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. (Huge warning now) I haven't checked up on cannon to make sure that chakra theory is even remotely compliant. Scratch that, I haven't checked up on cannon to make sure anything is cannon compliant. But this is a fanfiction, so that doesn't really matter all that much.
..~..~..
It had become much too normal to leave the house without Akamaru. But this time, it hurt a bit more than other times. His mother believed that if they were being targeted, the least they could do was make the attacker's life difficult and keep them split up so they wouldn't be able to off both parts of their Inuzuka duo. There was some logic to that- but it was also the kind of logic that attested to his mother's lack of trust in her son's abilities.
She wasn't talking about fighting off the attacker. If she were, she would have left Akamaru with him. No, she was thinking about being a nuisance to their attacker. Which meant she didn't believe they could even be the threats to whoever he was.
With a small sigh, Kiba noted how the morning was particularly cloudy. And those clouds were beginning to seem much more gray than he would have liked for a day without his best friend and the creature he most trusted in the world.
Hiashi had pulled them off of tracking Hizashi's attackers. If his sister could be trusted, he had begun to speak with their mother over a replacement tracker; as well as a plan to catch the cocky bastard that was clearly taunting them. It seemed that the taunt they had been given was one Hiashi was not prepared to tolerate or brush off. That was kind of encouraging for Kiba. After a lifetime of only seeing the most stern fatherly side of Hiashi Hyuga was capable of feeling and acting upon insults to those he cared about; not just insults on himself or his close family.
Because he would not be continuing the tracking of the attacker, Kiba didn't have to worry about the weather becoming cooler or staying the same so he could track. Although, he noted as he chanced another glance at the sky to find a large gray cloud slowly coming in from the south, it would be good for the next set of Inuzuka trackers if it didn't rain- the scent wouldn't risk being washed away or diluted. Even though he wasn't on the trail anymore, though, it would still have been pretty good for the weather to play nice with them.
He had never been a big fan of rainy days, not even as a kid, and for plenty reasons. Rainy days weren't exactly synonymous with good moments of Kiba's life. And rainy days meant being stuck inside of a building; something that had once seemed very much like a death sentence to a young Inuzuka with seemingly boundless amounts of energy.
Rainy days without Akamaru were, by far, the worst out of the days that he could meet.
He'd faced a handful of those since the arranged marriage business had begun...
He was making his way to the shokudo Shikaku had brought him to after the first time Kiba had fallen asleep at his office and... wow. Time really flew by, didn't it? When they had first come here, Kiba had only recently begun to see that Shikaku wasn't the villain of his story. It was right after the first time Kiba had accidentally fallen asleep in Shikaku's office, accidentally forcing the Nara to sleepover with him. Back then, he had also been worrying over Kakashi finding out the truth about their relationship...
Wasn't it funny how some things changed, yet others seemed to stay exactly the same?
As he was nearing the eatery, his nose caught the scent of someone he knew very well. And that person was being accompanied by someone that he did not know very much.
Blinking somewhat at the vagueness of the information his brain was transmitting after analyzing the scent, Kiba decided to stop and look around to see who it could be that was near. This kind of unclear analysis of a smell only occurred when he was too into his own thoughts. When that happened, no matter how strong a smell was, his brain struggled to make sense of the scent his nose caught.
Turning to look towards his left, he found Kotetsu and Izumo walking down a side street, seemingly headed in his direction. As soon as Kotetsu caught sight of him, his steps quickened just as a large smile appeared on his face.
"Kiba!" Kotetsu called out; the Inuzuka smiled back and waited for the older man to catch up. Izumo's pace didn't change, so he did not reach Kiba at the same time Kotetsu did. "It has been way too long since I last saw you."
"It hasn't been that-" Kiba started to say, only to find himself cut off when he felt Kotetsu's hands fall on his shoulders and pull him into a tight hug. "Uh, Kotetsu?"
"Congratulations! I knew that you had a thing for the Nara since that time I saw him and the Hatake fighting over you; I'm just happy you didn't let that wolf get in the way of true love!"
Kiba blinked.
Izumo sighed once he reached Kotetsu's side, and offered as an explanation, "There are rumors going around the Village about an amorous relationship between you and Shikaku Nara. Kotetsu believes them."
With a nod, Kiba tried to pry Kotetsu off of him. The hug was starting to run a bit too long for Kiba's liking; he didn't want to make Izumo uncomfortable.
Now that he knew that these two were in a relationship, he didn't want to give Izumo anymore reasons to doubt who he was as a person. And that meant that he needed to curb Kotetsu's comfortability with him; they couldn't be touching each other like they used to if his boyfriend had an issue with it. Kiba wasn't in the business to deal with unnecessary drama from couples he knew; especially if he accidentally found himself in the middle of said drama.
