oi... sorry this took a while to update . i was totally at a loss for ideas.
i've just discovered the 'stats' link for my account... whoa baby! i'm so impressed with the number of hits this story has gotten, and at the same time really embarrassed, too... i wish i took this story a bit more seriously; honestly, some of these chapters have been... well... crap.
apologies aside, I'd like to know what YOU, as readers, want for this story. any particular pairings, encounters, or scenarios? it would help me a lot. i'd like to try to write them in (starting after chapter 12 or 13, that is), make this fic as interactive as possible... and please keep the mindset that i can't write beans when it comes to action. i try, but it's not very illustrative AT ALL.
on another note, please feel free to read some of my other stories: "fix you" (angsty romance one-shot) and "the irony of love" (comedy/romance). i know, shameless plug-in.
and finally, thanks for all your reviews! they inspire me to write more (and it puts pressure on me to pump out more chapters- hehehehe...)!
finally... chapter 11: "kiba VS shino VS AKAMARU?"
There were three things Kiba hated.
One was fleas. For the most obvious reasons, of course, nasty little boogers they were, especially the chakra eating ones that Shino kept handy to keep the two dog-nin in check. Two was cheaters (and, by the way, he still hadn't completely forgiven Naruto for farting in his face during their Chuunin Preliminary Match, which inevitably caused him to lose his chance at going into the finals- having a great sense of smell wasn't what it was cracked up to be). Last, and definitely not least:
Kiba hated being hungry.
And boy, was Kiba HUNGRY!
And with good reason, too. Kiba had been speed pacing outside the entire length of the new sukiyaki restaurant for the last 45 minutes, his stomach juices gurgling as his olfactories caught a whiff of the delicious meats and broths simmering away inside. Akamaru had followed suit, eagerly wanting to do whatever Kiba did, but he soon grew tired and resigned to sitting patiently and watching his master walk back and forth. Moments later, the little pup developed motion sickness and was now burping out little gas bubbles and lying on his side with his tongue lolling out.
"AAAUUUGGGHHH!" Kiba screamed, startling the poor pup and annoying the heck out of his bug-nin teammate Shino. Several angry restaurant patrons threw Kiba a haughty look for interrupting their meals. "IT'S 1:30! SHE TOLD US TO MEET HER HERE AN HOUR AGO! WHERE IN THE SEVEN FREAKIN' HELLS IS HIIIIIIINNNNAAAAATAAAAAA? I'M STARRRRRVIIIIIIIING!" The exercise had made him even hungrier than before as he leaped out of his 8 foot-deep manmade ditch. He stared at his faithful companion (who had taken on a sickly green shade) and noticed the sad condition his furry companion was in.
"See, Shino?" he exclaimed, teary-eyed, shaking Akamaru back and forth and sideways before placing him atop his head. "Akamaru's so hungry he's near death!"
Akamaru wasn't going to tell Kiba that he threw up a little on his jacket hoodie. Ohh no. He did his best to take his little paw and rub out some of the yellowish mess. Oopsies... that didn't seem to work too well. (Sigh.) It wasn't his fault, you know… delicate puppy tummy and all… Well, if Kiba found out, he could just blame it on a bird. On a brighter note, he was feeling much better.
Shino got tired of Kiba's grumbling and wondered out loud to himself, "I hope Hinata-chan hasn't run into any troubles at home..." The line at ToadEye, the new sukiyaki joint, was growing exponentially, and at this rate it looked as if they wouldn't get seated until dinnertime...
Now Shino and Kiba didn't care too much for sukiyaki, but Hinata had insisted they all share the experience of eating at Konoha's new trendiest eatery together. The two boys had disagreed at first, saying it wasn't their style to dine at fancy-schmancy places, but then Hinata had oh-so-cutely poked her fingers together, blushed softly and stuck out her lower lip just so... and wibbled her lip! (Imagine sparkles, bubbles and sparkly sounds galore.) Argh! Well of course they felt like the biggest cads and finally decided to see what all the hype was about. And besides, Hinata never asked for much. But still...
Curse that freakin' wibble! (And curse the kawaii-ness that is Hinata!)
They begrudgingly admitted to themselves that there wasn't a man alive who could resist her power! Unless they were gay, blind, or a member of the Hyuugas, naturally.
But the smile she gave them when they had agreed had been worth it at the end. Hinata's smile could out-brighten the sun. Shino and Kiba hated to admit it, and probably never would but...
... They were sooo whipped.
Shino had tried the wibble out later that day, simply out of curiosity. Taking a shower after a lengthy training session with his teammates, Shino took his hand and rubbed the fog off the bathroom mirror. Lowering the collar of his tan terrycloth bathrobe (he loved the luxurious texture, and yes, his bathrobe looked just like his trench coat) to expose his entire face, he concentrated on the correct muscles needed to perform this exercise.
While in deep thought, some of his chakra cockroaches (blecch) had crawled out of his neck, each wearing miniature towels of their own (hey, free sauna, why not?). When they saw what their host was doing, they quickly made haste back into his body to alert the rest of the colony of Shino's strange behavior.
"You guys," the lead kikkai bug chattered, or jibbered, well whatever it is that cockroaches speak, to the masses of towel-clad bugs in line for a nice steam bath. "You do NOT want to be out there! Our Master has gone NUTS!"
That insult to Shino's ego had accosted those bugs of that night's viewing of "Konoha's Next Top Model". Now the dejected bugs wouldn't get to know who got kicked off until the next Wednesday. They certainly learned their lesson: Do not poke fun at the one who controls the remote. Especially when "KNTM" is down to their final three contestants...
Anyways, back to the waiting...
Akamaru's ears perked up as he could smell Hinata's fresh rosemary-mint scent getting stronger and stronger. He jumped off of Kiba's head and ran into the crowd of people lining the busy streets of Konoha, yipping happily.
"Finally she's here!" cried Kiba who had also tracked the familiar smell, getting up from his sitting position and slapping the dirt off his pants. He and Shino looked ahead but couldn't see their teammate behind the large gathering of men standing before them. His keen hearing picked up the sound of Hinata clearly telling these men to back off, and Akamaru growling for them to do the same.
Shino's tracking bug had also relayed that same bit of information. Shino narrowed his eyes. However, before the two could jump in to help their friends out, a Xena-like scream pierced the air and men were flying out in every sort of direction. Black Hinata had managed to spin-kick her way out of an annoying situation, and the small workout had fired up her appetite.
She sauntered up to her friends who were just taking in their teammate's new image for the first time.
Kiba was rendered... SPEECHLESS... for once.
"Whoa... baby," whispered Shino. Words that Kiba would've said if he could find his voice.
"Hey guys," said Black Hinata, carrying Akamaru in her arms. "Sorry I'm so late..." She studied their faces. "Are you guys angry with me?" She cocked her head to the side and pouted.
Shino and Kiba knew Hinata was cute. But leather... made their innocent little Hinata look... well... fuckable
Even Shino's kikkai bugs were in a tiff. "HOT DAMN! Who's the BABE?" (In their eyes, Black Hinata looked like a big shiny black beetle.)
The normally stoic Shino cleared some ecchi thoughts from his head and spoke up first. "Kiba wouldn't stop complaiMMPH!" Kiba began to freak out and shushed Shino with his hands.
"What my good buddy here meant to say was how I couldn't stop complaining about how much I missed you, Hinata-chan! Right, Good Ol' Buddy Shino?" Kiba forced Shino's head to nod up and down, much to Shino's displeasure. The Aburame summoned one of his bugs and had it bite the source of his aggravation.
"OW!" he yelped, immediately letting go of his hold on the Bug-nin. "GODDAMN, SHINO! YOU FU-…" Black Hinata's eyes were on him. "Ehehehehe… you funny, funny guy… ehehe…" he said through his teeth.
