A/N: WH00T! Made it up to 100K words. Also, I am trying so, SO hard to finish this story before work and classes get in the way, and I plan on posting chapters on time even if it kills me. Thanks to all who have managed to get this far with me. Please, enjoy! =)


XXIII: The Fury of an Inuzuka

Once inside the manor, Shi started forward, stopping short when Kiba stuck out a hand to halt him.

"Hold on a second, kid."

"Wha- -?" Shi pushed his arm down. "Why?"

"We need to know what we're gettin' into here. Chill out and lemme figure out where we stand."

Indoors was cool and dim, the foyer open and tiled. Ticking from a grandfather clock echoed through the openness, but nothing else disturbed the house. The staircase leading to the second floor curved around the wall to the right. From what he remembered of the blueprints and from being there before, Nakamura's office was on the third floor.

He closed his eyes and held up his fingers in concentration, the potency of scents increasing exponentially. With his glands he needed a few moments to adjust, to understand what he detected.

Small amounts of recognizable chemicals. Insects. Roach's cockroaches, and if he was correct, one was accompanying Mrs. Nakamura, and a large group had nestled where the secret laboratory entrance was located. Roach did not seem to be on the premise. Otherwise, he didn't think they'd face any resistance on their way up to and inside the office.

Kiba nudged Shi forward. "Okay. Lead the way."

Shi nodded, taking a few hesitant steps, but when Kiba shifted to follow, he picked up the pace. They bounded up the stairs, two at a time, and wound through dark hallways, whipping around the corners recklessly. All the household staff remained inconspicuous, either because they sensed something dangerous going on or because of orders from Mrs. Nakamura.

During these brief moments, Kiba attempted to make a plan, but his thoughts scattered each time he tried forming scenarios. Until it was too late, they were at the doors to Nakamura's office. Now it was a matter of playing Mrs. Nakamura's sick game.

Shi didn't hesitate. He kicked open the doors and marched in. "MOM!" he shouted. "I gotcha Inuzuka!"

The office hadn't changed much since the last time he'd been there. The windows had been replaced and in front of them, Mrs. Nakamura sat at the loveseat behind the coffee table, dressed to the nines as usual. Yukari sat farthest away from her mother on the loveseat, knees pulled up to her chin.

Immediately Shi rushed over to his sister, who looked pale and graven. Her terror coated the inside of Kiba's nostrils. He locked eyes with her red rimmed ones and nodded. The silent understanding dawned on Yukari as she unfolded herself and gathered Shi close.

"Welcome back, Inuzuka Kiba. It's good to see you again." Mrs. Nakamaru gestured him over. He approached, wanting to slam her face into the wall, but chose to shove his hand in his pocket to roll Ino's earrings with the pad of his finger. "You've been sick for a few days, haven't you?"

The silence after her question indicated she expected an answer. "Yeah. But you didn't call me over to check my health, didja?"

She chuckled. "Hm. I've always liked that you get to the point. So here it is…I told you so." When Kiba lifted his eyebrows, she said, "I said you'd marry Yukari, that it was only a matter of time. That time has come."

Okay, so she didn't know that he knew what was going on. He played dumb. "What the fuck're you talkin' about?"

"You never were one to go down without a fight." Mrs. Bitch picked up the old-fashioned fan from the coffee table and splayed it out between her hands. "You've been caught. I set the trap, you fell for it, and it has shut." To demonstrate, she snapped shut the fan. "All that's left is to complete the paperwork."

"Yer gettin' ahead of yerself." He phrased his next statement to guide Mrs. Nakamura to the issue at hand. "There's nothin' tying me to Yukari."

Mrs. Bitch threw her head back and laughed, low in her throat. Coldly. "You poor, stupid boy. Yukari's pregnant with your child. She took the pregnancy test just the other day. And furthermore, I know all about your tryst with her. She even got an examination that found genetic material that matched your DNA. So you see, there's plenty tying you to Yukari."

