I don't know what I'm doing. Seriously, not many people are reading this. Please, review? LOL

Characters: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hanabi, Konohamaru Sarutobi

Summary: It was his best friend's wedding and he wanted nothing but to stare at her and dwell on his own sorrow, while he babysat her sister, that is. Hyuuga Hanabi, however, has something else in mind. Inuzuka Kiba, on the other hand, is quite set on not letting her distract him.

I own nothing.

Chapter 2: We are young

Tonight, we are young.

What an asshole!

What an idiot!

Kiba is is both an asshole and an idiot and I hate him. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. Except that I don't. Not really.

"You ran farther than I had anticipated," Hanabi recognized that voice all too well, why he had run after her, however, that was beyond her area of expertise.

"Shino-san," she never felt comfortable dropping the honorifics with him, "I hadn't noticed you running after me."

She tried to avoid looking at him in the eye, even when she couldn't quite see them behind his sun glasses. She looked quite a mess, as far as that she knew. The hair that had been neatly combed in a bun had become partially undone in her irate exit, her cheeks still felt hot and angry tears had travelled down her cheeks, positively ruining her mascara. She should've told the make-up artist to use water-proof, she should've known better. Pfft, I'm not crying at my sister's wedding, she had said. Of course she hadn't, her sister looked happy, but she had completely forgotten the fact that someone else's morose mood would undoubtedly ruin her night.

She had been such an idiot herself. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

"If you keep looking like that people are going to think we are fighting," once again his deep voice piped in. Hanabi had never felt so annoyed with him before than how she felt then.

She closed her hands into fists at her sides in an attempt to keep her anger in check.

"And I care because? Why did you even follow me anyway? Who do you think you are?" she looks at him with her patented hateful glare at full galore.

She knew she wasn't being fair, she didn't even particularly care for any of his answers either, but Shino was there and Kiba wasn't and she needed to redirect her anger. She just couldn't help herself. The Inuzuka was right, she was still a kid, and like most children she still had temper tantrums every once in a while.

The Aburame, on the other hand, looked as impassable as ever and that ticked her off. Didn't he have any intention to answer her? Sure, she wasn't interested on knowing but it would ha felt a lot less awkward if only he talked.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" she huffed at him in an accusatory tone.

"I wasn't aware I was required to answer Hanabi," he didn't use honorifics with her and that calmed her somewhat. She had been ready to pounce on him like a livid hyena had he not decided to take her seriously.

The Hyuuga put a strand of wandering hair behind her ear then in order to calm herself. She had made a complete fool out of herself out there, running out of the party shouting was the best she could've done to protect the last of her dignity, however. Knowing that fact didn't help matters with her Hyuuga pride, nevertheless.

On the other front, she had also caught Ino stealing glances their way all night. The gossiper! If her father heard anything on it she would not be able to live it down anytime soon. He had become a complete pain in the ass, constantly on her heels monitoring her behavior, the moment she had so bravely (stupidly) come forward to claim her sister's unwanted spot as future heir.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Hanabi, you are so stupid.

"I made a complete fool out of myself, didn't I?"

Yes, she still needed social reinforcement to assure her of the humiliation.

"Yes, not many noticed though," he answered seriously, the Hyuuga suspected that was supposed his personal way of giving a comforting answer, "I won't tell your sister," he added as an additional perk.

Or father. She hoped.

"She was totally expecting something like this, wasn't she?" she couldn't keep the sardonic tone from her voice.

"Perhaps."

They didn't even need to share names. She had never outright told her sister about her budding feelings for her best friend, but Hinata being the highly receptive sister that she was probably suspected and effectively worried about her. She couldn't really blame her, though; she wasn't passive like her, more on the contrary, she was quite impatient and imprudent, traits that probably made her sister worry even more. She knew her sister had good intentions, but the fact that Hinata was probably intending to shield her from a heart break didn't comfort her. Hanabi wasn't the kind of person that enjoyed being the damsel in distress and having her fights fought for her. It was quite disheartening she wasn't even been allowed a chance.

"That's so like Hinata," she sighed into her sister's name, "Geez, I can take care of myself," she stated matter-of-factly before crossing her arms over her chest as if to prove her point. Shino looked at her unimpressed.

"I'm sure you can." His voice was not sarcastic, or at least it didn't seem so to her, an observation she couldn't quite count on. She had a certain degree of tone-deafness whenever it came to her sister's quietest friend.

There was an uncomfortable silence after that and Hanabi couldn't help but look over the Aburame's shoulder. A part of her, a very stupid and childish part of her, kind of hoped for Kiba to stand there looking at her with a longing stare or for him to have been the one to run after her but he hadn't and it bothered her more than she was willing to let on.

"He is not coming and you know that," his voice pierced through her thoughts, it was almost as if he had read her mind.

"I know," saying those words hurt her more than she had anticipated. She had hoped that once he saw her sister married off he wouldn't have doubted to look her way.

Hanabi looked at Shino straight in the eye then and was temporarily tempted to take the sun glasses from his face. Perhaps, that way she would be able to tell what he was thinking and gain an insight into how he could so easily read her.

