The next day after breakfast, I asked Temari to give me a tour of the entire city, so that I could see more than the shopping district. It was more out of sheer boredom than interest that I asked her, but she immediately agreed. She always seemed excited at the prospect of shopping opportunities.

We walked through the crowded streets, past stores, homes, parks, and training fields, meeting the outer city walls every so often.

At a certain slum-ish residential area, I sensed the presence of something from an alley between houses.

"Wait a second," I called to Temari, and ventured to investigate.

I was peering into the shadows when a gray ball of fluff jumped onto my head. I yelped and tripped back in surprise, landing on my ass and feeling stupid. The upside down face of a dog looked happily down at me from its perch on my head.

My eyebrow rose as I examined my attacker's face. He was various shades of gray, with vibrant green markings on his cheeks and forehead. I heard Temari burst into a fit of laughter.

"You absolute klutz! You have a dog on your head!" She clutched her sides in a cramp as she laughed for a few minutes. I waited patiently for her to stop.

Picking the little dog up off my head, I put him on the ground in front of me. The green fur on his face seemed to stretch out like fire, consuming his ears and neck, until it finally faded to gray along his back. We looked at one another for a minute before he barked and licked my hand.

Temari had stopped laughing and walked over to us. "Hey, that's not a dog," she said curiously, "That's definitely a wolf pup. I wonder what it's doing out here."

"A wolf? I've never seen one before."

"That's weird."

"We don't have them in Lightning."

She looked surprised. "Well, it definitely doesn't belong to anyone. Look at how thin it is. And its fur is a mess."

"It's a he."

"How do you know?"

"No idea. Hey, does Gaara allow animals in the building?"

She smiled. "You want to keep him? Yea, there's no problem with that. But you're gonna have to watch him and all that. Like making sure he doesn't bother anyone. Damn, I sound like a mother."

I chuckled at her, but inside I was a bit hurt. Is that what a mother is like?

Temari poked the wolf's nose until he snapped at her playfully. "You can take care of him just like a dog, I should think. Anyway, let's get back home. Almost time for lunch!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I shut my new pup in my room before heading off to lunch. As soon as I shut the door, I felt a sort of sad detachment from my pet. I had given him some meat and water, so he should be fine for the time being. But I couldn't help but worry about him as I sat down to eat.

A few minutes into the meal, Kakashi appeared, late as usual, yet smelling like an animal. He apologized to Gaara, who shrugged it off and continued a conversation about some boring topic with other shinobi seated nearby. I think it was about redesigning the outer city walls in case of attack. Hm. I thought the Wind was all about peace now. Why could they be expecting an attack?

Kakashi sat down and began scarfing down his food. I held my nose and groaned. "You smell like a dog."

He barked out a laugh and continued throwing food down his throat. "I've been surrounded by dogs and dog lovers all morning. I'd like to see if you'd smell any better."

"So the Inuzukas are here?"

"Yea. We can stop by after lunch. They don't plan on staying here long."

"How many are there?"

"Um . . . six," he said between bites, "Well, two of them are human. There's Hana and her dogs, the Haimaru Triplets, and Kiba and his dog Akamaru."

"Kakashi," Gaara interrupted suddenly, "You mentioned the Inuzukas would be here. I would like to meet with them as well."

"Great," he feigned a smile, "You can meet them with us later today. Of course, they are only here to collect a few nasty strays which would otherwise have been put down. I don't know how they find out about things like that. Or why they care so much. But to each his own."

"Why do you want to meet with them?" I asked Gaara, who in turn looked shocked that I had the audacity to question him.

I was irritated when he answered calmly, as if speaking to a child. "I attended my Chunnin exams two years ago with Inuzuka Kiba. I want to see if he's gotten any stronger, or at least if he's gained any common sense. Why are you meeting them?"

I picked at my food. "I want them to check up on a wolf pup I just found this morning."

"A wolf?"

I forced a sweet, innocent smile and batted my eyes. "Aw, can't I keep him? Please, please, please!"

I heard Kakashi snort into his food, trying to hold back a laugh.

Gaara actually smiled a bit. It was a cute little smile, which made me wonder if I'd ever seen him do so before. I grinned back.

"Yes, you can keep it," he said lightly, "but don't give me that look." He leaned in close. "Not unless we're alone, that is."

"Gaara, do you remember any part of last night, and what you did?"

He leant back in his chair. "Most of it. But you know I can't control it. I won't apologize again."

I felt anger rise up in me. He wouldn't even apologize? "You should! I think I deserve at least an 'I'm sorry' from you after what you did."

He glared at me with cold eyes again. "You know it wasn't me."

"I don't care!" I hardly realized I was yelling. "It's not enough that I've been basically sold out of my country to marry a man I never met, I didn't even complain when I was made to leave everything I owned on some random road getting here. But the least you could do is apologize like a normal human being when you try to r-" my mouth was suddenly clamped shut. I reached up and found that a patch of sand had covered my mouth. I couldn't pry it off.

