Shadows and Fangs

Chapter 16

Random fact of the day: Every once in a while, I forget that I'm nowhere near physically fit and decide to go by bike that day. I rapidly remember the harsh truth and regret my decision, but then it's done, and I'm far away from home and I have to pedal back. This is such a day. I envy those shinobis' peak physical conditions!

As the Kages' meetings went on, Naruto continued to 'guard' Kakashi, unofficially and informally learning 'the trade', thereby allowing Chouji to have some free time he profusely thanked the Hokage for – repeatedly. On Suna's side, it turned out Temari was the one to accompany Gaara to the next meeting – to give Kankuro a much deserved and needed break – so he and Kiba were finally able to catch up later that afternoon.

"So, how bad was the break-up?" Kiba asked his friend with all the finesse of a charging bull and the curiosity of a five-year old.

Fortunately, Kankuro was well used to his straightforward way of talking to people, and only laughed at his bluntness rather than being annoyed by it – a fact Akamaru greatly approved of, letting out a satisfied whimper as he rested against his legs. "Eh, I'll just say this: we're not on speaking terms," he replied simply.

"Ouch," Kiba winced sympathetically. "You okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The puppeteer chuckled and reached to punch his shoulder slightly – it had always been so easy to talk together, that's why he was much happier with them keeping this friendship rather than risk it. "It stung a bit, I won't deny that. But I'm still young, plenty of fish in the sea and all that crap, right?"

"Right!"

"I mean you made a pretty good catch," Kankuro then noted simply, grinning slyly. "That started in Suna, didn't it? Your behavior after he left just makes sense in a whole new light when taking that into account…" he mused as he remembered the forced grins back then.

Kiba clucked his tongue absently and shrugged. "Yeah – it was a rocky start though. But we're really good now!" he concluded happily, Akamaru barking his agreement – and approval.

"Does he know about us?" Kankuro then wondered curiously.

The Inuzuka chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah! And it turns out he's actually really jealous – so fair warning: you'll get the stink-eye if and when you'll meet," he warned him seriously.

"Good to know…" Kankuro noted, more amused than worried. Unlike a lot of people, he'd never really thought that he'd need to keep an eye on the Nara on account of his sister, but he sure hadn't expected for their roles to be reversed! "Are you coming back though? To Suna?" he then wondered as he looked back up at his friend.

Kiba blinked in surprise at this, wondering where this question was coming from. "Why are you asking me that?"

The sand nin raised an eyebrow at him, tilting his head to the side. "I assumed Temari already told you she'd like you in her unit."

"Oh, that! Yeah, she made a comment…" Kiba admitted as he trailed off with a shrug.

"And?" Kankuro pressed regardless, not being fooled by his apparent nonchalance.

Kiba sighed as he looked at him and shrugged once more. "And I'm not leaving Konoha."

"Not leaving Shikamaru is more like it," Kankuro corrected with an amused smirk.

Kiba sent him an annoyed look at this but didn't deny it. "I'll be applying in Konoha's HQ though, so maybe I'll visit more often," he replied instead. He really hoped he would, actually.

Kankuro chuckled and held his hands up in surrender. "Make sure you do – Gaara misses Akamaru!" he informed him mock-solemnly.

The tracker and his nin-dog laughed at this, knowing it wasn't a complete lie. "I'm actually more worried about how the two of you are going to handle Temari's change of assignment!" he said teasingly, grin widening as his friend sighed deeply and his smirk turned upside-down.

"I'm already putting together a list of suitable replacements to act as bodyguards and advisors to Gaara – it's as painful as it sounds," Kankuro replied darkly.

"Well, it's not like anyone's ever going to compare to your sister," the leaf shinobi commented matter-of-factly.

"Don't let her hear you say that," Kankuro grumbled before raising an eyebrow at him. "And I was never there to hear you say it!" he added with a scowl.

