For some reason that was beyond him, the mean old man was making him practice addition and subtraction.

"And how much is one hundred and ten plus ninety?"

Kiba glared at the man and huffed loudly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't like math!"

The evil old man looked back at him with an unimpressed sigh, then shook his head softly. "Kiba, you need to know how to do this. It's essential for being a ninja."

The young boy shook his own head haughtily, proclaiming, "I don't need no math 'cause I'm going to be the awesomest ninja around!"

Zabuza's face lost all emotions and he deadpanned, "You really are a work of art."

"I know I am. And I'm beautiful just the way I am and ain't no way no one's going to tell me nothing about that!"

Kiba stuck his tongue out as Zabuza shook his head softly, then they both turned to Gaara when the young made his presence known.

"Where are we supposed to be going, Mr. Old Man? I don't like all the water..."

The question was a good one. And Kiba wanted to know the answer to it as well. So, ignoring the scroll before him that asked him to solve the math problem, he looked at Zabuza expectantly. And Akamaru plopped down beside him after having crawled out of his hiding place (having been smart enough to flee when Zabuza had first appeared) to look at the man as well.

A few days had passed since they had seen the old man be awesome. And Kiba couldn't help but wish to finally begin to learn how to do more than just throw kunai and carry a sword properly. He wanted to learn how to fight like the old man. But the jerk insisted that he needed to learn how to use math before he was taught anything else, which, really, was incredibly stupid.

The old man had told them they were going to Kirigakure. But why they were going there was beyond them.

"I've already explained, kid. We're going to the Hidden Mist Village." Zabuza muttered as he passed a hand through his hair, turning to look at Gaara with a mixture of exasperation and annoyance shining on his face.

"But... Why? It's raining so much..."

"Because I said so."

Kiba frowned at the man, "You're being mean."

"You can't properly add. Whatever you want to tell me, you can once you've figured out the problem."

"No! Quick, Gaara, math for me!"

The red head was about to help his friend when the mean old man grabbed him by the arm, hauled him up, and threw him over his shoulder. "Akamaru, stay with Kiba and make sure he figures the problem out. I'm going to take Gaara into town to buy him a rain coat."

"You're so mean!"

"Don't worry, Kiba! I will help you as soon as Mr. Old Man buys me a new coat!"

Mist was always raining.

He didn't like it.

Neither did Akamaru or Gaara.

If anything, it seemed like the only person that didn't mind all the rain was the old man himself.

"How much longer are we going to be stuck here?"

Zabuza didn't even bother to answer him. He just continued walking, gaze focused on something in front of them.

"Hey, Kiba... Don't you think that Mr. Old Man has been acting somewhat oddly recently?"

The ex-Inuzuka looked at Haku with confusion and asked, "What do you mean, Gaara? He's grumpy and mean. There's nothing odd there."

Gaara looked at the old man's back then at Kiba, frowning softly. But Kiba shrugged softly and ran so he was walking in front of Zabuza, then noticed they were going to cross a bridge.

He didn't really like bridges. He didn't trust them. It had been on a bridge that...

Shaking his head to forget those thoughts, Kiba noticed that there was someone sitting at the very center of the bridge. It looked to be a girl because of her long black hair, but maybe it was a dude with too long hair... It was a child, though. That much he was sure of.

"Hey, old man, there's a kid on the bridge."

Zabuza looked down at him as soon as he spoke up, then towards the child, then sighed heavily.

"What? You want a new friend?"

Kiba blinked up at him, unsure as to why Zabuza suddenly sounded so tired, and shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to have a new friend. You know how much we enjoy having friends around."

"Will you get serious about your math problems?"

The frown Kiba gave Zabuza was both angered and kind of hurt. But then he looked towards the child by the bridge and noticed that he could heart soft sobs coming from them.

"Uh..." He looked at the child as his heart began to tell him to be a good person for once, then nodded. "Yeah. I will. And Akamaru won't steal your meat when you leave it alone anymore."

"He takes it even when I'm eating it."

"No promises there."

The man scoffed at Kiba's answer, but the boy couldn't really find the usual anger or venom he would have when it came to him growing annoyed with him, Gaara, and Akamaru. He just sounded extremely tired.

"Fine." The man grunted, then squared his shoulders and began to walk towards the bridge. "Hey, kid! Got any family? If not, you can join me and these kids."

The new kid's name was Haku. And Kiba had a sneaking suspicion that Zabuza actually liked having him around.

"Time for math practice."

"You'll never catch me alive, old man!"

"Kiba, I'll help you! Bye, Mr. Old Man!"

"What is so bad about learning?"

Before Kiba could properly run off, Zabuza's hand wrapped around the collar of his shirt and pulled him back towards the table he had tried to flee. Then he set The Notebook in front of him, along with a pencil and an eraser so he could get to work. Then he did the same with Gaara and Haku, who began to work without needing to be told much because they were good kids, even though Gaara did look at him in slight confusion before he worked.

He didn't like having Haku with them. The girly looking boy was kind, respectful, and generous. He never insulted the old man, nor called him anything but his name.

The long haired jerk made him and Gaara seem like delinquents.

Kiba now fully regretted having allowed his heart to get the better of him when they had still been in Mist.

A few minutes of complete silence passed, only filled with the soft scratching of pencil scraping against paper. Kiba glared at the problems set before him, the numbers on the page swimming in a way that made his eyes strain and head hurt. He didn't understand why he needed to do any of this. He was going to be a ninja! Not some stupid idiot that would work with numbers his whole life.

Akamaru barked at him and told him what the answers to the problems were, all the while trying to explain why that was, but Kiba didn't really care. He just pouted as he handed in his notebook, then asked Gaara if he wanted to run off and find something to destroy.

"But why would you destroy something? Would it not be more productive to cook a meal?" Haku interrupted, looking at them quizzically. "Or sew up the tear in your pants?"

The question made both boys looked down at the tears in their respective pants, and Kiba shrugged. "They're just going to break again."

"Haku's got a point, kid. Besides, you all passed your work." Zabuza appeared before all of them with three sticks in his hands, no longer having the notebooks with him. "Wouldn't you much rather learn some basics to using the sword?"

"Finally!" Both he and Gaara cheered, all the while Haku nodded softly.

Kiba didn't like this new kid. But as long as Akamaru kept helping him out and Zabuza actually taught them a few things that came to do with using swords in battle, he would be happy.

So, not one of my greatest chapters... But it's something! Please review.