Chapter 7
"That's it, Kurogane! Go, go, go!"
If Sasuke could smirk, he would have. Naruto lead him through a series of obstacles in the K-9 training yard. Since he had the brace taken off a week ago, Naruto had been training him to become a drug sniffing dog, going lightly on the exercises, per doctor's orders. Personally, Sasuke wanted to do harder exercises, but Naruto controlled what Sasuke did on the training field.
All around him, other dogs trained in different obstacles, each one professionally handled by their humans and each not making a sound as they did. The captain of the department was a man by the name of Kakashi Hatake and his canine partner was a pug. Pakun was an unusually quiet dog and never barked at anything that didn't annoy him. Sasuke found the little dog an annoyance simply by the smug look on it's face.
Not far from the course was a woman that bore a surprising resemblance to Kiba. Complete with the tattoo fang markings on her cheeks. Her canine partner Sasuke swore was part wolf, it was the size and figure of one, and watched the other dogs with a cold look. What was also surprising was the scar that ran down the dog's right eye. Somehow, the eye had been spared, but the scar gave the animal a mean look.
The other trainer that caught Sasuke's eye was a woman with ridiculously long hair held back in a ponytail. Next to her was black German shepard, sitting perfectly still as if he had nothing better to do. That had to be Kin Tsuchi and Senbon. Sasuke had heard Naruto complain about that pair more than once, which was odd for the blonde. In the month he had been living with Naruto, the blonde seemed to get along with everyone, except for Gato and an ex-boyfriend, but according to him, Kin was a bragger. She would brag about how man perps her canine partner had taken down and how easily he complete courses. Even now, she was retelling how she and her dog had caught a rapist to a disinterested officer. Naruto was right, she was a bragger.
There was something about the woman that was familiar to Sasuke. She didn't look familiar, but she smelled familiar and Sasuke couldn't place it, which annoyed him. Uchiha's had excellent memory. They never forgot anything if it was important.
Sasuke had been coming to the training field for two weeks, and he had his cast off for a week. Naruto had moved his bed to the doggy room and he was going on walks longer. He was planning on leaving soon. Getting rid of the collar shouldn't be hard. Leather expanded when wet.
He felt an ache in his chest. It happened every time he thought about leaving Naruto. Why he would feel sad about it, he didn't know. Naruto was the loudest, most annoying person he had ever met when he was high school, but now the blonde seemed to have toned down his hyperactiveness and volume.
"Good job, Kurogane," said Naruto after Sasuke finished the course and gave Sasuke one of his homemade cookies. It was just to keep from getting hungry. Not that he liked them or anything.
"New record, Naruto!" said Hina who was timing them. "I don't think Kyuubi did that well."
'Because Kyuubi couldn't stick his head in the toilet without a treat being in the bowl,' thought Sasuke.
"I have to say, Naruto, Kurogane is coming along faster than I thought," said Kakashi walking up to the pair. Sasuke smirked with pride.
"I told you, Kakashi," said Naruto looking down at Kurogane. "He's smart."
"A dog is only as smart as his owner," said Kin. Naruto turned an annoyed look at her. "Which means he's not very smart at all."
Naruto's face burned red and Sasuke growled softly. Nobody called an Uchiha an idiot.
"Where did you even get that dog?" she asked looking at Sasuke. "It looks like something that belongs in a dog pound."
"Shut up!" yelled Naruto, stepping toward her. All thought of his mother telling him not to hit a woman first went out the window."How dare you..."
Kakashi grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Easy, Naruto," said Kakashi. He turned to Kin. "You know the rules, Kin. You got a problem, take it up on the course. Naruto has been working hard with Kurogane. You should know better than to smack talk someone else's training."
Kin shrugged. "Only saying the truth."
Naruto moved toward her again when he felt something tug on his leg. Looking down, he saw his dog have a hold of his pant leg. Dark brown eyes look up at him with a slight annoyance, but also an eerie calm. He again saw that spark of awareness.
Sasuke had grabbed Naruto's leg to keep him from attacking the woman. In the years Sasuke had seen Naruto before transforming into a canine, he had heard Naruto be insulted on more than one occasion, sometimes several times a day, but not once did he raise his voice or his fist in defense of himself. One day when he was talking with Neji whose father was business associate of Fugaku, he told of when Naruto pummeled a bully's face in for making fun of Hinata's stutter.
Sasuke had learned a lesson about Naruto that day. Don't make fun of his friends.
Sasuke walked around Naruto and growled at the woman. He really didn't like her. She insulted him. He may have a dog's body, but he was still human, and he knew a challenge when he saw one.
