A/N: Special thanks to haretikers for helping me jump start this chapter.

Disclaimer: Has Kurenai shared a panel with Team 8 at least once in Shippuden? That's probably only because I do not own Naruto.

"speech"

'thoughts'

Chapter 11: Roaring Kiba, His Sentiments Exactly

Naruto had no idea of what to expect once he and Kiba made it to their destination. Not having a clue of how things were going to turn out made the blond anxious as even he wasn't sure if he was taking the correct steps to begin with.

But everything happened so fast that before he knew it he and Kiba were both sitting in a taxi that was making it's way cross-state to meet up with one Hana Inuzuka. She offered to pay for it by the way. After seeing her on T.V. last night, Naruto wasted no time in looking her up in the yellow pages. It only took one momentous phone call that rung five times before being answered for everything else to shift into autopilot.

He hadn't even had the chance to run things over with Sakura. It was only now, because he had nothing else to do other than stay put for an almost three hour drive, that Naruto started to think things through and second-guess what he was doing. What if I'm rushing into things? What if things don't play out like they should and I don't like the outcome in the end? But then again, isn't the possibility of bringing relatives together again always the right thing to do?'

The blond wasn't sure how to answer any of those questions but he knew that something had to change. That much was evident when he thought back to his most recent encounter.

-_-_-_(Earlier that Morning after Breakfast)-_-_-_

Naruto had just finished making Kiba and himself ready to depart when he heard someone knocking on his door. Thinking it was their taxi driver that came to take them away Naruto opened the door only to find Tenten awkwardly standing by his doorstep. She was shifting her weight from one foot to another looking unsure of herself.

"Hi Naruto, nice to see you're already awake. I, um, here!" she said quickly shoving the items she had tucked in her arms to Naruto. "These are the clothes, or what's left of them, that your friend left back at Neji's. Just being a good friend and personally hand-delivering them back to you." she finished awkwardly laughing at nothing while rubbing her left arm with her right hand in a nervous gesture.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior and noticing that she made no move to leave he asked her if she had another reason for stopping by. She seemed reluctant to answer but did so nonetheless.

"Well now that you mention it…" she trailed off when her eyes landed on Kiba standing a few steps away from Naruto. "Hi there!" she exclaimed trying to drawl out the true reason for her visit as much as possible." I don't believe we officially met. I'm Tenaki Tenchimoto but that sounds way too boyish so you can just call me Tenten for short like everybody else does. I prefer it that way honestly. Anyhow you must be the infamous Kiba, correct?"

Kiba waved back at her not really sure of what else to do. He was wearing his usual loose shirt and basketball shorts with a pair of flip-flops being his only new addition to casual ware. The brunet was also too busy wondering why was it that mostly only girls were the ones to always show up at Naruto's doorstep. The brunet male had taken notice that Naruto almost never spoke with Shino and that the redhead from before hadn't been around much either. It was then that the idea that maybe Naruto was afraid to make guy friends slowly crept its way inside Kiba's head.

Looking behind Tenten, Naruto saw a yellow cab stationed itself on his parking lot and knew he had to leave soon so he politely asked the girl to hurry it up. She spun around to face away from the blond as she not so quietly complained about how it was never an easy job to be the bearer of bad news. Then after deciding that it was better to serve it blunt she turned around again with her eyes closed, an apologetic grin on her face and her hand rubbing the back of her neck self-consciously.

"Neji just issued a restriction warrant against you and your friend over there saying that neither of you are allowed within 50 meters from his private property. So yeah, um, see ya!"

-_-_-_(Back to Now)-_-_-_

Even if Naruto was a little ticked off with Neji's magnificent solution to everything, the blond couldn't say that he was at all that surprised by said action. Naruto knew that it would probably take a month tops for Hinata to convince Neji to drop the restriction order so Naruto wasn't at all worried about that even though it still bothered him. But all in all Naruto guessed that at least he should be grateful that Neji didn't charge his ass with the bill. It seemed that way bellow that uncaring exterior even someone like Neji had a heart.

Yet there was someone Naruto was still very pissed at and was reminded of said person every time he glanced at Kiba and saw him playing with a white Nintendo DS. Ino's Nintendo DS that she left behind at his home on her last visit.

Naruto had half the mind to reach for it and throw it out the window. But then he reminded himself of the usefulness of the device in keeping Kiba's mind away from the situation. Naruto still didn't know what to say to Kiba so the fact that the Nintendo DS kept him distracted actually worked in Naruto's favor. Deciding there was nothing else that could be done Naruto entertained himself by looking out the window and watching the changing scenery pass by.

