Rebirth II
Kiko and Tāra both walked out onto the front yard of the school. They looked around, only to find a small girl waiting for them. "Hi guys!" she said.
"Iruka must have planned this all along." Tāra said under her breath.
"Anyways, my name is Hyūga Atari." The girl said, introducing herself.
No kidding! I already knew she's a Hyūga. Hinata's in the same family, but does that mean… Tāra thought.
"Excuse me." Tāra said, lifting the girl's headband. On her forehead was a mark that looked like a whirlpool. There were marks all around it, almost like a sun, except swirling.
"Do you mind?" Atari asked.
"Yup, you're in the branch house. Which means… You're technically my cousin. Or second cousin…" Tāra said.
Atari put her headband back where it was. "What?" she asked.
"You're the daughter of Neji; I'm the adopted daughter of Hinata. That makes us related somehow…" Tāra explained.
"Oh. Okay, sure." Atari said.
"Well, well, well." A voice said behind them.
All three girls looked around. Behind them was a large dog, larger than any dog any of them had seen before. Riding on this dog was a man, who had red marks on his cheeks.
"I don't know what's worse." The man said, sliding off his dog. "Sit Akamaru." He said to his dog, who obeyed, then turned back to the girls, "Having a three girl squad, or having two Genin who are related." He sighed, "What happened to one girl and two guys on each squad. Ahh… Never mind."
All three girls looked shocked, maybe at the dog, maybe at his words. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and this is my dog Akamaru." The man said. Akamaru wagged his tail at the mention of his name, "I'm going to be your new sensei."
Tāra ran over to Akamaru, and began to pet him. "Aww… He's so cute!" Akamaru didn't mind the attention, and proceed to lick Tāra's face, and part of her arms. Tāra laughed after Akamaru licked her, but she kept petting him.
"Wow. Akamaru never enjoys attention from anyone else." Kiba pointed out. Akamaru barked and kept licking Tāra. "You must really love dogs."
Tāra nodded, "I've always wanted a dog, but Hinata would never let me have one. But I really do love dogs!"
"Well, I'm not surprised. Akamaru never lets anyone pet him if he doesn't trust them. He knows whether or not people love dogs, among other things." Kiba explained.
Akamaru poked at Tāra with his nose, pushing her waist. She fell over onto his snout, and Akamaru managed to flip her onto his back, just at the base of his neck.
"What a ride!" Tāra said, petting Akamaru's neck.
"Well, I can see that Akamaru does love someone else besides me. Maybe he'll let you ride him to where we're going!" Kiba said.
"Where are we going?" Kiko asked.
Kiba turned to look at her. "We're going to the Forest of Death for your test."
"Wait!" Tāra said, stopping her massage of Akamaru's neck. "We already passed a test. We're Genin, right?" Akamaru's strange look at Tāra forced her to continue petting him.
"True, you did pass the test. You're ninja, but not Genin. You have to pass the test if you want me to be you're sensei. Only 2/3's of Graduates make it passed the test, but I'm sure you'll all do well." Kiba explained.
"So! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Atari said.
"Alright!" Kiba said, mounting Akamaru behind Tāra, "Stand Akamaru." Akamaru understood, but was reluctant because he was enjoying getting petted. "Let's get going!"