When they arrived at Amegakure at the North Gate, they were met by two village police officers and two rough-looking, heavily-armed villagers. The team was held at the gate — and Shikamaru and Temari spoke calmly to the two villagers who seemed angry and dead-set on not letting them pass.
However, Kiba's attention was not on the the confrontation happening between his team leaders and the two villagers. Instead, he was focused on the two police officers standing stiffly at attention behind the two villagers.
Akamaru growled lowly from his spot next to Kiba, and Kiba nodded in agreement.
He leaned toward Shino as subtly as he could and whispered, "the policemen are dead."
Shino nodded in agreement, having already sent a few kikaichu out to check on the policemen.
He could tell that others of the team were sensing what was happening as many were already moving into defensive positions — hands slowly moving to weapons or kunai holsters.
"We'll take the nasty looking one on the right with the huge kama and spiked kusarigama. You guys get the one on the left with the weird looking tonfa and battle armor," whispered TenTen from beside Shino as she placed her hands on top of two scrolls on her right side. Lee was standing on her left and was gripping his hands into fists.
"We will doing nothing until Shikamaru gives the order," whispered Shino. "That's because we are on a diplomatic mission. We can't engage unless it is absolutely necessary."
"You Shinobi Union scum make me sick," yelled one of the villagers, spitting on the ground in front of Temari's feet.
Akamaru growled again and looked at Shino.
"Still, we must wait," said Shino rather stiffly. His brows furrowed angrily. Kiba could sense the anger boiling inside him and he couldn't help but smile slightly.
Suddenly, he saw Temari's hand move slowly around her back to her tessen, and he saw her slowly and quietly release the strap.
Knowing he saw the motion, too, Kiba glanced sideways at Shino with a small toothy grin and raised eyebrow, as if asking if that was the signal they needed. Shino only sighed and released a small swarm of his kikai, who began to fly out of his arm sleeves and around his hands. Kiba's grin only widened as he turned back to face the impending fight, already starting to mold chakra.
But before anyone could react, suddenly, a large rock flew from the sky and hit the head of one of the villagers, knocking him out instantly. Everyone, including the villager's partner, was stunned.
Then, suddenly, 30 or so police officers rained down on the scene and surrounded them. All the members of the team circled into a defensive stance.
Then, someone landed on top of the last villager with a loud bang and crack.
Everyone turned quickly to look at the intruder.
Rising with his back to the team was a rather strange looking man. He had fiery red hair; wore a black, thick leather jacket; and wore dark reflective sunglasses. He peered over his shoulder and the first words out of his mouth was a stoic, rather insincere apology to Shikamaru and Temari. He introduced himself as Police Chief Hiroki Kazuhiko. Then he told the team to follow him to the police station.
When Shikamaru moved to inspect one of the policemen who were still standing at stiff attention, the Chief told him to leave them be — confirming dryly that they were already dead.
He turned to Temari as she leaned over to mutter something toward him. The two of them signaled for the team to move forward and follow the Chief.
—
After going through inspections at the police station, the team was lead to a large conference room where they were told to wait while their team leaders spoke with the Chief.
The team was given case folders, scrolls, mission notes and other items related to the mission to study. Everything was laid out on the large conference room table or placed in boxes on the floor along the walls of the room.
The team scattered around the room, talking lowly amongst themselves.
"The police department has done a lot of research on Goro," said Kurotsuchi, opening up one of the many file boxes on the table.
"There are so many boxes labeled 'GORO,'" said Omoi, exasperated. "And there's just as many labeled 'DOKUSUTO.' How are we supposed to get through all of this before they come back." He scratched the back of his head in frustration.
"Oi, be quiet, Omoi," said Karui in annoyance with her hands on her hips. "Stop complaining and get started."
"There are a lot of boxes," said Chojuro in agreement, scratching his chin in contemplation, "but I don't see nearly as many for the Masanori clan."
Everyone stopped to look at him, then looked around at all the boxes, folders, and mission notes to see if they had missed anything.
"You're right, Chojuro," said Kurotsuchi, frowning at him. "I wonder why that is?"
"According to the reports we received about the clans, the Masanori clan sounded quite fearsome. Perhaps they have been too difficult for the police to research," said Omoi, brow furrowing.
"Well, we can certainly do our own investigating if needed. But that's not quite what we are here for," said Kurotsuchi, looking back and forth between Omoi and Choujuro.
