Team 8 stood together waiting for their newest mission behind Kurenai. Kagome held Inuyasha in her arms and Kiba had Akamaru perched on his head like usual.
"Alright, you have three choices of missions- you could either weed a civilians garden, capture frogs that have gotten into the onsen, or help the elders clean up the hospice." Sarutobi stated reading the options off from a list in front of him. Kiba and Kagome groaned.
"Got anything better-Ow!" Kiba exclaimed as Kagome elbowed him swiftly then looked on innocently as if nothing happened.
Kurenai sighed painfully, "these are the choices guys, so just pick one so we can get to work."
"Cleaning and picking out weeds are boring!" Kiba complained crossing his arms, Akamaru barked in agreement on top of his head.
"Fine then your mission is to capture and release the frogs that are loose in the onsen. Now get to work." And with a wave of his hand Kurenai lead the disgruntled team out of the room.
"Frogs? We have to catch frogs?" Kagome grumbled softly as she and Hinata trudged together closer to the back of the group.
"I-I sure it w-won't be too d-difficult if we w-work together K-Kagome-chan." She whispered nervously as they got closer to the closed onsen.
"Alright, Hinata and Kagome, you take the girls' side and Shino and Kiba will get the guys' side. Meet back here with the captured frogs and we will find a new home for them." Kurenai said moving to a clear bench to wait.
Kagome pulled Hinata into the baths and stared around at the dozens of frogs jumping around the onsen. "Well they ain't gonna catch themselves. Let's get to it Hina-chan!" and the two began running around after frogs. Kagome lunged for two frogs but they jumped away at the last second and she splash landed into the water sitting up with a pout. "Inuyasha help me out here! Inuyasha?" she called looking around to notice that her ninken partner was missing. "That traitor, he left me to do this alone!" she growled glaring at the water. Hinata let out a nervous giggle as she snatched a frog from a rock and gently placed it into a box. Kagome grumbled as she snatched two swimming frogs and dumped them into the same box. Hinata was bent over trying to catch another frog without getting wet so Kagome 'accidently' bumped her stretched foot causing her to fall in with a splash. She came up spluttering and Kagome laughed at her bewildered expression.
"T-that wasn't very nice Kagome-chan!" she said wiping water from her eyes, being so perplexed she didn't even stutter that badly.
"Ha, I knew that stutter wasn't necessary when you talk!" Kagome exclaimed pointing an accusing finger at the now blushing Hyuga heiress. "We really need to work on your confidence issues Hina-chan! Anyway let's chat about something more interesting."
"L-like what?"
"Hm, who do you like better, Naruto-kun or Kiba-nii?"
Hinata gasped and turned tomato red, "W-where d-did th-this come f-from?"
Kagome giggled shrugging before she shook the now hyper ventilating girl's shoulders, "breathe Hina-chan, breathe!" Hinata gasped for air shaking her head, "geez if I thought this would be your reaction I wouldn't have asked. Besides I already know you like Naruto a lot!" she said cheerfully smiling as Hinata blushed again.
"I-is it t-that obvious?" she asked in a trembling voice. Kagome patted her on the back.
"I'm afraid so Hinata-chan, but don't worry Naruto is so oblivious he won't notice until someone spells it out for him!" she said before she pulled the other girl with her out of the water, "now come on we have to finish catching these stupid frogs. I bet the guys are already done."
"So Kagome-chan, w-who do you like?" Hinata asked as she snatched two more frogs and added them to the growing collection in the box.
"Huh?? Um, nobody!" she stated quickly averting her gaze as Hinata smiled.
"Oh, I just t-thought you might like Shino-san. O-or Sasuke-san." She said softly.
"What?!" Kagome squeaked going red and squeezing a poor frog so hard its eyes bugged out a little. She threw the frog into the box as Hinata giggled.
"So w-which do you like more?" she persisted in a very un-Hinata like way.
"I-I don't know… I mean, I've spent more time around Shino-kun but that's because we're on the same team. I spent a lot of time with Sasuke-kun before his clan's fall… but then he just drifted away and wouldn't let me in." she said fading away from the conversation as she sullenly caught the last three frogs and Hinata shut the box lid.
==with Kiba and Shino==
They entered the guys side and saw all the frogs all over the place. Kiba groaned "This is going to take forever! Hang on, Shino! You can get the frogs to follow your bugs n get them all to jump into the box!"
"No." Shino said flatly, looking around the spring.
"What?! Why not?" he shouted glaring at the stoic boy who reached out and snagged a frog with a quick swiping motion.
"That would be pointless and a threat to the contract with the insects." He stated as he deposited the frog into their box.
Kiba grumbled but got down slightly and lunged for a group of frogs. Three got away from him but he managed to snag four of them. "So what exactly do you do when we aren't on missions?"
Shino shrugged under his coat, "research and training mostly."
Kiba snorted, "is that all? How my sister gets along so well with you is beyond me when she doesn't even like bugs."
