Hinata finally arrived at Sakura and Sasuke's house. As she entered the backyard, Ten ten came up to her.
"Hey! Hinata, you're here!"
Her pregnant friend, along with Sakura, Temari and Ino surrounded her at once. They all were amazed at how beautiful Hinata looked and kept bombarding her with questions on her outfit and hair.
Hinata smiled her humble smile. Just then, she looked past her circle of friends and saw Naruto and Sasuke with their jaws wide open staring at her, (much to her embarrassment) and Kiba making his way towards her.
Instinctively, Hinata blushed furiously and looked away from him. She then began to walk away as quickly as possible, but then a certain painter had suddenly stepped in front of her with his strange smile.
"Why hello Hinata," he greeted. "You look very…ugly—no! You look very radiant tonight."
"Um thank you?" she said a little uncomfortably. She glanced back at her friends for some kind of help. But before they could do anything, Sai took her hand and led her away to a table.
As she took one last glance back, she saw Kiba's look of shock and that made her smile a bit slyly. Her grin faded away as Sai made her sit down, and to add to the reluctance, he scooted a little too closely next to Hinata.
"I am so glad that you came with me, Hinata," Sai said still smiling.
"I-I never a-agreed to come with you," Hinata pointed out.
Sai apparently chose to ignore this.
"I read that you're supposed to flatter a woman," he said a little cheerfully. "And I hope that it's going well!"
Hinata sweat dropped as her eyes grew wide. There was an awkward silence where Sai kept staring at Hinata intently. She kept growing more uncomfortable by the minute, so she quickly made up an excuse to leave.
"Sai, I'll be back, I want to get a drink."
"Oh I'll get it," he said standing up. "I also read it is the gentleman who needs to get the drinks."
"N-No please!" Hinata said quickly. "I'm v-very picky with my drinks. And Sakura is the only one who knows what I like… So please, I'll be back."
Sai sat down though a bit unsure. Hinata quickly escaped into the crowd and made it as far away from Sai as she could. She let out a sigh of relief and leaned slightly against the table trying to figure out how to get away from Sai.
"I didn not know that you came with Sai, Hinata!" Lee's voice said.
She turned around and saw her friends Rock Lee and Neji standing next to her, drinking their drinks.
Hinata then quickly shook her head. "I never agreed to. Sai tried asking me, and I turned him down, but I don't think he understood what I meant…"
"Ah the art of youthful rejection," Lee sighed passionately. "I remember how Sakura rejected me… But now, I am so happy that Guy Sensei paired me with a friend's daughter! And she is the most beautiful creature ever to grace this earth!"
Neji bit his lip and shook his head. Lee took no notice of this, and walked off to join Choji and his special friend at a nearby table.
"Hinata, I hope you're having fun," Neji said to his cousin.
She smiled and thanked him and he continued. "I hope that you're having fun. And Hinata…"
The younger cousin looked at him curiously, and then he added, "Hanabi told me what happened with Kiba."
Hinata bit her lip as she waited for the scolding and lecture from Neji that he always gave her when something bad happened to her. To her surprise, however, Neji's speech was something completely different from what she had thought.
"Look, I don't like what he has done to you," he started. "And I always thought that you were, and still are, too good for Kiba. And I hate to admit it, but I hope that you two fix things before it gets even worse. There was a beautiful friendship and relationship back then. I just hope he doesn't hurt you more, because if he does, I'll hurt him twice as bad. But whatever happens, I'll respect your decision and you'll have my blessings."
"Wow Neji," Hinata said in surprise. "Thank you so much. I really do hope it goes well…"
"You know," he added as turned to the table to get another drink. "He really wants to talk to you."
Hinata looked at him a little puzzled at his behavior. Usually, he would do everything in his power so Kiba would never even get near Hinata ever again. Her cousin took notice of this and explained how he really wanted to see Hinata happy.
"I have a good feeling about him. Trust me."
The young pediatrician then heard Neji mumble one last thing before walking off. As she was about to call to him, she turned to face the man trying to talk to her.
"Hinata," Kiba said simply.
She didn't know what to say. All she could do was stare at him with her mouth agape and her face going instead of its usual red, to pale.
"Can we talk?"
"K-Kiba," she stuttered after a moment. "I-I d-don't know i-i-if—"
"Please, just hear me out," he begged.
"I don't want to hear it!" she burst out folding her arms. "You hurt me Kiba without even letting me explain everything! I'm not sure if you're going to hurt me again if I let you talk to me."
The Inuzuka winced at Hinata's sudden words. He looked at her and saw that she was glaring slightly. He then took a deep breath and spoke again with as much sincerity as he could.
"I know you don't want to talk to me. I know I hurt you beyond what you could forgive me for. But Hinata, all I ask is for a moment of your time just to hear me out. I really want you to hear my apology, and I'll be more than happy if you at least forgave me. And if you don't I'll understand and won't bother you again. But please hear me out. That's all I ask for."
