I Missed You

It had been a while since the last time Hinata met Kiba. A long while, in fact, for both of them. She would have been lying if she said that she did not miss him. It was understandable; Kiba had literally been Hinata's guard dog throughout their lives.

Hinata was a Hyuuga – the wealthiest family in the country, or even in the region. Having Kiba – an Inuzuka, the members of which were highly trained to protect their loved ones since young – was, honestly, a blessing. There were countless times where, if Kiba hadn't been there, Hanabi – Hinata's younger sister – would have been the only Hyuuga heir now.

Hinata was a very quiet and shy multibillionaire soon-to-be, a delicious target for rival companies or just general people who desperately needed money and would do anything to get some. In these instances, Kiba came in handy. Kiba was one of the few people who were close to Hinata, and was sincerely so. He would never, ever, make use of Hinata's wealth for his own good (not that he needed it, anyway, since the Inuzukas, as professional bodyguards, were quite as wealthy as the Hyuugas themselves). He would also beat up all the prats and assholes who would try to date Hinata just for her wealth. They disgusted him.

Well, that, and the Inuzuka was jealous, too.

It was of common knowledge that the brunette had taken an interest in the Hyuuga heir. The only person who didn't know was, sadly, the lady herself. She had been a melancholic pessimist after all, what with the number of guys who had hit on her just to get her money.

She knew Kiba was different, though. She appreciated it, so much. She had literally depended on Kiba for her life and dignity for almost the whole of her childhood and junior high school. That was why she almost went into a depression on hearing that Kiba had to fly to Japan to advance his martial arts skills and to learn some proper Japanese (not only the (crude) ones he learnt from watching his favourite animes), because one had to at least learn the tongue of his ancestors, right?

Kiba had left his precious dog, Akamaru, with Hinata. "He will serve as my substitute," Kiba had said, with a wide, sad grin, to the teary-eyed Hinata on the day Kiba had to fly away. From then on, Akamaru had been following Hinata around, and Hinata had been taking care of Akamaru as if he was Hinata's own. Having Akamaru there meant that she could smell Kiba's scent – that dog and his owner really had the same smell, Hinata realized after a while, much to her amusement – and that helped heal the loneliness Kiba left behind.

Without Kiba, Hinata almost became the outcast she once was before they met in third grade of primary school. But thankfully, Kiba had ensured that someone else other than his beloved dog would be there for Hinata during his absence. Shino Aburame had been Kiba's best friend since forever, and he made sure that Hinata became one of Shino's too before he departed. So it had always been the three of them in junior high school. Both of them would stay by Hinata's side; the loud and lively Kiba, and the stoic, three-words-or-less Shino. And Hinata was more than happy to have the two guys following her around. Now with Kiba half the Earth away from Hinata, she needed Shino more than ever.

After two long years, Shino told Hinata that Kiba would be coming back. He had never gone back at all during the two years, not even for a short holiday, since he had mentioned that he wanted to concentrate on improving his skills so that he could "protect the one who is dearest to me".

Hinata was very happy, no, elated, on hearing the news. She hadn't really been in contact with Kiba during the two years, because now that she was eighteen, she had to attend various etiquette classes and functions to represent her family. She rarely spent her time at home, so she couldn't sit down to chat with Kiba through the internet. The only way for her to contact him was through e-mails, which Kiba didn't really check anyway because he was very busy as well. Apparently, there were various branch families of the Inuzuka in Japan, and as the only son of the main Inuzuka family, he was like their prince. He also had to go for a lot of parties and events to represent his family, so he was as busy as the Hyuuga. Hence during the two years apart, they were only able to see each other through webcam in the first month after Kiba's departure. Which explained why Hinata had been dying to see Kiba, now that he was coming home.

Kiba had asked Shino to tell Hinata that she had to keep the night of Kiba's return free, and that they were going for dinner together. Just the two of them. Shino was not invited, much to the Aburame's annoyance (although Aburames never show any form of annoyance – or emotion, for that matter; just that after being his friend for a long time, Hinata had realized that Shino's right eyebrow would twitch twice every time he mentioned the source of his annoyance – for this issue, Kiba's name). He had also asked Hinata not to bring Akamaru with her, to her surprise. She believed that the first thing Kiba would do when he got back was to run for his life-long partner and embrace him like a lover they had always been before Kiba went away.

