Team 8 had had many struggles through their time as a team and as best friends. From Hinata's struggles with self-esteem, to Kiba being forced to face his fears of inadequacy or Shino's fear of never being acknowledged. They had all worked through them and slowly but surely made themselves stronger and more united as a group. Even the furriest member of their group had always been there to show his support and love for them all.

That is, until today.

Akamaru had been showing the wear and tear for a while and Kiba had been so keenly aware of it that it hurt his heart. He'd ignored for as long as he could but it'd become evident recently that his faithful hound had seen better days. It had first shown in their morning runs, when Akamaru had started to need breaks more often, resting for longer and not being able to go as far as he could in the past. He'd been forced to leave him at his house more often than not and soon, the large dog hadn't even had the energy to keep himself upright.

It got to the point where Kiba was unsure whether it was just a case of age. After all, his mother's old ninken, Kuromaru, was 40 and clearly wasn't planning on slowing down any time soon. So, after much deliberation, he made the decision to go to the person who knew the most about medicine in the entire village and get her to check out his most loyal friend. However, Sakura had given him the most dreaded news he could possible hear. He'd left in a daze, barely able to hear the humdrum of the village around him, fumbling his way back to his home where he was greeted by the best friend he'd ever had.

The sight of his best friend in pain was enough to bring tears to his eyes as he remembered what Sakura told him. "Akamaru has a cancerous tumour just above his lung. It's restricting his ability to breath and it's too wrapped up in his ribs to operate. He's got about a week left, Kiba. I'm so sorry, there's nothing me, nor anyone, can do for him." Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried desperately to hold back. The great dog stared into his eyes, his expression filled with curiosity and he rubbed his snout against Kiba's shaggy stubble, his wet nose leaving a trail on the man's face. That simple action broke him, and he started to sob into his muzzle. He whispered into the soft fur, quietly struggling for the words that he wanted to use.

"Hey Akamaru, I know you've been feeling worse for wear lately and Sakura told me that it doesn't look great." The white dog looked deeply into his eyes and whined gently. "Yeah I know. I wish there was something I could do." The dog shook his head back and forth before nudging Kiba. The gesture made clear sense to the man.

It's okay, old friend. I love you.

Kiba spent the night by his partner's side, softly talking through their old missions and laughing softly alongside Akamaru, the pair sharing what could very well be the last of their time together. Akamaru rubbed his nose against Kiba's neck and licked his face, whilst Kiba ran his calloused hands through the dog's fur, scratching him behind his ears and eliciting the tiniest of smiles from his friend and the two shared that smile.

By the next day, Akamaru could barely bring himself to his feet, staggering around for a while, before going to sleep fitfully on his bed. That would be the final day that the white dog would spend on the mortal coil, as he started to whine painfully in his sleep during the night, something Kiba heard immediately. When the Inuzuka man made his way to his best friend, he began to cry in a long running stream, barely able to cut off the inner flow of emotions that racked his body. His arm's wrapped around him and he allowed the barrier to come down and sobbed into the white snowy fur, tears staining the long fur. Softly the snuffles and laboured breathing slowed down and the rise and fall of the dog's chest began to slow down until it came to a complete stop. The man felt his chest constrict with pain as he felt a complete surge of sadness and utter loss run through him, from his centre, to his extremities.

The greatest friend he'd ever had, the one who'd been by his side for 18 years, was gone.

. . .

Shino pulled down his visor and wiped around his eye sockets. The empty holes often got itchy from the long term dryness, so he needed to keep them clean as possible to avoid any sort of infection. His calloused hands replaced the visor, before he walked off through the village, trying to sense the presence of his friend, but he couldn't detect any fresh scents from the Inuzuka man, only stale ones that led him towards the dog-nin's home. The colony felt the presence of the man inside but there was an odd lack of smell from Akamaru, it was almost as if… Shino balked and realise just what that meant.

