Kiba's mood had improved considerably after he had been allowed to leave Iruka Sensei's classroom. And hearing the epic finale of the old man's tale had been completely worth it. And he was real proud to have taken so many notes! He was sure they would have the greatest story to retell out of the whole class! It would be a thousand times better than dumb Naruto's own!

Sakura and Chouji had both waited for him, even though they hadn't had to. And then they were actually able to go and find the old man before he left the village, ensuring being able to hear the ending of the old man's riveting story. Everything had been pretty cool and everything had been going great, even after Iruka Sensei had been a complete jerk to them.

And then that old man had said something really interesting: "And when someone does something you don't like, don't tolerate it. Do something to make sure they'll never be able to do it again."

He had looked at Kiba directly when he had said this. And he'd said something different to both Sakura and Chouji. Which meant that this bit of advice was directed solely at him.

... They were good words to live by. Even reminded him of something his grandfather would have grumpily said before he had died in battle.

But he couldn't help but be a bit amused at what the old man had told the other two kids with him. He'd basically called them out on their weaknesses! And from the way both Chouji and Sakura looked so perplexed, they were most probably actually thinking about his words. Which would be a very good thing. Maybe he'd finally have to stop hearing Sakura whining like a baby all the time.

"So, which house are we going to?"

He looked at both kids expectantly, although Chouji didn't seem to register that he'd said anything and Sakura blinked just slightly.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Kiba got down from his seat and walked over to Sakura, snapping his fingers in front of her face to repeat his question.


"Guys? You hear me? Which house are we going to?"

Sakura blinked dumbly in Kiba's direction as fingers snapped in front of her face, a bit perplexed that he was actually talking to her. She had been left reeling after the old man had left and had not expected anyone to try and tell her anything.

"Never allow anyone to see you cry. It's a sign of weakness."

Crying had always been a show of weakness in her mind. But, for some reason, she had never truly seen herself crying as a sign of weakness. Her mother had always told her it was okay to cry... Although her father told her that no shinobi ever cried... But when he'd say that, her mother would smack him over the head...

How had the old man known that she cried often? Was she really that easy to see through? Was she really that weak?

"Yo, Sakura. Chouji. Come on, weren't you two worried about your parents getting worried?"

Sakura had been busy worrying over how truly transparent she was to remember about their time restriction. But when Kiba reminded her about their parents, she remembered that her mother wouldn't be too happy if she returned home late again.

"Yeah!" She gasped, then looked at Chouji. She had told him they could go to her house because her mother wouldn't mind. She really hoped the woman wouldn't mind. "Let's go to my house, quick!"

But when she looked at Chouji, she noticed that he had not moved at all. And this made her poke him in the arm softly to grab his attention. "Chouji, don't we have to tell your parents first, though?"

That got the plump boy's attention immediately.

"Yeah, we do! Let's go fast, though. Your mom will have food ready for us, right?"


Having heard the old man tell them all a seemingly personalized bit of advice, Chouji had been left in complete disarray. "If someone hits you, hit back harder."

Why had the man been looking at him when he said that? Did he think that Chouji needed to get stronger and fight back?

Sure, Chouji was the first to admit that he wasn't the kind for confrontation. But how had the man figured that out so quickly? They'd only met twice. How had been able to see that Chouji was weak so quickly?

It kind of hurt to figure out that he was so completely transparent to people. But... Well... He should take the old man's words to heart. He should be stronger and stand up for himself.

Now, though, he couldn't focus on that. He needed to get to his house so he could tell his father where he would be. Then they'd go to Sakura's house and finish their project on time. It would be fun! ... Hopefully...

He led the the two kids to his home without much difficulty, then barrelled through the door, calling out with a booming, "Mom! Dad! Where are you?!"

For a second, neither of his parents said anything. Then his slightly startled mother appeared in the doorway to the kitchen with wide eyes.

"Chouji? What's going on? Are you and Shikamaru okay? Is it anything with Ino? Do I have to go and find your cousin?"

