Moving Memories

by itabitaboo

Due to unfortunate events, Naruto's life is turned upside down when he moves from his childhood country home to a place in the city. While starting at university, he finds himself connecting with new people in new ways. He turns from sure that his life is ending to wondering if his life is really only just beginning, but what secrets will his new friends be hiding? (multi pairings)

19. The Swing of Things

.

Moving Memories
19: The Swing of Things

~ (^.^) (^.^) ~

Stunned, Naruto could do nothing but stare up at Kiba with wide eyes. His heart, having seemingly stopped, hammered hard in his chest when the soft kiss was broken and Kiba's breath fanned over his lips. Kiba returned his gaze boldly for a long, long, long moment while Naruto tried to repair the fractured functions of his brain. In that moment, Kiba's courage drained away until he was reduced into a wildly blushing mess.

"Oh my god," he said in frantic embarrassment, pushing away from Naruto and jumping off the bed to escape.

Naruto quickly reached after Kiba, just barely catching the brunet by the wrist and almost falling off the bed in the process. Kiba continued to try to squirm out of the hold and lock himself away in the only private place they had in the small apartment: the bathroom. The frantic movement died down quickly enough and then they were just left in tense silence, Naruto watching the back of Kiba's head and waiting for him to turn around and face the blond again. Kiba didn't though. He just kept his back turned, covering his face with his free hand and fighting off the mortified tears welling in his eyes.

After another painfully long moment of processing, Naruto tugged on his friend's arm. "Kiba?"

Kiba tried with renewed force to pull his wrist free to flee, but Naruto pulled back this time. He tugged hard enough to cause Kiba to backpedal until his butt was firmly seated on the bed again. Still mostly recumbent, Naruto curled his body to find an angle at which he could peek up at Kiba's face.

"Are you crying?" Naruto asked, a gentle concern in his voice.

Kiba pulled his hand from Naruto's grasp and used it to cover his face more fully, unable to help the tears of humiliation as they spilled from his eyes. He groaned and threw himself back onto the bed to escape Naruto's eyes, turning to give his back to Naruto and curling into his own body. Naruto jumped up into a sitting position, grabbing Kiba by the shoulder and trying to turn him onto his back.

"Hey," Naruto whined. "Don't turn away from me."

"Naruto, stop!" Kiba yelled, his voice muffled by his hands. "I'm mortified!"

Naruto laughed slightly, finding this whole reaction to be a bit over-dramatic for a kiss.

"Why? It's not a dig deal," Naruto replied.

Kiba eased just enough for Naruto to be able to urge him onto his back. The blond planted one hand on the other side of Kiba's waist, sitting so that at least his face was within Kiba's sight. He used the hand not supporting his weight to gently tug at one of Kiba's wrists, carefully encouraging him to pull his hands away.

"I'm not gonna judge you or anything," Naruto assured. "I promise."

Finally, Kiba gave and let one of his hands reveal a single, sparkling eye and the beet-red skin of his cheek.

Naruto smiled. "See? No judging," he said reassuringly.

Kiba swallowed thickly. "You're not... reacting," he pointed out.

Naruto blushed very slightly as he was forced to directly address the kiss, but he was otherwise calm. "It was just a kiss," he said, shrugging.

Kiba's hands both dropped then, revealing a displeased pout. "Just a kiss?" he repeated, sounding slightly offended.

Confused, Naruto replied, "That's not what you wanna hear?"

Kiba huffed. "No!" he exclaimed.

"But I thought you were only doing it to see if it would transfer energy better," Naruto said innocently.

How had Naruto known his intentions so easily? "Well... I was," Kiba conceded.

"So what's the big deal?" Naruto asked. "It worked."

Kiba blushed again. "R-Really?"

Naruto nodded. "This is definitely more energy than I've felt from you in... well... ever."

Immediately rationalizing why, Kiba buried his face in his hands again.

Naruto groaned at the regression. "Kiba," he whined. "What is this? C'mon! It's not like we haven't been as close as can be for a while now. I touch you in all sorts of weird ways for just friends, but you don't blush then. Suddenly you kiss me totally innocently and you can't deal."

"It wasn't innocent!" Kiba hollered, halting Naruto's futile attempts to pry his hands away again.

"What?" Naruto asked. "Say again."

Kiba turned onto his side away from Naruto again. "I actually like you!" he yelled, finding that to be the only way he could gather the balls to admit that so bluntly.

Naruto could only gape for a moment. Slowly, he opened himself up to Kiba's aura. He'd been suppressing that connection between them lately because he'd been sensing some very sexual desires from Kiba. He'd assumed they were thoughts about Gaara, and he didn't want to be intrusive about anything Kiba hadn't brought up himself. So he stopped connecting to Kiba so naturally. It'd never occurred to him that Kiba could possibly have been thinking about him. As he touched Kiba's aura, though, it seemed as plain as day.

Suddenly, Naruto was the one blushing. "You..." He trailed off before simply questioning uncertainly, "Kiba? What?"

Kiba said nothing, only curled into himself more tightly. God! If he could turn invisible at that moment, he would! It was amazing that his entire body wasn't just turning red from the intensity of his blush. "It just came from nowhere!" he defended. "It's just... we were being so close... and then... I just... I don't know! Stop judging me! You said you wouldn't judge me!"

