::::

5:31

It was a Sunday evening, and the Dive In! was at its regular routine. The Dive In! was a very popular public swimming pool located off I-43 – if you were wondering. I typically went here every weekend since the first day of spring break, and it soon became a casual habit. Take off from work at 5:00, then go home to take a shower, change, and drive a few miles down here to hang out.

By the way, my name's Kiba Inuzuka. I was 18, careless and wild.

If you want to know more about me, go ask one of friends; they'll probably know everything; from every girl I've dated, or at least hooked up with, to my class schedule. I can't say that I'm probably one of the coolest guys at my school without sounding the least bit pretentious, or stuck up, so I'll just go without saying it.

The pool water is nice and cool, like it always is, and as usual, I'm sitting on my regular beach recliner, my arms behind my back – presenting my smooth, tan stomach to the narrow-minded girls ogling at me at my side – selfishly, because I know, and they know, that I'm way out of their league.

Just for a good laugh, I decide to throw them a grin, before standing up and stretching. And just like I predicted, they all giggle in delight –at what, I don't know; all I know is that I'm enjoying it like hell.

Just as I'm about to dive into the water to coincidently show them all the hours spend at the gym, someone soft, and laughing, jumps besides me and clings onto my arm. I turn towards them, and smile brightly.

"Hey, babe…" I mutter in greet. Off to the side, I notice all the girls frowning. I grin more.

The tall, lean girl flips her long blonde ponytail behind her back, and wraps her arms around my neck – along with her bare legs, as if she's clinging on to dear life.

"Kiba! I missed you so much, baby!" Ino, my current girlfriend, gushes into my neck. "You look so hot…" She looks me up and down before roaming her hands down to my abdomen.

"I'm sorry girls." I say, directly turning back to the group of girls, eyeing me and the blonde. And some small part of me does feel a little contrite.

They all kind of just let their shoulders down in disappointment. But instead of leaving them hanging, I wink at them, and in a second it's like they're back in that same utterly confused trance.

I start to walk with Ino, my arm over her shoulder. I know she's enjoying standing beside me, because she doesn't stop smiling. Not at me though, at everyone around her, with this forged, grin on her face like she has the newest toy on the block.

But I ignore the somewhat, insulting gesture, and go with it. I go with it because Ino's skin is so soft, and her hair smells like that new designer perfume she bought. I close my eyes for a brief second.

The moment doesn't last too long, because Ino's cell phone starts ringing – which she carries everywhere, even at the pool – and answers it, forgetting about the fact that the school's most popular guy is holding on to her very self.

I watch her walk off, chatting onto the phone, while I run my hand through my hair, trying not to look like a complete idiot.

I scan the room, trying to see if anyone is looking, and then my eyes stumble onto one specific, individual.

Strangely, she's wearing a full on sweater, jeans, and sneakers. At a pool.

I look at her for a second longer, and then recognize her face. She has dark, long hair that was tied into a loose ponytail, and her eyes are a strikingly light purple. Something unusual. They're looking down onto her lap, where her pale hands are holding a small book.

She's Hinata Hyuuga. 18, simple, and angelic… I've known her since Kindergarten, where 14 years ago, we used to sit at the same table, drinking apple juice.

For a second I look at her, wondering why she's wearing too many layers, wondering if she has some sort of problem with revealing any sort of skin. I watch pensively, when in the next second – like some weird psychic freak – she looks up, right at me and into my eyes with a blank look, like she sensed my presence and questioning stare.

I let out a long breath, feeling a weird sense of exposure; self-consciousness, avert my eyes, and keep walking.

Hinata is instantly thrown from my train of thought, and my eyes are drawn back to the group of people hanging by the side of the pool.

I notice it's the same people I see every Sunday, and my mind drifts off somewhere else.

I then see Ino waving at me, with a playful smile dangling at the end of her lips.

I reach them, and suddenly feel like I wish I were at home.

"Hey, Kiba." Ino gestures for me to come to her, and I do. "Look at that girl."

I follow her directions, and turn back to see the same girl I just glanced at a few moments before.

