[log] [A Night Visit (With No Perks)] [Kiba and Ino]

[themindwalker]

Who: Ino and Kiba
What: Bonding. Naked and wet bonding.
Where: Kiba's room!
When: Sometime after Ino's last post
Warnings: NAKED SHOWER TIME. But no sex (not even hand holding). LOLZS :D


She was emotionally and physically wrecked. Ino was glad there were no mirrors around because her vanity would sting as badly as her thighs if she saw herself. The blonde was proud of herself for not having a complete breakdown. How she managed to hold to together was a mystery, even to her. She feared that she had gone completely numb. Maybe this time, she had truly lost all feeling. Was that a blessing or a curse? Having to sit with him, be touched by him, made her feel sick. If only there wasn't punishment for killing anyone in the base, she would have stabbed him in the neck right there and then. He had the nerve to tell her what a beautiful girl she had grown up to be. The German scientist was maybe fifteen years older than her and looked exactly the same as when she had first seen him. That face, those eyes-- she wanted to punch him so badly and yet...

The hose outside of the tent was not going to do it for her. Ino wanted a shower, a real shower, with boiling hot water and enough soap to get the feeling of long, cold fingertips off of her skin forever. She didn't want to bother poor, kind Hinata and Kankurou was a jerk off and didn't want to share his shower so there was only one person Ino could really count on not to ask too many questions. One of the buttons on her shirt was missing, having been popped off, and her hair probably looked a mess. Kiba noticed things but he rarely commented; he was kind but not nosy.

Ino knocked on his door, feeling sorry that she was probably waking him up at this ungodly hour but she was pulling the friend card and using friend points. She needed the shower and she needed it now.

"...what's up, dushka?" Kiba asked from behind her. What the hell was Ino doing here at this time of the morning?! He shrugged tiredly out of his flak jacket, hanging it from two dirty fingers as he leaned tiredly against the wall. They always put him out on nighttime patrol when they needed an extra; he would have been fine with that if they let him work 'blind' but they always insisted he had his damned contacts in. Like being able to see in colour would somehow bolster his ability to see through time and space with his nose.

Fucking idiots.

His head was throbbing, a slow rhythmic pulse of pure pain. Even Akamaru was worn out, drooping at his side and leaning against Kiba's leg for contact and support both. He rubbed at his hair tiredly, eyeing Ino with a contemplative gaze. It was four o'clock in the fucking morning on a Friday, he had to be up in about two hours at the most for training, and he was exhausted and filthy. The last thing he wanted was random company, especially company that wasn't going to put out any time soon.

But she looked almost as bad as he did. And Kiba knew why, oh, yes. He took a moment to close his eyes, trying to ignore his migraine and block off the greater portion of his sense of smell. It was hard to do in his current state, but he managed to numb it a bit. It made him feel vulnerable and disconnected, but he really did not need to be smelling what he was right now. Not on Ino. Not after their last conversation.

He sighed and slouched forward to unlock his door, tossing his jacket somewhere in the general direction of his wardrobe and slumping onto his bed so he could wrestle with his dusty boots. All he wanted right now was to sleep. Maybe after a shower. Depended on how fucking mutinous his laces decided to be. Right now, the odds weren't good. 'Maru hauled himself onto the end of the bed and promptly fell asleep, the lucky bastard. Kiba watched the blonde from a dirt-streaked facade as he cursed in obscure mostly-dead language at his temperamental clothing, but didn't offer any more than his original 'greeting'. Surely even Ino'd get to the point pretty quickly at this time of the Christ-cursed day.

Ino nearly jumped out of her skin at Kiba appearing so suddenly behind her. She had been so involved with thinking of what to say to him that she hadn't noticed his, or his dog's, footsteps behind her. That's not like you, Yamanaka, she thought to herself, looking him up and down. Oh boy. This wasn't a good time to be asking to borrow a shower when he looked and smelled like he needed one more than she did. But she was already here and Kiba was awake so there was no harm no foul, right? Even though she wanted to take an eight hour shower, she could limit it to ten minutes if just to get the feeling of ick off of her.