Naruto could feel Kiba's insecurity so deeply that it began to make his own stomach churn sickly. He would never want Kiba to feel that in his presence. Even in a situation like this, Kiba should feel safe and secure enough to be honest and open. In an attempt to be reassuring, he touched Kiba's back gently. That only incited a wave of butterflies to bloom in Kiba's gut, which made Naruto's stomach flutter too. Instead of pulling away though, Naruto was intrigued.

'What is this feeling?'

'Why am I reacting to Kiba so strongly?'

'I touch him so often, but this feels different all of a sudden.'

A lot of things crossed Naruto's mind, but the recognition that he'd been in this exact position already before, many a time, was not one of them. He didn't stop to realize that this same situation was what he'd experienced with his blood bonds to vampires too. The vamps would feel something and Naruto would mirror it. That was how he got sucked into believing the delusion that he was happy with his life. They would feel positively pleased by Naruto's presence. His blood made sure of that, spell-binding as it was. In the end, when Naruto took his energy from them, it was charged with those emotions and he too would end up feeling pleased.

That very trickery was why he and so many other bijuu became so addicted to making bonds. They indulged to create a sense of fulfillment in their lives, but it was as fake as could be. Or perhaps that wasn't the word. It was real, but what it was not was genuine. It came from someone's heart, but not Naruto's. This was the situation he was now in, but it simply didn't cross his mind that he was only mocking what Kiba was feeling himself. He just took the bull by the horns and ran with it. After all, his true personality was thrill-seeking. The true Naruto loved the way his veins seemed to sing with the hot rush of excitement. If Kiba could do this to him, then who was he to question and complain? The only time this had ever happened was when Sasuke had kissed him. Sasuke wasn't real to him anymore though, but Kiba was. And Kiba was sitting right here, returning the feeling in a way that Naruto wasn't sure Sasuke ever could.

Naruto's hand shifted, moving up Kiba's back and over the curve of his shoulder. Naruto had never known how smooth that curve could be. As he gently pressed Kiba's shoulder down toward the bed, urging him to open his body up again, he noted how he'd never noticed how perfect the angles of Kiba's collar bones were too. They stuck up enough to be striking, but not so much that they became anything less beautiful than they were meant to be. And Kiba's chin too. It was delicate, yet manly. The roundness of Kiba's cheeks was revealed as the man's hands slowly began to recede, and Naruto made another internal note about how perfect that was too. Kiba's hair fell in all the right places. And his lips... oh, his lips. Naruto's eyes dropped to watch them move.

"Naruto..."

The blond watched Kiba speak carefully, his own lips curving up at the corners into a small smile.

"Hey," Naruto said softly.

His eyes flickered back up to lock with Kiba's. His free hand trailed up from Kiba's shoulder to slip itself seamlessly between Kiba's cheek and his hand, which was still hovering nearby. Kiba's hand shifted out of the way, loosely wrapping its fingers around Naruto's forearm instead to accommodate the new warmth on his face. The touch was tentative on Kiba's behalf, as if he were afraid he'd break the moment with too much pressure.

Smoothly, Naruto transitioned his weight from resting in his hand to resting on that same arm's elbow instead. That brought his head close enough to Kiba's face for their breath to mingle, but not quite close enough to touch. Still, the shift in proximity was enough to coax the breath from Kiba's lungs in an unsteady rush and cause the thumping of his heart to double. Naruto's eyes traveled down to watch Kiba's throat push down a nervous gulp.

"I can sense... everything," Naruto murmured, finding the way he was suddenly so acutely tuned into Kiba's being absolutely enthralling. His thumb moved and brushed Kiba's face lightly, stopping the brunet's breath for a moment. Naruto's eyes snapped back up to Kiba's lips in time to catch the way they trembled as that hitch of breath escaped.

"It's amazing," Naruto whispered, curiosity and desire igniting a fire in his eyes and bringing a whole new heat to his lips. Kiba could tell by the swelter Naruto's mere breath could incite that if he were to touch those lips, he'd be branded for life. He logically knew that he needed to be cautious, but he physically didn't care. He just allowed himself to swoon as Naruto breathed more fire into his body.

"Your heart's racing," Naruto muttered. "I can feel your body reacting... in so many ways..." For a moment, Naruto closed his eyes, inhaling a short but deep breath. Kiba decided that the purpose was to be steadying when the next words came from Naruto's mouth.

"It's almost too much to resist," Naruto said softly, opening his eyes and swearing he could see Kiba's body literally begin to glow as his desire climbed. Then it really became too much to resist. He suddenly wasn't sure what he'd even been waiting for to begin with.

"I'm gonna kiss you," Naruto murmured as he practically fell onto Kiba's lips in his haste.

The touch physically shocked Naruto, so he quickly pulled away. His brows drew together as a serious expression claimed his face and he tried to decipher what had just passed between them. Kiba was unconcerned, for it seemed obvious to him that it was the raw love from his heart. Instead of questioning it like Naruto, he lifted the hand not yet touching the blond to tentatively cup the man's neck.

