A/N: Hi there! If you've read this story all the way until this chapter, a massive thank you to you for sticking with an OC story!
A special thanks to SonicShaymin2 for the lovely reviews on not only this story, but Konoha Jawline as well! She too has a great OC story that I think you should check out. Its called 'Howling at the Moon' and you get your Kiba fix! (I did review, but I forgot to sign in :( Sorry Sonic!)
Anyway, here's chapter four. Please tell me what you think, or what I need to improve on. Enjoy!
The school hallway was swarmed with students.
Hotaru gritted the straps of her bag, frowning as strands of her red hair fell over her face. Her mood was foul -dangerous, even, as she stomped through the center of the corridor. Students had gathered on either side as they collected books and equipment from their lockers and headed towards their first class. A few girls who seemed to look a tad younger than she was giggled and stared, trying as slyly as they could to point at and mimic the angry red head.
This morning was not her morning. The wound she had caused herself the previous night had flared up and become infected. It had bled and wept as she slept, causing the bed sheets to stick to the open laceration. The next thing to top off her already thrilling morning, was that Genma was right; the shorts she had got from him last night were too big.
Way, way too big.
She attempted to tie the loose sides up with a hairband, only to have that hairband snap. She hadn't been able to walk properly all morning as her pants attempted to kiss her ankles every three meters.
The final thing to top off her already terrible morning was that she had misplaced her phone the previous night, and knew exactly who would be taunting her all day at school with it.
She eyed the numbers above the classroom doors. Her timetable had instructed her to attend Homeroom as soon as she arrived at school so she could hand in her student ID on attendance. She continued along the corridor, looking for the door labelled 'E9'.
"Ah, you must be Hotaru!"
A teacher with short black hair walked towards her as she entered the class room. She held a small clip board within the center of her hands. "I'm Shizune, the Homeroom co-ordinator. Glad to see you made it, and on time as well!"
Hotaru nodded, handing the woman her student ID. Social-anxiety monster began scratching away at her chest again.
"Now, there are some things I need to run by you, Hotaru," the dark haired woman started. "I've read over your profile that the Hokage gave me. You transferred to the Canyons from Konoha's academy when you were seven, correct?"
Hotaru blinked, trying her hardest to stay awake. "Yes, that's right."
"And I understand that because of Weaponry Canyon's rural locality, you had to travel with students from your village to study in the Suna Genin Program?"
She swallowed. She knew where this was going. Scratch, scratch. Scratch, scratch.
"By the looks of what's written down here…" Shizune flicked through the papers on her clipboard. "Your attendance to Suna's Program wasn't really, well, persistent."
Hotaru shuffled uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her neck. It was a nervous habit that she had grown accustomed to doing whenever she felt confronted or uncomfortable. The papers were right. Hotaru and her group of friends often avoided attending the Genin Program in Suna for weeks on end. It was a two hour trip to Suna from the Canyon's, and instead of attending the program, Hotaru usually volunteered to go on missions with her father instead. Her time was also spent exploring with her friends at night once the weather was cooler, sparring in the middle of dried out shrubbery, searching the rocky deserts for deserted waterholes, or climbing the highest sand hill they could possibly find. Because they were active at night, they'd often be riddled with tiredness the following morning. Very little of her time, in fact, was spent studying. The Meijinkage himself was lazy and uninterested in theory study, so it was super rare for him to ever actually force any of his Genin to travel to Suna. But hey, at least she was occupying her time with something and not completely budging, right?
"Yes, but it will be different here, miss." Lie.
The dark haired woman looked towards her with a questioning glance. "I'd like to hope so, Hotaru. Please don't let your attendance be similar to that of your team mate, Inuzuka Kiba. That boy would have failed the attendance unit if it wasn't for this extra week."
Shizune directed her to where the classroom was for her first class. It was maths, and the whole time she was there, she sat at her desk as her eyes grew heavy with boredom. The teacher who went by the name of Iruka Sensei was boring. The work she was assigned to do was boring. She didn't know anyone in the room, so she sat by herself and became the subject of whispers and pass-around notes from her fellow classmates.
