"Have you noticed yet?" Shikamaru asked.
"Noticed what?"Kiba retorted from his seat beside his best friend.
Shikamaru smirked and shook his head. His right arm was draped over his girlfriend, Temari, who was, with a bitter look on her face, feeding him grapes (she had lost a bet, okay?).
Temari rolled her eyes at Kiba. Or, "clueless Kiba" as Shikamaru referred to him- not to his face of course.
The three ninja were sitting outside on a short stone wall relazing and enjoying their day off in the sun as most ninja were doing that day. Lady Tsunade had been kind enough to hold off giving out missions for a while now that the war was over and all the lands were still recovering from their injuries. Konohagakure had recovered fairly quickly, at least compared to the other great villages, due to the amazing healing skills of Lady Tsunade herself and her apprentice, Sakura Haruno. Kiba, Shikamaru and Temari are good friends with Sakura, but have been spending a lot of time as just the three of them because of Sakura's job.
"Come on you guys! Just tell me!" Kiba whined.
At his feet, Akamaru echoed his whine, but his eyes were fixed on the grapes in Temari's hands. Temari shot Akamaru an icy glare and he laid his head down in obedience, still watching the juicy green orbs.
Shikamaru sighed. He held up his hand and pointed across the dusty pathway and Kiba's eyes followed the motion.
Kiba smiled warmly when he saw what was at the end of Shikamaru's finger. It was a girl. A girl with long, purple hair and blank but beautiful white eyes. Her ninja outfit looked just as stunning as usual as it perfectly complemented her body. Hinata Hyuga. The name was like music to his ears.
Kiba almost growled when his eyes moved and he saw who she was sitting with. Naruto Uzumaki. Then Kiba noticed the deep blush on Hinata's cheeks that she was obviously trying to hide and a low growl actually did escape his throat.
"Woah there buddy," Shikamaru said. "What's going on?"
Kiba's eyes snapped away from Hinata and Naruto and back to his best friend.
"Nothing," he replied. "Nothing."
Shikamaru gave him a doubtful look, but shrugged and turned back to Temari for his next grape.
Kiba's gaze returned to Hinata and sighed.
She's so beautiful, he thought to himself. The only problem was that Naruto was sitting right next to her. They were so close that they were almost touching. It made him want to vomit. Ugh. How could Hinata ever like such a dipshit? Naruto is the biggest failure of a ninja and has been since he was a kid. The only reason he can do cool ninjutsu is because of the nine-tailed-fox-spirit that was sealed inside him when he was a baby. Stupid Naruto. He's a disgrace to the village of Konoha.
Suddenly Kiba was jerked out of his thoughts by movement down at his feet. It was just Akamaru shifting to get closer to Temari and her grapes.
Kiba quickly glanced back up at Hinata only to see her all alone. Naruto must have left. Huh. Hinata turned her head and just so happened to look Kiba directly in the eye making them both blush (Hinata more-so than Kiba).
"So you've noticed." Shikamaru chuckled.
That only deepened Kiba's blush.
"Why don't you go over there and talk to her?" Temari asked, her tone a little annoyed (but when isn't it?).
"O-okay." Kiba stuttered
. . .
"Aren't you going to stand up?"
"Oh, right. That would be helpful wouldn't it? Heh heh . . ." Kiba took a deep breath before rising to his feet and "calmly" putting one foot in front of the other so he was walking towards Hinata.
When he reached her, Kiba waved stiffly and said, "H-hi Hinata!"
"Oh, um, hello . . . Kiba." She whispered back and glanced down at her feet.
Kiba gulped before asking, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
Hinata's head jerked back up and shook back and forth frantically. "N-no! Not at all!"
Kiba relaxed and lowered himself onto the ground beside Hinata.
"So." He said awkwardly.
"So." She repeated.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"S-sure."
"Do you . . . still like Naruto?"
Hinata's eyes opened wide. "W-What do you mean? I n-never liked him!"
"Yes you did."
"N-no I d-didn't!"
"Yes."
"No!"
"So does that mean you don't like him anymore?"
Hinata sighed, recognizing that she had lost the argument. "Yes, it does."
"Then will you-"
Kiba was cut off when his lips being met by someone else's. And that someone else was Hinata!
When Hinata pulled away, she looked Kiba directly in the eye and told him, "I never liked Naruto. I've always loved you."
Then she leaned in for another kiss and Kiba met her lips eagerly. From across the path, Shikamaru grinned and Temari muttered, "Finally."