DISCLAIMER:

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. NARUTO AND ALL RELATED PRODUCTS BELONG TO THEIR ORIGINAL OWNERS. I ONLY OWN THE PLOT, AND MY OWN CHARACTERS. PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL RELEASE.

Howling at the Moon, Chapter one: Memories and Changes.

Hikari's POV:

"Stop annoying me, dog breath!" I yelled, and I wasn't talking to the dog.

"I am annoying you?" The brunette yelled back at me. "You're the one who began yelling at me!"

I rolled my eyes. "Look who's talking you stupid mutt!" Once again, I was not talking to the dog.

This may seem weird, but in my life, this is normal… I was yelling at the most annoying person in the world. His name is Kiba Inuzuka. And let me tell you, he is terrible. And not just because he is annoying. He smells like he hasn't had a shower in months and smells like a dog.

The white dog next to Kiba growled and let out a small bark while his terrible owner also growled. That poor dog… His name is Akamaru. Though, I don't know why, his fur isn't even red.

"I could crush you right now if I wanted to…!" Kiba yelled.

"Oh yeah? Then what's stopping you, mutt? Are you that scared of me?" I replied smartly.

"All that I'm saying is that we should take that path!" Kiba screamed as he pointed to the path on the right.

"Well, I'm saying that we should take the other path!" I screamed back as I pointed to the left path.

"Oh yeah? I'd like you to tell me how many times our noses have been wrong!"

"I could tell you that, but I just remembered that you couldn't count that high!"

"Why you…!"

"Um… G-Guys-"

"Stay out of this!" Kiba and I yelled in unison and went back to yelling at each other.

The person who was stuttering earlier, that was Hinata Hyuga. She's okay… But if she's on the same team as Kiba, then I am not going to go easy on her, no matter how nice she is!

"Do you want to listen to me for once in your life?" Kiba yelled at me.

"Sorry, if I try to do that, then I'm afraid that would be the first and last time! We would all be dead if we listen to you!" I yelled back.

"What's that supposed to mean? How is listening to me going to get us killed? In case you haven't noticed, Akamaru and I have been sniffing out all of the traps!" Kiba yelled at me and Akamaru barked in agreement. "I don't know why we bother with you! We can do these missions just fine without you! You're just a burden to the team! You just get in the way! You're worse than anyone I've ever seen! You almost got us killed on a C-Ranked mission! C-Ranked!"

"I did not! That was you! You and the dog were the ones who rushed in there and tried to use your 'special move,' when you didn't even know how to control it!"

"Oh yeah? Then how about you try spinning around so fast and try to attack your opponent when you can barely see where you are going! Right, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Hey, I could do it for the first time, and I would still have a better chance at hitting the enemy!"

"If the enemy were the size of this universe, then maybe you could have a chance at hitting him! MAYBE!"

"G-Guys…" Hinata stuttered.

"What?" Kiba and I screamed at her.

"We have company…" Hinata replied as she pulled out a kunai knife. Now that we all had a close look at her, we could finally see that she had her Byakugan activated.

Kiba and Akamaru lifted their noses in the air.

"There's no mistaking that odor…" His voice now turned calm and serious. "It smells like… Ninja from the Hidden Mist and there are… Four of them…"

"Gee, did you figure all of that out by yourself, Sherlock?" I asked sarcastically. "Besides, that smell is probably from you not showering."

"This is really not the time…" Kiba said as his eyes darted towards me.

"I could easily beat these guys with my hands tied behind my back and with a blindfold!" I snapped back.

"Maybe, if you were trying to beat them in a contest to see who can get themselves killed first… Oh, wait a minute! You would already lose no matter what you did!"

"Are you saying that I'm weak?"

"Gee, did you figure all of that out by yourself, Sherlock?" Kiba mocked. My face was now extremely red, I could feel all of the heat, but Kiba continued anyway. "Alright here's the plan… You two take the scroll and rush out of here, while me and Akamaru have a little fun with these guys…" Kiba threw Hinata the scroll.

"That's your plan?" I asked. "Is this a joke?"