The moment the blond looked away Kiba put down the game in order to stare at Naruto's back. The tattooed male had no idea why he was here inside a vehicle or knew where they were going. But he long figured out that it was futile to try to get answers from Naruto when the whiskered male got withdrawn like that so Kiba pretended to be playing just so he could give Naruto time to straighten out his thoughts.

Yet Kiba was growing ever so impatient with Naruto's silent treatments and unexplained actions. The brunet swore to himself that if Naruto ever again did something that Kiba didn't like he would voice it and hold nothing back. But until then Kiba would just turn on Ino's Nintendo DS one more time like a good boy and pretend that he didn't know any better since apparently that was what Naruto thought of him.

Before long and a quick pit stop for a bathroom break later, they finally arrived to a huge manor that made Naruto's jaw drop. The house itself although big and expansive wasn't much to brag about; it was the wide expanse of acres and acres of terrain that impressed Naruto. 'No neighbors in sight! Does she really own this much land all to herself?"

Then he turned to Kiba and ruffled his hair playfully. "You lucky dog, to think you been hiding this from me all along." he joked.

Kiba had no clue of what Naruto was talking about but heck; at least he was talking to him again. That itself was a welcome change from the last three hours.

The whiskered one then proceeded to ring the doorbell with some hesitancy while reminding Kiba to be in his best behavior. The brunet almost scoffed at that because he thought that he always was on his best but nonetheless straighten up his posture to both look more presentable and to remind Naruto who was the taller one of the two.

Yet both of them gaped when they got a look at the person who opened the door to receive them. He was a freaking giant in their eyes. Buffed and almost a foot taller than them, an impressive figure indeed.

"Err, sorry wrong address!" squeaked out Naruto somehow being able to keep the intended 'please don't eat me' out of his sentence as he started backpedalling away from what his mind dubbed as a modern version of Frankenstein.

The 'Frankenstein' in question blinked in confusion at his visitor's statement but when he saw the brunet standing behind the blond everything else clicked.

"Ah, you must be Naruto Uzumaki, the one who called last night." He said while still eyeing Kiba, or more specifically his facial tattoos. "Please come in, we'd been expecting for you."

When Naruto got a better look at the guy's face, his own face lit up in recognition. He's the guy I saw standing next to Hana in the interview.' Naruto's blue eyes then went up from the big guy's face to his big hair before giving an almost unnoticeable nod and stepping inside. 'Orange hair huh, you don't see that everyday. Now all that's left is for me to see someone with green hair and then I'll be able to say that I've seen all the colors in the rainbow.'

Kiba followed shortly after Naruto but puffed out his chest while bypassing the taller man at the doorstep in a childish attempt to look bigger than he was. The bigger male was amused by it but otherwise did nothing in return except for closing the door after Kiba and then leading them to the main room. "My name is Juugo Tenpin by the way." He said when arriving at their destination before gesturing at his furniture. "Please make yourself at home. I'm sure that Hana will be here shortly."

Regrettably Kiba wasn't at all feeling like sitting down after having to do so for three hours straight so instead he rummaged around until he saw a bottle of pills that reminded him of the supplements Sakura had given him. He picked it up only for it to be almost instantly snatched away from him by Juugo. Not wanting to seem startled, Kiba pretended that he didn't care for it and continued his stroll without giving it a second glance. It's not like he could read what it was in the first place so what was the point of making a fuss over it.

On the other hand Naruto hid nothing when he raised a questioning eyebrow at Juugo's reaction. Catching on to it Juugo was quick to apologize, "Sorry about that, these are just something I need to suppress my medical condition."

"Which is?" asked Naruto as he turned to eye the sofa next to him. "I mean if it is not too rude of me for asking."

"Not at all" responded Juugo looking away as he came up with a way to explain it. "Let's just say I suffer from a variant of the bipolar disorder."

'A variant? What is that suppose to even mean? Either you are bipolar or not' Naruto thought suspiciously. 'Great, as if his size wasn't enough now I discovered that he is a nutcase. Wonderful.' he added sarcastically.

Hiding his real thoughts with a nonchalant shrug, Naruto settled himself on the sofa he had been eyeing. When he did he immediately felt like melting on it. 'Man that hits the spot! This sofa is so incredibly soft and comfy it was probably handmade by angels! Definitely beats mine by a landslide.'

Naruto's trip to nirvana was abruptly cut short however when the bells of the house chimed in signaling the arrival of someone else in the house. The blond turned his head around the sofa-from-heaven to get a glimpse of the newcomer and felt his mouth dry out when he saw the very woman they came to visit walking in. Tan skin, brown hair and red fangs tattoos just like Kiba's. There was no questioning that this was the one and only Hana Inuzuka.