She was relieved when the bell rang for the lesson to end. It was if a giant opening had suddenly appeared in the center of hell, letting her troubled soul finally sprint free through the gates, only to enter another hell, though this hell wouldn't be as bad as the first.
Nothing compared to the hell that was math.
She grabbed her gear and shoved it into her bag as she left the classroom to head to her next class.
Iruka walked around the empty classrooms, collecting the test papers from each student's desk. He took his time, quickly scanning his eyes over each test paper he collected. He was pleased with his class's results and smiled as he pondered on their success in the Chunin exams. A glimmer of his hopes seemed to fade, however, when he collected the empty paper from Hotaru's desk.
Kiba walked through the doors entering into the corridor, his black bag hefted over one shoulder. He hated early mornings, even if he had slept in and missed his first class.
He saw Shikamaru standing by his locker collecting books for his next lesson. The two boy's lockers were right next to each other, and even though Kiba didn't really consider Shikamaru to be one of his best friends, they still hung out within the same friends group.
"Hey man," the dog nin started. He rubbed his tired eyes. "Mind telling me what class I have? I left my timetable at home."
Shikamaru looked at the back of his locker door. It was typical of Kiba to come to school un-organised. Shikamaru was no organisation guru himself, but he didn't need to be. He was completing the Genin Program for the second time and didn't need to provide so much attention to this years studies. "English with Kakashi. I don't think he'll make us do much; his head will be buried in his own book too much for him to make us read our own."
"It'll be stupid if any of the teachers make us work. We're not even meant to be here this week; they could have just sent us on missions for the next seven days instead."
The mention of missions made Shikamaru groan. More missions meant more time he had to spend with his boisterous and noisy girlfriend, Ino. Don't get him wrong; he liked the girl, a lot. But spending double the amount of time with Ino because they weren't taking team studies at the University was really starting to become troublesome.
"Speaking of missions," the lazy brunette started. "I met your new team mate last night."
"Oh man, lucky you. Isn't she a pleasure?" Kiba's eyes rolled at the mention of her name, the two boys continuing to walk to their next class. Shikamaru scoffed at the copious amount of girls who would blush as the Inuzuka walked past.
"She doesn't look happy to be here, I know that much," he responded mutually.
"You haven't even seen the start of it. You should have seen how pissed she was when she lost to Shino yesterday; the girl's a pain in the ass."
The Nara nin frowned at his difficult classmate. Shikamaru wasn't one to suddenly become best friends with new students, but he was sensible enough to know a team bond was needed to pass next weeks exams. Kiba was going to ruin it for his whole team if he kept up his attitude. "You know, maybe she's just home sick. I know all girls are a complete drag but if you wanna pass these exams next week Kiba, then I suggest you make an effort."
"Don't lecture me man," the brunette replied with a groan. "Mom's already been on my ass about these exams, and now you. I dare you to spend a whole class with Hotaru and then come and tell me that she isn't annoying."
The two Genin entered the class room, both cringing at the way it smelt. It was thick, unventilated, smelling a mix of body odor, cigarette smoke and perfume. Naturally Shikamaru wondered over to Ino as Kiba took a seat by the window on his own. The more fresh air for his sensitive nose, the better.
A brunette with brown eyes strolled over to his seat, sitting on the corner of his table. Kiba raised one of his eyebrows, wondering why she was approaching him, looking at him with her irritated expression, sitting on the corner of his desk.
"So, uh, is there a reason you've been ignoring me Inuzuka?" Her arms folded smugly against her rather large chest. "I've texted you a few times and haven't gotten a reply."
"Come on Yurija, you know that last weekend was just fun and nothing serious. Let's just leave it at a good time."
The brunettes large brown eyes started to swell with tears as a rather angry expression settled upon her face. According to her, the class room was not filled with a bunch of people, and apparently, Kiba was deaf as she shrilled at a ridiculous pitch. "But… but we had sex! You cant just, just… use me like that!"
"Hey! Will you keep it down?" the brunette gritted in response, scanning the classroom to make sure no one had heard his one-time booty call complain. "Look, I never forced you to. If anything you came on to me, so sorry to break it to ya princess, but ya might want to think a situation through before you start opening your legs to the next boy who calls you pretty."
