Sorry to people who don't like Ino for this chapter! Enjoy! Btw this is probably about the longest chapter I've written so far.

Chapter 16: Troublesome Relationships

Temari POV

"How was your trip to the Akatsuki border?" I asked casually as I heard our pups pestering Hiro. Shika sighed and my eyes drifted to the scar on his right shoulder which stretched across his side.

"It was...troublesome," he growled his fur bristling. I saw Shika wince once in a while when he walked with his right leg.

"You're gonna give Sakura a heart attack one of these days with the wounds you get," I barked jokingly.

Shika growled stubbornly, "I'm a strong wolf. I don't need to cause Sakura trouble. Besides I'll heal soon enough." I rolled my eyes. Tamaki bounded towards us with Yumi trailing behind.

"Hey, mama will there really be a great war?" asked Tamaki looking anxious.

"What kind of war?" I growled as I glared at Tenten who looked at me sheepishly. Yes, she would talk about something as exciting as that...

"Between wolves and humans," replied Yumi. I struggled to find the right words to reassure them, but I couldn't lie to them.

"Well..."

Shika jumped in before I could say anything. "Of course there won't be a war. Not with all of Uzumaki Pack still alive. We'll make sure to keep the Akatsuki and the humans in check."

"Really?" Tamaki and Yumi barked in unison. They had a habit of doing that sometimes. Shika nodded and the pups ceased their questions as we returned home. Everything seemed normal except there was something tense about the pack. I saw Hinata sitting on top of the rock that was her den. Her tail was twitching nervously and her paws kneaded the rock. She padded towards us when she saw us coming.

"I'm glad you're here," Hinata growled sounding anxious completely avoiding greeting Shika which seemed out of character for her.

"What is it?" I growled suddenly wondering what took place while we were gone.

"Its Ino..." Hinata trailed off looking at Ino's den. I followed her gaze. Ino stood at her den looking forlorn. Three pups were playing around her legs. Two of the pups were blond like Ino, both male. Then I set my eyes on the third pup. Its fur was a mix of blond and brown, it was also female. She had red streaks under her eyes.

That's just like...Kiba's...

Hinata looked into my eyes and I could feel distress coming off her in waves. "Choji is furious and he won't speak with Ino. Now he's disappeared and Kiba... I don't know what he thinks."

"How did this happen?" growled Shika listening in on the conversation.

Hinata shook her head. "Ino and Kiba aren't related and it can't be possible that she...she wouldn't..." I could sense Hinata going into hysterics. I took a quick glance at Ino. She looked back at me. That determined gleam I'd seen in her eyes before was completely gone. Ino quickly broke my gaze.

"I'm sure they can sort this out themselves," I heard Tenten speak next to me. "Where's Naruto?"

"He went out hunting," she told me.

Great, the one moment his pack needs him he has to go eat. That idiot... "I'm sure he'll sort this out," I reassured her. Yoshino and Hiro walked up to Hinata. She stared at them with wide eyes. Yoshino happened to be a lot taller than Hinata. Even though Hinata was the alpha Yoshino looked superior over her.

"If I may, me and my beta would like to hunt in your territory," Yoshino asked abruptly.

Hinata was taken in by her size. "E-Erm, s-sure...."

I started to remember a long time ago when Hinata was still young and shy. It seemed far away now that I'd thought about it. She'd changed a lot from then. Yoshino nodded and Hiro and her walked deep into the forest again. Everyone departed to do their business. I felt Shika nuzzle me happily. We were whole again... for now. I still had Shika, my pups, and my pack. We both lay side by side at our den.

"What was the pack like?" I asked suddenly bored. Shika twitched his ears and blinked.

"Hm... As soon as they saw us they had us pinned down with steaks at our throats." He shuddered. "I thought I was dead until I realized it was my old pack...or rather part of it."

"Steaks, huh?" I pondered for a moment and tried to picture it.

"What did you do while I was gone?" Shika growled as he watched Gaara telling the pups some kind of story. I sighed looking at the annoying pups looking intently at Gaara.

"Taking care of them," I said placing my head on my paws, "and helping Matsuri come up with names for her pups."

"Oh?" Shika seemed interested in this. "Who's she planning to be mates with?"

"Gaara."

"Nice choice."

"Shika, are you happy?" I asked tiredly. It had been a while since it had been peaceful like this. Shika scratched the ground with his claws.

"Of course." I felt him lick my head reassuringly. "I'm incredibly happy." Shika's tail was wagging though I pretended not to notice as I fell asleep.

XxXx

Hinata POV

"Really, Hinata," Ino yawned staring at me with tired eyes. "It's no problem. Kiba agreed to accept my pups if Choji rejects me." Pain glazed her eyes again. I couldn't help, but whine in sympathy. The sky was dark now.

"Alright, but if Choji doesn't come back soon I'm sending a patrol," I growled as I exited her den. I managed to catch Ino rolling her eyes in the darkness. I looked around the clearing as I padded outside. Most of the pack had fallen asleep. I was the only one alertly awake. I saw Naruto padding towards me.

"You should rest. You've been busy all day. I'll organize the patrol for you." Naruto nuzzled me reassuringly. I looked into his eyes remembering the fire he still had when he was young.

"I'll see you later," I said walking towards my den and slipped inside. Keiji and Ai were curled around each other sleeping soundly. I lay next to them becoming anxious again.

Where is Choji? I began to wonder as I drifted to sleep.

Shika POV

"Shikamaru," growled a voice in my ears. I opened my eyes to see Naruto standing over me. "We're going on a patrol to find Choji." I stood yawning and stretching.

"Alright, who else is coming?"

"It will be just us," growled Naruto as we headed away from the clearing. "I don't want to disturb anyone else who was sleeping." I nodded and then I suddenly smelled blood.

