A/N: Phew! Another chapter down. Only two more left! It feels good, getting close to finishing up a story.

This chapter is actually the first time that I've written any sort of action scene, so if you can, I'd really like to know how that went. There's something that I've wanted to write for a while now, but it requires a little more action and fighting than I've done before, so I need to know what to work on with that.

Well, enough talk. On with the chapter! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go barricade myself. You'll see why.

Confrontations are Troublesome

Shikamaru sighed in relief. It had taken the better part of the morning, a thorough search plan, and the best of his stealth abilities, but he had finally found Inuzuka Kiba. The boy was currently sitting in a small open-air teahouse, eating a light snack—one block from Shikamaru's house, where he had started the search.

Normally, Shikamaru would have found this fact troublesome, but right now he had to think up a way to approach the boy without acting suspicious. As much as he hadn't wanted to bother Kiba during his own troubling situation, Shikamaru desperately needed advice. After Ino and Sakura's ruse two days ago, he had finally mellowed out a little and began talking to his female teammate again, but Shikamaru would stick a kunai in his eye before he asked one of his biggest and most crazed admirers for romantic advice.

Right now, Shikamaru needed to talk to someone who knew something about love themselves. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of romance in the village right now. Sakura, although she had been in love with Sasuke, still fell into depression whenever the boy was brought up. He was still wary of Hinata right now. Neji, Lee, Tenten and Shino probably had never even had a date before. Iruka-sensei would give the basic, watered-down version of love he always gave to his academy students; Kakashi-sensei was a pervert, while Guy-sensei would just give one of his three-hour 'youthful' speeches. Kurenai-sensei, while more well versed on the subject of romance, was occupied with the baby, and Shikamaru's parents were, well, themselves.

That left the one known couple in Kohonagakure: Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba. And, by sheer serendipity, they were both male, which would be even more helpful for his particular situation. After thinking about it last night, Shikamaru decided to go to see Kiba, since he was the slightly saner of the two, and would probably give better advice.

Still, while he wanted advice, he had no intention of letting Kiba, who wasn't particularly known for being tight-lipped, know what had happened in that alley. So, he had to figure out a way to approach the dog-nin without letting on why exactly. Same for the giant dog that was resting at his owner's feet.

Unfortunately, it looked like Kiba was just finishing up his food, so he didn't have a lot of time to think. Shikamaru decided to take a chance and just approach him. As he walked towards the boy, Akamaru perked up and noticed him approach, then yipped up at his partner to alert him. Kiba looked down at his dog to listen to him, then looked back up at his approaching comrade. "Ah, hey Shikamaru…" he asked, looking a little confused.

"Hey, Kiba." Shikamaru was trying to sound as nonchalant as he could, but to be honest, he still didn't know what to say. So he went with an old standby. "Look, can we talk?" Then he looked down at the dog, which looked just as confused as his master. "Alone?"

"Uh, sure. Hey Akamaru, you mind giving us a little bit? This sounds like it's important."

"Arf! Arf!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, buddy, but I promise I'll make it up to you tonight, okay?"

"Arf?"

"Sure, steak sounds good. Thanks, Akamaru."

"Arf!" And with that, the large dog got up and left, jumping off the ground on onto a nearby roof.

Kiba watched his friend leave, then gave Shikamaru a casual smile. "Akamaru and I were going to spend some time together today, since we haven't in a while."

"…Sorry."

"Eh, not your fault. C'mon, let's go. I think better when I'm moving." Somehow, that didn't surprise Shikamaru too much, but he followed after Kiba anyways. Both of them were quiet. Shikamaru wasn't sure how to approach this, and Kiba was waiting for his friend to speak. Kiba may not have been a genius, but he could tell when someone was troubled, and Shikamaru, even if he wasn't aware of it, usually wore his emotions on his sleeve. The boy was so used to being bored or concentrating, it was painfully obvious when he was feeling something else. Kiba decided that, since Shikamaru was clearly upset about something and probably not at all used to it, he'd let his friend start the talk.

