Kali sat watching the horizon for almost five hours. She sat on her legs and hung her head silently. Oji sat under the shade of a tree and whittled a stick while Akkan sat behind his back. The sun shone for the first few hours until the clouds began to roll in.
"Man," Oji said as he smiled sarcastically. "How long do you think she's going to stay out there?" Akkan looked up at Kali, purred, then laid his head down again. A light drizzle turned into a steady rain. Kali was frozen in the sand. Oji looked at her funny. "Jeese, you'd think she'd have enough sense to get out of the rain."
Kali slowly stood and staggered. Sasuke was gone. She moved to a tree and leapt high into it not far from the beach. Sasuke was gone. The gloomy weather seemed to match her lonely mood. She jumped down after a while and walked right past Oji, who had moved to stand nearby.
"Kali," he said. She didn't look. Sasuke was gone. Oji swung his blade swiftly and Kali instinctively blocked. She was off balance, though, and fell on her butt. "Kali! You want to see Sasuke again, right!?" Oji yelled. Kali looked at him in surprise. "You've been on this island for years already, and you still haven't improved much at all. You just want to sit here and live this sad life forever?! You're still as weak as ever. If you can't get off your lazy butt and train, you'll waste away and never see Sasuke again!" Oji was silent for a minute. "When you were with him you were happy again as if your life hadn't messed up so badly. We can both get back to that feeling if you just bend to a little change." Oji looked at her warmly and stretched out his helping hand. Kali stood with his help with small tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and looked at her brother.
"Okay, Oji," She said, "Let's get started."
Sasuke was gone. Oji smiled. But Kali would find him again and, this time, she would be a new girl.
The ninja arrived safe and sound to the other shore to an awaiting search party. They were rushed back to Konoha to an anxious ninja academy and friends. The story was told to everyone who listened and was known as a great adventure of Team Seven.
And so, life went on as usual. The missions came and went as always, but the ninja were changed forever. Naruto appreciated every meal like never before, Sakura felt stronger and worried about Sasuke, who seemed even more distant than before. He took more walks in the day and, strangely enough, managed to talk less. Kakashi didn't seem to notice the difference in the team and the only change was the one the team themselves noticed.
Three months later the story had been told to everyone and all were content and back to the rhythm. Even though the village had returned to normal, Sasuke never forgot the smiling face of the island girl. "Wolf girl" the village had called her. She was wild, untamed and happy. Everything she had said to him rang in his ears like a clear bell that would not fade. He wondered if what she said was true now that it had been three months now.
Sakura waited for Sasuke along the path on the way to the training field. She knew he would come this way. Sure enough he appeared.
"Hey, Sasuke!" She greeted warmly. Sasuke didn't reply; he kept walking. Sakura followed. "Are you ok? You look a little down today."
"I'm fine," Was all Sasuke said. They went through practice just like any other day and all three headed home. When they got to the main road, a ninja academy student approached.
"Hey, there's a box outside the school with Sasuke's name on it," the kid the said. Sasuke was confused as he and the other two followed the boy back.
Sasuke stared blankly at the box in the yard. It was a plain ordinary box with three large wholes on each side. On the top was his name written in large simple letters.
"It's for you, Sasuke," Sakura said as she observed his name. Sasuke picked it up and opened it cautiously. There inside the box was a dog. Not just a dog, a puppy. It was small and had soft gray-silver fur like cotton all over his body. It stood on the edge with its front two paws and looked happily at Sasuke. It's silver-cotton tail wagged happily.
"A puppy?" Naruto said curiously. "Who would give you a puppy?" Sasuke didn't reply. He was busily observing the gift. He further noticed the gleaming blue eyes that shown brightly from the youthful face and the soft, small ears. There around the pup's neck hung a buckskin string with something on the end. Sasuke touched it and pulled it away from the fluff of the neck. A sparkling crystal arrowhead lay in his hand. Sakura was complimenting on the beautiful necklace when Sasuke also saw the small rolled up letter in the box as if an after thought put in by the sender, perhaps holding the key to their identity.
Sasuke picked it out and opened it. Sakura, Naruto, and some of the other students waited to see what the message read. Sasuke didn't read it out loud for he could not find the words. "Please, do not forget me. I'm going to come." That's what the note read. The puppy barked lightly and pawed the air. Sasuke placed the box on the ground and the puppy jumped out excitedly and ran about Sasuke's feet.
"Who is it from, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Sasuke hesitated before answering.
"Kali," he whispered. The other two gasped, but said nothing. It had been three months since they had heard that name, but Sasuke had never forgotten about her. The pup pawed at Sasuke's leg, wishing to be picked up. Sasuke lifted the pup into his arms. The dog calmed immediately and rested its head on Sasuke's arm.
"It's so cute!" Sakura said as she scratched behind the pup's ears. It's tail flipped happily.
"What's his name?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know," Sasuke answered. "Why would Kali send a dog?"
"Who knows what she's thinking," Sakura said as she shrugged. Sasuke had no idea how to take care of a dog due to the fact he had never owned one. The puppy had now fallen asleep and was warmly tucked away in Sasuke's arms.
Sasuke got to his dorm and put the dog on his bed. It didn't stir from its slumber. It was like a little memory of Kali, and reminded him of the field with the pack of wolves they had passed through. Maybe that's where this one came from. He had finally settled on a name- Arrow. Now he knew for sure Kali was coming and Arrow would wait with him.
The next morning Arrow was ecstatic and bounded around the room barking happily. Sasuke rolled over in bed and glared at the wolf. It jumped up to the bed, but fell back down. He wasn't tall enough to reach by himself. He let out another bark. He had been doing this from at least four in the morning. Arrow barked again and was smothered by a pillow. Sasuke left his arm hanging after throwing the pillow at his new pet. It crawled out from under the projectile and licked Sasuke's hand. Sasuke sat up and yawned.
