I didn't actually post the most recent chapter and then Doc Manager deleted it. Whoops. Sorry it's so short and terrible.

Beastly Chapter 16

Naruto woke up to the smell of vomit and a burn in his throat, there was a dull pain pushing through the thick fog of his brain. A lurch in his gut got his eyes open and sit up far too quickly, his vision swam and the unfamiliar room spun before him. "Fang?" he moaned weakly before his throat was filling with burning bile. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, he spotted a bin next to a large desk and threw himself at it.

Emptying his gut was painful and Naruto was fairly certain he could feel liver withering with each heave. The fumes made his eyes burn, when his heaving stemmed off he opened his watery eyes in search of his -

"Fang?"

His voice sounded weak, he cleared his throat and slicked his tongue over his teeth, getting rid of any extra vomit. "Fang?" he tried again, and there was a moan from the other side of the desk. "Fang?" his voice picking up some of its usual volume, "are you okay?" There was another moan, Fang seemed to be having a similar awakening as him, "No." was the response he got after another groan.

Naruto stood up slowly, using the desk as a brace and then as a guide as he made his way to the other side of the desk, holding the bin against his chest. Fang looked how Naruto felt, his bloodshot gaze leered up at him from the floor, the dark floorboards digging into his skin the same way it had to his. "Here." Naruto offered up the bin setting it beside Fang's head, the scarred boy sit up slowly, but didn't throw up.

Was he used to waking up completely smashed? Naruto couldn't help but wonder, Fang had a started off the first bottle, and then finished off Naruto's last one when he couldn't go on.

Fang looked up at him after another moment, his features lax but there were dark circles around his eyes, "What time is it?" he asked after a long moment. Naruto looked around, the sun beamed through the glass panes that made up the wall behind the desk, the light burned his eyes with an unfamiliar passion. "I'm not sure -early, for sure." Fang didn't say anything for a long time, Naruto thought he was trying to remember what happened the night before. "We should go." Naruto said it first, Fang just sat there, staring at Naruto for another moment.

"We should really go." he urged, the slight urgency in his voice seemed to set Fang into motion, he rose slowly, like a cat, Naruto watched his companions shoulders roll in their joints from beneath his dark jacket. All at once, Fang seemed to transform before him, his face taking on a rather grim expression, "Let's go." his voice was still thick with sleep but lacked the ragged quality of someone who had consumed several bottles of high end alcohol.

Speaking of which, Naruto turned on his heel and searched the floor for any evidence of their break in. Five thick dark bottles were standing out starkly from the ornate dark wood. Naruto picked up each of them, trying to remember how far into the night each one of them brought them. The entire evening was a blur after breaking into this place, he tried to piece together last nights events as he placed the bottles into the bin and then back to where it had originated from.

"Ready, Cinderella?" Fang said from the far side of the room, when had he gotten over there, Naruto turned back to the door, the light from the windowed wall had settled over the far end of the room, lighting up the light grey walls and giving them a warmer glow, Naruto's eyes settled on Fang, who was half way out of the door, looking impatient and something Naruto wasn't sure how to place the tension that had settled on his brow. Guilty maybe? There wasn't anything that Fang should be guilty for, Naruto rationalized, except for being a weredog.

He followed the taller boy out of the double doors, shutting them quietly behind him and all the way to the elevator. The doors slid closed quickly and an uneasy feeling settled in Naruto's gut as the small room descended towards the ground, his hands settled onto the bars that wrapped around the walls, "Oh god," he muttered as bile rose in his throat. Fang turned and looked at him, looking as if he was going to ask something, but didn't as the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors freed them. "Thank god." Naruto groaned, feeling the acid settle back into his gut.

Fang led them through the lobby, Naruto following slowly behind him while staring at the tiled floor they had walked upon the night before. The sound of waking up surrounded him set back into motion from a hand around his wrist, pulling him into a run towards the door. The scarred boy shoved the door open and they fell into the morning light.

Naruto hissed, using his free arm to shield his eyes from the all too penetrating light, he made to step forward but bumped into Fang's back, his dark smell permeating his senses. "Sorry." Naruto mumbled against the scarred boy's shoulder. "Fang?" he asked a moment later when the boy didn't move or say anything. "Something wrong?" he asked second later. Getting no reply Naruto dropped his arm from his face. Standing before them was the President of Inuzuka Industries, what the hell was his name? He was dressed as sharply as Naruto had seen in his advertisements and his dark, almost black eyes settled on Naruto a moment later and he, Naruto gulped.

