Tai: Okay can we all agree that this story has taken me far too long to finish and will probably continue to do so? Great! Moving on...

Started reading A song of Ice and Fire recently, I'm on Book 5 (no spoilers please -.-) and someone reviewed one of my stories recently, making me go 'oh dammit, there's stuff I'm meant to be writing'. So as my apology you're getting a fairly long chapter. Plenty of innuendo and fluff, maybe a little plot, not much else.

Anyway, you've waited long enough for this to continue; onto the story ^^

Sakura's healing of his leg didn't take as long as he'd expected, and thankfully Kiba released him once she was finished, allowing the Hyuuga to slide himself onto the bed. "All done, just make sure you rest, and try to avoid putting any stress on that leg." The pink haired woman instructed, blushing as she caught sight of a rather wicked grin on the Inuzuka's lips.

"Thanks Sakura. I better go and check in with Tsunade about my mission." Neji stated, rubbing his leg slightly before standing. The Inuzuka stood to follow, earning a raised eyebrow from the paler teen as he headed for the door.

"What? Bringing you back was my mission." The golden eyed teen defended, following the older male.

"Aww and here I was thinking you came to find me because you were worried about me." he teased back, heading out down the hallway.

"Who says I wasn't worried?" Kiba called after him. "Thanks for healing him up, Sakura." Taking off out the door after his 'boyfriend', the Inuzuka had to hold in a sigh of relief as he chased down the Hyuuga. The coffee haired male was waiting just outside the doors of the medical building for the younger teen, and they headed off together.

Well out of earshot of anyone else, Neji glared at Kiba. "Did you really have to make me sit in your lap?"

"It seemed like the most convincing way to sit with Sakura in the room; would you have preferred me dumping you onto the bed without a care and her asking questions?" the tanned male hissed back. "Because I would have been leaving you to answer them."

"You could've sat next to me instead!" the pale eyed male growled back, returning the glare he was receiving. "Sitting me in your lap was a bit over the top."

"We've supposedly been dating and doing it for three months Hyuuga; if sitting in my lap is embarrassing for you, feel free to go and explain to everyone what you were really doing out there." Kiba stated, quickly silencing the older male.

Reaching the Hokage's office, their argument stopped and the pair entered the round room, reporting in to the blonde woman on their respective missions. They were quickly dismissed; Tsunade pleased that Kiba had managed to locate the Hyuuga quickly, and glad that Neji had completed his mission with relative ease.

As they walked from the building and headed back into town, the tanned teen fell deep into thought; what exactly were they meant to do now? He'd slowed down considerably as he continued to think, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Hyuuga, who matched his decreased pace. After several minutes of silence, Neji sighed. "What are you thinking about, Kiba?"

"I'm just wondering…what do we do now? I mean we're supposed to be in a relationship that we've been hiding for a few months, do we just go about our evenings as normal or what?" Kiba questioned quietly, still dragging his feet somewhat. "I mean we could; you still have to decide if we're letting everyone know."

Neji pondered the question for a moment, trying to ignore the voice in the back of his mind insisting that they should let everyone know. After all, it could make for some interesting excuses for trying to get out of things, or situations around the rest of their friends. He shivered slightly; he didn't need his byakugan to recognise the feeling; someone was watching them.

'Really now, what's the harm?' Smirking, he walked on ahead of his 'boyfriend'. "You just made me sit in your lap while Sakura healed my leg, the least you can do is buy me dinner, Inuzuka."

"Aww come on Neji, don't be like that." Kiba teased back, jogging slightly to catch up with the older male. "Don't pretend you weren't enjoying it."

"My enjoyment or lack thereof is hardly the issue here, you know the rules; dinner at least if you want to get your way." Neji stated, continuing on straight. "Pretending you forgot only works so many times, Kiba."

"Sorry, I thought saving you would cover that debt for tonight." The Inuzuka stated, rolling his eyes. "I'll add that to the list of 'things that don't count as romantic gestures', shall I? Gods you're high maintenance."

"I know; but I'm worth it, and you know exactly why." The Hyuuga smirked, glancing back at the younger male. "So, where are you taking me for dinner?"

Freezing briefly, he let out a sigh and jogged to catch up to the older male. "Where would you like to go? It's your turn to pick." Wrapping an arm around the coffee haired teen's waist, he leant close. "Lee and Naruto are following us; have been for a couple of minutes." He muttered gently, glad that the Hyuuga didn't glare at him or pull away instantly.

