Title: No Broken Hearts.

Part of: 'For the Love of an Inuzuka' Collection

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort/Humor

Pairings: Gaara/Kiba. Past Kankuro/Kiba. Slight mention of possible Naruto/Hinata.

Beta'ed by: EmbraceSadness

This is what happens when I listen to pop music... I really should not be allowed to. The song No Broken Hearts belongs to Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha. I own nothing but the idea!

Quite frankly, Kiba should not have listened to Naruto and Sakura when they first talked about going out for the night.

He knew that recently he had seemed kind of down, but it's not like it was completely his fault. Kankuro had just broken up with him barely a week ago and just because he 'supposedly' couldn't deal with the distance between them. To Kiba, the excuses he had read from the scroll seemed as if though Kankuro was trying to cover up for something real bad, which made his heart ache even more than it had when he first read the first sentence in the letter.

'I'm sorry, but we're over.'

After that, the scroll he had received went on to explain how Kankuro felt that there was too much distance between them and how he couldn't deal with this type of relationship, even though he still loved Kiba. He loved Kiba so much that he wouldn't put him through the distress that came from that type of relationship.

Kiba had cried. A lot. And he had felt his heart break into a dozen different pieces by the end of the writing.

The first day after having read the scroll, Kiba did not leave his room. Neither did he allow anyone to enter it either. Instead, the broken hearted Inuzuka stayed underneath his bed- yes, his bed, not beneath only the covers but beneath the bed itself- with tears streaming down his face as he remembered all the good, bad, horrible, amazing, and everything in between times he had spent with Kankuro for the past year.

At the beginning of their relationship, Kankuro had been more serious than the dog nin. He was the possessive jealous kind that didn't enjoy Kiba hugging his friends all the time, and that had caused troubles at the beginning, but soon enough Kiba had grown to love the dominant personality his boyfriend showed. And the more time they spent together, the more Kiba found himself falling in love.

He had never expected Kankuro to break up with him.

But now that he had, it felt as if he did not have much reason to live. He would never become Hokage with Naruto being as strong and caring as he was- no matter how dense he proved to be- and the only real thing he actually had going for him was being the Inuzuka clan's heir... A standing he certainly cared nothing about. He loved his family and clan, he just didn't care for the politics that would come from being the head of the clan.

So he had spent the following week in tears and pain, only ever accepting outside influence from his sister when she banged on his door to demand he eat something before he starved to death. Akamaru, being the ever loyal and loving dog, stayed with his master the whole time, curled up against Kiba's side to be able to lick away the tears that came down the teen's cheeks when he believed it was needed.

Kiba had been content to wallow in his self pity for the rest of his life (if he was allowed to)... Unfortunately, Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of the Rookie 9 seemed to have a completely different idea for what his future should entail.

It was a Friday night and Kiba had crawled up from his hiding space beneath the bed to rest on his bed. Akamaru was whining every now and then with a lick to his hand, trying to get the boy to move, but Kiba would only swat the dog away with a soft grumble of pain mixed with annoyance.

He had expected to pass this night like he had passed all the rest. Just laying in his bed, nursing a broken heart, only getting up to open the door so Akamaru could leave, then open the door when Akamaru would come back. But, at about eight thirty, there was a steady yet soft knock on his door that certainly did not belong to either his mother or sister.

"Who's there?" He had called gruffly, eyebrows narrowing in annoyance when he heard just how raw and hoarse his voice sounded.

He may have gone a bit too far with all the crying... But it all hurt. And he wanted to just cry out all the pain before he was forced to face anyone that didn't understand him... So, before he had to face anyone around him.

"It's Naruto, Kiba! Sakura's here too, but she got distracted for a minute petting the dogs!" Naruto had yelled back in his loud and happy voice, which had received a heavy groan from Kiba because the tattooed boy knew what was coming.

Sakura and Naruto together nowadays was a very dangerous combination. Especially on a Friday night, when everyone was ready to go for the weekend.

"Kiba! These dogs are so cute!" Sakura piped up and Kiba couldn't help but frown heavily as he rolled out from his bed to pad over to the door.

When he opened the door, he found himself face to face with two rather nicely dressed teenagers and he could feel his stomach drop at the sight of Sakura's light makeup. Shit... If they were dressed like this...

"What do you want?" He had almost growled, but instead of being threatened or annoyed, both his friends only smiled at him and Sakura pushed him into his room.

