A/N: Yay, I've finally gotten the impulse to update, especially after I put up a chapter of another fic I'm working on, this one dealing with Anko and Kakashi and that got good reviews. It's called Mutual Respect and you can find the summary on my profile. Now that I'm done pimping that fic, feel free to go ahead and read this one.
Chapter Thirteen
Kiba ran as fast as he could toward the Hokage's office, the people he passed going by as mere blurs. Shikamaru's idea was brilliant yet simple, he guessed that was why he made chuunin before any of the others. Even though the last few days he had been completely exhausted with missions, he felt as if he owed it to TenTen as a friend to make sure she didn't get hurt again.
He still couldn't believe that Fuyuki had managed to sneak into their lives and impersonate Neji without any of them being aware. A part of him even wondered what the man had been planning while he was waiting it out at the Hyuuga apartment.
Unfortunately while Kiba was thinking he wasn't paying attention to anything else and rammed right into a soft body. The person cried out on impact and then they both ended up, limbs tangled, rolling over a few feet before he crashed into the wall, the other person, who he had by now determined was a female, slamming into his chest.
He exhaled slowly, internally counting to make sure all of his ribs were still intact. All twenty-four were still there, but at least seven of them were poking something they shouldn't. He felt the person sitting on him shift and then soft white eyes were staring into his black ones. He felt the hotness creep slowly into his cheeks and ducked his head, trying to avoid his stare. "Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?"
She clutched at her side, appearing to be more hurt than he was. "I was on my way to Ino-chan's shop."
"I'm sorry," he sat up, shifting them carefully. Then with more patience than he usually had, he gently moved her hand from her apparent injury. He lifted the hem of her shirt slowly, apologizing with his eyes for the breach of privacy and touched his fingers to the slightly purpling bruise. "I should've been paying attention to where I was going."
"It's okay," she replied, trying not to wince as his fingers traced over the wound. "You probably had something important to do, and I was in your way."
"NO, NO!" he frowned inwardly at his shouting. From the look on her face he'd obviously scared her. "I mean, yes I had something important to do, but you weren't in the way. I should've been paying more attention."
Hinata eased herself out of his lap, more aware of how uncomfortable their position was than the dog trainer was. "What were you about to do?"
Kiba wracked his brain for that answer, his thoughts completely shaken from the collision. Finally it dawned on him, "I have to go to the Hokage's office. I'll see you later," he stood to his feet.
Hinata tried to stand but ended up falling back to her knees.
Kiba's brain told him that seeing Kotetsu and Izumo was more important, but his legs refused to respond. "Tsunade-sama was at the hospital anyway," he tucked his hands beneath her knees and lifted her up. "I'll just tell her instead."
Hinata's eyes widened after he picked her up. "Kiba-kun, you don't have to."
"It's my fault anyway."
"Now this is sweet," a voice above them spoke.
The heads of both ninjas swiveled upward to take in the intruder. He was dressed in black from head to toe, a half mask covering the bottom of his face. "What do you want?"
"Don't you know she has a boyfriend?" the unknown ninja shook his head in disgust. "What kind of friend are you?"
Inuzuka Kiba growled under his breath, clutching his hands into fists. However, before he could visibly react, Hinata grasped his shirt in her hands, shaking her head slowly. They had no idea how strong the other man was, so rushing rashly into battle would be self-destructive.
"That's right," the ninja warned smugly. "Don't do anything stupid. It'd be a shame to die in front of the girl you love."
"What do you want in Konoha?"
He laughed to himself. "This village has a lot of history, you know. A lot of ancient treasures and hidden techniques that would be very useful to some ambitious missing-nin, but stealing one of those is so everyday villain." He leapt down from the roof, landing just a few feet away from them. "It wouldn't be any fun to just do that."
"Then what?"
"What kind of idiot do you take me for? If I were to tell you our plans that would ruin the fun of watching you agonize over figuring them out." He circled the pair. "However, I will tell you this. We've got no problem with taking the girl."
Before he even realized it, Hinata was crying out in pain and being jerked away from his side.
Kiba whistled for Akamaru, the dog appearing from behind them. "Don't touch her," he barked, letting some of the animal in him bleed through.
