This time, I am not asleep for very long, but the dreams I have are troubling. I wake up feeling anxious but cannot remember enough about them to know why. Kenta is somewhere nearby, I can smell him. I wobble over to him, dark spots swimming before my eyes. I nudge the sliding door open and greet him. He looks over at me.
"Look, we haven't told Tsume what happened, but we need to know if you are up to the task of defending the kid. You can still help a lot even if you aren't his partner, you know? You could stay and advise from here…" He trails off, seeing the look in my eyes. I shake my head. I know that I have to do this. I can see why they might think that but in the end there's a sort of solid feeling that I have to do this, and while I spent most of my previous life anxious and overthinking everything, I know I have to do this. A headache rises up but I manage to push through it.
"If you are sure, then. All of the new pups are supposed to head out tomorrow with some of the senior dogs for additional training. I wish I could give you more time to recover but it might look suspicious, you have until sundown tonight to meet with them, they should be over by the shrine. You know where that is, right?" I nod. I know he is a good person, dog, whatever, but I can't really bring myself to talk to him right now. Instead I turn and walk away curtly.
The shrine is on the edge of the compound, where it meets the Nara territory and disolves into woods. It's old, and slightly banged up, as are most things in the compound, but well made. It's on top of a small set of stone staircases, flanked by statues of dogs, one red and one blue. The shrine is made of a dark wood, with a large roof that seemed to dwarf the walls and doors, made of shoji with slightly lighter wood. Hanging from the eves were large woven ropes dyed red and purple. In front of it was a bottle of Sake, based on the smell, and a pair of small cups. I could hear water somewhere nearby. All and all it was a soothing place.
As I arrive I see Akira and a few other dogs gathered around the shrine. She doesn't look at me, but Yuki does. Before I know what's happening I am hit with a million questions a minute from my sibling (twin? Are dogs all twins, I guess I had never thought about it). Between the questions were little comments about the rest of the family, and training, and how we never see each other. I wince at that. Part of me feels like I should have been spending more time with them, but I know that I have a role to play, and need to focus.
"This doesn't sound like you, ******, what every happened to blood runs thicker than water?" I can hear a familiar voice echoing in my mind and wince as it brings about another round of headaches. Was that my name? And what does that mean? I bury that thought deep down as an older, scarred dog walks out of the forest and address us.
"Pup! Listen up because I am only going to say this once. I am Takahiro and I will be your leader for this. We are going into the forest to familiarize you with the terrain around the village. Knowing the landscape and fighting in familiar territory is a great advantage against enemy shinobi. Furthermore, as trackers, you will need to be able to focus on your quarry, instead of your surroundings, so it is important you familarize yourself with the sights, sounds and scents of this forest. Once they escape the forest, chance of retrieval drops. Am I clear?"
I hear a chorus of agreement but the headache throbbing behind my temple is making it hard to focus. I hear a note of concern from Yuki and make a dismissive noise.
"Akira will be my assistant for this. If any of you get hurt, you are to report to her. Now then, we are leaving from here at sunrise, and will not be back for at least three days. Your families should be aware of this." From then on he continues about the paths we will be taking and the specific exersizes, but I am too busy thinking about Akira and what to do. I don't notice we are dismissed until Yuki prods me, and I follow.
Naturally, Yuki takes me back to the house where the rest of our family is staying. The rest of my siblings greet me with a great deal of excitement, but I do not see our mother. Yuki orders them to hush, and then turns to me.
"Dai and I are also training to be partnered with a ninja, although we aren't as far along as you, I suppose." Dai, who I barely remember nodded at me. He's larger than all of us by a pretty large margin and is more muscular than either of us. I assumed we were all some kind of Japanese dog like an Akita but he seemed more like a pitbull around the head.
A yip to my left had me turn towards… Nao, I think. "I'm learning to be one of the gateguards! It might not be as exciting as you guys, getting to see the world and travel, but I get the world brought to me through the traders!" She looked pleased with herself. I vaguely remembered that the guards were two chunin that weren't Inuzuka when Naruto arrived, but maybe it was a shift thing?
Kouta shuffled uncomfortably before mumbling something about working with a biologist tracking animals. I was surprised for a moment, forgetting that there were things to do in this world beyond fighting, but recovered quickly and managed a few words about how that sounded very interesting. They all then looked expectantly at me.
I sighed internally and told them a little about my training and working with Kiba and Kuromaru, to which they had a million more questions, which I tried to answer, best I could, until I heard the door slide open behind me, and saw mother enter. She scanned us wearily, blinked, and then returned to me, mumbling a greeting, but I could hear her voice break slightly. I shuffled over and she buried herself in my shoulder, while I stood awkwardly. The voice in my head from before came back to admonish me for letting the poor dog worry, how that wasn't like me at all. with it came the pulse of pain from my temple.
My mother seemed to sense something was wrong, as she pulled back to scan my face. I gave her an off handed remark about being tired, and her eyes narrow. She knows it is more than that but what can I say? The rest of the evening is spent with Dai and Nao arguing over who has the better job, and then over who was the better tracker, before we all fell asleep exhausted.