She remembered seeing Kiba during the war.

The air was warm and breezy that day, but promised cooler temperatures come sundown. The earth beneath them had been worn; fresh dirt paths had been carved out from underneath trafficking shinobi and with little rain lately, the clumps of dirt resembled bits of hay. He stood next to his sister in an aggregate of shinobi all suffering from minor injuries in a rather long line to a medic tent that ran a C curve around from one end of camp to the other. The shinobi she got in line behind was suffering from some serious looking burns to his torso and arms. She could see the parts of his shirt that had been melted into his dermis if she looked closely. She had been thankful the smell of her own blood covered any scent of charred flesh and she tried to keep her distance as she stood apart from him in line without being too obvious she was doing so.

Every ninja would have complained about the inability to heal each other or themselves, but then also knew that draining themselves and each other of chakra wasn't the best idea since they were going need their rest before getting clearance to head out again come morning. Injured shinobi were required to let the medics do their job so they could save any and all chakra reserves for recuperation. They had all been stretched thin, running double and triple shifts and exerting themselves beyond exhaustion. Everyone in line was covered in various degrees of mud, dust, blood and debris coupled with equal amounts of fatigue as the afternoon sun warmed their skin in a brief moment of rest.

Tenten shuffled in the gap of the line, trying not to stagger as she applied pressure to her head, steadily making her way to the front. She had no way of knowing how bad her head wound was, only that like all head injuries, it had bled profusely and that she couldn't just tape it up and pretend like she was fine while out trying to fight enemy nin.

They stood across each other in opposite ends of the line. She tried not to stare at him in her less than lucid state. She remembered thinking random things at first: that he looked good in the standard issue flack jacket, that he looked just as haggard and weary as the rest of the shinobi waiting to enter the worn medic tent, but mostly that he had stared just as hard back at her.

She probably should have moved to the front of the line, she noted, as more blood slowly began to seep and trailed down her cheek. But the way that the Inuzuka's dark brown eyes cut into her, like he was burrowing far beneath just a simple glance her way left her wanting to stay across from him in line and continue the strange connection. Was he always that tall? Since when had he filled out so much? He looked much bigger than Hana even though half of him was supporting her and she couldn't see him properly. Was he gawking at her head? Were her injuries really that bad?

He was most likely thinking she was crazy for not insisting that she get healed first. Most likely tching in his head like Neji about the stubbornness of kunoichi. She initially thought he was only there to support his sister with his good arm, but the injury to Hana's femur seemed to be almost as severe as his left arm's injury. She hadn't noticed right away that he was injured under his pervading stare. It distracted and mesmerized her as his sharp eyes dashed between each of her individual's pupils with scrutiny. Like he was expecting something. Perhaps he was expecting her to pass out and was merely surprised it hadn't happened yet.

Determination, pure and simple was in his every movement, whether it be to keep his sister upright and quietly talking to him the whole time or to not show how much pain he was in, Tenten couldn't tell. She wished that she could hear what they were saying. Grunts and hisses of pain trying to be stoically stifled surrounded her in line, muffling out the sibling's private words. Hana kept her head low, holding her field-dressed thigh with a grimace and Kiba kept his lips tight with an ever exposed fang so that Tenten couldn't read either of their lips. They communicated with simple sentences and low whispers, the whole time Kiba's eyes raked across Tenten's, like he was searching for a serious answer to some unspoken question. She couldn't tell if they were talking about her, it didn't matter though. She held most of his attention, and she was somehow very pleased about it. It was a long shot to hope that this behavior was unique only unto her, but she pretended anyways, letting her head be filled with the fantasy that his brooding eyes sought out only her in this way. She could always blame her battered head for this kind of thought process later.

A sudden panic finally worked its way up through her and Tenten looked around for their nin-dogs, and was thankfully able to locate them from a sweeping glance. They lounged lazily underneath the shade of three tall pines, napping quietly as they waited for their masters. She supposed they were ordered to lie down while their masters where undergoing healing so as not to have unnecessary bodies in the tent while they were being healed. Tenten couldn't see any injuries on them as far as she could tell. She was relieved that they were fine.

Their eyes kept connecting. There were moments where they had to break contact when Tenten would have to shuffled a few steps ahead in line, and Kiba would have to help his sister to do the same. Then, like magnets, his dark, mysterious eyes would pierce right through her again, targeting her, pinning her down. She couldn't look away. His stance was casual and relaxed despite his injuries, not to mention the fact that he had to support his sister in the line as well. Tenten was probably hallucinating the regard for her he saw in his eyes, like his whole being was suddenly focused on her. He looked torn, like he wanted to leave his sisters side to come to hers but couldn't. The thought was crazy and she chalked it up again to the recent head trauma. He was to the front of the line now, ushering his sister into the tent with one last smoldering look of concern at her before he ducked under the faded awning.

It was good that he had gotten his sister into the tent, as she had started to go into shock from the sounds of the yelling and screaming going on soon after her arrival.

Tenten took it upon herself to black out then, letting the dizzy feeling from either his heady gaze or lack of blood to finally do her in.

(o)

A/N: I have no idea if I am going to continue this. You may want to alert it, in case I do. We'll see. This couple fascinates me. I think it needs more love.