Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: I have recently discovered the NaruShino pairing and have decided that I like them, so I'm going to write this thing and see where it goes. The italics are Naruto's journal entries, the normal stuff is the actual story. It'll switch between 1st person and 3rd person because that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh! –giggles- Excuse me while I randomly burst into song! Ok, I hope you enjoy it…

By the way, this is an AU fic, and Orochimaru never happened to Sasuke. He's always been in Konoha, so he's not quite as angsty and depressed as he is in all my other ones… but he's still pretty angsty…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this plot-like thing, so don't get angry with me!

Inspiration: Façade-Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Broadway Musical

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Façade

By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise

"Look behind the façade; underneath the underneath." That's what Kakashi-sensei always told us to do. He always said that nobody and nothing should be taken at face value, but I don't think any of us really paid much attention to his advice at the time. The three of us never thought to look underneath the underneath of our teammates. We never thought to look at how all of Kakashi's harshness was actually his way of saying he cared about us; didn't want us to die on missions; wanted us to be the best shinobi we could be. He was also very lonely, but we didn't see that until later; I suppose we were too preoccupied with our own problems to try to fix his.

Sasuke and Sakura never thought to see anything other than my smiley face and idiotic mask. They never thought to see how lonely I was, how hard it was for me to get up in the morning because everybody hated me for reasons I didn't understand at the time, how hard it was for me to try to find the good in everybody when everybody was so intent on finding and picking at everything that was wrong with me. Given, I was not doing my best to look underneath their underneaths either. I actually thought Sasuke was a bastard. I didn't see how utterly lost and confused and hurt he was about his family and his big brother. I didn't see anything, even though I know better than most about masks; smoke, mirrors and illusions. I didn't care; my life was hard enough. If I had been looking I'd have seen how ugly and superficial Sakura was, too. She seems nice, until I'm brought up in a conversation; she still doesn't like me much…

Kakashi-sensei had been trying to tell us to open up, trust each other, lean on each other, depend on each other, become each other's family, but still be oursevlves; I'd tried. I mostly succeeded with Sasuke; we're like brothers now, but even brothers have their secrets. Sakura, on the other hand, shot down everything I'd ever said, whether it be words of love or a plan on a mission or even something as trivial as to where we could eat lunch (I liked other places besides Ichiraku's), and made me feel more ugly and lonely than I already did. Sure, I laughed it off and tried again later, but I wanted to get close to her because she had the things the other three of us didn't; a loving family to go home to every night, money, general popularity in the village, brains that people acknowledged all the time, not just when it was convenient for them to remember. She had everything we didn't, and she made sure we knew it.

So Kakashi, Sasuke and I became the closest thing I've ever had to a family. We went out on Fridays and split the bill, talked, trained, went on missions; Kakashi became something like my father, I guess, maybe a really cool uncle, and I can talk to him about anything. He'll give me advice to the best of his ability. Then we 'adopted' Sai, a nice enough guy with emotional stunting. He can still feel emotions, he just doesn't know what they're called… or how to express them properly. I remember he once told me that he didn't like being around Sasuke because he made Sai's stomach to weird things, his heart to speed up, his breathing to skip and his face to heat up, and he didn't like Sakura because she gave him a bad feeling, made him feel sick… said it all with a confused look on his face, not even realizing it… But he and Sasuke pick on me, and I give back as good as I get and I'm not lonely anymore. I'd do anything for those three, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sai, and I'm pretty sure they'd help me back.

Then I look outward and see all the people I took at face value; I see that Sai is really, really trying to make friends with everybody, even Sakura despite how much she has been belittling him ever since she found out his sexual orientation. I see that Ino actually has brains beneath her bubbly, bleached-blonde personality. I see that Shikamaru's actually a very responsible person and tries to take everything onto his shoulders even though he's stressed out enough what with being an Academy teacher and a missions' leader. I see that Kiba cares more about what people think about him than he lets on and he heavily depends on his mother's opinions. I see Hinata's ridiculously strong, forceful personality, Neji's subtle, but very much there, rebellion against the elders of his clan, Lee's good intentions (even if he's rather forceful with them), TenTen's sensitive feelings and kindhearted nature, Choji's poetic outlook on life and I see Shino's discomfort at being around people. Certain people, like Hinata and Kiba, he has no problem being with. They're safe and familiar and know Shino for Shino, not for the heir to the Aburame clan. Shino hates having his picture taken, and he probably hates his body judging by how much he covers it up with that huge coat of his…

…To tell you the truth, I've always wondered what he's so ashamed of that he has to hide himself from the world. Sure, he's a living hive of kikaichu, but nothing like that has ever bothered me much; I have a nine-tailed demon fox using me as a host, after all. I also want to know what color his eyes are. Whatever their color may be, I'm sure they're beautiful and expressive, and he'd probably kill me dead for saying that, but I can't really bring myself to care. I've been looking deeper into Shino and the more I discover the more interested and infatuated with him I become. I want to see him let go and show his face; love, hate, pleasure, happiness, sadness, anger, confusion. I want to see his body, no matter the flaws he may have. I want to wake up with him in my bed every morning and go to sleep with him every night. I want to make him feel so much pleasure that he'll feel like he needs to explode or die (preferably neither, but you get my point). I want to love him and have him and hold him and take care of him, even though he's probably a strong enough person not to need that last part, but that's just what I do; I take care of people.