Kiba glared at her without saying anything. Acting as if he was resisting. Then with a resigned sigh and a show of slumping his shoulders, he crossed the room to sit in the chair facing Mrs. Nakamura. Submitting.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"It's very simple." She gestured at a packet of papers on the table with her fan. "That's the paperwork stating you are the father of Yukari's child and you are bound by 'A Right to Claim' to take responsibility for her. Unfortunately," she tapped the fan on her knee, "you're a minor at fifteen. You'll have to take the papers to your mother for her signature."

She grinned at him, a slow, nasty grin that chilled Kiba. Instantly he knew she wanted to savor what she told him next. Yukari made a sound, a kinda choked sob or whimper. He glanced at her and she had Shi in a death-grip, both of them trembled. Ah. So this is what Mrs. Bitch had been waiting for.

Kiba folded the papers and tucked them inside his jacket. "Well, is that it?"

Another low laugh. "No. It's not. See, I happen to know shinobi very well. In fact, I know shinobi well enough to understand that when a situation is at its crisis, they will decide to become a hero. Are you a hero, Kiba?"

When she gazed at him, expectantly, he shrugged. Something rustled under her crisp, pressed suit-jacket. A small lump pushed the material up at the top of her shoulder. The lump moved in a lazy pattern down her arm, hesitating every so often and then continuing.

Disgusted, Kiba realized the cockroach he'd smelt in the office was on Mrs. Nakamura. From her sleeve, the roach peeked out then scuttled up her arm to her shoulder. He tried to avoid shuddering.

"I hope for Ino's sake, and for Kai's sake, that you aren't."

She flicked a manila envelope at him. Inside were photos of Kai and Ino. Both were bound and gagged, and Ino had bruises and cuts over her face, but her icy gaze cut through straight to him, a look that said "Fuck you" if anything.

On their laps was a newspaper. The photo was close enough so that Kiba could see the headlines. Mrs. Nakamura reached under the coffee table and slapped down a thick newspaper. Today's paper. And the headlines matched the ones in the photo.

His brain calculated before he could avoid it. The newspapers were usually out by four in the morning. The photos were Polaroid's, snapped and developed instantly. Ino had been working at the hospital.

Roach could've abducted her when she got off her shift, since med-nins worked twelve hours a shift, and she would've been off at seven this morning. The flower shop didn't open until eight, leaving enough time for Shi to contact Kiba and bring him back to the manor. Plenty of time to snap the photos, kill them, and dispose of the bodies.

"I can see what you're thinking. I wouldn't kill off my leverage," Mrs. Bitch said. "She and Kai will be released when you've returned inside the hour with these papers signed. If not," she lifted her hand- -the roach had scuttled into her palm- -and stroked the shiny black exoskeleton, "I let Roach have his fun."

With a wink, she kissed the roach where she'd been stroking. Holy shit. Had he just witnessed that? Seriously? And it hadn't been a quick peck. Oh, no. This kiss was an intimate-bordering-on-passionate exchange. Stunned, he watched as the roach's antennae and legs twitched (in pleasure, maybe?), and he smelt a burst of arousal in Mrs. Nakamura's scent. She was getting off on tongue-kissing that insect!

Kiba's insides lurched. He broke out in a cold sweat, and grim determination kept him from dry heaving. He breathed, breathed, and swallowed back acid, had to ignore the discomfort. The next move would make or break him.

"I do this on one condition," he said, adding the photos to the paperwork, "I take Yukari with me."

Mrs. Bitch's features contorted. "Absolutely not. How dumb do you think I am?"

Careful, he warned himself. You got one shot at this. "I don't think yer dumb at all. And neither is my mother. Yukari'll be my proof that I've been a bad boy. Mom'll sign the papers immediately if I have Yukari there."

Her eyes narrowed as she considered. Shi and Yukari had frozen, possibly too frightened to move; Kiba listened to their shallow breathing, their rapid heartbeats. His own heart thudded against ribs. If this turned to shit, he'd have to get Yukari and Shi out of there.