Kin looked at the dog with a frown. Did the canine actually think it can hurt her? She had been around the most vicious dogs man could ever raise. Not one scared her.
"I think you've got yourself a challenger," said Kakashi looking between the dog and the woman. Kin laughed.
"Like that dog can challenge my Senbon," she said laughing.
"Afraid?" asked Naruto with a smirk. Sasuke snorted with a soft laugh. Really, that would be something he would have said.
"I'm not afraid of losing to a man and his mutt," said Kin. "I accept."
Kakashi nodded.
"Clear the course!" he yelled. "We've got a challenge."
Murmurs went through the trainers as they moved their dogs to the sides of the field. Sasuke could hear them making bets on who would win. He didn't like that the favor went to Kin.
"All right," said Kakashi when the obstacle course cleared. "You all know the rules. The first canine to complete the obstical course with the least amount of time wins. Dogs on the marks."
Naruto unclipped Sasuke from the leash. One of the rules was that the dog was unleashed during the challenge. It made it more interesting. Naruto looked Sasuke in the eyes.
"You can back out, Kurogane," he said. "You don't have to do this."
Sasuke huffed. 'Yes, I do.'
Sasuke walked to the mark. Kin had Senbon by the collar, the black dog already itching to go. Naruto stood beside Sasuke, waiting for the signal.
"Get set," said Kakashi. Senbon tensed next to Sasuke. Sasuke just waited. "Go!"
Both dogs took off. The crowd cheered for their favorite. Sasuke and Senbon jump through the truck tires first before climbing up the stairs. Passing that, they jumped over a small five foot long pond. Sasuke was slowly gaining the lead, especially when he was the first through the tube. Then he came to the wall.
The wall was only three feet high, but he could easily jump through it. He was getting ready when he felt a sharp pain in his flank and he yelped, which angered him. Uchiha's didn't yelp. He missed the jump and collided into the wall instead of going over it. Senbon jumped over.
Sasuke growled. The bastard canine cheated. Backtracking a bit, he jumped over the wall and charged toward the dog. Senbon was nearing the end of the course which was a row of hedges as Sasuke caught up. Both dogs jumped over the five hedges and stopped nearly at the same time.
"Photo finish," said Kakashi holding up his phone, recording the entire challenge. He replayed the ending to determine the winner. "And the winner is...Kurogane, by a nose."
"Whoo-hoo!" yelled Naruto, jumping up and down estatically. Beside him, Sasuke gave a wolfish grin."We won! We won! I'm buying the first round!"
The crowd cheered, except for Kin who left with a huff. Senbon followed after her. He ran over to Kakashi and held out a hand.
"Give," he said.
Kakashi groaned and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a twenty and handed it to Naruto.
"He's getting better," said Kakashi. "Training faster than I thought. You might just win our bet."
Grinning, Naruto stuffed it in his pocket before turning to Sasuke. Taking out his bagful of treats, he gave Sasuke one before handing one to Hana and she gave it to her canine partner. There as a crackle over the P.A.
"We have a raid in progress. K-9 unit needed on scene."
"All right, everyone, let's go!" yelled Kakashi. Everyone immediately grabbed their dogs and ran inside to gear up, even Naruto. "Not you, Uzumaki."
"But..."
"Kurogane's not a registered K-9 yet. Until then, he can't be on scene."
"But what if it's Gato?" asked Naruto.
"Then we'll take care of him. Train your dog, Naruto. We've got this."
Kakashi turned and left the training yard. Naruto stood and watched as his captain and mentor left with the rest of the unit.
It felt odd to be left out. All his life, Naruto wanted to be a part of something, which was why he wanted to join the police force. It wasn't just because of his parents. The police force had always made him feel as a part of a family. On days when Kushina couldn't find a babysitter, she would take Naruto into the station and the desk sergeant, Iruka, would watch him while Kushina went on patrol.
Iruka was like a father to him, always bringing him coloring books or video games to entire himself or help him with his homework. And sometimes books for him to read. If it hadn't been for Iruka, Naruto was sure he would have never passed high school. He always joked that Iruka should have been a teacher instead of a cop, even started calling him "Iruka-sensei." That gave him a couple cuffs to the head, but he knew Iruka didn't mind.
Now, he was left behind. He knew it couldn't be helped, but it still gave him a stab of loneliness at being left out of taking down a criminal. Especially if that criminal was Gato. The thought of what he was doing to dogs disgusted Naruto. He had grown up to respect his canine partner, not use or abuse them.
Sighing, he looked down at the canine beside him.
"Hey, boy, how about a game of Hide-and-Seek?"
'You mean the game where you hide the drugs and I find them?'
Grinning, Naruto lead Sasuke back to the training ground. Sasuke followed.
TBC