A/N: Hello again, lovely readers of Fanfiction! This is an idea I've been toying with over the past few days and bits of detail and character kept springing out at me, so I figured I may as well write them down. This is resulting Chapter one of my musings.

If people like it then I'll continue to work on it! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, only my plotline and OCs.

The Inu and the Okami

Kiba shook the water from himself violently, mirroring his canine companion's action perfectly. The river's water had been cool and refreshing after their long day of travelling, but neither of the two wanted to linger in the dark forest for too long.

Their mission had been a mere C-rank, only requiring basic observations after a robbery scare in one of the Fire Country's Northern villages, which is why only the Inu pair had been selected. Besides, Kiba and Akamaru were more than capable of taking care of themselves should they encounter any bandits or rogues along the way.

'Come on, let's keep moving, boy.' He stood from the riverside and patted the large white dog, reaching up to lift himself onto its back when a long, drawn out noise reached his sensitive ears. A howl?

'What the…'

Akamaru's hackles rose slightly, head tilting in surprise. There's no wolves in the Fire country…

Kiba debated momentarily on how to proceed, but another long and pained-sounding cry shattered the silence of the night before he could leave, and his head turned in the direction of the sound. It was close, and sounded solitary. Lonely, almost. There was no response to the howl, confirming his idea that the creature was unaccompanied.

'That howl… She's calling for others of her kind.' It was the dog that spoke, quietly and in a language that only members of the Inuzuka clan could understand. 'But she's not getting any reply so she seems to be alone.'

'I figured as much.' Kiba nodded. 'Guess it can't hurt to check it out then, right?'

The dog dipped his head and gave a single, low bark in agreement, and the pair began to move towards the source, senses alert as they sniffed the atmosphere.

The Inuzukas could tell a lot from a single scent – it was their specialty. As he walked, he assessed the situation. There was definitely only one. A female, from the smell of it, and there was blood. A lot of blood, but it smelled old, as though it had only been shed several days before. Even so, the stench was so strong in the night that he wondered how he'd missed it before.

'I can hear her breathing. This way!' Kiba's furry companion suddenly nudged his side, pushing him further into the trees until they arrived at a small clearing. The wolf noticed them instantly, so there was no longer any point hanging back until they deemed it safe. If she wanted to attack, she would.

Cautiously, the Inu pair emerged from behind a tree trunk, Akamaru shuddering at the sight.

She was standing… no, cowering at the edge of the treeline, her ears pinned back in fear as their eyes met across the clearing. She had one forepaw raised off the ground slightly, dried blood and dirt covering her entire coat, though it was clear that the majority of red conjugated around the lifted front leg. The Inu nin could tell even from a distance that she was hesitant to put pressure on it.

'You're a long way from home, aren't you, girl?'

Taking a cautious step forward, he watched as the wolf's scarlet eyes flashed with suspicion at the motion. He heard Akamaru whine gently behind him, trying to reassure the she-wolf that they meant no harm, while the dog nin continued to inch across the clearing. He paused around two meters away when her body shrunk slightly, changing position.

Her tail sloped down between her back legs, hackles raised and lips curled upwards just enough to show her teeth. It was a blatant display of defence posture that Kiba recognised all too well, but he also knew from experience that it was a stance intended to avoid violence, not ignite it. He didn't blame her for not trusting him, in fact he expected it, and usually he would comply and leave her be.

He sighed inwardly as his eyes fell on her injured leg once more, the once silvery grey fur now stained crimson. He couldn't leave her out here alone like that.

Kneeling down, Kiba held one hand out to hover just before her muzzle, palm forward as though pushing her back. She barely even acknowledged the gesture.

'Come on, girl. I can't help you if you don't help me…' He murmured softly, keeping his eyes trained on a spot just past her head, so he could still watch her reactions without looking her directly in the eye.

Finally, her ears flickered ever-so-slightly to rest at a more relaxed angle, her nose touching his palm so briefly that he hardly even felt it.

He couldn't hold back a grin as he carefully shifted again for a better view of her injury. 'There we go. Now, let me see that leg.'

The bloodied wolf allowed him to examine her paw, though he didn't miss the way her body remained stiff and anxious, as though ready to run or fight at any moment. Relief flooded through him at the discovery that the bone remained intact, however there was some nasty tooth marks and tearing to her pastern ligaments – no wonder she was struggling to walk! Though he was no vet, he silently thanked his older sister, Hana for all those boring and seemingly pointless lectures on Akamaru's anatomy. Whatever animal had done this had clearly been deadly serious. He wondered absently what kind of prey she'd been stalking out here, and all alone. Didn't wolves hunt in packs? Where were the others?

