Author's Note: I'mma work on "Vamp" when I feel like it! D8
...
I swear, Chapter 4 is being worked on! Anyways, this is a oneshot I'm submitting for the fanfiction anthology portion of the "Date Me" project. If you wanna know what that is, check out my journal on DeviantART where there's a link under "projects." Also, I tried to make this "PG" but it might dip its toes a bit into the "PG-13" category. Oh, well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters. I do not own the "Date Me" project, nor do I own the theme "Dog Days of Summer" for the project. Actually, technically, I don't even own the title of this story. It was my dad's idea, and I kinda just ran with it.XD;;
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I should be naked and swimming in ice cream right now.
Inuzuka Kiba sat bolt upright as the tantalizing thought passed through his mind, chills of delight running through his body briefly. Now if only he knew where to find a 50 gallon vat of vanilla ice cream, then maybe everything else would just fall into--
"Kiba-kun, is something wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You sat up pretty quickly... Did something bite you?" Hyuuga Hinata's white eyes stared widely at him with concern.
"Uhh... Yeah. Maybe," the boy mumbled quickly, hardly wanting to plant the image of himself in his birthday suit doing backstrokes in frozen dairy products into the innocent girl's head. Okay, who was he kidding? Not only would he not mind lettingHinata's imagination run wild with that thought, but he was more than willing to bend the rules in any way possible to get her to join him. Or something of that nature.
To be honest, instead of being naked and swimming in ice cream as Kiba was currently hoping to do, what he should have been doing was taking Hinata out on a date. It had taken several weeks of careful planning (mostly with the help of Kurenai-sensei) but Kiba had finally worked up the courage to ask out his secret long time crush. And of course, on the one day he managed to convince her to go on a picnic with him and maybe "hang out" a little afterwards (but more importantly, garnering her entire family's permission), on the one day his sister didn't have any last minute veterinary chores for him to do and Shino was willing to babysit Akamaru, and on the one day there was neither the original nor a clone of that stupid Naruto, it just had to be super freaking hot! SUPER. FREAKING. HOT!! As if reading his mind, Hinata piped up.
"It... it sure is warm today, isn't it? It just turns everything sour," she offered quietly, hugging her arms modestly over the blacktanktop the heat had forced her to strip down to. Kiba sighed and took an angry swig of the water bottle from the picnic bag. He immediately regretted it.
"You're telling me," Kiba grumbled, roughly wiping his mouth with his fist and sticking out his tongue for emphasis as he emptied the contents of the bottle into the grass. "Even the bottled water tastes like toilet water!" There was a brief silence asHinata blushed slightly, blinked, and then turned to the boy next to her.
"Um... Kiba-kun... how do you know... what toilet water tastes like?" she asked carefully, a small frown on her face. Kiba opened his mouth to answer, closed it, blinked, looked at her sheepishly, and finally cleared his throat.
"So like you were saying, it's hot," he said loudly, hoping to perhaps drown out the inquisitive thought in Hinata's head.
"Ah, yes! I'm... I'm sorry the picnic isn't turning out as well as you wanted," she sighed, refolding the lavender jacket at her feet nervously.
"Yeah, well, at least we're together," Kiba said quickly, and then even more quickly, "Not that, you know, I meant together together. Obviously. 'cause we're not. And, uh-- Did I mention it's really hot?" Great going, Kiba, the boy thought to himself angrily. It's all this damn heat! If only I could... Wait a minute... Didn't Hana say something about today and heat? Come to think of it, I think she might have told me--
Suddenly, Kiba collapsed.
What the hell?! Kiba growled inwardly as his head made very loud and painful contact with the ground. He struggled to get up, but his muscles seemed to rebel and he was only able to lay there. His head began to throb and his vision swam dizzily-- what was going on?
"Arf!" It was the last thing Kiba remembered saying before blacking out.
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"Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked anxiously, noticing how rigid the Inuzuka boy had become all of a sudden. I wonder what he's thinking about so hard; he's been acting pretty strangely ever since he asked me on the picnic.
