Hey guys!! How are you? It's been long, I know. And I'm sorry.

Anyway, I won't keep you long. As always, millions thanks to my beta-reader, Fanny-kun. Couldn't have done this better without you!

Enjoy reading!!

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Cat and Dog

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Chapter 24

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Tsubasa checked her reflection in the mirror and smiled to herself as she tucked a strand of loose hair in behind her ear. She smoothened out her red tank top and her dark jeans and headed for the door.

She passed by her roommates on her way out and smiled to them. "I'll see you at the restaurant later today," she told them and bid them goodbye.

"Wait," Eri called her and Tsubasa stopped. "Are you going out to see Kiba-kun?"

Tsubasa nodded her head. "Yeah, why?"

Eri and their other roommates, who were co-workers at the restaurant, smiled at each other. "Nothing." She said. "Tomorrow night's the fireworks festival, why don't you ask him to go with you?"

Tsubasa blinked her eyes. "Aren't we working tomorrow night's?"

"No, silly," Seiko, one of her roommates laughed, "Tomorrow's all the shops are going to be closed. Everyone's going to the fireworks festival."

"Oh," Tsubasa said. "I'll ask him if he's interested,"

Xxx

For the past few days, she and Kiba had been spending much of their time together. They went to the beach together with Haru and his friends; she remembered how hot her face felt when she saw him only in a pair of blue shorts coming out from the sea with his wet bangs stuck to his forehead. Tsubasa never thought she'd ever be able to get a nosebleed by watching a person, but it would have happened if she didn't quickly pressed two cold cans against her cheeks to cool herself.

Even when she had started working again at the clinic, he'd come and help out with the animals. It didn't surprise her that Kiba loved animals just as much as she did, and he looked comfortable holding fragile animals and treating them. He had grinned at her while he was feeding a bird through a straw saying he'd become a better vet than her, and Tsubasa's heart beat so fast by watching him, she was almost sure he could hear it.

True to her words, Tsubasa had showed Kiba the things about the town that had made her abandon being a ninja. She showed him the friendly town people, the peaceful ocean sceneries and the love she felt by being with animals without worrying about leaving them for missions.

Kiba was kind enough to keep his thoughts to himself and did not judge her. He didn't say anything when Tsubasa mentioned the advantages of being a normal person and he didn't try to argue with her. Kiba nodded at whatever she said and had tried to understand her view..

A huge soft spot for him formed inside of Tsubasa from watching how supportive he was.

Xxx

That day, the two of them decided to visit the town's festival booths with Haru and Akamaru. They invaded all the food and games stalls to have fun.

Tsubasa and Kiba were squatting in front of a huge aquarium full of goldfish with paper scoops twirling in one hand, and bowls in the other. Haru had gone off along with Akamaru, to show off the huge dog to his friends.

Tsubasa looked at the school of goldfish swimming inside the tank in front of her and her golden eyes narrowed as she aimed one of them.

Kiba frowned, concentrating as he aimed for a goldfish as well. The two of them didn't talk to each other, reminding themselves of the challenge they had both agreed to take.

Kiba moved first, driving the paper scoop quickly inside the water, under one of the goldfishes and scooped it up hurriedly into his bowl without getting the paper scoop torn.

He smirked triumphantly at her, and she was quickly reminded of the look he had on his face whenever he played videogames with Haru.

Tsubasa tried to ignore him and dove her own paper scoop into the tank just like he did. She moved as quickly as she could and when she was finished, she still managed to save her paper scoop and had two goldfish inside the bowl, one more than Kiba had managed.

"I win," she said smugly and passed her bowl of pair of goldfish to the owner of the stall. She looked at Kiba who frowned at his sudden defeat. "You owe me lunch," she laughed at him.

Kiba stood up and smirked as he watched Tsubasa holding a clear plastic of water and three goldfishes they had caught. "I keep forgetting that your interest in fish is from your nature." He joked with her and Tsubasa smiled.

