They 'd known each other for years and Kiba had been in love with that stupid spiky asshole for somewhat close to three of them when the words finally came out. As much as he 'd known with his entire heart that he could never love anyone again the way he loved Shikamaru, Kiba hadn 't actually suspected that they could be soulmates. It seemed just a little too far-fetched, a little too good to be true, so the idea had never even crossed his mind.

Even worse, the moment they came wasn 't anything close to significant. Both of them were drunk and alone on a Friday night. Others had been here earlier, of course, but their friends had all trooped off on some sort of unsteady adventure when Naruto piped up that he had a terrible craving for ramen. Apparently finding out whether or not Ichiraku 's was still open at this hour was a seven person job.