"Alright, I'm up," Sasuke said lazily. He moved to the refrigerator and searched for something Arrow may like. What did dogs like anyway? What did Kiba feed his dog? Sasuke had almost nothing in his house, but found something suitable that Arrow ate without hesitation.
When Sasuke left for the meeting place for Team 7. Arrow wined loudly until Sasuke allowed him to come. The puppy trotted at Sasuke's heels. He couldn't keep up very easily due to his shorter legs. While the ninja practiced Arrow lay in the grass and watched intently. Sasuke fell from the trees do to Kakashi and his kunai flew out of his hand. Arrow bolted to it and snatched it in his mouth. Sasuke got up and search for the weapon to find Arrow sitting happily with the Kunai in his mouth. Arrow placed it in front of Sasuke and went back to his spot on the grass. The training concluded and the ninja had time off for a little while. Sasuke visited Kiba in his off time.
"Sasuke?" Kiba said in surprise, "What are you doing talking to me?" It was true Sasuke usually didn't talk to Kiba, but he needed to take care of Arrow for Kali until she came.
"I need you advice on how to raise this dog," Sasuke answered gesturing at Arrow. Kiba bent down and patted the dog's head.
"It's cute. Where did you get him?" Sasuke turned his eyes.
"A friend," he answered quickly. "I've never owned a dog before."
"Oh, I see. Ask me anything." Kiba set Akamaru down and the two pups took off to play. Sasuke watched them as he spoke.
"What do I feed him?"
"Well, anything will do for a wolf like that, but there is a store I know of that sells dog food." Kiba gave him the directions. "And everything else you can figure out. A dog is its owner's and they learn from you. Play with it, keep it company, teach it. It's young so I doubt it knows anything about how to act."
"Alright. Thanks." He called Arrow and the puppy left Akamaru to come to his master. That night, Sasuke taught Arrow how to sit, with much difficulty. During the next few weeks, Arrow learned quickly to stay, heel, shake, fetch, and to stand on his hind legs. Fetch came in handy in many ways when Sasuke said "fetch kunai" Arrow would immediately fetch the kunai of his choice.
Arrow grew to be lanky and large. He grew tall enough to jump on to Sasuke's bed, to Sasuke's disdain. The cottony-soft fur turned into a double coat of soft under and long slightly tougher outer fur. His paws grew large and his tail grew bushy and longer. He held his chest out, displaying the gleaming crystal arrowhead necklace. He held his head higher now when following his master around. He understood that Sasuke was a different human than the others; more noble and silent. Arrow displayed the same attitude- standing tall and being calm during the situations around other people. He still had a puppies spirit, though, and pranced and played when the two were alone or with Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke was amazed at how smart Arrow was. He was even comfortable talking to Arrow when they were alone. The adolescent pup would lay down, rest his head on his paws, and look intently at his master.
After one of the longer missions Sasuke sat on a hill on the countryside and watched the sun go down. Tomorrow there was going to be a mission to escort a family to a smaller village through the woods and Arrow would not be able to go. He looked at Arrow, who was playing with a flying dragonfly. He would leap and snap aggressively at the insect.
"Arrow," Sasuke said. The pup looked at the sound of his name. "You are going to have to stay with Kiba while I'm gone. You know him- he owns Akamaru." Arrow's tail wagged at the sound of his playing buddy. Arrow was twice the size of Akamaru, but they played well together. "It will only be for a day or two," Sasuke continued. Arrow was curious about the tone of Sasuke's voice and approached with ears perked. He didn't understand. Sasuke rubbed the dogs head and muzzle. Arrow was distracted by the petting and rubbed the friendly hand. "Good boy, Arrow." Sasuke stood and Arrow noticed the approaching person. He stared until recognizing Sakura; he pranced over and touched her leg with his nose, telling her he was here and wanted to be patted and maybe scratched. Sakura gave him a quick touch to recognize he was there.
"Hey, Sasuke," she nonchalantly, "Who are you leaving Arrow with while we're away?"
"Kiba if he'll take him," Sasuke answered. Sakura nodded.
"That's good. He knows a lot about dogs." Sasuke met Kiba at the Academy and asked him to take care of Arrow. Kiba agreed and all was set. Sasuke was worried Arrow would not take him leaving very well since they hadn't been apart for more than a few hours before.
He brought Arrow to Kiba's that night. Arrow was playing happily when Sasuke decided to leave. Arrow didn't notice at all until it was feeding time. He looked around curiously, then, thinking of more games, ran about the house sniffing happily, his tail whipping. Kiba felt pity on the young pup.
"Arrow," he called. The wolf only looked up for an instant before pursuing the scent of his master again. "Arrow, come get some food." Arrow ignored him. His nose his the door and he backed up a little to look at the door entirely. His eyes darted from Kiba to the door. Open it, he seemed to say. Kiba sighed. "Well, your food's here if you want it," he said.
The next morning Kiba was leaving for his training when he checked on Arrow. The poor wolf pup was laid in front of the door with his head on his paws, waiting for Sasuke's inevitable return. Kiba shook his head and opened the door to leave. Arrow shot out of the door like a gust of wind and took off down the road.
"ARROW!" Kiba called. It was too late, Arrow was off. "Oh, great, Kiba, lose Sasuke's dog." He went after the dog , but found no trace of him. He had no choice but to wait until he was done with practice to look for him. Maybe he just went to Sasuke's place and stayed there. He could only hope.