Angel's Touch

Artemis: Well, I’m updating now because the next week I’ll be visiting my dad in Indiana for my spring break. He doesn’t know I’m coming either. ^^ It’s a surprise. But yeah, he doesn’t have internet at his house so I’ll be deprived of the online world for seven days. But that’s cool. I’ll play Oblivion and Sims 2, write the next chapter of this story probably, sleep…mostly…, and relax. No college for a week. Awe… ^^

Anyways, last chapter was fun. But this chapter is fun to. Lots of things are going to happen in this chapter alone, nothing really big of course…but amusing still.

And for those confused by the first part of the last chapter. Jiyaira will basically take up Naruto’s training after he’s finished with his research while Kakashi’s decided to extend his stay on earth longer to train Sasuke (or possibly so he can hit on Iruka more XD). They spoke of the Devil Beasts and what Jiyaira has found out about them. Mostly, there were five grouped but one split off from the group and sources say it could be hanging around Konoha.

Also, I hinted at a certain Naruto anime/manga character in the last chapter. The one that’s rumored to be the seven-tailed beast. Itachi says he’ll hug whoever guesses what character correctly. ^^

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Chapter 21: Of Fleas and Guardian Tendencies


“In other news today, authorities are baffled over a strange series of events concerning a recent jailbreak at the Tokyo Prison. According to one eye witness, the prisoner in question was seen being carried off by a…winged person? Is that correct?”

Sasuke turned the radio off, eye twitching slightly as he mentally sighed. Damn that Kakashi. Was he really an angel? Because Sasuke was sure Kakashi would give the church a run for its faith. Deciding to drop the thought, since Kakashi wasn’t his responsibility, Sasuke gathered up his laundry and stepped out of his apartment.

“This is sooo unfair!” Naruto’s voice rang out in the morning air, distressed and carrying the smallest hint of a pout.

Sasuke frowned and raised an eyebrow, watching as Naruto stomped out of his own apartment and, upon spotting Sasuke, ran to him. “Sasuke!!!”

“What is it, dobe?” Sasuke asked, shifting the laundry under one arm.

His question was answered a second later as Kiba, Lee, Gai, and Gaara followed out of Naruto’s apartment. Naruto scowled and pointed at Kiba. Sasuke ignored Naruto in favor of displaying surprise to see the other three.

“What are you guys doing here?” Sasuke asked.

Lee grinned happily, resting his hands on his hips, “Sasuke-kun! You live here as well? This is such a marvelous coincidence!”

“We’re renting a place here to stay while we train. We weren’t aware that you guys live here too,” Kiba explained simply, ignoring Naruto’s scowl.

“Why frown!? This is a wonderful surprise! Now we can spend more time together,” Lee insisted, obviously not bothered at all about this.

Gai was inspecting the railing very intently.

“I get the feeling a certain pair of adults planned this,” Gaara stated with a disapproving frown.

Gai jumped slightly and rounded on them, flashing his brightest smile, “Aha ha ha! Such a cute and false assumption. As if Kakashi and I planned this all along. Ha! Now…I’ll be unpacking our things. Why don’t you boys all partake in youthful activities together while I work!?”

With that, Gai took off at a rather speedy pace to a previously unoccupied apartment and vanished behind closed doors. Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Looks like what peace and quiet he had left was officially out the window.

“Gaara-san! Let us play a card game!” Lee announced, grabbing Gaara’s hand and heading back into Gaara and Naruto’s place.

Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke followed inside, Sasuke momentarily forgetting about his laundry. He set it down on the couch and plopped down with a heavy sigh. Akamaru was also there on the couch and wagged his tail in greeting at the Uchiha.

“What are you gonna play?” Kiba asked curiously.

Lee produced a deck of cards from the pocket of his green jacket and showed them off proudly, “Go Fish!”

Kiba huffed and rolled his eyes. “That’s such a stupid game.”

“Go Fish?” Gaara repeated with a confused frown.

“Yes! Go Fish!” Lee announced, ignoring Kiba’s comment. His smile dropped at Gaara’s confused look, however. “Uh…Gaara-san…have you never partook in a game of Go Fish?”

“Can I play?” Naruto asked, sitting down near the other two and waiting for his cards.

“Of course you may, Naruto-kun. Um…have you played before?” Lee asked, a little hesitant now.

“NOPE!” Naruto stated, grinning innocently.

