"What's an Inuzuka without their hound?" a woman taller than Kiba stood in the doorway blocking him from leaving. She had brown spiked hair with flashes of grey in it. Her eyes seemed more feral then Kiba. Her pink lipstick lips glared the fangs of an Inuzuka.

Kiba stood in the doorway of Shino's home scratching the back of his head, man, why does my mom have to be here? Kiba kept his facial expression as plain as he could, he may have been 34 but he knew his mom could still outdo him in any argument.

"I don't know, Ma." the man lowered his head to show he truly didn't know. If I show her I'm defenseless maybe she'll go easy on me.

"I can get you a new one, I'm surprised yours didn't last as long as my Turomaru." she gave a pat to the large black dog who was missing his ear and eye. The large wolf like dog had been alive since Kiba could remember, all the man could do was nod. "Probably because you don't know how to raise your Ninkin. Made him too lazy."

Kiba's eyebrow gave a twinge at those words. He didn't want to start an argument with his mother but she was getting on his nerves.

"Lazy, just like your father." Tsume spoke again giving more affection to her large hound then she ever did to her son.

She never says anything against Hana... Kiba kept his head low to look at the ground. He knew this day was a bad one from the start, but Shino wasn't as bad as his mom.

"Now Hana, she got out there and went places. She's getting married soon, but you go out with cat girls. Are you still with that girl." she didn't seem to ask it was a demand to know, all Kiba could do was give a gulp. He didn't know what to say.

"No, ah... We didn't work out." Kiba tried to force a smile to his mom, but she kept that stare. Oh Damn, she's giving me that look!

She gave a huff and decided to come into the home. "This isn't your house..." she gave a sniff to the air as Turomaru came through the door as well. Kiba began to internally panic.

"This is my friend's home."

"It smells in here." Tsume took a long look around and focused her sights back at her son. She could smell something different with him. She gave him a long glare through her hair strands. "Well, I'll be sure to get a new hound for you soon."

"I already said I don't want a new one." a hint of annoyance came across Kiba's lips, his mother could sense it but kept her glare.

"I will see you at my house by next week. Guretsu will be having puppies soon, you can pick one out." Tsume left with her Ninkin turning his tail around to go out the door. She slammed the door shut leaving her son to stand alone.

"Damn it!" Kiba picked up a pillow from the green couch and threw it across the the room to hit a newly found insect Shino had yet to label, that sat in a glass jar.

Kiba's eyes opened wide as the jar wabbled on the shelf only to fall to the floor. With shatter and the broken pieces flying over the ground, Kiba wanted to yell more but he knew he couldn't. He'd just end up breaking more jars.

"Why the hell would Shino put it here!?" Kiba couldn't help but to kick the table leg to get his anger out. The little beetle scuttled on the wood floor until it got to a crack in the wall only to squeeze through it.

"Shit...Shino's going to kill me." Kiba bent down to gently pick the glass shards up.

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Shino sat at his desk, just sitting trying his best to ignore the chatter of another Academy teacher talking to a woman. The environment was too cheerful, he wished he could just spin a cacoon and come out being someone else with a different life. The elders had been bugging him since the death of his father, even more since the beginning of the month.

Shino put his head down on the desk and shut his eyes behind the large visor. He just wanted to shut the world off but the sound of footsteps made him raise his head. It was Iruka Sensei, he had been the newest principal of the Academy for many years. He'd always tried his best to keep Shino on the bright side the best he could, but he's expertise was merely in talking to Naruto.

"Is everything alright, Shino?" his voice was calm and soft, Shino turned his chair to face the man. Iruka was just an average looking man, aside from the large nose scar which none of the kids knew where it came from, but most by now speculate it was from the attack on the village from Kurama many years ago. Shino just kept quiet making the man understand.

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Ikrua stated only to get a nod from the man. "Would you like to get some ramen with me? It always seemed to make Naruto happy."

Shino nodded at the offer, it would be nice to get out and have food. It had been several weeks since he and Kiba had gotten ramen. He knew it was his own actions that made them not get any of the ramen they always did. The man stood and pushed his chair in, Iruka gave a smile as they left the floor to walk down the stairs. Only silence was shared between the two but soon they'd share a meal together.

Oh boy, this chapter took me a bit to get up. Read and Review. :)