"I know this is a bad time but could I borrow your shower?" she asked hopefully, her hand absently going to her neck. A bruise would no doubt form there by tomorrow. Even though it was so hot now she was going to have to wear a turtleneck and long sleeves. Bastard. "I'll be only five minutes, I promise. The hose just isn't doing it for me. I need real running water." Ino was whispering and didn't know why. Maybe it was for the dog's sake. Maybe it was because she was too scared to speak loudly when she had been so silenced. She was acting so meek and she hated it. For Kiba's sake, and her own, she had to pull it together.

Her tongue darted out to lick her dry bottom lip, sore and probably swollen. "And maybe a shirt?" Ino knew she was asking a lot but she wanted out of her clothes, into something clean in all senses of the word. "I'll wash it and bring it back tomorrow, I promise." There was probably a hint of desperation in her voice but she was so tired, she almost didn't care. "I'll be out of your hair in fifteen minutes tops."

Kiba rubbed at his eyes, wincing as he moved his contacts. "Mmm." She smelled terrible. Not just physically, but all those fucking pheremones and all that shit. Even with the meditation-shit he did to try and bring himself down to 'human' levels of sensation, he could still smell it. Maybe it was more being able to identify what he was smelling? He didn't know. Didn't care. Didn't want to smell it right now. Didn't want Ino to be here, with that all over here, pleading for his help, essentially.

But, fuck, he couldn't just turf her out. Not with shame and anger and stuff Kiba didn't really have names for writhing over her pale skin. Plus the unmentionables. He nodded and cleared his throat, trying to get the dryness of the desert out of it in vain. His voice was scratched and worn and more tired than he liked to admit when he answered. "Sure. You want some water? To drink, I mean." God knew he did, but gravity was being a bastard and weighing him down far too much. And he was damned hungry. Fuck it, he'd eat when he got up to have his ass handed to him by Temari.

A long stretch had him wincing in sympathy with several overworked joints as they popped and whined back into their preferred positions. His shoulders burned from running patrols; Kiba supposed he could do them on two legs like a normal person, but all-fours just seemed so much more natural to him these days. All that canine DNA messing about in his head and chemistry, no doubt. He managed to get his boots off and kick them out of the way, hauling himself to to his feet with a wince and whine. Fuck showering, he just wanted to brush his teeth and have a drink and go to bed. Ino could do whatever she wanted as long as she didn't wake him. He shuffled into the bathroom, shedding clothes awkwardly as he went, and turned the tap on. At least the water wasn't bad here. Though he could still taste the chemicals and the absence of chemicals.

Almost made him homesick.

Kiba was tired and annoyed, anyone could see that, but he was winning major friend points for putting up with her especially at ungodly hours. She owed him like, three steak dinners just for doing this for her. He could have very easily kicked her out, told her to stay the fuck out, and went about his business. But he didn't. That kind of stuff went a long way with her. Ino felt comfortable with him which was rare these days but he proved time and again that even if he was kind of a jerk he still cared in his own "I'm pretending not to care" sort of way. She followed him into the bathroom, unblinking as he stripped naked. She supposed she should have been bashful and embarrassed but she had seen a naked guy more than once in her life. True, Kiba was an impressive specimen, but sex was the last thing on her mind.

She hesitated before stripping herself; Kiba was too preoccupied to care about her at any rate and she just wanted in and out so that she wasn't too much of a bother to him. Ino put her clothing in the corner and waited for Kiba to finish with the tap so that she could have her turn. She didn't want to be pushy but it was a little... strange? She sat on the ledge of the cold tub, legs crossed, watching him as he drank the water and let it fall on his face and hair.

"Why don't you wash off a bit? I can wait," she said. And why not? Where was she going to go naked, anyway?

"Heh. I'm that dirty, huh?" Kiba flicked a wearily amused glance at her, not even caring that she was stark naked in his bathroom. Not like he hadn't seen everything before. He bit his bottom lip slightly and wrestled his lenses out with now-clean fingertips, grunting as his brain spun and shrieked at the sudden lack of information it wasn't even used to receiving. Thank Christ his washbasin was sturdy; the way he was clutching at it to hold himself up would have had lesser porcelain crying for its mother by now. He fumbled the mirror cabinet open and pulled out his painkillers, sighing in relief once he'd swallowed a couple. Ahhh, yes. Blessed codeine relief. And it was almost instantaneous, to boot.

