Chapter Three
Anyone But Him

The rain was still pelting down on his window, and he didn't want to move. Kiba just sat there, not wanting to think, not wanting to talk; he just wanted to sit. Most importantly he didn't want to think about a certain indigo haired angel. Yet before he knew it, his mind wandered off in that direction, powered by the feeling of her in his arms, a feeling that still lingered with him. Silently cursing himself, Kiba flopped back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling in such a way it almost appeared that he was searching it for the answers to his questions. Yet even he knew that you can't find answers on such a boring, flat, white ceiling. A sigh escaped from between his lips, and he rolled over. Face down in his pillow, Kiba let out an exasperated groan. Why were things so complicated?

Akamaru let out a growl, there was someone nearby, and they weren't family. Sniffing the air, Kiba caught the slight scent of ramen, sweat and a trace of oil; Naruto. And judging by the trace scent of oil, he must have been with the toad sage earlier today. Thoughts raced through Kiba's mind as to why the Uzumaki runt was near his house, it was clearly out of his way if he was on his way home from training or dinner with the sannin. Kiba moved silently though his houses, and peered out the front door. sure enough, Naruto, the fool, was walking towards him. Something was amuck though, Naruto seemed on edge. Kiba opened the door, causing the blonde ninja to freeze in his tracks.

"Uh, Hi. Um... I came by to inform you that granny Tsunade wants to talk to you about our upcoming mission..." Naruto stared at his feet as he passed on the Hokage's message. But when he was finished, he still didn't move from his spot.

"Is there anything else?" The rain was still going strong, and didn't seem to want to let up anytime in the near future. Kiba stared blankly back at Uzumaki, the kid wasn't moving from his spot, indicating that this conversation wasn't over yet.

"Um, well," Naruto's usual hyper and happy demeanour seemed to be missing today; he seemed nervous and a bit upset. "I was wondering, if I could ask you a question..." His voice trailed off with the last word. He shoved his hands into his pocket, and looked up into Kiba's face. Inuzuka's right eyebrow was raised in a questioning manner, as if to signal Naruto to carry on. "It's about Hinata..." Kiba's entire body tensed. "I was wondering, um, if she's ever talked about me, y'know, to you..."

All of the conversations that Kiba and Hinata had always ended up having at least one comment related the Uzumaki idiot, but Kiba was sure as hell not telling him about that.

"No, not really." The lie escaped from between Kiba's lips with ease, fuelled by the rage that was churning inside his body. Naruto was never going to know what Hinata told Kiba, and Kiba was going to make sure of that.

A look of embarrassment crossed over Naruto's face, his cheeks grew red, and he shuffled a little where he was standing. Kiba's face was that of a statue, stone cold and uncaring. Naruto quickly put one of his hands behind his head and rocked back on his heels, letting out an awkward laugh in the process.

"Well, then. Okay. Um, yeah. I'll see you around!" and with that the hyperactive teen raced off in the rain.

Kiba slammed the door behind the blonde fool. A scream erupted from his chest, bouncing off the walls around him. He was glad that it was only Akamaru and him home.

Kiba walked up to the drunken Hokage's office, Akamaru trailing behind him. He spotted Hinata and Kurenai waiting outside Tsunade's door. He nodded, and joined them; if they were standing outside, that means that something important was happening beyond that door but it was probably just another debriefing. A half hour passed before Tsunade's voice called out for them to come inside.

As soon as they stepped into the office, they hesitated. Every surface was covered in medical textbooks and papers; vials of strange substances and elixirs were set up on the sannin's coffee table. The old lady was neck deep in something.

Kiba absentmindedly listened while Kurenai talked with Tsunade about the mission they were going on. It was basically a relations mission with Suna. Their medical ninjas were in the middle of an important study, and they needed some medical ingredients and supplies that only Konoha could provide.

That would explain the medical textbooks, papers, and vials. Lady Tsunade was working on the medical study.

Kiba had to hold himself back. He wanted to peek at the textbooks just to see what the sannin was researching, just for a hint as to what the study was about. Instead he inspected his team; Kurenai was still deep in conversation with the Hokage; Hinata looked genuinely interested in their conversation, her hands fidgeting behind her back showed him that she was a bit nervous; Shino was...

Shino wasn't there.

Kiba mentally kicked himself for not noticing earlier, but the kid was always so quiet that you never hear him. None the less, Kiba should have still noticed his absent scent. Sniffing the air just to double check his senses, Kiba noticed something odd. Shino's scent was in this room, and it was relatively fresh; he was recently here.

"What about Shino?" Kiba cut into the conversation between the two kunoichi. They looked at each other, then at Kiba.

"I guess that Naruto didn't tell you that part... You see, I need Shino to stay behind on this mission, so in his stead I'm sending Naruto with you."

Kiba deadpanned; Hinata blushed silently to herself.

This was going to be a disaster, Kiba felt it deep in his gut. He cut a look at the blushing Hyūga. His stomach dropped even further. Naruto didn't deserve her.

Kiba's fist connected with the punching bag for the thousandth time that day. The bandages wrapped around his knuckles were worn and tearing. Thud, thud, thud, thud. Every punch caused a satisfactory noise as he imagined his fists connecting with Naruto's face. It was only a fantasy, he would never actually do that, no matter how much he wanted to. Hinata would never look at him again if he did. Kiba grunted as he punched with a little more force. Akamaru yawned and rolled onto his back, pawing the air. He had been laying while Kiba released ever since the debriefing that morning, only getting up to grab some food. He was such a good companion. He was always at Kiba's side, keeping him company, never complaining.

Kiba sighed, collapsing to his knees on the floor. He was exhausted. How Rock Lee could do this for nearly 24 hours blew Kiba's mind. Another person he was jealous of that he would never admit to anyone. The Inuzuka boy rolled onto his back beside his best friend. Akamaru barked at him, Kiba barked back. He never let anyone see him barking at Akamaru, it was their thing, and it was no one's business. Another sigh escaped from between Kiba's lips.

Sitting up, he decided that he probably should pack his things for tomorrow. It was too late to back out of the mission, and he surely wasn't going to leave Hinata in the hands of Naruto. Kurenai wasn't going to be on the mission, apparently she just attended the debriefing as an overseer.

Kiba wished Shino didn't have to stay behind.

Akamaru whined at Kiba. "I know, boy, I know." the Inuzuka got to his feet. "Come on, let's go pack."

AN
Sorry that this too so long! I blame my extreme procrastination.

I truly am sorry.

I would also like to apologize for the short length of this chapter...

I'll make it up to you with the next one! That's a promise

I'm working on the fourth chapter right now.

xo.