Author's Note: And here it is, my last chapter of my first story. (Author sheds tear) It has been fun, and I have gained at least a little experience with my new writing hobby. I would like to thank all of my beloved reviewers, especially the ones who stuck with me even when some of the chapters sucked. I'm truly sorry about that, and I hope to improve on my future fics. And now, I give you the grand finale of "A Helping Paw".

Disclaimer: There isn't no way, no how, that I own the spectacular idea of Naruto or any of its characters. That's just my luck.

"Hey Miroki! Come check out the new ball of fluff!"

"He actually looks quite decent, Shoug. Very well groomed. He must be a preppy house pet."

"Yeah, it looks like he wouldn't be able to survive one day on my side of town" the gruff voice sneered.

"Would you two knock it off! Just leave him alone!" A shrill voice snapped at the two bullies.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh, you don't have to chew my head off" The arrogant voice seemed to back down at the female's outburst.

Akamaru drowsily heard most of this interaction, although not absorbing it fully. His head pounded, the internal sound reverberating against his ears. He growled slightly as he stirred.

"It looks like he's coming around"

"She'll be comin' round the mountain when-"

"Shut up, Shoug."

Akamaru blinked open his eyes and groggily tried to determine his surroundings. Shapes and colors finally shifted into focus as a soft, soothing voice floated into his consciousness. He sat up.

In front of Akamaru was a chain link fence. They were also used as dividers at the sides. A wall was behind him, along with a small doggy bed, a food bowl and a water bowl. On his right were two large male dogs, staring at him menacingly through the chain barrier. One seemed to be a bulldog of some breed, and the other looked as if he was partly Great Dane. On his left, on the other side of the divider, there was a small, speckled female. She looked at Akamaru with concern in her violet eyes.

Akamaru just stared into those deep eyes that appeared so kind and soft. He was about to ask for her name when he heard the sound of countless other barks and yips. Suddenly he realized what had happened.

"I'M IN A DOG POUND?!?!" he howled, dread flooding through him. This day couldn't get any worse. The puppy's mind whirled and seemed to crack. He had to find his happy place. Fast. Akamaru resumed the fetal position.

The two males on Akamaru's right started snickering at him, but shut up immediately when the brown and white female snarled.

She glanced at the newcomer with concern. The other dogs who came in usually didn't panic this much.

Akamaru slowly recovered from his cowering position on the floor. The tiny canine observed the area around him for any flaws or opportunities that would aid his release. He had to get out of there. He had a master to take care of.

The female on his left interrupted his plans of escape.

"Are you alright?" she asked kindly, her soft voice soothing Akamaru's worry.

"Yeah, I think so." Akamaru replied, staring at her eyes. 'That's odd…I've never seen purple eyes before.' The female smiled.

"So what's your name?"

"Akamaru"

"Red…heh, that's ironic."

Akamaru cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What's ironic?"

"My name is Shiden. I just figured it was funny, seeing as we are both named after colors."

Akamaru found it ironic as well. He had to admit, the name did suit her beautiful eyes.

There was a small grunt on the other side of Akamaru's cell.

"Oh, and these two boneheads are Miroki and Shoug. Ignore them, they're just blockheaded bullies." Shiden explained.

Akamaru chuckled. The two gruff males seemed very put out by Shiden's comment. They shuffled around their cell behind the chain-link fence.

Akamaru moved closer to the female. He liked her already and felt at ease around her.

"So, do you have an owner?" he asked timidly.

"Well…I did at one point, but…" Shiden seemed uncomfortable. Miroki and Shoug were glaring daggers at the pup. Akamaru quickly changed the subject.

"Are you happy here? It seems like a decent place."

Shiden perked up. "Well, we do have this very enthusiastic caretaker. He's really sweet and thoughtful. I'm sure you would like him."

Akamaru listened intently, looking for any detail that could possible aid his escape.

"In fact, he should be coming around this time for feeding…" Shiden glanced through the many layers of chain-linked fence to the barely visible doors.

Akamaru pondered on what Shiden said. He highly doubted that the caretaker could help him out of this one.

As if on cue, the doors burst open with a bang.

"GOOD AFTERNOON MY WONDEROUS BLOOMS OF YOUTH!"

No way.

Akamaru bolted upright and craned his neck in order to view the person whom he was positively sure that he knew. And sure enough, bounding around the corner came a lean, bushy-browed, spandex-wearing teenager that Akamaru knew all too well.

Rock Lee leapt down the aisles with an exuberant smile, a large bag of dog food in his arms.

Akamaru could've done a back-flip. Several, in fact. Surely bushy-brows could get him out of this place and back into Kiba's arms. Akamaru wagged his tail in anticipation as Lee started down the rows, giving appreciated attention to every canine he fed.

"TODAY IS A WONDERFUL DAY TO LIVE OUT OUR POTENTIAL BLISS IN OUR DELICATE FORMS OF YOUTH!"

