Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did, but if wishes were ninja I could found my own village.

Campfire

by ramasterharper

Team 8 should have brought marshmallows, they all agreed. Well not so much agreeing as Kiba proclaiming, Akamaru barking agreement, Hinata nodding her head, and Shino just sitting there, which he did no matter if he agreed or not. The four of them, three humans and a dog, sat around the campfire, bored out of their minds (they assumed Shino was too). They had just completed a mission a day sooner than expected and Kurenai had decided that it had been too late to start back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. So now they sat there around a campfire, it wastoo dark to do anything and none of them willing to turn in yet.

"When is Sensei coming back?" Kiba asked the world at large.

"Later," Shino replied in a manner that ended the line ofconversation.

Kiba racked his mind for something to do. Whenever his family went camping there were always activities: roasting marshmallows, howling at the moon (don't knock it before you try it), wrestling with the dogs, wrestling with the humans, wrestling the dog and human teams, hide and go seek in the woods using only your nose, and of course telling ghost stories. One by one he ticked the options off the list. They had no marshmallows, the farmer whose orchard they were in would not appreciate the howling (something Sensei had told him repeatedly before she went to find the bar in the local town), nor would he appreciate three kids and dog playing hide and seek in his orchard at night. Hinata was too easily scared to tell ghost stories to,Kiba would feel bad if she had nightmares, and Shino would either not participate or tell one that would cause Kiba to have nightmares (most likely involving bugs). Wrestling was still an option, but Kiba knew that wrestling with girls not related to you was a bad idea and no one could ever make him wrestle with the human bug nest.

Akamaru finally got bored enough to rise from his position by Kiba's side and walk a third of the way around the campfire to Hinata. The dog promptly plopped himself down, resting his head on Hinata's knee. Hinata gave a quiet giggle and began scratching his ears and rubbing his tummy, earning a sound of approval andthe wagging ofthe tailfrom the dog. Kiba sat there trying not to look jealous, wishing that someone would rub his tummy, another of the activities he would be doing with his clan if they were here. Since Hinata was occupied, Kiba had the genius idea that now would be a good time for male bonding.

"So how is the Aburame Clan doing these days?" he asked, trying to start any conversation.

Shino slowly turned his head toward Kiba, as if trying to figure out if he was the one being spoken too. After a moment Shino turned back to the campfire. "Fine."

Kiba racked his head for anything that would keep the conversation from dying a painful death. "So I hear they are going to have a festival back home next week. Fireworks, food, and everything." Silence, which seemed far more sinister with the fire being reflected by Shino's sunglasses, was the reply. Kiba pressed on, "There will be girls there." More silence. Kiba grew a little concerned. "You do like girls, right Shino?"

After a long wait, "Yes."

The word encouraged Kiba. After all, boys all over the world talked/complained about girls, why shouldn't they? "Anyone in particular?" There was a slight rustle of fabric that signified Shino shifting. If it had been anyone else, Kiba would think Shino was embarrassed by the question.

"Yes." Now this was getting interesting.

"Anyone I know?"

The shifting became more obvious and Kiba had to strain to hear the reply. "Yes."

Unfortunately for Shino, Kiba was more than willing at this point to play 20 questions to kill time. "It's not anyone married is it?"

"No." The response was at a more normal sound level than the last one.

"Is she from our village?"

"Yes." That knocked off Temari from Sand and anyone they had met during a mission.

"Is she a ninja?"

"Yes." There went the pretty girl that worked at the Ramen stand in town and the rest of the civilians.

"Sakura?" For some reason Kiba didn't understand, a large number of ninjas liked her.

"No." Kiba thought for a bit then gestured with his head over at theirdistractedteammate. Shino used a finger to push his glasses farther up his nose. "No."

"Ino or Tenten?"

"No."

"Sensei?" Kiba was hoping for this one. He didn't want to be the only one who had a slight crush on his teacher.

"No." Now Kiba was stumped, Shino had dismissed all the women they worked with regularly.

