"As You Wish" [Kiba/Hinata] [AIM log, finished]
[Backdated to Saturday 18th. Beware the fluff...and the length]
As much as Hinata enjoyed visiting her friends, she still couldn't quite get past the nervousness that always gripped her when faced with new situations. Moving around her room, almost pacing, she could feel Snuggles watching her, tail swinging lazily back and forth, finally quiet after hours of yowling. Hinata didn't expect that silence to last long, so she hurried to get ready faster, changing into a nice sweater and pants before scooping the kitten up into her arms and leaving her room. She hoped the kitten would stay quiet while they were in the hallway.
She'd left the movie at Kiba's when she'd gone to visit a few days back, so that was one less thing to worry about. He'd been too sick or sore to stay up long though, and they'd had to stop before the movie had even really begun. Hopefully this time she could stay longer than half an hour before he fell asleep.
Snuggles held securely in her arms, she closed the apartment door and locked it, then headed the few doors down to #9 and knocked politely. Told herself she wasn't nervous.
"Kiba-kun? ...May I come in?"
Akamaru's ears pricked at the knock on the door, and he lifted his head off Kiba's lap, jostling the book Kiba had finally forced himself to start reading. And jostling Kiba awake, too.
"Huh? Man, 'kamaru..." He rubbed his eyes and sat up, flinging the book aside; no way he was going to get through his Biology reading tonight, if even ten minutes put him to sleep.
Akamaru was still looking at the door, though, head raised off Kiba's lap and tail thumping slightly against the broken couch. No barking; a week of stern training just after they'd moved into Lysgar had mostly cured him of that. But there was someone he knew there. Kiba raised his voice. "C'mon in!"
Hinata shifted the kitten in her arms and opened the door slowly, peeking her head in until she noticed Kiba and Akamaru on the couch. "Hello, Kiba-kun. Akamaru." She pushed past the door then and closed it behind her, still holding tightly to Snuggles.
...Who was also holding tightly to her, little claws digging into Hinata's shoulder through the sweater. The girl winced and pried the little paws away from her, trying to reassure the kitten all the while. She'd known Snuggles might not take to Akamaru right away, but she hadn't expected her to cling so tightly.
"Um...is there somewhere I can put her...?" The kitten mewed loudly at that and tried to crawl up higher onto Hinata's shoulder, back claws digging into her chest a bit. "She's, ah, um...she's a little frightened--" Her words died in her throat when she finally caught a good look at Kiba's arm, and her eyes opened wide in shock. "Your arm...! What happened?"
"Uh..." Kiba cast an involuntary, worried glance down at his arm--had the fixator broken or something? But it was still there, glimmering nastily out of his forearm. He suppressed a wince. "Nemu, upstairs, said there's a new medical treatment supposed to help a break like this heal faster. She's a doctor, so she helped me with it. I just gotta wear this for a week, though."
Maybe he should wrap it in gauze, anyway. Or a sling--he'd banged the fixator against a corner twice already and nearly fallen over with the pain. Could take care of that later, though. He switched his sharp glance from his right arm to the dog sprawled halfway across his lap and over most of the rest of the couch. Akamaru gazed back with blue eyes that would have put an angel to shame. "Behave," Kiba warned him sternly, and surged off the couch to reach out for the kitten with his left hand "S'okay, I got you, little girl," he crooned in an oddly gentle tone, one that he never used except for feral dogs or skittish horses or injured cats. "S'okay, s'okay, you're safe, don't worry...."
In a moment he'd detangled her from Hinata's sweater and was cradling her against his own chest, stroking the fuzzy head with one calloused finger and still murmuring to her. "S'a brave girl, you're gonna be fine, just coming along a little early aren't you? We shoulda got to you before this..."
Her shoulder stung a bit from where Snuggles had clawed her, but Hinata ignored it as she watched Kiba hold her kitten. And tried extra hard not to look at the...contraption...on his arm. It looked so painful... But his voice drew her away from the strange fixator, and she smiled. She'd never heard him use it before. He really was meant to work with animals. "...Thank you. For letting her stay here."
She glanced past him at Akamaru then, smile brightening. "And you'll be good, right? You won't scare her, will you, Akamaru?"
"You bet," Kiba said, glancing up in slight puzzlement. "S'no problem at all. You shoulda heard back at home when the dogs went into heat--"
"On the other hand," he added rather more thoughtfully, "I guess you shouldn'ta."
Awkward. He glanced away, eyes searching the apartment for something else to talk about than, y'know, animal reproductive acts. Especially with the girl he had rather more than a crush on, and had kissed, and then hadn't really talked to about it for nearly a month...
"You still wanna watch that movie?" he asked, eyes seizing with something like desperation on the DVD on top of the TV.
Hinata had to agree. She loved her kitten, but really didn't want to imagine how loud any creature--let alone many--sounded while in Snuggles' condition. She alternated between feeling guilty about how the neighbors liked to yell about the sound, to feeling nervous about her kitten getting out, to being annoyed when the mewling woke her at all hours of the morning. To work on a farm and hear that all the time...
And the fact that she was shy, and standing alone with a boy she liked a lot who was talking about a subject that made her blush terribly didn't help matters, either. When he mentioned the movie she latched onto the idea as fast as he had, nodding quickly and leaning down to remove her shoes before stepping farther into the apartment.
"I would, yes." And then she paused, realizing. "...I forgot to bring something to eat, I'm sorry. I meant to, I just..." She nodded her head at the kitten. "Sorry..."
"Hey, s'fine! We can...uh..." He shifted the kitten a little further into the crook of his injured arm and dug in his back pocket with his free hand. The money he'd made selling dog-sled rides that winter was slowly dribbling away, the necessity for getting a job creeping up further and further, but he had enough. "Order a pizza if you want, make popcorn, have our own party. It'll be cool!"
"Ah, um, I can help pay, too, then," she said quickly, standing up straight after having removed her shoes. "Don't waste all your money, please."
Although that got her wondering, and she looked around the room again, taking in the big dog and the young man with the kitten and no one else. "...Where is everyone? Are they at work...?" She had a terrible feeling she was imposing, but at the same time, it would be nice to spend time with only Kiba. They hadn't since Valentines, and even then...
Ah, she would not let herself blush. If it was one thing she'd set out to do with her life, getting over her blushing habit was very high on that list.
"...I can take Snuggles while you call, or do you want me to instead?"
"Hana's still working. Think Chouji and Shika are out, or something?" he waved his wallet-bearing hand vaguely. “And I can pay, don't worry about it." Pretty poor job he'd be doing of sort of dating her if he let her pay--
And where had that come from?
"You'd better call though," he admitted, shoving thoughts of dating away. A crush was one thing, kissing was great, cuddling would be awesome (and his brain was starting to come up with all sorts of interesting variants of cuddling that might occur during the course of a movie, now that he wasn't drugged out of his head)--but they hadn't even talked yet. And they couldn't be dating if neither of them really knew about it, could they?