"Oh, Kiba... You look like a mess..." She muttered to herself, then went directly towards his dresser to open it without any qualms.

Kiba yelped slightly as she began to throw all of his neatly folded- courtesy of himself because he was afraid his mom would go through with her threat of leaving him out with the unruly dogs if he didn't keep his room neat- all over his room, managing to make it look as if a teenage hurricane had come through in a span of less than five minutes.

"What are you doing, Sakura?" He had almost yelled, and then moved to try and run to stop her.

Naruto, though, stopped the Inuzuka before he could reach Sakura and held his arms tightly. "Calm down, dog breath! She's only deciding on your wardrobe!" The blonde had told Kiba in his 'isn't it obvious?' tone of voice, which made Kiba growl deep in his throat.

Great. Not only was he heart broken, but now he also had to deal with these two idiots! All he wanted to do was just cry and pity himself... Was that really too much to ask?

"Yeah, Kiba! Hanna told us about how you've taken to hiding in here like some dirty hermit and all because a loser like Kankuro broke up with you. Over scroll. I mean like seriously, Kiba! You shouldn't be grieving so much about that piece of trash!"

If Sakura had been looking at him, she would have noticed the deadly glare and snarl that were directed at her. But because she was obliviously pillaging his clothes, she did not get to see the hateful look.

Naruto, on the other hand, did notice the other boy's possibly murderous gaze and- intelligently- decided to try and defuse the situation. The blonde patted Kiba on the shoulder calmly and smiled broadly over at his distraught friend. "We just want to take you out for a good night, dog breath!"

Kiba had been so busy thinking of ways of getting rid of Sakura's body permanently when Naruto spoke that he was actually taken aback by what he had said. "A good night? What are you two really up to?"

With a sudden 'A ha!' the pink haired girl turned to both teens with one of Kiba's few good pair of pants and a black shirt he knew hugged his body in all the right ways, along with a leather jacket. "You're going to bathe now, Kiba, because I can smell the sadness on you and I'm not even an Inuzuka! Then you're going to get dressed in this, and finally we're going to take you out to drink, party, and make you happy."

He couldn't help it. Kiba could only blink in disbelief at the outright ridiculousness of what the girl had said. These two... Were insane.

"So go ahead, Kiba!" Naruto almost shouted out in that loud voice that was purely Naruto, pushing him in the direction of the shower outside of Kiba's room. "Oh, and don't worry about Akamaru! He can stay here!"

This caused a low growl to bubble up once more in Kiba, but before he could tell them that there was no way he'd be leaving his house while still nursing heartache, Sakura threw the clothes in his face, effectively blinding him, and then Naruto pushed him into the bathroom so fast that he wasn't able to let loose any type of sound of protest.

When he stood in the bathroom all alone, he had found himself faced with two choices. He could either bathe and go out with those two psychos for the heck of it, or he could struggle against them and fight for his right to stay home. And he would have fought if it had been anyone but Naruto and Sakura. The duo was so stubborn and bullheaded that Kiba himself knew that he just couldn't win.

So, with a puppy like whine that he'd never admit to having made, the boy turned the shower head on and began to bathe. After he had dressed, he was rushed out of his home with barely a goodbye to his clearly amused mother and sister, and then he was being dragged towards whatever bar or club or whatever his friends had decided to go to.

Maybe... Maybe going out wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe the time he spent out would be just what he needed to forget and get over Kankuro.

But, in retrospect, following two idiots like Sakura and Naruto into a dangerous path such as the one usually found through alcohol may not have been Kiba's greatest idea. Sure, they hadn't talked about drinking expressly, but Kiba knew his friends well enough to know that alcohol would be a factor. Whenever they went out, it seemed that to Sakura a party was not worth going to if there wasn't some type of alcohol in it.

The first restaurant they went into was a simple one.

Not too loud music, a soft yet intriguing atmosphere, a clientele that wasn't overly crowded, and enough sitting places so that everyone there had a comfortable place to sit. It was actually very reassuring to go there in the first place. Kiba didn't feel overwhelmed at all by the people there, which was a very good thing considering he had shut himself away from the world for a week.

Sakura had walked inside with Kiba behind her and Naruto behind him, and in no time she had located the rest of their friends at a corner booth in the back of the place. She led the two teenage boys there without any problems and soon enough Kiba found himself sat between a visiting Gaara- which had made Kiba quirk an eyebrow because just what was the Kazekage doing in Konoha?- and a blushing Hinata. She was blushing because Naruto was siting to her other side.