As he entered the house, it was eerily quiet, completely devoid of the usual life that filled the house to the brim. He could hear a light snuffling from the end of the hall and he slowly made his way down, feeling the contour of the wall against his fingertips. Shino's hairs stood on end as he saw that familiar grey jacket and the man wearing it was wrapped around the white fur, grasping it tightly whilst shuddering and howling. The Aburame clansmen stepped out from behind the doorway and tentatively made his way from the door to man, using his bug's senses to guide his hand towards his friend. Kiba shivered at his touch, but gave no other response which scared Shino, as he'd never seen Kiba at such a low point. Even at his worst, Kiba always had a smile upon his face. This man was so far from the friend he'd grown up alongside that he almost couldn't bring himself to "see" it.

Kiba's sobs filled the still air and Shino sat down beside him, running his hand up and down the other man's back, trying as if to bring out some of the emotions in him. Kiba turned away and drew himself into Shino's long spiderlike arms, sobbing into the other man's chest. The two stayed locked together, with only Kiba's thick, husky hiccups filling the room. After a while, Shino extracted the man from his arms and moved him to the couch, where he mumbled something indistinguishable before slumping down and passing out with exhaustion.

The Aburame moved across the room and ran his fingers through the coat of the white fluffy fur, before letting one of his swarm leave and sit down on a shelf. Keeping the small bug there would mean that he could observe Kiba and make sure that the man didn't do anything rash. As he headed out into the village, the man let out a sigh and felt a shudder of emotion run through him. He'd always loved the big white ball as much as any other member of his team and to think that he was gone was just too much for him to handle. He sighed, before lightly sitting down on the dirt and choked back a sob. It wasn't very Aburame-like of him to be showing emotion, but he couldn't hold back that littlest show of emotion.

He set off, letting his companions guide him through the village, their intrinsic connection with his being meaning that he could well compensate for his lack of eyes. The small twinges guided him to the door of the other member of their squad, her new house with her husband. He raised his hand and it hovered in front of the door where it hovered for a few moments, as if unable to complete its journey to knock on the smooth wooden surface. But to hold back because of emotions was simply something that Shino did not do, so he rapped his knuckle once, sharply upon the wood. There was silence for a moment, before he heard a faint call of "I'm coming!" from inside the house and was greeted by the sweaty face of Hinata, who was wearing her training clothes, with a tiny Boruto upon her shoulders. A broad smile adorned her face, but her face switched to concern when she saw his expression.

"Shino, what's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Hinata, it happened."

The girl's jaw dropped and she whirled around to a confused Naruto, who'd just made it to the doorway. She thrust her son into his arms and kissed each of them on the cheek.

"I'll be back soon, Naruto-kun, I need to go." The blonde looked confused but he nodded his head and moved his son onto his back. Hinata rushed out the door and grabbed onto the Aburame man's jacket, dragging him along behind her.

. . .

The spring air was cold upon her bare skin, the Hyūga thought as she stood among her teammates and former leader. The group quietly stood around a grave with a coffin in it that contained the body of one of their teammates. Hinata had a small handkerchief pressed against her nose, and her eyes were red from the emotions she'd been barely holding back all day, but now that she was seeing her friend and teammate being lowered into the ground, she let them run free. On one arm, she had her arm looped into Kiba's, whilst her other arm was hooked around Shino's, who was standing still, his eyes straight forwards, his visor concealing his expression. She could tell that the man was crying, his visor not disguising the path of the tears running down his face.

To the side, Kurenai stood, with Mirai by her side, the girl reminiscing about how her fluffy friend was no longer with them. The small girls hand clenched hard into their mentor's and she smiled sadly down at her daughter. The girl had spent her childhood riding around on the giant dog and had loved him as a family member so she felt the loss as greatly as anyone standing there. Hinata smiled gently at the girl, who scrunched up her face and wiped at her snotty nose and attempted to match Hinata's composure. The Hyūga sighed gently, before whipping away at the small trail of tears that were cutting south on her face, and noticed that Kiba wasn't even bothering to hide his pain anymore.