"Fish taste good," she told him with a sly grin, "especially raw ones," she raised the plastic of goldfishes and licked her lips playfully. When Tsubasa saw the look of disgust on Kiba's face, she laughed.

"Go on then, buy the lunches," Tsubasa said, giving him a slight push. "I want fish burgers, with extra fish," she grinned and Kiba turned to her.

"I'll get you roasted rat instead," he said and she laughed.

"That's even better."

Xxx

Kiba felt like someone had poured a cup of warm cocoa all over him. Hearing Tsubasa laugh felt so utterly weird and pleasant, he had an urge to record it.

It was hard, he thought, to hear her laugh. She had rarely laughed back in Konoha, always being so serious and strict. He had seen her friendly side with the others except him, but seeing her friendly with him now, and laughing too, here in this stranger's town, made him feel awkward.

Kiba watched the stalls around him, there were so many people visiting all the stalls and he wondered quietly what Tsubasa would like to eat. Of course she had jokingly told him about the fish burger, but he thought he wanted to get something else.

Then his eyes fell on a stall that was selling dumplings and he was brought back to memory lane.

"Of course dumpling is better," Tsubasa said as she blew on her hot ramen.

Kiba eyed her, "No, spring roll is,"

Tsubasa narrowed her eyes at him and the other chuunins who were there, having lunch, kept quiet. Naruto watched the two of them intently, Neji and Shikamaru sighed while Sho, Kenji, Hinata and Shino gulped.

Here we go, they all thought as Kiba and Tsubasa started on their usual argument.

Kiba smiled to himself, and he neared the stall. The owner smiled at him as he made an order. While waiting for the food to be ready, Kiba noticed the stall beside him.

There was a young girl attending the stall by herself. A few older girls had just walked away after making purchase with her and the young girl bowed her head to thank them. Kiba's eyebrows furrowed when he saw the colorful and various hair ornaments that were on display at the young girl's stall.

One of the hair ornaments caught his attention and he stared at it, deep in thinking.

Xxx

Tsubasa sat in one of the benches at the park and she raised the plastic with the three goldfish and watched them. From the clear water, she could see the view of the fountain in the park across from her bench and Tsubasa tilted her head to have a better view of the fountain.

She found herself smiling when she remembered the first time she met Kiba after she had run away and the moment when he had hugged her tight in his arms. The thought made her face red and her heart skipped a beat. Remembering the event back then, if she wasn't too shocked to have seen him, she might have enjoyed the hug.

Standing up, Tsubasa walked towards the fountain and squatted in front of its manmade pool. She untied the plastic of her gold fishes, tilted it and watched the water, and the three goldfish falling out from the plastic and into the pool.

Tsubasa stood up and smiled pleasantly to herself as she watched the goldfish swim. Then her eyes caught the vision of four little boys and a huge dog and she turned her head.

"Haru-kun?" she called out when she saw Haru and his three other friends, all of them riding on Akamaru, who didn't look upset with it, walking out of the festival place. Akamaru came to a halt and Haru turned to face her.

"Where are you guys going?" she asked, a little curious. If she wasn't mistaken, she could have sensed mischief in each of the four boys' faces. Haru looked at his friends and then smiled, ever so innocently at her.

"Eiji said," he started pointing to the said friend, "that they're doing a haunted house at the abandoned mansion on the hill." Haru told her and Tsubasa remembered an old mansion right outside of the town that hadn't been occupied for years after the family of the town's founder moved into their new mansion in the town.

"Nonsense," Tsubasa frowned. She had been staying inside the town long enough to know how dangerous the old mansion was. "That place could collapse anytime soon, there's no way they would hold a haunted house there."

"B-but!" Haru's friend Eiji spoke. "There's a rumor saying there's somebody living in the house!"