Yurija's mouth hung open in awe. The heart broken second year Genin walked slowly back to her seat, the class watching her as she did so, their eyes glued to her like glue. Kiba could feel Shikamaru's eyes on him, so he turned around to give him a smirk before placing his iPod in his ears.
"Attention class, I need everyone to take a seat." Kakashi stood lazily to hush his students. When all of them had settled and quietened down, he scanned his only visible eye across the room to search for a spare seat.
"Ahh, just there, next to the Inuzuka boy is a spare seat. You may sit there, Hotaru."
Kiba's head snapped at the familiar scent of mint and the sound of her name. He yanked his ear phones out of his ears before groaning at the girl standing in front of the class.
"Kakashi sensei, it's quite obvious I'm not your favorite student, but you don't need to punish me like this." Girls throughout the class giggled at Kiba's remark.
Hotaru clenched her nails into her palms before she hesitantly walked over. She could feel her pants starting to fall for the ten thousandth time that day, so she stopped to yank them up.
"Now Kakashi, I don't know if that is a very appropriate seating arrangement," the brunette started again, popping his feet up onto the desk. "The girl's already started taking off her pants before she's even reached the table. Do you really want me performing such private actions in front of a class full of students?"
Hotaru's face turned as red as her hair as she slammed her bag onto his desk. He had embarrassed her for the last time. Two can play at this game.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that Kakashi. I'm not into Beastiality."
The class roared with laughter. By now one of Kiba's canine's were protruding from the top of his mouth, and once again he could feel Shikamaru's eyes on him. He turned to look, only to see the lazy Genin returning his smirk from earlier.
"Calm down class, settle. I need you all to pull out your books from last week and just re-read the beginning." The grey haired man sat down and pulled his erotic novel up to his face. "Then you can… ugh, never mind. Just re read the beginning."
Kiba and Hotaru couldn't even look at each other. They both sat at the desk in silence, glaring daggers into the empty space before them.
"I'm not a fucking dog, Hotaru." he clenched his jaw. "I work with them and inherit their senses. Just to clear that up."
"And I clearly wasn't trying to get into your pants, just to clear that up."
The brunette leaned back in his chair, flicking through the songs on his ipod. "Yeah, well don't think that little remark ruined my chance with the ladies. Between me and the Uchiha, there isn't a moment where we're not pulling girls off of us."
She shuddered at his smugness, but she couldn't argue against his statement. Kiba - or the ass-hat Hercules- was good looking; it was just such a shame that he knew it all too well.
"Is that why you feel the need to not return my phone? You must just have sooo many girl's numbers that you need a second contact list, am I right?"
Kiba smirked even more as he slouched into his chair. "What phone? I don't know what you're talking about, Red."
It was at that moment when she couldn't take his cockiness any longer. She had dealt with his attitude at training, again that night in the ally, and the comments he had yelled out about her in front of the class. But not returning her phone was the last straw. She stood up, slamming her fists into the desk they were both sitting on, and leaned so close that their noses were almost touching.
"If you think for one second that I won't purposely ruin your chances of becoming a Genin, you're so very, very wrong."
The dog nin leaned in even closer. His breath was hot against her face, causing her stomach to drop, dive, flip and purge, all at the same time. "If you think that I'll let you ruin my chance, then you're just as wrong, Hotaru."
Their eye contact was fierce. Being an alpha male, Kiba didn't dare look away, especially when it came to being eye to eye with a girl. Her teeth were clenched tight, body shaking with anger, fists balled to an uncomfortable tightness. A pain in her arm caused her to flinch.
"Do we have a problem, you two?" a questioning eye glanced up at them from beyond a book cover. The whole class had stopped to look at them and their escapade of anger- or sexual tension, I don't think either of them were sure- and were mesmerized by the tensity of it all.
"Yeah, he's my problem." Hotaru gave the brunette one last look before storming out of the classroom. The student's eyes followed her, and Kakashi knew by her aggravated aura that he was to leave her alone.
As she left, Kiba's eye trailed to the small pool of blood which had formed on the side of the desk.
