Rainy Night

Review responses:

inu_spike The budding emotions of adolescents is fertile ground and it is where most of my stories are set.

KingCobra Well, I tried to get this chapter out as fast as I could.

Sneakyfox I'm glad you saw the dog’s fun in the end.

Takoyaki thanks for the review and I'm pretty sure this is it.

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Naruto pressed his lips against Kiba’s as his hand slid up the others bare back. Their hips grinding against each other they fell onto the bed. The two of them rolled over one another in a tangle of limbs grinding against each other. He broke their lip lock and attacked the others neck. The taller boy groaned as he found a particularly sensitive spot.

His eyes shot open as he awoke from the dream world. For a second he could feel the remnant of the dream as ghostly arms, legs and lips were pressed against his, but those sensations quickly fled replaced by the feeling of his blanket and pajamas.

The room still echoed with the sound of rolling thunder which the blonde assumed was what had woke him. Glancing over to his window, he could see rain hitting against the glass as each drop reflected the light from a solitary streetlight. Rolling over he felt his erection and groaned. He was never able to sleep with one, no matter how tired he was. Throwing off the sheets, he rolled out of bed and walked to his bathroom trying not to wake up.

In his bathroom he pulled his erection out from his pajamas and started to stroke himself. It was more mechanical than anything else and he even kept his eyes closed as he leaned over the toilet. Unfortunately, some part of his mind provided him with images. With his eyes closed he imagined Kiba with his mouth around his penis. His orgasm came quickly and it woke him up fully.

His first full thought of the day was a disturbing one. Why had he been thinking of Kiba just now? Perhaps, more importantly, why had he dreamed about him? Okay, he knew about a certain type of dream he was supposed to start having and he had already had those before. Those had mostly involved Sakura and a few other girls he knew. That was normal though. It was his mind's way of preparing for something or so Iruka had told him.

Of course, when he dreamed about girls it wasn't so intense. Usually it was just kissing and hugging with their clothes on. However, when he dreamed about Kiba, they had both been naked. He knew that in the way you knew things from dreams. In a way, it had felt like what the two of them had done yesterday, but different. It had been more somehow, but strange too.

Naruto shook his head and flushed the toilet as he went back to bed. He tried to go back to sleep, but the question of why he had dreamed of Kiba kept bothering him. Was it because the two of them had been doing stuff that you normally only did with your girlfriend? No, that couldn't be it. They were just practicing, so why? It took him a long time to go back to sleep and it was far from restful.

He woke up again several hours later and started his normal morning routine. He managed to put the dream and Kiba out of his mind until he was about to leave his apartment. Naruto had just decided that he would stop by Ichiraku for lunch when he remembered that he had not only promised to meet Kiba there, but to treat him to a meal.

At that second, the blonde realized that he really didn't want to meet up with Kiba. It seemed every time they got together they ended up taking their clothes off and doing stuff. The first time Naruto had given in reluctantly while the second had not really been bad. The third, well, that had been nice, but with that dream it felt different.

When he dreamed about Sakura or another girl it was okay because you could think of girls that way, but Kiba was unquestionably a boy and you weren't supposed to do things with them like that. He knew that so why would he dream about a boy when his mind could have come up with any girl?

Until he had an answer to that question, he wasn't sure if he should see Kiba again. He wasn't aware that his face scrunched up at that thought. He had liked hanging out with Kiba, but things were weird now. Closing the door behind him, he decided to head to Ichiraku, because, after all, he had promised a free meal to Kiba.

The Ichiraku Ramen Bar had just opened, but was devoid of any customers at the moment. Leaning against the counter, he wrapped his knuckles on the countertop to get their attention. Ayame was the first to notice they had a customer and turned, greeting him with a smile. “Hey, Naruto what can I get you today.”

He smiled back and said, “I was hoping I could pay for a meal in advance.”

She shrugged, “I guess you could, but why would you want to do that?”

“Well, you see I kinda made this deal with a friend that I would treat him to lunch, but I'm not going to be able to meet him here today. So I was hoping I could pay now and you could just give him his Ramen when he shows up.”

“All right, but couldn't you just reschedule with your friend?”

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to lie to Ayame, but he didn't want to tell her what was up with Kiba either. “I just don't want to see him right now.”

“Why, did you two have a fight?”

“No, I just don't want to talk to him.”

“Why?” Ayame asked.

“I don't want to talk about it.”

Naruto was about to turn to leave when he felt a hand grab his own. He looked back to see Ayame looking at him strangely. “Dad I'm taking my break now.”

Her father turned and said, “But you just…” he trailed off when she turned to face him and simply added, “all right.”

She leaned in closer to him and said, “Wait a minute I want to talk to you.”

The blonde stood there stunned for a second as Ayame slipped out the back door and came around to the front of the stand before grabbing his hand and pulling him away. “Where are we going?” He asked.