This kind of made her curious and suspicious. But she could not think of any reason for why Kiba would want the event to be just for the two of them, so she dropped it. Unfortunately, Hinata believed with all her might that her love for him would forever be unreturned. Kiba had nearly the whole school of girls falling for him in junior high school, what with him being the loudest in class plus attractive. Oh, he sure was attractive for all Hinata knew. And his personality, especially to Hinata. Which made it impossible for any Hinata to not fall in love with the brunette.

Kiba had always been especially nice to Hinata. He had gone out with several girls before he left for Japan, and Hinata (being the shy girl she was) said nothing about it, despite being slightly sad. Nevertheless, Kiba never let anything prevent him from spending time with Hinata. Whenever Hinata needed a companion, Kiba would be there for her, even though he might have had some plan planned beforehand.

The only time Kiba wasn't there for her was the last two years, and he had made sure that he left his beloved dog to replace him.

And now that Kiba was coming home, Hinata wanted to confess to Kiba, so that she wouldn't have to keep it all to herself anymore. It had been very lonely without Kiba in the past 2 years, and she hated it. She had contemplated whether or not she should tell Kiba of her feeling for him, but in the end decided not to. What if Kiba did not return the feeling for her? No, Hinata knew Kiba wouldn't return it, hence she decided that it would be best that she didn't say anything so as to not risk the possibility that their friendship would be destroyed.

She would never say she was in love with Kiba Inuzuka.

Kiba grumbled under his breath as he dragged his enormous luggage on the airport floor. The stupid airport staff – either the Japanese or the local one – had thrown his luggage without sufficient care that the wheel had cracked.

He craned his neck and looked around to find his best friend, and after some squinting he finally scowled and made his way to the hooded figure at the very back of the crowd of people surrounding the arrival hall.

"Why. Would you wear a hood over your head and shades indoor?" Kiba growled once he had finally reached the Aburame idiot.

"Because I like it."

"And how do you expect me to notice that it's you, bastard?" shouted Kiba, making several heads turn to their direction. Neither boy cared.

Shino turned on his heel and walked out of the building, leaving a very annoyed Kiba dragging his gigantic luggage himself, cursing about a prat who didn't seem to change one bit under his breath.

Shino pressed the remote control of his car and opened the trunk. Kiba lifted the luggage – with much difficulty – and slammed the trunk close. Then the two of them got into the car, Kiba sitting on the passanger seat next to Shino.

"So, are you really gonna confess Hinata?"

Kiba just stared blankly at the road, his hands fiddling with the front of his jacket absentmindedly.

"I don't know," he answered after a while. "Should I?"

Shino just looked straight ahead.

There was silence, while Shino drove them both to the restaurant where Kiba and Hinata would dine at. At a traffic light, he flipped out his mobile phone and typed a text. After he sent it, he slipped it back into his pants pocket.

After several minutes of silence, Shino spoke up, "She loves you."

Kiba nearly jumped at that, surprised by both the sudden comment and the comment itself.

Shino turned to look at Kiba. "She loves you," he said again.

Kiba frowned at that. "How do you know that?"

Shino resisted the urge to roll his eyes – or he already rolled his eyes, Kiba didn't know, because the weirdo was still wearing the shades in the goddamn car – and said, "It's obvious."

The brunette scowled, "Elaborate."

Shino sighed, and looked back ahead, "She's the brightest when she's with you. In the past two years, she smiled, but her smile was different. Whenever I mentioned you, her eyes would light up, but that's it. She always worried about you, if you're okay in Japan, if you miss Akamaru." He took a glance at Kiba. Kiba was also looking straight on the road, his eyes unfocused.

"She also wondered if you have quit snacking on dog food," Shino smirked.

Kiba snapped his head to him, blushing. "SHUT UP!"

Still smirking, Shino kept his eyes on the road as the car turned on a bend. "So are you confessing?"

Kiba rubbed his eyes with his palm, and slowly said, "I'm thinking…"

Shino turned his head, "Why?"

Kiba peeked at Shino through his fingers. "Why what?"

"Why do you need to think?"

"Because I'm scared she'll reject me, duh?" Kiba growled.

Shino snorted. "Dumbass," he mumbled.

"What?" Kiba snapped. "I don't know if she really likes me okay? I don't want to risk our friendship if she rejects me!"

Shino just snorted again.

"Stop snorting!"

Shino snorted for the third time.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "I'm serious, okay."

"I'm serious, too. You're being stupid."

"I'm not!"

Shino turned his head again to look right at Kiba. "Do you think Hinata would leave you when you confess and she doesn't return your feeling? Do you think the value of your friendship with Hinata is only worth an honest confession?"