"Look, if Akamaru and I can't handle these guys, and I seriously doubt it, we'll need at least two people to protect that scroll… Besides, there could be other enemy ninja going after the scroll and you guys will need to have all of the might you can get. Listen, we could either stand here arguing about this, or we could actually focus on the mission." Hinata nodded at the 'fearless leader.' "Take the right path…" He mumbled.

"Fine then!" I screamed as Hinata and I jolted off. Who cares about that mutt, anyway? I think that it's now obvious who I am talking about.

"Man Beast Clone!" I heard Kiba yell out. He really needs to stop announcing his attacks like that. But it appears like that mutt is going with his very old strategy. The Fang Over Fang technique. I can do better than that though. As long as those mutts don't screw this up, then we should be fine.

~Howling at the Moon~

We were now in the Hokage's office. We had delivered the scroll to some scroll shop. Apparently, the woman working there 'accidently' sold the scroll that contained a bunch of secrets inside of it to one of the Jonin Leaf ninja while he was out on a mission. I think that woman needs to get some glasses. Hinata and I were the only ones in the room, besides Tsunade, Shizune, and the pig, Tonton. Kiba and his dog? They should be back soon. They have to be! Tsunade refuses to talk with us unless all of us are here. So now, we have to wait for that stupid fool. I don't mind Akamaru to be honest, I love animals. But if he is hanging around Kiba, then I'm going to treat him the same way I treat Kiba.

A knock on the door caused all of us to look at the wooden door.

"Lady Tsunade, it's Kiba and Akamaru…" Came Kiba's voice, followed by a yip from Akamaru. It only took those two forever!

"Enter." Tsunade simply said.

The door opened with Kiba giving everyone else a smile, when his eyes met mine, he glared at me and I returned that same glare. (Akamaru was in Kiba's coat) Kiba walked into the room while closing the door behind him and then he walked over next to Hinata, leaving her in between the two of us. We shared the glare for a while until we looked back at Tsunade.

"Alright," Tsunade began. "I want a report of the mission. How it went down exactly…"

We all began to tell the Hokage the details until she came across one certain subject.

"…And what happened to you two?" She asked as she referred to Kiba and Akamaru.

"There were enemy ninja around. So Akamaru and I stayed back to fight them." Kiba answered.

"And why did you leave it to yourselves?" Tsunade asked.

Kiba folded his arms. "You see, if two of us stayed back and fended off the Mist ninja, then the other two could escape with the scroll. We needed a good team to stay behind, and it just so happened that Akamaru and I were that team. We use the Fang over Fang technique, and it's a pretty strong TaiJutsu. If the others were hit by it then they could've been seriously hurt. It was a plan that had to be thought of quickly." The brunette answered. That guy thinks?

"…And what happened to your arm?"

Kiba pulled the sleeve of his coat a little and looked at the bandaged arm, blood was seeping onto the outside though. How come I didn't notice that?

"It's just a scratch." Kiba stated. "I didn't notice it until after the fight. It's not going to be any trouble." He reassured. Man, he talks too much.

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "Dismissed. And in the future, try to be a little more careful."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." The three of us kids chorused as we left the room. Sadly, my house is in the direction that this mutt's house is in. So I guess we have to walk together. Darn. If I got to choose who to walk with, then I would easily choose Hinata.

"See you later, Hinata!" Kiba called out to the shy girl as we parted ways.

"Bye, Hinata!" I called out.

"Goodbye. I'll see you soon." Hinata 'called' out.

Kiba and I walked with each other for a while in silence. But, overtime, I noticed that something was troubling Akamaru. He whimpered softly while he looked up at his owner. Something must've happened while they faced those Mist guys. Eventually, Akamaru looked sadly at Kiba's bleeding arm and then he turned to me and gave me a pleading look. Something's wrong with Kiba… I shook that thought off. No! I am not concerned about that mutt.

