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Kankuro had moved to take a seat on the couch in the room as Kiba remained where he had been, still grinning that type of grin that made Kankuro want to remove his teeth individually without any form of pain killer. Though that idea could simply be the sadist in him rising up, the point was that he knew he wasn’t going to do it. Not only would his conscious not allow him to hurt someone in such a brutal way that hadn’t threatened his life first (or consented to it) but Kiba was right. Since Gaara had become Kazekage and had that grand meeting with Tsunade a few years ago there was a peace treaty between the two lands. However, why only his offense was counting here was beyond him so he decided to humor the little punk and hear what he had to say.
The Inuzuka was clearly feeling the heat of being in control as he shifted his crossed arms slightly more and leaned against the door frame he stood in. He wasn’t sure if it was just being able to control something or knowing he had cornered not just Kankuro, but someone older, tougher, and that out ranked him that made him suddenly feel in the spot-light of a foreign kind of attention. Kiba’s Chuunin Rank was a shot below Kankuro’s Jounin one and even if one was right below the other that was for a good reason. Kankuro’s skills cut it for the tough requirements for the Jounin rank; Kiba’s didn’t, not yet at least. So something about holding the strings to the other, no pun intended, was already making his bad day good.
“What do you want?” Kankuro repeated, sitting in the same way on the couch as he had been on the balcony except not leaning back. The position screamed ‘Leave me the hell alone’ but Kiba hadn’t come here to talk about Kankuro’s choice of sitting positions.
“A favor,” he said. Kankuro snorted in a manner that implied blowing the idea off and that made Kiba drop his grin and glare slightly. He had never cared much for being brushed off for anything by anyone; Kankuro was no different. The Inuzuka boy finally moved from his position to sit in the chair that was opposite Kankuro and over the table. He glanced at the large wrapped form on the table with slightly weary eyes. The real Kankuro wouldn’t have been in there right? Why am I being so paranoid? He can’t attack me anyway; he isn’t stupid.
“What kind of favor would you want from a foreigner that you can’t get from someone in your own village?” Kankuro asked in a tone that subconsciously reminded Kiba of how his hands moved when he used the puppets. It was a tone that implied maneuvering; gracefully moving around in a way that appeared to not make any sense yet was really luring the prey into a vulnerable position. He had seen him use that attacking method on Sakon and Ukon and already knew that people’s attacking styles could resemble their personalities. Kankuro was sure Kiba would have to be careful; he didn’t doubt he could outsmart some loud mouthed kid.
He did his best to ignore the sly questioning and the way the annoyed green eyes of the Jounin watched him like he was waiting for a slip up. He couldn’t help but notice the almost predatorial look in Kankuro’s eyes as he elaborated on his situation. He explained about the trip and the insulting and his master plan as well as the part he wanted Kankuro to play in it. He noticed, for whatever reason, how telling Kankuro something was much different from telling Shino. He knew, had he gone to Shino with this plan, he would have been set with the same furrowed brow over the same round glasses. Where Shino’s face remained the same, Kankuro’s moved and seemed to acknowledge what he was saying.
His green eyes and furrowed brow reflected an intense anger as he mentioned the words ‘fag’ and ‘faggot’, he seemed amused at some of the things they had said about his friends and him aside from those insults. A painted brow would quirk in question at certain spots and Kiba could easily pick up on the hint to elaborate on a bit more. The Inuzuka wasn’t sure at all why he continued to relate Kankuro back to conversations with Shino (who had his own silent language that Kiba took a full year to learn) but he continued to do it anyway. He settled it on the excuse that linking it back to Shino gave him some indication of how Kankuro was unfamiliar territory; it reminded him to tread lightly.
“So, you want me to go with you and your family on this trip to the middle of no where to prove to a bunch of kids they were right?” Kankuro asked as Kiba finished explaining. Kiba, who sat with both his legs bent up in the chair, shifted a little so he could growl at the offending face across from him. Kankuro couldn’t help but find it amusing how Kiba’s nose wrinkled and when he growled he really growled, it wasn’t just an implication in his tone it was a completely different sound all its own.
“No, I want you to go with me and my family on this trip to the middle of no where to make a bunch of kids think they’re right so they’ll leave me alone. If they think they’re right and I don’t make a big deal out of it then it won’t be funny anymore,” he corrected through clenched teeth. Kankuro stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankle, slouching more in his seat on the couch. He couldn’t help but think that it was exactly what he had said except Kiba seemed to think he was fooling those kids in his version where he was really just fooling himself. At least that was Kankuro’s opinion on the situation.
The brat’s plan couldn’t have been any more amusing or any more complicated; it was like some of the stories he heard people telling their kids. They completely ignore the simple solution to take on some complicated mess of a plan and insist on trying it that way. Not only that, but in the end the simple solution is what really works and the characters end up finally going with that. It was one of the reason he hated kids; everything always had to be such a pain in the butt with them. It was a waste of air to tell stories about a bunch of idiots and a waste of a perfectly good day to run around with a bunch of non-sense in your head. Then again, he was told he was too cynical about things and needed to lighten up; maybe something about being beaten by his father for much of his life affected this. Not that he was one to wallow in his own self pity really – he didn’t blame his dad for that of all things. No, that was just another personality trait of his.
“And why would I do this? I don’t owe you anything.”
“Because I’m blackmailing you,” Kiba said after a moment. The taste of those words on his tongue was a strange sensation. He had never really blackmailed anyone before; it was a really cheap way to get something. Sure, sometimes he threatened Shino and Hinata with things playfully but they were his friends and therefore it was different. He would never have told anyone the secrets those guys shared with him, but this was a different situation and Kankuro wasn’t his friend.
“That’s pretty dishonorable of you, kid,” Kankuro said, raising his brows in an amused expression as a smirk threatened the edges of his dark painted lips.

Not many people just came out to proclaim they were blackmailing someone, this kid obviously didn’t know the meaning of finesse. Where was the ‘because you don’t have a choice’ line or the in control ‘I’ve got you’ look? ‘Because I’m blackmailing you’ just didn’t have any sense of style, this was definitely his first time. It was almost a startling realization that not every family blackmailed each other like his had.
