Disclaimer: Yo, folks and folkettes! THE Roarend Darkhowl is back with an update for you peoples!

I put off putting this up to see if anyone was going to respond to my prompt from the last chapter, but I was disappointed to see that no one left a review or shot me a PM or anything about it.

I'll reiterate it here, but fair warning there are only a few more chapters before it goes into effect.

SO OPEN YOUR EYES WIDE AND NOTICE THIS!

I'd like to hear your own suggestions for Naruto's taijutsu style! Naruto is going to show some changes as a ninja with the proper attention and instruction (correct instruction) that he didn't really have before the first time around. This is the first step! Please leave a review or shoot me a PM on what style you'd like to see him use.

Now that that's out of the way, please read, review, and enjoy...do it for me?

Roarend Darkhowl out.

The Prodigal Sun

Chapter 9: Monkey's Hope, Dog's Complexity, Shadow's Depth

"Seriously, why did you have to go and rile her up like that? I mean, she's just going to be even more troublesome than she would've been before now. You realize that, don't you?"

Laen was bitching – well as much as Laen can bitch – and I might've deserved his droning grumbles at my back as we walked out of the Academy. However, I was too busy devising a means of solving the conundrum that was our third teammate to listen intently to him. He eventually quieted down when I started leading him through the village proper.

Final year students were allowed to leave the Academy grounds for lunch, so it wasn't unusual for Tenten, him, and me – with an occasional Lee thrown in whenever we could tolerate his eccentricities – to go out for a bite to eat. However, I was heading away from the market district – where the majority of the businesses like restaurants were located – to head towards the outskirts of the village proper where the clan compounds were located.

He didn't speak up then either. That was most likely because we once in a blue moon would go to my place to snack on something I made for us to eat. No, he held his tongue until we passed the Nara and Sarutobi gates entirely, heading in a more densely forested area.

He yawned, making a nuisance of smacking his lips obnoxiously afterwards. "Mind cluing me in on where we're going and why we're not eating lunch?"

I didn't answer, mainly to annoy him, but also because he already knew and just wanted to hear me say it. He sighed. "Why are we going to the Inuzuka compound and can we at least get something to eat there?"

"Yes, to your second question." I finally answered him as the compound came into sight, turning to meet his mildly annoyed eyes. "As to your first…our new teammate is going to be a bitch to figure out on our own, especially now that I've made my intentions clear."

He nodded once, making a 'go on' motion with his hands.

One thing I didn't particularly like about Laen was that he always made me verbalize my reasoning, even if he already knew what it was. This was usually followed by a dissertation on why my reasoning was asinine, which was then followed by him going along with it anyway so he could laugh at me afterwards.

I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms. "So…in order to further understanding and camaraderie…I'm going to see if I can get any information about her and purchase a peace offering of sorts."

I turned and continued walking towards the compound's gate, not waiting to listen to him cut my plan down to tiny, idiotic sounding pieces. He surprisingly came alongside me without saying and word, merely sighing gustily.

The Inuzuka gate had twin statues of ninken flanking its entrance, carvings of their dog companions snarling at their side them etched into the gates proper. It was guarded by an alert clan member and his canine partner who stopped us from going inside.

"State your business, pups."

I wanted to snort at the dog terminology…but he was kind of scary looking, so I saved it for the walk back to the Academy. "We're here to purchase some things from the veterinarian's office, that's all."

He narrowed his eyes at us suspiciously. "What sort of things are you looking to buy from there?" Geez, someone get's their jollies off grilling visitors.

I smiled placidly, shrugging. "Just purchasing a bag of treats for our new teammate's ninken is all. A sign of good faith and solidarity, you know? It's important for us to make sure she's welcome as one of the pack."

If there was one aspect that Inuzuka treasured above others, it was loyalty. There'd never been a recorded missing-nin from the Inuzuka clan since they'd first joined Konoha. By appealing to the gate guard's sense of fidelity, it wasn't long before we were entering the Inuzuka vet's office.

