A/N: The last installment! I'm actually okay with how it turned out. Thanks for reading guys!

As always, read, review, and make my day!

Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine. I sometime wish Kiba would be. And Neji. XD

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Day 3:

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Today, she was awake when he went to visit her.

"Hinata!"

"Hi, Kiba-kun," she sounded a little tired. "What's going on?"

"Well, you didn't wake up for three days straight and I thought I was going to die waiting," he blurted out.

He saw her smile and her face flush a little. He hoped it was from her fever and not his words. "K-Kiba-kun…" Nope, he was wrong, and a little embarrassed. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that. "Do you mean that?"

"Oh, Hinata," he laughed, "I wasn't going to really die!I was worried though." Akamaru yipped and settled in her lap and Kiba smiled at the sight. "We all were. Naruto came couple days ago and Shino dropped by earlier today."

"N-N-Naruto-kun…came?" she asked, unable to suppress her excitement.

"Yeah…" Kiba trailed off. He supposed he should have been happy the spotlight was at least off of him even though poor Shino was ignored altogether. "He left to train now. He's facing Neji in the main matches," he frowned, contemplative. "Bad luck, eh?"

He had expected her to gasp, to be shocked, or at least worried. He had not, however, expected her to calmly say, "Naruto-kun will be fine. It's Neji-nii-san we should worry for," and they shared a smile. She really did surprise him sometimes.

Still, he was a little angry about something. "I told you to give up if you matched against him, Hinata. I told you he would not go easy on you," Kiba said softly. She was the only one he could manage to use this tone around even if he had felt like throttling someone.

"I'm sorry Kiba-kun. I…I just couldn't."

Kiba vaguely recalled Naruto's words about having something to prove.

Sighing, he managed to mumble, "Well I guess I wouldn't understand." He patted her hand awkwardly and felt a little guilty because he could not begin to comprehend the depths of this Hyuga mess and probably never would. "Kurenai-sensei told me you put up a good fight. He was being one hell of a jackass, wasn't he?"

"He said I couldn't change and I really wanted to, Kiba-kun. I really wanted to. I wanted to become stronger, have a shadow of my own, and not just walk in the shadow of others."

Though her voice was still calm, her words were fierce. He couldn't remember her ever talking like this before and decided he was rather proud. "You're the strongest one of the three of us, you know? Shino and I, we have bugs and Akamaru and our nifty little clan tricks but you have more than that."

"The Byakugan's not much more than a little clan trick," she said, looking out the window.

"But there's more to you than Byakugan, unlike that bastard Neji! You can grow and change. You already have. He'll be the brat he is forever because he already thinks he's so damn perfect!" Again, he felt the urge to tear Neji to pieces.

"He didn't want to hurt me though. He told me to give up ahead of time too."

He told you to give up so he could win, Hinata, but Kiba didn't say this out loud. He didn't know if she had been conscious to witness this but he didn't mention how their Jounin sensei and three others had to stop the boy from killing Hinata in the end. Instead he sighed. "There are some people out there who don't deserve your kindness, Hinata."

"Neji-nii-san needs kindness," she glanced at him. "He needs a lot of it."

The boy snorted at this. "He asked about you though, said your father sent him. I still don't forgive him but I thought you should know."

"My father didn't come though, did he?" she asked with a bitter smile. "Neji-nii-san did, while I was sleeping today. A medic-nin told me, and look," she pointed to a small arrangement of white flowers which Kiba gaped at for quite some time, "but he didn't come."

Kiba still blinked at the flowers, vaguely remembering them from the Yamanaka flower shop when he had bought his own bouquet for his team mate, and realized that he really didn't understand the workings of Hyuga at all.

He didn't want to be wrong about Neji as well….not like he was wrong about Naruto. He wanted to hate Neji because it was easy to hate Neji and well, Neji had made it so easy for himself to hate Hinata all these years.

Nevertheless, there were times like this given moment when Hyuga Hinata baffled him more than anyone else in that mess of a clan. That would never change, he thought with an inward sigh, seeing the serene look on her face.

The main matches of the Chuunin exam were going to be interesting, Kiba decided, shortly interrupted by Hinata.

"Kiba-kun…"

"Hmm?"

He noted that his hand was still close to hers, and swallowed as she took it in her own and gave it a squeeze. "I hope I didn't worry you too much. They told me you came every day."

He shrugged a little awkwardly, unable to take his eyes off their hands and a little embarrassed at the fact he couldn't. "You had us all worried but I'm glad you're better now." Akamaru nestled himself against the curve of her other arm and with the hand not holding Kiba's, she scratched behind his ears.

She released Kiba's hand only to place it on his arm and pull him a little closer to the hospital bed. Akamaru was going to have to be ignored for a moment because the boy had seemed to beat his dog in getting her full attention.

And Kiba, who probably wouldn't have minded a scratch behind the ears either, got a full Hinata-style hug instead. It was a little awkward because of the angle of the hospital bed and how he had to somewhat bend over her a little but it was nonetheless gentle and sincere, the essence of Hinata herself.

Three days, he realized, were nothing.

If he had known that he would have been gifted with this, he could have waited a hundred.

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