The entire pound went crazy at the sound of Lee's excited voice. Yips and howls echoed off every wall, reverberating over and over again. Akamaru swore that he couldn't hear himself think.

Ever so slowly, Lee made his way to Akamaru's cage. He stopped at Shiden's cell and bent down to pet her. Shiden jumped up all over bushy-brows and licked his face. Lee chuckled and poured her food. Finally, he came to the anxious ninja-dog.

"Now, who do we have here…?" Lee said, confused as he looked at the slightly familiar newcomer. Akamaru barked, hoping that Lee would recognize him.

Suddenly Lee's round eyes widened in shock. "AKAMARU!"

Akamaru yipped happily and licked Lee's face. He was relieved, for now he was going home.

"Now how in the world did you get in here? Maybe I should talk to Kiba about getting you a collar…" Lee mumbled as he scooped Akamaru up into his arms. Miroki and Shoug glared at him with envy. Akamaru stuck out his tongue. He looked down towards Shiden.

The young female looked up at Akamaru with sadness. Her new found friend was being ripped away from her almost immediately. Akamaru looked back and whined. Lee looked over his shoulder at Shiden, then glanced at the puppy in his arms and smiled when he saw the two youthful beings watching each other.

He patted Akamaru's back. "Don't worry boy. I'll take good care of her."

Akamaru could only watch as Shiden slowly disappeared from his view, a series of conflicting emotions whirling inside his mind.

"No"

Choji ignored Shikamaru's definite answer and kept pestering him.

"Come on! I'm sure that she's willing to cooperate. You guys can surely work out some sort of compromise?"

Shikamaru settled his eyes on his best friend and snorted. "I highly doubt that I can cooperate with some annoying, bossy-"

"You know that she isn't like that all the time!" Choji cut Shikamaru off. "Even a genius such as yourself could see that she only acts that way to get your attention."

Shikamaru chose to remain silent.

"And speaking of annoying, bossy blondes…" Choji grinned, looking over the Nara's shoulder. Shikamaru moved his head ever-so-slightly to glance out of the corner of his eye.

Ino was standing next to Sakura near the Ichiraku Ramen stand, a lily tucked behind one ear. Apparently she hadn't noticed her teammates yet, and was standing there watching Sakura scold Naruto for asking for money to pay for eight bowls of ramen.

Shikamaru felt his body turn around so that he could stare at her directly. She was laughing as Sakura bopped Naruto on the head and reluctantly paid for his late lunch. He couldn't help but feel captivated by her smile.

Choji decided to help out and gave a slight "nudge" to Shikamaru's back, which resulted in said genius to stumble halfway across the street.

Steadying himself, Shikamaru shot a glare at his plump teammate before slowly making his way towards Ino.

"Troublesome…"

Rock Lee was an active young man. Akamaru was just more than a little annoyed when Lee started skipping down the lane while singing at the top of his lungs. Remember, he was still in Lee's arms.

It didn't help that he would occasionally twirl the ninja dog around in dizzying circles. Akamaru was about to issue a growl when he realized where they were. He barked a few times and Lee stopped, confused.

They were in Ino's neighborhood. Akamaru recognized Madam Shijimi's house and looked at the one next door, which had to be Ino's.

Akamaru thought for a moment. All of his attempts at revenge have failed miserably. Even though Ino had left his master alone since walking in on him and Hinata, Akamaru still felt a need to extract his exact revenge. He chose to ignore the fact that his own demise was often caused by himself.

For a moment, Akamaru wondered what to do. There was hardly anything that he could do right now. All of his brilliant schemes have failed. And so, he was left with one option that was so simple, that it just might work.

He leapt down from Lee's arms and trotted over to Ino's house. He bounded up the front steps, and once he reached the door, he turned and lifted his leg.

When he was done, he jumped down the steps and trotted back to Rock Lee, whose questionably round eyes were huge with shock.

Akamaru sat at his feet and barked, impatient to continue home.

Shino kept silent as he walked through the village. Hinata and Kiba had finally announced their relationship to the public. Shino smiled, remembering that Hinata had confided in him before any other. She truly was the sister he never had.

A small parasitic beetle buzzed around his ear, delivering gossip that was overheard. Well, you can't blame Shino. As a great shinobi, he had to stay on top of things. Besides, it was a way of perfecting his skills in spying.

"BZZZ…BZ…BZZ-BZZZZZZZ" Shino chuckled. Apparently, Kankuro from Sand and Jiraiya had teamed up together to find Jiraiya's missing porn…uh…work. It was remarkable how quickly village alliances were made when the situation centered on stolen 'works of art'.

