Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Kakashi arrived at the training grounds at 8, an hour early. He had never been early for anything, but he wanted to change things. If Kumo showed up, he wanted to show that he meant his apology. At nine, he felt a chakra signature at the edge of his sense: Kumo's. She concealed it soon after, but Kakashi's nose, sensitive after working with tracking hounds for years could faintly pick up her scent from the other edge of the clearing. He waited patiently, not looking at the area she was hesitating in. After a half an hour, she slunk into the clearing in wolf form again, tail still tucked tightly between her legs and head lowered, exposing her neck, but she was standing this time, which Kakashi took to be a sign of improvement.
Talking to her didn't really help last time. Maybe I have to communicate to her on her own level. Kakashi formed a hand seal and transformed. Kakashi the wolf tucked his tail between his legs, lowered his head and crouched on his belly on the ground in front of her, indicating a submissive apology.
Her tail relaxed a bit, held in a more natural position, though it wasn't waving proudly in the air like it had been the first time Kakashi had seen her wolf form, and she didn't regain her human form. When he remained crouched on the ground, she approached and shoved him to his feet with her snout. Kakashi released his transformation, assuming that he was forgiven, to some degree at least.
"Are you up to a lesson today?" He asked gently. The wolf dipped its head in acknowledgement, but stayed wolf and stayed slightly wary. Kakashi thought for a moment before he came up with a lesson that would not require her to regain her true form, since that seemed to be out of the question at the moment. "We could focus on your ability to track scents in that form." Kakashi suggested, and when the wolf just watched him patiently, he formed a hand sign, bit his thumb and slammed it into the ground. A small brown dog appeared, and at the sight of the wolf, immediately raised its hackles and snarled. "What is a wolf doing here?" the dog demanded of Kakashi.
The wolf was back to its former position in the blink of an eye, tail tucked between its legs, crouched on the ground, neck exposed. Kakashi sighed. Two steps forward, one step backwards. "Pakkun, this is my student. She's just feeling more comfortable in wolf form at the moment. I summoned you to help me teach her how to use that nose to track scents."
Pakkun looked at the submissive pose and released the snarl and his hackles. "Sorry, pup. I just don't like wolves. They sometimes try to eat me."
Kumo remained in her submissive position, though she did raise her head a little so that she could see the small dog a little better.
How could someone so timid be worth anything as a ninja if she doesn't even have the confidence to stand up to me when she's a wolf? Pakkun wondered, trying to figure out why Kakashi would have thought her worth training. Kakashi is normally pretty logical, for a human, that is.
"Get up." The little dog told her. "You can't track anything in that position." Kumo stood, tail still tucked beneath her body.
"What do you smell?" the dog asked her, and she lifted her nose to the air and tried to unscramble the assortment of different scents mingling in the air of the clearing.
When the lesson was over, Kakashi acknowledged that she worked hard and made improvement, and she looked at him for a moment before she slunk back to the woods. Sighing once more, Kakashi headed for his house, followed by Pakkun who asked "Why bother even teaching someone as timid as she is? She'll never make it as a ninja that way."
Kakashi sighed. "She didn't use to be that way. I broke her." Kakashi began his explanation of her tragic past, what their lessons had been like previously, how she had lost control and fled after almost deciding to kill him.
"You messed up." The little dog confirmed.
"I know. I'm surprised she even came. I would have understood if she never wanted to see me again. But maybe I can fix this."
Kumo wandered the woods for a while after her lesson, unwilling yet to return to civilization. She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice his approach. She watched him hunt around in the underbrush, finally surfacing with a kunai clutched in his little hand. She watched as he wrinkled his little face in concentration then launched it at the target. It missed wildly and disappeared into the foliage once more. This time though, he couldn't find it. After a few moments Kumo shifted to a small dog, figuring he would be more comfortable with her in this shape and she picked up the weapon with her teeth and approached him. The little boy's face, which had been twisted in frustration suddenly gave way to joy as he saw her with the kunai. "Doggie! You found my kunai!"
Feeling brave, she stepped closer, dropping it at his feet and wagging her tail slightly. The little boy, grinning from ear to ear, smacked her repeatedly on the head, happily crying "Good doggie! Good doggie!"
The little boy continued his target practice, Kumo retrieving his kunai when he lost them, and receiving thumps on the head in return. When the sun was about to touch the horizon, a call came through the trees. "Takumi! Where are you? It's dinner time!"
"I'm right here, Kaa-san! I found a puppy! She brings back my kunai!" Kumo wagged her tail slightly at the woman approaching.
"But no one around here has a puppy. Where did it come from?" The woman asked.
The little boy shrugged. "But she's a nice puppy. Can we keep her?" The little boy looked at his mother pleadingly.
Oops. You can't adopt me! I'm not really a puppy!
Luckily his mother replied. "You know your father is allergic to dogs." kumo breathed a sigh of relief. "But why don't we take it to the Inuzuka's shelter? I'm sure they will take good care of her."
Takumi pouted, "But, Kaa-san!" he protested.
"No." she said firmly. "The Inuzukas will take good care of her and find a nice family to adopt her."
Tearfully, Takumi followed his mother, clutching Kumo the puppy tightly in his arms.