A/N: Out of boredom and a weird feeling that I'm losing my ability to write het, coupled with the fact that I want to write a multichapter, comes this. And yeah, it's a high school fic, sort of...and a little bit angsty...nyah. It's fun for me to write.

Disclaimer: Everyone in this belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, except for maybe the random fangirls. Actually, probably them, too...

Hyuga Hinata absentmindedly copied down whatever Iruka-sensei wrote on the board—something about cell structure and mitochondria that she didn't process at all. Hinata made a mental note to study over the weekend—her dad would kill her if she didn't ace biology. Stifling a yawn, she shot a furtive glance at the clock, pleased to see that only a few minutes of class remained. Deciding to take a chance, she let her eyes wander to the boy that continuously attracted her gaze—a spiky-haired blonde, who leaned back in his chair, blatantly bored, with his fingers laced behind his head, exuding cheerful nonchalance.

Some boy—his name was Chouji, she recalled—munched on a bag of chips, the only barrier between the Hyuga and her soulmate. Hinata blushed again—she could sound so dramatic in her thoughts!

Uzumaki Naruto turned around, probably to complain to Chouji about the noise, and Hinata looked down, face burning. She hoped her long dark hair would be enough to disguise it. Managing to fight the flush down, she turned to check the clock once more and suppressed a relieved sigh. Within moments, the bell rang and the class gratefully leapt up, grabbing their things and racing out of the classroom. Two girls, one blonde and one with light pink hair, stood waiting by the door. Haruno Sakura grinned and giggled as she beckoned Hinata closer.

"Hinata-chan, Naruto was so staring at you today!"

Shocked, Hinata darted her eyes around the classroom, praying that the Uzumaki was out of earshot. However, Sakura, a trained gossip, knew her job well, and the boy seemed oblivious as he loped easily over to the three girls.

Panic flooded Hinata's senses as he came closer. The blonde grinned at Sakura, who glared at him coolly.

"Sakura-chan, d'you want to have ramen with me today?"

Sakura playfully punched his arm. "I'd rather stick my finger in a mechanical pencil sharpener. Oh, hi, Sasuke-kun!" She shot a meaningful glance at Ino as the two girls pounced on the ill-tempered Uchiha. Hinata smiled up at Naruto. "H-hi, N-Naruto-kun."

"Hi, Hinata," Naruto said casually. It was only a moment before Uchiha Sasuke shook off the two fangirls, though, and headed over to the door. Naruto grinned again at Hinata before scowling at the other boy and following. "See you Monday, Hinata-san. Say hi to Neji for me."

Sakura and Ino broke off their excited conversation about Sasuke's new haircut to forcefully question Hinata about the events of the past few seconds. The Hyuga blushed as she walked down the hall to the exit, tuning out of her friends' analyses. She muttered a farewell to the duo before walking over to where her cousin, Hyuga Neji, stood by his black sports car, chatting with a brunette in his grade. Catching sight of Hinata, Neji unlocked the car and began to head over to the driver's seat. Hinata smiled and opened the passenger door, dumping her bookbag in the back seat with the long-haired boy's junk.

Neji seemed to be in an oddly good mood today as he stuck his keys into the ignition and the car roared to life. Adjusting the gear shift, he turned to his cousin politely.

"So, Hinata-sama, how did your day go?"

Hinata shrugged, her voice quiet as ever. "Fine. I got an A on the math test, but biology was boring."

Neji smirked; Hinata braced herself for the taunts her chauffer delighted in.

"Oh, I didn't think you found biology boring."

Hinata gritted her teeth. Oh, how she hated Neji.

"I mean, even if you don't like the subject matter, there are plenty of distractions." He chuckled as his passenger turned red and, deciding to end the torture early, clicked on the radio to a news station and maintained silence for the rest of the ride to the Hyuga house.

To call the residence a house was a gross understatement; it was a manor, if not a small town. The man standing guard by the garage nodded to Hinata before allowing the sports car into three floors of parking decks. Neji took his usual spot, near the entrance to his hallway, and opened the back doors to retrieve his school bags. Hinata did the same before taking the elevator to the fourth floor and throwing her items onto her bed. To her annoyance, her younger sister Hanabi was standing there, looking as cute and innocent as ever.