Shino kept moving through the crowd into the center of town. As he was walking, he spotted two figures out of the corner of his eye. He paused and headed in their direction. It had seemed unlikely that he would find this pair together so soon…

He nodded to Shikamaru in passing, as the lazy genius was currently occupied with a certain blonde that was clinging to his arm. Choji was following a few steps behind. The two shinobi glanced at each other, smiling.

"Mission accomplished?"

"Yup."

"Cool. So, ramen tonight?"

"You bet."

"AKAMARU!"

Kiba framed the doorway of the Inuzuka house, his face showing relief. He thanked Lee profusely as he reached out to take Akamaru from Lee's arms.

Hinata appeared behind him. She saw Akamaru and squealed, pushing Kiba out of the way and taking the ninja dog into her own arms. She squeezed him tightly while thanking Lee for finding him.

Kiba sat on the ground, staring up at his girlfriend in shock and mild annoyance that she had ignorantly shoved him so, but was happy overall. At least she cared about Akamaru as much as he did.

Rock Lee watched the scene with hearts in his eyes. Tears came close to cascading down his cheeks as he saw the joyous family reunion.

"My, oh wondrous…" his predictable speech was cut off as the door slammed shut. Apparently, the trio had already heard enough speeches on their youthfulness.

Rock Lee shrugged and figured that they got the point. He then took off to go buy flowers for Sakura on another whim of "youthful inspiration".

Akamaru yawned and curled up on Kiba's bed. The past few weeks seemed to have caught up with him, and the little pooch felt exhausted. His nose gave a delightful twitch as he took in the scent of Kiba's blankets.

He closed his eyes, drifting off into a subtle sleep containing visions of a violet-eyed beauty.

(o.o) (o.o) (o.o)

(A.N.: Since it seemed that it would be pointless to have such a short and eventless chapter, I have decided to input a gracious Kiba/Hinata moment…um…period…thing…well yeah, you get the point. And so, for this little section, it won't be from Akamaru's POV, but rather from a 3rd person POV. Just to let you know…)

Hinata was sitting back on the couch when Kiba returned downstairs after setting Akamaru on his bed. With a feral grin, he purposely fell over the arm of the couch, resulting his head in Hinata's lap.

His girlfriend giggled and tangled her dainty hands into his wild locks, gently massaging his scalp with her nails. Kiba closed his eyes and emitted a soft growl.

The Hyuuga heiress smiled, and gazed upon her partner with adoration in her deep, unique eyes. Whoever said that 'opposites attract' must have been a very sensible person indeed. Relationships consisted of a balancing act, and Kiba sat on the other side of the scale. This is what Hinata believed.

Her thoughts continued to encase her mind while her soft fingers ruffled through the Inuzuka's brown locks. She loved his wild, aggressive nature; one that was so unlike her own. He shared a point of view that Hinata would never have imagined, one that she never would have considered and missed out upon if he had not shown her. His life was brash and reckless, with no restrictions and no limitations. He was boundless, uncontrolled, he was free. Hinata had always longed for freedom, and so she was drawn to Kiba.

She didn't mind that he didn't have the best manners, or that cleanliness didn't have a place in his top priorities. She was sheltered in a life that forced these factors upon her. Kiba seemed to be a release from her royal prison, and in consideration, she welcomed it. She wanted his release, as she wanted his assertiveness, his courage, his laid-back demeanor that caused an immediate compatibility at his first impression. She wanted his security, his somewhat reasonable exploits of playfulness, and his random acts of immaturity that always made her grin. She wanted him.

At this last thought, a faint blush reddened across the apples of her cheeks, and she had to glance away from Kiba's handsome face. The rather brash thought had embarrassed her. Yet, it intrigued her.

Kiba opened one eye at her slight movement and took in her flushed face, which was pointedly not directed at him. Apparently, she had something going on in her mind. Interested, Kiba lay still and enhanced his senses with chakra, hopeful to discover whatever it was she was thinking about.

Hinata was too lost in her own thoughts to notice that Kiba had slightly changed his position so that he was in closer proximity of her body. His head was snuggled close to her belly, and he was able to hear her heart rate and decipher her scent. His tongue flicked the end of one of his protruding fangs as he waited patiently.

The young Hyuuga heiress brushed her tongue across her dry lips. Honestly, since when did she start feeling such intimate emotions as these? She blamed it on jealousy.

Now Hinata is a gentle kunoichi with a caring and respectful nature. She wouldn't hurt a fly; or rather, a parasitic beetle. One would think that a person such as Hinata wouldn't in one's wildest imagination have the slightest spark of jealousy. But, many tend to forget: Hinata is human too.

She pretended not to notice whenever a few random kunoichi would suggestively glance in the Inuzuka's direction. Hinata had to admit that Kiba's rugged features and wolfish grin would definitely spark an infatuating interest in any unsuspecting girl. However, given the circumstances, and the young Hyuuga's own infatuation, she made sure that none of the other girls ever had a chance.

