AN: SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I GOT MY COMPUTER TAKEN AWAY FROM ME WITH ALL THE FILES OF 'TIMES CHANGE' ON IT. THIS CHAPTER MIGHT BE SHORTER, BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY SOME MORE KIKO
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
CHAPTER 3
Week after week Kiba and Maeko had met each other everyday. They got to know each other better and easily became friends, despite what Gobi had told Maeko.
Eventually days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. The two of them, plus Akamaru were walking to the Hokages office for another one of their 'meetings' that Kiba never got to enter the room for. Not that he needed to, he could hear everything they were saying through the wall with his keen sense of hearing.
They had finally reached the Hokages office door, and Maeko knocked. They both heard a "Come in." from the inside. She slightly waved to Kiba as she opened the door and walked in.
Kiba leaned against the wall with one foot up, and his hands in his pockets, knowing how long it would take as usual. He wasn't even standing against the wall a whole minute before the door to Lady Tsunade's office opened and Maeko was standing there in the doorway. "Hey. She said she wants to see both of us this time."
Kiba's foot dropped and took his hands out of his pockets, and folded them across his chest instead. "Why? What's up?"
Maeko only shrugged and turned back into the office, while Kiba followed. They both walked to the front of the Hokages desk, standing next to each other.
Lady Tsunade was reading a scroll and didn't look up. "We're low on shinobi for missions right now, I've been looking over this one. It's a B rank mission and I can't think of anyone else to take it."
"Wait you're putting us on a mission?" Kiba almost shouted, while unfolding his arms.
"Well there's no one else for the job, so yes. Here's the information, look it over and leave as soon as possible, now be on your way." Tsunade barked.
Both Maeko and Kiba straightened up. "Yes ma'am!" Then they both left the room.
As soon as the door was closed behind them, and they walked outside, Maeko started jumping up and down. "What are you so excited about?"
"A mission! Finally a real mission!" Fire ignited in Maeko's eyes as Kiba just stared at her with a playful grin.
"You know it's not exactly 'fun', its dangerous, and plus you've done stuff like this before right?" Kiba said, mocking her and re-crossing his arms.
"Well yea, it's just that I've never had a real mission before." Maeko said as she opened the scroll and started to look at the details of the mission. Kiba's shoulders slumped a little and his expression went from teasingly happy, to a confused one.
'How come I've known her for so long, but never knew she'd actually never been on a mission before? What other things don't I know about her?' He wandered.
Maeko looked up. "Hey what's wrong? We have a mission. Don't be so glum!" She smacked him on the back to lighten the mood, and it worked.
"What the hell was that for!" He shouted angrily for the sudden sting that he was now feeling in his back.
She shrugged her shoulders and put her hands out to the sides. "You were lookin all depressed and lost in thought."
"So that's what you do to someone who's lost in thought?!" He shouted a bit.
Her hands went back to holding the scroll, but her eyes stayed on him, while a huge smile spread across her face. "Nope, just you."
Kiba felt his face get a little warmer, and got flustered. "Whatever! What does it say?"
Maeko smiled when she saw Kiba's face turn red. 'It's not that hot outside. Why is he getting all red?' "Um, our mission is in the hidden moon village. What a lovely village I've been there a couple times. Nice little village. There have been stolen ninja tools reported and we're to find and capture the culprits."
Kiba pouted, "Well that sounds extremely boring. How is that a B rank mission?" He complained.
Maeko rolled her eyes, "It's because the ninja tools that have been stolen are extremely rare and powerful... and there's not much detail to it... soooooo yea. We should start preparing. I'll meet you at the gates in an hour!" She said already sprinting off towards her apartment not looking back.
Kiba decided that there was nothing left to do but go home and prepare for the mission as well.
When Maeko arrived at her apartment she immediately brought out a backpack and began to put the things she would need in it. "You're attaching yourself, and becoming hasty again." A voice said behind her.
She turned and saw Gobi sitting on the floor behind her, but she wasn't surprised. "So what if I'm getting attached? There's nothing wrong with that." She replied without raising her voice.
"You already know that he is weaker than you, he could die easily. What would you be left with? Another empty hole in your heart." He said harshly, "Do you remember how depressed and dark you became? You did everything I taught you without question or snide remark. You were completely stoic, and I don't want to see you like that again Maeko."
She didn't even turn around, but she was shaking with anger. "You know what Gobi why don't you just lay off okay! Just stay here and I'll show you that I can actually do something without you!" She grabbed her bag for most of everything she had needed had been packed for a long time, and she ran out the front door slamming it behind her knowing how stupid she looked in front off the seven anbu hiding in her ceiling.
She ran and ran until she couldn't breathe anymore. She had run all the way around the village, and to the gates within forty – five minutes. She was sitting up in a tree near the gates when she sensed Kiba's nearby. He noticed her when she hopped out of the tree and they both started walking towards each other.
"Hey, you ready?" Kiba asked with a bored expression, just wanting to get this all over with.