"Well, for now, perhaps we should just work with what we have," said Chojuro. He opened the box closest to him and noticed that all of the files in it pertained to Goro's food pills.
"Ino, Chouji," he said, turning to them. They turned away from the Dokusuto files they were looking at to look at him.
"Here are the files pertaining to the food pills. You may want to look at these."
"Right," said Ino, walking over to the box. Chouji nodded and followed her.
"I've found some receipts," said Ten Ten, "Recent, too. From the Dokusuto clan. Weapons, explosives, armor. Lots of it."
"Why would they be buying all of that," said Lee, "are you sure it's not general restocking? They're a large clan and they've been at war…"
"No, it doesn't look like restocking. I've got receipts here that look like general restocking that they might be doing on a regular basis," said Ten Ten. "These receipts are for larger orders - much larger and repeated for several weeks in a row for the last 4 weeks. This is troublesome. It might be wise for us to look into this."
"We'll bring it up as soon as Shikamaru and the others get back. Perhaps we should set up a meeting with Dokusuto first," said Chojuro.
"Shino-kun," said Hinata quietly. She was across the table from him and was looking at several documents on the table in front of her with a firm look on her face. "Would you come here, please."
He walked around the table, and stood between her and Kiba, earning a glance from the ladder.
Shino looked down at the folders and boxes she was studying and noticed she was looking at the Masanori research.
"Tell me if you're seeing the same thing that I am," she said, brow furrowing. "The Masanori clan uses…a chakra barrier?" She pointed at a sheet in front of her.
Shino looked at the sheet and read the text:
Masanori clan will swarm an enemy in battle — generally fighting an opponent in groups of 15 or more — and proceed to lock the opponent into a solid field of chakra. Then, a member of the clan will cast a genjutsu over the prisoner.
Shino frowned and said, "yes, you appear to be right." Kiba looked up from the folder he reading to glance at the two.
"If this is the case, then you and I will be essential to keeping everyone safe if the clans go to war," said Hinata, frowning deeply. "If someone gets trapped, you and I will have to break down the barriers."
"Yes, I think we are the only ones here who can counter this jutsu. Except for perhaps Chojuro. That's because he has the sword Hiramekarei. But to my knowledge there is no one else on our team who can destroy chakra barriers," said Shino, his frown deepening. This was certainly unexpected.
"Does the file say anything about the number of users they need to form the barrier," asked Kiba, pulling their attention to him.
Both looked at one another in surprise, then glanced down to read over the sheet again.
"No, it doesn't," said Shino.
"But it does say 'in groups of 15 or more.' Perhaps they need 15," said Hinata.
"That is possible," said Shino, brow furrowing, "but perhaps we should not assume that to be true."
"We could assume that if we see a group of them coming together, it's entirely likely they are going to start to form the barrier, right" asked Kiba, brow raising in question.
"Yes, that's a safe assumption," said Shino. "Though I doubt we will have a lot of time to prevent them from—"
"Well, then that's our answer. We just stop them before they can completely form the barrier," said Kiba with a grin. "That's where Akamaru and I can come in," he said, rubbing Akamaru's head. Akamaru barked cheerfully in agreement.
Shino scowled and said, "I doubt you'll have a wide enough window of time to stop them. And it will be hard to watch everyone—"
"I can't guarantee that I'll be able to watch everyone, no," said Kiba with a small frown. "But I can help a lot of people and you guys can help the rest. With my help, we should be able to help everyone, right?"
Hinata smiled at that. Shino's scowl turned into a frown, then it turned into a small smile.
"Yes, we should be able to help more people if we work together," said Shino. "Good idea, Kiba."
Kiba smiled widely, flooding Shino's body with a surge of warmth.
Just then, the door to the conference room opened. In walked their team leaders, the police chief and a man they had not seen before.
Shikamaru motioned for Kankuro to close the door, then he walked to the table, scratched the back of his neck and said, "our plans have changed."
—-
After receiving a mission briefing from Shikamaru and checking into their hotel for the evening, the team headed to the Market Square for dinner.
Members of the team split off to grab take out boxes and bentos from various street vendors, all to be brought back to a large picnic table in the middle of the square.
Kiba, Shino, Hinata and Naruto headed in the direction of several ramen stands. Each one advertised different types of ramen — with specialties and favors that were familiar and foreign to the them.
"I think I'm going to try that one," said Naruto excitedly, pointing at a barbecued meat specialty ramen stand. He looked at Hinata and smiled warmly as he said, "what about you, Hinata? What would you like to eat?"
