Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Diplomacy ❯ Dog Boy ( Chapter 7 )

     A few days later, Hinata was leaving the Hyuga grounds with a bundle in her arms. Just another of the preparations for the upcoming summer festival that Hinata had to finish. She had nearly reached the gates when she heard her father’s voice behind her.

     “I need to speak to you, Hinata.”

     Hinata steeled herself before turning around. Their relationship had actually seen some improvement in the last several months. Even so, Hinata could not help but find Hyuga Hiashi a very intimidating presence.

     “Yes, Father.” she said, giving him a bow of greeting.

     “Were you out last night…”

     “Um… no… I came right home when I was done at the diplomatic offices.” Hinata answered truthfully.

     “That was not what I meant.” Hiashi told her. Hinata felt a sudden twist in her stomach. With her work at the Diplomatic Corps. keeping her busy during the day, Hinata had only found time to run through the woods at nights. Often late at night, after everyone else had gone to sleep. It had not taken long for her father to figure this out. It had taken even less time to learn of his disapproval of her activities.

     “No, Father. I did not leave my room last night.” Hinata answered honestly. She hadn’t left. Not out of fear of her father’s disapproval, but simply from exhaustion. Her work at the offices and time spent with Chie as well as her regular training often left her too exhausted to indulge herself.

     “Hm… That’s unfortunate.” he said, more to himself than to Hinata.

     “But Father, I really did no-”

     “I believe you, Hinata.” Hiashi said.

     Hinata was surprised, and more than a little confused.

     “There was a theft last night.” Hiashi explained, noticing her bewilderment, “I only wished to know if you’d left your room on the chance that you might have seen something.”

     “Oh.” Hinata answered, “Well… I-I’m sorry I wasn’t any help.”

     “Do not be.” Hiashi told her. He was as curt as he ever was in his speech, but Hinata knew her father well enough to know he was being sincere. To her surprise, he didn’t simply end the conversation.

     “Are you seeing that girl, today?”

     “N-No.” Hinata replied, “Chie-san is devoting herself to her studies today. Saruwatari-san instructed me to take the day off.” she held up the bundle in her arms, “I’m going down to the clothing store to have my yukata refitted, or replaced if that won’t work.”

     “For the festival?”

     Hinata nodded.

     “Will you be taking Hanabi, Father?”

     “Not this year.” he answered, “Hokage-sama has entrusted me with a mission that I can not refuse. At Hanabi’s… insistence… (Hinata took “insistence” to mean “begging”) I will be allowing her to go unchaperoned.”

     It was far from proper, but Hinata couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. Hiashi gave a low laugh.

     “As unchaperoned as she ever is, of course. Taiki and Kiriko will be watching her. Though I’ve instructed them to let Hanabi go about her business unless she is in danger.”

     “I’m sure Hanabi will enjoy herself.”

     “Yes. Which reminds me,” Hiashi said, “Can you take Hanabi with you today? She’s outgrown her own kimono and needs a new one for the festival.”

     “Of course.” Hinata replied.

     “Very good. Wait here for a moment and I’ll send her to you.” As her father walked off, Hinata had a sudden thought.

     “Father, what was stolen?” she asked.

     “Nothing you need to worry about.” Hiashi said without breaking stride.

     Hinata and her younger sister walked the streets of the village. They had just finished their kimono shopping and were looking at other shops now. Hinata’s yukata just needed a bit of extending but Hanabi had needed a new one entirely. Hanabi seemed very pleased with it though. Likely because Hinata had let Hanabi pick the pattern for herself. It was a pale blue robe with a light scattering of sakura blossoms on it.

     “Do you think Chi-nee will like it?” Hanabi asked as she held up the bag containing her new yukata.

     “Um… Chi… nee?” Hinata asked.

     “Chie-nee-chan.” Hanabi said in explanation, “She gave me a name, so I came up with one for her.”

     “Oh.” Hinata smiled, she had the feeling Chie would like the gesture, “I’m sure she will like it just fine.”

     “The name or the kimono?”

     “She’ll like both, I think.”

     “Good.”

     The Hyuga sisters continued on. Hinata intended to stop for lunch at Ichiraku with Hanabi. The younger girl was curious, having once heard Hinata talk about it. They were just about there when an odd sight caught their (and everybody else’s) attention.

     Walking in the middle of the street was a boy. As he watched his messy blonde hair Hinata’s heart began to pound, a sudden hope beyond hope entering her mind. For a brief, shining moment, Hinata believed, even though it couldn’t be…

     “N-Naruto-kun?” ;

     Then she noticed the boy was walking on the street on all fours, sniffing everything close by just like a curious, exploring animal.

     He also bore little resemblance to Naruto on closer inspection. He was far more slender, for one. His hair was much longer. And his eyes were a blue-green color, where Naruto’s were purely blue. Those eyes had an odd look in them, as if they weren’t seeing what was around him.

     As Hinata watched the person, he was indeed not using his eyes, relying more on hearing and smell to detect what was around him. He walked down the street, nearing the ramen stand Hinata and Hanabi had been approaching. He seemed enticed by the food, but at the last moment stopped and changed the focus of his attention.

     His pale eyes stared right at Hinata‘s. He bound over, running on both hands and feet, stopping directly in front of her. He sat and looked up at her much like a curious dog. The canine resemblance only grew when he next began sniffing at her. Hinata could do little but blush at the bizarre action. She was tempted to shoo him away, but at the moment she wasn’t feeling threatened so much as embarrassed. She didn’t know if he’d change tune if she did anything hostile.

     Hinata heard her little sister, as well as some of the onlookers, giggling and laughing as the boy circled her. He seemed to have become keen on her hair. Hinata could only guess that he was perhaps attracted to the scent of the shampoo she had used that morning.