A familiar face was manning the front desk, one that almost made me fall over upon greeting us.

"Ah, Honorable Grandson, is there something I can help you and your friend with today?"

After regaining my composure, I bowed to her and grimaced at her returning too-innocent smile. "Dammit, Hana-san! I swear you're doing that just to mess with me!"

Hana and I were acquainted through my grandfather dragging me to visit other clan's compounds, to get a feel for the type of people that were the village's foundation. She was a few years older than I was and seemed to like pushing my buttons, much like she did with her own younger brother.

I'm almost certain she does it just to get off on annoying us.

She raised an eyebrow towards me in a clinical fashion, her nails tapping together as she clasped her hands. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Honorable Grandson."

I was a half-second from a freak out when Laen sighed behind me – clearly a signal to get a move on…or ask her where we could get something to eat. Laen's sighs have many different translations, so I think I could be forgiven for mixing them up on occasion.

I shook my head, as if warding off the frustration her intentional poking at my sore point was causing me. "Never mind, forget it. I've got to make this quick – I'd like to purchase a small bag of your Inuzuka ninken treats, please."

The corners of Hana's lips quirked up for a second for a moment, then she placed a miniature packet of the aforementioned treats on the desk and rang them up. "So, who are they for?"

If there was one other thing that I could count on Hana for – besides pissing me off to no end by refusing to call me by name – it was her insatiable nosiness. She didn't do any kind of gossiping, she was just curious to an aggravating degree. Much like a ninken with a bone dangled in front of them. I planned to use that to my advantage.

I leaned on the desk nonchalantly, smiling absently as I passed her the proper amount of ryo in payment. "Oh, it's for our new teammate's ninken…we kind of got off on the wrong foot and I'm hoping a peace offering will tempt her to cooperation."

I saw her eyes sharpen at the meager amount of details I'd offered in that sentence and knew I had something. "So…Teru is your teammate, huh? That'd make it her little pup the one you're getting these for then."

I forced my eyebrows up in an inquisitive fashion. "Oh, you know her then? Do you know what her issue is? She was rather unfriendly when we tried to ask her to join us for lunch."

Hana nodded to herself and sighed, as if she'd expected as much, passing me the packet of dog treats along with my receipt. "I'm not surprised. That girl has been so detached and angry since her parents died last year."

A family tragedy was not uncommon in our line of work, but it didn't really explain some of the messages her words had sent. I bowed my head for a moment, commending the spirits of our teammate's progenitors to guide us in helping her overcome her isolation.

"How did it happen? If you can tell me anything, that is. I just want to get a better understanding of her situation."

Laen finally made his presence known, nudging my side and shaking his head at me. "Your being troublesome again, Haruo. It's her personal business. We shouldn't pry like this. If she wants to, she can tell us herself."

Translation: 'I'm not comfortable looking into this behind our teammate's back and neither should you'.

I sighed. It wasn't that I wanted to meddle in her personal life, but I wanted to know as much as I could before trying to help her.

Laen was right though, I was being insensitive to her feelings and going about this the wrong way. Hana looked back and forth between us, her eyebrow raised once again.

"Thanks for the treats and the insight, Hana. I think we'll see if we can't find some time to eat on the way back. You have a good day." I gripped the packet more firmly in my hand and gave Hana a bow before exiting the clinic with a somewhat mollified Laen in tow.

I sighed, running one hand through my hair in effort to settle my nerves. I hadn't realized how far I'd overstepped my boundaries until Laen had spoken up. I was being rude and tactless, which was unlike me.

"Sorry about that…" I said a tad bit shamefaced. We exited the compound and began striding back towards the village's interior.

Laen cracked his neck with an audible pop, before sighing. "I know you're trying to help, but you can be a really troublesome bastard with the way you go about it."

I made a pouting face at him. He didn't have to put it quite like that. Well, he was a Nara, maybe he did.

"Don't look at me like that, Haruo." He glared at me lightly, shaking his head. "You can't hand everyone their answers and you can't always figure their problems out for them. Meddling in her past isn't going to make her feel anything but even more upset towards us."

