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A/N: Wooo I had lots of fun here! Unlike Chapter 2 where I had to struggle through many of the scenes –especially Sasuke's flashback- this chapter was practically a breeze! Kiba was lots of fun to play with and Shino too! –Though I still have some trouble setting his personality straight, with so in depth chapters on him, it is kind of hard to get a good grip on him, the little bugger- Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!
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Pairing Warning(s): SasuxNaruxSasu, ShinoxKiba.
Other Warning(s): Long Chapter, blah blah blah, you should know all this by now. Heh.
"Lalapopo": Speech in demon form/ animal form/ telepathy
"Nyapapo": Speech in normal humanoid form/ human speech
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Notes to understand story better:
For demons, excess stamina is automatically converted to chakra, and it is constantly stored for later use. Unlike canon, where the shinobis have to convert it consciously, demons don't.
While I was writing this chapter, I repeatedly replayed one song, Broken Wings, the Ending theme of Trinity Blood –it helps me create the mood, especially for Hinata's death scene-. For those interested in listening to it, the link can be found on my profile, it is a yousendit link and will eventually expire, though, when it does, just email me and I will try my best to refresh it as soon as possible. However my deal shall only last for 2 weeks and after that, I won't send it anymore.
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Debts of Blood
Chapter 3
-Inuzuka Kiba: Lord of Dogs-
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When Sasuke awoke, it was a slow and gradual process.
He had never been a morning person, never been and never was. But one of the many rules of discipline for a young clan head was that he should never been seen in bed past the light of dawn, at least not until the sun fell once more. Forced to obey this rule, Sasuke eventually trained himself to wake up in the morning –although it had been once jokingly theorized that Sasuke's horrid personality was because he did not have enough sleep- but that did not mean that he liked waking up in the morning.
It was warm, a nice warm cocoon of heat, that was the first conscious thought in his mind as he wriggled a little, pulling his cold feet under the soft, warm covers, to slip them between the smooth heated calves tangled with his own. Then he opened his eyes, and even that was slow. His eyelids fluttered open, long lashes dusting his cheekbones as he laboriously opened his eyes to the wakeful world.
The first thing he saw was a peaceful sleeping face, beautiful and serene. Strands of orange-tinted gold dangled around the angelic face, unmarked except for six sharp scars, three on each side of the sleeping angel's face.
And Sasuke blinks, as he struggles to recognize the face. He moves closer to the other warm body, and does not stop until both their foreheads touch, and their breaths mingle. Gentle puffs of heat and moisture mix and spread out against both their faces as Sasuke leans nearer to Naruto, barely awake and hardly conscious of what he was doing.
Then he remembers.
His eyes widens as the memories come flooding back, some his and some not. Images of sleeping faces whirl past him, some of a beautiful pink-haired angel while others show a peaceful blond. And he remembers Naruto first, before Sakura. He remembers memories the soul reminisces while the body does not, and at first he is confused, but then his mind sorts them out, and Sasuke finally regains his bearing on his life.
Silently, he detangles himself from Naruto, and sits up upon their makeshift bed in the shadowy cave. Black eyes sharp and awake as they looked over his surroundings. He took in the tidied pelts and especially the small fire blazing in the corner, it would seem that Naruto had woken up sometime during the night to make a small fire.
Pushing away the silky pelt they had been using for as a cover, he shifted to get out of bed, but freezes when he feels his naked calf brush against the soft fur. Squinting in the weak orange light, he stares at his clothes, unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time.
The soft worn feeling of clothes commonly worn was draped all over his body, in a deep black yukata almost identical to Naruto's own. Looking down, he pulls absently at the crimson obi holding the yukata close, a look of confusion on his face. Where were his coat, and his original clothes? He still had a switchblade in one pocket too. Sasuke shifts, twisting around to inspect the back thoroughly.
He glimpsed a fan-shaped symbol on his back, but was soon distracted when he found his switchblade, jammed between the folds of the obi. Running his fingers over the handle, Sasuke proceed to climb out of bed, unknowingly watched by sleepy blue eyes, as Naruto –disturbed by Sasuke's movements- woke up too.
"G'd mornin." Naruto mumbles, too sleepy to form clear syllables yet.
Sasuke stops where he is and turns back to watch the blond yawn, stretch and sit-up –rather like a cat, he thinks-, but then Naruto freezes just as he is in the middle of another one of his stretching sessions to stare at Sasuke with blatant amusement. Glaring back at Naruto, Sasuke frowns and narrows his eyes warily in challenge, daring Naruto to make a joke about his morning personality.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Naruto said at last, after enduring Sasuke's "good morning" good-naturedly, as his lips quirked upwards into a bemused smile.
"Shut up." Sasuke growled –he didn't think much about that comment; he always woke up on the wrong side anyway-, and reached out to hit the blond on his head, but immediately abandoned that idea when his already-revealing yukata was lifted even higher up his legs. Sitting back down with a strangled gasp of –rather subdued, but then again Sasuke was a noble after all and everything nobles did was subdued- shock, he tried to pull the edges lower, but only succeeded in pulling down his front. The back however stubbornly refused to be pulled down and even stretched upwards with a defiant resistance.
Naruto watched this all with a leery grin, small bouts of chuckles already erupting from behind his tightly clenched jaw. Sasuke flashed him a withering glare –and lengths of pale skin longer than a model with a miniskirt- and reached behind himself to try and tug his yukata down. But what he grabbed when he reached back wasn't exactly what he expected, and frowning bewilderedly, he turned back to see what he had grasped in his hand.
The crescent length of midnight black fur stuck out like a sore thumb –or like the tail of a particularly curious kitten-, it did not wag but one got the impression that if the tail had a face, it would be looking rather smug now. Sasuke however did not have the time to analyze the emotional abilities of his tail, he was too busy boggling at the sight of it. How and when the heck did he get a fucking tail!
"NARUTO." He howled silently –and that would be another talent only nobles had and no one questioned-, before gesturing rather energetically at the offending limb he now clutched. "EXPLAIN THIS."
Naruto however, could not quite explain, as he was a little bit too busy laughing his pert little ass off, rolling around upon the mountain of pelts they were perched upon. Between his own boiling rage and Naruto's strangled mutterings of "Priceless! His face! Priceless!", Sasuke pieced together a half-assed idea of what was going on, and with a snarl of -rampaging- rage, he pounced upon Naruto, his –metaphorical- fangs and claws ready to exact vengeance for his humiliation.
However it seemed that his mind –and he damned that smug piece of shit- had a screwed up way of processing his thought processes, and although Sasuke knew what he was actually now, and what he may very well be, it still didn't quite prepare him for the truth when it finally came. And thusly, Naruto found himself pinned not by a enraged human but an enraged wolf, handsome as he was deadly, and deadly large he was, his paws almost bigger than Naruto's face itself.
His pelt shone wild and bright under the pale orange light, and his face was prideful and handsome, the King of mountains and rocks, and leader of the loyal, The Wolf. Naruto smiled at him, undaunted by the soft growls from the enormous Wolf above him, and gently he caressed the side of his face, long fingers running across downy-soft fur.