"What do you want, Hanabi?"

"Otou-san wants to see you in the office, onesan."

Hinata pulled off her school uniform, changing into her usual lilac jacket and knee-length blue pants. Tying her hair up, she walked out of her room, heading to a pair of imposing wood doors. Suddenly nervous, Hinata faltered before knocking. Hiashi Hyuga was not known to call his daughters while he was working. Quickly, Hinata turned over the day's events in her mind, wondering what could have gone wrong.

The double doors swung open in front of her, displaying the head of the Hyuga family in all his fearsome glory. Hinata tried not to faint—Hiashi was her father; whatever he would be saying could only be in her best interests.

"Hinata-chan, come in," he said pleasantly. Hiashi's daughter let out the breath she'd been holding and entered apprehensively.

"Kurenai-sensei saw me at the market today," he began. Hinata looked down at her hands, which began to twitch with fear.

"She said that, since you are now sixteen, it would probably be best if you took on a job."

Hinata managed to keep her jaw from dropping open. She looked up at her father, who seemed as collected as ever. "W-what kind of j-job?"

Hiashi shrugged. "Working at the market, or the movie theater, or a shop," he said off-handedly. "Actually, Hinata-chan, she told me that you like animals."

The heiress blushed. Most people liked animals, but from Hiashi it sounded like something between shameful and amusing. He didn't seem to notice, however, and continued.

"Kurenai-sensei happened to mention a woman that she knows who runs a veterinary clinic and animal shelter. Do you know anyone with the surname Inuzuka?"

Hinata found herself slightly surprised that her father didn't remember Inuzuka Kiba. The two of them had been inseparable for the first few years after they had started school—however, Hiashi hadn't paid much attention to who her friends were, at least in her prepubescent days. The woman Hiashi mentioned would probably be Kiba's mother—or maybe his sister. Hinata wasn't sure.

"Um…m-maybe," she finally finished. Hiashi nodded. "Yes, well, I made some calls today"—Hinata winced, Hiashi was not known for his social skills—"And the young lady's name is Inuzuka Hana. She will be expecting you to arrive by eight o'clock in the morning tomorrow and on every Saturday for as long as school remains in session. Understood?"

Hinata supposed that she should be grateful for not having to face an interview, although she dreaded Hana's perception of her. Another Hyuga brat—not that Neji wasn't well liked, although he had a side reputation as a royal prick.

She stood up and bowed to Hiashi before leaving the room and passing out on the bed.

The place was still locked when Hinata arrived—at seven forty-five, incidentally. Hiashi believed in something about "never letting others decided when you should arrive" and Neji kept on reminding her not to "rush destiny", but she was nervous and had nothing better to do. Ino and Sakura would be out chasing Uchiha Sasuke, wherever he happened to be; Shino, who rarely met her outside of school anyway, was off on some trip to the local insect museum. And Naruto…never spent weekends with her anyway. She bit her lip, sighing.

If only to reassure herself, Hinata stepped back to once more validate the large sign that read "Inuzuka Veterinary Clinic and Animal Shelter". She jumped as a boy's voice, vaguely familiar, sounded in her ear.

"Yup, the sign's still here."

Hinata blushed and turned to see a spiky-haired brunette grinning at her. Twin trails of red ran down his face; an enormous white dog that looked like a cross between a St. Bernard and a mop stood at his heels. The dog leapt onto her, nearly knocking her over before the boy pulled him down and scolded him playfully.

He held out a hand. "Hey, it's Inuzuka Kiba. You're the new girl, right?"

Hinata blushed once more and stuttered. "Y-yeah. H-Hyuga H-Hinata."

Kiba stepped back and stared. "Whoa. Hyuga Hinata? No wonder the guy who called sounded like he had something shoved up his—" He trailed off, grinning even more widely than before. "Heh. Anyway…this is Akamaru. He likes you."

Hinata didn't have to stoop to pet the enormous dog on his head. She smiled slightly. "H-he's grown."

"Yeah, he used to be small enough to ride along—"

"On top of your head." The Hyuga giggled, unsure of what she found so disarming about the boy.

