#if only kakashi had had a grown-up who *actually* cared about him as opposed to the third hokage's performance of affection

[sumigakure]

To: @will-zeke-thomson

From: @fullmetalruby / @pwnie3

Title: a refuge for my spirit’s sake

Rating: Teen

Wordcount: 3755

Prompt: Kiba Inuzuka is a “Bad boy” who looks tough and has a reputation for starting fights and a few run ins with the law for things but only gets in trouble because he doesn’t tolerate bad animal owners. He brings home strays to take care of. Shaggy and unkempt Kiba, piercings and tattoos, Kiba smart enough to one day be a vet like his sister, his friends supporting him but at the same time “Can you not call me at 3 am to bail you out of jail again?”, animal cuddling and shenanigans, Kiba and Naruto interactions.

Warning/Notes: Cursing, Kakashi is implied to be a bit of a floozy, Kakashi and Naruto speak to each other in Spanish for the most part but there’s translations

(It starts with Kiba following his sister’s path, and while he is very good at following he has always followed Hana a few steps behind and to the left.)

Naruto has always been on the fence about this whole “law” thing. Sometimes statues need to be defaced. Sometimes people need to get embarrassed in public. Sometime in his youth Naruto decided that “vandalism” and “public disturbance” are just things cops made up to take the fun out of life.

But that said, Naruto is usually alone in the police station at 1:15 AM, save for whatever unfortunate cop was stuck on what he knows to be called “Naruto Watch” while they wait for Kakashi to come pick him up.

Instead of solitude, Naruto finds himself staring down Kiba Inuzuka.

He’s not about to pretend that Kiba isn’t a bit threatening: Kiba is the same age as Naruto, 16, and has been wearing leather jackets and multiple ear piercings since before Naruto even met him. It might just be the fact that Naruto’s been awake since 4:30 this morning, but he could almost swear that the leather jacket is moving and making noise.

Kiba looks fit to murder, and from the look on Mrs. Inuzuka’s face when she shows up to get Kiba, it’s either a resting murder face or murder is an inherited hobby.

“What did you do?” She demands, grabbing Kiba by the ear and hoisting him out of his seat like a ragdoll.

Officer Whatshisnuts over behind the desk hands Mrs. Inuzuka the report without even asking. Is Kiba a repeat offender too, and has Naruto just never seen him before? Either way, his mom skims the report, never letting go of her son, and eventually snaps it shut.

She turns to Kiba. “Come on. Home.”

Kiba makes dead eye contact with Naruto on his way out, and he fights to not shiver.

In the end, Kakashi doesn’t actually make it to the station until after 2. Judging by the shirt he’s wearing (which, if going by the size, isn’t his), the expression on his face, and the blooming hickeys on his neck, the officer– who Naruto has learned is new to this precinct and is named Yahiko– interrupted an impromptu date night with his squeeze of the week.

Serves the guy right. By this point, Kakashi should know better than to think he can get anything done at night during a school break.

“Tell me, was it vandalism, public disturbance, or harassment this time?” Kakashi snarks as he waits for Yahiko to process Naruto’s release. “You’ve been inconsistent lately.”

“Breaking and entering,” Naruto answers without hesitation. “And vandalism, but that’s beyond the point.”

Kakashi fixes Naruto with a Look, turns away, then starts gossiping with Yahiko. It becomes quickly apparent that Kakashi is flirting. Also apparent is Yahiko’s reciprocation.

“Kashi, I wanna go home. It’s late,” Naruto says, tugging on his cousin’s sleeve.

The older man doesn’t skip a beat. “Suffer,” he intones, and Naruto picks Kakashi’s pocket for his phone. Predictably, Kakashi doesn’t have Sasuke in his contacts, but Naruto memorized Sasuke’s number ages ago.

“I don’t know what’s more pathetic,” Sasuke opens. “That you’re calling me at half past two in the morning, or that I picked up.”

“Definitely that you picked up,” Sakura says from the side, because of course she’s there too. “Or that Naruto is calling from the contact Sasuke has saved as ‘Naruto got arrested again’. What’s up with that?”

“I’m on Kakashi’s phone. Mine is still in evidence somewhere.”

Sasuke hums. “Was it vandalism or public disturbance?” he asks.

Naruto huffs. “I really wish people would stop asking that. I’m not that predictable.”

“Yes you are,” Sasuke and Sakura chorus. Naruto wants to be insulted with how prompt their answer was, but he really can’t.