He took a seat beside her, pulling his socks off - somehow he just didn't feel like showering with them on. They'd only be harder to get off wet, and anyway that'd just be weird. Kiba flipped the taps and waited for the hot water to come through, eyes half-lidded as he stared unseeing at the far wall. Now that he could see where his clothing had protected him from the worst of the desert dirt, he really was pretty fucking filthy.

"I'll do your back if you do mine?" he offered factiously, stepping into the spray of water from the showerhead. Thank God it was so well pressurised, he was far too tired to do a proper job of washing himself off right now.

This was both weird and interesting all at once. She had never showered with a guy before, or with another person for that matter, but even if she was nervous that Kiba was going to do something he looked much too tired to be much of a threat. It was kind of a bonding experience and there would be fewer of those since they weren't on the same team anymore. She guessed this one time wouldn't hurt. It would be pretty nice to be pampered and have her back washed, to boot. Really, this was a win/win situation. Maybe growing up in this place made her less apt to care about nudity. If she was going to see a naked guy, why not a good looking one? Besides, she was facing his back so it wasn't SO weird.

"All right," Ino reached for the soap, something with very little smell and wholly guy-esque and lathered it up in her hands. Kiba seemed to tremble a little and it probably wasn't because he was feeling shy. She would have to make sure he went to sleep right after this. "Tell me if I'm doing it too hard." Since there didn't seem to be a sponge or washcloth anywhere on hand, she would just have to do it the old fashioned way. Not bad, Ino thought, very nice muscles.

What could he have been doing before this? Mission, maybe? He looked way too exhausted for this to have just been training.

"Mmm," Kiba rumbled appreciatively, crossing his arms against the wall and leaning his forehead against them. This was way better than washing himself. Maybe he could convince Ino to do this on a regular basis, he thought somewhat giddily. Damn, his calves were killing him, too. And his back definitely needed a better stretch-out. He'd have to do a good solid warmup before training tomorrow, and a long cool-down at the other side. Otherwise he'd be proverbially fucked for the weekend. Which he'd no doubt spend in the pool, again. Stupid desert being so damned hot...

"Shower as long as you like, dushka," he informed her sleepily. "Jus' don't wake 'Mari up or she'll have both our asses." Why was it that the sweetest barracks came with the bitchiest team leader? Maybe it was to even it out, or something. Though he supposed it could have been worse. Speaking of... "How's Suigetsu treating you?" Now there was an oddball and wild card, no mistake. Kiba roused himself enough to shake the worst of the water from his head and straighten up, turning around and reaching for the soap. He had promised to return the favour, after all. "An' the tent?"

She turned around hesitantly, glad that he couldn't see her blushing face. Ino moved her long hair out of the way and stared at the tiled wall, pondering his questions. The shower felt good, as though it were melting away all of her worries, and having a shower conversation was amusing. It stopped her from thinking about bad things and she liked this a lot. A whole lot. Four steak dinners, she told herself, is what Kiba earned.

"He's a weirdo but he's not bad. He can at least take a joke. That bastard called me fat, though, and I had to punch him," she grumbled. Suigetsu called her fat, Kankurou called her skinny-- could men make up their MINDS? "The tent is the tent. I usually sleep curled up in the corner and wake up with Tenten on top of me. The hose is a bitch, though. Nothing can replace a good shower."

Ino did not want Temari to wake up. That girl was a tough as nails and twice as mean. She would rather not be on her bad side if she could help it.

Kiba snorted in amusement as he soaped Ino's back down briskly, flat-out ignoring the tension in her neck and shoulders and lower back. He wasn't some goddamned therapist or whatever, to help her try and work through this stuff. Hell, it probably wasn't something you could work through, not really. "He's a smartass and a jackass. Or at least he was at Mist. From the looks of things, not a lot has changed. But he probably doesn't mean any of that stuff literally. He's just wanting to get a rise out of you."

Suigetsu pissed him off, and no mistake. He was just so...random. It threw Kiba off-balance, although at least he knew some facts about the guy. Like all that flirting and whatnot. Guy wasn't gay; Kiba knew that beyond any doubt and was very grateful for it. Still, he had certain advantages most people here didn't in that respect. "If you get all wound up about it, he'll do it more. But if you smack him around a few times and brush it off, he respects you more. As much as he respects anybody."

Yawning hugely, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, putting the soap back in its dish. Since he had company, he didn't shake himself dry like a normal dog would do, instead doing it the boring human way. Besides, it took less effort. Kiba brushed his teeth half-heartedly and frowned blearily at his bloodshot doppelganger in the mirror. "You said you wanted a shirt, right?"

