When she's being affectionate

(A/N: There's two in this chapter because they were both kinda short, so enjoy! Disclaimer!)

Luna sensed the remnants of their lingering argument before she'd even entered the room. A common occurrence in this household, it seemed.

She slid the door open to the kitchen tentatively, her eyes scanning the room quickly for any flying dishes as she'd learned to watch out for during these particular events. But she was surprised to find only Tsume and Hana hunched over at the breakfast table.

"You just missed him." Hana supplied before she could comment, sounding exhausted.

Tsume scoffed. "Tch, the brat's probably on the other side of the village by now, the speed he took off at."

The she-wolf sighed, figuring there was no point in hanging around and making small talk. "Thanks, see you later then."

Her feet carried her to his favoured training ground on the outskirts of the village, it's rocky terrain surrounded by forest and making it hard to detect unless you knew exactly where it was. She could hear the explosive sound of Kiba's Fang-over-fang jutsu hitting the cliff-side as she approached, her ears twitching at the noise. Luna hesitated before rounding the last corner to face him, waiting until she heard the last of the loose rocks crumbling to the ground.

"I'm guessing my sister sent you?"

She smirked as her eyes trailed over him in a quick physical assessment. He was sat with one leg stretched out in front of him, hunched over his other, raised knee. Akamaru whined in greeting as she passed him, pausing to pat him on the head.

The Inuzuka watched as she dropped to the floor beside him, his dark eyes widening a fraction when she sidled right up to him, curling against his side. Her nose tucked snugly into his neck, arms slung loosely around his waist.

"You're being uncharacteristically affectionate today…" Not that he was complaining, shifting to nuzzle her closer.

She rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "Yeah well, contrary to popular belief, I do actually like you." Then, before he could even react, she quickly added, "But I will deny I ever said anything even close to that, so don't bother spreading the word."

He held his hands up in mock surrender at the unspoken threat behind her words. "Wouldn't dream of it, Princess!"

"Anyway, you looked like you needed it. I know your mom's been giving you an extra hard time lately."

Kiba scoffed, but tightened his arms around her shoulders. "So, you're just pitying me, huh?"

"Maybe a little." She shrugged. "But honestly all your sulking was getting annoying, so I had to do something."

"…And there's the real explanation."

She let a grin slip over her lips as she hummed against his skin, leaning up and planting a single kiss on the side of his jaw before slumping back against his chest. "You know, your mom only pushes you 'cause she knows you're strong."

"Uhuh."

"So what was so bad this time?"

Kiba pursed his lips, debating whether or not to relive the ordeal. "It's just... It really just pisses me off that I let them get so far ahead of me with training and stuff..."

The hybrid blinked. "Like who?"

She felt his arms tense around her for a moment, but he brushed off the question. "It's doesn't matter. Nothing's gonna change if I don't find a way to power up too."

Despite his sour mood, the corners of Luna's mouth tilted upwards, the expression not going unnoticed by the Inuzuka.

"What're you smirking about?"

She pushed back from his chest a little to meet his eyes, the smile growing. "I've never seen you so hard on yourself. What happened to Mr. I Can Do Anything Better Than You? Your mom must've really got to you today!"

"Well, I'm glad me being such a disappointment is so amusing to you." He grumbled, then yelped as she reached up to flick him on the nose.

"You moron. I don't know what was said earler, but it's dumb to compare yourself to other people. Everyone's situations are different, so who's to say if the roles were all switched up, the hierarchy of strength wouldn't be too?"

Kiba blinked, surprised by her logic, but she wasn't done surprising him yet.

"It shouldn't matter who's stronger than who when you're all on the same side, anyway. In fact, it wouldn't be healthy for everyone to be on the same level. Can you imagine a wolf pack full of top ranking alphas? There'd be complete anarchy!" She snickered, and moved her arms from his waist to around his neck, fingers toying with the knot at the back of his headband. "You're fine the way you are, Kiba. You're the reason I'm even alive right now so, I think you're kind of amazing."

If he'd looked surprised before, it had nothing on the expression he wore this time. And he didn't even want to think about how red his cheeks were right now.

"If you still insist on 'powering up' though, how about this?" She stood up suddenly, stretching her arms over her head then glancing back down to throw him a playful grin. "Last one back to village has to admit they're the runt of the litter!"

She took off in the next second, leaving him gaping in shock as his mind struggled to catch up with her words. And when it finally did...

