A/N: Another story of mine. Quite long, hope you have enough patience. Thank you.
Inspired by the movie 'If Only.'
D: Don't own Naruto. If I did, it would be called 'Sasuke.'
-
'I've always wanted to feel this coldness;
My whole body is numb, and I couldn't feel anything.
It's like the world is just… fading away.'
-Larissa
-O-
"Oi, good morning, Hinata-chan!" Kiba greeted cheerfully as she arrived at their training grounds. There were already a lot of shuriken on the ground and on the trees around them and Kiba was heaving. It would only be the two of them today, for Shino had gone on a mission with some of his clan members.
"T-The same to you, K-Kiba-kun…" She replied, stopping her walk five feet from him. Akamaru ran around her feet.
"Akamaru-kun," she giggled.
He smirked, setting his body into a stance. "Ready?"
"H-Hai."
Sparring until they were out of breath had always been their team's policy. Today was no exception. The rules were not to fight it all-out, and there was no jutsu allowed. Fighting with kunai and shuriken seemed relatively easy, but they eventually had to get tired after an hour or so.
"K-Kiba-kun?"
"Yeah?"
She panted heavily. "Maybe we should take a break?"
He only nodded in reply, exhausted as well.
He sat down on the dirt leaning against a tree, and she did the same beside him. Hinata closed her pale eyes and took a deep breath. Moments later, she felt his warm hand over hers. She couldn't help but smile internally. They had been going steady for about six months now, only quite recently. It had been after one of their more intimate dates when Kiba asked her. She agreed.
"Hinata?"
"Hm?"
He put his hand inside his shuriken pouch and came up with a longish maroon case. He placed it under Hinata's palm.
"A year of you and me is something to celebrate, so I got you a little something."
Hinata gingerly opened the case and gasped. Inside, nestled on the black velvet was a beautiful heart shaped diamond, embedded in a similarly shaped crystal pendant and a fine, white gold chain to match.
She took the elegant necklace in her delicate fingers, looking at her lover in awe. "I-It's beautiful…"
He grinned proudly. "You just described yourself, you know that?"
She blushed furiously in reply. "Ah…"
He merely laughed, taking the chain from her hand and put it around her neck. With her jacket closed, it would not be visible to everyone, but as long as they both knew it was there, they thought they couldn't care less.
-O-
"I'll see you later, Hinata!"
Kiba waved at her before disappearing at a corner.
"So, Hinata, six months, eh?" Ino looked at her friend mischievously. Tenten and Sakura were also there, for after years of knowing each other, they had become considerably close.
Tenten nudged her in the hip. "Yeah, Hinata, that's what I heard."
Sakura drummed her fingers on the table. "Come on, Hinata. It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, that's quite a record. Most guys in Konoha only like the chase, and when you finally give in, poof, they dump you."
"Yeah," Ino agreed. "I actually thought Kiba was like that at first, but hey, hey, I was wrong."
Hinata's cheeks allowed a pink tint. "Hai, he is very good to me."
Ino elbowed Sakura. "I'll bet you everything I've got he gave her something today."
The pink-haired kunoichi's eyes twinkled. "Oh, is that so?"
Hinata's eyes widened. "H-How d-did you kn-know…?"
Ino's expression was teasing. "Oh, please, Hinata-chan. I've gone out with every kind of guy there is, and the Kiba kind is so obviously cute enough to give you a gift on your sixth monthsary. So, what was it? Teddy bear? Chocolate? Flowers?"
Hinata shook her head, a hand flying to her zipper. "Iie, it is… t-this…"
She pulled it down to reveal the marvelous necklace hanging around her neck, shimmering in all its glory.
The other girls did what she did a while ago when she saw it. They gasped.
"Migod, Hinata! That's gorgeous!" Sakura said delightedly.
Tenten played with a lock of her let-down hair. "You are sooo lucky. It must have cost a fortune!"
Hinata turned expectantly to Ino, waiting for her reaction. "Ino-chan?"
The blonde's face was blank. Then her blue eyes stared at Hinata, her face breaking into a smile.
"I just wish he'd get over the theatrics and propose to you." She managed to keep a her smile from getting wider.
"M-maybe we should order our l-lunch now…" Hinata fought a blush as her companions giggled.
-O-
"What were you guys talking about in there?" Kiba asked her as they walked along the streets, kicking pebbles.
"N-nothing. Why do you ask?"
"Well, when I came back to fetch you, Ino, Sakura and Tenten were sort of looking at me kinda funny."
