Green Leaf Apartments

A Naruto Fanfiction

By: FightingForJoy

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Naruto. I do however own the plot in this story.

Pairings:

Main: KibaHina

Minor: ShikaIno, NejiTen, NaruSaku, AsumaKurenai, JirTsu (More may be added later!)

This will be a chapter story, hopefully chapters will be posted weekly. Featuring Kiba and Hinata as well as the rest of the Naruto gang in an alternate universe of my own creation. Without further ado, please enjoy my creation! 3

Chapter One: Freedom?

The world was a dull gray color, much to the chagrin of the small woman scrambling out of the sweaty taxi cab into the fresh sky-squeezed rain with bags hanging from both arms. A sky so bleak it matched the color of her eyes, like silver pools, two halves of the moon blinking from a pallor façade that was dampened by the climate. Throwing some money towards the driver's seat the woman slid her feet along the cement sidewalk and lifted her face heavenward taking in the atmosphere and the building she was planning on thriving in.

The frames of the windows were painted a searing green color completed with red crisp brick freshly lain and solid, giving the venue a Christmas appeal. Even through the hazy drizzle Hyuuga Hinata could see the glass eyes of her new home leering at her, they were not unkind but an eerie sense of déjà vu caused her to shiver despite the confines of her fleeced purple-hooded jacket. Her black hair fell slick down her neck, as small clusters of water began to curl down her back as she hauled the rest of her belongings through the glass doors just as the taxi driver turned his wheels leaving a train of billowing smoky vapors in his wake.

The portal clicked shut, and the sound echoed into the caverns of her mind. This was it. She was finally an individual, closing the paths of her father's retribution and overbearing presence that had chased her; she was one person with so much freedom. But, what was she to do with it, now? The Hyuuga's pearly eyes, the only vestige of her family that she was incapable of escaping, darted about suddenly uncertain. "I guess the only thing I can do now is to find the manager…"

Trudging to the front desk, laden with luggage of all shapes and sizes, she breathed through her nose with mild exhaustion, she glanced around expectantly. A small silver bell had been placed on the counter, a small sign scribbled in black ink was placed under it saying "Ring if you got to." Confused by the phrasing, Hinata touched the bell hesitantly causing it to let out an angelic ding. A loud huff pervaded the air and drifted into the empty lobby. Suddenly, a blonde head popped into view over the counter. It was an older woman, probably around her mid-fifties, her cherry red lips pursed in what seemed to be frustration, and maybe pain? Her eyebrows were pinched together and her cheeks were a dusted red color, not to mention her breath rank of alcohol. "Yesssss….?" was the slur conjured from her throat with a husky rasp.

"U-um…Sorry to disturb whatever it was you were doing but I am Hyuuga Hinata, the new tenant and I was hoping to speak to the manager? I believe her name is Tsunade-sama?" The timid girl replied still puzzled as to the reason the woman appeared to be napping behind the customer service desk. At the mention of her name, the blonde sobered herself to a degree and edged into the computer chair. "Ah, ahem, I am she. Sorry about that, I have a terrible hangover and it kills my work-ethic." When able to see her full form Hinata's eyes went wide with shock, the woman had a bust the size of a small planet! Immediately she averted her stare to her shoes. "Now I suppose you will need your room number, yes?" Before Hinata could reply, the door behind the desk slammed open breaking the silence a diminutive woman filled the doorway, her black hair swishing about her pale face and anger seething from her pores.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" The said woman flinched, her eye twitching in agony at the screeching sound. "Yes, Shizune?"

"Were you napping behind the desk again? Shirking your paper work! I thought I heard snoring! Is that drool on your mouth? And I….Oh who is this?" Pausing mid-rant, the lady smiled at the wide-eyed new girl quivering in her shoes. "This is Hyuuga Hinata our new tenant. I thought about giving her Sasuke's room but it hasn't been cleaned since he left so she will be living on the eighth floor. Room 802." Shizune's brow quirked upwards in befuddlement at what her manager had just said. Hinata did not notice this and nodded at her, accepting the keys vigorously and striding to the elevator. "Oh and Hinata!"

The black haired girl whipped around almost losing her grip on her bags, she faltered gaining back her balance, and gazed at her expectantly, "The elevator is broken. You will have to hoof it up the steps. I'll get around to fixing it when a few people start paying their rent!" Tsunade's grimace was enough to make Hinata never, ever want to be late on her rent.

"Are you sure that you should have sent her to live near Kiba and Shino? Do you seriously think that that girl will be able to survive with a brute like Kiba and…that icky bug-man?" Shizune whispered, making disgusted faces as she had flashbacks to when Shino's escaped cockroach collection had decided to make themselves at home in her bed. The terrible images of the crawling, clicking, shining brown bodies squirming in her room made goose-bumps rise over her arms.

