When Itachi finally came to talk to him, it was after training with Kisame on the day after having met Hiruko's odd creator.

Kiba had been huffing and puffing after Kisame had worked him over even harder than the past day- which Kiba couldn't really understand because Akamaru had broken nothing this time around- and had been laying with his back on the stone floor beneath him when a dark shadow fell over his face.

At first, he had expected to find Kisame ready to force him into yet another kind of exercise for whatever reason he had thought worthy of punishing. But a second later the comforting scent he had come to readily enjoy hit his nose and he found himself smiling and opening his eyes.

When he looked up, he found Itachi's long body standing right in front of his face, the man's own face in its usual neutral state, dark eyes looking down at Kiba's own.

"Itachi! What's up?" Kiba asked with a broad smile, somehow feeling his body reinvigorated by just seeing and being around the man.

In retrospect, it should really worry him that he felt so good whenever he was around Itachi, but he couldn't truly bring himself to think on that. Itachi made him feel safe. And he relished in that feeling.

The man's eyes softened as he allowed a small smile to grace his lips, then he crouched on the balls of his feet, hands moving so they were beneath Kiba's shoulders. "Not you." He stated and managed to catch Kiba completely off guard.

Blinking, Kiba couldn't help but let his body be lifted up by Itachi without any complaint or question. Had... Had Itachi just made some kind of joke?... It was weak and not even all that funny, but the effort was still there!

Itachi pushed him up so was sitting, then sat down beside Kiba. Their shoulders brushed softly as Itachi sat and Kiba couldn't help but wish Itachi would wrap his arm around him. Which was an odd thought... One he immediately tried to shake off as he brought his legs up and crossed them one over the other, then leaned his palms against them and looked Itachi with his face pulled in.

"You... Can't be Itachi."

The man's eyes widened marginally at the accusation that came from the younger male, then quirked an eyebrow, "Why would you say that, Kiba?"

The tattooed boy frowned softly, then shook his head, "Because the Itachi I know would never try to crack a joke! Especially one that's so lame!"

Kiba looked at Itachi in surprise, though, as the man let loose a short and deep laugh, one that rumbled from deep within his chest. And this wasn't some kind of faked laugh or even a sadistic one, like one someone would probably expect from a criminal. No, it was a genuine laugh that Kiba could tell came from actually being amused with what Kiba had just said.

"I had no idea you would react so drastically to my trying to make a joke, Kiba." Itachi said with a smile, his laughter softening as he did so.

Quite frankly, the only thing Kiba could do was stare at Itachi. He had no idea in which other way he could truly react.

The man seemed so... Loose... It was weird. Itachi was always tense and guarded. Just why he was being so free today?

"Admittedly, Kiba, I must take this time to speak seriously with you." With these words, the soft smile morphed back into a tight line, making Itachi look serious once more. "Hiruko and Deidara are both out of the base for the moment, as are our leader and his little lackeys. Which means this is the perfect time to answer any and all questions you might have that would be best to not be overheard by others."

The sudden change of mood in the room took Kiba for as much as surprise as Itachi's pleasant demeanor had. But, admittedly, he was relieved a bit to hear he'd finally be able to ask Itachi all of the things he'd wanted to before.

And while he was burning with a dozen different questions, Kiba knew he couldn't just bombard the man with them all. Instead he'd have to go one by one and ensure they were all answered with full honesty from the dark haired man.

Immediately knowing which one was the first question he wanted answered, Kiba jumped at the chance to ask it.

"How dangerous are you?"

Itachi's dark eyes looked at Kiba's own without hesitating. But Kiba become more self-conscious the more Itachi continued to look at him before he looked away and ducked his head.

"I mean... Kurenai Sensei, Asuma, and Kakashi were all sent after me and I can only assume it's because they knew that it was you and Kisame with me..." He stumbled as he explained the question, "And for them to know it was you two without Shino and Hinata really knowing who you are- only knowing your physical descriptions... I mean... Unless you're in the Bingo Book..." And he drifted off then.

Kiba had thought a lot about this. About who Kisame and Itachi must be if they were considered to be dangerous enough to send three jonin to chase after them. And the only thing he could truly come up with was that they appeared in the Bingo Book with a high bounty on their heads.

Itachi remained silent for a while before answering.