“Whatever. I’m not gonna ask what you two are doing together after midnight on a weekday. But I’ll tell you that after I got picked up for breaking and entering–” Naruto stresses the new offense– “you guys will never guess who I met at the station.”

Sakura makes a contemplative sound. “Was it Shika and Chouji again? I think Ino said something about getting blazed in the park tonight.”

Somehow, Naruto gets the impression that Ino only told Sakura because she was pissed about being the designated sober person at that particular party, though that thought may come from the fact that he watched Ino hurrying the boys past the station at about 1:30.

“Nah. I saw them, though. Try again.”

“Was Sai vandalizing buildings again?” Sasuke groans. “He’s not home and Obito’s going spare.”

“If your cousin got arrested, then he wasn’t brought here. No, I saw Kiba Inuzuka.”

For a moment, the other end of the line is silent. “You saw him and survived?” Sakura asks. “Last time I heard, he switched classes for like, the third time because he kept getting into fights.”

“What did he do to get arrested?”

Naruto picks at a hangnail. “I dunno. The officer just handed Missus Inuzuka the file and she walked away.”

Sasuke groans. “Well, was he covered in blood or anything?”

“Not so much blood, more like, dirt and animal hair. I think that’s normal?” Naruto says. “I think he had more piercings than last time I saw him, but it’s been a hot sec.”

“Well, if there’s nothing really interesting that went on tonight, Sasuke and I should go back to studying. And you should gank Kakashi’s car keys and go home. You need sleep,” Sakura states, mother-henning him as always.

“You say that like I need sleep more than you do, Sak.”

Sasuke snorts. “Sleep is for people who don’t want a hundred percent. Goodnight, Naruto.”

Then, like a bastard, he hangs up. Asshole. Whatever. Kakashi needs sleep just as much as Naruto does, and if he’s forgotten that then Naruto is very good at reminding him.

He returns Kakashi’s phone to his cousin’s pocket without ceremony. Kakashi peers down at him with his real eye. “And what did Sasuke and Sakura have to say about your near-death experience with the opposing six-year-old?”

“If I’m eight then you’re only twenty, and that means you can’t buy alcohol. And, they said to make you take me home because it’s late and I need to go to bed.”

Kakashi hums. “Fair point. toddlers get cranky when they’re tired, after all.” He turns to Yahiko and smiles at him through the surgical mask. “Could I get my dear, sweet little cousin’s things, Yahiko? He needs his beauty sleep.”

Yahiko nods quickly, and soon enough Kakashi has not only Naruto’s belongings in hand, but a little slip of paper with Yahiko’s number on it too, and then they make their way home.

Naruto shreds Yahiko’s number, but Kakashi has already arranged a date.

Given that he doesn’t remember very much about Kiba, Naruto asks Ino the next day at lunch.

(Okay, yeah, Ino is technically Sakura’s friend and not Naruto’s, but she’s also the biggest source of information for anyone who needs to know anything on campus.)

For a moment she stares at him like he’s grown an extra head, then she squints like she’s remembering seeing Naruto through the station door, and finally she demands to copy his Spanish homework before he gets another word out of her.

“Okay. What do you want to know?” She asks once she’s finished stealing his answers.

Naruto leans forward. “Anything and everything you can tell me about Kiba Inuzuka.”

She taps her chin with her eraser. “Well, he gets in trouble a lot. Fights, you know? Also breaking and entering, stealing, all that fun stuff. He doesn’t get expelled because admin is more scared of his mom than they are of like, all the other parents combined, and also she might be banging Principal Senju? I dunno, sources are murky on that. But like, I guess it started when his sister went off to college, but that’s when he stopped hanging out with me, so I don’t have the real deets there.”

He kinda feels like this is going to be on a test somewhere– why does Kiba Inuzuka act the way he does? Because a) his sister left, b) his father was killed by a six-fingered man, c)…– but instead of taking notes Naruto just nods along and tries to commit it to memory.

“He sticks to the yard during lunch, always sits in the back of the classroom and all that. The only people I ever see him hanging around are Shino and Hinata, and sometimes that Sabakuno kid,” Ino continues.

Gaara? Wait, no, Gaara has a brother, and Kankurou is much more the type of person who would want to hang out around a guy like Kiba. Not to mention that Ino wouldn’t be caught dead referring to Temari as “that Sabakuno kid” when she knows that Temari has ears like a bat and fists like lightning.

