Dirt on my hands and knees

Dirt on my hands and knees
By eternalshiva

Disclaimer –
I do not own Naruto nor do I make any monies off this Fanfiction. All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Perverseness is mine and inspired by Perpetual159.

AN – And here we go! Chapter one is fairly short, the other ones will be longer (between 7,000 to 9,000 words) It was just better if there was a prologue and kept them separated for flow purposes.

Thank you, Jolly Green and perpetual159, for the beta. I appreciate it very much.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter One
Out of the shadows

“Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains
I knew I wouldn't forget you, and so I went and let you blow my mind.”
– Trains’ Hey, Soul Sister

She sighed, crinkled her nose as she repressed the urge to sneeze. The dust danced in Naruto’s office as he shoved heaps of documents aside from his desk, muttering under his breath something about being careful with what you wish for. She raised a brow, smirked openly as he dropped scrolls, shuffled papers and grew steadily frustrated.

“Gah!” he exclaimed as he threw his hands in the air, giving up.

“Maybe it’s time you cleaned up your office?” It wasn’t really a question, more of a statement that was met with a glare, but Ino missed it, busy staring at the dirt under her nails. Her mission had been long and exhausting, her aching muscles craved the comfort of her bed and her skin was screaming for a hot soak in the tub.

“What are we waiting for, exactly?” She was suffocating in the moist heat of the office.

“We’re waiting for Kiba.” Naruto answered her off-handed, distracted by a document he found stuffed inside a discarded envelope. He let out a small choked, angered sigh and stuffed the letter in his pocket, muttering curses to befall on his assistant, Konohamaru.

It took everything in her not to press her palms against her face and rub hard, muffle a groan that threatened to make itself known. That’s the last person she wanted to see. Kiba always made her feel strange things, anger being the more predominant one. He’d always manage to push her buttons, grinning while she raged and sputtered insults at him like fire licking up dry wood. His bored expression was dangerous, in her opinion – it usually meant he was eager for trouble – and generally tried to avoid him when he was idle between missions when she was younger.

“Why are we waiting for him, Hokage-sama?” she asked a little too sweetly, forcing Naruto to turn and look at her. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he quickly shrugged and returned to his hunt. It was hard to manipulate information out of your boss when he specifically hired you for those skills. He was always instantly suspicious of anything nice that would come from the blonde woman.

“While you were busy getting information,” he disappeared under another pile of documents, his voice muffled slightly “he was doing the infiltration of the compound...where did that damned scroll go!” he trailed off, muttering again. “So, you two need to be here for reports and declaration that the mission was completed successfully.” He suddenly straightened, yelled a “ah ha!” and startled the kunoichi out of her dazed sleepy stupor.

She frowned at him; she hadn’t sensed Kiba there at all. In fact, Naruto had entirely not mentioned Inuzuka’s participation in this mission. Typical... well she wasn’t really surprised. Kiba was one of the elite ANBU, specifically one of the best infiltrators and trackers Konohagakure had seen in generations. He probably knew where she had been the whole time she seduced her way through the ranks of the corrupted officials.

“I really need to clean this shit up.” He sighed, exasperated, before he sat down at his seat once more but this time he had no intentions of getting up.

“What is that?” Ino asked, trying to peek at the scroll while he unrolled it, he glanced up at her and flicked the right corner up, pressing his lips together, scowling in defiance to her spying skills. She rolled her eyes when he clung possessively to the paper like a bowl of ramen and shot her a mind-your-own-damned-business glare. She leaned back against the large chair and made herself comfortable, Naruto would soon forget she was here while he did his paper work; it was always the same thing.

Ino decided to take advantage of her boss’s greediness and closed her eyes. If he wasn’t going to allow her to take her leave and force her to wait here for the mutt, she may as well take a little nap. She let out an irritated sigh; listened to the temperamental scratching of the Hokage’s pen, the flutter of papers being flipped and felt herself relax, drift off into a welcomed semi-sleep.

“Yamanaka?”

The gruff voice interrupted the dull sway of sleep and she groggily opened her eyes, her body felt like dead weight. She could feel something wet on her hand and she blinked harder before sitting up. Trying to gather her bearings, she quickly realized that it was dark outside, meaning she’d slept far longer than anticipated, Naruto was buried under a larger pile of documents and Kiba was inside her personal space.