I want Shino; I can't help it and I'm sure if this get's out it'll be just another black mark against me on my card already so full of black marks, so I may as well say this plainly:

My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am in love with Shino Aburame.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

"Dude! Let's go!" Kiba raced up to Naruto just as Naruto closed his leather bound journal and stuck the pen in his pocket. "Why are ya always writin' lately?"

The blond grinned. "Dunno, maybe to keep the memory of Ero-Sennin alive…" Naruto's godfather's death was still a sore subject for him, so it hurt a little saying that. It was like acknowledging Jiraiya was actually gone. The blond rarely brought it up.

"Ye're gonna start writin' porn now?" Kiba started walking, knowing Naruto would follow if he wanted to go the party at all, and Naruto always went to the parties. He'd missed his friends a lot while he was out traveling and training.

Naruto stood and stretched, following his best friend, probably the only friend he'd had since way back in the Academy. Naruto had once asked Kiba why he'd liked him back then and the dog trainer had said something about scent never lying and Naruto's scent being a lot nicer than everybody else's. At the time Naruto hadn't really appreciated it like he did now; Kiba Shikamaru and Choji had been with him all along, his partners in crime; detention buddies. Now they were rarely seen without each other. Kinda funny…

"No, not porn, but maybe something else… I dunno," the blond fell into step with the dog-nin and clasped his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. "By the way, you owe me $50. Sasuke and Sai started dating last night."

"How d' ya know?" Kiba turned a suspicious eye on the writer.

"I walked in on them having sex in the shower…" Naruto shuddered. "I think that'll be the last time I stay over at their place for a while. I can't stay with them if they're gonna be going at it like that."

"Like what?" Kiba questioned even as he regretfully handed over Naruto's winnings.

"Sasuke's a screamer and the walls are thin. He apparently came three times last night." Naruto grinned his trademark grin and saluted the grumbling teen in thanks.

"How do ya know they're actually going out and not just casual fuck buddies?"

"They told me this morning. Over breakfast… Did you know Sai could cook?"

Naruto grinned.

Kiba glared. "Why can't ya take after yer grandmother and lose yer bets."

"Because I'm more awesome!"

When the two arrived, the party was already in full swing. There was alcohol and snacks and really loud music and slutty dancing, but Naruto didn't really pay any attention to all that. Blue eyes scanned the room for the person he usually hung out with at these things; Shino. Naruto vaguely registered that Kiba had left his side to go make out with the visiting sand shinobi, Kankurou, more focused on finding his party buddy. There he was, as per usual; leaning against the back wall, drink loosely in hand, not even wearing party clothes. Yeah, Naruto always had a few drinks, danced with a few people, both male and female, but he always made sure Shino wasn't left out of the festivities. He was so quiet that people sometimes forgot he was there.

The blond made his way to the other man, grabbing a drink as he passed the refreshments table. He received a nod of acknowledgement, more than some people got from the stoic bug wielder, and grinned back.

"How'd your mission go, Shino?" Naruto casually leaned against the wall as well. Nobody thought it was odd. The two always talked to each other at these things.

"It went well enough, but it was exhausting," Shino replied after awhile.

"Well, that's good. Not that you're tired, but that it went well," the blond said, wondering why Shino was even out tonight. He'd just gotten back this morning. No, Naruto was not stalking him; he knew things like this for all his friends. He just always made sure to know when Shino was out of or in town. If he was gone, Naruto actually sometimes opted for sleeping and skipped the parties. Sure he liked his friends and everything, but even he needed some alone time to unwind and center himself again… and get some sleep. Being around too many people sometimes left him exhausted and feeling stretched.

The conversation continued on, Naruto doing most of the talking, as was usually the case between the two. It started off with missions and switched to training, to local gossip, to entomology, to literature, to how everyone was doing, to Sasuke and Sai's recent hook up, and all through it Naruto got the sense that something was off with Shino. Yes, the bug-nin had said he was tired, but this didn't feel like tired, nor did it feel like he was trying to shut the blond up. In fact, Shino seemed to be talking more than usual. Naruto was ready to start pulling out his hair if he thought it would help him figure it out sooner. Was Shino drunk? Having home troubles? Friend troubles? Was he just talkative tonight? Naruto couldn't figure it out, so he let it go for now, but it continued to wiggle around in the back of his mind for the rest of the night.

After what seemed like a very short time, but was in reality actually about five hours, Naruto came back from that little place he always seemed to go when he was talking to Shino, and looked around. Kiba and Kankurou had left, probably for Kankurou's hotel room; those two had been going out for a little over a year now. There were still people dancing, but the party was winding down and the music was mostly slow. There were people passed out on the couch and on the floor. Some couple was making out in the corner by the kitchen door and a couple of people were making it quite clear what their intentions for the evening were. Naruto blinked. Not one person had come up to him and asked him if he'd wanted to dance, not even the people that usually did, and he was still nursing the same drink he had been all night… what the hell was wrong with him?