Shikamaru, however, was still coming up blank. He decided to use a delaying tactic for now until he had his words sorted out. "So, I take it that everything's okay between you and Akamaru? I mean, after, well, you know…" Shikamaru trailed off, not really sure if this was a touchy subject or not.

Kiba seemed fine with it, though. "Yeah, we're good. He was pissed at first because I didn't tell him I was seeing Naruto, but he got over it quick. Actually, he's been pretty supportive through this whole thing." Kiba smirked a little. "But you didn't want to talk to me about my love life. What's up?"

Shikamaru looked down at the ground, a little pink lighting his cheeks. "Actually, that kind of is what I wanted to talk about," he mumbled out.

"…Come again?"

Shikamaru sighed. There really wasn't a delicate way around this, so he decided to just ask it flat out. "Kiba, how did you fall in love with Naruto?"

Kiba blinked, and then narrowed his eyes. "…Why?"

If Shikamaru wasn't aware that he was blushing before, he damn well knew it now. He really didn't know how to answer that. 'No reason' would have obviously been a lie. 'I'm trying to understand gay people' would just piss Kiba off. He couldn't say 'I think I might feel the same for Chouji,' either, if he didn't want to risk certain troublesome females finding out. Shikamaru just couldn't think up what he should say.

Fortunately, it didn't look like he had to. Kiba, who had been watching him like a hawk since he asked his questing, spread a big smirk across his face. "Oh, I get it…" he drawled out.

Shikamaru gulped. What exactly did Kiba 'get?'

The dog ninja just barked out a few laughs. "So, the great Shikamaru finally falls for someone, huh? Shoulda known you'd get interested in girls sooner or later. So, is it one of your fans, or someone else?"

Outwardly, Shikamaru kept blushing and looked away. Inwardly, he let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, Kiba thought that he had fallen for a girl. Well, if it got the advice he wanted, Shikamaru certainly wasn't going to correct him. "Shut up," he spoke, sounding indignant. "There's no way you'd keep your big mouth shut if I told you. And you still haven't answered me."

"Yeah, yeah…" Kiba waved off Shikamaru's words. In hindsight, maybe that hadn't been the best time to insult Kiba. Now, however the boy seemed to be thinking. "When I fell in love with Naruto, huh? You know, I don't think that I actually remember when."

Shikamaru groaned. "Could you try, please?"

"Well, I don't mean that I forget, really, but it wasn't like it was just one moment, you know. I mean, I always kind of liked him, I just didn't know it at the time. I think that's why I was always picking at him. It was like, I wanted to be closer to him, but at the same time I was afraid of getting too close, you know?"

Shikamaru thought about that. That did kind of make some sense. His mother had said once after Ino had yelled at him when they were about seven that little kids often pick on people that the actually like. Still, that really didn't help him. He had never been uncomfortable around Chouji, or afraid of being 'too close' to him. He tried a different approach.

"Alright, then do you at least know when you knew you had fallen for him?"

Kiba smirked. "That, I do know. It was during a mission we were both on. Like I said, I was always fighting with him back then. I liked him, but didn't really realize it yet, and I guess he was the same. Anyways, he and I had been at each other the whole time over really nothing.

"About five days in, when we set up for camp for the night, I took first watch and he took second. I let Akamaru sleep for the night during my watch, and when I woke up Naruto for his shift, he wasn't too thrilled. We started fighting again, and it got to the point when I just wanted to get him to stop talking, so I did—by kissing him."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, while Kiba looked skyward and blushed. "It did get him to stop talking."

Shikamaru chuckled. "So, then what? You two made out under the stars and watched the sunrise?"

"Just the opposite, actually. I went to bed, he took his watch, and we avoided talking for the rest of the mission. It was a week after we got back before he came up to me demanded that we talk. Stuff happened, and, well…" Kiba trailed off, his story finished. "So, that helps you out at all?"

