A Fatalistic Series of Events

“Hello, I’m Arashi. I couldn’t help noticing you at the party last night.” He said, nodding his head in greeting. Kiba smiled indulgently, standing and offering the seat in front of Neji.

“Care to join us?”

Neji smiled and gave a slight nod, encouraging the other male to sit down. With any luck, they could leave in two days.

Kiba moved to the side of the booth Neji was on, waiting for him to move over while ‘Arashi’ sat where he had been sitting. Kiba put an arm around Neji’s waist, grinning at the other male and letting his possession shine in his eyes. Arashi’s smile grew a little.

“Ah, young love is so strong. It’s why I love those parties.”

Neji scooted over and leaned against Kiba once he sat down, resting his head on his shoulder. For the mission.

“So Arashi,” Kiba began, his arm having tightened unconsciously a little when Neji leaned into him. It was a motion Arashi wouldn’t see, a motion completely unnecessary to the mission and more reflexive. “What did you want to speak to us about?”

Arashi smiled more, relaxing into the booth.

“You both just seemed so comfortable at the party. I was wondering if you’d been to some like it? I’m about ready to move on from this town.”

"Oh, that's a shame," Neji said. "No, we haven't; or at least not together. We... We're just so used to our family’s formal events. It's nicer here, though, we don't have to be so formal around each other, right Kotsuke?"

Kiba turned to Neji, kissing his temple affectionately.

“Yes; I love being able to hold you and not get scolded.” He squeezed his arm purposefully this time.

“Where did you two come from? Maybe you’ve heard of a place with similar standards nearby your old home?”

Neji shook his head, forcing the smile to keep on his face. "No, there's not much near our homes. Besides our parents didn't want us to actually see much of each other before we're officially married."

Arashi raised an eyebrow.

“You’re on your honeymoon then?” He asked, almost making Kiba laugh outright then and there.

Neji blushed, tensing some of his muscles and resisting the urge to move far away from Kiba.

"O-oh, no, but we should be this time next year. We managed to convince them an outing like that would be nice for it."

“A pity that. You two seem like such a lovely couple, I wonder why you’d wait.” Kiba grinned devilishly at him, hugging Neji to him and leaning his head down, nuzzling the other.

“We do make a lovely couple, don’t we? But we both want to get to know each other away from our parents. You know. The real us. Nanao here actually has a lovely singing voice, don’t you Nanao?” Kiba nuzzled Neji more, having no idea if Neji could sing normally let alone with his voice box messed with.

Neji forced Kiba away a little, making sure it looked gentle, keeping the smile on. "You flatter me too much, Kotsuke."

Arashi chuckled at the shy display.

“Come now. Sing something for us, I’m sure we’d love it.”

“Yes Nanao, sing something for us.”

"Ah, no. I... I couldn--"

"Are you ready to order?" a waitress came up, a bright smile on her face.

Neji relaxed at the interruption, glad he wouldn't have to sing. He hadn't done that since Hanabi was an infant!

Arashi stood, shaking his head.

“I’m not staying.” He turned to Kiba and Neji, nodding his head again. “It was nice talking to you both.”

Neji's gaze followed him and he asked, "Oh, uh... when are you leaving? Maybe we'll see you again tonight?" He just hoped he wasn't leaving that day, not before they got more information about him.

“I’m a wandering type of person. I don’t like to be in any one town for too long, but…” Arashi paused, seemingly sifting through his memories. ‘I’m having trouble finding a town to move on to.”

Kiba nodded in understanding.

“Well if you find a town maybe you could tell us about it? Our hotels booked for another two weeks but we’d like to visit other places.” Arashi nodded, smiling at the waitress as he left. Kiba turned to Neji, raising a brow.

“Ready to order, Nanao?”

Neji nodded and a minute later the waitress was heading back to give the chef their orders.

--

Once back in the room, Neji let out a sigh and moved away from Kiba. "That was some unexpected progress," he said, but glad it had happened.

“Can you actually sing?” Kiba asked, flopping onto the couch. He spread his arms out, elbows hanging off the back.

Neji glanced at him, eyes narrowed slightly. "I haven't in over ten years; I doubt I could sing well. And no, I'm not even going to try it, so don't ask."

“Awww, come on, I’ll do something embarrassing if you do something embarrassing.” Kiba teased, relaxing back, closing his eyes.

Neji gave a soft snort, rolling his eyes. "I doubt you would get embarrassed over anything," he said.

“You wound me. You wouldn’t want to see me in a skirt even?” Kiba snickered, swinging so he was laying fully on the couch, eyes still closed. He moved his hands behind his head.

"You would look horrible," he said. "And get up. At least take off the blazer before you wrinkle all your clothes again."