"Ah, shit! Hey, that's cheating, get back here!"

When she's overexerted herself

(A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this one, I definitely think this is how any sane person would react in this situation.)

Kiba had walked in on his fair share of weird and wonderful situations, being friends with who he was friends with, but these situations were not something he had come to expect from the hybrid who lived on his family estate.

He stood in the doorway to her open-plan living room, his eyes darting around the room in confusion before falling back to the rug where the she-wolf way lying flat on her stomach, with one arm out-stretched in front of her. Her face was down-turned, but he could tell she was awake and aware of his presence by the way her ears flickered at his every move.

"Errr, Luna? What're you doing?"

"I was trying to reach my coffee."

He glanced over his shoulder to the kitchenette to see the mug sitting innocently on the worktop and then, with a frown, turned back and asked, "from the floor?"

"No, I fell, obviously." She spat, eyes narrowing into a glare.

"So… get up?" He raised an eyebrow, but the words were spoken cautiously as if he was missing something obvious and she was about to bite his head off for not having realised it sooner.

But to his surprise, her expression drooped miserably as she shook her head. "I can't. And even if I could, I wouldn't make it all the way over there."

"Why…?" He sniffed the air several times, his eyes grazing over her body slumped on the floor. "You don't smell injured?"

"Because it's too far away!" She growled, switching back to her angry mood before he could register the swing.

"Are you being serious? 'Cause I can't tell anymore."

"Yes, I'm being serious!" She whined, eyes growing large and watery all of a sudden and throwing him into oh-my-god-she's-going-to-cry mode so fast he swore he was going to get whiplash. "Please, Kiba! You gotta help me!"

Kiba blinked once. Twice. Not only did she use his actual name in a completely non-condescending way… But did she just beg for something?!

He made a choking noise in the back of his throat, then hurried over to the worktop to retrieve the hot mug. Except, there was one problem. "Luna, this is stone cold, how long have you been lying there for?"

Her lip quivered, startling him again. This was so unlike her.

"Okay, alright, hang on. I'll make you another one… Just, do me a favour and tell me what the heck's going on with you, huh?"

She sniffed pathetically, then let out a long sigh. "It started this morning…"

It was a little after 6am, and Luna had long grown bored of pretending to be asleep and wandered out of the Inuzuka compound in search of something to occupy her restless mind.

She found the streets of Konoha to be pleasantly calming at this hour, with little to no people around and only the sound of nature chirping as it slowly woke up for the day.

Luna grinned, stretching her arms overhead and skipping further along the road she'd been venturing on, now looking more like a gravel path than an actual paved street. The gravel then became dirt, and eventually led her to a smallish field with a few training logs and tree-stumps dotted around.

She strolled to the centre of the clearing, then flinched rather violently at the all-too-merry voice that sang to her in greeting.

"Good morning, Luna! I did not know you were an early riser, too!"

She spun around, automatically relaxing upon recognition.

Lee shot her a grin and a wave as she trotted over to where he hung upside down out of a low hanging branch at the edge of the field.

"I don't need a whole lot of sleep. I was bored and decided to explore a little. Is this your team's training ground?"

"It is, but you won't find Neji or Tenten around here for a few hours yet. Guy Sensei is due to join me any minute now, so I thought I would start warming up by seeing how many upside-down crunches I could do in this tree!"

Luna chuckled, finding his dedication to his ninja way endearing, if not a little extreme.

"Since you're bored, would you like to join us for a morning run?"

The she-wolf bit her lip in hesitation. She had been on a fair few runs with Lee before, and always ended up in deep regret. But, seeing no way to deny such a innocent request, her face split into a smile.

"Why not!" Maybe with Guy around, they'd focus more on each other and go a little easier on her.

She'd never actually met Guy Sensei, but heard so many tales of his incredible gallantry that the hybrid had to admit, she was kind of excited.

"What's this? Have we a new recruit, my dear pupil?"

A new voice resonated in a few octaves lower than Rock Lee's from behind her, and once again, Luna jumped at the sudden voice. She had to shake of the frown at the realisation that it was becoming easier and easier to sneak up on her the longer she stayed in the Leaf village. Maybe they were lulling her into too much of a relaxed state for her sense to be working properly. She'd have to work on that soon.

"You must be Miss Luna. I've heard so much about you!" The male before her gave her a hearty thumbs up, missing the utterly confused double-take that the she-wolf gave him.

Were he and Lee related?

Before she got the chance to speak her question, Lee sprang down from the branch and landed deftly by their sides.

"This is the infamous Guy-Sensei, and this is my good friend, Luna!" Then, as an added bonus, he exclaimed, "And I am Rock Lee, your friendly, local events organiser and training encourager!"

His words really made no sense at all sometimes, but Luna had learned to go with the flow wherever Lee was concerned. So instead of the eye roll she wanted to enact, she flashed them each a smile.

"Luna has agreed to join us on our morning run, today!"

"Has she now? How splendid!" The teacher clasped her hands in his, holding them against his chest and staring deeply into her more-than-startled gaze. "Here, today, we are witnessing the new beginnings of the enthusiasm for youth!"

"Er… Y-yeah!" She bared her teeth in a forced, awkward grin. How many more peculiar characters could one village be hiding?

"Then let us go, Lee, Luna! We shall run into the sunset and leave behind all our troubles in the dust!"

"Yes, Guy Sensei! Let us go!"

The due looked about to leap forward into the run, so Luna quickly prepared to move off as well, until a hand was suddenly thrust in front of her, instantly halting her movements.

"Wait!" The taller male yelped, looking almost mortified with shame. "How could we have forgotten such an important detail?!"

"W-what is it, Guy Sensei?" Lee stammered, looking equally horrified despite not knowing what they had neglected.

Guy turned to Luna sharply, gripping her shoulders in an intense stare-off that would have frightened the life out of her had it been coming from anyone – literally, anyone – else.

"If you are to train with us, there is just one thing I must insist upon."

"Er, sure, what is it?" She nodded, bracing herself for whatever this undoubtedly bizarre request would be.

In answer to her question, the green-spangled males shared a knowing grin, Lee apparently having caught up with the program by now. Guy reached into the ninja pack secured to his hip, and whipped out something long and stretchy, matching the colour of both his and his student's bodysuits.

And then it hit her.

No really, it hit her, right in the face.

The she-wolf scrabbled with the rubbery material as she yanked it from where it had landed, ears retreating to the back of her head at the squeaking noise it made every time it rubbed against itself.

"…It's a… a…" What exactly was this condition? She was seriously starting to regret this whole experience.

"It's a metaphor, my dear Luna. A metaphor, for youth."

"B-but I–"

"No, no! No buts. Just youth."

"…"

Oh god. She was going to die of humiliation.

"You… want me to wear… this?"

Lee nodded eagerly, his bright, round eyes ecstatic with pure excitement, like a child on Christmas day. "It will bring about a new-found freedom in you! It is the most comfortable–"

"Most moveable!" Guy added, their words to meld together to form one complete sentence as though they practiced on a daily basis.

"Most incredibly practical outfit you shall ever have the pleasure of wearing!"

Luna gawped at the pair, her eyes wide and desperately searching for any form of out. There was none.

And so, with a regretful sigh, she excused herself momentarily, changing reluctantly behind a bush.

When she emerged, needless to say she felt more than ridiculous, but the males both seemed extremely proud of her, each patting one of her shoulders.

"Right then! Are we ready!"

"We are ready!" Lee pumped a fist in the air.

"Then let's go!"

They took off, and with every single step in that next two-hour run, Luna wished harder and harder to simply drop dead.

Luna sighed against the floor again, finishing her tale to the Inuzuka. "Then I came home and managed to make myself a cup of coffee… but when I went to sit down, I realised I'd left it on the counter. And that's when you walked in."

"Um, Luna? What time was that at?"

"About eight thirty." She mumbled. "Why?"

Kiba glanced at the clock on the wall behind her. It was now ten thirty.

"No reason. Here." He pushed the new mug of freshly made coffee into her hand, still out-stretched on the floor.

He nudged her into a sitting position, chuckling when she slumped against his side heavily and only just managed to lift the mug to her lips before looking utterly exhausted again.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to walk again." She groaned, tail thumping lightly as if experimenting with its own movement.

"Guess I'll just have to carry you everywhere then, won't I?"

Luna scoffed. "Yeah, you wish. I think I'll just die here instead."

He laughed again, then fell into a comfortable silence as he waited for her to finish with her mug.

Then…

"Hey, Luna?"

"What?"

"Did you really wear that green monstrosity?"

And that is how he proceeded to find himself drenched in the last of her coffee, watching as she feebly attempted to crawl away from him, covering her ears as he broke into howling laughter.