When Kiba hears the front door open, he all but drops the broom he's using to sweep the kitchen and runs for the front of the house. His mom has been gone on a mission for just over two weeks now. There are days when she's around, sniping at him to put his dishes in the sink, not to snoop in Hana's room, where he wishes she'd go away for a few weeks. When she does, though? Kiba starts to miss her like crazy. Skittering to a stop in front of the door, Kiba goes still.

His mom looks bad; she is pale and her thigh is wrapped in heavy-duty bandages. That Kakashi guy Kiba waves at when he sees him around the village has Mom's arm slung around his shoulders and he's holding her upright. He grimaces when Kiba stops in front of them. "Mom?" croaks Kiba.

Mom's exhausted head snaps up. "Kiba!" she exclaims. She smiles at him and reaches out to pat his cheek with her free hand. Kakashi's jaw clenches as he also has to lean towards Kiba to keep his mom upright. "Oh, I missed you, baby," she coos.

"Why aren't you at school?" Kakashi hisses while struggling to reign his mom back in.

He scowls. Who does Kakashi think he is to ask questions like that? Hana might say he's their cousin but Kiba isn't so sure. Kakashi doesn't ever go out of his way to talk to Kiba when they see one another around Konoha. Hell, most of the time he doesn't wave at Kiba until Kiba's waved at him first. "You're not my mom, asshole," he snaps.

"Kiba!" hollers Nan from behind.

Kiba jumps at her chastiment. Spinning around, he darts to Nan. Kiba grabs her elbow and attempts to persuade her to lean her weight on him. "Nan," he says. "You shouldn't be up!" She hasn't been feeling well since yesterday. After dinner last night, she'd nearly fainted while gathering the dishes from their meal.

He and Hana agreed he would stay home today to keep an eye on Nan. Hana had survival training with her team that she couldn't miss. They'd never even considered talking to any of Nan's kids. Her two sons are chauvinist assholes who see taking care of sick family as beneath them. Her daughter (his and Hana's grandma) is not on speaking terms with Nan. She has hated Nan since she took in Mom and them instead of forcing her to make up with Dad.

"Hush, Kiba," Nan scolds. "I'm fine."

He frowns but doesn't contradict her. Keeping a hold on Nan, he walks to the front door with her. When they're in front of Mom and Kakashi, Kakashi straightens out of his slouch. "Ma'am," he murmurs to Kiba's nan, a tightness around his eyes that hints at pain. Kiba wonders if it's physical or mental right now.

Nan nods at the man. "Kakashi," she replies. "Thank you for bringing home my granddaughter."

Kakashi ducks his head and runs a hand through his greasy, messy hair. "Uh, yeah," he mutters. "They weren't happy to let her go at the hospital but," he says, looking away from Nan and Kiba.

The old woman sighs. "Yes, I know. Tsume is stubborn," she grumbles. She turns her head and looks Kiba in the eyes. There is a sharpness to her gaze as she orders, "Kiba, help Kakashi take your mom to her room."

"Nan," he protests.

She pulls her arm from his grip. "Now," she insists. She then pins Kakashi with a glare. "And you."

Kakashi's Adam's apple bobs. "Yes?"

The old woman wags a finger at Kakashi and warns him, "I'll send our best trackers after you if you leave without allowing me to look you over."

"I'm fine," insists Kakashi with furrowed brows.

Mom snickers into his shoulder like she thinks he's hilarious. Kiba finds himself lifting his brows and looking from him to his even more nonplussed Nan. The old woman crosses her arms over her chest. "Then it will be a quick check-up, won't it?" she shoots back.

Kakashi glowers.

Kiba, growing anxious as their staring contest drags on, goes and tucks himself against his mom's free side. "Let's put Mom to bed," he says to Kakashi.

"Fine," grunts the man with clear unhappiness. To Nan, he says, "I won't run."

"Good," replies Nan. She turns away from them. "I will get the first-aid kit. Kiba, bring him to the living room after you put your mom safely to bed."

Slowly, Kiba begins to guide his mom and Kakashi towards Mom's room. "Yes, Nan," he answers.

The walk to Mom's room is plodding and it's not just because of Mom. For the most part, she is moving all right. A little slower and with an obvious limp but whatever medicine she's on and the blood loss hasn't appeared to make her nauseous or unbalanced — Which Kiba is really glad for. He doesn't want to leave Kakashi and Nan alone to mop up puke. Nan isn't doing too hot herself today and depending on what's up with Kakashi, he could easily pass out on the old woman or something.

Kiba peaks around his mom to look at Kakashi. His stare is fixed ahead and there's sweat on his brow. He hopes the man isn't currently poisoned or something. Neither he nor Nan are in any way capable of dealing with that. After what feels like forever, Kiba and Kakashi reach Mom's room. The man opens the door for them and they maneuver Mom inside and lower her onto her futon.

