Part 7

Despite his best efforts to remain connected intimately to Neji, Kiba was slipping out of the older boy as he softened. Finally he gave in to the inevitable and managed to roll himself off to one side, still half draped over Neji's strong body, fingers idly tracing the scars on his lover's back. Neji had some really nasty ones, including the ones from the fight with Orochimaru's Hidden Sound shinobi. It was a dangerous life they led; it was entirely possible one or both of them might die before they ever had to worry about their new relationship running into trouble when they were expected to marry.

Distressed by the thought of losing something so new and yet already precious, Kiba tightened his grip on the older boy. In the midst of a stupidly sappy moment, Kiba squirmed abruptly as something tickled his shoulder. For a second he thought it was Neji's hair, except that was all draped over Neji's back and not near Kiba's neck and whatever-it-was felt like it was crawling over his skin, not just sliding...

Realization struck, and with a disgusted howl Kiba lunged upright, shaking off the bug. Crouched on the other side of a rather startled Neji now, Kiba growled and glared at the winged bug resting innocently on his pillow.

"SHINO!" Kiba bellowed, outraged. "Did I, or did I not, warn you that the next time one of your damn bugs found its way into my bedroll, I was going to squash it!?" He knew his former teammate would hear him through the bug, though Shino couldn't answer directly. Pity Kiba's volume wouldn't be properly conveyed by the bug's inhuman senses.

It was a queen, not just a drone; for Shino to risk sending one of his queens through the dangerous maze of dogs in the Inuzuka compound meant the other boy was really anxious to find and speak with Kiba.

Neji sat up abruptly, pulling away from the bug himself and looking around for more. "What could he want?" he demanded, glaring at the bug.

"I dunno," Kiba snarled, still eyeing the bug as he was half expecting it to fly up at his face at any moment. Shino was well aware of the distaste Kiba had for his bugs, and took a slightly sadistic delight in making Kiba get up close and personal with them. Although, on closer inspection, he saw the queen was dragging one wing behind her, obviously injured. "Looks like the puppies got at it or something. What's so important he'd risk one of his queens to get at me?"

It puzzled him; the more so because, even if he was aware or suspected that Kiba's family was lying about Kiba not being present in the compound, it wasn't really like his teammate to poke about just to prove he was right. Shino knew the Inuzuka well enough to know they wouldn't lie about Kiba's whereabouts unless it was important.

Neji bent down and examined the bug, careful not to touch it. "Maybe we should ask him," he said, reaching for his clothes. "If it was that important, and he obviously knew you were here, it's worth checking it out. He must be close, right outside the compound."

Kiba nodded, and glanced at the bug. "Are we gonna need weapons and stuff?" he asked, and the queen buzzed her wings briefly in response, a coded signal worked out between the members of Team 8 long ago. "That means 'yes'," he translated to Neji, now grim-faced. "I need my battle clothes, then - I'm not going out to a potential fight in jeans, damn it."

He listened briefly at the door, but his sister seemed to have left the building. They'd get in a lot of shit if his mother found out he'd gone near the walls, but he trusted that Shino wouldn't do this if it weren't urgent. "All right, let's go get geared up," he said sliding open the door.

Immediately the puppies who'd been lying patiently in wait outside the door perked up and started barking, and he groaned. "No, you guys are not coming too!"

Neji glared at the puppies. "Shut up," he snapped. "This is serious!" They backed off, whining and he glanced at Kiba. "I think I'm getting the hang of this," he said with a touch of pride.

"Except you just hurt their feelings, so they're going to sulk at you for a while," Kiba muttered in reply, feeling amused despite his worry over what Shino was up to.

Gearing up was a matter of minutes; he let Neji freely pick through their weapons, it wasn't as if his mom would even really mind. Well, other than what she'd have to say about him sneaking out of the compound despite orders to remain inside away from the walls.

"Akamaru!" he called his partner with a sharp whistle, and the older puppy came trotting up with alacrity. "We're going out, but we need to keep out of sight," he told his partner, holding out his arms. Akamaru jumped up to him, and he stuffed the puppy down inside his jacket, between it and his body armour. "All right, let's go."

Neji chose enough kunai to outfit an army, secreting them around his person. He felt uncomfortable and strange in the unfamiliar clothing, but it wasn't as though he could go home to get his regular fighting clothes, and these wouldn't hinder him. He nodded to Kiba. "I'm ready," he said seriously.

Getting out to the wall without attracting the notice of any of Kiba's cousins - or their dogs - was about the most challenging test of ninjutsu and genjutsu Kiba thought he ever wanted to face. A small part of him was a little distressed that it was possible to get out without being detected, until Akamaru reminded him that it was probably only because his scent was familiar and didn't set off any alarms. And Neji was dressed in his clothes, having just had sex with him, so he was pretty much masked by Kiba's scent as well.

He made a mental note to talk to his mother about the possibility of an enemy sneaking in by masking their own scent with an Inuzuka's, then put it out of his mind for the moment. Once they were outside the walls, it wasn't too difficult to find Shino; Kiba picked up the scent of his blood the moment he started sniffing around for his former teammate.

That made him extremely wary. "He's hurt," he murmured to Neji as he moved towards Shino's location. "He's bleeding openly... he might not actually be here of his own free will." He snatched up a couple of his secreted kunai, making sure the rest were loose in their sheaths.

Neji activated his Byakugan, pulling out a pair of kunai himself as they moved stealthily towards Shino. "I don't see any enemies around," he murmured.

They found Shino leaning casually against the outer wall of one of the buildings near the Inuzuka compound, his hands shoved deep into the pocket of his jacket, sunglasses covering his eyes as usual and his face tilted down so his high collar hid his expression. He glanced up as they approached, warned by his bugs presumably. If not for the strong scent of blood, Kiba would never have known there was anything wrong.

