Genjutsu Valentine

(Be my…)

Oneshot

By: Rai-Child

Fandom: Naruto

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Summary: If he turns up on my doorstep on White Day, he's a dead man... ShinoKiba, AsumaKurenai. Oneshot.

Author's Note: Yup yup yup! X3 I recently recieved the prompt 'valentine' from a certain ShinoKiba fan... I KNOW Valentines' Day is ages away, still...This was too hard to resist. Enjoy!

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"I've said it once, and I'll say it again- if you two don't quit whatever stupid game your playing, I'll be forced to knock some sense into you."

"Wha? So I'm not even allowed to train anymore without being accused-"

"Kiba, attempting to dismember your own teammate does not count as training."

Inuzuka Kiba scowled horribly at this latest remark, directing the bitter expression at all three of his companions in one swoop. His face was reddened slightly, both from anger and from the workout he was putting himself through, and his brown hair was even more dishevelled than usual.

Team Eight had been going to that same clearing for training from the word 'go', meeting up more or less every morning for familiar rounds of both sparring and chakra-control practise.

'Control' was not something Kiba looked to very often.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the word suited Aburame Shino just fine.

Hence the reason why Kiba now found himself in a headlock.

It was something that both of the kunoichi were becoming increasingly used to seeing. Both Kurenai and Hinata were sighing in frustration, although whereas the former was quick to impose her authority over the boys as their assigned Jounin, the Hyuuga simply turned back to perfecting her stance. It was always best just to leave them to it.

"Shino! Teme-"

"Stop struggling." Kiba somehow managed to gape at him, despite the awkward position he found himself in.

"Stop- wha? Did you hit your head or something?" The hold tightened and his teeth welded together in retaliation, unable to jerk his chin downwards and sink his teeth into the infuriating limb that held him steady-

"Oi! Are you listening to me?" Kurenai planted both hands firmly on her hips, turning her crimson glare on each of them in turn. "This is time for training, not for ripping each others' heads off..."

A few seconds ticked by, before Shino deemed it suitable to give his input, sensing no further elaboration.

"...Sensei, I think you'll find it was Kiba here who was displaying inappropriate behaviour." He said simply, not even loosening his hold at the yelp of retaliation that came from said nin's throat. Kurenai pinched the bridge of her nose, letting a hiss of annoyance escape her.

"Shino, just let him go."

The foot came mere seconds after Kiba was released, swinging quickly towards Shino's face-

Gotcha, Bug-Freak.

-but it didn't exactly go unnoticed. It only takes one Aburame hand to grab a certain ankle and prevent it from making contact. The other, conveniently, can be used to unleash a flurry of chakra-sucking Kikai onto unsuspecting Inuzuka.

Shino and Kiba were, after all, typical representatives of their clans.

"Idiot. Letting your guard down." Oh yes, Shino could always be counted on to be observant. Kiba, much like Uzumaki Naruto, could always be counted on to employ theatrics.

"You'll pay for that-!" And he was running again, on all fours, clearing the few metres he had skidded in his effort to escape the insects, clawed fingers balling into fists as he came out of the short sprint to stand upright, preparing to deliver a harsh blow right in the Aburame's annoyingly stoic face and-

And-

And he never quite made it.

It was rather strange, seeing the pair of them frozen like that. It was enough to demand even Hinata's attention, who had resigned herself to her own regime some time ago, when the spat had first begun.

Pale eyes blinked in astonishment, the scene clearly reflected in washed-out violet.

"Uh... Kurenai-sensei?" Of course, she knew what was going on. The fact that Kurenai had both hands still forming the last seal of her Jutsu sort of gave the game away.

Kiba was stuck in what seemed to be mid-strike, knuckles barely brushing Shino's cheek. Shino himself was locked in that simple standing position, wide-eyed behind his glasses and seemingly immune to Kiba's sudden howl of rage-

"SENSEI! I had him! I-"

But as far as Kiba was concerned, Yuuhi Kurenai had left the clearing, and Hinata had followed suit.

All of a sudden, it was just him, Shino, and the tangle of roots that had gathered at their feet, swiftly snaking up to their shoulders to lock them in place as they stood.

Genjutsu.

And a good one at that.

"Sensei!" Kiba screamed, attempting to struggle forwards despite himself. If he could just... Just make contact...