Frozen in the moment of time, Sasuke's eyes widened.
He caressed your face, blue eyes broken and breaking, gently he pressed kisses upon your brow, and whispered pleads to your ears. But you could no longer listen, and blindly you nuzzled into the familiar smell, giving and searching for reassurance. You had long lost the ability to feel, pain burning everything to a dull throb, but strangely only his gentle touch broke through all to reach you, and with that last feeling of being loved, you faded away into the darkness where you should have gone to long ago.
Naruto smiled, a gentle wistful smile, and ran his hand down the side of his face once more before he grinned a devious grin, and wriggled sneakily out from under Sasuke to run up the tunnel, feet quick and sure. Upon the realization that his prey had managed to escape his clutches, Sasuke shook his head free from Past Sasuke's memory to bound up the tunnel towards Naruto, and like a bull in a china shop he made a mess while doing it.
Pelts lay in haphazard dirt-stained piles in Sasuke's wake but the worst casualty of all was the poor tunnel, whose small size could not accommodate The Wolf, and since Sasuke had not quite grasped the fiendish business of transformation, he was left with the only choice of ramming his way through. The tunnel was never quite the same after he was done with it.
Bursting out into the cool fresh air of morning forests, Sasuke shook his mane free of the last clingy remains of the unfortunate tunnel, and growled, nose pointed to the ground as he tried to sniff out Naruto's scent. Sasuke had fitted surprisingly well to his new form despite the disorientation –which usually stumped young demons upon their first try-, it was a hard change, from the humanoid body to that of an animal, and even though the mind remained –thankfully- the same unlike those spells of human creation, it was hard to go from visual-heavy to sense-heavy.
But Sasuke did not find himself getting confused by the black –grey- and white world he now found himself in, colored only by scents and power, instead he found himself liking it far better than a human's body, the animal simplified things and made things much clearer to him, it was well, straightforward and honest and that was what Sasuke liked –although some may giggle and make not-so-subtle comments about how Naruto could basically be the personification of those two qualities-. Armed with new clarity, Sasuke pursued the golden scent flitting tantalizingly in the air, his mind dogged and determined to catch the golden fiend that had teased him so daringly.
And there! Ahead of him he sighted the golden fiend.
The Fox playfully curled his fluffy tails around his body in a 'come hither' gesture, and obediently he settled down to wait for The Wolf to catch up. But to Sasuke's consternation, just as he got close enough to snap at Naruto's heels The Fox sneakily upped and ran, nine tails waving cheekily in the air behind him. Snarling in rage, Sasuke gave chase.
Somehow during the process of 'chasing the golden fiend in ultimate RAGE', Sasuke found his anger melting away and a far more pleasant emotion wriggling in. It was…childish, stupid, and it was happy. Letting his tongue loll out of his mouth as his long limbs stretched, the familiar burn of exertion settling nicely in his joints as he raced alongside Naruto, trees and grass whizzing past in a blur of adrenaline and excitement.
The Fox ran in half-leaps and occasional bounds while The Wolf himself ran uniformly in long powerful lopes, easily covering the equal distance of two leaps for The Fox in one stretch, and playfully the two canines raced each other through the forest like year old cubs -Naruto subtly guiding them through the maze of trees-.
Although Sasuke felt like he could probably run to the ends of the earth and back, Naruto knew better, and nipping at the heels of the wolf, he gently slowed them both to a stop. Upon stopping, Sasuke quietly laid down on all fours, pink tongue hanging out comically as he panted, ebony eyes sharp as he watched The Fox –whose attention seemed to be caught by something interesting-.
Then like a lightning bolt, The Fox suddenly leapt into action, and he was a mere flash of gold against the green of the forest as he sped away into the shadowy green. And Sasuke, taken by surprise by the abandonment of his friend, pricks his ears sharply and quickly gets to his feet. However his worry turned out to be unneeded, as Naruto trots back soon enough, a twitching bleeding deer clasped firmly within his jaws.
Sasuke gives him a glare that spoke volumes about his annoyance about stupid foxes running off without any word of warning. "Idiot." He muttered without –much- heat, and trots over to meet The Fox and his quarry.
Despite having a large –still rather alive- deer in his mouth, Naruto somehow manages to give the impression that he was grinning, and he bumps his head affectionately against The Wolf, before he drops the deer to the forest floor. The deer lands with a loud smack, and for a short moment, it thrashes madly, long legs kicking out as it tried to stand up once more, but it soon stilled when its efforts proved fruitless, and instead it tried to pretend to be a rock in hopes that its soon-to-be killers would forget about it.
Lowering his muzzle to the bloody animal, Sasuke sniffs it briefly, before he takes a single lap at its fur.
Naruto yips in mirth as he watches The Wolf back away, horrified by the thick taste of deer musk, and he continues to yip until The Wolf shoots a venomous glare his way. Obediently he quiets down, and trots towards the twitching deer, lying down on all fours before it, he proceeds to rip all its fur off –although he mercifully strangles it to death first-.
Spitting out the small but growing pile of blood stained brown beside his paw, Naruto continues to de-fur the deer, stopping only when he sees a respectable naked patch of red before him. Standing up, he motions Sasuke to the patch he had just excavated and turns away to make another one –for himself this time-.
"What? You don't expect me to eat that do you?" Sasuke roared in idignation, shaking his mane in half-distress and half-shock –because he found himself drooling at raw meat…RAW MEAT of all things-. "Its raw!" He cried, when Naruto turned back –his muzzle bloody- and gave him a one-eyed stare.
"Sashimi." Naruto offers after a long minute of no-blinking staring, "Think Sashimi."
Sasuke does not look so convinced, but still he trots forward and with much hesitation, he flops down beside Naruto who had already tucked into their early morning meal and was swallowing down the meat hearty gulp by hearty gulp. Regally he bends his neck, and finally succumbs to his hunger, thrusting his muzzle quickly into the open cavern of slimy red Naruto had already dug into, he blindly nipped a piece of meat and gulped it down as fast as he could.
Surprisingly, it didn't taste all that bad. And Sasuke wagged his tail unconsciously as he carried on nipping at the meat, Naruto watched him pick out of the corner of his eye with bemusement. Soon enough, Naruto being the mischievous bastard that he was had decided that a little cheekiness was needed for Sasuke to really enjoy the meal.
Unbeknownst to Sasuke, blue eyes carefully watched him as he periodically picked out pieces of meat to gulp down, and it was during one of this gatherings that Naruto snapped towards him suddenly, and taken unawares by The Fox, Sasuke could only watch as his meat was stolen and gulped down. The Fox quickly returning to his own side as if he had not just stolen from The Wolf's very own muzzle.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. This meant war.
The rest of their meal was spent stealing each other's food, and eventually –after the poor dear- I mean deer had been picked bone-clean- they managed to finish their morning meal –although Naruto insisted on crunching up the bones. "Its protein-filled! Good for bones! But of course Ramen is a thousand times better." Sasuke gave Naruto the benefit of his doubt- leaving only the slimy remains of fur and organs for any opportunistic scavengers to find.
