Kiba had met the kid coming out of his building and realized he'd never seen this kid before either. He recognized the green eyes from his neighbor earlier and assumed he lived there too. Although he was almost certain that lady had not been old enough to have a kid who looked to be almost an adult. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the teen complimented Akamaru.
"Cool dog man," The teen said smiling at him.
"Thanks," Kiba said.
"Not to be rude but you look like you've been through hell." The teen laughed at this.
"A little bit," Kiba found himself smiling at the boy. "Work is like that sometimes."
"Oh yeah? If you don't mind me asking what do you do?"
"I'm a K9 cop for the city."
"Oh man, that's awesome! I'm Nate by the way. My sister lives here." Nate extended his hand.
"Kiba Inuzuka, and this here is Akamaru." Kiba said shaking the teen's hand.
For the next 10 minutes they talked about what being a cop was like and Kiba found himself liking the teen a whole lot more than he like Nate's sister. The kid was well mannered and genuinely interested in Kiba's line of work. When he received a call he saw the kid looking up and noticed that his neighbor was standing in the window watching them. After the call ended Nate turned to Kiba, "Sorry about that. She worries a lot. Better get going, it was really nice meeting you Officer Inuzuka."
"Just call me Kiba." He said waving as the kid walked to a beat up car that looked barely legal. Kiba heard it come to life and winced at what sounded like something dying. He knew cars and he knew there was something unhealthy about that one. It wouldn't last much longer. Maybe if the kid came back he'd take a look and see if there was anything he could do to help him out. Kiba shortened his walk with Akamaru because he was starting to feel pain and headed back inside. He looked at the cookies and started munching. He hadn't been home much so he sat down and turned on the television. It wasn't long before he heard pounding from above him and realized that his new neighbor was extremely heavy footed. She was bouncing around like crazy up there, was she dancing? Thank god he hadn't heard it before now because he would have had to have a talk with her a lot sooner. She had been there for about a month though and he hadn't even seen her until today. After was seemed like forever he had finally had enough and decided he needed to confront her. His head was banging and his fuse was short. She had been rude to him today but he was hoping she would at least be polite enough to accept his request that she walk lighter. He heard something crash above him and he stood up. He needed to check to make sure she was okay anyway. The banging had stopped after the loud crash and he was worried she was hurt. He told Akamaru to stay and worked his way up to her apartment. He knocked lightly on the door and when it flew open he didn't see anyone at first until he looked down. There before him stood a small child with his neighbor's green eyes. Figures she'd be married with a kid. He thought.
"How'd you get those bruises?" The kid said studying him.
"I fell down some stairs." Kiba said answering the question.
"Can I sign your cast?" Was the next question and Kiba smiled at the kids straightforwardness.
"Maybe once I get to know you." Kiba said distractedly. "Where's your mom and dad kid? Didn't they ever teach you not to talk to strangers?"
"Mom told me not to talk to strangers, but you're a cop. Cops are the good guys and you have a dog cop too, so you gotta be a good guy." The kid said looking behind Kiba for his dog. Suddenly he heard her voice calling the child's name and the kid's face looked shocked.
"Uh oh," the little boy said as the door was pulled open wider and his neighbor came into full view. He was right, she was totally his type. She was beautiful in sweat pants and her hair tied up in a ponytail. Too bad she was married.
"Oliver! How many times have I told you to never answer the door?" She said looking into her son's eyes.
"But mom," The kid stage whispered, "He's a cop so it's okay."
"No honey, you come get me and I determine whether it's okay, go get in bed, we're going to have another talk about this when I'm done talking to our neighbor." She said pushing him toward his room.
Kiba studied the interaction and noticed there was no ring on her finger. He had a soft spot for single moms because his own mother was a single mom but the woman in front of him turned her eyes on him and he could tell she was annoyed.
"What can I do for you?" She asked with her mouth set in a grim line.
"My name's Kiba Inuzuka, by the way, I didn't introduce myself earlier…" He paused to give her a chance to supply her name but nothing came so he continued. He rubbed his temples as his headache increased. The pain meds were really starting to wear off and he winced at the movement since it moved his shoulder. "I was coming up here to ask you to make sure you were okay, I heard a loud crash."
She huffed out a bitter laugh, "I'm fine thanks, I don't need a hero Mr. Cop, and I'd appreciate it if you stayed away from my brother. He doesn't need someone filling his head with the idea that he can be some street cop okay? He's destined for bigger and better things."
"So cops aren't good enough?" Kiba asked extremely annoyed with her and feeling rage seep into his tone.
"No offence but for my brother no, he's extremely intelligent and he needs to go to college. He needs to do something better than work for the city."
"I went to college, I have a degree, are you saying I'm not smart?"
"I'm sure you are but at the end of the day you're a street cop and he has far too much potential for that." She growled.
"Look, I didn't come up here to argue with you, I'm glad you're okay. But I have a request, could you keep it down in the stomping around up here? I've got a killer headache and as you can see I'm recovering." He said motioning to his body. "I just want some quiet and having you stomp around up here is ruining that."
"I'm sorry I need to walk around my apartment." She said coldly. "I have a 7 year old. He doesn't understand how to walk lightly."
"Yeah well maybe you should teach him something and while you're at it you should teach him not to talk to strangers." He spat out before he could stop himself.
"Leave." She sighed. "And please don't come back." With that she closed the door in his face and Kiba kicked himself for letting her get to him. He was not a rude person but she pushed his buttons. The last sigh had been one of defeat and he felt worse for causing it. He didn't mean to get angry but the pain was making a lot of things hard. He walked back down the stairs feeling more frustrated that he had been rude to her than he had about her stomping around.
