NOTE: This flashback occurs after the timeskip, and before the 4th Great Shinobi War

What are you looking for?

"Where has that dog run-off to?"

Kiba was currently looking for Akamaru. He was walking with him, enjoying the festivities of Konoha's Annual Spring Festival, and the next thing he knew he was gone and was nowhere to be found.

He explicitly told him to wait outside the barbecue tent in order to get some meat snacks to share with him. No pets were allowed in the tent for hygiene reasons, so Kiba had to go inside alone. He stood in line for 10 minutes, bought the meat snacks and went outside to share them with him.

To his surprise Akamaru was nowhere to be found.

It was the first time Akamaru had done something like that. Normally, he and Kiba were inseparable, two parts of a whole. They walked together, they ate together, and they fought together. Akamaru and Kiba had a strong bond, which was far stronger than that of an owner and his dog. It was highly unusual for Akamaru to go off and run away from him, especially when meat snacks where involved.

He started to panic. Losing Akamaru was like losing an arm, or losing his eyesight. It was like losing a member of his family. His mind got flooded with a million scary thoughts. What could possibly have happened to him? He had to find him quick.

A flow of chakra went up his nose and his sense of smell became more sensitive than before…

…it was a very bad move.

A variety of completely different scents covered Akamaru's and almost caused Kiba to faint. The festival sported many different "loud" smells, from flowers, to restaurants, to perfumes, to stink bombs, to animals and people. Trying to pick up Akamaru's scent in that chaos was like trying to listen to a song while the radio is playing one hundred different stations at full volume all at once. He immediately got a headache and returned his sense of smell back to normal.

'Damn! I guess I'll do this the hard way.'

He started walking around the festival yelling for Akamaru's name and asking questions. Most of the people had seen a white dog that fitted Akamaru's description, but they kept giving him wrong and conflicting directions.

'Come on Akamaru! Where are… oof!'

Kiba's train of thought was interrupted by a sharp bump to his chest.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

He looked downwards to see a very familiar girl who, was, at the moment, lying down on the ground, grasping her head. She was wearing the traditional black Hyuga training gear and a bright brown jacket.

"Hanabi?"
"Kiba?"

He offered his hand and lifted her off the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. I am sort of in a panic. I can't find Akamaru anywhere."
"Akamaru is missing?!"
"Yeah, have you seen him anywhere?"

Hanabi, closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to think if she had seen Kiba's big white dog anywhere. She couldn't recall anything useful. The last she had seen Akamaru was last week in her compound, when Kiba and Shina dropped off her sister to the compound and had a brief chat after a particularly difficult mission. She didn't recall seeing him at the festival.

"No, I can't say I have."
"Damn! Thanks anyway!"
"Wait, Kiba! Can't you just smell where your dog is?
"I already tried it. It's no use. There are too many strong scents here in the festival."

As he turned around to leave he felt her hand tugging at his sleeve.

"Wait! I… I will help you find him!"
"Are you sure? You are not busy at the moment?"
"I have some stuff to do in a few hours, but it's not something urgent. I can always spare some time for a friend in need."

The dog-owner smiled. For some reason Hanabi and Kiba got on very well over the years. Akamaru liked her (and Kiba knows that Akamaru wouldn't like a bad person), and she always found Kiba's company to be… refreshing to say the least. He could always make her smile and even managed to make her laugh quite a few times. Normally she would be formal, tight and reserved, but, for some reason, Kiba could always make her lighten up.

She made a hand-sign and squinted her eyes.

"Byakugan!"

Kiba watched in gratitude as Hanabi looked around the festival, looking for Akamaru with her kekai genkai. She was immensely focused as she turned her head and dilated her pupils trying to detect Kiba's missing dog.

"Do you see anything?"
"All I can tell you right now is that Akamaru is not in the festival"

Her focus turned on the outskirts of the festival. Her head turned as she tried to pick up Akamaru's familiar chakra signature. Kiba watched in amazement as her expression became more intense, and her eyesight went further.

"I can see him! He is outside the festival! He is not alone!"
"What's happening?"
"There's something else with him! It looks like they are fighting!"
"Akamaru's in danger?! Tell me where he is quickly!"
"Over there! Follow me!"

Hanabi quickly run up a tree in the festival and started jumping from branch to branch as Kiba followed her. Her eyesight was completely glued to Akamaru and the other presence that was with him. A sense of urgency run through her as she silently prayed for Kiba's canine companion to stay safe long enough until they arrived to help him.

