An Uphill Battle for Two

Chapter One: It Begins

A quick note: I'm just copying this part from other fanfics, since I guess it's necessary, "I don't own Naruto, etc." I guess this is the AKA "don't sue me" of a fanfic.

Now, onto the more interesting part…

It had been a long day of training for Kiba. He had to be so strong Hinata would be impressed, impressed enough to beg him to date her. He was very sure that he already was that strong, but had to directly show his strength to her. He wanted to pretend not to see her, and demonstrate his power.

He wasn't so lucky; he went everywhere in the forest, but didn't see her. He saw Shino, but they just glared at each other and went separate ways. Kiba knew that the bug lover was not going to be forward enough to tell Hinata that he was also interested in her.

Neither Kiba nor his best friend could smell or otherwise sense her, no matter how much chakra they put in their noses. He still decided to look for her anyways, since she was supposed to be there. He was so tired, and his dog was lagging behind him. So he decided to call it quits.

They started towards the way they came into the forest. He stepped on a broken branch and crashed to the ground. "OW," Kiba was too tired to pretend it didn't hurt. "How did that happen? I went over this tree earlier and it was fine…Right, Akamaru?" He looked at the tree and saw that he had practiced his 'dynamic marking' technique on it. "Bark!" The dog shook its head.

"I bet it was that Shino idiot. I swear, when I find him, I'm going to take him down so fast he won't see what hit him!" Kiba smiled, not even believing that Shino could hit him back once. He got up, but his leg hurt a little, enough to stop him from running after the bug-ninja. He started to softly limp away, but then stopped; he smelled someone vaguely familiar, but couldn't decide whose scent it would be.

Akamaru growled, sensing a large amount of chakra approaching, but before neither the faithful canine nor the Inuzuka could react, Kiba felt someone grab him.

"Akamaru!" Kiba reached for his companion, but was too far away, as he was being taken away. Akamaru looked to find his owner, but could not find anyone. The dog was exhausted, and tried to chase his kidnapped friend, but was luckless.

"Let go of me!" Kiba frantically kicked and clawed for freedom, until he was subdued by ropes. He saw his captors, as they bound him; Temari, and Kankuro. The poor dog-ninja was stunned. Why would his savior capture him so forcefully? It didn't matter to Kiba, he was furious. "W-Why, Kankuro?" He was so angry he stuttered trying to turn his rage into words.

"Shut up!" Kankuro didn't look at him as though he was afraid of his and his sister's 'prize.' He stopped as Temari signaled him.

"Put him down, and step back." Temari said in her most commanding voice.

"We can't just ditch him! Do you know how much extra effort I put into this just for you?" Kankuro was not going to let his attempts at making peace with his sister go to waste. He played a mean prank, drawing all over her face with his purple ink that he used daily. She was asleep and late for a mission, a first for the young woman. She was so embarrassed that she threatened to break every puppet he had and ever would have, if he didn't cooperate. But beyond cooperating, he even gave her help planning the idea.

Temari wouldn't forget either because she even gave him money for the extra help. She was curious as to why he wanted to give the extra help to begin with, but wasn't going to argue with the help. She stepped back from the bound ninja and threw an orb at him, emitting a gas. Kiba fell asleep slowly, still trying to get free, until he was completely knocked out.

"Oh!" The master of puppets drew out his exclamation as it dawned on him what she was doing. He understood the logic too; why not make the trip easier with a sleeping ninja instead of a frantic one? He picked him up and they continued the voyage back to their home. "Don't forget, Temari, we gotta hide him from Gaara."

"Right," They both knew Gaara would just want to kill the hostage, since he'd just distract his siblings. "Where should we put him then?"

"My room, I can set up a puppet to defend the room." Kankuro was lying, and lying poorly.

"No way!" Temari was sure this argument would happen. "Wait… why would you want him in your… oh my god!" Temari stopped her helper. "YOU LOVE KI-"

"Sh!" Kankuro put his hand over her mouth. "So I do, so what?"

"You're pathetic," the wind-powered ninja broke free. "Why would he like you?"

"I did save him," Kankuro put his hands on his hips heroically.

"I don't mean like that!" Temari shook her head, the wind causing her braids to bounce. "He loves Hinata! I'm a woman too. When he sees me more, he'll forget all about her…" She puffed her chest, hinting at what she had in mind. "He doesn't like other boys!" She smiled smugly.

"Whatever," Kankuro was plotting how he'd make it work, as they started back towards their home again. "Well, I stay in my room longer than you as it is, so it would be less suspicious. Besides," he said, his face brightening, "if he doesn't like other boys, then would leaving him in my room be that bad? He wouldn't let me near him!" He looked over to see his sister trying to make a comeback. "I win, admit it."

"Fine, but you better make Gaara not feel suspicious as to why I'll be in your room a lot."

And they continued home, both thinking of how they were going to make their hostage like them better than anyone else. Temari was well-aware that she'd have to outdo both Hinata and Kankuro. She hated to admit it, but she felt that somehow Kankuro would have some trick up his sleeve to get the unconscious ninja to love him.