Fic: Something Different (Naruto, Ino/Kiba)
Title: Something Different
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Ino/Kiba
Author: Mysteron
Recipient: Sporebat
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: A conflict of interests forces Kiba and Ino to come to a compromise. (I love this pairing, but this was surprisingly difficult to write so I apologise in advance if this isn’t what you were looking for. I tried; I hope you like it!)
It all happened, like a lot of things did, on a mission. Living the life of a ninja, that wasn’t surprising: missions built trust, earned money, improved the village and lost lives. The situations they put Konoha’s ninja in were something a little out of the ordinary, something different and usually dangerous.
Not that Kiba had ever doubted his ability to face danger and kick its ass. They were old enemies, and he’d been beaten and occasionally scarred by their encounters, but he knew his own strengths. A mission like this was pretty basic stuff for a Jounin, danger or no danger. Piece of cake.
“I’ll have another beer.” He grinned at the pretty barmaid a few feet away and watched her turn to get him a second bottle. Shino was outside somewhere, keeping a few thousand eyes out for their target, and Hinata… he wasn’t really sure where Hinata was, which was weird in itself. Shino had taken control of this particular mission, all because of that one incident a few months back that should have been long forgotten, and he now refused to tell Kiba much of anything. (He’d tried to squeeze information out of him, but Kiba’s attempts had just shown him how impervious to torture Shino was -- even when he’d made good on his threats of Akamaru using his pillow as a toilet, Shino had revealed nothing.)
The bar wasn’t anything special; it was just like every other miserable place between Stone and Leaf, except that maybe the girls here were a bit better looking. The beer was okay at best, the company was surly, and outside the sky was making attempts at raining, more a fine mist than real rain. Their mark hadn’t shown his face, and Kiba was starting to think he wouldn’t any time soon.
The barmaid returned and placed a cold bottle of beer down on the bar, and Kiba handed her his money. If the guy they were looking for didn’t show his face before he finished this, then he’d leave. They could always try again tomorrow.
“-don’t think that’s a good idea.”
For a second, Kiba stared at his bottle, a thoughtful frown knitting his eyebrows. That voice sounded like someone he knew, but who…?
A girl with a familiar head of blonde hair moved silently past, and she spoke easily to an older girl; she moved more silently than any of the people here should have been capable of, and then it hit him. “Hey, you’re--!”
Before he could finish the exclamation, Ino had turned and shot him her most charming smile. “Yes?” she asked, cutting him off; Kiba fell silent.
Pretty convincing, he had to admit. To anyone else it would look like she was being unexpectedly bothered by some annoying guy, maybe someone who’d had too much to drink. She obviously wanted to keep her identity a secret.
But Kiba wouldn’t take that. Why should he look like a jerk for the sake of her privacy?
“Oh,” he said after a moment, leaning an elbow on the bar and swivelling on his stool so that he was no longer facing her, though he continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. “You looked cute from the back.”
The look on Ino’s face was murderous, but only for a split second. More quickly than anyone else could notice, the smile was back on her face and she was sauntering over to take the seat next to him. “I’ll forgive you for that,” she sighed, “but only if you buy me a drink.” She sat down with perfect poise, smoothing her apron over her lap.
“What if I don’t want you to forgive me?”
Ino rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t care what you want. I’ll have sake.”
Reluctantly, Kiba ordered her a sake from the same barmaid as before and watched the blonde out of the corner of his eye.
He and Ino had run into each other a few times in Konoha, but mostly it was without much actual talking. They were peripheral to each other’s lives -- he knew Shikamaru, she had been on a couple missions with Shino, they both talked to Naruto a lot. They had been at the academy together, but Ino had seemed more obsessed with her rivalry with Sakura and her crush on Sasuke to pay attention to much else. Being stuck on separate teams with no direct connections had just maintained distance, and they’d never gotten to know each other. And judging by what he’d heard from Shikamaru, that wasn’t necessarily a loss.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ino hissed at him as soon as the barmaid gave her a bottle and disappeared to the other end of the bar. “I’m trying to carry out a mission, and you come barging in!”
“Me?” Kiba looked indignant. Why was she angry at him? This wasn’t his fault, it was hers. “I’m on an undercover mission and you appear out of nowhere and surprise me! What the hell are you doing here?”
