Why couldn't they have found me? I wondered as I watched a mother and her young son play with Mari and Maya. The little boy sat in the grass and giggled with glee as the excited puppy jumped all over him and licked his cheeks. Next to them, his mother was cuddling the puppy's equally energetic sister, saying how sweet both puppies were.
They seemed like a nice family, a happy family, and I knew they would give the puppies a wonderful home filled with unconditional love. What more could a dog want? What more could anyone want in a family? And yet, there Mogu stood, ignoring them all. His sisters were being showered with affection, but he seemed more interested in head-butting me. After ramming into me a fifth time, the white puppy collapsed onto his side and just stared at me with those big black eyes of his, and he looked perfectly content right where he was, like he wanted nothing to change.
Don't you want to get adopted? I wanted to ask, but I knew he wouldn't answer.
As for me, I would've done anything to get out of this place. I would've gone home with anyone, anyone at all. I should have been grateful to the Inuzuka family for all they had done for me — and I was — but this wasn't the place for me. I didn't want to become a member of the Inuzuka family, and I didn't want to become his girl. I just wanted to go home and return to my normal life. So as the families came and went, I couldn't help but hope to see my parents.
Maybe they were lonely without me. Mother must have been lonely being trapped in a house all by herself, and maybe she wanted a puppy for herself, something to fill the emptiness. She would recognize me right away because a mother could always recognize her child. And she would run over to me and throw her arms around me, and she would tell me how happy she was now that she had found me. Just the thought brought me comfort, but it would stay only a thought. She never showed up.
"Can we keep them, Mama?" the boy asked, hugging Mari tightly in his arms. "Please, can we? I'll take care of them myself, I promise!"
"Both of them?" His mother looked down at the puppy's sister, who stood next to her, wagging her tail playfully. "I don't think we have the space."
"But they're sisters. They would be lonely without each other."
His mother smiled. "I suppose they would, wouldn't they? And we can't separate a family, huh?"
Little did they know, they were going to be separating a family. Mogu would be all alone if his sisters were adopted, but the boy hadn't noticed the white puppy sitting beside me.
"Well," Hana said, "technically there are three siblings. Their little brother Mogu is right over there." She made a brief gesture toward us. "He's the little white one. He's very playful."
"Oh, wow!" Grinning, the boy came running towards us, but Mogu didn't seem to be in the mood to socialize. Instead, he hid behind me and started growling when the boy came too close.
The boy gasped fearfully and cried to his mother, "This puppy is mean! He's nothing like the other two, and he doesn't look like them either. No, I don't want him!"
His mother looked relieved. "We'll just take these two home then, if that's all right."
"Of course," Hana replied. "We're just glad to have found them a loving home after all they've been through. And Mogu will start to come around eventually."
Would he? I wasn't so sure. He growled and barked at anyone who tried to get close, and he almost bit one man who tried to pet him. I didn't understand why he was being so difficult. His sisters were being taken to a better home, but he didn't seem to want that for himself. Although he whimpered a little when they were taken away, once they were gone, he just looked over at me with that same cheerful glimmer in his eyes.
I received my fair share of attention as well. One young man was most interested in taking me home with him. He was a handsome jōnin, at least halfway through his twenties, with deep red hair that fell gently into a pair of shimmering gold eyes. His touch was so soft, and when he smiled at me, I thought I was going to melt into a puddle at his feet. He was perfect, the kind of man I could spend the rest of my life with, even if it meant living as a dog. But I couldn't have him.
"I'm afraid my little brother would be angry if I let her go," Hana told him. "He's grown quite attached to her, you see."
"Well, I can't blame him. She's a lovely dog." After petting me once more, he jokingly said, "I might have to fight him for her."
Please, do! I thought. I bet you could take him!
Kiba lazily crossed the yard while tying his forehead protector across his forehead. "Fight who for what?"
The red-haired jōnin stood. "I was just telling your sister that I might have to fight you for this beautiful dog, and, honestly, I think I would win that fight." He shot Kiba a provocative smirk, like he wanted to get him all riled up.
And he succeeded.
"What the hell are you talking about, Hikaru?" Kiba shouted, clutching his clawed fingers into a fist. "You think I'm gonna just let you take my dog? Come on, let's fight then! I'll kick your ass!"
Hikaru turned away. "Please, I have no interest in fighting a child, especially such a short-tempered one as you. It would hardly be a challenge."
"Not a challenge, huh? Well, prove it then! Come on, I doubt you'll land a single punch!"
As Kiba boasted on and on, getting angrier by the second, Hikaru knelt in front of me and smiled. "He's rather loud, isn't he? All bark and no bite, one could say."