Ino rocks back in her chair. “That’s about all I can think of right now. Proofread my Spanish essay due tomorrow and I’ll see what else I can dig up.”

“No thanks,” Naruto says. Not that he doesn’t want more info on Kiba, but he’s shit at essays and his edits are only going to lower her overall grade.

He retreats to Sasuke and Sakura, placated with this new knowledge.

It takes a hot sec for fate to throw Naruto and Kiba together again, but in the end she does her work and, at 9:45 PM on a Saturday, Naruto ends up waiting for the bus under the same awning as Kiba.

Both of them are silent as they wait and Kiba is brooding, clutching something in a cloth bag close to his chest. Naruto rocks back on his heels. He debates whistling, but he’s hiding from the cops right now– Kakashi’s been ghosting the shit out of Yahiko, who probably should have known better than to put out on a first date with a man who was sporting hickeys and someone else’s shirt when they met, and he’s made it clear that if he has to go pick up Naruto while Yahiko is on shift again then he’s sending Gai– and sound isn’t conducive to remaining unarrested.

When the bus comes, it’s empty except for the driver. The driver looks ready to keel over, so Naruto just scans his bus pass and moves to the back. Kiba follows.

They don’t say a word to each other for an uncomfortable few minutes, but that’s when Naruto decides that if Kiba didn’t want to talk, he wouldn’t have sat so close to Naruto on an empty bus.

He peers at the bag out of the corner of his eye. “So,” he drawls, extending the vowel further than necessary. “How’s about that weather?”

Kiba glares at him. “It’s pouring rain, and the forecast says it’s supposed to start snowing tomorrow. How do you think I feel about the weather?

Naruto shrugs. “Some people like the snow.”

Kiba moves suddenly, closer to Naruto than he’d like in an instant. Naruto starts praying. Then Kiba opens the bag in his arms, and Naruto closes his eyes, expecting some souvenir of murder–

Then, a tiny sound makes him look. The bag is full, not of severed fingers, but of five tiny, drenched kittens.

“Found ‘em on my way home from a friend’s house. Alley a few blocks back.” Kiba scratches the head of one of the kittens. “Little guys like these won’t survive in the snow, and I only have so much room at my house.”

“I’ll take one!” Naruto exclaims before he knows what he’s doing. Kakashi is going to kill him. Or maybe this will finally curb Kakashi’s boyfriend habit. Or maybe Kakashi’s dogs will kill the tiny creature.

Kakashi can’t get rid of what he doesn’t know about, Naruto’s mind supplies, and he smiles.

Kiba looks like he’s been slapped. “You want one?”

Nodding, Naruto reaches over and pets a red kitten. “And I can think of someone else who needs a cat too.”

“Do you even know how to take care of a cat?” Kiba asks incredulously.

Naruto pouts. “Of course I do. My parents used to have one, and my cousin has a few dogs. It’s not that different, right?”

Immediately, Kiba fluffs up like an animal on the defensive. “Not that different?”

And just like that, he launches into a lecture on proper cat care, and specifically proper kitten care. Naruto learns more in those ten minutes than he ever did in school, and by the end he’s kinda zoned out.

But fuck, has Kiba always been this pretty when he talks?

Not that Naruto has ever really watched Kiba talk before; they only ever exchanged a few words before Kiba stopped hanging out with most people, and this is the first conversation they’ve had since, but goddamn. Are all people this gorgeous when they get passionate, or it that just Kiba?

Yes, Naruto decides. Sakura gets like this when she talks about wrestling, and Sasuke is at his most ethereal when rambling about recent advancements in biochemistry. Maybe everyone is just pretty at all times.

After a while, Kiba just stops talking and makes a grabby motion at Naruto. “Gimme your phone. I’m just gonna text you all of this.”

Mutely, Naruto does so, and Kiba sends himself a text using Naruto’s phone. As soon as he has, he sets down the bag full of kittens on the seat between them, and Naruto is immediately drawn to a little red one.

Okay, so that’s the one he’s keeping for himself. Then he picks another, this time the tiniest of the litter, a black ball of fluff that hisses weakly at him when he tries to pick it up.

“He won’t hurt you. Their teeth can’t do much right now,” Kiba reassures. “It might sting a bit, but there’s no way he’ll break skin.”

Kiba spends the rest of the bus ride showing Naruto how to properly hold a kitten (“Supposedly there’s a right way to do this, but cats are essentially made of rubber so I wouldn’t be too worried. Just put them down when they squeak and you should be fine.”) and telling him about the best kinds of cat food.