Kiba should have paused then. He should have questioned the moment he'd created between them. He should have stopped and tried to look upon their situation with clear eyes. He was responsible for this, so it was his duty to ensure it was cultivated properly, but he didn't. He just let Naruto's heat sway him in ways no one had done for quite some time. He let himself succumb to a desire that he didn't mind being enslaved too. He wasn't going to stop Naruto, or himself for that matter. Oh, no. He was going to embrace this for what it was—borderline fucking ecstasy.

A shiver wiggled down Naruto's spine as the contact sent a new wave of intensity bouncing between them. Kiba made him feel hungry in a dangerous kind of way, in a way that felt so wrong that it somehow rounded back to right. Kiba wasn't questioning it though, so neither would Naruto. Rather than worry about what all this could mean, Naruto was content to simply kiss Kiba again... and again, and again, and again. He kissed Kiba repeatedly until there was no start, or end, or anything but pure indulgence at all.

Only when he felt he'd literally explode with all the energy in his body did Naruto decide that he'd had enough. It was interesting how Naruto had to be the one to terminate the contact because he didn't think he could handle any more energy. When he pulled back to look into Kiba's flushed but pleased face, Kiba was in the only state he could be with Naruto feeling so buzzed. His eye lids opened only half way, staying drooped dangerously low. His bottom lip trembled with his weak breathing, not nearly deep enough to truly restore the stolen vigor to his lungs.

"I'm sorry," Naruto apologized, frowning slightly. "I sucked you dry."

Kiba shrugged feebly, his grip weak on the wrist of Naruto's hand, which had slid down to cup his neck gently. His other hand had lost its strength altogether and just fallen to the bed limply. "I don't mind," he breathed, smiling weakly.

Naruto's frown lifted into a slight smile and he kissed Kiba chastely. "I prefer you alive," he said softly against the man's lips. "C'mon. Sleep'll help," he said as he sat up and nodded for Kiba to move too.

The brunet just shook his head back and forth once. "I can't," he admitted softly.

Naruto sighed, guilt and admonishment mixing in his gaze. "You always make yourself seem fine when you're not," he scolded gently. He leaned back over Kiba, adding tenderly, "I genuinely love you, and I won't treat you like a tool. You have to say 'no' sometimes."

Although, in truth, Naruto couldn't honestly know if his sentiment had been the truth or a lie. Certainly, he cared for his best friend and love would be an appropriate word to use, but whether or not it was actually on a romantic note or to a degree that matched Kiba could not be discerned so easily, not where lovelust was concerned. But that was the thing. The lovelust sort of just blended in with whatever was happening. There were no seams to it, so how could Naruto even begin to understanding where it began? How could he possibly know what had come from his own heart and mind? Did he even really care to begin with? Or was he content to just let this be whatever it was and simply enjoy it for as long as it was freely given to him?

"If we're gonna do this—"

"Are we?" Kiba asked eagerly, though his voice was still wispy and weak.

Naruto's lips pulled into a smile again. "Only if you swear to be honest with me," he stipulated. "Promise to tell me when you're spent. Don't let me suck you dry like this. I think you could really get hurt by it," he said with concern. "Or worse," he added in a murmur. "You could die."

Kiba found the strength to lift a tremulous hand and seek out Naruto's cheek, limitless affection filling his eyes. "I could never run out of energy for you," he said surely, "even if my physical body gave up."

Naruto sighed, touched by Kiba's devotion but still somewhat displeased. He grabbed Kiba's hand, relieving the brunet of having to expend any more energy holding it up. He held it there against his cheek for a moment before kissing its palm and then bringing it to his chest.

"I believe that," he assured, "but I don't want your body to give up. So promise me you'll be blunt and honest with me."

Kiba smiled. "I will never lie to you, Naruto," he promised devoutly, and Naruto believed every word as surely as he felt them in his heart.

He pressed Kiba's open palm firmly against the unsteady beat of his heart. "You're too intense for me," Naruto pointed out. "I can't tempter myself in a situation like this," he admitted bluntly. "It's like I'm back at square one."

"But you're not," Kiba assured quickly but quietly. "You're not taking anything from me now," he pointed out.

Naruto nodded. "True," he conceded. "But as soon as I kiss you..." He trailed off, huffing out a sexually charged breath. "You bring out a whole different kinda hunger in me," he informed. "We're good at touching, but I don't know how good we'll be at it when it's as intimate as this. Do you really think you can handle me touching you the way we do so often on top of something like this?" He asked. The question was rhetorical, and just to assure that he wasn't making Kiba out to be the weak link, he added, "Hell, I don't know if I can handle it. I mean, I feel a little high right now."

Kiba snickered, so easily undoing the work he'd done with so far with steadying his breathing.

"I think it's fair to say no bare skin in every day situations," Naruto went on. "We should leave that for here, where we can be safe."

"Just promise you'll..." Kiba paused to catch his breath.

"Shh," Naruto shushed softly. "I hear you before you even speak," he assured. "You want me to test the boundaries before I go making rules," he said.

Kiba nodded.

"I'll be open," Naruto promised. "Here, in the bedroom," he clarified. "I'm not gonna risk something happening in public, and that's final."

