Title: Good Intent
Author: Tissue Paper Flowers
Theme: #20 The Road Home
Rating: PG

It started as a rumor. No one even knew who it had been that started the rumor. But the important thing was that it had gotten around. And fast. Before too long, everyone was whispering about it. He was coming back. "He" being a one Aburame Shino. And he was coming back. Home. Konoha. His reasons for leaving had not been personal, merely an mission that required his expertise. There was not supposed to be sadness when he departed. At least, not extreme sadness. And for most, there hadn't been. Except Kiba. Heartwrenching, even. But now...now things could be normal again. Shino was coming home.

How long had it been? One month? Two? To be very exact, it had been two months, three weeks, five days, and some odd number of hours. Not that Kiba had been keeping track or anything.

He was going to be the first one to see Shino. He just had to be. Why? Because Shino was all his. So to accomodate this, the Inuzuka began making his plans. While everyone else waited around the village for Shino to return, he'd go down the road and meet the bug boy before anyone else had the chance. It was a perfect plan. Flawless, even. Though, there was one thing even he hadn't picked up on. He had no clue which road Shino would be taking to get to Konoha. Pity that he hadn't realized this.

Midmorning, the day Shino was coming home, Kiba rolled out of bed, leaving Akamaru sleeping on the pillow. The dog lifted his head sleepily, starind at Kiba as he made his way towards the door. The Inuzuka froze, feeling the animal's eyes on his back.

"Sorry boy, you c-" He started, but was cut off by a low growl from the dog. Dammit. Of course, the only one it made sense to was Kiba, but it could have been roughly translated as you 'Don't think you're just leaving me here'. The teen folded his arms across his chest, trying to be-or at least just look-defiant. This attempt was shot down by a soft yap from Akamaru.

"Fine." Kiba huffed, turning back to the dog with a small grin. "But get up now, I need to hurry." If dogs could have laughed, then he might have, but instead the now sizably larger dog just lept from the bed, sitting at the feet of his master and staring up at him. Kiba nodded, opening the door and stepping out , Akamaru at his heels.

Still blissfully unaware to the fact that there were multiple ways to get into Konoha, Kiba chose the first one that he happened across. The look on his face showed a great amount of confidence, the outward result of his ignorance. The boy could not help but hum to himself as he continued down the road, feeling incredibly clever. He could only imagine the looks on everyones faces when Shino's arrival was delayed. Perhaps even by hours, if Kiba got to do everything that he would have liked the welcome the other home. Ha. He really was a genius.

An hour passed, and no sign of Shino. He changed his walk to a light jog.

Another hour passed, and the jog was back down to a walk.

Two hours went by, and an incredibly frustrated Kiba took off at a sprint. Meanwhile, at this very same time, a dark haired, sunglasses wearing young man entered Konoha, via the main road. There, he was greeted by several 'Welcome home!'s and 'How are you?'s, though none of them were from the person he was hoping to see. Shino kept his responses very brief, usually no more than one word, or just a nod, if he was feeling especially stingy. The Aburame scanned several times across the small crowd, hoping to at least spot Akamaru's fur. Sakura...no. Naruto...no. Hinata...no. No, no, no. Goddamit, where was Kiba?

Realizing that just wondering where the boy was not going to get anything accomplished, Shino frowned. "Hinata..." He said slowly, turning to the Hyuuga girl. A small smile crossed her face, looking up at her teammate. "Yes, Shino-kun?" she asked softly. "Where's Kiba?" The girl thought about it for a moment, and nodded. "Well, Shino-kun..." She began, glancing away. "This morning, I saw him leave down the ieji road. I don't know why, though."

Shino nodded. Hinata may not have known why, but he could take a good guess. "Idiot." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head. "What?" Hinata asked. "Nothing." He returned. Without another word, he turned on his heel, headed off towards the road that Kiba had been seen going up.

It was all in this small amount of time that Kiba had given up on sprinting, letting himself tumble to the ground, lying in the middle of the road. Arms and legs spread out eagle style, he stared up at the sky, small pout on his lips. Fine. He'd just wait for Shino. Who--he might add--was taking his good sweet time. Akamaru curled up beside his master, promptly going to sleep.

Late afternoon soon turned to night, and Kiba did not move from the spot. His eyes traced across the stars that littered the sky, sighing softly. "Shinooooo." He whined, closing his eyes.

"What?" The Inuzuka boy nearly jumped out of his skin. The last thing he had expected to hear was an answer. Not like he was complaing. For a moment, he wondered why he hadn't even noticed Shino approaching. The most likely answer was simply that his mind had wandered much to far from his body to pick up on it. Kiba jumped to his feet, grinning widely at the other. Shino winced, knowing exactly what was coming next. There was the sound of bodies
hitting the ground, Kiba settling himself down on top of Shino.

"How the hell did you get here?" He demanded.

"Walked." Shino's reply was simply, but he knew it would get a good response from Kiba.

"I know that! But you came up from Konoha..."

"Because that's where I started."

"But that means-" Kiba cut himself off with a laugh. "Heh, it doesn't matter. I've got a lot of time to make up for..." With that, he promptly placed a firm kiss on his lover's lips, hands sliding around the bug boy's neck.

"We won't be headed home for a while." Kiba added with a soft chuckle, pulling his lips back only far so that he could speak.

"Fair enough."

-owari-