This fic is becoming increasingly harder to write. I'm having some problems with were I am currently. I have ideas but not immediate ideas so I have no idea what to do next. So it might be a while until my next upload for this story while I continue trying to figure out what to put next.

Chapter 18 - the pain inside

Kiba was having a pretty good time teaching the kids. He made sure that they enjoyed it too. He used several games to get them up and moving. he participated in brawls with them and organised matches between them as well. He corrected stances and showed them how to hit harder and to get away from the enemy. He had them do exercises But he wasn't an exercise-loving-mad-man. He'd leave that to Lee when he got there. They all seemed to like Akamaru a lot too.

Then there was his favourite student, Akira. She was an enthusiastic eleven year old that just kept getting better. Her firm was alittle sloppy but she was quick and a fast learner. she was small and she used it to the vest of her ability. He heard she sucked at gen-jutsu though.

To be truthful he never thought the kids would be that good or that fun to teach. He had sort of dreaded the teaching. He was just glad to be in Suna where he could find Temari and bother her every now and then. Now he proudly stood watching them have shirt matches against each other. They were improving.

"Kiba Inuzuka." the nin he had sensed approaching stated when he stopped by him. He looked over at the grim faced Ninja. "Temari-sama calls you urgently, this instant."

"Um. Ok." Kiba said looked at Akamaru. Temari calling him urgently? What for? "Watch the class Akamaru."

At the the nin-dog's accepting whine he turned to go with the ninja immediately. They travelled quickly and found Temari by her apartment door. She looked distressed and worried.

"Come." Temari said grabbing him by the collar and pulling him through the door. The other nin disappeared back to his own business.

"What happened? What did I do?" Kiba questioned at the brutal hauling. Temari stopped in her tracks.

"It's not you. It's Sanji." she said not looking at him.

"What's wrong with Sanji?" Kiba asked. Temari led him around to near the bathroom. On the floor on a soft mat lay a trembling Sanji. Soft whines of pain escaped him. Kiba got down on his knees beside him. "What happened?"

"We just came back from training and he was a little tired. It wasn't anything serious but then he started whining and fell down. He started shivering and whining and he was wet like he was sweating badly. He's been like that for about fifteen minutes now."

"Why didn't you call a vet?" Kiba asked checking Sanji heart rate.

"I did but he's not here."

"Call Hana." he told her resting a hand on Sanji's side and closing his eyes.

"I sent word to Gaara to call her but she won't be here for three days even if she left out right now." Temari said watching in worry as Kiba focused on what he was doing. When he opened his eyes he immediately dig into his shuriken pouch.

"His chakra is plummeting I'm going to give in a soldier pill and one on Akamaru's nutrient pills. I'm not sure if it would be safe for him. It wouldn't be usually but right now he needs the boost. He's running out of chakra and what ever it is looks like it's eating him out." he explained producing the pills. Temari nodded quickly. She would do anything that might help him.

"Where's the actual vet when you need him." she mumbled while Kiba worked on getting Sanji to swallow the pills. It took a few minutes for Sanji to finally show some change and begin to calm down. Temari took a deep breath and sunk to the floor to lean on the side of the sofa. Kiba sighed softly and moved away from Sanji to sit beside Temari. She was simply staring at the sick puppy with wide eyes.

"It's probably my fault, isn't it?" she finally said.

"No. It's not. You take good care of him." he told her earnestly. He saw how she treated Sanji and knew that the puppy was treated wonderfully.

"Then poisoning?" she asked, bringing up the first thought that came to mind.

"Possibly." he stated. He neither agreed or disagreed. It seemed likely. Being a ninja meant lots of enemies but being an influential and strong ninja meant even more enemies.

"But I'm the only one who feeds him. He doesn't eat from anyone else."

"Maybe from your source." he suggested wrapping his hand around hers.

"I eat everything he eats." she said and he intertwined their fingers carefully.

"You feed him chocolate? Alcohol? Avocado? Macadamia? Grapes?" Kiba asked and she levelled him with a look.

"Hana told me not to feed him those things. Do you think I'd be stupid enough to get him drunk?" she asked irritably. Did she have 'idiot' marked on her head or something?

"No Temari, I don't. I was just going down the list. I didn't even realise I said alcohol." he said to placate her. She glared at him a second more. "Now, let's think of things other than poisoning."

"Like a virus."

"Maybe." he stated playing with her fingers.

"He got all his shots. You said so." she said frustrated even as he placed a soft kiss on her knuckles.

"Yea but there are some viruses that don't have standardised shots. It could also be hereditary."

"So he could have got whatever this is from his patents?" she said only swiftly glancing at Kiba as he gently kissed the hand he held again. "How do we know if it's hereditary?"

"We don't. Not until Hana or the vet comes and find out what it really is." he answered still planting soft kisses on her hand. "We'll have to hope that the nutrients and pills will be sufficient until at-least one of them arrives."

"Kiba, what are you doing?" she asked finally giving him more than a glance.

"I'm seducing you." he answered and continued his showering her hand in kisses.

"This is no time for joking around." she hissed at him.

"I'm not joking." he said seriously.

"Do you really think this is the right time to be 'seducing' me?" she asked annoyed.

"It will distract your mind." he stated choosing to ignore her tone and looking at her with a blank expression.

