A/N: Sorry this chapter was a little harder to write… that and a busy schedule… gomen. ). I struggled to keep Kiba a horny teen boy, and Hinata, Hinata. Harder than it sounds.
Chapter Four: I'm tired and I felt it for a while now
Kiba sighed as he enetered his dark room. It was late, already nightime in fact. Akamaru was awoken when Kiba's shirt landed in a heap over the dog's head. With a deep whine, Akamaru shook the dirty garment off and went back to sleep on the rug beside Kiba's bed. With a tired sigh and a curse under his breath, Kiba let himself fall onto his messy bed. It had been two days since Kurenai-sensei had left on that mission with Gai, Shikomaru, Lee, Neji and Asuma. They still had not returned. Shino, Hinata and Kiba had obeyed their sensei's orders and were training very hard. Though training was going well for the most part, Hinata was showing signs of stress and a deeper lack of self-confidence. She was beginning to worry Kiba, though he was sure her current state was due to Neji's absence. Closing his eyes, Kiba let his thoughts linger on the little shy nin.
She was remarkably strong when she was focused and trying her best. Unfortunately, she usually needed a little push from someone to become focused. Naruto had done just that back at the chuunin exams.
Hmpf. Naruto, that dobe. He had seen very little of Naruto, since the blonde shinobi was constantly disapearing for long periods of time alternating between training with Jiraiya and going off in search of Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto had grown into a great ninja. Kiba cringed at admitting it. Still, Naruto was so different from Hinata, the Inuzuka couldn't understand why the Hyuuga cared so much for that troublemaker. Opening his eyes, Kiba shook his head going back to his original train of thought.
Hinata needed a little push every now and then. Whenever Kurenai was around, Hinata tended to do well. During the past years (in Naruto's constant absence), Neji had also become a closer friend to Hinata. Kiba's eyes darkened. Neji too had warmed up the indigo haired girl. Kiba had cought the male Hyuuga's eyes lingering on the shy nin for longer than necessary on numerous occasions. Only did it now cross his mind that Neji might have romantic feelings for Kiba's teammate. Kiba took a deep breath forcing down a rising feeling, uncanningly similar to what he had known as jealousy, in his gut. Neji had long ago sworn to protect Hinata. Neji was just fullfilling that promise. Though, on a technicality it was not Neji's duty anymore. Hinata was no longer the Hyuuga heir or part of the clan. Simply, she was a permanent guest. Kiba's fist clenched. No, Neji was also Hinata's cousin. Was it not natural for an older cousin to care about a younger cousin?
Kiba let out a growl and sat up on his bed frustrated. This was the upteenth time he had felt jealous of both the Uzumaki and Hyuuga shinobi. The image of a tired, sad Hinata flashed in his mind. Tiredly Kiba brushed his hand through his messy hair. Kami, he was jealous! Kiba winced refusing to admit, even in his unconscious what these bouts of jealousy meant. Besides, Kiba didn't stand a chance. He had never been anything to Hinata but a cocky, loud, abnoxious, bossy… Kiba threw himself back. He was going to fight this. He would not, could not let himself fall for Hinata. It would only end badly for him anyways.
Kiba was unusually quiet this morning, Shino confirmed in his mind as he watched the Inuzuka pick at his ramen. Today's training had been cut short, due to low spirits. Namely, Hinata's lack of focus and Kiba's ill mood. Kiba had been on edge and very quick to anger during the training session. Hinata had been the first to excuse herself, saying that she was not feeling up for training and was going to return home. As soon as she left, Kiba went on a rampage nearly obliterating ten trees with his gatsuuga. In an attempt to settle down his friend, Shino had sugested the two boys go and get an early lunch. A loud thump brought back Shino to the present. Kiba's fist lay clenched on the counter of the ramen stand. Akamaru whimpered and backed away with his tale between his legs.
"What's wrong?" Shino ventured.
"NOTHING!" Kiba barked. Shino smirked behind his collar and waited a few seconds.