"The more reason all of you are not going there to check it out," Tsubasa said, hands on her hips. She narrowed her eyes at them and spoke in a commanding voice. "The place is not safe; I don't want any of you to go there."

"Oh man…" all four boys said in return and Akamaru barked excitedly, despite his new friends' disappointment when he sensed his owner coming.

Kiba came holding a big paper bag full of foods and his eyes blinked when he saw Haru and his friends riding on his dog. He grinned. "Good thing I bought lots of foods." He looked at Tsubasa and his eyes stared at her and the empty plastic in her hand.

"What did you do? Eat those fish?"

Tsubasa opened her mouth to tell him what she had done to the goldfish when she sensed Haru and his friends trying to sneak away. She grabbed Haru's and Eiji's collars and pulled them off the huge dog. Tsubasa eyed the boys warningly and then sighed when her eyes met Kiba's quizzical ones. "Never mind. Let's just eat."

Kiba remembered the foods and he took out a small plastic container and tossed it to Tsubasa. She caught the food and her eyes widened when she saw the dumplings he bought. Kiba felt himself smiling, satisfied, and absent mindedly, his hand reached for the long box hidden in his pocket and patted it.

Xxx

"Thanks for sending him," Ishida smiled to Kiba and Tsubasa as he cradled his sleeping son in his arms.

Tsubasa nodded and smiled in return. "He and his friends wanted to sneak out and explore the old mansion," she told the doctor who frowned in worry.

"That place is dangerous," he said and Tsubasa nodded again.

"That's what I told them. You have to warn him about it," she said.

Ishida nodded and then looked at Tsubasa as if he had just remembered something. "Oh yeah, Tsubasa," he called out and smiled. "The rogue is here again, I thought you'd like to feed him."

Tsubasa's eyes widened excitedly and she nodded her head. Ishida told her to go to the back and Tsubasa turned to look at Kiba and pulled him to follow her. "Come on," she said.

"Where?" Kiba asked, both him and Akamaru following right behind her. He looked at their connected hands and thought deep. It didn't take long to reach the back of the clinic and Kiba looked around for whatever it was that Tsubasa was so excited about.

Then he heard a bark and his head turned and saw the small black pup that he had seen and fed not too long ago. The pup looked up at him and Tsubasa excitedly, his tail wagging happily. And upon seeing Akamaru, the big dog, the pup circled him, excited to see a friend.

Tsubasa released his hand and Kiba ignored the disappointment creeping into him and watched her walked into the back door of the clinic and reappeared a minute later, holding two bowls and a huge bag of dog foods in her hands.

She poured the dog foods into the bowls and placed one in front of the excited pup and the other one she held out towards Akamaru. "I thought you might enjoy this," she smiled to the huge dog and placed down the bowl in front of Akamaru who barked his gratitude in return.

Tsubasa watched the two dogs eating the food contently and Kiba felt his heart skipping a beat again looking at her. His insides were doing flips for no absolute reason and he felt himself getting dizzy. He sat beside her on the pavement and watched the dogs too.

"So he's the rogue?" Kiba asked, looking at the black pup.

Tsubasa nodded. "I haven't decided what to name him," she told him. The pup licked his bowl clean and looked up at her, happy that his stomach was now full. "He follows me everywhere." She continued.

"He does?" Kiba asked, grinning as he scratched the dog between his ears.

Tsubasa nodded, "He's somehow on his own and doesn't mix with the rest because of his color. He'll come here every morning and evening and would go to the restaurant at night.

"He's always hungry and asking for food," Tsubasa smiled. "And every night I'll give him some of the leftover food. He's quite picky too, preferring medium done steak to anything else."

She turned to face Kiba who was still playing with the small pup. Akamaru had finished eating his treats too and joined his owner and the pup. "I've realized I can't be a vet if I can't even get well with a dog. I'm doing my best now, but I'm still a bit scared to hold him."

Kiba faced her and smiled, "It's okay, that takes time," he said sincerely. She looked at him, smiled and nodded her head.

