Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Rating: T, probably for implication of sex and creepy Dad-behavior.

A/N: I've been thinking about Inoichi's reaction to my flurry of Ino/Kiba "behavior" and this is what I came up with. I really love the parents of these guys. Enjoy! =)

A Father's Contemplation

Inoichi slipped back, out of sight behind the edge of the building, and checked the chakra suppressing his scent. He'd seen what he'd come to see.

His daughter tight in Tsume's son's arms. Bodies curved, hands tucked in secret corners, heads together. The chemistry between them- -well, spark seemed an understatement for their palpable emotion. They'd been sneaking around, unsure of his reaction, of Tsume's reaction, but parents had a way of knowing. He wasn't blind to Ino's glow, her soft smile with slightly bruised lips, and her sometimes mussed hair.

The content she exuded on occasion; her mind's peaceful quiet instead of a ruckus of thoughts and worries and reminders. Especially he wasn't blind to when he popped in telepathically to ask her something and caught just the briefest moments of heat, sweat-beaded skin, and red triangles, and the rawness of her emotion then.

Somehow it seemed right. In a world where little made sense anymore, seeing his daughter grow up and become more than him was a miracle. She'd come through bright and shining into this world, gunning for things bigger and better than he'd ever imagined. She argued and struggled and fought with her teammates, pushing them, making them do what they needed to. Loved them fiercely and unquestioningly.

As it should be. But her love was so fierce and unquestioning.

He'd had a few chances to observe Kiba. Straight, tall, and powerful now, instead of runty and loud. Like his mother, he was fearless of emotions, heart-strong and head-strong. He had probably charged nose-first into love's messy battlefield without considering the heartbreak that might be inflicted. With Inuzukas, Inoichi knew, it didn't take much to set them off. A flick of hair. Maybe it had been her eyes or her body. Her scent, or perhaps the right type of smile.

It had probably started when they were kids, Inoichi thought, pushing from the cement wall to stroll home. Always they bickered, insulted, and tested the boundaries of the other. Kiba was the only one who had the energy and spirit to put her in her place, to keep her from crashing over other people with her emotions. Shikamaru and Chouji both had trouble containing her vibrancy. Still did, if Shikaku and Chouza were telling the truth.

There had been a time when he worried about her. Dieting. Sasuke. Inoichi allowed his lip to curl. Her brains scheming for domination over boys, her honest grief when the Uchiha defected to Sound, and then…Asuma's death. If anything, his death snapped her out of the emotional stasis that had stuck her. She broke free by herself, flew high and far, and it took Inuzuka Kiba to match her stride-for-stride.

Inoichi loved his daughter, loved what she represented, loved that she had shifted into a relationship that far exceeded his initial expectations for her when she rambled on and on about Sasuke. He would be proud to have Kiba- -honest, loyal, fearless Kiba- -as his son-in-law. The grandkids from their union would further strengthen the village's Will of Fire.

Inoichi, eyes searching the future, approved of what he saw between his daughter and the son of that no-nonsense, cunning kunoichi who used fang and claw even in small disagreements, and wouldn't back down, never, dammit, if she still had life in her veins.

Yes, he thought as he smiled, he approved indeed.

A/N: Eh, well, it turned out a little drabbly, but I like it. There might be some edits and revision later on. =)