'Alright. It's not broken, but that needs medical treatment as soon as possible. Luckily for you, I know just the vet.' He winked at the wolf, whose eyes only clouded slightly in confusion and mistrust, however she made no further complaint when he called his giant canine companion to his side.

The dog stood at least twice the size of her small-wolf-sized frame, and the Konaha pair could have sworn they saw her frown when the realisation of what they were planning dawned on her.

'Oh yeah, you got it. Come on, there's no other way to move you unless you wanna sit out here all night and wait for a hunter to find you!' He waggled his finger in front of her snout teasingly, but dropped the joke when her fangs bared viciously in a sudden display of fury at the word 'hunter'.

'Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. But seriously, this is the only way.'

Akamaru bowed his head to just below her eye level, a low whimper escaping his mouth as she assessed her options. Apparently resigning herself to the fact that she had no other choice, she allowed the pair to shift her body onto the large white canine's back. She hung there limply, looking completely pathetic and feeling immensely sorry for herself, as they began the journey back to the Leaf.

Hana was still in the surgery when they arrived, just as Kiba knew she would be. It was already gone midnight, but his sister was, without a doubt, the biggest workaholic he'd ever met. She was aware of him approaching before he actually arrived from his and Akamaru's scent, but it was the thick and unmistakeable stench of unidentified blood that had her tapping her foot with her hands on her hips as he entered the building.

'Kiba Inuzuka! What in God's name have you gotten yourself into–' She started, but her words were silenced with a gasp as she caught sight of the pitiful creature on Akamaru's back. Somewhere along the journey, the wolf had slipped into unconsciousness. Now, Kiba had brought in his fair share of injured animals before, but never something so unusual as a wolf!

'You gotta help her, Sis, she's hurt bad.'

Hana nodded, immediately shifting into professional vet mode and shooing them into the consult room. 'Where on Earth did you find an injured wolf, Kiba?'

'North East of the village, just shy of the border between Fire country and the Hidden Waterfall.'

'Alone?' His sister frowned. It certainly was unusual to find a wolf in this country, never mind a lone, female wolf.

'Yeah, there was no trace of any others.'

'I see. Perhaps this is why she was on her own…' The woman had lifted the blood covered leg and was holding it tenderly in both hands as she checked the damage.

'What do you mean?' Kiba frowned, and Akamaru yipped in equal confusion.

'See these markings?' Hana ghosted a finger over the torn ligament. 'They weren't made just by any old prey animal. They're wolf bites.'

'Wolf…?' His onyx eyes widened in disbelief. 'But why would…'

'There's lots of possible reasons, but right now you need to leave me to it, I can't work with you hanging over me like that.' The older Inuzuka scolded, rolling her eyes when her kid brother scowled in defiance, standing his ground. She turned to face him fully, standing up at her full height which, though was still shorter than his, told him she meant business.

His frown deepened and he looked about to complain again, but finally let his gaze drop slightly as he huffed. Hana smirked. He may be the next heir to their clan, but he was not the alpha yet. Since their father had left, that role had fallen to their mother, Tsume. And while Hana was in fact not the next in line, despite being the older sibling, her ranking still technically outweighed Kiba's. For now…

'Fine, fine, just let me know when you're done. I'll be in my room. Come on, Akamaru.' The large dog grunted in response, trotting after his master obediently as they exited the surgery.

Hana worked on the she-wolf well into the night, binding her healing chakra with the ligaments, then closing and bandaging the wound. There was something strange about this particular wolf's chakra network, something Hana was unfamiliar with even with her many years of experience in animal medics. It was almost like a mutation, which was unheard of in such a creature. Wolves were well known as pure-breds from the old countries.

She frowned upon the discovery, but when it failed to prevent her from working, she decided to temporarily ignore that little detail, since the early hours of the morning were beginning to creep up on her.

When she was finished, she wiped her brow tiredly and moved the still sleeping animal into the recovery kennels located at the back of the building. Once she was satisfied, she let out a long breath as a wave of exhaustion washed over her and she allowed herself to lock up. Figuring Kiba would already be asleep, she bypassed his room entirely, her legs leading her subconsciously and eagerly to her own bed.

