A/N: Don't know where this came from but it's going to be a three-part fic. Basically three conversations Kiba has in the three days after the Neji-Hinata preliminary match. Backstory/conversation-ish. I'm kinda happy with it though :) :hearts Kiba:

As always, read, review, and make my day!

Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine, neither is Kiba. Oh well :gives them to Hinata:

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Day 1:

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Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba had never quite warmed up to one another despite practically growing up together. The preliminary matches of the Chuunin exam hadn't helped much either in that respect.

Kiba, as Naruto put it, had been the underdog although both boys had put on a good show.

Still, it wasn't difficult to see, both boys were very similar: hasty, wild, and out of control. Both had trouble when they were told to stand still. Both worried about Hyuga Hinata in their own way and hated Hyuga Neji for their own respective reasons.

So when Inuzuka Kiba was ready to leave the hospital after recovering from his match against Naruto, the sight of his female team mate in the hospital bed next door naturally made him want to kill her cousin. To anyone who knew Kiba, irrational and reckless but loyal to his team, it was no surprise.

He didn't know, however, if he should have been surprised at the sight of Uzumaki Naruto coming in to see his team mate.

Standing by the doorway to Hinata's hospital room, the boys made small talk in which Kiba reluctantly acknowledged him as an impressive opponent and Naruto beamed in that cocky way of his, bragging a bit, until Kiba asked about Hinata. Naruto gave him the story and Kiba could have kicked something or clawed something or killed someone but not just anyone. The mental image of a particular Hyuga genius was becoming clearer in his head.

"Why didn't she give up?" Kiba snarled. He had specifically told her to if she had been matched up against him.

"She had something to prove." He sounded very grown up saying this but Naruto didn't care. He knew the feeling—the need to prove—only too well.

Kiba didn't think proving anything was worth your life but then again Kiba hadn't lived the kind of life Naruto, or Hinata, or even Neji—although he didn't think of him then—had.

Maybe it was what made the Inuzuka so different from the blond, hyperactive Genin.

"I'm going to kill that Hyuga bastard."

"Not yet," Naruto smirked. "Wait till after the main matches."

"Why? Who's he up against?"

"Me."

Kiba eyes went wide, eyebrows getting lost in his bangs. "You're dead!"

"No! He's dead."

"Quite honestly, I'm sure even Hinata with her Byakugan could wipe the floor with you. Seeing what Neji did to her, you're very much dead."

"That's a lot of talk coming from the underdog," Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Don't underestimate Neji. Kurenai-sensei told me he was about to actually kill her even after the match was over!" Just the thought of it made Kiba's fingers curl to a fist. They had when Kurenai had told him, clawing his own flesh so hard that he had drawn blood.

What had Hinata ever done to the jerk anyway? "Four Jounin had to stop him, baka!"

"Yeah, he lost it…I was there," Naruto said bitterly, recalling the memory, "but it won't matter in a month," he beamed, mood changing suddenly like only his could. "I'm going to kick his ass in a month!"

"You'll probably get yours kicked," Kiba sighed, fighting the urge to roll his eyes, "but I'll cheer for you anyway."