Shino inhaled deeply and pushed himself off the wall. "I'd best be going home. I need sleep."

"'Kay, I'll see ya later, dude," Naruto grinned and waved, watching his secret love leave. Then he just stayed there, leaning against the wall, trying to figure out what was wrong with Shino tonight. It had to be something obvious and that's why he was missing it. The human mind didn't like the obvious, so it danced around it; Naruto's did it more than most. He sighed and figured it'd be easier to figure it out after a good night's sleep, so he went home after saying goodnight to the host.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Naruto awoke to the loud and not so subtle pounding on his front door. His first habitual reaction to this was to cover his head and block his ears because he'd been drinking last night, but after a few minutes, he realized he didn't have his usual hangover, so he got up and stumbled to the door, recognizing the chakra signature as Kiba's. The blond wrenched open the door and stood glaring; whether or not he'd been drinking, it was still too early to be up on a Saturday. Kiba didn't seem to be at all affected by the glare. In fact, he found it amusing and made it known as he casually pushed Naruto aside and waltzed (with a slight limp) into the one room apartment. Yep, Kankurou had fucked Kiba good.

The blond stood there staring blankly at the spot Kiba had been standing for a few seconds before blinking and closing the door and turning around. Then he stared and Kiba for a few minutes before processing the fact that Kiba was casually sitting on his couch, smiling up at him…

"I need coffee. Sit there and be quiet," Naruto mumbled and stumbled over to the kitchen area and fumbled with the coffee pot, finally getting everything in order and turning it on. While he waited for the pot to brew, Naruto leaned up against the small, tiny, sorry excuse for a counter and stared at Kiba some more. Then he said, "So did Kankurou propose or something?"

Kiba stared at Naruto in a stunned silence. "Are ya psychic or something?"

"He did?" Naruto's blue eyes widened; he had just been joking.

"Well, after a fashion. We can't actually get married 'cause he's from Suna and I'm not, but he did get me a ring…" Kiba pulled a chain out from under his shirt; the ring was a simple gold ring that looked like a circular bamboo shoot. Even so, it must have been expensive. Naruto was pretty good at judging prices. "Apparently he did everything properly and asked my mom's permission and everything… Stupid man. I'm not a girl; could'da just asked me…"

Only Kiba would be this theatrically sore (which really meant he was very pleased with it) about getting proposed to like this. Naruto found it hilarious and he let Kiba know just how funny it was by laughing for the 10 minutes it took for his coffee to brew. His best friend just stared at him the whole time, looking affronted (but not really, because Kiba could never be mad at Naruto for an extended period of time). Naruto stood up from his bent up position and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes as Kiba asked:

"Ya done makin' fun of me now?"

Naruto let out a few more wheezing bouts of laughter before saying, "Dude, not making fun of you. In fact, I'm very happy for you, but you gotta stop trying to hide how pleased you actually are around me. You should know by now how good I am at reading you."

Tan hands grabbed a mug and the coffee pot and soon Naruto was sipping at the thick, rich brew. "You want some?"

"Yeah, why not; ya make good coffee," Kiba graciously accepted the proffered mug, made up exactly how he liked it.

Naruto sat on the dilapidated couch next to Kiba and stared at him… and stared some more. Eventually Kiba gave the blond the look to just ask, so Naruto did:

"How'd it go? Like, what'd he do?"

"We went ta his hotel room like usual, had really good sex," (Naruto had figured that much out). "Afterwards, he kinda leaned over me and grabbed somethin' off the nightstand. I'd figured it was a cigarette because he always smokes after sex, but it was a jewelry box thing, like the ones ya get at the stores. It wasn't like a ring sized thing, it was big and square," Kiba approximated the size with his hands, "so I said, 'What, ya buy me a collar?' He said, 'Kinda' and gave me this. There was a matching set in the box, one fer me and one that I put on him."

"That's very romantic," Naruto said sarcastically.

"Ya know as well as I do that I'd prolly have turned 'im down had he gone out of his way ta treat me any differently than he usually did. In fact, I'd prolly have knocked him out."

The blond conceded to the point, having known Kiba to do that. His last boyfriend had been a douche and treated him like a woman, and Kiba was obviously not a woman. After several moments of silence, Kiba asked:

"Did ya get anywhere with Shino las' night?"

Naruto promptly spat the gulp of coffee he'd just taken back into his mug and looked over at Kiba, only to see him tapping his nose with a knowing look on his smug looking face. The blond somehow managed to both glare at the dog-nin and roll his eyes at his own forgetfulness, he'd completely forgotten that Kiba could smell those types of things, and looked back at his friend.

"No, but he was acting strangely last night. I don't know what's up with him, but I want to."

"Didn't he just get back from a mission? Maybe he was just tired?" Kiba threw out suggestions.

"That crossed my mind, but it wasn't the tired kind of 'strange.' He was actually encouraging the conversation by talking himself; when he's tired he doesn't even 'hn.'" Naruto leaned back against the couch cushions. "In fact, he was overly talkative. I'd thought he was drunk, or tipsy, or high, or something like that for a while 'cause everyone else I've ever been drinking and shit with gets all talkative, but he wasn't. I've seen Shino tipsy and he gets even more anti-social than usual."

