"I want you Shino."

Want me? It seemed Kiba had lost all his sense. Suddenly I was more worried about his mental health. "What do you want from me Kiba?" I asked calmly, trying to gauge where he was at.

"Just kiss me," Kiba said in a rush. In a second his anger had become desperation that poured out of him and left me more confused with every word, "and I'll be able to move on. No. Don't. I'll never get over it. Oh god, I'm so screwed up." He turned away while I struggled to puzzle out a response, "I'm sorry Shino. I just…I just can't ignore you anymore. I can't pretend you're not all sexy and attractive and I really shouldn't be saying any of this."

No words. I had absolutely no words. They were lost, run away across the empty lands around us; maybe waiting in the frozen wasteland so I could find it them in the future. That was no good. I needed them now. I may have little people skills, but I could see it in the curve of Kiba's shoulders that he needed words. He needed my words, no one else's.

And yet in my silence I wanted nothing more than some annoying squeaky maid to come, for the feudal lord to demand my presence for some insignificant matter. I wanted an excuse to leave and take time to come up with a proper response to this.

Was there a proper response to this? A proper analysis might yield one, I thought, if I could take the time. It would have to be rushed, considering the circumstances. Start with the basics: who, what, when, where, why, how. Who? Kiba. When? Now. Where? Here, approximately four hours away from the Feudal Lord of the Land of Lightning's house. How? With quite a few sputters and spurts, that was for sure. Alright, simple questions with simple answers. Encouraging. What?

What was this? What was Kiba trying to accomplish with this awkward display? There was a word for this, one that had escaped me same as the rest. Admission? Proclamation? Concession? Not quite….confession! That was it. This was a confession of…

Baloney, bunk, bunkum, claptrap, drivel, foolishness, hogwash, idiocy, ludicrousness, poppycock, ridiculousness, rigmarole, tomfoolery, twaddle.

BS, applesauce, bull, craziness, farce, flapdoodle, folly, foolishness, hot air, idiocy, illogicality, illogicalness, improbability, inanity, incongruity, insanity, irrationality, jazz, jive, ludicrousness, ridiculousness, senselessness, silliness, stupidity, unreasonableness.

Crap. No…

Love.

"Kiba…" I wanted to curse. They seemed to be the only words left that would pass my lips with any semblance of sense, but I couldn't for fear of how Kiba would react. I still had no proper response. I hadn't answered the last question, and had no answer for it, "Why?"

His shoulders slid up around his neck, shutting away anything he might have said. Was it that he didn`t know the answer or simple that now he didn`t believe he could say it anymore? I wondered. I found myself watching him in silence, watching the breath go in and out of him in a constant nervous rush. It came as a sudden realization, and it angered me just as much as it did ten minutes ago; Kiba was still refusing to share with me his problems.

I'd known him for years, most of which I've considered him a friend and thought he did the same for me. More often than I'd like he came to see me just for the sake of talking. He enjoyed sharing his life with other people, me in particular because I got used to listening to it and didn't tell him to stop half as often as anyone else.

"Kiba, the situation hasn't changed. I'm listening if you have things to say, or you can choose to keep this to yourself, with the condition that it doesn't continue to impinge on our mission." There was more I had to say, more that he needed to hear that I didn't know how to say, "I apologize if I'm a distraction. From now on I will take care not to do anything that will cause you unnecessary awkwardness and will be understanding if I accidently do."

I had nothing else to say, and obviously Kiba didn't either. Our job was still protecting the Feudal Lord until he reached his home and we couldn't do that so far behind the caravan. I started back.

"Shino," Kiba called, so quietly I almost didn't hear it over the sound of the wind. He wouldn't look at me when I turned to face him, "It's not—um, don't think it's your fault. I'm—I don't know how to deal with this right now."

"Shall I go on ahead?" Space was often recommended in these kinds of complicated situations, right? I know I needed it.

"Sure. I'll catch up later."

The caravan had gotten further ahead than I thought it would, and it took awhile to meet up with it. It was in chaos. The feudal lord wanted to see his guards and had refused to believe that we had strayed. He hadn't let any of his various servants leave in search of us either, just gotten angrier every minute we didn't appear.

Now here was the distraction I needed fifteen minutes ago.

"Where have you been?" Spittle flew around as the Feudal Lord blustered, his face swollen and red.

"My apologies." If only it were possible to project calm onto other people. Situations such as these would be completely avoided.

"I don't want your apology. I want to know where you were while you supposed to be doing your job! Why didn't I know I was at risk because my guards were away?"

"Kiba and I had some business that was best done away from the group," I explained, "though admittedly it took longer than was meant to. We had not thought to allow you to travel so far ahead."

"Meaning you didn't think," the lord roared, "obviously! If you had you would have thought about my safety and done what I'm wasting my money to have you do!"

And what I'm wasting my time pretending to care about. Oh, how this man just infuriated me. He made it nearly impossible to consider saving his life is it ever came into danger—who would want to get close enough to him to even shout a threat I couldn't imagine.

Just when I realized that I had nothing nice to say to such an awful man Kiba saved me. He ducked in with a friendly grin, though there was a nervous droop on the left side. "Hey, what seems to be the problem?"

I gave way to let him handle the childish feudal lord. His social skills were more suited to the task.

His shoulders were tensed, despite his easy manner; I must be making him nervous. With good reason I suppose. Was he tense like this that first night in the tent? Knowing his feelings now, that moment of compassion must have been hard to do. It must have been harder when I'd rejected his touch.

