QOTC
Then they will grow. They shall mature, forget the curse and bruises they've had on their old kingdom of childhood. In short, be like us: selfish monsters.
- Inuzuka Elder to Tsume
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Chapter 76: Cursed

KONONAGAKURE, ELEVEN YEARS AGO

"Why do we have so many dogs?" Kiba asked to Hana, who, like his mother, was petting a pitch-black ninja hound. Its name was Shou. It was hard to predict whether a dog was a girl or boy. Nevertheless, the old ones weren't much of a sentiment. They just laid their eyes upon the silver stars during night time, sitting, never asleep, guarding them from the night.

"They're not dogs, Kiba." Said a nine-year-old Hana. "They're wolves."

"That's stupid," Kiba grumped, shrugging.

"Shh!!" Hana said as she placed a finger between her glossed lips. He didn't even notice she was wearing make-up. Women did that, he thought, placing those stuffs in their face as if they'd die without applying powder and everyday was a beauty contest. "Mom will hear you!"

"What's the fuss, anyway? It's no big deal." Said Kiba.

"It is. They're our family." Then, and only then, had Kiba heard his father's voice on the back of his head, some time he was young. The only ones ho can convey true love are children and pets. Kiba looked at Hana who was still messing with Shou's fur. Shou stood like a mighty body guard. Hana must have loved him for that. "We're one of them."

Kiba could not believe what this day had turned out. At first Hana hugged Shou and smiled, those sharp teeth unraveling. They looked so much in similar, not in physical attributes(Hana did 'not' like insults), but in spirits and soul. Hana carried at least two to three dogs with her per day, even bringing them to bed instead of her little brother. Dogs(or wolves), as Hana flicked her nose, were more kissable than 'him'.

That made Kiba swear that one day he'd be a damn good kisser and women would drool over him the way Hana's suitors would fall in one messy line to their aggressive mother, Tsume. On the other hand, Tsume barely watched over Kiba some years after. She had her duties and priorities all over her, as if she carried them without complaining that made her a busy (and 'pick-and-shovel') woman.

"You're starting to look like Shou." Kiba said, jokingly.

"Oh shut up, bad brother." Hana said, standing up. "You just don't have one, that's why you're so bitter."

Arf arf. A dog made a sound. Arf arf, it said, a puppy. Hana stood up, her full bangs swaying in her face as she glared at Kiba's behind. "There's mom." They had been on the Inuzuka's lovely meadow, Moon garden as they called it. Cherry pink flowers and purple lillacs grew on the soft, untrimmed grass. It was a blanket of endless summer that swifted into snow when winter. In the Leaf village, one of the most popular tourist spots was the Inuzuka's bed of blossoms and the green plants. Spring.

Kiba loved venturing in here, loved how the wind always blew the end of his spiky brown strands, feel as if the heat was taken down by the gelid wind. One day if an assault had come into the village, Kiba would hug and lock this paradise into his arms, protecting it from the enemies a thousand miles away.

Kiba turned. Something jumped ontop of his head. Something tiny, fluffy, wild and wet from a bath. "Aw!" Kiba said out loud, as if for the first time his mind and body had been infiltrated by an alien-like creature. "What--" when he looked upwards his head, a puppy was staring back, too. He felt its tail wiggling on a joyful rythym. It became quiet.

The dog was not as wolf-likely on contrast to others, not the kind of ninja dog, who are all the same, unsusceptible to physical feeling. Kiba brought the dog from his head and held it in front of him, like a favorite T-shirt Tsume bought for him, saying, Not your sickly average. Little white-furred puppy was shown to be punctilious, adorable, filled with love.

"His name is Akamaru." Tsume said, her arms crossed. "I decided to get you a nanny while I'm mostly gone. After all," she said in her wicked motherly smile, her eyes outshining the fearsome of them all. "You're the same birthday."

"He is chosen." An elder Inuzuka observed, staring at Kiba sparring with his ninken partner. She had a long grey hair, like Tsume, spiky like thorns. "You've seen how his strength is unusual unlike your daughter, have you? He is an arrogant brat. Like his father."

