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Clean Slate - Part 3

"Finally done!" Kiba sighed as he pulled the door closed to the kennels where his clan kept all the untrained nin-dogs. Kiba had just fed and watered all thirty dogs, most of them no older than a few months, as well as muck out the stalls. He was impressed with how quickly he had managed to get it done, normally he would take his time and spend some time playing with the pups, but today he needed to go see Naruto. Kiba knew he was probably still pissed but Kiba wasn't patient when it came to these types of things. Either Naruto would forgive him or he'd slam the door in his face, at least he'd know where he stood and he could always try and apologise later.

Kiba wasted little time in getting to Naruto's apartment. He knocked on the door and hoped he wasn't waking him up. After a long silence Kiba knocked again when his enhanced sense of smell recognising Sasuke's familiar scent. The scent was faint but recent, in the last couple of hours and it hung in the air around the door but didn't go into the apartment as far as he could make out.

"So Sasuke got the same idea as me huh?" Kiba followed the scent and found it to be leading away from the apartment. Naruto's scent was there too, also recent but older than Sasuke's, Naruto had left before Sasuke got here. "Looks like I'm still in with a chance of getting to Naruto first! Come on boy, no time to waste!" Akamaru barked and followed Kiba as the brunette leapt to the roof top of the next building.

************

Naruto wandered aimlessly through town, watching everyone rushing about getting ready for the days. Kids ran through the streets heading for the academy, Naruto smiled to himself as the memories of Iruka telling him off for being late.

"Simpler times..." Naruto sighed as he thought about the events that had transpired over the last few days. He wanted nothing more than to just try and forget about it, go on a mission and focus all his attention on that. But he knew it wouldn't work. He'd be teamed up with Sasuke which would mean that he'd think about it every time he looked at him. "Ichiraku should be opening about now..." Naruto thought looking at the time, surprised that he had spent so long just wandering through the streets of Konoha. Naruto turned round to head back to Ichiraku's and was surprised to see Sasuke standing a few yards away from him, how long had he been there? Sasuke looked nervous and offered a timid smile, Naruto could plainly see that Sasuke was nervous, a sight which seemed alien to him; Sasuke was never nervous. Just a few hours ago however, Naruto more or less blew up at him and Kiba. The stress and tension of the last few days coming to a head, listening to Sasuke and Kiba fighting over him had been the final straw. In retrospect Naruto began to think that he had been too hard on them, but he had had every right to be angry but that didn't stop him feeling guilty about it.

"Naruto!" Kiba yelled as he leapt from a roof top and landed a behind him. "Naruto... look..." Kiba stammered obviously unsure what to say, but even Naruto knew why they were both here.

"Naruto..." Sasuke called him, Naruto cast his gaze back to his team-mate and then back to Kiba. There was a long silence, Naruto didn't know what to say, Kiba and Sasuke trying desperately to find the words they needed to say.

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry!"

The pairs simultaneous outburst of an apology had an edge of desperation, their eyes convincing Naruto that they were both sincere, but he had no idea how to respond. The heavy silence that followed made Naruto feel uncomfortable, wishing that someone began to speak again, he realised that his wish wasn't going to come true when their pained eyes made it obvious to him that they were waiting for his reaction. Sasuke and Kiba had never felt so nervous, each passing second feeling like an eternity.

"Look..." Naruto began but immediately went silent. "I'm sorry too..." The apology took both Sasuke and Kiba by surprise. They had never expected an apology from Naruto, as far as they were both concerned Naruto had nothing to apologise for, they had stepped over the line. "Lets go talk."

The three of them walked in silence to a nearby roof garden, the air in the garden smelt sweet with the various flowers in full bloom. Stunning yellows and intense red and blue blooms littered the small area around two wooden benches, the early morning sun drenching the area with it's warm rays. Naruto turned to face the other two, both of them anxiously waiting to hear what he had to say. Naruto wasn't sure what to say, he was a little confused as to how he felt, here were two of his friends looking to be more than that. He was fairly sure now that he did like men, he had kissed Sasuke last night and he had enjoyed it. He couldn't say that he disliked what he had done with Kiba, the brunette had more or less forced it upon him but his time with Kiba had been... intense to say the least.

"Like I said before... I'm sorry. I kinda blew up at you last night, even though you did deserve it." The pairs lack of response suggested that they felt the same way. "I know you both like me... so I want to just... wipe the slate clean and start again." Both Sasuke and Kiba smiled in relief. "But if you want to..." Naruto hesitated to say the next word, it seemed alien and strange to be saying it to two men. "... date me, you'd better go the right way about it." Naruto raised an eyebrow at Kiba, referring to the incidents in the hot springs, Kiba coughed nervously and diverted his gaze before nodding. "And no fighting with each other either!"

"Agreed..." Sasuke mumbled looking relieved.

"Fine, I agree too." Kiba added, Akamaru barked walked up to Naruto and licked him on the hand making Naruto giggle.

"And you can try and keep your master in line." Naruto knelt down and pet Akamaru, getting a happy whine from the canine.

"Hey! Not fair!" Kiba exclaimed, offended. "What makes you think I need supervision?" Sasuke, Naruto and Akamaru gave him a look. "Traitor..." Kiba glared at Akamaru who barked happily, a bark which Naruto and Sasuke could have sworn sounded like a laugh.