But what could he do about Kai and Ino? Could he rely on the awareness of other shinobi to save them when everything had been planned and executed in the shadows?

"Very well," she answered him. Kiba masked his surprise with a nod as Mrs. Nakamura continued, "You may take Yukari with you. But at eight o'clock sharp, I give the command to kill or free them. Understand?"

"Yeah. Gotcha." There was no time to waste. "Yukari, Shi, we're going."

The three of them stood. Yukari and Shi held tight to each other, and Kiba kept an eye on Mrs. Nakamura, in case she decided to do something…murderous. She remained seated, a satisfied smile tweaking her lips.

"I'll see you at eight o'clock, Kiba-dear," she said as he shut the doors.

Before he even had a chance to turn, Yukari flung her arms around him, squeezing tightly. Her scent told him how stressed, upset, ashamed, and terrified she was, and that she'd worked up some tears.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice ripe with anguish, "I didn't know what else to do!"

She probably referred to taking advantage of him, but he couldn't think about that now. He had to get control and get outta there. Kiba loosened Yukari's grip so he could wrap an arm around her.

Shi was supposed to be calming her, where had he gone? The kid had disappeared from his sister's side, and a sudden series of crashes drew Kiba's attention to vases shattering against the wall. Yukari jumped in surprise, clutching the seams of his jacket.

"I HATE HER!" Shi screamed, heaving another vase at the wall. "I HOPE SHE DIES!"

Goddammit, now was not the time to be taking out parental hate on innocent pottery. Okay. Control the situation.

"Shi. We have to move." Yukari refused to be pried from him, so Kiba walked with her attached to him, keeping her close under his arm. "Yer comin' or you stay. It's up to you."

Without waiting for Shi's answer, Kiba hustled away from Nakamura's office. He heard another couple of vases break to pieces and the quick thudding of footsteps running down the hallway. Shi caught up as Kiba rushed down the stairs to the second floor, having already thought a couple steps ahead.

"When we get outside, you hop on Akamaru. Yukari, I'll be carrying you on my back." He and Akamaru were the fastest, and he could not afford to go at Shi's slower pace. "We'll go to my family compound. Hopefully my mom's not on a mission somewhere."

"What'll happen if she is?" Shi asked, glancing over.

"I don't know." It terrified him, so he opted to avoid thinking about it. "We hafta try the compound."

They flew out the front doors, where Akamaru had been sitting on guard. In the briefest of words, Kiba explained the dilemma as Shi climbed on board Akamaru and Kiba situated Yukari on his own back. Then they rocketed over the rooftops, feet barely touching surfaces, silence hanging like a shroud around them. Yukari's arms were tight around his neck, her breathing heavy and erratic.

Long minutes stretched into eternity until the familiar Inuzuka insignia stood out over the roofs and treetops. His emotions reacted instantaneously to the visual safety and danger his mother represented, her power to both keep safe and destroy him, and it was then he realized his nose had automatically sought out her scent. Thank God. She was home. Home. Relief swooped through him, stinging his eyes.

"Hey! There it is!" Shi said, pointing even as he bobbed dangerously on Akamaru's back. "Is she there? Can you tell?"

Kiba swallowed, half-excited, but mostly terrified, of facing Mom again. "Yeah. Just lemme do the explainin'."

Together, he and Akamaru leapt into the backyard, closest to the location of Mom's scent in the house, and he had barely set Yukari on her feet when the sliding doors to the back slammed open.

His mother, hair wild, mouth firm, shoulders straight. Their gaze connected. It felt like he hadn't seen her in years. She was a couple feet away from him, but the distance seemed further.

A cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth. Mom took a long drag and smirked. "'bout damn time you showed up, shorty-pants."

And then he was crushed by her aggressive mega-hug, smothered in kisses all over, and choked by the smell of acrid smoke and ash.

"Mom!" He laughed, definitely embarrassed and happy-bordering-on-tears when she rubbed her nose on his, "You were worried about me?"

"What kinda mom would I be if I wasn't? You know I only smoke-"

"-when yer worried or anxious," he finished in tandem with her. "Yeah, I know."