Tsume frowned for the first time in forever. She sighed, feeling the burden her son had bore. "We are all chosen. It's only a matter of whose fate is truly a wolf blood, generations to generations." She said. "Our worst fear has come. What shall we do, grandmother?"

"It appears the Inuzuka 'pinto' might not work on him. As years grow by, our curse is mirrored by the moon. Our tools cannot counter it. Like every seal placed inside a Jinchuuriki, time will change and weaken the older parts on a shinobi he'd had from childbirth." Tsume closed her eyes as the elder said time: she knew exactly what she was spinning about. The memories, the erased past, old habits written on his boy's face inwardly. Tsume knew all of that. She was his mother. "Then they will grow. They shall mature, forget the curse and bruises they've had on their old kingdom of childhood. In short, be like us: selfish monsters."

"Don't speak like that as if you're calling yourself one." Tsume disregarded, feeling the instinct of being rudely insulted.

The elder Inuzuka chuckled, staring at Kiba. "Shinobis are monsters who've forgotten who they truly are. If they keep on living a life like this, pretending, it may be too late for your boy."

TODAY

Crystal windows, wooden Oak floors. Ino and TenTen were sitting politely on one of the Inuzuka's tiny houses, "villa", as Kiba once mentioned. TenTen was sipping a tea Hana had made, and while Ino was never a fan of other drinking beverages without an ounce of blood, she had given all her spare to the soon-to-be Hyuga Queen.

She was smiling even at the toughest time. She had seen Inuzuka Hana this close and she could not believe what a chick she was; shiny jeans and a sleeveless shirt, covered with a black jacket. The Inuzukas were a lover of furs, it reminded Platinum Blonde of the playboy's usual hoodie. Hana was sparkling 5'6 like a secret model hiding on a gorgeous ponytailed brunette hair, her teeth pointy as her brother's. No one said fierce didn't shine sexiness.

Kiba was gone, about a day Ino had seen him before and now he just disappeared. Hinata said she couldn't track him. Still only three kunoichis had been aware of this---they didn't want to disturb the slight tranquility left in the village. Neji and Shikamaru, two Leaf geniuses, deserved to get a break. Tsunade too, and Naruto wouldn't help.

It was a depraving mystery. How frightened they were. When they went to the Inuzuka clan straight towards the mutt's house, everything was in order. He wasn't. He wasn't there.

"Ino, what's with the smirk?"

"I can't believe I just met the famous Kiba Inuzuka's sister." Ino said, still wearing that irresistible smile. "Real talk: you're pretty." She said those words simply, her smile perfect and they were true. Ino remembered the first time she complemented Sakura, how she prounounced those words like a name. You've bloomed into a beautiful flower.

The surprise on Hana's face turned into an appreciative grin. "I'll tell you the truth: you're prettier."

"I'm not here. I'm sitting. I'm drinking tea." Said TenTen.

"TenTen, you're getting married. You're the winner of every complement."

"So," Hana started after placing down another tray of tea. She didn't get Kiba's eyes, Ino thought, nope, she didn't. She looked smart. She looked like someone who wouldn't date a lot like her brother who screwed up his relationship goals out of ennui. There was a rumor she and Shino were having a sweet fling--Kiba felt weird of it that he bursted into a loud disruptive laughter. "You're saying Kiba just disappeared?"

"Yeah. Hinata couldn't sense his chakra elsewhere so..." Ino said. "We thought you should know."

"There are bite marks and claw scars all over her, by the way. Isn't that weird?" Said TenTen, who was busying herself by sipping all Ino's untouched drink.

"Hinata?" Hana said out loud like the city was running of fire.

"Yeah. They're having a... Thing."

"No, I mean she was just here two weeks ago. I knew she was having a sleepover, but I didn't know they were together."

"He's kind of serious about her, really. You don't have to worry about it." Said TenTen.

"I'm not worried about him, I'm worried about her." Hana said as she finished drinking her cup. "Do you think it's possible he hurt her?"

"That's why we're here. You know Kiba, you know every secret he has. If he's missing, do you know where he might have gone out to?"