"I… I didn't get much sleep last night…" Kiba said in a much more civil tone that before. Shino nodded at Kiba, encouraging him to continue.
"What do you think about Hinata?" Kiba asked, turning away from Shino to hide the ghost of a flush, which had appeared on his cheeks.
"She's been troubled lately…" Shino responded thoughtfully.
"You think it's about Neji?" Kiba said almost in a whisper.
"I don't think it has much to do with Neji. More about Hanabi-chan and Hiashi-sama," Shino stated, matter of factly. Kiba's head jerked up to get a better look at the Aburame. "Hanabi's training as of late has been increasing and rumors of various planned kidnapping attempts have been reported."
"They're attempting to kidnap Hinata?" Kiba asked, ignorantly.
"No. Hanabi is getting prepared to being officially declared as Hyuuga's heir. Naturally, jealousy amongst foreign clans is brewing. Many ninja's would kill to capture the Hyuuga heir and with her the secrets of Byakugan." Shino nodded, all knowingly. Kiba's brow furrowed as he tried to put two and two together.
"Why would Hinata be stressed about this?" Kiba finally said. "I understand she might be worried about her sister, but from what I know they're not close and the Hyuugas are more than prepared to deal with a few kidnapping attempts."
"Baka. Hinata was supposed to be the Hyuuga Heir. With all this attention put on Hanabi at having outskilled and outranked her sister, Hinata's confidence has slumped," Shino hissed somewhat annoyed at Kiba's incompitence. "Everything Hinata has worked so hard for has been completely overshadowed by Hanabi's succession."
"Oh," Kiba's mind wandered back to the image of a sad and tired Hinata.
"That and probably she's been beating herself up at having failed to stop a kidnapper the other night." Shino went on, his dark glasses flashing with wisdom.
"How do you know that?" Kiba questioned suspiciously.
"I was upgraded to Jounin a week ago. Tsunade-sama told us about it two days ago…" A smirk creeped unto Shino's unseen lips.
"What?" Kiba was practically fuming. "Why wasn't I upgraded?"
"I'm leaving on a Jounin assignment tonight with my father, so you'll have to train with Hinata tonight." Shino continued blatantly ignoring Kiba's question and horrified expression. "I promised her yesterday I'd train her tonight by the lake but this assignment came up. She really needs to train, I'm sure you can do atleast that for her…" On that note, Shino paid for his lunch and left the muted Inuzuka with his jaw wide open.
"Ah shit!"
Hinata took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Slowly and gracefully she lifted her arm up over her head, a thin blue chakra line appeared on the air where her white palm had touched and then disappeared. As she slowly repeated the movement with her left hand, Hinata took a step forward. She began to move on the surace of the crystalline lake, always keeping on her toes as she practiced her gracefull taijutsu with her hands. With her eyes closed and mind in a strict concentration on her movements, Hyuuga Hinata failed to sense a rather nervous Inuzuka Kiba hiding in a tree not too far away.
Kiba watched Hinata practice… whatever the hell she was practicing. It didn't look like any jutsu he knew, if anything it was a dance. Watching the blue-haired girl twirl, spin, and gracefullly gliding her hands and arms through the still summer night under a full moon, this girl wasn't a ninja! She was an artist. His slitted eyes watched in awe at the chakra lines that followed the Hyuuga's movements. This was also the least clothed Kiba had ever seen Hinata. Her fur-lined jacket, sandals and short pants were folded neatly on a boulder near the trees. Instead, she doned black leggings and a tight, netted long sleeved shirt that reached halfway down her thighs and was barefooted. It was obvious Hinata wasn't as well developed like the curvacious Ino, or bigger chested Sakura. But her thin and modest size suited the shy nin.
