"Kiba! Kiba, wake up!"

The shinobi's eyelids flickered but did not open. Hinata choked back tears but to no effect. They came anyway.

"Kiba…" She sobbed, grabbing desperately at his shoulder, trying to keep him with her, "Kiba, please!"

"Ugh!" He cringed in pain and she quickly moved her hand away. His eyes opened and blinked up at her. Hinata gasped, torn between relief and fear.

"Kiba?"

"He- Hina… Hinata?" His vision was blurry, unfocused.

"Kiba…" She sighed softly, "Kiba, don't talk! You're injured, don't waste your strength."

"Not… a waste… talking to you…" She hated when he did that, distracted her small compliments. He grimaced again and looked around, "Where's… Akamaru?"

"Shino's taking care of him." Came the quick reply.

"Good…"Kiba coughed slightly, covering his lower lip with shiny red blood, "Shino's bugs… they'll suck out the poison."

"Kiba, don't talk!" Hinata implored, weeping openly.

He ignored her, the way he ignored everyone who tried to tell him what to do. With what Hinata was sure was the last of his strength, Kiba's arm rose and his hand clamped softly around the back of her head. Gravity, combined with Kiba's will pulled her to him and their lips locked in tight embrace.

"Kiba?" She looked at him as though she'd never seen him before.

He'd promised himself a long time ago he'd do that.

"I love you, Hinata."

"Don't say that!" Her voice squeaked in consternation.

Now it was Kiba's turn to stare with one eye brow raised. "Why not?"

"Because it's something people say when they're about to die!" Hinata cried angrily, "And you're not going to die!"

Kiba closed his eyes softly and said, "I don't know if I'm gonna die or not… but it's true all the same. I love you."

"Stop it."

"No, listen…" Kiba, ever the single minded, tried to sit up but fell back down with a grunt, "I know you like… Naruto but he's not-"

"He asked me out today."

"Oh… shit." Kiba said softly, feeling horrible like she'd just stuck his heart in a cement mixer. Then a glimmer of hope shot through his mind, "What'd you say?"

"I said yes."

The glimmer went out and Kiba grimaced again. He couldn't tell which was worse, the pain in his heart or the pain in his gut. They were both about equal. Still… it was what Hinata wanted that mattered. Kiba would have to be the bigger man.

"Oh." He said, nodding weakly, "Okay…"

And he let the darkness over take him. Hana would yell at him. The Inuzukas are fighters, she would say but… he felt so extraordinarily tired and the darkness was nice and warm. The last thing he heard, as he drifted away, was Hinata's voice, screaming at him.

"KIBA! KIBA! NO!"

And then he died.

"He's a coma."

"A coma?" The Hyuga heiress's voice was soft and frighten like a scared kitten.

"Aye." Hana Inuzuka looked tired. It was about six o'clock in the morning. Usually a normal Shinobi was up by now, with the exception of Shikamaru Nara, but Hana had been roused four hours ago and informed that her brother was dying. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that.

"I suppose we have you to thank for that, Hinata." She continued, lethargically, "If you hadn't found him and brought him back here when you did, he'd be dead. So thank you."

It was not Hana Inuzuka's nature to be rude but under the circumstances she was excused. Her brother's teammates were just grateful that he wasn't dead. Not that the Aburame's continence betrayed any emotion of any kind. For her part, Hinata merely sighed and closed her eyes.

"How long?" Shino asked.

Hana shrugged, "Two days…two weeks…a year… forever. The doctors don't know. He's a total vegetable, fed through I.V." She smiled sadly, "I never thought I'd live to see the day Kiba sat still that long."

"Can we see him?" Hinata asked.

"No." Kiba's sister sighed and brushed a tear from her eye with the back of her wrist, "They want to run a few more tests. Maybe tomorrow. Go home now, both of you. There's nothing more you can do here and you need to get some sleep. And thank you."

She sounded so tired that Hinata did not question her. She was certain she would not sleep that night, although she'd never been more exhausted in her life. Kiba's voice would continue to haunt her:

"I don't know if I'm gonna die or not… but it's true all the same. I love you."

But Hana couldn't know that. Hinata hadn't told anyone what Kiba had said to her. She didn't want to embarrass him, to put his heart and secrets on display for everyone to see when he couldn't even defend himself.

Oh, God! She thought, praying that she had no more tears left inside her. She was so tired of crying.

To her relief, no tears came, not even when she hugged Kiba's sister and made her way towards the door. It was Shino, surprisingly, who lingered.

"How's Akamaru?"

Hana looked up and for the first time since the news of Kiba's injury, she smiled for real. "Much better now, thank you. A little banged up but no worse for the wear. Worried sick about Kiba but…" She swallowed hard and continued, "it was your bugs that saved him, Shino."

"Good." Shino nodded, "Good."

They did not need goodbyes. In this situation, they seemed frivolous. Shino simply turned and followed Hinata out the door and Hana watched after them. Almost immediately she regretted sending the two of them away. She didn't want to be alone tonight…

"Why the hell am I still here?" Inuzuka Kiba glared down at his own broken body in disgust.