Hana wasn't with her. She was staring at something else---trying to make up for the unknown causes that were swirling on her head. Kiba is gone. Kiba is missing. Something's happened to him.

"I'm sorry but I can't help you." She said. "See, that's the problem with my brother. Sometimes he tells me everything, sometimes he keeps everything from me."

"Well, did you somehow forget to mention that he was part-werewolf?" Ino scorned.

"Ino..." TenTen warned.

"What? You refused to tell him because you were what--scared? I'll tell you what's scary: Kiba running off, probably to charge his wolf body somewhere. Or, maybe he'll come back in his worst state without recognizing someone."

"How'd you know?" Hana asked, after biting her lip.

"I had my research. When I study something, I don't forget." Ino said, leaning closer to her. "I'll be real with you, Hana. No one else knows, and I'll promise you no one ever will, if you cooperate with us and tell the truth."

Hana was not speaking. Hana was not answering, just dazed at the sight of Ino Yamanaka in her manipulating mode. She didn't want to use compulsion over her, but she was trying her best not to cheat on Kiba's graceful pretty-faced sister. One or two more answers, she would leave him alone.

"Tell me about the Inuzuka Moon Curse." Ino said. "I don't care about your family's personal information, I don't care and I respect your traditions of raising Ninja hounds, I just want to know how it's possible Kiba might actually turn into a frightening creature when no one of you ever has."

Hana blinked her eyes. She sat back in the sofa of her own house, forcing herself to relax and to keep herself together.

"There is someone." She answered storongly. "Was." She continued.

"Did you?" Was Ino's first guess.

"No," she sighed. "It was our father."

⍨⍨⍨⍨⍨ ɐɥıɥɔu pɹıɥʇ ǝɥʇ ⍨⍨⍨⍨⍨

DEMONS FROM HELL

"When you're an Inuzuka you are automatically binded with the curse of the first generations of this family. You think the Hyugas and the Uchihas were the only ones with a curse? Ours was much depraving. You turn into some bad animal on full moon. You lose your subconsciousness. It's not anything you can control on a jutsu. When you're chosen, that's just it. You hurt somebody; it's gonna take some time to learn hoe to control it."

The night went on enormously fast for Kiba. He felt unloved. He thought of dying. He thought of the lifeless leaves he laid his back against, screaming through the endless pain. He felt the bones of his body prickling, slowly transgressing, fracturing his inner and outer load of his body. You will die. You will die.

"To tell you the truth, my dad was my mother's cousin. They married for love and for authority. We were happy. Little did I know our whole family was cursed, and we painted pintos on our faces to ensure the chosen one wouldn't fall onto us. The red marks on our faces? These were for protection. Our elders believed that the moon was scared of blood, so when night comes and we would be shined by its light, we wouldn't become monsters. Mom and dad protected us both. They were so young, about 23. I was three when it all happened. My dad wasn't being my dad. He stopped acting like a person."

"Dad, where did you go?" Hana asked, Shou wiggling his tail next to her. She had just learned pronouncing other words in japanese. Tsume taught her, and the ninkens were kind to her that they'd help her scribble letters on a whole sheet of paper with the use of their tiny, applicable paws.

"Hey, sweetie." Hidesaburo Inuzuka greeted, kissing Hana's cheeks. "Why are you still up, huh? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Why is there blood on your face?"

"Oh? There is? Can you wipe it for daddy? I'm not sure if I've quite seen it."

"Hana, get inside your room." A voice scorned. Hana turned around and saw Tsume, still on her formal clothes. She couldn't blame her if she wanted her to sleep early. Hidesaburo had been lacking from their home and Hana craved for a part of her father that was still there.

Maybe other people weren't meant to stay who they are. Maybe it was just the mask that had usually fallen, revealing their true dark colors.

Kiba was literally screeching to no end, as if he had known the barrels and scorches of life. Hana was sure she had fed him with his milk bottle, but knowing her baby brother little was his contentment. He wanted to be carried, he hungered for the attention of anyone, at least. She would hold him, wanting to slap him to keep quiet but instead she would be warm with him. She was starting to hate being the eldest.