“I’m not a kid and you deserve it anyway.”
“For what? Punching you? You ran into me first, what makes you think that isn’t pay back?”
“I wasn’t watching where I was going, you should have been paying attention.”
“Hell of an excuse,” Kankuro mumbled, rolling his eyes. He stood up and pulled Karasu off the table to lean the puppet against the wall out of the way. He could hear Kiba moving behind him, almost like he thought he was going to walk out and forget about it. He was certain now, obviously this kid had never blackmailed anyone; he should take lessons from Temari.
“I know you care if you get in trouble around here. Gaara’ll have your ass on a tray if you screw up in this village; we both know it Kankuro,” Kiba growled from behind him. Kankuro chuckled slightly and shook his head as he stood Karasu up against the wall.
“Yeah? And what makes you think I care?”
“What?”
Kankuro heard Kiba move before Kiba heard him and he was able to turn around quickly enough to dodge the claw aimed for his shoulder and catch it in a firm yet somehow delicate grip. It was as though his fingers were constricting but without the intent to bruise and just because that intent wasn’t there didn’t mean that it couldn’t be. Kiba felt another hand at his throat and as he moved to step back from it Kankuro followed through. His lower back hit the back of the couch but Kankuro continued to push on his neck in a threatening display of force, leaving Kiba to arch back over the edge at an awkward angle.
His grip wasn’t stopping Kiba’s air-supply or stopping him from screaming, but for one reason or another he didn’t. It was a pride issue, he had always been able to handle himself for the most part and when it became life or death then he would give up. This situation couldn’t have been that way, Kankuro wouldn’t have really killed him over this, so he didn’t scream. His other hand moved to grip tightly at the cloth on Kankuro’s side. There wasn’t anything he could do with one claw – Kankuro would be able to start suffocating him before he got a decent swipe in. Of all the times to leave Akamaru outside.
“If you’re going to blackmail someone, make sure they can’t call your bluff. Also make sure they don’t outrank you,” Kankuro coolly remarked down to the pinned Inuzuka. Threads of charka circulated through Kiba’s hand and soon he could feel the sting of claws delving for the skin of his side but he didn’t move; it didn’t hurt enough. He leaned forward over the other and pressed his stomach along the line of Kiba’s, searching for that bruise. He knew when he found it because Kiba gasped and grimaced under the weight, his body giving a quick jerk.
The familiar surge of pain swept over Kiba’s body from the stomach outward, like a sting but moving into a soft ache. The warmth of Kankuro’s body lined along his increased the speed of that pain as it circulated throughout much of his body. He felt the heat go to his cheeks and gripped tighter at the other’s side, but what for? Did he want Kankuro closer or for him to pull away? He jerked his head back and away from the hand on his neck and stifled a quick outcry as he wretched his body slightly. Kankuro pressed even more down on him increasing the two things he didn’t want increased at that very instant; the pain and the heat.
“Get off!” He snarled and charka coursed through his body to his three most used areas in battle; claws, fangs, and nose. His head whirled with the same scent of Kankuro that he had from yesterday; sweat, dry heat, and his facial paint. Not only that but he could he smell the other’s break fast and his increased adrenaline; he could pick up the faint scent of excitement along the body pressed so close against his own. Then suddenly it was pulled away as Kankuro drew back and let Kiba slide down to the floor. His claw reached to steady him on the couch and ended up scratching four lines down the back of it as it was let go and his other being forcefully yanked from where it was on Kankuro.
The Jounin stood a few feet back, one hand placed on the wall and the other fisted firmly at his side. He watched Kiba with bright aware eyes as the dog nin tried to catch his breath, slumped on the floor with his hands on either side of him. There was no denying it now; that kid definitely had something freaky about him. He swallowed and regained his composure, relaxing both his hands and the fingers twitched slightly as though testing that he was alert. They seemed ready to move in the same dances they would do when he was maneuvering his puppets but Karasu remained still against the wall.
Kiba moved his hands up to his lap and rested them on either thigh for a moment, attempting to catch his breath. Too many things to think about were cluttering his mind and straightening them out was only serving to annoy him more. Embarrassment and nervousness clutched at his gut with the intensity to kill and the strong scent of Kankuro swam in his nose. He wasn’t sure when his body had started quivering ever so slightly but he prayed that his large gray jacket was enough to keep it from Kankuro’s view. He heard the other chuckle at him as he managed to regain his own composure where Kiba could not.
Calm down, Kiba. Calm. Down. Kiba chanted the familiar mantra in his head and brought his hand up to his mouth. Without a second thought he sank his charka amplified fangs deep into the side of his own hand, piercing flesh with a familiar burning sting. Blood welled to the surface and dripped down the skin of his hand as well as the edges of his mouth. The pain and metallic scent of blood seemed enough to focus him and it brought his thoughts centered once again. His hand convulsed slightly like a captured prey but he continued to hold onto it with his sharp teeth, letting the grip of something in his jaws and the pain in his hand calm him back down again. It had worked for ages, one of the few tricks his father had taught him.
Oh, that’s right. He did that at the Chuunin Exams two years ago too, to level his head. I had the back up evidence I needed all along. Kankuro mused, his mouth curving into more of a smirk as he looked down at the feral child. Kiba’s breathing was returning to him and the minor convulsions Kankuro had caught seemed to be ceasing. The last time he’d seen Kiba do that, it had been in the middle of a fight where he was riled up and wild as it was. Apparently this kind of thing had the same effect on him even though Kiba didn’t seem to realize it. He didn’t even seem to realize he had just bitten his own hand either. He glanced away from the other towards the balcony; could Akamaru smell the blood? He didn't think for a minute that Kiba came to see him without bringing that dog along.
