Kiba was wondering around the woods. He had no missions for today. Everyone else seemed to. It was a bit stupid. He wasn't doing anything today and even though he had practically prayed his guts out for a time like this, now that the "evil" was done, he didn't seem too pleased about it. That's because he was getting bored.

Sure, he trained with his huge dog, Akamaru but it still didn't seem enough. At one point, he thought of Naruto and his other friends… Naruto had been with Hinata since the history with Sasuke had ended. They loved each other intimately, without giving any traces to the others. Shikamaru was often gone for the Hidden Village of Suna and even though he often denied it, he was there more like for Sabaku no Temari.

Lee was pleased to be with Sakura, now that they were taking it slow… Neji was often visited by Tenten. Even Chouji was settled down with Ino. They would often fight on Why Chouji should stop feeding himself so hard, but those kinds of fights would end up pretty good, and giving you the relaxation that they wouldn't let a damn habit take them apart.

Kiba thought about Gaara. Yeah, sure he didn't seem to have anybody either. But then, he was the Kazekage. He had other business to attend to. So, why was he so bored now? He thought that this sort of stupid situation in which he was meddled up until his throat was because he was single. Then, again, he wasn't single. He had Akamaru. He just lack of what everyone had: a girlfriend. So, what was he supposed to do about it? Find himself a girl? And then what? Live happily ever after with her?!

He got up with the kind of look on his face that made Akamaru think his partner and master had an idea. He didn't actually know whether it was a good idea, or not.

'Akamaru!' Kiba burst out, with a rascal smile on his face. 'We've got ourselves a new mission. It's for us! We're gonna find ourselves mates!'

His dog watched him a bit worried. He must have thought that his master was getting "corrupted" by that thing with "find life through love". Oh, brother…

He looked in town for practically any girl that he thought cute and available. The problem was that none seem to fit his tastes. Even Akamaru looked up around, but he couldn't sense anything. By the end of the morning and into the late afternoon, Kiba returned back to his usual place in the forest and muttered to himself bored:

'Oh, brother… no luck! How am I supposed to get away from his boring situation?! Am I supposed to be the only one left alone?'

Suddenly, as he looked at Akamaru, he saw that his dog had spiked his ears, trying to hear something up.

'W-what is it, Akamaru?'

The dog didn't say anything much. He stood like this for a few minutes, like he was listening to what people say, and then he came back to what he was doing. He put his snout on his paws and closed his eyes to sleep. Kiba breathed relieved:

'He was just playing around… right… bored, huh? Definitely…'

He sniffed.

When Naruto came back from his mission and was heading out of the Hokage's house, he was just about to go in for training again. He was always the active type and wouldn't miss the day just for the rest. He was very energetic.

He was supposed to meet Hinata soon after she had returned home from her mission, this late afternoon. Suddenly, as he went towards the woods, he saw Kiba's figure, lying under a tree, quite bored. Akamaru was running around, trying to catch squirrels.

'Oi! Kiba!' he called his friend.

Kiba got his head down and pranced on his feet in an instant, to face Naruto:

'Hey, there, Naru!'

'What're you doing here? Aren't you on a mission, or something?'

'No, the Hokage said I could take a break.'

'Aha… well, you wanna train with me, now?' Naruto asked joyfully.

Kiba smiled:

'Sure!'

They trained for the next three hours. They took a break after Naruto's energy went a bit down than usual:

'Huh! I'll rest a bit and afterwards I'm getting back on my training!' Naruto assured himself proudly. He sat down, next to Kiba, under a tree and looked at the sky quietly.

Kiba thought he was beginning to get pensive. Probably thinking of Hinata…

'Ne, Naruto?' he started rather reluctant.

'Hn?'

'You, a… you've got Hinata, right?'

'Aaaaa' Naruto muttered happily.

'And you're… great on that, right?'

The blonde-haired guy looked at his friend. His blue eyes sparkled with curiosity and rather misunderstanding.

'Yeah, sure I am… why do you ask?'

'Well, um… nothing in particular. Just asking.'

