Don't own Naruto nor any part of it. Incase y'all were wondering. =)

…

The boys woke with a start thanks to a loud bark that echoed in the house.

"What the hell-?"

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, cutting Shikamaru off. "He's home!" Kiba made to jumped out of bed, but stumbled and fell to the floor.

Shikamaru rubbed his eyes at sat up, eyeing his boyfriend on the floor. "Sore?" He mumbled.

A glare was shot his way. "Yeah, thanks to my sore chest and head from yesterday and now my sore ass thanks to you last night."

The Nara flopped back down on the bed with a laugh. "Ah, it ain't all my fault. You were the one-"

"Hey! We don't need to talk about it!" Kiba snapped, his face burning red. He crawled back to his feet by holding onto the bed for support. "Anyway. Why am I trying to stand again?"

Another bark was heard followed by Hana's voice yelling, "Kiba! Akamaru's here to see you! Get out of bed, little brother, and come see him!"

"Ah, right." Kiba smiled back at his boyfriend and tried to hurry while hiding the limp in his walk.

As the dog-nin made his way downstairs, Shikamaru sighed to himself, throwing his arm over his face. God, I do not want to get up.

Suddenly he heard someone clear their throat in the doorway of the bedroom. Ohhh….shit. Keeping his eyes closed, he sat up. He peaked one eye open only to find the scariest lady in the village (besides Tsunade) standing there, eyeing him up with her arms crossed.

Ugh, why. Why does this have to happen. "Uh…heh…hi?" Shikamaru gave a small, forced smile as he nervously scratched the back of his head. When he didn't receive an answer from the angry-looking woman, he looked to the side. Oh you have to be fucking kidding me. In the corner of the room were both the boys' clothes and the bottle of lube. Goddammit.

Tsume followed Shikamaru's gaze. She then turned her eyes back to the boy, one eyebrow raised in questioning. What the hell do I say. So, instead of saying anything, the Nara rolled over and faced the wall. He could still feel her gaze on his back, but he wasn't sure what to do. He squeezed his eyes shut thinking, fuck fuck fuck what do I do. What do I do!

…

Kiba had made his way downstairs to where his sister and Akamaru were waiting. His dog was all bandaged up and not standing, but he was smiling and awake.

"Hey buddy!" Kiba smiled and fell to the floor next to him. Ooohh…okay. Note to self: Don't just fall to your knees after having sex. He thought, trying to shake the stinging in his lower back.

Akamaru happily licked at his face while nuzzling him. Kiba laughed and hugged his best friend.

"You seem almost as good as new, boy!" Kiba smiled up at his sister. "Thanks, Hana. You're the best."

She smiled back and stood up. "Don't I know it." She winked. "Now, he can only do minimal training. By that I mean, walk to the training grounds and that's about it. He'll get better as time goes by, but won't be ready to do much more than walk and maybe lightly jog for a month or so, okay?"

"Haha, yeah. That's fine." Kiba stood up, trying to wince as little as possible.

"You okay?" Hana asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm feeling much better than yesterday. Hey, where's Mom?"

"Oh, she was upstairs. She was going to wake you after she put the towels in the bathroom, but Akamaru beat her to it." Hana smiled.

"Oh alri-" SHIT! SHIKAMARU'S STILL UP THERE. WITHOUT CLOTHES. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Kiba turned and tried to run upstairs, stumbling as he went.

…

"Mom!" Kiba yelled as he came around the corner to the doorway to his room. Dammit, she's already there.

"Kiba?" Shikamaru muttered, still not turning around. "Is your mom still staring at me?"

Kiba gave his mom a small smile, which she returned with a stone-cold stare. "Um, yes. Yes she is."

"She isn't happy, is she." It wasn't a question. Kiba's face was flaring red.

"Mom, listen, he just came over last night and we stayed up really late and he just stayed over. We were too out of it to get a rollout or anything, okay? It's not, I mean I know what you think, but it's just-"

Tsume held up a hand and shook her head. "Don't give me stupid excuses, Kiba."

Kiba hung his head, not really sure what to do in this situation. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, he mumbled, "I…I don't really know what to say. Sorry."

