Kankurou's Question

Disclaimer: I own nothing

This is a multi chapter story, I have been meaning to get to you for some time, those who know me well have been hearing about it for the last three months. This chapter is more of a teaser chapter just to get the ball rolling, I hope you enjoy it.

This is a love story of Kankurou and Kiba. Many characters will appear in the story but it is mainly about those two.

I've been trying to figure out how to make Italic and Bold work but have had no luck, Sorry.

I would like to thank my friends Shikyaku and Kattmad for editting this Chapter for me. *huggles*

Kankurou’s Question
Part 1
'I can’t believe I’m doing this, I must have a death wish.' Kankurou thought to himself as he walked up the steps to the Inuzuka Animal Hospital. Kiba was away on a mission and that left his mother and sister looking after the animals. He had often spent time with the Inuzuka family when he visited Konoha. Now that diplomatic missions kept him in the village hidden in the leaf most of the time, he ended up at the Inuzuka household quite often.

After he had saved Kiba from Ukon and Sakon five years ago, they had invited him over for dinner. From then on he had felt like part of their family. That had been a new feeling. He had never really had a family. His didn't act like a family in the least. That had also changed in those five years. Gaara, Temari and himself had learned to love and trust each other. Of course that was thanks to the relationships they had developed with others. Especially thanks to Uzumaki Naruto. They owed a lot to that blond, hyperactive knucklehead.

“Kami, why am I so nervous?” He asked out loud. His hand was on the handle of the animal hospital's door. He hadn’t even noticed he had grabbed it, his mind was rambling so fast. "I shouldn’t be nervous. Kiba is my best friend and Tsume has always been kind to me.” He stepped back from the door, straightened his clothes, popped a cinnamon heart in his mouth and checked his pocket for the hundredth time. 'Yep still there.'

He grabbed the door handle again. “Oh shit, here we go. You can do this, you’re a man. Fuck, you’re a Shinobi.” With those last words of encouragement he entered the office.

No one was out front in the reception room so he walked into the back. He had been there so many times over the years that he knew it wouldn’t be a problem. As soon as he opened the door to the back hall he could hear the laughter of Tsume. 'How I love that sound, so much like Kiba’s,' he thought to himself. The laughter was coming from the lunchroom. When he got just outside the room he stopped and took a few deep breaths.

“Kitty, you stink. Get your cute ass in here.” Tsume's voice was loud and full of mirth.

Kankurou laughed at the comment. One more deep breath and he stepped around the corner.

Hana and Tsume were sitting at the small table having a cup of tea. They turned to look at the silent young man and Tsume sniffed the air. “You reek. What's the matter? Has something happened to Kiba?” The wild haired woman looked worried.

“No. No. Nothings wrong with Kiba, as far as I know. I was wondering if I could have a few words with you, Inuzuka-san,” Kankurou said a little too fast as he gave a quick bow. He was trying as hard as he could to keep his words and voice calm. He took off his hood and quickly straightened his hair. He was dressed in his best gear and spent extra time on his face paint to make sure everything was perfect.

Both women looked at him like he had grown the cat ears they all teased him about. There was silence for a moment.

“It’s not urgent, but it is important. If you don’t have time, I understand. You could send word for me when you do have time, if it’s not too much trouble.” His voice was much more solid this time. He sounded like such a dork he wanted to smack himself in the head.

Tsume and Hana looked at each other. Tsume gave a slight nod and Hana got up. “I have to check on a patient,” she said as she got up to leave with her cup of tea in hand.

“Hana-san,” Kankurou greeted with a bow as she passed.

“Kitty,” she smirked in a teasing tone.

“Come and sit, boy. You look as though you're about to fall down.” She motioned to the chair Hana had just left. He checked his pocket again, and then took his seat. He stared at the table, sorting his words. He had planned out what he was to say, but some of it seemed to be lost now.

“Kankurou, speak. What is the problem? You’re sort of freaking me out. Sand shinobi don’t get scared or nervous and you stink of both. What’s going on?” she asked in a stern voice.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” He cleared his throat and sat up straight to give himself more presence. “It’s true not much can make a sand shinobi sweat, so to speak. We live in a harsh violent world. We have developed thick skins.” He inwardly congratulated himself on his relaxed tone. “In Konoha things are different. The whole community has a sense of family and a love for each other that burns like a fire. These feelings that are considered everyday to you are rare and foreign to Suna, so they tend to make us nervous.” The puppet master took a deep breath.

Tsume stared at the painted young man, not like the boy that had visited her house many times over the past five years, but as though a stranger had sat down before her.

One more deep breath. “You are a very smart woman with intuitions I can’t dream of, so I’m sure it will not be a surprise when I say I have fallen in love with your son.” He watched the woman for her reaction.

“Continue,” she said after a moment. Her face was unreadable.

“Friday, Kiba turns eighteen and his friends have planned a big party for him, as you know.”

“Yes. Hana and I were invited.” Her tone had become annoyed with the obvious statement.

“Good.” Another deep breath.

He shifted in his seat and grabbed the velvet box from his pocket. He got comfortable again (as much as he could).

“I love your son with everything that I am. More than I have ever loved anything. More than I knew was possible. With your consent, next Friday at the party I intend to find out if he feels the same.” Kankurou set the velvet box on the table in front of Tsume. “I will ask him to marry me; to become my life partner. I’m asking for your son's hand in marriage.” His voice was deep with confidence. He knew he was doing the right thing.

