Chapter 12: Fang vs Talon

Kiba's breath was slow: in....out, in....

...

...wait for it...

...out. Meditation was so boring! His mind wandered to the move he'd been learning from Hiru.

---

"Tonight you should teach us your fighting style!" Naruto declared.

"I don't know, it's dangerous if you don't get it right."

"Do you think that changes our minds at all?" Shino commented.

Hiru was taken aback.

"Well, okay. The jutsu comes in levels, but I'll just teach you the first one."

"Fair enough."

"Okay, here's the concept: suppose your body releases 10 points of chakra every second. In two seconds, you get 20 points to work with. Normally, if you only use 9 points of chakra one second, you're still limited to 10 the next second. But with this technique, you can get your chakra lines to store the extra point of chakra and produce 11 units on the second second."

Naruto almost looked like he understood. "Right, the second second."

Hiru sighed. "It's like your chakra is water coming out of a hose. If you pinch the hose and get no water at all one second, when you release it the next second twice as much water as usual will shoot out the hose."

"Oh!"

"That sounds nice," Shino commented, "But you're right, it also sounds dangerous. Chakra lines aren't meant to work that way."

"They're surprisingly okay with it, if you train them over a long period of time. If you do damage them they're guaranteed to heal over time."

"This is good," Kiba said out of nowhere. "I like it, I'm gonna learn this."

"Well duh," Naruto shot back, grinning. Shino gave him a look that said the same.

---

Still meditating, Kiba also remembered sneaking in to see Akamaru again.

"Eat it."

Somehow, Akamaru got the message. The dog licked the tiny pill into his mouth and shuddered.

"Come on!"

gulp...bleah!

"Yeah, I know it tasted bad. Good boy! I'll see you later!"

---

Suddenly Kiba caught a strange scent.

Who could it be?

For a few moments, he meditated on it, trying to remember...

"Idiot!"

"Woah, it's that girl!" His eyes shot open.

Whack.

"Focus on your meditation, boy!"

"Sorry grandpa, I need to be done for the day!"

The old geezer looked down at him with a withering glare. "Care to ask that again?"

The teen flinched, but didn't back down. "I've meditated enough, and I just caught the scent of a cute girl I met the other day."

The man was actually stunned for half a second. Stroking his white beard, he looked thoughtful. "Well, that may be a better reason than I expected..."

"Thanks. I'll just be-"

"But! It's no excuse to neglect your training! Need I remind you that you've skipped your meditation every day this week!? If you were planning to go on a date, you should have thought about the consequences!"

"But this is boring, and you only teach me really old jutsus. Hiru-sensei teaches me stuff that was invented this decade."

Oops.

"Hiru...sensei?" His grandfather's eyebrow arches until it looked painful. "Just who might that be?"

"A...traveling peddler...jutsu peddler..." Kiba mumbled, looking off to the side.

"I only know one man named 'Hiru,' and I sincerely hope your 'Hiru' isn't even a distant relative of that person. You certainly won't be seeing him again either way."

"Now hold on!" Kiba started, then remembered the scroll in his room. Maybe that's why Hiru has such a secret way of meeting us, he wondered.

"Oh well, doesn't matter," he said to the old man. "I've learned better stuff the past few nights than what you've taught me since I was a baby."

"Don't you dare speak poorly about the Inuzuka clan's core jutsu!" the old man tried to roar. At his age, it came out less impressive than he meant.

Kiba's eyes widened. "No, wait, you don't have to-"

"Since long before you were born, our clan has honed these skills. Not just because they were 'useful' or 'powerful,' but because they were necessary. Our sole purpose was to speed communication between leaders and shinobi units, and to survive we had to make sure that our lines were better than those of the Sakazaki clan.

He started. If I'm not careful, it could be hours before he's finished. Why is Grandpa so wound up against a clan that doesn't even exist anymore.

The old man looked him in the eye. "I know exactly what you're thinking. 'Why do I have to learn how to fight against enemies we've already defeated?' hm?"

"Well, honestly yeah."