Lee swallowed visibly and coughed into his hand, replacing nervousness with a sudden instructive seriousness. “Understood. Then I shall teach you both Go Fish!”

Sasuke jumped as his cell phone went off in his pocket, having forgotten it was there. He sighed and pulled it out, holding it up to his ear. “Hello?”

“So…these are what you call ‘your hand’. And these cards here in this pile are the fish….ah…no, Naruto-kun! These are not the kind you eat!” Lee yelped as his lesson began.

“Smart, chibi,” Kiba snorted.

Naruto spat out the card and turned on Kiba angrily, “DON’T CALL ME THAT, DOG BREATHE!!”

“Kakashi??” Sasuke frowned as the older angel’s voice addressed him on the other end of the phone.

“Uh…no, Gaara-kun…you’re supposed to ask the person if he has a specific card. Not tell the person what you have,” Lee corrected Gaara gently, looking a little flustered already.

“…” Gaara frowned unhappily down at the seven cards in his hand. “Naruto…do you have any threes?”

“Nope,” Naruto answered.

“Liar!” Kiba accused from over Naruto’s shoulder and pointed at one of the seven in his hand. “You’ve got two!”

“No I don’t!!” Naruto objected.

“I can’t hear you,” Sasuke objected into the phone, scowling at the other four boys.

Gaara used his sand to grab Naruto’s cards away.

“HEY!!” Naruto yelped and lunged after his cards.

Lee yelped and jumped back out of the path of collision, cards that weren’t under the blonde splaying out around the four of them. One hit the side of Sasuke’s head, the ebony haired boy doing his best to stop his eye from twitching and trying to hear the other male in the phone.

“Cheater! Lying is a sin, Naruto!” Kiba accused.

Naruto clung to his cards which were hanging in the air in the grip of a tail of sand. Gaara’s eye was twitching and he was holding possessively to his own cards, glaring at Naruto. Lee looked exasperated as his first teaching experience went out of hand.

Sasuke let out an irritable sigh and promptly shoved one finger into his ear, listening with his other into the phone. “You’re where!? ……………grrrr…fine! But this better not happen again!”

Sasuke hung up his cell phone and put it back into his pants, standing up, “I’ve gotta go to the police station.”

Naruto and Gaara froze in their little struggle over the cards, looking up at Sasuke.

“Why?”

“Kakashi needs someone to bail him out of jail,” Sasuke answered simply and left, closing the door on the scene behind him.


An hour and a pile of paperwork later, Sasuke walked out of the station with a free Kakashi right alongside him.

“Do I even want to know how you got yourself arrested?” Sasuke grumbled out, shooting his angelic sensei a glare.

Kakashi laughed lightly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Iruka-chan’s so cute! When he said he’d call the cops on me, I thought he was just joking, but wow did he surprise me.”

Sasuke sweatdropped, wondering just how dense one can be to be like Kakashi. “Idiot. He’s not playing hard to get.”

“Of course he’s not,” Kakashi agreed but winked at Sasuke, telling Sasuke that he wasn’t getting the hint.

“Look…I’ve known Iruka-sensei since elementary school. He’s not the type to play games and joke, you moronic sad excuse for an angel,” Sasuke growled out.

“Oh? You’ve known him that long?” Kakashi mused, letting the insult pass.

Sasuke sighed and relaxed a little, giving up on the older man. “Iruka-sensei has always been serious. But he’s an ok guy. He’s always accepted people for who they are and isn’t the kind of person to bully someone because they were different. In fact, he hates that sort of thing.”

“….oh…do explain…” Kakashi stated with interest.

Sasuke stared off slightly, fishing around for a memory that would prove as an example to the other. He could vaguely recall one time back in first grade… “Well…once, there was this terrible rumor going around school about this kid in one of my classes. It was a really bad lie and people took it seriously, treating the kid like shit because of it. Even some of the teachers started to believe the rumor to be true. But not Iruka-sensei. He took five minutes away from class time to chastise all of us for taking such a rumor seriously and he threatened detention if he caught anyone helping spread the rumor or bullying the kid in question.”

“Hmm…I see. He is rather admirable,” Kakashi nodded softly.

“Exactly. So stop harassing him already. It’s not nice to force your false affections onto him just for fun!” Sasuke scolded, shooting Kakashi another disapproving glare.

