Shadows and Fangs

Chapter 14

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Once upon a time at the academy, back when they still knew more about innocence than war, Iruka had given them a strange assignment.

"Imagine that the moon was going to crash down against the land tomorrow. Who would you want to spend your last day with?" he'd asked them with a grin – an oddly misplaced one, given the gloomy question.

Shikamaru remembered thinking that their teacher was visibly in a sullen mood despite his cheerful demeanor – looking back now as an adult, he honestly suspected a bad break-up – and that the hypothesis was baseless and stupid in the first place. The moon? Come crashing down towards them? Yeah right.

Now though, Shikamaru almost blamed Iruka and his forewarning gloominess.

He'd been a shinobi for some years at this point – going on eight, actually – and he'd seen all sorts of unbelievably crazy things, but even he'd had a hard time wrapping his mind around that one. Honestly, would they ever be able to catch a break? To make matters worse, they ended up on the moon where they had to race against the clock to rescue Hanabi, and then Hinata, all the while watching Naruto finally realize his feelings for his long-time admirer. Shikamaru was certain somewhere in Sai's library there had to be a novel with a similar amount of drama. Sai himself just looked at Naruto knowingly, as if waiting for him to figure it out – and how creepy was it that Sai was practically the most emotionally mature of them now, at least as far as relationships were concerned?

As a shinobi, time had always been a luxury during fights, but you were fighting against your own limits, fighting until you had no energy left; it was basically a race, with the victor being the one left standing. Taking all of that and adding an actual time limit before their home was destroyed felt really overwhelming. When he pulled out gloves to hide the timer, he told Sai that it distracted him and kept him from thinking about things rationally and he'd meant it, because he didn't see it as a countdown until their home was gone, he saw it as a deadline until their loved ones would be dead, and as a result he kept telling himself he should've brought Kiba along, damn it, because he couldn't lose him.

He should've never doubted Naruto though, because of course that man didn't know the first thing about giving up and pulled out his very best against impossible odds. Sai and Sakura successfully rescued Hanabi, with Hinata personally taking it upon herself to get her sister's eyes back – and Shikamaru had to admit it was quite satisfying how the usually gentle Hyuuga didn't even flinch at the task. They all eventually made it back safely through the portal, where Naruto and Hinata finally did what everyone had known they would eventually end up doing since they were kids.

"I would much more prefer if we headed back home quickly. As you can imagine, I'd rather be the one sharing a kiss at this time," Sai declared with a small frown after he figured that five minutes was an adequate time to give the new couple.

Shikamaru could've kissed him – figure of speech! – because he shared that sentiment, although with the way Sakura elbowed their friend, he was very glad he'd elected to stay quiet. So troublesome. Luckily for him, he had a trump card, as squad leader. "Hey Naruto! We have to get back to the village to report on our mission's achievement and also assess the situation – we know some pretty big rocks fell down," he yelled towards his friends.

Sakura frowned at him, seeing through his excuse but choosing to let it slide as she had to admit that it would be best for Hanabi to have a complete and proper examination – and well, knowing whether the village was intact was undeniably important! Naruto and Hinata seemed to share those views, so Sai stopped cradling his ribs long enough to summon ink birds to get them back as fast as possible.

That journey felt almost more irritating than the mad dash they'd been on when they left, but in effect it wasn't long until they were back – and noticed with a relieved sigh that the village seemed safe and sound – and whole. Sai landed them next to the Hokage and everyone around them cheered as Kakashi welcomed them back. The artist however wasted no time in going to Ino and kneeling next to her, reaching for her hands as she still had her chakra enhancer helmet on. She seemed to notice what he wanted however – or simply want it herself as well – because she smiled and pulled him to her lips regardless.

Shikamaru grinned at them and then turned to find his own lover. He quickly heard a familiar bark and sighed in relief as he saw Akamaru and Kiba, swiftly jumping over the barriers marking the limits of the Hokage's control center to get to him, not even hesitating for a second before wrapping his arms around him. And truthfully, it was only when he felt his body against his that he really felt like he was back home. "I'm glad you're alright," he mumbled against his lips.

"Hey, that's my line!" Kiba playfully protested as he pinched his cheek while his other arm held him close. "You were on the moon!" he added, barely believing that was even possible. He was satisfied not to smell blood though, meaning there were no serious injuries.

Shikamaru frowned and reached to grab his hand to stop him from abusing his cheek. "Yeah, and somehow, you always end up more at risk than me," he reminded him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm gifted like that," Kiba replied happily, smiling as the other man pulled him back to his lips. "Is Hanabi okay? And the others?" he then asked with a worried frown.

