Hello minna-san!! I'm back! My finals are finally over and now I'm on break! So for these two weeks, I'll try to post more chapters! Wish me luck!

Enjoy this chapter then!

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Cat and Dog

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Chapter 13

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Tsubasa looked around the house.

It was nothing like hers. While hers looked quite and rather gloomy, the house of Inuzuka was the exact opposite.

It was warm, bright, and noisy too, with dogs barking playfully, even though only three Inuzukas lived there.

It was something different from what she's used to, but somehow, she does feel comfortable here.

"Don't worry, we told the dogs not to come in," Inuzuka Hana smiled at Tsubasa as the latter's tensed up when she heard the barking coming from the backyard.

"When I say you fainted, Kiba wanted to send you back to your house, but I thought that would give a wrong impression to the Maneki, so we took you here instead." Hana explained.

"Ah," Tsubasa nodded her head, understood. She was walking down the stairs with Hana leading in front. And although it did make her feel jumpy at first, listening to dogs' barking outside the house, she didn't feel threatened by it.

"How do you feel now?" Hana asked her as she led the young Maneki to the living room. They passed the balcony and Tsubasa looked out and saw Kiba sitting outside, playing with Akamaru and a few more puppies.

She watched him laugh, the happiness written on his face and the look of excitement, like a little boy who had just received a candy.

The two of them had gotten separated quite quickly after the jutsu worked, having past experiences made it easy, but to Tsubasa, it felt like it's been a long time since they were that close. She didn't realize she missed getting her shoulder stuck to him.

"Maneki-san?" Hana called her, waiting for her answer.

Tsubasa stirred from her thought and looked at Hana. "Gomen," Tsubasa said, "I feel better than before."

Hana nodded her head, "that's good, but I'd still suggest that you'd take more rest,"

Tsubasa nodded her head back. "Thank you." She looked up at the older Inuzuka. "Ano, you can call me Tsubasa, Maneki is just a little weird…"

Hana raised an eyebrow quizzically just as Kiba walked into the house. "Ne, Neechan, look!" he said, showing his hands that he had cupped together.

His face was flushed red from playing with the dogs and there was a boyish grin plastered on his face as he spoke.

Tsubasa looked at his closed hands and noticed that he was holding a small cub.

"You made him happy," Hana spoke to her brother. "Good job."

"Thanks," Kiba said, patting the cub, who looked back at him affectionately. "You'll get well soon, won't you junior?" he ruffled the cub's fur.

"This is Kiba Junior. I found him while returning from a mission two days ago," Hana explained. "He was caught in a bear trap alone and I took him back. But Kiba got attached to him," she said, smiling proudly.

Tsubasa looked at the small fox cub in Kiba's hands. It was white and there were bandages on back leg, he looked thin but healthy.

Kiba looked up and his eyes met Tsubasa's. Tsubasa froze in her spot for a second before looking elsewhere.

"Oi Tsubasa," Kiba called her name. "You want to hold him?"

Tsubasa looked at him and shook her head. "N-no, he looks fragile."

Kiba smirked, "And you said you wanted to be a vet," he laughed. "What a joke,"

Tsubasa glared. "Fine, let me hold him then," she said, extending her arms to accept the cub.

Grinning, Kiba neared her, leaned in and passed the cub into Tsubasa's arms. Their fingers brushed against each other and Tsubasa felt her face and skin burnt.

She looked at the cub, paying full attention to it, while at the same time controlling herself from blushing hard.

"Hello there," she said to the cub who looked back at her confused. She scratched the cub on its head and smiled when the cub snuggled closer to her.

"You want to be a vet?" Hana asked. Tsubasa looked at the older Inuzuka and nodded her head.

"That's different," Hana smiled. "Why don't you stay for dinner before heading home?"

And before Tsubasa could object, Hana had already decided that the Maneki girl would stay, and went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner.

"Kiba, freshen yourself before Okaasan comes home," Hana ordered. Kiba frowned. "Fine," he said and stuck out his tongue at his sister while she wasn't looking.

Then he grinned at Tsubasa and winked.

"I'll come back soon." He said and Tsubasa looked at the cub in her arms. He was talking to the cub, how cute.

Then it hit her what she had said and Tsubasa frowned. Did I just call him cute?

She shook her head. Snap out of it! This is wrong. This is wrong.

Patting the cub, Tsubasa looked out the balcony and watched Akamaru, three gray dogs that belonged to Hana and other dogs playing outside.

The cub in her arms whimpered and she looked at it. "You want to play with them?"

She looked at the dogs outside, but she didn't dare to step out.

What if the dogs attack her?

All these times when Kiba and Akamaru were around, she had Yue. Now she is a Maneki in a house full of Inuzuka.

"We'll just wait till Kiba returns k?" Tsubasa said to the cub.

"I'm here already," Kiba said behind her, putting on a new t-shirt as he walked towards Tsubasa and the cub.

He smirked at her, "Why? Afraid to go out?" he teased.

Tsubasa glared at him. Kiba ignored her glare and held out his hands for the cub.

"But I'm surprised that you'd actually hold a baby fox," Kiba said as he took the cub into his hands gently. "They're related to dogs,"

Tsubasa looked away. "Dogs and foxes are different animals,"

"So you're only afraid of dogs?"

Tsubasa turned around quickly. "I'm not afraid!" she said angrily. Then, realizing that she was losing her temper for nothing, Tsubasa took a deep breath. "You wouldn't hold a cat anyway, would you?"

"No."

Tsubasa nodded her head. Kiba slide open the balcony door and stepped out towards where the Inuzuka dogs were. He released the cub and watched the small animal play around.

