Kiba was alive.

If just barely.

Those few all Sunday training sessions with Naruto had paid off in dividends -but it seemed like it was almost not enough in the end. The corpses of Sakon and Ukon lay mutilated at her feet - she was fairly certain a laceration like that was fatal.

But she was at the end of what she could do. Her and Akamaru were drained of chakra completely, and the side effects of taking those food pills would leave her drained for longer than usual. They really needed to find a better way to make those things.

She sniffed the air. Naruto's scent was easy to find. She was mad at him - Her stupid bastard of a boyfriend made a promise of a lifetime to Sakura while she was standing right behind him. Yeah, sure; it was important to bring back Sasuke. But still, her blond idiot had made a promise of a lifetime to the girl he had a crush on for years right in front of her.

It was bad enough that their date was canceled, but now she was jealous of Sakura. She knew she was being silly, but still; she wanted to slap that pink haired hussy!

Akamaru barked. He limped on one of his legs and there was a new tear in his left ear; still, drained and injured, the dog stood tall, ready to go forward.

Kiba smiled at her faithful companion. She took another sniff of air, honing in on the direction. She smelled Sasuke as well. When they caught up to that bastard she was going to tie every single dog in Konoha up to his toes and have Tsunade throw a steak. "Let's go get our idiot."

Akamaru barked in affirmation, then yelped when he tried to leap to his feet and follow after her. He couldn't move fast with a limp leg like that.

Kiba scooped him up and followed Naruto's scent as fast as she could. The weather was taking a turn for the worse. She could smell the rain. And something in the pit of her stomach told her to worry.

The valley of the end. It was hard not to be born in Konoha and not know some of the history surrounding it. The sight of it sent chills up Kiba's spine. The way Madara's statue stood there as though to attack Konoha with the symbol of unity showed his betrayal. The First Hokage stood opposite in defense of Konoha.

Kiba could hear them now. They were fighting. The scent of Naruto was all over the place, and Sasuke's intermingled with his. Ozone and ash complimented the scent of the two like a horrible spice.

A thousand chirping birds echoed from the valley down below. Kiba ran towards the edge of the cliff and looked down towards the valley below. They were like ants, but she could still see it.

The bright light of Sasuke's technique. The way he sped towards Naruto. The way Sasuke's hand pierced Naruto's chest.

The armor plates she put in his jacket did absolutely nothing.

Kiba felt light headed. Her stomach twisted over onto itself twice, and she couldn't focus. Everything faded to a painful white. The only thing she could see was the way Naruto fell backward, a visible hole in his chest.

Right where his heart was.

Her own heart stuttered in panic. Her legs felt twice as weak as they had been on the run there. Her muscles didn't scream in agony: they simply stopped. She could feel herself breath deeply. Naruto was dead. "Naruto!"

She didn't know why she yelled. It was a pathetic attempt to get him to come back to life as though removing all breath from her would somehow restore Naruto.

Akamaru joined in with a deep howl of his own.

Fresh tears poured down from her eyes. It scared her how much it hurt. She looked back down at the river. She needed to get down there, needed to get to him, to make certain that he wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead, right? It was Naruto! He still had so much to do!

He needed to take her out on a date. He needed to tell her that she was pretty. He needed to find her father. He needed to tell Sakura to shut up. He needed to become Hokage. He needed to eat dinner with her family. He needed to be alive.

She needed him to be alive.

She didn't even think when she started to climb down the cliffside. She was out of chakra. Her limbs felt numb. But still, she had to get to him!

She took one last look down below. The water glowed red. She watched as Naruto slowly rose from the water. The tears renewed themselves again.

Naruto was alive! She had to get down to him. She had to help him.

An explosion of power caused her to stop. Akamaru struggled to get away from her like a mad animal. Kiba could feel it too, the animalistic desire to run away. She watched in horror as a thin red veil of chakra surrounded Naruto. The hole in his jacket was still there. But she could see the back of his shoulder.

Then he roared. It was a bestial thing of animalist fury. To Kiba, it sounded like he was in pain.

"Naruto," She whispered to herself. She wasn't certain if she should be happy or afraid at the moment. Her hand moved down as she continued to climb down the cliffside. She ignored the need to run away. Her heart was telling her to go to him.

Inch by inch she focused on descending along the cliff side. Her arms and legs screamed at her with every motion. Her whole body was resisting, screaming at her to run away as she moved..

The battle raged on around her. She could hear the sounds of fist meeting flesh. The roar of Sasuke's fire Jutsu. The countless puffs of Naruto's clones. She felt the impact as one of them slammed into the side of the valley sending rocks flying out into the river below.

