#akamaru

Since Hiruzen was originally suppose to be a dog, I have it in my mind that Tobs is very impressed by the dogs in the ninja world.

( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ anything 4 u bb (￣^￣ )ゞ

“What exactly are you and Kiba planning?”

Akamaru kneads his paws into the soft, cool earth, breathing in the scent of the forest. Rain-damp-soil scents and chakra-rich-tree-scents and sweet-green scents, prey-animal scents, shinobi-comrade-pack scents that linger on the branches and footpaths. For a long moment all he does is breathe it in, and in, and in, and pretend that it all still means what he thought it meant when he was younger, and didn’t know any better.

When his lungs are aching-full and his chest won’t expand any farther, he lets it out again, slowly. Then he turns around.

“Planning?” He asks. “You say it like you suspect us of something, uncle.”

Kuromaru is as hard to read as ever. His gaze on Akamaru is as cool and steady as the earth beneath his paws. “I’m not sure what to expect from the two of you, anymore.”

There it is again. He says the two of you the same way he said planning. Like those words mean something else. Like he’s making accusations, with no cause, with no proof.

Akamaru says “That’s not fair. Everything my master and I do is for the pack."

Kuromaru tilts his head. Says “You say that,” dismissive. Always so goddamn dismissive. “Maybe you even believe it, but that look in your eyes… it makes my fur stand on end.”

That look. That tone. That attitude. That, that, that, always that thing, always something wrong, always another reason for Kuromaru to look at his own blood like a stranger, another excuse for Tsume-sama to speak to Master Kiba like he’s an enemy instead of her goddamn pup, always that.

“That look?”

Master Kiba is tired and sad about it.

Akamaru is furious.

“Why don’t you say it?” He demands, advancing. The days when he needed to look up at Kuromaru are long passed. Akamaru is taller than all of his uncles now, and growing still. “Is ambition a dirty word for you, uncle? Is that why it scares you so much? Because I have it in abundance, and you’ve never had any—?!”