To be honest, Hinata had been hoping things would be a tad more romantic than they were. Oh! What was she doing, thinking about a teammate that way?! But it was true. Even before Naruto had officially started dating Ino, Hinata could feel herself losing interest in the blonde boy. Yes, he was cute. Yes, he was extremely bold and yes, she still admired him very much for his bravery and courage. And even, embarrassingly, yes, she did think he had a well-built body that gave her heart attacks whenever it was put on display. But he didn't like her back, and eventually, well... her little crush just seemed like a waste of time and effort. Which is when she started noticingKiba ; not just him (as they had been on the same team for quite some time), but the way he smirked in that sexy manner whenever he felt cocky, the way his laughter was like a warm, infectious blanket, the way his muscles rippled when he took his shirt off... Okay, maybe she had been noticing a little... too much. But all the same, when the time came when Naruto and Ino managed to somehow find a way to throw themselves together, not a tear was shed by the Hyuuga heiress. If anything, in fact, she breathed a heavy sigh and wished, oh she wished that this time her little, fragile heart hadn't set itself on someone who would just ignore her. And that's where she found herself, sitting on the grassy knoll, wishing away as Kiba–––
"Arf!" …as Kiba barked? Hinata's head immediately swiveled in the boy's direction.
"K… Kiba-kun?" She managed, but before she could properly formulate a sentence she found herself on her back, an excited Inuzuka having knocked her over.
O-oh, no, is he… c-c-could he really… I mean, here?! Hinata thought frantically, her mind doing spastic gymnastics in her skull as her face preceded to turn absolutely beet red. On the one hand she was delighted at the prospect thatKiba was so eager to show her affection, and on the other––– they were in public!
"K-K-Kiba-kun, you can't–––!" But again the poor girl was cut off… by a large red tongue sloppily making it's way across her cheek, leaving a trail of saliva in its wake. Wait, had he just… licked her?
"…Kiba-kun?" Hinata murmured in bewilderment as the boy leaped off of her and began to scratch the back of his ear with his foot (how had he even become that flexible?!) She could hardly believe her eyes.
"Kiba-kun, th… this isn't funny," the Hyuuga girl stammered, a small frown growing across her face. "Wh–wh–what are you doing? St… stop it…" The boy, however, seemed unphased and merely cocked his head to the side, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. It was the look in his eyes that finally convinced her; there was no trace of the cocky, swaggeringKiba she had known. He seemed to have disappeared in a puff, leaving this… this… dog. What had Kiba done to deserve this? Better yet, what had she done to deserve this? Kiba, in the meantime, began to bark and chase after a nearby squirrel as Hinata shakily stood up.
"What do I do?" she wondered aloud. Should she just stay there and hope that the seemingly random transformation would wear off? Or should she contact the closest medic-nin and hope it wast the result of some brain damage-causing poison?
"Kiba-kun!" she called, then louder, biting her lip as she patted her leg as a symbol for "come." Immediately the boy rushed over, considerably quickly for someone who only spent about a third of his time on all fours normally.
"Ugh, this is a mess…" Hinata sighed, absentmindedly running her hand through the boy's hair as his face bumped against it. Realizing what she was doing, however, made the girl blush instantly and drop her hand back to her side. What was she doing? Treating him like a dog wasn't getting her anywhere, even if he was…
Hinata blinked rapidly. Even if he was from a dog-nin family! That was it! Surely Hana-san would know what was wrong with her baby brother, and if not, in the very least she was a veterinarian! At once hope broke across the girl's face.
"Kiba-kun, don't worry, we're going to fix this," Hinata smiled comfortingly at the boy, who barked loudly in response. Somehow, we're going to fix this… or else I'll end up in love with a dog.
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"Veterinarian? Hinata, that's all the way on the other side of town," Haruno Sakura announced as she leaned over the pristine white desk of the hospital. It wasn't often that the shy girl or anyone she knew, for that matter, dropped into the hospital whenSakura was on desk duty, so she was a little hesitant to deliver the bad news.
"Wh… what?" Hinata's face fell, her disappointment showing clearly.
"Yeah, you know, near the Inuzukas?" Sakura added, flicking a spiky tuft of pink hair over her shoulder. "Why do you need one, anyways? I thought the Hyuuga don't keep pets."