Kiba rolled his eyes, but Naruto knew that there was an understanding between them. Kiba accepted Naruto's stipulations, and Naruto accepted Kiba's too. Peace falling between them, Naruto helped situate Kiba properly in the bed, covering the man with the blanket and laying facing him on top of everything. The two laid there staring at each other's faces for only mere moments before Kiba's eyes drifted shut and he fell into a deep sleep. Naruto was careful not to disturb him. Kiba needed to regain his strength. Later, Naruto would make something for Kiba to eat, to help him shape back up more quickly. Maybe sweets would help too. Naruto knew chocolate naturally countered the effects of venom, however mildly, so maybe it would also work for this. In a way, Naruto's kisses were like venom too.

For now, though, Naruto stayed where he was, partially because he didn't want to disturb Kiba and partially because he was content to just lay there and think. Pulling himself out of Kiba's being and re-identifying himself as an individual again, Naruto tried to separate truth from fallacy. In the end, he ran himself in circles. Even as he holed back into his own body and released the influence of Kiba, Naruto's own lovelust kept him steadily confused. He wanted to explore the idea that he was buying into this more deeply than what was true to his heart, because he wanted his treatment of Kiba to be pure, but his instincts kept telling him to forget the semantics and just enjoy the view.

Maybe Naruto would discover that his feelings weren't actually all that deep, and maybe he'd discover that they were strikingly true. Did it really matter? He felt them in his heart, no matter their source. They'd taken some type of root in his body, and that was true enough, wasn't it? Whatever he felt was truly there when it was there, no matter where it came from. That was really all he needed to compel himself to continue being whatever it was that Kiba wanted him to be, in whatever way was the most satisfying for them both. And right now, being this close to Kiba was all that Naruto found satiating at all.

The truth of the matter was that Kiba was all Naruto even had at this point. What kind of idiot would push that away? Sasuke. That was who, and Naruto wanted to be nothing like that heartless bastard. No, he'd stay. He'd embrace this for what it was—simple, easy, heartwarming—and he'd let it be. He only hoped that this wouldn't end up doing more harm than good.

~ (^.^) (^.^) ~

"Naruto!" Ino hailed as she spotted him and Kiba seemingly idling nearby. The blond was murmuring something in Kiba's ear, making the brunet laugh, but he lifted his head up and waved at his friend in acknowledgment.

"Coming Ino~" Naruto called back warmly.

He bent back to finish talking in Kiba's ear even as they stepped into motion. When he pulled back, Kiba looked sideways at him brightly, nudging him in the side and grinning. Naruto grinned back sweetly.

"You guys aren't eating?" Ino asked as the two made their final approach.

They detached stares to regard their friends. Sakura, Lee, Shikamaru, and Chouji all looked up at them expectantly.

"No," Naruto said nonchalantly. He'd grown used to not eating. It wasn't hard to come up with excuses why anymore.

Kiba glared at his companion sideways though. "Yes," he corrected.

Naruto shot Kiba a sheepish glance. He should have seen that coming. Kiba had been on his ass about eating an awful lot lately. Since he and Kiba had been exploring the sufficiency of an emotional bond for a bijuu, Naruto had slowly—very, very, very slowly—been regaining his appetite. And Kiba had been patient, praising him for the work he'd done as opposed to chastising him for what he hadn't. Ever since things had changed between them though, Kiba had become an almost annoyingly consistent menace about Naruto's eating habits. Naruto never got really angry with Kiba, because he could feel the purity behind the pestering, but it was still getting sort of tiresome. Wasn't he doing enough by eating at all?

Naruto knew somewhere inside that this was really just Kiba's way of compensating for his insecurities. With the new relationship between them now almost 2 months old, Kiba was probably just disheartened by how slow Naruto's progress was still going. He seemed better in every way, except that one. Kiba had probably been expecting Naruto to bounce back as easily as he did in other areas, which was a reasonable expectation. So he was simply confused about why Naruto still wasn't eating, and it made him insecure that his bond, apparently, wasn't strong enough to make that part of the blond return in earnest too.

Kiba just wanted to be enough for Naruto on his own. He wanted to be all the sustenance that Naruto would ever need. Naruto found this supremely endearing, and Kiba really was extremely fulfilling on his own, but Naruto just couldn't help it if his appetite refused to return. He just didn't want to eat, and he knew that Kiba was taking that as some sign that Kiba wasn't enough. In an attempt to reject those insecure feelings, Kiba had taken to doing his damnedest to remedy the issue. His solution? Stuff Naruto relentlessly. Naruto had yet to find a gentle way to assure Kiba that there was no need to be so overbearingly insecure.

"In fact, Naruto is gonna get us something now," Kiba added, looking at Naruto expectantly. "Right?"

Naruto wanted to sight despondently, but he smiled instead. "Right."

He dropped his bag and covertly touched Kiba's hand, brushing his fingers against the palm hanging loosely at Kiba's side, before grinning at everyone and heading boisterously off toward the Student Union. He almost immediately ran in to a random guy he had a class with later in the day and they began talking, the guy changing course to accompany Naruto to the building where he'd purchase their food. Kiba had to smile at how easily Naruto made friends. Despite the food issue, it was good to see him returning to himself to fully in ways like that. He watched Naruto talk animatedly with his friend until his figure became to small to identify through the light cover of the trees enclosing their eating area.

