Flashback:

When we finally got back, the first thing that I felt was a kunai at my neck.

"What do you think you're playing at? I saw what you did!"

Shikamaru's angry voice could be heard behind me.

"Oh shit..."

Chapter 4: The First Night

Kiba's POV

Obviously, I didn't know what Shik had seen me do, but I think I had a pretty good idea.

"Shit."

I snarled in my head.

"How am I gonna explain THIS one?! He'll NEVER let me live it down… not to mention NARUTO…"

Shikamaru's breath tickled the back of my neck, making my hair stand on end.

"I saw you push her into the tree. You really think you're going to get away with that?"

"Shika, stop!"

Neko's annoying voice exclaimed over the sound of my heart pounding against my chest.

"He didn't mean to push me. He actually saved me from falling into a hole in the ground but I didn't regain my balance fast enough and I knocked myself out!"

My eyes opened wide.

"Why would she defend me like that?"

Shikamaru stopped and backed away from me and nodded to her, and glared back to me.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Neko's face looked unusually serious as she glared at Shikamaru.

"Ok, then."

I couldn't help but notice how angry Shikamaru still looked, and when he turned to Neko, all of his anger melted away as she rolled her eyes.

"You just need to calm down, Shika. I'm fine."

Shikamaru just walked away, "Ok, I'm calm."

I turned to Neko, feeling my eyes widen again.

"Thanks, pussy cat," I managed to tell her.

Neko's POV

I don't know what possessed me to help Kiba out when it came to Shika. Most would probably call it some kind of instinct or something, though, as I did it without a second thought.

When he muttered a thanks to me, I thought I was in a different world.

"He's... saying thank you as well?! Maybe he's got the same thoughts; that we should be getting along..."

Almost not being able to answer, I nodded.

"Yeah, sure. I didn't want him to get involved in something that's long over."

To me, Kiba looked almost confused as he stared at me for a moment longer, and his head jerked right as Naruto approached us.

"Hey, guys! What's the haps?"

I looked down at my feet to see Akamaru and Talon sitting side-by-side, staring up at Kiba and I wordlessly.

"What?" I mouthed to Talon, but her tail kept waving in a warning manner. Obviously, though, she probably wasn't going to tell me why.

Kiba had turned to Naruto.

"Nothing... just chatting, I guess. You mind taking these to Shik?"

He held out the canteens of water, and Naruto took them gradually.

"Yeah, sure. Hard to believe the two of you... chatting peacefully. And,"

Naruto turned to me and smiled.

"Neko! Heh, um..." I couldn't help but notice he was scratching his cheek nervously.

When he didn't speak for five seconds, Kiba grabbed him in a headlock.

"If you're gonna say something, say it. We don't have all day."

Naruto dropped the canteens, making all of the water spill.

Kiba's mouth dropped open, as did mine.

"What an idiot... both of them..."

Before a fight could break out, I grabbed them.

"I'll get more water," My voice was unnaturally dry as I grabbed Talon and swiftly walked toward the river.

"...Idiots. If they're not careful, we might get killed because of them one day..."

Talon looked up at me, meowing and asking if I was going to keep trying to get Kiba to see me on a human level.

"Yeah, because if he doesn't, it's either the end of me or it's the end of this mission. I don't think I could take it if the same thing happened every day for a month and a half..."

We reached the river, and as I steadily filled up the canteens, a voice could be heard from behind me.

"I saw it with my own eyes. Kiba hurt you on purpose, didn't he?"

Talon's fur was on end as was the hair on the back of my neck. I turned to see Shikamaru walking toward me, looking kind of irritated.

"N-no...!" I muttered, but Shikamaru wasn't buying it.

"If you don't want him to hurt you, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything anymore. Ok?"

I shook my head.

"It was an accident, and he apologized anyway."

Shikamaru didn't look satisfied as he turned.

"Fine. Next time he does something like that, though, I'll kick his ass. I'll be walking at a slow pace, so catch up when you're done."

With that, though, he vanished.

"..."

I stared into space, thinking angrily.

"Why does he think I'm helpless? He trained me HIMSELF so I could become a Shinobi. I'm more than capable of staying out of trouble and taking care of myself!"

Kiba's POV

I pulled Naruto over to the corner of the camp.

"If you want to tell her how you feel, grow some balls, man!"

Naruto squirmed in my grasp.

"Ah, I tried! But I dropped the damn canteens and... well..."

I let go of him, Akamaru barking furiously for me to stop choking people.

"I'm not very good at this kind of thing! Ok?!"

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation, closing my eyes.