Hinata looked at him for a moment. She was mentally debating whether to hear his apology or not. Finally, she decided herself and said, "Okay fine. I'll listen to you Kiba."
He sighed in relief then began to lead her to the nearby stools. But before they could even sit down, Sai suddenly stopped them.
"Oh Hinata, I was wondering where you were. Come on now. Let's get back to our date."
Kiba stared at him without blinking. "You two on a date?"
"N-No I—"
"Yes we are. If you'll excuse us Dog Boy, I'll be taking her back."
"It doesn't look like she wants to be your date," Kiba remarked glaring at Sai. "And whatcha call me? Dog Boy?"
"I just did," Sai replied with his fake smile and cheerful tone. "Well I had asked her a few days ago and beautiful Hinata agreed."
"I never agreed!" Hinata pointed out again, though the two men ignored her.
"Look who's talking emotionless weirdo," Kiba said with his voice rising little by little. "Can't you just give us a moment so I can talk to her Sae?"
"It's Sai, and no that's just going to give you the opportunity to snatch her away."
Hinata blushed at this comment and watched as the two men continued arguing.
"Sae, Sai, Sal whatever. I don't care. I'll remember you once I get my memory back. Can I just have a moment with Hinata?"
"No, I don't think so," Sai said now getting closer to Kiba.
"What are you going to do if I don't let you get near her?" Kiba asked menacingly.
The two continued scowling and glaring at each other till Hinata couldn't take the fighting any longer and stopped them.
"Guys! Sai, I never agreed to come with you on the date! When you asked me and waited for my answer, I told you no thank you, but I said I'd see you over there! Not meet you! And Kiba, don't start to fight and yes you can talk to me," she cried out.
Sai looked at Hinata for a moment before he said, "Well if that's what you want Hinata." And Sai marched off to join a different group of people.
Kiba sighed in relief again. The two then sat down, and Kiba continued to tap his fingers on the table. Hinata waited for Kiba to speak, then he finally gazed at her and spoke.
"Hinata… Wow you look gorgeous…" She blushed but did nothing and continued to wait for his talk. "I am so, so sorry. I know that what I did was wrong and that I hurt you a lot. I shouldn't have believed Izumi, but that I should've believed you instead. Hinata, I'm not trying to use my memory loss as an excuse, and I don't want it to be an excuse, but I just couldn't remember anything… When you told me the truth, I started regretting it and by the time it got to your mother, I just felt like the worse villain in history. I'm not being the victim here, if that's what you're thinking, but I felt regret.
"I may not remember it, but I'm sorry that I was such a jerk to you after we broke up. I know that that was wrong of me, and I shouldn't have pushed away my best friend like that. You deserved to have gotten someone better than me, and I really deserved an ass kicking. Hinata, I hope you can forgive me for what I did, and that we can still be friends. If you don't well, I'll understand and hope for the best. But please, please, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
All the while that Kiba was apologizing, Hinata hadn't noticed that her mouth was opening little by little till she realized that she was now gaping at Kiba. This is what she had wanted her whole life… To have Kiba finally be back to his old self (even though he had no memory, it was still the best thing) and realize what he had done back then.
"H-How did you know about—? Hinata began to ask him.
"Hana told me," Kiba grinned. "And she sure is the best big sister ever! I hope I remember all the times with her soon."
The Hyuga girl continued to stare at him. She was so speechless that she didn't even know what to say to Kiba. Yes, she wanted to forgive him but her shock kept preventing her from saying anything else. Oh mother, what do I do? She asked in her mind. Just then, despite the oncoming clouds about to block the moon, it shone brightly and it developed a kind of warm and gentle glow that Hinata felt. Somehow, she knew her mother was telling her to follow her heart and take the chance just like Kurenai Sensei did.
As she continued to choose the words for Kiba, a slow song called We Danced by Brad Paisely came out and all the couples slowly made their way to the dance floor. Kiba then broke Hinata's thoughts. He held out his hand in front of her and asked with his toothy grin, "Wanna dance?"
She looked at his hand for a moment before shaking her head. Kiba's grin began to fade away, but Hinata did take his hand and that made his eyes look at her with a puzzled expression.
"Come with me," she whispered loud enough for him to hear her. "I want to show you something."
Hinata boldly took Kiba away from the BBQ, and left while ignoring the many amazed and suggestive looks of their friends' faces. Hinata kept leading the way for some ten minutes before Kiba realized that they were now in Konoha Park. He was about to ask why they were there, when Hinata still kept walking hand in hand with Kiba, and went through a thick part of the park where there were many trees. The pair walked on for a few more minutes before they reached a small area where there were roses, lavenders and a marble stone. For a minute, Kiba thought it was a historical landmark, but immediately realized that was not it.
They stopped a little from the marble stone and Hinata said, "This is my mother's grave, Kiba. I wanted you to see it…"
The tombstone read Harumi Hyuga along with her dates of birth and death. Both hadn't let go of each other's hands at all and Kiba seemed to be at a loss of words.
