#kibagaara

[raendown]

Pairing: KibaGaara Word count: 1619 Soulmate au: The one where you have a tattoo on your arm describing how you will meet each other

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI

Chapter 148: Kiba/Gaara

Mustering up his most dramatic and heart-wrenching whine, Kiba draped his upper body over the glass case displaying different flavors of muffins. At his feet Akamaru echoed the noise and turned in a pathetic little circle. Ino stared at him without changing her expression, whipped cream in hand but no mercy to be found in her eyes.

“No,” his friend denied him in a deadpan voice. Kiba whined again.

“Oh come on, please? I’ve gotta study for this test or I’m gonna flunk hard!”

“So? I don’t see why you care about school anyway.” Ino dropped her gaze pointedly to his arm before flouncing away to grab a shaker of chocolate sprinkles. One twist of whipped cream and two delicate shakes of sprinkles later and she had created a masterpiece.

Kiba snatched it up with a glare. “I don’t wanna work in the café forever,” he growled. “Just until I meet my soulmate. Then I–”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Then you’re going to be somebody!” Ino folded her hands under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes. A second later she dropped the sugary smile she had plastered on and returned to the same deadpan expression she’d been wearing since this conversation started. Kiba hoped she never found out just how scary he actually thought she looked like that. He would never hear the end of it.

“I am! So come on pleeeaaase? Please take my shift tomorrow! I will owe you so much!”

“Not a chance. I’ve got a date tomorrow and I am not cancelling. Maybe Choji will take pity on you?”

“Hmph. I hope you choke on Sakura’s tongue,” Kiba grumbled, snatching up his drink and stepping aside when he heard the bell over the door give a cheerful ring. When he came back from break he was so going to spill something on her and pretend it was an accident.

Without even bothering to check on who came in he bent down and scooped Akamaru off the floor. He was damn lucky the owner of their sleepy little café was so obsessed with dogs. Kakashi never minded if he brought Akamaru to work with him as long as the little guy didn’t cause any trouble with the customers. Holding his fluffy friend in one hand and a ridiculously sugary drink in the other, Kiba marched over to the most secluded seat available, stuffed his headphones in his ears, and pulled open the notes he’d made on his phone last week in class. Maybe if he read them over enough times at least half of it would stick in his brain and he wouldn’t fail the dumb test coming up.

Several customers came and went as he dutifully studied, some of them staying and others hurrying away with their precious caffeine the second it was ready. None of it registered on him. His ears were full of heavy metal and his head was full of the musculoskeletal system of an average housecat.

Being a veterinary assistant had better be worth it when he got there.

Akamaru yipped and licked at his ankle when Ino began to glare at the back of his head, the usual way he knew his break was up. With a heavy sigh he stood to slip his headphones back in his pocket and tie his work apron around his waist.

“Green tea frappuchino?” Ino was calling.

Patting his thigh to make sure Akamaru followed, he began to edge around the seats that had filled up while his head was buried in lecture notes.

“Green tea frappuchino!”

Kiba looked up in amusement at the sound of his coworker’s voice, not wanting to miss seeing the irritated face that would go along with her snippy tone. Most of the people working here were college age and constantly low on sleep but Ino was the most famous for her short temper. She was especially annoyed by people who couldn’t bother to wait for their order in the right place.

He was almost disappointed to have the show end early when she caught his eye and jerked her chin at a guy standing over by the fireplace, admiring the decorative pottery lined up on the mantle. Not much of him was visible other than bright red hair and an unseasonable sweater. The guy had to be half-mad at least to be wearing extra layers in this heat but Kiba wasn’t here to judge, he was here to serve people overly fancy drinks in the hopes of finally fulfilling the soul-words on his arm.

You will serve him at a café they said and so Kiba had dutifully gotten a job as a barista.

Not wanting Ino’s temper to turn on him before he earned it himself, Kiba hustled over to the counter, tossed his own empty cup in the bin, then scooped up the bright green drink and turned towards the fire place. The guy hadn’t moved much farther than the next piece of pottery.

“I think this is yours, man,” Kiba said from behind him. Akamaru skittered in front of the stranger and yipped a few times in greeting.

When he turned around Kiba very nearly dropped the plastic cup in his hand. It wasn’t just that he was gorgeous, smooth skin and sharp features – and a tattoo!? So cool – that rendered Kiba dumb and immobile. It was the instant connection as soon as they saw each other and the warmth on his arm which told him that he had done it. He’d found his soulmate after nearly six years of serving endless assholes their drinks.

“It’s you,” the guy breathed out in awe. His voice was low and raspy and so damn hot.

“Uh…do you want your drink?” Immediately he wanted to drop his face in to his hands. What a stupid thing to say! What idiotic first words! Kiba was half a second away from expiring due to sheer embarrassment when the guy denied him with a shake of his head.

“No, thank you. I don’t like green tea.”

“Then – wait, what? Why did you order something you don’t like?”

