Chapter 2
Ashley sat in a large tree, swinging her legs back an forth, watching a squirrel. She got it to come on her lap and it let her pet it. She gave a small laugh as it ran up the tree, making its squeaky noises and twisting around the branches. She sighed as she looked out at the expanse of forest around her. It was peaceful and helped calm her anger. She put her hands on the tree branch and could feel the vibrations of Kiba and Akamaru coming. She waited for Kiba to land next to her on the branch, looking at her curiously.
"Taylour gave me the impression that you would be tearing the forest to pieces with your bare hands." Kiba commented light heartedly, getting the smile from her he hoped he'd get.
"I decided I'd rather not disturb the forest. It's too peaceful. Besides, the squirrels were making me feel better." Ashley replied, laughing lightly and giving Kiba another small smile.
"Are you not going to the gathering tonight, or have you changed your mind?" Kiba asked her after a moment of silence.
Ashley looked at him, a debating look on her features, "Since I bought all the stupid crap, I might as well go." She said roughly, spitting to the side in disgust. Kiba just laughed at her. "Which reminds me," the blonde stated thoughtfully, "I should probably go and get ready." Ashley said as she stood up on the branch.
"All the others are at Ino's, why don't you go there?" Kiba asked, rising as well.
Ashley smiled mischievously, "I want to surprise everyone." She paused at his dubious expression, "Hey, I've been living with my effeminate cousin for my whole life... Well, her whole life. I've learned a lot of things form her." Kiba just nodded, deciding not to argue with the determined girl. "You should go home and get ready too, "Ashley said and took off without a good-bye to her apartment.
Kiba shook his head, "Let's go Akamaru, we need to get ready." Akamaru barked in agreement and the two went off to home to prepare for the long night ahead of them.
At Ino's house, Temari, Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Taylour, and Tenten were all there getting ready for the big night.
"You have such an amazing house Ino-chan." Taylour commented after walking out of a changing room. All the girls looked dazzling in their dresses and were in the process of fixing their make-up and hair.
"Do you think Ashley-chan will show at the dance?" Hinata asked hopefully as she put her necklace on
"Probably," Taylour said, "she can't stay mad for long." Taylour was in the process of putting on her mascara.
"I hope she doesn't come with her hair in a ponytail." Sakura said as she placed a pin with a large pink gem on it in her hair.
"Why would I do something like that?' Ashley said as she walked in smiling largely.
They all gasped in surprise. She'd done her hair up, put on her jewelry and was currently standing in front of them with her dress on. "I need help with the sipper, I can't reach." She said sheepishly as Taylour got up to help her.
"I'm g-glad you decided t-to come A-Ashley-chan." Hinata said. The two girls had become best friends.
Ashley laughed, "Well, I didn't want to leave Naruto to do all the pranks by himself, and it took a squirrel and Dog-Boy to make me change my mind. That," she finished hastily, seeing the smiles on their faces, "I didn't want this crap to go to waste."
"Sure, just keep telling yourself that." Taylour said laughing.
"I will, because it's the truth." Ashley stated indignantly, placing her hands on her hips.
Ino and Sakura were staring at Ashley, smiling maliciously, "Hey, Ashley-chan," Sakura started. Ino finished her sentence, " Can we do you make up?" They both put on pathetic faces as Ashley glared at them.
"I'm allergic." was all Ashley said, her eyes glittering dangerously.
Ino and Sakura pouted out their lips and looked to Taylour who nodded in Ashley's support. "Darn," Ino said as she finished doing her own make up.
There was soon a knock on the door and Ashley went to get it, since the girls were doing their finishing touches. She opened the door and saw Shika.
"Hey Shika, ready to go to this ridiculous thing?" Ashley asked, rolling her eyes.
He smiled, "It is quite troublesome... Is Temari ready?" He asked as he walked into the house.
"We'll find out. TEMARI! SHIKAMARU IS HERE!" Ashley smiled as Shika raised his eyebrows at her obnoxiousness.
