Flashback:

I tuned in just in time to hear Lee ask me:

"What do you think you are going to do once we get back to the village, Kiba?"

Honestly, I didn't really know what to do.

"I'll probably just go back to normal routine; taking Akamaru for walks, doing small missions…training… the usual stuff."

Lee pumped his fist.

"I think we shall all resettle into life well, don't you?"

Hinata smiled and nodded.

"Yes! We'll all make new friends, isn't that right, Kiba?"

I couldn't argue; I hadn't really talked to Hinata much, mainly because she was really quiet, and usually seemed to blush when she was with Naruto, but she seemed to open up when she talked to me now.

"I guess we will." I nodded.

The team of six and two animals headed off into the sunset, none of them could wait until they got back to Konoha… they could finally take a break after the conditions they had to deal with for the last month or so.

Chapter 21: Back In Konoha

Neko's POV

I sighed; I felt nearly defeated.

"It's been two weeks. I hope we'll get back soon. I don't think I can deal with this much longer…"

Looking back at my teammates, I noticed Shikamaru looked like he could sing a happy tune.

"He must not be able to wait to see Temari," I concluded.

Naruto was beside me, like he had been since we set out to Konoha.

He smiled at me as our eyes met, making me smile back, I continued to survey my colleagues.

Lee was pumping his fist every so often, Hinata was holding onto Kiba's hand, and Kiba himself was just looking around at every small thing we passed.

I huffed at the sight of him; the two of us hadn't said a single word to each other since the day that he had given those stupid flowers to Hinata.

They were orchids, nonetheless! That only made me even angrier, because orchids, no matter how… ew… I thought they were, they were the only tie to my mother that I'd ever have.

I looked away from him, feeling my teeth dig into my lip.

"If he wanted Hinata the whole time, then why didn't he just say so? He didn't have to go and give her those damn flowers right in front of me."

Shikamaru, no matter how much I told him to stop, glared at Kiba every chance he got.

Suddenly cutting into my thoughts, Naruto exclaimed:

"Guys! Can't you see it?!"

Everyone looked up, and sure enough, Konoha was standing in front of us, only about fifteen minutes away if we kept the same pace.

I watched as smiles suddenly appeared on everyone's faces.

All except for one, though; Kiba.

"Why him? I mean, he's got everything that he wanted, right? Yeah, so why is he still frowning?"

I almost snorted, but I stopped myself when I heard Shikamaru's voice;

"Ok, since this mission has been a drag, and I'm usually not really one for being 'fun', I think we should finish this with a race; whoever can get to the village first, wins."

Naruto was jogging in place, anticipation in his eyes.

"Not bad, Shik, not bad. But are there any… rules?"

Shikamaru shook his head, smirking.

"Since when is there fun with rules? I learned a thing or two back in the day, Naruto, when we used to piss Iruka off in school. Good times, and probably the only time I'll ever learn anything from you, of all people."

Naruto just smirked and giggled, then shrugged.

"Ok… what does the winner get?"

Shikamaru rubbed his chin, thinking.

"The winner gets… this," he reached into his kunai sack, and pulled out a free ramen coupon from Ichiraku.

I felt a smile light up my face when I saw Naruto's eyes become nearly possessed.

"WHEN DOES THIS RACE START?!"

Lee was running in place.

"No one can beat me! Gai-sensei has personally trained me to become faster, so winning will not be an easy feat!"

Naruto just smirked, almost-cockily.

"Whatever, bushy brow."

I lined up between Naruto and Shikamaru, and Lee took the spot next to Naruto on his left, then it was Kiba and Hinata on the end.

"Since it's my coupon, and I don't want it, therefore I'm giving it to the lucky winner of this competition, I call the shots."

I just rolled my eyes; I was, honestly, eager to get the hell home so I could go take a nap in a real bed that wasn't going to explode because of paperbombs.

"When can we get started?!"

Shikamaru sighed.