"There's a good place just down the street; they're pretty quick." He led the way over to the phone in the kitchen, still cradling the kitten, and pointed out the number pinned to an ancient bulletin board. "I like anything, so you can get whatever you want."
She nodded and smiled, then picked up the phone and dialed the number to order a large pizza. After a moment, she decided to get half with extra meat. If Kiba like jerky so much, she figured he would like that, too.
When she was finished ordering, she turned back to Kiba. "They said fifteen minutes, Kiba-kun." So, by the time they started the movie and settled in, really. She eyed the couch and Akamaru, then went over to pet the white dog and sit beside him. "...Did you want to wait to start the movie until then, or we could start it now, or...?"
She was starting to babble, a sure sign of nerves. And that was bad, because she didn't want to be nervous with him. Which was why she'd wanted to talk with him for weeks now. Something was different--it had to be, after that--and she needed to know how much. After seeing him talking with Sakura and Tenten the other day, and the way he was always so casual with everyone, the feeling had only gotten worse.
"Depends on whether you wanna eat while you watch the movie or not," Kiba suggested. "I say eat first, movie later--with popcorn, of course. I think we've got a bag..."
Still carrying Snuggles cuddled against his chest, he roamed out of the living room and into the attached kitchenette, his voice carrying clearly to her as he thumped through cupboards. "Two! Man, we've got all the luck. Popcorn, pizza, place to ourselves...Might even have drinks in the fridge--"
A quick check assured him that there was, indeed, a wide variety to choose from. Milk, Kool-aid, soda, even a few bottles of beer. Did Hinata drink? He'd never seen her do so, and couldn't remember if she'd ever mentioned it.
...Well, no time but the present to ask, right? He shut the fridge and returned to stand beside the couch, hip-shot, head tilted slightly as he watched her pet Akamaru, who was doing his best to ooze bonelessly into her lap while he pretended he wasn't even thinking of moving. "D'you drink?"
Hinata was happy to pet the large dog, and smiled when he moved onto her lap, trying--and failing--to look as though he hadn't meant to. She was doubly happy to hear about there being popcorn (she hadn't had any in a long time). And then Kiba was there, and she turned to look at him, ready to say something when his question stopped her.
Drink?
"Um...I've never...tried any. Why?" On her lap, Akamaru shifted some more, digging his nose into her ribs, but she ignored him for the most part, moving enough so that she wasn't uncomfortable.
"Well." Kiba floundered, a little off-balance, but he wasn't ever at loss for words for long. Even if they didn't make much sense when he finally hunted them down and thrashed them into obeying him. "'Cause we got some beer in the fridge, and pizza's best with either beer or pop, and I get way too hyper when I have caffeine." There wasn't enough to get drunk on anyway, he assured himself. Even if drunk for Kiba meant less than half the alcohol that it meant for most others. "Or there's milk, I guess."
She wasn't really very sure of how much it took someone to get drunk, never having been much exposed to any situation like that. Her family wasn't big on drinking, and if they did, it was never beer, and she had never been allowed nor wanted to partake. But being here wasn't exactly something her father approved of, and she trusted Kiba if he said it couldn't hurt any.
"...If you want to, we can have that. I'll try it..."
"You don't have to," he assured her. "And pizza's not gonna be here for a while anyway, don't have to decide now."
Something else needed to be decided now though, and Snuggles was tired of waiting to announce it. Once he'd stopped stroking her to thump around in the kitchen she'd started growing steadily more querulous, and now at last she rolled over and nearly out of Kiba's grasp, trying to make for the floor. He caught her in a bit of hasty cat-juggling; she glared at him, if a cat could glare, and batted with unsheathed claws at his hands. And yowled.
Kiba winced. "Time to find a place for you, I think. Hinata, where'd she be most comfortable?"
The moment Snuggles started to fall, Hinata was on her feet, Akamaru unceremoniously dumped off her lap. When the cat scratched at Kiba, she reached out to take her back, hugging her. Holding the kitten to her chest, Hinata glanced around the room, frowning slightly. "...Somewhere that has dark corners she can hide in. When I first got her, she liked to hide under my bed until she was used to me..."
Mention of her bed made her think of standing in her room, which made her remember Valentine's, which made her want to blush again. Not for the first time she wondered just how to bring up what she'd been thinking about for over a month.
"...Maybe a closet...?"
"Got my bedroom closet?" Kiba suggested. "We don't really have any other place, 'xcept the bathroom, and I don't think she'd be too happy there."
His room was decently clean at least, he thought; no shame in letting her see it. And a couple tee-shirts should make a good enough bed for the kitten... Hana might complain about a kitten shut in the closet at night, but they were all of them fairly sound sleepers. Shouldn't be a problem.
"We can fix a bed up for her now," he offered, setting off for his bedroom door.
Ah, he wanted her to follow? ...The idea surprised her until she realised that, of course he did, because she was holding the kitten.
Following him slowly, almost hesitant, Hinata entered the room a few seconds after Kiba did, looking around. Besides being a little messier and a lot more crowded, his room wasn't at all that different from hers. That relaxed her somewhat, enough that she wasn't hugging Snuggles tight enough to give the cat any discomfort.
"A bed would be nice... She likes soft things, especially pillows. ...N-not that you should give up your pillow," she hastened to add, "just...something soft, like that..."
She had the distinct feeling she was making a fool of herself and glanced at Kiba, face half-hidden by Snuggles.
"I usually use a dog instead of a pillow," he confessed, a little abashed. "S'easier when you're all in one big tangle on the floor." He jerked his thumb at the stack of blankets and the futon against the wall, folded with much less than military precision. "But I bet we can find Snuggles something. Um..."
He half-disappeared into the tiny closet, rummaging through the few clothes he'd hung up; most of the shirts and pants on hangers were Hana's, with only a few obviously masculine. It was easy enough to find what he'd been searching for, a dark grey hoodie branded "AKC" across the front in large white letters. The cotton was worn to an exquisite softness, and he held it out to Hinata with a fond smile. "Had this hoodie since high school. Softest thing I got."
"...It looks it..." she said slowly, taking the offered piece of clothing and holding it. It really was very soft. Enough so that she though she could use it for an impromptu pillow, should she feel the need. She held the cloth up to Snuggles then, letting the kitten sniff and paw at it before turning to look back at Kiba. "This will work fine, thank you."
She glanced around then before focusing on the closet and nodded her head towards it. "...Should we make it now, then?" She smiled a bit. "I don't think she'll want to meet the others when they come home later without a place to hide..." And the pizza would be there soon, and they wouldn't have much time afterwards if they were going to watch that movie.
"Now works," Kiba agreed. "And it'll give her time to get settled before you leave."
