Hinata had never realized she loves dogs.

But Akamaru is adorable, soft and sweet and cuddly, and he makes the cutest little snuffling noises when he's settling into her lap. At first Kiba protests, going into long discourses on war dogs and the ferocity of Inuzuka headed into battle while glaring pointedly at his partner, shamelessly snoozing atop Hinata's ankles. But eventually he comes to realize that Hinata's stutter disappears when she's cooing over the puppy, and he decides dignity isn't something he has much use for anyway.

Akamaru is almost always in contact with Kiba. He drapes himself over the boy's head; crawls inside his jacket; leans against his leg, or flops himself over Kiba's chest when the boy lies down on his back.

It takes Hinata a while, but eventually she catches on.

When she's had a bad day, suddenly after practice is over Akamaru will settle his head on her knee when Team 8 is sitting in the grass, talking over what they've learned. The puppy demands belly rubs when she shows up to the training field with tear tracks on her face and fresh bruises; he noses his head under her hand and insists she scratch his head, fingers buried in soft fur, when her arms are covered in pink welts from pinprick Jyuuken strikes targeting her tenketsu, when elder Hyuuga close them and force her to open them again.

It takes a bit longer for her to notice that Akamaru barks insistently when her eyes go distant, the way he catches her gaze and whines until she lowers her head so he can lick her cheek (just once, softly, and she giggles when Kiba starts muttering about why his bratty partner can't be so polite at home). Akamaru nuzzles against her side or trots off to bring her exceptionally aerodynamic sticks; she throws and he goes flying after them, showing off so unabashedly that Kiba rolls his eyes.

Akamaru suddenly starts growing even faster than Kiba does, and sometimes he knocks Hinata over when he shoves his head under her hand. He learns he can no longer fit into her lap, or inside Kiba's jacket, and pouts for a whole week while Kiba plies him with fresh meat and Hinata scratches under his chin the way he likes, lilts his name in the way that never fails to prick his ears, and shares half her lunch with him until Kiba starts stealing it instead. (She feels bad for Shino so she starts packing extra, and this is how picnics become a tradition for Team 8.)

On overnight missions Akamaru always winds up between Kiba and Hinata- the boy at his back, the girl curled up against his belly. He rests his head on her shoulder to watch as she sharpens kunai; he goes from shoving his head under her hand to diving under her, scooping her up on his back and bounding off while Hinata buries her hands in his fur and laughs out a token protest.

On nights when trouble drives sleep from Hinata's mind, she walks past the Inuzuka compound. Sometimes she goes to a training ground and greets the dawn covered in dust, hands red and knuckles aching; most of the time she's intercepted before she reaches it.

She never hears him but she can sense him there, doesn't need to see him to know his head is cocked in assessment. There are nights Akamaru will bound up behind her, scoop her up on his back and race through the woods, howling as Hinata laughs high and wild. There are nights she ignores the training grounds in favor of quiet places she knows, the ones she saves just for this, and they spend hours leaning into one another's shoulder. There are nights that Akamaru nudges his massive head under Hinata's hand; the big dog stands and waits for her to get on his back. He finds water for her, lakes and streams and shallow ponds that dry up in the absence of rain. There are nights they spend wandering, and nights when Hinata presses her face into Akamaru's fur and doesn't come out again until she has no tears left. There are nights when she talks to him, talks to him in a raw torrent of words that leave her throat parched; most nights she doesn't say a word.

She doesn't need to. They've always understood each other just fine.