"Took you long enough," the dark-haired boy drawled, even though Kiba and Neji weren't in sight yet. "You can come out, there's nobody around."

"What the hell happened to you?" Kiba asked bluntly as he released the genjutsu that was hiding him and moved towards his ex-teammate, nose wrinkling at the scent of blood. "Have you even bandaged whatever that is yet?"

"No," Shino replied shortly. "There was an attack on the Aburame compound. But they weren't after us - Hinata and her sister were hiding with us, same as Neji is doing with you." He nodded briefly at Neji, even as Kiba felt his blood run cold.

Neji's eyes widened. "What happened?" he demanded. "Are Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama all right?" If Shino was hurt, and hadn't even taken the time to bandage his wounds before coming here, he could bet they weren't.

"They were taken," Shino replied, confirming the sinking feeling in Kiba's gut. "Some kind of odd binding jutsu - none of us could risk hitting the people who grabbed them once we realized what was going on." He turned to face Neji, and Kiba knew if he could have seen his friend's eyes, they'd have been boring straight into Neji's. "I... happened to overhear my father speaking to Hyuuga Hiashi. He's not planning to make it public knowledge that the girls were taken - something about being afraid of an internal riot."

"Shit!" Kiba swore. "If he's not going to let anybody know, there aren't going to be a lot of people out looking for them! Just people he knows he can trust." He shook his head. "He hasn't even sent anybody for one of us... the Inuzuka are Konoha's best trackers, it's what we're bred for." He cast a wry look at Neji. "But I suppose we're considered to have thrown our lot in with you; if they sent one of your 'supporters' out after them and the girls didn't come back alive, it'd be fuel for the fires saying you planned all this to put yourself next in line as clan head."

Neji clenched his fists, swearing quietly and deliberately. "We'll just have to go after them ourselves," he said. "Kiba, you know Hinata-sama's scent very well, you'll be able to track them easily. We'll go and bring them back, and it'll prove that I didn't plan this."

Some part of Kiba was protesting that they really ought to go back and alert the rest of his clan, but... he didn't know where his mother or sister were, and the longer they waited, the farther away Hinata and Hanabi would be.

"We'll go," he agreed aloud, nodding sharply as Akamaru barked his agreement. "Shino, get your damn wounds taken care of - I don't want to bring her back only to find you in the hospital." He tilted his head briefly in thought. "My family'll be in an uproar once they realize I'm missing; at that point they'll be willing to actually listen to you, so you can tell them what happened. You might want to tell Kurenai-sensei, too - she won't sit on her ass and let someone take one of her genin out of Konoha."

"But keep it quiet for now," Neji said, glancing between Kiba and Shino. "If we fail, and it became public that we went after them, I'll only be accused of failing deliberately." His expression hardened. "I don't intend to fail, but I don't want this to blow up in everyone's face, just in case something happens."

"Uh, Neji..." Kiba rolled his eyes. "In case it's escaped your notice, we're not exactly in prime fighting condition right at the moment. I'd rather have people following close behind us just in case we run into trouble - I'm more worried about Hinata's safety than your pride."

"It's not my pride I'm worried about," Neji snapped, his eyes darkening. "Tell me why we're here in the first place, Kiba, and why there aren't very many people going after Hinata-sama. It's not because of my pride!"

Kiba was forced to concede the point. "Still... damn it! It's not going to do us any good to go after them and get us captured too." He growled and shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter... my family will be out there looking for me the moment they realize I'm gone, anyway. Let's go."

"It's better than not going after them," Neji growled. "Isn't that why we were talking about doing it in the first place?" He glanced at Shino. "Thank you for bringing us this information," he said. "Let's go, Kiba."

Shino raised an eyebrow at Kiba; more than used to deciphering his quiet teammate's expressions, Kiba just rolled his eyes in response. Well, at least it wasn't like Shino was going to advertise their relationship to Neji's family. He'd probably be more than happy to use it as blackmail material for Kiba, though.

Hoping they weren't making a huge mistake, Kiba turned and headed for the Aburame compound, intending to pick Hinata's scent up at her last known location. "We need to figure out a way to capture the people bound to the girls without hurting them," he said as he ran.

Neji nodded, frowning. "I wonder what happens if I seal a chakra point," he said as they ran. "It's not physical damage, so it might not affect them. And even if it did, it would immobilize Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama, but not kill them."

"Neji, you're brilliant," Kiba said, with real appreciation for the Hyuuga's genius. "Not that you don't hear that all the time, but I'm starting to actually understand what that means." His eyes glittered with wrath and mayhem. "Once we catch up, we figure out which two are connected to them, and they're yours. I'll hold off the rest of them while you knock them out or whatever, and then we'll both go to town."

Neji smiled with cold anticipation. "Good plan," he said. "It won't be difficult to figure out which ones they're connected to. I'll be using my Byakugan as much as possible as we approach, and I'll let you know as soon as I see the connection."

They were drawing closer to Shino's family compound now and Neji activated his Byakugan, beginning his own search for any sign of Hinata and Hanabi's kidnappers.

It was obvious something had happened; the smell of blood was strong, and there were bugs crawling everywhere, despite the fact that the doors to the Aburame compound were closed and solidly barred from the inside. There were no bodies outside the walls, but Kiba could see several larger splashes where someone had obviously died.

He'd been here before, to see Shino, so the bugs let him by without more than a warning buzz as a challenge. Neji they weren't too happy about, but he was also a known Konoha ninja, so they didn't outright attack. Kiba shuddered as a small swarm of the crawly things started following the two boys as they approached the walls.