The more they approached Akamaru, the more Hanabi could see the situation more clearly…

…At first it seemed like Akamaru was fighting another person…

…Then it became clear that what was fighting Akamaru was not human…

…It was another dog…

…and then it became apparent that Akamaru was most definitely not fighting with her…

She abruptly stopped and addressed Kiba who was a few feet behind her.

"We shouldn't go any further!"
"But, Akamaru…"
"Akamaru is not in any danger! Trust me!"
"But why did he…"

It was at that point that Kiba saw Hanabi's face. It was crimson red. Her byakugan was still activated but in between the veins in her face, he could see that she had an expression very akin to embarrassment.

He activated his sense of smell once more. It only took him a small whiff to understand what was going on.

'Akamaru, you "dog", you!'

Hinata's little sister was currently sitting on the tree branch and was busy catching her breath. Her blush was fading, but she was still looking downwards towards the ground as she was huffing. Kiba could see that she was very uncomfortable about the whole incident.

He sat down beside her and showed her the bag he had with him.

"Meat snacks?"
"Aren't you supposed to share those with Akamaru?"
"Well, he ran away without giving any sign of where he was going, so no meat snacks for him today."

'Besides he already got his "treat" for the day.'

"No, thanks. I am supposed to have a formal dinner later today."

Kiba opened the bag and put it near her face, allowing the smell of barbecued meat to hit her nostrils.

"Are you absolutely sure?"
"N-No! I have to preserve my appetite for later!"

Kiba took out a meat snack and started eating it in front of her. He made sure he chewed and savored it as loudly as he could. Hanabi looked at the bag longingly.

"I can see you droo~ling!" he said in teasing way.

Hanabi abruptly grabbed the bag, took out a bunch of meat snacks and started stuffing her face as Kiba looked with a wide grin on his face. The poor girl must have been starving!

"And the meal later?"
"Ah vill nof eef vey muff…" (I will not eat very much…)
"OK, just… slow down and chew carefully!"
"OHey!" (OK!)

She eventually swallowed her mouthful and her facial expression turned to normal as she relaxed and breathed the clean air around her.

"I'm sorry that you got to see that…" said the dog owner.

She gave him a playful punch on his shoulder.

"It's all right Kiba! I already know about the 'birds and the bees'."
"You do?"

She pointed at her eyes.

"Byakugan, remember? You tend to find out about these sort of things sooner when you have an eye that can see through walls."
"You mean you used your byakugan to peep?"

Hanabi blushed and started flapping her hands around.

"Not on purpose!"
"Then how?"

She leaned forward and pressed her head inside her arms. This was clearly something she wasn't proud of admitting.

"Sometimes I just have to… go… you know… relieve myself… at night… and it's too dark and I have to activate my eyes in order to find my way to… the place… and I do see things. So don't worry about me Kiba! I am not irrevocably traumatized. I know about those things."

Kiba sighed in relief.

"Good! I'd hate to be the one that has to give you 'the talk'."
"Say… Kiba?"
"Yeah?"

Hanabi's face formed a deep blush.

"Have you and Hinata ever tried to do…"

…she pointed her thumb backwards towards Akamaru's general direction…

"…that?"

His face took an expression like she had just asked him to wear Shino's old used bug-infested underwear. The meat snacks he just had nearly rose up to his throat.

'Where the hell did that come from?'

"What?! NO! HELL NO!"
"Why not? You two seem close."
"Hinata is like little sister to me! I've never seen her in such a way! Never have, never will! Can we please just drop the subject?"

She looked somewhat relieved at his answer.

"OK, but I will ask you one last question…"
"What?"
"If Hinata is like a little sister to you… what does that make… me?"

Kiba answered without thinking about it very much.

"The little sister of my little sister I guess. So little sister… squared? Times two? I was never good at the whole math thing."

Hanabi glared at him with a dejected look on her face.

"I'm not your little sister Kiba! And I'm not Hinata either…"

He noticed that she didn't call refer to Hinata as "her sister" . He had long figured out that he was Hanabi's friend despite being Hinata's team-mate, not because of it, but he didn't know things were that bad between them. He decided to change the subject.