Kiba groaned at Neji but sat up, unbuttoning the two buttons and slipping the red cloth from his shoulders. He tossed it on the floor, sitting back as he had been.

“Happy?”

Neji frowned and picked up the jacket from the floor, draping it over a chair so it wouldn't wrinkle.

"No," he said, "and I won't be until we complete the mission."

“Well, shouldn’t you fill out the scroll with all the information we just got?” Kiba said, stretching languidly.

Once again resisting the urge to hit Kiba, Neji turned and went back into the bedroom, sliding the door shut.

He grabbed his bag and dug out one of the scrolls and a pen. In his neatest handwriting, he started writing.

Tsunade-sama, we have seen and had contact with our target. He goes by the name Arashi here and undoubtedly changes names with every move. He has told us that he wishes to leave soon but cannot find a place to stay. We've requested for him to tell us when he knows, so Kotsuke and Nanao can find more places to travel. I will send more news if he leaves before you send troops here.

Hyuuga Neji

Re-reading over the report and deciding it was fine, he made a hand seal and cast a jutsu to distort the words. Once that was done, Neji rolled it up, tying and sealing it.

They would send it out locally by hawk before going to the party.

Kiba rolled onto his side, sitting up on one elbow.

“So when’s the party tonight?” he called out.

Neji sighed and stood up, still holding onto the scroll. He slid open the door again and stepped back out.

"You don't have to yell; you have legs," he said. "In three hours. And it wouldn't hurt you to know the schedules either."

Kiba flopped back, scratching his stomach.

“Why when you’ve got my back?” He said, crooking a grin at the air since he wasn’t facing Neji.

Neji frowned, moving over and placing the scroll on the table before sitting down. "It's a mission; you need to know the same information."

Kiba waved a hand at Neji, running a clawed nail over one of the buttons on his shirt in boredom.

“Need to; want to; have to, I don’t see why. If you know it we’re all good and we should be gone in a few days anyway.”

Neji narrowed his eyes, silently scoffing. "And that attitude is why you're still just a Chuunin."

Kiba narrowed his own eyes.

“And your attitude is why you’ll get nothing more than a one-night stand.”

Neji's muscles tensed as he reigned in his temper. Now wasn't the time for an argument.

"Regardless if that is true or not," he started, "I thought we came to an understanding it would not be brought up." He stood up again, moving back towards the bedroom. "I'm going to meditate for a while. I suggest you do something to calm down as well."

“So you’re the only one allowed to be an ass?” Kiba snarled, feeling more anger than he should have. Maybe he did need to cool off, but if Neji thought he could be a jerk to him without him being a jerk back he was wrong. He turned over on the couch, huffing. Stupid Hyuuga.

Neji paused for a second before just entering the bedroom and closing the door after him. He sat down on the bed, scowling a little at the dress. He couldn't meditate in it, not properly anyway.

After a moment’s thought, he brought the covers up over his legs before bending them into the lotus position, covering himself up and sinking into a calm.

Kiba tensed a little as he heard the door close, relaxing when it didn’t open again. He sighed, suddenly being hit with a loneliness and longing for his best friend to be with him. He’d been having so much fun teasing Neji he’d forgotten about not having Akamaru around. He missed someone who, even if he didn’t always completely understand him, wasn’t such a know-it-all bitch.

He sighed again. Damn Neji and this stupid mission.

A little over two hours later, Neji emerged from the room. "...are you ready to leave for the party?"

Kiba started fully awake, twitching onto his back and nearly off the couch. He hadn’t felt like doing anything inside the hotel room and walking around alone would only twist Neji’s nuts further, and after the almost fight he hadn’t been up to that either. He’d ended up remaining on the couch, venting inside his head until he’d fallen into a dose. He sat up, stretching and swinging his legs off the couch.

“Yeah, yeah…” He looked around for the red blazer, standing to retrieve it when he spotted it on the chair.

Neji let out a soft sigh and picked up the scroll, moving to the door and waiting for Kiba to join him before opening the door and heading out.

“How long do you think before we hear from our families, Nanao?” Kiba asked, offering his arm to Neji.

Neji slipped his arm through Kiba's, giving a smile. "If they send it out with no problems, I would hope in two days," he said.

“You would think having such wealthy families we could get in touch much faster.” Kiba mused, internally conscious of the almost-fight. It kept gnawing at him, even now. Why had he brought that up again? Sure Neji’d said something snappish, but he had other things he could have said… He was ashamed to admit he felt a little guilty.

"Mm, well they might be busy. It's possible they'll send a reply tomorrow," he said, pushing any doubts to the back of his mind. He couldn't be distracted. "Hopefully they will so we can see more sights in this week we have."