*** The next morning ***

Kiba awoke to a large, pink tongue lapping over his cheek, and a wet doggy nose pushing against his chin. He groaned and tried to roll away from the assault, but Akamaru was persistent.

The over-grown canine chuckled as he avoided being swatted in the face by a flailing arm. 'Come on, Kiba. Don't tell me you've forgotten the events of last night already?'

And 3, 2, 1…

'The wolf!' Kiba bolted upright, eyes now wide and alert with something akin to excitement.

Akamaru snorted in amusement. Sometimes his master was just too predictable.

Dressing quickly, the Inu nin pulled on his black leather jacket and reached for the handle of the shoji door, but before he could make contact, it disappeared beneath his hand.

'Wha–'

'Get out here, Kiba. That wolf you brought in last night is on a rampage!' Tsume's deep voice growled out urgently, snapping him to attention.

'Shit.' He cursed, leaping out the room to follow her through the family compound. He could hear the commotion before he saw it, and his hand automatically reached for his hip where his ninja pack would normally be.

There was a team of 4 leaf chunin and 2 jounin who had managed to trap her in the veterinary clinic, and were now simply trying to barricade the door shut.

'We convinced them not to use physical violence yet, but she's not doing herself any favours fighting them like that. She's clearly scared and confused, and everyone knows wolves have major trust issues. Hana and I already tried to calm her down, but she's almost beyond reason now.'

'So what do you want me to do about it if even you can't get through to her?' Her son raised an eyebrow feigning indifference, but Tsume could sense his unease.

'You're the one who brought her in, pup, so technically she's your problem. Besides, she trusted you enough to bring her here in the first place, right?'

'Gee thanks…' Kiba grumbled, but headed toward the building anyway. The door now successfully locked tight, he heard her claws tapping unevenly across the clinic floor, and he could tell she was limping. There was also an underlying aroma of fresh blood wafting through the air, which made him scrunch his nose in distaste.

'Probably reopened that wound in her panic.' Hana sighed from beside him, making him jump slightly. 'Go in through the back, there's no way anyone's getting in this door now.'

He nodded and followed her instructions, Akamaru hot on his heels.

'Maybe you should wait out here, boy.' He muttered to the dog before he entered, but Akamaru stood tall.

'I'm not letting you go in there alone when she's in that state!' He growled firmly, but Kiba wasn't about to change his mind on this one.

'I can handle myself, and I don't want you getting hurt if anything goes wrong. I swore I'd never let you get hurt because of me again…' He trailed off, but they both knew what he was referring to. It had been almost 7 years ago, fighting a couple of Orochimaru's freak show experiments. Akamaru had been close to death until Kankuro, of the Sand village, had arrived just in the nick of time and saved the day.

'At least let me wait in the back room.' The canine nuzzled his nose against his human's hand, tail wagging lightly when he got the 'okay, fine' from Kiba.

They entered as silently as possible, Akamaru halting in the destroyed recovery room as agreed, but this was a wolf they were dealing with. Where his sense of smell excelled, her exceptional hearing rivalled it in skill, so it came as no surprise to the Inu nin to see her cold red eyes already glaring daggers as they came face to face.

She seemed to withdraw slightly in recognition, though her ears remained pinned to the back of her head as he let out a breath.

'Easy, girl. It must have been a pretty big shock to wake up in a cage this morning, huh?' He commented, unsure of what else to say. 'Well, I'm sorry about that. That's just the way the system is here. We didn't want you running around on that leg when it's still so tender, so the cage was supposed to prevent too much strenuous movement… But apparently you defeated that objective.'

An emotion Kiba could only identify as shame flickered through her blood red eyes, and he couldn't hold back the short laugh that escaped him. 'So, you can understand me then?'

Now she seemed somewhat offended, and he held up his hands in apology. 'Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your intelligence, Princess!'

This time, she really did look angry. Her hackles rose again and just as the Inuzuka was expecting her to pounce, she was suddenly enveloped in a great cloud of thick grey smoke. He started in surprise, crouching into a defence position as Akamaru sprang through the doorway to his master's side.

They waited anxiously for the smoke to clear, but when it did, both their jaws simultaneously hit the floor.

'Princess? Who are you calling Princess, you mongrel?!'

The creature that stood before them now glowered with such intensity in her crimson red irises that it snapped the Inu pair out of their frozen states of shock.