Kiba pretended to watch the sky relaxed and out of the world. Naruto had grown up and often was called stupid. Still, he knew why Kiba had asked him that. On one hand, the relationship between a man and a woman was a bit different from that of friends'. It was natural for his friend here to be curious about him and Hinata. On the other hand… he had never seen Kiba with a girl before.

'Are you asking me because you never had a girlfriend?'

Kiba almost choked with his own saliva. He got up and coughed a few times before answering like a burst:

'N-no! I was simply making a conversation!'

'No, I think you're asking cause you never had a girlfriend and you want to know what it's like! Well, the only advice I can give you is to get yourself a lady!'

Naruto gathered his arms at his chest and returned on looking at the sky. Kiba let his look down, after watching his friend for a few minutes.

'I guess everybody would say that' he muttered. 'Just like you now… Ne, Naruto?'

'Hn?'

'Is finding a girlfriend a great thing, just like everyone says it is? Lee baffles all about that now that he's with Sakura!'

Naruto gave it a thought before answering. He smiled nicely:

'Well, yeah! When you really like a girl and that girl becomes your girlfriend, sure you feel great! More like tremendously great! It's nice to have someone different than your friends who can listen to you and sometimes take away your pain with one kiss or one hug. I feel like that when I'm with Hinata…'

Naruto turned slightly red in his cheeks when he thought of his girlfriend.

Kiba watched him thoughtfully:

'Really?'

'Aaa…'

'Well, um… I want a girlfriend too, then!'

Kiba looked around joyfully. He seemed enthusiastically about it, like finding a girlfriend was like buying an apple. Naruto watched him:

'Don't get yourself into it too much. You like any girl around here?'

'Nope, not really…'

'Well, you've got to find yourself a girl first. Then, you've got to get to know her a bit and see if you also like what's inside her. Then, if you see she's fitted to be yours, you ask her to be your girlfriend.'

'It's that simple?'

'Yeah. The hard part is to find her and make her love you back!'

Naruto sniffed after that, and got up on his feet:

'I'm gonna train!'

Kiba watched him rather pleased with himself this time. Akamaru felt that his master was happier than this morning.

The next morning, he was still not assigned for any mission. Yet, that day he seemed more determined to find someone fitted for his heart. His sister had seen him quite out of his usual. And had watched Akamaru questioningly while her brother was heading for the town.

He started to look again at all the girls in town and tried to think of them as something special. All of those who saw him, were smiling and giggling, quite playful, as they saw that a boy was watching them. Still, they all look the same this time, pretty and delicate like some sort of dolls which weren't to be to the likes of him. Akamaru agreed to that. At one point, they reached the entrance to the forest, on the other side of the village. Akamaru stopped again and did as he had done yesterday morning, spiked his ears as if he was listening to something. Kiba turned worried. He was just about to ask what was going on, when Akamaru got out a growl and then barked to him master.

'What?' Kiba burst out worried. 'Someone's in trouble? Lead the way, Akamaru!'

The large dog went ahead, as his master followed him into the forest. At one point, they reached a grove, filled with pretty flowers and a river alongside, which was pouring calmly. It was a sunny day outside, so the light-razes were falling through the many leaves of the tall trees. It was quiet.

'Where are we?' Kiba asked meaningless.

Suddenly, he saw Akamaru scratching something underneath a large tree that possessed a big crack in its trunk, at the surface.

'What in…?!'

He stopped even to think. He had heard some deaf moans coming from the crack in the tree and he saw a tiny, skinny pale hand pushing Akamaru's snout away from the entrance in the crack.

Kiba came closer and now, he could hear somebody mumbling "get away from me" from inside the trunk of the tree.

'Akamaru!' he called his dog and the animal listened to his master. Suddenly, the moans and the other human sounds finished up, when he talked to his dog. Kiba approached the crack in the tree. He was sort of scared. He put his kunai in front, prepared for any attack. His eyes drew a closer look inside the darken trunk, sniffing the smell inside. He had thought the scent might be that of something old and rotten. It smelled like jasmine. He was surprised. Suddenly, as he went closer with his face inside the crack, a small hand grabbed his face and stopped him from continuing.