Shikamaru sat up. God, I wish my pants were closer. He sighed, sliding his legs over the edge of the bed, trying to be quiet so that Tsume wouldn't turn her attention back to him. He grabbed his boxers and shimmied them on under the bed sheets. At least these were close.

"Why don't you try explaining to me what the hell is going on here, Kiba."

Kiba turned his gaze to his bed, where Shikamaru was trying to quietly put his pants on. Tsume followed his gaze to the struggling Nara.

Shikamaru dropped his head and pulled his pants on in one swift moment. "Sorry. I felt uncomfortable without these." Kiba had to force himself not to let out a laugh. "Tsume-san." He grabbed his shirt and looked the woman straight in the eye as he pulled it on.

She didn't respond, just kept her eyes on the boy.

Shikamaru sighed. What a drag. "It's exactly what you think," he finally decided to say.

His boyfriend's eyes almost popped out of his head. What! He can't just say that! She's not cool with that! Kiba's face became as red as his tattooed cheeks. Fucking-a Shikamaru.

"Exactly what I think? And how, may I ask, do you know exactly what I think?"

The Nara sighed again. "It's written on your face and in your body language. You think your son and I are fooling around and doing things that are frowned upon by most people. Tell me I'm wrong?"

The woman didn't speak yet again. She continued to stare at the young Nara.

"Well, I don't mean to be disrespectful to you in any way, ma'am, but you're wrong when you think that."

Shikamaru, are you crazy! You can't just tell my mom she's wrong!

"Because we aren't just fooling around and it's not just a fling. We're dating and it's…well, it's serious, I guess?" He shrugged and walked over to where the mother and son were standing in the doorway and slipped his hand into Kiba's.

Kiba's mouth was hanging over in disbelief. Tsume was still just looking at the two boys.

After an extremely uncomfortable silence, Kiba let out a laugh. "Well. Yeah. There we go." He couldn't help but smile at the tension in the air. It wasn't funny, just incredibly awkward.

Tsume let out a sigh finally and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You understand this is going to be an uphill battle for both of you, right?"

Both boys looked at her in surprise. What, she isn't going to smack us around and tell us we're being stupid or something? Shikamaru didn't know Tsume that well, but he knew she was the type of lady to go off any second.

The old Inuzuka looked at the boys. "I don't really approve of any relationship, to be honest. I think ninjas should concentrate on being ninjas, not lovers. Otherwise you end up failing missions or losing comrades because you're too worried about one single person instead of the whole team."

Okay, I guess that makes sense. Shikamaru was literally at loss of words.

"But if you find you can work it out, then good for you guys. Just be ready to deal with everyone else's disappointment." Tsume began to walk downstairs, away from the boys who were still in disbelief. "Oh, by the way, does anyone else know? Like your other comrades?" The two answered with a shake of their heads. "Ah, well. Don't you think they ought to know?" She gave a small smile before leaving them to think about that.

After a moment of silence, Shikamaru turned his head to Kiba and asked, "Well. Do you have any plans for today?"

"No."

"Okay. Want to train?" Shikamaru smiled at his lover.

…

The day was a beautiful one. It was sunny and calm. A great day for the two ninjas to train in a calm atmosphere.

Shikamaru had gone home to shower and change.

He walked into his house and made his way to his room.

"Shikamaru?" His father was home. Ah, his mission must have gotten over faster than he expected. The elder Nara wasn't supposed to be home for two days.

"Hey, Dad." Shikamaru walked into their dining room where his father was eating some soup. "Mission got done quick?"

"Yeah, thank God. It was pretty boring, anyway." Shikaku stretched his arms above his head and sighed. "Where were you last night? Your mother just said you went out."

Shikamaru could feel color run to his face. No, no, no, don't blush. Then he'll know. "Uh, I was just over at Kiba's."

"The Inuzuka's?" Shikamaru nodded. "You've been spending a lot of time with that boy, seeing as how he isn't on your team or anything."

Shikamaru didn't respond. What the hell am I supposed to say?

Shikaku motioned to the chair across from him and his son sat down. "Shikamaru, what's really going on? And don't bother lying, I know you better than anyone else."