Kakashi sighed and stared down at the ground as they walked, hair obscuring his face a little. “But they’re not false…”

“……” Sasuke didn’t say anything to that, glancing again at the other man. It was hard to tell if Kakashi was being sincere about that. Especially with that mask hiding half his face. “Whatever…You owe me 95,040 yen, by the way.”

Kakashi tripped in surprise at the amount and fell on his face.


“Ok…now...Naruto-kun, no more lying. Gaara-san, please…no more sand. Go Fish is supposed to be a civilized game of light competition,” Lee sighed in exasperation after finally breaking up the two quarreling boys. He could not have foreseen this degree of possessiveness both boys showed towards their cards.

‘Gai-sensei…I have gained newfound respect for you and all other sensei…’

Kiba watched this, his amusement now dieing since Lee seemed to have finally installed the rules into Gaara and Naruto’s heads. Yawning out of boredom, Kiba got up off the couch and went outside, Akamaru getting up and following after him.

“Let’s explore a little, Akamaru. There’s gotta be something more interesting around here then those three.”

Akamaru barked in agreement and started off, sniffing the ground while Kiba followed behind him. The two of them reached the stairs just as Sasuke and Kakashi came up them.

“Where are you two heading off to?” Kakashi asked curiously.

“Exploring. Nothing else to do today,” Kiba stated, heading down the stairs after his companion.

“Hey! Don’t go any lower then that. The basement is off limits to residence,” Sasuke called after Kiba.

Kiba turned and shot him a glare, huffing slightly. “I’m not a kid. I know where I’m not allowed to go.”

Sasuke gave him a suspicious look before shrugging and continuing to the apartment with Kakashi. After they vanished, Kiba turned around and hopped down the stairs two at a time till he reached the first floor.

“Hn…don’t go to the basement. It’s off limits,” Kiba mocked, stuffing his hands into his pockets and kicking at an acorn.

The acorn bounced off the wall and tumbled down the stairs into the lower area of the apartment complex. Kiba watched it along with Akamaru. The dog then looked up at him with a slight whine and tilted his head.

Kiba’s eye twitched slightly, “Err…well…you know. Squirrels get pretty hungry if they can’t find any acorns. So…it would be cruel for us to just walk away and leave a perfectly good squirrel acorn to rot down there.”

Akamaru’s tail fell down and he growled at Kiba. Kiba ignored the reprimanding and started down the stairs, going slowly to keep from making to much noise. Akamaru whined and followed with his tail between his legs. Both slowed down the further down they got, then they finally found themselves standing on the lowest floor of the complex. It was just a cement wall and floor room with stairs on one wall and a single door on two other walls. The door directly to the left of the stairs had the customary bathroom sign hung on it, so Kiba didn’t give it much thought. His gaze turned to the door directly across from the stairs. This one had no sign and was slightly open.

Akamaru looked at him and let out a nervous whine. Kiba ignored it and shushed him, before walking over slowly to the door and cautiously peeking through the crack. Darkness met his gaze within. There was a soft blue light in the far back of the room, but it didn’t reach very far and illuminated only a few objects. Kiba could make out several rows of metal shelfing with what looked like glass tanks and jars settled on them. Squinting, Kiba was a little surprised to see they were filled with what looked like all sorts of insects.

Taking a deep inhale, Kiba bravely pushed the door open enough to slip into the room. Something suddenly stepped in his way and Kiba screamed out in surprise and fear.

“This area is off limits…” The person stated calmly.

Kiba recovered and got a good look at the person. It was just a kid…probably no older then that Uchiha guy. He wore a heavy coat that hid half his face with its large collar and sunglasses that hid his eyes. Kiba gulped nervously and regathered himself, taking a stance far braver then he’d felt a second ago.

“Who are you?” Kiba demanded, glad his voice came out steady.

“Hmm...Aburame Shino,” The other answered after a careful moment of thought.

“Uh…Aburame?” Kiba repeated hesitantly, taking a nervous step back as realization dawned on him.

“Yes…as in I own this apartment complex,” Shino replied calmly, taking a step towards Kiba.

Akamaru took an offensive stance, growling warningly at the boy. Shino paused and turned his head towards the dog, Kiba unable to tell what the guy was thinking with his face so obscured.

“Dog’s aren’t allowed in this apartment,” Shino stated after a moment.

Kiba tensed and panicked slightly, “Ah! W-Well…uh…Akamaru’s house trained. And he’s really friendly, really.”

