Tears of Crimson | Chapter 03

Tears of Crimson


Chapter 02


Naruto fell into stride next to Kiba as they made their way up the bustling streets of Konoha. They passed the crowds milling around a mixture of stands, taking in the various aromas that wafted their way.

Naruto’s stomach gave another loud growl as a particularly enticing fragrance was sent his way. He inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to follow the scent, and blushed when he found the odor coming from Kiba.

“What do you feel like having?” asked Kiba, looking round as they entered Konoha’s main market street.

‘I know what I’d love to have …’ thought Naruto, and mentally smacking himself for his wondering thoughts.

“Umm … How ‘bout Ramen!”

Kiba gave a barking laugh. “I should have known.”

Naruto looked up into Kiba’s face and smiled. “Ramen is god’s gift to man, and we should honor it with daily eating.”

Kiba laughed louder, clutching his sides as Naruto went on about his ritualistic consumption of the food item.

“Stop snickering; Ramen is nothing to be made fun of.” said Naruto, waving his finger in the air importantly.

“Whatever you say Naruto.” replied Kiba, giving him a playful shove.

Naruto pushed him back as they made their way to Ichiraku’s Ramen stand and Kiba sent Akamaru home to get some food there.

The owner expressed his pleasure at once again being able to serve his most loyal patron.

Kiba and Naruto took stools beside one another in the otherwise-empty shop.

“He’s paying so give me some Ramen with the full works!” said Naruto, throwing his thumb in Kiba’s direction.

“I thought you were joking.” grumbled Kiba, picking up a menu.

The shop-keep laughed so that the wrinkles around his eyes became more pronounced and his jowls quivered comically. “You don’t have to worry about this one, it’s on the house!”

Naruto beamed at the vendor and a few minutes later, was served a bowl of fragrant, steaming ramen, filled with all his favorite toppings. Kiba had gone with a simple bowl of beef ramen; truth be told, he didn’t like ramen all that much, but would eat it to satisfy Naruto.

They began to chat about assorted trivial things that had happened in Naruto’s absence; missions Kiba had gone on, the construction of the new Hokage’s face on the mountain side, Sakura’s pet Raccoon …

“What?” asked Naruto, not sure if he heard right.

“Yeah, she found it injured in one of the training grounds and healed it. The thing’s been following her around ever since.” he replied, eating some noodles off his chopstick.

“So she’s got a pet Raccoon … that’s … weird … She seemed a little upset when I said I was looking for you.”

“She’s kinda … mad at me …” said Kiba, looking guilty.

“Why would that be?” asked the blond, dropping a fish-cake into his mouth.

“Well …” said Kiba, trying to phrase it correctly. “...it’s a female Raccoon and … Akamaru, umm … liked her … a lot.”

Naruto stared at Kiba for a minute before bursting out laughing. “Haha! You mean to tell me that Akamaru tried to get freaky with the Raccoon?!”

“Apparently …” said the brunet, rubbing his face. “And Sakura’ll never let me live it down.”

“Damn straight I won’t!” said a high, ringing voice behind them.

They wheeled around and where faced with a fuming Sakura. Coiled around her neck and sniffing at the fragrant air around it was a black and grey, furry little Raccoon. Its small, beady eyes blinked inside the deep shadowy bandit’s mask of hair surrounding his sockets. Naruto was instantly reminded of Gaara’s hooded eyes.

“Oh, uh, hi Sakura …” said Kiba, nervously.

“Don’t ‘Uh, hi Sakura’ me! That mutt of yours violated Princess!” she yelled, stroking the pelt on the small creature.

“Princess?” inquired Naruto.

Sakura glanced at Naruto, annoyed. “That’s her name! The poor thing was traumatized for months!”

Princess nuzzled her face into Sakura’s soothing strokes, looking, for all the world, like an over-grown housecat.

“Yeah, I know, you’ve told me like a hundred times …” said Kiba, unable to keep an irritated edge from his voice.

“And yet you still seem to feel absolutely nothing! You should keep that flea bitten, horny mutt of yours on a leash!” she shrieked, clenching her fists in anger.

Kiba, sensing that she might want to bring her fight to physical blows, quickly devised an escape plan.

