Koishii (Beloved) Part XV

By: Rylolynn

This is the sequel to Shadow of Hinata continuing after Shino and Hinata's first kiss.

Summary: Hinata and Shino share an empathic bond that is tied to their feelings for each other. (If the premise sounds familiar it is loosely based on Imzadi.)

Team 8 are now all Chuunin ranked ninja. (Timeline wise, Tsunade is Hokage, Naruto is away training, Sauske is a expletive who ran away with Orochimaru—basically a little before the Shipuuden series, pre-time-skip.)

Warning: lovey dovey fluff, WAF (warm and fuzzy) prolly a little angsty too. Takes a different direction then the canon and now an OC.

A/N: Imzadi belongs to Peter David, Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Italics: Thoughts

Koishii (Beloved/yearned for)
Kuso (curse word)

Previously

As Team 10 walked by Kiba noticed a faint scent that was familiar, but before he could place it a small girl with very distinct pale Huuyga eyes approached him.

Ch 15

Kiba felt himself shudder.

"Oi, why is Hinata's family so creepy?" The tattooed shinobi stole a glance at Akamaru, who gave him a strange look.

Kiba suddenly felt guilty for his fleeting thought.

A mass of straight brown hair parted slightly as a small pale chin tilted upwards. The young girl had dropped her head after seeing Kiba in the distance. She continued to race towards him with her gaze on the ground.

Once face to face the small Huuyga squared her posture and Kiba could finally see the face of Hanabi. She smelled of tears even though her eyes were clear.

"Hinata!" The dog like ninja felt a panic rise to his throat. "Why is Hinata's little sister here? Is Hinata OK? What the hell is going on?" Kiba's mind was racing.

"Please Kiba-san, my sister Hinata-sama has summoned you."

"Hinata-sama? Did Hanabi ever call her older sister Hinata-sama before?" Kiba didn't have time to finish his thoughts as they raced through Kohona to the Huuyga compound.

Hinata was sitting on the steps of the main entrance to the Huuyga estate. It seemed like any other day he would meet her before their trainings or missions.

Akamaru looked from Kiba to Hinata, and then slowly walked to a patch of grass and laid down. He knew something was wrong.

She smelled like lavender and tea…and of old tears.

His kunoichi teammate glanced over at her younger sister and Hanabi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hinata smiled at him.

"Please don't smile like that. Don't smile if you don't mean it." Kiba thought sadly.

She mentioned for him to sit next to him.

"Where the hell is Shino? Shouldn't he be here?" Kiba eternally winced.

A soft warm hand touched his cheek, and before he could stop himself he covered it with his own calloused hand. He found him closing the small gap they had between them.

Hinata leaned into him and Kiba touched his lips reverently to her forehead. He silently cursed himself as he tried to ingrain the moment in his memory.

"Hinata-chan you break what little control I have…" Kiba hated himself for his actions.

"That's me in a nutshell always acting without thinking." Finally finding his resolve again, Kiba knew he should not tread on dangerous grounds.

"I will not step on any friendships that are precious to me." It was then he smiled.

"Please don't smile like that. Don't smile if you don't mean it." Hinata's soft voice felt like whisper in his thoughts. Kiba broke free from Hinata's warmth in shock, his eyes wide.

"Kiba-kun, don't look at me like that…you would never… betray your team. You are loyal…like a dog." Hinata smiled playfully at her own lame joke.

It was a smile that undid him.

A gentle finger traced one of his tattooed cheeks before dropping to her lap. It was only then that he noticed it. The faint smell of death.

"Hinata-sama" Hanabi's voice replayed in his mind. "It all makes sense now…"

"Kiba-kun… I have a favor to ask."

Hinata's back was to him now. She was facing the branch house complex.

"Hinata-chan… how are you talking to me like this?"

She chuckled softly. "I guess it is a gift from my mother…"

"Your mother?" Kiba had never heard Hinata speak of her mother in all the time that he knew her.

It was all starting to make sense now. How it seemed she knew what Akamaru was saying. How she and Shino… Kiba scowled slightly in spite of himself.

"Kuso, why do I always have to be so slow?"

"You're not slow Kiba."

"Well, I'm no Shikamaru." He flashed a toothy grin.

"I'm no Shino." He knew that she had heard his last statement but they both pretended that they didn't.

Hinata turned to face him again. "You were the youngest of your clan to receive those." Her eyes traced the fang like marks that painted her dog-like teammate.

Kiba made a lopsided grin. He felt pride and a little embarrassed. The idea of "becoming a man" and having a ceremony about it was a little ridiculous he had to admit.

But it was a part of his clan's tradition. Only it was supposed to be his father giving him his red clan symbols, not his sister.

"You know we went back to your sister's that same day you finished your tattoo?"

"…you and Kaori-chan?"

"Yes, we visited her while you were performing the second part of your ceremony."

Hinata turned her back to him again and revealed a red sun on her back that looked like the symbol of her clan.

"How long have you had that? Kuso! I really am slow…all this time and I hadn't noticed."

"Does Shino know you have that?"

I haven't mentioned it…

So he hasn't seen it…

Kiba noticed Hinata blush slightly

"Kaori has the same symbol on her back too…being a branch member to the Huuyga family, and not having parents—" Hinata stopped suddenly mid-sentence.

"I need you to relay the news to the branch members. Hiashi-sama is...th-that I am now clan leader."

Hinata radiated tension and unease.

"It just doesn't add up why do you need me to do this task?"

"Because I trust you, because the branch member's don't trust the main branch. Many did not like my fathers… ways… and might find this the perfect opportunity to set up a coup d'etat against the main branch. They will see it as a weakness."