“You’re one strange kid, I’ll give you that much.” Kankuro said after a moment, “Alright, I’ll help you out.”  He looked back to Kiba and noticed the boy was looking up again but the look made him stop once more. His slitted eyes leered out from between the mess of brown hair and his hand held firmly in a trap of fangs and a clenched jaw. As the blood leaked down the side of his hand Kankuro felt the look scream something at him, it was wild, yes, but it was like the sort of look one might see in a particularly mean dog. Yet somehow it didn’t make Kankuro think he was going to be attacked, more like Kiba was ready for an attack. More ready than he should have been with Kankuro standing such a safe and non-threatening distance away, “Hn, what’s with the look?”
He watched as Kiba eased his hand out of his mouth with a strange wet sound because of the blood. It dripped down his hand and soaked into the material of his pants; Kiba looked at his hand almost like he thought about licking the vital liquid away but instead swiped the back of his sleeve over his blood painted mouth, “Nothing.” He pulled himself to his feet with some help from the back of the couch and pulled his hand back into his sleeve, using his other hand to hold the gray material tight over the newly acquired bite marks, “If you want to help you’re going to have to meet my mom.”
“Great, she bite herself too?” Kankuro asked as he headed towards the bathroom. Kiba lifted his face up to glare at the retreating form and followed, mostly for lack of anywhere else to go he, told himself. Kankuro turned on the faucet and turned around to pull Kiba towards the sink but the other drew back with a surprising swiftness. The Jounin smirked, “You’re pretty alert for someone who’s only real injury is from himself.”
“Shut up. I can do it myself,” he snapped in reply and jabbed an elbow into Kankuro’s gut as he passed. He thrust his hand under the hot water and sharply sank his canine tooth into his lip to keep from yelping as it burned the wound.
“You always hurt yourself like that?”
Kiba had just snatched the soap when the question came a tad abruptly and he dropped it into the sink. He moved his eyes to the mirror while Kankuro shifted more into view behind him, still smirking something conceited that Kiba wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. Kankuro watched his nose wrinkle in distaste and he distracted himself by scrubbing the wounds in his hand. This kid really was something else and for once it was a something else Kankuro couldn’t completely place his finger on. He was, however, completely pleased with himself for being right about Kiba enjoying pain.
“I’ve done it ever since I was a kid,” Kiba said. Kankuro’s smirk slipped for a moment and something akin to gaping surprise replaced it as he looked for the other’s eyes in the mirror. They weren’t there; only the top of his head was visible with the way it was tilted down to watch what he was doing. He must have uttered some form of questioning sound because Kiba continued, “I always bite myself, I have ever since I was a kid. It’s just the only thing that gets me focused and calms me down when I’m…not focused or calm.”
The hesitation and jerky motions were all too obvious of a statement that Kiba might have been thinking something else. Once again Kankuro was left unknowing of what that could have been because he had seen two different instances in which Kiba had attacked himself. A fight and just now; the two were similar in nature but Kankuro had been careful not to hurt Kiba seriously. He leaned on the bruise but he wasn’t threatening him dangerously which left there to be an entire other world for Kiba to be talking about.
The dog-nin pressed a paper towel tightly over his hand as he turned around, face suddenly different from the way it had been over the past few minutes. He seemed amused and conceited the look he had arrived with earlier. The look that made Kankuro want to remove his teeth individually all over again, “So, you any good at lying?”
“What?”
“Our relationship seems to be built a lot around that question.”
The two left the room with Kiba filling him in on what Kankuro had already strongly suspected; dogs could smell lies and because the Inuzuka worked so closely with dogs they could pick the scent of lies. Tsume had used the charka-scent-amplifying move so often that her sense of smell had become naturally keener (though not so sharp that the move was rendered useless) and if Kankuro lied she would have a way of knowing it. As they got back onto the street, Kankuro shifted Karasu over his shoulder and Kiba called Akamaru from the ally. The great dog jumped up from where he had been lying to bound over to his owner and lick him on the cheek. Kiba hadn’t seemed to realize Kankuro’s shock until the dog went over to sniff him.
“W-What the hell? There’s no way this is the same mutt from before. He was a hell of a lot smaller last time I saw him. He can just eat your opponent now,” Kankuro scoffed. Akamaru tried to sniff at his face but he batted the dog away for Kankuro himself had never really cared for dogs, it wasn’t as though he hated them it was more just…well…he didn’t like them. He didn’t like most animals honestly and as he saw Akamaru he started to wonder why exactly he had signed on for this.
“I never really noticed that he’d gotten that big,” Kiba said with a shrug, brushing it off as though it was no big deal. To him it really wasn’t, he had spent day and night with Akamaru so the dog’s growth to such a size wasn’t completely a shock to him. But he could understand where other people, who hadn’t seen Akamaru in some time, may have been surprised, “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Right,” Kankuro sighed and kept his stride up with Kiba’s, “So, what’s my story exactly?”
“Story?”
“You’re joking. You want me to lie but you don’t even know what I’m lying about?”
“Huh, never really thought of it,” Kiba mused and stopped walking. He scratched a hand through his brown hair and shifted his slitted gaze towards the sky. Kankuro slapped a hand over his face in disbelief that was, surprisingly, targeted more at himself for thinking an idiot like Kiba could have come up with a decent plan, “Just tell her you’re a friend of mine. I mentioned that you showed up to save me in that fight a while back so she’ll at least have heard of you. She won’t like the plan but I think she’ll go along with it.”
“Are you serious?” Kankuro realized how stupid the question was the instant he asked it because of the look Kiba gave him. The kid seemed completely confused, like the idea of some secrecy about things like this was a completely foreign concept. It took Kankuro a few minutes to realize that his family was the weird standard, not Kiba’s. “Right, so the only lying is pretending I actually keep company like you?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Kiba replied. Kankuro thought he had been home free until that tanned face of his shifted to something more resembling a snarl, “Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘company like you’?”
“What do you think I mean?”
“You’re such a prick, you know that?” Kiba shouted.
The Jounin smirked and moved forward to catch Kiba by the front of his jacket and pull him close; apparently the movement was unexpected because Kiba’s eyes immediately widened. He put his hands on Kankuro’s and threatened to dig his nails in, Akamaru growling at his side but unwilling to move without command, “You’re going to make this boyfriend thing really tough, aren’t you kid?”
