Chapter 13

Kiba grumbled and groaned, much like he did on his first morning in his new home, he hoped that it wouldn't become a habit. For he only moaned and groaned when something was bothering him, weather it be an annoying care-taker, or his back threatening to break into a million pieces. With all the strength he could muster through a fog of reluctance, he opened his eyes.

"'bout time you got woke up" she snipped, staring at Kiba with an entirely black expression. "The tutor'll be here in an hour" Rose's r curved into a popping wah, her accent being brought out through her exhaustion. "Breakfast's out there" She added, having walked away to stand in the middle of the room, not far enough to throw a fist at the scarred teen, but close enough to yell at him if he closed his eyes again.

Kiba was used to Rose's usual morning routine, she hadn't actual done it in a while, since he became a senior in high school. Not that he missed it either, he watched with a squinted eye, glaring at Rose with his greatest imitation of an annoyed feline.

As usual, the Jamaican housekeeper was not bothered by anything that her charge did. She watched with a steady look, the muscles in Rose' face relaxed into a cool look. Making it hard to tell what she was feeling or thinking, not that Kiba would be reading into her expressions anyway. But she knew that it unsettled him with how creepy and unnatural it looked.

Her eyes widened, pupils contracting as more light refracted inside of her cornea. Shadows grew over her face as if she was about to tell a ghost story. "Tutor?" Kiba asked, completely ignoring the look that Rose was sending him in favor of going over her previous statement. "Yes" Was all she said, her look maintained its placidity remained in place as she spoke.

"Why is there a tutor coming?" He groaned loudly into the cushion of the couch, forgoing the concerns that spores could fly into his mouth as he complained. "Mistah' Inuzuka don't want you stupid forever, boy" She teased, a smiled finally cracking onto her face as if her own joke had just brightened her day significantly.

A knock at the door erupted like a thunderous volcano, bursting at irregular and seemingly reluctant strikes against the front door. Startled, Rose rushed away from the living room and into the entrance hall to open the door. The pressure of the room changed signicanatly, along with the temperature, the now cool room seemed to expand at the seems as the door opened. Gusts of wind pushed along a tall body that blocked the hectic winds.

"You mus' be him." Rose stated all but casually. The man nodded briefly, the conversation blurred into nothing as Kiba's vision faded, an annoying clacking turned into a fitful rhythm as he tried to go back to sleep.

A bad decision really, if it wasn't Rose that was going to get him, it was his new tutor. The hairs on Kiba's neck shivered as the man approached with silence, Kiba would have thought he was a proffessional stalker if he was watching the scene. But he wasn't.

It could have turned out a lot worse, all in all, the man grabbed onto the back of the couch with one hand and flipped his legs over, before he plomped down. Right on Kiba's legs. The scarred teen yelped and erupted in a series of curses and yelling as he tried to kick the guy off of his legs.

"Get off me, would ya'?!" He yelled, having calmed down enough to make converstion, albeit angry conversation. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there" The man stared straight ahead, and said the statement so casually. He must have been playing a prank or something.

The conversation trailed off after that. They both stayed still, or the supposed tutor stayed still while Kiba tried to subtley take his legs back from the man's backside. Eventually, Kiba's tutor moved, his marine shirt wrinkled as he lifted his arm up and rubbed at his eye sockets. Both of his eyes were closed, and a large scar crashed down on one of them like lightning.

He wanted to ask, he really did, but he felt that it would be rude, even to the man who just decided to use his legs as a cushion. "Bar fight" Kiba jumped at the sudden proclamation. The words sunk in and Kiba could feel his mouth start to form an O-Shape.

"I'm sorry" He said softly, looking away from the scar. "Nah, don't be, it's been what? Ten years or so..." The back of his large head resting against the back of the couch, his fingers webbed together over his stomach. He looked peaceful, Kiba thought, or dead.

The darkness of the room must not have bothered the man as much as it bothered Kiba, he could barely see the scar. Even as it shimmered in the refracting light from the kitchen. The rest of his face was concealed in shadow. A very dark feeling roamed over him, a familiar feeling from what seemed so long ago.

In reality, it hadn't even been that long, not even a day since that feeling had struck him. Kiba, for a moment, wanted to ask if Ino was disguising herself to look like a himself. It would seem like an odd question if she wasn't, and his tutor would probably think him crazy.

The tutor shifted, "Something wrong?" He asked, voice like gravel as he spoke from his throat, his head turned so Kiba could look dead onto his pale face.

Everything would have made him look normal, attractive maybe - it wasn't Kiba's place to say- but the scars that littered his tutor's face expanded over the contours, probably never removeable unlike his own. The eye that wasn't sealed shut seemed to state into Kiba's very soul, without seeing anything at all. His pupil was faded over, a foretell sign of being blind. Or on drugs. Either seemed likely at that point.