Another strange thing happened while we were walking. Kiba looked a little… No. Scratch that! He looked very tired. It's rare to see Kiba like this. His eyelids dropping and he had to pinch his good arm to stop himself from collapsing. He was panting quite heavily. It was like he had just ran a marathon around half of the world or something. That stupid mutt even fell behind me one or two times. It's strange to see 'the great beast, Kiba' like this. He has always been a wild one. He would constantly challenge people to a race, he would take on whatever mission, not to mention that he spends a lot of time training. I personally think that he is trying to catch up to Naruto. I have always seen a little bit of jealousy in Kiba's eyes after that time he was defeated by the blonde.

"Is it me? Or is it really hot out here?" Kiba asked. I don't think Kiba even knows who he is talking to. Kiba used his good arm to wipe the sweat off of his forehead.

"I think that you have officially gone crazy, mutt." I stated. Kiba looked over at me.

"Seriously, aren't you feeling this heat?" Kiba asked me again.

"Maybe if you took that coat of yours off, then that wouldn't be a problem, would it?" I asked, trying to get the message through that thick head of his.

Kiba shrugged. "I don't have…To listen to you…" Kiba said, panting.

"I think you need to get your brain checked, mutt." I said, thinking if he even had a brain. "It's winter, how could it possibly be hot?"

"Shut…Up…" Kiba mumbled as Akamaru let out another small whimper. Kiba looked down at the white pup. "I'll get your food… In a second…" Kiba mumbled. He sounded like he had barely got any sleep and he had just got woken up. And I'm pretty sure that's not what Akamaru said. I scratched my head in confusion. This guy has suddenly become even weirder than he was. And here I was thinking that it wasn't possible.

"Listen, dog breath, you're embarrassing me. If you continue to play games with me, then your face will have a special appointment with the back of my hand." I warned the dog boy.

"…So…Hot…" Kiba mumbled.

"What was that?" I asked the boy, hoping that I didn't take it the wrong way.

"It's too… Hot out here…" Kiba complained. "Am I home…Yet…?"

Oh boy… "Yeah, you're home." I answered. I have got to get away from this guy… "Now go." I ordered as Kiba walked over to his house. The dogs behind the fence were barking their hellos to Kiba, but he didn't answer as friendly as he could have been.

"Shut up!" I heard him yell at the top of his lungs. I stared at the brunette as all of the dogs silenced themselves. Kiba opened the front door and walked inside and disappeared out of my sights. Now I know that something's up. Kiba isn't the guy to yell at any ninja hound, let alone his own dogs. Kiba won't be the safest guy to be around on missions… Kiba probably will be hallucinating or being angry too much to even sniff out any of the other ninja. Heck! He probably won't even smell beef jerky. That is pretty much all I ever see him eat…

I walked away from the Inuzuka compound. This is too much to handle. I do not want to walk with Kiba ever again if he is going to complain or have really bad anger issues… He should probably see his vet about that.

After a small amount of walking and thinking, I finally made it to my home. It is about time! I can finally stop thinking about what happened earlier. I unlocked the door and walked in and locked the door again. My mother should be home. She doesn't go out that often unless she needs to buy food or something like that. My mum likes to keep the door locked. 'You can never be too careful.' She always says to me. Speaking of mum…

I walked through the house and I found my mother flicking through some pages of a book or something on the lounge.

"Hey mum, what're you doing?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm just looking through some of your old photos." Mum answered casually. She's what? Not without me she doesn't! I plopped myself onto the lounge and looked at the folder that was filled with photos from ages ago.

"Look at this one!" My mother said happily as she pointed at a photo. "It's all of us. You, me, your father and your brother!" I don't see why that's so special. We see each other all of the time. Big whoop! My mother flicked to another page and let out an 'aw'. "And this one's of you and that boy when you were kids…! What was his name again…? Kiba… Kiba Inuzuka! That's right!"

The heat rushed to my face. "Mother… Can we skip to the next page?" I asked. This photo was taken when I was like… Six or something…?