She heard them shouting. Naruto was winning.

"What would you know about it!" Sasuke's voice echoed throughout the valley. "You never had a family in the first place!"

Kiba had to stop and stare as the two began to fight again. Sasuke was winning now, countering every strike Naruto sent his way. She had always thought that the Kekkai Genkai were powerful. The Sharingan was no exception. She watched as Naruto started to fight a losing battle.

Sasuke deflected clone after clone, moving with such fluidity that it seemed like he knew Naruto's every move. Then he was lifted into the air as a snake-like coil of Naruto's chakra whipped him around and slammed him into the far side of the valley once more. The entire area shook.

Kiba stared for a moment, finally on a relatively safe piece of the cliff. She hoped that Naruto had one, that that attack had finally put Sasuke down. The entire sky seemed to darken as the light from Sasuke's fire ignited the chain of Naruto's chakra.

"It's too late now, Naruto!" She watched as the two figures fell to the ground. Sasuke held tight onto Naruto's body. Naruto landed head first onto the rocky shore.

For the second time that day Kiba saw Naruto die. There was no way he could have survived that attack. Naruto's body fell to the water, lifeless and still. It floated there, motionless. She watched it carefully.

"Please, no," she whimpered out. To have her hopes crushed again, it was almost too much.

There it was: that energy again. It felt stronger than before. Her eyes, already glued to the corpse of Naruto, watched as the red glowing chakra took form. It was a foul thing.

Akamaru thrashed wildly - any sense her companion had was overridden by his need to run away.

She was finally at the base when they clashed again. Much to her surprise, Naruto appeared to be winning again.

She wanted to fight. But even at full strength, this was too much. Naruto attacked Sasuke, thick red chakra swirling wildly about him like a maelstrom. "Naruto!" she shouted, but it was in vain - Naruto couldn't hear her.

For a second, it seemed like Naruto was going to win. Sasuke was powerless against whatever Naruto had turned into.

But then Sasuke changed too. He grew giant hand-like wings and was able to fight Naruto back. That chirping sound echoed throughout the valley once again.

Kiba could only watch as the two clashed once more at the base of the waterfall. The impact was large enough that it caused the waterfall to flow, upwards, seeming to defy gravity. It was so powerful, so immense, she had to brace herself against the shock wave that exploded outwards like some sort of volcanic reaction.

How were these two genin?

In a brilliant flash of light, everything stopped. Time stood still, and it seemed like the entire forest held its breath.

The dust settled, and Sasuke stood over Naruto.

Kiba ran towards them. She didn't have any Kunai, so she grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it at Sasuke. "Get the fuck away from him!"

Sasuke stood and looked at her. His expression of absolute discontent left little room for debate.

"If you want to leave so bad, then just fucking go, you piece of shit!" she shouted, and threw another rock. She had nothing, but Sasuke had less, and time was on her side. The rain had started.

Sasuke backed away, turning away from Konoha, towards Orochimaru. But he hesitated, and stopped for just a moment.

Kiba glared at him. "You were wrong, you know. Naruto does have a family." Her mouth was moving without thinking. "He had you. He had all of Team Seven. He had me and my family. And now you took that away from us. If I ever see you again, I will kill you."

Sasuke was already moving again.

Kiba turned back to Naruto. She had seen him die three times today. She had seen him come back from the dead twice. Would it be too much to hope that he could go three for three?

The whole world felt hazy. Every nerve in her body was dull with weariness and pain. She placed her hand on Naruto's forehead. It was cold. She checked for a pulse. There was none. Despair began to set in. He wasn't breathing.

The air grew thick.

She placed her head to his chest in one last desperate attempt to see if Naruto was alive.

Ba-thump.

A heartbeat. Naruto had a heartbeat! He was still alive!

"He's alive, boy! He's alive!" Kiba cried once more that day. Naruto had done the impossible - three times. Each time she thought he was dead, he came right back up.

Akamaru barked in agreement, his tail wagged wildly against her stomach.

"Yeah... I guess he's too stupid to die," Kiba sighed with a smile. For a second she sat there in the rain, just enjoying the fact that Naruto was still alive. "Let's get him back to Konoha."

She carried him thirty feet until she realized that she had no way out of the valley.

It was fortunate that Kakashi showed up shortly after.

XXXX

Kiba stared at the white ceiling of the hospital. Her entire body felt sore. Still, mostly out of stubbornness, she forced herself up.

"Woah there, Shorty. Where do you think you're going?" Hana's voice echoed throughout the room. She stood in the corner, hovering over a small bed where Akamaru laid. "You pushed him really hard you know?"

