A/N: Thank you for reading still! I hope you are enjoying the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Or anyone in Naruto, including Kiba.)
"POOL!" James shouted and cannon-balled into the center splashing kids playing on noodles.
The pool was indoor and heated. I slid into the water and felt it envelop me like an electric blanket on a snowy winter day. It was the perfect temperature. There were a couple of heat lamps set up to lay under, where a few women lay on their towels. The floor was concrete with a smooth light blue tile surrounding the pool. An entire wall was covered in floor to ceiling windows, revealing the overcast weather outside. Along the opposite walls were doors to the entrance , exit, and changing rooms. The entire room was about ¾ the size of a football field. The pool lay in the middle and followed the lines of the window covered wall, With five hot tubs raised around the edge of the pool near the heating lamps, with little waterfalls pouring from them. Creating a multi-layered effect in the room. Two of the hot tubs were occupied by couples. When we came in Matt and Sami made a direct route for the food stand. Jessica found a table with five chairs and neatly folded our towels into each seat before joining me in the pool. James backstroked over to us while Sami and Matt placed an order. Finally they jumped in to join us after Matt put his glasses on his towel.
"This pool feels so good! Not too hot, not too cold." Sami exclaimed sinking to her knees in the shallow end, only her head protruding above the water.
"Do you see this place? Every time I look it gets more and more beautiful!" I grabbed a nearby noodle and sat on it like a swing.
"I'll tell you something beautiful. That's you babe." Some random guy had come up to us. He had brown shaggy hair, about shoulder length wet, and intelligent, mischievous, shining brown eyes. He also had some punk-rockish looking tattoos on his face, upside-down brownish-red triangles. He was cute and mischievous looking, his muscles were lithe, like a runners. While I was critically looking at him my assessments were interrupted.
"Back off punk." James, known for being way overprotective, had lost all his friendly demeanor and had stood up hands forming fists.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that this little boy had a claim on you." He flashed a grin showing pointed, dog like teeth. The strange boy stood up to his full height, a complete head taller than James. He picked up my hand off the noodle and placed a surprisingly light kiss on the back. "Please, call me Kiba."
James was about to land a punch squarely in Kiba's jaw when a huge dog and two people appeared. Seemingly out of nowhere.
"Kiba, get out of there." A boy in a large hooded sweatshirt spoke. I couldn't see his face because the hood was shadowing his face, plus the sunglasses obscuring his eyes.
"Please Kiba-kun, get out of the pool." The girl standing next to the strange hooded boy had long black hair and milky translucent eyes without pupils. Probably some new fashion statement. You can do anything with contacts now-a-days. The dog stood up between her waist and shoulders. It was white with black spots on it's ears. It was huge, and kind of frightening.
"I was just leaving guys, don't worry." Kiba jumped out of the pool in one jump that would have put an Olympic high jumper to shame. "Don't ever get in my face boy." Kiba pointed a slender finger at James with a growl, showing his sharp teeth in a more menacing way. "Good bye beautiful." he looked at me one last time and turned away.
Kiba and his friends walked out of the room the usual slap of feet, nonexistent.
"What was wrong with that guy? He had no right." James spluttered, his face turning red. "Are you ok Carls?"
I looked around coming out of my daze. Kiba certainly was cute, but I love James. "Yeah…I just wish you weren't so over protective." Then before he could get upset. "But I agree. That was…really weird." I slipped off my noodle and hugged him, placing a tentative kiss on his lips to smooth over my criticism. I let out a light chuckle and James settled down.
We swam and splashed for another couple of minutes before our food arrived at our table. Everyone jumped out creating a puddle path to our table from the pool side.
"Yum! Yum! Dig in. Matt and I think you guys will enjoy what we decided on." Sami lifted the cover off the large plate as a familiar scent reached our noses.
"Sami burgers!" I shouted, "I haven't had one of your burgers in forever!" I grabbed the meaty goodness that was showing my favorite toppings and bit in. I let out a sigh. "Just like I like 'em."
"How did you make them?" Jessica asked as she cut hers in half. "You were with us the whole time.
"I gave the cook people specific instructions as to how to make each one. Carly, just like you like it. As rare as it is legal, no mayo, cheese, and extra thick bacon."
"You know how I like my burgers. Just let the cow jump over the fire and cut me off a piece!" I laughed at the phrase my grandfather used to say and wiped the juice from the corner of my mouth.
"Jessica. Yours is brown all the way through, extra lettuce and tomato."
Jessica just nodded in agreement and continued to chomp through her Sami burger.
"James yours is weird deliciousness. Grape jelly, medium rare, lettuce, no ketchup nor mayo." Sami sighed at James' weirdness.
"Hey! It tastes good! Don't judge!" James took a bite of his burger, nearly half of it disappearing in his maw. Jelly dripping down his chin along with burger juices.
