『秋の日に』

第一章：冷たい夕方

Chilly Evenings

Nine seconds.

That was all the time it took for Kiba's knock on the door to be answered. It was the Hanabi Matsuri (Fireworks Festival) and the Inuzuka boy had gone to his best friend's apartment to fetch her to the festival, as per tradition. As per tradition, man and dog waited as the scent of maple and apples (the latter was new, Kiba noticed, most probably in the shampoo she just used) approached the door, followed by the sound of the lock being fumbled with and as per tradition, the Inuzuka held up his hand in greeting, a "Yo" ready to roll off the tip of his tongue. But the word stuck in his throat and his hand froze in mid-air, when the door creaked apart.

Because contrary to tradition, the girl that had opened the door had taken his breath away completely.

"A-Akira," he breathed out instead, as his wolf-like eyes surveyed the girl in front of him from top to bottom. She was clothed in a purple, sakura-printed, yukata, complete with a silver sash around her waist that made the dark velvet hug her curves (how had he not noticed them before?). Her wild, auburn hair was done up in an elegant hairdo that left part of her hair clipped up and the rest left to frame her sharp face. Kiba felt heat creep up into his cheeks and his heartbeat elevated just a bit. At that moment, he saw his best friend in a whole new different light. Of course, both knew that the Mitarashi girl was, undeniably, more attractive than the average-looking female, something that was quite apparent without her even trying (and she didn't), but heck, Kiba hadn't really given much thought about it...until now. They were best friends, after all, and best friends don't think about each other in, and here Kiba's blush deepened, that way. But here she was, standing in front of him and he felt something towards her that he had never felt before.

He hadn't realized his best friend was dead gorgeous.

"Doushitano?" Akira teased with a slight smirk. Suddenly, Kiba was attracted to those pink lips, those lips that were curled slightly and quirked at the sides. "Dog got your tongue?"

"I-I," Kiba made an attempt to speak but his throat seemed to have clamped down on itself. He swallowed, then blurted out bluntly. "You look like a girl." God, he sounded stupid.

"That's because I am a girl, mutt head," Akira replied amusedly, giving the Inuzuka boy a playful shove. Kiba caught himself wishing ridiculously for those hands to linger on his chest just a tiny longer. He himself donned a charcoal-black yukata, decorated with scarlet claw marks at bottom sides, but even with the thin fabric, Akira's touch seemed to burn his skin upon contact.

"Matte," the girl commanded the boy to wait, as she retreated back into her apartment. "I've got something for Akamaru!" In a few moments she came out holding a hair tie and a comb (which smelt of apples too, Kiba noticed). She bent down to rake the comb through Akamaru's fur on the top of his head and bunched it up into a ponytail that stood on end.

"There, now you look dressed for the matsuri as well," Akira chuckled as she straightened up to admire her work, while Akamaru panted with excitement. "Eh, doushite?"

For she found Kiba with his face turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose. His cheeks were stained with red, but it was hard to tell with his tanned skin and all. As Akira bent down, her yukata had slipped down just a bit and Kiba had caught a glimpse of, Kiba pinched his nose harder, her breasts, pale and pure. He had immediately turned away, ashamed, but that didn't stop the image from being imprinted in his mind. Thank god his nose hasn't bled, yet. He didn't much appreciate the prospect of spending the whole matsuri with the scent of blood in his nose.

"Daijoubu, Kiba? Are you alright?" Akira asked, a hint of worry beginning to show in her voice as she leaned in closer to get a look. That only panicked Kiba even more as he quickly backed away, much to the bewilderment of his friend, and gasped out with a nervous laugh, "D-Daijoubu yo. I-Ikuse! Let's go."

Akira's jaded eyes (since when was there flickers of gold in her eyes, or was that just the trick of the light?) narrowed by a fraction, examining the friend who was acting weirdly today. But finally, she let it passed as she followed with a wry shrug, her geta clopping in pace.

"Doko kara, sono yukata? Where did you get that yukata from?" Kiba asked after a moment of silence in which he had tried his best to keep his eyes on the streets and not let them roam, especially onto his female companion.

"Kore?" Akira motioned to her clothing, slightly surprised by the random question. "Korewa haha no desu. It was my mother's." Kiba could have sworn her voice carried a hint of sorrow - he knew Akira's deceased mother was a sensitive topic to her. "Nee-chan didn't appreciate a hand-me down but I don't mind."

"You, I mean, it looks gorgeous," Kiba commented, feeling the tip of his ears go pink at the slight slip-up. Akira beamed.

"I know, right? It feels weird wearing it though. I feel really naked."

She chuckled, oblivious to how her last statement had affected her male companion by making him splutter, his mind jumping to an image of her...stark naked. Baka, you're not supposed to think of her in that perverted way! he thought furiously as he felt a strange heat from below. Akamaru, smelling his master's arousal, cocked his head at him.

