A/N: I don't own Naruto. The previous two chapters have been more or less a prelude, and this is where things will slowly get going. :) Reviews are very much appreciated~

For the next four years Kiba and Hinata didn't delve in conversations with each other that much – only what was necessary was said. The drifting apart had been further enabled by the fact that their previous team had been completing missions in other formations and therefore didn't meet as much.

However, on Kiba's eighteenth birthday that was to change. He hadn't invited Hinata, but she had anything but forgotten his birthday despite the lack of an invitation. On the earlier years she had managed to leave Kiba and Akamaru small presents by his doorstep without getting noticed, but this time she was caught by Shikamaru.

"Hinata?" Shikamaru asked curiously when he saw the dark-haired girl stand up and jump in surprise. He took a cigarette and lit it, eyeing the girl dressed more formally than usual. "Aren't you gonna come in?"

Hinata was about to say no, but her mind changed as soon as she saw his eyes. Shikamaru wasn't one to say much with his eyes, but Hinata could see the warm nostalgia in them and couldn't pass the chance. She smiled gently and picked up the carefully wrapped presents that she had put down less than a minute ago.

They stood next to each other until Shikamaru's cigarette finished, catching up with each other a bit, and the brown-haired boy even got a grin from Hinata, who was slowly loosening up.

"I'm sure Kiba'll be glad to see you, too," he said right before stomping on his cigarette and held the door open for Hinata, who wasn't as sure about his words. When the couple entered the half-full Inuzuka living room and Shikamaru announced Hinata's arrival, she nervously focused on Kiba's reaction – his eyes widened before returning to their normal size and a small smile took over his lips.

Shikamaru gave Hinata a push on her back, and so she walked to Kiba with her hands extended out, handing him the two presents.

"Happy birthday, Kiba-kun, and Akamaru, too," she said hurriedly and began playing with the hem of her pale blue dress as soon as the birthday boy had taken the presents.

"Thanks, Hinata," he replied with a wide grin, stood up and gave her a bear hug. "I've missed you, thanks for coming."

As Kiba was near enough, Hinata could smell that he had had a bit to drink (and she knew who to blame), but she wasn't going to complain. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him as well and took in as much of his scent as possible. A lot of memories were brought to her mind by the slight wild sense of his scent, but in general she noticed that he smelled more like a man. And, well, a man he was.

Kiba felt as if his many years' worth of anger had just flown out of the window, but he was only happy about it. There was something calming about getting to hold Hinata so close to himself after such a long time, and he could hear his heartbeat (or was it hers?). He patted Hinata on her back and pulled away.

When she was free from Kiba's touch, Hinata let out a breath she didn't realize she was keeping. The close contact after so long had sent tingles around her body, which confused her. She wasn't supposed to feel all giddy and tingly in his arms – he was a friend! She gave Kiba one of the gigantic smiles he had last seen years ago as she patted his shoulder. "I'm so glad that I came."

The evening went by slowly, but Hinata was only glad about that, for she spent most of it with Kiba, talking things over, apologizing and attempting to mend what they had lost. Hinata, too, had gotten some sake to drink and therefore was mostly back to the Hinata she had been four years prior, cracking a joke every now and then and saying things rather bluntly.

"You've gotten pretty tall, Kiba-kun," she said and smirked at the boy next to her. They were sitting on the roof of his house and were looking at the sky and the over the city. Kiba crossed his hands behind his head and snickered, eyeing Hinata.

"And this isn't all, there hasn't been an Inuzuka below 185cm yet," he winked his eye at her smugly, laughing as Hinata nudged his side playfully.

"Maybe you'll be the first one, idiot," Hinata suggested and lay down next to Kiba, turning her head to face him, her eyes meeting his. "There's a first for everything." She had to resist the urge to sweep some of the brown strands of hair away from his forehead.

"Yeah, no, I don't do exceptions," Kiba laughed and let his eyes wander around the curves of Hinata's body. "You've… matured."

Hinata felt a blush creeping up to her cheeks and it only took a few seconds for her to feel the burning. "A-anyone would, I'm n-not a child anymore." She suddenly felt a lot more conscious about the length of her dress and the cleavage that she was giving away, even though they weren't much. It wasn't like she was completely giving away the fun, but knowing that Kiba had checked her out made her feel… naked.

Kiba shook his head and snorted, turning his gaze to the sky. "Never mind I said that, I don't want to sound like a creeper."

Hinata smiled and moved closer to the male, resting her head on his chest as she let her eyes wander to the stars as well. "I've missed this."

Kiba felt his breath hitch before he managed to take his right arm around Hinata's slender shoulders. He could feel the burning of his cheeks and the playful glint in his eyes as he squeezed Hinata gently.

"Me too, me too… Hey, do you want to hang out with us tomorrow? You know, me, Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji and Shino, like the old times? They miss you too… I mean, you've seen Naruto a lot since he kept joining you girls, but the rest of us haven't had the chance to kick your ass in ages in combat."