"Yeah, and will you stop it all ready. When you first met me you were so angry, and complained that you wouldn't be able to get any missions in, and now you have one and you don't even care. It annoys me to no end!" She complained, her bad temper still raging.
"Okay, okay. No need to shout gosh. I could say the same to you. What happened to the excited, cheery Maeko I know is in there?" He asked grabbing her cheek and pinching it.
"Ah, hey!" she swatted his hand away and couldn't resist a smile. "You jerk."
"Hah! There's that smile. What happened that made you so mad in the first place?" It's like he just knew something was off about her and her chakra presence, but he could tell it was still her by her scent. "I mean you seem different, especially your chakra. What happened? You know you can tell me, I mean who's there to snitch to?"
Maeko sighed, she hadn't told anyone about Gobi yet. It was just too complicated to even start thinking about. She knew eventually she would tell him someday, but not today. "It's just complicated, really, don't worry about it."
Kiba scratched his neck then put his hands in his pockets. "Fine then whatever you say." He began to walk away with Akamaru by his side and Maeko in tow.
They traveled through the forest for hours and hours, stopping every once in a while to drink water. The sun was beginning to set and they had decided to set camp up for the night.
Not very many words were exchanged between the two. Kiba caught some fish in a nearby river while Maeko finished setting things up. They both ate quickly and decided that they should get to sleep early, so they could get an early start.
In the middle of the night Kiba woke up suddenly and realized Maeko wasn't there in the tent with them. Akamaru was still sleeping which meant she was really quiet in doing so. He quietly got out of the tent and began following her scent, he easily found her.
She was standing in a small opening where the moon shone down on her. The glow made her look absolutely gorgeous, and the slight breeze blew her long knee length hair behind her. Kiba had never seen her with her hair down before, he found himself blushing as her intoxicatingly good scent rushed into his nostrils, making him feel dizzy. He shook it off and walked over. "Can't sleep?" He asked.
Maeko didn't turn her head, she kept her eyes on the moon. "Yeah, I guess. I haven't slept outside in a while." Kiba noticed goosebumps on her skin.
"You look cold. We should go back to the tent and try to get all the sleep we can. And if you're still too cold you can just take my blanket." His eyes gazed up to the moon where she was looking, and somehow tonight it seemed absolutely breath taking.
They both looked down at the same time catching each others gaze. It seemed like one of those magical moments that never actually happen in real life until, "If I take your blanket then you'll just be cold as well." The moment was ruined.
Kiba heaved a heavy sigh, and scratched his head. "Haven't you learned anything about me yet? We've only been comrades for so long now." He said teasingly.
"Huh?" Maeko asked dumbfounded, just staring. Usually Gobi was there to remind her but not now Gobi was in the leaf village or maybe he ran away. She felt empty inside like something was missing. She was being a pessimist and she knew it.
This only made him smirk even more, he could have teased her a bit more too ,but he could tell something wasn't right about her. She seemed kinda sad to him. "Well, we Inuzuka's naturally have warm bodies so we don't get cold easily, you'd be doing me a favor." He said in a matter of fact way.
She smiled a little bit, but it was short lived. "Haha, right." She said like she was really sad about something.
Kiba knew that something was not right. "Ok what's up. You've been acting weird the whole day and you look like you're depressed or something, and you won't tell me what's on your mind, you just keep saying it's nothing." He said softly yet demanding.
Her eyes held such innocence at that moment, then more sadness. "I'm sorry, I just can't. Not now." She said lowly, avoiding his direct gaze.
That only made Kiba more frustrated than he already was. He grabbed her arms and turned her toward him. Their eyes instantly met. "Can't what? Dammit just tell me! It's not like i'll think of you any differently! Why can't you just tell me?" He barely started yelling, but of course he was frustrated. His grip somehow became tighter on her arms without realizing it. Then suddenly he smelled natural salt... tears. He looked deeply into her eyes and worry and confusion overtook all his features. He saw a tear fall. His hands immediately let go of her arms. She maneuvered past him and ran back to the tent.
What just happened? What had really just happened? 'I am such an idiot!' He mentally yelled at himself as he punched the closest tree bruising his knuckles. 'How could I push her that far? She wasn't ready for that! If she didn't want to tell me she didn't have to!'
He didn't dare go back into the tent, he slept outside the tent against a tree. He awoke at sunrise to find that Maeko's scent was gone. He jumped up and began searching around thinking that she ran away, when her scent all of the sudden returned. He whirled around to see Maeko heading in from the trees with some fish she caught in the river.
As soon a he saw her, he was filled with relief and guilt. One of the first things that caught his eyes were her arms. They weren't bruised but he knew he hurt her. He felt like the biggest idiot to ever live. He wished he could've taken everything back from last night.
Maeko began to make a fire noticing that he was staring at her from three feet away. "You know you're making it pretty obvious what you're thinking about right now." She paused, "I know you didn't try to do it, and you were just trying to help."