Damn, he was so happy to see her, wanted to extend this moment, but duty called. He gestured to the Nakamuras. "Mom, you remember Yukari? And this is her brother, Shi. Mom," he said, unable to stop saying her name, "we've got problems."

Mom flicked away the cigarette, serious. "I thought as much. Start explainin'."

"It's complicated. But the short of it is that she's pregnant," a nod to Yukari, "and Ino and Kai are captives. If I don't get yer signature on some documents, they both die at eight sharp."

"You've caught a shinobi, haven't you," she said to Yukari, who could not meet her eyes. "What does that Yamanaka girl and this…Kai…have anything do with it?"

"Mom"- -Oh, God, he really didn't want to go into this so abruptly, but time mattered- -"I love Ino. Yukari's mother is using her as leverage to ensure that I marry Yukari. Yukari's actually pregnant by Kai."

Her eyes narrowed and she growled. "We talkin' about the same Yamanaka princess, here? And you love her? That's a loaded word yer usin' lightly for just sex."

"It's not 'just sex'," he told her, tensing from her skepticism. "I love her. There's no other word." She paused, calculating, and Kiba grabbed her arm. "Look, we really don't have time to argue about this. Can it wait?"

Mom nodded with agreement. "Fine. This'll keep til later. Lemme see the documents."

He slipped them out of the inner-pocket and handed them over, watching as she scrutinized them. Something about her changed…no, not something, but the subtle shift in her scent blared warning bells in the back of his mind. She was gonna do something she knew he'd hate.

"Mom?" He reached out, going for the papers in her hands.

Mom acted too quickly. She shredded the sheets with judicious application of teeth and claws, the documents to save Ino's life no more than confetti littered on the grass. A strangled gasp from behind.

Shi charged her. "WHY YOU-!" But Mom sidestepped him, cuffing him in the process, and he careened into some bushes, sputtering.

Kiba was too shocked and sickened to move, wanted to scream and pound her into the dust, and to control the borderline murderous impulse, he closed his eyes as she rested her forehead against his. Her contact calmed him.

"You know as well as me," she said, softly, "that signing those papers wasn't gonna save them. That was a trap."

He'd known that. He'd known that, and yet he still had wanted to believe a simple signature would save Ino's life. Forcing down all the thoughts that urged him to do something, there wasn't time!, he opened his eyes and saw his own determination matched in his mother's eyes.

"We hafta hurry," he whispered, "and Roach's probably holed up outside the village somewhere, at least forty minutes to an hour out of range. We won't get there in time."

A part of his brain piped up- -intruders!- -and he lifted his head. Three scents had flooded his nose, two he sort of recognized, the other Inoichi.

"Master Inoichi! Tohru, Hisa!"

Shi's sudden shout drew Kiba's attention to the three shinobi, now hopping off the roof to gather with them on the yard. Shi and the other two genins greeted each other excitedly.

"Can we join the party?" Inoichi said, with a wry smile. Those knowing eyes landed on Kiba, put him on edge. "Or are we too late?"

Mom chuckled. "Right on time, per usual." Her hand squeezed Kiba's shoulder. "You up-to-date on the situation, Yamanaka?"

"I haven't seen Ino since yesterday. I assume the worst has happened, since I haven't been able to contact her telepathically. I collected my genins and came as fast as I could here, thinking you'd know more about what's going on."

"Just found out myself," Mom answered. "Kiba?"

He withdrew the two photos from his pocket and handed them to Inoichi, who took one look at them and scowled. Briefly Kiba reiterated the issue at hand- -Ino and civilian in danger, signature needed- -and glanced to check on Yukari. She had rested her hands on Shi's shoulders. Her color had not returned.

Inoichi grunted. "Hn. Early this week, Roach scouted a location, east-southeast from the village where there is a ruined farmhouse. I wondered what he'd wanted with a place so far away. Might be where he's keeping Ino and Kai."

"What do we do about the time constraint?" Kiba asked. "We're down to fifteen minutes, here, and we're not doing anything!"

