"The weft and weave of fate guides the Kindred to the hunt,

They bring to all the silence of death upfront.

Never one without the other

Forever and ever they have each other

The warrior chooses Lamb's bow, the coward Wolf's teeth,

But all, man, woman, child, will eventually them meet.

Ashes on Wool, Soot on Shadow,

Choose the teeth or the arrow.

Accept your fate or run away,

Either way, you can't keep them at bay.

Never one without the other,

Essences of death, sister and brother.

To see their mark of violet and blue…

Is to know the masks of the Kindred seek you,"

Things I'm Not Allowed to do at Hogwarts

1) The Giant Squid is not an appropriate date to the Yule Ball.*

2) I am not allowed to sing, "We're Off to See the Wizard" while skipping off to the Headmaster's office.

3) I am not allowed to take out a life insurance policy on Harry Potter.*

5) I am not allowed to give Remus Lupin a flea collar.*

6) I am not allowed to bring a Magic 8 Ball to Divination.*

7) I am not allowed to say that Seamus Finnegan is "after my lucky charms".*

8) I am not allowed to start a betting pool on this years Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. It's taste-less, tacky, and not a good money-making strategy.*

9) I am not allowed to joke about Remus' "time of the month".*

10) I am not allowed to make light saber sounds with my wand.*

11) I am not allowed to give Hagrid Pokemon cards and convince him they're real animals.*

12) I am not to refer to the Accio charm as "The Force".*

13) I am not allowed to claim that growing marijuana or hallucinogenic mushrooms is "Extra Herbology Work".*

14) I will not give you my socks to make hand-puppets of the Slytherin-House mascot.

15) If the thought of a spell makes me giggle for more than 15 seconds, assume that I am not allowed to use it.*

16) I will not lock the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's in a room togther and bet on which House will come out alive.*

17) I will not charm the suits of armor to do a rendition of "The Kinghts of the Round Table" for the Christmas Feast.

18) I am not allowed to declare an official "Hug A Slytherin Day".

19) I am not allowed to sing my own personal spy music while wandering the hallways.

20) It is not nessecary to yell, "BURN!" Whenever Snape takes points away from Gryffindor.

21) I will not say the phrase, "Get a Life" to Voldemort.

22) First years are not to be fed to Fluffy.

23) I will never ask Harry if his Voldie senses are tingling.

24) I will stop referring to showering as "Giving Moaning-Myrtle an eye-ful".

25) I will not make, "OMGWTF" a spell.

26) It is not nessicary to yell, "BAM" every time I Apparate.

27) I will not steal Gryffindor's sword from Dumbledore's office and use it to patrol the hallways.

28) I will not poke Hufflepuffs with spoons, nor shall I insist that their colors indicate that they're "covered in bees".

29) "I've heard every joke possible about Oliver Wood's name" is not a challenge.

30) I will not use Umbridge's quill to write, "Told you I was Hard Core".

31) If a class-mate falls asleep, I will not take advantage of that and draw a Dark Mark on their arm.

32) House Elves are not acceptable replacements for Bludgers.

33) I will not start every potion's class by asking Snape if the potion is acceptable as Body Lotion.

34) I will not call the Weasly twins, "bookends".

35) I will not call the Patil twins, "bookends".

36) I will not give Luna Lovegood Coast-To-Coast AM transcripts.

37) Tricking a school House Elf to strip of it's clothing does not make it mine. Yes, even when I yell out "PWND!".

38) I will not lick Trevor.

39) Gryffindor Courage does not come in bottles labeled, "Firewhiskey".

40) I will not dress up as Voldemort on Halloween.

41) It is a bad idea to tell Snape he takes himself too seriously.

42) I will not tell Sir Cadogan that The Knight's Who Say Nay have challenged him to a duel, then have all the students say, 'Nay' from various directions.

43) I will not tell the first years that Professor Snape is the voice of God.

1. Kiba would be the first to tell you that, besides their equally skillful reconnaissance abilities, Team Eight have absolutely nothing in common. Zip. Nada. If Shino were there, he would mildly disagree, saying that they all love grape popsicles. Hinata would then remind them of that one day when they went to the local park on a day that was as warm and fragrant as green tea and ordered the exact same thing at the same time from the ice-cream man.

Kiba would then deny the existence of the ice-cream man. Akamaru would whine in consternation.

2. Hinata loves everything. Including Shino's bugs tickling her in unseemly ways. And the smell of Kiba and Akamaru coming in from the rain.

3. The only time Shino has been shaken from that unsettling calm of his was when Kurenai accidentally poured some of her sake into his coffee during breakfast.

4. Shino is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

5. When Shino gets drunk, the little buggies come out to par-tay. It was the first and only time the team ever saw the insects tipsy. Think small black tumbleweeds.