"I am extremely dangerous." His voice was serious and completely honest, making Kiba looking up at him in surprise at the answer. "I was one of Konoha's greatest shinobi before I left. And when I did, I left nothing but ruin in my wake."

A tense silence fell over them as Kiba waited for some kind further explanation from the man, but received none. And when he noticed Itachi wasn't going to say any more, he got up onto his knees and looked him directly in the eyes with his own narrowed.

"Itachi... Why did you leave?"

His voice was worried and quivered just slightly. Kiba could feel himself completely fearing the answer Itachi would give him.

Would he admit to being a psychopathic killer? Would he tell him that he defected because he didn't enjoy any of the rules enforced by being a shinobi? Would this kind man that had nursed him back to health with a detached yet caring attitude tell him he was pure evil?

The man looked Kiba directly in the eyes, steady and cool, then answered, "Because I had no other choice."

That simple sentence held so much depth in it... It held secrets and unexplained reasoning. Underneath that, there was pain. A type of melancholy that made itself known only minutely.

But Kiba wasn't sure if he was prepared to ask about the hidden meaning... Much less hear the answer he'd receive.

Slowly, he bowed his head in thought. He wanted to know just who Itachi was. What his last name was, who his family was. He knew who Kiba was, after all. It would only be fair for Kiba to know, right?

But a voice in him told him that he wasn't prepared for the answer. Not yet. And that Itachi wasn't quite ready to give it.

So he decided to move on to another question, one that would- hopefully- not receive as serious an answer as the last one had.

"Why..." His throat had become tight without him noticing it. So Kiba cleared his throat before he tried once more, raising his head slightly to glance at Itachi before bowing once more. "Why does your headband have a gash across the village symbol?"

He didn't dare raise his eyes. He was afraid of having Itachi become angry with him. The questions he was asking were most probably not the kind Itachi had wanted to hear, the kind that were dangerous to ask. But he was curious... He wanted to know these things. He wanted to know who he was around. He wanted to know how dangerous they were, no matter how kind or weird they proved to be.

No matter how human they proved to be.

Imagine his surprise when he felt Itachi's hand cup his jaw and gently tug him upwards to look into the man's dark eyes.

~/~

Itachi had entered the training grounds with his resolve steeled. After that morning's scare, he didn't want to run the risk of Kiba truly running away.

The panic that had filled him had made Itachi want to hug Kiba close to him and send Kisame into a world of pain simultaneously. But he had refrained himself from it because he knew it would do no good and instead had opted to just smack Kisame across the face for being an idiot.

If he had wanted to be funny, then the shark nin should have resorted to another kind of prank. Not one that made Itachi's heart clench so horribly.

But after he had returned to his room, Itachi had begun to think about what he had done to truly keep Kiba from wanting to flee. Aside from making him food two nights ago, he'd done nothing. Kisame had begun to teach him how to fight, which meant Kiba most probably saw Kisame as the best of them both. And this thought did not sit well with Itachi.

He knew that he wanted to get closer to the Inuzuka. But he also knew that he couldn't do that without seeming completely out of character to the other members of the organization.

He was aware, though, that if he allowed Kisame to spend more time with the boy, he'd undoubtedly grow ostracized from him.

And Itachi could not let this happen.

So what could be the first thing he could do to further gain Kiba's faith in him? He could tell the boy the truth about the situation he was currently in. He could finally answer any and all questions Kiba had burning in his head.

Oh, he knew the boy would undoubtedly want to know about his defection and why the Hokage would send such capable ninjas to retrieve Kiba- this was just a genin, after all, no sane Kage would send three great jonin to get him back unless he or she believed there was something more going on. And Itachi would try his best to answer with complete honesty while keeping a composed manner.

... He tried his best. And he seemed to have done a good job of it. He just had not expected the kid to ask it straight away.

In all honesty, he had thought Kiba would begin with asking about Kisame or their organization. So he had been slightly caught off guard with the Inuzuka immediately asking about Itachi and his own decisions.

And now he was cupping the boy's chin, hoping that he hadn't scared him away with his past answers.

"Kiba? May I ask you something?" Itachi asked as he observed the boy's face go from deeply bothered to confused.

