He hadn't expected to actually like being around Sakura and Chouji.
After having avoided them for weeks, he had thought that they would want nothing to do with him, just like he wanted nothing to do with them. But he had been wrong.
They weren't so bad now that they'd seemed to grow actual backbones. And, when he thought about it, it really wouldn't hurt to hang around them. Even though the adults around them didn't seem to be ready to believe in an old man with the skill to defeat ten enemy shinobi squadrons, it had brought them together. Especially because they didn't believe them.
"You know, now that I think about it, maybe we should have asked the old man for his name. That way we would have at least had something partially believable for the presentation."
Kiba scoffed at Sakura's words, shaking his head. "Name or not, they wouldn't have believed us!" Then he looked at Chouji, quirking an eyebrow. "You know the Yamanaka's right? Maybe if we get one of them to go through our mind, they could tell the truth about the old man!"
But the plump boy only shook his head softly. "Mr. Yamanaka once told Shikamaru, Ino, and I that his clan's techniques are only supposed to be used for the most... Uh... What was the word he used?" The boy faltered for a second, his face drawing in tightly in thought.
"Bitchin'?" Kiba supplied, only to have Chouji shake his head.
"Strenuous?" Sakura guessed, which had the plump boy nodding his head.
"Yeah! Most strenuous of situations! That's what he said." Then his momentary happiness at finding the correct word faded and his shoulders slumped softly. "He said that they couldn't go waltzing around someone's mind just to get them out of a punishment. Their powers shouldn't be used for kiddy things."
This made Kiba frown at the boy, but Sakura hummed in agreement, making the Inuzuka turn to her and find that she was nodding at the boy's words. "Yeah. Shinobi aren't supposed to abuse of their abilities simply to get out of a punishment."
"That's stupid." The Inuzuka murmured with a cross of his arms, "It would get Iruka Sensei to believe us when we talk about the old man. And we would most probably not get in so much trouble."
Talking to Kiba had somehow become easier. She was still kind of scared of the boy. But it was less now.
Maybe it was because he had been the one to point out her lack of tears. Or maybe it was because he had stomped up to stand beside her when faced against all of those bullies. They had stood together before bullies. And that made them have a connection.
They all had a connection now. One that was deeper than just hearing a story from an old man for a failed school project. They were united by a schoolyard brawl. And there was nothing like getting in trouble together and celebrating to really bring people together.
She knew she should have felt bad for having gotten into a fight. But Sakura didn't feel the least bit guilty. Instead, she felt oddly light. As if she had just been freed from whatever it was that had been weighing her down. And even though her mother would be extremely disappointed in her, Sakura decided to just enjoy these last few moments with the boys that had helped her out when she had needed it.
No one else would have stood up for her. Not like they had. Maybe Ino would have spoken up against Ami if she had been feeling merciful... But she never would have gotten her hands dirty like both boys had.
And there was something extremely admirable in the boys getting in trouble just because Ami and Haru had begun to harass her.
Thinking on the Inuzuka's mumble, Sakura was struck with a crazy idea. So crazy, in fact, that she was surprised she had thought about it. But, then again, today had been a day full of new experiences for it, hadn't it?
"You know..." She began slowly, mulling over her thoughts before she voiced them out. "We don't really need them to know about the old man..."
"Huh?" Kiba's voice immediately twisted in confusion. All the while Chouji's eyebrows quirked in curiosity. "What do you mean, Sakura?"
"I mean that they're not going to believe us, no matter what we said. You said it yourself, Kiba, they would only believe us if a Yamanaka proved it to them." Sakura explained herself, "So why don't we just keep him between us? It's not like they'll believe us. So why not just have something between all three of us?"
It must have been the adrenaline and happiness that made her say this. Because if she hadn't been so elated by the fact that she hadn't cried once, she never would have offered such a plan. But she didn't regret voicing it. Not when Kiba's face changed from one of questioning into an amused and conspiratory smile.