"So… Hanabi… What were you doing, running around in the festival?"
"I was heading towards the central stage. My clan is going to do a martial arts display on the last day of the festival and I wanted to help in the preparations before starting my practice."
"You really love martial arts, don't you?"

Hanabi stretched her arms upwards as she looked dreamily into the distance.

"Yep! I think I am probably going to choose my partner based on them too."
"You want to marry someone who fights in the same way as you?"
"I don't know about marriage but relationship wise… I want… someone that complements my style."
"What do you mean, 'someone that complements your style'?"
"It's kind of hard to explain…"
"Try me…"

Hanabi took a deep breath as she tried to give Kiba a good answer.

"Do you know my cousin Neji?"
"I've met him a few times, what does he have to do with anything?"
"Well, he is partnered with an awesome female kunoichi named Tenten who complements him completely."

Kiba tried to understand what Hanabi was saying to him.

"The Hyuga fighting style is deadly at close range, but it's rather weak towards people who can attack from a distance. If you can't get near your opponent you are pretty much done for. Neji is good at fighting at close range but there was one time when he had to face this really cheap opponent that wouldn't let him get near him. He almost got himself killed."

Kiba winced. He remembered that mission. It almost got him and Akamaru killed as well.

"And what does this TenTen girl have to do with this?"
"She is very good at attacking from a distance, hitting all her targets with great accuracy. She protects my cousin from distance attacks and he protects her from melee attacks."
"And that's all that you want? A long-distance fighter? Kind of shallow if you ask me."
"It's actually way more than that… they also complement each other character wise…"
"Meaning…"
"My cousin's mind is sort of set in the old traditional ways of thinking while Tenten can think outside the box. Whenever they are stuck in a difficult situation, she always manages come up with something that solves everything..."

Kiba looked at Hanabi as her face brightened up. She clearly loved and admired her cousin.

"My cousin is always so rigid and serious. Tenten always manages to make him lighten up and smile. He seems to be happy when she is around and she seems to like being close to him and teasing him. They are very different but they seem to complete each other both as combat partners and as friends… That's the sort of relationship I want I guess."

He nodded as he finally understood what Hanabi was saying.

"So, you want a Yin to your Yang? Is that what you are saying?"
"You could it say that way… yeah… So…"
"So?"
"How about you? What sort of person are you looking for?"

He scratched the back of his head.

"You know… I've never really thought about it... Whatever works I guess…"
"What sort of answer is that?"
"It's the only one I have… sorry!"

Hanabi huffed and puffed mockingly.

"You're not fair! I told you mine!"
"OK, OK… If I really think about it… Someone that makes me feel… welcome…"
"Welcome?"
"Uhm… yeah… Somebody that makes me feel relaxed and accepted at the end of the day."
"That's a very vague statement."
"Deal with it!"
"Jerk!"
"Proud of it!"

There was a long comfortable silence broken by a small dog whine.

"About time you showed up! Did you have a good time? Why did you leave like this? Bad dog! Bad dog! No meat snacks for you today!"

Hanabi reached out her hand and gave Akamaru the last meat snack she held in her hand.

"Here I saved one for you!"

Kiba looked at her with a disapproving look.

"Please, don't do that! You're spoiling him."
"Come-on give the dog a bone!"

He sighed as he watched Akamaru take the meat-snack out of Hanabi's hand and munched it happily.

"OK. But you're still a bad dog! Don't do this sort of thing again, OK?"

Akamaru nodded.

"Well… I'd love to stick around and witness the tearful reunion…"

She got herself up and stood on the tree branch.

"But I've got a martial arts display to do, so…"
"OK, fine! Be on your way!"
"Hey, Kiba…"
"Yeah?"

She placed her hands on her hair and started to twirl them absentmindedly.

"Could you please… come and watch me?"

Kiba grinned.

"It depends, are you going to perform the 'floating vulture'?"
"It's the 'soaring eagle' you 'sitting ass'! And yes, I will be using it at some point."
"Then, I'd love to!"

Hanabi smiles as she took her leave and made her way back to the festival.

Two days later Kiba found himself at the front row of the central stage of the festival, looking upwards at the stage as the martial arts display that was about to begin. Hanabi was dressed up in the traditional white Hyuga fighting gear. She began the show by performing a series of complex aerial combos. As she went up in the air dressed in white hitting every target with strength and precision she looked like an angel…

…and then a bunch of guys with weapons showed up on stage and she turned into a demon.