Warning(s): Same as always, really. And some (a lot of) suspense. Aside from that, everything's pretty normal.

"And the clock strikes midnight! Skinny dipping time, bitches! Time for our youth to burn bright!"

Even buzzed and mildly prone to only happiness, Kiba couldn't help but hate Rock Lee.

As soon as he heard the scream, he walked away from the pool and back into the house. Not only did he not want to get a look at the idiot's birthday suit, he didn't want to get hosed with the other drunken idiots that would undoubtedly jump into the pool after him.

Besides, it was midnight. It was about time he started to head out if he wanted to reach Tobirama's home before his extremely new curfew hit.

An actual curfew... He'd never had one of those before... Well, no, he had, back when he had still been too young to fend for himself and his mother had still shown an ounce of caring after him. But, recently now, his mother had not given many shits. Only his sister had enforced a sort of curfew, but it had only been out of her own selfish desires, not out of care for him. But it really didn't even count as a curfew, just a limit of time to return to their house unless he wanted to get locked out.

Tobirama was a weird guy. Just like his brother... Kiba actually kind of appreciated that, though.

A rush of stumbling and much too loud drunkards stampeded past him as Karui's skinny dipping requirements were met, which, really, Kiba had not expected to see so many so eager to do such a thing. Besides, he had thought they would have started to skinny dip as soon as someone got too drunk by around eight or nine pm. It was rather interesting how they had managed to hold off of the one thing they had seemed to have been waiting a whole night for until the requirements were met.

Kiba struggled to not get pushed back to the pool because of the crowd, but eventually he managed to reach the kitchen, where he found the host and hostess of the party looking at each other with stupid gushy eyes that made him want to gag.

He decided to bid adieu before he died from diabetes because of the sweetness overdose the scene was.

"Yo! Thanks for the party. But I'm heading out."

Ah, that seemed to have broken the love at first sight spell they had fallen for. Karui and Chouji looked over at him, looking kind of saddened, if Kiba was being honest with himself. But that didn't make any sense... They literally only got to know him tonight.

"So early? They only just started to make complete fools of themselves." Karui pouted, even though there was clear amusement sparkling within her eyes. "Wait a bit more and I assure you someone will start giving someone else a lap dance."

For some reason, Kiba imagine Rock Lee trying to give some girl a lap dance- Ino, regrettably, was the only girl his brain supplied him- and he couldn't help but shudder in complete disgust.

"That is something I do not need to see." He rubbed his hands together a little, and finally offered, "Great party, though. If you throw another one, I may just go."

"We'll be holding you to that, then." Chouji nodded in a slow and deliberate fashion, as if he had just said something that was etched in stone and would undoubtedly come to pass. "Drive safe, okay?"

"Sure thing."

He didn't bother with telling them that he was walking back. It would be a bother to explain to them that he didn't even the apprentice license you needed to get before you were able to drive all alone legally. It was much easier to just let them believe whatever they wanted to believe.

By the front door, Kiba smiled over at Hinata and Neji as they walked down the driveway of the house and towards the car that was waiting to pick them up. They were already leaving with Hinata's father, just as they had come.

Hinata had asked him if he would have liked to come along with them, her father didn't mind going over to Tobirama's house to drop him off. But Kiba had just told her that he enjoyed late night walks and it really wasn't all that far from his home- there was no way he could end up in any kind of trouble in the few minutes it took to get back on foot.

Just as he crossed through the threshold of the house, he heard another Rock Lee emanated shout and all he could properly think was that he couldn't be happier to leave before that bastard got too drunk to even be discreet over their mutual hate.

~/~

"Walking? Why would he turn your offer down, Hiashi?"

Tobirama had been woken up by his cell phone ringing at 11:55 pm. Hiashi Hyuuga had informed him about the teenage party he had just picked up his daughter and nephew from- had they truly allowed them to go to such an uncouth place?- and then asked if Kiba had been allowed to stay over for later. Tobirama had let him know that, no, he had a 12:30 curfew. And then the other man had let him know that Kiba had chosen to walk instead of ride along with him.

"I'm not sure. Hinata told me that he had said he preferred to walk and breathe in the fresh air. I called you because, if you remember correctly, there have been reportings of random assaults at midnight and did not think you would appreciate your charge's decision making."

