triangularity | Open RP post for Inuzuka Hana

For someone everyone usually pinned as reckless and rebellious, Kiba was surprisingly good at handling responsibility. It wasn't like those judgements weren't strictly false at times, but he definitely had his moments; his good days. This was one of them. It was still early and already Kiba had managed to wake up in time to eat a good breakfast, hand in his mission report from the previous day, receive a brief for another, and run the few errands his Ma had entrusted him with. There were just a couple more this he needed to do, and so his next stop was the clinic where his sister worked for a double hit.

His new mission detail was.. puzzling. Politically delicate, dealing with a relation of the Daimyo, and an escort mission? Kiba had badgered both his sensei and various strings leading back to the Hokage for weeks now for anything other than repeated border patrol with his sensei... but this? Somehow he'd never imagined this was his 'something better'. He didn't exactly suit political missions, let alone ones where said mission lasted for two weeks and would inevitably involve a lot of boot kissing for a stuck up princess that had never worked a day in her life.

However the mission was clear and final, and a mission lasting that amount of time meant Akamaru needed a check up.

"Yeah, yeah, I know.." Kiba grumbled in response to Akamaru's whine. "I know you're fine, but I gotta have proof." Why his word wasn't proof enough for the desk he'd never know - he was Akamaru's human after all - but arguing got him nowhere, as he'd already found out.. Countless times.

Armed with Hana's lunch as the other part of his errand, complete with an itinerary list from their mother so she could be sure Kiba hadn't taken pickings for himself, Kiba pushed into the clinic and set about fulfilling the usual formalities in order to see his sister.

Hana was filling out paperwork, the Haimaru brothers draped over each other on the floor in one corner of the office, lazy and half-drowsing. She turned her head at the sound of movement as Mikai sat up straight, ears swiveling toward the door. Hana sniffed the air. Kiba. And lunch.

Opening the door, Hana rolled her eyes at the front desk staff, out of patience for the formalities. She was very hungry. "Honestly, if I'm not with a patient, you can send my brother directly in to me. It's silly to keep him out here wasting time on proper protocol. Just go ahead and let in anyone with Inuzuka clan tattoos on their cheeks, like I've told you before."

Turning to Kiba, she grinned broadly and held out a hand expectantly. "Especially when they bring me lunch. Hello, Kiba, Akamaru. Mom declared it an errand day?" Visitors who brought food were the best kind of visitors.

"Thank you!" Kiba praised loudly as his sister bid him to enter, and he shoved the paperwork back at the secretary. "See, told you so." He probably could have left the taunting out, but he had as little patience for reception desks and all their protocol as she apparently did. The amount of times this happened was more than irritating, it wasn't like the Inuzuka were hard to recognise even without the glaring assistance of their tattoos.

He dropped the bag into her palm almost begrudgingly. He didn't get a lunch bag for his troubles, after all. He had to be home on time to be fed.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You're the last on my list. But Akamaru needs a once over. Two weeks in the Land of Rivers." He turned up his nose so that he could spare her the details.

Hana failed to stifle her snort at her brother's triumphant taunts to the secretary. She should have, she knew, since it would only make office attitudes worse, but the conversation had taken place so many times now. Hana had used up her stock of politeness.

"Thank you," Hana said, snatching the bag cheerfully, well aware Kiba would like to keep it and not bothered in the least by his pouting. She reached into the bag immediately. Even once Kiba told her why else he was there, Hana wanted a few bites to tide her over. She ignored disapproving looks from the front desk as she started eating chicken midstride before even reaching the office door.

"Of course I'll check him over. I always have time for Akamaru." Tucking the bento under her arm, Hana freed up a hand to pat the big dog on the head affectionately. She ruffled her brother's hair afterward, as if Kiba were another of the clan's dogs, head tilted and an amused smile on her face. "You look absolutely thrilled about your mission. What gives?"

Mikai, Haru, and Baishi were on their feet and waiting to greet Kiba and Akamaru enthusiastically, if quietly, when they entered Hana's office. The Haimaru brothers had always liked Kiba and Akamaru, having helped look after the pair when they were all much smaller.

