I was in Ino's room trying on the clothes Kiba bought for me. "That looks good on you, Kin." She said looking at me holding the fingers of both her hands together like a picture frame. I smiled at myself in the full length mirror, I picked this one out myself from the selection Ino picked out. It was simple and modest just the way I liked my clothes. I wore an overly large light blue sweater and a navy blue skirt.
"I think Kiba is gonna love it," Ino teased, she walked behind me a fiddled with my hair. "Now we need to do something with this."
"No, you can't cut my hair!" I blurted. I take great pride in my hair. I may have insulted Sakura over hers but I was only trying to be tough.
"No silly, I mean style it up a little bit." She responded
"Oh alright then."
After two long hours of sitting completely still on the edge of Ino's bed, I looked in the mirror to see her work. My hair looked like the exact copy of hers before she cut it during her match with Sakura. To be honest I didn't like it one bit. But considering what she has done for me today, I'll let her think I love it.
"I looks great Ino!" I feigned a smile that hopefully looked realistic.
"I know, you don't have to tell me twice." Ino bragged.
I rolled my eyes while her back was turned and gathered my new clothing, "I'm going to go find Kiba to thank him for my stuff. I'll see you later."
Ino was clearing her bed of the hair supplies, "oh okay, see ya." She said without stopping her task.
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I managed to find Kiba playing ball with Akamaru in the park he took me to when we first met. I debated whether or not I should bring up what happened yesterday. Ino didn't mind so maybe Kiba wouldn't either. Or maybe he did mind, which was the reason for the look on his face when I left and he was expecting an apology.
I took a deep breath and counted slowly to ten before approaching him.
"Hey Kiba." I yelled loud enough for him to hear and quiet enough to not disturb the surrounding people.
"Hey Kin." He smiled, and threw the ball before meeting me. "I see Ino got the clothes for you." He looked me over. "They look good."
I blushed. "Thanks for the compliment... And um, everything else. I really appreciate it."
I looked at my dirtied new shoes when Kiba didn't reply to my thanks. I suddenly felt as if the entire park was staring at me right now.
"... Well you said that you didn't have any money. And my mom and sis sorta forced me to..." He trailed off. I looked at him as he was looking somewhere off to the right. The air was getting really awkward, it was becoming difficult to breath. "I wasn't getting into your business or anything, and I didn't tell them anything other than that. I swear"
The realization hit me once he said that. He probably thinks that I am upset at him for telling his family about me. "Kiba, I'm not upset if that's what you believe." The tension disappeared almost as quickly as it came. I stepped to my left and put my face into Kiba's view. "I'm not upset." I repeated.
"Oh alright," he sighed in relief. "Usually girls don't like having their personal information put out on display like that so I figured-"
"Nope, I'm not like other girls obviously Kiba." I interrupted smiling.
An erratic squeaking noise could be heard getting closer and closer as Kiba and I talked. Kiba turned and knelt down as Akamaru came trotting towards him with an orange ball in his mouth.
"Good job buddy!" Kiba said patting Akamaru on the head and gently taking the ball from him. "Look who's here." He pointed behind him. Akamaru walked over and barked. He stood in his hind legs to greet me, wagging his small tail wildly.
"Hey puppy." I bent down to Akamaru's level and allowed him to lick my face before picking him up and cradling him like a baby in my arms. Kiba stood up as well and patted Akamaru once more on his belly.
Now's a good time as ever, I need to apologize to Kiba. "Kiba, about yesterday night.. I-"
"It alright," he acknowledged, "you teammates are important to you. Perfectly understandable."
"Thanks Kiba."
"Sure. You up for some ice cream?" He smiled
"Yup I'm buying."
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It has been one month since Dosu, Zaku, and I came to the Konoha. The village was bustling with civilians from foreign countries here to watch the most anticipated Chuunin Exams in eight years.
"You excited to watch the final matches tomorrow, Kin?" Kiba asked. He and I were walking through the busy streets heading towards the Hokage's office for something he labeled as 'very important.'
"Well of course I am." I responded sarcastically, "what could be more exciting than being reminded of my embarrassing defeat."
Kiba scoffed, "embarrassing for you? Please, you didn't know Naruto in the academy. He had worse grades than I did. And he failed three times!"
I laughed and folded my hands behind my back. We walked in a comfortable silence to our destination.
"Want me to wait out here for ya?" Kiba asked
"Sure. But if it takes longer than thirty minutes you can leave if you want."
