A/N: I don't own Naruto. And so the story proceeds, slowly but surely. :) I was really happy to notice that this has two follows, thanks for those! Reviews are appreciated~

Hinata left her house dressed in pale blue capris and a black t-shirt, a small backpack hanging from her left shoulder and black sandals covering some of her feet. Her hair was on a high ponytail and the dark locks hit her shoulders as she strolled down the streets, standing by Chouji's door within ten minutes. Knocking on the door, it didn't take too long for Naruto to open it with a wide smile.

"Hi, Hinata-chan," the blond said with rosy cheeks and let the girl in. "Everyone's upstairs in Chouji's room."

Hinata smiled and took her sandals off before she and Naruto began walking up the stairs. Naruto's heart was beating wildly, and so was Hinata's – just for a very different reason. "Didn't we agree on three? It's quarter to three and you're all here already," Hinata forced a laugh out of her and gripped the strap of her backpack tightly. Naruto shrugged and said that they never went by the time – Shikamaru, for one, had been there since noon.

"Yo, look who's here," Naruto said as he and Hinata entered the large room the other boys were in. Chouji's face lit up as he greeted Hinata, Shikamaru and Shino gave her a nod and Kiba was unnaturally focused on a newspaper. Hinata bit her lip and tried to calm her heartbeat, but to her misfortune the heart never listens to its owner.

She put her backpack down by the door and walked to the shogi board Shikamaru was sitting behind. "Ready to lose, Nara?" she grinned and cracked her knuckles, gaining a focused look from the male.

"Are you?" Shikamaru returned the question calmly, and Hinata knew that he was already planning his moves.

Kiba had stepped out of the large window into a small balcony with the newspaper he had previously hidden behind and was now fanning himself with it. Naruto followed him and leaned to the railing, amusedly eyeing the usually very relaxed friend of his.

"What's up with you?" Naruto asked curiously and laughed at Kiba as he lowered the newspaper and revealed a rather pale face which only gave his clan markings more contrast. Even though the more logical thing would've been for him to blush immensely as he remembered the moment Hinata landed her lips on his cheek, he was instead feeling so nervous that his face had lost all of its color.

"Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, why would anything be up with me ahaha," Kiba said nervously in such a fast speed and such a shaky voice that Naruto could barely make out any words. He didn't look amused as Kiba continued fanning himself with the newspaper without explaining any further.

"Dude, you were normal until Hinata-chan knocked on the door. Do you honestly think no one noticed the way you went into some kind of a robot mode as soon as that happened?" Naruto asked and scrutinized Kiba's face with squinted eyes. "Did something happen last night?"

Kiba stopped the fanning again and tried to breathe in deep to calm himself down. "Well, um, there's a chance that she possibly, like, kissed my cheek but you know, that's nothing, it's normal," Kiba rambled nervously and completely missed the way Naruto's face muscles tensed for a few seconds.

"Do you… like her?" Naruto asked quietly, focusing his gaze on the Hokage stone faces. That felt like a safe thing to stare at as he waited for Kiba's answer which would practically determine the future of Naruto's love life. Kiba froze and opened and closed his mouth several times.

"I-I guess I don't dislike her? Man, I don't know," he breathed and hung his head down from the railing he was leaning on. "I guess she's likable. She—makes me feel things." This time Kiba did notice Naruto's reaction – the way his hands clenched into fists and trembled slightly in the air.

"I see… well, good luck, then," Naruto forced out of his mouth. Being the considerate person he was, he was ready to put his long-term feelings aside if it meant that Hinata could find happiness with Kiba, who clearly liked her quite a bit – the Naruto was sure that he had never seen the brunet as uneasy as he was at that moment. Kiba looked baffled and raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, thanks? Although that's… a bit early," Kiba began with a concerned expression which he aimed at Naruto, "are you sure it's okay? We all know how you feel about her, you know." Naruto turned his face to his friend and flashed his trademark smile with a thumbs-up. Kiba smiled at him but was unable to dodge the guilty feeling in his stomach. Even though nothing was for sure, he felt like he was betraying Naruto by admitting that he had feelings for the Hyuga. But in the end, one can't help their feelings, can they?

