What Makes You Happy
Hinata was curled into his side, like he always wanted. Only it wasn't right. Because she was crying. She was clinging desperately to his gray hoodie, and tears leaked into the fabric. His arm was around her, but he couldn't comfort. "Its okay, Hinata," he murmured. "Stop crying. Please. I hate it when you cry."
"S-sorry…" she sniffled, "K-Kiba."
Kiba inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet scent. But salt stung his nose when he did. "Hinata, please. Could you at least tell me what's wrong?" He already knew, he figured, but it helped her when she talked.
Hinata didn't answer for a moment, then sniffled. "I j-just don't know w-what to do anymore. I don't kn-know how to get his atten-attention. I…"
Kiba felt his heart constrict the way it always did when she spoke of Naruto. How she loved his blonde hair, his blue eyes, his smile, his personality, his voice, his skills, his determination. His everything.
He couldn't help but wish, not for the first time, that Hinata would just give up on him, and move on. Because he never seemed to see her right, she was miserable and sad. He hated to see her cry. Couldn't she see Kiba at all? They weren't so different. They suffered the same thing. Maybe worse for Kiba, because he was so close to Hinata, but still far too far.
But he'd decided not to tell her about his love for her. What good would it do? It would only confuse her, probably make their friendship awkward. And that would be like guilting her into something she didn't want. She hated to see her friends suffer, same as he did, and if she knew how it stabbed his heart to see her look at Naruto the way she did, she might date him out of pity. That wasn't at all what he wanted.
He wanted her to be happy, and that was all. He didn't matter so much in comparison.
"K-Kiba … it hurts…"
He nearly jumped away from her, he was so worried that during his thoughts he might have clenched his fist or something while holding her arm and hurt her. "W-What hurts?" he asked shakily.
Hinata pulled away from him and sat up, brushing a stray violet hair behind her ears before she pressed her hand to her chest. "My heart. It hurts." She closed her silver eyes as more tears leaked from her lilac lashes. "Kiba… do you know h-how it feels? C-can you imagine it?"
Kiba gritted his teeth and winced, glad she couldn't see with her eyes closed. "It feels… like…" he sighed, closing his eyes as well. "Like, every time the one you like looks at someone else… like… like this stabbing sensation. Like you'd go and fight every battle you ever fought again to avoid that pain. Like—"
He noticed rather suddenly that he could feel eyes on him. He opened his eyes to see that Hinata was staring at him in shock. "What?" he murmured, his eyes widened. Had he… said something wrong? Something too much?
"Um… yes." Hinata blinked. "Th-that's how it feels."
Kiba blinked, then looked down. "Hinata, I don't want you to feel like that."
The girl blinked, frowning.
He raked a hand through his brown hair, and then sighed. "Listen, I'll help you, okay? I'll help you figure out what to say to him, but you have to say it. I'll help you as best as I can."
Hinata blinked. "B-but, I don't know at all how to tell N-Naruto how I feel."
Kiba sighed. "I can help with that too, okay? Just repeat after me."
The quiet girl nodded in agreement and waited for Kiba to began.
He took a deep breath, and then started. "I've known you for a long time now."
"I've kn-known you f-for a long time now," she repeated shakily.
"And all this time, I've watched you."
Some pink began to color Hinata's cheeks. "And all th-this time, I-I've watched you."
"I've watched you progress," Kiba averted his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists. "And I've watched you grow."
"I've w-watched you pr-progress, and I've watched you gr-grow."
"And… even when no one else did, I believed in you." His heart pounded violently against his ribs.
"And e-even when n-no else did, I b-believed in you."
"I believed that you weren't weak, and I was always so proud when you grew stronger."
"I believed th-that you weren't w-weak, and I-I was always s-so pr-proud when you grew str-stronger," Hinata gasped. Was Kiba reading her mind? These were all exactly what she wanted to say to Naruto.
He fidgeted. "I've always been by your side, even if you didn't really know it."
"I-I've always been by your side, e-even if you didn't really kn-know it."
"And… And I want to stay by your side forever," Kiba added. He could feel his heart clenching.
"And I w-want to stay by your side f-forever."
"Because… I love you."
"Be-because I l-love y-you."
Kiba let out a breath. "Is that… does that sound right? To you?"
Hinata just stared at him, and then nodded. "Yes. That sounds just like what I w-want to say to Naruto."
Kiba smiled, but it didn't reach his agonized eyes. "You really want to tell him that?"
The girl nodded.
He took her hand gently and squeezed it. "Then I know you can, Hinata. Don't worry too much about what he might say. He'd never reject you. What's to reject? You're beautiful, intelligent, and you're a great ninja. You're just the girl he wants."
Hinata felt a smile pull at her lips. "R-really?"
"Really. So don't panic, and just tell him. You can do this, Hinata. You're strong, so much stronger than you used to be, and stronger than you think you are. You can handle anything," he smiled, his eyes soft.
She blushed. "Th-thank you. I… I'm going to tell him. Now." She stood up, and he stood up with her. "Thank you, Kiba," she murmured, moving forward to wrap her arms around him in a hug.
Kiba let a soft gasp escape him, but then he sighed, and hugged her back. He wanted to hold her closer, but he would settle with this, because she was happy now, and he didn't want to disturb that. "You're welcome."
"I couldn't ask for a b-better friend, Kiba," she murmured into his shoulder before she pulled away. "Bye." She waved, and then hurried away to find Naruto.
As soon as she was out of sight, Kiba's fist closed around the fabric over his heart, as he tried to stop the ache. He hadn't been lying, not at all. Naruto would have to be a complete idiot to refuse Hinata, and even Naruto wasn't that dumb.
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There it was. Kiba had confessed his love for Hinata, and she'd hadn't hear the truth in his words.
And so, Hinata would woo Naruto with Kiba's words. He didn't mind letting her borrow them, though, because it would make her happy, and they fit for her just right, too.
Only, Kiba had stayed up entire nights tossing and turning, picking out different words and discarding others, trying to find the right way to make his feelings known. Maybe one day, when she gave up on Naruto, he would use them.
But now he couldn't use them, because they were Hinata's now, her words for Naruto.
Kiba sat down, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. How would he tolerate this? Hinata would gush about Naruto more than ever now, only instead of tears, it would be smiles. That would be easier. She would be happy.
And Kiba would give anything to make Hinata happy.
Even his own happiness.
Whatever makes her happy was hers to take.