Eventually, when Naruto’s stop draws near, he sticks a kitten into each inside pocket of his jacket and zips it up. Kiba looks at him funny, but doesn’t say anything, so as long Naruto’s careful to not bump into anything he figures he’ll be fine.

Naruto’s phone buzzes with a text from Kiba already. “Come by that address tomorrow morning, and I’ll hook you up with all the proper cat care equipment.”

The bus stop is about a block away from the apartment Naruto shares with Kakashi and his buddy Gai, and he spends the entire walk there trying to calm down and be inconspicuous.

It’s late enough that he almost expects Kakashi to already be asleep when he gets home, and he knows that Gai is always in bed at 9, so he lets himself in and tries to be quiet. The dogs don’t all maul him when he walks in, so he thinks that maybe they’ve already been put to bed–

Kakashi calls out a greeting from the living room. Damn.

He contemplates just going straight to his room and pretending that he didn’t hear his cousin, but decides in an instant that it would be a bad idea and proceeds to join Kakashi.

Bull immediately walks over to Naruto and ruts his head against Naruto’s hand and jacket, and one of the kittens in Naruto’s pocket lets out a tiny mewl.

Like a hawk on the hunt, Kakashi’s eyes narrow and he puts his book down. <span title=”This is a dog house.”>“Esta es una casa de perro.”</span>

<span title=”I know, but one of my classmates doesn’t have space at his house for all of them.”>“Lo sé, pero uno de mis compañeros no tiene espacio en su casa para todos ellos.”</span> Naruto hunched in on himself. He knew that this was the inevitable outcome. How long did he expect to keep a cat (or two) secret from a guy like Kakashi? <span title=”Besides, one of them is for Sasuke.”>“Además, uno de los gatitos es para Sasuke.”</span>

Kakashi groans. <span title=”That doesn’t make it any better. You still brought home two cats without asking.”>“Eso no lo hace mejor.Todavía trajiste a casa a dos gatos sin preguntar.”</span>

<span title=”It’s not like I can give them back now. I made a commitment.”>“No es como si los pudiera devolver ahora. Hice un compromiso.”</span> Naruto rebutts. Also it’s his only excuse to see Kiba again, which is something he’s interested in retaining.

Burying his face in his hands, Kakashi sighs. He doesn’t say anything, then sighs again. <span title=”I’ll bring it up with Gai in the morning.”>”Lo llevaré con Gai por la mañana.”</>

And Naruto knows he’s won: Gai will be on his side. If for no other reason than to disagree with Kakashi on something that won’t get him in trouble.

(Why aren’t Gai and Kakashi married already? Oh yeah, because Kakashi is an emotionally constipated twink who doesn’t know how to differentiate between love, lust, and friendship, and Gai is waiting for Kakashi to make the first move.

Idiots, both of them.)

He bids Kakashi goodnight, and retreats to his room before Kakashi can say anything else.

The next morning sees Naruto grabbing the two kittens from the sock drawer where they slept– he’s named the red one Kurama, but the black one is gonna be Sasuke’s so it’s yet nameless– plugging the address Kiba texted him into Google Maps, and borrowing Kakashi’s ugly mom van.

He probably should have figured it would be a pet supply store, but he’s still pleasantly surprised (disappointed?) when he arrives at Tsume’s Pet Supply. He had half been hoping it was Kiba’s house.

10:37 AM

Naruto to Kiba

Naruto: im here where r u

Kiba: come inside

The interior of the store is rows upon rows of different kinds of food, toys, bowls, leashes, and tiny outfits for every kind of pet that’s legal to own in the country and probably some that aren’t. Across one wall is an array of pens, each with an attendant or two and easily a dozen pets inside per employee.

One of the dog attendants is Kiba.

He looks radiant: the sun through the window opposite him is casting him in golden light and making him look like he’s been dipped in honey. His shaggy hair is pulled back, not into a ponytail but half of one, and his t-shirt in the warm interior of the store leaves his arms bare and actually fucking tattoos visible.

There, on Kiba’s bicep, Naruto can see a name inside a heart, but he can’t quite make out what the name is. Crawling up from his wrists are messes of vines in black or dark green. Small purple flowers peek out from between the tendrils– on his right, they’re lavender. On his left, indigo.

Is it possible to fall in love in twelve hours? No, of course not you idiot, says a voice that sounds suspiciously like Sasuke in the back of his head. Shut up Sasuke.