"No one is judging, its just…weird. Matt, lettuce, tomato, well done, extra honey mustard, no mayo."
Matt was already licking his lips in anticipation while he followed his sisters lead and cut his burger in half.
"And for me? Bacon, lettuce, tomato, sausage, ranch, and medium rare deliciousness." Sami finished her sentence by enthusiastically licking her lips and biting into her sandwich squeezing ranch out the opposite end. For the next few minutes all that was heard from our table was the smacking of lips and swift chewing of food. After a few minutes of chowing down I heard a throat being cleared behind me and a slight tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see the long haired girl that was with Kiba earlier.
"Sumimasen" [meaning I'm sorry] the girl bowed.
"Uh, hi?" I was a little taken aback by her sudden appearance
"My name is…uh….Hinata Hyuuga. I just…uh…wanted to apologize…for Kiba-kun's behavior. He tends to be…rash." The girl twiddled her fingers together and stuttered her way through her speech.
"Uh, hi. Carly Turner. This is Jessica, Matt, James, and Sami." I pointed to each of us in turn. "Don't worry about it. It happened. No need to worry about what is past."
"I disagree however! Hi, James, Carly's boyfriend. Tell that punk that if he wants to get even within shouting distance of Carly, he'll have to go through me." James stood up so fast while talking that his chair was knocked over.
I sent James a glare, daring him to say one more word. "James however is the only one of us that feels that way. Please, he is very protective, please pardon his rash behavior. I'm sure you understand that Kiba is not the only hot head in the world." I chuckled and pulled up a chair for Hinata.
"Arigato." [Thank you in Japanese] She sat in the chair I gestured at. "Once again I apologize. Kiba-kun shouldn't have done something so…impulsive. But I'm afraid that's just who he is." Hinata stuttered and bowed again in nervousness.
"Eh, Carly gets that all the time, sometimes I wonder why she sticks with you, James. Should be used to it." Sami gave James a friendly punch on the shoulder, but her definition of friendly made James cringe in pain.
"Sumimasen, [once again, I'm sorry, in Japanese for those of you who don't know.] but your Japanese are you not?" Jessica was always interested in the Orient.
"Hai." [Yes, via Japanese] Hinata bowed,. She seemed to bow a lot.
"Would you mind telling me stories of Japan? I've always loved the Eastern cultures."
"Of course, I'm honored that you show interest. I also came not only to apologize but to give this to Turner-san." Hinata handed me a card with a leaf symbol on the front.
"Please Hinata, call me Carly." I took the card, flipped it over and read:
Carly,
Please allow me to apologize for my rash behavior earlier in the pool. If you would please bring your beautiful smile to suite 905 around 5 o'clock pm, Hinata has the key for you.. I have some very important people I wish for you to meet.
Yours,
Kiba
P.S. Please feel free to bring your friends along, but I will warn, if your boy attempts to fight me, I will not be responsible for what happens. Fair warning.
"I hope you can come. Its casual dress, nothing fancy." Hinata handed me the key.
"Thank you. We'll be there a little after 5, we need to clean up a little." I put the key and invite in my bag while everyone looked at me questioningly.
"Arigato, for giving Kiba-kun a chance." Hinata bowed and turned to Jessica. "I hope to see you there, to share stories." She bowed again and walked silently away.
"Uh, what just happened?" James picked up the card from my bag and read silently. "Is he threatening me?! It doesn't matter anyway because we won't be going." He cracked his knuckles.
Sami took the card and was reading slowly while Jessica and Matt read over her shoulder.
"Well I would like to go. I want to hear Hinata's stories." Jessica began to wrap her towel around her almost dried body.
"I'm going, too. It might be interesting." matt put his glasses on and handed Jessica her bag.
"Who knows? There might be cute guys." Sami put the card in my bag and stood up.
"Sorry babe looks like you and I aren't going." James picked up my purse and walked over to the glass doors that led out of the pool room.
The room was nearly empty, with only an elderly couple in a hot tub and a few workers gathered near the food bar. I checked the time, ten minutes till 5 pm.
"I want to go James. You can't be this overprotective. Plus you might find out that you and Kiba have a lot in common. Your both hot headed for one. Give him a chance." I took my purse and walked out the door. Sami, Jessica, and Matt following. James eventually realized what was happening and caught up. "AND NO FIGHTING!" I jabbed him in the chest with my pointer finger.
On the way to our suite we passed Kiba's suite 905. I could hear occasional whining from the monster dog and hushed voices.
I took out the key to our room and unlocked to door. I stepped in and went straight to the kitchen to grab a water.
A/N: Thank you for reading. Please R&R. Pairings, settings, plot ideas. Anything and everything!