Kiba had honestly tried his best to not seem too down because of the breakup, but his heart was still aching and he knew that the smiles he sent his friends way just didn't reach his eyes like they normally would have. But either they didn't notice him being off or they just didn't care because nobody commented on it.

They had talked and ate and drank and talked a bit more and by the first hour's end, Kiba found himself a bit relaxed with a cup of water in his hand. Gaara and Hinata both were silent people that didn't push him into any type of conversation, but after a few minutes of silence between them, Kiba had begun to talk about how weird it was that Naruto still didn't know about Hinata's crush.

This had made the girl blush and smack his arm, but Gaara had only smirked in his own special way that allowed Kiba to know he had said something funny. After that he began to speak about stupid little things that honestly made no sense, but it seemed that Gaara did not mind.

The food and drinks had come and gone and by the time Sakura had proposed they go to a party she had heard of to continue their good night, Kiba had been just about ready to say no. Then Gaara had asked him if he would like to accompany him- saying that he was not a good dancer and wished to have some good company with him and while Naruto was interesting, he was too busy getting drunk to talk to- and Kiba relented because of how kind Kankuro's younger brother seemed.

Thinking back on what happened, Kiba could safely say that almost none of it was his fault. If anything, it was all Sakura and Ino's fault because the two girls had been dead set on 'living it up' that night. Maybe their teachers would find a way to lay blame on all participants, but Kiba stood firm in his belief that the main culprits of what happened that night were Naruto, Sakura, and Ino.

When they reached the party, Kiba's ears were immediately assaulted by loud and popping music with a bass so loud that it made his whole body reverberate. A small whine escaped him without his permission because of just how violently the music hit his ears, but when he looked around at his friends, they didn't seem to have heard.

He didn't notice Gaara's quirked eyebrow at the sound he had created.

"Let's party! Kiba, dance with me!" Sakura demanded almost immediately after having stepped into the house.

Then, much to his surprise, Kiba had found his hand inside of Sakura's as he was pulled onto a make-shift dance floor in the middle of the house. "No broken hearts!" She shouted into the throng of people, receiving cheers and whoops for her efforts.

Even though he didn't enjoy it most of the time, Kiba knew how to dance. He had learned in his younger years to be able to compete with the likes of Sasuke for female attention in the academy and had used this knowledge many times before. He had stopped really needing it when he was with Kankuro but now that they weren't an item anymore... Well, it was almost nostalgic the way his hips swayed to the rhythm with Sakura's arms around his shoulders.

As he danced, someone had offered him a drink and he had taken it without complaint. Then, once he had finished dancing with Sakura, Ino had pulled on him. While he danced with her, another drink somehow found its way into his hand and he began to wonder if he should start to worry about how he, a teenager, now had alcohol in his possession. But after his dance with Ino ended, Tenten pulled on him, then a couple of girls he knew from around the village that were just civilians, and finally a shaky Hinata. His dance with Hinata was the slowest and least provocative so he took the cooling of his body to leave the dancing behind him and sit down.

It was when he took a step away from the dance floor that he noticed just how much he had actually drank. With each new dance partner he acquired, some new drink had also made its way towards him. The first one he had drank with Sakura had been beer, the one with Ino had been a coke with rum, and the one with Tenten had been some mix of whisky with some type of juice. After that he had kind of stopped paying attention to the taste of the drinks and only really paid attention to the swaying and dancing.

He walked... No. He tumbled out of the dance floor with a type of fog creeping up on his brain and his eyes straining to just focus on one certain point in front of him.

"Maybe I shouldn't have accepted Hinata's fruity drink..." The dog-nin had muttered to himself as he brought up a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes tightly to try and not fall over.

At some point, he had ended up leaning against a wall of the house with his eyes closed tightly. He had no idea what had happened between leaving the dance floor and getting there, but at least he wasn't about to fall any time soon.

"-ou okay?"

Kiba had blinked up in slight confusion when he heard a voice that did not belong to the music around him swimming in his head, then looked to his right to see that Gaara stood beside him with narrowed teal eyes.

"What?" Kiba had asked in a slight slur, narrowing his eyes to try and keep Gaara's face from shifting from one side to another.

But instead of speaking, Gaara had kept his mouth closed and shook his head softly. Then, much to Kiba's confusion, he had felt his body begin to move and a bolt of fear struck through him. Why was he moving? Kiba was just about to shout out to tell Gaara that the earth was shifting, but then he had noticed a warmth slide across his back and he was lurched forward.

