Watch Me
Chapter 25
Akamaru's Thoughts
Hinata's Thoughts
Kiba's Thoughts
Kuromaru's Speech
The Inuzuka women sat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea in front of either gently unfurling steam. Neither kunoichi noticed, engrossed as they were in their reading. A worn scroll rested in the middle of the table, the flowing script stained with tears. Over it, a new scroll, strangely alike to the old scroll seemed to shine in its immaculate state. The older of the women looked up, her sharp black eyes piercing the younger woman, pinning her with the stare. "Are you sure?"
The younger Inuzuka, Hana, nodded. "Neji said he'd send it as soon as they came. It has to be true."
Tsume, the older ninja, sighed. "Kiba won't understand. He is too headstrong, too wild, too passionate. He forgets how important clans like the Hyuugas have so much power."
Hana nodded. "Whether he understands is of little importance right now. The question is will he listen?"
Twin sighs echoed from the kitchen, drifting down the hall and out the door, mingling with the sounds of Konoha in the early morning.
Outside, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and Sakura Haruno was running errands…literally. She tossed the wispy pink strands of her short hair out of her eyes with a shake of her head, grumbling under her breath about Tsunade and her irrational consumption of sake. Keeping her rather brisk pace, Sakura turned the corner, keeping her head down and her eyes on the path only to crash into two slow moving bodies. Her head snapped up, her fists clenched, and her mouth opened, ready to deliver a scathing remark to whoever blocked the path to the nearest sake bar (Tsunade was in one of her moods) when her eyes registered what they saw. "Hinata! You're back! How was the mission?" She turned a bit. "Kiba? You're back from Suna! How was it?"
"Unbearable." The wild eyed man replied with a slight toss of his head and a ready smile.
"The mission was fine…" Hinata smiled softly at the truth of Kiba's statement before commenting on the pink headed girl's behavior. "It's been a while since I've seen you rushing about this early, Sakura. Is something wrong?"
"Just Tsunade and her drinking habits…" Sakura waved a hand casually as she studied the way Kiba's hand had a firm grip on Hinata's waist. "Wow." She cast a pointed glance at both young adults. "What'd I miss?"
Hinata blushed furiously and looked away as Kiba followed Sakura's gaze to his hand. He looked back at the kunoichi before smiling cheekily and replying casually. "Nothing. Good to see you, but we have somewhere to be…"
"Of course." She stepped around them deftly and walked on to her destination, calling back over her shoulder. "Have a nice day."
Hinata turned to Kiba, smiling slightly. "Over-protective…"
Kiba lifted his lip, baring his fangs and smirking at her. "You know you love it." His smirk turned into a real smile as she buried her face in his shoulder, trying to hide her blush.
Behind them, Akamaru rolled his eyes. You guys are sickeningly sappy, y'know that?
We love you too, Aka.
Enough to feed you, play with you, train you, give you treats…
Scratch your belly and behind your ears…
Yeah, yeah… but you also hand me over to Hana for shots too...
A quick round of laughter followed Akamaru's ruffled comment. This lightheartedness was broken suddenly, leaving in its place an almost ominous silence as the words sank in.
"I don't know if I can face them. I mean, they must have had something to do with what happened to us, right? We were in your room at the time…" Hinata's voice trailed away as they passed the gate to the Inuzuka house.
Kiba swallowed harshly and looked at the door. "Whatever they had to do with it, they had to have a reason. We'll find out what their reason was…"
Reasons. Hmph. Probably Lord stick-up-his-ass Hiashi blackmailed them into letting them in…
Akamaru!
Don't, Kiba. He's probably right…
They stood inside the gate, Kiba leaning against the post with his right arm wrapped around Hinata's waist protectively, Hinata leaning into his side, her right hand on Akamaru's head, and Akamaru with his tail at half-mast growling slightly. The wind blew past them suddenly, bringing the scent of tears, tea, and a big black dog.
Kuromaru had smelled the trio the moment they'd arrived at the house. He'd lifted his head to tell Tsume, only to find her and Hana agonizing over Kiba and whether or not he'd forgive them. He shook his head slowly and walked out the open door to see the trio standing there, silently contemplating the house.
Welcome Home, Kiba, Akamaru. Good to see you, Hinata. Tsume and Hana are inside.
Without so much as another word, he turned and disappeared into the house. Kiba turned to his companions. "We'd better get inside."
Hana lifted her head as Kuromaru walked in. "What happened?
Kiba needed an invitation to come inside, apparently.
"He's here?!"
The floorboards creaked slightly, alerting both kunoichi to the appearance of someone in the house. Basing their reactions on Kuromaru's comments, both Hana and Tsume jumped out of their chairs and ran at the trio, arms raised to hug them.
"Kiba! Kiba! You're back! Oh, I'm so glad!" Both his sister and his mother had tears running down their cheeks as they hugged Kiba, whimpering softly at his stony indifference. Their arms wrapped around him, occasionally drifting down to pat Akamaru's head and grasp Hinata's shoulders. He stood there, stolidly refusing to be kind only to have his resolution broken at Hana's heartbroken sobs. She turned from him, buried her face into his shoulder and cried, whispering softly. "I knew it… you're never going to forgive us, are you Kiba?"
Hinata grasped Tsume by the shoulders, turning her away from Kiba to face her. She let her light eyes trace over Tsume's tear stained face before asking the question she'd needed an answer for: "Why?"
Hana's knees gave out and she sank to the floor, keeping her face hidden by her arm. Her usually tough ninja demeanor had disappeared to show her as she was: a sister who loved her brother very much and wished for him to come to no harm. "We couldn't stop him from changing Kiba and taking you, Hinata. But we did try… We managed to…"
"To keep him from killing Kiba. We kept him from separating you two forever." Tsume looked into Hinata's eyes, willing her to see that she was telling the truth. "Your father, Hinata, was convinced that Kiba would bring you to ruin. He allowed you to live with us, hoping that you would pick up our brashness and lose your natural shyness. When he found out that you were willing to give anything up to be with Kiba…when he heard of Kiba and Naruto's fight…he lost what little control he had over his fear of losing you. He talked with me…threatened me with ruin, and later, with Kiba's death if you would not separate. Thanks to Hana and Neji, he calmed down enough to see things reasonably, but still wanted you two apart. He tried, on several occasions to take you back, Hinata. Every time, he would be caught by Kuromaru."
Hinata let go of Tsume and fell to the floor in a graceless heap. "Why does he hate me so much? Why would he want to destroy the only thing that has made me truly happy for one of the first times in my life? Why?"
Kiba rubbed the back of Akamaru's head briefly before nudging him towards Hinata. She needs you right now…
And she needs you…
I need you both. Hinata looked up at Kiba, her eyes rimmed red from crying.
A/N
So, I've gotten several reviews calling for more comedy. Trust me, I like comedy better than angst (which is apparently all I'm writing now…) and I hear you.
Just that it'd be a little weird if they cracked up in the middle of the family feud thing, y'know?
I will go back to comedy: just give me another few chapters to wrap up the whole Hiashi scheme arc, yeah?
DISCLAIMER
I own one character in this story and he's not important.
The other (rather important) characters are sole property of one Masashi Kishimoto & co.
Do not sue.
I am a starving almost-college-student!!!
A/N 2:
Sorry for the latness of this chapter! I've been trying to upload it since Thurs!!
My internet refused to work this site!
Will update soon.