Kiba nodded, a little shocked. "Wow, you've gotten yourself into quite a dilemma." He scratched the back of his head. "I wonder why Sakura has suddenly developed these feelings for you? If it were me, I'd-
"Sorry I'm late, Kiba-kun!" Hinata's voice could be heard coming closer from the forests.
Kiba glanced over at Naruto and spoke in a hushed tone. "Would you rather not talk to her right now? I'll cover for you." He then raised his tone. "No problem, Hinata! I've just been practicing with Akamaru!" He looked at Naruto with a 'If you want to leave, this is your only chance' look.
Naruto nodded and ran off trying not to make a lot of noise which he was very used to, and he hoped Hinata would not use her Byakugan because it would not look good to see him running away from them. He stopped when he got to where he was training before and continued where he had left off, with some taijutsu training. He felt his clones were not as effective as they could be if they could fight hand-to-hand better. He was still confused and wondered what Kiba was going to say or if it would have even helped, but decided for now he would just train.
--
Hinata came out of the forests to the training spot right as Naruto left breathing somewhat heavily. "Hey Hinata, what took you so long?
Hinata smiled meekly. "I'm sorry, I ran into Sakura on the way here." Kiba's eyes grew wide as he recalled what Naruto had been saying. "It's funny," she continued, "she was acting very strange..."
"Uh, h-how was she acting?" Kiba asked her, hoping she wouldn't notice something off.
"Well," Hinata smiled, deciding to tell Kiba, "Naruto invited me to dinner last night with him after I..." She pretty much repeated the tale Naruto spoke of but without the Sakura parts because she, of course, wasn't there.
"...imagine that!" Kiba smiled, trying to act surprised.
Hinata looked hurt. "I thought you would be more excited and happy, Kiba-kun."
"Oh, I am! I am! I'm just shocked!" Kiba inwardly sighed as Hinata nodded and began warming up for training. She seems really excited about all of this...I wonder how she's going to act when she finds out about what role Sakura's playing in this now... He glanced over at her and noticed a rare smile played on her face.
--
Sakura left her house after she had gotten ready, and went in search of Naruto. She figured he was out training in the forest where he normally did, so that's where she headed. Once she got to the forest she began searching the area from the treetops. She found Hinata and Kiba first but did not stop. She kept on looking for Naruto, after about 10 minutes of searching she found him resting. "Ah, there he is," she said to herself as she jumped down from the tree she was standing in, landing right in front of Naruto. "Found you, now before you say anything I want to apologize about last night, I did not mean to flip-out like that," Sakura said before Naruto could say a word.
"Err...apology accepted..." he said, "is that all?" he asked her still a bit shocked by her apology.
"Well no, I need you to close your eyes for a second, and don't ask why," she said. Naruto looked at her funny for a second then did as she said. Not even five seconds had passed before Sakura's lips were touching his.
--
"You seem happier than usual," Kiba couldn't help but smile.
Hinata blushed. "I don't know why, I just feel so much better thinking about him," She smacked herself. "But I still have to talk to my family about it."
"Oh yeah, Neji's going to be a big problem in that, isn't he?"
"He already is..." Hinata sighed, thinking that this was the biggest obstacle in the relationship. She would be sorely surprised to find out that it wasn't if she had been only about a mile further to see what was going on with Naruto and Sakura at the moment.
"...did he seem to feel the same way, Hinata?"
Hinata smiled and nodded. "That's what makes it so great!" Kiba grinned but couldn't help but feel a little sadness for his teammate. He wasn't sure what Naruto would choose, but his insides churned as he worried about what he thought his decision would be.
--
Sakura pulled away after a few seconds. "Now I want you to think about who you want more, me or Hinata." And without another word she jumped away. Once she was gone Naruto began to bang the back of his head into the tree he was leaning against. "Why...does...this...have ..to...happen...to...me!" he demanded with a strike after each word. "I need to tell Hinata what's going on before this gets out of hand and I can't explain it," he said to himself. He began to walk towards where Hinata and Kiba were, thinking of what he was going to say, he was nervous, and he did not even know if he was going to pick Hinata or not, he just wanted to be honest with her because they were technically boyfriend and girlfriend. When he arrived he found the two training together and did not want to interrupt so quietly sat at the base of a nearby tree and waited for one of them to notice him.