"Because you are not dead yet, Kiba."

"You call that alive?" Kiba snorted, gesturing around the hospital room, "With all due respect, Hokage, there's a fuckin' machine doin' my breathing for me! That is not alive!"

"He didn't say you were alive." The fourth Hokage said, glancing down at Kiba and Kiba's body, "He just said you weren't dead."

"Big fucking difference."

"He's got quite the mouth on him, doesn't he?" The fourth commented dryly.

"Now, now, Yondaime, remember what you were like when you died?" The third Hokage smiled indulgently.

"Yeah. Those were crazy times." Yondaime smiled and then frowned, "Wait, how do you know what I was like when I died?"

"Hishirama told me."

"Good old Hishirama!" Yondaime grinned, "Hey where is he?"

"Hanging out with Tobirami. Woman's bath house."

"Dirty old dead guys." The fourth smiled and looked back at Kiba, "Yeah, I guess I shouldn't judge. This kid hasn't even got laid yet."

"How the hell would you know?" Kiba said defensively.

"You know what the dead do with most of their time?" Yondaime continued to smile, "Watch the living. Especially in the shower. Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"Interesting as the discussion of my sexual activities-"

"Lack thereof, more like it." The fourth would not let it go, "Seriously, are you gay or just sterile?"

"Interesting as that is-" Kiba continued, "Could we get back to why I'm not dead? Why am I floating here in this limbo, purgatory fun house?"

"Well, Kiba, to be honest, we didn't really know what to do with you." The third sighed, "You've led a fairly decent life-"

"Though you can be a jerk at times." Yondaime added.

"But it's incomplete. We feel you could have done more."

"Well no shit, I could have done more!" Kiba shouted, "I'm twenty one years old for god's sake! I haven't even got laid yet!"

Yondaime giggled.

"So what happens?" Kiba asked, "Do I get back into my body and go on as normal or am I stuck here?"

"The real question is does anybody want you back on the planet?" Yondaime asked, "No, not does anybody just want you on the planet, does anyone need you on the planet. Ninjas are a dime a dozen but does anybody care about you, Kiba Inuzuka, specifically?"

"My family." Kiba answered quickly, pointing to his mother, asleep in a hospital chair, "Mom, Hana, Akamaru-"

"Nope!" Yondaime said, "Familial love doesn't count. They're obligated. Neither does Platonic, in case you're thinking of citing Akamaru or Shino, though Aburame doesn't really seem the type. I'm talking specifics, Kiba."

"Hinata."

"Well give the little boy a big cigar." The fourth smiled and leaned back, "Hinata Hyuga. How long have you liked her?"

"Since I was fifteen."

"Six years, damn! No wonder you can't get laid."

"I didn't know what it was at first." Kiba admitted, "At first I thought she was just hot."

"A common mistake." The fourth said sympathetically, "So you love her and she knows about this?"

Kiba nodded, "Last thing I told her before I passed out."

"Does she reciprocate?"

"No." He sighed dejectedly, "She's dating Naruto."

"Doesn't mean anything."

"She's liked him for about a decade."

"Also does not mean a thing." The fourth said exuberantly, "Though it does put a damper on things. It's harder to change a person's mind about something they've believed for a long time. But, nevertheless! Kiba!"

Kiba looked up.

"You need to make this girl love you, Kiba! It's the only way you'll get back into your body. Either that or get her to admit she's already in love with you. Same thing really."

"What?"

"You. Need. To. Make. Her-"

"I heard what you said!" Kiba rolled his eyes, "What I mean is, how am I suppose get Hinata to…care…about me when I'm in a goddamn coma? I assume the living can't see us."

"You assume correctly." Said the third, "However, you can appear to her in dreams. Human beings are more receptive to the spirit world when they are asleep. Also, animals, particularly ones you share a strong bond with will recognize you."

"Akamaru?" Kiba actually grinned at the prospect of seeing his old friend.

The Third nodded, "Also, other humans may sense your presence, though they won't recognize it."

"This still puts me at a disadvantage." Kiba said, thinking of solid, visible Naruto whom Hinata had liked since their academy days.

"Love conquers all." The Fourth said, "It's your only chance to be fully alive again, Kiba. If you can get Hinata to say she loves you and mean it or prove that she loves you in some significant way, you go back in your body, no harm, no foul."

"And if I can't?"

"Things stay the same way. You spend the rest of your life eating through a tube and shitting in your bed and your friends and family move on with their lives. If they don't cut off life support before you die, that is."

"Crap." Kiba didn't like the thought, "So I've basically got until I die, one way or the other?"

"Yep." Yondaime said cheerfully, "But it gets harder the longer it takes. People start to forget you. You become dead to them.

"I don't wanna die." Kiba said, think of all the people he cared about. Hinata, Akamaru, His mother, Hana, Shino, Kurenai… the list went on and on. All of the things he hadn't done. There was so much life out there for him. He wanted to live.

"Well then…" Yondaime said, "You'd better get started."