Sakura ignored the teeth pulling on her pants legs of as she ate. All the other puppies were inside her tent fast asleep, except these two. As teeth bit into flesh she looked down at the reason she couldn't get sleep even when she had a few minutes to spare; Daishiro, the German Shepard and Sachio, the Shiba Inu. They had been constant rivals for her affection over the past five weeks, determined to never leave her side; she had been forced to seal the flaps to her tent just to keep them from following her into the operating room.
Sighing she lowered her tray onto the ground transferring the attention from her pants legs to what remained of her portion of beef. A little over six weeks the puppies had begun eating solid food. Watching them go at it, Sakura lifted her legs and tucked them underneath herself, allowing herself to be content just watching the two eat as though their little lives depended on it.
Waiting until they had licked the tray clean Sakura bent over and took it before walking it over to the pile. Smiling at one of the gennin behind the lunch counter she took the container he held out and began walking back to her tent; Daishiro and Sachio right behind her. Walking to the other side of the compound where her tent lay Sakura was forced to pause every once in a while when one of the puppies would trip over their too big paws they had yet to grow into; and if those paws were any sign of how big they were going to get Sakura had a feeling that she was going to have to move.
Approaching the tent Sakura paused at the sight of the broken seal on the tent flap. Two heads butted into her legs at the sudden stop and she looked down. Two sweet puppy faces looked back up at her, tails wagging against the dirt of the ground. They were cute as hell but that would do very little to scare off whoever was in her tent. Sakura held back a snort, as if they could do anything to anyone.
Quietly picking the two pups up by their scruffs she placed them to the side and held up her hand, it was one of the commands she had worked on relentlessly: STAY. The silent command was accompanied by two soft whines which she ignored.
Taking a kunai from her pouch Sakura masked her presence and began creeping towards the tent flaps. Taking a breath she burst through the flaps and slipped into a defensive position.
Sakura's eyes went straight towards the man sitting on her bed, the remaining puppies scattered on top of him, sleeping. The man looked up from his book and smiled at her, and with his usual eye wink and salute he said "Hey."
With her eye twitching Sakura put away her kunai and scowled "Sensei, what are you doing here?"
"No inquisition, you really should be more diligent about questioning men who just show up in your tent." Staring at her he put away his book and smiled with that eye wink again
"Those plants aren't cocky enough to just wait for me while lying out on my cot." Sakura sighed, moving towards the man she sat down on the edge of her cot and quickly moved Akeno, the blood hound to the side, and down to the mass of blankets near the head of her bed which had become the dogs' bed. Jio, the husky followed suite without any prompt and with his lead, Kotaro, the Dalmatian, Leiko, the Golden Retriever, and Koi the Bearded Collie followed.
Kakashi's eye followed the dogs, watching them for a minute before turning his attention back to her. "I see you've gained some new followers."
Sakura hmmm an agreement as she unzipped his flak vest and lifted his blood stained shirt to stare at a badly bandaged wound to his abdomen. "You should have gone straight to the medical tent instead of waiting for me."
He grunted as she peeled away the bandage, undoing the clotting, before covering the wound again with her hands and allowing her chakra to surge through the wound mending the skin, nerves and cells. "They would have kept me for too long, this needs to be a quick trip, and I need to get back."
"So you weren't checking up on me?"
"Of course not." Sakura didn't push the issue "You plan on using them as ninkin?"
"Still thinking about it, I'm not quite sure yet, they're still young."
"That's the best time to start training them, best time to make them a pack, best time to make a contract, best time to,"
Sakura interrupted him with a small laugh "I get it, this is the best time."
"And lucky for you I have a bit of time now."
Sakura smiled as she focused on healing him and began making idle chitchat. Finishing up she wrapped a bandage around his abdomen just in case. "You're going to need to take it easy; I didn't have enough chakra left to toughen the skin, so it'll probably be a bit sensitive."
Kakashi nodded and Sakura rolled her eyes; it had gone in one ear and out the other, just like always. "Wait here a second and I'll get a cream that should be able to help sooth any pain." Kakashi nodded and Sakura left through the tent flaps. She was greeted by Daishiro and Sachio and she bent down to scratch behind the dogs' ears, a small apology for forgetting them and then continued on to the supply tent.
Fetching what she needed she returned to an empty tent, her eyes going to her cot. There sat two scrolls. Picking up the first one she began reading as the dogs began climbing up onto the bed, Daishiro draping himself over her lap.
Sakura,
I already went ahead and paw printed and bled the dogs here. All that's left is for you to do the remaining two. Then prick one of the toe pads and have them press it beneath. After that sign the contract as you would any other. After that make hand signs and they'll go to Inu no Yama, wait a few minutes and then summon them back. After that they'll be "registered" and from there you have a ninkin pack.
-Kakashi
P.S. Start teaching them to talk now, or else it's a pain in the butt.
Sakura smiled and reached down to rub Daishiro's belly and smiled as she looked over her rag tag ninkin crew. This was gonna be fun.
I blame School for my long absence. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it.
