Inuzuka Kiba strolled aimlessly down the busy street. With Akamaru at his side, people left and right shied away from them. Kiba grinned at the thought. Akamaru was probably the most good-natured dog -nin-dog or otherwise- he had met, but his enormous size often made people nervous.
Kiba looked at the direction of the sun. There was still some time that needed killing. He had time till noon, and, having packed off his exhausted genin early after an intense training session, he had nothing to do. Shino, Naruto, Shikamaru, they were all on missions. Even his sister was out of Konohagakure, treating a pack of Kusagakure nin-dogs that had gotten badly mauled by razor grass.
Here in the prospering heart of Konoha, however, there was no shortage of interesting scents to follow. The ever-present melange of a dozen different foods blended into the smells of human sweat, freshly-shaved wood, cloying perfumes and smoke, all underpinned by Akamaru's familiar scent beside him. After some meandering, Kiba eventually sat down at a sweetmeats stall and ordered a large platter of minced meat. The glare the cook gave him when he fed some of it to Akamaru was withering.
"Hey, I paid for these, didn't I?"
"My cooking is fit for human consumption," the cook said pointedly. Akamaru, oblivious, happily gobbled up the minced meat.
As Akamaru finished the last morsel, he looked mournfully at the cook, his eyes begging for just one more, but the cook must have thought Akamaru's expression threatening, because he turned away stiffly and retreated to the back of his stall. Kiba scratched underneath Akamaru's ears. "Now, Akamaru, you didn't have to give the old man such a fright," said Kiba, chuckling. Akamaru's replying bark was anything but remorseful.
Kiba glanced at the clock on the counter of the stall. It's almost time. "Come on, Akamaru, let's go."
Before heading home, Kiba made a detour to the jounin quarters. It was a horseshoe-shaped, double-storied structure, with front doors clinically spaced along the corridors. Kiba thought of Hanabi. As far as he had gleaned from Hinata over the years, Hanabi had lived alone first at the general shinobi quarters, and then at the jounin quarters almost since she became a genin. Kiba didn't think he could stand living away from his family like that. As a jounin, Kiba was also entitled to a room here, but he still preferred the house he shared with his mother and sister. Naruto might tease him about still living with his mother, but Kiba didn't care. It smelt like home.
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Hanabi's room. Was she already gone? Kiba grinned to himself. Not likely. In the tradition of Kakashi, Hanabi was not the most punctual of shinobi. Sure enough, presently the door opened, and Hanabi stepped out of the door. Under the sharper scent of explosive powder and alcohol Kiba caught a faint whiff of chrysanthemum. He sucked in a sharp breath before he could stop himself. She smells like Hinata.
Akamaru gave a low whine, his ears drooping slightly. He smells it too. He gave Akamaru a reassuring pat and pushed the thought aside. "Don't worry, I don't think you're late yet," he said to her, waving as she descended the staircase.
"I knew that." Hanabi said, punching him lightly in the arm as she reached the bottom of the stair. "Where're your brats?"
"Dismissed them for the day," Kiba replied.
Hanabi glanced skeptically at the noon sun, high in the cloudless sky. "Isn't it a little early?"
"I did chakra exercises with them just now. Turns out that genin have puny chakra pools." On a whim he had challenged his genin to walk on water, but unsurprisingly all they accomplished was to deplete their chakras trying, not to mention getting completely drenched in the process. In retrospect Kiba should have started with the tree-climbing. There would be more bruises, but probably would not have been half as demoralizing. Kiba shook his head ruefully. "It's hard to believe that we were that weak, once." In truth he also had another reason for dismissing the kids early, but he kept his mouth shut for now.
They walked with a leisurely pace towards her rendezvous point, Akamaru padding softly behind them. Kiba was reluctant to ruin the pleasant silence, but he had promised to bring it up. The things I do for love, he sighed inwardly.
He took a deep breath, and plunged. "Why do you live in the jounin quarters?"
"It's pretty close to the Hokage's office, the training grounds and the barbeque place. And I don't have to pay anything to live in it." Hanabi's grin was wry. "I think the question should be, why don't you live here?"
"Well, I go home," Kiba said carefully, "…to my family." Beside him a bit of defensiveness crept into Hanabi's posture, like she knew what was coming.
"You could go home-" he continued when she didn't say anything. "You know, the Hyuuga residence. Um, occasionally." Kiba could feel Hanabi's milky-white eyes bearing on him. It was unnerving, even after all those years as Hinata's teammate. He realized why a heartbeat later. Hinata didn't glare.
"I'm not welcome there."
"Your father wants you to go back, Hanabi!"
"Yea, as a second-class member of the family." Hanabi gestured dismissively. "I can't do that."