That was enough for him to break free from his thoughts, he stepped a little closer, but stopped dead in his tracks. "I don't wanna forget what happened last night. I'm not proud that I hurt you, and made you cry. I'm sorry and i'm ashamed of myself. No matter what happens, I promise you that I will never hurt you ever again, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna stop trying to get stuff out of you. I still want you to tell me what's on your mind, but I won't force it out of you. I'll wait for you to tell me on your own."
Maeko was too overwhelmed she couldn't find a response. She wasn't even mad or hurt by Kiba, she started crying because she was sad that she couldn't tell him, and scared of what he'd think of her. No one had ever treated her like that before, like they cared. She didn't care that he hurt her a little bit and yelled a little, it was because he so desperately wanted to know what was wrong and would do anything to get it out of her. Without Gobi there to help keep her emotions in check she lost control and began to cry. She knew Kiba wasn't the kind of person to usually do that sort of thing, he only wanted to help her. She knew that she would have to tell him sooner than later.
Little words were exchanged between them while they ate, packed up, and left the sight. A couple of hours went by and they arrived in the the hidden moon village. They began walking to the village heads' quarters when the silence was just about getting to Kiba.
"You know medical ninjutsu right?" He inquired.
Maeko turned her head slightly to look at him, but didn't stop walking. "Yeah. Why? Did you hurt your hand that badly when you punched that tree yesterday."
That only made him think more about the night before, and he still felt guilty about it. "No, my hand is fine. I mean if you know medical ninjutsu did you use it on your arms?" She came to a halt in front of the building.
"Honestly you didn't do much just some light bruising." She began to examine her arms where the bruises were, making sure it was all gone.
"Just some bruising? Do you realize what you're saying? You shouldn't be acting like that for what I did, and the only explanation I can come up with is that this has happened before." He explained as he came face to face up to her.
Even though he was right in front of her she couldn't look at him. She kept her eyes down, and didn't answer him either. "Maeko has this happened before?"
It had happened to her a lot when she was younger and still lived in her village, but having bruises didn't bother her anymore. "We're on a mission Kiba. Keep to the objective." She said brutally, as she walked past him, and into the building.
Kiba was just getting more and more frustrated with Maeko, and her stubbornness. He followed her into the building and they both were escorted to see the head of the village. Kiba and Maeko bowed when they entered. The head was an older, middle aged man who wore a colorful yukata. He had short black hair under his hat and small circular glasses on his face.
"Oh, shinobi from the leaf. I thank the Hokage for sending help so quickly, even though our problems might not be as big as others." He said quickly and bowed his head slightly when they came in.
"Thank you. We will be sure to pass on your thanks to the Hokage once we return. And your problems are just as important as any other in the Land of Fire." Maeko said gracefully and respectfully.
"Oh, thank you. My name is Jashouh, and i'll get straight to the point. Our villages blacksmith was creating three weapons to aide the Hidden Leaf. They are very powerful, and if they are in the wrong hands, they could bring down entire villages at a time." He explained. "If they are a success we hoped to make more."
"So, what kind of weapons are these? What do they do that makes them so powerful?" Kiba questioned, thinking the guy might be over exaggerating a bit.
Jashouh had almost a scared look on his face. "These weapons allow any shinobi to use powerful tactics. There are three, each weapon has many different attack styles and can destroy over twenty houses with very little effort and chakra. They are made with a special type of metal so the blades will never dull. If skilled enemy shinobi had this... I don't know what we would do." He explained in despair.
"There's no need to worry. We will find and capture the culprit, also returning your weapons as well." Maeko explained calm expression on her face the whole time.
"Oh, thank you! Someone will lead you in the direction of where they were stolen from when you leave." They both thought he was finished, so they bowed our heads. "But wait, I almost forgot there's a festival going on for the next couple of days. Please try not to interrupt anything."
"Of course." They both bowed again and left the room this time. As soon as they were out it was as he had said, someone was there and lead them to the scene of the crime.
When they arrived the kind guard left them. There was only silence between Maeko and Kiba, but not for long as a man both old and small came out of the house in which he blacksmithed. He looked kind, but who knew, he was balding on his head, and his hands were small and covered in black along with the white apron now turned a grayish black color.
"Welcome." He bowed. "You must be the Leaf shinobi here to help please come inside, and look around."
They needed no other entry, as soon as they were inside they started looking around. Kiba was sniffing around for some sort of scent, but since he had never been in this town before and not met many people all the scents where of no help.
Maeko was using her Lacingan trying to find traces of chakra signature, but she too could not find anything of use. With a heavy sigh she deactivated her Lacingan.
Maeko's eyes met Kiba's and they both understood what the other was thinking. "How many people have been here since the incident?" Kiba asked, standing up straight from where he was crouching near the floor.
The old man let out the light sigh before answering. "Quite a few i'm afraid." He said with sadness lingering in his eyes.
Maeko felt bad for the old man. "Walk us through what happened that day." She commanded, rather than asked but it wasn't taken in the wrong way in the slightest.