The photo was simple enough. My six year old self was there with an arm around her neck. That arm belonged to… Kiba. He had a pretty goofy look on his face. He had a cheeky grin and mischief glowed in his eyes. When we first met… Kiba was just a little goofball… Now he's… Well, he's still a goofball, just annoying…

~Flashback~

I sat on the branch of a tree… Alone… Watching all of the kids playing with each other, laughing with each other and looked like they were having fun with one another. I sighed sadly. I was never invited to play with the other kids. I don't know why, but they just didn't like me. I hadn't done anything to deserve being ignored. Sighing, I lay down comfortably on the large branch and closed my sapphire blue eyes for a moment. Next moment when I opened my eyes, there was a kid with brown hair and some sort of marks on his cheeks staring down at me.

"Hey!" The stranger said cheerfully. I squealed in surprise almost falling off of the branch, until a hand grabbed my wrist, stopping me from falling down. The brunette pulled me up onto the branch again, frowning.

"Didn't mean to frighten you…" He said apologetically as he rubbed the back of his head.

"That's fine…" I mumbled back as I let my tiny legs swing back and forth off the branch.

The brunette sat down and did the same. "What're you doing up here alone?" He asked me.

"… I don't have friends, so I can't play with anyone…" I answered.

"Come on… Everybody makes friends some point in their life." The stranger said to me. How can he be so calm?

"Well I don't." I replied.

"What are you talking about? You have two friends, silly…" The stranger said to me. I looked at him confused.

"Who?" I asked him.

"Us!" The boy answered.

"Us who…?" I wondered.

I heard a bark come from underneath the boy's shirt and down the bottom came a small white puppy. The dog walked cautiously on the branch and licked my hand. I jerked away a little, surprised by this sudden act, but the white ball of fluff proceeded to tickle my hand with its small tongue. I giggled. That was the first time in a long while that I had done that.

"See! We're your friends!" The brunette announced a little too loudly.

"But… Aren't friends supposed to know each other's names?" I asked softly.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Okay… My name's Kiba Inuzuka and this is my friend Akamaru!"

"My name's Hikari…" I introduced myself to Kiba and Akamaru.

Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"Hikari? As in 'light'?" He asked. I nodded.

"Kiba…? As in 'fang'? And Akamaru, meaning 'red'?" I asked. Kiba nodded. "But… Akamaru… His fur is white… How come…" I trailed off, not being able to find the right words.

"You'll see why soon…" Kiba answered as if knowing what I was going to say. "Akamaru and I are going to be the ultimate ninja tag team!"

My eyes widened. "But… Are you going to really bring this little guy into battle?" I asked in surprise.

"All of the people of my clan do. All of the Inuzuka's have a partner to train with. Akamaru and I do everything together." Kiba answered.

"Still…" I began with uncertainty. Kiba scooped up Akamaru in his arms with a smile on his face.

"Let's go. It'll be much nicer if we chat while we walk. To be honest, I can't stand sitting still… That's the reason I often get yelled at." Kiba told me with the smile glued to his face. He held out a hand to help lift me up, with Akamaru safely held in the other arm. I grabbed Kiba's hand and he pulled me up, however, he didn't let go of my hand.

"Umm…" I began quietly.

"On my signal, jump, okay?" Kiba stated.

"Wait I-"

"Jump!" He yelled out. I got the message. I didn't want to end up like a pancake so I jumped with Kiba as he yelled out, "Yahoo!"

~End of Flashback~

"You two were really cute friends…" My mother said, interrupting my flashback. "By the way, how is Kiba? Does he still live around here? I haven't seen him for a while. Did you want me to invite him and his family around for dinner?" My mother asked quickly. It's another one of 'those' moments.

"Whoa mother, one question at a time… Okay… Yes… And you can't do that." I answered.

"Why not?" My mother said, sounding a little disappointed.

"One. I know that his family isn't home because before we reached the house, the dogs weren't barking like crazy. And two. We just came back from a mission and Kiba has this really gross wound and he is being weirder than normal…" I explained.

"Maybe next time then…" My mother trailed off into her own thoughts as she quietly mumbled some things to herself. "He's a nice kid…"

Pft. Yeah right. Maybe in the next millennia.

"Kiba isn't that hurt is he?" My mother asked concerned.

"If by 'isn't hurt,' you mean that the wound is bleeding through his bandages, 'isn't hurt,' then yeah. He's peachy." I answered.