"Ah." Naruto said -after he was done with the bones-, as he rolled kittenishly onto his back while his long tongue flicked out to lick his jaws, "That was a good meal."
Sasuke did not respond in answer, instead he queasily lay down on his side and tried to digest the meat rolling and tumbling madly inside his stomach. "Ugh." He groaned, and tried not to move. He was after all, still unused to such a barbaric way of eating –and especially the food they ate-, but with each passing second he spent in his new body, everything just became a little bit easier and simpler to accept but still it was too early for him to be used to having raw meat in his belly, and with that thought he made another dying groan.
At the sight of the not-so-well Wolf, Naruto immediately sat up and padded concernedly over to his side. Settling down beside Sasuke, Naruto lowered his head and slowly but firmly started licking his belly. "Feeling better?" He asked in between licks, and Sasuke growled at first but then he decided that dignity could go fuck itself until he felt better, and he nodded his head slightly, allowing the babying until he felt better to want his dignity back.
Naruto however, was being uncooperative in that aspect, and once he felt that Sasuke was feeling good enough, he quickly padded out of batting reach of the ruffled Wolf –who was looking rather put out and undignified-. Sasuke gave him a withering glare for his efforts, and sat up to watch The Fox expectantly.
"Human. Now." He demanded with the language capability of a one-year old –although his pronunciation was significantly better-.
With his bushy tails thumping on the ground, Naruto nodded complacently, "Its simple really, just concentrate on your human form and you'll shift back."
And to prove to Sasuke –who had gave him a suspicious glare- that it did indeed work, he immediately did so, and Sasuke found himself staring not at a honey-gold nine-tailed fox but a blond young man, sitting upon the leafy ground beside a deer carcass dressed in nothing but a yellow yukata –and Naruto really was not helping with the way he spread his legs-.
Giving Naruto one more doubtful glare, Sasuke closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of his humanoid form.
Blue eyes watched as black melted back into pale cream, fur receding into skin and cloth as claws and fangs shrunk to much more recognizable sizes, and within Sasuke, Naruto knew that organs were shrinking and disappearing as some grew to take its place, although Naruto knew the most painful part of this transformation has yet to come. Having lived for so long, his reception to the pain of transformation had long dulled away and he almost forgot that it even hurt in the first place.
There it comes, he thinks as he watches as Sasuke reaches the last part of transformation, spine breaking and bending as it struggles to conform to a human's size and shape. Naruto isn't surprised that Sasuke did not scream, in a way he expects Sasuke not to. Not because he had the experience of a life to back him up but rather that it was in his nature not to. When it is finally well and done, he watches as Sasuke –on all fours on the ground- grits his teeth and rides out the pain still lingering.
"Is it always so painful?" Sasuke asks, as he lifts his head to watch Naruto.
"Only at first." Naruto answers, smiling as he sat beside Sasuke and gently tugged on his tail.
Sitting down, his legs spread out before him –he was still clad in the yukata but if Naruto could spread his without care then Sasuke could do so too-; Sasuke slaps Naruto's hand away from his tail and gives the blond a withering glare. "Stop that."
Undeterred by the warning, Naruto carried on smiling, his hand reaching out to latch onto Sasuke's hand instead of his tail. Sasuke blinks at the contact and stares silently at the blond out of the corner of his eye. He keeps on watching as Naruto stands up and without having Naruto to tug on him, he follows, fingers curling around the warm ones that held his own as he stood up, long legs straightening gracefully.
"Thank You." Naruto murmurs, a soft appreciation towards him, but before Sasuke could ask him why he was thanking him, Naruto pulls their interlocked hands to his lips and he gives Sasuke's knuckles a quick peck, before he grins and turns towards some unknown direction, "To Jiraya's Mountain!" He yells, and they set off running once more.
Within Sasuke, he could feel The Wolf merrily wagging his black plumed tail, happy as he could ever be, and Sasuke finds himself agreeing with The Wolf, he was happy and it was a weird feeling to him but he was happy with Naruto and it was all that mattered.
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(Flashback 2: The Fall of Inuzuka Kiba)
Hyuuga Hinata, dearly beloved wife of Inuzuka Kiba.
Neji barely made a sound as he padded up to the somber man kneeling before his cousin's plaque; his arms were crossed as he looked down upon the unkempt appearance of the young Lord of the Dog Clan. He sighed inwardly at the sight –and winced a little at the smell, it was of dried blood, sweat and tears-, "Kiba. Go home."
Kiba did not respond to Neji's words, instead he carried on staring at the gently smiling face looking out from the simply painted picture; it was of a lady who wasn't beautiful by breathtaking standards but beautiful all the same. She was beautiful because of her inner beauty, which shone out even through her plain face, neither exotic nor striking, a feat little women managed to achieve.
This time Neji sighed audibly, as he kneeled down beside his comrade and his cousin-in-law. "Hinata wouldn't be happy to see you like this." He said, turning his face to watch as red-rimmed eyes stared on, unreadable and empty.
"Kiba." He snapped, a little louder than before. The young Lord still refused to answer, and Neji almost wanted to hit him, instead he reigned in his urges and pressed the bridge of his nose tightly. "Kiba." He tried again, voice tense and unhappy. "This is not the time and place to try and starve yourself to death. Casualties happen, Hinata was just one of them. We have to move on. It's a war we are in now."
This time Kiba does respond, turning his head slowly to pin the Hyuuga with his black, black eyes, sharp and almost insane. "Just…a casualty? Hinata was just… a casualty?" Neji narrowed his eyes at Kiba's tone, but refused otherwise to budge, "Move on Kiba."
It was just as well that Neji had always been a tad paranoid, or he would have never been able to block Kiba's blow. Grunting with the effort, Neji slid backwards on the polished wooden floor, one hand pushing back against Kiba's fist as he reached for his kunai.
"HINATA WAS NEVER A CASUALTY! SHE WAS MY WIFE! YOUR COUSIN!" Kiba roared, as he pulled his fist back to deliver another blow. The blow never reached its target however, as Neji leapt into the air and quickly flipped out of Kiba's reach, however he winced even so, as Kiba punched a hole into the wooden floor.
"Shit. Kiba!" Neji cursed, left with no choice but to subdue his raging cousin-in-law before Kiba destroyed the grand Hyuuga Hall in his blind rage. Settling into a defensive stance, Neji waits, as Kiba approaches before he bursts into motion, using his superior taijutsu to deliver a series of quick punches to The Dog, meant to subdue not injure.
With the last punch, Kiba skids across the floor, to slam against the wall, and he lies there motionless and unconscious, days of kneeling vigil before Hinata's memorial plaque and Neji's attack taking away the last of the energy he had. Neji straightens, and stands up before walking over to Kiba's unconscious body.
"You're not the only one who's sad. But this is a war. We have to know when to forget and when to remember." He whispers, white eyes a little sad, a little broken as he looks upon the battered form on the floor, still clothed in anbu gear, stained with his cousin's blood and his tears.
Bending down to heave Kiba on one shoulder, he quietly makes his way out of the empty hall, stopping only to politely request a servant to patch up the hole in the Hyuuga Main Hall's floor.
