Well that could have gone better.

Kiba Inuzuka wasn't exactly thrilled by the way his day was going. Not only had he been dragged out of his bed early to do things for his squad leader, he had ended up drawing the short straw when it came time to decide who among their teammates would check on their squad leader's friend.

"Won't be a big deal they said. It'll be really quick they said."

Next to Kiba, Akamaru whined in agreement. At least he had come along with him, even if he didn't help at all.

The two of them moved at a truly sluggish pace, mostly due to Kiba trying to figure out what he was going to say to Kurenai-sensei. He had all but sworn that he wouldn't say anything about what he had seen, but how could he not? How was he going to explain to Kurenai that everything was fine and that her friend wasn't dead or anything, but that she didn't seem to be all there?

Suddenly Akamaru barked a few times, to which Kiba could only roll his eyes in response. "Yeah, you're right Akamaru; she smelled like she hadn't bathed in a few days. What the hell are we going to tell Kurenai-sensei?"

Akamaru only responded by whining again and looking away.

"Well aren't you a great help." Kiba sighed deeply, this whole thing was a mess. Regardless of how he looked at the situation, he wasn't going to make it out of this alright. Either he could lie to Kurenai, or he could tell the truth and possibly be murdered by the crazy woman he just left.

This battle waged back and forth in his head, right up to the point where he knocked on the door to Kurenai's apartment. Kiba hadn't felt like this since his mother had caught him with the most recent Icha Icha novel.

Suddenly Kiba slapped himself. What was he, a little kid? He could handle this! He was a man! This was nothing compared to all of the problems he had faced in the past. If he could survive deadly ninja attacks and almost being mauled on a nightly basis when he had dinner with his mother, he could deal with this.

"Kiba!"

The sound of his squad leader's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Gah!"

The black haired Jounin laughed and took a step back, clearing the way so that Kiba and Akamaru could enter. "I'm guessing you were successful in making sure she was alright?"

Kiba sighed heavily and hung his head a bit, releasing all the pent up energy as he walked in. "Sure, I was successful... in a manner of speaking."

Kurenai shut the door behind him and akamaru, raising an eyebrow as she gauged his reaction. "Well, how long did you talk with her? Tell me about it." She moved past him and sat down on her couch, reclining slightly as she motioned for Kiba to sit across from her.

He tried as hard as he could to keep himself contained, so that he didn't start explaining all the things he thought and saw. He didn't have a death wish, and there were no doubts in his mind that that woman would carry out her threat. "Well, she's quite... animated."

Kurenai smirked slightly. "Well that's good to hear. So how did she seem to you?"

"She seemed fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. She was mostly confused as to why I had shown up." Smooth Kiba. Totally smooth.

A moment of silence passed between the two, breaking only slightly when Akamaru shifted in position next to Kiba. Then, Kurenai leaned forward slightly. "Kiba?"

"Yes?"

"How long have we known each other?"

"Five years I think?"

"And how well do we know each other?"

"Quite well."

"Right. So why are you trying to hide something from me?"

"Because I was told in no uncertain terms that if I didn't I'd be dead?"

Another moment of silence passed between them before Kurenai cracked a smile and began laughing. She leaned back again, rubbing her eyes with one of her hands as Kiba sat in silence. Was he missing a joke? Did he have something on his face? This didn't seem like a laughing matter to him..

Finally Kurenai composed herself. "Well, I'm glad Anko was at least sounded like herself. So what did you say that made her threaten you?"

"I didn't say anything! She was... uh..."

"Come on, we don't have all day Kiba. Just spit it out. I won't tell her if you're worried about that. Not that you have to worry about that; her bark is worse than her bite."

Kiba chuckled nervously. "Well she answered the door without pants on."

Kurenai would have done a spit-take had she been drinking something; either way he face instantly shifted to one of surprise and confusion. "She what?"

"She showed up at the door without any pants one. Took her like ten minutes to answer the door too. And she didn't smell like she had showered in the last day or so..." Well, he had already said the most embarrassing thing that he had to say. No harm in saying everything else right?

"Great, she's worse than I thought. I was afraid it was something like this..."

"Something like what exactly?"

Kurenai waved a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it; I just need to figure out what to do about it. Actually... Are you doing anything else today Kiba?"

"Not really. Why?"

"I have something I'd like to try..."