Tsume picked up the box and opened it. Her eyes went big as she viewed the contents, then she snapped it shut and slid it back to the painted brunet. She let out a long sigh. Kankurou watched the tattooed woman for any sign of her answer. There was nothing. He could feel the sweat run down the side of his face and down his neck into his shirt.

“Kankurou. this is all very sweet. Weird as shit, but sweet.” She leaned forward over the table and stared the young man in the eye. With a feral snarl she enlightened Kankurou, “But my son is not gay.”

“Would it be a problem for you if he were?” Kankurou retorted his voice strong and determined. This was more his style. He wasn’t good at nice and sweet. If she wanted to intimidate him, it worked to his advantage. It was something he was used to, and familiar with.

“He’s not!” Her reply came out as a vicious snarl.

“But he is. He has been hiding it from you. He is afraid of you and how you would react. I was hoping that he had told you or that you had figured it out by the time it came for me to ask for his hand.”

“What makes you think my son is gay?”

“I’m his best friend, along with Shino, but unlike his relationship with Shino ours has grown into more.”

“You’re fucking my boy?” she shouted as she jumped out of her chair and slammed her fists on the table.


“I’m not fucking your son. We are not married yet.” Conviction filled his voice.

Tsume snarled at the brunet.

“I love and respect him and he loves me. Not only that but we are in love. I would never take something from him that did not truly belong to me,” he said calmly.

“If you haven’t fucked him than how do you know he is gay?” demanded the furious bitch.

“You do not have to be sexually active to know you are straight. So why do you have to be sexually active to know you are gay?” Kankurou queried with an amused look on his painted face.

A beastly snarl was her only response.

“Is it a problem for you, if he is gay?” Kankurou repeated his earlier unanswered question.

“My son is nobody's BITCH!” she screamed.

“If that is how Kiba feels, I will be his bitch. It matters not to me. I will do what ever it takes to keep him by my side, forever,” he boldly replied.

“Children? You can’t give him children,” Tsume challenged.

“We will adopt when and if we are ready for children,” was Kankurou’s easy response.

“Adopt? That will not give him a child of his blood!” exclaimed the incredulous woman.

“Then I will buy a woman to carry his child. There are many women who will take my kind of money for nine months work. Then you will have a grandchild of your own blood. But only if that is what Kiba really wants.” His voice was becoming aggressive in response to her ridiculous excuses.

“He will do as I say,” she said with assurance.

“Wrong!” Kankurou roared at the stubborn woman as he came to his feet to meet her eye to eye. “When you consent and he says yes he will be MINE. I will be his and he will be mine.”

Tsume stepped back at the audacity of this… this… child.

In a much calmer tone Kankurou continued, “You will always be his mother and your opinion will always count and be considered… but will never be final.”

“I will not let you take my boy away to Suna.”

“I’ve already spoken with the Hokage and the Kazekage. I have been accepted as a ninja of the hidden leaf. I will be teaching puppetry at the academy as well continuing my duties as an ambassador. We will be staying in Konoha.”

“And what if I say no?”

“Then we will both have a very long week till I convince you.”

“And if I still say no?”

“You won’t”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because you love your son. You want him to be happy. If he says ‘yes’ to me, we will know that that is what will make him happy. You have also watched me grow for the past five years, with help from your family and the Naras. You know I have become a good man who cares deeply for Kiba and your family. Kiba will not say ‘yes’ if it is not everything that he wants. That gives you no reason to say no… If you love your son for what he is,” Kankurou said smoothly as he took his seat.

They stared at each other for many minutes. One sitting, one standing. Both faces were unreadable.

Then Tsume’s face split in a teeth-baring grin.

“You have balls of steel, kid. I’m impressed. If Kiba does decide he’s a bitch, I would not be happy if he was anyone’s but yours. Welcome to the family, son.” She held out her hand to the boy.

Kankurou almost fell out of his chair as he tried to stand. His legs felt like jelly.

“You’re serious, right? You’re not going to stab me in the back as I try to leave?”

“For real.”

“Whoa yeah!!” Kankurou shouted as he jumped the table and grabbed the wild brunette in a hug, lavishing her tattooed cheeks in kisses in a very Kiba-like fashion. “Oh, shit yeah. Thank you. Oh, fuck. A family! Holy shit… Okay, I have to go. I’ve got … and then… Oh, shit. Thanks. Kami…”


He turned and grabbed his hood and the velvet box. He took a deep breath as he put his hood back on.

“You know you really had me going there. For a while I thought I wasn’t leaving alive.”

“Had to make sure you were tough enough for Kiba.”

He sat on the edge of the table and looked at the box in his hand.

“Do you think he will like it?”

“He’ll love it.” She placed a hand on the now quiet man’s shoulder. “And he’ll say ‘yes’. If he feels half of what you feel, it’s more than enough to say ‘yes’.”

“Please don’t tell anyone. No one knows except you and Gaara.”

“No problem.”

Kankurou put the velvet box in his pocket and turned for the door. He had just reached the door when Tsume spoke. “Kankurou, honestly... You have never had sex with Kiba?”

The puppeteer laughed. “Never. And I will not till we are married. He has all my respect. I would not risk tarnishing him. At least till he’s mine, that is.” He walked out of the room and down the hall.

“One more thing, son. Don’t wear your paint when you ask him. It will be more romantic if he can see your face at that moment.” Tsume was standing at the door with a huge smile.

“Thanks”