Thanks for all the Faves, Follows and Reviews!
917brat: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoy it!
Outofthisworldgal: I really hemmed and hawwed on the whole Sirius thing but I kept coming back to it lol, glad you liked it!
.96780: thanks! Niko-Niko is an Akita, an amazing breed that needs a special owner. My family rescued one once upon a time and he was loyal to a fault (not to mention adorable.) They're like the final evolution of a Shiba Inu. It goes; Shiba Inu, Akita Inu and Akita. I love them all and ours did in fact boof, not bark lol.
Niko-Niko means 'smile' or 'smiley'
Hope this chapter is enjoyable as well and thanks for reading!
PS: I really wanted to share this because it made me lol so hard. Spellcheck keeps trying to change 'Sasuke' to 'Sapsucker'.
Chapter Eight
the man was tall, his darker then black eyes intense under a heavy brow-bone. A long scar pulled the corner of his mouth up in a permanent snarl, another lacing his opposite cheekbone, like he'd almost been a great cats dinner.
He wore a coat of pitch that flowed down to his ankles and a hitae-ate on a heavy bandanna above nonexistent eyebrows.
He stooped low like a looming raven, voice deep and menacing "Happy birthday, Kai-chan."
Kaida smiled at Ibiki Morino, the man looking mighty uncomfortable in the kaleidoscope of colors 'Kashi and his friends had put up all around the room; a large, empty testing room at the academy that Kakashi had bullied out of the administration.
Kaida hugged the heavily muscled man around the middle "thanks for coming Mori-chan!"
an over large hand pat his head before they steered him back a big, Ibiki squinting at him "a scarecrow, just like your Uncle."
Kaida grinned at the words "yup!"
"a short one." Ibiki added and Kaida's smile turned into a scowl.
"I'm still growing."
Ibiki hummed "I'm sure."
Niko-Niko boofed from Kaida's side and Ibiki crouched by the big puppy, almost to Kaida's thigh, grabbing his fluffy jowls.
"and who is this? You didn't teach any of your friends your special jutsu, did you?"
Kaida laughed and shook his head "Thats Niko-Niko, my Nin-ken. 'Kashi calls him Niko-chan."
"well, Niko-chan, are you doing a good job protecting our pup?" Ibiki asked, face serious.
Boof.
"is that so?" boof "keep up the good work and we wont have a problem."
Niko's tongue lolled out and his eyes closed in one of his doggy smiles, very reminiscent of Kakashi himself.
Ibiki stood and handed Kaida a small, brown paper wrapped rectangle from within his 'danger-cloak' as Kaida dubbed it.
It had a lot of sharp things in it.
"thank you!" Kaida bounced on his toes, fighting the urge to peel the paper open, almost too curious to see what Ibiki gave him this year, and to decide whether he needed to hide it from kakashi.
He took the last one away, saying 'a five year old does not need a torture kit.'
spoil sport.
Hina was the next to arrive, plowing into him "happy birthday, Kaida!" she was wearing the fanged necklace he bought her for her birthday, just before training camp.
Their close birthdays were usually piled together for one big back but this year had been special because Hina got her Nin-ken and 'earned her stripes'.
"I put your present on the stack." she said, pointing to the mound on one of the tables, most from Kakashi, who could never seem to stop and tended to pick things up throughout the year on missions.
He was incorrigible.
Kiba nodded, lingering at the door while the other Inuzuka added themselves to the melee "I helped."
Kaida smiled at them and hugged Hina "thank you!" he leaned closer and whispered "where should we open Ibiki's?"
She snorted, brown eyes dancing with mischief "away from 'Kashi, that's for sure."
"did Hinata come?" She asked, looking around and Kaida gave a sad shake of his head "no, her dad said no."
"aww." Hina mumbled but perked right back up "but Natsu's coming, right?"