"Yeah, if you can spare one?" Kiba was busy with brushing his teeth and so Ino took the opportunity to quickly finish off in the shower, forgoing washing her hair since she had already done so in the morning. Dry hair was a no-no and being the desert really didn't help any. The idle chitchat had almost made her completely forget her awful day-- Kiba was good for that, wasn't he. Turning the shower off completely, she grabbed two towels for herself, one for her body, one for her hair, and waited for Kiba to get the strength to leave the bathroom.

Poor guy. She had never seen him look so tired. Ino slid on her underwear and pants, leaving the towel to cover her upper half. It seemed a little weird now to cover up-- Kiba had basically seen the whole kit and caboodle. Nothing was a secret now.

"I can get it myself if you point me in the right direction."

He hung his towel back up and combed rough fingers through his hair, wincing as cracked skin caught on the coarse strands with none-too-gentle tugs. "Lemme see what I got." Washing day was Saturday, though he ought to have something lying around. Most of the time he was in their daytime fatigues or as naked as Temari'd let him get, anyway. With heavy steps, Kiba trudged back into his room and rifled through his drawers, yawning at depressingly regular intervals.

"Mmm, what sort of shirt, dushka?" he called, finding a pair of cotton boxers that weren't too likely to suffocate him. He was pretty sure Temari was fucking with his air conditioning or something, it was never as cold as he wanted it. Opening the window only seemed to make it worse. That bitch, she just kept heaping stuff on him. Like the damn weird-smelling kid with the blatantly wrong facial expressions all the time. And she wanted Kiba to teach him 'social etiquette'?! What the hell did that even mean?! He was too tired for this crap. Too tired and too hungry and way too sore.

And he had a guest. to top it all off. Akamaru was snoring softly as Kiba stretched out carefully beside him, sore eyes trying to focus on the ceiling with marginal success. He tossed a couple of shirts in the general direction of the bathroom door. "There's a shirt-shirt and a singlet. Take your pick." He mulled it over for a moment, then added, "Or both. You heading back to the tent now?" What was the time, anyway? He really, really, really didn't want to set his alarm, but years of habit had him reaching for the damn thing and making sure it was all ready to go. Stupid time.

The teeshirt would do. She threw it on and hung the towels back up neatly, giving Kiba a small smile. He had really helped her out this time, really. Above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak. "Why don't you get into bed and get some sleep? Thanks for... all the stuff," Ino summed up. She wasn't great at asking for help or saying thanks but she at least owed him that, as pathetic sounding as it was.

"Want me to tuck you in?" she asked jokingly, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. There were still some good things and good people on this earth, despite earlier beliefs that all people were evil and awful. Kiba was one of the good ones.

But damn, wasn't he hot with the dog on the bed? There was so much fur it looked stifling.

He grinned at her briefly, head propped up on a hand despite his aching elbow. And shoulder. And back. "Nah. Not like I'll be using the sheets anyway. But thanks for the thought." Brown eyes sobered into clarity for a moment before he slumped back down into comfortability once more. "...I'd say you can crash, but I'm going to be up in less then two hours anyway, so you wouldn't get much sleep." Shit, she looked so wrecked.

But it wasn't his problem.

Hell, they weren't even on the same team anymore.

Tenten could deal with it.

Fuck it! "Dushka..." Kiba trailed off, not entirely sure what he was asking any more. Or offering. Or, hell, if he was doing any of the above at all. It was too late - early? - for deep and meaningful thoughts. Not that he tended to have those at the best of times. But, shit, Ino had managed to worm her way into his own private little concept of 'pack' and therefore he gave slightly more than a rat's ass about her physical and mental condition. He didn't want her to be trashed like this.

Ino couldn't even imagine what time Suigetsu was going to get them up for "training". She had the sneaking suspicion he was planning something weird, like taking a plane somewhere to sit under a waterfall naked for two hours. That was the tame thought-- he could come up with something completely crazy like hanging them off cliffs upside down to get into "the zone". Nevada had plenty of cliffs. And they were fuckhigh, too. Maybe being under Temari wasn't the worse thing possible. At least she was a little bit predictable.

"Hm?" she leaned down a bit so that they were at eye level, raising her eyebrows. "What's up?"

