Kiba and Akamaru were walking down the street when they heard the sound of a woman sobbing like her heart was breaking. At that exact moment, both man and beast smelled her. It was Hinata! Nobody else in the village smelled quite as good to Kiba as Hinata- a mixture of vanilla and cherry blossom shampoo. Underneath those layers of scent was something that was delicious, for a lack of a better word. He had decided long ago that it was her kind and gentle spirit that made her smell so appealing to him.
He raced around the corner and found her curled up in a ball sobbing and rocking back and forth. Every protective instinct in him was roused as he approached her and Akamaru went on alert as well.
"Hinata- what's wrong? Are you hurt- what happened?" he asked her gently, reaching out to pat her shoulder awkwardly.
"O-o-oh K-k-kiba!" Hinata wailed as she began to cry even harder. Kiba patted her some more thinking to himself that someone was going to pay for hurting her. As time passed, he realized that she was so upset she couldn't stop crying. He sat down beside her and pulled her onto his lap. She curled up against him, sobbing into his chest, and his arms closed around her. Not knowing what else he could do for her, Kiba decided to simply hold her till she could calm down and tell him what was wrong.
Eventually, Hinata's sobbing lessened and she laid against him limply. She was exhausted by her emotional breakdown, and Kiba felt a wave of tenderness come over him. He reached up and began stroking her long dark hair. The strands felt like silk gliding through his finders and he inhaled deeply as her special scent rose up. Finally, Hinata let out a long quivering sigh and was quiet.
"Will you tell me what happened now?" Kiba asked.
"H-he loves S-s-sakura. Naruto s-s-said that he was h-honored that someone as s-s-special as me would f-feel that way about h-h-him, but that he would always l-l-love Sakura." she said with a sob in her voice. A feeling of relief surged through him, but he shook it off as he comforted his friend.
"Oh Hinata, I'm so sorry." he said softly. She started crying again, but this time it was quiet as if she didn't have enough energy left to let her feelings out. Kiba began stroking her hair again in an effort to soothe her. No one knew better than him, except maybe Shino, exactly how devastating this news would be to her. Her teammates had stood by for years watching as Hinata's feeling for Naruto grew deeper and deeper. Anytime that they had talked about it without her around Shino had predicted that it would turn out this way. Kiba, on the other hand, always felt that Naruto would fall for Hinata like a ton of bricks if she could only get up the courage to ell him how she felt.
Who wouldn't fall for her? She was beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, a good cook, an supportive friend, beautiful, and … Kiba stiffened in surprise. I love her, he realized in amazement. He had always known that she was special to him, but her feelings for Naruto were so obvious that he never allowed himself to think of her as anything other than a friend. Well, that would definitely explain why she smells so wonderful to me, he thought ruefully to himself.
Everyone in the Hidden Leaf village knew that his clan was animalistic. It was kind of hard to miss that fact. The heightened sense of smell, the sharper teeth, the highly aggressive natures….well those were the trademarks of his clan. What almost no one knew was the fact that the males of his clan mated for life. Like wolves, there was only one special female for each male, and he identified her through smell. No other female's scent would be as alluring to him than that of his mate. Once found, a mate was quickly claimed and treated like a queen for the rest of her life.
Kiba let out a long sigh of his own as the situation he was now in hit him. He had found his mate, who was not only one of his closest friends, but she was in love with someone else. Someone he couldn't even hate because he was such a great guy. And she was practically royalty- the Hyuuga clan was the most powerful and revered in the shin obi world. He seriously doubted that her father would consider him a good enough catch for his daughter. Beside him, Akamaru let out a sad bark of sympathy.
Well, he reasoned, there isn't anything I can do about this tonight, but the next time I see Naruto…right now I am going to enjoy holding her for as long as she will let me. He leaned his head down so that he could enjoy her special scent and tightened his arms around her. He felt his heart beat a little faster, and for once he was the one blushing. They sat there until the sun began to set. Hinata stirred in Kiba's arms and he reluctantly let her go.
"T-t-thank you Kiba-kun. I'd b-b-better go home n-now." She smiled at him, but her eyes were sad. Kiba jumped to his feet and helped her up.
"I'll walk you home." Kiba grabbed her hand and started walking in the direction of the Hyuuga compound.
"I-I-I just wish t-t-that I didn't have to g-g-go home. I don't f-f-feel like p-p-pretending…"she broke off mid sentence as Kiba stopped dead in the road.
"Don't go then." he said.
"W-w-what?" Hinata stammered. But Kiba saw a tiny gleam of hope in her eyes.
"Come home with me. Mom will feed you and we have plenty of room. You can help me take care of the new puppies." He started waking in the opposite direction, dragging her along behind him.
"K-k-kiba-kun wait! I c-c-can't spend the night a-away, my father will b-be really u-u-upset!" she pulled against his hold.
"Damn him anyway! Why should you have to go home to someone who doesn't care for you! You need to spend some time with someone who …" his voice trailed off and he was glad that it was dark enough to cover his blush. Man, he had almost blurted out that he loved her.
"Kiba-kun…," Hinata said softly. She was surprised by the depth of his anger towards her father. Never in all the time they had been teammates had he spoken this passionately about the way her father treated her. Little digs here and there, but never this degree of anger. Shino and Kurenai also sometimes commented on the verbal abuse and neglect that her father dealt her, but they tended to be subtle about it. But none of the three had ever come right out and said it the way Kiba just did. It was just an accepted fact of her life.
"You know it's true. Come home with me and I'll do my best to keep your mind off…things. Let me do this for you." He reached out and touched her face. "I don't like to see you hurting like this." Hinata looked up at him searchingly.
"O-o-okay, Kiba." She blushed and looked down. God, he really loved it when she blushed, especially if he was to one to cause it.
"Great, you won't regret it!" Kiba grabbed her hand again and led her back to his house. She let out a sigh and a small smile teased the corner of her mouth. Kiba's enthusiasm always make her feel a little better.