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Summary: Naruto and Kiba both are in love with Hinata. But who will she choose? What do Kiba and Naruto have to do in order to win her heart? Kiba and Naruto have confessed their love for Hinata at the same time. They were about to get into a big fight, but Hinata stopped them and became very upset. What will happen now?
Chapter 3: Shikamaru's idea
Hinata sat there for a while looking down at her hands. Akamaru sat right behind her with his head down. Naruto and Kiba sat in front of her looking at her with concern. She had finally stopped crying and now looked as if she was in a daze.
Kiba looked around at Naruto. "What do we do now?" he thought. Naruto kept looking at Hinata. He had a look of guilt on his face. Kiba knew that Naruto felt bad for blowing off in front of Hinata, but Kiba knew that wasn't the only reason Hinata freaked out. He decided to tell Naruto about it later when Hinata wasn't around.
Kiba was about to say something apologetic to her, but she beat him to it. "When did this happen, Kiba? Naruto? When did you both start liking me?"
Naruto stared at her and felt even guiltier. "How can I tell her that I started liking her only after I came back after three years with the Pervy Sage? I mean she just got so hot. She also became powerful and confident." Naruto was struggling for words, but Kiba talked first. "Hinata, I've liked you as a good friend for years. I still think of you as a good friend, but as the years went by I started feeling something else. I can't say exactly when because it was a slow development. It probably started after you failed your first Chunin exams, after Neji beat you."
Hinata just sat there listening. She glanced at Naruto and waited for his reply. Naruto looked a little bit angry, and also a little bit ashamed. "Naruto?"
Naruto sighed, and looked at Hinata with a serious face. "I started falling for you after I came back to Konoha so it was fairly recent." Hinata looked at her hands again and didn't move. "I see. So, what do we do now?"
They all pondered for a while, trying to think of something, but nothing came to mind. Kiba got up and walked over to Hinata and squat down in front of her. "How about we all just go home for now? I think this was a pretty big event for all of us."
Hinata nodded and started to get up. Naruto stood up and stood beside Kiba. "We'll talk about this later. When we have all calmed down a bit, okay?" Again, she just nodded. She turned and walked back in the direction of the Hyuuga house. Akamaru looked after her and whined. Kiba pat him on the head. "It's okay boy. She'll be alright."
Kiba glared at Naruto for a while. "Man, I really don't want to talk to this guy, but if I don't things could get even messier." Naruto was still looking after Hinata when he felt Kiba's glare. He finally got fed up and started ranting. "What?! You wanna piece of me? Why do you keep glaring at me? If you wanna say something say it to my-" "Come with me." "Huh?" "I said come with me you asshole. We have to talk."
Ten minutes later in a dumpling shop…
Kiba stared at Naruto with a look of irritation, and Naruto stared right back looking pretty angry. "Well, what do you wanna say to me?" grumbled Naruto. Kiba sighed. "It's about what we did in front of Hinata." "Now don't start blaming me! You're the one made her cry!" Kiba looked shocked. "W-what the hell? I wasn't blaming you, you idiot! On the contrary I'm blaming both of us." Now Naruto was surprised. "Huh?" Kiba sighed again. "Look, Hinata hasn't had it easy you know. She's almost seventeen and by that time her father wants her to be married. She doesn't want to get married so she's fighting with him, and she's kept him at bay for now, but she knows that she won't be able to keep this up for long." Naruto thought for a moment, and then asked, "Why is she so against getting married? Is it so bad?" Kiba was getting even more frustrated. "Jeez man, you love her, but you know nothing about her or how she feels about things, huh? That's just sad."
Naruto eyes widened a little, and then he looked down looking embarrassed. "It's not like I can really talk to her." Kiba cocked an eyebrow. "What? Are you serious?! You wanted her to be yours and you didn't even plan to get to know her?! Your such a-" "No, it's not that. It's just that… well…" Kiba looked at him suspiciously. Naruto looked away and blushed. "It's just, every time I look at her now, I just wanna jump her and take her right then and there, ya know?"
Kiba eyes bugged out. He could not believe what he was hearing. He had never expected to hear Naruto, the great ninja who planned on becoming the greatest Hokage, say such perverted words. "Hanging out with Jiraiya must have fried his innocent mind. He never seemed to be interested in girls before."
He looked at Naruto very seriously. "Naruto, tell me honestly, what exactly do you like about Hinata?" This threw Naruto off a little bit. Then he leaned back and thought. "Well, she's defiantly become a real hotty, her hair is great, she's gotten stronger physically, and going by what your tolled me about her father, she's gotten mentally stronger too. Plus the outfit she has now suits her much better than the one she wore before." Kiba was shaking with anger. "Is that all you care about? Strength and looks? What about her personality? What about what she wants and needs? Don't you care about any of that?!" Naruto wasn't listening. "But you know Kiba, the one thing that really made me fall in love with her, was that she tried her hardest at everything. She tried so hard at everything and so far has succeeded. I'm actually pretty proud of her."
