Haru couldn't help but stare.

From the outside, one would never suspect the complete disarray the home was behind closed doors. Clothes, both dirty and clean, hung off chairs and tables, unscrubbed dishes wallowed in their bath of filth in the sink, scuff marks marred the floors.... Haru could go on.

She shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

Even on their worst days, her family had never ignored their cleaning. This alien world, so full of dirt and darkness, did not seem welcoming to the ex-Hinori Nin in the slightest.

Tsume clapped a hand on her shoulder, startling the girl to some degree. She'd forgotten the ferocious woman was even in the room.

"Better get used to the place," she advised crookedly, earning a curious stare from Haru. "My bastard of a boy ain't into cleaning much, no matter how many times I pound it into his thick little skull! And Hana's always working, like me, so the house is always like this."

I'm beginning to miss Tenzo, Haru thought wistfully.

"Yo, punk! Get your ass out here! We gotta guest!"

"Like you have any friends, Mom!" a voice growled from a room down the hall.

Tsume's smirk only grew in ferocity.

"Don't suck me into your daydreams, ya scary old hag!"

"Your son..." Haru was lost for words. Her tongue disobeyed every instruction, refused to form the words she so desperately sought.

Tsume filled in the blanks herself.

"Real charmer, huh?" she teased, ruffling the young gir's hair as she strode forward, one hand cocked at her hip. "Not my friend!" she barked, her tone completely amused. "It's a pretty girl who is way outta your league, kid!"

At this, they heard a thump, the sound of a body crashing to the floor. Haru winced in sympathy, but there was no need. The body was up like shot, throwing open his door to skid into the hallway, where he pounded the floor until he reached the living room Haru had been invited into. Their eyes met, the space between them filled with an uncomfortable silence Haru desperately wanted to be rid of.

The stark ringing of silence in her ears set her already panicked heart racing, quickened her erratic breaths, caused her knees to tremble with force.

She drew in a sharp, decisive breath.

"My name's Haru," she said casually, hand extended in a welcoming gesture. "Real pleasure to meet you, Inuzuka-san."

The boy's eyes grew wide as he stepped forward to clasp her hand in greeting. His puzzled frown deepened; how tiny were this girl's hands? But what was with that insanely strong grip? He shook his head; puzzles could be solved later when his mind had been put to ease.

"It's Kiba," he replied, grinning with narcissism he didn't bother repressing. "Mom didn't tell me we had a guest."

His pointed glare stirred not a single emotion from his mother, be it anger or amusement.

"Interesting," Haru sighed.

She withdrew her hand carefully; the Inuzuka had a crushing grip if left unchecked.

"I didn't know I'd be living with a boy, so I suppose we're even."

Tsume slapped a hand to her back, straightening her spine in one fluid motion that chilled the girl to the bone.

"Don't worry, Haru," she smirked. "I'll keep this little pup in check. And if he tries anything" - her smirk tipped up a fraction - "just smack him around a bit. Kid needs to build some character anyway!"

Kiba's scowl was impossible to disregard, and Haru found herself amused of all things at the sight. Such a weary mother-son relationship, so tiring even for those not fully involved. She'd yet to encounter something like it and her interest was piqued at the prospect of immersing herself in such a strange and bothersome world.

The Inuzuka.

Haru wondered just what they had in store for her.

____________________

The reunion with Kasai had gone well.

The Ninken, still recovering, lay, broken and lost in a soft darkness, in Hana's arms as she appeared in the doorway during Haru's introductions.

Haru's lips quivered, trembled, threatened to let loose a caterwaul of relief. Tears dotted the corners of her eyes but escaped no further. Quiet and graceful, she approached the Chunin and layed a gentle hand on her beloved Kasai's slumbering head. Kasai instinctively nosed upwards into the curve of Haru's hand, seeking the familiar warmth and love she had come to adore over the years.

A skip appeared in Haru's heartbeat but she was too overjoyed to pay it any mind.

Hana watched the proceedings with a soft gaze, her doubts about Haru's ethics long forgotten. She had never seen so much pure relief and love in a child's eyes before, had never witnessed anyone so gentle when the girl lifted Kasai into her own arms and stroked her back, her smile surreal, cheeks dry of tears.

Kiba and Tsume reacted in invariably different ways: Kiba stared, slack-jawed, while Tsume merely smirked that wicked smirk Haru would soon grow accustomed to.

The Inuzuka household was one always bustling with activity. Haru found few moments of respite when all three (five when counting their respective Ninken) were home, but the house was calm and serene when they were out.