The Nara nodded at this, shrugging his head back towards their friends. "Yeah, she'll be okay – those Hyuugas are tough after all! And Hinata finally got Naruto to realize that she was more than a friend to him," he added with an amused roll of his eyes.

"No! Seriously?" Kiba exclaimed with round eyes. "That guy is so dense, I honestly thought the day would never come!" he muttered as he looked up ahead, although he couldn't see them – but for sure, their smells were close. "I'm really happy for Hinata – that idiot better not hurt her."

"I don't think we need to worry about them," Shikamaru noted evenly before sighing. "Come on – I think they can handle the rest without me – and if they can't, well they'll just have to wait," he muttered as he stepped to the side and tugged on his hand. He felt exhausted and just wanted to sleep for a whole day – maybe even two.

Obviously, Kiba had no problems with that. He honestly rather enjoyed being used as a pillow.

Naturally, as was always the case after the village experienced a near-destruction, the following days were full of briefings and debriefings and meetings and whatnot – and really, how sad was it that they were now used to near-destruction experiences and had a proper procedure put in place and all?

It put Shikamaru into a somewhat foul mood, because of course he was asked to attend, and of course those meetings were troublesome, but Naruto and Hinata were there too and they looked so happy it was decidedly difficult to remain annoyed too long.

Kiba for his part indulged him on his complaints but eventually had another official summon to respond to himself.

"Don't forget to sit up straight," Tsume muttered to her son as they made their way through the wide corridors. "And be confident when you speak!"

"Hanging onto your manners might be best while we're at it," Hana added from his other side, although as usual, she was infinitely more reassuring than their mother.

Kiba grinned weakly back at her and sighed one last time to steel himself. "I know how to handle myself! Sheesh, I'm not a pup anymore!" he muttered anyway for the principle. He knew he wasn't in trouble, not inherently so. But still, being summoned by the head of the clan was not something one should ever take lightly. He'd received the request barely a few days ago, and he had to admit that while he did feel slightly nervous, when it came down to it he was even more curious.

As they finally reached the designated room, he felt his mother and sister briefly place their hands on his shoulders before they all stepped in. Kiba sat directly in front of the head, Akamaru at his side, while Tsume and Hana sat a small distance back with their own canine companions, allowed in as family, but not to interrupt the talks.

"Huh. Well, you really did take after your father!" the woman before him declared with a huff as she closed her book and took a closer look at him, talking like she hadn't seen him in over a decade.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked despite himself with a curious frown. Sumire Inuzuka, current head of the clan, laughed and he felt himself relax slightly. He hadn't seen her much, not like this – hadn't had a reason to, really, and his clan was quite big in numbers, with their lands being consequently vast, territorially speaking. They were distantly related, as she was his mother's aunt, but it was true they weren't that alike, aside from their eyes and clan markings. She was however a very good reminder of how well the Inuzuka aged, as she definitely looked at least a decade younger than her sixty years – good news for him, he figured.

"Of course not! Diversity is the fun of life after all! In every sense," she added coyly as she studied him shrewdly, grin widening as he looked away despite himself. "So. Your Nara has been seen quite often on Inuzuka grounds, I hear," she finally stated, getting down to business.

Kiba frowned as he looked back at her – he'd thought it might be about his relationship, since he couldn't really see anything else she might've wanted to discuss with him personally, but it still caught him off-guard to be summoned over such a personal matter. "He visits me whenever he can," he replied simply, truthfully.

"Visitors are of course permitted; we're not recluse animals!" the head of the clan continued, huffing in distaste at the mere idea of shutting themselves out like some clans she knew. "But Shikamaru Nara has been spending quite a lot of time on our lands this past year – almost more than he has on his own clan's domain, some say," she noted factually, leaning back on a hand.

"A simple matter of privacy," Kiba replied evenly, figuring there was no use trying to deny it or defend himself – not that he felt the need to: as far as he was concerned they hadn't done anything that warranted any defense.

"Yes, I figured as much," Sumire replied with a sly grin, her canine companion huffing in amusement next to her. "Tell me, Kiba. Do you plan on marrying him? Is he to join our clan one day?" she asked after a very short moment spent gauging him. Her tone had been teasing until that point, but the grin was gone as she asked him this simple – but heavily loaded – question.