'What are – I mean h-how did… Erm…' Kiba stuttered unintelligibly, completely at a loss for what to say. He'd seen some pretty unusual stuff over the years of being a ninja, but this was something new entirely.

She looked almost human, standing at 5 foot 2 with shoulder-length white-grey hair and moonlight-pale skin. But the two furry ears that now stood upright and alert atop her head, and the thick, silvery tail that remained swishing in agitation told otherwise. Kiba might have laughed had the situation been any different, her stood there with one hip cocked as she leaned on her left leg, while one of her hands cradled the other like a sling. She looked completely normal apart from the ears and tail, both of which were, distinctly, not human.

'What's the matter, pup? Never seen a wolf-human hybrid before?' She growled, still looking offended.

'Actually, no…' Kiba managed, still too confused to realise she'd called him 'pup'. He was just proud that he hadn't stuttered this time.

'Ask her where she came from!' Akamaru urged as he sniffed the air, recovering quicker than his master.

The Inu nin complied. 'Er, where are you from?'

'…Why should I tell you? Where am I now? Where have you brought me?' She demanded, eyes narrowing further with each question.

'Okay, look, you need to calm down. My ma's going crazy out there, not to mention the other Leaf nin who are probably still freaking out.'

'Leaf nin?' She questioned, interest piqued. 'Are we in Konaha?'

The Inu male would have tapped his forehead, had he remembered to wear his hitai-ate in his rush this morning. Instead, he simply nodded.

'I've… never been to Konaha before.' She admitted, as though embarrassed all of a sudden.

'Well that makes sense, because I don't think we've ever even seen a wolf in the Fire country before now.' He pursed his lips for a moment as though in thought, then said, 'We aren't a threat to you, you know.' Akamaru whined in agreement.

She had barely noticed that she had crouched back into a defensive stance – her body had acted on auto-pilot. Forcing herself to relax, though still looking stiff and awkward, she let her eyes drift from his to around the room she was currently in. The walls were covered in bloodied claw marks, probably her own blood, and there were overturned chairs and torn posters and fliers littering the floor.

'You brought me to a vets?' She asked, suspiciously calmly.

Again, Kiba blanched. 'Y-yes…'

She raised an eyebrow, but before she could react properly he began to babble nervously. 'Well, you looked like a wolf… I mean, you were a wolf. So I figured a vet was more appropriate than a hospital, and my sister's the best animal medic I know – oh! Not that I'm calling you an animal, I mean, you are an animal, but not in that way…'

He broke off suddenly when she fell into a small fit of giggles at his flustered expression. She looked about to say something when a deep, commanding voice called to Kiba from outside.

'Kiba? What's going on in there?!'

The she-wolf flinched violently, all amusement dropping from her face in an instant as she shied away from the noise.

Instinct had Kiba's hands in the air in an 'I surrender' gesture to still her movements. 'It's okay, that's just my mom.' Then, in a louder voice he shouted back. 'Give me a minute, Ma!'

His eyes trailed back to meet the uneasy red gaze of the hybrid girl before him. She'd moved a few steps closer to him in an attempt to avoid the front door, and he could see her muscles tensed and ready for anything.

The dog trainer pursed his lips as he tried to think of a way to talk her round. 'Look, we can't stand around in here all day, and from the looks of it you need to get that leg, er… arm, bandaged up again. So what do you say you let us help you out? We're not your enemy.'

She searched his face for any trace of deceit. The canine beside him was now sitting down, probably trying to appear smaller so as not to scare her. They didn't seem to pose her any threat right now, and she supposed she really didn't have any other choice but to go along with it, for now. She still wasn't about to drop her guard around them anytime soon though.

'Alright. But no tricks…' She warned, eyes flashing.

'You have my word, erm?'

'…Luna. I'm of the Hangetsu clan from the Land of the Moon.' She replied slowly, unsure of how much she wanted him to know.

He smiled obliviously. Apparently that much information was fine. 'Kiba Inuzuka. Of the Leaf Village.' Normally, he'd have offered her his hand to shake, but in this case it hardly seemed appropriate. 'And this is Akamaru.'

The large dog woofed in greeting, and she nodded politely.

He moved towards the front door, Akamaru at his heels, knocking three times on the metal frame before stepping back slightly. He vaguely registered Luna moving to stand behind him, subconsciously feeling safer right now around him than these other strangers.