My mother gasped and then she fainted. My eyes widened. I sometimes wonder if my mother is actually Hinata in some sort of disguise. I poked my mother's nose. Again… And again… Nothing happened… Well she's out for the day… I guess I'll just have to go out to eat tonight… Until then… I relaxed and read a magazine, but that was short lived as I remembered Akamaru's pleading face, begging for me to help his owner.

"-this is my friend Akamaru!"

Stupid Kiba. He's getting into my head now. I threw the magazine back onto the coffee table and stood up. Maybe if I get something into my stomach that will help… I guess that I will have to have an early dinner tonight…

~Howling at the Moon~

I sat at the Ichiraku Noodle Stand, waiting for my ramen to be served. It wasn't that crowed here. I'm surprised that the blonde version of Kiba isn't here. Finally! There is actually going to be some food left for me. He always eats all of the ramen that he would have to be inhuman to eat that much.

"Here you go!" The owner said as he gave me the bowl of ramen.

"Thanks." I replied. I stared down at the bowl of ramen. That brings back memories…

~Flashback~

I sat down on the lounge as I read a book. It was a romance novel. I somehow got interested in these when I saw my mother reading it. It sounds lovely. To be in love I mean… It would be nice. There are also signs in the book to tell if a guy is in love with you or not. One. Surprising you with presents… Two. Offering to take you to dinner…. Three. He'll make a good impression on your parents… Four. He'll give you nice compliments. Five. He'll give you a pleasant surprise of his own. This is different for each guy and girl. Everyone is different with their methods… It looks like I will have to wait at least nine years for this kind of stuff to happen.

My father sat next to me as he looked over my shoulder and onto the pages of the book.

"Isn't that your mother's book?" He asked me.

"Yeah… I began to read it last week…" I answered.

"It seems like you've made through quite a bit." Father observed.

I chuckled. "Dad. I was wondering… What is normally a special surprise that guys give to girls that they like?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you'll have to figure that out for yourself." Dad answered.

"I knew that I should've asked mother about this. You probably don't know what guys think." I said, sighing.

My father frowned. "Hey…" He said, sounding insulted.

The doorbell rang so suddenly that it made me jump a little, but mother had already rushed to get it.

"Father, if you were an animal, I'd say that you'd be a monkey." I said randomly.

"Hey, who taught you this stuff?" He asked, being insulted again. I shrugged.

"Nobody." I answered.

"Hikari! Your friend is here!" My mother yelled out to me from the front door. Friend? Kiba?

I gave the book to my father and I stood up and quickly and ran to the door, seeing Kiba's cheeky face with Akamaru besides him.

"Hey, Hikari!" Kiba said as cheerfully as always.

"Hey, Kiba, Akamaru." I replied. I noticed that Kiba had something hidden in his hands. I raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go to Ichiraku's for lunch." Kiba said as he placed something in my hand.

"Is it with anyone else…?" I asked.

"Nah! It's just you, me and Akamaru." Kiba answered.

I looked over at my mother and she smiled and looked down at Kiba.

"Will you be gone long?" She asked.

"Not really, I have to do stuff with Akamaru later, so maybe an hour or so…" Kiba replied with the back of his head resting against his arms. "She'll be safe with me…" He promised.

"Aw… That's sweet… Very well, Hikari you go get your coat." Mother told me. I nodded and went off to my room. I grabbed a hold of my black coat when a thought crossed my mind.

Could this be…? No. That couldn't happen. We're just friends… There's no way that Kiba could really, you know… Right?

I pulled my coat on and ran back to the front door.

"Nice coat." Kiba blurted out. My eyes widened. "Alright, let's go before Blondie eats everything." I nodded.

"See you soon honey…" Mother said to me as she gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Bye mother." I replied as I walked out the door.

Okay, I just have to relax. This just might be what Kiba does.

"Hey," Kiba said. I looked over at him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Did you take a look at what I gave you?"

I looked at what Kiba placed in my hand earlier. It was a miniature glass sculpture of a dog. I smiled.

"I love it…" I announced.

