Kiba's POV
"Keep going Hinata, were almost safe!" I cried as a barrage of Kunai soared past my head.
"Kiba, watch out!" cried Hinata, turning around to face me. Too late, I felt the Kunai stab into my leg, sending a wave of pain, that knocked me down to the forrest floor. "Kiba!"
Hinata quickly scrambled back to her fallen teammate. "Kiba, are you all right?" she asked, examining the knife protruding from my calf.
"I'm fine!" I winced as I yanked the knife prom my leg. "But we gotta keep going if we're gonna make it!"
"You can't do anything with your leg like that!" argued Hinata as I fell down, trying to stand.
"I'm gonna have to! It's not like I can just ride on Akamaru!" I growled, cursing myself for this injury. "Come on, we need to hide!" I grabbed her hand and quickly hobbled over to some bushes along the face of the cliff. As soon as we got hidden, I could see to silhouettes of what looked like three people.
"Quick, did you see were they went?" whispered one shadow to the other.
"No, but I wounded one of them, look!" said the another silhouette, gesturing to the ground.
"They can't be too far off then, lets go before the reach the border." All three silhouettes jumped off to continue the chase, while I let loose a sigh of relief. Suddenly as I leaned back, I felt something hard, smack my head.
"Ouch! What the he-" I started but stopped as I turned to find a barred sewer entrance. "Hinata, look." I whispered as I examined the medium sized hole in the cliff.
"It's just a sewer system Kiba, so what?" she whispered back in a confused voice.
"Hinata, this sewer will lead you right to the other side of the border, you have to go, her take care of him." I whispered, handing her Akamaru from my jacket.
"What do you mean, aren't you coming with?" she whispered in shock.
"I can't, the bars are too narrow, and if I could, the water would give me too bad of an infection. I'd be dead before we got home."
"Then I'm staying with you!" she argued. "You could be killed."
"I know but what choice do we have? You need to tell the village about the land of rain's plan to attack. You're the only one who can fit through the bars, please..." I begged, giving my best puppy dog face.
"...But I don't want to lose you." she whimpered, tears threatening to show.
In an act of bravery and stupidity, I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. "You won't lose me, I swear. Now take care of Akamaru for me until I get back." I promised, flashing my wolfish grin. I jumped out of the foliage in time to see a blushing hinata crawl into the sewer before calling my name one last time.
"Kiba...I-I love you." she stuttered before running away into the dark hole.
"I'll come back to you Hinata, I promise..." I said to myself as I ran back out into the open...
2 DAYS LATER...
I opened my eyes to a blinding light. "Uuuugh, who turned on the sun?" I groaned as I tried to sit up.
"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you." came an unknown voice from behind. I turned around and found the voice to have come from an older man. He possessed a well kept Grey beard with equally well kept hair to cover his chiseled features.
"Where am I and who the heck are you?" I asked, looking for a door in the blinding light.
"My name is Katashi Inoue, but you can call me Warden Inoue, and this fine establishment is Kurosawa Prison, or "Black Swamp" Prison if you prefer." MY body froze when he said Kurosawa Prison. Every child in the leaf village grew up listening to the horror stories of Black Swamp Prison. He must have caught that action, as a small grin spread on his face and gently shook with laughter. "Ha ha, I presume that you've hered the stories of what happens her haven't you Inuzuka."
The way he said my name managed to send a tremble of fear down my spine. "How do you know my na-" Before I could finish, he had managed to move across the room and jam a needle into my neck. The last words I hered were "sleep tight Inuzuka, for it could be your last..."
I don't know what hit me first, the stench of countless prisoners that haven't showered since kami knows when, or the point of a kunai pressed against my throat.
"Hehe, hey boss, he's awake!" shouted the thug with the knife at my throat. I looked up to see what I thought was a midget in a room full of giants approach me. I looked all around and saw people at least two heads taller than I was and then there's this guy barely passing for five feet tall.
"Ah, good morning sleepy head, about time you woke up." he laughed before looking up at my headband. Suddenly a scowl was etched upon his face faster then I could blink. "A leaf ninja, eh?" He glared at me.
"Yeah so what about it?" I scoffed before getting smacked to the face.
"Watch that lip boy or you'll regret it." he threatened. "Hey everybody, we have a leaf ninja!' he shouted into the room. Suddenly, every ones eyes were on me, all sporting the same scowl as the midget in front of me. "The only thing I hate more then the warden is leaf ninja." he scowled and spat in my direction.
I don't care how big he thinks he is, but he just crossed the line. I took aim and landed a solid punch right on his nose, sending him flying across the room. He slowly stood up and howled in pain as he held his now broken and bloody nose in his hands.
In a hurt, nasally voice he cried "Boys! Kill that son of a bitch!"