Hinata was amused. He noticed that?
"Um, they were just…"
"Being their normal, insane, cackling selves. I know," He hid a smile.
"Um, yes, that is it." She was glad she didn't have to come up with an excuse.
"Hey, wanna go somewhere tonight? I mean, I've got time and all and we can just…"
"I don't think I will be able to go anywhere tonight, Kiba-kun. Maybe some other time." She interrupted.
"Kiba-sama! Kiba-sama!"
Kiba whirled around to see a little girl with long, glossy black pigtails running towards them. His face brightened in recognition.
"Oi, Mitsukai!" He said cheerfully as the girl caught up to them.
"Kiba-sama! I haven't seen you in a long time!" She grabbed his arm and held onto it with both of her tiny hands. "Who's she?" She pointed questioningly at Hinata.
"Mitsukai, meet Hinata-chan. Hinata, Mitsukai. My adoptive little sis."
Hinata smiled politely as the girl continued to eye her suspiciously.
"What's she doing here?"
"Mitsu-chan, she's my girlfriend."
The little girl pouted. "Hey, you told me I was gonna be your girlfriend!"
He chuckled. "When did I say that?"
"Kiba-kun, how do you two know each other?" Hinata tried to start a different conversation.
Mitsukai spoke before he could. "Kiba-sama plays with me in the playground every day before, but then he had to go to the academy, but it's okay 'cause he thought me how to defend myself against bullies anyways. He always gives me candy too."
Kiba chuckled again, slightly patting her on the head. She ignored him for a moment.
"Kiba-sama is the sweetest boy ever."
When she said those last words, she gazed at Hinata with the blackest, deepest eyes she'd ever seen. With those dark eyes, she didn't seem like an naive little girl anymore, but there was premonition and mystery in them, making her seem like an all-knowing mystic. It made shivers go up and down Hinata's spine.
"Mitsukai-chan!" An older feminine voice called from behind them.
Mitsukai broke the gaze, going back to her normal façade, and put her hands on her hips. "That's my mom calling me. I have to go now."
"Hey, Mitsu-chan…" Kiba said to her as she started to walk away.
"Uh-huh?"
He tossed her a small bundle. She caught it swiftly. "What's this?"
"Candy, for my little sis."
The girl beamed innocently as she ran towards her mother. "Arigato, Kiba-sama! Until we meet again!"
"I'll see you around too, Mitsu-chan!"
Afterwards, Kiba put his arm around Hinata's shoulders, leading her to nowhere in particular. "Where to next?"
"I…"
A kunai suddenly sped past him, grazing his cheek.
"Ow, damn it! And I thought I'd actually avoid getting a bruise today!" A hand proceeded to touching his face. There was a gash across it, and though it wasn't deep enough to be serious, it still bled.
Hinata instinctively reached in her pocket to come up with a band-aid, which she handed to her team mate.
"Thanks," he said as he placed it on his cheek.
The troublesome kunai stuck itself in the ground in front of them. There was a note attached to it.
"Hmm, strange," he murmured as he picked it up.
He unfolded the piece of paper and scanned the content. He stood up, looking not really grave, but disappointed.
"The Hokage-sama wants us to go on a last-minute mission today. It's very urgent." He stated simply, taking her hand. "Is it okay with you?"
Her eyes softened. "H-hai."
-O-
"… and since Shino's not available, Uzumaki Naruto will be a subtle temporary addition to your team. Alright?" Tsunade said, looking at the bold Inuzuka and the shy Hyuuga. They both nodded.
"Speaking of Naruto, here he is right now," the Sannin continued, gesturing to the blonde-haired young man who had entered the room.
"Kiba! Hinata! It's great to see you guys!" He announced in his typical loud way. Kiba's eyes met his in an expressionless manner. Hinata reddened.
"I think this is my first mission with Hinata, isn't it?" He grinned, touching the girl's shoulder. She froze at the contact she just had with him. Kiba sighed.
"Let's just get this thing over with," he began his stride towards the door, Hinata and Naruto following after him.
"Remember, your orders are simple. Retrieve the parcel, avoid combat if possible, though that is not likely to happen, and return immediately. The Rain-nin were relatively few in number and shouldn't have had too much of a head start. I wish you all the best of luck." Tsunade's words were heard just before the door was shut.
-O-
The last of Naruto's bunshin vanished into thin air just as the last enemy was struck to the ground, leaving three breathless and bloodied ninja barely able to stand.