"This guy is more of an idiot than I originally thought."

"Listen," I looked Naruto in the eyes.

"It's not that hard. All you have to do is act like nothing is scaring the shit out of you, and you have to... well... I guess be nice around her. Don't be nervous."

Naruto stared at me.

"...It's hard not being nervous. Neko gives me... these feelings. I dunno, butterflies I guess!"

"Who the hell in their right mind would feel anything like that for pussy cat?"

Akamaru barked, and I looked up to see Shikamaru leaving the camp, hands in his pockets.

"What is he doing?" I asked out loud without meaning to.

Naruto glanced at Shikamaru's retreating back.

"He's probably going to go find Neko..." After he said her name, though, Naruto paused.

There was an awkward silence as he stared at me, until I finally asked:

"...What?"

"Even... saying her name gives me goosebumps!"

I had to admit, Naruto looked stressed.

"Damn, all this over... pussy cat."

I shook my head, sticking my hands in my pockets.

"Sorry man; if that's the case, I can't help you."

"Why not?!"

"Because... I don't like pussy cat."

Naruto glared at me.

"You've never once called her by her name!"

I stared back, calmly.

"Yeah, I know. Why?"

He seemed to get even more angry every second.

"Why the hell are you such an ass to her?! What'd she do to you?"

Akamaru looked up at me and barked:

"I was wondering the same thing."

I shook my head.

"Pussy cat is just... annoying. I can't stand her."

As if mentioning her called her to us, she and Shikamaru walked through the trees, each carrying two canteens. Talon was at her feet, her green eyes glowing some sort of a challenge as she spotted Akamaru and I.

Almost as if I wasn't even there, Naruto ran to her, which made me snort to myself.

"What a love-sick puppy."

"Yeah," Akamaru barked in agreement.

I watched as Naruto grabbed her by her free hand and began dragging her over to the area where they'd be camping out.

"C'mon; Shikamaru and I made this awesome fire-pit..."

As Naruto dragged her away, Talon following at a slow pace, Shikamaru moved toward him, looking almost pissed off.

"Aww, man..."

Neko's POV

I don't think I've ever seen Naruto so happy to see me as he dragged me toward his so-called 'awesome' fire-pit.

Although, I couldn't help but notice Shika walking toward Kiba, anger in his posture.

"Poor Kiba..."

Akamaru was staring at me, but not at me. More like... at my legs. I looked down, but Talon was staring back, flicking her tail.

Naruto continued as he let go of my arm.

"I think this is the best one we've ever made, Shik and I!"

Honestly, his humor soothed me.

"I would be surprised if it wasn't." I felt a smile crawl up my face.

Before anything else could be done, though, Shikamaru and Kiba walked toward us. "Let's go get the fire started."

Kiba's POV

So, after Shikamaru shouted at me, I walked back to where Naruto and pussy cat were sitting.

"Tch."

I was, honestly, pretty pissed off. Pussy cat normally gets on my nerves, but not nearly as much as she did before I decided to choke the life out of her.

"That bitch is lucky I didn't do anything else to her."

Naruto was standing around her, looking joyful to be near her.

"I suppose it's only right... there would need to be a special person to be with Naruto."

While Shikamaru worked on getting the fire started, I sat down next to Naruto who sat in between pussy cat and I.

"Talon and Akamaru seem to be getting along!"

Naruto commented as the three of us looked over at them. The animals were sitting close to each other, as if they were communicating or something.

"Is he going to betray me?!"

I thought furiously as I watched Akamaru and Talon settle down by Shikamaru's feet.

I stared at the sight, aimlessly, until I saw a spark out of the corner of my eye and Shikamaru sat back.

"So, I want to ask you all… how was your guys' first day on this mission?" He asked, lying down and looking up at the stars.

Naruto laughed, although I couldn't help but notice he glanced at Neko.

"The best! It's great to finally be out on a brand new mission, this time it's super important!"

I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and we get to get away from the village for a while."

Shikamaru looked at pussy cat, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.

"Neko?"

She looked up from looking at the ground and stared at the fire.

"It feels so great to finally feel important for once."

Shikamaru looked at her with a look that I didn't understand; as if he was worried or something.

Naruto took her hand and smiled brightly.

"It's alright, Neko. You've always been important to lots of people, especially Shik here!"

Shikamaru smiled, "True, Naruto, true."

Neko smiled at them both, and then turned to look at me with eyes that looked lost.

"Kiba, do you think... I'm... important?"

Neko's POV

I don't know what had possessed me to do such a thing; asking Kiba, who undoubtedly hated me, if I was important.