"Got a name?" Kiba asked, breaking the veil once more. "Hatake, professor Hatake" he answered dully, Kiba nodded. There wasn't much that they could talk about now, other than academic things, and that was something that he did not want to talk about. "My dad send you?" This time, Professor Hatake nodded, he turned his face back to stare pliantly at the entertainment center on the far wall.

Professor Hatake stood suddenly, and walked around the couch. "Come on" He suggested quietly, Kiba really didn't want to go. Getting up meant learning, and he had enough school for the rest of his life. He was about to complain, or bargain, when a whish caught his attention before his ear started burning. He jerked his head in the direction of the noise and blinked.

A walking cane had just hit him in the head. "Dude!" Kiba squealed, his voice cracking, making him sound like a child all-around. The blind tutor said nothing and motioned with his cane as if he was about to hit him once more, Kiba tried to remain still like a rock but couldn't help but flinch at the way the stick whizzed through the air.

"Come on" He repeated, Professor Hatake turned around and started walking towards the hallway, Kiba was about to stop him, thinking that he was headed towards the room where Naruto was no doubt sleeping.

He didn't though, so Kiba said nothing and followed him to the back office that he had noticed earlier.

The inside was as dull as it looked through the windows. "Pull up the blinds" The tutor's voice remained as commanding as it had before, Kiba sighed, he hated being told what to do and he was losing sympathy for the blind guy. He wondered how the blind guy could tell that there was even a window in the room, but he did have intentions not to get smacked with a cane again, so he followed the instruction.

Dim light filtered through the small cracks that the blinds made as they were turned to angle towards the sun. The dust in the room seemed to glow, unlike the rest of the house, this room seemed to have been completely neglected. His fingers left blank smudges on the small planks as he pulled down on the blinds to look out onto the city for a moment.

There wasn't much that he could see through the window, a wall, a tree and a bunch of garbage cans. He pulled away from the window slowly, releasing the blinds that clanked noisily back into place.

"Ready?" Hatake asked, Kiba could hear the sadistic smirk that seemed to fill Hatake's face and he quickly walked around the desk set before the blinds and threw himself into one of the chairs. "So, class, where did we leave off?"

Naruto Uzumaki was not a patient person, probably the most impatient person in Konoha if there was a contest for it, and when Fang didn't show up by noon with breakfast he was about to explode. There wasn't a reason why he didn't go down there and make it himself, he could, he wasn't disabled. But he was scared. Not sure what of, but he was scared. Scared of getting hurt, or scared of getting attacked when nobody as looking.

He didn't trust himself to just sit in the kitchen and act like nothing was happening, so he locked himself in the attic turned bedroom and waited for his meals each day like a hermit. Naruto knew that he would eventually have to leave the room, especially if Fang wasn't going to show up with his meal any time soon.

He would wait five, no, ten, more minutes before he would sneak downstairs and procure himself a quick meal. Yes, he would sneak downstairs, take some left overs and sneak back upstairs. He could wait ten minutes.

Or maybe he couldn't.

Naruto jumped up, the borrowed comforter bundled up at the end of what was now his bed. The blonde began to pace the room, making sure to keep his bare feet quiet as they thumped across the floor of the attic turned bedroom. Which was really a feat considering everything in this house creaked and moaned, even if nobody was moving on it.

With a loud, and over-played moan, Naruto flopped back onto the mattress, his head skidded against the wall. His scalp burned as his hair was pulled awkwardly. He cursed softly and rubbed at the burning flesh.

Nine minutes.

Naruto rolled over, his face pressing into the soft and somewhat gritty material of his sheets. He really wanted food now, right now. Right this second, he pulled up his limbs and looked out from under his stomach to see if somehow his wish had been granted. With no such luck Naruto collapsed on himself and continued whining and groaning, much like he did when he was little. A habit he should have grown out of by now. Then again, it was never Naruto's forte to play by the rules.

Which was what sent him sneaking downstairs, seven minutes early. He really shouldn't be this paranoid at being caught, it's not like he was in a prison - no matter how much it felt like so. He rounded the corner silently, spinning on his heel and using his arm on the sides of the doorway to keep his balance.

At first sight, it seemed like a normal kitchen - albeit slightly dirty, but what kitchen wasn't - but there was a skillet full of something that Naruto wanted to get his hands on, or rather his mouth on.