"You're in no position to stop me."
"You aren't going to take her anywhere!" with that Kiba launched himself at his opponent, not caring for the niceties of jutsus or strategies, the only thing echoing in his suddenly one track mind was that he wouldn't let Hinata-chan get hurt because of him.
The unnamed ninja barely had the time to release his captive and throw up his hands in a block before Kiba was punching furiously at him with a speed he didn't know the teen possessed. As he continued to try to fend off the blows, taking one in the face and one in the stomach, he realized that the boy had no intention of letting him go and if he didn't find a way to escape he would suddenly find himself looking up from the fires of hell.
Kiba's mind barely registered the blood that was flying into the air as he continued to mercilessly pummel Hinata's would be kidnapper about the body. He heard something in his fist crunch as he made contact with one of the other man's concealed weapons. Even the pain that rang so clearly through all of his nerves did little to dissuade him.
He stopped when Hinata's screams finally broke through the barrier in his brain. Suddenly returning to himself, Kiba's eyes widened as he took in the blood all over his clothes and the man's many missing teeth. He convinced himself to breathe and took in several ragged breaths, calming his still-raging nerves. He had almost completely lost it, and in front of her no less. He glanced behind him as if to verify that she was still okay, and she was. Her eyes were wide and her mouth still open in a silent scream, but she was otherwise unharmed.
He lowered his eyes from her gaze, "I'm sorry you had to see that." He reached down and grasped the beaten and bloodied man by the collar. "Can you make it to the hospital on your own?"
When she had finally gathered herself, she nodded slowly.
"I'm going to turn him in," he turned away from her.
"Kiba-kun," at the sound of her voice he stopped walking. She ran to catch up with him. "If you don't mind…I'd like to go with you."
"You really should go to the hospital and get that taken care of."
"We can go together, after we get rid of him."
Kiba's heart sunk. She wanted to follow him to make sure he didn't kill his prisoner in her absence. She was still afraid of him. He set out at a fast pace leaping up to the rooftops, mostly because he didn't want to have to look at her and see the fear in her eyes.
Hinata chased after him, doing her best to keep up. Her former teammate was upset, he had just lost control of himself in order to protect her and she'd shown him the eyes she hated, the eyes that showed fear and weakness. She had to show him, make him see that she wasn't afraid, that she wasn't weak.
Her decision made, she cut in front of him, the boy skidding to a stop to avoid crashing into her for the second time today. She bit her lip, steeling her resolve. "Kiba-kun, I could've helped. I just stood there and didn't do anything, I'm sorry."
Adjusting the limp body he was currently holding over his shoulder, the boy looked at the tiles beneath his feet, at the street lamps, the trees, anything but at the girl standing in front of him. He was too a good friend. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her or Naruto. "It's okay. I wouldn't want you to have to blame yourself for this…" he gestured at the unconscious man.
Hinata nodded in acceptance, even though it was clear that the boy hadn't understood. The Hyuuga blood in her, no matter how weak, meant that she was able to take care of herself, and that no one should have to go so far to protect her. Her eyes were drawn to the thick liquid trickling down his forehead. "You're injured."
Kiba's black eyes wrinkled in confusion and then he reached up to his forehead, sweeping the blood from that spot with his fingers. He smiled halfheartedly, "I guess I am. I don't even remember getting hit."
Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off before she could continue.
"Don't apologize again. It was my decision to fight for you. Now come on," he shifted the weight on his shoulders again. "We need to find out everything he can tell us."
The former Hyuuga heiress sighed, ignoring the pain that shot through her body at the action and followed him.
Kotetsu had been on his way out of the office to visit his sister who had once again been admitted to the hospital, when a limp body was thrown onto the steps in front of him. He looked up to meet the eyes of Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata, two of the village's younger ninja. "What's this?"
"I think he's connected to Fuyuki," Kiba replied. "You would do well to interrogate him right away, before he has any further accidents."
Kotetsu nodded and lifted the now stirring man to his feet. He barely got the chance to say thank you before both teens disappeared into the wind. "Well," he cracked his fingers threateningly and looked down at his new captive. "I guess it's just you and me now."