The door burst open and she flinched again, a short growl escaping her lips. He was half expecting the 6 Leaf ninja to come storming in, armed and ready, but was thankful to find his sister enter the room first, followed by his mother.

'Take it easy guys,' Kiba cautioned, sensing the tension rolling off the girl in waves. He could practically smell her mistrust. 'Her name's Luna, from the Land of the Moon.'

'Land of the Moon, huh? You really have travelled quite a distance, haven't you?' Tsume raised an eyebrow, choosing not to comment on the fact that the wolf was no longer an actual wolf. She frowned as her deep voice came across more threatening than she intended.

Luna's ears flattened, but she made no further motion.

Hana took this opportunity to admire the damage done to her surgery. 'I'm not sure what's in a worse condition, my clinic or your arm!' She laughed humourlessly, also avoiding the change-in-form topic.

'I'm er, sorry about the damage. I don't have any money, so I guess I can work on repairing it as payment for fixing my paw?' The girl offered, suddenly looking very small. They all noted how she referred to her injured body part as her paw.

'Hm. Come this way, I'll have that bandaged again in no time.' Hana nodded, leading her into an adjacent room, not missing how the girl threw one more cautious glance at Kiba, as though asking for reassurance. His mouth twitched into a half-smile, and with that, she disappeared in the direction his sister had gone.

'So, what's the story, Kiba?' Tsume stepped forward, eyes meeting her sons.

'From what I can tell, she can transform at will to either a wolf or her current form. She's alone, and incredibly guarded. It won't be easy gaining her trust… She said she's from the Hangetsu clan, but I've never heard of it.'

'Hangetsu?' His mother rubbed her chin thoughtfully, as though trying to draw from a distant memory. 'I'll look into that, and I will have to speak to the Hokage immediately about our new guest. See to it that she settles in for the time-being, pup – she can stay in the spare room at the main house. I'd like to keep her close by until we deem her trustworthy.'

'Yes, Ma.' Kiba nodded obediently, too distracted by recent events to make an attempt at asserting his own dominance.

'Right then, I suppose I'll go see to those flimsy excuses for ninja out there.' She turned on her heel and marched outside, barking orders at the Leaf nin who were hovering uncertainly outside.

Kiba chuckled at their panicked responses. His mother could be really scary when she wanted to be. Patting Akamaru briefly on the head, he wandered into the consultation room where Hana and Luna were chatting, blinking in surprise at the she-wolf's relaxed composure.

'Oh Kiba, while you're here you might as well make yourself useful. Pass me those bandage scissors, would ya?'

Mentally shaking himself, he retrieved the scissors from the worktop beside him, rolling his eyes as he passed them to his sister and Luna tensed suspiciously. 'Oh come on, what am I gonna do with bandage scissors? I have a whole pack of kunai back at the house if I wanted to hurt you–'

'Kiba! Not helpful.' Hana shushed him, but a small smile of amusement was playing on her features. Luna forced herself to relax again, prodding her injured paw experimentally when Hana freed the wound from the torn bandages.

'You're going to have to keep your weight off it for a few weeks. The ligament is really mangled here… Just how old is the injury?'

Luna avoided their questioning gazes as she replied. 'I'm not sure…'

'Not sure? You mean you don't remember how long you've been travelling for?' The brown haired woman lifted the limb and began to wind a fresh medical wrap around it.

'No, I mean I don't remember when I got it… Or how it happened actually.'

'How can you not remember something like that?!' Kiba exclaimed, a little too loudly and making her jump.

'I don't know, alright? It's all fuzzy. It happens sometimes, when I'm in wolf form. My family used to call it blacking out, but it was quite uncommon in adults. But it's worse this time, there's a huge chunk that I can't remember…' Her eyebrows pulled together as she spoke, and the Inuzuka siblings could sense her rising stress levels at the mention of her family. Where were they?

'Well, that's your paw done. Like I said, if you want it to heal then you'll have to keep your weight off it.' Hana instructed, changing the subject. 'And that means no manual labour. Guess you'll have to find some other way to pay me back.'

Luna smiled her thanks. 'I will.'

'Well I have work to do. My brother will show you around, right, Kiba?'

'Sure. This way, Princess.' He grinned at her scowl, exiting to consultation room to were Akamaru was sat patiently in the waiting room. 'There's a spare room in the main house that you can stay in, I'll show you that first.'