"Use a transformation jutsu," Inoichi said to Kiba, "to hand Nakamura false papers since it looks like the originals are unavailable. You should be able to delay her long enough."

"We need to send word to the Hokage," Mom said. "The genins could do that and then return to guard Yukari, just in case. She'll be safe here at the compound until they return." She smirked at Inoichi, then, cracking her knuckles, "You, me'n'Kuromaru'll go for Roach."

The pace of the conversation almost went too fast. "Hey, wait a second," Kiba said. "I'm not gonna be sidetracked here while you have all the fun. Mom, take me'n'Akamaru with you!"

"Hmph. Three jounin are more than enough for scum like Roach," she told him, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry yer pretty lil' head."

He balked at her dismissal of him, her blatant referral to rank. "Inoichi can use a transformation jutsu and whatever mind-technique he has to better delay Nakamura! He's the obvious choice for the deception. The genins can handle the Hokage!"

Kiba looked to Inoichi for confirmation, but Inoichi remained neutral, his mouth a grim line. The genins shifted restlessly, and Akamaru and Kuromaru waited patiently for the argument to resolve. He was on his own.

"Don't you dare argue with me," she said, a displeasured growl low in her throat. "I'm not lettin' you anywhere near Roach. You'll delay Nakamura."

Anger flashed through him, and he couldn't stand around and let that fucker Roach get away with touching Ino. To hell with reason. Matching her feral growl, he grabbed his mother by the flak jacket and got right in her face.

Harsh words leapt out without a filter. "I'm not fucking around while the mother of my children is in danger!"

Silence. Stares. He'd revealed his heart, there was no backing down, no taking it back, and he wouldn't even if he could. He'd spoken the truth imprinted on his soul. Mom's scent had sunk with a laden emotion Kiba didn't recognize, but her face fit the picture of fury. He released her.

Turning from the disbelieving faces, swallowing hard, he said, "Akamaru, we're going. You guys do what you hafta do."

Without waiting for their assent, Kiba hopped on Akamaru, who crouched and leapt to the compound's roof in one fluid movement.

Well, Akamaru sighed as he galloped, that was certainly…interesting. The mother of your children? Was that necessary?

"Shut up. There wasn't time to let them push me around."

Akamaru snorted. You don't have to be a hero. Tsume, Kuromaru, and Inoichi could've handled Roach.

"Akamaru, I'm gonna protect Ino even if I die doing it and I ain't gonna be left outta the fight. Got it?"

His nose told him his mother and Kuromaru were trying to catch up and that the genins and Inoichi were fast moving in the opposite direction, and Yukari remained stationary. It seemed his suggestion had won after all.

Yeah, yeah, Akamaru agreed, not sounding too pleased, got it.

"OY! SON!" Mom's call slowed Akamaru's gait so that she and Kuromaru could match pace and then side-by-side they hauled ass over the roofs. As fit as ever, Mom easily kept up with Akamaru's mad dash. "Shoulda known you'd get all het up over a lover. You gotta keep yer cool, kiddo, 'cause it's just you'n'me'n'our mutts out there."

"Not true," Kiba answered, glancing over to catch his mother's eye, "Ino'll be able to fight."

She grinned at him. "Think so? Sure that Yamanaka girl won't cry over a broken nail?"

"Tch. You hear some of the crazy shit those Yamanakas can do? Ino's the craziest of 'em all."

"Shorty, you have no idea…I've seen their crazy shit. Those mind-fuckers are scary as all hell."

They laughed, and they let their encouraging banter quiet in favor of distinct focus and the millions of questions that jammed through Kiba's head. They approached Konoha's protective wall at top speed, clearing it with ease bred of training and animal grace. The surrounding country was thick with trees and the Inuzukas used the landscape to their full advantage.

Almost immediately, Kiba's fully amped nose detected Ino's scent clinging to the forest air and a faint, but distinct, point of origin dead-ahead. Roach had definitely carried her a distance that could not be covered easily in less than a half-hour.

