Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ To Talk ❯ To Talk ( Chapter 1 )

Title: To Talk

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/1/04

Author's note: Just another one shot I had in my head for a bit. Love that Naruto!

To Talk

Kiba didn't used to be loud. He could remember a time when noise would grate on his every nerve until he would have to stuff his hands deep into the pockets of his pants to resist pulling at his hair to distract himself.

He could remember when silence was truly golden and he remembered sitting on a hill and silently watching the clouds go by with Shikamaru.

He had been happy.

So happy.

But that was before Shikamaru found a best friend in a shy little chubby kid who loved a good potato chip more than anything else in the world.

And that was before his spot on the hill began to be saved, not for him, but for Chouji and his noisy, rustling chip bag.

But that was fine with Kiba, after awhile. He had Akamaru and while Akamaru liked to bark and whine sometimes, he seemed to know when Kiba truly needed quiet.

Things worked for awhile longer. Kiba would pretend he didn't miss watching clouds and that he didn't miss having a true friend around to just sit and do nothing more but dream.

And then one day, Kiba's carefully constructed world shattered into a million pieces.

Because, one day, Kiba's parents didn't come home. And then the silence became not a golden friend but the blackest enemy imaginable.

In the minutes after the Hokage told his sister, the silence was filled with dread and disbelief and such pain that it made him choke and clench his fists tightly into Akamaru's fur.

In the stillness after the funeral, he could hear his sister try to muffle her sobs through the floorboards.

He didn't muffle his.

He screamed through his tears.

Even though he hated it, hated the volume and the harsh sound of broken voice.

He did it.

Because it filled the silence that nothing else could.

In the absence of his father's laugh and his mother's tinkering in the kitchen, there was complete and utter quiet.

And so Kiba began to hate silence. He began to avoid it at all costs. Music, television, loud voices, Kiba even went so far as to encourage his dog to bark for all he was worth until he knew Akamaru would grow hoarse and he'd have to ply him with warm milk and store-bought cookies.

For the longest time, Akamaru wouldn't eat them because Kiba's mom had always made their dog biscuits from scratch.

But eventually, Akamaru adapted to store-bought treats and Kiba adapted to noise.

As he sat there, five years later, holding his broken, bleeding dog in his lap, silence fell.

And it became quiet.

So quiet.

Too quiet.

Tears dripped from his eyes but his voice seemed to be caught in the lump in his throat.

He couldn't make noise.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't do anything but stay silent.

While his dog died quietly in his arms.

Until he caught movement from the corner of his eye and his body jerked of its own accord.

A shadow fell across his prone form and two warm bodies placed themselves on either side of him.

Leaning against the large trunk next to him, these two bodies slid close to him.

And Shikamaru and Chouji began to talk.