The Trip to the 99¢ Store: Kiba & Akamaru
Meanwhile, Kiba had just discovered that he was in charge of food (other than the cake). He decided he would just go to the 99¢ store and buy a few bags of chips. So he took off toward his destination with his dog, Akamaru at his side. When he got there, he took his time getting to the back of the store.
"Wow, Akamaru! Look at all this stuff! They have practically everything!" Akamaru woofed in agreement as Kiba kept scanning the shelves until a pile of collars caught his eye. "Hey look! Here's some collars! There's a green one, a blue one… ooh, look at the one with spikes on it!" After about ten minutes, Kiba decided that he liked a plain red one the best. He grasped it and held it toward Akamaru with a smile. "Well, what are you waiting for? Try it on!"
Akamaru didn't like collars, so he quickly shied away from the one held in his master's hand. Kiba was confused for a moment, but then seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, right! You don't like collars! Well, that was a waste of time!" He tossed the collar back to the pile.
Akamaru barked a warning at Kiba. He rolled his eyes and said, "Come on Akamaru, we have, like, twenty minutes until we have to go back," he motioned to the row of shelves behind them, "the food is right over there. I'll get it on our way out."
Suddenly, Naruto ran in and started yelling at the man behind the counter. "HEY MISTER, HOW MUCH ARE YOUR 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' BANNERS??"
"Um, sir, this is the 99¢ store, everything is a dollar…"
"Oh, that's right! So, do you have any??"
"Um, no… I'm sorry, sir…" the clerk gestured across the street, "…but that store should have some."
Naruto followed the clerk's pointed finger and nodded. "Okay, right! Thanks anyway!" Kiba heard him slam the door and start yelling at the other worker down the street.
He chuckled, "Naruto is such an idiot." Akamaru barked sharply at him. "What?? I'm nothing like him! And stop being so anxious, the food is right here." He turned, and something else captured his attention. "Oh. My. GOSH!! Look at this box of tissues! They have pictures on them!" Kiba held up a tissue with a picture of a penguin on it. "We TOTALLY have to get these!! Hana would get a kick out of them, don't you think?" Akamaru groaned, feeling like they would never leave.
Ten more minutes later, Kiba was examining a pair of salt and peppershakers in the shape of koala bears when Akamaru couldn't take it anymore. He started yipping like crazy, and the clerk threatened to throw them out.
"Akamaru, stop it! Fine, we'll get the food now!" Kiba grumbled.
"Hey, if you can't control you dog, I'll have to force you out of the store!" The clerk started to approach them, but Akamaru abruptly stopped.
They headed over to the back of the store, where a few bags of snacks were stored. Kiba grabbed a few random bags. "Okay, I've got them. Now, let's get to the counter—" Kiba paused. Something didn't smell right. He sniffed the bags and realized that they smelled stale. He flipped the bag over and checked the expiration date. Just as he suspected, the bags were three months too old. He groaned, not believing his bad luck. He frantically checked the other packages on the shelves, but they were all dated the same.
Akamaru whined, smelling the same thing as Kiba.
"What are you talking about?? This is not my fault! The store should have better stock!" Kiba shot back defensively.
Akamaru gave him an exasperated look and barked again.
"Okay, fine, fine! You're right, I should've listened to you and checked earlier! Are you happy now??" Akamaru nodded in contentment. "Good. Now what are we going to do? I wonder how much time we have… excuse me!" Kiba turned his attention to the clerk, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Oh yeah, it's…" he glanced at his watch, "…ten 'til."
"THREE FIFTY?? ARE YOU SERIOUS??" Before the clerk could respond, Kiba and Akamaru rushed out the door, on their way to their house. They burst through the front door and made a beeline to the kitchen. They startled Kiba's sister, Hana, who was calmly reading at the table before the intrusion.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, rushing in like that? What are you so frantic about, anyway?" Hana peeked into the kitchen curiously, where she was almost hit in the head by a bottle of Tabasco sauce.
"Sorry, can't talk now! Here, I bought these at the 99¢ store for you!" Kiba stopped throwing things randomly into the food processor and threw Hana the penguin tissues.
Hana started to object, but she was hit in the face with the tissue box. Her eyes widened. "Whoa, these are awesome! People are coming up with strange ideas these days," she turned her attention back to her little brother, "speaking of strange ideas, what are doing?"
"I have to throw together something for Lee's party in five minutes!" Kiba tossed in mushrooms, chocolate milk, and everything else within his reach, and flipped on the food processor. The concoction turned a sinister shade of black, and started to bubble.
"…You really think someone's going to eat that? Only an idiot would think that's edible!" Hana shook her head skeptically.
"Let's hope Lee's stupid enough," Kiba pried the lid off the food processor and it let out a horrible stench that made both the Inuzuka's eyes tear up. He gingerly poured it into a large bowl, and it sizzled threateningly. "Let's hope he's really, really, stupid…"
"Please, you'd have to be blind AND nose-less to eat that… and probably lack the ability to taste!" Hana exclaimed, clutching her nose. Akamaru whined in agreement behind her.
"We don't have time to fix it now! We have three minutes to get there! C'mon, Akamaru!" Kiba ran out the door, and Akamaru followed reproachfully.