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his forehead. Truthfully, there really wasn't anything that he could pull from what Kiba told him. Kiba's encounter, while spontaneous, was focused on passion, while Shikamaru's had been marred by Chouji's pure embarrassment and fear. The only thing similar was that both pairs ended up avoiding each other afterwards. Unfortunately, Shikamaru had no idea what to say to Chouji, and the mass ninja was more than capable of avoiding him eternally.

"Thanks, Kiba, but I think that my…situation is a little too different than yours. I appreciate the help, though."

"Eh, you're welcome, I guess."

As the shadow ninja began to walk off, though, Kiba called after him. "Hey, Shikamaru!" The boy turned around to listen. "Look, if you like this girl, whoever it is, just be honest about it, even if it's to yourself. You're not doing yourself any good if you try to deny what you're feeling, you know?"

Shikamaru nodded slowly. "…I'll do that. Thanks." Then the boy disappeared behind a building.

Kiba smiled wide, feeling very self-appreciative after doing his good deed for the day. He continued walking, now heading towards the butcher's. After all, that steak he promised Akamaru wasn't going to materialize on its own. He rounded the corner of the street…

…Only to find himself facing Hinata.

Kiba's smile vanished, replaced by a face of surprise and embarrassment. His mouth formed a small 'o' upon seeing he teammate. Hinata's face was the exact same. For a moment, both of them stood completely still, as if frozen. Then, they both began to blush and turned looked away. Kiba turned his head to the side, while Hinata looked down at her feet.

After remaining like this for a short time that felt infinitely longer than that, Kiba finally got up the courage to speak. "Listen, Hinata, I—"

"I'm sorry!"

Kiba blinked at the girl after her sudden outburst. Hinata was now bowing in front of him, tears forming in her eyes as she continued ranting. "I'm so sorry Kiba, I had no right to say all those horrible things to you! It's just that, I…I was just so upset and I had to find out about the whole thing from Hanabi, and I know that you both were just trying to protect me and I know that you didn't deserve that and…and…"

"Whoa, whoa," Kiba tried to calm his friend down and keep her from blubbering on. "It's alright, Hinata. Calm down, okay?"

"No, it's not alright, Kiba," the girl said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. She had calmed down a bit now, but was still sobbing quietly. "I said horrible things to you and, and I hit you! I had no right to do that."

Kiba rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah well, it was kind of our fault, too. We should have told you before. We were just, well, afraid of how you'd react."

"I…I know. And I'm really sorry about how I did react."

"Like I said, it's okay. Just tell me one thing, and please be honest about this, okay?"

"S-sure."

"Are you…okay with me dating Naruto?"

Hinata thought out her words before answering. "I…I can't put what I want before what Naruto wants. If he wants you, and you him, than I can't change that. It's hard for me, but what I want…what I want most is for my friends to be happy."

Kiba smiled and pulled the girl into a friendly hug. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that." Hinata blushed and returned the embrace, happy that she had finally made up with best friend.

Chouji cautiously looked both ways at the intersection before continuing down the street. To be honest, even he thought that he was being slightly paranoid. Still, he wasn't just trying to avoid Shikamaru now. He also had to look out for any surprise attacks like two days ago.

Chouji had been in a good mood after talking with Naruto and Kuromaru. So, when he had reached the village streets, he did what he usually did when he was in a good mood: he bought a bag of his favorite chips and began to munch away. Unfortunately, he hadn't even gotten one bite before the bag was blown away—along with Chouji.

The mass ninja immediately rolled into a ball and formed his signature Human Juggernaut. He bounced once he hit the ground and absorbed the impact. He could feel a second strong wind coming, so he focused his chakra into his hair and used it to give him traction to the ground. Then, he rolled forward, quickly accelerating to resist the wind. As soon as he felt the wind stopped, he uncurled and looked for his attacker. That wind was definitely not natural.

In the middle of the street stood a well-known blond with four pigtails. Temari glared sharply at Chouji as she folded up her large fan. The large boy blinked. It was obvious where that violent wind had come from, but why would she attack him?