"Ah… Th-that is…" Hinata looked guiltily outside for a moment, and then gasped. "He's gone!"
"What? Who's gone?" the other girl asked, stretching as far as she could over the counter to gaze out the glass doors.
"Um, thank you, Sakura, I h-have to go! Thank you! Good-bye!" Hinata was already at the double doors, dark hair streaming behind her.
"W-wait, who's–––?" Bang! The doors slammed shut. "…gone?" The pink-haired kunoichi sighed, frowning and placing her hands on her hips. finally, with a decided nod Sakura began shuffling documents once more. Sheesh, the way that girl ran around you'd think she was still stalking Naruto or something.
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"Kiba-kun?" Hinata tucked her hair behind her ear as she glanced behind a trash can. No luck. "Kiba-kun, are you in here?" This had been going on for the last twenty minutes, and Hinata got the feeling that the longer she looked, the farther away the boy was getting. This was hopeless; he could be anywhere in Konoha at this very moment, barking at a cat, eating garbage, peeing a on a tree, and it was all her fault! Oh, why did she think telling him to "stay" would do any good? It barely worked when he was in the right frame of mind, lest when he had no mental restrictions.
"Kiiiiba-kuuuun!" She was lucky (if she wanted to stay in a positive mindset); the streets were practically empty at the moment and there was no one to see andKiba acting completely foolish. On the downside, the reason was clear; it was afternoon, and the sun was beating down worse than ever. It was almost getting hard to see, so much sweat was trickling into her eyes. It made the girl wonder if she shouldn't just use her…
And for the second time that day, Hinata realized how slowly the heat was making her brain function. Her byakugan! Of course! If she just used the Hyuuga kekkai genkai, then she wouldn't have to wander aimlessly about in this doggone (oh, no, now she was thinking in puns!) heat!
"Byakugan!" the girl announced loudly after completely the corrects handseals, her white eyes instantly seeking Kiba's familiar chakra. And there it was!
"Kiba-kun!" she sighed with elated relief, chasing after the chakra now with more energy than before. With no one outside, Kiba could not possibly get into too much trouble!
"Kiba, what in the name of all that is holy, beautiful, and buzzes are you–––?" …unless of course he encountered Shino.
"Sh…Shino-kun, I… I can explain…!" Hinata panted, knowing full well that she could not but hoping all the same that it would delay Kiba from finally giving Shino a reason to murder him in cold blood. She rounded the corner and, coming face to face with her teammates… or rather, would have come face to face with her teammates, had either been standing.
"Hinata!" The Aburame boy struggled and grasped in her general direction from under none other than Kiba himself. "Get… him… off… me…" The venom in those words alone was enough to stop a heart dead. Hinata gulped audibly.
"H… here, Kiba-kun! Here, boy!" She called, and of course the boy responded by bounding off his latest licking victim and trotting happily over. He barked with joy, nuzzling her pant leg as if to say, "I missed you!" TheHyuuga girl frowned slightly.
"Kiba-kun, you were… very bad to run off," she said, trying not to sound stupid. "You… you could have gotten hurt. I was worried." the boy responded with a whine, ducking his head.
"Can somebody explain what just happened?" Shino asked suddenly, his voice steely and dripping with potential rage as he dusted himself off.
"Uh… That is… Shino-kun, Kiba-kun's become a dog! …at least… that's what it seems like," Hinata added quietly as Shino's skepticism emanated towards her.
"He's become… a dog?"
"W-w-w-w-well, I know i-it doesn't make much sense, but you see, we were on the picnic today, a-a-and he was saying it was hot, and then… and then he was acting like this!"Hinata's eyes began to twinkle with unshed tears, the hopelessness of the situation surfacing. "Shino-kun , I don't know what to do. I was hoping Hana-san would know a cure, but…" She shook her head, brushing a fist across her eyes. "What if she doesn't? What if he's stuck like this for good?"
"Team 8 will certainly be different with two dogs…" It took Hinata a moment to realize that Shino was joking, and thus trying to cheer her up. It was still hard to tell.