"Duh!" Natsu yelled, bursting into their bubble and glomping a hug around both of them. Her twin tails were done up in matching buns that made her bright blue eyes even more vibrant "I wouldn't miss it for all the ramen in the world!"
that was a heck of a thing for Natsu.
Kaida was truly touched.
"thanks for coming, both of you." He said "and you too Ino-chan!" he yelled to the door where the blonde in violet had entered with her parents, who looked as stoic as usual and split from his daughter to go visit 'Kashi, Iruka, Ibiki, Genma and the Inuzuka adults.
Kakashi's mask glittered with little sparks in the light and Kaida occasionally caught some from Genma's hair and headband.
Serves them right.
"good job on the payback, Natsu." He said, turning back to the much more sensible group as Ino joined them.
"just wait…" Ino muttered and the rest of them snickered meanly.
"it...did help." she muttered, sounding mutinous "but I will never admit it."
Kaida had to agree.
Since the camp, he had fine tuned his chakra 'net', an invisible trip line of bells connecting right to kaida and combining it with his enhanced senses, he had yet to miss a chakra signature in his vicinity again.
Kakashi had mentioned he might have some slight sensor capabilities and said he'd ask 'a friend' about some exercises that might help.
Kaida's exercise list was very full.
His naturally enhanced senses, his doggy henge, working with his nin-ken, learning to work with other nin-ken pairs, chakra control and now sensor exercise.
Kakashi had even hinted about a Hatake kekkei-genkai and-
"hey, Kakashi coughed up that my doggy henge might be a bloodline limit specific to my dad. He could turn into something too but every time I ask what, 'Kashi just starts laughing."
"he's so weird." Natsu said but brightened "thats so cool, I wanna turn into a dog."
"me too!" chorused hina and Ino rolled her eyes, running a hand down her tied hair as she shook her head "I'd rather not. Maybe a bird if I had too."
"an owl." Kaida said, grinning crookedly "if I could pick a bird to turn into, it would be a big owl with yellow eyes."
Ino pulled a piece of his hair "if dog you keeps this color, you'd make a pretty odd looking owl."
"then a white owl with big yellow eyes." Kaida insisted and she let go of his hair with a sigh.
"I think you'd be one of those little blue falcons, the ones that nest in the barbed trees." Kaida said, giving her a critical eye.
Ino sighed and handed him a bag of candy "Natsu said these were your favorites."
Thoroughly distracted, Kaida looked into the bag and saw a whole bunch of those little candy stars 'Kashi always brought back from his trips "they are! Where'd you find them?"
"Shinobi secrets." she said and turned away, punching Kiba in the shoulder as she went to the drink table.
"Ino's awfully nice." Hina said, taking the candy Kaida offered her and Natsu and sneaking one to Niko-Niko.
One wouldn't hurt and he was being a good boy.
He was dressed in his red scarf, fur brushed and plush for the occasion, playing gently with the smaller Adzuki and Akamaru while Kuromaru watched off to the side, his one good ear cocked to listen to the adults talk.
At one point, Kaida caught Kakashi talking to Tsume and Iruka, looking unusually devoid of expression for a party.
He brushed it away and laughed at Kiba's jibe to Natsu at the tail end of their conversation about what the best food to pack for a mission would be.
Natsu had said ramen.
No-one was surprised.
"what if you don't have time to cook it." Kiba asked dryly.
"I would eat it raw." Natsu said, standing firm.
kiba admitted defeat soon after.
Everyone saw it coming; nothing could convince Natsu that anything was better then ramen, even for practicalities sake. Kaida even saw Iruka look over and shake his head with a sigh at hearing the conversation.
Kaida turned into a pup himself somewhere half way through the party and Iruka had such a disgusted 'ah-ha' face on, it made Kaida chuff as he played with the pups while his friends laughed and directed four-legged competitions.
Niko-Niko looked like he was in heaven, galloping after them as Kaida tripped over his puppy paws, pointed ears picking up snippets of conversation he purposely tuned out.
His nose gave him enough information.