Shino knelt slightly and reached out, Akamaru making a visible effort not to bite and get Kiba in trouble. Shino threaded his fingers through Akamaru’s fur and then stood, holding something in between his finger and thumb.

“He has fleas…”

“Eh!?” Kiba blinked in surprise. “Fleas!? That’s not possible! Dogs don’t get fleas in Heav…eh…err…”

Kiba shut his mouth quickly. Damn, he’d almost said something this human might take as weird.

Akamaru let out a pitiful whine and hung his head as if shamed to have fleas.

Shino staid quiet for a moment before turning to one of the shelves, digging around in the darkness. Kiba watched, slumping a little and sweating nervously. How could this guy see in this darkness with sunglasses on?

Shino suddenly turned, shoving a cylinder into Kiba’s hands lightly. “Here. Use this or get rid of the dog.”

Kiba blinked down at the small cylinder and then yelped as he was suddenly grabbed by his coat and shoved out of the room along with Akamaru. The door shut behind them both, leaving the two stunned companions in the light once again. After his eyes adjusted, Kiba looked at the cylinder again. It was medicine for fleas.

Akamaru looked at it and let out a confused noised that echoed Kiba’s thoughts perfectly.

Kiba looked at his dog, “Why didn’t you tell me you had fleas?”

Akamaru let out a whine in answer.

“Whatever. That was weird…” Kiba stated and shoved the medicine into his coat pocket to use later on Akamaru. He turned around and stared at the door again, frowning slightly. What a weird guy. “Still…we should thank him.”

Akamaru gave Kiba a disapproving huff.

“No. I’m not going in there because of curiosity! We need to thank him,” Kiba objected with a light blush of embarrassment. He was definitely not the type to give into curiosity!

Akamaru whined at Kiba’s back as he tried the door and found it unlocked, opening it quietly and tiptoeing back into the room. He kept his guard up in case the strange boy popped up out of no where again, and wandered down the dark aisle between metal shelfing towards the light in the back. He wondered where that light was coming from.

“What are you doing in here?” Shino sighed from directly behind Kiba, making the angel jump in panic again.

Kiba saved himself from another embarrassing scream and whirled around to face the solemn stance of the strange boy. “Ah! There you are…eh heh…I just…wanted to…um…thank you for the medicine!”

Kiba threw on his best grin to try to throw the other male off.

Shino was quiet for a moment, before Kiba found himself being tossed once again out of the room, this time like a cat getting the boot from the house. He landed on his face on the ground with a grunt, the door shutting behind him. Akamaru yawned lazily from where he lay on the ground, looking at Kiba as if to say ‘told you so’.

Kiba growled at his canine companion and pushed himself to his feet, dusting himself off. “Traitor.”

Akamaru let out a snort and covered his face with a paw.

“Damnit! What’s that guy’s problem! You don’t throw people around like that!” Kiba scowled, turning angrily around and storming back into the room to give the guy a piece of his mind.

Akamaru huffed and waited, not bothering to even raise his head a minute later as Kiba was once again thrown out of the room, the door locking behind him this time.

Kiba shot again to his feet and growled at the offending door, pounding on it with a fist. “BASTARD! That’s no way to treat people!!! I demand an apology!!”

He continued to pound on the door for another couple of minutes before storming over and sitting down on the stairs, hands in his pockets as he glared at the floor. Akamaru watched him, as if wondering if his master was ready to leave now.

Finally Kiba’s expression changed and he straightened, a smirk lighting his features as he snapped his fingers, “Aha! He’s hiding something in there! That must be it!!”

Akamaru let out a long whiny sigh and laid his head back onto the ground.

“I bet you it’s something dangerous to…Why else would he be so damn persistent in keeping other people out? And if it’s something dangerous, then I…a Soldier Angel…am duty bound to investigate!”

Akamaru rolled his eyes.

“Fine, you don’t have to tag along!” Kiba scowled at his companion. He turned his attention again to the door. “He can’t stay in there forever. Sooner or later, he’s going to have to go pee. We just need to wait!”

Grinning, Kiba stood and formed several hand seals, casting a concealing jutsu over Akamaru and him. He then sat down…and waited.


Now Kiba had patience far greater then Naruto. But that wasn’t anything big since almost everyone had more patience then that chibi. But after three hours of sitting there, Kiba was about to yank the fur off his jacket in frustration.