Kiba spots him and extracts himself from the mess of dogs he’d had in his lap. As quick as winking, Kiba is by Naruto’s side.

“I will admit, I did not expect you to actually show up, much less this early,” Kiba opens. “Did you bring the cats with you?”

Naruto nods. “I was hoping to take the second one to my friend right after this, so yeah.”

Kiba beckons Naruto to follow him further into the store, right to the cat section. He snags a cart on the way, and passes it to Naruto. “You’ll need this. You’re getting two of everything, right?”

Again, Naruto nods. Glancing at the prices on some of these items, he realizes that Sasuke is never getting another Christmas present from Naruto for the rest of his life.

Kiba loads the cart with what he deems to be the kitten essentials, and Naruto surreptitiously checks his account balance to see if he can afford all this. Probably? God he hopes so.

He ends up just barely being able to afford everything in his cart, and Naruto praises every god he can name.

“Are you dingle?” He blurts out just as Kiba is handing him his receipt.

Kiba raises an eyebrow. “Am I what?”

“Dingle! Ningle!” He takes a breath. “Single! Are you single!”

The other teen smiles. “Yeah. What about it?”

Seeing Kiba Inuzuka smile is like watching the sun rise, if the sun could literally bite your ear off and then probably howl over your corpse. Naruto never wants him to stop.

“Can I make you not single?” Naruto asks lamely.

Kiba’s grin grows wider, and he quickly scribbles something on the back of Naruto’s receipt. “Hell yeah you can.”

Sasuke answers his door to find his best friend looking blazed off his ass, and holding three large shopping backs and a kitten.

“Merry Christmas, sauce gay,” Naruto hums. “I got you a cat.”

He doesn’t know how to react. When did he ever say he wanted a cat? That said, he never said he didn’t want a cat, and to Naruto those things are synonymous, so Sasuke takes the fluffy black kitten from Naruto’s grasp and looks into it’s angry little eyes and immediately knows what to call it.

“It’s name is Madara,” he announces.

“What’s named Madara?” Obito asks, poking his head into the hallway.

Sasuke holds up the kitten. Obito starts to lose his shit. “You’re naming a cat after our great uncle?”

“Yeah? I don’t see your point.” Sasuke pulls Naruto into the house. “What’s got your head in the clouds?”

Naruto flops down on the recliner as soon as they enter Sasuke’s room. “I have a boyfriend now.”

Sasuke looks at Naruto, then at the bags he dropped next to Sasuke’s bed, then at the cat, then back to Naruto. “Naruto Uzumaki, tell me you’re not referring to the school delinquent Kiba Inuzuka. Please. For my own sanity.”

He has the decency to look a little bit ashamed of himself, then mimes zipping his lips shut.

“God damnit, Naruto.”

#Prompt Fill #rated: T #submission #sumigakure #sumigakure winter wishes #sumigakure winter wishes 2018 #fullmetalruby #pwnie3

[silverfootstepswrites]

Butterfly [41]

summary And every chapter has a beginning.

There was an old torii on the western edge of Konoha. The red gate was faded and weather-worn. Sakura remembered Kiba’s grandmother scolding them when she caught them trying to climb up it many years ago. 

Sakura paused in front of the torii now. She tilted her head back, tracing the straight lines of those wooden posts with her eyes. Many years ago, some people had proposed repainting the gate. But so many had opposed it that the idea had been rejected. And in a way, Sakura was glad that the idea had never passed. Because she liked seeing the age and those chipped spots. 

There was something special about that gate. It didn’t do anything magical. Walking through it led to a regular street. And it wasn’t as if there was some amazing story attached to it. It was just... there. Always had been.

As Sakura stared at it, she decided that that was what made it special. Just like the buildings, like the people, it was special because it belonged there. She gave the gate a pat before she walked past.

Sakura didn’t realize how exhausted she had been until she crossed the threshold to her home. After three drinks and some salty snacks, Kiba dropped her off at her front door. She remembered her head hitting the pillow. She opened her eyes nearly 11 hours later, baffled, and not entirely certain that she wasn’t dead. Or that a year hadn’t passed. Rather than refresh her, her long sleep left her a little hazy. 

She sat up, wearing the joggers and sweatshirt she had been wearing on the plane. Her suitcase sat still fully-packed in the corner. Squinting, she grabbed her phone to check Instagram. The blue light from the screen blinded her for the first few seconds. She replied to a few tweets. Scrolled through her emails. And only then did she roll out of bed to wash her face.

