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The Price of Love I	By : JaydenNara Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1166 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters and original manga and anime belong to Masashi Kishimoto, I also do not make any money from writing this story

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Newly rewritten chapter 2. I don't have a lot of time to get this done, but I'm trying, I promise. My goal is to have a rewritten chapter up every two weeks, but we'll see how that goes.

What Your Body Knows

(But Your Mind Doesn't)

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Chouji called, grinning broadly as he waved to his approaching friend. His smile faltered when he caught sight of his friend's sour face, proving the Nara was not in the best of moods. "I have your things, here," he said, thrusting the bag into his best friends' arms. "Shino just left, and Kiba is waiting just over there," he added, pointing to the dog nin leaning against one of the pillars of the main village gate, a similar look of annoyance on his face.

"Thanks Chouji," Shikamaru sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. It wouldn't due to take it out on the Akimichi; after all, it wasn't his fault. "I don't suppose you know whose bright idea this was, do you?" he asked, running through the list of suspects in his head.

"Ah, you see, the thing is..." the other boy stuttered. "I'm not supposed to say."

"I'll tell you," a familiar voice answered from above, one most wouldn't expect to hear so early in the morning. "It was me." Naruto dropped from a nearby roof, grinning like the idiot his best friend had always called him.

"You did this?" Kiba shouted angrily, pushing off the pillar marching over. "So, it's your fault we're being sent on a completely pointless mission that will probably take well over a month in the misguided attempt to force us to work through our issues?" The dog nin's hands made air quotes around the last two words of his rant. Kiba was absolutely fuming, debating whether he should pick a fight or not with the other ninja.

"Pffft..." Naruto shook his head at his friends' obvious denial of the underlying reason for the forced companionship. "If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourselves. I'm not the one who started this," he reminded them. "All I want is to see an end, so I talked to Granny Tsunade; we came up with a plan, and ta-da, here you are! Now deal with it, or I will tell her what really happened, and why this all started."

Two jaws dropped in surprise, and one eyebrow raised in question at what the blond truly knew about their situation and what had transpired between them.

"Gah, this is so troublesome." Shikamaru glared at the Kyuubi vessel. Running every possible outcome, he came to the conclusion that Naruto did really know what transpired between the two. "Well, Kiba, let's get going," he ordered, cutting the Inuzuka off as he opened his mouth to counter the blond.

"Fine," snapped the brunet.

Both shinobi studied each other for a moment, and without another word turned and sprinted out of the village gates. Jumping up into the trees, they continued on their way in complete silence.

By the fourth night, nothing had changed between the feuding friends. They were still at each others' throat, which usually ended with one of the pair falling from the trees, or sporting a nasty bruise.

Poor Akamaru refused to be within ten feet of either of them, having been caught in the crossfire on several occasions. One incident resulted in his white fur being singed.

Once they stopped to make camp in a clearing against a rock wall, Shikamaru went to work starting a fire, while Kiba rounded up extra wood. They settled in, curling up on opposite sides of the fire, and ignored each others' presence completely as they forced themselves to sleep.

The morning of the fifth day was bright and sunny with a clear sky, much to Shikamaru's dismay, but there was a cold chill in the air. It was quieter than usual between the two shinobi traveling together. Neither spoke as they packed up what possessions they had, and left their makeshift campsite looking as if they had never been there. Both were lost in thought about the mission as the moved through the trees. They knew full well the task was only given to them as an opportunity to force reconciliation.

Four hours later, neither ninja had broken the silence, instead choosing to spend most of their morning stealing glances at the other, and pretending not to notice the other doing the exact same. Eventually Kiba hit his breaking point, not being as patient or calm as the Nara, and stopped suddenly, dropping to the ground.

It took Shikamaru all of a second to notice, but he quickly followed. "What's wrong?" he asked cautiously, drawing a kunai from his weapons pouch. "Is there something out there?" He looked around at the dense forest, barely any light made it through the thick canopy, making him almost blind. He'd have to depend on Kiba's enhanced senses. Despite their constant fighting, he still trusted the younger chunin with his life.

"No, it's not that," the Inuzuka said, waving off the Nara's worries. He stared down at the ground, shuffling nervously, and kicking the small stone in front of his foot. Deciding it was better to just spit it out, he opened his mouth, but shut it again, teething clicking as his jaw snapped shut.

"Hm?" the raven grunted in confusion, a single elegant eyebrow rising with wonder.

