A/N: This started out as a drabble, ending while they're still at the park, but then I wanted it to go further. Also, I haven't watched Naruto in a while and only read the KibaHina fanfics so if something is off in regards to the series, I apologize.
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"Hey boy, slow down! Akamaru!" Kiba Inuzuka chased his constant companion and oldest friend through the park. He stopped when he saw what he was after. "Wait u – oh hey, Hinata. Guess Akamaru really likes you…" He laughed nervously as the canine licked the Hyuga's face. "So what are you up to today?"
"Well… writing." She held up her notebook filled with words. "I was kind of attacked by a plot bunny this morning..."
Kiba ignored her laugh as he noticed a bunny at her feet. He let out a growl and pounced at it. It jumped out of the way and started to hop away. Kiba, now on all fours, starts after it.
"Kiba!" Hinata shouted out in concern, to no avail. She shook her head at the dog-boy's loveable antics and ruffled the white fur below her.
The bunny stopped at a patch of tasty grass, ears perked up to hear for any sign of the boy. It knew that he was just a few feet away but continued eating.
Kiba staked his prey slowly and carefully. His upper lip pulled back and he forced back a snarl, trying his best not to alert his presence to the fluffball. He readied himself, wiggling his rear-end in the air in anticipation which caused a pale girl just a few yards away to giggle, and launched at it.
He wasn't quick enough.
The bunny hopped into the bushes quickly and peeked back at the boy. It wasn't sure why it was being targeted but, it had to admit, the attempt was pretty pathetic.
Kiba growled as he pulled his now dirt covered hands away from the ground. He sneered at the bushes and trudged back to the table that his friends were at.
"What was that about?" Hinata laughed. She didn't understand him sometimes, which makes sense given the fact that they were raised in widely different ways.
"The bunny… you said you were attacked by one. I was trying to protect you." He hung his head, feeling as though he somehow failed by not actually capturing the rodent.
A burst of laughter caused his head to snap up. He was shocked to see the normally shy and quiet girl doubled over in laughter. He waited patiently for the giggle attack to subside before giving her a questioning look.
"Sorry…" She wiped away tears from her eyes. "It's just… it was really funny." She let out a few more chuckles before settling down. "That wasn't what I meant... you've really never heard that expression before?"
"Um… no? I take it a 'plot bunny' isn't just some different breed of rabbit, right?"
"Right, it's not. It means that I got an idea for a story that won't leave my mind so I have to write it. I am not in any danger, I assure you, but thank you for being so concerned." She got up from her seat and went over to the flustered boy. She leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. "I feel much safer with you in my life, Kiba-kun." She said as she pulled away, blushing furiously.
"It's… uh.. no problem… really." His face almost matched the red hue of his signature fang tattoos. He reached his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"So what were you two up to?" Hinata said in an attempt to change the subject and get back an ease of conversation she is used to with him.
"Just taking a walk. We wanted to just try and relax and enjoy this day off."
Hinata nodded, grateful too to have this break from training.
"What are you doing later? Maybe we can grab something to eat or something?"
"I'm free now… just finished when you got here actually."
"Cool… so lunch?"
"Sounds great!" She replied cheerfully. She tucked the notebook in her bag and went to Kiba's waiting side.
The walk was short but pleasant and they both enjoyed each other's company and conversation.
"So how are things at home?" Hinata asked. It's been a while since she's been to the Inuzuka residence and, she had to say, she missed it.
"Things are great!" He said enthusiastically. "In fact, the other day we had a new litter of pups born."
"Congratulations, Kiba-kun. It must be fun to have puppies around the house."
"Yeah, it is. You should come by sometime and see 'em. I have a feeling they'll like you."
"W- what makes you say that?"
"It's hard not to like you, Hinata." He confessed rather quietly, a huge shift from his boisterous manner from earlier.
She rivaled his shyness by looking down. "T- thank you."