Kiba sighed. To be fair, Akamaru wanted to go after Naruto as much as she did. "Is he going to be okay then?"

Akamaru barked on his own before Hana could speak.

Hana gave Akamaru a quick bop on the nose. "You're both lucky idiots. You overdid it on the soldier pills, but yeah, after a few days rest you'll both be back on your paws."

Kiba smiled. Still, she had to go check on Naruto. He was barely breathing before she allowed the medical ninja to take her. She winced in pain as she pulled the covers off of her body. Her ribs in particular hurt.

"Whoa whoa, where do you think you're going?" Hana barked at her. "You're not in bad shape but you shouldn't overdo it!"

Kiba ignored her sister's warning and placed her feet on the ground. She was barefoot and the ground felt cold on her feet. "I'm going to go see Naruto."

Hana's frown turned into a wicked grin. "Oh, going to visit your boyfriend, are you?"

It was hard to fight the smile that was growing on her face. Kiba had refrained from telling her family that Naruto was her boyfriend - not out of any real shame, but because she was waiting for a moment like this.

"Yes, I am. Jealous?"

There was something so satisfying about taking the wind out of Hana's sails, and the way her sister's face twisted from confusion to rage to an odd happiness and back to a sense of confusion.

"Wait, what? Really?" Hana asked, confused.

Kiba shrugged. Oddly enough, getting some payback against her sister made things hurt less. "Yep, we became official last mission." She didn't feel the need to go into much more detail than that.

Hana's stunned silence lasted just long enough for Kiba to get out the door before it morphed into jealous frustration. "Just wait until I tell Mom!"

"She'll bake a cake!" Kiba shouted back at her sister and stuck out her tongue.

The hospital never had a pleasant smell. It smelled like medicine, old people, and death. It was a place that Kiba never wanted to be in. But it was easy to find the faint tendrils of Naruto's scent. She had come to enjoy his smell - it was like a pleasant summer day spent lying in the shade.

She followed the scent and was led to Naruto's room. The door was open, and after a moment Kiba realized there were other scents in the room too. She recognized a few instantly: The lavender scent of Hinata, the booze and cinnamon of Tsunade, the stupid shampoo that Sakura used… wait, didn't Kakashi's dog Pakkun smell the same?

Kiba smiled a bit at her future ammunition against Sakura, just in case she got any ideas about Naruto.

"Don't worry Sakura, I made a promise," Naruto's voice echoed from the hallway. "I'll definitely bring Sasuke back."

Kiba whirled into the room. Naruto's bandaged form did nothing to quell the spark of anger that grew inside of her, nor did Sakura's tears. "The hell you are!" She barked, slamming her hand against the wall.

Both Naruto and Sakura jumped a bit at the sudden noise. "What? Of course I am, Kiba! Just like I'm going to bring back your dad!" Naruto smiled a wide smile.

But Kiba wouldn't have any of it. "I was there, you idiot." Her voice was low, like the rumbling of a faraway storm.

Naruto's smile fell. "Oh." He thought he had heard Kiba. But he wasn't sure if he had just been hearing things. In a way, it made him happy that she came for him. And even now, with the way she was bandaged up and her lack of clothes all showed that she cared.

But the look on her face was not something Naruto could ever be happy about - not when it was directed at him. "Three times," Kiba said in a normal volume. Her eyes locked in on the orange jacket that rested against a chair.

"Three what, Kiba?" Sakura asked. She had to fight back a yelp when Kiba stomped past her growling.

"Naruto died three times, you pink haired hussy. Because of that stupid promise he made you, he died three times!" Kiba snapped. She grabbed Naruto's jacket and threw it at Sakura hard. "Look at that fucking hole."

Sakura examined the hole. It was on the right side, right about where the heart was. "So what? Naruto's still alive - and what does this have to do with you?"

"He's my fucking boyfriend!" Kiba shouted. Sure, they had only been a couple for like three days, with more time spent in bed rest than on dates, but that was probably common for shinobi relationships. "I don't give a shit what on earth let Naruto survive having an arm go through his chest, or how he survived getting pile driven into the ground from a hundred feet up, or how he survived a god damn stomach laceration, but I'm sure as hell glad he has it."

That red chakra, no matter how horrifying it was to watch, still let Naruto live, gave him a fighting chance. She'd have to ask him about it later, though.

Naruto's eyes locked on Kiba wide with horror for just a second. It had been because of the Kyuubi that he had lived through those things. His mouth went dry as his tongue felt heavy. He wanted to say something but for a moment words failed him.

Sakura looked down at the hole once again. She thumbed the material slowly. Bits of the jacket were burnt or seared. "Is it true, Naruto?"

