Chapter 06

what should I do, what should I do, what should I do!

Those were the only words running past poor Hinata's mind right now, beads of sweat ran down her face as she paced around in different directions, unsure on where to go. The girl was having a major panic attack, as for Sasuke... well let's just say that he's unaware of the whole situation.

"Hinata?" Kiba gently closed the door shut, he surveyed the area. No sign of Hinata.

He shrugged and made his way inside the small house. But first, the boy took off his shoes and set them aside on the shoe rack which was located near the door way. Kiba then made his way down the hallway.

Hinata heard Kiba's footsteps gradually getting louder, oh how she wanted to disappear right now. She could see the shadow forming near the kitchen entrance, her body began to move on her own. She hastily grabbed the ruined jacket and dragged Sasuke along with her down the other hall .

"Hinata?" Kiba peaked his head out from the side of the kitchen door, still there was no Hinata in sight. He straightened his posture and began to scratch the back of his head in utter confusion. He was certain that the Hyuuga was here a moment ago, what with all that shuffling noises and what not.

He walked inside the kitchen and looked around some more, that's when he found a small white case lying on the kitchen counter. It was a first aid kit, this worried Kiba at the thought of Hinata being injured.

Before he can even call out Hinata's name again, light footsteps could be heard. The boy moved to the direction of the sound which came from the second kitchen entrance that lead to the living room. The steps were getting louder, it came to a stop when a figure appeared suddenly at the door frame... it was Hinata. Kiba gasped as he felt his heart beating erratically at the little Hyuuga's unannounced appearance.

"Jesus Hinata! You nearly scared the heck out of me!"

He teased with a chuckle after that. But his chuckle died down when he saw Hinata taking in mouthfuls of air, little droplets of sweat rolled down her pale like face. He also noticed that her hands were shaking as they held tightly onto the side door frame as if it were the only thing supporting her body.

"Hinata...what-"

She lifted her face up to see her friend Kiba, the girl instantly greeted the boy while gasping in between a few words.

"O-oh, hello... K-kiba-kun... Everything's f-fine..."

With that done, the girl finally caught up with her breathing. She quickly composed herself, trying to act like nothing strange happened... besides the fact that she hid a shirtless Sasuke in the nearby wardrobe closet. If Kiba were to see Sasuke, who knows what will happen. But the result of the discovery of the strange boy will surely raise unwanted questions that Hinata wouldn't know how to respond to. It will be an ugly mess, that Hinata is most certain of. But as long as nothing strange happens, everything should be okay.

But she had a strange feeling that she overlooked something... something important? But what exactly? It didn't take the girl that long to figure that out. A small white box caught her eye on the kitchen counter, it was the first aid kit. That's when it hit her, she forgot to put the darn thing away after she treated Sasuke's wounds not too many moments ago. Oh how she wanted to smack her forehead right now.

K-kiba must have already spotted it. I have to m-make an excuse... in other words, l-lie.

He examined the girl carefully from top to bottom, he saw that Hinata's night clothes were slightly dirty.

"Hinata, your pj's..."

The Hyuuga looked down at her clothes and realized yet another problem she overlooked, she was slightly filthy. There were little dirt marks that covered most of her night clothes, she tried thinking of a good lie... wait no, excuse behind both the first aid kit and her messy appearance. When she quickly examined her body downwards, she stopped. There, on her left leg, there was a large brown-ish blob on her knee where her past stinging occured. She didn't know exactly when or how she got the small injury, but it didn't matter. She needed an excuse dammit, and she needs it now.

A light bulb flickered on in her head.

"I was r-running around the house t-to find some band-aids, the first a-aid kit didn't have any and-"

Kiba raised his brow, "Why were you looking for them?"

"O-oh, that's b-because I tripped down the s-stairs and g-got a little scratch on my knee."

She scratched the back of her neck,

"Heh, I-I'm such a klutz sometimes."

Hinata forced a cheerful laugh, hoping that Kiba will laugh along with her. But he didn't, not even a chuckle. The Hyuuga noticed this, her laughing eventually died down to a stop. She quickly gave out a wave as if dismissing an unsaid concern away.

"B-but don't w-worry, I'm not severely injured o-or anything... I only g-got a scratch on my knee s-so..."

Kiba didn't bother to hear the rest of the explanation, he quickly came closer to Hinata and grabbed her by the hand. The girl looked up, surprised by his action.

"K-kiba?"

"Idiot, you shouldn't be laughing when you're hurt."

His grip on her hand tightened a little, "Come on, I'll treat that scratch of yours."

Hinata blinked a couple of times and finally submitted obediently.

"O-okay..."

Sasuke found that he was inside what seems to be a small windowless room, it was dark but not fully. A faint light leaked through the little keyhole that was just a couple steps away from Sasuke. The boy shook his head free from the jacket that was lying on his head and saw it slip down to the ground. He looked around for the girl, only to find nothing but coat hangers and a couple of shoe boxes here an there. He let out a confused noise at the sudden change of surroundings and absence of the girl, after that... His ears perked upwards at the sound of a familiar voice, which came from the other side of the door. Sasuke eagerly pushed his way through the hanging jackets and shoe boxes until he reached the door. He reached out his hand for the metal door knob and turned it.