When she went outside to check her mailbox, Sakura found Akamaru sitting at her front door. His tongue hung out, tail thumping against the concrete step. Rubbing her eyes, Sakura moved past him to pull the envelopes from her mailbox. And then she stopped in the doorway. 

“I’m tired, Akamaru. Come back tomorrow,” she yawned. Akamaru’s tail continued to wag back and forth. 

“Go home, Akamaru,” Sakura tried again. His tail swished even harder. 

Sakura sighed.

“...Let me go change.”

The morning cool should have helped perk her up. Konoha was still lively, even in the wintertime. People who didn’t know this area would miss everything. They would mistake the morning calm for silence. But Sakura could spot the little things.

Old Man Sarutobi, out for his morning walk, waved at her. He headed down the street, toward the market street where white curls of steam rose into the sky from the bakery. Bells clanged in the distance as the fishermen came in with their morning catch. Metal doors rattled up as the storekeepers opened up for the day. There was the distant beep of a truck backing up near the docks. And when she passed the houses, sometimes she could even hear people calling to each other. 

On that day, Sakura deviated from her usual path. And Akamaru seemed happy to follow along on this new adventure. She weaved through the town, past the public bath and the old bookstore. She passed Genma’s bar, which had closed several hours ago. She knew that Genma would be fast asleep after a long night of pouring shochu and wiping glasses. Down the street, she spotted the butcher on his bike. He waved, ringing his little bell as he passed. 

Feet hitting the pavement, she traced the path of the railroad tracks until they arrived at the Inuzuka Animal Clinic. Akamaru barked as he bounded down the familiar walkway. Next door was the house that the Inuzuka family had occupied for many, many years. Akamaru barked again. But to Sakura’s surprise, Akamaru didn’t leap over the fence to wake Kiba. Instead, he began pawing at the back door of the clinic. 

Sakura heard a window open. And then Kiba’s voice drifted from inside the little building.

“Haruno, is that you?” he yelled.

“Yeah. I brought Akamaru,” she replied.

There was a pause. And then Kiba stuck his head out the window. His hair stuck up in every direction. Eyes barely opened. The stretched-out collar of his t-shirt had been yanked over his head over and over. He let out a huge yawn before he jerked his head.

“Come inside. I gotta show you something,” he said to her. 

The back door to the clinic was open when she tried the knob. Akamaru darted inside, tail wagging. Sakura followed the pooch’s path through the back, around storage shelves. She passed the bathroom and the laundry room. The washer was already rumbling through a wash cycle. The cages in the back were mostly empty. A small, watery-eyed dog lifted its head when she approached. It had a bright pink cast on its front paw. Sakura paused to pet its muzzle before she moved on. 

Sakura found Kiba in one of the exam rooms. He wore sweatpants and the distinct air of someone who had just rolled out of bed. He hadn’t even bothered to shave. 

Kiba was crouched over a cardboard box. And when she stepped into the room, he moved to the side. She crouched beside him. Before she could ask about what was going on, she looked into the box. A squeal escaped her. 

“Oh! Inuzuka!” she breathed. 

The box was lined with blue towels. In the corner lay a dark gray cat. Its eyes narrowed before it let out a lazy meow. She recognized the red ribbon tied around its neck. It was Old Man Sarutobi’s cat. And crowded around the cat’s belly were four wriggling shapes each no bigger than the palm of her hand. 

“Kittens!” Sakura gasped. She scrunched up into a ball, hands fisting on her knees. Her eyes widened as Kiba picked up one of the kittens. He turned it around so she could glimpse its little face, eyes still squinted shut. It let out a tiny mewl and she felt her heart squeeze. 

“You wanna hold him?” Kiba offered. And before she could respond, he took her wrist. He deposited the kitten in her hands. Sakura froze for a moment. It was so warm and so soft. And its high-pitched mewls made her want to cry. 

“Oh. He’s perfect,” she whispered. Her hands closed around the kitten, careful not to squeeze too tight. She lifted the kitten closer to her eyes. She took in the pink nose and mouth. Tiny ears and delicate paws. The grey fuzz that covered his whole body.

“You wanna keep him?” 

Sakura barely heard him. She knew he had said something, so she lifted her chin, expression a little dazed. 

Kiba’s right elbow rested on his knee. And his head leaned to the side, resting against his shoulder. He was watching her, a smile on his face. Kiba started a little when Akamaru wormed his way under his arm. Kiba patted Akamaru’s neck, accepting a few licks. 