He ducked out of the closet and scrounged around a bit more before he located a cardboard box, shoved under the bed and forgotten months ago. Stuffed into the back of the closet, with a worn tee-shirt padding the bottom of the box and the hoodie lapping up in a soft nest, it made an admirable bed. He scrambled to his feet again and stood back, justly proud. "Give it a try?"
"Thank you." She moved forward, half into the closet, and set the kitten down in the box. Snuggles gave her a look Hinata couldn't read, and then mewed for a few seconds before sniffing her new bed and testing it out. When she made no further protests, Hinata backed away slowly until she was completely out of the small closet, and smiled over at Kiba. "I think this will work well. Thank you for doing this for me..."
"Hey, you bet!" Kiba grinned down at her. "It's good having a cat around for a while anyway. She's a cute little thing..."
Kinda like her owner. Only not nearly so much.
"Hey," he said softly. "About--about Valentines'. I wasn't--I didn't mean to push you. If you've been upset about that...I'm sorry."
Her smile dulled a little at that and she shook her head quickly. "N-no, it's not that... I'm not upset about it, I mean, it was, well... I..." Hinata could feel her face start to heat up again, but forced herself to press on. She'd been trying to talk about this for weeks, she couldn't stop now that it was brought up.
"I liked it, I just...don't know what it means..." Her voice trailed off then, and she looked down at the ground, hands held loosely clasped in front of her. What it could mean scared her, but not as much as what it might not. He was her friend, and she cared about him, but she had seen the way he talked around other girls. If it had just been a spur-of-the-moment thing on his part...
"What it means?" Kiba blinked. "I...guess I thought that was pretty obvious. I like you, and I like kissing you."
It was obvious, wasn't it?
"Ah...um..." Her face felt on fire. "I-I like you too..."
On fire.
"I just...wasn't sure what it meant...and wanted to talk about it... But we've both been busy and I didn't really know what to say and--" The pizza chose that moment to be delivered, the knock sounded loud to her ears, and she started, turning around quickly, heart thumping.
"I'll get it," Kiba said quickly, sprinting around the bedroom door and heading for the door to the apartment itself. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket on the way, and by the time he reached the door he already had the money in hand. A quick exchange of cash and box, and he was the proud owner of a large something-or-other. Should probably have asked Hinata about toppings, but he trusted her judgment.
"Ready to eat?" he asked, setting the pizza on the table and heading back into the kitchen for glasses and cups. "There's carrots in the fridge if you want 'em. And, um, beverage of your choice."
She stood in the room, stunned, before moving to join him out in the kitchen a moment later. She stopped at the fridge before sitting, pulling out the milk and carrots...and then the beer too. For some reason, it seemed the smart thing to do.
Sitting down across from him, she set the beverages down between them and dumped a few carrot sticks on her plate before offering him the bag. "Um...I got one half with extra meat... I hope that's alright?"
It was a little bit strange, she thought, sitting there and discussing pizza when moments ago they'd been talking about something a lot more important. And from the way he'd run from the room with the excuse the pizza gave him, she couldn't help thinking she might have said something wrong.
"Extra meat's great," he assured her, flipping the pizza box open and grinning at the sight inside. No one could deny that Chouji was an outstanding cook, but there was nothing to really compare with hot, greasy, meat-loaded pizza.
Plate loaded, glasses filled, and both of them seated, he hesitated just a moment before taking his first bite. "About what you said. Being busy. I'm sorry about that. I was kinda...well, waiting, to see. But I never seemed to get a chance."
The pizza was hot--they really had delivered quickly--so she let it rest on the plate for a moment to cool. She was tempted to try to pick it up when he talked, and she looked up at him, slightly confused. "...Waiting? I don't understand..." She frowned slightly. "...For me to say something, do you mean? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uneasy..."
"Sorta." He toyed with his slice, burned his fingers, and opted for a long swallow of beer instead. "I mean...I guess I sorta had the feeling you weren't comfortable. Or maybe just thought that later, thinking back over it. You know how a couple hours after you've said something you go back over it and you sound so stupid in your head? Just worrying like that. And then...neither of us said anything about it."
He grimaced. "I shoulda. But I don't want to push you."
"...I thought about it a lot," she admitted quietly, watching the pizza as though it was going to grow legs and walk off. "...I still do..."
Deciding it had had long enough to cool, she picked the slice up and took a small bite. It was still rather warm, and burnt her tongue slightly, so she set it down and took a quick drink of the first thing she could grab. It tasted bitter and she made a face, realising she'd grabbed the beer instead of the milk.
Setting that aside, she glanced back over at Kiba. It was true she felt a little uncomfortable, but that was more because of the unfamiliar situation and the entire confrontation feeling she had from sitting around the table than from him, or what had happened. She just wished her voice was stronger when she spoke, so he wouldn't think otherwise. "You didn't push me."
"Well..." He toyed with his pizza, decided it was cool enough for his taste, and took a large bite. Washed it down with another drink and asked directly, "What do you think about it?"
This time when she took a drink, she knew it was the beer. It didn't taste any better, though. "...I liked it. A-and...I wouldn't mind doing it again..." Her voice was barely a whisper at the end, and she felt like her face was as red as the sauce on the pizza, but she made sure not to look away from him.
"Just wouldn't mind?" He frowned at his pizza, stabbed at it with a carrot stick, and crunched the carrot savagely in two bites. At last he glanced up to meet her gaze.
"I don't wanna hurt you, Hinata. And so...I don't wanna push you into something you're not ready for. At all."
Or push either of us. But it wasn't like they were going that far, was it? A few kisses, maybe a little cuddling. It wasn't like he was proposing to her.
Hinata frowned at his reaction, realizing she'd said something wrong. Before she realized she'd reached out and laid her hand on his wrist, never taking her eyes off his face. "You're not pushing me... And I'm sorry...I said something to upset you... I just...I meant it. I did like it, and I'd like it a lot if you wanted to again--" That hadn't come out the way she'd meant for it to, either. She didn't know what was wrong with her.
This wasn't like her at all.
...But a part of her really didn't care.
"Of course I'd want to!" Kiba said immediately and recklessly. Hmm. Better shut that mouth with food before you say something really stupid, Inuzuka. He took a bite of pizza, chewed, swallowed, and asked, "What do you think it means?"
She blinked, taken slightly aback by his quick answer. "Ah...I'm not sure... I thought it meant you went out with the person, if you liked them and k-kissed them..."
"So...dating?" Kiba frowned slightly. "How does that work, then, if I haven't taken you out anywhere or anything?"
How did it work, period? Kiba's experiences with dating generally involved taking a girl out for a movie or dinner or ice-skating or something fun on a weekend, but it seldom lasted beyond that, and he'd seldom dated one girl more than a few times in a row; they seemed to get oddly clingy after a while.
"...I guess...?" She wasn't sure, honestly. Anything she knew about romance was taken from listening to other people talk about their relationships, and from reading novels. Before Kiba, she'd never been kissed, let alone anything else. "And I'm not sure..."