"'Tis true. I have witnessed it," Kiba nodded sagely over the rim of his mug. Kiba would know too; he and Shino were also best friends. "He was talkin'? Like, a lot?"

Naruto nodded. "More than usual."

"Maybe he jus' likes talkin' to ya? He didn't used ta talk ta much of anyone 'cept me and he told me after several years that he really only talked ta me and Hinata because he liked us enough ta try ta get closer… Maybe he wants in yer pants too?" Kiba grinned roguishly.

"Or maybe he just likes me as a friend…" Naruto mumbled.

"Next time I see ya two together, I'll try ta catch his scent for ya. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like I'm cheating," Naruto grumbled.

Kiba laughed. "Dude, unless ya get him outta that coat so ya can see his face, ya ain't gonna know anythin' about him. He's good at hidin'."

Naruto thought for a few minutes. Yeah, he wanted to do things the old fashioned way and wait until he gathered up the courage to ask Shino out himself, but Shino would probably turn him down. The blond was no coward, not in any sense of the word, but his heart had been broken enough for him to know to be cautious with who he asked out and when and where. Shino was an heir to an entire clan and expected to get married to a nice girl and reproduce at least once, but Naruto really, really wanted him like he'd wanted no one before; not even Hinata, and they had tried that out. She was the one who'd ended it. Plus, Kiba was right; unless Naruto got Shino out of that coat and could have a conversation with him face to face (really face to face, and not Naruto's face to Shino's coat), Naruto would never be able to see what Shino was thinking or feeling…

The blond sighed. "Fine, but it still feels like I'm cheating."

"When ya think of somethin' else, let me know and I'll help if ya need it," Kiba smirked. He knew that if Naruto had been able to figure something out it'd been done already; Naruto watched that exact thought flit across Kiba's mind and wondered, not for the first time, if he really was psychic. Of course, if he were psychic he'd know if Shino liked him or not, so he guessed the mind reading only went as far as a select few.

The two finished their coffee in relative silence, only really broken by meaningless conversation about nothing they're really going to remember tomorrow. After Kiba had left to go tell Shino about is almost-marriage to Kankurou, Naruto simply sprawled out on his still-out futon and wondered how he was ever going to get Shino for himself.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Sometimes I can't help but notice slight differences in people's behavior, especially around me. Usually I have to turn around and book it unless I want to beaten. I don't care if I can defend myself against them; I'm not going to hurt the people I've sworn to protect. I'm a trained shinobi and the people that hate me in my own village usually aren't. If they are a shinobi and they attack me, I have no remorse, I'll kick their ass. Anyway, the changes are usually very obvious; like the stiffening of posture, or the leer that promises something of the sexual nature that I've seen spread across the faces of some.

Shino's changes are a little more difficult to place. None of them are really…bad. They're just very different. He talks to me a lot more than he used to. He's making it a point to find me at parties and include me in conversations and little things, like walk me home after we go out drinking with the guys. Kiba's not here either, he was sent on a mission shortly after he told me he would try to get Shino's scent, so he can't tell me what Shino's scent says about him. Sure, normally, if this were going on with anyone else I'd say that he likes you, so go for it, but it's always been difficult to tell with Shino. He does this type of stuff for Kiba too, so I can't tell it he does this for all his friends or if he does this only for people he's decided are worthy as potential partners.

Then I think that maybe Shino had a crush on Kiba and that, if my second guess is the correct one, then I'm only a rebound… I hate 'maybe's and 'what if's and 'possibly's; uncertainty. They always give me knots of anxiety in my stomach and make me lose sleep and I start to go bald from pulling at my hair… I hate it. I need to know. Even though I'm not actually dating Shino, I feel we click more than me and Hinata ever did, and I want that feeling without feeling guilty that Shino may not like me back and that I could really be a huge inconvenience to him.

Gods, why do I have to feel like this? Why can't Kiba be here to help me out? Why can't I just get a positive sign that I'm actually of interest to him? There I go, pulling my hair again… I guess I'll just have to be patient. I've made it for the last few months; I can continue to do it until Kiba gets back.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Naruto sighed and drew a hand across his face as he closed his apartment door behind him. God damn if he wasn't horny; Shino hadn't really done anything to get this kind of response out of the blond except get drunk. Naruto had walked Shino home and after they were out of sight of everyone, Shino had left his usual inflated anti-socialness behind and started hanging on to Naruto as though he'd always wanted to. It was all Naruto could do to actually take Shino to his own home rather than bring him here and take advantage of Shino's drunkness. In truth, Naruto wanted Shino to be able to remember everything they'd done together, and a drunk Shino probably wouldn't. Sure, it'd been tough to do the right thing, but Naruto had a mixed feeling about it; satisfaction that he'd been able to resist and the pain his libido was feeling at being denied what it felt it deserved.

Right about now, Naruto wasn't even sure if his attraction to Shino was just a sexual or if there was something else behind everything because right now he really just wanted to get Shino naked, in Naruto's bed and fuck him thoroughly. He was just so confused and willing to take anything he could get from Shino. Right now, all he'd been getting was more conversation than people were used to hearing from the bug-nin and the occasional smile (maybe… it was difficult to tell, really…) sent in his direction, but tonight had tried his self-control beyond what he was used to.