Since Spring was in full swing and Summer—and, inevitably, the end of the year—was rapidly approaching, the group had chosen to relocate themselves outside for their lunch gatherings. They'd found this small enclosure of young trees hidden discreetly away from the bustle of students entering and exiting the Student Union but not so far away that they felt excluded from the campus happenings. Their spot was just off the side of the main courtyard, which was lined in old, large trees. Thus, while the trees directly encircling them were small and sparsely leafed, the taller ones behind them kept the area fairly shaded. Not so much that it would get chilly on the colder days, but just enough to keep them from overheating on the days where the sun shone bright.

With Naruto's figure gone from sight, Kiba returned his attention to his friends, who had all gone back about their business amicably. Except for Sakura. She was staring up from her spot in the soft grass, watching Kiba with a weird expression.

"What?" Kiba asked as he set his bag beside Naruto's and sat down too.

Sakura shrugged, though there was no nonchalance to her attitude at all. "You two seem quite smitten with each other."

It'd taken some time after deciding to shift their relationship for Naruto to become comfortable with publicly touching Kiba in more than friendly ways. He'd slowly elevated from slinging an arm around Kiba's shoulder to wrapping it, instead, around his waist. Only in the past few days alone had Naruto grown confident enough to go so far as to touch Kiba's bare skin. That little hand touch had been the closest thing to something as affectionate as hand-holding at all. It was only a matter of time before their friends picked up on the subtle cues and expressed their curiosity. In truth, not even Kiba was sure what he and Naruto were supposed to call each other, but he was going to stand by whatever that relation was firmly.

"And if we are?" Kiba replied, inclining his chin slightly and silently informing Sakura that he was not afraid of her challenge.

Sakura's body tensed slightly, as if she were returning the subliminal challenge too. She didn't get a chance to respond though, because Lee took it upon himself to react to Kiba so dramatically that both Shikamaru and Chouji, previously too preoccupied to care what Sakura and Kiba were talking about, became interested in the conversation too.

"Oh! You two are engaging in the youthful union of love!" Lee declared, making Kiba blush slightly. "The only thing I must say is that you should be careful and safe," Lee instructed, nodding his head seriously at Kiba. "When you—"

Everyone could sense things going in a very uncomfortable direction, so they all pitched in on shutting the man up before he could say anything too inappropriate or embarrassing.

"Woah!" Ino piped up.

"Lee!" Sakura admonished simultaneously.

Chouji laughed in amusement, "Yeah, no one wants to hear about that, buddy."

Shikamaru patted Lee's shoulder, shaking his head. "Just let this one go Lee."

"What?" Lee asked innocently. "I only meant to counsel him about the throes of passion between two—"

"Okay!" Kiba cut in quickly, waving his hands at Lee to shut the man up. "How about we talk about that in private some time?" he suggested.

Lee shrugged. "You guys can be very weird at times," he mumbled.

Everyone looked at him incredulously, even as he went about casually eating his lunch again, seemingly none the wiser to their gaping stares.

"Thanks Lee," Kiba said awkwardly, wishing to show appreciation for Lee's attempt to be supportive. Even if he tended to word things very weirdly, Kiba was thankful that Lee was at least trying to show some solidarity.

Lee nodded and smiled brightly, and then Kiba looked back at Sakura. She was already over Lee's weirdness—in fact, everyone was—and had taken to toying with her food idly. She might not have addressed the subject of Naruto again, but Kiba just couldn't leave it be, not with such a negative attitude about it radiating from her body. He disliked the atmosphere she put around Naruto's name, and he wanted to squash it here and now.

"Are you gonna question Naruto forever?" Kiba asked, annoyance clear in his tone. "He's not a psychopath y'know."

Sakura looked up from her food at Kiba, vacancy morphing into a very serious expression. "He did disappear for a while with no explanation," she pointed out.

"He came to school," Kiba countered.

"Yeah, but we never saw him outside of class," Sakura retorted. "Like he suddenly got too good for us."

"You know that's not the case!" Kiba quietly exclaimed.

"Do I?" Sakura rebutted. "Maybe that's not what's up, but something is up and I don't like not knowing what it is. He was acting really strange before just cutting us off to. What about when he got that really bad wound but refused to let me even see it? Yeah, I'm not doctor, but I just wanted to tell him whether or not he should get it checked out seriously. He wouldn't even let me do that! Isn't it weird to not trust your friends that way?"

"You hardly knew him then," Kiba pointed out.

"So?" Sakura scoffed. "I still don't like it! And I don't even wanna get started on whatever the hell happened with him and Sasuke," she added exaggeratedly.

"What's Sasuke gotta do with anything?!" Kiba snapped.

"Hah!" Sakura barked. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed. "The way they acted together. They way they both fell off the grid at the same time. You know Sasuke doesn't even come to school anymore, right? He's dropped out, and Naruto practically did too! You don't think there's something going on between them that you don't know about?"

Seeing the words really dig at Kiba's composure, Ino jumped in. "She's just worried about you is all. None of us want you to get hurt, even if that means we have to argue against Naruto's integrity."

Kiba scoffed, crossing his arms haughtily. "I've known Naruto and Sasuke longer than all of you," he pointed out. "I know what's happening in their lives even if you don't. "

"Then tell me," Sakura demanded. "If you don't want me to be so critical, explain it to me."