She slipped a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she blushed and said, "r-ramen sounds good, Naruto-kun. I think I'll go with you. Um, are you coming, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun," asked Hinata, looking at them expectingly.
"I'm not," said Kiba, already looking in the direction of another vendor. "That one offers beef cooked to order — the image looks tasty!" It had a picture of nearly rare steak. Akamaru barked loudly in agreement.
Shino glanced at it in disgust, and before he could say he planned to go with Naruto and Hinata, Kiba grabbed his arm, pulling him hard and away from the other two. Shino's eyes opened wide in surprise and his mouth opened slightly in a gasp. Akamaru even seemed slightly surprised - hesitating slightly before following after the two.
The others starred at them wide-eyed. Shino glanced back for a moment - long enough to see the two of them look at one another and laugh — Hinata red and covering her mouth with a hand.
"Kiba, let go of me," said Shino in irritation.
"Don't think so, buddy," said Kiba, his face turned away from him but a smile was apparent in his voice.
As Kiba pulled him while they weeded through the crowd, Shino's body was pulled closer and closer to Kiba's body. Shino could feel the warmth of Kiba's body even through his thick coat — a new feeling which made him strangely dizzy.
And for a brief moment, Kiba's hand slipped down to grab his — and Shino felt a surge of electricity and heat across his whole body that he had never felt before.
He gasped quietly at the shock, and nearly lost his usual calm, stoic control with the panic he felt at the strange, new, pleasurable feeling.
"Damnit, Kiba, let me go now," said Shino, notes of anger in his slightly shaking voice, pulling hard to get Kiba to stop and let him go.
Kiba turned toward him and let go of his hand quickly, looking down at it awkwardly as if suddenly realizing what he had done. He stuffed it into his pocket as he said, "chill, Shino, I've let you go. I just wanted you to come with me."
"Why," asked Shino sharply, pulling his hand away quickly as if nervous that Kiba might try to hold it again and cause him to feel those things again. Annoyance was all over his face and in his voice.
"To give them some privacy, you idiot," said Kiba, expression nearly matching the other's. Akamaru let out a low moan of worry, his ears down as he looked between the two.
Shino's face relaxed slightly as he realized the meaning behind Kiba's words. He glanced to the side momentarily, then suddenly his face screwed up in anger.
"You didn't need to pull me away like that. Or…or hold my hand," he said with a hiss. "It was…" he trailed off.
"It was what," asked Kiba, brow raising slightly.
"It was…inappropriate and embarrassing," said Shino, jaw clenched.
"Embarrassing," asked Kiba, head tilting slightly in confusion. He glanced down at Shino's hand which was balled in a fist and hanging at his side. "Since when do you get embarrassed about things?"
"I am not—" but Shino stopped abruptly, scowling angrily before turning his back to Kiba. He couldn't look at Kiba anymore. He could feel the beginnings of the warmth of a blush coming to his cheeks, and he didn't want to show any more of his emotions on his face.
Why is it that Kiba could always make him feel so many things all at once, and somehow disregard the teachings of his family and the way of the Aburame? To show emotion, wear your heart on your sleeve, to be so expressive…this was not acceptable of an Aburame. Especially not the heir to the Aburame clan.
He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to center himself. He felt his body starting to calm down until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, come on," said Kiba. "Hey, I'm sorry. Shino." Kiba tried to turn him around with a tug but was met by resistance. Instead, he walked around to stand in front of him and noticed the slight redness that was sitting on Shino's cheeks just below his glasses. Kiba had to fight the urge to grin, realizing that his friend was blushing.
"I really am sorry. Seriously. I won't do that again. It was something I did unconsciously and I am sorry for embarrassing you," said Kiba. A small, warm smile was on his lips.
He looked around them, his brow furrowing in concentration. Then he grinned as he turned back to Shino, clapped a hand on his shoulder and said "let me make it up to you. I'll buy you dinner."
Shino's nose crinkled in disgust as he said, "Kiba, I do not want rare beef. That's because—"
"No, no, I…I know that," said Kiba with a small chuckle. "Let me get you something you'll like. Just…wait here."
He let go of Shino's shoulder and walked around him, and the absence of that warmth was like being splashed with cold water in the spot. Shino turned quickly to watch his friend leave, his mouth open in retort but his friend was already too far away to hear him. Akamaru trailed after him, glancing back at Shino once before following obediently after his master.
Shino hesitated for a moment, then moved to follow his friend, who he already lost sight of.
