"Kiba Inuzuka,”
The fifth Hokage addresses the teenage ninja with scruffy brown hair and steely beast-like eyes in her serious and mature tone; which usually made people nervous, as you could never predict what she was going to say, or do the moments following it€. You could either be in deep trouble with her, or part of her good books, (an EXTREME luxury on the receiver’s part.) and you would NEVER be able to tell. “I have assigned a VERY important mission to you.” She adds; Kiba’s hair on the back of his neck stand on end. This could either be VERY good or VERY bad for him. The Feudal Lord in the Land of Fangs has requested to guard his daughter on the way to her coronation, as he is very ill." Her caramel coloured eyes narrow as she stares at him, making him feel EXTREMELY uneasy; the fifth could be a VERY scary woman or a very kind one if she wanted to, and the line to cross over from the kind side to the scary side was thinner than rice paper, and Kiba Inuzuka knew this very well, as his experience with this ‘line’ had come from living with Tsume Inuzuka, his very own Mother, who had in fact, was so scary, that she had scared off his Father. "The length of the journey should be three to six weeks from here. I understand it's a long journey, but the Feudal lord wanted his daughter kept secret from anyone who wanted to prevent her inheriting her rightful position, and kept her hidden far away." She adds to her instructions, Kiba making sure he takes in every word, because if he fails, all hell would break loose, in this very office, and also at home if his Mother found out, making it two times the feminine fury, which was enough to make the strongest of shinobi afraid of his own shadow.
"Understood."
Kiba nods, holding back shivers as he thought about the situation if he failed, also thinking how much of a pain in the behind the D-ranked mission will be, as very commonly, these girls were rather rude and or extremely spoiled, which made the mission in general, VERY difficult for the rough-terrain specialist, and not to mention that it would be even harder for him personally, as he did have a flaw of being short fused, very much like his fellow comrade, Naruto Uzumaki. "But why are you so serious about this, Lady Tsunade?" He asks what has been niggling at the back of his mind, for the past few minutes that he had been in front of the first female Hokage, curious, as these missions were usually very casual. "Because he specifically requested for YOU, Kiba, even though Tsuzumei Wagarashi can be rather tricky, knowing her reputation, and I’m concerned about your habit of being rather quick-tempered." Tsunade looks up from her interlocked fingers, Kiba sighing in defeat. He knew she would bring this up, and it didn’t help the fact that he really DID want to fix the imperfection, as it lead to recklessness, and as mentioned before, failure. But, instead of apologising and telling her his intentions of the matter as he should have done, he decided to cover it up, slightly embarrassed, and also thinking it would waste the precious time that he had left to prepare for the mission. "So, a feisty one huh? I guess that can be classed as attractive-"
"NO ROMANTIC INVOLVEMENT IS TO HAPPEN BETWEEN YOU OR THE HEIR TO THE LAND OF FANGS KIBA INUZUKA!"
Kiba is cut short as Tsunade screams and slams her hands down on her desk, making a large crack in it, almost breaking it in half, scaring the dog-handler and making his ninken partner jump in trepidation, seeing the Hokage’s rage in the damage that she had done to her very own workspace, hoping that their necks weren’t next.
"NOW look what you made me do!" She snarls, seeing her sake all over the floor in a puddle, bits of pottery mixed in with it; Kiba sensing this new mine-field. "Make sure you're ready to go in half an hour. The heir will be waiting for you at the gates." Shizune said calmly, interrupting the two’s state of pure fear and anxiety, rescuing them from Tsunade's fury, gesturing for them to leave with a flick of her head as she started to clean up the spilt beverage, Tsunade staring daggers at the pair, making shivers run up and down their spines, knowing that they should heed Shizune’s gesture. "Heh, um, Thanks Lady Hokage! Bye Shizune!" He blubbers, racing out the door in a hurried fashion, not unlike the prey of a wolf, slamming it so fast behind him he nearly got Akamaru's tail jammed in it, and leaning on the door afterwards to catch his breath, feeling as if the barrier was an invincible force against the woman’s angst, something in which probably did not exist in his world. "Whew!" He says aloud, and then turns to his faithful companion, relaxing now. "Sorry Old pal, you know that when Lady Tsunade is ticked off, the first thing you should do is run!"