"Tsk, tsk, oh Shizune. Don't you trust me? I think our little Hyuuga heiress will do the both of them good. They aren't used to having a girl on their floor, maybe it will make them think and change…like beauty and the two beasts?" Tsunade smirked at her own joke as she watched the girl slide through the door gracefully, considering all of her luggage, and start up the steps.

A sigh elicited itself from between the young woman's lips as she took her first few steps onto the staircase. Dear Kami, it was a long ways up. But she couldn't give up yet! Setting a determined look on her face she began to march rhythmically up the green steel steps, pausing every so often for a breather.

Just as she reached the plane of the sixth floor she heard a familiar voice, "Sakura-chaaaaaan! Why are you so angry? All I did was ask if it was that time of the mo-AHHH!" A thud reverberated on the metal handrails causing Hinata's hands to tremble. She knew that voice, oh so well. Her ex-boyfriend, who had dumped her as kindly as possible when he realized he still had feelings for another, the boy that still gave her butterflies: it was him. She didn't know he would be here! Her mind went into a frenzy and the only coherent thought vocalized itself, "Naruto-kun."

Looking up Hinata saw a blur of orange and yellow come tumbling down the steps at her feet. Kneeling down to inspect the injured party, she gently touched his golden sunshine hair. "Naruto-kun? Are you okay?"

Immediately, he folded himself I into a sitting position with a cheeky smile on his face, cerulean orbs studying and curious. "Oh, Hinata, you saw that?" She nodded. "So…you are movin' in I see." The one time he was actually observant of her and she only wanted to shrink into nothingness and pretend it never happened at all. "Y-yeah." Came the stuttered response, damn, she thought she was over that, why was he the one that brought out all of her childish nervousness?

"Well, ah, let me help you. What room?" She held up the key as he hoisted three of her bags on to his broad shoulders, at this point afraid to say anything for fear of making a bigger fool of herself. "802. Cool you are with Kiba and Shino. They are nice guys. Kiba's a bit rough and Shino…ah hehe well you will just have to see for yourself." They travelled the last two flights in almost silence after the cordial pleasantries were exchanged. She discovered that he was doing well, but was having trouble keeping a job at the moment so he was currently the handy-man around the apartments doing whatever his Baa-chan (AKA Tsunade-sama) asked of him.

Upon reaching the desired floor, Naruto helped her enter the currently bare apartment. It had a plaid green and blue couch and small coffee table for furnishings in the living room which connected to a basic kitchen with oven and microwave. Passing the couch Hinata found a narrow carpeted hallway leading to a bathroom on the left, an empty bedroom on the right with a closet on the far wall. The bedroom had three windows across the back wall, letting in the last rays of the dying Sun, gifting Hinata with a glorious view of the park behind the apartments where she could see small children playing on the swing sets and splashing in puddles in the glossy afternoon drizzle and browning reddish trees dancing with the breezy fingers of moving air. "It's beautiful." She smiled, and turned around expecting to see Naruto but only found her two lonely suitcases sitting inside the door.

I suppose it was too awkward for him. The dark-haired girl pursed her lips, and began to un-pack; just as she was heaving all of her luggage onto the couch she heard a knock at the door. It was a loud rapping of knuckles, boisterous and incongruous to the peaceful atmosphere. The noise made Hinata grin as she pondered what kind of person lay behind the pale sliver of wood.

She utilized the peep-hole and saw that it was a brunette boy with two inverted rouge triangle tattoos gracing is cheeks. He was dressed in a dark black leather jacket with wilted fur lining the collar his tan skin standing stark against the white hallway. Opening the door she greeted him shyly.

"Hello." The man's midnight pools appraised her as wolfish grin wormed itself onto his lips, she could see his canines were sharp like fangs. "Oi! I'm your neighbor Inuzuka Kiba." After giving her a curt ungentlemanly bow, which made bubbles of laughter build in Hinata's chest, Kiba graced her with another tooth-filled smile and requested her name.

"I am Hyuuga Hinata." The upturn of her pink lips, and the light blush that dusted her cheeks indicated her happiness as she invited her fanged-companion in for conversation.

He immediately made himself at home, finding his place on the couch after helping the damsel remove her mountain of bags from the sitting area. And as Hinata went about making tea for her guest, which took quite some time since she had apparently misplaced the china, Kiba set about asking her questions.

"So, Hinata-chan," She blushed at the familiarity with which he spoke her name. He acts like we've known each other forever. "What brings you here? I mean…not that I have a problem with a pretty girl like you living next to me," Her blush deepened and he grinned roguishly at her reaction, taking delight in the effect he had on her, yet, he sat attentively waiting for her answer as she set her tea kettle to boil and joined him on the couch.