She frowned and glanced down at the table. There was a gnawing feeling in her stomach, as though she'd done or said something wrong, and it wouldn't go away. What if she'd just said something wrong again...?
"I'm sorry, I don't know... I've never...done this before..."
"Hey, s'okay," Kiba assured her quickly. He wasn't going to confess that he'd never really done this either. At least, never been this serious. High school flings didn't count for much, or perhaps he'd just never let them count. Before he'd come to Lysgar, everything had been straight-forward and simple. If you liked a girl, you dated her, maybe you kissed her, maybe you messed around a little, though never anything that could get either of you in trouble. Now, though...
"We can figure it out," he told her confidently. "Just...what'd you like to have happen?"
The table was rather fascinating, really. Not as much as him, but at the moment it was much easier to look at. She still couldn't get rid of the feeling that she'd done something inappropriate, and she was sure her cheeks were flushed as well. While blushing looked appealing on some people, on her it was just an unwanted reaction to just about everything.
"I...don't know. You're very nice, and kind to me, and fun, and so many things that I'm not..." She clasped her hands in her lap to keep them from fidgeting and showing how nervous she was. This was Kiba. There was no reason to be skittish again, not after she'd started to get so relaxed around him.
But the reason was there, and it was very obvious. This was new, and slightly scary, and she was never one to take risks so easily. But this was worth it, wasn't it?
"I just...like being around you. I'd like to spend more time with you..."
Kiba seriously didn't get this. What was it about every single girl he talked to that she seemed to think he was...well, a lot cooler than he was? And that she wasn't?
"Hinata," he said seriously. "I wouldn't--well, yeah, I prolly would be spending time with you if you weren't as awesome as you are. But you are. Awesome I mean. You're sweet and kind and pretty, and I like being with you, and I like kissing you, and--"
This wasn't getting him anywhere, was it? He'd never been much good with words. Actions were better. So actions it’d have to be.
He stood up, nearly knocking his chair over, leaned over the table, and kissed her.
Then he sat back down, ran his tongue around pizza-flavored lips, and said a little breathlessly, "See?"
She'd been about to protest--she wasn't half of what he said--when he moved and kissed her. It didn't last long, and he was sitting back in his seat before she could really react. "I..."
Without really noticing what she was doing, she unclasped her hands and raised one to her face, fingers brushing her lips. She could taste the pizza and beer, and wasn't sure entirely if that was just her or from him as well, but it still made her smile. And finally look over at him.
"Thank you, Kiba-kun."
"Nothing to thank me for," Kiba said, shrugging a little uncomfortably. Not sure what she thought she was thanking him for, either? For what he'd said? For the kiss? Did you thank people for kissing you?
If you were Kiba, you glanced down at your pizza, at your beer, at the couch, and offered, "D'you wanna start the movie while we finish eating?"
Glad for the change in subject, Hinata nodded. "Yes, please." Her piece of pizza was only half finished, and her glass of beer even less so. Kiba said they went good together, but she wasn't so sure how she liked the beer. But she picked it up when she stood anyway, plate of food in one hand and cup in the other and waited for Kiba to move before going to the couch to sit.
Well...um. This was going to take some managing.
Movie first, he thought. Turning on the TV and starting the DVD took only a few seconds; he returned to the table to collect his pizza and beer and chivvy Akamaru away from the pizza box before he followed Hinata to the couch. He settled himself just off-center; Akamaru immediately draped himself over Kiba's feet.
Credits. He stole a glance at Hinata.
The couch was a lot softer than the chair, and she found herself relaxing into it when she sat down by the arm, a little bit away from Kiba. She smiled at Akamaru when he lay down and would have reached down to pet him if she weren't trying to balance her food and drink on her lap.
And then the credits were going and she felt Kiba glance at her, and looked over at him. She wasn't sure what the look had meant, or if he'd been trying to tell her something or not. But she was suddenly aware of the space between them, and hadn't she just said she liked being around him? If she could tell him something like that, and if she liked being kisses, she could at least sit next to him without being nervous, couldn't she?
It was a simple matter to move the few inches so she was sitting right beside him, but she couldn't help feeling like she'd just overcome some form of large gap or hurdle.
She moved closer. And he didn't dare take his eyes off the screen again, as the familiar sounds of the video-game the Grandson plays in the first scene began to burble from the speakers--but he did lift his arm, very casually, and drape it across her shoulders.
Good thing she was sitting on his left side.
She blushed when she felt his arm circle her shoulder, but didn't move away and instead snuggled closer. She pulled her legs up and curled them to the side, digging her toes between the back of the couch and the seat cushions for warmth.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen the movie (nor the second nor tenth), so she was glad she wouldn't miss much. Because already it was rather hard to pay complete attention to the screen.
Hinata was warm against him, and he discovered that he really, really liked the way she fit into the curve of his side and the drape of his arm. Slim but not too small, just frail enough to make him feel strong and protective and needed.
"As you wish," Westley said onscreen, and Kiba darted just enough of a look at Hinata to tell that she wasn't really paying complete attention either. Enough that he wouldn't be messing up the movie-watching experience if he followed Westley's example and kissed her.
So he did, just a brush of lips across her forehead. But it was an offering, an invitation, and if she wanted more...
Well, he wasn't going to push her this time.
Hinata had always loved this movie, perhaps not for the sword-slinging and great adventure (although those were wonderful things), but for the romance. She'd always been a romantic at heart. Even in her stifling family life, where everyone was (as Kiba so liked to call her cousin), a stiff, she'd somehow picked up the flaw of being overly emotional. And one of her favorite things, one of those childhood fantasies she'd had about the man she'd fall in love with, had been heavily influenced by the way Westley acted towards Buttercup.
And so, when Kiba kissed her forehead, all those feelings rushed through her and she looked up at him and smiled. He was warm and comfortable and made her safe, and even though she was as close to him as she could be, sitting as they were, she wanted to be closer. So she leaned up and kissed the side of his mouth, hesitant and shy.
...And she kissed back. He wasn't just pushing her, forcing her into something she wasn't ready for (though he didn't stop to think about what he was ready for, not with her lips on his and his pulse thundering in his ears louder than the dialogue of the movie). She was kissing back, just enough for him to regain the initiative and plunge ahead, a little harder and a little hotter than they'd kissed before.
Westley and Buttercup's kiss might have made the top of the Five Greatest Kisses of All Time list, but Kiba was going to give them a run for their money.
There had been a brief moment of panic, when she thought she might have done something wrong, gone too far, but then he was returning returning the kiss and there wasn't any room for doubts. There wasn't room for thoughts of dinner or movies or strange looking, scary devices on his arm, either. And while a part of her said she was being too forward and daring and this was nothing like her, she ignored it and turned towards him so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders.
