Okay, I got one review, even if it was from my sister. Whatever; I really want to post this story, even if no one reads it. I realize that there is just a ridiculous number of Naruto fanfics (and here I am adding to it) and so people aren't likely to find my story. And it doesn't help that this story's is probably the most pathetic summary I've ever conceived.

Time for chapter 2! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine and I don't want him. But if Deidara shows up on eBay...

Round 2

-.- Kiba's POV -.-

I breeze through the arcade door, removing my cap for a sec to ruffle my brown locks and lose the hat hair. Not that it helps much; my hair's a mess at best, but at least it's not Naruto's hedgehog head or Shikamaru's weird little ponytail, or Shino's...I stop right there. That guy creeps me out. Not that I'm scared of him. Nope.

Besides, Gaara is worse any day.

I cruise the arcade, looking for a good game to blow some quarters on. I promised Akamaru I wouldn't take too long; had to leave him outside 'cuz last time I brought him in the store manager himself came out and tore me a new one, and I figure it's not worth the argument. I could always hide him in my jacket, but it's stuffy in the arcade and he'd just get jostled when I play a game. I figure he'll be fine; he's a good boy and he can handle himself for a while. Think I'll have a shot at that new Alien Fighter game!

-.-.-.-.-

A while later I look at the clock and swear. It's been two hours already! Man, I lose my head playing these games. Poor Akamaru must be bored out of his mind.

I make for the door, not really paying attention to my path until I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, you!"

Well, my name's not 'you' but I turn anyway, to see some guy a head or so taller than me. He's lookin' pissed off, but it's nothing compared to what I'm gonna be if he doesn't let go soon. "Watch where you're going, punk," he growls. I'm thinkin' his accent is 'Stupid Gorilla'. "You slammed into me."

"Oh really? I'd think you'd be used to it. You're so fat I'm amazed you got through the door!" I shoot back.

Gorilla Boy's face colors, and he actually grabs my jacket. "I'm sensin' some disrespect there, punk," he growls. I notice his buddies hovering behind him and almost smirk. So the gorilla needs his monkey pack with him, huh? He yanks my collar and I'm seriously about to rip his arm right off, only I just got unbanned from this arcade last week and I don't want a repeat. "I think you should apologize, punk."

I've had it with this guy. "I'm thinkin' you're the one who should apologize, ape-man, unless you want me to rearrange your face for you. Trust me, it can only be an improvement." I grin right in his ugly mug.

His face twists and he looks like he's about to blow. Ooo, sorry, didn't know gorillas were sensitive about their looks. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with, punk!"

Does he have any insults besides 'punk?' I finally grab his wrist, squeezing hard enough to make him loosen his grip, and look him in the eye. I bare my unusually sharp canines and say, "Do you?" all deadly quiet.

All of a sudden the guy looks uneasy and backs off a bit. He eyes me for a sec, and then his eyes get all wide and he lets go of my collar. "Wait, those triangle tattoos...you're not Kiba Inuzuka, are you?" I widen my grin and listen to his thugs titter. "The Tanuki Gang?" one whispers. "That's right, pal," I hiss, and tighten my grip 'til I can see his hand losing color. "Now what was that about apologizing?"

His face mimics his hand. "I-I'm sorry, man! I didn't know, honest!" he starts blubbering, trying to squirm loose. He even calls me "sir," which brings a laugh to my lips, but I swallow it, trying to keep the tough-guy attitude.

Finally I stop him. "You're lucky I'm in a hurry today, 'cuz I don't have time to deal with you, punk." I shove his arm back suddenly, throwing him off balance, and leave him there to crawl back under his rock, go eat a banana, whatever it is losers do.

I'm feelin' pretty good as I leave; it's nice to know that even without my signature Tanuki Gang scarf, I'm still recognizable as one of the baddest guys in town. "Let's go home, Akamaru," I say, readjusting my jacket.

When no answer comes I look around. "Akamaru?" He's not where I left him, patiently sitting by the door. I figure, no big deal, I did take two hours. Little guy probably wandered off to find some fun. I rifle through my pockets and extract my special dog whistle. It's tuned to Akamaru specifically, and it should be able to reach him if he hasn't gone too far. Which he wouldn't have.

When he doesn't come even then, I get worried. Akamaru always comes when I call, unless he didn't hear me...or couldn't come. "Akamaru!" I shout. I look right and left, and randomly run around a corner into the alley next to the arcade. "Aka - maru..."

-.- Naruto's POV -.-

"Aka - maru..." he trails off and his eyes widen. My grin does the same, seeing how thoroughly I've gotten to him.

"Whatsa matter, Kiba, your mutt didn't come when ya called him? I guess he was a little busy." I hold my hand up a little more. A small, pathetic whimper comes from the little white furball I'm gripping by the neck.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yells. He glares at me. "You bastard, what did you do to him?!"

"Hey, why so mad? I only did to him what the two of you did to me yesterday!" Glaring back, I toss Akamaru to the side, watching Kiba's face as his preciious dog hits the wall with a yelp and thumps pitifully to the ground. Tell ya the truth, I'm not feeling too proud of beating up a puppy, but I figure that's what he gets. It's a hard world, and that mutt's as much a fighter as his master. He's involved, so he gets hurt. And I dare you to argue after spending a solid minute trying to detach his teeth from your arm.

"You..." Oh boy. Kiba's furious. He's got a totally demented gleam in his eyes as he flips his cap backwards and balls his fists. "You...are...so...dead!!" With a growl of fury, he comes at me swinging.