Temari walked out in all her splendor and had a dazzling smile on," Hey, Shika. Let's go." she quickly said and grabbed his arm, dragging him to the door with him mumbling something about troublesome women. Ashley shut the door behind them and was about to go back, when there was another knock. Ashley sighed and rolled her eyes as she went to open the door. When she opened it, she saw Neji and Lee.
"Hey you guys, come on in, I'll go and get Tenten." Ashley said as she walked to the girls' room, Lee was staring at her.
"Tenten, Neji is here. He brought Lee with him." Ashley told her bluntly. Tenten face palmed, then smiled while shaking her head, while walking with Ashley into the foyer where the two boys were.
"Both you ladies look very youthful tonight!" Lee complimented the girls as they walked towards the boys.
"Thanks Lee." Tenten said, but Ashley just looked at herself then laughed, "Thank you Lee. You're looking spiffy yourself." she complimented him back smiling.
He smiled back then asked her, somewhat embarrassed, "Would you go to the dance with me?"
Ashley looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry Lee, I'm going to go by myself though. Thanks for the offer."
His face fell, "I'm very sorry to hear that." he turned and left with his two teammates as Ashley shut the door and sat down in the chair near it. It wasn't long before there was an obnoxiously loud knock. Ashley rolled her eyes knowing it was Naruto. She opened the door and was surprised to see Naruto andSasuke standing there.
"Ashley-chan! You look wonderful!" Naruto said, giving her a hug.
"Ack, Naruto, let me go." Ashley gasped out, then brushed herself off. "You two actually dress up well. Let me go and get your people." She turned and walked back to the room.
The girls turned to look at Ashley wondering who was here now.
"Naruto and Sasuke are here." she said flatly.
Hinata and Sakura stood up simultaneously and smiled at each other. They walked out, arms linked to their dates, Ashley following. They left and waved by to Ashley. She smiled as she shut the door and let out a sigh as she sat down. It was five minutes until the door was knocked upon, softly. All that were left were Taylour and Ino, so Ashley knew who it was at the door by process of elimination. She opened the door and smiled at the two brothers.
"Hey, Gaara, Kankuro. I'll go get Tay-" She was cut off by Ino squealing behind her.
"KANKURO-KUN!" she said loudly, running out and hugging him.
"Hi Ino-chan." he gave her a dirty smirk which she returned.
Gaara looked to Ashley, Taylour hadn't come out yet. Ashley smiled reassuringly at him and went to the room. "Are you coming, or are you going to keep Gaara waiting?" Ashley asked her cousin who was facing the mirror, looking at herself in a wondering way. She was wondering if she was ready, not pretty.
"I think I'm ready." Taylour said, then turned to her cousin, "What about you? Surely you're not going to walk there by yourself?" Taylour looked at Ashley sternly.
Ashley smiled back, "I don't see why I shouldn't walk by myself." she shrugged at her young cousin and turned to walk out.
"You're walking with us." Taylour commanded her cousin, grabbing her arm.
"Taylour-chan, I'm not going to impose upon you and your date." Ashley reasoned back.
"You're not imposing!" Taylour shot back defiantly. The girls continued to argue out tot he door.
"Oh, Ashley-chan, just come with us, please?" Ino asked, a rueful look on her face. Both girls gave Ashley really sad puppy-dog faces, which Ashley glared at.
"Fine..." Ashley gave in after a moments torture.
"YAY!" the two girls yelled in unison. Ashley rolled her eyes as the girls grabbed both of her arms escort style, along with their guy's and began off towards the hall.
This whole time, Kiba and Akamaru wear watching, smiling broadly.
The group of five walked in and were amazed by the spaciousness. There were tables that were set up with delicate table cloths and expensive silver wear and china. Ashley immediately went to a table that had Temari and Shikamaru at it. There was a large buffet table for those who didn't want to order. The dance floor was huge and was lit up by diamond chandeliers that cast their light everywhere. Taylour and Ino followed Ashley, bringing their men with them.
"We've got the others sitting at this table. We saved spots for everyone." Temari said as she noticed the other four.