"Yeah." Kiba seemed thoughtful for a moment, before reaching out to smack the girl lightly on the side of her arm. "Ne, you're Nana-chan! Why didn't you say so?"

"N-Nana-chan? Oh!" The blood rushed to Hinata's face as she remembered Kiba's affectionate nickname for her. "Y-yeah."

"Quit hitting on every girl that walks near here, otouto!"

Akamaru barked and rushed over to the tall woman who emerged from the front of a loaded pickup truck. She looked to be in her twenties; her eyes had the same slitted canine look as Kiba, and the markings on her face matched his. She wore a wide-collared beige jacket and faded torn-up jeans. Inuzuka Hana looked fierce, in a pretty kind of way; her eyes immediately softened at the sight of her younger brother's pet.

"Hey, Akamaru. So, Kiba, you've met our newest worker?"

Kiba threw his arm recklessly around Hinata's shoulders. "Oh, yeah, we've been best friends since kindergarten, ne, Nana-chan?"

Hana snorted. "Sure, Kiba. Quit it, will you? Look at her. She's as red as one of Uchiha's tomatoes!"

Kiba slipped his hand off and stuck his tongue out at his sister. "Whatever. Did you forget the keys again?"

The woman produced them from her jacked and glared at her younger brother before opening the main door. Stepping in, she stuck her head out before turning the sign to read "open".

"Hey, can you two run an errand for me? Tenten and Lee are going to be here any minute anyway, so run down to Kakashi-san's and pick up Pakkun. The bastard could never be on time for his appointment." Shaking her head, she threw her car keys at Kiba, who caught them deftly.

"W-who are L-Lee and T-Tenten?"

Kiba turned to look at Hinata before clambering into the driver's side of the pickup and making sure that Akamaru wasn't about to follow the car. "You don't know them? They're in the same grade as—what's-his-name—Neji. Tenten's obsessed with Chinese stuff, and Lee's the kid who dresses like Gai-sensei, remember?"

"Oh…yeah." Hinata tried to stifle a laugh. Rock Lee was nice, but extremely hyper and prone to jumping around professing his love for Sakura.

"Anyway, Lee annoys the heck out of me, and Tenten's got the school's third biggest superiority complex," he said with a smirk. "Actually, she's not that bad. Neji's probably just rubbing off on her."

Hinata giggled, pulling herself up to the seat and shutting the rather heavy door. "Y-yeah. I know w-what you mean. It's a H-Hyuga thing."

"Yeah, I can see that you have a huge opinion of yourself," Kiba added. After a pause, he inserted the keys roughly and pushed down the accelerator.

"Hope you don't mind the jerkiness. I suck at driving; barely have my permit. Technically I'm not supposed to be doing this, but what the heck?" He leaned back and continued to speed down the—fortunately—deserted road. "I'll just blame it on Hana."

"A-are we really v-visiting K-Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata bit her lip. She wasn't too comfortable with meeting teachers out of school—Kurenai-sensei was an exception—although the rather aloof man probably wouldn't care.

"Yeah, the masked pervert. Hey, did you know there's a bet going on about whom he's with? I've got my money on Anko-san, although Iruka-sensei's got the most bidders." He laughed loudly; Hinata realized that it was a pleasant sound—jarring, but comforting nonetheless, however he managed to pull that off. Kind of like Naruto's, but different. She couldn't help but contributed a weak giggle of her own.

"Y-yeah. H-he might have s-something on w-with Gai-sensei, too."

"I know, yeah? Those two are like Uzumaki and Uchiha: one of them's an idiot and the other one just kind of sits around. Although Kakashi-sensei's way better than Uchiha, and Gai-sensei's not as stupid as Uzumaki." He laughed again. "Hey, I can just see Uzumaki in a green suit, ne?"

Hinata didn't know why, but she cracked up. Leaning forward against her seat belt, she began to laugh loudly, unable to stop the ache in her ribs: the image was just too funny. Not to mention that the spandex would go nicely around Naruto-kun's muscles…

Kiba laughed along with her, biting his lip. For a moment, he rested on the steering wheel, observing Hinata. He remembered her, although not very well. She was more shy then, if that was possible, and her hair had been short, although the way she laughed hadn't changed.

