A/N: It's that time again, friends! Thanks to all of you who have given me feedback and who have dropped notes, and a big hug for PSI Teleport and my buddy Josh, both of whom helped with critiquing the chapter.

On a side note, I've been battling our canon-ators about the timeframe set up in this story. I was generally hoping that most of you would play "Let's Pretend" and ignore the fact that the Pein arc hasn't occurred yet, nor will it occur within the context of the story. For now, please enjoy the story as happens. =)


Chapter 7: Revelations


Kiba thought he'd heard incorrectly. "What?"

"My mother caught my father."

Ino gestured at the paper, and he perused the official marriage document as she continued.

"I had always wondered why my mother wasn't a shinobi like the other moms. So I asked her how she met my dad. Why did he marry her if she wasn't shinobi? She told the story, but I could tell she was leaving something out. So I asked my dad. He'd gotten her pregnant and had to marry her to make things right.

"I got curious and did some research. I found out about A Right to Claim and that my mother had used it to marry my father. I confronted her with this information...she admitted that she had intentionally gotten pregnant to catch a shinobi."

Kiba looked at her for the longest time, as she coolly sipped her drink. For her to find out that her parents' marriage had been based on a trick- -it must have been devastating.

"Ino," he finally said, "I'm sorry."

She smirked. "It's not your fault. God, I was so upset…I made my mother's life a living hell. But then I realized I could use what she knew to my advantage."

"What she knew?"

"Kiba." Ino shook her head. "Kiba, Kiba, Kiba. There are older women who train civilian girls to be pleasing to shinobi men. If I could learn what she knew, I could ferret out other 'catchers' and hone my skills as a kunoichi."

"Wait. Just as we are trained, these…girls…are trained too?"

"Exactly." She reached across while she let the information digest and opened his soda bottle for him. "Here, you need to take a moment before it gets worse."

"It gets worse?"

Ino nodded, handing the bottle to him. He needed more than a moment, but he didn't speak the thought. The soda tasted good and sweet, and he felt the coldness run down his throat to his stomach. He sighed, wishfully thinking about his soft bed.

Then Kiba steeled himself. "Okay. Hit me."

"Yukari is trained to catch herself a shinobi. She won't stop until she gets married to you."

The implication Ino had put out on the table up until those words had been tolerable. He could ignore what she had been getting at. But now she had made the accusation and had delivered the evidence like a pro. That he couldn't ignore- -especially since what seemed like a dozen kunai gouged his heart.

He played it off. "That's supposed to be worse news?"

Ino cocked her head a little. "Kiba, how do you think she's going to take it when you try breaking up with her?"

"Cry a lot, yell…I don't know! I've never broken up with anyone before!"

"Listen. Like shinobi, Yukari is trained to be manipulative and persistent. She's not gonna let you walk out the door without a fight. This is her life we're talking about!"

All she said made his head swim. "So what?"

"So-o, you need to prepare for your confrontation with her."

"Are you serious? What's she gonna do? Throw down girlfriend-no-jutsu?"

Ino outright laughed, the sound tinkling and pleasant. Heat curled in the pit of his stomach from it and because of it, he moodily sipped his soda. Why did she have to have such a lovely laugh?

After a few moments, she continued. "Okay. But for argument's sake, let me impersonate her and see how well you do."

Kiba rolled his eyes at her absurd suggestion. "Yeah, yeah. I don't think it's necessary. Why can't we go to the police with my blood sample? The drug's illegal, and when she's arrested, that'll be that."

"Look. It's not that simple. Civilians have unparalleled sway in these matters. And it's not Yukari you have to worry about, it's who trained her. You have to find out who's enabling her activities. Confronting Yukari is the means to rooting out whoever's behind this in the first place."

"You're being ridiculous."

But what she said made sense. Yukari was a lackey, a follower, and not the brains of the operation. Teachers and masters had the knowledge and plans; soldiers did as they were told and trained.

"Trust me." She waved dismissively at him. "Go wait for me outside. I have to get in character."

There was no point in arguing. "Don't take forever."

She nodded, searching in her bag for something, so he stood and exited the cafeteria, then the hospital. He felt stupid standing around. A bench in the shade looked tempting, so he walked over to sit down to wait.

The whole last couple of hours had been a swirl of conversation, words and phrases and raised voices that made his brain swim. He rested his head on the back of the bench and stared at the sky through the leaves.

Why had Yukari done this to him? Weren't there easier targets out there besides him? A stupid voice mentioned that it was he who was the easy target. That stung him in the soft of his heart.

A girl had warped his trust to her advantage. Someone was behind the girl who had warped his trust. Those revelations added salt to his wounds and he could do nothing to ease the pain.