"What about her?" I inquire, secretly hoping that Ino doesn't bring about something that had to do with her selfish desire to make fun of the misfortunate, reading, inhabitants of the resident; Hinata, being that inhabitant.

"What a loser! Can you believe what she's wearing!?" Ino blurts out, as if she couldn't be louder.

I cross my arms, and don't say anything back, hoping that the dark-haired girl didn't hear anything.

"Yeah, look at that." Another guy pops in, unfortunately hearing Ino's retorts. "Maybe I should go over there and make her feel a little more comfortable…"

I step in front of the boy, and hopefully block his way. "Naruto, I think someone's calling for you." I say instead, knowing that a little more comfortable, meant something else.

And like the idiot he is, he turns around with a puzzled expression plastered on his face. "Oh?"

A little relieved, I try to drag the attention off Hinata. I don't want to ponder the thought of exactly why I just tried to defend her quiet position - and leave it that way - So I walk to the wide end of the pool, to the deep end, and immediately find that the whole group is looking at me.

"Hey, dude, what are you doing?" Someone shouts; some guy I don't know, but I just smile at all the girls in their bikinis looking at me with curious, but flirty eyes.

"Watch this." I just say, smirking at all their stricken faces.

I walk to the edge of the pool, a little shocked at my own action; I didn't even know what I was doing. But it felt as if I was doing this subconsciously, like some sort of weird reaction to something I didn't even know happened to me, or something I felt.

Ino, though, doesn't have any expression except excitement and lust. "I love you Kiba!" She shouts, as if at a hard-rock concert. Some guys are rooting for me; some girls are staring at my body, maybe in interest, or concern, maybe thrill too.

I can see some adults on the other side of the pool, talking to each other, with no notice of my imminent actions, and some kids still oblivious to my own devious appearance, playing tag in the pool.

I don't smile at anyone as I'm scanning the room, but finally, my eyes land on the one girl who my mind seems, uncertainly focused on at the second.

She isn't looking at me though; her pale, but lively eyes staring down at her book, unaware of any of her surroundings. I feel stupid, and useless, and reckless as I look at her, wanting nothing more than her eyes on me. Just me.

So in quiet rage, I jump into the pool.

Everything goes black before I can even feel the coolness of the water touch my skin.

::::

5:35

The pool is loud, and crowded, and I silently wish to myself, and to God, that I wasn't right here, right this moment.

But in the back of my mind, I know for sure that no one's on my side today.

The Dive In! is just like it is everyday it's opened on the weekends. Lot's of kids come to hang out, and just have fun, before grieving that night, dreading the incoming tomorrow.

I look up from my book, and expectantly squint my eyes, trying to find someone recognizable, other than the obnoxious, stubborn group of kids that unfortunately went to my school; someone who wasn't completely narcissistic.

But then again, no one was on my side today.

I look down to my book again, and reread the paragraph to set my mind onto something other than where I was. Angels and Demons is my favorite book, but sometimes, the fifth time might just do you enough before you've memorized the dialogue already. The ending is only amazing the first few times.

Hanabi is still playing in the pool with her friends, and since Neji couldn't chaperone like he always does, I had to fill in. I seriously couldn't picture my cousin at a community swimming pool, sitting at the side, watching as everyone swam in the pool, splashing at each other while he just watched. I just couldn't.

My mind jumps back to reality as I hear a loud, pitchy voice, chatting animatedly in an overenthusiastic voice.

I look up in slight irritation to see Ino, captain of the Konoha Cougars cheerleading squad, mouthing off onto her cell phone. I watch as she walks, her slender legs moving in the opposite direction of the dumbstruck boy standing behind her, watching as well. I laugh inwardly to myself.

When I look back up to the boy, he's staring right at me.

It's Kiba Inuzuka, boyfriend of said Ino. One hand is in his hair, the other arm dangling to his side. Before I can give it another second, he looks away in embarrassment of being caught staring.

I adjust my place in my chair, and reread the same paragraph again. Somehow, I have to read the same paragraph two more times before I move on.