"Why did I do that? If anything, it's not going to help us become comrades."

He stared at me for a long moment, then looked away and huffed.

"No, pussy cat. You're not important to me. To everyone else, sure, you are, but not to me."

I stared at him for a second.

"His eyes... they're different."

Indeed they were; instead of their angry-looking selves, they looked blank. Almost as if he couldn't think at that very second.

Suddenly, his gaze snapped toward me.

"What?"

His eyes were back to their normal, mean-looking selves and I could tell that he was getting angry just from looking at me.

"...Sorry."

I tore my eyes away from his, wondering why his eyes had changed.

"What'd I do?! Why did his eyes change into an emotion that I've never seen him have before?"

Kiba's POV

Don't ask me why, but I regretted snapping at pussy cat the way that I did.

"I can't go ten minutes without her doing SOMETHING that annoys me, whether it's looking at me to breathing. Damn, she's annoying."

I noticed that Naruto glared at me from the corner of my eye.

"What?"

I asked him, wondering why he'd look at me like that. That's when it hit me:

"Oh yeah... he's still pretty pissed about me being an ass to pussy cat. I think I'm treating her rather nicely compared to what my mother might do."

Naruto stopped glaring at me when I returned it, and glanced at Neko, who was looking up at me.

"Why are you still staring at me, pussy cat?"

I growled almost without thinking about it.

"S-sorry!"

Neko put her hands in front of her face in defense, and I felt automatically guilty.

"She thinks I'm going to try to choke her again."

However, though, I'm guilty of my guilt: she deserved what she was given. At least, that's what I think.

Deep in thought, I narrowed my eyes and turned to Shikamaru on a completely different matter.

"Ok, we need to set up shifts for who's gonna take watch tonight."

Shikamaru snorted, staring up at the night sky.

"Already done. I'll take the first one, Naruto is second, you're third, and Neko is last."

I stared at him for a moment, wondering how he could have everything planned out so fast, and asked:

"Ok, then. Intervals?"

"Four hours."

Naruto put his hands behind his head and laughed, "Seems like you've got this all planned out, Shik!"

"Yeah, well," Shikamaru said, looking down and smirking. "It's a drag, but I try to think of it as a game of Shogi."

I glanced to my right to see Naruto scratching his cheek, AGAIN, and looking nervous.

Irritated, I snorted, "Ok, well, I'm gonna go get some sleep, if you all don't mind."

I got up and began walking toward my tent, which had been set up by Shikamaru, and that's when I noticed Akamaru wasn't following me.

I looked back; Akamaru was sitting with Talon.

"That little traitor,"

I snarled in my head.

"Sitting with the enemy. Fine, let him sit there, but if he comes into the tent smelling like cat, then he's not allowed to sleep in there!"

I turned and walked into my tent, stripping myself of my jacket, shoes, and headband.

Lying down on my sleeping bag, I was in deep thought for a moment.

"This mission is going to be hell. Trying to control my anger around pussy cat when Shik and/or Naruto is watching... I don't know if I'll be able to do it. Maybe if she'd stop being annoying for five minutes, it'd be easier."

Sighing, I rolled over onto my side.

I could hear Naruto's voice; he was in the middle of telling Neko the story about the Sasuke Retrieval mission that we had three years ago.

"How embarrassing... Akamaru and I almost lost to Sakon and Ukon. If it wasn't for Kankuro..."

I rolled over again, peering through the small crack at the entrance of the tent.

Shikamaru was sitting up, Naruto and Neko sitting beside each other.

Naruto suddenly asked, turning to Neko:

"So... how'd you... you know... decide to come to Konoha? Did you get lost or something?"

"I've wondered that a couple of times myself... if she hadn't come here, maybe..."

But I didn't finish my thought: Neko was staring at Naruto blankly, but she stood up and walked toward her tent without saying anything.

Confused, I got to my knees to peer out of the entrance even more.

Shikamaru was shaking his head, and Naruto was gazing at Neko's tent, looking as confused as I was.

Talon had jumped away from Akamaru and was trotting toward Neko's tent, her tail flicking in the most annoying way...

Shikamaru was talking now.

"Now you've done it, Naruto..."

"I didn't... know..."

Naruto was staring at her tent, and, although I couldn't see his face, I could tell he was... upset.

"I know. Just... don't ask that question. It's a sensitive topic."

"Sensitive, huh?"

I fell back onto my sleeping bag.

"I wonder... what DID happen to pussy cat?"

I fell into sleep within moments, not even able to realize how tired I was.


Not bad, not bad. This is actually becoming really easy to understand :) Rate/Review!