Becoming

Part 18

 Naruto and Kiba walked the streets of Konoha, heading to get Ramen. It'd been forever since Naruto had been there, and he had been too afraid to be recognized to go since arriving in Konoha again. With Kiba with him though, he decided he wouldn't mind. Sasuke had been with, but was soon called away on a mission doing who knows what.

"You order first," Kiba said when they sat down, thinking about what he'd want to get. Naruto shrugged and gave his order to the old man he knew so well. It was strange, Naruto thought, that he'd seen the man almost everyday when he was younger, and so many years later, he was sitting in front of him, a stranger. Naruto ignored it at first, but he definitely felt eyes on him. He finally looked up into the eyes of Teuchi. Ayame, his daughter, was not far, staring holes into Naruto.

"What?" he asked finally. Both father and daughter squinted at him. Naruto shrugged when they stayed silent and began eating, all the while feeling their eyes on him, studying every move he made.

"You look familiar," Teuchi murmured. Ayame nodded her agreement, and Naruto looked back at the two. Well, he should look familiar.

"He looks like..." Ayame trailed off. Teuchi nodded. Naruto watched them with raised eyebrows, and Kiba watched the whole thing with silent fascination.

"You aren't Naruto, are you?" Teuchi asked after a moment. Naruto choked on his saliva, surprised they knew him.

"Uh, yeah," he said after taking a drink from the glass Ayame handed him. Teuchi and Ayame smiled.

"It's been forever since he's been here, hasn't it?" Kiba yelled, jumping into the conversation. He put an arm around Naruto's shoulder and hung on him, rambling on about something.

"Be quiet, would you?" someone said irritatedly, and Naruto turned to see Shikamaru come in. He paused when he saw Naruto. "Oh, hey."

"Hey. What're you doing here?"

"I heard the loud mouth there and came to shut him up. He was disturbing my nap." Shikamaru shrugged, and then took the seat next to Naruto. "I got nothing to do now. I've already been disturbed."

Naruto nodded. "You gonna eat something?" Shikamaru shook his head, so Naruto turned back to Kiba, Teuchi and Ayame, starting a quiet conversation. He occasionally glanced at Shikamaru and found him with his head atop his arms, eyes closed. It surprised the blond a bit, when both Kiba and Naruto stood and paid, and turned to find Shikamaru up and ready to walk with them.

"Well? Where to now?" Naruto asked, looking at both men on either side. Kiba grinned evilly and yanked on Naruto's arm.

"I've got an idea. Come on you two!" Kiba ran ahead, and Naruto and Shikamaru just looked at each other, shrugged and followed after him. When they neared the area Naruto knew to be where Kiba's house was, he began to grow suspicious. Then Kiba disappeared, and the blond and longer haired man looked around, trying to spot him.

"Get them!" Naruto heard Kiba call, and all of a sudden, he was on the ground, being licked by a million puppies. He looked over to find Shikamaru with the same luck as him.

"What in the world?" Naruto asked, sitting up, catching the one small puppy that couldn't climb off of him fast enough. He lifted it to his face and chuckled when it licked his nose. The puppy fit in his hand, and was extremely small. It snuggled into Naruto's shoulder and soon, it's breathing became heavier.

"Hah, he likes you," Kiba commented, finally showing his face. "You can have him if you want. He hasn't liked being here with the big dogs too much. See how tiny he is?"

Naruto glanced at Shikamaru, sharing a smirk with him, and then put the little puppy down in a safe place and stood. Before the dog lover could even react, Naruto, Shikamaru and a dozen dogs tackled him. A few puppies tried climbing on top, but kept tumbling down when the the men moved and eventually gave up, going to explore elsewhere.

"Hey, it's not fair that there's two of you against me!" Kiba yelled, clenching his teeth to keep from laughing as the two tickled him. No, that would mean defeat.

"You're the one who sent a million puppies and dogs to tackle us. I don't see how that's fair!" Naruto said, laughing.

"They're dogs, though!"

"And there was a lot more of them," Shikamaru pointed out with a smirk as Kiba finally gave. His laugh rang throughout the air.

"Fine! I give, I give!"

I gave Naruto a puppy. Now I need a name for the dog. Now I really, really, really, really want a puppy though! I mean, I got a dog, a little one and he's sooooo cute and I adore him, but ya know, it's not always the same as a new little puppy. But I'm horrible at coming up with names, so I need suggestions. I don't really like normal names, like, people names. I like Braizor-but that seems more like a girl to me, and more like a horse...so I don't know.  There's probably gonna be one more non serious part, then it'll get more serious again. Maybe halfway through the next one or something. Oh, and anyone else dying of heat? Bleh...Ok, love ya all, and thanks so much for reading!!!!!!