"All bark, huh? I'll show you!" Fuming, the fleabag prepared to charge his handsome opponent, but Hana stepped in to block his path. "What the hell, Hana? Let me go!" Kiba growled as he tried to move past her. "If this guy wants a fight, I'll give him one!"
Hana sighed. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"
"Shut up! I can take this guy!"
"Relax, kid," Hikaru said upon standing. "I didn't come here for a fight. Just make sure you take care of that sweet dog, or I might have to steal her from you." With a wave of his hand, he was gone, but his presence, while short, left a lasting impression on both me and Kiba.
"Why didn't you let me fight him?" Kiba yelled at his older sister.
"Did you really think I was going to stand there and watch you get laid out?" Hana chuckled and tousled his hair, which only made him angrier. "Really, you're too hot-headed."
"I am not!" he shouted as he broke away from her. "I could've taken him easily."
"Foresight isn't exactly a talent of yours, you know."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're too impulsive to realize a bad idea even when it punches you in the face." To illustrate her point, she lightly pressed her fist against his cheek, and then she pulled away and smiled. "But you really should look after Ikuko. It seems Hikaru's charms have had quite an effect on her."
Boy, was she right. I'd just met the handsome jōnin, and I already couldn't stop thinking about him. How I wished he would swoop in and take me away from the fleabag and his crazy house of hounds.
Kiba squatted down and stared at me with narrow eyes. "What would she want with him?" he wondered aloud.
I had been working hard to avoid Kiba all morning, and now that he was right in front of me, looking at me so intently; I couldn't stand it. My heart started racing again; it was pounding so fast that I thought it would explode, and I just wanted it to stop. Whatever feeling this was, I wanted it to go away!
"I'm much better than that pretty boy," Kiba bragged.
"Yeah, you're a real prize," Hana muttered under her breath. "By the way, aren't you supposed to be meeting the rest of your team now?"
Kiba shot up. "Oh, right. I almost forgot."
"You did forget," she gently reminded him. "Another one of your admirable qualities."
"Quit it!" he yelled, and then he quickly broke into a run. "Come on, Akamaru! Come on, Ikuko!"
Akamaru sped past me right away, but I was hesitant to go myself. Really, I didn't want to spend the afternoon with him.
"If you don't go," Hana said to me, "he's just gonna come right back, you know."
I knew she was right, so I had no choice but to follow him.
We walked through the village together, though I was a few paces behind the fleabag and his mutt. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice. He was still too angry about his confrontation with Hikaru to notice anything. For a long time, he just stomped around, muttering obscenities under his breath, but then his complaints got louder and louder.
"Too impulsive? Yeah, right! I knew what I was doing! Next time I see that red-haired pretty boy, he'd better be ready 'cause I won't go easy on him!"
He really is foolish, I thought.
"Let's see him try to take my dog," he went on. "It'll be the last thing he ever does!"
For the last time, I'm not your dog! You don't own me, and you never will! — And if I want to live with Hikaru, I will! And he'll be a much better owner than you!
We walked past Oshiro's then, the wonderful restaurant that I was officially banned from, and I saw Mother walking out of the entrance with one of her friends. She was wearing a dark blue dress, and her brown hair had been let down in loose, wavy locks that fell to her mid-back. She was smiling and laughing. She looked so happy; I'd never seen her so happy.
As we approached each other, I just couldn't help myself. I was so glad to see her. I ran right in front of her and tried to get her attention:
"Mom, it's me, Ikuko! I've missed you so much!"
I'd hoped she would see through this guise and embrace me as her daughter, but that was a silly thought. She would have nothing to do with this beastly form. I repulsed her.
"What are you doing, you filthy mutt?" she said, glaring down at me. "Get away from me!"
"The little monster is trying to attack you, Mizuno!" her friend cried.
Kiba must have heard them because he was at my side in a matter of seconds, pulling me away from them both. When Mother saw him, she sneered and said, "Another dog? Doesn't your family keep enough already?"
"Honestly, how can you stand being surrounded by so many smelly hounds?" her friend interjected.
Kiba smirked, but I could tell his temper was boiling. "I don't mind dogs," he replied coolly. "It's people like you that bother me." Then he looked right at Mother and said, "You know, if my daughter was missing, I certainly wouldn't be planning lunch dates."
"Well, aren't you a little punk?" Her friend's voice was shrill, like nails on a chalkboard. "Your family hangs around dogs so much, you're starting to look like them. Soon, we won't be able to tell the difference."
Kiba clenched his fist, but before he could respond, Mother spoke. "If you insist on keeping so many hounds, do us civilized people a favor and teach them some discipline."