Quite frankly, Itachi's favorite 'Kiba expression' must have been confusion. His lips would purse slightly as his eyebrows knitted and his eyes narrowed just slightly, looking as if he were trying his best to put together pieces that didn't quite fit of a puzzle. He allowed himself to relish how cute it truly was whenever it was around.

Although this time, he didn't relish it as much.

"If you were to find out the horrible truths about me, would you break our deal?" After he asked this, Itachi breathed in for a second, then continued, placing further pressure on the young boy. "If you were to hear atrocities that I had committed with my hand, would you go back on your promise? Would you break your word?"

He knew this was playing dirty. He knew that an Inuzuka was loyal and prideful to a fault and they would never willingly break their word. And he was more than aware that by giving so much gravity to his words, Kiba would find himself unable to leave.

But, dammit! He deserved something good in his life! And Kiba was what he wanted most in his life aside of seeing Sasuke grow to be the strong man he knew he could be.

Kiba's eyes widened at what was asked of him, and Itachi could see a hint of fear melt into those dark orbs, then the boy asked, "Itachi? Are you trying to scare me?"

But Itachi's hold on the boy's chin never faltered, nor did the rest of his body or his voice. "Not at all. I want you to be honest with me, Kiba."

When Kiba closed his eyes, Itachi felt his heartbeat begin to speed up out of fear of Kiba wishing to leave him. But when the dark eyes opened once more, they were filled with determination and the fear had been pushed to the very edge of them.

"I am an Inuzuka. And we never go back on our word."

The boy's face had lost any hint of confusion. Instead it had drawn in with determination and Kiba's lips were turned slightly into a soft frown. The boy had done all this, Itachi noted, to make himself seem completely serious. To have Itachi know he was being completely honest.

"You may tell me you plan on killing me after you've finished using me as a tracker and I still wouldn't abandon my word." His voice was heavy and serious, with a severity Itachi did not believe fit with Kiba's young voice, "I gave you my word when you saved me and my friends from that group of bastards. And- believe me when I say this Itachi- nothing you do would ever hurt me as much as those brutes did."

By the end of his strong words, the boy's voice faltered slightly and his eyes filled with sadness and fear. But this time around, it wasn't because of Itachi. Those emotions came from remembering what he had been put through before Itachi and Kisame had come around to save him and his team.

Biting his lip, the boy looked away from Itachi for one second before looking back with wide eyes. "Itachi... Can you... Can you promise me you won't hurt me?"

The amount of hope and trust in those eyes was overwhelming. Itachi's heart clenched once more as Kiba laid his soul bare for him, then he brought his arms up and around the younger male.

Kiba was taken aback by the sudden hug, but didn't fight it. Instead the boy only wrapped his own arms around the bigger male and closed his eyes, leaning in completely into the touch.

Itachi's heart warmed at being trusted so openly, then answered the boy's initial question. "Our headbands have gashes across them because we do not identify ourselves as part of them anymore. Instead, we openly defy those that hurt us. Each and every one of us has a reason why we left our respective village, Kiba." And he squeezed the boy tighter now, remembering why he had left his own. "But that does not mean we are inherently evil."

Hugging Kiba was almost therapeutic.

He knew it was selfish to dig Kiba deeper into his life... But he was surrounded by nothing but darkness... At least, he had been until Kiba appeared like a dim and dull ray of light. And he wanted to fix Kiba as best he could, to get that light as bright as he knew it could be.

"Kiba, how proficient are you at genjutsu?"

From the way Kiba's body stiffened then relaxed, Itachi knew he had caught the boy off guard. Which meant he had done just what he had hoped.

"Uh... Not very good at it..." Kiba mumbled in confusion, then leaned back slightly, although he kept his arms around Itachi, to look the man in the eyes. "Why do you ask, Itachi?"

Itachi was more than aware that he had yet to answer all of Kiba's questions. But he knew for a fact that Deidara would be returning any minute now and he couldn't afford to be caught in such an intimate state by the blonde. So, instead of continuing their talk, Itachi decided to veer it off to a much less serious topic.

Allowing a small smile to find its way onto his face once more, Itachi closed his eyes and rejoiced in the feeling of Kiba being in his arms. It just felt right to have the younger male right there, with his arms protecting him.

"Because Kisame is already training you in a new fighting style. I was wondering if you would like to improve your skills in your genjutsu with my assistance?" He asked, then opened his eyes to find Kiba looking at him with pursed lips.

