relationship; he knew that his friends were going to call him out on endangering his career with this relationship. He knew they were going to be the ones to try and 'talk sense' into him, considering they were his same age and undoubtedly saw the world in a very different way from Minato.
Honestly, he still couldn't believe the Hokage had actually given the complete, undisputed okay to him being in a romantic relationship with Shikaku. Mostly, he had expected the man to completely freak out over having to think about Kiba in a romantic relationship with anyone; let alone someone so much older than him. But he had also expected some issues of the chain of command to be brought up. In all fairness, the man had kind of brought up that issue, but he'd explained why it really wasn't an issue- at least in his eyes.
"Just to make sure that I heard everything correctly," Sakura cleared her throat, voice uncharacteristically plain. There was little to no emotion within her tone. There wasn't even shock. Just... monotone. "Kiba Inuzuka, our friend that's the same age as us, is now dating Shikaku Nara, Shikamaru's father?"
Oh. There was the emotion.
Kiba winced at the way Sakura's tone lifted, pumped full of incredulity over the question she was restating.
"You know, I understand why you guys are all confused by this." Ino huffed, and even though her words were meant to be taken as understanding her friends, the tone was absolutely scathing. "This is Kiba's first relationship, right?" ooh, now her voice was sickly sweet, a feigned innocence that only ever came out when she was sick and tired of something in particular. "He's never had a boyfriend before, so you guys are just completely flabbergasted. I can understand that."
And now the atmosphere around them was so tense with people's scents getting filled with anger, annoyance, and disbelief that Kiba felt like he was actually going to start suffocating.
"A-actually, Ino..." Hinata spoke up in a quiver, and Kiba's heart clenched in anticipation for getting ripped apart by one of his own pack members. "Th-that's exactly why I'm s-surprised."
Kiba actually felt his heart skip a beat.
When it started back up, he decided that it would be worth risking having to look at his friends' scathing glares to get a good look at Hinata. Her scent was filled with surprise and disappointment, but, at the same time, it was beginning to fill up with the clean smell of acceptance. But he couldn't believe that he was smelling such a thing from her. So he wanted to look into her eyes to make sure his nose wasn't tricking him.
The moment their eyes connected, the tension within Kiba's chest loosened, if only a little. Her pale eyes were filled with some sadness, but her smile was honest.
"You a-always insisted y-you'd never fall in l-love."
Hinata was an angel on this earth and he didn't understand what he had done to get so lucky and end up with her as his teammate. Granted, he had been hit by a lot of bad luck recently, but recently, it clearly had begun to change. Everything with Shikaku had actually become natural and smooth and now Hinata didn't even care about the fact that the relationship was with Shikaku- she was just surprised that he had even entered into a relationship.
The smile that came onto his lips was lopsided and felt off even to him, but it was genuine in the relief it attempted to show to Hinata. "Guess I lost that bet, huh?"
Hinata giggled... but Kiba was now, if anything, confused about her. If she didn't mind the relationship; if she was so surprised because he had insisted in his younger years that he would never fall in love... then why in the world was she disappointed? It didn't make any sense!
Seconds passed in which no one else spoke up.
Even though no one was talking, though, Kiba could smell that their attitudes were changing. And he could even begin to smell regret invading the scents of Sakura and Shino. Although... Shino's scent of regret... it was off, somehow.
Eventually, Sakura cleared her throat and apologized. "I didn't react well at all, did I? I'm sorry Kiba. I'm happy you're in a relationship, really. It's just... I was being childish. I'm sorry."
From the way she clammed up afterwards, Kiba could tell that she wasn't going to explain her thought process. She wasn't about to let him know what she actually thought about the relationship; which he knew she didn't approve of from the way her scent had tinges of the kind of discomfort people felt when they were forced to hold their tongue. But he wasn't going to push either- she had apologized and was willing to move on. And he wasn't eager to hear what she may have to say. Water under the bridge; let them move on.
"I feel there is a need to comment on the fact that you are foolishly endangering your career."
Oh, he could always count on Shino to tear his heart out with freezing logic that held little breathing room for emotions or other such human annoyances.
The Aburame shifted in his chair ever so slightly and the buzzing of his hive quickened before he breathed out and the buzzing attempted to slow down. "All of your romantic intentions aside, dating Shikaku Nara is dangerous for you. One misstep and you will be relegated to desk duty for the rest of you shinobi career- if you manage to keep said career."
