The Game *Kiba x OC* (COMPLETE)

Testing Patience

Kitara Takeda

I find myself lying on the couch after I Kiba and I ate the stew he finished preparing since I'd apparently fallen asleep again. I hate being sick. Shortly after he sat down, I tossed a pillow onto his lap and laid my head on it, stretching the rest of my body across the couch. He briefly complained but gave up when Akamaru barked at him. I have noticed though, that Kiba has been avoiding looking at me ever since I woke up. Did something happen while I was asleep? I chew on my lip before reaching up and poking his chin. He tenses but doesn't look at me, his cheeks tinting pink. Oh no, something did happen. Was I talking in my sleep?

"Hey." Poke. "Hey..." Poke. Poke. "Hey."

"What?" He sighs as one of his hands captures mine.

I stare up at our hands with wide eyes. "Why won't you look at me? Did something happen?"

I suddenly have a thought that makes a broad grin stretch across my face as I sit up. "Wait. Did I win the bet already?"

"No. Definitely not. You're going to lose without a doubt." He replies calmly, still not looking at me.

"Then look at me."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

"Well, I don't want to." He huffs, turning away like a child.

"If you won't look at me, I'll make you."

"You'll make me? Really? I'm way stronger than you are so there's no way."

I reach out to cup his chin and he flinches away, lightly batting at my hand. I sigh and call him a child as I lean over to try again. Try. Dodge. Try. Dodge. This is ridiculous. I finally snap and straddle his lap and grab his face, making him unable to escape or avoid me any longer. I'm definitely uncomfortable being this close and intimate with Kiba, but his stubborn self caused this.

"What are you doing?" He asks, his voice sounding unsteady.

"Trying to get you to look at me. Why won't you look at me? Did I do something wrong?"

His eyes are closed and his head is tilted up toward the ceiling as he sighs.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why won't you look at me?"

He slowly tilts his head down and his eyes open, focusing on me. I feel my cheeks warm as our eyes meet and I can't get myself to look away.

"I-I want to apologize to you, Take- Kitara."

"For what?" I ask, shocked that he actually used my name. We've never addressed each other by anything but our clan names.

"For making you feel like you were ugly and for saying that no one would ever want you..." He mumbles as he reaches out and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I-I'm not saying I'm attracted to you or anything... Just, you're not ugly."

A brief, small smile crosses my face. "Thank you, I think. Were you embarrassed at wanting to apologize?"

He nods but I can tell by the tension in his jaw that he isn't saying everything, but at least we got this far. I finally tear my gaze from his eyes and notice how dark it is outside.

"It's getting late and training is tomorrow... You should probably get some sleep."

I move to crawl off his lap, but he holds me in place with his hands on my hips.

"Wait."

"What is it?" I ask, looking back down at him.

My eyes widen as his hands move to gently cup my face and draws it closer to his. Despite the panic surging through me I don't find myself moving away or resisting. My body actually seems to be going along with this, whatever it is. My eyes flutter closed as our lips gently touch. He's kissing me. Why is Kiba kissing me? Why am I not throwing up? Why am I kissing him back? Why the hell is my heart racing? This is my first kiss ever and it was taken by Kiba Inuzuka, my annoying teammate, and my fake boyfriend. Holy shit. A lot of my firsts are going to be given to someone who doesn't care about me, who I don't particularly care for... I pull away at that thought and will the tears forming in my eyes to go away. At least for now.

"Did you feel anything?" He asks after a moment and my eyes open and jerk toward him.

"What?"

"I figured that'd be an easy way to figure out if we're losing or not. We can easily lie if just regularly asked, so if you feel anything behind the kiss, that means you're losing."

My expression blanks at his explanation and I get to my feet. "It's late, you should go." I mumble darkly and try to blink the room steady again.

"Did I upset you? I'm sorry, I-"

"No. It's fine. Just go, please."

I start to walk away but the room swims around me yet again. This is wonderful. Why won't he just leave? This whole thing was a stupid idea. I should've just kept my mouth shut, now my stupid self just gave away my first kiss, my first nap with someone, my first time cuddling with someone, and probably so many more firsts that I'd never considered. And now this vertigo isn't helping anything. I take another step and stumble but Kiba catches me before I hit the floor.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I push myself out of his arms and try to stand but hit my knees. "I'm fine."

"You're definitely not fine, Takeda. What's going on?"

"I'm just a little dizzy. This happens sometimes. I'll be fine. You can go."

"I'm not just going to leave you alone like this. You said your parents will be back tomorrow, right? If you'd like, I can stay with you until they get back. I'll sleep on the couch or something."

"Just leave already!" I snap, cursing as the noise sends a wave of nausea through me.

"Takeda, stop. You're sick and whatever this is that's going on. You don't need to be alone until after your parents come back." He argues from his spot on the floor beside me.

I turn to look at him despite my swimming vision and sigh. "They're not coming back. Okay? Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not next week."

His eyes widen. "What?"

"My parents and sister haven't been home in months. I've been taking care of myself here while they're gone. I can handle myself. I'm fine. Now leave."

"Where did they go? Why aren't they coming back?" He asks, ignoring my request for the thousandth time.

"Inuzuka. Get out. Now. Go. Leave. Out."

I drop my gaze back to the floor and hear him sigh as he gets to his feet and a few minutes later, the door shuts firmly and I finally let myself cry.