A/N: I Figured I should actually start doing intros to these. So, hey! This chapter will be a little heftier than most, but it's necessary I promise.
"Hey you."- Someone speaking.
Hey you- Normal rendition of Naruto telling the story.
'Hey you.' More specific thoughts Based on the situation.
xXx- Story begin
xXx- Flashback beginning/end
My update schedule is all over the place, but I really like the lore of this whole story. So I tend to binge write. And obviously I don't own Naruto. But anyway. Enjoy- ST
xXx
'Faster, faster, faster. I need to fucking MOVE.' I could feel control slipping by the second. Any moment now my will would submit to the moon and my mind would be lost. I could just feel it. But then I saw my way out. A crumbling looking cave carved into the side of the mountain.
"If I can escape the moon then I should be fine." My legs felt weightless as I damn near sprinted my heart out to reach the cave opening. Bustling over the scattered rocks at the caves entrance. Collapsing into a ball on the ground as soon as I was sure I escaped the Moon's gaze. I dug my hands into the coarse earth as I dragged myself to the nearest wall of the cave. Throwing up the contents of my stomach before I even made it halfway.
"Breath man, breath. You're more man than beast, you're more human than monster!" I repeated this to myself over and over. A trick I had picked up after the many months I spent in Eden. But I couldn't seem to grasp a hold of my human side any more than I could resist the beast trying to rear its ugly head.
"God damn it, get a hold of yourself!" I could feel the pain in my throat from yelling at myself. Paying no concern to who, or what might hear me in the dark of the night.
"Hey!" I heard a foreign voice, just outside the caves entrance, just about thirty yards or so. Husky, and seemingly angry.
'I can't catch a break, can I?' I heard approaching footsteps. Attempting to stand on my feet, I only ended up dropping to my knees, pain drilling into my skull. Screaming to let the beast out. To take a bite out of whatever was coming my way.
"Ahh, I thought I smelled something strange. If it isn't the new pup. Stand up kid, you don't want to make a bad first impression. " The voice came from the shadows, shrouded in the shade of the cave.
" Stay back! I don't want to hurt you!" I struggled to get the words out through clenched teeth. My vision faded in and out of night vision as I attempted to make out who it was in the dark. Settling only on a silhouette of a man.
"HAH! Are you trying to convince me or yourself kid? This is my forest, and I'm top dog around here. Hey fucking look at me when I talk to you, you mutt. I'll be damned if some dirty fox is going to disrespect me."
'This guy is already pissing me off...' I looked up to see, a voice that didn't really match all the aggression I was getting. A spikey brown haired male of about average height stood before me, maybe a year or so older than me. '18, 19?' With distinct red triangular tattoos on either side of his cheeks. And deep yellow, predatory eyes... he wore no shirt and only seemed to be roaming around in a pair of black cargo shorts with no shoes on the soles of his feet.
'Those eyes... he's like us?'
"Don't stare either if you want to keep those eyes in your head." I attempted to respond but only a snarl escaped my lips.
'This guy is really barking up the wrong tree right now.'
"Looks like you're having trouble keeping that beast in my man, why don't you just." The boy inched closer as I attempted to distance us, backing further against the wall.
"Let. It. Out?" A full toothed smile looked down at me as he stood firm with his arms crossed.
" It's like all the new pups think they'll hurt somebody. I say who cares! If they fall to the will of your hunger, then they weren't worth having around in the first place." He walked his way deeper into the cage until he found me in its darkest reaches, crouching down before me.
"Look at you, squirming in pain beneath the moonlight. C'mon pup. Let it out." The man stayed crouched , looking down at me in my agony. Going as far to poke me with the nail of his clawed index finger.
I could feel the pull of the moon. Scratching at the thin string of my will with killer like intent. The palms of my hands were growing with thick orange fur, razor sharp claws at their points. Enlarged canines dropping down from the rough of my mouth, transforming my jaw line into something fierce and inhuman. A mane of thick orange hair could be felt creeping its way from the top of my head and down to my shoulders replacing my mangy blonde strands.
"I'm going to tear you apart you idiot!"
"Hn. Try me, mutt." He didn't even move as I pounced on him from my knelt position. Quickly closing my hands around his throat.
"You see what you made me do?! You dumb bast-"
A piercing thunder interrupted my thoughts as I fell to the ground in pain. The drilling of intensity was almost stronger than the now quickly waning desire of the beast.
"What In the hell IS THAT?" I placed both paws over my ears as I chanced a glance up at was destroying my ears. It was the mystery man, howling with purpose into the night sky. Staring, immersed in the glow of the moon that was slowly creeping into the cave with is steady rise.
"You feel that? " The older boy turned back to face me. I lost my breath as he hoisted me up against the cave wall by my neck with one of his hands. "That's the power of an alpha. You'll learn, or you'll die out here like the rest of the weak."
I could feel my body shifting back to its human state, my body still weak from the ringing howl that still pounded against my skull. I could feel my consciousness fading as he tightened his grip.
"Oh where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Kiba Inuzaka." Kiba dropped me to the ground, I gasped for air as I clutched at my chest, trying to take in as much air as possible.