It wasn't fair. He had trained to be able to protect himself, his comrades, and his village, so why hadn't he been able to protect his heart? He should have seen. He should have seen that a girl had been tricking and seducing him.

And he'd been stupid enough to think otherwise. Hurt intensified, forming an icy knot in the middle of his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to disperse the agony and ignore the tears behind his eyeballs. Almost sixteen was too young to be having these kinds of problems.

A presence sat on the bench beside him- -Kiba scented Ino. Her scent helped soothe him marginally. The forming tears dissipated.

"Hi, Kiba." Yukari's voice pulled the knot tighter.

Kiba opened his eyes, rolling his head to look over. Seeing Yukari had an instantaneous effect. The ice cracked his chest apart and hot anger gushed through him. The powerful combination of hurt and rage choked him.

He forced his throat to work. "Change out."

"What?" Yukari leaned forward. "What's wrong?"

"Ino. Change out." He was losing his control over the emotions. "Change out, goddammit."

Whether she reacted to his words or the sound of his voice, Kiba didn't know. The gentle poof and the smoke indicated the release of the jutsu. He hadn't seen her fingers move. A second later, Ino looked at him, perturbed.

"Kiba…?"

He didn't stop himself from leaning over and kissing her. The fury and cold agony backed away to a dull throb, one that didn't fight him for control. He felt Ino hesitating, and without thinking, Kiba hooked an arm around the back of her head.

More. He wanted more of the relief Ino immersed him in. Angling his head to deepen the kiss, Kiba used teeth and tongue to extract what he wanted from her. Her taste, the smooth feel of her tongue, sparked the arousal in his stomach.

She whimpered when he bit down on her bottom lip, and Kiba forced himself to pull away. The feelings were a dangerous combination- -he knew if he wasn't careful, he'd make a mistake- -and besides, they didn't need everyone to see them making out.

Ino's heavy-lidded eyes fluttered, and Kiba felt her chest rising and falling between them; her scent charged up his nose, hooking into his brain, making his muscles ache.

"Oh, poor Kiba," she whispered. She stroked the side of his face. "Poor, poor Kiba."

Ino understood him. He cupped her hand against his cheek, enjoying the warmth her fingers generated. When she tilted her head, he received a kiss- -sort of like a kiss shared by two people who've been together a long time. It extinguished the hot anger and left him feeling hollow and sick.

"Let's go do something," she said suddenly, and stood. Her hands clasped his.

"Like what?"

She smiled. "I don't know!"

"Ino…"

Kiba didn't feel like prowling around; he wanted to go off and lick his wounds.

But Ino had pulled him from the bench, and to his surprise, she twined her fingers in his. Her enthusiasm and cheer traveled straight up his arm and refused to let him complain or beg off, since she had essentially saved his ass.

"It's close to noon- -we should get some lunch," she said. "I heard about a new bookstore opening, so if we're in the mood, we can go check it out."

Ino continued filling their day with 'maybe this' and 'we could'. Mostly Kiba listened as she spoke, giving her noncommittal grunts here and there and nodding when she looked over at him.

But his thoughts continued to dwell on Yukari and her 'catching' him. Hadn't she thought that she could get him by being herself? She didn't seem to be so manipulative; her shy nature seemed so opposite one capable of such a devious act. Thinking of Yukari and her plans served to aggravate the headache pounding at the base of his skull.

Abruptly, Kiba found that Ino had brought him to a hole-in-the-wall place he'd never seen before.

"This place is great," she told him. "Cheap, fast, and good."

"Sounds like you're taking me to a brothel."

The bawdy joke was out before he could stop it, and as he mentally inserted his foot into his mouth, Ino threw her head back and laughed.

"That was funny," she said between peals. "I love your sense of humor."

She'd complimented him. In that small way, she'd been able to boost his ego a little, so when they sat and Ino ordered for both of them right away, he gladly let her and didn't make a fuss. As the waiter left, Ino gazed at him, but her eyes and face were unreadable.

Her arms were under the table. Inside his head, he heard a click- -or he felt it, like he'd made a mental connection to something. Without warning, the headache eased and his stomach and hurt feelings settled. Kiba rubbed the back of his neck, wanting to tell Ino he felt weird.

As the words formed, she smiled at him. "Tell me how your mission went."

And before he knew it, he was relating the entire mission to Ino. She watched him intently, and he had the feeling she was soaking his words up, trapping them inside her clever mind for later conversation. He liked being her sole attention.

Their food came, and still he talked, not even sure what he talked about, but that it felt good to share with her. When he finished speaking, she asked another question, and their conversation came so easily, so naturally, that before he knew it, they had finished lunch and headed out the door.