“I’m not a damn kid, put me down Kankuro!” Kiba snapped. Suddenly he was yanked forward surprisingly close to the Sand-shinobi’s face and his eyes met with dark green. He had never really been close enough to Kankuro to notice his eye color or give it much attention. For some strange reason he always assumed they were black or that he never opened them in the first place. However, suddenly being so close allowed him to notice that they were, in fact, a very dark green. Darker than any other shade of green he could remember seeing in another person or nature.
Kankuro watched as, for whatever reason, Kiba’s eyes dropped from their locked gaze to descend southward. They flicked over his painted nose and cheek markings and landed directly on his dark decorated mouth; or at least his top lip. Kiba’s hands were still tight over his own in mid threaten as though Kiba had forgotten why he even put his hand there in the first place. Kankuro’s eyes moved down as though trying to follow Kiba’s gaze but he was well aware he was incapable of looking at his own lips. He watched Kiba visibly swallow and was unable to refrain from widening his smirk. Kankuro’s lips parting slightly to reveal white teeth must have broken some trance because those eyes shot up again and Kiba yanked out of his grip.
The Inuzuka spoke first, dropping his hands and clenching them tightly at his side as he turned around to keep walking, “Stop doing that.” His voice was almost a harsh whisper, but loud enough that Kankuro could hear it.
“Doing what?” Kankuro asked with words that alluded towards an innocence he didn’t throw in his tone. Kiba’s hands moved up to tug at his own messy hair as he shook his head, shoulders tightening and letting out a low, frustrated scream.
“That! Knock it off! You’re unbelievable!” Kiba jumped at the feeling of Kankuro’s hand on his side and expected the other to come up on his left but Kankuro more slyly slipped towards his right. He smirked over Kiba’s shoulder and slipped his other hand down to rest on the Inuzuka’s hip. Kiba froze as though someone had pressed the cold blade of a kunai against his neck.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Kankuro chuckled low in his throat as he moved to slide around the teenager and continue walking in the direction they had been going. It was true that he didn’t know his way to the estate but Kiba was bound to snap out of it in a few minutes.
“Dammit, Kankuro!” the teenager shouted after him as he ran to catch up. Kankuro tucked his hands safely in his pockets and kept walking; being the innocent little foreigner that he was.

Persuading Tsume hadn’t been as easy as Kiba made it sound, she kept shooting looks at Kankuro that didn’t seem like she trusted him. He also noted that when he opened his mouth and he wasn’t suppose to or said something wrong he got a look from Kiba. She hated the idea too, but in some weird way she seemed to have understood what Kiba planned on doing. It took some convincing and work from him for her to agree with it and when she did she seemed to regret it.
She pointed out how she and Hana didn’t know Kankuro and this gathering was for people close to them. Kiba argued that Kankuro had saved his life and it was rude to tell him that he couldn’t come (Kankuro had to act like he wanted to go). Most of the time Kankuro remained just inside the doorway to the living room, waiting to answer questions with a “Yes ma’am” “No ma’am” or some other  variation of response that showed a respect he wasn’t sure he even had. But in the end it worked and that was all that really mattered.
Nearly two hours later, Kankuro was walking back to his inn room with Kiba still at his side, boasting about how he had managed to make it work. His arms were tucked behind his head as he gloated and leaned back partially, Akamaru barking replies that Kankuro didn’t understand and would have thought himself insane for if he had. After about fifteen minutes of hearing Kiba talk to the stupid dog about what had happened he grabbed the boy by the elbow and pushed him into a wall; this of course earned him a shout and bark in annoyance and high tension.
“Listen, you may have gotten away with this ‘friendship’ thing with your mom but I’m not going to half-ass it on this trip. If I’m losing weeks worth of missions for you and your pride then it’s going to be worth my while,” Kankuro sneered. Kiba’s eyes had started wide but narrowed at being cursed at and told his own plan back to him.
“Yeah? And who said I was going to half-ass it?” Kiba snapped in reply. The painted lips he had been so distracted by a few hours ago turned into that all-too-pleasant smirk again. Kankuro’s body pressed against his own sharply, probably eclipsing it entirely from other people on the street. He fisted his hands in the front of Kiba’s jacket which left him unable to move or get in a good enough hit to knock Kankuro away. His face returned to that intense closeness once more and Kiba’s slitted eyes were up again, lost in that forest of dark green.
Akamaru barked but didn’t move; once again Kankuro could feel that sense of safety in the fact that he was doing something right. Something that kept Kiba from being nervous enough or tense enough to make Akamaru attack him. He had yet to fully figure out what that something was but it involved being close enough to feel the heat of the other’s body through his black clothing. It involved Kiba being able to pick up his scent without needing to enhance his nose and it involved that burning ache of a firm weight against the bruise on his stomach.
“If you chicken-out on me I’ll hurt you to the point you won’t even be able to enjoy it,” Kankuro’s voice rang in low and dangerous. Kiba felt something thick and nervous slide down his throat when he swallowed and something about his body felt entirely vulnerable. That heat was back in his cheeks, coursing along his body like someone was holding a candle close but not close enough to hurt him. The Jounin’s presence had something powerful and almost overwhelming about it, it was dangerous in a way that made Kiba feel something entirely unexplainable.
“I won’t chicken-out,” he shot back, almost surprised at how strong and challenging his voice was. It only served to make Kankuro smirk even more before pushing away, somehow managing to knock Kiba back into the wall he thought he had already been pinned to.
Without another word Kankuro continued back to the inn on his own; Kiba’s trip wasn’t for a few more weeks. He would need to return to Suna earlier than he planned and shift his requested vacation later to be able to make it. Gaara, as well as the others working at the Missions Office, weren’t going to be happy about this and he knew it. But his smirk stayed firmly in place as he continued walking back; he’d get away with it and he knew it. He was also confident that he’d be getting away with a lot more while he was on this trip.