"YOU are crying again." She carried him, wrapped him around her. "Shh... Don't cry, Kiba! I'm here, damn it."

She had kissed his forehead. "Momma and dada will be home soon, we just have to be patient. But I can't feed you. Now, Kiba. Go to sleep! Come on, sleep now! I'll sing for you!" Kami, I hate singing. "Jyū yoku gō wo seishimashite yoku jyū mo tatsu..."

Muchū de kakkō tsuketara
Hijyōberu ga naru

Gojyuppo ijyō mo saki aruite
Chototsuōshin na sutairu
Jiyū de kibunya no
Kimi ha dōyattatte mushi

Dare ni mo tokenai nazo ga aru
Fukidashita kaze ni furueteru
Kono meiro wo hodoite yaru

Kimi ga waratta ashita ha ame kai
Sōmei na hikari ga chikachika hikaru
Me wo korasanakucha mirai ga kawatte shimau
Mae ni kitto kitto ima wo saratte iku

Hana held onto her little brother like an angel who felt from its nest. She was singing, her voice feminine and soft. She will sing until he'd stop crying, and may his sorrows stop. She thought of a hundred werewolves surrounding them, fleeting and running, those who hungered for blood. She thought of the stories Tsume had told her during bed time; about death, about the Curse of the Moon, never knowing all that were true. She just believed.

"I didn't know where we were. I didn't know that there was a big, bad wolf just behind us, and it was Hidesaburo. Mother attacked him before we can even hear a sound. She tossed him outside, kicked him, the monster in our family. People think my mom scared him off. That was Kiba's belief, the reason why he hated him. Why would you want to know that your dad was an animal, a beast, who had seventeen murders? So my mother and I decided to keep this secret to us and to the rest of the family. Our father was dead. Our father cheated on our mother and she was forced to kick him out of the house. To Kiba, he was an asshole."

"I don't want to see you again. You don't hurt our children, Hidesaburo. If I see you again next time, I swear on my face I will turn LIKE you and KILL YOU."

Hidesaburo said nothing. He laid in the ground, shirtless, blood in his mouth like a crime scene where in the cops hadn't arrived, so the wife had to forge her own decisions. "Go. Go!!!"

Ino didn't need to make Hana repeat all the horrible occurences that had happened in their family. She had stood up, fast as she could, to check for the calendar posted on their wall. TenTen remained in the sofa, her eyes shining with interest.

"We don't have much time." And by Ino's words, the three of them didn't want to emphasize on how there was a slightest chance Kiba might end up the same as Hidesaburo. They needed a course of actions. "When did your father turn?"

"During full moon." Hana answered, her voice stiff with pressure.

"That's at least every end of the month." TenTen said.

"And what day is today?" Ino asked, flipping the pages of the Inuzuka's calendar. It appeared that Hana had been counting as well. She feared for the worst---there were crosses and circles written by a red marker on every last day of a month, from January until March.

"April 30th." Answered Hana.

"Holy shit. That's tonight."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

During midnights, everyone assumed life was a fairytale. For instance, bugs and creatures of the night crawled on the green luscious parts of the forest, but they were harmless. Owls, bats, surreal serpents.

They believed in wolves. Wakana believed in one. She was so excited and filled with enthusiasm througout everything; wolves were beautiful as others were shaded with the color of the moonlight. White and pure as an angel's wings, their eyes sharp and lucid as a female succubus. They were just so... Enchanted.

A wolf howled in the night. Everyone had heard that, especially Izumo and Kotetsu, who usually rose up in the morning, guarding the Leaf's fences. They would know if anything near and dangerous would come for the village. They would know if Konoha had visitors.

"This is a level Red evacuation. All children and villagers are to be escorted and evacuated into the underground subway. See to Hana Inuzuka, Iruka Umino, Ebisu, Genma. I repeat. All children and villagers are to be led on an evacuation center underground." Shizune's voice spoke through the microphone, her voice deep and stern, the kind of voice she had learned from her mistress's tone whenever she was damned.

"Nani?!? What on earth is going on?!" Gai submerged, barging onto the Hokage's office without a knock.