She still wasn't sure exactly where they stood, wasn't sure how to even go about any form of relationship, really, but she did know she was happy.
As much as Hinata enjoyed visiting her friends, she still couldn't quite get past the nervousness that always gripped her when faced with new situations. Moving around her room, almost pacing, she could feel Snuggles watching her, tail swinging lazily back and forth, finally quiet after hours of yowling. Hinata didn't expect that silence to last long, so she hurried to get ready faster, changing into a nice sweater and pants before scooping the kitten up into her arms and leaving her room. She hoped the kitten would stay quiet while they were in the hallway.
She'd left the movie at Kiba's when she'd gone to visit a few days back, so that was one less thing to worry about. He'd been too sick or sore to stay up long though, and they'd had to stop before the movie had even really begun. Hopefully this time she could stay longer than half an hour before he fell asleep.
Snuggles held securely in her arms, she closed the apartment door and locked it, then headed the few doors down to #9 and knocked politely. Told herself she wasn't nervous.
"Kiba-kun? ...May I come in?"
Akamaru's ears pricked at the knock on the door, and he lifted his head off Kiba's lap, jostling the book Kiba had finally forced himself to start reading. And jostling Kiba awake, too.
"Huh? Man, 'kamaru..." He rubbed his eyes and sat up, flinging the book aside; no way he was going to get through his Biology reading tonight, if even ten minutes put him to sleep.
Akamaru was still looking at the door, though, head raised off Kiba's lap and tail thumping slightly against the broken couch. No barking; a week of stern training just after they'd moved into Lysgar had mostly cured him of that. But there was someone he knew there. Kiba raised his voice. "C'mon in!"
Hinata shifted the kitten in her arms and opened the door slowly, peeking her head in until she noticed Kiba and Akamaru on the couch. "Hello, Kiba-kun. Akamaru." She pushed past the door then and closed it behind her, still holding tightly to Snuggles.
...Who was also holding tightly to her, little claws digging into Hinata's shoulder through the sweater. The girl winced and pried the little paws away from her, trying to reassure the kitten all the while. She'd known Snuggles might not take to Akamaru right away, but she hadn't expected her to cling so tightly.
"Um...is there somewhere I can put her...?" The kitten mewed loudly at that and tried to crawl up higher onto Hinata's shoulder, back claws digging into her chest a bit. "She's, ah, um...she's a little frightened--" Her words died in her throat when she finally caught a good look at Kiba's arm, and her eyes opened wide in shock. "Your arm...! What happened?"
"Uh..." Kiba cast an involuntary, worried glance down at his arm--had the fixator broken or something? But it was still there, glimmering nastily out of his forearm. He suppressed a wince. "Nemu, upstairs, said there's a new medical treatment supposed to help a break like this heal faster. She's a doctor, so she helped me with it. I just gotta wear this for a week, though."
Maybe he should wrap it in gauze, anyway. Or a sling--he'd banged the fixator against a corner twice already and nearly fallen over with the pain. Could take care of that later, though. He switched his sharp glance from his right arm to the dog sprawled halfway across his lap and over most of the rest of the couch. Akamaru gazed back with blue eyes that would have put an angel to shame. "Behave," Kiba warned him sternly, and surged off the couch to reach out for the kitten with his left hand "S'okay, I got you, little girl," he crooned in an oddly gentle tone, one that he never used except for feral dogs or skittish horses or injured cats. "S'okay, s'okay, you're safe, don't worry...."
In a moment he'd detangled her from Hinata's sweater and was cradling her against his own chest, stroking the fuzzy head with one calloused finger and still murmuring to her. "S'a brave girl, you're gonna be fine, just coming along a little early aren't you? We shoulda got to you before this..."
Her shoulder stung a bit from where Snuggles had clawed her, but Hinata ignored it as she watched Kiba hold her kitten. And tried extra hard not to look at the...contraption...on his arm. It looked so painful... But his voice drew her away from the strange fixator, and she smiled. She'd never heard him use it before. He really was meant to work with animals. "...Thank you. For letting her stay here."
She glanced past him at Akamaru then, smile brightening. "And you'll be good, right? You won't scare her, will you, Akamaru?"
"You bet," Kiba said, glancing up in slight puzzlement. "S'no problem at all. You shoulda heard back at home when the dogs went into heat--"
"On the other hand," he added rather more thoughtfully, "I guess you shouldn'ta."
Awkward. He glanced away, eyes searching the apartment for something else to talk about than, y'know, animal reproductive acts. Especially with the girl he had rather more than a crush on, and had kissed, and then hadn't really talked to about it for nearly a month...
"You still wanna watch that movie?" he asked, eyes seizing with something like desperation on the DVD on top of the TV.
Hinata had to agree. She loved her kitten, but really didn't want to imagine how loud any creature--let alone many--sounded while in Snuggles' condition. She alternated between feeling guilty about how the neighbors liked to yell about the sound, to feeling nervous about her kitten getting out, to being annoyed when the mewling woke her at all hours of the morning. To work on a farm and hear that all the time...
And the fact that she was shy, and standing alone with a boy she liked a lot who was talking about a subject that made her blush terribly didn't help matters, either. When he mentioned the movie she latched onto the idea as fast as he had, nodding quickly and leaning down to remove her shoes before stepping farther into the apartment.
"I would, yes." And then she paused, realizing. "...I forgot to bring something to eat, I'm sorry. I meant to, I just..." She nodded her head at the kitten. "Sorry..."
"Hey, s'fine! We can...uh..." He shifted the kitten a little further into the crook of his injured arm and dug in his back pocket with his free hand. The money he'd made selling dog-sled rides that winter was slowly dribbling away, the necessity for getting a job creeping up further and further, but he had enough. "Order a pizza if you want, make popcorn, have our own party. It'll be cool!"
"Ah, um, I can help pay, too, then," she said quickly, standing up straight after having removed her shoes. "Don't waste all your money, please."
Although that got her wondering, and she looked around the room again, taking in the big dog and the young man with the kitten and no one else. "...Where is everyone? Are they at work...?" She had a terrible feeling she was imposing, but at the same time, it would be nice to spend time with only Kiba. They hadn't since Valentines, and even then...
Ah, she would not let herself blush. If it was one thing she'd set out to do with her life, getting over her blushing habit was very high on that list.
"...I can take Snuggles while you call, or do you want me to instead?"
"Hana's still working. Think Chouji and Shika are out, or something?" he waved his wallet-bearing hand vaguely. “And I can pay, don't worry about it." Pretty poor job he'd be doing of sort of dating her if he let her pay--
And where had that come from?
"You'd better call though," he admitted, shoving thoughts of dating away. A crush was one thing, kissing was great, cuddling would be awesome (and his brain was starting to come up with all sorts of interesting variants of cuddling that might occur during the course of a movie, now that he wasn't drugged out of his head)--but they hadn't even talked yet. And they couldn't be dating if neither of them really knew about it, could they?