Description
Kankuro had moved to take a seat on the couch in the room as Kiba remained where he had been, still grinning that type of grin that made Kankuro want to remove his teeth individually without any form of pain killer. Though that idea could simply be the sadist in him rising up, the point was that he knew he wasn’t going to do it. Not only would his conscious not allow him to hurt someone in such a brutal way that hadn’t threatened his life first (or consented to it) but Kiba was right. Since Gaara had become Kazekage and had that grand meeting with Tsunade a few years ago there was a peace treaty between the two lands. However, why only his offense was counting here was beyond him so he decided to humor the little punk and hear what he had to say.
The Inuzuka was clearly feeling the heat of being in control as he shifted his crossed arms slightly more and leaned against the door frame he stood in. He wasn’t sure if it was just being able to control something or knowing he had cornered not just Kankuro, but someone older, tougher, and that out ranked him that made him suddenly feel in the spot-light of a foreign kind of attention. Kiba’s Chuunin Rank was a shot below Kankuro’s Jounin one and even if one was right below the other that was for a good reason. Kankuro’s skills cut it for the tough requirements for the Jounin rank; Kiba’s didn’t, not yet at least. So something about holding the strings to the other, no pun intended, was already making his bad day good.
“What do you want?” Kankuro repeated, sitting in the same way on the couch as he had been on the balcony except not leaning back. The position screamed ‘Leave me the hell alone’ but Kiba hadn’t come here to talk about Kankuro’s choice of sitting positions.
“A favor,” he said. Kankuro snorted in a manner that implied blowing the idea off and that made Kiba drop his grin and glare slightly. He had never cared much for being brushed off for anything by anyone; Kankuro was no different. The Inuzuka boy finally moved from his position to sit in the chair that was opposite Kankuro and over the table. He glanced at the large wrapped form on the table with slightly weary eyes. The real Kankuro wouldn’t have been in there right? Why am I being so paranoid? He can’t attack me anyway; he isn’t stupid.
“What kind of favor would you want from a foreigner that you can’t get from someone in your own village?” Kankuro asked in a tone that subconsciously reminded Kiba of how his hands moved when he used the puppets. It was a tone that implied maneuvering; gracefully moving around in a way that appeared to not make any sense yet was really luring the prey into a vulnerable position. He had seen him use that attacking method on Sakon and Ukon and already knew that people’s attacking styles could resemble their personalities. Kankuro was sure Kiba would have to be careful; he didn’t doubt he could outsmart some loud mouthed kid.
He did his best to ignore the sly questioning and the way the annoyed green eyes of the Jounin watched him like he was waiting for a slip up. He couldn’t help but notice the almost predatorial look in Kankuro’s eyes as he elaborated on his situation. He explained about the trip and the insulting and his master plan as well as the part he wanted Kankuro to play in it. He noticed, for whatever reason, how telling Kankuro something was much different from telling Shino. He knew, had he gone to Shino with this plan, he would have been set with the same furrowed brow over the same round glasses. Where Shino’s face remained the same, Kankuro’s moved and seemed to acknowledge what he was saying.
His green eyes and furrowed brow reflected an intense anger as he mentioned the words ‘fag’ and ‘faggot’, he seemed amused at some of the things they had said about his friends and him aside from those insults. A painted brow would quirk in question at certain spots and Kiba could easily pick up on the hint to elaborate on a bit more. The Inuzuka wasn’t sure at all why he continued to relate Kankuro back to conversations with Shino (who had his own silent language that Kiba took a full year to learn) but he continued to do it anyway. He settled it on the excuse that linking it back to Shino gave him some indication of how Kankuro was unfamiliar territory; it reminded him to tread lightly.
“So, you want me to go with you and your family on this trip to the middle of no where to prove to a bunch of kids they were right?” Kankuro asked as Kiba finished explaining. Kiba, who sat with both his legs bent up in the chair, shifted a little so he could growl at the offending face across from him. Kankuro couldn’t help but find it amusing how Kiba’s nose wrinkled and when he growled he really growled, it wasn’t just an implication in his tone it was a completely different sound all its own.
“No, I want you to go with me and my family on this trip to the middle of no where to make a bunch of kids think they’re right so they’ll leave me alone. If they think they’re right and I don’t make a big deal out of it then it won’t be funny anymore,” he corrected through clenched teeth. Kankuro stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankle, slouching more in his seat on the couch. He couldn’t help but think that it was exactly what he had said except Kiba seemed to think he was fooling those kids in his version where he was really just fooling himself. At least that was Kankuro’s opinion on the situation.
The brat’s plan couldn’t have been any more amusing or any more complicated; it was like some of the stories he heard people telling their kids. They completely ignore the simple solution to take on some complicated mess of a plan and insist on trying it that way. Not only that, but in the end the simple solution is what really works and the characters end up finally going with that. It was one of the reason he hated kids; everything always had to be such a pain in the butt with them. It was a waste of air to tell stories about a bunch of idiots and a waste of a perfectly good day to run around with a bunch of non-sense in your head. Then again, he was told he was too cynical about things and needed to lighten up; maybe something about being beaten by his father for much of his life affected this. Not that he was one to wallow in his own self pity really – he didn’t blame his dad for that of all things. No, that was just another personality trait of his.
“And why would I do this? I don’t owe you anything.”
“Because I’m blackmailing you,” Kiba said after a moment. The taste of those words on his tongue was a strange sensation. He had never really blackmailed anyone before; it was a really cheap way to get something. Sure, sometimes he threatened Shino and Hinata with things playfully but they were his friends and therefore it was different. He would never have told anyone the secrets those guys shared with him, but this was a different situation and Kankuro wasn’t his friend.
“That’s pretty dishonorable of you, kid,” Kankuro said, raising his brows in an amused expression as a smirk threatened the edges of his dark painted lips.

Not many people just came out to proclaim they were blackmailing someone, this kid obviously didn’t know the meaning of finesse. Where was the ‘because you don’t have a choice’ line or the in control ‘I’ve got you’ look? ‘Because I’m blackmailing you’ just didn’t have any sense of style, this was definitely his first time. It was almost a startling realization that not every family blackmailed each other like his had.