Sasuke stopped when he heard an unfamiliar voice with his acute ears. The boy curiously tilted his face near the thin open line of the door, his left eye managed to peak in between the space and spotted two figures...

Kiba gently lifted Hinata's light body up on the kitchen counter, once settled she sat there quietly with her legs dangling over the edge of the table. Kiba was busy searching through the med kit for something, so they didn't talk for a while. Hinata started fiddling with her fingers again and tried her best to act calm.

Needless to say, the shy Hyuuga didn't expect all this to happen... she also didn't expect her friend, Kiba to act so worried as well. Not that she's saying that her friend doesn't care much about her or anything but, it's just the girl never saw him THIS serious. The reason for that could be that Hinata RARELY gets herself hurt, since she takes rather good care of herself both in and outside of the house. She would always remind herself to take her daily meds and wear suitable clothes by the judge of the weather outside. You name it. She is a big girl, both she and Kiba knew that.

But Hinata shouldn't be surprised by Kiba's reaction, because he's practically her older brother. He cares for her yes, she will have to admit that, but she never really notice HOW much he cared for her. To the point where he is actually becoming a mother. And then, the thought of Kiba in a cooking apron popped into her mind suddenly.

With Hinata pondering within her own thoughts, she didn't notice Kiba kneeling down in front of her. He swiftly rolled up the hem of her pajama pants up until the scratch on her knee was fully exposed, he then brought out the green alcohol bottle and began to apply it on her knee.

"Hold on, this may hurt a bit"

She felt the sting from the liquid, Hinata bit her lower lip to keep a whimper from escaping her lips. Kiba did his best on quickly rubbing the ointment on her wound as fast as he can without applying any unnecessary pressure. After that, he brought out one clean handkerchief from the back pocket of his pants before securely wrapping it around the wound.

He let out a sigh of relief, "There... it may not be a band aid but at least it will cover it from any infection."

He looked up to see Hinata's watering eyes, he leaned in and gently wiped away the tears.

"Geez, you really know how to worry a joker."

He ruffled her hair and placed his forehead on hers, Kiba let out a shaky tear. "You... really are something Hinata. Don't be so reckless next time alright?" He whispered pleadingly under his breath.

Hinata huffed up, she crossed her arms and pouted "You're the one to t-talk... Mister troublemaker who pulls off reckless pranks and gets himself detention."

Kiba threw his head back and chuckled, his famous trademark grin clear on his face.

"Haha, touché Hyuuga. Touché."

He admitted with a snap of his finger that ended in this gun point gesture, she failed to contain her giggle. "Th-thank you Kiba, for this." She elevated the bandaged knee a little bit to motion at his handiwork, the boy chuckled and ruffled the top of her head. "No problem squirt."

The boy remembered back then, when they were kids... The little Hyuuga would cry over the simplest of things, she was a major crybaby in elementary school. Kiba would always run to her side and comfort her with little gestures like ruffling up her hair while mumbling a few words of comfort. He would also make his forehead touch hers as he held her small tubby hands with his, while he would try to get her breathing steady with his... They grew out from that forehead touching thing years ago, well sort of. But other than that, Kiba would often tell a funny joke or two that will, without fail, make her laugh, since laughter is the best medicine mind you.

After his little childhood flashback, he found himself up close to Hinata's face once again, the boy couldn't stop the heat from reaching his face. Kiba felt a lump inside his throat, he forced a gulp. Hinata noticed her quite friend, she burrowed her brows questioningly to the boy.

"Kiba? Are you s-still upset about what h-happened?"

The boy did not answer, his hands unknowingly dropped down to her cheeks. Calloused knuckles brushed gently against her plush pale skin. Why does she have to be so damn innocent? Does she not know that her actions have this sort of affect on him?

"No, that's not it Hinata, I just-"

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard down the boy was knocked out of his trance, "What was that?" The two of them walked down the hall and found the wardrobe door open with a big pile of jackets and coats lying on the floor. Kiba furrowed his brows as he approached to the large pile.

"Whoa, What happened here?"

He bent down and lifted up a sleeve of a coat, Hinata tensed up. She extended her hand out to Kiba, "W-wait Kiba!" Before the boy knew it, he spotted two obscure eyes glaring at him from within the stack of clothes.

"What the-"

Kiba's field of vision was covered by something black and furry, extracted claws dug into the side of his temples. The boy let out a startled and painful cry, "G-GAAAAH!" He took a couple steps back, his fingers doing their very best on prying whatever was on his face OFF. His foot however tripped over a small running shoe and his whole body fell backwards, something hard hit the back of his head. Darkness came and engulfed him.