This... this was exactly what Kiba had worried he would meet when he informed his friends about his relationship. He had hoped in his heart that he wouldn't have to hear this, but he had known he was going to hear it.
He was just the reckless Inuzuka, after all. He never used his head and relied on his fists and luck more often than he should have. If he wasn't going to think for himself, someone had to. Shino had always told him so. This was only to be expected.
Breathing out heavily, Kiba covered his head with his arms once again.
"Shikaku wouldn't do that." he grunted because, even though he was accustomed to his friends insulting him and pointing out his flaws, he wasn't about to let them question Shikaku's integrity without putting up a fight. "He's not like that."
"Now." the rebuttal cracked like a boom of thunder, crashing through Kiba with no care about being delicate or careful. "Shikaku Nara isn't like that now. But you cannot tell the future. You cannot assure me that he won't change."
"Are you seriously insulting Shikaku Nara's integrity in front of us?" Ino cut in with a huff of pure anger as she slammed her hand onto the table in front of her.
Hmm... if things continued like this... a civil war may actually break out between his friends.
Shino's scent filled with indignation for a moment, but soon eased into understanding. "I apologize for the insult on Lord Nara, but he is of little concern to me. Kiba is pack. My worries are turned onto Hinata, Akamaru, and him first, before anyone else outside of my clan; sometimes even before my clan." with this being said, Shino sighed, "I am not about to allow my pack to throw themselves into a preventable problem without having them think beforehand. Not this time around."
Kiba was stunned.
He... in all honesty, he was a thousand percent completely caught off guard by what he had just heard.
Shino never talked about pack. Hinata and he weren't Inuzuka. So even though they kind of understood that Kiba found that they were the most important people in his life outside of his clan... they didn't really admit it. Not out loud, at least. For the Hyuga heiress, it was troublesome to have him as her teammate because of the relationship between their clans. For Shino... he just wasn't the kind of guy to talk about his feelings.
Out of all of Team 8, he was the most emotional. He was the one that was always allowing his emotions to get in the way of his decisions. He was the Inuzuka loudmouth that didn't understand how to keep his mouth shut. He was the one that jumped on them and hugged them, just about slobbered them in physical affection they didn't necessarily like. He was the one that announced the importance of their relationship to the world.
Shino was talking to him like this right now not because he wanted to be mean. He wasn't saying this because he thought Kiba was being an idiot and he felt that he had a right to call him out. He was talking to him like this because he cared. And he was worried.
"Shino..." he lifted his head to look over at the Aburame, only to find that his stare was focused on the table, rather than on him. His scent now was filled with heavy emotions- he was worried and feeling lost. As if he didn't know how to proceed. Kiba kind of felt like that too. "I've... I've already thought this through."
With a grunt, Shino crossed his arms over his chest, "I hope you have."
And he didn't say anything else.
So... neither of his teammates were going to speak up any further about his relationship with Shikaku?
That... that was good.
Even with how bad things had gotten, they hadn't reached the horrible level of judgement Kiba had expected to face with his friends. It was actually reassuring to know that even if they didn't approve of his relationship to Shikaku's father, they weren't about to stand in his way.
"Although," Shino cleared his throat and the ease that had begun to seep into Kiba's bones was stolen away by tension once more. "we do have to get together as a team again. No more running away. We need the truth."
Hinata grunted with a quick nod and Kiba knew that both of them were being completely serious right now.
Even though he still wanted to keep his distance from them, they weren't about to continue giving him such a luxury. Not after all of the leeway they had already given him. Not after all of the changes he had undergone in the last few months. Not after the way he has pushed them away without a single honest explanation.
That wasn't going to be an easy conversation, Kiba knew.
But... he also knew that his pack was hurting because of him. And he now completely understood that his pack understood exactly what it meant to be pack.
They may not have been Inuzuka like him, but they certainly were prepared to accept him exactly as he was. They were even prepared to adopt some of his own mannerisms and characteristics... he had just never taken a step back to notice such a thing.
Silence fell over them once again. There was still a very heavy weight of tension hanging over them, mostly because of the likes of Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino. Shikamaru's scent was filled with indignation at the way his father had been insulted, no doubt. And Chouji's own scent was filled with the eagerness customary in people that wanted to get away from such a tense situation.
What was supposed to have been a friendly dinner to catch up with old friends and congratulate Kiba on the successful return from his first mission without his teammates had very quickly become an incredibly uncomfortable affair. Everyone's demeanor was rigid and on the defensive. No one was comfortable; there was no ease to be found with them.
