So... surprisingly this is still going.

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The funny thing was, I wasn't worried that the whole situation would be awkward. Hanging out with Tamaki came naturally, kinda like when I was with the boys or my team.

Well, not my team anymore. Shino was fine; we still went out to eat and visit Kurenai-sensei and play with her kid. But, whenever I saw Hinata, I basically turned tail and ran in the opposite direction.

I still met Tamaki for coffee, more often now than before. She never asked to see me, and I never asked to see her. But, we both knew.

What had changed is that I started visiting her store. It was a small little thing, but they had every sorta treat, toy, medicine, accessory you needed. Usually, I bought medicine for my mom. Of course, I got Akamaru a couple treats; Tamaki always gave them to us free.

Sometimes, when I went and visited her, there would be a few boys at the register flirting with her. A few times, I saw a small box of chocolates sitting on the table on the corner table behind the counter. Once, there were a half-dozen daisies, carefully wrapped in pale blue paper. It was Ino's work, no doubt.

I never said anything, but in truth, it made me mad.

It's said that dogs are as smart as man, if not smarter.

Obviously, this gene skipped Akamaru.

I don't know exactly what happened; he wouldn't admit what he did. But, from what I could gather, he ate something out in the fields. Some random thing. He said he was curious, which I guess equaled to eating it.

When I woke up, I found him sprawled out on the ground. I normally would take no notice of it, but when I accidently tripped on his tail, he didn't stir at all. Usually, he would lazily snap at me. Or bite me. Not hard of course. Just enough to make me laugh and apologize.

But, it was like he was dead. And, I actually thought he was dead because I started shaking him and when he didn't respond, I started screaming my head off, and Hana stumbled over. She was about to slap me really hard, but one of her Haimarus stopped her.

She kneeled down quickly.

"He's not dead."

She was a medical ninja, yes. "So, heal him." Losing Akamaru would be like ripping my limbs off. It would be the worse kind of pain, worse than losing Hinata.

"Humans are my specialty… I'm not quite sure…"

I didn't have time for her to figure things out. I lugged fat-ass Akamaru over my shoulders and ran out the house. My mom screamed after me, but I couldn't hear her over the pounding in my head.

Everything hurt. Especially my back because Akamaru was so damn heavy. "I'm putting you on a fucking diet after this."

His tail twitched a little bit, meaning he heard me. I was running as fast as I could to the only person I knew who had the skill and knowledge to help me. To save me from certain, emotional destruction.

Tamaki.

By the time I got there, I was half dragging Akamaru. People were staring at me, and I think a few of them were trying to help me, but I just yelled at them and they ran off.

The door to the shop was still locked; it wasn't opened yet. But, I banged on the door until splinters were flying, and this old prune opened up.

She took one look at me, and then ushered me inside.

"Tamaki!" She yelled.

She came flying down the stairs, her hair unbrushed and a piece of bread in her mouth. "What!?"

But, when she saw me, she quickly tied her hair back and pulled on a pair of gloves. Her grandma, from what I can take from the situation, helped me pull Akamaru on a stretcher and transfer him to the next room on the operating table.

The first thing Tamaki did was poor this vial of evil-smelling crap down Akamaru's jaw. That got him kicking.

Once I squeezed what had happened out of him, I tried to explain it to Tamaki. But, she didn't need it.

"Yeah, I got it."

Crap. So, did that mean she understood our conversations? Did she know every time I commented on her ass? Or that rack?

Oh god. Embarrassing as shit, that's what this was.

Tamaki didn't take much notice of me, and she pointed to the cabinet nailed to the wall as she started buckling Akamaru's paws in place. "I need a red bottle from that."

The prune-lady shuffled over and started pulling jars and glasses off the shelf.

He didn't like that one bit, being tied up. She had to collar him, and he tried to bite her. But, Tamaki just slapped him on the nose and kept on going; she wasn't phased one bit.

She grabbed a small box from underneath the operating table and took out a small container. From it, was a bunch of needles and syringes. She took one out, flicked it a few times, and then handed it to me.

"Stick him with it." She pointed to his shoulder. I did what she asked of me.

She went over to prune-lady and took over what ever was happening. I just watched her, sweat beading on her forehead and brows narrowed and eyes focused.

"You need to leave," Prune-lady said.

I shook my head. "Like hell I am." I would never, ever leave Akamaru alone in a situation like this. They would have to kill me.

She was about to protest, but Tamaki interrupted. "Ma, he can stay. It'll be fine."

Prune-lady didn't say anything else. She just shuffled over to me, patted my hand and gave it a little squeeze, and then she shuffled out.

"Where is she going?"

"Out front. She'll take care of business."

Right. I was interfering with her work.

She seemed to have heard my thoughts. "It's fine."

She laid out a bunch of tools. I think I was going to throw up; she was planning to cut him open. "I've got to get it out, and then force what's been absorbed out of his system." She explained. I knew it was necessary. I trusted her.

That didn't mean I liked it though.

How much time had passed? I wasn't quite sure. I tried not to doze off or zone out, but it was hard. I was exhausted, emotionally and mentally drained. There was blood, everywhere. It was on her clothes, in her hair, smeared on her skin.

I gotta say, Akamaru's insides were gross.

When she fished whatever he had eaten out, I still didn't know what it was. Some sort of black mess. It wasn't a turd or anything, because those were pretty easy to identify. She cleaned him up, gave him a couple more shots of whatever, and then started sewing him up.