"Ok… ready… set… go!"

All of us set off, and I fell behind only to Lee, who was ridiculously fast.

"Looks like Talon and I have to work on our speed when we get a free day; I thought we were fast, but Lee is ridiculous!"

Suddenly, Lee tripped and fell, putting Talon and I in the lead.

"Poor Lee; but... you snooze, you lose."

I looked back and saw noticed that no one was challenging me for the lead.

"Noobs."

Soon, the gates to the village were in sight, but suddenly, I saw a flash of orange speed by me.

Before I could comprehend what had just happened, Naruto had reached the gates only moments before me.

"Hah! I win!"

He was jumping up and down like a kid who was hyped up on sugar or something, and I slowed to a stop beside him, coming in second place.

"How the hell did he catch up?! I guess I should have expected nothing less than surprises from Naruto... he's unpredictable."

Hinata came in third, whereas Kiba, came in fourth, making me snort softly and look away, and Shikamaru was helping Lee, who was jumping on one foot.

Poor Lee looked angry as he began to angst:

"No! Gai-sensei will be so upset with me! I am sorry I have failed you!"

Shikamaru sighed as he let Lee stand on his own.

"Not bad, Naruto, not bad. I should have known you were somehow going to win. As promised," he held out the ramen coupon, making Naruto laugh.

"Hell yeah! Thanks, Shik! Now, I'm gonna go put this to good use-"

"Not so fast, hotshot. We still have to go back Lady Tsunade and report that the mission was a success. She'll be happy that we FINALLY finished it after a month... two weeks ahead of schedule."

"If only I had stayed in the damn village." I thought, sourly, as Shika led the team, with Lee almost slung over his shoulders, through the streets of Konoha.

People were looking at us and smiling, and at one point, we passed Sakura.

She looked like she had to do a double take on us, but in the end all she did was wave at us.

We continued on until we finally reached Tsunade's office.

Shikamaru, naturally, knocked on the door, and she yelled:

"If you're here with the taxes, then you can go fuck yourself because I'm having some sake and I'm not paying those damn things!"

Naruto put his hands on his head.

"Typical Granny Tsunade! Always drinking, never does anything else... except maybe sleep on the job and gamble a bit..."

I smiled at him, and he scratched his cheek and smiled back at me.

Shikamaru opened the door, ignoring Naruto.

"No, Lady Tsunade… we completed the mission. We've done it."

I entered the room just as Lady Tsunade's eyes widened.

Shikamaru took the green scroll from his kunai pouch.

"Here you go."

He handed it to her, and she sighed a sigh of relief.

"Ah, thank you, Shikamaru. You guys, too."

Naruto was still jumping around.

"So… we're free to go, Granny Tsunade?"

She slammed her hands down on the desk.

"I'M NOT THAT OLD!"

Naruto nearly flew out of the room in fear as he ran down the steps, but when she was done yelling, Shikamaru turned to all of us.

"Since we're all back home, I think all of you deserve the rest of the day off. I'll fill out the form for completing the mission, and you guys can go do whatever you want."

Before I knew it, we were all outside, where Lee, still stumbling but looking alright, spoke up.

"I must go find Gai-sensei! We must resume our training and become better!"

He ran off, leaving a trail of dust floating in the air, to the training field.

I sighed. "I think I'll just go back to Shika's house… go take a shower, get cleaned up… change my clothes… you know."

Walking away, I felt all sorts of gazes on my back.

"I wonder if maybe... just maybe... one of them is Kiba...?"

My feelings rushed up to my throat, making me feel as if I was nearly choking, so I began to run, feeling the presence of Talon at my side as the two of us took off in a full sprint to Shikamaru's house.

Running all the way there took enough work... but trying not to think about anything was hell.

When I got there, I wiped all of the sweat from my forehead.

"Well, Talon; looks like after we get all cleaned up, we can just relax."