“I’m not a kid and you deserve it anyway.”
“For what? Punching you? You ran into me first, what makes you think that isn’t pay back?”
“I wasn’t watching where I was going, you should have been paying attention.”
“Hell of an excuse,” Kankuro mumbled, rolling his eyes. He stood up and pulled Karasu off the table to lean the puppet against the wall out of the way. He could hear Kiba moving behind him, almost like he thought he was going to walk out and forget about it. He was certain now, obviously this kid had never blackmailed anyone; he should take lessons from Temari.
“I know you care if you get in trouble around here. Gaara’ll have your ass on a tray if you screw up in this village; we both know it Kankuro,” Kiba growled from behind him. Kankuro chuckled slightly and shook his head as he stood Karasu up against the wall.
“Yeah? And what makes you think I care?”
“What?”
Kankuro heard Kiba move before Kiba heard him and he was able to turn around quickly enough to dodge the claw aimed for his shoulder and catch it in a firm yet somehow delicate grip. It was as though his fingers were constricting but without the intent to bruise and just because that intent wasn’t there didn’t mean that it couldn’t be. Kiba felt another hand at his throat and as he moved to step back from it Kankuro followed through. His lower back hit the back of the couch but Kankuro continued to push on his neck in a threatening display of force, leaving Kiba to arch back over the edge at an awkward angle.
His grip wasn’t stopping Kiba’s air-supply or stopping him from screaming, but for one reason or another he didn’t. It was a pride issue, he had always been able to handle himself for the most part and when it became life or death then he would give up. This situation couldn’t have been that way, Kankuro wouldn’t have really killed him over this, so he didn’t scream. His other hand moved to grip tightly at the cloth on Kankuro’s side. There wasn’t anything he could do with one claw – Kankuro would be able to start suffocating him before he got a decent swipe in. Of all the times to leave Akamaru outside.
“If you’re going to blackmail someone, make sure they can’t call your bluff. Also make sure they don’t outrank you,” Kankuro coolly remarked down to the pinned Inuzuka. Threads of charka circulated through Kiba’s hand and soon he could feel the sting of claws delving for the skin of his side but he didn’t move; it didn’t hurt enough. He leaned forward over the other and pressed his stomach along the line of Kiba’s, searching for that bruise. He knew when he found it because Kiba gasped and grimaced under the weight, his body giving a quick jerk.
The familiar surge of pain swept over Kiba’s body from the stomach outward, like a sting but moving into a soft ache. The warmth of Kankuro’s body lined along his increased the speed of that pain as it circulated throughout much of his body. He felt the heat go to his cheeks and gripped tighter at the other’s side, but what for? Did he want Kankuro closer or for him to pull away? He jerked his head back and away from the hand on his neck and stifled a quick outcry as he wretched his body slightly. Kankuro pressed even more down on him increasing the two things he didn’t want increased at that very instant; the pain and the heat.
“Get off!” He snarled and charka coursed through his body to his three most used areas in battle; claws, fangs, and nose. His head whirled with the same scent of Kankuro that he had from yesterday; sweat, dry heat, and his facial paint. Not only that but he could he smell the other’s break fast and his increased adrenaline; he could pick up the faint scent of excitement along the body pressed so close against his own. Then suddenly it was pulled away as Kankuro drew back and let Kiba slide down to the floor. His claw reached to steady him on the couch and ended up scratching four lines down the back of it as it was let go and his other being forcefully yanked from where it was on Kankuro.
The Jounin stood a few feet back, one hand placed on the wall and the other fisted firmly at his side. He watched Kiba with bright aware eyes as the dog nin tried to catch his breath, slumped on the floor with his hands on either side of him. There was no denying it now; that kid definitely had something freaky about him. He swallowed and regained his composure, relaxing both his hands and the fingers twitched slightly as though testing that he was alert. They seemed ready to move in the same dances they would do when he was maneuvering his puppets but Karasu remained still against the wall.
Kiba moved his hands up to his lap and rested them on either thigh for a moment, attempting to catch his breath. Too many things to think about were cluttering his mind and straightening them out was only serving to annoy him more. Embarrassment and nervousness clutched at his gut with the intensity to kill and the strong scent of Kankuro swam in his nose. He wasn’t sure when his body had started quivering ever so slightly but he prayed that his large gray jacket was enough to keep it from Kankuro’s view. He heard the other chuckle at him as he managed to regain his own composure where Kiba could not.
Calm down, Kiba. Calm. Down. Kiba chanted the familiar mantra in his head and brought his hand up to his mouth. Without a second thought he sank his charka amplified fangs deep into the side of his own hand, piercing flesh with a familiar burning sting. Blood welled to the surface and dripped down the skin of his hand as well as the edges of his mouth. The pain and metallic scent of blood seemed enough to focus him and it brought his thoughts centered once again. His hand convulsed slightly like a captured prey but he continued to hold onto it with his sharp teeth, letting the grip of something in his jaws and the pain in his hand calm him back down again. It had worked for ages, one of the few tricks his father had taught him.
Oh, that’s right. He did that at the Chuunin Exams two years ago too, to level his head. I had the back up evidence I needed all along. Kankuro mused, his mouth curving into more of a smirk as he looked down at the feral child. Kiba’s breathing was returning to him and the minor convulsions Kankuro had caught seemed to be ceasing. The last time he’d seen Kiba do that, it had been in the middle of a fight where he was riled up and wild as it was. Apparently this kind of thing had the same effect on him even though Kiba didn’t seem to realize it. He didn’t even seem to realize he had just bitten his own hand either. He glanced away from the other towards the balcony; could Akamaru smell the blood? He didn't think for a minute that Kiba came to see him without bringing that dog along.