“Well, me and Naruto are going to watch a movie at my house, so I’ll talk to you later.” he said speedily, grabbing Naruto by the arm and pulling him out onto the streets.

It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but it worked none the less.

Naruto made a few pawing gestures and a pained whimper as he looked wistfully at his unfinished, 3rd bowl of ramen.

“I’ve got ramen at my place.” said Kiba impatiently, trying to get Naruto to speed their departure.

Naruto put up less of a fight once he heard that, and they were able to get away without provoking Sakura further.

“So I get to see your new place.” said Naruto as they slowed to a walk near the Inuzuka compound.

Naruto had seen the residence in passing when he went to the main house to see Kiba, but had never actually been there.

In the time it took to traverse the distance between the access to the district and the house, Naruto began to appreciate some of the cozy attributes the dwelling held.

The brunet opened the door for him and he entered the dimly lit foyer beyond. The floors were wooden and unfinished; the same was true for the walls and roof. The timber cabin looked larger than it did on the outside, and contained a living room, dining area, laundry room and a large bedroom.

He exited from the foyer into the living room and saw a small, stone fireplace set inside the wall, on the hearth of which he saw several framed photos of Kiba’s team, Kiba’s family and a couple of Naruto.

There was a rather large Television along the wall and a loveseat sporting an intricate plaid design facing it with comfortable looking fleece pillows on each side.

“I guess Akamaru is at the main house. Take a seat.” said Kiba, walking into the kitchen.

Naruto sat and continued to examine the surroundings.

He heard Kiba’s low voice from the kitchen. “What kind of Ramen do you want?”

“Whatever you got’s fine.” Naruto called back.

A few minutes later, Kiba entered with a hot bowl of instant Ramen and placed it on the coffee table before Naruto. The blond descended on the food as though he hadn’t eaten in weeks, never mind 10 minutes ago.

Kiba laughed and approached a precariously stacked mountain of videos. He grabbed the movie on the top, and popped it into the video player.

The dog-nin walked back into the kitchen while the opening credits rolled over the screen, showing various mangled remains strewn over unsightly battlegrounds. When he returned, he was carrying a white ceramic pitcher and two shallow glasses. He poured the clear fluid into the glasses and handed one to Naruto.

Naruto threw back the liquid and started to gag.

“Ah-What is this?!” he managed to cough, clutching his throat.

Kiba let out another peel of laughter.

“Sorry, I should have told you before you drank it. I had some Sake in the fridge and thought we could have some.” replied Kiba, giving a fanged grin.

“We’re not old enough to drink this!” said Naruto.

Kiba rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we can’t handle it … Or can you?”

Naruto heard the challenge in his voice and immediately bristled.

“Of course I can handle it!” he said, thrusting forth his glass for a refill.

Kiba chuckled and replenished his cup; it was so easy to get Naruto to rise to a confrontation.

“So what are we watching?” asked Naruto, finally looking at the large monitor.

“Rise of the Dead Ninja Army 4.” replied Kiba, sitting next to the blond.

“Awesome! I’ve been dying to see this one!” said Naruto, immediately perking up.

Kiba was the one to introduce the fox-boy to the series when they were young. The fourth movie in the sequence was released while Naruto was training with Jiraiya and he hadn’t been able to convince the Sannin to let him see it.

The opening credits finally finished and the title splashed across the screen in glutinous blood.

Naruto was having a hard time concentrating on the movie due to Kiba’s presence. Once in a while Kiba would do something that completely distracted him.

On one such occasion, Kiba yawned broadly, opening his arms wide and incredibly nonchalantly draping one across the blond’s shoulders. Naruto couldn’t believe Kiba was using the oldest trick in the book on him, plus he was yawning at the goriest part of the movie. Naruto wasn’t going to complain though; his arm was warm and he found himself leaning onto Kiba’s chest as the dog-nin held the blond closer to him.

By the time the ending credits spun over the screen Naruto was practically sitting on Kiba’s lap and quickly moved away, a light flush creeping up his face. They watched another couple of movies and Naruto kept his distance, despite Kiba’s repeated attempts to get him closer.