When he looked down at himself, he found that Gaara's hand was resting on his hip while another held his hand over his shoulder... When had Kiba's arm wrapped around the Kazekage's shoulders?

"Where are we going?"

To Kiba's ears, the words had been perfectly pronounced. But from the slightly lost look Gaara gave him, maybe his words were being slurred just a bit more than expected.

"To get you some air."

As Gaara walked him through the throng of dancing party goers, Kiba was able to recognize a few of his friends. Sakura seemed to have gone all out in the partying department and had ended up on top of a table with her shirt gripped tightly in her hands while twirling it around, all the while she danced in her bra and skirt to the cheers of those around her. Rock Lee had taken to trying to talk her down from there. A few feet away from those two was Naruto laughing loudly and drunkenly with an equally loud Hinata, who's face was a bright pink. Her alcohol intake must have been high enough if she was laughing as loudly as Naruto.

For some reason, having seen Hinata and Naruto so close together and happy made Kiba feel nice inside, and soon enough he had found himself giggling while Gaara looked down at him in slight confusion. Kiba had been slouching against the smaller teen, just about ready to fall to the floor if not for the red head's support.

By the time Gaara had managed to drag- because, really, Kiba was barely able to walk by himself without tripping over thin air- the slightly taller boy out of the crowded house, Kiba's past smile was long forgotten and replaced by a tense frown. His eyes were glazed over and he wasn't paying much attention to the kind teen with him anymore.

Still the red head had managed to get Kiba to a vacant gazebo on the edges of the party house, where he was able to set Kiba down in a chair.

With the pounding music, warmth of too many dancing bodies, and stench of alcohol far away, Kiba found had himself sobering up. He didn't have the insistent distractions around him anymore and that meant that his mind soon found itself venturing to familiar territory. And with said territory's younger brother around, it seemed that he was destined to not forget his heartache for the night.

The only noise around both males was the faint music coming from the house. But, aside from that, neither said a word. Gaara had always been a quiet soul so his silence was not shocking. But Kiba's silence had come from a sadder place than just being a silent type of person.

Gaara had noted this and asked, "Do you need some water?"

The question was spoken softly in a volume so different from Kankuro's usual tone that Kiba found tears returning to his eyes.

"Was I not good enough for him?" His question was soft as well, but uttered in an almost broken manner. "Did I never satisfy him?... Gaara, what did I do wrong? I loved him!"

Kiba had honestly wanted to ask something else, but suddenly seemed to remember who he was talking to- and so pitifully at that- and looked away from Gaara to look at the roof above them. Tears stung in his eyes and he knew he was seconds away from flat out crying. He hated being this sentimental... He should not have drank so much. He should have known drinking would only unleash his emotions.

But nothing had happened afterwards. Neither of them moved. And Kiba, after a whole minute of Gaara not answering, had taken the other's silence as him being disgusted with the dog nin. He couldn't have blamed Gaara though... Only a true idiot would make such a spectacle of a fun night out.

So Kiba closed his eyes to keep the tears inside, only to sniffle and fail at keeping the tears in when one fell. Kankuro had left him... His first true love had just dumped him out of nowhere! What was he doing out in this party? What he was supposed to be doing was wallowing in his tears at home!

To say that Kiba was surprised when soft and tentative fingers had brushed against his cheek to wipe at the tear would be an understatement. For a moment, he was actually reminded of a night when Kankuro had done the same thing and almost saw Kankuro doing the action. But in reality it was Gaara that had done such a tender act, not Kankuro.

"Please, don't cry over my brother..."

The shock Kiba was under was so much that he couldn't say a single thing, even though his lips were parted to try and say something.

He really should not have drank so much. His reactions were slow, extremely so. Not only that, but his processing of situations seemed to be stunted as well because instead of moving away from Gaara, his body had stayed in place.

"You don't deserve to cry. You deserve much better." Gaara whispered now and- wait a minute- when hadd his face get so close?

Kiba's eyes had widened when he could see the other teen's eyes directly in front of him and a sudden gasp escaped him when, in the blink of an eye, he found Gaara's lips on his own.

The kiss was chaste, simple, and tender, Gaara treating Kiba's own lips as gingerly as possible. It was such a short kiss, actually, that Kiba was just getting used to the new feeling of non-intrusive lips against his- so different from Kankuro's own- when the feeling was gone. But, no matter how short it really was, Kiba could feel that all of his feelings of sadness left him in that fleeting instant.