"You know," Tsubasa said, as she stood behind Kiba, watching the cub too. "Foxes are like cats,"

Kiba smirked, "They're in the dog family," he corrected her. "They have similar physical attributes, don't you know?" he teased.

Tsubasa rolled her eyes, "I said, like" she emphasized. "Kitsune, actually, are like us cats."

Taking a deep breath, she began to explain. "For starters, they live long, like the cats,"

Kiba raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her. "Are you saying, dogs are weak because they can't live long?"

Tsubasa furrowed her eyebrows and hit him on the head. "Don't twist my words, idiot."

Kiba frowned. "Oi!"

"Anyway," Tsubasa continued. "Not only that kitsune live longer, it's similar to cat's bakeneko too,"

"And if dogs are portrayed as males, then both cats and foxes are portrayed as women," she added.

Kiba smirked, "Maybe you're right."

Tsubasa looked at him, surprised. That's a first. Kiba turned and looked at the Maneki. "Foxes are also cunning and pranksters like the cats, right?"

Tsubasa narrowed her eyes. "Say that again and I will hurt you,"

Kiba replied her with a laugh. He turned back to face the cub, "But, maybe, foxes have both dogs' and cats' characteristics."

Sighing, Tsubasa looked at the cub as it played excitedly. And absent mindedly, she spoke.

"Maybe, maybe, they're a sign," Tsubasa said. That a dog and a cat can create something new together.

"Huh?" Kiba asked, confused.

Tsubasa blinked, stirred from her thought. Did I say that outloud? "Nothing, nothing."

Kiba looked at her suspiciously, and he raised an eyebrow. "Oi, what does that mea—" his words were cut out when Hana called for him.

"Kiba, I could use a hand," Hana said. Kiba nodded his head. "Akamaru, watch over him,"

"I can help," Tsubasa volunteered. Hana shook her head. "That's okay, you're a guest here."

Tsubasa watched the Inuzuka siblings walked towards the kitchen and she looked back at the cub who kept on playing with the other dogs.

She kept watching over the cub from the open balcony, but not daring to near herself to the dogs.

"Maybe, maybe they're a sign"

She can't believe she said that out loud. Tsubasa shook her head in disbelief. "That'd be embarrassing if he knows it," she smiled to herself.

"Woof!"

A bark startled her then and Tsubasa looked at the dogs just as she saw from the corner of her eyes the cub getting back into the house and started running inside.

Akamaru barked again and Tsubasa nodded her head. "I'll get him,"

She ran after the cub, looking for it. For such a small and injured cub, he sure ran fast.

She tried sensing the cub, but just as she found it, she overhead voices coming from the kitchen and sensed the cub with the Inuzuka siblings.

"What is he doing here?" she heard Hana spoke.

"Ah, junior." It was Kiba's voice next.

After a few seconds, "So?" Hana spoke again.

"So what?" Kiba said.

"I asked you, if you like her," Hana said. "She's nice,"

Hearing the conversation, Tsubasa couldn't help but feel that they were talking about her. She used her jutsu to cover her scent, so they wouldn't know that she was there, and listened well.

"She's okay," Kiba replied. "Sometimes,"

Hana laughed. "You get along well with her now. That's good. At least you're not fighting like last time in the village,"

"Hm," Kiba said, and Tsubasa peeked in and saw him patting the cub in his arms.

"Do you like her?" Tsubasa saw Hana turned and looked at her brother. The two of them were oblivious to Tsubasa's presence.

Tsubasa's heart skipped a beat and she can feel her face getting hot. Kiba didn't look up or answer the question straight away and Tsubasa waited in anticipation.

Her heart was pounding so fast right now. Tsubasa had never realized how much she wanted to hear his answer.

Kiba continued patting the cub and smiled. "Nah," he said and held the cub higher, grinning. "She's a cat."

Tsubasa felt her head dropped, slammed, crashed. She stood there frozen.

Tears formed in her eyes. She wasn't sure whether it was from straining her eyes, or from the ache in her chest right then or from hearing his answer.

She quickly wiped it away and walked away from the kitchen, still in surprised.

That's his answer?

She wanted to leave so much right then. It felt so embarrassing. All these time she became confuse because of him, and all that he thought about her was that she's just a cat.

She's a cat.

She went back to the living room and stood there. Her body felt weak then and she really wanted to leave, scream, cry.

It wasn't that he doesn't like her, but the fact that while she was battling herself on her feelings for him, he only thought of her as a cat, not as a normal person.

And for him to say it so easily, like it was a joke hurt her more.

"Ah, Tsubasa,"

Tsubasa heard and felt Hana's presence behind her and she took a deep breath and turned around, poker-faced.

"I forgot to ask you if you want any drink," Hana smiled.

Tsubasa smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, but I think I better go now," she said. "I sensed that Arai-sama is looking for me," she lied.

Hana looked surprised and then nodded her head. "Ah, that's a shame." She smiled. "We were looking forward for a dinner with you,"

Tsubasa bowed her head a little. "Sorry, maybe some other time. Thank you, for treating me today."

"It was nothing," Hana said. "Ah, maybe you'd like to say bye first to Kiba?"

Tsubasa quickly shook her head. "No, I really should be going. Besides, I'll see him around," she lied again.

Hana nodded and led Tsubasa to the door. "Take care of yourself, then."

Tsubasa nodded and smiled. "Thank you again," she said and bid her farewell as she walked out the door.

She fastened her pace, and left the area as fast as she could.

for those who don't know what kitsune and bakeneko are, you can look them up in wikipedia. and of course i do know that foxes are related to dogs, but i just wanted to give a point in this chapter.

on a side note, ahh..my birthday is getting so near. on the day of the dead too! i feel so old..

Happy early holloween then!

Reviews are much loved, ne?