As Kiba covers her with her blankets, Mom pats his cheek. "Thank you," she murmurs with a hazy smile. "You're such good boys…"

Kakashi, who has been busy placing Mom's prescriptions next to her futon, scoffs. "Kiba is the only boy," he grumbles. "I'm twenty-four."

"Twenty-four?" Mom croaks. She shakes her head and laughs. "Fuck, where do the years go," she says. Reaching over, she grabs Kakashis' wrist and squeezes it. "'Member the last time you brought me home? With Minato? Hana bawled all over you."

The man's eye shutters. "Yeah," he whispers. Kakashi pats her hand before gently prying it off his wrist. "Sleep well, Tsume. I hope you recover quickly."

"Mph," Mom grunts as she lets her eyes flutter shut.

Stiffly, Kakashi pushes himself to his feet. He then gestures for Kiba to do the same. "Come on," he says.

Nodding, Kiba follows Kakashi out of his mom's room and into the hall. After he shuts the door behind him, he asks, "What happened?"

"I can't say," answers Kakashi as he hobbles down the hallway and towards the front of the house.

Kiba scowls and brushes past the man to take the lead. Once in front of Kakashi, he turns around. "I'm not asking about your stupid mission, I'm asking about my mom," he snaps as he deftly turns the corner while walking backward.

Kakashi sighs. "She got hurt," he replies.

He rolls his eyes at the man. "No shit."

"Kiba!" yells Nan.

He jumps and spins around. She stands just outside the living room, first-aid kit in hand. Kiba cringes and happily lets Kakashi pass him. From safely behind the lean man, Kiba sulks, "What? I just wanna know if Mom's going to be okay."

The old woman purses her thin, wide mouth. "She will be," Nan replies. "Now, go start a kettle for tea."

Kakashi stiffens only to suck in a breath. Curling in on himself, he starts to protest, "That's not necessary—"

"I insist," Nan cuts in. She turns a pointed look at Kiba. "Go, Kiba."

He throws up his hands, annoyed to be stopped mid-interrogation of the man. "Fine!" he huffs as he twirls around and stomps off to the kitchen.

"Why's he not at school?" he hears Kakashi demand to know once he's out of the room.

Nan sighs exasperatedly. "I'm under the weather and my damn kids…"

Kiba can't hear them anymore once he's in the kitchen. Putting the kettle on the stove, he prepares a pot for tea and gathers together three mugs. He also has time to finish sweeping the room and put away the broom he failed to earlier. By then, the kettle is shrieking and he can move the hot water from it to the teapot. Putting the teapot and mugs on a tray, he heads back out to his nan and Kakashi.

"Nan," he announces as he walks into the room, "I have tea." She is busy closing up his family's first-aid kit while Kakashi slides his dirty, stained shirt on over stretchy bandages.

"Thank you, Kiba," Nan says as she stands up. "If you two will excuse me."

Once she's gone from the room, Kiba puts the tray of tea down on the zen table and begins to pour mugs for all of them. As he passes one of the mugs to Kakashi, he asks, "Are your ribs broken?"

"No," replies the man as he wraps his gloved hands around his mug. "Your Nan just thinks they're cracked."

Kiba furrows his brows. He doesn't know why Kakashi calls her that. Nan isn't just his Nan. She proved that by how she bullied Kakashi into letting her help him. She doesn't act that way for anyone but family and clan. "You mean our nan," he corrects.

Kakashi shrugs. "If you say so," he replies. There's then an awkward little pause where Kiba frowns and draws his own mug of tea to him. He wishes he'd brought out some rice crackers to snack on or something. Kakashi must find it a little awkward too as he clears his throat. "I hear you're home to help out your— to help."

"Yeah," agrees Kiba. He stares into the green liquid of his steaming tea and explains, "Hana couldn't stay 'cause she had a training trip with her team."

The man nods. "Mh. When will she be back?"

"A couple of days," answers Kiba a little despondent. It's a lot of time to be in charge of the house. Rarely has he held such a responsibility before.

Kakashi's brow draws low. He also seems worried. "I see," he answers.

The tea in Kiba's mug jumps to the rim as he jolts with an idea. "You should come to check on Mom and Nan tomorrow," he suggests. "That way, I can go back to school."

"I don't know," replies Kakashi almost instantly, eye widening.

Kiba pouts at him. He's put out by his immediate negative reaction. He thinks his idea is a pretty good one. "There's no way you'll be put on another mission so soon after getting back!" he argues.

Kakashi grimaces.

Still pouting, Kiba adds crossed arms to the mix. "Don't be lame like the rest of our family," he grumbles.

The man huffs, something between amused and derisive. "I wouldn't call us family to begin with," he says.

He frowns, feeling a little embarrassed and unsure. "Hana says you're like our cousin," he tells the man. "She doesn't usually lie to me about stuff."

Important things, anyway. When he was seven, she told him he was color-blind and that everything blue he saw was green and everything green was blue. He'd looked pretty stupid at the Academy when he called the sky green. When he learned the truth and told on her to Mom, Mom had laughed and told Hana she was hilarious. Nan ended up being the one who scolded Hana and said she couldn't do anything like that again.