Naruto looked between the glare of Kiba and the concerned look of Sakura. "Yeah." He admitted it. "But I'm not giving up! I'm still going to bring Sasuke back!"

Kiba frowned and stomped her foot on the ground. "Why the hell are you so set on keeping your promise to some girl that uses dog shampoo! I'm your girlfriend dammit!" Dammit, she used that weapon too quick.

"Dog shampoo?" Sakura questioned. She had been using this shampoo for years, ever since she got it from… right. Pakkun.

"That's not why!" Naruto shouted. His hands balled into fists, and he punched the mattress. "Sasuke's like a brother to me! I can't just give up on him!"

"He'd tried to kill you!" Kiba shouted right back. She walked to right in front of Naruto's bed, obstructing Sakura's view of the blonde. "Three times!" She grabbed him by the front of his shirt, her knuckles white from gripping it so tightly.

"If it was dangerous to get your dad, would that stop you?" Naruto shot back. Naruto leaned in close and glared right into Kiba's eyes.

Kiba's fist stopped shaking. Naruto was right. If it meant getting her father back her entire family would charge headfirst into danger. "Fine," she snarled out and let him go with a shove to the chest. "But you have to promise me something!"

"I already promised to bring your dad back!"

"I'm your girlfriend, I get two!"

Naruto and Kiba glared at each other for a long moment. "Fine, what is it?"

Kiba sighed and allowed her face and tone to soften. "I saw you die three times." She hated how weak she sounded. "So just promise me that you will come back."

Naruto sighed into an effortless smile, Kiba had just given him all the reason he could ever need to make sure that he came back. "I promise."

"Let me finish!" Kiba cut Naruto off. "Promise me that you will come back even if it means that Sasuke will die. Your life is more important than his, you numbskull. And not just to me."

The room was silent for a whole minute. Before at last Naruto sighed. "I promise that I will come back no matter what!"

Kiba rolled her eyes and smiled at Naruto. "We can have our date when you get out of the hospital, alright?"

"Can we get ramen?" Naruto asked his eyes bright and face elated. He hated hospital food - it was so gross and he hadn't had Ichiraku's in like five days!

Kiba briefly wondered if her eyes would roll out of her socket before she smiled. "Sure, but you have to do something else too!"

Naruto smiled widely at her. "Believe it!"

Sakura stood there looking at not only the weirdest couple she had ever seen, ut also the first official couple of her classmates. She always felt like it would be her and Sasuke that would become official first. Part of her felt slightly jealous that Kiba was stealing away her teammate - which was absurd. There was no way she would ever like Naruto in a romantic sense.

XXXX

Kiba glared at Naruto's bag. He was finally out of the hospital, and now she had about two hours with him before he was going to leave for three years. She wasn't stupid. She knew that Jiraiya of the Sannin was strong and was a good teacher for Naruto.

But couldn't they have waited a couple extra days? Even with Kiba visiting Naruto in the hospital for hours each day it still felt like they hadn't had the time to do anything with their relationship.

It wasn't like she wanted to kiss him or anything.

Still, she tried to enjoy the last little bit of time that she had with him. Three years just seemed like such a long time. What would happen to them? Would they stay the same? Would they still want to be boyfriend and girlfriend after three years? It just didn't seem fair.

She couldn't even call this a date because Iruka was here as well. At least he offered to pay for their ramen.

"Say, Iruka-sensei..." Kiba asked drily. It was about time she got some answers.

Iruka turned to Kiba with a bit of noodle flopping out of his mouth. He slurped them up with about as much manners as Naruto had. "What's up, Kiba?"

"What do you think about Naruto being my boyfriend?"

She was desperately hoping that Iruka would just shrug and say 'good for you two, you make a cute couple'.

Instead, she got a spit take as Iruka nearly coughed up the noodles he had just swallowed.

"What? Since when? I thought Naruto liked Sakura? Not that there's anything wrong with what you two are doing... it's just kind of not something that... should be." The scar on Iruka's nose blushed a funny almost purple color.

"Did you know I was a girl?" Kiba asked. She wanted him, of course, to follow it up with 'being in a relationship is perfectly normal but some people might not like it when you are to open about it in public'. Or something along those lines.

"What? You are?"

Kiba's chopstick broke in her hand and a deep growl escaped from her mouth. Just how many people thought she was a boy? It was getting so annoying! She was a girl, damn it, and proud of it! There was nothing wrong with being a girl!