Haru wasn't allowed to venture into the Village just yet. Tenzo had yet to make his call on her future.

"He probably enjoys torturing me with the suspense," she decided one morning while she waited for Kiba to return from training.

The young Inuzuka puzzled her with all his energy - and his arrogance. He never failed to assume she had fallen head-over-heels for him in the time he was away, and he was - as she never failed to remind him - perpetually wrong on all counts.

His clear attraction to her surprised her; "young love" was a distant dream in Hinoiri. All marriages were arranged by the leader of the Village, pairings based on Clan lineage and future prospects. Love was never a factor, and so Haru had grown up ignorant of the feeling, apart from her glimpses into its bliss while reading. Even then she could never quite comprehend what it felt like to so adore someone that you felt like only half of yourself without them by your side.

Haru dragged a slender hand through her silken locks as she mused, cursing a bit when her fingers snagged. Days after her hospital stay had ended and blood still knotted her hair. She'd tried countless times to strip the crimson from her hair but the stains were everlasting, it seemed.

It's got to go.

She lifted a still-sleeping Kasai from her lap and stood from her chair, then went to wander about the house in search of a bathroom.

New, full of secrets and mysteries. The house was anything but hers. She still felt like a stranger in this home and doubted the feeling would disappear soon.

The kunai she'd taken care to "relieve" Kiba of the day before felt heavy in her hand, the cold metal biting her exposed skin as though she'd wronged it. The corner of her mouth lifted. Odd she was so philosophical in her depressing days.

She pondered the change as the kunai hacked neatly into her tangled hair; wisps of white, shining like prisms in the light cast by the half-open window of the bathroom, drifted like snow to the cool mahogony floor, growing in number with each slice, each hiss of sharpened steel through delicate snowdrifts.

Haru was satisfied with the results, if not ecstatic. Long hair was a staple of the Akiyama Clan, and both girls and boys enjoyed their petty little contests of who had the longest hair in the Village. Thinking them overrated, Haru had never joined in, preferring to develop her skills without the prying eyes of her peers. It was no wonder she'd graduated at the top of her class her first year as Genin.

Haru stared into the mirror, searching, searching for a glimpse of the girl she'd been only a month before, when all the mayhem had only been inconceivable nightmares. No trace was left. She was gone, washed away, killed off and left behind in her rush to save her own skin.

A heavy, poignant sigh escaped the girl's thin lips.

No more. No more could she think about her Village

.It wasn't her Village anymore, whether she preferred it that way or not.

Home, like it or not, had become the tranquil Village Hidden in the Leaves.

She was a Shinobi, a Ninja capable of much more than adjusting to a new life.

She nodded, watching the new girl in front of her mirror the action, and almost smiled.

It was too soon for that.

________________________

"What's up with your hair?"

"I cut it. Should I have asked permission first?" Haru, innocently sincere.

"Uh, no?" Kiba, ignorantly flustered.

He stood just inside the doorway, looking out over the living room, where Haru sat, graceful and serene, with Kasai in her lap. The Ninken didn't stir despite Akamaru's greeting. Kiba shook his head, leaned against the doorway, studied Haru. She didn't avert her gaze bluntly, only turned her head to smile weakly at Kasai.

The smile was dull, lacking in true emotion, a smile given and received to those without a past.

"Anyway," Kiba said, breaking the unyieling silence, "I've gotta proposition for ya."

"What would that be?"

Haru returned her gaze to the youngest Inuzuka, watched him smile cheekily. Her fingers curled in Kasai's fur.

"You're gonna come and train with my team."

"...For what purpose?"

Kiba frowned, nothing but the slightest of downward tilts to his lips, but visible nonetheless.

"To train," he repeated slowly, running a hand through his hair in modest exasperation."You know? Ninja stuff? Jutsus and taijutsu and lots of sweat and blood?"

"I'm not a Leaf Shinobi. Not yet, without the Hokage's approval anyway. I don't think I'm allowed to train until I'm recognized by the Hokage. I'm just a visitor until he grants me citizenship."

"So? It's not like I'm gonna tell on ya or anything, and my teammates'll listen to me. I'm team leader," he grinned.

His eyes shone with pride that was mirrored in his puffed-out chest.

Haru internally rolled her eyes.

She carefully thought over the offer. Stay and keep an eye on Kasai's recovery, or possibly kill a group of Leaf Genin.... Neither option raised her spirits any, but with Kiba's pleading smile and the alluring temptation of sunlight's soft kiss on her pale skin....

"Let's hope this team of yours has some spine."