"Hey, Ino…"

She opened her heavy, topaz eyes and stared into his thin, carnivorous ones with muggy vision. The asshole… she slowly shut her eyes again.

"Com on, Ino… Wake up."

She turned over on her side and away from his annoying, hoarse voice. She would have thrown the many blankets over her head to shut out both the cool winter breeze and him, but he was holding them down somehow. It seemed he was getting used to her morning mannerisms. Though she could blot her eyesight with the darkness of her eyelids she couldn't help but feel the warmth of his body heat looming over her. She sighed when he tenderly pressed his lips against her forehead. He always tried to be tender when he knew he was in trouble. She turned over on her back, and opened her eyes again. She rubbed them groggily and groaned softly. Her eyes were finally adjusted to the white light pouring into the window. She stared with boredom at the jerk in front of her. He had some nerve to touch her with those despicable lips…

"What do you want?" Ino shot out at him, her brutal tone further alleviated by the frog in her throat.

He was practically on top of her, but his legs were standing on the carpet to the side of the bed. His hands were pressed against the covers Ino enwrapped herself in and he bunched them up tightly with his fist, explaining why she couldn't lift them up over her head. His arms were positioned on either side of Ino's body, caging her into his filthy clutches. His wild brown hair, as dark as tree-bark and bushy as a hedgehog's hide, was already slightly up heaved by his blue forehead protector. He already had his usual dark-brown pants on. She spotted his stupid leather jacket on the edge of the bed. He was still wearing that dingy A-shirt that he had just slept in…. meaning he DIDN'T take a shower before putting on his outdoor clothes like Ino always complained about. Her eyes were too weary to show him how angry she was with him. She cleared the frog from her throat.

"Hmph. So you woke me up to see you leave then? I guess it wasn't bad enough that you have to leave in the first place."

Ino showed no pity, despite the scowl of genuine sorrow on her lover's face. His eyes fled from her beauty to the imprint of her legs between the blankets to keep them from widening with lust. Even though she was pretty angry with him, he couldn't help being taken by her sexiness. Her hair was released from the white ribbon that usually had it bound, and it was strewn all over her pillow like a web of white-yellow. Her cream-colored skin complimented the white brightness of the sun, and her platinum-white bra peaked out of the hem of the blankets. The bags under her eyes didn't do a thing to mar that pretty face. They say that you never know how a lady really looks until you wake up next to her. Most guys frowned at the truth of that saying… it made him smile wider. Man, she looked so good. She couldn't imagine how much he wanted to stay… either that, or she didn't care to imagine.

"I already explained to you that I have no choice, baby."

"Yeah, you explained it to me… doesn't make it hurt any less."

"I really don't want to argue about this-"

"Neither do I. Now why did you wake me, Kiba?" Ino cut him off.

Kiba's beastly iris's seemed to grow thinner and brighter as she reminded him of his little surprise. A sudden fang-ridden smile arose on his sorrowing face like the rising sun on a dark night. He looked excited… panicked even! He flung his hands off of the bed and held them up to her in a beckoning motion.

"Right! Okay okay, just stay-right-there!"

"I'm not going anywhere." Her words were dripping with venom, designed to cripple and immobilize Kiba's excited disposition. "Unlike you, I don't go to clan meetings on Christmas."

Kiba smiled even wider.

"You keep trying to pick a fight, but you're not going to ruin my good mood! Now, I'll be right back."

"Hurry up before I go back to sleep."

He made his way out of the bedroom, and down the hall.

It wasn't until he left that Ino decided to push herself up in a sitting position, knowing that he probably would have tried to 'start something' if he saw too much skin. She knew the horny bastard all to well. Even now she could feel certain parts of her body aching from last night.

She turned her gaze to the window... She hadn't realized that large snow flurries were still gliding to the ground since last night. It was a perfect Christmas morning. A true "Winter Wonderland"… Ino sighed. She allowed a hint of grief to crack the ice wall she had been projecting to Kiba.

"FIDO?" Ino called out to Kiba suddenly in his pet name.

"YEAH, BABY?" He called back from the kitchen, whilst noisily moving pots and pans.

"PLEASE DON'T GO…" Her whine was filled with aching anxiety and desperation.

"INO… I HAVE TO GO. IT'S A TRADITION. I JUST BECAME A JOUNIN, AND AS A MEMBER OF THE INUZAKA CLAN, I HAVE TO DO THIS "INAUGRATION CEREMONY" THING."

"BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

"BABY, THEY DON'T CARE. MY CLAN NEVER CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS. I WOULD GET OUT OF IT IF I COULD, BUT THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO."