"And invest in some leashes," her friend added with a cruel laugh.
As I watched the two of them walk away, I felt sad. It really hurt to hear her say such horrible things to me, her own daughter. I just wanted her to know I was okay, but she wanted nothing to do with me. Without realizing it, tears had begun to well up in my eyes, and they were dripping onto the street.
"Hey," Kiba said, grabbing my attention. "Don't listen to them, okay? You're not a filthy mutt or a smelly hound." He was smiling so warmly that I felt my tears begin to dry up. "No, you're a princess."
That was the first time I actually liked being called a princess, and I didn't even try to stop my heart's violent pounding.
"Now I'm really late!" Kiba realized, scrambling to his feet. "I can't think of a good excuse, either. Dammit! Why do we have to have such early meetings, anyway? Man, Shino's never gonna let me hear the end of this!"
While he had his little temper tantrum, I couldn't help but smile a little, at least on the inside. Yeah, he was arrogant and short-tempered, and maybe he was too impulsive for his own good, but he could also be really sweet when he wanted to be.
"Who cares if I'm late?" he finally decided, slamming his fist into the palm of his hand. "They're just gonna have to deal with it!"
He does realize he's just wasting more time, right?
Then, just when he was about to start leaving, Lee decided to make another unwanted appearance. He was walking casually down the street, but once he saw Kiba, his face came alive with hope and excitement, and he came right over to us.
"I'm so glad I found you!" Lee said. "I need your help with something, or I guess it's Akamaru I need."
"What are you talking about?"
It was a sunny morning, not a cloud in the sky, but once Lee started talking, the atmosphere became strangely intense. Grey clouds blocked the sunlight, and a shower of steady rain began to fall. Through this rain, with his bowl-like black hair clinging to his forehead, Lee spoke dramatically:
"Ikuko came to me last night in a dream," he said, instantly catching Kiba's attention as well as my own. "She was wearing this beautiful red dress that seemed to ripple in the wind, and her hair was—"
"Are these details really necessary?" Kiba cut off both him and the rain.
"Right." Lee blushed, and suddenly the rain started again, setting the tone for the rest of his story. "And she said to me, her voice as quiet as a whisper in the wind, 'Lee, you must find me. Please, you're my only hope.' But I didn't know how to find her. And so she presented me with a single strand of her hair and said it would lead me to her. When I woke up this morning, I found this on my pillow."
The rain stopped, and the sun broke through the grey clouds, shining its light directly on Lee. In his hand he held a single strand of my auburn hair.
"When I saw this, I knew it wasn't just a dream. Ikuko was reaching out to me, telling me how to find her!"
How the hell did he get a strand of my hair? I shuddered at the possibilities.
"This strand of hair is like a string of fate," Lee went on, "and I know it will lead me to her."
"So what does this have to do with me?" Kiba asked.
"Well, I need Akamaru to help me track her."
Kiba shook his head. "Her scent is gone. I've already tried. But I can't let you take Akamaru, not today. We're already running late."
"Oh." Lee's shoulders sank in defeat, but when his creepy black eyes passed over to me, his posture straightened again. "How about your other dog? Surely, you can spare one for the day."
"Ikuko?" Kiba glanced down at me. "You want to take Ikuko? She's not much of a tracker, though, and she's pretty stubborn—"
"Her name is Ikuko?" Lee was ecstatic. "Another sign! Please, you must let me borrow Ikuko. With her help, I know I will be able to find her."
Kiba rubbed the back of his neck, thinking over Lee's proposition. "Well, I don't know how much help she'll be, but I guess—"
"Perfect!" Lee exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"
Just like that, I'd been passed off to Lee for the day. At first, I was incredibly pissed off, and even Kiba's reassuring words couldn't calm me down, but once I heard Lee talking about joining up with the rest of Team Gai, I became overjoyed! In a bizarre twist of fate, I was finally going to see Neji again, and this time Kiba wouldn't be able to separate us. Turns out, my hair was a string of fate, after all!
We met the rest of the team outside of the dango shop. Neji and Tenten were talking as we approached them, but once Neji spotted me walking next to Lee, his brow furrowed with confusion. He looked so handsome, even when he was confused.
"Lee, why do you have Kiba's dog?" Tenten asked.
"She's going to help us find Ikuko," Lee explained.
Her eyes widened. "Ikuko? That's what you've gathered us here for?" She slapped her hand to her forehead and let out a frustrated sigh. "Lee, we've been through this already. We're not going to be able to find her. The longer you keep holding on, the more it's going to hurt you in the end."
"But we can find her, I know it!"
"Tenten's right," Neji said, and his words broke my heart. "It's time to give up now."