“True. Hopefully when we get back we can still spend some time alone together.” Kiba slid his arm away from Neji’s hold and around his waist, holding him close. “And I can make up for all the stupid things I said when we first met.” He didn’t know why he’d said that last, but the guilt inside him had lessened considerably.

Neji blinked, a little startled. After a few seconds he relaxed and nodded. "Maybe we can," he said then added, conscious of the role again, "as long as my father has no objections."

Kiba grinned, laughing.

“Oh, I’m sure your family will be just wild!”

Neji fought not to smirk and just smiled. "I think you're confusing our families, Kotsuke."

Kiba snickered, squeezing his arm around Neji’s waist as they approached the postal office.

“Maybe you’re right, good thing I was told you were a dog lover, Nanao.”

"As long as they don't shed and slobber all over," he said, giving a small laugh. Once in the postal office, Neji placed the scroll down on the counter, smiling at the worker.

"Please send this to Konoha via hawk," he said, once sure there was no one there they had to worry about. "They should send back payment with a letter for us."

The worker smiled back, nodding and taking it.

“Will you be picking it up or would you prefer it mailed to you?”

"If you could send it to the Wakaya Hotel, that would be perfect."

The worker nodded, filling out the necessary papers.

“Alright, we’ll mail it when it arrives. Have a nice evening.”

Neji gave a slight bow. "Thank you, you too," he said before tugging at one of Kiba's arms and starting to leave.

“You’re so cute when you’re nice.” Kiba said in an undertone as they left, snickering.

His lip twitched upwards and he glanced at Kiba. "Hm, I suppose I could say the same for you," he murmured.

“Aww, aren’t I always nice?” Kiba teased, slipping his arm around Neji’s waist. He’d done it so often now it was becoming automatic.

Neji brought up a hand and rested it over Kiba's. "I'm not sure if I'd call it nice," he responded, teasing back.

“Don’t you know you tease the one’s you like, Nanao?” Kiba said, unable to resist stopping and scooping Neji up into his arms, walking along the busy street holding him bridal style.

"Ki-Kotsuke!" he said startled, almost slipping up. He flushed and instinctively brought a hand up to grab his collar to keep from falling. "I can walk, you know."

“I know, but I love showing you off.” Kiba leaned down, kissing Neji on the lips and holding it. When he pulled back he was still close enough that he was practically murmuring against his lips. “Can’t you see the jealous stares?”

Neji blinked, staring up at him before glancing around them quickly. They were definitely getting some stares and he could only feel his face burn more.

“Heh, only I, Kotsuke, could make the great Nanao blush.” Kiba said teasingly, kissing him again when he saw one particularly longing stare from another man.

Neji narrowed his eyes a little and hesitated for a second before kissing back. If it got awkward later, he could always blame it on the role he had to play.

Kiba was tempted to stop walking and deepen the kiss. So tempted he even found his legs slowing down. ‘No way, keep walking.’ He pulled away from the kiss, walking a little faster. ‘I can’t let myself do much more then the odd teasing.’

Neji let his lips curl into a slightly smug smile. "And apparently only I can leave the boastful Kotsuke speechless," he teased back.

‘….I can’t possibly resist that, now can I?’ Kiba thought as he did stop, making sure to move to the side before curling his own lip back.

“We’ll see, Nanao.” He bent down, capturing the luscious lips, teasing the tip of his tongue over the supple flesh.

Neji made a soft sound in surprise, hand tightening a little on Kiba's shirt. He knew this wasn't a good idea, not when they were out in public on a mission. Especially if things went farther and he started to become aroused; the lump under the dress would be difficult to explain.

He pulled back, retreating, and shook his head. "Not now."

Kiba licked his lips, smirking.

“Is that an invitation?” But he did begin walking.

Neji let out a sigh in relief, settling back down. "...Maybe," he said finally, not quite looking at his face. "If you behave this week."

Kiba’s eyes smoldered, thoughts racing. He shouldn’t want it, but he couldn’t help feeling a coil of excitement in him at the thought of another chance.

“I’ll have to with that kind of reward.”

"Good," he said, lips curving again. He glanced over, seeing the party house. "You can let me down, now that we're here."

“You liked it.” Kiba teased as he eased Neji onto his feet.

"Maybe," he said, gaining footing again and looked back over at him. "Warn me next time," he added, hesitating before giving a quick kiss to his cheek.

Kiba couldn’t help grinning, having trouble toning it down enough to hide his fangs. He sauntered up to Neji, arm looping around his waist unthinkingly as they moved to the entrance of the place.

“Sure thing, princess.”

Neji flushed a little but made himself lean into Kiba, walking in.