"It's not my business to tell."

"Whatever," Sakura said sharply, looking down to scowl at her food again. "If you're gonna bitch about me being a good friend, then I won't be a friend at all."

Kiba was just about to launch into a tirade about how shitty a friend to Naruto she was being when the devil himself made his presence known.

"I have returned," Naruto said brightly.

With the focus mostly shifting to Naruto and away from Sakura, Ino leaned in a whispered something in the woman's ear. Sakura just shrugged the blonde off her shoulder irritably and grumbled, "Shut up."

When Ino resigned to leaving Sakura be, she saw Kiba watching her and smiled sadly, shrugging helplessly.

Naruto's only greeting was a distracted wave from Chouji and a half-hearted grunt from Shika, who was playing some game on his phone intently and had been pointedly refusing to engage in the conversation about Naruto at all. He listened, but quietly so. Naruto could sense that everyone was feeling awkward with how to shift from the tense mood Sakura had created to greet him naturally, so he just pretended he didn't know what was going on and used his bright energy to lift them all up.

Of course, Naruto hadn't missed what had transpired while he was gone. He was even able to eavesdrop on some of the conversation once he'd exited the Student Union building and some of the din had died down. He was resolved to be unfazed by it though, and he wanted to encourage Kiba to do the same. He sat down cross-legged beside Kiba, close enough for his knee to constantly be touching the brunet. When Kiba finally acknowledged his return, Naruto smiled softly and handed the man his food, lingering after the styrofoam box was taken to brush Kiba's hand and then knee in turn to silently urge the man to relax.

Naruto took it on as his duty to smooth the mood between his friends, since it was he who always seemed to be the cause of turbulence. He was able to tune into them all and immediately understand how to orientate himself to quickly shift them all back into a comfortable mood. Focusing on so many people at once kept him from being able to focus on any on person too deeply though, so he was unable to decipher the disturbance in Kiba's energy. The brunet was opening up to the light atmosphere that Naruto was bringing, laughing and talking when appropriate, but there was something niggling that would not smooth away. This bothered Naruto. He wanted to know what it was, to help make it go away, but he just didn't have the skill necessary to multitask that much yet. All he could do was try to be more affectionate throughout their meal in an attempt to placate his friend.

The rest of their time spent together passed with relative ease. Sakura's mood never lifted, but everyone was able to largely ignore her with Naruto constantly assessing their auras and making automatic accommodations to keep the atmosphere at ease. Still, though, Naruto was no expert at working people this way. This was among his first cracks at trying to take the energy he could feel around people and manipulate it, so it was no wonder that Ino kept getting slightly off track and trying to engage in conversation with Sakura again. Shika and Chouji were entirely unaffected by her bad mood, and Kiba was devoutly latching on to Naruto's lead, but neither Lee nor Ino could ignore her bristling attitude so easily.

Eventually, it just became too much for Ino to bear. It was clear to Naruto that the two of them were very close friends, even if they always seemed to be bickering. Ino couldn't help but be affected by Sakura, and she decided that she simply didn't like the mood anymore. Not knowing what she could possibly do to shift Sakura's spirit, she decided to just leave. She softly announced that she had something to do before her next class and took a quick leave. Moments later, Lee suddenly had something important to do too. Ino paused, having heard Lee's announcement that he was leaving, and waited for the man to fall in step with her.

When Sakura finally stopped scowling at the ground, she caught a glance of sad commiseration between the two before they turned their backs and simply left. Sakura's glare as they retreated slowly melted into an expression of disbelief, as if she couldn't believe they were honestly upset with her. Her gaze flickered to Naruto after a long moment, but the blond was already watching her expectantly. He silently assured her that, yes, he knew why they were leaving and, no, it would do her no good to just let them go with. Eventually, Sakura sighed irritably and stood, grabbing her bag to rush after her friends.

"Wait for me!" she called out to them, and their obliged.

Before leaving though, she turned back to Naruto, who'd already turned his attention to Kiba. She flicked him on the side of the head, gaining his attention once more.

"Call me later, okay?" Sakura requested. "I wanna hang out, just you and me."

Kiba shot her a warning glare but she paid it no mind. Naruto could feel it emanating from Kiba heavily, so he reached over and casually touched Kiba's knee in comforting. Sakura's eyes darted to the contact, but Naruto didn't back down in any way. If this was Sakura's problem, then she'd have to get used to it, because Naruto wasn't going to halt everything with Kiba on the account of her doubts.

When her eyes darted back to his, he just smiled and nodded. "Sure thing Sakura."

Sakura was clearly satisfied with Naruto agreeing, but she also wasn't sure how she felt about that gesture toward Kiba. In the end, all she could do was turn and walk away. Kiba looked over his shoulder to watch her go, narrowing his eyes and almost cursing her aloud for how easily she melted back into an amiable persona as she approached Lee and Ino, slinging her arms around both their shoulders. The energy between the three shifted so easily that it pissed Kiba off. Why was she so hell bent on muddling up the atmosphere when Naruto was around? What was her fucking problem?

Naruto could feel Kiba's unease, so he leaned in close and whispered, "Sneak away with me."