And it was all because he had taken the opportunity to announce his relation to Shikamaru's father...
Well, at least no one had been punched in the face yet. That was a big plus when they were around the likes of Ino and Sakura.
"So..." Chouji's words were slow as he broke the silence that had fallen over them, his fingers drumming against the cool wood of the table. "Does everyone know what they'll want to eat?"
Sasuke scoffed and his irritation flared- and what was wrong with this guy? He'd always been a dick, but he'd never been this angry before!
"Not every disagreement we get into can be fixed with food, fatty."
Okay, no. That was the last straw.
Kiba bared his teeth as he straightened up in his chair, setting a heated glare on the incensed Uchiha. "Apologize, you jerk."
Sasuke's face remained impassive in that annoying Uchiha tactic of showing no reaction to their opponents. But his eyes... his eyes burned. "You don't even understand what you've gone and done, have you?"
Kiba had been expecting a defiant "No". Very possibly, he may have even been looking forward to an insult on his person to give him the perfect excuse to lunge at the bastard that had absolutely no regard for other people's emotions. Because he really only needed just one good excuse to jump on the Uchiha and teach him there was a limit to being a bastard in the world- and he had fucking reached it by insulting the one guy that had actively tried to defuse the whole situation.
He had not been expecting... whatever that was.
"What?" he asked, absolutely startled.
When the Uchiha refused to answer, Kiba thought it would be a good idea to try and pry further. But at that very moment, the unique mixture of fox and fire that belonged to the one person that had disappeared without a single explanation hit his nose. Immediately, he knew there was something wrong with Naruto. His scent was inundated with the damp musk of sadness.
So Kiba turned in the direction of the entrance, only to find the blonde that was supposed to not even know how to frown looking as if he had just been informed of the death of his favorite Inuzuka dog.
"What's wrong with Naruto?" he quickly asked his friends, only to hear Sasuke's scathing scoff once again.
The only reason he didn't snap at the irritating and completely useless teenager was that Sakura softly scolded him for being too rough in the way he was handling the situation.
Now that he was looking at Naruto... now that he could see how absolutely devastated his eyes looked... now that he could smell the desperation that was rolling off of him in waves... Kiba was beginning to suspect that this situation had to do with more than just his relationship with Shikaku.
"Kiba, could you go check up on Naruto?" Ino, who had previously been irritated and prepared for another fight, now sounded composed. And her scent was filled understanding.
"I don't think that's prudent." Shino cut in, only for Hinata to pat his shoulder softly. "It's what's right."
Kiba blinked over at his pack, slowly beginning to understand that he was the only one that was completely confused by what was happening right now.
"Sure." he murmured, slowly pushing his chair back before he stood up. "Uh, I'll be right back, I guess."
When he turned to the entrance, he found that Naruto ducked back out of the restaurant. And upon seeing that, Kiba understood that whatever was to happen, it was going to happen between only him and Naruto.
And he didn't know what he should even expect to happen.
All he knew was that his friends knew what was going to happen. And he knew that no one was going to explain anything to him.
As he walked out of the restaurant, Kiba could feel his heart begin to hammer uncomfortably in his chest. He could hear it within his ears, faster than was normal when he wasn't taking part in any rigorous activity. And there was a growing feeling within him that told him something bad was about to go down.
When he reached Naruto, he was able to see that the blonde's eyes were bloodshot and there were dried tracks of tears staining his cheeks.
Now they stood by the back of the restaurant, in an open space that usually needed to be reserved to go into. Parties were hosted here during the night; while some small get-togethers were hosted during this time of the day. It was a sizeable garden area fenced in by a thick curtain of trees.
It was perfectly private here.
"Naruto?" he was confused and now all he wanted were some answers. "What's going on? Why're you crying?"
Naruto was standing in the middle of the area, his left hand holding onto his upper right arm. His right elbow was folded, allowing his right hand to fiddle with his bottom lip. And he seemed absolutely distraught... Kiba had never seen him like this before. Not even after the mission that had almost killed his whole team all those years ago... not even in the hospital bed with the knowledge that the four of them had almost died had Naruto looked like this.
Naruto didn't answer immediately. Instead, he shuffled his feet for a couple of seconds. Then he busied himself by biting the inside of his cheek. And afterwards, he closed his eyes and whimpered.
"Do you love him?" he suddenly blurted out, opening his tear filled eyes to look directly at Kiba. "Shikaku Nara- do you actually love him?"
