A Dog's Life
Info:
- Kiba Inuzuka's P.O.V.
- My first good FanFic that I'm keeping
- Just an idea that popped up and scared the hell out of me
Summary:
"You know, Akamaru." Kiba mumbled. "Have you ever considered me getting a girlfriend?"
There was a minor earthquake under Kiba as his mount started and almost fell out of the tree. A rasping, coughing bark erupted from Akamaru's throat.
"Just SHUT UP, you stupid mutt!" Kiba snapped, being the only one who could insult Akamaru multiple times. Most did it once.
Only once.
ENJOY!
It was perfect day in Konohagakure. The sun was partially hidden behind fluffy white clouds, and the sun was a perfect blue. A slight breeze compensated for the bright sunlight, causing the leaves on the trees to flutter and sway.
But hold it – it wasn't just the wind that ruffled the leaves.
Kiba Inuzuka. Sitting on the large white dog with his face turned up at the sky on a tree branch. His eyebrows were in a low, irritated position, his mouth set in a firm slash unlike the broad grin he usually wore.
Needless to say, Kiba was in a bad mood. So what was getting on his nerves? And before you assume anything wrong, no, it wasn't Akamaru, who had chewed on his favourite hoodie jacket this morning…
It was… this damn cheerful weather which encouraged infatuations.
It was… all his damn cheerful friends with the damn cheerful weather, and going out together.
Nobody was alone today… yet here sat Kiba Inuzuka, with no one but his faithful canine.
So he had decided to take a walk with Akamaru, in hopes of calming down.
Futile.
As the fang-marked boy sat in the swaying tree branches, he overlooked a piece of quiet woods. Kiba closed his eyes, drawing in the earthy scents around him.
But, wait, hold it – he could smell Neji and Tenten nearby! Their presence aroused his curiosity.
"C'mon, Akamaru, let's go see." He told his four-legged partner.
Letting out a rumble, Akamaru's version of agreement, he bounded through the tree tops.
As the scent waxed stronger, sounds of metal clashing on metal could be heard too.
Huh? They're practicing? Kiba wondered as Akamaru came to a halt.
Peering between the tree crowns, boy and dog examined the scene before them.
The Hyuuga was just in the process of reflecting all of Tenten's deadly blades. They shrieked through the air, splitting the wind, only to be deflected by Neji's Kaiten.
Straining his ears, Kiba caught Tenten's soft voice on the wind.
"Wow, Neji!" She laughed as she emerged from her hiding spot.
"Still as fit as always! Although, it kinda wounds my pride that, even though I've gotten better, I can't even scratch you." She added wistfully.
Neji's Byakugan melted away and he said emotionlessly:
"Just practice more. You'll already a formidable opponent. And," the Hyuuga's cheeks tinted a slight pink, "You'll succeed someday. I know you will."
Tenten smiled, completely absorbed with her crush, and neither of them noticed the fang-marked boy pretend to throw up in the trees not far away from them.
Kiba gagged and Akamaru automatically bounded in the opposite direction, only stopping when the other two ninjas' scent faded.
"Ugh, that was like some trashy romance novel." The Inuzuka chocked. God, even Neji was getting affected by this fucking good weather!
"You know, Akamaru." Kiba mumbled. "Have you ever considered me getting a girlfriend?"
There was a minor earthquake under Kiba as his mount started and almost fell out of the tree. A rasping, coughing bark erupted from Akamaru's throat.
"Just SHUT UP, you stupid mutt!" Kiba snapped, being the only one who could insult Akamaru multiple times. Most did it once.
Only once.
Akamaru rumbled and glanced at the Inuzuka on his back. He leapt silently to the forest ground below, landing on heavy padded paws.
Kiba slid off his back and the two continued towards town.
They passed straight through Konoha's busiest streets. Most of the people bustling around recognized the Inuzuka Clan's member, and nodded respectfully or called a greeting. Kiba nodded and kept going, his mood lightening somewhat.
It was amazing what a single smile could do on a bad day.
Buuuuuut…
… that little spark of pleasure was lost in the next moment.
Because of that stupid, idiot, dobe of a bastard…
… Sitting happily at the Ichiraku, wolfing down his 57th bowl of ramen; and next to him, the shy and beautiful Hyuga heiress.
Kiba's insides clenched. Long had he had a crush on Hinata; long had he tried to get her to see. But nothing had worked out the way he wanted to.