For a few seconds neither of them said anything. Then: “Whatever. I don’t have time for this,” Ino murmured, shaking some hair out of her eyes. “I’m supposed to be working.”
“You need money that badly? This doesn’t seem like your kinda place.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Hey, asshole, I’m on an infiltration--”
“You’re acting like I’m--”
“Shut up! Everyone’s looking!”
Kiba glanced around and, sure enough, almost every pair of eyes in the room was watching them as they squabbled in hushed voices. Feeling frustrated, he turned to give her an angry look. This wasn’t doing anything but making them both conspicuous.
“Well, I guess one of us will have to go for now,” Ino said with a sigh, and Kiba’s frown disappeared.
“Heh. Exactly what I was thinking.” Kiba took the last swig of his bottle and slammed it down on the bar, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “So! See you around. You’d better hurry, looks like it’s gonna rain.” At Ino’s raised eyebrows, he grinned at her. “I was here first.”
“No way. I work here. If I just disappear I’ll get fired, and the whole mission will be ruined.” Slowly, her glare dissolved into a soft smile; Kiba sat and suspiciously waited for what was coming next. Nobody gave up on something this important that easily. “Hey, you’re a guy. Be a gentleman and help me out.”
Kiba stared at her. “No.”
“What? Jerk!” Ino punched him pathetically on the arm; he knew she was capable of worse, but it seemed like she still wanted to keep up the pretence.
“Hey…” The tone of Ino’s voice made Kiba turn to look at her; she was leaning in towards him, her legs crossed and her hands on her lap, a few strands of blonde hair falling into her eyes. “If you help me out this once, I’ll owe you one.”
No way was she doing what he thought she was doing. Kiba had had interaction with girls before, plenty, but Ino was nothing like Hinata; she was more like the Inuzuka women, loud and brash and annoyingly stubborn. It was a real pain in the ass, but he had to admit that she was good looking, and if the situation had been any different--
No. There was no way he was going to lose to a cocky loudmouth like her. He wasn’t going to be made to look like an idiot who kept screwing up missions. “I don’t want any favours from you.”
Pouting slightly, Ino leaned in further and braced herself with one hand on his thigh. “There has to be something,” she purred, blinking slowly to emphasise the sweeping of her eyelashes. Kiba glanced down at the hand on his thigh, and couldn’t help but notice her nail polish flash as it caught the light.
“I said there wasn’t,” Kiba insisted, but she didn’t seem to even be listening. Before he had chance to protest any further, Ino had pressed her lips to his and kissed him quickly, nipping at his bottom lip before she pulled away.
“Fine. Then you don’t have to collect on it, do you?” she whispered, and got to her feet.
Confused, Kiba stared at her for a moment before-- “You pervert!” Ino screamed suddenly, and slapped him on the cheek, hard.
Even more confused, and suddenly angry and in a surprising amount of pain -- he’d been right, she could hit hard -- Kiba stood up, knocking his stool backwards. He was on the verge of retaliating when a large hand grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him backwards.
Wait, he was-- he was being thrown out? Kiba stared at Ino as he was dragged away; she winked and waved and then turned her back on him without so much as a second glance.
Pushed roughly out into the street, Kiba took a moment to collect his wits as the door slammed behind him. His head was ringing, both with the sting of the slap and the confusion of the past thirty seconds, and before he had chance to steady himself Shino had appeared in front of him.
“Kiba?” he asked, showing no sign of concern from behind his hood and sunglasses. “What just happened?”
“Shit,” Kiba swore, coming to the sudden, painful realisation that he had completely screwed up his team’s chances of spotting the target.
Shino was going to use this as an excuse to take charge of the next mission too, wasn’t he? Pressing a hand to his aching cheek, Kiba groaned. This was supposed to be a piece of cake: it didn’t even take much skill, and he knew he was more than capable of carrying it out without a hitch.
Except that now he was standing outside in the rain, under Shino’s scrutinising gaze, with nothing to show for his efforts but a reddening cheek and the memory of a kiss. Kind of an enjoyable kiss, but that wasn’t the point.
As Hinata made an appearance from around a corner, Kiba mentally kicked himself for dropping his guard. But at least this meant that Ino would be dropping hers, too: she thought she’d won, and victory made people careless.