"Hinata…" Kiba spoke after a long moment of silence. "Do you… have it?"
Hinata felt the bulging package beneath her jacket. "H-hai, hai, Kiba-kun."
"Okay then…" He stood upright, trying to hide his exhaustion from his companions. He was the leader, after all. "Let's head back."
Hinata couldn't stand it any longer, falling to her knees, a hand to her chest. Before Kiba could help her, Naruto was already there, rubbing into her back and supporting her.
"Kiba, maybe we should rest for awhile." Naruto told him. He gritted his teeth. He was just about to say that.
Instead, he said, "Fine. Naruto, take Hinata and find a safe spot in the trees. I'll go and get wood for a fire. It's getting dark."
Despite the strange look in Hinata's eyes, he turned his back and sped across the trees.
-O-
Hinata flushed as Naruto gently laid her down against a large rock. There was a tiny, nagging feeling in the back of her head that told her that she was enjoying this, alone time with Naruto. His arms around her quite protectively, the warmth of his body being pressed into hers, his breathing synchronizing with hers. She knew, though always denied, that that crush she had on Naruto before had never really been gone, even with her time with Kiba. It was wrong, so, so very wrong, but some emotions cannot be left alone…
Hinata stared at his whiskered face, and his unsuspecting lips. The distance between hers and his were mere inches. Maybe tasting him would finally put the infatuation between them to rest. Just maybe. She closed her eyes, just a little closer, her lips were just brushing his very lightly…
"Hinata, Naruto, I'm ba--…" Wood hit the earth.
Hinata opened her eyes in shock as she heard Kiba's voice. The reality of what she almost did hit her, and she pulled back, her head bowed in shame. She felt his eyes boring into hers, and cannot look up to meet them and fully expose herself.
"I see you're feeling better, Hinata." His voice, which used to be warm and friendly around her, was cold.
"Kiba-kun, I…"
Naruto sensed the couple's discomfort, oblivious as he is to notice that it also concerned him.
"I don't think you've got enough firewood, Kiba. I'll go get some more." He said, a believable excuse to leave.
As he left, Kiba stepped closer to Hinata. "Call me an idiot, if you will." He dropped the words carelessly. They buried like a thousand daggers in her blameworthy heart.
"Kiba…"
"Don't say you didn't want to do it. I know you did. I knew it from the start." He spat.
"I am…"
"Don't you say you're sorry now too?" He cut her off sharply. "After that."
She put her fingers together nervously. "I cannot…"
"I was ready to do everything for you, Hinata. I really loved you, and for the past year I really thought you loved me the same way I did for you. Then I guess I was only a distraction for you. But don't worry, it's only human nature to lie once in a while."
His words hurt; they truly did, but she knew she deserved them.
"If you are wondering, I am not angry with you. Merely saddened. There was so much I wanted to do with you, with us. But I suspected you've always liked Naruto."
His uncharacteristic graciousness only made her heart twist in the most awful way. She only wished he'd get it over with.
"So I guess I should say I should be happy for you."
Her head jerked upwards, unable to believe what she just heard. It was a mistake, for what met her were two black eyes filled with hurt and sadness. He went down to his knees to hug her, perhaps the last act of letting her go.
"Kiba-kun, I am sorry… please… please forgive me a-and…"
"I forgive you, Hinata. But I don't think I can stand being in the way of you and Naruto anymore. If you need me, just call my name, and I'll be there.
"But I can't come back to you the way I used to. It's over between us."
He stopped as if to think and remembered something.
"By the way, in case you might ask, you can keep the necklace. I bought it for you, after all."
Hinata was now overflowing with guilt now. She heard the crack in his tone, how hard it must be for him to still accept her after this. She knew she never really deserved him, that she was not the pure, golden-hearted girl everyone thought of her. She was a dirty, lying scum who wasn't worthy of being loved. Perhaps it was her conscience's way of making her realize what she just lost, as he let go and stood up, beginning the long journey back to Konoha.
He performed a seal and produced a clone to inform Naruto that they would just go ahead.
Night finally crept in, and the moon shone its light on the retreating figure.
Hinata also stood up, in a hurried pace after him. "Kiba-kun, wait!"
As the boy turned his head to look at her, a soft click echoed across the forest.
After seconds of frightening quietness and uncertainty, a storm of a hundred black iron daggers thrust themselves in Kiba's body, each sharp blade making the unwary Inuzuka produce heart-wrenching howls of pain.
Hinata coughed, eyes teary, heart pounding, unable to believe the scene her eyes had seen only an instant ago.