She burst in through the girl's bathroom doors, clenching her arm tight.
"Whoa, Hotaru? Is everything okay?"
Hotaru looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. She was relieved to see Sakura leaning over the white bathroom sink, washing her hands. The pink haired girl looked towards her with a concerned expression.
"Boy, am I glad to see you," Hotaru started, walking over towards the pinkette. She didn't even have to say anything before Sakura noticed the ugly wound on her arm.
"Jesus - what the hell happened to your arm!? Hotaru, you may need to have this looked at, it appears to be bleeding a fair bit."
"Can't you just fix it?" the red head held her arm to Sakura's face, undoing the poorly wrapped bandage. "It's not that bad. Really, it doesn't even hurt."
Sakura gently moved the wound away from her face. It had begun to smell rotten due to the horrible infection and despite all of Sakura's experience in the medical core, the appearance of the nasty wound made her stomach turn. "Listen. Hotaru, I could probably fix the torn ligaments on the inside of the wound, but the rest will probably need to be stitched up in a hospital."
She could see the disappointment in the red heads eyes. Sakura had a distinct feeling that the girl in front of her didn't want to draw any more attention to her self than she already had. Her heart felt for her, knowing she was trying to deal with all this by herself. Sakura couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to attend a school with a bunch of students and teachers she had never met, a team she had never worked with before, and live by her self in such a large, demanding town.
"…Hotaru, is everything okay? You look a little worked up," the emerald eye girl started to work her chakra on the red heads arm. She watched the way her chest rose up and down anxiously, stumbling on her words. "What's happened?"
"It's Kiba. I don't want to let the others down or anything, but I can't stand him, I can't work with him, Sakura, he's driving me insane."
"Come on Hotaru, it's only been two days. No one expects the two of you to be the best of friends. Just give yourself a little time to warm up to things, let down your walls a little bit."
Hotaru shifted uneasily, not taking her words as comfortably as Sakura had hoped. Jeez, it's like walking on egg shells with this girl, the pinkette thought. She put on a comforting smile as she was about to continue, before a certain blonde pushed her way through the bathroom door.
"So this is where you got off to?" the blonde raised her brow at the new girl before folding her arms. "Listen hunny; if you're going to be here a while, you need to get used to Kiba and his arrogant remarks. He doesn't mean it most of the time. It's usually just for show."
The red head frowned as she thought back to her home. "If he acted the way he did at the Canyons, he would have copped several Kunai to the face by now. How does he get away with saying those things?"
"Because of Clan status, Hotaru. And also because he's a third year Genin. They tend to be a little lenient with students before graduation," Sakura answered.
Hotaru tilted her head in confusion. "Clan status?"
"Ugh, let me explain." The three girls decided to leave the bathroom and make their way back down the school corridor. Ino exhaled as she began. "Kiba is one of three candidates for the Inuzuka Clan Heir. Usually it goes to the first born male when they turn twenty two, but the eldest candidate, Raka, is a total flop of a Genin. Like, seriously. If you saw him, you honestly wouldn't pick him as an Inuzuka."
Hotaru tried her best to listen, but she was still wrapped up in her rage from before.
"He's almost twenty three, and there's no hope of him becoming the clan heir now. That leaves it up to Kiba and Tok. Tok is only a few months younger than Kiba, so right now he's not exactly in the running. Unless, of course, Kiba hasn't found a mate by twenty two and Tok has."
Hotaru rolled her eyes. "I've known Kiba for two days, and honestly, I know there isn't a woman in the world who would want to commit to that."
"That's where you're wrong," the pinkette interrupted. She sighed as if she too didn't want to admit it, but there was no hiding the truth with the handsome Inuzuka. "Believe it or not, there are a ridiculous amount of girls who would do anything to be Mrs Inuzuka. But even if they were the perfect match for him, it wouldn't matter. His mate would have to be an Inuzuka if he wanted to be Heir."
Ino nodded in agreement. "It's the same with any head clan. If you wanted to be in a position of power, you'd have to marry someone from your own clan. It's not against the rules to marry someone different, but you can kiss your monarchy good bye if you do."