"I'm sorry!" the tracking nin finally blurted out in a loud rush. He could feel his cheeks heat up as blood rushed to his face to match his tattoos.

"What?" the Nara heir gasped, almost falling over in shock not expecting those words in the least.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," the brunet mumbled again, scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit he had picked up from Naruto. "This whole thing is my fault. The day at the lake, I don't know what happened." He looked away, his face still crimson. "I could smell, taste, and feel your arousal," he said, groaning at the memory of the overwhelmingly sweet smell of the Nara's need. "Something just took over, and I suddenly found myself no longer in control, or even aware of what was going on. I'm so, so sorry Shikamaru." Kiba fell to his knees, bowing to the older shinobi, his head resting on the back of his hands. "I was so scared after... losing control. It's never happened before and I didn't want it to happen again, or chance hurting you or our friendship, so I started lashing out at you. I figured if you didn't want to be around me, then it couldn't happen again. It's my fault; I take responsibility for my actions. I just don't want to fight with you anymore." He looked up, showing the Nara his dark eyes full of regret before dropping his gaze again. "You've been one of my best friends since academy days," he murmured. "I don't want to lose that."

Shikamaru knelt in before his friend, placing his hands on Kiba's shoulders and forcing the grief- stricken boy to look him in the eye. "It's not your fault," he assured the teen somewhat reluctantly. "At least it's not entirely your fault. I provoked you as well, and picked my own fights. I didn't understand what had happened that day, and was embarrassed." He felt his own blush staining his cheeks as he remembered how much Kiba's earlier statement was true – he had wanted the younger boy. "Obviously your animal instincts took over, but something had to have been there for it to happen. I blame myself for that." He sighed, and looked away. "I'm sorry too, Kiba," he whispered. "We share the fault, it's not yours entirely."

Kiba nodded, and gave the other shinobi a small smile. He already felt better at owning up to his mistake and the fact that Shikamaru was willing to share the blame.

Standing up, they brushed the dirt from their knees. The dog nin's hand snaked out and grabbed Shikamaru's arm just as he was turning away. "I don't want to lose you Shikamaru," he murmured in embarrassment.

The raven couldn't help but smile. "You won't," he confided, reaching up to cover the tan hand with his own and giving a small squeeze. "I've put up with you antics for years, and you've dealt with my smart-mouth attitude. We'll be fine." Shikamaru smirked slightly. "Don't worry, if Naruto hasn't managed to chase me off yet, I don't think you will, or that I could get rid of you even if I wanted to. You're too dog-like." He ducked the fist that flew at his head and laughed.

"Ha-ha, so funny..." Kiba's voice dripped with sarcasm. He mentally cursed the smart-ass genius and his quick wit.

After a few minutes of fooling around, wrestling on the grassy floor of the forest, they grabbed their discarded bags, and continued on their way. It was silent again, but this time it wasn't an awkward silence that hung over them like the previous days, it was more of an understanding one.

"Well, I'm glad that's cleared up," said Kiba, breaking the quiet after a short while. "Now we can have fun and enjoy ourselves on this pointless exercise."

The Nara grinned, "True, it's the perfect excuse to check out all the attractions in other villages we never get to see," he agreed with a nod. "One thing is bugging me though." He paused, thinking their situation over.

"They had to have known it wouldn't take us long to sort everything out once we were alone together, so why the huge mission?" He had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the Kyuubi vessel and what Shikamaru assumed he witnessed.

Kiba just shrugged. "Who knows, and who cares?" He said, brushing off the others worry, ready for a vacation. "We're free of any real duty, so let's have fun." He watched his friend who was still deep in thought. "You're over-thinking things again, just relax. What could they have possibly planned, right? What could possibly happen?"

The two friends walked through the first village of their mission together after finishing a small dinner at a quaint restaurant. The night was warm, but a pleasant breeze made its way through the streets.

"Are you sure about this?" Kiba asked uncertainly, glancing sideways at his silent companion.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said with a nod, looking up at the sky and watching the light slowly fade, the horizon turning a dazzling pink. "I wouldn't mind a night relaxing in a hot spring followed by a cool shower and a good nights' sleep that doesn't involve bugs crawling on me."

"Fair enough," the dog nin said with a shrug. "I'm no Shino myself, but that's not what I meant."

The lazy nin tore his gaze from the stars beginning to poke through the inky sky, and glanced at his loud mouth friend. "Oh?"

"What I meant is the sharing the room," the brunet explained, scratching the back of his head. "You know, after what happened and all."