"G-Gaara..." Kiba felt like an idiot, but he couldn't think of anything more to say other than the other's name. Oh, and to question why he had kissed him, of course. "Why? Why kiss me?"

Maybe it was the lack of lighting, or the alcohol in his system playing with his eyes, but Kiba could have sworn he saw Gaara's cheeks light up with a subtle blush before the red head turned his face away.

A small breeze blew past both of them before Gaara spoke up.

"I meant no insult, Kiba, but... You did nothing wrong. My brother is an idiot."

The explanation was not the one Kiba was looking for, but at least it was something. And he could feel his heart warm slightly at someone finally telling him in a kind manner that Kankuro was stupid. He didn't need people yelling it at him... But maybe a soft voice could work wonders.

This wasn't right. This was Kankuro's younger brother, Gaara. The same kid that had been a psychopath a few years ago before reforming because of Naruto's kindness. The same kid that had scared the crap out of Kiba and Akamaru the first time they had seen him. The same kid that had just kissed him a few minutes ago.

"Gaara, listen," Kiba began, but was cut off before he was able to tell Gaara that after Kankuro, he just was not prepared for any kind of love, by a drunken Sakura and Ino running out of the house, both lacking shirts, and with Lee and Choji running after them.

"I bet I can steal Kakashi's headband!"

Honestly, Kiba had not expected to see Naruto bounding after the group of four with a very flustered Hinata chasing after him.

"Well I can get it before you!" Sakura had giggled loudly as she danced out of Lee's grasp, which made Kiba smile awkwardly.

What had they gotten themselves into?

"Let's sing the vodka song!" Tenten had appeared out of nowhere with a sly smile on her face, a full bottle of vodka in her hand and an irritated Neji beside her. "You haven't drank at all." He had muttered in annoyance. "Yeah! But I want to get these idiots to drink some more!"

Shikamaru then appeared behind them both with disinterested eyes and hands in his pockets. Kiba knew him well enough to be sure that under his breath, he had muttered a sighed 'troublesome' before looking at Ino. "Ino, why don't you drink some water?"

"Hey, Billboard Brow!" Ino had yelled in a slurred manner at Sakura, jumping up onto one of the trees surrounding the house and almost toppling over. "I bet I'm a better ninja than you!"

"Nuh uh!" Sakura shouted, only to be grasped by a smiling Lee. "Finally!" He cheered, "Sakura, you must calm down."

But the pink haired girl had not listened to Lee. Instead she broke the boy's grip on her with a bit more force than necessary, then used his body as a platform to spring off from and onto the trees.

"Let's bet on it, Ino Pig! I grab Kakashi's headband and you try to get your sensei's own! The first to meet back here with the prizes wins!"

"Wait, Sakura, that's a terrible idea!" Kiba had finally spoken up, jumping up from his chair and making his and Gaara's presence known to the rowdy teenagers.

Naruto had smiled broadly at the sight of his friend and stumbled his way over to him and Gaara, "Dog breath! You want Kurenai Sensei to be part of the bet, don't you?! Okay! I'll get hers!"

"Yeah! That's a fun bet!" Ino had laughed loudly, then pointed forward, "Onwards! I will win this bet!"

And before Kiba could have tried to stop any of them, all three drunken teenagers took off through the trees. Choji and Lee had both groaned at the loss of their charges, all the while Hinata squeaked a gasped "Naruto!", Shikamaru had hung his head, and Neji had glared at Tenten.

Kiba had slapped himself for unwillingly having set Naruto off, then looked at Gaara with wide eyes. The sand nin had looked him over for one second before he sighed and nodded, then motioned for Kiba to follow him.

"Let's go collect those three before they get themselves in trouble."

Kiba had followed along without having said anything else. And as he had ran through the trees, he had decided to push the issue of Gaara kissing him into the back of his mind so he'd be able to focus on tracking down the three insane teens.

Quite frankly, Kiba should not have listened to Naruto and Sakura when they first talked about going out for the night. Really, he should have known better. Everything that had happened the past night was still rather fresh in his mind, including the kiss with his ex's brother, and the dog nin could only hope that Gaara wasn't playing with him just because he happened to be his older brother's ex-boyfriend.

