Cats and Dogs (Naruto)

Chapter Nine

Shiro trudged through town worrying about Genma and the other jonin. She wanted to turn back and tail him but knew he'd be cross with her. As she meandered aimlessly while battling with what she wanted to do, she almost smacked face first into the annoying mutt as he turned a corner.

Kiba stumbled backward to avoid smacking into the dazed cat like girl. His eyes widened as he noticed the desolate look on her face. He opened his mouth to question her but flinched as his sister's three large ninken growled at the feline girl startling her out of her daze. Shiro let out a yelp as she spotted the three large dogs snarling at her. The small black cat let out a hiss that turned into a loud thunderous roar as Kuro leapt off her head and transformed in a puff of smoke into a large hulking panther beast.

"Ah!" Kiba panicked as he noticed his older sister, Hana, take on a defensive stance preparing to order her dogs to attack as the panther beast let out a terrifying snarl. "Nee-san, she's a leaf shinobi." He protested trying to get her to call off her dogs.

"Why is a member of the Nekota Clan here?" Hana glared at the cat like girl. The Nekota Clan couldn't be trusted.

Shiro snapped out of her daze and took a step back wanting to flee from the snarling dogs. Her body trembled as she stumbled back a few paces. She didn't like the way the older kunoichi at Kiba's side was glaring at her. Her heart thundered in her chest as fear gripped her. Kuro let out another deafening roar and planted himself between Shiro and the Inuzuka siblings.

Akamaru cowered in Kiba's arms terrified of the terrifying panther beast. Hana's hounds flinched at Kuro's resounding roar. Shiro felt all the color drain from her face as she heard a low rumbling growl from behind her. She turned and let out a panicked hiss of terror as she came face to face with a large horrifying wolf like dog with dark black fur with a white undercoat. There was a black eyepatch covering his right eye. He let out a threatening snarl.

Shiro shakily retreated as her violet eyes drifted to the scary looking woman accompanying the giant wolfish beast. She had wild dark hair, sort of like Kiba's, and piercing black eyes. There were two red fangs painted on her cheeks, like Kiba and his sister wore.

Kuro chanced a glance at Shiro trembling on the ground, she was terrified of dogs, especially large threatening ones. He stood protectively over her and let out another deafening roar. His ears flattened atop his head as he snarled and hissed at the dog clan ready to tear them all to shreds if they got any closer to Shiro.

"Wait! She's not an intruder! She's a leaf Shinobi." Kiba protested. His heart clenched as he noticed tears streaking the cat girl's cheeks.

"Leaf Shinobi or otherwise, a member of the Nekota Clan is not welcome here." His mother's voice was cool and crisp, "nothing good ever comes from associating with those cat demons. Come along, Kiba." Her voice came out in a growl.

Shiro wrapped her arms around Kuro's giant front leg as she trembled beneath him. Her mind wandered to a terrible memory, one of her earliest memories. It was shortly after Kuro had found her, before they'd found Baa-chan. Little Shiro had strayed away from the temporary Den Kuro had secured for them in the middle of the night. She wandered into the surrounding forest and had been attacked by a pack of wolves.

"K-Kuro." Shiro sniffled as she was lost in that terrifying memory.

Kiba hesitated as his mother and sister continued on their way deciding the terrified cat girl wasn't worth their time. He looked to Shiro, worried. "H-Hey, Kitty Litter...snap out of it."