"I have a shuriken holster strapped to my thigh, though. So if anyone attempts to rape me," Akira continued, tone dropped an octave lower. Kiba gulped. "Aitsu wo kurosu. I'll kill him."

Yep, definitely not someone to mess with. Especially not in any perverted way.

Kiba smiled with a hint of sadness to himself as his thoughts drifted back to the day when he first came to know the girl beside him.

Back in the Academy days, the boys' lunch breaks were mostly taken up by soccer. After wolfing down their bentous, they would grab a ball (usually Kiba's) and proceed to indulge in the ball game in the dusty field that Konoha Gakuen offered. Sometimes, the girls' would stand by and watch but most of the time, it was just the boys, engrossed in their game, until the bell rang signaling the end of break.

One day, Kiba and the other boys arrived to find that someone had beat them to the field.

It was a girl. A girl with messy red-brown hair and bright green eyes, standing in the middle of the field, repeatedly kicking a ball into the air, letting it fall and then kicking it up again. Kiba vaguely recalled seeing her before in her class but her name eluded him.

The boys stood, confused, not knowing what to do with the unfamiliar intruder. After a while, Kiba, the self-proclaimed "leader" of the group, stepped forward, catching the attention of the girl who promptly stopped, one foot on the ball and watched him cautiously.

"This is our field," Kiba announced loudly, as if daring the girl to rebut him.

"Really?" those emerald eyes twinkled as a small smirk tugged at the girl's lips. "I don't see your names on it."

Kiba was, to say the least, stunned by the girl's bold reply. He had never actually been spoken back to before, especially not by a girl. But this only served to infuriate him even more as he barked out, "I don't see yours too!"

"I was here first." The girl's calmness annoyed him to no ends.

"We have been using this field since forever, so it's ours." the Inuzuka boy retorted, earning a grunt of agreement from his blonde Uzumaki friend. "Also, how can one person like you play anything?" The smirk on the girl's face stretched into a grin.

"Then join me."

"Baka! Why would we play with a girl like you!"

"Because..." the auburn-haired eight-year-old crossed her arms to ponder the question. "It's a challenge. If I win the game, you'll let me play with you guys whenever I want. If I lose, I will never bother you again."

Kiba's tiny eyebrows furrowed into a frown. Either way, they would have to play with the girl, but at least it gave them a chance, no, Kiba corrected, it guaranteed that the girl wouldn't pester them again. Besides, Inuzukas are never one to back down from a challenge.

"Ii yo," he relented. "But don't expect us to go easy on you just because you're a girl."

The girl smiled, a genuine one this time. Kiba caught himself liking the smile and it took him some effort to restrain himself from smiling back. "I won't. Don't expect me to go easy on you guys just because y'all are boys."

Kiba scoffed. As if she could even think about going easy on them!

The other boys moved onto the field, with no complaints except for Shikamaru's "Mendokusai na.". They split the teams: Kiba with Naruto and the girl with Shikamaru and Chouji. Kiba was secretly pleased – he figured the odds were better with a hyperactive ninja than a fat ass and lazy bum any day. (Though just having him on the team would be enough, he inwardly grinned.)

"Let's do this, Kiba!" True to his title, the blonde wasted no time in pumping himself up for the game, while the Akimichi finished the last of his chips before crumpling the bag and tossing it away, and the Nara yawned. Kiba smirked. This was going to be so easy.

"Rules are simple – one point if you kick it into your team's goal. The game ends when the bell rings and the team with the highest score wins. No ninjutsu or genjutsu allowed." he stated. "We'll take that goal over there and the other is all yours – that's if, you can get it."

The girl seemed contented with the rules. Except, "Matte, one minute to strategise, please," she requested. Kiba narrowed his sharp eyes. They never strategised. Strategising was a girl's thing. "Fine," he conceded. "But be quick."

And as the three teammates huddled together a distance away, Naruto asked, "Should we discuss strategies, too?"

"No need. You just stay back to defend while I win our goals for us."

The Uzumaki frowned. "I want to attack, too."

"Not today, man. Akamaru and I will be enough. Ne, Akamaru?" the dog barked in agreement while the blonde continued to glower. "Oi! Owarimashitaka? Done yet?"

"Owatta," the girl replied, returning with her teammates. The two teams settled into position.

"Ready...hajime!"

Kiba gained possession of the ball easily. As he started dribbling the ball towards the goal, he came face-to-face with the girl. She was a foot shorter than him but the glint of determination in her eyes gave her a rather intimidating aura. Kuso! That one moment of hesitation had been all it took for the girl to snatch the ball away from under his nose...only to be stolen again by the Inuzuka's teammate seconds later.