"Pinky, that sounds like something I would come up with." He nodded in approval, then said, "You know... Maybe you're not as bad as I thought."
This made Sakura beam. Kiba was actually being nice to her! And all had taken was for them to get into two huge troubles together!
"What do you say, Chouji? No more talking to the old man to people that don't know about him?" Kiba turned to Chouji with the question, who glanced from Sakura then over to the Inuzuka.
Sakura didn't blame him for hesitating. But that didn't mean that she didn't believe it was worth nudging him.
"Come on, Chouji. What's the worst that could happen?"
Chouji had wanted to be friends with both Sakura and Kiba from the beginning. And now that they were actually talking like actual friends... Well, he couldn't help but smile like a doofus the whole time.
Or he had until Sakura had proposed keeping a secret between all three of them.
"But... Isn't lying bad?" He asked, unsure of even Sakura's assurance.
"Yeah. It is. We had to write a whole damn essay about it." Kiba's smile faltered softly at this, but then he shook his head, "But that doesn't matter because we wouldn't be lying. It'd be a secret. Technically, lying is the act of saying things that aren't the truth. We wouldn't be saying anything about it at all."
Chouji blinked at the boy in surprise, caught off guard by the boy being so... Well... Intelligent. And he wasn't the only that was surprised by his words, for Sakura looked at him with just as much confusion.
"You... Wow, Kiba. You're actually pretty smart."
"What's that s'ppossed to mean?" The boy glared at her, although Chouji could see the beginnings of a pout. "I'm smart enough... I was the one that took us to the old man..."
"And had us go to a dangerous part of Konoha." Sakura reminded in an almost sing-song, although her voice held no real malice.
At the way Kiba's pout became clearer, Chouji couldn't help but join in. "And broke Haru's arm... Getting us all in trouble with Iruka Sensei and our parents..."
With a huff, Kiba looked away from both kids, "I'm smarterer than both of you."
Sakura and Chouji both shared a soft laugh at his incorrect conjugation of the word, but before they could say anything about it, the boy frowned and sat up straighter.
"Iruka Sensei's coming back." He told them, then smirked, "No more speaking about the old man, yeah? It'll be our secret."
Chouji knew that it wasn't much of a secret if they had already talked about him to their teacher and parents, but... Well... They could just stop talking about him completely. And if they did, chances were that they wouldn't get in any more trouble with their parents for supposedly blaming their 'insulting' project on a made up person.
"Our secret." Sakura nodded with a small smile, then they both turned to look at Chouji.
"Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt..."
The smiles both sent his way were enough to dash away any doubts Chouji had.
"And what are you supposedly teaching this kids?! How to roll over and get their asses beaten by the enemy?!"
That wasn't his mother's voice. That was his father. And he sounded pissed. But what he was saying... It didn't seem like his anger was turned on Kiba.
Craning his head to look at the room's door, Kiba first saw his father storm inside, his large wolf-like gray and black dogs, Sokudo and Chikara, sauntering in after him.
Quite frankly, Kiba was more used to seeing his mother so angry. His father was more of the soothing river that could quell his mother's raging fire. But he seemed on the verge of Tsume level anger as he growled at Iruka Sensei, who entered behind him.
"Not at all, Daishi. Far from it. But I'm also trying to teach these kids that fighting with allies will get them nowhere other then stuck with a probation warning." Iruka Sensei replied calmly, already used to the Inuzuka's rage.
He was a well liked teacher among the clan because of his tolerance for their oddities and connection with all the students. Along with being one of the few teachers that didn't lose his patience quickly, with parents or students. He was rather sought after for the children of his clan.
"My son would not have fought those kids unless they had given him a good reason to fight." His father remarked, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Isn't that right, boy?"
"Yup. They called me bitch, said I should be put down, insulted the clan, and called Hana a slut."
"A slut? What's that? Like a slug?"