“You’re one strange kid, I’ll give you that much.” Kankuro said after a moment, “Alright, I’ll help you out.”  He looked back to Kiba and noticed the boy was looking up again but the look made him stop once more. His slitted eyes leered out from between the mess of brown hair and his hand held firmly in a trap of fangs and a clenched jaw. As the blood leaked down the side of his hand Kankuro felt the look scream something at him, it was wild, yes, but it was like the sort of look one might see in a particularly mean dog. Yet somehow it didn’t make Kankuro think he was going to be attacked, more like Kiba was ready for an attack. More ready than he should have been with Kankuro standing such a safe and non-threatening distance away, “Hn, what’s with the look?”
He watched as Kiba eased his hand out of his mouth with a strange wet sound because of the blood. It dripped down his hand and soaked into the material of his pants; Kiba looked at his hand almost like he thought about licking the vital liquid away but instead swiped the back of his sleeve over his blood painted mouth, “Nothing.” He pulled himself to his feet with some help from the back of the couch and pulled his hand back into his sleeve, using his other hand to hold the gray material tight over the newly acquired bite marks, “If you want to help you’re going to have to meet my mom.”
“Great, she bite herself too?” Kankuro asked as he headed towards the bathroom. Kiba lifted his face up to glare at the retreating form and followed, mostly for lack of anywhere else to go he, told himself. Kankuro turned on the faucet and turned around to pull Kiba towards the sink but the other drew back with a surprising swiftness. The Jounin smirked, “You’re pretty alert for someone who’s only real injury is from himself.”
“Shut up. I can do it myself,” he snapped in reply and jabbed an elbow into Kankuro’s gut as he passed. He thrust his hand under the hot water and sharply sank his canine tooth into his lip to keep from yelping as it burned the wound.
“You always hurt yourself like that?”
Kiba had just snatched the soap when the question came a tad abruptly and he dropped it into the sink. He moved his eyes to the mirror while Kankuro shifted more into view behind him, still smirking something conceited that Kiba wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. Kankuro watched his nose wrinkle in distaste and he distracted himself by scrubbing the wounds in his hand. This kid really was something else and for once it was a something else Kankuro couldn’t completely place his finger on. He was, however, completely pleased with himself for being right about Kiba enjoying pain.
“I’ve done it ever since I was a kid,” Kiba said. Kankuro’s smirk slipped for a moment and something akin to gaping surprise replaced it as he looked for the other’s eyes in the mirror. They weren’t there; only the top of his head was visible with the way it was tilted down to watch what he was doing. He must have uttered some form of questioning sound because Kiba continued, “I always bite myself, I have ever since I was a kid. It’s just the only thing that gets me focused and calms me down when I’m…not focused or calm.”
The hesitation and jerky motions were all too obvious of a statement that Kiba might have been thinking something else. Once again Kankuro was left unknowing of what that could have been because he had seen two different instances in which Kiba had attacked himself. A fight and just now; the two were similar in nature but Kankuro had been careful not to hurt Kiba seriously. He leaned on the bruise but he wasn’t threatening him dangerously which left there to be an entire other world for Kiba to be talking about.
The dog-nin pressed a paper towel tightly over his hand as he turned around, face suddenly different from the way it had been over the past few minutes. He seemed amused and conceited the look he had arrived with earlier. The look that made Kankuro want to remove his teeth individually all over again, “So, you any good at lying?”
“What?”
“Our relationship seems to be built a lot around that question.”
The two left the room with Kiba filling him in on what Kankuro had already strongly suspected; dogs could smell lies and because the Inuzuka worked so closely with dogs they could pick the scent of lies. Tsume had used the charka-scent-amplifying move so often that her sense of smell had become naturally keener (though not so sharp that the move was rendered useless) and if Kankuro lied she would have a way of knowing it. As they got back onto the street, Kankuro shifted Karasu over his shoulder and Kiba called Akamaru from the ally. The great dog jumped up from where he had been lying to bound over to his owner and lick him on the cheek. Kiba hadn’t seemed to realize Kankuro’s shock until the dog went over to sniff him.
“W-What the hell? There’s no way this is the same mutt from before. He was a hell of a lot smaller last time I saw him. He can just eat your opponent now,” Kankuro scoffed. Akamaru tried to sniff at his face but he batted the dog away for Kankuro himself had never really cared for dogs, it wasn’t as though he hated them it was more just…well…he didn’t like them. He didn’t like most animals honestly and as he saw Akamaru he started to wonder why exactly he had signed on for this.
“I never really noticed that he’d gotten that big,” Kiba said with a shrug, brushing it off as though it was no big deal. To him it really wasn’t, he had spent day and night with Akamaru so the dog’s growth to such a size wasn’t completely a shock to him. But he could understand where other people, who hadn’t seen Akamaru in some time, may have been surprised, “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Right,” Kankuro sighed and kept his stride up with Kiba’s, “So, what’s my story exactly?”
“Story?”
“You’re joking. You want me to lie but you don’t even know what I’m lying about?”
“Huh, never really thought of it,” Kiba mused and stopped walking. He scratched a hand through his brown hair and shifted his slitted gaze towards the sky. Kankuro slapped a hand over his face in disbelief that was, surprisingly, targeted more at himself for thinking an idiot like Kiba could have come up with a decent plan, “Just tell her you’re a friend of mine. I mentioned that you showed up to save me in that fight a while back so she’ll at least have heard of you. She won’t like the plan but I think she’ll go along with it.”
“Are you serious?” Kankuro realized how stupid the question was the instant he asked it because of the look Kiba gave him. The kid seemed completely confused, like the idea of some secrecy about things like this was a completely foreign concept. It took Kankuro a few minutes to realize that his family was the weird standard, not Kiba’s. “Right, so the only lying is pretending I actually keep company like you?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Kiba replied. Kankuro thought he had been home free until that tanned face of his shifted to something more resembling a snarl, “Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘company like you’?”
“What do you think I mean?”
“You’re such a prick, you know that?” Kiba shouted.
The Jounin smirked and moved forward to catch Kiba by the front of his jacket and pull him close; apparently the movement was unexpected because Kiba’s eyes immediately widened. He put his hands on Kankuro’s and threatened to dig his nails in, Akamaru growling at his side but unwilling to move without command, “You’re going to make this boyfriend thing really tough, aren’t you kid?”
