The Inuzuka compound was paradise.
Happy tough but playful dogs everywhere! She was overwhelmed! There were great smelling blankets and bright toys and good food! She spun in tight circles trying to decide where to go first. Kakashi and the woman with the red lines on her face were watching her look around.
She bounded over to the group of large dogs with lines in their faces. They must be ninja dogs! Did that mean in order to be a ninja dog she needed to have lines too?
"Hello! Are you guys ninja dogs?" She asked.
They sniffed her curiously, sizing her up like that one barn dog had done when she was younger. Deciding she was Good, their tongues lolled out.
"Yes! Are you? I haven't seen you around." The large dark male barked.
"No, but I will be." She borked.
This answer was well received and the dogs welcomed her into their circle under the shade, clearing a spot of cool green grass for her. It felt wonderful under her still growing pelt.
"You have the right build. " Said a big (not as big as her) curly white female.
"Are any of your parent's ninken?" Said another.
"Ninken?" She asked. She had never heard that word before.
"The official word for ninja dogs." A helpful dusty brown terrier said. "I can tell you came from a ninken line. Most dogs aren't intelligent enough to converse like this."
"Yes actually! My father was one! And so was an ancestor of my mothers." At the thought of her mother sadness overtook her. It had been so long since she had buried her under the pine tree facing the sun. But just as quickly a bolt of excitement coursed through her veins. She was here, she was going to be a ninj- er, a Ninken!
"Say, what's your name?" Asked the curly white female. "I'm Yuki."
This gave her pause. She couldn't remember what her mother called her, as it had been so long ago. And her friend just called her buddy. She could feel all eyes on her, dog and non dog.
"Well," Said Yuki kindly, "I think you are very bright. What about Akemi?"
She liked that.
Kakashi and the woman walked over from their position at the side of the building obviously in deep thought, regarding her with a critical eye.
"She isn't one of ours, Kakashi. But she obviously has ninken parentage and Konoha is one of the only places who trains ninken. She seems to be getting along well with the others too. If she meant any ill they would have sense it by now."
They were talking about her? It must be important. It sure sounded like it.
Kakashi looked to be very thoughtful, thinking hard about something like he was in the alleyway, except not sad, just...pensive. He sized her up before asking the woman a question.
"Do you think you could take care of her Tsume?"
"Hm, maybe. But you are the one who found her."
Kakashi let out a low rumbling sound that she realized was a chuckle.
"More like she found me." He said.
He turned, the corner of his eye crinkling and he reached down and patted her head, hand resting over her scarred snout for a moment before pulling away and talking to Tsume.
"I'll take her with me. She's checked out."
"What do you plan on doing?"
"Well, she could make a decent ninken. Who knows?" And with that, he called for her to come over to his side. Saying goodbye to her new friends and promising to return, she trotted after him. They walked in a casual silence on the outskirts of Konoha, the happy vibe from the city cheering her up even more. They approached a green field with grass that tickled her belly. She followed behind Kakashi as he came to a stop in a clearing with two wooden posts in the middle of it.
He cut his thumb and she yipped in surprise. In movements too fast for her to follow he slammed his thumb onto the ground and a puff of smoke engulfed him.
She coughed and a breeze carried away the white smoke to reveals a group of Ninken! She counted eight of them in varying shapes and colors. They eyed her curiously and she broke into a cold sweat. These were real ninken. They all looked to strong and tall. Could Kakashi make her like that
"Hey Kakashi, whose Goldilocks?" Said the smallest a pug.
He was talking about her?
"This is um, This is..." Kakashi trailed off, not knowing her name.
...
He responded to the Pug!?
"You can talk to humans!?" She yelped in surprise. She had heard that some dogs could but it still came as a huge surprise to her.
"Sure can, now what's your name?"
"Um," She said, wracking her brain for what Yuki had said earlier "Akemi. I'm Akemi."
"Fitting. I'm Pakkun" He snorted, they relayed the information to Kakashi. Kakashi then did the thing with his eye that made her think of smiling and her tongue lolled out in response.
"Well Akemi, I think I should introduce you to my pack then."
"We can do it ourselves." Pakkun barked. She sucked her tongue back in when she felt the gaze of his pack. Realizing she wasn't a threat they had sat down and waited patiently for Kakashi to explain. She wagged her tail of them looked so big and powerful.
"Bull." Said a huge dog, so big that one of the others rested on his head. He was even bigger than her!
"Urushi." Said a medium sized dog.
"Shiba." Said a smaller gray dog.
"Bisuke." A smaller dog with black rings around his eyes.
"Ūhei." A dog with auburn fur and a tiny bit bigger than Urushi.
"Guruko." A small peach colored dog with long dark ears.
All of them were interesting and unique, but her eyes were drawn to the last and final dog. Her attention seemed to gravitate to him for some unknown reason. He reminded her of something, maybe the Inuzuka dogs? A huge snout with sunglasses of all things covering his eyes, also the second largest of the group being about the same size as her. A tan sunny pelt caught her attention.
"I'm Akino." He said as way of greeting. "Pleasure to meet you."
She barked at him in greeting, her mind churning with a thousand questions. She inhaled and was startled to faintly recognize his smell. He did the same.
She circled him and his eyes followed her cautious gait. Where had she sented that before? Her earliest memories played across her mind, memories of milk, of long lost siblings, long lost siblings with...soft tan fur and long snouts.
He realized it as the same time as her.
"Father!?"