Note from the Author: -.- This story is episode 217's fault. Just so everyone knows. I have a sudden obsession with this pairing that I can't seem to explain, because – after all – I am the ShinoKiba fan girl. I confuse myself.

It was supposed to be a drabble, like everything else I write, and was blown way out of hand, as always.

Furuido: … Or annoy me to no end until one day I just lunge at your throat.

Naash: Thank you!

Invader-Nehima: My sister is the moody little thing who wanted angst and comedy. -.- And yes, you are huggable, because your reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Mo de Aries: Thanks, darling.

Ravensbff: Thanks, love.

Shikamaru's Hot Honey: o.o I have trouble believing you've never seen this pairing before. It's so freaking popular.

Hatochan: Thank you for the lovely review that made me feel so great! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

NeverFall: I do what I can. Oh, my God – I have to go watch 218 … or 219. I forgot what episode they're on now. Haha.

Desert

Kankurou lived in a desert. There was sand. There was sun. There was wind. But mostly, there was heat. In Suna, the heat was its own entity – supremacy, a god, with mental presence and the rise and fall that came with emotions. The heat was a stoic being that formed the weather with its mood, and depending on that mood, the people of Suna either relished their comfort or bemoaned their high temperature level.

Kankurou never minded how hot it was. He enjoyed the dry, hard ground and the way the dust kicked up around his feet when he dashed through it; the welcoming smile of a sun that was in the sky all day every day – a constant reality that brought about a spout of hope. He loved this world he called his home.

So his first impression of Konoha was, naturally, not a good one. When he and his siblings attended the Chuunin exams, his first realization was that he couldn't feel the sun on his face. The green foliage above his head thoroughly shaded him from the rays of that benevolent deity and he found himself detesting the cool, clean breeze that was not the hot, sandy wind of Suna.

In reality, he hadn't disliked Konoha anymore than any other place he'd been. But it was so much easier to know he was going to help destroy this place if he didn't like it.

After the failure of that mission, he had been so pleased when Tsunade had requested his team's assistance with the Sasuke retrieval mission. He was itching to apologize for the attempted obliteration of the village he really never hated.

And that was how he first met Kiba.

Now Kiba's first reaction to Kankurou, after the initial gratitude for his help, was dislike, considering his savior was the same boy who had tried to kill his best friend and teammate. They clashed immediately, arguing about no one knows what, but by the time the med ninjas reached them, they realized they were so alike that they called each other "friend."

Kankurou found himself in Konoha more and more often, spending whatever time he wasn't working in visiting Kiba, who quickly became his best – and maybe only – friend. He found solace through everything in him. Eventually, as everyone saw coming, he found himself falling in love.

And by falling in love with Kiba, he fell in love with the place he was from. Konoha became his second home, and he came to adore the rustle of grass as much as he did the sift of sand.

Kankurou lived in a desert. The lush, green land of Konoha was foreign to him but, strangely enough, there was something of which he knew even less.

He stepped out one day, and his foot sunk into a beautiful white something. He was so stunned by its sparkling presence that the cold didn't cut through his foot until the next moment, and he recoiled into his friend's house, scowling.

"Don't like the snow?" Kiba joined him, smiling. "It's not so bad, but I guess if you've never felt the cold, it would suck."

Kankurou's nose wrinkled. "Snow, huh? Everyone's been going on about it for days. What's the big deal?"

The dog-lover snorted, took his hand. "Come on. I'll show you."

Trying to ignore his blush, Kankurou let him pull him outside.

His first thought was that the biting of wind was a lot like that of Suna, painfully cold and snowy as opposed to painfully hot and sandy. He didn't mind it – it was refreshing.

Konoha was different when donning a blanket of white. The air was sweet on his tongue, crisp like apples, and the sun shining off the snow gave him that feeling of being in a desert all over again – where was that lush green? It was dead beneath these grains of snow, this frozen, white sand.

Kankurou loved it.

Now there was this lovely place with its lovely white ground and lovely matching sky, a cheery sun that smiled just like at home, and he thought that he wouldn't mind making this his home, especially when the boy beside him snuggled up against him, warm breath misting out against his neck.

"My favorite thing about the snow," Kiba murmured, shivering, "is the reason it gives me to find ways to stay warm."

And then they were kissing, standing together out of reach of the cold, and they remained a footprint in this desert where Kiba lived and Kankurou loved.

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Additional A/N: I was trying to get across the idea that a "desert" defines a place where nothing is growing. :shrugs: