A/N: Yeah, I uploaded two chapters in one day. This story is just flowing! I know not much excitement yet, but I can promise you, there will be more romance and action later on. Or, at least I hope you guys think it's romance and action. O___O Anyway, here's the next chapter of The Fork in the Road. Hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did there'd be a whole lot more romance and more snarky remarks, thereby leading to rude comedy and tons more swearing. But, no seriously, I bow to Kishimoto-sensei's creativity.

"Knock, knock." Hinata said quietly as she entered Tsunade's office.

Tsunade looked up from the pile of documents on her desk and stopped rubbing her temples. Smiling slightly, she stood and walked around the front of her desk, leaning on the edge.

"Welcome back, Hinata. I knew I could trust you with this mission. Now, onto filing out the-" Tsunade paused and took a quick look over Hinata's body, hastily wrapped with messy bandaging. "Did a blind man do your bandages or something? It looks terrible."

Tsunade tsked and went behind her desk to retrieve several rolls of bandaging. She sat Hinata down on the examination table in the room adjacent to her office and started unwinding Kiba's bandages. While the bloody gauze was replaced with cleaner ones, Hinata took a close look at her leg and flinched at the sight of it. Earlier in the explosion back at the castle, her leg had been crushed and impaled by a wooden beam and several stones. Brownish blood leaked out muddily and other murky liquids dripped from the injury. The flesh surrounding the wound was purple and black.

Tsunade examined the wound closely, not even blinking as she took in the sight of the wound. Then she looked back up at Hinata and sighed disappointedly.

"Hinata, what time did you get back to Konoha?"

Hinata shifted nervously.

"I don't know. Maybe 6 or 7 hours ago?"

"Exactly. If you couldn't get to the hospital or the night guard couldn't hear you, you should've healed yourself. Didn't you remember the herbs I gave you before you left?"

Hinata's eyes widened. Reaching her hand slowly to her belt, she ran her fingers over the padded pocket and felt several spindly twigs and leaves beneath it. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and she bowed her head to Tsunade.

"I apologize, Tsunade-sama. Please forgive my mistake." Hinata implored pitifully.

Tsunade waved her hand dismissively at Hinata, smiling slightly at her.

"Don't worry about it; everyone can get a little careless sometimes when they're that tired. At least the infection hasn't penetrated too deep. Just sit still, and I'll be back in a minute with the antibiotics."

Tsunade stood and sighed at her cracking bones. She shuffled out of the room, rubbing her back.

The corners of Hinata's mouth rose as she looked at the aged Hokage. Even though the citizens of Konoha worried for her aging self, everyone was proud to call her their leader. She had served her land well and when she did pass, she would always be remembered well.

Hinata was woken from her reverie by a loud voice coming through the open window at the other side of the room. Standing up very carefully, she limped over to the window and looked down, suddenly breaking out into a grin.

Naruto was down there, blocking Tsunade from getting to the storage area with the herbs and medicines. She looked annoyed and Hinata frequently heard the word "baka" floating up to the room.

Naruto continued to block her and started yelling something else about being Hokage, all the while pumping his fist in the air. Even at this distance, Hinata could hear Tsunade sigh tiredly and lecture Naruto again about "disrupting the peace". Soon after, she gracefully disappeared in a whiff of smoke while Naruto ran off to find something else to occupy him.

Hinata placed her hand on the windowsill; sighing, leaning against the window frame and watching Naruto's blonde head fade away into the crowd.

What she didn't know was Kiba was just beyond the wall in Tsunade's office, and had seen everything. What she didn't know was that every time she broke, he shattered, and every time she stood up, he stood up higher, just so she had something to hold on to.

But he was tired. Nonetheless, Kiba had always marveled at Hinata's quiet but deliberate, resistant strength. Watching Naruto plow through life while she was left to pick up the pieces had taken a toll on her, and Kiba could see the age and sorrow beginning to peek through.

Naruto took too much for granted. Those loving stares and soft sighs given so freely and selflessly to Naruto were only the stuff of dreams for Kiba. Because no matter what happened, when she waited, he waited longer.

Kiba looked sadly down. He wanted to scream at her. But he couldn't. If Hinata would only go to Kiba for friendship, then he would give her the best damn friendship of all time. All those times Hinata lost hope; he remained the strongest shoulder to cry on. What should've been a victory for him he generously turned into a victory for Naruto and Hinata, just because he couldn't bear the thought of her being unhappy.

"Kiba?"

Kiba awoke and saw Hinata staring at him concerned, having noticed his presence. He smiled softly at her.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" He went and stood by Hinata, leaning on the windowsill, watching her face.

She smiled at him gently. "Tons better." Then she looked off dreamily in the direction Naruto had gone. "At least, I am now."

And the dam broke.

Kiba just couldn't hold it in any longer. If Naruto had accepted Hinata at the first moment, maybe he wouldn't have felt this way. Maybe if he hadn't grown accustomed to watching her being hurt, then maybe things wouldn't have had to turn out like this. Whenever Hinata was rejected, he should've just told her the first time to forget about him and taken her away with him. It would've saved him pain. It would've saved her pain. He was getting sick of continuously giving her strength just so she could get knocked down again.

Kiba took a deep breath.

"Kiba?" Hinata brought her hands together and her chest, fiddling with her fingers, her voice full of worry.

Kiba walked straight up to her and grabbed her arms firmly, although careful not to hurt her. He looked her full in the eye.

"Hinata," Kiba whispered. "I-I have to tell you something."

Hinata swallowed nervously and met his gaze timidly.

"I-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Kiba silently cursed at the person who had disturbed this moment. Turning around to face him, he saw none other than Shino standing there.

"Should I go or something?" Shino asked monotonously.

Hinata looked over Kiba's shoulder and smiled, relieved. She lightly broke free of Kiba grasp and walked around him to meet Shino. Kiba crossed him arms and muttered under his breath.

"No, Shino, you're not interrupting. Kiba was just visiting me while Tsunade went to get some medicine."

Hinata walked back over to the examination table and attempted to heave herself up onto it. However, her leg was making it difficult, and she was flinching every time it bumped against the table.

Kiba uncrossed his arms and walked quickly over to Hinata.

"Here, let me help-"

"No!" Hinata exclaimed quietly. She removed her arm from his hand and laughed softly, nervous. "No, but thank you Kiba. I just need to get adjusted to this." Then she hoisted herself up onto the table, although Kiba noticed beads of sweat on her forehead after her leg hit the bottom metal drawer on the table.

Kiba went back to the windowsill, slightly dejected. Had he frightened her or something? Something inside of him broke a bit. He hadn't expected her to ever be frightened of him…

Suddenly, a noise made the trio look up suddenly. The door to Tsunade's office, and Hinata heard Naruto spontaneously shout,

"Alright, Tsunade baa-chan, I've-" Naruto paused. Hinata could imagine his blonde head looking around the room in confusion. She heard him mutter some words under his breath. "Maybe in the other room…" His footsteps approached.

Kiba looked to Hinata at that moment. She started to tremble slightly and her face was a bright scarlet. Her fingers were twiddling with each other uncontrollably as she tried fixing her hair one more time.

Naruto strolled into the room, noticing all of Team 8 sitting there. His mouth broke out in a huge grin.

"Hey guys! What up-" Naruto paused and realized Shino was sitting in a chair less than two feet away from him, looking up at him.

Naruto sweatdropped, shuddering visibly and then murmured a greeting to Shino. Then he walked over expectantly to Hinata.

"Hey Hinata! You're back!" he laughed, clapping her on the shoulder roughly. Kiba tensed. Naruto obviously hadn't noticed the cuts and bandages she was sporting. He saw how Hinata had hidden the obvious pain the hard clap had caused. Then she smiled through it shyly, barely looking him in the eye.

"H-hai, N-naruto-kun. A-a-rig-gato." She looked up at him squarely for a fraction of a moment, but seeing the way his blue eyes pierced hers strongly she averted her gaze back down immediately, suddenly very interested in the colouring of the tile on the floor.

Naruto then propped himself against the examination table. Turning his head to Hinata, he said loudly,

"Bet you took care of those bad guys, neh, Hina-chan? Knew you would." He laughed, playfully nudging Hinata's left knee. She let out a soft cry, but immediately covered her mouth with her hand. Even so, Kiba saw her eyes water slightly from the pain.

Kiba uncrossed his arms very suddenly, angry. "Oi, Naruto, can you just spare us your stupidity for once? Can't you see she's injured? You're obviously hurting her." Kiba said through gritted teeth, his flaring temper obvious.

"Oh!" Naruto, finally noticing the wounds, turned to Hinata, apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Hina-chan, if I hurt you."

Kiba shut his eyes in an attempt to stop the fury from pouring through. Naruto had no idea how much he had hurt her.

Hinata smiled at him, her eyes forgiving. "Don't worry, Naruto, it's nothing."

Kiba's eyes flew open. His hands clenched into fists, and he shouted, "No! It's not alright, Hinata! He's been stupid all this time and hasn't realized how you're feeling! Why are you still forgiving him?"

Hinata's eyes closed and she hung her head. "Kiba, please..It's not his fault…"

"No, Hinata. I've had enough. You've had enough. This isn't right."

Hinata looked up at him with imploring, sorrowful eyes. "Please, I beg you.."

Kiba was baffled. Was she asking to be hurt by Naruto? Was she asking for more pain? It was clear to Kiba that soon she wouldn't be able to handle the pain and she would be permanently injured by Naruto. Kiba's face became pure defiance, daring her to question otherwise.

"No, Hina-chan. I'm sorry. I won't let him hurt you anymore. I'm doing this to protect you."