He led the way through the compound, ignoring the stares they were receiving along the way, picking up the pace. Luna seemed to shrink under their gazes, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention that she was obviously not used to.

The main house was, unsurprisingly, the largest building of the estate. They walked through several sliding shoji doors and along various corridors and stairwells before they actually reached the spare room.

'This is your room. If you need anything, Hana's room is just down there, second door on the right and mine's the first on the left. We passed the kitchen on the way, you saw that right?' She nodded and he continued. 'There's a ensuite in every bedroom, which should already have towels and stuff in there. Think you can find your way back from here?'

'I guess so…' She murmured, still processing the overload of information.

'I know it's a lot to take in, but there's always someone around to ask. Don't worry, we don't bite.' He smirked at his joke and turned around to leave. 'I'll let you settle in for an hour or so. See you later!'

'O-okay.' Luna replied, but he was already gone. Letting out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding, she slid the door open and entered her room. It was pretty basic, with cream coloured walls and tatami covered floorboards, but it was nice. She spotted another door, which she assumed was the ensuite bathroom, but what really caught her attention was the large open window on the back wall.

A wave of exhaustion washed over her, and she suddenly realised her sleeping habits were clearly opposite to the ninja of the leaf village. That could be a problem. Her family had always been nocturnal, so it felt completely unnatural for her to be roaming about like this in the daytime. Time to start adjusting, she supposed.

She had no belongings to unpack, so she wandered into the bathroom to freshen up quickly. Luna was eager to get a better look around the Leaf Village and the Inuzuka compound, but as she stared at her reflection in the mirror before her, she knew she'd have to do something about her ears and tail if she wanted to blend in. A simple henge jutsu should do it.

Though she was far from competent in the world of ninjutsu, her family had been nothing if they weren't ruthless in their training methods. She smiled slightly at her now completely human-looking disguise, flipping her silver hair over her shoulder and heading for the open window. It wasn't that she was sneaking out on purpose, she just wasn't confident she'd remember the way they'd come in.

Luckily, the building only 2 stories high, so she landed deftly on her sandaled feet and glanced around. There was no one around to notice her sudden appearance in the courtyard area she'd landed in, which allowed her to take a moment to decide on her next move.

Her stomach rumbled suddenly and decided for her. She was kind of hungry. While her nose was nowhere near as adept as an Inuzuka's, it wasn't hard for her to sniff out a nearby stall selling a variation of roasted birds.

She was about to ask the vendor for the price, when her empty pockets reminded her that she couldn't afford anything anyway. Growling inwardly, she turned and trudged away grumpily.

She had just rounded a corner onto what seemed like the main street of the estate when someone appeared beside her.

'Here.'

Her eyes snapped to the bag of what looked like chicken wings that were held out in front of her, an amused looking Kiba standing behind it. The scent was glorious and made her mouth water and stomach flip excitedly, but still, she hesitated.

'It's not poisoned or anything!' He teased, taking her pause for caution.

She rolled her eyes and snatched the bag from him, practically inhaling its contents before glancing up at him gratefully. 'Thank you.'

'You know, you could have just said if you were hungry…' He laughed as she finished lapping up the rest of the grease from her fingers. 'So I take it you're not one for sitting still for long?'

She winced slightly, feeling guilty for 'sneaking out'. 'Sorry. I was gonna come back after I'd looked around a bit.'

'I didn't doubt you would.' Kiba sighed and crossed his arms behind his head. 'Well, while you're here I may as well finish the tour.'

Luna nodded again, her curious nature taking over as she relaxed more herself in response to his casual demeanour. It baffled her how comfortable he seemed around her, but then again, she was the one in unfamiliar territory, not him.

'Oh yeah…' He started, as though remembering something suddenly. 'Don't think that I missed that 'pup' comment earlier, Princess!' He scowled, but his eyes remained playful.

She smirked in response. 'I'd be disappointed if you had, Inuzuka.'

A/N: So I know the opening may seem a bit rushed, but I'm eager to start setting hints at the main plot, and really, there's nothing much to tell before the meeting in the woods.

I'm going to be making a lot of what the Inuzuka compound looks like up, because there's not much to reference from in the anime! I have done a lot of research on the clan etc. though, so hopefully I can pull it off.

Timeline wise, it's set after the Fourth Great Ninja War, where the characters are 20/21, with Luna at 19.

Since this is a new fic and the characters are different to what I'm used to writing, I'd really appreciate some feedback :) Hope you liked it.