"Oh Kiba, I don't know about this," Hinata Hyuuga said uncertainly as she looked at the black collar and leash he'd given to her. "Aw c'mon. Please Hinata? Pretty please with sugar on top?" Kiba Inuzuka pouted up to her, giving her the puppy dog eyes. "I don't know," she murmured, trying not to give into those eyes, "It would look very strange."
"But I really want to go for a walk and I can't take Akamaru. He's training with Hana today. Please Hinata? I'll be good." The brunette shinobi keep giving her the puppy eyes, his face adorably pleading. "Well okay," Hinata breathed, giving in. The navy haired kunoichi leaned down to her teammate, who was sitting on all fours, and slipped the collar around his neck. She then clipped on the leash and stood. "Ready to go?" She plastered a smile on her face, internally praying that she was over thinking and this didn't look half as weird as she was sure it did.
"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go!" The Inuzuka male wiggled his behind as if he really were wagging his tail and Hinata felt her face flush. This is so bizarre, she thought. She opened her mouth to ask Kiba to pretty please not do that, but before she could he took off running on all fours. The navy haired kunoichi gasped as she was pulled along, stumbling behind ungracefully. "No, no!" She squeaked in protest. "Slow down, I wasn't ready!"
Her breathless words of resistance didn't reach the overly excited shinobi and he continued loping like a dog, dragging her through the forest. So Hinata did the only thing she could think to do. "Kiba, heel!" She commanded sternly. In an instant Kiba slowed and waited for Hinata to reach his flank. As she did, he looked up to her expectantly. "Um…Good boy," said the kunoichi. He grinned and his behind starting to wiggle again. The navy haired ninja still found this sight too strange for words. "Yes, good Kiba," she said quickly, her tone bright and distinctive as if she were really speaking to a dog. "Now c'mon, let's keep going."
She looked ahead and Kiba started to walk again, at a much calmer pace. As they continued walking through the trees, Hinata found that she was enjoying herself. It was still very peculiar to be walking her teammate like a dog, but with that aside it was quite pleasant. The day was sunny and warm, with a gentle breeze blowing over them every now and then. Kiba was well behaved, staying at this leisure pace and enjoying himself as well. He sniffed at plants and trees every now and then, but to Hinata's great relief he didn't do anything animalistic to them aside from this.
Before she knew it, however, Kiba had led her into Konoha. Oh my, she thought, We're in public now…Oh, people are staring. This must look so weird. "Hey Kiba, hi Hinata!" A familiar voice piped up among the throng of villagers and a brightly smiling Rock Lee jogged up to them. "Hey." Kiba looked up and greeted him as if nothing were out of the ordinary. "Hello Lee," Hinata said softly, hoping he was alone. Tenten wouldn't be as nonchalant about the absurdity of the situation and it'd be even more awkward to explain to her cousin Neji.
"Is this a new kind of training technique?" He asked, studying the duo with curious onyx eyes. "Nah, Hinata's just taking me for a walk," Kiba told him, still as casual as ever about the whole thing. "I see." Lee nodded. "But I have some training with Gai-Sensei I have to get back to, so I'll see two later." The thick browed shinobi waved and flipped onto his hands, walking away in that fashion.
"Okay Kiba, how about we go back to the forest?" Hinata asked, urged to get out of the public eye. But Kiba didn't respond to her, in fact his eyes were on something far away. "Uh…Kiba?" Suddenly, the brunette shinobi started to growl. It was low at first and then grew louder. If she hadn't seen it for herself, Hinata would have thought only a dog could growl that way. "Kiba what is it?" She asked, a little anxious as she looked around for what was aggravating her teammate.
"Cat!" And just like that Kiba took off full speed ahead. He went off like a bullet and the leash almost been ripped out of Hinata's hands. "Kiba, no! No, don't chase the cat!" She gasped as tugged back on the leash, determined to stop him even though he was already dragging her. "No! Kiba, heel! Heel!" It was no use though, the brunette shinobi was twice as determined to get the cat.