At the moment, he really regretted having gone out. Why? Well, now he, Gaara, the rest of the Rookie 9, and Team Ten stood in front of extremely angered and annoyed teachers. Guy, Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi had all been awoken at insane hours of the morning by their drunken students and none of them were too happy to see them in that state.

Even though Kiba, Gaara, and Lee had all managed to stop Sakura before she tried to grab at Kakashi, the other teenagers hadn't been as successful. Naruto had managed to take Kurenai's hitaiate and then dared himself to take Guy's all the while Hinata, Neji, and Tenten tried to stop him. Choji and Shikamaru had not been able to stop Ino from waking Asuma as she broke into his apartment to rummage all through it. But, even though Sakura had not gotten the forehead protector, she had still managed to wake up her sensei by throwing a surprised and slightly scared Lee at his sleeping form- straight through his apartment's window, even- before Gaara was able to stop her.

Now all of the teenagers were caught in front of the four extremely tired and annoyed teachers with the sun barely rising, each one of them looking down at them with their own variations of glares.

"In what world was drinking alcohol a good idea?" Kurenai spoke up, looking directly at both her students. At least Shino had not been a part of their misadventures. "Kiba? Hinata? I want an answer."

Kiba couldn't help but chuckle nervously as he scratched at the back of his head while Hinata kept her head down and her hands clasped tightly together. How could he answer? He knew that what they had done had been wrong, bu he didn't understand why so many of them were getting in trouble. It hadn't been all of them that had instigated the trouble!It had all been started by the two blondes and Sakura!

"You are teenagers. Not only that, you are Leaf Village ninja. Is this really the example you want to be setting of yourselves?" Asuma scolded them, even though his eyes were mostly on Ino. At least he knew who the drunk member of his team had been.

"There is a time for everything, children!" Guy chastised energetically, causing Kiba to wince at how loud his voice was. "Your youthful energy is bountiful! The springtime of your youth has only just been tapped! It should not be rushed!"

"Yes, Guy Sensei!" Lee answered almost immediately, but Neji was not in the mood for two loud mouths for he slapped the other boy sharply and received a yelp as his answer for the hit.

"I'm only really bothered because you chose to wake us up..." Kakashi mumbled more to himself than the teens, then shook his head and snapped his fingers, "Naruto, Sakura, with me! We're going for some early morning training!"

Both teens groaned in protest at the idea and Naruto even tried to throw himself at the ground to sleep, but Kakashi caught him before he could and threw him over his shoulder. "It's your punishment." He stated simply, grabbing Sakura by the collar of her shirt to drag her with him as well.

That left three adults with nine teenagers. All nine of them were at different stages of sleep deprivation and only Naruto had shown to be too tired to actually stay standing. But the teachers could all see that the night of partying had gotten to their students.

Kurenai sighed as she looked at both of her students, "You don't seem like you drank as much as those two... Just, please, don't fall to peer pressure. I will see you two tomorrow. Today's practice is cancelled."

On the inside, Kiba cheered at not having to drag his tired body to training with Kurenai, but he kept a soft smile on his face when both he and Hinata nodded. Then Kurenai was gone and only Asuma and Guy were left. Even though his students had not partaken in any kind of out of control drinking, Guy decided that Neji, Lee, and Tenten all needed some punishment and took them all for early morning practice. Asuma decided that instead of punishing them physically, he would just inform Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino's parents to what they had done the past night.

Once the teachers had taken their respective students to their own type of punishment, only Gaara, Kiba, and Hinata were left in the middle of the extremely vacant streets of Konoha.

"I-I should go with N-Neji..." Hinata muttered, chancing one glance at Kiba. "If I arrive home alone, Father... It is best if Neji comes with m-me."

Kiba nodded and waved her off, then turned to Gaara once the shy girl was gone.

When faced with only Gaara, Kiba remembered what had happened the past night. And he remembered all of the heartache that came from Kankuro. With that heartache, he remembered how it had almost vanished when Gaara's lips had met his. As he thought back on the soft kiss, Kiba couldn't help but blush softly.

"So... Gaara..." He began lamely, then cleared his throat when he noticed just how totally stupid he sounded. "We're going to have to talk at some point." He smiled to himself at how authoritative his voice managed to sound.

"I am not good with emotions, Kiba." Gaara blurted out and to Kiba's surprise, he found the Kazekage standing in front of him once more, green eyes boring into Kiba's own black ones. "And while I am not good with feelings, I am aware of how I feel for you."