Shino stayed quiet as he grabbed a hold of two more frogs, he turned when he heard a splash to see Kiba knee deep in the onsen clutching four frogs between his clasped hands, dripping wet. "Do I even want to know how you managed to fall in?" he asked watching a frog wiggle free and Kiba make a wild grab for it and fall head first under water.
When he surfaced he sputtered, "Not a word bug boy!" Shino shook his head but held out the box for him to deposit his catch into. "Anyway, when are you gonna express your feelings for my sister, and when are you planning on asking permission from me to date her?" he asked watching Shino's shoulders stiffen.
"I fail to see your meaning." He stated bluntly. He grabbed another hopping frog and set it quickly in the box.
"Ah come on Shino, cut the crap. You and Uchiha are both vying for her attention. And I'd prefer you to that stuck up prick. I just think it's wise for you to state your plans and feelings to her before he does. She's too nice of a girl to reject someone even if she doesn't like them." Shino didn't speak and the silence grew heavy if not for the croaking of frogs. They worked in silence for about an hour except for Kiba splashing after frogs, somehow Shino managed to catch the frogs without getting anything but his sleeves wet, much to the frustration of Kiba. They were nearly done by the time Kiba spoke again, "Y'know Shino, if you're ever gonna get her affection you're gonna need ta open your mouth and talk."
Shino grunted and shoved his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "And you can only take mysterious looks for so long. She's frustrated enough as it is with you always wearing all that crap. She's too curious for her own good!" he said chuckling at the end as he thought of something. "She even got in trouble for snooping where she wasn't supposed to be, and got hauled away by Kuromaru. And boy was she in trouble!"
"What did she do?" Shino asked trying to sound uninterested.
"Oh she went into mom's secret study n looked through her mission and clan secrets' file, she just found it when Kuromaru found her; he grabbed her and carried her out by the back of her shirt, with her trying to escape the whole way. But she has that guy wrapped around her finger, he let her off with a warning and a threat that if he caught her again he would tell mom n she'd really be in trouble. She was so nervous after that she clung to me n Akamaru for two weeks rather than bumping in to mom or Kuromaru alone." He ended with a laugh. "So just these two left?" he looked over to the last two frogs croaking innocently at the far edge of the onsen.
"Yes." Shino said and they moved together towards them, Kiba on the left and Shino on the right. Unfortunately they lunged at the same time and ended up whacking heads together and landing in a heap on the ground right in front of the frogs who hopped over them and into the water. The two detangled themselves and Kiba laughed to see Shino's glasses handing off his ear. With as much dignity as he could master Shino fixed his glasses and stood up, trying to ignore Kiba's laughter. When Kiba calmed down he had already caught one of the runaway frogs and was standing, leaning against a wall. Kiba snorted and lunged for the last frog which he nearly flattened under his chest when it misjudged his lunge.
"Try not to kill it. We are supposed to set them free away from here." Shino said pushing off the wall and walking passed Kiba. They both exited just as Kagome and Hinata came out too. Both girls were dripping wet and their hair was clinging to their faces, same for their clothes. Hinata was holding her wet coat in her arms. When Kagome spotted them she waved grinning and moved over to them only to shake herself and soak Kiba who growled out a complaint and tried to grab her only for her to dodge and hide behind Shino who blocked his attempt to reach around him.
"Well well, that took longer than I expected, and what on earth happened to you two? Why are you all wet?" they turned to see Kurenai standing underneath a tree with both Akamaru and Inuyasha beside her. Hinata fidgeted and blushed embarrassed at her oaked appearance.
"Had some issues with the frogs, they didn't wanna go." Kagome stated rubbing the back of her head also embarrassed.
Kurenai snorted before she pulled out some towels for them to use. "Well anyways, you guys find our little friends a new home and I'll go tell the hokage that we finished the mission. Good work today. I think we'll just be training tomorrow, with team 7or 10 whichever is available." She left them after that.
Shaking their heads they moved away from the onsen and the training grounds until they reached the bank of the river. "Here's as good a place as any." Kiba stated and he dumped the boxes into the water and they watched the frogs swim away from them.
"Hurray it's over! No more frogs!!" Kagome exclaimed with obvious relief. She turned and grabbed Inuyasha in a hug before she tugged on his ear slightly, "why didn't you help? You could've made it so much quicker!" Inuyasha woofed softly and Kiba laughed. "Whatever. Let's get home Kiba-nii, I'm hungry." She said turning to face Hinata and Shino. "See ya guys tomorrow." She said smiling as she started walking without Kiba.
Kiba glanced to Shino, "Sooner is better than later bug boy." He stated following after Kagome, leaving a confused Hinata standing beside a brooding Shino.
Momo-hurray finally! It's coming on finals week so don't expect any more chapters for either story for quite a while. Sorry in advance but I REALLY need to study and my ADD gives me enough trouble focusing as it is. Anyways here are the votes so far! Also sorry it's not too exciting right now but I ain't got many ideas for missions or conflict so any and all ideas are welcome and begged for!
Kagome/Sasuke-10
Kagome/Shino-11
Kagome/Naruto-5
Kagome/Neji-6
And
Hinata/Naruto-6
Hinata/Kiba-3