The woman's worry had Chouji smiling uncomfortably. He knew that his relationship with Ino and Shikamaru was no secret. But, for some reason, it felt odd to hear about them when he was actually working with Kiba and Sakura.

"No, mom." The boy shook his head softly, "Dad told me to come here and tell you guys if I'd be going out for any reason. So Sakura, Kiba, and I stopped here after class so I could tell you we'd be going to Sakura's house."

The plump woman took a look at her son, then at both kids standing outside the doorway, and quirked an eyebrow at them.

"You just left the Academy? It was supposed to have let out an hour and a half ago."

His mother may not be a ninja, but she wasn't an idiot. Chouji had known this. Luckily, Kiba was there as their excuse.

"Ah, yeah, that'd be my fault, lady." The Inuzuka spoke up at this point, making the woman look over at him. "I got caught in detention and these two had to wait for me so we could work on the group thing."

The boy's manner of speaking... It was so crude even his mother was surprised by it. But she kept her features composed and barely showed her surprise.

"Okay. So you two waited for him?" She asked, looking at Sakura specifically for reassurance. And when Chouji and the girl both nodded, the woman nodded as well. Although she didn't seem relieved by much. "Alright. So you're going to head over to...?"

"My house, ma'am." Sakura responded politely, smiling kindly at the woman. "So we can go ahead and finish our group project."

With the emphasis on the word, the pink haired girl spared a look over at Kiba. But the boy didn't even spare a glance back at her as he continued to look around the extremely well decorated and warm feeling home.

Chouji's mother looked over at all three of them for a moment longer before nodding and turning to head back into the kitchen. "Would you kids like a snack before you go? I just finished baking a dozen cookies."

"Hell yeah!"

Kiba was running after the woman before even Chouji could express his excitement at the food.


As they all munched happily on the delicious food, Kiba couldn't help but think that Chouji's mom was pretty cool. She had yet to scold him over his 'foul' (Please, Iruka Sensei was just a wimp) language. And she'd given them delicious cookies. And, as if all that hadn't been enough, she had even allowed Kiba to lick the spoon clean of raw cookie dough after she had finished up with her last batch.

It must be really nice to have a mom like her around all the time.

But Kiba wouldn't know about any of that. His mom was never around. Neither was his father... Or his sister...

Sighing over the cookie he had been nibbling on, Kiba remembered how things had been before his grandparents had died. But after they had gone for good, things hadn't been the same. Mom didn't smile much anymore. And his sister seemed to always be out, never wanting to spend time with him like when they were younger. And it was as if his mother and father always found a way to get into a fight when they met. Which was why they barely spent time together anymore...

"K-Kiba?"

Looking up at the sound of his name, Kiba found that both Chouji and Sakura were looking at him with wide, almost scared eyes.

This made him cock his head in confusion, "What?"

He was honestly confused as to why they would want to talk to him. Hadn't they already come up with a plan that had worked? Chouji's mother hadn't asked them anything aside from the standard parental questions. Why were those two looking at him like that? Why did they seem like they were afraid of something.

"Uh uh... K-Kiba..." Sakura stuttered for a second, then breathed in, closed her eyes, then opened them with an odd look inside of them. "You need to change clothes before you go to my home!"

No one said anything after Sakura shouted that out. Chouji's mother froze behind them in the washing of the plates, although the water continued running. And Chouji and Sakura both looked as if they had just killed someone, completely fearful. But Kiba... Well, he was just confused as to why they were acting so weird. He had known they were freaks and weirdoes. He just hadn't known they were this weird.

"Why? What's wrong with my clothes?" He peered down at himself, analyzing his clothes, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. His pants were somewhat ripped up, but that was completely normal in his clan. So were the broken sleeves of his shirt. And his jacket may smell a bit weird, but that was because he still didn't know how to wash his clothes.

"B-B-B..." Sakura and Chouji were both idiots.