"Right... they don't want us near here," he declared, swerving slightly to start circling the area. "I'll just pick up here scent from here, instead of the door."

Unzipping his jacket, he let Akamaru jump down to the ground, and dropped to all fours himself. The bugs remained a healthy distance away from the two of them, and it didn't take Kiba long to find Hinata's scent.

"This way!" he called, bounding off on all fours towards Konoha's greater walls. "They're heading for the forest near where they first attacked us."

Neji hurried after him, fast enough that he never even felt the pull. They leapt into the trees and bounded through the forest. Because of the jutsu, Neji was forced to stay a little closer to Kiba than he would have considered safe - not because they might collide, but because any traps would be likely to get both of them - but there was nothing he could do but keep his Byakugan activated and stay as vigilant as he could. "How old is the trail?" he asked.

"Less than an hour, but they're moving fast," Kiba said, a little dismayed. "Might be some kind of transportation jutsu or something. They obviously had plans in place for the moment when they actually got hold of one of you."

He shot past another branch, then froze and nearly tumbled off when he realized he'd just lost the scent. Clinging to the branch with chakra, he sniffed around in confusion. "Fuck, I lost it. Akamaru, circle out."

Neji was nearly vibrating as he waited, staring around himself, though he was sure they were out of range even of his sight. He felt helpless and frustrated. A transportation jutsu could make it impossible to track them.

Kiba and Akamaru circled around, Kiba taking care to stay within range of Neji. When Akamaru whined at him from the other side of a clearing, Kiba snapped, "Well, go out further, then! They've got to have left scent somewhere!" Even the jounin transportation spell only went a couple hundred yards at most.

Finally, just when he was starting to think these people had some previously unknown long-distance transport jutsu, Akamaru picked up the scent again and they were off.

They lost the trail several more times along the way, Kiba fretting as each new search for the scent ate up more and more precious time. "They know or suspect they're going to be tracked by scent," he declared the third time it happened. "They're making it hard specifically for scent tracking."

"Well, considering that the Inuzuka intervened last time, and we have a traitor giving them information, I'm not all that surprised," Neji said grimly.

"We're not going to catch up to them before nightfall, at this rate," Kiba declared, picking up the scent again and taking off once more. "At least they're heading for Ice Country, that border's days away even at their pace. And if we're lucky, they'll eventually decide they must have lost us and stop fucking well teleporting..." The last came out in a snarl as he lost the scent once again.

Neji was silent, nodding. At this rate, all they could do was keep trying to track them, until they either caught up with them, or lost them completely.

True to Kiba's prediction, the scent trail didn't start getting fresher until well after twilight had fallen. The trail continued to zig and zag across the forest in an indirect line towards Ice Country, although at least once full darkness had fallen, their enemies stopped teleporting to break the trail. Kiba thought that perhaps they needed line of sight to be able to jump without risking their own necks; after all, they hadn't yet left the treetops, and how did you teleport to a branch you didn't know for sure was there?

Still, it was at least another two hours of fast travel before his nose warned him they'd caught up enough to be heard if they weren't careful. He dropped his pace just slightly, not wanting to overtake them before they were prepared. The moon was a tiny sliver in the sky; Kiba was navigating almost entirely by smell and Akamaru's senses. "Can you see them?" he whispered, pointing ahead in the direction the scent trail led. "We should be close now!"

Neji peered forward, then nodded as he caught sight of them, bounding through the trees. "They're going pretty fast," he said. "Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama are being carried, probably by the ones they're attached to. I see eight of them, including the two that are carrying Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama."

"Well, at least that tells us which ones are probably linked... can you see it with your Byakugan?" Kiba wanted to know. Every Hyuuga they'd run into had given them weird looks thanks to their unorthodox link, presumably Neji would be able to see it too. "No sense taking the chance they're trying to mislead us into attack the wrong people..."

"Well, I don't see a connection," Neji said reluctantly. "But that probably means they are being held by the ones they're connected to. It would be invisible, because they're touching."

"Makes sense to me," Kiba grunted. "Those two are yours, then... should we try to warn Hinata? Or just charge in?" He might be able to warn Hinata without attracting the attention of the kidnappers; but then again, if they knew the Inuzuka well enough to be muddling the scent trail, they might also be suspicious of any wolves howling in the vicinity, regardless of the fact that there really were quite a few wolf packs out here.

"I think it would be safe to charge in," Neji said. "They might not be expecting us, but they certainly will recognize us, and won't resist. I'm sure they'll do whatever they can to help us, too."

"Assuming they're conscious... given the way Hinata was fighting back last time, they might not have wanted to take any chances." Kiba snorted, then gave a feral grin that was as much rage as amusement, fangs glinting in the dim light. "All right, let's do this... see if we can leave any of 'em alive to question, but I'm not too worried about it, right?"

Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out one of the soldier pills that would put Akamaru into his red form and tossed it. His partner caught it in mid-leap, and the effect was almost instantaneous. They couldn't pull their usual bouncing techniques, not while tied to Neji, but there was no reason to limit what Akamaru could do on his own.

They were about to put yesterday's close-in training to good use. Saving the snarling battle cry that was building in his throat until after they'd lost the element of surprise, Kiba increased his pace and dropped to all fours, chakra surging and causing his fangs and claws to grow to a lethal length.

A glow started up around Neji's hands as he prepared to strike, his speed increasing fractionally as he bent and burst forward like a striking snake.

They didn't manage to catch their enemy entirely by surprise, but they did manage to get them slightly off guard. The hardest part, Kiba reflected as he dodged an incoming jutsu and jumped back towards Neji again, was making sure he didn't get too far from Neji, and making sure he DID get close enough to the two men carrying the girls for Neji to get at them.