Talon meowed in agreement, and I proceeded to take a much needed, hot and soothing shower.

As I stood in the shower, I thought about how long it'd been since I'd had one, so I cleaned extra well this time around.

Once I had gotten out, I then got dressed, finally able to wear one of my personal favorite outfits; a thin black plain jacket, with a white tank-top underneath, and black cargo shorts that stopped just below my kneecaps. Like normal, my headband was tied to my ankle.

Shoeless and carefree, I was just about to settle down and probably take a cat-nap on the couch, when the doorbell rang.

"Psh. Who could it be?"

Before running to the door, I thought for a moment, and then concluded:

"It's not him."

I opened up the door to reveal none other than Naruto standing there, looking kind of embarrassed.

"Hey." I laughed, leaning against the doorframe.

He scratched the back of his head.

"Hey. Listen, Neko… uh, you know the free ramen coupon I got from Shik, right?"

I nodded, automatically knowing what he was getting at.

"How sweet."

"Well, uh…" I thought Naruto looked really embarrassed and almost lost for words, which was kinda uncharacteristic of him.

"Yes, Naruto?" Trying to egg him onto what he was about to say, I widened my eyes when I saw how desprate his became.

"Will you come with me to eat some ramen?!" He nearly burst out, those blue eyes of his almost as wide as mine.

Without even thinking about it, I laughed.

I could see the fear of rejection in his eyes.

"Poor guy..."

"Sure. I may not like ramen, but there's nothing like spending time with an old friend, huh?"

Talon entwined herself in between my legs, and then jumped onto Naruto's head.

"Hey there, little guy..." Naruto cooed, petting Talon's head.

I felt my eyes begin to slit, and I watched as Talon's eyes automatically slit as well.

"She's female, idiot." The hiss made its way out of my mouth.

"Oh," the blonde knucklehead said, sounding even more nervous as he apologized to Talon: "Sorry."

The two of us began to walk to the ramen shop, when Naruto asked aloud:

"I wonder what the others are doing now that we're back…?"

Shrugging, I tried not to think about Kiba.

"Why is it so hard not to think about him?!"

"I don't know..."

Kiba's POV

I watched as Neko disappeared around a corner with that devil cat of hers, and I almost growled when I saw the look in Naruto's eyes; it was like he already missed her.

"Tch. As if he knows a SINGLE THING about missing ANYONE. She hasn't even LOOKED at me in two weeks, let ALONE talk to me."

I looked away as I felt Hinata shake my shoulder.

"I'm going to head home, too."

Forcing myself to look happy, I smiled, trying not to show her all of the pain that I had felt for so long.

"Ok. See you later, Hinata."

She blushed a bit and smiled back at me, and then ran off and disappeared within the crowds.

It was only Naruto and I left standing here now, and I didn't intend to keep it that way for long.

"As if I'd want to talk to the guy who screwed me over in the first place..."

But before I could say anything about leaving, Naruto turned to me.

"Hey, uh… I gotta ask you something, man."

"You're the LAST person that I want to talk to."

"What?" The growl etched its way through my gritted teeth.

Naruto was scratching his cheek in an embarrassed fashion as he asked:

"Uh… do you think I should ask Neko out to Ichiraku's ramen shop? I mean... I've wanted to for so long and everything, but I think I finally have the courage to do it!"

It took a minute for those words to process in my train of thought, and when they did, my conscience got a mind of its own.

"What the hell?! How DARE he?! First, he screws you over and makes you lose her, and now… now he wants to TAKE her from you?!"

All I would actually let myself say was: "Why?"

Naruto was blushing full-time now, as he smiled.

"Well… I've liked her for a while, but these last couple of weeks have been everything I could have ever wished for, man. I mean, I think… this could be a little more than one of those stupid little crushes that you have. They say it only takes four months of liking the same person for you to love them, right? It's been more than that."

My teeth were now grinding together.