“Wait. What?” Sakura said as Kiba’s words finally processed in her brain. 

Kiba stared right back, still smiling. Akamaru’s muzzle rested on his knee now.

“Old Man Sarutobi says he doesn’t have the energy or the room for four new cats. And I’d rather not give them away to strangers,” Kiba explained. 

Sakura peered back down at the kitten. 

“I’ve never even had a pet before, Inuzuka. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she replied. Kiba didn’t say anything, so she went on. “And... I’m not really sure I could do it. I mean... maybe... I don’t know. Maybe I’m too selfish.” 

Sighing, she set the kitten back down in the box, right beside its mother. She watched as it stumbled its way around. Wriggling past its siblings to try to find a place to nurse. Its tail was just a stubby little triangle.

“You sleep okay last night?” Kiba queried.

Sakura snorted as she recalled the conversation from the night before. Although the mission had been to get her to describe her trip to Nagoya in excruciating detail, things had gone a bit sideways. After the first drink, they had started talking about high school. And the night ended with them howling with laughter as Sakura told the story of how Kiba had dressed up as a woman to prank Kakashi on Valentine’s Day.

“I still can’t believe that you did that,” Sakura said. 

“Yeah. We did a lot of dumb shit when we were kids,” sighed Kiba, smiling. There was a pause. 

In that silence was possibility. They could have gone on talking about the past, recalling old memories. Like dusting off an old box to shuffle through the photos inside. Instead, grunting, Kiba got to his feet. 

“Ma’s making breakfast. You wanna stay to eat?” he offered, along with his hand. Sakura accepted both. 

“Yeah. I’m starving.”

Monday came. A few students asked her about being on TV. Some lamented that they hadn’t seen her skating. Naruto stuck by her, shooing each one away. The way he put his hand on his hip made him look like his mother. All he needed was a red wig. Sakura didn’t say this- especially since he was actually being quite helpful. 

“Sensei, we saw you crying on TV. That was so cute!” one of the second years laughed. He dodged when Naruto kicked at him. 

“Honestly. These kids should be going to class,” Naruto grumbled. 

The irony of that statement seemed to go right over his head. She smiled, choosing not to say anything as he followed her up to the library. 

“Don’t feel bad, Nee-chan. My whole family was crying during his free,” he then assured her. She heard a slight gruffness in his voice.

“Thanks, Naruto. Look at you all grown up and trying to comfort me,” she replied, nudging him with her elbow. Naruto grinned. As the bell for first period rang, Sakura shooed him off to class. But not before she scolded him for not calling her ‘sensei’. 

Sakura distributed her souvenirs from Nagoya during lunchtime. She had expected Shizune and Kurenai to pounce on her to grill her about what they had seen during the Grand Prix. Instead, they were so well-behaved that it was a little suspicious. In fact, as Sakura looked around the room, there were only two types of responses: Either people smiled too hard or they avoided looking at her altogether. 

“You all saw, huh?” she guessed. 

“Orochimaru-sensei explained it to us,” replied Lee, peering out from behind an English textbook. 

“Well. Any questions?” asked Sakura. 

There was a pause. And then Asuma lifted his hand. Stopped himself halfway as he realized that he could just speak.

“So... how long are you gonna keep pretending you two’re still married?” he questioned.

“At least until the end of this skating season. I’m not sure. We didn’t really think this through,” Sakura answered.

“Clearly,” muttered Shikamaru, chin in his hand. 

“We saw pictures of you two on dates. Were those fake?” Kurenai inquired. 

“Completely,” Sakura confirmed.

“See? I told you!” Kurenai hissed to Shizune. 

“Anything else?” asked Sakura. 

Everyone looked around the room. But no one else spoke up. 

“Cool. Any other questions about this matter, please direct them to my secretary,” Sakura concluded, gesturing towards Shikamaru. Who glared at her, but didn’t try to deny the title. 

Sakura had expected everyone to be a little more nosey. But apparently Orochimaru had done a good enough job of explaining the situation. Lunch was instead filled with the usual chit-chat. As Sakura munched through chunks of steamed carrot, she noticed that someone was missing. 

“I saw him this morning. He’s here,” Shikamaru replied when she asked. 

With a few minutes left in lunch, Sakura headed down the hall to the art room. She could see a light on inside. She knocked, just to be polite, before she slid the door open. 