“UGH! Doesn’t this guy ever go pee!?!”

Akamaru jumped in surprise as the door suddenly slung open and Shino stepped out. Kiba froze and caught his breath, hoping the guy hadn’t heard his shouts. Shino didn’t show any sign of having heard him and closed the door to his room before heading calmly into the bathroom.

“Ok…got thirty seconds to a minute to coast the joint. Akamaru, stay here and be my look out,” Kiba ordered and rushed to the door, grabbing the doorknob.

Damnit, it was locked! Kiba fished around for a jutsu that he could use and managed to scrounge one up about unlocking doors. Forming the necessary seals, he successfully unlocked the door and entered with a victorious grin.

‘Hah! Take that to the Grammies!’ Kiba mentally cheered and started towards the light, intent on not getting caught before he found out what it was.

As Kiba finally approached his target, his elation deflated at the sight of the source.

“A computer? That’s not very evil…” Kiba grumbled, slumping in disappointment.

Angry at having wasted three hours for nothing, Kiba started to turn and leave before something on the computer screen caught his eye. Frowning in confusion, he turned back to the screen and leaned over the chair, staring at what he could see intently. It looked like…a video…but wait! Wasn’t that Naruto’s living room? Yeah…it was! Sasuke and Kakashi were on the couch watching as Gaara, Lee, and Naruto all played their stupid card game.

Why was this on this guy’s computer screen? Actually…this was what was happening now! Did this mean there was a camera in Naruto’s living room? Hidden…secret…and this guy was watching!?!

Kiba gawked and reached for the mouse, clicking on two minimized screens to enlarge them. They were also cameras of two other living rooms, one empty and the other one occupied with a family who were settling down to have lunch. Kiba dropped the mouse and straightened up, jaw still dropped. This guy was a god damn voyeur!! This was against privacy laws!!

Kiba took a step back and immediately bumped back into something, shivering as a chill shot up his spine. Kiba slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, his fears confirmed as his gaze met Shino’s sunglass covered ones.

“Uh…I…uh…” Kiba stammered, before ducking quickly down and making a mad dash out of the room and towards the stairs.

Kiba didn’t look back to see if the other was following, only running as fast as he could up two flights of stairs and practically crashing into Naruto’s apartment door, franticly opening it and lunging into the room.

“What the fuck!” Sasuke shouted in shock as Kiba suddenly stampeded into the room through the front door and lunged for cover under the coffee table.

“Woah! Kiba…what’s gotten into you?” Naruto asked, surprised to see the other angel in such a state of fright.

Akamaru wondered in calmly right after, turning and closing the door before going over to his dog dish to eat.

Kiba was not as calm as his dog, scrambling out from under the table and to his feet, grabbing Sasuke by the shirt collar and yanking him up so they were eye to eye and literally nose to nose. “DID YOU KNOW THE GUY THAT RUNS THIS PLACE IS A VOYEUR!?!”

“Eh?” Sasuke blinked, taken back a little by the sudden actions of the other.

“Guy who runs…you mean Bug Man?” Naruto asked, looking up curiously at the brunette.

“Bug man?” Lee asked curiously.

“Aburame Shino…” Gaara explained for him.

“He’s got cameras!!! Hidden!!! In all the rooms of this complex!! He’s watching us! Even right now!!” Kiba shouted, dropping Sasuke and grabbing a magazine, holding it up over his head to try and hide his face.

Sasuke slumped calmly back into his couch with a sigh. “…I thought I told you the basement was off limits, dog breath?”

“Yo, Bug Man!” Naruto shouted and grinned, waving around the apartment since he wasn’t sure where these cameras were exactly.

“Naruto, this is not a subject to be taken lightly!” Kiba snapped anxiously at the blonde.

“Should we take precautions?” Lee asked, frowning a little worriedly.

Kakashi glanced up for a second from his book and shrugged, “Hmm…don’t know. What do you think, Sasuke?”

Sasuke counted mentally in his head to stay off a headache, opening his eyes and fixing Kiba with a glare. “Would you shut up and chill, Kiba. You’re jumping to the wrong conclusions!”

Kiba turned and glared at him angrily, “How am I jumping to the wrong conclusions. The guy has cameras! I saw them!!”

“I already know he has cameras, damnit!” Sasuke snapped, effectively shutting Kiba up.