"You don't understand, boy! Those accursed bird users never gave us an inch unless we fought for it. Your great-grandfather died fighting them, as did his father and grandfather. Everywhere Senju went, we followed, and found that Uchiha and Sakazaki were already lined up against us all over again. Those were dark times, and out of them came these techniques I've been teaching you! They were invented by the blood of your ancestors!"

"That's great, you know!" Kiba raised his voice. "So my ancestors spent their time fighting some other clan. I still don't owe them my life or anything. I think you're just mad that you didn't get to avenge your dad."

The old man's face darkened for a moment. Then he actually smiled, albeit grimly. "You bet I'm mad!" Kiba honestly couldn't tell if his voice was bitter or gleeful. "I was all ready to fight against the Sakazaki clan, trained myself numb unlike yourself. Then word reached us that the Sakazaki clan was no more. Got done in by their own Uchiha allies." his gaze wandered as he remembered. "They say it only took three hours for every Sakazaki man, woman, and child to fall against those eyes."

Kiba frowned outwardly, but smirked inwardly. Well, it worked. Looks like this trip down memory lane only took five minutes. Next time I'll try to make it three.

Slowly, he got to his feet and brushed himself off. "The Sakazaki clan used mostly genjutsu, right?" He started to back away.

His grandfather snapped back to reality. "What? Oh, yes they did. Deadly against us, worthless against Uchiha of course." Then his gaze started to wander again and Kiba took a deep breath.

"I heard a falcon's cry a few nights back," the old man said suddenly, looking at him. "Woke me up right away. I was halfway into my shinobi fatigues when your grandmother stopped me. Times sure have changed."

"Yeah," Kiba muttered, and started the jutsu. He stood up straight and locked his knees, balancing himself until it required very little effort to stay standing. Then he quickened his breathing and slowed his chakra, and felt that wave of dizzyness he just couldn't get rid of yet.

"Oi, what're you doing? Your chakra's acting mighty strange my boy. Then Kiba jumped. Several seconds later he landed a decent distance away. He immediately picked up the girl's scent again and started to follow it.


Kiba passed through the gates to Konoha and kept going. The two guards had no orders regarding him, after all. After a while he began to suspect he knew where the trail led. This was quickly confirmed when he recognized the clearing he'd been visiting at night.

He smacked his forehead. "Oh shoot! Maybe I just got her mixed up with Hiru-sensei. They do smell alike."

A twig snapped nearby, and he whirled to face it.

Nix that, she's here. Hiru would just come out and say hi.

Kiba walked nonchalantly to one of the large trees. His nose sifted furiously through the crisscrossing scents all over the clearing. He turned and leaned against the tree, then breathed deeply.

A second later he shot away from the tree, straight at where the sound had been before. Just as he'd guessed, the girl had frozen after making it. Catching her completely off-guard, he snagged both her wrists and thrust her back against a tree, pinning her arms above her head.

The girl stared up at him for a second, and he stared back.

She has really beautiful eyes, he couldn't help noticing.

Kiba gulped, trying to think of something to say. She tried to shift her arms slightly, testing him. He felt the pressure, but was obviously too strong for her. Then she pursed her lips and all his thoughts flew out the window.

He threw back his head and howled. Chakra inside his throat modulated the sound until it sounded like an entire pack of wolves was trying to deafen somebody. After a few seconds of this, he turned his head away from her and coughed. His mind started racing again.

Jutsu #4: chakra howl. The enemy will often communicate with each other and their familiars using a series of high-pitched whistles. This move was invented to drown out the noise and disrupt their communications.

It was from Gramps' ancient collection. Kiba had been forced to learn it at age 5, but he hadn't practiced it in ages. When he looked back at his captive, she had a totally new look on her face. It was curiosity, slowly melting into bitterness.

"Who were you trying to signal?" he demanded.

For the first time since he'd bumped into her, she spoke. "Don't worry, I think she got the message."

Kiba looked away to hide the fact that he was blushing. Her voice, it's so clear and sweet! ...wait, what'd she say?