"Good thing you thought of that." Taylour said as she sat down next to Ashley with Gaara on her other side. It wasn't long before everyone had come to sit down. Ashley and forced Taylour and Gaara to scoot down two seat so Naruto and Hinata could sit next to her. Naruto and Ashley immediately began plotting pranks to pull while they were there.
"Did you bring-" Ashley was whispering but suddenly shrieked as someone's hands grabbed her waist. She whipped her head around to see a smirking Kiba, "I'm going to kill you later on." she seethed at him, her jaw clenched.
He laughed and sat next to her, "Well, it's nice to see you too. I'll be back later, my mother and sister are forcing me to sit with the family friends' daughter." he made a face and was about to go on, but Ashley elbowed him. She was smiling at his sister.
"Kiba, let's go." she said roughly, and returned Ashley's smile.
"Fine," Kiba said sighing, then looked at Ashley apologetically.
"Don't worry about it, go." Ashley said, smiling at him.
He smiled back, and followed his sister back to the table with their family friends' daughter.
"Poor Kiba. Anyways," her voice dropped to a whisper as she smiled mischievously at Naruto, "did you bring the balloons?"
His face lit up, "Yeah! Here, take some." he handed her about fifty of them.
"Holy crap, how many did you bring?" Ashley asked as he tucked a package of them away.
"My whole stash," he smiled, an evil glint in his eyes. Ashley's face was now a perfect reflection of his.
"So, what are my two famous troublemakers up to this time?" Tsunade said form behind them. Their faces went pale as the gave each other nervous glances. Everyone around them snickered.
Ashley gave a small cough to clear her throat, "Well, we planned on rigging your microphone, have 'random' whoopee cushions, glue a couple people to their chairs, just the normal stuff." Ashley said smiling up at her. Naruto looked at her in disbelief, but noticed she had hidden the balloons and caught on
"Yeah, we ran out of ideas, so we decided to pull some old pranks." he said smiling and scratching the back of his head.
Tsunade raised her eyebrows at the two smiling blondes, "I'll be watching you two." she said threateningly then walked off to talk to other people.
The two blondes sighed in relief and sunk down in their chairs.
"That was close." Naruto said, quietly.
"Yeah," Ashley agreed, staring at her plate, "Too close, but at least she won't be expecting what we've got planned." Ashley looked at Naruto and smiled.
"W-what exactly are you t-two going to do?" Hinata asked from the other side of Naruto.
They both started laughing, "We can't say Hinata, but it'll be great, trust me." Ashley said, still laughing.
Taylour looked down the table towards her cousin, "They haven't told you what they're doing, have they?" Taylour asked Gaara. He just gave a short smile.
"I'm not allowed to say. They just asked that I help." Gaara said coolly.
Taylour looked at him in disbelief then it changed to conviction, "I want in on it. I want to help. Even though this goes against me not encouraging her to pull pranks, I want in."
"They're playing a prank on Ino and Kankuro." he smirked, then went back to his normal emotionless expression.
Taylour sighed and shook her head. She looked down to Ashley and Naruto and noticed they both had sinister smiles on their faces as they looked towards where Kiba was sitting with the girl that his parents wanted him to marry.
Naruto and Ashley got up with their supplies concealed carefully and went around the building. They had to hurry before all the guests sat down and Tsunade started her speech. Ashley went out the front door, Naruto went to the bathroom with a jar of peanut butter, pieces of paper, rubber spiders, and tape. Slipping into a stall, he put peanut butter on the seat, then taped a 'Jeff Goldbloom is watching you poop' poster on the door. He slipped out and did it to all of the stalls then threw the peanut butter away, making sure it wasn't visible.
Ashley was sneaking around near the fountains. Making sure there were no fish in them, she dumped a bottle of soap into one and threw it away. Then, she went around to the benches with a small tube of super glue and quarters. She snickered as she threw a couple bars of soap into another fountain as she passed it.
"Ashley, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked from behind her as she slowly stalked towards a bench. She whirled on her heels to face her sensei who had his arms crossed.