"Glad that you do…" Kiba said proudly. "Akamaru and I picked it out ourselves."

"Well, it is the best gift that anyone has ever given me."

Kiba chuckled and soon enough, we reached the ramen stand. We took our seats and the owner walked over to us.

"What can I get for you?" He asked.

"Two bowls of miso ramen." Kiba turned to me. "Is that okay?"

"Yep!" I answered. Kiba smiled.

"Coming right up!" The owner said.

Kiba took Akamaru off of his lap and placed him on the seat next to him. Kiba then looked through his bag and pulled out a dog bowl and a carton of milk. He placed the dog bowl in front of the dog on the ramen stand and poured the milk.

"Drink up buddy!"Kiba said to his furry friend. Akamaru yipped happily and stood up on his hind legs, enjoying the flavour.

Kiba looked over at me with the smile still on his face.

"So, why did you invite me to lunch…?" I asked, feeling a little awkward. I needed to know what was going on.

Kiba looked at me in confusion, but with the smile still on his face.

"It's simple… It's because-"

"Here you go!" The owner of the shop said to us as he placed the bowls of ramen in front of us.

"Thanks!" Kiba and I chorused.

We began to eat our ramen and it seemed that Kiba loved his ramen. But he sort of ate like a dog… No offence…

"You know what would make this place even better? Beef jerky! And lot's of it too!" Kiba said as he still had food in his mouth.

"You must really like beef jerky…" I said to the brunette.

"You have no idea…!" Kiba replied.

We talked and finished our ramen and we had about ten minutes to talk and do other stuff.

"Don' worry, I'll handle this..." Kiba said to me as he placed down more than enough ryo to pay for our meal.

"Kiba, you don't need to do that… Besides, there is too much." I said to the brunette.

"Nah! It's my treat. I was planning on paying for it anyway." Kiba replied.

"If you're sure…"

"I'm positive."

"Well, Kiba…" I began.

"Hm?"

"I was wondering why you invited me to lunch…" I said softly.

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked with confusion.

"Well, this isn't a um…" I trailed off as Kiba looked like he was going to explode. He covered his mouth as his face turned red, and before I knew it, Kiba was in fits of laughs. It was that bad that he even had tears forming in his eyes.

"Nah!" He said, still laughing. "S-So, let m-me get this straight… Y-You thought that this was a…" Kiba's fits of laughter came back even louder this time. "A… D-Date?"

My face turned red.

"Well, how else can you explain how things are turning out?" I asked.

"This is what I do when I'm bored. I invite friends and other people out for lunch. I literally invite anyone. I even invited this one guy who I knew for like five minutes, and he wouldn't shut up about 'the spirit of youth!' So we got curry instead of ramen and then I had to run eight-hundred laps around the village…" Kiba replied as he stopped his laughing.

"Oh…" Now I'm embarrassed. "Well," I was at a loss for words.

Kiba looked at his watch. "Sorry, I have to go. It was a nice date…"

"What!?" I screamed.

"Ha! Gotcha! But seriously, I have to go; otherwise, my mother will kill me! Let's go Akamaru! See you later, Hikari!" Kiba called out to me as he and Akamaru left. (He has already cleaned up all of Akamaru's things.)

"Bye!" I called out. What have I just done?

~End of Flashback~

I mentally slapped myself. No! I am not having another memory of that idiot! No! I can't stand this stand! I laid down some ryo in front of myself and left.

I was walking back home and on the way, I heard something howling. It was coming from the Inuzuka compound. I scrunched up my face and with a huff, I walked away. I wonder if mother has recovered yet. I'm also wondering if the boys are going to be home…

~Howling at the Moon ~

I walked inside my house and quickly made a break to my room. I really wanted too just lie down and get some sleep. I lay myself down on my bed and dropped my eyes. I don't care at this moment that I am still in my day clothes; I just want to get that mutt out of my head.

Why is it that all of the sudden, that mutt is all I can think about? Once I get some sleep, my mind should be back to its old self again… Let's just hope that dog boy isn't acting like a total weirdo…

~Howling at the Moon~

I walked along the footpath, and just my luck, Kiba just so happened to walk out of the Inuzuka compound. Great… Now I get to watch him yell at dogs and hear him complaining about how 'hot' it is.