Hinata felt the left edge of her mouth curve into a smirk as she looked at Kiba's playful face and gave it a gentle slap. "You're the one who's gonna get his ass kicked, Inuzuka."

"Really now, Hyuga? Have you seen Akamaru? How on earth are you gonna beat that?" Kiba asked excitedly, sitting up from the sudden rush of adrenaline. Hinata did as he did and sat up as well, making a smug face before crossing her arms before her chest.

"I've learnt quite a few things these past years, just so you know," she said simply, stood up and sneaked back into the house through an open window that was easily accessible from the roof. Kiba followed her, tackling the screaming Hinata to the floor of his bedroom as he slipped. He shook his head and tried to think of what had just happened, his hand slowly moving down on the back of Hinata's right thigh.

Hinata was blushing, she knew it, and it wasn't made better when she felt Kiba crawl a bit further, meeting Hinata's eyes dangerously close. "Sorry, I lost my balance."

Hinata sighed and pushed Kiba's head away before getting up from the floor and dusting her dress. "Get up, birthday boy, I bet your other guests are wondering where you are," she said as she pulled him up, and again, he ended up dangerously close to her. She could feel Kiba's breath on her pale skin, which forced some of her neck hair up.

"As you wish, princess," Kiba grinned and brushed Hinata's waist with his palm, leaving the girl quiet and a bit embarrassed, as she leaned against the wall with her knees nearly giving in.

'Stupid Kiba.'

"Where the hell is Kiba? He's supposed to be here, it's his own freaking birthday!" Naruto whined and rocked himself on the soft couch with a pillow in his arms. Shikamaru looked up from the magazine he had been reading and tried to recall the last time he had seen the other brunette.

"I'm pretty sure he's upstairs," Shikamaru said, then gave a thought to another missing person, "and most likely with Hinata, too."

Naruto scowled and crashed his back on the couch. If anyone, it should've been him upstairs with Hinata! He had so much to say to her and the party would've been the best place for that – in normal circumstances he could never snatch her away and simultaneously have the courage to speak his mind and heart.

"Naruto, for the love of god, calm down," Shikamaru sighed as the blond kicked his feet in the air while incomprehensibly mumbling about how much he wanted to hold Hinata in his arms. "Chouji."

The named boy put his cup of sake down and picked Naruto up on his shoulder.

"Let's go buddy, we don't want you to do anything you'll regret, now do we."

Shikamaru sighed and returned to his magazine. He could still hear Naruto's loud objections even when Chouji had already taken him outside.

The party didn't continue for much longer, as the guests began leaving one after another since Chouji had taken Naruto away. The last one left was Shikamaru, so Kiba decided to walk him and Hinata home with Akamaru.

Exiting the Inuzuka residence, Hinata instantly shuddered in the chilly air. Perhaps the rather short-sleeved dress wasn't the best idea to wear, but then again, she didn't know that she'd be going home so late. When she had left her home she had thought that he'd bring the presents, maybe spend a while in the village and go home.

"Ah, Shikamaru. We were planning to hang out tomorrow, so how about you drag Chouji and Naruto with you? Like before, you know," Kiba grinned to the slightly taller brunette, who nodded and gave Kiba and Hinata a small smile. "And I'll get Shino with me."

"Unless you've got a place in mind already, I happen to know that Chouji's place is available," Shikamaru announced and got two approvals and a bark. "There at three, then?" The group stopped as they reached Shikamaru's house. Hinata gave Shikamaru a friendly hug and wished him a good night, which only caused him to mutter something about women being too troublesome for him to deal with.

"Says the one who has a thing for the most troublesome woman there is," Kiba coughed into his hand and focused on everything else but Shikamaru when the older male started to look like he was about to strangle him.

"Really? Oh, who is it, who is it!" Hinata exclaimed excitedly, hitting her palms against each other. Even though she had a slight idea already – it wasn't like she was blind – she wanted to hear him admit it.

"It's—it's no one," Shikamaru scratched the back of his head and tried to gain control over the blush on his cheeks, not quite succeeding at doing so. Hinata leaned closer to him, whispered a couple of words about a certain blonde kunoichi from Sunagakure and grinned excitedly as Shikamaru's blush deepened.

"I see, I see," Hinata hummed giddily, skipping away from Shikamaru. "Well, good luck on that. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you trying to make a move. Just saying."

Shikamaru merely bit his lip and said a stiff goodnight before entering his house with a slamming door. Hinata and Kiba laughed heartily at how well they had managed to embarrass their usually very collected friend, and they knew that even though Shikamaru appeared unhappy now, he didn't really mind. Soon silence fell over the two of them and they began approaching the Hyuga compound.

Hinata and Sakura worriedly observed Ino as she continued on her forcedly cheerful behavior at her family's flower shop. Her eyes were red and puffy and she didn't look like she'd gotten too much sleep, yet there she was, giddily having a monologue about pointless things that didn't relate to anything in any way.