He pushed back from the tree with all his might, just in the nick of time. A falcon suddenly dove between them, its talons sifting the air where his arms had been. The element of surprise exhausted, the bird swung around anyway and let out a piercing scream as it charged again. Kiba did a back-flip to dodge it, landing in a crouch. He noticed the bird had the exact same scent as the girl, it would be impossible to tell them apart with smells.

The girl took her time, slowly lowering her arms and rubbing her wrists. Kiba thought he saw a tinge of blush on her face at first, but he could've imagined it. She raised an arm, and the falcon came and perched on it. She must have been using chakra to keep its talons from mincing her bare skin.

"Well, I get to see you again," Kiba managed with a smile. "Although this isn't how I pictured it. What are you doing sneaking around here?"

"Looking for someone. It doesn't involve you."

"If you're looking for Hiru-sensei, then it does."

The girl looked a little uncomfortable. "What's your connection to Hiru?"

"I'm his student, I guess. And his friend."

She scoffed. "His friend? Look, Hiru is a murderer and I'm going to kill him. Don't get in my way."

Kiba sighed. "After hearing that, of course I'm going to get in your way!"

"Then die." For a split second it looked like Asuka was falling forward, then she flew straight at him.

Her chakra pulse was smoother than his had been, but he was ready. He leaped up and over her, rolling in midair and grabbing a smoke bomb from his pouch.

Wait, where's the falcon!?

A sudden burst of smoke surrounded him. Asuka watched carefully as he landed, rolling up into a crouch. A few droplets of blood seeped from a cut on his cheek, and he wiped it away.

"You crushed the smoke bomb in your hands," she analyzed. "You're obviously from the Inuzuka clan, so where's your dog?"

Kiba grinned. "Right here!"

He whipped out the temporary scroll he was using and slapped it on the ground under his hand. A puff of smoke and Akamaru was there, wagging his tail.

Asuka looked shocked. "It's...it's really small."

Kiba frowned. "He's big enough. And he'll get bigger."

((A/N This story is entirely pure and clean. If, like my proofreading friend, you think those two lines are bad, you are a horrible, horrible person.))

Anyway," the girl continued. Her falcon landed on her shoulder and glared daggers at him. "This should be an interesting fight.

"Yeah," Kiba replied. "I wonder what Gramps would say if he knew there were still some of you left." Straightening up, he smiled at her. "Wanna be friends?"

Asuka just glared at him. "Are you serious? The Inuzuka/Sakazaki rivalry is legendary."

"It's also over. Long before either of us were born."

"It isn't over! My people suffered the ultimate betrayal, while yours grew fat on the success of their allies!"

"That really has nothing to do with me."

She was stunned for a moment. "Nothing to do with...that's unforgivable! If that's the case, then I'll take this opportunity and let all of Inuzuka know we still remember them!" She crouched in a fighting stance.

"But...you don't remember us!" he protested weakly.

The bird sprang from her shoulder as Asuka charged him.

"Man-beast clone!" the Kiba's split up and dashed to the side, ready to strike when she came to a stop.

"Gatsuuga!" Two whirlwnds of claws homed in and attacked her scent. When they released the attack, Kiba and Akamaru studied what was left: a long silver feather cut into little pieces.

Crap! She's using the bird's feathers to trick us!

Blam! Akamaru tackled him from the side as Asuka struck from above. A ribbon of blood sailed from the dog's ankle, and he whimpered.

"Akamaru!" the kiba-clone stumbled, and he saw a deep gash on its leg. Before he could react, he heard a whizzing sound and something flashed in the light.

Wires! he realized, and panicked. A set of them snapped tight around Akamaru's stomach. Then something tugged hard on them, separating the clone into two pieces.

"NOO!!!" Kiba screamed, dashing over. Lying there, Akamaru transformed back into a dog. When the teen reached out a hand, Akamaru snapped at it.

"Game over," he heard the girl say. Something sharp and metallic tapped the back of his neck.

"Aka...maru?" Kiba didn't really care. The dog had hardly made a sound since the fatal attack. He reached out again, desperately.

"Wait," Asuka began, but it was too late. Akamaru quickly bit down on his hand, forcing chakra into him and dispelling the genjutsu.