'Stop right there!' a girl's voice muttered softly. 'Don't come any closer, please…'

Rather frightened that he might deal with an enemy, he drew back fast and burst out:

'Get out of there!'

'Alright…'

Her voice didn't seem dangerous. In fact it lacked of the force to mean what she was saying. It was soft and delicate.

Kiba looked at the hole in the tree, as he saw two skinny hands grabbing the margins of the gap. Then one naked skinny foot… another one… in the end, the creature came out. It was a girl. She was younger than him.

She was dressed up in an old kimono, which was black and almost torn apart in several places. It carried blood around it. Her hair was very long and black, just a crow's wings, sparkling in the sun with a sense of dark-bluish color. When she lifted her face up, she had a bruised eye, but the iris was still sparkling in a pale golden color. The other eye had a pale blue color.

She sort of had a sense of seductiveness, even though she didn't seem to even care what kind of magic she would spread amongst the men. She stopped, as Kiba gazed at her. He was stupidly staring at her. His mouth was open because of the amazement of finding such a … pretty creature and his eyes were opened wide because of the weird color-ness in her own gaze.

'T-t-t…' he mumbled, confused.

Her head went down again, as if she were an obedient child:

'Sorry to have not come out… I was scared of you…'

'I … I …'

Akamaru was the only one to get back to himself. He went to the girl and sniffed her, afterwards barked joyfully and licked her face.

'Oh, stop it!' she burst out rather frightened. She pushed the dog away, as if she was scared of him.

Akamaru felt like playing, so he continued on following her and started to drag her dress and play with her hair, as he made her become more frightened:

'S-stop it! Stop it!!'

At one point, she backed up so sudden than she tripped and fell down, in front of the dog. Now, the animal's imposing presence scared her really hard and she covered her face with her arms:

'Get away from me!'

'Akamaru!'

The animal stopped, but it wasn't because his master called him, or something. He had done it from his own will. He couldn't understand why she had feared him. he backed up, as Kiba came to her:

'S-sorry about that…'

Kiba came to her and was smiling guiltily when she had turned her gaze on him again. He stretched his arm to help her get up, as he added:

'Akamaru usually thinks that people don't fear him and he just plays with them, that's all. He wasn't going to harm you.'

She gave him her hand, and as he lifted her on her feet, Kiba saw that her hands were pretty skinny and small, compared to his.

'What's your name?' he asked politely. 'Mine's Kiba!'

He started to scratch the back part of his head, as he smiled playfully to her, when he said that.

'M-mine's… Ruko…

He was about to say "that's nice", but he felt that that sounded more like Lee. He opened his mouth to say something else, but saw that the girl wasn't doing anything else, but just standing there, stiff, with her look faced down on the ground, and obedient, as usual.

'Ne, Ruko-chan…' he mumbled, rather embarrassed, as he drew his hand in the back of his head, 'don't mind me asking, but what were you doing in that crack in the tree?'

He saw that she stumbled on a rock again and rapidly stood on her feet, as she gathered all her hair on one side, to rest on one of her shoulders. She muttered something which he could not understand.

'What was that?' he asked, trying to make her repeat herself.

'It was my home…' she said, somewhat visibly hearable this time.

He startled surprised and amused at the same time. A tree? A human's home? How come?

Suddenly, she pointed something ahead of the forest. There were some ruins, up ahead. There were parts of rock and burned wood left aside, as Kiba could make out of those ruins a small hut, which had been burned down long ago.

'That was my home, before they burned it down…'

'Who burned it down?'

'The thunders. You see, there was a big storm four years ago and it set fire to my house.'

'What about your parents?'

'I have none.'

Kiba again startled. This time, it wasn't with surprise and amusement. He looked at her sadly. So, she had no parents… as in no one to love her, no one to take care of her… to protect her…

'Doesn't anybody know about this?' he asked demanding.' And why are you bruised?'

Suddenly, he stopped, as he bit his inferior lip. There were too many questions for a person which he hardly knew. Maybe she felt already like caught in a trap, it was enough that she had embarrassed herself in front of him, by telling him what she lacked in her life, now he was putting too many questions which ere more or less personal.