There sat Kiba on the living room couch with his arms crossed over his chest, his face covered in multiple scratch marks and a big bump on the back of his head. He looked horrible. His wild eyes were glaring at the black feline that was sitting on Hinata's lap... Oh how he despised cats.

"So let me get this straight. You rescued that, that thing from the streets yesterday?"

She gave a nod, "Y-yes."

"And when you woke up, you... you didn't see him on your bed side and panicked."

"y-yeah..."

"So, you ran around the house trying to look for it... which gave you that scratch."

"Mmmhm."

He brought his hand up and scratched his scalp,

"Damn... you really ARE something Hinata."

Panicking and hurting yourself over that thing.

The girl looked down at Sasuke and scratched him behind the ears, earning a cute purr. "Sorry about that Kiba... It's j-just that, I'm a-afraid that you might tell Neji-niisan about Sasuke. He'll be f-furious."

"Damn right he will be! I mean, what if that cat is infected Hinata? What is he has rabies?"

The girl shook her head in denial,"I checked him Kiba. He's completely c-clean, I'm sure of it."

She looked down and the cat with sad eyes, "Please Kiba, don't tell Nejinii-san, he'll get rid o-of Sasuke, and I-i... I don't want that to happen."

The boy couldn't believe his ears, he wanted to convince her to let the little fur ball go before she could even get herself in trouble. And she was right, he was going to tell Neji about this, it was for the best, the little thing attacked him for goodness sake! He's a wild cat, he might go all berserk and hurt Hinata. But damn, he couldn't. Why? Because of her. He could not stand to see Hinata sad, Kiba would KILL himself if he ever made Hinata cry over something that HE did. He bit his tongue behind his lips.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Neji about... Sasuke." His ended up saying the cat's name with more venom then he thought he would. The cat's ears perked at the mentioning of his name.

Hinata's body perked up, "R-really! Do you m-mean that Kiba?"

Kiba slumped down, making him sink on the couch, he let out a sigh.

"Yeah. I won't tell him."

"Promise?" Her eyes no longer held that sad teary look, instead it was replaced with plea. Kiba grinned, he was happy to see that Hinata was back to normal, but he couldn't help but feel that this was going to end badly for him. He's not much of a promise keeper because...well, he is practically a prince of mischief, but what the hey. This is Hinata, and he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her.

"I promise, " He raised his right hand and marked an invisible x to the location where his heart is with his other hand. "Scout's honor."

Hinata couldn't hide her smile, "Thank you, Kiba. I o-owe you big time."

Kiba gave her a nod, "No problem." the boy rubbed the back of his head, only to feel pain when his hand made contact with the bump. "Well, there goes my movie plan," He saw the confusion on her face, and of course he had to gave her a better description of his statement.

"It was supposed to be my apology treat for you. It's for, you know... for not walking you home yesterday, but seeing your knee's all injured, I guess the whole movie thing is out the window then. Hmm, maybe we can rent some movies and watch them here at your house."

The sound of a cat's grumble caught his attention, Sasuke turned his head and gave Kiba a death glare, Kiba winced. The look of dissatisfaction clear on it's facial feature.

"But I don't think that your new friend would like that."

"Kabuto, when will Kakashi come back?"

The man in glasses stopped with his scribbling, "Pretty soon."

The pale, long haired man puffed up his cheeks,"Hmph, he should know better than to keep me waiting this long." He slumped down in his chair, Kabuto let out a little chuckle at his boss's childish behavior.

"Don't worry sir, Kakashi should be here right about... now." As if on que, the door slid open and in came no other than Kakashi. This made Orochimaru bolt up from his chair, "Kakashi! Finally you're back! You sure took your time, so... did you find Sasuke?"

He gave a nod, "Affirmative. It seems that he is under someone's care in Konoha." Orochimaru raised his brows in surprise, amazed that Sasuke was quickly taken in by somebody. He leaned on his work desk with his elbows, eager to know more...

"Who exactly is taking care of my experiment?"

Kakashi placed a folder on his desk, the boss then opened it and began to skim through the stapled documents.

"Hyuuga, Hinata. Daughter of the renowned man Hiashi Hyuuga, founder of the Hyuuga Enterprise; Attends to Konoha High School; and also-"

He was interrupted by Orochimaru's statement,

"Oh dear.. it seems that she has horrible health. Poor soul, she's awfully adorable, I was actually considering on taking her." He laid the folder down in plain view, a disappointed sigh managed to escape his lips.

"It's a shame that she's untouchable to us, just imagine the wonders I could do, the experiments that I could conduct!" He rested his chin on his cupped hand while he clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Such a pity. That and it'll be much more harder for us to take back our experiment without raising any attention from the girl."

Orochimaru began to scratch his chin, a simple gesture that showed that he was thinking... but what exactly is he thinking? His amber like eyes gazed down at the picture, the girl's pearly orbs staring blankly back at him.

"This truly is difficult."

The man's lips slowly formed into a wicked smile that held a very dark promise to it.

"But that's what makes it fun."

to be continued...