"Huh?"

Akamaru lay before him, completely whole. Unfortunately, there was still a knife poking him.

"Tch, you broke it," he heard her say behind him. "But it's too late anyway. Take me to Hiru." She pressed the blade harder to reinforce the order.

"Thanks Akamaru," he mumbled. Then he slackened, preparing to use chakra pulse. Asuka shoved the blade at his neck, but the soft hair he had there hardened instantly and stood on end, deflecting the blow. He jumped away a split second later.

"Dogs know their own weaknesses," he growled at her from across the clearing.

A smoke bomb exploded at her feet, obscuring her for a moment.

"Gatsuuga!" he shouted and Akamaru joined him in attacking the cloud.

Special scented smoke. With this, I'll be able to find her easily for the rest of the battle.

As expected, he felt a feather being diced between his claws. When the smoke cleared, he saw that this feather looked normal instead of silver, and apparently had no genjutsu buried within it.

"Again!" he called to Akamaru, and this time they honed straight in on Asuka. She cried out as he plowed into her midsection. He tried very hard not to hit any major organs, but you can only pull so many punches when you're a whirlwind of claws. After a second, though, she disappeared completely. Kiba spun to a stop and sniffed furiously. He smelled her somewhere above.

The falcon screamed, announcing its presence. He barely had time to jump to the side as the hair clip in the bird's talons transformed back into Asuka and she slashed down at him with a kunai.

Akamaru swung in from behind her and delivered a vicious punch to her back. She stumbled forward, coughed once, and looked up to glare at him. Kiba felt terrible.

"Listen, let's not finish this."

"No, let's. Come, Eve!" The bird swept down and landed on her shoulder, and Asuka started making seals. "Man-bird clone!"

Kiba watched in dismay. The girl didn't grow actual wings, but hundreds of feathers poked out from under her hair, her eyes grew cold, and her fingernails extended longer and sharper than even his own.

"Here's what Sakuzaki has learned from our mistakes," she cried with a raspy voice. "Trust NOBODY!"

Eve the falcon sprang up into the air again, but something was different. The bird was...molting like crazy. Hundreds of feathers fell behind it, tracing its path through the air. Asuka ran towards him, and he saw that feathers were streaming from her hair as well. He evaded her claws for a moment, then jumped back. "Akamaru, let's go! Gatsuuga!!!"

Asuka stepped to the side, and they both flew right past her. Turning, both whirlwinds approached her again and went wide. Up above, the falcon continued to circle and spread feathers around the clearing.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked when he ground to a halt. Every single feather carried a different scent, it seemed.

"This is the new strength of the Sakazaki clan. You'll find it far outclasses anything your pitiful dog clan can come up with."

"Akamaru, let's go!" Kiba called desperately. They both unleashed their chakra at its highest level. "TWIN HEADED WOLF!!!" was the last thing he said before the transformation began.

The moment Kiba began the jutsu, Asuka smirked and did a few seals of her own. By now, the ground was covered with feathers. They stuck in the branches of trees and piled around her feet. Reaching down, she grabbed a fistful of them before straightening up. A few seconds later they started to glow, then she opened her hand palm up and one by one the feathers lifted off on their own. To complete the ritual, Asuka snatched them up again, held both hands high, and in one fluid motion she brought them down to strike the ground. A shockwave seemed to go out from her, but in reality only the feathers moved. The next second thousands of them rose off of the ground and pointed their quills at the giant wolf.

I see, the Inuzuka teen thought to himself.


The old peddler started awake and looked frantically around.

"Why, I haven't had a good sleep like that since..."

"Since the last time I was here?" a low voice said nearby. Druj was leaning against a tree a few feet away.

"Yes, you're right." The old man eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, if you're up then I'm off." The Anbu stepped forward and stretched.

"I really don't understand you anymore, Druj-kun," old Hiru said suddenly. "Thought I wouldn't see you again, after you treated young Hiru the way you did."

"..."

"You had your reasons, I understand," he continued. "But why are you still helping me? We're in this together, young Hiru and I."