'I'm gonna kick his ASS!' thought each man about the other person.
Akamaru whined. He was so hungry!
"Awww… Akamaru, you must be starving! I'm really sorry!" She kissed her furry friend on the nose.
Kiba and Shino thought, "Lucky son of a bitch…"
A/N: Literally, that IS what Akamaru is… a son of a bitch… eh, whatever.
"Here, Kiba- hold Akamaru for a sec. I'm going to see what I can do about getting us a table."
"Hinata-chan, why don't we eat someplace else? The wait's too long. I can take you here some other time… on a date…," offered Shino, who was blushing under his collar.
Within his body, the Hive was humming in approval and doing the Cabbage Patch dance. "Go Shino, Go Shino, it's your birthday…"
Kiba couldn't believe his ears. 'That bastard and Hinata-chan? DATE? Over my dead body!'
"Oh Shino," said Black Hinata. She walked up to her friend and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Every kikkai bug swooned. She could've sworn she heard a grateful sigh come from the inside of his body. She dismissed that ridiculous thought out immediately. "That sounds like a lot of fun. But I said that we were going to eat here, and that's what we're going to do! I'll be right back."
While Black Hinata hopped inside the restaurant to talk to the maître'd, Kiba grabbed his friend by the collar and hissed, "Just WHAT the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Shino brushed Kiba's hands from his clothing. "I asked Hinata-chan on a date. You got problems with that?"
Before Kiba could beat some sense into his love-rival, a waiter walked over to the two men to tell them that the lady had already been seated and was waiting for her two companions to arrive.
Shino and Kiba looked at one another, and then at the long line. Hinata had already gotten them a table? Sweet!
They walked in and saw the back of her head. Booth seating! And it looked like there was an empty space next to her! Kiba excitedly ran over to sidle himself against Hinata's leather-clad form. Shino calmly sat himself across from Hinata knowing better. A yelp could be heard-
Kiba sat on poor little Akamaru!
Kiba felt horrible. "Oh, Akamaru, buddy, I'm really sorry!" He moved his hand forward to rub his dog's head apologetically.
However, Akamaru was still a bit miffed and BIT his master's hand!
Kiba jerked the injured appendage away and yelled, "WHY YOU LITTLE-" He noticed Hinata was looking at him again. "Damn. I give up." He sighed and had no other choice but to sit next to Shino.
Shino and Akamaru. His two closest friends. How he hated them both! Damn them!
Lunch was ordered and served. While Black Hinata and Shino carried on a conversation about who knows what, Kiba created a mind link with Akamaru.
"You ungrateful scrap of fur, I SAID I was sorry! You just made me look like a big JERK in front of Hinata-chan!"
Akamaru stuck his nose in the air. "Ungrateful scrap of fur? I'll show you…"
With that, he began to whimper softly. Kiba narrowed his eyes. Just what was that fleabag up to?
Shino was less pleased that his talk with Hinata-chan had been rudely interrupted.
"Akamaru-kun! What's wrong?" asked Black Hinata, who picked up the distressed little pooch. She held him to her chest and began to stroke his soft fur. Akamaru threw Kiba and Shino a look that said, 'WATCH THIS' and the two men looked on as Akamaru wagged his tail and placed a wet, slobbery kiss on the corner of Hinata's mouth, causing the Hyuuga to giggle. Black Hinata set Akamaru down and gave him another kiss on the side of his face. "Aka-kun is my first kiss!" she joked. Both Shino and Kiba grabbed the fabric of their seat cushions, each wanting to inflict much harm on the not-so-innocent puppy.
In the meantime, Team Eight was under heavy surveillance and they had no idea that one of them was about to be ambushed.
Dun Dun Dun! What'll happen next?
Stay tuned for a future pool party scenario and a potentially damaging moment featuring Sasuke!