For some reason that Naruto couldn't explain he suddenly felt very nervous. It was like something deep inside of him was against the idea of bringing Kiba here in the first place. But that couldn't be right could it? 'I mean why wouldn't I want Kiba to find somewhere else to belong to?'

The female in question complained about a cab driver that was parked in front of the house and how she told him to beat it and comeback later. Noticing her two visitors shortly afterwards, she sent a withering look at Naruto before walking to stand in front of Kiba for better inspection.

At the skeptic look Hana was giving him Kiba crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared back defiantly. The woman in front of him was challenging him, he could feel it, but he was not going to let himself be intimidated by yet another woman. One Sakura was more than enough thank you.

Hana raised one hand to grasp Kiba by the jaw and turned his face from side to side. "He definitely has mother's eyes and you did a remarkable job with the Inuzuka tattoos, I have to commend you for that. But I'll let the DNA test tell me the rest." She said while releasing her grip on Kiba and moving to seat in the loveseat across from Naruto.

"E-Excuse me?" replied Naruto puzzled with the distant treatment. That certainly was not how he pictured a family reunion, and was she accusing him of something? Kiba on the other hand stayed silent on his spot but his eyes never left Hana's face. The brunet male was wondering why had Naruto brought him here, why did that woman have his same tattoos, and why he felt like he was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

Hana crossed her legs in front of her before staring back with clear cynicism at the bewildered look Naruto was giving her. "I didn't stutter. I said I'm running a DNA test to verify your claim."

That statement just rubbed Naruto the wrong way and he wasn't shy about voicing it out. "Well I don't like what you are implying. Are you accusing me of trying to trick you? I'd never play a sick joke like that!"

"What else am I supposed to believe?" shouted back Hana while digging her nails into the armrest. She was starting to get a little emotional but who wouldn't in her position. "Only minutes after it was broadcasted that Juugo and I hold a two million ryo patent on a new drug for dogs you called out of nowhere to tell me that someone I thought was long dead was suddenly still alive and kicking? How else am I supposed to react?"

"I-ah-um…" Naruto found himself at a momentary loss for words and unable to give a good comeback. Honestly, how was he supposed to respond to that? When Hana put it that way it did make him sound a little suspicious.

"I'm think I'll go make some tea." said Juugo after an awkward moment of silence. Everyone seemed to be lost in their thoughts and he needed to do something to at least bring the sound back. But even after he came back and handed everyone their cup of tea, except for Kiba who took one whiff of it and turned it down, no one had moved to say a word.

After another minute of the same old thing it was Hana who broke the silence. "How much?"

"How much what?" questioned Naruto in his calmest way possible.

"How much do you want?" asked Hana raising her gaze to look at Naruto again. She elaborated when she saw that the blond still didn't get it. "Your reward. It's only natural for you to want some kind of compensation out of this so how much is it?"

When she spoke she did it with a business tone that Naruto was sure not even Shino would be able to pull off. But if Naruto was speechless before he sure wasn't now.

"Would you stop that already? I already told you that I wasn't here to rip you off out of your money! Whether you choose to believe it or not, I'm telling you the truth!"

Hana sank back on her seat as she struggled to figure out what her next action should be. She really didn't know what to believe so she looked to Juugo for support. Said man cocked his head to Kiba's general direction silently telling her to follow her heart and do what she thought was right.

The girl in question nodded and moved to stand up in front of Kiba. She locked eyes with him again but this time instead of staring with skepticism she was looking for the truth hidden behind the other's eyes.

Kiba stared back at Hana as well yet he got a whole different feeling from before in he pit of his stomach. Her eyes where glazing over and for an unknown reason it was making Kiba's eyes glazed too. Truthfully speaking it made no sense to him. Why was he being affected so much by the girl standing in front of him?

"Do you know who I am?" Hana finally asked. Kiba shook his head 'no' unable to shake the feeling that he should have known. "Do you even know who you are?"

The man smiled at the easy question and with certainty answered "Kiba", yet his smile slowly faltered when he found that he couldn't provide anything else beside his name.

Hana inclined her head down, effectively cutting their staring contest, and for a moment Kiba was worried he said something wrong. He looked at Naruto for help but the blond was just as lost as he was. But when his eyes shifted back to Hana's face and saw a soft smile tugging her lips his concern vanished.

"Yes" Hana spoke, her voice quivering a little. "You are Kiba Inuzuka, that's the name I picked for you and wouldn't let mother call you otherwise. Your twentieth birthday is on July 7, three weeks from now. But more importantly you are the hyperactive little brother I thought I lost more than sixteen years ago."

