[Naruto] "The Sound of Rain," Kiba/Shino
My other yaoi_challenge fic, a pinch-hit story written for ponderosa121's request. Naruto, Kiba/Shino, teenaged boy groping in the dark but nothing else noteworthy. I'm actually pretty proud of this one, given that it was my first attempt at the pairing and I had such a limited amount of time to work with.
Kiba crouched back into the shadows, waiting for the signal from Hinata that said their part in the mission was over for now and hers was beginning. Kiba was useless for infiltrating such a small building, and Shino had taken a nasty fall earlier in the mission and while he could have gone on, he would have just slowed Hinata down. So she went alone while the two of them waited in a garret across the street from the house they needed to recover the stolen documents from. She would be fine, of course; she was the nastiest of all three of them in a fight, even if she hid it under her quiet politeness. All they had to do was wait.
--ah, and there was the signal, a brief glint that might have been the moon reflecting on something outside. Hinata was going in, and there was nothing for the two of them to do but lay low and keep watch to make sure nothing happened outside. Akamaru was taking care of that part, lurking outside like a stray and keeping watch on the building. Hinata knew what his bark sounded like, and it would be her signal to pull out because something had gone wrong. With Akamaru doing a better job than Kiba could and Shino able to keep track of things without getting up from where he sat back out of view, there really wasn't anything to do but wait for her.
"You okay back there?" Kiba asked, as loudly as he dared. There were people on the floor below them, and with the sort of neighborhood this was-- one for gangsters who stole documents important enough for their owners to hire shinobi to recover them-- they weren't the sort of people who would dismiss a stray sound above their heads. It was the same reason they didn't have any lights, because in this kind of place people noticed a strange light in the attic window. With Hinata on their team it didn't really matter so much that they sat in the dark, because she could spot an interloper in the dark from just his chakra. With her across the street doing the important part of the mission and Akamaru and his nose outside, the dark was a much bigger threat.
"Fine." Shino was even quieter, of course. "Be quiet." He did have a point, and Kiba crept across the floor so that he was sitting next to Shino and wouldn't have to raise his voice to carry across the room. "Shouldn't you be watching?"
"Akamaru's got it covered better than I could." Kiba settled down against the wall, pulling the collar of his jacket closed. When he spoke again, he was a bit louder than he meant to be. "Damn, it's cold in here. I hate Water Country weather."
"Be quiet." Shino admonished him a second time, and Kiba listened because it wasn't a good idea to make Shino have to repeat himself a third time, even for him. They sat like that for awhile, what seemed like hours but was probably more like minutes. Kiba didn't like sitting still, that was why he had people like Hinata and Shino on his team to do that part of the mission for him while he did the parts that involved tracking things outside or beating people up. Unfortunately, sometimes there were just missions like this where that wasn't an option-- unless something went wrong, that was-- and all he could do was sit in the quiet dark, still as the dead (or Shino, who Kiba swore outdid the dead on these kinds of missions).
Clouds rolled in as they sat, blotting out the moon and leaving them in even more darkness. Kiba could barely see Shino next to him, and when the rain began he couldn't hear anything but the steady tapping on the shingles. Dogs were social creatures and so were the shinobi who trained alongside them, and so when Kiba couldn't see Shino or hear him he moved over slightly to lean on him. It was an assurance that he was there more than anything else. Shino understood, because he put his arm around Kiba's shoulders. Shino didn't mind the quiet and dark and white noise, but he knew Kiba did. Kiba took it one step further and swung his leg over Shino's so that he was kneeling over his lap. He kept his weight off of Shino and on his own knees, mindful of the injured leg that had kept him here with Kiba instead of on the infiltration with Hinata in the first place, and fisted his hands in the fabric of Shino's coat. He couldn't make it out, but he was sure Shino would be looking at him from over the rims of his glasses out of habit even if he couldn't see.
He almost said something, but caught himself at the last second. He kissed Shino instead, because it was rare enough to have a moment like this when the third member of their team literally did have eyes in the back of her head. Not that she did it on purpose-- it was probably the last thing Hinata wanted to do-- but she couldn't really not use her byakugan on missions just because she wanted to give her teammates privacy. But she wasn't here now and even if she could see through two outer walls and across a street she didn't have the luxury of looking outside. That was why they were there in the first place, waiting across the street with Akamaru outside. Shino didn't say anything, either, just slid one hand up past Kiba's jacket collar and wild hair to pull him down onto his lap.