His answer was hidden under the guy’s sleeve, messy words scrawled in brown ink that read, He will greet you with green tea and a dog. Kiba couldn’t help it. He started to laugh.

“I guess that’s why you came in to a café called Pups’N’Cups, huh?”

“Yes. My name is Gaara.” His soulmate offered a bashful smile. “May I know yours?”

“Kiba. It’s really great to finally meet you, Gaara. Are you, by any chance, free this evening?” He couldn’t seem to quit staring at the vibrant red shade of Gaara’s hair or the cute little cacti dancing on the sleeves of his sweater.

Just as the other opened his mouth to answer Ino’s voice cut across him with a screech. “KIBA! Quit chatting up that poor sod and just give him the damn drink! Your break is over, loser!” He was spun around with his free fist shaking across the room at her with barely a thought.

“Can’t you see I’m meeting my soulmate over here?! Give a guy two seconds, damn!” Sticking out his tongue to drive his point home, he turned back to the conversation. “Sorry about that. She’s right though, I’m supposed to get back to work right now. Are you free later? Can I have your number? We should, like, go out some time.”

“Yes. I am free and I would very much like to get to know you. Kiba.” The little pause and the reverent way Gaara whispered his name was possibly the most precious thing he’d ever seen.

“Awesome. Great. Yeah, alright.”

Grinning stupidly, Kiba handed over his phone for Gaara to add himself in to the contacts list. Then he spent a few seconds just standing there taking in all the details he could. It was going to take some time before he got over the hair; he would have to remember to ask if it was natural. And he was definitely going to need the story behind that tattoo because it was the coolest thing ever and super hot. Kiba wondered if there were any other tattoos for him to find.

Waving goodbye and going back to work like normal was hard but at least he had something to look forward to at the end of his day now. They agreed to meet when his shift was finished and chat over a couple of whatever drinks Gaara actually enjoyed and then Kiba was slipping back behind the counter, practically glowing with happiness – to Ino’s obvious chagrin.

“So,” he drawled. “Any chance you’ll cover me for tomorrow now?”

“It’s still a no.”

“You are a heartless bitch, you know that?”

“Mhm.” Ino blew him a mocking kiss. “And you love me that way.”

He didn’t bother to deny it.

The rest of his day passed like molasses until finally he spent the last five minutes of shift loitering by the syrup fridge and staring at Gaara who had come back and was tentatively playing with Akamaru while he waited. Clearly they were meant to be.

When he sat down in the corner this time it was with two black coffees and the determination to memorize an entirely new kind of subject matter. He learned that Gaara lived most of his life in the desert and thought Konoha was cold even in the summer, that his tattoo was in memory of the hard times he’d seen in his younger years, that he had two siblings he’d reconnected with only just recently. All this and more he absorbed and when they parted ways they shared a kiss and he learned one more thing.

This was love.

[raendown]

In case anyone didn’t see, prompts have already been filled.

Pairing: KibaGaara Word count: 1513 Soulmate au: The one where you both glow the first time you come in to physical contact

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

Chapter 132: Kiba/Gaara

“Well, we made it to the tower. Now what?” Kiba swung his head from side to side, looking around at the seemingly empty tower. “Wait, are we the first ones here? Yeah! Team 8 is so awesome!”

“Not quite on either account,” a feminine voice came from the shadows. Kiba spun around with his teammates to see three of the genin from Suna standing on an elevated walkway a floor above them, the girl leaning over the railing to smirk tauntingly down at the new arrivals. Her brother leaned over next to her and laughed.

“Yeah, you guys are neither first nor awesome. We’ve been here for hours already.”

Instantly irritated, Kiba made a fist and shook it up at the three foreign shinobi. “Well you guys must have cheated to have gotten here so fast!”

“No,” the youngest of them denied in his whispery voice. “We are simply better than you. You Konoha shinobi are weak, unwilling to kill. Useless caring for pointless human lives is what slowed you down and that is why you will never be achieve true stength.”

Kiba stared at the boy and wondered if he was actually serious. He couldn’t really be that cold-hearted, could he? To call human lives useless like that he had to be some kind of psychopath. Anyone with at least some kind of feelings wouldn’t be so eager to kill the way this boy gave the impression of being. Irritated by such a flagrant disregard for other people, Kiba peeled back his lips and snarled up at the trio above them.

Behind him he could hear Hinata’s quiet protests for him not to start a fight but it was too late, he was already fired up. With both fists clenched he turned and headed for the stairs, feet stomping on the tiled floor in what he hoped was an impressive display of temper, his eyes locked on to the idiot he was about to give a piece of his mind to, and absolutely nothing was going to stop the whirlwind he intended to create. Akamaru yipped in annoyed solidarity from where the small pup was resting inside his jacket.

At the top of the stairs the three Suna genin met him in a line, all three of them with their arms crossed. Kiba glared at the other two in turns before settling his eyes on the one who had insulted him the worst. It rankled that he had to stand looking up at someone who would clearly be shorter than him if they were on the same level but since he couldn’t pass by them to reach the top steps he would simply have to bear it.