An freezing arrow pierced his heart.
It was as if time had stopped.
As Naruto stared at him, desperate and heartbroken, Kiba's brain flooded with all sorts of memories that helped him finally put all of the pieces together.
When they had been kids, they had been just about joined at the hips. They had been the best of friends that had shared everything. From their hopes and dreams to their greatest fears, they had been there for one another through thick and thin. Their parents had always commented on how perfect they were for one another- similar in all the right ways, but different enough to make each other's lives exciting.
Kiba had always just seen them as that. Friends.
How had he been so blind?
At one point, on Kiba's eighth birthday, Naruto had asked him to marry him. Kiba had told him that he would, on the sole condition he handed over his piece of birthday cake. Naruto had just about thrown it into his hands.
Shortly after that, Kiba's dad had run away from the Village. Naruto had refused to leave him alone for a full week. He had just about moved into the Inuzuka compound during that time- determined to be there for his best friend.
Kiba had just assumed those things were things best friends did...
They had grown apart, he knew. They weren't as close as they once had been. Life had forcefully separated them. And Kiba had accepted it because Naruto wasn't supposed to be his pack. He was Team 7's pack. Not his.
Staggering back, Kiba felt as if his body weighed a ton. His movements were slow and clumsy- he felt uncomfortably uncoordinated.
He didn't answer. He was too overwhelmed to answer Naruto.
"Does he love you?" Naruto prodded, taking one step towards him.
Kiba's eyes widened. Naruto's scent was beginning to fill with fight.
The Namikaze had never been the kind to take anything lying down.
"You're an Inuzuka- you can sniff out emotions! You know when someone's in love just by their scent; you told me so yourself." Naruto took three more steps forward and Kiba's back suddenly met with a solid surface. Immediately, he gasped. He hadn't been anywhere near something solid a few moments ago.
For a split second, he took the chance to glance at his side. And he was able to see that the surface he had hit was the outer wall of the restaurant they had previously been within.
"So can you smell that he loves you, Kiba?"
Naruto's voice was closer.
Kiba looked back at the blonde and he was only a handful of steps away. Tears were streaming down his face now and his voice had become somewhat stuffed.
"Can you?" he repeated, now a harsh whisper as he finally stopped moving.
Kiba couldn't do anything.
He was frozen in place.
Unable to say anything.
He was only truly able to think...
And now he was able to notice how absolutely dense he was.
Naruto was right. Inuzuka could sniff out emotions in people. Love was an emotion that was hard to pinpoint because it was made up of other emotions, but after enough exposure, an Inuzuka could catch it. And now that he finally understood exactly what was wrong with Naruto... now he could understand the smell of fire in Naruto's scent.
The fire wasn't a natural part of his smell. It was the passion that painted his love... the love he had always held for Kiba.
Ever since they had known each other, Kiba had identified the smell of a fox and a burning fire with his best friend. He had never questioned such a scent because it had always been around.
Naruto had been in love with him for as long as Kiba could remember... and he had never even noticed, even though it couldn't have been made any clearer for him.
Wow.
Just... wow.
How was he even supposed to react to something like this? How was he- a guy that was in love with an older man- supposed to react to this sudden confession from Naruto- who was supposed to just be his childhood best friend he had drifted away from?!
His heart's beat was quicker now; louder. His chest was starting to hurt him.
When had the ribs on his right side started to ache like that? When had the tightness in his chest gotten this asphyxiating?
Naruto was still staring at him.
His heartbeat felt as if it was getting faster.
"Please, Kiba..." Naruto's voice was barely above a whisper now and tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. "He can't love you like I can; like I always have."
Shikaku's scent hadn't changed. At least... Kiba hadn't noticed any change. He still smelled as safe and kind as Kiba had allowed himself to admit after he had decided Shikaku Nara wasn't the enemy. He hadn't even thought about trying to use his nose to notice a change in the man's scent... and now that he thought about it... he didn't want to find out if his scent had changed.
If the scent hadn't changed, it would only hurt to find out that his feelings weren't reciprocated. But if it had... he didn't want to find out before Shikaku decided to tell him. It would be like... like cheating.
"Naruto... I..."
His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for water after it had been pulled away from its rightful home. But no words were coming from his mouth. Hell, barely any intelligent thought was crossing through his mind.
Why couldn't he even think anymore?
Naruto opened his mouth once again, probably to continue prying at him. He wanted answers, that much Kiba knew. He could tell from the pain in his eyes; the desperation in his scent. And he wasn't about to allow Kiba to stay silent.