Hinata turned red again as she caught Kiba watching her and immediately sat up in her seat. "S-sorry."

"Nah," he said off-handedly, pulling up into the parking lot of an apartment complex and yanking out the keys. The pickup was parked haphazardly, taking up a good two parking spots, but he ignored it. Hinata seemed to notice but didn't mention it.

Kiba locked the doors and began jogging lightly to a door on the first floor. He rang the bell three times impatiently and leaned against the doorframe as Hinata apparently tried to hide in a corner.

After nearly four minutes, a silver-haired man in a green vest and black mask answered. Hatake Kakashi was holding his little orange book as always, but peered over it with his good eye.

"Isn't it early for my appointment?"

Kiba scowled. "Shut it, pervert-sensei. We're here to pick up Pakkun so he doesn't die of your negligent laziness."

Kakashi chuckled and stepped aside. Kiba sniffed in a canine fashion and bent down to pick up the pug-like dog that bounded over to him. "Hey, Pakkun. So Kakashi hasn't burnt your eyes out with his novels yet?" He set the dog down and headed for the exit; it followed happily. Kakashi shook his head and closed the door.

"D-dogs like you," Hinata murmured quietly. Kiba grinned. "Yeah, but I guess it comes from being around them my whole life. I understand them, you know?" He paused for a moment. "You have any pets?"

"N-no…and I g-guess that's why I d-don't understand m-much of anything."

Kiba shook his head, hair flying. "You understand a lot of stuff. Like people."

"N-no one c-can understand p-people," she answered. "I'm j-just another r-rich teenage g-girl."

"Who's different from everyone else," Kiba corrected. "People are hard to understand, but deep down they're a lot like dogs."

"R-really."

"Yeah. They pee on bushes and drink from the toilet."

Hinata laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand, and noticed that she'd followed the boy to where the pickup was parked. Pulling open the door, she crawled in; Kiba turned to her and waved the keys. "Can you drive?"

"S-sort of."

"Good; I'll ride in the back so Pakkun can have the passenger seat."

"I c-can ride b-back there."

"Right. Because your dad isn't likely to sue me if anything happens to you." He grinned and disappeared behind the seat, pushing the driver's side door closed. The Hyuga tried to coax the keys in as Kiba put on Pakkun's doggy safety belt and disabled the airbag. Hinata turned around to see the teenager lounging in the bed of the truck and giving her a thumbs-up. Biting her lip, Hinata adjusted the gearshift and pressed down the accelerator. The pickup groaned and halfheartedly backed out of the parking lot. Leaning down in her seat, Hinata pushed onto the accelerator with more force, twisted the protesting steering wheel, and chugged out of the parking lot. It took twice the amount of time arriving had, but, eventually, the truck was safely parked at the clinic.

"I'm s-sorry I t-took so l-long…" Hinata was red and tapping her index fingers together. Kiba shrugged. "Least turbulent ride I've taken in a while. Hana's deadly. Hey, onesan, we're back!"

A narrow-eyed boy in a green vest and black pants leaned out the door, absentmindedly ruffling his spiky black ponytail. "Inuzuka-san says to bring Pakkun to the examination room."

"Shikamaru? Didn't you get fired?"

The boy shrugged. "She let me back after I reassembled her hard drive for her."

"The hard drive—never mind." Kiba sighed, removing Pakkun's seat belt and placing him on the ground. Hinata locked the pickup after several failed attempts and trailed slightly behind the boy and Kakashi's dog. Shikamaru yawned and shut the door as the two employees entered; a brunette with hair in two buns looked up.

"Hi, Hinata-chan."

"H-hello, T-Tenten-san," Hinata answered nervously. The girl smirked. "So you're the one who's in love with Uzumaki Naruto."

Hinata felt herself grow red as Tenten smiled and patted her on the back. Lee, who came up behind her, flashed a blinding girn. "Hello, oh youthful friend of my true love Sakura-san."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and muttered about troublesome people. "Don't mind those two."

"It's okay, Hinata," Tenten said. "Lots of people love Naruto-kun."

"Like Neji," Kiba cut in coldly. "It's one heck of a love triangle, isn't it?"

Tenten glared at Kiba. "Hana-san's waiting for that dog."

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