Kiba detached his blazing gaze from Sakura to look at Naruto, who was so close that their noses brushed as Kiba turned his head. He was powerless to deny, so he just smiled and nodded agreeably. Chouji was none the wiser and Shika was totally unconcerned with their happenings, but Naruto opened his mouth to voice an excuse for their leaving anyway.

"Don't wanna know," Shika said dully, not even looking up from his phone.

"Huh?" Chouji asked, looking up from the food he'd been devouring.

Shikamaru waved him off dismissively and Chouji promptly returned his attention to his meal. Shika flicked his glance up at to friends only momentarily. "Just don't be late for class," he warned Naruto, since their next class was together.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto answered, pleased that at least the dynamic with Shika was always easy.

Naruto and Kiba then stood and grabbed their things. They carried their trash to the nearest trash bin and then Naruto set their course for the largely unused paths of the university that strolled through the more nature-oriented parts of the campus.

"Where we going?" Kiba asked.

Naruto looked at Kiba and smiled, taking his hand boldly and intertwining their fingers. "To a safe place."

Kiba raised a questioning brow. "What's that mean?"

Naruto's smile turned into a mischievous grin. "You'll see," he said, shrugging as they crossed into the mouth of the path.

Nature slowly closed in around them and hid nearly all traces of the urban city they were really standing in. After a couple minutes of content silence, at least on Naruto's behalf, Kiba finally spoke.

"Are you really ready for this?" Kiba asked softly, looking at Naruto as if the answer were the very core of his being.

Naruto looked over at Kiba. He'd expected this. Kiba had been ruminating since Sakura's talk with him and once Naruto freed himself of everyone enough to focus on Kiba again, it became clear what was plaguing the brunet. Naruto didn't have an answer for that, so instead he suddenly pulled Kiba off the path and into some tall shrubbery.

"The fuck?" Kiba questioned, raising his free hand to cover his face before he was pulled onto the other side of the greenery.

Naruto grabbed his bag before he could even make sense of where they were and pushed him up gently against the wall of a building that had been mostly hidden from the path by the surrounding foliage. If one looked up enough, they'd obviously see the building walls. But the path still created the illusion of being in the woods, as if the buildings just beyond the relatively dense greenery didn't actually exist.

Kiba automatically recognized that they were very adequately hidden, so no one would stumble upon them easily. Still, he was a bit uneasy when Naruto zoned in on his neck and started kissing feverishly, feeling that the area was still too public for such intimacy.

"Naruto," Kiba complained in quiet worry.

"Hmm," Naruto hummed in acknowledgement, finishing his path and claiming Kiba's lips before the other could really launch any complaints.

Kiba could only melt into the embrace after that, and it became very heated very quickly. Try as he might, Naruto felt hard pressed to suppress the sexual beast that had been rising in him lately. Much as he wanted to be slow and careful with Kiba, there was always this need that reared its head. It was a hunger that had nothing to do with his lovelust. He was just ridiculously horny.

When Naruto's fingers slipped under the hem of Kiba's shirt, the brunet whimpered softly, feeling a slight shock pass between them. "Naruto," he murmured softly, turning his head just enough to disengage their lips. "Pause," he breathed. "Please."

Naruto groaned, nuzzling back into the man's neck and nipping. "Talk to me," he invited. "I'm listening."

"Naruto, I... just..." Kiba paused, panting. "I can't focus."

"S'okay," Naruto whispered. He reached down to grab one of Kiba's thighs and lifted it slightly as he nestled Kiba's other thigh between his own two and pushed forward with purpose. "I hear you anyway," he murmured, his second hand gripping Kiba's hip firmly as he rolled his hips. "There's nothing to feel insecure about," he promised, lifting his lips to nip at Kiba's ear and causing the brunet to whimper in defeat. "Isn't it clear how much I want you?"

Kiba's rising desire halted. Was that what this was? Kiba should've known.

Naruto had become able to read him seamlessly, almost as if he were in Kiba's actual mind. Kiba knew that bijuu had psychic tendencies. They could tear apart the past, present, and future as they wished. If Naruto tried, he could read anybody's mind. Kiba hadn't realized that Naruto was progressing so quickly in his abilities. Or maybe he was just so close to Kiba that something like that came naturally.

That was the problem though. Kiba didn't know! He didn't know how truly close they were, and Naruto knew that too. This was his way of trying to reassure Kiba. This was his solution, but that sort of irked Kiba. Instead of giving Kiba the emotional reassurance he wanted, Naruto thought something as fleeting as physical touch could do it. Naruto felt the shift in Kiba's energy and sighed, stilling himself and letting his head drop to Kiba's shoulder.

"I want you for more than your body."

"I know," Kiba said surely.

"You just don't think I know," Naruto pointed out.

Kiba sighed, taking Naruto's head in his hands and guiding it so that they could lock eyes. He shook his head solemnly. "No, I don't."

"How can I prove it to you?" Naruto asked earnestly.

For a long pause, Kiba thought about his answer. Naruto knew it was coming before it did. "Eat," Kiba said simply.

Naruto said nothing. He just remained totally silent. That was the one thing he couldn't do.

Kiba sighed, looking away. "I know it. You won't."

"I can't," Naruto corrected. "Kiba, I can't control my appetite."