"There's a good place just down the street; they're pretty quick." He led the way over to the phone in the kitchen, still cradling the kitten, and pointed out the number pinned to an ancient bulletin board. "I like anything, so you can get whatever you want."
She nodded and smiled, then picked up the phone and dialed the number to order a large pizza. After a moment, she decided to get half with extra meat. If Kiba like jerky so much, she figured he would like that, too.
When she was finished ordering, she turned back to Kiba. "They said fifteen minutes, Kiba-kun." So, by the time they started the movie and settled in, really. She eyed the couch and Akamaru, then went over to pet the white dog and sit beside him. "...Did you want to wait to start the movie until then, or we could start it now, or...?"
She was starting to babble, a sure sign of nerves. And that was bad, because she didn't want to be nervous with him. Which was why she'd wanted to talk with him for weeks now. Something was different--it had to be, after that--and she needed to know how much. After seeing him talking with Sakura and Tenten the other day, and the way he was always so casual with everyone, the feeling had only gotten worse.
"Depends on whether you wanna eat while you watch the movie or not," Kiba suggested. "I say eat first, movie later--with popcorn, of course. I think we've got a bag..."
Still carrying Snuggles cuddled against his chest, he roamed out of the living room and into the attached kitchenette, his voice carrying clearly to her as he thumped through cupboards. "Two! Man, we've got all the luck. Popcorn, pizza, place to ourselves...Might even have drinks in the fridge--"
A quick check assured him that there was, indeed, a wide variety to choose from. Milk, Kool-aid, soda, even a few bottles of beer. Did Hinata drink? He'd never seen her do so, and couldn't remember if she'd ever mentioned it.
...Well, no time but the present to ask, right? He shut the fridge and returned to stand beside the couch, hip-shot, head tilted slightly as he watched her pet Akamaru, who was doing his best to ooze bonelessly into her lap while he pretended he wasn't even thinking of moving. "D'you drink?"
Hinata was happy to pet the large dog, and smiled when he moved onto her lap, trying--and failing--to look as though he hadn't meant to. She was doubly happy to hear about there being popcorn (she hadn't had any in a long time). And then Kiba was there, and she turned to look at him, ready to say something when his question stopped her.
Drink?
"Um...I've never...tried any. Why?" On her lap, Akamaru shifted some more, digging his nose into her ribs, but she ignored him for the most part, moving enough so that she wasn't uncomfortable.
"Well." Kiba floundered, a little off-balance, but he wasn't ever at loss for words for long. Even if they didn't make much sense when he finally hunted them down and thrashed them into obeying him. "'Cause we got some beer in the fridge, and pizza's best with either beer or pop, and I get way too hyper when I have caffeine." There wasn't enough to get drunk on anyway, he assured himself. Even if drunk for Kiba meant less than half the alcohol that it meant for most others. "Or there's milk, I guess."
She wasn't really very sure of how much it took someone to get drunk, never having been much exposed to any situation like that. Her family wasn't big on drinking, and if they did, it was never beer, and she had never been allowed nor wanted to partake. But being here wasn't exactly something her father approved of, and she trusted Kiba if he said it couldn't hurt any.
"...If you want to, we can have that. I'll try it..."
"You don't have to," he assured her. "And pizza's not gonna be here for a while anyway, don't have to decide now."
Something else needed to be decided now though, and Snuggles was tired of waiting to announce it. Once he'd stopped stroking her to thump around in the kitchen she'd started growing steadily more querulous, and now at last she rolled over and nearly out of Kiba's grasp, trying to make for the floor. He caught her in a bit of hasty cat-juggling; she glared at him, if a cat could glare, and batted with unsheathed claws at his hands. And yowled.
Kiba winced. "Time to find a place for you, I think. Hinata, where'd she be most comfortable?"
The moment Snuggles started to fall, Hinata was on her feet, Akamaru unceremoniously dumped off her lap. When the cat scratched at Kiba, she reached out to take her back, hugging her. Holding the kitten to her chest, Hinata glanced around the room, frowning slightly. "...Somewhere that has dark corners she can hide in. When I first got her, she liked to hide under my bed until she was used to me..."
Mention of her bed made her think of standing in her room, which made her remember Valentine's, which made her want to blush again. Not for the first time she wondered just how to bring up what she'd been thinking about for over a month.
"...Maybe a closet...?"
"Got my bedroom closet?" Kiba suggested. "We don't really have any other place, 'xcept the bathroom, and I don't think she'd be too happy there."
His room was decently clean at least, he thought; no shame in letting her see it. And a couple tee-shirts should make a good enough bed for the kitten... Hana might complain about a kitten shut in the closet at night, but they were all of them fairly sound sleepers. Shouldn't be a problem.
"We can fix a bed up for her now," he offered, setting off for his bedroom door.
Ah, he wanted her to follow? ...The idea surprised her until she realised that, of course he did, because she was holding the kitten.
Following him slowly, almost hesitant, Hinata entered the room a few seconds after Kiba did, looking around. Besides being a little messier and a lot more crowded, his room wasn't at all that different from hers. That relaxed her somewhat, enough that she wasn't hugging Snuggles tight enough to give the cat any discomfort.
"A bed would be nice... She likes soft things, especially pillows. ...N-not that you should give up your pillow," she hastened to add, "just...something soft, like that..."
She had the distinct feeling she was making a fool of herself and glanced at Kiba, face half-hidden by Snuggles.
"I usually use a dog instead of a pillow," he confessed, a little abashed. "S'easier when you're all in one big tangle on the floor." He jerked his thumb at the stack of blankets and the futon against the wall, folded with much less than military precision. "But I bet we can find Snuggles something. Um..."
He half-disappeared into the tiny closet, rummaging through the few clothes he'd hung up; most of the shirts and pants on hangers were Hana's, with only a few obviously masculine. It was easy enough to find what he'd been searching for, a dark grey hoodie branded "AKC" across the front in large white letters. The cotton was worn to an exquisite softness, and he held it out to Hinata with a fond smile. "Had this hoodie since high school. Softest thing I got."
"...It looks it..." she said slowly, taking the offered piece of clothing and holding it. It really was very soft. Enough so that she though she could use it for an impromptu pillow, should she feel the need. She held the cloth up to Snuggles then, letting the kitten sniff and paw at it before turning to look back at Kiba. "This will work fine, thank you."
She glanced around then before focusing on the closet and nodded her head towards it. "...Should we make it now, then?" She smiled a bit. "I don't think she'll want to meet the others when they come home later without a place to hide..." And the pizza would be there soon, and they wouldn't have much time afterwards if they were going to watch that movie.
"Now works," Kiba agreed. "And it'll give her time to get settled before you leave."