“Sleeping on the job?” he mused. She imagined he had that god-awful grin that made her want to wipe it off his face with her fist. She snorted lightly and straightened out, shooing away Akamaru who was still licking her fingers in greeting. It didn’t take long for her to notice the stench. Her graceful features contorted into something ugly, she quickly covered her nose with both hands and let out a long sigh of disgust.

Akamaru tilted his head, watching the girl. She could have sworn its beady little eyes were accusing her of not smelling like roses herself. She shook her head, why would a dog be accusing her of anything. She was clearly losing it. She did, however, note that the normal white shinny coat of the animal was a dulled grey, matted and various items clung to him. Pressing her lips together, she nearly recoiled from the panting emanating from the dog - it was moist and sticking heavier than the hot air on the summer night.

It was nauseating.

“Ugh, what the hell were you doing?” she muttered at first, but the smell was crawling up inside her nose, sticking to the brain and it was making her irritable, “How did you infiltrate anything reeking like skunks?” her turquoise eyes glinted dangerously when her eyes caught up with the other shinobi in the room.

This is when she realised she hadn’t seen Kiba in a very long time.

The first thing she noticed about the man was his height, she tried to recall when exactly the last time she’d seen him was, he hadn’t been promoted to ANBU yet and he certainly hadn’t been that tall. It wasn’t a secret that the rank forced the elite shinobi to virtually disappear, always hidden in the shadows.

She blinked quickly, clearing the stickiness of sleep from her mind. He reached up to his face and started to pull off the mask from his face, the muscles in his arm flexed and glistened from lingering sweat that clung to him. She raised a brow.

“Should you be doing that? I thought ANBU weren’t allowed to reveal their identity...?” She eyed Naruto, to see what he would have to say. Naruto merely shrugged and continued working. A soft laughter brought her attention away from the Hokage. The stink seemed to have disappeared suddenly and replaced with something that made her insides quiver... what was that?

“While you were off in Lala land,” he pushed the mask up, resting it on his unruly brown hair, “Naruto said I was off duty.” He smiled at her; there was something secret about that little grin he was giving her. It took everything in her to get up and seek out that smell that was making her brain slowly turn into mush.

It smelled of trees, wilderness and something utterly masculine.

“How long has it been, Kiba?” she managed to find her voice after clearing her throat lightly under her breath. Was it her imagination? She could of sworn he was looking a little too closely. “I mean... since we’ve seen each other?”

“Ah, face to face? A while, I think... maybe three or four years.” He scratched behind his right ear with his index finger while he tried to remember exactly.

Face to face? What did that mean? She was a little confused but decided to ignore the off-hand comment.

“Has it really been that long?” She was surprised, he seemed rather amused and let out a rough bark of laughter that snapped her attention solely on him. The sound was pleasant, a humming vibration that rang through her pleasantly. He shook his head, still grinning like an idiot when she caught a glimpse of something. His canines had elongated slightly, they peeked out from under his chapped lips. Her gaze caught the subtle film of dirt on the skin of his exposed arms, her eyes lingered on the intricate ANBU tattoo.

“You’re dirty,” she said without thinking. Kiba raised a brow and smiled again, stunning her momentarily. When had he gotten so damned charming?

“Well, it happens sometimes when you’re fighting your way through the mess a certain kunoichi leaves behind.” She felt her face heat up; was that a blush? She had forgotten momentarily that Kiba had been sent to the same mission.

She blew air out of her cheeks, irritated that he insinuated she hadn’t done her mission correctly. She had all intentions of giving him a piece of her mind but her angry tirade died on her lips, her brain buzzed oddly when she caught the scent once more as he approached her. He wiped at the sweat on his forehead, sat down next to her and she finally clued in that it was him.

He was the source of the arousing scent.

It took every inch of her dignity to stop herself when she noticed a drop of sweat roll down from the underneath his un-kept sideburns, past his temples and cheeks, all the way down his throat snuck beneath his plated armour.

Suddenly she wanted to lick it.

She blinked. ‘Whoa... get a grip, Yamanaka!’ she told herself.

She forced herself to look away, focusing on Naruto that had begun to speak but his words couldn’t come through since the sound of her blood rushing in her ears muffled his high pitched irritable voice. She felt very unsteady, unsettled at the heat building inside the pit of her stomach.

Something strange was going on, she decided. The world had slowed... or something. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly but she was acutely aware of Kiba: his breathing, the way he sucked air through his teeth, the way he swallowed and the sound it made. She caught a movement from the corner of her eye; he stretched and sighed, getting comfortable as Naruto babbled.