He would definitely be collecting on that favour.
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Ino/Kiba
Author: Mysteron
Recipient: Sporebat
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: A conflict of interests forces Kiba and Ino to come to a compromise. (I love this pairing, but this was surprisingly difficult to write so I apologise in advance if this isn’t what you were looking for. I tried; I hope you like it!)
It all happened, like a lot of things did, on a mission. Living the life of a ninja, that wasn’t surprising: missions built trust, earned money, improved the village and lost lives. The situations they put Konoha’s ninja in were something a little out of the ordinary, something different and usually dangerous.
Not that Kiba had ever doubted his ability to face danger and kick its ass. They were old enemies, and he’d been beaten and occasionally scarred by their encounters, but he knew his own strengths. A mission like this was pretty basic stuff for a Jounin, danger or no danger. Piece of cake.
“I’ll have another beer.” He grinned at the pretty barmaid a few feet away and watched her turn to get him a second bottle. Shino was outside somewhere, keeping a few thousand eyes out for their target, and Hinata… he wasn’t really sure where Hinata was, which was weird in itself. Shino had taken control of this particular mission, all because of that one incident a few months back that should have been long forgotten, and he now refused to tell Kiba much of anything. (He’d tried to squeeze information out of him, but Kiba’s attempts had just shown him how impervious to torture Shino was -- even when he’d made good on his threats of Akamaru using his pillow as a toilet, Shino had revealed nothing.)
The bar wasn’t anything special; it was just like every other miserable place between Stone and Leaf, except that maybe the girls here were a bit better looking. The beer was okay at best, the company was surly, and outside the sky was making attempts at raining, more a fine mist than real rain. Their mark hadn’t shown his face, and Kiba was starting to think he wouldn’t any time soon.
The barmaid returned and placed a cold bottle of beer down on the bar, and Kiba handed her his money. If the guy they were looking for didn’t show his face before he finished this, then he’d leave. They could always try again tomorrow.
“-don’t think that’s a good idea.”
For a second, Kiba stared at his bottle, a thoughtful frown knitting his eyebrows. That voice sounded like someone he knew, but who…?
A girl with a familiar head of blonde hair moved silently past, and she spoke easily to an older girl; she moved more silently than any of the people here should have been capable of, and then it hit him. “Hey, you’re--!”
Before he could finish the exclamation, Ino had turned and shot him her most charming smile. “Yes?” she asked, cutting him off; Kiba fell silent.
Pretty convincing, he had to admit. To anyone else it would look like she was being unexpectedly bothered by some annoying guy, maybe someone who’d had too much to drink. She obviously wanted to keep her identity a secret.
But Kiba wouldn’t take that. Why should he look like a jerk for the sake of her privacy?
“Oh,” he said after a moment, leaning an elbow on the bar and swivelling on his stool so that he was no longer facing her, though he continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. “You looked cute from the back.”
The look on Ino’s face was murderous, but only for a split second. More quickly than anyone else could notice, the smile was back on her face and she was sauntering over to take the seat next to him. “I’ll forgive you for that,” she sighed, “but only if you buy me a drink.” She sat down with perfect poise, smoothing her apron over her lap.
“What if I don’t want you to forgive me?”
Ino rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t care what you want. I’ll have sake.”
Reluctantly, Kiba ordered her a sake from the same barmaid as before and watched the blonde out of the corner of his eye.
He and Ino had run into each other a few times in Konoha, but mostly it was without much actual talking. They were peripheral to each other’s lives -- he knew Shikamaru, she had been on a couple missions with Shino, they both talked to Naruto a lot. They had been at the academy together, but Ino had seemed more obsessed with her rivalry with Sakura and her crush on Sasuke to pay attention to much else. Being stuck on separate teams with no direct connections had just maintained distance, and they’d never gotten to know each other. And judging by what he’d heard from Shikamaru, that wasn’t necessarily a loss.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ino hissed at him as soon as the barmaid gave her a bottle and disappeared to the other end of the bar. “I’m trying to carry out a mission, and you come barging in!”
“Me?” Kiba looked indignant. Why was she angry at him? This wasn’t his fault, it was hers. “I’m on an undercover mission and you appear out of nowhere and surprise me! What the hell are you doing here?”