"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru drawled, trying not to think too much into it and looked up at the stars again. "We can only afford it if we get a room together, at least if we plan on doing anything else on this trip. Plus, you'll have the bed to yourself; I don't like beds at inns."

"Huh?"

Explaining, Shikamaru continued, "Either they're too hard or too soft. I can never sleep on them."

Kiba just shrugged and walked through the door of an inn with a hot spring attached. Heading straight to the front desk he asked for a room for the two of them.

"Here you go," the old lady said, smiling kindly at them, and handing over a set of keys. "I must say, you two make an adorable couple."

Kiba blanched, and Shikamaru turned bright red. "W-we're not a c-c-couple!"

Looking apologetic the women replied. "Do forgive me, I just assumed with the one room and all. Please enjoy yourselves though. It's the third door on the left up the stairs." She directed them to the staircase to her right.

"Thanks," Kiba managed to mumble as he tugged a still burning Shikamaru after him.

They spent the night relaxing in the hot springs, and keeping their distance from each other, afraid someone else may comment. It was embarrassing that someone had picked up on the sexual tension between the two, when they themselves were completely oblivious to the fact the other felt the same way.

After Shikamaru came out of cold shower he made a bed for himself on the floor.

Kiba watched him from the bed scratching his head nervously at what he was about to do. "Hey, Shikamaru," he called quietly. His friend looked up at him. "You sure you don't want to try the bed, it's a king, there's plenty of room for the two of us. We wouldn't even touch each other if we spread all our limbs."

Standing up the shadow nin sat on the edge of the bed and slowly laid back. "Not bad actually, but this still doesn't seem like a good idea."

"It'll be fine," the dog nin reassured the Nara, hoping he was right as they curled up on opposite sides of the bed. They left the largest distance possible between them.

Shikamaru woke first, feeling well rested and too lazy to open his eyes. He pulled the warmth closer to him, cuddling it. His eyes flew when his hazy mind realized there shouldn't be extra warmth on him. He opened his eyes to see Kiba curled up next to him with his head resting on Shikamaru's chest, their arms wrapped around each other.

"AHHHHHH!"

The yell woke Kiba who immediately pushed back from his disturbed friend. Finding he pushed a little too hard he fell off the edge of the bed to the floor with a loud thud. "Ow!"

Shikamaru had jumped from the bed as well and both boys stared at each other across the bed unsure of what happened during the night to put them in that situation. Turning away from each other they dressed as fast as they possibly could and packed in silence. The check out was completed with as little talking as possible between them before they headed out.

It took twenty minutes of eerie quiet before Shikamaru spoke. "We never talk about that again."

"Done."

Three weeks into their mission, the two friends were laughing and joking like they had never been fighting, having pushed the awkward morning out of their minds altogether. The sexual tension had increased tenfold, but both teens were in denial, absolutely refusing to believe they could possibly be attracted to the other.

They had been through so many towns that it was almost a blur now after visiting many festivals and onsens, and engaging in the occasional bar fight that Kiba would start, and Shikamaru would have to bail him out of.

Only a few more villages were left, two of which were in the land of Rice Paddies, the home of the hidden village of sound.

The forest was cold and damp, an oddity given the late hour of the day. Storm clouds were gathering in the distance and rapidly drawing near as the wind was picking up.

"We should set up camp soon," Kiba yelled over the howling of the wind.

Shikamaru nodded knowing he wasn't as loud as the Inuzuka, and wouldn't be heard over the noise. "If I remember correctly," he tried yelling, hoping the other teen could hear him, though he knew he was mostly speaking to himself. "There are caves a few kilometres that way." He pointed, hoping that even if the brunet didn't hear him, he could at least pick up in his meaning of his gestures.

Luckily with his heightened hearing, Kiba did hear the Nara. "Ok," he yelled back and flashed Shikamaru a thumbs up just encase he wasn't heard.

They altered their course accordingly, battling the increasing strong wind. Suddenly, a kunai flew from their right, aimed at Shikamaru, who dodged narrowly escaping being hit. The three companions' circled back to back, weapons drawn, or in Akamaru's case, teeth bared.

"I can't smell them," the dog nin shouted. "They must be down wind."

Five enemy shinobi came out of the shadows, surrounding their small group. Both Konoha nin swallowed nervously as they recognized the village symbol on their enemies hitai-ate.

They were of Otogakure – Sound ninja.

Well, is this actually getting better than what was originally posted, or should I give up all together and cut my loses.
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The Price of Love I