He snickered softly at Sakura's innocent question, although shut up by the cold, one-eyed glare his father sent him. Like the white haired dude that brought his dogs over a lot to the Inuzuka care clinic, Kiba's father wore his hitai-ate over his eye. Although it was his right one. And the scar that had taken half of his sight away was somewhat visible for the world to see.
"Iruka, they insulted my family. My pack. You know an Inuzuka cannot stand down after such a thing." The man's voice was strained, although he wasn't yelling anymore.
"And I understand that, Daichi. But violence against who may as well be someone's future ally cannot be promoted." Iruka Sensei argued back, then moved out of the doorway to allow Chouji's dad and Sakura's mom to enter the room. "Much less breaking his arm."
"You never said anything about a broken arm." Daichi's anger was replaced by slight confusion, then, in a split second, it was replaced with exasperation. "Don't tell me Kiba broke a kid's arm."
Sokudo, whom had a black spot over his left eye and right ear, while the rest of his fur was gray, barked at Daichi, then growled. Chikara, whom had a gray spot on right eye and left ear on a mostly black body, turned to Kiba with a shake of her head.
"You're right, Chikara. Sokudo, Kiba can't go around breaking kid's arms. I understand defending our family and getting in a fight. That I can accept." The man passed a hand through his pulled back black hair with a sigh, then looked at Kiba with a disappointed brown eye. "Kiba, I could have defended you if you hadn't gone so far."
"I know, dad." Kiba nodded, then looked at Iruka with a smirk. "But that don't mean I'm going to say sorry."
"Kiba!"
Sokudo barked and nodded in agreement, only to wind up getting bitten on the ear by Chikara.
And even though he knew he was in trouble, Kiba couldn't help the chuckle at his father's insulted shout. He was really easy to mess with.
Kiba had a really odd family. His mother was terrifying. But Mr. Kuromaru was actually kind of nice. His father had seemed just as scary when he had entered the room... But he seemed to calm down and become less scary as he had continued talking.
He seemed to be the calm that both Kiba's mother and Kiba himself lacked.
She was still wondering what a slut meant... Maybe it was a kind of slug. That would be pretty mean to call someone.
"Kiba, Haru is now in the hospital because of his arm. It needed immediate attention from a jonin level medical nin from all of the muscle you somehow managed to tear through." Iruka Sensei told the Kiba in an almost disinterested voice. But soon his face softened, just like his voice. "Kids, I am more than aware that these kids have been bullying you. Especially Sakura. And I am proud that you stood up for one another. I really. But you cannot be fighting like wild animals. You can't cause lasting damage."
"Sakura's been bullied?"
Oh. Oh no. Sakura hadn't wanted her mother to know that.
She shook her head quickly, hoping Iruka Sensei would understand. But he merely shot her a small scowl that clearly said 'The truth's coming out whether you like it or not'.
Iruka Sensei turned to her mother with surprise blatant on his face, "You didn't know. She told me that you had both talked many times about how to deal with bullies and not give in to what they were saying."
Her mother nodded softly, but then shook her head. "Yes, we have talk about that. But she never told me that it was her that was getting bullied. She told me that it was a boy in her class." Then she closed her eyes, bringing her hand up to her head. "Oh, I should have known it was her... I should have known..."
"But that doesn't matter anymore, mom!" Sakura jumped up from her chair and run over to her mom, tugging at the hem of her shirt to make her look down at her. "Ami's never gonna bother me again!"
"It was Ami?" Her mom gasped, "I have tea with her mother every Sunday! Sakura, how could you not have told me this?"
Sakura flinched at her mother's tone, then sighed and released her shirt. "I'm sorry, mom."
"But don't worry about it, lady! After the beating we gave them, none of those bastards that were pissing me off will ever bother her again!"
Kiba's shout made Sakura smile softly. But from the way his father glared at him, Sakura guessed that his words had not been the correct ones.
