Authors note: This chapter is dedicated to my Art Teacher, Mrs. Forman. She passed away over the weekend…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I would have made Kiba win in his match in the preliminaries. Naruto won. Such a terrible injustice.

Beautiful liar;

Chapter four: Guardian Angels.

Kiba winced stepping under his steaming shower. He felt disgusting; he felt used…he felt…worthless. He scrubbed vigorously at his skin; he didn't feel clean, just dirty, like a whore. He picked up the bar of soap, which was situated near the shower faucets, lathering up his hands he ran them over his already soap-covered arms, and other such limps that felt dirty at the time. He had so far done well to fight back the urge to drop to the floor in despair and cry to death, yes, he was an Inuzuka, and yes Inuzukas' were a prideful bunch but he was also a shinobi and as such, would not cry. Ninja's don't cry. That was the number one rule; Ninjas' must show no emotion, Kiba winced 'does that include losing your virginity on a mission?', in any circumstance.

He shuddered at the thought of that man's hands snake their way across his chest, he hated it, the feeling of being defenceless, the feeling of having no choice but to submit, feeling like he was in fact, just some whore. That's what he felt like, a whore, something to be used without care or concern. That man had shown him no care or concern, that filthy man…just used him. But there was an upside to this; Kiba's eyes softened 'Better me then them, I'd die if this happened to them…Shino…Hinata…at least it was me…' at the thought he smiled sadly. He really did feel that way; he didn't just think it to make himself feel better. He knew they didn't deserve it, but then again, he wasn't sure what he had done to deserve it either. Maybe it was all those years of disrespect towards the Hokage, Or Naruto…maybe? Maybe it was his punishment for never choosing to help out in the Inuzuka household…

Wondering downstairs Kiba sniffed the air and let a goofy grin fall upon his features, his mother was cooking his favourite, beef raman, he wondered into the kitchen, Hana was already there, reading whatever book he was reading, Kiba didn't care. He was never one for books. Tsume looked at him expectantly and his grin widened "I'm going to go train with Shino after dinner, you know, we're trying to get used to fighting in the dark for our next mission".

Tsume snorted and pointed heatedly towards the dinning table, indicating for him to sit down and shut up before she ripped his head off."I'm just serving it up, now be quiet, oh yeah," she paused briefly "if you don't win against Shino-san then I won't cook Beef raman for the next month" Kiba's grin faltered at that. He stayed silent for a moment before smirking and leaning on the table with his elbow.

"You know, ma'. We both know that you can't go two weeks without beef raman, it'll be more of a challenge for you then me" he laughed slightly, Hana rolled he eyes and soon returned, or at least tried to, return to her reading.

Tsume put on a smirk of her own "Then I'll start cooking Miso raman instead, we both know you're the only one that has a problem with Miso raman" both she and Hana laughed quietly at his misfortune. Curse women, they always gang up on him.

Kiba gasped and glared like a cat to a lizard, hissing "eeeeviiiilllll" in a childish manner before crossing his arms indignantly and pouting.

Needless to say – Kiba lost that night.

Sighing Kiba decided he was done and sighed again when he realized he was a prune. Or at least a very Kiba-shaped prune; turning off the running water Kiba stepped out the shower and grabbed the first towel he found and rubbed the water off quickly and dried his hair in much the same manner, he dressed quickly, back into the clothes he came home in. He didn't bother brushing his hair, he never did anyway, why start now?

Pulling open the door more violently then intended, Kiba dropped the towels into the laundry basket and trudged over to his room and slamming the door, never bothering to turn on the lights then he lay on his bed in a daze with Akamaru lying snugly at his feet.

After Kiba dashed out of the hospital, Tsunade wasted no time in gathering together a group of Chuunins and Jounins, for a little reconnaissance mission. She sat at her desk, looking serious for two reasons, one, to prevent herself from pulling the sake out from the cabinet under her desk and two, to examine the group she had chosen. Her eyes wondered over them critically, trying to size up the chance they'll let their guard down and fail the mission. She clasped her hands in front of her and entwined her fingers whilst she rested her chin on them, She didn't want them to fail this mission, if they did, it would be all but over if this particular target found out.

The party before her stood in silence, examining her with the same intensity, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Hana, and Tsume had been standing there for a good five minutes and a certain bored genius was, well…bored "Are you going to tell us why we're here or are we just going to have a staring contest?" he piped up, his posture slackened slightly as he put his hands in his pockets, watching Tsunade with a bored expression.

"Hai, I would like to go home to Kiba," Tsume chimed in "I'm worried about him" Hana nodded in agreement as did Hinata. Tsunade gave a solemn nod.

"Well, that is why we're here, I have a mission for you all…" she paused for a moment "I want you all to keep an eye on Kiba, watch his behaviour. Report to me weekly, and do. Not. Fail" she stated gravely. She looked over the crowd to see Neji scoff; she raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"We're just glorified baby-sitters?" Tsunade smirked and nodded vigorously, and mockingly.

