Disclaimer I didn't create Naruto, the legend that is Masashi Kishimoto did. Owned by Shonen Jump, Manga and probably a bunch of other people!

A/N This is set the day after TV episode 135 / Manga chapter 235.

From The Fall

He was falling down the cliff face, wind rushing in his ears and stinging his face like needles. His faithful companion, the ninja puppy Akamaru, was nowhere in sight as the speed of his descent pricked tears from his eyes. Their trump card, the beast morph, was spent, and it seemed it had fatally backfired on them. Just as he had feared, they were out of chakra and had no comrades nearby to help them.

Then the demonic freak Sakon was in front of him, his fist like a rock zooming towards him. A sudden flash of white fur and Akamaru was lying face down in the dirt, his body still. He took the blow for me.

Akamaru's head turned around at an obscene angle, and he growled accusingly. "You did this to me. This is your fault."

Inuzuka Kiba was propped up with a mountain of pillows on his hospital bed, his heavy lidded eyes fixed on the sunlight seeping across the floor. He was stuck in that semi-conscious state between sleep and wakefulness, where dreams are so vivid it becomes hard to discern if they are real or not. The sky had been dotted with stars when he began replaying yesterdays mission, but the room was tinted red with dawn as he became trapped in that one moment, skipping over and over it like a stuck record.

The freak charged, the sudden flash of white, and Akamaru's body still on the ground, his last breath rasping out. He took the blow for me. The white flash, the body lying in a pool of blood. He took the blow for me.

Akamaru yapped, the noise slapping Kiba fully awake, those words still echoing through his mind. He shook his head to clear it and took in how the sunlight had stretched across the floor and half way up the wall since he had last been aware of it. The patchwork of bandages felt glued to his body with sweat, his hair sticking to his scalp.

Akamaru looked up at him and whined. Kiba translated that he had been making noises in his sleep and Akamaru was worried about him.

Thank god you're alive, he thought. I was beginning to think you'd never wake up.

"Yip!"

"What, you want some water? No problem," Kiba said brightly.

He shifted to the edge of the bed and gasped as pain stabbed through his side again. He clasped his hand over it and laid his head back on the headrest, gasping. The pain felt as sharp as though he was stabbed all over again, only now he did not have the adrenaline of the moment to veil its severity. He knew all he had to do was press a button to get a nurse to bring him painkillers, but he didn't want to. He hated being so useless.

Dammit, this is nothing compared to what he's going through, Kiba thought angrily, watching Akamaru's shaking body. What kind of partner am I? I get him all banged up, and now I can't even look after him!

"Hi."

Kibas head darted up to see Shikamaru leaning in the doorway, arms crossed as he smirked at him. Kiba had no idea how long he had been there; he had not even smelt him coming. He noted there was a splint on one of Shikamaru's fingers, but apart from a few scrapes he looked fine. Except that there were two of him, though Kiba put that down to his own blood loss rather than any merging abilities like Sakon and Ukon had. A nurse had said the dizziness would go soon.

He promptly burried his pain and put a feral grin on his face. "Hey. Looks like you got off lightly compared to the rest of us! How did you break your finger?"

Shikamaru heaved a sigh like Kiba had asked him to explain the scientific details behind how grass grows. "It's too troublesome to explain it now, I'll only have to go over it again with the Hokage."

Akamaru whined again, prompting Kiba to ask, "can you give Akamaru some water?" He added with a smile, "or would that be too troublesome as well?"

"I think I can just about handle that." Shikamaru knelt down to Akamaru's bed. He picked up the cracked water bowl and inspected it before putting it under Akamaru's nose.

"Did you do this?"

"Yeah," Kiba smiled.

The bowl had bones chiselled into it, a large one framing Akamaru's name. "I did it years ago to avoid my homework. Sis caught us, so we had to pretend it was part of a project for the academy! It's been Akamaru's favourite ever since, though it's getting a bit small for him now."

Akamaru's small tongue flashed out into the water, sending little ripples over the surface. Shikamaru petted his head lightly with his injured hand, eyes softening slightly, though that could have been Kiba's imagination.

Yeah, the blood loss must be making me hallucinate as well. All he ever does is gripe about everything. Every molehill is a mountain for this guy, he thought.

"You made this while we were still in the academy, huh? That explains why it's so crude."

"Crude?" Kiba fumed, balling his hands into fists. "That's a piece of art you're holding there! Right Akamaru?"

Akamaru gave a weak yip in response.

"Fine. I guess I really don't know anything about art, then," Shikamaru droned, looking away as though thinking of another conversation altogether.

