The Beauty of Imperfection

Chapter Nine

It's been a week.

Sensei was never in his room when I visited, Hideaki was still gone, Mizu and Shun had left, I didn't dare go visit my father yet, and the only thing left to distract me was C and D rank missions. I felt incredibly abandoned and incredibly bored.

I had cleared the list of solo mission Tsunade had assigned to me each day, quickly and efficiently, utterly bored. Collecting the money for the day's missions, I turn away with a barely concealed sigh. It was barely midday and I already had nothing left to do.

Breathe in, and out.

I'm hungry--it's lunchtime, and I had breakfast hours ago--but I don't feel like eating. I'm bored and unmotivated and finally, knowing that I won't receive any more missions for the day, I resign myself to training. I hurry to the training grounds, wishing in the back of my mind that I had someone--a partner, a teammate, a friend--to train with.

But I had nobody.

Only fifteen minutes into my training I felt a presence appear. I studiously ignore it, moving on to target practice with a variety of projectiles. Despite my resolve to continue training despite him, I'm interrupted.

"Fancy meeting you out here, Fuzen," Kiba's slow drawl announced his presence. "I would be expecting you to be having your afternoon tea, princess." He takes a sip from an imaginary teacup, pinky sticking out into the air.

I scowl. "Sorry to disappoint," I reply. "Go away. I'm too busy to deal with strays."

His face reddens, as I knew it would. He hates any comment that insinuates that being associated with dogs should be an insult. "Ooh, is someone having a fight with Daddy? Is that why your not having afternoon tea with the family? Did he cut you off or something?"

I snarl to myself and throw a kunai at a target with more force than strictly needed. "Or something."

"Well then, why aren't you hanging out with your teammate and his gay boy toy?"

I glare at him. "Shun and his boyfriend Mizu aren't in the village right now."

"Wanted to get away from you?"

I turn so he can't see the look on my face, but the attempt is useless when I say in a small voice, "No."

I can feel his smirk as I throw another kunai. "Riiight," he draws out. "So, your teammate and his--" I glare, and he concedes, "boyfriend aren't here. Don't you have a sister?"

I roll my eyes. "Why are you so interested with what I do with my time?"

"Well, when the spoiled little princess is all on her own the big bad wolf wonders why," Kiba mocks.

I raise my eyebrows. "'Big'? 'Bad'? Yeah, right. And 'wolf'? C'mon, mutt, your mom was a bitch."

I can see the anger growing in his eyes. He wasn't used to me replying in kind. "Speaking of moms, what's up with yours?" He questions acidly. "Everyone says she's going crazy. Doesn't come out of her room anymore. Always 'ill'. Maybe my mom is a bitch, but at least she isn't a psycho." I blink. Kiba sees the weakness and springs on it. "No way," he laughs. "You didn't know?"

"I've only been back for a bit," I defend.

"But you didn't know your own mother was insane?" I flinch slightly. "Or maybe you did know. Maybe its catching and you're crazy and that's how you know!'

"Don't be stupid," I roll my eyes. "Even if my mom was, you can't 'catch' crazy."

"No, but you can inherit it," He smirks as I blanch slightly.