He ducked out of the closet and scrounged around a bit more before he located a cardboard box, shoved under the bed and forgotten months ago. Stuffed into the back of the closet, with a worn tee-shirt padding the bottom of the box and the hoodie lapping up in a soft nest, it made an admirable bed. He scrambled to his feet again and stood back, justly proud. "Give it a try?"
"Thank you." She moved forward, half into the closet, and set the kitten down in the box. Snuggles gave her a look Hinata couldn't read, and then mewed for a few seconds before sniffing her new bed and testing it out. When she made no further protests, Hinata backed away slowly until she was completely out of the small closet, and smiled over at Kiba. "I think this will work well. Thank you for doing this for me..."
"Hey, you bet!" Kiba grinned down at her. "It's good having a cat around for a while anyway. She's a cute little thing..."
Kinda like her owner. Only not nearly so much.
"Hey," he said softly. "About--about Valentines'. I wasn't--I didn't mean to push you. If you've been upset about that...I'm sorry."
Her smile dulled a little at that and she shook her head quickly. "N-no, it's not that... I'm not upset about it, I mean, it was, well... I..." Hinata could feel her face start to heat up again, but forced herself to press on. She'd been trying to talk about this for weeks, she couldn't stop now that it was brought up.
"I liked it, I just...don't know what it means..." Her voice trailed off then, and she looked down at the ground, hands held loosely clasped in front of her. What it could mean scared her, but not as much as what it might not. He was her friend, and she cared about him, but she had seen the way he talked around other girls. If it had just been a spur-of-the-moment thing on his part...
"What it means?" Kiba blinked. "I...guess I thought that was pretty obvious. I like you, and I like kissing you."
It was obvious, wasn't it?
"Ah...um..." Her face felt on fire. "I-I like you too..."
On fire.
"I just...wasn't sure what it meant...and wanted to talk about it... But we've both been busy and I didn't really know what to say and--" The pizza chose that moment to be delivered, the knock sounded loud to her ears, and she started, turning around quickly, heart thumping.
"I'll get it," Kiba said quickly, sprinting around the bedroom door and heading for the door to the apartment itself. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket on the way, and by the time he reached the door he already had the money in hand. A quick exchange of cash and box, and he was the proud owner of a large something-or-other. Should probably have asked Hinata about toppings, but he trusted her judgment.
"Ready to eat?" he asked, setting the pizza on the table and heading back into the kitchen for glasses and cups. "There's carrots in the fridge if you want 'em. And, um, beverage of your choice."
She stood in the room, stunned, before moving to join him out in the kitchen a moment later. She stopped at the fridge before sitting, pulling out the milk and carrots...and then the beer too. For some reason, it seemed the smart thing to do.
Sitting down across from him, she set the beverages down between them and dumped a few carrot sticks on her plate before offering him the bag. "Um...I got one half with extra meat... I hope that's alright?"
It was a little bit strange, she thought, sitting there and discussing pizza when moments ago they'd been talking about something a lot more important. And from the way he'd run from the room with the excuse the pizza gave him, she couldn't help thinking she might have said something wrong.
"Extra meat's great," he assured her, flipping the pizza box open and grinning at the sight inside. No one could deny that Chouji was an outstanding cook, but there was nothing to really compare with hot, greasy, meat-loaded pizza.
Plate loaded, glasses filled, and both of them seated, he hesitated just a moment before taking his first bite. "About what you said. Being busy. I'm sorry about that. I was kinda...well, waiting, to see. But I never seemed to get a chance."
The pizza was hot--they really had delivered quickly--so she let it rest on the plate for a moment to cool. She was tempted to try to pick it up when he talked, and she looked up at him, slightly confused. "...Waiting? I don't understand..." She frowned slightly. "...For me to say something, do you mean? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uneasy..."
"Sorta." He toyed with his slice, burned his fingers, and opted for a long swallow of beer instead. "I mean...I guess I sorta had the feeling you weren't comfortable. Or maybe just thought that later, thinking back over it. You know how a couple hours after you've said something you go back over it and you sound so stupid in your head? Just worrying like that. And then...neither of us said anything about it."
He grimaced. "I shoulda. But I don't want to push you."
"...I thought about it a lot," she admitted quietly, watching the pizza as though it was going to grow legs and walk off. "...I still do..."
Deciding it had had long enough to cool, she picked the slice up and took a small bite. It was still rather warm, and burnt her tongue slightly, so she set it down and took a quick drink of the first thing she could grab. It tasted bitter and she made a face, realising she'd grabbed the beer instead of the milk.
Setting that aside, she glanced back over at Kiba. It was true she felt a little uncomfortable, but that was more because of the unfamiliar situation and the entire confrontation feeling she had from sitting around the table than from him, or what had happened. She just wished her voice was stronger when she spoke, so he wouldn't think otherwise. "You didn't push me."
"Well..." He toyed with his pizza, decided it was cool enough for his taste, and took a large bite. Washed it down with another drink and asked directly, "What do you think about it?"
This time when she took a drink, she knew it was the beer. It didn't taste any better, though. "...I liked it. A-and...I wouldn't mind doing it again..." Her voice was barely a whisper at the end, and she felt like her face was as red as the sauce on the pizza, but she made sure not to look away from him.
"Just wouldn't mind?" He frowned at his pizza, stabbed at it with a carrot stick, and crunched the carrot savagely in two bites. At last he glanced up to meet her gaze.
"I don't wanna hurt you, Hinata. And so...I don't wanna push you into something you're not ready for. At all."
Or push either of us. But it wasn't like they were going that far, was it? A few kisses, maybe a little cuddling. It wasn't like he was proposing to her.
Hinata frowned at his reaction, realizing she'd said something wrong. Before she realized she'd reached out and laid her hand on his wrist, never taking her eyes off his face. "You're not pushing me... And I'm sorry...I said something to upset you... I just...I meant it. I did like it, and I'd like it a lot if you wanted to again--" That hadn't come out the way she'd meant for it to, either. She didn't know what was wrong with her.
This wasn't like her at all.
...But a part of her really didn't care.
"Of course I'd want to!" Kiba said immediately and recklessly. Hmm. Better shut that mouth with food before you say something really stupid, Inuzuka. He took a bite of pizza, chewed, swallowed, and asked, "What do you think it means?"
She blinked, taken slightly aback by his quick answer. "Ah...I'm not sure... I thought it meant you went out with the person, if you liked them and k-kissed them..."
"So...dating?" Kiba frowned slightly. "How does that work, then, if I haven't taken you out anywhere or anything?"
How did it work, period? Kiba's experiences with dating generally involved taking a girl out for a movie or dinner or ice-skating or something fun on a weekend, but it seldom lasted beyond that, and he'd seldom dated one girl more than a few times in a row; they seemed to get oddly clingy after a while.
"...I guess...?" She wasn't sure, honestly. Anything she knew about romance was taken from listening to other people talk about their relationships, and from reading novels. Before Kiba, she'd never been kissed, let alone anything else. "And I'm not sure..."