"Damn straight!" Kiba declared, deciding to ignore the hint of sarcasm.

"So, how did you get wounded?" Shikamaru changed the subject, though he peered up at him with a serious expression. "Was it from the fall? I didn't see any weapons on that guy that would cause this kind of damage."

Kiba looked away and ruffled the back of his hair, cheeks hot. "No. I… umm… stabbed myself."

Shikamaru jolted the water bowl, prompting a growl from Akamaru as his nose was splashed. Shikamaru dried it off distractedly. "You… did what?"

"It's not like I had a choice!" He riled, and explained what happened with a hint of pride in his voice, though his skin itched just thinking about how that monster had invaded his body.

"Couldn't you have done something painful to drive him out that didn't risk killing yourself?" Shikamaru asked.

That… never occurred to me.

"It wouldn't have been enough," Kiba said defensively. "Besides, I'm still alive, aren't I? Anyway, I've told you my story, it's your turn! Spill it! How did you break your finger?"

Shikamaru looked away and drummed the fingers of his free hand on his leg. "I actually broke it myself."

"What!?" Kiba exclaimed, jolting forward as his eyes bugged. "And you were giving me a hard time when you injured yourself, too?"

"A broken finger is a bit less extreme than stabbing yourself in the gut," he replied dismissively. "But whatever."

"What do you mean, whatever? Why did you do it? For kicks?"

"Yeah, it was so much fun, just what I like to do in my spare time," Shikamaru drawled sarcastically. "And I was wondering what went wrong. Next time, I'll just tell everyone not to injure themselves in the mission briefing."

Kibas wound protested against the sudden movement and he lay back again, eyes closed as the waves of pain washed through him and dispersed.

"Hey, I get it," he said, visibly brightening. "You're embarrassed, aren't you? That's why you didn't want to say!"

A smile spread across Shikamaru's lips. "I guess we're both a bit masochistic, huh?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should work on that," he said. He threw back his head and laughed, and after a moment Shikamaru joined in.

"So, two out of five of our squads injuries were self inflicted." Shikamaru put a hand to his head with an offbeat smile. "Heh. Great first chunin mission, huh?"

"Two out of six, you mean," Kiba corrected automatically.

"Yip!" Akamaru agreed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Shikamaru put down the water bowl and searched in his pockets. "Here, maybe these will make up for it," he said, proffering a hand full of dog biscuits.

Akamaru yipped happily, easily mollified, and gobbled them down greedily.

Shikamaru nodded to the table beside the door, where he had deposited a fruit basket. "That's all you're allowed, apparently."

"Oh. Thanks," Kiba said without enthusiasm. "Still, I don't know how they expect this wound to heal by starving me! It's not just Akamaru, I need meat, too!"

Akamaru barked, and it sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"Well, I guess they know what they're doing. Choji's pretty happy apparently. They won't let me see him yet, but he's allowed all he can eat for a while."

"Great," Kiba sulked.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Shikamaru stood and stretched his arms before collecting the fruit basket and sitting on the end of the bed. "My Mum put this together for you, by the way. It wasn't me."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," Kiba gave a wolfish grin, before taking a bite of a red apple. "Hey! I don't care where it came from. For fruit, this is pretty good!"

Shikamaru picked out an apple and tossed it between his hands, frowning at the ground.

"So how is everyone?" Kiba asked.

"Okay. I just went to see Naruto."

Kiba sat up straight. "No one told me he was back. Is he alright?"

Shikamaru continued throwing his apple from hand to hand. "Physically, yeah, he's a fast healer. But let's just say his injuries… aren't self inflicted."

"Was it bad? Who…?"

"Sasuke." Shikamaru paused. He stood up and walked to the window, still fiddling with his apple. His back was rigid, despite the bright sunlight falling on him. "He's okay, but… it looks like they seriously went at it. Naruto has more bandages than you and Akamaru put together."

That guy out does me, even when it comes to injuries! Kiba looked down at himself. His arms, torso, and even most of his face were bandaged. He wondered how Naruto could to be more bandaged without cutting off his air supply.

Poor guy. I could never do that to a teammate, no matter what. He glanced at Akamaru, who had all four legs heavily bandaged. His head rested between his paws, eyes rolled up dolefully to watch them talk. Though I suppose I did, really, just indirectly.

"It's not a competition, you know." Shikamaru caught the apple firmly. "You both fought well."

Yeah, right, you didn't even see us fight. Kiba looked down at the plain duvet, smoothing it with his hands. His eyes caught on his bandaged hand where Akamaru had bitten him. Akamaru did all the hard work. Not me.