"Uhh, hey," Naruto held up his hand between the two teammates. "Look, I'm really sorry if I caused you any pain, Hinata." He turned to Hinata, nodding his head guiltily. "But Kiba, I can see her injuries as clear as you can. I'm not going to hurt her."

"Yes, you will!" Kiba practically yelled. "Can't you stop being an idiot for just a minute and see that?!"

Naruto's face twisted into offense and held tinges of irritation. "Hey, look buddy, sorry, but you can lay off now. No need to start insulting me. I didn't kill her or anything."

Kiba laughed bitterly and shook his head, eyes flaring, resuming his rant. "Spare us. You think you've got it all figured out, don't you? You think that you haven't hurt her way worse before this? And you say you won't kill her. You'll do a whole lot worse until you know the truth."

"Kiba…" Shino warned.

Hinata was in tears now. She brought her hands up and begged Kiba pitifully, "Kiba, don't. Please don't."

"Wait, what truth?" Naruto asked suspiciously. He turned to Kiba, his eyes and ears alert. "What are you trying to say?"

Kiba sighed, frustrated. What he was about to say would either ruin him, Hinata or both. If Naruto accepted Hinata with open arms, Kiba would only have himself to blame. And if Naruto rejected her, Hinata would break one final time, and Kiba wasn't sure if this time he would be able to piece her back together. He gathered his courage, nonetheless. "Naruto, Hinata-"

Tsunade very suddenly walked into the room, having heard everything and attempting to stop Kiba. "I have the medicine." She said quietly to Hinata, shaking the bottle of liquid. After opening several drawers, Tsunade found an appropriately sized syringe and sterilized it, at which point she drew some medicine from the bottle.

As Tsunade started healing and mending Hinata's wounds, the whole room stayed quiet. Tsunade had pretended she had heard nothing the whole time, while Naruto's face read pure shock and confusion. Kiba crossed his arms and closed his eyes, still fuming, and refusing to look at anyone. Shino appeared very captivated in a small fly crawling on his sleeve.

Tsunade quietly and diligently cleaned all of Hinata's wounds and rewrapped all of them a third time.

"Ok, Hinata. You're all done." Tsunade said very softly, in a tone none of them were used to. "You should go home and rest up now. Tomorrow, come here if your leg is feeling better and we'll fill out the paperwork."

Hinata looked down, clutching her hands and still shaking slightly from the earlier argument. "Hai, Tsunade-sama." Hinata lightly pushed herself off the table and Tsunade walked her to the door. She returned to the room, one hand on her hip.

"Shino, didn't I assign you to a mission? Shouldn't you be packing?"

Shino paused. He didn't remember any mission. Tsunade's eyes bore into his and with a miniscule movement not noticed by anyone else but Shino, her eyes motioned to the door.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. I'll go pack immediately." Shino stood and left the room, the door closing quietly behind him.

Tsunade sat down, sighed, and protruded a bottle of sake from what appeared to be thin air.

"Alright boys. I have a mission for the both of you." She said, bored. She hung her head, swinging the bottle of sake freely. Then, she pulled out two manila folders, from what once again appeared to be, thin air.

"Report back here tomorrow, the both of you. We'll need to discuss the details of the mission. You have one third team member, but we'll talk about that tomorrow. Read over the briefings and don't hesitate to call me if you have questions."

Tsunade noticed the anxiety on the two teens' faces, and she chuckled.

"I'm guessing what you were arguing about earlier must've been pretty serious if you two aren't excited. This is an S-Class. One step closer to Hokage, neh, Naruto?"

Naruto was staring off into space. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. Hokage, one step closer, yeah…" He went back off to staring.

The faint smile wiped off Tsunade's face. "Alright, you two can leave."

No one moved. Neither of them heard a word, as both were off gazing into space, still pondering the earlier argument.

"OK, when I said you can leave, I mean get out, and I mean get out now so I can enjoy my sake in peace."

Tsunade stood and started ushering the two out. She led them both back into the office and lightly shoved Naruto out the door. Then she closed it.

"Tsunade-sama?" Kiba questioned. Why hadn't she let him out?

"Kiba, we need to talk." Tsunade said seriously. "Take a seat."

Kiba sat down in front of her desk uncomfortably. He had this eerie feeling that something big was about to happen, but couldn't quite place his finger on it.

Tsunade took a seat in her spinning chair and spun around to face him. She placed both her elbows on the desk, lacing her manicured fingers together in front of her mouth. She fixed an intense stare on Kiba.

"Kiba," she said firmly. "This is your last chance."

A/N: OOHHHH!!! WHAT WAS TSUNADE TALKING ABOUT?!?!?! Nah, I'm sure you guys all know. And if you don't, well hopefully that's just more incentive to keep reading. Please, review! They are my motivation for writing! Thx so much for reading, see you next chapter (which will most likely be up tomorrow).