This answer shocked Kiba. There where many things that made him fall for Hinata, but Naruto's reply was exactly the same reason why Kiba completely fell for her. But he still felt very angry. How could Naruto know how hard she worked? He was gone for three years. He would never understand how hard she worked! When Hinata gave up Naruto, Kiba felt relieved and saw that he had a chance. But he knew she wanted to wait a while before getting into a relationship with anyone. But now all of a sudden the one who had always rejected her says that he likes…no, loves her! How could he say that! The stupid jerk!
"Uh, Kiba? You alright there?" Kiba snapped out of his inner fuse and saw that Naruto was looking at him with a confused look. "I'm fine. Just forget it."
"So why is it so bad?" "Huh?" "You never answered my question, why doesn't Hinata want to get married?" Kiba got up from the table and looked directly at Naruto. "She wants to live out her life as a teenager while she can. Sooner or later she's going to have to marry a rich snob from the Hyuuga clan. But I'll be damned if she has to go through that."
Naruto stood up and glared at him. "Not before I do you don't. She'll be mine for sure." "She's not an object, she can decide for herself. We will see who she chooses in the end." Kiba walked towards the entrance of the shop and stopped at the door. He looked back at Naruto. "In the meantime, if you want to have any chance at beating me, I suggest you get to know her a little better." And with that, Kiba left the shop towards his house with Akamaru at his side.
Hinata POV
Hinata walked aimlessly around the forest thinking about what all had happened in such a short time. "I can't believe I cried like that. I promised myself I wouldn't cry like that." She kept walking for about fifteen minutes, but finally sat down against a tree. She sighed and looked up at the sky. "If only things could simpler." She kept looking at the orange colored sunset, daydreaming of what it would be like to fly.
Snap! Hinata pulled out her Kunai and looked around the tree. But all she saw was a female deer walking towards her. She sighed in relief. "Don't scare me like that. If I hadn't stopped to look I could have really hurt you."
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Hinata gasped and saw Shikamaru walking up from behind the doe. "All of the animals here protect the forest so they're pretty well trained for combat." "I-I'm sorry Shikamaru. I forgot this was your property. I'll leave." "No, no you don't have to leave. It's not really my place, its Konoha's, so you wander all you want." "Oh, um thank you."
Hinata didn't know Shikamaru all that much, but on several occasions, his team had joined up with her team on certain missions. And because of their sensei Kurenai and sensei Asuma's relationship with each other, both teams often hung out together while they went on dates.
Shikamaru looked at Hinata strangely. "What's wrong? You seem upset. Did something happen?" Hinata looked away. She didn't want people to think she was weak anymore, especially since she had finally gained respect for her being a ninja from the townspeople of Konoha. "Oh, uh, it's nothing, I'm just tired." "Yeah right." Hinata was shocked at how blunt he sounded. "I know something's up. You've been walking around the forest in a daze for a while now so it's pretty obvious." "Y-You've been watching me this whole time?" "Well my family takes care of Konoha's forest so it's only natural that I go out on patrol, ya know? Plus, you didn't look like you wanted to talk right then so I waited." "Oh, I see." "So, what's up?"
She really wanted to tell someone, but she didn't know if Shikamaru should be the one to hear what had happened. It wasn't like she didn't trust him. But she thought she would either keep it to herself or talk to another female. However, because he offered, she felt so tempted to just blurt it all out and feel the relief of telling someone. This brought back memories about what had happened and her vision got blurry.
"Hinata?" "Um, r-really, i-it's nothing. sob I-I just need to sniffle I just…just" She couldn't stop the flow of tears. "Uh! Why am I crying? It's not that big of a deal! Why can't I just handle it calmly? Why am I such a freaking baby?" She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Shikamaru was grinning at her. "I knew something was up. Look if you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine. But I would suggest you tell someone about it. If you want, Temari is at my house and you can talk to her." "Y-You and Temari sniffle l-live together now?" He frowned at this and sighed. "Honestly I didn't want her to stay over, but we have to go over certain things between the sand and the leaf village so she said that she was going to be staying the night. She's such a pain." Hinata laughed and wiped her eyes. "Come on, I'm sure Temari will talk to you."