Expecting the two boys would avoid the men linked to Hinata and Hanabi, they did manage to give the enemy a nasty shock by heading straight for them instead. It meant they got most of the way to the girls before they actually had to start fighting; Kiba was more than happy to tear out a few throats along the way.

"They're all yours!" he shouted as they reached striking distance from the men bonded to the girls. He dropped down a level in the tree branches, staying even with Neji so as to be out of the way but still close enough for the attack. The position gave him the added benefit of being prepared to catch the girls if they fell when Neji struck. On the fringes Akamaru was wreaking bloody havoc, and Kiba could hardly smell anything over the sharp tang of blood in the air.

Neji shouted the name of his jutsu and laid waste on the first ninja, his hands blurring as he sealed chakra points. Hanabi awoke halfway through and cried out, but as the cry sounded more like startlement and fear than real pain, Neji ignored it.

Finally, the man flopped bonelessly and Neji leapt for Hanabi, catching her and setting her safely down near the trunk of the tree.

Dropping down to land near Hanabi so he could protect her from any attempts to recapture her, Kiba threw a kunai at an attacker just in time to distract him from Akamaru leaping at his back. "Get Hinata before they get out of range!" he shouted at Neji, crouching over Hanabi with claws and fangs bared.

Neji didn't need Kiba to tell him that. He was already moving towards the other ninja. One tried to get between Neji and his target, who couldn't effectively defend himself with Hinata in his arms, but Akamaru leapt onto him and he dropped with a shriek, fighting to defend his throat. Neji blurred by and attacked the ninja savagely.

Unfortunately, their enemy was starting to catch on to their tactics - and they'd realized Kiba and Neji's weak spot, the fact that they couldn't get farther apart than about six or seven feet. They were throwing as many people in between Neji and Hinata as possible, trying to get her out of range.

Seeing that Neji was about to reach his limit, Kiba swore and slung the still mostly unconscious Hanabi over his shoulder, taking off after Neji so the older boy wouldn't be forced to double back. Unfortunately that put him at a serious disadvantage to defend himself against their attackers.

He dodged one strike, managed to parry another and Akamaru blocked a third, but he didn't see the one coming at him from the left until it was too late. He twisted his body to keep the wicked kusarigama from striking Hanabi's prone form, and the curved blade dug itself deeply into his shoulder.

A moment later Akamaru's teeth closed in the muscles of the enemy's arm, causing the man to scream at least as loudly as Kiba had just done, but Kiba was barely able to hang on to Hanabi, having lost the use of the arm.

"Shit..." Swearing, he looked around desperately for Neji, hoping he'd managed to stay in range and that his lover hadn't completely collapsed from what would have been a much more painful blow to him. "Neji! Hinata!"

Neji had just completed his jutsu when the searing pain hit him. Letting out a scream, he collapsed, his vision greying around the edges for a moment. Hinata spilled out of the helpless ninja's arms, and thankfully didn't fall to the ground, sprawling over the branch.

Grunting and forcing himself to ignore the pain, Kiba managed to reach Hinata and somehow snatched her up as well. He dropped to the ground, taking the three girls with him, landing crouched next to Neji.

Dumping the girls behind him, against the huge trunk of the tree, he quickly dragged Neji into the meagre protection afforded by Kiba and Akamaru as well, putting himself between the three of them and the enemy. Akamaru was beside him, more than twice his usual size, growling and snapping at anyone who dared to come close enough, but Kiba knew he wouldn't be able to hold them off for long.

"Kiba-kun..." Hinata was struggling to rise, a kunai in her hand, but Kiba didn't need the Byakugan to tell she was unsteady on her feet due to Neji sealing the chakra points of her captor.

"Stay put, Hinata," he snarled, slashing at an attacker who'd gotten too close. "Help Neji if you can."

Neji was pale and breathing in short gasps, but he was struggling to his feet. "I'm fine," he managed. "We've got to get out of here. I think sealing the chakra points broke the girls' connection with their captors."

"What?" Momentarily distracted, Kiba stared at him before being reminded of his priorities by a swipe from an attacker. "Y'mean all we had to do to get free of this stupid thing was to have you seal my chakra points? Fucking hell."

Well, there was no point in doing it now... even though it would free them from the restriction of needing to stay near each other, it would also render Kiba all but useless in the fight to have all his chakra points sealed.

"Hinata, can you take Hanabi?" he shouted over his shoulder. Still unsteady on her feet, Hinata nonetheless nodded and grabbed her groggy sister by the arm, helping her to her feet.

Neji reeled for an instant, but as a ninja came at them from the side, he still managed to get his kunai up to block his strike. He whirled and slammed his palm open-handed into his chest. The man dropped like a stone and Neji stumbled to a halt, gasping for breath. "Let's get out of here," he said, half begging.

Kiba would have loved to comply, but when he turned back towards Konoha, he found their enemies had anticipated them. Worse, there seemed to be more of the bastards than there had been a few minutes before. "Shit, we must have been near their camp already!" he swore, driving forward at one who got to close and managing to rip the man's throat out. Another cast an ice jutsu at him, a spear of frozen water that he barely managed to dodge out of the way of. "They're everywhere!"

Neji swore as well, dodging another blow and whirling to fend off a barrage of kunai and other weapons. The pain in his shoulder was making him nauseous. He couldn't remember ever feeling so much pain before, but he focussed his mind savagely, determined not to let it beat him. If he collapsed, Kiba would die. The fact that he and his cousins would as well seemed secondary.

Man, after this, the next chuunin exam is going to seem like a piece of cake, Kiba thought irreverently as he dodged another ice spear. His entire focus was on avoiding any injury, knowing Neji would take far worse damage than Kiba would. He was sweating as he barely evaded a spear that would have impaled him right through the gut, raking his claws along the side of it and sending razor-sharp ice chips flying back towards the enemy.