A comfortable silence fell between them. Normally it would be Kiba's turn to return the question but he knew Hinata well enough to know that she didn't like to be reminded of her home life. An overbearing father and a spoiled, seemingly perfect, sister would make anyone hate talking about it.
They arrived at the restaurant and sat down at their usual table.
"Hey Kiba, Hinata!" The waiter greeted them. "The usual?"
They nodded, eager for their food to get started as they were both starving. Kiba reached over and grabbed the salt shaker. He began playing with it in an attempt to distract himself from his hunger for something more than just food. Lately he only had one thing on his mind and that thing was sitting right in front of him. He didn't know when his feelings for Hinata had begun to change. It wasn't too long ago that he began to feel protective of her in a way that went far beyond teammates, even friends. He hasn't talked to anyone about this either, which has made things very difficult for himself. He was still hesitant to put a label on it but the word "love" popped into his head often when he thought of the girl.
Akamaru whined and nudged at his friend's leg. He has sensed that something was wrong with his best friend but couldn't quite put his paw on it.
Kiba looked down and smiled at the concerned eyes looking up at him. Without even speaking he conveyed to his partner that he was fine and has something on his mind.
The white dog seemed fine with that and settled back down on the floor of the restaurant. Any other time he would have pushed it but they were both hungry and in the presence of a dear friend to the both of them.
Hinata watched the exchange with interest. Her light lavender eyes took in Kiba's somewhat sullen air and she frowned. She wanted to ask him about it but, as confrontation was not her forte, she decided to hold off on that for a bit. Maybe after lunch, she thought.
The waiter arrived shortly after and set down plain ramen in front of Hinata, and beef in front of Kiba. He bent down and placed a smaller bowl filled with scraps from the day in front of Akamaru, who dived right in, tail wagging.
Hinata picked at her meal slowly while Kiba shoveled it in. In no time he was done, while Hinata had barely made a dent.
"You okay Hinata? I know you eat slower than me but… have you even eaten any?"
The pale girl looked up. "Sorry, Kiba-kun. I just have something on my mind."
The dog boy frowned and dropped his fork into his bowl before leaning forward. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She shook her head. "Not now… maybe later."
He kept his gaze on her. "Okay…" He stated slowly. He could smell her nervous energy and had a sense that it had to do something with him.
Minutes passed with Hinata slowly eating and Kiba glancing up at her.
Hinata put down her fork, ramen only half eaten, and looked up when she heard a familiar voice call her name.
"Hinata?"
It was Hanabi.
"What are you doing here? And with him! Father is not going to like this."
Kiba bit back a growl at the youngest Hyuga and just stuck to glaring at her.
Hanabi shifted her gaze to the dog lover. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward, slamming her hands on the table. "Consider this a warning from the whole Hyuga clan. Stay away from Hinata! You're only permitted to train with her, that's it! Other than that you don't even look at her!" She turned to Hinata. "Come on! Let's go!" She grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away forcefully. Hinata resisted, but only minorly, knowing what her sister was capable of.
Kiba leapt out of his chair to try and get Hinata free but wasn't quick enough to dodge Hanabi's gentle fist technique, which hit rapidly and caused the dog-nin to collapse on the floor. She took Hinata, now protesting loudly and thrashing about violently, and left towards their home.
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"Stay away from that Inuzuka boy! He's a bad influence! I don't care that he's on your team, I'm going to speak to the Hokage and get you transferred and until then I want you to continue your training here! Do you understand me?"
Hinata nodded her head timidly. She was doing everything she could to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. She knew that if they did she would get yelled at even more.
Hanabi stood by her father with a proud grin while Neji watched from another room. He felt sorry for his cousin. He didn't think she deserved this.
"Good." He looked down on her, eyes narrowed and face full of disappointment. "Now go to your room. I don't want to see your pathetic face for the rest of the day."
Hinata nodded again, getting up the spot on the floor that she was thrown down on only minutes ago. She made her way, slowly, to her room and shut the door before collapsing on the floor in a sad sobbing heap.
