'You 're always such a reckless idiot, do you know that? ' Kiba growled, anger and worry equally obvious in his voice. Naruto winced, half for the scolding and half for the pain, and did his best to look at least sort of sorry. It was hard when he had a hole through his sternum doing its best to leak out all the blood in his idiotic body before Kurama could heal him.

'Better me than you, 'ttebayo, ' he managed to mumble.

Kiba gave him a flat look before going back to his task of trying to staunch the flow of blood. ' Sakura was somewhere out of sight. He had called for her a half dozen times already and could only hope that she would show up soon. He was no medic, no matter how much he wished he was at the moment. Naruto coughed, bringing up a thick red froth, and Kiba swallowed harshly.

'Come on, man. You can 't bite it on a stupid mission like this. Just hold on a little longer okay? '

'You didn 't get hurt did you? '