They were surrounded, he realized with a sinking heart. And there were dozens of them, and they seemed to be all at least chuunin level, if not jounin. Even without the disadvantages they had, the enemy would have been able to gradually overwhelm them. Kiba and Neji were good, but they weren't that good. There was only so much a trio of genin and an academy student could be expected to do against fighters of that level.

When the first of the fighters in the back started screaming and beating at their own skin, Kiba at first didn't understand what was happening. Then the sharp scent of ichor reached him, familiar from his own fights next to Shino, and realization dawn. The Aburame had arrived - and their bugs were swarming over the rearmost enemy, bringing them down one at a time.

He understood how the Aburame had found them when the dogs started barking wildly, lunging out of the surrounding foliage to rip and tear at the enemy, followed closely by their more human Inuzuka partners. And last came the Hyuuga, fists flying and Byakugan finding the perfect spots to hit as they charged into the fray.

Neji watched with amazed eyes as jounin and chuunin from his family and Kiba's - and even Shino's - attacked and overwhelmed the enemy ninja. He sank to his knees, watching the carnage. "Kiba... we're not going to die," he said, not even realizing he'd spoken aloud.

Reeling back out of the way of the carnage, Kiba fell to his knees beside Neji and watched the fight with equally dazed eyes. "Looks like it," he agreed, not quite believing what he was seeing. This was the kind of lucky break that only happened in those stupid ninja movies - the deus ex machina ending where everyone survived and it was all okay.

But hey, not like he was complaining or anything, he hastened to add mentally just in case one of those gods providing the easy way out happened to be listening in. "You okay?" he turned to ask Hinata, still supporting Hanabi.

"We're both fine," she answered for both herself and her still groggy sister, moving forward to kneel just behind him and Neji, keeping the four of them close together. "You saved us again."

Neji turned to look at Hinata, offering her a wry smile. "I couldn't let them win," he said. He shifted closer to Kiba unconsciously, then turned to watch the carnage, trying to be vigilant in case one of the ninja managed to attack them, when all he wanted to do was collapse and fall unconscious.

Since Neji had turned away again, he missed seeing the slack-jawed look of shock on Hinata's face at his behaviour, but Kiba caught it. He grinned, showing a hint of fang at her, and winked. She knew him well enough to transfer the shocked look to him, then blushed and shook her head, smiling weakly back at him. He took that to mean she was happy enough for them but didn't want to know the details, and his grin widened.

The much larger group of Konoha shinobi made short work of the enemy, especially once they realized none of them were inextricably tied to the four younger ninja they'd come to rescue. Slowly the fighting wound down, and Kiba caught sight of his mother striding through the carnage towards him, a scowl on her face. "Oh, shit," he muttered, flattening himself slightly in automatic reaction to her expression. "This isn't going to be pretty..."

Neji rose shakily to his feet, swaying slightly. "We're injured, Inuzuka-san," he said, struggling to stay humble in his manner. "Please, save your anger until Kiba's injury has been seen to."

"Hmph." Tsume gave him a dark look. "Don't think your..." there was the barest hesitation as her eyes flicked over Kiba's suddenly panicked expression, "friendship with my son gives you any right to dictate how I will raise - or discipline! - him," she growled. Then she smiled, ever so slightly. "But I do generally wait until he's stopped bleeding at least before chewing him out." She studied the slice on Kiba's arm, and the corresponding blood flowing down Neji's in the same spot. "Is that the worst of it? What about the girls?"

"We're fine, Inuzuka-sama," Hinata piped up, intimidated as usual by Kiba's mother, despite the fact that Kiba continually reassured her that the Inuzuka clan head was actually quite fond of Hinata. "Just a little shaken and dizzy."

"Yes," Neji said. "This is the worst of it. You all...came just in time." He looked ashamed, as though he and Kiba should have been able to take on a few dozen Jounin, all by them selves, handicapped as they were.

"Not bad overall, for a couple of genin with a handicap," Kiba's mother acknowledged, nodding shortly. Then she scowled at Kiba, even as one of the medically trained Inuzuka members approached to deal with his wound. "But we're going to have a long talk about obeying orders and reporting to your superiors before going off on wild dog chases." Kiba sank down a bit, looking abashed, and he heard Hinata cover a giggle behind him. She was intimidated by his mother, but she thought his reaction to her was funny.

Neji eyed her. "I convinced him not to say anything to anyone," he said. "And we didn't think we had time to find you. We didn't know where you were, and as you can see, time was against us." Okay, so that wasn't quite as polite. He'd done his best.

Hiashi strode out of the crowd, moving up next to Kiba's mother. "It seems as though a few of the genin need long talks," he said, giving Neji a significant look - which Neji answered with a sneer. "But I agree that it can wait until they are healed, and perhaps by then, they'll have learned their lessons."

"I can't believe the answer to this stupid jutsu was right in front of us the whole time, and it never even occurred to us to try it," Kiba moaned, rolling his eyes at Neji. "I mean, obviously if all my chakra points are blocked, I can't be connected to you, right? Is it worth doing it now to separate us, or should we just stick the rest of it out?"

Privately he was actually very, very grateful they hadn't figured out the solution earlier; if they had, he'd never have ended up softening Neji to the point where the older boy was actually willing to consider a relationship with him. But he wasn't about to say that in front of Neji's uncle.

"No, I think we should wait until you're stronger," Neji said. He didn't feel hemmed in by being connected to Kiba anymore, and wouldn't even have minded waiting until it ended naturally - not that any force on earth could compel him to admit that.

Hiashi raised both eyebrows, obviously surprised by Neji's words, but he said nothing as medical ninja closed around the four children to treat them.