"Yosh, Naruto!" Kiba cheered as he backed his blonde teammate up, with the girl shadowing after him. He dribbled the ball for a moments, with the goal looming ahead, Chouji situated in front of it (probably chosen to stand there due to his physique), when Shikamaru slid in from the slide and abruptly changed the direction of the ball. Too late, Kiba realised that the girl was no longer around him as he watched her receive the ball with ease and sprinted towards their goal, which was left wide open.

"Akamaru!" He yelled, and had the pleasure of seeing the girl's eyes widen with surprise as a ball of white furriness pounce onto the ball and snatch it away. "Good boy," he murmured as the ball was passed to him, and he dribbled it, away from the girl, pass Shikamaru, and then, a flying kick right into the goal.

The girl scowled as she jogged up to the two boys high-fiving each other. "No pets allowed."

"Akamaru isn't just a pet," he retorted, as he was accustomed to whenever someone would say that. "Besides, it's three against three so it's even."

From the look of the face, the girl wasn't happy but she didn't continue to argue. "Whatever, it's our ball."

The game progressed. Kiba had to admit, this strange girl was not bad. She could match up to his speed easily, was agile and kicked well. Not to mention the tricks that she had up her sleeve – Kiba was caught off guard when, before she passed the ball, had called out "Nara!", to which Kiba thought meant she was passing to Shikamaru and jumped in front of the boy, only to have the ball passed straight to Chouji, who delivered a powerful kick that had the ball flying straight into the, once again, open goal. ("I told you to defend the goal, Naruto!") It didn't take the two long enough to figure out that when the other team called each other by their surnames, they were aiming the ball for the other person. But it took long enough. Nearing the end of the game, with only a few seconds to spare, the score was 5-4 and Kiba was getting desperate.

"Haire! Go in!" he practically ordered the ball as, in his haste, he delivered a strong kick towards his goal. Too strong, in fact, for the ball ended up soaring in an arc above Chouji's head, above the goal, and straight into a second-level classroom, smashing the glass windows in the process. The four boys, dog and one girl came to a stop and gaped at the broken window, and as Kiba sensed an awfully threatening aura stomping out of the building, he yelled, "Hashire!" and they ran, towards the other side of the building where they could hide amongst the thong of people heading back to class.

And it was while running, when Chouji, pumping hard on his pudgy legs, took a great stumble, and fell flat on his face in the dirt ground. That clumsy idiot! Kiba cursed under his breath, as he reached the corner of the building first and turned the corner, to hide in its silhouette. Naruto and Shikamaru soon came after, and...where was the girl? Kiba looked back and wolf-like eyes widened as he caught sight of the girl returning to the Akimichi boy and helping him up.

Shikamaru, at that moment, decided to do something very brave. He yelled, "What are you doing, Fatso!"

The effect was immediate. Chouji's face contorted into a mask of fury and when Naruto echoed another "Fatso!", he wasted no time in dashing towards their direction, leaving a very confused girl behind. "Who are you calling a fatso!?" Shikamaru and Naruto had to run for his life afterwards but Kiba chose to stay, and watched the scene play out when Iruka-sensei caught the girl by the wrist.

"Was it you who kicked the ball into the classroom?" he growled at the student. "What if someone got hurt? Do you know how dangerous that was!"

"It was..." and here Kiba caught the girl shooting a quick look towards their side of the building. Shimatta, she was going to pin the blame on him!

"It was me."

Her quiet response astounded Kiba. And after Iruka gave her an earful, ending with a "You're lucky that there wasn't anyone inside the room at that time. I'll let you off this time, but I expect you to pay for the window!", he approached her.

The girl turned to face him as she heard his footfalls, stating flatly, "We're late for class." But when she headed for the building entrance, Kiba didn't follow. Only when she turned around a second time to fix him with an annoyed stare did he say, "You didn't tell on me."

The girl gave a nonchalant shrug. "What is there to tell?"

But there was. If Kiba had switched roles with the girl, he wouldn't have counted on himself to not sell her out, if it meant taking the blame. Heck, he couldn't even return to help his friend. "Why?" the Inuzuka wanted to know.

Instead, he asked, rather rudely, "Omaewa dare? Who are you?"

"Watashi?" The girl grinned. "Watashiwa Mitarashi Akira desu." Aki meant autumn, and Kiba caught himself thinking how much the name fitted this frivolous, spirited girl with wild auburn hair.

"Inuzuka Kiba," he promptly introduced himself. "And this is Akamaru." He scratched the fur of the white puppy sitting on his head, earning a happy bark from him. "How would you like to join our soccer game tomorrow?"