Kiba walked next to me with Akamaru walking besides him, his head lowered.

"Not too 'hot' is it, Inuzuka?" I asked with sarcasm.

"What are you talking about you idiot? This is the coldest Winter that we've had in a long time… Why would you think that it's hot?" Kiba replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me, dog breath? Yesterday you said, and I quote, 'It's too… Hot out here…Am I home…Yet…?'" I mocked.

"You really are an idiot! I would've remembered that!" Kiba yelled back. He then rubbed both of his arms while he shivered, and his teeth chattering.

I stopped walking and placed a hand on Kiba's forehead. He had a fever. His forehead could be a volcano waiting to erupt for all we know. Kiba flicked my hand away from his forehead.

"Don't touch me!" He screamed at me.

"Kiba, for heaven's sake, stop screaming. We're in public for crying out loud." I replied as I grabbed his wrist.

"I said 'don't touch me'! What do you think you're doing?" Kiba asked as I dragged him along.

"I'm taking you to Lady Tsunade. She should know what is wrong with you. It's starting to annoy me even more than you used to." I answered.

"Well maybe, you should stop dragging people along whenever you like! If you wanted me to see her than you should've asked!"

"Be quiet. We're in public. I thought that I have told you that already."

"Shut up! You can't tell me what to do!"

"I just did."

Kiba growled and with that, nothing more was said. Yeah, that's what I thought…

~Howling at the Moon~

We have made it to the Hokage's office and now we are checking out what could be the mutt's deal… Tsunade and I talked in private while Kiba was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, pouting.

"So what's been happening with him…?" Tsunade asked so quietly that only I could hear her.

"We'll first, he was complaining about being really hot yesterday, even though it was pretty cool… He's also been having…Anger issues. He is yelling at his dogs like he doesn't even care. Then today, he forgot all about what happened with the heat and the yelling and well, he still had his anger issues, then he came down with a fever and was shivering like crazy…" I explained.

Tsunade glanced over at Kiba, who glared right back at her.

"What? What are you looking at?" Kiba yelled. Tsunade glared right back at him and turned back to me.

"I can see what you mean with his anger… It could just be a common cold, but he looked perfectly fine yesterday…" Tsunade trailed off as she walked over to Kiba. Akamaru whimpered. I looked at him, but then followed Tsunade over to Kiba.

"Do you mind?" Kiba yelled at Tsunade as she put a hand on his forehead. "Has nobody here ever heard of personal space?"

"Zip it Inuzuka!" I defended the Hokage. "Tsunade is trying to help you here."

"Shut up you idiot!" Kiba yelled at me.

"Stop it Kiba. Try to calm down!" Tsunade said to the brunette.

"You can't tell me what to do, grandma!" Kiba yelled. I could see that Tsunade was using all of her willpower to not hit him.

Tsunade removed her hand from Kiba's forehead and sighed.

"Well, you're right about the fever part too." Tsunade mumbled.

"Aren't I always right?" I asked.

Tsunade ignored me and reached for Kiba's injured arm, but Kiba grabbed tightly on Tsunade's wrist.

"What did I say about touching me?" Kiba said as his voice turned into a deep growl, revealing his fangs. Tsunade snatched her hand away from the growling brunette with a frown. Tsunade and I walked away from Kiba to talk in private once again.

"What are we going to do?" I asked with concern. No. I am not concerned about Kiba. I'm concerned about the next people that have to go on a mission with him.

"I need to have a look at that wound that Kiba received yesterday, but Kiba is too unstable, I'll need help holding him down…" Tsunade replied.

"You think that wound is what's causing this?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

Tsunade nodded slightly. Akamaru walked over to us with his head lowered. He then looked up at the two of us sadly and whimpered. It's obvious that the poor thing has never seen Kiba looking this scary before. I have to admit, even I am a little frightened. Kiba, that fool, the guy who couldn't stay still, the guy who would skip class to tick off the sensei, the guy who had the softest spot for dogs despite how fierce he can be in battle… There is no way in this world that that thing could be him…

"-To be honest, I can't stand sitting still… That's the reason I often get yelled at."