“You don’t seem too worried,” Kakashi noted slightly.

Sasuke took a few calming breaths and relaxed with a frown. “Hn…look…don’t worry. Shino isn’t a perverted voyeur. He has other reasons…”

“I doubt that shit is for security,” Kiba snapped.

Sasuke glared at him, “You don’t know him. So stop making judgments.”

Kiba scowled, “Whatever. I’m calling the cops.”

“Don’t do that, Kiba! Bug Man’s not a bad person!” Naruto objected, getting to his feet.

Lee hesitated and stood, trying to quell the storm, “Perhaps Sasuke-kun will enlighten us as to Shino-kun’s true motives?”

“Yeah! Sasuke must know!” Naruto agreed.

“Fine…what’s your explanation?” Kiba asked the Uchiha, crossing his arms angrily.

Sasuke sighed, squeezing his pants in his hands before slowly letting his grip loosen. He fixed them with a look and frowned. “Shino’s just…lonely. Ok. Look…Shino’s mother died when he was a baby and his father’s an entomologist that studies insects all over the world. So…he’s never home. It’s been that way since Shino was little.”

Kiba’s stance relaxed a little and he frowned at this.

“Shino doesn’t have any friends, either. He used to try and make friends back in elementary school…but…no one wanted to get near him. See…he really likes bugs, just like his parents did. But most people find bugs repulsive, so they don’t want anything to do with Shino. And after a while…Shino just gave up trying. He’s been a loner since.”

Naruto frowned and hugged himself, “Poor Bug Man.”

“That is terrible,” Lee agreed, tears at the edges of his eyes.

“Hmm…” Kakashi voiced thoughtfully, turning to the next page in his book. “That explains his choice of dress.”

“Eh? What do you mean?” Naruto asked curiously.

Sasuke shrugged and leaned back in the couch, “Probably. I haven’t seen his face since we were little. He started wearing coats with high collars to hide his face, and those sunglasses. You can’t see his eyes behind those things…and maybe you’re right. Maybe he wears them to hide the loneliness in his eyes from others. Or maybe even himself. Either way, it’s true about the cameras. But they’re only in the living rooms…not the bedrooms or bathrooms. And he doesn’t watch out of some perverse way to get off. He doesn’t have friends and he doesn’t really have a family…so I figured out a while back that he has those cameras there to stay off the loneliness. He watches others with their friends and with their family, pretending to be apart of that and thus taking some of the edge away.”

Kiba pulled his hood down over his head and remained quiet.

“Anyway…I don’t mind. Shino kind of saved me. After my parents died, they were going to toss me into a children’s home unless I could find a place to live that the pension my parents left for me if they died could pay for. Shino found out and offered to let me stay here at a discount price…which was perfect. I can pay rent and have plenty left over for food and necessities,” Sasuke finished and shrugged casually.

“Hey! Bug Man does the same for me!” Naruto admitted, grinning happily. “Actually, he doesn’t charge me at all. He said he couldn’t take money from me.”

“Probably because he knows you’re an angel,” Sasuke pointed out with a slight smirk.

“Think he does?” Naruto asked.

“Well…he does see everything that goes on in the living room,” Kakashi pointed out.

“Hmm…well…I’m cool with that. Bug Man’s really nice, so I forgive him,” Naruto stated with a cheerful smile.

Gaara frowned. “Then where is my share of the rent going?”

Naruto sweatdropped and grinned over at the red-head nervously, “Uh…well…”

“Naruto…”

“Gomen nasai, Gaara! But the refrigerator won’t give me ramen so I have to buy it!” Naruto eeped and hid behind Lee.

Gaara’s eye started to twitch slightly. Lee noticed and tried to calm him down and make peace between the two boys.

Sasuke sighed at his angel’s antics, his gaze turning back over to Kiba. The brunette was being awfully quiet now. Akamaru seemed to notice as well and came over, bumping his nose against Kiba’s limp hand. The hand twitched slightly at the cold touch and Kiba seemed to come out of his thoughts.

“That…is……the most pathetic thing I have ever heard!!!” Kiba suddenly shouted out, fisting his hands and earning the attention of everyone in the room. “The guy fails a few times at making friends and then gives up and locks himself away in a basement!?! How the hell can he ever hope to make friends if he hides like that!?!?!”

“Kiba…” Naruto spoke up, reaching towards the other.

