Looking through Okuri’s vast collection of sake, Kiba had trouble finding a good brand. Takawaka? No, too cheap. Fukiyumi? No, too watery. Yahagi? No, too strong. She’d pass out after 17 cups. Hell, HE’d pass out after 17 cups. Aramaki? No, still too strong. She’d think he was trying to get her drunk and in bed. Oh, why bother with all these brands? He knew what he wanted: Endo, the brand he had plundered the night before. Strong enough to be outlawed, Kiba could drink 60 cups before passing out. He imagined she could take about 40……Kiba was very thankful that alcohol never did any long term damage to his brain.

Akamaru rubbed against Kiba’s leg and barked. “No, Akamaru, this isn’t for you. It’s for me….and Inuko!” Kiba petted him and paused to think. He said the words out loud: “Inuko Okami.” He paused, then said them again, but slower: “In-u-ko O-kam-i.” It sounded beautiful. His thoughts were interrupted by Akamaru jumping, trying to get one of the sake bottles. The entire shelf tipped, then leaned, then fell over. All the sake bottles smashed, and their contents flowed into a pool near the entrance of the cave. “AKAMARU! You could’ve just asked for me to grab one!” Kiba shook his head. “At least I managed to save one bottle.” He ran out of the cave, taking the sake with him.

Akamaru sniffed the mixed alcohol and lapped at it. It tasted funny. And not in a good way. He lapped at it again. No, definitely in a good way! He continued lapping up the spilt sake.

Kiba came rushing back into the cave. “Akamaru, if we can clean this up before Okuri comes back, he might be less mad at us. So let’s cleanup, ok?”