Finally, Druj spoke. His voice was husky with some unknowable emotion. "The Hiru I knew was completely incapable of handling this situation. To be blunt, he would have ended up killing my niece because he wasn't able to seclude himself when he needed to."

"Perhaps that is true," the peddler replied darkly.

"However, this Hiru you have brought me is infinitely more mature than his previous self. Please tell him I am sorry for my rash actions."

"I will indeed." The old man's smile cracked open to let out a tortured-sounding laugh.

"I have to say, your body is hideous these days," Druj commented.

"Ahh, don't mock me, little boy," old Hiru chided, "You know just what I can look like, but these days Young Hiru needs every ounce of chakra he can get."

He pulled open his tunic slightly to reveal a pendant around his neck: a small silver dragon coiled protectively around a spherical jewel. It pulsated lightly every few seconds, emitting a rich green glow.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that." The Anbu stepped forward to examine it. "How is it that the village is so sharply divided between despising Hiru and ignoring him?"

"Just like that? Well, since you asked, the Kyuubi resides within Hiru."

Druj froze.

"What?"

The Anbu turned to look the peddler in the eye, but otherwise stayed frozen.

"What is it!? Surely it doesn't come as much of a shock."

"That would explain the division, old man."

The peddler bristled at the use of 'old man' this time. "What on earth do you mean?"

"I mean that those in our village who despise Hiru believe he has the Kyuubi, while those who ignore him know that he does not."

This time the peddler froze. "What?" he repeated.

"The Kyuubi's vessel has been living in Konoha since the attack over a decade ago. I have sorted the records myself."

"That was three years before Hiru's exile," breathed the old man. "How can this be!?"

"Maybe Hiru knows." Druj pointed at the dragon necklace.

"No, that boy can't lie to me. In fact, neither can the elders of Umou. If what you say is true...this goes much deeper." A series of lines crisscrossed the peddler's forehead as he concentrated. It occurred to Druj that on a normal person, the lines are supposed to be parallel, and the idea made him shudder.

"We'll just have to ask him when he wakes up," he offered.

"If we get the chance," old Hiru said grimly. "I need to meet this 'other' Kyuubi host right away."

"I believe you already have."


"Ugh." Kiba drew his hand away from his shoulder and shuddered at the sight of his own blood. He had long since come out of the Twin-Headed wolf formation, as it was impossible to dodge the feathers in that form. Now he was reduced to running around in circles while the Tsume-nin watched from a tree branch. A swarm of feathers made reaching her impossible right now.

"You still haven't answered my question!" he demanded, "What did Hiru do!?" He'd been trying to negotiate non-stop for almost half the battle now, to no avail.

She sneered down at him. "I have nothing to say to you. Just keep dodging, that's all you have to worry about." A wave of her hand and a flurry of the feathers flew at him from the side.

"I'm getting pretty tired of this!" he announced, dodging to the side. Akamaru whimpered from inside his jacket.

"How's it going, boy?"

The dog was silent for a moment, then barked twice.

"Alright! Do it!"

Akamaru nosed into his pocket and chomped the soldier pill. A second later he leaped out of the coat and turned bright red.

The girl jumped down to the ground and stood glaring at him. "Baka! Don't you get it!? You lost a long time ago, I'm just giving you a chance to surrender!"

Kiba made a handful of seals before grinning at her. "Funny, that's exactly what I was about to say."

Her eyes widened for a second before she swung her arms up. The entire clearing-worth of feathers rose as well.

After recovering from a few small puncture wounds, Akamaru had been storing chakra for the next big jutsu. The fur on his back grew until it was about a foot long. Meanwhile, Kiba's hair turned cream-colored and grew until it would have been halfway down his back, except it stuck straight out behind him. His eyes became the same color, and the marks on his cheeks changed color until they were red with a black border.

"Come, Akamaru!" he shouted. The transformation made his voice deeper, so that it boomed throughout the clearing.

Wow. Asuka wavered for an instant before shaking off the effect and directing her feathers at him.

Akamaru dashed over just as the barrage began. The dog rammed Kiba in the back, and they both hit the dirt just as a flurry of death homed in on them.