Good gods, he either needed a cold shower or a really good masturbation session, but masturbation never felt as good as the real thing... Naruto stepped away from the door and further in his apartment towards the bathroom. He might as well take that shower because, one, he wouldn't want to get out of bed in the morning, and two, he was too tired to actually think about masturbation. Sure, he didn't seem drunk now, but he'd had enough alcohol to rival even Tsunade's liquor control, and she was extremely good at holding hers. Naruto tore open his shower curtain and turned on the water full blast, actually making sure it was freezing rather than his usual lukewarm. He stripped and took the plunge.

A gasp, followed shortly by something that sounded remarkably like 'shit', echoed through the room as soon as he stepped under the spray. Fuck, it was cold, but it took care of his problem. He now had absolutely no desire to have sex right now. Yeah, there was still something there, but how in the name of the gods was he supposed to get it up in this cold of water? He wasn't, and that was the whole point of this. The entire shower was freezing, but Naruto endured it because he just wanted to get clean and fall into his bed… that he'd have to dig out of the closet. Damn.

The blond turned off the water and stumbled out of the bathroom, still completely naked (really, what was the point of clothes when he was alone in his own house where there was no way/place anybody could hide their presence?), and pulled the futon out of storage. He plopped down onto it without bothering with blankets or pillows and was promptly pulled into an alcohol induced deep sleep.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

The next morning Naruto was woken with a big slobbery lick to his face. At first he was trying to figure out who the hell had a mouth that big. Then he gave up because his head was committing mutiny and screaming in protest to so much activity so soon. The blond felt like his head had been dropped off Hokage Mountain, curb stomped, shoved in a blender, forced to endure another one of Ibiki's tests, then given a ridiculously long math equation to solve. He was in no mood for fun and games, shoved the overly large mouth away and tried to pull up his blankets to cover his head. That's when he remembered he hadn't bothered with blankets and that he was completely naked and there was someone in his house.

"Dude, yer clothes smell like Shino," Kiba said.

Kiba was back… in his apartment… while Naruto was naked…which meant that the mouth was Akamaru's… how was Akamaru fitting in his apartment? Naruto groaned; too much mental stimulation before coffee and pain meds…

"Coffee…" he managed through a mouth full of cotton.

"It's been made. Now open yer eyes, fucktard, roll outta bed, fer gods' sakes put some pants on and tell me what I've been missin'."

"Pain meds and I'll consider not killing you," Naruto muttered, but resolutely kept his eyes shut.

"Right about now, I don't think ya could kill anythin', ta be honest. Ya got plastered."

Usually, if Naruto had been in his right mind and not considering removing his head from his body, he would have had this witty comeback to throw at the mutt, but as he actually was considering removing his head, he had nothing to say except a groan.

"Fine, has anyone ever told ya that yer pathetic when ya have a hangover?" Kiba asked as he thrust a glass of cool water into his best friend's waiting hands and followed it closely by three tablets of the pain medication persuasion. Naruto downed both gratefully and was torn between letting Kiba live because of those two small blessings or killing him because he'd had to wake up before he was ready.

After a few minutes, Naruto replied, "You have at least once every single time you come over to make me get outta bed and do something with myself and I always promise I'm not gonna get drunk again, but then next time happens and we do it all again." A few moments' silence, broken only by Kiba's short bout of chuckles and Akamaru's breathing. "By the way, how's he in here?"

"I'm sittin' on the counter, but he takes up most of yer floor space. Ya kinda gotta skirt 'round him if ya wanna go anywhere."

"Table?"

"Moved to the couch…"

"Good."

A few more moments of silence, in which the pain pills actually took effect and Naruto felt a little less like amputating his head.

"Put some pants on and I'll ask ya questions."

"I'm not putting pants on. Not even gonna risk it."

"But I dun wanna see yer junk!" Kiba whined.

"Then don't look…" Naruto was always looking for the simple solution to things.

Naruto heard Kiba sigh in what was probably exasperation and was please to note that it no longer sounded like thunder. It was actually the volume it was supposed to be. Hooray for pain meds!

"Fine… Now, why do yer clothes smell like Shino?"

"Because I walked him home last night."

"Why?"

"He got drunk."

"How drunk?"

"Very drunk."

"Then why was he all over ya?"

Naruto now felt it was safe to open his eyes, so he risked a crack, if only to see the expression on Kiba's face; it was horribly confused. "I dunno, I was hoping you would. He's very confusing; I don't like it…"

"Confusing how?" Kiba was just as lost as Naruto was.

"Waited 'til we were away from everyone before he started hanging off 'a me."

"Are ya sure he was actually drunk?"

"Yeah, could smell the alcohol. He nearly drank and entire bottle of vodka alone, the good stuff, too."

"Ye're sure it was actually vodka and not water?"

"Yeah; I say nearly because I was the one to finish it off. It was good vodka."

Kiba frowned and looked toward his feet, which were carelessly swinging below him, and shook his head. "Why was he drinking vodka? He hates vodka… Only drinks it when he's gonna do the vodka-water switch…"

"Maybe he actually wanted to get plastered…" Naruto dared suggest. Maybe Shino actually was having problems with someone…

"He not like that, dude. He only gets drunk when he's having problems and even then it's not quite as bad as yer sayin' it was."