She didn’t dare look at him, she didn’t know if she was suffering some kind of sickness.

This was Kiba. He wasn’t supposed to be intriguing or sexy. Dangerous and unpredictable, yes, but not what she was feeling... what was she feeling exactly? She hated Kiba for making everything so mucky and so damned...

“Ino?” Naruto was looking at her expectantly. Her attention was rudely snapped away from the man exuding distraction and she blushed, confused at what the Hokage was still doing there.

“Huh?”

Was Kiba snickering? She felt dazed.

“Your report...?”

She could feel Inuzuka’s eyes on her, the strange triangular pupil watching her and she shivered despite the warmth and the sweat on her body.

“Oh. Right.” She took a deep breath and ignored Naruto’s inquisitive stare, she relayed her report, felt slightly embarrassed at her accountability of her activities. Kiba was well aware that she was that kind of kunoichi, why was she suddenly self-conscious of her choices?

She’d train for years for these missions - she was past all this... wasn’t she?

She held a groan in check before Naruto nodded, dismissing them after signing off on the reports. Ino rose from her seat, glanced over to Kiba, who had his chin casually leaned into his palm. He was staring at her. She narrowed her eyes, unsure to what his silence meant.

“See you around, Inuzuka.” She gave the shinobi a light curtsy before taking her leave. He didn’t say anything which unnerved her but decided he was back to being an asshole, which suited her just fine.

* * * * * * * *

Kiba watched her disappear out of line of sight, his eyes trailed after her, squinting in wonder. Throughout the years Ino had changed herself, warped her true personality under this bold faced lie he could see right through. She did it for a good reason, she did all the things she did for the sake of her own mental health and that of her team. But still... she was a woman who had given up on ever experiencing love or even keeping one for her own.

He noticed her warmth wither away when they were about fifteen. It was hard to miss, there was always the smell of cheap cologne clinging to her, and the scent of men always pierced his senses, hiding the delicateness of Ino. She had piqued his curiosity around the age of sixteen when she survived a mission that tested that resolve and training. Her team had taken it harder than her but she had remained strong.

‘I’m fine, really. I’ve trained for this. Trust me, I’m ok,’ she had said to everyone who dared asked, always smiling, but her scent told him something different. She smelled of a strong soap disinfectant, her bandages around her thighs had lengthened and she stopped wearing the short skirt as her ninja garb.

He’d caught her crying once, a few days later. Her tearful mourn under the moonlight had made his own heart ache and he’d promised himself he’d do anything in his power to always make her feel true emotion: her smiles always real, her anger always hot and maybe someday she’d forget the tears.

For years, he always made sure he was in her face; always around her no matter if it was rain or shine. He could pick her out of a crowd, her scent imprinted on his brain like a second identity - he could track her down even if she was in a different dimension. Someday he would pull her back; she was teetering on the edge of abandoning her humanity for the sake of survival and success.

His heart broke for her, every mission she used her body, every time things went wrong and she suffered another blow he ached to comfort her but she never once asked for help; never cried that one time and he knew she wanted too. He did what he could – pissed her off, made her laugh, acted stupid to take her mind off her injuries. She didn’t know it but he always made sure that Akamaru would let himself be domesticated when she would stare off into nothing, be at her feet and let her pet him to comfort her aches.

When he reached the age of twenty, Naruto dropped the bomb that he was to be promoted as ANBU. To say he was excited was a mistake; his vigilant watch over Ino was going to be done for if he didn’t do something. He did the only thing he could think of at the time: refused. Naruto had nearly fallen out of his seat..

Naturally suspicious, the Hokage pestered him mercilessly, wouldn’t take “No! Just leave me alone!” as an answer. He even used Kiba’s one weakness, Hinata, to pry the truth out of him. She was hard to resist once she had her mind made up, worst than the idiot, but her tearful understanding had her on Kiba’s side when it came to his request.

Naruto couldn’t ignore his wife’s logic in the matters of the heart; she knew his weaknesses like the back of her hand and to Kiba’s glee, used every single one of them to wear him down. Still, it had taken several months to convince both Naruto and Kiba to come to an acceptable agreement on their negotiations.

By Kiba’s twenty-first birthday, he was finally promoted to ANBU and had extracted the promise from Naruto that he would be permanently assigned as Ino’s shadow on her solo missions. No matter what mission he was assigned, no matter how far he was, if Ino was going solo, he’d get pulled back in to shadow. That was the deal.