"Come on, Hinata." Kurenai sighed, running an expert eye over the pair in the centre of the clearing, "Best just to leave them to it for a while."

"Um... Uh S-Sensei?"

"Don't worry about 'em. If they want to behave like silly little boys, then they'll be treated likewise." Perhaps it was a good job they couldn't be detected. No doubt there would have been much protesting had the pair been able to hear them. Hinata flushed slightly, before nodding and trotting after the woman, glancing guiltily behind her. Akamaru just sighed and settled himself in the grass, resting his head on his front paws and lazily eyeing his fuming master...

"Sometimes I bloody hate that woman..." Kiba cursed as he twisted slightly, able to turn his head enough to look down at his feet. "See? First she tells us off for not training properly, and now we can't train at all!"

"Maybe there's a different lesson to be learnt from this experience."

"Buh?"

"Sensei is evidently imposing a sense of restraint- whether you want it or not." Shino stated, looking bored at very best. Kiba blinked at him for a moment, before going back to his struggling.

"I hate this. Did I mention she's a bloody cheat?"

"You have done on numerous occasions."

"How is this fair? How long do we have to be stuck here for?"

"Just until we are released. I expect they should be back soon. Hinata-sama has good morals, at least."

"And you'd be willing to count on that?"

"She's our teamma-"

"Yeah, yeah, but she's also with Kurenai-sensei." Kiba argued, sagging back against the roots, seemingly worn out from the struggle. "You think she's not gonna be influenced? She's probably with her now- off training on another ground somewhere." He gave a low, humourless laugh. "Women." Shino frowned, seemingly deep in thought.

"It's not reasonable to blame them." Kiba bristled.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"You have been acting up today."

"You don't think there's a reason for that, Bug-Freak?" Shino's opaque gaze flickered with just the slightest hint of something that wasn't quite definable.

"What have I done, Kiba?"

"I can't believe you've forgotten." Shino tilted his head to one side in a barely-there movement that didn't go unnoticed. Kiba gave another forced laugh, shaking his head slightly. "You're so thick sometimes."

"And what makes you say that?"

"What day is it Shino?"

"Ki-"

"Tell me what day it is." The Inuzuka had been in a foul mood since that morning. Putting training off until late afternoon hadn't seemed to help his attitude either- and even then every frustration he had had been thrown into training. It wasn't really surprising that the result had been punishment. Shino had seen that coming.

"Today is today. You can't be in a bad mood because-"

"I don't want any of your logical rubbish, just tell me what day it is."

"It's Valentines' Day, Kiba." Shino said simply. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Good boy. Five points. And what are you supposed to do on Valentines' Day...?" Shino ignored the blatantly obvious prompt, instead choosing to get right to the point-

"It's not over yet. There's still time."

"You think I'm some sort of girl, don't you?"

"I never said that." A brief pause...

"You do! God- I'm so stupid, I-" It seems patience and self-control weren't the only lessons to be taught from Kurenai's little trick. Shino's lesson was that it was increasingly hard to reason with someone when their knuckles were still within touching distance of your face. He turned his head slightly, moving to look at Kiba's face.

"I can't give you chocolate in front of Kurenai-sensei and Hinata-chan, can I?"

"I gave you yours this morning."

"Under the most inappropriate of circumstances. It's a good job my father didn't notice, or I'd have some explaining to do."

"You've had plenty of chances."

"Do you want Sensei to know about me and you?" Rather than straining towards Shino, Kiba found himself trying to move in the opposite direction. The thick vine digging his fingers into his palm bit unpleasantly across his hand and he bit back a yelp, choosing instead to keep still and stare fixedly at a tree stump near the edge of the clearing.

He didn't offer a reply.

"It's back at the complex." Shino tried, not used to dealing with a silent Inuzuka. "When we're done with this difficult learning curve, we can go back and fetch it." It sounded strangely like a compromise. Kiba looked up questioningly, unable to read the expression behind the glasses. The Aburame seemed to sense the doubt. "That was my initial intention."

"...Oh." Once again, the clan markings disappeared against the darker colour that seemed to seep in under his skin. He shook his head fiercely, since it seemed strangely appropriate... "It doesn't matter. It's a stupid idea anyway, I just thought you'd... You know... That you'd expect for us to have to do that Valentines' stuff too... 'Cause really, what else have we done, and..."