Lee shook his head. "I won't — I can't — not yet."
"Then keep searching," Neji replied coldly, "but you'll do it without us. I have more important things to do with my time."
More important things to do? I couldn't believe my ears. Do I really mean so little to him?
"Sorry, Lee," Tenten said with a regretful smile as she and Neji walked away, leaving Lee all alone on his mission.
I thought he would be discouraged and upset — I certainly was — but when I looked up at him, he seemed more confident than ever. He had this big smile on his face, one so bright and cheerful that it made me forget about all the terrible things Neji had said.
"Let's go, Ikuko," he said to me. "We'll find her together."
As he stood there, beaming with enthusiasm, I began to see Lee in a new light. He certainly wasn't an attractive boy, and his enthusiasm was really overwhelming at times, but his determination was admirable and inspiring. For a second, I actually believed he would find me, but then I remembered my situation. Although he would never be able to find me, I was happy to watch him try.
He tried to follow my scent at first, but I really wasn't much of a tracker, especially when I was looking for myself. Still, I tried to be convincing. For hours, I led him around the village, stopping at random shops and restaurants, and at every failure, he smiled a little brighter. "We're getting closer," he would say. "It'll be the next one, I'm sure." But it was never the next one, and I was running out of places to go, so I eventually brought him into the forest and stopped.
Lee leaned against one of the trees and smiled down at me. "You're not a tracker, are you?" he said, and I felt a little guilty for leading him on for so long. With a quiet sigh, he slumped down beside me and draped his arm around my neck. "Thanks for trying anyway, Ikuko."
Chuckling quietly to himself, he laid his head back against the tree trunk. "Who am I fooling? I'll never be able to find her, and even if I did, it wouldn't change anything. She'll never be interested in someone like me."
His words caught me off guard. It was so strange to hear such depressing words coming from someone like him.
You're right, though, I had to admit. I'll never be interested in you, but that doesn't mean another girl won't be. Someday you're gonna meet a girl who can see past those bushy eyebrows, dated haircut, and ... well, that disaster of an outfit ... and she'll see all your good qualities. She'll be a very lucky girl to have someone who cares so much for her.
I knew he couldn't hear any of what I was saying, and maybe that was why it was so easy for me to say it, but I wanted to say it anyway because that was how I felt at the moment. He really was a nice guy, and he would find a nice girl one day, but it wouldn't be me.
We sat there together for a while, enjoying a peaceful silence, but then, just as we were about to leave, I heard something in the distance. A child's cries, loud and desperate, like he was in danger. Without thinking, I took off running through the wood, ignoring Lee's attempts to get me to stop, and the cries brought me all the way to the river that cut through the forest.
Swept up by the rushing blue water, a young boy was flailing his arms around as his head bobbed in and out of the water. "Help!" he screamed. "Help!"
I watched him from the bank, debating whether or not I wanted to take the plunge.
It's so cold, and I don't wanna get wet! Someone's bound to come around eventually, right? Then I saw the kid's head disappear under the water, and I started to panic. But if that kid dies, it's gonna be on me! — Hey, I'm already cursed, so what's the worst that could happen, right? She can't curse me again — or maybe she can. I stared at the water's surface, waiting for the kid to come back up, but he never did. Oh, come on! I don't wanna go in the water! Stupid brat, take some swimming lessons before you play by the river!
Since nobody else was coming, and the boy was probably drowning, I reluctantly jumped into the river to save him. As soon as my body hit the frigid water, my eyes shot open, and I suddenly forgot how to swim.
This was a bad idea, I quickly realized, but then I got a hold of myself and started paddling through the water.
Struggling down the river, I chased after the boy as he drifted along, his head just barely floating above the surface. When I got close enough, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him along with my teeth. Water was splashing my face, and my legs were starting to tire out, but I kept on kicking until I reached the water's edge. Then, with all my strength, I hulled the kid onto the riverbank, where he was caught by Lee's bandaged arms. Quickly, the unfashionable ninja pulled the boy ashore and then plucked me out of the water. I collapsed to the ground, shivering, panting, and dripping wet, while Lee tended to the boy.
After all I went through, that kid had better not be dead, I thought. Then I finally heard his coughs. Thank goodness.
"Ikuko," Lee said as he turned to me, his eyes wide in amazement, "you saved his life. You're a hero!"
A hero, huh? I thought back to what Biyoku had said the night she cursed me. She said I had too much pride, that I cared only about myself. So if this curse was all about selfishness, then I had to be the opposite of selfish; I had to help people and stuff, just like I did today.
That's it! I realized. From this day on, I will be the hero of Konohagakure! Yeah, I'm gonna be the least selfish person there is!