Red Cheeks - Kiba x Hinata (Naruto Classic)

Nice to have dreams

"Hello Hyuuga-san! Is Hinata there?"
"Hmph." Hinata's father Hiashi stood in the doorway and gave the newcomer a hostile look. "You again? It wasn't enough for you to kidnap Hinata all night, was it?"
Naruto blinked, a bit perplexed.
"Um... uh yeah. NO! I-I mean no!" Hysterically, he waved his hands in the air and sweat promptly ran down his face.
//What the heck?! I'm supposed to have kidnapped Hinata?// His head was rattling wildly. //I can't even remember that!//
Hiashi just wrinkled his nose. But finally he turned around, called for his daughter and then without a word disappeared inside. Shortly thereafter, Hinata came to the door. When she saw Naruto, she gave him a confused look, but quickly looked down.
"N-Naruto-kun...?"
At first, he eyed her with his head tilted. //hmm...//
"Do you have a moment, Hinata?" he finally asked her, causing her head to snap up in shock.
Then she nodded hesitantly in agreement.

Naruto finally asked her to go for a walk. Kiba's words just couldn't get out of his head and so he decided to talk to Hinata himself. Now, however, he didn't know exactly how to do it himself. What a stupid thing... Stupid Kiba!
Naruto's paradoxical behavior threw Hinata into completely confusion and she seemed even more distracted than usual. As she walked beside him, she crumpled the fabric of her jacket and took turns tugging at the cords.
//Um...//
Her eyes darted nervously in his direction.
And when he also caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye, he grinned sheepishly.
Then he finally started to talk. "Weeeeell, Hinata..." He cleared his fist and then crossed his arms behind his head. "I think, uh... I think something weird happened..."
"...?!" Hinata promptly turned her head towards him and her cheeks literally began to glow.
"Hm... well, how shall I put it..." Naruto continued his awkward mumbling. He scratched his cheek with his index finger.
He could imagine that Hinata should have dreamed about him... But he couldn't explain why her father had accused him of kidnapping her that night. He looked sideways and his eyes narrowed to slits as he thought hard.
And the more he did, the more he came to the conclusion that Kiba had to be behind it somehow. //Odd fellow...//
And then he just said the thought he'd just thought out loud. "Kiba is an odd fellow, isn't he?"
Hinata flinched and then gave him a questioning look. "Um...? Uh... Y-Yeah, maybe..."
Naruto leaned forward slightly as he walked and looked at her face.
"You two are good friends, huh?" he asked.
Hinata nodded barely but looked extremely puzzled.
//Kiba-kun...?// she wondered. Why was he suddenly talking about Kiba?
Naruto folded his arms behind his head again and looked straight ahead. And suddenly an almost perfidious grin flitted across his face.
"He likes you I think!"
//Hehe... Kiba must have thought he got me!//
The whole thing smelled like a prank from the dog boy, Naruto was sure about that! And before he made a fool of himself in front of Hinata, he decided to just turn the tables and get back at Kiba.
Hinata, on the other hand, didn't understand anything anymore. What did Kiba have to do with all this? Her mind was spinning like a merry-go-round and when she heard Naruto's next words, she suddenly became so dizzy that she could hardly stand on her feet.
Because the blond boy leaned forward, raised a finger and actually said to her: "Kiba likes you very much, Hinata. I almost think he has a crush on you."
...
Hinata stopped in place and her eyes went blank.
A gentle breeze whistled around her ears, blowing her short, blue-black hair slightly. She was more confused than ever before. Naruto's words were repeated in her head, his voice seeming to be getting quieter and quieter, as if he was getting further and further away from her...
She began to stagger, then took a step back.
Naruto had turned to her and took a quick step towards her to catch her - in case she did fall. But she avoided his touch and took another step back. She gave him such a dismayed look that Naruto himself felt very uneasy.
Hinata started sweating and she had to swallow to get the lump out of her throat. What was going on here? Why did Naruto say that to her after he...? It was he who stole her first kiss. Didn't he like her after all?
"Uh... N-Nan... Nani? Naruto-kun..." she finally mumbled confusedly. Then she clenched her lowered fists and squinted as she added: "B-But the k-kiss...?"
Naruto's jaw almost dropped and he stared at Hinata with wide eyes. His cheeks flushed instantly.
"W-What...?!" he yelled at her in confusion. "So that wasn't a joke at all?!"
He pointed at her with a shaky index finger.
Hinata's confusion grew and she could feel her heart beating faster with excitement. She was still tugging nervously at her jacket.
What did it all mean? What he said made no sense to her at all! Was Naruto perhaps out of his mind?
No. No, this could not be. It had to be her. She had simply misunderstood something. Yes, that's how it had to be.
"W-What... what kind of joke?" she asked squeaky.
Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. //It's really weird...// Then he looked at Hinata again. //So she has really... a crush...?//
At that thought, he blushed a little around the tip of his nose again.
Hinata noticed that. However, she also noticed that he was acting completely different from the previous evening. And different from this morning when he brought her home.
She blinked and looked away from him.
"Ah...!" And then a startled sound escaped her throat when she suddenly felt his hand on her shoulder. Her head snapped up and she stared at him, completely flushed. Naruto's gaze was so warm and friendly.
//So she really did dream that about me// he thought. //Oh man...//
"Kiba...told me."
She blinked at him in irritation. "W-What did he told you...?"
"Hinata, I really like you."
And with that, Naruto let his gaze wander, his hand still resting on her shoulder. Across the street, Sakura was standing in front of the Yamanaka flower shop, talking to Ino. Pretty loud. Once again they were arguing about which of them actually had the prettiest hair.
"It's nice to have dreams..." And as Naruto uttered those words, his hand slipped from Hinata's shoulder.
She hadn't missed his languishing gaze - which unfortunately wasn't aimed at her, but at Sakura Haruno. And she hadn't missed his soft sigh either. To him, Sakura seemed as unattainable as he seemed unattainable to Hinata...