Kiba's eyes widened and he had to remind himself to close his mouth with a 'snap' before he continued gaping like an idiot. He really hadn't been expecting that. "Well, no—I mean yes—I—" he made himself take a breath to calm down and continued more steadily, choosing his words carefully. "If we'll marry, and if following that one of us will join the other's clan, then it's more likely that I would join his," he replied honestly. Although he and Shikamaru hadn't discussed marriage at all (and weren't in a hurry to), that much seemed obvious.

"That was my understanding as well," the head of the clan said simply. "But in any case, he should not be spending as much time as he has on Inuzuka clan grounds," she said pragmatically, not accusing or annoyed about it, just plain factual. "Rules apply equally to everyone, even one of the heroes who saved our village."

Rules that were originally put in place so that children wouldn't be born clanless, something that wasn't going to happen with them, he couldn't help but think to himself – but then again, they'd always wanted to be treated the same as any other couple, so he wasn't going to complain about this. To say that this was completely unexpected would be a lie, but at the same time, it was still jarring. "So…what? Basically, you're saying I should move out of the clan's territory if I want to keep spending time with him?" he asked her with a frown.

"That's up to you, really. What I'm actually saying is that his stays shouldn't exceed casual visits anymore – until you're married. And I assure you, this is not an attack on you or your choice of partner," Sumire stated seriously, leaning her elbow forward on her knee as she shrugged her chin towards Tsume and Hana. "Your mother was given the same warning before your father married into the clan, and so was your sister," she added matter-of-factly as she distractedly reached a hand to scratch her large brown dog between his shoulders. "We must all do our part to protect our secrets – that much I'm certain I don't need to tell you."

Kiba turned back to his family, feeling himself relax slightly as they nodded at him – and he abruptly wondered why he hadn't known that they'd gone through the same thing. And if he forced himself to get past the sting to his slightly-damaged pride, he realized this wasn't truly about him, but about the clan, and he couldn't go against that. "I understand," he replied evenly. Some clans simply barred their doors to outsiders, so he figured he should be happy they'd been left alone for this long.

"Excellent! I knew you would!" the head replied happily as she clapped her hands, informally signifying the end of the meeting as she stood.

Kiba and his family mirrored her and bowed respectfully before making their way back in relative silence. At least, he figured, for once they weren't being called out on their relationship for being both men. And yet, somehow he just felt ostracized by his own clan, and that left him a little more than unsettled, even though he understood why, and had even been expecting it at some point.

Still, it hurt more than he wanted to admit.

"She went easy on you – she asked me a bunch of creepy personal questions!" Hana informed him with a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He wanted to grin at her attempt to lighten the mood, but he didn't really feel like it. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked her instead. "Come to think of it, why didn't you ask me to be there for you at the meeting?" he wondered, trying not to be too childish in his hurt at having been left out of something as important.

"Oh, Kiba…you were in Suna at the time – otherwise of course I'd have wanted you there!" she quickly assured him as she moved a hand to ruffle his hair, and he immediately relaxed, feeling slightly embarrassed about his earlier reaction. "And then it felt weird to tell you that Aoba and I got married so he could sleep over freely!" she joked slyly.

Tsume just chuckled as she slung an arm around each of her kids' shoulders. "When I was summoned, she asked whether I was sure your father had the guts to be an Inuzuka! I guess she was right about that, but I insisted that at the very least he'd produce good kids, so I was right too!" she informed them buoyantly.

Kiba and Hana exchanged exasperated looks at this and just shut their mouths – past experiences had taught them that getting their mother started on that particular subject always ended up with them learning things no children ever had any business knowing about their parents.

"What do you say to lunch?" Hana blessedly interrupted Tsume cheerfully, knowing food would get everyone on the same page. Kiba looked at her thankfully and she laughed as she dragged them towards her house. Like they'd ever say no to spending time with little Kao!

As they left Hana's house a couple of hours later, Akamaru gently nudged his chest and Kiba grinned as he fondly ruffled his fur. "I know, I know, I'm overthinking this!" he said, grin widening as his companion barked his agreement. "Okay, let's find Shikamaru so he can take over the thinking part!" he added as he swiftly jumped onto his back, Akamaru letting out a howling bark and sniffing the air before taking off. He stopped in front of the Nara's favorite cloud-watching spot a few minutes later, and Kiba sighed as he got down with a pat.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as he saw them, but didn't move an inch beyond that. "Fancy meeting you here!"