'Sorry…' he smiled guiltily again. 'I ask too many at the same time.'

He looked down, thoughtfully. He didn't know what exactly was to be done and he cursed himself for talking to Naruto yesterday and not asking him for some tips in this kind of situation.

'Anou… Ruko-chan…' he called this time, to ask for something else, but he didn't finish his sentence.

She fell on her knees and she touched the ground she fairly fainted. Akamaru rushed to help maintain her, as Kiba hurried to her worried:

'Ruko-chan!'

'Are you ok?' he asked, when looking at her. She opened her eyes softly:

'I g-guess not… I haven't eaten in… in… a week…'

She collapsed after that.

'What?!' his sister burst out, as she saw his brother holding a girl in his arms, desperately.

'Don't argue with me now, nee-chan! She needs caring. She said she hasn't eaten in a week.'

'Are you insane?' his sister cried out, as Kiba went through the door and headed for the nearby bed, in his room. He placed the girl on his bed and told Akamaru to stay with her.

'You're supposed to take her to the hospital!' his sister mocked him. 'If she's suffered other diseases, she needs better caring than in this house, Kiba!'

'She just needs some food!'

'Taking care of a human isn't that easy, damn it! You know that better than me!'

Kiba stopped from searching for something to eat. He watched his sister frowningly.

He sniffed:

'Then, what am I supposed to do?'

'You're supposed to take her to a hospital, that's what you're supposed to do. Or at least, call your friend, Sakura, up and see what she has to say about it.'

'But I…'

'Now, Kiba!' his sister demanded. 'I'll keep an eye on her, you take Akamaru with you.'

Kiba sniffed and then agreed. He called his dog and set foot to find Sakura. He knew she wasn't on a mission, but probably working or training at the hospital.

He returned with her after an hour, during which his sister had bathed and fed Ruko until she was somewhat better. Sakura looked at her for the next hour, as Kiba waited outside, muttering worried to himself.

'What if she's gonna die?' he asked himself.

Akamaru barked roughly.

'Yeah, I know it's a stupid idea… sorry to even think it. Well, now that Sakura's here, I hope she knows what to do with her.'

He looked at the forest:

'I wonder… I wonder if she liked that place anyway…? Then again, I don't think so... a tree is not exactly a good place to live in.'

He looked at the entrance door to see Sakura coming out. He rushed to her:

'Well?'

'She's ok. She was just withered by the lack of food. But she's ok. You needn't to get her to a hospital. Ok, I'll be heading back to my stuff. I promised Tsunade-sama I'd do the thing with reviving 5o fishes all in one time. See ya, Kiba!'

'Y-yeah, thanks, Sakura!'

He came in the house, letting Akamaru first. Somehow, he didn't want to be the first one to face Ruko now. His sister had prepared another plate of food for her, so now the girl was eating, slowly. She smiled to him nicely and Kiba turned red in his cheeks.

'I hope Sakura calmed you down a bit' his sister muttered. 'Ruko-chan is fine now. Go train or something, I'll take care of her.'

'A-a…' he mumbled and got back to going outside.

He seemed somewhat revived:

'Akamaru, let's train!'

Akamaru watched him as he was heading for the fields around, to train. He was sure that his master was rather pleased and enthusiastic about something which he had not expected at all.

Later on, at night, Kiba sat on the ground relaxing, while watching the stars in the sky. He was pleased with himself. He didn't tire himself, nor Akamaru, but he was pleased with the results of the training. Akamaru believed that Kiba was about to be pleased even if the results were shitty. That's because he was happy.

Akamaru sat down at his head and Kiba got up to rest his back against him. Still looking at the sky, he listened to the quietness around. He heard some steps coming for him and he thought it was his sister mocking him again for being late for dinner. He even prepared himself for being pretty scolded, bonus being the fact that he had brought a new person in the house. Suddenly, the steps stopped and the person sat next to him.

He had his eyes closed and feeling that Akamaru hadn't done anything to tell him that there was another person, he surely believed it was his sister. Suddenly…

'The night is my favorite best time to come out and look outside.'

