Author's Note: This is another short one…the few chapters after this will be longer though, I promise! Enjoy…
Chapter 3
Kiba gaped his jaws in a ferocious yawn. He was perched in a tree, lying lazily against the thick trunk. He stretched, then hung from his knees, upside down, his black t-shirt falling down, revealing slightly tanned six-pack.
"Pull up your shirt," a quiet voice scolded him. "There are no girls here for you to show off to."
Kiba smirked, and dropped from the tree, doing a handstand, then back-flipped so he was standing upright. "But there could have been," he replied, only half-joking.
"I'm ready to leave if you are." The quiet voice belonged to Shino, one of Kiba's close friends (since they had been on the same squad.) Pretty much everything about Shino was familiar, from his small black sunglasses to his tall collar.
"Aren't we still waiting for someone?" Kiba asked, black eyes darting about to the road behind Shino.
Shino studied his fiercely spirited friend. His long red triangles marked both cheeks, and to Shino, was just another sign to not mess with that kid! "Hinata isn't coming on this mission." Shino said without emotion to his friend. Kiba's eyes jerked to Shino's, which were behind sunglasses. "Lady Tsunadae only assigned both of us to this mission."
"H-hey! I knew that. I was only joking," Kiba said gruffly. "Come on, let's go." Kiba glared at Shino, as if daring him to say otherwise, then whipped around, and loped down the path. Shino followed his friend at a slower pace. It was almost odd to be on a mission with Kiba—without Akamaru. Akamaru had been sick for the past few days, and Hana hadn't allowed Akamaru to come on the mission. Kiba and Akamaru strongly opposed the decision, but Shino knew that Kiba trusted his older sister immensely, including her judgment.
"This mission is gonna suck," Kiba said angrily, slowing down so he could talk to Shino. "It's not fair that Hinata's missing out. What did she do to get out of it?"
"Hinata just returned from another mission of higher rank," Shino replied, though he suspected that Kiba knew that fairly well.
"Couldn't Tsunadae-sama have assigned this mission to a bunch of genins?" Kiba's scowl deepened.
Shino tried to think of something to comfort his friend. He hoped that Kiba's mood would improve when they finally reached the farms. If not, this would be much too long of a mission than it deserved to be.