Thank you for the kind reviews! I didn't expect to get any. Seriously, I expected ZERO. But then I got some! Yay.


They met, as they did many days, at the bottom of the hill. Once, after newly having become chuunins, they along with Shino had been ambushed while on an escorting mission. The three of them, however, all had exceptional sensory skills and were not ambushed easily. The fight was brief but intense and the enemies shortly overtaken. Afterward in a moment of sheer battle afterglow Kiba had moved to Hinata's side with unsettling speed. It was silly, really, an afterthought of a protective gesture. But when she'd reached out and brushed his fingers with her own, when he'd caught them and reinforced their contact with a firm grip, when she'd responded with a squeeze of her own, Kiba had felt something warm and fluid beneath his chest, had felt it spreading all through him. Had wiggled his toes and found that he felt it there, too.

They mutually stopped, neither having the will to trudge up to the tree. Standing beside her now, Kiba wondered when this had ceased to be enough.

He scratched the back of his head, forcing exuberance into his voice while speaking. "Say, Hinata, I didn't pack anything this time, so..." he faltered. "So let's go somewhere else to... eat," he finished lamely.

Hinata looked down and nodded once before turning to follow his already retreating form into town.

She walked a few steps behind him, Akamaru running back and forth, nipping gently at their ankles in an effort at alleviating the distress he sensed between them.

Kiba hated it. He hated that they had walked away from the tree, that he had been the one to suggest it, that she was not walking beside him. Even so, he could think of nothing to say to her as he walked on. His frustration mounted, as did his pace, as he silently berated himself; while he had no words to express his feelings to Hinata, he had plenty for himself to fuel his self-incrimination.

He walked furiously and with plummeting satisfaction until he felt a small resistance at his feet. He looked down to see that Akamaru had caught his teeth on Kiba's sock and was tugging and whining at him to stop. Kiba complied abruptly, looking behind him. Hinata stood a little distance away from him, twisting her fingers together.

"K-Kiba-kun. Where are we going?"

Kiba mentally kicked himself in the face, over and over. Where indeed. Finally he looked up, fiercely determined to look anywhere but at her face. "We're going to get something to eat," he said firmly. When she didn't answer, he met her eyes and kicked himself again, this time swiftly to the groin.

"I thought maybe we could... t-talk... instead..."

It hurt Kiba to look into her soft eyes, now drooping with the weight of sadness and a responsibility he would never know. When her face started to fall even more in the silence she took for his rejection, something in him twisted. His mind produced a macabre image of his intestines coiling around his heart and squeezing the pumping life out of it. After taking four long strides he caught Hinata in a crushing hug, holding on tighter and tighter and barely registering that she was doing the same.

"It'll be okay," he said softly. Hinata's face was pressed to his chest and it occurred to him that she might be suffocating. He loosened his arms only to tighten them again when she reflexively squeezed at his retreat. Then, belatedly, "Sure. We can talk."

Hinata said something that was muffled into his sweatshirt, but neither pulled away. After all, what could she say that hadn't already been said? That she would climb into his body if she could; that he would let her.

But they couldn't stand like that in the middle of the road forever, could they? No, no they couldn't. So Hinata stepped back and Kiba released her, both of them noticing the curious glances thrown their way by various passersby. Hinata fidgeted.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Kiba asked. Man his reaction time was terrible today.

"Let's go to your home. Can we?"

Kiba wouldn't refuse such a gentle request; couldn't, even if he wanted to.

He held her hand as they walked, this time in the direction of his house.

==

They sat across from each other at the kitchen table. He had a glass of water in front of him; she hadn't wanted anything in the form of refreshments. He looked intently at her, memorizing the details of her face, taking in the nearly-translucent skin, the silvery eyes that reflected emotions so clearly, the sweet pink lips being tugged fretfully at with tiny, white teeth. When she flushed at his scrutiny he took that in, too.

"Father says it's about time," Hinata began. Kiba looked down at his water. "I'm seventeen and old enough." She silently begged him to look at her but he was very, very stubborn. "The man they've chosen, he's... old... older." She could not bring herself to disrespect the man, just as she couldn't bring herself to disrespect her elders' decision. "I... don't want to."

Then don't, Kiba screamed in his head. Instead he said in a low, gritty voice, "Hinata. I cannot comfort you about this."

She understood. She hadn't actually meant to start babbling about her fiancé, but the words had spilled out all the same. After some silence which Hinata spent desperately searching for something of comfort, of use, to say, Kiba lifted his head with an agonized look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. We've been teammates for five years and I still cut off your words with my obnoxious voice. We're friends, so anything you have to say to me," his eyes grew more anguished though the rest of his face was grimly set, "I want to hear."

And Hinata, poor Hinata, grew even more miserable at the thought that Kiba would listen to her speak at the cost of his own pain. He'd known her when it was difficult for her to say anything, he remembered her, and he considered her even now. She was ashamed. But she had to explain herself, so she went on in a whisper of a voice.

"Hanabi is growing stronger. She'll probably head the clan... later... if I'm not strong enough. But even so, I'm getting older... they need... offspring."

Kiba's mind wandered to the children Hinata would have, beautiful little babies, chubby and pink-cheeked. He tried to hate them but failed, and moved on to hating himself.

Hinata waited anxiously for Kiba to say respond. His eyes had glazed over and she panicked momentarily.

"Well. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?" His broad grin didn't reach his eyes and he looked like someone different. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home."

He didn't hold her hand and chatted animatedly about useless things. When they reached her home, she paused, but he placed a hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her onto her family's property. He was already headed back when he called a farewell over his shoulder.

==

Hinata stood at the bottom of the hill. She should have been kissed beneath that tree that swayed in the evening breeze. She should have but she hadn't been and regret hung like leaves above their shadow.

"Hinata-sama," she heard from behind her. Neji-niisan, she identified. "It's late. Come."

"Did they send you out to fetch me?" It was uncharacteristically bitter and she shifted uncomfortably, regretting having said it. They were not friends, but they were cousins, now connected by a delicate sliver of familiarity and consideration. She sought to strengthen their relationship, not to damage it. Words between them had already done enough of that.

"Yes," came the terse reply. He waited for Hinata to reach his side before continuing and gave her a hard look. "But they couldn't have forced me if I was against it."


Trust me, no one wants to see Kiba happy more than I do. Just bear with me for a bit, here.