"Heh... Um, hi Kakashi-sensei... I was just out getting some air and I didn't want to intrude upon any couples." Ashley said quickly as she tried to get out of this now sticky situation. Damn, I''ve been caught, Tsunade probably had him follow me...
"I figured since you and Naruto left the table at the same time, I should follow one of you to make sure you weren't..." he paused as he looked at Ashley over his mask, "causing any trouble." He gave a smile beneath his mask as Ashley blushed and avoided eye-contact.
"W-why would I do something like that?" Ashley said, knowing she'd been caught.
Kakashi laughed, "I won't tell Tsunade, unless she asks." he said patting her on the head, and then walked off.
Ashley let out a huge sigh as she turned back towards her next victim, but noticed that Kiba and that girl were already there. Damn it again! Well, I'll just have to go around and find a different bench for now... I hope that no one followed Naruto. Ashley thought to herself as she turned to go all the way around and avoid the people that were now amassing around the fountain as bubbles began to go everywhere.
Naruto got back to the table first, after putting fake spiders in the salads and switching the salt in the salt shakers with sugar on a couple tables. Ashley was soon back as she smiled triumphantly. "How'd it go?" she asked as she slipped into her seat next to her prankster pal.
He smiled mischievously, "Well, I didn't get caught, that's for sure." He noticed the look on Ashley's face as she kind of looked away in an 'I didn't do ANYTHING' sort of way. "Did you get caught?" Naruto asked quietly as he looked around.
She nodded, "Kakashi-sensei noticed us leaving at the same time, so he stalked me, instead of you, probably because you went into the bathroom. He said that he wouldn't tell Tsunade unless she asked, which I hope that she doesn't." Ashley replied looking around at the rest of the people at the table, they were all listening to the conversation.
"When are you going to pull a prank on that girl?" Naruto asked.
"Ashley, can I get in on one of your pranks, please!" Taylour said as she squatted in between the two.
Naruto and Ashley looked at each other as they both shared the same thought, "Yeah..." Ashley said as her eyes slid from Naruto's to Taylour's, "I need to do a very important mission slash prank for me." She smiled evilly as Taylour brought herself in closer. "Alright, after I tell you all this, when you stand up, you can see who I'm talking about, she's sitting next to Kiba. Okay, here's what you need to do." Ashley whispered into Taylour's ears the details of the plan. Everyone at the table leaned forward, wanting to hear, but Ashley death glared them all. They watched on as Taylour nodded occasionally and ended up laughing near the end. "Can you do this?" Ashley asked as she smiled and sat up. Taylour stood and glanced at her victim, "Oh yeah, I can do this, not a problem." She had an evil smirk on and went back to Gaara and sat, smiling. Naruto and Ashley looked at each other and went silent as Tsunade stood. All the guests had finally taken their seats, a couple would find out that after, they weren't getting out of those seats, Naruto had gone around before Ashley had arrived with fingernail glue she'd given him and glued a couple of the seats. Tsunade looked at the two who fought to keep straight faces. She opened her mouth to speak and a loud belch was heard from her. Naruto and Ashley were doing their best to suppress their laughter and resorted to holding their breaths and looking at the table, the Hokage was glaring at them.
"Ahem, well, it's a-" foghorn blare "pleasure to have all of these-" monkey's screaming "guests here." By now the entire audience was laughing which gave Naruto and Ashley freedom to laugh extremely hard, to the point where they were almost falling out of their chairs. Everyone else at their table was also dying of laughter, but could feel the deadly eyes of the Hokage. Naruto and Ashley were the first to settle down as the Hokage death glared them. She gave a clearing of her throat and the room went silent. "Naruto, Ashley. If you interrupt me again, I'm going to have you thrown out." she said glaring at the two. Everyone turned to look at them as they stared at the two people nest to them; Hinata and Neji.
"This banquet is to celebrate the defeat of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru, and to honor those lost in this fight." There was a deafening silence as the ninja who were lost were named off. "May we remember these with joy and not sorrow." Tsunade paused as this sunk in. "Now, let us celebrate our victory!" Everyone cheered and waiters came around to take orders as the music started. Ashley kept a watchful eye on Kiba's table and signaled her cousin when she saw their waiter leave with the tables order.