“What do you know about strength?” he snarled. “My mom’s really strong. All Konoha shinobi are really strong!”

“You are an ant and it will be only too easy to crush you.” The words themselves were unsettling enough but when paired with the absolute lack of inflection in the boy’s voice they became positively spine-chilling. Kiba gnashed his teeth together and tried not to look as rattled as he felt.

“Say that to my face!” he blustered.

One of the other Suna kids, the older boy, gave a snort. “He just did, you dumb ass.”

Even more fired up, Kiba raised his fist again and made to step forward, redirecting his anger easily on to a new target. He was stopped by a wall of sand forming in midair and pressing against the middle of his chest, nearly tripping him back down the staircase. Luckily Hinata and Shino caught up to him just then and were able to support his form so he wouldn’t topple over.

“Let me by!” Kiba hollered, blindly striking out with one fist. The sand caught him again just before the blow connected. He must have startled the boy with such an uncoordinated attack, however, because he did manage to get his hand close enough to brush against the cheek he meant to land a punch on.

“Oh! K-Kiba-kun! You’re both glowing!”

Hinata was right. The spot where his fingers rested almost gently against the younger boy’s cheek had lit up with a pale light that seemed to emanate from both of them. It only lasted for a few seconds but that was enough for everyone present to stop all movements

Only a few seconds had passed before the boy jerked away from him with something wild in his eyes, something Kiba couldn’t quite identify. It looked a little like panic, a little like devastation, a little like heartbreak, all of it together but muffled underneath the clouded features of someone who had so easily threatened him with death less than a minute ago. It was impossible to tell what the other was thinking at the moment and Kiba wasn’t given the chance to ask any questions.

“Temari, Kankuro, let’s wait somewhere else.”

“Are you sure?” the girl asked carefully. “Gaara, that’s your–”

“I said let’s go.”

“Right.”

While the older two eyed him over their shoulders, the boy with the red hair turned and walked away without so much as a single word on the subject. Kiba stood rooted to the ground with shock and watched his soulmate walk away with little hope that he would turn around and come back.

-

Not very much time had passed when they met again, somewhat less than three months in fact. Kiba’s mind was far from a boy he had met only once as he sat in his hospital bed and worried over the state of his injured dog. More so than his own injuries, he had been fretting about Akamaru since he woke up again after the battle with Ukon and Sakon during the failed attempt at stopping Sasuke from leaving Konoha village.

His sister had only just left him alone to rest when another shadow appeared in his doorway. Sleepily, Kiba let his head roll to the side to see who else had come to visit him. There weren’t many options with half of his friends stuck in their own beds in various parts of the hospital. Word was that Choji was still in emergency surgery and Neji wasn’t out of the woods yet either. Kiba himself was extremely lucky to have survived with the wounds he had taken. He would have to thank Kankuro at some point for showing up at just the right time and carrying him back.

Red hair in his blurry vision had him squinting in confusion, trying to imagine who he knew with red hair that would show up in his hospital room. He blinked away the sleep trying to drag him down only to continue blinking in confusion.

“Gaara?” he rasped.

“My brother told me of your battle with the shinobi from Otogakure. He says you were very brave.”

“Uh…well yeah. Of course. M’always awesome.” Kiba coughed when he realized he was slurring his words in his exhaustion. “What are you doing here?”

Gaara came closer on silent feet, every line of his body projecting cautiousness.  “His description of your injuries worried me and I came to make sure that you are recovering well.”

“Last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me,” Kiba pointed out. Gaara had the grace to look contrite.

“Yes I was…in a difficult place. Naruto’s words showed me a different path that I could follow and I have been working hard to learn from his example. I would like to apologize for my words the last time we saw each other. That was wrong of me.”

“Damn.” Nearly forgetting to breathe in his surprise, Kiba struggled through an attempt to sit up. “That was probably the last thing I would have expected you to say.”

“No, do not rise! Your wounds!”

The other boy hurried the last few steps forward to guide him back down to the pillows where he lay blinking upwards in to startlingly green eyes. Several of the medicines currently swirling through his bloodstream were encouraging him to close his eyes and fall asleep but he battled against the urge, not quite ready for this strange encounter to be over.

“It’s weird,” he slurred. “You caring.”

“When last we met we discovered that we are soulmates. I was not prepared to accept such a thing at the time. In fact, I had given up the idea that anyone could ever be so unlucky as to be my soulmate. Meeting you was…unexpected. But now I can say that it is not unwelcome.”

“Alright,” Kiba mumbled. Maybe he should have had something more profound to say in return but sleep had dug its claws in and he was holding on to the world around him by a single thread of consciousness.

Gaara tilted his head. “You need rest. I will return when you are more prepared for company.”

Kiba wrinkled his nose and snuffled faintly in protest, mollified slightly by the warm dusty scent of the other. He hoped Gaara would be able to come back soon. They had a lot of things to talk about.