Four years later, Naruto had stupidly revealed that he had been shadowing her without even blinking... worst part being she was waiting in the office while he reported every nitty-gritty details of what he observed, what had happened and who he had to kill to ensure the success of the mission and that her efforts weren’t in vain.

Now, alone in the office with Naruto, he leaned back against the seat and sighed, exhausted.

“How long are you going to keep this up?” Naruto’s voice was muffled but he hadn’t bothered to look up from his documents.

Good question.

“Not for too much longer, now that she knows I followed her.” He glared at his boss, a small quirk of the blonde brow was the only indication that Naruto felt a little bit guilty at his slip of the tongue.

“Well, can’t live your entire life in the shadows; you could learn a thing or two from Hinata.”

It took everything in Kiba to not fall out of his chair.

“That’s pretty funny, coming from you.” Kiba let a soft snort out, shaking his head. Naruto grinned.

“I’m serious about your time off,” Naruto had a rare serious look on his face, “make something happen. At least make her aware of what you’ve been doing.” He looked up at the clock and sighed, “Hinata’s going to kill me...”

“I’ll get out of your hair, then.” Kiba grinned and disappeared in a puff of smoke, he had something to take care of before Ino reached her home.

* * * *

The night air slithered against her skin, cooling her over heated skin from the office. Her mind still buzzed with thoughts of Kiba and her sudden realisation that he was no longer the annoying brat she remembered; he was in fact a man bleeding confidence, oozed sex appeal and she felt herself being pulled along some unknown wave.

There was also something strangely comforting about him, his presence...

“You know...” Ino stopped dead in her tracks, the voice was close – so close she could feel the breath bellow on her neck and crawl inside her ear. “I’ve missed our little arguments.” She stiffened, recognizing her comrade but she could help how her heart nearly spill from the tip of her lips.

How had Kiba snuck up on her like that?

“You have?” She was surprised at how calm her voice seemed. She heard him laugh quietly, his body heat seeped through her clothes from behind. She heard him shift his weight and step closer and she could have sworn he took in a deeper breath... taking in her scent.

She felt strange again, her heart made a strange loop she didn’t recognize.

“Yeah, it was the highlight of my day.” His voice dropped an octave and became strangely intimate; she felt something in her pony tail and frowned slightly, confused.

There, again, the sound of his breath going in slowly, taking her scent without her consent. She looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes, angered he’d managed to get so close.

“I-I have a hard time believing that.” A stutter? Since when does she stutter around men? Another chuckle, his breath tickling the nape of her exposed skin.

“Well, you’d have a hard time believing anything I’d have to say,” he whispered huskily - was that his lips against her ear? Uncertainty gripped her with sudden fierceness, she was too aware of him.

“How did you do that?” she whispered unsteadily, her eyes wide in wonder.

“Do what?” He was either playing with her or, he genuinely had no idea. She stepped away, keeping her eyes on his shadowed form and turned towards him, crossing her arms against her breasts.

“Sneak up on me, I didn’t sense you at all.” She pressed her lips together, annoyed. He snickered and stepped towards her again, his fingers stretched out towards her. He didn’t touch her, he could read from her body language that she was put off by his forward behaviour. He’d confused her.

“I’ve had lots of practice,” he stated without pause.

“Practice?”

“Yeah, practice,” his eyes flashed dangerously in the moonlight, she could see the tips of his canines against his lips. This time she could feel his energy sparking, taking over, his eyes heated her skin.

“I’m always there on your solo missions.” His voice cut through the darkness like a beacon of light. Something about the way his voice hung on to every word made her wonder about its intention. They felt safe... comforting. Never the less, she was still taken by surprise and hot irritation drowned out the confusion of her emotions.

“What do you mean ‘always there’?” Her eyes narrowed and her tone had taken a dangerous warning he didn’t miss. He dropped his hand to his side, nervousness weighed like led inside his stomach.

“Well...” how could he make this sound reasonable? “No one is really alone on missions, even solo ones. There’s always a back-up.” He fidgeted; he could feel the glare, teetering on the edge of bursting into a tirade.

“A back up?” she was getting pissed, he could sense it. Maybe it was the way her fingers made a cracking noise as they fisted, or the way her teeth gritted... but it was definitely the yelling that tipped him off.