"Come on, give me a hint," Kiba pleaded. He was curious now. Shino gave as much response as the rock on Kiba's other side. "The Hokage? Her assistant? Anko?"

"No."

"But that's everyone we know!"

Once again the response was at the edge of Kiba's hearing. "No it isn't." Shino returned to staring at the fire while Kiba searched his memory. He ran through in his head every available girl he knew in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, including some he was sure Shino didn't know. The time he took to go through the list was time enough for the conversation to die. Kiba figured Shino wouldn't care about who Kiba liked, so he was back to point where there was nothing to talk about. He looked over and Akamaru and was jealous of the look of complete content on his face as Hinata continued to scratch his ears. Then it occurred to him that people can do two things at once so he scooted over to talk to her.

"He looks happy," Kiba joked while thinking about where he could hide the dog treats when they got home to punish Akamaru. Hinata gave one of her small smiles and nodded while scratching a particular spot that caused Akamaru's tail to pick up speed. Then Kiba remembered something. "Oh, you didn't tell me what happened when you were taking care of Akamaru when I was sick." Kiba had come down with the flu a few weeks ago. Normally his older sister, Hana, would have taken care of Akamaru but Hinata had asked if she could. To be honest, when she asked, the touch of loneliness in her voice had almost made his sister give Hinata her dogs for the week.

Hinata smiled and began to describe the various things they had done. Apparently, minimal time was spent in the Hyuga clan building and a great deal of time was devoted to training. "…and after the run, we passed Tenten on the street. She was going to the bath house so we decided to join her. Isn't that right Akamaru?" she asked while rubbing his stomach, earning a pleased growl. "So we went in and ran into Sakura and Ino…"

"Sakura and Ino were there?" Kiba asked politely mainly to show he was paying attention. He really didn't care who was at the bath house, if he had been there it would have been a different story, but just hearing about it was boring for the boy.

Hinata nodded. "Yes, and when we all got in Akamaru jumped in, splashing all of us." She gave another light giggle at that.

"Yeah that sounds like him… wait, Akamaru was in the bath with you guys?" Kiba's voice took a colder tone. Because of the large number of people in Leaf that had animal partners the bath house had a private area for pets where they woulduse while their owners/partners bathed.

Hinata looked at him worriedly. "Y-yes. I asked and th-they let him in sin-since I'm the Hyuga heir."

Kiba looked incredulously from a very confused Hinata to very content Akamaru. He swore that the canine grin on his partner's face grew. Akamaru had been in the bath house with the four prettiest girls in the village and he knew it. Kiba fought the temptation to pull on the dog's tail, and pull hard. He breathed out, releasing some of his anger. "And then what happened?"

Hinata grew a bit nervous but continued, "Ummmm…. well…. Kurenai-sensei arrived and bathed near us wi-with the Jounin from the exams, Anko who tried to splash us occasionally…." She stopped when Kiba groaned and fell back onto the ground. "Ki-Kiba? Are you alright?" Hinata asked, concerned about her teammate. Kiba groaned again and closed his eyes. He could still hear the thumping of Akamaru's tail, mocking him. Pulling the tail wasn't enough, he should talk to his mother about neutering. Life was just not fair.

"And then what happened?" he asked dejectedly.

"Ki-Kiba…"

"And then what happened?" he said with more force, immediately regretting it when Hinata flinched. "I'm sorry Hinata, I'm not mad at you, just that mutt!" Hinata looked at him worriedly.

"B-but why?"

"Just finish your story Hinata," he said in what he hoped was a softer voice. "I want to hear it," he added, hoping to encourage the girl. Anything to get this nightmare over with.

Hinata took a moment to collect herself and continued. "La-later Hana arr-arrived and came over to say hello to us." Kiba sighed at the good news, he couldn't care less if she was there, though he admitted some guys would care.

That's when things clicked. Hana, his sister. Hana his older sister the NINJA. Hana, his sister the ninja who was SINGLE.