After the long row of stiches was completed, she snipped the rest of the line off and asked me to get her a bucket of water. We gently lowered him into the tub, and she washed him off with a sponge, careful to avoid irritating the wound.

After we placed him on a clean mattress, she dropped down on the floor and leaned against the wall. I went over to her, and she shakingly held out her hand.

"Help me up."

I pulled her to her feet, but her knees buckled from underneath her. Cussing, she tried to steady herself on my arm, but, I picked her up like a child and she turned red as I carried her up the stairs.

"Take me to the bathroom." She demanded.

I dropped her off at the door, and she kept herself up by the counter of the sink. She pointed to my now bloodstained clothes. "There are some clothes in the closet of the room at the end of the hall. They should fit you."

The clothes were probably her father's; there were too many of them for them to be the one's of a past lover. A few of the things fit okay, so I changed into them. Then, I sat on the floor and curled my legs up to my chest, waiting for her to finish the shower. I could hear the water patter down on her skin, and I could hear her softly humming to herself.

I must have fallen asleep, because Tamaki was hovering over me, shaking my arm. "Kiba?"

The smell of her alone was enough for me to push her down and try to strangle her lips with mine. I grabbed her face without thinking, but when I realized what I was about to do, I started shaking her pretty hard, hoping she hadn't noticed the red flush creeping across my face and neck. "What the heck are you doing?"

She yanked herself away, and sprawled back onto the floor like a turtle that had been flipped over. "I thought you would be uncomfortable on the floor." She gasped, "The bed would be better."

I looked over, and noticed that she had set out some extra pillows and a thick coverlet. Huffing at my stupidity, she tucked her still-wet hair behind her ears. I couldn't even smell the scent of cat on her anymore; all I could smell was that tantalizing vanilla, combined with the heat of the shower. "Thanks."

"I knew you would want to stay until Akamaru was better."

She was right. Otherwise, I would be camped outside their store from dawn til dusk.

Did she know what kind of power she had? A lock of her hair dangled in front of my face as she propped the pillows up and aired out the blankets. I wanted to grab that head of hers and bring it to mine. And with the shorts she had on, her silky tan legs were exposed to my wandering eyes. She had such beautiful legs. It made me wonder what the rest of her body looked like…

Prune-lady poked her head in, so I didn't get a chance to reach out and run my fingers against her skin. Good thing, too. Tamaki would beat the shit outta me. "Dinner's ready."

What? Dinner? It couldn't have been that long.

But, my eyes did not deceive. The sun was setting outside, and our figures threw dark shadows against the wall. Tamaki smiled at me. "My grandma is a good cook."

Fuck yeah, she was.

There was roast lamb, still on the bone. Potatoes in stew, a pot of steamed rice, a plate of fresh greens. I didn't touch those, because those didn't fit into my diet. Duh. Tamaki made sure my plate was full; I ate more than I usually did, probably because my mom couldn't cook for crap, and Hana didn't even know what cooking was. So, my room was stacked with various instant foods and snacks. Lots, and lots of snacks.

I guess Tamaki couldn't really stomach much, because I barely saw anything pass her lips, besides a cup of tea. She excused herself, and slowly shuffled upstairs. I ate her share, but I was a bit worried.

Her grandma wouldn't let me help her clean the dishes; she just shooed me upstairs. She just asked that I bring a cup of tea to Tamaki.

She was lying on her bed, with her hands over her face and her wet hair tangled around the pillows.

"Prune-lady told me to bring you some tea."

"Put it on the desk." She waved her hand in that general direction. "And don't call her that." She laughed weakly.

I put the glass down. "You might want to drink it soon; it'll get cold."

She pat a spot on her bed, inviting me to sit. With my back facing her, I let the scent of her torture me.

It was comfortable in her room; not too hot, not too cold. The heat from her radiated against my back, and it made me feel sleepy. Would she mind if I curled up next to her?

"Does it ever scare you?" She whispered.

Losing the ones you loved? Opening up to her? Lowering my walls, only to be afraid of losing myself again? Thinking about what could have been, and all of the things that I had done wrong?

"What does?"

"Blood."

You have got to be kidding me.

This chick was a fucking vet. And she was scared of blood.

I was shaking as I choked back my laughter. She slapped me on the back. "No, no it doesn't."

"Don't laugh." She sounded so weak, so I stopped.

"I don't like it." She added.

I guess I could understand. "It doesn't bother me; I've slaughtered hundreds of people. It's just sorta… numbing." Numbing. Yeah. That was a welcoming feeling now.

"I was afraid Akamaru was going to die."

"But, you didn't let him."

She found something funny, because it took her awhile to reply over the giggles. "I can't lose my chance with you." She said, half-jokingly.

Why was it so hard to give myself to her? She was literally perfect.

I didn't say anything. I didn't know how to reply.

Snores.

Snores!?

She was asleep. This bitch was asleep. She was worse than Temari, sand-demon who could fall asleep while eating.

Okay, maybe not that bad. She must have been exhausted from today.

She curled up in a little ball, and it was actually really cute. Her shoulders rose and fell with each breath, and at one point, I leaned over to tickle her nose. She sneezed on me, which was significantly less cute.

I pulled the quilt over her. She didn't stir.

Quietly, I snuck out of the room and down the hall. Prune-lady was at the top of the stairs, waiting for me.

"Are you dating my grand-daughter?"

"No."

She nodded, whether in disapproval or approval, I didn't know.

No. I wasn't. Not yet.