The words made Kiba's heart skip a beat, he would not lie. But he felt bad because in the back of his mind, all he could think of was how different Kankuro and Gaara were when compared. Gaara, while soft spoken and precise, seemed intent on finishing whatever he wanted to say. When Kankuro had first asked him out, he had only grabbed him by the hand and forced the Inuzuka to join him for dinner.

"Ever since I first saw you in the Chunin exams, I have been drawn to you... But my brother got to you before I could allow myself to see how I felt for you." Gaara's hand rose to grasp Kiba's own and hold it in between them and Kiba would be lying if he said he didn't feel any type of comfort from the touch, "You seemed so happy with Kankuro that I felt content in seeing you happy." Then Gaara sighed and shook his head, face twisting a bit, "Then the fool decided to break up with you... It may not seem right to go after a man my brother once dated but I do not care about appearances. Kiba Inuzuka, I love you."

The dog nin blinked once at the slightly shorter teen in surprise. Then a second time as he processed the words. By the third blink, he seemed to have captivated what had been said and sighed softly.

"Listen, Gaara, it wouldn't be fair to you. I'm rebounding. And rebound relationships never-"

"I do not care." Gaara interrupted and now he moved his left hand so it too held Kiba's other hand, causing more warmth to spread over the dog nin. "I love you. And Naruto taught me you're supposed to fight for those you love."

"Aren't you a bit young to be in love?" Kiba asked hastily and received a soft smirk as his answer.

"Aren't you?"

Kiba reeled back slightly at the cheeky answer, but soon shook his head and looked away, "Touché." Then he sighed heavily and hung his head. "You really like me?"

Gaara nodded and squeezed both of Kiba's hands, "I would not lie about this."

The earnestness in those green eyes made Kiba falter for a moment. He was nursing a broken heart. He should not be getting into a rushed relationship. Especially not with his ex's younger brother. But he could not deny the fact that Gaara's touches made him feel... Well... Special again. And he had missed being touched in that manner. But he could not play with Gaara's heart like that. It would not be fair.

"This is troublesome..." He breathed out to himself, sounding a lot like Shikamaru for a second, then looked at Gaara with determination, "I can't promise you anything."

Gaara only nodded once, "I do not expect any promises."

The answer caused Kiba to falter for a moment, then he said, "And I can't tell you that I will be a good boyfriend to you."

"I do not ask you to be. I just ask you to allow me to love you."

Kiba looked into Gaara's eyes for one more second, searching for any kind of dishonesty or trickery, but was only able to find an innocent kind of determination that made Kiba's heart flutter. "Fine." He muttered, then took one step back and took his hands back from Gaara to place them on his hips. "But before you can declare to the world you love me, you have to prove you're boyfriend material."

"Of course." Gaara answered and both boys fell into silence once more.

Just what had he gotten into? Dating Gaara? Oh... It seemed that Kiba's only real talent was getting himself into trouble.

Still, he couldn't deny the fact that Gaara wasn't too bad on the eyes and seemed like the complete opposite of Kankuro. Maybe he could be just what Kiba needed to not feel alone anymore.

It was selfish. More likely than not, it would end up with heartache. And it was just a bit despicable. But for a fleeting second, Kiba could see a future with Gaara instead of Kankuro. And with Gaara's determination and Kiba's need, maybe it would be achievable.

"Wanna get some breakfast?" Kiba asked almost awkwardly after a beat or two of silence, then cleared his throat and looked away from Gaara when the pale boy looked at him. "I might be kind of hungry... And still a bit too drunk to go back home..."

Gaara looked at the tattooed teen with seeking in his gaze, then nodded and began to walk in the direction of a small shop Naruto had shown him that was open even at this hour. Kiba stood in the same spot for a moment, harboring mixed feelings of guilt and hope, then gasped slightly when he noticed that Gaara had walked away. He ran a bit to catch up with the other and once they had fallen into step together, allowed his hand to slip into Gaara's own.

Okay, maybe this wasn't the best of ideas. But, for now, he was truly going to enjoy Gaara's company.

Even with the prospective new relationship, Kiba still thought he hadn't been all that bright in going along with Naruto and Sakura's plans.

So, yeah... This is what happens. I hope y'all enjoyed reading it! I know I enjoyed writing it! Please review and tell me what y'all thought.

And if you're looking for the sequel, it's called 'Crazy in Love' and it's about Genma falling in love with Kiba and stalking him and Gaara on dates. It's more adorable than it sounds. Trust me.