"I'm good, just—go for it, okay? I wouldn't have the courage to confess anyway, so if I was to see her with someone else, I guess you're one of the ones that would anger me the least," Naruto laughed and patted Kiba's shoulder. The brunette sighed uneasily. Here he was, getting encouraged to tell about his feelings to a girl he had unexplainable feelings for. He supposed that there was only one way to figure out what the feelings were.

Hours passed. Hinata won Naruto twice in a row on whatever new fighting game the boy had gotten his hands on, Shikamaru kept his title as the shogi master and Choji surprised everyone by giving her a bag of chips – a full one. Kiba didn't exactly talk with Hinata as he was still trying to sort out his feelings, meanwhile Shino did get a few minutes with her. The Hyuga was happy to know that her other former teammate was also doing well in life, forming strong bonds with his friends and the bug-collecting clans from other countries.

Even though Kiba didn't socialize with her at all, he had his eyes fixated on her for way more than half of the time, to the extent that Shikamaru nudged his side when they were sitting next to each other on Choji's soft couch.

"So, what's the deal?" the lazy-eyed brunet asked with a covered yawn as he crossed his arms behind his head, closing his eyes. Kiba tore his eyes away from Hinata's back which was shaking from her laughter, and gazed at his friend instead with a questioning sound making its way out of him. "Did something happen after I left? And don't you just say 'Oh, I don't know,' under normal circumstances you would've spent the whole day together."

Kiba smiled at Shikamaru's rather obvious frustration and crossed his legs on the couch, put his left elbow against his thigh and supported his chin with the hand. "It might be nothing, but I'm getting the signals that she's interested in me," Kiba said quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear, and scowled at Shikamaru's snort.

"Are you sure you're not making this up? She has a lot of physical contach with all of us, Kiba, a hug doesn't mean a thing," Shikamaru laughed and shook his hed. Kiba pouted and bit his lower lip before leaning in to Shikamaru's ear. "Wait, what?!"

The fanged boy merely nodded at his close friend, who now had his eyes wide open. The grayish orbs moved to Hinata, observing her for a while, and he could swear that she occasionally stole glances in his direction, not because of him, but because of Kiba.

In the end he looked at Kiba with a dead serious face, letting a breath out of his lips. "Yep, the Hyuga's got a thing for you. Better prepare yourself, yeah? Women are complicated and extremely troublesome," Shikamaru cut his speech as he knew all too well what Kiba was about to say as he opened his mouth, "and do not say anything regarding Temari or you'll find a shadow following you home."

Kiba shut his mouth and nodded in understanding – there was no joking with Shikamaru. At one point he had taken a joke too far and had ended up chased by a shadow-controlled Akamaru, and he didn't want any more of that. "Any tips?"

Shikamaru looked into Kiba's black orbs with not a fraction of amusement in his own, "As you know, things with Ino didn't go all that well and I've barely managed to charm Temari. Now, do you really want tips from me?" Kiba shrugged and muttered that even that would be better than nothing. "Just go with the flow. Do what feels right, even if it feels weird at first. And for the love of god, don't let her family see anything."

Kiba tilted his head, urging Shikamaru to continue. "As you know, the Hyugas are really prestigious. Hinata, as a member of the main family, is practically a princess, an heir or not. And princesses don't do dating, they do courting." Kiba nodded enthusiastically, feeling a bit warm and fuzzy in his stomach. "Just be careful, yeah? You don't want a mad middle-aged Hyuga suppressing all of your chakra points, do you?" Kiba shook his head and winced at the mental image.

"What is this topic that's getting Kiba-kun all excited?" Hinata asked as she sat on the armrest Kiba's back was leaning against. Kiba wanted to hint on that she'd gotten his body language all wrong, but when her hands landed on his broad shoulders and rested her chin on the top of his head, he decided to keep quiet. Shikamaru was working on an answer that would keep all secrets as such.

"Oh you know, new pups, you know how excited Kiba gets every time a new litter's born," Shikamaru lied through his teeth and smiled as Hinata's excitement began to show.

"Really, when?" she asked curiously, playing with Kiba's brown locks and completely ignoring the rather stiff expression Kiba had on his face. Shikamaru's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he regained his serious look, giving a time of six weeks, to which Kiba's eyes widened in shock and Shikamaru could read from his lips 'How the hell do I get new pups in six weeks?!'

Hinata patted Kiba on his back and retreated back to talk with the other boys, and thus left Kiba with the wish to strangle Shikamaru. "Now, now, you can use the truth as a flirt, so calm down," the gray-eyed said and grabbed Kiba's wrist as he had been about to swing his palm at his friend's face.