"Um… yes, yes it will," she sniffed. Shino sighed quietly.
"He'll… be all right, Hinata. Don't worry, I'm sure there's some explanation," the insect-nin tried, managing to sound marginally concerned. Hinata was moved.
"You… think so?" she smiled, hope glimmering in her ivory eyes once more.
"I know so. Now, please kindly tell him to stop chewing my jacket or I will have to use force."
"K-Kiba-kun!" Hinata exclaimed in alarm. "B… bad boy! Sit!" Kiba immediately let go of the Aburame's coat and whined loudly, plopping down.
"S… sorry," Hinata bowed stupidly, not knowing what else to do. "W-well… I'm off to see Hana-san. Oh!"
"Yes?"
"I just thought of something," Hinata explained. "Wh… what if Kiba-kun and Akamaru-kun somehow… switched brains?" It was all Shino could do not to give Hinata a condescending look as she gazed at him in earnest.
"Not likely. I just dropped Akamaru off with Hana half an hour ago, and he seemed… fine," Shino mumbled with a disgust, a good indication that "fine" had a whole hidden meaning Hinata did not want to delve into.
"Oh, I see," the girl nodded, realizing that also explained why Shino was out in the blazing sun to begin with. Being covered up all the time as he was, the Aburame boy was quite prone to sunburn.
"Good luck," he said finally, turning away from her. "Knowing Kiba, you will need it."
"Ah, thank you, Shino-kun!" Hinata replied. "And… and you, too. Don't get burned!"
"…it's too late for that," came the boy's grumble, but by that time Hinata and Kiba were already out of ear shot. Shino shook his head in wonder. Who knew that cocky, wild Kiba could be tamed so easily by little Hinata?
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"You idiot!" Hana shouted testily, shaking her baby brother roughly by the collar of his jacket. "What did I tell you about going out into the sun? On today of all days? Why don't you listen to me!"
"Ah, Hana-san…?" Hinata piped up,concern plastered all over her cute features. "Um… Please don't hurt him… It's my fault…"
"Oh, you're still here," the brown-haired woman observed stupidly, dropping the boy without thought. He landed with a yelp on his head. "Sorry about that. A little older sister rage." Hana turned to acountertop, passing her hand trough rows of glass bottles.
"He's lucky to have a friend like you; any longer out in that heat and his days of being a shinobi would have been over." Despite this being positive news, Hinata squeaked in fear.
"He'll… be all right, won't he?" She asked as the other female messed around in a cluttered drawer and finally pulled out a syringe with delight.
"Ah! I knew I had this around here somewhere… But to answer your question, yes, he'll back to his stupid, ignoring-his-wiser sibling ways in no time. It's really not that hard to cure… if you have enough of the twelve-year-old, extremely rare herb around." While she talked, the woman began to ground some leaves with a mortar and passel, and then dumping the contents into the clear liquid of a beaker.
"If if you don't mind me asking, what exactly… happened to him?" Hinata patted the boy's head in indication as he lovingly nuzzled her hand. Hana raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment.
"It's called the 'Dog Days of Summer' commonly, but every year around this time there's an extremely hot day because of some alignment of Sirius, the dog star." Hana flapped one hand in the air as if to say "If you believe that sort of thing."
"The dog star?" Hinata repeated.
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's had an effect on Inuzukas going clear back to our ancestors. If we stay out in the heat too long on this day," the woman gestured to Kiba and shrugged. "Poof! Something snaps in our brains and we start acting like our canine companions. Every other year our family has managed to stay indoors, but this year someone just had to go and challenge, 'Because I said so.'"
"I'm sorry; it's my fault," Hinata murmured. Suddenly, she realized that Kiba was going limp. "Hana-san, he's--!"
"Oh, don't worry; that bacon that 'fell' on the floor had a tranquilizer in it. He should be out for about as long as I need to do…this." And without warning Hana injected her brother with the serum she had been concocting all through the women's conversation. "Ha. Now that that's done, I've got some paperwork to fill out regarding one ofKonoha's guard dogs… do you mind keeping an eye on him?"
