A/N: Either this is a prologue for when I come up with something brilliant or it's one-shot ? Lame I know. If I'm not lazy I plan to write it. It's two A.M. at the moment. So if you don't like it...well I don't care Can you say OOC? Ha! but I love it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
" C L O S E R "
It was raining again. It rained a lot these days.
Kiba Inuzuka hated the rain. It kept him cooped up inside all day. Together he and Akumaru would stare lazily out the window as the descending water drained down the glass. Occasionally the pup would whine and Kiba would pet his back in attempts to ease his restless state. He completely understood Akumaru's discomfort , they weren't meant to be cooped up like this.
Kiba Inuzuka despised the rain. It was cold and sad, but today he couldn't escape it.
Today he longed to be inside with Akumaru, away from this horrible rain. He loathed it even more now if that was possible. As he stood shivering helplessly under the soaked layers of his coat. Was this rain always this cold? Always this sad?
He hated it. He hated the way it mirrored her tears.
"And so it is..." Hinata's small voice barely stood up against the sound of the pounding rain, "just like you said it would be."
Kiba frowned at her words and cast his head down toward the ground. His wolf-like eyes studying the drops as they gathered into a puddle at his feet; the bigger one's splashing mud onto his calves. He couldn't look at her not when she was like this. Not when she was smiling just moments ago.
He did this. He caused her unhappiness and now he was cowering at the consequence like a puppy with his tail between his legs. He wasn't afraid. He was ashamed more ashamed than he had ever been his life.
"I guess life does goes easy on me...most of the time," her voice came again. "But I guess this is the shorter story. No love no glory."
"Hyuga..." her name didn't come easily. He didn't know what to say, but she could undoubtedly see right through him.
"It's not your fault Inuzuka," he saw her pale bottom lip quiver out of the corner of his eye. "It was my own fault for getting caught up in something I should have known could never be true. Things between Naruto and I have been the same for so long, why should they change now?"
Kiba's fist tightened until he thought his palms would bleed. But it wasn't her fault. It was his. His for starting this game, his for never telling her truth. It was too late for that now.
He had always viewed Hinata as something fragile, as something that needed to be protected, as someone he wanted to protect. And now he had broken the very thing he had been trying so hard to guard.
Hinata had enough people trying to control her life. Trying to push her to be something she was not. He was just like everyone else.
His thoughts got the better of him until he heard an unsettling 'thud'. Hinata had collapsed to her knees. On instinct he rushed to her side.
The minute his hands connected with her shoulders he felt her quake. Was she shaking from the tears or the cold? Her beautiful porcelain skin had faded in color to a sickly white. He tried to coax her inside, but she wouldn't budge.
"Leave me here Inuzuka."
Hinata's round colorless eyes gazed painfully into Kiba's. Why wouldn't she call him Kiba? Was she angry with him? Was this her way of showing it? By being so distant? He would have never expected this of her. The Hyuga eyes were so sheilded, so mysterious, but there it was. He saw it behind the mask of white. She was disappointed in him.
"Hina...Hinata," he couldn't believe this was happening to him. All he wanted to do was hold her. To shield her from the rain, from Naruto, from the world. Kiba's world used to be so carefree. When did things turn out like tihs? If this was growing up, he didn't like it all. He usually scoffed at characters like Shino and Sasuke who took things to seriously, but look what his carelessness had wrought him. When did he let his gaurd down? When did he care so much?
He couldn't take his eyes off her. He watched as the rain sheeted over her thin form. He stared as the water gathered at the tips of her hair and slipped down the slope of her neck and past the collar of her jacket. He watched as her eyes squinted against tears. He even noted the rising and falling of her chest during shuttering breaths.
Was now the time to tell her?
"Hinata..."
"Kiba?"
He guessed there really wasn't much left to think about. His sharp eyes fell more kindly on her as his lips thinned into a wolfish grin.
"I can't take my eyes off you."
And with a deep breath the rain finally stopped.