Remember me? (Kiba One Shot)

“Critter! Come out, come out wherever you are!” You called walking through the trees. It was late afternoon and you were searching for your dog Critter who had run off during your walk. You were just a kid and hadn’t really found anything overly interesting with your life. It seemed pretty boring so far. “Critter!” You called becoming slightly antsy. You were impatient. You came out of the trees into a small clearing filled with wild flowers and a small stream near the middle. A boy was sitting down near the stream with a white ball in his lap and, surprise surprise, Critter was lying on the ground next to him. “Critter!” You complained and his head shot upwards. The boy and the white ball looked at you in time with Critter and the boy stood up. Critter took off heading towards you and danced around your feet happily. He was still in training but sometimes he just didn’t even try.

“Hi.” The boy said coming towards you.

“Hello.” You said back pushing your pixie cut brown hair behind your ear.

“I’ve never seen you around here before. What’s your name?” He asked stopping a few feet away from you.

“It’s rude to ask for someone else’s name before giving your own. But I’ll let this one slide.” You said and smiled with rainbow eyes. “My name is Mikio.” You introduced and stuck your hand out for him to shake.

“I’m Kiba.” Kiba said and shook your hand. “Are you new around here?” He asked after dropping his hand to his side.

“I’m only here on a visit. My grandfather lives around here and my family and I come and stay with him sometimes since he gets lonely. What about you?”

“I live around here, not too far away actually. Maybe you could visit sometime.” Kiba said and you nodded happily even though you knew you wouldn’t. You weren’t technically supposed to be out this far right now anyway so admitting that you had met Kiba not far from his house would only lead to trouble.

“Maybe, some time.” You lied and Kiba smiled.

“You’re hair is awfully short.” He stated out of the blue. “Why do you have it so short?”

“It used to be really long but then my mom thought it would be a good idea to cut it short so it would be easier to manage when I’m out on missions and stuff.” You explained.

“Missions? You can’t be a ninja already.” Kiba said almost perplexed.

“No, not yet. I’m in training. But my mom wants to prepare me early on so I’m ahead of the game and so I don’t get attached to the length.” You shrugged thinking nothing of it.

“Oh, that’s too bad. You would be really cute with long hair.” Kiba said and smiled. Your mouth parted a bit and you felt yourself blush lightly. “Well, I have to go now. My mom’s making dinner so I’ll see you around sometime I hope. See you later Mikio.” Kiba called as he started running home. “Let’s go Akamaru.” Kiba waved at you and then turned away continuing to run. You waved back robotically trying to pull life back into your limbs.

“Cute?” You repeated.

~9 Years Later~

You carefully walked through the trees as your long brown hair waved back and forth over your back. You were 16 years old and a pretty tough individual. Critter was wandering nearby while your two other team members walked beside you. Rue, a very hot headed, egotistical, stubborn girl and Shaoran, a very smart, reliable, gorgeous boy.

“Mikio,” Rue started and you briefly glanced at her in the corner of your eye. “Is there a purpose to visiting the Leaf Village?” Shaoran glanced at you also. You hadn’t really explained to them why you were going to the Leaf Village since it wasn’t under direct orders. You hadn’t even really thought about it yourself until you were already on your way there. You had told your parents and the Kage that you were going to visit the Leaf Village because you wanted to visit your grandfather’s grave. But in actuality you just wanted to do something different.