"Say what?" Kiba asked back innocently, sharing another grin with him. Thinking about it now, and with Shikamaru's words at the back of his mind, he could see why his lover got jealous. He and Kankuro did have a really close friendship – and it felt natural, not the slightest bit awkward, even though they'd been lovers at some point, no matter how little time it actually lasted. He wasn't about to tone down his friendship with the other man, but perhaps he'd tone down his mentions of him or his enthusiasm at seeing him again. He figured it would be compromise enough.

In effect, whenever they had their meetings, the Kage spent more time traveling between the villages than actually attending said meetings. So they left Kumo at dawn on their fourth day, with Tenten, Omoi and Karui seeing them off at the village's eastern gate – and Chouji trying to put up a good front to the best of his abilities. After that, it was almost four days of travel back to Konoha – most of which saw Kiba and Naruto cheering Chouji up to the best of their abilities. They finally reached the village shortly before nightfall. Since it was late August however, the days were still long so in effect it was late evening already, and they therefore split at the gates and went their own ways.

Kiba grinned happily when he and Akamaru finally got within sight of their apartment, particularly as they could smell Shikamaru was home. Electing to surprise him – although he knew for a fact that Shikamaru was never surprised – he knocked on the door rather than letting himself in, and pounced happily once the other man opened it – with his arms held open and ready to catch him, proof that he wasn't really caught unaware. "Missed you!" he said against his neck anyway.

"Missed you too," Shikamaru replied as he closed the door and reached to pat Akamaru's head as he walked by him to go drink his fill in the kitchen. "All good?" he asked with a raised eyebrow – although he already knew the answer, because Kiba wore his emotions on his face, at least with him.

"Yep!" the tracker replied with a nod before kissing him, sighing in contentment against his lips. "All good…"

Shikamaru chuckled at him but only leaned in for another kiss, almost huffing when he pulled back to remove his gear. "So what was it about? The request to go as well?" he then asked him with interest as he walked to the kitchen where Akamaru was patiently waiting for a refill.

Kiba raised an eyebrow at him as he continued his task, amused by his curiosity. "The exchange program's evolving into a new division," he told him as he stretched his arms behind his back, moving his shoulder until he heard a satisfactory 'pop'.

"A division?" the Nara repeated as he refilled Akamaru's water bowl and set it down for him, absently rubbing his fur. "So it'll be much bigger then?"

Kiba hummed his agreement as he let himself fall down on the couch lazily. It smelled of Ino, he noted at the back of his mind, she'd probably visited – he hoped she'd brought cookies, but a few sniffs made him sigh in disappointment. Stingy. "Yeah. With headquarters in the five main hidden villages – a commander, a deputy, and a few captains to supervise the troops," he developed before grinning. "Suna's branch will be Temari's!"

"Now why am I not surprised?" Shikamaru drawled as he moved to sit next to him, letting the other man use his lap as a pillow for his legs. "How will it work?" he wondered curiously.

"As a separate administrative entity, specializing in cases that involve several villages – like missing nins from the blacklists, notably," the tracker replied, moving his hands about as though to illustrate his words. "It's the logical follow-up to the Shinobi Alliance, in a sense."

Shikamaru nodded his agreement as he ran a hand through his hair. "What stage is it in?"

"Oh, still very early! Once again, Suna will be the first test, so for now they're the only ones who know for sure who their commander will be," Kiba replied, thinking about Temari. "Surprisingly, Iwa will also start nearly at the same time. The rest will follow in the upcoming months. So yeah…that's what I'll be busy working on for some time!" he finished brightly as he looked up at him.

"So I see," Shikamaru noted in amusement. He was almost envious, because admittedly, change didn't happen all too often in their world, and working to implement a whole new division was something that, despite the fact that he was certain that it would not be easy, had to feel both challenging and rewarding in the end. "Can you tell me more details about the internal organization, or not yet?" he asked him inquisitively.