This was that dissertation I'd tried to avoid before, but he was really taking me to task here. It was frustrating trying to help someone without knowing what their problem was. However, rather than just be there for them and get them to share, I'd gone for the cowardly approach of wrenching the information behind their back from someone in the know.

That thought made me feel so confused and disoriented about my actions that I had to stop walking for a moment to collect myself.

Not an hour ago, I had helped a good friend of mine work through her problem only after she came to me in an upset state about it, despite knowing about it beforehand. I'd painted her into a corner with my concern, but I'd never presented what her problem was to her, allowing her to work through it herself before stepping in.

That was what I'd learned from my dad. Lend someone your help only after him or her has had identified their problem and had their own try at it, that way they'll appreciate even more after the fact.

I'd not adhered to that in this case, my carefully crafted patience and cavalier attitude souring upon first contact with Teru, leaving my methods crude and brutish. I'd forced my way into the person problems of someone I'd known for not even a day, trying to fix them whether they wanted me to or not.

I'd decided she needed my help without letting her decide for herself whether she wanted it or not. Being her teammate meant that I had her back, but it didn't mean I was supposed to take care of everything for her.

I felt stupid – not an uncommon occurrence when talking with Laen – and plopped myself down at the patio table of a dango stand we sometimes frequented. He took a seat across from me, laying his head on his arms as he looked around for the stand's server.

I clapped a hand to my forehead and groaned, drawing his attention for a moment. "I'm so dumb. I went and broke my number one rule."

He nodded along, his hand waving over the familiar attendant to take our order. "That you did, troublesome rule as it is."

Rule #1: 'Let others try, before offering them your help. Let them fail, let them succeed, let them get frustrated and upset, but let them try. Because if they don't at least try, how will they ever know they can do?'

It was my classic response whenever Laen or Tenten asked me why we weren't helping someone when we could. Laen – smug as he was while chewing a stick of dango – had no problems shoving my own words in my face when I fucked up. It might've been his second favorite pastime after sleeping.

We walked back into the Academy grounds later, with me having stowed the doggie treats in my weapon pouch. I still planned on offering them up later as an olive branch, an attempt to patch up the rocky start we'd had with Teru.

She didn't glare at Laen or me when we sat next to her. Her ninken was looking at me warily from her hood, but she just stared at the desk before her without offering anything to acknowledge our presence.

Not a good sign that.

I looked on as everyone took their seats, trying to quash the guilt I felt about earlier. I found myself perking up when the sensei finally filed in, catching Genma's eye and sharing a nod with him.

I noticed Guy and Kakashi almost immediately. The green jumpsuit almost vibrating in excitement beside the aloof gravity-defying white hair was rather hard to miss.

"Yosh! I'm here to pick up the most youthful members of Team Nine!"

Tenten gave me a wave I returned as they got up, while Kakashi gave Guy a look of long-suffering before moving forward himself.

"Team Seven, with me."

Ouch, his icy tone froze over the classroom, making the San's brothers almost trip over themselves as they went to trail in his wake.

"Figures, Guy can't wait his turn and Kakashi doesn't even want to be here. Oh, well. Team Eight, come along."

Genma gave me a lazy wave as they left, which I rolled my eyes at before waggling my fingers at him in response.

Our sensei finally stepped forward. He looked to be the oldest one there, maybe in his early-thirties. He had the infamous Nara short-ponytail holding back his dark hair. He had a short goatee, cleaned up so that it was isolated to his chin. Two thin eyebrows were set above a pair of dark eyes while dark-green shadowy markings encircled them from below. He seemed a little tired…or lazy, it was hard to tell.

"Alright, Team Six let's go."

He certainly sounded livelier than most Nara though. There wasn't even that much of a slouch in his shoulders either as we followed him out of the classroom.

While we followed him to a training ground not too far away, I was torn between wondering how this was going to go and worrying over Teru keeping her distance from us. When our sensei finally signaled us to take a seat, I took a look around so I didn't have to watch the Inuzuka seat herself a good four feet away from Laen and me.