At the end Hana couldn't hold it in any longer and threw her arms around Kiba in a tight hug as she cried shamelessly on his shoulder. Her emotion was just too great for her. Kiba in return was at a loss on what to do. Sister? He had a sister?

He glanced down at the girl crying on him but couldn't make her out clearly. He raised one finger to trace it under his eyes and they widen in surprise when he saw that he was also tearing up. Kiba couldn't remember the last time he did that. Not knowing how to deal with it he instinctively closed his eyes and wrapped his arm around Hana as well.

It was a weird feeling that was coursing throughout Kiba's body. He knew he wasn't sad but then why was he crying? At the same time he was feeling kind of guilty too. All this time he doubted Naruto when the blond was only doing something incredibly nice for him. The tattooed male made a mental note to thank his favorite person for it later.

Meanwhile Naruto was sending a nostalgic smile at the siblings' way. Now that Kiba was reunited with Hana the blond finally understood why he was feeling so nervous earlier. 'So you finally have a family of your own huh buddy. Guess you don't really need me around anymore since you're no longer alone in this world.' Looking away from the scene his blue eyes dulled as he stared at his empty teacup. 'I wasn't much of a family anyways so I don't blame you. Heck, I wouldn't want to be around me either.'

-_-_-_(Somewhere back in Konoha)-_-_-_

Sakura was calmly sitting in her living room eating vanilla ice cream as she watched the news on her television. That is until a special news bulletin came on air. It was no other than the new on-field reporter Kin Tsuchi with the latest gossip. What glued Sakura's attention to the screen was that the segment was called Konoha's Tarzan Crashes Elite Party.

As Kin went on talking about the information she gathered, images of Ino and Kiba at the party flashed on the screen until actual video footage of Kiba rampaging in nothing but his birthday suit came on. There was a black rectangular block censoring the parts of his anatomy that couldn't be shown on T.V. but that was beside the point. Then they finished it off by pressing Neji, the host of the party, for commentary. Although he refused to comment on anything he did give a pointed glare at the camera and said something about how he better see a certain ponytailed blonde at their usual place next Wednesday.

The pinkette immediately turned off the T.V. as anger ticks adorned her forehead. Sakura wasted no time in storming her way to her room only to see Ino jumping excitedly on her bed as she pointed at her own television set.

"Did you see me on TV? Neji even gave me a shout-out! It doesn't get cooler than that!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Sakura was anything but amused. "I can't believe you sold him to the press!" yelled the pinkette referring to Kiba or 'Konoha's Tarzan' as they dubbed him.

"Oh chill out Billboard Brow" Ino replied waving her off dismissively. "I got you an autographed t-shirt from Kin if that's what you are so grouchy about."

Needless to say Kiba had nothing on Sakura's ferocity in the way she launched herself at Ino. The now classic game of cat and mouse ensued.

-_-_-_(Back to the Inuzukas)-_-_-_

Naruto spent the rest of the day swapping stories with Hana while Juugo showed Kiba a carton box with seven recently born puppies. They were planning on putting the dogs up for adoption soon. The puppies were of the 'great pyrenees' breed which would be a hassle to handle if kept together.

Out of the seven, Kiba was eyeing with childlike wonder the white one with the brown patches on its ears. It was the first time that the brunet had seen an actual dog this close and all he knew was that he wanted to keep one for himself.

The blond told Hana a more detailed story of how he met Kiba and how his friends had been helping him to civilize the wild man. Naruto still couldn't believe that Kiba was actually only three months older than him. Naruto himself would turn twenty on October 10, his birthday. He wasn't expecting for them to be in the same age group, talk about coincidence. The blond also made brief mention on how Kiba would eat anything that was chewy or had cheese on it.

Hana in return told Naruto about how her parents where fanatics about traveling in helicopters and how it was because of a turbulence that it came crashing down on the Forest of Death when she was young. She always feared flying so she didn't go with them on the ride, that proving to be the last time she saw them.

The rescue team found their incinerated bodies but no trace of her 3 year old brother. After a week the search was called off with claims that even if the kid had survived the fall he was probably already eaten alive by the wild animals that inhabited the forest so Kiba was proclaimed dead as well.

Newly orphaned she went to live with her uncles until she became a veterinarian and was able to live on her own. She said that was how she met Juugo whom also shared her love for animals. Hana joked about how she thought that the other man could sometimes communicate with animals because they always seemed to follow whatever he told them to do.

To Naruto that just sounded like another item he could add to the growing list of things that unsettled him about Juugo. Then he noticed the ring on Hana's finger and asked her if she was married.

