"Arf!"
A creamy coloured dog with a blown muzzle and ears bounded across the gennin training grounds. He ran was chasing a butterfly that seemed to be scared out of its wits.
"Akamaru!" An other voice was heard. But this was a human voice. "Akamaru, c'mere!" A boy raced over to the puppy with his arms outstretched. Akamaru turned away from the butterfly - much to its relief – and leaped into the boy's arms.
"Heheh... hope they get here soon, right Akamaru?" He grinned as he said this to his furry friend. Akamaru barked in agreement.
"K-kiba-kun…" A small voice said. The boy turned to see his fellow teammate, Hinata.
"Hey, Hinata!" Kiba called to her. Akamaru crawled onto his Kiba's head and pointed his paw ahead to where Hinata was. She was holding a basket. Kiba took off in her direction.
Kiba skidded to a stop right in front of Hinata, his face inches away from hers, with a wide grin on his face. "Have you seen Shino, Hinata?" He asked.
"N-not yet, Kiba-kun," Hinata stuttered, her face turning red at the closeness of the dog boy's face "H-he's not here yet…"
"Weird! Shino's usually a very punctual guy," Kiba leaned back and yawned lazily, putting his hand over his mouth "Say, Hinata, what did you bring?"
Kiba, Hinata and Shino had decided to have a little spring picnic. They had been training hard lately and thought they deserved one. The team had invited their sensei, Kurenai to come. But she had already planned an outing on that day with another team's leader, Sarutobi Asuma.
"I-I brought some rice balls w-with our faces –team eight, I mean- on them," Hinata said, then added "M-made out of seaweed, t-the faces I mean! I-I-I mean-," she flushed because she had messed up what she wanted to say, and thought she sounded like an idiot. She looked at the ground. "S-sorry, Kiba-kun."
Kiba smiled a little painfully at his female companion. Hinata always thought the worst of herself, and the best of everyone else. Which really wasn't fair, Kiba thought, because in her household, that's how she was treated, despite the fact that she had budding talent. "Those sound cool! I can't wait to see what I look like as a rice ball!" He laughed, hoping that he would cheer her up. Although he really did want to see what he looked like as a rice ball.
"Really?" Hinata looked up at Kiba with a small smile on her face.
"Definitely" Kiba smiled back, patting her head. "They sound delicious, too."
"Thanks, Kiba-kun."
A strong breeze shook the trees and cherry blossoms flew around in a flurry. Hinata looked up at the beauty and Kiba took his hand off her head to observe it as well. A small cherry blossom fluttered down and landed on Kiba's head. Hinata giggled at the sight of her friend with a flower petal on his head. Kiba smirked and took it off his head and put it on Hinata's.
"You'll look way better in this than me." He grinned. "It goes well with your pretty hair."
Hinata blushed a little at the compliment. Wanting to change the subject from her hair, Hinata realized Shino still hadn't shown up, and so said "Shi-Shino-kun still isn't here."
"Hm, you're right. I wonder what's taking the guy." Kiba snorted. "But he's kept us waiting long enough, I think we should start our picnic!"
"Arf arf!" Akamaru barked in agreement. He was feeling hungry.
"O-okay," Hinata smiled turning to her picnic basket. "Time to eat!"