"So basically, what we're trying to say is Kiba is next in line for Clan leader, so he will get special privileges." The three girls reached the classroom door which students were now flooding out of. Hotaru had not even noticed the bell ring as Ino wrapped up the conversation. "But hey, look at the plus sides of things. Your team mate might be a dick, but he's sexy as hell. Deal with it and you won't have any problems."
"What Ino is trying to say," Sakura interrupted again, hushing the blonde. "Is that give him a chance, and he might give you one. Don't try and make your stay here harder than it will be."
Hotaru nodded and gave her unwilling thanks to the two girls. Her arm had stopped bleeding, but the gash was still open. She hadn't had very many friends who were girls at the Canyon's and it felt weird having people who appeared to genuinely care about her. She walked towards her bag, the now empty class room feeling uncomfortably silent. The smell that hung around the class room had disappeared, too. She peered into her bag, noticing her mobile phone sitting on top of her books.
"You asked her what!"
Sakura flinched as the Inuzuka raised his voice. She went to reply before the hot-headed blonde muscled up to him instead.
"We asked her to sit with us, have you got a problem with that, Kiba!"
"Yes, I do, actually," the brunette pointed towards the cafeteria to where the red head was standing. She hadn't yet noticed the group arguing about her. "That bitch is crazy! English and training with her three times a week is enough, yet alone spending my fucking lunch with her!"
His anger flared. The previous English class was uncomfortable and possibly even made their team relationship worse, and now the girls had invited her to sit with the group. "Oh come on, Kiba, she can't be that crazy," Naruto added. "So she got a little mad at training yesterday, big deal!"
"And in English! Hell, Kakashi was even too scared to stop the spoilt brat from running out of the classroom!" He snarled in the red heads direction.
"Can you just give her a break, Kiba? Everything's new to her. I asked my mum a few questions about Weaponry Canyon's, and that place sounds like an absolute dump. It wouldn't be easy for her to just arrive here and fit right in."
By now, Sakura had the attention of her whole group. Shikamaru and the Aburame had pulled their heads out of their phones, Chouji had stopped munching on his chips and Naruto and Kiba looked at her with a questioning glance.
"That place doesn't even have a school. The closest education program is in Suna, which is a two hour trek from the edge of Weaponry Canyons. The same goes for their hospital. Their town consists of a mere three hundred people which is a vast difference to the four thousand that reside here in Konoha. Try being in her shoes - as if you wouldn't be a little on edge if you were in her position."
For a short moment, Kiba's chest felt heavy with guilt. He hadn't thought of it like that or attempted to put himself in her position. But still, the attitude she had shown his team that first day at the training field was un-called for. Kiba was no angel, but he sure as hell would put in the effort to become comfortable with his team in a time where team work was crucial. He needed the position of Chunin, as it would heighten his chance of becoming Clan Leader and knock Tok and his perfect grades off of the table.
The sympathetic feelings Kiba was feeling towards Hotaru didn't last long, however, as she neared the table and caught eye of the Inuzuka sitting with Ino and Sakura.
"No way." The red head instantly turned around with her tray of food in hand. She began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Hotaru, wait!" Sakura called, grabbing her good arm to stop her. Reluctantly, the red head turned around, eyes heavy with annoyance. Sakura's voice was calming and soothing. "Don't leave. Seriously, sit with us. You don't even have to talk to Kiba."
She looked towards Kiba, who then shifted his line of vision to the other side of the table. There was something different about him. She knew from experience that he wasn't one to back down from eye contact. Ino waved her over, and she even saw Shino nod his head in a subtle invitation. Exhaling, the kunoichi in training strolled over.
"Hotaru, you know Shino, your team mate. You met Ino earlier, and you've obviously, erm, became acquainted with Kiba," The pinkette stumbled on her last few words, trying as hard as she could not to tighten the tension. The two team mates caught eye contact and the rest of the group shifted as an uneasy pressure filled the air. Trying to pursue the conversation as quickly as she could, Sakura continued. "The boy feeding his face is Chouji Akamitchi. He's on Ino's team."
"Hi. It's nice to meet you," the chubby boy reached out his hand. It was covered in chip flavoring as Hotaru shook it reluctantly.