"Akamichi Chouji!" Temari shouted at the top of her lungs, right in the middle of the very large, very public street. "Know this: I will not lose to you!" Then, still looking as venomous as she had when she appeared, slowly strolled away. Chouji's eyes were as wide as circles as he watched her leave, while the rest of the passers by were left wondering what just happened.

How the hell Temari found out about his attracting to her favorite brunette, Chouji didn't know. He did, however, have a sneaking suspicion that the girl had 'convinced' Ino to tell her. Regardless, what he did know was that, when Temari wanted something, she tended to get rather…physical. If her fights with Ino and the encounter two days were any indication, Chouji had to be very careful. Temari was very much like the wind itself; no matter how calm or peaceful it was, she could just show up suddenly and be as violent as a hurricane.

Still, for now, all seemed quiet. Hopefully, the girl was preoccupied today. After all, Kazekage's sister or not, her missions to Konohagakure weren't simply to chase after Shikamaru all day. Chouji slowly gained confidence and began to walk a little less cautiously. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

Chouji stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. Dumplings. Fresh, too. Normally, Chouji didn't particularly go for sweet things, but for some reason, he felt in the mood. He followed the sweet scent to the stand where they were sold and took an order. Sitting down on the bench in front of the store, he ate at his dumplings lazily. They were actually pretty good. Chouji wondered if all villages had as good cooks as his did. Between the dumplings here, the ramen at Ichiraku, and the barbeque place he always ate at, the boy felt as though he was in the food capital of the Land of Fire.

"…Chouji…"

Upon hearing his name, Chouji jumped and quickly spun around, only to find that it wasn't Temari. It wasn't even a blond. Of course, that was difficult to tell with the green hood that covered up the other's head.

"Oh, Shino. How's it going?"

"…"

Chouji took his silence to mean that things were okay. Briefly, he wondered if Kiba and Hinata could understand all of their friend's silences for what they were. He supposed that it was pretty the same for them as it was for he and Ino at first; in order to understand what Shikamaru was trying to say through his usual 'troublesome' banter, you had to read in between the lines. "So, you want something?"

"…Yes. There's something that I wish to ask you…"

Shikamaru continued down walking, lost in deep thought. Fortunately, he was currently on a quiet path on the outskirts of the village. Most of his usual groupies preferred to spend fair-weather days like this in the middle of town, so he was relatively safe from being pursued for the moment. At least now he could think a little more clearly.

Of course, his thoughts were rather jumbled and confused at the moment, so it didn't really matter all that much. He just had so much to think about that he didn't know where to begin. He had his talk with Kiba to think about, along with that troublesome farce Ino and Sakura had put up before. And no matter what he did, that damn confession in the alley kept replay over and over in his brain.

One thing that he knew was that he had to talk to Chouji. He was getting nowhere by avoiding him and, if what he overheard from his dad and Chouza was true, Chouji wasn't doing too well, either. However, that left the problem of exactly he should say. He still didn't know how to approach his best friend, and he still hadn't figured out how he felt about Chouji's crush. He also had to be careful with how he said things this time. Chouji was still his friend, after all, and he didn't want to hurt him again like he had what seemed like ages ago on that hill, just by calling his damn cigarettes "fags." That was one thing that Shikamaru was sure about; no matter what, Chouji was and still would be his closest friend.

If he could ever be anything more, though, he didn't know, and he didn't want to give him false hope.

Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that he was no longer alone. Someone was now walking down the path towards him. Shikamaru tensed up when he realized that the walker was female. As the girl neared, though, he began to notice the long dark hair and snow pale skin. He sighed in relief. Hinata was the one girl that he had never had to worry about chasing after him.

However, that didn't mean he was completely safe, either. He tried to get a good look at her eyes to try to judge her mood. He had expected them to look their usual shy or their more recent angry, so he was surprised when he saw that they were neither. Instead, Hinata's eyes looked tired.

She was about six paces from Shikamaru when she finally noticed his presence. "Oh! Um…hello, Shikamaru." The shadow ninja noted that her usual shy demeanor had returned.