Still trying to remain incognito, Naruto prowled around the kitchen. The pot was startled to see him, sizzling in fright as its' lid was removed swiftly, a small metal-on-metal noise being extracted from its mouth. "Oh..." The amazing display of athleticism was wasted, in Naruto's opinion. No way was oatmeal worth sneaking around the house. It looked cold. Ice oats. And crusty. Crusty Oat Blocks.

His grimace was not lost on Rose, who had seen past the not so clever spy routine. "Better eat up" She smirked too widely as he swiveled to face her, she probably looked menacing. Pretty much the look she was going for. Nobody insulted her food and got away with it, and what better way to torture that person than to make them eat the food they insulted?

Naruto glanced down at the crusty block of cold oats. Rose swooped over, her broad side pressing against Naruto's bonier one. She whisked her arm over the pot, waving invisible wafts of flavor into her nose and exhaled. Naruto thought she looked like a dragon lady. She teeth became visible as she slanted her eyes to face him.

Within the blink of an eye, Rose was gone, only to return with a clean bowl, a spoon, and a ladle. Naruto squirmed on the spot, his eyes darting to the nearest exit. He probably would have bolted, if not for the hold Rose had on his shoulder, using it for support she had commented quietly as she spooned out a big hefty, cold, crunchy, mass of oatmeal.

Perhaps he was being a baby about it, but Naruto was usually one to get what he want when he went out and worked for it. He had walked all the way downstairs for food. And was not going to return with a stomach full of nasty oats. He shook his head, practically begging Rose to stop without saying a word. "Somethin's wrong?" She asked, voice like ice and honey, dangerous and quiet. He really didn't want to eat it, but the important question came into view.

Deal with Rose, or Deal with the oatmeal. He could always throw one of them out the window, the other one he wasn't so sure about. With a relinquished sigh, one that translated into I'm Done. He held out his hand.

Rose dropped the bowl above his hand and the weight of it almost breaking his hand, maybe not really, but he could put up some sort of revenge, couldn't he? He saved the bowl, coincidentally an inch or two above the range-top, he smiled, forcing his face into something of surprised or embarrassed.

She didn't buy it, Naruto could tell, but he maintained his charade just in case that she was being overly paranoid. "Eat up" She repeated, actually growling beside him like a rabid dog.

Naruto, of course, was not big on conflict, and turned tail, and escaped the kitchen before Rose started breathing fire. He would have jumped up the stairs, effectively making his escape, if and only if, he hadn't caught the sound that was coming from deeper in the hallway. There was only one door down there, as far as he knew, and he hadn't heard from Fang all day. That was probably where he was, he sounded like he was in trouble.

Like the noble man that he wasn't, Naruto sneaked up to the glass doors and stuck his head against the cool glass, his ear straining to hear something. What he heard wasn't what he was expecting. It wasn't groans of pain, or the sounds of struggle, more like aggravation and evil laughter. Not Gato's evil laughter either, it could be Fang's dad, he hadn't heard the imperial looking man laugh like a psychopath before.

The natural reaction, other than running - again - was to investigate, he rotated his head slightly, sticking the side of his face against the place where his ear had just been. Past the dusty glass revealed a foggy image, two moving shadows, and some bright light. Something that resembled angels waiting for their next victim.

They didn't sound like angels.

Naruto sighed, he should probably respect Fang's privacy. Probably. Fang hadn't really respected his privacy, ever, so why not pay him back? He reached with his free hand and turned the doorknob, thanking whatever deity existed that it wasn't creaking. Using his body weight to force the door open, Naruto was a little surprised at the sight on the other end of the door.

Another situation that was not worth sneaking around for.

A grey haired, seemingly old, guy was sitting behind the large desk on the far side of the room. The dark wood that spanned over a large section of the floor seated both Fang and the stranger. The grey haired man seemed to look comfortable in his high backed office chair, the dark leather creating shadows that fogged over the man's pale face. It blocked some of the natural light that beamed onto Fang. Fake yellow light replaced what was taken though, it illuminated his face, which was contorted in thought, and his hand, which was wrapped around a pen.

He had to sneak in here for homework? If he wanted to do school work, he would have just ran off to go to school. He was a little surprised that Fang was actually doing schoolwork, he didn't seem like the kind of guy that actually cared about such trivial matters.

Naruto was about to sneak back out, just as quietly as he had come in. With no noise, and nobody noticing him, but of course, nothing in Naruto's life likes to go along with his plans. "You must be the other one." The voice called out from darkness, it seemed to echo ominously like all noises do in this house. The walls seemed to vibrate from the sound, sending waves of dust to spiral towards the ground like gothic looking snowflakes. Eventually the storm seemed to settle, as the man said nothing more, the flakes landed unceremoniously on the faded red rug that covered the dark wooded floor.

The other one?

