A/N: Everything recognized belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own Reyna!

THUNDER

The next morning, Kakashi awoke to the sharp tapping on his window that announced the presence of a messenger hawk. The note attached to the bird was short and to the point. The meeting would take place at one that afternoon six hundred feet west of the main road leading into the village in the buffer zone between the Leaf Village and the edge of the Leaf Pack's Territory.

He glanced at the clock by his bed over Reyna's shoulder and realized this was one time he could not afford to be late. He slipped from the bed, and though he knew that it woke Reyna she didn't move. Apparently she was still mad at him for his reaction to her being out with Iruka the night before, but he could deal with that later. He dressed quickly and quietly before slipping out of the room and then the apartment. As soon as Kakashi was out of the apartment, Reyna was on her feet and packing her things into boxes. It would take a few trips and most of the day but she was determined to move back into her own apartment. She only got a single box filled before she sighed, realizing that she really didn't want to leave Kakashi's place. But that didn't mean she couldn't freak him out when he got back though.

Kakashi headed through the village quickly. It was already nearly eleven thirty and if anything he was going to be early for this meeting and if he could get the drop on the alpha he fully planned on taking advantage of it. He didn't delude himself into thinking the alpha would be there alone and was willing to bet that the beta would be there as well.

He reached the meeting place half an hour early and leapt into the tree branches to settle in and wait for the alpha to make an appearance. Kakashi, apparently, hadn't been the only one thinking about getting there early to get a good drop on the meeting. He had barely settled himself into his chosen branch when three wolves padded into the small clearing below him. The honey yellow wolf Kakashi immediately pegged as the beta who had confronted Reyna in the village, the one in the lead he guessed to be the alpha based on the number of scars marring his muzzle. The third he couldn't hazard a guess, but it was definitely submissive to the other two based on its body language.

The third disappeared into the trees a few seconds later and the other two shifted back to their human forms. The blonde leaned confidently against the trunk of the tree that Kakashi was sitting in while the alpha stood in the center of the clearing.

Instantly, Kakashi stood on the branch and walked down the trunk of the tree, snickering to himself when he made the beta jump at his appearance. The alpha appeared unimpressed however, though Kakashi wasn't worried. The Hokage knew that he was meeting with the alpha and if he didn't return it would fall on the pack badly.

"So you must be the infamous Copy Ninja," the alpha addressed him.

"And you must be the pack alpha," Kakashi responded.

"Why did you call this meeting?"

"In order to let you know that harassment of any member of the village, especially a ninja, will not be tolerated. The contract lays down rules for both sides and your beta here," Kakashi motioned to the beta at his back, "broke that contract when he confronted Reyna Tagisha within the village. Furthermore, Reyna is not someone to be claimed. She has renounced any inclination to join your pack, claiming instead that the village itself is her pack. You have no rights to her whatsoever. And if you think that you do, then listen very, very carefully. She is mine."

The alpha stared at him and it was the beta who responded, "She doesn't carry the mate mark, therefore you have no claim to her. Besides which, you aren't even a damn wolf!"

"Control yourself, Bran!" the alpha snapped as the beta stepped in to challenge Kakashi.

"She isn't pure wolf either. Her mother was an ANBU Black Op from the Leaf Village. She had ties to the first Leaf Pack through that post and through friendship with the pack alpha. She was mated against her will and had Reyna. Reyna is half human. Aside from which, a wolf can mate with a human if they so choose."

"The human does not consciously choose their mate, it is the wolf that chooses said mate," the alpha explained, "however I have never dealt with a half breed before. I had heard of their existence but never dealt with one myself. So you claim Reyna Tagisha as yours? And you will take on any challenges for that?"

"But, there's no mark on either of them!" Bran exclaimed.

"Take a good long sniff of me, Alpha," Kakashi broached diplomatically, "Our scents are entwined together. And since I am human the rules are different as far as mating and courting rituals are concerned."

The alpha did as Kakashi had requested and stepped back, levelling a hard glare at his beta, "Bran, how the hell could you miss that scent mingling. That kind of scent overlay does not happen overnight. This has been long and prolonged close contact between two people. It is as much a sign of mates as the mark!" he turned his attention back to Kakashi then, "I apologize for the behaviour of my beta. You can be assured that he will be punished as per pack law and will no longer chase after Reyna. As for our actions at the first meeting with her, it is how our pack works. She has renounced her place among us and for that she is nothing more than an ally and a member of the village."

Kakashi nodded and the wolves melted back into the forest surrounding them. Kakashi glanced up and realized that for as short of a conversation that had been, it had taken a lot longer than he had anticipated and that there were dark storm clouds blowing into the village very quickly. He had just started out of the meeting area when the rain and thunder hit. He hurried back to the village and his apartment ready to tell Reyna what he had been up to since he had refused to let her accompany him to deliver the team report and the package. When he reached his apartment, he stopped dead in the doorway at the sight of boxes stacked in his living room.

"Reyna?" he called out, worried.

He received no reply and for a second panicked that she was at her apartment already. He shook that thought from his head, if that were the case, the boxes wouldn't still be in his living room. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the boxes were actually mostly empty and sighed in relief. Again he called her name and received no reply as thunder rolled overhead. He searched the living room first, calling out her name occasionally as he searched. He headed into the kitchen next, thinking that maybe it was payback for how he treated her the night before. There was still no sign of Reyna. The bathroom was empty as well which left his bedroom.

He stepped into the room just as a loud crack of thunder boomed overhead and the lights flickered out, "Great, now I have no light."

He slowly made his way towards the bed, thinking he had a flashlight or candles on his desk somewhere when he caught a faint sound from within the darkness of the room. He paused and when the next flicker of lightning lit the room, he heard the sound again just before the thunder drown it out. He could have sworn it was a whimper. Slowly he made his way deeper into the room, listening intently until he was positive the sound was coming from under his bed. He knelt next to the corner and flipped the blanket up so he could kind of see underneath. A whimper met his ears while lightning once again lit the room briefly and he caught a glimpse of Reyna, in her four-legged form, curled under the bed trembling.

"Reyna?" he asked lightly, trying not to laugh; she was already mad at him and he didn't need to make it any worse.

Thunder rolled and she whimpered again, curling into a tighter ball as she watched him. Kakashi shook his head and dropped the blanket long enough to remove his vest and lay it on the bed before he lay on the floor on his stomach.

"Come on, Reyna. It's fine, it's only a little thunder," he tried, even as the next clap of thunder shook the floor under him. "It's not going to eat you, you know."

The wolf eyed him and continued to tremble in place, "Don't make me drag you out from under there."

The wolf growled lightly and bared her teeth at that comment. When she still refused to come out after several more minutes, Kakashi sighed and reached under the bed, managing to get a hold of her front leg and pulled her out, ignoring her growling and bared teeth. Now he couldn't help himself as he chuckled about how he hoped that they never ended up in a fight during a thunderstorm.

A/N: You know what you have to do now! Please review and keep the muse fed and happy! Sorry this one turned out so short, but hopefully the next one will be back to my usual length! Until next time!