"Well, I needed to get away from my family, my father has been pressuring me to take over the family business, but he never seems satisfied with the work I do. So, I figured I'd set out on my own to get stronger, maybe I'll find my place out here." She smiled at the thought.

"Sounds like a great idea to me. But I know what family pressure is like, for YEARS my sister Hana has been on my back about becoming a veterinarian like her. Blah…like I'd want to study all those years…psh…please, I'm more cut out for action, the thrill of discovery!" Kiba raised his fist in the air with a glint in his eye that told Hinata he had a lust for life and would throw himself into any activity with all his might.

"But what about you, Inuzuka-san? What are you doing here?" Hinata queried softly, as she stifled a giggle at his antics of punching the air with said fist.

He laughed brightly, "First off, don't call me Inuzuka-san, that's my dad. Kiba works fine for me. Nicknames are okay too; just don't go crazy with them. And to answer your question, I live here because this place is one of the closer, and cheaper, apartment buildings to where I work."

"And where do you work, K-kiba-kun…?" She said the last part as a question, because his name felt good to say, she liked it very much, and strawberry tint crept up her cheeks at the thought.

"Atta girl! That's my name!" He grinned and ruffled her hair affectionately. The feeling of his warm hand near her face sent heat tingling down her body. Kiba pulled his hand away, replacing it by his side, and tilted his head to the side appraising her with his eyes, "I'm a police officer part of the K-9 unit with my dog, Akamaru. So I work at the police station a couple of blocks over. Now that I mention him, I think he would like you very much."

The tea kettle whistled, and Hinata answered the call by pouring the tea into two china cups, one with a sunshine painted on the side for her, the other had two dogs playing with a ball, for him. She had a plethora of others, a small collection she had amassed over time, one of her many hobbies her father thought was strange. Just as she handed Kiba his cup and was about to settle back down for another talk with the interesting man, a knock came at the door.

Kiba's nose wiggled, like he could smell who it was on the other side of the door and he didn't particularly like whoever it was. Opening the door revealed a man, his translucent skin clashed with the dark gray of his turtle neck, and glinting mystery of his sunglasses. "Hello. I am Aburame Shino. I heard a new tenant was coming today so I brought a present." He thrust a picture frame into Hinata's surprised hands. In the frame resided a pinned up butterfly with sparkling azure wings. Now, Hinata had never had a great affinity for bugs but she thought it was one of the most gorgeous creatures she had ever seen. "Thank you…" She stared at the gift for a moment before realizing she had yet to introduce herself, before she could do so a heated pressure encased her being.

The chin of the Inuzuka rested on her head lightly, "Oi, Shino, what are ya doing here?" The blush that originally had only rested on her face quickly seemed as though it had consumed her entire being. She could feel his chest reverberating against her spine, the corner of his chin nestled in her hair. The sensation startled her and she immediately ducked under his arms to escape. "K-k-ki…." She couldn't speak.

Both men looked at her curiously; she swallowed self-consciously then took a deep breath and found her courage. "Hi, my name is…"

"Hyuuga Hinata, heiress to the Byakugan Corporation. It's a pleasure," Shino said flatly all the while adjusting his glasses and stepping inside as he pushed Kiba out of the doorjamb. "It's a pleasure."

"H-how do you know me?" Hinata's eyes grew wide; Shino must be highly-intelligent.

"I don't, I just noticed the logo on your entire luggage set and it matches the staple logo of all Byakugan products. And Hyuuga Hisashi is a well-known business man, and you bear his last name. It was simple really." The Aburame shrugged.

"You are such a show-off!" Kiba growled through his teeth in the background before launching himself at the man, Shino side-stepped gracefully and Kiba promptly landed on his face, his mouth was wide open mid-shout so he got a mouthful of delicious beige carpet.

"And you are a bumbling idiot." Shino shot back, sunglasses flashing in a very intimidating manner. Pulling his face from the fabric of the floor, Kiba stuck out his tongue in a childish retaliation.

At the sight before her the shy Hinata burst into uncontrollable giggles, she fell to her knees and rolled on the floor. "Y-your face!" She chuckled, pointing at Kiba.

"Wha-? Aw…Hinata-chan! That's mean!" Kiba joked as he bent down to help the heiress up, which in turn only made the floor-bound Hyuuga laugh harder. "You have c-carpet marks on your face! I'm s-s-sorry!" Kiba touched a hand to his cheek and could feel the ridges residing there; he soon began to laugh too. Even a deep-throated sound, that somewhat resembled a laugh emanated from Shino.

Neither of the two could stop from smiling at the heavenly sound radiating from the beautiful girl at their feet.

It was the beginning of a very special friendship.

Well I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter. I know that it is kind of short and I hope that as the story progresses they will get longer because it will be featuring more than just Hinata's perspective.

Much love and tenderness to all my readers!

~FFJ