Kiba rolled his eyes fondly as he walked to him, grinning as Akamaru trotted by to greet the other man, lying down next to him and whining like a big puppy as his ear was scratched. The Inuzuka huffed and sat down against his dog, grin widening as Shikamaru wordlessly moved to rest his head in his lap. "Bad day?" he asked because he knew coming to this place usually meant he wanted to avoid people.

"Nothing a good nap can't solve," Shikamaru assured him as he grabbed one of his hands and pressed it to his lips. "You?"

"I went to play with Kao. You know, not to brag, but I think she'll outshine us all in terms of awesomeness!" Kiba replied in a mock-conspiring whisper, Akamaru yapping his agreement.

A lazy grin was his reply. "She's certainly already got the Inuzuka volume covered…" he joked easily.

"There you go, talking like an old man again," Kiba teased fondly, leaning down to kiss him.

Shikamaru didn't waste a second before responding, and hummed happily as they parted. They returned back to their previous positions, but his eyes remained on Kiba, silently studying him even as he turned to chide Akamaru and a comfortable silence settled in. He acted lightly, as usual, but there was a slight tenseness in his movements. "What's bothering you?" he asked him knowingly.

Kiba raised an eyebrow at him, struggling to decide whether it would be worth it to try denying it – and finding it wouldn't, naturally. "Well, I had a little chat with my mom's aunt this morning, and she thinks you spend too much time on our lands," he said casually but without further ado.

Of course Shikamaru wasn't about to let that one slide. "Your mother's aunt? Wait a second…what?" he asked as he sat up, turning so they'd be face to face, frowning in realization. "You were summoned by the head of your clan?"

Akamaru yawned and Kiba scowled at him to thank him for his great support. "Well, she didn't say it badly or anything…" he started, wondering how to best word it. "It's just that non-clan members shouldn't be spending as much time around as you have." Yeah, that would do – no need to talk about marriage yet, he really didn't want to force things after all.

"Are you in trouble because of me?" Shikamaru asked him with a sigh, as that was the last thing he'd ever wanted.

"No, of course not! Apparently Hana got the same talk, that's why they expedited the wedding back then!" he informed him with a grin – even Akamaru growled in amusement.

Shikamaru chuckled at this, refraining from pointing out that Aoba had married into the Inuzuka clan, which had clearly placated everyone involved, but obviously wouldn't be the same for them. Not that they were stuck without any alternatives. "Well…the answer's simple enough," he started evenly with a shrug.

"That so?" Kiba asked back with a raised eyebrow, wondering what he was up to in anticipation.

"Sure. We get our own place. Away from both clan grounds, so neither of them can complain," Shikamaru replied as he looked back at him. "It'll make things easier anyway, right?" And they were practically already living together, with the amount of time he spent at Kiba's – so he reasonably couldn't argue the head of the clan's point.

Kiba frowned for a second before realization hit him and he grabbed his face between his hands. "I love you, you know that?" he asked with his usual grin.

"I hope so, otherwise this would be really troublesome," Shikamaru replied as he raised his hands to cover his wrists, thumb absently stroking the skin. Akamaru barked at this, and Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What did he say?"

Kiba rolled his eyes as he tugged on his dog's ears to annoy him. "That if we're gonna have celebratory sex later we should ty to keep it down because he's tired and he wants to sleep."

The Nara frowned as he looked at the nin-dog with something akin to resignation. "You used to be so cute," he deadpanned. Akamaru's response was to 'accidentally' swat his head as he wagged his tail.

"So am I actually banned from the clan grounds?" Shikamaru then asked curiously – after having absently yanked on Akamaru's tail in retaliation.

"Not as long as you keep your visits 'reasonably timed' – so no more spending the night I guess," Kiba informed him with a huff. "Which I suppose is a nice incentive to hurry and find a place of our own, because I'm not really fond of rushed sex, and I'm never doing it at your house again," he added with a shudder as he remembered the one and only time they'd slept together at the Nara household, and while he could swear they'd been quiet, even practically mute, the look Yoshino sent him when they saw each other the next day could have killed lesser men.

Shikamaru sighed with a wince as he wholeheartedly agreed with both points. Their eyes met and they both grinned as he moved to lean back against Akamaru next to Kiba – mostly to keep his toes away from the giant dog who wasn't above chewing them to make him pay for pulling his tail.

"Your mom's gonna kill us, isn't she?" the Inuzuka wondered as he leaned his head against his.

"Yeah, she'll likely try," Shikamaru confirmed with a lazy smile as he reached for his hand.

Akamaru whined and Kiba chuckled. "Yeah, that does make it more fun!" he agreed.