It was a rather bland looking training ground. An earth field covered in grass, surrounded on all sides by trees was par for the course in Konoha, after all. The only distinguishing feature about it was the rather impressive and rare fir tree that sat smack dab in the middle. It was a truly a giant of its species, had to be over two hundred feet tall. The Land of Fire didn't have too many in these parts, the soil being a bit too warm for them tolerate.

Ensui had seated himself at the base of the tree, with Laen plopping himself down in front of him. I seated myself in between the Nara and Inuzuka, who didn't give any indication that I was close to her.

The cold shoulder treatment was surprisingly hurtful, although not unwarranted I suppose.

Ensui looked between us all for a moment, raising an eyebrow when he saw the gap that one of his students had between the others, before exchanging a meaningful look with Laen. The two Nara clan members seemed to have a silent conversation that ended with Ensui sighing and Laen rolling his eyes with a muttered 'troublesome' shared between them.

"Well, I can already see that getting to know one another is going to be rather difficult for you two and your other teammate." He gestured between Laen, Teru, and me. "I don't necessarily have any patience for squabbling, so I want this resolved before we go any further."

An impatient Nara, not a first but definitely not expected. Sensei was apparently all business right off the bat.

He narrowed his eyes at all three of us, making Laen and Teru glare at me…well, damn. I mean, sure the problem with us was mostly my fault, but Teru started it! I pushed down any childish whining I wanted to make and settled my burgeoning pride in preparation.

I nodded and tucked my knees beneath me as I turned my body towards the glaring Inuzuka. I heard a satisfied sound from behind me, but resisted the urge to spin around and smack Laen upside his stupidly smart head.

Instead, I leaned my body over to place head and hands to the ground, prostrating myself before our female teammate. I felt the blood vessels in my face welling in embarrassment and shame, but I just breathed easily to will them down, remembering my training.

"W-what are you doing?"

A sigh threatened to break through my reinforced composure, but I chose to speak before it could manifest itself. "I sincerely apologize if I upset you with my words earlier on, Teru-san. I merely wished to form a bond with you as a teammate and comrade however, I did not take kindly to your words about my friend and me. Still, the way that I handled myself was both presumptuous and rude towards you. For that, I am sorry."

It was the best apology I could come up with and I did act kind of like a jerk in response to her, not my normal self at all. I just wanted to bury the hatchet and move on. I hoped to score some good points so that she'd at least consider being our teammate.

Not a great first impression for my sensei and me, with me apologizing in the submissive way I was, but he had wanted to us to resolve it.

I waited for a while afterwards before anything happened, with no one moving a muscle. Then I heard a sniff near my head and raised it slightly…only to receive a tongue to my forehead.

"Gah! Well, hello there!"

I was suddenly under a sloppy and affectionate attack by Teru's ninken with the dog's licking tongue forcing me back on my butt as it leapt onto me. I chuckled to myself and petted the friendly animal, noting the tail wagging at my ministrations.

I got a good look at the dog for the first time and noticed it was of a different breed than Akamaru was. It had a compact white body with dark spots dotting it and a pitch-black head. I checked really quick and confirmed that it was a she.

She grinned up at me with brown eyes and her white teeth stand out against her head's backdrop, before settling on licking my chin. I giggled a little bit, before looking up to check Teru's reaction.

Oh yes, it was priceless. It was magnificent. And with her wide eyes, mouth gaping a tiny bit, and a small blush, it looked a lot like success to me.

I could hear Laen snickering behind my back, but I could've cared less. I smiled down at the ninken that forced the temporary truce. "So, what's your name, little girl?"

"E-Emimaru, her name's Emimaru."

I smiled up at Teru, who was now looking at the pup questioningly. My attention was drawn back to the now named ninken (try saying that five times really fast, I dare ya!) who'd barked happily at hearing her name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Emi-chan. I'm sorry for getting upset with your partner." Emimaru merely blinked at me before placing both paws on my chest to stand and lick at my nose. I laughed a little, before remembering my purchase from earlier on.