Kiba blinked as though surprised he'd be interested before grinning widely as he sat up and inched closer, keeping his legs over his so they'd be more face to face. "So as I said, it's going to have five headquarters, in the main hidden villages. In each HQ, the commander will be in charge of the troops, and mission assignment, as well as communication with the village's main office and Kage – that's why they figured that the commander should be from that same village. Then the deputy commander will basically be a back-up, and eventually also in charge of processing recruitments – and to balance it out, the deputy will be from another village," he explained passionately – he was really looking forward to that. "Then the rank and file will be from basically any and every village in the alliance," he finished with a shrug.

"You also mentioned captains before?" Shikamaru noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right! Well…down the road they're hoping to create specialized units – one for tracking, one for interrogation, one for spying and so on and so forth," Kiba continued with a hum. "Also, shinobi will be encouraged to move from one HQ to the other, to increase the collaboration, but the captains should ideally remain to guarantee a certain stability, familiarity with that village's way of working and a good continuity to mission assignment and completion," he explained. "As of now, they were thinking four captains per HQ – again, ideally of different villages, for balance's sake."

The Nara nodded his understanding as he mulled it over in his head. "If this works, I suppose at a certain point all missions will be routed through this division," he mused with a hum.

Kiba shrugged, not convinced. "A lot of missions remain 100% inherent to the village that receives them – despite alliances, if Konoha gets a request that only concerns the Land of Fire, possibly even in a delicate way, they're not going to involve other shinobi, right?" he reasoned rhetorically. "And that's without even mentioning all those D rank missions the genin get pelted with! The allied division will be an elite sort of thing, so no cat-sitting or fence-painting for us!"

"'Sort of thing'?" Shikamaru repeated with a raised eyebrow. "And you'd been talking so seriously…"

"Oh, shut up," the Inuzuka muttered as he clamped a hand over his lover's (smart) mouth.

Shikamaru chuckled and reached to pull his hand back – not without pressing a kiss to it first. "So what are your plans?" he asked him more seriously.

Kiba hummed as he absently scratched one of his cheeks with his free hand. "I'm going to apply for one of the captain positions – assuming they'll want a captain from Konoha in the first place," he told him.

Shikamaru nodded as it made sense – and he felt really proud. Without being too biased, he was certain that Kiba would make an excellent leader. "Have any names been thrown around for the commander's position?" he wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Not that they said," Kiba replied, frowning the slightest bit before looking back at him. "Do you think I have a good shot? At making captain I mean? Honestly," he warned as he saw him open his mouth to reply.

The shadow-nin chuckled and waited another few seconds to convince him he wasn't just trying to please him. "Yes. I've always told you I think you have what it takes to captain a team," he reminded him.

"Well," Kiba drawled. "I'll admit I always kinda figured you said that to keep getting into my pants," he teased him easily.

"It wasn't just to keep getting into your pants," Shikamaru assured him with a perfectly serious expression, cracking and chuckling with him before once more turning serious. "But I do mean it – and they'd be idiots not to see it," he assured him.

"I hope you're right," Kiba muttered before shaking his head in amusement and wrapping his arms around his neck. "Want to get into my pants now?" he offered innocently, because twelve days was way too long to go without.

"I thought you'd never ask," Shikamaru replied with a tsk as he let him push him down on the couch.

Akamaru made a sound that was between a snort and a bark to remind them that they weren't alone, and they pulled back sheepishly at that, turning to look at him apologetically.

"Sorry, boy!" Kiba said with a grin before he and Shikamaru shared a look and promptly relocated to their bedroom.

The nin-dog let out another huff as he rested his head back on his cushion, very glad he was as far from that door as possible – although that would do nothing for the smell, unfortunately. His humans were really inconsiderate, sometimes…

After the motion was presented to the council by the Hokage and successfully submitted to a vote, Konoha embarked on the road to starting the joint village rapid response elite division – or just Allied Division, for short. In effect though, the first priority was recruiting volunteers for Suna and Iwa's HQs, since they would be the first to be active. Given his experience with Suna, Kiba had been asked by Temari to be involved in the selection process, something he took quite seriously but was harder than he'd expected.