"I doubt that works."

"Then why are you arguing with me?" he asked smirking at her. She paused, a small repeated tick began to develop in her brow.

"Shut up." she growled looking back at Sanji's limp form on his mat. Kiba reached up to hold her head still with his free hand before gently kissing her cheek.

"I'll be here. I'm going to help you. I won't leave." he told her reassuringly. His hand squeezed hers in comfort.

"Temari!" Gaara's voice called from the door way into her apartment. Kiba gave her hand one last squeeze before pulling away so that she could go to her brother. "What happened?"

"We're not sure yet."

"How come your vet is gone?" Kiba asked rising from the ground.

"The vet isn't here?" Gaara asked and Temari shock her head to answer. Gaara closed his eyes for a minute before looking back at her. "I sent a message to Konoha. They will be sending Hana. She should be on her way now."

Ok. Temari mumbled. Kiba looked between the two before turning to walk into the bathroom.

"I'll get a bath ready incase his fever goes up again." he said before disappearing.

"Why's he here?" Gaara asked with an almost weary look towards the bathroom.

"We have no vet right now and he's an Inuzuka. He's bound to know more about dogs than anyone else in the village." Temari answered with a sigh.

"Where's the mountain of fur?"

"His name is Akamaru and he's not here. I don't even know where he is. You actually asked a good question."

"Where is your fur ball?"

"It's Sanji." she said with a sigh. He gave no response. She brought him over to the puppy that really didn't look so much like a puppy anymore.

"Isn't he growing a little fast?" Gaara asked looking at the blonde nin-dog. He wasn't really one for pets bit he could at least tell that Sanji hadn't been that big when he saw him a few days ago.

"His parents might have been big." Temari told him what Kiba had told her a few days before.

"What happened?"

"I have no idea." Temari said honestly.

XX

Sanji hurt all over. Even some places he never knew existed hurt. But this was the price of it all. It hurt but he would bear it. He wish he didn't have to worry his Master but he couldnt do anything about that. He didn't know exactly what was happening to him but when it ended he'd be bigger, better, stronger. He'd be able to do all those thing he couldn't do because he was just too small.

The pain was only an ache now but it would come back soon enough. Master was beside him all the time. So was Akamaru's Master but Akamaru wasn't there. He couldn't smell him near by. The bigger dog had become his brother figure and something of a role model. If only he could be that big and that skilled then he could make his master even stronger.

XXXXX

On the second day of Sanji's sudden sickness his condition was stable despite looking somewhat bloated. The veterinarian had visited in the morning and had told them that he had never seen anything like it. He told them that he would have done what Kiba had done but they should be careful with the dosage since it was made specifically for an older and bigger dog. They hadn't bothered to move him from the mat near by the bathroom either. They weren't sure if moving him would worsen his state and so were being careful not to.

Temari was tired. Her face was drawn and reflected the exhaustion of staying up all night to make sure she didn't miss anything that happened to Sanji and so she could be there for him. Kiba was nice enough to say over most of the time and probably would have all the time if she hadn't sent him to teach. Akamaru was there though his presence was comforting to say the least. Kankuro or Gaara would stop by every now and then to make sure she was eating. The irony.

At the moment, Temari was in the kitchen by the sink with a cup of coffee and was staring through the window at the sky outside. The sky was clear but her mind was elsewhere and otherwise occupied. She was only vaguely aware of Kiba entering the apartment and coming into the kitchen. She was jolted out of her thoughts when he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Don't drink that." he said softly into her ear as he pulled the cup away from her. She sighed watching the contents of the cup go down the drain and the cup itself moving to the counter while in Kiba's hands. "You should sleep. Hana should be here tomorrow. He'll be fine."

Temari didn't reply but leaned her weight back onto him. To think she was feeling this depressed and tired. Some ninja she was. Emotional stress sucked. She began to calm down when Kiba started to hum softly in her ear. She was thankful he was this close and not in Konoha. She was especially thankful that he was trying to take her mind off everything.

She must have been really tired because all she could remember next was watching the clouds move across the sky as her eyelids closed to the soft humming of Kiba's deep masculine rumble.

When Kiba was sure Temari was asleep he lifted her into his arms and carried her to her room. He laid her carefully into her bed and covered her with a thin sheet. Kiba examined her for a moment to see if she was comfortable before taking in her features. To him, she looked simply great. She was beautiful. He couldn't see why Shikamaru would cheat on her. He knew she wasn't just beautiful on the outside but on the inside as well. He was around her enough, especially over the past few days, to be able to know that she had a good heart.

He gently ran a hand down her cheek before pulling away to remove his jacket and the shirt underneath it. He swung the shirt centimetres above her nose out of curiosity and smirked when he noticed the slight twitch of her nose as even subconsciously she recognised his scent. His smirk grew even more when she reached up and pulled the shirt away from him before turning to curl up with it. That was something to tease her about later but for the time he was content to be the only one to see her cuddle a t-shirt. It was beyond adorable how she buried her nose into it. He leaned over the bed to kiss her lightly on the cheek

"Goodnight." he mumbled before returning to his full height and walking to the linen closet to remove a soft sheet. He brought it with him to couch where he could watch for any change in Sanji's health.