Ibiki smelled like iron, as usual and Iruka of wood shavings and green growing things. He gulumphed through the adults and paused at the newest face.
Ino's mom looked like a noble-lady but she had a gentle smile and leaned down to pet him behind his pointed ears.
She smelled strange.
Like, warm milk and lavender and sweet things.
She smelled like life.
Kaida coughed, racing away from her to play with the others again, popping back to human form with a puff of smoke and tackling Kiba around the middle, inciting a wrestling match that ended up in a dog pile with Ino on top, sitting smugly on Natsu's back.
They were all eventually ushered to the table with presents and the all important cake, chocolate with dango all around the edge.
Before they had him open anything, he made sure Ibiki's gift was tucked safely inside his vest before politely opening the rest in clear view.
Hina and Kiba had gotten him a scarf that matched Niko-Niko's perfectly, just human sized and Kaida put it on immediately. The other Inuzuka had piled together a stack of nin-ken necessities, including a pack that niko-niko could wear himself.
He gave them each a hug in return and a group thank you.
Genma provided a massive stack of black dyed senbon, winking at kaida as he chewed away at his own "I'll teach ya some tricks." he said as Kaida carefully wrapped them back up so they wouldn't tumble around or accidentally stab him.
"If he gets any bad habits, I'll come for you." Kakashi murmured and Genma gave a nervous laugh.
Iruka gave always gave him the same gift every year, because he was the only one who could somehow procure the exotic flavored dango Kaida salivated over.
When asked, he'd say 'I know a guy who knows a guy.'
Kaida would get it out of him one of these days.
Ino's parents gave him a frame of pressed flowers and a book on flower meanings, Ino's mom smiling sweetly as she said "flowers always have a story to tell." and tapped the glass case that held the pressed flowers.
He took them gingerly and set them somewhere the glass wouldn't get broken.
Kakashi went overboard.
Again.
Kunai, bandages, sandals and boots, wire mesh gloves and undershirt, his own ninja pouches and bags and so, so much chalk.
There was even more inside the bags but Kaida decided to wait for home to open those, just in case there was anything embarrassing.
Kakashi wasn't against petty revenge.
As the party petered out, Ino gave kakashi a small picture frame with its own flower, her smile pretty "here, sensei. Its for your room, it wards away those with bad ideas."
he took it with a small frown "oh, thank you Ino-chan."
"your welcome, sensei." she said, turning around.
Her smile was anything but sweet now.
If anything, Kaida would call it devilish.
Kakashi shook his head and slipped the picture frame into his pocket before searching kaida out in the crowd and jerking his head to call him over.
There was only a handful left, them, Tsume and Hina and Iruka, with Natsu lingering behind him, looking confused.
Kaida and Hina gravitated towards each other autimatically, the serious looks on the grown ups faces making them wary.
It wasn't about another training camp, was it?"
"you two did well during the camp-" Tsume began.
Uh oh.
"owing to that, and Iruka's advice, we've decided to let you two try the exam this term." after she spoke, an utter silence fell.
Kaida and Hina exchanged wide eyed looks.
That would mean they'd graduate with Natsu and Ino and Hinata and Kiba and-and-
"sugoi!" it was in such stereo, no one knew who said it first.
"oh!" Kaida turned to Kakashi "I think Ino-chans gonna be a big sister!"
Kakashi slapped a hand to his face while Tsume died, bending double as she laughed, Iruka looking clueless but red-cheeked anyway.
"tomorrows lesson is going to be on 'tact'." Kakashi said, finally gathering himself from whatever pit of despair he'd fallen into.
"whats tact?" Kaida frowned
"tact is knowing its bad to announce someones secret pregnancy to strangers." He said, rubbing his forehead.
Kaida wrinkled his nose "do you have any idea how much work I have to do? Nobody has time for tact."
Tsume patted Kakashi's head as he covered his face with both hands.
"Kami help me." he said quietly.