Title: Furry Friend
Author: B.l.k.tyger
E-mail: PG
Warnings: none, unless you count the extreme cuteness of it XD
Disclaimer: I am a thief…I do not own any characters to the anime series Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto etc.
Author's Note: So none of the characters belong to me obviously. Tyger's sort of taken a short break from Together Forever, Eternally Apart because she had this stuck in her head for a little while. She wrote it out, though it was going to be longer and it ended up being just a nice little oneshot-ish family looking thing. It might or might not have more to it some day, but anyhow, enjoy!

The blonde crouched in his place, still as the stone memorial that pressed against his back. The hair was plastered to the side of his face, dripping over a pair of bright blue eyes. Those very same blue eyes were staring sorrowfully at a brown lump several feet away.

The gaze was steady, his feet shuffling a few inches closer.

A small whimper cut through the air, piercing the blonde's heart in a way that would have had his large blue eyes tearing up if it weren't for the downpour of rain. The water soaked into his clothes and drenched the poor unfortunate and orphaned animal in front of the man.

Minato sighed quietly as he shuffled, yet again, closer to the chocolate lab. The poor thing still whimpered but it had finally turned the most adorable brown eyes that the man had ever seen towards him. The blonde shuffled the rest of the way cautiously and scooped the pitiful thing into his arms.

The young dog had had a trying and traumatic day, he whined quietly, curling into the comforting source of heat.

Kakashi whined unhappily. He'd been left in the dark room for what seemed like eternity to him. Of course, it was really only an hour or two. A set of large clumsy paws bounced awkwardly across the wooden floorboards as Kakashi made his way over to the front door.

He'd been busy in his eternity, left by his owner on some errand; the wolfhound had successfully unraveled the toilet paper roll, helpfully decorating his home.

He looked up as the doorknob turned, his dark nose lifted into the air, sniffing thoughtfully, though his ears had already perked, attuned to the sound of his owner. A high-pitched whine erupted from his throat and the canine had launched himself as soon as the door had opened.

"Whoa, Kashi! I've only been out for an hour, you brat! How's Naruto?" Minato laughed, juggling his precious cargo as he attempted to keep the over enthusiastic wolfhound from knocking him over.

Though Kakashi was a young dog, he was large and judging from the fact that his paws were still looking a little big, he would obviously be getting even larger.

Kakashi squirmed, his nose having caught scent of something new, something very wet, although that could have just been because his blonde was drenched in rain including the brown lump?

Kakashi snorted, butting his head against Minato for attention and sneaky attempts to see what his blonde had brought home.

"Come see your new friend Kakashi! Be nice now okay? He just lost his family." Minato headed on to the kitchen area before kneeling down to the wolfhound's level, revealing the chocolate lab to his furry friend.

The brown dog whimpered, trying to return to the warmth he'd been in contact with as a cold nose poked his side.

Kakashi was much larger then the other canine, though from what Minato knew about dogs, which were a lot since he loved dogs so much, the wolfhound was only a month or two older.

Kakashi was a year old.

"His name's Iruka." The blonde murmured fondly as he let the two do some bonding, he knew Kakashi wouldn't harm the smaller canine.

He was right, Kakashi had noticed the shivering lump and had already settled himself around Iruka, curling up protectively. The chocolate lab almost immediately relaxed into the warmth, snuggling close with a soft whimper. Kakashi was all teeth, grinning as he gave a soft sigh of content.

It would be minutes later that Minato had turned away from preparing meals for his two precious children. He had been about to give it to them until he saw how comfortable the two were all snuggled up on Kakashi's beanbag.

Smiling, the blonde turned back to the kitchen so that he could cook up his own dinner and take care of little sleeping Naruto, chuckling under his breath.

Minato Namikaze was a handsome man, or so many of the female species would say. His blonde hair was wild and long, always unkempt and untamable. He was in his mid 30's, widowed and the father of his precious little boy.

Minato wouldn't have considered himself a father of one child though, no, he had two more and Naruto was happy to share his father with his furry siblings.