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"Kiba." A soft voice summons him from sleep. Kiba blinks open his eyes, and watches as the darkened ceiling of their apartment swims into view. He lays there, half-awake and fully confused before he blinks once more, and everything comes rushing back to him.
"Hinata!" He cries, and lunges out of bed to grab the white-clad figure at his bedside. "You're back! I was dreaming! I had to be!" Kiba cries desperately as he clutches at the soft, cottony robe, and buries his face in the pleasant-smelling lap of his beloved wife.
A gentle hand is laid upon his head, and the voice calls once more. "Kiba."
Kiba's eyes widens as he recognizes the voice, it was not his wife's voice and it wasn't even the voice of a lady but rather, it was the voice of man, and a bosom friend. It was the Hokage's- Naruto's voice.
Lifting his tear-stained face, he looks up into kindly blue eyes, so young in appearance yet so old in mind. And he wonders, where have the eyes of his friend gone to? It wasn't Naruto's eyes; Naruto could never look so old, so kindly, so aged, this person could never be Naruto, brash, courageous, young Naruto.
"Naruto…?" He asks, and wonders where has his world gone, when had it disappeared from right under his feet, leaving him stranded and lost in the middle of nowhere.
"Yes." Naruto answers, and Kiba stares at his friend, clothed in the specially tailored robe of the Yondaime, Naruto's father, the Hokage he had always heard about and never seen, not until now. And he knows that if the Yondaime were alive he would have been the mirror image of this tired, old Naruto without a doubt.
"Neji told me what happened." He says, and strokes Kiba's hair peacefully. "I know what kind of person you are, and I know that you can't forget Hinata just like we did."
Kiba does not know what to say in response and he lies there, sick in the heart and mind, as he listens to this tired old Naruto talk. "Kiba. I am suspending you indefinitely from all duties and your rank shall be removed." Naruto says, and even as he hears Kiba's sharp, disbelieving inhalation of shock, he continues. "I will not take no for an answer. You are dismissed from my service as of this point in time."
"Heal yourself," Naruto says, in a kinder tone than before, "and when you return, know that I've a place for you. Always."
After stroking The Dog's hair for a few more minutes, Naruto leaves, but Kiba does not see him out, perhaps inwardly they both knew that he would not and would never follow him again and this, was their last goodbye, to not see they would not hurt.
"Hinata," Kiba murmurs at long last after Naruto's scent has faded away from their room, and he reaches for the picture of his wife he kept beside their bed, happy and smiling as she embraced him during their last date as youngsters. "Why am I alone? Where are you now? Why Hinata? Why?" He whispers as one lone tear streaks down his cheek.
"I'm sorry." Inuzuka Kiba, Lord of Dogs, cries as he holds the memory of his dearly beloved wife close to his heart.
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Hinata, wait for me. I'm coming.
They had never thought that they would be coming for a dead body. Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Neji never thought that they would have been coming for a dead body. They had always believed in Hinata to some extent, Kiba more then Neji did, but still they had always believed in the shy, gentle girl that had grown up into a stern yet kindly young lady, they had believed that she would be alive, waiting for them, smiling shyly but thankfully as she always did.
That would have explained their devastation when they found the bloody, mangled body of the late Hyuuga Hinata, her hand splayed out towards the direction of Konoha as she clutched one hand to her bosom, her sightless eyes soft and her pale pink lips smiling as she died. She was thinking of Kiba when she died, she had thought of her husband and one true love, the demon who had given her everything she ever wanted and more, she had died a little early but she had died a contented death.
Pulling out the kunai buried in her chest, Kiba howled as he clutched her to his chest, blood still bleeding warm and alive as it leaked down the front of his chest plate. Neji stood still behind him, frozen in shock and horrification as he stared without comprehension at his cousin's dead body. It should have never meant anything else to them other then the fact that Hinata was yet another faceless victim of the war between Sound, Sand and Leaf. It should never have meant more.
"Hinata! Hinata! Wake up! Please, wake up!" Behind the porcelain dog face, Kiba's features were screwed in misery and desperation, as he shook the cooling body of his wife, she had died mere seconds before their arrival, if they were early by just a few more seconds it would have made all the difference. But in the end, they were still late and she had still died.
Bloody hands cupped Hinata's soft pale face, and Kiba kissed his wife, again and again, mumbling desperately against her lips, a plead for her to wake up and this to all be a horrid dream.
Hinata's blood mixes with Kiba's tears, as her husband cries and holds her close, devastated and broken, with his soul mate gone for all eternity, never to love him again.
"Inu." Neji hoarse voice says –using his mission name-, as a hand grips his shoulder in a firm hold. "Let her go, Inu. She is gone."
Kiba simply shakes his head and holds Hinata closer, the half-insane hum of her favorite lullaby floating hauntingly in the air.
"Kiba!" Neji snaps, this time using his real name and he punches Kiba once –without much strength though, more of a wake-up call then anything else-, sending The Dog's head snapping to the left, as the hum stops with a harsh bloody sound.
"Lets go back." The Hyuuga says, this time calm. "She needs a proper funeral."
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It was midday, and Kiba sat at the open window in the small kitchen of his and --Hinata's –the name came to him, with a searing pain in his chest- apartment.
Although technically, his clan was rich, Kiba did not want to depend on his father's wealth for his own life. The Inuzukas, Dog Lords and Lord of Dogs, had been a servant of the Golden Foxes –or the Fire Foxes as they were better known for- for as long as Kiba's great-grandfather could remember, and it was only recently, in Kiba's father's generation that the line of servitude had been broken, and they were finally given the title of equals.
He had faintly remembered meeting a bright-eyed blond, the very first sight he had of Naruto as he waited outside the Hokage's tower for his father to finish negotiations with the Yondaime. At that time, Naruto had a young, green-eyed red head at his side, who had clung almost barnacle-like to the young boy all the time.
It was hard to forget Naruto's distinctive personality, as he gave Kiba a bright, exuberant grin and simply said: "Don't worry! My father will set everything right!".
Kiba never met the Yondaime –and didn't know much about him-, but he was strangely reassured by Naruto's words, and he found himself giving the blond boy a big wide smile of his own.
That soon became an unforgettable day; a day, which remained rather fuzzy in his memory but otherwise, almost seemed to be from yesterday. And even as he sat here now, years and years away from that one-day when he met his future Hokage, he could still feel his face struggling to smile that same big smile from that memory.
Naruto, Naruto. He had been their bosom friend, he was friend to Hinata even before Kiba came back to Konoha –for the Jounin test-, and although at that time, Hinata and Naruto had been dating, they eventually split and Naruto, he had been the one to push Hinata in Kiba's direction as he did for Kiba to Hinata. He had been their matchmaker, their confidante, their ardent supporter; he had been everything he could for them.
Sometimes, Kiba would wonder why Naruto and Hinata never ended up married. They were perfect for each other, that he knew and that he saw, but Naruto- Naruto had been the one to break their relationship. No one ever told Kiba the reason, but Hinata once quietly, looked at him and smiled sadly as she said: "He could never forget that one who broke his heart."