Kiba startled surprised and opened his eyes widely to face the girl from this afternoon. She was watching the sky dreaming of better days perhaps… Kiba also watched the stars, without understanding much of what she felt for those tiny golden spots on that large darken silky web.

'Back then' she continued, 'my father used to tell me that your ancestors watch you from the skies at night, because it's much quieter at this time… they just whisper things to you, at night and you must stay sharp if you want to understand them. You must be open with your heart, your soul and your mind to do that…'

Kiba sniffed thoughtfully.

'That's nice, what your dad said…' he added. He raised one corner of his lips into a weird look on his face, like he was playing.

'Thank you for caring for me, Kiba-kun…' she muttered, letting her head down sad.

He looked at her and slightly blushed:

'Y-you're welcome, Ruko-chan…'

There were a few moments of silence, during which none of them said anything else. Kiba was constantly swearing himself for his lack of subjects in conversation. Suddenly, she got up on her feet and she swung a bit rather to keep her balance, afterwards she said softly:

'Well, I better be going now… it's very late…'

'W-where are you going?' he mumbled, as he also got on his feet confused.

She turned to him confused:

'H-home… I'm going home…'

'Well… B-but… T-to that tree?!' he burst out loud, without wanting that. He soon discovered that his tone of voice wasn't at all pleasing when he saw that she turned frowningly and didn't smile any more.

'Yes, to that tree…' she answered, matter-of-factly and turned back to leave.

'S-sorry!' he hurried to apologize. 'I didn't mean to offend you. B-but if you go back there, it's… it's not good, you know…'

She faced him again and saw that he was smiling guiltily again, with his hand in the back of his head. Her eyes faced the ground after that.

'I suppose you're right…' she mumbled.

She swung her head and turned her hair to lie resting on her back. Subsequently, she returned on her road, as she said softly:

'Good night, Kiba-kun…'

'W-wait…!' he burst, as he stretched his arm towards her, but sniffed afterwards, seeing that she didn't stop.

He gave up. He went in the house, almost forgetting about Akamaru, who followed him.

When he came in the house, his sister was waiting for him with dinner already fixed up and a tea-spoon hung up in between her fingers, offensively.

'You're an idiot!' she muttered.

'I know, I missed dinner, sorry…'

'Not for that, Kiba…'

He turned and saw that his sister was no longer watching him, but something outside the window:

'You should've asked her to sleep here for the night, if you wanted her to stay a little longer. I wouldn't mind. As long as she uses your bed'

She turned with a grin on her face. It was playful. Kiba watched her surprised:

'Really? I can do that?!'

'Go, now, Kiba!'

He jumped and ran outside, as his sister whispered behind him:

'Baka…'

He found her at the same spot as before. She was sleeping in a very uncomfortable position, facing the crack's entrance with her back, as she slept like some sort of animal in a cage.

'Hey, Ruko-chan!' he called her.

Her eyes opened softly, still mixed with sleep and turned:

'Y-yes…? Oh, it's you, Kiba-kun…'

'Yeah, it's me! Listen, how about to come at my place and have a rest there? It's better than here, cause it's gonna be cold outside. Come on, you're ok with that?'

He grinned like a wolf. She widely opened her eyes blinking several times, to wake up properly and also try to understand his words.

'To sleep at your place?'

'Yeah, sure! I'm ok with that and so is my sister! You can use my bed, I don't mind!'

'You're alright with that?'

'Definitely!'

She thought for a few minutes, afterwards, she tried to come out:

'Alright…'

He backed up to make room for her to pass, but as she tried to come on her feet, she stumbled by on something and was about to fall. He caught her in his arms, like surprised and blushed the instant he felt her arms wrapped around his neck and holding them tightly.

He had seen that kind of embrace at Naruto and Hinata and he often wondered how it felt. It felt somewhat good. Especially if the other person of the opposite sex was this pretty and attractive. She smelled nicely. And she was so shy that she couldn't even bare to look at him. She kept her gaze on the ground:

'S-sorry…'

'Y-yeah…' he muttered and put her back on her feet. He turned towards Akamaru and saw that he had covered his eyes shyly with his long ears. When Kiba went past him, he slightly growled:

'Stop that, she didn't trip intentionally…'

Akamaru got out a sound which was equivalent to "Yeah, sure, I believe you!" ironically.