"We'll sort out issues of who is staying where once the mednin are done with you - assuming they don't put you both in the hospital," Tsume declared, resting her hand briefly on Kiba's hair before striding off again into the carnage to look for any still-living enemies to question. She took Hiashi with her by the simple expedient of resting a strong hand on his shoulder and dragging; Kiba had to stifle a grin. At least he came by it naturally, he supposed.

"Is that the end of it, do you think?" he asked Neji and Hinata quietly. "I mean... surely there can't still be more of them. And we seemed to be near their camp, so we ought to be able to flush out the rest of them, right?"

Neji nodded slowly. "I...think it is the end," he said. "Even if there are any more of them, surely we've beaten enough of them by now that they won't think it worth it to come after us again." He winced as one of the mednin swabbed at his wound.

"We still don't know who the traitor is," Hinata pointed out softly, as if reluctant to contradict their assumption that they'd seen the end of it. "Someone got them inside the compound in the second attack, and someone led them to Hanabi and I at the Aburame compound."

"And the second thing means it was someone your father had assumed was on your side," Kiba replied, shaking his head. "It's not as if your location would have been advertised to people suspected of trying to get rid of you to put Neji in power!"

"Whoever they are, when otou-sama finds them, they're going to wish they'd never been born," Hanabi mumbled, blinking owlishly at them as she entered the conversation for the first time. The expression on her face was an odd mixture of her usual fierceness and a dazed sleepiness - she was still recovering from the damage she'd taken in the first kidnapping attempts, and wasn't recovering from what Neji had done to their captors as fast as her older sister. "And he will find them, if he has to question every single branch family member in the compound."

Neji nodded, clenching a fist. "Whoever it was, they certainly made no indication of their plans to me." He glanced at his cousins. "And they screwed up, because I was attacked first. Anyway, we'll find them, no matter what. At least no one can say now that I wanted you taken," he added, glancing away again.

"No one who matters ever believed it in the first place, Neji-nii-san," Hinata assured him shyly. "We'll get it all cleared up."

"After all, not like you could have co-ordinated the latest attempt, since you were holed up with us," Kiba grinned. "And if they try to claim the Inuzuka were helping you, they're gonna have trouble accounting for the fact that Hinata's my best friend, and I'd sooner tear my own arm off than hurt her." He rolled his eyes at her, and she smiled back.

Neji nodded slowly, eying Hinata assessingly. "You really never believed it?" he asked. "Not even a doubt in your mind?"

Glancing briefly at Kiba, Hinata shook her head and looked Neji straight in the eye. "You fight your own battles, Neji-nii-san... it's difficult enough for you to accept help from your own teammates, you would never get someone else to do your dirty work for you. Besides," her voice turned wry, "If you really wanted to be clan head that badly, you're more than powerful enough to have done away with both Hanabi and I over the years and made it look like accidents." She smiled at him again. "If there's one person in the clan I really do trust, it's you."

Neji blinked slowly, then dropped his gaze, unable to look at her. "...thank you," he said softly.

Delighted to see Neji apparently finally opening up a bit to Hinata, Kiba probably would have made a stupid comment of some kind, but at that moment the healer working on him tugged firmly at the ends of the bandage over the slice on his arm and he had to stifle a yelp of pain, squirming. He saw Neji wince as well, and couldn't help but be sympathetic to how much the older genin had to hurt at that moment. The blows Kiba had taken that night made their sparring session of the day before look like child's play.

"I think the first thing we should do the moment we get home is go soak in the tub," he said firmly. "I don't particularly care much which home, or which tub, or who else is there."

Neji reddened and turned to glare at Kiba. "Kiba!" he snapped. "We are not soaking with anyone, no matter how tired you are."

With an honestly bewildered look, Kiba stared at him. So did every other Inuzuka who happened to be in hearing range, which made Hinata giggle. "You really just have a hang up about personal space, don't you?" Kiba shook his head, causing Hinata to giggle louder still.

"Yes!" Neji said, as though it should have been obvious by now. Which it should have, in his opinion. And he wasn't exactly happy about Hinata laughing at him, either.

"Kiba-kun, you just never learn, do you?" Hinata said softly, her eyes shining as she laughed at him. Kiba stuck his tongue out at her, making her laugh harder.

"Hey, c'mon, this isn't even just an Inuzuka thing!" he protested, laughing as well. "Every non-Hyuuga I know is perfectly willing to deal with public baths!"

"Yes, but you've known me long enough to know better than to suggest such a thing to one of us," Hinata pointed out inexorably, shaking her head.

Neji grumbled under his breath, wincing as the mednin bandaged his shoulder. "You're both irritating," he growled. As usual, he reacted badly to laughter that he wasn't taking part in.

"It's part of Kiba's charm," Hinata said dryly, ruffling her ex-teammate's hair gently, despite the blood and gore he was covered in from the fight. He beamed, and Hanabi gave her a slightly shocked look.

"You know you love it," he said - ostensibly to Hinata, but the words were directed more at Neji in reality. Standing, he stretched, cracking the joints in his spine and shoulders. "Well, your place is going to be chaos for a while," he said to Hinata. "I'd invite you to come hide at my place, but I think they might riot if they don't have proof that you're alive and well. But you and I," he pointed at Neji, "are going back to my place, or I am going to riot." He grumbled. "No way in hell I want to be caught in that mess."

Neji struggled to his feet as well, frowning. "Yes, Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama should go home, and say with their father, where they'll be safe," he said.

"I wish we could go with you," Hinata said, helping a scowling Hanabi to her feet as well. "I think you're getting the better end of the deal."