Shino sighed to himself and walked slower, looking at the ground, lost in thought.
Why had he gotten so embarrassed when Kiba grabbed his hand? What were those strange feelings he had when he felt the warmth of his palm against his own? And why, when Kiba let go, did it feel like some form of loss? Like a broken connection?
And why had Kiba grabbed his hand in the first place? He had never done anything like that before…not that Shino could recall. They had certainly touched hands before. Body parts - skin to skin. But why did this feel so different?
"I told you to wait for me," said a familiar voice that broke Shino out of his thoughts. Shino stopped walking and looked up quickly at the source of the voice to find a smiling Kiba — arms crossed and smirk planted on his face. "But I did assume you wouldn't listen, as usual."
Shino frowned slightly, then turned to look at the stand that Kiba was waiting in line at. The stand served assorted salads, vegetables and many of his favorite dishes. He turned to look at Kiba and said, brow raised slightly, "since when do you know what types of food I like?"
"Since we became teammates and best friends, of course. I even know your favorite dishes; wild grass salad and winter melon," said Kiba.
Shino was surprised. "I…I didn't think you cared enough or paid attention enough to know that," he said rather quietly.
Kiba chuckled, "what? Why?"
"I don't know…I didn't think you would find things like that important," said Shino.
"I think it's pretty important," said Kiba, "jeez, you must think pretty poorly of me if you think I don't care enough about you to know some basic facts about you."
"…'facts?' There is more," asked Shino, suddenly very intrigued. "Just what do you 'know' about me?"
Kiba laughed at that, then said, "well…I know your favorite color is moss green."
Shino nodded slightly at that.
"You have 187 different types of insects collected and your most prized insect is your stag beetle which you got on a trip with your father," said Kiba, smiling warmly.
Shino's eyes widened slightly. "How did you—"
"You told Hinata and I about it during training after you came back," said Kiba, waving nonchalantly. Shino was still surprised that he remembered that.
"You uh…prefer boxers over briefs," said Kiba quickly, scratching at his cheek as they turned red. "And you seemed to stop wearing your hood as often after the war — Hinata and I think it's because you're more comfortable and confident."
Shino's brow furrowed - not out of anger, but out of confusion, as he said, "what do you mean? I was confident and comfortable before."
"Um…well, you've changed since the war, Shino. You're more vocal. You seem more…outgoing. I think that was one way Hinata described it," said Kiba.
"Well, I…that's because—" said Shino, but he was interrupted.
"NEXT," shouted the cashier at the stand, motioning for them to move to the counter so that their order could be taken.
"What can I get you," said the cashier, wetting the tip of her pen with her tongue.
"Mixed fruit bowl and wild grass salad," said Kiba.
"That all," she asked looking at Shino.
"Yeah, I'm ordering for him," said Kiba, answering for him. "I'm treating him to dinner."
"Mmm, lucky boy," said the cashier, winking at Shino, as she eyed Kiba, who blushed profusely.
"Yeah yeah, how much do I owe ya," said Kiba, trying to hide an embarrassed grin that was surfacing on his lips.
As they walked off with Shino's food and headed back toward the stand where Kiba planned to pick up his dinner, something dawned on Shino.
"Kiba," he said rather loudly. "How do you know what kind of underwear I wear?"
Kiba nearly tripped over Akamaru, and without turning to look at his friend, Kiba said, "I'm a shinobi, Shino. We're trained to look at what's hidden underneath the underneath."
"You do realize that's not what that means, right? And if you meant that literally, you're saying—" started Shino, but he was interrupted by Akamaru barking loudly.
"Yeah, you're right, buddy. We better get to the stand before it closes," said Kiba, starting to run on ahead - Akamaru in tow.
Shino watched him run on ahead, a scowl on his face.
—-
"Your favorite type of ramen is char-siu, right, Hinata," asked Naruto, turning and smiling warmly at her.
A-ah, yes, yes it is," said Hinata, blush painting the tops of her cheeks. She was surprised that he remembered her favorite ramen from the last time they ate together — when she told him her favorite type. She assumed he would be too busy and would forget such a silly detail.
They talked about their temporary living arrangements, the mission, and even their friends at home.
Soon, their conversation drifted to concerns regarding Shino and Kiba.
"Do ya ever notice how much they just seem to look at one another," said Naruto, frowning and scratching at his left cheek in contemplation. "I've noticed it for years, but only recently noticed a real change in things like their expressions or the length of time that they look at one another."