The tent wasn't so bad, anyway. She had constant body warmth (Tenten) and something nice to look at (Sasuke). There was no snoring or weirdness, either. She had to admit she kind of missed Naruto and Sai's antics. They at least kept things fun.

Kiba pulled a face and patted her head lightly. "Ehh, nothing. Go get some sleep. You look like you could use it." And a memory wipe or three... Damn. He was doing the whole 'thinking' thing way too much lately, and it was mostly Ino's fault. That and a couple of his girls. Got him to wondering about just how ethical this whole gig was. Kiba didn't do well with that sort of philosophy. Any philosophy in general, really. Thinking wasn't his forte. He was man of action and reaction, not the whys and wherefores of causes and effects.

Perfect soldier, really. And a good dog. What more did he aspire to, anyway?

He dropped his hand to rub comfortingly at Akamaru's sleeping ruff and yawned again mightily. "Mmm. Hey...any time you need to borrow the shower, let me know. I'll sneak you in."

Any time they make you do THAT again, let me know. I'll let you wash it off.

"Unless YOU'RE in the tent next," Ino said lightly. "Then you can come use MY shower."

Five steaks. Four for him, one for the dog. They so earned it for putting up with her.

Ino leaned down and kissed his forehead. Kiba would probably make a face and whine and bat at her because he seemed to take offense to anything affectionate that didn't lead to dropped panties but she did it anyway. "Thanks again. I owe you a steak."

"Hey, I happen to kind of like the hose. 'S good for waterfights," Kiba protested drowsily, screwing his face up in an automatic 'EWW COOTIES' reaction to casual physical contact that didn't lead to dropped panties, and snuggling into Akamaru's side. "But I'd miss the air conditioning. Maybe I'll just sneak into your room and pass out on the tiles instead." Yeah, that sounded like a way better deal. "And 's cool. Don't worry about it." Ohgod, steak sounded so damn good right now. His stomach keened in anticipation; Kiba thumped it into silence.

"....yeah, just ignore that..."

She raised her eyebrows at him, unable to just ignore the severe sounds his stomach was making. It sounded like it was trying to eat itself. Now she had a moral obligation to care about the well being of said stomach because she had just used his shower and his shirt at a weird hour and he hadn't so much as complained. Surely no one would be around now if they wanted a late snack. Even the people who lived in the tents kept food inside in the kitchen. It was the one luxury they had. Somehow, Ino didn't think food could stand being out in the heat although some might call it "a learning experience".

I had enough learning experiences, thanks, the blonde thought to herself. Her whole LIFE was a learning experience.

"Do you want something to eat? I mean, your stomach sounds like it's trying to mutiny." There should be something in the freezer in the kitchen that could easily be heated up. There was no reason Kiba had to SUFFER until later in the morning to eat.

He really, really, really wanted to say 'yes', but Kiba felt like he was going to die if he tried to stay awake much longer. His body could just start consuming itself while he slept, fuck it. "Sounds fantastic. But sleep first," he mumbled, squinting at the clock with eyes that still burned. Fuck, he'd be lucky to get an hour and half before training at this rate. Less if he wanted breakfast. Maybe he could skip it?

His stomach informed in no uncertain terms that no, he could not skip breakfast. Kiba rubbed a hand over his face and thumped his torso in the vain hope that the action would shut it up. "God, catch fucking twenty-one. No, twenty-two." He rearranged his pillow, wishing his feet didn't stick over the end of the fucking bed and yet thankful he wasn't trying to cramp himself into the tent.

If that's what he wanted to do, Ino couldn't stop him. She had no interest in bothering him, not when he had let her use the shower.

And oh GOD, did they really shower TOGETHER?

"I'll let you get to sleeping, then," Ino walked to the door, lingering for a moment. "Thanks again. Sleep well."

"Mmm. 'Night, dushka," he managed, limbs akimbo and tumbling over the side of the bed as he shifted to let his back stretch itself out slightly better for the remainder of the night/morning/whatever. "Sleep sweet."

Fuck. Temari was going to fucking flay him for being ten kinds of useless for training tomorrow. Just his damn luck. Kiba was still cursing mentally as he passed out into a desperate sort of sleep, trusting Ino to sneak out with all due stealth. Any more drama was going to have to wait until he was fed and rested, damnit.