So, this is what Hinata did in the middle of the night when team 8 went on missions. Kiba had on numerous occasions' feinted sleep only to keep an eye on Hinata as she sneaked from their campsite into the forest. The first time he had caught Hinata, he had been worried but did not follow the girl. When morning came, Kiba looked over to her sleeping bag only to find the girl in a peaceful slumber. Since that day, he just assumed that the girl liked to take walks alone at night before bed. When the sun rose, she was always found inside her tent or sleeping bag, so Kiba didn't think much of it… Until now… How could he have been stupid enough not to follow? Not only was Hinata extremely amazing to watch… but also she looked so overwhelmingly beautiful. Kiba felt something in his chest sink. He faintly remebered Narut mentioning a beautiful girl dancing on the surface of a lake along time ago while on a mission to find one of Shino's precious bugs.
Creak—the branch Kiba had been perched on suddenly gave in from under him. The dog nin landed painfully on his ass.
"Kuso," Kiba swore as he pulled himself up on his feet only to have three kunai buzz past him, all dangerously near.
"Wh-who's there?" Kiba's ears twitched at the sound of Hinata's whisper. Again, something in his chest sank.
Hinata approached the dark figure, a kunai raised. "K-Kiba-k-kun?" she whispered. The moon's light was not strong enough to pierce the thick foilage as Hinata entered deeper into the forest. Using Byakkugan Hinata found Kiba's dark figure slumped on the floor. He was rubbing his head in what Hinata assumed embarassment.
"Wh-what are you d-doing here, K-kiba-kun?" Hinata ran forward, offering her hand to her fallen teammate. Kiba took it.
"Shino is away on a mission, he asked me to come here and help you out. He's sorry to not have come…" Kiba grumbled, his cheeks glowing red. He had thought about how he'd be received by Hinata once he explained about Shino. Honestly, he felt a little betrayed that Hinata had not come to him. He felt that maybe Hinata had a special reason for asking Shino exclusively to come meet her, in the dead of night, to "train". Kiba puffed.
"Is a-anything the ma-matter, K-Kiba?" Hinata ventured when Kiba had choosen to ignore her hand and remained on the forest floor.
"Why did you ask Shino to help you train and not me?" Kiba barked a little harsher than he had intended. Hinata saw Kiba glare with her Byakuugan. Hinata blinked and thought avout the question.
"Sh-Shino-kun is more patient..." Hinata answered truthfully. Kiba's jealousy deflated instantly. So, she and Shino don't have anything going on. Kiba almost smiled. "I-I didn't want to b-bother you," Hinata continued not noticing Kiba's change in attitude.
"Bother me?" Kiba's brow knitted questioningly.
"H-hai," Hinata whispered. Kiba smiled as he took her hand and stood on his own two feet. Kiba towered over the Hyuuga. His doggy eyes were efficient enough to detect the outline of Hinata's pretty face. He starred intently at her. He knew that despite the darkness Hinata could still see him a little less than clearly. Despite this, Kiba felt reassurance from the darkness to confront Hinata in this way. He wasn't planning to admit a possible attraction to the young girl, but confronting her, the way he was now was deffinately going against his plans to crush any feelings he may harbor for his teammate.
"I'm your friend Hinata and I care about you just as much as Shino. If you need help training I'll be more than happy to stay up and train with you." He hadn't released Hinata's hand as he said this. Hinata's heart was racing at this form of confrontation. She suddenly felt that she was too close to the Inuzuka and that she might be torn apart by his intense gaze.
"A-Arigato, K-Kiba-k-kun," she whispered and tugged back her hand. Kiba released it. Her face was a bright shade of pink but Kiba could not see this. Spinning on her heel, Hinata began to lead the way back to the lake. Her heart was racing and beating loudly. With Kiba's sensetive hearing, Hinata was sure he would notice her distress.
Kiba followed listening to the faint sound of the nervous heartbeats of the shy nin. It brought a smile to his sick, little lusty face. Kami, he was only a boy. It wasn't his fault he had little control over his hormones and his hormones had a whole lot of control over him! A feeling tugged at Kiba's conscious. He knew that playing around with Hinata's defenseless personlality wasn't the nicest thing to do. Afterall he still maintained that he didn't actually like her, he only thought that there was a slight chance of him feeling the tiniest of romantic feelings. Flirting would only encourage non-existing feelings and end up confusing Hinata.