“To find some privacy,” she responded. They turned onto a street that was less busy than the one their shop was on. She led him to a bench and sat, pulling him down next to her. “All right, talk.”

“Talk, about what?”

“Whatever is bothering you and don't say you're fine. You've been coming to our little restaurant since before you could count your change. I know you so spill.”

Naruto shifted on the hard wooden bench wishing he was anywhere but here. He opened his mouth once, but realizing he had no idea of what to say, he closed it again. After what felt like a long time he finally said, “It's a guy thing.” It was only after he said that until he realized how true it was.

“Guy thing?” She echoed. “Like what? Growing hair in places? Having strange feelings?”

“No,” he cut her off. “I mean it's not like that. It's just a thing and I don't want to talk about it.”

He tried to stand to leave, but she grabbed his arm. “Listen Naruto, I know that both boys and girls go through changes at your age and I think there's more similarities than you think. Still, if you don't want to talk to me about it, at least find someone you can talk to about it. I care about you and not just because you’re our best customer.”

Naruto wasn't sure what he felt. He knew at some level Ayame and her father seemed to like him, but he didn't know how exactly. They had given him a free bowl of Ramen before the final round of the exam and he had always kind of felt like a little more than just another customer, but he never really thought that they thought about him. Now Ayame was saying she was worried about him and he felt oddly guilty.

“You won't tell anyone?” He said as she was getting up to leave.

Ayame turned around and said with a small smile, “Of course not.”

The blonde could not meet her eyes for some reason and instead just stared at the ground as he said, “I had a dream. You know one of those you start having when you’re, well you know, you're preparing for something.”

“A wet dream,” Ayame supplied sounding a bit uneasy herself.

He nodded and continued, “But instead of a girl like it usually is, it was Kiba, the boy I was going to have lunch with.”

Ayame was quiet for what felt like a long time, but in reality could not have been very long. “Naruto,” she said his name with an odd gentleness, “having one wet dream about a boy doesn't mean you're going to be gay.”

He looked up at her as he heard the unfamiliar word, “Gay? What's that?”

She seemed surprised by his question, but recovered quickly. “Well it's a term used to describe a guy who likes to be with another guy instead of a girl romantically.”

“Like kissing and stuff?”

“Yeah, and other things,” she said trailing off. “Like I said, you don't really have to worry about that. I mean you like that Sakura girl and all, so if anything you might be bisexual which means you like both boys and girls.”

Yeah, Naruto thought, but he had already kissed Kiba and done stuff with him so did that mean he was gay or bisexual. In one way, learning that liking guys wasn't as weird as he thought it was. At first was a relief, but he wasn't sure if he really liked the idea either. He didn't like being different all the time. Sure, having the fox sealed inside of him had its advantages, but it had also made him different and lonely.

“Are you okay Naruto?”

“Yeah,” he said without thinking. “I was just thinking.”

She nodded and said, “Listen, no matter what you'll always be our favorite customer. Now, if you want I'll say you're sick today and give your friend a free bowl if he still wants to be there. However, I don't think you should ruin a friendship just because of one weird dream, okay?”

“Thanks Ayame.”

To his surprise she hugged him and said quietly, “Anything for our favorite customer.”

Her clothes didn't smell like Ramen as he thought they would, but instead detergent. Still, after a brief second when he stiffened, he relaxed and found the embrace oddly comforting. He was disappointed when it broke, but he was smiling as she turned and walked away.

After she rounded the corner his thoughts turned back to their conversation. Naruto was actually a little more confused now than he had been before, but it was a different type of confusion. If he liked both boys and girls, did he like Kiba in that way? Okay, Naruto knew he liked to be around him, but he also liked to be around Iruka, Konohamaru and Sakura which was the only person he was sure he liked that way.

Biting his lower lip, he decided he needed to do some training to get his mind off of the subject. At least that was his plan, but his thoughts were never far from his mind. He kept thinking about it, but it wasn't until towards the end of the day that he finally thought of something that should have occurred to him earlier. He had been running different scenarios through his mind and comparing them against the three people he knew his relationship with.

Now, Naruto thought about kissing. He tried to imagine himself kissing Iruka and the idea was just ridiculous. Then he thought about kissing Konohamaru and that was uncomfortable. He hardly had to think about kissing Sakura at all to know he wanted too. Naruto wanted to do that since he was little. Then he thought about kissing Kiba, which was weird because of the four of them he was the only one of them that he had actually kissed. When he thought about it, though, it wasn't unpleasant.

Okay, so maybe he did like Kiba. Now, what should he do about it? If he was a girl, he would just ask her out, but then again that had not exactly worked with Sakura, and besides, Kiba was a guy. Ayame had not said it, but he figured that being gay or bisexual was not exactly common. Still, it didn't seem right to keep it from him either. In the solitude of the training field, Naruto resolved to talk to Kiba the next time he saw him.