Nothing else was said after that, and Kiba often thought of the red-head he saw so many years ago, he wondered if that boy had eventually became Naruto's lover and his heartbreaker, and he would have gone up to confront Naruto about it, and threaten to find out where that green eyed bastard was, to beat him up and make him say sorry, if he had not seen something he should not have.
There was an unmarked tombstone, a single white chrysanthemum, a wrinkled picture and a crying blond laid at its feet.
That was all Kiba needed to know, and he quietly left the private graveyard of the Golden Foxes, the Ginkitsune.
Never once had he thought about that image again until today, and he wondered, if Naruto had felt what it felt to lose a loved one. But then again, he already had his answer, the day he saw that wrinkled picture of that solemn black-haired man, with a small almost unnoticeable smile on his face as he held a sleeping Naruto in his arms. Naruto had loved, lost and never quite moved past, but at least he had tried to move on.
"I'm a disappointment aren't I?" Kiba asks Hinata's smiling picture, and he smiles back as he feels his heart breaking into little pieces. "Naruto. He had, he had lived through this, and almost no one knows."
He tilts his head backwards in the glowing midday sun, and watches as the afternoon crowd bustles around the town square. "Is it alright for me to hold on?" He asks, as the wind carried his words away into the sky. "Is it alright for me to keep on holding onto you?"
No answer comes to his ears, but Kiba knows what everyone else would have said. However he was not looking for anyone's answer other then his own –not even Hinata's- and selfishly, he pulls Hinata closer, a broken smile curling his lips as he held her close.
"I don't care" He said, answering to himself and Konoha, "I don't care anymore."
- + - + - + - +
That was the last day Inuzuka Kiba's shadow stretched over Konoha, and with his wife's photo tucked away in a locket and a braided lock of her hair tied to his neck, he left Konohagakure, the only home he knew in all his life.
- + - + - + - +
Aburame Shino walked silently into a brothel, footsteps slow and steady amidst the perfumed chaos. Across his eyes, a black strip of cloth was tied, and while most might assume him to be blind, his vision was the furthest thing from failing.
Not for the first time of his life though, and despite what reasons most amorous young men and a good number of the noble public may think, it was not for the pleasures of a women's –or an unlucky not-quite-man's- flesh either. He was here simply to rest his feet, and have a cup of wine or tea.
Although many may ask why was he not dining at an inn instead, if he had just wanted something to drink, he would have answered, in a enigmatic tone of voice: "I have my reasons."
Truthfully though, he just wanted to see -or rather, hear- something interesting while dining, and contrary to rumors that inns, compared to brothels were much more interesting –he found inns horribly boring, with nothing but ancient old men spitting out story after story that he had long grew sick of- he found the opposite true. Brothels had stories too; dramas and exciting action occasionally, and they were acted out right before your eyes instead of being spun from the toothless gummy mouth of a wrinkled old man.
Though most stories consisted of less-than-pretty wives storming into the brothel to drag their sniveling husbands, screaming and struggling by their ears away from those vixens, they were still entertaining all the same. And there was one more reason Shino liked resting in brothels so much.
Usually the patrons and whores were so drunk, occupied or both at the same time that they failed to notice any difference in him, and this he was thankful for.
"What services would sir like?" A sultry enticing voice asks, as something heavy and warm drapes itself upon his side. He recognizes it as a rather flattering bosom, and he turns his face in that direction –tilting his head a little lower, as he knew he was a man, and usually he was taller than the ladies, with the exceptions of a few frighteningly tall women he had seen- while he feels his bugs scuttling up his arm and away from the suffocating pressure on his arm.
"Wine, nothing else please, Madam." He answers, already too used to the brothel's way of business to fall for such a simple trap as leaving his order open for interpretation –the first time he did that, he had ended up with a lapful of a young nubile girl, insistent on taking off his blindfold and giving him pleasures he did not want-. He could almost feel the lady pouting in disappointment –she was the matron, he realized, it was simply impossible to his mind, of the possibility of someone who sold their body to be disappointed about not having the chance to dirty it- as she shuffled away to take his order, with a little huff of exasperation as she went.
With that done and over with, he quietly made his way to a table without needing an escort. From experience he knew that the quietest tables were the safest ones, without rowdy bandits lusting for the pleasures of the human flesh –whether male or female, it didn't matter to those who lived permanently on the run and took what they could get- or horny young masters, looking for the new and exciting pleasures that life offered. He had gotten into scuffles –he had been mistaken for a whore, a rival bandit, an assassin, and a official several times before, and it was an understatement to say that it had not been pleasant- with both kinds before, and he knew what he was saying when he said "Keep away from those two at all costs." -although, it did not mean that one could not observe the antics of those two from a respectable and very long distance-.
Men who came here –whether bandits or young masters or some other detestable specimen of mankind- usually came here for the women, and those who could not afford a room or were too lazy to wait until a room was freed for their use, enjoyed their 'goods' right at the tables, it was a noisy affair always, with half-drunk men pulling down their unwilling consorts for a blatant display of shameless pleasure. However Shino knew that the brothel was not a place for modesty and decency, it was a place of shameless lust and greed, nothing else mattered beyond the haze of pleasure and flesh that they had immersed themselves in.
Shino stops, just as he feels his outstretched leg bump against the wooden leg of a chair. Blindly he felt his way closer to the table, and he had almost sat down upon the chair, when a growling voice snarled a quite warning from the other side of the table, and the silent, almost-inaudible clink of porcelain on wood was heard.
"Get off…my…table." The voice slurs, drunk and clumsy but Shino could hear the razor sharp edge hidden just beneath the beguiling surface of the drunken words.
Shino was of course taken aback by the strangeness of this special drunk. He was so sure that there had been no one at this particular spot. Whoever the occupant was, he must definitely be different in some way from all the other drunks Shino had met before. Shino had never heard a drunk this quiet for one, his images of drunks were usually accompanied by red faced men, with a bottle in one hand either singing or grumbling.
"I'm sorry to disturb but all the other tables are occupied." Shino says, and without waiting for a reply, he daringly sits right down onto an empty seat he had been aiming for before. The drunk growls softly in response but to Shino's silent relief, he does not do anything else.
And so, in silence the pair sits, Shino does not dare unfold his blindfold while the drunk was still here beside him, and the drunk in turn feels no need to start a half-assed conversation with his new companion. The silence continues uncomfortably until the servant girl comes, with soft muffled footsteps, and Shino turns his head in her direction as he feels soft hands slip a cool brittle bottle of liquid in his hands, "Here sir" she says as she places the matching cup nearby, "Wine".
Shino nods his head in thanks, and he pulls out a handful of jangling coins to drop them into her hands. "Keep the change." He says, and he can almost feel the girl's gratitude shining towards him, as he tries not to smile and pats her hand hesitantly before turning to his wine.
The girl quickly shuffles over to the drunk on the other side of the table and Shino can hear her as she clears the empty bottles, her apologies at not having enough tables whispered shyly to the man, who simply grunts in reply and grumpily orders a few more bottles, drawing out a crinkling note to pay her for the wine beforehand and to save him the hassle of paying when the wine does come.