Taylour smiled, then quickly excused herself from the table. She managed to catch the waiter as he was about to go to their table. She moved up close to him and whispered seductively in his ear, "So, which of those drinks is for the young lady over there. I have a friend who wants to know." The waiter looked at her suspiciously as she smiled alluringly at him. "It is this one, the fuzzy navel." he said, completely unaware of her purpose. "Thank you, oops!" Taylour said as she 'accidentally' knocked something over. he turned to look and she quickly dropped in the laxatives. "I'm so sorry, oh jeez, I'm such an idiot." Taylour was playing the waiter perfectly and he sat down the tray, letting the laxatives dissolve, unnoticed. He waved her away and she smiled giddily and went back to the table, smiling maliciously. Naruto and Ashley returned the smile and high-fived her as they watched the waiter deliver the drinks and the victim got her drink.
Ashley stood up and made for the bathroom, as she walked behind Gaara she said, "Be ready and went to her seat. He nodded and brought Taylour out to the dance floor.
"Alright, Miss Priss has been taken care of, for the moment. Now, it's time to get Puppet and Piggy." Ashley said smiling impishly. Naruto smiled back at her as he noticed Gaara and Taylour out dancing.
"Great! Hinata-chan, shall we dance?" Naruto asked, smiling at her sweetly. Ashley winked at Hinata reassuringly when her face turned red.
"O-okay...s-sounds like f-fun." Hinata stammered out, blushing even more as she took Naruto's hand.
Ashley smirked as the two went out to the dance floor and started dancing. Gaara and Taylour got on one side of Kankuro and Ino while Naruto and Hinata got on the other. Ashley recorded with her camera as Gaara dropped the bag or marbles and Naruto tossed the two balloons under their path off falling that were filled with bright yellow paint. The two couples moved away quickly as the balloons exploded and covered the couple. Ashley was laughing so hard she couldn't record anymore.
Naruto and Hinata soon came back, followed by Gaara and Taylour and they all watched the show, over and over. It even made Gaara laugh.
Kankuro on the other hand was furious and stomped over to the group, Ino right behind.
Ashley hid the camera under the table and forced herself not to laugh at the yellow covered Ino and Kankuro.
"What the Hell is the matter with you two?!" Kankuro yelled, glaring at Ashley and Naruto, who glanced at each other.
"I have no clue as to what you're talking about." Ashley said, smiling cynically. The mess had been quickly cleaned up by Naruto's clones.
"Look at me! Look at us!" Kankuro yelled as Ino stood next to him.
"How did you manage that?" Ashley asked, playing oblivious.
"Can't you see the paint-" he stopped as he noticed it was gone and looked to a waiting Ashley.
"I don't see anything." Ashley said shrugging and turning to Naruto as she noticed 'Miss Priss' walking quickly to the bathroom. They both busted up laughing and high-fived each other.
"Booyah! Eat THAT!" Ashley said loudly and bust up laughing again.
Everyone stared back and forth between Naruto and Ashley whom were both laughing extremely hard.
"We're going to dance some more, you two behave." Taylour said as she dragged Gaara out to the dance floor.
Kankuro and Ino went off to the bathrooms to clean up.
"Alright, I think we've filled our prank quota for now. Why don't you and Hinata go dance? Oh and tell Tayour-chan that I need to speak with her." Ashley said as she pulled out a deck of cards.
"Dattebayo! Great idea. Come on Hinata-chan! Let's go dance some more." Naruto said loudly and drug Hinata out to the floor.
Ashley began playing a game of Spider Solitaire when she sensed a presence behind her. she turned around and saw Kakashi standing behind her.
"Hi Kakashi-sensei! It's good to see you." Ashley said cheerfully.
"You're not out with the others, Ashley-chan. Is something wrong?" He asked looking down at her.
She smiled up at him, "No, nothing is wrong. I just don't like to dance. I'd rather play cards." she turned back to her cards and completed a run. She heard Kakashi chuckle and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked.