"I know we are," Kiba replied fervently, grimacing as he was reminded that it wasn't a good idea to move his shoulder too much. He wanted very much at that moment to just reach out and hug Neji, or at least touch him in some physical way, to reassure himself that they'd both made it through the fight alive. However much he might want it, however, he knew Neji wasn't likely to react positively to the gesture. Especially not in front of so many people, half of whom were Hyuuga.

Neji certainly made no move to touch Kiba, though he ached to do it just as much as Kiba did. "Let's...go back to the village," he said, seeing that the other ninja were beginning to break up and leave, some headed deeper into the forest to cleanse it of any other enemies, the rest headed back towards Konoha. "There's no point in hanging around here, now."

"If they want you, they can come and get you," Kiba declared, grimacing as Akamaru trotted up and he saw how messy the puppy was. "Though I think we're going to need to hose off rather than just scrub before we get in to soak." He snorted.

"Be careful, both of you," Hinata said, smiling briefly at them before going to look for her father.

"C'mon, let's go before my mom comes back and I get dragged into a lecture," Kiba said, shaking his head. "You okay to walk back? It's quite a way..." If Neji would let Kiba help him walk, that would let Kiba touch his lover, without anyone looking twice at them. Well, other than the fact that everyone knew Neji never accepted help.

"I'll be okay," Neji said, nodding. "It seems like I get more injured than you do, but it heals more quickly, too. I'm starting to feel better." He glanced at Kiba. "I want to get back quickly..." he said in a leading tone. I want out of sight of these people. Now.

"You up to taking the tree route home?" Kiba lifted an eyebrow at him. "It'll be faster." He was getting better at reading Neji's expressions, he thought... maybe it was just his own longing making him imagine things, but he thought maybe... Don't get your hopes too far up, Inuzuka, he warned himself. But he couldn't help it.

Neji nodded. "If I discover I'm not, I'll let you know," he said, though the chances of that were about nil. Knowing Neji, he'd pass out and fall out of the tree before he said anything.

"All right, let's go then," Kiba said, bouncing up onto the nearest branch. He wanted to be away from the carnage and all the other people, even away from his own family - he just wanted to be somewhere Neji wouldn't kill him for being affectionate and reassuring himself the older boy was okay.

Neji let out a soft grunt as he followed, but that was the only sound of pain as he bounded from branch to branch with Kiba. By the time they reached Konoha, he was stumbling with exhaustion and grey with pain, but he made it. "Your place," he said, gasping for breath. "Bath."

Kiba was doing his best not to hover over the older boy, but he was failing pretty miserably. He wanted to reach out, to offer help and support, but he just knew he'd be stabbing himself in the foot if he tried while they were still in public.

Somehow they made it through the village proper. At least it was still late at night - or very early in the morning, depending on how you wanted to look at it - and mostly the only people out in the streets were too drunk to so much as look twice at a pair of exhausted ninja, even if one of them was almost literally covered in blood and gore.

The Inuzuka gate guards took one look at their rather pathetic state and waved them in sympathetically. "Want me to send ahead and have someone run the bath in your house, Kiba-san?" one of them asked respectfully, and he nearly gasped in relief.

"Yes please," he agreed eagerly. The water would be hot and waiting by the time he and Neji were clean enough to get in. "I need to hose off first though, or kaa-san will kill me for tracking blood all over the damn house," he added in an aside to Neji as they made tracks for Kiba's family's dwelling.

Neji nodded, reduced to simply padding after Kiba, staring at his feet to make sure he didn't trip over anything.

Kiba made his way around to the side of the house and found the water tap used by the gardeners to water the grounds. Turning it on full force, he used his thumb to cover part of the faucet so the water would spray outwards, and doused himself thoroughly in it, clothes and all. The water ran pink with all the blood on him, and it took him a good ten minutes to get both himself and Akamaru clean enough to risk entering the house.

Neji at least was considerably less dirty than Kiba, which was normal for their respective fighting styles. The only blood on him was from his injury, and spatter from Kiba's kills, all of which could be scrubbed off easily enough inside.

"All right, let's hit the bath before everyone else gets home," Kiba said to the half-unconscious boy leaning against the wall of the house waiting for him.

Neji nodded gratefully. The few minutes without exertion had helped him to recover somewhat and he offered Kiba a faint smile, straightening up. "Yes, let's hurry," he said. "I want... to be alone with you for a while."

"Really?" Despite himself, Kiba gave his lover a huge, thrilled grin, and had the grace to look sheepish a moment later. "I was half afraid... I dunno. Being around your family usually makes you close up tight" Greatly daring, out of sight of anyone thanks to the walls of the buildings around them, Kiba reached for Neji's hand.

Neji hesitated, then clasped Kiba's hand. "That's why I want to be alone with you, stupid," he muttered. "I don't... want to have to pretend not to like you."

Fairly certain he was grinning like a moron, Kiba picked up his pace and all but dragged Neji inside. Ignoring the puppies who immediately spilled around their ankles, yapping and sniffing anxiously to make sure they'd really come back in one piece, he turned and pinned Neji to the inside of the door, kissing him hard and fierce.

Neji yelped in surprise, then melted into the kiss, winding his arms around Kiba. When they drew back for breath, he gave Kiba a pleading look. "Bath first?"

"Bath first, yes," Kiba agreed, just a bit breathless. He pulled back, making no attempt to get away from Neji's grasp, but rather to direct them both towards the bathing room. "It'd be bath at the same time, if I thought I could get away with it, but nee-san and kaa-san will want to soak out too, as soon as they get home." He sighed at the lost opportunity. Well, he'd just have to get Neji into a bath with him again sometime in the very near future.

Neji nodded, unable to keep himself from smiling. "Maybe we'll need to go back to my compound at some point after all," he said. "I have a private bath, after all."