"You don't-" Kiba stopped. He had wanted to say you don't know that, but he knew that wasn't true. Instead he said, "Your father is bound by centuries of tradition. Sometimes it can be… difficult to change," From everything he knew of the Hyuuga clan, primogeniture was one of its most entrenched traditions. The branch family and the caged bird seal may have been abolished, but the basic principle behind it was alive and well.
"He's the head of the family," Hanabi insisted. "If he cared enough, he could. But he doesn't, and didn't."
"Hinata's pretty upset about this too, you know," Kiba said.
"So? I'm supposed to be happy about that?" Hanabi shot back.
Kiba knew his expression was pained. "I didn't say it was a good thing."
"Thanks, Katsu-san," Shiro said, pocketing the small roll of black linen that was his 'first-outvillage-mission' gift. Shiro preferred white wraps on his arms, but he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
Hotaru Katsu patted Shiro on the back so hard that he staggered forward a few steps. "That's no problem. Just a small thing I could do for our warrior, eh?"
Shiro grinned at his uncle. Katsu-san was one of the few people who didn't treat him like a kid. It was a shame that Katsu-san wasn't in Konoha very often – the civilian Hotaru were cloth merchants who traveled between major cities to ply their trade.
Katsu-san ran his hand through his thick platinum mop sheepishly. He had the burly hands and freckly skin of a Hotaru, but he lacked the fiery crimson hair that most people associated with the Hotaru clan, as did all members of the clan's civilian branch. "Well… there is one thing." He handed Shiro a carefully-folded envelope. "When you arrive at Kawarashi, you wouldn't mind delivering this for me, would you? I just came from there, and I won't be back in River Country for a while." Under his freckles, Shiro could see Katsu reddening slightly.
Shiro elbowed his uncle conspiratorially in the ribs. "Fallen in looove, Katsu-san?"
"Shut up, brat." He made to muss Shiro's hair, but he ducked before the larger man could.
"Anyway, I have to go, Dad's gonna kill me if I'm late again," Katsu-san said, picking up his duffel bag. He paused and gave Shiro a wide smile. "I'm sure you'll do one heck of a job, Shiro."
Unreasonably, Shiro felt a twinge of resentment as Katsu-san disappeared around a corner. Déjà vu.
The sun blazed in the sky, occasionally breaking through the canopy in a kaleidoscope of shifting patterns. Haru sat on a tree branch in the shade, taking another drink from her water canister. It made an unpleasantly empty sloshing sound as she did so. She peered into the canister. It was already more than half-empty, but none of the others had even arrived at the mission rendezvous yet. In the months she had begun staying in Konoha, one skill she had not yet mastered was rationing her water intake. When she first arrived, it seemed an odd thing to do—in Kiri water was everywhere, so there was no need to carry it around.
A shuffling directly below made Haru freeze instinctively, but it was only Shiro. He put his backpack down at the base of the tree trunk and slumped down against a protruding root. Raising his arms and head, the boy yawned, but flinched in mid-yawn when he saw Haru sitting casually on the branch.
"Hello, Shiro," Haru said, smirking at his surprise.
"Good grief- Haru. I thought I arrived the earliest."
Haru leapt down from the branch lightly. "Why are you so early anyway?"
"Kasei is invigilating the chuunin exams, and Sato had a 'super-special date'," Shiro said, putting sarcastic emphasis on the last phrase. He took out a small metal box. "So I packed my own lunch. I'm used to it, I suppose." He shrugged casually, but Haru could see that it bothered him.
"What about-"
"My parents? They're always away on this secret mission or that. It's… it's almost like I have no parents." He kicked at the dust, then winced when he realized what he'd said. "Um… I'm sorry, Haru."
Haru waved his apology away. My parents are not dead. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh yeah, Haru," Shiro said, recalling something as he chewed on a cucumber roll. He reached into his backpack again and brought out a water canister. "I thought you might need it," he said, grinning. He tossed it lightly and the water canister landed in Haru's outstretched palm with a solid thwock. She took a grateful gulp from the full canister.
"Thanks. Am I that predictable?"
Shiro's grin grew wider. "Every time."
Akira stumbled over the edge of the boulevard ten minutes later, lugging an exceptionally large, bulging backpack. "My mom had to help me pack, and…" Akira gestured at his backpack sheepishly in response to the querying glances Haru and Shiro sent his way. "…you know."
Atypically, they did not have to wait long for Hanabi-sensei, who arrived soon after. Hanabi-sensei always seemed grumpy about one thing or the other, but today she looked especially annoyed. "Team Six, all here then," she said curtly. "Let's move out."
A/N: Since the events of this chapter occurs on the same day as the previous chapter I thought it might be better to post this first. I don't have that much more stuff written so it'll be a while before the next burst of chapters. :/ As usual, reviews and comments are appreciated.