"And the lazy ass over there is Shikamaru. As lazy as he is, he's a total genius. Kiss his ass and you'll learn the ropes of a mastermind."
"I'm right here, woman. No need to speak about me as if I'm deaf." The brunette slouched in his chair even more. "And we've already met. Last night, Genma's. She came in looking for pants."
"Why, were your own shoved too far up your own arse?" Kiba mumbled as he rolled his eyes. Ino stomped on his foot to quiet him, causing the brunette to wince.
"Oh, I see, well I didn't know that!" Sakura continued, forcing an awkward laugh. She tried to continue the conversation before Hotaru could even get a chance to respond to Kiba's snarky comment. "The other boy you haven't met yet is Sasuke Uchiha. He sits with the senior Genin; Tenten, Lee and Neji. You'll probably see him in class."
Hotaru looked towards the Nara genius. "Listen, I'm sorry about last night. What I said to Genma about you guys and the school, I didn't mean it." Her eyes gestured towards Kiba. "Well, I did mean some parts."
"Don't worry about it," the Nara boy continued with a sigh. Ino intertwined her arm with his as she turned to talk to Sakura. "You were right. The school and the majority of the Genin here are a complete drag."
The rest of lunch was spent talking about the good and not so good teachers, followed by talk of what the Chunin exam would be like. Hotaru and Kiba had managed to avoid having an argument for the remaining hour.
Her last three classes consisted of business studies, geography and Gym. She was thankful that the only two classes she had with Kiba was English and Gym, but even then, that was too much time spent with the arrogant Inuzuka. Fortunately, she shared Gym Class with Ino, so she wasn't forced to team with the dog nin during the classes activities. The classes over enthusiastic gym teacher Gai made them play Chakra infused Dodge ball the whole lesson, and Hotaru was pleased with the hit in the face she managed to throw at Kiba.
The next day Hotaru didn't turn up to school, much to Shizune's disgust. She spent the day sleeping in in an attempt to wash yesterday's complications with Kiba out of her head. She was awoken by Genma, who had shown up to her apartment and lectured her about attendance, before the third year Chunin took her down to the training fields to release her frustration.
Wednesday was no different to the Monday, as the two stubborn team mates argued throughout the whole English class. This time it was about space, as Hotaru wouldn't stop complaining to Kakashi about Kiba being on 'her side of the desk'. It took the copy nin the majority of the class to get the two to be quiet.
Hotaru was happy when Thursday had come around. She wasn't timetabled to have English that day, which meant the only lesson she had to spend with her egotistical team mate was Gym. She hung off Ino like a magnet in an attempt to not be teamed with him, but the blonde was swarmed with more than just the weaponry canyon kunoichi.
"Ino baby, come to my team. Our balls are better."
"But we have bigger bats!" Another called with a wink.
"Ignore them princess, swing on over my way."
Boys in the class continued to call for the blonde's attention. Hotaru couldn't blame them; Ino had to be the best looking girl in all of the Genin program. First and second year Genin girls always stared at her with jealousy, knowing their classmates and crushes would only have eyes for the third year student. Hotaru wondered why Shikamaru never seemed to be fazed about it.
"Alright class!" the man in the green jumpsuit bellowed from in front of the students. "We're going to put our team tactics to the test today, so I need you all to pair up with someone from the opposite sex!"
Hotaru panicked, knowing she hadn't bothered talking to a single male since her first day at school. Naturally, four or five of the boys wondered over towards Ino, who gave her an apologetic glance. A few of the girls ran as fast as they could towards the Uchiha boy, and the others towards Kiba.
"Excuse me girls, but Mr Inuzuka already has a partner." Gai sensei smiled a big, toothy grin. His voice beamed with excitement as the group of fan girls surrounding the dog nin groaned with disappointment.
"I do?" Kiba asked with a confused expression. He was disappointed as the girls started to move away.
"Yes, you do! Hotaru over here is without a partner, and seeing as you two are newly formed team members, it would only make sense to pair the two of you up!"
The stomach of both the members from team eight dropped towards their feet, their words exiting their mouths in unison. "No. Fucking. Way."