"My favorite Inuzuka is growing up!" Kotetsu wailed dramatically, bringing a hand up to Kiba's hair to ruffle it energetically. Beside himself, Kiba felt the beginnings of a growl within his chest.
It felt weird to have someone that wasn't Shikaku messing with his hair and he didn't like that. He didn't like how weird it felt and he didn't like the fact that it felt weird. Why did it feel weird?
"Get off, Kotetsu. Have you ever heard of personal space?" He dug his nails into the sides of Kotetsu's flak jacket, more than aware that his fellow shinobi would not be injured by the action, even though he would feel it very well. Once he managed to pry him off, Kiba sighed and turned to Izumo, curious. "I'm guessing you guys believe those rumors?"
That was the whole point of having rumors circling around the Village, after all. If Kotetsu, a ninja that actually knew him pretty well, believed such rumors, then it wasn't a stretch to believe that the rest of Konoha would believe them as well. And that meant that the Elders must have been pretty happy that their stupid and abusive plan was working flawlessly.
"Not at all! I, of course, am just messing with you." Kotetsu smiled, "One of them went that you actually grabbed the Jounin Commander by his shirt and forced him into a kiss in the middle of a restaurant. That's much too romantic for an Inuzuka like you."
Kiba felt himself cringe internally- he still wasn't particularly happy of the way he had taken advantage of Shikaku's lack of alarm when around him to force him into that kiss.
"I've learned to seek out the most reliable source for information like this, rather than pass judgement from what I've personally seen or heard."
Izumo's scent was filling with regret. Kiba frowned; the scent coupled with the overly serious tone of voice he had adopted... could Izumo be insinuating something?
"Oi, Inuzuka, were you going to get breakfast over at Tomoe's?" Kotetsu questioned, causing Kiba to look away from Izumo. With a nod, the older male smiled, "If I promise to pay for you, will you eat anything I get you?"
Kiba pursed his lips at the idea, contemplated it for a second, and finally shrugged. "I won't do it if it's vegan. But as long as it's got a bunch of meat, I'll accept that deal." Kotetsu smiled, Kiba's mind reminded him that it was still rather early in the morning and Shikaku was probably not going to eat anything substantial before heading to the office, and so, he added, "Think you can buy dashi eggs with chicken and rice and a large cup of black coffee, too? It's for Shikaku."
Now Kotetsu's smile became something eerily deranged but he didn't say a single thing about getting food for the Jounin Commander as well. Instead he nodded with too much energy for this early hour and began to jog towards the eatery Kiba had initially been heading towards before he stopped.
He and Izumo were left in a silence that quickly lost any comfortability once Kotetsu was no longer in sight. Kiba shifted on the balls of his feet; even though he didn't really know why Kotetsu had made sure to leave him isolated with Izumo, he understood that he was supposed to have some kind of conversation with this guy alone.
"Inuzuka, I owe you an apology." Izumo started with a heavy sigh and Kiba's eyes widened; he had not been expecting this.
Izumo had treated him very coldly from the very beginning... he had begun to think that Izumo had a problem with him as a person and, because of that, he would never have a serious talk with him.
"I will be blunt because neither of us has the time or patience to be tiptoeing around issues." Much like with Kakashi, Kiba could only read one eye when it came to Izumo Kamizuki. And from the one dark eye visible because it was not covered by hair, Kiba could see harsh determination. "I assumed the worst of your character and allowed rumors and jealousy to make a judgement on you that was unfair. For that, I am truly sorry."
Kiba was left stunned and wordless.
Rumors and jealousy?
The teenager blinked as he frowned softly.
Honestly, he hadn't been expecting any kind of apology from Izumo because his reactions to seeing his boyfriend's interactions with Kiba were completely understandable. In Kiba's mind, Izumo had substantial amount of information to pass the kind of judgement he had on Kiba's person. By all intents and purposes, from the outside looking in, it would have been easy for anyone to think that Kiba had wanted something more than friendship with Kotetsu. As the idiot's boyfriend, Izumo had a right to worry over any hidden intentions he may have been keeping from Kotetsu himself.
To Kiba, there was no reason for any apology.
"I've always known Kotetsu is much more comfortable with meaningless touches to friends than me; but I haven't seen him warm up to someone so quickly..." the chunin's voice became softer; slower. "It was stupid and childish, but I began to worry that he had found someone in you that could replace the person I once was..." now his voice choked up and the smell of fear was clear enough for Kiba to identify within seconds of smelling it.
Person I once was?
These two... their relationship was much deeper than Kiba had ever given Kotetsu any credit for, huh?
There was a larger story behind what Izumo was saying, he believed. There had to have been one for Izumo to be speaking so seriously and heavily right now.
"It's okay. Really." he began, but winced when Izumo's eye widened in disbelief. "We Inuzuka have shit reputations because of the way we act; lots of people judge us before we even do anything to deserve a reputation." he shrugged to try and brush off some of the heavy tension surrounding them, but he doubted such action worked. "I didn't know he was your boyfriend, by the way. If I had, I wouldn't have-"
"Don't do that."