"I really want to agree, Itachi..." The boy began warily, "But I'm seriously terrified of you being a slave driver like Dumb Shark."

The nickname made Itachi quirk an eyebrow, "Dumb Shark?" He repeated curiously, finding the mood slowly lightening as he allowed Kiba to forget about the past question.

With his cheeks reddening, Kiba buried his face into Itachi's chest and shook his head, "Please don't tell Kisame! That's the nickname Akamaru has for him."

After he said this, the boy refused to look back at Itachi. But the male could only smile in amusement at the other's reactions. Then, he thought of something.

"Wait a minute... If Akamaru has a nickname for Kisame, then does he have one for me?"

Kiba groaned dramatically, shaking his head, then warned, "You really don't want to know."

Huh... He had known the dog was intelligent. But he had never expected creative nicknames to be something Akamaru would spend time on.

"I will take your word on it, Kiba." Itachi relented, then asked, "Now, would you like to begin on your training?"

The boy jumped at the chance to change the topic of the conversation and Itachi was more than eager to help him do that. It was only as he began to recite the basics of genjutsu that Itachi found himself wondering if Kiba had even noticed he hadn't answered the most important question he had asked.

... Unfortunately, Itachi wasn't completely confident in himself to not hurt Kiba. So he couldn't promise to not do so.

But he would try his best to not hurt the young Inuzuka.

Admittedly, falling into a new routine wasn't all that difficult after Kiba just allowed himself to go with the flow.

His mornings began with Kisame forcing him and Akamaru to wake up. The shark nin would growl and threaten and try to seem as dangerous and aggressive as possible, while Akamaru and Kiba woke slowly and groggily. During the first few days, Kiba had jumped immediately, ignoring how tired he truly was. But after training filled days and long nights in Hiruko's workshop, he had become much more sluggish and less eager to please. Now it was a miracle he even managed to drag his exhausted body out of bed, even with Kisame threatening to kick his ass all over the base if he didn't hurry up and get his breakfast.

After Kiba didn't get up in the time Kisame wanted him to, the shark nin would grab his sluggish body from the bed and throw it over his shoulder, receiving disgruntled barks from Akamaru, even though Kiba would only close his eyes and doze off once more as he was carried away by the large man.

The following hour would then be spent with the young Inuzuka trying his best to remain asleep, all the while Kisame did his best to wake the little bastard up. During this time, breakfast would be made and eaten, Kisame would grow frustrated enough to threaten with bodily harm, Kiba would eventually wake up, and Akamaru would find complete amusement in Dumb Shark's very obvious annoyance.

And once Kiba was finally awake enough to move on his own, both males would get dressed and then walked towards the training grounds, where Kiba was taught how to handle the tantō for the next few hours.

Once lunch time rolled around, Kiba would be bone tired and dead on his feet. He'd fall to the floor and begin to try and nap, even though his stomach would tell him it needed some kind of of sustenance or it would revolt, which would then make Kiba growl in frustration because he wanted to rest but knew he would eventually be stuck having to eat if he didn't want his stomach to bother him.

Every single time his stomach would growl so loudly he thought anyone would think there was a beast in the training ground's with him, Itachi would appear with a hot plate of whatever wonderful delicacy he had decided to cook up and hand it over to the extremely grateful boy and pup, seeing how Akamaru usually wound up as tired and hungry as his master. Kiba and his dog would then scarf the food down gratefully and hungrily. And after all the food had gone, the small dog would run, jump, and glare at Itachi as he gave Kiba lessons on how to improve his genjutsu techniques.

And because he was so bad at it and barely ever improved, these lessons would go on until dinner time. Whenever he failed at creating a believable illusion, he felt like he was failing not just himself, but also Itachi- who happened to be a very patient and accepting teacher, unlike Kisame, who would growl and yell at Kiba whenever he messed up. Well... Even though he wasn't all that good at his old sensei's forté, Itachi was spending time with him. And Kiba fully enjoyed any time spent with the long haired man.

Once Itachi had called it a day, he, Kiba, and Akamaru would move towards the kitchen, where Itachi would make dinner for them both. They would eat with complete gusto, and afterwards, they would meet with Kisame once more and say their goodnight to Itachi. Then Kiba would bathe, get dressed in the pajamas that had been bought for him, and he'd fall asleep.