"Gaara!" I tried to scream, but it came out as a muffle.

He stood up and gave me a deadly look that made me shake in my seat.

"Don't you ever," he spat angrily, "try to insult me again. I will not have my wife challenging my authority. And don't think this will not go unpunished."

He sat down quietly, and an uncomfortable silence filled the room. I stared at my plate in humiliation. The sand itched my face, but held on fast. Even if I wanted to finish my meal, I couldn't.

Glancing up hatefully at Gaara, I saw that he began speaking to Kankuro, and conversation soon resumed at the table. However, it was not so loud that I couldn't hear a sharp clicking noise from down the hallway.

Bursting from the open door the food servers entered through was a blur of gray and green which launched itself at our table. Every ninja at the table stood up in fighting stances, almost knocking over their plates in their quick movements.

The gray blur jumped onto the table, sending food flying into the air. It skidded to a stop on the table between Gaara and me, growling deeply and looking very formidable for a small puppy.

"What the hell?" he snapped at me. "Is this your mutt?"

I nodded hesitantly, then carefully picked the pup up before he tried to do something rash like attacking the Kazekage. The little wolf nuzzled against my arms as I carried him out of the hall, and up to my room. Thankfully, the sand covering my mouth fell off as I went.

My door was shut as when I left it. "How did you get out?" I murmured to the pup as I opened the door.

My room, however, was not as I left it. Besides the mess of torn sheets and pillows on the floor, there were several large dogs lying patiently in the mess. Two of the wildest looking people I'd ever seen sat on my bed, watching me expectantly. Apparently they had no shame for their dogs trashing my room.

There was a woman, a few years older than me, and a boy about my age, both with unkempt brown hair and a streak of red down each cheek. I could tell immediately that they were related.

"There you are," said the woman kindly, "I just sent Toboe to fetch you. Nice pup, he is."

"Uh, thanks." I put him on the ground and he scampered to one of the large wolfish dogs, flopping onto it. "Did you say Toboe?"

"That's his name. Didn't he tell you?"

"Um . . ."

The boy stood up and extended his hand. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba, this is my sister Hana. Here's the Haimaru Triplets, and Akamaru." At the last name, a dog's head the size of my pillow appeared from behind the bed. I jumped in surprise and cursed under my breath as the huge thing looked at me with intelligent eyes.

"Now, down to business, dear," said Hana. "I understand this is top-secret stuff. Now, don't worry, we ain't planning on telling a soul. Same goes for the dogs."

"Good, I was worried the dogs would be gossips," I said dryly.

Hana tilted her head. "Why? Did you hear that they were?"

I opened my mouth but closed it as I realized she was serious. These people were strange to say the least.

I heard a noise near my ear and suddenly realized that Kiba was sniffing me. "Um . . . do I smell?"

He produced a toothy grin. "Like Toboe and food and perfume and anger and Gaara and sand and fear." He spouted out in one breath.

"Wow, and I thought I smelt nice."

He looked surprised. "You do!" he said innocently.

"Do you smell, um, something like why Kakashi asked you to see me?"

Hana stood up and approached me until she was inches from my face. She inhaled and closed her eyes.

"I don't know," said Kiba, "It can't just be Toboe . . ."

"What?" I asked, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Hana tapped her chin.

"You smell like wolf, but not from Toboe, no. It's definitely comin' from you. Yup. Damn, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were one."

Kiba nodded vigorously. "Yea, wolf. You're not a wolf are you?"

I barked out a laugh. "Not that I know of."

"Well you sure smell like one."

"You can stop telling me that now."

"I think –" Kiba hesitated. "You do smell a bit like us Inuzukas. But there's something foreign there."

Hana nodded. "Her eyes remind me of Kuromaru . . . Our mother's wolf," she explained. "Perhaps we should have brought him."

At that moment, Kakashi opened the door and with a last glance down the hallway, closed the door quietly.

Hana stood up a bit straighter and smiled at him. "Hey Kakashi,"

"Good afternoon, Hana, Kiba." Kiba grunted back a hello.

"We examined her as you asked," she said intelligently, "She smells like a wolf. That's definitely a clue. And her eyes look like a wolf's eyes."

Kakashi leaned over to look at my eyes, his eyes laughing. "They look normal to me,"

"That's because you aren't an Inuzuka, dumbass," Kiba retorted.

The ninja stood and eyed Kiba dangerously. Hana noticed and put her hand on his shoulder. "Ignore him, Kakashi," she said sweetly, and I saw his eye soften as he looked at her.

"I won't take it to heart, Hana," he smiled warmly at the woman.

Temari would be upset to hear about this, I thought humorously.

Kakashi turned face us all. "Gaara is waiting to see you three. Seluni, bring your dog to support our story."

"Wolf!" Kiba and Hana chimed in.