For a few seconds neither of them said anything. Then: “Whatever. I don’t have time for this,” Ino murmured, shaking some hair out of her eyes. “I’m supposed to be working.”
“You need money that badly? This doesn’t seem like your kinda place.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Hey, asshole, I’m on an infiltration--”
“You’re acting like I’m--”
“Shut up! Everyone’s looking!”
Kiba glanced around and, sure enough, almost every pair of eyes in the room was watching them as they squabbled in hushed voices. Feeling frustrated, he turned to give her an angry look. This wasn’t doing anything but making them both conspicuous.
“Well, I guess one of us will have to go for now,” Ino said with a sigh, and Kiba’s frown disappeared.
“Heh. Exactly what I was thinking.” Kiba took the last swig of his bottle and slammed it down on the bar, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “So! See you around. You’d better hurry, looks like it’s gonna rain.” At Ino’s raised eyebrows, he grinned at her. “I was here first.”
“No way. I work here. If I just disappear I’ll get fired, and the whole mission will be ruined.” Slowly, her glare dissolved into a soft smile; Kiba sat and suspiciously waited for what was coming next. Nobody gave up on something this important that easily. “Hey, you’re a guy. Be a gentleman and help me out.”
Kiba stared at her. “No.”
“What? Jerk!” Ino punched him pathetically on the arm; he knew she was capable of worse, but it seemed like she still wanted to keep up the pretence.
“Hey…” The tone of Ino’s voice made Kiba turn to look at her; she was leaning in towards him, her legs crossed and her hands on her lap, a few strands of blonde hair falling into her eyes. “If you help me out this once, I’ll owe you one.”
No way was she doing what he thought she was doing. Kiba had had interaction with girls before, plenty, but Ino was nothing like Hinata; she was more like the Inuzuka women, loud and brash and annoyingly stubborn. It was a real pain in the ass, but he had to admit that she was good looking, and if the situation had been any different--
No. There was no way he was going to lose to a cocky loudmouth like her. He wasn’t going to be made to look like an idiot who kept screwing up missions. “I don’t want any favours from you.”
Pouting slightly, Ino leaned in further and braced herself with one hand on his thigh. “There has to be something,” she purred, blinking slowly to emphasise the sweeping of her eyelashes. Kiba glanced down at the hand on his thigh, and couldn’t help but notice her nail polish flash as it caught the light.
“I said there wasn’t,” Kiba insisted, but she didn’t seem to even be listening. Before he had chance to protest any further, Ino had pressed her lips to his and kissed him quickly, nipping at his bottom lip before she pulled away.
“Fine. Then you don’t have to collect on it, do you?” she whispered, and got to her feet.
Confused, Kiba stared at her for a moment before-- “You pervert!” Ino screamed suddenly, and slapped him on the cheek, hard.
Even more confused, and suddenly angry and in a surprising amount of pain -- he’d been right, she could hit hard -- Kiba stood up, knocking his stool backwards. He was on the verge of retaliating when a large hand grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him backwards.
Wait, he was-- he was being thrown out? Kiba stared at Ino as he was dragged away; she winked and waved and then turned her back on him without so much as a second glance.
Pushed roughly out into the street, Kiba took a moment to collect his wits as the door slammed behind him. His head was ringing, both with the sting of the slap and the confusion of the past thirty seconds, and before he had chance to steady himself Shino had appeared in front of him.
“Kiba?” he asked, showing no sign of concern from behind his hood and sunglasses. “What just happened?”
“Shit,” Kiba swore, coming to the sudden, painful realisation that he had completely screwed up his team’s chances of spotting the target.
Shino was going to use this as an excuse to take charge of the next mission too, wasn’t he? Pressing a hand to his aching cheek, Kiba groaned. This was supposed to be a piece of cake: it didn’t even take much skill, and he knew he was more than capable of carrying it out without a hitch.
Except that now he was standing outside in the rain, under Shino’s scrutinising gaze, with nothing to show for his efforts but a reddening cheek and the memory of a kiss. Kind of an enjoyable kiss, but that wasn’t the point.
As Hinata made an appearance from around a corner, Kiba mentally kicked himself for dropping his guard. But at least this meant that Ino would be dropping hers, too: she thought she’d won, and victory made people careless.
He would definitely be collecting on that favour.