Kiba didn't mind the hair ruffling, but did scrub his hand through it once she was done - like the movement helped tame his dark locks any, when in actuality it kind of just made the mess worse. Tempted by the scent of chicken he followed his sister like a lost puppy, stomach burbling unhelpfully as he went. He'd have to make a pit-stop for a snack before hitting up the training field; it was a good many hours before he could go home for a meal.

"It's escort," he grumbled as he hit the floor with his knees and ruffled the jowls of the three dogs in turn with both hands. "Political escort. The daimyo's daughter."

Hana didn't bother to stifle a snort, remarking dryly, "Were you trying to neaten your hair or make it messy again in case I'd smoothed it down?" Who knows, maybe Kiba wanted his hair as messy as he could get it. It seemed a distinct possibility.

Once they were in Hana's office, she paused for just a second to appreciate the picture of her brother and Akamaru with the three Haimaru. It was always nice to see all the boys together. What Kiba said, however, was anything but good. She scowled. "Is the Hokage crazy, or did you do something to piss him off?" If it were a warranted punishment, she wouldn't sympathize. Much. "I don't even need one hand to count the Inuzuka who are any good at political escort missions. You, little brother, are certainly not among their number. We're trackers, not polite and soft-spoken babysitters!"

The rumbling of her brother's stomach had not gone unnoticed. Kiba might get some of her lunch yet, should he be innocent of any wrongdoing that would make him deserve an escort mission. When Hana spoke, political escort mission sounded like a dirty word. They were her least favorite kind too.

Kiba didn't mind either way with the thing about his hair. In all honesty he liked it looking as wild as possible, but frizzy and mussed up didn't suit him as much as windswept and haphazardly combed did, hence the need for a double-check in the form of a rake from his fingers. So he shrugged as his only reply.

As the three dogs crowded in close, Kiba got his arms around them as if hugging them to him, his hands going crazy scritching and ruffling at their coats. Despite his distaste for the discussion of his mission, he couldn't resist letting a big and genuine grin pass over his face as he threw himself feet first into the slobbery and excitable affection of the brothers. It had been way too long, and there was no better cure for a sour mood than dogs who were happy to see him. Akamaru even joined in the fray, sitting beside Kiba and yipping happily, dancing from side to side on his front paws.

He stood once he'd had his fill and let his sulky scowl return as he sighed around his response.

"I didn't even talk to the guy! I asked at the missions desk to get somethin' other than more god damn border patrol with sensei, and got this instead. I dunno if it's a joke or a 'fuck you, kid' or just a whatever to get me off their backs, but it's the wrong kinda compromise."

Hana grinned broadly at the chaos on the floor of her office, enthusiastically ruffling the fur of each dog as he emerged from the fray. She leaned very briefly against her brother's shoulder in an affectionate nudge as he stood.

"Haven't you learned by now it's a terrible idea to ask for different missions? They always give you something worse unless you ask exactly right and have a friend behind the desk." Hana had theorized for years that it was an actual policy within the mission assignment office. It would make sense, after all. A ninja was supposed to be devious, and everyone assigning missions was a ninja. "Then the next time you get your standard missions, you're so grateful they're not something worse, you don't complain."

Smirking, Hana leaned on Kiba's shoulder again, this time with an elbow rather than bodily. She drawled, "You've been on active duty an awfully long time to still be falling into so simple a trap."

Hana said it fully intending to make peace with a food offering eventually. She just hadn't gotten to outrage her brother in awhile. She had missed Kiba while he was out on all those border patrols. And she missed teasing him just as much as she missed being on his side.

Kiba blew up at that, chest puffing up and out like that would somehow protect him from the loophole his sister had found in his apparently not-so-concrete argument.

"It was sensei's advice!" he crowed, just as indignant despite the fact that Hana had already pointed out that the person to blame for his upset was none other than himself. "He told me if I thought border control was such a snore maybe I should go ask for something different at the desk! So I did!"

Somehow, Kiba failed to see how that definitely wouldn't make his protests any better in any light. Kiba had been falling all over this type of double punishment for years, unaware that both his sensei and the shinobi behind the desk would probably be laughing him all the way to the gate. He never learnt, and this way his sensei got to punish him for complaining just as much as the missions desk did. Despite being such a talented sensory-type, Kiba could be awfully naive where scents weren't involved.