This behavior draws Shino's curiosity, in all the time he had rested his feet in brothels or even the occasional inn, he had never seen –or rather, heard- someone pay for wine with a note. And even if the drunk had not been paying with a note, his non-amorous behavior to the servant girl –who Shino was sure, had been on the receiving end of many a pinch from horny men, drunk or not- would have raised Shino's curiosity all the same.
But he did not show his interest; it would have been suicidal and stupid to show interest –since he knew from experience that it usually resulted in him getting physically threatened, propositioned or who knows what-. If Shino was a little older and a little bit more jaded, he would have knew the drunk to be only one of two kinds of men, the heartbroken or the gay –although there was a possibility of the man being both, it was a some-what free world after all-.
Instead, Shino shows outwards calm and serenity as he pours his wine into his cup with both hands, before he places the bottle on the table gently, and picks up his cup one-handed, and sips at the wine, his shoulders hunched and defensive more out of habit then necessity.
Upon his face and especially on his blindfold, Shino could feel the drunk's eyes staring without shame or respect. However he does not mind, and instead he allows the staring without rebuke, inwardly he thinks on the intensity and accuracy of the stare projected on his face. It is strangely focused for a man who must be intoxicated, and with this supporting the theory that Shino was forming about his drinking companion, Shino further confirms the strangeness of the drunk.
To his credit though, he does not jump when a warm invading presence moves to his side –however his thoughts scatter like feathers in the wind as he feels the first touches of the searing feverish heat of a stranger's flesh-. A firm, leanly muscled arm drapes itself around his neck –his bugs scuttling off yet again-, just as he feels warm breath fanning across the side of his face, the strong bitter smell of alcohol stinging his nose.
Shino tenses under the drunk's arm, but he does not resist when strong fingers clasp his chin, to turn his face in the direction where the breath was coming from. Calmly he allows the invasion of his privacy as the drunk scrutinizes his face.
"You look nothing like her." The grumble comes from the drunk's mouth, a low growl of surprisingly sober words. "Hinata why are you doing this to me?"
And Shino hears all this with no inkling of comprehension, but he gamely follows the fingers as they pull him. He feels no threat from their proximity, the drunk emanates confusion and despair rather then lust and hunger, he knows that he is in no danger whether of the amorous or the bloodthirsty kind, it is a merely questioning touch.
"Why Hinata? Why? Why this man?" The questions come again, soft and unsure, and Shino raises both his eyebrows quizzically, he is sure that he knew no lady called Hinata. He is sorely tempted to take off his blindfold to see what the drunk looks like, but he quells his urges and stills his hand, his eyes are not exactly normal after all, and they would most likely scare the drunk away, this he did not want.
Wild strands of hair tickles his forehead as his strange company leans closer –and Shino tries not to think about how close they were-, "So, why me?" Shino asks at last, his serious voice devoid of amusement. If the stranger flinched at the sound of Shino's voice, Shino could not tell, he merely maintained the almost-non-existent distance between them, firm and unmoving.
"I don't know. Ask Hinata." The stranger answers eventually after what seemed like an eternity of staring, and before Shino is given time to absorb the words, soft, unwilling, unsure yet hopeful lips pressed against his own, and Shino can almost feel the desperation behind the action. Shino freezes upon contact, and he does nothing to stop the drunk when fingers paw at his blindfold and it is lifted above his eyes.
His eyes widen as he looks into dangerous raven-black pinpricks, untidy earth-brown strands dangling haphazardly over the sharp, ruggedly handsome face –and Shino gets the feeling that he is looking into the eyes of a wild unruly dog, perhaps wolf- and over his shoulders. Shino finds his eyes drawn unerringly towards the inverted crimson triangles tattooed onto the cheeks of the man before him, tanned and wild looking, the very personification of a force of nature, like a whirlwind he thinks, unbidden.
The face is branded into his mind, and he knows whether willing or unwilling, he will never forget the face of this particular drunk, just as he knows that the drunk will never forget his face, or rather, his eyes.
The Aburames had always been known for their eyes –although they were also well known for their unique yet formidable fighting style, a terror even to demons-, and though they had been once, distantly compared to a clan of demons –white eagles, Shino remembered- whose eyes were completely and utterly white, from pupils to iris, he knew that they were different. The most obvious difference of course was color, and where the demon's were white, the Aburame's eyes were black. The second difference was that apart from their strange coloring, the Aburame's eyes held no other power –which was a source of disappointment for opportunistic body collectors, who were always yearning for a chance to possess an ability like the Byakugan the white eagle demons possessed, and the Aburames most certainly did not-.
"Your eyes…" The man murmurs, his thumb caressing the edge of his eyelid, "…impossible." And Shino blinks as the drunk suddenly throws his head back and laughs heartily, tears leaking from the sides of his eyes with the force of his laughter, it is a reaction he has never encountered before and he is bewildered by it.
"To Fate." The drunk says at last, after he has calmed down –too fast for Shino's liking- and stolen Shino's bottle of wine. Shino gives the man one more questioning gaze before he pulls down his blindfold with a hand, and good-naturedly allows him to drink all of the wine –except for the small amount he had left in his cup still clutched in his other hand- he had ordered.
The servant girl rushes back just as Shino lifts his cup to his lips, a little swollen and bruised, the taste of the strange man still lingering. He could hear her hesitation as she approaches them, first fast then slow as she catches sight of the drunk who was previously sitting on the other side of the table, draped all around Shino.
She must be afraid, thinking that I was offended, Shino thinks as he hears her skittish footsteps come near, and he wonders why he was not offended, especially by the sudden stolen kiss.
"Here…sir." The girl mumbles, as she deposits the ordered bottles of wine upon the table. The man's arm around his shoulders curl tighter –possessively, Shino notes, and he feels a minor horrification at that realization which was of the "Possessive…WHAT!" variety- and he grunts in response, although Shino manages to get his shock under control, and to turn his face where he knew the girl was. "I don't mind." He says, and sips at the little bit of wine he has left.
Shino hears her thanks as she bows and trots away, relieved, and he feels the breath of the other man upon his face again, as the stranger leans near. "You didn't have to do that." The drunk accuses.
"I wanted to." Shino calmly answers, and nothing more is said for a few long seconds.
However the silence ends, as a cool bottle of wine is pressed into his hand, "Drink—what's your name?" The drunk demands, his tone as rude and uncouth as all the drunks out there are, yet underneath there is a sliver of a cultured voice, which intrigues Shino.
"Himushi. (Moth)" Shino graciously answers, using a name which wasn't his own.
"That's not your name." The man growls, voice angry and accusing. "Tell me your real name."
Shino calmly brings the bottle of wine to his mouth and sips directly from it, "My real name is mine alone to know, and yours to find out." He says, and does not smile when he feels his companion emanating wordless rage at his gall to say that very teasing sentence in his face.
"Then," The man growls, foiled and irritated –like a puppy that had its favorite toy taken away- "my name is Jitsume (Earth-Claw) to you too."