"NOW!" In an instant, Kiba and Akamaru's long hair seemed to explode. The next instant, she saw that a single hair had punctured every single feather above them.

"RAAH!!!" Kiba and Akamaru roared as one, and the feathers melted under a barrage of chakra coming up the white and red hairs. Kiba slowly got to his feet, Akamaru still clinging to his back.

"Want to help me name a new jutsu?" he asked with his still-enhanced voice.

"Only if you can beat me with it," the girl countered.

"Fair enough. Defend yourself!"

Asuka flinched backward and whistled. The next second Kiba launched himself at her so fast she had no time to react. The falcon appeared out of nowhere to claw at his face, granting her a momentary reprieve.

Frantically, she started making seals. In front of her, Kiba turned his face away from the bird and Akamaru drove it off with chakra-filled hair.

"Eve!"

The falcon flew over in an instant, perching on her shoulders. "Sky-Predator's Form!" she cried and smoke enveloped them both. It was swept away a moment later as she took flight on a pair of massive wings.

Kiba wasted no time, launching himself after her. Their claws met in midair, and she deflected him downward. Spinning, he allowed Akamaru to lash out at her again while he readied for yet another chakra pulse.

The kick was so fast and hard, it threatened to knock Asuka unconscious immediately. Her eyes glazed over for a second as Eve took control of her body and flew higher.

What insane strength. It's like Hiru's... she thought as he fell back to earth.

"Let's keep it up Akamaru!" Kiba boomed when he had landed. His opponent was high in the air, and was just now starting to molt again. The dog barked in agreement, although it was muffled by the shock of red and white hair. Relaxing, he started the move to jump back up to attack the girl again.

Gotta be careful about those feathers. She knows I'm fighting by scent.

An instant later he shot up at her. Asuka saw him coming, but still wasn't accustomed to his speed. He landed a punishing blow on her shoulder, sending her toward the ground. Following, he found a stream of scented feathers left to confuse him.

"Die!" a voice shrieked. The girl was practically a blur as she attacked, but he still managed to block. They traded blows furiously, and Kiba had a definite advantage.

Why can't I hit him!? the Tsume-nin thought frantically. It felt like she was fighting Hiru again, so familiar...

Then it hit her: the chakra pulse!

Kiba watched grimly as she sailed back from his punch. She hit a tree, and her wings "shattered" into a thousand feathers. The falcon took to the sky immediately, circling her protectively and glaring daggers at him.

He's mastered the second level? No, that's impossible. There must be another explanation. Groaning, she slumped forward to look at him.

Kiba saw the look on her face and faltered. She was no longer glaring at him, in fact she was back to the curiosity he saw when he first pinned her arms to the tree. "Good job, Akamaru," he grunted.

"The dog! So that's how you did it!" Asuka had almost forgotten the fight in her moment of discovery. "You took turns using chakra pulse, so each cycle only took half as long as usual."

"Yeah, worked pretty well didn't it? Now, like you promised you have to help me name it."

The girl suddenly remembered her position and glared at him again. "It doesn't really count," she mumbled, "because you won using a move from outside the Inuzuka clan."

"Hey!" Kiba strode over to her, a look of mischief on his face. "Don't be a sore loser." he leaned down and offered her a hand. The falcon must have noticed his lack of killing intent, because it didn't try to remove said hand from his arm.

The Kunoichi stared up at him for a long moment, then actually blushed. She didn't move though, and he started to feel embarrassed at holding his hand out for so long.

With a whine, Akamaru slipped off of his back and the dog's fur started to shorten. Kiba's hair also retreated and became darker until it was black again. He felt something pinch in his chest, but figured it was just a feather wound.

Actually, he felt a lot of feather wounds now. More and more parts of his body started to protest, and he wondered just how many times he'd been hit.

The girl chose that moment to snap out of her reverie, and slowly reached up to take his hand. He trembled slightly, but had enough presence of mind to pull her to her feet. She sighed.

"Well, I guess I'd better start thinking up a name then." She gave him a small smile and he felt himself blushing.

