Chapter Text
Kiba was scouring through the bins when he heard the shouts above head. He craned his neck and tried to see what had riled up the locals so much, squinting against the sun.
The smell of old sweat rising from his jersey made him jerk his head, just at the same time someone fell on him
“OI! Look where ya going asshole!”
They felt like some kind of weird lump, all bird-like bones brittles and dry muscles, and probably dead since Kiba couldn’t even hear a faint respiration.
He moved around and tried to put the dead down, swearing all the while, and glaring at Akamaru when the dog decided to lay down instead of helping him.
He finally managed to turn the dead weight on its face to see if Kiba couldn’t recognize him. Which… he certainly seemed familiar, but honestly he couldn’t place the face. However, even with the grim and blood staining the pale skin, he could tell that the kid was…
“Well at least I know how ya attracted the snatch band. Fucking pretty face ya’ve got, would fetch a good price on the market… motHERFUCK-”
Kiba avoided barely the hand stretching towards him and vaulted behind Akamaru, getting his dagger out.
“Call me. Pretty. One more time and I’m going to eat your face Inuzuka.”
Kiba cocked his head to the side, and gave a toothy smile at the other kid, managing to place him finally.
“Well if ya still as bad at fighting as ya were back then, I’ve got nothing to fear Sauce-uke.”
Sasuke made an attempt to grab at Kiba, at his expression to try and strangle him, but he fell short of the movement with a groan.
Kiba got out of the fighting stance, sheathing the dagger back before cocking his head to the side.
“Well. D’ya want help princess or nah?”
The glare was more than worth the hassle of holsting up Sasuke over his shoulder.
“Nah just kidding, my ma would’ve my hide if I let a pretty girl outside with snatches- OW! Fucker”, he said when Sasuke managed to nail his sternum with his elbow.
“…your mom?”
“Nah, she and Han- well. You know how it went. It’s just me and Akamaru now. And you I suppose.”
Sasuke nodded woodenly in his shoulder.
“Naruto… he’s dead you know?”
“Considering he hasn’t yet come in yelling because I kidnapped ya, yeah I figured. Fuck this shit-show, but at least I guess both of us are alive. Gotta count for something.”
He whistled low and Akamaru started leading the way, to their current safe-house.
“……I guess.”
“I mean, it doesn’t get much worse than getting a few bombs dropped over us, and then everyone going crazy.”
“Inuzuka, I swear if you managed to actually curse us-”
“Hey asshole, did I fucking ask you for an opi- OW leave the hair alone! Goddammit!”
“You. Fucking shut up. At least your dog have better manners than you, beast-boy.”
“I’ll have you know that my ma brought me up right- OW STOP WITH THE HAIR ALREADY!”
“No.”
They made it to the hole in the ground Kiba called his base, and what Sasuke called a “really, how are you even alive”.
Kiba resented that remark, and punched Sasuke in the face, who retaliated by biting Kiba’s arm.
Asshole.
But… it was nice to see a face from the past, even if it was that too-pretty-for-real Uchiha pain in the ass.
He should probably feel more than the vague “Eh, I guess” about Naruto dying. He should but then again, in the past year living alone, he had exhausted all the pain he could feel about someone’s death.
The last time he cried was over Iruka-sensei’s corpse, that he found while foraging in the old school’s district.
The body was fully mummified, in some kind of weird shield over ten little corpses that had decomposed too much for Kiba to tell who it was.
He was weirdly glad for it, too.
I had to look at little Inari’s glassy eyes when I found her in the basement. I have enough nightmare - better not knowing than revisiting it every night, thanks.
He doesn’t ask what happens to Naruto. Nor what happened to anyone they could both have known.
What did it matter, anyway, for they were probably dead and the only sure thing was that Kiba and Sasuke and Akamaru were alive.
They were alive, kicking and raging and screaming, and they weren’t gonna lay down anytime soon.
Not on his watch, he thinks grimly, baring his teeth at the sunset.
It’s a dull satisfaction to be three again. Not yet a pack, maybe never again, but more than him and Akamaru. More to live than just the two of them.