As he observed the pair, Naruto spotted him.
"GIBA!" He shouted through a mouthful of noodles. Amazing, he could talk – ahem – shout with his mouth full. ^^
"Ohayo, Naruto… Hinata." The Inuzuka nodded with a forced grin.
"K…Koni…ch…chi…w…wa, Kiba-san." Hinata blushed and poked her fingers together.
Naruto hastily swallowed his mouthful and grinned:
"So, what happened, huh? You look grumpy."
"No! I'm not grumpy… I… I…!" Kiba swiftly spat out the first lie he could think about.
"My face is all screwed 'cause I'm… um…I'm allergic to dog fur!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The whole of Ichiraku shot up in their seats, while Naruto forsook his and crashed onto the floor, laughing like a maniac.
Wait, like a maniac? Nuh-uh, revealing himself as the maniac he was.
"KIBA'S LOVE-SICK!" Naruto yelled, sitting up on the floor, laughter tears starting to leak from his eyes.
"K… Ki…ba,… N… Nar… ruto is r… right!" Hinata offered shyly.
The fan-marked boy felt his cheeks heat up and he growled:
"I am not love-sick, Uzumaki, you idiot!"
"EH? EH? KIBA'S GONE REEEEEEEEED!"
*SLAP*
"K… Ki… ba!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, NARUTO, OKAY?"
The blonde fox-boy rubbed his newly acquired red handprint on his whiskered cheek, staring incredulously at Kiba.
Hinata's eyes widened and she stuttered:
"N… Naruto-kun! H… Here, l… let m… me look!" She gently shoved Naruto's hand away and traced her fingers over the swollen skin.
"D… Does it h… hurt?" She asked, blushing fiercely. They forgot Kiba entirely, who stood with a frozen drop-jaw in front of them.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! More lovebirds!
Kiba turned on his heel, streaking out of the Ichiraku faster than Naruto could count to three. Throwing a call of 'Sorry!' over his shoulder, he burst outside.
Akamaru still lay outside, but raised his head and cheerfully wagged his tail at his partner.
"Bullshit! Everybody has somebody except for me! It's a DOG'S LIFE!" Kiba roared.
He received a heart-broken look from Akamaru, who whined pitifully deep in his throat.
"Okay, okay, I have you! And being a dog isn't bad! But I… I somehow want a human to be with! A friend. A girlfriend."
Akamaru grumbled and let his head fall back down onto the ground with a thump.
"C'mon, let's go home." Kiba muttered, turning and heading towards his compound.
The two of them wandered around, heading in the general direction back home. Grimacing, the boy realized that the smell of ramen stuck stubbornly to his clothes, reminding him of the unfortunate encounter a while back.
Just like Naruto.
God, I pity Uchiha a little, having the dobe trailing after him the whole time. He groaned.
Kiba stubbornly didn't look up, preferring to follow the fascinating movement of his feet.
And before he knew it, he had run into somebody.
"Oh! Sorry!" He heard a sweet, feminine voice chirp, seconds before the scent of cherry blossoms crashed full-force into his sensitive nose.
Akamaru didn't bark an alarm as usual, instead stood panting happily as he recognized the person his partner had crashed into.
Sakura Haruno looked up at him, her green orbs looking guilty. She carried two bags of groceries in each hand.
Sighing, Kiba muttered 's'okay', before trying to walk past her.
"Hold on, Kiba, what's the matter?" She inquired, cocking her head to the side and blocking his escape with an arm.
Kiba opened his mouth to answer, until he noticed Sasuke coming towards them. The Uchiha was deep in thought, and started walking past them. However, just as he brushed past Sakura, one of the grocery bags caught on his arm and the contents spread across the ground.
Sakura whipped around and glared at Sasuke.
"What the hell are you doing, Uchiha?" She snapped, bending over to pick up her groceries, saving a package of bread from being devoured by Akamaru.
"Hn."
"Figures." Sakura muttered, reaching over to grab a wayward tomato, only to have it whisked away from under her nose.
Kiba watched Sasuke calmly examine the tomato in his hand.
Sakura's eyes sparked with annoyance, but underneath lay something else…
"Okay, Sasuke-kun – you carry two bags, you get to keep that."
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, taking two bags.
Kiba groaned loudly, earning two quizzical looks from Sakura and Sasuke. Before they could ask anything, he turned and stormed away, Akamaru hot on his heels.
This time, no words were exchanged as they neared their home.