Tenten, having finished her exchange program with Kumo, surprised quite a few people by applying for Iwa, where she was promptly transferred and even promoted to captain as they were all too happy to recruit a kunoichi who was already familiar with two villages, and held excellent contacts with a third. Gai had cried tears of joy and pride and promptly renamed it the 'Division of Youth' upon learning this, and it had even pushed Lee to apply to join Konoha's future HQ.

Karui for her part was still in Kumo, but there weren't any doubts she'd eventually request a transfer to Konoha – Chouji didn't quite fit in the Cloud as she did in the Leaf, so they all knew it was only a matter of time. Until then, she and Omoi assisted from Kumo, and he even made the trip to the other villages at one point. He didn't apply for any of the command positions despite being asked to, because he'd really always felt more comfortable following than leading – and he had much more freedom and free time that way!

About five months after the Kage's meeting, Suna and Iwa's HQs opened within a week of each other, and less than a month behind schedule, to everyone's great satisfaction. Temari had taken a deputy from Iwa, while the Rock had a deputy from Kiri. In both, they had elected to wear the 'shinobi' forehead protector from the war, to signify that villages of origin did not matter, and it couldn't be denied that it greatly helped set an encouraging atmosphere.

With these two entities inaugurated and developing rapidly, the other villages quickly started refining their own rosters. Eventually, all promoted positions within the division would be based on a vote from that division's troops, but for the beginning, it had been decided that the Kage would assign a commander, and recommend deputies to the other villages, while the commander would choose the captains.

And so it was that a short month after the project was first pitched to them in Kumo, Kakashi informed the as-of-yet unofficial members of Konoha's Allied HQ that their commander would be none other than the famed (and feared) Anko Mitarashi. In all honesty, some did wonder if it was too late to request a transfer, while others, noting Kakashi's unusual cheerfulness, strongly suspected that he wanted to give her a bone to chew so she'd stop chewing him – clearly, it was every man for himself, whether they were at peace or not.

Gai was then named her cheerful assistant to even the odds – unofficially, since he was after all retired, but his experience couldn't be denied and yet again, many suspected ulterior motives from the Hokage.

Thus Konoha's HQ became informally known as the 'Grand Youth HQ'.

Kiba figured there were worse titles.

As he'd planned and once Iwa and Suna were launched, Kiba applied for a captain position in Konoha. Following that, and wanting to make his teammate and teacher proud, so had Lee.

"Of course, you have much more experience than me when it comes to other villages so it'll likely be you, but I would be very proud to be given this chance to prove myself!" the taijutsu expert told him with a bright grin (and nice-guy pose) after handing in his candidacy.

Kiba was eventually called into Anko's office for this the same day that he'd welcomed and escorted their new deputy commander, Maki from the Sand – someone he'd already worked with in Suna as she was often in Temari or Kankuro's units. When he asked her about her transfer, she simply said she needed a change – something he could always relate to. So once Maki was settled, he made his way to the commander's office, trying not to be too nervous.

It didn't help that she had the tendency to look at people the same way she looked at her food.

"Alright," Anko started once the door was closed as she sat back on her desk and looked him in the eyes. "We may not know each other well, Kiba, but I think you know that I'm someone who doesn't beat around the bush."

"Yes, that much is…public knowledge," he replied with a raised eyebrow, wondering what she was up to.

"So let's be blunt. Of all the applicants from Konoha for the position of captain, you're undeniably the most qualified," she declared as she crossed one leg over the other knee, leaning her elbows forward on it. "But," she quickly continued before he had enough time to grin, "I can't promote you."

To say that he was confused would be an understatement. "I'm not following you," Kiba admitted with a frown. "You just said I'm the most qualified."

"You are," she confirmed.