Kiba lost his words at that. One, he didn't expect Shino to speak such long sentences. Two, he didn't expect Shino to say that. Three, he just realized that he was an idiot.

Hinata had just arrived at the restaurant where she was going to meet Kiba after two long years. She received a text from Shino not long ago, saying that he was driving Kiba to the restaurant, and would arrive in around fifteen minutes.

The waitress at the restaurant had asked for her name, and promptly brought her to a table just outside the glass door, with an ornamental orange lamp above it. It was outside of the restaurant building but still within its compound. There were only two other occupied tables, and there was not much noise around. A white card was sitting on the table, with Reserved: Mr Inuzuka & Ms Hyuuga written on it. The waitress asked Hinata for her choice of drink, to which the Hyuuga declined politely, saying that she would order it when her partner for the night arrives.

Hinata wore a simple sleeveless, V-neck, knee-length dark blue dress with a black tank top beneath it. The dress lined her slim figure perfectly. She let her long black hair down – Kiba would be surprised. Hinata had only let her hair grow past her shoulders after Kiba went away. She hoped Kiba likes this change, therefore she chose to let it down instead of tying it up or styling it any other way.

Once again she checked her phone, but there was no text from Shino. She sighed, that meant she just had to wait.

What should she say when Kiba arrives? 'Hey, Kiba,' was not enough to express how much she had missed him. 'I missed you,' she thought, would be weird for first words. It would show too much of her deep love for Kiba.

But you really love him! She heard her inner mind say. You can love him as a friend, right?

What if he interprets it as something more than friend? She asked back to nobody in particular, in her mind.

No, he won't. She heard her inner mind answer back.

He might.

You are being pessimistic.

I kind of am a pessimist. She bit out to herself.

It's no harm to just say you missed him, because you really did miss him. Her inner mind answered.

I don't want him to think that I am in love with him, more than a friend!

But you really do!

She sighed again, raising her head to look at the ceiling, why am I making this difficult for myself?

At that moment, the glass door behind her slid open, and in her surprise, she stood up. She came face to face with Kiba Inuzuka, his face slightly sweaty, and he also wore the same stunned expression as Hinata's.

"Kiba," said Hinata, a faint pink blush on both her cheeks.

Shino drove into the restaurant compound and stopped the car right in front of the restaurant lobby. Kiba did not move.

"Out," Shino said.

Kiba grabbed Shino's forearm, his eyes worried. "What if she rejects?" he asked anxiously.

Shino snorted, "Idiot, just get out of the car and go meet her." He peeled Kiba's hand off his arm and patted his best friend's shoulder with a small smile.

Shino had stopped by the Inuzuka house – which was only five minutes away from the restaurant – and waited in the car while Kiba changed into his attire for the dinner. He wore a white shirt with a black collared shirt over it, and black pants and shoes.

Kiba breathed, and then grabbed the handle of the car door. He turned to look at Shino.

Shino offered him a smile, and Kiba smiled back. Then he exited the car.

He was greeted by a waitress, who asked for his name and then brought him into the restaurant with a warm smile. She showed the direction to the glass door behind which his date – he blushed slightly at the thought of this – was already sitting, waiting for him.

Kiba then told her that she did not need to walk him there, and thanked her with a smile. He walked slowly to the glass door and slid it open with a slightly stronger force than required, in his anxiety.

He stepped outside, and the long-haired girl who was sitting just in front of the glass door suddenly stood up, surprising Kiba.

And there she was. Hinata Hyuuga. Her face gorgeously pink, her grey eyes wide with startle, her new long black hair flowing down her shoulder just the way Kiba liked it.

Kiba Inuzuka had been famous for his loud mouth, and he found himself at a loss for words that instance.

"Kiba," he heard Hinata's gentle voice in his ears, and oh, how he had missed her voice.

A second passed, and Kiba found his words again. "Hinata," he sounded stupid in his own ears. He thought he was dreaming, but he was almost sure that Hinata's cheeks grew pinker after the words left his mouth.

Trying to muster himself, he straightened up and offered a smile at the Hyuuga. Hinata smiled back sweetly at him.

I love her.

He walked to his seat in front of Hinata and said with the same Inuzuka smile Hinata had missed so much, "Hey. I missed you."

A/N:

Hi everyone, thanks so much for reading this fic! It's my first ever fic and I'm looking forward to all your reviews. Please do review, I certainly need comments to improve on my writing and if you like the story! Once again thank you :D