Kiba simply chuckled a response and unceremoniously sat in the ground where he stood. I rolled my eyes and jokingly patted him on the head as I went passed him. Kiba and I have gotten really close since I came to the village. He has been so nice to me and he stood up for me when I was bein bombarded by his friends. I wonder if Ino,s words were true. Does Kiba really have a crush on me, or is this just one of Ino's crazy delusions Sakura says she has. Even if what she says is true, do I like him back?
"Took you long enough." Zaku greeted. Zaku, Dosu, and I have also gotten really close since we came to the village. We look out for each other a lot more often than we did and Dosu and I make sure Zaku's needs are taken care of a lot more often as well.
"Sorry."
"The Hokage is waiting for us, we were called in over two minutes ago." Dosu chided. He sounded upset, but luckily for me he doesn't show it as much anymore.
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"It is good to see you all again." The Hokage addressed as he placed his pipe on his desk. "You all have shown dramatic improvement in your behavior within the past month."
Was this all the surprise meeting would consist of? Him complimenting our behavior? He could have done this anytime rather than wasting his time for such a trivial meet up.
"As you knew, I had ANBU surveilling you until we believed you could be trusted. As of yesterday, the council and myself have deemed you worthy of our trust." The Hokage smiled.
My heart raced. He trusts us now? Not only did that take no time at all but now we don't have to worry about having someone watching us from the shadows 24/7. What could this mean?
"To prove our mutual trust among each other, as Hokage, I hereby appoint you three official Konoha shinobi. Congratulations." The Hokage reached underneath his his desk and pulled out three containers, "here are your forehead protectors. Wear them where you like, but wear them with pride."
Tears welled in my eyes. It's official now, we were Konoha shinobi! I can't wait to show it off to the world, this is a dream come true.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" I shouted and hugged the Hokage. He grunted in what I assumed as pain, so I let go and apologized. I gave Dosu and Zaku the biggest smile of my life, they looked at me and gave a small smile, Although they didn't react the same way I did, I knew they were just s happy.
"You're welcome." The Hokage gave each of us our new headbands and dismissed us from his office. "Oh one more thing." We stopped in our tread out the door to give the Hokage our attention. "As Konoha shinobi, you will be allowed to accept missions. Meaning that the missions you accept, IF completed efficiently, will be your source of income."
"So, no more money will be given to us from the village, right?" Zaku finished.
"That is correct." The Hokage smiled and put his pipe back into his mouth. "Congratulations again."
Dosu closed the the door to the Hokage's office and we stood there in silence. I grabbed Dosu and Zaku and pulled them in for a group hug, squealing with glee.
"Ow, fuck Kin!" Zaku yelled and forced me away.
"We should celebrate tonight. You know, eat at a fancy restaurant!" I offered.
"Yeah sure whatever." Zaku responded walking away.
"Very well." Dosu said walking away as well.
I smiled and looked at my new headband. Where should I put it? Sakura wears hers on her head, Hinata wears hers around her neck, Lee around his waist, and Shikamaru around his arm. Wearing it on my forehead is too boring, then again I want everyone to see it. Well, in that case, forehead it is!
I tied my forehead protect around my forehead making sure I didn't ruin my ponytail. I decided to keep the hairstyle Ino gave me, well not without a few alterations. The bangs weren't really doing it for me. I walked out of the Hokage mansion and saw Kiba still sitting in the place he was before.
"Hey Kiba." I said as melancholy as I could.
"Is something wrong Kin" the worry was evident on his face. I guess he was to worried about me to notice my new head piece.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe what the Hokage said to us." I pouted and dramatically turned away from him.
"What'd he say Kin? Tell me!" He shook my shoulders from behind. Time to make the big reveal.
"He said that I'm a Konoha shinobi now!" I squealed.
"Wha?" Kiba questioned, confusing etched in his features. "Oh, Congratulations!" He finally realized.
"Thanks!" My excitement was so uncontainable I pulled Kiba in for a hug as well. We hugged for a few seconds before I realized my mistake.
"Oh, um. Sorry, I'm just so happy." I said twiddling my fingers, an unfortunate habit I picked up from Hinata.
"Uh, no. It's okay. I'm happy for you." He said scathing the back of his head. Kiba cleared his throat, "so anyway. We should celebrate. How does dinner sound?"
"Actually I was planning on celebrating with Dosu and Zaku tonight."
"That's fine." Kiba said wrapping his arm around my shoulders and guiding me away from the mansion, "we need to all get to know each other anyway. I mean we ARE comrades, right?"
"That's true." I smiled.
Yeah, that is true. We are comrades now.