"Because they see me as weak"

"I am also trying to remove the junin curse, but I will not know of its outcome or the feasibility of removing it from all the branch members. This information cannot yet be revealed. I need you Kiba. I need you to prevent any conflicts that might arise."

It was so strange to hear Hinata in his head, even stranger to hear her speak as a leader.

"Your wrong Hinata-sama, you are not weak."

"Please don't call me that."

Kiba placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"I will do everything that I can…"Akamaru let out a ruff bark from his spot and bounded quickly to Hinata's side. "Yes Akamaru…We will do everything that we can."

"Kaori will help you." Hinata's pale moon eyes looked so heartbroken.

"You will probably find her at the garden we made."

Associating with the branch house was restricted…

Leaving the grounds unattended was not allowed…

But Kiba found himself a new friend; and he was someone who believed rules were meant to be bent.

True this girl in particular had punched him in the face (and punched him hard) the first time they met. The memory alone made his jaw hurt. His small hand rose to feel his chin as if it was that day again.

There was just something about the quiet girl. Her little hands fidgeted constantly, her pretty pearl eyes would dart around like a lost doe and she would turn the cutest shades of pink at the oddest moments.

She kept to herself mostly in class, but Kiba knew Akamaru could work his charm. And one day unbeknown to Kiba he did just that. The small fluffy white puppy trotted over to a distraught looking Hinata while Kiba was busy pulling grass out of the ground.

From that moment on Kiba had an excuse to be near the Huuyga heir. She had a soft spot for small furry things. Consequently, from that moment on, Kiba began spiking his hair more.

To untrained eyes and ears nothing would seem out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just some wind in trees.

In actuality it was two young ninja in training and one nin-puppy.

Two academe children, a boy with painted red cheeks and wild dark hair and a girl with pale white eyes and a nervous stutter were enjoying a day off from their usual shinobi training schedule. It was Saturday.

"Yes.." Kiba thought to himself, "rules were meant to be bent…"

The spikey haired Inzuka shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "Bent, broken same difference..."

In a corner of the Huuyga branch house complexes, Akamaru was digging in a patch of soil.

"Good job boy" Hinata's voice was hardly even a whisper; if Kiba didn't have such sensitive hearing he would have missed it.

The small nin-puppy was rewarded with a soft pat on the head.

"K-Kiba-kun c-could y-you p-please…"

Why doesn't she stutter with Akamaru? Kiba wondered.

He handed her a small burlap bundle from his supply pouch (just a few herb seedlings and roots he "borrowed" from his older sister.)

It wasn't often that Kiba found himself "gardening" or having the patience for someone to spit out a five words in twice the time, (because of stuttered and repeated consonants or syllables).

No, Kiba's pack did not know about Hinata.

Under red painted cheeks a new shade of pink formed. Yes, he spent a lot of time with a lot of girls, but it was different with this one girl in particular.

He listened to her. He did as she asked. He wasn't his usual demanding self around her.

"I really need to stay away from this girl." Kiba thought nervously.

It had been years since Kiba had visited that garden.

A barking laugh rolled out of him.

"Oh that's why Shino was glaring daggers at me all those years ago!" He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Kuso. I really am slow!" Kiba said to no one.

And I thought he just didn't like me because I said he had a girl's name. Well it was about a girl anyway…

Kaori's skin prickled.

Her pale eyes glanced up, no cloud in sight.

"Doesn't look like it's going to rain." Kaori's thick eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance. A brief puff of breath blew away an unruly bang out of her face while she continued to pull weeds from the makeshift garden. Kaori's sighed as her offending bang slipped back into her field of vision.

"Feh, I thought short hair was supposed to be more convenient…" Kaori glanced at her dirty calloused hand.

"I really should stop biting my nails." She thought idly before tucking her short black hair behind her ear for what seem like the hundredth time that day.

"You know if you keep talking to yourself, people might think you're crazy." Kiba raised an eyebrow and his lips twitched into a smirk.

Without turning the young Huuyga woman scoffed. "You know eyebrow tweezing is usually a feminine practice."

"Yeah? Well, then maybe you should try it." Kiba quipped.

Kaori spun on her heel. "Kiba."

The Inzunka expected her to pounce, but she seemed calm.

"Kaori."

She inhaled slowly and her features tightened into a scowl. "Bathe often?"

"More then you."

Kaori sighed in defeat. She had finally let herself look him over. To his left was Akamaru whose small frame had drastically changed. Kiba himself was a bit taller, but by the looks of it not as tall as her. His hair was as wild as it used to be and his painted cheeks were no longer painted, but tattooed. But most of all she noted his facial expression which told her more then she needed to know.

"Whatever Hinata-chan needs, I'll do my best to help."

"Shino-kun, what are you doing in my private files?"

The desperate looking Aburame was not surprised that even though he was a well trained and skilled chunnin he was not able to detect the Hokage return to her office.

The same thing I was doing at the Kohona hospital, the same thing I was doing at the Huuyga compounds… I'm trying to save her, and I'm…

"Failing her." Shino's baritone voice was emotionless. His previous look of anguish was replaced with a stoic mask.

t.b.c.

A/n: Look my internet has yet to be disconnected…. I didn't get very many reviews but on the brighter side I have reached over 4,000 hits. I guess Shino/Hinata fans are shy like Hinata or quiet like Shino. But for those you who have commented THANK YOU SO MUCH!

This chapters bribe: Author sends a Naruto character of your choice to go through your personal things if you leave me a little comment. Up to readers discretion as how to "handle" the naughty intruders.

Up next… where was Shino and what was he doing?