"Spit it out." The Inuzuka hissed, curiosity quickly giving way to annoyance with the two stupid kids. "I don't have all day!"

Behind them the faucet stopped running water and Kiba suddenly found Chouji's mother standing beside him, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"You have a few stains on your clothes from the snack. I can't possibly let you run around after I helped get those dirty. Why don't you take those off and put on some of Chouji's things?" The woman asked kindly, making Kiba blink at her, then down at his clothes again. He didn't see anything odder than usual. "Chouji, go and find something for him to wear."

"Yes, mom."

Chouji jumped out of his chair quickly and ran off to what Kiba guessed must have been his bedroom, all the while Sakura hastily looked down at her milk and cookies to continue eating.

Kiba looked at the pink haired girl that refused to look him in the way (which was nothing new, but still felt somewhat odd) then over at Chouji's mom. Both girls were acting weird. And he couldn't understand why.


Oh, Chouji's mom must hate her! From the way she had looked at both her and Chouji, Sakura could just tell the woman hadn't appreciated her asking for Kiba to change his clothes!

But she really wanted Kiba to make a good impression on her mother! And wearing those dirty rags would only make her mother's doubts and fears of the Inuzuka clan become even more concrete.

Sakura knew that she should have a been more discrete about her petition. But Kiba wouldn't have understood any clues because he was so thickheaded.

With a sigh, Sakura looked up to see that Chouji's mom had returned to washing plates and Kiba had gone back to eating his cookies. The woman had been kind for not calling Sakura out. The pink haired girl had no idea what she could have said if the woman had questioned her petition.

When Chouji returned he had a set of his clothes in hand and showed them to Kiba. "You're a bit smaller than me, so they might be big on you..." He apologized, but only got a shrug back from Kiba.

"Doesn't matter. It's not like I'm keeping these." The Inuzuka muttered, then grabbed at the hem of his shirt to remove his shirt.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura gasped, eyes widening almost comically. "You can't change in front of a girl!"

Both boys froze and looked at her with surprise. And, much to her dismay, it was Chouji that questioned her.

"But... Why? We change in front of each other all the time."

"That's because you're boys!" She gasped in exasperation, "You can change in front of each other! But not in front of girls!"

"But... Why?" Kiba stressed the question, which made Sakura almost shout out in frustration.

"Chouji, Kiba, you cannot change in front of girls because it is not decent." Luckily for her, Chouji's mom was around to explain it to them. "Now, come along Kiba. I'll show you to the bathroom so you can change properly."

The boy jumped off of his chair and followed after the woman with a soft grumble about how stupid it was to go somewhere to change when he could just do it at the kitchen table. And Sakura couldn't help but shake her head sadly. It was just sad. Had he never been taught manners?

"I didn't know that about girls and boys..." Chouji muttered to himself after Kiba had gone, and Sakura looked at him with sympathy. "Well, at least you know now. You can't make the mistake ever again. You should be happy you learned now rather than later. Imagine if you tried to change in front of the girls at school! You'd get in trouble with Iruka Sensei!"

The very idea made Chouji pale and Sakura felt her heart swell. She had just saved her newest friend from quite the predicament!


"Okay mom! See you later!"

Chouji gave his mother one final wave of goodbye as he, Sakura, and Kiba all walked away from his home. Kiba now wore one of Chouji's favorite long sleeved,green shirts and a pair of dark blue pants. It was weird to see them on him because they were a tad bit big on him, the pants ending lower than his knees and the sleeves of the shirt going past his hands. It was really odd to see Kiba looking so different. Chouji had gotten used to seeing him with that odd smelling jacket.

"Be careful kids! And come back before eight, Chouji! You don't want to miss dessert!"

The idea of his mother's dessert had Chouji's mouth watering. But he knew that he would have to finish the school project with his friend and Kiba today, so he couldn't spend too much time thinking on how delicious it would be.

