A/N: Hey guys! I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to filter through thousands of stories and settle onto mine. I would also like to thank you for leaving your reviews as well as following my story and me! Please Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto~

Side Note: Yugakure= Hot Water Village; Shimogakure= Village Hidden in the Frost

Chapter Four: My Lies

Everything felt terrible. Her body felt tingly as she wiggled her toes and flexed her fingers. Pain throbbed at her side and burned her flesh as she moved to touch it. What happened? She thought as the weight of her own body was too great causing her hand to fall off to the side. Hinata's arm dangled off to the side and she could feel a gentle breeze between her fingers.

What was going on?

Slowly, she forced her eyes open and she could see Kiba's jawline and then his sharp eyes. They were filled with concern but were very focused on what lie ahead. Beneath her, she could feel Akamaru's fur tickle her earlobe and she voluntarily buried her face in his coat. Her eyes closed soon after as she allowed the darkness to consume her again.

Hinata awoke with a start. Her hair was matted on her forehead and her body was soaked in sweat. She struggled to focus her eyes as she checked her surroundings. Her heart began to slow, but only after she reached for her side to feel that it had been stitched up and she could see that her normal shinobi wear had been replaced by a pair of pajamas.

She pushed the blanket from over her body and stood up from her resting place on the floor. She then reached over towards the window in order to peer outside. Darkness had fallen and the only light that had been available came from the stars and the moon. From the looks of the steam that traveled up into the air, they had to have made it to Yugakure. At least for now, they were out of harm's way. Hinata stood from her bedding on the floor and walked over to the sliding door. Slowly, she opened it and peered down both ways of the long dark hallway.

When she'd stepped out, she bumped against something in the darkness. Startled, she stumbled back into her room a bit before standing in a way that allowed the moonlight to shine into the hallway. On the floor had been a resting Akamaru and a nodding off Kiba. Akamaru had been curled in a furry ball while Kiba rested against the wall behind him, his arms crossed against his chest. She kneeled down before them and gently pet Akamaru's head. He lifted it and barked softly before wagging his tail. The sound of Akamaru's barking caused Kiba to stir and eventually awake with a start and look from Akamaru to Hinata.

Quickly, he ran his fingers through his hair and fumbled to stand to his feet. At first, he didn't look at her but then finally he mumbled, "How long have you been awake?"

Hinata hesitated for a few moments and then stood up to her feet in order to be at his level. "I've just awakened. How long have I been asleep?" She asked, her eyes never leaving him as she instinctively went to touch her side.

Kiba was quite for a few moments and then turned to face her. "I wanna to say about two days since you woke up just now."

"Two days?" Hinata's eyes widened. She had delayed their mission for two days. If anything, he should've left her to hurry and rendezvous at Shimogakure. They'd already managed to be gone for about three or four days, who knew how long that they would be willing to wait.

"Listen, Hinata I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm pretty sure this kind of stuff happens all the time and it was expected to happen on a mission like this." Kiba attempted to reassure her. He could tell that she had become worried and even worse he knew that she would start to blame herself. He really didn't want or need that especially with her being in the condition that she was.

Hinata opened her mouth as if she had something to say but then closed it. There was no point in arguing with him about it, because more than likely he was right. He was more experienced at these kinds of missions and she wasn't. Not to mention he'd saved her life prior to being in this situation. If only she'd been paying attention to herself and not gotten so upset, maybe things would've been different.

Akamaru licked the tips of her fingers which caused her to reach down to pet his head. She smiled down at the canine as he nuzzled into her hand. His comfort was a bit reassuring and her thoughts began to settle down a bit. Where had her optimism gone? Ever since the beginning of the mission, she'd always thought that she would be optimistic about everything regardless the situation. Akamaru's gentle reminder caused her to calm down and really think everything over.

Honestly, she should actually be more thankful. Kiba took the time to not leave her behind and make sure she was okay. What she really wanted to know was, "What happened?"

Kiba's shoulders relaxed. She always seemed to make him feel tense with all that worrying she did. Good thing Akamaru is around. He always managed to help her feel at ease. "Remember when you were cut? The Kusagakure managed to get at least one kunai to hit you before you brought up your guard. This happened from behind while you were facing forward during the fight. Then the Otogakure attacked us with a wave of sound in order to stop us but Akamaru and I managed to shut him up. Unfortunately that kunai that managed to cut you not only injured you, but was covered in…poison."