     When he was apparently satisfied, he moved on to the next closest person there, Hanabi. Hinata was far more tempted to try and make the boy leave now that it was Hanabi in his sights and not herself. She moved to shoo him off. But a kunai from above beat her to it.

     The boy’s instincts and reflexes were sharp. He detected and evaded the kunai moments before it flew by Hanabi’s head and into the dirt where the boy had just been standing. The boy growled as he sniffed at the air, finally turning towards the rooftops of a building just behind Hanabi.

     Standing on that roof was a man dressed in flowing robes. His long, slick black hair and pale white eyes marked him as a Hyuga. The Hitai-ate headband over his forehead marked him as a member of the Branch Family. He leapt from the rooftop and placed himself between the sisters and the strange young man, immediately entering a Hyuga style fighting stance upon touching the ground.

     “Hanabi-sama!” He called out, “Find a place to hide. I will deal with this!”

     The boy, obviously panicked by the attack, fled. He ran away on all fours into an alleyway. Dropping her packages, Hinata followed the man as he ran into it after the boy. The alley went out into the next street which, unfortunately, was rather crowded, so they couldn’t locate him. The man brought his hands up and activated his Byakugan, Hinata followed suit.

     Expanding the range of their sight, they quickly discovered the boy not too far from where they were. He was no longer moving and had, in fact, been found by someone else. Someone who appeared to scold the strange boy before leading him away. Someone Hinata recognized.

     “Kiba-kun?”< br>
     “You know that strange person?” the man asked.

     “I’d never met him until now.” Hinata answered, “I’m referring to the boy who was speaking to him. Inuzuka Kiba-kun. He is my teammate under Kurenai-sensei. And I think I remember him mentioning that person now.”

     “Who is he?” Hanabi asked from behind them. Both Hyuga started in surprise.

     “Hanabi-sama,” the man began, sighing wearily as he did, “I believe we have discussed this in the past. When I tell you to ‘hide’ I mean ‘get out of sight and out of danger,’ and not ‘follow right behind into danger.’”

     “Nee-san followed you!” Hanabi shot back.

     “Hinata-sama is a shinobi, as I am. I had no fear for her. You, however, are a child still training. You are in no position to be endangering yourself.”

     Hinata remained silent during Taiki’s scolding. He was conveying the message much more clearly than Hinata felt she would have. It was clear, from how easily he said everything and how Hanabi seemed to ignore him, that Taiki was used to giving Hanabi lectures along this line. When it was done Taiki smiled, his features, which made him look older than his 30 years, becoming gentle. He kneeled down to look Hanabi in the eyes.

     “Hanabi-sama, you will one day become a ninja of Konoha. Also, you are the precious child of the Hyuga clan’s leader. For these reasons, it is as much your responsibility to remain safe for the present as it is to become strong for the future. Your father, your elder sister, even myself and Kiriko, would not wish you to come to harm until the time comes that it cannot be avoided.”

     Hanabi had a harder time ignoring that. She looked away from Taiki’s eyes, and avoided Hinata’s gaze as well.

     “I… I’m sorry.” she whispered, “I’ll listen next time.”

     “Very well.” Taiki told her. He stood, giving Hinata a bow.

     “Hinata-sama. I leave Hanabi-sama to you.”

     With that, he leapt away back to the rooftops. There was a moment’s silence, until…

     “So, Nee-san, who was that weird guy?”

     “I’ll tell you while we eat.” Hinata answered. As they headed back through the alley. As they did, they heard someone running behind them, followed by Kiba’s voice shouting “Hey!! Dammit, Madoshi!! Will you get back here!!”

      “So he’s a dog-boy?” Hanabi asked, after eating a piece of pork from her ramen bowl.

     “Not exactly.” Hinata replied, “Let me try again.”

     Hanabi listened as, once more, her sister recounted what she had been told by Inuzuka Kiba. A mission which had, initially, involved dealing with a pack of wild dogs. A team of Inuzuka were tasked with luring them away from towns to the northwest they had been harassing and towards grounds where they would find better hunting. The team had gotten an unexpected surprise when, along with the dogs, they’d found a boy not much older than 11 or 12. Though the circumstances of how he had found himself with the dogs were unknown, he had been with them for several years before that point. Due to his living in the wild, on instinct more than rationality, he had become quite feral and dog-like.

     Obviously, they could not leave this child alone, so the Inuzuka team had brought them home with them. The Hokage had reluctantly allowed the boy to stay in the village, under the care of the Inuzuka, who actually had some experience with this type of occurrence.

     “Why is that?” Hanabi had asked.

     “The Inuzuka clan work very closely with dogs.” Hinata explained, “They are their partners, as close as siblings. As a result, some members of the clan get… well… confused.”

     “Huh?”< br>
     “According to Kiba-kun, there are some Inuzuka who, when they grow old, begin to behave more canine than human. This is usually attributed to senility setting in. Sometimes, it can also happen to younger members of the clan after enduring an incredible amount of stress or trauma on the battlefield. Their minds regress, becoming less human and more canine.”

     “And that’s how it is with this Madoshi person?” Hanabi asked, “’Cause of what he went through, he acts more like a dog than a person?”

     Hinata nodded.

     “So he’s a dog-boy.” Hanabi concluded.

     “No, that’s not it.” Hinata said.

     “He’s a boy who acts like a dog! Dog-boy!” Hanabi insisted.

     “Very well…” Hinata conceded.

     Behind them, a rather flustered and frustrated Inuzuka Kiba passed by. Too intent on locating his runaway charge that he never greeted, or even noticed, Hinata and her sister before moving on.