He lays the boy upon his bed, not really caring for his dirt-encrusted clothes or sweaty skin. Kiba lays motionless with his mouth slightly open, lips curled back from the sharp canines in his upper jaw. Even sleeping, he looks as wild as ever.
"Oi." Kakashi slaps Kiba lightly across the face. It takes only a moment for him to awake, jolting suddenly into a sitting position on Kakashi's bed. His eyes flicker over his surroundings, and he raises his shoulders in a defensive stance. A long, low growl is emitted from the base of his throat.
"I hope you're not planning to run away again, because it's not going to work," Kakashi taps the metal of his forehead protector, "Remember my Sharingan? Not very pleasant to get hypnotised, is it?"
Kiba narrows his eyes. They almost seem to glow within the darkness of Kakashi's apartment. He growls again, a harsh grating sound, like metal scraping against metal.
"Kiba, there is no need to act so feral," Kakashi sighs, he reaches up to his forehead protector again, "Or shall I use my Sharingan to make you speak?"
"What the fuck do you want, old man?" Kiba finally spits out, and his words are a bit clumsy at first.
"First, I need to know why you are running away. After that, I'll explain to you why I can't let you leave Konoha."
"Why do I owe you an explanation? You don't even know me." Kiba mutters bitterly, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. "Why did you even bring me here? Why did you bring me back?"
"Well then, I think it's a stalemate," Kakashi answers, then adds, "By the way, you have some visitors." The sound of approaching footsteps increases, until they stop and there's a knock on the door.
"It's us." Shino's emotionless voice is muffled by the inch-and-a-half of timber.
"Come in," Kakashi replies, although the two remaining members of Team Eight had already opened the door and entered his apartment.
"If you're going to keep me here in such a pathetic hostage imitation, then you should provide me food, shouldn't you?" Kiba gives a grin which has an ominous feeling attached to it, "I'm hungry, you know."
"What do you want, then?" Kakashi asks.
"Mm, well," Kiba stretches out and yawns, "Maybe a rabbit – live, of course."
Kakashi doesn't let himself be affected by the boy's words, and Kiba is visibly disappointed by Kakashi's lack of disgust, his eyes narrowing once again.
"Alright, I'll get you a rabbit, if that's what you want."
"Kiba…" Hinata's soft, sweet voice murmurs. There's a hint of shock, or surprise, within her otherwise hesitant tone.
"We were concerned when you ran off so suddenly," Shino states without feeling, his voice as cold as ever. Kiba snorts.
"Sure sounds like it," he answers rudely, indirectly mocking Shino's lack of emotion.
"Hinata, Shino, I trust you two will be able to handle Kiba should he try to make another escape," Kakashi nods at the two, "I'll be heading out for awhile, I'll be back soon though."
"Of course we will," Shino's gaze is piercing despite the sunglasses covering his eyes, "I already have placed several of my bugs on Kiba. He won't be able to run even if he tries."
Kiba's indignant 'what?' is ignored by them all as Kakashi places a hand on Shino's shoulder and nods once more, "Good."
As Kakashi leaves, he hears Hinata murmur something. Kiba's answer is short and clear.
"I don't feel like talking."
"You're back." Hinata almost sounds excited to see Kakashi, although her tone still holds a lot of hesitance in it. She stands up immediately as he enters the room. Shino leans against the wall, his head ducked, and Kakashi wonders if he's sleeping. Kiba himself is lying on his side, head propped up by his hand. His eyes are closed.
"Kiba doesn't wish to see us…" Shino states, he flicks his hand and a swarm of bugs retreat from Kiba's skin to rest within Shino's body again. "We're going to leave, now."
"I can't stand it, I'm sorry…" Hinata begins to sob, tipping her head forward to hide her face. Kiba opens his eyes and glances at her warily. It's alarming to see a Hyuuga so emotionally affected. Kakashi hopes that he isn't meant to be comforting her.
Hinata steps backwards, slowly, then abruptly turns and hurries out of the room. The front door of the apartment slams soon after.
"Goodbye," Shino says before he follows the footsteps of his team mate.
There's a split second of silence after Shino leaves. Then Kiba sits up, alert again.
"You brought food," Kiba whispers, dangerous intent on the edge of his voice. Kakashi nods, places the catatonic rabbit in front of the boy. Kiba edges forward in a sudden burst of movement, then grabs the rabbit with a claw-like hand.
"So this is what it looks like…" Kiba murmurs as he examines the rabbit carefully, referring to its Sharingan-induced trance. He promptly bites down on the rabbit's neck and it twitches to life, jerking and squealing in its place within his teeth. He shakes his head once, twice, then finally the animal falls limp, hanging uselessly in Kiba's mouth, blood trickling through its soft fur.
Kakashi can't help feeling disgusted as he watches the Inuzuka boy methodically peel away the rabbit's skin and fur using his teeth and gnaw at the flesh and bone beneath. Kiba notices this and stops, his lips and teeth stained crimson with dark blood. "Don't look if you're so faint of heart," he jeers, his tongue pokes out from his lips, seeking out the blood on the corner of his mouth. The familiar coppery smell pervades Kakashi's senses.
"What happened with Shino and Hinata?"
"I didn't want to talk to them." Kiba begins to crunch on a piece of tendon, "I don't like seeing those two anymore. They remind me of Akamaru."
Kakashi is a loss for words, but Kiba doesn't notice this as he continues, "It was a bad way that he died, Akamaru. Let me tell you, because you seem so curious about why I don't want to live in Konoha anymore." Kiba places the half-eaten carcass of the rabbit onto his legs, "It was a bit like filling a balloon with too much air, you know? That ninja… He had a strange ability to infuse his chakra into a victim's body. When your body has too little chakra, you die. When your body has too much chakra, then your system goes into overload and you'll die."
Kiba's eyes start to cloud over with thought, "He just swelled up larger and larger, Akamaru. That's when I was reminded of a balloon. Of how when you fill a balloon with too much air, it explodes. Well, Akamaru exploded. Too much chakra, and he just burst." He continues speaking in a disaffected voice – an obvious façade, "It was hard to believe those shards of bone and bits of gore and blood once were my partner, my best friend."
"I'm sorry," Kakashi speaks honestly; horror twists itself into a tight knot in the bottom of his stomach. It wasn't fair that all of these kids, so young, all of them had to witness such terrible killings at their age. It had been like that a hundred years ago, and it would be the same forever.
"You see, killing the ninja who killed Akamaru won't put all those pieces of Akamaru back together. I can't return Akamaru properly to the earth, not when he's been blown to bits like that. No matter what I do, no matter if I train as hard as I can and restore peace to the world or bullshit like that, it won't bring back Akamaru. All I know is that I should've put a stop to my own pursuance of the path of a ninja. If only I'd done so before, if only, then Akamaru would still be alive."
Kiba gives Kakashi a strange look from his wolf-like eyes, "You wouldn't understand though. You're too human. All of you are too obsessed with power and revenge. I don't want to be a part of it. Not anymore. Because I'm not like the rest of you," he says, eyes lingering on a spot behind Kakashi, "I'm not as strong. You all can move on, you all can accept death and keep fighting. I don't want to fight anymore. I want to run away, be with the mountains and the forests, be under an endless sky. I want to run away from all my troubles and forget the life of a ninja. That's what I've always dreamt of – a world where there is no need for war, or brutality, or any violence. All that is, all that will be, is as earth chooses."
- If everything in life is futile, the decision to exist must then be the most irrational of all.
Author's note: Silvergurl423 - About your question, I was actually considering making this romance-based but it's most probably just going to be a friendship fic. Thanks for reading and reviewing my story =]