I duck his punch easy, jump back to avoid his swinging leg, and slam my foot into his side while he's all twisted around. He grunts and stumbles back, but hardly misses a beat before he attacks again. But again, it's child's play to block his punch and nail him right in the face. He flies back and goes down hard. I take a step back, smirking. I've made him mad, and Kiba's no good at fighting when he's mad. It'll be easy to get revenge for yesterday.

"Whatsa matter, Kiba, sad for your puppy?" I smirk while he wipes blood from his mouth. "I gotta tell ya, even he put up a better fight than you are right now!"

He growls, absolutely feral (learned that word from Shika), and I admit I'm freaked. He says his mutt's got brains like a human? Well, Kiba's got attitude like a dog. Or a wolf. A rabid one.

He looks at Akamaru again, and I see concern behind the fury. "Akamaru..."

And then he blurs, and I just have time to think oh crap before his elbow sends me flying halfway down the alley. I curl up to lessen the impact, bounce once (on my tailbone, man that hurts) and roll to my feet, sliding back to end up crouched on one knee with my hands on the ground for balance. I try to stand and my lungs rebel. Damn, that mutt can move when he wants to.

I glare down the alley but it looks like Kiba's not following. I take a sec to recover my breath and stand up (looks like no ribs broke, this time) in time to see Kiba get up from behind a trash can, clutching a furry white bundle. I get it; he went after the dog while I was down. He glares at me, then turns and runs.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" I yell, and the chase is on.

-.-.-.-.-

He's got a head start and he's fast, faster than me, but I'm known for being tenacious (Shikamaru taught me that one too. Sounds better than 'stubborn'). He's slowed a bit from carrying the dog, but I still can't catch him. I manage to keep on his tail, though, which is saying something.

The arcade is in the middle of our two gangs' territories, a sort of neutral ground, 'neutral' meaning we fight over it again every month. Kiba's heading towards Tanuki grounds, obviously, and I figure I'd better catch up soon or call it quits. And Uzumaki Naruto does not call it quits. In his territory Kiba'd lose me in the blink of an eye, and probably have his friends on me before I could turn around.

He turns left and keeps moving up, jumping railings and tearing along back-alley pipes and support beams. I curse; he's heading into the middle level, the 4th Shopping District, where it'll be more crowded. It's all I can do to keep up; I turn one corner just in time to see him vanish around the next. Sheesh, I keep yelling for him to stop; isn't he listening?

I turn the next corner and find myself facing a mass of people. So he wants to fade into the background on a main walkway, huh? Like that's going to stop me for a second. I make my way into the crowd, trying to figure out which way he went, when Lady Luck smiles on me; I see the mutt hauling ass up a staircase across the way. I'm after him like a shot, leaving behind a trail of offended gasps and rude words. I don't hang around to answer.

I barrel up the staircase. Reaching the top, I turn right, see Kiba leaning worn out against the wall, and charge for him.

I don't see so much as sense the presence to my right, but it's not enough warning. Something hits my side, bam, and I go flying right into the railing and over the edge. Through some miracle I manage to flip around and land on my feet on a pipe stretching across the gap, but it's three inches wide and I'm not on it for long. I slip off with a scream-a very manly scream, I'd like to add.

I hear snickering and Kiba's obnoxious voice saying something. I look up from where I'm dangling from the pipe by one hand (you know, my friends are right-if it weren't for luck, I'd be long dead) to see Kiba leaning over the bent railing, laughing at my struggles with-

"Chouji!" I growl. The lardbutt smirks and gives me a cheeky thumbs-up. "Hey, how's it hanging, Uzumaki?" Oh, ha ha ha. That was so funny I forgot to laugh.

I glare at the pair of them and manage to drag myself up to where I can swing one leg over the pipe. Ouch. Bad move. I almost think hanging would be an improvement. I growl at the renewed laughter from above. "I'm gonna get you two for this!"

Kiba stops laughing long enough to say, "Yeah? How?"

I just fume, which makes them snicker again.

"I'm gonna get home, man," Kiba says, turning to his partner in crime. "I need to take care of Akamaru."

"What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Chouji looks all concerned. Ha. He was probably fattening the puppy up to eat him.

"He'll be okay. Someone," and I'm judging by the death glare that it's me, "thinks it's fun to beat up innocent little dogs!"

"Ha! Innocent my butt! That dog's as bad as you are!"

They ignore me. Chouji glares down at me, punches his hand with his fist. "You go on," he tells Kiba. "I'll take care of him."

"Oh yeah, I'm real scared of you," I sneer. I stand slowly, trying to get my balance on the slim perch, while Kiba walks away. I look around; if I'm going to fight Chouji, I need better footing. The guy's real slow, but if he manages to hit you it packs a real punch. And it's hard to damage the guy through all that blubber.

"Well, are you going to come up here or am I going to have to come down there?" Chouji shouts impatiently.

"Shut up, fatass!" I snap. How can I get up there with his bulk blocking the friggin' railing?

Fatso's eyes narrow dangerously just as mine widen, as I realize what I said. "What. Did. You. Call. Me," he snarls, deadly calm. Ohhhh crap. The "f" word is taboo around Chouji, and I don't mean "fuck." Any mention of his weight sets him off. And just as Kiba fights worse when he's mad, Chouji gets more dangerous.

He pulls a switchblade outta nowhere and pulls back, ready to sling it at me. I curse and try to backpedal, but before he can throw it, it disappears.

"What the-aaaargh!" Chouji barely glances at his hand before he doubles over, clutching his side. Something blurs by his head, and he topples over.

"What the-" I glance up to see none other than-

What the deuce?! Another cliffhanger?!

I don't know about this chapter. It seemed weak. Thoughts? a.k.a. reviews?