He knelt down on the ground and started pounding his fists into the soil and howling. It was one of the most heartbreaking sounds Hinata had ever had to hear in her 27 years of life. The sound was so feral and wracked with heartbreak that if she'd heard it from a distance, she'd have never thought that a person was making the sound. However, it was her friend on the ground and she knelt down beside him, pressing her lips against his forehead and pulling him in against her neck. The snuffling brought tears to her own eyes and soon she was bawling herself, hiccupy, fully bodied sobs that made her shake.

As they kneeled there in the brisk air, they felt two more sets of arms join their huddle; those of their long term teacher and their other teammate. Shino's wiry arms pulled the group together tightly and Kurenai's warm arms filled the group with warmth. Finally, after a little wriggling, Mirai wriggled her way into the arms of the group, wrapping her little arms around Kiba's head. The group embrace held tight and the sobbing went on, the group mourning for the loss of their best friend.

Slowly, they broke the embrace and started to lightly throw dirt on top of the coffin; piling it on until soon the main part of the coffin was covered. Kiba started to sob again and Kurenai pulled him into her arms as Shino used a shovel to fill in the rest of the grave. There was silence for a while before Kurenai said a quiet goodbye and left with Mirai, the two holding hands as they left the group. The trio stood around the grave quietly, their arms interlocked once more, with Kiba in the centre. After a while, Shino rubbed Kiba's shoulder, squeezing it softly before he pulled up his hood and walked off into the evening light. Hinata stayed a while longer, before the Inuzuka turned to her and smiled a little.

"It's alright, you can go, Hinata." She tightened her grip around his shoulder for a moment, before she brushed away and began to walk home. As she walked into the night, she could hear his gentle sobs as he slumped down onto his knees once again and started mumbling to the fresh earth. The woman sighed before she left the Inuzuka cemetery and left the man with his lifelong partner. The sun finally set upon a tragic night for Team 8 and one of the strongest partnerships of their generation.

. . .

The former Team 8 sat at the table, plus the young Mirai, who had wedged herself in between her mother and Hinata, both who were smiling at her. It was a huge swing from the flatness that had been present in the Inuzuka cemetery earlier in the day. There was warm food and both Shino and Kiba were drinking heavily, with Kiba giggling under his breath and Shino swaying back and forth. Hinata had taken it upon herself to drink a little less heavily but was still giggling at Kiba's ravings. A smile graced Kurenai's face as Kiba told the tale about how he'd struggled with Akamaru as a puppy, and how he'd peed everywhere.

As she watched the group converse, in her mind's eye, she saw the children they'd been when she'd first taken them on as their Jōnin-sensei. She remembered the shy, blushing girl that Hinata had been, the overconfident grouch that Kiba had obsessively pushed and the silent, near comatose Shino, who'd never dare show the slightest of emotions. Yet here they were now, all so much more grown up than they'd been so long ago. She dipped her head and nodded quietly to herself.

Quietly, she checked her phone and saw the message from the person she'd been waiting for, and excused herself. When she exited the inn, she found the messenger, who passed her the box and she smiled at them gently, shaking their hand graciously before going inside. Making her way back through the inn, she could feel the box rustling in her hand and cooed softly, hoping to placate the occupant. With a snuffle, it settled down and she smiled, before placing it on the table in front of Kiba. The man looked confused, obviously having not been able to process her leaving the table due to his drunkenness. Shino and Hinata's faces lit up, along with Mirai who was giggling at the silly adults.

The shaggy haired man began to open the box, and his drunken face lit up when he saw the occupant. He reached inside and lifted out the tiniest pup, its face sliced by a tiny black patch of fur. The little pup licked his face and he smiled and sat it in his hood, where it lay its tiny head upon his shoulder and snuggled up against his neck. His eyes blurred with tears as the nostalgia kicked in and he smiled to himself. Relief flooded Kurenai, glad that the little pup had been well received. "She's from his second litter; I thought you'd be glad to have her."

Kiba nodded at her before scooping the little pup out his hood and holding her in front of him with a smile. "She's got a good expression, doesn't she?" It was almost like the sincerity of the world was being contained within it.

"I think I'll call her Makoto."