"It better work," Kiba hissed and swallowed, stroking his hair back in place. Shikamaru muttered that there was no doubt about it and left Kiba at a loss of arguments.

The evening came and it was time for Chouji to kick everyone except Shikamaru out – they had planned on the sleepover for a while and therefore wanted to stick with it. The remaining group of four exited the Akimichi residence with cheerful laughter ringing in the air, as Naruto had managed to trip down the last few steps of the stairs and bring Kiba down with him in the process. Naruto was limping slightly and Kiba had a couple of small bruises on his face and an aching elbow, but as it was nothing serious, neither took the others' amusement to their heart.

"You better not rush with that leg, Naruto," Hinata said to the blond who was desperately trying to keep his balance with his left arm around her shoulder. The blond grinned and gained a gentle smack on his head from the girl. "Seriously, if you rush with it, you'll be in bed for a week."

Kiba listened to the conversation behind him, walking next to Shino, his hands in his pockets and the gentle autumn wind caressing his slightly aching cheeks. It had gotten a bit chilly already, but it was nothing the group couldn't handle.

"Kiba, I wish you luck," Shino said to his comrade and poked him in the arm. Kiba started, but before he could say anything, Shino continued, "I have my ways. Really though, I hope it works out."

Kiba smiled at his encouragement, yet he couldn't help but feel insecure about it all. Nothing was set – he didn't even know her real feelings! For all he knew the kiss could've been completely meaningless.

"That might be a bit early, but thanks," he said, and Shino smiled visibly before stopping.

"As said – I have my ways," he said with a rare, playful smile on his lips as he turned to Hinata and Naruto, who were noticeably behind them. "I'll take Naruto from now, we live in the same direction."

Before Naruto or Hinata could react properly, Shino had picked the blond up on his arms and all that could be heard was "I'm not a girl!" as the injured boy was carried home.

Hinata's eyes met Kiba's and immediately darted elsewhere, and the two resumed walking, this time the Hyuga compound as their destination. After several minutes of silence Kiba cleared his throat and swallowed hard. "So… about last night."

Hinata could feel her cheeks burning at the memory, so she covered her face with her hands. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry about that! I don't know what got to me," she cried out and kicked the ground with the tips of her sandals. Kiba looked at her confusedly, unsure of what kind of feelings she was hiding. Would his upcoming words cause more tension between them, or would he get a positive response from her?

"No, I… think I liked it," he forced out of his throat and embarrassedly looked away as Hinata let her hands drop slowly. He could feel her stare on his face, and something inside of him insisted on him to continue. "And I think I also… like you."

Hinata seized walking and stared at Kiba's back as he took a few more steps before realizing that she wasn't next to him anymore. The brunet turned around and nervously observed the Hyuga, who began walking towards him with an unreadable expression. Before he was able to say or do anything, he felt his back meet with the wooden fence surrounding the Hyuga compound as Hinata pushed him against it. Kiba's heart skipped a few beats when he felt Hinata's soft lips experimentally on his.

Her hands held the collar of his shirt in a tight grip as she fought the urge to dash away, but the grip loosened remarkably when she felt Kiba reply to the kiss and his hands falling to her waist. Hinata broke the kiss and looked into Kiba's dark eyes curiously. They were both rather flushed and uncharacteristically shy, but neither seemed to mind. Kiba smiled gently at the shorter girl and held her close to himself, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I take that as an 'I like you too'," he said quietly and got a nod from the girl. Grinning, Kiba played with her tied-up hair and whispered, "Would you mind saying it aloud?"

Hinata rested her chin on Kiba's strong shoulder and calmed herself down enough to be able to spell a word, hopefully without a stutter. "I l-like you too." And so she mentally cursed herself. Kiba just smiled and stroked Hinata's back gently.

"I believe this is already the second time you've stuttered in my presence, Hyuga," the brunet teased the red-faced girl who only managed to bite her lip; she didn't trust her vocal chords all that much. "It's cute."

Hinata grumbled to herself and instead of reacting to Kiba's words in any proper way, she only pulled him down to another kiss, this time a lot less experimenting and a lot more confident. Kiba closed his eyes and returned the kiss, opening his lips a bit when he felt Hinata's tongue trying to pry its way through them. He wasn't too sure of how he felt about Hinata taking charge, but in the end he didn't really mind.