"Well, um, thank you. Thank you so much Shikamaru. I guess I shouldn't keep it in." Shikamaru smirked while he led the way to his house. "Hinata, being strong doesn't mean you have to keep things to yourself." Hinata looked at Shikamaru with wide eyes. "H-How did you know I was trying to be strong?" Shikamaru had a bored look on his face. "Because most women try to act tough. So I don't expect you'd be any different." "Women are tough!" yelled Hinata. "And Temari is proof of that!" Shikamaru stopped for a minute and scratched his head. "Tushay."
Shikamaru's house
They sat in silence for a while. Shikamaru and Temari sat across from Hinata. She had just finished telling them what had happened between her, Naruto, and Kiba. She hadn't touched the tea that Temari had given her when she came in the house and sat down. Shikamaru was going to leave them be, but Hinata decided that she wanted him to hear the story too. He didn't seem to want to hear it, but he applied to her wishes. Now he sat across from her looking at her with the same old boring expression he usually wore. Temari took another sip from her tea and then sat it down.
"Well," she started, "I don't think that what they did was very reasonable. I mean fighting in front of you was rather unromantic, and neither was Naruto's choice of words of confession." Hinata blushed at this. It was true that Naruto didn't say the best words for such a time. He said I love you. Loved me! He didn't want to even look at her before. Temari continued. "And Kiba, he should have thought about your issue with your father and act responsibly and considerably." This was also true. Hinata had tolled both Kiba and Shino about the issue with her family, so he should have known that she didn't want to get into any relationship at the moment. "All in all," continued Temari, "I think it's pretty obvious who you should choose." Hinata looked at her in shock. Even Shikamaru looked at her in confusion. "Really? Who?" Temari looked her with utmost seriousness. "The one you should be with is…" Hinata leaned at the edge of her seat.
"…the dog, Akamaru."
Hinata hit her head on the coffee table, and Shikamaru sweat dropped. Temari grinned like an idiot and chuckled. Shikamaru glanced and Temari. "Look Temari I don't think Hinata needs jokes right now. Plus, that's pretty sick." "I was kidding you dummy. But the dog was the only one who comforted her." Shikamaru sighed. Temari turned to Hinata. "But really Hinata, did you really want someone else to pick for you." "No, it's just…" She thought for a moment. "I like both of them, but not like that." "I thought you liked Naruto." said Shikamaru. "I got over him just recently. And I thought of Kiba as a big brother. But now I don't know about either of them. It all just happened so fast. It felt overwhelming."
They sat there for a while, thinking about how to deal with this. Temari broke the silence. "Well, all I can say is this… when it comes to love and friendship, have both, or none at all." Hinata thought about that. If she fell in love with one of them, she didn't want to lose the other's friendship. But could that happen? "I understand. But that doesn't tell me what to do next."
"Well, since you don't know how you feel about them anymore, why don't you go on a date with them?" Shikamaru said lazily. Both the girls looked at him. "They'd tear each other apart! What kind of plan is that?!" yelled Temari. "Temari is right, how would that work out?" "I didn't say all at once. I meant you could go out with Kiba one day, and then Naruto the next." Hinata pondered over this. It could work out her feelings for them. It would be a little awkward but it would probably help her with her feelings.
"But why Kiba first?" asked Temari. "Kiba and Naruto are complete opposites in almost everything. But the main thing is, is that Kiba has a family, and has a pretty decent life; whereas Naruto doesn't have a family or an easy life. He has the Nine Tailed Fox in him, remember? Hinata needs to figure out which one she would be happier with. Both guys are pretty decent though. However, there is a flaw that could end with Hinata being without either of them. Her family might not approve, and since Hinata is the heir to the Main Branch, who she marries isn't an easy matter." Hinata hadn't thought about any of this. All of what Shikamaru said made complete sense. "It seems like I have a lot to think about for a while." she thought.
"Well Hinata? How about it?" asked Temari. Hinata looked up. "I'll do it." Temari smiled. "I'm glad that you'll go through with it. But don't forget Hinata, if you need to talk more about it, Shikamaru will help you as much as he can." "Hey! Why are you putting words in my mouth?" Temari glared at him. "I don't exactly live all that close to the leaf village do I? So I can't help her if she wants to talk. And why wouldn't you help her? It won't be a pain will it?" Shikamaru sweat dropped. "Man, this is so much drama."
Hinata smiled at them. "Thank you so much! I'm truly grateful of your help." Shikamaru and Temari grinned.
Shikamaru walked Hinata to her house since it was so dark out now. They stopped in front of the Hyuuga entrance. "Well good luck on the dates Hinata." "Thank you for your help Shikamaru. And thank you for walking me home." "No sweat." She waved and walked towards the direction of her house. But she turned her head and said, "Shikamaru, you and Temari would make a great couple." And she ran before he could reply back.
So tell me what you guy's think. I wanted to have Shikamaru in this story because…well he's m y favorite character! please review!!