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Kiba woke up, groaning. He opened his eyes and found he was in his room. "What the – ? What happened?"
"Well someone said that Hanabi Hyuga pushed you back and you hit your head on the table. You've been out for a good half hour." Hana stated.
He sat up and then held his head, realizing that was a bad idea. He spoke frantically, wincing the whole time. "What about Hinata? What happened to her?"
"Hanabi took her. I'm sorry, Kiba, I don't know any more."
He jumped out of bed, clenching his teeth in pain. He must have hit that table hard. "I have to go find her!"
Hana held his arm, preventing him from going any further. "No, Kiba! You shouldn't be going anywhere right now! And besides, what are you planning on doing exactly? Just walking into the Hyuga residence and demand to see her? That's a pretty good way to get the crap beaten out of you!"
He knew his sister was right. He sighed so forcefully his shoulders slumped and then sat down.
Hana moved to her brother and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Kiba. I'm sure she's fine. They wouldn't do anything to hurt her. She's one of them."
He shrugged her hand off forcefully and raised his voice in frustration. "That's the problem! She's not one of them! She's never been like any of them!" He started to calm down. "For as long as I've known her, her family has treated her like she's worthless and I'm tired of it. She needs to know that there are people out there that care about her and that think she's amazing. And that she doesn't have to change anything she does to be great. She just has to be her."
Hana smiled a knowing smile. "I know, Kiba, I know. But don't you guys have training tomorrow? You'll see her then right?"
He brightened up. "Yeah! I forgot about that." He shot a smile at his sister. "Thanks, Hana."
She stood up, nodding at the thanks, and stepped towards the door. "Just take it easy till then. It seems you hit your head pretty hard."
"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off and watched her close the door behind herself. Falling backwards onto the bed, he started to think. He thought about the day and his history with the Hyuga heiress. Today was kind of odd, he had to admit. With him chasing a rabbit and facing off against Hanabi, and failing epically at both of them. Not to mention that kiss. It was totally unexpected and so unlike the blue haired girl he's known for nearly half his life.
Akamaru jumped onto the bed to join him. He's known for a while that his best friend liked Hinata but he didn't realize just how deep he was in. Though he vowed, at this moment, to do anything he could to make them be together. After all, all he wanted was for Kiba to be happy. And besides, he really liked her. He couldn't think of anyone else he would rather him be with. He knew it had to happen sometime.
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"I understand where you're coming from, Hiashi, but there's nothing I can do." Tsunade said calmly. She's been trying to talk the Hyuga out of this for a few minutes now, thinking that he really didn't know what he was talking about. She wouldn't say this aloud, of course, because, as Hokage, she had to be neutral about these sorts of things.
"He is corrupting my daughter! She is a Hyuga, the elite clan of this land! If she gives us a bad name it gives the whole village a bad name!"
This irked her. "I am responsible for how our village is seen, Hiashi, your clan has nothing to do with that. You know, I am getting kind of sick of your attitude. You think that just because your clan has traditionally been the strongest that you can do whatever you want. That might have worked with the last Hokage but that's not going to work with me!" Though her volume was low her tone was serious and forceful. Her eyes were firmly fixed on Hiashi's and she didn't show any sign of wavering.
After about three minutes of staring Hiashi backed down. "Fine… but I'm not giving this up." He stalked out of the office and Tsunade sighed before slumping into her chair. She was tired of how Hinata was being treated by her family. Though such things were supposed to stay within the clan, she's heard rumors that she was sure were true. Today's confrontation pretty much confirmed them.
She reached into her desk drawer and poured herself a sake, trying to wrack her brain of how to help the young Hyuga.
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The next day, bright and early, Kiba sprinted to the training grounds. He spotted Shino immediately.
"Hey! Where's Hinata?"
The bug loving ninja shrugged. "I would think that you would know better than me as to her whereabouts."
"Yeah… I guess you're right." He looked around and sniffed the air. "She's nowhere close, probably being kept at home." He frowned.