Kiba blinked.
Was Izumo now getting... angry?
With one sniff at the air, Kiba was able to confirm that, in fact, Izumo was becoming the indignant form of angry that only ever hit a person when they couldn't believe what they were witnessing.
Okay. Confusion was his perpetual state of mind, it seemed. It was a nice reprieve, he admitted in chagrin, to the seemingly perpetual anxiety he had been accompanied for the last weeks. But he would have taken happiness or even boredom to either of the aforementioned states of mind he had become accustomed to.
"You did absolutely nothing wrong. You acted around a friend of yours the way you felt most comfortable; Kotetsu did the same. I'm the one that came in and assumed the worst of someone I didn't even know." he crossed his arms over his chest now, looking down at him with unshaking sternness. "Don't apologize because we still don't understand the way your clan acts."
Even though Izumo wasn't that much older than him; he was most probably the same age as Kotetsu, now that Kiba thought about it; right now Kiba felt like a child being scolded. And that was weird because Izumo was telling him that he hadn't done anything wrong.
Maybe he felt guilty because Izumo had scolded him over the fact that he had felt guilty over the way he had acted?
It was too early in the morning to be thinking this much.
"Uh... okay?"
Izumo's face continued to frown down at him for a few more seconds and Kiba began to steel himself for another round of tense words that would make him feel like he had done something wrong; even though he supposedly hadn't. But soon Izumo let out a soft smile and shook his head, effectively dispelling all of the tension that had formed around them.
"I can see why Kotetsu wanted to be your friend." he murmured, almost nostalgically, then motioned in the direction of Tomoe's Place. He began to walk there without waiting to see if Kiba understood his silent message.
So... Izumo had been jealous? Kiba had figured out that much. And he had accepted the validity of the feelings; along with the stupidity of Kotetsu for not letting him know such costly information so he could have avoided the situation he unknowingly landed in. It was normal for non-Inuzuka to feel jealous whenever one of them wound up around their lovers; many in Konoha still thought they were unscrupulous lover-stealers that were more focused on good sex than worthwhile relationships. It was a stereotype that was tired out and blatantly stupid because the Inuzuka were loyal. But the Clan didn't really care much about it. They knew their truth.
But instead of asking for Kiba's apology; which would have been completely normal for Izumo to expect after all of the scenes he had interrupted between him and his boyfriend... the guy had instead apologized to him.
"By the way, Kotetsu told me about the jutsu you've been learning recently." Izumo remarked as the distance between them grew. "If you're willing, I'm sure we could teach you the Starch Syrup Capturing Field."
Now Kiba stared at the guy's back in absolute stupefaction... Was this a dream?
"I think it could combo well with the jutsu that allow you to move underground. Come on, I'll explain how over breakfast."
Even though he was very sure he had woken up an hour or so ago, Kiba pinched his arm. Just to make sure.
It hurt.
This wasn't a dream.
Izumo shoved his hands into his pockets and began to whistle a happy, melodic tune; what wafted to Kiba's nose from his scent was still tainted slightly with regret, but determination was the strongest smell. All anger had seemingly dissipated entirely.
Kiba smiled and began to follow after the other.
Planning the lunch with Kakashi had not been difficult. Because the Hatake had held honor to such a high esteem; and the last living member of the Clan chose to continue that tradition; the white haired male had been willing to hold up his end of their gamble without trying to find a way to weasel his way out.
"So, I'll see you later, right?"
It was somewhat odd for Kiba to ask him such a question; even though it wasn't often that he stepped out to have lunch without someone that wasn't Kiba, it certainly wasn't something out of this world. Shikaku quirked a confused eyebrow when he noticed the teenager begin to shift on his feet. "Of course. Are you doing something that would impede such a thing?"
All morning long, the Inuzuka had been particularly fidgety. Compared to how much more mellow he had become after losing the scent of Hizashi's attackers, his actions were noticeable and markedly different. It made Shikaku begin to wonder if there had been any new developments on the case that Kiba hadn't told him... even though he found that idea to be absurd.
Well, maybe not absurd. Maybe there actually was something Kiba wasn't telling him. But the odds of that something being important were low if he had not informed Shikaku yet. The newest development in their relationship had been a rather open channel of communication between them both. Kiba didn't really hold things back from him- especially not things he deemed pertinent to any immediate dangers. If he was holding something back, it most probably had to do with some unfortunate encounter with his fellow teenagers.
Ah, that would make sense, actually. When it came to things that went wrong around his friends, Kiba wasn't as eager to share information. Shikaku wasn't sure if it was because he was embarrassed about what happened, bothered enough to not want to talk about it, or believed that Shikaku might be annoyed to have to listen to such trivialities. Considering how Kiba didn't try to talk about these kinds of issues most days, he didn't think too much on them. He knew that if something bothered Kiba enough, he would eventually tell him about it.