Their apartment was small, filled with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room; it was the standard living space of most average middle-class working people. Minato himself knew that adding another dog into the family of three was pushing it when it came to space.

He didn't have the heart to leave Iruka behind though. He'd been standing right there, witnessed the car hitting the first dog, a second canine and the screeching sound of tires, followed as she tried to reach her mate. The blonde had practically dived to grab the young dog trying to get to his parents.

Minato groaned heavily, he wasn't looking forward to after dinner. He'd seen the mess Kakashi had made and he was sulking because Naruto wasn't there to help clean up. His young son was sleeping away quite contently in his room.

Minato had fretted over leaving his son for the short trip out to the groceries, in which he apparently returned with a new dog. The blonde groaned he was much to distract really, though he was rather proud to now have a sweet, adorable chocolate lab to add to the family.

Minato had been ecstatic, he would be rewarded with many hugs and slobbering kisses for sure later. Grinning cheekily, Minato washed his dishes and set the two bowls of food down on the placemat he had gotten for Kakashi, not that the dog was messy, but because it was cute and had the words 'Paws Off' on it.

Kakashi and Iruka were still curled up on the beanbag, but it seemed Iruka was now comfortably awake and hungry judging from the look in his eyes and the constant licks to his muzzle.

He looked reluctant to move out of his Kakashi-pillow however.

Kakashi blinked his eyes as he watched Minato clean up the paper towel and then disappear to check on his baby son. His tongue rolled out of his mouth as he silently laughed at the man. The wolfhound was a well-behaved dog in ever aspect, but he did have a particular bratty and mischievous streak in him.

Tonight, Naruto was sleeping and Minato had left him alone for the evening and it had driven him up the wall. He'd always been within close proximity with at least one of them ever since he'd been brought into the family and this was actually the first time he'd been sort of alone.

He hadn't liked it one bit.

He could see how hungry Iruka was though. Kakashi nudged the chocolate lab, rising to his feet only after the other had. He continued nudging encouragingly until his new companion had taken his own initiative and greedily slurped at the meal left out for them.

Kakashi munched on his own bowl of food, mismatched eyes steadily watching Iruka for a moment before digging his face into his food with gusto.

The chocolate lab licked his lips clean, raising his head to stare at Kakashi thoughtfully. The other had been very nice to him since the blonde haired man had brought him here. The wolfhound had taken careful care of him, keeping him warm and licking him dry, he'd even let Iruka eat first!

The lab licked his muzzle; gaze steady with the older canine until he realized that a pair of mismatched eyes was looking back at him. Iruka ducked his head sheepishly, sniffing at his empty bowl.

Iruka was surprised to find the half-eaten bowl nudged into view and blinked, taking a good look at Kakashi.

He was a gorgeous wolfhound really; his fur was sleek from constant brushings, a rich deep grey. He wondered how Kakashi had gotten that scar on his left eye, the odd colored eye. Iruka gifted the wolfhound with a row of white teeth before happily finished off the rest of Kakashi's food.

He thanked the other by pouncing on the larger canine and thoroughly licking the canine.

Kakashi grinned happily, allowing the other to pin him and lick him silly. He knew for a fact that he wasn't submissive what so ever, especially not so if one knew what he'd been through. However, something about Iruka just had Kakashi melting into a puddle of silver goo and the wolfhound was all too happy to defer to the lab.

Minato lifted a year old Naruto from his crib, cooing softly into the baby's face. As he waltzed his way out the door, he raised an eyebrow, seeing the lab licking the hell out of Kakashi as the larger dog lay on his side lazily.

It was a surprise to see the canine allowing Iruka to do that. Minato chuckled, making his way over and seating himself on the couch, Kakashi scrambled to his feet with Iruka close behind him as they trotted over to the two blondes.

Kakashi laid his head adoringly on the man's lap; Iruka just flopped with a happy sigh beside the wolfhound. Minato smiled, dropping one hand to rub Kakashi's head.

It was a beautiful day.