Naruto had never been referred to as the other one, before, and he would now associate it with this tingling feeling that made his knees tremble. He felt like he was in trouble, not Gato trouble, but a different strain of the same word. None the less, he wanted to hear what the man had to say, at the same time he really just wanted to retreat to the attic and never look into this room ever again.

"She said there was another one" The voice elaborated, Naruto, being the master of inferred information, assumed that the her, was Rose, and that he was the other one, that she spoke off. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

The chair creaked, and the shadowed figure rose, light erupted around him, the rays seemed to wrap around him like a cocoon. The man was odd, to say the least, nothing like he expected a in-home teacher to be.

"Come in, then" the man said, already making his way towards Naruto, the blonde really really, wanted to back away and blockade himself in what was now his bedroom, but he did need to graduate. The two choices rolled around in his head before his sighed, releasing all the tenseness that had wound up his nerves. The man was standing next to the door, looking all like a butler, by the time Naruto had made up his mind. He could do this, even if he still had a week's worth of tears backing up against his eyes that needed to be released.

He held them back. He had to move on, for his dad, for himself. A sharp intake of breath later, he found himself moving forward, taking refuge in another chair, one that was too close to Fang's. He scooted away silently, settling against the far corner of the desk, far away from the lamp light that lit up Fang's thinking expression. The butler-looking man followed behind him silently, a creepy skill that Naruto really wish he could manage so he didn't end up in situations like this.

Naruto tried to ignore Fang, who was ignoring him all too well. Seeming completely focused, as if the movement around the room wasn't even fazing him. "We're working on Modernism" his arm was extended in front of him, pieces of paper wiggling in his face like a swarm of ivory flies. He grabbed the noisy papers from the tutors hands, "Thanks, mister... uh-" he blinked up at the man, he didn't even know this guy's name and he was supposed to be teaching him? "Kakashi" Came the dull reply, one end of his pale lips were lifted by strings, the action looked tense.

"Mister Kakashi," Naruto finished, the man's foreign named rolled off his tongue awkwardly, it was certainly a mouthful. Kakashi's lips lost their angle and fell back into cool indifference, "Just Kakashi" Naruto nodded, it was something teacher's did so they didn't sound so old, or so they could relate to the students, Naruto figured. All the grey hair was doing nothing for Kakashi's case though.

He looked down at the papers, "A rose for Emily?" It sounded like a pleasant, easy story that would help break the awkward that filled the room. Kakashi smiled at him from the other side of the desk, he had leaned back, and the chair creaked loudly, but Fang didn't look up, while Naruto winced.

"That was awful!" Naruto all but screamed, Kakashi flinched violently, convulsing wildly as he almost tumbled out of his seat. "Wh-what?" He asked, his voice sultry from sleep. "That story was awful!" Naruto repeated, his voice still loud.

"What was wrong with it?" Kakashi asked, rubbing something out of his too-pale eyes. "She groped that dead dude!" He wailed, pulling a wigged out expression that Kakashi could all but hear. "And?" He asked, clearing his voice out afterwards. "That's gross!" Kakashi looked at Naruto, or rather pointed his eyes at the student, pulled his face into an expression that screamed and? Naruto didn't seem to catch it though. He was too content with just rambling about how things like that were not supposed to happen in a story.

"Look at how it's written" Kakashi said eventually, loud enough so Naruto could hear him over his own rambles. "Creepy" Naruto replied, stopping abruptly to think over the question. The tutor sighed, "Anything else- besides the fact that she groped a dead dude?" He added, the new student was quiet for a moment. "There's a lot of attention to scenery" Someone that wasn't Naruto answered, the two heads turned simultaneously towards the sound of the voice, to look at Fang, who had just said something smart.

Naruto looked down at the paper, skimming for words that described that the house looked like, what other things looked like. "Yeah" He agreed softly, he looked over at Kakashi to see if he would confirm Fang's idea. The man nodded like a bobble head, still thinking over the idea. "Modernism brings a lot of detail to location, Faulkner included, are there any other points in this story?"

Naruto looked at Fang, expecting him to say another smart thing, but Fang met his eyes with an expression that matched their own. "Uhm... There's a lot of death?" Naruto suggested brilliantly. Kakashi nodded again, "But why?" Naruto blanched, he hadn't really looked into these things before.

"'Cause... she doesn't want to let go?" Kakashi's head didn't move his time. "Good job." He stated instead. "Anything else?" Naruto looked at Fang expectantly, it was his turn. "The hair." He stated simply. "Care to elaborate?" Kakashi, "Nope." Fang replied, lowering his head to look over his papers again.

"Well, I guess it's time for math, then" The tutor replied, sounding way too pleased with himself.

Naruto groaned, he hated math.