The blacksmith lifted his gaze from the floor to meet her eyes. "Well." He paused, "I had been working on them for so long, and I had just finished the weapons around noon. I sat down for a rest, when a friend of mine came by and invited me to lunch." A sigh came, "I guess, I was just so excited that I had finished, that I forgot to lock the door when I had left. When I came back about an hour later my front door was cracked open, and all three of the weapons I had worked so hard on, were just gone." He began to get overwhelmed and took a seat on a work chair, wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead.
Kiba leaned back and forth shifting his weight from on foot to the other. "Are there any regular customers, or people that just happen to come by every once in a while, by that day? Or a day in the past when someone had seen you work on it before?" He inquired.
The man looked up at Kiba with a look of purity in his eyes. "No, not really I kept it all private and if I saw someone coming near I would cover it up." He stopped a moment before rushing over to a wooden desk in the corner of the room. He pulled open the top drawer and took out some papers that he quickly looked at. "These are drawings of the weapons. Almost perfectly precise."
Maeko looked at them and showed them to kiba as well before folding them up and putting it in her pocket. "Thank you for your time. We'll keep searching elsewhere." They bowed and left the blacksmiths in his house.
Maeko and Kiba started asking the neighbors if they had seen anything odd in the past week. Or seen someone sneak into the blacksmiths house that one day. By the end of the day they came up empty. The sun was setting a beautiful hue of an orange-pink color.
They found a small empty field and laid on the grass just how they would on a normal day. "It reminds you of home doesn't it?"
She turned her head looking at how he stared off into the sky resting his head on his hands. "Yeah I guess." She paused thinking for a moment. "I never realized it before now. I wonder why?"
His face contorted with confusion as he propped himself into a sitting position "Never realized what?" He prodded.
Her eyes never left the beautiful sky glowing overhead. A small smile spread across her face. "I have a home." Saying it out loud pinged at her emotions, and she felt like crying, but she refused to let herself, and held it back.
Kiba chuckled and smiled. Then the moment was gone when they heard a scream nearby. Akamaru started to growl and Kiba instantly smelled blood. Maeko activated her Lacingan looking around she finally located where the scream came from.
"There!" They both shouted at the same time, jumping up and running along beside each other, feeling the slight burn in their legs as they approached the area. They hid behind trees about ten feet away, thinking there might be an enemy.
But then they saw what really happened. They both heaved heavy sighs and got out from their hiding places. They stepped forward out into the open. There were little kids about 9 years old, playing with ninja tools, one of them was injured. Maeko bent down toward the little boy with the cut on his arm. They were scared and backed away.
"Don't worry. We're shinobi from the Leaf, and I know medical ninjutsu." Maeko said calmly with a smile on her face. The boy took a step forward and she healed his arm with ease.
Kiba looked off to the side to look at the ninja tools laying on the floor. He did a double take when we laid his eyes upon a certain thing, or things.
As Maeko was crouched down to the floor, Kiba suddenly reached into her pocket and pulled something out, but she was too busy reprimanding the boys on how not to use ninja tools, than to yell at him.
Kiba only had to look once to see that these were the stolen ninja tools, and picked up one of them, which looked like a large black shuriken, with tinted red blades. "Say, where did you kids find these?" He questioned cynically with an evil smirk plastered onto his face.
Maeko didn't have to look twice at the weapon he began spinning around on his finger to know what it was. Her face also became cynical as she looked back to the children.
They cowardly stepped backwards with no escape. "We thought we would just borrow it from Mr. Kuro, and return it later!" The boy in the middle shouted.
"Yeah we do it all the time! We always return them!" The boy to the left shouted.
Kiba stopped the shuriken from spinning and looked at it. It was a little larger than regular shuriken, plus it looked like two shuriken melded into one yet they both spun separately. Kiba flung it to the right where no one was standing and they all watched as it flew through the tree and the next one, and the one after that. It kept on going strong through trees throughout the forest cutting them down.
Kiba, Maeko, and the children went wide eyed as they watched. "Damn." He said quietly. Then they heard it coming closer. Kiba and Maeko both had to duck down as it flew right into the tree behind them, crunching up the wood. One of the shuriken blades was still and pierced the tree, while the other spun extremely fast tearing up the tree. The blade cut through the tree and slowly came out the other side falling to the ground.
"Now we know what they meant, by powerful." Maeko stated while Kiba slowly walked over and picked up the shuriken blade thing along with the other two.
Before they knew it they were in Jashuoh's office with the blacksmith Mr. Kuro and the children. "I can't believe you children!" Mr. Kuro yelled.
"I'm so sorry to inconvenience you." Jashuoh bowed. "For something so trivial also. As a token of gratitude for your service I propose that you stay the next two nights here in the village. Tomorrow night is the last night of the festival. You can also take the weapons back with you to Konoha afterwards. I just need Mr. Kuro to look at them and make sure they aren't damaged. Everything will be paid for in advance, I urge you to take the offer. " The man was on his hands and knees, begging.
