By: Sly Omi
Disclaimer: As pertaining to all chapters herein: I, Omi, do solemnly swear that I do not, have not, and will not ever own any claim to copyrights of Naruto, either in manga or anime form, or any merchandise thereof. I am writing this for fun, not with the intention to make money.
Raiting: PG
Pairing(s): KibaNaru
Warning(s): You are reading this of your own free will. If yaoi or shounen-ai offends your sensibilites, turn ye back now. Failure to comply with this might result in your tender sensibilities being mortally offended, incurring mental trauma on your behalf. However, failure to comply with this also means that it's your own fault should that happen - I am morally obligated to do nothing about it other than laugh at you for not reading the warnings.
Inuzuka Kiba was not a particularly observant person, but he had always noticed one Uzumaki Naruto, even when he wasn't supposed to. And he wasn't supposed to notice Naruto unless Naruto had played some stupid prank (which Kiba had always secretly thought were hilarious) and was getting yelled at for his trouble. He wasn't supposed to notice Naruto unless Naruto was standing at the front of the classroom, glaring at his classmates and proclaiming loudly how he was going to be the next Hokage, so they had better look out. Then it was all right to notice the blonde, to laugh at him, because the rest of his classmates were – and a whole classroom couldn't be wrong.
But Kiba noticed Naruto even when he wasn't supposed to. He noticed Naruto as he sat in the back of the classroom, sometimes next to Shikamaru, sometimes next to Chouji, never anyone else - and always near enough to Kiba that Kiba could smell him. He noticed Naruto's snores as he slept alongside Shikamaru and heard him eat noisily during class in tandem with Chouji. Kiba noticed how, when Naruto was awake he paid rapt attention to whatever the teacher was saying, scribbling down everything in chicken-scratches - even if he didn't always understand the class-work assigned. Sometimes that made Kiba's head hurt and he wished he could shut off his ears. Kiba noticed how only Iruka would bother to answer Naruto's questions or explain problems to him. Kiba noticed how Naruto never complained about being ignored by his teachers, or tried very hard to get them to see him, and was silent during their classes. Kiba looked up without fail when he noticed Naruto's silence.
Strangely, Kiba most noticed the sadness in the otherwise manic grin that Naruto would always flash at him when he caught Kiba staring at him during those moments. And something about that grin made Kiba sad, though he could never say exactly why.
Now they were going on a mission together, to bring back Naruto's wayward teammate, and he was becoming aware of something entirely different. He'd smelled it when he first fought against Naruto in the Chuunin preliminaries, but had passed it off as something he was imagining. Now he knew better.
"Oi, Uzumaki."
"What d'you want, Inuzuka?"
Standing this close to Naruto, it was all too clear. "Why d'you smell like fox?"
Naruto stiffened. Kiba might not have noticed, had it been anyone else. "What's it to you, Dog Breath?"
Akamaru barked angrily.
"Akamaru resents that," Kiba translated.
"Good for him."
"He can smell it too, ya know."
"Good for him."
Suddenly Kiba leaned in very close to Naruto, sniffing lightly. Naruto's eyes widened. Kiba had never noticed anyone's eyes before, but he was aware of how blue these eyes were. He moved back and flashed an easy smile.
"It's a good smell on you."