TFATH 3

Ch. 3: The Hound's Revival! The Orange Fox's Query?

Kiba had just almost fallen asleep after having talked to Shino and Hinata for an hour, his bug wielding friend being as apathetic as normal, and his surrogate sister worrying so much about his wound that her stutter appeared slightly. He heard Akamaru off in the distance (probably at a bird passing by), minutes afterwards the sound of the door clicking closed—probably one of the nurses to come change his wraps.

"You're a good boy, aren't you?" came a voice Kiba didn't recognize. From the sound of Akamaru's panting that came after the question, the nurse apparently had spent some time with animals. "Why are you here in a hospital?" Apparently she was a new to the hospital. Something clanked on his nightstand, meaning Kiba's buddy must have gone to retrieve something-his headband?

Soon the girl rhetorically asked about Kiba's dog being a ninja hound, indicating that he had been right on both accounts: this nurse was new to her post and his headband as been taken as an explanation. Akamaru gave a bark in response to the question to which Kiba said "Akamaru…shut it…"

There was silence for a moment, he all the more welcomed it in his drugged state (it's not his fault he liked to not be confined to one room as if it were a cage and tried to walk around the hospital despite the severity of his wounds.). What happened next was the defining moment when he realized whoever this was couldn't be a nurse.

The major thing that allowed him to differentiate between this person and one of the nurses was the smell. Instead of the chemical perfume that all hospital personal seemed to bath in, this girl smelled…..wonderful. He couldn't help but smile at the smell of honey that so suddenly drowned his nasal passages and spiked his taste buds.

That and, well, the fact that she was running her soft hand through his hair which lead to a good scratch behind the ear. When the girl had stepped back her scent still lingered, but his smile when back to being neutral. Kiba missed what she said next as his consciousness was fading, but heard her say goodbye to Akamaru. It was when he heard his sister Hana say "Long enough." that he truly became lost in a land of dreams.  

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The silver charm on what was now Kiba's necklace bounced as he exited the hospital. It had been an odd few days as he had began to recover from the recent incident: he'd wake up to find Akamaru with a content look on his face (someone must have taken him for walk and then played immensely with him to be so tired that he didn't even respond to Kiba's voice), or he'd hear either Hinata or Hana talking to someone outside his door and never be able to pick up on the other voice.

Yesterday morning had been the strangest though. When he had woken up that day, a card that said 'Hope you get well soon' lay on his nightstand along with a small jewelry box. Kiba opened the box carefully—or rather cautiously--only to have it reveal a silver chained necklace.

The trinket on the chain was a silver bone hilted sword, his 1st name's kanji written in a shifted brown to red from the tip of the hilt to the edge of the blade. By looking at the craft of how it was made, it could have come from Tenten (her father did happen to be a jeweler as well as a weapon-smith—where else did she get all those weapons otherwise?) but Kiba that she was rather shy when it came to giving gifts. Hinata? No, it wasn't within her nature to do something so bold.  And it couldn't have been his sister, she only came for Akamaru (which wasn't true, he knew that but chose to accept his own denial)…

"You're good to go, Kiba. Your wound has closed up completely, and only thing left behind will be a tiny scar." Sakura said an hour earlier, taking off the gloves after giving him a full check up.  "Now I have to go stitch another patient who decided to do some sword training with his teammate the other day (how she slashed the exact same spots as before I will never know…). Remember Tsunade-sama said not to strain your body too much, okay?"

Raising his right arm above his head, the other arched behind his neck and touching his right shoulder, Kiba stretched as he started down the path into the village market place. The teen teammates hadn't come to pick him up like they normally would have: he had heard from Sakura that Shino had pulled for a mission, Hinata had told him the other day that she was to have a family meeting at a time he had forgotten, Kurenai was more than likely at school helping teach the young will-be genin, and he hadn't heard nor smelled his sister—her natural smell was that of peppermints. He deemed ironic, almost, that her favorite holiday happened to be in December)

So there he was, wandering the streets, since he'd rather not go to an empty house (his mother could probably found with Shino's father at this very moment.) As he was about to round the corner to go to Ichiraku Ramen, two familiar scents hit his and Akamaru's noses.

The 1st was extremely overwhelming that caused the duo to scrunch their faces; the second was calmer, almost pleasantly layered a top of the 1st. The smell of oranges hit him 1st and then lavender immediately after. Naruto—which at times still amazed Kiba that his whiskered friend smelt so good, despite sweating ramen—and Hinata.  He and Akamaru pressed themselves against the closest building's wall.

Peering over the corner, Kiba's nose didn't lie as he saw Naruto standing outside his favorite eatery. In front of him stood Hinata, in her normal attire with her arms hidden behind her back. Naruto was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, a sign that he was nervous. Kiba quirked an eyebrow—what could Naruto of all people be worried about?

Kiba couldn't help but also notice how Hinata wasn't looking away from the blond and tapping the edges of her fingers together as she used too, instead focusing his face with her lavender eyes. Did the two of them get caught in a body switching technique or something?  Whispering a justu to extend his hearing, Kiba was lucky enough to catch the beginning of the conversation: "Did you really mean it? About what you said when I was caught fighting Pein? About loving someone like me?"