"Naruto...do you smell that?" I growled my fur bristling. Naruto was already running forward. I was on his heels in an instant. The closer we got to the scent the more it smelled of Akatsuki. We finally reached the Akatsuki border. I froze at what I saw. Three Akatsuki wolves were a few feet in front of us. I knew all three of them, Kisame, Itachi, and Koji Pein's son. There was one wolf standing in the middle of them. The wolf's fur was matted with blood, but I could see clearly now. It was Choji.

"So, you have parted with your pack?" asked Itachi giving Choji a taunting look with his red eyes. I heard Kisame growl impatiently.

"Let's just kill him now...he's getting on my nerves," Kisame growled showing his sharp gleaming teeth.

"You're nothing, but," Choji coughed up blood. "nothing but scavengers that will die at the claws of Uzumaki Pack!"

"Shut up!" snarled Koji as he leaped for Choji. I leaped forward.

"No!" My jaws snapped around Koji's neck and I threw him to the ground. Choji looked at me in disbelief.

"Shikamaru?"

"Hey," I looked at him. "I heard about your pups. I'm not about to let you die when your family is still alive." I lunged for Itachi's throat, but he dodged me and raked his claws across the wound on my right shoulder. Then Kisame tackled me to the ground.

"You shouldn't pick unfair fights," Kisame sneered. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Choji stuggling feebly at Koji's attacks. Naruto had joined the fight and was trying to injure Itachi. I tried to squirm out of Kisame's grip, but he was stronger than me. I slapped Kisame with my paw leaving four red gashes in his cheek. "Playing rough are we?" His jaws closed around my neck and my vision became blurred as my air supply was cut off.

No! I'm not dying today! I managed kick dirt into Kisame's eyes. He jumped back rubbing his face with his paw.

"You dirty trick!" he growled. I grabbed Kisame's neck with my teeth and threw him on his back. He shrieked in agony as I heard a snap. I'd dislocated his shoulder. I looked up to see Naruto fending off Itachi.

"Fall back!" he ordered. Kisame got up with difficulty and followed Koji and Itachi. I looked around for Choji. I saw him lying motionless in the grass. I walked up to him.

"Choji!" I barked staring at him anxiously. There was a faint rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive. Naruto was picking something from the bushes nearby and came back with something thick and white around his paw.

"They're cobwebs. They help stop the bleeding," Naruto explained. I nodded and pressed the cobweb to Choji's wounds.

"You should probably go tell Hinata what's happened. We'll need Sakura too," I said. Naruto was completely calm and looked at me with a stubborn expression.

"I'm not leaving you," he growled still pressing at Choji's wounds. I decided not to argue. Faster than I thought it would the bleeding stopped. Choji was still unconscious, but breathing. Naruto pressed cobwebs to my wounds next. I watched as Naruto lifted his head towards the moon and howled. He was calling to Hinata.

Temari POV

I couldn't feel Shika next to me anymore. It felt oddly cold without him next to me. Something kept biting my ear.

"Ow...ow, OW!" I yelped jumping up. Tamaki was barking furiously next to me and Yumi had my ear clenched in her teeth.

"I hear something, mama!" he kept barking loudly. I was about to tell him to be quiet when I started hearing it too. It was howling. I got up quickly and crawled out of my den. I realized the whole pack was awake now. All the wolves in the clearing murmured and twitched their ears. The pups yipped excitedly. Hinata was at the top of her den howling to another wolf.

"Its Naruto, mama!" Yumi said now barking loud with Tamaki. I tried to listen harder, but couldn't make sense of the howling. Sakura burst out of her den carrying a bundle of leaves.

"Stay there!" she barked to her pups. "Temari! Hinata!" Sakura barked at me and Hinata jumped from the rock to follow her.

"Stay," I ordered my pups sternly as I followed quickly. "What's going on?" I demanded.

"Shika and Naruto found Choji, but they got into some trouble with the Akatsuki," Hinata replied tensely. I began to pick up pace.

Don't you die Shika! I growled furiously in my head. You have a family here. We finally made it to the Akatsuki border. It was easy to spot Naruto. I was relieved to see Shika wasn't that badly hurt, but his wound had reopened. Choji was in a more critical state. Sakura worked to heal him. Hinata was sniffing Naruto all over checking to see if he was hurt. There only seemed to be a gash across his chest that didn't look too bad and he had a few scratches on his face. Shika was lying on the ground his wound had stopped bleeding. I shook my head as he stared at me.

"Always helping others," I mumbled. "Why can't you look after yourself?"

Shika grinned at me. "That's just me. I thought you might've already gotten used to it." I sat next to him looking around as if I was expecting an Akatsuki patrol coming at us.

"Idiot," I said butting Shika in his good shoulder playfully.

XxXx

I stretched outside of den. It had been three days since the incident with Choji. He, Ino, and Kiba had made amends. Kiba and Ino became mates and Choji gladly agreed to become an uncle to the pups. Not everything was great with them. The nerves in one Choji's back legs had been ripped apart and he was forever crippled without the use of that leg. He didn't really seem too hurt about it, but he got crabby when Sakura didn't give him anything for the pain. Ino had gone back to being a pain in my ass, but I was happy that she'd gotten back to her normal self. Shika and I spent more time together now that he was confined to the clearing. He couldn't go anywhere where Kaori couldn't see him.

"Hey, Shika!" I heard Kaori's loud bark. "Where are you going?" I laughed as I watched her follow him like a baby duckling.

"I'm going where troublesome she-wolves won't pester me," he snapped. It was peaceful now and calmer than I'd expected. I wondered if this could last forever...

Review my friends! Review! Sorry for any wrong spelling. The spell check is trippin' right now.