Kiba was sure acting strange. Hinata nervously slipped her jacket and pants back on. He had been on edge during training and now he was being friendlier than Akamaru. Hinata sighed. She knew Kiba long enough that he was an emotional, loudmouth. He wasn't as quick to angry as some people but when he got angry it radiated dangerouslyfrom his every pore. He was alos prone to random bouts of exitement. He also had his kind and loyal-friend side. When away on team missions he resumed the protector role (thinking he was the leader) while Shino was the (behind the scenes) actual leader. Kiba-kun was not dissimular to Naruto-kun, actually. Hinata blushed. Naruto-kun. Hinata crouched into a defensive stand on the surface of the lake waiting for Kiba to make the first attack.
After a two-hour lapse, both team members fell onto the grass by the lake's shore. Both were exhausted having used large amounts of chakra. The event that had taken place earlier had been discarded and Hinata's mind was again on getting stronger. Kiba layed on his back sweating, the blades of grass tickled his shoulders. He had discarded his jacket and now was clothed in only a black muscle shirt and his grey long shorts. He lifted his head to se Hinata as she fell to her knees coughing lightly. Kiba's eyes narrowed. Neji's attack during the chuunin exam had caused Hinata's lung to collapse. The medic nins were able to heal it but not completely back to perfection. Now whenever she worked hard and her breathing intensified she was prone to coughing fits.
"Shino mentioned a kidnapping attempt that took place a few nights ago…" Kiba heard himself speak. Hinata simply nodded, still breathing hard.
"You've been a little less focused during training…" Kiba was unsure at what he was trying to get at; his mouth was movng faster than his brain.
"H-hai, g-gomen." Hinata lowered body so that she too was lying on the grass on her side. She was eye to eye with Kiba but with a safe and appropriate yard and half distance between them. Her muscles were aching and her chakra was exhausted.
"Neji will be back soon." It was the only thing that Kiba thougt to say to comfort the girl. Atleast that's what Kiba had thought. Hinata's eyes had snapped open and she was now looking at Kiba with bewildered eyes. "Y-you haven't been unfocused b-because you're worried about Neji?" Kiba asked somewhat taken aback by Hinata's reaction.
"I-I am worried ab-bout Neji-kun, b-but I know h-he's ok-okay. He-he is strong and h-he'll be back soon," Hinata smiled softly. There were less trees in the area and moon offered light to the two Konoha chuunins.
"Then what's been bothering you?" Kiba asked, looking up at the stars. Hinata did not answer right away.
"I-I want to b-be strong. I-I want to prove m-my l-loyalty to Ha-Hanabi-sama so th-that I can re-rejoin th-the clan…" Hinata's voice trailed off as she curled up into a small ball and rested her eyes. Kiba looked at the young girl slightly surprised by her answer. He never thought that Hinata would want to rejoin the clan. They had had ridiculously high standards and were terribly strict. The way Kiba saw it. Hinata was free now and bore no responsabilities. No one was watching her; she had no rules to follow. If she wanted, she could quit being a kunoichi. Then why did she…
"I want a purpose…" Hinata whispered as she drowned into a slumber.
Suddenly Kiba's temper began to darken again. Of course Hinata had a purpose! He would not be here lying on the grass watching her as she fell asleep out side in the dead of night if she had no purpose. Kiba starred into Hinata's face. He was suddenly struggling, fighting the temptation to touch the vulnerable girl. Struggling not to think about how sweet she looked. Struggling not to notice that her sweater was left open and her shirt had ridden up ever so slightly that the cream flesh of her flat stomach peeked through… Kiba tore his gaze away and placed his arm over his eyes. Kami, he was just ONE boy!