It was a cold night for a walk in the Konoha forest, but here he was none the less. He needed to get out of the village and clear his head. Everything was going wrong in the past few weeks of his life and he needed some fresh air. Akamaru had been injured and Hana, his older sister, had just been dumped and was taking all of her anger out on him.
Man life could be rough sometimes. He decided to rest on a nearby rock to try and clear his head. He thought the cool night breeze and the scent of the newly bloomed trees would help calm him, but much to his dismay, they did no such thing. He let out a low sigh and placed his head in his hand.
Kiba-"Man my head is killing me." He brought both his hands up to rub his temples in an attempt to sooth the pain. As the ache began to creep away, he started to mul over the occurances of the day . Kiba had been stupid and gotten into an unnecessary fight with a rouge ninja on his last mission and Akamaru had gotten hurt greatly. He clenched his fists at his recklessness. The poor dog was in intensive care and it was all his fault.
He brought down his fists hard on the rock to release some of the anger he felt towards himself. Kiba had waited outside his companion's room for hours before Hana told him his worrying wasn't helping anyone and to go home. But he couldn't just go home.
Tears flowed down his face as he shook his head to get the thoughts of his best friend lying in pain without him by his side, out of his brain. Kiba forced his thoughts toward his broken hearted sister in an attempt to keep the thoughts of Akamaru from crawling back.
His sister was strong and smart but had a horrible taste in men. It seemed that she only went after the guys who didn't want comitment in any form. He always thought that in the back of her mind she thought she could change them. But sadly, she always left a relationship hurt and broken hearted. Strangely though she had taken this break-up much more seriousley. It was almost as if she thought she had really found the one, only to find out it was all a lie.
He felt for his sister but he couldn't take this crap right now. Besides it was her own fault for choosing them in the first place. He confronted his sister multiple times about her foolish decisions, but she just countered by saying that because he didn't have a girlfriend, he didn't understand. He let a sigh escape his lips in remorse for his sisters horrid love life. She was right in a way though, he was 17 and he didn't have a girlfriend.
He decided long ago though, that he would concentrate on his training and not on a meaningless fling with a girl he knew he probably wouldn't end up with. Although, having a girl there to comfort him would have been nice. He let another sigh escape his lips at the thought. He sat there for what seemed like ages before he heard a soft voice. He twisted his head up and looked around for the source of the noise.
He saw no one and went back to moping when he heard it again. This time it seemed farther away though. He stood and walked in the direction of the soft sound as it called out again. He couldn't understand it, but it sounded so sweet, so comforting, he couldn't resist. He ran after the noise as it seemed to grow farther and farther, the more he chased it. Before he knew it he was standing alone at the bottom of a large waterfall.
He awaited for the voice, if that was what it was, to call again, but was met with only silence. He sat down on the grass near the calming flow of water as it rolled of the steep clif, realizing his own stupididty. He had just gone chasing after a small sound in the woods, which had THOUSANDS of sounds, because it sounded pretty, and now he had no idea where he was, not like he cared though. Kiba thought of his previous actions and it reminded him of something that Naruto would do.
He let out a laugh as he imagined the blonde running aimlessly through the woods after a random sound. Kiba-"Probably just a squirel." He shook his head again, hoping he'd never do something as incompitent as this again. Placing his head back in his hands, he listened to the loud roar of the falling water. He sat there quiet as a great peace over took him. Then he felt a delicate hand lie on his hunched shoulder. Kiba turned and looked up abruptly.
There was a girl about his age looking back at him with a smile on her face. Girl-"Hi there, you looked sad so I thought I'd come over and see if I could cheer you up." Her smile widened in the most beautiful way. He looked up at her in astonishment, then quickly looked back down. Keeping her hand on his shoulder, she sat down beside him. Girl-"Well my names Mariko. What's yours?" Kiba-"Uh, Kiba." His voice was soft and quiet, the opposite of his usual tone.
Mariko-"Kiba huh. That's a nice name." She flashed another smile. Mariko-"So what's wrong?" Kiba-"Nothing." His voice was still soft, as if he didn't really want her to hear him. Mariko-"Oh come on, no one mopes around in the woods with nothing wrong. Come on now, tell me." Her hand squeezed his shoulder lightly. Kiba relaxed at the display of care and act of comfort. Kiba-"It's a long story." Mariko-"I have all the time in the world."
And that was all she said the rest of the night as he spilled his guts about Akamaru and his sister and how he wanted to help both of them, but couldn't. When he was finished she gave him another smile and a reasuring squeeze of the shoulder. The sun was just begining to peak over the edge of the land as Mariko stood up. Mariko-"You really should get going. I have a feeling your dog is better now and he probably misses you greatly."
Kiba looked up at her and wondered how she could be so sure, but decided to accept her confident statement instead of question it. She lent him her hand to help him up and he took it gratefully. Kiba-"Thankyou for listening." Kiba's voice was back to his usual tone as he felt relieved to have all that stress off his chest. Mariko-"No problem." Then unexpectedly, he hugged her tight to him. Kiba-"Really, thankyou." His voice was a low and quiet whisper.
Mariko patted him on the head. Mariko-"You're welcome." She rubbed his back in a comfroting motion and patted him on the head again. Mariko-"Now you should get going." They let go and he ran off waving. Kiba-"Bye!" His voice was loud and happy as he continued in his direction. Mariko-"Bye..." Her voice was now as quiet and soft as Kiba's was when they had first met. She sat under the waterfall as she watched him disappear into the woods towards his village.
Kiba got back to Konaha in record time, and when he got to the hospital, Mariko was right, Akamaru was better and patiently waiting for him. He apologized over and over again to his canine companion. Akamaru just happily licked his masters face, glad to see him again. Once Akamaru was discharged, Kiba took him to the library. He told Akamaru all about his encounter at the beautiful waterfall, and Akamaru suggested they go there to get a map and find the location.
They both rushed there and quickly began skimming through the maps, and what they found shocked them. Right over the area where Kiba had met his comforter, was the name 'Mariko Falls'. He stared at the map unbelievably. A librarian was passing by and looked down to see what the boy was staring at. Librarian-"Ah yes Mariko Falls. Quite the beautiful little spot. Did you know that it was named after a girl who had died there several years ago.
Yes it seems she went there in a fit of tears and wound up killing herself by jumping off the falls. It's said that she wanders that piece of land now waiting and comforting all those who pass by, in hopes that they will not share the same fate as she." Kiba stared at the man with a shocked expression. Librarian-"I do believe I have a book about it around here somewhere." He shuffled through some books on the shelf. Librarian-"Ah hah."
He pulled out an old rugged book and dusted it off. Then he flipped a couple of pages before showing it to the boy. Librarian-"Yes here, this is the girl." He pointed to a picture of a girl smilling and waving. Librarian-"Yes this was taken just hours before she commited suicide. Poor things, she looked so happy."
He gave a sad expression and set down the book infront of Kiba. Kiba's eyes grew even larger when he realized that the girl did not only look exactly like the girl he met, but it appeared that she was even wearing the exact same clothes......