Since then, their acquaintance had bloomed into a full-blown friendship. Akira spent every break after that day playing with the boys. Whatever she lacked in terms of physique, she made it up with her speed and agility, not to mention her snarky remarks. She looked, spoke, behaved very much like a boy and that sat well with the boys, for they'd never dared to treat a girl the way they treated Akira. She grew especially close to Kiba, partly because they both shared a soft spot for animals, partly because they were the fastest runners in the group that made them almost always on opposite teams to level the playing field and partly because they often bickered with each other, mainly about which team to start the game. They played together, ate together, studied (or pretended to) together, skipped classes together. Even after being assigned different teams, they were often spotted together, strolling, or in some instances, racing, down the streets of Konoha with a dog wedged in between them.

Kiba had thought the friendship between them would remain that way forever.

Boy, was he wrong.

They reached the festival grounds then. Stalls after stalls lined the streets, each selling their own unique products, be it food, clothes, et cetera. The streets were packed with people roaming from one stall to another, generating a lively buzz. Voices of stall-owners calling out prices, injected with occasional hoots of laughter - the matsuri was well under way all right.

"Oi! Kiba!" A voice called out. Kiba turned to see a particular blonde making their way over to them, hand raised in greeting. "And who's that hot chick with you?" Naruto's blue orbs widened for a moment as he recognized the girl. "A-Akira-chan?" Kiba observed the blonde's nose tinge with red. Somehow, the sight angered him.

Akira mock curtsied. "I'm going to have to pummel you to the ground if you call me that another time, Naurto." She said with a deceptively calm smile. Naurto immediately backed away, raising his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, easy there Aki-chan."

"Yare, yare," another voice commented. "If it isn't Akira finally looking like a girl." The trio turned to see their other two friends, Shikamaru and Chouji aproaching them. Shikamaru, the one who had spoken, had both hands in his pockets while Chouji had a stick of takoyaki in each of his.

"Yo, Shikamaru, Chouji," Akira greeted, smiling. "Hisashiburi ne." And as they neared, she stretched out a hand and snatched a stick of takoyaki from Chouji's pudgy fingers.

"Akira-chan-" the Akimichi boy whined, looking downright depressed. Akira stuck out her tongue at him.

"You had two! Plus, you shouldn't be eating so much, Chouji, or you'll become f-" Chouji's eyebrows twitched as Shikamaru quickly clamped a hand over the girl's mouth. He was touching her! Kiba realized with a jolt of, was that jealousy? His wolf-like eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Onna, do you want to die?" he heard Shikamaru hiss angrily into her ears. "Don't ever call Chouji 'fat'!"

"Did you say something?" Chouji's beady eyes were trained on Akira's.

"Ah-, betsuni, betsuni," Akira hastily waved it off, and when Chouji finally resumed eating, she let out a tiny sigh. "It's been too long, I almost forgot." She sank her teeth into one of her takoyaki.

"Umai!" She groaned, upon taking a bite. "Chouji, where did you get this from?"

"Eh?" Chouji scratched the side of his head, before pointing at a certain stall in the distance. Kiba could catch the strong scent of takoyaki wafting from that direction. "Asoko."

"Ja, ikusou!" Akira exclaimed cheerfully. "I want more takoyaki!"

"Boku mo!" Naruto chirped in. The two took off for the stall but before Akira could leave, she was grabbed by the wrist.

"You have some sauce here," Kiba said as he reached out a thumb to gently wipe the takoyaki stain from Akira's chin. The girl stood still with eyes wide, stunned, as the boy's thumb brushed against her cheek. When he was done, Kiba looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at the both of them. He didn't like the knowing smirk on Shikamaru's face at all.

"Nande?" He demanded, a low growl, staring each of them down.

"K-Kiba-kun..."

Kiba swirled around to see Hinata standing nearby, accompanied by Shino. Kuso, did they see that too? Kiba caught sight of the faint blush on his teammate's cheek before noticing Hinata's lavender-tinted eyes gaze downwards and too late, he quickly let go of Akira's hand which he only just realized he was still holding. His neck pinked. This was not going well.

"D-Didn't we say we were going to get takoyaki?" He nervously tried to change the topic, and was the first to start for the takoyaki booth this time. "Jeez, I'm hungry! Ne, Akamaru?" The dog barked, oblivious to his owner's discomfort.

Shikamaru sighed, uttering his favorite phrase under his breath. "Mendokusai na..."

It was troublesome, Kiba found himself thinking as he brisk-walked towards the takoyaki stand, wondering, not for the first time that evening, why he was so freaking warm despite the bitter October air.

Finally touching my account for a very (very) long time. *blows dust away* There, this story started off as a random idea that I recorded down with my phone, and developed into a multi-chaptered story from there, somehow. (Will be quite a short one though.)

Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated!