Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you recognise from the manga/anime.
Puppies and New Friends
The five girls and the two boys left the training grounds and started walking towards Kiba's house. As they were walking down the streets packed full of both civilians and shinobi, the girls noticed, or rather felt, people staring at them.
Rebecca noticed the curious glances coming their way; they had been getting them since they had arrived in Konoha. Luckily they had died down since they had arrived, just not in all vicinities. She smiled and nodded to everyone, whose faces also broke out in welcoming smiles and mutters of "What a sweet girl" and "I'll have to tell Yukie-san that what she heard about the new girls was wrong". For a moment she wondered what this Yukie-san had heard, and then dismissed the thought. Rumours were to be disregarded: one way or another, they were always exaggerated.
All of a sudden he noticed something; something she disliked. When the stares focused on Kiba, the eyes smiled; when they were focused on the girls, they showed curiosity. However, when the eyes caught sight of Naruto, the stares turned into glares, and hate and fear showed. She couldn't understand why, until it hit her. Of course! Naruto held the Kyuubi inside him. She and the others had never even thought about Naruto being the container. Maybe, because they had known Naruto for so long due to the manga and the anime, they were already sued to this fact and didn't mind because they knew what Naruto waslike, especially since they had also met him in the flesh, so to speak. And therefore, when they had met him, they hadn't thought of what he held inside him. And they didn't care. Evidently the citizens of Konoha did. Listening carefully she could just about hear what they were saying:
"Demon brat"
"-walking about without a care in the world"
"-will bring destruction"
"-Look at him!"
"Is he trying to brainwash the girls against Konoha?"
"-bringing them to his side"
"The poor dears"
"Someone should warn them about the demon brat"
Something inside her snapped. It was the look in Naruto's eyes that did it. If she could them, then he, with his heightened senses, could hear every single evil word. And although he didn't show how much they hurt him, his eyes did. She saw it as he glanced back at her, maybe trying to figure out how she felt after hearing all these horrible things, if she had heard them. She couldn't take it any longer. Warn her indeed.
She walked a little faster until she was side-by-side with Naruto, and when he looked at her in surprise, she smiled at him. She squeezed his hand slightly to show him that, yes, she had heard, but she did not give the slightest damn to what they were saying.
"Maybe you shouldn't walk so close" Naruto muttered
"Why?"
"They" he indicated the civilians "will start talking about you and how you are friends with me. They might hurt you because of me"
"I don't care. I don't give a rat's arse as to what they think about me, or as to what they think they know about you. I know you Naruto, and you are one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. You are my friend, and I don't give up my friends just because some ignorant assholes tell me I should. I ignore them. And as to them hurting me…I have Marija. She'll protect me; she always has. Do you think they are gonna hurt me with her around?" They burst out laughing, imagining what Marija would do to anyone who touched her fiends. The gossipers in the street stared and muttered.
"Besides Marija-chan, you have me" Naruto gave her a solemn look "I will always protect those who are dear to me. And I count you, and the other girls, as dear to me."
She was touched, and her eyes misted over "Thanks Naruto"
"Don't cry!" Naruto smiled "They'll think I've hurt you and will run over and bash me to death"
"Not if I bash them first" Rebecca replied darkly, "And I wasn't going to cry"
"No?"
"No"
"You sure?"
"Positive"
"Positively positive?"
"Marija. Hit him."
"Gladly" came the reply. Naruto gave her a pleading look, and then tried to hide behind her as Marija marched up smirking.
They arrived at Kiba's home still giggling. They had taken pity on Naruto and had decided not to kill him. Throughout their walk to Kiba's, everyone had kept cracking jokes, tripping over or arguing about silly things. Along the way the girls had probably made a few enemies with those who were close-minded to see what a great person Naruto was, but they didn't care. They stopped in front of a big house and noticed two people standing in front of the gate waiting: a male and a female.
The male was definitely Shino and so they guessed the female was Hinata, the third member of Kiba's team. Their guess was proven correct when Kiba yelled out "Hey Shino, Hinata! I brought the others, although he idiot had to tag along" Queue another bicker about who was actually the idiot.
A quiet voice interrupted them "Um…isn't this a little rude?" they turned to look at the girl, who turned red upon realising everyone was looking at her. She bowed "I'm really sorry they are acting this way"
"Wha-? No,No it doesn't matter. We're used to them" Marija laughed "Usually we let them get on with it and if they don't stop by the five minute mark, I hit them. I'm Marija by the way"
"H-Hinata" she bowed slightly
"I'm Rebecca" Rebecca smiled at the girl
"I'm Amy"
"I'm Jessica" she smiled at the shy girl
"Jenny here!"
"Nice to meet you all" she went to bow again, but Kiba stopped her.
"Ne, Hinata, there's no need to be so formal. They're friends" She put her head down, blushing.
"Oh it doesn't matter. I found it sweet" Rebecca said quickly "And I think you'd do better to learn some manners from Hinata-san, Kiba. And you too Naruto" She said to the boy who had started to laugh at Kiba "Speaking of manners, I nearly forgot mine. Good afternoon Shino-san"
The young man nodded to her and the other girls as they bid him hello. Introductions done and pleasantries over, Kiba showed them the way to where the Inuzuka dogs were kept. Small yips could be heard, others answering them. Walking up to the place, they saw a woman with wildish spiky hair talking to the dogs.
'That must be Tsume' Rebecca thought. As if to prove her right, Kiba yelled out "Hey mum! I've brought the new friends I was telling you about"
The woman stood up and she immediately smiled at the girls. A motherly aura surrounded them; a feeling they had missed, and each one thought of their mothers. For a moment each of the girls longed to feel their mothers' arms wrapped round them, their perfumes surrounding them, wanting that feeling of protection mothers always exhume.
The woman stepped forward and introduced herself. Each of the girls did so in return and Tsume turned to Shino and Hinata, welcoming them back to her house, commenting on how much they had grown since she last saw them three days before. She turned to Naruto. Rebecca watched, alert, to see how Tsume would treat Naruto; she felt a little scared. Her fears were for nothing however, as Tsume smiled at Naruto, an honest smile, and her eyes held no hostility, and she welcomed him to her house. Naruto, and Rebecca, relaxed.
"So" she said "You've comes to see the new puppies. They've grown since you last saw them." She picked up a puppy whom the girls thought they had seen before. "Here's Kira, the puppy who decided that her time had come to have an adventure"
"Aw! Hasn't she grown!" Jessica squealed. Tsume laughed, showing them the rest of the puppies, each of which were picked up and totally covered in love and kisses, As they were playing with the puppies, a big white…thing came running, or bounding, up to them.
"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, putting down the puppy he had been holding.
"Is that a pony?" Amy asked "Or is it a sheep?"
"This is Akamaru, my partner" Kiba announced proudly.
"Why haven't we seen him with you? I'm sure he'd stand out" Amy asked
"He hurt his paw on a mission and Hana said he had to stay home for a while" He explained.
"I thought your mum's name was Tsume. I did hear that right, didn't I?" Amy asked
"You did. Hana is my older sister" Kiba laughed "She's a vet"
"Oh…cool"
"I wanted to be a vet" Rebecca mused
"Really?"
"Yeah, when I was a kid"
"Not now then?"
"No, I knew I couldn't stand not being able to help each and every animal. Now I've decided to help children"
"T-That sounds nice, Rebecca-san" Hinata said
"Rebecca, please" She smiled at the girl "I just want to help those kids who have no one to turn to"
"And make them worse" Marija added smirking.
"Nice to see you all supporting me" Rebecca said dryly.
"Well I support you" Naruto grinned "Dreams should never be broken!"
"He sounds like Gai" muttered Jenny to Rebecca
"I'm going to become Hokage!" Naruto announced, yet again.
"Good luck with that" Kiba remarked. Amy smirked.
"Thanks for the support Naruto" Rebecca said, ignoring the others. A puppy barked at her, "Aw what's wrong cutie? Was I not paying you enough attention?" She cooed, holding the puppy to her.
"No,you're not" Kiba answered
"She wasn't talking to you idiot" Naruto shot back, getting Kiba back for his earlier comment. His attention turned away from Kiba and to the puppy he had been playing with when a sharp pain was felt in his hand "Ow! It bit me!"
"Maybe we should call it Nibbler" Jenny laughed
"I once called my terrapin that" Rebecca said unthinkingly
"How many pets do you-never mind" Marija ended quickly
"I said this puppy bit me! Isn't anyone going to worry about me?" Naruto half-yelled
"Nope"
"No"
"Do you think I should give the puppy a shot? It was Naruto it bit after all"
"Yeah, sure"
"Naruto-kun, a-are you o-ok?" Hinata asked very quietly.
"Eh? Oh, I'm ok Hinata-chan" he smiled at her, and she turned bright red. The other girls smiled at each other, wondering how Naruto could not have figured it out yet.
"Well, if you girls want, you can help train these puppies and then, afterwards, we can go into the house and have a lovely lunch. Something that doesn't consist of the word 'Ramen'" Tsume looked at Naruto as she said this
"Ramen's good!" He protested
"Chocolate is good, but you can't live on it"
"I would willingly try" Rebecca mumbled
"No" Marija said sternly
"But!"
"No"
"Damn" she pouted slightly
"Becks is a chocaholic" Marija explained
"Who isn't!" Tsume exclaimed laughing, "Shall we get cracking then?"
"Yeah!"
"Right, Kiba and Amy, you two will be taking these three puppies. Marija and Jessica, you'll have these ones here. Shino, Jenny and Hinata, You take those brown ones over there. Naruto and Rebecca will take the ones over there, by that tree. I'll come over and explain what you'll have to do. Okay?"
"Okay!"
Well well well, Hello again! Exams are over, although whether they have been passed is unknown, and I will hopefully be able to start posting again. Forgive me for taking so bloody long. Of course, me being me, I have a slight complaint…and that is, I've had loads of hits, but not one review…could you possibly send me a review? Please? I need a drop of happiness to take my fear of having to re-sit my maths exam away