He apologises about the earlier incident involving his best friend’s tail, his brother in action giving a whine in reply that only Kiba could understand: "I agree; I'm glad that Shizune was there to save us from her rage." Kiba chuckles a reply, and pushes himself off the door, knowing that he has to prepare for the dreaded mission. "Me too, Old pal, me too." He says in a more calm and relaxed tone, stretching out his arms as he starts to walk down the stair, away from the woman with a dragon’s temper. "Now c'mon buddy, we should head home and start packing. I have a feeling that Lady Tsunade wants us gone from the village to get over her spilled sake." He chuckles as he pats Akamaru's head, and they both trot off home, glad to be out of the Hokage's way, and Tsume’s too.
Half an hour later…
"Man Akamaru, now that I think about it, I really DON’T want to go on this mission."
Kiba grumbles to his faithful companion as he packs for the mission, speaking his mind, although Akamaru knew what his owner was thinking, as he read Kiba’s body language, so easy and clear to understand as he had sat by his side in that office that felt like the Dragon’s lair. "I take back what I said before about feisty being attractive. If she's gonna be a pain in the ass, it'll create a LOT of attention." He adds angrily, shoving extra kunai and his favourite brand of beef jerky in his back pack, slightly making him feel better about the mission as he did so, knowing that he was allowed to bring along his comfort food. "But Master, it is for the Heir to the land of Fangs, and it's getting you that much closer to becoming a Jonin." Akamaru barks gently to his Master, deciding to pretend that he didn’t read him like a child’s picture book, and just to try to make him feel better, in the least, as he knew that Kiba was very sensitive about his flaw. "I guess you're right." He sighs, slinging the pack over his shoulders, Akamaru feeling useless as he slid off of Kiba’s warm bed and left the bedroom, trailing him in his foul-ish mood, knowing he’d miss the scent and warmth of the sheets while he was away. "Bye Mom! See ya Sis!" Kiba calls to his family, both of them replying cheerily as he leaves for his big mission with Lady Tsuzumei. As he steps out onto the streets of Konoha, he walks briskly along the dirt roads to his destination of the front gates, the edge of his dark sandals being scuffed along the gravel in his state of reluctance and irritation, the sound of it ringing in Akamaru’s ears, making him slightly snappy as well, NOT a good combination of emotions to start a very important mission off with.
Soon afterwards…
When the pair reached the gates, they immediately pasted a happy and approachable attitude to their beings at the sight of a party of finely-dressed men, who, in which, were waiting for the two of them in the politest of ways, and four other men of extreme physical size waited for him also, making Kiba feel slightly intimidated. (As males do when being in the presence of larger men) Noticing that they were carrying an enclosed tent, which was about the size of a small room, he immediately thinks:
'That must be Lady Tsuzumei...'
He starts to wonder what she looks like, but shakes it out of his head as he remembers he has to introduce himself and his ninken to his new clients. "Good morning, I am Kiba Inuzuka, from the Inuzuka clan of the leaf, and this is my companion, Akamaru." He finds himself talking to them all in an old fashioned way, which surprises him and his faithful companion a lot. Nevertheless, he carries on anyway. "We understand our mission, and we shall put down our lives for her ladyship Tsuzumei." He adds, now hating how droll and boring the introduction he was giving sounded, but still confused as to why an unknown force was making him be so formal, as his introductions were usually quite the opposite, as it didn’t really matter to him, because he was there for a mission, not really to make friends. But, there was something about these people that was extremely familiar, and there was a sense of closeness, but he couldn’t put his finger on it…
"Thank you, Kiba Inuzuka."
The man who was dressed the finest addressed him, and at the same time, he thought he saw Lady Tsuzumei close the flap of the tent, and what surprised him even more was that he could not being able to identify her properly, even with his sharp vision. "My Name is Hizou Kikomashi, the vizier.” The kindly old man’s voice snapped him back into reality by starting off again. “We ALL appreciate your help in our time of need, and on the behalf of the Feudal Lord of the land of Fangs, we thank you." He bows to him, and Kiba of course bows back, not wanting to look rude; and besides, it was customary. "We appoint you as leader and navigator of this party, as the job description states." Hizou bows his head slightly with a grin on his face, and then stands aside. "But we have just recently stopped for refreshments, so there will be no need to in the upcoming days." He adds, and Kiba just nods his head again, understanding perfectly what he needed to do so far. "Alright, we shall continue on with our journey." Hizou orders and the four burly men hoist the tent on their shoulders, Hizou and the other well dressed men taking to their sides, Kiba now in the lead with Akamaru...
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