Maeko thought it was silly to take the offer since the mission was over. They should just rest for the night and head home in the morning. She opened her mouth to speak when Kiba answered instead. "We'll gladly take your offer. Thank you."
"Oh no. Thank you. You must be exhausted, so I won't keep you." He dismissed them, they bowed and left.
As soon as they were far enough Maeko smacked him on the back of his head. "Ow! What the hell!" Kiba instantly started rubbing the back of his head.
"What were you thinking isn't it against the rules... Er something? Don't we have to return immediately after we're done with the mission?" Maeko angrily question a confident Kiba.
"Well you see," His trademark grin spread across his face. "The mission was expected to be at least five days long so we have an extra day or two to waste off anyway. We can leave the day after tomorrow." He explained finally dropping his hand from his head.
When they reached the small hotel they checked in, took baths, and went to sleep. When Maeko awoke the next morning she felt tired and achy for reasons she didn't know. She slept in, it was nearing ten, why did she sleep so long, and why didn't Kiba wake her? She slowly got out of bed and started stretching, when Kiba burst into the room wearing his casual clothes which consisted of a red strip of cloth he tied around his head in place of his forehead guard. He wore black jeans, an emerald green shirt, and a navy blue jacket over that.
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "I've got plans for us before the festival starts tonight! I looked into it and everything!" He yelled out excitedly like a child would.
Maeko finished her stretches and stood up straight. "Alright, what are we doing?"
Kiba pulled a mischievous grin on his face. "Well there'd be no fun in it if I told you. It's a surprise." He said wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
She squinted her eyes at him in an intimidatingly fashion. "It isn't anything disturbing is it?" She inquired, moving closer.
He put his hands up in defense. "No, no. It's all sheer fun." He chuckled out his answer.
"Fine." She turned her back to him. "Now get out so I can get changed." She half turned to him with a smile.
"Right. Right, sorry." He quickly evacuated. She got dress in her casual clothes as well, which consisted of blue jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, under a black sleeveless hoodie, and she put her hair up in a pony tail like she always does.
They were out of the building within the next twenty minutes. They headed into a restaurant for a quick bite to eat, then quickly headed out again.
They walked for about fifteen minutes towards the edge of the small village. Maeko wondered what he had planned for them to do. "Kiba? Seriously, where are we going?" She asked.
Kiba only slightly turned around before hushing her. "We're almost there anyway just keep quiet." He said with the dorkiest smile on his face.
A few minutes later they arrived at what looked like a horse ranch. "So uh, what are we doing?" She questioned with a slight smile.
"What are we doing?" He repeated the question, and another one of his famous grins spread across his face. "We are horseback riding my friend!"
She smiled. "Oh... hahaha. Yeah i've never... um." She never finished.
A look of surprise crossed his face as jaw dropped, but he was still smiling. "Oh my gosh." He said slowly, "You've never ridden a horse before?" He stated rather than asked, and laughed a little afterwards. "I thought maybe, but I wasn't sure. Oh, this is gonna be fun." He said cockily, while walking past her.
Maeko was dreading the idea already, as she watched Kiba wave his arm, motioning for her to come. He brought her over to two horses already saddled up, with a blonde middle aged woman standing next to them.
She noticed them and waved. "Hello Kiba. Thank you for coming by this morning and helping out."
Kiba sheepishly smiled and put his hand up. "Please, no thanks is needed, but thank you for saddling the horses. You really didn't have to. I was gonna have my fun teasing this one." He explained half whispering and pointing at Maeko.
"I can hear you." Maeko said, unamused.
The lady smiled. "Well I have other things to tend to. You two have fun." She said kindly and started to walk away. "Oh, and you two make a lovely couple."
Both of them stared wide eyed, "Ah... um... uh... no, sorry we're not a..." Kiba stammered.
Maeko cut him off. "Yeah sorry, we are NOT a couple." She said slowly.
The lady looked so embarrassed. "Oh, my mistake, i'm so sorry." She bowed her head.
Kiba laughed a little. "It's all right. Don't worry about it."
The woman smile and walked away. "Well why don't we get started." He said turning towards her. "So do you at least know how to get up on a horse?"
Maeko stared at him condescendingly. "Do I look like I do?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Right, well you put your foot in this thing here, the stirrups like so." He demonstrated. "Then you put your hands up here, and pull yourself up and over." He swung himself up. "And then you just put your other foot in the other stirrup on the other side. You think you can handle that?" He questioned smirking like an idiot.
"Yeah, I can handle that." She said challengingly trying to do what she saw him do.
Kiba watched her struggle a bit trying to get her foot in the stirrup, before he jumped down to help her. "Alright shorty let me help."
Maeko stared at him with embarrassment written all over her face. "Im fine, I don't need help!" She exclaimed.
He started laughing at her for her stubbornness. "Well obviously you're too short, so stop being so stubborn and let me help you." He said mockingly.