"Oh, um, of course not…" Hinata smiled. Hana gave her one last nod before leaving the room and going elsewhere in the clinic. The Hyuuga child sighed, stroking the soft brown hair of the boy's head which currently lay comfortably, asleep, in her lap. How long exactly untilKiba woke up again? And what then? If he remembered everything, he would probably be so embarrassed that he wouldn't want to spend any time with her ever again. Not to mention it was her fault for his random transformation in the first place.
"Oh, Kiba-kun," the girl mumbled aloud. "If only you knew. If only there was some way I could stop… stop picking the wrong one. but I suppose it's back to friendship, now. No more caresses, no more of you actually paying attention to me… Well, I suppose now is a good a time as ever, then.Kiba-kun , I love you. I wanted to tell you that when we were sitting together today, when you were a dog… I didn't stop loving you even then. So… so that's all." Exhaling softly,Hinata smiled. Well, no one could say that she hadn't told him, right? Even if it did seem a little unfair since he was–––
"Do you mean that?" …asleep? Hinata jumped up, screaming, startled as Kiba's voice drifted to her ears.
"OW!" for the thrid time that day, Kiba's skull crashed against the ground.
"K-K-K-K-Kiba-kun, h-h-h-h-how long have you b-b-b-b-been awake?" Hinata cried, her heart doing somersaults in her throat.
"Well, to tell the truth, I never really fell asleep," he admitted, rubbing his head gingerly. "Damn, that's gonna leave a nasty mark."
"Ah, s-sorry," the girl managed, bringing a nervous fist to her lips. "Are you okay?" The boy looked at her for a second, mouth open to reply, then blushed and turned away.
"Crap, this is so awkward. Look, I'm the one who should be sorry."
"W…why?" Kiba sighed heavily.
"Hinata, I was aware of everything."
"What?"
"The tackles, the squirrels, the… licks… I was there for all of it. I mean, obviously I wasn't in control, but I… I was there. So I can understand if you're suddenly willing to take back that little speech you made, 'cause–––"
"Kiba-kun." The boy's tongue halted, and he looked at the girl questioningly.
"I…" Her face was a red tomato, and she couldn't help biting her lip to try to stop the flow of words, but Hinata seemed determined. "I… I meant what I said. I mean… if you don't… if you don't… it's okay. I'll understand. It's happened before." She looked at him full in the face then, her eyes once more shimmering on his account. "It's okay, really. I just… I just thought you should know."
"Aw, crap…" And just like that Hinata found herself tightly wrapped in Kiba's arms. "Would you stop crying already? I like you, okay? I… um… yeah, I always had a thing for you! And today, that was supposed to be a date before I botched it. So stop crying, okay? Please?" she looked at him, wide-eyed.
"R… really? You…?"
"Yes, now please stop crying, you're killing me, here!" Hinata chuckled slightly, wiping her eyes with her fist.
"I'm sorry, it's just… now I'm happy." Kiba snorted, then smirked.
"Yeah, me, too." He kissed the top of her head quickly, then blushed and looked away. Gah, this is so cliche…
"So you were aware when you were acting like a dog?" Hinata asked after a while as the two finally hot up. "What was it like?"
"Argh, never again," Kiba moaned, hiding his face in his hands. "From now on I'm listening to Hana…"
"But…" Hinata paused, thinking. "If you had listened to Hana-san, we wouldn't have realized…" She was unable to finish the sntence, the concept still fresh. Kiba peeked out from behind his hands.
"Yeah, I guess that's true…" he muttered. Then he grinned mischievously. "And I guess there was one more good thing that happened."
"What?" Hinata asked brightly, turning to face him. Instead, she was met a with a big, sloppy tongue running up her face.
"That!" The girl squealed in shock and embarrassment, giving chase when she realized that the boy was already halfway out the door. Their one thought, in unison as they chased after each other with laughter down the veterinary clinic halls (which Hana made a point of loudly complaining about later), was simple and sweet: I want you. I need you. I love you. Everything else can go to the dogs.
Hana was out of character, the ending was barf-worthy it was so sickeningly cliche-sweet, and Deus ex Machina, anyone? 8D Oh, well. Review all the same, please!