"We're on the right track, Mom, but we're far away," he said. "I hope Inoichi's delayin' Nakamura."

She chuckled. "We'll get there on time. Have some faith in us old farts."

Faith's not the issue, he thought. Time was. Time that had been wasted negotiating with Nakamura, time that had been wasted dealing with Mom and her doubt, and the planning.

Argh, he hated plans, was a full-throttle, no-holds-barred kick-in-yer-face type of fighter. Shino was a huge advocate of planning, always admonishing Kiba for not thinking ahead and setting traps as befitting of a shinobi. Hmph. Did thinking ahead to clawing out Roach's fucking throat count?

Refusing to let his mind wander, he concentrated on Ino's scent. She and Kai were alive, at least. He discerned the chemical pinpricks of cockroaches, trails that zigzagged, were thicker and nearly transparent in some instances. They'd been crawling all over the forest and had flown some.

Opening his mouth, he let those scents into the back of his throat. There it was- -the scent that wasn't a scent. Kinda hard to describe. What his nose couldn't filter, his glands could, a taste of vaguely decayed human flesh, replete with the dull odor of chemicals…Roach's scent.

He smirked. "Gotcha, you sonavabitch."

Not long after, the forest cleared into fallow fields with an even coating of wild grass and infant trees. A large stone and wooden farmhouse stood in ruins in the middle of the open land. The farmhouse was long and was a couple of stories high, the outer walls still intact, but the roof was gone or collapsed. Ino's and Kai's distressed scents were on opposite ends from the other inside the farmhouse.

"It's a trap," Mom growled when they stopped to observe on a tree branch. "My hair's up."

His sentiments exactly.

Kiba brought his fingers up in concentration and breathed deep, cycling the air through his nose and opening the cavity in his throat, pulling scents to his glands. A small collection of cockroaches were in the rafters of the farmhouse. Roach wasn't inside the ruins but was holed up somewhere nearby.

"That fuckin' coward," he said. "He's waitin' for us to make our rescue."

"Heh, then let's not keep 'im waiting. Akaumaru, Kuromaru, check the perimeter. Son, you'n'me'll hop up there and take a peek. Nice and slow, got it?"

He nodded. "Right."

They approached quickly and shot up the farmhouse to stand on the open rafters at the very top. Another level of rafters crossed underneath them and the inner walls of the farmhouse stood crumbling but overall whole. Ino dangled in the last room to their left; Kai in the last room on their right. Each had been bundled in rope and gagged. His eyes were drawn to what crisscrossed underneath them both…white tags on lines.

"See that?" Mom pointed to a rope that extended from one end of the farmhouse to the other, lengthwise. The rope had been stretched over the open rafters. "Wanna bet that's what's keeping Ino'n'Kai tied up?"

He saw the design of it. "Ino's weight balances out Kai's, so if she uses an escape jutsu, Kai falls."

"Heh, doesn't look like Roach made it easy on us. Lookit all those exploding tags."

"Hn." The layout of the trap looked like it could be circumvented from above. "We could pull them up using the ropes, but we'll hafta manage it together."

Scritscritscrit. Kiba cocked his head, senses clanging on full alert. Scritscritscrit.

"Didja hear it too?" Mom asked.

His nose differentiated a chemical reaction, picked up two groups of roaches on the beams from which Ino and Kai dangled by their shared rope. A horrid thought occurred.

"Mom…!"

No more time.

Diving in the direction he faced, he aimed headlong for the rope the roaches chewed on, the rope, that if severed, would drop Kai into the dozens of exploding tags. There would be no surviving that.

With clarity he watched the rope unraveling, first one braid popping then another, another, heard the roaches chewing together…shitshitshitshit…can't go faster…not gonna make it…hand reached, time slowed…almost…there…


A/N: Okay, guys, leave me your thoughts, concerns and comments! Chapter 24 is on schedule to be posted Sept. 4th. I'm so excited to write the next chapter, so I know it'll be AWESOME for you! See you then! =)