Emimaru stilled in my lap when I retrieved the package that contained the Inuzuka treats from my pouch, almost as if she could tell they were in there. I looked up at Teru, who was avoiding my gaze still, to see she'd also zeroed in on the bag also.

"If you'd let me, I got a little something for her, if that's okay?"

Teru finally met my eyes, but immediately looked back to the bag in my hand. "What is it?" she asked bluntly. She inhaled sharply when I removed the packet of treats from the bag. Emimaru was panting a little in my lap, her attention focused solely on the small bone-shaped morsels within her reach.

"Why?"

Teru's eyes had been shadowed over a little by her hair, her head tilted forward as it was. She was shaking a little, her hands bunched up in her shorts. "Why did you get those for?"

I didn't know if she was upset or what, so I looked at the packet before gesturing with it vaguely to punctuate my words…or lack of words.

"Afterwards, during lunch I realized how much of an ass I'd made of myself, so I went to get these for, well…ummm…"

I admit to being unable to say the words 'peace offering'. It almost didn't sound like it was enough to name the simple treats just that. Thankfully, I was saved from doing so by a Nara.

"They're an olive branch, a gesture made out of a want for forgiveness and friendship."

I'd almost forgotten that our new sensei was there and was surprised he'd spoken up instead of Laen. Then I heard a snore from behind me and solved the mystery…hooray.

Ensui was smiling. It the first time I'd seen the expression on his face and it looked like he didn't do it often enough. He returned my grateful nod and looked to Teru who was very still, almost stiff. "An olive branch only works halfway until someone accepts it."

Our sensei wasn't subtle, but he gave her the nudge she needed apparently.

Teru sniffed to herself and looked up at me uncertainly, her eyes a little red. I gave her a small encouraging smile. She seemed to relax at that and nodded towards Emimaru. "You can feed her…I'm sure she'd like those."

I relaxed, having unknowingly tensed up myself, and nodded back. "Sure, thanks."

I'm sorry, too.

It's okay.

It wasn't something that needed to be said, it would've probably made the moment even more awkward if it had been said. The sound of Emimaru enjoying the treats heralded the tension between Teru and me breaking away.

After she was done, with much chuckling done on my part, she licked my face again before looking at her partner and barking. Teru went a little red in the face and looked away from me.

"What'd she say?" I asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

She didn't turn back to face me, messing with her hair a little. "She just asked me to thank you, that's all."

I had my doubts about that being all the ninken said, but I held my tongue and opting to nuzzle Emimaru. "Well, you are welcome, Emi-chan." She licked me once more, before returning to her partner and growling something to her.

Teru snorted and picked up the pup to set her in her lap. I smiled and crumpled the packet in my hands, stowing it in a pocket to toss later.

Ensui nodded at us both, before deadpanning at the slumbering form of Laen to my left. He looked at me and gestured to the sleeping Nara, which I was only too obliged to do.

I thumped the lazy bastard on the head hard, making him groan before he sat up to glare at me. "I hate you sometimes."

I shook my head at him, smirking wryly. "No you don't. The rest of us are ready to start now, by the way."

He looked between Teru and me. "Soooo, how're things?"

I looked at Teru to see her rolling her eyes before she shrugged her shoulders at me. Steadfastly ignoring the effect that particular action had on her chest, I turned to Laen and smiled. "I think we're okay now."

"That's good. Now, let's all introduce ourselves properly to one another. I'd like to get to know about you all firsthand." Ensui leaned forward off the trunk, his eyes appraising us all.

He must've not been satisfied enough by the genin registration forms and education reports he'd gotten from the Academy. We all straightened a little at his words, even Laen un-slouched slightly.

I knew it was serious when Laen managed to summon up the energy to pay attention. I tilted my head back as a light breeze made the fir wave at me, the afternoon sun winking out from behind it.

I smiled to myself a little as recalled my resolution, the one that I'd made directly to answer this moment…what was my dream?