He and Kiba followed after Sakura without saying much, a comfortable silence falling over all three of them. Kiba fussed over the length of his clothes for a bit, but didn't say much about it.

When they reached Sakura's house, Chouji couldn't help but blink up at it. He had only ever visited the Clan Compounds, and so only been exposed to homes in the outskirts of the village. But Sakura lived in the heart of the village with busy people bustling about at all times. Even though he had already come here once before, he had been much too worried over being skinned by his family to really take everything in. But now he was able to see that these houses were built one beside the other, leaving only space for a small garden in between.

"Mom! I'm home!"

Sakura opened the door and was immediately grabbed in a hug by a tall, strawberry blonde woman. And when Chouji looked at the woman, he could see that she shared Sakura's face shape. But, aside from that, she shared almost nothing.

"What took you so long, my little blossom?" The woman questioned immediately, placing the girl back on the floor.

Her face was pulled in with worry as she looked down at her daughter. And from the way she hadn't mentioned either him or Kiba, the woman he guessed must have been Sakura's mother hadn't noticed them yet.

"We had to take care of some things first, mom." The girl answered, motioning to the two boys. "Meet Kiba Inuzuka and Chouji Akimichi. I invited them over so we could work on our school project."

It was with this that the woman finally looked at both boys. And her dark green eyes widened when she finally saw the boys and she moved quickly to them.

"Welcome to my home. Please, enter." She ushered them in hastily, "I didn't notice you, sorry."

Chouji couldn't understand why she would be apologizing. But he allowed himself to be pushed inside without any hesitation. Sakura's mom seemed nice enough. If just a bit worried over her daughter. But it made sense because parents were usually very attached to their kids. He would know!

"For school work? Then, Sakura, won't you take your guests over to the living room? I'll move the coffee table so you can work on the floor comfortably."

"Okay, mom!" Sakura smiled over at her mother, who then looked at both boys.

"Would you kids like anything to drink or eat?"

Chouji shook his head respectfully and was about to say "No, thank you." like his mother had taught him to do, but Kiba was faster.

"Got any soda lady?"

Sakura yelped and paled suddenly, making Chouji worry about why she may have done so. But Sakura's mom only smiled, although it looked just a tiny bit fake, and nodded.

"I'll serve three sodas. Sakura, move along."

With this, the woman walked off and left Sakura with both boys. But she didn't say anything as she looked at Kiba with wide eyes. Chouji couldn't understand why. But Kiba didn't care much and snapped his fingers in her face once more.

"You heard the woman, crybaby. Get to moving."

That snapped Sakura out of whatever had frozen her.

The pink haired girl took them into a cozy living room with nice sofas inside of it, telling them to place their backpacks on one of them while her mother prepared their drinks because she would be making more space once she came in.

A few seconds of silence passed between the three of them once more and Chouji felt somewhat awkward. This was his first time in a friend's house. Aside from Shikamaru and Ino, of course, but that had always felt different. His parents knew their parents. But he was sure that his parents didn't know Sakura's.

"Nice digs." Kiba complimented as he looked around the room, eyes catching on all the family photos. "That your dad?"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded, looking at the man in the photo. "He's out working right now. He works as a merchant and goes to neighboring towns and villages to sell all kinds of things."

Kiba nodded while making a soft noise of taking note of what was being said. But he said nothing else.

Sakura's mother walked in with a tray of two sodas and one cup of what seemed like water, handed it to Sakura, then pulled the coffee table out of the middle of the room to allow the kids to work on the floor. Then, once the table was against the wall, she took the tray from Sakura, set it on the table, and turned back to the three kids.

"I will be in my room if you need me for anything, Sakura. Chouji, Kiba, don't be afraid to ask for anything. And I'll begin making dinner in an hour."

All three kids nodded at her words silently, then watched as she walked off.

Then, once she was gone, Kiba looked at both kids.

"You have an odd mom, Sakura."

Chouji didn't blame Sakura for groaning in annoyance.

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