Unfortunately for him, that is not where his tiring and activity filled day ended.

The boy would feign falling asleep for a good hour until he was sure that both Kisame and Akamaru were asleep, then he'd sneak out of the room as quietly as possible and head back to Hiruko's workshop. He'd stopped wondering if the man's name really was Hiruko days ago. That was the only name he knew, so that was what he would call him. In there he would help the odd man work on whatever creation he wanted to work on at the moment, seeing how the man had grown frustrated with trying to fix Hiruko itself after the third night together.

Sometimes, the man would ask Kiba about who he was, where he came from, his favorite things, the basics. At others, he'd try and get Kiba to tell him how he had wound up here. But Kiba had never answered and would never. He wasn't about to let anyone know about what had happened to him before he had ended up in this base. He refused to even acknowledge that chapter in his life.

Kiba learned a lot about puppets and the art of puppeteering during those nights with Hiruko. Like how this was a skill that wasn't really looked upon with favor because of its clear defensive disadvantage when it came to fighting hand to hand. But there were intricacies that were unique to each and every puppet, like how some have creators that think purely on poisons and fire power- much like Kankuro- while others spend more time in making their wood and limbs strong to keep them from shattering.

Actually, he had become so interested in puppets ever since Hiruko had forced him to work with him every night that he had even asked if the man would be willing to teach him how to use them.

He was working on his sword skills with Kisame during the mornings and on his genjutsu during the afternoons... How much would learning chakra control and how to use puppets really hurt?

After the first time his fingers were singed by having too much unstable chakra build up in them, Kiba figured it wouldn't be any walk in the park. But Hiruko took the paper of teacher seriously and forced Kiba to analyze his every mistake until he would never be able to commit it again. It didn't happen as fast as the man would have liked, but eventually Kiba was able to make one stable chakra thread without hurting himself.

When he was busy on the assignment Hiruko had given him, Kiba would notice that the man would switch between working on his newest puppet- because it always seemed as if he had a new one each night Kiba went to his workshop- and scolding Kiba for improper stance or not paying the correct amount of attention. It didn't matter if Kiba was working on a simple task like painting or fixing the screws on one of Hiruko's puppets or if he was trying to mold threads of chakra or even meditate, Hiruko would always scold him if he so much as breathed out of place.

It was rather interesting, though, to be subjected to three different kinds of teaching methods. Kisame was aggressive and hated failure, punishing it violently by making Kiba run laps or forcing him to spar. Itachi, on the other hand, always kept a cool head and rolled with Kiba's failures, giving pointers to fix it but not growing frustrated when Kiba committed them. And Hiruko... Well, he didn't accept failure. He refused to. And he'd glare at Kiba so disapprovingly that the young Inuzuka would feel ashamed for being so incompetent as to fail at his given task.

But, out of the three... Itachi was his favorite. He fed him and Akamaru, allowed small spaces of time to rest, and would never raise his voice at Kiba. The other two were not above shouting if it managed to get the message through Kiba's skull.

As he worked on whatever he had been assigned, Kiba would always feel sleep call to him. And he always fell asleep without noticing it, leaving his work unfinished. But Hiruko seemed to not be bothered by this because the man never scolded Kiba on it, unlike his other shortcomings.

When he came to in the morning, he would always wake up in the room he shared with Kisame, tucked into the sheets on Itachi's bed with Akamaru curled into his side. In the beginning, he had wondered if he should be worried that Hiruko took such care in settling him to bed, but he stopped asking himself this after a while. Hiruko was a much more detached person than Itachi. But he had shown no signs of wanting anything more out of Kiba than just an extra set of hands and sometimes student. Besides... It was better than waking up on the floor.

The morning when this routine was disrupted started off normally.

Kiba had been put to bed after managing to make two stable chakra threads, even though he hadn't been able to anchor them to anything, by Hiruko. And Kisame tried to wake him up way too early in the morning, which made the tired boy groan and refuse to get up. Then he had been carried off by the shark nin and forced to sit on the chair by the kitchen counter, with Akamaru lazily barking at Kisame to get his ugly paws off him. Then he had eaten breakfast, gotten dressed, and gone to train with the blue skinned man like normal.