"So you think there's somethin' buggin' 'im?" Naruto threw an arm over his eyes. Kiba would know too. Shino was the dog-nin's other best friend and teammate.

"Yeah…" Kiba hopped down from his perch. "Dude, ya good now? I kinda wanna go see what's eatin' at him."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I hope he's ok."

"Yeah, me too. Talk to ya later."

With that, Kiba took his over grown dog out of the apartment and left Naruto all alone lying on his bed and worrying about the stoic bug wielder.

When Kiba came back later that day, Naruto had crawled miserably out of bed, puked, showered, packed up his bed, put his table back where it belonged and put on a pair of pants, so he was feeling loads better when a smug looking Kiba waltzed into his apartment several hours after he'd left. Akamaru stayed outside this time. The dog trainer plopped down on the couch and grinned up at Naruto.

"He finds ya confusing," Kiba simply stated. Naruto blinked.

"So…" Naruto sat down carefully next to the brunette. "I'm the reason he got plastered last night?"

"Yep, pretty much…"

"I feel bad now. He probably has a horrible hangover."

"He does," Kiba nodded. "He had his black out curtains closed and everything."

"Wait, how am I confusing?" Naruto shifted his gaze from the kitchen sink to Kiba's face.

"The same way he's confusing to ya," Kiba grinned. "I think you both need to stop analyzing everything so much and just fuck. Ya two are turning into another Shikamaru… Plus, maybe if ya fuck, Shino will actually get a good nights' rest."

"He's not sleeping?"

Kiba shook his head. "He's always had a hard time; his mind just always works best at night. Now that he's tryin' to figure ya out, he's getting next to none."

"I still feel like I cheated…"

"No, I cheated for ya. I told Shino ya found him confusin' too, same way he finds yerself confusin'… don't kill me, just do somethin' with it." Kiba pushed himself off the couch and headed for the door. "I'll see ya later. I'm gonna go give Akamaru a bath and sleep for a week. Don't fuck up what I just did for ya."

Naruto just sat there in stunned silence as he tried to figure out what he should do. Iruka and Kakashi had both told him never to look a gift horse in the mouth, and this was probably no exception, but now that he had the knowledge he'd been looking for, he had no clue what to do with it. Then he bolted upright and raced to the door, trying to catch Kiba before he was too far away.

"Dude!" Naruto called to Kiba's back. "Did you help with his hangover or are you just letting him suffer?"

Kiba turned around and grinned. "I don't know what to do for a hangover, ya shittin' me?"

"You lying bastard!"

"Thank me later, bitch!" Then Kiba was gone.

Whoever said Kiba was a stupid, impulsive dog had never been on the receiving end of his wit before. Well, Kiba was impulsive, but he was impulsive with a plan, if that made any sense at all... Stupid Kiba. Now that Naruto knew Shino still had mother of all hangovers (good vodka will do that to someone if it's drunk in excess), he just couldn't let him suffer through it. Naruto wrestled with his mind for a few more minutes before cursing profusely and turning back into his apartment to grab some clothes. In his next life he was going to stay away from conniving friends like Kiba and Shikamaru. After finding suitable clothes to wear and making up a hangover relief kit consisting of pain meds, good chocolate and a thermos of fresh coffee, Naruto stepped out of his apartment complex and turning in the general direction of the Aburame Clan complex.

Everybody in the Konoha 12 (13 if Sai was counted among them, and he usually was, now…) had been to Shino's at least once. Naruto himself had been there maybe three times, mainly for parties (everybody except Naruto took turns hosting; Naruto's place was too small and everyone knew it), so Naruto had no problem finding the place. The door was answered by Shibi Aburame, Shino's dad, who was clearly amused by Naruto's appearance on the Aburame doorstep.

"Kiba's a conniving little brat?" the man said before Naruto could get it out.

"I was gonna be a whole lot meaner, but yeah," Naruto nodded as he was let into the house. The blond removed his shoes and looked around. Whenever he'd been here before, he'd only ever been in the lower levels (i.e. ground floor and basement), so he assumed Shino's room was upstairs, but he waited for directions anyway.

"Up the stairs, last door on the left."

Naruto followed the directions and came to the appointed door, pushing it open to peer inside; he didn't knock because he knew just how badly that hurt when you were hung over. The room was completely dark, but what Naruto could make out was a figure huddled under the blankets on the bed and that the floor was completely clear of the stuff one would usually find on a bedroom floor. Naruto didn't let that bother him, however, and he pushed open the door so that he could fully enter the room. He was pretty sure this was Shino's room and that the bed's occupant had heard him enter, but he thought he'd better find out, just in case.

"Shino?" he asked quietly.

"Hn."

Yep, it was Shino; Shino in pain, to be more precise. Naruto stepped all the way and closed the door behind him, knowing that's what Shino would want.

"Dude, do you actually have a hangover?" Naruto was just checking because Kiba would be the type to set them up like this just because he thought it was fun.

"What do you think?" Shino sounded pissed.