"Your leg?" Kiba whispered in his ear.
"Is fine." It wasn't fine, but Shino would never say anything otherwise. He didn't say anything else, just reached up and used his free hand to pull down the collar of his coat. Kiba kissed him again, and it was easier to forget the dark and the sound of nothing but rain that way. He fumbled with the zipper of Shino's coat and got it down without too much trouble, moving his hands from coat to shirt when it was open. Shino had the comparatively harder task of fighting off the fur around Kiba's collar, which had a habit of sticking in the zipper, but managed Kiba's jacket all the same. Then he moved his hands up to push the collar and wild hair out of Kiba's face, and Kiba knew from experience it wasn't particularly pleasant to get in one's mouth. Shino's fingers smeared through the red paint on Kiba's face as he moved his hair, leaving streaks across his cheeks.
Kiba growled low in his throat and yanked Shino closer by the collar of his shirt, and was contemplating how much further he could get without Shino stopping it because it was interfering with the mission when Shino put a steadying hand on his shoulder and pulled away. Akamaru was growling outside, and of course Shino had noticed it first. He probably had a bug on Akamaru. It was always one thing or another, mission details or Hinata's apologetic presence or times like this where there could have been a group of thugs or a trap or any number of other unpleasant things waiting outside for them.
"Three of them, waiting for Hinata outside. They don't seem to know we're here." It always amazed Kiba, how much information he could get with his bugs. He leaned in to kiss Shino one more time, short but rough, and then pulled away sharply when Akamaru started barking in earnest. That broke the hold the silent dark had over him, and it was easy to stand up and zip his jacket with the thought of something going wrong outside.
"Let's go, then." Kiba could barely make out the outline of him, but he imagined that Shino hadn't even flinched as he put weight on his injured leg. As the slipped out the window and onto the slightly-brighter rooftop, he could make out both the three hired men waiting on the street below-- they didn't stand like shinobi, which meant that either they were nothing and Hinata would have no trouble with three of them, or that they were good enough that the three of them together wouldn't stand a chance. No way to know until they got down there and into the fray.
Then Shino held out his hand for one of the returning insects, and Kiba saw the dark smudges on his fingers. In better light they would be red, the paint from Kiba's face.
"Come on," he said, grinning again. "We've got a mission to finish."
Kiba crouched back into the shadows, waiting for the signal from Hinata that said their part in the mission was over for now and hers was beginning. Kiba was useless for infiltrating such a small building, and Shino had taken a nasty fall earlier in the mission and while he could have gone on, he would have just slowed Hinata down. So she went alone while the two of them waited in a garret across the street from the house they needed to recover the stolen documents from. She would be fine, of course; she was the nastiest of all three of them in a fight, even if she hid it under her quiet politeness. All they had to do was wait.
--ah, and there was the signal, a brief glint that might have been the moon reflecting on something outside. Hinata was going in, and there was nothing for the two of them to do but lay low and keep watch to make sure nothing happened outside. Akamaru was taking care of that part, lurking outside like a stray and keeping watch on the building. Hinata knew what his bark sounded like, and it would be her signal to pull out because something had gone wrong. With Akamaru doing a better job than Kiba could and Shino able to keep track of things without getting up from where he sat back out of view, there really wasn't anything to do but wait for her.
"You okay back there?" Kiba asked, as loudly as he dared. There were people on the floor below them, and with the sort of neighborhood this was-- one for gangsters who stole documents important enough for their owners to hire shinobi to recover them-- they weren't the sort of people who would dismiss a stray sound above their heads. It was the same reason they didn't have any lights, because in this kind of place people noticed a strange light in the attic window. With Hinata on their team it didn't really matter so much that they sat in the dark, because she could spot an interloper in the dark from just his chakra. With her across the street doing the important part of the mission and Akamaru and his nose outside, the dark was a much bigger threat.
"Fine." Shino was even quieter, of course. "Be quiet." He did have a point, and Kiba crept across the floor so that he was sitting next to Shino and wouldn't have to raise his voice to carry across the room. "Shouldn't you be watching?"
"Akamaru's got it covered better than I could." Kiba settled down against the wall, pulling the collar of his jacket closed. When he spoke again, he was a bit louder than he meant to be. "Damn, it's cold in here. I hate Water Country weather."
