As it had turned out, Kiba was an American orphan whose parents had died shortly after he was born. When Kiba was five, he was adopted by an old Chinese gentleman who had
come to America to visit his wife's grave. The man took Kiba back to his home in China which was an ancient temple where he trained. Upon his arrival in China, Kiba soon began
his training under his new master. Kiba learned everything he could under the old man and underwent strict training for ten years. When Kiba turned sixteen, he was told to 'go out
into the world and find your own special place in it' (whatever that meant). Since then, Kiba had been living from place to place living the life of a wanderer. While walking through
the town of Hinata one day, Kiba ran into Keitaro who was shopping for groceries. The two began talking about their lives and soon became friends. One day, Kiba and Keitaro
went out for an evening meal after Keitaro's prep classes. The two began talking about how poor Kiba was and how he had been living like a ho-bo the past few days. Then,
Keitaro was struck with the idea of having Kiba to come over to the Hinata house to do gardening work to earn money.
"I guess that's the story of my life," said Kiba as he finished.
The girls looked on in disbelief at the story he had just told them.
"Ooooh, you poor thing!" Kitsune cried out as she grabbed Kiba and pressed his head against her bosom, "A young man like yourself living a life like that. It ought a be illegal."
"It sounds like a story straight out of a manga or something," replied Naru.
Kiba managed to pry himself loose from Kitsune's grip and said, "Yeah, well things weren't really as bad for me as you may think. My master took great care in raising me, and I
really can't say I've been miserable since I was kicked out of the temple. I've had a lot of great experiences traveling from place to place."
"Have you met anyone special to you yet," butted in Kitsune.
"Nah, ha ha, not yet."
The girls smiled and soon began going back about their daily routine. Except for Motoko, who stayed with Kiba and waited for what he had to say to her next. He was silent and
just kept sitting at the table staring off into space. Motoko soon became frustrated and was sure to let Kiba know it.
"What are we doing?" she shouted at Kiba, "I thought you said you were going to train me not sit around all day!"
"Patience," he replied with a smile, "Your training will begin tomorrow, but right now, I want to enjoy my tea."
Motoko gave a grunt of discontent and stomped off from the dining room. As she stormed off, Kiba watched her and gave a small laugh under his breath.
"Don't worry, Motoko," he thought to himself, "You'll soon have more training than you may want."
He put down his tea and reached over behind his shoulder to feel the tattoo branded on his back.
"I wonder how long I can hide this……………
To be continued……………in pt.5