"You look familiar." Was all President Inuzuka had to say, the man paused before the two boys, and towered over them, but his eyes were only on Naruto. "I-uh, I live in the building across from you." Naruto replied quietly, unable to look away from the man before him. "I go to school with Kiba." He added a moment later, President Inuzuka's eyes narrowed at the sound of his son's name, the man's roamed over his head, over his sloppy hair, and messed up clothes. Naruto wondered if the man could smell the alcohol on his breath. "You're Minato's boy." Mr Inuzuka's tongue rolled over his teeth from beneath his lip as if saying Minato brought him a personal pain. Naruto cringed, thoughts of his father, being tortured and dragged into a van with two thugs. "Do you know him?" Naruto asked, voice weak. President Inuzuka smirked, "Something like that."

That seemed to some sign that the conversation was over, Inuzuka walked around the two boys, Naruto was pretty sure that he hadn't even noticed that Fang was there. "Send him my regards, will you?" Came from over Naruto's shoulder, the boy turned around to respond but the sharply dressed man had already entered the building they had just left. "That was weird." Naruto said, looking back at Fang, Naruto noticed for the first time that his shoulders were shaking. "Are you cold?" Naruto asked him, trying to get him to speak since he had left the building.

"I hate him." Came a vicious whisper that could only be from Fang, Naruto flinched at the tone, "Hate who?" but Fang didn't respond verbally, only a tightening around his wrist as he was led away from the scene of the crime. Fang led them back to the fire escape quickly, he, Fang climbing up first while Naruto followed, both boys silent, Naruto thinking about what Fang was thinking about. He couldn't hate President Inuzuka, right? Although, they had broken into his apartment, and where he worked. Naruto thought it was suspicious, but maybe Fang and Kiba were friends? Brothers? Would Mr Inuzuka keep a secret son? Did Fang and Kiba even know each other?

Naruto was too nervous to ask, Fang hadn't said anything else after that, he was silently leading the way back to the fire escape they had escaped from the night before. The walk to downtown where the house was seemed much longer during the day time, the sun's warmth making the alcohol in his gut churn uncomfortably. Fang's grip was still tight on his wrist and his extra inches kept Naruto racing after him, he couldn't see the taller boy's face entirely but he seemed lost in thought, not exactly looking where he was going but not running into anything either. He wondered what Fang was worried about, what he was scared of. Did he still think about the night Minato was taken? How could he not? A new friend's father bleeding, being beaten to a pulp and then stolen away in the night.

Naruto shuddered and sped his pace up, his shoulder starting to tense from the slight distance that had fallen between them. "Fang?"Naruto asked as the scarred boy paused at a street, he looked up at him for the first time since they had left the office building. Fang blinked, the morning light casting shadows under his eyes, then he looked down at Naruto with his slit pupils, dark as charred wood, but said nothing else. Naruto looked away first as people started passing them, some of them looked at them in disgust, their lips cringing, all of them in expensive business suits and high end briefcases. One person was staring at them, her eyes were strangely bright considering how her face was covered in shadows. Her lips twitched when she noticed Naruto noticing them, her lips were painted purple and her teeth were unnaturally white and sharp. The pendant around her neck glistened as she turned, catching Naruto's eye, a rounded hourglass, it gleamed again and seemed to glow and he was pretty sure he saw the pendant shifting under the considering glance. He looked back up at the purple-lipped woman, she watched him for another moment, then her smirk grew widely, exposing more threatening white teeth. She winked at him then turned on her heel, and walked away disappearing into the thick crowd of business men.

The hourglass seemed quite familiar, but Fang's tugging on his wrist kept him from thinking too deeply about it. Kiba's hand was really warm against his wrist, warm and dry, and it was starting hurt his wrist, but he let the older boy lead them to their destination, choosing to remain silent as well.

He knew they were almost there when the sights started to get familiar, the same streetlights that Naruto counted each night as they turned on, and sometimes turned off if he had a particularly restless evening, the same park across the street, much more lively during the day time, morning runners following the path of trees and small families settling in the grass near the playground. Naruto couldn't help but stare at a particular group of relatives, all of them blond, their coloured with extended exposure to the sun, he couldn't make out faces but he could hear their laughter from the street and Naruto's mind was forced back into that night where his father was taken.

