Chapter Six

This was not going how he had planned. Not even a little bit.

Naruto stood there staring at a weeping Inuzuka and an ever stoic Aburame, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong.

When Hinata had told him about what was happening with Sasuke, he had promptly gone to their spar ready to kick ass. He was going to ask the Uchiha what the hell he thought he was doing corrupting someone like her and then knock some sense into him.

Instead, any question he asked about Hinata was blatantly ignored and the fight had gotten incredibly out of hand. He was glad that Kakashi had already given them permission to get crazy because there was certainly enough damage to cost the village a small fortune in repairs.

Still not satisfied, he had stumbled across Hinata's teammates and decided to recruit them to his cause. When he told them he was concerned about Hinata, they immediately gave him their full attention. He then started to relate to them all he had seen that morning as well as the gist of his earlier conversation with the Hyuga.

Much to his surprise and chagrin, neither of her teammates had flown into a murderous rage at the end of his story. There had been no angry yelling from Kiba, no death threats, and not even any ominous buzzing from Shino.

Instead, Naruto had nearly pinched himself when the Inuzuka had started wailing.

"Wha - How - No! She couldn't! Our sweet Hinata wouldn't do something like that!"

He was crying loudly and shaking his head. Apparently the idea of his sweet little teammate getting nasty with the last Uchiha was too much for him to handle.

Unfortunately, one look at Naruto assured him that this wasn't some prank. Instead, Kiba just put his face in his hands and started sobbing.

Bewildered, Naruto looked to Shino for some help. The insect user just stood there calmly, observing his upset teammate.

"It is only natural, Kiba. Why? Because we are at an age where the biological urge to mate becomes stronger."

Naruto and Kiba both looked at Shino in horror, but the man calmly pushed his glasses up further on his nose and recrossed his arms.

"B-but it's our Hinata! She's so innocent!" Kiba managed to get out between hiccups.

Shino merely shook his head.

"She was taught to kill at a young age just as we were. In fact, species with more violent ways of life often mate earlier and more often than others. It is necessary in order to ensure the survival of the species."

"Damnit Shino, Hinata's not one of your insects! She's our friend!" Naruto said, bewildered at the way the Aburame was handling the situation.

The insect user redirected his gaze to the blond and tilted his head slightly, saying, "Yes, she is our friend. Therefore if this is something that will make her happy then I intend to support her."

"Are you saying you don't have a problem with this? I mean look at Kiba, he's practically having a meltdown," Naruto gestured towards the usually wild young man who had his head back in hands. A worried Akamaru had placed his head in his lap and was whimpering in what sounded like commiseration.

"I am saying," the stoic man replied, "that she has my support in her decision, however uncomfortable I am with said decision."

The Uzumaki was about to make a retort, but stopped when he realized what Shino had just said. So he was unhappy with the situation. His response, however, made him reconsider his own reaction.

She hadn't seemed unhappy that morning at Sasuke's apartment. And she'd seemed uncomfortable earlier, but considering her usually shy nature, the topic was surely not something she would be excited to discuss with him.

He looked over to Hinata's teammates to see Shino trying to explain mating rituals and entomology to Kiba who had proceeded to put his hands over his ears and shake his head fervently. He obviously did not want to hear such things. He looked like he was about to lose it even further when the Aburame asked him to consider what was happening with Hinata better than what he knew of the canine mating traditions.

At that point Naruto decided it would be best if he left and backed away slowly until he felt he was at a safe enough distance to find a tree to sit under and think.

Once Kiba had calmed down somewhat, he looked at the young man sitting next to him. Having known him so long, he could tell that Shino was more bothered than he was letting on.

"Hey, thanks for trying to make me feel better." He had heard a lot of things he definitely did not want to know, and now had a lot of mental images he would probably never be able to get out of his head, but he appreciated the effort behind the attempt.

Shino nodded in acknowledgment and Kiba sighed.

"Didn't see that one coming. I honestly thought she was going to be pining after Naruto forever."

His quiet teammate shrugged before saying, "Perhaps she grew tired of waiting. Hinata is patient, but it is possible that Uchiha provided something that we do not yet understand. I just hope she will open up to us about it."

Kiba heard the hurt tone towards the end of his statement and realized Shino was upset that she had not come to them to talk about things. To be honest, hearing the news from Naruto had been almost as shocking as the news itself. However, he didn't feel ready to confront Hinata about it yet. He was still having trouble with the idea that she was doing something like that. She was like his little sister and he wasn't ready for this at all.

"Don't worry, Shino. I'm sure she will come to us about it eventually. Maybe she's just worried about our reaction. You know how she worries about us."

Shino's shoulders seemed to relax a bit as he accepted Kiba's suggestion. The two continued their conjectures about Hinata's feelings and the sudden shift, unaware that their conversation was being picked up by a certain Uzumaki's sharp hearing.

Listening to them talk about Hinata's feelings and how long she had loved him left Naruto reeling. He had only realized what her confession had meant the night before and even then, she had confessed during the Pein invasion. He'd had no idea that her feelings for him had been so strong and that she'd had them so long. Why had she waited so long to tell him? And for that matter, why had she not brought it up afterwards when he hadn't said anything?

Feeling agitated again, he decided to head back to the training ground he and Sasuke had wrecked earlier. If it hadn't been fixed up yet then he was going to blow off some steam.

So, there you go! Next chapter will have some more NaruHina interaction so it should be interesting.

I based Kiba's reaction a little off of my dad. He's this big guy who loves guns and makes his own bullets and he was always threatening my boyfriends, but when my (now) husband went to him to ask for my hand in marriage he just broke down crying. I felt like Kiba might be similar so I thought I'd throw it in.

Let me know what you thought!