Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind

The Kiss

I fumbled with my bag as I checked to make sure I hadn't dropped anything on the way to the river. She'd probably call me a dumbass if I lost anything, and I really wanted this to go as smoothly as possible. Of course I was nervous! Things hadn't been the same since we kissed, not that we had gotten to see each other much since then; we still needed to have our 'serious group talk'. God, but I still couldn't believe that had actually happened.

I sat down on the blanket I had laid out with a sigh. The anticipation was killing me. Was this how anxiety felt? Since the chunin exams it was something I was quickly becoming familiar with, but was this how Hinata felt all the time? Where was she? Was she actually going to come? Was someone going to come with her? Was she going to come alone? Was it safe for her to come alone? Damn, I was spiraling like she normally does, but it did occur to me that asking her to meet me somewhere instead of offering to walk her myself was probably a bad idea. All this worrying was starting to make my stomach hurt. How did she deal with this all the time? Maybe I should've brought Akamaru with me after all.

"Kiba?"

I heard a quiet voice behind me and leapt to my feet, whipping around to see Hinata standing there. Relief instantly washed over me as my eyes scanned over her. She seemed to be doing alright. She has a much healthier color to her, but the left side of her face was still bandaged under her bangs, and I had to suppress the images of the injury flooding into my brain. Her hair was as cutely styled as ever, although it was scruffier than usual. I liked it though, it made her look a lot more casual. Her outfit was equally casual, skinny jeans and an oversized sweater. I had come to love those types of sweaters on her; they made her so oddly adorable, and I liked how she didn't seem to feel the need to dress up for me. I realized I was staring and averted my eyes, blushing. What was it about her? Why was I only looking at her like this now?

"H-hey, Hinata." I stuttered out, God I was pathetic, "glad you could make it."

"Yeah, I had to sneak out again." She laughed, and looked away. At least she was as uncomfortable as I was.

"You really need to talk to that asshole before I do." I growled. I was definitely getting back at Neji for what he did. Absolutely, inexcusable.

"I know... really you don't have to worry about it." She looked down at the blanket I had laid out, eye widening.

"You didn't have to set anything up for me." she smiled sweetly, and I felt my chest constrict a little. What the hell was wrong with me? I've never reacted to a girl like this before.

"Well, y'know," I scratched behind my head, "Just thought it'd be nice to not have to sit on the ground. I know you're a bit of a clean freak."

"Where's Akamaru?" she looked around the clearing.

"I didn't want him getting in the way or anything." I shrugged, hoping she wasn't wanting him to be here, "He can be a bit of a handful sometimes."

"I get it." there was a momentary silence, "I guess we should sit down now." she chuckled quietly.

"Uh... yeah! Go ahead." I plopped down near the middle, propping my elbows on my knees. I took a deep breath. I honestly had no clue how this would go down. What did we even want to meet for? It was hard to tell because it seemed like both of us had agendas outside of just hanging out as friends.

She sat next to me, not too close but not too far, a very safe distance.

"Are you feeling okay?" she tilted her head as she studied me, "You look pensive."

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." I sighed heavily.

"If you need to say something just say it." she encouraged, "You don't need to keep pretending that everything's okay."