His charge's. Hiashi still could not believe the amount of time and care they spent on Kiba Inuzuka. Although he did respect the fact that they were helping him, even when his family refused to even see their shortcomings... Apparently, Hiashi had also faced the displeasure of meeting Tsume Inuzuka once before. And it was mostly because of that meeting that he had never enjoyed the idea of Kiba and Hinata working together on anything.

"No, I do not appreciate it. Has he already left the party?"

Tobirama knew that he had told Kiba had until twelve thirty to come back. But there was an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, as if his stomach was much too tight and his chest had an uneasy pressure building on it... Two signs of anxiety he had never cared for but always appreciated, for they usually helped him steer clear of dangerous situations.

"He was still within the house when I left. Although Hinata tells me that one of her friends tells her that he already left."

Throwing the bed covers off of him, Tobirama put on his sandals, walked down the stairs of his home to reach his front door, and grabbed his car keys. "Thank you, Hiashi… I'll go make sure he gets home safe."

"Of course. I hope everything works out well. Goodbye, Tobirama."

With a heavy sigh, Tobirama ended the call, walked out of his house, and locked it up. Then he hurried to his car and prepared himself for the undoubtedly difficult task of hunting Kiba down.

Just as he pulled out of his driveway, his phone vibrated. When he checked, it was to see that Hiashi had sent him a link to the location where the party had been hosted.

Good friends, he knew, always pulled through when you needed them the most.

~/~

The night was windy, so Kiba wound up zipping up his jacket as he walked down the deserted sidewalk that led him away from Karui's home. Faintly, as if mere whispers at this point, he could still hear the music from the party.

It hadn't been a bad night. But being alone wasn't all that bad either.

Exhaling heavily through his nose, the teenager brought his hands up so he could cross his arms over his chest as he walked.

Unlike all the other nights he had walked the streets at this hour, Kiba felt uneasy. It was like there was this little creature at the back of his head that couldn't tell him why he felt uneasy, but let him know that there was something off. And, honestly, it made no sense. Kiba had done this very same thing dozens of times before. He'd never been afraid before.

Suddenly, he remember that he could always just call Tobirama and tell him to pick him up.

As soon as the thought struck him, he knocked it away. He couldn't wake Tobirama up at this hour. The man deserved a good night's sleep that wasn't interrupted by him being paranoid. He didn't want to be the reason why Tobirama woke up suddenly in the middle of the night.

He took a couple of seconds to look all around him, noticing how the long row of houses was finally nearing its end and reaching a large gap where there was nothing but trees and bushes.

His legs stopped walking when he reached the beginning of the gap.

He didn't want to continue... There were street lights and the sidewalk was fine... But he just couldn't shake the feeling of wrong.

"Maybe he wouldn't mind me asking him to pick me up?" Kiba questioned himself, moving his right arm over to the pocket of his jeans so he could fish out his phone... But he snapped it back to his chest before it could get to the phone. "No! Fuck that- I can't bother him. 'Sides, it's just a bit of trees and shit... Can't nothing bad happen to me."

He tried to psyche himself up.

It didn't work.

~/~

Third time was not the charm when it came to calling Kiba.

He wasn't picking up his phone.

Tobirama growled in frustration before he turned his phone back to the map screen so he could see how long he had until he reached the location of the party. '10 minutes left' it read.

This stretch of street was the very one where those assaults Hiashi had spoken about had taken place. Because there were just trees to either side of this street, the unknown attacker would lay in wait until someone came walking down the street to jump at them and steal everything they had on him.

This was also the only way Kiba could have gone down if he wanted to reach Tobirama's house... Unless, of course, he chose to take a shortcut down the mountain.

The man forced himself to take in a large and calming breath- even though his hands didn't loosen from the steering wheel at all.

Why was he not answering his phone?

"Dammit, Kiba!"

His heart was pounding uncomfortably, so loud to his ears that it felt as if the heartbeats were coming from the speakers of his car. Aside from that, he could hear his air conditioning running and his own breath. There was nothing else aside from that, for he had not bothered with turning on the radio.

Just as he was about to reach out for his phone and call Kiba a fourth time, Tobirama saw a dark figure on the side of the road. From far, it looked human. Male, presumably... The closer he got, the clearer the image became.