"Ah so that's who it is." He muttered back, leaning against the Inuzuka, whom had thankfully chosen to stick to his previously injured side. "I don't care, somewhere with meat; I'm starving."

Chuckling, the two headed toward one of the restaurants they frequented with the other ninja around their age. Both kept a quiet track of their pursuers; their fake hidden relationship was no longer going to be hidden, which meant they needed to keep a careful watch of what they said to one another.

"Wow…I thought Kiba was just trying to cover for both of them doing something they shouldn't be with that story but they're actually going out on a date…" Naruto muttered in awe, blue eyes focused on the unusual pair. "I mean I know they're both stubborn, but they wouldn't be that dedicated to keeping up a cover story…would they?"

"No; Neji might be smart enough to come up with that sort of excuse but Kiba isn't, never mind giving the sorts of details he managed." The green clad male reasoned, both shuddering slightly at the memory. The girls had gone well into the 'too much information' territory when asking their questions. "Lying is one thing, hanging out together after a mission is innocent and normal, but Sakura said Neji was sitting in Kiba's lap while she healed him. "

"Are we sure that's the real Neji? I mean shouldn't he have broken Kiba's….everything?"

"Normally? Yes. But them being in a secret relationship that got caught out by the only other person in the room? I'm not so sure…"

Naruto shivered as he felt his gaze momentarily connect with the Inuzuka's, though he was certain the tanned male couldn't see him. Fear finally reached his senses as he watched the pair start devouring their meal. "We should stop spying on them; I mean they're scary enough alone on a normal day, but we're about to spy on Neji and Kiba on a date."

The statement made Lee pale as he glanced between his blonde companion and the aforementioned duo. Both males were highly skilled ninja, not only in battle but in one very specialised area: tracking. He and Naruto were the most distinctive and noisy of all their group and they were following the two best trackers from the very same group.

Getting caught wasn't an 'if'; it was a 'when'.

Surviving past that point was the biggest 'if' in existence.

"I vote we call off following them and let them have dinner in privacy. If Sakura, Ino and Tenten want more information they can get it themselves."

The blonde nodded at the decision and both took off as fast as they could; if they were lucky the pair hadn't noticed their followers, if they weren't….

Glancing out the window, the brunet smirked. "Seems like those two just realised who they were following and made a run for it."

"I always wondered if they had half a brain between them." Neji grinned, "I guess they decided to put their own safety above information gathering for the girls."

"I'd never thought I'd be so thankful for Shino's lack of enthusiasm about gossip; he's about the only one who could spy on us and get any…unhelpful information." Kiba stated, earning a frown from the dark haired male. "What? We're in a restaurant; I'm not going to say something like that here where anyone could overhear us."

The Hyuuga couldn't help staring at his companion; the feral looking and brash male was largely considered in their group to be one of the least sensible and most oblivious individuals, yet their conversations thus far about their relationship were proving otherwise. It was quickly becoming evident to the prodigy that his initial appraisal of the male's intelligence may have been based more on false information and assumptions rather than facts.

"You're giving me that look."

Snapping from his thoughts, the pale eyed man looked up at his golden eyed companion. "What look?"

"The 'who are you and what have you done with the real Kiba' look; Shino does it every time I say something helpful on a mission." He shook his head, shovelling more food into his mouth. "It's like it surprises him to find out I'm not a complete idiot."

"Yeah that sounds like Shino." Neji agreed, laughing slightly. "And you're not far off; it's just a little unusual to hear you come out with something other than a brash decision every now and then." Quickly stuffing his mouth with food, he sat quietly hoping the Inuzuka would let the topic drop; he was already feeling slightly guilty for insulting his supposed boyfriend's intelligence.

"Which is just your polite attempt at telling me everyone else thinks I'm stupid, not just you and Shino." The Inuzuka muttered, rolling his eyes. "It amazes me that you'll all make that assumption so easily and fail to see the benefits of letting you think that."

Neji frowned at the comment, almost certain the Inuzuka was bluffing to simultaneously make himself feel better and confuse the Hyuuga. Drawing a blank on any benefits to the situation he opted to try and call him out on it. "What possible benefit is there to letting others think you're a fool?"