She frowned and glanced down at the table. There was a gnawing feeling in her stomach, as though she'd done or said something wrong, and it wouldn't go away. What if she'd just said something wrong again...?
"I'm sorry, I don't know... I've never...done this before..."
"Hey, s'okay," Kiba assured her quickly. He wasn't going to confess that he'd never really done this either. At least, never been this serious. High school flings didn't count for much, or perhaps he'd just never let them count. Before he'd come to Lysgar, everything had been straight-forward and simple. If you liked a girl, you dated her, maybe you kissed her, maybe you messed around a little, though never anything that could get either of you in trouble. Now, though...
"We can figure it out," he told her confidently. "Just...what'd you like to have happen?"
The table was rather fascinating, really. Not as much as him, but at the moment it was much easier to look at. She still couldn't get rid of the feeling that she'd done something inappropriate, and she was sure her cheeks were flushed as well. While blushing looked appealing on some people, on her it was just an unwanted reaction to just about everything.
"I...don't know. You're very nice, and kind to me, and fun, and so many things that I'm not..." She clasped her hands in her lap to keep them from fidgeting and showing how nervous she was. This was Kiba. There was no reason to be skittish again, not after she'd started to get so relaxed around him.
But the reason was there, and it was very obvious. This was new, and slightly scary, and she was never one to take risks so easily. But this was worth it, wasn't it?
"I just...like being around you. I'd like to spend more time with you..."
Kiba seriously didn't get this. What was it about every single girl he talked to that she seemed to think he was...well, a lot cooler than he was? And that she wasn't?
"Hinata," he said seriously. "I wouldn't--well, yeah, I prolly would be spending time with you if you weren't as awesome as you are. But you are. Awesome I mean. You're sweet and kind and pretty, and I like being with you, and I like kissing you, and--"
This wasn't getting him anywhere, was it? He'd never been much good with words. Actions were better. So actions it’d have to be.
He stood up, nearly knocking his chair over, leaned over the table, and kissed her.
Then he sat back down, ran his tongue around pizza-flavored lips, and said a little breathlessly, "See?"
She'd been about to protest--she wasn't half of what he said--when he moved and kissed her. It didn't last long, and he was sitting back in his seat before she could really react. "I..."
Without really noticing what she was doing, she unclasped her hands and raised one to her face, fingers brushing her lips. She could taste the pizza and beer, and wasn't sure entirely if that was just her or from him as well, but it still made her smile. And finally look over at him.
"Thank you, Kiba-kun."
"Nothing to thank me for," Kiba said, shrugging a little uncomfortably. Not sure what she thought she was thanking him for, either? For what he'd said? For the kiss? Did you thank people for kissing you?
If you were Kiba, you glanced down at your pizza, at your beer, at the couch, and offered, "D'you wanna start the movie while we finish eating?"
Glad for the change in subject, Hinata nodded. "Yes, please." Her piece of pizza was only half finished, and her glass of beer even less so. Kiba said they went good together, but she wasn't so sure how she liked the beer. But she picked it up when she stood anyway, plate of food in one hand and cup in the other and waited for Kiba to move before going to the couch to sit.
Well...um. This was going to take some managing.
Movie first, he thought. Turning on the TV and starting the DVD took only a few seconds; he returned to the table to collect his pizza and beer and chivvy Akamaru away from the pizza box before he followed Hinata to the couch. He settled himself just off-center; Akamaru immediately draped himself over Kiba's feet.
Credits. He stole a glance at Hinata.
The couch was a lot softer than the chair, and she found herself relaxing into it when she sat down by the arm, a little bit away from Kiba. She smiled at Akamaru when he lay down and would have reached down to pet him if she weren't trying to balance her food and drink on her lap.
And then the credits were going and she felt Kiba glance at her, and looked over at him. She wasn't sure what the look had meant, or if he'd been trying to tell her something or not. But she was suddenly aware of the space between them, and hadn't she just said she liked being around him? If she could tell him something like that, and if she liked being kisses, she could at least sit next to him without being nervous, couldn't she?
It was a simple matter to move the few inches so she was sitting right beside him, but she couldn't help feeling like she'd just overcome some form of large gap or hurdle.
She moved closer. And he didn't dare take his eyes off the screen again, as the familiar sounds of the video-game the Grandson plays in the first scene began to burble from the speakers--but he did lift his arm, very casually, and drape it across her shoulders.
Good thing she was sitting on his left side.
She blushed when she felt his arm circle her shoulder, but didn't move away and instead snuggled closer. She pulled her legs up and curled them to the side, digging her toes between the back of the couch and the seat cushions for warmth.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen the movie (nor the second nor tenth), so she was glad she wouldn't miss much. Because already it was rather hard to pay complete attention to the screen.
Hinata was warm against him, and he discovered that he really, really liked the way she fit into the curve of his side and the drape of his arm. Slim but not too small, just frail enough to make him feel strong and protective and needed.
"As you wish," Westley said onscreen, and Kiba darted just enough of a look at Hinata to tell that she wasn't really paying complete attention either. Enough that he wouldn't be messing up the movie-watching experience if he followed Westley's example and kissed her.
So he did, just a brush of lips across her forehead. But it was an offering, an invitation, and if she wanted more...
Well, he wasn't going to push her this time.
Hinata had always loved this movie, perhaps not for the sword-slinging and great adventure (although those were wonderful things), but for the romance. She'd always been a romantic at heart. Even in her stifling family life, where everyone was (as Kiba so liked to call her cousin), a stiff, she'd somehow picked up the flaw of being overly emotional. And one of her favorite things, one of those childhood fantasies she'd had about the man she'd fall in love with, had been heavily influenced by the way Westley acted towards Buttercup.
And so, when Kiba kissed her forehead, all those feelings rushed through her and she looked up at him and smiled. He was warm and comfortable and made her safe, and even though she was as close to him as she could be, sitting as they were, she wanted to be closer. So she leaned up and kissed the side of his mouth, hesitant and shy.
...And she kissed back. He wasn't just pushing her, forcing her into something she wasn't ready for (though he didn't stop to think about what he was ready for, not with her lips on his and his pulse thundering in his ears louder than the dialogue of the movie). She was kissing back, just enough for him to regain the initiative and plunge ahead, a little harder and a little hotter than they'd kissed before.
Westley and Buttercup's kiss might have made the top of the Five Greatest Kisses of All Time list, but Kiba was going to give them a run for their money.
There had been a brief moment of panic, when she thought she might have done something wrong, gone too far, but then he was returning returning the kiss and there wasn't any room for doubts. There wasn't room for thoughts of dinner or movies or strange looking, scary devices on his arm, either. And while a part of her said she was being too forward and daring and this was nothing like her, she ignored it and turned towards him so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders.
She still wasn't sure exactly where they stood, wasn't sure how to even go about any form of relationship, really, but she did know she was happy.