The ease in which 'Jitsume' picked out his not-name, made Shino suspect that perhaps Jitsume had a few secrets of his own, one that included his real name. And he uncovers yet another commodity between them. They were both obviously living lies in order to run away from the truth. But the first rule in living such lies is that should any questions be asked, none shall be answered truthfully. The unspoken rule hung tangible and obstructing between them, no questions asked and no lies shall be unraveled.
Jitsume sips his bittersweet wine, his eyes never once leaving Shino's face for the rest of the night in which they spent, soundlessly drinking in each other's solemn company.
- + - + - + - +
The next morning, Kiba wakes up in a soft, real bed, and he starts at the feeling, a little too used to sleeping on the road to be comforted by the feeling of a true bed. How long has it been since he last slept in one? He wonders, and suddenly feels the urge to laugh, good, loud and mad.
It was just as well that he did not, or he would have awakened the sleeping man, sitting up, hunched in sleep beside him. At the sight of Himushi, Kiba feels a smile breaking out on his face uncontrollably, as he feels an intimate warmth blossoming in his chest. He felt almost like he had Hinata at his side, except that she was not there and this strange, enigmatic young human was.
Raising his hand, he clutched at the locket on his chest, and held it tight as he watched the peaceful face of the sleeping Himushi, his blindfold rumpled around his neck. It was impossible, he could not believe what he was seeing and feeling, Fate-- Hinata…she was giving him a second chance, a second chance to make it all better for him, and for them.
Kiba knew he would--he had to take this chance with both his hands and hold it close, to never let it get hurt, to never lose it, not like what happened to Hinata, he could not let Himushi suffer the same fate as Hinata, not now and not ever.
With this resolution, he spent a good part of the early morning memorizing every dip and contour on Himushi's face, until every strand of hair and every patch of skin had all been immortalized in his memory, and he still wanted more, he wanted to know more about the human, to know his every likes and dislikes, his past, his future, his everything.
And it was to intense black eyes, that Shino woke up to, as the morning sunlight filtered through the paper windows, weak and gray.
He blinked, and was a little unnerved when the black eyes refused to move, but he wasn't a coward -it wasn't in his nature and he was never taught to be one-, and returning stare for stare, he unknowingly engaged Jitsume in a stare down.
Kiba had allowed the little stare down for sometime, before he flicked his gaze away, turning his head to face the windows on the far end of the room –thereby allowing Shino a nice view of his strong, long neck- it wasn't in his nature to back down either, but this was his future soul mate, and he could be a gentleman for them, and them only –by them, he meant Hinata and Himushi, or whatever his name truly was-.
Letting his hand flop down to the edge of the bed, Kiba gripped it as he sat up and turned his head to give the human a smirk. Before he stood up and sauntered cockily out of the room, clothing ruffled and mussed, his hair was an indiscernible mass of brown spikes which could almost be mistaken for a bird's nest, if one stared at it for long enough.
Shino stares at Jitsume's disappearing back with some bewilderment, before he remembers that he should not be letting anyone see his eyes, and he hastily pulls up the blindfold to shield them, as he climbs out of bed, just as he hears the light footsteps of a servant girl coming into the room.
"You must have had a good night sir." The girl –almost a lady he thinks, as he detects the sultry undertone that only women could reach- says and giggles quietly.
This makes Shino falter and freeze, he tries to open his mouth to clear up the misunderstanding –but he should have known better, two men, one bed, both ruffled and mussed, looking like they had hastily dressed, what else could they think? This was a brothel for crying out loud, they were supposed to do those things here- and he snaps it close, deciding instead to escape the room and the poorly muffled giggling.
Jitsume was no where to be seen when Shino made his way to the lower levels –where the women were lazing around, some smoking, some already drinking-, and a little disappointed by the disappearance of his one-night-companion he politely paid the matron and left, thoughts of the strange man dancing in his mind.
- + - + - + - +
"Aburame Shino."
Shino stops, mid-step and looks up into the canopy of leaves he was standing under.
Not again, he thinks, and frowns as he pulls down his blindfold, for this he needed his vision. "Yes?" He asks, words floating in thin air.
He does not even flinch when the volley of needles come towards him, merely raising one hand, watching –and hearing- as the hum of gossamer wings beats against the air and a cloud of small black pinpricks surrounds him protectively, easily deflecting the attack he had grown used to expecting.
Fisting his hand, he commands the formidable army of bugs into attacking the shinobi, whose position he had found, using the angle and force at which the needles had been propelled towards him to calculate and pinpoint his attacker's position. He does not smile however when he hears a curse, and the rustling of branches and leaves as the shinobi attempts to avoid his attack. They were all slaves of Orochimaru, and he pitied them, they must have their reasons as he did, and he wasn't about to feel glee about crushing them.
But it would seem like he expected victory too soon, and Shino can barely shield himself, as an army of wasps shoots towards him, buzzing and angry. Wincing, he draws his shield of bugs close, and tries to wear out the attack. One by one, his bugs fell to the poison of the wasp's sting, and little by little, his shield grows thinner.
"Not so smug now, are you?" His attacker says, cocky and arrogant, confident of his imminent death. The previous curse, it had simply been a feint to bluff Shino into letting down his guard.
Shino does not answer, and he grits his teeth against the one enemy he found himself bending under, as he furiously curses Orochimaru in his mind. His freedom, he was happy to have it, no matter how brief it was, and he would never be sorry that he left.
"Tell Orochimaru." He grits out, "That he can go to Hell."
His attacker laughs, and says "I will, don't worry."
And Shino almost resigns himself to death when a furious howl blasts through the forest, and his shield of bugs ripple with the force of the howl. His eyes widen, and he turns in the direction where it came from, and through the buzzing layer of bugs and wasps, he sees an enormous brown dog approaching, with the exact same tattoos Jitsume had, on its face
He…Jitsume, he was a demon.
That was the last thought running through his mind as his world blacked out, the humming bodies of the insects once again blocking the outside world from his eyes.
- + - + - + - +
Kiba had merely went to buy some food and supplies, he had planned to catch up with Himushi somewhere out of the city, and imagine his horror, when he felt the signs of concentrated chakra use right outside the town. He had immediately rushed there –in demon form- to find his second chance swallowed up in a cocoon of madly buzzing insects.
And then he saw the mark etched upon the hitai ate of the shinobi, standing smug and superior over the crouched form of Himushi
Sound.
Sound had killed Hinata.
- + - + - + - +
Shino held his hand over his face as the wasps buzzed madly around his head; stinging what flesh they could reach in their madness. The shinobi was screaming, screaming crazily and desperately, help me, help me, he was screaming, and he wasn't even thinking, he could not even think beyond the haze of pain and horror, as the Demon had rushed forwards, snapping and foaming as it clamped its jaws around him.
He had tried to summon his wasps to attack the beast, but it had been useless, the Demon was beyond pain, it was beyond hurt.
The wasps stung and stung, but it was useless, they could never pierce the Demon's thick hide, and even if they could, The Dog would never let their master go, not even upon death.
Shino watched as the mangled broken body of the shinobi was shaken and thrown upon the floor, blood splattering all over the ground and their bodies. He tilted his head upwards, just as Jitsume turned his head, and their eyes meet.