"Well for one no one relies on me to come up with plans to deal with things, and staring blankly at things generally convinces someone else to do them for me. Otherwise the 'poor, stupid Inuzuka' might fall behind or screw them up." He smirked back. "How many times have you volunteered to fill out mission reports because it was my turn?"

The Hyuuga's jaw dropped at the realisation, making Kiba's smirk widen. "You act stupid to get out of paperwork?"

"Damn straight. Just think of how many extra things you get given because you're smart." He grinned "Honestly, how on earth do you guys think I get my solo mission reports done? My mom and sister have their own jobs to take care of."

"So while the rest of us are filling in mission reports you've subliminally convinced us to do because we think you'd mess up, you get to relax and do what you want?"

"Bingo."

He sat dwelling on the news for several moments; was Kiba really that smart or was he just bluffing right now? The smirk on the tanned male's face could go either way.

"You don't believe me? Right, you wouldn't…well then ask me anything about the missions we've been on together."

Thinking about it for a moment, trying to think of a mission they'd both been on where nothing of interest had happened; it was surprisingly difficult, but finally the perfect one came to mind. "The second mission we went on with Sakura."

"The first time you offered to write a mission report for me." Kiba chuckled. "We were sent to investigate reports that people were disappearing near a hot spring as reported by the owner. It turned out she'd hit her head and was continually losing parts of her memory, so she never remembered the guests checking out. We spent four days searching the entire area and only figured it out after spending the night away."

He was somewhat surprised by the detail the Inuzuka was readily able to provide. "You remember every mission that well?"

"Mothly." The word came out somewhat garbled through his mouthful of food and Neji couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Sorry; wasn't about to let it get cold."

'Right, table manners, not really something Kiba's ever had…then again he's meant to be my boyfriend now so I get to scold him for such things. Speaking of which...' "Well you could at least swallow before answering." He sighed, shaking his head. "And anyway, three months we've been together, three months and you still have me writing your reports!"

"Ahh…"

"Oh don't give me that! You've let me do your work when you're perfectly capable of doing it yourself!" the Hyuuga snarled. "Just so you can keep up your little act."

"You never asked about it; you just kept offering and I wasn't about to say no." Kiba defended, finally abandoning his dinner. "Would you have reacted any better if I'd just come out and said after we started dating 'by the way I'm perfectly capable of writing my own mission reports and have been this entire time'? It didn't really come across as something that'd put me in your good books."

The Hyuuga blushed and dropped his gaze back to his own meal; he didn't want to admit the younger male was right, particularly when it was obvious he knew it already. "Shut up…"

The pair sat in silence for several minutes before Kiba sighed. "Are you too tired to head out to one of the lakes with me tonight?"

Neji found he couldn't help going red at the question; after all Kiba had told the other they were screwing like rabbits in those sorts of locales, which was an out and out lie. It didn't stop the idea from being planted and his minor crush definitely wasn't helping, but nothing was coming to mind for a legitimate reason the canine would ask him there. Of course, if he was going to let the Inuzuka tease him, he wasn't about to sit there and take it freely. "No, I shouldn't be, particularly after you buy me dessert Kii-ba."

It had the desired effect as the golden eyed male coughed and grunted slightly, unable to keep his gaze on the pale eyed male. "Ah…what did you have in mind?"

"Cake and ice cream…mmm…maybe some pie as well." Neji grinned, glad he was finally managing to get a subtle revenge on the Inuzuka for the perverted lies he'd told their friends. "And cheesecake."

Kiba glanced up at Neji, raising an eyebrow. "Cake, ice cream, pie and cheesecake? You'll get fat eating all of that…or you would without me."

The Hyuuga couldn't help pouting at the comment; it was the only way he could keep himself from laughing. "You say that like you wouldn't love me anymore if I got fat. That's not what you're saying is it?"

"I'm pretty sure it's impossible for you Hyuuga's to get fat." The tanned male chuckled shaking his head. "And even if it was, managing it with our almost nightly activities would be quite a feat."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Ah…I'll go order dessert." He stated quickly, standing and heading back toward the counter, only for a pale hand to ensnare his wrist.

"Kiiiiba…"

Sliding onto the seat next to his 'boyfriend', Kiba let out a sigh and cupped the older male's cheek briefly. "'Course I'd still love you; I'm not that shallow." 'Please don't kick me in the shins, or the balls, or anything else…' "Now, am I allowed to go and order dessert?"

"…sure."