"That was more my teacher," Kakashi says with a wistful kind of sigh. "He and your mom were very close. I was just kinda… Along for the ride, you could say," he explains.

Kiba cocks his head. "Then what are you to us?"

"He is an old family friend, Kiba," Nan says as she re-enters the room. As Kiba turns his head to look at her, out of the corners of his eyes he sees Kakashi flinch. He wonders if the guy is suffering from more than broken ribs if Nan caught him off guard. She's not exactly been quiet coming down the hall.

Sitting down on the couch, she groans. Kiba offers her the last mug of tea hurriedly. Looking her over, he takes in the high flush on her cheeks and asks, "Did you overdo it Nan?"

She takes a short pull from her mug of tea. "Maybe," she answers. Nan then looks at Kakashi. "I would appreciate it if you stuck around long enough for my grandson to see me to my room. If I fall you would be able to bring help much quicker."

Kakashi dips his head. "Of course, Ma'am," he agrees.

Nan rolls her eyes at Kakashi. "I've known you since you were chest-height and you're still so polite with me," she teases. "You could at least call me by my name by now."

"I…"

The old woman laughs at Kakashi's hesitancy. Taking another sip of her tea, she settles back into the room's firm, high-back couch. "Again, thank you, for bringing home my granddaughter. You should come by for a meal sometime soon as repayment."

"I couldn't leave Sensei's best friend to find her own way home," Kakashi demures. "Especially not in the state she was in."

Nan sucks her teeth. "At least let me have Hana drop off food at your apartment then," she pushes. Nan glances at Kiba. "Or perhaps Kiba could?"

Kakashi droops, apparently giving in to Nan's pushing. Which Kiba finds pretty smart of him. Nan isn't somebody to let this kind of thing go. When people do her (or them) a huge favor she will find a way to repay them. "Hana knows where I'm living at the moment," Kakashi admits. "Her teacher lives on the same floor as me."

"What a pleasant coincidence," remarks Nan with a small smirk.

The man rolls his eyes. "That's one way to look at it," he mutters.

Nan's smile fades and she taps fretfully at her cheek. "I hope she doesn't bother you too often," she says, already halfway apologizing for Hana being a busybody.

"No," assures Kakashi, eye curving. "She has only knocked a few times. Usually, she just wants to give me something. Once, she invited me to lunch. You know, her manners must come from you. Tsume used to barge into Sensei's place when she felt like it."

Nan laughs. "She was a wild young thing, wasn't she?" the old woman muses. "I can't take all the credit for the children. I only advised she take a firmer hand with them than she was raised with."

Kakashi looks at Kiba. "It seems to be working well. She has two very good kids."

"Tsume does, doesn't she?" agrees Nan, also looking at Kiba now.

He blushes, uncomfortable under their stares. Squirming, Kiba desperately tries to think of a way to get the attention off him. It doesn't take long for an idea to come. He decides with Nan here, now is the time to pressure Kakashi to visit her and Mom tomorrow. "Kakashi is gonna come to check on you and Mom tomorrow so I can go to school," he declares.

Nan raises her eyebrows. "Is he?"

"Yeah," asserts Kiba as he glares the weary-looking man down.

"Yes, I will," relents Kakashi with a tired droop of his head.

Nan looks the man over before she nods. "Thank you," she replies kindly. "I do hate to make Kiba miss school."

"You're welcome," returns Kakashi. He pats his thighs. "It's time I go home, I think."

Kiba frowns. "You're tea—" he starts only to glance at his mug and find it empty. He gapes at the man. "When did you finish that!"

Kakashi and Nan look at one another and share a small chuckle. Kiba doesn't understand at all and begins to pout, annoyed. He didn't even think he was being that unobservant!

"Will you help my grandson take me to my room?" inquires Nan as she reaches over to pat Kiba on the head.

"Of course," agrees Kakashi as he slowly rises to his feet.

Kiba goes to help his nan to do the same. "C'mon Nan, let's go," he encourages once both he and Kakashi have an arm around her waist. Together, they walk to Nan's bedroom and Kiba helps her to settle on top of her unmade bed.

The tired old woman grabs their hands and squeezes their fingers. "Thank you, the both of you," she says.

"Rest well," murmurs Kakashi.

Nan's eyes droop. "You too, Kakashi," she mumbles as she leans back in her bed. Nan then waves at Kiba. "See him out, Kiba."

"Okay."

Silently, Kiba gestures for Kakashi to follow him. It's a little slow going since Kakashi is practically shuffling now, but they make it to the front door. Once there, Kiba opens it and looks up at the man. He stares back at Kiba, watchful. "Bye," says Kiba. He bows a little. "Thanks for your help."

Kakashi winces but reaches out and ruffles his hair. "You're welcome," he replies. Stepping outside, he turns around a second to curve his lone eye at Kiba. "See you around, I guess," he says.

Kiba smiles. "Yeah," he agrees as he shuts the door.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!