"Sakura's getting jounin, Shino's giving ANBU some thought and I get stuck on escort missions while they're both busy - if this was someone's idea of punishment for being sick of border patrol it's fuckin' harsh." And then he folded his arms, sulk in full swing before he'd even finished talking.

"Because your sensei's greatest joy is hearing you complain, obviously he wouldn't put you in a position to finally end your complaints for awhile. He has even more reason than the mission desk clerks, silly. He listens to you more frequently." Hana just smirked at the pose Kiba had struck, reaching over to poke him lightly in the ribs. "Shinobi are sneaky, Kiba. Maybe not you, maybe not most of our clan, but as a general rule? You have to expect them to do underhanded things."

Hana had learned that the hard way. It had been in small part drilled into her as clan heir, but mostly she just had years of experience taking people at face value. And then being wrong about things. The Inuzuka were straightforward enough, why couldn't everyone else be? Hana looked forward to many things about leading the clan, but village politics were not among those. There was only so much preparation Tsume could offer, seeing as she was no more politically inclined than her daughter.

She grimaced as Kiba spoke of his teammates' aspirations, telling him, "I'll need to go for jounin soon too. Our clan doesn't care, especially given my veterinary skills, but the others won't have any respect for a clan whose heir is still a chuunin well into her twenties."

Hana grinned then. "I shouldn't encourage all the brawls in the streets that would result if anyone said that to our faces." No one should ever insult an Inuzuka where her clanmates could hear.

Kiba grunted at the poke, flailing his hands out to lightly smack her hand away as if the movement might have persisted. He was sure his sister wouldn't have resorted to attacking his ribs in a tickle fight in the middle of a conversation, but like she said....underhanded, sneaky tactics.....

He didn't want to talk about sensei and his rampant bullying so instead he stomped - not entirely unlike a moody toddler - over to the examination table and hoisted himself up to sit on it's edge, legs swinging idly.

But then he grinned, forgetting all about his own woes to share in his sisters mirth at the idea of knocking out the lights of anyone who'd insult the way the Inuzuka did things. "Heh, yeah. No-one would be dumb enough to. I don't see why should have to make jounin just so people will respect you anyway, they should respect you without the promotion."

When Kiba's sulking turned to smiling defense of his sister, Hana grinned back at him before turning away. She knelt, beckoning Akamaru over, and spent a moment scratching his ears before actually doing anything resembling an exam. She leaned forward to rest her forehead on the big dog's. "Because other clans and people have ridiculous notions of what makes a good leader, and I have to deal with them, not just with my own much more sensible family." Shooting Haru a grateful smile as he nudged her shoulder with his snout, she laughed. "My whole family is more sensible, not just the humans."

In spite of the laugh, Hana was no less intent on training harder. She'd buried herself in her specialty lately, and it was time for more missions. She wouldn't make her clan look bad. Not for anything. Most of this generation's heirs were good people, a lot of them her brother's yearmates and close friends. Hana didn't expect problems with them, but they weren't the only ones who'd be able to exert pressure in the village.

"Special jounin, at least," she allowed, an unspoken 'like Mom,' following the statement. "I should be able to manage that pretty quicly given my tracking and medical skills." Lifting her face to look back up at Kiba, she smiled again. "I wouldn't mind training for the jounin exams if it meant a team of kids afterward, though." If anyone knew just how much Hana enjoyed looking after the clan youngsters, it was her brother. She'd started with Kiba, and then just moved on to everyone younger than him. They were family, and they'd be her responsibility someday. They were hers to help train and look after.

She bared her fangs in a far less gentle grin, remarking, "Then I could be the evil jounin sensei who sends my students sulking to their sisters."

Kiba had grinned back at her when she mentioned kids, but the smile soon disappeared on the back of more teasing, turning to a flat look of the utmost displeasure.