"No. I don't think so." the teenager murmured, raising his hand to rub at his neck. Then he shrugged, "Kotetsu and Izumo payed for breakfast; I told them I'd repay them today if they were free during lunch. And they're going to cash in on that because they're supposed to be leaving later in the day on a mission."
He hadn't told Kiba why he was meeting with Kakashi. All the teenager knew was that they would be eating lunch together and he hadn't been invited. Shikaku had insinuated that it was a business meeting- it would probably even get boring at some point- and Kiba hadn't questioned him at all. In all honesty, there was a small voice in the back of his mind telling him that it wasn't right to hide this kind of information from the teen, but Shikaku felt it was warranted. He didn't want Kiba getting the wrong idea over the questions he was asking. And with everything going on in his life... well, Shikaku was happy being the one person Kiba could just relax around.
Upon hearing that Kotetsu had crossed paths with Kiba in the morning, a few things were put into a much more logical context for Shikaku; one that allowed him to make sense of the oddity in the breakfast Kiba had arrived at the office with. He smiled, "I'm guessing that's the reason my coffee was unreasonably sweet, huh?"
Kiba bristled immediately, "I specifically told him to buy black but the jerk said he wanted to send you a message or something stupid." afterwards, he sighed, "You know I know how you like your coffee."
"And I'm grateful for that. Coffee in the office certainly helps get me started." and the breakfast that had been added today certainly didn't hurt. It hadn't been necessary because he always ate something before he left the house; even though said something was usually a ration bar or leftovers from the past night. "If you're going to make a habit of bringing me coffee, I'm going to have to up my own altruistic game. You can't be the only one giving gifts all the time."
As he smiled lopsidedly, he opened the door for Kiba to step through. The Inuzuka frowned softly at him but took a couple of steps forward, stopping when he was midway into the hallway outside of his office.
"I'm not always giving you gifts. Gifts are physical things you give people on birthdays or whatever. I just... I'm being nice."
Shikaku was highly amused by the barely concealed pout that was currently pulling at the Inuzuka's lips. But he didn't comment on the action. Instead he followed the teen out of the office and shut the door behind him. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying how nice you're being kid. But if you don't watch out, you're going to have me completely spoiled."
Now Kiba made a point of frowning at him, "You're feeling pretty chipper today if you're actually teasing me like this." then he huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest, settling so most of his weight rested on his left foot. He looked away before he said anything else and Shikaku smiled softly at the look of intense thought that came into his eyes.
He couldn't be blamed if he was in a good mood. He had managed to get a full night's rest, woken up to find Kiba bringing him a complete breakfast, and was now going to meet with Kakashi to finally find out some of the things that had been crashing around in Kiba's mind when they had first been arranged to get married.
Although... now that he took a good look at Kiba's face, there were noticeable bags under the kid's eyes... as if he hadn't been able to sleep that much.
Maybe whatever the kid was keeping from him was precisely what had kept him awake last night...
"Kiba-"
He cut himself off when he noticed that Kiba was sniffing at the air towards his left- Kiba's right. Then he cocked his head to the side ever so slightly, curious as to whoever was coming around the stairwell to have caught the Inuzuka's attention.
"I've got to get going." Kiba announced suddenly, then moved one foot forward, as if to step closer to Shikaku, but stopped before he could get too close. Shikaku quirked an eyebrow at the action but didn't ask anything of the teenager.
For a few seconds, neither of them did anything. Shikaku was able to hear the footsteps of whoever it was that was coming up the stairs; they were a handful of seconds away from reaching the floor.
"I'll see you later."
The kiss was unexpected.
But it wasn't unpleasant.
Admittedly, Shikaku was completely caught off by the sudden invasion to his personal space, so his eyes widened in shock. Once again, he was frozen in place because of Kiba's sudden actions- actions which were amorous and, by many accounts, wholly justified and completely normal.
Even with the surprise he was caught by, Shikaku was able to take note of the fact that the kid's lips were somewhat dry as they pressed into his right cheek, just a few centimeters below his lowest scar.
The kid really needed to drink more water.
After the thought crossed his mind, Shikaku was left even more baffled. The Inuzuka ran off towards the right- away from whoever had been walking up the stairs to Shikaku's left- and in the direction of the nearest windows that would give him easy access to begin running across the rooftops of their Village.
Instead of wondering why Kiba had suddenly kissed him, he was actually thinking about how Kiba needed to hydrate himself more regularly.
Had he just normalized romantic behavior within his mind? Had he done so because of the circumstances of their marriage? Or had he done so because... it had become very easy to be around Kiba?
A wolf-whistle broke him out of his stupor.
