Disclaimer: So not mine…Naruto I mean. Any songs I use in the story aren't mine either.

Naruto: Ever notice how blacksyryn usually has songs or song lyrics in her stories?

Sasuke: (highlighting some text in a book) Yeah…and?

Naruto: Why does she do it?

Sasuke: Probably because she's not talented enough to pull out human emotion using her own words so she has to take them from songs and manipulate the reader into feeling what she wants them to feel.

Naruto: Umm…are you sure?

Sasuke: What else could it be?

blacksyryn: She could just like songs and music. Or maybe she thinks that a certain song fits a character or the mood of the story.

Sasuke: No. (highlights a random word in the book and looks it up in the dictionary he always keeps with him) I think it's the reason I gave.

blacksyryn: I'm too exhausted to argue with you.

Naruto: Then go to sleep.

blacksyryn: Shut it…I can't.

Itachi: I can put you to sleep.

Sasuke: Hi nii-chan. (doesn't look up from book)

Naruto: You're not going to try and kill him?

Itachi: He'll only fail.

Sasuke: Nii-chan's right. I can't yet.

Itachi: Why not? (intrigued)

Sasuke: I'm only on Chapter 4. (holds up book)

Naruto: (reads title) So You Want To Kill Your Brother and Avenge Your Clan: 10 Ways to Get Strong Fast

Itachi: Foolish, foolish brother.

Lee: blacksyryn would like to warn the readers that this story contains self-inflicted pain and mutilation.

Naruto: Why is it always you who gives warnings like that or comments directly to the readers?

Lee: I…don't…really know. Huh.

We All Fall Down

Kiba kicked a few stones out of his way as he walked through the forest. Normally, he would be bounding through the trees and executing acrobatics worthy of a circus performer. Normally, his loud laughter would scare away the squirrels and rabbits that inhabited the woods around his home village. Normally, he would have his dog with him.

Akamaru couldn't walk and there was no one he could truly blame but himself.

The red marks on Kiba's face wrinkled as he frowned and bit his bottom lip.

It's a long lonely road,
Where do I go?
Looking for some place
That feels like home.

He could blame Sasuke for running away or Sakura for crying the way she did or Naruto for being the stubborn bastard he is for wanting to go after him. Hell, Kiba could even blame his own mother for raising him to be a stubborn bastard as well. But it didn't change the fact that he consciously used a jutsu he knew that Akamaru wasn't ready to use in battle yet.

That was his decision. So it was his fault.

His fault.

Been searching so long.
Where did I go wrong?
Maybe the answer
Is somewhere beyond…

The brown-haired teen fell to his knees in a small clearing and lowered his chin to his chest. His sister warned him that his partner was too small to use the Garoga. Akamaru barely managed to go through with the Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro. It was Kiba's will and determination that pushed the dog to complete the double-headed wolf transformation.

Akamaru never liked to let Kiba down.

So now the small white puppy was at his sister's house, watched over by her own dogs and recovering from having all of the muscles in his legs torn.

And it was all because Kiba wanted to use the Double Wolf Fang in battle.

The stars
In the sky.
And who
Knows why?

Sighing, the teen removed his jacket and revealed the barely healed wound he inflicted on himself during the long battle. He didn't wear a shirt under his jacket; the cloth rubbed against the scab and irritated him. Kiba didn't like to put up with things that irritated him. His hand passed over the packet of senbon he had strapped to his thigh.

People would be surprised to know that the Inuzuka knew how to handle the fine metal weapons. They required a subtlety many agreed Kiba did not possess. Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, caught him practicing one day and challenged him to a little contest. When everything was over, the medic gave Kiba a pat on the shoulder and said that he could give Genma a run for his money. The memory brought a small smile to his lips, but it was soon gone.

He wasn't here to smile.

We all fall down.
Life is taking its toll
Yes, I'm outta control.

He pulled out one of the long, thin needles and stared at it. Sunlight glinted off of the metal and mesmerized the teen. It was sharp. It had to be if it was going to be an effective weapon. Kiba watched in a daze as his hand brought the finely honed point to his bicep. His eyes closed in bliss as it pierced his flesh and pain radiated from the spot where the needle imbedded itself.

He picked up two more senbon and carefully pushed them through the light colored flesh on his abdomen that marked where he stabbed himself with his own kunai during his battle with Sakon and Ukon. He was aware of his actions and made sure not to place the implements too deep into his wound. The senbon were thin enough that they wouldn't produce more than a circle-sized scab on his skin about half a centimeter thick.

Yeah, we all fall down.
It's my dignity
That's saving me
Tonight.

No one would see the self-inflicted wounds. But if they did, it wouldn't look like anything but a scabbed over zit or something like that. An idea occurred to the teen and he grabbed a few more senbon.

As I walk through this maze,
Is this just a phase?
Will all my tomorrows be this way?

Using the senbon already in his arm as a reference point, he slid more and more of the deadly needles into his arm. He worked slowly. He wanted to make sure that the wounds would scar. That, and he was relishing the dull, throbbing the imbedded needles provided him. His eyes were half-closed in pleasure as he placed the last senbon into his now jerking arm.

The night is so black
In front and in back.
Sometimes it's so dark
You don't know where you're at.

Like the star
Way up high
Dropping out
Of the sky.

Kiba sat on his heels as he let his head snap back and he stared at the sunlight filtering from the tree branches above him. Blood from his wounds flowed weakly down his arm and provided him the only warmth he felt at the moment.

His mother didn't punish him for what he did to Akamaru, he realized. Instead, she ran her hand through his messy hair and muttered something about things happening in battle and on missions. She didn't know that he broke the first rule she gave him when she gifted him with the puppy.

"Some see ninken as tools," she told the young boy. "But they're more than that. Akamaru will be more than a ninja dog for you, Kiba. He will be your brother and you will be his. Never ask anything of him that you wouldn't ask of me or your sister."

"I'm sorry, kaa-san," Kiba cried as his arm twitched again. If he left the senbon in for more than five minutes, then he ran the risk of infection. But he wasn't done punishing himself just yet.

We all fall down
Life is taking its toll
Yes, I'm outta control

Yeah, we all fall down
It's my dignity
That's saving me
Tonight

He tore the senbon in his stomach out and reached up to do the same to the group in his arm. More blood flowed as the needles pulled free of his muscles. He quickly took a strip of cloth from his first aid kit and soaked it with the rubbing alcohol he kept in it.

He took the soaked linen and pressed it against his open wounds. He hissed in pain and blinding pleasure forced his eyes closed. He leaned back until his shoulders hit the dirt behind him and gave himself to the sensations coursing through him.

Lift me up.
So I can see,
Outside of me,
And what could be
A different life

We all fall down…

When the worst of it passed, he sat back up and wiped the bloody rag down his arm. He bandaged the new design competently and cleaned his weapons. Kiba's movements were automatic and concise. If his injured arm twitched a few times, he disregarded those instances and continued with his task.

When he stood up he decided he'd eat dinner with Naruto at Ichiraku's. If he went home now, his mother would smell the fresh blood on him before he even made it through the door. He left his jacket off and headed back for the village. The new bandage already had blood seeping through it, showing the design he created rather brilliantly.

Blazed in bloody red on his bicep was the symbol that was etched onto his forehead protector.

The symbol of the village he and his partner called home.

Konoha.