"What do you mean," asked Hinata, slightly surprised that Naruto noticed them looking at one another in the first place.
"Well…Kiba tends to look at Shino the most. I've caught him doing it when I'm trying to have a conversation with him. He sometimes gets this sort of glazed over, far -away look on his face. Like he's not really present anymore. Most of the time his face is completely expressionless…and sometimes he's got this weird small grin on his face.
Shino is completely different. He looks at Kiba a lot less and seems way more tame about it. He's much better at hiding it. But when I have seen him looking, he seems to look at Kiba with a look that's a cross between frustration and sadness."
Hinata frowned deeply at that, turning away and looking off in the direction that her friends went with deep concern in her eyes.
"I wonder what they're both thinking," said Naruto rather quietly.
"Hmm," said Hinata, turning back to look at Naruto. "It's hard to say with Shino. He's not very transparent. But I'd say that he's just…confused."
"Confused? About what," asked Naruto, brow raised.
"His feelings. His life at this moment. I think the best thing that we can do as his friends is give him space, but support him should he need our help," said Hinata, smiling slightly.
"Right," said Naruto, nodding and smiling in return. "I can definitely do that."
"NEXT," said the cashier.
—-
Everyone met back in the central area of The Market, having gathered whatever they planned to eat for dinner that evening.
Friendly chatter commenced — and small conversations formed as many foreign shinobi moved to speak to their new teammates.
"So, Lady Hinata, I'm traveling to Konoha for a summit in a few weeks. Do you have any suggestions for interesting places to eat," asked Kurotsuchi, a warm but mischievous grin on her lips.
Hinata blushed bright red and said, "o-oh. Please, just call me Hinata, Kurotsuchi-chan."
"Okay, Hinata-chan," said Kurotsuchi with a wink. The blush darkened on Hinata's cheeks.
"Um, R-regarding your request for restaurant suggestions…hmm," said Hinata, tapping on her chin. "Most of our restaurants are still closed. But there's a few that are open — they're just a little crowded. There's a small cafe near the Hokage tower that serves dango, tea and sandwiches. Um…I think the barbecue restaurant reopened recently. It's called—"
"KUROTSUCHI, did I hear that correctly? You're going to be in town in a few weeks," said Ino excitedly, leaning over Sai and talking across two other teammates who flinched at the volume of her voice.
"Uh, yeah. For the Shinobi Union summit, I'm—" said Kurotsuchi, but she was interrupted.
"Lets go out for barbecue at Yakiniku Q. It just reopened! We'll get some of the other girls together! We'll have a GIRLS NIGHT," yelled Ino, causing many around the table to scowl or stop their conversations and turn to look at her.
"Why are you yelling" asked Kurotsuchi, scowling slightly. "I'm not deaf."
"GAH, this ramen has like zero flavor," said Naruto, facing screwing up in disgust. "Shikamaru, pass the sa—"
But before he could finish, they heard a loud boom from the other side of The Market, and loud screaming.
"NARUTO," shouted Shikamaru over the cloud of smoke and the confusion, "send out some clones and see what's going on!"
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three glowing Naruto clones appeared from smoke and ran toward the larger dust cloud that was forming on the other end of The Market.
Naruto Clone 1 shouted, "I'll take the center," he pointed at the clone on his left and said, "you take the left and," he pointed to the clone on his right, "you take the right. Help whoever you can but give a shout to let us know what's going on."
"Right," the other two clones shouted in unison, going off in their respective directions.
Naruto Clone 1 headed toward the center, covering his mouth protectively, and searched the smoke for any signs of trouble. What he saw was shocking.
Three of the vendor booths had been completely incinerated, and there were people around the vendors either running from the scene covered in blood or trapped under collapsed storefronts or debris trying to get out.
Naruto Clone 1 heard a shout from the direction of the clone on the right, saying that there were more people trapped under debris, and that he was going to start getting them out. But he had not heard anything from the clone on the left yet, which was bothersome.
"SHIMAMARU," he shouted, "WE NEED HELP OVER HERE! AND ONE OF MY CLONES HASN'T SAID ANYTHING YET!"
Shikamaru appeared beside Naruto Clone 1 and said, "That's because he's gone, Naruto. Something's wrong. The real you is heading over toward him now. We'll start working on this; help us."
Naruto Clone 1 nodded, and pointed toward the debris. "We should help them first. We need medic ninja."