And he was right. Since Naruto left for his training with Jiraiya, everything had been strangely quiet. The sort of 'team atmosphere' hadn't been totally lost when it came to Team Eight, but the whole 'Konoha Nine' mentality had more or less disintegrated into nothing. There was little contact with anyone else, which just made everything easier.

Still, Shino was only fifteen, and a little older than Kiba at that.

It had been a sort of, 'you can be my boyfriend because it's nice' arrangement, which had really been the cause of the whole Valentines' Day issue. Because it was something that was expected of everyone. The fact that no one knew made everything twice as awkward as it should have been, everything governed by the prospect that Hinata or Kurenai or some prying parent might suspect something. A prime example had been the slightly crumpled box that Kiba had pushed into Shino's hands as he passed that morning, with nothing but a grin and a wink and a silent promise that later he would expect reciprocation.

When it hadn't come, the game of 'let's act like nothing going on' had turned into 'let's try to mutilate Shino 'cause he's being cruel'.

If he turns up on my doorstep on White Day, he's a dead man...

Shino had never touched Kiba, and vice versa. Not like a someone should touch their significant other- never so much as a hug.

As stuck as they were, Shino's neck was still functioning correctly. To have the roots go any higher than their shoulders would have undoubtedly choked them both to death. Just as Kiba had enough leeway to stare fixedly at the ground as he went off rambling about what an idiot he was and how he had thought Shino was just being a jerk, Shino himself had enough room for a subtle turn to the left and...

The slight brush of cold lips against Kiba's hand seemed to trigger a rather unexpected turn of events.

The babbling was quickly cut short by a sharp intake of breath that might have been a gasp if coming from anyone else. This in turn led to a rather unpleasant thought on Shino's behalf...

What did I just do?

...Which was abruptly followed by a slight shriek that seemed to come from nowhere, echoed by the unmistakable voice of Yuuhi Kurenai...

"So what is all this in aid of?"

Finding yourself on your back all of a sudden, with a certain nin-dog immediately barrelling into your chest and licking your face... It wasn't an experience Kiba was about to repeat in a hurry. He looked up through the dog-drool first at Shino, who seemed to have been stunned into silence and stood as stiffly as he had when the Genjutsu had him trapped, and then at a certain red-eyed kunoichi, who had both hands on her hips and a very suspicious smile on her face...

"U-um..." Hinata was doing a rather accurate impression of a tomato just to Kurenai's left, fingertips pressed together in that typical shy-girl motion...

Akamaru found himself unceremoniously turfed off his comfortable perch on Kiba's stomach and onto the floor, the boy already on all fours and half-way across the clearing-

"Uh- I'll see you tomorrow! Okay! Bye!" His nin-dog suddenly disappeared, and something white and furry was streaking through the grass after him. The others watched them go, Kurenai noting with much amusement that the Aburame still hadn't moved, eyes wide behind his glasses and his arms seemingly pinned to his sides.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime and a half, Shino spoke.

"...That was rather underhand, Sensei."

"I know." Kurenai grinned wickedly to herself, a thousand blackmail possibilities running through her head. "Still, feel free to go after him. He'll be sulking all tomorrow too, otherwise." Shino didn't move.

"How long has it been?"

"What?"

"How long has the Jutsu been active?"

"Just over an hour."

"Oh." Shino paused. "Hinata-sama has been on her own for the duration of the lesson, is that right?" Hinata jumped at the mention of her name.

"S-Shino?"

"Kurenai-sensei, may I point out that your vest is not fastened up correctly?" Kurenai looked down. Indeed, the last button had been put through the wrong loop. Shino turned to look at her, expression blank. "I see Team Ten have also been engaging in individual practise." Kurenai laughed a little uneasily, mentally cursing Asuma and his... Romantic tendencies...

"Shino, you're never going to be good at being sly." She brushed him off, waving a hand, "Now go after the idiot- get out of my sight before I decide to set a punishment for the both of you. Slacking off when you should have been learning a potentially vital lesson..."

Shino gave her a decidedly blank look.

"Sensei, it was your Gen-"

"Leave!" And he did. Kurenai exhaled, dragging an exasperated hand back through her hair.

I hate it when they're right...

She smiled.

But this time, it was worth it.

If only she had thought to bring a camera.

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This made me feel... Slightly sick whilst writing it. 0.o; I'm more of a humour kinda girl, personally... The fluff! Urgh! It rots my brain! D:

Ally