"She was born in spring…" Hinata whispered. "And she died spring. She always loved roses and lavenders. They were her favorite flowers."
Finally, Kiba turned to Hinata and replied, "Now that we're here, I hope that she can forgive me for speaking to her amazing daughter like that. And I'm going to promise her that I'll do anything to help her daughter be happy."
The Hyuga girl beamed at him. "She has always liked you… And I feel like she already has forgiven you… Just like I did."
Kiba's face suddenly exploded into a grin and he picked up and twirled Hinata around. Once he put her down, he hugged Hinata and he suddenly felt like the moon was showering him with the warm light it had. Suddenly, the truth hit him! He let go of Hinata and stared at her bewildered face.
"Isn't this where we met?" he asked. When she nodded, Kiba continued to speak his epiphany. "Yes! I remember! You used to garden those flowers here all the time! This is where you me and Shino used to hang out a lot! And…"
He stopped and looked into her lavender eyes and said gently, "This is where we had our first kiss huh?"
Hinata's eyes widened and she cried out, "Kiba! You remember!"
He nodded and added, "Yeah! You were still picking out flowers and I had run out and picked out a rose 'cause you couldn't find one! And when I brought it to you, you thanked me and we just looked at each other and kissed! This is where…I asked you out!"
Hinata nodded excitedly and couldn't believe Kiba was suddenly remembering all of this.
"I asked you out here… We had been hanging out at the park all day, and when it was night, we came to see your mother and when you turned around to look at me, I took your hands like this and admitted how much I liked you! I felt really excited and I asked you out! Yeah! I remember now!"
"I'm so glad you remembered Kiba!" Hinata cried out happily. Something made her throw her arms around Kiba's neck and embrace him. He obliged and held her by the waist for a very long time. Suddenly, the moonlight and warm glow was over as the clouds blocked the moon, and it began to thunder. The two friends looked up and saw that it was starting to rain.
"I think your mom's trying to tell us to go home now or we'll catch a cold," Kiba grinned.
Hinata, smiling still, nodded in agreement. "Yes, let's go back home…"
"With you?" Kiba blurted out.
She giggled and nodded. The thunder then got worse, so the two ran back (hand in hand) to Sakura and Sasuke's house since Hinata's car was there. Once they arrived, they got in the car and headed back to Hinata's apartment. They ran up and quickly got inside the apartment.
"Wow it's raining badly," Kiba said trying to dry himself. "Do you still have my um, clothes?"
"Umm," Hinata said. She went to the guest room and was surprised to see his suitcase and clothes still there. Sakura and Ino must've put them back after I threw them out she thought to herself.
"You kept them?" Kiba asked in shock as he showed up.
"Actually, I uh—"
Kiba laughed and shook it off. "Nah, it's alright whatever happened. As long as I still got clothes here it's all good!"
Hinata giggled and let him in the room to change. While in her room changing, Hinata jumped in alarm as lightning and thunder struck at the same time. She quickly ran to the door, opened it and bumped into a warm boulder.
"Hey are you okay?" Kiba asked helping Hinata back on her feet.
"Y-Yes," she stammered. "I j-just didn't think that the r-rain would get this bad… I don't like storms like this… I feel like everything's going to blow away and people could get hurt…"
She looked out the window and saw the raindrops hitting the window hard, and suddenly lighting and thunder struck again. She buried her face in Kiba's chest, then she burst out what was on her mind: "Kiba, stay with me please!"
"Wh-what?" he asked in surprise. "Are you sure? I don't want to bother you in your sleeping time…"
She shook her head and began to blush while stopping herself from fainting. "Please Kiba! Stay with me…"
The two looked into each other's eyes for a moment, then Kiba nodded and agreed he'd stay with Hinata. She then got the bed ready and got in and Kiba followed. Her bed suddenly felt much warmer than ever as he got in and Hinata loved the feeling immediately. As she was adjusting to this new detail, the storm struck again and Hinata jumped in fright. To her surprise, however, a pair of warm and strong arms wrapped themselves around her.
"It's okay," Kiba whispered in her ear. "I'm here…"
"Thank you Kiba," Hinata replied, beaming and blushing.
The two of them laid in silence for a moment before Kiba chuckled and said, "Ya know? We didn't even get to eat anything at the BBQ!"
Hinata giggled and promised she'd make him a delicious breakfast tomorrow once they woke up.
"Thanks Hinata… A lot and I mean a lot…" he added in a yawn. "Goodnight Hinata."
"Goodnight Kiba…" she replied softly.
Hinata then snuggled up closer to Kiba and realized that with Kiba around, Hinata could get through any storm in life; that night, she slept soundly as ever as the two of them made it through the storm.
A/N: Woo long chapter! Oh by the way...no Kiba and Hinata didn't do anything that night... Not yet anyways ;) hehe hint-hint! There's still a few more chapters and I hope you guys keep reading! Read & Review please! :)