Looking in the direction of whoever had just arrived on the floor in time to witness Kiba giving him a quick peck on the cheek as a very typical thing for one half of a couple to do, Shikaku found Anko Mitarashi and Asuma Sarutobi standing at the entrance of the staircase. Anko was the one to have whistled and was wearing a wolfish smirk on her lips. Asuma, on the other hand, was looking at him with a cigarette trapped between his lips, a seemingly emotionless expression on his face.
But Shikaku could see the barely perceptible widening of Asuma's eyes and the surprise clear within them. He too was caught off guard by Kiba's actions, it seemed.
"Ooh, now isn't that absolutely innocent?" if Anko's smirk became any wider, Shikaku would worry about her lips reaching from one ear to the other. "Why not a slobbery one on the lips, Inuzuka? Live up to your name!" she shouted after Kiba, even though the teenager had disappeared from sight quite some time ago.
With a small sigh, Shikaku shook his head at Anko's crass words. But he didn't comment on what had been said and instead turned to Asuma, trying to salvage the situation before Anko could make it any more awkward.
The kiss being delivered at the precise moment Anko would be able to catch sight of them had been a strategic move on Kiba's part- without a doubt, the Elders would need to congratulate him later on. She was one of the most prolific contributors of the shinobi rumor mill, after all. And one of her favorite pastimes was spreading gossip whenever she had some time off.
For some reason, Shikaku felt somewhat bothered by the fact that Kiba hadn't kissed him because of a spur of the moment decision. Which was stupid because Kiba had clearly taken advantage of the circumstances he was faced by- something a true shinobi should be on the lookout for.
Troublesome emotions...
"Asuma, Anko. What brings you to these parts? You both have an intense disdain for paperwork and bureaucracy that you have made more than clear over the years."
Immediately Asuma pounced on the opportunity to regain some normalcy and so answered within a beat of Shikaku having finished his observation. "The Hokage has requested your presence tonight. It's important- the Sannin have been called in." he walked closer to Shikaku as he spoke, ending up a few meters away from him by the time he had finished.
Naturally, such a statement caught Shikaku's attention. Anko chimed in before he even had to ask for clarification.
"Yeah, the sourpuss is not happy about being pulled away from his retirement." Anko had lagged behind Asuma and was now leaning against the door that was positioned a little way's away from Shikaku's own office. "Can't say I blame him, though. Didn't he make it very clear to the Hokage he wanted nothing more to do with the ninja life when he turned in his papers?"
Asuma sighed and plucked the cigarette from his lips, breathing out a quick burst of air, then said, "I think the way he handled Jiraiya trying to get him to help two years ago proved to everyone more than clearly how little he wants to deal with the shinobi life."
There were many different accounts of the exact strategy Orochimaru had utilized to reject Jiraiya's sudden proposal for help. Some were mundane and only claimed he had thrown a cup of tea at his fellow Sannin along with poisoned words of wanting nothing to do with the life he had left behind. Others were much more sensationalized, claiming the cup of tea was freshly steeped, aimed at Jiraiya's nether regions, and some snakes were summoned to prove how truly poisonous Orochimaru could become.
"Then the Hokage must believe the threat to be truly critical if he is calling for Orochimaru to be pulled from his retirement." Shikaku observed, earning a serious nod from both shinobi. In turn, he frowned. With everything that had been going wrong in Konoha for the past few months, it was only about time for the Hokage to start doing something. But it was worrying that he was calling upon the Sannin so early on. "What time and where?"
"Six in the afternoon at the guy's house. Kushina's making dinner for everyone."
Smart move, Shikaku conceded. To many, the gathering would seem like a run of the mill dinner hosted by the Hokage to speak with different sectors of shinobi. It was common knowledge in the Village that their Hokage enjoyed having his ninja over from time to time as a manner to build morale among the ranks. The only odd thing would be the invitation to Orochimaru, who much preferred to remain far away from the Hokage's home- but he was capable of making his way into the home without getting spotted by any onlookers.
"Alright. I'll see you two then." he sighed, now feeling a sudden weight settle over his shoulders by how busy his day would be getting by this sudden message.
Just when things were beginning to seem as if they were calming down... of course things would only ramp up.
"Okay, but, no, seriously, if I'm able to make a whole bunch of walls out of rock, then I could, in theory, create a killing dome with Akamaru inside!"
Kotetsu hummed as he chewed the ramen he was eating, all the while Izumo stared down at the bowl of food before him. From inside his cooking area, Kiba was able to hear Teuchi chuckle softly at what he had recently heard, and the Inuzuka smiled at that. Teuchi was a good man and getting a laugh out of him, while not difficult, was always something to be proud of.
"I hear what you're saying, Kiba, and I admit that it sounds like a good idea..." Kotetsu muttered after a few seconds of thought. Kiba heard Izumo sigh softly, as if in relief, only to groan audibly when Kotetsu continued to speak. "But your ideas are too small! What if instead of creating a killer dome, you build a killer labyrinth? Your enemies will be trapped and confused!"