Not that Kiba had ever had a jealous moment in his life; in fact, his acts of possessiveness over Hinata were closely border lining problematic. But for the time being, Hinata loved the attention, because it was she whom Kiba chose. She loved the way he would engulf her in his strong arms and gently nibble her neck with his canine teeth, occasionally giving a growl to any male within the vicinity. Hinata would just giggle. He was just the guy she needed.

While reminiscing through her filed memories, Hinata was unaware of her hand absentmindedly traveling down from Kiba's mane to gently brushing his facial features. But of course, Kiba was. He lay still as his girlfriend's gentle fingers outlined his wild eyes, his rugged jaw line, and his dry lips. One of her nails softly scraped the tip of one of his protruding fangs. The reckless Inuzuka couldn't help but glow in pride as she continued to tenderly stroke his countenance.

The white-eyed kunoichi let out a small gasp as she suddenly felt a pressure squeezing her palm. She opened her eyes and looked down into her lap, where Kiba had reached up and taken her hand in his. He was gently rubbing her soft, fragile fingers over his warm lips, trailing tiny kisses across her knuckles. He opened his eyes and gave her a toothy grin that was somewhat predatory.

A smile had barely graced Hinata's lips before Kiba had (somewhat aggressively) pulled her down into a rough, passionate kiss. Hinata let out a miniscule squeal between the confined space of their maws before slowly relaxing and partaking to the intimacy. They both contributed their emotions and affection through the exchange, along with desire.

Hinata shifted closer to her object of affection and silently pleaded for more. She wanted to be as close to him as she could possibly be. Kiba held her in his arms and subtly transferred his administrations from her angelic face to her neck. He felt her blush rising through her exposed neck and flood into her soft cheeks. He snuggled against it, warming his visage before he started nibbling on her soft flesh.

Hinata squirmed, partly because of giddiness, partly because of pleasure. The sensation of Kiba's teeth scraping against her neck electrified her nerves and jumbled her mind. She was too preoccupied to concern herself on how she had managed to lay down on the sofa, her back pressed to Kiba's front as she grasped one of his hands.

The shy kunoichi gasped as Kiba nipped her milky skin with a little more force than what she was accustomed to. He immediately nuzzled her neck and sucked on the red and broken skin, soothing it with his tongue. Hinata brought their clasped hands to her lips, murmuring sweet nothings into their intertwined palms.

Kiba pushed both of them to a sitting position, and then trailed his mouth down to her shoulders. Hinata stroked his sturdy hands, massaging and rolling the joints between her soft palms.

After a while Kiba examined his handiwork, which consisted of red marks, nips, and scrapes. Satisfied, he nuzzled into her torso with a fervent affection. Hinata smiled and tried to catch a glimpse of her shoulder. Sighing, she turned away from her bruised skin and snuggled into Kiba.

She was going to have to buy a lot of make-up.

A few weeks later, we once again find Akamaru nosing through the fridge. He dragged out a fresh piece of salmon and made his way to the living room, where Kiba and Hinata were lounging on the couch.

Akamaru lay on his own couch and thoughtfully chewed his protein. His thoughts kept returning to Shiden, the purple-eyed puppy. Rock Lee said that he would take care of her, yet Akamaru couldn't help but miss her. He could only hope that he would see her again sometime in the near future.

He glanced up at the couple on the couch as Hinata let out a giggle. Kiba was tickling her, a wicked grin on his playful face. Akamaru sighed, content.

And so his goal was accomplished. Kiba had finally found his perfect mate, with a little indefinite help from his dear, four-legged companion.

"Humans" Akamaru thought, watching the two lovebirds. "They are so dense sometimes; it takes an entire ninja dog's time and energy to put them together."

Said ninja dog furrowed his brows together when a dreaded thought occurred to him:

"I hope it doesn't take as much to persuade them about puppies…"

(o.o) Owari (o.o)

Author's Note: YES! YES I DID IT! I finished my first ever story on fan fiction! I'm so happy now. Again, I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers; you guys made this story possible! I love you! (kisses every last one) Now that I've scarred you all for life, I'd like to go over a few things.

Some of you may be asking: What about Shiden? Akamaru deserves love too! And what about Jiraiya's porn? Will he ever get it back? Well here's the thing. I didn't want my first story to be insanely long, and since I'm a beginning writer, I tend to make up details and then leave them out, because those details in question were never meant to be a part of my story. I'm still working on the better writing thing. So anyway, if you people really really want me too, I guess I could make a sequel, but ONLY if you guys want me too. And I'll only make a sequel after I dish out some of my other stories that I've been thinking up. So the idea of a sequel is up to you.

And now, tell me what you think. If you liked it, say so. If you hated it, say so (but I'd prefer with a good explanation of why you do). Heck, even if you want to say hi, you can. Please review. Thank you for reading my story.

Random Mongoose