"Be quiet." Shino admonished him a second time, and Kiba listened because it wasn't a good idea to make Shino have to repeat himself a third time, even for him. They sat like that for awhile, what seemed like hours but was probably more like minutes. Kiba didn't like sitting still, that was why he had people like Hinata and Shino on his team to do that part of the mission for him while he did the parts that involved tracking things outside or beating people up. Unfortunately, sometimes there were just missions like this where that wasn't an option-- unless something went wrong, that was-- and all he could do was sit in the quiet dark, still as the dead (or Shino, who Kiba swore outdid the dead on these kinds of missions).
Clouds rolled in as they sat, blotting out the moon and leaving them in even more darkness. Kiba could barely see Shino next to him, and when the rain began he couldn't hear anything but the steady tapping on the shingles. Dogs were social creatures and so were the shinobi who trained alongside them, and so when Kiba couldn't see Shino or hear him he moved over slightly to lean on him. It was an assurance that he was there more than anything else. Shino understood, because he put his arm around Kiba's shoulders. Shino didn't mind the quiet and dark and white noise, but he knew Kiba did. Kiba took it one step further and swung his leg over Shino's so that he was kneeling over his lap. He kept his weight off of Shino and on his own knees, mindful of the injured leg that had kept him here with Kiba instead of on the infiltration with Hinata in the first place, and fisted his hands in the fabric of Shino's coat. He couldn't make it out, but he was sure Shino would be looking at him from over the rims of his glasses out of habit even if he couldn't see.
He almost said something, but caught himself at the last second. He kissed Shino instead, because it was rare enough to have a moment like this when the third member of their team literally did have eyes in the back of her head. Not that she did it on purpose-- it was probably the last thing Hinata wanted to do-- but she couldn't really not use her byakugan on missions just because she wanted to give her teammates privacy. But she wasn't here now and even if she could see through two outer walls and across a street she didn't have the luxury of looking outside. That was why they were there in the first place, waiting across the street with Akamaru outside. Shino didn't say anything, either, just slid one hand up past Kiba's jacket collar and wild hair to pull him down onto his lap.
"Your leg?" Kiba whispered in his ear.
"Is fine." It wasn't fine, but Shino would never say anything otherwise. He didn't say anything else, just reached up and used his free hand to pull down the collar of his coat. Kiba kissed him again, and it was easier to forget the dark and the sound of nothing but rain that way. He fumbled with the zipper of Shino's coat and got it down without too much trouble, moving his hands from coat to shirt when it was open. Shino had the comparatively harder task of fighting off the fur around Kiba's collar, which had a habit of sticking in the zipper, but managed Kiba's jacket all the same. Then he moved his hands up to push the collar and wild hair out of Kiba's face, and Kiba knew from experience it wasn't particularly pleasant to get in one's mouth. Shino's fingers smeared through the red paint on Kiba's face as he moved his hair, leaving streaks across his cheeks.
Kiba growled low in his throat and yanked Shino closer by the collar of his shirt, and was contemplating how much further he could get without Shino stopping it because it was interfering with the mission when Shino put a steadying hand on his shoulder and pulled away. Akamaru was growling outside, and of course Shino had noticed it first. He probably had a bug on Akamaru. It was always one thing or another, mission details or Hinata's apologetic presence or times like this where there could have been a group of thugs or a trap or any number of other unpleasant things waiting outside for them.
"Three of them, waiting for Hinata outside. They don't seem to know we're here." It always amazed Kiba, how much information he could get with his bugs. He leaned in to kiss Shino one more time, short but rough, and then pulled away sharply when Akamaru started barking in earnest. That broke the hold the silent dark had over him, and it was easy to stand up and zip his jacket with the thought of something going wrong outside.
"Let's go, then." Kiba could barely make out the outline of him, but he imagined that Shino hadn't even flinched as he put weight on his injured leg. As the slipped out the window and onto the slightly-brighter rooftop, he could make out both the three hired men waiting on the street below-- they didn't stand like shinobi, which meant that either they were nothing and Hinata would have no trouble with three of them, or that they were good enough that the three of them together wouldn't stand a chance. No way to know until they got down there and into the fray.
Then Shino held out his hand for one of the returning insects, and Kiba saw the dark smudges on his fingers. In better light they would be red, the paint from Kiba's face.
"Come on," he said, grinning again. "We've got a mission to finish."