"Pretty much, don't screw up, we don't want him feeling trapped, got it?" All of them gave stiff nods, but she wasn't done yet "I wanted Inuzuka-san and Hana-san to watch him at home, or whenever they are in his company; sort of a twenty-four hour surveillance thing. Shino, Hinata, watch him during training and other such activities. Neji, Shikamaru, Every spare minute you have, go looking for him. Okay?"

Shino nodded "go about life as normal as possible" he stated plainly.

Nodding again Tsunade smiled "exactly, Shino. Please, if any of you should feel the need, take extra measures; especially if he starts freaking out about something…" she blinked looking over the crowd expectantly "Is there anything anyone should mention…"

Raising her hand gingerly, Hinata spoke up "K-Kiba-kun f-finds it hard t-t-to…h-hold…eye c-contact…Hokage-sama…" She glanced at Shino, almost timidly.

He nodded "Hai, he does; he has also begun to stutter slightly" Tsunade raised a brow "it is not normal behaviour for Kiba. There is definitely something very wrong" Shino sighed, he was itching to find Kiba and begin the mission. He wanted to know he was okay. He did not like the shaky, scared, stuttering Kiba he had seen in the hospital.

Frowning, Shikamaru looked to the ceiling in thought "Yeah…did you notice how he backed away from Hokage-sama whenever she yelled, not to mention tried to touch him" all present in the room nodded.

"He also seems very hostile and jumpy, in general, around everyone but Akamaru" Hana mumbled distractedly.

Turning towards the Inuzuka women Shino raised a fine brow "Inuzuka-san, what is so significant about 'pride'?"

Sighing dejectedly Tsume crossed her arms over her chest "if this…genjutsu master did his research he would know that the Inuzuka clan are extremely prideful and close-knit, now that I think about it, Kiba seems ashamed about something but…" Tsume trailed off and huffed shaking her head "I can't think what a genjutsu would cause him to be ashamed about…"

Standing Tsunade nodded and gestured for them to leave "thank you…you've given me a lot to think about…" the party of ninja all left with no real complaint, most wanted to go home and some would be going home to start their mission "Oh, Inuzuka-san, please tell Kiba to report to me immediately" said Inuzuka nodded and continued out the door of the large office.

The heavy thud of a fist on a door woke Kiba from his light slumber with a snort of surprise, he grumbled as he sat up on his bed rubbing his face tiredly "Come in…" he mumbled, his tiredness evident. He jumped slightly when the door was swung open carelessly. Tsume entered the room, a large grin on her face. Kiba grinned back trying to hide his unease "Ma!" he got up from his bed and padded over to Tsume; he flung his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"Kiba" she laughed, "What is all this?" she stroked her sons hair affectionately waiting for an answer.

Snuggling into her stomach Kiba mumbled "Ma, you know I love you, right?" he stiffened slightly when Tsume's hand paused mid-stroke. He relaxed when he felt Tsume return his embrace, tightly, comfortingly.

Tsume Nodded, resting her chin on her pups head "Of course I do Kiba" She smiled sadly down at him, he nuzzled deeper against her neck, just wishing he could go to sleep again "You know I love you, don't you?" she asked, cupping his chin in her hands softly. Smiling sadly and nodding Kiba looked to the floor biting his lower lip "and you know…I love you no matter what, right? You know you can tell me anything…" again Kiba nodded, his eyes flickering nervously back and forth from Tsume to the floor.

"I-I…umm…I guess…but-"

"-But nothing, Kiba" he winced at her sharp tone and kept his saddened gaze to the floor "remember, you are an Inuzuka…" she brushed his hair away from his forehead and placed a soft, loving kiss in the centre of it "and we'll love you, no matter what happens, no matter what's said, you can always count on us, got it, pup?"

Kiba nodded, close to tears 'if only you knew what happened…you wouldn't be saying this now…I've disgraced us all...' he shuddered violently, trying to hold back tears "h-hai…'Kaa-san…"

Gripping her son tightly she swayed as if trying to rock a baby to sleep "do you want to talk about it…?" she asked hopefully. Kiba merely shook his head and let out a choked sob. Tsume sighed and pulled away from her son, looking at him with caring eyes. She cupped his face in her hands and wiped away the few tears that had fallen, she frowned slightly, noticing his gaze was still to the floor "Kiba?" she asked.

"Mm?" he answered none too intelligently.

"Hokage-sama said she wished to see you immediately," she paused at his wide-eyed look and continued whilst lovingly stroking his hair "…something important…" she mumbled offhandedly "go" she stated poking his nose playfully "you'll be fine, my pup"

Kiba groaned and wondered past his mother and trudged downstairs "I hope it doesn't take long" he mumbled quietly, this was the last thing he wanted to do. What he wanted to do the most was sit in his room and hopefully rot away like any other used, depressed boys. He reached the door and stepped outside, and slammed the door shut, as was customary of the loud, arrogant boy Kiba was…key word. Was…

(A/N: God, I had such a depressing day, it sucked, I was near tears. I wouldn't let myself cry, maybe tonight ne?)