Fun. In a deadly way.

But what was life without fun?

On the Inuzuka side of the 'family', no one was really surprised that they'd be moving in together. Tsume noted it was an obvious evolution with a bored shrug, while Hana and Aoba promised to keep an ear out for available places with reasonable rent. Shino visibly looked torn, and simply fixed Shikamaru with his usual non-committal threatening look, but didn't say anything and agreed to Kiba's request to help him move, eventually. Hinata laughed happily at his antics, and promptly assured them that she and Naruto would also help.

Kurenai, who'd nicknamed herself and Mirai their 'shared relatives', simply pinched their cheeks and then made a show of empathizing with the 'poor, poor' Akamaru who had to live with them. He played right into her hands as always.

Chouji, if possible, was more excited than even they were themselves, and Shikamaru attributed that to him missing Karui and wanting to busy himself one way or the other. Ino, who'd moved in with Sai a couple of months prior, shrugged and asked them what took them so long before volunteering Sai for the move. She then discreetly promised Shikamaru she'd cook them dinner afterwards so they could relax some, adding a wink for good measure and swearing him to secrecy, because she liked that people thought her to be borderline evil.

And then came Yoshino…

And had that been anticlimactic!

"I'm moving out and in with Kiba," Shikamaru said.

"On the Inuzuka clan grounds?" Yoshino asked with a frown.

"No, in the village itself."

"Oh. I see." And she returned to her task – mixing together remedies.

"That's it?" he asked, the slightest bit disappointed despite his better judgement.

Yoshino snorted as she looked up at him. "What do you want me to say? 'Oh, Shikamaru, please don't go and leave your poor old mother all alone on her own!'" she asked mockingly before shaking her head with a chuckle. "You're twenty – it's about time you left the nest!"

"Hmm," was all he replied as he was strangely satisfied by her quip.

"Naturally, you can always come back if things get too tense," she added because she couldn't leave well enough alone.

Shikamaru didn't reply to that, knowing she was trying to annoy him on purpose – they were too similar, after all.

But that was that.

Word of mouth spread and little more than a month later, Kotetsu tapped Kiba's shoulder outside of the Hokage's office to let him know about a friend of his who was leaving her fairly spacious apartment to move to her future husband's clan grounds and was looking for someone to rapidly take it off her hands. As their only other viable option at that point belonged to a recently deceased shinobi (and no one wants to move into a dead person's apartment), they quickly jumped on the opportunity, and from that point on things moved quickly.

Shino, Hinata and Naruto helped Kiba and Akamaru, while Ino 'supervised' Shikamaru, Chouji and Sai's work over at the Nara household – under a very amused Yoshino's eyes. As she'd promised, Ino somehow managed to cook something in their honestly under-furnished kitchen, and a few bottles of booze turned up despite everyone doing their best to look puzzled as to where they came from.

Shikamaru and Kiba figured they could start apologizing to their new neighbors in the morning.

(And apologize they did, although luckily most of them were also shinobi and had either been on duty or understanding of their need to celebrate moving into a new place.)

So in effect, when it came down to it, living together didn't feel all that different.

Except that it was.

Kiba promised to never cook leeks and Shikamaru promised to actually cook, and somehow it worked out. They still had completely different schedules and assignments at times, but at least they saw each other even when that was the case, as opposed to how it was before. Shikamaru sometimes picked up Akamaru's brush and took care of the nin-dog of his own volition (and held one-way conversations like the old man he was inside), and Kiba eventually agreed to learn shogi (and displayed an uncanny ability for bending and stretching the rules).

When Tsume asked Akamaru how their 'two idiots' were doing, he barked back proudly and wagged his tail happily, and she laughed back loudly, clearly satisfied.

When Yoshino asked Shikamaru how things were going, she disliked his sly satisfied grin so much she cooked leeks the next time he visited and guilt-tripped him into eating them.

So all in all, things were normal. And they were different.

They were definitely good.

TBC

I'd like it noted that I personally have nothing against leeks. Not that I have anything for them, either.

I glossed over the details of the final movie, because frankly I didn't find it really good so I had no desire to rewrite it for the fic, but it should still be mentioned as things happened, namely Naruto and Hinata (finally, cause no one saw that coming all the way back from the first chuunin exam, yeah?) got together.

On that note, there will be a short break with updates while I finish up on the next few chapters. I've always viewed this point as a sort of 'end' to a 'Part I' in a sense! But I'm not dropping it, rest assured! There's plenty more to come!