Ino turned to him and cradled his face in her hands. Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"You are so cute!"

Then she kissed him lightly- -once, twice, three times in rapid succession on the mouth. Her lips twisted with pure mischief when his mind stalled out.

"What next?"

Kiba didn't know what the swelling in his chest was. It felt like a balloon had expanded with a vibrancy he'd never felt before. The vibrancy snuffed out the hurt he'd suffered from Yukari's motives, and it dawned on him that Ino was comforting him. He decided to let her, even if that meant she got her way.

"That bookstore. Why don't we go there?" he answered.

"I was hoping you'd say that!"

They strolled down the street, holding hands with their fingers threaded together and making observations and light commentary that didn't mean anything, yet meant everything.

When they showed up at the bookstore, Kiba watched Ino's excitement grow as she stopped to gaze at the store front.

"This is lovely," she whispered.

No way was she a nerd. Her reaction didn't fit with what he expected from her, since he had always thought of her as an airhead snob. And he wasn't sure how he felt about his changing perception of Yamanaka Ino.

"You like books?"

"I love them." She looked at him, admiration in her features. "I can't read enough. What about you? Do you read?"

Voraciously, he wanted to say, but that would only serve to impress her.

"If something interests me, then I'll read it." He didn't mention his sister's shelves of romance novels. "Otherwise, I'm more interested in video games."

Ino laughed as they entered the store. Kiba followed her and amusedly watched as she turned into a book-buying whirlwind. She chattered about each new discovery or pointed excitedly if something caught her eye.

And he? He turned into her pack-mule. A stack of about seven books had accumulated in his arms. Kiba juggled them and couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face.

At one point she stopped. "What?"

"Hm?" Kiba had been enjoying the sound of her voice than really listening. "Is there something wrong?"

Ino tilted her head. "I was about to ask you that. If you want to leave, it's not a problem…just tell me."

Her concern endeared her to him and he settled the books on a convenient shelf. Thoughtfully, Kiba brushed her hair back from her face, and shifted closer to her, wanted to melt into her. The balloon in his chest expanded again. The expansion put the words he felt in his mouth.

"No," he whispered, "I don't care where we are as I long as I'm with you."

Whoa. Had he said what he thought he said?

Ino blushed and looked at him from under her eyelashes. "Oh. Okay."

His fingers curled in white-gold and he found himself kissing her. Their lips must have been magnetized because Kiba had never made the conscious decision to lean over and press his mouth against hers.

The atmosphere intensified between them as the strange, swelling emotion tried to pass through him to her, like he wanted to communicate with Ino through feelings alone. Air caught in his lungs; he felt dizzy and stirred up…needy. The kiss had morphed into something so different, he hardly recognized it anymore.

"Hi, you two," a cheerful girl sang from behind him. "Am I interrupting something?"

The stupid girl, indeed, interrupted the kiss. Working his fingers loose from Ino's hair, Kiba immediately disliked the fake syrupy tone of this rude girl. Couldn't she see that they were busy? He whipped around, ready to punch the bitch, before he noticed the pink bob.

Ah, shit. Sakura. Instantly Kiba subdued the forming snarl- -she would pound him into a pulp if he showed her his teeth unmitigated. Then his eyes registered yellow-black-orange.

Behind Sakura was none other than Naruto, who had a curious and expectant lift to his eyebrows. Great. Konoha's number-one knuckle-headed loudmouth secret-spilling ninja.

"Oh, my God," Ino said. Kiba detected her anxiety even as she cleared her throat and shifted to stand beside him. "Hi, guys! What's going on?"

Sakura's mouth twisted into that playful smirk he'd often seen Ino affect.

"Well, we were about to ask you the same. I didn't expect to find either of you in a bookstore." She paused, that smirk growing wider by the second. "With each other."

"Yeah, I can't believe you guys were kissing!" Naruto agreed loudly. A shit-eating grin spread on his face. "Kiba and Ino, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-" Kiba felt Ino tense.

At '-S-I-N-G', he had rudely grabbed Naruto's jacket front.

"Shuddup!" Kiba snapped. "You don't have to announce it to the damn world."

"Whoa, geez," Sakura said, and although her grip on Kiba's wrist was gentle, he relinquished Naruto's jacket before his bones broke. That stupid grin on Naruto's face remained, which indicated bad things to come.

Sakura continued, releasing him. "We're teasing. When did you guys start going out?"

When Ino spoke up, her voice sounded ice-bitch cold. "That's personal. And besides, we're deciding if we like each other enough."

"It looks like you like each other just fine," Naruto replied as he wiggled his eyebrows. "The way you were sucking face."