"…YOU CAN CHOOSE ME OVER THEM." She spoke flatly.

"I'M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN, INO. WE WENT OVER THIS LAST NIGHT. STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE IT'S SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS ME CHOOSING MY CLAN OVER YOU!"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!" The ice was beginning to reform.

"OKAY. WHATVER. IF YOU SAY SO…. I TOLD YOU I'M NOT ARGUING ANYMORE, SO I'M ENDING THIS RIGHT NOW."

Of course, arguing and fighting was what held their unstable relationship together. Ino and Kiba both had very loud and aggressive personalities. They were both very cocky. They were both very stubborn. There were both very much alike… so much alike, that they repelled themselves apart as two magnets. It was uncommon for their teammates and friends to not see them at each other's throats. Right now Kiba was too happy to argue, but generally they were both too stubborn to stop. They would flare up on each other, feeding the fire more and more until there was nothing left to burn. Then, when they would burn themselves out, all that was left was 'them'… and 'they' were both hotly attracted to each other. This was when the process teeter-tottered. They were suddenly all over each other. You can almost measure the intensity of their fights by the way they "made up" afterwards. If he looked at some other women, she would punish him with kisses. If she was complaining about the toilet seat, he would silence her with a healthy make-out session. If they screamed in an argument about the expenses of their new home, you could be sure they would be screaming much louder in apology all night long. If they got into a big fight on Christmas Eve about how they would spend their Holidays… well, that was why Ino was so sore right now.

"FINE! I'M GOING BACK TO BED!" Ino fell back on her pillow in a bitter temper tantrum.

"No you're not!" Kiba said warmly as he stood at the entrance of their bedroom.

Ino looked at him with confusion and tired intrigue as he walked up to the bed with a plastic, orange platter in his hands. From her vantage point she couldn't see what the platter held. He made his way beside her and lightly placed the plastic tray around her thigh area.

The bored and cold attitude had no choice but to vacate at this strange sight. She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at Kiba's cheesy, smiling face.

"What is this?" Ino asked.

"What does it look like? I made you breakfast!"

Ino kept the eyebrow raised high in the air as the food caused billows of steam to dance upward in the cold air…. Kiba explained further, pointing to the different items represented on the platter.

"See, here's some scrambled eggs, some sausage, some cereal with those tiny marshmallows, a mug of hot chocolate, a few candy canes, and two pieces of buttered toast!"

Kiba kept the wide smile on his face with expectancy of Ino's response. Ino looked down at the breakfast platter with a frown…. Eventually, Kiba dropped his smile, and frowned lamely.

"… I would have made those blueberry pancakes you love so much, but we were all out of flour." He spoke with a hint of an attitude.

"You burned the toast."

No one even noticed when he came in the room, but Akamaru suddenly reared his huge head on the side of the bed, and carried one piece of the buttered toast away in his mouth. They both watched Akamaru leave the room… and Kiba glared back at Ino.

"Well, at least someone around here appreciates it." He spoke sharply, grabbing his leather jacket and throwing it over his shoulder.

Ino giggled a little.

"What the hell is so funny?" Kiba demanded as he put his arms into the sleeves.

Ino smiled, a trace of sorrow still showing itself in the corners of her lips.

"You told me 2 years ago that you were terrible at cooking and that you would never do it!"

Kiba scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I changed my mind…"

"So, you brought me breakfast in bed in order to make up for not spending Christmas with me this year?"

"Did it work?" Kiba asked with that cute 'bad boy' smirk that Ino was crazy about.

Ino patted her hand on his side of the bed with a welcoming smile. Kiba crawled back on the bed to Ino's side. The blonde kunoichi moaned, closed her eys, and giggled with her mouth shut as he rubbed his nose against her exposed neck. She turned to his side and gave him a quick peck to the lips. They looked at each other for a moment before meeting again for another kiss.

"I haven't been very fair with you, have I?" Ino said, placing her hand over his cheek, and rubbing into his face marks. She turned her body toward him.

"I understand why you're upset… I'm so sorry I can't be here for you today."

Kiba frowned. Ino feigned a smile, and sucked her teeth.

"I have never seen you this sensitive in a long time, Fido!" Ino blurted out before pinching his cheek. "It's adorable, but it's almost a turn-off."

"Well, I have never seen you this sad in a long time." Kiba spoke seriously, not allowing her to brush off her sadness.

The blonde shinobi frowned once more, and her eyelids attempted to cover her grief as they folded over the top half of her pupils. She threw her arm around Kiba's shoulder. Kiba sat up against the bed so that Ino could place her other arm around his side. She did, and they now lay facing each other in a hug-like embrace.