--
Kiba and Akamaru attacked Hinata as she practiced with her Byakugan, dodging attacks and bringing her own assault. She was careful not to focus so much chakra into her hands that it would hurt Kiba or Akamaru when she made a hit, but it would have a similar impact to a normal attack. After a little while they all sat down, exhausted and Akamaru barked as he sniffed Naruto. Kiba glanced over and then poked Hinata on the shoulder, pointing in his direction. Hinata smiled happily and waved to him, "Naruto-kun!" but her smile quickly faded and she began to worry as she noticed that Naruto wasn't acting normal. Kiba sighed, guessing what was getting ready to happen.
"Hey Hinata, can we talk for a minute alone?" he asked, getting up and walking towards her. "A lot of things have happened since last night, and I mean a lot, and I want to be completely honest with you, because, well, I love you, that much has not changed, I'll tell you that so you're not worried about that," he said and then took her by the hand and walked away from Kiba. "I'll bring back your teammate in a minute, Kiba," he said, waving at him from over his back.
She looked at him worriedly and walked with him. "W-what's the matter, Naruto-kun? What all has happened?" She thought of what could have happened, but couldn't think of anything. She looked away from him. "Are you ashamed of me now?
Kiba sighed and sat down by the post, petting Akamaru. "Let's hope this goes okay, eh boy?" Akamaru wimpered and jumped into his lap.
"No Hinata I'm not ashamed of you at all, after I went home last night Sakura came by my house and ..." Naruto told her every thing that happened, every detail including the kiss he just received, he left Kiba out of the story for his sake. "I'm so sorry Hinata I did not want her to kiss me and I did not want any of that to happen, and I don't like being confused, and I hate to see you upset. I just want you to know the truth before you find out from someone else. I want you to know that since I now have to choose between you and Sakura, I'm going to have to make the only good choice there is..." Naruto said and put his arms around her waist and kissed her with the most passion he had so far. "And that's you, I love you and I'm sorry if any part of that story made you think otherwise," he said holding her close.
Hinata made no move out of pure shock and surprise, and then realized that Sakura's show of sudden interest earlier had been because of this. After a minute or two of complete stillness and quiet she suddenly looked down at the ground ashamed and twiddled her thumbs, not sure how to ask her question without it sounding offensive or like she was trying to hurt Sakura because, truthfully, she was holding no grudge against Sakura. "Does Sakura-kun know about your choice?"
"No, I have not had a chance yet, she just kissed me and left not even ten minutes ago, but I don't think she is going to like it, she seemed sure that I would pick her, but she does not know how much I care for you, I will have to tell her how I feel next time I see her, which I have a feeling will be soon..." He put some space between then, but held both of her hands. "Well I think I should let you get back to your training, I cut it really short, and I told Kiba I would return you shortly, and you can tell him what I said, if you want, I'm sure he would like to know," Naruto said to her and gave her another quick kiss. "I love you and don't let anything anyone else say make you think otherwise," he smiled and waited for her to say something.
She smiled sadly and looked up, elated at his choice. "I love you too, Naruto-kun...just don't hurt Sakura-kun when you tell her, please?" She looked away, the smile still on her face. "Not all girls could be as lucky as me, you know...you surely can't love them all." She had a playful tone to her voice at the last part. She paused for a moment. "Naruto-kun, Neji nii-san knows about last night...but he hasn't told my father yet...I don't know what he plans to do, but he knows."
"Don't worry I'll try to break it to her as easily as I can, but how does Neji know? Maybe I should talk to him and see what his problem with me is, I don't know though I will have to figure something out." As he finished he let go of one of her hands and began walking towards where Kiba was.
"Perhaps I should sort things out with Neji nii-san...he saw us I'm guessing near the house...all I know is that he confronted me about it in the house..."
Kiba noticed Naruto and Hinata coming and fretted for a moment, but relaxed when he realized that they were holding hands. Maybe it went well after all...perhaps he chose our Hinata. He smiled and got up, waving to them, Hinata waving back.
"Well, I'm going to go now, but I'll be back after a while to give you time to train, I'm going to track down Sakura, and let her know what's going on, I will you soon," he said as he stopped and let go of her hand so she could continue to where Kiba was. Naruto waved to Kiba then began to walk toward the village.
Hinata smiled and nodded, then ran the rest of the way to Kiba and Akamaru. "How'd it go?" Kiba asked.
"What do you mean?" Hinata asked him curiously. Kiba mentally slapped himself but sighed in ease when Hinata started telling him about what all had happened. He was glad that Naruto made the choice he did, and with everyone's minds put to ease, they continued their training as normal.