Just as quickly as he'd slipped onto the seat next to next to the paler teen the Inuzuka was gone, and Neji let a small sigh, relaxing slightly. 'Bad enough I have to go through this farce, but I have a crush on him and my own body is betraying me for it enough with his damned teasing.' He thought with a growl. Part of him wished he could hear those words without this whole act being necessary; that he could just throw himself wholeheartedly into an embrace from the Inuzuka and be his, but that wouldn't do. He was a Hyuuga; Hyuuga are strong and proud, they don't throw themselves into the arms of others unless they were little girls, and he was most certainly not a little girl.

Though it was still tempting to try and be held by the Inuzuka…

The tanned male slipped back into his own seat and watched the paler teen curiously, a sly smirk on his lips.

"What?"

"You're blushing."

"I am not."

"You are."

"I am not; why would I be blushing?"

The wolfish smirk widened at that, and an uneasy feeling rose in the pit of his stomach. "Because you're thinking about being down at the lake."

He could feel the colour rising in his cheeks and wanted to swear; he could almost hear a voice in the back of his mind adding to the teasing, telling him to admit that deep down, he really wanted to be pinned beneath the Inuzuka and be completely-

"And you're not? I'm hurt Kiba, I would've thought you missed me a little more." He smirked back, and he was somewhat glad that the tanned teen was now blushing alongside him, though not quite as badly. "No hints then as to what we're doing tonight, then?"

"I was thinking I could make sure nothing else was injured while you were gone; it's one thing for Sakura to tell me you're fine, but I'd rather check myself." The golden eyed male was smirking again, but it was diminished by the red tint on his cheeks.

"I'm not sure my doctor would approve."

"You doctor would be watching if we gave her half a chance."

He smirked at the statement. "Of course she would, and you never said or did anything to encourage her, did you?"

"Ahh…."

Neji started laughing at that, and their desserts arrived while Kiba was still fumbling for words, giving him some mild entertainment. "Of course you didn't; just like you didn't come up with the idea of having our alone time out in the open near lakes."

"I seem to remember a certain Hyuuga agreeing to it before I could come out with another suggestion." Kiba shot back. "Really now, I'd almost think you want us to get caught." The Inuzuka smirked as his pale companion attempted to glare menacingly at him. It was rather difficult as he'd already stuffed half of his cake into his mouth, barely getting it shut.

"Mo fayre." Neji complained back, still attempting to glare at the younger male.

"And here you were telling me off for not swallowing." Digging into his own dessert, Kiba let the sounds of the restaurant fill the otherwise silent void. Neji was already moving onto his pie, and Kiba bit back a growl as some familiar voices reached his ears. "Sakura, Ino and Tenten are here." He hissed to Neji, who let out an annoyed groan.

"Oh come on…" Suddenly the remained of his dessert didn't seem as appetising, but it was interesting enough to try and deconstruct with his fork.

"Neji! Kiba! What a surprise to see you two here." The pink haired woman's voice couldn't have been a more pleased purr if she'd been a cat, a fat cat with a big bowl of cream. "I hope we're not interrupting."

"Interrupting? No, what on earth could you possibly be interrupting, Sakura?" Neji asked, voice dripping in sarcasm. He turned back to the younger male. "I swear Kiba; you should've lied and said we weren't together and that Akamaru had just knocked us over one after the other. She'll be following us around trying to accidentally interrupt us, probably Tenten and Ino too; I'm sure they'd love to see us at it."

One elbow already resting on the table, the brunet brought his hand to his forehead and started laughing, unable to look at any of the girls, nor the pale male opposite. 'You sly bastard, you just told them the truth, I know it, you know it and it fucking sounds like a poor attempt at a lie. Hell if we ever have to come clean they sure as shit won't believe us.' He was attempting, and failing, to fight back his laughter at the thought.

Sakura had gone as pink as her hair, and was unable to meet Neji's rather bored gaze; Ino and Tenten weren't faring much better. "It was just a coincidence running into the two of you here!" The brunette stated quickly, earning furious nods from both of her companions.

Kiba had finally managed to compose himself and wiped away a tear, still smiling broadly. "Oh and I suppose it was pure happenstance that Naruto and Lee were hiding on rooftops behind us as they travelled this way too?" he rolled his eyes at the claim and glanced over at his partner. "Neji stop playing with your food."

The pale eyes dropped back to his plate, muttering a soft "I'd rather play with something else", just loud enough for the girls to hear and darken all of their blushes.