"… I guess it's just something about the Holidays that makes me… I just feel so alone sometimes, Kiba." She clenched him tighter. "I never see my team anymore, I never see Sakura anymore, I never see my family anymore… The jounin lifestyle keeps us all so busy and separated from each other. When one of us isn't on a mission, the other one is. I almost wish we never even became jounin, you know?"

Kiba didn't say a word. He was never big on rectifying emotional conflicts like these, and whenever Ino got like this he felt so helpless. All he could do was clench her back, hoping that his arms and his love would be able to get through to her in a way his words couldn't.

"And now I have to stay here by myself for Christmas."

The room became so silent that you could hear the winter winds howling outside of the window.

"..Aren't you going to visit Sakura and the others later tonight?"

"Yeah, but it's going to be a short visit. A bunch of them are preparing to go to the Grass Country for an S-Class mission tomorrow. And even then it's not the same… I wanted to be with you, Kiba."

"… Ino, I-"

"Forget about it, Fido." She perked up again suddenly, this time sounding a bit more believable. "Our whole argument was so selfish of me. I can't expect you to always be there for me whenever I get in these 'boo hoo' fits."

"Yes you can! What else are boyfriends for?" Kiba smiled.

Ino looked a little shocked at his sudden profession. He usually wasn't very good at this sort of stuff, but what he said was just what she needed to hear. The sorrow was curiously banished and sealed by the fuuinjutsu that proceeded from her lover's lips. It felt so good. It felt better then a full-body massage. It felt like chocolate tasted. If felt better then buying that perfect dress at half price moments before the store closes. It felt better then gossiping with Sakura. It felt better then teasing Shikamaru and Chouji. It felt better then cuddling with her father around the fireplace…. His words felt better then blueberry pancakes on a Christmas morning.

"Kiba..."

That was it. She ran her fingers through his hair, but couldn't say another word. She had been with him for 3-4 years, and it wasn't until this day that she realized how deeply she was in love with this dog boy.

"Uhmmm, Ino?"

A wad of sweat dropped down Kiba's back. His girlfriend looked like she got hit in the head with a mallet. Her eyes were so spaced out and dazed-looking. The fact she had been stroking his hair for a good while with no words was even more bizarre.

"… I really want to stay, but I have to go now, Baby."

Kiba hunched in for a last minute peck, which awoke Ino from her dreamy daze. As soon as she woke up, she grabbed his head and pulled him into a deeper kiss. Kiba deepened the kiss, turning his head to the side slightly and pushing his tongue into her tiny mouth. He tried to break away from the kiss by leaning back, but Ino immediately leaned forward and brought him into another kiss. This time she forced her tongue into his tongue and wrestled it below her own into the waiting pool of her warm saliva. With his lips still wrapped around hers, Kiba slowly got off of the bed while Ino continued to follow his lips. She was now out of the comforters and slowly leaving her lying position. They finally broke away. Kiba stared in bewilderment as Ino sat up with her shins against the mattress with a devilish grin and famished eyes. Her long hair was masking the entire right side of her face. She was only wearing the platinum-white bra and panty ensemble. Kiba was the one from the Inuzaka clan, but Ino was the one who looked like she was ready to pounce. Kiba didn't know what he did to bring about this change, but he obviously didn't care.

"Fido!" she whined, moving her free hair out of her right eye. "Can't you stay just a little longer?"

"Sorry, but I'm already running late…" Kiba said in a regretful tone. "Now…. I want to kiss you good-bye one final time, but I'm afraid you won't be a good girl and you'll try to keep me here."

"Awww, don't worry!" She smiled deceptively and sat with crossed legs on the edge of the bed. "I'll be good…"

"Are you sure?"

Kiba had already moved in close for another kiss when he asked her this. He was looming over her as she lifted her head to him with her lips pushed outward, ready to take in a little more love.

"Yeah..."

She answered into his mouth, before giving him one final kiss. Their lips let out a 'smack' that was loud enough to wake the neighbors upon breaking the kiss.

"…. Don't forget about your breakfast." Kiba reminded her. Somehow, with all their movement, it didn't tip over. "I'll have another surprise for you when I see you tomorrow morning! Merry Christmas, Baby."

Kiba made his way out of the room, and through the hallway. Ino tried to force the huge smile off her face as she heard him open the front door. She heard Akamaru bark before running off the wooden porch into the deep snow covering Konoha.

"Merry Christmas, Fido…" Ino whispered to herself.

The door slam shut.