Hinata was silent. That was why he had pushed her out of the way. She hadn't known that that was why he had done it. She had yelled at him and felt a case of mistrust between them for no reason at all.

"I managed to get some of the poison out, but I doubt I got it all. I'm not expert like Ino." Kiba explained. "The only reason I noticed was because of the scent that covered you. I don't smell it now, but who knows how much got into you before we got here. We managed to make it here after escaping them and you slept for a while. So I cleaned you and got you fresh clothes." Kiba continued to explain.

"W-wait, you brought me here and redressed me….and bathed me?" Hinata gasped, her face turning bright red.

"Yeah, I cleaned your wound and—," Kiba looked up and in Hinata's open palm across his face.

"How could you!?" Hinata shouted as she slammed her room door shut. Kiba sat in the dark, rubbing the side of his cheek. It startled him that she would act like that. What exactly had he done wrong? He looked down at Akamaru for an answer who merely whimpered. Kiba sighed and clicked his tongue. Just great…

Hinata finally managed to come out of her room. She was so embarrassed. The Hyuga just couldn't believe that Kiba had seen her naked. She knew she should've been more thankful towards him since he had done her such a huge favor, but it was still a little much for her. She sat in silence as they began to eat the spread of food on the table. Kiba glanced at her every now and again as he gnawed on a few grains of rice. Akamaru had finished his meal fairly quickly. Since he had finished it, he'd been lying in the corner sound asleep.

Hinata grabbed a small piece of fish with her chopstick and looked up from her meal at Kiba. He looked so tired. His eyes were shades darker than she'd remembered. The canine looked as though he hadn't slept for days. She looked back into her rice bowl and sighed. She hoped that it wasn't because of her again.

"So, you're just not going to talk to me?" Kiba grumbled, his eyes leering at her.

She opened her mouth, and then closed it to think about what she had to say before she said anything. "You look so tired." Hinata muttered. "I hope I didn't bother you any further from me sleeping…"

Kiba began to think back on his lack of sleep and how it had been affected him the past few days. As a matter of fact, the more he thought about it the more he wondered exactly why he'd worried himself to death like he did.

- Two days earlier-

Akamaru had snatched Hinata up and placed him on his back. Kiba followed suit and began to ride with Akamaru as they made haste to escape. Who knew exactly how many there were but he knew that they didn't stand a chance against all of them with Hinata down. As they ran further into the wood, Kiba glanced back to see that they hadn't been being chased any longer. But to be safe, Kiba pushed Akamaru to run a little further before they found a good spot to make another camp.

When Kiba felt like it was safe enough, he managed to make a small spot further out between the Otogakure and the Yugakure. Around the next day, he would was certain they'd be able to go into Yugakure and be able to tend to her properly. For now, he had to make sure he got her cleaned up immediately. Akamaru laid the unconscious Hinata on the cool grass. She looked so peaceful yet pale as the sun rose to reflect on her porcelain visage.

He kneeled beside her and scanned over her body before his eyes rested on her side. He lifted her shirt up to get a better look at the wound. It wasn't particularly deep, but he could smell something foul mixed in with her blood. Akamaru came back from the river with some water for Kiba to use. Kiba gave the dog a pet on the head as a reward before shifting his attention back onto Hinata's wound. He looked at her face and then down at her wound before exhaling nervously.

He leaned down over her wound and began filtering her blood and the poison. His gestures had been the same for a while, first he sucked blood out of her wound and then he spit it out. He repeated his movements over and over again until he could no longer smell it since he couldn't particularly taste it. Once he was done, he reached into his pack and pulled out materials so that he could be able to stitch her wound up. He wasn't very good at medical ninjutsu, but he knew he would be able to tend to it by common means until Hinata would be able to continue to care for her own wound.

He sat back and wiped her blood from his lips before reaching for the water that Akamaru had brought for him and wetting a cloth. As he wrung some of the water out, he watched for any sudden changes in her breathing. The Hyuga appeared to be fine at the time. Her breathing was steady and it was almost as if she had been in a deep sleep. However, her brow had been perspiring and her body felt warm. She was definitely running a fever.

