Title: The Animal Song
Rating: PG-13 for slightly suggestive themes
Characters: Kiba and Akamaru
Word Count: 1080
Summary: Kiba really likes his new iPod.
Author's Notes: The song just seemed so fitting.

"When superstars and cannonballs are hmm-hm hmm yer head. And television freak show da da dada dadada."

Inuzuka Kiba loved his iPod. He'd been saving his money for the last three month, squirreling away every coin he could spare after getting paid for his missions. And finally, finally, he'd gotten together enough money! Over the weekend, he'd gone to Konoha Electronics Depot and picked out a brand new shiny white iPod. He would have preferred gray, something to match his coat, but really, it wasn't THAT important.

"Subway makes me nervous, people pushin' me too far. Mmm gotta break away do da da da do-oo!"

He'd spent all day Sunday downloading music onto his beautiful white treasure. He had all his favorite bands in there now. The Tokens, Guns N'Roses, The Beach Boys. And, of course, Savage Garden. He couldn't LIVE without Savage Garden. And now, thanks to his iPod, Kiba could listen to them ANYWHERE!

Like today, when he was out looking for Akamaru.

"Hey! Akamaru! Where'd you go? Don't you wanna do some training with me?" Kiba shouted as loud as he could, but the forest seemed to swallow his voice. He shoved his hands in his pockets and resumed humming along with the song.

This was completely unlike Akamaru. Ninja dogs simply did not behave like this. Akamaru knew he and Kiba were partners. Usually, the two of them were inseparable. But Akamaru had been acting funny for the last few days, and Kiba couldn't explain it. Akamaru would look at Kiba with his big, puppy-dog eyes and his floppy ears, and give a little whine. He'd hop around, bark, sometimes even retreat to a corner of the apartment they shared, cover his head with his paws, and just lie there. Kiba didn't understand. Akamaru had never acted like this before. Kiba tried asking what was wrong a number of times, but Akamaru wouldn't tell him. So in the end, Kiba always just went back to listening to his precious, snow-white music player.

When Kiba woke up this morning, though, Akamaru had just been gone. Kiba had never been angry with his partner before, but it was already midafternoon and he was starting to feel a bit on edge. What was wrong with Akamaru?

In the morning, he'd gone over to his aunt's house. That's where his mother usually stayed, anyway, and he figured he could find them both there. Sure enough, his aunt was just sitting down to breakfast while his mother was in the kitchen (wearing a black leather apron of all things!) frying eggs and bacon. He'd stormed in, looking for advice. THEY had given him Akamaru after all. For some reason the two women blushed and seemed taken aback for a moment, but after a minute his mother had come over to the table and invited him to sit down. The three of them had talked about Akamaru's disappearance for nearly half an hour. Still, they hadn't had anything useful to tell him. Kiba had kept trying to ask questions, but the two women would only tell him that he should just go look for Akamaru himself. They had practically shoved him out the door, and he had heard the deadbolt clack home after he left, which seemed strange, but his mother and his aunt were always a bit strange. Sometimes, Kiba wondered what had ever happened to his father.

Anyway, Kiba had taken their advice. He'd started looking for Akamaru himself. They had been together long enough that Kiba was now able to follow Akamaru's scent, at least to the edge of this forest. So he was sure Akamaru must be here somewhere, but whenever he called, the darn dog didn't answer. He must have covered every square meter of this forest twice over by now.

The chorus of the song caught Kiba's attention and he found himself singing along again. "Cause I wanna live like animals... Careless and free, like a-hmm-hmm. I want to liiive, wanna walk through the jungle, da da wind in my hair and the sand at my fe-e-e-et!"

As the chorus faded, Kiba's sensitive ears caught the faint sound of barking off to his left. He smiled. Finally! That lousy dog... He could have spent today putting more music on his iPod. If only Akamaru hadn't taken it into his stupid head to run away.

Kiba sprinted toward the sound, but just as he emerged into a clearing, Akamaru's barking died. Grrrrr... What NOW? "AKAMARU! Where the heck are you, you stupid dog? Come back here! What do you want, anyway? Do you wanna go train some more? Are you hungry? What's wrong?"

In the corner of his eye, Kiba caught sight of a white blur, moving incredibly fast. He turned toward it, and felt an impact like a fist slamming into his diaphragm. Then, there was a tearing noise, and Kiba found himself sitting on the ground.

Two meters away, Akamaru was standing with his legs half-bent, like he was ready to attack. Kiba could see something in his mouth. Absently, he reached down and patted at his coat pocket. No! Kiba's eyes widened in shock and he took another look at what Akamaru was holding in his mouth. There was a scrap of gray cloth from the coat, and under the cloth, Kiba's new iPod!

The music was gone now, too. Akamaru's attack had ripped the plug earphones out of Kiba's ears. The world suddenly sounded so much louder. There was just so much NOISE now.

"Hey, Akamaru, whatzamatter, boy?" Kiba stretched a hand toward his partner, and was surprised to see that it was shaking. "It's okay. Do you wanna play? We could go pick on Shino. You always like that. We could... I dunno, we could steal some of his Harry Potter toys and bury 'em in a hole? Doesn't that sound fun? C'mon, Akamaru... Please? Can I have my iPod back?"

Akamaru shook his head fiercely, and fixed Kiba with an angry stare. Kiba's sensitive ears could just pick up the last lines of the song, drifting out of the earphones strewn on the ground. "Compassion in the jungle; compassion in your hands, yeah yeah..." Akamaru clenched his jaws with uncommon power, and suddenly raw static spewed from the earphones. Sparks crackled around the ruined mass in Akamaru's mouth, but the dog didn't seem to care.

Kiba's fist tightened convulsively, and an ear-grating scream was ripped from his throat. "Nooooooo! My iPod!"

I own an iPod, but I don't own the company with the right to MAKE iPods (Apple). I own some Savage Garden CDs, but similarly don't own the rights to their songs. Also, I bought the most awesome Jiraiya wig ever today, but that doesn't change the fact that I still don't own Naruto.

I might own Icha-Icha Paradise now, though, I guess...