"Hey there, Hinata. You all right? You look a little worn out." Normally, Shikamaru didn't get involved in other people's problems. It was simply too troublesome. However, he could use a distraction from his own issues right now.

"N-no, I'm alright. It's just…well…"

"Something to do with Kiba?"

"No! No, I finally apologized to Kiba. We're okay now…I think…It's just that…um…" Hinata looked off to the side and let out a tired sigh. "…Shikamaru, is there something wrong with me?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "Uh…no?" That was what most girls would want to hear, right?

Hinata gave a slight smile. "Sorry, that was unfair of me to ask. It's just that, well, first Kiba's dating Naruto, and just now I saw Shino, and he's just started going out with a guy, too. I mean, is there something about me that makes men go gay or something."

After a brief moment of thought, Shikamaru gave the girl a comforting smile (at least he hoped it was, since he really didn't do this kind of thing). "Look, if anything, that just means that you're easier to talk to than other girls, and personally I think that that's more attractive than looks. I can assure you, out of all the girls in this village you are definitely the most normal of them."

Hinata blushed. "Tha-thank you, Shikamaru."

"Eh, no problem." Shikamaru's smile grew into a smirk. "So, who's Shino's lucky guy?"

"Oh, it's…!" Hinata suddenly went quiet, her eyes wide. She looked as if she had just realized something.

"What's wrong?"

"Umm…nothing…but, well, I'm not sure that I should say…"

"Oh, come on," Shikamaru pushed, the smirk still on his face. "I mean, it's not like I'm not going to find out on my own, right?"

"Th-that's true, but…I mean, it's not really my place…"

"Come on. Tell me, please?" In the back of mind, it registered that Hinata seemed to have a specific reason to not tell him, but he didn't really care at the moment. Right now, talking to the Hyuga heir was effectively distracting from his own problems, and he wanted to keep it going as long as he could.

"…Chouji…"

"Hm? Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's Chouji. He's the one Shino's dating now."

Shikamaru seemed to freeze. Hinata was a little scared now. She really hadn't wanted to tell Shikamaru that his best friend was dating another guy, but, well, he had insisted.

Shikamaru finally unfroze and rubbed the back of his neck. "…Hinata, are you sure you didn't just misunderstand something? I mean, no offence, but I don't think that Chouji would go out with Shino." Of course, he left out the reason why he thought this.

Now Hinata looked a little indignant. "I'm not mistaken, Shikamaru. Shino just asked him out less than an hour ago. They even kissed in front of me!"

Shikamaru's smirk was long gone now, replaced by a scowl. "Hinata, I'm telling you, there's NO way they're dating."

"And I'm telling you that the are!"

Now Shikamaru was getting angry. "Hinata, listen to me! Chouji can't like Shino! He can't!"

"Wh-why not? And why are you so upset by this?"

Shikamaru was more than upset. He was fucking furious. His eyes were aflame, his knuckles white, and he had to suppress the urge to find the silent bug ninja and crush him like one of his beloved insects. No matter what Hinata said, he simply couldn't accept that Chouji could even think about dating Shino, because…because…

Because Chouji is supposed to be in love with me!

Oh, kami…

Shikamaru fell to the ground, sitting loosely and staring straight down. He looked as if he had been hit by a wayward rasengan. In a way, he felt like he had. With that one single thought, born from his rage, he had been struck with an epiphany that had shattered his whole world. Now, he knew. He knew why he was so upset. He knew what Kiba had felt all those years being around Naruto. And he finally figured out what that 'light' feeling was when he heard the Chouji's confession.

"Shi-Shikamaru…are you okay?" Hinata looked at her friend in confusion. One minute he's smirking, then he explodes in anger, and now he's on the ground, smiling maniacally and…and crying.

"…Yeah, I'm fine," Shikamaru rasped through his tears. He knew that he probably looked like a complete nut, but right now he didn't care. "I just realized that I'm in love with my best friend…and it's too late now."