"But you won't promote me."

"I can't," Anko corrected, letting out a huff as she absently scratched the back of her head, ruffling her hair even more. "You were there at the beginning of the exchange program – I'm sure you remember how even the slightest thing could have huge ramifications," she prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. And? What ramifications are you talking about in our case?" Kiba asked back, Akamaru tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"This is a new organization – and as carefully as we plan it, in its infancy it will always be weak. We have to make it airtight, and that means its authority must not be undermined in any way or shape," the former examiner replied seriously, tapping her knee with her index finger. As he opened his mouth she added the real reason. "There's too big a chance that shinobi from Kiri and Kumo wouldn't respect your authority. That's a risk I can't take right now."

Kiba's frown deepened at this – Kiri and Kumo? Why those two? What could the Mist and the Cloud possibly have against him? Was he too close to Suna, maybe? Unless…no. It couldn't be that.

And yet…

It could only be that.

"I still want you in the division of course, that goes without saying," Anko continued matter-of-factly. "And the next time there's an opening, once we'll have more experience, you have my word your candidacy will be examined in priority – if you'll still be interested," she then added in what she figured was an encouraging tone.

"And you're not worried about shinobi from Kiri and Kumo refusing to follow my orders then?" he asked her with a huff, figuring two could be blunt. "After all, I'll still be in a relationship with a man at that time," he added with a pointed look.

"Yeah, but they'll know you by then," Anko replied simply, unfazed. "Look, having to tell you this isn't exactly the highlight of my day – and you're not the first I had to turn down for stupid reasons. As we speak, building these HQs is a crapful of politics and as a result, 'commander' is just a fancy title for now," she added with a huff, rolling her eyes to the sky. It was almost enough to make her consider quitting, really, but…one way or another, she wanted to make a difference, in a good way for once, and this was her chance.

Kiba held her look and resisted the urge to sigh. As she'd said, he knew her enough to understand she wasn't lying – heck, she didn't even need to tell him any of this, she could've simply said that all things considered, she'd decided to nominate this or that person instead of him, and that would've been that. But she'd been honest, he appreciated that. And from his time spent around Kankuro, he knew how many concessions 'politics' sometimes demanded from people in command positions.

"So who do you plan on nominating?" he asked her, because what else was there to ask, really?

When it came down to it, naturally, Kiba had to admit he was really disappointed. He'd felt drawn to that project from the start—heck, the exchange program was basically the skeleton for the Allied division, it was something he was inherently proud of, something he'd wanted to be a part of, and having a promotion denied because of his personal affiliations was hurtful and even humiliating, to a certain extent. It was also a first, and he figured he should consider himself lucky for that, because realistically that was bound to happen someday, right?

Without a doubt, he knew that Anko would keep that between them. People would still talk, because people always talked, but then again they'd have talked if he'd been promoted, too. He'd learned to ignore that long ago. He'd tell Shino, because he never kept anything from him, but the rest of his friends would just be told he was passed over in favor of someone else, period.

Besides, that someone was Lee, and Kiba really wasn't opposed to working under him. He had an infectious optimism that many shinobi truly lacked, and he deserved it, too. Lee didn't have annoying innate ninjutsu talent or a famous clan name, everything he was he owed to his own work and determination, and that was worth respecting. Furthermore, he'd known loss, and as painful as it was it actually made him more qualified than most to lead.

However there was no way he'd hide it from Shikamaru – firstly because he didn't believe in hiding things from him, and secondly because hiding things from him was close to impossible anyway. Yet just this once, he wished he could gloss over the details. Because there was no doubt that it would hurt him, no doubt that he'd blame himself, and he didn't want him to. "This sucks, huh Akamaru?" he asked his companion rhetorically.

Akamaru nodded once, nuzzling his hand reassuringly.

Kiba just sighed loudly before looking up, nose twitching at a familiar smell, lips pulling in a slight grin as his brother-in-law walked up to them. "Hey Aoba."