He got up on Akamaru and started to go on ahead. When he looked back, he saw that she was following him obediently. She looked sweet like that, with her head looking down, rather smiling, and her hands holding each other at the base of her lap, with a straight presence, like she was a compliant child.

Kiba turned Akamaru to her and said:

'Aren't you getting up on Akamaru? It's a pretty long way to be heading with your bare feet.'

'I'm fine like this' she answered shyly.

'Are you sure? I don't think so. C'mon, get up, Akamaru won't mind.'

Kiba smiled, as his dog barked once, joyfully. She drew her look on each of them for a short period of time. Afterwards, she stretched her hand and gave it to Kiba, to help her up. When she found herself on Akamaru's back, she was about to hold the animal's fur, when she heard Kiba's happy voice:

'You better hold on to me, cause it's gonna be a long trip! He, he!'

'Oh, a… yeah…' she slightly touched his body, as her look remained still, at the forest, someplace where her house used to be.

Kiba revolved to her, after a walk of half an hour. She was still watching the forest in the distance and he turned sad, since he knew why she was watching it. He wasn't good at comforting people. Still, he felt like he had to say something. Just when he was about to say something, she burst out:

'That was fast! We're here already?'

He looked up. Akamaru had fastened his step and they had reached Kiba's house in no time.

'Y-yeah, that fast…' he muttered and got off Akamaru's back. Leaning against his shoulders, she followed him, off the animal. Akamaru growled happily and she stretched her arm to caress his fur.

'Thank you, Akamaru, for taking me to Kiba's home safe' she said, smiling.

Kiba watched them, muttering amused.

'Ok' he burst out afterwards, 'we're home now. Let's go in!'

'Are you sure?' she muttered, rather insecure, when he showed her his bed. It was a one person bed, which seemed to resemble much of Kiba's personality. Just like his room, it was untidy and a real mess, so Kiba felt embarrassed and loved his sister for often scolding him to tidy up his room.

'Y-yeah, I'll sleep on the floor' he smiled in the end, optimistically. 'When I'm on missions, I often have to sleep on the ground, so I'm used to it. You take the bed, don't worry'

'Are you sure?' she repeated the question, taking a seat at the margin of the bed.

'Positive' he answered amused.

'I could turn on one side, and we could both sleep on the bed' she grinned.

He sort of liked the idea. But then, he imagined his sister's look on her face if she were to enter this room the next morning, before him waking up. Strangle him…

'Um, no, you sleep on the bed' he sniffed.

As such, he took a seat on the floor, next to the bed and faced the ceiling. He put his head under his arms, gathered at the back of his neck and tried to close an eye.

The light was turned off and he believed that she fell asleep. She didn't she just turned her face towards her window and watched the forest in the distance.

'Kiba-kun...?'

He didn't answer quickly. He was about to fall asleep when her call woke him up:

'Hn?'

'You've never known what it's like to lose someone dear to you, isn't that so?'

His eyes open widely with seriousness.

'N-no, not really…' he muttered sadly.

'It's alright, I don't want you to' she smiled. 'I'm just saying this because I want you to understand me a bit… I'm ok with the fact that you may probably want to be my friend and even take acre of me, but… it's been pretty hard for me… and I…'

She got up and retrieved herself to the edge of the bed:

'I appreciate what you're doing for me. I know it's abnormal for a human to live in a tree. But that's how lived since then and no one can change the past. It's only natural that I feel strange and I often look back at the forest. That forest was once my home… I'm just trying to make a point, that's all.'

She smiled bitterly.

'Yeah, I understood you…' Kiba sniffed.

He also got up, on his feet and saw where she was standing. He sat next to her, again blushing and feeling somewhat embarrassed.

He put his hand in the back of his head and added:

'Sorry cause it's messy. And sorry cause I'm not good at saying something nice in a time like this.'

'Oh, it's ok, don't worry.' She smiled. She watched Akamaru sleeping deep at the other side of the bed, on the floor, taken away in the dreams' world.