"You should have given him a cleaner death." Shino says, and breaks the tension between them effortlessly. If Jitsume had not killed him then, he would not kill him now, this he was sure of.
"I'll leave that to you. I don't do clean." Jitsume says, as he pads up to Shino, and nuzzles him with relief, "Lets redo this." He snaps suddenly, and Shino flinches a little as the sharp white teeth snap a little closer than he would have been comfortable with, and looks down into Shino's eyes firmly, "I'm Inuzuka Kiba and you are?"
This time, Shino knows that it is really his name, and it would only be expected that he replied in kind. "Aburame Shino." He answers, and The Dog grins down at him.
"Fits better." Kiba says, and shifts back into the much more familiar form of the drunk that had kept Shino company throughout the night.
"Come," Kiba says –insistent and demanding-, and tugs on Shino's arm, as he leads them off the road and into the forest. "At least two of those bastards are on their way, and I don't want you getting any more battered up."
Shino carefully follows, as he feels his face swelling up from the poison of the wasp's stings. His remaining bugs flit around them, and Kiba casts one questioning eye at them, but does nothing else.
- + - + - + - +
They were resting by a small pond Kiba had found, far away from the dead body of the Shinobi, who had died a violent and painful death, his wasps scattered around him, all dead.
Shino was sitting, quiet as he pulled at the grass, and debated on whether or not he should tell Kiba why the Sound nin were after him –The Dog had after all, saved him from imminent, painful and stinging death, he owed him the truth-. While Kiba himself was staring, wide-eyed at Shino's face, completely perfect and normal, with no traces of the wasp stings it had suffered.
He owed him the truth, Shino decided.
- + - + - + - +
The Aburame clan was a cursed family and with every generation of their descendents, their curse descended with their blood.
Unlike what the word curse may represent, the Aburame's curse was not of a spiritual kind but rather, something much more physical, namely in the form of insects, passed through their blood, which was the nesting grounds of the very bugs that brought them both fame and death.
Most Aburame children do not develop this special curse until they reach the age of ten. It is during this age that the eggs within their body –that had been docile and inactive- finally reaches maturity, and it hatches to reveal their family curse and blessing.
Bloodworms they were called, for they lived on the blood of the Aburames. However they are not purely parasitic organisms, these worms are prized amongst many who knew of their existence because they gave the Aburames a gift no other human could steal.
The gift of immortality was that which the worms gave.
For every single wound the Aburame received, the worms sacrificed their body to heal it. Using their special saliva to keep the tissue alive, while they sped up the healing process using their bodies. Most wounds disappeared within minutes of infliction, the worse ones taking only hours. But as the old saying goes, nothing comes without a price.
The worm's body has a special poison which activates every decade or so. This poison is extremely lethal to humans, and when it does activate, the Aburame is immediately given the antidote to combat the poison, if the poison is untreated for more than a week, that certain Aburame will die.
However Shino said -as he summoned his bugs to his hand-, that he no longer had the antidote.
Orochimaru had conquered his family, and with his rule, he confiscated all traces and recipes of the antidote to cripple the Aburame Clan and to force them to work for him. That had been quite a few decades ago, and by now, Orochimaru had killed all his older relatives who knew the formula to the antidote.
They were well and truly leashed and collared by the snake demon. It was only through the sacrifice of his parents and grandparents that he could live this long; they gave him their antidotes in return for his freedom, and though he could never forgive himself for abandoning them, he knew Orochimaru would keep them alive if only to let them watch as their son comes home defeated, dead or willing.
The worms constantly healed his flesh, enabling him to live through all the skirmishes –that he stumbled into- and attackers that Orochimaru sent after him, and even though he had lived through four decades away from his clan, he hardly looked older than twenty –something that was both a blessing and a curse-. However he had no more antidotes left, and by the way things were looking, he would soon be forced to return to Orochimaru, whether dead or alive.
Kiba listens to all this quietly, outwardly he shows no reaction to Shino's story, but inwardly, he was boiling with rage.
How dare Orochimaru do this to him again, and after what he did to Hinata, how dare he screw up his second chance again.
"Lets go back." Kiba says, and Shino has to strain his ears to hear his words, spoken so softly and deathly that even he –with his sharpened hearing from four decades of practice- had trouble hearing it.
He won't let Orochimaru win, not ever, and even if he had to betray Konoha to keep Shino by his side, then that was what he was going to do.
"I'll get the antidote for you. Lets go back." He says, again and grins a fierce, brave, fanged grin as the human stares at him disbelievingly.
"But-" Shino says, and falters when he feels no argument coming forth.
"You could treat it as the dowry." Kiba offers, and he grins as he watches Shino's brow furrow in confusion before the statement truly sinks in, and his face is flooded with a vibrant cherry red color.
"Dowry?" Shino asks, and this is the highest that Kiba ever heard the somber young human raise his voice to.
"Yeah, Dowry. I want you to be my mate." He says, as he fingers the lock of hair around his neck, and grins at Shino.
Later, after the human has finished with his sputtering –Did all demons treat marriage so simply! But Shino did not once say no, or any likeness to a no to Kiba's statement-, Kiba finds the same old warmth flooding his chest, except it was a little different, a little bit more wild, and a little bit more possessive, it wasn't like the shy, comforting warmth he had with Hinata, it was different and Kiba was glad it was, he didn't want to take Shino for Hinata, that would be wrong.
Kiba was glad that he had found his new home at last, and nothing was going to take it from him, not even death if he could help it.
- + - + - + - +
Orochimaru had a pleasant surprise, when the missing young heir to the head of the Aburame Clan finally returned. Not alone, but with the trusted right hand man of the Kyuubi no Kitsune of Konoha.
Oh yes, it was a pleasant surprise indeed.
Especially when he posed his irresistible deal, black eyes firm and determined as he looked upwards into Orochimaru's face.
"In return for the formula of the antidote, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about Konoha."
It was at this moment that Inuzuka Kiba fell, turning his back towards Konoha and Naruto, for Shino's life, and not once did he regret it, after all Naruto was the one who abandoned him first.
(End: Flashback 2)
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TBC
Ah! Done at last! I had great fun with this chapter, especially Kiba's past and his interaction with Shino! And well, see you guys in November, but rest assured that whenever I can type, I would type!
As a premature thank you gift, for your patience, this snippet from Chapter 4 is for you guys!
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He had been expecting Naruto to answer, but regretfully, Sasuke was the one who answered him, tone pissy and a touch miffed. "I'm not that Sasuke you asshole. I don't care whoever the fuck Orochimaru is, or even that Itachi! I have never once seen them, and I don't feel any burning need to die or kill them. So stuff your mouth and leave us alone."
Even Naruto had to turn back and look incredulously at him. After all the years spent knowing that Sasuke was obsessed with the idea of killing Itachi, and the conflicting feelings of despise and want he had towards Orochimaru for the power he offered…he could not help but gape a little at the indifference of this Sasuke towards both Itachi and Orochimaru.
"W-What did you say!" Gaara stumbled over his words, eyes wide with disbelief.
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Gaara appears! Hehe.