"I think that Kiba would stop at nothing," Naruto replied quietly, almost whispering, as he sat down on the bed. "Now, I happen to have brought some stuff for making hangovers go away, but you'll need to come out of there."

There was rustling and shifting and Shino's head appeared above the blankets. He looked thoroughly sleep mussed and in pain and Naruto could see enough to know that his usual sunglasses were on the nightstand, but not enough to see what color his eyes were.

"Good, now, have you had a hangover before?"

Shino shook his head.

"Hangover virgin; that's gotta suck," Naruto winced. "Well, everybody deals with theirs differently," Naruto could sense Shino's eyes rolling; he had a pretty good sense for when that happened, dealing with Sasuke and all. "I deal with mine by drinking a lot of water when I get home and taking pain pills and drink six cups of coffee the next morning. Kiba eats lots and lots of chocolate, and takes pain pills. Some people take cold showers; others simply sleep it off, but pain pills are the most common fix. For you, I brought extra strength pills, a thermos of fresh coffee, brewed by moi, and a bar of Kiba's favorite chocolate." Naruto brought each out of his bag as he said them. "I recommend the pills first."

Shino carefully lowered his head back to the pillows and eventually managed to get a hand out of his tangle of blankets to accept the three pills Naruto had fished out for him.

"Would you like water or coffee?"

"Water…"

"'Kay, I'll be back…" Naruto stood up and moved to the door. "Um, close your eyes or cover up or something." Shino had already done so.

When Naruto stepped into the kitchen, he found a glass of water already waiting for him and Shibi Aburame simply sipping at his own glass at the kitchen table with a book in front of him. Naruto tossed the man a lazy, half-assed salute that he was sure the man saw even though he didn't appear to be looking and turned back to the stairs, water in hand. Naruto pushed open the door, closed it behind him and made his way back to the suffering man.

"Here ya go," Naruto carefully handed over the liquid.

Shino dropped the pills into his mouth and chased them down with the water; it was gone in a blink of the eye. Shino must have been really thirsty. After a few minutes of Shino laying there in silence, probably long enough for the pills to take effect, Shino said:

"Kiba did this on purpose."

"Of course he did. He does everything on purpose, even if no one realizes it…" Naruto sighed and laid back over Shino's legs. Shino didn't seem to mind. Then Naruto said, "Sorry for confusing you…"

"Likewise."

Naruto shifted his head so he could properly look at the man he'd been infatuated with for so long. He found uncovered, but still invisible, eyes focused on him. After several minutes of useless staring, the blond reached up and gently poked Shino's nose. A cute little confused and annoyed frown crossed Shino's features and Naruto grinned, sure Shino could see it, even if it was dark. Shino freed a hand from his blankets and grabbed onto Naruto's, tucking it under his cheek. The blond's smile went soft, gentle, but equally as bright and managed to move his thumb back and forth over Shino's slightly stubbled cheek.

"You need to shave," he teased the brunette.

"Kill the mood, why don't you," Shino muttered.

Naruto sniggered. "Sorry."

The blond carefully sat up and crawled further up the bed and spooned himself to Shino, who had reluctantly let go of the blond's hand so he could do so. Strong arms wrapped around Shino's blanket-covered waist.

"You can get under the blankets, you know," Shino muttered, amusement drenching his tone.

"I wasn't sure if you'd let me." Naruto grinned and shuffled around so that he could get properly beneath the blankets without relinquishing his hold on the other man. After Naruto had managed to finagle himself into a comfortable position and wrapped his arm around Shino's waist that was no longer covered by a blanket (arm was under the blankets too), Naruto realized that Shino was completely naked, not that the blond minded or anything. In fact, he was overjoyed, but he didn't want to freak the other man out, so he didn't comment on it. He just rubbed small circles into pale skin.

"Go to sleep Shino…" Naruto murmured into the other man's ear.

Shino already was.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Mine and Shino's relationship started off a little oddly. Yeah, I was the Dork in Shining Tinfoil, but I helped him through a hangover, his first, if he and Kiba are to be believed, but we never really said we were going out. I just crawled into bed with him, not to have sex, but to help him sleep. We never said we were going out, we never even did anything to make it official… I just poked his nose. That was as official as it got for a while.

Then we started going on dates and hanging out and all the stuff normal couples would do. It was just kinda abrupt and everybody looked at us strangely except for Kiba because Kiba knew almost everything we did. Kinda scary really… But we got along just fine. He was actually kinda wild when we were together in private, and I'm not talking in the sex sense, even though he is wild there, I just mean in the personality sense. He's full of great ideas, but he doesn't tell anybody because he's afraid of what they'd think…

I finally found out what color his eyes are. They're a light, light, so light they're almost amber, brown. They're gorgeous and warm and expressive they go all molten gold when he's being pleasured and they get as expressive as a cork board when he's pissed at me … and he covers them up because, 1.) They're extremely sensitive to light, and 2.) The kikai have free reign of his body and crawl everywhere, even over his eyes.

