"So, yeah, now we have to look after this cat," Kiba Inuzuka finished explaining, holding up the kitten by the scruff of the neck. Akamaru woofed in agreement.
Hana ran a hand through her untied hair. It was too early in the morning for this.
"Let me get this straight," she said, pulling a hair-tie off her wrist. "Naruto found this kitten outside his window, and for some reason decided it was his duty to find the owners. So he gave it to Hinata to look after, but her father refused to let her keep the cat even for a few days. So she gave it to Shino, but the kitten kept eating the kikaichū. So he gave it to you to look after, and now we're baby-sitting this random kitten that could quite possibly be a stray?"
"Well, yeah," Kiba replied, staring at the animal dangling from his hand.
Hana sighed. She grabbed her hair in a fist and quickly tied it up. She had to look at one of the dogs in a few minutes-a pregnant one that was due to give birth any day now-and she really didn't have the time to convince her younger brother to give the cat to someone else.
"Did you tell Mum about this?"
"No," Kiba muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "Not yet, anyway. I'll tell her when she wakes up."
"Do you have kitten food for it?" Hana narrowed her eyes at the kitten, tilting her head slightly. "Her."
"It's a girl?" Kiba frowned, glancing at the kitten. "Uh, yeah. Shino gave me a bag of things for it-her. There's kitten food in there."
"Good. Don't give her milk," the older Inuzuka ordered sternly, turning and walking towards the front door. She stopped, hand on the knob, and glanced back at her brother. "Don't give her string, either. She might eat it."
"I know that. It's the same with dogs."
Hana nodded and left, leaving Kiba to look after the kitten.
He glanced down at her. The kitten meowed, struggling in his hold. With a sigh, Kiba glanced down at his faithful white hound.
"Looks like it's up to us now, Akamaru," he said. The giant dog woofed and wagged his tail. "Yeah, so long as we keep her in our room, she won't get into any trouble."
The cat let out another drawn out meow, kicking at the air.
"Come on, I need to put this cat down before she hurts herself," Kiba said, holding a hand under her tail just in case she managed to slip out of his hold. Although he wasn't really a cat person, Kiba didn't like seeing any animal in distress. He would rather her on the ground and happy than thrashing about in his hold where she could hurt herself. "Then we'll go see if that dog's had her pups yet, okay?"
Akamaru gave a happy bark in response.