The thought of the boy engulfs my memory, and takes me back years before, when I used to know him. I mean, actually know him.

But before I can reminisce, a small burst of laughter catches my ear, and again, my eyes are torn back to the same couple.

This time, they're both standing next to each other, with their eyes plastered to my figure, along with a group of other seniors from my class. I try and drag my mind from the thought of possible remarks they were making about my outfit and me.

Sure, I was wearing my everyday attire, but it wasn't like I was going swimming or anything.

I shoot a short glare at the tanned boy and look away to Hanabi. She's still where I last spotted her.

Kiba was, a long time ago, a nice boy. He was somewhat, a person who everyone could relate to, or at least wanted to befriend.

I remember him being a sweet person, because he didn't care what other people thought. He didn't care if what he did wasn't like what everyone else did. He liked being different; being unique.

I hadn't really paid enough attention to know what kind of friend he was like, but I knew he was a genuine person. I decided that until about 4 years ago, during freshman year.

The thought of it kind of stung me at the moment, but I shrugged it off, trying to get back to the chapter. It was a really good one too.

But to my dismay, I don't think I was ever going to finish it today.

A whole bunch of screams had bursted out into the air, causing myself to jump. Ino's scream was easily distinguishable and I immediately stood up from my spot.

Kids had started jumping and running out of the pool, including Hanabi. Chaos had erupted, as parents started shouting, and yelling into cell phones, with their voices and all I could hear was 'Call 9-1-1!'

I stared at the area where the graduates were all standing, panicked expressions on their tanned faces. All this was happening to me at slow speed. The screams and shrieks of nothings were echoing into my brain, and the sound of my speeding heart erupting like a drum roll.

I tried to look for the familiar brown mess of hair, but I couldn't find it.

And that's when I saw the blood.

At the end of the pool, there was a pool of the dark red liquid spreading slowly throughout the chlorine water like smoke. All I could think of was Kiba and how he was such an idiot.

I ran and pushed past the people, wondering why in the world no one had done anything.

Ino had seen me push through and she kept screaming at someone to save him. I felt like slapping her.

But I just sped past her and jumped into the hole of darkening water. The water was cool, and refreshing, like a breeze in late August.

My mind was running wild at first, as the thought of death rushed through me. Flashes of memories fled past my mind, images of Kiba's smiling face and of him in class… And as I wondered if the insane and impractical idea of death surged through me, I seriously thought I was going to die, instead of him.

I couldn't swim as fast as I would've liked. My sweater was dragging me to my weakest point, and I inwardly cursed it, wishing I had just worn a bathing suit like everyone else.

My eyes burned at the contact with the chemically adjusted water, but I could still see his figure.

I had managed to take off my sweater in the process, and I felt relief in the state of being lighter. His hair was tangled, and stained with blood, but I took his arm around my shoulders and pushed myself off the uneven white floor. I could make out the sign on the wall of the pool that read 8 feet.

It felt like hours before I reached the surface, before I felt myself going down. But I brought myself and him up, anyways.

The yelling had not subsided yet, but luckily they decided that after all, he needed help, and fast.

Naruto, I had noticed, was at the edge, ready to pull him out.

I leapt onto the edge after Kiba, and saw Ino crying. I ignored her, and then knelt beside the boy.

Kiba's eyes were gently closed, and he looked peaceful. I secretly wished I were in the same state, with him. I closed my eyes, looked at him, then looked to the group of people who had formed a circle around us.

"Does anyone know mouth to mouth resuscitation?!" I shouted, looking desperately at the anxious teens.

None of them said anything, and I saw some of the other girls crying.

I looked back down at Kiba, and put a hand on his temple where a huge gash to his skin had been ripped, blood pouring our quickly.

I could hear my heart beating loudly in my ears. In the background, I hear someone yell, 'I called 9-1-1! They're on their way!'

I leaned down to Kiba's face then whispered inaudibly, "I'm going to save you, Kiba." I put one hand on his nose, and pressed, blowing quick and impatient breaths down his wind pipe, hoping that one day he would forget all of this.

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AN: Written a few weeks ago, I just forgot to post it up.