He shook his head, smiling. "Why isn't Kiba dancing with you?" he asked, smiling even more behind his mask as her face turned red. He then looked at her curiously when her face fell and she made it obvious she didn't want to talk about why Kiba wasn't there. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes, which were a very sad grey color. He furrowed his brow and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ashley shook her head, "It's nothing Kakashi-sensei, I'll get over it. I always do." She smiled after she said this and continued with her card game, blocking out sad and unhappy thoughts.
"Alright, but get over it fast, I don't like seeing you with sad grey eyes. I like them a happy green." He said patting her on the head as he got up and walked off.
Ashley shook her head and smiled at the affectionate sensei, then went to finishing her card game. It took a while for her to realize that Akamaru was sitting on the floor next to her, lookup up patiently. That's how absorbed in her thoughts and the game she was. Akamaru licked her elbow and snapped her out of her trance.
"Hey Akamaru! I'm sorry if I was ignoring you." she said smiling at the dog and scratched him behind the ears. "Nice collar, it makes you look cuter." she commented as she noticed the silk collar. Upon closer examination, she realized it was from that girl his parents wanted him to marry. "Ew, that's gross." Ashley stated in disgust. Akamaru scratched at it with his forepaws, then whined looking up at Ashley. "Gladly" Ashley replied with conviction and undid it, letting it fall to the ground. He barked happily and shook to unmat his hair. Ashley laughed at his antics and started a game of fetch, using the collar as the ball. As they were playing, Ashley could see Kiba out on the dance floor with the girl. "Akamaru, I'm going to refer to her as Santina, because it sounds evil." Ashley said as she tossed the collar one more time.
Akamaru ran off to the dance floor with it. Ashley avoided looking to see where he went and set up another game of Spider Solitaire. Akamaru came back, with the collar on. Ashley rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. "I'm not taking it off again. Not with them watching." she said sternly. Akamaru whined at her. She sighed, "Fine... But do throw it away or do something useful, like bury it. Just don't go back over there. Deal?" Ashley looked at Akamaru, waiting.
He looked upset as he looked from Kiba to Ashley.
She smiled weakly at him, "Sometimes these things just can't be." She said softly as she glanced towards Kiba and noticed him looking at her. She winced as she looked away sharply. "let's go for a walk Akamaru. I know this place has a pond we can sink that wretched thing in." she said in a scorned tone as she stood up, adjusted her dress, then walked off with Akamaru.
Kiba looked at her and his date looked in his stares direction. "She'd better not do anything to that collar or she's going to have Hell to pay." she spat angrily. Kiba looked at her as she looked back at him sweetly and started dancing again. Kiba gave an inner sigh and began dancing with her, half-heartedly. All his friends noticed his distress and they all looked to each other to think of a way to help, but none of them could and they suffered along with him.
Ashley leaned against the stone railing, staring deeply at nothing. Akamaru was down at the pond tossing and shaking the detested collar, trying to cheer up Ashley. Kakashi was soon standing next to her, watching Akamaru toss the collar about.
"You should smile, that way he doesn't feel his attempts are in vain." Kakashi spoke to her in a counseling like tone.
Ashley looked up to him, then down to Akamaru as he shook the collar like a rag doll. She let out a small laugh, now noticing his behavior. She looked up at Kakashi again, "I'm glad you're around. Otherwise, I think I'd go emo like Sasuke and kill myself."
Kakashi looked at her in surprise. Well, I'm glad to be of such assistance to you." he said, giving her his trade mark smile.
She watched Akamaru tear at the collar and gave another laugh, "It sucks though, I'm going to miss them both."
Kakashi looked at her and noted her features were traced with sadness. "Why are you going to miss them? They're not going anywhere." Kakashi spoke in a parental like tone.
Ashley didn't say anything, she couldn't say anything. Her eyes were now fixed on the two figures with Akamaru. "Poor Akamaru..." she said quietly as he took the harsh scolding from Kiba. He never had scolded him before and it hurt both Akamaru and Kiba for it to be done. The collar was put on again.