Kiba cleaned her wound a bit and then rewashed the cloth before setting it against her warm forehead. He then picked up the needle and thread and began to sew up her wound. Luckily for his skills, her wound was fairly shallow and it didn't require very much stitching. Once he was done, he heaved a sigh and looked over at Akamaru who whimpered as he watched Hinata sleep. "I know boy, but I think she's gonna be alright. I'm not sure how quickly this could've gotten into her blood stream, but I at least stopped it before it got bad." Kiba tried to remain optimistic about the whole situation, but it was a scary thing dealing with poison. It was especially scary when it wasn't particularly his expertise.

Kiba tried not to think too much on it, however. He needed to now put some of his focus on the area around him. He wasn't sure how far they had traveled and he wasn't sure if they'd completely lost their enemy. All that the canine knew was that it was up to him to keep the team together and to be on the lookout. If he'd volunteered to be first, perhaps this could've been avoided.

He couldn't think like that. He had to trust in Hinata's abilities. If he didn't then their trio wasn't going to work out. Above anything, he wanted it to work. He wanted to have faith in Hinata so bad. Did it really have anything to do with faith to begin with? Was he just too overprotective of her?

This was a question he feared would trouble him since before the mission even began.

The following morning, Kiba grabbed Hinata and lie her on Akamaru's back. They needed to travel further. Even though there were no signs of the enemy all night, he couldn't trust it. So Kiba hurried along the borders of the Sound and finally made it into Yugakure. He'd found a place that they could stay for a while and that he could properly watch over her.

When they checked into their rooms, Kiba knew that he'd have to do something about the clothes that she had on and get her clean. He stared at her still body as her chest rose and fell with each breath.

Her chest.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He shook his head. This was his childhood friend. This was his teammate. He shouldn't have even been thinking of something like that. She was unconscious for pete's sake. With frustration, he grumbled as he looked to Akamaru. He always seemed to look to Akamaru as if the dog would give him some sort of resounding guidance as to what he should do next. Of course, Akamaru would respond with a bark and a wag of his tail. Kiba sighed as he reached to pet his head.

The canine knew exactly what he needed to do. He just had to be a man about it.

Yes, a professional. That's it. He had to be a professional.

Shaky hands reached for her coat as he unzipped it and removed it from her body. He was getting closer and closer to actual skin. Her skin. He shook his head again, mustering up the courage as he removed her pants and then finally her undergarments. When she was bare, he froze. His eyes travelled along her body, cheeks flushed. This was not the way that he'd ever imagined seeing her like this. He'd never thought that under such circumstances that this was how he would see the bare Hinata Hyuga.

But this meant that he'd been admitting to fact that he'd thought about seeing her. That he'd thought about….

Again, he shook his head. His cheeks lost their color as he remembered the severity of their situation. No, this wasn't how he wanted to see Hinata. And this thought panged him with a little sadness. He got her into the path and began to bathe her in silence. Not another thought crossed his mind about her. Perhaps all would be clearer when she finally awoke.

Kiba managed to complete her bath and place her into bed. It was only day two but physically he was growing tired. He hadn't had a day's rest since that night of the fight. Mentally, however, he continued to push forward. He wanted to make sure that there were no sudden changes in any part of her body. Her wound looked fine and there were no signs of infection, but she just continued to sleep. That was the part that worried him.

There was no way he could leave her side. So he stayed there, semi-awake and alert. He knew that he would remain, like a loyal pup until she opened her eyes.

No matter how long it took.

-Present Day-

Kiba silently chewed his food for a few moments and then responded with, "I'm just a little tired is all. I wasn't that concerned with you. As a matter of fact, if you slept any longer I was gonna leave you here and send a message to the Fifth. If you pull another stunt like that you will be sent back. Remember, we can't afford mistakes." Kiba then proceeded to eat. The silence in the air thickened as Hinata mulled over Kiba's words. They were harsh…but possibly true. She had put them in a bind and she hadn't been feeling like she was completely herself.

She supposed that it had been the thought that had counted. "You're right. I should be more careful. I won't let it happen again. Besides, I feel a whole lot better and I have you to thank. We can start back up tomorrow." Her eyes were filled with determination and Kiba caught them. She had always given him this overwhelming feeling.

Ever since they were children, no matter what he warded her against, she continued to fight and find strength in her resolve.

He admired her for that. But for some reason, he could never find the words to tell her that.

A/N: Thanks for reading. How did you like it? Didn't like it? I personally enjoy Kiba this way kinda...sorta.. lol Probably cause I'm omniscient to his real feelings. Let me know and thank you for reading! :D [Lumiwolf]