She blushed of pure embarrassment. "Fine." She stated stubbornly as she let Kiba lift her up and help her onto the horse.
Kiba chuckled. "You really are a stubborn one, aren't you?" He stated more than asked, as he quickly and easily hoisted himself up onto his horse.
She frowned at the sight, thinking about how it was so hard for her to get on her horse. "Whatever. How do you... control it?" She asked knowing she sounded stupid.
He let out another laugh. "You're hilarious! Alright, whew. It's pretty simple, but you might have problems, so listen carefully." He said with a smirk, as Maeko only gave him a death glare. "Okay so you just pull back on the reigns to stop, left to go left, right to go right, and to make the horse go forward you just give em a little kick." He demonstrated coming up right next to her. "Was that simple enough for you?"
"I'm gonna punch you in the face, I swear Kiba!" She yelled trying to get a good swing at him, but he moved away in front of her.
"Only if you can catch up." He said as he began to ride away. She easily caught up to him, but he was too far away for her to punch, so eventually the problem just went away on its own.
After about a half an hour they both started enjoying the ride, making small talk as they rode along a trail that lead up a mountain. "So where we headed now?" She paused "Or is it a secret and you can't tell me or it'll ruin the surprise?"
"Yep." He said turning toward his left where she was and wriggling his eyebrows up and down. "But don't worry, I know you'll love it." He said as cockily as ever.
Maeko kept quiet enjoying the view from where they were. Trying to imagine what sort of place Kiba was taking her to. The both of them enjoyed the nature around them for what seemed like a short time before they came to a beautiful clearing with a small lake. There were flowers everywhere in various different colors, and the sun glistened on the lake making it sparkle.
Kiba led them a little farther to a tree branch that seemed to have broken off the tree above quite a long time ago. He jumped off and tied his horse up, helping me get off my horse and then doing the same for mine.
Maeko walked out a bit towards the lake staring at the magnificent beauty all around her. "Kiba!" She shouted back towards him. "This is amazing!" He smiled finishing up and walking over to her. "How did you find this place?"
Their gaze both met the beautiful shimmering lake. "The lady at the ranch. She told me that few people know about it, but it's beautiful. And she was right, it sure is."
"Yeah." It was quiet for many minutes except the sound of nature all around them. "So, why did you bring me here?"
Kiba took a deep breath in of fresh air and smiled. "I thought it'd be fun, and adventurous. Plus," he held up one finger, "I brought lunch."
"When did you have time to pack a lunch?" She inquired.
He crossed his arms. "Don't doubt my awesomeness."
She raised her brows and also crossed her arms. He smirked and laughed. "This morning that woman at the horse ranch helped me out."
Maeko chuckled at his defeat, and then gave him a condescending look, but still smiled. "No wonder that woman thought we were a couple. You acting all sneaky and surprising me with a lunch at a beautiful place."
He gave a confused look, and raised one eyebrow. "So."
"So? That doesn't at all sound to you like something a couple would do?" She raised both her eyebrows and leaned closer to him.
He looked away in thought for a moment, then became stiff, quickly drew in a breath, and turned toward Maeko. "That's not what I meant by this at all! You know that right?! I swear I wasn't even thinking about that! I just thought it would be a fun thing to do!"
Maeko laughed. "I know, I know! I'm just pulling your leg, don't get all defensive on me." She remained chuckling.
For hours they spent talking, cracking jokes, and teasing each other the day went by so quickly and they hadn't even noticed that the sun was setting.
"Psh, come on you know it's true!" Kiba argued loudly as always.
"As if! Hahahahaha!" Maeko could barely respond she was laughing too hard.
"Haha! Wow, is the sun really setting?" Kiba said looking above up at the trees at the orange and pink hitting the little clouds in the sky. "Guess we should head back, huh?" He said getting up and stretching.
Maeko followed his lead and they both began packing things up. "I can't believe we've been out so long." She expressed after Kiba helped her get up on her horse.
"To think a top ranked shinobi can't even get up on a horse." He claimed walking towards his horse, turning his head slightly and grinning.
"Shut up already! I could get up on my own if I wanted to!" She argued.
"Alright, alright." He got up on his horse, "No need to get all defensive. Come on, let's get going."
All she could do is smile at his arrogance and teasing. By the time they got back it was dark, the festival was starting soon, and the lady came to help them almost immediately after they arrived and insisted upon them leaving. She had another person helping her as well, so they left and went back to their hotel.
When they arrived, there were clothes in their rooms for the festival. "How thoughtful." Maeko said as she walked into her room.
Kiba glanced at the door to his room which was next to hers, but he remained in the doorway. "We should take bath's first, after being on an animal today. I mean you don't wanna smell like horse ass do you?" A grin crawled upon his face as he rudely teased her.
She quickly turned at his disgusting statement and ran for the door, but he closed it shut and ran into his room before she could get him. "I'll get you back for that later!" She yelled through the door.