"He… beat up his own team mate," Kiba clarified slowly, identifying which line of conversation he was willing to follow.

"Yeah. The only people I've seen do that turned out to be Orochimaru's lackeys."

Kiba sniggered distastefully. "Looks like Sasuke went to the right place, then. I don't really know him, but I never thought anyone from our class would follow that freak, or hurt one of us that badly."

Shikamaru smiled and finally took a bite of his apple, though Kiba thought it was probably too bruised by now to taste good. Kiba had already moved on to a batch of grapes. What was a hospital stay without them?

"You remember the promise he made at the gate?" Shikamaru said, watching Kiba out of the corner of his eye. He added with a smile. "He's still determined to keep it."

That guy! How does he do it? Kiba thought incredulously. Nothing ever keeps him down; he just bounces back from everything. And here I am, lying here feeling sorry for myself.

Kiba punched a fist into his hand. "Well, I hope he does keep that promise! Then when Sasuke comes back I can beat the crap out of him for what he did!"

"Heh," Shikamaru smirked. "Well, I still have to visit the others. Try not to jump out of the window and run around for a while, okay?"

Hey, that's not a bad idea!

"No way! That's something Naruto would do!"

"Alright. Because I don't mind lying down and shadow possessing you to make you stay still, you know. In fact, your sister suggested it. She seems like a troublesome woman, so I thought you could use some male company for a while."

He said earlier his mum made him come…

"Hah! You're just looking for excuses to bunk off!" Kiba laughed. "And I can handle her, no problems. Anyway, thanks for stopping by."

Shikamaru paused in the door. "Listen… I'm sorry, okay? This won't happen again."

"What? What for?" Kiba asked, stumbling over words in his confusion. "What won't…?"

But Shikamaru just raised his splinted hand in the air in a lazy wave, shoved his hands in his pockets and turned down the hallway.

"It wasn't your fault!" He called after him, though was not sure if he heard as the steps retreated.

Looks like I'm not the only one blaming myself, he realized.

"Let's get some rest, Akamaru," Kiba said gently. It was the last thing he felt like doing, but he knew Akamaru needed it and wouldn't sleep unless Kiba at least pretended to as well.

Akamaru whined and scurried to the edge of his cot. "Stop that! You're not supposed to move yet!"

Akamaru barked. "Neither are you."

"Yeah, I know. So, you want to come up here, huh? It's probably more comfortable than that cot."

"Yip!"

Kiba took a deep breath and slid to the edge of the bed.

Akamaru growled.

"It's not far! I can't call Sis in, just for…"

Akamaru growled again, the same glint in his eye as before he had bitten him. Kiba gave up and pressed the button he had been told to use if he needed anything. "Just pretend you're thirsty or something," Kiba muttered out of the side of his mouth.

His sister ran through the door, alarm on her face.

"I think… Akamaru is thirsty," he said lamely.

Akamaru barely licked at the water, then barked to say he was done.

"Anything else?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Can you put him up here?"

"Alright," Kiba's sister said, lifting Akamaru gently. "Just be careful not to lie on his wound, Akamaru."

Akamaru barked in confirmation.

"Don't get too used to the room service, Kiba. I'm going to make you wait on me when you're better," she threatened as she left.

"Hah! Like we're gonna do that, huh Akamaru?" He declared when she was safely out of earshot.

Akamaru yipped and curled happily on Kiba's lap. Kiba stroked his head with his bandaged hand and waited for him to fall asleep. He knew he could not rest himself.

"Maybe it's time for me to make a promise of a lifetime," he said quietly. "Maybe I'm not like Sasuke, I could never injure a teammate like that. But I could do better. I could be better. So here it is; I promise I'll never let that happen to you again, Akamaru. I'll train harder, stop goofing off so much and get stronger. Then, I'll be a better partner to you. I'll protect you, I promise."

Akamaru gave a little whine in his sleep.

"No way I'm gonna do that dumb nice guy pose, though."

He finally drifted into a deep sleep, completely unaware as the room became dark and his sister crept in and pulled the curtains on the fading sunlight. He dreamt of memories again, only this time from long ago. Akamaru was jumping beside the pond in the Inuzuka garden, chasing dragonflies as they flashed past him in an array of dazzling colours. He pounced after one, and Kiba instantly dropped both the kunai knife and the bowl he was carving. He leapt from the other side of the pond and grabbed him before he fell into the deep water. But, instead of berating Akamaru for his clumsiness, he ruffled the spiky fur on the back of his head and congratulated him on the near catch.

A/N This is a companion to "From Yesterday." If you liked this one, you'll love that one so check it out! But before that, drop me a review! I love hearing what people think.