Shino's eyebrow cocked up from behind his glasses. "Did I miss something?"
"Not much. Just that Hanabi decided to drag Hinata home while we were having lunch."
"You were having lunch with her?"
"Yes…" Kiba narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That tone. It's not weird for us to have lunch together. We're on the same team for god-sake!" He yelled.
Shino knew that Kiba was getting overly defensive for pretty much no reason at all but he knew why. The dog-nin was in love with her. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Though, he figured, it seems as though the boy in front of him hasn't quite clued in yet. Or, if he has, it was fairly recently and he's still trying to figure things out.
"Kiba, let me ask you something… Your feelings toward Hinata are more than platonic, correct?"
Kiba looked at him with a blank stare. "What are you getting at, Aburame?"
"Do you love her?" He asked rather bluntly, which was normal for him. His foot shifted to the side, readying a quick escape if he needed it. He knew that the other boy could act without thinking.
"What?" The question caught him off guard.
"I don't even know why I'm bothering to ask. It's obvious. You're in love with Hinata."
Kiba didn't even respond to that. He just stood there, staring at nothing, and thought. It's never been said aloud before. He nodded hesitantly before speaking softly. "Yeah… I am. I am so hopelessly in love with her I don't know what to do about it. She doesn't feel the same though. She's still obsessed over Naruto though."
Shino was shocked at the confession. He wasn't really the type that people confided in and thought that the last person would do so was standing right in front of him. "I don't think that's true."
"Whadda mean you don't think that's true? You're the one who said it first!" He yelled.
"I was talking about Naruto. Have you seen her looking at him lately?"
Kiba thought back and realized that, over the last few weeks, the frequency of her stalking sessions diminished. But, he solemnly noted, just because she was getting over that orange clothed idiot doesn't mean she had any feelings for him. "Yeah… I guess she hasn't been."
Shino was confused as to why he sounded sad about this but didn't make a comment.
"So," Kiba shifted gears. "Are we gonna train or what?" He moved into a fighting stance, which Shino followed, and threw everything he had into this in hopes that he could forget about this whole ordeal.
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A soft knock on the door woke her from her sleep. She could barely hear the hushed whisper behind the door calling out her name. "Hinata! Open up!"
She activated her Byakugan and saw that the visitor was her only ally in her family: Neji.
She hopped out of bed and opened her door slowly, letting her cousin in.
"Neji? What are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you. About yesterday."
She nodded, indicating for him to continue.
"I'm sorry that happened but I want you to know that I'm on your side. I don't understand what your father's problem with the Inuzuka's is but he shouldn't take it out on you. I want to help you fight this."
She shook her head. "There's nothing we can do, Neji. Once he gets set on something there's no fighting it."
"I know… but we have to try." He was determined. "I don't need the Byakugan to see how you feel about him."
Hinata shot him a confused look. Neji countered it with an I'm-not-an-idiot look.
She sighed. "It doesn't matter, anyway. There's no way he feels the same. And even if he did, there would be no way we could be together. Father would never allow it."
Neji heaved a heavy sigh. "Do you really think that matters in the grand scheme of things? You two are in love. And – "
She cut him off. "What do you mean, 'you two are in love'?"
"Are you serious? The only thing more obvious than your love for him is his love for you!"
Hinata was stunned to say the least. She had to sit down on her bed. She really couldn't believe it. She wanted to, of course, but couldn't unless it came from him.
"So?" He looked expectant. "Do you want my help or not?"
She was still thinking deeply about what he said but he broke her out of that with that question. "It won't do any good." She responded morosely.
"Hinata," he sighed, "you need to at least try!"
She weighed her options. There really were no cons in this decision, it's just that it seemed impossible. She knew her father would send the whole clan after her if she decided to do this. She knew, though, that she would face off against all of them in order to be with him. She just didn't want to upset her family for something that might not even happen.
She looked up at Neji. "I'd need to see Kiba first."