Shino also likes to cuddle. I asked him why and he said that everybody, except Kiba (but Kiba cuddles with everyone), is too afraid of him to try to get even within touching distance, much less cuddling distance. Naturally, my mind immediately jumps to the fact that that means he's still a virgin…

I'm such a horrible boyfriend…

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, stretching while simultaneously pulling the smaller body closer to him. Shino moved easily enough and allowed himself to be moved, probably preferring the warmth of the bigger man due to the fact that Naruto's apartment was less than warm and Shino was naked. The blond knew his home was always chilly, especially in the winter, but heat was expensive and it was easier to put more clothes on than to take clothes off… which was still pretty easy; fun, even.

Grinning, the blond recalled last night. Just being with Shino was fun, but being with Shino accompanied by sex was even better. Sure, he'd been hesitant and ridiculously adorable, but Naruto had enjoyed that. Knowing that nobody else had touched Shino before had been an automatic turn on. Shino probably knew that too, but didn't seem offended by it in the least. He'd seemed to enjoy having that kind of power over Naruto, and the blond was happy to let him. Remembering the face Shino had made as he'd finished had Naruto smirking and nibbling on a pale ear. Really, the Aburame was far more beautiful than he gave himself credit for.

"Stop," Shino muttered and slapped lazily at Naruto's adventurous hand that had somehow moved from stroking lazy circles on a pale waist to pulling playfully on Shino's pubic hair.

"Morning," Naruto continued exactly what he was doing, finding it was far more fun to play with the bug wielder than to watch him sleep, beautiful as he was.

"You're being a sentimental idiot and you haven't even had your coffee yet."

"I can't help it…" the blond lifted his head so that he could get a better look at Shino. "You like it when I'm like this, though. You know it."

An amber eye slit open and glared half-heartedly at the mischievous male grinning roguishly above him. Shino obviously wanted to sleep; maybe Naruto had worn him out.

"Do you want to take a shower with me or would you rather be a lump under the covers?" Naruto asked, guessing the answer before it was ever given. While Shino liked being clean and well organized, he liked sleeping more and he always seemed to get more sleep in Naruto's apartment.

"I'm gonna sleep and you're gonna watch me, possibly make me breakfast. If you make coffee with breakfast, I might even be able to forgive you for waking me up." With that, Shino more fully buried his face in Naruto's pillows and appeared for all intents and purposes to be sleeping. Naruto let him, deciding that it was indeed possible to take a shower without his older lover, even if it wasn't quite as enjoyable.

A warm and well-deserved shower later found Naruto making pancakes at his two burner stove in a pair of boxers, a mug of black coffee in hand. He could feel Shino's eyes drifting lazily up and down his well-toned body and couldn't help but let out a narcissistic smirk. After a lifetime of feeling little to no self-confidence in anything, whether it be his body or in his skills as a shinobi, knowing Shino enjoyed at least a small portion that was Naruto made the blond feel as though he could fly. It was a well-deserved feeling.

"So," Naruto began, pausing to sip at his coffee and flip a hotcake, "did you want that coffee and breakfast now, or should I drink this pot by myself?"

"You're a brat, you know that, right?" Shino muttered and shifted in the blankets.

Blue eyes glanced coyly at the pale man still on the futon and Naruto knew Shino understood what that look was saying, or at least the basic gist of it. Naruto was a cocky bastard and there was just no hope for him. Basically, it agreed with Shino's observation of Naruto's personality.

Shino managed to free himself of the bed and made his way over to the coffee/dining table as Naruto placed a mug of steaming coffee down. Until Shino had started dating the blond, he'd never drank coffee. In fact, the only coffee he'd drink was Naruto's brew; otherwise it was jasmine, lemon ginger or peppermint tea. After setting down a plate of pancakes, Naruto took his own place across from his lover and began dishing out the meal.

As he dished everything out, the blond studied Shino's posture; slightly leaning, not sitting directly on center, but back as straight as always. He fought to hide a smirk at that. Shino was feeling last night, to be sure, but he didn't seem to mind it; seemed to like it, even. When Shino started eating, Naruto simply leaned back and sipped at his mug. He didn't really feel hungry, just a little tired and pleasantly sore, like he'd had a really good workout the day before and Naruto was quite satisfied. He'd finally gotten Shino where he wanted him; with Naruto in an intimate relationship. It was lovely, happy.

Now that it was official, what was going to go wrong? From Naruto's experience in matters that made him happy, something bad usually happened to ruin it.

Shino seemed to sense where the blond's thoughts had gone because he casually leaned forward and poked Naruto's forehead with his fork.

"Thinking is a dangerous thing for you, Naruto, especially ones as depressing as that." Having said what he'd wanted to say, Shino sat back and returned to eating his food, leaving Naruto with a wry smile on his lips.

How was it that Shino seemed to know everything that went on behind Naruto's eyes? The blond wasn't entirely sure, but it worked out well enough. Why worry about what could go wrong when they lived such uncertain lives? With that, Naruto put it out of his mind and began to eat his own breakfast. Life would jump at him when he least expected it, but for now, Naruto was determined to enjoy breakfast with his lover the morning after their first night of sex. It was going well and Naruto felt he needn't give the Norn's webs an opening to change his fates. He was quite happy right here, thank you very much!

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: Well, there you have it; my new favorite pairing! NaruShino, KankKibe and SaiSasu… I am going to have fun with these guys, yes I will… Anyway, please review. I like reviews.