The kiss was broken as the two gasped for air, and Hinata opened her mouth to speak, but ended up breathing heavily for a couple of times before she was able to do so. "The festival… next week… let's go together?" Kiba nodded and softly pushed Hinata away just enough for him to move away from the fence.

"Wouldn't go with anyone else," the brunette said with a grin and took Hinata's smaller hand into his own. He stroked the pale skin with his thumb and smiled at the way their hands seemed to fit each other perfectly. Hinata observed his face silently. She could hear the way her heart beat against her ribcage, and secretly enjoyed seeing the blush on Kiba's cheeks – it was quite a rare occurrence, after all.

"I should go," Hinata whispered. She didn't really want to, but she was aware of the fact that if any other Hyuga saw them, there would be no end to the lectures from her father. Kiba nodded and put his arms around her shoulders as Hinata wrapped her arms around his torso and lay her head against his chest.

"Good night." Kiba gave a kiss to the top of Hinata's head, after which she pressed her lips just by his ear and backed away with a grin on her face right before she dashed into the compound.

Kiba stood there, wishing that the girl wasn't always in such a rush away from him, with his ear burning and his heart beating fast. There were practically no words to express his feelings; in a way he felt just as confused as the night before. Hinata reminded him of both an open book and an encrypted message no one could read. He wasn't sure of what he was about to get himself into, but he could hardly wait to see.

Hinata had a hard time falling asleep once again. A rather big part of her wanted nothing but to tell everything to Ino and Sakura, yet another part of her really wanted to be in Kiba's company, exploring the new relationship between them. She wasn't sure of what they would become, but she knew that by now they weren't just friends.

'Friends don't want to rip clothes off of one another,' she thought in embarrassment and pulled the covers over her face as if to hide from everyone else, despite her room being empty of other people. When she had rested her cheek to Kiba's chest, she had not only heard the way his heart beat, but also felt the abs underneath the rather thin long-sleeved shirt that he had been wearing. And god, did she want to feel the muscles up.

She couldn't help but wonder if the brunette had experienced any kind of similar feelings, but the thought made her feel even more embarrassed. Even though she wasn't exactly discontent with her body, she had a hard time imagining anyone to be interested in it. Although… she did remember his words from the previous night.

"You've… matured."

She blushed at the memory, but at the same time she felt quite happy – it was almost safe to say that Kiba saw her as a woman. And, well, she saw him as a man, painfully much so.

Knowing that her feelings were reciprocated gave Hinata a reason to think about said feelings, though. She hadn't realized how much she had longed to hear the words from Kiba's mouth until she had actually heard them; hadn't realized how much she had ached for his lips on hers until she had actually kissed him. Somehow she had a feeling that the collection of feelings she had for Kiba weren't new, that their roots were far in the past. Just how far, she didn't know.

Kiba sat on the windowsill of his room and eyed the surroundings of his house. Luckily to him, they lived on top of a small hill, which gave him a view over quite a bit of Konoha – including the Hyuga compound. The lights went off in the building complex one at a time until all of the cottages were dark, which gained a sigh from the brunet as he saw it better to go to bed.

He turned around and let his legs hang from the windowsill as he stroked Akamaru absent-mindedly.

"I think Shikamaru has a point with the whole 'women are troublesome' mantra," he said quietly and watched the dog stir in his sleep. Kiba sighed. "I mean, Hinata's not troublesome, but she can be hard to read."

He got off the windowsill and took a comfortable position on his bed instead. He crossed his arms behind the back of his head and gazed at his roof, the image of a grinning Hinata slowly finding its way to his vision. He could still feel her lips near his ear, and the thought still made him tingle everywhere. Having hugged her tighter than he could recall ever doing, he had felt her breasts against the lower part of his chest, which had been all but easy to ignore.

Shaking his head, Kiba forced the thought out of his head, as hard as it was to do. If he let things go at their own pace, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to be satisfied with only thinking about things, but to experience them.

Thinking about the fact that he wasn't alone with the warm feelings he had towards the Hyuga made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, which, as unmanly as it made him feel, was actually really nice. He couldn't wait to see how things would proceed from there on.

He turned to his left side and placed his right arm lazily to rest on top of Akamaru. He fell asleep slowly, with his last thoughts flying around the upcoming festival.