It was while he went through a set of kata with Kisame glaring at him, hidden promises of much pain if he messed up radiating from those eyes, that the routine was disrupted.

"Kisame."

The woman's scent had wafted in and been noticed by Kiba before she had spoken up. But he had not allowed himself to falter until Kisame turned to look at the newest occupant of the training grounds, a woman with purple hair, amber eyes, and a piercing below her lower lip. Her whole body was hidden by the cloak Kiba had come to identify as the standard attire for every adult in this base.

"Konan." Kisame greeted as he squared his shoulders and turned around, which allowed Kiba to stop in his repetition of motions and let go of the swords in his hands.

The boy heard Kisame growl when he allowed himself to fall to his knees, but he couldn't really care. The teen panted as he was finally allowed a moment of rest, then he looked up to see that Kisame had yet to turn back to him.

Just who was this Konan? She must have been important if Kisame hadn't immediately turned around and scolded him for giving up.

"The leader has a mission for you and your partner." The woman spoke calmly and almost monotonously, which made Kiba begin to wonder if that was a requirement to join this organization.

Seriously, either one had to be devoid of emotions like Itachi and Hiruko to be a part of it, or boiling with them like Kisame. Was there no middle ground? No normal person around?

"Alright." Kisame grunted, "Anything else? You don't show your face for something so frivolous."

The woman didn't react at the man's words and instead looked at the boy panting on the floor. Her eyes scanned his form for a few seconds before she turned back to Kisame.

"There is also an assignment for your little student."

"Huh?"

Both Kiba and Kisame were caught off guard by this little bit, but the woman seemed to have no problem explaining herself. "You have been assigned with Itachi, Kisame, and you are to hear of your assignment from our leader himself. And the young boy, Kiba, has been given another assignment. One that requires his tracking skills."

Kisame was stunned for a second, then he was frowning at the woman and moving towards her, "What do you mean? Why is the kid being sent on something different?"

From the way he growled, Kiba could tell Kisame was pissed. But he wouldn't have guessed it by just looking at the woman's reaction. Or, actually, lack of one.

"Because the one you and Itachi must go one does not require a tracker. But the one that is to be given to Hidan and Kakuzu when they return does require one, hence why he will be sent with them and not you."

"The hell?" Kisame asked in anger, baring his sharp teeth as he glared at the woman. "Why would you take the kid away from Itachi and I? We're the only ones in the organization that should work with him!"

Konan's gaze remained steady as she looked up at the man, though, clearly not fazed by his emotions. "If he is to be a part of the organization, as you demanded in our past meeting, then he should grow accustomed to having to work with more than just you and Itachi."

"I'm not letting that happen!" Kisame shouted with a sneer, only to have the woman shake her head softly.

"If you have a problem, please take it up with our leader. Now, if you'll excuse me." The woman then stepped around Kisame and began to walk towards Kiba, her face emotionless yet calm.

Kiba could only look at the woman in curiosity and wonder as she got closer to him, then sat up when she crouched a few feet in front of him.

"You are Kiba Inuzuka, correct?" She asked, receiving a mute nod from the boy. "My name is Konan. Would you like some lunch?"

When Kiba looked towards Kisame to see how he should react, he found that the large man had already left the room, presumably to hunt down the leader Konan had directed him to. Without the man around to lead him, Kiba struggled for an answer before nodding without a word once more, unsure what he was supposed to do around this woman.

He had been told to stay away from Hidan, Deidara, and Zetsu. But he had heard nothing about a Konan.

The woman's eyes closed lightly and she cocked her head slightly to the side, a small smile finding its way onto her stoic face. "Then let's get going. I will make you some food." And once she had said this, the woman straightened up and offered Kiba her hand, which he took with slight hesitation.

She pulled him up without any problem and, soon enough, Kiba found himself following after her down the halls of the base, a just as curious Akamaru following at their heels.

"Does Kisame always run you so ragged?" The woman asked conversationally as they walked, which made Kiba chuckle nervously before answering.

"Yeah... Every day." He stated honestly, then looked down at Akamaru.

The pup barked his approval of the woman, which made Kiba roll his eyes. Apparently Paper Scent had now become Akamaru's favorite adult they'd been around, simply because she had offered them food.

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