The feline let out a started yowl as the two neared, its fur fluffing up as it leapt up from the sunbeam it'd been lounging in and streaked away. Kiba continued, hot on its paws and snarling like a bloodthirsty wolf. The navy haired girl had stopped trying to pull on the leash but continued to yell for him to quit chasing the cat. The clever cat was even more put out than the kunoichi and hissed furiously as it veered sharply down an alley. Kiba followed, unperturbed by sharp turns and growling as loud as ever. With an enraged hiss, the feline swiftly shot under a cabbage merchant's cart.
Whining impatiently, Kiba tried to follow but Hinata jerked back on the leash. "No," She panted, intending to have more bite behind the word but just too out of breath. "Leave it alone." The cabbage merchant was staring at the two as if they were space aliens, but at the moment Hinata no longer cared about the way they looked. Kiba tried a second time to dart under the cart, but the cat was ready. It lashed out at him with its unsheathed claws and sliced him across the face. The Inuzuka yelped in pained surprise and Hinata pulled back on the leash a second time. "No!" she scolded firmly now that she had her breath back. "Bad Kiba!" He's going to act like a dog, so I'm going to treat him like a dog.
The navy haired kunoichi gripped the leash tightly and forcibly pulled her teammate away from the cart. Kiba whined in protest but sulkily followed when she refused to ease up. Stopping a safe enough distance away to ensure the dog-nin wouldn't try to go after the cat again, Hinata stopped and squatted down to his level. "No chasing cats," she told him sharply. Hinata then flicked him on the nose, recalling that someone had told her (she was inclined to think it was Kiba's mom, Tsume Inuzuka, but she couldn't remember for sure) that it was the correct way to berate a dog.
Kiba whimpered and gave her the puppy eyes again. "Nuh-uh, no," Hinata stated briskly, a firm frown on her lips, "That's not gonna work on me this time, Mister. I told you not to chase the cat and you chased the cat. I did you a favor by agreeing to take you for a walk, and what did you do? You dragged me across the village chasing a defenseless kitty!" Kiba lowered his head guiltily and Hinata briefly inspected the scratches the cat had left on his cheek. There were four thin cuts, right above his clan marking and still streaming a darker shade of red over it. "Well," she said with a slighted softened tone, "Maybe not completely defenseless."
"I'm sorry, Hinata." Kiba lifted his genuinely apologetic eyes back to hers. "I forgive you," she replied and offered him a small smile, "Just don't do it again. Now we should probably get those cuts taken care of…"
"Can we finish our walk first?"
Well, why not? she asked herself, The whole village has already seen us, and the Inuzuka compound is right around the corner. "Okay," the navy haired kunoichi told him, standing up and beginning to walk toward Kiba's home. The walk was leisure again and for the second time Hinata found herself enjoying this. She was almost going to ask if Kiba would like to go the long way, when another male voice froze her in place.
"Hi Hinata, Kiba. Whatcha guys doing?" Naruto Uzumaki asked, sauntering up to them with lifted eyebrows. "N-Naruto," the navy haired ninja breathed. "Oh, Hinata's just taking me for a walk," Kiba answered. "Yep, me. And not you." There was a hint of gloating in his tone, and if Hinata weren't so embarrassed that the love of her life had seen her walking her teammate like a dog, she would have questioned it. "I always knew you acted like a dog, but this is a little extreme," Naruto said, his nose wrinkling. He seemed more amused than appalled, but Hinata was already beet red.
"Pffft, whatever. It's actually fun. You should try it with Sakura sometime. Catch you later, Naruto." And with that said, Kiba pulled Hinata away. The kunoichi exhaled her held breath as she quickened her pace to keep up, still feeling the blush burn in her cheeks. "Not going to faint, are you Hinata?" the brunette shinobi glanced up to her.
"N-No." She shook her head and rapidly changed the subject. "Hey, shouldn't we have come by your compound already?"
"You passed it 20 seconds ago."
Sakura Haruno stood when she heard a knock at the door and padded across her living room carpet, answering it. "What's up, Naruto?"
The blonde shinobi grinned and held up a matching red collar and leash. "Wanna go for a walk?"