"Well, you've got to find yourself a girl first. Then, you've got to get to know her a bit and see if you also like what's inside her. Then, if you see she's fitted to be yours, you ask her to be your girlfriend"

That is what Naruto told him that day. He liked her alright. Every part of him told him that. Especially his cheeks, turning red every time she's give him one of those long gawks of hers, just like now. She was pretty and good-looking and smart. And she seemed a nice person. A gentle, nice, kind person.

'Anou, Ruko-chan…'

'You can simply call me Ruko, Kiba' she smiled nicely.

'Y-yeah… well, um… Would you…?'

He stopped and bit his inferior lip. He was about to pour the definite question and yet he didn't seem prepared. So, he thought of another question fast:

'… tell me how old you are?'

She watched him confused. He felt stupid. This question was way stupider than he thought. Actually, it wasn't stupid. It sounded stupid. He only wished she wouldn't get angry or something, for spoiling such a romantic moment like this now just now. She didn't get angry at all. She giggled and answered childishly:

'I'm 14… you're older, aren't you?'

'Oh, yeah! Two years older, he, he!' he laughed awkwardly.

'Really?' she asked curiously. 'That's weird!'

'Why?'

'I don't know. It just is… you're the only guy I met that's older than me, since that accident. My brother is younger than me.'

Kiba turned sad. He must've died too, in that misfortune. As if hearing his thoughts, she continued, smiling:

'He's not dead. He's somewhere far away, with my grandparents. I told him I'll visit him one of these days… I miss him… his name is Tori…'

She looked through the window smiling bitterly.

Kiba watched her and said:

'Well, you should visit him, you know. I'll come with you, if you want to.'

'Really?' she started enthusiastically. 'Oh, thank you, Kiba! Thank you!'

'Welco-'

He stopped and startled, when her lips delicately touched his cheek in a shy kiss. When he turned his confused gaze upon hers, she seemed really timid about it and let her head down, slightly to her right shoulder, muttering red in her cheeks:

'Thank you…'

He sniffed smiling tenderly:

'Welcome. So… we should get some sleep, you know.' He grinned.

'Oh, right, well, you go on ahead and sleep. I can't for the moment.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know. I just can't sleep right now.'

Kiba smiled:

'Well, then, I'll also pass this night too.'

He grinned again, funnily:

'To keep you company.'

'Y-yeah…'

She watched his face and afterwards asked:

'Why are you wearing that strange red stripe on your cheeks? Is it a symbol for something?'

'Oh, no… I just wear it, cause I was born to. I never gave it a thought, you know' he smiled sincerely, like a wolf.

'I see… you do resemble a wolf, you know… now I know why you were chosen to bare the name of "fang"… kiba…'

She smiled softly.

'Does your name resemble anything?' he asked.

'My mother used to tell me that it has a short significance. If you twist the letter R with the letter K, you get "kuro"… "wound"…'

She let her head down:

'I don't know why they gave me such a name. I guess they must've had a reason for that. I'll never know, anyway.'

She turned sad. He again felt the need of telling her something comforting. Here he was, standing alone in the dark with a pretty girl next to him and he didn't do much to make her feel better.

He sniffed:

'Ne, Ruko…'

'Hn?'

'What do you think of me?'

She turned her gaze upon him, confused. She saw him putting his arm at the back of his head, scratching that zone rather embarrassed. She smiled:

'You're a nice friend. You're a great friend… you're my only friend…'

Ruko always seemed to turn whatever he said into something with a bad connotation.

'You know, there is always sun after a rainy day' he said.

'I hate the sun. I like the rain'

He sniffed. She probably had figured out what he was suggesting, but only pretended to take things by their name.

'After the sun, it always rains', she smiled bitterly. 'Which makes us both be right about this'

She smiled nicely. Kiba watched and also smiled:

'Yeah, you're right'

'Anou, Kiba…'

'Hn?'

'I have something to tell you.'

He startled and turned his look towards her, to pay a better attention. She was playing with her fingers:

'You know, yesterday morning, you were alone with Akamaru and you were muttering about something…'

His eyes turned big:

'Y-you were the one that Akamaru sniffed? I thought that he was just…'

'It was me. You were talking to a blonde boy yesterday, right?'