"Where's the money, Minato?" their voices rough, the sound of metal sliding on metal, pulling guns from their coats, ready to hurt, ready to kill Minato. Naruto's breath quickened and his head started to feel too light to be real. His body tightened around his heart and then it was suddenly very difficult to breath on his own will.

"Naruto." A rough voice and suddenly he was reliving the night, that horrible night, he almost died too, if it weren't for. "Fang" Naruto wheezed out, still gasping for air that his lungs wouldn't take. "Help." his hands clenched around his own throat, rubbing it, trying to intake but couldn't quite manage. Fang had stopped walking, Naruto finally noticed they were in front of the house that Fang had taken them to after his - "Where's the money, Minato?" His vision swam again for the second time that morning, his brain was shutting down and racing at same time, memories of his father replaying over in his mind, the same phrase over and over.

"Where's the money, Minato?"

"Naruto."

"Where's the money, Naruto?"

His heart sank as he pictured himself being beaten by thugs, Fang and his father being forced to watch as he was beaten and then stolen off.

His legs wobbled but he did not hit the ground, he felt his head roll, falling against something hard and warm, but not a sidewalk, he could feel himself moving but he could not see where he was going. "Rose" was called out into the night only Naruto could see, the stained cement, covered in blood. Minato's blood.

"Where the - what happened to him?" a voice called out, sounding close, too close, far too close. Naruto's throat rolled but no air through, he was going to die with his father, in the street. Not breathing. "I'm don't know, he's not breathing." He was moving again, he could feel his heart in his head, beating quickly for someone who's dying, he thought, his final thoughts.

His first intake of breath was a large sudden gasp as he was pulled back from the darkness that had swallowed him. "Fang?" he called out weakly, his vision still faded over, and his eyes feeling itchy and wet. "Right here." he, Fang answered, Naruto's head turned and a spike of realization slithered through his nose and hit him sharply. He recoiled from it but the smell was too sharp to escape the air from around him, Vanilla? He thought, blinking away tears he hadn't realized were built up in his eyes. "What happened?" he asked, looking up at Fang, who looked to be having breathing problems of his own, too much breath instead of not enough, Naruto noticed, watching the way Fang's scarred nose flared with each overly paced breath. "I think we should be asking you that." A different voice called from next to him, Naruto turned his head again, facing the voice from that night. Rose stood, in her pajamas, covered in bears, Naruto remembered how much she liked them from the stuffed dozens she had when they had first met. "I'm not sure," Naruto answered suddenly, just remembering he had been asked something. "I just - couldn't catch my breath, is all."

His eyes tilted downwards, looking away from the two almost strangers before they could judge him. "You really need to get in shape." Fang said after a moment of consideration, Naruto snorted, then Rose spoke sharply, "A panic attack." She sounded sad, and angry?

Naruto looked around for the first time, noticing where he was, it was the same house they had been staying at, the same smell, dusty and warm and "Vanilla?" He asked, looked up at the bottle that was still clutched in Rose's hand, she looked down at him and they met eyes, they were lighter than Fang's but held the same sad film to them. "It helps with panic attacks." Naruto's mind reeled at that, Why would I have a panic attack? then I guess it's not everyday that someone watches their father get kidnapped. He nodded, "Thank you." but his mind lingered on Panic attacks, and how Rose knew what to do so quickly.

Fang settled on the couch next to him, pulling Naruto from his thoughts. "You okay?" the scarred boy asked, his face hidden by the darkness of the house. "I think so." Naruto answered honestly, feeling embarrassed about all of this. Giving Fang the cold shoulder after he had saved him from his father's attackers. "I'm sorry." he, Naruto added, looking away from the scarred boy, but he could feel that dark as night gaze settling on his face. His face heating up as Fang refused to look away. "Aren't you going to forgive me?" he asked, feeling annoyed for feeling embarrassed. Fang was smirking now, but did not respond. He picked up the remote from the coffee table in front of the couch and switched it on. Filling the room and Naruto's head with voices and music.

Naruto watched as Fang settled into the couch, eyes fixed on the screen and Naruto's eyes fixed on him, Fang didn't seem to notice, or was purposefully ignoring him. Naruto followed his example, eyes fixing on a screen too bright for a room this dark, and for the first time in too long, he felt at peace. His muscles released a tension he hadn't know he held and his body sank into the couch, his side against Fang's feeling the warped, jagged skin heating up his own.