"-Hikari? As in 'light'?"

"-Man Beast Clone!"

"-You know what would make this place even better? Beef jerky! And lot's of it too!"

"-Yahoo!"

Kiba, because of whatever happened to you; I can't get you out of my head! I hate it! I really do!

As if on cue, a knock on the door attracted all of the attention in the room. Kiba groaned in annoyance, probably not wanting to see any more people…

"Who is it?" Tsunade asked.

"It's Shizune, milady." The voice from the outside said. Our eyes widened and we smiled.

"This couldn't be more perfect." I said to no one in particular.

"Enter!" Tsunade called out. The door opened with Tonton in Shizune's arms.

"I hope that I'm not interrupting anything…" Shizune said as Kiba gave her a mean glare.

"No, actually, I was just about to call for you… Come here…" Tsunade replied. Shizune walked over, a little uncomfortable with Kiba glaring at her every move.

"What's going on Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as she glanced over at the Inuzuka.

"Hikari will explain the situation to you…" Tsunade replied. I nodded and I began to explain what's been happening with Kiba.

…

"And that's why we need help holding him down…" I finished.

Shizune nodded.

"I'll do anything I can to help." She replied.

"Alright, you two hold him down while I check his wound now…" Tsunade ordered. Shizune and I nodded.

The two of us walked over to Kiba and stood in front of him. He glared up at us.

"What do you want?" He growled. Shizune and I didn't reply, instead we both stood on a foot each to prevent him from kicking and we grabbed onto the top of his arms and his wrists.

Kiba growled, but didn't say anything more. Tsunade pulled up the sleeve of his coat and removed the bandages that looked like they were wrapped on this morning. There was some dried up blood around the wound, but there was still some blood pouring out.

"Yesterday, you were facing ninja from the Hidden Mist, correct?" Tsunade asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah that's right… But what does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Well, ninja from the Hidden Mist often use poison to kill their enemies… But it seems like they have placed some sort of infection in this wound. I don't know why they didn't choose to kill Kiba with the poison… It's obvious that he didn't know that poison was their game… So killing him would've been simple… But instead, they chose to infect Kiba with something…" Tsunade explained.

I was wondering why it was so quiet now… I looked at the brunette, and it turns out that he had fallen asleep. Thank goodness that's over… Shizune and I let go of Kiba and stepped back a little.

"That infection caused all of this?" I asked, hoping that I heard right.

Tsunade nodded.

"But, are you able to stop it?" I asked. Tsunade did not respond.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"I'm not sure… I specialize in Medical Ninjutsu, not 'get rid of the random infection that you know nothing about Ninjutsu.'" Tsunade said as she folded her arms. I frowned. Well, this certainly wasn't helping… At all.

I looked back at the snoozing Inuzuka.

"What are we going to do with it?" I asked. I really don't think Kiba is a person anymore, just a monster.

Tsunade sighed. "We'll need someone to keep an eye on him…" She then looked at me. My eyes widened.

"No! No, no, no, no, no! There is no way that I am going to spend my time, keeping an eye on this idiot! You can forget it!" I yelled at the Hokage, knowing what she was thinking.

"I think you are forgetting who you are talking to, Hikari. I am the Hokage, and you will do what I say. Besides, you were the one who brought him here. So, I am holding you responsible…" Tsunade replied to me as she wrapped new bandages around Kiba's bleeding arm.

I sighed in defeat. There was no way that I was going to get around this. "Fine…" I moaned, looking down at the shaking dog near my leg. I picked him up and stroked him gently.

"It's going to be okay, boy…" I said softly.

A/N: And so, there is the first chapter to Howling at the Moon! I hope that you all liked it! Usually I would like to have puns and stuff in it, but those might come later…

Review please! I am still doing my other Naruto story, I just did this for fun. I want to get something done this year… Besides, if I didn't write this down then the thought wouldn't stop annoying me…

To be continued…