After he bathed he felt refreshed, and he began thinking about what they might do at the festival. That's when it hit him. He's gonna see Maeko in a yukata. Kiba hasn't seen her dress at all like a girl since he met her. The thought made him feel... a little giddy, and well, there has to be some teasing in there too.
Kiba's yukata was red with no pattern, and an almost black sash. After dressing he looked at himself approvingly in the mirror before leaving the room.
He leaned his back against the wall next to Maeko's door, and knocked. "Hey, you almost ready."
He heard some sounds and then the door opened. Without realizing it his mouth hung open and his eyes widened at the sight. Maeko's yukata was red with light pink sakura flowers all over it, and her obi matched, but that's not what caught his eyes.
Her hair was down, flowing free in a light natural wave he hadn't ever noticed before, and she had a bow tied around her head. In the moonlight she was beautiful, but here in the light of the hallway he could see all of her amazing details.
Maeko was getting the stare down from a gaping Kiba, and began to get nervous. 'Do I look bad?' She thought. "You'll catch flies if you leave you're mouth open." She said almost angrily.
Kiba snapped out of it instantly. "Huh? Sorry. It's just that, uh well, I'm not used to seeing you look like a girl." He scratched the back of his neck.
Her eyes went wide and her mouth gaped. "Are you saying that I don't look like a girl?" She threatened with clenched fists.
Kiba flinched backwards and realized exactly what he said. "No, no, that's not it! I mean you don't normally dress like most girls, and you just look really beautiful!" He blurted out, as he felt heat rising to his head.
Maeko's expression stayed the same for a moment, but slowly changed. She was undoubtedly surprised by his words. "Oh." Was all she could mutter out.
She whirled in the opposite direction not knowing what else to do. Kiba suddenly felt awkward and the sudden need to say something was overwhelming him. "We should go." He began.
"I know. The festival's already started." She finished his sentence, and began walking forward down the hallway. Kiba walked alongside her as they exited the building.
As they reached the main street area he watched as Maeko's face lit up in excitement. "Well, what do we do?" She asked, smiling.
He chuckled. "Whatever you wanna do." Even after he said that he watched how she looked around at everything, and sighed. "Let's go play some games." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
She didn't refuse, she was happy to do whatever. She was just happy to be there. "Alright!"
For hours they played games like ring toss, booth games, and kingyo sukui. They caught five fish and ended up giving them to the little kids at the festival. They ate foods like takoyaki, taiyaki, yakisoba, and candies.
The two of them forgot about all their worries and had fun together. Kiba checked the time and saw it was almost midnight. He found Maeko eating some sweets. "So, are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah I really am, i'm just a bit tired. What time is it anyways?" She plopped the last of her treat into her mouth, and smiled.
Kiba smirked at her, knowing how much she really loved sweets, and slightly chuckled. "It's almost time. Come on." He took her hand, and began leading her away from the festival.
"Wait, almost time for what? Where are we going?" Maeko really couldn't be more confused, she got the same from Kiba all day. No direct answer, just a 'trust and follow' kind if demeanor. Plus his hand felt nice to hold. Warm, just like him.
She knew she was being unfair to him. If she asks something he always answers honestly, but there are so many things she's hiding from him, so many secrets.
Kiba led her up a small hill right under a big tree, it was a great spot to look up at the stars. "It should be about time now." He said quietly.
"Time for what? Why are we up here?" She questioned as she looked at the small village festival.
Kiba sat down on the grass. "Just sit down okay." He said calmly. She did as she was told, but she really didn't understand why they were up here instead of down there.
Then there was a strange noise off in the distance not too far away. "You ready?" He asked as she turned to him about to ask him something, when she heard a pop and saw the sky light up in a shade of red.
She quickly looked up and saw the fireworks exploding up in the sky one after another. 'Thats right.' She thought, 'Festivals always end with fireworks.' She stared in amazement once again at the beautiful scene before her. Maeko's day had been filled with one surprise after another.
They both stared up and watched the fireworks, but Maeko was having a battle with herself and finally decided what to do. "Kiba, I think it's time to tell you what i've been hiding this entire time." Kiba's attention was caught and immediately looked at her.
"I'm not sure if you knew already, but... I'm a jinchuuriki just like Naruto. I'm the five tailed wolf's jinchuuriki." She thought of Gobi.
"Shikamaru told me that you were a jinchuuriki but that's all I really knew." Kiba said.
"Four and a half years ago, I made a deal with him and, unsealed him from my body. He's the one who trained me the past four years, and honestly I'm not even sure if we're really friends, but he's the only one who's stuck around. Until I came to the leaf that is." She continued. "Gobi thinks that the deal I made with the Hokage was foolish and I never should have come to the leaf village. We got in a fight before we left for this mission, and he stayed behind. Although we're connected, his consciousness isn't with me, and I haven't felt so empty in a long time. He could've left the leaf village too, but I won't even know until I get back. If he is there though, i'll probably get a lecture for telling you this. Actually, you're the very first person i've told this to." She finished
"Not even the Hokage?" Kiba wasn't very surprised.