'Yeah, he's my friend, Naruto.'

'Aha…'

She stood quiet after that. Kiba thought that she might have heard what the conversation was about. He bit his inferior lip, rather discouraged.

'Um, you heard the conversation?'

'N-no, not everything. Just that your friend had a mate and that her name was Hinata. That's a nice name. I didn't hear anything else. I thought it was personal, and it's not nice to listen to personal conversations. It's not polite.'

Kiba breathed relieved. Afterwards, he watched her.

It was very late at night. The moon was already crossing the sky at the other side, to make room for the sun. at one point, Akamaru turned his paws in the air, taken away into the dreaming world. She smiled amused by how funny he looked like.

'You grew up with him, didn't you?' she asked.

'Who, Akamaru? Oh, yeah… I did…'

He saw her quiet again, and obedient.

'Listen, Ruko…'

She lifted her half-blue-half-golden glance towards him with curiosity.

'I don't know how to say this…' he muttered. 'Are you sure you didn't listen to everything about that conversation?'

She turned red in her cheeks, as she answered quietly:

'There was also something about you… that I heard…'

'What exactly?'

'Well, I don't remember. But you seemed sad by the fact that your friend had a mate.

"When you really like a girl and that girl becomes your girlfriend, sure you feel great! More like tremendously great! It's nice to have someone different than your friends who can listen to you and sometimes take away your pain with one kiss or one hug."

He let his look down:

'Well, yeah I felt kinda sad… I never had a girlfriend, and I'm telling you that sincerely.'

He smiled rascally and added:

'I'm a starter!'

He winked:

'Have you ever had anybody before?'

She smiled blushing and giggled girlishly, as she swung like a child:

'No, I hadn't… I'm a starter, too…'

'Yeah, well, you're still young!' he laughed and ruffled her hair.

'You're too!' she made him stop ruffling it and he remained with his hand upon her head.

'You're right! He, he!'

Suddenly, she hugged him. It was a rather stupid embrace, since her arms were surrounding him like he had been caught. He looked at her stunned; still she let her head on his chest, to rest there. She had a dreaming-like smile on her face. She seemed pleased to hold him, even stupidly as it was.

He dragged his arms away from her embrace and then covered her with them, wrapped around her small body. She also came back to hugging him.

The next few moments were silent.

'You even smell like a wolf…' she muttered softly.

She slightly raised up and kissed him again on one of his cheeks:

'My friend, Kiba…'

'Hn' he sniffed amused. 'Yeah'

He turned his gaze upon her. As he saw her eyes looking into his, he forgot to take his smile off his face. He turned serious. As such, he slowly let his head down and closed his eyes, as he felt that his lips touched those of hers.

He had never kissed a girl before, yet he felt like he knew what he was doing. Thus, he persisted on pressing his lips of hers and for a second, he believed that she might not like what he was doing. But she didn't seem to struggle, so he even turned his head slightly to the right and felt that this way, their blending could be lightener.

The next few seconds, the light of the sun which had barely woke up started to infiltrate in the room, through the wide opened window. The sun's light went in their eyes, which determined them to part.

Damn! Kiba thought for himself and he opened his eyes to look at the girl in front of him. She was smiling childishly, as she kept the sun-beams away from her face with her palm.

He noticed that he was still holding her. He set her loose, all burning in his cheeks.

'T-t-t-t-t-t…' he sniffed embarrassed.

'That's why I hate the sun' she said, joyfully and laughed of her own joke.

'Y-yeah' he smiled amused. 'Listen, Ruko…'

'Yes?'

She was watching him with her curios look.

'Would you…?'

He stopped again.

'I would.'

Kiba watched her surprised. She was smiling nicely, as he knew she had guessed his question.

'R-really?'

'Yes. Really!'

'Then, could I …?'

Again, she started to swing like a child and giggled, afterwards answered softly and delicately:

'Yes, of course…'

He smiled rascally again and scratched the back part of his head, as usual. Afterwards, he bended over and kissed her again, with a much secure feeling that he knew what he was doing than before.