Kiba growled. "It wasn't 'sucking face', idiot."

"You act like you don't want anyone to know you're dating," Sakura said. "Why's that?"

"Look, it's a little complicated. Can you just keep it to yerselves?" Kiba glanced to Ino for support. "We don't even know if we're gonna last past today."

Kiba felt Ino rest her hand in the small of his back under his jacket. Whether she did it to encourage him or praise him, he wasn't sure, but he liked the light pressure and warmth.

"He's right. This is an experiment, so there's no reason to go around saying we're dating," Ino added, voice still icy. "It'll be a hassle to stop the rumors if we decide to stay single, which will probably happen."

"I don't know," Naruto hedged, shrugging his shoulders. "I might need an ice cream cone to keep my mouth busy."

"Isn't that supposed to be Sakura's job?" Kiba asked gruffly.

Sakura blushed at his question, while Ino nudged him as if to say, 'Good one'. A corner of Naruto's mouth curled, and his arm snaked around Sakura's waist.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "but her mouth finds business other places."

If it weren't attached, Kiba's jaw would have hit the floor. He stared at Sakura, whose blush had deepened further, if possible, and he thought, Sakura's the pervert?

"Shut UP!" Sakura's fists had clenched at her sides. "We broke up, remember? And you promised not to say anything!"

At the danger bells going off in his head, Kiba slid a few steps back. The show would be spectacular, but he wasn't suicidal. He looked over, his eyes snagged Ino's, and they shared a secret glance that said, 'This'll be good'.

Kiba broke the gaze to see what was happening between Naruto and Sakura. Currently, Naruto backpedaled, casting helpless glances at Kiba; Sakura stalked after Naruto, fury evident in the several veins popping out of her forehead.

Ino laughed at them and moved forward to catch Sakura's arm. "If an ice cream cone can bribe you, then fine, we'll spring for ice cream. For both of you."

Naruto gave a thumbs-up. "All right!"

Kiba wasn't the least surprised when Naruto dashed for his life out of the store, since Ino had ahold of Sakura.

"Sakura," Ino said. She tugged her friend back. "I have to buy some books. Meet us out there, okay?"

Sakura looked to be aggravated, and Kiba heard it in her voice. "Sure. No problem."

When Sakura had left, Ino turned to Kiba, and covering her eyes, sighed heavily.

"What a disaster," she groaned.

Without answering, Kiba brought Ino closer to hug her; she nestled her face into the crook of his neck. As it had with their interrupted kiss, time faded to meaninglessness.

Kiba's whole body absorbed her closeness, sucking in her scent and presence and heat, like she had become essential to his life at the cellular level- -breathing, beating heart, eating, drinking, Ino. The idea seized him and dipped cold fingers into his stomach.

"Let's get going." She released him; his body mourned, panicked, screamed. "Each second they're left alone is another second they speculate."

He watched her walk away, his feelings as mixed up as ever, but he didn't want to think about it. Kiba went after her, and as she purchased the small stack of books, he smoothed down her hair with his hand and considered a niggling idea.

The gesture had Ino glancing at him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

"You seem a little…dazed." The cashier handed Ino the receipt as she shuffled the books into her shoulder bag.

"No, I'm fine."

Ino scrutinized him. "If you say so."

"Hey, wait a second."

Kiba stopped her from leaving; he didn't know what had possessed him, and he prepared for embarrassment at an epic level. She stood and waited for him.

"What is it?"

"Come home with me."

She visibly hesitated. "Hunh?"

"For dinner. Come home with me for dinner."

"Like, with your family? Your mother and sister?"

He laughed at her look. "Yeah, with my family."

"Why?"

Kiba didn't have an answer to her question; he wanted to share her with his family because he liked her company and thought they would too. And he wanted to stay close to her as much as possible.

But he couldn't say that to Ino. "Are you scared, flower girl?"

Immediately Ino's features hardened. "No." Her lips pursed. "I'll go. But you owe me."

"Seems I owe you a lot."

"Are you coming?" Sakura called from the entrance of the bookstore. "Naruto's out here being embarrassing."

Kiba shared another look with Ino and together they moved toward the front of the store.

Ino spoke lowly in his ear. "I don't want your privacy to be invaded."

He understood what she meant- -his mother and sister would ask a lot of questions. Private questions. But he could deal with their curiosity and teasing if it meant more time spent with Ino.

Kiba smirked. "You know, you can invade my privacy any time you want."

If she had a comeback, she didn't say it since they were in the presence of perked ears.

Later that night, she made good on his offer and invaded his privacy in a way that he'd never forget.


A/N: Finally, some well-deserved happiness and affection for Kiba. =) Next stop: Exploration. See you then!