Sand between the leaves

Summary: Just a bunch of one-shots about Shino, Kiba and Kankuro. The shots may contain fight scenes, some swearing and some Shonen Ai. If you don't like male-male interaction, you shouldn't read any further.

I apologize for possible OOCness (though I try to avoid it) as for spelling or grammar mistakes. English is not my native language, so I'd be thankful for critics. Critics, not flames, people.

I don't own Naruto (much to my displeasure…) and don't make money with it

1. Surprise me

Thoughts of Shino had been on his mind constantly during his trip to Konoha, and lately they were literally bugging him. He couldn't wait to get out of the Hokage tower and hunt down the bug wielder for one or the other reason. And if that little loudmouthed mutt was with him it was going to be twice as funny. Kiba was going to see how his "master" got his arrogant ass kicked…

Tsunade, Godaime Hokage of Konoha, raised her eyebrows questioningly at the young Shinobi from the sand, silently wondering what could be on his mind making Sabaku no Kankuro grin so wickedly…

xXx

Shino was in his usual training spot practising katas. A lot of people believed that he was no good at taijutsu, but they were wrong. The only reason why everybody thought so was because Shino never needed taijutsu. His ninjutsu was more than enough to finish most of his enemies, so why jump around, punch, kick and get sweaty when his bugs could do such an excellent job?

Nevertheless, Shino liked practising his katas. It gave him an opportunity to relax and work out at the same time, plus he could clear his mind from those disturbing thoughts that had been bothering him for a while.

He had no idea he was being watched. On a tree high above him, Kankuro hid in the shadows between the leaves, planning his next move. Slowly he lifted his puppet from his shoulder and started to unwrap it. 'Time to play', he thought, that wicked grin still on his face, and formed the seals he needed. "Kugutsu-no-jutsu…" he whispered.

Shino let out a small sigh after he finished his kata. Being the perfectionist he was often meant repeating a kata twenty or more times until he was satisfied.

A rustle from the bushes on his left caught his attention. "Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, his eyes scanning the surroundings through dark sunglasses.

"Your ninja skills should have told you long ago." a familiar voice chuckled.

The bug wielder slightly relaxed when he saw Kankuro stepping out of the bushes, waving his hand at him. "Really poor, bug boy." the sand-nin teased.

"I thought you were coming to Konoha the day after tomorrow. You're early." –

"So…did I surprise you, bug boy?"

Shino shoved his hands into the pockets of his oversized parka.

"You can't surprise me." he answered.

From out of nowhere, an arm pulled Shino backwards, and a long-fingered hand in a black glove started messing up his hair.

"Really?" Kankuro was hardly able to bite back the laughter, pressing the struggling Aburame to his chest. "You fell for Karasu – again! By now you could be dead. What have you been doing all the time? Unlike you, I've gained new abilities…huh? What the…?"

Green eyes grew bigger and bigger as "Shino" started to dissolve into millions of little bugs between his arms. The Kikai flew away in different directions, humming in a high, almost mocking sort of way.

"Fuck!" Kankuro cursed under his breath, before a kunai was pressed to his throat. Now it was Shino's turn to pull the puppeteer close to him.

"I told you before. You can't surprise me." the bug wielder whispered into his ear, wrapping his free arm around the other's waist. "Besides… you seem to have gained more than just some abilities…" The sand-nin's eyes travelled down to his stomach where Shino's hand patted the non-too-small bulge under his black jumpsuit. He went red under his purple face paint immediately. "If you have something to say, bug boy, spit it out!" he hissed.

Shino cupped Kankuro's face with his hand and looked into his eyes while his index finger caressed the boy's cheek. "I have nothing to say. Fatty."

The older boy blushed even more and furiously pushed the bug wielder away.

"YOU ASKED FOR IT! GET YOUR FUCKING BUGS OUT, I WANNA FIGHT!!!" he shouted. Shino smirked and went into fighting stance. "Sound's good to me. From what I see you really need a work-out." – "You're so DEAD!!!"

"Oi! Shino! Are you gonna make the kitty wet?" Kiba's voice could be heard before he came into sight. Shino just chuckled behind the collar of his parka, while Kankuro evilly glared at the boy. "Shut the fuck up, Inuzuka! You're next…" – "Ooh, I can't wait!" Kiba grinned, sticking out his tongue in a very sexy way, making the puppeteer scowl even more.

"…right after I kicked Mr.-I'm-so-cool-I-wear-sunglasses-all-day's ass! It's been a long time!" he finished and pulled Karasu to his side.

"Yeah, you're right, such a long time I almost can't remember. Didn't he kick your ass?" Kiba asked innocently. The bug master cleared his throat. "Let's see who is gonna do what with whose ass in the end." he said, raising his eyebrows at a now fuming Kankuro.

"Bastard…" the puppeteer spat at him before he launched himself and Karasu against his opponent.

xXx

"You suck." Kiba smirked at Kankuro who was sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

"Could have told ya in the first place." – "Piss off, Inuzuka!"

Shino slowly strolled over to the exhausted sand-nin and stopped two feet away, looking down on him.

"Not bad…but not good enough for me." he simply said, making a vein pop up on Kankuro's forehead.

"You're just lucky! And I didn't use all of my chakra, and…" –

"Of course." Shino bent down and put his right hand under the boy's chin, the left one still in his pocket. "Anyway, now we know whose ass it's gonna be, hm?" he whispered softly.

"I hate you…" – "I know you don't." With that Shino caught Kankuros lips in a firm kiss.

"Oii!!! Think you can leave me out again, huh?!" a very frustrated Kiba shouted.

Notes: "Kata" is a part of martial art training and also shown at tournaments. It's like shadow boxing and used for training to combine different techniques like kicks and blocks.

Just in case you didn't know…

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