" And you must be the newest pup to pass the good Doctors test."
'Test? What test?'
"Now I know you must've come down with a sudden case of sore throat, so I'll explain some things while you recover." He sat down, legs crossed as he did his best to stare me down.
"Any beast that makes it out of Eden, comes to me. You see, that crack pot Orochimaru thinks he's going to create a new world. Where mutations like you and I." He took a minute to sniff the air. "And your little girlfriend out there, will replace humans as top of the food chain."
" But I am human." I managed to hoarse out, I could feel my throat quickly beginning to recover.
"No, you're beyond that now. You see, the Doctor may be crazy. But he did make a point. Once you've eaten the fruitcthat is human flesh, you've become part of something that you can't take back." A solemn look passed on his face as he averted his eyes to the ground. "You were born again down there, in Eden… We all were."
'Wait.'
xXx
"Good morning my children! It's time for breakfast, it is the most important meal of the day after all." Orochimaru glided casually down the lab stair case, a cage full of red eyed fluffy white rabbits. " I need to make sure you're feeding those growing appetites, no?"
He dropped the cage at his feet and tossed a rabbit through the one way whole that was built into my cage. Without hesitation, I took hold of the bunny with care, petting it gently beneath my hands.
"Sorry little guy." I brought him to my face and nuzzled his nose with my own, the rabbit returning my gesture with a flap of its long floppy ears out of what I assume was affection. Before I sank my teeth into its jugular.
"Tell me my boy, why do you do that?" Orochimaru raised a curious eyebrow at me.
" Because you sick bastard, It's the most painless way to die." I continued to work through my meal, blood dripping from my canines, splashing onto the cold laboratory floor. Willing myself to get used to the feeling of crunching bones under my teeth, and rushing blood on my face as the animal's arteries gushed and sprayed against my paled skin.
"Haha no no you silly boy, not that. Why do you coddle it? Just to kill it immediately after" His pen and notebook were out, I must have sparked his interest.
"Well because..." I looked down at what remains of the mangled rabbit in my hands. Taking the sharp end of a femur to pick my tooth of its gamey fur. " No one deserves to die in fear. "
xXx
"But wait, I've never eaten a person before? I've only taken the lives of the animals he brought us." The gears in my head started spinning as I thought back to every meal I had.
'How could I ever get used to this?'
"So you don't remember huh..." Kiba frowned at me, I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure the look he gave me was full of-
'Pity?'
" Every. Single. Beast. That man has created has indulged in the unforgivable. Maybe it was some stray homeless, a wondering tourist. A fucking Girl Scout maybe? Think long and hard pup. You didn't just appear in the forest of death one day; you earned your way here." Kiba kept his eyes closed, focused on something I don't think I can quite yet comprehend.
"When me and a few others woke up here a couple years ago, we made a break for civilization. Kohnoa city is just a few miles that way." He pointed off vaguely to his left. " But I decided to stick around, and take in whatever Orochimaru decides to drop of here in the forest. It'd be no good letting you all roam free so close to my home town, wreaking havoc on citizens just because you can't hold your fangs. I've survived too much to let that man's twisted dreams become a reality… I'll kill that bastard someday." He was looking past me at this point, more talking out loud than to me.
I thought back to waking up in the woods. Cradled in the arms of a crying Hinata, her face of tears shading my own from the early morning sunlight. The glow of the rising sun looking so beautiful on her flawless face. I thought back to how I had refused to tell her who killed Sakura the day after her death. How she tore her apart with her bare hands, nourishing her own body with the body of someone we both shared a close bond with. I remember her sobbing in agony as the images came flooding back to her, and how her grief went on for weeks inside the lab.
'I can only imagine what I've done.'
" But to any end, I'm sure you'll remember. Or your friend will tell you herself." Kiba stood up, reaching his hand out to me. " And again, it's Kiba Inuzaka."
I though for a moment, he might be my only way out of here. And I don't want him hurting Hinata... So, I took his hand.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Kiba hoisted me to my feet with ease. Sharing a comforting grin with me.
"Welcome to the family kid." But just nearly seconds after the words left his mouth, I heard a familiar roar.
'Oh shit.' I scrambled to get in front of Kiba, but his hand wouldn't let mine budge.
" Tenten, fetch."
I heard a beastly growl, and then the heavy footsteps of someone charging towards the cave entrance.
'When the hell did someone else enter?'
I could hear the crashing of two bodies at the cave entrance. Followed by a sharp shout of pain.
'Hinata!'
"Hey keep your hands off her!" Kiba let me pass as I sprinted to the site of all the commotion. I stopped short of stepping out fully into the moonlight, and scanned the area just outside the cave frantically until I found Hinata. Beneath the foot of a much stronger looking girl.
She wore her hair in two large brown buns, both littered slightly with the debris of the forest. And unlike Hinata and I, her skin looked sun kissed and tattered with scars. 'So they really have been out here awhile.'
But even stranger was the force she was applying. Without so much as breaking a sweat she was able to keep a wiggling Hinata down with one foot. She turned to face the both of us with a blazing look of irritation in her eyes. Eyes that held no predatory glow at all.