That day, Team Kurenai did not show up at their training ground as usual. Neither at the usual time nor in the usual number. In fact, Shino was the only one who showed up on time. He had been waiting for his teammates - and his Sensei, because she had arranged to meet Asuma again - for over an hour. Then he was silently gone again. From all appearances, sometimes there seemed to be things in a ninja's life that were more important than training...

Hinata sat on top of the grassy hill and watched as the evening sun slowly disappeared behind the trees, bathing all of Konohagakure in an orange light. White petals floated away with the wind. Hinata pulled them out one by one, looking down at them sadly. Then she wrapped her arms around her knees, rested her chin on them and let her gaze wander over the roofs of the village. She sighed softly to herself.
//Naruto-kun...// she thought, because she just couldn't think of anything else.
She just couldn't get his face out of her head, kept seeing in her mind's eye how he was getting closer to her - and then again how he was pining after Sakura. Had she really just imagined the kiss? Or dreamed?
It had to be like that, because after the last meeting it was actually clear that his heart wasn't beating for her, but still for Sakura...
"Hm?" Hinata perked up when she suddenly heard a distant sound.
A soft bark.
Akamaru!
The little Nin-Ken came running up the hill, his floppy ears flapping cutely in the wind. He walked right up to Hinata and immediately jumped onto her lap to let her pet him. Akamaru always knew how to elicit a smile from Hinata - just like in that moment.
"Hello Akamaru," she greeted him softly. "What are you doing here?"
The next moment she noticed that someone else was approaching her. That this someone was Kiba came as no great surprise, given his close bond with his dog. Hinata gave him a questioning look as he walked towards her. He was carrying something in one hand, but she still couldn't see what it was.
//Nani...?// She was a bit surprised that he was visiting her up here.
After all, this had become a special place for her since last night. For her and Naruto... At least she thought so.
Without a word, Kiba sat cross-legged next to her, rested his forearms on his knees and looked straight ahead. A small paper bag lay in his lap. Akamaru jumped off Hinata and curiously hopped over to his master to sniff at the bag.
Hinata wasn't comfortable with Kiba approaching her so quietly. She gave him a sideways glance.
"Hello Kiba-kun," she greeted him uncertainly. "I-Is everything alright?"
She was beginning to worry. He was behaving very strangely... Could it be that all the boys in the village had been cursed? Or was Hinata suffering from delusions? She shook her head slightly and blinked in confusion. Maybe she should see a doctor, she thought.
Then Kiba suddenly let out a sigh. He pulled the hood off his head and looked at Hinata. He looked her straight in the eye and his gaze seemed very strange. Kind of bitter. He couldn't hold her gaze for long and looked away again. Suddenly he lifted the bag from his lap and asked her:
"Would you like... some dango?"
Hinata blinked in perplexity. She looked from Kiba to the paper bag and back to Kiba.
...
And then it dawned on her.
She suddenly turned bright red and jerked her head to the other side so that he could no longer see her face. Everything that had happened was replaying in her head. EVERYTHING.
She thought about how Naruto invited her that evening, about his strange behavior, about the kiss... //GYAH!!// She thought about the morning after. About his sudden change of heart when he visited her that afternoon. And like he mentioned that Kiba liked her... That Kiba should have had a crush on her!
The seconds passed in which Hinata's eyes twitched nervously back and forth, in which she just thought, thought, thought... She couldn't say anything more to him, her throat was choked.
And Kiba was silent too. He had put the bag of dango down again and was eyeing her profile from the side, trying to make sense of her expression. Akamaru just looked from one to the other.
Hinata still hadn't looked at Kiba.
And so, little by little, her shoulders began to tremble.
...
Finally she slowly got up from the grass.
Kiba looked up at her. He had no idea what would happen now. What awaited him now. He knew he had made a big mistake and that an apology was needed here... But would she even listen to him anymore? He got scared that she could just walk away and therefore got up as well.
Hinata had her back turned, her lowered fists clenched tightly, and she was still shaking.
Kiba swallowed. "Hinata, I..." he finally got out a few words. "I-I'm sorry..."
And then she turned to face him, reached out and slapped his face with the palm of her hand. A loud bang echoed across the grassy hillside. Akamaru let out a startled whine.
...
Kiba's head snapped sideways and then he stayed in that position.
Hinata stood in front of him, glaring at him with her head bowed, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. Her expression betrayed her anger and disappointment.
She couldn't bear to look at him anymore and she had nothing more to say to him anyway... So she just turned and ran down the hill, leaving him alone - the dog boy with the stupid idea and his bag full of dango.