6. Incidentally, that's why all of Team Eight know what color his underwear is. All three pairs.

7. Kurenai is not allowed to drink at breakfast with them anymore. She tried to argue that the rule should be amended; after all, Shino was the one who was drunk, and Hinata probably knew the color of his underwear anyway, what with her Byakugan. The rest of the group beat her down eventually.

8. One fine day when Kiba was particularly feral and bored, he tried to kill some time by digging into the Hyuuga compound, looking for Hinata. Unfortunately, Hiashi found him first while hanging the laundry. Fearing that the wild-looking Inuzuka was trying to steal his daughters' underclothes, the Hyuuga immediately dropped into Hakke Rokushou stance. Only a well placed bucket of water saved the pair.

9. Inuzuka Kiba is only allowed on Hyuuga grounds under stifling observation and after a stiff contract is extracted from his person, detailing, among other things, a steep penalty for coming within two meters of Hinata and Hanabi. Touching is instant death.

10. When the trio first met on normal terms, Hinata did nothing but sit and look at the dirt, afraid of her two teammates. Kiba bit his lip, frowned, and let down Akamaru from inside his coat. Akamaru licked the reluctant girl on the face, she blushed and gave him a cuddle, and thus began a profitably wonderful friendship.

Kiba denies any involvement, saying that Akamaru did it all by himself, dammit.

11. As a side note, they consider themselves a group of four with the inclusion of Akamaru. Hinata insisted, Kiba complained, and Shino didn't give a damn at the time.

Now, however, he doesn't have the heart to tell Hinata no.

12. The ice didn't really break between Shino and the rest of the group until the sake incident.

13. The day before her birthday, Hinata told her team about her insecurities about being the heir to the role of Hyuuga clan head while hugging both boys and crying uncontrollably. After a few moments of unsure silence in which the boys sent desperate "What the crap am I supposed to do?" stares at each other, they all sat on the wood floor of the Aburame household (it was too much trouble to try to stay at the Hyuuga's, and Hiashi did not trust the Inuzukas sufficiently) and Akamaru curled up in her lap. Tacitly, an impromptu sleepover was called to order.

If Hiashi were told, he would have nothing to worry about, as Kiba had stayed chaste with his white-eyed friend. Maturity? Maybe.

14. On Hinata's birthday, Shino allowed Hinata to take off his sunglasses for a full peek at his face. Hinata became increasingly vague and giggly for the next few days. She got over it when Naruto came back from the Tea Country.

Shino was a bit more morose for a while.

15. The morning Kiba left for one of his adventures, he ate: bacon, rice, and ketchup. Akamaru ate: kibble, Kiba's leftovers, and the last potato chip from Chouji's bag.

16. That day, a little after noon, Hinata felt a small pang of fire, biting and hungry, in her chest. It was gone as quickly as it came.

17. Shino did not, but he did note that his Kikaichuu seemed highly nervous.

18. Whether Kiba had such sensations is unknown, because he was too troubled by the kunai in his heart. He said later that that damn Sound-nin was a bitch, and left it at that.

Besides the obvious anxiety of a heavily injured Akamaru on his head, the only thing that kept him from letting the flowing cold peace of the stream drift him away was the fact that it would break Hinata's heart if he didn't come back alive.

Then Shino would come and haunt his soul.

That thought scared the Inuzuka into living.

19. Shino came back from his mission early and stayed in his room for a good three hours after Kiba came back. Afterward, he visited Kiba with Hinata, more or less withdrawn than usual. The two, sunglasses and slitted pupils, waited for the other to speak in awkward silence, the young Hyuuga anxiously looking on, Akamaru whining softly in the kunoichi's lap. Kiba, still weak from his adventure and medication, allegedly raised his voice when speaking to the Aburame. "Where've you been, bug freak?"

Shino allegedly said nothing.

The other allegedly raised himself on an elbow and said as thus: "Well, ya didn't need to come. Me'n Akamaru are fine. Perfectly fine. Hell, we don't need you to come play baby-sitter. So why don't you go back to your goddamned pity party while we go on with life. Take your concern and shove it up yours. We're fine."

Shino allegedly replied, "You do know that you're not holding yourself up. Don't you?"

Kiba allegedly looked back to find the Kikaichuu buzzing in a pile, supporting him. He then said, "Oh hell."

Allegedly.

20. Even at the ripe old age of fifteen (and twice more mentally after what they've seen, heard, and done), they take walks on "Green Tea" days, buy grape popsicles from the puzzled ice cream man, and sit and watch Akamaru snap at birds, enjoying the cold sweetness of the treat and the fresh scent of jasmine and honey on the air.