Teuchi's chuckle turned into a cough as he tried to cover up the laugh he wanted to belt out. And Kiba's smile broadened at both his reaction and what Kotetsu had just said.
Creating a labyrinth with just one earth release jutsu? That sounded positively insane... but Kiba liked it!
"Kotetsu..." Izumo breathed out, straightening his back up so he could turn to look at them both. "How about we keep the complicated jutsu creation for another day? We only have an hour for lunch before we're supposed to leave with Hana."
Kotetsu frowned for a moment, but soon nodded and turned to his boyfriend. "Are you serious about letting him learn our super secret technique? I know how important it is to you."
"If I wasn't serious, I would never have offered, Ko." Izumo sighed, then leaned forward on the counter they were eating on so he could look Kiba in the eyes. "I brought an instruction scroll with me so you can read up on it while we're gone. I thought you could practice by yourself while we're gone and then show us your progress when we come back."
It had been a while since he had smiled so much when he wasn't around Shikaku. It was a pretty nice feeling, actually.
"It's a plan!" then his mind reminded him about the affinity required to use the technique he was talking about and Kiba's eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait a sec, am I even capable of doing that? Isn't it water release?"
That immediately set Kotetsu off on a rant about how the only limitation a ninja had was their own mind. And Kiba chuckled softly at how incensed the guy was, all the while Izumo shook his head in regret when Kotetsu's tone of voice became high enough to garner the attention of a few onlookers.
These two... they weren't the worst friends for Kiba to have stumbled upon.
His lunch-meeting with Kakashi... started off on the worst possible foot.
After the tentative camaraderie they had managed to build up the past afternoon, Shikaku had hoped that Kakashi would have begun to allow his eager offense to wane, if only a little. But as soon as Kakashi opened up his mouth when he reached the table where the younger male had, uncharacteristically enough, been waiting for him, Shikaku knew that the offense was back and stronger than ever.
"How can you be so calm when Kiba's been targeted?" was the snarl Shikaku was met with.
Immediately Shikaku was thrown for a loop. He blinked down at the seated man, all the while his only visible eye was narrowed with enough venom clear within it to let Shikaku know he wasn't here under any friendly pretenses.
With a small sigh, Shikaku sat down on the chair opposite Kakashi. He took a moment to notice the seal of silence the Hatake had placed in the middle of the wooden table- no wonder he had seen no issues with yelling such a thing out in the middle of a busy lunch rush. And then he leveled the silver haired male with an unimpressed look.
"I had no idea he was being targeted." he answered plainly and quickly followed up with a round of questioning before Kakashi could accuse him of anything else.
Even though his patience had always seemed to be endless, Kakashi was proving that it wasn't as infinite as he had once thought.
"What are you talking about? Why do you think Kiba is being targeted? And by who?"
The light fixture that hung suspended above Kakashi, a few centimeters behind him, helped Shikaku notice some of the more subtle movements of the man's face. He was able to see the slightest crease at the edges of what seemed to be his lips- Kakashi was frowning at him. And his eye, once ignited with hate, were now beginning to cloud with doubt.
"Hizashi's attacker laid out an ambush to poison Kiba and Akamaru. Lord Hiashi pulled them off of the tracking mission." now Kakashi's eye narrowed and he leaned back in his chair, sounding somewhat taken aback, "You didn't know."
Of course he didn't. How was he supposed to have known any of this when Kiba had made him believe that everything had been absolutely fine?
Was this what Kiba had been keeping from him? He had seemed as if he needed to tell him something earlier... but Shikaku had merely stricken it down as something unimportant that could wait for later.
This wasn't unimportant. And this most certainly could not wait.
Why had the teen kept this from him?
"Kiba told me that Lord Hiashi had been pulled away from hunting down the attacker because of something with his Elders... he mentioned nothing about having become the attacker's newest target." he explained himself, stunned enough for even his voice to sound far away from him. "How did you even hear about this? The Hyuuga were keeping tight-lipped about this."
There was a moment in which Kakashi contemplated him in silence, but he soon began to speak in a steady tone of voice, sounding as professional as if he were currently debriefing a ninja he was about to go on a mission with. "They were until Kiba was targeted. Minato-sensei wasn't particularly happy when he heard about the attack on the Hyuga that had been kept from him." with a sigh, he the closed his eye and crossed his arm over his chest. "Asuma and Anko were supposed to tell you about the meeting tonight."
"They did. I wasn't given the reason why we'll be meeting, though." he explained, "I assumed I would find out the reason for such a meeting tonight."
Kakashi nodded slowly, sighed, and opened his eye until it was half-lidded in what seemed to Shikaku to be boredom. "Not surprised by that. Minato-sensei only told me about the Hyuga business because I hounded him for the information. He would have kept quiet about it until tonight if I hadn't pressed him too hard."