Kami, please let there be no more pairs on the way…
Ten minutes later, Kiba's wish was destroyed. Twice.
He had seen Shikamaru and Temari, not to mention Ino and Sai. What was wrong with everybody today?
So after all these pairs, Kiba was relieved to finally see someone.
Alone.
"Ohayo, Shino." Kiba called.
The boy with sunglasses and most of his face hidden behind his jacket collar nodded at Kiba and stopped to talk.
"Hey, Kiba. What's up?"
"Oh, just a bunch of fucking love-sick idiots." Kiba answered, grimacing.
"…?"
"Well, everybody has a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and I've been having weird thoughts."
"Oh, I see." A single eyebrow rose from behind the sunglasses.
"You want a girlfriend."
Kiba's cheeks heated up, and he hoped desperately that Shino thought the red colour would only be from his fang marks.
"Well… when you put it that way, I feel really embarrassed…"
"You know you don't need one, right?"
"Yes… Hey, why don't you have a girlfriend yourself?"
"The usual reason: my bugs." Shino told his teammate.
"Oh. I see. For me it's Akamaru." Kiba glanced at the said canine and shrugged.
"They get scared of him really fast."
Shino rocked on his heels a little, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Look, it's not bad not having a girlfriend. I mean, if you rush it, you'll do stupid stuff, right?"
Kiba sighed and absently scratched Akamaru behind the ears.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks for the advice."
Shino's cheeks pulled upwards slightly; could it be possible that he was… smiling…?
"Catch you later, Kiba."
Kiba lay on his back in his compound's garden. He was propped slightly on Akamaru's broad back.
I'm turning into Shikamaru. He grinned as he watched the clouds float by.
He was definitely in a better mood than before, taking Shino's advice to heart.
Have patience.
"KIBA! WHERE ARE YOU?" He heard his mom yell in the distance.
"COMING!" He hollered back, getting to his feet.
Closing his eyes, he briefly scented the area.
Wait – what was this?
He smelled another two people in the compound… with unfamiliar scents!
Akamaru caught his mood and growled lowly, sprinting at Kiba's side as they hurried towards Kiba's mom.
As they rounded the corner, they skidded to a halt in surprise.
There, standing in the middle of the path in their garden, was a woman and a girl.
The woman was talking to Hanu with great enthusiasm, while the girl listened quietly.
She was around Kiba's age, with long black hair. When she turned to look at Kiba, he saw that she had pretty, deep amethyst eyes.
"Oh, there you are, Kiba!" His mom greeted him.
"Look, this is my friend Mika-san and her daughter Amaya-chan. We haven't been in touch for a long time, but they're moving to Konoha tomorrow!"
Kiba swayed unsteadily, looking at Amaya.
"Um, hi, I'm Kiba Inuzuka." He stumbled, bowing to them both.
Amaya smiled and he couldn't seem to look away.
"Ohayo, Kiba-san."
Hanu grinned and pushed them towards the house.
"Go have some fun, you two."
Kiba's mouth opened and closed like a stranded fish and he stuttered and stumbled over his words like Hinata.
"So, um, this is Akamaru, by the way." Wow, he sounded like a moron.
"He's really handsome." Amaya commented, smiling at the big canine.
"He… He doesn't mine me here, does he?"
"No, of course not!" Kiba assured her.
Tentatively, she reached out stroked one of Akamaru's silky ears, who rewarded her with a contented rumble.
A grin crept up Kiba's face in sync with a blush and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"D'you wanna go inside?" He finally inquired, jerking a thumb towards the house.
"Fine by me."
She flitted past him and stood in the doorway, waiting. Amaya radiated everything that Kiba looked for in a girl; beauty, intelligence, animal-lover… and calmness. It may seem ironical, but maybe because it compensated for Kiba's mischief, calmness was an important factor for him. That was why he had admired Hinata…
No, Kiba, you should let go of Hinata. She has somebody already. He reminded himself.
Looking up into Amaya's shining orbs, he couldn't help but be think:
From now on, the phrase 'a dog's life' has a completely different meaning for me…
THE END!
GOD, this fic has being ghosting around my head for a couple of days now, and wouldn't leave me alone! In my bed, at school, even while I was fucking practicing my piano it managed to drive me nuts!
Have you done your good deed today?
No?
Well, then review, and you can enjoy the rest of your day feeling guilt-free, because you made me extremely happy.
See ya!
-EbonyEye