"That's what we're here for, Naruto," said Ino annoyedly as she jumped passed him with Hinata in tow. Hinata's Byakugan was activated and she turned her head abruptly, shouting "Chouji, move that large slab of concrete — there are 5 civilians under that and 3 are still alive!"
"Kiba. Sai. Chojuro. Come with me. We'll head north, north east toward that fire. There's a group of children trapped in that building," said Hinata, pointing as she moved in that direction. "Shino, please assist Ino in my absence."
Shino nodded and moved to help Ino guide several wounded civilians out of a building that had partially collapsed in the front.
The others moved to follow Hinata as she ran in the direct of the building.
"Chojuro, please be ready to put out the fire when we arrive. It is just up ahead. Sai, some of the children are on the second and third floors - please fly up and assist them. Kiba, help me with the children on the first floor," said Hinata.
As they stopped in front of the building they noticed that several of the surrounding buildings were on fire.
"I'm on it," said Chojuro. "Water Release: Great Wave Jutsu!" Several large waves of water covered the fire, stifling the flames. "I'll keep working, but you should be free to enter now, Hinata!"
Sai had already started flying toward the upper stories of the buildings.
Covering their mouths with sleeves or the tops of their shirts, Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata moved into the first building and through the smoke, with Kiba lifting or kicking debris out of their way.
"Kiba-kun! They are trapped in that room," yelled Hinata, pointing to a door on the left. They could hear screaming through the door.
They ran to the door which was barred by two large wooden beams that had fallen from the ceiling.
"Hinata, you grab one end and I'll grab the other!"
"Right!"
They both moved to either side of the beam and began to lift, either groaning at the weight of the beam as they lifted and shifted the beam out of the way. The repeated the process with the second beam.
Without catching a breath, Kiba moved to break down the door, yelling for anyone at the door to step back. It fell to the floor within the room with a loud bang.
Hinata was the first to run in, Byakugan activated. She ran over to the children who had all gathered to one side of the room near an older women who wasn't moving.
"We are hear to help you. Please, if you can walk or move, help the others who can't walk. We will help as many as we can as quickly as we can, but any help you can give will get everyone out quicker before—"
Suddenly, there was loud creaking and banging above their head. The ceiling suddenly shifted about an inch downward - Hinata had already moved lightening fast over toward the children to shield them with her body. A large piece of wood fell and landed on the leg of the older women, and she moaned in pain, but barely moved.
"…before the building collapses," she said quietly. "Everyone, move out. Kiba, I'll start gathering as many children as I can. We must get them out. Can you get this off the old woman and carry her out?"
"Leave it to me," said Kiba with a nod.
"Right," said Hinata, picking up two small children who seemed to have large gashes in their legs. "Let's move!"
As she left with the children in tow, Kiba began to move the beam, realizing quickly that it was much heavier than he expected.
As he pulled, the old woman eyed him closely, and suddenly she spoke.
"What is your name," she said.
Kiba gruntled loudly as he pulled the board off her and threw it to the side. "Kiba. Come on, let's get you out—"
"Kiba Inuzuka," she said, her voice was warm, soft…almost kind. She smiled at him knowingly.
Kiba's eyebrow raised. "How…How did you know my last name?"
Her smile widened.
"Who are you," said Kiba, moving beside her, moving to place a hand under her head. Then he shook his head quickly and said "we don't have time for this. We have to get you out—"
Suddenly, the building creaked loudly and the ceiling seemed to settle again — this time, at least a foot lower. Kiba was already moving to scoop her up into his arms and carry her toward the door.
But, he was suddenly distracted. Something about her was…familiar. Her smell…there was a familiar humming noise coming from her body…and the way her skin felt…
He looked down at her and looked her in the eyes. She was deathly still and staring at him, a small smirk still on her face.
"Who…just who are you," he asked, stopping near the door. He didn't know why he stopped. Something seemed to make him stop. Maybe it was something in her eyes.
Suddenly, the ceiling began to collapse fully. Metal and wood scrapping against itself - and shards flying everywhere.
Before Kiba could stop it — even make it to the exit — a large chunk of metal flew off a light fixture and slammed into the side of the woman's skull.
"No…NO" yelled Kiba, reaching the outside and falling on his knees into the pavement. He touched the side of her head with a shaking hand, and yelled for Hinata to come help.
The women looked up at him and whispered something he couldn't hear.
He leaned down and placed and eat to her mouth. Her words were said between gasps of air.
"There…can be…only one. Beware of…the other…"