"He knows NOTHING about feelings turning into something more. Nothing."

It hurt enough just seeing them together 24/7 for the last two weeks, but now… he was going to take it a step further, and that was just about the last thing I wanted to happen.

"It's not going to happen."

"I-I guess… you could try. I mean, I doubt she'd like you, idiot."

To be completely honest, I tried to sound friendly and act like nothing had ever happened and that Naruto had changed my life for the better, but I knew I was failing.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous way. "There's only one way to find out…" and with that, he ran in the direction of Shikamaru's house... the direction where Neko went.

I only sighed and glanced at the small dog at my feet.

Akamaru hadn't really talked to me in about two weeks either.

"I guess he's just as upset with me as I am…"

I concluded as I shrugged.

"C'mon, buddy; we're going home."

The two of us ran through the streets until we came to a wooded area.

I could almost smell my house from here, where my mother, Tsume, was most likely just lounging around with Kuromaru, which was her dog.

Soon, the wooded area cleared away, and my house stood high and proud against the trees surrounding it.

Akamaru began wagging his tail as Kuromaru came into sight.

When Kuromaru saw us, he growled a greeting, and Tsume came up behind her huge dog.

"Oh, hello Kiba! I didn't know that you'd be home so early! I expected the mission to take at least another week or so! Welcome back!"

She gave me a smile.

I tried to smile.

"Hi, mom. Yeah, so did I. It's great to be back."

Without really taking the time to ask how things have been, I cut to the chase:

"Where's Hana? I need to talk to her."

"It might be the only way things are gonna get better for me..."

My mom shrugged.

"Probably being a lazy ass. She got back from work about an hour ago."

We walked back to the house, with Akamaru and Kuromaru behind us.

Once we walked into my house, I felt automatically at home as she walked into the kitchen, Kuromaru following her.

I looked around; it felt weird being back in my house after so long.

Taking no more than a moment surveying the area, I noticed Hana sitting on the couch, and she noticed me.

"Hi, Kiba! Welcome back; we're having steak for dinner."

Never before had I been so happy to hear those words, but that was beside the matter at hand.

"Can she help me?"

The question burned on my tongue.

"So… uh… how was your day?" I asked, trying to find a good way to start this conversation.

Hana laughed at my awkward conversation-starter.

"It was great, actually. I've been watching this show; it's about a guy and a girl who are complete opposites and they decide to get together. Everything gets in their way, but they always overcome it… did you need to ask me something?"

My heart stopped at the description of the show she was watching.

After hearing those words, I didn't want to ask my sister for advice on what I should do about my stupid feelings.

It only hurt more to think about what everything would have been like if I had given the orchids to her, not Hinata.

"N-no. Never mind. Call me back downstairs when dinner is ready; I think I need to take a shower then a nap or something."

Before she could answer me, I ran up the stairs and threw myself onto my bed, unzipping my jacket.

"What do I do?! Do I just sit back and let everything happen?! Or do I fight and get Naruto to stay the hell away from her and get her to see that what happened two weeks ago was a mistake?! It's too confusing! No matter WHAT I do, someone is going to get hurt, whether it's me, her, or Hinata!"

I growled aloud, and then decided to climb into the shower.

In the shower, I thought over my life.

"Should I... try to talk to her? Even though I KNOW she hates me?"

Biting my lip, the warm water cascaded down my face.

I closed my eyes as the water rolled down my body, similarly to the way it had the night Neko and I... the night we realized how we felt for each other.

The thought of that only made my shower less desirable.

Once I hopped out, having mulled some things over in there, I lay down on my bed, shirtless, looking up at the ceiling.

"No matter what I do… she'll still hate me. It doesn't even matter anymore."

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting all of that sink in, and when I opened them again, it was dark. Darker than it should be... if it was near dinner.

Turning on a light and wiping my eyes, I saw Hana standing just beyond the door.

"The hell do you want?" I growled, angry that she had just been staring there, as if nothing was wrong.