“I’m not a damn kid, put me down Kankuro!” Kiba snapped. Suddenly he was yanked forward surprisingly close to the Sand-shinobi’s face and his eyes met with dark green. He had never really been close enough to Kankuro to notice his eye color or give it much attention. For some strange reason he always assumed they were black or that he never opened them in the first place. However, suddenly being so close allowed him to notice that they were, in fact, a very dark green. Darker than any other shade of green he could remember seeing in another person or nature.
Kankuro watched as, for whatever reason, Kiba’s eyes dropped from their locked gaze to descend southward. They flicked over his painted nose and cheek markings and landed directly on his dark decorated mouth; or at least his top lip. Kiba’s hands were still tight over his own in mid threaten as though Kiba had forgotten why he even put his hand there in the first place. Kankuro’s eyes moved down as though trying to follow Kiba’s gaze but he was well aware he was incapable of looking at his own lips. He watched Kiba visibly swallow and was unable to refrain from widening his smirk. Kankuro’s lips parting slightly to reveal white teeth must have broken some trance because those eyes shot up again and Kiba yanked out of his grip.
The Inuzuka spoke first, dropping his hands and clenching them tightly at his side as he turned around to keep walking, “Stop doing that.” His voice was almost a harsh whisper, but loud enough that Kankuro could hear it.
“Doing what?” Kankuro asked with words that alluded towards an innocence he didn’t throw in his tone. Kiba’s hands moved up to tug at his own messy hair as he shook his head, shoulders tightening and letting out a low, frustrated scream.
“That! Knock it off! You’re unbelievable!” Kiba jumped at the feeling of Kankuro’s hand on his side and expected the other to come up on his left but Kankuro more slyly slipped towards his right. He smirked over Kiba’s shoulder and slipped his other hand down to rest on the Inuzuka’s hip. Kiba froze as though someone had pressed the cold blade of a kunai against his neck.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Kankuro chuckled low in his throat as he moved to slide around the teenager and continue walking in the direction they had been going. It was true that he didn’t know his way to the estate but Kiba was bound to snap out of it in a few minutes.
“Dammit, Kankuro!” the teenager shouted after him as he ran to catch up. Kankuro tucked his hands safely in his pockets and kept walking; being the innocent little foreigner that he was.

Persuading Tsume hadn’t been as easy as Kiba made it sound, she kept shooting looks at Kankuro that didn’t seem like she trusted him. He also noted that when he opened his mouth and he wasn’t suppose to or said something wrong he got a look from Kiba. She hated the idea too, but in some weird way she seemed to have understood what Kiba planned on doing. It took some convincing and work from him for her to agree with it and when she did she seemed to regret it.
She pointed out how she and Hana didn’t know Kankuro and this gathering was for people close to them. Kiba argued that Kankuro had saved his life and it was rude to tell him that he couldn’t come (Kankuro had to act like he wanted to go). Most of the time Kankuro remained just inside the doorway to the living room, waiting to answer questions with a “Yes ma’am” “No ma’am” or some other  variation of response that showed a respect he wasn’t sure he even had. But in the end it worked and that was all that really mattered.
Nearly two hours later, Kankuro was walking back to his inn room with Kiba still at his side, boasting about how he had managed to make it work. His arms were tucked behind his head as he gloated and leaned back partially, Akamaru barking replies that Kankuro didn’t understand and would have thought himself insane for if he had. After about fifteen minutes of hearing Kiba talk to the stupid dog about what had happened he grabbed the boy by the elbow and pushed him into a wall; this of course earned him a shout and bark in annoyance and high tension.
“Listen, you may have gotten away with this ‘friendship’ thing with your mom but I’m not going to half-ass it on this trip. If I’m losing weeks worth of missions for you and your pride then it’s going to be worth my while,” Kankuro sneered. Kiba’s eyes had started wide but narrowed at being cursed at and told his own plan back to him.
“Yeah? And who said I was going to half-ass it?” Kiba snapped in reply. The painted lips he had been so distracted by a few hours ago turned into that all-too-pleasant smirk again. Kankuro’s body pressed against his own sharply, probably eclipsing it entirely from other people on the street. He fisted his hands in the front of Kiba’s jacket which left him unable to move or get in a good enough hit to knock Kankuro away. His face returned to that intense closeness once more and Kiba’s slitted eyes were up again, lost in that forest of dark green.
Akamaru barked but didn’t move; once again Kankuro could feel that sense of safety in the fact that he was doing something right. Something that kept Kiba from being nervous enough or tense enough to make Akamaru attack him. He had yet to fully figure out what that something was but it involved being close enough to feel the heat of the other’s body through his black clothing. It involved Kiba being able to pick up his scent without needing to enhance his nose and it involved that burning ache of a firm weight against the bruise on his stomach.
“If you chicken-out on me I’ll hurt you to the point you won’t even be able to enjoy it,” Kankuro’s voice rang in low and dangerous. Kiba felt something thick and nervous slide down his throat when he swallowed and something about his body felt entirely vulnerable. That heat was back in his cheeks, coursing along his body like someone was holding a candle close but not close enough to hurt him. The Jounin’s presence had something powerful and almost overwhelming about it, it was dangerous in a way that made Kiba feel something entirely unexplainable.
“I won’t chicken-out,” he shot back, almost surprised at how strong and challenging his voice was. It only served to make Kankuro smirk even more before pushing away, somehow managing to knock Kiba back into the wall he thought he had already been pinned to.
Without another word Kankuro continued back to the inn on his own; Kiba’s trip wasn’t for a few more weeks. He would need to return to Suna earlier than he planned and shift his requested vacation later to be able to make it. Gaara, as well as the others working at the Missions Office, weren’t going to be happy about this and he knew it. But his smirk stayed firmly in place as he continued walking back; he’d get away with it and he knew it. He was also confident that he’d be getting away with a lot more while he was on this trip.