Disclaimer: Sweetheart, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.
Penname: LiveLoveLaugh
FanFiction Story: Dirty Gamble
Summary: (Prequel of Dirty Talk) Takes a big man to crack a woman. It takes a bigger man to make hundreds go crazy for him. But in this game, it takes one shinobi to realize his feelings. (ShinoXSaku)
Some Company
After his lunch, the patient Aburame Shino checked out only a short hour ago as seen exiting through the glass-framed double doors. He politely held the door for a grumpy old woman in a wheelchair pushed by a smiling male nurse, who cheerily greeted him. Shino only nodded much to the young man's faint disappointment and left, planning to go back to his apartment half across the village or do some training.
Before he reached the opened gates, he was suddenly bombarded with a bulkier and shorter aggressive man with a large white dog.
Kiba was a bursting vivacious shinobi, who looked like a person who would have given the world to run wild in mud, rain, and everything, only to smell more like a mutt. He was a living example of a bachelor, almost like the Toad Sannin, except he had yet to achieve more than fifty years in his life writing adult novels and drink sake in bathhouses. Off duty, the two polar-opposite companions spent it being normal civilians. Whatever that is.
His canine-like friend always seemed to have something to say, using nearly his whole body to emphasize his words. Right then, his rough hands began to draw out his one-way conversation in the silliest movements, with thumbs-ups and wiggly fingers, "Oh man, Shino, what did you get diagnose with in that hellhole? It's been—how long—three freaking weeks! I'm surprised you didn't get wrapped up like a mummy or something…" Or something.
In a short while, he found himself with the Inuzuka in a teahouse while Akamaru wandered outside. They both sat under heavy shadows behind short blue curtains, eating too-sweet dango off long bamboo sticks and bean paste pastries while drinking scalding hot tea from clay cups. The teahouse was a boastful place, filled with talkative people who played long continuous games of Go and Shogi over their hot drinks and some who quietly read their daily newspapers. The entire place smelled like old water and pine, which his bugs come to crave.
He felt them relaxed under his skin so he begun to partially listen to Kiba's loud exclamations of his past missions and stories of their fellow shinobi. The mochi dough stuck to the fangs of his teeth, small spills of milk soda washed across the soft wood of the table. It was quite unsightly even for someone with no opinion. His eyes started to wander off over the other patrons.
"…so while you were gone, that idiot Naruto finally asked out Hinata. I'd been wondering when they would be hitting it off, and as you can see, old Hiashi-sama is acting in a way you wouldn't have…"
A group of retired men dressed in thick coats and sweatpants complained about their cold fish wives and talked loudly about the old times. The waitress with a flamboyantly black wig set down a teapot on a table. A young kunoichi in her Chuunin vest glanced around and began immediate whispering to her friend, both of them erupting into giggles and looked at some direction.
"…I mean, you expect the man to pummel Naruto's ass, but he actually accepted their relationship! I was surprised, seriously. I bet the entire village was falling off their chairs because of that! You should have been there. Hinata was so…"
His sight stayed on the two female ninjas and followed where they were giggling at. Suddenly at the corner far away from his table, sat someone he immediately recognized only as Uchiha Sasuke. The girls' shrill laughter interrupted his thoughts, suddenly remembering why he came here at the first place.
"…man. Are you even listening?" Kiba scowled irritated.
He took a moment to look at him. Unhurriedly, he murmured, "Isn't he supposed to be on house-arrest?"
"Huh? Who?"
Shino nodded off to the side, "Over there."
The dog-boy shot his head as quick as lightning, his messy hair flew with the air. When he saw Sasuke, he laughed loudly to himself and banged his hand on the table top. Shino never knew dango can jump that high.
"Man, are you seriously dumb or—oh right—sorry, forgot you were crippled for a while there," his friend darted his eyes away from the drifting coldness wafting from the bug-shinobi, "Uh, well, Sasuke got off."
"What do you mean?"
"What am I supposed to mean?"
"…you said 'Sasuke got off.'"
Kiba rolled his eyes, "He's not on probation anymore. The Hokage released him early for good behavior or whatever. So he's been doing a lot of training and regaining back every one's trust, of course Naruto and he were always good buddies. A few days ago he even tried to compensate with me!" He smirked, "Kept complimenting on the healthy glow of Akamaru's fur. Never knew he was so dog-friendly…"
Shino didn't find that right, "He's friendly?"
"I don't know if that's the right word. But he's definitely not a total asshole anymore. Even Naruto trusts him now. So I guess it'll be alright. Even Kakashi-sensei and the rest of his team…"
"You mean, Sakura." He had no idea why he mentioned that.
"Yeah, her, I guess. Whatever," Kiba shrugged, looking at the Uchiha sip his tea, "I mean it's good and everything that Sasuke wants to change after the whole Orochimaru thing, but we're not really so sure why he's acting like a total wuss. Maybe house-arrest was too hard for him to handle. I think Naruto probably knows why…now back at what I was talking about—"
Shino didn't care for the new moves he and his dog had practiced. He didn't care for Naruto getting together with Hinata, even though he was happy for them. He could even care less about the hot chicks Kiba slept with last night. What he didn't know was why he had taken such an interest in Sasuke's private life. By the time he was conscious again, he had not even heard a peep of the Uchiha's name in the hospital or of his recent release from house-arrest. Not even Sakura had talked about him.
But it didn't sound right. Then again, perhaps Sasuke does want to change? He did come back to Konoha with a different opinion, after he had taken the life of his brother. He looked as though a massive heavy load of nostalgia, depression, and defeat—not that of triumph and evil—had hung over his weathered body and haunted his tone of voice, from the last time Shino had seen him. It had been so long since the whole Orochimaru and Akatsuki issue, perhaps he does want to be a Hidden Leaf shinobi again?
After all, those years he had been prohibited from any missions, Naruto had commented how much he missed life outside and inside the village, how he missed being an individual, how he had missed his team more than anything. Did he really mean them? Suddenly he saw the Chuunin kunoichi get up from her seat, having her friend giggle relentlessly after.
The back of her brown hair swiftly moved with her stiff strut as she nervously walked over to Sasuke's table. Halfway, she rashly turned back to her friend, quietly scolded her for all the squeaky noises she made. The other girl waved her hands persistently, reassuring her to go. With his strong hearing, he could hear every word spoken between them. And from experiences with him, Shino knew flirtation and seduction from an insignificant girl would be the first things the Uchiha would fling over his shoulder after a few minutes of watching him coldly brush the kunoichi off. Some things just don't change.
The girl left abruptly, clearly upset.
But something about the Uchiha made him doubt the warm façade Kiba had told him about. Right then, his face expression was obviously unhappy and irritated, and his eyes kept looking at the plastic clock hanging next to an ink painting. It was far past noon, and from just peering at his current state, could mean it seemed Sasuke had been waiting for someone. Someone really important.
The tea was cold and the sweets were left uneaten, Sasuke slapped change on his table and left.
"HEY! You're not listening again!" Kiba yelled, causing the other patrons to jump.
To Be Continued