"Sorry Neji, Kiba; we didn't mean to interfere." Ino apologised quickly, dragging her gobsmacked companions away from the two males.

Kiba was grinning like an idiot at them as he waved farewell, the mischief clear in his eyes. Once the trio were well out of earshot he glanced back at Neji, who had easily turned his apple pie to a mess of crumbs and apple mush. "I was serious about you not playing with your food."

'I was serious about wanting to play with something else.' "I figured; this is normally how I eat pie." He stated simply, finally scooping some of the pie remains onto his fork.

"You're a horrible liar, Neji."

Neji let out a content sigh as he waited outside the restaurant for Kiba, whom had already decided he was paying for dinner. 'I think I'm going to enjoy having him as my boyfriend…fake boyfriend…whatever…I just wish I didn't have a crush on him.' Left to themselves his thoughts were picking through the carcass of their dinner conversation, which had been a great deal of teasing and perverted commentary from the pair of them. Kiba had started it, of that he was certain.

His curiosity was stilling running rampant on why the Inuzuka wanted to go to the lake tonight; they'd supposedly last seen each other only three nights ago; even for a pair of horny teenagers that seemed a bit often to him. 'Did he say we went to the lakes specifically for sex or just for time alone together?' he wondered, barely aware of the tanned teen's returned presence until an arm slipped around him.

"Naruto and Lee again." He heard Kiba growl into his ear quickly, and soon they were heading off toward the village outskirts, and he was almost certain that the Inuzuka was keeping a sharp track of their tail. "Why don't you go on ahead, Neji; I'll catch up."

Nodding at the suggestion, he headed through the trees, activating his Byakugan to make the trek to the lake easier. 'I suppose time alone together doesn't really work with that lot trying so hard to spy on us; I'm surprised they're keeping it up…I guess Kiba's gone to scare them off.'

Shaking the overly energetic duo from his mind, focus turned back to the golden eyed male's reasons for wanting him out by a lake. 'I suppose there might be more fake relationship stuff we need to sort….gods it was hard enough not making a fool of myself on the way back to Konoha, but this time alone with him might just do my head in…'

Stopping at the water edge he lot out a sigh and slipped out of his shoes, dropping to sit with his feet in the pool. Pale eyes changed slightly as he activated his bloodline trait, checking the surrounding area for any sign of company; no one was even close, save for the Inuzuka who was slowly picking his way through the trees. "You got rid of them?"

"Yup; they're probably the easiest ones to scare off out of all of them; thank gods it's not any of the girls." Kiba muttered, settling next to him.

Checking one final time that they were definitely alone, Neji deactivated his bloodline trait and let out a sigh, gaze dropping to the water in front of him. "Kiba, why did you ask me here tonight?"

"I told you at dinner; you're a horrible liar." The tanned teen muttered back and the Hyuuga kept himself calm, holding in a shudder as he felt the golden orbs turn on him. "You lied to me when you said why you were out there."

"So did you." He shot back, watching the tanned male. "You said you were trying to catch Akamaru; he sleeps inside with you so the only reason he got out is because you let him out." He didn't bother trying to keep the bite from his voice; the other male was accusing him of lying after lying himself, he wasn't going to let it stand. 'I may have lied first, but he didn't have to lie back.'

It was a weak defence and he knew it, but it was all he had as the Inuzuka watched him closely. "So you won't tell me why you were really out there? I would've thought one lie was more than enough."

Neji grit his teeth and considered his options; if he refused to tell the Inuzuka the truth the tanned male was probably bull headed enough to stage a public breakup, robbing him of a perfectly good cover. If he did tell…

Neither option was horribly appetising to him, but he could only avoid one of the two. 'There's still Kiba's lie…would he let it up so easily?' "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to tell me why you were really out and…no laughing…' The last two words were barely a mumble, but they seemed to have reached the canine ninja.

"Why would I laugh?"

'Because said aloud it sounds stupid, childish and foolish.' "Because it will probably sound like a lie." He let out a sigh at the thought, but gave in anyway. "Hiashi told me a few months ago that, because I'm his nephew, he's going to be giving command of lower branches over to me, on Hinata's next birthday."

"That's great isn't it?"

"It was at first…until I realised that all the guards, all the other ninja I'll be in charge of are all older than me; they're all wiser, stronger, harder; I'm one of them, sure, but why should I be over any of them? The only reason he's doing it is I'm his nephew; my father was his twin. They won't respect me, they'll argue back and I can't blame them for that. I might be a jounin but compared to them I'm…." He didn't want to say it, he couldn't.