Kiba sure had a way with adults. But Chouji wasn't all that sure if it was a good way to act around them.
Throughout the whole conversation that had been had with Iruka Sensei, his father had not said a single thing. Instead he had just stood there silently, arms crossed over his broad chest and eyes closed. And Chouji wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign.
"Iruka Sensei." Chouza finally spoke up for the first time since entering the room, grabbing the teacher's attention. "What will their punishment be?"
The scarred man sighed softly, scratching at the back of his head. "Well, I do have a few witnesses that will attest to the other kids being the ones to instigate the fight. Haru pushed Kiba first. Ami had been egging Sakura on for a few minutes. And all Chouji was trying to do was stop Kiba from getting hurt."
It felt good to hear Iruka telling their parents the truth. At least he didn't allow them to look like some delinquents that had sought out this fight.
"So they will all be getting punished for starting it. But the problem is that Kiba, Sakura, and Chouji walked off with, at most, a few scratches. Haru has a broken arm. Kosuke won't be able to use his eyes for a few days because of the dirt Kiba threw in his eyes. Ami ended up with a lot more cuts and scratches than Sakura. And Mei and Rai were hit so hard by Chouji that their arms will ache for days." The man prattled off the extent of the injuries caused by them, which made Chouji begin to feel a bit queasy.
He hadn't wanted to hurt anybody... But he had needed to fight back. Those kids had hurt his friends.
"So what you're saying is these kids went overboard." Kiba's father pointed out, which had his own nodding.
"If it had been a less disastrous fight, we wouldn't be worrying over our kids getting into too much trouble. Isn't that right?" Chouza questioned, which had Iruka Sensei nodding solemnly.
"If it hadn't gotten past a few smacks or hits, we would not be having this conversation and they would have all received similar punishments. But... Things went too far." Iruka supplied, then sighed. "They're not going to get expelled. I already talked this over with the other teachers and they agreed that if the kids had not pushed them so far, they would never have done something so violent. But they're going to be on probation for the following semester. And, depending on that, we will see if they will be allowed to continue in the Academy."
"So either they behave next semester, or they won't be able to become genin." Sakura's mom breathed out, although it wasn't a question.
"One semester to straighten up." Kiba's father nodded, then looked at his son. "Your mother is certainly not going to be happy when she hears this."
"Neither will your mother, Chouji." Chouji's father said, looking at his son with disappointment clear in his eyes. "Is that all, Iruka Sensei? May we leave?"
"Yes. I am sorry things went so far." Iruka Sensei nodded, then looked at them all. "You may go with your parents."
All three of them exchanged one look before jumping out of their chairs, beginning to walk towards their parents. But, when they were halfway there, Sakura made a really good question.
"And will be the other kids punishments?"
"Sakura!" Her mother scolded, but Iruka merely calmed her.
"Sakura does have a right to know this. They had been pushing their luck with her after all." Then he turned to the three of them, "Once they've all healed up, they will come to the school for a whole week and assist teachers in whichever way we deem fit. Don't think they're getting away with everything without any repercussions. This time, there were witnesses."
Then, the oddest thing happened. He winked at Sakura.
This made her smile broadly and nod, then she began to walk towards her mother, prompting him and Kiba to walk over to their own parents.
"So... What did your parents do to you?"
Sakura, Chouji, and Kiba were all walking down the streets of Konoha together, enjoying their vacation now that they weren't in school. Three whole weeks had passed since they had gotten into that fight with Sakura and Chouji's bullies, but they hadn't been able to see one another until today.
"Mom tanned my ass. And by tanned, I mean kicked. And by kicked, I mean that I wasn't able to sit for a few days." Kiba answered Chouji's question with a soft scowl, remembering how badly his mother had beat him after his father had told her what he had done. "She gave my points for standing for the clan. But she said that breaking Haru's arm was going too far."
Both Sakura and Chouji nodded at what he said, then he turned to Sakura. "And you? Your mom seemed more terrified of you getting kicked out and disappointed than angry."