"You've been getting better in every other way but that," Kiba pointed out, sounding defeated.

"So what?" Naruto argued. "What the hell does me being hungry have to do with us?"

"It means you're not you!" Kiba exclaimed softly. He looked back into Naruto's eyes. "You aren't healing. It kinda hurts me to be with you when I know you aren't even really you yet. For all I know, this is just lovelust gluing you to me."

Naruto had to recognize that such an idea could be true. Truly, this whole thing could be because of lovelust, but he wouldn't say that out loud. Hell no. That'd just shatter what little stability they'd built together. He had already resigned to letting this just be what it was, so he wasn't gonna ruin it by opening his mouth. Not yet. It'd only just begun.

"What should I do, Kiba?" Naruto reiterated. "Give me something I can actually complete."

Kiba frowned. "There's only one thing you can do, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes grew hard and he pulled away from Kiba, stepping back and saying, "No." His voice took on a serious, low tone.

"Then you can't be with me," Kiba said. He could see the fall in Naruto's eyes, paired with a defeated slump in his posture as he covered his eyes with his hands and tried to rub the frustration out.

"You would beckon him here?" Naruto asked, looking up at Kiba again.

"To figure out your true feelings, yes," Kiba said softly. "You need to know, Naruto."

"No!" Naruto snapped. "I know what I feel now. Isn't that enough?"

"But you don't know how true it is," Kiba argued exasperatedly.

"It's as true as I feel it!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kiba paused before suggesting softly, "Or is it as true as I feel it?"

Naruto growled in frustration and turned his entire body away, putting his hands on his hips and kicking at the ground idly as he tried to squash the irritation in his body and think of a productive way to mend this fracture between them. Kiba was sure though. There was only one way to fix what had been broken between him and Naruto, and it was nothing Naruto could do on his own. It was something Naruto had to do with with...

"Sasuke," Kiba murmured, not at all surprised by the way Naruto snapped his head toward him sharply, "come to me."

"What're you doing?!" Naruto practically yelled.

Before the words even fully left Naruto's mouth, their privacy had been stolen away. Naruto clenched his jaw tightly, the look in his eyes darting noncommittally between betrayed, hurt, and surprised. Naruto tried to ignore the unwanted presence behind him—Sasuke had come so eagerly, too eagerly—to focus on Kiba, but his entire being couldn't help to gravitate that way. Hid body moved on its own, turning and twisting and pulling him into Sasuke. His eyes wavered, shifting to glance at the man in his peripheries despite how much he tired to keep focusing on Kiba.

Kiba didn't need to see more. He was nothing special—just a measly human surrounded by the supernatural—but he didn't need to be anything unique to understand that there was huge unfinished business between Sasuke and Naruto. Even as Naruto consciously tried to detach himself from Sasuke, the raven pulled at Naruto's being with an invisible force. Not only was it clear that Sasuke still wanted Naruto, and was staking quite the possessive claim against Kiba too with his hard eyes, but it was clear that Naruto had never been ready to move on from Sasuke either. What he and Kiba had been doing was avoiding, but Naruto could not avoid something that was thrust in his face.

As Sasuke stood behind the man Kiba had thought he'd come to love, there was no questioning the fact that Naruto was not open for the taking. He had been taken a long time ago, and Kiba had never really even had him in the time between. To stay here was just torture at that point, so Kiba grabbed his bag to swiftly go.

"Kiba! Wait!" Naruto exclaimed, slightly shocked but mostly annoyed when something stopped him from crossing the threshold of greenery after his friend. He turned and yanked his wrist free of Sasuke's grip.

"Let him go," Sasuke said nonetheless.

Naruto's eyes slit into a narrow glare. "Let him be hurt? Let him be alone?" He scoffed. "No."

Again, he turned to hurry up and leave. But, again, Sasuke had stopped him before he could go. This time, he couldn't yank his hand free, though he did put quite a bit of force into the attempt at escape.

"Let him find peace," Sasuke corrected.

Naruto stopped his wriggling lone enough to snap, "What's that mean?!" before starting right back up again.

Knowing Naruto's anger to be a muffle for his pain, Sasuke said softly, "His feelings for you are about as honest as yours are for him."

"How would you know?!" Naruto snarled, refusing to look at Sasuke's face again, if only to hide the ever-intensifying emotion seeping onto his own.

Sasuke sighed, stepping forward and attempting to gently lift Naruto's chin so that their eyes could meet. Of course, Naruto jerked his face out of reach and turned his back on Sasuke entirely, though his hand was still caught in the man's grip. His free hand was clenched at his side in a fist, his shoulders trembling.

"You two weren't meant to be. Trust me, Naruto," Sasuke said calmly, trying to be gentle with his wording.

"Trust you?" Naruto laughed, though his voice was tight and restrained. "You're the last person I could trust, Sasuke." He paused for a second to be confused by all the emotion he felt in his body, likely originating from more than one being.

"What should I do?" Sasuke asked. He released Naruto's hand, which Naruto just let fall limply at his side. Thinking this vulnerable moment could be his doorway back into Naruto's life, Sasuke added, "Direct me, Naruto."

Without pause, Naruto replied, "I want you to fuck off and go."

To be continued...