But the voice that said the following words Kiba heard didn't belong to the blonde. And they didn't come from in front of him. Instead, the voice came from his right, behind him, from the streets of Konoha in front of the restaurant they were currently behind.
"Kiba! I finally found you!"
The voice was one he knew well, but it took his brain more than a few seconds to process who it belonged to.
Naruto froze, eyes shifting to the side to look at whoever had interrupted them.
Moving his head to the side to look in the same direction took Kiba a while to do. But just before he could actually look at whoever it was, a small hand was wrapping around his right upper arm, clamping around him in a vicious hold.
"Where's Akamaru?" Hanabi Hyuga was looking up at him with wide, frenzied eyes. Her hair was disheveled and her face completely red. Her voice was breathless and her chest puff up and down violently. "Where's Akamaru?!" she shouted when he didn't answer, causing him to flinch and retract.
"W-with Hana." he managed to stutter out and her eyes darkened. Her eyebrows narrowed and her face twisted into something terrifying. There was no doubt- this was Hiashi Hyuga's daughter. "Why?"
The grip on his arm was bruising. "Get to my home immediately." the snarl she wore reminded him too much of his mother's own and that sent his body into an energetic frenzy that was a complete antithesis to what it had been feeling previously. "I'll fetch Akamaru and meet you there."
After she had demanded this of him, she chanced one glance over at Naruto. Her stormy eyes looked him over for a single second, then she scoffed and glared back at Kiba. With a cold hiss, she established how there was no time for him to waste. "Wrap this teenage melodrama up after you have helped my family. We need you."
To make sure that her words had been understood, with strength that no eleven year old should ever possess, the young kunoichi pulled him towards the direction she had just come from, forcing him to start moving.
Kiba didn't know what had happened with the Hyuga to have Hanabi acting like this. Just like he didn't know how he was supposed to react to Naruto's sudden confession.
But he did know one thing. Of these two things that had suddenly happened... there was one he didn't want to even think about anymore.
"I'm sorry, Naruto." he managed to gasp out, legs already in motion in the direction of the Hyuga compound.
If Naruto shouted out for him or tried anything similar to stop him, Kiba wouldn't be able to tell. He hightailed it out of there like the coward he was and he didn't even allow himself to feel an ounce of shame.
The run to Hinata's home blurred by him. He was so focused on trying to avoid thinking that his forcing his body to move at the fastest speed it could reach took up all of his consciousness. One second he was running away from Naruto and his feelings, the next he was crashing into a harrowed looking Neji by the front gates of the Hyuga compound.
"That was faster than expected." Neji remarked offhandedly, moving to push him into the compound without wasting a second to allow Kiba to catch his breath. "Good. Time is of the essence."
The pace Neji set was brutal, but welcome. Once again, Kiba was able to push away all intelligent thought to instead focus on pushing his body as far as it would go. He was directed towards the opposite site of the Hyuga compound, towards the small buildings reserved for only the most important of clan dealings. And Kiba's heart, as energetic as it was beating, dropped to his stomach.
The first thing that popped into his mind was being forced to sit through another meeting with clan elders. Because he knew for a fact that the Hyuga elders utilized these buildings often enough when they wanted to deal with troublesome issues they did not want the rest of the clan interfering in. This was the secluded place where Hinata had once been forced to fight two of her elders off to prove to them that she deserved to be Hiashi's heir.
This place... it wasn't a good place to be for people like him.
When his steps slowed ever so slightly, Neji's hand was quick to lash out and grab him by the forearm and- goddamn, now he understood that the vice Hanabi had on her was genetic!
"My father was attacked." Neji's voice was tight and the anger that was radiating from his body was close to suffocating him. "He was in a meeting with Lady Tsunade- the only reason he is alive now is because of her having been on the scene when the attack happened." oh, now he could smell the faintest licks of fear; horrible, paralyzing fear; and Neji's scent right now was nothing like the cool and calming scent he had come to identify with his oldest Hyuga friend. "We have need of your nose to track the attacker. We need to keep this matter between as little people as possible."
The Hyuga compound rushed past them and in no time Kiba was standing in the middle of one of the small buildings in the back of the clan's territory. It was a small yet ornate structure- made of polished wood that smelled foreign and expensive, with golden ornamentations etched within. It was a four wall structure, square, the floor made of a darker colored wood. There was a bookshelf pushed into the back of the room, two pillows thrown carelessly aside... there was a gap in the floor, it couldn't have been more than forty centimeters in its radius... there was blood splattered all along the ground... it stained the broken edges of the wood- they were jutting upwards, as if something had broken through from the ground below.