In another one of Kiba’s not-so-subtle attempts to close the gap, the dog-nin shuffled closer to Naruto, reached over him to adjust something on the side table to the blond’s right, and let his hand fall onto Naruto’s inner thigh.

Kiba could feel the heat radiating from the boy’s skin through his jeans as he moved his hand slightly back and forth.

“Umm … Kiba?” said Naruto, his voice determinedly calm.

“Yes?”

“Can you move your hand please?” he asked coolly.

Kiba grinned impishly and leaned towards him so that his lips were to the blond’s ear.

“I don’t want to.” he replied, his voice low and husky.

Tremors shot up Naruto’s spine and a moan nearly escaped his mouth before he got control of himself.

“Well I do.” said Naruto, firmly, taking the brunet’s hand and moving it forcefully off of him.

Kiba continued to grin, as though he were having quite a bit of fun.

Once they had finished watching their fifth movie that evening, Naruto glanced at clock on the hearth.

“Holy shit! It’s nearly 3:00a.m.!” he cried, leaping to his feet.

Naruto found himself slightly unsteady due to the amount of alcohol they had consumed, but was able to keep his balance.

“I need to go home and get some sleep; I’m supposed to be meeting Kakashi at 7:00!”

Kiba got up as well and looked ready to help steady Naruto if he fell.

“Maybe it would be better if you stayed the night?”

Naruto blushed and passed Kiba into the foyer. “No way, dog-breath.”

“Well, I’m going to at least walk you home.”

Kiba followed Naruto out onto the cool, evening, Inuzuka grounds. Naruto made no objection to his company and simply continued on the trail out of the compound.

The blond’s mind was a little hazy but the cold dusk air helped to clear his senses. Kiba remained silent but smiling as he walked next to Naruto; all in all he thought the night had gone well.

When they reached Naruto’s apartment, he pursued him until they reached the doorway.

Naruto extracted his keys from his pocket and attempted to fit one into the lock but dropped them in his debilitated state. He snatched them off the ground but quickly lost his balance.

Kiba caught him before his head made contact with the floor.

“Woah there! You could’ve cracked your head open.” said Kiba, conveying him upright.

“Thanks.” mumbled Naruto, sliding the key into the catch and unlocking it.

“Wait.”

Naruto turned to him. “What?”

Kiba was smiling mischievously once more and came closer until his body was pressed against Naruto’s and Naruto’s back against the door.

“Do I get a good-night kiss?” he asked, his voice taking on the same, gruff edge that kept driving Naruto feral.

Kiba’s eyes darkened with lust as he leaned his face forward, Naruto’s wide azure orbs took on the same murky quality.

Their lips met passionately and both of their desire could be felt in the air as they deepened their kiss fervently, threading their fingers into each other’s hair keenly. Naruto’s mind clouded over once more, but this time it was due to the searing need that filled him, the one and only thing he wanted at that point, the immense pleasure, of which the thought of made him groan into the kiss. He was losing it again, and most of him sought for him to merely bend to his baser needs.

With a tremendous effort, Naruto opened the door to his apartment and backed inside, breaking their contact. Kiba looked ready to follow him in but Naruto closed the door so that only a portion of his body was visible.

“Goodnight Kiba, I had a great time.” he said, forcing a smile onto his face.

Kiba looked completely dumbfounded at how Naruto was able to ‘turn it off’ so quickly.

After a moment of disorientation passed, Kiba was finally able to reply.

“Yeah … uh ... Me too …. G-goodnight.” he stuttered, still in mild shock, a look of disappointment starting to creep onto his face.

Naruto shut the door completely and let out a large sigh; keeping his more primal instincts at bay would be harder than he thought.

On the other side of the door, the dog-nin kept staring at the place the blond had recently vacated, still unable to believe his self control.

He looked down and found that more than his curiosity had been aroused by the situation.

Kiba gave one more frustrated look at the apartment before making a hasty departure; he had a ‘problem’ to resolve once he got home.

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A/N: Hey everyone, it’s been a while, I know. My Beta-reader never got back to me about this and I had to find someone else to do it. Anyway, if you’re wondering about Lonely Faces, I should be finished writing the next chapter some-time today. Hope you all enjoyed. Comments are appreciated!