For a moment, Tobirama allowed himself to breathe out in relief.

Then he saw red.

~/~

Kiba looked away from the blaring lights of this new car until it had passed and he could see comfortably again.

The lights never left.

He felt his throat seize immediate. What was this car doing here? Why was it stopping? Oh shit, was he going to di-

"Kiba Inuzuka! Get your ass into my car right now!"

Blinking in surprise, Kiba dared look over his hand and towards the bright lights of the car. On the driver's side of it, he could see, from behind the open door, the pale face of a pretty angered Tobirama Senju.

"Tobirama? What are you doing here?"

Like a good adult, Tobirama totally ignored his question. "In. Car. Now."

Having dealt with his mother his whole life, Kiba knew better than to stall any further. He scurried over to the passenger's side and opened the door, and just about threw himself inside before he shut the door.

He strapped himself in with the seat belt, but didn't even dare look at the man.

He had never heard Tobirama shouting like that... Not even when he'd been absolutely pissed off with him had the man used such a strong and (terrifyingly) scary voice.

Tobirama slammed his door shut and the car lurched forward to begin to take them to wherever Tobirama was taking them.

The silence was absolutely deafening.

Although, when Tobirama began to speak, Kiba began to miss the silence.

"Where's your cellphone?"

Tobirama sounded as if he was grinding his teeth as he spoke. Kiba didn't dare look at his face to confirm this. Although he did look at his hands and found that they were holding onto the steering wheel with a deathly tight grip. And, if the car wasn't lying, they were going at a reasonable couple of miles above the speed limit at the moment.

"My pocket."

"Let me see it."

Instinctively, Kiba wanted to tell him that there was no need for that. Why the hell did he need to show him his goddamn phone?! But he wasn't an idiot and he knew that Tobirama was never the kind to be questioning when he was in a good mood. So he moved his hands to his front pocket, where his phone was, so he could pull it out.

…

… …

… … … "Uh..."

"Where in the hell did you lose your phone?"

Shit. Tobirama was swearing. He never swore.

The teen began to frantically pat at his pockets to try and find it. But he only found his own legs.

Fuck... "I think I lost it at Karui's house..."

They fell into a dead silence once again.

The car ride that was supposed to have taken some ten minutes lasted only seven minutes. Which was both great because less time in a confined space with a pissed off Tobirama, but also bad because how fast had the man been going to get here so fast?

When Tobirama parked in his driveway, Kiba was too terrified to move. He waited for the man to turn off the car before he even reached for his seatbelt.

He should have bolted as soon as they had reached the house.

~/~

Of all the stupid, irresponsible, immature things this boy could have done!

Tobirama was seething and he had no qualms about letting Kiba know just how truly angry he was.

"You are grounded for the next month."

"What?!"

"You lost your phone and stayed out past your curfew!" Tobirama lashed out at the teenager, just about snarling with a glare placed firmly on his eyes and a sneer on his lips. "I was worried about you, boy! I called you after Hiashi told me you were stupid enough to try to walk home at this godforsaken hour and you couldn't even answer me! How in the world did you even lose your phone?"

"I don't know!" Kiba was frazzled- good, he deserved to be after the near heart attack he had almost put Tobirama through. "Why am I getting grounded? I got here before curfew!"

Tobirama spared a glance at the clock on his dashboard and noticed the brightly shining '12:10'. But he did not lose any of his anger upon seeing that Kiba was twenty minutes early. "Alright. Then you're grounded for poor decision making." He frowned, turning the key in the ignition to shut the car off. "You cannot go out to another gathering until you have proven that you are responsible enough to deserve to go to another one."

He threw his door open and began to make his way to the front door, his heart still beating so rapidly it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.

The last time he had felt like this... The last time he had been this anxious... Someone near and dear to his heart had died.

He completely blamed Kiba Inuzuka being an idiot for how he was feeling at the moment.

"Hold up! It's just a phone! And, technically, I would have gotten here before curfew even if you hadn't come to fetch me!"

His hand was shaking as he tried to stick his key into the front door. His nerves were on high alert and Kiba daring to argue with him was certainly not helping him maintain any semblance of control.