Kiba studied her. There was something about her when she was with animals that attracted him. The way she was very gentle with all of the animals, including dogs made him feel amazed.

He remembered when he had helped out in the clinic and watched her work on the animals. He had noticed the calm look on her face, the sincere, helpful smile she gave the wounded animals and the sparks in her golden eyes when she saw how healthy the animals were. Watching her, made him convinced that being a vet was truly in her nature.

And to be able to see her in her element, and when she had expressed her desire to get close to dogs, and the way she had smiled upon hearing his reply, Kiba felt like—

His thought came to an abrupt end when Tsubasa turned her head and met his eyes.

They stared at each other; his dark brown eyes over her golden ones. No words were spoken, as they sat beside each other, her bare shoulder brushing against his chest, his heart making more flips than he would have liked.

They were standing so close; he could practically smell her shampoo. The smell was so sweet, and reminded him of the first full blossom of cherry blossoms. Her eyes looked into his, searching, searching as if she was looking for a reason why she couldn't move her eyes away from his.

He couldn't move his eyes away either. He liked the way he could see his reflection in her golden orbs, the way his figure was over towering her, as if it could protect her, and the way his fingers itched to run through her soft hair.

Tsubasa's lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but he saw the way she swallowed, taking the words away from escaping her mouth. She was still looking at him, still searching, when she licked her lips.

Watching her, Kiba thought he could hear fireworks exploding in his head. He gulped as his hand began moving to rest against the nape of her neck and calmed her. Her hair brushed the back of his hand and they felt like silk slipping through his fingers.

He used his other hand to tilt her jaw to face him and cupped her cheek. He pulled her forward just as Tsubasa's slim fingers creeping on his neck to push him forward slowly.

They closed their eyes and felt each other's breaths. Their lips had parted and were only less than a centimeter apart when they hesitated. It was until Kiba had rubbed his thumb against her nape and she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, only then, they finally took what they had wanted from each other.

Xxx

Tsubasa had never imagined herself kissing someone at the back of the clinic, with two dogs witnessing them. And she had certainly never imagined herself kissing Kiba.

…

Okay that was a lie. Tsubasa had always wondered how it would be to kiss him, but she had always pushed the thought aside and considered herself crazy. But, even though that crazy side of her had imagined kissing Kiba, she had never thought they would have done so, at the back of the clinic, with two dogs watching over them.

He tasted of the chicken and ham sandwich he had for lunch, salty and cheesy. But Tsubasa didn't mind. She had never thought kissing Kiba feel…so good and…so right.

She felt his fingers twirling her hair while the other hand had glided down from her cheek to her waist and held her tight there. She had her fingers up in his hair, and the other one draped around his neck.

Their kiss was sweet and innocent, but took them a few moments to finally decide to pull apart. They glanced at each other; Tsubasa could barely look at Kiba from her blurry vision and the blood that was gathering in her face. Her heart pounded crazily against her chest, finally realizing what had happened and she took in deep breaths to calm herself.

"Um," Kiba started, clearing his throat as Tsubasa cleared hers.

"I-I think we better go," she said, avoiding his eyes. She noticed that the two dogs weren't there with them and Tsubasa felt a little glad. She would have felt embarrassed if the two dogs had watched them.

Kiba released her and she did the same and they both stood up. Tsubasa still couldn't bring herself to look at him and stared at her wristwatch instead. "I should be going to the restaurant," she told him and he nodded his head.

"Do you want me to send you?" he asked.

Tsubasa quickly shook her head. "No. Um… I think I'd better be alone t-to clear my head from this, um…" she couldn't say the word. Her face was so red; she thought she would have fainted.

Kiba nodded his head, understood what she meant. The kiss had happened out of nowhere, and they both should clear their heads and calm themselves. "Here," he said, unzipping his jacket and handing it to her. "It looks like it could rain soon," he said, looking at the darkening sky.

