Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
REVISED 5/30/2015
All posted chapters have been revised. This basically involved cleaned up typos, rewording a little dialogue, fixing a messed up name and correcting a continuity error. While there are very likely still errors because I'm not perfect, these should be a little cleaner. I have redone all that was already posted in order to get myself back in the game of writing. I know it's been getting close to a year now since I've last updated, but I am working on it. Life happened and I'm sorry but I'm back. And if it makes you feel better, my little sister is going to be badgering me to update and since I live with this person and I'll want her off my back, it is likely that you will get more frequent updates now.
No Thanks Necessary
Chapter 4
Kiba had only a quick moment of warning as the screech of his mother's voice screaming through the still night air pierced his ears. He jolted awake, sitting up immediately, muscled tensed as the door to Naruto's apartment flew off the hinges and slammed through the apartment to the wall less than a foot away from Kiba's own head, splintering on contact due to the sheer force.
Naruto jerked up at the loud sound, yelling out some nonsense into the dark, but there was no time really to react because all of a sudden there was a hulking mass of muscle standing right at the edge of the bed and Naruto was grabbed up by one massive hand which clenched around the small child's throat without care.
Legs kicked at air as Naruto's hands scratched and tugged ineffectually against the brawn of a man.
Kiba scrambled to his feet as he heard, "You will stay away from Kiba!" hissed in a tone so menacing that the blood chilled in his veins. Killer intent radiated away from Biyoku and Kiba found himself unable to move, unable to breathe, even though he wanted to help Naruto. Even though he wanted to save Naruto, the boy who was being hurt just because he had given Kiba shelter.
But his legs quaked and his hands shook and he was choking on fear and saliva, using what little control he still had over his body to try to maintain control of his own bladder. He could only look on even as he watched the blonde writhe in his father's grasp, seeing the man's eyes shining in delight as he squeezed tighter little by little.
The banshee-like scream of Tsume Inuzuka rang through the apartment as she barreled inside, aiming for her brute of a husband.
He tossed a sickening grin her way before whipping his arms back and letting Naruto fly into the wall which he slammed into with a dull thud and simultaneous clear cracking sound, then sliding to the ground and failed to move.
Kiba snapped out of his stupor and bolted towards the prone boy's form. His pressed a shaking hand against Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto?" He pushed against that shoulder
No response.
"Naruto please." He gasped, pushing against the blonde's shoulder. "Please, please."
Kiba wasn't entirely sure what the 'please' was for. Please wake up? Please be breathing? Please be okay? Please don't die? Please don't be dead because of me? Any of them? All of them? All of them and so much more that his young mind could not comprehend?
Not able to process these questions Kiba continued to plead with the boy, pushing at the shoulder, scared to touch him otherwise.
But then a groan.
A strange, gargled sound that seemed to get tripped up in the mangled throat that his father had left on his friend.
Honestly it was a horrifying sound. In any other situation, hearing it would have frightened even the staunchest of men. But right now, Kiba was so grateful to hear any kind of response that meant that his friend was not dead, that it didn't matter how horrifying it was because it's mere existence was a good thing.
Naruto rolled over slowly, shoulder winding up in Kiba's lap since the Inuzuka was so close to his friend.
Kiba cried and threw himself over his friend in desperate relief and in doing so, narrowly missed being struck by the object that had been tossed carelessly by his struggling parents.
The potted plant exploded in contact with the wall, the small clay pot shattering into multiple pieces, dirt scattering over the huddle children and the small marigolds that had been within slipping to the floor silently, laying still in the rubble of its former home.
Naruto gurgled again in his throat, one hand clenching tightly at Kiba's shirt.
He looked to the boy and found blue eyes that were totally and frighteningly aware. Kiba could barely fathom what was going on, the sheer insanity of the moment was beyond anything in his experience and his brain could not seem to process it. But Naruto's brain wasn't seeming to have the same problem. He was following everything with keen eyes, seemingly unhindered by the pain.
Naruto used his grip on Kiba's shirt to help pull himself up, his eyes locking on the battle between the elder Inuzukas who just smashed through Naruto's kitchen, shattering the rickety old table where Naruto had made the first offer of sanctuary and sending a chair leg flying to lodge itself deep in the wall just next to the fridge.
Naruto tugged on Kiba's shirt to pull the boy's attention back to him. The blonde jerked a finger at Kiba and followed it up by forming his pointer finger and thumb into a circle with the other three fingers extended.
You okay?
Kiba swallowed and nodded with a jerky movement.
A loud crunching noise filled the room as Naruto's bed shattered under the power of a strike from Biyoku that Tsume managed to dodge.
As debris flew through the air, Kiba found himself on his back having been tossed to the ground with Naruto laying on his chest face contorted in another grimace.
Then silence.
Sudden and strange because a part of Kiba had thought that the noise and the confusion as Naruto's home was torn to pieces around them would never end.
"Boys!" A voice gasped.
Standing before the remnants of what had been the only window into Naruto's apartment was the surprisingly imposing form of Shikaku Nara. His shadow extended into the room, trapping the riling forms of the Inuzuka parents. The man gritted his teeth against the amount of chakra required to keep these two in place, sweat beading rapidly on his brow.
"Get out of here!"
Kiba nodded again, feelingly vaguely like he had been replaced by a bobble head on this night, but he could recognize an order when given one. He lurched to his feet, pulling Naruto up with him.
"And Kiba – get Naruto to the hospital. Tell them I will be there shortly to check in with them about him."
Kiba nodded once more, grateful for the authority in the man's voice. He needed someone to tell him what to do right now, because he didn't know how he was supposed to take the brawl that his life had become, so he needed the direction of someone else.
They dashed around the semi-frozen pair to get to the doorway, but it was evident that Biyoku was struggling against the bind to some measure of success given the hiss let out by Shikaku as the boy's passed by Biyoku and the man's arm began to spasm and shake like he was trying to reach out and grab them.
They flew down the stairs and out into the open air and Kiba gasped, pulling the air into his lungs that seemed to finally be opening again after the confrontation.
Turning, he grasped Naruto's hand and begun to tug, pulling the boy towards the hospital.
Kiba was an Inuzuka, and if they knew anything, it was how to follow rank and position. And a superior had just given him an order.