Groaning at the thought, and half wishing they'd decided to go with Hinata, Kiba paused long enough to kiss his lover fiercely again before continuing down the hall. "Later," he promised the older boy. "Trust me, I'm planning to make the most of every minute you consent to keep putting up with me." His fanged grin gleamed in the dim light of the hall. "And I don't intend to let you decide to stop putting up with me any time soon."

Neji rolled his eyes. "I'm not 'putting up with you'," he said in a remonstrative tone, following Kiba closely.

"Sounds like it from your tone just now," Kiba teased gently, grinning at him as he opened the door to the ofuro. Warm, moist air drifted out at them, and he sighed in pleasure as he saw that the tub was indeed full of hot water.

Akamaru followed them in, grumbling that he was not going to go without a warm bath just so Kiba could snuggle his mate, and of course the other puppies were hot on his heels. Hoshi jumped at Neji's leg, trying to get his attention so she could lecture him about worrying her, and Kiba had to stifle a snicker.

Neji glared at Hoshi, but reached down and petted her anyway. He then began to strip down, only to realize that he couldn't lift his injured arm enough to take off his shirt. "Uh... Kiba?" he asked after a struggle.

"I'll help you if you help me," Kiba muttered, caught in a similar predicament. He untangled himself and got his shirt straightened out again, albeit still on him, and moved to help Neji get his off. He took advantage of the moment to let his hands run over Neji's torso, reassuring himself there was no hidden damage the too-proud Hyuuga might be hiding.

Neji sighed softly at the touch of Kiba's hands. "Thank you," he said as he folded the shirt and set it aside, then turned to help Kiba off with his own shirt, giving Kiba the same treatment, though it was more just for the pleasure of touching him than to check for wounds. If Kiba were hurt somewhere, he would know.

"We'll have to be careful not to get the bandages too wet," Kiba said, as if the soaking he'd given himself under the tap outside hadn't already turned his bandage into a sodden mess. Well, it would probably dry out well enough, and if not he'd just go get it changed.

Stripping quickly out of his pants as well, Kiba shoved all their clothes into the laundry basket and headed for the washing stools. "Akamaru's refusing to leave without a bath, so we might as well let the other puppies stay, unless you object," he said as he turned on the water.

"Maybe we should just give up on not getting the bandages wet, and just change them afterwards so the wounds don't get infected," Neji replied, sitting down on his stool and grabbing a sponge.

"Yeah, that'll be easier." Kiba shrugged and started scrubbing off with a vengeance. He wanted the crap off him, and he wanted to be in the water... preferably with Neji well within arm's reach. He was cleaned off in record time, and waiting impatiently for Neji to finish as well so he could move to the tub without dragging the older boy after him.

Neji was a little slower than Kiba, but only due to how tired he was. He had less to wash off, so was finished shortly after Kiba, rising to his feet and heading for the bath with him.

The sigh of pleasure he expelled when he sunk into the hot water up to his neck was almost comically loud. "Feels good..."

"Hey, make room for me," Kiba said as he climbed in, totally ignoring the rather large amount of tub that was still free. He curled himself against and around the older boy, clinging to Neji's side like a determined burr as he buried his face in Neji's neck. The puppies followed them in, but Akamaru was indulgent about keeping them in line and making sure they didn't splash at the humans too badly.

Neji wrapped his arm around Kiba tightly, hugging him back just as fiercely. "I won't let you go," he said softly. "So you can stop being nervous about that, Kiba."

A little embarrassed that he was being so obvious, Kiba just nipped lightly at Neji's collarbone. "Good," he muttered, wriggling closer still. "I still feel better being close to you, though."

"Me too," Neji said, squeezing. "I want to keep doing this, even after we're separated," he said softly.

"Well, I should bloody well hope so!" Kiba exclaimed, somewhat affronted. He rolled his eyes and nipped harder at Neji's shoulder, in reprimand this time. "You never struck me as the screw 'em and leave 'em type."

Two of the puppies started a fight; Hoshi tried to break them up and got a face full of water for her trouble. Sneezing and squalling, she back-pedalled and wound up in Neji and Kiba's laps, splashing them as well. Kiba couldn't help but laugh as her two siblings pursued her, thinking this was part of the game.

Neji laughed as well, though he brought his free arm up to block the spray of water as the puppies continued to play. "This isn't exactly the relaxing soak I had in mind!" he exclaimed, though with good humour.

"Well, you wanted to know how bathing could be loud," Kiba replied with another chuckle, splashing water back at the puppies to chase them out of the immediate vicinity. "Seems relaxing enough to me." Indeed, the laughter combined with the solid feel of Neji's warmth at his side was doing more to relax him than anything else possibly could have.

"I didn't really want to know," Neji said. "At least, not from a practical perspective." He settled against Kiba, turning his face against Kiba's neck, which coincidentally protected his eyes from the splashing.

"See, you're getting the hang of it," Kiba murmured, grinning as he felt Neji turn to protect his eyes from the water. "Not so bad as all that, is it?"

In truth, he couldn't remember ever being happier than he was right at that moment. Battles and kidnappings and fucked-up binding jutsu aside, he almost felt grateful to the enemies who'd forced them into this awkward situation. If not for them, he'd probably never have had the chance to win Neji's affection.

"If they bring any of them back alive, remind me to thank them before I kill them," he said, snickering softly.

Neji smiled. "You'll have to line up behind me," he said softly, pressing a kiss to the side of Kiba's throat.

With a pleased sound, Kiba tilted his head to grant the older boy better access. "I could stay right here forever and be perfectly happy," he declared, nuzzling into Neji's shoulder. No matter what happened later, with Neji's family or their friends or even with Neji himself, Kiba knew it would all be worth it just for moments like this.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

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