"I heard what happened." Kakashi said, standing opposite of the blonde-haired Hokage. "Do you want our help on the evacuation?"

"No. I need more hands on the borders. Neji and the others are already on the gates. If something happens, do what you can to make sure no one in the village gets harmed." Tsunade responded, authority hitting her like a thunderbolt.

"Will I go there, too?" Shikamaru said, scratching his lazy head.

Tsunade looked at Yamato, Gai, Kakashi and Shikamaru. Kurenai had just arrived, and what surprised Shikamaru was how she seemed so well; a mother who knew pain with the absence of her partner. Her red eyes were still red as ever, and it reminded him of roses falling from a thorned plant. Kiba's sharp row of teeth. Anything delicate and sharp. She was wearing her bandaged dress already, and she went inside the Hokage Tower as if it was her first day at the academy.

"All of you will go."

A blonde haired boy stared from outside his window, his ears perked up due to the warning. He was only a shadow, a dark unseen silhoutte. Uninvited.

Full moon had arrived. Much of the Shinobis have marched onto the front gate, kunais stuffed in their pockets, tied on their waistbands, tiny sharp objects hidden on their ankles. Kiba was still not found, Kiba hadn't come back yet.

"Am I the only one scared?" Ino said in a whisper, starting a silent, pessimistic conversation. "What if he loses control? What if we can't stop him? What if he hurts us? Do wolves bleed?"

Silence. Choji wasn't bringing any snacks today. Sai had held onto his paintbrush. Neji's Byakugan was activated. Lee was just finished wrapping his bandage into his palm, tight. Yamato crossed his arms and waited for anything to happen. This is taking too long.

"Don't be. I thought I taught you better than that." A lame-ass voice said. Ino's blue eyes met Shikamaru's cool black ones.

"Wow. Now we're talking."

"You're still full of troubles." Shikamaru spat back, and Ino thought of a hundred times he'd said that. First time was when mud was spilled on his shirt that he had to go for hundred miles back home, blame it to Ino who was playing weird and immature. Take a bath, then! Or do you find personal hygiene a little bit--troublesome?

Hinata was twiddling her fingers next to Neji, didn't think this would be the time she'd stick back to a habit she wasn't aware of.

Akamaru was somewhere in the Inuzuka mansion. Hinata thought it wouldn't be wise for the dog to see Kiba at the moment. He was too loyal for his stigma.

Little by little, Neji could sense a certain chakra coming. They all did. By far they could feel the quenching thirst of an Inuzuka breed of blood, its fangs sharper and extended. It walked slowly and carefully, a silver haired werewolf who howled for the silent nights and the shinobi's despair. To Hinata, it's as if wolves understood the true meaning of despond, and they mistakened people as the natural causers of destruction. They didn't know the difference between humah and an animal. According to the elders, killing was a leniency.

Kiba stood in front of them, in his wolf form. Waiting for a famished bite to his first attacker.

Deep breaths everywhere. Hinata had her Byakugan activated and saw the enormous ball of chakra flowing inside him, louder and bursting out in wild fire. It kind of reminded her of the first time Naruto unleashed the miscreant inside of him. Burning with anger, eyes with orange fire.

Hinata was staring at his childhood friend, mate, paramour. He probably wouldn't recognize her--he was fed up with so much anger for the past few days. He apologized for the pain he'd given her physically but it's just that even with her relationship with Naruto never did he hurt her, and with Kiba not being intended, it hurt him more than the scars buried deep on her. You think you're not safe with me. He stared at his hands, took time to get into his head that his nails weren't the same as before: they were longer, painstaking.

He was waiting for someone.

A very tall man had come forward, his hands on the pockets of his worn hoodie. Shino went to him voluntarily, no one dare stopped him.

Kiba growled like a feral animal. He was shining under the bright light of the moon, his claws bemired with dirt as if he were digging a grave, his eyes timorous. Hinata remembered a wolf painting, on a picture hanging on Hiashi's chambers. Beautiful. Very beautiful. He was the animal beautiful on the outside, unpredictable on the inside. Would he kill you? Would he choose to not hurt you? Would he spare your life? The potentials were ruthless.