Tsubasa didn't object. She took the jacket from him and their eyes met when she thanked him. She felt herself blushing again and she stuttered her excuse to leave.

Finally after saying a quick good bye to Ishida and Kiba, Tsubasa walked towards the restaurant she worked and pulled the collar of the jacket closer to her. She breathed in his scent, of warm sun and grass, and felt herself relax.

She still couldn't believe what had happened between them, it was all so sudden she felt confused. What does it mean now that they've kissed each other?

She was glad she could take the walk alone to think clearly. And it was a good thing too that she remembered to invite him to the fireworks the next night. She would use the time to figure out what their…friendship was turning into now that they've closed one gap between them.

By the time Tsubasa reached the restaurant and walked into the changing room, she felt light headed and floating. Her face was pink and she had a goofy smile on her face when she passed by her workmates.

Eri regarded her suspiciously and raised an eyebrow when she saw the loose jacket she was wearing. "Isn't that Kiba's?" she asked and Tsubasa felt herself blushing hard and nodded her head slowly.

Eri smiled knowingly and patted the girl on her shoulder. "I like seeing you like this," she said and Tsubasa looked at her quizzically.

"You look much happier than you did when you first arrived here." Eri said, her smile widening, "And I think Kiba's appearance changed that."

Tsubasa thought about what Eri had said even after the latter had left the change room. Had she changed ever since Kiba had arrived?

She looked at the jacket in her hand and hugged it, taking in his scent to comfort her. She smiled to herself and pulled out a hanger, to hang the jacket in her locker, when something fell from its pocket.

Blinking her eyes curiously, Tsubasa picked it up and unfolded the paper and smoothen it out. She looked at the printing.

There were six boxes on the paper and had six pictures of what Tsubasa had guessed were bandits and the small descriptions beside every picture.

She saw X marks on five of the pictures and saw a circle on one of the picture. A skinny, tanned old man with rugged appearance, deep eyes and an X mark on his shaved head stared back at her from the paper.

Tsubasa tilted her head, eyebrows furrowed as she wondered about the man on the paper she was holding.

Xxx

Later that night, Kiba and Akamaru watched the restaurant below them from the roof of a building across the restaurant. From the brightly lit place, he could see Tsubasa walking from table to table, serving foods.

Kiba still couldn't believe he had kissed her again. The first time he did it, he didn't think much of it, since she wasn't in a correct state of mind. But the kiss they shared that afternoon…

God…it had felt so good kissing her…

He watched her from above, studying the way she was smiling and laughing at the customers, the happiness that was shining from her eyes, and her glowing skin.

For the past few days, he had been studying her; how happy she had looked talking to the town people, how excited she was telling him everything that she loved about the town and being normal and how wide and sincere her smiles were when she was in the clinic. Every time he heard her praise more of this stranger's town, Kiba bit his lips, fighting himself from saying anything that could ruin her happy mood.

He tried to compare the new her he was seeing and the Maneki girl he met earlier that year when she had joined his ninja group. There were so many differences in the two of them that it made his heart ache.

"She does really look happy here, huh, Akamaru?" he asked softly. Akamaru turned to face him and rested his huge head against his shoulder; a gesture Kiba knew was to comfort him.

He patted the dog's head and tore his eyes away from watching Tsubasa. He had never felt this much ache inside of him until he had met her and he knew why it was happening.

His eyes turned to his surrounding. The whole town was dimly lighted and his eyes fell on the darkness around the town. Then his eyes caught a glimpse of a tiny weak light far from the town. He narrowed his eyes, curious at the light that appeared in the darkness. The weak light illuminated what must have looked like a house to him, right outside of the town.

Kiba remembered the story of the old mansion on the hill that he overheard from Tsubasa and the boys. He wondered if the rumor that someone was living in the mansion was true or not.

so, as always, what do you guys think?

Do review! You know how much I love hearing from you guys!!