Of course I had liked it first.

But Kiba didn't know that.

And I don't know what it means in terms of this new information.

From then on Kiba kept even further away from me. He walked with the entire caravan between us and slept under the stars while I took the tent. I couldn't find the same anger and frustration it caused me before. I gave him the space and I took the space he offered me. I couldn't seem to shake the confusion he had left though. Everything was still scattered no matter how much time I spent trying to piece it all together.

Through it all I realized a sort of emptiness. A place beside me that was supposed to be noisy all the time had gone quiet. The feudal lord would be particularly obstinate about something, and I would wait with a reprimand for some stupid retort that would never come. Kiba was my friend—my best friend. Since the moment we were put in team 8 together I don't much more than a few days had passed without seeing him. Now all of a sudden it had been a nearly four days since we had spoken, though I could not get him out of my sight.

Even after the feudal lord was returned home, even when we were put back in that rudely small room together not a word was passed between us. I recognized, when I looked for it, that it was our years of working together that made it possible for us to work so in sync without so much as a whisper of discussion.

The village was on the horizon before I knew it. With a start I realized I had run out of time.

"Kiba," I didn't have a plan, all I knew was that I had to say something. Somehow I was sure that if I didn't I would never get the chance. Kiba stopped, but he didn't turn to face me. "Kiba," I repeated more forcefully. I needed to see his face, his reaction.

Slowly he looked over his shoulder. It was an eternity before his eyes rose to meet mine. There was so much uncertainty there, and a heartbreaking resignation. It broke my heart to see it there, to know I had put it there and that I had let it fester the past week.

The painful look was met with silence. Again faced with this complicated problem my words failed me. I could feel my throat close around the guilt of hurting him like this. Precious seconds went by like this, and I could see the pain being etched deeper into his face.

Breath. "I don't know what to say," It came out low and broken, pretty close to how I imagine Kiba felt. He heard it, and immediately I knew that it was something I should have kept to myself.

Any light left in Kiba's eyes died, and he chewed on his bottom lip like he only did when he was beyond upset. He nodded sadly, and started walking towards the village.

Away from me.

My insects were thrumming inside my chest at a rate I had never felt before. The buzz they caused echoed through my entire being, filling my ears and lungs. I could not stop them from leaving me; if I had I'm sure they would have eaten me alive. I was forced to watch as they formed a clone directly in Kiba's path. It seems my Kikaichu are braver than I.

"Listen to me," they said with my voice, "after all this that you've put me through you owe me that much."

"What am I supposed to listen to," Kiba asked sullenly, "if you don't have anything to say?"

"Why should you listen? Because I have something to say," I said, "even if I haven't figured out what it is yet." My clone chimed in.

Kiba just sighed to himself, took a few steps to the side of the road and collapsed onto the grass. He tried not to look at either me or my clone, but I caught a few glances anyway. Silence seemed to be an ongoing theme with us.

"Do you think I'm a freak?" He managed to ask after a few attempts. "I'm sorry."

"Don't." Now that I had the chance to talk as I wanted my throat seemed raw. Every word scratched, refusing to come out, "I don't think that."

It's all seems so wrong. It clicked in my mind. That piece I couldn't find a place for. It was the thought that I was going to end up with a woman; that I was going to marry and have children and inherit the Aburame clan. It was my own feelings and Kiba's. It was the genetic programming that two men cannot be together romantically.

"This is hard for me, Kiba. This is…new to me. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to this. You're my friend, my teammate. I have never thought of you that way."

"And now things are awkward between us and I've screwed everything up." He ran his hands through his hair, chewed his bottom lip and pretty much every other tell he has to show that he was uncomfortable.

"Admittedly I can't say that I am wholly comfortable right now. Despite how much I have been thinking about this, I haven't managed to unravel it all. I'm still confused, so—"

"You don't have to say it Shino. I know you're not like me. You don't like me that way. Let's just go home." Oh, the defeat in his voice.

"So," I continued, "I can't promise anything. I can't say that my mind is made 100 percent made up, but I'm willing to try."

"Try?" Surprise strangled the sound as Kiba tried to speak, to the point the word was almost unrecognizable.

"Yes," I had said it, and somewhere inside I could feel that I meant it. Despite how confused my thoughts were it felt right, in a sense. "I have said my peace. Now we can go home."

"So what does this mean?" Kiba had to scramble to catch up with me. He was blushing, so I pretended not to look at him while he matched his pace with mine. I suppose maybe I could see what all those girls had seen in him.

"I don't know. I'm still figuring it out." Was this considered flirting now? There was so much that I didn't know.

Some days it seems like you know what is going to happen, from beginning to end, while others you find out that your world does not work the way you thought it did. Some days are just weirdest than others.

Weird is not always bad.

Notes- I'm sorry for how long it took to get this out. It was a hard chapter to write since I knew where I wanted it to end, but I didn't want to just totally change Shino's character to do it. I think I managed to work it out. I know it was cruel to leave you all hanging like that. I thank you all for waiting, and offer imaginary cookies and cupcakes. I know since it's the last chapter most people don't bother to review anymore, but any writer knows reviews are amazing no matter when they happen or what they say. You could write a single word and it would be awesome: just be like "octopus!" and I'd be happy with that. Anyway, I'm going to stop begging for love.

I hope you enjoyed Cold.