It made sense that Kakashi had managed to extract such a thing from the Hokage. Out of all of the shinobi under his command, the blonde had a painfully obvious soft spot for the only student he had left from the only genin team he had ever attempted to teach.
Shikaku breathed out, although he couldn't truly begin to wrap his head around the idea of what he was probably going to have to deal with tonight. He was still absolutely floored by what Kiba had chosen to keep from him.
Why had Kiba kept this from him? Had he... had he somehow become unapproachable? Had the teenager kept this from him because he had been worried about his reaction? No, that wouldn't make any sense. Because his reaction would have been the same it was beginning to be right now- even as his mind worried over why Kiba hadn't told him this himself, it was running on two separate tracks. The second was in the early stages of planning contingency plans to make sure Kiba was never alone within or outside of the Village.
This attacker had proven to be adept at sudden ambushes within their own walls, after all. He had hit the Hyuga in a time and place he must have found out would be blind to the ever present use of the byakugan within the clan. This meant he had the time and patience to acquire any information necessary to ensure a successful attack. And that meant that he probably already knew Kiba's most common schedule- by extension, he would know Shikaku's own, to a degree.
A heavy frown pulled at his lips at this sudden realization. How would someone from outside of the village manage to infiltrate their ranks so easily? How had they not yet garnered any kind of suspicion? The kind of focus and patience work like this required... someone must have noticed if anybody was acting odd enough to be surveilling different areas of Konoha so intently.
His eyes closed just as his eyebrows narrowed in disgust at his newest thought.
There would be nothing to notice as off if the person doing the surveillance wasn't an outsider... the attacker could possibly be working with traitors of their own Village.
The thought chilled him to his very core.
"Listen, Nara, I think I need to clear the air a bit." Kakashi pulled him away from the devastating thought, and Shikaku opened his eyes to find the Hatake glaring down at the tabletop. "We're going to be working together now. And we both only want the best for Kiba... so..." he sighed, uncrossed his arms, and knocked the knuckles of his left hand against the wood of the table before muttering, "Let's leave the Inuzuka clan dynamics for another day. I want to explain to you why I'm so obsessive about the pup."
After Kotetsu and Izumo had finished eating their lunches, Kiba was left alone in the busier and more social sector of the Village. He hadn't accompanied them to the Village Gates because they were going to meet up with Hana there and he certainly didn't want to risk ruining the good mood he had managed to build just by looking at her.
As soon as both chunin were gone from sight, the Inuzuka thanked Teuchi for the delicious ramen and then began to make his way back to Shikaku's office.
It had been a very fun lunch outing. He had gotten so accustomed to unpleasantness because of the friends his age... it was actually very reassuring to find out that he could still have fun with other people. It was nice, actually, to be able to share lunch with someone that wasn't Shikaku that didn't make him feel like he needed to bolt as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Kotetsu was a bit of an idiot, but he meant well and he was an incredibly good friend to have around. Izumo was a calming influence to his insanity and Kiba could see just how well they balanced each other out- it was actually pretty endearing to see how they fed off of each other; Kotetsu burned with energy while Izumo tempered his rambunctious nature while, at the same time, getting pulled into his antics with a soft smile.
Dare he think it... their relationship was kind of like what Kiba would love for him and Shikaku to have in the future... The dynamic between those two had been pretty routine to see, after all. And that was probably because it reminded Kiba a lot of the way Shikaku usually interacted with him...
Kiba groaned audibly upon thinking such a sappy thing, covering his face up with his hands to not allow the outside world to see how stupid he was being.
"You're an idiot." he muttered to himself, then frowned softly when he caught Shikaku's scent among the people around him.
Shikaku's scent was always something reassuring to smell... except for when his emotions were negative and overwhelmingly clear. And right now... for some reason... Shikaku smelled betrayed.
Eyes narrowing, Kiba began to search the crowds around him to try and find the Nara so he could find out exactly what was up with him. It took him a few seconds of walking and searching, but eventually he caught sight of the Nara, who was on the far side of the street he was on, heading in the direction of his office. And as soon as he caught sight of the man, Kiba's heart sank.
His face... it was absolutely worried.
Kiba frowned.
Why was he looking like that?
With a sigh, Kiba began to make his way towards the Nara.
"A landslide. Minato sensei and I had been doing recon but gotten caught in a fight- that's where I lost my eye; I wasn't careful. When we were finishing up, we heard an unearthly sliding noise followed by what I assumed to be a thunderclap. It had been raining all day; it wouldn't have been odd for lightning and thunder to be around... Even with sensei's speed... when we got back to camp, there was nothing we could do for them."
Kakashi's left hand was on top of the hitai-ite he wore over his eye. But there was something holding his fingers suspended; they were barely touching the garment. It may have been regret that kept his fingers from fully resting their weight on top of Kakashi. It may have been resentment. Shikaku could not begin to guess.