"Not yet" laughed Hana sending a loving gaze at Juugo. "We are only engaged at the moment but plan on tying the knot late August."

Naruto followed her gaze to Juugo and concluded one thing when his eyes landed on the big bipolar oaf. Hana was probably a masochist. 'To each their own I guess' he inwardly scrutinized. The girl also mentioned that this place was only where they did their research and that they actually have another house in the city where they normally live.

It was only minutes later that the doorbell rang with the taxi driver that was there to take Naruto back to his home. Juugo went ahead to charge the expense to his credit card while Naruto said his farewells to the Inuzukas. That was probably when everything came down hill for Kiba.

The brunet male could understand Naruto saying goodbye to Hana but why the heck did the blond patted Kiba on the head while saying he would keep in touch? Whatever that meant.

Kiba followed Naruto to the front door only to be stopped by said person at the door and told not to follow. Hana and Juugo stood by a confused Kiba waving their goodbyes as the tattooed male watched Naruto walk away toward the yellow cab on his own. It was then that Naruto's true intention dawned on Kiba. He was being left behind.

"No" he mumbled to himself before darting out and grabbing the blond by the wrist. "Naruto no leave Kiba!" he declared aloud with a scowl present on his face. Kiba was not going to let Naruto do this to him again.

"Let go of me Kiba" said Naruto forcefully removing Kiba's grip on him without turning around to face the brunet. If he did then his resolve would surely crumble. So instead he closed his eyes hard enough to crease his skin as he steeled himself for what he was about to do. "This is what's best; you can't be with me so please stop following me."

But Kiba wasn't listening to any of that and instead turned Naruto around to face him and held him there by the shoulders. "Kiba want Naruto. Kiba stay with Naruto. Please dun leave Kiba!" he said with a begging edge to it.

Naruto shook Kiba's hands away from him and stepped back. The blond didn't want things to be this hard but he needed Kiba to understand that being with someone as unstable as Naruto was not in Kiba's best interest.

"Stop acting like a child, you don't know what you are saying!" reprimanded Naruto as he forced himself to look at Kiba straight in the eye to make his point clear. "You don't want to be with me becau-"

"Liar!" roared Kiba startling everyone present to the point that Naruto felled backwards on his ass by the sheer force of it.

Kiba was heaving. He never felt so betrayed in his life and he couldn't believe it was Naruto who was doing this to him. The blond on the other hand was forcefully reminded that he wasn't talking to a child but to a man who could singlehandedly wrestle against a pack of hungry wolves and win.

The brunet was angry beyond the point of being able to calm down. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster for Kiba. He never experienced so many new different and unfamiliar emotions in one day but this one was by far the worst. And it didn't help any knowing that he was somehow crying at the same time of feeling anger. Betrayal was unquestionably a terrible sentiment to go through but enough was enough. Kiba had had it!

"Kiba want want wants Naruto. But Naruto dun want Kiba. Den Kiba no want Naruto!"

The whiskered male felt himself breaking when he saw Kiba running away from him and into the house. He could tell that he really hurt the brunet just by watching his tear-streaked face. Naruto had no idea that he mattered that much to Kiba. 'But I did the right thing, didn't I? I mean I could barely handle myself with Kiba around and he deserved so much better than that. I should be happy that it ended this way, right?'

Naruto then clutched his chest in pain. 'Then why do I feel so bad?' he wondered. 'No, I know that I did the right thing. There is nothing to worry about. Believe it.'

And that's what he kept telling himself as he stood up and got into the taxi not having the courage to look back at Hana's nor Juugo's faces to see their reactions to the whole thing. That's what he kept telling himself through the 3 hour drive to his apartment, and that's exactly what he told Sakura when she came to visit that night.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to tell himself that after the lights were out and he felled into a restless sleep. For that very night, now that he was newly alone in his house, Naruto dreamt of the raven haired boy that screwed his life up. A nightmare he hadn't had ever since Kiba started living with him. It seemed that everything wasn't going to be alright after all.

A/N: Okay, before I get countless of reviews screaming at me for ditching Kiba let me explain a few things. A separation between the main pairing is actually the best thing that could have happened to them right about now. Naruto needs time away from Kiba in order to understand that Kiba was never the problem and that Naruto can no longer live without him. At the same time Kiba needs some time away from Naruto in order to grow and mature a little more. In his time away Kiba will come to understand things that were never openly discussed in the presence of Naruto.

And anyways, how else was I supposed to get Akamaru? Hana is a vet, has lots of puppies, and she is best suitable to show Kiba how to take care of one. Besides, I'm planning on a small timeskip so everything will be made better by the end of next chapter. No worries XD