It was almost as if they were opposites, Kiba and him. One was loud the other one quiet, one was unperceptive the other observant, one did not run after her while the other did, whatever his reasons were. She was grateful.

"Hanabi! There you are!"

She felt a masculine hand on her shoulder and for a fraction of a second her heart skipped a beat until the realization that it was not the hand she had been waiting for dawned on her.

"Konohamaru-kun, hi," the Hyuuga greeted awkwardly. Her hands tried to scrub away any make-up blemishes left with her hands quite unsuccessfully. The last thing she needed was yet another male sticking his nose into her business. That and the fact that it was, in fact, her sister's fairytale wedding and she happened to look like a shikome made her feel self-conscious.

What a mess. Just like she had predicted, perfect. Just perfect!

"I saw you run out of the hall and followed after you but I didn't find you so I had to look around and …" his voice trailed off the moment he noticed she had company. Shino was standing in front of her as expressionless as ever.

Konohamaru exchanged glances between the two trying to put two and two together, his eyebrows knitted in bewilderment.

"Did this jerk make you cry?" the young heir stepped forward, a protective hand in front of her as he said this. It seemed he had just noticed her current state of affairs too. Shino at 6'2 was considerably taller than him, nonetheless, and that sole fact made the scene particularly endearing to her.

"No, he didn't," Hanabi lowered his hand calmly, "he is just being a good…friend." There was a brief pause but she settled for the word anyway, a thankful smile gracing her features. Shino nodded back at her with what she suspected might be acceptance. That idea made her smile grow fonder.

Konohamaru exchanged suspicious glances between them again before finally deciding that to accept her word for it was a better strategic course of action, his shoulders however, remained tense and squared as if at any given moment he would be required to fight for her.

"If you excuse me," The Aburame probably felt that was his cue to leave as he vowed at them before turning his back and making his way back towards the party. He, undoubtedly, had a drunken friend waiting for his assistance.

"Thanks, Shino-san!" Hanabi shouted after him, at which he raised his hand to her in dismissal before disappearing behind a wall.

She may not have known what his intentions were but Shino had been there for her when she needed it, and that was something she was not going to forget soon. Unlike a certain someone she vehemently wanted to forget with alcohol.

"So why are you here?" the Hyuuga resolved on placing her hands over her hips in an attempt to appear on control. It wasn't often that she'd so willingly show signs of weakness to others, much less publicly.

"Oh, I…I guess I was invited to the wedding too," Konohamaru Sarutobi avoided her eye as he scratched the back of his neck.

It looked as if he had suddenly lost the nerve once they were left alone. Hanabi smiled at this, she was more than aware of the budding crush the older male had been harboring on her for the last couple of months. Accompanied with the fact that she hadn't exactly made a clear stance against his advances, she couldn't say she was surprised to find him there. What could she say? She quite liked the attention, and even her eyes could not deny the fact that he looked incredibly attractive in a tux.

Ahhh.

"I thought you were looking for me," she feigned hurt. She was also quite aware of what she was doing, but at this point and so far into the night she didn't have it in her to care.

She could listen to her sister's admonishment later and hope for her father not to find out. She knew all of his long drawls on morals like the back of her hand and she wasn't particularly interested on listening to a repeat.

A light blush spread through his cheeks at that, "Ah, I guess…I kind of was, yeah."

She had to accept that if it weren't because her heart was settled somewhere else, she might have reconsidered giving him a real chance.

"Do you wanna go? I don't feel like being here anymore," she looked at him square in the eye without hesitation as she said this. She could also notice how his eye grew wide at her possible implication.

Boys will be boys; her cousin had told her that once.

"S-sure," he accepted perhaps too readily, at which Hanabi's grin grew fierce with anticipation.

"Let's go then," she grasped onto the hem of his sleeve loosely as she led him out of the building, and out of the pepping sight of their acquaintances.

The night was young and so were they. It was time to burn.

Notes:

1. Shikome, literally means: "ugly woman of the underworld". In Japanese mythology, she was a hag (actually 8 hags) sent by the dead Izanami to pursue her husband Izanagi, for shaming her by breaking promise not to see her in her decayed form in the Underworld. Thought a bit of Japanese mythology would be fitting, Kishimoto likes that.

A/N:

Oho. Yes, I just did that. Yes, I no longer know where this will be going. Yes, people are going to be hurt during this fic, let's just hope the ride is still as enjoyable as possible.

So please enjoy? I'm also crossing my fingers and wishing for this to write itself, but you guys can still cheer for your favorite outcome. I'll try not to take sides and just let the characters decide. We'll see what happens!

The updates might be often or not so often, it will entirely depend on my mood as this will now be my own "feel good fic", mainly something I'll write whenever I feel like writing it (most often than not to distract myself). So if interested, it would be a good idea to alert it in case I forget about it for weeks. Next chapter will be around the corner though as I've already written part of its dialogue. Yay, go me.

Also, I'm not adamant about reviews but hearing from you guys might be nice. So I get more motivation, maybe... Be it constructive criticism or positive feedback, anything really. Don't hesitate!

I don't have a beta yet, so if there are any mistakes please forgive me! (And notify me if you can!)

Writing for you later,

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