Kiba jerked away from the outreached hand and looked up, fixing them all with a heated gaze and a determined expression. “I’m going to drag that guy out of his closet and into the light!!”

“Oh my…this is a surprise,” Kakashi stated, his tone no where close to surprise.

“Wait…you’re going to do what?” Naruto asked and frowned at Kiba. “Dude…have you lost it? That’s a job for a guardian angel, not a soldier.”

“So what!? You’re saying a soldier can’t help someone in need??” Kiba snapped defensively at Naruto.

Sasuke smirked in amusement, “Hmm…looks like someone’s got guardian tendencies.”

“SHUT UP, UCHIHA!” Kiba snapped at him with flushed cheeks.

“I think Kiba’s cause is an honorable one,” Lee objected in Kiba’s defense.

“Hmm…yeah…let’s do it!!” Naruto shouted out happily, pumping his fist into the air enthusiastically.

“You’ll help?” Kiba asked, looking at Naruto in surprise.

“Course! That’s what angels are for, right?” Naruto smiled, then turned to Sasuke. “Sasuke, you in?”

Sasuke sighed and stood, “Guess I should go to make sure you don’t do anything dumb, dobe.”

“HEY!!!”

Kiba looked between the two and closed his eyes, pushing his hood off of his head. “Right…then the mission begins. Let’s get that guy back out into the sun again so he can make some friends.”

“All right! I dub this mission: Bug Man Makeover…Troupes, move out!” Naruto announced excitedly.

***notes***

95,040 yen = 800 U.S. dollars ^^

Shino – I hope none of you take him for a voyeur. I decided that since Shino is always in his room with his insects and the computer, he’d probably get lonely for the smiles and joys of being with others…so he’d watch others with his computer. No, he doesn’t watch naughty things with it.

Kiba and Akamaru interaction – Heh. I love doing them together. Just making it out as if Kiba can understand Akamaru completely and making Akamaru the smart dog he is who understands humans completely…yeah…they’re real fun. ^^

Gaara and Naruto – Hee hee…a little arguing there. But they love each other. (like brothers…down Gaara/Naru fans. Begone!) =P

***reviewer responses***

XZanayu – Thank you. ^^

Nomme de Plume – Heh…thanks. I’m not sure I’d do a side story on Haku and Zabuza. That’s two personalities I’m not good with and one hellish experience in writing it. ^^

littleolmee – lol. Yeah…down, Sasuke, down! ^^ And you predicted my idea of a news broadcast about a jailbreak. XD Congrats. ^^ And Neji? Probably Hinata. They cute together. ^^ But no definite focus on them. *sorry Neji-san. ^^* As for Naruto and Sasuke? Hmmm…. ^____^

ClosetEmo – I like Haku and Zabuza. They were a sweet pair. I’d never give em a bad ending. ^^ And thank you, you’re review made me happy. I’m glad there are those that don’t have my non-rushed relationship. ^^ As for who Jiyaira was talking about…*whistles mysteriously*

kaa-san – thanks. I hope this chapter was just as kawaii. ^^

S. Phantom – Well…looks like Iruka pulled the cops on Kakashi. Yet he won’t give up. I’ll have to dedicate a chapter to those two sometime. *starts plotting*

Sephirothsslave – I was joking when I said ‘have you read my story’. I know you’ve read it. You’ve been reviewing it. XD

mitsuko – sorry. I try. ^^

nine_tailed_seraph23 – Yeah…that is. But I already spelled it Jiyaira a million times and I’m to lazy to go in and fix it. So…I’ll just spell it like that. hope it won’t bother you much. ^^ *he’s a hard name to spell right*

KawaiiKoneko89 – thank you. ^^

takako – Heh. I love all those pairings to, so they definitely in this story. And today was some Shino/Kiba. Or the start of it. ^^

Tia – I kinda liked the Zabuza/Haku thing. It was sweet. And Naruto acts innocent, but that probably won’t last long if Jiyaira’s coming into the picture. XD

Nusku – hee hee. ^^

Damp – Wow…17 thousand. O.O Didn’t realize that. ^^ Hee…thanks for being one of those.

Cheshire666 – Wow…thanks. ^^ And this chap was some good Shino and Kiba interaction. It’ll only get better. XD *waves hello to rational side*

DirewolfLilith – *giggles at the mental image* I think Zabuza would enjoy that rescue. XD