There was a big canvas set up on an easel. It faced away from the window. All she could see was the back of the canvas, along with the big jar of water set on the counter beside it. And as the door slid, Itachi’s head popped up from behind the canvas. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He leaned over to wave past the canvas.

“Oh. Sorry. Are you busy?” Sakura said, hesitating in the doorway. Itachi shook his head. He took off his glasses. Wiped his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt. Blue smudged onto his brow bone. Sakura gestured at her own face.

“Um. You’ve got a little...” she told him.

Itachi looked down at his hands. There was paint on both of them. Sakura stepped over to help him. She looked around to see if there was a paper towel or a cloth. When she found none, she reached into her pocket for her handkerchief. It was white with a yellow border. She used it to dab at Itachi’s face. Using careful movements to wipe the paint away. 

“You look busy,” she commented. 

Itachi closed his eyes. And she realized that his eyelashes were quite long. Before he could catch her staring, she resumed rubbing at the streak of paint. The little space heater in the corner of the room rumbled to life. 

“I wanted to try painting something not for teaching purposes. It’s been a while,” he told her. 

“Do you mind if I look?” Sakura asked. Because up until now, she had kept her gaze trained on his face. She figured the rules of art were sort of like the rules of a new skating routine. You didn’t look until you were asked. 

Itachi opened his eyes. They weren’t black, like she thought. They were brown, almost a little red towards the pupil. It was such an unexpected color that she couldn’t help but smile. Itachi looked confused, but he smiled back. And then he gave her a nod.

Sakura turned to look at the canvas. It was incomplete, but the side that was filled in showed some sort of river or canal walled by concrete. Plum blossoms bordered the walkway, growing tinier and tinier as they blurred into the distance. It was a little strange, seeing half the canvas in color while the other side only bore faint pencil sketches. 

The sky was powder blue, the plum blossoms were pink, and the concrete was the beige-grey she expected. But as she drank in the scene, something in her chest expanded. A feeling that she couldn’t possibly be feeling. When she turned to Itachi, she realized that he had been watching her. And he seemed a little nervous. 

“This makes me feel.... “ Sakura hesitated. Looked over the canvas again. “...sad?”

And then she shook her head. “No. Not sad. It’s more like- you know that feeling when you pick up a book you read when you were a kid? Seeing it again?” she rambled, feeling a little crazy. 

“Nostalgic,” Itachi uttered. 

“Yes!” she exclaimed. She turned to him again. 

The look on his face startled her. He looked- not sad. Apparently ‘sad’ just wasn’t the word of the day. But to call him happy was wrong too. It was something in-between. 

“Nostalgic,” she repeated, holding his gaze. 

And when she couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore, she turned her attention back to the painting. “I feel like I miss this place. Even though I don’t even know where it is.”

“It’s Koto. Where I grew up,” Itachi informed her. He leaned back in his chair, arms crossing. “This is the path that I used to take to walk to school.”

“Oh,” was all Sakura could think to say. When she stole a glance at his face, she still couldn’t read his expression. And that bothered her.

“....I’m about to ask you a weird question,” she warned. His gaze flickered to her, lips curling up.

“Alright,” he agreed. 

Sakura looked down at her handkerchief. At the pretty shade of teal that stained the corner as she added, “And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Okay.”

Sakura hesitated for a moment longer. She took a deep breath before she asked, “How do you feel right now?”

“Health-wise?”

“Emotionally.”

Rubber soles squeaked down the corridor. The low hum of chatter followed. And then both sounds faded. Itachi clasped his hands together, fingers interlocking. 

“Hm.... well... glad to have good company...tired...and just a little homesick,” he listed. Each phrase was measured. 

Sakura realized that that was the way he always spoke. Itachi never stumbled over words or corrected himself. He took longer to say something, but when he did, he knew exactly what he wanted to say. As she realized this, she saw that he was smiling at her now. 

“Can I ask why you want to know?” he questioned. 

She squeezed her bare ring finger. 

“I’m beginning to realize that I kind of suck at reading people’s faces. And that I’m wrong.... a lot. So I figured I might as well ask,” she admitted. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him nodding. 

“That’s a little weird,” he said. She felt her cheeks begin to warm. Because she couldn’t help agreeing with him. 

“But I like it. Weird is good, I think,” Itachi added. 

Her blush deepened. He laughed at her. 

“Why’re you turning red?”

“Shut up. Don’t look at me,” she retorted, turning away from him. She fanned herself with one hand. But she burst into laughter as she felt him fanning her too. 

#writing #butterfly #itasaku