“Why would I need a back up?” she seethed, “Does Naruto not believe that I can handle these ass holes myself?” she was raging, boiling with insult at the lack of trust her boss had in her. Wasn’t he always the one to drawl on about respect, trust and believing in your comrades? Oh he was going to get a piece of her mind the second she marched back there and gave him shit!

Open mouth, insert foot.

Kiba groaned loudly, which stopped Ino’s mental beat down of the Hokage.

He had to think fast, this was falling apart at the seam. He wasn’t looking for a fight, he just wanted to talk to her... he’d been silent for far too long in her presence.

“Ah... it’s not that at all, Ino.” He sighed, she looked away from him, her arms still crossed in rebellion, “I mean, in all the years I’ve been on missions to shadow kunoichi, I’ve never had to come in and rescue the dame in distress when it was you.” He smiled but she couldn’t see it in the darkness.

“Your skill is impeccable, top notch as always, and that’s why you get all the near impossible missions.” He could see her questioning glare, the way her lips pressed together and the knitted brow that wanted to call him on his bullshit.

He sighed, again.

“I’m just there in case things get too rough and you get in a pinch I know you can’t get out of.” She saw his shoulders droop, he seemed really dejected. Ino frowned, she was over reacting a little, she knew that Naruto didn’t mean to insult her... but still, why had she never noticed before?

“How come we met today, if you’re supposed to be my shadow?” she kicked her toe into the dirt, her eyes focused on nothing but the unseen dirt before her. Kiba felt her anger recede and he was relieved, for a few minutes.

“You weren’t supposed to see me, at all, for the reports. Well, under normal circumstances that is.” He looked up towards the sky, trying to put together a little white lie that would save his skin and keep Naruto’s little world from imploding with Ino’s wrath.

“Because of the high ranking officials you had to deal with,” he let his gaze fall from the stars and linger on her a moment, before looking down at her feet, “and since the mission took several months, Naruto wanted to make the debriefing as short as possible.” Her toes stopped burrowing the ground, her hands fell to her hips while considering what he said to be truth or lie.

“Writing two reports would have been lengthy, and he’s a lazy bastard.” Dear god, he hoped this one little time she wouldn’t interrogate him and pushed his buttons, he wouldn’t be able to tell her any more without feeling guilty.

She let out a strange snort but said nothing, letting her silence speak for itself.

“Hmm.” Always quick to mistrust, her uncertainty was thick and it vibrated through him like an accusation. “Well... if you say so, Kiba.” She didn’t believe him for a minute, and they both knew it. Kiba shifted uncomfortably and avoided eye contact, even though she couldn’t see him in the thickness of the night.

Ino narrowed her eyes. What else was the dog-ninja hiding from her? Curiosity was winning over her irritation.

“So,” she perked up, trying to ignore her urge to nit-pick and dig the truth out of him. Kiba was unusually subdued for her taste, “since it seems you know what I’ve been up too,” she couldn’t help the small smile on her face when she heard him groan, “come with me for a drink.” She put out her hand towards him.

She didn’t want her bath anymore, her bed could wait. Kiba had captured her in a fleeting moment of curiosity that needed to be satiated and she had to figure what exactly was making her weak in the knees. She was not one to be controlled by the emotions of sex or man.

Kiba was a strange enigma, she decided. He was a bit taken a back when she smiled at him. He raised both brows in surprise, suddenly sceptical and wary of her interest in him.

“A drink?” he offered her his arm, she wrapped her dainty fingers around his elbows, glad he couldn’t see the weird tint of pink on her cheeks as she felt his muscles move under her touch.

“Yes, a drink to celebrate a successful mission, our survival and a chance for me to see what you’ve been up too, Kiba-kun.”

Ever get that feeling you’re walking into a trap?

He had that feeling, screaming with alarm bells, but she was smiling. Her voice chimed in his ears like a siren and he felt drugged. He should have known better the second she used such an endearing term attached to his name, but he couldn’t resist Ino and tagged along for the ride.

“Where would you like to go?” he grinned, she glanced his way and smiled, a real one that she rarely showed to anyone but those in her close circle.

“Anywhere,” she sighed out the words, he put his hand on top of her while she gripped his bicep; her gaze lingered on his thick fingers. The rough surface of them was familiar. The dark contrast compared to her own skin was fascinating to her. She caught another brief taste of his scent that made her blink.

She felt the warmth of his bare skin against her own seep through, and suddenly, without real idea why, she didn’t want to let him go.

* * * * * * * *

TBC – R&R