"The more I see people... when they're having a beautiful day... when I'm suffering so much... it hurts. The more it hurts..."

Hana raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well, you fell asleep, and there was a girl at the door for you… she wanted to talk to you, but I said you were asleep, and she said that was fine and left."

Those words were enough to spark hope in me.

"Neko?... Maybe she still feels the same way as I do..."

"What did this girl look like?!"

I wanted to hear the way Hana described her. I wanted to see if she made her sound as beautiful as she actually is.

I felt my heartbeat speed up as I watched Hana think back.

"Oh… she was kind of pale, white eyes, dark blue hair that went down to the middle of her back… oh, and dinner…"

I had slammed the door in her face as I punched the wall.

"Dammit!" I snarled.

"...It wasn't her. I can't believe I was fucking dumb enough to fucking think she'd ever talk to me again after I screwed EVERYTHING up!"

Hana had opened the door again. "Kiba… what's up? You've been acting…"

"Get. Out." I heard my own threatening voice escape from my lips.

"Differently." Hana sighed the last word as she closed my door.

I looked at Akamaru, who had been glaring at me the whole time.

"What the hell do you want?" I growled at the small dog, who was curled up on the corner of my bed.

Akamaru just sighed, and then turned away from me.

"You're shunning me too, huh?"

Without waiting for a reply, I flopped back, down onto the floor, onto my jacket.

I was about to throw it, but then an image passed through my line of sight; one of Neko, just looking up at me, smiling her fang-like teeth at me, telling me that I wasn't that bad, for a dog.

My eyes widened as I looked back down at the jacket, and laid my head on it.

"It smells… just like her. So beautiful."

I took a deep breath; inhaling, then exhaling her scent, which was the sweetest thing I had ever smelled, and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

"I would give ANYTHING to have you with me right now."

Neko's POV

I was now walking back from my 'date' with Naruto, which had turned into a legendary competition with another one of the shop's best customers; Choji.

The only thing I had to do was sit back and watch as Naruto lost to Choji at this eating competition, with 18 bowls of ramen, compared to Choji's 27.

"That was, probably, one of the funniest things I've ever seen."

I smiled to myself as I remembered the look on the shop owner's face; he was so happy to see that Naruto was back from the mission, and that those two loved Ichiraku's so much, that that one was on him, making our feast free.

Naruto was so surprised that he had fallen out of his stool, and Choji walked away, looking happy as can be.

He thanked the guy, pulling me away from the ramen shop as he laughed.

"So, I guess I can take you out to ramen another day, huh?"

I had laughed as well.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll meet you around here tomorrow!" And, without waiting for his answer, I had run off, Talon at my heels.

I ran back to Shikamaru's house, only to find him and Temari making out on the couch.

"How cute!"

As to not ruin their moment, I snuck up the stairs and to my room, falling into bed with Talon at my side, as usual.

"Talon, today was great, don't you think?" I whispered.

Talon mewed back, falling asleep, something about getting Naruto back for calling her a boy.

I couldn't help but laugh at that; typical Talon, always trying to get back at everyone for everything.

I laid my head on my pillow, and an image flashed in my mind; the memory of Kiba's arm around me as we fell asleep, the day before everything went wrong.

His steady heartbeat was so close to mine... it was almost real.

It was so real... I thought I heard him sigh, too.

"Kiba," I asked him, mentally, hoping he would hear it and answer. "Why'd you do it?"

There was no answer for me as the slow sound of his heartbeat put me to sleep easily.

Aww. Alright, just saying, I absolutely HATE the pairing KibaxHinata, just for the record. I can't STAND it. Ok, yeah… this chapter was great, in my opinion. Rate/Review!

9/26/12: Sorry I'm a little slow on these stupid edits! I'm sooo tired! Ok, Rate/Review... AND there's a sequel to this story, but don't read it until you're done reading this one!