Suddenly, the room shook as three sumo sized goons surrounded me and charged. I got in position and did a one man Fang-over-fang into his gut before turning around and kneeing another man in the groin. I was about to take down the third when the room suddenly exploded in smoke. I was suddenly pulled off my opponent and felt the familiar pain of having a needle jammed into me before blacking out for the second time that day...
"I see you're not playing nice with the other inmates, are you, Inuzuka." came the voice of a disappointed Warden Inoue.
"Playing nice?! I wake up and that midget with his three goons attacks me, what else could I do?!"
The warden gave me a stern look and said "But inmate 115 said you had thrown the first punch, I also have prisoners 935 and 101 to confirm it."
"Bull Crap! Those are probably the thugs who attacked me!" I roared, barring my K9's.
"Now now Inuzuka, sadly the evidence is against you," he said in a calm voice. "I'm afraid I have to punish you." The warden snapped his fingers and chains shout out of the ceiling and latched onto my wrist.
"Hey! Let me go, I was only defending myself!" I yelled, struggling against the chains.
"I'm sure you were," chuckled the warden. "First offense, 10 lashings!" he ordered before cracking his whip.
'CRACK' sounded through out the room as pain exploded through my body. "Aaaaaah!" I cried out in pain as another lashing hit me.
"Take your punishment like a man!" he roared as he lashed me again. 'CRACK'
In a fit of adrenalin filled rage, I broke free of the chains and aught the whip before it hit me. I ripped the whip out of his hands and punched him right in his bearded face. The warden flew across the room before colliding hard with the opposite wall. I charged at him, intending to kill him, but I couldn't move. I looked down to see my entire body encased in a cocoon of chains.
The warden rose back to his feet looking ready to kill. "Hmmm, I see now. Now under normal circumstances, I'd call that a second offense, but you don't deserve such mercy!" he roared, blood running down his chin. "That is your third and final offense! As you can tell, those aren't ordinary chains. Those chains are made of a special metal that lets me infuse my chakra into them, allowing me to manipulate them how ever I please. Now, because I am a gentleman, I'll let you pick how you die. Would you rather find out why no one has ever gotten through Black Swamp forrest alive, or would you rather find out why people here "howling from under the prison?" he asked, with a sadistic grin on his face.
"If I choose the swamp, I'll have a chance at escaping." I thought to myself as I struggled in these chains. "I pick the swamp." I answered with as much bravery I could conger.
The warden looked at me before smiling an even more sadistic grin then before, if it were possible. "To the pit it is."
"You Lying piece of crap!" I yelled as I was dragged into another room where only a dark hole in the ground was found.
"Rumor is, a convict lives down there, he's spent so much time down there that he's no longer human. Just a wild beast that feeds on what ever falls down there. Have fun." laughed the warden before dropping me into the pit.
To this day, I never did know how I survived the fall, but when I awoke, all I knew was that I was in total darkness, and that I wasn't alone. Suddenly, I hered the scrape of feet against the hard ground. I slowly backed up as far as I could when I noticed they were getting closer to me. Suddenly, my back hit the wall, and the footsteps kept getting closer until I could feel it's breath on my skin. It started sniffing me and pawing at me, as if expecting I'd try to run. Suddenly, outside the clouds cleared, letting a single ray of moonlight enter through a crack in the roof, revealing what was in the cave with me. In front of me was what appeared to be a man, covered in dirt, with unkept dark brown hair and smelt of what could only be compared to death. The man looked at my face before his eyes widened in what I think was surprise before backing up into the darkness. Suddenly in a deep husky voice, I hered him speak.
"Those red marks, what are they from."
I just stood there dumbfounded and confused as to what was happening. "What?"
"Those markings, were are they from!" he roared, knocking me to the ground in a tackle. "Tell me were those markings are from or I'll rip your throat out!" he growled, baring his teeth.
"Th-they're the symbol of th-the Inuzuka clan!" I stammered, knowing what would happen next. Suddenly, the man jumped off of me and fell on the ground, howling with laughter. "What's so funny?!" I growled, getting off of the floor.
"Bahahahaha! So-sorry." laughed the man, trying to catch his breath. "But what in the world is an Inuzuka doing here?" he asked, still shaking with laughter.
"An unlucky Kunai." I grumbled, annoyed from being laughed at. "And what's your story, all I see is a crazy old man in a cave!" I retorted with a grin.
"My name is Hotaka, Hotaka Kazuuni, but you can call me Kazuuni." said the man, as he sat down on a rock.
"You're name is 'step-by-step' Kazuuni?" I laughed, taking a seat as well.
"So, what's your name then?" he grumbled.
"Kiba Inuzuka lone wolf of Kanoah." I said proudly. I looked over to see Kazuuni studying me.
"So you're from the Hidden Leaf village, correct?" asked Kazuuni.
"Yep, home sweet home." I muttered a little depressed.