"No hurry. In fact, we have a lot of more important things to talk about first." Despite saying this, Kiba felt dizzy. He just wanted to lie down and rest. He could hear Akamaru whimpering.

"Is something wrong?"

Ahh, her voice really is clear. The leaf-nin closed his eyes to savor them, and before he knew it he was falling forward.

"Kyaa!" thump.

Kiba was dimly aware that he'd just plowed into her and was now lying on top.

"Get off!" The girl's voice took on a tinge of anger again as she shoved him to the side.

"Gaah!" he couldn't help an outburst of pain. She seemed to catch on quickly.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "...wait. When did you learn the chakra-pulse?"

"Ugh. A few days ago, why?" Kiba cracked his eyes open and saw a look of utter horror on her face.

"You haven't had your 'backlash' yet! And you used it in a fight!? What's my brother thinking!?"

"He's probably thinking I wouldn't use it for a week like he told me."

"Baka! You could really die!!!"

She's so worried about me. Cute!

"Eve!" The falcon immediately flew off in the direction of the village. Meanwhile Akamaru had come over and was whining loudly.

"Hey..." he started to say. Then a wave of pain shot up his spine.

Lub-dub.

"I've got to get you medical attention," she was saying.

That, or slit my throat. What kind of enemy shinobi are you? Kiba wondered.

"Hey, wait," he said weakly.

"Shut up!" she barked. "Talking will make you worse!"

"I'll be fine!" he mustered his strength. "Listen, I gotta ask-"

LUB-DUB! "AGH!"

"Ask it later!"

"What's your name?"

The girl looked down at him with a very strange look. Some combination of suspicion, worry, and underlying embarrassment and she pulled them all off at the same time.

"It's Asuka. Sakazaki Asuka."


A/N There is my chapter. It's done now. I wanted to finish it on Friday, but it became Saturday two hours back. I'm gonna go sleep now.

But first, I'll pump out a quick commentary!

It was interesting in this chapter because Kiba didn't know Asuka's name, but I couldn't just call her "her" and "she" the whole time. Since my natural writing style is to shift around the scene, I used Asuka's name whenever it felt like "the camera" was over by her, and called her "the girl" whenever it was closer to Kiba. On the one hand, I'm very proud of my natural ability to do this, but on the other hand I find it difficult to write actions scenes from a single POV and even harder to write them from a neutral one.

Let's see, I wanted to add as a note that Hiru has a theme song! Even though he didn't appear in this chapter...

Anyway, I listened to the song "better off alone" a lot when I was developing his character and I think I can officially say that it's his song. I should get songs for my other OC's, I've noticed that connecting things to them makes it easier to define your character's personalities.

Now, let's look to the future of this story. I intend to go back and clean my chapters, as I just recently noticed a lot of small errors/parts I want to improve a bit. That, and a few chapters completely lost their


breaks. Don't know when that happened, did I really not notice this whole time? Anyway, you should be able to tell where they go but I'll insert them anyway.

Also, I'm gonna write the scene where Ino and Hiru meet, I ended up skipping past it in favor of other plotlines but I think they really do need more development as a couple. What I want you people to tell me is, should I try to somehow to splice it into the existing chapters, or should I go ahead and make it a separate oneshot, like I'm thinking of doing. Also, how much do you want it? I'd like to write it parallel, but to be honest I have exams coming up and I just won't be able to do them both. So leave me reviews! Tell me if you want the main story to proceed or if I should switch my effort to the Hiru/Ino scene temporarily. I WILL finish ONE of them by SUNDAY November 30, after that I'll try to keep up one chapter a week but my grades come first.

Thank you for reading my story, and if you've reviewed then I thank you more than all the people who haven't reviewed. If we were in a room together I'd give you all a smile but the reviewers a bigger smile than the rest of you. If we were on a sinking ship I'd help you all to the lifeboats but I'd get the reviewers on first. If all of you suddenly came to me and asked for a million dollars I'd turn you all down, but I'd be more polite when turning down the reviewers, etc. It's 2 am, I got more.

Review.