"No problem. Hiashi just left not too long ago and Hanabi's training. I'll cover for you as long as I can but I suggest you pack a few things."
She nodded. "Good idea, Neji. Thank you." She grabbed her mission bag, which was always packed, and threw a few more articles of clothing into it.
After thanking her cousin once again she slipped out of the house and into the town. Since it was still relatively early she figured he and Shino were still training.
She arrived at their normal training grounds and heard the familiar sound of fighting. Taking cover in a tree, she watched the two face off. She kept a close eye on Kiba's form as it barraged Shino with punches as Akamaru changed forms to assist. Shino set loose his insects on the two. The fighting went back and forth for another thirty minutes. Eventually, they fell back and took a water break. Hinata took this as her cue to join them.
Kiba stopped what he was doing and put his nose into the air, sniffing it furiously. He spotted the source of the smell almost immediately and beamed. "Hinata!" He ran up to her and enveloped her in a hug. After a few moments he pulled back, face burning red. "Sorry about that… got a little carried away."
She smiled up at him meekly. "I- It's okay."
"So… are you okay? Hanabi took you away kind of violently." His eyes were full of concern.
"I'm okay… but my father doesn't want me to be around you anymore. He said he was going to go to the Hokage about this. I don't want to go back there." She looked down, tears starting to form at the painful situation.
Kiba wrapped his arms around her and brought her in tightly. He stroked her back comfortingly as he whispered into her ear. "No matter what happens I'll stick with you. I swear, Hinata, I swear on my life that I won't let anything happen to you."
When Hinata pulled away she saw the genuine care and love in his eyes and just knew that what Neji said was true. This was it. No turning back now. She's done with the Hyuga's.
"Thank you, Kiba. I'll need your help. I don't want to go back there ever again."
He nodded. "You're always welcome with the Inuzuka's." His smile was warm and comforting.
Shino, still standing a few feet away, felt as though he was intruding on a private moment. Any other time like this he would have just left but this time he decided to speak up. "I'm here for you too, Hinata."
Said girl looked over Kiba's shoulder and smiled at him. "Thank you, Shino."
He nodded.
"So? Anything we need to do now?"
She shrugged. "There's not much we can do, really. We just have to wait until my father comes looking for me."
"Yeah… I guess you're right. But maybe we should take your things to my place."
"No, no," she insisted, "I don't want to intrude on your training time. We can do it after you're finished."
"I think we're good for now. Right, Shino?" Kiba turned to him. He knew that they only just got done with their warm-up but he wanted to make sure that Hinata was safe. She came first. She'd always come first.
He nodded. "Go ahead and good luck."
"Thanks." Kiba took Hinata's bags and grabbed her by the hand before taking off towards the Inuzuka residence.
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"Where is she!" Hiashi barged into Neji's room after finding his eldest daughter's room vacant.
Neji just shrugged. Though his uncle was intimidating he didn't let it get to him. After all, he made a promise he intended to keep. Even if it killed him.
"Don't play smart with me, boy!" Hiashi made a few hand signs. "Tell me where she is!"
Neji played dumb again. "I don't know."
Hiashi finished the sequence of signs, causing Neji to grasp his forehead in pain and collapse onto the ground. He writhed around as he yelled in pain.
"This will teach you to speak against the head of the Hyuga clan!"
"Ahhhhh!" The pain was unbearable but he kept his mouth shut. This wasn't the first time Hiashi used this trick against him and, while he would rather be faced with a kunai, he's learned to just go with it. He knew Hiashi couldn't keep this up forever.
Hiashi put down his hands and smirked. "Would you like to tell me of my daughter's whereabouts now?"
"How about round two?" Neji spit out smugly.
Hiashi frowned and thrust his hands towards the defiant branch member.
"Ahhhhh!"
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A/N: I'm thinking about turning this into a story. It might just be a two-shot but I'm starting to enjoy writing this story. What do you guys think? Do I even have the characters down right? Or at least close enough?