"No." She mumbled as she finally lowered her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry for before, I know I hurt you, and i'm sorry."
Kiba sighed and scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't apologize. Thanks for trusting me enough to tell your secret to me. It means a lot to me." He said comfortingly. "I won't tell anyone."
She felt tears well up in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him. "No, thank you, for the best day ever, and for understanding."
Maeko felt something she had never felt before and she couldn't really identify what it was, but she didn't want Kiba to let her go.
The next day they departed, and on the way back told stories of her and Gobi, and some crazy adventures they went one. Around noon they stopped and ate lunch, but while packing up Kiba picked up a scent.
"You smell that Akamaru?" He said quietly, and Akamaru growled. "Maeko."
"I'm already prepared." She could sense them too. "There are three of them. They're coming fast" she gasped. "Underneath us!" They jumped into the trees before the ground burst open, but when it did three hidden water shinobi popped out.
"What do you want!" Kiba angrily yelled and gritted his teeth.
"Keep out of this dog boy, our orders are to get her! Now come along nicely and we'll put in a good word with the mizukage for ya!" Maeko remembered them from when she was younger, they went to the academy together, but the leader stuck out to her the most. Taizo, he had hair as black as the night, and eyes as blue as the sky, he's the third son of the Ukimura family. From estimation he looked to be six foot nine in height.
He never broke eye contact with her. He suddenly pulled out something and put it over his eyes. 'He knows!' She thought. The other two began to do the same but she caught the female shinobi's gaze in her Lacingan before she could put it over her eyes. Maeko knocked her out cold, she wouldn't be awake for another hour or two.
The two men noticed but didn't look away. 'They're waiting for us to make a move.' She looked slightly to the left where Kiba was and nodded to him. Kiba executed his fang over fang technique towards the enemy, which they easily dodged, but Maeko had activated her fire dragon jutsu, which they did not see coming.
They were no longer up in the tree anymore, and the jutsu had only slightly hit one of the men and only gave him a small burn. Kiba rushed into a battle with Taizo, while Maeko took on the other man.
Maeko and the enemy shinobi took a few hits at each other, occasionally using nature style jutsus on each other. Maeko had decided to use a flare technique to blind him, but she had to time it just right so she didnt get Kiba blinded as well.
She had her moment and she took it, and it worked, but right as she used it he kicked her hard in the stomach making her go flying into a rock wall. The man fell backwards after being blinded and knocked himself unconscious, and as for Maeko she hit her head against the rock wall and passed out.
Kiba and Taizo fought continuously. "What do you want with her!" Kiba yelled furiously.
Taizo only gave him an angry glare in return and threw some kunai with paper bombs attached. "Nothing you would understand!"
Kiba dodged it, and it blew up behind him. "Leave her alone!" Kiba growled. Pushing him up against a tree.
"You don't even know her!" Taizo retaliated and threw Kiba off of him.
"Oh I know her a hell of a lot better than you do!" Kiba activated fang over fang again.
Maeko awoke after only a few minutes had passed. She tried to get up, but something was stopping her. Her hair was stuck under a rock that had almost fallen on her head. She tried to pull it out but couldn't, and she could hear Kiba struggling in his battle. She did only what she knew she had to.
Kiba began struggling with Taizo with Akamaru being taken out. Taizo began using a lightning style and he was hard to dodge. When suddenly, "Hey!" Maeko yelled catching both of their attentions. The thing that was over Taizo's eyes had fallen off a while back during his fight, and Maeko used her Lacingan on him, and made him pass out.
Kiba stared at Maeko, all her hair was let down but a chunk of her hair on the right side of her was gone, and was now a length that went a little below her ear. "Im not gonna ask." Kiba said while panting and walking towards her.
"But... you should probably cut the rest of it too, and we should get outa here before they all wake up." Kiba looked back at Taizo and the girl lying on the floor.
They quickly gathered their things, Maeko healed Akamaru, and they got out of there. About an hour after leaving they stopped to take a break where Kiba cut off the rest of Maeko's hair. "You know, it doesn't look that bad" Kiba said encouragingly, trying to make her feel better.
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm serious Mae it's not that bad."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you just call me 'Mae'?" She questioned steamily, already having been a little irritable in the first place.
Kiba began to smile. "Uh. Yeah. You got a problem with that?" He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.
She crossed her arms and gave him a deathly glare. "Yeah, I do."
He laughed heartily. "Well, too bad, there's nothing you can do to make me stop." He smiled so widely it made her wanna punch it right off his face.
Eventually they stopped bickering and proceeded back to the leaf village, knowing they would have a story to tell.
WELL THAT'S ALL FOR NOW HOPEFULLY THE NEXT CHAPTER WON'T TAKE A WHOLE FREAKIN YEAR TO WRITE. SORRY GUYS I REALLY WILL TRY TO WRITE A LOT IN MY FREE TIME.