"Afternoon you two," Aoba greeted good-naturedly, cocking his head to the side as he looked over his shoulder – at the building that had been designed as Konoha's Allied division HQ. "Was that interview today?"

"Yeah," Kiba replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. The sensor obviously knew him well enough by then to get the outcome from his tone. "She settled on Lee, I can respect that," he immediately tempered with a shrug.

Aoba nodded slowly, not seeing any reason to contradict him on that, but still looking for something to say. The Inuzuka beat him to it however and his eyes widened at his question.

"Hey, Aoba, do you ever regret having married into our clan? I mean not that it's the Inuzuka, but marrying into another clan at all?" Kiba wondered with a frown. "Kao's still young now but when her training starts—"

"I'll feel left out?" Aoba finished for him, sighing as he wondered how to best word his reply, eyes trailing to the clan markings on his wrists. "Yeah, I think about that a lot. But it's okay; she's still my daughter, and you can be sure I'll work some sensing skills into her! Besides…well I really can't say that anyone in the clan has ever made me feel anything but welcome," he admitted honestly, and it was true – he was Aoba Inuzuka, and to the other members of the Inuzuka clan, it truly didn't matter that he didn't have a nin-dog by his side or wasn't born to them: he was one of them, case closed.

Kiba smiled automatically at this, proud of his clansmen, before sobering up as he returned to their conversation. "If we were in Suna, I'd even be given a shot at being deputy commander, if I wanted to," he started quietly. "And here…in my hometown…" he trailed off at this, not really sure whether he really wanted to say why he'd been turned down.

"What's really eating you, Kiba?" Aoba asked him seriously as he stepped closer.

"Relationships are built on compromise, right?" Kiba asked instead, looking up at him. "That means both careers can't be prioritized."

"Not if they'd pull you in different directions, no," the sensor agreed with a nod. "Is it your impression that it's what's happening between you and Shikamaru?" he then asked him quietly.

Kiba nodded back once, sighing as he didn't like complaining about things – it didn't really fix anything and only made you feel marginally better for a short moment – but just this once, he couldn't help it. "He's Shikamaru Nara of Konoha after all. He's never had to deal with any fallout for being with a man."

Aoba's eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he once more looked over his shoulder at the building, and then back at him. "Like being denied a promotion?" he clarified unhappily, huffing as the other man nodded mutely. "Well, that sucks," he declared eloquently, grinning slightly as his brother-in-law chuckled in amusement and raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you want to go to Suna?" he then asked him.

"Yes," Kiba admitted with a sigh.

"More than staying with Shikamaru?" he asked again.

"No," was the reply, said with such certainty that it somehow cleared everything up.

"Well, that's that then," Aoba concluded with a shrug. It was how he'd made his own decision to marry Hana and join her clan after all. You list the things you want the most, and then you see which you could or couldn't bear to live without – it was his experience that the answer will usually jump out at you on its own that way. "Will you tell him?" he then wondered curiously.

Kiba laughed brightly and yet again raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you ever tried hiding something from Shikamaru? He's got a built-in bullshit detector! Sex can usually distract him, but that only works for so long!" he huffed fondly.

"Huh," Aoba said in a non-committal manner. After all, from where he stood, the Inuzukas had their very own 'built-in bullshit detector' and were a lot shrewder than most people gave them credit for – which often proved to be a fatal mistake on their part.

Kiba just grinned back at him and gently punched his shoulder in gratefulness. "Thanks Aoba, I appreciate you listening!" he said earnestly.

The sensor frowned at this, waving a hand to dismiss his thanks. "Come on, we're family," he needlessly reminded him matter-of-factly, smiling as Akamaru barked something happily. "That's right, Akamaru!" he agreed easily.

If you couldn't vent with family, then who were you supposed to turn to?

TBC

In my experience there are few things as frustrating as being denied a position because of something completely unrelated to the job itself...