"You have to calm down, big brother. Or else you'll give yourself an aneurysm."

Those had been his last words to him before he had died...

This night was just great, wasn't it?

Still, Tobirama did his best to gulp in a calming breath. He was able to finally get the key inside the lock and turned it, allowing both him and Kiba to step inside his home.

Kiba didn't follow immediately.

Tobirama glared at him through narrowed eyes as the teenager stood at the foot of the stairs that led to the door, glaring up just as defiantly.

Damned brat.

Couldn't he see that he was like this because he had been terrified of what could have happened to him out there?!

~/~

Kiba had never seen Tobirama like this.

Quite frankly, he didn't even want to know that the man could ever get like this.

"You're acting crazy, Tobirama." He huffed out, crossing his arms over his chest to glare at the man.

Tobirama was glaring back with even more intensity, clearly telling him to get inside his house before his thin patience ran out.

"I could have walked back just fine."

Tobirama's face suddenly became expressionless. He dropped the glare and adopted a stone-like look that didn't betray a single emotion.

Kiba suddenly began to wonder if Tobirama had somehow gotten ahold of some drugs that made people act insane. He'd never seen anyone act like this on the various drugs he'd seen people use... But everybody was different, right? Maybe Tobirama just reacted uniquely to-No! This was a stand-up man. He'd never take drugs. No. Never.

He wasn't like Hana.

"We will continue this in the morning, Inuzuka. Now come inside."

The man's voice was suddenly cold, somehow even more emotionless than his face.

As soon as he had said that, Tobirama ghosted away from the door, leaving Kiba standing confused and alone.

After hesitating for a couple of seconds, Kiba finally crept up to the house and closed the door behind him. He did not miss the lack of Tobirama's presence, but he was grateful for it.

He locked up the door and headed into the guest bedroom he always used when he stayed over.

The next morning, he woke up to find a newspaper on the nightstand beside the bed.

After he'd read the front page article, he couldn't help but feel really remorseful.

~/~

"Yeah, Hiashi… I found him before anything bad could happen..." Tobirama informed his friend with a heavy sigh, left hand clutching at his hair while his right kept his phone to his ear. "If I hadn't gotten there..."

"Don't think about that. He's safe and sound. Hopefully, the police will be able to catch this criminal now that he's gotten sloppy."

"I wouldn't call this sloppy, Hiashi… I'd call it attempted murder."

At one in the morning, a couple had been taking their dog for a walk- who walked their dog at this hour?- and had been attacked in the very place Tobirama had picked Kiba up from. The woman had been able to get away, just like the dog... But the man was found about an hour after she had phoned the attack deep inside the foliage. He was unconscious and was currently in the hospital, fighting for his life.

That could have been Kiba.

It hadn't been. But it could have been.

He knew he had overreacted last night. But he hadn't been able to stop himself from expecting the worst... And then when he had found out Kiba had been irresponsible enough to walk back home without even a phone in case he needed help... He'd lost it.

He heard the guest room's door opening and, a couple of seconds later, he found Kiba standing at the entrance into the kitchen. His eyes were locked on the newspaper Tobirama had left in his room.

"Kiba's up. I'll talk to you later, Hiashi."

"Keep your cool, Tobirama."

The line shut off and the red eyed man could not help but huff out in slight irritation.

It was one of the few flaws he truly hated about himself, but it was difficult to manage. Even after living with said flaw for almost fifty years. He was almost always to keep his cool... But when he lost it, it was nearly impossible to get him to think straight.

He'd only ever lost control in this manner when it dealt with those near and dear to him...

It seemed Kiba truly was someone he loved.

"I..."

Tobirama stood up and walked over to the teenager. Kiba didn't look at him until he was directly in front of him.

"That could have been you."

It hurt Tobirama to even acknowledge that; he would much rather just be angry and not worry over what could have happened if he hadn't found Kiba when he had.

Kiba's eyes widened and (much to Tobirama's relief) filled with what seemed to him like guilt.

"I... I'm sorry, Tobirama."

Kiba let the newspaper drop and hugged him tightly, catching Tobirama off guard for a second. But soon enough, the man wrapped his own arms around the teenager and returned the hug.

The kid was an idiot. But at least he was safe.

..~..~..

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