"Whats with the long face kid?" asked Kazuuni, eying me suspiciously.
"Nothing, its just...I miss my friends." I mumbled, looking towards the ground.
"What are your friends like?" asked Kazuuni as he got up and went over to the corner.
"They're the best friends any one could have. Shino's a complete bug freak, even has a few living inside of him. Naruto's nuts for ramen, I swear, he's eaten more ramen then everyone in the village combined, Except maybe Choji, he's a big fan of food too...Then there's Hinata."
Kazuuni came back and tossed something onto my lap. After looking it over, I found out it was a giant mushroom. "Hinata...you don't mean the young Hyuga girl do you?" he asked before taking a bite of mushroom.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Every ones herd of the Hyugas and their byakugan. Heck, I think a few inmates are here BECAUSE of the byakugan!" he mentioned in between bites. "How do you know here?"
"We're...teammates" I said, blushing a bit.
"Bull Crap, you don't bring up one girl in a list of friends and call her a 'teammate'. What is she really to you?" he interrupted.
"Honestly, I love her. I loved her when I met her, I loved her when we trained together, I loved her when I made her leave me when I was brought here." I said before taking a bite of my mushroom. "Mmmmmmmmmmm, these things aren't half bad!"
"I know, but you let her escape while you took the blow? That was a heroic thing to do." he said, putting down his mushroom.
"Thanks, but enough of my life, what about you? Why are you here?" I asked.
"Well, it all started 14 years ago...I was given a top secret mission by my Kage. He said it was highly classified, so classified, that I couldn't even tell my wife about it. It was a relatively simple job, go to the land of rain, kill some guy, get out, he said if everything went smoothly, I could be home in time for dinner that same day." he started.
"Whoa, you were a ninja too?" I asked, surprised.
"Not just any ninja, but one of the top five in my village! But any way, the job was simple, get in, get out. I got in alright, problem was, someone saw me get out. Within seconds, I had the entire village hunting for me, and the only way out was...Black Swamp forrest."
I felt a shiver down my spine as he mentioned that name.
"Every ones herd the tails of how the forest is guarded by the dead and that no ones ever been to the other side. But I had no choice, it was either, risk getting lost, or get killed by the villagers. I took off into the woods with out looking back. Two days I ran through this swamp, not daring to stop until I got out. Unfortunately, I was going around in circles. The swamp does things to your mind were you just lose it. No map on earth could have helped me. I ran and ran until I found them..." he stopped.
"Found what" I asked, almost scared to know the answer.
"The dead. The stories are true, they rise from the water and try to pull you in. They nearly got me until I ended up here. I don't know what it is about this place, but the dead don't come here, but once I got here though, they locked me right up. The other prisoners don't really like leaf ninja, as I'm sure you already know. So the warden threw me down here. Every now and again I here him tell prisoners and guards how I 'lost my mind' and 'went crazy' or something like that. He must be a good story teller because every one always chooses the swamp, and no one ever makes it. To be honest, you're the first one he's ever threw down here. Why'd you pick me?" asked Kazuumi.
"The warden lied. I chose the swamp, yet he still threw me down here, apparently, he thought you're worse than the swamp." I laughed, rather glad about my predicament.
"Hahaha, really?! Wow what an idiot." laughed Kazuumi. "Ha ha, hey Kiba?"
"Yeah Kazuumi?" I asked, wondering were he was going with this.
"Do you have any family?"
"What?"
"Family, do you have any family?" he asked again. "A brother or a sister?"
"Yeah, I got my mom and my older sister Hana, why do you ask?"
"What are they like, Are they a good family?"
"Well, we're a little different, my sister is a veterinarian, and my mother is a Nin-dog trainer." I answered.
"What no father?" asked Kazuuni.
"He ran away when I was little. Joke of the house is that mom scared him off." I laughed light-heartedly. "But honestly, I wish I knew him. My mom use to tell me stories before bed of how amazing he was, she told me of how he took down dozens of bad guys at a time. From what I herd, he didn't seem like the kind of guy to run away. To this day I wonder if he's still alive." I looked over to Kazuuni to see what he though of my story. He had a pensive look on his face, as though he were thinking of how to solve all the worlds problems. "What about you, what about your family.
Kazuumi snapped out of his stupor and began to think of an answer. "I don't really know, I had a beautiful wife, she was an amazing ninja, scary as hell on the battlefield. And I had two children, a little girl and a baby boy. My little girl absolutely loved animals, especially puppies, she was crazy about puppies. And my little boy, barely a year old when I left. They probably hate me now, think I left them for another life, great life I'm living eh?" Kazuuni nudged me with his elbow as he laughed at his own joke. "Kiba, what would you do to see your precious Hinata and family again?" he asked in a serious voice.
"Anything, why?" I asked, taken back by his question.
"Because," he began. "I think I might have a way out of this prison..."