The young ninja had to laugh at that. It was true. He and his father were so much alike that if he looked a little older, they could pass for twins.

"Yeah. Okay. Basically," he looked at his father, "Kiba and I are...well. We're a couple, I guess." He shrugged his shoulder and looked away.

Silence. Then a soft "wow" was heard from his father. Shikamaru turned his gaze back to his father's face.

"Yeah." Well, this is awkward.

"Alright. I figured it was something along those lines." Shikaku put his palms on the table and scooted his chair back. "You tell Chouji yet?"

Shaking his head, the younger Nara replied, "Nah, we haven't told anyone really. Except Kiba's mom this morning. God that was painful and awkward."

"Hah, yeah I bet! She's scarier than your mother!"

"Right! I thought I was going to die a one point."

Both laughed a little bit. This isn't as bad as I thought it would be. He isn't mad or disappointed or anything.

"Well, I have to go to the missions' office. Your mother wants to have dinner as a family tonight since you and I are both home. Bring Kiba along if you want. I suppose we should make him feel welcome here." With that, Shikaku stood up and took his dishes to the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'll ask him." When the water was shut off in the kitchen, Shikamaru called out, "Hey Dad?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks." He smiled as his father walked out of the kitchen.

"No problem, son. Dealing with everyone else is going to be such a pain that I figure you might as well get a break from it at home. See you tonight."

"Okay, bye." Shikaku left and Shikamaru couldn't help but smile to himself.

I may have lost the closest man to me, but Dad's really stepping up here. He walked to his room to get ready to meet Kiba for training.

…

Kiba had said goodbye to Akamaru. Hana had given Akamaru some pain medicine that completely knocked the pup out. So much for walking with him to the training grounds.

On his way to the training ring, Kiba noticed to familiar-looking figures up ahead walking toward him. He squinted his eyes and sniffed the air. Oh, Chouji and Ino!

Shikamaru's fellow teammates waved at Kiba and he caught up to them. "Hey guys!" He smiled.

"Hey, Kiba. How've you been? We heard about your mission. It's good to see you're up at walking around!" Ino smiled back.

"Yeah, but Akamaru's going to take a while to heal up. But how have you guys been?"

"Ah, same old. We get our mission assigned to us tomorrow by Lady Tsunade. Finally, after Shikamaru's injury we get to head out again." Chouji stopped eating out of his bag of crackers in time to ask, "By the way, you and Shikamaru have been spending a lot of time together. We haven't seen much of him since we got home a week and a half ago. You guys been training or what?" It was an honest question, no hint of anger or suspicion in it.

Shit, he didn't even tell Chouji? Kiba was slightly hurt at the fact that Shikamaru didn't take time to even mention them being together to Chouji.

Kiba shook his head and smiled. "Yeah, we ran into each other at the training grounds and one thing lead to another. He's actually really beneficial to train with. I'm on my way there now, too, so I'll see you guys around!" He waved as he walked by them.

Once Kiba was out of earshot, Ino turned to Chouji, who had begun to munch on his crackers again. "Man, Cho, you never stop eating."

Chouji rolled his eyes. I've been hearing that my whole life. He popped another biscuit into his mouth and crunched loud, giving the blonde girl a smile.

She made a face at him before saying, "Think Kiba's telling the truth? Because I've never seen them at the training grounds together. Not that I really go there much what with the medic stuff, though." She waved her hand in the air and looked at her teammate.

"Eh, I dunno. I don't have any reason not to trust him." Chouji crunch another cracker. "But Shikamaru's been training with us these past few days. And I know he doesn't have the motivation to train more than he has to." He gave a shrug before taking a step forward. "Who knows. Unless Shikamaru tells us, there's no way we're ever gunna find out."

Ino grabbed Chouji as he was walking away. "Hold it, Fat-ass." She yanked him back and spun him towards her. "I have an idea." She gave a sneaky smile.

…

Oh, my god. I'm sooooo sorry that took so long to update. And it isn't even exciting. Bleh. The next one will be better? I still don't know where I'm going with this story. So, like before, if you have any ideas of what you want, lemme know and I'll try to fit them in or whatever.

Thanks for sticking with my this long. I appreciate it.

=)