ajremix | [drabble][Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, G] Pact Among Ninja

And being bedridden for three days means I flood my f-list.

Title: Pact Among Ninja
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: G
Word Count: 607
Characters: Shikamaru, Kiba
Summary: They’re complete opposites except where they’re not.

Shikamaru was awake the moment someone lay down next to him. Above him, to be precise, so that when they were stretched out their head- which smelled of dirt and fur and sweat and musk –was next to his and Shikamaru could feel hair brush against his neck.

Not entirely irritated at the intrusion of his personal space- as the only person he knew that smelt of dirt and fur and sweat and musk was a very tactile person and he was forced to grow used to it in an amazingly short amount of time –Shikamaru asked, “What do you need, Kiba.”

There was an amused huff by his ear and Kiba asked back, “What makes you think I need anything?”

“You don’t visit me for a social call.”

“You don’t make it easy to visit you for a social call.”

Eyes still closed Shikamaru started to half drift to the point he’d probably forget that this encounter wasn’t some half-hearted, cloud-inspired daydream. “So? What do you need?”

“Naruto ain’t here.”

“Naruto hasn’t been here for almost five months.”

“I know. But I’m bored now.”

A faint smile ghosted the corner of Shikamaru’s lips. “And it took you this long to get bored enough to actually say it? I think you’ve actually learned restraint.”

In retaliation, Kiba stretched under the sun, his hands landing heavily on the other boy’s shoulder. Shikamaru opened an eye to glare at the offending appendages in annoyance. Somehow the two of them formed some sort of bond after their first failed mission. Not like how survivors of some atrocity form a bond or how two teammates seem to know what’s on each other’s mind. It was the bond of two people that should’ve died, that knew they were lucky to be alive.

It was different from how they viewed Neji or Chouji now. Because they fought to the end and even if they were on the verge of death they had won and had fulfilled their part in the mission. But the two of them, all their tricks and talents and skills and they were at the end of their rope and if it wasn’t for Sand they’d be both dead and failures.

They were afraid and they were weak and they feared that weakness and they recognized that flaw in themselves in each other. And that first time Shikamaru had sat at Kiba’s bedside and the moment Kiba awoke they understood on some primal level that they couldn’t live with themselves. Not like this. Not living with that fear and that weakness and the nightmares that brought them.

With their lives going their own ways the two didn’t deal much with each other. But sometimes they needed to just sit together for a minute or five minutes and remind themselves why they kept fighting and pushing everyday. They weren’t teammates and they weren’t exactly friends but they watched each other’s backs and, right now, that’s what they needed the most.

Eventually, because Kiba was only silent when he had to be, he asked, “You probably heard that that Orochimaru guy can’t use Sasuke for about three years, right?”

Shikamaru, who had closed his eyes and began to half drift again, replied, “Yeah.”

“There’s probably gonna be another rescue attempt, you think?”

“Probably.”

“What would you say if they wanted you to do it again?”

Shikamaru hadn’t wanted to think about it as much as he had all those days cloud watching. But still the words popped out, “I still have a mission to accomplish.”

By his ear Kiba smiled and put his hands against his chest. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”