Ashley walked towards the front of the building, not wanting to leave without apologizing and saying good-bye to Akamaru. She saw them in the fountains and called Akamaru over. He started to come over, then stopped as Kiba said something to him.
Ashley took this as a challenge and walked over.
Kiba looked at her in surprise as she knelt next to Akamaru and hugged the dog. "I'll miss you Akamaru. Be a good boy for me." Ashley said after she stopped hugging him and held his face in her hands.
He whined, but nodded in agreement as he looked at her with sad eyes.
Suddenly, the girl dubbed Santina spoke up, "May I ask what right you had to remove his collar? It was a gift, and now it is ruined." she gave Ashley an indignant glare.
Ashley blinked at her; Kiba held his breath and looked at Ashley pleadingly. Looking down at Akamaru, Ashley said, "It's ruined? It looks better if you ask me." She shrugged and turned to walk off, but the girl grabbed her arm.
"How dare you insult me." she shrieked as she swung at Ashley who grabbed the girl's wrist.
Ashley glared at her, with stone like eyes that were currently an icy blue, reflecting her mood.
"Ashley, don't." Kiba said sternly, breaking Ashley's grasp. She gave him a deadly glare and then walked off.
Walking into the hall, she found Taylour and told her she was going back to the apartment before she killed someone.
"Oh... I'm sorry this happened Ashley-chan. Yes, go back and get some rest before you hurt someone or yourself." Taylour said as she hugged Ashley.
Ashley looked at Taylour, "I think I'm going to go for a walk instead. I'll just get angry if I go to the apartment."
Taylour nodded then said, "Fine, just be careful."
Ashley nodded to her and then walked out, passing Kiba by himself on the way. She avoided him noticing neither his dog nor the whore was with him. She almost went to him, but kept walking, not trusting herself. After walking in the woods for a while, Ashley removed her shoes and walked on the soft forest floor barefoot. She finally reached her cliff and sat on her ledge, not caring that she was getting the dress dirty. her mind wandered over the past couple years, from the night they'd been taken from their home and their lives, to when Taylour thought she was pregnant and then to the war. Ashley ran over all the pranks she'd done and all the insanity of the years and laughed to herself. It wasn't her normal raucous insane laughter, it was a small, quiet and reassuring laugh. Her thoughts were interrupted by a whine behind her. She turned around to see a sad Akamaru come out of the tree line. Ashley smiled at him. She patted the ground next to her and he trotted up and sat next to her. A soft breeze blew through pushing Ashley's hair across her face, making her look like an elf even more. She let out a sigh and Akamaru licked her face. She looked over at him, "I don't think I can be optimistic anymore big guy... You'd be best to go back, he's going to need you."
Akamaru nudged her and whined.
Ashley smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes, "He won't need me as much as he'll need you."
"I need both of you." Kiba said suddenly from behind the two. They both turned to him. He started to step forward, but stopped as Akamaru began to growl at him. Kiba's face fell as his best friend rejected him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Ashley, so he turned around to leave.
Ashley stood up and yelled, "Kiba, wait!" and ran up to him. She gently touched his arm and tried to look at his face. He avoided her gaze so she just hugged him from behind and buried her face into his back. "Kiba..." she said softly as she let him go.
He turned around to face her. "I'm so sorry Ashley-chan, I didn't mean to have you get hurt, or Akamaru." he hugged her and buried his face in her hair. "Please, forgive me." Kiba begged her.
She gently hugged him back and rested her head on her shoulder. "Kiba... Why didn't you tell me that she was going to be here?" she asked, her normal attitude back, her anger gone. She had decided to approach this in a logical manner.
"I was going to, but every time I tried, it didn't work. Besides, my parents told me it was a test and they weren't really going to force me to marry her. They actually don't like her either." Kiba responded, looking at Ashley as he cupped her face in his hands.
She laughed, "That doesn't surprise me that your parents did something like this. Well, did you pass their test?"
Kiba smiled at her, "I came after you, and Akamaru, so yes, I did." he leaned down and kissed her, full on the lips and pulled her close, his arms wrapped around her waist. Ashley was surprised at first, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer.