Scroll 06: Ghost Haunted Kiba

Kiba was humming happily. Finally, he was released from the emergency hospital with note that he shouldn't do anything that prevented his arm from completely healed. That was including training, lifting heavy weights, and blah-blah-de-blah. But he was glad and thankful that he was finally released from that emergency hospital. Not that he hated being healed, but the smell of medicines was too much for Akamaru's keen nose (the dog was very loyal to Kiba until it denied Kiba's sister request to have her took care of the dog and he patiently bear the 'torture'). And the food was horrible. The same menu over and over again like there was no other food.

Finally, he arrived at his home. He was disappointed when he found it deserted and a note at the kitchen that told his family had done the reparations in their home and went to help other people or did missions.

"Kuun…" Akamaru wailed, sensing his master's disappointment.

Kiba sighed, "Yeah, I know Akamaru. No delicious dinner tonight… for you and me…" then he grinned. "But… we can buy it! We're the lords in this home for now! MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Kiba laughed proudly and loudly with his hand on his hip while Akamaru imitated his master with his dog laughing-style (he also imitated the hand-on-the-hip gesture). He quickly took the money that had been prepared for him beside the note and ran off to buy some delicious food and dog food.

The house went silent again. Only sounds of crickets filled the night air. At the large dog house, the place where all dogs sleeps, dogs of Inuzuka family were sleeping peacefully. But that peaceful situation didn't remain long. One of the dogs' ears moved slightly as it caught some noises. The owner's eyes opened and the dog immediately got up, followed by other dogs. They growled fiercely to the door but their tails were between their legs, indicating they felt something evil and powerful.

Suddenly, the door was opened harshly by strong wind. The wind was so strong until the strong dogs of Inuzuka family had to claw to the floor so they wouldn't be blown. But the strong wind made them pushed back some meters. Not long, the wind stopped and a black figure appeared. The dogs lunged to attack the figure but they were stopped by an unseen force. The same force threw them until they hit the ground or wall hardly. The dogs desperately tried to stand up but the looming figure's shadow already fell on them.

That night, the wailing sounds of pained and scared dogs went unheard by anybody…

"Wow, this day is my best day! No— it's our best day! Right, Akamaru?" asked Kiba as he walked himself home. Akamaru responded by a happy 'woof'. The dog was so happy until it decided to walk with his own legs instead sticking on Kiba's head or cuddling behind the master's jacket. They had filled their hungry stomach with a big amount of (far more decent than hospital's) foods. This day was going to be perfect if his left arm wasn't injured.

Kiba sang one of his favorite songs as he walked home. He continued to sing when he reached the front gate of his mansion-like house (Inuzukas need its size for their dogs). His house was the third biggest in Konoha, mainly because the first and second were taken by Uchihas' and Hyuugas'. Not that he complained, though. Because sooner or later, the house would grow bigger as their dogs number increased.

The dog-smelled ninja entered his house but stopped his steps when he realized that Akamaru wasn't following him. He turned and found that Akamaru was cuddling and shivering on the road. Kiba's eyebrows rose wonderingly. He walked to Akamaru and picked the dog up.

"What's up Akamaru? Why do you scared?" asked Kiba. He didn't sense something wrong around his house or at least someone. "Or your belly is aching?" he changed the question. Maybe the dog had eaten too much. But Akamaru just whimpered. This confused Kiba more. But standing in front of his house wasn't going to make any change.

"C'mon, let's go in and sleep. Maybe you're too tired…" said Kiba as he hugged Akamaru and walked into the house.

After washed his face and brushed his teeth (which he did it with difficulty because only one hand he could use), Kiba went into his room and prepared to go to bed. He tried to change his clothes but give up when it came to the upper part so he only changed his pants. He'd ask his sister to help him change tomorrow. He lay on his bed and pulled the cover over his body and Akamaru. The dog was still shivering for an unknown reason. He decided to comfort the dog by patted it on its head. Akamaru calmed down a little, but his expression told Kiba that the dog wasn't calmed down completely.

"Don't worry, Akamaru. There's nothing wrong," said Kiba. But his words gave no effect. "Let's sleep so you'll calm down. Good night," said Kiba as he closed his eyes. But after a moment he opened them again. As expected, he couldn't sleep peacefully when his dog couldn't. Something average people called: bonds between the master and the pet.

"Fine. Let's walk around so you'll calm down, okay?" asked Kiba as he got up and carefully picked his dog up and placed it upon his head.

Kiba walked to the kitchen and search for some juice or at least milk. He opened the refrigerator (I always wondered how could they have electricity let alone refrigerator) and scanned its contents. Luckily there were some cartons of milk in the refrigerator.

"Kuun…" Akamaru wailed again. This time fright was evident in his voice.

"What now?" asked Kiba. Then he noticed that some of his family's dogs were circling him. "Why do you frightened, Akamaru? They're our friends, see?" said Kiba as he looked to one of the dogs.

"Or not…" he added.

The dog's eyes seemed to glow red. The eyes stared him with a dangerous look. The surrounding dogs had the same look and they didn't growl fiercely but Kiba knew better. Their tails were standing up, indicating that they were ready to strike any time.

Kiba gulped. Now he knew what thing that had been causing Akamaru scared. Suddenly, one of the dogs lunged at him. Kiba reflexively threw the carton of milk to the dog and it hit the dog's face hard, made it landed on the hard ground harshly.

"Woopss… sorry," said Kiba. Evil or not, they were still his family's dog.

Seeing one of their friends being injured, other dogs growled fiercely and lunged at Kiba at once. Kiba didn't want to hurt more dogs (don't blame him, he was a dog lover) so jumped to the ceiling and used his chakra to stick on it. The result of his action was the dogs bumped to each other and fell. Realizing that it was no longer safe in the kitchen, Kiba release his chakra hold and landed on the ground. He immediately went out of the kitchen, only to find that he was targeted by another dog. This time, it was alone and immediately lunged at Kiba. But once again, Kiba was faster. The dog hit the hard wooden wall behind Kiba, making a loud and unpleasant cracking noise. One of its bones must be broken. But as usual in shinobi world, whenever a shinobi human or animal was hit or fell on something, it wasn't their bones which cracked but the thing they hit that was cracked.

Kiba quickly ran away. If the dogs were targeting him, then he had to get out from his house as soon as possible. Besides Inuzukas was ninjas, another reason why thieves never dared to do their job in the Inuzuka house was their guarding dogs were the best. Not to mention how many dogs they got. And his fear was proved to be right. When he was out from the building many dogs came out from many direction —so many dogs that chased him until he wasn't sure anymore if his family had this great amount dogs.

Realizing that it was dangerous if he had made himself being surrounded, Kiba ran as fast as his feet would allow. But it was a little bit hard since his running style was similar to dogs and one of his arms had been broken. He didn't bother to search the exit. He used his chakra to jump over the concrete fence and ran again. He looked back without stopping, hoping that the dogs didn't chase him anymore. But he knew it was a false hope. The dogs kept chasing him, but they didn't jump over the wall. They broke through the wall.

Kiba stared with wide eyes then fastening his pace. He knew that his family's dogs were strong but not that strong without soldier pill. And his family never kept soldier pill in the easy to reach part of the house. But with soldier pill or not, the thing that matter now was the dogs were looked like a bunch of mad bulls that was more than capable to stomp him to dead.

Kiba was too distracted by the dogs until he didn't realize that he was running towards the crowded part of the village. He realized it when he heard screams from other villagers. He cursed his stupidity when he saw some of the villagers were attacked by the dogs and not a small amount of already damaged things that were damaged again.

"Kiba!" a familiar voice called him. Kiba turned his head up and saw that his teacher Kurenai was following him by jumping from half repaired roof to another. She jumped down and ran beside Kiba to gain easier conversation.

"What's the matter with those dogs? They're your family's dogs, right?" asked Kurenai.

"I don't know what's happening either, sensei! All I know is when I went to my kitchen to get some milk, they attacked me!" shouted Kiba. Actually, he didn't have to shout. But his panic made him like that.

"Are you sure that those dogs are free from rabies?" asked Kurenai doubtfully.

"Why the hell did you ask that? Of course they are! They are the best dogs that anyone could dream of! Even if they truly got that," — Kiba shuddered at the word — "—disease my family would notice!" his panic quickly turned into a momentary anger. The ninja dogs of Inuzukas were the best dogs in stamina and health. Did his sensei just think that the title of best dogs was just a decoration?

Suddenly he got an idea.

"Kurenai-sensei, could you use genjutsu to the dogs?" asked Kiba.

"Eh? I'm not sure. I never use genjutsu to animal…" answered Kurenai.

"Please, sensei! I beg you! Before other shinobi attack them to stop this whole thing!" Kiba pleaded.

Kurenai thought a moment before agreed. "All right, but I won't guarantee that this would work…"

The female jounin stopped her steps and turned. She performed some hand seals and soon, Kiba could notice that the genjutsu was working on its way. The dogs stopped running and their eyes were blank.

"Did we do it?" asked Kiba unsurely.

Kurenai didn't have the time to answer. The blank eyes of the dogs glowed red again but this time, those eyes glowed brighter and redder. Suddenly, Kurenai felt that her feet weren't touching the ground and she realized that an unknown force made her body floated. She didn't have the chance to even thinking because the same force threw her to the nearest wall. The wall cracked so did the jounin's body. Kurenai felt sharp pain on her back and fell unconscious.

"Kurenai-sensei!" shouted Kiba worriedly. He saw blood trickled from her mouth. But he didn't have the time to run to his teacher's side and help her. At least the dogs weren't going to attack her anymore. He had to stay alert or he would end up like his teacher. If the dogs were capable to knock the light out from a jounin then they bound to be able to rampaged the village. But what should he do? The dogs that were going mad in front of him were the same dog that his family owned and he loved. Besides, even if he didn't love them, how to stop them was the biggest question. They could knock down a jounin with a strange telekinetic-like force (that was similar to the ones he saw at movies) and he was chuunin. And he was aided only by Akamaru not to mention that he had a broken arm. Surely that other shinobi would come but no one could guarantee that the dogs wouldn't hurt the non-ninjas villagers.

But being a sitting duck wouldn't change anything. He decided to take the risk of hurting the dogs. Kiba gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry!" he apologized mentally before lunged forward with a battle cry, aiming to one of the dogs. Because of the sudden movement the targeted dog was surprised and got a painful punch at the jaw. The punched dog was thrown to the air then fell to the ground. Seeing this, his allies attacked Kiba by using the same force that knocked Kurenai down. Kiba, by instinct, jumped so he was out from the dogs' sight range. Surprisingly, the attack made the rubbles nearby thrown.

Kiba's (slightly) smarter than Naruto's mind figured the weakness of the attack. The dogs could use their power to throw something or somebody but their target must be within their sight range. With this information, maybe he could win…

At the other place, Shizune was checking Naruto's condition. The boy's heartbeat was steady and everything was all right. Well, physically at least. The black haired medic noticed the grim expression of the boy. He was sleeping, but not peacefully. Maybe he was having nightmares. And unknown by her, that her expectation was true…

'Where am I?' Naruto mentally asked himself. He couldn't see anything but black. He wasn't sure if he was standing or floating. His senses seemed to turn themselves off. Hell, he wasn't even sure that he was dreaming or not! But the darkness didn't remain long. Suddenly, Naruto could see glowing lights that were floating around. The lights were glowing beautifully like fireflies. But they were bigger than fireflies. Naruto touched one of them and suddenly, his surroundings changed. He immediately recognized that this was his ninja school entrance. Near entrance, people crowded. Each of the people was companied by his/her son, daughter, mother, or father. The children's faces were happy looking. Some of them were grinning proudly as their hands touching the new looking forehead protector. Naruto immediately recognized this situation as the ninja academy genin graduation. And he noticed that the kids age were around his age when he failed the first graduation.

He looked at those people. They seemed so happy and lively. Of course who wouldn't when one of their family members was graduated from the ninja academy? But Naruto noticed something. Something he didn't and would never have: a father that would pat his child's head proudly and a mother who would kiss her child's forehead lovingly or a sibling that would tease his/her brother/sister. The blonde always find his heart aching when he saw a family was laughing together. The thoughts like 'they are so lucky' emerged from his mind every time he saw a parent hugged his/her child. And he always wondered why there wasn't anybody that will approach him or noticed him.

But now he was immune from those feelings. He tended to ignore them and focused himself to other things like making troubles or else. He didn't need parents. A troublemaker like him would only receive scold or worse, abuse — anything but love from his parents. And if people ignored him, he would make them know that he wasn't something that could be easily ignored like motionless gravel.

He didn't need parents.

He didn't need siblings.

But he carved for love…

Naruto snickered pitifully to himself. How funny, the envy feelings made him hate to have parents or siblings but at the same time made he carved for more attention.

Envy…

Since when he knew those feelings called envy?

As his mind wondered, his blue eyes caught something yellow. He walked towards the thing and gasped.

It was himself, his young self. The boy was sitting on the swing under the shade of trees, away from others. It had become his favorite spot in academy because when he played the swing, all of his negative feelings seemed to be washed away by the wind. The protection from the sun that the big tree offer made his gloomy heart went cheerful again. He went towards the boy and touched him, only to find that his hand went through the boy and the boy looked as if there was no one that touched him.

Naruto was confused. Why he could see his young self now? And why couldn't he touch him? Then he figured that he was dreaming and the dream was previewing the memory he had buried in the deepest part of his heart. Before he could think another thing, the whole surrounding seemed to crack and break into pieces like glass. The sharp pieces fell to the ground and sank into it like the said ground was water. Once again, he found himself in the darkness, companied by the lights of his memory…

.oOoOo.

Haguma Yatsuki, the onmyouji from the Suzaku legion was sleeping when she sensed something. She immediately opened her eyes and got up. She looked around and found her female teammates that shared the same room with her were awake too. They were the same serious expression like her. The two females and Yatsuki nodded together in agreement and understand. They immediately changed their night attires to their shikifuku. When they went out of their room, they saw their male teammates were ready like them. And they wasted no time to get their selves to the source of the power by jumping from roof to roof.

When they arrived they saw many dogs and one (crazy, idiot, and daredevil) boy were fighting at each other. Of course the boy was outnumbered. But there was no time to waste. Yatsuki threw a paper charm to a dog exactly before its claws and fangs could reach the boy.

Kiba was fighting desperately. But being outnumbered and having a broken arm was no fair battle for him. Besides, where did those dogs find that kind of strength? He jumped to dodge a tackle attack, but only to find that he was in helpless position against another one. He was fast enough to turn his head but he was sure that his reflexes weren't going enough to dodge a fierce dog that was ready to tear him up with its fangs and claws behind him. But to his surprise, a piece of paper managed to fly itself to the dog's head and made the dog yowled in pain and fell to the hard ground. From the dog's body, came a faint smoke and hissing sound as if the dog was a piece of hot steel that had been inserted to a bucket of cold water.

The young shinobi turned his head to the direction where the paper came from. He found a group of five people clad in strange clothes. The dogs turned their attention to the newcomers and growled more fiercely then ever. It seemed that they had met their nightmares.

Yatsuki frowned. There were so many dogs that were possessed, too many for her to detect the source. They had to split to find the source.

"Yatsuki-senpai," called one of her male teammates. Yatsuki turned as she heard he said, "That dog…"

Yatsuki followed his gaze and found the dog that she had attacked stood up. Its black eyes glow red again and the paper charm that stuck on its head suddenly destroyed. She gritted her teeth at this sight. It looked like it was going to take more than just busting ghost or spirit.

"Let's split up and find the source," ordered Yatsuki.

After the words from their leader the team split up. Yatsuki threw so many paper charms to the dogs until it looks like a rain of paper. And all of them managed to stick on the enemies. But her assault didn't stop there. She pulled a string of beads, circled it around her wrists and palms, and began to chant some strange and foreign words as her palms started to form strange hand seals. The dogs howled in pain and some faint black smokes started to appear from the dogs' body. But before Yatsuki could finish her chant, three dogs came behind her, tackled her to the ground, and pinned her there. She was sure that her head was going to be bitten off when Kiba tackled the dogs and freed her.

"Are you okay?" asked Kiba as he punched another dog that lunged to him.

"Yes, sort of…" answered Yatsuki. She was surprised by the strong physical power of the boy. Normally, people in Reigakure are strong mentally and spiritually but rather weak physically. They were at least strong enough to jump to a very high place and fight a long battle but they couldn't do what even the weakest genin could do such as the ability to destroy a hard rock with empty hand.

Kiba examined the girl in front of him. She was older than him, maybe she was at her seventeen or eighteen. But what made him wonder what she was, was her attires. He had never seen such strange clothes. He was too deep in his thought until he didn't realize that he had been spacing out.

"Look out!" the girl shouted a warning to him. Kiba turned around just in time to punch another dog. But he didn't have the time to escape another wave of dogs that jumped to him.

"On abokya beiroshanam!" he heard the girl shouting the strange world quickly behind him and suddenly the dogs thrown back as if there was an invisible wall in front of him. Sure enough, he could see a faint white layer when the dog hit the… barrier.

This is bad… thought Yatsuki. There were to many dogs for them to handle. It was a bit better if those dogs weren't strong ninja dogs but the fact couldn't be changed. Usually, at this kind of case, Yatsuki and her teammates would create a big onmyoujitsu spell formation and banished the evil spirit from the subjects in the same time by inserting their power into the spell formation. But Yatsuki found out that the dogs' power were equal at each other. Their power will increase when a paper charm stuck on their bodies. That meant the spirits that possessed the dogs actually was just one spirit. It would send the dogs more power when the evil spell, power, or charm was going to be banished from them. And not to mention that even if the spell, power, or charm was successfully banished, the said things would possess them once more. She had to find the source, but where? Then she noticed the boy that had helped her. Well, asking wouldn't hurt.

"Hey, you!" Kiba could hear the girl called him or somebody else.

"Did you call me?" asked Kiba.

"Yes, I'm calling you! Do you know where these dogs came from?" asked the girl.

Kiba lifted his eyebrows. "Yes, but why did you ask?"

"Just answer me! I'll explain later!" she answered as he noticed that some dogs hit the almost invisible barrier again.

"They came from my house," said Kiba. He noticed the girl jaw-dropped. Maybe she didn't know about his family and was shocked by the number of the dogs that unmistakably theirs. But she quickly recovered from her surprise.

"Show me the way please!" she asked him.

Kiba was more confused now. Why would she want him to show the way to his house when there were dogs that rampaging madly here? "But the dogs…"

"Don't worry! My friends will hold them just fine!" she paused a moment before added, "…if we are fast enough…"

"All right, I'll show you. But could you run as fast as me miss—" Kiba trailed.

"Yatsuki. Haguma Yatsuki," she answered shortly.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Could you run as fast as me Miss Haguma?" asked Kiba. He assumed that she was weaker physically because her reflexes were slower than him and because of that she couldn't dodge the dogs.

"I don't know how fast you are, Inuzuka-san…" Yatsuki pointed. "Besides, who said I will run?" asked her as she grinned rather playfully.

Kiba blinked. "Eh?" he managed to blurt that word out before the girl did another weird thing.

She pulled a stack of red paper charms from nowhere as she shouted other strange words, "Shuku-Dou-Shou!" After shouting that, the red papers glowed and shot up to the sky, forming a mystical light red colored bird. Kiba gawked. He had never seen such a beautiful creature before. Its feathers were elegant and soft looking. Red colored light glowed from the body, making it looked like a giant bird shaped neon lamp. Its size matched with Jiraiya's average sized toad (NOT the size of Gamakichi or Gamatatsu of course), enough for a person to ride on it. Its eyes were ruby red and its crest… well if it could be said as crest— was made of fire. But strangely, he could feel warm and comforting energy from it. The energy was very comforting until Akamaru, who had been hiding in his jacket, stop shivering.

"This is my shikigami, Hitakuri. She's a fire bird," she explained when she noticed the gawking expression of Kiba. Kiba nearly didn't hear her. He was too busy admiring the mystical animal. "Do you want to try to ride it?" asked Yatsuki. This caught his attention. He had never flied. But did this bird was faster than him? The bird flapped its wings and Kiba knew that his answer was yes. When would he get another chance to fly? Certainly it was not soon...

.oOoOo.

"I thought you say I could ride it, not being carried by it…" grumbled Kiba with much disappoint in his tone. True what he said. The fire bird carried him by holding his shoulders with its legs. Though he wasn't been hurt by the grip, he was still afraid of its talons. They looked menacing enough to swear death for those who hurt its master. And Kiba didn't want to be one of its victims.

"Don't protest. I only asked if you want to ride it, not ride on it. Besides, the space is too small for both of us," said Yatsuki.

Kiba snorted. "Why don't you just admit that you want to claim the free space for your own selfish self?" asked Kiba harshly.

:Shut up you ungrateful human or I'll release my grip. It's not mistress's fault that my body is small.: said a new womanly voice.

"W-what? Who's talking?" asked Kiba with stuttered voice because of surprise. Who else could have been there? Kiba saw nobody besides Yatsuki, the shikigami bird, and him.

:It's me, Hitakuri.: said the voice. And Kiba noticed that the voice came from above him. And he suddenly realized who had been talking harshly to him. The shikigami bird.

"It talks!" exclaimed Kiba in surprise, awe, or annoy, he him self didn't know either.

:Of course I can talk. Do you think learning the human language is much too difficult for us shikigamis: asked Hitakuri coldly and annoyingly.

"I never said that. It's just talking animal isn't a sight that we see everyday…" grumbled Kiba. This bird was starting to get annoying. Lucky he loved dogs. But what he said was true. He heard that summoned animals like dogs, toad, or snake or whatever (for example: Pakkun, Gamabunta, Manda) could talk. But Yatsuki said this Hitakuri is a shikigami. Maybe it was a different version of name from the summoned animals?

:You wouldn't say that because you think. Why do people attend to ignore each word of a question: asked Hitakuri much to herself.

"Isn't it just your very-careful-nature?" Kiba shot back. How he loved dogs more. At least they're kind enough to bark or bite, not attacking him with sharp words like Shino. He wasn't the type that battle with words.

"Would you two shut up? I have enough headaches from the dogs barking…" said Yatsuki as she rubbed her temple.

"Yes, I would mistress," replied Hitakuri formally when Kiba grumbled a 'fine'. Kiba noticed that Hitakuri did the formal speech only to its mistress.

"So Inuzuka-san, is that your house?" Yatsuki asked as she pointed her finger to a large mansion-like house. Though she didn't aware that Kiba had a hard time to see her finger because Hitakuri's body on the way.

"If you're pointing at a large mansion-like house, yes it is. By the way, Kiba is enough…" said Kiba. He just wasn't used to be called by his family name.

:Yeah, an ungrateful human like you don't deserve that kind of respect from my mistress.: said Hitakuri.

"Would you shut your foul mouth up?" Kiba restrained himself from shouting. He was a chuunin, he would survive from this kind of height but it would be helluva (hell-of-a) pain.

:I'm sorry, I can't — because I don't have a mouth. I have a beak.: replied Hitakuri smartly.

"WHAT'S the difference!" shouted Kiba, losing his nerves.

Yatsuki interrupted before Hitakuri could say anything. "Hitakuri, you're not permitted to speak unless I allow it. Do you understand?" asked Yatsuki.

"Yes, mistress…" replied Hitakuri with disappointment. Kiba restrained himself from smirking in glee but failed. It was fortunate that Hitakuri couldn't see his face at this position.

Hitakuri descended when they were near to the destination. When it reached around fifteen meters height, it suddenly released its grip and Kiba fell. Of course the said boy was surprised but his ninja reflexes allow him to land gracefully and unscratched. He turned to glare at Hitakuri who landed some meters away from him and he found that Hitakuri was staring at him with an 'innocent' wondering expression.

"What are you expecting? Me, fell ungracefully? In your dreams!" yelled Kiba proudly when he realized what was the meaning of the bird's act and expression. This time, Hitakuri didn't retort back and Kiba knew he had won.

Yatsuki mounted off Hitakuri. "All right you two, stop trying to kill each other because we're going to face more complicated things," said Yatsuki.

"Like what?" asked Kiba.

"That," Yatsuki said as she pointed a club of dogs. Kiba's stomach flip-flopped when he saw them. This time they were no mere dogs. They were puppies. Back then, the dogs were big dogs that clearly stating that they were adults and they were trained and strong enough to take his punch and kick — but THIS? He'd rather die than hurting those innocent puppies.

:What's the matter? Don't tell me that you're afraid of them…: asked Hitakuri with sarcasm. But Kiba ignored it for now.

"For crying out loud, I'm afraid of hurting them!" shouted Kiba.

"What?" asked Yatsuki.

"Can't you tell by seeing? I'm a dog lover!" cried Kiba.

:No, we can't.:

"After saw you fighting madly back then, no, I can't," replied Yatsuki.

"Am I really that… fierce?" asked Kiba to himself mentally.

:Miss, I think the spirit's power doesn't possess them completely…: pointed Hitakuri.

"You're right. I think because puppies are still pure…" then she perked up, "Hey! If the power doesn't possess them completely, then..!"

"Then what?" asked Kiba.

Several moments later…

The puppies tried to bark fiercely by their cute voice but failed. Kiba looked at Yatsuki, his expression asking if this would be a success. The onmyouji said that if the spirit didn't possess the puppies completely then part of them was still a puppy's mental. Yatsuki just gave a nod and Kiba took a deep breath.

"GROARRR!" Kiba growled more fiercely than a very big dog could. The boy set his face to be as scary as possible. His growl was so loud until the puppies seemed to be blown by a harsh wind.

The puppies silenced. Then they ran, wailing with fright with their tails between their legs. Soon, the front field was empty from puppies.

"I scared them off…" said Kiba as if he didn't expect the thing to happen.

:That's the purpose.: said Hitakuri matter-of-factly.

Kiba landed on his knees then sobbing miserably. "Now those cute little things won't play with me again…"

"Stop being a baby, Kiba-san. Or do you like it better if you had to fight them?" asked Yatsuki.

"No, I don't… but…"

"Then let's go. We can't waste any more time here," said Yatsuki.

"But where are we going?" Kiba asked.

"Uhh…" Yatsuki realized that she hadn't thought that.

:To where the dogs came from, Mistress.: Hitakuri reminded her mistress.

"Oh yeah, where the dogs came from, do you know Kiba-san?" asked Yatsuki.

Kiba pouted, tired answering the same question. "I told you already that they came from my house."

Yatsuki shook her head. "Not that, I mean be specific Kiba-san. From what part of the house they came?"

"It was night already when they attacked me so I think they came from the dogs' house," explained Kiba.

"And where is that?" asked Yatsuki.

Kiba pointed his index finger to the back part of the house. "There, at the back part of the house."

Yatsuki nodded in understand and they quickly went to the dogs' house. It made Yatsuki (and Hitakuri) gaped at the size of the dogs' house that had taken half of the house building. She nearly didn't believe what Kiba said about his family's dogs' house was the biggest one in the fire country and maybe in the world. Yatsuki decided to brush that matter off her mind until her task was done.

They entered the dogs' house and Yatsuki did a brief glance to examine the place. The house was three stories tall, got no rooms, and had some large wooden pillars to support the ceiling. It used electric lamps as the source of light. The wall got random pieces of wooden boards with white cloth or pillow on each, sticking on it. Yatsuki figured that those boards were serving as a sleeping bed for those ninja dogs. And because the dogs were ninjas, jumping from board to board, board to floor, or vice-versa wasn't a trouble for them. Besides, the boards could serve as a training tool.

There were some ropes too, extending at the empty space that supposed to be filled with ceilings/floors. And some of them were tied at the ends of some boards to make the boards suspended in the air. Maybe those suspending boards served as bridges from a side of the walls to another. And on the floor there were scattered straws and some dog bowls/plates, to feed the dogs. Some of dog toys or training tools were caught by Yatsuki's eyes too.

And the brief glance also made her caught the source of the trouble. There, at the center of the room, stood a large pillar, much larger form other pillars and the pillar radiating evil presence.

"Found the culprit," muttered Yatsuki under her breath even though she was sure that the evil spirit had sensed her from the moment she stepped in. she was preparing to attack when Hitakuri shouted a warn to her as one of the fire bird's wings suddenly in front of her, covering her from some flying dog bowls while Kiba quickly get behind a pillar and used it as his shield. The bowls met the wing and pillar then fell down, making clattering sounds filled the large house.

"Who's that! Show yourself coward!" shouted Kiba angrily but instead of words, his question answered by another wave of flying bowls. The boy quickly hid behind the pillar again.

"Kiba-san! What'll happen if the large pillar at the center broke down?" asked Yatsuki. She couldn't risk attacking the pillar with destructive spells recklessly.

"I don't know! It never breaks! But my sister said that this pillar is the main support, so don't ever try to break it!" yelled Kiba to rival the noisy situation.

Yatsuki cursed mentally. Why evil spirits were smart enough to take important places as their residence? "Hitakuri cover me! I'm going to pull that troublemaker out of the pillar!"

:Yes, Mistress.: replied the bird as it used its two wings to provide full protection for its mistress.

Yatsuki threw some paper charms to the large pillar but the papers were deflected by an invisible barrier. Yatsuki cursed again and decided to change the spell she was going to chant.

"On kirikyara harara futaranbaswoha!" she shouted as her hands performed onmyoujitsu hand seals. After the last seal, she pointed the last sealed hands to the pillar and suddenly, a thin layer emerged and rapidly cracked. It was not long until the layer collapsed like fragile glass. Kiba found that the remnants of the barrier did fell to the floor but soon disappear and left nothing.

Yatsuki didn't waste any time. She immediately threw some paper charms to the pillar and continued another chain of spells and hand seals. "Makabodara... Manihandomajin... Parahara paritayanam!"

Suddenly strong winds blew around the room from the pillar. Kiba shielded his eyes by his hands to avoid particles of dusts entering his sensitive organs. When the room was cleared, he could see something glowing yellow and light blue. He squinted at his eyes to see the most handsome wolf he had ever seen. It was as big as a normal tiger and its fur was made of thunder. No, almost all parts of its body were made of fire except its eyes, claw, teeth, and maybe nose. Strangely, the thunder from the wolf's body didn't accidentally burn the straws on the floor but Kiba could feel some jolts of electricity roaming in the air.

He heard a gasp from the onmyouji girl. "The thunder wolf? Impossible! It usually tames and never attacks humans without reason!"

:But Mistress, usually tame or not, it's still a problem! You should seal or calm it: pointed Hitakuri.

"You are right. Rin pyo to sha— AAHH!" Yatsuki screamed in the middle of her chants when a lightning wave managed to get through the wings barrier and strike her. A wave of pain washed through her body and when it stopped, she felt dizzy and could swear that she could smell something burned — maybe her hair or skin that was burned.

:Mistress: shouted Hitakuri as she cursed mentally at her incapability to provide anti-lightning shield for her mistress.

"You bastard!" shouted Kiba as he threw a free from wall wooden board to the wolf after he decided that kunai would do nothing but tickle it. But the wooden board never hit the wolf, let alone harmed it because it suddenly stopped in the mid air. Kiba's eyes went wide as his mind realized that this event was the same with the berserk dogs back then. He immediately and instinctively ducked down to avoid the flying back board. Had he not got an experience with the dogs, his head would have been off of his body.

Kiba cursed mentally as the thunder wolf switched its attention to him. He immediately went to hide himself behind a pillar before a lightning managed to strike him to death. The lightning struck the pillar and made its surface turned as black as charcoal. Yatsuki saw this as an opportunity to attack and she ordered Hitakuri to strike.

"Hikuu!"

Hitakuri lunged towards the wolf. It dodged all lightning wave gracefully. It attacked the wolf with fire balls from its wings. But something strange happened. From the wolf's forehead, a glow emitted and then it drained the fire balls and left nothing.

"What the—" Yatsuki never got a chance to say what she was going to say. The wolf seemed to gain more energy and it got bigger. Now its height was around two until three meters. And needless to say, it got more ferocious.

"You gotta be kidding me!" yelled Kiba to anybody.

Hitakuri was too shocked to dodge a lightning wave that directed to it. The attack jolted it and sent the shikigami to the ground with a loud shriek. It fell with a loud thump, making some dust floated around it.

"Hitakuri!" shouted Yatsuki with worry. She saw the shikigami laid on the floor, beaten and motionless. Slowly, its body started to fade then vanished completely. The shikigami got no power to maintain its form anymore because of the attack.

"You're a sealed spirit," hissed Yatsuki with rage then she began to chant an attacking spell and performed hand seals.

"Noumaku shamandra bastra donkam!" she shouted.

Suddenly, a huge flame appeared under the wolf's body and engulfed it fully until the thunder fur couldn't be sighted anymore. But Yatsuki knew, she was a step too late to be really serious. The same event played again. The fire drained by a strange glow at the wolf's forehead. Now the wolf's size nearly took the whole room. It was as tall as a two stories building but luckily, there's still some room for both of the people to move.

Yatsuki bit her lower lip so hard until it bleed. She wanted to try attack it with another spell but she couldn't risk her power being sucked again. But she didn't run out of idea. She threw her paper charms to the thunder wolf but only to have it destroyed in halfway by the lightning attack.

"You bastard! Take this for hurting my dogs!" shouted Kiba as he jumped towards the dog head with hand ready to punch.

"Wait! Don't act recklessly!" warned Yatsuki.

Too late, the wolf sent an electric jolt and hit Kiba. But suddenly Kiba's body puffed with smoke and replaced by a dog bowl. Yatsuki didn't expect this, so did the dog — apparently.

"What are you looking at, stupid! I'm here!" Kiba's voice sounded from above. Yatsuki and the dog turned their heads up and saw Kiba fell down towards the wolf, ready to attack. The wolf swung its tail to prevent Kiba but once again, Kiba's body turned into a dog bowl. The spirit turned its head to its original position, only to receive a hard punch at the jaw from below by Kiba.

The boy screamed in pain when his knuckle connected with the wolf's jaw. Apparently, the wolf's thunder fur wasn't there for nothing. But despite the pain he got, the shinobi managed to knock the wolf off balance and its body hit the wall. Because of the hit, the building shook a bit. Some sawdust fell from the ceiling because of the shook.

Kiba fell with a loud thud, back first. But he immediately stood up and attacked again, ignoring his hot and achy knuckle. This time he aimed the legs. He used the same tactic again and he managed to knock the wolf's leg until it fell.

"Hey, Miss! I can't do it alone! Help me!" shouted Kiba when he backed away from a lightning strike.

Yatsuki was surprised by Kiba's words. He was right; neither of them could defeat the wolf alone. She had been ignoring for the help Kiba could offer. She was the leader of her team, and how could she forgot about teamwork? Kiba had the ability they need to defeat the wolf: going as near as possible to it.

"Kiba-san!" shouted Yatsuki.

"Yes!" asked Kiba as he dodged some flying boards.

"I know how to defeat it!" said Yatsuki as she took out some blank paper charms.

"Really? How?" asked Kiba with some uneasiness in his voice. He wasn't sure if she really had known the way to defeat the monster in front of him.

"I will hold its movement for a moment so you could get near it!" said Yatsuki as she wiped some blood from her mouth with her thumb then used the blood to draw something on those empty papers.

"Then what should I do when I get near it? You know my strongest punch can't bring it to die!" replied Kiba.

"Take the fragment shaped crystal on its forehead! That's our main problem!" yelled Yatsuki as she run to the place where she could face the wolf's face.

"Why?" asked Kiba when he landed but jumped again to avoid a falling board.

"You can ask later!" Yatsuki threw the paper charms and began to chant before Kiba had the chance to ask another question.

He decided to brush the matter off his head, looking that Yatsuki had begun her part. The paper charms that were thrown began to circle around the wolf. There were five of them. They began to glow and then shooting white ray of light to each other, forming a five pointed star shape and trapping the wolf in it. The wolf struggled furiously but failed.

Knowing this as the right time, Kiba jumped and landed on the dog's head. His rubber shoes prevent him from being electrocuted — for now at least. He used his uninjured hand to grip the said crystal and began to pull it. But the wolf didn't give up yet. It focused all of its power to electrocute Kiba. The boy screamed in pain but he didn't release the grip. The power was so big until Yatsuki had a hard time to maintain her spell. If she had the chance, she would have been amazed by Kiba's will power.

"You… you bastard… after making… me hurting those… dogs… you… harmed their house! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" shouted Kiba with rage as he used his injured hand to help the other pulling the crystal. The wolf didn't want to lose. It increased his thunder power by using the crystal power.

Kiba bit his lips from the almost unbearable pain. His hands started to feel weak and the crystal seemed wouldn't let itself go near this time. His mind was blank from the pain. His legs started to feel numb. Maybe… he couldn't make it.

"WOOF!" a bark caught his attention. He tried hard to turn his head and saw his beloved dog—

"AKAMARU!" shouted Kiba, surprised. When did it get out from his jacket? He didn't notice it. It didn't matter now. Akamaru seemed to be a lot braver now, looking that his master was in a grave danger. It landed on Kiba's back and sent its chakra to its master.

"Akamaru, what—" Kiba didn't finish his sentence because he received a bark that answer his unsaid question. Akamaru was ready to help him, by sending its chakra to its master.

Kiba smirked. His confidence was stored now. "All right Akamaru! Let's do it together!"

After yelling that, he used all of his and Akamaru's strength to pull the crystal off. With a last and long cry, he managed to pull the crystal off the wolf's forehead and earning a pained wail from the wolf.

The glowing crystal now was shining brightly. The light was getting brighter and brighter each second, making Kiba closed his eyes to avoid blindness. It was so bright until he could feel warmness at his numb body. He was aware that he was slowly losing his consciousness and that Yatsuki screamed at the top of her lungs so he could hear that she ordered him to let go the crystal. The crystal started to feel hot but his numbed nerves refused to let it go. The last thing he knew was that the light engulfed him…

.oOoOo.

I am very sorry for the long delay. Fighting the air of vacation is like a battle between life and death. Action is horrible to write. I had never written Kiba in battle. I have to balance between shinobi and onmyouji style of fighting too. And I had a hard time to decide what Kiba and Yatsuki going to do next. I met action block every sentence. I won't say it as writer's block because I have prepared the story's line and plot.

Next: To repay its sin, the wolf decided to be Kiba's servant. At the other hand, Fujikaze Yukie, the famous actress and the leader of Ice country decided to visit Konoha after heard about Naruto's condition. Bored and smelled a good chance/challenge, Sasuke disguised as Fujikaze Yukie's bodyguard to enter Konoha… without telling Orochimaru…

Scroll 07: Bodyguards