The two knew what had happened – there weren't many people in their age group that didn't. Shikamaru had broken up with the blonde, and although he had tried to be as sensitive about it as was possible, Ino didn't take it that well. Who would, when they didn't see it coming?

"And Konohamaru came over yesterday, too! For the first time ever," the blue-eyed chirped and leaned her chin against her palm, letting her eyes slowly fall shut. Hinata frowned and approached the blonde, whereas Sakura remained still with a sad expression.

"She shouldn't hide her feelings like that," Sakura whispered when Hinata had given her a sign that Ino had more or less lost her consciousness. The Hyuga brought Ino's left arm over her shoulders and together with Sakura, brought her to her room upstairs.

It was truly painful to see their friend like that. Neither of them knew what it felt like; Hinata hadn't had a relationship and Sakura's budding relationship with Lee was still on a baby level. Ino, on the other hand, was freshly out of a year-long relationship.

"It must really hurt though," Hinata whispered as she covered Ino with her purple covers and sighed. "First you let a person into your comfort zone and when you trust them enough, they push you away."

Sakura looked at her friend curiously, nodding. What was Hinata implying, or was she implying anything?

"She'll get over it with time," Sakura said warmly and sat on the edge of Ino's desk. "She's one of the mentally strongest people I know." Hinata nodded.

"Why did Shikamaru break up with her, anyway?"

"Apparently he'd reasoned it so that he cared for her too much to continue. What I got from Naruto, though, was that he'd gotten interested in the Sunagakure blonde, who was it, Temari?" Hinata could sense Sakura tensing up as the pink-haired finished her sentence and cracked her knuckles. "So I guess in a sense he did care about her too much. Or so I hope, otherwise I've got a bone to pick with him."

Hinata shivered, suddenly very thankful for not being Shikamaru.

"Have you been well in general, Hinata? I don't think that came up on the roof," Kiba asked and took a look at the girl who walked on the stone paving on the right edge of the street they were walking on, her arms stretched out like they were whenever she was walking on the paving.

"Mmh, yeah," she mumbled and jumped to walk next to Kiba, crossing her arms behind her head. Kiba frowned – her expression didn't match her words. He had always had a feeling that she wasn't telling him the whole truth, and behind her cheerful expression there was always something so sad that all he wanted to do was to confront her and demand facts, after which he would comfort her.

Having many doglike features to him, Kiba was never, ever wrong when it came to sensing someone's true mood. Just like Akamaru always sensed when he was upset, he sensed when Hinata was.

"You're not telling everything, are you?" Kiba's voice was gentle and quiet as he asked the question Hinata had been expecting to come up sooner or later. She shook her head and stared at Kiba calmly.

"There'll be a time when I'll open my heart to you, but it's not now. When that time comes you will be completely sober and we won't be walking on a street, but sitting somewhere quiet, just the two of us, and I'll spill my secrets." Hinata's face was serious, but she soon broke into a smile Kiba knew was fake. "Does that sound good to you?" Kiba nodded; there wasn't much to be done about it, was there?

Upon reaching the wooden gate which read Hyuga, the couple stopped. Kiba had his hands in his pockets which protected them from the cold wind and his eyes were fixed on Hinata; the way she was smiling, this time from her heart, and the way the hem of her dress slowly swung due to the wind.

She walked closer and gave him a friendly hug, inhaling his scent just as greedily as she had done earlier. "Happy birthday, Inuzuka."

Before Kiba could thank the girl, she had already pressed her plump lips to his marked cheek and stroked the other one gently with her thumb. Before he could react to that, either, she was running in from the gate, shout-whispering a goodnight with a hand waving at him.

Kiba stood there, dumbfound, with blood rushing to his cheeks in record speed. His mouth hung open as he brought his right hand to the cheek Hinata's lips had just rested on. His heart was beating faster and he was barely able to wrap his head around the feelings surging through his body.

He tilted his head and looked in from the gate. Unfortunately all he saw was the big tree and an empty field – and a brown-haired man sitting on the porch, looking straight into Kiba's soul with a stern look on his face. Gulping, Kiba realized that the man was most likely Hinata's father and therefore bowed deeply before he jumped on Akamaru's back and rode home.

He found surprising difficulty falling asleep even after exhausting himself with cleaning up the whole house.

Hinata sat on her bed, out of breath, and brushed her hair before putting it up on a bun. She had just changed her dress into her two-piece pajamas in a rush and was now mostly trying to get over what she had just done. She buried her face into her hands, cursing her actions, yet also feeling incredibly good about the kiss she had landed on Kiba's cheek. While she hoped that the boy didn't mind, she couldn't rest assured as she hadn't gotten a glance at his face before dashing away.

She lay on her bed and smiled at herself – Hyuga Hinata was a free soul. She didn't belong in the general Hyuga model; she belonged to a whole different category.

Hyuga Hinata was more Hinata than she was Hyuga.