" I'm not one of your damn dogs Kiba!" Kiba chuckled playfully at this.
"Yeah, you're right! You're my little panda bear. Now be nice and loosen your grip on our guest before she passes out." A flame of red took over Tenten's cheeks at his comment, quickly releasing her hold from Hinata.
"Stop it! You're so embarrassing..." She held a hand to her face in a… shy manner?
Kiba turned to me, still with a full toothed smile. "Sorry about that. She can be a tad bit aggressive. But you see that? That control over your beast is what I can offer you two."
His words however bounced past my thoughts like static. All I was focused on was a now injured Hinata on the cold forest ground, whom I had cradled in my arms almost immediately.
"Naruto, what. What's happening?" She looked around still very confused and surprised by the situation. Her human form now fully intact, nursing what I assumed was a now broken rib with her right hand.
"Hinata don't move, I'll handle this." I pointed a finger at Tenten. " You keep your distance, you two are out of your-"
My words were caught in my throat as I felt Kiba tighten his arm around the entirety of my neck. I instinctively threw my hands up, tugging aggressively at his arm.
"Ya know, I feel like we got off topic a little bit Uzumaki. Maybe we should back track. See" His arm tightened even more, securing me from struggling further. " I'm here to offer you two a better life than What Orochimaru wants for you. To offer you a chance to be more than just naive monsters roaming the country side." He released his grip and I gasped for air for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Cautiously I turned to face the man.
"Tenten, wait for me at home " Kiba gave his order without taking his eyes off me. She nodded and slowly backed herself into the woods. Eyes still fixated on the two of us.
" I'd listen to what he has to say, you don't want cross Kiba." She looked directly at me this time. "You'll have to deal with all of us if you do." She stopped right before she reached the tree line, eyes narrowed in on me. But it wasn't just her eyes that I could make out in the dimly lit shadows. The harder I looked, the more pairs of glowing yellow eyes I could see scattered amongst the trees.
All focused on me.
"How many of you are there..." I felt my jaw gape at the sight, we were surrounded.
He extended his hand to me once more. "So, I guess you got a couple choices. You can either join my pack. Or roll the dice out here by yourselves. Where there are possibly others out there that aren't so... nice." Returning to his full toothed smile as he waited for my reply.
I sunk my head and thought as I stared at the forest floor. Weighing the odds of what could happen putting faith in a complete stranger. Moving my sights to his open palm. Could this guy really be all he says he is? Or is he just another lunatic looking to take advantage of Hinata and I? I didn't get time to further consider as his hand dropped back to his side. The charismatic smile he just displayed now gone.
" Naruto, I think you should get away from him now. He doesn't look to happy with us." I could feel Hinata weakly pulling on my sweater sleeve. But my eyes didn't leave Kiba's face, because the look he gave me sent chills to my core. The yellow eyes of a predator turned something beyond the inhuman that I already felt impossible. A coal black puddle pooled where the whites of his eyes used to be, like I was looking straight into and endless pit. Interrupted only by blood red, vascular pupils. His toothy smile now looked so much more full with canines that made Hinata's look like some toddlers. Brown hair turned jet black and red tattoos glowed with an eerie vitality.
"Well I suppose you have one more option." Kiba moved closer to me. I didn't realize I was backing away until I could feel Hinata stuck behind me as we backed ourselves completely against a tree. " If you want to go all loose cannon out there and do your own thing. Well then; You'll just have to fucking kill me first kid. There's only one Alpha male." Kiba was now close enough to have his words blow breath on my face, he's eyes unmoving from mine. I felt myself gulp in uncertainty as to what might happen next.
"Well I guess you're not giving me much choice huh?" At my comment, I felt Hinata squeeze both arms around my waist, her face buried into my back. And then it occurred to me.
' I know I have to be strong for the both of us. I already lost someone close to me, I'm not losing another. Ever again.'
I offered my hand out in acceptance of his proposal. "If you hurt her, Kiba. I'll do just that." I could feel my normal fire returning to my gut, either by the grace of the moon, or by determination, I didn't really care why.
" There will be no man or monster that will stop me from ripping you apart. "
Kiba continued to stare me down but I stared right back. His eyes shifted between my face and my hand. Finally taking it into his own. His appearance instantly returning to that of a normal boy. Brown hair, brown eyes, no more freaky glowing tattoos. And a broad, toothy smile.
"Now that! That is what I like to hear kid!" The tension in the air melted away along with his frown. I felt myself smiling back as my body eased up a little. But I kept my guard up, because an important question still floated around in my head.
"Hell I always wanted a little brother anyway!"
I thought to myself as I shook hands with the older boy. If I'm supposed to be Adam, Hinata my eve. And that lunatic Orochimaru the Snake. Then I wonder, what terrible role a real monster like Kiba Inuzaka might be.
'Who are you Kiba, are you the scariest thing out here? Or does this new world still hold fresh horrors."
xXx
A/N:So did you like the intro of Kiba? Let me know. Annnnd I still need opinions on the Haku thing. See ya soon.
-ST