"I've known you since we were little." Shino said. "We played together. We sparred together. Don't you remember?"

Nothing, said Kiba's eyes. I remember nothing.

"I admit, I was hesitant at first. Never thought I'd be friends with an arrogant bastard who was so full of himself." Kiba growled at this, his claws digging into the ground. "But as the days pass by, we became something else... We became a team. You, me, Kurenai-sensei, Hinata. You and I have thought to each other as family. We swore a brother's oath to protect Team 8 no matter what. Teenager or a young adult, there was no going back to this promise. You and I both know this! You will remember who your comrades are. You will fight this. Kiba, you're a fighter. Don't let this demon of yours take over. Remember."

Neji had been trying to reach Shino to grab him back. To pull him over, before the newly outgrown fangs and claws of Kiba would suck into his poisonous bug skin. Kiba was an almighty werewolf while Shino was a king of strategies, ciphers and anything parasitic. Both were undeniably vulerable, and, like Shino said--fighters.

The silver-haired wolf had lunged onto Shino before any of them could even picture it happening, all except for Neji and Shikamaru, at least. Wishing they'd have the cooperative talent of warning team rookies of what was the possible future and what consequences soon to be followed. Kiba had easily jumped onto him that sent him laying in the ground. He scratched him, knawed him restlessly with his paws. It made Hinata place her hands on her lips. Neji was supposed to cover her eyes before he realized one thing--

Wrestled Shino puffed into smoke. The real Shino Aburame was behind him, as he held out his gigantic palm, saying, "Secret Technique: Insect Sphere." A swarming club of insects buzzled their way through Kiba's body and took over his animal shape. They wrapped him, enclosed him on a cocoon. A wanted criminal wanted to be dead.

"No, don't kill him!" Neji said, as them Konoha 11 encircled the battle, surrounding Kiba with a round border.

"I know that." Shino mumbled, hatred bummed in his voice like an untuned electric instrument.

"Is he back now?" Ino asked. All eyes were staring on a black shade where a wild beastly werewolf began to growl wilder, louder. He sprang out of Shino's sphere without a minute, biting and seizing his way out. "Not yet," Shikamaru mumbled, placing his hands on his O-shaped stragety form. "Shika, now is not the time to sit back and relax!" Ino said, teleporting her way to distract Kiba. She was using TenTen's weapons stuffed with magneting chakra, those steels she had gotten importedly from the Land of Keys. Nothing was coming out of Shikamaru's mind, nothing was forming out of his twisted 200-messed-up IQ. Kiba was outraged, Kiba couldn't be held down, so obviously it would take an average of twenty or so people to chain him until Yamato traps him with his Wood Prison.

There were only thirteen of them.

Well, there are more than a dozen of you! He's a damned Inuzuka and he's only one! Now I don't care how much work you put on your jutsus, I want you to take him down without killing him! Fracture his bones if it suits you! The more you break him, the more he'll settle back to his consciousness. The important thing is he isn't dead.

Tsunade was right.

Perhaps it was the time to forget about emotions and think of strength. Think of the good will of the village. If Asuma were here, would he do the same thing?

Damn Sakura and Naruto who weren't present. He cursed their names inwardly and thought: if only those two were here, Sakura's slate would have sent Konoha's Playboy on a dreadful sleep. Naruto's rasengan would do, too. It'd save them from all the trouble of hurting him less than they should've had. They were the Big Three--Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. Without them, safeguarding the village would be as holding up a collapsing ceiling.

"Any plan now, Nara?" Neji verbally asked, and, like a King on chess, did not hurl himself and let the rooks and pawns go first. Friends weren't pawns, but when it came to battle, one's thinking must be creative.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them, he was in complete serious mode, the laziness in him cut off like a hero without a flying cape. "The plan is to weaken him. Don't take it easy on him. He's not Kiba. If we want the old Kiba back, the key is to bring him down without killing him." He said, and his last words had brought the real fighting scene on the outskirts. "Find a weakness!"

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6.13.15
I got all I need when I got you and I ❤️
I love them all I love Neji and Shika so much
I thought the photo was cute