With that decided, he called it a day. It was a bit early for him, but he had skipped lunch and his stomach was rumbling. He thought about eating at Ichiraku, but even though he hadn't been trying, he had worked out a sweat. Heading back to his apartment, he prioritized his needs. That meant Ramen first followed by a shower.

Naruto had just finished digging into his cup of instant Ramen when there was a knock on his door. The last time someone knocked on his door it had been Shikamaru about the Sasuke mission, and for some reason his mind connected that knock with this one and he found himself rushing to the door. However when he opened the door, he found himself staring at, “Kiba.”

“Naruto,” the taller boy responded looking him up and down. “The girl at the Ramen stand said you were sick?”

“What? Oh that's right Ayame.” He had forgotten about his little deception.

“Well, I thought I'd check on you to see if you were okay.” Akamaru yelped from where he was riding in Kiba’s jacket, apparently expressing his own sympathies.

“Yeah,” Naruto said remembering the promise he had made himself only a few minutes ago. Of course, back then he thought he would have time to prepare.

“Yeah, you're okay? Because you look like you're sweating.” Kiba said eyeing him.

“Um, yeah I'm feeling fine. Do you want to come in?”

The taller boy shrugged and took a step inside his apartment. He closed the door behind him and the two of them stood in the entryway for a moment without saying anything. After what felt like an eternity to Naruto, Kiba asked, “Mind if I let Akamaru down?”

“That's fine.”

Kiba unzipped his coat and gently placed Akamaru on the floor who promptly found an interesting smell to follow. They both watched as the little puppy disappeared around the corner before Kiba spoke again. “So was it like a stomach thing? Did you throw up and feel better?”

“What, oh yeah that.” Naruto realized that he either had to go for it now or lie and he really didn't want to do that. “Kiba, I wasn't really sick. I was just thinking.”

“You missed lunch because you were thinking?” The other boy said raising an eyebrow.

He rubbed the back of his head nervously, wondering if he could still back out of this. No, he couldn't. “Kiba what are we? Like just friends?”

The other boy seemed to stiffen which only made him nervous. The silence between the two of them seemed to stretch into eternity, but eventually Kiba said, “We're friends I told you that. Do you want something else?”

Naruto really didn't know how to answer that as he had not really been expecting a question. So he threw the question back at his friend. “Do you want something else?”

They both stared at each other before the other nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. I mean at first I didn't, but I started to think about it and then what we did yesterday was amazing. I thought about it after you left and when I went to bed I could smell you on the sheets still and I kinda liked it.”

“My smell?” Naruto said a bit confused.

“Yeah, you know I have a really good nose. If I didn't, that fart you blew in my face would not have made me lose that match.”

For a second the blonde wasn't sure what he was talking about, but then he remembered the preliminaries and smiled. “Oh yeah, so what do I smell like?”

“Your gas or you?”

Naruto felt his cheeks warm a little as he was forced to say, “Me.”

The other boy seemed to think for a minute before saying, “It's kind of hard to describe. It's really strong especially when you sweat. I guess it's sweet, but more like a fruit sweet than a candy sweet.”

“Okay,” that's weird Naruto added to himself. “So like what are we now?”

“Boyfriends I guess. I don't really know.”

Naruto shrugged, “I guess it doesn't matter. Um, what do we do now?”

“Not sure,” Kiba answered.

“Like do we date or something?”

Kiba chuckled, “I think we had one of those for today, but you blew it off.”

Naruto laughed a little nervously. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Well, there is this movie I want to see. Maybe we should go together?”

“Sure,” Naruto answered before adding, “How is this going to work? I mean the guy is supposed to pay, but were both guys?”

“I could pay for the tickets and you could pay for the snacks?” Kiba suggested.

He thought for a moment before nodding and saying, “That sounds okay.”

“All right, we can meet at the theater for the six o'clock showing and maybe afterwards we could do something else?”

Naruto nodded, though he wasn't really sure what Kiba meant by that. He thought for a minute before adding, “Should we like kiss now?”

The other boy smiled, showing his unusually long canines. “I was hoping you would say that.”

Naruto stepped close to the other boy with a smile and tilted his head slightly. Kiba tilted his head the other way and leaned in, closing his eyes. Their lips met, and while it didn't have the passion of their first, if anything, Naruto's heart was beating faster. Their lips meshed together, but before Naruto could deepen it Kiba pulled back. Naruto was left feeling empty for a second and he gave his friend, no, his boyfriend, a weird look.

“Naruto, I would really like to keep kissing you, but there's this family thing I got to go to.”

He nodded; kind of surprised that he was a little disappointed. Kiba collected Akamaru and they said a more casual goodbye. After he left, Naruto went to lie down on his bed and thought about what just happened. He had a boyfriend. He had not seen that coming. Still, it couldn't be all that bad as he knew he was smiling. This could be good Naruto thought.