Naruto attempted to make peace. "It's okay Iruka-sensei, I didn't know Kiba was a girl until the Chunin exams either. I think Sakura found out then as well. But yeah! She's my girlfriend, sorry for not telling you sooner." Naruto turned back to his ramen with a happy smile.

Iruka stood up quickly and slammed a couple bills onto the table. "I think the Hokage is calling me ,I gotta go, this should cover the meals! I'll pay the rest back later!"

Kiba smiled when Iruka sped away. Now she had Naruto all to herself.

"Yo Naruto, time to go!"

Or not.

The loud and boisterous Jiraiya entered the stall, and out left Kiba's sense of joy.

"Oh... I, uh... okay," Naruto said quickly - done with his bowl of ramen, sadly enough.

Kiba stood with him. "I'll, uhh... see you out." She didn't mean for that to sound so meek. She took his hand as soon as his bag was on his shoulder.

The trio walked in relative silence to the gate.

"Alright brat, say your goodbyes to your girlfriend, It's time to go." Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head and turned away. It reminded him a lot of when he took Minato away from Kushina to train with the toads for a year. Except that was worse, Jiraiya mused to himself, as it was just after Minato had saved Kushina from those Iwa Ninja. She used her chakra chains to try to get him to stay.

He hoped Kiba wasn't any worse.

"So, uhh... I guess I'll see you later?" Naruto asked with a chuckle. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. "I, uhh..."

"Just come back, okay?" Kiba said suddenly. It sounded too weak and pitiful. "Taller…. And with bigger muscles. I don't want a scrawny boyfriend, got it?" She added quickly.

Naruto stared at Kiba for a moment. He blinked once. "Okay, but you have to grow bigger boobs."

Kiba snapped away from Naruto and covered her chest with both of her arms. "What? You pervert! What makes you think you can ask me that! It's not something I can control!"

"Well, neither is my height!" Naruto shouted back. "And I'm not going to stay short forever! Just you watch, I'll be taller than you by the time I get back!"

Kiba laughed. "Yeah you better, otherwise I'll tie your arms and legs to some dogs and have them stretch you out."

Seeing Naruto's reaction to that was priceless. "So yeah. Uhh... bye."

Kiba stood there for what seemed like an eternity. As Naruto slowly turned away. She needed to do something to get him to stay something for just a minute. "Wait!"

Naruto turned quickly, already making a kissy face towards Kiba. He was expecting (and wanted) a nice goodbye kiss from Kiba but didn't know how to ask for one. Was he suppose to ask or just kiss her?

Kiba stared at Naruto's kissy face for a second. If he didn't look so ridiculous she might have considered it. Instead, she held out both hands and presented Naruto with a photo. "Here, my mom thought it'd be a good idea for you to have a picture of my dad in case you find him. And I'm there too… so yeah. I'm little… but still." She kind of wished they had a picture of them together so that she could have something to remember him by.

Naruto took the photo and examined it. That red dog seemed familiar. Hana was cute when she was young, and Tsume seemed so happy. Little Kiba was dirty and looked like a boy - not that he would ever say that out loud. And the father...

What was Wasumaru doing in the photo? Where was Kiba's dad?

Naruto's jaw slowly fell. He lurched forward and grabbed Kiba by the shoulders. "I know where your dad is!"

"What? Really?" Kiba asked frantically. "Where?!"

"I'll show you!" He quickly tore off his backpack and threw it at Jiraiya. "Sorry, Pervy Sage! We're going to have to delay the trip by a day!" He grabbed Kiba's hand tightly and began to pull her towards the capital.

AN: Yep Naruto is an Idiot. Beta'd by the great, the wonderful, you know him you love him EndoplasmicPanda! go give him love!

Anyways wow chapter 10. Never thought It'd be able to stick with a fic for this many chapters. Like honestly after next chapter I have no idea what I'm going to do for this fic. Because I don't like to retell Canon I'm probably going to have a few Slice of life snap-shots with Kiba and Naruto after he gets back from training. What do you guys think? Sounds fun? Just like make the last few chapters 100% fluff before I end it with a wedding and maybe a few kids?

But yea, the original plot line I made up for this story is basically over in the next one or two chapters. Who knows I might be able to think of something.

Ya'll seem to be wanting me to have Hinata cause some Drama with Kiba. A bit to late to explore that as I basically made Hinata the number one Narukiba shipper... well number two if you count drunk hinata.

Anyways I know I said that I'd be working on the next chapter of the Sound of Freedom. But I got excited for this chapter and wrote it in a day. (Don't tell my beta). I'm about 3k words into the Sound of Freedom, still need to find a good beta for that one. It'll be out sometime next week maybe.

Then more of this hopefully. Next chapter is going to be fun!