"I lost my pack at a very young age, Lord Nara; first my father and then my genin squad." he cleared his throat now, as if trying to shake off the heavy tone his voice had adopted; it did not work. "Minato sensei and his family... they're my family now. Kiba is part of that. As long as I'm breathing, I won't let anyone take my pack away."
Shikaku frowned at the memory of the final words Kakashi had shared with him before they had separated.
He was grateful that Kakashi had decided to share this information with him; especially because it put a lot of his behavior into a context Shikaku could understand. Previously he had thought that Kakashi's borderline possessive behavior towards Kiba was absolutely odd; but now he knew that it was more than just substantiated: it came naturally to the Hatake.
But, at the same time, he wasn't in the right frame of mind to be feeling positive over what information he did get from Kakashi. He was worried. And he didn't like that. He didn't like that he was worried about Kiba's wellbeing- because he knew he was supposed to be worried over the threat that loomed over the whole Village. Yet there he was, worrying about the safety of one person. He wasn't doing his job adequately. And it worried him.
He... he had a lot of things to worry about. And instead of being able to focus on what he knew was most important, all he could properly think about was the fact that Kiba had, accidentally, found himself in the sights of a madman that had managed to almost murdered Hizashi Hyuga.
Why hadn't Kiba told him about the attack on him and Akamaru?
Sighing softly, Shikaku looked up at the people around him. He had been frowning down at the ground, eyes narrowed and eyebrows knitted tightly, as he thought deeply about the information Kakashi had shared with him about the Hatake clan and what information Minato had told him about the attacks that had been going on around the village.
Minato's old teacher, the Sannin Jiraiya, had reason to believe that the attack on Hizashi Hyuga and the subsequent targeting of Kiba were linked to the attack on Yoshino and the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuga clans from months ago. The evidence was mostly circumstantial, but these attacks targeting important people, albeit not clan heads, of the big clans of Konoha were too out of place to ignore. Along with that, the odds that they weren't connected were very small, so he believed that these were all being held by one common group that was focused on debilitating the clans of Konoha; thereby, to a lesser degree, debilitating Konoha itself.
If Kakashi's intel was accurate- which it must have been, considering how it had come straight from the Hokage itself- there had even been an attempt on Fugaku Uchiha's wife and her handmaidens. But he had kept this a secret from the whole Village, following a similar line of thought as Hiashi Hyuga about the need to keep weaknesses within his clan from being found out by the rest of the Village.
Shikaku sighed softly as he noticed that he was getting close to his office building.
Tonight he would be meeting with a select group of shinobi to truly comb over all of the information Jiraiya had uncovered about these seemingly random attacks on the big clans. Afterwards, Minato would be making decisions on how best to proceed- including plans to protect the heirs of all of the big clans of the Village, in the hopes of sparing these children from getting injured like Hizashi.
"Shikaku?" he heard someone call him from a way's in front of him, his brain immediately supplying him with Kiba as the owner of the voice.
His frown deepened when his eyes fell on the teenager. He was pushing his way through a crowd of civilians, eyes focused on him with worry clear within them.
That kid...
He stopped walking, though, and allowed for the Inuzuka to catch up to him before he continued towards his office. When he noticed how truly worried Kiba now looked, the Nara found himself sighing softly and attempting to smile reassuringly at him.
"Are you okay?" the teen asked and Shikaku found himself feeling stupid when he noticed just how much this child cared for him and his mental state.
"I like you."
Shikaku lifted his hand and placed it on top of the teen's hair, ruffling it ever so softly as he motioned in the direction of his office building. "We need to talk, kid." he murmured, then turned so he was facing the direction of the building.
The kid's hair was soft.
"I like you."
He couldn't get the teen's words out of his head. For some reason, they began to tumble around his brain once again, even though they had finished that particular conversation weeks ago.
He didn't want to let go of the teen. Not now that he knew that he was in danger. Not now that there was a very real threat of losing him.
From the top of Kiba's head, Shikaku moved his hand down towards his back, then slid it over the top of his shoulder until his arm rested comfortably around the teen's back. Kiba gasped softly at the motion, but didn't move away.
"We can talk privately in my office."
"Okay." the teen murmured quietly.
They continued in silence.
While bothered with the fact that Kiba had kept important information from him... Shikaku could admit one thing. The fact that he was so bothered by such a thing was a testament to how important this kid had become.
~..~..~..
I struggled a lot to write this chapter. There were quite a few rewrites and the direction I wanted to take the story in has been tweaked a little. I'm sorry for having taken so long to write this, but I have fallen into yet another slump of writer's block. I'm working my way through it, but it has been absolutely agonizing to write when a small voice in the back of my head keeps telling me the story isn't good enough.
Don't get me wrong. I am happy with the way this chapter turned out. It just took me a while to get it like this.
Hope you enjoyed! Please leave any thoughts you'd like!