The pink haired girl nodded softly with a shrug. "She was extremely disappointed that I hadn't told her about the bullying. Then she grounded me for a week, I was stuck in the house helping her clean and cook until today. This is my first day of freedom." Then she smiled at Chouji, "Thank you for looking for me, by the way, guys."
"No problem 'bout it." Kiba waved her off, then motioned for Chouji to speak up. "And you, Chouji? What'd they do to you?"
The plump boy thought about his answer for a few seconds, "Nothing as drastic as your mom, Kiba. But not as easy as cooking and cleaning. I had to follow after dad during the mornings and help him out with paperwork and keeping the dojo pristine. Then I had to help my mom in the kitchen for dinner."
"That sounds exactly like what I had to do, Chouji." Sakura pointed out curiously, Kiba nodding beside her. "But cooler because you got to go to a dojo and weren't stuck only doing sissy things."
Chouji's face paled at this, then he looked away from them both. "That would be what most would think... Until they figure out that going to the dojo means having to be a moving target for flying kunai."
"What?!"
"That's so cool!"
It was interesting to see how both kids could be so different from one another, really.
"You guys hungry?" Chouji changed the topic of the conversation, his stomach rumbling allowing them to know that he was hungry.
"Yeah. But I ain't got no money." Kiba told them, "I may have wasted it all gambling."
"Gambling?" Both Chouji and Sakura repeated, which made him nod with a shrug.
"Yeah. Down by the taverns. Those old men don't really mess with me anymore and allow me to play sometimes. I may have lost all my money betting on racing dogs."
Both other kids blinked at him completely stupefied by what they had just heard. But then Sakura smiled softly, "I guess I could pay for your food, Kiba. I just got my weekly allowance."
"Seriously?" He gasped, then smiled broadly. "You're awesome, Pinky!"
So the three kids began to make their way to Ichiraku's because, even though Kiba didn't like it as much as a steak place real close, both Sakura and Chouji really liked the ramen there.
As they walked in silence over to the eating place, Kiba jammed his hands into his jacket's pockets. And when his hand made contact with a smooth surface inside, he remembered one of the things he had wanted to ask the other two about.
"Hey, you guys gotten anything weird recently? Like a necklace and a card with some writing on it?"
Chouji and Sakura both looked at him in alarm, which, for some reason, made him think that they had.
The three stopped walking and Kiba pulled out a leather chord that had a light green stone tied to it. "It came with a paper that said it was an adventure-something. And that it supposedly stimulates wisdom and thought."
Kiba looked down at it, then up at both kids. And he noticed that Chouji hesitated for a second, before he pulled out a necklace of his own, the chord the same as Kiba's own. But the stone was different. It was a darker green and seemed composed of horizontal lines to the side.
"My card said that it was called a jade. And that it's supposed to give good health and fortune." He told his friends.
"That's fucking weird." Kiba murmured, then looked up at Sakura. "And you?"
"A bloodstone." The pink haired girl answered with a mumble, then reached into her dress to pull out the necklace. She had been wearing it the whole time. "It said that it gives strength." Her stone was the darkest green, almost black, but had bright splashes of red running across it.
They were all in a different shapes. Sakura's was a glossy oval, reminding Kiba of the stones to be found at a bottom of a river. Chouji's was glossy as well, but in triangular shape. And his own was a less refined stone, in an almost tear drop shape, but not quite.
All three kids looked at each other as they looked at one another's necklaces... Then Kiba burst out into a smile and pulled his necklace on.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm sure I know who gave us these things."
"What? You do?" Both Chouji and Sakura gasped, which made him smirk and nod.
"Of course I do. I'm smart and awesome. But I'm also hungry. So let's get to Ichiraku's so I can tell you."
I would like to thank Kosmas for a review that inspired most of the conversation between the parents and Iruka!
I hope you all liked this.Please review.