"No, no, no…"
When the smoke cleared, the sight that beheld her permanently charred in her mind, leaving her shocked and horrified.
Her throat dried up and she couldn't even scream. Suddenly, her hand flew up to her neck, underneath the jacket, to finger the diamond pendant that she knew was there. It wasn't.
"Don't you say you're sorry now, too?"
-O-
Hinata pressed her hands against the inconvenient glass barrier that separated her and that battered boy that was being operated on in the emergency room.
His head was facing in her direction, and she had to keep from crying when she saw his face. Deathly pale, with cuts and bright red blood decorating it. If it not for the black eyes that she knew so well, he was unrecognizable.
The expression on his face was blank, furthered by the small, thin tube that had been forced down his throat to keep oxygen flowing in his lungs.
A trembling sensation filled her as she watched, helpless.
She remained helpless and disbelieving as those eyes closed, his final breath fainting away.
A single tear fell out of one pallid eye, tracing its way down one ashen cheek.
-O-
Yamanaka Ino wandered the halls of the morbid hospital until she arrived at the waiting lounge. It was empty, except for a raven-haired girl who sat motionless on one of the chairs.
"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her red eyes, noticing the other girl looked the same way she did.
"The ANBU captain said…" she paused. "Shikamaru said the Rain-nin you went after had left traps in the forest. The Dagger Storm Technique was one of them…" Her voice shook.
Silence. Ino didn't know what to say next.
She didn't need to say anything.
"I lost the necklace in the forest, in the battlefield," Hinata continued to stare at nothing in particular. Ino's brow furrowed. What necklace? Her face lighted up and fell in recognition.
Oh.
That necklace.
There was silence once again.
"We didn't even see it coming." She said bitterly, hiding her face in her hands before giving in to uncontrollable sobs. Ino's heart broke for the broken couple and she embraced her crying friend, for she could do nothing more.
"Where is he?" A high-pitched voice came along with the sound of the door opening. There stood little Mitsukai. "Where's Kiba-sama? Is he alright? What happened to him? Mom told me that…"
Hinata was glued to the chair while Ino approached her, looking at her kindly with one outstretched hand.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay…"
Mitsukai pushed her hand away. "Shut up! I wanna know where Kiba-sama is! Tell me now!" She stomped her foot as she began her tantrum.
Ino seemed frustrated, not knowing how to deal with the situation. She didn't even know who the stubborn brat was, barging inside while a girl wept over her dead love.
"Ino-chan, can you please leave us alone for a moment?" Hinata spoke up. Ino took one look at her eyes and wordlessly left the room.
Mitsukai marched over where she was sitting. "He died, didn't he? It's all your fault! You bitch! You didn't deserve him! You didn't take care of my Kiba-sama! And now he's dead, and it's all your fault! I hate you!"
Hinata let the painful words sink in. She couldn't deny them, because every single thing the seemingly naïve girl said was TRUE.
"You should have been a better… a better…" The furious child bowed her head, shoulders shaking. "I hate you… Kiba-sama's dead because of you… I hate you…"
Despite the hateful words, Hinata found it within her to embrace her. They were just the same two people who'd just lost someone very important to them.
Metsukai let herself be cuddled as her fingernails sunk into Hinata's skin, not sure of what to feel.
She only felt numbness.
-O-
Hinata looked at the spotless ivory chrysanthemums she had laid against the grey stone.
The funeral had been quickly arranged and only the closest friends and relatives were invited. It had only been a day since the unexpected death of the fun-loving boy everyone loved, yet, here he was, his ashes buried under the brittle soil.
She couldn't believe it had all ended so suddenly.
'If you need me, just call my name, and I'll be there.'
"Kiba!"
"Kiba!"
"Kiba!" She yelled into the cold air as it breezed past her, chilling her prone body.
"Kiba!" She continued, even as her voice became throaty and hoarse.
"Kiba!" She shouted at the gravestone, as if wanting it to reply to her too. She pounded her fists against it until her knuckles drew blood.
"Damn you! Damn you liar!"
"You said you'd be here…"
'But I can't come back to you the way I used to.'
"Kiba, no…" She sank to her knees, her hands leaning against the hard rock to hold herself up. "Please…
"Come back!" She uttered the words barely above the sharpest warrior's hearing.
…
…
…
'I need you!'
A tear dampened the wilting white flower.
She stayed there until Shino, who more withdrawn and miserable than ever, came to take her home.
-O-