Suddenly Kiba jumped up, alarming everyone, and pointed a furious finger at Shino across the fire. "SHE'S MY SISTER YOU JERK!" For the first time he could remember, he saw Shino's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and fear. Kiba gave a roar and lunged over the campfire, Shino was barely able to move out of the way, the log he had been sitting on was not so fortunate and was shattered into mulch. Shino hopped to what he hoped was a safe distance away and settled into a defensive fighting stance.

"Ki-kiba! Sh-shino!" Hinata cried in a vain attempt to calm them down with assistance from Akamaru. She had often been the one to get them to back down from the really violent matches, this time it wasn't working.

"YOU'RE SICK, SICK, SICK!" Kiba cried while getting ready to lunge again. In a corner of his mind he admitted that a lot of guys liked his sister, but that corner was drowned out by the rest of his mind who put his sister solidly into the un-dateable category with his mother and grandmother. This time when he tried to lunge he was held back by a hand grasping his coat's sleeve. "Let me go Hinata! HE HAS IT COMING!" If asked for what Shino had it coming for, he would have sputtered something about family honor, but right now, all Kiba wanted was a punching bag.

"Kiba stop!" Hinata pleaded.

"LET GO HINATA!" She did and he thought he was free. Then she performed a little maneuver that he never knew she had in her. When he leaned forward to lunge she gave him a small push, just enough to knock him unbalanced. As he moved to regain his balance, she grabbed his sleeve again and pulled him back toward her, causing him to stumble backward. Before he could recover he was even with Hinata, who he noticed had activated her Byakugan. Her open palm slammed into his chest and Kiba soon had the sensation of flight, which was ended abruptly by a large tree. He soon found himself somewhat propped up against the tree, the entire world slightly woozy. The thinking corner of his mind noted that Hinata's training was paying off while the rest of his mind just went 'ow.' Two Hinatas made there way over to him and he was slightly confused as to why both were apologizing to him profusely. He could of sworn he had only been hit by one of them. He tried to explain this to both of them while the world continued to wobble he looked over and saw Shino standing in the fire. He smiled and told the two Hinatas, who were slowly turning into one and a half Hinatas, that he was fine. Then he blacked out.

Kurenai had just gotten within ear shot when she heard "LET GO HINATA!" and had rushed to her team's aid, cursing herself for being foolish enough to think her students would be safe. When she arrived she took a moment to analyze the scene. Kiba was lying unconscious by a tree with Akamaru sitting on his chest and a close to tears Hinata checking his vitals, worried that she had just killed Kiba. Shino was standing, as calmly as ever, on the other side of the campsite, with the fire directly in between him and Kiba.

After attending to Kiba (just a hard knock on the head, he would have a head ache in the morning, and chest pains) and comforting Hinata (easier than expected, aided by Kiba's rather loud snore confirming he was alive) she turned to Shino for an explanation. He gave it in his typical dispassionate and factual tone, but she swore she saw his face redden when he explained his conversation with Kiba, though that might have been a trick of the fire's light. When he finished, she just looked at him, then at Kiba, then at the still worried Hinata, and she laughed. She laughed long and hard. Sometimes she forgot that her team was still a bunch ofkids. When she was done she told them to go to bed, though she was up half the night trying to stifle snorts of laughter.

In the morning, Kiba woke up one minute after Kurenai started cooking breakfast, head fine but tender. On the walk home he kept on joking about his hard head and trying to convince a very embarrassed Hinata that he was going to be fine and that she had done a very impressive move, while Akamaru barked agreement from inside his jacket. As Kurenai had predicted, he had no hard feelings toward Hinata or Akamaru (though she did catch him asking the dog for details about something a few times). He kept away from Shino and glared at him occasionally, muttering something about sisters and perverts, but Kurenai knew that was typical behavior for them and they would be back to rival/friends by the next day. Just another day for her Team 8. However, just to be on the safe side, the next time they went on an overnight mission, Kurenai brought marshmallows.

A/N: I did not make Hana up, she is Kiba's sister in the Anime. Not as good as my other Team 8 story, but I thought it was good for a laugh. Review! I apoligize for any grammer issues, my editor is on vacation.