Diclaimers: A, I don't own Naruto. B, I don't own SR-71s "Goodbye" which is basically Martini's poem.

Bleeding Martini
By Areku1993
Chapter two: Inuzuka Kiba

Martini sat up in bed, smoothing down her black silk pajamas. She grabbed her brush off her bedside table and pushed it through her coal black hair until it was smooth and as soft as her pajamas. She set it down and turned, peering out her window, blinking owlishly against the bright sun. She hadn't said a word since when Gaara said she could go to Konoha.

Sharp knuckles were rapped against the door, capturing Martini's attention. What time was it? Seven? AM? Who could need her at this time?

"... Come in..." She called in a rather quiet tone.

"Ano... H...Hi." Hyuuga Hinata peeked around the doorframe. "I'm... H-Hinata. K-Kiba-kun and I th-thought it would b-be best if I c-came up t-to get you in c-case you were un-undressed..."

"That was smart of you, Hinata-san." Martini commented. She swung her legs around her bed and stood. "I'll be down in a minute."

"A-All right... We'll be d-downstairs in the ki-kitchen..."

Martini regarded this with a nod and set about the task of choosing what earrings to take and which to leave behind. The last thing Hinata saw before closing the door were the magnificant diamonds Martini pulled uncerimoniously from her jewelry box.

The Hyuuga heir returned to the kitchen where Inuzuka Kiba tapped his fingers against the table. "Well?" He asked.

"She'll be down soon. She needs to get ready to leave, I think." Hinata replied, stutterless. Kiba was, after all, a teammate.

"Is that so? Mm." He nudged his enormous dog with his foot. "Akamaru, why don't you go upstairs and... Introduce yourself?"

Akamaru barked and trotted up the stairs. Aufer set down a tray of expensive looking tea, nodding briskly. "My apologies for making you two come all the way out here."

Kiba wrinkled his nose, but Hinata accepted the tea and sipped it slowly. "Aufer, is it?" She asked. Aufer nodded. Kiba let Hinata speak to Aufer alone, being more used to speaking to powerful people than he.

"What are you to the family, Aufer-kun?" She asked.

"I'm a servent, actually." Aufer explained. "My family has always served Martini's, just as the lower branch serves the main branch of the Hyuuga family, which you are no doubt from judging by your pale eyes. We're just not related, that's all. I've known Martini until she was a little girl; she's a lot like you are, Hinata-sama. She's very quiet, but I've seen her angry once. It's not a very pretty sight."

"What does her mother do for a living?" Hinata asked with an air of nobility.

"Her mother is an actress. She does more local films than national, which is why you've most likely never heard of her. Very rich, but she usually travels for her movies. She was never a, pardon me saying, a good mother figure to Martini."

"What about her father? What does he do?"

"Hinata-sama, Martini's father was tried and executed for murder when Martini was just a little girl."

Kiba and Hinata looked at each other, but were interrupted with a loud bark from upstairs. Kiba jumped and ran up after his dog, because only he could understand him. Hinata blinked and looked back at Aufer, who was suddenly down holding a thin book towards her. She took it and leafed through the pages.

"Martini's old diary. She has several of them. We found this one when we were planting a tree in the backyard. It was buried in a well covered hole."

Hinata, pausing now and then to read various enties, came to a halt on a certain page.

"I'm everything you know,
You wonder friend or foe.
I'm the burning in your throat when you swallow.
Then you spit me out,
Stomach full of doubt,
Now you're faking every word
Out of your mouth."

She looked up, cocking an eyebrow at Aufer. "What's this?"

"A poem. I did a little research and discovered it's actually a song written by a rock band called SR-71." Aufer shrugged. "After some thought, I concluded it was about her mother, Tori."

"And why do you think that, Aufer-kun?"

"Well, because she travels, Tori can't keep many promises. I think I know what made Martini hate Tori so much. Several years ago, when Martini was about ten, Tori made a promise that she would be home the entire week of Martini's birthday. But the producers of her next movie found the perfect place, and they had to shoot a scene while it was perfect."

"So what happened?"

"Tori missed the entire week, including Martini's eleventh birthday."

Hinata frowned. "That's not very motherly. My father, Hyuuga Hiashi, at least gets me something on my birthday. He hates me because 'I'm useless.' But not even showing up, well, that's even beyond him."

Meanwhile...

Akamaru wagged his tail and ran upstairs as Kiba told him to. The intelligent dog sniffed for Martini's scent and found her door, bumping his head against it to push it up. Surveying the room with his dark eyes, the dog saw and sensed no presence of Martini. Following her scent, he picked his way through the rather neat room and put both paws up on the windowsill to see over it. The first thing he saw was Martini, jumping off a tree limb, landing on the ground with a sigh, and running off. barking loudly, he followed out the open window and jumped into the tree.

That was when Kiba arrived in the room. He too smelled Martini and looked out the window, watching Akamaru jump out of the tree to give chase.

"Dammit, Akamaru!" He jumped out the window and landed on the ground with a small burst of chakra. Summoning chakra to his feet, he ran off after the two.

Martini looked over her shoulder at Akamaru, who was gaining quickly. Why was she running? She didn't want to leave Sunagakure. This was her homecountry...

Martini didn't get far.

Soon later, she came to a small lake. This was where the people of Sungakure got their water. Martini, still looking back at Akamaru, tripped over a rock and was sent sprawling into the water.

Akamaru stopped at the water's edge and Kiba ran up next to his dog. Regarding his client with a puzzled eye, he rolled up his pants and waded into the water to help Martini out. "Dignified."

"Shut up."

Kiba sighed and put his parka on her shoulders. "Why did you run?"

"I don't want to go," Martini replied in a small voice. Akamaru braced his back and let Martini sit on it. He and Kiba started to walk back to Martini's house. Kiba looked at her; was this girl related to the Hyuuga's? Her voice was certainly quiet like Hinata's.

"Why not?"

"Sunagakure is my homeland... I couldn't leave them in a time of need, no matter how useless I am."

Kiba threw up his arms enthusiastically. "SURE YOU CAN!"

Martini sighed. "...Inuzuka..."

Kiba shrugged. "Well, come on anyway. We'd better get back to your house. We have to pack up your stuff and get moving for Konoha."