*Editing* Dying From The Inside Out. (A Kiba Inuzuka Love Story)

Chapter 15: Effective Words


My hand. Someone is holding my hand. I am looking at nothing, but darkness.

What is this feeling? It is like I am cold…like my insides are frozen, but my skin is warm. Wait, no, it's my stomach. My stomach is cold, only my stomach.

I feel fine inside everywhere else.

This hand that holds mine…it's rough, perhaps the result of training. There is something warm on my arm too, soothing, heavy but comforting.

I held the hand tightly, and concentrated on the warmth of my arm.

The holder squeezed back gently, and suddenly a voice I knew but could not identify filled my head.

"It's not that I wanted to hurt you…" It said sadly, echoing through the darkness that I stared at. The way he said it sounded like there was more.



"It's not that I wanted to hurt you, Kaira…"

I became vaguely aware of who it was. "Kiba…" I thought to myself quietly, and suddenly the grip on my hand tightened, and the warmth on my arm lifted, before something touched my face the was slightly damp.



"Kaira! Kaira? Can you hear me?" 

What was happening? Am I dreaming of talking to him or is this actually happening? Where am I anyway? I feel motionless…asleep. Speak, I need to speak. Words, I need to say something.



A sentence, a word.



"Those who forgive will always regret…" I mumbled softly. Where in the hell did that line come from?





"The betrayal made and you'll never forget." Familiar…my mother said that!




~

Atori watched Kiba and Akamaru sit at Kaira's bedside. Eriina would probably kill her if she knew she allowed Kiba in here, but Atori had to risk it.


Only hours ago, Kurasei Shizuka had informed Atori that Kiba needed to talk to Kaira. Atori has never doubted Kurasei before, so naturally she agreed.


The boy held Kaira's hand, and Akamaru sat comfortably on her forearm, staring at her close eyes. It shocked Atori at how gentle Kiba seemed to be. Frozen and silent, Kiba watched Kaira.


Atori sat there awkwardly for ages, before Kiba gasped and held her hand even tighter. "What is it?" Atori asked him, as Akamaru crawled towards her face and nudged it with his nose.


"What is it?" She repeated, before a deep frown came over Kiba and he released her hand. "I heard her say my name…and then she said something else."


"Something else?"


No answer came as the dog-nin suddenly jumped up and sprinted from the room. Atori jumped up and called to him, but he was gone. Akamaru stayed close to Kaira though, and Atori wondered is he was around when Kaira used to be bullied.


"Were you there when he used to…" she trailed off, not knowing how to say it properly. The little dog whimpered and looked at her with the saddest eyes possible, which stabbed Atori's heart.


"Aww you are so cute!" She cooed, picking him up and hugging him.


"Oh but," she held him up and looked at him. "I wonder what it was that Kiba heard Kaira say! Let's go and ask him okay?" Not putting the dog down, the cheerful girl jogged out of the room after Kiba.


Meanwhile, Shikamaru sat beside Eriina on the swings like they had done once before. The red head hid her face in her hands and swung back and forth slowly. Shikamaru wasn't sure what to do, any other time he'd leave but he felt as though he needed to comfort Eriina.


"It won't be too bad Eri…" he said encouragingly. Eriina looked up with shock, and the small tears in her eyes struck Shikamaru like a bolt of lightning.


"Eri?" She blinked innocently. "Only two people call me that…Atori and…" Her hand covered her face again, thinking about Azura. Shikamaru gulped and mentally slapped himself. He just made it worse!


"W-Well now there's three people!" Trying to cheer her up again, Shikamaru caught sight of a distraught looking Naruto and a distraught looking Kiba crossing paths.


'That's not good,' he thought to himself.


"Maybe I should forfeit…" Eriina suddenly suggested. "Well that's up to you…but to be honest, I don't think you should forfeit. If there's anyone that can beat Azura it'd be you ya' know," Shikamaru's words finally bought a smile to her face.


"I'm sorry, all this time I was worried about myself and I didn't even ask about you…are you worried about fighting Mindo?"


"Not really. If I got a chance to see his fighting style it would help. All I know is that he uses that massive axe."


"Well you're smart, I'm sure you'll figure it out," Eriina smiled. "But…Shikamaru?"


"Yeah?"


"I'm glad we don't have to fight anymore."


The two smiled sheepishly at each other after that. Both were silent, but it was not an awkward silence, it was sweet. Of course there can never be silence when Atori is around.


"HEY!" The hyper girl squealed, running up to the peaceful two. "Have you seen Kiba?"


Eriina, not happy that their moment had been interrupted, glared up at the green eyed girl. "Why would you want to know?"


This made Atori freeze in fear. "N-No reason!" She insisted, before rushing away, obviously frightened.


Sighing, Eriina leaned back into the swing, before turning to Shikamaru, "Teach me now?"

Atori stopped running quickly, realising she was not being hunted. Leaning against the brick wall behind her, she caught her breath as Akamaru sniffed the ground.


The little dog suddenly yelped, and raced of down the street. "A-Akamaru!" The girl yelled, chasing after him quickly.


Finally they came to a stop outside a house. Akamaru nodded his head towards the door, and Atori followed his command, approaching cautiously and knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" A girls voice said from behind the door. "Um...a friend of Kiba's?" Atori replied weakly, not quite sure what she was doing here.

Behind the door, Hana looked wearily over at her little brother with a worried glance. Looking straight back at her, Kiba made a decision and jumped out the window and ran away. "He's uh...he's not avai-"


Akamaru started barking, and Hana opened the door to face Atori. "I know he's in there. I need to talk to him."


Hana smiled, "Are you a friend of Kaira's?" She asked, ignoring the girl's original eagerness. That didn't matter though, because Atori had been taken by surprise.


"How do you know Kaira?"


"Well, she and Kiba are friends right? Isn't that why you're here?"


"Uh...why do you think I'm here?"


"Kurasei Shizuka told me you were coming to give Kiba Kaira's apology!"


Extremely surprised now, Atori looked shocked at Hana. "Kaira's apology for what?"

~

Was that end slightly confusing? :O Well, I'm sorry, it will make sense as soon as I figure it out myself!

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Stay Magical, MjAM <3