"You wouldn't," he huffed, but he was confident in his words. He and Hana might have looked and seemed on first impression quite opposite from one another, but at their base they were siblings and Hana, like Kiba, would have preferred to be respected and liked than anything otherwise. Kiba enjoyed having a rally of friends, he liked company and he liked to be respected by his fellow shinobi, so he continued, "Sensei doesn't know how to train me and Shino, so he lets our clans do it for us, then preaches to us about teamwork and tells us to be aware of our surroundings like he's had a part in how we've progressed.." Kiba upturned his nose at that, screwing up his face with distaste. "If you were a sensei, you'd make sure your team trained with you regardless of what talents or affinities they had. Even if they were a leftovers team like mine, you'd find some similarity and train them using that, right? Train them hard and good, so they respect you and each other, and so that they turn into a team rather than just a bunch of shinobi who have to work together."

Kiba's look had turned sour, sore and burned by his situation, but when he realised that his sulk had clawed its way back onto his face, he shook himself free with a little jerk of his head, wrenching his grin back where it belonged.

"You'd be a great sensei."

Hana couldn't help the gratified smile that spread over her face at her brother's compliments, the quick, "thanks," in response, but she sobered quickly. "You're not a leftovers team," Hana declared firmly, looking straight at Kiba. "None of you. You aren't as obvious a combination as, for instance, the traditional Ino-Shika-Chou combo. That makes it harder to figure out roles, but the three of you are all good people. If you haven't become a real team, someone isn't doing their job right."

She turned back to Akamaru, running a hand over each of his legs to feel for any joint issues. Hana lifted and checked each of his paws, continuing, "You're worth a lot as shinobi, individually and together. I actually think you and Shino could balance each other well if you weren't always sniping." She didn't blame Kiba entirely for that. On the contrary, she thought everyone involved on the team, especially their sensei, played a part in developing sometimes unproductive dynamics. Inuzuka wanted to be part of a group. She was well aware of her clan members' typical faults, but she also knew their strengths, and if a leader could harness that headstrong stubbornness properly, there was no one more loyal or dependable.

She continued with the process that was so routine by now that she doubted she'd have to ask Akamaru for anything. He knew what was going on in the usual exam as well as she did.

Hana finished a very basic physical exam, but left the requisite chakra scans for after lunch. She got back to her feet, going to the desk. Removing everything from her bento, Hana neatly divided it up. A third for Kiba, a third for herself, and a third for the dogs to share to tide them over till their next meal. A quick sniff was enough to rule out harmful ingredients like garlic or onions; Hana was very careful about what she fed any of the family dogs. "Here, eat this," she said, handing Kiba his share. Her own dogs had dishes in the corner of her office, and Hana got down a plate for Akamaru. She sat in her own chair after taking care of everyone else, but spun it around to face Kiba rather than the desk.

Kiba watched closely as Hana carefully mapped out each part of Akamaru with her hands, quiet and studious, entranced by watching her work as he chewed her words over.

...Speaking of chewing. Kiba graciously accepted the offering, immediately taking a huge bite as if he hadn't eaten for weeks. His mothers cooking was getting to be something close to excellent in his books, and whether it was family bias or not, Kiba didn't really care.

With a hamster-cheek full of food, the Inuzuka boy mumbled a noise of thought, then swallowed before he spoke up, "Sure Shino's got potential, but he's such an asshole." He upturned his nose again, eternally frustrated by even the mere thought of that particular Aburame. He wasn't entirely sure when their relationship had started to sour so much from their reasonably amicable days in the academy, but since their team had formed Kiba had found an inherent dislike for the way Shino worked almost as strong as the dislike Shino found in him. They picked at each other incessantly, both bidding for the next opportunity to one-up the other in an endless cycle that caused a rift in their team dynamic right from the get-go. "He's so fucking stuck up, and he's got his bugs shoved so far up his ass I'm pretty certain he's one step away from marrying the little fuckers. He pisses me off on purpose just so he can show off with them. I'm all for working through differences, as much as the next guy, but Shino is impossible to work with."

He paused to lick his fingers, scowling at his hand like it was the cause for all his problems of late.

"And as for Sakura... She's great, but she just doesn't gel with either of us battle-wise - and even out of battle it's kinda tense! She makes fun of me, and when she's not defending sensei's shitty teaching, she's siding with Shino to gang up on me." He dragged his hands down his face and groaned. "I don't see the point in our team. We just don't work, and if sensei has been trying all this time to make it work he's done a god-awful job of it."

Continued here!

Open RP post for Inuzuka Hana

Sunshineverse :^D

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