"Compared to them you think you're weak, so you're trying to get stronger?" He nodded and the Inuzuka sigh, shuffling slightly. The gap that had been between them was basically gone, and he could feel the water moving where Kiba moved his feet.

"It might sound hollow to you, Neji, but I know how you feel." Glancing over at Kiba, Neji found the Inuzuka gazing up at the sky. "My mother is still alive and still in charge of the family, which is all well and good, except she's decided it's time she started giving me more responsibility within the clan. I mean it's great that she trusts me, but being leader of the clan is a huge thing and…I'm not ready for it.

"Every time I lie down and try to sleep everything just comes to mind at the same time; all the new duties and responsibilities, things I should and shouldn't do…everything, to the point where I can't sleep. I lie there tossing and turning and end up waking Akamaru up, so I started going for walks instead…"

The Hyuuga was somewhat speechless at the admission. 'I'm only being put in charge of the branch family, but he's got a whole clan to worry about…' "When does she want you to take over?"

"They're planning a bug official thing for my twenty-first…"

"Hell...that's what, two months away?" A stiff nod from the Inuzuka confirmed as much, and he shook his head. He'd been told two days after Hinata's last birthday, giving him just under a year, but it didn't seem the Inuzuka heir had been given nearly that long. He shuddered to ask how long it'd been since he'd been informed of his new duties.

"It's a 'ready or not' thing too; it doesn't matter if I don't think I'm ready; it's already been decided that I'm taking over…" The strain was clear in the younger male's voice; regardless of how energetic he always seemed, Neji had finally spotted the exhaustion peeking through. The bright spark that made his golden eyes shine was gone; they looked dull and tired despite his smile.

'He's exhausted and he didn't want anyone to see…' He realised, finally taking a moment to look beyond the façade the Inuzuka was showing. The smile was forced, his shoulders slumped and his normally solid, muscular frame seemed more gaunt than strong. He hadn't seen it initially, but then he wasn't looking for it earlier; there was no reason to.

"How long's it been since you last had a good night's sleep?"

"Ah…let's see…Akamaru dragged me out and we bumped into you three nights ago so….two weeks."

"Two weeks…that was the mission we went on with Ino and Sakura – you were injured and refused to listen to them when they told you to rest." Neji frowned, staring at the male.

"Yup; they drugged me to shut me up and make me sleep." He sighed. "I still catch a few hours here and there, enough that I'm not falling asleep during training or missions, but nothing close to a 'good night's sleep'."

They sat in silence, listening to the birds and castling of the trees in the wind, the gentle splash of the water as one or the other of them moved their feet. 'At least I found a way to get sleep, but if that was the last he actually managed a decent rest he won't last much longer.' "You could train with me, and see if that helps."

Kiba's bright eyes locked onto his own pale ones, a curious frown set into his brow. "Train?"

"Thanks to you the others are already convinced we're coming out to places like this to, y'known…so why not make use of the situation? It might tire you out enough to get some sleep, and even if it doesn't, more training never hurts.

'Oh very good; get your crush sweaty and shirtless and all to yourself out in an area where your other friends think the two of you are having sex. Yes, well done Neji; why don't we go walk over some lava on the way home?' Neji mentally cursed himself; faking a relationship with the man was one thing, but they didn't actually have to spend the time together.

Kiba mulled the idea over quietly and finally nodded. "Training might be better than just running around aimlessly in the middle of the night." He watched as the tanned teen stood and slipped his shoes on before turning to help the other ninja to his feet. "But not tonight; you still need to rest that leg a bit; I sent Akamaru to the Hyuuga compound with you pack when I got back to the village. You should go home and rest, or unpack at the least."

"Yeah…tomorrow night then?"

Kiba nodded his agreement. "Tomorrow; I'll see you then." He didn't wait around for any further confirmation, dashing off into the trees and heading for home.

Neji watched him leave, and once he was sure the Inuzuka was out of earshot he let out a sigh. "Nice going Hyuuga; why don't you just out and out tell him instead." Muttering curses under his breath he headed for home; regardless of the nap he'd had on the way home, he still found he was tired. 'I can think about everything else tomorrow; a hot shower and another nap are what I want right now….and Kiba…'