"What..." Kiba breathed in, only to regret it immediately.
The pungent smell of more than just Hizashi's blood entered his nose; burned through him. As soon as he breathed in, he was able to tell that whoever had attacked Hinata's uncle... it had been a monster.
"What happened in here?"
Neji remained silent for a few seconds.
Kiba didn't dare even get close to the area he knew he had to start investigating. The attack had come from the underground; if he wanted to pick up the freshest scent, he needed to get closer to the hole in the middle of the room.
"Lady Tsunade described it as a sharp, solidified shadow breaking through from the ground... and impaling my father through the chest..." Neji breathed in now, and... dammit. Now he was suffocating from the anger in Neji's scent.
On one side, the overwhelming stench of anger. On the other, the toxic one that had come from whatever S-ranked missing nin had decided to attack Hizashi Hyuga.
Because there was no way around it. Whoever had attacked Hizashi in the middle of the day within his own clan's compound... the scent, even as faint as it was from so far away... Kiba could immediately tell was one filled with the blood of a dozen- if not a hundred- murdered enemies.
Shikaku hadn't seen Kiba all day. He had hoped that the dinner between his friends had gone well and he had decided to spend the day with the friends he had shunned. And, while somewhat worried over the consequences of the dinner and admitting to their relationship, Shikaku had done his best to go about his day even with the glaring lack of the Inuzuka.
It was odd to be completely alone in the office. He hadn't noticed it, but the ever present presence of either Akamaru or Kiba there with him... it was nice to have around.
Still, he had done his work and he had finished everything he believed was pertinent he complete during the day. At one point, Koji Inuzuka had appeared and commented on the glaring lack of his little cousin in the office. And then Kotetsu, who had been tasked with bringing him an important scroll from Ibiki Morino, had let him know that today's work had been particularly slow: "Where's the helper?"
Shikaku had ignored them both.
Dinnertime was slowly approaching and Shikaku knew that even though he had not been as productive today as other days of his life, he was certainly much more effective in completing his work than he had been a week ago when he had just about broken down.
It was as he contemplated leaving his office early or finishing up one final mission request when Kiba finally entered his office... well, collapsed into his sofa was a much more accurate description.
"Kiba?" he questioned, standing up as he heard a whimper from the teenager. In no time, he had made his way to the teenager and knelt beside him. Luckily, from a quick once-over, he could tell there were no injuries. "What's wrong?"
Akamaru padded into the room at that moment, closing the door behind him. His movements were slow and careful- Kiba was barely moving at this point. His body was just thrown over the couch, the only sign he was alive was the faint rising and falling action of his breathing.
"Kiba?" he tried again, shifting so he was closer to his head. Akamaru made his way towards him, pressing into his side as he sat down. Shikaku glanced over at the dog's actions for a moment- he wasn't too accustomed to Akamaru purposefully getting so close to him- but soon wrote that off as just a new aspect of his friendship with Akamaru. "I need an answer if you don't want me taking you to the hospital."
He wasn't usually the kind to push or prod, but he knew very well that Kiba could be a complete danger to himself at times. And from what little contact he had with the kid during the day, he didn't know exactly what had happened to the kid during the day. For all he knew, he had gotten into another argument with his family. Although, as bad as that may be, it would certainly explain how unresponsive the Inuzuka was being.
"Hizashi Hyuga was attacked..." the teenager whispered after a few more seconds of tense silence.
Shikaku felt the air in his lungs leave him- Kiba's whisper was like a sucker punch.
Trembling hands slowly made their way out from being stuck beneath Kiba's body. The Inuzuka shifted himself to the side, so he was laying on his side somewhat, and grabbed onto the fur of Shikaku's vest. He didn't pull him in, but he didn't try to push him away either.
While certainly novel to him, Shikaku didn't waste too much time contemplating what to do. He moved his left arm over Kiba's body and pulled him towards the edge of the couch, bringing him into an odd hug. His chin wound up resting over Kiba's shoulder, all the while the teen's face pressed itself into his chest. Slowly, his right hand lifted until it was firmly placed on top of Kiba's hair.
"We... we had to track the attacker..." Kiba's voice was muffled and barely above a whisper; trembling with tears. "He's a monster, Shikaku... A monster."
..~..~..
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and leave me your thoughts!