Chapter Six:

Those Three Little Words

A/N: Slow torture, huh? Well, I think you're just as happy as I am to be reading this final chapter! I can finally move onto my other fanfictions now! But I just wanna say, all of you who reviewed are the best, simply awesome. Without you guys, I wouldn't have the strength to keep this updated, so give yourselves a pat on the back for helping me with this! gives everyone a round of applause

Hinata's white eyes were filled with confusion. She turned her eyes to Neji, still in his transformed Naruto state, and then looked behind her, where the real Naruto's scream had emitted. The Hyuuga heiress turned again to the fake Naruto and stepped back and inch. "W-What's going on?" the girl stammered softly, her gentle hands now shaking with the orange kitsune sweater in her hands.

Neji opened his mouth, nothing could save him now. He looked over to the bush where Kiba and Shikamaru where in hiding, almost wishing they'd come out and help him. Kiba wasn't really his best friend, why would he risk his neck for him?

Neji was proved wrong. The dog boy emerged from the bushes, Akamaru following closely at hand. The boy ran a hand through his brown hair and tried to look innocent, giving off a few nervous laughs. "Neji, dispel the jutsu," he whispered to the Hyuuga.

Neji hesitated, but ended up crossing two pale fingers. With a slight poof, the blonde ninja was gone and Neji Hyuuga appeared, looking extremely flustered.

"It's…a long story Hinata," Kiba said with a sigh. "But…I don't know where to-"

He was cut off my a screaming blonde ninja bounding up to the three (Shikamaru had sneaked away, muttering how troublesome the whole event was) and jumping up and down with excitement. Kiba emitted a sigh again, it was tough enough he had to come clean to Hinata about this whole week, but now he had to put up with watching her confess right in front of his eyes. There was no way he was going to tell Hinata his feelings in front of everyone! Maybe Sasuke was right…maybe he should've seized his chance when he had it…

"Hinata-chan, Kiba, Neji, I'm home, dattebayo!" Naruto said, dancing around in excitement. "And boy, I have tons of news to ell you guys! So much stuff happened down at the farm, dattebayo!"

Hinata now gave a final questioning look to Kiba and Neji before turning to the hyperactive ninja. "N-Naruto…" she said shakily, still holding his kitsune sweater. "I-Is it really you?"

Naruto bobbed his head up and down. "Why wouldn't it be me?' he asked, puzzled for a second.

Hinata shook her head, trying to shake off her question. "N-No reason, I just wanted to check. B-Because, I need to t-tell you something, N-Naruto-kun…"

Naruto now looked joyous. "So we both have good news, Hinata?"

Kiba clenched his fists and turned away, walking away from the two with his had held down lowly. He couldn't face Hinata ever again after she spilled her feelings. There was no way… And Naruto would return her feelings and they'd go off and have Hyuugamaki babies together, forgetting all about Kiba.

"Well, let me go first, Hinata," Naruto said, jabbing his thumb at himself. "Today…me and Sakura-chan are going on a date!"

It was like the world stopped.

Kiba turned around, now looking at Naruto with shock and outrage. How could he dare tell her such news when she clearly had so much affection for him? Neji looked the same way too, wondering what was the fastest way to kill the blonde ninja on the spot. Hinata was the most devastated of all. The white-eyed heiress dropped the kitsune sweater, letting it fall to the ground with a swish.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, scratching his blonde hair carelessly. "Something bothering you?"

Hinata turned away from him, ready to dash back home, when she bumped into something. Something fluffy.

She opened her white eyes and saw nothing but grey, the color of Kiba's coat. Arms were wrapped around her, holding her close, as if to tell her that she'd never need to worry if she was in these arms. A small drop of water fell on her head, and that's when the Hyuuga saw who was hugging her, crying lightly.

"K-Kiba.."

Kiba released her from the comforting hug and now turned to Naruto. "Uzumaki! You don't know how good you have it!"

"…Huh…?"

"There's this girl who liked you from the beginning, who always admired you, who wanted to be like you, who'd do anything for you!" Kiba retorted, anger fuming inside of him. "And you just can't see it! And you hurt her in the process of your blind love for someone who's probably only going out with you in spite of a bet!"

Hinata blinked. Kiba's…defending me?

Neji blinked. You go, dog-boy.

Naruto blinked. What is he talking about?

"And this whole week she's been working up the courage to tell you, and as her best friend, I had to be there for her. I had to comfort her. But I didn't do that!"

Akamaru was now barking along with Kiba's speech, to make it more dramatic. "I did everything I could to stop her, from gay confessions to lies to even getting that pink haired girl to cry for us! But I did it because unlike you, Naruto, I appreciate her!"

Hinata's heart fluttered. "A-Appreciate…me…?" The poor girl wasn't used to having so much attention focused onto her, her little heart almost gave out hearing this news.

"And…" Kiba now turned to Hinata, now looking like he had let an enormous load off his chest. "…none of this would've ever happened if I just told you in the first place, Hinata."

Hinata now twiddled her fingers anxiously, her face turning a bright red. "T-Tell me what, Kiba-kun?"

Naruto, who didn't have a clue what Kiba was talking about, now sensed an awkward moment and left. "Uh…I'm off for ramen, dattebayo." he murmured, giving them a casual wave which no one returned.

Kiba took a deep breath. Here it was. Now or never. If he didn't tell Hinata how he felt now, he'd probably never have a moment like this again… But everyone was watching, what if he only got put down? He mustered up all the courage he had within him, the courage that he had gathered when performing all those ridiculous stunts he pulled this week. It would all come down to think three little words (four if he decided to get fancy and plug her name in there) that needed to be said, to conclude everything.

"Hinata…" he said softly, his dull eyes meeting her white ones. "…I love you."

The heiress fainted.

-x-x-x- + x-x-x-

In the end, Hinata and Kiba ended up becoming a couple, and Kiba made sure it was known for everyone in Konoha to know. He didn't hold back with affection. He held her hand as they were walking the streets of the village. He snuck up behind her and hugged her from behind whenever she felt sad. The two never ate ramen. They stayed away from orange kitsune sweaters.

Neji ended up approving the relationship, but warned Kiba that if he touched her where one shouldn't be touched, Neji wouldn't hold back in attacking him. Kiba nodded gravely, he didn't have plans to do such things anyway.

Shino was always happy, and because he was such a nice sport, always helped Hinata in making Kiba presents. Later on, the bug-master admitted to Kiba that he didn't really want Hinata to hook up with Naruto in the first place, he was just being supportive.

"That's just like you man," Kiba said with a shake of the head.

Shikamaru ended up staying as far away from Kiba as possible after the troublesome event. He didn't want to have anything to do with women, since Ino was acting strange enough as it was… Sasuke stayed with him, afraid that Neji would come looking for his ramen coupons one day.

Ino and the other girls of Konoha were shocked that Hinata had a boyfriend before they did. Thinking quickly, the blonde sponsored a club where everyone could sulk about how they had no loves in their lives. Hinata couldn't help but giggle as she passed them, all eyes on her and Kiba.

Speaking of boyfriend-less, Sakura broke up with Naruto in a day, after he blew ramen out of his nose on their date. She told the blonde that they could still be friends, but he ended up crying like a baby and rushing to Ichiraku's to drown himself in ramen.

But hey, what did you expect from that baka Naruto?

t h e e n d d a t t e b a y o

+.miss.ninja.kimi.

sequel anyone?